#also tying this up with my braces post

[ishikawayukis]

now what we're not going to do is mourn someone's features that they decided to change for whichever reason because it's their body and they can (looking at you twitter)

[cheezbites]

Dating Ghost

✎: I wrote this very late at night (4:38 am) or very early in the morning - when I was motivated by the sheer amount of notifications from my inbox, ty all sm for the love and support💕!!

♡Summary: Head cannons of dating Ghost <3

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚　　˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

Bf!Ghost has always been a black tea person, either he drank it alongside his breakfast or to calm him down on a rainy day. You were a coffee girl, you would go all out making them - milk, hazelnut syrups, whipped creams… You name it. And from this, another one of your childish inside jokes was born. You were conveniently in the kitchen at the same time as him, making your morning beverages.

“Hm,” you silently thought to yourself, contemplating if your idea was rational enough to act through with.

“Hmmmmm,” he jokingly imitated you, wondering what was on your mind.

You got a separate cup and mixed some of his tea with your coffee. You took the first sip and scorned your face at the unfamiliar yet vaguely distinguishable taste.

Soon he followed, not seeming to be too fond of it at first yet still drinking every last bit.

“Not too bad,” he silently muttered.

And every time you guys were in the kitchen making your daily beverages, the ‘CoTea’ (Coffee and Tea) inside joke was repeatedly brought up.

Bf!Ghost heard a sudden shriek from your bedroom, causing his heart to sink. His thoughts raced faster than the speed of how fast he was approaching your room, desperate to know what it was. What if it was an invader? He wouldn’t be able to live knowing that he wasn’t fast enough to save you from a serious threat, he’d hate himself and feel guilty every single day.

His breathing pattern returned to normal as he sighed in relief when he realised that it was just a spider on your bedroom wall.

“Shit,”

“It’s going to kill me!” You sputtered inattentively as you backed away as far as possible from the ‘murderous pest.’

He stacked a mount of tissues in his hand and effortlessly scooped it up, crushed it into remains of spider limbs and a brown fluid before tossing it in the bin. Shooting you a look that you swore said: ‘Seriously? All that commotion over that?”

“My saviour,” you quipped as you ran up to him and braced him in a tight hug.

Bf!Ghost was used to receiving the “Your eyelashes are so long!” ‘compliment’ from people, mainly from you. It always confused him as to why you pointed it out - maybe it was just a ‘girl thing’ he didn’t understand.

Bf!Ghost was sleep-deprived, sick and unwillingly glued to his bed after days of working, so you took care of him. (At night, when he was complaining about being too cold, you snuggled up next to him and fell asleep in his arms. Maybe he was faking it as an excuse to cuddle you, maybe…) You knew he had an energy drink addiction and some bad eating habits. Since quality meals require time, you poured that time into cooking for him. His gratitude toward you was beyond words, appreciating the care and effort you put into taking care of him. Your cooking not only filled his stomach but also warmed his heart, making every bite a taste of your love.

Bf!Ghost worked out often; so did you. You enjoyed each other's company at the gym, immersing yourselves in the shared playlist and the post-workout rush. His concern for you couldn't be contained. During some weekly sessions, he taught you self-defence techniques, a thoughtful gesture for times he couldn't be by your side.

Bf!Ghost loved making you say ‘please’, even after the smallest of favours. You tried to open your water bottle, but the lid seemed super glued on, you tried repeatedly but your attempts were in vain. You asked him to help you, forgetting one thing:

“Want me to feed you the water as well?” He sarcastically quipped with a shit-eating grin.

“Oh come on babe,”

“And what’s the magic word?” He asked expectedly.

“Please,” you stretched out your ‘please’ jokingly for the sole purpose of teasing him.

He seamlessly removed the lid which astonished you before handing you your water bottle. After all that effort and failed attempts, he made it look so easy.

Bf!Ghost Loathed being away from you; and you felt the exact same way. When he needed to leave or when you were gone, he would try to do things that reminded him of you. When you were teaching him how to cook your signature meals in the kitchen, he was picking up rapidly, improving and learning - soon enough he surpassed you in culinary skills. He remade your recipes to remind himself of you when you weren’t there, and you ‘borrowed’ a few of his hoodies, which were pleasantly engulfed in his scent.

Bf!Ghost Noticed you fell asleep during the horror movie you watched, the last thing he wanted to do was startle you or wake you up. He turned off the TV before heading to your room and placing your favourite blanket over you. He kissed your cheek gently and muttered a silent, “I love you.” Before calling it a night.

Bf!Ghost left wholesome notes for you to discover around the house; the messages were cheesy in the cutest way possible. Either him making you food after a long day of work and leaving it for you in the fridge with a brief note next to it, or a corny compliment stuck on the bathroom mirror for only you to see. It would be something along the lines of:

“Start your day off with a smile love, like the one you never fail to give me♡” (And I feel like this dude would have very messy handwriting, but when writing these notes he tried his best).

Bf!Ghost made most of the decisions in the relationship, you were very indecisive. This is probably the only thing he mildly dislikes about you - you were going through the trials and tribulations of a lifetime over picking between KFC and McDonald’s, you were persistent about what to order too, so he recommended stuff to you or sometimes ordered for you.

(I just know if you both got drinks, he specifically requested only one straw so you guys could share it).

Bf!Ghost was the “‘Scuse me, she asked for no pickles,” boyfriend, who would secure you a refund and a newly made burger, (mainly due to how intimating he gets at times).

You thoroughly enjoyed him looking out for you, though, knowing that he cared that much about you made your heart flutter only from thinking about it.

PART TWO IS OUT!!! <3

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥—————————

König Version

Price Version

Gaz Version

Soap Version

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥—————————

Masterlist

[the-whispers-of-death]

Hello Again, My Dear Old Friends

Before reading further, if you're a minor or an ageless blog, please don't interact with this post and blog!!!

***If you haven't read anything involving Stone or The Lions/this is the first time you're seeing a post of mine, here is Stone's masterlist and The Lions masterlist. There's also Ladder's masterlist, but besides the basic info post, everything else in her masterlist can be found in Stone's.***

A/N: The long-awaited reunion!! 🎉🎉 It took so long for Stone, The Lions, and Ladder to all be on the same base. But it's here!

Stone's going to be so surprised when he finds out that Sarabi, Simba, and Nala are alive. Ladder and Cerberus are probably going to bond. Kali's going to be a lovesick puppy now that Stone's around and Stone's going to have to keep himself from smiling.

Anyways, enough of my rambling!

*****************************************************************

Kali was the only one in the barracks which were The Lions', being the last one to get ready because he had to get a few last-minute details from Commander Graves. Now that he was alone, he didn't have to deal with all of the questions his squadmates had for him.

He finished up tying his boots and then he strapped on his vest, his body on autopilot. Once his vest was secure, he opened a pocket in the vest, taking out the letter from Stone that had been there before the recent letter of Stone's had arrived.

Kali always kept a letter of Stone's in the vest pocket closest to his heart, so that he always remembered who he wanted to come home to. He didn't know if Stone loved him back, but it didn't matter. Stone was the reason he kept going, the reason he fought so hard to live on missions.

He switched out the old letter with the most recent was, looking over the words once more and smiling before folding it up again and placing it in the pocket. He closed the pocket, ensuring the letter was safe.

"You ready, Mufasa?" Sarabi asked, popping his head into the doorway of the barracks. "Everyone's ready and heading to the airstrip. Shadow's especially getting antsy."

Kali took one last look in the mirror, patting the vest pocket where Stone's letter was as if to get good luck from the letter, and he nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready," he replied, turning and walking out of the barracks with Sarabi right behind. "Time to make sure those Brits know how good us Americans can be."

With his squad, he went to the airstrip and boarded the cargo plane which would take them to the country where the SAS base housing the task force was. He made sure Shadow was properly strapped in, this being the first mission the wolf was being officially taken on.

Meanwhile, in the SAS base hospital, Stone was dealing with patients and Soap who was following him around, still a bit peeved that the 141 was teaming up with Shadows.

"You're paranoid about the Shadows that are coming, right?" Soap asked, watching Stone reset a dislocated shoulder with ease. "Because if you're paranoid, then I know I'm not alone. And like, I mean you're always paranoid, but my paranoia is warranted."

"I am paranoid," Stone said, placing the soldier's now reset shoulder in a shoulder brace. He moved onto another patient, Soap following him. "But I'm strangely hopeful."

Soap gave him a puzzled look. "Hopeful?"

He didn't know Stone had that word in his vocabulary.

Stone rolled his eyes at Soap's puzzlement. "Yes, I'm hopeful that this team-up will go smoothly. It's odd."

It wasn't odd, not to Stone. He knew from Kali's recounting that the Shadows employed in the Shadow Company were more than what they seemed. He trusted Kali's judgment of the men and women around him, even if Stone had no idea who was coming.

"Besides, it doesn't matter if I'm paranoid about them," Stone continued, glancing back at Soap. "It's okay if you're paranoid and you're right, your paranoia is warranted. You and Ghost were especially affected by Graves' betrayal in Las Almas."

"...Your therapy is definitely working," Soap murmured, which made Stone let out a huff in amusement. He couldn't help at smile at the sound. "Alright, I'll leave you to do your job."

Stone waved to Soap. "See you in a couple hours," he called out to Soap as Soap walked away.

Soap groaned. "Yeah, right. Can't believe we have to meet those guys on the tarmac."

****

Stone stood outside at the tarmac with the 141 and Ladder, all of them waiting in a hanger for the cargo plane to touch down.

"Can't believe we have to wait out here," Ghost grumbled. "It's sweltering out here."

Price huffed, opening up his jacket to fan himself with it. "We've faced worse weather, buck up. Besides, Laswell said we should wait for the squad at the tarmac and then show them to where the conference room is."

"Why did she get to wait inside the nice, cool conference room though?" Gaz asked, wishing he wasn't wearing his signature ball cap.

Ladder gasped as she saw the plane descending to land. "At least we don't have to wait any longer out here, the plane's landing," she said.

By the time the plane landed, Shadow was very eager to get off the plane. Cerberus, who was on the other side of the wolf, had to pat his head to keep him from barking everyone's head off.

"Jesus Christ, I thought Shadow would manage to get out of his harness before the plane landed," Sarabi grumbled in concern for the wolf as the plane landed on the runway.

"Look alive, guys," Kali instructed as everyone got up, him reaching down to deal with Shadow's harness to the plane. "The task force is just outside, they're waiting for us."

That made everyone straighten, Simba grumbling about how numb his legs were. They all waited until Kali had Shadow leashed with the leash attach to his harness. When Kali was ready, he was the first one to disembark from the plane when the cargo hold opened.

The first person he saw when stepping onto the ground was Stone, his lips parting beneath his mask and neck gaiter as he saw the tall man.

Stone looked breathtaking, his burly form basked in the sunlight. His hair was still in the same hairstyle that made Kali's fingers itch to run through it, his brown eyes were still deep pools of chocolate that Kali wanted to lose himself in. Kali even enjoyed seeing the scars on Stone's face and neck, almost crying out in joy that he had memorized them perfectly. He couldn't see the scars hidden by the muzzle-like mask, but he knew they were still there.

Stone seemed as surprised as him and he saw Stone catch sight of Sarabi, Simba, and Nala as Kali walked towards the 141.

Kali grimaced, remembering he hadn't told Stone about Sarabi, Simba, and Nala still being alive. Well, hopefully Stone wouldn't be too upset.

Price smiled politely as Kali stilled to a stop in front of the 141. "Ah, you must be the Shadows who will be teaming up with us. We're the Task Force 141 and welcome to—"

"You're even more breathtaking than I remember," Kali blurted out to Stone, his eyes focused on on the larger man. It was like his joy of being in Stone's presence again took over, causing him to say the first thing in his mind.

Despite everyone staring at him, he couldn't bring himself to regret saying it, because he saw the way Stone's cheeks twitched beneath the muzzle-like mask like he was trying to hide a smile and the way Stone became flustered enough to avert his eyes away from Kali.

You're so cute, baby, Kali thought to himself, resisting the urge to sigh wistfully at Stone.

"You two know each other?" Ghost asked, breaking Kali's focus on Stone. He went as far as to step a little bit in front of Stone so Kali had to look at him.

He seemed wary of Kali, which Kali realized would happen when Graves told him that the 141 had a bad experience with the Shadow Company the last time they worked with the 141. So Kali wasn't fazed by the wariness.

Kali nodded, subtly eyeing Ghost briefly to ascertain how much of a threat he was. "Yes, Stone was The Lions' Corpsman once upon a time twelve years ago," he explained, his eyes going back to looking at Stone. "It's good to see you again, Ox."

"It's good to see you again too, Mufasa," Stone replied, before glancing at Sarabi, Simba, and Nala. "Though I'm surprised to see the other Lions. I did go to their funerals, so I'm perplexed."

"Ah, yeah. It's... a long story," Kali said, grimacing yet again. He then cleared his throat, turning to the rest of the 141. "Oh, forgive my manners. I'm the captain of The Lions, callsign "Kali", though everyone in my squad calls me "Mufasa" or by my rank. And next to me are Sarabi, Simba, Nala, and Cerberus."

The 141 and Ladder all introduced themselves, all of them getting acquainted.

Soap eyed Shadow, who was trying to sniff everyone. "And who is this? Is that a wolf?" he asked, trying hard to hide the fear in his voice.

Kali gave a click of his tongue, which made Shadow heel and sit instantly. "This is Shadow and yes, he's a wolf. He's trained to subdue an enemy and to help with patrolling." He leaned down to give Shadow a pat on the head.

Stone couldn't help it, he laughed, which made everyone's head turn towards him very fast. This was the first time they ever heard him laugh, Kali especially drinking in the sound.

"Sorry," Stone said in between laughing. He lifted his hand up to his muzzle-like mask as if to cover his mouth that was already covered. He went into another short round of laughter. "Oh God, Mufasa, you finally managed to get a superior to let you keep a wolf as a military working animal. You've wanted one for years, how did you manage to persuade Graves?"

"What can I say? I'm pretty persuading." Kali's eyes sparkled with joy as his joke made Stone laugh more. He could hear Stone laugh all day.

Price cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt this, but Laswell is waiting for us," he reminded gently.

Kali cleared his throat in response. "Right. Please, lead the way."

The Lions followed closely behind the 141, Price in the lead as he walked everyone inside the main building of the base and to the conference room.

"Ah, The Lions made it safely," Laswell said, smiling as she watched everyone shuffle inside the conference room and sit down. "Welcome, welcome. I trust everyone made your arrival pleasant."

"Apparently Stone already knew them," Gaz commented, glancing at Kali who had gone back to staring at Stone, again.

Laswell nodded. "Yes, well, I knew that. I figured that would help with the rest of you trusting them too," she said, a sly smile on her lips. "Because while preparing for your mission, you'll also be getting to know each other better, since I'm splitting you up for the mission."

"What?" Price, Ghost, Gaz, and Soap asked in unison. Their eyebrows were all comically raised, in sync even in their disbelief.

"Due to the nature of the mission and how well both Shadow Company and SAS wants to succeed, we need to split up the Lions," Laswell explained, pulling up an image of what could only be described as a base. "This is Minerva's base, the leader and his high-ranking officials are there. It's huge so we need two groups to take down the base as a whole, starting on opposite sides until meeting at the main building to take down the leader."

"On the left side of the base is a huge building where they house their servers. We will need two techs on it, which means we need to have Sarabi and Ladder on one team," she continued. She then clicked another button which showed how the teams would be divvied up.

"Team Alpha will be captained by Kali and he will have Simba, Nala, Gaz, and Stone with him. Team Bravo will be captained by Price and he will have Ghost, Soap, Ladder, Sarabi, and Cerberus with him. Now, the teams are uneven, but that's the way it has to be in order to ensure the route with the best path to success."

Laswell looked at the wary looks on everyone's faces and sighed. "Cheer up, the mission isn't for two months, so that's plenty of time to get used to being in a team together."

Soap crossed his arms. "It took us a more than two months to trust Stone, remember?" he grumbled, Ghost and Gaz grumbling with him.

"Boys," Price said in his gruff, authoritative voice which stopped the three from continuing to grumble. He looked at Laswell, putting on his best smile. "We'll make it work, do bonding exercises together. We won't let you and the other higher-ups down."

"Good," Laswell said, standing up. "That's all the information I have for you all, you'll know more when we're closer to the date of the mission. I'll leave you to start getting to know each other."

With those words, she left, causing everyone to eye each other before mingling after a few tense seconds. While most of The Lions went over to chat with the 141 and Ladder, Stone and Kali both stood up, gravitating towards a little quieter spot in the conference room.

Kali stared up at Stone, unable to help himself from smiling beneath his mask. "I can't believe I'm standing in front of you," he whispered, as if he was afraid Stone would be gone if he spoke any louder.

"It's a sight I never thought I'd see until after this deployment was over," Stone agreed. His eyes peered down at Kali, both of them moving closer on instinct until their limbs were brushing against each other. The touch was like electricity.

He didn't want to ask, but he had to know.

"When did you learn Sarabi, Simba, and Nala were alive?"

"A while," Kali admitted sheepishly. "I found out late February, so it's been roughly three months. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just... I wanted to tell you in person, because it didn't seem right about telling you over a letter." His eyes scanned Stone's for any reaction and his hand twitched to cup Stone's cheek. "I understand if you're upset."

Stone leaned forward, gently touching Kali's vest-covered chest. "It's okay," he murmured, soothing Kali's guilt. "Thank you, actually. You could've lied and told me that you had gotten a new squad. But you didn't, you... You focused on me and telling me things that made me smile."

"You smiled?"

"You're surprised?"

Kali couldn't hold back anymore, he glanced at the others being too busy to watch them and then he reached up, brushing his gloved fingers against Stone's muzzle-like mask before cupping his right cheek.

"I'm proud of you, Vikram." His eyes crinkled beneath his mask to show he was smiling. "When I first met you, you didn't smile and you didn't laugh. But now... You... You took the time to heal."

"Ashok, you told me there was more to life than the way I was living before," Stone admitted softly, watching in awe as his words made Kali's brown eyes soften. "You wormed your way past my defenses and I—"

"Hey, we're going to eat dinner in the mess hall, you two coming to join us so we can all bond?" Soap asked, interrupting Stone mid-speech. He didn't seem to notice, simply grinning at both Stone and Kali, everyone else heading towards the door to leave the conference room.

Kali dropped his hand, giving Stone a look that said they'd return to the conversation much later, when they weren't around the others. "Yeah, we're coming," he said.

Both Stone and Kali left first with Price and Cerberus following behind them.

Soap waited until Stone and Kali were farther away to lean closer to Simba to talk in hushed tones. "Is it just me or are Stone and Kali looking like they're in love with each other?"

Nala laughed softly and answered instead of Simba, "Oh, they're definitely in love with each other, they just don't know the other one's in love too." He shook his head at the thought. "Cap and Ox have been corresponding for two months now, writing each other what are essentially love letters."

"Wait, Kali's the one who's been spending the long ass letters Stone gets constantly?" Gaz asked, putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Oh hey and Sarabi's been annoyed by the way they've been dancing around each other this entire time," Simba replied, bumping Sarabi's shoulder with his.

Sarabi rolled his eyes and then groaned. "Hey, you're all lucky. I've known Stone for as long as Kali has, which meant I've seen them pine after each other for twelve years," he complained. "Twelve, long years. I've grown sick of it."

"You know what that means we should do?" Ladder asked, smirking mischievously.

"What?" Gaz asked, curious about the glint in her eyes.

Ghost scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? We have to get them to confess to each other," he explained, surprisingly onboard.

"You, I like you," Sarabi said. "I've been trying to play matchmaker for a while."

Soap was excited at the prospect, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Well, now you'll have us to help you!" he answered.

"What are you all talking about back there?" Price asked, glancing behind him.

"Nothing!" Simba, Nala, Soap, Gaz, and Ladder said, Sarabi and Ghost not answering the man.

They lowered their voices, talking still as they entered the mess hall. One thing was for sure, they've just made the next two months more fun than it was going to be.

*****************************************************************

A/N: Okay, I'll be honest, I didn't know how to end this. This was hella long. But what I do know is that Stone is very eager to confess his feelings and I had to stop that. It's not time yet.

The 141 might not seem like it, but they are still wary of The Lions. They just also think it'd be fun to help The Lions get Stone and Kali together.

I hope this at least hit your expectations for the reunion, if not exceeded it. I'm for one happy with the majority of it and can't wait to write The Lions and the 141 getting into shenanigans together.

Reblogs are welcomed & appreciated! Asks are open, feel free to pop in and request something! (Check the rules in "Rules for Requesting NSFW" before requesting.)

[butchboylesbo]

ty for your post about mobility aids, that hit home. I use a cane occasionally, always carry it with me (folds up) but use it when I need to for the same reasons you use your crutches. my problem is that I am incredibly self-conscious and feel guilty if I take it out to use it in public. moreso when I take the train home from work - if I get a seat, I don't need it but if I have to stand, I take it out to use it. I feel like I get dirty looks from people who think I'm just trying to make someone give up their seat (important to note that no one ever does anyway.) I'm not expecting them to, I just now need it to stand and reduce my pain. I'm not trying to trick or scam anyone.

I guess I'm just curious if this is something you've dealt with, and if so, how you got to a place where you're confident in using your mobility aids. I'm just not there yet :(

i've also felt self conscious about mobility aid use, and for me that was something i just had to get through in therapy/do some self work, but i do have tips for possibly reducing the dirty looks you get if it continues to be a problem:

(keep in mind these are the things i do and they might not be helpful for everyone/some people might consider them 'attention seeking' but that's not why i do them, i do them to avoid confusion and be proud of myself)

when the weather permits it and if it'll help you, wear knee braces when you wear short bottoms, (or just all the time) so that it's less likely for people to think you're able bodied (again, if they'll help you, if not maybe don't cuz they might make it worse LOL)

this may seem too flashy, but wear disability merchandise. i have cripplepunk patches on my patch vest and other stuff related to disability pride on my jackets. You can probably get some cute/funny shirts or buttons or stickers relating to your disability to wear out and about.

For me this isn't just to reduce people assuming the worst, but it also helps me allow myself to be proud of being disabled, and it helps me get out of the denial that comes w being medically gaslit by doctors and people in my life.

also, in these cases, it might be best to use your cane as you walk into a place that you'd need a seat, not pull it out later. There's no public transport where i live currently but often in germany people would stand to offer me a seat when they saw me using crutches as i got onto the public transportation, if you're in the US or the UK that probably would happen less but you never know, shrug emoji

sorry if this is ramble-y i'm pretty low spoons on the ADHD front today, but i hope this helps you. My biggest tip overall is to try to gain confidence in every aspect of your life, because being disabled requires being stronger than most of us would like to be. I know it's a lot harder than it sounds especially if you have anxiety or any other thing like that, but i believe in you and im proud of you

[backstage-autorin]

I can't stop thinking about the HTDIO scene where the characters read the blog post

Content note: the quotes from the blog post will have ableism in them, which is called out in the context of the show but may not be what people want to see on their tumblr feeds.

I've seen the show twice, once in early January and again at the closing performance, so I didn't pick up on everything (unfortunately I forgot what Tommy's line was and until my 2nd time seeing it I misremembered which character had a specific line.) The first time I saw it I felt the breath get sucked out of the room at the opening line that Dr. Amigo read; I didn't get quite the same feeling the 2nd time but I saw it but I feel like the closing show was more fans seeing it one last time/who had seen it already and had somewhat braced themselves for the scene. (That being said, the 2nd audience cheered more when Remy's livestream included the phrase "Nothing about us without us, while I heard less of a reaction from the audience my 1st time).

But one thing that stands out to me about that scene is how the lines are perfectly crafted to tie into the characters' storylines and hurt each character individually.

To break it down by character with the caveat that the quotes are gonna be incomplete paraphrases(in alphabetical order except for Drew because I remember his line being last in the scene):

Caroline: "most will never marry or have children" (a few scenes ago she was singing about hanging family pictures down the hallway with Jay) (when I first saw the show I thought this was Marideth's line, tying into her conversation with her dad about dressing like Santa for her hypothetical future children)

Jessica: "most may never be able to live on their own" (throughout the show she has been working on trying to move out of her mother's house by learning life skills like cooking and the fact that her crush on Tommy is partly due to her search for a boyfriend who can drive so she no longer has to use unreliable government transport)

Marideth: "the nightclub is full of loud noises that can cause meltdowns and tantrums" (Marideth's sensory issues are prominent throughout the show--her opening line is an opinion of the scent of soap, she hates zippers that touch her skin [at least that's my interpretation of hoodie zippers being ok when dress zippers are bad] and the loud sounds in the diner stress her out. However, we also see that she has strategies to deal with unpleasant sensory input, like noise-canceling headphones)

Mel: "kings and queens for one night" (erases their existence as a nonbinary person)

Drew: "when you think you can't do something, think of the young boy with autism asking a girl to dance" (not gonna lie I also saved this one for last because there's so much to unpack. Given the fact that Drew is a high school senior, "young boy" is pure infantilization. At the end of Act 1, we see him want to ask Marideth to the dance but end up asking her if she wants to borrow his book about Pangea instead. In the long run this works because the book helps Marideth process her feelings for Drew, but in the short run the article line looks like it was written to taunt Drew for chickening out at the last second. This line in the article also ties back into the beginning of the song under control, when Drew contemplates his life thus far and the pressure he feels to "be the poster child for if he can then you can")

I just feel like the way the lines are individually crafted to each character's storyline needs to be talked about. Also if anyone can remember what Tommy's line was (with or without a connection to his storyline) that would be appreciated.

[br0-k3n-sch00lb01]

Hi again Uh Sunkissed (sunny x basil x kel) fic? Again you can do wtv you want with it js make it post game :3

Also unrelated but you're rlly cool !!

- 💫🏀

awww!! Ty <3 here u go!!^^

A shriek, crying, screaming, a rush of pain, a slash, blood dripped, spilled, screaming, in agony, and- He let out a breath. There was a sharp rap on his door.

“…Come in.”

Basil opened his door. It still creaked slightly on its hinges. The tall-ish blonde stepped in.

“Hello, Sunny!”

Sunny blinked.

“…Hello.”

Basil held something behind his back. He began to walk forward when there was a blur, a flash of a human, and Kel barreled Basil over onto the ground. Basil let out a startled cry. Sunny flinched. Just barely.

“KEL! Careful, that hurt!!”

Kel let out a small ‘oof’ as Basil shoved him off. He looked at the tulips in his hand, which looked smashed.

“Look! You ruined the flowers…”

“Sorry, Basil.”

“It’s fine. Sunny is the one you should be apologizing to, in any case, since I was PLANNING on giving these to him. I mean. Before you ruined them.”

Kel looked over to Sunny.

“Ahah… yeah. Sorry, Sunny.”

Sunny nodded.

“It’s fine.”

He stood up off his bed, much too fast, and used it as a brace as he swayed on his feet. Basil looked at him with a concerned expression.

“Sunny, you okay? You look tired.”

Sunny rubbed his aching head.

“Fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t lie, Sunny. You’re a mess.”

“Thank you for being such a kind and supportive boyfriend.”

“Shut it. Go clean yourself up, okay? I’ll get you a glass of water for that headache.”

Kel leapt up. “I’ll go to OTHERMART and get some snacks!”

Sunny frowned.

“Do you even have money?”

“Of course not! Gimme.”

Sunny sighed and tossed about 20 bucks at him.

“Okay bye thanks be back soon! With snacks! Love you!”

He ran out. Basil walked calmly out of the room and down to the kitchen, pouring a glads of ice water. Sunny washed his face and brushed his hair, and did a quick run over his teeth with a toothbrush.

“Much better. Thanks.”

Basil handed him the water, and Sunny sipped it. “It’s a shame you got rid of your TV, Sunny. I was hoping we could all watch a movie together…”

Sunny grinned.

“Oh! Didn’t I tell you? I got a new one! It’s in the basement. But it’s all set up!”

Basil grinned.

“Really? Awesome!!”

Kel sprinted back in.

“I come bearing snacks!”

And he tossed a load of candy and chips on the floor. Also, a can of orange joe.

“Kel… did you seriously spend my money on ORANGE JOE? AGAIN?”

Sunny frowned. Kel smiled sheepishly.

“Just one caaaan! Anyways! I heard about the TV! Come on, come on, let’s go watch Ratatouille together!”

Sunny sighed. Basil patted him on the back.

“Come on, sunbeam. Don’t worry. This’ll be fun.”

uh.

THE END!!

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

How do Players interact with the world, anyway?

In my last post I said I'd either talk about this or combat. Well, combat's not here yet so. Attributes, Skills, and Characters it is. All-in-all, the fundamentals of how players actually interact with the game (and why they are the way they are).

Lots of ttrpgs have different ways of having players interact with the world. I already talked about dice mechanics, and how they interact with the Attributes and Skills in a previous post, which is the basis of how every system in the game works. I won't rehash that post here, so I'm mostly going to talk about the specific Attributes and Skills that exist in the game, and how Character Creation works.

The Attributes in the game are meant to symbolize general things about a character's body or mind. Some Attributes, like Strength and Dexterity, are probably in most ttrpgs that exist. Others I hope are more unique, like Alchemy. Skills exist underneath an associated Attribute. Brawl is associated with Strength, Metaphysics is associated with Knowledge, and so on. Anyway here's Wonderwall a list of the Attributes and Skills that are currently in the game.

Strength

Athletics

Brace

Brawl

Labor

Dexterity

Acrobatics

Dodge

Sleight of Hand

Stealth

Cunning

Animal Handling

Cooking

Glibness

Insight

Intimidation

Vitality

Endurance

Perception

Resistance

Survival

Knowledge

History

Religion

Machinery

Medicine

Metaphysics

Alchemy

Chemistry

Magical Constructs

Potioncraft

Spellcraft

Toxicology

The main reason it's set up like this is because I personally like the Attribute / Skill way of representing characters in adventure type ttrpgs, and it's also what I'm used to for the most part. The reasoning for tying Skills to Attributes in an explicit way like this is largely due to the kind of dice system that I'm using, which means Attributes and Skills need each other to work and you can't actually roll any Attribute on its own.

There are some skills in interesting spots, as well as some more enigmatic skills that I'd like to point out here. Cooking being a Cunning skill rather than a Knowledge skill was quickly pointed out by one of my friends when I came up with this list, and while I do see a world in which that makes sense, the way I personally cook is by "feel" more than following specific recipes. I like to make up new dishes and work with weird stuff when I can, and so Cooking makes more sense under Cunning to me.

One of the more enigmatic skills is Metaphysics, which is one of the fun "your GM will let you use this skill but only if they're cool" skills, like Religion and History. Here's the explanation of Metaphysics straight out of the PDF.

Metaphysics is your ability to identify and understand metaphysical phenomena, and your general knowledge thereof. This includes understanding and identifying bridges to other universes, what happens to spirits when they are rent from the body as well as what they are made of, and wrapping your head around phenomena and forms of magic that can bend the local laws of physics.

I will say nothing of Alchemy except that it is the magical skill and most of the skills under Alchemy are used in various Alchemical disciplines to craft very interesting magical things. I will cover this in excruciating detail in a future post, as it's one of the parts of the system that I personally am the most excited about.

Characters? In my Fantasy TTRPG? It's more likely than you think.

Characters in Prima Materia are a collection of statistics, narrative writing, and skills. - The PDF

We've already talked about some of the statistics that make up a character, being the Attributes and Skills, but this is one of the last things that goes into making a character. The first thing that you do when making a character is choosing a species. Each character also has an age, size, speed, and fine manipulators (Hands or hand-like appendages). They have unique traits based on what species they are as well, for example, Narud have an exoskeleton and thus natural armor. Ternaki are more resistant to diseases and poisons. Sepia can trick people into thinking they're objects. I think a fun way to talk about this would be to talk about how I made Dr Hugh Mann, the character that I'm currently using in playtesting. Dr Hugh Mann is, of course, a human. He gets all the goodies that humans get from being human. Actually, here's one of the unique traits that humans get because I think it's neat.

Social Creature: You may choose a creature with which you believe you have bonded. When taking a course of action to help or defend this creature, you gain a +2 modifier to rolls pertaining to that goal. During a short rest, you may socialize with this creature and gain an extra die to any one roll until your next short rest. You may change the creature with which you are bonded during a short rest.

Humans will pack bond with anything.

You then choose a profession, which is a suite of skills you can unlock over the course of the game. The current professions in the game are Alchemist, Magi, Martial Artist, Physician, Prophet, and Vessel. I'll talk about these in more detail in a future post; but a character's profession says a great deal about how they interact with the world. Dr Hugh Mann is, of course, a Physician.

After this, a background is chosen which gives you some more things to put on your character sheet. Dr Hugh Mann has the Carnie background, and this is where my imagination went off the deep end into backstory for him as a character.

Hugh, a he/him nonbinary human, traveled with a carnival for a while offering his Physician services both to the other performers and at a cheap rate for anyone who would come on stage with him during his performance. His act consists of dressing as his drag persona, Mel Praxis, and using his assistant (whom he may have just treated an hour ago) to engage in magic acts in which he pretends to cut them open with a scalpel and pull out, say, 100 feet of multicolored handkerchiefs that have been tied together end to end.

Mechanically, this means he has very good Medicine and Sleight of Hand skills, and while he's good at a few other things, he's fairly specialized into these skills at level 1, and there are several skills he is worse than bad at and will likely not improve much.

A few of my friends have also made characters that they really enjoy, including a Ternaki Alchemist who's in a self-imposed exile, and a Human Fusilier who worked mostly as a cook for their company.

Although the math and things are still being worked on to make the system work mechanically as intended, this is to me a very good sign. The system so far seems to make people excited about the character's they're making, and that was the foremost design goal.

As always, thanks for reading all this. Next week I'll will either be about combat or Ternaki lore (and mechanics). Contingent on whether I can playtest combat by next week.

I'm also working on a website where I can host the PDFs and some forms for playtesting, so that could be a thing soon! I was hoping to have it up today so I could release the Character Creation playtest with the Character Creation blog post but alas, technical issues ensued and things don't always work out the way I want them to.

[inekepp]

WIP WEDNESDAY

ty @happiness-of-the-pursuit for the tag <3

I've mostly written soulmate au this week and while my doc is complete chaos and out of order and requires editting, I did manage to write 2k of it, so here's a snippet <3

‘Are you seriously asking me why - I… Bloody hell, Alex. Have you seen yourself? I never stood a bloody chance! Here I was, thinking I’d screwed it all up beyond repair, before I could even begin to let myself imagine how it would be to have even a scrap of you, but with the knowledge of how your lips felt against mine. I was devastated, like I knew I’d end up being, until you went and turned my world upside down once again. How was I meant to resist you, say no to you, when all I’d ever been able to dream of, despite trying so hard not to, was offered to me on a silver platter? I couldn’t, was helpless to say no every time afterwards, even if I knew I wasn’t your soulmate, that, even if you were mine, even if you, inexplicably, ended up having me as your soulmate after all, it would all end anyway, because it just had to. I was bracing myself for a possible end every time, savoured every bit of time we had together, tucking the memory, the feelings, safely away. Because, the thing is, Alex, that this, these moments, made me happier than I thought I ever could be again, even if the nagging voice in my head kept saying it had to end at some point, set you free, that I would have to nurse my heartbreak and that it was best to have it be done with sooner rather than later. But how could I, when every time I was with you, I felt free, like I could be myself, like there was a light at the end of the tunnel if only I had the courage to take steps forward. To just be, and feel like the world wasn’t always as dark as my mind, the world, my family, kept telling me. That, while I’m well aware I can never truly get rid of my dark days, they at least didn’t have to consume me, overtake me, the way they used to. And then there was the ability to be there for you, to be able to listen to you, help you make sense of all those wonderful thoughts in your head. The way you shine so bright, how the passion drips from your every orifice, inspiring others, guiding them, but also makes you yourself so driven, so magnificent at everything that you do. I was drawn to you like a moth to a flame, like Icarus flying too close to the sun, and then you wonder why I let it go on for as long as it did? Honestly, if it was up to just me, I’d never let you go.’

open tag for everyone who sees this but @collectionoftulips, @songliili, @firenati0n, @anincompletelist, @suseagull04, @littlemisskittentoes <3 if anyone of you have posted and i missed it due to work forgive me!

[wain-fleets]

since you made a post wanting to know people's funny stories, what are some of yours? <3

uhh funny stories. when was this sent to me

okay okay anyways

the first story that comes to mind is when i lost my fingers. my pinky and my ring finger on my left hand. had my ring finger reattached but pinky couldnt be saved unfortunately. i was working on a dirt bike with my cousins when one of the dumbasses decided to get on and take off when i was adjusting the chain. uhh dont really know what he was thinking, but he was just a stupid lil kid so cant fault him much. i was a stupid kid too. a bunch of young teens left unattended with a machine they're determined to fix-- not a good idea. dragged me only a couple feet by my fingers till they popped off. cousins found my digits, i was in shock, my dad was pissed at me. drunk like he usually was. mom was at work cause my dad was a deadbeat and didnt give a fuck about his kids. he called my mom and made me sit on the front steps to wait for her with my hand in a rag. guess its not really a funny story, but it is to me cause now i get to make up crazy stories on how i lost my pinky. i got my boss' kid convinced a gator bit it off. i told him and he was deadass shocked. kids in their santa and tooth fairy stages are so funny. theyll just believe anything LMAO. (no i don't just feed children lies. theyre just funny stories. if you can tell a kid that santa is real, i can tell them my finger got ate by an apex predator ty.)

uhh another one. i was with a group of friends in lousiana, hog hunting. illegally. pretty long story so to sum it up. police showed up, we all scattered, i ended up camping in the woods with my dog for the night. returned to our trucks, found out everybody was gone except for one other dude who had the rest of the dogs with him. rest of the crew returned to pick us up, they had mcdonalds. informed us they'd just been pulled over and received a speeding ticket. but yeah, broke a whole bunch of laws and came out with just a speeding ticket.

lots of other hunting hiccups.

my dad used to lick my mom's eyeballs to fuck with her before he went off the deep end. pretty gross.

i once threw a football at a girl's face because she was talking shit, and it fucked up her braces. uhh another time when i threw a football and jammed a kid's thumb. and then that time i accidentally broke one of my teammates noses with a football. i throw footballs way too hard i guess?

lots of bottle rocket fights. give me and my brothers fireworks and we're gonna shoot them at each other. surprised we haven't lost any eyes. same way with paintball guns. me and my older brother are both grown now and we still do that shit. lots of roughhousing. our love language is beating each other up. theres 3 of us, youngest is 15. we cant go out in public together cause somebody would think we're gonna kill each other, and call the police. also happened before.

still laugh at this time i was putting up drywall at church and this kid, lil dude who was there cause his dad was workin with me blah blah-- he squirted hand sanitizer in his eyes and thats the funniest scream ive ever heard. he was fine, we got him fixed up and bought him a happy meal, but shits still so funny to me and i dont even know why.

[josephslittledeputy]

WIP Wednesday!

Tagged by @detectivelokis @direwombat @inafieldofdaisies @clicheantagonist @socially-awkward-skeleton ty for keeping me in the loop lovelies!

Tagging @g0dspeeed @nonfunctioning-queer @marivenah @henbased

Posting a few things since I've missed a million wip wednesdays, so first up is the beginning of Willa's disastrous journey in part 1 of her dark au :)

“Ugh…” A groan forces itself through cracked, dry lips as she wakes to an insistent mumbling hum buzzing by her head. Her eyes flutter open and roam over her settings with an owlish blink. Numbly, she stares ahead, to the swaying headset that’s making so much noise, and finally to the vibrant orange ribbons, flapping in the wind outside. A few minutes tick by before her memory trickles in, syrupy slow, bringing with it an ice cold terror. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. She was hanging upside down with her seat belt being the only thing holding her in place. It takes another minute to realize that the ribbons outside were not ribbons at all, but flames. To make matters worse, there's a tiny waterfall of liquid, dripping down from the helicopter and splattering onto the ground into a puddle. The smell itself is indistinguishable: Gas. She looks over to her right to see Hudson, passed out, then in front of her to see Burke, also passed out, and then there was… Wait, where the hell was Joseph? “Amaaaziiiiing Graaaace.” The distant, haunting timber of his voice paralyzes her. Ironically, she can’t help but to think that this would be the part in the movie where the main character ran and hid from the killer. But she has no where to run and no where to hide, so she does the next best thing: A fumbling attempt to grab the headset dangling just out of reach, taunting her. “How sweet the sound…” She leans forward, brushing her fingertips against the headset and pushing it further away. “C’mon!” She makes another attempt and this time her hand secures a tight grip around it. With a bud of hope blossoming in her chest, she pulls it toward her, just a little closer- Joseph’s hand shoots into view like a striking viper, latching onto her wrist with a punishing grasp and her breath hitches in her throat. She doesn’t dare to turn her head, in fact she’s not even sure she’s able to. She’s frozen in place, watching him move into her line of view. “That saved… a wretch… liiiike me…” He tilts his head, watching her. Unblinking. Waiting. It’s only when she releases her death grip on the only lifeline out of here that he, in turn, lets go of her wrist. It's a short lived relief, as in the next moment he grabs her jaw, lips twitching in amusement now that he’s made sure she’ll be unable to look away from him. “I told you that God wouldn’t let you take me.” He taunts, using his other hand to blindly reach up and grab the headset behind him, pulling it close so he could talk into the mic. “Dispatch.” “Ohhh… my god.” Nancy responds with a relieved, shaky exhale of breath. The reply prompts a brief half smile, one that doesn’t quite meet his eyes. “Everything is just fine here. No need to call anyone.” No. No, no, no. There was no fucking way- “Yes, Father. Praise be to you.” He drops the headset with a dramatic flourish then leans in with deadened expression, getting close enough that she could smell him this time: Dirt, sweat, ink, old books, and… something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. He reaches up, slowly, as if approaching a cornered animal and she can’t help but to think, oh god, this is it. Bracing herself for the pain of long, pianist fingers penetrating squishy flesh, her eyes fly open in surprise when rough, callused thumbs brush across the apples of her cheeks instead. It’s a soft, soothing gesture, one she’s unfamiliar with. He wipes away stray tears that she hadn’t even realized were there and takes a moment to watch her. A second later, he’s leaning in, getting too close, forcing her to move her head back until it hits the headrest behind her. “No one is coming to save you.” He utters those final words before climbing out of the helicopter

Next up is Willa's (failed?) cleansing!

“Not this one.” He holds a hand out, stopping the peggie at her side and giving them a look before handing over the book he’d been reading from. His blue eyes—looking almost colorless in the moonlight—flick back to her and the water parts around him when he moves closer. “This ones not clean.” Then he lunges, pushing her down until she's submerged underneath the water again. She struggles, trying to gain purchase on anything, but the effort is futile and a few seconds later she’s already resurfacing. Her chest heaves with her gasps for air, her lips trembling from the cold temperature. “Y-you mm-muh-mother-f-fucker!” “Ahhhh!” He clicks his tongue with a smile, “Shhhh.” Expecting it this time, she holds her breath just before he pushes her under, the cold water shocking her system as if she were doing a polar plunge. She manages to grab hold of his shirt, pulling him with her and delighting in the blurry shock on his face when he stumbles and falls. He barely manages to catch himself and in using her to regain his balance, he sends her back slamming into the ground, driving the air from her lungs. Out of instinct, she opens her mouth and inhales water, gulping it down like she hasn’t had a drink in years. It gives her a bone chilling sense of dreadful déjà vu. Her frantic movements grow more sluggish the longer time passes until soon, she isn’t even struggling at all, but weakly smacking at whatever part of his body she could. But he doesn’t relent, he doesn’t let up, he keeps her there until her vision darkens at the edges. Then he keeps her there even longer, sharp fingers digging into her shoulders as he takes out his rage and frustration on her. She can’t do anything but exhale… and let go. . . . “N’aww, you really thought this was over? It’s only just begun…” . . . Someones pressing on her chest—one, two, three—then pushing air into her lungs. They repeat the motions again. One. Two. Three. Air forces its way into her lungs. She doesn’t respond. Again—one, two, three—more air. She responds this time, coughing and throwing up water that spills over her face. Sweet, sweet air fills her lungs and there’s a multitude of voices all mumbling by her ear. Her eyes lazily open, idly noting that her chest feels heavy, that it aches. Above her, with the moonlight behind him like a halo, she can only think that Joseph Seed looks just like an angel in that moment. Or maybe it’s the bliss—yeah, she’s sure it's the bliss. His lips were moving and the words don't register with her, but the relief was clear on his face. Raising a hand, he pushes wet strands of hair from her face and slowly, the words begin to fade in. “You’re not here by accident or by chance. You are here by the grace of God. You’ve been given a gift.” His lips pull up into a smile, not like the half ones that she’d seen earlier in the crash, but a real one. His hand smooths over her hair again, the motions setting her at ease, making her relax, disarming her. “Now it remains to be seen whether you choose to embrace it…” His voice lowers into a despairing whisper, ”Or to cast it aside.” Chirping crickets fill the silence while he continues to stare, memorizing her features.

[doctorstethoscope]

And the Devil Appears || Will x Mac

genuinely very brave of me to post a fic for a decade old fandom that does not seem to exist on tumblr <3 to the two people who interacted with my ff will x mac blurbs this is for you. and a big ty to @hotchs-bitch for betaing this bad boy for me!!

contains: alcohol consumption, angst

wordcount: 1045

The end of season wrap parties have always felt arbitrary to Mackenzie. They’re in television, yes, but it wasn’t like there was an off season for them, a plot bow they could tie up, a clean break in the story. The news was messy, it was constant, it was encompassing. That was what she liked about it, even if it meant that the work never stopped and that the “season” was another notch in her contract negotiating belt more than it was anything substantive.

And it also meant an ACN-sponsored party with free booze, so she supposed she wouldn’t complain. 

They’d have to pick up in the morning and start the next “season,” which is nothing more than the day’s newscast, but Mackenzie finds herself feeling reflective anyhow. She lets Wade know that she’s going to make a quick stop at her office, leaving him with an inebriated and chatty Sloan. Instead of heading to her office, she walks down the hallway and jams her thumb into the elevator button impatiently, anxious to get out to the quiet of the patio so she can think. She’s making a difference here, she knows. Her, and Jim, and Don, and Maggie, and even Will, she admits to herself reluctantly. They’re doing real news, important news, news that makes people better and more informed. And they’re doing it well enough that Will has time to despise her. 

She bites her thumbnail as she strides over to the railing, looking out at the city below. So what if Will hated her?  He was entitled. He was the anchor and she was the EP. He respected her as his showrunner. She didn’t need him to like her. 

She turns abruptly when she hears the door open behind her, not expecting to be interrupted. Of course,  she practically scowls to herself. Think of the devil, and the devil appears. 

“What’re you doing all alone up here?” Will asks softly, in a tone that’s all too familiar to her, but one that she’s rarely heard since she’s been back. 

“Just getting some air. The party’s pretty loud,” She says, turning back towards the street, not even looking at him. She can’t. 

“Can we talk, Mackenzie?”  He asks, coming to stand next to her, bracing his hands on the rail. 

“Of course,” she says, easily, as if it isn’t killing her just to feel the warmth of him radiating onto her arm. As if every moment of producing him, of owning him, wasn’t abject torture. 

“I haven’t been very fair to you,” he admits, and although she’s shocked to hear it, Mackenzie chuffs out a laugh. 

“A bit of an understatement, isn’t it?” She mutters under her breath. 

“Yes,” he admits, and now she’s really aghast. She flicks her eyes up to his for the first time and finds him staring down at her. “I just wanted you to know… I had to tell you, Mackenzie, I don’t think I ever stopped loving you,”

“Will–” 

“And I’m sorry if that’s hard for you to hear, or if you don’t feel the same way, but I think you do, Mack. I think you’re mad at me, and you have every right to be, but I think underneath that we both know that you and I—”

“Will, I’m engaged to Wade.” 

She watches this revelation hit him like a brick wall, and it makes her cringe. A part of her hates herself for it. But it’s the truth. That’s what the two of them– what journalism, she mentally corrects herself, is all about, right? A wave of something unpleasant rolls over her as she realizes that the truth, the thing they spent day in and day out working towards, was going to take Will away from her for a second time. 

“That’s not real. You’re not,” Will blusters. 

“It most certainly is real, and I most certainly am!” She argues, getting angry now. 

“Does he make you happy?” Will asks, and it has the timbre of a concerned, ages-old friend who only wants the best for her. But she knows better. He’s challenging her, just like he always does. It’s bait, and she won’t take it. He lets out a humorless chuff at her lack of response. 

“What, and you think you do?!” She’s yelling, it’s unprofessional and unladylike and she doesn’t give a fuck. “You think I like this? You think I’m happy, coming into work every day and sitting next to you in every meeting and pretending like I’m—” she stops herself suddenly. 

“Pretending like what, Mackenzie?” He asks, but she just holds his gaze. They know. They both know, and neither one of them will ever dare to say it for fear of being the greater fool.

“You don’t get to do this, Billy. You don’t get to condemn me to a life of unhappiness just because that’s the path you’ve chosen for yourself,” she commands him, as if speaking it aloud would make it so.

“This isn’t right. You know this isn’t right. I love you. You can’t tell me that you haven’t been waiting for years for me to say that. I know you have. I read the emails from when you were embedded.” 

“You told me that you didn’t,” she whispered. 

“I lied,” he whispered back, leaning in close to her. 

“Well then I have absolutely no reason to believe that this isn’t a lie, too– another one of your godforsaken punishments,” she spits out, lunging away from him.

“It’s not. This is real, Mack. Unlike whatever the fuck you’re doing with Wade,” he twists the knife, unable to ignore it when it’s right in front of him. 

“Fuck you, Billy. You know why I’m engaged to Wade? Because he’s not you. Say what you want about him, or about me, but he’s never hurt me on purpose. And I never did that to you either.”  She runs back into the building, leaves him on the balcony. He should follow her, should insist that their conversation isn’t over. But he knows, he knows deep down, that it is. He’d pushed, and pushed, and pushed, and she finally called uncle. 

He pulls out the little blue box he’d had in his pocket and pitches it over the railing.

tagging: @spacecowboyhotch @honeybrowne @angelfxllcm @rousethemouse @infinite-tides @gspenc @anlin2058 @zetasaturno99 @witheldclouds @realdirectionx @sbeno22 @el-vs94 @hausofwhores

[feralghxuls]

🏅🌝🖊💖

hi mal!! ty for these <3

🏅 What is something you recently felt proud of in regard to your writing (finished a fic, actually planned for once, etc).

i haven't posted it yet but there's a part in the muzzled rain fic that i am really proud of! it worked out exactly how i wanted it to :) and i am also proud of the fact that i finally got enough written for amnesia fic to start posting it, that's such a big project and i've been working on it pretty consistently for months now

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

mist!! i love her dearly and i have rotated many scenarios with her, but i haven't actually written anything with her yet. i have a couple of things planned that i haven't started though hehe

🖊 Post a snippet from a current WIP.

Dew should turn around and go get someone who’s more suited to handling this, probably. Or maybe he should let her work it out herself; she, like him, often prefers time alone, away from potential collateral damage. But Dew isn’t known for his common sense, or sense of self preservation, so he taps into her thoughts and says, Wow, you smell like shit. Wake up on the wrong side of the nest or something? He should have expected the reaction. He expected some kind of reaction, but he didn’t imagine the vehemence with which she whips around with a snarl, ears pinned and teeth bared, and he's not prepared for her to launch herself down the hall at him, a blur of grey ghoul and black clothes. It’s nothing she hasn’t done a hundred times before but her scent sours so fast and so much it makes his stomach twist. Normally, he would snap right back and they’d go rolling, hissing and squalling until one of them (Stratus, usually) ends up on top, but it’s obvious now that she’s fucked up bad about something. So he braces his feet and lets her collide with him, wraps his arms tight around her even as she sinks her teeth into his shoulder with a harsh snarl. Woah, hey, okay. Come here, Dew mutters, and she bites down harder and growls again. In the next moment, she’s wrapped all her limbs around him like an angry octopus, which he takes as a sign to just start walking back towards the ghoul dorm wing. He feels a little out of his element, but a snarly, bitey Stratus is nothing new to him, so that helps. He’s still not sure how he’s supposed to help here; he has an idea, but he’ll need to make sure she’s receptive to it before he tries it, because he doesn’t actually want to get mauled. But whatever happens, it’s not happening in the fucking hallway. 

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

my imagery! i have always really enjoyed digging into imagery and describing environments and Vibes, which i did quite a bit in my first fic when aether is in the woods running from dew, and there's tons of imagery in the next chapter of amnesia fic that i am super proud of tbh

[youngpettyqueen]

🌀🌈💧

(I don’t think it’s your cup of tea either, but just in case—I’m not a big fan of smut. Limes are fine, but don’t really like anything graphic.)

—No GFA Anon

ty anon!!

🌀: Post the fic summary for a fic you haven't written/published yet. It can be hypothetical or something you really plan on releasing...

BJ, Margaret, and the worry they share.

🌈 : Share something soft/fluffy from your WIP.

I dont have much here just out of context dialogue because ive posted. pretty much all my fluff stuff that I can post without big ol spoilers askhdksjdh

“You can be a maiden, I suppose,” … “But hardly a fair one. An Austen maiden, perhaps. The sort who spends half a second in the rain and catches her death.” “How about Lizzie Bennet?” … “We’ve got so much in common. We read a lot of books, and we’re deeply annoying to rich men who actually love us a whole lot.” “You wish you could be Elizabeth Bennet.” “I think you’re my Mr. Darcy.”  “I think I should’ve checked you for head injuries.”

💧: Share something romantic/hot from your WIP, or just something sweet if it's gen.

you are right im not huge on writing smut! uhhhhh lets see what ive got for something sweet from a gen fic, since ive also posted. a lot of my romance stuff that isnt spoiler-y

“Good,” Henry pats his knee, “Now, I’m gonna call Radar back in, and I’m gonna let him fuss all over you. Call it the consequences of your own actions,” He looks over at the door as Hawkeye braces himself, raising his voice to call, “Ra-“ He doesn’t need to finish, Radar bursts in and runs right over. He’s all over Hawkeye instantly, with worried questions, followed by proper scolding, followed by a whole lot of relief. Hawkeye lets him get it all out, assuring the kid he’s fine over and over again, and even offering up a humble apology for scaring the pants off of him. 

[sloaaaa]

i just need to put my thoughts about my ipad somewhere rq

ik i really hated the switch from csp to procreate at first but it's really grown on me now! i find that using my ipad is Way better for my posture and ever since i swapped to it i haven't had to wear my wrist brace yet :0 even when drawing for hours at a time! and i never feel the strain on my shoulders and neck anymore!!

i'm really glad i decided to give the ipad and procreate a chance, especially now that i'm in college again and pretty much always on the move. it's nice to have my ipad w me when i have those two hour breaks in between classes -w-

it was really scary at first how expensive everything was :'3 and also i kinda really suck at adjusting to changes so i really hated,, pretty much everything about the ipad and procreate when i first picked it up. it felt like a huge waste w how unsatisfied i felt whenever i used it. but bit by bit i started to really see how nice it all was :]]

the very first thing jumping at me being the setup time. when it came to csp and my laptop there were so many steps to just opening the program that it became a whole chore task in itself. i had to go to my assigned Computer Area in the house, i had to open up the lappytoppy, i had to sign in, to power on the drawing tablet, to wait for everything to load, to open csp, hit new file and figure out all the canvas settings. but when it came to the ipad the whole boot up process felt so streamlined, i just use my fingerprint then open up procreate and open up my template (i always have duplicates of templates ready for this exact purpose) then i'm ready to go right away.

another thing was the lasso tool. csp would close your lasso as soon as you lift your pen but procreate would let you draw your selection in multiple strokes and i really loved that.

anyway idk what i wanted to do w this post ahah. i hope y'all are able to also find a setup that works for you :] ty for reading mwah

[spacetimeodysseyofjane]

I like to make myself believe that I am not romantic, that I don’t believe in love, and that I will never get married. But here’s the thing… I know deep down that someday, I will have the wedding of my dreams (lol).

I made this playlist five years ago just in case that day would come (in my defense, I have a playlist for everything). For someone who doesn't want to be tied up, I have already curated the songs for my wedding. 🤣

Just to add, I even have a letter ready for my future self about this marriage thing. Yes, I am that strong, independent woman who is also a hopeless romantic!

Anyway, if you're reading this, you're probably already married! A miracle indeed! Tying the knot? What are you doing? Lol! I just want to congratulate you for believing in love. Congratulations on getting through the cringe-worthy parts. Well, you're up for more challenges, so brace yourself. I'm writing from the past, so I don't have any advice to share with you.

But I know that a lot of things seem bleak right now.

Please don't ever lose faith in love. Trust the process, don't stop yourself from feeling. It's not bad to be vulnerable; that's the beauty of living and loving. Don't be afraid to express your feelings; it's perfectly normal to have emotions, so don't bottle them up. If you miss or love someone or anything, be brave enough to acknowledge and say it. You have so much love; it's okay to share it.

There will always be challenges and problems that will come your way, especially with the person you love, but please stop running away. It's not easy; heartaches, pain, and drama are inevitable. Just make sure always to choose to love... in the right way. Lol.

Remember that everything works out for you, for us.

You've got this, always have, always will.

Congratulations on another milestone and enjoy this day!

I also have a letter for my future husband but that's for another post. This is so cringe, but I will surely thank myself in the future for doing this! Hahaha

[davyjoneslockr]

since my knees hurt i give that to giorno and fugo. any hcs about disability and stuff you give to the gang? (or any jjba character really)

Okay yeah I was thinking very intently about this last night. I think the end of PHF where Fugo Eats The Virus And Gets Wrecked really messed up Fugo’s vocal chords. He’s still able to talk and stuff, but he sometimes 1) physically loses his voice and is unable to speak for a while, or 2) can’t enunciate things the way he wants to/speak at certain volumes, which frustrates him to the point that he goes nonverbal.

Tying into this. I think @/joejoeba had a headcanon a while back about Mista being partially deaf from using his gun so much. And also I think Narancia goes nonverbal sometimes due to overstimulation or stress. So since Fugo and Narancia can’t always communicate verbally, and Mista has a hard time hearing sometimes, I think they develop their own set of nonverbal signals that they use between the three of them. Maybe partially based on sign language, but mostly stuff they made up themselves. And it includes plenty of practical stuff, like signs for their stands, certain maneuvers in battle, etc, but they also definitely use it to call each other assholes and make fun of people covertly.

For other situations, Fugo carries around a pocket notebook and a pen for written communication, and learns basic sign language. Giorno learns it with him, and they find it’s actually really convenient for both of them, as Giorno also has some trouble with verbal communication at times. He may or may not go overboard with signing “I love you” to Fugo, and he gets a huge grin on his face whenever Fugo gets over being flustered and signs it back.

Aside from the Vento gang, for everyone lives AUs, I think Caesar gets prosthetic legs and uses mobility aids. Definitely has a collection of very stylish and cool canes. Post-SDC Kakyoin also needs back and leg braces, and uses crutches, a walker, or a wheelchair, depending on the day. Avdol has sick ass prosthetic arms and this is the best thing the JoJo fandom has ever agreed upon actually. I’m sure I have others but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head