#but was anyone gonna update me that we just had no game plan on time for the door

[lilgynt]

mom bought me door accessories im like doors broken? she gets mad at me and says she’s gonna buy me a new one. brother was supposed to do that (he broke it) contact him like why is mom paying, no he is gonna do that, he does not know when but he did not forget (no one’s brought this up since my bday (( i asked for it for my bday and everyone agreed)) ) - it’s been eight months (seven specifically if you’re my mom when i’m talking to her about this) so i’m gonna pay for it bc i’m not waiting a year. no i’m a bad guy and picked a really bad time bc my mom needed something from my brother (also why do i need a door anyway ((i’m 23)) (((she’s walked in on my jacking off twice already))) ((((sees no issues with this)))) ) anyway chewed the fuck out of my brother and mom

[anadiasmount]

Omg fake dating thrope +enemies to loverswith jude. Maybe you're both celebrities or you're a girl he knows but he needs a date to somewhere and you know

gonna use this next time i write a fic bc it’s actually one of my fav tropes/ plots… 😵‍💫😵‍💫

since we know he ‘good’ at pool, the bet is placed after the two of you kept disagreeing who was better and throwing words back and forth. but something about him looking angry, brows pulled in, eyes squinted, lips plump, just turns you on… but you would never admit to anyone…

for some ironic reason, he wins the long game of pool, that lasted for an hour. that hour where intense glances were shared, a game of determination, fury built in you as you watch the black ball roll perfectly into the slot. you stood up straighter hugging the pole tightly as he came behind you and whispered into your ear.

“keep your phone nearby. i’ll give you a call when i need you…”

you couldn’t understand why you hated him so much. maybe bc of your first interaction where he embarrassed you? maybe it was bc he acted the way he acted when he was around people that were no good for him. why he always seemed to target you to release all frustration’s. why he seemed to the first person ever in your life you questioned how you were as a friend?

you never once questioned how you treated others. but he made you question a lot just by breathing the same around around him. the tense air.

you heard him brag and nonchalantly spoke about him winning the golden boy award. that cocky smirk, arms crossed along his chest. his friends praising him while all he did was stick his tongue on the inside of his cheek and nod to all the compliments.

“what a fucking ego he has,” you said frustrated and downing a double shot in a glass. “it’s just men being men,” your friend cut in, glancing at her phone and updating you with the plans the girls had made to which you quickly agreed to, grabbing your bag and walking to the door.

“hey hey hey. where you going?” you turned confused, rolling your eyes when catching the voice. “we’re headed out. different plans,” your fiend responded avoiding hearing an arguement.

“can you tell her she’s my date to the golden boy awards? that she has to packed and ready to go by sunday night?” jude says in a taunting voice. your eyes twitch and mouth opens in disbelief when your eyes connect, scoffing at his childish manner.

“can you please tell him, that i won’t go. that i refuse to spend a whole night dedicated to him?” you turn to your friend who stares back and forth between you and jude nervously. jude laughs loudly and cocks his head to the side.

“sorry you’re not at my level sweetheart, anyone would kill to be where i am. but you still owe me a bet remember?” he said seriously, stepping closer to you. he noticed the way your nostrils slightly flare and you jaw clenches. “ok ok, we’re gonna head out now. she’ll wait for your text about the trip details…”

your friend pulled you back, before the two of you could start screaming, but your eyes were directly on his. watching his angry gaze turn soft. “have a good night,” you spit out.

you made a promise to yourself that you would speak to him when he did first. you wanted to avoid any alterations or him in general. but that quickly became harder as he kept speaking to you. maybe he was just trying to annoy you, or just wanted to make communication.

for some reason this felt different. the air shared between you wasn’t no longer tense, instead it felt lost. you saw him differently, you don’t know what changed but you couldn’t even stare at his eyes without getting intimidated or shy.

when he spoke your gaze remained on your lap or outside the window of the plane. you felt nervous to speak or to reply, your heart warmed at him, his voice, his face. you suddenly felt butterflies, the feeling of wanting to be loved…

jude couldn’t offer you that. he can’t give you what you want. jude doesn’t do relationships or love. he’s doing this because of a stupid bet the two of you agreed to. jude doesn’t feel the same way you do. jude hates you. your eyes flutter when he called your attention, breaking your daydream.

“sorry… uhm… what we’re you saying?,” you side eyed him, catching a glimpse of his confused and worried features. “are you okay? i asked if you wanted anything to eat or drink…” you couldn’t tell but jude’s voice was laced with worry.

“i’m okay. and no i’m fine for the moment,” you give him a small smile and direct your gaze to the small TV in front of you. “you’re quiet… you’re not you?” jude says, his heart now warm and with ache when you couldn’t meet his gaze. he wanted you to look at him, to see your eyes, your smile, the small beauty marks he so badly wanted to kiss.

“just want to avoid any unnecessary arguments… it’s your night after all… the last i would want is for your night to go terribly thanks to our temper,” your lips purse. “i’m confused why you brought me…” your tone was insecure, jude having to resist to reach over and take your insecurities away.

“oh.” jude wanted to smack his forehead, but he was scared to spilling his true feelings for you.

oh was all he said for the rest of the flight and ride to the hotel where the two of you began to get ready. you hated feeling something for someone you know doesn’t feel the same way. why were you this vulnerable? why did your feelings towards him have to change? why couldn’t he like even more so tolerate you?

the elevator ride down to the lobby was awkward. jude discreetly stared at you fixing your lipstick and hair in the mirror inside the elevator. butterflies invading his chest at his sight. your body beautifully carved in the black matching dress to his tux.

he couldn’t stand it no longer, especially when you bit your lip anxiously. “y/n… look at me…” his calloused hand tilted your chin to look up at him. “i feel more than honored and lucky to have you here… you look absolutely gorgeous…” he saw your iris dilate at his words. he leaned down but before your lips could touch the elevator doors opened.

you cleared your throat and swallowed the urge to pull him into a kiss. instead greeting his mother and father with a hug. “this is my gf, mom i’ve told you about her but dad here’s the girl i was telling you about on the plane.”

“it’s a pleasure to meet you. it’s also nice to put a face on the other women who keeps our jude in check,” his dad joked making you laugh, and stare at jude who had a loving look on his face. “shall we go?”

you closed your hotel room door abruptly. you expected this night to go terribly, filled with insults and comments, being caught with the lie you weren’t his real gf, but it was the opposite. the night couldn’t have gotten better, you getting along with his parents, being suddenly happy and proud for the man you thought you disliked.

you ran your head stressed along your forehead, a hand coming to your throat to hold back your tears, and massage the lump. “y/n? open the door…” you gasped taking small steps back but then opening the door where jude came inside. “i wanted to thank you. i know this was a huge favor, but i really wanted you here…”

“jude what? what are you-”

“i told myself i couldn’t fall for someone like you, that it would be a forbidden sin. that i shouldn’t think of giving my entire life to you, devoting myself to you. that it would be a jeopardy, because i thought you hated me…” jude said stepping closer to you where you backed into the dresser.

“but i can see that’s no longer the same. bc you feel exactly the way i feel,” he grabs your palm and places it directly on his heart. “my heart beats faster when i’m with you. i smile only with you. i hate thinking of the fact another man touching you… let alone talking to you… i envy that because it should be me, loving you unconditionally…”

“love is the weirdest thing to exist… but if it’s with you jude, i promise to love you unconditionally…” you say breathless, tracing his cheeks and lips with your thumb. “is that a pinky promise?” he says with a cheesy smile to which you nod.

“in that case, i promise to give you my all and be the man you deserve. because i love you unconditionally already…” he wasted no time capturing your red stained lips with his, a sigh of relief to finally have you. to taste you. to kiss you. his hand remained tugging on your hair as the kiss grew passionate and messy.

he kissed every beauty mark “i love you”, kissing down to your jaw “i love you so much”. your pulse where he sucked on the skin and hearing you whimper, “i love you and only you y/n.”

[sylvaridreams]

I'm going to try and word this better than I did at 1 am venting on cohost last night, and maybe slightly gentler. I haven't finished the SotO update from yesterday. I got home, played for a couple of hours, did some meta on the current map, triiiiied to get myself to go back to story... and I couldn't.

I was BORED. It was quite honestly boring. Any dialogue that matters is Peitha talking to her people. I am a stage prop that occasionally vocalizes expositional questions and fires arrows at grunt mobs.

I could physically feel myself losing any remaining interest in the story as I clicked "what does this mean? What do you think of Peitha's plan?" type questions (which offer a poor illusion of choice in conversation. Look! Dialogue options! You can click all of these in any order you like but you must click them all!)

Why should I care about this story? I'm being brought along as the muscle that Peitha doesn't really need. I'm not offering anything special I'm terms of skill. I'm not an invaluable resource. I'm not even being utilized as the leader that gw2 has ALWAYS made me! It's always been "You're out there leading the armies, commanding all the way from the front line to the supply chains!" Now I'm just kind of around. Run a few events and come back. Characters refer to me and I apparently have no in-game response. MY CHARACTER doesn't seem invested.

And so many new characters. Every drop, it's like, have a bunch more named people! I was learning names during drop 1, and know some of the Wizards off the top of my head, but honestly I’m not bothering anymore. Why should I? Even if Nexus isn't killed off in the next chapter I play, I'm never going to meet this character again after he stops serving the story.

And where IS the story? Where is the meat? Drop 1 was at least interesting to me. Secret society hiding demons from the Commander. Getting sucked into this strange and horrifying place. Getting the life beat out of Alba by a hulking, terrifying demon and crawling away in fear. Escaping into the arms of strangers and getting this unknown voice in Alba's head, talking to him, saying what he wanted to hear, teasing him. Him refusing to tell anyone she was in there, because he *trusted this unknown voice in his head over all these strangers.* The story lulled a lot and it wasn't like... prime gw2 content. But it had a few hooks. When in Amnytas, Alba GASPED "Peitha!" right outside of the next story step and said "I can *see* you," and I turned my camera and saw what I knew, what Alba had to have suspected, confirmed. That there was a demon using his mind as a lounge. THAT was a moment, it was SOMETHING!

At least it was fun at points, at least there was some small amount of intrigue and mystery. And from there it was all just, "take a backseat, Wayfinder. This isn't YOUR story." I'm getting nothingburger bites out of each new story drop. Oh we went into Nayos to take the fight to them and killed Peitha's model reskin cousin. Anything else that drop? Anything? No but next time we recruited some general to fight with us! Can I get a smidgen of story? Something to hang onto? The only thing this drop that hasn't been "Don't care didn't ask plus I've seen your character model elsewhere" was Alba being called "that ugly creature" by a kryptis.

That's all I've got. I'm not enjoying it. I don't like SotO. And it is not for lack of trying it, it's not because i just don't like change and don't wanna see something new and different! This expansion feels like an empty parody of Guild Wars 2, and it feels like a slap in the face to anyone who was invested in Tyria. Pre-release they really hyped up that "It's time for new places and new people! We're gonna get a new cast and explore a vast new world!" I CARED about that world, which we still had SO MUCH left to explore. Are the borders of the map even the ends of the world of Tyria or does it keep going? Who cares. There's shit going on above the clouds. I cared about those CHARACTERS. Does Alba get to see people that he loves and cares about ever again? Is he making it to the wedding? Does he get a chance to go home and see anyone? Like yes we are not chained up in the Tower between instances, we can still play the game in those old maps, but the characters have been written out of the story.

And frankly these new ones are shitty replacements. I don't care about these people. I maybe had some small amount of "OK cool its Zojja I know her!" but it's not like I had any deep care or feeling for her. Not personally. Peitha was interesting at first but being brought along as part of her nameless, faceless grunt entourage has made me lose a lot of interest. She's not going to be a core character post-SotO. She either dies at the end, or takes over as King, and at best becomes a very occasional callback. "Ah, King Peitha! It's been some time, how is Nayos!" She's not going to reclaim the throne and then ignore rebuilding her people's infrastructure to hang out in Commander’s brain all day or join them on quests. We are a temporary ally and a stepping stone for her story.

Which sucks.

In terms of the rest of the SotO cast, it again feels like a pale imitation of prior Gw2 content. Like they're saying "remember season 1, meeting all those people one by one who would become your best friends and allies in life? 🤔 " and then they didn't even do it that way. Season 1 was a gradual introduction to these characters that you were given time, story, and Reason to care about. If Braham, Rox, Marjory, Kasmeer, Taimi, Rytlock, and Canach had all shown up and said "oh we're the Best Friends Patrol. Come along with us stranger!" I would have felt like a tag along. Not an equal in the group. Instead we met on level ground. We became a team together, we became friends together, each of us a vital part.

Which is opposite to how it feels now. These characters have deep history going back AGES. I just showed up, no one respects me, I'm not privy to any information or details on who is who and why should I care, I don't Get story time to ACTUALLY hang out and meet these people and develop my OWN relationships with them. When I leave, they will not care. I'm just being brought along like a lost kid at this point, until we reach customer service and they can drop me off, or until I wander away and find another deep group to follow.

I don't like this story. I don't like the setting. I don't like the characters or the group dynamic. I don't feel like an EQUAL in this expansion, I don't feel like I matter. Anyone could stand here and ask supporting questions to drive the dialogue between the 2-3 characters that actually matter, which again, does not include me.

And FRANKLY I hate that no one can say anything that isn't glowing praise of GW2 and Anet and every little detail is just scrumptious don't worry I love it, without a bunch of vague posts filtering in about "so much Negativity, everyone is a HATER, you just don't support The Writers and want them to FAIL, well then stop playing the game and delete your account and blog and go away forever, REAL fans LOVE nothingburger" to shun whoever dared say "I didn't like some or all of it." I'm happy for you if you're liking SotO but I am not. I'm sorry if you don't understand that criticizing something that I've played for a decade doesn't mean I hate it. I'm sorry if you can't take the MILD CONFLICT of me or someone else saying "I love this thing that you love too but I don't like how the new part feels" but most of us learned about conflict in kindergarten or at least through children's picture books and TV, so idk. Maybe you just need to cope at that point.

As it stands I don't like the expac. I don't see Anet turning it around and blowing my mind with the ending. And I really don't even care how it ends. I was asked the other day "how are you going to handle Peitha?" (in terms of the canon that I write, which has already moved past the end of SotO.) And frankly I was like. I dunno. It doesn't matter to me. She's either dead or on the throne, I don't care much either way. We could get the huge plot twist at the end that Peitha was the big bad or Isgarren or WHOEVER THE FUCK, and I wouldn't care. None of this matters to me. I'm going back to Tyria with my writing. The rest is filler.

[heartstopper-tword]

48. "Stop cheating!"

Charlie and Nick are playing a game (I don't mind which one, if you're stuck for ideas maybe twister) and one of them keeps tickling the other as a distraction.

Eventually they cave and wreck the cheater as punishment ?

Up to you ☺️

Hope your day is absolutely amazing

- 🐦‍⬛

A/N: ty for the prompt anon! hope your day is going amazing as well! <3

Prompt #48 - “Stop cheating!”

Prompt from here if you’re interested!

I’ve updated what prompt list I’ll be using! Check it out here!

Cheater, Cheater

“Agh! Charlie, quit it!”

Charlie giggled, withdrawing his hand from Nick’s side. The two boys were currently in the Spring family’s living room, having been sprawled out on the floor with their text books in front of them. This was their near-daily routine; coming back to one of their houses and trying to knock out some of their homework from their day at school, and then spending the rest of their time together watching movies, playing games, and most importantly, making out. Though most times, that plan didn’t go the way it was intended. Nick was easily distracted, and very quickly lost interest in whatever worksheet he was doing. So in order to entertain himself, he’d try to distract Charlie, whether it be laying across his boyfriend’s lap, or whining, or throwing his pens at his head.

Charlie had to bite back a grin when he heard Nick let out a groan, slamming his maths textbook closed. “Charlieeee,” he’d whimpered, pushing his book to the side, “I’m bored.”

“That’s a shocker,” Charlie had replied, chuckling and keeping his eyes trained on his own assignment.

“Come on,” Nick moaned, “let’s take a break. We’ve been working on maths for like an hour now. You especially don’t need to study maths longer than that.”

“Nick, I have a test at the end of the week.” Charlie reminded him, finally glancing up at the older boy.

“And you’re going to ace it! You always have the highest grade out of anyone, and you don’t even need to try!” Nick retorted, moving closer to his boyfriend. When Charlie ignored him, he pouted and rested his head on his shoulder.

“Please, Char? Just for a little bit?”

Charlie contemplated this for a moment, before finally letting out a long yet playful sigh. “Fine. What do you want to do?”

Nick raised his head, smiling brightly. “We should play a game.”

“What game? Mario Kart? Haven’t you learned by now that there’s no way you’ll ever beat me at that?” The younger boy teased, laughing at the incredulous expression on his boyfriend’s face.

“Excuse you, but I happen to remember winning three races last weekend when I was over!”

“Only because I let you win.”

The ginger’s eyes narrowed. “You’re so gonna pay for that later. And anyways, no, not that. I had another game in mind.”

Charlie tilted his head at him, confusion washing over his features. “What game?”

Nick smirked. “Only a game I can finally be the best at. Twister.”

“Twister?” Charlie repeated, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “Why do you wanna play that?”

“Why don’t you want to play?” Nick questioned playfully, “Afraid of losing?”

“No,” Charlie responded, “I’m great at it. You’ve just never brought it up before.”

Charlie was lying. He wasn’t good at Twister. Not only did he lack flexibility, but he had always been the first one to fall during the game when he’d played with his sister or his friends during their annual sleepovers. It wasn’t like he cared that much about the game itself; Charlie was competitive. He didn’t like to lose. That’s why his go-to game had always been Mario Kart. After years of mastering every course, hardly anyone could beat him, except occasionally Tori. But even then, the two siblings were always neck and neck.

“Okay.” Charlie nodded, setting his assignment and books aside. “Let’s play.”

And that’s were the pair were now, having pushed the coffee table to the side of the room in order to have the desired amount of space for the dotted mat. They’d spun a few times already, their positions starting out pretty easy to achieve, until Charlie suddenly had an arm underneath Nick’s body and Nick had under the younger boy’s. By each turn, they were intertwining themselves with each other even more, and Charlie’s balance was getting rather rocky. Nick, however, seemed to be completely stable, hardly ever having to readjust his footing or the placement of his hands to make things easier for himself.

With every spin of the plastic wheel, Charlie seemed to be getting more difficult adjustments to his position, while Nick barely had to move. It just wasn’t fair. Charlie knew his boyfriend was going to win.

“Doing alright, love?” Nick asked periodically, a teasing hint to his tone. “Not feeling too shaky?”

“Perfectly fine,” Charlie answered him through his teeth, choosing to ignore the chuckle that came from the boy above him.

After a few more minutes, Charlie decided he needed to do something to try and get an advantage over his smug boyfriend. And that’s when he reached up with one hand and jabbed him in the stomach.

Nick had flinched, drawing in a small breath, but remaining in the same position as before.

“Charlie,” He said, his voice low, “don’t.”

Charlie snickered, dropping his hand.

After another moment, he reached up again, now squeezing his hip.

Nick yelped, nearly losing his balance, but quickly regaining his composure. “Shit!”

Charlie grinned up at him innocently, trying not to laugh at the glare Nick sent him in return. This was working well for him.

“Charlie, I am warning you,” Nick tried again to be serious, his eyes locked on the boys hands. “Stop cheating!”

“Okay.” Charlie shrugged and reached for the spinner, feeling Nick’s eyes watching his every move.

Nick let out a breath, urging his muscles to relax as much as possible. Hopefully Charlie finally got the message.

He was wrong.

About three minutes later, Charlie was prodding at his side, causing the older boy to let out a shriek in surprise. And to Charlie’s delight, this caused Nick to topple over onto his back.

“Ha!” Charlie pumped his fists into the air victoriously, “I win!”

Nick stared up at his boyfriend, his eyes going wide. “You did not win.”

“Uh, yeah I did,” Charlie said smugly, “The rules are the first person who falls loses. You fell first, loser.”

Nick sat up quickly. “You were cheating!”

“Really? Was I?”

“Yes you were, you were tickling me!”

“Oh boo-hoo,” Charlie playfully rolled his eyes. “You’re just mad cuz you’re a sore loser.”

Nick didn’t answer, his eyes narrowing. Charlie’s smug attitude faltered, his smile fading, and immediately he began to feel as though his boyfriend was angry at him. “Nick, are you okay? I’m sorry, I was just joking… you’re not mad, are you?”

“Mad? No.” Something changed in Nick’s expression, his eyes glinting dangerously. “Vengeful? Very.”

Charlie didn’t even have time to respond, because Nick was launching himself at the boy with inhuman speed, tackling him and sending them rolling on the ground together. Charlie’s immediate instinct was to try and curl in on himself, knowing very well what was about to happen, but Nick was stronger, and easily pinned Charlie underneath him.

“Nick, wait a second,” Charlie tried to plead, attempting to squirm around underneath the rugby lad, but Nick’s hold on him was solid. Completely unmovable.

“Wait a second? Oh no. We’re not even going to think about waiting. I’m gonna tickle the absolute shit out of you, and I’m not gonna stop until I feel like it. I think that’s a proper punishment for someone who thinks cheating is the way to beat another person at a game, right?” Nick’s grin was pure evil as he watched Charlie blush bright red underneath him. “Not that you’d mind.”

“Niiiiick,” Charlie whined, bringing his hands up to cover his blazing cheeks, squealing suddenly at the sensation of Nick squeezing his sides.

“Ah ah! And you can’t hide your face from me, either! I wanna see your adorable smile.” Nick let his fingers slowly spider up and down the boy’s sides, relishing in the frantic giggles escaping his lips. God, he loved that sound.

“Nohoho! Thahat’s nohohot fahahair!” Charlie squeaked out, his giggles growing the higher Nick aimed. “Ihihi cahan’t help ihit!”

Nick chuckled. “Okay. Let me help you then.”

With that, he shot hands up under Charlie’s exposed armpits, drilling torturously into the hallows.

“NO NICK!” Charlie’s arms came flying down and clamped tightly to his sides, his head thrown back with hysteric laughter. “STOHOHOHOP!”

“Stop? Char, I’m only just getting started!” Nick laughed with the younger boy, his heart filled with endearment. “Besides, you deserve this, you dick!”

“I JUHUHUST WAHAHANTED TO WIHIN!”

“Well, cheaters don’t make winners, sweetheart.”

“I CAHAHAN SEHEHEHEE THAHAHAT!”

Nick rolled his eyes playfully. “How about this, Charlie? Just shut up and laugh.”

He pulled his hands out from under the boy’s arms, giving him only a few moments of relief before diving his fingers into his sensitive neck.

“NoO!” Charlie squealed, trying to duck his head, but Nick just laughed. “Charlie, my fingers are stuck now.”

“I dohohon’t cahahahare!” The younger giggled, yelping when he felt Nick beginning to press ticklish kisses along his ears. “Nihihick plehehease!”

“Man, your ears are sensitive as hell, Char.” Nick commented casually, “They seem so neglected. Why don’t you ever let me play with them and love them?”

“Stohohop ihihit!” Charlie whined, trying to move his head away from him, shrieking at the sensation of Nick nibbling on the shell of his ears. “OHOHOH MYHYHYHY GOHOHOD! NOHOHOT THAHAHAT!”

Mixed with the fluttering fingers in his neck and Nick’s merciless attack on his ears, Charlie was in hell (or heaven, though he’d never admit it). The two sensations combined were driving him nuts, and he was sure that Nick knew that. Of course he was.

Charlie’s head jerked to the side, lifting his chin just enough for Nick to remove his hands and let them jump to his ribs, his lips quickly beginning to press kisses along the entirety of Charlie’s neck.

“NOHOHO NIHIHICK! LEHEHEAVE MYHYHY NEHEHECK ALOHOHONE!”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to make demands here,” Nick muttered into the skin, making his laughter rise in pitch.

Charlie was quickly running out of oxygen by the second, and he wasn’t sure if Nick would actually give him a chance to breathe. Normally he was more gentle with him, but as he had said, he was out for revenge. Still, if Charlie wanted to see the sun rise the next morning, he needed to do something.

“NIHIHICK IHI CAHAN’T BREHEHEATHE! PLEHEHEASE!”

Nick drew his head back, his fingers slowing to a stop on the poor boy’s ribs. He looked guilty. “Oh god, okay. Here, just take a minute.”

Charlie was sucking in air like his life depended on it. Nick’s smirk vanished, “Sorry, was I taking it too far? I didn’t mean to-“

“Nick,” His boyfriend interrupted, breathing heavily, “it’s okay. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Nick didn’t sound convinced, taking in Charlie’s current state with concern.

“I’m sure,” Charlie told him, then slightly propped himself up on his elbows, “You’re just way too good at getting what you want.”

That finally got a small chuckle out of the older boy, who leaned down and pressed his lips to his in a sweet kiss.

“You are so incredible,” Nick whispered, pressing his forehead to Charlie’s. Charlie hummed, his body finally beginning to calm down. They stayed like that for a moment, before Nick suddenly pushed him back down onto his back. “But there’s one more spot I want to get to before I let you go.”

Charlie’s eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets in realization. “No, Nihihick I thohohought youhou wehehere dohohone!”

Nick just smiled innocently at the boy as he let his fingers walk all the way down to his kneecaps, “I love you.”

And let it be known, Charlie definitely learned a valuable lesson on cheating that day, especially when getting caught by an evil, rugby loving golden retriever.

[5am-mist]

angst with bellie bel

Strangers.

°pairing°> bella ramsey x reader

°summary°> you can't help but get excited when Bella says he has something to tell you. Only to get your heart crushed moments later.

°requested°> yess!

~°A/N°~

i am still working on your requests so please don't sorry if i haven't posted your req yet! Also sorry if this sucks im still not feeling well but i felt bad leaving your guys' requests for so long and i didn't want anyone ro get mad at me lol. so i wasn't sure what direction to take this in and i lowkey suck at writing angst but i hope you like it! I used he/him pronouns for Bella! thank youuu for the request love you<33

You and Bella had been best friends for a while now. You used to do everything together, go everywhere together. Recently though you two had been growing distant and it killed you. You loved him far more than a best friend should and you knew that.

Bella had been out of country for filming and in the beginning it was like it always was. Facetiming every night, messaging you whenever he was on break and constantly updating you on his plans. You remember the late nights where he'd tell you how filming was and about his new cast members.

With time however that seemed to stop. No more factimes or messages and when you'd reach out you were always met with a "im busy rn" or "maybe later" only to never hear back from him.

You were upset and angry to say the least. You just wanted an explanation as to why suddenly your best friend was no longer making an effort to talk to you. It was the day Bella flew back home. You marked it on your calander back when he originally flew over.

You stared at your phone re-reading Bella's text over and over again. "hey can i come over? i need to tell you something really important." you cursed yourself for getting excited, for thinking he was going to tell you how sorry he was for shutting you out. Were you really gonna let him come over after he practically ignored you for months on end? Yes, you were.

"sure." You thought about typing something more, anything more but at the same time you felt he didn't deserve it. It wasn't long before he showed up.

You let him in and closed the door behind you, he made a bee line for the couch but you stayed standing. "You're not going to sit?" he sounded confused.

"No, I'm fine standing. What did you want to tell me again?" you urged him. "Straight to point are we? Uh..well I'm not sure how to say this but i uh got a girlfriend. Macy, you remember her?" you were crushed to say the least and all you wanted to do was cry.

Of all the people aswell. It had to be Macy, the Macy that Bella used to talk about on facetime with you, the Macy Bella had been working with for these past months, the Macy you never actually got to meet. "oh. yea i remember her." the pain was evident in your voice and tears were pricking your eyes.

You see, at this point you weren't even that upset that Bella had a girlfriend no, you were upset that Bella had been shutting you out and practically ignoring you all this time because of her.

"What? What's the matter?" he demanded. Not a hint of concern in his voice. "I just, i don't know what to say Bella" you weren't lying you really didn't know what to say to him. "Oh i don't know maybe a I'm happy for you would do?" he stood up at this point and you could tell he was getting agitated.

"I can't. I can't say that I'm happy for you that would just be lying." your voice wavered. "Why can't you just be happy for me then? Your my friend thats what you're supposed to do." Appalled was what you were.

"So we're gonna play that game huh? Alright, friends don't randomly stop calling each other. Friends don't dismiss each other when they're very clearly trying to reach out. Friends don't leave the country and essentially cut you out like you were never even that important. Im so sorry i can't be happy for you. Im so very sorry that all those nights you were having fun in a different country with your girlfriend i was here in my apartment trying to find out what i did that was so wrong it pushed my best friend and love of my life to the point where he no longer wanted to talk to me."

You aggressively wiped away your tears waiting for him to respond. "oh. i didn't-" you cut him off before he could even finish. "just leave Bella. Im tired. I have been waiting months for you and now you're back and i never wanna see you again. I don't want your petty fucking excuses and i don't want your half assed apology and if you're expecting an apology you wont be getting one so i suggest you just go."

He looked at you with regret evident on his face. A part of you begged for you to apologize, to make thigs right again but it had already been done. You couldn't take back what was said. He stopped for a moment as if he were going to say something but decided against it and walked past you towards the door. You didn't bother turning around, you almost couldn't. "Goodbye."

One word. It shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. You knew that one word was the last word you'd ever hear from Bella and you hated it. You thought about stopping him. You thought about calling him. You thought about how things would be if you had just put on a fake facade for that one conversation but at the end of the day you didn't. You didn't call him. You didn't stop him and you didn't act happy for him that day.

You two were strangers now. Strangers with a backstory. Strangers who'd stay up all night wondering what your life would be like if you were still friends.

[outcaststars]

I've been streaming on twitch for over 4 years. I've made a great community and a wonderful group of friends but I've also had to deal with a lot of aweful people. Recently I've been feeling particularly upset about it all so I'm going to air all my grievances here. TW this mentions bullying, grooming, self harm and abuse. If anyone mentioned in this post trys to comment im just gonna delete it, i also dont care if your fav streamers is here, this is my authentic experience. Also dont go attacking anyone i mention here, the whole point of this is to be better then them.

Rat_emoji

The first streamer I ever had an issue with was Rat_emoji. It all started when I tuned into one of their DbD streams only to find him streaming another, younger, streamers live content.

He had just died to this kid playing Myers, he had TTV in his name and Rat was so mad about what had happened he streamed this kids twitch live to his viewers, all the while making fun of his appearance and stream quality.

A day later I would go back and screen record this whole interaction so I can share that if you want to see it. It felt so disgusting to watch this happen live, he has 100 viewers in chat and they were all being nasty. The only person who told him to stop was drag streamer Suttonfister (i think, 90% sure) who was in the same game and discord call at he time. the whole scene was aweful to witness, it felt like such an abuse of power. Rat didnt directly say anything mean but they made a lot of mean girl comments and didnt moderate anything cruel their chat said, it was obviously intentional.

After this I blocked Rat, it would have been easy to avoid him if he didn't found the stream team "Aussie pride", he got a lot of attention for that and a lot of praise and all of it made me sick. Funnily enough I heard that Aussie Pride was an aweful team to be in. The creators didn't care about the smaller members, planned no events and then disbanded the team with the release of Hogwarts legacy because they didn't want to take a stance on JK Rowling. Honestly it seems like the whole thing was a vanity project. That's why I don't like Rat_emoji.

Dcypherpup

DCpup was the first streamer I tried to network with. He hired me to make some art for him. He wanted me to work on merch for his channel, I declined, saying that I wasnt comfortable with the idea of someone else selling my art. I counter offered to just make him a profile icon, this way we could see how my style suited him and i could work out how to tackle the idea of eventually doing merch.

When the icon was done I sent him the high res file, he asked for my signature (my artist tag, a very small "outcaststars" in the corner) to be removed. When I asked why, he told me he needed it gone in order to upload it as merch.

Naturally I was upset. I explained that we had already made a deal not to do merch yet and I also explained that I was uncomfortable with the idea of removing my tag. I went on to explain why visibility was so important for artists. At the time I was a much smaller content creator and DCpup platform was much bigger.

He apologized and said he would give me a cut of the sales. I said don't bother and reluctantly let him do what he wanted. At the time I was too scared to make enemies so I fell into people pleasing.

I took more work from DCpup because I needed the money and I hoped it would be good for my channel growth. He would upload my work to his store and wouldn't credit me. I was frustrated.

The tipping point was after the final comm I took from him. An animated ending screen. During this process DCpup would message me everyday asking for updates which was annoying. When I delivered the final product he once again asked for my tiny, half transparent signature to be removed. I was so upset and defeated, I told myself I'd fight it but I didn't. I removed my sign from every layer, reanimated the whole thing and vowed not to take work from him.

After the piece was done he wanted to commission me again. I left him on read, then I found out what he was saying about me to other people. A good friend of mine showed me a message he had sent in his stream, telling him not to bother commission me, because I would be too busy doing work for him. I was furious.

Another week later I got raided by someone and told the new viewers to check out my work, it broke my heart when someone who looked at my insta, told me he had no idea I made all of DCpups stuff. Why would he? Dcypherpup went to ridiculous lengths to hide my credit. He was telling people not to contact me and not tagging any comm work with my name. One day he came into my live stream and I was so mad I banned him on the spot .

I wish I had done more to be assertive, live and learn. Funnily enough I found out he posted a big rant, telling people off for supporting JK Rowling when Hogwarts legacy released. Only to be called out for buying it and playing it on his steam, which he had forgotten to make private. He deleted the tweet. What a cunt.

Undertheredmoon and Greenypika

Redmoon is furry streamer that I use to really like. They were funny, had great energy and I would even go as far to say that they were a friend.

All this came to a grinding hault the day he invited furry artist and accused child groomer Daveoverlord to join us on Monster hunter rise live on stream.

Dave wasn't in voice chat and I wasn't reading Redmoons twitch chat at the time, so although I was aware of who Dave was, I didn't realize it was them. When someone messaged me about it a few days later I was mortified, I assumed Redmoon didn't know and I messaged them immediately.

I asked Red if he knew who Dave was and what he had done and the kind of artists he was friends with (cub artists). Redmoon ghosted me, left me on read for a week. I messaged again asking why he wasn't talking to me. He said he was too stressed to deal with this "drama" and didn't care to get involved. He mentioned that if Dave was guilty cops probably would have gotten involved and said he just wanted to focus on his own work.

When I asked Redmoon where he stood on cub porn, he stopped replying. We haven't spoken since.

The same person who told me about Dave joining stream also pointed out that Greenypika was inviting Dave onto his stream. They dm'd greeny and asked them if they knew and greeny said he had no idea and that he'd look into it. Greeny hadn't responded for a few months so I dm'd him with the same message and got the same copy paste reply. TLDR greeny knew and was just lying about it so I blocked him too.

Daveoverlord

Dudes a fucking groomer and now he streams. Blocked.

Cidermarten

Cider and I got into an argument once, the topic of which is no one's business.

His bf weyland got mad at me for it and vague tweeted about it so I decided to start a group chat with them to sort it out. And we did.

I apologised for what I did and cider took some time away from interacting with me. Everyone in this situation wanted what was best. And weyland is now one of my best friends.

Cider and I aren't as close as we could be but that's my fault. They're honestly a wonderful person and I appreciate their friendship. There inclusion in this list is to prove a point later but they're also the only person here who I think deserves success.

Stripeydragon and Break trail.

This one is complicated because it involves someone who ment a lot to me.

Back when the exclusive stream team Break Trail formed, my good friend Marsh joined the team. Being an artist he did a lot of the teams promo art of all it's members. Marsh had a lot of anxieties about the team because he was one of its smallest members and often told me he felt underappreciated or out of place. This feeling for worse when artist/streamer and fellow team member Stripeydragon decided he was going to do a redraw of all of marsh's promo work.

I didn't see Marsh much at the time but when this began he spent the better part of a week in my mod chat expressing how upset he was about it. It didn't help he was already anxious but he felt stripydragon was replacing him and even mentioned a time when he tried to give feedback on stripys work only for him to disregard it. Marsh was really fucking upset.

After stripeydragon posted the work my moderator, Ibn, who had been listening and consoling marsh for a week, decided to comment on the art publically. He said he didn't think stripyes version of the art was better and criticized him of slimming down the fater characters.

I wanna pause this to say I don't condone what Ibn did. He ment well but it wasn't his fight and he shouldn't have commented a critique on something no one asked him to judge. Don't do this. Anyway...

Stripeydragon fucking hated this. Not only did he respond to every tweet, he went into the break trail discord and rallied everyone to defend him and attack Ibn, a lot of break trail members also rushed to the comments to defend stripey and attack ibn. He also posted ibns comment in his own discord to encourage others to dog pile on. This shit got out of hand super fucking fast. Ibn was crying and marsh was pissed. It was betray of trust on Ibns part, but the way stripey responded was downright scary.

Shit was at its peak by the time I woke up (Australian timezone) and I immediately went into damage control. I gave Ibn a huge lecture, I was mad af and told him to apologize. I dm'd breaktrails stream team manager Mari, and tried my best to defuse the situation so that both parties could stop. Everyone deleted their tweets. Ibn apologised a dozen times and Marsh told everyone that ibn was just an asshole.

So the story everyone believes now is that marsh actually loves stripydragons work and Ibn is just a weird jerk. There where no consequences for stripydragons weaponizing a stream team and their fan base against someone on twitter. They're still a member of break trail but the team has been dead for a long time. I understand that Ibn was in the wrong and marsh should have just talked about his issues with his team. But this is another case of someone with a big platform and bigger ego not hesitating to use that to attack others.

Starkymorph

this one is fucked up.

Starky mods for a bunch of break trail members, so he had an inside look into the whole stripeydragon thing. Keep that in mind.

About a year after the stripey incident, I woke up to a message from starky. I had recently finished a commission for starky but apart from that we didn't know each other well.

He claimed that ibn had harassed him on stream by bringing up controversial topics and that because he was my mod he wasn't going to support me any more. I was pretty angry, Ibn was causing trouble again. I dm'd ibn and told him I didn't want to hear what he had to say and instead I just wanted the timestamp on Starkeys VOD so I could see what he did myself.

I watched the VOD and what I saw didn't line up with anything starky had said. He made the whole thing up.

What really happened was, starky decided to bring up "cancel culture" and went on a rant about how it was inherently bad and that anyone who participates in it only does it for "self-aggrandizing reasons". A lot of the shit he said was very thinly veiled right wing bullshit dog whistles.

Ibn asked him to elaborate and said something to the likes of "what about people who cancel pedos and rapists" and starky banned ibn and ended the convo.

Ibn didn't start the controversial topic and he didn't harass anyone. But starky was mad and wanted to attack him, he knew Ibn had a history of starting shit so he came to me with a bullshit story thinking I'd believe him and Ibn would lose his friends. And it almost worked.

I tried to talk some sense into starky, I pointed out that his original message was dishonest. Starky doubled down and made up more lies. He continued to claim that things happened during the stream that aren't in the VOD. He even bought up weylandshere and claimed he was harassing him too, out of nowhere! which if you watch the VOD is also completely made up. He said some ablist shit about "high functioning autism" aswell, its all really incoherent. Non of this is true and I downloaded the VOD so he couldn't hide the evidence.

Starky tried to use my argument with cider and Ibns argument with stripy as evidence that we were bad people. I found this really sinister, because my initial reaction to Starkys story, was that i believed him, pretty much everyone reacted this way. It upsets me that i was almost convinced to distance myself from my best friend because of a lie.

A ton of people didn't watch the VOD and took Starkeys word. Starky blocked me and started asking all his followers and mutuals to do the same. A whole bunch of people sub tweeted about ibn being an abuser and me being an enabler. It was fucking aweful. It went on for days.

This only stopped when Kyziethewolf stepped in and defended me. Even tho starky was one of his best friends, he had watched the VOD and told everyone he was lying. Starky doesn't talk to kyzie now and it really broke his heart.

A lot of people still believe starky and I lost a bunch of mutual streamers support because of this. It's one of the worst attacks I've suffered on twitter/twitch to date.

I found out a few months later he's added "outcast is racist" to the narrative he tells people and there's nothing I can do about that

This also basically ended my friendship with Marsh. I've known marsh for 7 years and hes a friend of Starkeys too. During this whole ordeal he never spoke up, it was only kyzie. I was really upset about this because i feel that Marsh could have made a significant change to how this played out if he had of just stepped in.

When he dm'd me a few weeks after asking if I'm make some free art for his project I told him no. I told him I was hurt. He said he just didn't want to get involved in drama. i think its really harmful to reduce harassment to just "drama". We've stopped talking.

Jayedskier

I met jayed though my friend weyland. I needed a 3D artists and he needed work.

Jayed had recently lost a lot of friends because during COVID he tweeted that people not social distancing at a furcon where putting disabled, high risk, people's lives in danger. Totally righteous imo.

He however also tweeted that anyone who doesn't where a mask should kill themselves and deservingly got a lot of hate and backlash. Lost a lot of friends. Since then he was pretty unwilling to comment on any political shit. Publically that is.

The first fight I got into with jayed was when Ibn reposted a Tumblr thread about the YouTuber keffals, and some of the problematic things she'd done. Jayed loves keffals so he dm'd Ibn about it and started a huge fight defending his favourite YouTuber. I stepped in to try and resolve the fight but no one was really happy.

This argument made jayed realise that he didn't have the same values as the friend group he was in. He liked keffals, he thought it was ok to say the R slur and he felt people should be allowed to support JK Rowling.

He left my discord and I contacted him trying to smooth things over. We talked for a long time and I settled on agree to dissagree the hopes to change his mind on some of these issues.

That didn't happen. Jayed kept starting fights about woke shit, even though he's a self proclaimed "leftist" and it slowly drove a wedge between us. He stopped talking to everyone in our friend group, unfollowed us all on socials.

Artists/streamer and friend Ixu had drawn a big group shot of all of us together. Weyland (who is in this friend group) was pretty angry about the whole ordeal so he asked Ixu for a version without jayed edited out. When he posted this jayed got super pissed about it.

Jayed tweeted about how unwelcoming my community was. Screen caped some DM's and changed the context. I was so angry, I had spent months continuing to offer my friend ship and trying to change his mind. One of the last fights we got into he said he was mad that "people" expected him to show support for Palestine and thats kind of the end of it.

This one hurt because it felt like a betrayal. Jayed you can get fucked dude.

Socksthewolf

This one is super recent and is basically why I decided to write this.

I can't remember how I met socks. They work in the games industry and they have a LOT of money/connections. He gives away a lot of stuff, Donates to people a lot. He very affectionate and Everyone loves him. I even accepted a bunch of charity/gifts from him and in return drew a bunch of gift art.

Socks success made a few mutuals of mine uncomfortable. He had a lot of money to put into stream so his channel grew insanely fast. I'm also told he made comments to some mutuals, comparing channel growth that made them feel bad. He ran multiple giveaways and got partner almost a year after starting stream.

There was some drama between socks and one of his mods. I tried my hardest not to get involved. Socks employs a lot of parasocial strategies in order to retain an audience so he flirts a lot and also has a persona of "I'm you dad" on stream. Idk if this counts as love bombing, but it feels similar.

I heard that one of his mods developed a crush on him and when rejected, he drank himself into the hospital. He almost died.

I spoke with this ex mod about it. He doesn't blame socks for what happened even tho he feels the rejection was harsh. I still feel that socks takes advantage of people with his gifts and parasocial friendship. This is a result of that going unchecked.

One of our mutuals found out about this and was really upset. They tweeted about it and tried to hold socks accountable. Nothing came of it.

I grew distant from socks when he started hanging out with Redmoon a lot. Because I felt close to them at the time I messaged him a about Redmoon and what happened between us. He never replied.

This story takes a dark turn when jayedskier, friend of socks, decided to make that tweet mentioned in his section. Socks also went in on someone jayed had mentioned.

This is about my good friend Weyland. Weyland had had someone very close to them pass away recently. Socks complied some tweets and chat screen caps, and made up a story of weyland threatening to kill themselves.

Some of the messages were about weylands dead friend. Socks knowingly changed the context and lied to make weyland look bad.

I honestly think this is the worst thing on this post. To use the death of someone and the personal anguish of someone and ammo for you bullshit story about them is fucking horrifying.

I replied to socks tweet about weyland, I told him what he was doing was wrong. He told me that he feels bad I'm surrounded by toxic people and that he hopes they get better.

After seeing the way socks treats his audience and the way he lied about another streamer, I genuinely believe hes some kind of abuser. Idk the vibe is REALLY off with this one. This feels worse then bullying, there's an ego about it. I've blocked socks on everything. Frankly they scare me.

Final notes

Anyway that's been my aweful experience with aweful twitch streamers. The whole thing has left me bitter and sad and I no longer want to interact with anyone. idk where to go from here.

Twitch TOS doesn't care what people say or do on other platforms. And with other streamers/mutuals so unwilling to get involved or show support I just feel alone.

I do feel compelled to speak up when I see or experience something I think isn't right. I think a lot of neurodivegant people, like myself, feel that way. But I think it's been terrible for my career. I hate the feeling that I'd be so much more successful if I'd shut my mouth and looked away. Maybe even be partner by now. I know a lot of this comes across as just "furry drama" but i think its reductive to label it as that. Content creators who engage in these kind of harmful behaviors need to be held accountable if we want to see any positive change. And im not saying that means "CANCEL" them. some (not all) of these content creators can still learn and grow and be better. Negative attitudes and dismissive statements of "its just drama" create a space for bullies to thrive

Finally, please PLEASE do NOT under any circumstances harass anyone involved in this post. This is not an attempt to rally the masses to lynch some people, im just telling my story so that next time you see someone come forward with claims about a content creator you like you'll see the situation differently.

If you made it this far, wow. Thank you. Dunno if I'll post the vids/screencap evidence. I don't know if I care enough.

[gamergirlshelby]

alright this is a theory that i've had in mind for a while but im finally gonna go into the details of it since i am once again thinking about this amazing game again.

i first want to note however that this will be going into MAJOR MAJOR spoilers for Pokemon Rejuvenation, a game that I recommend extremely highly to anyone who is into fangames so please check it out, the level of detail and quality thats been put into it still amazes me and i am very excited and patiently waiting for the next update to be ready!

i'll also be taking screenshots from Dred's videos showcasing the content, so i recommend checking out their channel.

anyways without further ado, the theory will be under the readmore.

My theory will be going into the idea that the Paragon and Renegade routes are connected, and the idea that the Interceptors from each route are working on getting the best possible ending for at least one of them.

And this idea all came to mind from this line said by the player:

Now my theory is the They that the Renegade Interceptor (will shorten to RI for brevity) is the Paragon Interceptor (will shorten to PI) and their timeline.

The RI knows that what they're doing is for not, as they will be erased, but there is still a version of the world and all their friends that gets to live on.

But the question is, how exactly are the two helping one another? By giving the other the tools that are needed to accomplish their goals. The RI had built the Red Chain, and the PI along with Melia created the Obliteration Spell or the End of Night.

And the way Melia talks about the creation of the spell mentions that it had been necessary, likely being necessary for the plan with the RI. And after re-watching the entire Renegade Karma files, there is no scene or dialogue that implies the RI had created a version of the spell to use, especially not while working with M2, who goes on to question what the heck the spell even is, deducing that it is total annihilation.

sorry for the red lines i'll retype the quote from M2 here: "You spent all of the time gathering those Red Games. And after all that time crafting the red chain you just decided to yeet it into space?"

But the thing is the chain wasn't just yeeted into space. It was delivered somewhere.

And that somewhere I think is the Paragon timeline. As similarly to the End of Night, the Red Chain is never crafted in the Paragon timeline, but it is still used to restrain Tiempa. And I have a hunch that the Lake Guardians are loosely aware of what the interceptors have done as if you go to find and catch them in the Paragon route, they hop out of the small rifts as they did in Renegade, and all have this text:

Now why would the PI steal the red gem components from the Lake Guardians? Its shown in PLA that if you pass their trials normally you would be able to get the pieces gifted to you so why would they not do that off screen? Its cause they weren't even the ones to take the red gems. It was the RI.

And in my opinion is the dialogue from the failed world segments, but I will be taking special note of what Karma says during the Renegade section.

I will be dissecting the whole dialogue which I have linked to in Dred's video which I will be linking to the timestamp here (if it didn't work the conversation starts at 37:48 and goes on to around 39:03)

"But to be confined through the laws of space and time... This is not possible. I will break these rules. We will move forward." This quote at the end I think is the smoking gun. Karma in an attempt to start again and create the perfect base for the true happy ending had caused there to be a connection between time and space, allowing for the two interceptors to connect. I think that this rewind might have been the initial timeline before Paragon Melia took the place of M2 in the Failed World, and after the rewind happened M2 had been moved to the Renegade timeline, allowing for Paragon Melia to more easily take her place, come up with a plan with the host for the Interceptor, and create the happy ending.

Now I speculate that Karma and the supposed World Shatterer will likely play as a final sort of threat to the story after the Xen Raid and how the Rejuv Team handles that will definitely be something I'm looking forward too.

If anyone has any possible supplementary information or ideas I'd love to hear them and I'd be happy to hear about anyone's other theories about what could be going on in the story. Anyways thank you for reading this long long theory post and again I'd love to hear thoughts on it!

[atinylittlepain]

Part Two

climbing expeditionist!steve harrington x f!oc

series masterlist

Past, present, and future dance and daunt in the shadows of Mount Everest. He just wants to get home. She just wants him home.

chapter warnings | 18+ angst, pregnancy, commentary on eco-tourism, steve is a little depresso at 17,000 feet, non-invasive descriptions of altitude sickness and the injection of medicine to treat it, tispy steve is a menace and requires a warning

word count | 3.8K

.....................................................

April, 1996 - Boulder, Colorado

Time starts to warp and reel in on itself, she finds. Somehow, it’s already been a month since he left. And even though the days seem to stretch and thin, interminable, the nights too, she can’t fully account for the last four weeks. 

Somehow, April, the middle of it. Somehow, spring, the snow starting to melt, flowers pushing up from dark, damp earth, life bursting and buoying forth in Colorado. She takes her students outside for class as much as she can, they go for walks around the school while asking and answering questions about book reports and vocab quizzes. They’re reading The Little Prince as a class, she asks them what they think about the fox and the pilot while they meander in the cool air. The other teachers say that it’s a brilliant idea, but she knows that she needs that time uncloistered just as much as the students do. And because it makes her the cool teacher, of course the kids know what she does, what Steve does, and is doing. Mrs. Harrington climbs mountains and her husband is on top of the world. 

Teaching had seemed like the most efficient job to accommodate what she loves, weekends and summers off, and a handy deal worked out with the principal to take off at the end of March, what she had done for the past two years years. Not needed this year though. Instead, the kids ask her where her husband is, when he’s coming home. It had nearly knocked the wind out of her when one of them, a boy in all his young earnestness, had asked her can he breathe up there? 

At the very least, work eats up the weekdays, grading tests and lesson plans and rushed lunch hours in her classroom. Phone calls come fewer and farther in between, and she knows that they have to because he’s getting ready for the push off from base. And then, well, there won’t be any phone calls for at least three weeks, just updates from Robin still at base, a roundabout game of radio relay. So for now, she’s grateful for the lost sleep, for the phone ringing in the middle of the night, him telling her about the shifting Icefall, the strange new crush of crowds around the ladders over the crevasses. She asks if Eddie’s using oxygen this year and he tells her he is. Getting older, he says, getting smarter, she replies. 

Steve has been keeping meticulous track of the weeks, and she knows him, knows that when he asks after how she’s feeling, what she did that week, that he’s writing it down somewhere, a habit of his she learned early on. Not wanting to miss anything, trying to pin down time with pen and paper. Before she can even tell him that her 24-week scan is on Thursday, he’s already asking after it, my Friday, right?

“Yeah, in the morning, I’ll fax the scans over soon as I get home.”

“I know we’re not supposed to, but I’ve been keeping the ones you sent in my jacket pocket when we’re climbing. Been showing them to anyone who will give me the chance to whip them out. They’re perfect, honey.” And then almost as an afterthought, he breathes out thank you. When she asks him what for he laughs, just once, just thank you, that’s all. 

“Are you pushing off soon?”

“It’s looking like this Saturday is gonna be it.” Quick catch, quick drop of her heart into her stomach before it slings taut and tight up into her throat. She swallows hard before she responds.

“Oh, that’s early isn’t it?”

“We’re trying to get a jump on the crowd here. It’s gonna be a jam if we don’t, Josie, a total mess.” She doesn’t like it, not at all. Mid-May, there’s a reason everyone aims for mid-May, and even the difference of a handful of days can spell a quick-weaving fabric of disaster, of weather that would make even the best of them turn around, or die trying to persist. But she knows she can’t say that to him, knows that he needs her confidence right now. So she says okay twice, okay, okay, takes a deep breath before saying any more so that her voice is steady when she speaks again. 

“Well, it sounds like early is best then. Just a few days shouldn’t snarl anything too bad, right?”

“That’s the hope, a nice clean send to finish things off here.” He sighs, he’s tired, she knows, she can hear it. The push before the push, packing out oxygen tanks and checking ladders and ropes, and making sure the clients are keeping their own packing light and aren’t getting sick, coordinating with the other guides. Of course he’s tired, starting to wear thin around the edges, so she makes her voice light as air alright, baby, better let you go, and yes, send the scans over and yes, love you, love you so much, call before Saturday, before you leave. The phone clicks and she’s suspended into silence again, the darkness of her bedroom. Hand on her stomach, little life answers with a kick.

“That was your dad on the phone.”

…

May, 1990 - Camp Four

At first it was pain, and getting used to it. Weak and wan, cold all the time, a rattling cough that seems to get worse the further up they trek. Food became tedious somewhere along the way, trying to keep down instant noodles and peanut m and ms, about all he can stomach, and the errant thought that it’s because his body is quite literally shutting down the higher they climb. The nights are sleepless, wind whipping at the sides of their tents, fabric walls closing in around them, the only sound rising above the howls being the cacophony of hacking lungs in the night, deep pauses whenever someone takes a pull of oxygen from their mask. 

It’s no longer pain, it’s something past pain. It’s sheer endurance at this point, a numb sort of will to continue, to see this through. He didn’t think he had romantic notions about this climb, did plenty of reading about what happens to the body after reaching a certain altitude, reading about the bodies left behind, frozen into the face of the mountain, about ice blindness and hallucinations, vomiting blood and swelling brains, gone mad in the cold and the wind. But still, but still, there are some things not even the imagination can reach. 

If there is a perfect distillation of agony, he thinks it would be this, curled up in a tent, willing sleep while he coughs so hard he thinks he might start to puke, and knowing that the next morning, he will push himself even further, even higher. They all will.

There’s a shout of his name, and he’s nearly certain his mind is crafting it out of thin air, but then the flap of his tent is coming unzipped and it’s her, it’s her, ducking her head in and holding out a first aid kit. Past the point of pretenses, of any sort of peacocking, he simply shrugs over to the side of his tent to make room for her to crawl inside, breathing hard, ice in her eyelashes and around the neck of her jacket. 

“Do you want pills or a shot?”

“What?” She doesn’t look at him, just keeps rummaging through her kit, pulling out a box of pills and a syringe with shaking hands, her head lamp laying between them, casting strange shadows over her face, the walls of the tent.

“You sound awful, Steve.”

“We all sound awful.”

“Yeah, but your tent is next to mine and I can’t fucking sleep with you hacking up a lung. So, shot or pills?” He knows what it is, though he hasn’t had to take any yet. Dexamethasone, acetazolamide, nifedipine, take your pick, some kind of anti-inflammatory, considered cheating by some (Eddie) and a necessary evil by others. 

“The shot works faster, doesn’t it?” She nods, smiles just a little, one that doesn’t quite meet her eyes, too tired, too cold, too bloodshot, and he’s certain he looks the same. 

“Gonna have to pull your pants down for me, I need a thigh.” He doesn’t think twice about it, not with the near promise of even a little relief, fumbling to unzip his sleeping bag, tugging down one leg of his pants, enough that his ass is out and his thigh is too. And Jo works with a studied precision, uncapping the needle and leaning over him, her hand on his hip and okay, okay, he can’t hear it over the wind but he can see her mouth move around the words, quick pinch that he barely notices, taking simple pleasure in the brief closeness of her warmth, there and gone as she leans back to re-cap the needle. 

“That should kick in pretty fast.” Quick to tug and zip everything back up if for no other reason than the cold, what clarity is left in his mind kicks up with a halfway giddy thought of how close she is, shoulders hunched and sitting on her knees. He offers her his oxygen mask for a breath that she happily takes, leaning in again, so close he can see that freckle beneath her eye before she pulls away.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m dying. Par for the course, right?” He can’t argue with that, shrugging a little and trying for a smile that he’s pretty sure looks more like a grimace. 

“You take anything?”

“Two pills, dying less. You ready for tomorrow?” Tomorrow, right. The final ascent, the top of the world, the thing, the final thing that they have all been in this death march toward. 

“I don’t know, I hope so. Are you?” 

“Mmm, to be seen, I guess. I, uh, I like being near you when we’re moving though, it helps.”

“Helps?”

“You move very steady, very sure. I figure as long as you’re confident in where you’re stepping, I can keep my ass in gear.” She leans in for another breath, a murmured I owe you some inhales tomorrow that he shakes his head at. 

“I’ve been thinking the same thing about you, for the record. You’re impressive.” She shrugs, pauses for a cough that shakes her whole body, eyes scrunched closed, enough to make him wince and offer her his mask again. She shakes her head, wave of her hand, and he watches the rise and fall of her shoulders as she works another breath into her lungs. 

“Just trying to keep up with the mountain. Are you feeling a little better now?” He is, he tells her, cough simmering into something more manageable, the pain dulling into something more like a second heartbeat. 

There’s a beat, a breath, within which both of them stare at each other in the shared absurdity of where they are and what they are doing. He knows she needs to get back to her tent, back to her own oxygen tank, and he knows that he’s being selfish by asking her another question to keep her here for an answer longer. That trite question that essentially amounts to why are you here? Why did you decide to be here? Why, here? And she smiles, big and everything, really, tilts her head and doesn’t answer him, but asks him the same thing. And he says that thing, that thing that any self-respecting climber knows because it’s in the blood of their history, Patagonia t-shirts and North Face ad deals slinging it around like a mantra, like a prayer, like a war cry. The thing that George Mallory said, 1923, before he would try for Everest for the third time, and die doing it. Why, why, why? Because it is there. 

She grins even brighter, repeats it back to him with her hand held out, and he takes it for a moment.

“I’ll see you bright and early, Steve, get some sleep.”

…

April, 1996 - Base Camp

“At dawn tomorrow morning, you are going to begin your ascent toward the summit. We have this meeting the night before to make sure that everyone understands what is coming over the next two weeks.” Take no shit, no prisoners either, Nancy has always had a talent for this talk, he thinks, holding both the crew and the clients in rapt attention as she runs through her lecture with the efficiency and steel of a military commander, pacing at the front of their main tent with a map of the mountain behind her. She had gotten to base a week after them, Eddie wrapping her up in his arms, a smacking kiss to her cheek, her mouth, and doctor wife, so good to see you. Steve still has a hard time summing that equation up, but somehow they make it work. 

“You’ll begin your climb through the Khumbu Icefall, which I understand Ryan has been taking you through over the last two weeks. From there, you’ll set camp at about 19,500 feet, you’ll spend a lot of time at this camp, making acclimitzation trips further up the mountain and coming back down in between, before passing up through the western cwm to get to camp two at 21,350 feet. It is imperative as you continue to climb that you pay attention to how you’re feeling. Nausea and fatigue are expected to a certain degree, but if you’re feeling dizzy, or lethargic, you need to let one of the guides know as the risk for cerebral pulmonary edema increases with each altitude jump.”

“You’ll move over the Lhotse Face to get to camp three at 23,500 feet. You’re not going to want to eat or drink at this point, but it is imperative you continue to do so. Stick to simple carbs and small sips of water, as the digestive tract will begin to slow down with the rest of the body at this altitude.” Her rundown fades in and out of his focus, eyes glancing up from his journal every now and again to make sure the clients are listening. He’s heard this many times before, after all, knows it by heart.

“After you leave camp three, you will be in what is known as the death zone. Your bodies will begin to rapidly decline at this point. Everyone is going to need supplemental oxygen at this altitude–”

“I heard Munson did it without, twice!” One of the clients, American, trying to earn a few cheap laughs. Eddie looks sheepish across from Steve, and Nancy doesn’t smile. 

“Well, he does now if he wants to stay married. Everyone will be using supplemental oxygen and guides will have first aid kits if medication is needed. The push after camp three will be quick. A brief stop around the south col to camp, and then the summit. You’ve probably all heard this, but it bears repeating, the tricky part won’t be getting you up there, it’s coming back down that’s going to be difficult.” He’s heard this too, lived this too. By the time you get to the summit, you’re usually half-blind, half-suffocating, and half-human from the adrenaline coursing through your body. You’ve touched the top of the world and you’re nearly certain you’re going to die and also live forever because of it. You’re not thinking about the next step, the next rope you need to clip onto, the next hold of your ice ax, as you make your way down. You’re thinking about going home, about a warm bed, a warm meal, about never doing that again. That’s when mistakes happen, he knows. 

“We say all this not to scare you, but to make sure you know what you’re about to face. It’s our goal to make this experience as safe for you as possible. Steve and Eddie will be your lead guides with Ryan assisting. Robin and I will be here at base, coordinating and watching the weather.” There’s a glance, always a glance exchanged between him and Nancy and Robin and Eddie, and Ryan too this year. The new hire, and he likes him well enough. Young guy, capable, Robin says he looks a little like Matthew McConaghy. All Steve knows is he’s good at his job and friendly enough to want to suffer with. And so the team is set, eight clients and three guides, and one local sherpa that they work with every year, reliable. 

They dismiss the clients early, advising them to get as much sleep as they can, and when the last stragglers are out of the tent, Eddie drums his hands on the folding table, grinning wide. 

“Well, birdy bird told me you got a very important fax today, so let’s see the little dude.” They all circle around him, Nancy and Robin, Ryan too, who Steve learned has two little girls back at home. And it feels good to take the folded piece of paper out of the breast pocket of his fleece, good to spread it out on the table and have everyone fawn over what amounts to black and white smudges, something prideful feathering and fanning up in his chest because that’s their kid, that’s their kid. 

“Oh they’re perfect, Steve, look at that. How is Jo? Did you talk to her today?” Yes, he tells Nancy, on the phone that morning, told him to wish them all luck for the next morning. Eddie whistles a low sound, shaking his head. 

“Phew, have a feeling we’re gonna need it without her. Ryan, if you think Steve’s the boss, you should’ve seen those two working together. A thing of beauty, I tell you, and probably the reason we’re one of the only outfits that hasn’t lost a client.” That spurs a groan out of Robin, don’t even say that, Ed, don’t even like, put that into the air right now, seriously. Always the superstitious one, he already knows she’ll be wearing a particular pair of socks tomorrow to send them off. 

“I bet you’re ready to get home, Steve.” It’s quiet, Ryan says it with a smile that tilts into something sad, tired eyes that pull at the corners, a knowing. He nods, shares the same smile with him, he knows he feels it too. 

…

May 1990 - Base Camp

“What’re you doing out here? Party’s in there.”

“I can see you’ve been celebrating. How much have you had to drink?” He laughs a little, stumbles over his feet as he comes to sit down next to her camp chair, his legs sprawled out in front of him and his head lolling to the side, and that’s enough of an answer for her. Meanwhile, the sound of music filters out from the main tent, all the other climbers and crew inside, yawping and whooping in their merriment. They made it up, and mercy, they made it back down to base. Everyone all in one piece, and she knows that’s something of a miracle. 

“Just a little, warming myself up.”

“Uh-huh, right.” He grins, face cast in shadows from the camp lanterns, his eyes crinkled, shamelessly staring at her as he lets out a contented-sounding sigh. She isn’t sure what to make of him, him, with his long hair, and his silver hoop earring, and his bright blue Patagonia pull-over, and his pretty little smile that she admittedly thought about for large portions of their ascent. Pretty boy, wild boy, beautiful boy that she probably won’t ever see again.

“Is Jo short for something?”

“What’s it to you?”

“Steve is short for Steven.” His words are a little slurred, a little buoyant laugh on the end, giddy with lingering adrenaline and booze no doubt. Awful, she finds it endearing.

“You don’t say.”

“Jody? Joanne? Joanna? Jo–”

“It’s short for Josephine, if you’d really like to know.” He says it once, slow around a smile, leaning in toward her with his arms hooked over his knees, and she finds herself leaning closer too.

“Does anyone call you Josie?”

“Oh my god, no, my sister did when we were little, but not any more.” Too late, Steve is already humming a tune before warbling into a slurred rendition of the lyrics, Josie and the pussycats, long tails and ears for hats. She would like to hate him for it, him and his smug grin beneath his dark beard, him and the little laugh he lets out at the scrunch of her nose, him, singing that stupid song at 17,000 feet, tapping out the beat of it on her knee with his wind-bitten fingers, and making her laugh with it. 

“Can I call you Josie?”

“Hmm, maybe, but only sometimes.” She says it like they’ll see each other again after all this, after parting ways in Kathmandu, her going back to Colorado, and him returning to wherever he’s from. It’s easy to grant promises when you’ve just touched the top of the world. 

“Josie, how are you feeling after checking that one off your list?”

“I think I feel a lot of things. Mostly calm, grateful for JIF peanut butter, I feel tired, but in a good way. What about you, Steven, how are you feeling?”

“Lucky that I’m here with you.” And he says it so bluntly, so plainly, without hesitation, that it shocks a laugh out of her. But he just keeps looking at her, his smile slanting, and she knows he’s being earnest, honest, tongue loosened by whatever dark liquor Art packed out.

“Oh my god.”

“What?”

“You can’t just say stuff like that.”

“Like what?”

“Stuff you’re going to regret saying when you’re not so drunk.”

“I’m not gonna regret it. I meant it.” He’s hooked his finger around one of hers, a simple sweet thing that she shouldn’t let him do. But she does, but it feels nice.

“What am I gonna do with you?”

“Keep me.” His eyes glittering and smile veritably impish, she scoffs at him, wow, as he shrugs, unabashed and unashamed. Meant it, meant it, meant it. She needs to change the subject before she does something stupid.

“When are you gonna shave this off?” A little dare and daunt, she tugs at his beard, his brows raising, she’s surprised him, and she likes it. 

“I don’t know, probably when we get back to Kathmandu, gonna be there for a few days before I fly out.” 

“I’m sticking around for a few days too.” His eyes light up at that, oh yeah? She nods, something bright unfurling in her chest.

“Maybe you and I can, you know, Kathman-do.” Waggle of his eyebrows, she has to laugh.

“I think you need to go to sleep.” Never admitting this, but she finds herself a little disappointed when he sighs and nods, unfolding himself and standing up with a groan, though he smiles at her again before shuffling off toward his tent.

“That wasn’t a no.”

“Goodnight, Steve.” He tips two fingers at his temple toward her, walking backwards with impressively minimal stumbling. And she knows that she likes him in a way that could be a problem. Awful, she really would like to keep him. 

“Goodnight, Josie.”

[revserrayyu]

2.2 Penacony thoughts [part 1]

**Mild spoiler warning** in place as I didn’t reach that far into the new update as of yet. Stopped right after seeing Sunday being a holy man listening to the troubles of others, so if that scene doesn’t ring any bells, then please refrain from reading further. As always, don’t spoil anything that happens afterwards, not only for myself, but for anyone else who hasn’t finished the new story yet.

First things first, I’m so pleased that we start off with Boothill. It feels like it’s been forever since he was first drip-marketed and when we heard that phone call of his with Black Swan, so finally seeing him in game is pretty nice. Still love that design in his eye too.

I’m also happy that the jade abacus was brought up again. Once we saw DHIL & Jing Yuan team up in the 2.2 livestream trailer I figured that Dan Heng was gonna call upon our beloved general with this item. At present, I don’t know if it’s actually used or if we head to the Xianzhou instead and request for help. Either way, I’m a bit surprised the general lends a hand. Of course he’s an ally and promised to help us with any troubles, but.. last time we saw him, he had just encountered Luocha and Jingliu, right? Could Jing Yuan really have left that confrontation behind so easily? Are we ever going to learn about what happened during that conversation? Who knows, but I hope we find out one day if this story doesn’t mention the matter further.

Anyways, who do you think the Elation Emanator that Boothill is? Naturally, I first thought of Sparkle solely because of her “I AM Elation!” declaration during her character trailer and her being a Masked Fool, but seeing how Boothill is having issues accessing Penacony in the first place, I doubt the two have officially met. They could’ve met elsewhere, sure, but I still doubt it’s Sparkle. Still haven’t a clue on who else it could be though but whomever it is certainly can’t hold their liquor.

Then we cut to Acheron being cornered by a bunch of npcs who are apparently all part of the “Dreammaster,” but let me just say that I love how literal Acheron can be, like correcting how many slashes she actually used. It’s also a bit scary for her to mention, as I don’t even remember a second blade either.

She’s just.. ironically funny to me. Acting all threatening but being completely serious with her grammar.

It was humorous when we switched to Robin for the first time. I didn’t manage to get a screenshot of it but how the screen even questioned it like “switching to Robin’s POV?” was hilarious. And rightfully so because this certainly isn’t our beloved idol. Sparkle, please, stop handing out bombs to everyone!

It was a short switch, but we finally jump back to where we personally left off. I know the journey Firefly is referring to might be our time hanging out together in Penacony, but somewhere deep down I imagine it could also be about our possible time with the Stellaron Hunters before the entire story even happened. I’m sure we have some sort of past with them but who knows if and when we’ll touch upon that.

Firefly goes into detail about her actions, about how she informed Silver Wolf to contact us and the plan she wanted to share with us before “Death” acted out. I guess it makes the lies and secrets a bit more bearable? All according to the script and at least she originally intended to tell us everything before the monster lashed out.

Then we get scene with her and Blade and oh my god, they both look so good?? Learning that Blade actually owns a driver’s license is comical too. Who would’ve thought our edgy man could be so reliable.

I’m so thankful for this scene as it gives us a taste about how Firefly acts around the other Stellaron Hunters. Since the rumors about her being Sam started, I couldn’t imagine how this sweet girl could’ve been one of them, but it seems she gets along just fine, even teasing Blade a bit.

Now correct me if I’m wrong but this is actually a flashback that happens right before Kafka destroys the Jepella Brotherhood during that one Myriad Celestia trailer, yeah? That’s pretty cool. Confirms that Firefly has been here the entire time and Bladie is even wearing the same suit.

I never thought of a decent acronym for what Sam could really mean, but we finally got our answer: Strategic Assault Mech. Makes me wonder if Firefly is even her true name, since that also seems to be part of the suit’s name.

Rejoice, someone other than ourselves can actually see Misha and Clockie. Would’ve never guessed that person to be Welt though. I guess he really is a child at heart. I know he gets excited whenever mechs are involved, such as the Engine of Creation, but this also reminds me of how his E6 depicts him as a child.

It’s unsettling that Misha calls “Death” something so innocent as “Sleepie.” Also claims that the monster isn’t aggressive and sometimes fetches the wrong guests to bring here.. uh huh, right. Sure. But of course Gallagher controls it! I know we learn more about him during this patch but I still don’t trust him.

So it’s clear that Misha is still a giant mystery. It’s good that us and Welt can see him, but the kid still isn’t perceived by everyone here. That one pepeshi we found alongside March thought we were talking to someone invisible and it appears Micah and Himeko can’t see Misha either.

During that flashback with the siblings as kids, I sorta feel like Sunday is also talking about Robin here. I know we’re chatting about the injured bird they found, but all the caged bird metaphors that Robin has, from her splash art and trailers, is hard to ignore.

Then we learn Gallagher is a History Fictionologist that’s in charge of this new place, which is all fine and well I suppose? Great to know who he really is but chalk it up as yet another person who lied to us. Of course I don’t believe much of anything any non-Express family says but whatever. He’s using fancy words that went over my head.

And now it’s all started to make sense in my head. Inviting different parties that have experience handling stellarons or at least have capable means of preventing a disaster. The Express and the Stellaron Hunters themselves are an obvious and reliable choices when it comes to stellarons, the IPC certainly has impressive power if Aventurine is anything to go off of, and I don’t doubt the real Galaxy Rangers are strong fighters too. I’m sire Black Swan and Sparkle have some tricks up their sleeves too, as would Ever-Flame Mansion.. if they’re alive. Also, the fact that the meme is named “Dormancy”.. Ratio stated in his note to Aventurine that “Dormancy” was the impossible in the dreamscape instead of “Death,” but I figured he just meant it as the word’s true meaning, not referring to the monster itself. That’s clever.

Sir, don’t give me hope like this by saying you’ll fight with us. Do you know how many people are wishing for you to actually be playable?? I’d love it if he was, I’d even take him as a four-star at this point (even though he clearly has five-star energy) but something tells me he isn’t. He gives me Cocolia vibes a little, like he’s certainly an important figure but I would not be shocked if he turns on us somehow and ends up as a boss of some sort either.

Aventurine’s status is truly a mystery that I definitely need to know! Is our beloved gambler okay?? Preferably alive somehow?? It hasn’t been long but I miss seeing/hearing him in the story already! But I do love that the chip he gave is when we first entered our hotel room turned out to be a transmitter. I’m not sure if it’ll reach his place in that momochromatic world he’s in, but perhaps we can use it to call upon Topaz and the rest of the IPC chilling in the hotel lobby? After Topaz noticed one of the broken Aventurine stone pieces lost its shine, I can imagine that our gambler had several spare transmitter chips to hand out to those he can depend on.

Stuff happens in a quick cutscene and we climb up many stairs to encounter another Nameless who has certainly seen better days. He sorta looks like that one white-haired dude on that new light cone that they showed briefly during the 2.2 livestream. And since it isn’t much of a spoiler anymore considering the official HSR yt channel already put out a video on it.. yeah, harmony hat.

Pfftt there’s something so funny to me about hearing Himeko call that fierce monster who has already “killed” several people a mere pet. Show no fear mother!

I absolutely LOVE that this man canonically can’t swear! They can switch all the words they want but I know exactly what Boothill wishes to say and it is hilarious. This quirk alone makes me want to pull for him.

My memory isn’t the greatest, but this shot made it so clear for me to remember that the Forgotten Hall mirror is a sort of Garden of Recollection thing, so having Black Swan appear from it was simply perfect.

The girlies working together once again, oh my~

After the things you personally witnessed sweetie, I’m glad you think so. Gotta love strong women!

Whose?? The only relics that come to mind are the Ashblazing Grand Duke set which I’m fairly certain isn’t what Acheron is referring to. I only thought of it due to the memes about how she killed him and turned him into said relics.

There’s another cutscenes with Acheron and that old dude we heard last patch, but I don’t remember much aside from him reminiscing about his companions once being Galaxy Rangers and more chatter about Nihility. This scene however, with Sunday looking all handsome and holy.. OH BOY. He’s gorgeous with the light shinning on him like that. I feel blessed to have witnessed such beauty.

I never thought of him to actually listen to people’s sins, but it suits him rather well. Doesn’t seem like most people recognize him doing so either? Aside from this one pepeshi of course.. either that, or everyone clearly respects Sunday too much while this person could care less on how to act around him. I was gonna make fun of the merchant for having such trivial sins, but if you’re living a life where that’s all you have to worry about, then sign me up.

The confession isn’t all fun and games though as some disbelief about the Family is brought up. Yet another reason for me not to completely trust this holy hot handsome man yet. Looking forward to continuing more later tonight.

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

So...

Do you guys know that thing about creative writers with ideas (plot bunnies) and how they always seem to multiply one after the other? That's me with Twisted Wonderland AUs. I can't help it! The series just reminds me of all the stories I loved as a kid, with characters that had depth and / or developed or we got to learn more about--even if it was stupid little things they do in their everyday life! I've grown to appreciate it in ways I never imagined I could any form of media. ;;v;;

To be honest...this game has given me the creativity to consistently create and build upon ideas, and the support you all have given me has meant so much. I can't thank you all enough for sticking with me for so long, and for sending me all the ideas or scenarios you all have been daydreaming of. ;;v;;

So I wanted to give a bit of an update on a few things I'm going to do with the blog:

1) Create a rules page. I've gone far too long without updating my original set, and I feel it's long overdue 😂 Plus, it'll help me keep track of certain things!

2) Go back through and update the links on the Masterlists with posts I may have missed. I didn't realize that some things I was referencing in some of my latest posts (aka the grape incident in the monster!AU) were missing, so I'm gonna comb through my posts and make sure I label and organize them easier for you guys to find (and for me to refresh myself on what I write)!

3) Answering asks (of course). Things are a little slow going and my muse has been getting finicky with me, but I will make sure I get to everyone's asks! Some I may answer because they're quick and easy, others...I may end up getting an idea for something more expansive, so that'll take a bit longer. 😅

And finally, 4) Introducing a(nother) AU:

Twisted Wonderland!Mermaid AU!!!

Honestly, this started because I got inspired by the artwork by this artist here where they drew the characters based on Floyd's nicknames for them, and it started as a Marine Biologist AU where Yuu is a marine biologist and taking care of the mermaid bois (all 22 boys + one fire-breathing cat) buuuuuut...at the moment, Yuu getting shipwrecked and living on the island with the mermaid boys wouldn't leave me alone. 😂

As well as an idea where Yuu is a full-blooded Kaiju/born a Kaiju and has Land Before Time like adventures because I got emotional at baby Littlefoot hatching, but who's counting the ideas? Certainly not me!

Anyway, I wanted to share a snippet of the prologue I have written that's currently under construction, so the final product may differ. I'm honestly really excited about this AU too, and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do~ ;;v;;

Snippet under a read-more because this post is going to be long anyway 😂 Enjoy!

Oh, and if I need to tag it a certain way for future posts, please let me know and I'll be sure to add them!

//////------------//////

If anyone were to ask Yuu what they were going to be doing over the summer, they likely would have told them: catch up on their reading, or playing video games, or any number of different things they had planned. Even just relaxing at home or on the beach would have been an enticing offer.

A scuba diving trip was not something they expected to get dragged into.

“First time diving?”

“Was it that obvious?” Yuu asked, one hand gripping the bar on the seat next to them until their knuckles were white while the other kept hold of the oxygen tank sitting in front of their flippered feet.

“Yeah…kinda obvious for a first timer,” the instructor said with a chuckle, the man giving them a reassuring pat. “It can be a bit nerve-wracking for new divers, but you’ll be fine. You’re one of the contest winners, right?”

“I put my name in as a joke, I didn’t think I’d actually win!” Peering over the edge of the railings, Yuu couldn’t make out anything in the dark water. “I…thought we were going to dive near the shallows closer to land. What are we doing so far out?” they asked, swearing they saw a big shadow pass by…only to realize it was the ship’s frame reflecting on the water.

“I know we’re a lot further out than we normally would for first time divers, but we had problems with our normal ship and the only one that was available was this ship a couple of marine biologists were using.”

“…why didn’t you just cancel and set it for another day?”

“Try telling that to my bosses,” the man muttered under his breath before the smile was back on his face. “Anyway, I think this will be a fun change to the program! These biologists are actually working to explore the reactions of marine life to musical instruments, and we’ll get to see it firsthand ourselves!”

Before Yuu could respond, the ship came to a stop and the driver said, “We’re here! You folks ready to go diving while we get set up? There’s a coral reef not far below us, so you’ll have plenty of time to sightsee.”

“Yup! Okay, so let’s go over the basics again, and I’ll make sure your gear is on properly.”

Yuu listened nervously as the instructor walked through each procedure and rule of diving, the wetsuit sticking tightly to their body as the tank weighed heavily on their back. This was not how they imagined their first time scuba diving would be—they could barely even make out the shore from a wave in the distance. Finally—with mask secured and breathing apparatus in—the instructor gave them a reassuring nod…before falling backwards into the water with a  ‘sploosh!’. For a brief moment they froze, but the motion of the ship and the weight on their back knocked them off balance and forced them backwards.

Fwoosh!!

[daedalusdavinci]

My Riddlebat Recs

ive read most of the stuff in the riddlebat tag. most of it. i dont really read any batman 22 stuff, but ive read just about everything else. that said, heres a list of some of my favorites ive read!

first of all, jovialJuggernaut and fromjannah write my absolute favorite riddlebat fics of all time, so theyre gonna be on this list a LOT. i dont think i put all of their fics on here, tho, so im just telling you right now that you should 100% check out everything both of those authors have. i will link some of my favorites below tho along w some of my other recs

baby lose the costume

by @fromjannah

"Hey," Eddie says, impossibly soft. The lights are so bright. "C'mon, Crusader. You're here. Listen to my voice." Bruce can only oblige. Easy as breathing.

Bruce, Eddie, and a late night visit to Arkham that goes a little sideways.

read all of fromjannahs unburied fics. do it. immediately. rn. they are all devastatingly good and frankly some of the best riddlebat fics out there. this one in particular is so melancholy and aching and it wrecks me every time yes i reread it all the time i reread ALL of their unburied fics

once more to see you

by @fromjannah

The Riddler has been missing for over a year -- that is, until tonight. Bruce Wayne has very normal feelings about this.

shortened version of the summary bc im just reccing everything from fromjannah and you need to just start accepting that theyre all good. the way they write eddie is so perfect

ghar aaja pardesi

by saheeli (@sa-heelies on tumblr i think?)

Bruce gets the news on a Tuesday. The letters start coming on Wednesday. Or; Eddie escapes from Arkham again. He leaves a trail of clues behind him so that Bruce and Barbara can follow.

ohh this one is so good. i think its the longest of the unburied ones and i think it was the first one i read?? the set up and eventual payoff is so good and sweet and barbara and eddies relationship OFC is iconic. this was the fic that made me realize i desperately needed to listen to unburied

a dreaded sunny day

by @lesbiantriphosphate

“Who do you think I am, Bruce Wayne?” He smirks. “Or should I be asking: do you know who you are?” Bruce takes his time to decide whether to continue the banter or answer truthfully. He can’t tell whether Eddie wants to continue their comfortable Riddler-versus-Batman game of talking around in circles, or if he’s just searching for an entrance into a more geniune conversation. “I think…” he starts and stops again. “Far too much, in my humble opinion,” Eddie quips as he makes his way over and sets two steaming mugs on the table.

more unburied bc the unburied dynamic is the best dynamic. this one is really fucking sweet ;;;;;;; i love it so much its very short but its such a good read

Unasked

by penguistificial

Edward had thought the only flaw in his perfectly planned crime was that nobody would ever be able to appreciate it - apart from himself. And yet, Batman had deftly deciphered all his clues, seen the solution Edward hadn't thought anyone would ever find. Doesn’t a correct answer deserve a reward? But, what to offer? What would be both acceptable and accepted?

this ones good! its a different take on their dynamic than the fics i usually read but its a very good take

Kings, Knights, Pawns

by jovialJuggernaut (@jovialjuggernaut-draws on tumblr)

riddle man gets to smooch the batman but its a slowburn so thatll be checks watch in a while updated summary when i can think of a good one update: it took 12 chapters but we made it, they smooched

the summary doesnt do it justice, honestly. as far as comics riddlebat goes this is THE riddlebat fic of all time as far as im concerned. this is the blueprint. this is It(TM). liam has such a way of writing eddie hes so irritating and whiny and fidgety as hell you just HAVE to love him. this fic is peak adhd4autism and the way they write bruces autism in this honestly totally influences the way i write bruce all the time. gamechanger of a fic, youve GOT to read it

Hurricane

by jovialJuggernaut

A hurricane hits Gotham and something (someone) washes up in the Batcave.

eddie w eds!!!! yes!!!!! one of my favorites of liams fics. that said, you should read ALL of liams riddlebat fics. they all go hard as fuck and honestly if i looked any further into my bookmarks itd all just be liam all the way down

[jaythelay]

I feel like TF2 had a really bad time in development hell for a while and the devs are just sick of it at this point. Stuff not working out, not making it to release, and simply put, not wanting to maintain any new ideas.

They had a medieval 2Fort and for the life of me, the only conclusion I can come to is they didn't want to maintain 2 separate experiences for the same game. MvM being a departure they...basically stopped work on eventually too. Hilariously, it being a horde-type game probably being what kept it going, much like with L4D from Counter-Strike.

Feels like alot of stuff at Valve just didn't work for a decade. and I think it's because nobody was forced to finish their work. And unfortunately that's just a simple aspect of creation that not everyone can handle, no restrictions. I imagine this also lead to people who did a lot of work, not getting full credit, or having their ideas superseded by essentially leaches who contributed nothing before, but have Their idea on how it should be.

That also would explain how the FUCK they canceled L4D3. What the fuck company doesn't get that shit finished one way or another? I can appreciate the freedom that Valve allows, but I think THAT should've been the moment an adult spoke up and said "This shit hasn't been working for literal decades."

I heard they stopped having as much freedom, and while on paper it was great, you HAVE to have restrictions in creation. Otherwise nothing gets done, nothing progresses, and nothing really even gets started past the initial planning process. The thing is, all we've seen is the broad end of both spectrums. One that doesn't work enough to get stuff out the door, and one that doesn't work either, but garbage at least gets out the door every week.

I'd like to see Valve just move a bit on that spectrum, not the opposite end in any way, just force people to Finish The Work they started. Like Left 4 Dead 3 for example. I can't imagine most people in the division that grew were happy that some idiots fucked all their work up entirely. I also, would have fired the idiots who wanted to move L4D3 to fuckin' Unreal or whatever. God damn morons don't know what company they're working at. Want to know the answer? You keep it on Source 2 because I wouldn't fucking buy it if it was on another fucking engine. No confidence in your own engine also paints a VERY poor image of literally EVERYTHING about the company, their engine, their work culture, god what an embarrassment.

Seriously though, I think people should probably chill on the "savetf2" stuff. I don't think that's gonna inspire anyone there to work on it anymore. Just kinda...annoy them that they can't say "Guys this was HELL to work on and almost nothing got out the door but cosmetics, failure after failure to get anything else out the door. We're tired, it's nearly been 2 decades. We aren't planning on shutting down servers or anything. Just keep playing if ya want to."

I'd much prefer a TF3 because I'm curious how they'll handle it. But I severely doubt we'll ever see another Valve big name title again. Which sucks shit, but what can ya do. The credit we can give, is outside of taking down TF2 clones they really don't need to take down, is that they at least allow people to do whatever the hell they want with their IPs. Do you think Valve was ever gonna make HL2VR? Honestly. Doubtful. The only reason Half-Life got an update is because of the SteamDeck, otherwise, that update would never have happened. They aren't interested in going back to Source anytime soon, they're jumping to Source 2.

Now there is a possibility they come back to other titles to give it the SteamDeck treatment, but I have high doubts of that either. HL was a blatantly obvious choice and Valve not having it work well for their own hardware is actually unconscionable. L4D is the embodiment of that meme with the skeleton under water, Portal doesn't really need much.

So I put forth a question I've pondered: Why is there even a Valve? It's not called ValveVR, nor ValveDeck, it wasn't a Valve Machine, or Valve controller, and Valve hasn't released a (good/playable) game since the 360 era. An update/total revision for Counter Strike is simply expected when it's their only real game success in years. So, otherwise, why is there even a Valve? Seems like they'd just morph into Steam by now. I also think it'd quell the fires of people wanting more games and updates.

I'd rather them NOT quit making games outright, but...like man, I've been playing L4D since I was at least 12yo, Half-Life since I was 3-4. I've been waiting. They've had the time to tell us what they're doing and thinking, them not telling us, feels like it's because they themselves don't even know or it's a total shit show. But when they do actually know what they're doing, they come out with confidence. Hardware and Steam has been their only confidence in decades. I'd rather have an answer to whether or not these IPs are genuinely dead, than have that carrot hanging in front of me anymore. Sure, I can ignore the carrot, but it's still there.

I think nearly 20 years is enough time for Valve to comment on...just...anything people have questions for anymore. I'm kinda sick of guessing what is even going on over there. This isn't a hate-post or anything, just a grouchy old man yelling at the sky sorta thing you've seen a million times before, just probably on the opposite spectrum of the main discussions. I don't want an update for TF2, I want an update on Valve. Not Steam, not their hardware, not specifically their IPs, Valve themselves, what the hell is going on over there.

[1moreoffkeyanthem]

I have quite a few hang ups with Come Morning Light, the hunger games au I posted one chapter for back in November and have yet to update.

The first and foremost personal challenge is the fact that I, PCE, a certified Angst Wimp, am gonna have to kill off sooooo many of my faves. Like Hunger Games has some dark ass subject matter, kids forced to kill each other. I’m struggling with that, especially with what I have planned for Craig.

Along that same line, it’s gonna be a HUGE cast of characters, which I’ve had difficulty with in the past, it’s one of the reasons I primarily operate in oneshots. I love a good The Gangs All Here fic, but fleshing out 20+ characters is HARD. Bc a fluffy 2k word oneshot of Stan and Kyle in an awkward meet cute where there’s maybe one other character (usually kenny lmfao I’m a creature of habit) is a WHOLE different animal than a multicharacter multichapter. That’s something I had to figure out recently with TWITR, and character introduction held me up a lot in ATLCTS.

Okay this one may seem really inconsequential to a lot of people, but one thing I didn’t think about when developing this concept was the fact that there’s not really away for me to get around Stan eating meat lmao that’s one thing that over my time writing sp fanfiction has become ESSENTIAL to me characterizing that boy. I’ll probably just have him make a comment about how he could never kill animals himself WHICH BRINGS ME TO:

Kyle as our Katniss character. So if you’re familiar with my bs, every time I write Kyle, he’s inherently less angry until it’s called for, he’s very idealistic in his worldview and it takes something actually really pissing him off for him to snap. This is NOT gonna be the case here!!! This boy is ANGRY BY DEFAULT, the worlds out to get him? fuck the world right back! Plus, the entire story is gonna be from his perspective, bc I love writing Kyle, but it’s gonna take all my willpower not to turn him into my usual empathetic to a fault sweet people loving Kys.

Also, I usually tend to leave the adults mostly out of my stuff, but they’re gonna play quite the role in this. We got Garrison as Haymitch, Big Gay Al as Effie, fuckin Mr Slave as Cinna. I’ve never even WRITTEN the three of them. The dynamics gonna be fun tho.

Ofc there’s the problem of it being an adaptation too. There’s a fine line between just replacing hg characters with sp names and copying the plot, as opposed to making it your own. I do have some plot changes planned, but this is an issue I faced with We’re Gonna Sing It Even So, and that almost led me to abandon that fic when I felt like I was just plagiarizing Hadestown.

Also I’m not planning to adapt more than the first book. I reallllly couldn’t handle Kenny taking out Ike with his trap in the third one.

BUT!!! This won’t be abandoned, it’ll just be slow going!!! Ya wanna know the main reason?

Because the first idea I had for CML (other than Kyle volunteering for his little brother) was STAN AND KYLE IN THE FUCKING CAVE SCENES. A major change is that both of them are already deeply down bad, but those scenes??? Yeah no one’s playing for the cameras. I wanna fuck Stan up in the arena so bad lmfao that boy is my original sp whump muse and NATURALLY Kyle taking care of him I love that shit. Girl we gonna GET that prosthetic leg the movies left out (Ship In A Bottle Stan moment, I love that fic btw) as the Style Injury Dealer, I MUST deliver.

So, yeah, if anyone’s down, I’ll eventually pick it back up lmao.

[maxpaulll]

20 Questions for Fic Writers Game

I was tagged by @agentplutonium who knows I absolutely despise tag games so I'm doing this out of spite.

I will not tag anyone because I don't know who to tag and don't want to but you can feel free to use this as an excuse to do it if you want.

1 - How many works do you have on AO3?

3 because I don't write often and I orphaned all my old fandom ones

2 - What's your total AO3 word count?

hhhhhh uhm... 5,403 because again, I don't write often. When I do it's just a one shot cause that's all I can commit to.

3 - What fandoms do you write for?

Redacted Audio, and you can't prove any other fandom /lh

4 - What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I'm gonna rank these but I don't have enough so they all get featured, Get rekt losers.

#1 is Adventure of the Mates' Night Out. This is just a silly little one shot abt the Shaw Pack mates & Baabe being cool as heck B]

#2 is Family Gets Nicknames which is a short lil angst fic about Quinn taking Angel & Tank/Darlin' not being able to do anything about it. Technically it's unfinished but I wouldn't expect an update

#3 is The Stars Are Gone Now. It is my FAVOURITE AND YOU ALL ARE COWARDS FOR NOT LIKING IT/J. It's about Imp!Vega's death and Pet's grief. I love it more than life itself but it's pretty heavy and a lesser beloved pairing so I understand why it's not super popular.

5 - Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Sometimes, if I'm feeling silly

6 - What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Stars are gone now. Hands down. Pets stuck in Vega's room with no idea what's going on during the rebellion. The only solace they have is the lights on the ceiling which relieve them that Vega is still alive... until he's not. (family get's nickames is kinda sad too but it was written to be more panicky. I write a lot of angst because it helps me deal with my 🌟feelings🌟)

7 -What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Mates' Night Out!!! It ends with everybody being fine and Baabe being super sexy n cool but I should give a TW for mild violence, sexual harassment and swearing <3

8 - Do you get hate on fics?

Not as far as I know?

9 - Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Once when I was like 15 and then never again. I'm no good at it.

10 - Do you write crossovers?

Nope <3

11 - Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No?? I wouldn't know

12 - Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope <3

13 - Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes. In high school. On a twitter thread. With Pluto.

14 - What's your all time favorite ship?

I will die for Imp!Vega & Pet, I would give my life for Imp!Freelancer & Vindemiator, and I will kiss Gavin & Freelancer on their sweet little heads.

15 - What's a WIP that you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I started writing this AU about Detective!Milo & Thief!Sweetheart that never made it past planning in gdocs but I think it would be cool to finish but I don't think I'll ever get there. There's also this one Playlist plotline I made because I wanted people to be able to see what I was thinking about when I listened to the songs. Making that into a finished fic would be cool but I don't have it in me. If you wanna read it, the link is here.

16 - What are your writing strengths?

I think my descriptions are my strong suit? I feel like my dialogue can be lacking but I feel good about my visualizations of scenes n stuff.

17 - What are your writing weaknesses?

Definitely making anything more than a one shot. I just don't have that level of commitment for something. When I write stuff it's because I'm in the moment and feeling what I'm writing. If I have to sit down and come back to it I lose my mojo.

18 - Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'd feel way more comfortable doing if I or someone I knew understood/spoke the language. I don't trust google translate for that.

19 - First fandom you wrote for?

Listen. Wattpad was a place... where I wrote Good Omens things. BUT WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THE DARK TIMES.

20 - Favorite fic you've written?

THE. STARS. ARE. GONE. NOW. IT'S MY BABY, MY BELOVED, MY POOKIE DOODLE. AND I WORKED HARD ON IT. YOU SHOULD READ IT (If you wanna) AND THEN CRY ABT IT WITH ME. Or not, I don't really care /lh

okay thats all

[originalgenshinscenarios]

hi, just a recommendation but could you do a works in progress page so we could see if the request we send got accepted or not and what fics to look forward to😍

I'd do it if not for the fact that I would 100% forget to update it. It was the same when I had a masterlist so OOF

BUT since the inbox is closed anyways here is a full list:

Jean, Barbara, Ninguangg and Ayaka with a sickly sibling

Candace with troublemaker S/O (enemies to lovers)

Sara and her ex-S/O trying to make it work again

Lisa, Jean, Ningguang, Yae and Ei ith an S/O who is usually stoic but just loses it when they see a cute fluffy animal

Lisa finding out her love interest had been mentally abused in their past

Ei discovering her S/O had a crippling injury while she was meditating

Harbringer reader apologizing to Jean (continuation of Jean x Harbringer series)

Furina, Lynette, Navia, and Clorinde with a mermaid S/O

Shenhe meeting her (fem) S/O's homophobic family (the requester gave me two options for how they want this to go and I plan to write both endings)- Modern AU

Shenhe comforting her S/O after a family problem

and of course...

I AM STILL WORKING ON VB FIC...

IT'S JUST HARD TRYING TO MAKE IT MAKE SENSE aaand also It'd be easier if I took inspo from the game more 1:1 approach instead of doing... whatever this is. SO this chapter might be the most silly one... but HEY it's inspo from a COMEDY otome so ofc it's gonna be goofy. 2 more chapters and I'm starting Ning's route tho! but considering how slow I'm working on it IDK if there will be a second run of Otome crossovers (even tho I REALLY wanna do Cupid Parasite crossover for the boys...)

but hey, I have SOMETHING. 2286 words, and kinda halfway done with it. If anyone wants at least a little teaser the chapter description is under cut (it might change but hey the chapter content will stay the same)- and I'm pretty sure everyone will know what it'll be about right away xDD

No matter how much time had passed, you still can't bring yourself to trust the four suitors. You don't feel like any of them are taking you seriously. Turns out, Ayaka has rather interesting connections and they're more than happy to help you out.

But now your problem is dealing with an even more obnoxious group…

[homogremlin]

I have no motivation to write but I also like lowkey feel like I live in a Wattpad fanfiction sometimes and my relationship provides good writing prompts so ig I'm sharing them in case anyone wants them

Also just looking for an excuse to talk about this shit because only one person outside of our school friend group knows so like who am I to talk to?

-for around a week and a half, Sun wore lipstick every day and then kissed Star and I on our faces. We planned a retaliation, which Star spilled the beans on bc I was late to school. I actually did write a oneshot on this one, but I felt like sharing

-Sun steals waterbottles. It's just a thing. When they steal mine, I have to pay to get it back in kisses. Apparently my water tastes better so it gets stolen a lot lol

-the other day, my dad drove Star home from a school dance and when we dropped them off I had this oh shit moment where I realized that they were just in our CAR and yet my dad doesn't know that we spent the whole night holding hands and kissing and flirting for god's sake, he doesn't even know I'm dating anyone. He doesn't know that I have a cheesy love note written on fucking origami in my backpack. reality check lol

-Star asks me while we're playing a game at a sleepover with ALL OUR FRIENDS, WHILE STAR'S MOM WAS AWAKE (although she was in another room, and Sun was sleeping) what the weirdest thing I was into was. I answered honestly. Any of the sus shit Sun does. ANY of it. the crowd goes wild. They had the same answer tho so...

(Update bc I remembered something)

-So Sun and I had been dating for ~5 months, we got together in April and it was august. So before I started dating Sun and honestly until after then, I had a crush on Star. Star liked me back. In a similar time frame. They didn't make a move partially bc they knew Sun liked me but they didn't think I liked them back. So it's august, we were at a sleepover and they spilled the beans in a game of truth or dare. "I used to have a crush on homogremlin". I share that I liked them at like, the same time. We all laugh. Also in that night: Sun and I came to an unspoken agreement ig? that we were gonna flirt with Star. Bc like we liked them. Star is oblivious. They thought we were joking. We had another sleepover a few weeks later. We share that we do indeed mean the flirting seriously. Their mind was blown. When I say Sun was literally. Calling them princess. And picking them up and putting them in their lap. While I was actively helping with this. And they thought they were THIRD WHEELING (my partner is a lil dumb but we love them for it)

(Second update this happened today)

-my mom took Star and I to the mall, we saw something glittery and my mom said “princess glitter sparkles” but paused between princess and glitter sparkles and Sun and I call Star princess and she whipped her head around to respond. My mom did not notice