#i just thought it'd be funny to compare these pairings

[rga531]

[ot3]

What Is ORV?

The number one question I get asked on this blog, now answered better than ever. Today I am going to formally introduce you to Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint

To start off this recommendation: ORV might very well be my favorite thing I've read. Ever. If I could only reread one thing for the rest of my life it'd be this webnovel.

My elevator pitch is this: something with the cosmic-scale goofy video game nonsense and intricate setting comparable to Homestuck in its prime, paired with the deft emotional poignancy and emotionally-driven fights of Mob Psycho 100, topped off with the sort of compassionate and heartwrenching metanarrative of Undertale.

ORV is a love letter to it's own readers. ORV revels in the joy of losing yourself in fiction, even when it's the kind of fiction that tends to be considered lowbrow or worthless. It's something that dances the delicate line between recognizing the difficult nature of using media as escapism without condemning it. I've rarely seen anything else that accomplishes everything it sets out to do in its narrative with such remarkable precision. Frankly if you're reading a tumblr media recommendation post in 2023, I can almost guarantee ORV has the kind of meat you're looking for in a narrative, whatever that may be.

The story follow the antics of protagonist Kim Dokja, a 28 year old office worker on an expiring contract, whose only real joy in life is reading his favorite massively long and massively boring webnovel. One day, the novel’s events - worldwide deathmatches aired for the entertainment of mysterious higher beings called ‘constellations’ - begin playing out in reality in a sort of reverse-isekai. Kim Dokja, the only longterm reader of this webnovel, finds himself uniquely poised to succeed based on the advantages given to him by his knowledge of future events, but the webnovel’s actual protagonist, Yoo Jonghyuk, is a violent monster who will stop at absolutely nothing to complete his goals, no matter the cost to anyone else. Kim Dokja finds himself in a delicate dance of guiding the events of the story to play out more favorably than the version he read while trying to avoid being massacred in the fallout, all while trying to see it through to the story’s end. 

Below the cut I'll go into a more in-depth (but non-spoilery) explanation of what exactly makes ORV so unique and worthwhile, and what you're in for if you choose to read it.

Clocking in at 550 chapters, and over 1.3 million words in English, ORV may seem incredibly daunting to dip your toes into, but I assure you it's worth every moment. I would read 1.3 million more words if they had them for me. Here are some things about ORV I consider to be selling points, not necessarily in any particular order:

The tone. Its funny, for starters. It is extremely funny, which is very high up on my media priority list. In ORV, there will be incredibly grim things that make you laugh, and incredibly cringe and silly anime bullshit that will hurt you as heavily as any other media you’ve seen. I always love this kind of tonal whiplash when it's well executed, and ORV probably executes it better than anything else I've seen to date.

It’s got fun and fascinating worldbuilding mechanics. the core concept being ‘reality now operates on the rules of a shitty novel’ means that the worldbuilding doesn’t have to function logically, it functions thematically. It’s explicitly stated in ORV canon that some of the internal rules governing this new reality are objectively really stupid and illogical, but they just have to roll with it because that’s what was in the book, and i think it’s a really enjoyable way to do it. This may at first sound like a copout to excuse bad worldbuilding, but I promise it isn’t. The worldbuilding is actually incredibly deeply thought out, but it doesn’t exist for the sake of rational function, it exists for the sake of furthering orv’s thematic arcs. The rules by which this universe operate do a magnificent job of strengthening the core concepts the authors are exploring.

It plays with the trappings of isekai/litrpg in a really thoughtful way. These are genres I'm not super familiar with, so I can't comment on this point too heavily, but with my limited knowledge ORV feels a lot less of a deconstruction of it's genre and more of a celebration/interrogation of it. Despite that, it's still accessible to readers such as myself who are not super familiar with these genre conventions.

It deals with morality in a really wonderful and nuanced way. there are almost no characters in ORV’s extremely large cast who are just explicitly morally condemnable, and almost every conflict allows you to understand exactly why the antagonists believe they’re in the right by opposing the actions of our protagonists. The central conflicts are never pure right and pure wrong; they’re always about contrasting goals, conflicting worldviews, and different priorities between ends and means. this makes the conflicts all feel so much more dynamic and engaging than those where the only stakes are physical harm.

The characters interpersonal relationships are some of the most interesting I've ever seen. ORV is very slow burn and it takes a long time for a lot of these to come out of the woodwork, by design, but by god once they do they fucking hit. Similar to the plot conflicts, the interpersonal conflicts also almost never occur where there’s one side clearly in the wrong. The characters are almost all genuinely attempting to do their best by each other, and the tension comes from the ways in which human communication is fundamentally imperfect and part of our feelings and intentions get lost in translation. it’s very heartwrenching and heartwarming to see unfold, in equal measure.

Following from that, it’s a narrative that really meaningfully prioritizes non-romantic relationships over romantic ones as the central focus. Orv is about love, but not about romance. Obviously there’s shipbait and the ot3 is real and good and my friend but if you’re looking for deep complex platonic, (found or otherwise) familial, and antagonistic relationships that never get ruined with forced romantic arcs, we got em baby!

The pacing is unlike anything i’ve ever seen before. from a purely technical standpoint, it is genuinely a fascinating case study in how to execute a narrative that is almost constantly escalating without exception. there is very little downtime or breathing room in orv, which is insane for something that clocks in at over a million words, and somehow, it still works. i’ve never felt more like a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water than i did when i was reading orv and i can’t believe they pulled it off. it’s so interesting to read something like that.

It is a tragedy without resorting to cynicism and a very adult narrative that’s really steeped in childlike wonder. I’m a big fan of cartoons made for children. Cartoons made for children are some of my favorite things to watch, but of course children’s media will always be simplified and not very relatable to an adult audience. ORV is very much a serious and heavy adult narrative, and a deeply tragic one at that, but it never delves into torture porn. It’s a very compassionate piece of media overall, that holds a lot of reverence and sympathy for the ‘naive’ optimism of children that gets stripped down over time. if you, like me, feel more like a grown up child than an adult some days, I think it’ll hit for you.

It is extremely cathartic and meaningful. I am not exaggerating at all when I say that reading it gave me the closest thing I have ever felt to any sort of spiritual breakthrough. It helped unfuck my head a ton during some very grim times and i think the perspective it offers on the value of human life and our relationship to storytelling is a really really good one.

And if my word isn't enough, here's some reviews from satisfied customers. With that, I'll leave the rest to you, and hope you one day reach the end of the story.

[amaranthineghost]

| RED IS FOR FERRARIS AND CHRISTMAS ( charles leclerc. ) |

ꕥ pairing: charles x reader

ꕥ summary: she decorates for the holidays with white and blue, but for him, it doesn't cut it.

ꕥ authors note: thank highschool french for some speaking knowledge (with some Google translate sprinkled in) also pretty short because i lack Christmas ideas and I wanted to get this out before i work ungodly hours this weekend but it's still cute so <3

"MON AMOUR, what is this white and blue bullshit?" the monégasque spoke from behind her. she turned to see a look of disbelief creased on his face. she scoffed as she strung the ribbons about the room.

shaking her head as she tied it off and stepped down from the ladder, she took a step back to admire her work, "figured you had enough red trauma in your life," she'd poke fun at charles, a smile gracing her face as he, undoubtedly, stared at her in admiration. but he'd prefer red.

"not funny, chérie." he deadpanned, though she could see the smirk that pulled at his lips, "red is better than whatever this shit is." he shook his head, hand on his side as he looked up at the decor.

she pouted, "but the white and blue looks good, besides it's too much work to redo it all."

"I'll help you."

she rolled her eyes, burning holes into his as she heavily sighed. she rolled her neck to look at the strung ribbon and ornaments she'd worked hard to decorate.

he admired the effort and dedication to her christmas spirit, and honestly, he was just poking fun. as long as she was happy, it didn't matter to him if they were blue or white, or even the most hideous of neons if that's what her heart desired. he just wanted to poke fun at his love for not using the color that dominated his life, in a good or bad way.

at the end of the day, he'd know that no matter how she decorated, it'd end up more beautiful than the previous year as he'd increase the budget at which how much she could spend because let's be honest, he knew she'd come home with more bags than what could fit in the apartment if he didn't limit her spending. she was like a little elf compared to the mountain of items she bought, excluding gifts.

he didn't care how much of his money she spent, he'd gladly push as much of it towards her as he could because he had more than he could ever spend, and if he knew one person that could, it was her.

his hands would find their way around her waist, sliding his face into the crevice of her neck and inhaling the addicting smell of her shampoo lingering in her hair, the faint perfume residing on her skin as well.

his lips would leave faint kisses along her neck, muttering against her skin, "c'est jolie, chérie, tu peux le laisser." (it's pretty, darling, you can leave it.)

her voice would go up an octave as his warm skin pressed hers, smiling widely at her work, "merci beaucoup, mais je pense que le rouge serait plus joli." (thank you very much, but I think red would be prettier)

"moi aussi." (me too.) he agreed with her, feeling the smirk of his lips against her skin, she rolled her eyes, but regardless, she'd pull out the red decor from the years prior. though she didn't mind him forcing his ferrari trauma on her, she did like the change up, but she knew that he'd secretly prefer red.

but she didn't know that he just liked whatever she did. anything she did was perfect to him and he loved every idea that her mind thought of. she was sacred and he would protect that.

he'd watch her vigorously tear down the blue, but left the white, which he didn't mind as it contrasted nicely against the dark red she'd chosen and the gold accents that complimented it.

she'd stand tired, half-lidded eyes as she turned around the room to admire her work when she'd hear the footsteps of her love from behind her. she heard glass clink on the end table of their living room as he caught her hand in his.

he twirled her around the room, the soft piano sounds of christmas music played throughout the apartment as they swayed to the sound.

"très belle," he'd coo, "juste comme toi." (very beautiful, just like you)

she'd blush, feeling the heat rush to her face, "et tu es très beau." (and you are very handsome) she replied shyly, a chuckle escaping his lips at her demeanor, even though she'd heard the words numerous times.

"merci, mon amour."

[nats-bottom]

NR - Photos

Summary: Nat posts a photo online and gets teased about her and Reader's height difference

Pairings: Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Warnings: Teasing, bullying

Notes:

I also have accounts on Wattpad and AO3! The users there are @ paige_vers

Please give me requests! You can submit them here or on my insta, @ scarlettsoutset

ᨖᨖೱᨖ⧗ᨖⴵᨖ🕷️ᨖⴵᨖ⧗ᨖೱᨖᨖ

Y/n POV

"Hmmph" I hear my girlfriend, Natasha groan as she scrolls on her phone. We were sitting on a couch in the main living room area in the Avenger's Compound. There was no one else in the room with us, they were all doing their own thing. Both me and Natasha were on our phones, sitting next to each other. Well, more like she was sitting on top of me, cuddling into me. 

"What's wrong baby?" I ask knowing that something is up. She still doesn't look up from her phone and continues to scroll. 

"Why do people have to be so mean? I just posted a new photo on instagram of the two of us, and so many of the comments are about how short I am compared to you." She complains.

I look down at her and brush her hair with my fingers. Sure she is only 5'3" and I am 5'9", but that didn't cause any problems in our relationship. I found it very cute when she asks me to grab something off the top shelf, or when she had to reach up to kiss me. "It's ok. Just ignore what they're saying. It doesn't matter. All that matters is what you and I think. They're all just haters who just have something mean to say. They probably just have something that they don't like about themselves, so they just take it out in the easiest way possible. Don't listen to them. I love you just the way you are."

"Thanks y/n. I love you too. You always know how to help me." She says as she snuggles into me even more.

"Now let's turn that phone off and just cuddle, okay? How does that sound."

"That sounds good." She says, handing me her phone. I take our phones and put them on the side table next to the couch. As she tucks her head into my neck, Wanda walks in, laughing. 

"Oh my god! Natasha, you look so short next to y/n! Hahahaha! Shorty!" Wanda says while laughing her ass off. She comes over and sits down on a chair across from us. She is looking at her phone, presumably at the photo Nat posted earlier of the two of us. I feel Nat shift next to me,  obviously uncomfortable. Before I can say anything, Wanda shows her phone to us, pointing to the height difference. 

"See! Even the camera captures just how short you are Natasha. You're like the shortest on the team. Everyone just towers over you." Wanda says as she laughs some more.

"Wanda, would you stop? This isn't funny." I say sternly, giving Wanda a harsh look. 

"But Natasha is so fun to tease. It's so funny when she gets mad and she stomps around because she's so small and it's just like watching a little kid." Wanda says.

Wanda should be scared now. Not only has she made fun of my girlfriend, but she made fun of the kindest, best, most amazing person in the world. Nat sits there, looking at Wanda with shock, obviously hurt, but too scared to cry in front of anyone else besides me. I move Nat's legs off my lap, give her head a quick kiss on her forehead, and stand up from the couch. 

"Wanda, take back what you said." I say, standing in front of her, my hands in fists.

She looks down at my hands and back up at my eyes. I'm taller than her so she has to look up at me. She steps closer to me. "And what if I don't?" She questions.

"Then you'll regret it." I say, my hands starting to glow white a little and my eyes starting to turn purple. 

"Ok ok, I take it back. I don't mean anything I said." She says, but mumbles the last part.

"And" I say, expecting an apology.

"I'm sorry" She says sarcastically and rolls her eyes.

"Wanda." I say seriously.

"I'm sorry ok! I really didn't mean it! I'm just bored and Vision is busy and I need something to do." Wanda said. "So I went online and found this and thought it'd be funny to come and tease Natasha. I really actually do like the photo. It's a really good pic of the two of you."

I can tell that she really means it. I'm not quite ready to forgive her yet, but I say my thanks and stand in front of the couch that Nat is on. I offer her my hand and she takes it. I led her up to our shared bed room silently. There we stayed for the rest of the night, watching movies and eating snacks. Nat is being really soft today, which is a side of her that I don't normally get to see.

A/N: I have nothing against Wanda, I just needed someone to be in the story for this. Wanda is one of my favorites.

[melodic-haze]

... Arlecchino with a reader taller than her? Would that change anything? I'm so curious 😇

☆ — DEMO TRACK: sub!Arlecchino x dom!Reader

☆ — TYPE: NSFW

☆ — CONTENT WARNINGS: Reader has a cock/strap referred to as such

☆ — NOTES: Can I say I tried to make this sfw first and then failed when I realised the potential

☆ — PARTS: Part 1 (you are here), Part 2

This is so fucking funny to me bc when you think ab it Arlecchino's acc REALLY fucking short without heels compared to her height ON heels

Don't laugh at her face ab it though unless you want death 🤷‍♀️

I'm like 5'5 I wish I was tall enough for Arle to have to look up at me :/

In all seriousness though I do think that she uses heels both as a weapon with those fuckass blades, but also as a way to seem taller and more intimidating—the cold, unfeeling Father that she wanted to present herself as, completely untouchable

When you're taller than her though?? God, without heels it gets her feeling things she hadn't thought she'd ever feel, let alone being taller than her WHILE she has heels on 🫶

She actually feels powerless, a feeling that is usually most unpleasant, and yet.......she actually finds herself liking the height difference as she looks up at you to actually look you in the eye

It'd wake up the undiscovered size kink she didn't even KNOW she had bc nobody else reaally made her feel sooo I mean yes ❗️ Something very much changes in her ☺️☺️☺️☺️

"Ah.. mn..!"

Long nails, practically talons at this point, threatened to break your skin as you pounded her insides relentlessly. Arlecchino was always such a good girl for you, taking whatever you gave her without a single complaint.

You couldn't help but deem yourself lucky, to witness such a docile, subservient side to her, considering the ever-so-stoic persona she dons. Not as if it stopped with you simply witnessing her majesty, no—you were the entire reason why she was pliant like this, a powerful figure practically turning herself into an obedient ragdoll for you to use for your own satisfaction.

Not as if you were selfish though. No, if anything, from the way she had often looked at you and the fact that she would much rather let her own actions speak in her stead, she enjoyed being used like this.

..Enjoyed it a little too much, actually.

There were times when you've seen her look up at you woth a dazed look in her eyes—the crimson crosses often scanned you up and down before looking away with a tint in her cheeks. Of course, it had confused you to no end; was there something she saw?

You only figured it out when she had decided to idly comment on your height one time when you had helped her with taking a book from the uppermost shelves, her heels gone in favour for comfort within the safety of your own home.

"You.. are rather tall," that's all she said, the same coat of rare pink on her cheeks before staring at you—at your hands—before shaking her head and walking away swiftly.

...

Actually, this might be the best time to test your hypothesis.

You sat up, putting your pace into an abrupt stop, as you placed your hands on the curve of her ass and kept her close.

As knee-deep in pleasure as she was, one could never take away the sudden instinct of alert observation, "Is.. mm.. Is there something wrong, my beloved?"

You shook her head, "No, no, just.. brace yourself."

"Why would-- ..!"

Her breath hitched as you lifted her into the air, her hands crossed onto your shoulders as she held onto you in shock. Not as if you gave her room for a reaction, anyway, since you had easily slammed back into her the next second.

The new upward angle paired with the closeness between the two of you had her practically seeing stars as you hit spots that she hadn't realised existed within her. Every time your cock plunged inside her pussy, the tip hit the deepest spots—ones you had only grazed when you really went rough with the Harbinger.

Not to mention her feet weren't touching the floor.

You had lifted her up, and with the height difference between you two, she was exactly she couldn't allow herself to be.

Powerless.

Considering the way she rolled her eyes with a groan before putting her head on your shoulder and biting your skin as you pounded her into the air, she actually fucking enjoyed it.

She'll have to assess.. everything later, but for now she didn't care. Not when you're having your way with her.

Moment you have her up in the air is the moment her mind goes I fear

Like you mean to tell her that she's?? Up in the air without her fucking power??? Because you're tall enough for you to just. Lift her up?????? Her feet aren't touching the ground and the realisation has her juices GUSHING out ohhhhmy god

Not just the fact that she feels so powerless with you, but the way that her feeling small in your arms = her feeling safe as well???? Like you're her barrier from the world that's done her wrong time and time again, the world that's taken the most important things—people—away from her. Being fucked like this in your arms helps her forget all those for a while and feel safe and small, like she's the one being taken care of this time instead of the other way around

She wouldn't be asking you to do this again though, mind you..........but she does look at you and sizes you up and really that's all you need as a notice of what she wants 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[starry-bi-sky]

more clone^2 thoughts

you know who i just remembered ALSO has long hair? Vlad. Vlad Masters. Danny's worst enemy and biggest pain in the ass ever since he sent those vulture ghosts after his fucking dAD. Danny having long hair would make Vlad so inSUFFERABLE. Like look!! Proof that you are much better off as MY son. We have matching hair lengths! Come be my son! I will make you a halfa like me and we will become powerful allies together!

Danny almost chops it off out of spite. He ends up not doing it because he likes his hair long, actually, very much so and he's not growing it out again just because you're crazy! He's attempted to take a pair of scissors to Vlad's hair though -- THAT was a fight that got ugly. Danny's go-to threat whenever he sees him after that is that he's going to chop off vlad's hair when he's not looking - just you watch, Masters. He'll do it. HE'LL DO IT.

And if Danny wasn't keeping it a tight secret, he'd turn around and taunt Vlad about being a) a clone and b) a clone of BRUCE WAYNE. he'd say stuff like:

"How's it feel knowing my parents cloned a man richer than you"

"you're just mad that bruce wayne is more my dad than you'll ever be!"

"it could've been you that my parents accidentally cloned instead of Wayne, but instead you fucked off for twenty years instead!"

but also its a constant question Danny asks himself how he and no one else ever figured it out sooner that he was a clone. He doesn't understand how Vlad of all people didn't realize it when he went to college with the man with his parents and was also stinking rich, before remembering that he doubts Vlad remembers anyone who wasn't his parents in college, and has been a rich, recluse loser this entire time.

its a good thing though, danny's pretty sure vlad would attempt a hit on the man if he found out out of pure jealousy and indignant rage. And then he'd get his ass beat by Batman and his army of children.

All in all, Dany is a pure menace towards Vlad whenever he gets the chance, as is normal, and then Vlad's suffering gets doubled after he makes Ellie - of which she is even worse than Danny because she's the halfa that Danny Is NOt and thus has the powers to break into his house easy peasy and wreck shit. She steals his obsidian black card and goes on a shopping spree. This is a regular occurrence.

(and for anyone who isn't aware - Ellie is the same age as Danny in clone^2 bc i thought it'd be fun)

And then it gets tripled once Damian joins the family and gets caught up to speed on all of Vlad's tomfoolery and whoops, Damian's got better stealth skills than Danny and looks like Ellie has a partner in crime whenever they need to sneak into vlad's house to cause him grief.

Vlad's walls are the first canvas for Damian to test out his new spray paints on once he gets them :)

next up

Wes weston! i love this guy, he's so funny and he definitely knows danny is the Phantom in the clone^2 au. it's not as easy to figure out as it is in canon since its not just a simple colorswap, but perhaps he sees Danny taking off his mask after a daytime fight. and after that he becomes determined to reveal that quiet, strange fenton is the vigilante phantom.

he's putting some real,,, detectiveness? stalkerish? skills to use because catching photos of phantom is not as easy as it is if he were a halfa. He can't just snap a few dozen photos of fenton and phantom and then color compare the two of them either - Phantom wears a mask, and works primarily at night or in evenings, and typically avoids the living during the day. And he doesn't speak to the living either. Wes has to put in some extra work into his investigations and evidence.

He also makes the dumb mistake of cornering Danny in the bathroom one day early on and telling him he knows he's the Phantom -- now that Danny knows that Wes knows, he's going to be even more careful not to get caught. He puts in a little extra work in both Fenton and Phantom - another layer, perhaps a jacket, as Phantom, and baggier pants and boots he never wears as Fenton. His hood stays up in the daytime.

He was already putting in some extra effort to appear creepy and unsettling as Phantom - things like crouching low, tense movements, fluid movements. If he's perched on something he does a kinda-crawl like movement - think a mix between a bear and a gorilla crawl. It's weird, creepy. And he stares. Danny's mastered the art of not needing to blink for long periods of time, so if he sees you and sticks around he stares. It doesn't help that you can't see his eyes that well through his mask - its just two piercing green.

It helps endear him to ghosts and his enemies though - the annoying little human boy is engaging in ghost culture! That's eliciting some form of begrudging respect from his enemies.

And then compare that creepy, almost cryptid-like behavior to Fenton who, while considered a freak, really isn't anything more than just some dorky weirdo with occasional heart problems. He's kinda unsettling - he has those 'stares into soul' eyes - but its leveled by the fact that he's kinda just... dorky. It reads as normal, awkward kid behavior, and then gets disregarded completely as he gets older and it bleeds into 'very chill teenager'. Fenton being Phantom doesn't compute that much.

Paulina: you think Phantom is Fenton? Wes: I don't think, I know he is! I have proof-- Star: Just because they both have black hair doesn't mean they're the same, Wes. That's like saying Paulina and Manson are sisters because they also have black hair.

Wes's attempts to out him as Phantom means that Danny is a little more wary of him than he is in canon, since his vigilante identity isn't an entirely different ghost form its just him, so he has to be careful about where or when he takes off his mask in case Wes is around. Especially during daytime fights.

But other than that he has a lot of time messing with him. Wes is trying to convince his table group at lunch that Fenton = Phantom (again) and Danny just so happens to be within earshot of him and starts making fun of the idea.

"You think I'm Phantom?" and he's got the most disbelieving grin on his face that's only partially convincing. "That's totally bogus, man. The Phantom famously doesn't get along with my parents, why would I be a ghost hunter and not work with them?"

He has this most shit-eating, delighted look in his eyes that Wes knows is pure manic glee at being able to mess with him and get away with it. Wes is going to strangle him.

"Besides, dude, did you forget I have a heart condition? I can't be chasing around ghosts - my heart would give out from all that running and jumping."

Although Danny can get really serious at the flip of a coin if need be - especially with Wes when he gets too pushy about him being Phantom. A notable instance is when Wes cornered him in an empty bathroom to again talk about him being Phantom.

Except Danny, who had been working on a really difficult cold case about the death of a child, and hadn't gotten much sleep in the last 72 hours, plus a plethora of other stuff (like recently acquiring Damian, fighting ghosts, etc), wasn't in the mood to entertain him. It ended with Weston getting pinned to the wall and lowkey threatened by Danny. He apologizes for it afterwards but it's not forgotten.

Additional note: Wes Weston having a crush on Danny Fenton is a hilarious trope to me so Wes absolutely has a crush on Danny and the only one in denial about it is him. Everyone else - except Danny because he's more focused on the fact that Wes knows his identity, and has other things to worry about - knows about it, and everyone chalks up his obsession with Danny as being part of said crush.

Wes' friend: you know usually when you have a crush on someone you normally confess, maybe ask them out, pine from afar....

Wes: i dont--

Wes's friend: not accuse him of being the local ghost-fighting vigilante. Seriously, wes! His parents are ghost hunters!

Wes: i do not have a crush

Wes's friend: and ghosts aren't real! everyone knows that's a lie!

next up

Dan! Or Dante, but i'll call him Dan for the time being. Even if I dislike the name with a passion. Much like Wrath from my Childhood Friends au, Dan here is pretty different from his canon counterpart. Mostly because I wanted to experiment with Dan and different interpretations of him, and I thought; hey, where no better than an au where Danny has no powers?

so, dan? Dan is not a combination of Danny and Vlad's ghost halves -- now, don't get me wrong, danny still ends up under vlad's custody care after the death of his family, but he just doesn't fuse with Vlad's ghost.

So, what happened? What happened is that Vlad convinces a grieving Danny that he should let him make him a halfa (despite the fact that he has no idea how) because the he could go find his family in the ghost zone. Danny is in no mental state for any kind of experiments, but his hope and want to see his family and friends again gets him to agree.

It backfires. Vlad doesn't make Danny a halfa, he just ends up killing him completely. Danny comes back instantly as a ghost however, and enraged over being lied to, betrayed, and murdered, ends up killing Vlad in furious cold blood. He doesn't fuse with his ghost half, there's no ghost half to fuse with.

So a grieving ghost, Danny flees into the ghost zone. And, in this iteration, doesn't end up destroying the world. So how does TUE end up happening? Well, ten years later - with Danny remaining a forever 14 year old ghost - Dan ends up finding out about time travel. He finds out a way to travel back into the past, and he does.

So he can take over his past self's life. Danny just thinks he's fighting a weird doppleganger ghost, but ends up getting overshadowed. It's like being in a weird limbo, and Danny's not really sure what's happening - but his friends figure something out. After all, its been ten years since dan saw his friends, something has to give.

And that episode happens. Danny ends up meeting clockworth, beats Dan. But, well, it's not really happily ever after - somewhat. Ehh.. sorta. Danny's been traumatized by Dan's overshadowing - making him realize that despite everything, there are things ghosts can do that danny simply cannot and he needs to prepare for it. Onset paranoia, anyone?

Dan tells them his whole tragic backstory - there's a chance for redemption here, for him. For forgiveness. Not immediately, not yet, but its there. And he doesn't want to go back to the future - he's alone there. He's tired of being alone.

But he ends up being convinced - he needs to learn to look forward, not cling back. He can build himself up again, find new family. He doesn't have to be alone. So Dan goes back to the future.

"But come tell me if Vlad's giving you trouble --" and he smiles something wicked, "I'd be happy to handle him again"

and finally

not so much as any concrete thoughts as it is just me being emotional over Danny and Damian's brotherhood in this au and also Danny's hands. Again.

lIKE.. I put it in the tags of my reblog of my "danny's scarred hands' ficlet but im putting it here and its just?? Danny grabbing the blade of Damian's sword. Him grabbing the sword multiple times despite the fact that he knows it will hurt, that he will hurt himself. That he will keep hurting himself until Damian himself stops.

its just like??? whats it mean to spill your own blood just so that this little boy you've just met won’t have to ever again. he doesn't know any english and he is hurting you and yet you take him home and get him new clothes. he runs away and you go looking for him, every single time. you teach yourself arabic first so that you can converse with him.

this boy is a clone and so are you. you're a clone of his father he's a clone of your son - by nature of your existence this is your child. except its not your child, you don't have one, its just a little boy who happens to share the same dna as you. and you take him home and he becomes your little brother.

what's it mean when its you whose been hurt rather than him? whats it mean when you’d hurt yourself again just so that he can start to heal, so that he knows that he’s worth it? you cut your hands on his blade, catch its swing, just so this boy can know, can learn, that there’s someone who will bleed for him. that there's someone who will scar their hands just to make sure that you wont scar yours.

you’re a bleeding heart and its spilling out onto your palms. you take bloody fingers and wrap it around your little brother’s and say "its okay. it’s okay. you’re safe. no one will hurt you here. i promise. i wont let them. no one will hurt you so long as i'm around."

"put the sword down. i can show you how. let me show you how."

and damian in this au just reminds me of the song "eight" by sleeping at last. like?? the lYRICS. he is sO "eight" coded

'show me how to lay my sword down for long enough to let you through.' 'here i am. pry me open. what do you want to know?' 'im just a kid who grew up scared enough to hold the door shut and bury my innocence' 'but here's a map. here's a shovel. here's my achilles' heel. im all in palms out. im at your mercy now and im ready to begin. i am strong enough to let you in.'

"by nature of our existence we are father and son, but by choice we are brothers. we are brothers we are brothers we are brothers. and i love you"

[penkura]

knowing [7/8]

Summary: Sanji knew you were the one the moment he met you.

Pairing: Sanji x Reader

Warnings: None really. Normal One Piece stuff I guess.

Note: The end is near!! Wano my beloved, I love Sanji in Wano sm. Another shorter one, compared to six and eight, but we're in the home stretch!! Next chapter is the finale and I hope it will be worth it!

Taglist:

@jzkeisuke | @arcanumlaw

[Ch. 1] ● [Ch. 2] ● [Ch. 3] ● [Ch. 4] ● [Ch. 5] ● [Ch. 6]

Your arrival in Wano started with all of you separated from Luffy, navigating your way through a forested area, hoping to find a town. Sanji kept a hold of your hand the whole time, refusing to let you wander off or get left behind somehow. Of course you weren't like Zoro with your sense of direction, Sanji just wanted to be sure you didn't get separated from the group (mostly from him).

Once you did find Luffy, Kin'emon got you all up to speed on what they had been doing. You were to help recruit more Samurai and ninja for the raid on Onigashima in about two weeks. You'd have to take on a role in the city to keep a low profile, while passing out the cards with the insignia that Kin'emon had put together. He provided disguises with his technique, Nami's being a lot more showy than she liked so she had to adjust it, but you were quick to try and reject whatever he tried to dress you in.

"No no, I think I'm fine with what I'm wearing. I'm a kunoichi already."

"While yes you are, it would be better if you could take on another role for the time being!"

"Then she'll stay with me!" Sanji nodded, putting his arms around your shoulders, Franky and Usopp both still confused since you hadn't had the chance to tell them yet, "We could pretend we're married and running a stall together!"

"Hey Sanji," Usopp was a bit concerned, but did take note of how you didn't push Sanji off or anything, "Maybe she wants to go help Nami or we could see if she can help Franky get the mansion plans. There's no need for you guys to pretend you're a couple!"

"We won't be pretending we're a couple! Just that we're married! We're already together so it doesn't matter!"

"...wait what?"

Realizing what he said, Sanji blushed a bit before hiding his face in your shoulder, making you pat him on his head. You found it funny how he seemed to become so shy about it, maybe because you two hadn't gotten to actually sit and tell Usopp and Franky.

"Poor, poor boyfriend. I don't mind pretending we're married and helping Sanji."

"B…boyfriend?!"

"Yes, Sanji and I are dating."

Franky and Usopp both shouted at you, asking when that happened and being surprised when you said it'd been about two years. Telling you it was 'super' you were together, Franky started crying while Usopp couldn't believe how you kept such a secret for so long, asking who else knew.

"Everyone. You guys were the last two we had to tell."

"Whaaaat??"

+!+

After everything had been settled and you allowed Kin'emon to give you a disguise that let you blend in like a regular Wano housewife, you helped Sanji and Usopp figure out what kind of food stall Sanji would run. The lone soba stand caught your attention, and you noticed Sanji was watching them carefully, which caused you to say his name and get him out of his thoughts. He'd been watching closely after a young girl and her mother had gone up and gotten bowls themselves.

"Hey, do me a favor. Go get in line and get a bowl of that soba."

"Uh, ok, babe, I can do that."

You stood in line for a while, Sanji and Usopp off to the side talking while you waited, until the stand owners stopped taking orders just before you got up to the front. When you went back over to them, you latched back onto Sanji's arm and apologized that you couldn't get a bowl but he gave you a smile.

"Nah, don't worry. I got the information I needed, thank you."

Confused, you still smiled back and nodded, the three of you returning to where you'd be staying during your time in Wano. You'd all had dinner, thanks to Sanji of course, before turning in for the night, and you absolutely refused to go with anyone but Sanji. Might as well really play the part of husband and wife, was your excuse when Nami said you should go with her, Shinobu, and Carrot. She rolled her eyes at you and just said not to go making any babies or anything, causing you to turn bright, bright red and threaten to revoke her honorary kunoichi status while she laughed at you.

"You could've gone with the girls, it would've been fine."

You shook your head, wrapping your arms around Sanji while he did the same to you, pulling you even closer to himself.

"I'd much rather stay with you~"

His turned bright red, no matter how many times you share a bed, it still made Sanji so nervous. He still didn’t believe that you were real, that you loved him and wanted him, he’d never had anyone return his feelings and affections before you. Maybe it was crazy, to think so much about marrying you already, when you were technically his first and only girlfriend, but it seemed like you had the same thoughts, especially after the whole fiasco with his family and the Big Mom pirates.

He didn’t want to ever put you through emotional distress like that again.

“Hey, uh—”

Sanji tried to say something, but instead, he heard you snoring already, very lightly. It made him breathe in relief, with a smile on his face. You really helped him out that day with getting his soba stand ready, you must’ve been so wiped out.

“Sleep well, mon amour.”

I’ll ask you another day.

+!+

With the raid on Onigashima just days away, you and Sanji had found less time to spend with each other during waking hours. You’ve all moved elsewhere to prepare for the raid, Kin’emon and the other Samurai helping you where they could as they prepared too. Shinobu and Raizo had taken a liking to you since you were a kunoichi yourself, both being surprised but impressed to hear you were from an offshoot of Wano, asking how the village was doing and making plans to go there once Wano’s borders were opened.

Two nights before the raid, Sanji finally worked out some time for the two of you to spend and relax, he made a dinner for just the two of you, that Luffy tried multiple times to sneak a bite from until Nami pulled him away and gave him the dinner Sanji made for all of them. The last time Nami had to drag him away made you laugh, while Sanji just rolled his eyes.

“Bottomless pit, that’s what he is.”

“We’ve known that for two years now.”

You giggled, leaning into Sanji’s arm with your head on his shoulder, causing him to kiss the top of your head before you sighed happily.

“I’m glad to have this time with you…everything’s going to be insane day after tomorrow.”

“Yeah…but it’ll be okay. We’ll free this place and then be on our way again.”

“I know, it’s just…getting there is going to be a lot.”

Sanji knew you were probably worried about him, honestly about everyone, but he was the only one you were expressing those worries to. He wanted you to be relaxed and to know that everything would be perfectly fine. Robin had talked to him about how you were seeming more worried as time went on, as the raid got closer, and he got an idea of how to maybe calm you down, but it might also make you even more worried, he wasn’t sure of what to do.

Do I ask her now…? Is this a weird time to propose?

Before he even had a chance to say anything, the two of you were being called by Usopp for something about the raid, making you sigh with a slightly sad smile on your face before looking at Sanji.

“Duty calls. But,” you stopped and kissed him before getting up to go see what was going on, both of you smiling after, “This was lovely, Sanji, you’re the best boyfriend ever.”

“Stop, I’m just taking care of my beautiful girlfriend…we’ll do this again, okay?”

“Of course. I love you, Sanji~”

“I love you too, my dear.”

Later. I’ll ask her later, once everything is settled here.

+!+

"No I…I didn't do anything!"

"You're the only one who could have!"

The geishas threw things at Sanji to get him out of the room, it barely phased him as he did so, wondering what on earth just happened. He had no idea! He'd been running off from Queen and the other Animal Pirates to get his thoughts in order over the oddities he'd noticed about himself recently, so lost in thought he didn't have any clue what caused this one geisha to go flying.

Though, his greatest fear now was that he had caused her to become hurt. Maybe it really was the only thing that made sense. Was he losing himself to that Germa science raid suit?

"Let me see that Germa science, Judge's son!"

Queen kept up his attempts to rile Sanji in order to see the raid suit technology, which Sanji kept denying. This time he was still so lost in thought, wondering what you, over anyone else, would have thought seeing what just happened.

Or worse…what if I hurt [Y/N] next time?

If he hurt you because of those genetic abilities, Sanji would never forgive himself. He'd never forgive his father or Germa for anything anyway, but should their science cause him to harm the most important person in his life, all that blame would fall on his own shoulders. He'd only meant to test the raid suit, not become dependent upon it or let it awaken the monstrous abilities his brothers had from the start. He never thought that would be possible after Reiju explained why he was so different from the rest of them.

Tell me, Luffy….which would you prefer? The regular flesh-and-blood me who turns into a helpless wreck when facing a woman, or a cruel emotionless warrior of science who can kill without discrimination if you give the order? Which of these would be more useful to you, as king of the pirates?

Despite his thoughts wondering if Luffy would somehow be better served by Germa's science, Sanji's thoughts also drifted to you as he retrieved the raid suit from his pocket. Which version would you prefer? Someone willing to kill anyone without qualms if so directed, or would you still prefer the emotional mess of a man that doted on you and had your respect for sticking to his principles of not fighting a woman?

"I've made up my mind."

"Ooh," Queen's excitement over seeing the raid suit was quite obvious, "is that your raid suit?!"

"I have to assume that this thing caused the science already in my body to awaken and activate somehow," Sanji dropped the raid suit to the ground, lifting his foot while Queen watched him stomp on the canister, "Well, I can't do anything about that! But I can say no more! I won't become a Germa soldier!"

"Aww what a waste!! I wanted to see you transform!"

Pulling out a baby transponder snail, calling Zoro and letting him argue with him briefly about his reasoning for slipping it into his band, Sanji hated making such a request of Zoro of all people.

"We're gonna win this but…after the finisher if I'm not…in my right mind, I need you to kill me."

"All right, fine! I'll kill you after this is over, whatever that means!"

"And I…need you to tell [Y/N]--"

"I'm not saying anything sappy!"

There was no time to argue or fight, so Sanji just nodded. He figured it'd be a long shot anyway.

"At least I'll have something to look forward to after this. So don't die until then!"

"Thanks."

"Hey," they were short on time, but Zoro decided he'd say one more thing, "I'll tell her."

"Appreciate it."

+!+

"Oh my gosh, Sanji, what happened?!"

You had finished helping Usopp and Nami get Otama somewhere safe, and returned back into the castle to search for anyone else that needed help or to find the rest of your comrades. After finding most everyone, though you had no idea where Zoro was really and knew Luffy was on the roof, you ended up finding a room with some geishas who were tending to Sanji's injuries. You were instantly on your knees beside him asking the geisha girl next to him what happened.

"He…he fought and defeated Master Queen!! He protected me after we accused him of attacking me!"

You might have to ask him about that last bit later, but you were so relieved to hear Sanji was all right, he was just injured but was being treated by the geishas.

Of course you protected her, you sweet man..

Leaning over, you gently kissed his forehead which surprised the geisha girl, Osome, you'd later learn.

"You're so amazing. I love you, Sanji."

"O-Oh, are you two…?"

You smiled at Osome with a nod. "Yes! He's the love of my life! Thank you for taking care of him!"

"I-It's the least I could do after he saved Chuji!"

The little mouse squeaked and made you smile softly. Osome explained everything to you, while you stayed by Sanji for the moment, brushing his hair back out of his face and holding his hand. After you heard the whole story, knowing Sanji wasn't at fault for Osome being hurt and that he'd beaten Queen, you stood up when you heard some shouting about the fire.

"Can you stay with him for me? I'm going to go help some others!"

"Y-Yes!"

"Thank you!"

You ran out of the room, promising yourself and Sanji that you two would get some time alone again soon, and you'd tell him how proud you were of him.

Soon, I swear.

[occasionalsnippets]

Lazarus (Gotham AU)

Pairing: Gen

A/N: ummm, no reasons for this. Gotham/DC AU? I just thought it'd be funny to put them in situations so this is pretty short. I started writing this before I posted the initial blurb.

Dying is a common occurrence and so is being alive after dying. What is not normal is for you to literally be drowning upon living.

Here's the thing. Although you metaphorically compare dying to drowning where it pulls you under turbulent waves and tries to keep you down, there hasn't been a situation where you've actually drowned while in Foundation custody.

So, why did it feel like you were actually drowning now? Between the way it felt like your skin was burning and how your lungs were starting to run out of air, you had fairly good evidence that you were "alive" and not “dead right now. Actually dying isn’t an issue but still, it’s messy and you prefer living when possible.

With the strength you have left, you kick yourself up and break the water’s surface, gasping for air as you emerge. You cough as you fumble and try to grip onto the edge of the vessel. After a few moments, the coughing ends and you're left feeling like you have torn your throat out. You rub the water out of your eyes and finally take a look at where you've ended up.

This was not where you were before you died. A cave with looming walls and stalagmites hanging from the ceiling surrounds you. You turn your gaze down at the water you're in. It's green. And glowing.

"Well," you say, oddly calm, "this is bad."

Your voice echoes in the empty cave. There’s only one universe you’re somewhat familiar with that has pits like these and it’s been years since you’ve read those comic books. Really, it’s like your childhood is coming back to haunt you.

As quickly as you can, you get out of the Lazarus pit and shiver as wind rushes by. The water drips off your soaked clothes but you try to squeeze most of it out. With any amount of luck, hypothermia won’t kill you after this. If it does, you’ll end up back here again anyways.

For now, you'll need to get out of here. Sticking around the pits isn’t good and whatever issues arise from it, you can deal with later. You glance around and start heading to the only opening around. You're unfamiliar with where this was but surely you'd find a way out with enough tries, right?

The water is still bubbling when you leave. You think it'll probably haunt you for the next week, at least.

[ghostfanwriter]

💖🧰 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 🧰💖

Part five

←Previous part

💖 Pairing: Joel Miller x Virgin!Fem! Reader

🧰 Synopsys: Joel comes back with a few gifts for you, and you ask Frank to make him a gift as well.

💖 Features: Reader daydreams about Joel and touches him, graphic but no smut per say (I think?); Pet names and Joel guiding her as she touches him.

🧰 Word Count: Around 7k.

💖 About this: This doesn't move the plot a lot, but it moves the story on the sense that he shows her how he cares about her and she cares about him back?

🧰 Author's Note: Inconsistency is key over here. Impostor syndrome decided to pay me a visit and also now that spring's coming I'm working like crazy, and so my writing got a bit slowed down. Hope you like this, I put a lot of love into it 🩷

His backpack, a lantern, a gun.

A guitar, a leather bag with tools, another bag with brushes and small cans of paint.

All of his things surround Joel as he sits on the floor of an abandoned convenience store somewhere far from Lincoln.

He took his time to block the doors and windows before checking his list and winding down.

The day went by smoothly, with no encounters with any infected or alive. He found everything he was looking for, especially the things he was looking for you.

He takes a box from his backpack and opens it, taking a camera and its instructions out of it. He has to squint his eyes and hold the paper away from his face so the words become clear for his tired eyes.

He opens the small packaging with photo papers and fills the camera, turning it on, looking at the ceiling and quietly praying it'd still be functioning.

He knew how happy you'd be if he got it back to you. How you'd finally be able to have things looking just like the real thing.

The camera turns on and he smiles, then looks around, thinking of what he could take a picture of to test if it still worked. When he finds nothing interesting, he turns the lens to himself and takes a photo, that comes out perfectly.

His face doesn't help it, though, and he grunts when he sees it.

He looks old. Old and tired.

No.

He doesn't look old and tired. He is old and tired.

Too old, too tired.

Too old and tired for you. What is he thinking?

He crumples the photo, setting it aside, crumpling his thoughts along with it.

He's been through it.

He is getting old. But he knows his feelings, knows his feelings for you. He'd never get close to you if he didn't know how he feels for you.

He wouldn't because he'd kill the man that did to Sarah what he did to you. There's no questioning that.

But he knows how he feels for you. He knows how you feel for him. He can't just vanish now, just go away, it's too late to realize this was all a bad idea.

He can't let you not believe in love because an old man broke your heart.

He goes back to his backpack and grabs one of the containers with the food you prepared for him. Opening the lid, he sees the shredded chicken and breathes in deeply, smiling at how good it smells. The images of you preparing it that morning star replaying in his mind, taking him right back to it.

To how sunny and happy you looked, how your hair was messy from wearing that funny hat the whole morning, how your skin was glistening from being in the sun picking the crops for breakfast.

How your skirt moved along with your body, how your shirt hugged your chest so nicely. How more comfortable you were around him this morning, compared to the one before. How much closer you got the night before...

He cuts his thoughts when he starts feeling a tightness on his jeans. He adjusts himself, then takes a picture of the food.

He wants to save it, to remember it. Remember having you taking care of him like that.

Even in the poorly lit room the camera somehow manages to take an intelligible photo again, and he hums, pleased with it.

He puts it back inside its box and grabs a fork, devouring the chicken, humming with the taste and texture of it.

Still chewing, he grabs a pancake and rips it, using it to grab some of the chicken and eating them together, laughing at how good it tastes.

He keeps eating, thinking about how you're probably having dinner with your dads right now. How he'd be sitting across from you, how he'd take your ankle between his and caress it.

The scene makes him smile.

But he can't help but think about the last time he had dinner at a table, eating and talking, everyone going through their days and laughing.

How long ago it was.

How Sarah was still there.

How he wishes he had her with him.

He thinks about what he told you, about how you two would be good friends if you've ever met.

Thinking about her hurts too much, so he avoids it. And doing so he never thinks about her as anything but a fourteen years old.

Never thinks about how she would be old enough today to have her own children. How if things never went to hell he could maybe even be a grandfather today.

He shoves more food in his mouth, trying to take his mind away from what his life could be. Away from such painful places.

He finishes his food quickly, thinking about whatever, as long as it didn't hurt so much.

And he wishes you were here, with him. He feels comfortable with you, he trusts you. He would think about Sarah if you were with him, he'd go through his memories, would cry even. Because you'd be there with him.

But you're not, so he lays down, using the bag filled with your clothes as a pillow, thinking about you. About how you'll probably try all the new clothes and show them to him. How pretty he knows you're gonna look in them.

He picks up the photo he crumpled and straightens it back, thinking about how upset you'll be if he tells you he took a picture of himself and threw it away.

He falls asleep with the thought of caring for you. Keeping you safe and well, like he failed to do for Sarah. How Sarah always wanted him to be happy, how happy she must be seeing that he's maybe finally found peace and love.

You hardly closed your eyes all night, thinking about him.

If he was okay, if something happened, if the coffee was good, if the food was enough.

You're lying on a rocking chair on your porch, almost falling asleep when Bill walks out of your house.

"Hey, baby. Sit up, close your legs. Joel's back." He says, tapping your shoulders, and your heart starts racing inside your chest.

"Joel already?" You ask.

"Yeah, just saw him through the cameras." He says.

"Oh, there he is." Frank says, following Bill towards the gates.

You resist the urge to get up and run to him, and just bend over the porch fence, focusing on controlling the wide smile trying to break through your face.

He's back. Hopefully he's alright. Your eyes and nose burn just from the anticipation to see him.

When your dads are getting near the gate you see him more clearly. Carrying at least six bags, all full, seemingly very heavy too.

Joel greets your dads with a smile and a "Hey."

"Hey, how'd it go?" Bill asks.

"Fine, no problems. Found everything and some more." He responds.

Bill looks at him, then eyes his guns.

"Bill, I think we can trust him." Frank says, smiling awkwardly, and Joel shakes his head, setting all his bags on the floor.

"No, he's right. You can't lower your guard." Joel says, looking past your dads. "You've got something important to protect." He adds, handing your dad his guns.

"That I do." Bill says with a smile, taking them and some of Joel's many full bags.

"You didn't have to bring this all back. We could take it by car later." Frank tells him between grunts, also taking a few bags.

"It's fine." He says quietly as they begin walking towards the house, and Frank looks back at him.

"Is everything alright? Where there really no problems back there?" He asks Joel, slowing down his pace so Bill wouldn't listen to them.

"Yeah, no. It was fine." He responds, looking at the house, already looking for you, smiling when he sees you almost falling over the porch to look at him.

"She was crazy worried about you." Frank says, looking at you. "Stayed on her window until dinner time, waiting for you. Probably wouldn't have eaten if I didn't call her."

"I'm sorry." Joel says, looking at Frank, and he frowns.

"For what?" He asks, and Joel looks back down, avoiding your dad's eyes.

"For her. She told me she, well... Told you about us." He says.

"Oh, yeah... I mean, she's been lying to me." He says, and Joel looks at him. "I saw you two before you left. Didn't know you were, you know... there already." Frank says, and Joel gulps, his shoes seeming more interesting to him than ever before as he stares at them to not look at your dad.

Oh Frank...

...You've been so much further than that.

"I'm sorry, I don't even know if I should have ever gotten close to her. Shouldn't have talked to her, looked at her." Joel says, and Frank looks at you, smiling.

"Look at her, Joel." Frank says, and he looks at you.

All of his sadness, worry and tiredness dissolve when your eyes scrunch with your smile.

Shining as always, a big, now shameless and uncontrolled smile on your face. He can't help but smile back at you.

"She hadn't smiled like that for a while before you arrived. Definitely didn't smile like that since you left yesterday." He says, and Joel looks at him. "You're making her happy. That's all a father can care about." He says, and Joel's stomach hurts.

He knows that feeling all too well. He misses feeling it.

They reach the porch and you scan him up and down, trying to see if there's anything different on him.

"Are you okay?" You ask, your brows furrowed, your eyes worried.

"Yeah, b—." He curses himself. "I'm alright. Just a bit tired." He says, looking at Bill, praying he didn't catch the nickname he almost let slip out.

"Are you hungry? We were about to have lunch." You say.

"Well, your chicken is starting to wear out." He laughs.

"Well, then let's go in. You need some rest." Frank interrupts you two, bringing a few of his bags in. Bill follows him, also carrying some of them.

You and Joel share half a second together, while you also pick up a few bags.

"Take just this one. It's all yours." He says, handing you a soft and heavy bag.

"Oh — God. Is this all just my clothes?" You ask, grunting when you pick it up.

"Yeah. I found a really nice dress, think you'll really like it." He says, smiling.

"You didn't need to bring all this weight, Joel." You say, feeling bad for the effort he made for you.

"It's fine, baby." He reassures you. "It was for you."

You smile at him, making an actual effort to not go and hug him.

You were so worried, so stressed. It's been a day, and you feel like you haven't seen him in weeks.

Footsteps coming from inside cut your thoughts, and you turn around and start going inside, finding Bill on your way to the living room.

"Everything okay?" He asks.

"Yeah, was just telling Joel he didn't need to bring me all this stuff. It's really heavy." You say.

"It was the only heavy thing I brought though. The heavier stuff stayed." Joel explains himself, walking in, carrying the remaining bags.

You place your bag next to the coffee table and turn around, looking back at him. And you notice something behind his back.

"Is that...?" You ask with a big smile, pointing at the guitar.

"Oh, yeah. It is." He says, smiling. "Found a good one." He takes it off and holds it in front of himself for you to take it.

"Ah! Thank you." You scream quickly, taking it and going to sit on the couch besides Frank. "Did you only find one?" You ask, looking around and noticing there are no others.

"Uh, no. A store full of them." He starts. "But I still had a lot to look for, so I just took this one." He explains.

"We can share this one, it's fine." You say, smiling.

He sits on an armchair and rests his backpack by his feet, opening it to look for your camera.

"Here, Bill, this is yours." Frank says, handing him a big leather bag with tools.

"Oh, look at these, baby." Bill says, sitting by your side and opening the bag.

"Oh, wow! More tools, how exciting, dad!" You joke, acting like you're more excited about them than you actually are.

"Haha, funny. What did you ask for again? Huh?" He asks, and you give him a look. "What was it, baby?" He insists.

"Nothing. I asked for nothing." You lie, and Bill looks at Joel.

"Clothes. She asked for clothes." He says, laughing, his cheeks red and his eyes glistening.

He loves seeing you with Bill. You two are exactly what he thinks him and Sarah would still be like.

He'd love her more than anything, they'd joke around and he'd kill anyone who tried to brush a finger on her.

"Joel! C'mon, that's so unfair. You can't be in his side!" You say before he's finished speaking, acting like you're mad at him.

"Oh, yeah, clothes! The thing your wardrobe is full of." Bill says over you, laughing.

You rarely see your dad so laid back. You love to see him laughing and having fun. And it's interesting to notice how much in common he has with Joel, how they always agree on what has to be done and how to do it, how they make fun of you the very same way. In other circumstances, you'd say they'd be good friends.

You and your dad keep arguing about tools and clothes, playfully hitting each other.

"Hey, this is for you too." Joel interrupts you, beckoning for you to come towards him. When you do he hands you a small book with guitar instructions.

"I thought you were gonna teach me." You say, disappointed, and he laughs.

"I will, I'm just messing with you." He says, removing the camera from his backpack and showing it to you.

"AAAaaah!" You scream again, this time for longer, your eyes wide and your voice high. "No! Joel, where did you find this?" You ask, bending down to hug him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." You say on his neck, still not letting go.

He caresses your back, looking awkwardly at Bill, who looks at Frank, frowning.

"Enough, baby. Let him go." Frank tells you, distracted by what he's looking at, but you're too busy enjoying Joel to hear him.

Too busy feeling relief, the hug much more thankfulness for him being back than for the camera. He's here, he's fine, he brought you so many things.

He thought about you while he was away...

"Baby, hey." Joel whispers. But you only let go when Bill almost yells your name.

"Sorry, Joel." You say, running to your dads, jumping over the bags on the floor and throwing yourself back in between them on the couch.

"Oh my God!" Frank says when you show it to him. "Does it work?" He asks Joel.

"Yeah it does, pretty well." He says. "There's some paper inside of it already, there's more here with me. The photos come out instantly." He explains to you.

"Uh!" You gasp, your eyes wide, and the three of them look at you. "Can we take pictures?" You ask.

"Yes! I want a family photo." Frank says, excited.

You look at Bill, smiling and biting your lower lip.

He frowns, then nods, smiling. "Yeah, alright."

You're so excited you're shaking.

"Joel, can you take the first one, please?" You ask, and he nods, so you hand him the camera and sit back on the couch, holding both your dads' hands. The three of you put on your best smiles and stay still.

"Wait, is my hair good, loves?" Frank asks you and Bill, who look at him, and you fix it. But Joel's already pressed the button, and he photo comes out of the camera: you smiling, fixing your dad's hair. You don't notice it, though, and Joel keeps it to himself, waiting for you to be ready.

"Now it is." You say, looking over at Bill. "Oh, daddy. Your hair's a mess." You say, fixing it for him as he keeps messing it back. "Stop! Let me fix it." You say, playfully slapping his hand away and laughing, and he stops.

You take their hands back and nod to Joel, who takes the picture, mesmerized by you.

Your big smile, your hair, your dress, the soft tan you have around your nose, how solar and pretty you are.

After he takes it he sees your eyes growing wider through the viewfinder of the camera, when you see the photo coming out of it. You run towards him.

"Oh my God!" You scream, taking the photo. "It's us!"

"Let me see it!" Frank says, excited, and you sit back in between your dads.

"Oh my..." He says, tears forming in his eyes. "It's us. Our family." He says.

Bill leans on you to look at it, his eyes getting red as soon as he sees it. He looks at you, caressing your hair, then he looks at Joel.

"Thank you." He says, and Joel nods, smiling, holding back his own tears.

He knows how important memories like that are. He wishes he had more photos with Sarah.

"Now we need one of all of us." You say, not giving him the chance to drown in those thoughts. "We can't keep you out, Joel." You say, getting up.

"Yeah, c'mon, sit here with us." Frank says, scooting next to Bill.

"No, it's alright. It should be about you, not me." He says.

"C'mon!" You say, going towards him and grabbing his hand, pulling his arm. "You're with us, I want a picture of all of us!" You say, grunting as you struggle to move his body an inch away from the armchair, and he gets up.

"Okay—God, you're persistent." He says, laughing, going to sit next to Frank.

You stand in front of them, holding the camera.

"How do we take this one?" You ask them, and they all frown.

"Didn't think about it..." Bill admits.

"Maybe try and... I don't know, turn it and see if it frames all of us?" Frank suggests.

"Okay." You agree, sitting in the coffee table and trying to figure out how to hold the camera with it facing you. "Alright, big smiles old men." You say, laughing and pressing the button.

"Hey!" They all scream.

The photo comes out perfectly, with all four of you clearly in it. All of them laughing and making offended faces at what you said while you smile proudly in front of them.

"Oh, this is amazing." You say, laughing when you see it, turning to them.

"No, baby, c'mon, take another one. A serious one." Frank says, laughing, slapping your thigh playfully.

"Alright." You say, turning your back to them. "C'mon, smile." You say right before pressing the button.

"Is it good?" Bill asks, leaning close to you, looking at it over your shoulder.

"It's perfect" You say, looking at the photo, loving every single man in it. "Thank you, Joel. I had no idea this still existed." You say, turning to them and looking at him.

"Now everything's gonna look just like the real thing." He says, mentioning the conversation you two had the day before when picking vegetables for breakfast.

You smile. He remembered what you said, he was thinking about you just as much as you were thinking about him.

It's not like you don't know your dads love you and care about you. You do. But their love feels different from Joel's.

You feel special because he wasn't meant to care about you. He decided to. He saw you and thought you were special enough for his time and effort.

It's a type of attention you've never had before.

"Did you find any of the stuff we talked about?" Bill asks when he understands you two talked about the camera, not liking the wide smile you're shooting Joel.

"Yeah." Joel cleans his throat. "Lots of tools and big cans of paint. Stuff for fixing the fences, the houses, mowing the lawn." He answers, adjusting himself on his seat.

"Great. Think we can make it today?" He asks, and Joel thinks before answering, looking again at you, then looking back at your dad.

"Uh...Yeah, sure. I just need a shower first." He says, and Bill nods.

"You're going out again?" You ask Joel, more disappointment present in your voice than you wished.

"Darling." Frank says, looking at you and turning his eyes towards Bill.

A silent 'How are we supposed to explain this to your dad?'

"I'm sorry, but aren't you tired? You just arrived." You say, more calm.

"It should be an one-hour drive, I can rest on the car, it's fine." Joel says, and you sigh.

"You're sure? We could go tomorrow, or other day." Bill says.

"Yeah, no. It's fine, I'm fine." He says. "Just dirty." He laughs. "Would rather go today and fully rest tomorrow." He decides.

"Can I go? Since you're driving there?" You ask, and Bill grunts.

Letting you outside wasn't his favorite, but your dad knows you can take handle yourself. And he stays more calm with himself and Joel being there to protect you.

"Well... I don't see why not." He says smiling at at you, and you smile back.

"Actually, I think you should stay, dove." Frank says, and you whine.

"Why?" You ask.

"Well, we shouldn't leave the town alone for so long, right? And I don't wanna stay here alone." He says.

"But I—" You start, and he gives you a look.

A look he only gives your dad. A look he gave you for the first time yesterday, watching you and Joel kiss.

Fuck.

"Alright." You agree.

"Great! We have lots of laundry to do with all this new stuff Joel brought you." He says.

Bill looks at both of you, also eyeing Joel, trying to see if he's maybe understanding what's going on.

"Well, alright. You rest then, Joel. We're leaving right after lunch." Bill says, getting up and going to the kitchen.

"I'll go start laundry." You say quietly, picking up your heavy bag.

"Do you want help with that?" Joel asks, already getting up.

"No, thanks, it's fine." You say, smiling, picking the bag.

"Okay. I'm gonna go shower." He says, nodding to Frank and going upstairs as you walk outside.

"Fuck me." Frank sighs, rubbing his hands violently on his face. Then he fixes his hair and goes to the kitchen help Bill.

After a few minutes you can already smell lunch being prepared.

You go upstairs to pick up your dirty clothes. If you're stuck at home doing laundry, then you might as well do all of it.

As you walk up the stairs you can't help but think about how Joel's on his own. How he said he'd shower, how much you loved seeing his body that other night.

You skip your bedroom and go straight to his. When you reach his bedroom door you hear his shower running, and quietly walk inside the room.

You find his wallet on top of a pile of clothes on his bed and grab it, running your fingers through the worn-out leather. Opening it, the first thing you find is Sarah's photo.

You look at it. It's old and starting to rip at the edges. The colors are finally giving in and fading, specially around her right side, like if Joel caresses her cheeks and hair when looking at her.

Thinking about him going through such loss makes your heart ache. You feel so much for your — probably deceased — parents, and you haven't even got any memories of them. You can't imagine what losing his daughter must have felt like for Joel. And to think that the only memory he has of her is fading away...

You have an idea. You put it back on top of his bed and run downstairs, grabbing your camera and rushing back to his bedroom.

...

When you get there he's still inside the bathroom, but he stops the water as soon as you open his wallet. You take the photo out and bring it close to the window, taking a picture of it.

You sit on his bed and hide it on your bra, putting the original photo back. Just when you're finished he walks out of the bathroom, his hair damp and his body covered only with a towel wrapped around his waist.

You can't breath for a second, overwhelmed by his wide shoulders, strong chest and stomach, his belly poking out and his cock outlined on the towel. You've never seen him like this, at least not in daylight, and you can't look away.

He sees you eyeing him up and down and smiles, like if he knew he'd find you exactly where you are right now. Like was hoping to find you there.

He walks to the bedroom door and locks it.

As he walks closer to you, you can see the water droplets covering his skin, and he notices your blissful and watery eyes.

"I missed you." He says, cupping your cheek, your eyes faltering as soon as he touches you, taking your ear between his index and middle finger, caressing the skin under your eye. He leans down closer to you and his wet hair drips on your forehead, making you scrunch your eyes and laugh.

He smiles and kisses the water drop on your forehead, then your cheek, right besides your nose. He moves lower and gives your lips a peck, slowly making his way through them to roll his tongue around yours.

His movements careful and intentional, his beard scratching your lips and your cheeks, making you moan and lean further into him. His dry lips making you deepen the kiss, making you wanna keep them wet.

He pulls away and looks down at you, his wet hair falling over his forehead, dripping, the water running down his cheeks.

"I missed you more." You say, touching his waist before wrapping your arms around him. He pulls your head closer to his body, hugging you. His skin, still cold from the shower, wetting your face.

You kiss some of the water droplets around his chest and stomach, burying your face on him as he caresses the hair over the nape of your neck. You caress his back, bringing your hands to his sides, finding the hem of his towel.

"Baby..." He says, trying to convince himself to stop you.

But he doesn't, and you pull on it, slowly letting it fall out of him. Your heart slams against your chest when you see him naked. His wide shoulders, strong torso and slightly prominent belly making him tower over you, making you want to lie back down and pull him on top of you. His cock, big and soft, right on your face, making you lick your lips.

He takes a fistful of your hair, gently pulling your head back to make you look up at him. He almost smiles at how he finds no resistance to maneuver you.

"Right now is not the time." He says with a low voice, barely above a whisper, slowly shaking his head, leaning down to give your lips a peck.

He pulls away with a quiet groan when you touch his cock, just running one finger over it, then taking it in your hand, moaning at how heavy it is, even when soft like this.

Even though he said you shouldn't, he doesn't stop you from touching him. He likes how curious and open you are, how different it feels to be with you, who wants to explore things with him, and not just have sex because he wants to.

You keep holding him, touching his tip with your thumb. When you lick your lips and try to lean closer to him, he pulls firmly on your hair, keeping your head in place.

"I didn't say you could use your mouth." He says, softly but sternly, caressing your hair.

You look up at him, bringing your eyebrows together and letting out a soft and frustrated moan.

"But you're dry. I don't wanna hurt you."

"Then lick your thumb, baby." He instructs, and you do, wetting it and exploring his tip again, earning a groan from him.

It's the first time you're seeing his cock soft and dry, the second time you're seeing it up close, and you want to understand and memorize every little part of him.

How his soft — so soft — skin covers most of his tip, how it wrinkles at the edge; how you can see a few veins poking on his skin; how warm and heavy he is; the curves his tip has, how they make you want to run your tongue all over it, on top of it, underneath it, maybe even ask him if it'd be okay to poke the tiny hole at the center of it with your tongue.

How its size and thickness make you wonder how it'd feel to have him inside you. If it'd hurt, how far would it go, if you'd feel it all the way, if you'd still feel him the next morning, how empty you'd feel after he left you.

You wet your thumb again, rolling it on his tip, remembering how soft and warm it felt on your clit, how badly you want to feel it on you again.

Your other hand goes to his balls, picking them and rolling them on your palm, earning a loud sigh from him.

"Careful there, baby." He warns, and you soften your grip on them. Their soft and squishy texture making you actively remind yourself to not squeeze them.

Your heart accelerates when you feel him starting to grow and harden, softly pulsing from time to time. But you hear a soft knock on the door, and you freeze. Your heart beating so fast you're afraid it may give in that you're with Joel, since he's certain his is audible as well.

"Joel?" You hear Frank's voice.

"Yeah." He responds, taking the chance to get away from you and look for an underwear. His voice a bit raspy.

"Oh, hey. Huh... lunch's ready, if you're ready to come down, we're about to eat." He says.

"Alright, thanks, be right down." Joel says, putting his underwear on.

"Okay." Frank says, and you hear his footsteps going away; then coming close to the door again. "You haven't seen her... Right?" He asks suspiciously, and Joel looks at you while he puts his jeans on, moving his lips.

"No, last time I saw her, she was in the living room, taking her clothes outside to wash them." He lies.

"Yeah, I saw that too. But she's not there anymore."

"Maybe she's just somewhere else outside." Joel suggests, reaching for a shirt in one of his drawers.

"Yeah, she probably is." Your dad agrees. "Well, anyway, she'll come when she's hungry." He finishes before walking away again.

Joel, now almost fully dressed, comes to sit by your side to put his shoes on. And as he starts putting on his socks you realize you've never been by his side before. He's always either across from you, behind you or in front of you, but he's never sat besides you.

You look up at him, his cheekbones and nose sculpted by the glaring sunlight entering through his window. His face feels so far, his pouty lips so out of reach. He looks so good, so big, so strong, so overpowering almost.

You've never felt small or powerless; your dads always did their best to make sure you had the confidence to face anything you ever came across. And yet here you are, struggling to fill your lunges because a man is simply putting his shoes on by your side.

Wishing he would just lay you on his bed and crush you with his weight again, making it hard for you to breath — Oh how good it felt when his warm skin touched yours, when his rough and large hands held your hips so firmly and his beard scratched your neck and collarbones. His hot breath burning your skin—

"You should go to your room, baby." He says without looking at you, pulling you out of your thoughts.

"Are you and dad gonna be away the whole day?" You ask, slightly out of breath, and he looks down at you, shrugging.

"Don't think so. We're just gonna go take the stuff I couldn't bring by hand. It's an one hour drive, then just pick it all up and drive for another hour back." He explains, his hair falling all over his face.

"Do you ever brush your hair?" You ask, and he frowns.

"Not since I got here. You know, somehow this time I forgot to pack my comb." He jokes, laughing proudly at himself.

"Don't get up." You say, carefully leaving his bedroom to not walk into one of your dads.

...

After a few seconds you come back, a comb in hand. He's finishing his second shoe, and laughs when he sees you locking his door.

You walk towards him, stopping in between his legs, just like you did the morning before.

First you run your fingers through his hair, and he wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you even closer.

He looks up at you with soft eyes as you carefully comb his hair back. When the repeated and soft movements start soothing him, he closes his eyes and touches his chin to your chest, keeping his head back, a relaxed and joyful smile on his lips.

While he was away, he kept thinking about you, thinking about how he, so relatively late in his life, found such an opportunity. Not just the opportunity to leave the QZ and still be safe, living a comfortable — even happy, maybe — life. But most importantly, the opportunity to have someone who seems to genuinely care for him. Maybe even love him someday.

Someone making sure he has enough food, exhaustively asking if he's gonna be okay, making him want to be careful and return home safe, making him feel like he as a home, respecting his time to talk about Sarah, pushing him to explore his old hobbies and combing his hair...

And nothing is asked in exchange, nothing is traded. He just cares for you... And there you are; solar, pretty, a positive and shiny refuge amongst all the depressing things he is always surrounded by.

"Better." You say, and he opens his eyes, not minding having his daydreams cut by the one causing them.

"Did it look that bad?" He laughs, his voice soft.

"No, I just wanted to touch it." You whisper, cupping his cheeks and kissing him. "I was so worried. I felt so bad for asking you for clothes. And you've brought so many of them, so much weight." You say, barely pulling away from him, holding his face in your hands.

"I still have some that aren't in that bag." He laughs, and you frown, smiling when you see his smile.

"You do?" You ask, running your hands down his back, letting most of your weight fall over him.

"Yeah, those I said you could wear only for me?" He says with a smirk. "They're in there, go get them." He points to the backpack he took with him. You let go of him and go towards it while he gets up and goes to his bathroom.

You open it and find a pink bag with a few pairs of lingerie inside. You can feel your cheeks heating up imagining yourself wearing them.

They're so sheer, so small and revealing. You take all of them, setting every new pair carefully on top of his bed.

He comes back to hug you from behind, squeezing your waist, gently pulling your hair over your left shoulder and kissing the right side of your neck, going from pecks to open mouthed kisses and nibs.

"They're so... Small." You say, and he stops.

"You don't have to wear them if you don't want to, baby." He reassures you. "It's okay." He tightens his arms around you.

"No, I liked them, it's just... Why even wear them if they show almost everything?" You ask, and he laughs, tightening his hug.

"That's the thing, baby. They show almost everything." He says, his chin on your shoulder.

"I don't get it." You frown.

"You know how you looked at me when I left the shower? With the towel on?" He whispers.

"Oh, okay... I think I get it." You say. You couldn't help but think about what he'd look like without the towel.

Knowing something so fragile was keeping you away from his naked body was... thrilling.

"You're gonna look so pretty in them, baby." He says, and you moan quietly. "Can't wait to see it."

"I can only wash them when I shower, so you're not gonna see it tonight. Maybe tomorrow." You say, and he squeezes your waist.

"I'll try and not lose my mind." He laughs on your neck. "Now go, I gotta go downstairs." He says, turning you around, giving you a kiss. You turn around, and he calls your name. "Are you not forgetting anything?" He asks, holding your camera.

"Oh... Yeah." You try not to sound too suspicious.

"What were you doing with it?" He asks when you reach him.

"I was taking pictures of you showering." You say innocently, and he frowns. "Of course I wasn't, oh my God!" You defend yourself, and he laughs.

"Are you sure?" He asks.

"Yeah. I was just taking it up to my bedroom, and then I remembered you were showering, so I came to see you." You say, hugging him again, stuffing your face on his chest.

He kisses the top of your head and walks you backward towards the door, going slowly so you won't trip.

He lets go of you and opens the door. You two walk down the hallway, and he squeezes your waist as he lets you by your bedroom door, going downstairs.

You hide the bag with the lingerie at the bottom of a drawer and go outside, back to laundry.

"Isn't she coming?" Bill asks, and Frank shrugs.

"I looked for her but couldn't find her anywhere." He says, putting the plates down.

"I ain't gonna eat without her, not when I'm leaving for the day." He says, getting up and walking outside.

"Where is she?" Frank almost whispers to Joel.

"Huh?" His question catches Joel off guard as he's helping him set the table.

"Did she leave your room already?" He asks impatiently.

"She wasn't—" Joel starts, shaking his head.

"Joel, I looked all over this house and everywhere I knew she could be. I know she was with you." He says in hushed, angry whispers.

Joel doesn't like this. He doesn't like this at all. Your dads shouldn't know about it. They shouldn't even think about it. He wanted to do things the right way, slowly, carefully. Respectfully.

"She went outside before I came downstairs." He admits, fixing your cutlery. Frank watches him, noticing how much care he puts into everything he does to you.

"Did something happen in your room?" He asks quietly, like he was afraid of the answer.

"No! No, nothing happened." He says firmly. "She just wanted a hug... And a kiss. Just said she missed me, was worried about me." He says with a short and shy smile.

"Did you miss her?"

"I was the first to say it." He says, looking at Frank. "Look, I know you may not believe it, but I do care about her. At first I didn't wanna get involved with her at all to not hurt her when I left." He says, sitting down across from your seat, looking at your chair. "But then fixing your car that day Bill talked to me about the houses around here. How I could work on one of them if I wanted a second, safe place to stay."

"And you're considering it?" He asks, and Joel takes a moment to respond.

"You know how QZ's are. They have their benefits, but overall... They're nothing compared to this. Tess said she won't leave, so we could still keep the deal going. I also have my brother, who has access to other things. Things Tess and I don't have."

"Your brother works for FEDRA?" Frank asks, turning his head slowly.

"No! He doesn't. He's a Firefly." Joel rushes to say.

He can't help but worry about his brother, but he's in no hurry to come back.

"Is that what you and Tess talked about that day when she called? About you staying?" He asks.

Joel nods in response, and Frank wonders how things escalated so quickly. How he went from telling Joel not to look at you to agreeing to have him move in to be with you.

"Just make sure you are sure before you tell her anything, alright?" Frank says with a sigh, scratching his forehead.

"I don't wanna stay if you don't think I should. If you don't think it's right you tell me and I leave as soon as we finish what we need to do over here—" Joel says, a hint of shame in his voice as he doesn't look Frank in the eyes anymore.

"No, Joel... It's not that, I'm sorry." He interrupts Joel, leaning back on his chair. "I'm just thinking about Bill. I mean, I don't wanna scare you, but we're gonna have to be extremely careful if we want you to come out of this alive." His seriousness almost scaring Joel.

"Yeah, she... She told me that." He says, playing with his fork.

He just had to go slow with it, and everything should be alright.

Right?

...

You're sorting the clothes Joel brought you when your dad finds you.

"Hi, my honeybun." He says, and you laugh.

He has this thing where sometimes he'll call you the sweetest nickname he can think of, just for the sake of it. Somehow he still comes up with new ones from time to time.

"Hey, daddy. Is lunch ready?" You ask smiling.

"Yeah, your dad said he couldn't find you, though." He asks, picking one of the dresses and holding it in front of himself.

"Hmm. Must've been when I went to the bathroom." You lie, and he hums.

"Aren't these dresses a bit too short?" He asks, picking another dress you've just thrown on the laundry pile. "Why did Joel pick this for you?"

"I asked him to." You say almost too quickly. "I showed him some magazines and described what I wanted. He said he'd bring a bit of everything and I'd see what I liked." You explain.

"And did you like this dress?" He asks, raising his eyebrow.

"I did, yeah." You say, and he scratches his head.

"You know I don't like you wearing this type of things around him."

"Dad..."

"Just avoid it, alright? Joel might be whatever, but he's still a man. And you're so gorgeous, my honeybun." He says, cupping your cheek. You kiss his palm, screaming at yourself for lying to your dad, for doing all this behind his back.

But would he ever let you experience what you've had with Joel if he knew about it?

The only conversation at the table was between Joel and Bill, as they discussed the roads they'd take and how long it should take to come back. Your dad was focused on Joel's descriptions of the way, and Joel walked him through it while he caressed your leg between his ankles again.

But it all felt too rushed when they had to leave. Your heart feeling hollow and your stomach overfilled as your dad kissed your forehead, and Joel discreetly squeezed your hand while your dads kissed goodbye.

"Take care, you two." Frank says.

"Got two good reasons to be." He responds, kissing Frank again.

"I have one too." Joel whispers to you, knowing Bill has his back turned to the two of you. You smile up at him, quickly touching your head on his chest, quickly pulling away when your dad turns around.

"C'mon." He tells Joel. "I love you, baby. " He tells you before going inside the car.

They drive away, Joel looking at you through the car's mirror.

...

"Dad?" You ask Frank after the gate closes behind your dad's truck.

"Yes, love." He responds fixing your hair behind your ears.

"Can you help me with something? A gift for Joel." You ask, and he raises his eyebrows quickly.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you think you could paint this photo for me? Make it bigger and fill in where the photo is fading." You say, taking the photo that was still on your bra and showing it to him.

"Baby, who is this?"

"He never...?" You ask.

Fuck.

Joel never told your dads about Sarah, maybe he never told them anything about himself.

"He has a daughter?" He asks, confused.

"Had... one." You hesitate.

"Oh, dear." Frank sighs. "Sure, love, I can do it." He says, walking inside in a hurry.

Now he understands why Joel was always so understanding of his and Bill's concerns. Of why he always said he didn't want to stay if that'd make him and Bill uncomfortable.

Because he knows what caring for a child is like.

...

Now it was just you and your dad for a couple of hours. But strangely enough, he didn't look for you. Didn't come to help you with laundry like he said he would, didn't ask any questions. He just spent the whole day at his studio, painting.

Probably painting Sarah.

"Hi, dad." You say, entering the room and sitting by his side.

"Hi, my love. Are you okay?" He asks, noticing your expression.

"Uhum. I'm fine." You say, looking at his canvas.

"Think you can tell me her name?" He asks, looking at Sarah's photo.

"I don't know... I thought he had told you and dad." You say, feeling guilty for exposing that part of Joel without his consent. He trusted you, after all.

"That's okay. You don't have to." He sounds calm while he starts mixing more of the paint Joel brought him.

"Why did you want me to stay?" You ask after a minute. Even though he's not acting like he's mad at you, you know exactly why he wanted you to stay. So why won't he just say something?

He sighs, taking several seconds to respond, focusing on his painting and on what he's gonna say.

"I wanted you to stay so I could yell at you, cry, even. So I could ask why you lied to me, what you two have been doing behind our backs." He says, and you instinctively pull your body further from his. "But then I saw him hold you hand before leaving, whispering something to you, you snuggling on his chest. Then you asked me to paint her... And now I feel like I shouldn't do any of that anymore." He says, looking down at you.

"I'm sorry I lied to you. I was just afraid you'd tell dad and... I don't like to think about what he'd do to Joel." You say.

"I'm honestly more worried about what Joel would do to defend himself." Frank says, and you look at him.

As obvious as it sounds, you've never thought about it. You never considered Joel defending himself. Maybe your dad coming out of it hurt. Because of you.

The thought makes your breathing shallow, and your dad notices it.

"Hey, hey, baby. Nothing's gonna happen, okay?" He soothes you, caressing your hair. "We're gonna go slow, be careful. And we'll prepare dad for it. Okay?"

"Uhum." You agree, your breathing still laborious.

"But I mean it when I say careful." He says, and you look at him. "I saw you going upstairs earlier. I know you were with him." He says and you look away from him, embarrassed. "That I have a problem with. You're not being honest with me. And that was all I asked from you."

"We'll just be actually careful and everything's gonna be okay."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"I am." He admits with a sigh, kissing your forehead and hugging you, letting silence take over.

Imagining one of them coming out of this hurt makes you want to tell Joel you don't want to do this anymore, that he should stay away from you. He should just go back to the QZ and you should just forget about all of this.

You've lived just fine without anyone like him, you always handled yourself — oh, but it feels so much better when he's there with you, his rough hands feel nothing like your soft ones —, you've always been loved by your parents — but the way he loves you feels different —, and you've just met what...four or five days ago?

You can get over him.

But imagining him going away, never seeing him again, never talking to or touching him makes you want to cry, to scream. It makes you whish you just listened to your dad and never looked out the window, never let Joel see you — never looked at him in the first place —, never smiled at him, never moaned his name, never called him into your bedroom. But you can't. You've done all that, you've touched him, felt his warm breath on your ear, and you can't imagine never feeling that again.

So you just hug your father, trying to keep your mind away from such terrifying scenarios, from one of them getting hurt.

You know one day your dad will know. And you know someone may come out of it hurt.

Be it physically or not.

You just hope it's not both.

Hope you liked it, friends 🩷. Bill's gonna find out sooner or later, the problem is... What will he do when he finds out? How will Joel react?

Hope you're here when we find out, I love you all so much, this series means so, so much to me, and I love getting comments, reblogs and asks talking about it. I love that you guys are still so invested in it, even when it takes me so long to update the story.

Ily 🩷🩷

My Masterlist 🩷

[meekmedea]

hello!! i absolutely love your time-travel au!! i saw on one of your posts that you said you have a lot of thoughts on the dovecote family- i was wondering if you’d be willing to share any of those thoughts?

Hi!! So happy to hear you've been enjoying the time-travel au :)

I'd love to share Dovecote family thoughts and to hear your (and also everyone's) thoughts as well!

So without further adieu...

Dovecote Family Lore

Some background info - TBOSAS mentions the old guard for some families in the book and I sort of took that idea and ran haha

So within the various families that make up the old guard, I like to imagine a hierarchy exists within them. There's families at the very top and also minor houses

And all these families that are part of the old guard have family crests and even Latin mottos to distinguish themselves from the nouveau riche and the lower classes (both Capitol and District) Is it a bit pretentious? Yes. But that's part of the fun

I see 'Dovecote' as one of the minor houses - old enough for the Latin motto and family crest, but not as prestigious as 'Ravinstill' or even 'Phibbs'

family crest ideas: a dove? a pair of them? idk but I'd like to incorporate the bird into it

motto ideas: I have like way too many, but these are my current favourites (My translations might be a bit rough 😅)

Alis grave nil (nothing [is] heavy with wings)

Ad astra per aspera (to the stars through difficulties)

Amata bene (well loved)

Cor aut mors (heart or death)

~~~~~

Also THIS idea that the Dovecote family is well-respected amongst the old-guard, but nobody knows where they first made their money/wealth and where exactly it comes from right now

I think it'd be funny if nobody in the Capitol can agree on how the Dovecotes are part of the old guard. They just sort of appeared one day on records and that was that

Nevertheless there are theories: some say the family is built on blood money (ie. a crime family /mercenaries /assassins elevated to the old guard either through blackmail or some notorious deed). There's some that think they're some vassal house that was elevated to this standing for some good deed or other 

Also Dovecote clementines 🤭 (I keep adding this to a lot of my other AUs)

They're as tied to the Dovecotes as roses are tied to the Snows

The fruit are especially sweet when compared to the average clementine and nobody has a clue where their supply comes from

They have it year round even when they're not in season

It's a semi-recent thing, it started in Clemensia's parents' time as teenagers

For the Dovecotes, the clementines are a way to communicate things - there is no one thing it represents (ie. I love you / be careful / you are dear to me etc. )

Random lore about our Dovecote family members in this AU

Clemensia is an only child

Endymion Dovecote and Aelia Dovecote née Beauchamp have a running joke whose charm Clemmie inherited (it's Endymion, the Dovecote genes are strong here)

like father, like daughter, especially the Dovecote smile. Also both of them seem to be able to befriend anyone, they really do have friends everywhere

Endymion is an indulgent husband and father

I had this in a different AU, but I liked it enough to want to maybe add it here; how part of the Dovecotes being sort of anonymous in their circles is because of their control on the media - unless Endymion approves it, nothing about the family is published. Especially if it's about his daughter

Because the movie promo had Clemmie talk about D1 and D5, I decided to connect D1 to her mother's family.

Her mother (Aelia) comes from a merchant family - so, wealthy but not part of the old guard. The Beauchamp family owns a jewelry business, Lavinium. And pre-war that was THE place for the elite to shop at

Clemensia stands in line to inherit the business from her maternal uncle (family inheritance in the Beauchamp family can be messy hehe. Doesn't help that her uncle has no children of his own and instead has 2 sisters with their own children)

Actually there's this one dialogue I have about Clemensia between Livia Cardew and her own father - inspired by that line in Dune

Livia has a bit of a motive here to be Clemmie's friend and to stay her friend

Livia's mother owns the biggest bank in Panem, there's no way she doesn't hear from her parents about her classmates' family's finances

Livia's father is probably one of the only people to have a semi-good grasp on what the Dovecote finances are like because he manages the accounts

Livia's father: I hear you've recently become good friends with the Dovecote girl. Well done. Make sure to keep her close.

Livia (age 8): Because she's a possible heir to Lavinium?

Livia's father: No. Because she is Endymion's daughter.

Because the Capitol is still recovering, Lavinium isn't earning as much as it had pre-war. And the Dovecote accounts don't have any deposits from them either

Yet the Dovecote family is considered is recovering quicker than anyone can explain

The salary of the secretary of energy pays well, but not that well.

Dovecote family rumours are hard at work again haha

[oddogoblino]

So I just had a dream where, essentially, trying to find an artist's art tag for what I bought a sticker of sent me into a strange world where the people there thought they were dogs.

Dream rambling under cut

Like, I was looking for some sticker the artist drew because, in the dream, a friend asked what I'd bought from them so i looked for it because i didnt remember, and suddenly I was in a field and had no clue where I was.

And this short girl with curly hair and her taller best friend with straight hair ended up talking to me and leading me around, asking what kind of dog I was because i didnt look familiar nor like everyone else. The curly haired girl was a chihuahua and the straight haired girl was I think a German shepherd. "Everyone's a dog here!" The chihuahua girl was named Chelsie and the German shepherd girl was named Alana.

They were still very excited, confused, and welcoming to me as they showed me around. They dressed and looked like people but just weren't 100% human looking for some reason. They didn't have like- dog ears or anything, they looked human but like- not- entirely??? I think it was their hands, their hands looked like paws somewhat with fur and claws for nails and darker skin on their palms.

And I'm just wandering around trying to get used to this small town of sorts that they set up in an abandoned amusement park, mainly just walking around, and I meet two other dogs. A tall (compared to me..), muscular man with blonde, messy hair and his unwilling roommate(?) who was an older man with black , graying, cleanly styled hair. I think they were implied to be a golden retriever and a i'll assume a chocolate Labrador given how I remember his hair looking. I think their names were Alex and Ricko.

The blonde man just asks inappropriate questions upon being met, so I ran off to avoid him, and he later sulked and asked his friend why he "can't get bitches like you can" (which is really funny to me-) and the older guy reminisces about when he was younger and was the heartthrob of the town. He was a musician & singer too. He was implied to still have incredible pull but he didn't feel he was as handsome or anything as he once was.

The dream moved on to me with the girls and we're chatting and Chelsie accidentally spilt her friend's snacks on the bed so we were just awkwardly there as Alana began to vacuum them up, the other having left bc she didn't like the noise and me trying to nervously pick out some of the chips(?) that were missed. I remember Alana ended up talking to me about "knowing I don't really seemed to care for them" and how she'd kinda felt I was looking down on them for being dogs after we'd spent the day hanging out & them hunting animals with me tagging along. It was such an awkward moment in the dream, because how do you explain you just haven't figured out how/processed you ended up here to begin with? But we'd talked it out and got on better terms. I went to my new home or sorts after saying goodbye since it was late out.

My home was like- an abandoned apartment that I was given the uh...honor ...ig of fixing up so I could comfortably live there. A gang of dog people ended up hearing about me though and kept trying to break in the next morning while I was away to "see what kind of person I was". They used a literal actual cat to try and sneak them in because they hoped it'd unlock the doors for them or show them another way of how to get in. Cat refused and instead messed with them. Tho I remember I had subtle cat imagery in my room along with things from fandoms i like, which might've indicated I was/was becoming a literal cat person paired with the girl thinking I was looking down on them when I wasn't.

I think the dream ended with me walking back home, not knowing there was a gang of dogs trying to get into my apartment.

So yeah I had a weird dream, just wanted to type it down before I forgot.

Oh also, everything about the world I'd seen looked kinda abandoned. The dogs lived in abandoned houses that clearly had been human houses before, there were broken cars that were rusty and not used for years, grass was overgrowing in places it didn't before, the night was pitch black if not for all the stars and moon lighting the place, the amusement/Waterpark stuff the people I found lived in were all unused and moldy/rusty. They figured out how to make foods I knew of because well- recipes n such they found around. They had farms and such for all of this. Never once saw chocolate or grapes around any food I'd see in the dreams though.

[poelya]

Okay, I want to talk about something today. Last week, I was skimming through the tlj novelization, and came across a passage that made me frown, and I mentally added it to a growing pile of canon quotes that give me the ick.

It's absolutely no secret that Poe gets objectified to hell and back in this fandom, and has ever since tfa. The popular fanon at the time was that he was the best fuck on base and had probably fucked everyone (except Snap. Important distinction there no one ever assumed he'd fuck Snap. Can't imagine why the fat man was the single exclusion but that's a separate issue), and even today, there's still a lot of gross latin lover tropes swimming around in fics, and Certain Popular Pairings certainly have no issues fetishizing him.

But it's become a thing in canon also, and the more I uncover of it, the more uncomfortable I get. Screenshots under the cut. TW: discussions of sexual harassment, objectification, suicide, and allegorical rape.

The first time I really noticed it was reading Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse; this book is foul for about a fazillion different reasons (racism, sexism, ableism), and I've only read it once because of how upset and sick it made me feel to read, but essentially, the writer is quite clear in that she dislikes Poe Dameron deeply — calling him supremely arrogant in every other interview for tbe story — and you can tell that her thoughts towards him in this book is "i hate him, but he is attractive".

Poe goes through the meat grinder, she instills in him a nearly uncharacteristic amount of self loathing, and uncharitably has Maz Kanata physically assault him because he doesn't want to talk about his issues, and pin him down and compare his "arrogance" to the arrogance of Neo-Nazis. Yeah. And then later, a man named Stronghammer informs the Resistance that Poe should be killed, by being thrown out of an airlock, for his mutiny. Horrifically, Roanhorse has most of the Resistance agree (this ruined my feelings towards post tlj era for a long time), and has Poe point blank admit he'd commit suicide in a heartbeat if it'd stop the First Order, which no one except Finn shows any concern towards (and...pot meet the kettle baby you've tried killing yourself every movie).

The context for this is important, because after Maz physically assaults him, and Stronghammer announces he wants Poe killed, this happens:

And certainly, Resistance Reborn has an ongoing problem of objectifying Poe (a running gag about his hair, a joke about the size of his cock, a convoluted as hell excuse to get him to jump into a pool in a tux), but this one feels especially the worst because the two people who have recently physically assaulted/threatened him are now coming onto him, which Poe is clearly made uncomfortable by — enough so that Leia swoops in and changes the subject.

It's harassment, played off for laughs, because we all know Poe is handsome so of course, Maz and Stronghammer would admit that it's one of his strong points, right? And it wouldn't fly if it was someone else in Poe's place, like a white woman, but because he's a man of color, it's just a funny gag because we've all seen Poe Dameron's face, and we agree it's handsome.

But it's far from the last time Poe being reduced to his looks happens, and nor is it the only time that it goes from "objectified by the narrative" and into the realm of "hey that's sexual violence/harassment".

The most benevolent example is in Spark of the Resistance, when Poe is recognized by a stormtrooper specifically because "who else has that hair". And then the origins of Maz believing Poe is handsome, is evidently the Last Jedi novelization by Jason Fry:

and that's not even an accurate statement he's in charge of an entire flight wing and is a capable field agent but whatever.

I haven't read all the way through that novel to see if there's more of that attitude prevalent in it, but at this point it wouldn't surprise me, because it also pops up, at its absolute worst, in the Force Awakens novelization:

The implied threat of sexual violence is shocking (it definitely threw me for a loop when I was rereading) and it's especially awful when you consider one of the first incidents to happen in the trilogy is Poe being mind-raped by Ren; he's violated horribly and painfully (it's described as silent agony in the novelization), and it certainly makes an already gross habit of reducing Poe to his attractiveness, even more awful when you remember he is a victim of allegorical rape — and we, the audience, are expected to laugh along, at least in the case of Resistance Reborn, because Poe Dameron is hot, remember? It's his best quality, that makes us able to stand his other less than ideal character traits, so of course it's okay if we objectify him or have characters in-universe harass him after attacking him (this is sarcasm, for the record. Extremely bitter sarcasm).

It says a lot that instead of ever getting any meaningful acknowledgement of what Poe underwent with Ren, the way he was horribly violated, authors time and time again just heave a sigh and start waxing poetry about how sexy Poe is, and now it's canonical he's been subject to repetitive sexual harassment/threats (Maz and Stronghammer, then Naka, respectively) after being violated by Ren in the worst possible way.

But am I surprised when even the torture scene gets grossly sexualized by folks? Or watered down? Or people expect Poe to have to swallow his trauma and move on from it, for every other character's benefit? When everyone agrees Poe Dameron can be so annoying, but hey... he's easy on the eyes.

[getvalentined]

B & N for the ask game!

barnes and noble...

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Valenstrifesodos! Not that I ever disliked the concept, but that I really hadn't ever thought about it prior to seeing skadren's work related to the ship.

It's kinda funny because I already shipped Strifentine, Vinesis, and Strifesodos? But just because a couple pairings with character overlap seem appealing doesn't mean that a polyship including the characters from those pairings would work; polyamorous dynamics are much more complicated than just combining three monogamous pairings into one triad. I'd never really seen any of these three as being polyamorous, and I still don't really think that they are—except with each other. The dynamic between them is so specific and works so well, I'd just never thought of it before.

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

1. This is gonna sound needlessly inflammatory but there's no other way I can phrase it: the main thing I would love to see more in my main fandom is more accurate characterizations. I know everyone loves fanon Genesis, but often he's basically a gay stereotype who all the other characters treat like shit for being autistic. Like. Why do so many people do that. (I know exactly why, but whatever.) Characterizations obviously change based on perspective, position, situation, preference, etc., but it's hard to find people exploring how these characters would behave in this or that situation as compared to people exploring this situation and then just slapping canon characters' names onto it with little to no consideration beyond visual appeal. Which is obviously fine, it's just really not my thing!

2. I would love to see more of any of my main ships just in general! Regardless of fandom, I've never had a very popular favorite ship—even in cases where my preferred ship is canon, it's always less popular than others. Sephesis is the big one I wish had more fanworks, because it's very difficult to find outside AGS or AGSZC (which are not the same thing, this is why Sephesis Week exists), but Strifentine is definitely also up there.

3. To get even more granular, it'd be really nice to see more more detailed, complex Vincent-centric stuff, particularly outside the realms of the most popular ships. I'd love to see more of the nitty-gritty involving body horror, transformations, immortality, etc., while maintaining characterization. If that makes sense.

[ for the A to Z ask game ]

[fighting-these-demons]

Crossover AU idea

Loosely based off of my tags on this post:

This is a YYH/Yakuza crossover (unconnected to the Shizutan Tragic Biker AU which is sort of a YYH/Shounan Bakusouzoku crossover possibly).

Y'all what if Yusuke's Dad is actually his Other Mom? Atsuko loves hanging out with trans women at the bar she frequents. What if she's generally into women and was having fun with one of the regulars when her birth control failed? She may have had enough partners at the time not to know which lady was the mother so she just kinda kept it to herself.

In this AU Yusuke and Majima are half siblings. Majima is 12 years older.

They both love Kazumas and it would be pretty funny for Yusuke to see all of Majima's antics compared to his own antics. It'd probably help Yusuke to lighten up on himself with his repression too: seeing Majima chase his own Kazuma so blatantly.

This is also a repost as I deleted my earlier post. It was in the character tag unintentionally and it seems that my tags hadn't been read.

The very first tag stated it was a crossover with Yakuza and that Yusuke and Majima were half siblings but I got a response from a well meaning fan with info about canon that I was already aware of.

Which was nice of them but not what the post was about.

I realized that they may have thought that I was postulating on Actual Canon since the post ended up in the character tag (again accidental) and they probably didn't realize that I was making my own au based on another post about femslash rarepairs.

So I know they weren't trying to rain on my parade or anything. I replied with "Oh thanks for the info" or something along those lines to prevent confusion or conflict.

This should hopefully not make it into the character tag this time. 🍀🤞

I'll try to double check that my headcanon shenanigans don't make it into character tags in the future and try to remember to put them under readmores just in case.

[thetavolution]

OC Meme

ELYSE STARLING

Tagged by: No one.

B A S I C S

- Full name: Elyse Drusilla Starling - Gender: Female - Sexuality: Pansexual - Pronouns: She/Her

O T H E R

- Family: -> Father: Dorn Starling: He is Elyse’s human father. He owns the Starling Gem Mines. He’s a selfish man who is hyper focused on his image. He wants his daughter to act in a way that is becoming of him. Looking good in front of his rich friends is more important than his family’s happiness. He’s also trying to climb the political ladder with minimal success. He has been able to throw money at plenty of politicians. He's the one who tried to set up an arranged marriage for Elyse. -> Mother: Althaea Starling: She is Elyse’s high elf mother. She married Dorn for his money and he’s not all that heartbroken about it. She never wanted to be a mother, but it was expected of her. She’s never been maternal to Elyse. She’s controlling and needs everything to fall into place, including Elyse. You could compare her to Lucille Bluth. -Birthplace: Baldur’s Gate - Job: Noble - Phobias: Arachnophobia - Guilty pleasures: She likes to give herself flowers. Why wait for someone else to do it? She is a little embarrassed about it though, so she counts it as a guilty pleasure. Her other guilty pleasures are long luxurious baths, keeping up with gossip among nobility, and indulging in sweets. If she lived in the modern world, she'd be watching so much reality TV, like The Real Housewives of Baldur's Gate. - Hobbies: Archery, hunting, reading, dancing, helping people, picnics, writing letters, adventuring, and doodling

M O R A L S

- Alignment: Good Neutral - Sins: Pride, envy, and gossip - Virtues: Courageous, honest, compassionate

T H I S  O R  T H A T

- Introvert / Extrovert - Organized / Disorganized - Close-minded / Open-minded - Calm / Anxious / Restless - Disagreeable / Agreeable / In between - Cautious / Reckless / In between - Patient / Impatient / In between - Outspoken / Reserved / In between - Leader / Follower / Flexible - Empathetic / Unempathetic / In between - Optimist / Pessimist / Realist - Traditional / Modern / In between - Hard-working / Lazy

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

- OTP: Rolan x Elyse. I just genuinely thought Rolan getting with a noble was funny. It made more sense if she was a runaway noble though and not someone deep in the trenches. Her parents wouldn't approve of him and they can go to hell for it. - Acceptable Ships: I'm open to ship ideas or even Elyse/OC pairings! I think she'd also be good with Wyll or Karlach. - OT3: I don't have any for her. She's a pretty monogamous gal. - Brotp: -> Jaheira — I just feel like they would mesh. Jaheira would constantly make fun of her and Elyse would welcome it. It'd make her feel like a normal person and not a noble. -> Wyll — They just get each other. They grew up in similar circles. Children of privilege, they want to make something of themselves outside of their wealth. They also understand how they were treated by their fellow nobles. - Notp: I can't think of anything, honestly.

tagging: Anyone interested!

[thespianinthebackcorner]

i have decided this is actually the perfect time to annoyy you with symbiosis and silver thread asks so; i hope your just so readyfor this!!!

// whats your take on Alicia & Beaford's dynamic????

// mint vs beaford. who is your favorite. this is VERY important.

// out of each character from silver thread and symbiosis; who would have to be your favorite character as of right now???

// do you have any favorite non-explicitly stated facts about any of the characters, from either game? (I.E magnolia's fear of fires)

Lsntjsigneisjbsjhfbw hi hi alright time to go dig all that stuff outta my brain gimme a minute.

Alicia and Beauford's dynamic to me is a bit like adoptive mother and son with a twist. Y'know how adopted kids tend to hesitate with calling their new parents mum or dad? It's like that but with getting to know each other. Alicia is trying to keep it formal with Beauford, and Beauford is trying to get to know her more. I feel like if they really opened up to each other a little they'd reach a good mother/son dynamic that'd be funny to watch, but right now they're at that tentative stage where they're not sure how affectionate they can be with each other. This is also paired with Alicia's almost reluctance to get close to anyone- obviously there's some kind of trauma there that's keeping Alicia from making new friends. Beauford just isn't great at socialising, but he's doing his best. So yeah, they're like in that stage where they both likely want to have that family dynamic- it's been a long time since Alicia was loved, clearly, and Beauford just needs a proper home where he's respected, which Alicia can provide. It's just that their own worries are getting in the way of reaching that.

I oh god aofnwndihrajhre don't ask me this I don't wanna choose it's a Monday morning monards. Honestly, they're such different characters it's hard to compare. On one hand you have Mint, wholesome plant Boi who loves his mom and makes smol art. On the other hand we have Beauford, an artistic depressed teenager who's fed up with his family trying to force him into a job he doesn't want. We have Best Boy™ vs. Relatable. It's not an easy choice. But for my stingy ass I think I'll go Mint. I love Beauford, but Mint tops him any day because I love wholesome little kids. Y'know, Mint kinda reminds me of Whoppy. I guess they're practically the same character in a sense- just different worlds.

Okay favourite right now?? It's probably Magnolia or Mint. That fucked up but also wholesome family dynamic is one I would die for. Magnolia's basically sacrificed her life for Mint, and she knows it, but she keeps doing it because she loves him. Mint loves his mom just as much, and even though he doesn't totally know what's going on, he's a good boy regardless. ❤️

ill be real I haven't actually thought of those implied things yet. I kinda wanna go through and find some now- it does make sense that Magnolia would be afraid of fires. Hey, do you think that also extends to Mint because of his nature as a plant? It'd make sense that he'd be afraid of fire as well.