#also my midterm was even more impressive than this

[unityrain24]

behold. my world cinema final be cast upon ye

also you only get screenshots and not an actual link to the slideshow. sorry mate.

Curse of the Golden Flower Clip (youtube)

House of Flying Daggers Clip, Preceding Clip (youtube)

[sleepynoons]

dr. ratio x gn!reader, sfw, not beta read

cw: explicit language

notes: college!au ratio is scrumptious + i love trying new characterizations of such a well-written character. some emotional angst regarding insecurities + never feeling good enough. platonic btw, though feelings spark at the end. also, requests are now open – please read all of my acc + request rules, which are linked in my nav. finally, repeat after me: YOUR HOBBIES DON'T HAVE TO BE YOUR JOBS.

YOU HAVE got to be shitting me.

you gawk as you stare at the student across from you. piercing eyes, gold laurel accessory adorning indigo hair, apron crisp and clean – why the hell is the veritas ratio here?

you’re a simple student. day and night, you’re studying to pass your classes and working a part-time shift as a barista at a local café to scrape in a little bit of extra cash. the difference between you and ratio is more than the distance between heaven and earth. the only time you ever interacted with your college’s “legendary genius” was at a study review session for one of your classes that he happened to be a teaching assistant for.

the first ten minutes of the session were wasted because ratio was criticizing the hell out of another student. to be fair, the latter was acting like an asshole. you had overheard some of the snarky comments they made about ratio as you all were waiting outside the classroom. but ratio was equally, if not more, biting and ruthless as he made comeback after comeback after comeback. you didn’t have a good opinion of him either. and so, you snuck out of the review session and never attended one led by ratio again.

you try to shift your expression into a more amicable one as you sit down next to him. out of all the places to meet him again, you would have never predicted it to be at your favorite pottery studio.

it’s fine, you think, it’s not like he knows who i am.

you’re not good at pottery – mediocre at it, at best. but the feeling of the wet clay against your hands, how pliable and cool and malleable it is, is soothing. even the sheer act of throwing a ball of it onto the wheel is stress-relieving. you frequent this studio once every few weeks or so, and it’s become something of a third home to you, a place that you can run away to really at any time.

ratio has accolades in the arts as well, especially renowned for his sculptures, so pottery doesn’t seem too farfetched. yet you’ve never seen him here before.

you’re deep in thought, until a steady voice interrupts with a call of your name.

you perk up, looking around. another call of your name. there’s no one else in the vicinity besides you and ratio.

you squeak in surprise. “oh! yes, um, hi, ratio! what’s up?”

ratio’s response shocks you. he asks, “i am having trouble with pulling the sides of my bowl up. would you mind showing me how to do it?”

what. ratio needs help – and your help at that? you quickly pull yourself together, though, because you’d rather not get berated by him.

“y-yeah, sure,” you acquiesce. “what are you trying to make?”

for the next hour or so, you guide ratio through the very few basics of pottery that you’ve become acquainted with. of course, ratio catches on very speedily, but contrary to your initial impression of him, he listens with rapt attentiveness and asks questions only when necessary. the final result is a round bowl with scalloped edges.

during your next visit to the studio, which is a week later, you run into ratio at the entrance. you both nod politely in recognition, remaining in silence as the studio manager helps the two of you set up. this time, ratio does not reach out to you. you notice that ratio creates another of the bowl he made (and you helped with) last week.

you don’t visit the studio again until a month later. midterms season plus additional shifts at the café because a coworker had quit without a two-week notice took up all of your time. yet, here ratio was again, already throwing as you settle at your station.

it’s weird, really. when and why did ratio pick up pottery? no one else on campus seemed to know – indicative by the lack of gossip regarding the genius –, and after a brief exchange with the studio staff that you’ve become familiar with, they thought he was simply a new frequenter.

you’re suddenly feeling courageous. maybe it’s because of the accumulated stress from the past month or the lack of caffeine, but regardless, you’re feeling bold enough to initiate conversation with ratio.

so you start easy, to seem casual. “hi, ratio,” you chirp, even adding in a small wave to appear extra friendly.

he glances up and nods before concentrating back on his work. you take that as your cue to get started as well. 

after half an hour, from the corner of your eye, you see ratio pause his wheel and stretch, judging and evaluating the progress he’s made. you notice that he’s making something new, a wide plate with a shallow rim.

“nice work,” you offer.

“thank you,” he states.

you sigh. now, you’re just getting irritated. going about this in a roundabout way is clearly not working.

you set down your tools and stare right at ratio. “i’m curious,” you ask, “why pottery? i’ve never seen you here.”

“you’re not here often either.”

you groan internally. of course he’s focused on the trees instead of the forest. “i come often enough to know the other regulars, and you were definitely not one of them up until a month ago.”

ratio breaks away from his work and looks back at you. even though you’ve seen him in person a few times now, his eyes always manage to glimmer so beautifully that they steal your breath away. “is one not allowed to pick up a new hobby? or are your conceptions of a so-called ‘genius’ limited to that of a naturally gifted workaholic?”

you have to think for a moment before responding. ratio seems rather uncomfortable with the term “genius.”

you muse, “maybe. you’re the closest thing to being a genius that i know, and you seem to be winning awards all the time. that can’t be possible if you’re not working hard all the time. but… it’s good to know that pottery’s just a fun activity for you.”

he asks, “is it for you?”

“yeah, i think it is.” you smile, though it’s more for yourself. “look, i’m not particularly gifted at anything, not even at pottery. but that’s fine because you don’t have to turn your hobbies into work.”

“i don’t agree with you.” you tilt your head in confusion, slightly wary because you don’t want to debate or argue. ratio continues, “the notion of separating work from hobbies is clear, but claiming that you are not particularly gifted is unnecessary self-deprivation, no? i’ve seen your work from class, and it’s very obvious you have certain strengths.”

you roll your eyes and scoff. “that doesn’t mean i’m talented at anything. everyone has strengths, that’s true, but it’s not like i’m doing anything impressive enough to get on the front page of our university newspaper.”

ratio states your name, but it sounds more like a stern rebuke. “i don’t take pride in being called a genius.”

“why? because you didn’t get nominated last year?”

he corrects, “for the past few years.”

the genius society, the most prestigious nonprofit in the world, offers a scholarship program that selects and nurtures the brightest college students globally. despite all of the research and leadership ratio has contributed, he has never once been accepted, let alone waitlisted, for the program.

you think you have a better idea of the kind of person ratio is. maybe he’s more like the sun to your earth, more tender-hearted and relatable than you had assumed.

“make sure the clay is evenly distributed in the center of the plate,” you note. you know he doesn’t need empty words of sympathy or comfort.

“i will.”

the two of you work until you’re both done; he finishes his plate and you a medium-sized soup bowl because you had accidentally shattered the only one you had.

before you leave, though, ratio calls out to you. (you notice you like the way he says your name.)

he says, “please, call me veritas.”

you chuckle and nod. (he notices he likes the sound of your laugh.) 

“i’ll see you soon, veritas.”

[lani-heart]

|| series masterlist || CHAPTER ONE -> PREVIEW ||

parings -> sim jaeyun x reader genre -> non-idol au, school au, hyrbid au warnings -> n/a word count -> 1.5k

abstract -> Don't you wanna make those dreams come true?

y/n’s perspective

“No,” I said and he sighed. “Please y/nnie! He needs a home!” Haechan pouted and I scoffed. “Then you take care of him! I don’t have the time to take care of a hybrid…” I muttered and he chuckled.

“Which is exactly why you need one… he's very low maintenance, actually he can take care of himself. I think you need someone to take care of you” he said and I sighed… 

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” I said and he sighed… “Have you eaten today?” he asked and I sighed. “I didn’t have the time… I was studying–” “You’re always studying… Jay can help take care of you” he suggested and I shook my head.

“I couldn’t do that to him… he needs a good home,” I said and he smiled. “He’s had so many owners and yet none cared to keep him. All of them had all the money he could ever want…” he said and I sighed… 

“I really need to keep this scholarship, Haechan–” “How about a deal?” he asked and I knew I shouldn’t trust him but anything to make him shut up

“If under your care, you fail your next bio midterm, I'll find someone else… but if you can handle it please show him a good home” he begged and I sighed. “Fine…” I said not knowing what else to do about the whiny junior in front of me. 

“Okay! Let me text Mark that you agreed!” He said and I scoffed. Of course Mark was also involved… Eventually he came with a hybrid next to him.

“Ok, Jay here is a bird hybrid so he can only wear collars… he goes to the classes available on campus and Riki the devil hybrid’s lovely angelic owner got a new collar for him because I asked so nicely!” he said and I sighed.. 

“Hey you never know, by adopting a hybrid maybe the principal's daughter will be impressed by you” Mark said and my eyes widened. “You think?” I asked now hopeful and they chuckled. 

“I don’t get why you admire her so much…” Haechan said and I smiled. “Cause she’s so sweet, and she actually offered the scholarship to me. Without her I wouldn’t be in this school” I said and he sighed.

“Maybe I should ask her to pay my tuition,” Haechan said and Mark laughed. “Good luck, she won’t even pay for Jisung’s meal card, '' he said and I looked at the hybrid who only awkwardly stood there looking at the ground. 

“Hello! I’m y/n… I don’t think I'll be your permanent owner but I’ll try my best in the time we’re together” I said and he nodded. He was really pretty…

“We’ll let you guys get acquainted” Haechan said as he left us two. “What do you like to do Jay?” I asked and he shrugged. He seemed very silent… this was gonna be very awkward then. “I hope I don’t make you uncomfortable… I do live in a single dorm but it is quite small” I said and he still didn’t say a word. 

Did he hate me already? I know Haechan said his previous owners were all of the rich kids on campus but… I couldn’t afford the lifestyle they can, I can only afford this school because of my scholarship that I was given another chance with. 

“Jay… I hope we can get along”

jay’s perspective

I can’t believe I got replaced by a mutt and was now left with her… I was still given my classes but this was all ridiculous! So when I saw him walk in front of me with new designer clothes and a new collar more expensive than anything my new temporary owner owns, it pissed me off. 

What did he have that I didn’t?! The puppy looks?!  

“She’s your owner now huh?”  I said when he turned to look at me disappointed to see me… We weren’t exactly friends…

“I hope you enjoy it, she’s a bitch who doesn’t know how to do anything herself. You constantly complain and are gonna make you do so many stupid things just to humiliate you!” I said letting the anger get to me… she really was the worst. All of them were.

“She wouldn’t do that” he muttered and I scoffed, I don’t know I was so angry that I grabbed his shirt enough to get aggressive with him... “You’ve suddenly changed from rags to riches and think it doesn’t come for a price!” I said… funny it's almost like we switched spots. 

“You know nothing about– I knew you were hurt but–” “Why are you suddenly mentioning her?” I asked, now confused… e/n was his owner, wasn’t he? “She adopted me… not like it's any of your business,” he said and I sighed… so she didn’t adopt him? Or did she just beat her to it?

“Is the free trial bird causing you trouble? I would too if I suddenly lost everything and suddenly became a freeloading hybrid!” Sunghoon laughed and I scoffed.

“You shouldn’t be laughing? From what I heard your owner doesn’t even know–""Shut up before I make sure this pretty little bird can’t sing again” he threatened… 

“Sore subject? I wouldn’t want to remember you either, Sunghoon '' I said and he glared not saying anything else as I sat down in a different seat than I normally would. 

First Riki now Jake? They both got the happy endings they want… don’t they? So… what about me?

@ilovecheese09 @gudkc @nikisvanillaccola @blossominghunnie @mheretoreadff @k1ttylvr @starzniiky @kibs-and-bits @b3tt7boop @in-somnias-world @lol6sposts @xiaoderrrr @jihyosgfremade @b-a-nshee-blog @mimisamisasa @katsukis1wife @eggomi @thunderous-wolf @tinyteezer @lilactangerine @starfallia @sousydive @bearseulgs

please don't be a silent reader !! reblog, comment, and like <3

[wosomarvel]

communication - 04

alrighty, here it is. definitely not my best work, but i wanted to get something out before the second round of midterms starts.

i also got tickets to sinc's last international game so i am in a great mood and managed to write this in the span of an hour.

enjoy!! as always, i am open to feedback <3

this one is very angsty but with a nice dose of comfort as well.

-----

leah was worried. very worried.

the last time she'd heard from sim was over a week ago when she'd texted her a "got home safe" after camp was over. it didn't help that sim had been closed off since the conversation leah had overheard.

at first, leah thought that maybe she was just overreacting. that was before alessia had approached the captain, asking if she knew why sim was suddenly avoiding everyone after having been so joyous after the match.

leah thought she'd give the younger girl some space after everyone went back to their clubs, but on the third day after their return, leah had had enough. she'd gone to sim's apartment with two coffees from the cafe they frequented.

she gave up knocking on sim's door after the ice in her cold brew melted.

it didn't come as a surprise to leah that sim had shut down. she'd always been resistant to talking about her feelings, but leah hadn't expected her to just vanish. leah had spoken to beth, ella, alessia, and even sarina, hoping that sim had reached out to one of them.

her attempts were fruitless. it was during this time that it dawned on leah how little she actually knew about her friend. she had no idea where to look for her, or who else might have a clue where to start. she didn't even know if sim had any family.

logically, leah knew that this was by design. it wasn't that leah hadn't tried. in fact, it often frustrated leah that sim was so good at avoiding talking about anything from before they had met. and it wasn't that leah didn't know sim that well. she just didn't know about sim. she knew her favourite colour, knew how to read her emotions, how she liked her coffee, how kind she was even when she pretended not to care.

that didn't stop the pit of guilt that settled in leah's stomach like a 50lb dumbell she couldn't shake.

"still haven't heard from her?" viv asked, bringing leah back to her surroundings.

leah shook her head in response as she changed out of her training kit. "obviously, i want her to talk to me, but i'd honestly just settle for knowing that she's safe."

viv placed a hand on leah's hunched shoulder, taking a seat beside the english captain as alessia rushed into the dressing room.

"leah!" she panted, holding out her phone. leah took a look at the screen. all she saw was a pin on a map of north london.

"what am i supposed to be looking at?"

"it's sim, i sent her a voice note before training, just asking if she could please just let me know she's alright and she sent me her location and leah-"

"alessia," leah said, standing up and grabbing the girl by her shoulders, "breathe."

alessia took a deep, grounding breath as prompted, before continuing in a much less frantic tone: "she sent me her location. she's really close with you and i want you to come with me to go get her."

leah nodded before pulling alessia in for a quick hug, planting a soft kiss on her forehead. "get changed and meet me by my car. i'll drive."

-----

no sound is as annoying as the shrill voice of an overbearing parent at a kids' sporting event. at least, not to sim. a small voice in sim's head was genuinely impressed with how the sound carried from beside the pitch, all the way up to where she was sitting in the highest row of the bleachers.

she could hear it over the rushing wind in her ears and it made her sad to think that one of those kids on the pitch was going home with parents that cared more about winning than having fun. she wished she could rush down there and give those parents a piece of her mind.

then she remembered that she shouldn't even be here.

the last week had been a blur. sim knew it wasn't healthy to shut down the way she had, but she feared that if she didn't, she would break down. she felt pathetic. one conversation with her old uni rugby coach shouldn't have her spiraling like this.

somewhere between pretending that she was fine and missing her sport so much, sim had found herself itching to be near the game again. sat there at a random children's recreation league rugby game, she could hear the voice of her own parents in her head.

weak.

pathetic.

embarrassing.

she should never have come here. she was only hurting herself more.

it's just a stupid game. get over yourself.

caught up in her own head, sim barely registered the two women that moved to sit on either side of her. it wasn't until she felt a hand settle on her knee that sim came back to the moment.

she wasn't surprised at their presence. as much as she tried to convince herself that the only reason she had sent alessia her location was to put a stop to all the frantic messages, a small part of her secretly yearned for the comfort of her presence.

"we were worried about you, y'know," leah spoke softly.

sim shook leah's hand off her knee. "you shouldn't have been."

alessia's heart broke at the hoarseness of sim's voice and the way the younger girl seemed to shrink into herself. she wished she could show sim that she deserved to have people care about her.

she reached over and took sim's hand into her lap, intertwining their fingers before squeezing gently.

"we worry because we care about you, love," alessia spoke, voice gentle. sim ignored the way the term of endearment felt like a warm blanket of security. she refused to let herself feel anything, not wanting to break down in front of the two women she considered her closest friends.

"you don't have to talk about whatever is bothering you, but just let us be here for you," leah pleaded.

as much as sim wanted to keep her friends at a distance, she so badly craved the comfort she knew they could provide. it was something she'd always struggled with.

growing up, sim had learned very quickly to make herself as small as possible, to never be a bother or a burden. she'd learned to make herself easy to be around, easy to love.

"i don't want to bother you," sim murmured, trying her best to keep her voice level.

"babe, you could never bother me. don't know about leah, though. she's like a universal older sister. anything anyone does might annoy her," alessia said with a smile, feeling a sense of accomplishment at the way the corners of sim's mouth turned up.

"hey!" the skipper retorted as she reached across sim's body to smack alessia's chest.

there was a beat of silence in which sim tried to muster up the courage to actually say something. she tried to ground herself in the pressure and warmth of alessia's hand in her own, focusing on the sensation of the pad of alessia's thumb rubbing soft circles into the back of her hand.

"it was my safe space," sim finally let out.

"sorry?" leah's soft voice questioned.

"the pitch. it was my safe space," sim repeated. "it didn't matter what was going on at home, at school, or at work. when i was on the pitch, i was... free, i guess," she stated, though it came out as more of a question. she'd never tried putting it in words before, never tried to vocalize exactly how much rugby meant to her.

"when i was playing, it was like i could fly. i was good, too. i played on the youth teams for the red roses a few times. i went down two days after my first senior call up."

the confession seemed to take the wind out of sim. the hunch of her shoulders and way she couldn't seem to even lift her head up was almost pitiful.

alessia removed her hand from sim's grip, instead choosing to wrap an arm around her shoulder. alessia pulled sim into her side and squeezed, hoping to provide as much comfort as she could. she knew her words would do little to help.

alessia settled on a simple "i'm sorry, love."

"what's done is done," sim answered with a shrug.

leah's eyebrows furrowed as she frowned quizzically. "can i ask why the injury is permanent? surely they could have at least helped you walk again?"

sim sighed and leah's heart broke at the defeat painted clearly in her features.

"leah... football is your job. i know there's still a long way to go in terms of investment in the women's game, but you have to understand that the resources you have are not the same as what i had. when i got hurt, i wasn't just in school. i was working and i couldn't afford to just take time off and heal.

"i didn't even get a scan on my knee until i showed up to the next practice a week later and my coach drove me herself. i wasn't resting either. i probably made the injury worse because i had to go to work and class, so i was just taking painkillers and walking my way through things like normal. i couldn't afford to stop. and when i was waiting for surgery after the scans, i was still working. you got your surgery from a top surgeon relatively quickly. i didn't have that same luxury.

"after surgery, i didn't have time to go to all the physical therapy appointments. i was fitting in sessions at the university when i had time but it wasn't enough. i still had to go to work. between my job, the wait time for the surgery, and my non-existent rehab, i was never going to make a full recovery."

leah felt a surge of guilt after hearing sim's explanation. she had always been humble and made it a point to never take her situation for granted, but sometimes she forgot her own privilege.

"i'm sorry. i didn't-"

"you have nothing to be sorry for. it's not your fault you had better access than i did. just the way things go," sim cut her off, shrugging alessia's arm off her shoulder.

sim didn't want their pity. she didn't want them to feel bad for her.

"i know that it's been a long time now and i should be over it, i know that but-" sim cut herself off, carding a shaking hand through her hair, pulling on the strands in an attempt to ground herself.

"it's just that rugby was everything to me. it's all i had. it was the one thing i was good at, and without it i'm lost, y'know? i don't know who i am if i'm not an athlete. i'm not good for anything anymore."

sim's voice cracked on the last word, the sound like ice being dropped into hot water. it brought tears to leah's eyes to see how much sim had been struggling, how she thought so little of herself.

she gently caught hold of sim's hand, flattening it against her own thigh to stop the girl from hurting herself.

"that's not true," alessia said firmly, once again wrapping her arm around sim. "you are so much more than your injury. you're quiet, but you light up every room you walk into. you are so kind and you make everyone around you feel safe. you're funny, and thoughtful, and smart, and i think you get the point now but you're wrong if you think you're not worth anything if you can't play," alessia rambled, red rushing up her cheeks.

sim shook her head almost imperceptibly. it's not that she thought alessia was lying. that wasn't it.

how could alessia be so sure about her when she didn't even know who she was?

leah squeezed the hand still pressed against her thigh. "sweetheart, look at me," she prompted softly.

again, sim shook her head.

leah let go of sim's hand, instead placing it at the back of sim's head and using a thumb to angle it towards her own. she didn't miss the way sim's brown eyes bounced around their surroundings, refusing to land on hers for more than a second at a time.

she decided to let it slide for fear of pushing sim too hard. she'd only just gotten the younger girl to open up and was reluctant to risk another shutdown.

"it doesn't matter that you got hurt a while ago. you're allowed to feel however you feel about it. when i tore my ACL, i was a mess. i held it together on the pitch, but i was inconsolable. i was in a really dark place for quite a while. i know our situations aren't the same, but i felt lost, too. i realized that my identity as a person was tied to my performance as an athlete and it wasn't healthy. but i had beth and viv to help me out of it and i want you to let me do the same for you. less is right. you are so much more than what you can do on the pitch. and it's okay that you're feeling lost and you don't know who you are. we can find out together, yeah?"

a choked sob escaped sim's mouth, causing leah to immediately stand up in front of her, carefully pulling her head into her body.

leah didn't care that her shirt above her stomach was slowly becoming soaked with sim's tears. she let her fingers scratch gently at sim's scalp, relieved that the girl was finally letting it out.

as alessia kept a firm grip on sim's shoulder, she made eye contact with leah standing above her. a silent sense of understanding seemed to pass between the two lionesses.

they were prepared to do anything to make sure sim didn't carry her emotions on her own again. the pain they felt at seeing their friend so broken wasn't something they wanted to feel again, but they would do it over and over a million times just to make sure she wasn't alone.

-----

"so she lives!"

it was katie's turn to host the rest of the gunners for dinner this week. sim's absence from the last two team events hadn't gone unnoticed.

though sim wasn't a part of the team, they had all quickly grown accustomed to her appearance at the side of alessia, leah, and recently beth. she might not have played for the team, or even worked for them in any official capacity, but they had taken her in all the same.

sim would never be able to articulate just how much that meant to her. she went from not having any family to having found her place in two: the lionesses, and now arsenal as well.

"so where'd you run off to, anyway?" steph questioned.

"your mum's house. she says hi, by the way," sim quipped.

there was a beat of silence before a burst of raucous laughter took over katie's living room.

a playful scowl took over steph's face. "you've been spending too much time with mccabe."

[cdragons]

Fall Family Chaos Fun - An Ikaris x Persephone!Eternal Halloween Oneshot

Pairings: Sephia x Ikaris Word Count: ~2.1k Summary: A lil'l slice of insight to how Ikaris' and Sephia's home life goes in the fall with their three gremlins angels. This fic also introduces a lot of new characters that will make strong appearances in future works of this AU! Warning(s): Heavy petting on Ikaris' part (man's a horndog for our Sephie), Aggie is a menace who takes after her Aunt Kaety, Ikaris is older than dirt and doesn't understand teens, Laurie being a teen, and Sephia & Arthur just being adorable

Notes: Yes, I know that Halloween has technically passed, but I had midterms and projects during the time so I'm using the rest of the season as a Free Fall fics pass until December. So this oneshot was beta read by the ever-so lovely @ethereal-athalia, who has so graciously sacrificed herself agreed to beta read all of my fics for the upcoming future while my usual beta reader @valeskafics, is currently really busy with law school until the foreseeable future! Even so, please go visit her blog because she is one of the best writers on Tumblr, especially if you are a fan of Ewan Mitchell, and the HOTD/GOT universe! If you have read any of my past works, you know that my girl @ethereal-athalia is pretty much the co-parent of this Eternals AU idea, and I absolutely love sharing ideas with her, and making connections to make these fics more interesting. Anyway, please be kind and enjoy!

Somewhere deep in an enchanted forest hidden from most of the world, there stood an impressive house. This house was the home to a very special family. It was built by a beautiful woman and her besotted husband, and became their home for them and their three incredible children. Every day the home was laughter and peace and a calming air-

“DADDDDDDD! HAVE YOU SEEN MY CLOAK?”

-unless it was October, December, summer, or… actually, it hard to remember when the word “calm” could be used to describe their home.

“Which one Aggie?”

“The one that had the pretty gold swirls and stars! I need it to match with Hamy!”

“Aggie sweetie, I put it on the chair next to Pope Butterscotch the Golden Sheep!”

“Thanks mommy!”

“Mama? Have you seen Bun-Bun?”

“Bun-Bun had an accident with the breakfast this morning, so I put him in the wash! But he should be waiting for you in the dryer!”

“Thanks, Da!”

A frazzled Ikaris crouched on top of the stairwell, scrubbing away the evidence of markers and crayons from the wall-paint. When the colored outlines were only just barely visible, he made his way down the stairwell to find the one person whose sole presence would wash away all his fatigue. Standing over the massive sink - bathed in golden sunlight - stood the love of his eternal and immortal life. You were washing the vegetables that came from their gardens. Ikaris saw an array of vegetables – carrots that ranged from yellow to dark purple, deep red beetroots and radishes, a mountain of spinach, and a pumpkin of impressive size (just to new a few).

With sweat running down her brow and small streaks of dirt on your cheek, you was a vision of pure beauty. Ikaris could spend all his time listing all the parts he loved about you, and the Earth would long be dead from war and famine and any other forms of destruction that came from humanity. No time with you would be enough- it would never be enough. Wrapping his arms around your waist, Ikaris lowered his head until his nose was pressed into the crook of your neck.

Taking in a deep breath, your natural essence of clean and fresh aromas overtook his senses as a wave of calm washed over him. Your natural perfume mixed with the notes of your sweat formed a new sweet and tantalizing fragrance that caused a growl to emerge deep from his throat as Ikaris started to lay kisses over your skin. Given your deep connection to the Earth, your scent always seemed to change with the seasons. As the autumn chill chased away the summer breeze, gone were the fresh and soft fragrances of grapefruit and sandalwood. But Ikaris did not mind the loss as he took notice of notes of patchouli and orange. Reaching behind you to stroke your husband’s hair, you let a light chuckle escape under your breath.

“If you’re hoping to get lucky,” you teased with a mirthful smirk, “I would suggest that you wait until I am not sweating like a pig with dirt all over me.”

“Please,” Ikaris scoffed, “you say that if I haven’t taken you in the dirt a thousand times by now, each time leaving you more flushed with sweat than you washing some greens.” He emphasized his point by creeping his hands under your the massive green and cream flannel you stole from his closet until he reached your breasts. His eyes widened slightly at the lack of a certain apparel, until the corners of his mouth curled to a lecherous grin.

“No bra today?” He whispered with a low and husky tone. “Such a naughty flower, I wonder if I touched you down there, would I find your cunt bare and dripping, or your underwear soaked?” He pinched your nipple to emphasize his point, and let his ears drink in your soft mewling.

“Ikaris,” you rasped, “our kids could walk in any moment-”

“DAD! ARTHUR STOLE MY RIBBON!”

“NUH-UH! AND IT WAS BUN-BUN’S RIBBON FIRST, SO AGGIE STOLE IT FIRST!”

“DID NOT!” “DID TOO!” “DID NOT!” “DID TOO!”

“DAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDD!”

Lightly chuckling at the immediate downfallen expression on your husband’s face in response to their children’s call to him. Turning your head to press a kiss on his furrowed brow, you reassured him that you would play the mediator this time.

“And while I’m at it,” you reasoned, “you can check on our less problematic son.”

“Laurie?” Ikaris’ expression immediately shifted to worry. “Is he alright? Has he experienced any chest pains or breathing troubles? He barely finished his breakfast this morning. Do I need to call Kaet-”

“No, no, no,” you reassured, already on damage control to prevent her husband from hovering over their firstborn like he had when Laurie was still a baby. “He’s just been holed up in his room all day, and I want to make sure that he isn’t overly stressed about anything.” You pressed her palm on his face, and stroked your thumb across his cheek. “Don’t worry so much, it might just be teen angst – Sersi told us that it’s very common at his age!”

Still a bit disturbed at his son’s unusual behavior, Ikaris quickly kissed your palm before making his way up the deep mahogany stairwell. Thinking over the past few months, Ikaris was making mental notes of his son’s strange behavior. He knew that it wasn’t his studies or his athletics at school, but he was acting more secretive. He would come home later than usual, check his phone more frequently, and even finish his meals as quickly as possible to dash to his room.

Quickly flying past the many rooms – including the one that was currently occupied by his two youngest children, who were still arguing over the correct ownership over a particularly shiny ribbon – he finally made it to the end of the hall where his first child’s room was located. On the deep red-stained wood was a little piece of signage that was covered in laurel leaves with the only negative space spelling out “Laurie.” Softly knocking three times twice (a little signal between father and son) before a soft voice was heard through the door.

“Come in,” called out his son as Ikaris gently opened the door, a faint creak screeched out from the worn-down hinge and its pin. At first glance, the main focus of the room would be the queen-sized bed frame with a hand-embroidered eggshell-white cotton quilt, or the thousands of stars that were painted on the ceiling, or even the gilded golden crossbow hanging over his bed. But all the Eternal could focus on was the sight of his eldest child, Laurus Orion Harris, or “Laurie” as was so lovingly dubbed by his glorious wife. And he couldn’t help but feel immense pride in the fact that he had any part (even if it was only genetically) in creating the child in front of him.

“Everything alright dad?” Laurie asked.

“Yeah, everything’s okay,” Ikaris replied, “well, your mother is trying to separate your brother and sister over a very sparkly ribbon. But other than that, everything is fine.” He paused for a minute to notice that his eldest was acting a bit antsy, as if he was expecting something very important. “But are you sure there isn’t anything bothering you?”

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just unusual for you to be holed up in your room. It’s usually not because of your studies because your Aunt Sersi always tells your mum and me how well you’re doing. At the very least, you’d probably be outside enjoying the changing leaves with your horse.” Ikaris tried not to seem too intrusive, his son had the right to his own privacy after all, and he trusted him to always make good choices. But with everything he had seen for the past few months, he wanted to make sure that Laurie wasn’t involved in anything dangerous. “I just want you to know that if there’s anything that’s at all bothering you, me or your mum are always going to be there to listen.”

Laurie took in what his dad said, and decided that it wouldn’t hurt to tell him a little bit. “Well, now that you mention it. I was just wondering…do you think Uncle Gil and Aunt Thena will bring Mara and Uriel over for Hamish’s birthday?”

And suddenly everything was clear for Ikaris. It was no wonder his child had been acting so nervous lately.

“Laurie,” he began, “are you worried over how you’ll act around Thena’s new ward?”

When his fourteen-year-old son’s face turned bright red, Ikaris knew he hit the nail on the head.

“You know, if you’re really that worried, I can ask Thena and Gil to maybe reconsider coming this year. I am sure they’ll understand, it’s only been a little over a year since-”

“NO! That’s alright!” Laurie was so panicked that he didn’t even notice his voice cracking, “I don’t want to do that to Hamish, he looks forward to all of us coming together for his birthday. And I rarely see Uncle Gil and Aunt Thena that much as it is – plus, Aggie seems to be alright with her, and Arthur is already getting along with Uriel really well. So…I just want to make sure that she knows that she’s welcome and…safe with us.”

“Oh my sweet boy,” mentally sorrowed Ikaris, “that little fire hellion has got him petrified.” No matter how long since it’s been since he last fought, the Eternal would tell when someone was trying to put on a brave face. Not wanting to embarrass his son, Ikaris decided that it would be best to just drop the matter for now. Worst case scenario, he would no issue to take matters in his own hands if that little flame demon tried to pull anything on Laurie like she had the first time.

“Alright,” he relented, “but you shouldn’t worry so much. I’m sure that you two will soon be good friends. But if there is anything that happens with her that makes you feel unsafe or uncomfortable, you tell me or you mum straight away. Do you understand that?”

“Yeah dad, I understand.”

“Good, I want you to know that-”

“DADDDDD! ARTHUR STILL WON’T GIVE ME BACK MY RIBBON!”

“THAT’S BECAUSE IT ISN’T YOUR RIBBON, IT’S BUN-BUN’S RIBBON!”

Letting out a deep sigh before walking over to the foot of the bed next to his son, Ikaris swept aside a bit of his unruly curls to drop a quick kiss on the top of his forehead. A wave of rosemary and frankincense wafted into his nose.

“Seems like your mum needs some help,” he chuckled, “remember what I told you. I love you.”

“Love you too dad,” replied Laurie as he watched his father walk out of his room and closing the door. He tried his best to gather his thoughts for the upcoming holiday, but that was easier said than done.

“Agalia Sersi Harris!” He heard his mother yell out – which happened very rarely. “You tell Germain to lower your brother on the ground this instant young lady!”

Not being able to hold back the laugh escape his throat, Laurie let out a series of soft chuckles. He thought back to all of the comments his friends at his school would make about his family.

They would marvel over how his mum would always make sure his lunches would look so delicious, and laugh whenever he never rejected her hugs and kisses.

Sometimes, they’d jealously gripe over how close he would be with his dad because he would always be there for his games and always act so proud of how he played – even if he did terribly.

There was the occasional snide comment about how Aggie would act so uppity and prissy, and then they’d immediately piss themselves at the sight of her barreling toward them at full speed to deliver her fury.

And then they would talk about how weird it’d be whenever Little Ari would always try to play with them, and Laurie would never brush him off and make sure that there was a way to include him.

It made the young man sad to realize that it wasn’t considered “normal” to be so close to your own parents and siblings. But if being a “normal” meant having to pretend that he didn’t have most incredible family in the history of the world, then he would gladly wear the title “freak” proudly.

I hope you enjoyed reading this fic! Please drop a like if you did enjoy it, and also a reblog or comment if you look forward to reading more!

Tagging: @valeskafics, @ethereal-athalia, @aphroditesmoon, @3vergr3en, @its-actually-minicika, @asa-do-your-thing, @dreaming-for-an-escape, @hypnoticmistake, @vikingqueen28, @tacorice, @deanthomaswhore, @angelnyx, @getawaycardotmp3, @redheadspark, @sunphyre, @bambiandbam, @diaryofapillowprincess, @karimac, @spacetalbot, @beananacake, @snowprincesa1, @littledoveofchaos, @prettyvintageafternoon, @themeanestlittlewitch

Let me know in the comments if you would like to be tagged!

[666writingcafe]

Exam Prep, Part Two

Solomon

"For the practical part of your midterm, you'll have to deliver a curse or hex, and you'll have to block one."

"I know," MC replies. "The professor went over that in class today."

"Right. I keep forgetting that you're the studious type."

"Does that surprise you?" I smile.

"For you, no. It makes perfect sense. I'm just not used to working with people who are quite so attentive."

"I've always tended to be a bit of a bookworm."

"That's good. Knowledge is power." MC snorts in amusement.

"You sound like Satan."

"Where did you think he got that from?" MC briefly looks perplexed by my statement, but quickly shakes their head.

"Is something the matter?" I ask.

"Not particularly. It's just that the questions I have will end up sidetracking us, and I can't afford to waste any time." I chuckle. They're definitely the most responsible person that has ever stepped foot in the House of Lamentation.

"All right then. Let's get started. I believe you'll do fine as long as you maintain control, but it never hurts to practice. So, today you and I are going to have a friendly duel." I position MC at one side of the room, and I take my place at the other.

"Why a duel?"

"Because other than wanting to mess with someone, you'll most likely curse or hex someone while you're in a fight."

"I see."

"Now, when you're actively battling someone, you can't afford for them to know your next move. You also don't normally have a lot of time to plan, so each second is valuable."

"So, you have to have the curse you want to use in mind, and then silently deliver it."

"Exactly." I appreciate the fact that they learn quickly. It makes things a lot easier for me when I don't have to repeat myself constantly. "For this exercise, just worry about blocking me. Once you feel comfortable, we'll switch to you delivering. If we have time, then we'll duke it out."

"None of this is going to be lethal, is it?"

"Of course not. You can't take your exams if you're dead."

"Except if I turned into a ghost."

"But then you would have to get ghost-friendly supplies, and that seems like a lot of work for a simple midterm." That makes MC laugh.

"I suppose you're right," they say once they compose themselves.

"So, are you ready?" MC nods their head.

If it weren't for the fact that I'm confident in their blocking abilities, I wouldn't even think about delivering this curse to MC. The brothers would kill me if it actually stuck. However, it's the first curse that pops into my head, and nothing else is coming forward.

So, I silently utter the curse, and its energy shoots out of my hands and heads towards MC. As expected, they block the curse. However, instead of simply getting absorbed, the curse bounces off MC's magical shield and hits me square in the chest with enough force to send me backwards. My back hits the wall, causing me to slide down to the floor.

To say that I did not anticipate this happening would be an understatement.

"Solomon!" MC's panicking. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm okay." As I stand up, I make sure to avoid eye contact with MC.

"I didn't hurt you, did I?" MC walks over to me and places a hand on my shoulder.

"Not permanently, no. I'll definitely be sore for a few days, though."

"I'm sorry, Solomon. I had no idea that this was going to happen."

"Neither did I. Very impressive." MC pauses. They must have picked up on the fact that I'm not looking at them.

"Solomon, what type of curse did you send?" I sigh.

"A love curse."

"Go on." If their tone is any indication of their feelings, MC seems cross with me.

"The person affected becomes infatuated with the first individual they lay their eyes on. The effects normally last for about a hour." They don't say anything for a couple moments, and I wonder if it would be more or less terrifying to have them yell at me for what I've done.

"How long have you had feelings for me?" The question catches me off guard. I wasn't expecting them to be so blunt.

"A while," I admit.

"Why me?"

"To be honest, I don't know. I haven't allowed myself to feel this way about anyone in a really long time, and yet somehow I've managed to grow quite fond of you."

"I see. Are you afraid you won't be able to control yourself once you look at me?" Damn. They're really observant. What else have they picked up on?

"Something like that. The combination of your power and my emotions will most likely intensify the effects of the curse, and I don't want to put you in a situation you don't want to be in."

"And yet you chose that particular curse." I feel like they're smirking at me.

"I knew it wouldn't hit you. You're an excellent blocker."

"Thank you." Footsteps indicate that they're walking away from me, and for a moment, I'm convinced that they're going to leave me in this room alone as punishment. However, the door not opening indicates that they're still here.

What exactly are they doing?

"Solomon?" Their voice is coming from the direction of the couch. Are they sitting on it?

"Yes?"

"How long do you reckon the curse would last under these circumstances?"

"At least a couple hours. Why do you ask?"

"I'm just making sure that I won't be missed." I'm confused.

"What are you getting at, MC?"

"I want you to look at me."

"You better not be joking." The words escape more harshly than I was intending.

"I'm completely serious. Of course, if you would rather I fetch someone else..." They trail off as my eyes finally meet theirs. Sure enough, they're sitting on the couch.

"That won't be necessary." I quickly walk over to the couch, where I lean down and kiss MC on the lips. Before I can pull completely back, MC pushes me onto their lap and deepens the kiss.

This is going to be a long afternoon.

[liskantope]

Looking back at the culture war battles of 2022, one development that particularly sticks out to me is the American Republican/anti-woke side latching on to the idea of everything social progressives call for that involves minors being a form of "grooming" and/or adjacent to pedophilia. This welled up during the 2022 midterm campaign season and I doubt it reached its final boil during the elections; it probably isn't dying down anytime just yet.

My first reaction, around mid-2022, to seeing this new-ish trend was that it was once again an example of the Right looking at a rhetorical tactic of the Left (in this case, finding a near-universally despised personal trait and relentlessly tarring as many opinions as possible from the opposing side as coming from that trait) and deciding that hey, two can play at this game. The main name that the Left has taken to using against as many opposing opinions as possible is "racist"/"racism", and what's arguably the one label even worse to have attached to you than "racist"? Probably "pedophile" or (more mildly) "groomer".

From that point of view, I can see where this Republican/anti-woke strategy comes from, to the extent that it's been consciously employed and regardless of how blatantly hypocritical it is. But it still caught me by surprise and feels strange, I think because of my impression of being anti-grooming as more of a liberal progressive cause. Now mind you, I know that anything adjacent to pedophilia is reviled by pretty much all parts of the political spectrum, and I also know that the conservative Right (at least in America) has a history of tarring gay people as secretly pedophiles, insinuating that open homosexuality (and other forms of queerness) corrupts and endangers children, and so on. But over the 5-10 years or so previous to the rise of "groomer" accusations from the conservative side, I had come to firmly code raising the alarm about grooming behavior as more of a progressive SJ-ish thing, naturally occurring as a part of the Me Too movement. I had been exposed to a lot of talk in progressive circles about the power differentials that come with age differentials and so on. The whole Josh Duggar scandal some years back seemed split roughly along political lines, with only conservatives (most infamously Mike Huckabee) being willing to come to his defense. And I had a vague notion that liberal people took child molestation and terrible behavior adjacent to it as a sort of higher-priority societal crisis than conservatives did, much as this was clearly the case with rape in general.

So I had thought of cries of "Groomer!" and "Pedophile!" as similar to cries of "Racist!" in that they involve a name that absolutely nobody wants to be branded with, which refers to a type of person that almost everyone looks down upon and is determined not to be but which the Right has a stricter definition of, doesn't see in as many places, and tends to think the Left is overly paranoid about. And yet, for the time being at least, the Right seems to have gotten hold of "Groomer!" and "Pedophile!".

I found this a sort of bemusing (and also of course disturbing) irony, given the extent to which so many socially progressive people around me see grooming / pedophilia / child abuse as a very serious problem and are very sincere in their concerns about it. And to be honest, one of the things I couldn't help saying to myself was, "Let's see how this goes and how people feel when 'Groomer!' is used against them, when the other side stretches at every possible opportunity to compare our side to something we truly find despicable whenever we stand for something they don't like. Maybe this will give some people a new insight about how ineffective it is to blast everything they don't like on the other side as "racist" or other -ists or otherwise coming from something purely evil. It's going to be interesting to see how this changes the dynamic."

(It's worth mentioning as a qualification that the American Right did do something like this as recently as the mid-00's with comparing everyone less hawkish than them with terrorist-sympathizers, but that was a little less direct and seems to have already faded from many people's memories. A closer example would be some decades earlier when an awful lot of Americans seemed determined to brand anyone to the left of them as a Communist sympathizer, but of course this is even further removed from the present.)

It's interesting to look back on this half a year later, because I definitely intended to write a more sharply pointed post expressing most of my paragraphs above sometime around last summer, but it got lost in the shuffle as many of my potential blog posts do. And now it seems like it sort of came to an anticlimax. Anti-woke conservatives did quite well in the midterms as long as they weren't too Trumpy, but Democrats put in a better-than-expected performance. My liberal colleagues and acquaintances mostly seem to have ignored conservative rhetoric about groomers or just dismissed it as idiotic (which, to be fair, it basically is) rather than let it bother them beyond that, either on a direct, immediate level or in terms of making them rethink messaging or persuasive rhetoric from their/our own side. All of this seems to be fizzling over, relative to what I imagined back around July.

[pushingupmaesies]

psd used: chainsaw by @hiddencircus! font used: kitchoscript by yutaone!

Kamurogiku Kotone Deck Guide:

to fully understand why some cards work better in this deck than others, you need to understand kotone's personal p-item and skill card, so let's start there.

have no clue what i'm saying? check out the gakumas masterdoc!

kotone's personal skill card gives you +4 good impression (👍) and +3 motivation (✊) initially, and any time you use a skill card that gives you energy/shield, you additionally gain +1 good impression. this makes her, to my knowledge, the first logic based p-ssr to use both good impression and motivation buffs at once.

her skill card directly ties into the buff her p-item gives. every 3 turns, if you have at least 6 stacks of good impression (👍), you gain 100% of your good impression stacks as additional energy/shield. this can happen up to 4 times per lesson.

ready for the deck itself? okay, let's go under the cut.

setup cards:

while this p-ssr uses both good impression (👍) and motivation (✊), they are not used equally. you should primarily focus on motivation and energy/shield. cards that give both good impression and energy/shield should be your second priority for setup cards.

some setup cards i recommend:

these four are your most valuable setup cards. the first one offers 3 energy/shield at base (increasing with each stack of motivation) and 4 stacks of good impression, triggering kotone's personal skill card's passive and giving you plenty of room to trigger her p-item's buff within the 3 allotted turns.

the second offers 2 energy/shield at base, and 4 stacks of motivation, giving you more opportunities to stack even more energy/shield later on. these first two can be used multiple times in a lesson, and you can gain several copies of each. these are good to have duplicates of, but don't flood your deck with them, or it'll be hard to get scoring skill cards off when you need to.

these bottom two can only be used once per lesson, but the first one can be duplicated. it offers you 7 energy/shield at base, and four stacks of motivation. this brings it out above the previously mentioned motivation card, but you can only use each copy of the card once per lesson, making it a less consistent play.

the second card cannot be duplicated or used more than once per lesson. it gives you 11 energy/shield at base and 5 stacks of motivation, but gives you a debuff increasing card costs for 2 turns. it has its drawbacks, but in a good run you will have plenty of energy/shield to compensate for the increased cost.

aside from these four cards, there are two other skill cards that i recommend using during setup turns:

the first card offers a permanent buff, reducing the cost of skill cards for the rest of the lesson, along with 8 energy/shield at base. the buff itself is monumental for motivation decks because of the sheer amount of cards that deal true damage (ignoring energy/shield, cutting into your stamina directly).

the second costs 2 good impression stacks, but provides you with 9 energy/shield TWICE at base. this can really round out a shield/motivation deck, and it's especially helpful on this kotone because she'll almost always have the good impression stacks to play it.

scoring cards:

now that you've got your setup, you still have plenty of room in your deck for some scoring cards, right? good. you can't score enough to pass the midterm or the final without them!

scoring cards i recommend:

the first card, which i like to call the heart bomb, is a staple in any motivation deck. you build up plenty of shield across all the turns of your lesson/exam, and you drop one of these bad boys. it cuts your current shield in half and scores for 130%(180% if you upgrade, which you should be doing) of your shield before the cut. i recommend grabbing at least 3 of these, so you too can knock out the twin towers with your silly little idol girl. you can also supplement your deck with any other cards that scale off of shield, but the heart bomb should be your main priority for score cards.

in the same vein as that, you can supplement your deck with the second card i've recommended. it provides you 8 stacks of motivation, and scores for 300% of your motivation stacks. if you have a lot of motivation, which you SHOULD, this can do some pretty heavy lifting during a round where you don't have a heart bomb available. you can't grab any duplicates of this card, so it won't be taking up too much space in the deck.

what about support cards? what should i bring?

okay, now we're really cooking. the two main support cards i recommend aside from the obvious (the support ssr running in the same banner as this kotone, very clearly built to support her) are these two:

and not just because i love lilja! that's just a bonus. the items these two support cards SERIOUSLY help out motivation decks.

the star and paper chain gives you 2 energy/shield every visual turn, and the two sodas add 50% of your motivation stacks to your parameter score every dance turn! it doesn't seem like a lot, but it compliments the deck really well.

that's all i've really got to say about this deck honestly. the rest of it is straightforward, and if you follow the masterdoc i linked above (and also provide in my navigation page) you should know where to go from here. good luck out there! hopefully you hit an S rank run!!

[cosmica-galaxy]

The baby posts were adorable af! The thought makes my heart all warm and mushy like oatmeal. Now I gotta wonder what a Jeb or Phobos dad would be like. Hell, what would a Player/Tricky hybrid look like?? That one’s a little scary.

ANSWERING BOTH OF THESE! I MADE MORE MADCOM PAPA FLUFF FOR ALL YOU! HEHEHEHAHAHAHAH!

HAHAHAA! I cannot be stopped! MORE MADCOM ASKS!!

Tw: Pregnancy and non-descriptive birth mention, but more cavity-inducing papa grunts!

+Reader has fem bits but are gender neutral +Set in Salty’s Self Aware AU PART 2 HAS SHERIFF AND TRICKY! Thank Jebus I got two asks asking for the same stuff!!

– JEB –

The moment that his player comes forward to tell him that they were carrying his child, Jeb pretty much experiences a temporary blue screen in his mind. After a few moments of him blankly staring ahead, he comes alive and finds himself so elated that he picks up his player and spins them around in a fit of elated joy. He was going to have a demi-god for a child, how could he NOT be happy? Not only that, but it was a product of their shared love for one another, so Jeb couldn’t be any more excited.

In the first trimester, Jeb works overtime to make a safe haven for you to carry his child safely to term. He gathers up any materials he can, such as blankets, medical supplies, and various utilities that he can use to help you throughout your pregnancy. He also reassumes his ‘bodyguard’ instincts from the early days of him protecting the Sheriff from Hank, making sure to watch over you whenever he could and dealing with anyone that dared come too close for his personal comfort.

He also begins to reread up on his studies from long ago and to apply much more modern knowledge to childcare. His player had to help him understand human anatomy at times, but he was more than willing to learn if it meant that his child would be brought into the world of Nevada healthy and safe.

In the midterm, Jeb grows more anxious and excited as you have to help him relax and calm down on more than one occasion. Mostly because his repressed emotions have begun to emerge and they slightly get away from him from time to time. Your cuddles and loving kisses always calm him down and he lays next to you for hours on end like a loyal guardian, even after you’ve fallen asleep and the nighttime part of Nevada comes around.

Jeb even takes up ‘childproofing’ most of the new living space and gathering furnishing materials in his spare time. He’s not an overly handiworker-type of grunt, but he is determined to give his offspring the best crib in all of Nevada. Days of work went into carving up a wooden crib for his child. Designed with angel wings on the corners and halo-esque designs carved into the wood that gave the side of the crib a similarity to stained glass windows one would find in a place of worship.

Needless to say, you were pretty impressed with his work, even more so when you discover that he wasn’t really a handy grunt or an artist. You give Jeb a kiss of approval to make sure he understood your appreciation for his effort.

By the late trimester, Jeb becomes borderline obsessed with protection and nesting. The crib’s room is decorated with little carved figurines and lots of white sheets and items, to which Jeb claims was just to make the room ‘feel holier’. As his player could only snicker in response and encourage his creativity by making glowing sheets and a ‘onsie robe’ from their own iridescent strings.

Eventually, the room is covered with white and color with a few shiny objects and precious polished metals that Jeb had found while he was scouting around for items. It reminded you of a holy-themed magpie's nest for obvious reasons, but you could only give Jeb a loving kiss on his lips while you stand and look on in satisfaction of what will become your child’s bedroom.

Pretty soon, the due date begins to arrive.

Jeb is no longer leaving his players side as they need more and more help as their birthday draws closer and closer. Jeb is stressed out and nervous, and he makes sure that you’re cared for and doted on the most in this stage. He even gives you periodic massages along your back and hips to help you with your growing discomfort and pain.

You both prepare for the arrival by gathering up materials and items that would be used to help you deliver his child as Jeb also works on a medical station that would deliver his child safely.

Then suddenly, it happens.

Right before dawn, his player lets out a loud cry of pain that shocks Jeb out of his deep sleep. Jeb springs to life as he picks up his player effortlessly and goes to the makeshift medbay to lay you on a stretcher he stole from an abandoned hospital. His emotions run high as he prepares and follows your strained instructions on what he should do.

The process was long and difficult with you two being the only ones around, but eventually Jeb finishes the delivery process and cleans the young one off. His player becomes exhausted as they slump against the cot to catch their breath while he swaddles up the little arrival and then…there’s stillness.

There was only the sound of your labored breathing while he sits in the quiet room looking at the bundle in his arms from behind his shades. The little one makes a couple of quiet squeaks as they wiggle in his arms and let out a kitten-like sneeze as they open their eyes.

Surprisingly, their eyes looked just like his…and an even more shocking turn of events, an iridescent halo suddenly developed around their head after a few minutes of being awake. It startled Jeb, but enthralled him at the same time. He holds his child close as the infant lets out a few squeaks and painful yanks on his beard, making Jeb wince and pull back a bit giving his young one a soft glare before chuckling in response. The child even let out a giggle of their own.

Then, the emotions hit Jeb all at once and the ex-AAHW member blinks in a repeated fashion until something wet drips past his eyes. He doesn’t even mind the small hands that come up to investigate his dripping tears as the new father merely holds them close to his body. Relief and happiness fills his S3LF as he nuzzles the glittering infant as close to himself as possible.

Jebus wept. But not from sorrow.

As a father, Jebus desires to raise his child to become the ‘true savior’ of Nevada. Since his departure from the AAHW, Jeb has tried to live a more peaceful life, but Hank and their group tends to make that…difficult. But his child is far stronger and has higher-god blood in them, so he tries his best to be a great role model for his child and guide them through Nevada the best he can.

Jebus is an honored parent of a demi-god that wants his kid to succeed and be just as righteous, if not more so, than he could ever be. While hopefully saving Nevada from The Madness in the process.

– PHOBOS –

When you told Phobos that you were pregnant, you should have really expected that he would be the type to go full ham about you carrying his holy offspring. Phobos was beyond elated, he was pretty much ascending inside of his own body when he processed the news that he was going to have a child. He had pulled you close and nuzzled you in the way you liked while he rambled about making a new wing on the science tower that would house all of his youngling’s rooms.

During the first trimester, Phobos begins construction on the new wing of the science tower. This didn’t surprise you in the slightest, as Phobos was always the type to go above and beyond to ‘please his godly lover’ and as your loyalist acolyte (and chosen child-bearer; his words not yours), you being pleased with your environment came before all else. Even the project.

So he started from the ground up with units to build more onto the building that houses you both, he started the project with the bedroom. Phobos is relentless in his desire for absolute perfection when it comes to you and your developing young. The poor workers are strained to their limits while he makes the room as perfect as he can. Not only that, but he was also making it as ‘holy’ and needlessly extravagant at the same time.

The floors of the room were made from a polished rare white stone, the pillars of the room had to have unique carvings on them, and the doors were made from the darkest refined wood that they could find. All the patterns worked in harmony and even had a style that was similar to Chinese Imperial architecture from your world. Which made sense, since Phobos was a self-deemed ‘emperor’ of Nexus City.

The crib itself was made with precious metals and has a long canopy that was strung above it by one of your iridescent strings, which was requested by the worker that hung the canopy up.

The room was also given a bookshelf, chairs, a changing station, a vanity, and a large walk-in closet. Each piece of furnishing was also overly decorated and painstakingly carved with unique designs that each depicted the player in their holy visage and a god-like Phobos as well. You really felt bad for the workers that put all that effort in, so you would bring them refreshments and sweets as a gratuitous gift to them when Phobos wasn’t around. Since you worried that he would execute the poor workers if he saw them ‘tainting’ you with their presence. This made you rather popular with the workers and some would even visit the altar that was dedicated to you Phobos had set up to leave you gifts.

During the midterm of your pregnancy, Phobos is pretty much obsessed with making sure that you’re protected at all cost and that the wing of the science tower continues its construction. After the bedroom was done, the construction moved to making the child demi-god a playroom, an entertainment center, a living area, their own personal kitchen (cause like hell Phobos would prepare their food in the cafeteria of the science tower), a schooling room, and a luxurious bathroom. He still wasn’t done with the plans for the tower, but you constantly had to remind him that your child was merely an infant and what he was doing was enough.

Phobos is stubborn though, but a good few kisses and affectionate strokes is enough to make your ‘loyalist acolyte’ melt under your touch in response. You manage to get him to relax for a while as you both lay together, his hands on your belly and him whispering sweet sayings into your ear as you stay wrapped up in his crimson cape. Then, he gasps when he feels the child press back into his hands. His cycloptic eye seemingly sparkling as you let out a couple of giggles and a long sigh when he cuddles up closer to your belly to talk to the little one within. Listening to him say how he was so excited to meet his little godling and how much he loved them was enough to make you blush brightly in response.

In the late trimester of you carrying his child, Phobos is strict with his staff and he begins to prepare for the arrival of your little one. Making a closet worth of clothes, high quality blankets for the crib, having a cleaning staff go through the new wing of the science tower daily, and preparing a special medical wing for you to give birth in. Phobos also has to work on his ‘lesser important’ project in the meantime, so you are left in your shared room alone most of the time with assistants helping you throughout the day.

Then, the due date arrives.

Phobos is in the lower levels of the science towers scolding a lot of incompetent grunts from messing up some ‘simple’ engineering work when he suddenly gets a call on his comm from the medical wing.

The moment he is given the news that his player has gone into labor, he leaves the other grunts behind and races to the medical wing. When he arrives, the grunts that were walking through the medical district of the tower part like the red sea to allow Phobos through without a hassle. He gets to the private section of the wing to find his player in the middle of labor.

He rushes to his players side while the trained medical team works on preparing to deliver his godling. He allows you to grip his hand throughout the process, which nearly brings a tear to his eye from how hard you were crushing it. Then, the process passes and the medical team clean up his little one while you release his hand from your deathgrip.

With his player resting on the medical cot, Phobos is handed a little swaddled bundle of grunt in a satin cloth while the medical staff clear out of there to give the pair a moment of peace. Phobos is in awe as he looks at the little glittering grunt in his arms in silence as they slowly awaken to see the world for the first time.

Their eyes are colorful like the players and they were sporting a rather unique mark around their head. There was a bright small crimson circle that was placed in the middle of their forehead, along with crimson markings that gave the illusion that the little one was wearing a royal circlet. Phobos holds up his hand as he gently rubs the child’s face in a gentle and loving manner, almost as if he couldn’t believe his little god was finally here after months of waiting.

He cuddles them and holds them close to his body as the youngling hiccups and stretches out their little limbs, making cute little straining noises before letting out a small yawn. Phobos could feel his ego pretty much becoming even BIGGER as his heart melts and palpitates in his chest. What a perfect little royal.

“My little god…it’s nice to finally meet you.” Phobos mutters just above a whisper as he nuzzles his child in a loving manner.

As a father, Phobos couldn’t be more protective and proud. He bred with the most powerful being in Nevada and was ‘chosen to rear their young’ (again, his words, not yours.) as a god among the masses, Phobos is the most egotistical he has ever been.

But now, he has a child to absolutely spoil rotten and dote on while he works on his other project. Though, you’re the parent that keeps a tighter leash on your child and you also perform disciplinary actions against them. Less they become a spoiled brat because of Phobos’s constant doting.

You also might have to keep a watch on Phobos too, because he’s already talking about having another little god.

[i-got-a-bad-feeling-about-this]

Ooh okay so not too long ago I sent a request asking for more Camp Mark stuff, but since you just posted something like that (which was adorable btw), how about this instead: Engineer!Mark doing something to try and impress the Captain/help them out in some practical way, or just show them how much they mean to him. Maybe it succeeds and the Captain is thrilled, or it fails spectacularly but the Captain sees what he was trying to do and is touched by the effort. EITHER WAY, they pull him aside to let him know in no uncertain terms (i.e. with words and with smooches) how much they appreciate him too~. And I would like him to be a puddle by the time the Captain is done with him, please 💞

Grateful (Engineer Mark x GN Reader)

Summary- You were supposed to have a nice day off and have a nice dinner with your lovely head engineer, but work won't allows that. Well until Mark steps in.

TW's- Stress, that's about it, shorter than normal. Established relationship.

OHHHHHH damn. Midterms have been kicking my ass. Thank you for being patient with me, college is hard af man. But fuck it, we ball. But thanks so much for the support guys, it means a lot. Also, commissions are open!

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You were exhausted. 

You and the crew of the Invincible 2 had finally cleared the planet and classified it as safe for humans. This meant you and the crew were slowly starting to wake up the ship's passengers. It was a lot of work, with a lot more people. You knew you were lucky to have a respectful crew, and you told them that often, you also knew the passengers wouldn't be as respectful. 

You took a sip of your drink, currently completing the paperwork that came after one of the passengers had gotten into a fight. It was a huge mess and a pain in your ass. You were supposed to have the day off, but with all that needed to be done before sending the next round of passengers down, you knew you wouldn't get that day. You sighed and closed your laptop, finishing that task and moving on to the next. The AI needed some work done to it, so you headed to the engine room. 

You looked down at the list of tasks you needed to do before tomorrow morning. You wouldn't even have time to eat dinner with Mark. You smiled to yourself, thinking of your head engineer. He truly was amazing, for being the chaotic one out of the 2 of you, he was amazing with time management. 

You sighed and your smile slipped from your face as you opened the door to the engine room. Fixing this AI was going to be a bitch and you knew it. 

As you approached the main console you heard the supposedly broken AI voice greet you. You pause, asking

“Aren’t you broken computer?” 

“Not anymore Captain!” You heard Mark yell out before standing up from beneath the console. Your smile quickly returned as you approached him. 

“Did you fix the computer Mark?” you asked, He nodded a bright smile on his face and his fluffy hair a mess. 

“Uh yeah, I got done with my work early today sooooo.” He looked you in the eyes before quickly looking away bashfully. “ So I decided to help you with some of your tasks, Captain.” 

You opened your mouth and started to say something but failed. You close your mouth and shake your head. 

“You, you would do that for me?” you softly asked him, your captain persona melted away. For some reason, it always did with him.

He met your eyes and smiled.

“ I would do anything for you.” He softly answered, your face heating up. He bit his lip before in a louder voice saying, “But yeah, everything on the list should be done.” He ran a hand through his disheveled hair,

“I’d hate for my lovely captain to miss dinner with me.” You chuckled, a fuzzy feeling in your heart. Something about the way he said my captain made your heart melt. 

You looked around before grabbing his hand and leading him back to your office. As soon as you closed the door, Mark turned and started to ask,

“Why are we-” and was cut off by you hugging him. He stood still shocked for a moment before wrapping his strong arms around you. 

You held in your tears as you held onto Mark, how could someone be so kind, so amazing? How did you get so lucky to have Mark as your Partner? You don’t know, but thank whatever higher power there is for bringing you Mark. 

You pulled him closer, whispering, 

“You're the best Mark, I don't know what I did to deserve you.”  You heard Mark let out a soft laugh, 

“ I'm lucky to have you as my Captain.” he softly spoke. 

You pulled back slightly to look him in the eyes, your hands clutching the material of his suit. His warm brown eyes looked at you with such admiration. You moved your hands around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. 

He let out a surprised gasp, before moving his hands to your waist and leaning into it. He pulled you closer, your bodies melting together. 

You both leaned back slightly, and presse your foreheads together. 

“ You are so fucking amazing Mark, You have no idea how much i appreciate what you did for me today.” You spoke, playing with his hair. 

“ It was nothing, Captain, I’d do it anyday for you.” He replied, his face heating up. You kissed him again, before saying, 

“ That's what makes you amazing, Mark. You are so smart and so kind. One of the best people I know.” You started to peper his face with soft kisses. 

Mark let out a small laugh and gently grabbed your face and pulled you into another passionate kiss. He started to push you towards your desk, picking you up and setting you on your desk. You leaned in to kiss him again and he stopped you. He placed his hands on your thighs. 

“ As much as I would like this to continue, I believe we have a dinner date Captain.” he spoke, grinning at you. You shook your head and laughed. 

“You make a good point, I wouldn't want to miss dinner with my super genius, super smart and smokin hot head engineer.” He blushed and placed a kiss on your lips. This one was gentle, his hand caressing your cheek. 

You truly were lucky to have him. 

“ Well, let's go. I made us a makeshift picnic.” He said with a sweet smile. You smile and press one last kiss to his lips, before sliding off your desk. You grabbed his hand and dragged him out of your office. 

Being captain can be a pain in the ass, but having Mark made it much more bearable. With him by your side, you both could accomplish anything you set your minds to.

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[invisiblegarters]

Dangerous Romance Ep 4

Here we are again! When we last met, Kang wanted to get a reward for being a good boy, but dad didn't care if he was or wasn't and got him what he requested for his birthday anyway. Kang was very sad, so Sailom gave him someone to be a good boy for.

"That means Sailom can't control you." Grandma. Give it a little bit of time, he's working on it.

And I think she knows, in some way. Because she seems to know that telling Kang she'll find him a new tutor if he can't pass his midterms is exactly the motivation he needs to actually study. Especially when Kang feels responsible for making sure that Sailom doesn't wind up beaten up at the end of the month (apparently this has happened before, which is horrifying. My guess that the time when Kang found him is the first time it went as far as threatening to burn his skin off with an iron, though. Still, it's terrifying because that means the escalation has been happening for a while).

Aw, studying montage. Cute.

Oop, a metaphor. Thank you Kang for hitting that particular nail right on its head, we might have missed it otherwise.

"Do I really have any influence over you?" Yes, Sailom you really really do.

I don't think Kang is gonna pass. But I appreciate how much Sailom believes in him.

And there it is. F in chem. For a second there I thought that Kang wasn't gonna tell Sailom he failed one. But he did. And aw, the reaction was good. Seriously though, it is impressive that he only failed on subject if he usually fails most of them.

The little glance up at Sailom was cute. Oh, Kang. Your face is gonna give you away every time. Perth and his teeny tiny little expression changes that let you know exactly where his character's head is at.

Do they...not know that they can still hang out if Sailom isn't tutoring Kang anymore? Because they totally can. I guess Sailom might be busy with all his jobs but also, it's not like they're never gonna see each other again.

Sailom out here collecting all the umbrellas.

I love Auto.

No but seriously you two can still hang out. Are we really doing this "different worlds" bullshit when no one even seemed to care in the first place that you two were spending all the time together? Although well, highschool. And I guess it's different when you have an excuse. But still, this pining music and longing glances stuff is a lot. Boys. Get it together (but don't actually get it together, I'm having way too much fun watching this you two are ridiculous).

PIM. HI.

Aw damn you show. I was hoping sports day would be an excuse for them to hang again. They were both clearly hoping for it.

It worries me that Sailom's issues look to be snowballing. Are we gonna get the escort bits sooner than later? I won't pretend that I'm not looking forward to that.

Faster than I thought. Not complaining. Even if he doesn't do it right away we're getting the ball rolling and I am so here for that. Let's do this!

Oooh that meal looks good.

Escort escort ESCORT.

Oooh Kang is disappointed. Look asshole, not all of us have money. This is just making me think of 3 Will Be Free though.

Lol but Pim is far too observant not to see what's up with Kang here. I mean, I think he's also just worried. He's got a whole protection complex going on with Sailom right now on top of whatever else he may or may not feel, so of course he's not going to like the idea of Sailom playing escort for cash.

Aw Pim you're sweet but this has to chafe. Sailom still has his pride. My bet though is that he'll reject Kang's offer where he accepted Pim's, because the pity probably feels worse coming from him. Let's see if I'm right!

Oh but that offer is...damn. Okay. Sailom's pride can't be worth more than that, although I have to wonder if this will introduce a new dynamic between them because he has to know that it was Kang's doing that Grandma made that offer. I feel like at some point Sailom's need to take care of himself is going to butt heads with Kang's need to take care of him. Financially, I mean, since Kang certainly seems to like being spoiled in other ways, lol.

And ha! Cohabitation hijinks to ensue? Guess we'll find out next week.

Oh, they better not be doing a Pim has a crush on one of them thing. Please. I like the dynamics without that. Plus I'm still hoping for a ViewJune pair up in this drama. Do the right thing, show!

In conclusion, this better not be the end of escorting, dammit.

[andvys]

Hey! So, it's @nemesis729 writing from a different Tumblr account. I was actually going to start writing the Part 8 review first and then parts 4 through 7. But, when it came time to posting the reviews, I was going to post the part 4 review first and then work my way up.

But then I fell into a rabbit hole. Because I needed to do an extensive reread of parts 4 through 7, I figured I should have a physical copy of those parts and whatnot. The good news is that I saved parts 4 through 8 as pdfs and I printed parts 7 and 8 to write notes in the margins and highlight. The bad news is that I fell down another rabbit hole because I had very strong feelings about part 8. If I could scan my printout and email them to you, I would but that might be overkill.

Like, I have impressions and full sentences on the top of the first page of part 8. I also had a list of songs that would fit part 8 and then there was another song that could encapsulate the mood of part 8. Well, besides "Betty" and "cardigan".

I'll leave a relatively short review here for now because I don't know when I will post the review for part 8.

So, my initial impression of part 8 was "It's about to go down". There were a lot of things that happened in part 8 and part 7 ended on a cliffhanger. In a sense, Part 7 felt like a breather chapter before we get to part 8.

I'm going to go off on a tangent. Part 7 was a necessary breather because we have the camaraderie between Cheer and Eddie and it was much needed considering the heartbreak she's still going through.

My final impression of part 8 was grief. The story (so far) is essentially Cheer's journey through the stages of grief as she mourns the loss of her relationship with Steve. Because let's be real. She didn't just lose her boyfriend. She lost her best friend. And, with that loss, what's going to happen to her? How is she going to go on? This isn't full-on adulthood where exes can become strangers in a big city. This is high school where the chances of running into the ex with their new flame is very high.

Either way, I'm proud of Cheer. As much as she loves Steve, she's saying goodbye to what they had. And, okay, now Steve tells her that he loves her even though he's with Nancy. And, sure, she may still love him. But it's not enough. Whether she's saying goodbye to him because she truly thinks that he really does love Nancy (and I can understand why she thinks that and I will explain in the review) or it's because she knows she's worth more than what he gave her and more than what she got in their relationship, it doesn't matter.

It could have been very easy for Cheer to forgive him right there and tell him that she wants to give them another shot. But she didn't. Steve's still attached and there's always going to be that lingering doubt. That's not the basis for a healthy relationship.

In any case, I can't wait to see what happens next. For part 9, I would love to see a healing Cheer who's come into her own. I get the sense that so much of her identity came from being Steve's friend and then, later, his girlfriend. Who is she without him? (Well, I can tell you that she's a classy person that Nancy wishes she could be.)

For Part 9, I would love to see Cheer with her friends and Eddie joining her, Chrissy, and Heather at some social outing whether he's roped them into playing Dungeons & Dragons or they're studying for midterms and helping each other out. If there is a time jump, I would love to see Cheer and Max hang out.

Anyhoo, I can't wait to see what you have in store for us. Thank you!

Hi! Oh my god, I admire you for putting this much effort into your reviews! You do so much! Some of your reviews have more words than my actual chapters, I love that 😂

I can't wait to read them!

You're right, she didn't just lose her boyfriend, she also lost her best friend and she's just going through a lot of grief right now. It won't get any easier since she has to be around him all the time since they are still in high school.

While she tries to disconnect herself from him, Steve can't let go and he won't ever let go. He is bad at communication and talking about his feelings, that's probably the main reason why he lost her and the possibility of a second chance. He didn't tell her how he feels for her and how he feels for Nancy and left her thinking that Nancy is the one for him.

She will definitely heal and move on from what happened, letting him go might've been painful but she thinks that there is no future for them and she can't stay like this forever. She will always love him but letting go is the right thing to do.

I love the idea of her spending time with her friends- especially Eddie🥺

I can't wait to share the next chapter with you! And thank you for your review, I can't wait to read more from you :)

[airlock]

SO, for the first and fastest bit of CYL nerdery for me to do this year, there’s something new!

this year’s poll came with a fucking hilarious novelty, y’see. we had our midterm results as usual, except... they were unranked, in alphabetical order, betraying not a trace of who was actually winning

at that time, just for the love of guesswork, I made predictions as to what was most likely going to be shape our top 20s would actually be taking. so... how close to the mark was I?

let’s find out.

first things first, I estimated that Soren, m!Byleth and Felix were the top contenders on the male side. I probably meant to count m!Robin among the top contenders as well but I seem to have forgotten to jot his name down anywhere in my predictions, whops. anyway, that blunder aside, the remainder of those predictions all composed the actual top 4 on the male side, so! we can scratch that as a win.

(that aside, though, I was not expecting that, if only one of Soren or Felix would get a foot in the door, it’d be Soren. I sure wasn’t expecting him to be just 500-odd votes shy of even putting a dude between himself and Felix, at that. color me impressed, ye stans of old)

Sigurd, Leif and m!Shez were the ones I admitted I couldn’t really predict on the male side. in the end, they’ve landed, respectively, #5, #9 and #12. moderate results all around. pity that Thracia 776 remains nowhere near breaking out of its rut, although at least this isn’t one of those years when fucking Reinhardt is the game’s top contender--

but speaking of my unknown quantities, hey, guess, what? one of them won the female side. by almost 3000 votes over the runner-up. which is to say -- either the last couple months in FEH have been real interesting, or some of yall need a date--

my other non-predictions on the female side were Sharena, who finised at #7, and f!Shez, who finished at #14. seems like, most of the time, those unknown quantities landed themselves firmly in the middle of the pack.

(speaking of which -- f!Shez was more popular than m!Shez, but by a margin of only 39 votes, probably the smallest differential we’ve EVER seen between two differently gendered versions of the same character. certainly the smallest to happen to a character who gets thousands and votes and not, y’know, Kana)

speaking of Kana, their mum is our other winner this year, so -- Gullveig aside, how well did I do at anticipating the female top placements? well, I guessed that our top contenders were f!Robin, Anna, f!Corrin, Azura, Bernadetta and Hilda. these guesses were mostly correct; these characters occupy the rankings spanning #2 to #6... except for Anna, who only earned herself a #9 ranking. we’ve fallen far off the year when she almost won, that’s for sure. but who knows what Lady Anna might pull off next year?

top contention and unknown quantities aside, I also had guesses as to which of our remaining characters were unlikely to win, but likely to make it to the top 10. these were Dorothea and Tharja (#12, #9), then Lyon, Black Knight, Takumi, Leo and Yuri (#13, #7, #16, #18, #8). close enough on the female side (much as I hate that Tharja being top 10 is such a safe guess), but whoops, that wasn’t a very good guesswork all in all on the male side. I suppose the leokumis of the world were too busy this year either stanning Corrin, stanning Azura, or arguing over Soren and Felix--

anyway, here’s to Elincia, Alfonse and Sylvain blindsiding me and making it to the top 10. one of these is a very happy surprise, another a just kinda mid one, and the final of them I’m going to guess is the reason why Felix couldn’t stay competitive with the other winners-- (look, I’m just saying, both Soren’s and m!Robin’s most popular dates were inelligible this year.)

lastly, an interesting question: did anyone outright fall off from the midterm top 20s? it doesn’t seem to be the case, unless the two characters on each side that I didn’t put in a guess for were not just the ones I forgot about in the midterm, but instead, the ones who unseated whoever else was there. so... it’s just a matter of whether Petra and Ferdinand have been on this list this whole time or not, I guess

anyway, the TMS#FE gang has put on a stronger showing than ever this year, but it doesn’t look like Fódlan’s vise grip on the overall rankings has lessened at all, so... I guess the most interesting things that will remain to be observed are how well the new characters from Three Hopes fared, and how much shit is imminently going to be eaten by each of the characters who finally made it to FEH last year. in any case, it’s time for me to start chewing the top 100, without gender divisions!

[save-the-spiral]

Wiztober 2022 Day Four: Youth

Sylvia & Cyrus are besties and enable each other REAL. Don’t worry about the guy jumping out the window thats Malistaire he’s fine. This fic is mid at best but its all I got. I’ve got work tomorrow and hermitcraft to watch tonight sooooo

Content warning for death mention and swearing.

“Oh gods, we’re getting old.” Sylvia groans, auburn locks falling from their braid as she leans heavily over the library’s balcony railing. The orange light of fire magic in the lanterns gives her a halo of copper light and she looks like a goddess, though at the moment she’d be the goddess of bitching about aging.

“Practically rotting away.” Cyrus adds drily, amused at his best friend’s choice of conversation starters. He is also leaning on the railing, elbows against it as he examines a complex diagram in his textbook.

“Did you see the incoming students?! They’re babies! Infants! Children, even!” Sylvia leans dramatically onto Cyrus, elbowing him awkwardly as she did so. 

“Sixteen years young.” Cyrus closes and stows away his book, accepting that he would not get a moment of peace for a while yet.

“And what are we, then? Old crones! One foot in the crypt already!” 

“That just makes us twenty-three, Sylvia.” 

“Maybe you are! I’m twenty-four!” 

“You don’t look it.” Cyrus says flatly, lying. He does this often, the blatant lying in a monotone is entertaining to him, but not to Sylvia who believes him half the time no matter how ridiculous, even if she ends up laughing later as well. 

“Why do I keep you around, Drake?” Sylvia puts an arm around Cyrus’ shoulders, pulling him with her as she begins to walk. 

Cyrus rolls his eyes. “I assumed for my sparkling wit, but I am beginning to think otherwise.” 

Sylvia giggles then, letting go of Cyrus and walking ahead. “C’mon, the babies are all in class so we can steal a quality spot in the gardens for studying.”

“One of these days the librarians will realize you’re the one getting grass stains on their scrolls and they’ll hunt you for sport.” Cyrus uses his advantage of longer legs to pass Sylvia and open a door for her, which she rolled her eyes at him for.

“It’ll be the same day they realize you’re the one stealing from their stache of bodice rippers!” Sylvia dashes ahead as Cyrus splutters, voice cracking horrifically. 

“Sylvia!” Is all he can manage as he begins to run after her, both of them limited by the Dragonspyre Academy student uniforms. 

Most of the corridors are empty, save for the few staff or students absorbed with their own work. Sylvia and Cyrus easily run past them, Sylvia’s athleticism compensating for her shorter legs so Cyrus never catches up. Cyrus nearly slams into a stone wall when Sylvia takes a sharp turn to the right, towards the gardens. 

While Cyrus regains his balance, he hears Sylvia’s voice crack as she yelps in shock, and the sound of something falling. He turns and races towards her, around another corner, and stops dead in his tracks. 

“Are you okay?” He asks on instinct when he sees Sylvia on the floor. She’s sitting, rebraiding her hair.

Sylvia huffs. “Fine, except there was some goth dork just standing in the middle of the hallway. Think I spooked them when I yelled so they ran off.” 

“Off where?” Cyrus looks around the hallway, empty as it was aside from the tapestries and signs along the walls.

Sylvia gestures towards one of the arched windows out into the open air, soft sunlight and gentle breezes coming through it.

“Hope they knew they were on the second floor.” Is all Cyrus says after raising an impressed eyebrow.

Sylvia snorts, and uses Cyrus’ arm as an anchor while she pulls herself up, the distinct sound of a joint popping coming from her leg as she does so. “It would be kinda funny if they didn’t.” 

“Only a little bit.” Cyrus says.

“Maybe more than a little bit, if they beef it and we instantly pass our midterms.” 

“Did you just say ‘beef it’ in reference to a fellow student dying from a two story drop?”

“It’s better than some of that so-called prose in your recreational reading.” Sylvia teases, waggling her eyebrows. 

“I do not read romance novels, Sylvia.” 

“You’re right, I wouldn’t classify those as novels. Can’t believe you still read them.” 

Cyrus sighs. “Now I’m here asking why I’m friends with you.” 

“My sparkling wit, obviously.” 

[thebigshotman]

(It’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”, so of course my thoughts got a little long 😅 My review is under the cut if you’re interested! Sorry this is a day late compared to when I usually post my reviews. I’ll be back for threads and asks on Monday!)

I feel like this week went by super fast; I chalk it up to both midterms and being excited to come back here. But nevertheless, it’s once again time to talk about the movie I saw in film class this week! It’s also once again, for the last time, Kubrick time! With the movie he made after “Dr. Strangelove”, the iconic and beloved “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

…Dear lord. It’s been more than twenty four hours and my mind is still scrambled from everything that I watched. Mostly the last half hour 🤣 Does it deserve to be in everyone’s movie top 10? Hell yeah! Is it in mine? …It’s complicated. How the hell this man jumped from “Cold War satire” to “THE sci-fi film” in 4 years is beyond me lol

The plot jumps all over the place, but there’s four main parts. “The Dawn of Man”, a cool little prologue where apes discover they can use bones as tools due to a giant black monolith, an untitled segment full of cool zero-g stuff where it’s discovered there’s another monolith on the moon sending signals to Jupiter, “The Jupiter Mission” itself eighteen months later where everything gradually goes horribly wrong, and “Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite” where…it was colorful, that’s the only thing that happened for certain! There was also a space baby and an evil computer. But this movie is so well known that even just describing the sections of the plot so thinly like that is probably enough to get the gist.

Let’s talk about the good stuff first. This movie is beautiful. Watching it on a giant projector in a conference room for class is probably the closest I’ll get to watching it in 70mm as intended, probably. It really captures the emptiness of space. The set design is also magnificent. The effects, too: The spacecraft miniatures probably provided the inspiration for Star Wars, and the Stargate scene was this beautiful yet creepy wash of color.

The music was also amazing, and not just “Also Spake Zathustra” (aka the timpani and horn fanfare). The disorienting piece that played whenever a monolith showed up started out annoying, to be fair, but it gradually started to creep me out with each successive use. And “The Blue Danube”, which underscores the lighthearted and impressive zero-g scenes in part 2, was a phenomenal choice of music for the two scenes it showed up in. Now it’s one of my favorite pieces of classical music; it makes me feel so bouncy and carefree. The same pieces of music are used throughout, but that allows what they each mean to build up with each use.

And of course, Hal 9000 the evil computer was great. But the characters bring me to the things I didn’t like: The humans were…kinda boring? Not terrible, definitely not, but plain. They served their purposes in the story and that was it. That’s kind of a nitpick though, cause it’s not like I hated any of the characters. However, what I did hate was the pacing. Good lord. I know it’s one of its defining elements but god the pacing.

About twenty minutes of this movie could’ve been cut, like shots and scenes that went on too long, and nothing would’ve been missed. Key scenes like this are when the ships on the moon are docking and Dave is switching out the communication device (which is accompanied exclusively by breathing noises that made me very uncomfortable. Sadly not the only scene this happened in). Not bad, per say, but if you sit down to watch this thing you gotta be aware of that and have patience. I know a lot of people in the classroom didn’t. Still, it was an effective tension builder at times, like when Dave is disabling Hal. But those times were few.

And then there’s the ending, which is so incomprehensible that it’s very well known at this point. I have no idea what it means lol. But I enjoyed hearing other people’s interpretations. And I think that’s what Kubrick and Arthur C Clark were going for! Far be it from me to hate things open to interpretation; Spamton is full of things open to interpretation after all. Like with him seeing what other people think is part of the fun! But I personally have no definite theory yet. I’ll get back to you when I watch this movie again in like…a year. Or longer.

I’m glad I watched this movie, I really am! It had a lot of awesome stuff, even minus the iconic things everyone knows, and I can see why this tops so many people’s movie lists. It would probably even be on mine, but like…real close to the bottom. I loved this movie when I liked it, but the super slow parts left a lot to desire. It gets my stamp of approval though! Anyone who wants to do filmmaking or sci-fi should watch this before undertaking. Watching it on a phone doesn’t do it justice, though, so keep that in mind. I recommend it! But…pace yourself while watching lol.

This coming week is spring break, so no movie review unfortunately. However the week after we’re watching another super iconic movie, “The Godfather”! So stay tuned to hear my thoughts on that. As for replies to the many threads and asks I owe here, they will start coming on Monday (and maybe even tomorrow while watching the Oscars, but no guarantees). So stay tuned for that as well! Thank you for reading this far, and I’ll see you all soon!

One of the “Blue Danube” moments…seriously for a classical waltz that song is fire lol

[doiefy]

i have a midterm tmrw but just spent 2 hours watching yuta's movie LMAO

he's so hot he steps on someone like 60 sec in (i'm not even joking)

spoilers ahead? idk, nothing in explicit detail, just wanted to write my thoughts down lmao

definitely prefer the previous movie though; they lacked plot in this one, though they def made up for it with the cinematography and fight choreography. it's about what you'd expect from a franchise this big, but i was hoping for a more cohesive story line? they explored a lot of character dynamics and backstories but not a single one in depth. and i'm not about to go searching through the rest of the franchise for answers, don't really have that type of time lol.

don't even get me started on the ending !!!! ugh character development who? maybe a smidge, but nothing explicit, not even after multiple turning points where i was sure some characters would change their perspectives of the situation. i was so excited for the new characters, but they're so much less compelling and way more infuriating when they don't learn anything by the end, and when they quite literally go back to square 1. two flashback scenes are not going to generate any sympathy for a character and dynamic that have been wretched and awful the whole movie.

for his first movie tho, yuta was like. really really impressive. i quite like how ryo is written (up until the end lmfao), and yuta had to do so much acting through subtle mannerisms given his lack of dialogue. apart from the fallout, the way ryo snaps at the end is just. ugh. about to cry fr. again, impressive, not to mention how many action scenes he did (more than the main antagonist, which is also a fun lil thing that adds depth).

anyways yeah yuta's hot i want him to step on me too