#especially when it's raw

[valdiis]

WIP Whenever

Tagged by @paintedscales

I'm not entiiiirely sure, but I think I'm supposed to just post a snippet of a WIP I have going. Um. I don't have a whole heck of a lot I do that isn't collaborative RP writing, but I do have this silly urban romantasy novel I started a while ago.

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“Shitfuckdamn.” The curses all fell out of Jace’s mouth in a single conglomerate word. Just one of them wouldn’t really do; he needed to use all three. Because his car - the battered old Toyota Camry he’d bought for two grand six years ago - had probably just chugged its last quart of oil. Judging from the white steam emanating from the hood and the temperature gauge on H, he was pretty sure something had overheated. At least he was smart enough not to get out and pop the hood open, and scald himself or something. It wasn’t as if he even knew how to fix it if he did look.

Instead, Jace picked up his cell phone off the passenger seat and frowned at it. Was four percent enough battery charge to call a tow truck? He really should’ve remembered to plug his phone in back at the hotel last night.

Just as he was bringing up a search for local towing companies, the day went from bad to worse. The distinctive whoop-whoop of a police siren sounded behind him and blue lights flashed off his rear view mirror. Mindfully, he dropped his phone into his lap, tapped the button to lower the window, and slowly put both hands on the steering wheel.

The cop got out of her car and headed for his. As she reached the back end, her fingers came out to touch the trunk. Her other hand was loose, but not far from her gun. Jace swallowed hard. He didn’t have a damned thing to fear from the cops, but they always made him twitchy anyway. Anxiety whispered, What if you’re carrying drugs and don’t know it? He blew out a breath at his own ridiculous mind.

“Hey there,” came the Southern drawl as she leaned in at the window. “Can I see your license and registration, please?”

Jace blinked. That was awfully polite and non-demanding. He nodded. “My license is in my back pocket and my registration is in my glove box. Is it okay to reach for them?”

“Honey, you’re fine. Just be slow.”

Nodding, he took his right hand off his steering wheel and raised his hips out of the seat so he could fish his wallet out of his back pocket. His cell phone slid out of his lap and onto the floor. The cop’s gaze immediately followed, but she didn’t fuss at him over the noise. Jace flipped open his wallet and fished out his ID, handing it over as his butt hit the seat again.

“Registration,” he said before leaning slowly over to his glove box. The cop’s hand went to her hip. Breathe, he told his anxiety. He popped the glove box open and snagged the envelope he kept inside. There wasn’t much in it besides his registration, but he still pulled the paper out and handed that over too.

“Thank you. I’ll be just a minute.”

He nodded like a bobble head and watched her walk back to her car. There’s nothing to fear, he told himself. Your registration is valid, your plates are up to date, you clearly weren’t speeding, and you’re not carrying drugs. You’re fine.

His anxiety - for once - listened. Mostly.

Jace’s heart rate slowed and he put his hands back at ten and two. Three minutes later, the cop returned to the side of his car. “Here you go, Jace Valmont,” she said, handing back the ID and registration. “I take it you aren’t parked on the side of the highway for fun?”

That drew a nervous little laugh from him. “No, ma’am. I think it overheated.”

On his left, a sleek black sportscar switched to the far lane and passed them at a sedate, perfectly reasonable pace. The cop nodded at Jace. “Want me to call a tow?”

“Oh God,” he groaned as he nodded again. “That would be a life-saver. My phone battery’s almost dead.” Now that he knew he wasn’t in trouble, he took a breath and looked closer at the cop. She wore a tan shirt and the name plate above her badge said Officer Tate. It was night time and she wore a hat, so he had no idea what her hair color was. Nor did he look closely enough to pick out eye color.

“I’ll be right back, honey,” she drawled in that soft Southern accent before walking away back to her car. Jace’s shoulders eased. He wanted to bend down and grab his phone, but decided that would probably look suspicious. Hands at ten and two…

He wished his radio worked so he had something other than his anxious mind to listen to. That had gone out last year and he didn’t consider it vital enough to have fixed.

A solid ten minutes later, Officer Tate returned and leaned in his window again. “Tow truck’s on the way. Want me to wait with you?”

“Thank you, ma’am, but I shouldn’t need it.” He smiled and it didn’t even feel strained.

She nodded and patted the door of his car. “You be safe then, you hear?” Then she walked back to her car and got in. Moments later, the lights went off and she pulled back onto the highway.

Jace waited until her car was out of sight to bend down and pat around for his phone. Once he found it, he dropped it back on the passenger seat. He was putting his wallet away when the car rocked as a semi-truck blew past. “Hmph,” he muttered, “I hope she catches you.”

[johnnyshrine]

★ 071 // “it gets better”

[fantasticalleigh]

These posts will continue until they return and morale improves

[greensaplinggrace]

sorry but like, as someone who doesn't vibe with fem!sub stuff and always ends up dislking fandom obsession with the man in any relationship being a Dominant Daddy Top containing more macho tendencies than personality . . i do also think that framing people liking violence in their sexual fantasies as worrying is um. worrying in and of itself.

like yeah logan being Like That in 'x reader' Old Man Logan stuff seems very ooc to me, too. but i also like animalism and brutality and violence in sex as well, and these things are not inherently abusive or "near rapist" by themselves in fictional portrayals of kink.

i don't hc logan as the macho dom! a lot of fandom for some reason considers "common consensus fanon" lmfao, but i also think that the fine line of fighting and fucking and violence and animalism is something viscerally satisfying to explore in fiction and especially kink. and characters like logan - who do actually have some solid connections to such themes - are some of the best outlets for that.

[upgradewater]

Does Virginia mean virgin Vegeta?

my god...

It's just a funny way to mispronounce his name but this is making me wonder if he was a virgin when he came to Earth.

In canon. What do we think?

I'm not gonna complicate it. Just in general, do you think his first time was with Bulma, or not?

[princeloww]

as poorly written as this is. i think i might've peaked with my first campbell fic

[alonewithwinnie]

I get so excited watching WWE, I’ve done the excited flappy hands several times already watching tonight

[shannonsketches]

something something foils moving in opposite directions Goku's always happy to seek and fight stronger opponents because he spent most of his life being the strongest guy in the room and Vegeta wants to be the strongest/is always exhausted to find stronger opponents because he spent most of his life having to navigate his survival around the whims of the strongest guy in the universe room and so Goku has a foundation of safety and stability and so spends his time craving challenge and adventure and Vegeta has a foundation of challenge and adventure and spends his time craving safety and stability and the overlaid section of their venn diagram is that the only way they know how acquire and maintain those things is through battle

[miru-has-thoughts]

I like to imagine this is what Seth wrote about Punk

[markscherz]

hi dr Scherz happy frog Friday 🐸

And to you!

[pencilofawesomeness]

Hey Pencil, can I ask you what you think of Neuvilette's character after the end of the current Archon quest? Not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed at how he and everyone else treated Furina, but I was curious about your thoughts on the matter

ohohohohohohohoho anon. Dear sweet anon, you've activated my trap card, otherwise known as the Pencil Essay card, because I have sooooo many thoughts about this.

I will say though, I see Neuvilette in context of the story quests too, especially Furina's, as well as his friendship stories and voicelines. So, er, spoilers for that I suppose, but I can't separate those bits away from his character at this point. Anyway.

I frickin love Neuvilette. As a character, he checks a lot of boxes of traits that I adore, like being hella old, a dragon, somewhat isolated from normalcy, a cinnamon roll that can kill you, and Doing His Best. Now, as an important addendum to this, the fact that he is a dragon is a crucial part of the basis, because that's where a lot of conflict starts. He's separated from his kind, he's not a human yet he is confined to a human form, he remembers that the elemental authority should be his but Celestia took it and the archons have it now. The idea he has that he will forever be isolated, and that there will forever be a certain taste of bad blood between him and the rest of the world is founded. And yet. AND YET. Long ago, Focalors asks for him to help lead Fontaine, and he!!! Agrees!!! Neuvilette's character is rooted in a sense of justice and fairness, and in such, he tries to remain open-minded, and thus, he must witness things for himself. When he is presented a change in perspective, he accepts it.

Honestly I thought the Archon Quest did this rather nicely. He worked with Furina, believing her to be Focalors, for years. While Furina did waaay too good of a job in being as showy as possible, their close proximity meant that some of her true ethics and anxieties did make themselves known to Neuvilette. He knew when Furina was panicking and lying, just not why. Likewise, he has had inklings of when she's been sincere, and also, has a better perspective on how other people perceive her. More on that in a second.

Knowing what we know in hindsight, the Archon Quest is....very harsh. But. I understand why it happened that way. It was very clear that neither the Traveler nor Neuvilette wanted to put Furina on trial, however, neither of them were able to get her to tell the truth in private, and time was of the essence. The threat of a whole populace dying (and!!!! People have already died at this point!!!! Civilians!!!) is kind of a big deal. Something happens, or they all die; full stop. Hence, calling out the big guns. Which, to their credit, was just meant as a display of pressure on an actual deity, not an actual trial with death sentences and the discovery that Furina was a stressed out human all along. Focalors wanted that, however, so all according to plan. But very much not what Neuvilette wanted.

Fast forward. For Neuvilette, I think there is something really special to be said that he cares about both Focalors and Furina. He's only ever seen glimpses of both, but when Focalors aims to die to give Neuvilette back what is rightfully his, he protests! He doesn't want that! If there was a way for Focalors to undo the sea, he would accepted that, despite the janky usurped power thing. She is making a divine sacrifice, one that nobody else will truly know, and he mourns the person that is lost for it. Meanwhile, for all that Furina acted as a mask, and acted as if she was entirely self-sustainable, Neuvilette has shown to be concerned over her as a person. He caves so quickly to meet with Arlecchino when it's clear she's nervous, he asks Traveler to look after her, he tries to ask her when she's clearly being flighty. Even little things, like when he tells Traveler to acknowledge Furina at the beginning of the quest when she's showing off, because he knows she equates attention to success (just not why) and he is throwing her a bone. Yes, he is exasperated just as frequently, but Furina is not making it easy at that stage. Her entire schtick is to purposely keep people at arm's length, to be entertaining before she's likable, so really, I think there's an impressive amount of patience to be had.

The thing I have noticed about Neuvilette is that he is the kind of just that is caring. The law is for the sake of the people, and thus, people have become his focus. He denies this for a long time on account of believing himself to be forever an Other, but it is persistent all the same. He quickly wants to see the melusines treated well and with respect when they are integrated with society. He wants to see justice for those who are hurt. He understands, even, when those who do wrong are not bad people, like with Wriothesley. Neuvilette is, at his core, a kind person; however, he is terrible at expressing care in ways we would expect it. In part because he's just Like That, and in other part because he spent so long unaware of it. Usually, this means that he takes things at face value. If a melusine is being threatened, then there is a problem regarding humans' view of melusines again; if Wriothesley crawls out of hell with a Vision and the new title of Duke, then that means he found something to live for and he will support it; if Furina asks for space, then he tries to give her space. Neuvilette is a sincere person, even if sometimes he misunderstands the emotional complexity afoot.

Back to Furina. When it's revealed that she is a human, and she absolutely crashes, Neuvilette may not be the picture of fatherly comfort, but he is there for her in the way she asks, and even, in the ways she doesn't. She wants to be left alone, because Furina is tired of a facade and at this point she believes that everyone will hate both the fake her and the real her. Neuvillete obliges, and he arranges to pay for her apartment and food and make sure she is taken care of, when Furina is clearly not thinking that far ahead. It's clear that he would visit more often, but he's busy being the effective Archon now, and also, he doesn't think Furina would want that. Face value interpretations and all that. However, Neuvilette still appreciates the good that Furina did accomplish, in the mask and out of it. He doesn't fully understand Furina's hangups, but he respects what she does or doesn't want to do.

Now, Furina absolutely hit that depressive slump of a crash. Homegirl is living off of noodles like a broke college student. She thinks the world hates her and that everyone only put up with her because she was the archon and a superstar. Did she need someone to intervene? Sure. But she pushed Neuvilette and Clorinde away when they awkwardly tried, so Furina has to go through the long story quest way, and come to a bit of her own realization that people genuinely respected her ability to act as a skill and a thing of beauty, not just as a lie.

Furina's story quest offers the very best presentation of how Neuvilette sees her, and how, in his own way, he apologizes but also respects everything she has done and is. When Furina goes on stage, despite her valid reservations, and she gives it her all for that actresses sake, and she gives it her all because its real to her too, and Neuvilette sees this and sees her bravery, her spirit, and all of the hard work that Furina has given Fontaine for 500 years. So he tears a chunk off of his power and he gives it to her, in the form of a Vision.

The Visions are such a wonderful representation, because now that Neuvilette is the sole sovereign, without Celestia's janky throne in the way, he has full power over the granting of Visions. He can stop if he wants, because Visions are made by ripping chunks off of the god in question, but Neuvilette has studied and he has learned that humans are amazing and they earn their ambition, and he wants to give to that. So it's an incredibly purposeful gesture here and it carries the meaning of his care and respect in ways that he cannot articulate.

Neuvilette is kind. He's stiff, dutiful to a fault, has trouble being vulnerable and recognizing it in others, but he is trying, and he is kind. He gives credit where credit is do, and he tries to do the right thing, even when he misses the mark. He accepts when he's wrong, though, like with Focalors and Furina, like with missing how the general populace adores the melusines now, like with Childe when he honestly was baffled by the oratrice's absurd verdict. He's an old dragon and he's slow to catch up, but he makes that effort anyway, which I think is really neat. Neuvilette learns and he implements that. In Lantern Rite, he listened to Furina and finally managed to take a vacation, and he made a dumb little dragon ladle and had fun doing it. And he walked away from that realizing why taking a break was important.

So, er, yeah. I think Neuvilette is neat. Furina too. I really wish we can see them interacting more now that Furina is finally getting it through her skull that people do, in fact, want to be her friend and spend time with her, and I would love to see more on the implications that Traveler has told him of the other archons' exploits and he is forced to admit that they also either have no idea what's going on or that they known of them took the elemental authority on purpose/for the sake of it, but that's either an end-game thing or we'll never get it. Alas. Still I think Fontaine and all of hydro is in good hands with him.

Also he's an awkward dragon yall know I love grandpa dragon men who have parental bones but have no idea how to use them on purpose. I have. a type. of course I'm looking hard at neuvilette he's got the whole package

So uhhhhhh yeah. Yeah. I will. End it there.

[cannimumsable]

if you haven't yet, listen to feldup!!! he's known most for his horror videos on youtube but he's also an indie artist with great great songs that i love so much. if you understand french i also recommend his videos, they're really good. my favorite songs of his are Falling Apart (obviously), Shove It, Waters, Stockholm, Crying as a Weapon and Dizzy.

[spyder-baby]

Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer but it's actually "Raw Power" by Iggy and the Stooges

Search and Destroy

Soul radiation in the dead of night/Love in the middle of a firefight

2. Gimme Danger

Raise my feelings one more time

3. Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell

If you wanna make a buck, boy, you gotta be a tease, uh huh

4. Penetration

Stick it hard, babe/Stick it hard

5. Raw Power

Look in the eyes of a savage girl/Fall deep in love in the underworld

6. I Need Somebody

I need somebody, baby/I need somebody, too/I need somebody, baby/Just like you

7. Shake Appeal

Gotta bite/Baby I gotta have a bite

8. Death Trip

Said I'm with you, you're with me/Honey, we're going down in history

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

[gumy-shark]

perhaps one day i will post all my insane little thoughts about shou and ritsu and strength (and skill vs power). but not right now it’s been too long since i’ve rewatched the claw arcs or confession arc

[sammygender]

find it so interesting that in 1x03 dead in the water sam is so shocked by dean being such a sweetheart with kids. some people in this fandom (naming no names..) frame this like ‘stupid sam who doesn’t know dean at all and doesn’t even remember that dean basically raised him🙄🙄’……….. but that makes 0 sense. isn’t it more likely instead that sam just doesn’t remember dean being that nice to him as a kid😭