#and coming on here to post them i realise people have already done way better

[youpricksneverwalk]

[save-the-villainous-cat]

Hello dearest kitty, I'm here begging on my knees for some fluff

Okay okay I'll stop, but it was a funny start especially after your least post, but I really love your writing and I would love to see you write some sub villain X dom hero fluff, about self care and maybe a little bit on self harm cuz I have exams and this is my comfort trope.

But regardless if you write it or not I want you to know that I really appreciate all your work and I it makes such a huge difference in my life, you're one of the people I can look at and be happy 😁💖

tw mention of self-harm

“This is…nice.” The villain frowned and hugged their own legs, almost as if they had never been in a bathtub before. Still tired, they leaned against the tiles of the bathroom wall. All the hero could focus on were their lashes when they closed their eyes.

Admittedly, the hero hadn’t considered this to be the result. They hadn’t expected to end up in bed with their nemesis. It would have been easier if this was part of a mission, they reckoned. But fate was much crueler.

Now feelings were involved. Complicated, difficult feelings. Sometimes they didn’t know if they should blame themselves or the villain. After all, the villain was devoted and passionate. They were tactical and brilliant.

And they were also pretty. Ridiculously pretty.

The hero swallowed.

Why was this happening to them out of all people?

“I don’t think anyone has ever made that kind of effort for me,” the villain said. They smiled and the hero’s heart dropped.

“You mean letting in some water?”

“Well, yeah…and the breakfast. The soft kisses. The massages, you know?” The villain looked at the hero again. “No one has ever done that for me.”

For the hero’s taste, they were too far away from each other. Even though the bathtub wasn’t the biggest, the hero didn’t want to sit on opposite ends. They worried their bottom lip between their teeth.

“Can you come closer?” they asked and the villain nodded, obeying quickly.

The hero let out a shaky breath they didn’t even know they were holding once the villain sat down on their hips. At this point, it was like a drug. The hero craved this affection and these hands on their skin.

It wasn’t just pleasure, it was something more vile. Something that could bleed and die, something that could destroy the hero within seconds.

A few hours ago, they hadn’t realised it. Not really. But now that they knew they weren’t just attracted to the villain, they needed to control themselves.

“You know you deserve it, right?” they asked. The villain didn’t meet their eyes, though. “You deserve nice things.”

“Is this a separating-work-and-personal-life-thing? Because we both know I’ve done despicable things in the past.” The villain looked ashamed. They let their thumb run along the hero���s biceps, almost as if they could distract themselves that way.

“No. I like you the way you are. Even the parts you deem ugly.” The hero touched the scars the villain had tried to hide yesterday gently. They couldn’t stop looking at their nemesis. At their perfect face, their perfect body. The hero wasn’t sure why their melancholy was taking over the now.

Yesterday, they’d been laughing and kissing. They’d never had that much fun in quite a while. But now, responsibility weighed heavy on their shoulders again and they couldn’t bear the feeling of saying goodbye in a few hours.

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Have I ever been dishonest with you?” the hero asked. Brilliance wasn’t a gift. It was the result of hard work and the hero could appreciate and respect that the villain had been working just as much as they had. Both were the same in that aspect, destroying themselves because that seemed to be logical: working until you had results. No failing, no mistakes. 100%. All the time.

The villain smiled softly. Maybe even sadly.

“When you told me you love me yesterday?” they asked quietly but the hero already shook their head.

“No, that wasn’t a lie.” Their finger traced one of the villain’s scars. Somehow, the bathwater was getting hotter and hotter. The hero closed their eyes as they tried to calm down. “You’re lovely.”

It was only natural, wasn’t it? To be attracted to someone who challenged, yet matched them in so many ways? God, the hero was really at the end of their rope.

“Hm. You know, under all these layers—” the villain touched their chest “—of calculated and raw reason—” they drew a heart with their finger into the hero’s skin “—there’s a very gentle soul inside you.”

“Is that criticism or a compliment?” the hero asked. Again, looking at the villain made their stomach turn. In a good way. Kind of.

Their nemesis smiled.

“Just an observation,” the villain said. They leaned forward and kissed the hero’s cheek. “Thank you for taking care of me. I kinda suck at it.”

The hero’s hand was still on the villain’s scars.

“You just need a little bit of help, that’s all. Everyone does.” The villain was still so close. If the hero moved their head a little, they’d be kissing.

Hell, why was their heart beating so fast?

“Do you think I could be better?” the villain asked. “Do you think I could change?”

“Change is inevitable,” the hero explained. “But I…I got you.”

They held onto the villain a little tighter this time and honestly, they knew why their heart ached when they brought them home.

[spaceman-earthgirl]

Supercorptober 2023 Day 18: Lena

(Just a heads up, I won't be posting over the next few days (until the 24th at the earliest) as I'll be out of town. I hope you enjoy this one!)

ao3 fic link. series link.

Lena Luthor is nothing like Kara expects.

She’s beautiful, which Kara did know before meeting her, she’s seen photos, done enough research into Lex to know who she is, but seeing a photo and seeing her in front of her are two separate things.

She’s absolutely stunning, and Kara is having a hard time focusing on what Clark and Lena are saying.

Kara knew Lena was smart, you have to be to be CEO of a company like Luthor Corp. But she’s sharp, and witty, and clever in a way that makes Kara want to find a way to drag this conversation out, just to hear her talk more.

Kara expects lies from Lena, expects deceit, things she’s become accustomed to whenever the Luthor name is involved. Maybe Lena is just better at it than the rest of her family, but Kara can’t help but believe her as Lena speaks.

And then Lena is talking about her family and being adopted and wanting to make a name for herself outside of her family and Kara totally understands, feels it even more strongly with Clark standing by her side.

Lena hands Clark a flash drive and Kara just knows, she can feel it, that Lena is telling the truth, that they can trust Lena.

Not that she can tell Clark that, so she does something dumb, something that Clark would definitely disapprove of, something she spends absolutely zero time thinking about (which is honestly sometimes for the best) and she quickly places her notebook down on the edge of Lena’s desk. Quick enough that neither of them notice, not even Clark.

They leave Lena’s office, and Kara already maybe regrets her plan a little, but it’s too late now, because Lena has her notebook and she needs it back.

“Shoot,” Kara says as she steps onto the elevator with Clark. “I left my notebook behind, I’ll meet you outside.”

She steps out of the elevator as the doors close, leaving a confused looking Clark behind.

Kara takes a couple of deep breaths before knocking on Lena’s office door.

“Sorry, I left my-“

“Notebook?” Lena finishes, holding up the book in her hand.

“Yeah, sorry,” Kara stammers. “I’m not used to this reporter thing. Not that I’m a reporter, I was just here with Clark, which you know, so I mean…” Kara trails off, realising she’s rambling when Lena tilts an eyebrow up. “Sorry,” Kara says for a third time.

“Don’t be sorry, but I am curious as to why you left this here. Don’t think I didn’t catch you leaving it on my desk.”

Kara is pretty sure her cheeks were already red after her little ramble, but now she feels her whole face flush at being caught.

Kara takes a deep breath. Again, she’s not sure what she expected coming back here, not sure entirely what she wanted, but she may as well be honest, there’s no point in lying now. She’s embarrassed herself already, what’s a little more?

“I didn’t have a plan exactly, was more of a spur of the moment thing. But I didn’t want to leave without telling you that Clark might not believe you but I do. I’ll figure out why the Venture exploded and prove to Clark he can trust you too.”

“I’m not sure Mr Kent is very quick to trust.”

“He’s my cousin, I’ll make him see reason.” Kara hesitates. She could leave it there, but she has one more thing she wants to say. She’s never usually this forward but something about Lena feels like it’s pulling her in, and she wants to know more. “The other reason I came back is I wanted to ask for your number because I know I’d regret it if I never saw you again. I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

There’s that eyebrow raise again, this time Kara can tell Lena is surprised.

Lena picks up a pen and scribbles something on the notebook before she hands it back to Kara.

“Thank you,” Lena says, and Kara can tell she’s being sincere. “Not many people trust me because of my name, and I’ve never met anyone like you before either.”

Lena smiles and Kara feels her knees go weak.

“Have a good day, Miss Danvers.”

“You too, Miss Luthor,” Kara replies with her own smile, feeling more confident that Lena hasn’t laughed at her or had her thrown out. “I’ll see you around?”

“I hope so.”

[daisychainsandbowties]

tagged by @the-darkness-does-not-bargain for this six sentence thing🥰🥰 the rules are you post the last six sentences of what you’re writing but i’m going to ignore that and post this chunk that is coherent since i take a long time to say anything🥰

from my ot3 vamp au😘

///

“humans have more… choice about it. you can decide not to eat meat at all.”

she traces the tips of two fingers across Ava’s chest, and this time it does not feel demonstrative - or, maybe the word she wants is deliberate. beatrice isn’t trying to test the waters anymore because they are already pink-frothed with blood. her expression is faraway.

“most of us don’t though,” Ava tells her, shivering, even though the brush of fingers across her chest is only an idle animation. it is not trying to make her breath catch but she is every metaphor for a moth to a flame. she is so drawn to, so helpless against these hands.

ava tries to hold onto the thought that the body obstructing the moonlight is old. it has habits she cannot fathom. but she doesn’t really think that Beatrice is teasing her now; just touching, in her odd reverent way.

ava has never felt anything close to holy

and good, good. she knows now that no holy water or consecrated ground can stop an angry ghost still girl-shaped from filling a room up with blood, but still. on the off chance that being better would make her a poison to them she is happy to lay here, profane and just-fucked and hopelessly drawn to the girl with eyes like bloodshot halos.

she stirs on the backseat – they are impossibly tangled up now in the almost-dark. just moonlight leaking in, air through the window beatrice rolled down, after they were done. ava coming down, still shaking. watching beatrice use her forearm to wipe Ava’s cum off her chin. an odd, practical sort of motion that turned Ava on all over again.

“besides. you can do that too, sort of.”

“I drink blood, Ava. there’s hardly any vegetarian option in that.”

Ava rolls her eyes, realising belatedly that her head is resting on Beatrice’s discarded coat. she has the shirt back on but unbuttoned, gaping open to show a scandalous slant of stomach. Ava likes that she is unsculpted – her tummy faintly soft when Ava kissed it. there’s a false note of reassurance in that – how beatrice not a statue but a warm girl.

“no, but you could hunt bad people, instead.” she feels her voice take a turn toward quiet, “is that what you do?”

twin wicks of gold observe her through the darkness and beatrice takes a long, unnecessary breath. “some of us do that. i think, at least, since lilith gives any coven a wide berth and you don’t often meet solitary vampires out in the wild. we are avoidant creatures by nature.” she shuts her mouth then and Ava can see a pattern of self-reproach in it as she presses her lips flat against her teeth. “but no, i don’t do that.”

“oh”

she gives Ava a very sad smile (she could almost have taken it in her hands, it is so palpable), “i have eaten poets before.”

“were they good?”

[remotepixel]

Hi, how would yandere avengers react if their platonic teen obsession threatens to disclose their yandere tendencies or has actually done so to the media?

Hii, thank you for requesting!!

Tw: yandere themes + kidnapping mentions

-I’m assuming this is somewhat far into the obsession, enough where it’s obvious to you that something is very wrong, but not to the ‘they’ve gone completely off the rails and everyone can tell’ point.

-Getting the evidence would already be pretty hard. Sure, you have the obvious fact they’re always hanging around you, but, they’re superheroes, people are naturally going to support their side unless you have enough proof (or, sometimes, no matter what).

-Any clear red flag (e.g. trackers) would be specially manufactured by a world-renowned genius, so a casual police search likely wouldn’t find anything, and it’d be pretty nerve-wracking to try and record a conversation with a superspy.

-However, if you do collect enough, it still wouldn’t be easy to get rid of them.

-If you threaten them, the amount of guilt-tripping would be mental. Some of them are more self-aware than others, but all of them share the same sentiment that, at the end of the day, they’re (or, think they are) helping you. They know some of their behaviour crosses normal lines, but look how much your life has improved since they’ve been around, isn’t it a good thing someone cares about you?

-All of them would be hurt by your threat, and likely back off at least for a while if you strike some sort of deal (e.g. you leave me alone, I won’t tell). But they’ll be back, or still lurking around in parts of your life.

-I think members like Natasha and Bruce, who are more self-aware yet never speak out against the more delusional ones (since they’re still working together at the end of the day), would back off the most. They don’t want you hating them even more, and, currently, your relationship is on a thin line - it’s better to back off and subtly guide you back to them then force it.

-None of them fully take your threat seriously, even if it hurts their feelings. They know they have the upper hand here: government links, popularity, influence - you’re completely out of your depths even if you think, or act, otherwise.

-If you’re still very consistent on disclosing everything to the media despite their efforts to chill, you’re likely getting kidnapped. Drastic, obviously, but it’s the only way to guarantee you’re both in their grasp and others aren’t concerned.

-If you already disclosed it however, the methods you used to go through with it play a big role in the outcome.

-As I mentioned, there’s probably trackers in your phone, both for location and general monitoring, e.g. a keylogger. The second you post your blog, or send your email to the news, it’s getting deleted and completely wiped if possible. In this case, it’s probably going to follow the same route as before, but with extra emotional pain because you didn’t even “try talking” to them.

-If you focus more on meeting up with reporters in real-life, maybe getting them to collect their own evidence in the background, there’s a higher chance of success. However, that does require having insiders in a hopefully-popular newspaper company, something a teen probably wouldn’t have.

-Assuming the avengers haven’t noticed the news coming out about them, for at least enough time that citizens are able to read and share this, panic would ensue the second they realise.

-They would experience a range of emotions, most mentioned above but some would also hold a bit of rage (not necessarily at you, your actions more so). They have one, very obvious thing they need to do now though: address the ‘rumours’.

-Deleting the reports would raise more suspicions, and they can’t just admit everything the news is saying is technically true, so they decide to try and twist this into their favour. They’ll (mainly Tony as he’s probably dealt with this sort of thing before) make up some sort of story that puts you into the wrong - like you’re lying for attention or were trying to purposely ruin their reputation for petty revenge.

-If they’re feeling really nice they may try and chalk it up as a misunderstanding, but I think it depends who has a role in writing the response. For example, Steve would think it’s slightly too far, while Tony would just think of it as a necessary outcome - he also just doesn’t like listening to Steve’s advice so.

-You become a pretty big talk in the media, but, when people start believing the avenger’s side, it’s mostly snide comments or dragging your name through the mud. The avengers would probably feel bad for the amount of slander you’re getting, assuming they didn’t before, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they deleted a few, just plain evil comments. But you forced their hand, if you haven’t had ‘lied’ in the first place, this would have never happened.

-In a way, this may just bring you closer to them. With what feels like the whole world against you, the only people who really seem to care anymore are the avengers. They might even offer you a deal - you admit you were lying to the media, apologize, and they’ll publicly support you. Sure, it won’t get everyone off your back, and you’re be scared to even go outside in case reporters are there, but it means you have the most powerful team in your corner again, and isn’t that what you need?

[fromdarzaitoleeza]

Ahh it's the last day of 2023 already?

I am expecting a call from a friend although the possibility of this happening is very slim it always felt nice to hear the voice of an old friend ( I'm not a text person I've realised this over time but I am stuck to be a text person) .

I can't wait for spring to come in 2024 , spring provides an intense amount of healing to my soul.

The next four months are very crucial in my life if they go well I can survive the rest of the year, I have died a couple of times this year and I am amazed that I am alive i didn't honestly thought i would make it to the end of this year ( especially in the last 3 months , I badly needed help but i didn't wanted others to pity me so i spoke to none about it ) anyways I don't want to talk about it , i don't want to make it sound blue than it already is,a i am really sorry about the fact all my posts are blue I sincerely wish it wasn't that way( altho i haven't posted anything here with as much as devotion I use to do , partly cuz i created an Instagram acc but that's not all reason I ve been sad nonetheless) and sorry for all the "anon/asks" that i haven't answered

I have made no achievements this year and there is little to no progress towards my self love or self growth, but I think that's okay I can do it in the upcoming year, time flies so quick i can't believe Its been so many years since I was 16 I miss being 16 honestly I had more in me back then than i have now , i have lost of confidence my vision and my smile over the years it's as if I am very different person now , i certainly wish I wasn't this way i really thought i would be so much more and better in my early 20s but it is what it is , acceptance is haredest of all emotions in my opinion , you know things are harder to accept when you know you could have done better .

Just like in the last 2 years even this year I didn't make any real life friends with whom I can hang out with i think it's partly due to the fact some people are destined to be alone and I am afraid to admit I am one of them , I did make 2 online friends this year .

I don't want to share any life lessons i learnt this year but if there is something i would love to share is choose yourself one more time each time you feel it's the last time you are doing it , choose one more time to live,one more time to hope, one more time to have faith , one more time to start again [ the fact I am the one telling you this is rediciculosly funny ] .

Unlike most people i don't have a lot of goals for the new year I just got things i want to avoid ( idk if that's the same thing?) Avoid my leftover heart's heartbreak, avoiding what takes away my peace, avoiding what can cause me discomfort, avoiding things that make me question myself ( in any negative way) ,i think that's a little too much but that's it .

As I was writing this Google photos sent me a notification saying " 3 years back today with a photo of mine " and it broke my heart a little, now I am questioning myself how did i let so much happen to me , I wish I treated certain things as the last time instead of always stupidly believing in future ( my worse trait yes).

There is a lot to say as always, i wonder if I open my mouth i would never stop sharing things that go inside my mind , but i also know there is no use of it if i can't find people who can understand it , maybe that's how I end up ranting here .

Not to mention I love people who are patient, i believe in the near future i would only like to talk with people who could be patient with me and with my silence . I believe everyone deserves people who can be patient with them .

Nothing really matters in the end but at the same time everything you do matters ❤️‍🩹

[shizunitis]

old man yells at cloud: shen qingqiu and the fandom

cw: discussions of homophobia, abuse & ableism

this was not supposed to get this long, or this disorganised. there’s also a lot of profanity because i am who i am. i half-apologise. annoyed/-ing yapping continues under the cut. i’ll reward u at the end with something i promise

look. listen. hear me out

i agree that shen “yuan” qingqiu is oblivious and it’s funny to see him panic and scramble for a foothold in the insane world of pidw, but some of you honestly sound like you think he should be drawn and quartered for having trauma.

y’all safely out of the closet, loved, accepted and supported since the womb? is that it? you’ve never hurt someone by believing lies purposely fed to you by “the system”? lies that, when questioned, get you punished or shunned? you’ve never been guilty? you’ve never been scared? you’ve never had to hide a part of yourself to be accepted? you’ve never been frustrated by your loved ones’ insistence that “they know better”?

“mxtx wrote a novel where the internet troll gets his comeuppance for bullying the poor author” cannot coexist with “abuse/pain/unjust punishment cannot give birth to a healthy society”. either you want shen yuan broken and made into something else more palatable to you, or you want him to be free to dote on and protect binghe and heal. it is clear what the story chose to do.

there’s a whole ass novel out here that’s basically screaming “be compassionate! be kind! be vulnerable! accept others as they come! solipsism is a bullshit thought experiment and not some grand theory about the nature of the universe!” and yet you’ve somehow, as if hungry for blood, focused solely on the shortcomings of a lost, inexperienced young man trying to make the best of his situation while being coerced by an omniscient, omnipotent, asshole of a god.

there is no clearer allegory in modern media about the destructive influence of coercion, brainwashing, and thought policing, than the one presented in svsss. and yet! here i fucking am, coffee-less, reading with my own two eyes corpsezun-cold ass takes on the “proper” ways of navigating self-discovery.

i hate having to be the one to tell someone to touch grass, so i’ll just urge you to read something else, something literal and educational about the struggles of queer/disabled/vulnerable people in unkind societies (all of them) and outright hostile ones (most of them). watch documentaries, seek out the elders of your communities, think back on your own unpleasant experiences, speak with people you don’t agree with and approach conversations with curiosity. lurk in fandoms before you post.

this is something you’ve internalised: that a queer person must be pure of mind and spirit to expect compassion. that a vulnerable person you deem weak must not be listened to since clearly, someone else knows better. that someone who makes a mistake/misunderstands something should be shunned, or at the very least berated in spite of having already faced the consequences of their actions.

y’all don’t have to love everyone to be kind to them and understand them. and honestly trying to “punish” a repressed queer man for how he’s choosing to survive in a hostile environment by spouting borderline-cruel bullshit about his thoughts that never leave his brain just tells me that you have done close to no self-assessment and are liable to hurt people by accidentally saying some horrendous shit you don’t even realise is painful to hear.

as you have done, and keep doing, especially when seriously and without a moment of reflection you post non-jokey “haha shen yuan is stupid and oblivious of course that happened. every friend he has trying to assert control over his choices is a just and reparative consequence of his stupid pea-brained attempt to survive. the system was good actually.”

i fucking love making ‘liu qingge was a victim’/‘lmao bingy is horny gripping shizun connect the dots’/‘shizun cannot be trusted outside for more than half an hour’/‘lmao ballad of bingqiu’ jokes because yeah! that happens! you get people who crush on you! people sometimes get infatuated with you! sometimes people get very invested in your life! sometimes people worry and care even if you don’t realise it!and it is somewhat comical in hindsight, a bit endearing, a lot bewildering, but ultimately mundane and entirely human!

until it actually starts affecting you in real ways. until people try to corral your movements because they “can’t trust you to be safe” without listening to you, a grown ass adult who clearly knows something they don’t. until your own mistakes come to bite you in the ass and, when you’ve fucking fixed it, you get berated and judged for it because others’ self-righteousness takes precedence.

good people learn and change and take responsibility for hurting those around them. they allow those who have erred to find a better path forward. they act with compassion and respect for even the most undesirable of their peers.

there are many messages in svsss that you can learn from. while it falls short in some aspects (naturally, by virtue of being written by a high-schooler), it does not fail in presenting a human perspective on fucked-up circumstances and asking you to understand and empathise.

characters are there to hold up a mirror for you. it’s a safe, consequence-free opportunity to look inwards and decide if you’re okay, or if some things might need addressing.

fandom is a playpen and you get to do whatever you want forever to the dolls. but your playmates are real people who, in some cases, are susceptible to your influence, and will be hurt by how you choose to present your commentary. when they leave the sandbox and see the distorted reflection of your arguments come alive in the real world, they will then internalise it, just as you have.

and then i’ll have to read it and it’s, frankly, depressing to see what my Not Homophobic, Very Woke (lie) high-school classmates would say all over again. is that what you want? to be likened to a 15 year-old eastern european boy? really?

obviously i’m not talking about jokes, bits, comedies, haha hehe’s, or fanfic depictions that i may not agree with from a storytelling standpoint.

i’m not the mayor of who-gets-to-talk-ville, but i’ve lived all my life in a deeply homophobic, racist, ableist and economically fucked country of former soviet influence and it just, like, annoys me to see the same sentiments in these kinds of spaces coming from inexperienced/young people who just don’t realise the impact of their own ignorance. i hope i’ve made this clear even if i sound like a finger-wagging dirty-mouthed grandpa yelling at the kids on my lawn.

fuck i’m so tired

anyway. here’s the reward:

ah… that makes me feel so much better. <3

[paeries]

~ spyrry sneak peek~

disclaimer; contents are subject to change once fully edited and posted

cw; swearing, spy!reader x spy!harry, enemies to lovers??

••••••••

“I don’t care what the conditions are, Terrance! I’m not doing it! Get someone else for it this time.” Y/N barked, doing her best to keep in stride with her boss, who regrettably ruined her otherwise great morning with quite possibly the worst news of her life.

“There is no one else, dammit! You two are the most qualified for this exact job. You’re doing it.” The director glared, “You and Styles both cryin’ about it every morning, I don’t care! If there was another way, don’t you think I’d try and spare myself the agony of hearing you two argue?” he finished, practically out of breath, the poor thing. She rolled her eyes at the mention of his name, and she was sure she was scowling, with the way people were scrambling to get out of the way.

“That’s all good and well, but I am physically not going to do it.” She reiterated, effectively putting her foot down on the matter once they reached the debriefing hall.

“I had a feeling it’d come down to this,” Terrance sighed, and subtly nodded to a few others behind her. “Sorry, Y/N, it’s only for a little while.”

“What are you tal- Hey!” She shrieked as she was grabbed and cuffed to the chair. “Come on! I’ll get out of these!” She huffed, tugging at the silicone covered chains.

“Yes, but it’ll hold you till he gets here.” He answered before stepping out into the hallway and shut the heavy door between them. Her jaw fell open, before anger taking over her, a growl leaving her lips as she pulled at the cuffs. “Cool it, cool it…” She whispered to herself, relaxing as best she could, what with her fists clenched tightly.

She couldn’t believe this, of all the people that work in this god forsaken building, not a single one of them could train well enough to give Harry some better competition as number two. (Because let's face it, she's number one because she is the best, and if they couldn’t beat out Harry, they certainly weren't coming very close to her spot.) And now, because the insufferable prick can’t ever keep his mouth shut, she’s got to be the one cuffed to a chair that's bolted into the damn floor. After all the hard work, and dedication she’s given the agency, everything she’s done to keep money in their pockets, and this is how they treat her? They let one stray dog in, just to muck it up. All the mistakes he’s made that they’ve had to rip her out of her home or training to fix his problems, now they want them to double a mission together? She’d sooner quit.

——

“No, no fucking way.” Harry huffed, slowing his steps down the hallway once he realised he recognised the head of hair waiting in the room they were headed to. “You’re absolutely insane if you think there's any way I’m agreeing to this.” He argued, extending his arm out to gesture to the door. “This isn’t up for discussion, Agent.” The director calmly said, as he had already prepared for another round. Terrance took a steady breath before scanning his badge and the door separating them opened again. There she was, legs crossed over one another, looking totally unamused as she sat at the table while twirling around the cuffs she managed herself out of. “Oh, look, visiting hours.” She deadpanned, rolling her eyes. “What, he doesn’t get cuffs?”

“I don’t believe this! You can’t seriously tell me that no one here is better than her besides me?” He huffed and Y/N rolled her eyes, tossing the cuffs to the table. “No one here is better than me, period. You’re nowhere close to what I bring in.” A snicker falling past her lips as she watched Harry get visibly worked up. “You took out one man, and you think we all have to bow down to you !” Y/N laughed, pleased at his reaction. “It wasn’t one man, it was the man, and there’s no rea-,” She started before the director shut the argument down. “S’enough already. I’d get rid of both of you if there were anyone better. Fact of the matter is, for some reason, your competitiveness against one another, makes the other better. Christ, y’don’t even know what you have to do yet.” Terrance sighed, pinching the nerves at the top of his nose after the pair glared again at one another.

“Now, are we ready to listen?”

——

“That’s even worse than before, T!” She cried, bringing her hands to her face. “We’ll never be able to pass off as a loving couple, are you crazy?!” Harry groaned, “We’ll be killed.”

“Speak for yourself, m’not stupid enough to get myself killed. It’ll be you that does it because you can’t keep y’mouth-,” She was seething, but thankfully the director stepped in once again with a slam of the rather hefty dossier on the table. “That is the brief, moving on.” He breathed, going to the screen to pull up the pictures. “I don’t care how you do it, when you do it, where you do it, just don’t use a gun. Ballistics tells too much about our whereabouts. Locate, and disarm the bomb, Harry, and Y/N, hack into his servers after the two of you infiltrate. Planes ready, pack up and go. It’ll be a while.”

“Terran-“ “Wait a second!” The two spoke at once, trying their best to squeeze in their complaints and concerns in a last ditch effort.

“Go! Get out of here, you’ve given me a headache in the fifteen minutes you've been around each other. Argue on the plane and annoy the pilot for all I care. Just, don’t kill each other.” The director left quickly, desperate to get away from the ticking time bomb as fast as he could.

———

After the initial wave of disappointment ebbed away, she decided she’d better get to packing and quickly, if she was going to catch the flight. “Move,” She huffed, rolling her eyes at him as he continued to stand in the way of the door. “You move.” He breathed back, shouldering past her as he grabbed the rather weighty accordion file that held all the information about their mission. After briefly turning through a few pages, he glanced up to see that she had already started down the hall. Her strides quick and strong but focused; one of her angry walks. “Wait!” He called, jogging after her until he caught up. “Y’really gonna leave without even looking at it?” He asked in near disbelief, it was very unlike her to not want to know everything.

She turned the corner sharply, leaving Harry to stumble as he missed the turn. After correcting, he stopped at her desk, waiting for his answer as she rummaged through the drawers. Finally, her head snapped up at him as if questioning what he was still doing there. “Well?” Harry repeated while holding the file up, frustrated that she’d completely ignored him. “S’what the fucking plane is for, Harry. Of course m’not spending 2 hours on a plane, then driving another 5 and a half without some reading material.” Oh. Harry kept quiet, grumbling some sort of a ‘whatever’ before going to collect his own belongings to pack up.

••••••

(there’s the sneakerrr, i literally have been having the hardest time NOT thinking about these two because i’ve been in a very argumentative mood, call it the gemini in me but it is what it is)

[breezy141]

INSPIRED - james marriott masterlist

any quotes in this are from pinterest !! i did not come up with any quotes or names of books !!

throwing your head back in annoyance you could not figure out what to write, to say you were currently dealing with writers block was an understatement. every time you thought of something to write, your brain would pick it apart and in the end it sounded absolutely ridiculous.

you were quite a popular author, you wrote books of quotes; some happy, some sad, some lustful, some angry and some romantic ones. you dabbled in full books, but they took more of a creative mind and you didn’t believe you were ready for that level yet.

the series of books was under the name the smell of books, they are the most popular amongst the more young people. people often posted pages on their insta stories, tagging you in them, which helped gain you a little more popularity.

but right now, you were sat at your desk, head thrown back and eyes closed. it was hard being an author, sometimes you will have moments where you are full of creativity and excited to write, other times you dread sitting down with your book and pen as you have nothing to jot down. it was already late at night which was only making you more anxious.

the sound of the door being pushed open startled you a little, turning around you saw your sweet boyfriend. “oh! i’m sorry i didn’t know you were in here, thought you were in bed” smiling to yourself, you shook your head.

“it’s okay, i came to write but i don’t really know what to write. you came to stream?” you asked leaning back in your chair further. he nodded softly, “if that’s alright with you darling, i don’t want to distract you or anything”

“it’s okay, i promise james.” he nodded and gave you a kiss on the forehead as he walked by, he sat at his own desk and set up a couple things.

“so, no inspiration at all?” he spoke looking over at you, you shook your head feeling quite annoyed at yourself. you used to be so good in thinking of things on the spot, you loved it but now it was almost like you were running out of fuel.

“i’m sorry angel, i wish i could help; i believe you will figure it out though, you have a creative mind and always find a way” smiling sweetly at him, you thanked him for his kind words and went back to staring into space thinking.

after a while, james began speaking to his twitch chat and reacting to tik toks sent to him. it was funny watching his reaction, but what was even better was watching him laugh at such silly things.

you caught yourself smiling at the fact of him laughing, it was a cute laugh, one that could immediately light up a room. his outgoing and precious personality was so attractive to you, whether it was for a camera or not. he was amazing and extremely perfect to you.

as you watched james many ideas came to you, you picked up your pen and began writing with ease.

“he looks just like a dream, the prettiest boy i’ve ever seen”

“he found his happy in me. like i found mine in him. in us. in this.”

“a may be the writer, but you’ll always be the words”

“home is whenever i’m with you”

“when he calls me pretty i feel like i’m floating”

and many more.

giggling to yourself, you were happy you managed to get more then 2 quotes down. james noticed your sudden happiness and smiled to himself, remembering to ask you about it all once he was done.

you closed up your book and put your pen in the mug james hand painted for you as a random gift one day. stretching your arms above your head, you dragged yourself over to james and gave him a kiss on his cheek before waving him goodbye and dragging yourself further to the bedroom.

-

you were all cozied up in bed, one of james large t-shirts on paired with some cotton pink pj shorts. otto laid on your stomach giving you your own personal hot water bottle, and a large fluffy blanket was lazily thrown over you. focusing on the book in front of you, you didn’t even realise james had opened the bedroom door and made his way over to the bed.

jumping at his presence, he chuckled a bit. “i noticed you had managed to get a couple things wrote down” he got into something more cozy and had slipped under the blanket with you.

“a couple is a understatement, i got loads wrote down. loads of inspiration too” you placed your book on the bed side table and cuddled up to james, otto soon jumped off of the bed and found his way into his own bed.

“oh yeah? what kind things did you write?” he asked genuinely curious. “hmm, you can’t know yet. just know it was heavily influenced by you” he raised his eyebrows and smiled.

“your adorable, i love you” he said kissing you slowly, it was full of love and passion. “i’m proud of you for sticking to your job, instead of giving up like some people do” snuggling closer, you breathed in deeply, breathing in his musky scent. a scent you loved always.

[my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction]

Get Well Soon

Steven Grant X GN!Reader

Masterlist | ao3 | want to be tagged?

Rating: T

Warnings: TYPOS, SWEARING, mentions of feeling sick, fluff, hurt/comfort, unwell reader, vertigo, ear infection, please let me know if I’ve missed a warning!

A/N: for the ask here. This is the Steven version! (I'm trying to post the things I write instead of just looking at them for months on end.)

Word Count: 1175

___________________________________________________

The street swam. Everything shifted constantly to the side as the vertigo messed with your vision. It had been a stupid idea to try to go to work with an ear infection. Stupid. But you’d done it anyway. 

It hadn’t been so bad this morning, just some pain and a bit of a temperature. You didn’t want to let your colleagues down, again, with your sickness. Even if you knew in your heart of hearts that they didn’t think like that. Didn’t blame you.

You’d managed to get up the road from your flat to the bus stop on Alberny Road before everything had started to go really, really wrong. And now you were sitting on the tiny bus stop bench, your head in your hands, eyes tight shut, trying not to throw up. 

You just needed a minute. Just a minute and you’d be okay, fine, well. Or at least enough to get yourself home and back into bed. 

The ten minute walk back and never seemed so long. 

Footsteps echoed along the pavement, you could only hear them faintly over the morning traffic rushing passed. They paused in front of you.

There was a second of silence. 

You peeked out from behind your hands, getting a glimpse of slightly battered trainers. Shoes that you distinctively recognised.

Steven spoke your name, worry coloured his voice, “love, are you okay?”

Of all the people, in all of London, it was just your luck that it was Steven. Lovely Steven who lived a floor above you. Lovely Steven who you’d been harbouring a hopefully-not-painfully-obvious-secret crush on. Lovely Steven that you definitely didn’t want to see right now.

You glanced up. Which was a bad choice. The quickness of the movement made everything worse. 

He was obviously on his way to work, holding the strap of his bag that was slung over his shoulder. Concern shone in his soft brown eyes, his eyebrows pinched together. 

Honestly, you would have stared longer if your moving vision wasn’t making nausea rise in your throat. 

You dropped your head, closing your eyes and gave him a half hearted wave. “Hi Steven.” God, you sounded awful. 

You heard him move and sit down next to you, his arm brushing against yours. “What’s wrong?”

“Ear infection.” You blurted out. “Thought I was better, but everything’s moving.” 

Steven nodded, and then quickly shook his head when he realised you couldn’t see him. “Fuck, that’s terrible. You can’t go to work like that love.”

“Yeah,” you smiled weakly, still keeping your eyes closed. “Just trying to work up the energy to get home. Might have to crawl.”

Steven tutted, already typing on his phone. “Can’t have that.” 

You let out a weak laugh, not realising he was serious. “Yeah, but I think I’m out of options.” 

“I’ll get you back home.”

“What?” You opened your eyes, turning quickly to face him in surprise. And instantly regretted it as the vertigo rushed over you. 

You screwed up your face and swayed as the world seemed to move, despite your stable sitting position. 

Steven quickly wrapped his arm around your shoulders. “Here love,” he pulled you a little closer to him so that you could rest your head against his chest. “Sorry who’s being a bit forward? Me.” You could hear the nervous smile in his voice.

You shook your head as animatedly as you dared. “No, thank you Steven.” 

Some of the stress left his muscles. 

You both stayed like that for a few minutes until Steven’s phone buzzed and a car pulled up (illegally) at the bus stop. 

“Come on,” he gently helped you to your feet. “Keep your eyes closed if you need to.”

“Steven, what-”

“I got us an Uber, we’re going back to the flats.” 

“You’ve got work, I can’t ask you to-”

“Don’t be silly.”

“I’ll send you the money for-”

Steven tutted at you as he helped you in the back seat before he got in himself. It seemed silly, but you were extremely grateful when he fastened your seatbelt for you. You kept your eyes closed and your forehead pressed against the cool glass of the window.

The journey was quick, despite the morning traffic. Usually the walk to the bus stop wouldn’t have taken any time at all, but there would have been no way you would have managed it. 

Steven helped you out of the car and into the block of flats entrance. 

“I’m going to make you so late for work Steven.”

He had chuckled at that as he guided you to the elevator and pressed the number of your floor. 

Steven kept his arm wrapped around you to help you keep your balance. His warmth was soothing and you let yourself lean against him a little. 

It was only when you were both standing in front of your door that he said something other than kind reassurances. 

“Now, I completely understand if you want me to piss off now, don’t want some stranger hanging around by your front door, yeah?” He swallowed, and smiled, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. 

You had your keys in your hands. But knew there was no way you’d be able to get them into the lock. You held them out to him. “Can you open the door for me?” 

“Of course,” he rushed to take your keys and opened the door quickly, keeping his hand on it so that it didn’t shut again.

“Thank you Steven. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” 

“Ah,” he waved his free hand dismissively at you. “It’s nothing.” 

“It’s really not.” You gave him a weak smile. “I owe you one, about fifty ones really.” 

He gave you a brilliant grin. “Well, erm, get well soon.” He waved as you stepped into your flat. “I’ll come check on you later, I mean,” he blurted it out without thinking, internally kicking himself for-

“I’d like that.” You said. 

“Alright.” He smiled again. “See you later.”

.

Donna had given him a bollocking for being late, despite that fact that he’d called ahead. But Steven didn’t care. 

She had given him another dressing down later on when he had been caught staring off dreamily into space, thinking about if he really should check on you after work. Or if you had just been being polite. 

.

At 20:06 you were doing a little better, you’d taken some of the anti vertigo medication your GP had prescribed for you, and some migraine medication that knocked you out. 

You’d managed to get out of bed and walk around without feeling like you were on a ship in the middle of a storm, when there was a knock at the door. 

You frowned and made your way over, about to look through the peephole when you heard Steven’s voice. 

“Hello, love! It’s me, I hope you don’t mind but-”

You opened the door with a bit too much enthusiasm. 

He beamed when he saw you, holding up a canvas bag. “I brought you soup!”

____________________________________

Thank you for reading!

Taglist: @pleasurebuttonwrites @jake-g-lockley @raven-rk @campingwiththecharmings @alexxavicry @mystinky-butt @cocodiem @oscarisaacsspit @welcometostayingawake @melodygatesauthor

If you'd like to be taken off the tag list please let me know here

[sankttealeaf]

putting rue's letters she wrote to gale and gortash under the cut because idk where else to post them but the world has to read them too

i doubt theres any way to include them in the main fic because a) gale wont read his because rue is alive and b) gortash thinks its another taunt from orin and also won't read his

stupid men.

Gale, my love.

Please know there is nothing you could have done to change my mind.

With each day that passes I feel worse and worse with myself and you deserve something better than I can give right now. I’ve not been honest with you and the guilt is eating me alive, though I know it will be nothing compared to the hatred you will feel for me. I tried, countless times, to speak to you about this in person but my words get tangled in my throat and I end up pretending everything’s okay.

Everything is awful.

Since arriving in the city, since meeting Gortash, since getting a place here at the Elfsong I have lied to you every single day. You may already know, in fact I think you’re smart enough to have found out somehow.

I’ve been meeting with Gortash in secret. It started as a desperate attempt to regain my past but as each night went by and he told me less and less I realised I was going to him for other reasons. We’ve kissed. That’s the furthest we ever went. I need you to know this.

I’m going to finish this. By the time you’ve read this, there’s a high chance I may be dead. I want to end Orin, to destroy the temple of Bhaal and renounce my blood but I know that I will most likely not survive the outcome.

I love you. I really do. I think you were the first person I’ve ever said those words to. Love doesn’t sit well within me but with you it’s as easy as breathing. You were the best part of all of this and I’m glad fate fucked me so we could meet. You were the kindest person to me despite everything wrong in my blood and I have never felt hope as strongly as I have when I’m with you. I wish things were different. I would have loved going to Waterdeep with you, to meet Tara properly, to meet your mother, to have a nice life away from all this. There’s no soft endings for people like me. I understand that now.

And I’m sorry it has to end this way.

All my love,

Rue.

Gortash.

One day, you will die. Not by my hand, but by someone else’s who deserves to get their vengeance on the cruelties you put them through. If I could I would throw you to the masses for them to rip and tear into you but even then I think that death is too kind.

I didn't plan on writing this, nor am I entirely sure what I’m supposed to say. What do you say to someone you can’t ever remember loving? I truly believe she loved you. Rumour, that is. We both know we aren’t the same person anymore and it’s easier to think about her as a separate entity. Maybe that’s how I cope with what I’ve done. What we’ve done.

I think she loved you in such a way that it hurts me to see you go. Which is why I won’t be there. The thought of you dying kills me but I know I’m not supposed to feel like that. We were to die in each other’s arms when the whole world took its last breath. I can’t see you die before then.

I’m confronting Orin. Part of me knows that whatever happens, one of us will die. Maybe it will be me. Maybe this time she’ll finish the job. Or maybe Bhaal despises us both so much he plucks the blood from our bodies and kills us both. I’m fine with either.

I’m fine with death. A world with such kindness in it isn’t made for cruel hands like mine. I think I understand that now. I can only be forgiven if I leave this plane and that’s what I’m doing.

If our gods allow it, I would like to wait for you. Perhaps we can reconnect after death. You said that we will always find each other and I hope that whatever comes next for me, I will find you again. Maybe I’ll be a bird that nests outside your window. Maybe then I’ll finally feel free.

Enver. You were her friend. She did love you. I need you to know that. I’m sorry it’s come down to this. There’s no other way.

Forgive me.

Rue.

[boyfridged]

the brilliance of jay's progression in countdown is that it gives you a promise of positive character development, and then it breaks it. and it does so intentionally, in the most diverting way, to emphasize jason's inability to escape the cycle.

or, another post breaking down the series, where i repeat myself a lot but also make a clearer argument.

there are three notable events that happen at the beginning: the subtle showcase of jay's internal conflict considering his approach toward killing (the very first encounter with duela and the monitor), jay reaching out to donna in crisis ("i guess I just wanted to be around someone else who might know how it feels…"), and finally – his helmet shattering. these scenes tell you: jason's direction as a character is changing, and it seems, for the better. he's about to abandon his trauma-based (no matter how ironic, it does remain tied to his trauma) identity, he is connecting with people, and he seems to be on a brink of understanding that his moral standing does not provide easy answers or solutions either.

and for the most part of the series, we see that narrative unfolding (even if a bit non-linear, still innocently convincing way). it is, in many ways, supported by bringing up features of his characterisation from the 80s. jason remains, of course, still unpleasant in ways typical for this era of writing, and is conflicted and disagreeable, which makes sense for his utrh/post-utrh personality. however, there are also details that bring us back to his original robin run and his cameos on ntt – we see him being responsible (e.g. #43 – suggesting to bring in other superheroes in crisis, even though he clearly is not keen on the idea of working with them), determined (#16: “isn’t that your super-power, stupid boy? too stupid to ever give up?” “maybe it is”), sensitive (half of the whole storyline, really), caring for gotham (gotham by gaslight) and people-oriented (as early as #51).

the issue that particularly signals that jason is an inherently good person and externalizes his internal conflicts regarding classic heroic vigilantism vs his cynical approach is #30, where we meet batman of earth-15 –  alt jason, whom our jason attempts to punch in the face.

and on topic of batman – jason is always gravitating towards batman. in gotham by gaslight jay looks delighted to see (the foreign) bruce and suggests checking with the local bat. then, earth-51 arc arrives.

earth-51 arc (#16 - #13) is a culmination of a promise of catharsis for jason. we have already seen him as batman, as a confirmation that a different life for him is possible. and here he has a chance to come to terms with his past and overcome it. he meets a version of bruce who has done exactly what he wanted him to do in utrh: killed the joker and the rest of the rogue gallery. what is most important – he is disappointed with this version of his father. we realise that jason, deep down, has an intimate and intuitive understanding of what batman stands for; and that he shares most of his values. this is a truth that you can't ignore especially since jay is the one to inspire this hollow, cynical version of batman to go out and fight in a seemingly lost battle.

and then batman dies. right in front of him.

this is a central moment of the narrative, for many reasons, most strikingly:

the symmetry:, a premise known from the lost days, becomes literal. this "the father had lost a son, and now the son had lost the father" is a cruel parallel to a death in the family and bruce's grief. jason's death created a gap between them that jay has been desperately trying to close, with no avail – because in bruce's mind, jason remains dead. now that jason is grieving bruce, the connection closes on both sides, and there's no way for either of them to reconcile the mourning with the reality of the other being truly alive. in this sense, the arc solidifies that jason can never come home.

no good deed goes unpunished. as i have mentioned before, so far jason is established as someone good at heart, but confused; and the reader intuitively assumes that his better, honest side will win. yet, the moment jason gives in to hope, it victimises and retraumatizes him. this event, again, brings to mind his own death, when he tried his best to save sheila and ended up paying the highest price for it. so, narrative-wise, jason is always punished for his kindness.

perhaps because of the nonchalant act that jason pulls off, many readers seem to miss that everything that happens after that arc is an upshot that follows logically from it.

jason's immediate determination to leave – and later a short period of indecision that ends up with his dramatic exit, pushing his team away, makes perfect sense when you consider what intense trauma he has just gone through. admittedly, i'm not a fan of the notion that he would give up at all (i think he's always ready to give up on himself, but not on the world), but then on the other hand, if there's anything that would cause it, narrative-wise, witnessing batman dying does sound like a good incentive for that. (it also has to be pointed out that jason seems to be confident that the rest of the team can go into the final battle without him anyway; it's not like he would go back to his earth not even knowing if said earth will exist tomorrow).

it's crucial to notice that following that crisis of faith (faith in fighting for the world) is followed by him raising up for the challenge again, but now... worse and even more confused. in the final confrontation with donna, jason antagonizes the superhero community, and when we see him at the end of the series (#1) his monologue indicates that he believes the capes to be naive. (significantly, he also focuses on bruce and offends the memory of 51 earth-bruce by calling him crazy; an action that can be seen as suppression of his own guilt and invoking, once again, a cruel symmetry considering bruce's engagement in victim-blaming after jason's death). this, once again, is consistent with the "no good deed" reading – jason diminishes superhero values because he has been continuously punished for living by them. (and unlike other superheroes, he doesn't have a support system nor skills in compartmentalization that would help him deal with this trauma) every leap of hope re-traumatised him. hence, it seems to be no surprise that jason decides to abandon the mask, and in the closing scene we see him without it. the promise of the shattered helmet is pushed to an extreme – jason does not get a new alt identity. he denounces the idea of superheroism completely.

and yet, what is ultimately subversive about the ending, is that jay is not truly a civilian and he does not abandon vigilante ways. he does the same thing. we see him without a mask, but he is clearly working a case. he might have rejected the symbolic dimension of the vigilante work, but he still carries the same delusional hope for bettering the world and protecting people that the superhero community does. only now, he is even more isolated and doesn't have any identity to go by (as he is still legally dead).

as such, the ending opens a new question regarding jason's understanding of himself and vigilantism, or rather the lack thereof. is it possible that vigilantism is really at the core of jay's trauma? and why, potentially, is it something that is so destructive for him as a character specifically? (and i have some answers for that, but i'm not going to get into it here, as it's already a very long post)

so, tldr; the genius of countdown is that it establishes jay as sensitive, determined, and fundamentally good (this is what the purpose of seeing him as batman is!), and then it brutally reminds the reader that jason’s tragedy is that on this specific earth, in this specific timeline, his love doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. the story goes on as it did; one way or another, jay is trapped in the cycle of his care ironically creating rifts between him and the others, and bringing him to his own downfall.

[goldeneyedgirl]

Sonya! (Imagine, for a moment, that Tumblr Staff actually fixed the bug that means I have to screenshot and tag you @sonyawix for replies.) I missed you!

Jasper's just there realising that a couple of decades of training and practice with the Cullens was no match for a tiny teenage girl who looks at him like he's the second coming. She did more for his self-esteem in one night than anyone has done for him since he was human.

Jasper's softer in STL and his trauma has already been sorted, organised, and filed in his mental storage unit so he just has to simp over worry about Mary-Alice. Mary-Alice has the trauma conga-line but it gets pretty soft for both of them starting next chapter.

But it's why Jasper chapters are usually easier to write.

And listen, we all switch hyperfixations. I read a whole bunch of MCU fics that had Correct Vibes but Incorrect Takes, and beautililies had to stop me from writing MCU fic before I worked on Jalice fics. Also the idea I am carrying 70% of your Jalice experience is fucking wild. What do you want? I feel like I need to give you something because 2024 was not my most active year ever.

My little Mabel has recovered from the infections she had well, but decided to keep things interesting and acquired an ear infection which has since been upgraded to a double ear infection because what's more fun than a lot of credit card debt? Even more credit card debt! She is why I can only stare longing at Coach bags and not own fun stuff like that.

And honestly, I join you in solidarity that my sister and father are also Shitty Fucking People. Sometimes, people are rancid, and we just need to salute their bullshit and carry on our merry way.

It is law that if you bring up Anathema, I post something. I picked this scene WIP because Alice being a dramatic teenage girl is somehow so funny in my head? I can't wait to get to a scene where she's dramatic in front of Jasper and he's just "...you're adorable, you know that right?" And she's like, "absolutely not."

But for now, Alice makes a small scene.

“This is to never get back to the Clearwaters,” I could hear Freddie saying to Charlie Swan in a low voice. “Any of them. I trust you, Charlie.”

Charlie sighed. “Fred, I’ve known you a long time, and I don’t like this at all. What is so important you have to meet with them alone, without Sue and Billy knowing?"

Silence, and I was tempted to creep up the hallway to be able to hear better.

“… This is about Alice and her well-being. If… I have reason to believe that if Sue, Harry, and Billy knew more about Alice’s … health and genetic make-up, they would be deeply unhappy."

That was most likely an understatement. I had a feeling that if Sue found out that I was biologically half-vampire, I would be persona-non-grata in the Clearwater household. There was a fifty-percent chance that Harry would hunt me for sport, honestly. His aim with a shotgun was second-to-none.

//

Dr Cullen had brought his wife, and there was something almost funny seeing them in our home - they were both dressed in very stiff, fancy clothing, standing in the entrance looking awkward. I was in the kitchen finishing the washing up in pyjama bottoms and a t-shirt; both Freddie and Charlie were still wearing work clothing.

The apartment was still mostly in the late 60s style from when it was built. Lots of brown and yellow. Freddie always intended to renovate, but we never seemed to get around to it - moving all the books would take us days, and we’d have to stay downstairs. It was cozy up here, and if we made any changes, it would be to clean out the third floor.

“Hello Alice.” Mrs Cullen smiled so warmly at me, but I felt oddly shy, offering a little wave as I put plates back into the cupboard.

“Turn on the coffee maker, love, before you go,” Freddie said, and I got the message that this wasn’t going to be a meeting I was included in. I wasn’t upset about that; somehow Dr and Mrs Cullen were far and away more intimidating than Jasper was. Somehow the golden eyes and the pale skin that looked so right on him made me nervous around them.

Thankfully, Dulcie was having dinner with her brother’s family tonight. It meant we could have this meeting at home and she’d probably bring home left-over dessert. Hopefully that really good blueberry donut thing that Mrs Stanley usually made for Dulcie’s birthday.

It also meant that whilst I had been told I wouldn’t be joining in on the meeting today, there was no one in the house that would check to make sure I was wearing headphones and watching movies on my laptop instead of eavesdropping for all I was worth. And in my defence, I had to know what Freddie was telling everyone so I didn’t mess up the story later on. It was just planning ahead.

//

“He can read minds?” I shrieked, giving myself away instantly.

Charlie Swan swore, sloshing his coffee in surprise, as the rest of them spun around to look at me in the hallway.

“Alice,” Freddie groaned but I didn’t care that I would be doing extra cleaning this week or whatever as punishment.

A girl’s mind is private. There are things happening up there that die with me, okay?

Things like me contemplating the logistics of having sex on a gurney now that I’d met Jasper and realised he was a foot and a half taller than me, and probably 100lb heavier.

Or the fact that whilst my visions hadn’t been instructional, so to speak, they had given me a certain amount of reference material to reflect on. I might never have been a Girl Scout, but I do like to be prepared.

And the idea that one of the Cullens could mind-read and had probably told the entire family that a good fifty-percent of my brain power was solely dedicated to what I had seen of Jasper’s body in my vision at any time was… not ideal. Not at all how I planned to integrate myself into their lives. I was aiming for lovable future daughter-in-law, not mouth-breathing creeper.

“Edward considers the contents of everyone’s mind private, unless harm would result in keeping it secret,” Mrs Cullen quickly reassured me. Please. I had seen Leah and Seth together; I knew what siblings were like. There was no way in hell that Jasper hadn't been informed that I had absolutely noticed he was ripped when he helped me up.

“I’m taking a lot of emotional damage learning this,” I said slightly hysterically. “Can he hear everything?”

“Only when he’s present.” Was Dr Cullen laughing at me? He looked amused.

“Alice,” Freddie sounded tired. “There are brownies in the downstairs freezer if you want some dessert.”

Huh. It was bad if Freddie was bribing me with the catering supplies.

“That would help,” I said, trying to walk through the kitchen to get a knife with some kind of dignity. “You understand why I would be uncomfortable with a teenage boy reading my mind, right?”

“I think we’re all on the same page about that,” Charlie said. He didn’t look amused.

"Alice, I really don't think there's anything in your head that Edward Cullen would worry about," Freddie said, obviously trying to sound comforting and mostly made me want to slam my head against a wall.

"I've had unmonitored access to the internet since I was eleven and no boyfriend! Or girlfriend! There's plenty up there I don't want Jasper's brother knowing!" I snatched up the cake knife and looked over to see Freddie looking like he needed a drink, Charlie Swan looking the most uncomfortable I had ever seen him - and that included the ass-injury incident - and Mrs Cullen trying very unsuccessfully not to laugh at me.

"And now I've made it worse. I'm calling Cynthia!"

It's not the fact that my father was a vampire that makes me a freak. I manage to do that all by myself.

[starflungwaddledee]

alright. look, we're going to go into this because i genuinely want to think you didn't mean harm by this, but it's unacceptable to use this sort of manipulative phrasing. especially with strangers, some of whom are kids.

this is not a call-out. i've hidden all names except my own. i just need to address this post i was tagged in, and don't want to add it onto the end of the original post. i could also have done this privately, but i want this to be here for the other folks who were @'d. i won't @ anyone else who was mentioned in this post, but many of us are mutuals, so if you see this post and you're feeling at all stressed out or bad, i recommend just clicking through because i'm going to go into this.

firstly, and i'm going to make this transparent, person who @'d me: i don't think you're being malicious or did anything purposefully bad. i don't think you intended harm or that you are "a bad person". i don't have a single negative thought about you as a person. i don't make this post to be mean. i truly think you made an earnest mistake that could easily have hurt others, and i am stepping in with the hope this can be avoided in the future! per my usual boundaries on reassurance seeking, i will not reassure about this further.

secondly, the post that you tacked this onto IS important and a helpful resource, and it is great to bring attention to it. we should be doing everything we can to not only defend against, but actively fight back against generative AI. many people cannot access the most commonly recommended tools (myself included), so a resource like this is fantastic and i'm glad to learn about it and share it! i don't speak for anyone else, but i've said before that i personally don't mind being tagged in resources that could help me or others and i'm usually happy to share them, especially if i think the latter

but, assuming that you are genuinely well meaning and don't know better, you need to know that this is not the way to go about it. i don't mean mass-tagging, which is fine in times like this imo, i mean your written add-ons that actively guilt trip every single person you tagged.

"if you weren't convinced by the idea of being a good person" and "I do hope anyone I @'d isn't a bad person" in particular.

you may not have realised, but these are profoundly manipulative and cruel things to say. regardless of how you intended them, they are inciting guilt in the reader, and especially in the people who you actively called to come and look at it. here's what it sounds like:

"hey! you! yeah you! come look at this!! come closer! now, do what i ask you to do, or you're a bad person."

there are a million and one reasons someone might not reblog something. being tired, offline, anxious, even needing to run a specifically professional blog with exclusively your art on it for your own financial survival which makes it hard to reblog important posts like this; none of those are bad.

in this case, only one thing makes them a "bad person", and it's "they're pro-generative AI and did not reblog because they want to hide this information to ensure they can continue stealing from creatives".

i'm fairly confident you don't actually think anyone you tagged here has that point of view, or that you really have any doubts about their stances on generative AI. in fact, of the folks i recognise here, they're all independent creatives, sharing artwork with fandom for free on the internet. they are the victims of generative AI, and like most of us, are facing a terrifying future and are already desperate to find a way to defend/fight back.

you do not need to use manipulative language like this to get us to care about this sort of content! this affects us all, content creators and content consumers alike!

in future if you want to direct folks to something like this, which is super helpful and it was good of you to do!, you can just @ them so they see it. you can even say something like "this is important and some reblogs would sure help to boost it!". this is still a call to action, but without the manipulative phrasing, just in case they cannot act for any reason.

in the end, guilt tripping people like this, intentional or otherwise, is dangerous.

at best it will make them feel like shit and they'll feel forced to reblog + share from you out of guilt rather than just believing in the cause. and sometimes it feels like it's most effective, especially when things are urgent; but in my opinion the risk of harm is just too high. because at worst, you could accidentally send someone into a negative thinking spiral. you can never know what people are going through offline, or outside of your spaces, and how something like this will hit them.

[tendertenebrosity]

Promises

A little bit inspired by this post, but also just an idea that's been lurking for years.

After what we’d found in the ancient temple, all of the humans were despondent. I was surprised to find that I was, too - over the weeks of travel together I’d come to care about their goal.

I shouldn’t have. What did the human throne mean to me? I’d outlived one civil war, I’d do it again. I liked Prince Arin, but that didn’t mean he’d make a better king than any of the others. Neither would possession of the Cup, actually.

And yet.

I was exhausted from the dive, but I took the time and energy needed to make my human shape again before I went to speak with the prince, because he always seemed to find it easier to talk to. Maybe also because I was putting it off.

I found him on the cliff, looking down into the ferocious sea with his face unsettlingly blank. I sat beside him on the jagged rock and curled my arms around my knees. Anxiety fluttered formless in my belly.

“What are you going to do now?” I asked him after a long minute of silence.

He gave me a black look, and for a moment I thought he wouldn’t answer. Then he turned back to his regard of the crashing waves.

“I’m not giving up,” he said, his jaw set stubbornly. “If the Cup isn’t here, it must be in one of the other locations. There are Ancient ruins all over the Southern continental coastline. We’ll search them - all of them, if we have to.”

I digested this for a minute, my legs growing cold underneath me from the rock. I should have expected that answer, maybe - he was stubborn - but the Southern coast was long. How did he know it hadn’t been taken already, I considered asking him. How did he know the door mechanisms wouldn’t be destroyed or sunk below…

Below even my ability to reach.

“Listen - Tanial,” the prince said. He was staring out at the sea again. “I know why you’re here. What you want to talk about.”

I tensed. I couldn’t help flicking my eyes over the prince’s body, looking for hints. Surely he kept it on him and not in his tent. “My soulstone.”

He nodded. “I promised to give it back once we’d retrieved the Cup.”

The first knot of dread tightened in my stomach. “That wasn’t the agreement,” I said, trying to keep it out of my voice. Trying to keep myself calm, reasonable, as if we were haggling over a purchase at a marketplace stall. “I agreed to come to the Mouth with you, and get you inside. You said if I did that you’d give it to me.”

“I said that I would give it back when we’d gotten into the Mouth and found the Cup,” he said sternly. “You got us in - thank you. It was well done. But the cup isn’t there, so - ”

I took a deep breath. And then another, and another, as I tried to hold the words in. I failed.

“You promised,” I said, almost a wail.

“Tani - Tani, I know I did, but I still need you!” He darted a glance at me, appealing, guilty. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give up now, and if you part ways with us then we have no hope of getting into the next ruins. I can’t give up. You know what’s at stake, you know I can’t give up.”

“I might stay,” I said. “You could ask. You could give me the stone and ask me to stay. I… I was going to offer…”

I had been, too, I realised. But he shook his head, a look of mingled pity and distrust passing over his face. “I can’t - Tani, if you leave I don’t know what we’ll do. If it was just my life at stake I’d take the risk, but… this is about my country. My people.”

I knew it. I knew this would happen. I should have known from the beginning, when he’d seemed so fair and even-handed. I was such a naive little fool.

“I’m sorry, Tanial...”

“You’ll never give it back,” I said, bitterness making my stomach churn, as if I might throw up bile here into the salt-stained wind. “I should never have believed you. I can’t believe I was so stupid!”

I knew all the same fairy stories he did. Everybody who ever let a shape-turner’s stone slip out of their hands in the stories met a bad end, as the shape-turner killed them outright or tricked them into a bad situation and skipped away laughing. There were a scant handful where the hero of the story gave it back on purpose, and the shape-turner was never grateful, never spared them.

The prince had gone pale and a little queasy-looking, but his jaw firmed. “I will give it back,” he said. “When the quest is done. It isn’t done yet, but as soon as it is, I promise - ”

“Your promises,” I spat, turning away to hide my tears. “Worth less than dirt.”

“Enough,” he said, standing up. Resolution swept across his face. “I won’t be spoken to with that much disrespect, Tanial. I’ll be your king. I understand why you’re disappointed, and I’m sorry, but I’ve made my decision and it is final. You will get your stone back after I retrieve the Cup.”

I’d believed that Prince Arin would look past the stories. He’d treated me fairly - from his perspective - so why wouldn’t he expect fair treatment back?

But now he’d cheated me. And the quest for the Cup would stretch into months and years, and I’d have no choice but to follow until it was done. And once it was he’d have a kingdom to rule, and there would always be a reason for not yet, and all the while those stories of the hero laid low because he took his eyes off the shape-turner would be there in the back of his mind…

No. He’d never give it back now.

He was already heading down the path. “We have a lot to do if we’re going to book passage on a ship. Come on.”

“I hate you,” I whispered into my knees. “You were supposed to be different.”

He either didn’t hear me, or pretended not to. I got up and followed; I had no choice.

[earlgarden-archived]

hello! I was the one that requested the Jumin x Elegant!reader fic. And I'm here to request again :). This time, can I get a MHA characters (any) x a reader that is similar to Shinobu Kocho. I know you've already done a Childe x Shinobu!reader before, and I'm sorry if you're getting tired of this. Also, the reader has a quirk similar to insect breathing. You can ignore this if you want.

MHA boys x Shinobu!reader (again)

Outline: MHA boys with a Shinobu-like s/o

Characters: Todoroki Shoto, Bakugo Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku

Warnings: this is long 😅 And might be a bit ooc

You don't need to apologise! I actually enjoy writing Shinobu!reader, so you're definitely not bothering. However, I'm trying not to be too repetitive right now, so try and not request the same stuff!

(old post)

Todoroki Shoto

- Aren't you two just Giyuu and Shinobu?

- At first, Todoroki found you rather annoying. You seemed like you weren't taking things seriously, which contrasted to his rather competitive nature.

- But he was actually quite surprised with your abilities. You were super fast, so fast that you could even keep up with Iida.

- Although you weren't that strong, you were able to make up your lack of strength with your fast reflexes and attacks.

- He was also rather intimidated by how dangerous your quirk could be (since you can literally kill someone with your poison).

- For the first time in a while, he felt a bit scared when fighting you in the sports festival. But thankfully, he kept his calm demeanor without you noticing.

- (You can decide if you win or not) you were, admittedly, a very tough opponent. You were fast, has amazing reflexes, and he noticed you relied heavily on your acrobatic movements to dodge most of his movements. He found them quite mesmerizing.

- When you two were teamed up with eachother, he realized just how smart you were. You listened to his instructions, and executed them perfectly. But when things go off track, you would quickly think of something to do (not sure if Shinobu is actually like this). When he got injured, you would immediately come pick him up, and heal him until he felt back to normal. You were basically the best ally to have.

- He started talking to you more often, which lead to him liking your presence, you were an overall cheerful person, and you also helped him to make more friends.

- He began catching feelings for you, despite you being a threat to his goal of becoming Number 1.

- One night, you both happened to run into eachother outside the dorm area, where you both sat down at a nearby bench.

- You two had a small conversation, with you teasing him a bit. However, at some point, you both stopped talking and started staring at the moon. That's when you said, "The moon is beautiful isn't it?"

- Shoto widened his eyes, quickly realising what you mean (if you don't know, "the moon is beautiful isn't it?" is a poetic way to say " I love you" in Japanese.)

- He quickly thinks how most people respond to this indirect confession, "I can die happy" (which is a way on saying "I love you too" according to Wikihow)

- You two look at eachother, not really knowing what to say next. (Now, you decide what you two say!)

- After both confessing your feelings, you start to get more open about yourself, since you've always been super mysterious.

- On another night, he randomly found you on top of the roof of the dorm, you seemed like you were sad. So he (somehow) climbed up to the roof, and sat next to you. And then you both had a talk on being a hero, and protecting everyone. You had a rather sad look on your face, which you tried to cover up with a smile.

- He wanted to ask you what happened, but thought it was better to leave you alone.

- until, you started tearing up a bit in the middle of the conversation. Todoroki knew that he had to ask so he could comfort you.

- You started talking about your hatred towards villains/demons, especially the one that killed your sister. As well, you said you really missed your family, and that you wanted to avenge them. (Fun fact: this is inspired by the scene where Shinobu and Tanjiro are talking on the roof)

- He felt bad for you, your entire childhood was basically surrounded by death, you must be so traumatized.

- He was also rather surprised that your cheerful personality wasn't even your actual personality. But was actually based off of your dead sister.

- After your talk, you came back to class with your usual personality, and basically acted as if nothing even happened. Now, he tends to be more nicer to you.

- Helping with your training, helping you with homework, making food for you, etc.

- He also gave you the pet name: Butterfly

Bakugo Katsuki

- Similar to Todoroki, Bakugo found you rather annoying. You always seemed to tease him the most, and when he tried to scare you off, you didn't even flinch.

- Your teasing slowly started to become insults. (Of course, you weren't that mean. You were just amused by his angry reaction.)

- Literally everyone had to calm him down whenever you two would have your little disputes.

- Whenever you fought him, he would have a hard time, because of how fast you were. However, he knew he would win you in a strength contest, as long as he could just punch you really hard, you would be sent flying.

- When teamed up with him, you would always tease him with how "slow" he was (you were just too fast), he would get really angry with you.

- "Is that the fastest you can run, Bakugo?"

- "DIEEE"

- Although he denies it, Bakugo starts catching feelings for you. But he doesn't acknowledge these feelings, thinking it'll go away soon.

- It doesn't.

- (I'm too lazy to write this, but basically you do the same confession you did with Todoroki to Bakugo, you know, the "the moon is beautiful isn't it?" thing.)

- Bakugo at first, doesn't really get it. But right as he was about to continue the conversation you guys had before, he realises.

- It takes him a while to accumulate a response, since he's been trying to deny his feelings for a long time. He knows that he shares the same feelings, but he doesn't want to say it. Love should be the least of his concerns, he's still trying to reach Number 1, how can he be this bothered by love instead?

- But after thinking for a while, he suddenly hears your voice

- "hello? Earth to Bakugo?"

- He then snaps back to reality, seeing your adorable face looking at him with a small smile on your face. He sighs, and decides to tell the truth.

- Turning away, he says, "Tch, I like you too idiot."

- (You decide how this ends!)

- After confessing, Bakugo goes easier on you, but only a little. After all, he's still trying to become Number 1!

- One day, everyone was eating dinner, when Bakugo noticed you weren't there. So he went outside to look for you, he found you on top of the roof of the dorm.

- He was annoyed and screamed at you to get down and eat dinner. He noticed that you looked rather sad, but he thought to ask you later.

- You came down, (more like fly down) and you began to become a little teary eyed. Not wanting to see you sad, he asked what happened. You just simply said that you missed your family.

- Bakugo asked what happened to your family, but he already knows what likely happened.

- You started ranting about the death of your family, and expressed your anger regarding a villain/demon that killed your sister.

- You also talked about how this wasn't even your actual personality, and that you only acted like this was because you wanted to be like your sister. (Fun fact: this is inspired by the scene where Shinobu and Tanjiro are talking on the roof)

- He was quite shocked, but remained silent to let you rant in peace. He had no idea that you used to act similarly to him (but I mean, no one would've known)

- His attitude towards you doesn't really change afterwards, but now, he respects you a lot more now. Knowing what you've been through, and seeing your determination to avenge your sister. But of course, he will still become Number 1!

Midoriya Izuku

- He admired your abilities right from the beginning.

- You were so strong and agile. Well, you weren't actually strong. He learnt that you didn't really have the power to punch someone really hard (she probably isn't like that in Demon Slayer, but because in MHA they don't really use swords, I'm just gonna say you lack strength in your arms) so he noted that down as one of your weaknesses.

- He has a lot of things he needs to be careful of, knowing how smart and agile you were, he needed to be extremely cautious if he wanted to win.

- You tend to fluster him a lot, by complimenting and teasing him, you can easily make him blush.

- When you teamed up with him, he was mesmerized by your acrobatic movements, and the fact that you kinda were flying. He was so glad that you also was good at medical things. So sometimes you would heal him quickly so he could get back on his feet.

- He admires you from a far while you're practicing, thinking that he's watching to see how fast you can move, but he's actually just admiring how pretty you were.

- (basically the same thing as the other confessions)

- Midoriya doesn't get it at first, and even says "I guess it does?" He was kinda confused on why you randomly said that, but he tried to see what was to beautiful about the moon.

- Meanwhile you're laughing at his cluelessness.

- "That's not what I mean Midoriya."

- Hes still confused "Huh? Then what do you mean?"

- After watching you giggle for a while, he suddenly remembers. You just indirectly confessed to him!?

- His face is now entirely red, as he struggles to respond to your indirect confession.

- You once again, laugh at his red face, it seemed like you enjoyed yourself.

- Eventually he responds by saying, "It's true isn't it?" (It's a way on hinting that you share the same feelings).

- Now every class 1a student notices how flustered he became whenever you teased him by saying that the moon was beautiful. Not many people understood, but a few did.

- One day, he found you sitting on the roof top, your usual smile gone. He was concerned, so he (SOMEHOW) got up to the roof and asked what's wrong.

- You started confessing about everything you had experienced in the past, with tears in your eyes. (Fun fact: this is inspired by the scene where Shinobu and Tanjiro are talking on the roof)

- He was very surprised, he also felt a lot of sympathy towards you. You lost all of your family, meaning you must've been so lonely.

- He reassures you that he would be there for you, and that you can tell him anything. Of course, you thanked him, and said that you would be more open to him more.

Thank you for requesting! And thank you for reading! (Wow, that's a lot of hashtags...)