#and people were so desperate for shipping they started shipping background characters or even the family members....eugh

[redysetdare]

All this aroace character shipcourse has proven to me that a majority of people that interact in fandom cannot actually interact with characters and media outside of shipping and genuinely I believe you need to learn how to interact with media outside of shipping.

[saigethearies]

saige’s terrortober presents…

trust me

while on an expedition into space, your budding romance with osamu came as a pleasant surprise- the murderer hiding amongst your crew, not so much.

alien!osamu miya x fem!reader

contents/warnings: murder, manipulation, and slight yandere, side character deaths, service dom!osamu, unprotected vaginal sex, vaginal fingering, oral (f! receiving), size kink, osamu is PACKING, praise, belly bulge, dacryphilia, use of pet names, betrayal, angst in the end, osamu still has his dyed hair but he’s in his twenties, this is basically an among us au bare with me

wc: 6.7k

18+ MINORS DNI

an: this one is posted a little late but it works out so it gets to be posted on samu’s actual bday!

“the fuck you mean you found a dead body?” terushima bites out from next to you.

your brain felt like it was lagging as panicked voices sounded off around you. there was no way one of your crewmates was dead. you’d all had multiple health screenings before getting admission into the space exploration program. no one would have gotten the green light if they were in bad health, so how could they just have died? and within the first week?

unless…

“there were multiple stab wounds,” director takeda said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible to prevent the surrounding tension from worsening. “as of right now, we can only assume it was a homicide.”

the room fell silent as everyone let the news sink in.

“ya gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me,” a voice drawls from across the circular table. “we’re stuck on this floatin’ hunk of metal and we’ve gotta damn killer on the loose?”

atsumu miya had a scowl on his face, arms crossed over his chest.

“if that’s the case then we need to start narrowing suspects down now,” oikawa followed up. “someone in this room is a murderer, unless we have a stowaway hiding somewhere.”

“security is top notch, there’s no way someone would have been able to sneak on,” kanoka rebutted.

“well then,” daishou started. “it’s time to start hearing some alibis.”

“i was doing weapons,” asahi supplied.

“i can vouch, i was in the room with him,” oikawa added, the other nodding in agreement.

one by one, all of your crewmates stated where they were, what they were doing, who they were with.

“i was in navigation with the twins trying to get the ship back on course,” suna said. “since dumb and dumber decided it would be a good idea to push a bunch of random buttons.”

“i was tryin’ t’ find the air conditionin’!”

“don’t rope me in with his bullshit,” osamu miya muttered from besides his brother.

you spared a quick glance at the grey-haired man. out of all the people on the ship, he seemed to be the one you always found your eyes wandering to.

“where were you?”

the question pulled you back into focus. you turned to see terushima staring down at you, awaiting your response.

“i was reading some samples in med bay.”

his eyes narrowed. “did anyone see you?”

you blinked. no, no one saw you, but that’s because you were the only scientist hired on with a medical background. most of your time in med bay was spent alone.

would that make you look suspicious?

you figured that honesty was the best policy, so you went ahead and told the truth.

“no, i was there alone- but no one else is ever really in there unless they need treatment or need to run an errand, if that makes any difference.”

“so what i’m hearing is that you don't have a solid alibi.”

you felt your hands start to shake. “i-i guess not…”

“let’s hear where the hell yer ass was, terushima.”

the two of you turned to see osamu’s dark grey eyes trained on the man interrogating you. the intensity in them almost sent a chill down your spine.

“ya seem desperate t’ go ahead and put blame on the lil’ lady without even giving yer own alibi yet.”

was he defending you?

terushima sent him a glare. “i was emptying the trash in storage. daishou saw me when he passed by.”

a furrow appeared on said man’s brow. “uh, hate to say it man, but i don’t remember seeing you there.”

“the hell do you mean? you literally walked right by me!”

“the only people i remember seeing before the emergency alarm sounded off was kanoka and the director in shields. i was dropping off some supplies for them.”

“you can’t be serious right now!”

“well look who doesn't have a solid alibi now,” atsumu taunted. “it seems t’ me like yer dejectin’-”

“projecting,” suna corrected.

“-projectin’ onto someone else because ya don’t wanna look guilty.”

“you’re trying to imply that i did this?” terushima shouted.

“if the shoe fits.”

“that’s enough,” director takeda declares, getting the bickering to subside before it could escalate further. “we don’t need to jump to conclusions and we don’t need to fall into hysteria, either. making a rash decision based on little evidence won’t help anything. the body was found near the reactors, so on the complete opposite side of the ship from where everyone allegedly was. Therefore, we don't really have any leads at the moment.”

“so what do we do?” asahi asked, anxiety written all over his face.

“for now, everyone just stay alert and on guard. try to stay in groups or at least pairs if you can. i don’t think the killer will lash out if more than one person is around, and if worst comes to worst, we’d at least be able to pick out who was with who. if you do notice anything suspicious about a fellow crewmate, come report to me directly. rumors will only cause trouble. understood?”

everyone gave their confirmation, you barely being able to mutter yours out.

there was really a killer amongst your ranks.

you were stuck on a ship traveling further into outer space with a murderer.

“good. meeting adjourned, everyone back to your tasks.”

you turned back towards med bay, practically moving on autopilot as your mind picked apart every piece of information you just received.

“i find it interesting that the person closest to the reactors at the time of the murder was you. that is, if your story was even true”

the voice was followed by a hand roughly grabbing onto your arm, halting your retreat. you turned to see terushima’s glare trained on you, his grip tightening. “everyone else might be letting your shitty alibi slide, but i'm not.”

“your own alibi wasn’t even solid,” you argued back, trying to wrench free from his grasp. “you don't have any right to accuse me, if anything i could be saying the same things to you right now.”

“you’re a lot more combative than you were a few minutes ago. i guess you dropped the quiet, innocent girl act now that we're not surrounded by others, right?”

you wanted to deck this guy. how dare he continue to try and accuse you of one thing after another when you haven't done anything wrong. especially after his own shaky alibi had been exposed.

“that’s not the case at all, i just don’t like to be bothered by a hypocrite!”

“i’ll show you a fucking-”

“get yer filthy hands off’a her.”

osamu was at your side before you could even register. while the expression on his face seemed blank, terushima could see the silent fire raging within his eyes, practically challenging him to try and disobey the grey-haired man’s order.

still, the shorter man made no move to release you, which prompted your unexpected savior to speak again.

“if i have t’ tell ya twice, yer not gonna like what happens next.”

with that, terushima finally released you. he scoffed before turning to storm out of the room.

you let out a breath you didn’t even realize you were holding in.

“ya alright, there?”

looking up you met the dark, concerned eyes of osamu. the contact had the inside of your stomach turning into an ocean, waves swirling around within you as you held his gaze.

“i’m okay, thank you,” you said, trying to ignore the feeling of your cheeks heating up. “he seemed relentless, so i really do appreciate you stepping in.”

a smile then appeared on osamu’s face, and you wanted to burn the image into your memory forever because goodness did that man look handsome.

“it’s no worries, my ma taught me better than t’ just stand by when a lady’s ‘n trouble.”

you felt the corners of your own lips curl upwards. “well then she did a really great job.”

“how ‘bout i walk ya back to med bay,” he offered. “director said we needa stick together, wouldn’t feel right if i just let ya wander off alone.”

the waves inside your stomach felt as if they were growing to tsunami-level proportions. you had clearly noticed that osamu was a handsome man the day the crew was all introduced to each other, but you reasoned that you had a job to do on this ship so you couldn’t let yourself get distracted by what was essentially a schoolgirl crush.

now, however, the person of your attraction was guiding you through the halls with a large hand placed on the small of your back.

“i feel like we’re ‘n the start of’a nightmare,” osamu said, pulling you out of your thoughts. “can’t believe shunki got offed by someone on the damn crew.”

“yeah, it’s insane,” you replied. “i still can’t really wrap my head around it.”

“ ‘m sure that terushima jackass barkin’ atcha hasn't made it any easier for ya, huh?”

you sighed. “no, but i guess he does have somewhat of a reason. my alibi can't be corroborated by anyone. besides, nerves are running rampant right now, so i can't really blame him.”

the two of you reached med bay, osamu reaching for the handle and opening the door before you could even lift a finger. he was every bit as chivalrous as he was handsome, your knees feeling slightly weaker as he ushered you inside.

“well i think his reason for comin’ atcha was bullshit. he doesn’t have a solid story, either, so his whole outburst is rubbin’ me the wrong way. be careful ‘round him, will ya?”

the thought had crossed your mind during your earlier altercation with terushima. you knew you weren’t a killer, but him? it could be entirely plausible that a murderer had just been laying his hands on you. if osamu hadn’t come to your aid…

“i’ll try and steer clear of him,” you replied. “thank you again, osamu. i appreciate it, really.”

“of course,” he replied with a smile coming back onto his face. “and you can call me ‘samu.”

returning his kind expression, you nodded your head before turning to grab the samples you were working with earlier.

“anythin’ i can help ya with while ‘m here?”

“you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to, walking me back was already sweet enough of you.”

“nah, we gotta stay ‘n pairs, remember? can’t let ya just sit here by yerself with a killer on the ship.”

by the look on his face, you could tell osamu wasn’t going to take no for an answer, so you relented by pointing to the wireless connection panel on the wall across from you.

“i think that could use some maintenance.”

_____

while very tense, the next few days were quiet. no more killings, no odd behavior from anyone- besides terushima’s rotten attitude towards you, but at this point you were just getting used to it. everyone was taking it day by day, each uneventful twenty-four hours being looked at as a win. crew morale was constantly wavering, however. it was hard to feel confident in your coworkers when one of them was secretly a murderer.

your safe haven amidst all of the suspense was osamu.

he continued to spend hours at a time with you in med bay, your once silent workplace now filled with chatter and laughter. when it came time for him to leave to go attend to other tasks, you would often tag along.

“buddy system, right?” he would say.

atsumu and suna would also occasionally find themselves keeping the two of you company in med bay. watching the three of them banter was probably the best entertainment you were going to get on the spacecraft. with the way the dark-haired man interacted with the twins you would think that they’ve all known each other for a very long time, so you were surprised to learn that they’d only just met at the start of the expedition.

“it literally reminds me of mustard,” suna remarked, earning a burst of laughter from osamu.

“shut yer trap, sunarin!”

“did you just not think to use toner?”

“there is nothin’ wrong with my hair!” atsumu defended.

the bickering had been going on for the past five minutes, suna always finding a way to goad the blonde into being his personal entertainment. he almost had a talent for being able to get under either of the twin’s skin, antagonizing them almost as much as they antagonize each other.

“if yer worried ‘bout what's wrong with ya then yer hair is the least of yer worries,” osamu piped up, earning a small giggle from you. you were too engrossed in recording your sample data to notice the content smile come onto the grey-haired man’s face at hearing your laugh.

he came up behind you, leaning down so that his head was hovering above your shoulder. “what ya got goin’ on here?”

you kept your face turned down towards your desk, not wanting him to catch onto the way your cheeks were heating up at his close proximity. “just going over the results from asahi’s blood test.”

it was no doubt to you that after spending so much time together, there was…something brewing between you and osamu. at first you figured it was just physical attraction, but the more you were around him, the more you began to realize that wasn’t the case.

you felt a comfort with the man you hadn’t felt with anyone else before- not any of your friends, not any of your exes, not even your family. there was no denying that there was a genuine connection there, and whether you were falling for him so quickly because of the circumstances or because you were truly that into him, you didn’t know.

and it didn’t really matter to you, either. every day on this spaceship could end up being your last, so you chose not to waste your time overthinking.

“need any help?”

“no, but thank you, ‘samu. you're always so considerate.”

before he could reply, kissy noises were sounding off from the other two occupants in the room. the glare osamu sent atsumu and suna would probably have most peoples’ stomachs dropping, but the two of them seemed unfazed.

it was then that a red flash illuminated the room, a harsh buzz ripping through the air.

the emergency alarm.

you dropped your pen.

“dammit!” atsumu yelled. “not another murder!”

a hand was placed on the small of your back, guiding you to stand on unsteady legs. “don’t jump t’ conclusions, we don’t know fer sure.”

“well what else would it be?” suna asked.

you began to move towards the door, osamu’s palm not leaving your body.

“i guess we should go find out,” you muttered.

the walk was silent, the once tense atmosphere of the ship now suffocating as days after days worth of anxiety had come to a crescendo. the four of you waited as the cafeteria doors slid open, revealing the rest of your crewmates gathered around the meeting table.

well, all of them except one.

not again…

once you had all gathered around, director takeda spoke the words you’d been dreading to hear since the adjournment of the last meeting.

“another body has been found.”

silence.

“oikawa and asahi found daishou in the electrical room. he wasn’t moving and they couldn’t find a pulse.”

“that’s right around the corner from where the last body was found,” kanoka observed.

“on the same side as med bay,” terushima muttered under his breath, loud enough for you to hear.

you frowned. “can you at least wait until we get all the details before you try and start accusing me?”

“why? we’re already two men down, we can’t let this shit just slide again.”

“we won’t,” takeda firmly interjected. “there were several small bruises on daishou’s neck, so it seems that his cause of death was asphyxiation.”

“so whoever did this was able to choke a grown a man to death with their bare hands,” oikawa observed.

“wouldn’t that mean we have the culprit’s fingerprints?” you asked.

“unfortunately the perpetrator was wearing gloves.”

“damn,’ asahi sighed.

“well if they killed the poor guy with their bare hands then i really don’t think it could be the lil’ lady,” atsumu commented.

“yeah, ya really think these tiny ass fingers could choke a man?” osamu added, lifting your hand up to prove his point. your stomach fluttered when you saw how huge his looked compared to yours.

“here the two of you go fucking defending her again,” terushima barked. “she didn’t even have an alibi last time!”

“neither did you,” suna said.

“yeah, and this time all three of us were with her,” osamu motioned between him, his brother, and their friend. “so she has the damn alibi yer so bent over.”

“okay, so we know oikawa and asahi were together again, then the four of them were with each other,” kanoka listed. “i was checking oxygen levels with the director.”

all eyes turned to the remaining unnamed person.

“terushima, where were you?”

the man blinked. “i was doing weapons.”

“did anyone see you?”

“i-uh, well no, everyone was off doing other things.”

director takeda frowned. “so you have no one to confirm your whereabouts?”

“second time this happened,” oikawa commented.

the pierced man sent the brunette a glare.

“since he mentioned it already, wasn’t daishou the one who denied being able to verify terushima’s story last time? and now he’s dead, too.”

everyone went quiet at suna’s observation, terushima’s eyes widening.

“are you seriously implying that i fucking did this?”

“the evidence isn’t really pointing towards anyone else right now,” kanoka said slowly.

“what the fuck.”

“everyone else has alibis,” oikawa said, prepared to lay the facts on the table.”you’re the only one who’s been unaccounted for both times, and you have a possible motive for the most recent killing. no one else has the cards stacked against them like this.”

terushima looked around the table, everyone regarding him with a careful, withdrawn look.

“guys, come on!”

director takeda took a slow breath. “i’m sorry, terushima. but we’ve already lost two lives, and right now you’re the only suspect. we have to do what’s best for the crew.”

“fuck you,” he bit out, practically snarling. “fuck all of you! what are you gonna do now, shoot me?”

“no,” his superior said slowly.

“the ship has come equipped with a different way to handle violent members.”

_____

never in a million years would you have thought that what director takeda meant is that terushima would get ejected. thrown out into deep space to choke and freeze.

it felt so cruel and unusual. yet, your boss insisted that this was the best way to go about it. keeps the threat away without needing anyone to bloody their own hands.

you tried to take his word for it, but you still couldn’t help but feel that there had to have been a better method.

thankfully, the relief of the murder mystery being solved was enough to keep you from dwelling on it for too long. the atmosphere on the ship was light again, everyone more lively and talkative. there was still an underlying somberness held for those departed, but no more going through the day with bated breath.

well, almost.

you still couldn’t fight the feeling that something was…off.

as if your ship’s little mystery had been solved almost too easily. too conveniently.

“what’s wrong?”

osamu’s voice pulled you from your thoughts, standing at the entryway to your sleeping quarters.

“oh! hey,” you said, getting up from your desk. you had to crane your neck so much to look up at him. you tried to ignore how that fact made your heart skip.

as if he could read your thoughts, the grey-haired man brushed a strand of your hair behind your ear. “ya didn’t answer me.”

you gave him a small smile. “i’m okay, ‘samu, just tired.”

he frowned. “i don’t believe ya.”

a sigh escaped your lips. “i guess i’m just a little overwhelmed. i’m glad we found terushima out and all, but this whole ordeal has just felt like…a lot. and i think i've been struggling to calm down again, after things were so tense for a while.”

“i don’t like seein’ ya this worried, pretty girl like ya shouldn’t be frettin’ over a thing.”

the comment didn’t catch you completely off guard. osamu had started to become a little more flirtatious, but you always figured it wasn’t that serious. probably just a way for him to be affectionate.

as his dark eyes bore into you right now, however, you started to think that might not be the case.

“i’m okay, really.”

the hand that had brushed your hair away hadn’t left your face, thumb brushing against your cheek.

“i can see yer face lookin’ all gloomy,’ he said, moving closer to you. “c’mon, darlin’, talk to me.”

you took a deep, steadying breath. “i just want a break from all the stress.”

his hands were then roaming your back, pulling you into his chest. his lips found themselves at the shell of your ear.

“then let me take care of ya, sweetheart.”

the sexual tension building up over the past week came to boiling point when osamu’s lips slotted against yours, desire spilling over the sides and shrouding each of you in a cloud of desire. he started to press more firmly, tongue sliding in between the seam of your mouth.

he broke away from you. “ ‘s this alright?”

you nodded, eyes wide, before osamu’s lips chased after yours again, hand coming to the zipper of your pink bodysuit. he dragged it down slowly, revealing more of your skin inch by inch.

stepping out of the material, you stood before him in your matching set.

“so damn beautiful.”

you placed your hands on the back of his neck, eyes staring up at him doefully. “wanna see you too, ‘samu.”

“whatever ya want, darlin’.”

he peeled off his own bodysuit next, grey in color, and was left in just his briefs. gently leading you back towards your bed, he laid you down slowly.

kissing you once more, osamu started to move down your body, leaving little pecks against your heated skin in his wake.

“what are you doing?”

“i told ya i was gonna take care of ya, sweetheart.”

he pressed a kiss below your belly button, fingers gripping the hem of your panties. he glanced towards your face, chest tightening at the sight of your lust-blown expression, waiting for your okay. you nodded, and thus osamu peeled the lace off.

grabbing the underside of each of your thighs, he spread them open. kissing the inner part of each of them, his lips then finally descended onto your glistening cunt.

“ ‘samu,” you squeaked out.

he smirked, tongue grazing up and down your sensitive nub. the sensation had you mewling, fingers tangling into his dyed locks. your sounds made osamu smirk against you, adding two fingers into your cunt in hopes he’d hear even more.

the muscle started to move against your clit faster, mouthing against it like he was starved. another finger was then pressed into your pussy. you weren’t used to being stretched that much.

“too much,” you whined out. “ ‘s too much.”

“ya need t’ take it, sweet thing. if yer gonna take my dick later, ya need this.”

you felt your breath catch, the thought of being filled by him leading the heat in your stomach to start building.

finally hitting his fingers against that spongy spot deep within your walls, a cry ripped from you as he started to put all of his focus there. your legs were starting to shake, so osamu decided now was the time to switch up the motion of his tongue, drawing circles on your bundle of nerves.

you spasmed as your orgasm tore through you, whimpers leaving your lips as pleasure overtook every nerve within you.

osamu removed his mouth and fingers from you, inching back up your body before hovering over you.

“did so good, pretty girl, so good.”

you felt his thick fingers creep behind your back, undoing your bra. his eyes drank in the sight of your tits as he pulled the garment off of you.

kisses and bites were littered along your chest, small praises whispered between each. his lips moved back up your neck, leaving a final peck on the tip of your nose before speaking.

“ya think yer ready?”

you knew what he was talking about, nodding your head vigorously, excited to be able to feel all of him.

however, all of that excitement left your body when he finally removed his boxers.

oh…

you should have known. osamu’s whole frame was big and broad. why would his cock be any different?

god, would that even fit? none of your past boyfriends even came close to his size.

he must’ve seen your face grow pale. “what’s the matter, darlin’?”

you gulped.

“...that’s not gonna fit, ‘samu.”

“it will,” he replied, not even seeming fazed by your concern. “trust me.”

“but-”

“ya trust me, right?”

his gaze was zeroed in on yours, and you felt yourself become transfixed by just how endless it seemed, as if the space surrounding your little floating ship existed in osamu’s eyes.

“yeah, i trust you.”

another soft kiss met your lips. “good.”

his thumb was at your clit again, an attempt to distract you from the head of his cock pressing against your opening. he began to push in, a small whimper leaving your lips as you could already feel the burning stretch.

“relax, doll, ya gotta relax.”

more kisses were then peppered against your lips, silent reassurances as osamu entered into you further, each new inch making your brain feel as if it was going to explode.

“little cunt ain’t used t’ takin’ somethin’ this big, huh?”

you shook your head, confirming his suspicion as tears started to leak from your eyes.

“well, first time fer everythin’, sweetheart.”

you had no idea how he got the whole thing to fit inside of you. your pussy felt as if it was being torn apart at the seams in the best way possible, jaw going slack as he bottomed out.

“oh.”

osamu hummed. “tightest cunt i’ve ever been ‘n. yer just a dream, aintcha?”

you wanted to reply to his praise, but all that could leave you was a scream as he started to pull out and push back in. starting a steady pace, the man pulled you into a hungry kiss.

never before had you ever been so filled, moaning aimlessly into his mouth as the only thought your brain could come up with was so full, so full, so full.

he parted from your lips.

“ya feel it, darlin’?”

you didn’t have a clue what he was talking about until he thrusted back in, palm coming down against a protrusion in your tummy. the realization had more drops falling down your cheeks, babbles bubbling up your throat. he was going to rip you apart, and you were more than willing to let him.

“ ‘m gettin’ close,” he warned, forehead resting against yours. his hands then grabbed each side of your hips, holding you in place as he picked up the pace. “need ya t’ cum too, doll. ladies first.”

your cunt finally couldn’t take anymore battering, muscles spasming as you came hard on osamu’s cock. you saw him grin as your body shook, finally allowing himself to release with a low groan.

he made sure to pull out of your overstuffed pussy before you could get too stimulated, situating himself at your side so he could pull you into his chest. you rested your cheek against his pec.

stillness overtook the room as you tried to compose yourself, body still twitching with aftershocks.

osamu chuckled, kissing the crown of your head.

“i told ya i’d make it work. see, ya can trust me.”

_____

the next twenty four hours were absolute bliss. you and osamu were practically connected at the hip, all ooey gooey and lovey dovey with each other. atsumu and suna made gagging sounds every time they saw the two of you, but neither of you cared. nothing was going to ruin the oasis you’d built with one other.

the emergency alarm figured it was up for the challenge.

your eyebrows knitted together, pulling away from your lover’s side as you heard the sound pierce the content silence you’d been sitting in.

the uneasy feeling from before, the feeling that something still just wasn’t right came back to you.

“it might just be some mechanical issues,” osamu reassured, clearly trying to calm you down. you met his gaze, slightly taken aback by the expression in them. it was hard to read, but you just chalked it up to him being antsy, too.

“hopefully.”

the broken, bloodied glasses of director takeda proved the two of you wrong.

oikawa held them in the palm of his hand, a grim look on his face.

“he was in navigation,” he started. “i could barely even recognize him, that’s how bad the damage was.”

you couldn’t stop your lip from wobbling. your nightmare was still ongoing, and now the one person who kept you all sane had been beaten into his grave.

what came next broke you even more, though.

“kanoka is dead, too.”

two murders.

two murders on the same damn day.

you bit your lip, keeping your cries as silent as you could as the news settled.

suna was the first to speak. “do we need to move their bodies out of there, and give them a nicer…resting place, like the others?”

“that’s the thing,” oikawa’s tone now had an edge to it. “kanoka’s body wasn’t with the director’s, it was in lower engine.”

“so what does that mean?” you said, frustration starting to prick at you. “the killer moved her body? or had enough time to get from one crime scene to the other?”

“no,” asahi said. “oikawa was across the hall cleaning the air filters when he heard crashing in navigation. he remembered the time was around 7:30 pm. i was checking the reactor when i heard kanoka scream, and the clock on it read 7:27 pm.”

“ya mean t’ tell me they were killed at the same time ‘n opposite sides of the ship? how the hell is that possible?”

“is the answer not obvious?” oikawa bit out at atsumu. “there’s two fucking killers, and it has to be one of you four!”

“one of us?” you said in disbelief.

“yes!”

“wait a damn minute,” osamu started. “ya mean t’ tell us that if there’s two killers, it has t’ be two of us? not the two of ya, who’ve been stickin’ together since the beginnin’?”

“what ‘samu said! y’all have always been each other’s alibis, ya could have been bullshittin’ us the whole time!”

atsumu had a point. oikawa and asahi always being each other’s alibis would have been one thing when there was a singular killer, but now that there’s two? they could have been covering for each other the whole time. but still…

“if we were the killers why would we give away that there’s two of us? that makes no sense, we’d have nothing to gain from that.”

oikawa voiced the exact thought you had been thinking. they would have the element of surprise keeping their partnership under wraps, it doesn’t make sense why they would expose there are two murderers when it would be easier to let the impression there’s a singular one linger.

yet, you had gotten to know the other three people at the table. there was no way osamu, atsumu, or suna could be a killer. there was just no way.

“you could be playing mind games with us, who knows,” suna assessed. “there’s no telling what fucked shit you’re willing to do if you’re out here cutting people up.”

“no one is trying to play tricks!” asahi yelled. “the innocent people on this ship are in serious danger, we need to figure this out now!”

“the four of us see one another on a regular basis,” osamu said. “the two of ya are the outliers here.”

“we each have three other people that can vouch for us! the two of ya only have each other! yer outnumbered here!”

you were so overwhelmed. so much muddled information was being thrown around, no solid theories being able to stem from such minimal evidence. you weren’t going to be able to use your brain on this one, you were going to have to trust your gut.

“we’re supposed to believe the pair of two people aren’t the killers and instead the duo is hiding in the tight knit group of four? that shit doesn’t add up in the slightest, the two of you are talking out of your asses.”

oikawa and asahi turned to you.

“you’re smart, please tell us you believe us.”

you bit your lip.

“i just…can’t wrap my head around the idea that any of them could be killers.”

“don’t let being buddy-buddy with the three of them cloud your judgment. like i said earlier, why would we expose there are actually two killers if we were the two killers?”

a theory came to your mind, and you weren’t sure if you thought it up because it was actually plausible, or because you just wanted to prove your lover and friends were innocent. regardless, you shared it.

“the three of them are bigger than the prior victims, so they would put up a tough fight. two against four would be hard to pull off with them, so you could be exposing the murderer duo so that we get rid of two of ourselves and then make it a two against two.”

oikawa and asahi both blanched at your statement.

“she’s a genius!” atsumu exclaimed. “y’all really thought ya could put one by her, huh?”

“she’s wrong! we would nev-”

“i don’t know about you guys,” suna interrupted. “but i’ve heard all that i need to hear. let’s get them the fuck off this ship.”

the screaming and shouting that ensued as he and the twins pushed the two accused men out of the room and down the halls had you covering your ears, eyes squeezed shut as more tears dropped down your face.

you tried to tell yourself that you were okay. the murderers had been caught for real now, you were going to be fine. you were safe.

the ship went quiet, yells no longer being heard. that was all you needed to know that oikawa and asahi had been ejected.

footsteps pulled you out of your thoughts, suna regarding you with a nod as he re-entered the room.

“you alright?”

breathe in, breathe out. “i should be.”

“good. i'm gonna go send a message to headquarters. someone needs to tell them what the hell has been happening.”

you bid him goodbye as he left. standing up, you decided that being wrapped up in osamu’s arms felt like a good idea after the intense moment earlier.

they weren’t in med bay, so you did a little searching before hearing their voices from inside the admin room. you were about to enter the room before a sentence spoken by osamu stopped you in your tracks.

“i told ya t’ fuckin’ wait a while-”

wait for what?

“ ‘m sorry, i just wanted to get it over with! i told ya i didn’t want t’ be the one t’ kill the director.”

not even the limitless space outside could create the coldness you felt seep through every pore in your skin.

please be dreaming.

“ya still nearly got us exposed.”

“who cares? we’ve picked enough people off anyways. ship is ours.”

your pulse currently rivaled that of a racehorse, your brain not being able to deny what it just heard.

the twins were the killers.

osamu was a murderer.

movement to your left caught your eye, the brothers exiting the room only to stop in surprise when they saw you.

you tried to paint a look of nonchalance on your face, but it was too late. the panic was written all over you. there was nowhere to hide.

two very different emotions came onto their faces. atsumu practically looked predatory, whereas ‘samu almost looked as panicked as you.

“darlin’, listen to me-”

“cut her the bullshit, ‘samu, ya already dickmatized her enough.”

you found yourself backpedaling, fingers trembling as you attempted to put as much distance between you and them as possible.

“c’mon, angel, why ya look so scared?” atsumu taunted. you watched in horror as his brown eyes shifted to an inky black, the blonde about to lunge at you before his brother grabbed him by the collar of his maroon suit and yanked him back.

“not her,” osamu bit out, trapping his brother in a headlock. “i told ya anyone but her.”

“yer no fun, ‘samu!”

you didn’t wait around to watch them squabble, turning and running towards communications as fast as you could. you had to get to suna. he needed to know, and you weren’t going to be able to stand the slightest chance against the miyas without him.

choked sobs left you as you sped through the halls, sorrow and guilt eating you alive. sorrow because the man you had started to fall in love with, the man you had given your body to, the man you felt safe with ended up being a murderer. you felt beyond just betrayed.

then, your guilt stemmed from the fact that so many of your crewmates lay dead now, and several times you had let their killers roam free. not only that, but you’d also stood by as numerous innocent people were sent to their death outside in the vacuum of space.

you knew something was still off. you knew.

but your gut instinct had been fogged by your stupid, mushy emotions.

this was all fucked.

this was all so fucked.

“SUNA!” you screamed, sprinting into comms with red and bleary eyes.

“what is it- whoa, what’s going on?” he asked, placing his hands on your shoulders.

“we were wrong,” you said, throat tightening. “it’s the twins, they’re the killers! they’ve been playing us the whole time.”

“damn, that’s tough.”

his unserious response confused you. maybe he was in shock?

“also, correction,” the dark-haired man began. “the miyas haven’t been playing us the whole time…”

your heart nearly stopped when you saw suna’s greyish-green eyes turn the same black shade that atsumu’s had.

“...we’ve all been playing you the whole time.”

you couldn’t move, not registering suna’s grip on your shoulders tightening until you were being ripped straight out of it.

“don’t fuckin’ touch her.”

you felt yourself become engulfed in osamu’s arms, back pressed to his chest as he kept the two of you facing the other two…imposters in the room.

“dude, seriously? she’s the last one standing, we could complete the set.”

“sunarin’s right! c’mon, ‘samu!”

you felt his hold tighten around you, the same hands that slaughtered your crewmates now protectively embracing you. that fact made your head hurt.

“i told the two of ya, ‘m keepin’ her. lay a damn finger on her and ‘m rippin’ it clean off ya.”

he was met with begrudged silence from the two other men before suna let out an exasperated sigh. “fine, i guess she can live. she did really help us out by vouching for us back there, fucking oikawa almost had us figured out.”

“a pretty face t’ look at on the ride home won’t hurt.”

“watch it,” osamu warned his brother.

you didn’t know what they were talking about. you didn’t know what home was for them. all you knew was that you were gonna get dragged along, whether you liked it or not, by a man who built a bond with you through sugar-coated lies.

osamu leaned down, kissing the side of your cheek before whispering in your ear. “all my feelins’ are genuine, darlin’, that i can assure ya.”

you felt his fingers intertwine with your still shaking ones.

“ ‘m gonna take good care of ya, i promise.”

_____

saige’s terrortober masterlist

[ostrichmonkey-games]

Stampede Wasteland TTRPG

WELCOME TO THE WASTES

good luck, you’ll need it

Stampede Wasteland is my in development rules-light ttrpg about adventuring, gunslinging, and surviving a dangerous, extreme, and weird planet. Players are wastelanders, traveling from settlement to settlement, taking dangerous missions, exploring the world, and hopefully making a quick buck or two.

THE SETTING

One of the main inspirations is Trigun, and similarly to that series, humans are the surviving remnants of crashed seed-ships, clinging to survival in the craters of the Crash-Sites that dot the planet. It's got a similar attitude too. Danger, adventure, violence. But things are their own flavor of weird.

During the Crash, the terraforming swarms of nanites that the ships carried were released into the atmosphere where they crashed against the volatile, quasi-living psychofield of the planet and created the Warp: dangerous maelstroms that change whatever they touch. Some even purposefully seek these storms out, welcoming their chaotic blessings.

Gunslingers refine the nanite-crystals that periodically rain down from the Warp Storms into gunpowder: for bullets and for consumption. If you can survive the first nanite-fever, consuming gunpowder can fuel powerful abilities. At the minor cost of staining your blood black, and possibly inducing madness.

The original crew members of the seed-ships have long since passed into legend and myth, becoming deified as Crash Saints. Technoccultists wield their icons and relics, but also risk consorting with dangerous tech-devils in order to harness Warp magics.

Dangerous implants can grant bearers psionic powers and the ability to interface with the psycho-net: a strange data-realm born from the melding of ancient Crash-tech dataspheres and the currents of the planet's psychofield resonance.

There's more to discover out there, but that's a good appetizer.

So how does Stampede Wasteland work?

THE GAME

It's built off of the Together We Go engine (born from the game Down We Go) which is a rules-lite OSR styled system. Dice rolls are simple. Roll over a target value to succeed. You can modify your roll with special bonuses or decrease the target value through narrative positioning. Like a lot of OSR-y games, being in a situation where you're rolling is risky. Players want to stack the odds as much in their favor as they can. Combat is quick and bloody. And in Stampede Wasteland it is made all the quick and bloodier by auto-hit mechanics: so long as you are using your fighting style (which you pick during character creation) you always hit and deal damage.

Stampede Wasteland is an open sandbox. It is player driven, meaning that there is no presumed plot. Whatever troubles the players get caught up in become the plot. And rest assured, there will be troubles. The players have a shared Bounty score that goes up through the game, and if you're unlucky, people are going to start coming after you to claim that bounty.

Resources are slim. Survival is always by the skin of your teeth, and you are almost always backed into a corner. Desperation breeds trouble.

The game is procedural. Settlements and the Wastes are randomly generated as the table explores, meaning that everyone's version of Stampede Wasteland is going to be unique. The procedures are also tools for creating trouble for the players to interact with.

Trouble is fun. I wouldn't call Stampede Wasteland a "play to lose" game, but it is an "embrace the trouble" game. Trouble creates interesting situations where player characters get to flex their abilities.

THE CHARACTERS

Player characters have three components.

A Background that describes their origin.

A Fighting Style that forms a core part of their identity. Think of it as a signature. It’s how you sign your checks.

Class levels. There are four classes; GUNSLINGER, PSYCHER, TECHNOCCULTIST, and WILDWANDER. These give you all sorts of special abilities and situational roll bonuses.

During character creation, you pick out a background, a fighting style, and initially get two class levels to assign to whatever combination of classes you want.

This is one of my favorite elements of Together We Go: multiclassing. You want to dip into Wildwander to pick up a beast ability and companion after spending a few adventures as a Gunslinger? Go for it. Just make sure you meet the "narrative prereq" first (in the case of Wildwander, if it's not one of your starting classes during character creation, to pick up levels in it you have to go out into a Warp storm and embrace the change).

Character abilities range from the bullet-curving feats of the Gunslingers, the symbiotic beast powers of the Wildwander, to the special "skill monkey" Crash Saint domains of the Technoccultist. There's some very cool stuff you can pick up.

And that's a quick rundown on some of the basic elements of Stampede Wasteland. The text has been coming together pretty quickly, so hopefully it gets a release date in the next few months!

As I continue to work on it, I'll share some deeper dives into some more of the procedural elements and play loops. But if you want a rough idea on what to expect, you can also check out DEATHGRIND!!MEGASTRUCTURE, which is also built off of Together We Go. Stampede Wasteland is going to be a bit longer, and characters have a bit more going on though.

[eponymous-rose]

So I've been rewatching Star Trek: TNG as comfort TV during/post-move and just got to Yesterday's Enterprise, which I remember liking well enough, but man, it's really unusual in the context of the rest of these early episodes. For one thing, the violence shown is a lot more stark than we've seen in the show thus far - Riker with his throat cut, Captain Garrett with the metal shrapnel in her head, lingering close-ups on dead faces. It's dark and moody and the "happy ending" resolution (as far as we know at this point, anyway) is saving the few survivors of a brutal battle, patching them up, and then shipping them straight back into that battle to be killed.

Given the show's not-so-great track record with its female characters, it's weirdly refreshing that we get a re-do for Tasha Yar. And yeah, she falls in love with a dude and goes off with him on his ship, but she was ready to say goodbye to him and that would've been that - what finally prompts her to step willingly into the meat-grinder is the realization that she had an "empty death" (Guinan had some really raw lines in this one) in the other timeline, and that now her death can have some meaning. It's nicely done, if a bit of a self-flagellating "mea culpa" on the writers' parts.

The alternate timeline isn't the gleeful, campy evil of the Mirrorverse, it's just an exhausted grind through the final days of a losing war. Lots of little touches show how desperate things have become - Wesley's been fast-tracked to a full ensign, Picard is a tactician first and foremost (he takes officers' opinions under advisement, yes, but he's also keeping from them the inevitable, imminent surrender), the bridge is laid out so the captain is front and center with everyone else in the background. As a contrast with the actual Enterprise's chill 90s living room lounge vibe, it's pretty striking. It's like a sneak preview into the bleak and war-heavy sci-fi that would start saturating pop culture a decade or so later, and then it's a firm rejection of that premise - "This isn't a ship of war. It's a ship of peace."

I have a long, long history with TNG - DS9 is my favorite Trek on balance, but TNG is encoded in my DNA. From around ages 3 and 5, my brother and I were watching and rewatching TNG constantly. (My parents would laugh over the fact that my brother didn't know how to read yet but had memorized the episode titles of the first couple seasons.) We had pajamas. We scoured every garage sale and had a giant metal can full of action figures and phasers and tricorders and ships and even, shockingly, that transporter toy that made things disappear using mirrors.

The tactile experience of those toys is burned in my brain - the loose nacelles on the Enterprise model, the click of the left phaser button, the little hole at the bottom of the Borg cube that we once stuck a pencil in and had the tip of the graphite snap off and rattle around forevermore. My brother and I played incessantly with our action figures, to the point where most of them had the paint at least partially rubbed off - we created hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of new episodes over the years. The first time I ever used a touchscreen was at some sort of Star Trek exhibition in Canada in the early 90s that we stumbled across on our way to visit my grandparents.

I'm always fascinated by how kids interact with fictional media - my brother and I were so young, but we obviously knew Star Trek wasn't real. Except... I just always assumed that important people watched it, realized "well, that seems nice", and were actively working to make that future happen. I was (perhaps a little embarrassingly) older when I realized that no, we weren't gonna be out there on science missions to the stars during my lifetime. At least, not in an Enterprise kind of way.

At any given time, there's just this Star Trek filter over how I experience the world - when I got to go to college thanks to scholarships, I had that weighty feeling of responsibility and awe that came with daydreaming about Starfleet Academy. I saw my career shift from the gold of engineering to the blue of science to the red of command. And the older I get, the more I appreciate a show that, for all its flaws, managed to make a utopia interesting and complex.

Because TNG was such a phenomenon when I was a little kid in the early 90s, a lot of my family relationships also have TNG tied up in them. I remember going to my grandparents' apartment and my uncle showing us a fan magazine about the show. I remember another uncle who didn't really "get it" but gifted me and my brother astronaut ice cream because he knew we liked that space stuff. I remember watching most episodes curled up on the couch or my parents' bed with my brother and my mom and dad. When Mom got sick and we talked about death, I remember the way she wistfully brought up the Nexus from Generations or how she hoped she could see the next season of Picard (she didn't, sadly, but she really enjoyed that first season). Hell, one of the first real bonding moments I had with my otherwise hyper-professional and businesslike PhD advisor was when she made a TNG joke, I laughed at it, and she said, "I just love that show, everyone's so nice to each other."

It's just been a lot of fun coming back to this show, is all. I think I periodically forget how much it's affected me and the extent to which it was a fundamental, formative influence. While a lot of it either hasn't aged well or fails to hold up to modern media analysis, so much of it is still lovely, and occasionally there are these moments of shockingly good storytelling.

Star Trek good.

[hatsunevitu]

do you ship Stary (Stan x Gary)?

oh my god ABSOLUTELY. for some reason i got reaaally into it and came up with an au of how they got closer. i’m not usually a fan of ships with one-episode characters, but stary is SO great. HOLD ON LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT THAT AU

okay, so, we all know how “all about mormons” ended and that we have never heard of gary after that, right? now just let’s imagine he stayed in the school, in the same class as stan and others, but visibly started to avoid the main four. he hung out with the “background kids” and mostly girls, because they all adored how nice he is.

it didn’t actually make any difference for main four – they still thought gary was lame and were not interested in talking to him since he’s not a new kid in the class anymore. they all didn’t really like him. except for stan.

stan couldn’t get the thought of gary out of his head for all the following years. he didn’t make any attempts to befriending gary again, because he knew guys wouldn’t understand and he was terrified of hearing rejection again, so he mostly just… kinda secretly looked through gary’s social media once a week (or more often) and sometimes watched him out of the corner of his eye in the classroom.

he saw that gary was doing pretty fine without him, so he didn’t wanna be an inconvenience, but the thought. the thought that he had missed his chance to be friends with one of the most sincere and comforting people in the whole school only because of the peer pressure.

but he didn’t thought he could have a chance to reconnect until he has heard that gary’s parents are getting a divorce and that the “perfect mormon house” secretly had its troubles. and then, as it was absolutely destined, after the lessons ended, he sees gary sitting in the classroom all alone with a blank expression on his face and tired look in his eyes. and without giving it a second thought he walks up to gary and asks if everything’s fine.

and they start talking. for an hour, if not more. stan know some shit about divorcing parents, troubles at home and an urge to drink to feel happy (which turned out to be gary’s problem too), so he know how to support him, and gary is such a great listener. they start with discussing gary’s family problems, then eventually they start remembering their first time seeing each other, and stan (unexpectedly for even himself) openly admits he regrets fucking up things with their friendship, and he has dreamed of finally talking to him again for, like, ages. and gary just genuinely smiles and takes his hand saying that they still have time for that.

eventually they hang out together more. with gary there isn’t a lot of crazy adventures, and stan, who’s got pretty sick of those, feels so relaxed while being with him. the only thing is that they mostly meet privately and secretly from the rest of the main four, because stan feels this irrational shame for being friends with someone they don’t like. it kinda upsets gary, but he doesn’t want to end their friendship because of the same reason it ended the first time.

so yeah, that takes them two or three months until stan finally realises the unpleasant truth – he doesn’t wanna be just friends with gary and his nearly-obsession with him for the last five years was more likely a behaviour of a person who’s desperately in love. fuck. he doesn’t confess his feelings to gary because he’s too scared of fucking thing up the second time.

and it seems to be working, but the more stan spends time with gary, the more love he feels, until one day he finally snaps and while one of their walks in the park he very awkwardly kisses gary, who (honestly) doesn’t really seem to mind it.

and stan, an example of bravery, apologises and runs away before gary has a chance to answer him properly. ‘cause stan’s a jerk and he’s panicking.

he’s not used to handling stressful situations by himself, so he calls kyle because he has no one else to talk to:

stan: Dude, I have a problem. A big one.

kyle: Woah what happened??? Do you want me to come to your place?

stan: I just kissed a dude.

kyle: Okay I knew I’d hear these words from you one day.

stan: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU KNEW.

kyle: Oh please–

stan: We’ll talk about it later.

kyle: Pff, sure, dude. So you’re gay? Is this a coming out? I’m really proud of you finally admitting it out loud and sharing this with me, you know I’ll always support you whenever you ne–

stan: It’s Gary Harrison.

kyle: What. The mormon kid????

stan: Yeah, we kinda… Hung out together in secret…

kyle: But you hated him???

stan: WELL IT TURNS OUT I DIDN’T.

kyle: So what do you call me for?

stan: Oh, right. I kinda… ran away after we kissed?…

kyle: WHY.

stan: I DON’T KNOW, MAN, I PANICKED.

so kyle as the most supportive friend ever first laughs at stan, then helps him to understand what to do next. (and totally tells about it to cartman)

and, well, it’s pretty long enough so i guess i’ll stop here, because the rest of it is pretty much the plot of any slowburn mlm 200k words fic lmao

so yeah. answering to your question: i love stary. a lot.

[toxic-ship-tournament]

ROUND 3 / POLL 2

Matejka x Darling Nikki (@outpost-31 & @rhaaclaws) vs Esmerelda Poofenplotz x Alice Luoja (@cantdanceflynn)

who makes up your ship?:

Matejka (he/him) [by @outpost-31] and Darling Nikki (she/they) [by @rhaaclaws]

why does your ship deserve to be considered the most toxic?:

Darling Nikki and Matejka met in 1524, after Nikki's mother's death, and got into a duel- proposed by Matejka- at the price of Nikki's soul. She ended up winning the fight, and was turned into a vampire. They stayed together afterwards due to both being immortal, and have known each other closely since then. The reason why we think they deserve to win is their extreme codependence: Matejka is extremely attached to Nikki, because she looks like his dead wife Esmé, whom he's still in love with. Nikki takes advantage of him and roleplays as Esmé during sex. This unhealthy attachment to Nikki began consuming his life, so they got into a fight and split up for nearly 100 years. This caused the both of them to become incredibly suicidal, as they'd known each other for 4 centuries at this point, and they barely knew how to live without each other. Even missing each other so dearly, their relationship has the tendency to be very unhealthy. Once, Nikki insulted Matejka's dead wife as a joke, and he almost dragged them out to the sun in an attempt to kill them. Another time, she tried to eat Matejka (due to being a cannibal), but thought his black blood was disgusting. They know each other like no one else does, but still have layer of distrust. Nikki doesn't even know Esmé's name. Altogether, their bond is an incredibly complex one due to the nature of their immortality, but their unhealthy overreliance on each other has nearly ruined both their lives.

ship tags/playlists/pinterest boards?:

Ship name: Red Flags And Long Nights Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4GJDQdhpDITspMvp9c99m9?si=29599a8e944946a3

****

who makes up your ship?:

Esmeralda Poofenplotz(Canon Phineas and Ferb character(although I draw her differently from canon)) and Alice Luoja(Background character turned Phineas and Ferb oc)

why does your ship deserve to be considered the most toxic?:

THEY BASICALLY STARTED OUT AS TWO DUMBASS TOXIC AF TEENAGERS GOING TO EVIL SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL TOGETHER AND BEING THE TERRORS OF THE SCHOOL(POOFENPLOTZ BC SHES BIG ON BEAUTY AND WOULD BASICALLY DESTROY EVERYONE'S SELF ESTEEM AND ALICE BC. SHES WILLING TO KILL ANYONE WHO RLY FUCKS W HER), AND WHILE THEY ORIGINALLY HAD A RIVALRY IT GOT A LIL TOO HOMOEROTIC VERY QUICKLY AND THEY DON'T RLY KNOW HOW BUT THEY ENDED UP DATING. THEY ENDED UP, SURPRISE SURPRISE, RUINING EACH OTHER EVEN FURTHER THEN THE TWO OF THEM WERE ALREADY TRAUMATIZED!!!! A TYPICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN EM PRETTY MUCH WENT ALONG THE LINES OF POOFENPLOTZ POKING FUN AT SOMETHING ABOUT ALICES BODY OR PERSONALITY SHE KNEW WOULD TICK ALICE OFF("YOU KNOW, I'M NOT SAYING YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT, BUT THROWING UP YOUR LUNCH LATER COULDN'T HURT"), ALICE GETTING PISSED OFF AND PULLING A KNIFE ON HER("YOU KNOW, MAYBE THIS TIME I'LL CHOP OFF YOUR TONGUE, STOP THAT HORRIBLE NOISE YOU CALL A VOICE"), AND THEN SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN OR ONE OF THEM WOULD FUMBLE OR FLIRT AND THEY'D JUST GO BACK TO NORMAL BANTER AND TERRORIZING PEOPLE. THEY DID CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER, AND WHATEVER THEY WERE EXPERIENCING CERTAINLY FIT SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE STRANGE AND NEBULOUS RANGE OF ROMANTIC LOVE, LIKE THEY DEFINITELY LIKED EACH OTHER, THEY WERE JUST TOXIC AS SHIT AND HAVING THEIR BEHAVIORS EXPANDED UPON OR REINFORCED BY THEIR ENVIRONMENT. EVENTUALLY ALICES OBSESSION W GODHOOD AND HER IDEA OF PERFECTION (ONE THAT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE, EVEN IF POOFENPLOTZ MADE IT MORE PHYSICAL) ENDED UP DRIVING THE TWO APART, WITH HOW HORRIBLE ALICES DECLINE WAS, AND POOFENPLOTZ ENDED UP BASICALLY LEAVING AND IGNORING HER AS A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SNAP HER OUT OF HER DECLINE BUT ONLY PULLED HER FURTHER IN. AS IT STANDS NOW IN THE PRESENT, THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS A COMPLICATED SPIRAL OF "POOFENPLOTZ ACTUALLY HEALED AND REALIZED HOW AWFUL SHE WAS BEING AND WHILE SHE STILL HAD A DEGREE IN EVIL SCIENCE SHE HAD TO USE SO SHE MIGHT AS WELL GET A JOB DOING THAT, SHES ALSO RLY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT EVERYTHING W THE CAST AND HELP THEM, ESPECIALLY MILLIE AND PINKY, WHILE ALSO DEALING W " WHOOPS YOUR EX IS BACK IN TOWN AND SHES NOW BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE DEATHS THEN MOST FULL ON TERRORISM COMBINED, BUT SHE IS ALSO STILL KINDA HOT SO *NONCOMMITTAL HAND GESTURE*, YA KNOW?", MEANWHILE ALICE IS "OH RIGHT. SHE QUALIFIES FOR LOVEMUFFIN TOO. IM ALLOWED TO DENY ON HER ON TERMS OF HER BEING MY EX, RIGHT? BUT ALSO IM STILL GONNA INVITE HER TO OUR MEETINGS AND ALSO OFFER TO LET HER " LEAD" THE CULT IVE MADE THAT CONSISTS BASICALLY JUST OF MY VERY ABUSED OWN SON AND A VERY ABUSED TEENAGER WITH ME BC IF I CAN CHANGE HER MIND I CAN CHANGE ANYONES!"

ship tags/playlists/pinterest boards?:

Esmeralice, https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnP0Xop8gS5VdFNCP4Uetvq2pM5A9NZTe <- BAD PLAYLIST BY MY STANDARDS OF USUALLY A HUNDRED SONGS AT LEAST BUT ITLL DO FOR NOW

[toreodere]

HOLY DAMN IT'S A COMMISSION POST

Hey so, sorry to drop this on everyone so suddenly but things are getting a little desperate for my family at the moment due to rent prices drastically going up, so as a result I am having to finally just say fuck it and open up my commissions, I've been putting this off for like two years or so and I hope sincerely this doesn't come off as rude in any way.

Current slots filled (1/5)

- Base prices -

(prices may vary based on complexity of the characters involved or the backgrounds they're to be drawn into.)

Sketches : starting from £12

Lineart+Colours : starting from £20

Rendered : starting from £35

- Additions -

Backgrounds : starting from £15

Extra Characters : starting from £8

- Things I will draw -

Humans \ Machinery \ Furries \ Homestuck \ Shipping \ Fightin

- Things I will NOT draw -

Nsfw \ Actually that about covers it, no sexual stuff that's it.

If you would like to discuss a commission, feel free to message me over Tumblr's private messaging feature, and be sure to also read my terms of service page.

Additional Note for anyone that commissioned me during Stuck at Home Con 2022, If you see this, please reach out to me! I realised like right after I made my old commission form that I cannot handle doing emails and so I've just got half finished or sometimes fully finished commissions sitting about here from literally months ago that I am now too scared to send to people or even finish cus there were too many details that needed to be discussed over said emails.

[mariana-oconnor]

The Blanched Soldier pt 3

Back to Holmes, who has been carefully concealing practically every thought he had about this case while it was going on to preserve the drama of the situation. There's something about tar. I'm willing to bet that the other character with Godfrey is a doctor of some sort, though I honestly can't remember his name.

“This is very sudden, Colonel Emsworth,” said he. “This will disarrange all our plans.”

So they do have plans beyond 'keep Godfrey hidden for the rest of eternity'. Good to know.

...at the sight of him my client sprang forward with outstretched hand. [...] But the other waved him back.

So it's contagious? That doesn't explain why it's a secret. Is it an STD?

I am growing impatient.

One could see that he had indeed been a handsome man with clear-cut features sunburned by an African sun, but mottled in patches over this darker surface were curious whitish patches which had bleached his skin.

Vitiligo? Is it vitiligo? But why would he be hiding away because of vitiligo?

“Old Ralph told me you were there, and I couldn't help taking a peep at you."

That's sweet, and sad, and a little weird.

“You remember that morning fight at Buffelsspruit, outside Pretoria, on the Eastern railway line? You heard I was hit?”

Oh no, my racism alarm is starting to chime. I should have seen this coming when they were talking about the Boer war, but foolishly I thought that would all be background.

"I have a dim memory of slowly ascending the steps, entering a wide-opened door, passing into a large room which contained several beds, and throwing myself down with a gasp of satisfaction upon one of them."

But the first bed was too hard. So he went to the second bed, but that one was too soft. So then he tried the third bed and that one was just right.

So he didn't knock. He just... walked in and went to sleep. I get you'd been shot and you were on death's door, but that is still trespassing.

"In front of me was standing a small, dwarf-like man with a huge, bulbous head, who was jabbering excitedly in Dutch, waving two horrible hands which looked to me like brown sponges. Behind him stood a group of people who seemed to be intensely amused by the situation, but a chill came over me as I looked at them. Not one of them was a normal human being. Every one was twisted or swollen or disfigured in some strange way."

Oh no... we took a slight right at racism and stepped into racism and ableism. Wonderful.

"The laughter of these strange monstrosities was a dreadful thing to hear."

Fuuuuck you, Godfrey.

I get that waking up surrounded by people who are laughing at you and you can't understand them is unpleasant. But 'monstrosities'? Seriously. And if you don't knock before letting yourself into someone else's house, you can't then be rude about them. That's not how it works.

OK... so this vein continues for some time. I'm not going to put any more of it here... It's pretty much the same level of dumbfuckery.

"'You are in the Leper Hospital, and you have slept in a leper's bed.’"

Ugh, I thought 'leprosy' then I didn't say it because it seemed too far.

Of course it's leprosy. or Hansen's Disease as it's mostly known now in order to try to distance it from the stigma attached to 'leprosy'. Honestly, this is definitely typical for the attitude to the disease at the time. It might even be lighter than usual, because the family are keeping him on the grounds and haven't shipped him off somewhere never to be heard from again.

The fact that Holmes has brought an expert in makes me think that this has all been a false alarm, though. Why bring an outside opinion if they're just going to confirm 'yup, leprosy'

"It is not illegal, however, to keep a lunatic upon private premises so long as there is a qualified person in attendance and that the authorities have been duly notified. Why, then, all this desperate desire for secrecy?"

Because apparently everyone is horribly afraid of losing their family reputation?

“It is often my lot to bring ill-tidings and seldom good,” said he. “This occasion is the more welcome. It is not leprosy.”

~*Chekhov's Expert*~

Interestingly, the UK Gov website says that Hansen's Disease has an incubation period of 5 months to 20 years... or longer. So just because Godfrey doesn't have it now, doesn't mean he'll never have it. And no one knows how it spreads. Though it seems like it's a lot more difficult to get than people think.

It might be spread by armadillos. It's a mystery!

There is, however, a cure, these days. Though I don't think there was back when this story was written, considering the cure is antibiotics.

"But the lady has fainted! I think that Mr. Kent had better be with her until she recovers from this joyous shock.”

Let's hope she doesn't contract brain fever because of it. That would be kind of ironic.

[blodreina-noumou]

#Stacked100 - Day 1

Today we're watching 2x01: "The 48"

Positives:

+ The title alone! In a show called "The 100," coming back to season two with an episode called "The 48" immediately reminds us of the massacre at the end of the first season, and of just how many of the kids sent to the ground have already been lost. And this was still early on, when there wasn't a new group of hundreds of people either dying or coming very close to dying every other episode. I do remember how effective that number reduction was when I first watched this episode, though, and I think that reminder pairs nicely with Clarke's desperation when she wakes up in the white room.

+ The first scene is an intense way to start the season - and this rewatch! Maya in her hazmat suit + Clarke immediately losing her shit and injuring herself + taking Maya hostage... all ending with that shockingly peaceful, community breakfast scene. If there was one thing the early seasons were especially good at, it was raising the stakes and changing the status quo in a surprising way. This scene is a great example of that.

+ This season in particular is one that I think Clarke's single-minded intensity towards a specific goal works really well for her character. She immediately distrusts everyone at Mt Weather and wants only to get out of the shelter and back to her people. And since she ends up being absolutely right, her determination and drive to protect people is at its most noble and justified.

+ TRIGEDASLENG TRIGEDASLENG TRIGEDASLENG!! This is the first time we ever hear it and it comes straight from Octavia's mouth and I love that. In later seasons, she's one of the people who speaks it the most and keeps it alive, long after it probably should have died out, so it's very fitting that she's the first person to speak it on screen.

+ Raven and Murphy on the dropship floor, (nearly) dying together. The beginning of a beautiful friendship and they don't even know it yet. Raven literally would've killed him if she wasn't out of bullets. He shot her like, only a few hours before this. But they talk and they come to a sort of uneasy truce. She saves his life at the end, by telling the adults that she "got shot" instead of saying "Murphy shot me." Another thing this show was very, very good at was putting adversaries in the same situation and that letting them find the beginning of a positive relationship there. This wasn't the first time and won't be the last, but it is one of the best.

+ Monroe and that other kid trying to psych themselves up to go save Bellamy and Finn by going "we're warriors. we're warriors!!!"- that kind of made me tear up! They were just kiiiiids!

+ Lincoln carrying Octavia on his shoulders and supporting her tiny head with one huge hand while she's sick from the poison. Lincoln making Octavia repeat that same Trigedasleng phrase over and over again so her pronunciation sounds natural and his people might accept her without him. Lincoln going back to his village and risking a very painful death for treason to get Octavia the antidote. And that doesn't even touch what Octavia is going to do for him in next week's episode. Linctavia really was THAT ship.

+ The late episode pop/rock/indie/alternative/vaguely mid-2010s song montage! Another CW classic. Especially common on The 100 in the first three seasons. I had a playlist of all of them during the peak of my obsession of this show. I genuinely love how on the nose they are, it cracks me up. Clarke settling into Mt Weather (to the extent that her paranoid ass can,) interposed with Skaikru making their way to the Ark to settle there, all while the lyrics "we are coming home" play in the background. So specific. Gotta love it.

+ Monty and his magic tricks! Jasper and Monty play-fighting over chocolate cake! Jasper meeting Maya for the first time! Jasper and Monty well-fed and wearing clean clothes!! I really miss Monty and Jasper. They brought so much heart to this show. And as much hardship as they're going to face later on in this season, it's so nice to see scenes of them relatively happy and carefree in this episode.

Negatives:

- Lincoln says "our warriors speak English," implying non-warrior Grounders don't. They gave up on that one really really quick, didn't they?? I don't think we ever met a grounder that didn't actually speak English.

- The Mountain Men probably would've discovered nightbloods and it should've been a thing, but of course nightblood wasn't a thing at all in the written story at this point, because it clearly wasn't thought of until the writing for s3 began. Just a fun little plothole, classic CW writing.

- "I saw a man. No, it was a - it was a monster!" and then it cuts to an actual deformed human who *doesn't* look anything like the Reapers we'll meet later in the season. I might be wrong - someone please correct me if I am, this has bothered me for years - but I don't think this ever gets addressed. I guess it could just be an especially irradiated Reaper but we never see anyone else deformed to that level. Most people who get radiation poisoning in this show die quickly. I hate this scene.

- "I know she's intense but Clarke's the only reason we survived." One, it's just not true, and totally dismisses everything Raven, Bellamy, Finn, Octavia, Jasper, Monty, and even the nameless kids in the background doing basic (and hard) labor did. Two, Clarke is gonna use that mentality to continue a series-long downward spiral into that "intensity," making some truly awful decisions, many of which will not be for the good of her people, despite what she says. Despite what so many of them say, unfortunately.

- "When you pulled that lever, you saved lives. Don't throw that away by pulling this one." THE GODDAMN LEVERS. IT BEGINS.

- Occasionally this show could be subtle. The heavy-handed comparison between Clarke and Dante Wallace was not one of those occasions.

Miscellaneous:

~ I fully forgot how brutal this show is??? The Grounder just executing that kid that couldn't keep up?? Woof. And they don't really hold back on the violence/gore, at least for a YA/teen show on The CW.

~ The Mtn Men put together a whole welcome packet and orientation for these kids with surprising efficiency. But I don't think anything like this has happened before?? Like they've never had unexpected new arrivals that they didn't just immediately turn into Reapers or blood bags??? How did they know to do that in such an organized way??? The mysteries of Mt Weather continue to baffle me.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, I think this is a good episode. It clearly sets up the stakes and positions of everyone for the season. It gives us our first hints at some later plot points in season two, like with mentions of The Commander and Finn's first darkly uttered "The Grounders took them." It's a great season premiere, and a good place for us to begin - it reminded me a lot of what I liked about this show.

I'm not gonna lie, I had a hard time stopping! Season two has always been one of my favorites, and it's so tempting to just binge the rest of it, like I always have. But I'm also excited to stretch it out a little, and slowly reintroduce this beautiful, corny, well-written, horribly written, funny, sad, charming, heart-breaking, annoying, confusingly enjoyable show back into my life. It was one of my absolute favorites once. It'll be nice to keep rediscovering why!

Next week we have 2x02, "Inclement Weather" - see you then!

Tagging some mutuals: @laufire @bombshellsandbluebells @lucerants @murphystartedthefire (and anyone else who's doing this rewatch! please let me know if you want to be tagged in these posts going forward!)

[bloogers-boogers]

for the ship bingo, what do you think about heiman?

I like heiman. The thing about this ship is how it ended but from the start I loved it! I love that they actually gave Cartman a girlfriend and actually made this relationship a thing that lasted for like two seasons. In my take I did see Cartman genuinely liking Heidi! (Not many would agree with this but that's okay, this is just my opinion) I think if Butters wouldn't have said things that made Cartman skeptical of their relationship it would've lasted a little longer healthier until he started getting bored with it and then desperately wanting "out". He's a kid so ofcourse I wouldn't have see this relationship ending in healthy way considering how Cartman typically is as a character and (bc this is sp) again, Cartman is this kid that I see that could be clingy wanting attention but I do incline on a hc of him being also the type to need space to do other things and hang out with other people because he will get easily bored with the same thing. Like out of the main four who do you see having the bigger outside circle of the group? Cartman. Cartman clearly likes hanging out with other kids like we've seen in the show that he hangs out with Clyde, Jimmy, literally just goes to the farm to hang out with just Stan I'm a firm believer he was tired of just hanging out with Kenny, Butters and most likely bothering Kyle so he went to hang out with Stan even if it was just for eating chips as he lays down on his sofa while Stan was writing. And I wouldn't be surprised if he just intrudes in whatever he gets the opportunity to hang out with any of the other kids. For his own entertainment and also the attention.

With Heidi it was kinda always spending quality time together and there's nothing wrong with that but it seems Heidi took a lot of his time from hanging out with his friends which is something he likes to do. He probably did like spending time with Heidi but the consistency and the same thing over and over was probably enough to annoy him. Plus, again he's a kid so ofcourse he's gonna be looking for fun instead of just a "full-time" commitment.

So yeah, it's been shown Cartman can have a healthy relationship in a further future were he's more mature and take things more seriously (Yentl pc), but currently now I doubt it. He has a lot to fix before committing into something like a long life partner. And with Heidi I could see it working out if they actually tried it again in the future when they're both mature enough to realize the importance of boundaries and their brains are more fully developed to understand the wrongs. I think their relationship would be cute and I also thought it was cute before the toxicity was noticeable in that time together.

I still like heiman, I would definitely have no issues reading heiman as a background relationship in fics. I think they're interesting and I see Heidi eventually knowing how to put Cartman in his place hsgshshs cause Heidi definitely won't be taking his shit anymore after all that 💀

[allbeendonebefore]

“For all of that, the notion that Alberta’s politics stifles all dissent, or made queer life impossible was not historically accurate. This research illustrates how the largely middle-class activists and organizers strove to make it safe... to be queer in Edmonton. And it makes plain how much further they had to go than their peers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.” “It is suggestive of the challenges of being queer in Edmonton that so much energy and resources went into counselling individuals struggling with their sexual orientation and negotiating the commensurate identities issues.”

this is very hard hitting to me because waking up today in this reality was an ordeal. but it makes me think a lot.

i don’t want to glamourize or valourize the difficulty of being queer in the “tough” city too much because i don’t want to fall into the trap of queer life in edmonton = suffering only but. at the same time it makes me reflect a lot on how i’ve perceived and chosen to personify and characterize my city (is it mine yet? has it always been?) in art over the years and so rambles about that follow

i designed Ed in sub-rural high school a few years after returning to Canada from post 9/11 midwestern America when i was filled with this dissatisfaction of being "home” only to discover that my life was matching next to none of the imagined past i had growing up in Edmonton, and trying to reconcile the gap between this mythical multicultural utopia in the Big City just out of my reach that existed only in my memory and this growing awareness of the rest of Canada looking down on us as a province and as a city- as I discovered firsthand in a rural k-9 school (which even this past year was subject to a horrific hate crime), this was not an entirely undeserved reputation.

of course during this time i was dealing with several battles that didn’t occur to me until later as having any real impact on who i was: all my classmates assuming upon barely interacting with me that i was a lesbian on the grounds of not admitting to liking anyone Ever; being referred to as “that” because my gender expression was considered deviant by my peers; grappling with the sexual deviance associated with hobbies at the time that were far far far from the mainstream at this point (anime and online social networks! gasp); protesting bill 44 without a second thought as to how people would perceive me after; coming out as asexual to relative strangers in a time where there were still only 2.5 orientations and identities barely spoken aloud; and graduating (finally!) into Big City University where I was struggling to reconcile things like being a notorious atheist completely against religious fundamentalism with my Not a Sexuality TM with my Yaoi is for Perverts Which I Am Not with my Feminism is Too Political For Me and so on and so forth.

(so you can see why when i was stepping between ultra religious conservative alberta and weird lefty university life i made these characters somewhat ironically with all the yaoi tropes and demanded that they not be shipped together. lmao. what was i thinking honestly. was it a challenge for others or for me? was it the start of a dialogue or the end of one?)

and sequestered as i was in my little southside university life a certain born and raised Edmontonian from an inner city north side school background, as desperate to escape the city as i was to be repatriated to it, decided this was insufficient and thrust me into directly confronting the fears and anxieties i had picked up through osmosis of Scary Downtown Edmonton. It’s not really a coincidence that the two major changes in Ed’s design (his queerness and his Indigeneity) happened at northside transit stops, both at night, in the company of the incorrigible quatschmachen). I remember us joking about Ed as “the gay cousin” after a particular journey to a discount theatre with a distinct sketchy reputation just a hop skip and a jump from the industrial, uh, charm of the meat packing plants and Belvedere LRT station and, naturally, it stuck. The myth in my head was beginning to grasp onto the realities that I had once been disenchanted by and was desperate to cover up. And it stuck.

And it stuck and I spent a long time “justifying” it in my head, because you have to remember up until this point that personifying a place with any “difference” (in ethnicity, ability, etc) or acknowledging the real struggles of being queer in a place outside of the sacrilegiously gay-and-silly and yes subversive heta-verse... it wasn’t acceptable in fandom. It was rarely done and when it was it was often met with extremely virulent hostility, hostility in similar-but-different ways to the hostility i faced for accidentally expressing “difference” that I didn’t realize I was expressing in rural backwater Alberta.

And it stuck and suddenly it became a gateway into this secret untold history of the city.

And maybe I will write more about that as my research progresses. but there you go, a little insight into why I designed Ed the way I did and why I’ve upheld that particular characterization for all these years. And now a decade after designing him exist the citations to back up my choices, on one hand, and the resolve to keep fighting, to keep writing that history in spite of these odds that look insurmountable from the outside.

it’s tough being the tough city but the battles are worth fighting. and that’s why i do what i do.

[airplanned]

Plot Summit Thoughts

There was a talk by Sacha Black about villains at Plot Summit conference.

It was pretty cool!  And it tied in with a lot of other things I’ve been thinking about.  I don’t write a lot of villains, but my current novel has one in the background.  I wasn’t sure how much I was going to get out of this, but it ended up giving some things to think about.

My notes and thoughts on things below.

1.

She starts off by saying that the villain is the most important character in the book, and then immediately said, “I say things like that because it sells books,” which endeared me to her.  Valid. Get it.

But her thought process is this: Story is about change.  The protagonist moves from being flawed to being less flawed or to being fulfilled.  A character doesn’t want to change (because people are resistant to change, and also if your character can just go, “Oh!  This is a flaw I have that’s keeping me from getting what I want.  Let me fix it,” and then does, there wouldn’t be much of a book, and it wouldn’t be believable). So a character has to be forced out of their status quo in order to change.  This is from some source of conflict, which is (drum roll) the villain.  The villain is there to put obstacles in the hero’s way.

So without a villain there is no conflict.  (And she did a good job covering her bases here, because here she started using “villain” as an umbrella term that can also include “antagonist” and even “internal struggle.”  So even if you’re writing a story without a mustache twirling bad guy, these thoughts still apply on a certain level.)

This means that if your villain has no motive, your hero doesn’t really have a motive either.  And example that came to mind was everyone on Captain Planet.  They were all like “I’m going to pour toxic sludge in the lake, because I’m evil!  Mwahahaha!”  And even as a kid, I was like…That makes no sense.  And because the bad guys are just doing things, the good guys are just doing things too.  “Ope! Looks like we gotta go clean up a lake!”

 2.

You don’t have the page count to give your side characters as much depth as the POV character.  There’s just no way they can be as fleshed out as someone who’s head you’re in for 300 pages.  But you can create the illusion of depth by giving them a “why.”  1. Why are they in the story in relation to the protagonist (to block them, to push them, to help them)? 2. What is their reason for existing outside the protagonist?

The villain also need a reason why.  Like, there’s this episode of Star Trek where there’s this ship that’s using aliens for fuel. Because they’re evil?  Well, no, because they’re lost in space and want to get home. They miss their loved ones and they’re all alone out here.  This fuel will get them home.  They’re still absolutely wrong.  They might not be redeemable.  But we understand where they’re coming from, and for that reason they’re a stronger villain, and that means our protagonist needs to be stronger or more clever than them to defeat them.  If the Star Trek episode was “These guys are using aliens for fuel!  Hey, that’s bad!  Don’t do that, bad guys!” that would be a pretty forgettable episode. But since it’s that they desperately want to get home, suddenly there’s a little bit of a moral dilemma, and our protagonist (who has the same want to get home) can see themselves in the bad guy’s shoes.  Suddenly the fact that our protagonist didn’t do whatever was necessary to get home seems like a much better thing.

3.

So there’s this plot structure that I find really interesting with the idea that in the first half of the book, characters behave consistently, and they are mostly passive. The plot *does stuff to them.* They are victims of the plot, which pulls or pushes them through the first half of the book.  That’s not to say that they’re sitting there being dragged around like a sack of potatoes, but it means their actions are reactive rather than proactive.  But this changes at the midpoint.  (so in Mulan, the midpoint is during the Make a Man out of You song where she climbs to pole to get the arrow.  Up until that point she’s reacting to what life has thrown at her. She made decisions, yes, like she decided to run away and take her father’s place.  But when she climbs the pole, she’s making a decision not really fueled by the plot pushing her.  She decides to fight smarter instead of stronger.  She takes control of the story instead of letting it push her along the way it wants to with Shang sending her home.  This decision and success signals a change of fortune and the rest of the movie has her being proactive.)

So it’s interesting to think about this fairly common structural framework with regards to the villain.  In the first half, the villain is moving the plot, dragging the protagonist through, and the protagonist is responding.  Then at the midpoint, the protagonist starts getting proactive.  (We can see this in It’s a Wonderful Life, where the midpoint is evil Mr. Potter offering George a job (everything he ever wanted!) and George turning it down.)

[thecrossoverwriter15]

CAD BANE X FEM READER (Note: This is my first oneshot)

So, I was reading a fanfic asking if you would die in the arms of your comfort character or have your comfort character die in your arms. Since I’ve seen little angst books with Bane, I figured, why not write one!

(angst, hurt-no comfort, blood, etc.)

Background Information: You were a Bounty Hunter working with Cad Bane during the Clone Wars. You met him in prison, after Bane attempted to kidnap the chancellor with Rako Hardeen and Moralo Eval. You guys worked together to break out of prison and eventually decided to work together. He took a while to warm up to you, but once he did, you were inseparable on the field. Yet, He never told you that he had feelings for you, in order to keep his strong, hunter persona. You never said anything either, but you did like him.

Enjoy!

Cad Bane raced down the hall, trying to catch up with the bounty. This man was a tough one with tattoos covering his arms. As he turned a corner, you appeared, knocking him to the ground with a thud. Cad came out from the other side of the corner, ready for a draw. You stood next to the Duros bounty hunter in case he needed backup. As the man stood up, Cad said, “If you stop runnin’, I’d might let ya walk outta’ here alive.”

The man just laughed, “You have seen nothing yet.”

The three people stood still. The room was silent, not even a breath. You watched the man’s hand. It was traveling closer and closer to the blaster. Cad’s hand sat on his hip, not moving an inch. The man stared at the Bounty Hunter, not blinking. The Duros slightly squinted. Silence, not a sound. The two men waited for an opportunity. You stood next to Cad, your hand glazing closer to your gun.

Then, BOOM!

And a gasp.

The man’s gun dropped to the ground, as well as his body. Cad Bane had shot first, the barrel of his gun slightly smoking. He put the gun back into the holster and turned to you. You stood there, frozen. When the man shot, he had a large blade hidden in his coat ready for you. That same blade had found it’s way into the left side of your stomach, the cloth around the wound growing with a red stain. You were slight hunched over, unable to move due to the shock. Cad stared at you, his brain immediately going into a panic with he saw your state. As you started to collapse, he ran over to you and grabbed you under the arms, attempting to stop you from collapsing. When your legs crumpled underneath you, he went down with you. One of his arms wrapped under your shoulders while the other palm was placed flat against the stain. He looked down at the wound, blood was quickly flowing and growing around the knife, staining your top as the spot grew larger. As he turned back to you, your head laid against his chest as you took shallow breaths. He kept mumbling, but you couldn’t tell if he was talking to himself or to you, 

“Shhh. It’s ok. It’s alright, you’ll be fine. It’s just blood.”

You could feel your energy begin to vanish as fatigue begun to hit. Your breathing became slightly raspy as time went on. Along with this, the blood caused your body to go into shock, making you forget things.

“I can’t breath…” You whispered as your head went fuzzy.

“I know. Just stay awake.”

When your pupils started to dilate, he shock you. You seemed confused by the act.

“No, ya hear me?” Cad desperately said, “Ya ain’t leavin’ me.”

“I just need to sleep for a moment,” You said as your eyes begun to close. A quick slap on the cheek made your eye open.

“You’re stayin’ awake till’ we get to the ship. No sleepin’.” He ordered as he felt tears begin to pool in his eyes. He saw that your skin had begun to lose it’s color, your lips turning paler and paler as you lost more blood. He attempted to pick you up, but as he moved under your knees to cradle you, the knife had moved. This caused you to groan in pain.

“Stop! Stop! Stop! PUT ME DOWN!” You screamed. He was alarmed by the yelling and set you back down. He heard a noise coming out from the corner. As he raised his blaster, he saw that it was Todo, his droid.

“Todo, get over here!”

The little droid flew over and was startled by the scene, “Mr. Bane, Mrs.___! What happened??”

“It doesn’t matter what happened. Go to the ship, get bacta and bandages.” He snapped. Todo only stared at you, ignoring Bane’s request.

“Uhm. Bane?” The droid said, pointing to you. Cad’s eyes glazed over to you. Your eyes were closed, your skin was extremely pale and cold. He slapped your cheek again, but you didn’t budge. His heart rate started to go up as he begun to panic. He grabbed your hand and pressed two of his fingers against the wrist, hoping that you were okay. When he felt the silence of the thumping sound, He was in denial of your silence as he stook your body. Your head had laid on his chest, looking like you were merely asleep. That’s when he began to cry, closing his eyes as he felt tears roll down. He couldn’t avenge your death, the man who killed you was already dead. All he could do was stare at the body in his arms.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” He sobbed, “I care about ya, you know that right?”

He was met with silence. He was too stubborn to actually say the words, but he tried the best he could,

“You’ve probably known this for a while, but I think I got feelin’s for ya.” He said as he sobbed quietly. Todo waddled over to your corpse and check your heart rate. He was met with one continuous straight line.

“Mr. Bane, I’m so sorry about her, but we need to get on the ship. We can take Mrs.___ with us.”

“Get on the dam ship and fly over here then!” Bane snapped. Todo, instead of arguing, obeyed the bounty hunter’s orders. He knew Bane was hurting and didn’t want to make it worse. As he flew away, Cad stood. This time able to carry you. You were limp in his arms and didn’t say a word. He carried you out of the room, through the hall and into the sun. The ship had been docked right outside. He looked at you one last time, your face, your (h/c) hair, your (e/c) eyes. He then kissed your forehead and made his way to the ship, where they took off into the stars.

AN: Welp, there’s my first attempt at a oneshot! Quite tragic and sad. I hope it came out well. It was fun writing this and I hope that you enjoyed it too! So, please, like, comment! I might do more of these, maybe on Wattpad🤔

Anywho, hope you enjoyed this little oneshot!

[nyxi-pixie]

Have you watched the Korra series? Korra (the main character) has a romance 'arc' with another series, Mako, you think that they would totally be the end game (at least from the GA perspective), but Korra actually gets together with another female character at the end of the series. Most of the time, due to heteronormativeness, people think that a straight relationship would be the default and don't even consider the possibility of a queer romance happening later on (or in the background). Yeah, it started out with a straight couple, and so what lol. Korra and Mako also had a toxic relationship btw, they often fought and weren't honest with each other. Did they love each other?Sure, they were a team after all and cared for each other deeply.... but that doesn't mean that their relationship was workable romantically at some point.

Now, if Byler happens, we'll get the same arguments (as we are already getting anyway) that Byler was forced out of nowhere and the 'main straight relationship of the series got destroyed out of nowhere'. Never mind that the relationship itself was giving red flags and was obviously not going to work out. But god forbid that a queer relationship happens later on in the series.

KORRASAMI REFERENCES??? IN MY ASKS???? thank you for this one anon i used to be Obsessed with them and im so glad you brought this up bc omg ur so right. yeah straight fans will complain about things like this every time it happens because they refuse to see past the comfort of their heteronormativity and see that queer characters have been coded as such for ages.

it does make me laugh when they latch desperately onto a super unhealthy relationship just cos it was/is canon and straight they fr defend it to the death and its like??? okay?

i just hate how much queer ships have to be built up before they can happen compared to straight ones lol. imagine if people said jancy came out of nowhere and it was ruining stancy (sure hardcore stancy enjoyers might say that but GA?? nope.)

[princesserii]

Hey Inazuma Eleven fandom! This might be a bit of a long shot but would anyone want to beta read a fanfic I’m currently working on?

It’s a fantasy pirate AU set in a world I’ve made up. There’s magic and fantasy races — merpeople, selkies and sylphs (sky spirits), as well as regular humans.

I’ll be using using the OG and GO characters (not Ares/Orion or VROH). The main ships are established, married Tatsumido/Hiromido and angst-ridden TakuRan (ngl TakuRan might not get a happy ending), with some background established Endou x Natsumi which doesn’t really factor into the story. I might also include background Fudou x Kazemaru but that isn’t decided yet. I’m very easygoing with ships and can write basically anything.

The fic is split between three main stories — Kariya, the Inazuma Pirates, and Shindou. All three plotlines interweave into one another and will eventually come together:

Kariya is a lonely boy who lives on the furthest outskirts of the town of Shaleworth. The son of a fisherman, his neglectful father up and left one night, never to be seen again. Ever since, Kariya has been alone, carving out a career for himself as a fisherman at the age of 14. By now, he’s accepted his fate. He’s used to it. He doesn’t care if people pity him or think he’s a nuisance. One day though, he has a chance encounter with two wayward pirates, Tatsuya and Midorikawa, who have lost their ship and their crew. The pirates start using Kariya’s home as a hideaway until they can regain enough strength and resources to return to their ship. Kariya ends up realising he doesn’t want them to leave, meanwhile Tatsuya and Midorikawa realise that this lonely boy doesn’t have to be so alone forever. Family bonding shenanigans ensue.

The crew of the Inazuma, led by captain Endou Mamoru, are among the most feared and respected pirates on the seven seas. Due to the mysterious and powerful Hand of God, wielded only by the strongest pirate on the ocean, the Inazuma Pirates have garnered a high reputation even among the navy and port governors. After losing two of their crew mates, Tatsuya and Midorikawa, during a storm, they’re desperately trying to find them. Captain Endou has faith that they aren’t dead. Members of the crew such as the young gunner Kirino Ranmaru, however, are less confident, especially because if Tatsuya and Midorikawa are still alive, they would have run ashore in one of the most anti-pirate areas of the whole archipelago — Shaleworth.

Shindou, a baron’s son, hates pirates with every ounce of his being. Four years before the present, pirates attacked his hometown and kidnapped his personal servant and best friend, Kirino, thinking Kirino was actually the baron’s son. It was later revealed that a different pirate crew, the Inazuma Pirates, had pillaged and destroyed the trafficking den where Kirino would have been taken. There were no survivors. Shindou now swears revenge for the ‘death’ of his best friend. Having been sent to the town of Shaleworth to study under Governor Kudou, he makes it his mission to capture and execute any pirates who come through the nearby waters. Even his new personal servant, Ibuki Munemasa, thinks he’s going a bit too far. But Shindou sees it as justified. If he can’t have his best friend back, then what’s the point in being merciful? (Little does he know that Kirino is very much still alive)

If anyone is interested, please let me know, either by replying to this post or dming me! I haven’t written much more than the first chapter yet but the chapters are quite long, in the range of 4000-5000 words per chapter. Chapter 1 is fully written already. I write pretty quickly too, so expect new chapters every week/two weeks.

[karl-raccoon-enjoyer]

Mello HCs

Disclaimers: Near uses they/them pronouns in this, kinda short because I just randomly found out it’s his birthday , idc if this doesn’t line up with the canon timeline/events, this is more centered around his relationship with the other successors because while I do love him it’s hard for me to think of headcanons specifically for him, may have written characters as softer than they are, but that’s only because I’m soft

*I heavily ship him with Matt

*I don’t know what it is. It’s something in the way they look at each other, the way they dress, they way they carry themselves, idk but whatever it is it’s perfect

*I like to imagine them driving in the nighttime while cool music plays in the background

*Before Mello was placed in the successors program, he actually really liked Near

*”No one gets to bully them but me” type of thing

*Was originally the one teaching Near to write before he got mad they were learning it faster than he had

*Even after Mello started distancing himself away from them, Near still tried to reach out to him for a while (I’m imagining Near as a little kid like preschool/kindergarten age in this)

*Mello looked up to Beyond a lot and saw him as an older brother

*Would force himself to do things with Beyond that scared him because he wanted to seem tough (drunk of that big kid mentality like my iPad kid self discovering what woo-hooing is while reading fnaf fanfiction on wattpad in elementary school)

*If Beyond picked up on the fact he was too uncomfortable/scared he would try to deescalate the situation (As I’ve stated before, he cared about very few people in his life, but this is his little brother we’re talking about)

*Would encourage Matt to do better and rank higher while also not wanting him to rank higher than himself (he didn’t say that though)

*A & BB would tease those 2 so much

*Mello used to be one of those little kids who would snitch on you for absolutely anything

*But that stopped when he was trying to be cool to impress Beyond

*I feel like his little thing being eating chocolate is because he wanted to copy L and his original thing was writing

*Bc I HC A’s thing as drawing they would sometimes have Mello write stories about what they’d drawn

*And A drew some weird stuff so they were usually pretty interesting

*He only briefly mentioned A in LABB out of respect for all of their (the successors’) past private lives

*Mello actually was friendly with Sidoh at times

*More of a general opinion than a headcanon but the second half of Death Note is so much better when you view it as a rivalry between Mello and Near rather than Light and Near

*He thought about Beyond a lot while he was recovering from the explosion

*For one because of the burns /obv

*Not only for that reason but he wondered if his own desperation to live up to L would lead him to the same fate

*He eventually justified it by reaffirming to himself that it was just because of stupid Near