#i just... my brain is having such a hard time piecing this plot together without jumping around a bunch

[ajokeformur-ray]

The breeze seems to whisper 'I love you' // Astarion x gn!reader / Tav

This is my first Astarion fic so I really hope I bring him justice; he deserves that and everything else which is good in life. It took me three days in total to fall head over heels for him, and this piece is dedicated to @ace-tarion for being such a sweetheart in this, as in everything. I love you, dude!❤️

I haven't played BG3, I know maybe 80% of the plot (tadpoles in brain = bad = travel to Baldur's Gate), I've watched a ton of Astarion clips, so apologies for any inaccuracies or inconsistencies. I'm just here for Astarion (though I'd love to play BG3, I don't have any technology capable of running it💔).

Content: You/Tav x Astarion (established relationship), canonical past for Astarion is hinted at and laced within narrative, cuddles, animals referred to as 'snacks' within mentions of Astarion (only a mention; no actual description of animal-feeding/mentions of anything pertaining to animals being fed on).

Summary: Night-time falls, your heart sinks into your stomach as surely as your body sinks into your bedroll, and you want cuddles from Astarion.

Word count: 1, 624.

I am accepting requests for Astarion ❤️ no smut and no pregnancy/birth/kids!!

You lay on the cold, hard ground. The earth is unforgiving, soaking up the day's sweat without offering any kind of reprieve. Stones and hard clumps of dirt dig into your back through the bedroll, the wind is slightly too cold and it penetrates your thin blanket, haphazardly thrown over you in an attempt to ward off the elements.

Everyone has a tent, except you, and you make it a point to lay as close to the fire as you can on the nights Astarion is out hunting; it wouldn't do to help yourself to his tent. He keeps his tent away from the others, though still adhering to the semi-circle layout chosen by the others around the campfire. He would not mind you letting yourself in to his tent, he would likely welcome returning to you there, and yet you cannot justify it even to yourself.

After two hundred years of shit, pure shit, he deserves every ounce of privacy and the security of knowing his tent is his own.

You sit up just enough to shuffle yourself closer to the fire, curling inwards as a shiver wracks your body. It isn't cold, necessarily, but your temperature is not conducive to a restful sleep. You lay on your back, gazing up at the stars which punctuate the sky, breaking up the inky black and blues with pinpricks of white, yellow, and some dull spots of grey from the stars which died many eons ago and are now fading from the sky.

You promise yourself you'll try to remember their placement in the sky.

Despite the best of intentions, you know that you won't.

Your vision goes blurry at the edges as you continue staring up at the night sky, looking for any constellations you recognise by way of finding yourself a bedtime story to recount as you try to fall asleep. The leaves on the trees sway gently in the breeze, and your mind wanders, as it so often does, to Astarion. Your sweet vampire, who simultaneously breaks your heart and put it back together in the same moment every time you uncover more of who he is, more of his past.

Oh, but you love him.

Of its own accord does your body take a long, deep breath in, your heart sinking into your stomach as surely as your body melts into the bedroll. All of your thoughts of Astarion and all of your feelings for him are safe inside yourself, and they serve you now in warming you from the inside out.

Your eyes slide closed, and if you press your forehead closer into your blanket, you can almost tell yourself that you can feel Astarion lying down beside you, you can smell bergamot and feel his silver hair tickle your cheeks, you can feel his fingers intertwined with yours, your legs tangled together, his crimson eyes upon your face so intently fixed like he's scared to blink in case you disappear before his eyes, leaving him clutching only the cold night air, his equally cold body pressed against every line of yours...

You smile to yourself and burrow deeper into your blanket, feeling sleepier, warmer and closer to your rest by the second. Thoughts of Astarion flood your mind and you curl up tighter, as if to keep all these thoughts right where they are. You know if you open your eyes that you'll be alone; you know not where Astarion is this night, but you know he is trying to sate his hunger with the snacks which live in the forest.

So you keep your eyes shut.

As you allow yourself to slip further into your threshold consciousness, you wonder what Astarion would say to you if he returned at this very moment...

"Hello, sweet. Gods, you are beautiful."

You smile again and squeeze your blanket ever tighter to you. Yes, he would probably say something like -

Wait.

Wait.

Was that - ?

With great caution do you open your eyes, ready to slam them shut again once you see that Astarion isn't there, that he didn't just speak to you. But instead of the cold hard truth slamming into you, flowers bloom in your heart because Astarion is here, looming over you, his silver curls seeming to be glowing in the soft moonlight. His crimson eyes seem black, his charming smirk soft at the edges as he gazes down at you with obvious fondness, vulnerable such as it is.

Of all the stars above me, this one's the prettiest, you think to yourself, and you open your eyes wider to better enjoy the view.

Astarion's smirk melts until it becomes a smile as he kneels down beside you, one of his arms reaching out to brush a leaf away from your face. His fingers ghost across your skin, and you shiver. "Thank you, darling. I know I'm beautiful. Not enough people mention it." His joke fades into vulnerability, as it so often does around you.

But it is no matter. You always meet him where he is, and right now it is no exception.

You smile at Astarion, all of the love for him shining in your eyes until they look like molten galaxies, and he swears he feels his heart, which stopped working centuries ago, skip a beat. You are unguarded where you lay in your threshold consciousness, not embarrassed to have spoke aloud your thoughts, and Astarion wonders if the old saying, that love makes fools of people, is true. You lay at the foot of a vampire, at the foot of a predator, smiling at him, physically and emotionally vulnerable, completely unguarded. Most others at the camp are asleep, Astarion can hear, and yet here you are...

Wait. Why are you awake?

"Darling," Astarion's voice is a hush and you strain your ears to be able to hear him. He bends closer to you to accommodate, anticipating your needs before you fully register them yourself, "Why aren't you sleeping? No harm shall befall you when I'm here." Long ago, he had sought your protection, but now he wanted you both to be safe. If this is how the mighty fall, then Astarion must admit that he is happy he lost his balance. He quite likes the view from down here.

You shake your head and shuffle closer still, unable to get close enough to your most beloved vampire. "Can't sleep without you." I just want to be held.

Oh, help him, but this is devastating in its simplicity. His undead heart bleeds and words have brought Astarion to the point where they run dry. Instead, he stands, and reaches a hand out to you. The message is clear - he wants you to accompany him to his tent, he wants to carve a piece of heaven out with you amongst all the chaos unleashed, he wants to hold and to be held.

Astarion just wants you, and who are you to deny him?

One of your hands slips into his while the other pulls the blanket away from you and Astarion's smile widens as he effortlessly pulls you up to stand beside him. You bend to scoop up your bedroll, and follow Astarion into your tent. The door flap flutters in the wind as Astarion releases it, and it settles in place like a butterfly finding a flower.

You find yourselves easily, your bedroll dumped next to Astarion's, pushed up close until his bedroll becomes a double. It's a well established routine for the two of you, with you spending more nights here than you don't. You never enter his tent if he isn't here, and you certainly never come in without his permission. One day, Astarion will find the words to convey his appreciation for your concern, but until then, he will remind you at every chance he finds that you are always welcome. He finds it greatly ironic that you seek permission to enter space and he, a vampire, does not. He knows he is welcome, wanted, cherished, loved.

It took some work for the both of you to get here, but his months with you are the counterweight to the hell he escaped from.

He'll never be able to thank you enough, he has no idea what he is doing, but perhaps this is a start.

Somehow, through the fuzziness of denied sleep, you end up back in bed, your blanket around you and Astarion's still chest under your head. He lays beneath you like he is patiently waiting for you to make yourself comfortable, and you take the opportunity to wind both of your arms around his waist and squeeze, pulling yourself up just enough to be able to bury your face in his neck. One of your legs slips between his, anchoring the two of you together.

Slowly, like he's afraid to move too quickly in case you disappear within his grasp and leave Astarion holding nothing but the cold empty night air, his hands settle upon your back and a sigh which seems to come from deep within him spells peace for the both of you. "This is nice," Astarion's voice rumbles through your ear and you press yourself ever closer to him, unable to get close enough. Your arms constrict around him again and you feel yourself smile as all those sleepy dreams you were having earlier are now here, beneath you, wrapped around you. As you hold on tighter, so too does Astarion, until the two of you are so completely intertwined that the elements cannot reach you. He has no body temperature and yet you are the comfiest and the warmest you have ever been.

Safe.

This time, Astarion doesn't tell you that you accidentally spoke your thoughts aloud.

[oh-saints]

Hi I don’t know if you’ll get this but I have an idea for Rúben Dias, he starrs crushing on the female photographer for Man City and his teammates start teasing him, he doesn’t want to admit his feelings because he thinks the photographer is dating someone ( but she’s actually single and is just introverted)

aaaaahh this feels close to home bcs i'd gotten mistaken so many times by men due to my introvert nature /sigh

silent

rúben should really stop interpreting things out of hand on his own and start asking the right questions instead.

rúben dias x photographer!you

wc: 2.7k

note: here's is my comback piece! (is that even a valid word?) i actually had this idea in mind for a while and i love writing this bcs i can see he could make this kind of cute mistake! this actually hits closer to home, too, considering that i'm an intovert as well LOL but as usual, I happen to write at dawn so this is not beta-read yet.

happy new year too, everyone! i wish you'll have a blessed year ahead <3

“cupcakes!”

you groaned inwardly, that must be jack grealish. only the 100-million man would call you with overly sweet pet names like that, and he did it so often no matter how many times you corrected him that you had a real name during the first month of your employment here. now entering your third month, you’ve long given up, but you’d renamed his contact to be jack greasy on your phone.

“come sit over with us!”

unlike your nickname, though, you hadn’t given up on his persistent request to sit amongst his set of friends because good lord could they be so boisterous their laughter sounded more like a boom in your ears sometimes. their energy simply went off the roof and your introvert self could never handle it well.

you’d have your time to photograph everyone in the bus later anyway, so you gave him a polite smile, without another word, and proceeded to sit down beside your fellow media team.

you could hear jack screaming protest “aw, come on, cupcakes!” as you took your seat. his friends were laughing on his face at your rejection.

if you have your way, though, you’d badly want to be assigned to the calmer tide of the bus. the likes of julian, kevin, bernardo were more suitable for your kind. but being the one responsible for the disposable camera and all of city’s short off-pitch videos, jack and his circus were more than a matchmade in heaven for a better result.

before you had more complaints to mull over, your colleagues turned to face you and started babbling about an upcoming short video the both of you would have to make. the plot, the script, down to deciding who’d be best to be asked for to star in the video.

“i think rúben dias would do just fine.”

being a newbie, you nodded along the names he mentioned because in all honesty, you didn’t exactly know who is who and which is which until now. two months splattered all over the men’s and the women’s team, as well as the academy, was pretty much a guarantee you’d missed out on someone.

but you always, no matter how busy you are, spared some time to browse on the player before you met them, in case it was someone you should be worried for, or someone you should be thankful of for their media-darling persona, or someone you should be working twice as hard because they didn’t know what to do. worse, someone you’d worked together before but you forgot.

for rúben dias, though… you didn’t know which one of the categories above fitted him best. you were rendered speechless at your search bar result. you could bet your entire month salary that he was someone you had yet the chance to create a content together because if he already did, you wouldn’t have that face of his wiped off your brain.

which was exactly why you should be worried.

you had never worked with someone that looks like adonis when he decides to ascend himself from olympus. or so you’d like to think rúben was what adonis would’ve looked like if greek mythology happens to be true.

sadly, nobody warned you that he was even more beautiful up close, as he strutted his way to your creator team, with a tousled hair he kept tussling against, as well as the bright smile and warm laugh he’d drop here as he went through pre-production brief. his voice was so melodic it soothed all the soreness to your eardrums—thanks to jack grealish—in one simple video production, and you mentally thought you could replay the edited video later whenever you needed to go to sleep, like an asmr or some sort, because it really felt like a blanket on a rainy day.

your heart ached at the sight because my goodness… he was simply too beautiful for your own good.

it shouldn’t be doing all that jumping and leaping and drumming, though, because those were the early signs of you getting biased.

and it could only mean one thing in every professional language possible: bad.

with your very generous pay check on the line, you couldn’t afford to fail. so that day, you made a promise to yourself to do what you had to do, and thankfully it was what your introvert self do best.

＊✿❀○❀✿＊＊✿❀○❀✿＊＊✿❀○❀✿＊

while you knew what to do, rúben—on the contrary—seemed lost.

no, the portugese was lost.

contrary to popular belief, footballers are actually smart. at least, if they are not book smart, they’re definitely street smart. rúben would like to think he’s got a bit of both worlds, so it could justify his own judgement of you.

his eyes were keen, as his job required him to do so, and he’s got an incredible sensing, enough to read a gigantic elephant in the room when there was one. the combination scanned your change in attitude on the day he first worked with you and the present time.

you were so friendly and eager to work with him, welcoming his extended hand as he introduced himself to you for the first time. he remembered your smile, blinding against the bleak manchester weather but instead of feeling cold, he only felt warmth and fuzzy all over his body.

but as the filming session went on, your smile was close to non-existent, just like the probability of the two of you running into each other again. he initially thought it was only because you got so many takes already and the job exhausted you, but he later realised you were avoiding him. as subtle as you could anyway.

at the beginning, he only thought you missed the way he waved at you. or the time when he thought you put his row of seat last for a mandatory picture in your disposable camera, for aesthetics’ sake.

the time when he offered you a ride home, though—that was the final confirmation. the weather had started snowing on some days, and you were certainly freezing by the look of your shivering shoulders and teetering teeth, so rúben offered you a ride home. but you turned down the offer, ever so politely like usual. yes, yes of course you had the rights but the most logical thing was to accept them instead of waiting for the next bus, no?

(oh, believe him, he knew she was waiting. he managed to parked far away from your sight but close enough to see that you did indeed wait for the next bus to arrive and take you to the nearest station. he knew, and he remembered that day because it was the only day he had to fight himself from running down the street just to give you another layer of coat.)

his first instinct was to think that he’d wronged you somehow during the filming. was he demanding? was he not up to your par of filming standard? was he not good enough for your cameras?

but james, your fellow co-worker, the one who worked together with you for this project, gave him an utterly confused look. “have you seen how the videos turned out? you were brilliant, rúben. and no, i don’t think i’ve heard any concerns from her about your ethics.”

so what did he still not do right that could’ve upset you?

rúben didn’t like where this was going because you’ve kept him intrigued. you kept him on his toes, bouncing lightly like a child full of curiosity. you kept him thirsty for more information about you and what makes you tick, lowkey in hope to bring out the smile rúben himself didn’t know he had missed seeing.

and if he discovered that he did indeed upset you somehow, and was somehow responsible for the disappearance of your shy smile, then he’d like to right them right away. he has to.

with that mentality, rúben took the chance to clock out earlier—which was like the seventh wonder of the world around etihad academy—in order to catch a glimpse of you on your off-work routine. he’d set himself resolved to only ask necessary questions, not more nor less, without any hidden agenda. no wishy washy, unlike his previous trials.

rúben did actually catch you for a split second. his beak was already opening, he’d only needed his voice box to produce the sound to the question in his mind, but the scene unravelled before him halted everything in him. every particle of his body, every molecule of his brain.

a black car swerved into the lane to the lobby, a pretty prestigious car at that, and the way your face lit up so brightly reminded him of the day you first worked together. it was a sight that rúben missed, it was a sight that rúben longed to see again.

he was so blinded by the ethereal view that he completely forgot his own plan, and watched as the black car swallowed his portion of small happiness of the day.

was that your boyfriend? if yes, then did you take rúben’s friendliness as a romantical advance to you? if yes, then was that the reason why you immediately put up a china wall between you two? if yes, then was he that protective or was he simply possessive?

rúben couldn’t deny his own infatuation of you. maybe it was why he was adamant to right things good between the two of you. but if you did in fact have a boyfriend, then he should find a way to reduce and silence this growing feeling—be it really infatuation or merely curiosity.

“does she have a boyfriend?”

but desperate times need desperate measures, and rúben saw ‘the black car incident’ was his sign to speed things up in order to find a concrete answer. even if it included asking jack grealish about you.

jack snorted, rather snobby. “how would i know, mate?”

“i thought you guys are close.”

“your definition of close is concerning,” jack replied as he shut his locker. “why don’t you ask her yourself? aren’t you the type to just charge at it first, think later?”

“i would’ve if she didn’t give me a cold shoulder.”

“have you tried?”

rúben was the one who didn’t hold back his snort this time. “of course i did.”

“then maybe you were asking the wrong question, mate.”

＊✿❀○❀✿＊＊✿❀○❀✿＊＊✿❀○❀✿＊

as much as rúben hated to confess that jack actually had a point, he had to give hands down. he might be asking the wrong question, he might be asking too much question, he might be asking the right question with the wrong approach.

bottom line, he’d concluded himself that he had to try until he succeeded. each time in different approach, different variables. logically speaking, it should take him somewhere for a clue. if it didn’t, it should at least tire you enough to have you spell the answer to his queries.

rúben had gathered enough information that you and your team had wrapped up filming for christmas and new year’s content, complete with kids involved and all. you were supposed to stay in the editing room, and working late on it because there was a teaser—which fell into your line of work under “short videos”—to be uploaded tomorrow evening.

he purposefully slowed his pace for anything that did not require physical activities and trainings, resulting in him also staying late to finish some of his homework—his affectionate nickname for video trainings he’d like to execute at home, in the comfort of his abode and plush suede pillows—so he could match your pace of work. he planned to catch you off guard the same way as ‘the black car’ incident.

at 8, you finally went out of your cave, precisely like his little rat had informed him before. so of course, you were startled to find rúben already standing against the railing in front of your office.

“rúben,” your voice got stuck in your throat but rúben thought it was a cute squeak. it was also a better response, rúben thought, too. you could’ve spat at him or shooed him away immediately. “what are you doing here?”

“i’m—” rúben thought about lying for a second, but he decided it’d contribute nothing to a start of a friendship. yes, friendship, because it was the bare minimum, no? “i’m waiting for you.”

your eyes widened, and that was when rúben noticed the golden specks on the orbs of your eyes. heartbreakingly stunning, solely because rúben only noticed this now.

you shifted the weight of your body from your right leg to your left one, and rúben found it endearing because he noticed that was an early sign an introvert—you, in this case—was starting to get nervous or uncomfortable. rúben hoped it was the former because that’d put you as cute as an awkward lone penguin.

“is there anything i can help you with?”

“yes, i’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

with his devastatingly beautiful look, his velvet voice and his intensely deep brown eyes, your heart palpitated so fast and so irregular that you were afraid rúben could see them falling and getting back into its designated place like a bungee jumper.

or maybe the rope snapped on its way down and never found its way up again, depending on the question about to be fired at you. at this point, your mind went funnily white, and you were ready to succumb into either pressure or temptation, depending on the question he’d fire you with.

“do you hate me?”

you seemed perplexed at his blatant question, but he’d take that reaction over anything else because it was something, especially compared to the invisible wall you’d put up since the first time you both had worked together.

“do you?” rúben pressed his voice gently, while he took a step closer to you. slowly but assertively.

the movement snapped you back to reality. you should not heed into pressure, but there was no use in lying because in reality, you really had no reason to hate him. if you had your chance, you would’ve done things the other way around.

“no, i don’t.”

another step closer. “but have you ever hated me?”

realising the 6-feet centre back was doing, you involuntarily moved backwards in the same amount of steps that he did, albeit the distance reached was certainly and significantly a huge gap you could never keep. “no, rúben—”

before you could finish your sentence, he obliterated every single space left in between the two of you and cornered you to the nearest wall. “then do you like me?”

you should be running, you should be fleeing, you should be screaming down the hill. you should be anywhere but here, trapped in between the long, strong and sturdy pair of his arms, the very same one he used to defend himself and the ball from the opponent. the very same one your eyes couldn’t lie but appreciate its masculinity.

rúben noticed the miniscule movement of your eyes, despite your tightened body language, and it brought a little smile on the corner of his lips. maybe he had indeed asked all the wrong question in all the previous times he’d had the chance.

“tell me,” rúben then pronounced your name in the way no one else could, so soft and velvet like a fine cashmere being caressed against your eardrums, that shivers ran down your entire body as if you were struck by a lightning. “please tell me that, at least.”

so paradoxic, you thought inwardly at the sensation. and you supposedly hated the way he confused you, but you didn’t this time—you didn’t even detest the way he seemed enjoying this whole thing, by the way he pulled of a subtle smirk that busted your knees slowly but surely—and it made you even more crazy because what the hell was this?

you tried to mask it off by looking him straight in the eyes. well, tried to, at least, because the moment your eyes were connected with the milkiest brown orbs that reminded you of a hot chocolate on a wintry day, you couldn’t help but look away. “what do you want me to say?”

rúben didn’t fight a full smile from blooming on his face, as the tip of his finger aligned your face gently to face his. he really likes the fact you gave him a fair fight to remain indifferent still, even when everything else of your body failed to be your auxiliary. “do you like me?”

“i do—”

“then would you like to have a dinner with me tonight?”

[nights-at-crystarium]

i just wanted to pop by and gush about how incredibly well written vivi is because GOD. his story unfolding has made me reconsider several story beats about my wol and thats an amazing thing

theres two things that i think uve done especially well with his storytelling, being that vivi feels like an almost complete enigma to the reader, despite how intimate this story is, and the fact that vivi feels incredibly human - almost TOO human to be comfortable with

so to elaborate on the first point - i think a lot of us (and certainly i can) echo thancreds sentiment that he doesn't know vivian rell, because as intimate as this story can get with his pov, in the end, much like someone you'd meet in real life, we don't know much about him before the point we meet him, and any glimpses we get just signal that theres so much more to him than we get to see. and as much as we DO know about him, i find that every time he does one of his blank, furrowed stares that signal he's thinking something, my brain practically lights on fire trying to figure out what he's considering. to that end i really like how enigmatic uve made him from a storytelling perspective, because it makes him feel so much more real!!! i honestly look forward a lot to learning more fragments (heh) of him and slowly piecing together a puzzle of him as the story goes on. i just want to rotate him in my head lol

but also, this does segue into my other point really well, which is the fact that vivis position as wol really seems to wear on him, and he seems for lack of a better word, completely exhausted! i know (myself included) write their wols with a trait of an almost unbreakable, iron will, which is very much still true in vivis case (again, anyone who gets to the point of shadowbringers without flat out giving up is incredibly strong by default) but showing him at his wits end, exhausted with the burdens of a hero, someone just so throughly *done* with what is, realistically, a pretty shit job is well... yeah! of course he is! he's only human, and he's what, saved the world 3 times now? seen countless die before him, powerless to save them, of course he's numb. the fact that the most defining experiences of the first for him are filled with mostly such... benign experiences, and that the major, climatic moments of shadowbringers get as much fanfare as a forlong gaze, or a like. him hanging out with his fairy bestie is such a cool storytelling decision. (also before i ramble about this the decision to not even show tesleen is such an excellent decision bc like. it makes sense for him for this to not be such a significant moment. shes just another death, another tally to the thousands hes already seen. or maybe im reading WAYYY too hard into a decision to not highjack this love story with plot) basically, what i've been gushing about is the fact that vivi feels very much like a whole person, and is probably one of the most well realised wols ive ever read about. and his relationships with the world leaders, and this impossible burden hes forced to shoulder has gotten me to reconsider how i write my wol, because yeah! any hero might be strong-willed and resilient, but theyre still human, and the burden of a warrior of light is maybe, a little too much for anyone to bear.

i hope u could at least make something out of my rambles, but honestly to sum it all up i am incredibly captivated by vivi. i originally read fragments because i like ANY wolgraha content but now, i come back almost exclusively to see how vivi's story unfolds, and how graha eventually comes into the fold too. hes such a fascinating character, and i think youve done an incredible job of creating a well rounded hero, full of humanity!!! (also, if you want, feel free to post this on ur blog!!)

I think I shat myself like 5 times while reading this (positive)

Vivi being an enigma wasn't really part of the plan. We have a pool that's his lore, things I wanna tell, and a bottleneck through which it has to go. The comic format forces me to consider what bits of info to deliver when, there's only so much I can tell at a time. One deliberate choice I made is completely burn the bridge between ARR and ShB, skip, leave it empty. That already sparks questions when we see a different Vivi at the beginning of ShB (and gives me leeway, time to write with more nuance, I didn't Think about HW-SB in such scrupulous detail as ShB).

I wanted to tell a primarily ShB story from the start, but had less ambition, and planned to condense the angsty bits that you're reading nowadays into an infodump told by Vivi to no one (to the reader). Changing the receiving party to a tangible character who's eager to learn (Exarch) made the info easier to digest and anchored it in the world. This change, fwiw, happened in like 2022 while I drew the ARR arc, saw the warm reception, and got more excited about my thing. I constantly learn and try to improve, writing's a new toy that brings me tons of fun.

So, when I learned the new trick - telling things through other characters - I thought, why not make everyone slightly wrong, or rather, with a specific snapshot of Vivi in their head. Same happens irl, people only know the version of you that they're exposed to, the only person who knows the full and real you is you.

That brings me to the next point, why Vivi feels so human: I made him not as a wol/hero, but a guy I wanna ship with Exarch, his foil. Obligatory note it was dumb of me to ignore Emet's existence in that case, but that's already changed. Exarch denies himself the simple human joys, he plots his own fucking death, so I thought I'd give him a guy that teaches him how to enjoy being alive again. That was THE foundation of Vivi, his core. He's a manic pixie dream boy.

Then I started asking how and why: why he falls for Exarch specifically instead of ARRRaha? He's confident, selfish, casual (these traits are what Exarch lacks), emotionally intelligent, where did that come from? He must've had an utterly normal life and loving family before he became a hero. He grew up being appreciated and happy. OH, then his ass must LOATHE the current situation because he can't go back to that normal life! So on, so forth.

i find that every time he does one of his blank, furrowed stares that signal he's thinking something, my brain practically lights on fire trying to figure out what he's considering.

This's me carefully dropping the breadcrumbs and hoping that you notice them, and you go HOLY SHIT BREADCRUMBS, this's so validating ;w; <3 This's overtly called a story hook, though I prefer "door". So far this story's only opened doors, as in hinted at more stuff without immediately showing it. I love it when questions get delayed answers, when you get time to stew on it and build up anticipation, then, when the door finally closes, it's much more satisfying. I keep in mind all the doors I've opened, if something provokes a question, it's by design.

(also before i ramble about this the decision to not even show tesleen is such an excellent decision bc like. it makes sense for him for this to not be such a significant moment. shes just another death, another tally to the thousands hes already seen. or maybe im reading WAYYY too hard into a decision to not highjack this love story with plot)

You're 100% correct!! I'm not retelling the canon ShB story from a default wol pov, this's a custom thing focused on ships, therefore anything that doesn't contribute to said ships gets cut. You may read what's NOT shown as what Vivi doesn't pay attention to.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me, this gave me so much motivation like you wouldn't know ;//////;

[sanjithesimp]

♡ lost without you ft. kim taehyung ♡

a/n: tae’s new album is for all the hopeless romantics out there and i’m here for it.

warnings: nsfw (minors DNI).fem reader. major ANGST (i’m sorry). pwp(porn with plot). unprotected sex. not proofread.

summary: PAINNNNNNNN (but yeah pretty much angst…and falling out of love). sorry guys idk why my brain is like this.

“i love you” your sweet boyfriend said, a smile drawn across his face.

“i love you too” you replied, but you didn’t really mean it. those feelings were gone a long time ago. you didn’t know when it started, but suddenly the butterflies weren’t there anymore. you no longer enjoyed spending time with him. you had certainly fell out of love. but you couldn’t find the words to say that to him. you couldn’t look him in straight in the eye and say “i don’t love you anymore”. maybe it was the history and the memories that were keeping you from telling him. or maybe that you longed for those times where you were happy, and full of love.

he held your hand and looked at you concerned “is everything ok, baby?” you removed your hand almost instanlty, regretting it immediately.

“oh, don’t worry babe, it’s just i’m a little tired” you said, placing your hand on his, and trying to brush off all those thoughts that were fogging your mind.

“yeah me too, we should definitely get out of here” taehyung said, after leaving the tip.

the trip back to your apartment was a quiet, sometimes you both sang together the song that was playing. it felt like before for a moment, memories filling your mind and making you feel like everything was all right. but the emptiness was still there.

once you were in your apartment, you decided it, you would say goodbye your own way.

“come here” you said opening your arms to embrace your boyfriend. you held him tight for a long time, there were no lights on. so it was just you two and the darkness embracing your bodies.

“i want you” you whispered in his ear, as you placed your hands on his belt.

“yeah, baby? how bad you want me?” taehyung said as he left a trail of kisses on your neck.

“so bad, i want you now…” you purred as you unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants, and then palming his hardness over his boxers. making him groan against your hot skin.

his hands unzipping your dress, and letting it fall to the floor right next to his pants. his hands now on your waist, pulling you close to him. there was no sound other than your sloppy kisses on filling the room. the emptiness was gone again, you had almost forgotten about it for a moment.

his hands fell to your hips, motioning so you could wrap around his waist, he carried you to your room. and plopped you down on the soft bed, his eyes were glowing, so full of love, you had to turn away.

“look at me, please” he said, his hand cupping your cheek. you turned back, and looked back at him. again making you forget that this was the last time you would be together. you could almost know exactly what he was thinking, he didn’t have to say a word. he adored you, he loved every piece of you. he taught you how to love yourself, when you couldn’t love you.

you pulled him in for a kiss, you played with his golden locks. his soft lips against yours felt like heaven, his teeth grazing yours as he caged your in between his arms. the i love yous in between kisses made you shed a few tears, thankfully his eyes were closed. you didn’t want him to notice this was a goodbye.

one of his hands traveled to your cunt, his fingers rubbing your clit through the soft lace of your panties. “fuck, you’re so wet for me…” you moaned as his fingers played with your sensitive bud. you finished getting rid of your clothes. you were skin to skin, almost melted into one.

you pressed kisses on his honey skin, while he softly thrusted into you. your moans and his groans filled the room. while the dim lights of the streets made your skin glow in the darkness of your bedroom.

“fuck…yeah, like that” you whispered as he kept on pumping in and out of you, watching the white ring around his cock, whenever he slipped his cock out of you and slipped it back inside you. pressing kisses on your shoulder whenever he was fully in you.

suddenly you felt the coil on your belly tighten, “i-i’m so close, baby..”, he started increasing the pace, searching for your high as well as his. you looked at him, once more. pressing him into your memory, his soft hair, his kind eyes, his honey skin, his rosy lips.

this didn’t feel like the other times where you both were drunk and fucked for hours, this felt different. it wasn’t just sex, it was something more. it didn’t feel like the first time, you both where together. this made you wish you could love him again, the way he loved you or even more. made you wish that the emptiness and indifference you felt suddenly would disappear. you regretted not letting him know how much you loved him before all that love was drained out of you.

“you’re mine, and i’m yours” taehyung said, while you both cuddled, covered with the messy sheets. you nodded and cupped his face with both hands.

“i know” you said and kissed him. you kissed each one of his moles, the one on his left cheek, the one on his right eye and even the little one on the tip of his nose. you promised yourself you would engrave the memory the big smile he gifted you before he fell asleep.

you watching him sleep, make sure he wouldn’t see you part. not leaving a single trace of you for him to miss. it was heartbreaking but you would rather disappear without saying another word than watching him break and beg for you to stay. you simply couldn’t. but if you stayed for another minute you would convince yourself not to leave him.

[aihoshiino]

An ONK question that's been on my mind a lot is that what does ch109 serves to the character of Kamiki. The chapter felt out of place to me when it came out, because it's a (supposed) murder and no at all tied to the entertainment industry. It's criminal activity with no nuance. Many read this as an implication that Kamiki has been killing people left right and center and Ai was one of his victims. But... Now I wonder if this is a retcon of some kind. Yura's death was mentioned once (1) after the chapter and I kept wondering how the heck is it possible for Kamiki, a pretty high profile guy in the industry, to be going around killing other high profile people without anyone noticing. It also doesn't feel like the current ONK plot is leaning towards "Kamiki is a psychopath murderer". Don't get me wrong, I like what we know about Kamiki now and how his past shaped him. It feels more in line with the theme of ONK. It's just hard for me to forget that a woman died on screen! I want to know your thoughts on how this might play out / tie into his character? Your character analysis are always on point & your HKAI posts helped me processed a lot of the 15YL plotline.

NGL at this point I really don't know what to make of it LOL. Back when I was first trying to figure out what was going on with Kamiki, I revisited that chapter and actually came away feeling pretty certain that he hadn't actually killed Yura and the presentation there was a red herring to make him seem more actively villainous to the reader and mislead us as to what his intentions were.

Part of this was because we had gotten the reveal of his victimisation at Airi's hands shortly before this chapter (just shy of 10 chapters before, iirc?) and that reveal combined with Akane's revolted horror in reaction to putting those pieces together had me pretty sure we were heading towards a place of Kamiki being portrayed as sympathetic and someone to emphasize with. Thus, it would be weirdly incongruous with that setup for him to also be a yandere serial killer who was wandering around sniping sparkly actresses.

The other (and tbh, probably more influential in hindsight) factor was that we don't actually see Kamiki killing her. The chapter being set up to make him so overtly suspicious while refusing to show him actually committing murder ironically made me less inclined to think he was responsible for Yura's death. The way I interact with murder mysteries and also just like, fiction in general is pretty much entirely filtered through the ways Umineko specifically and When They Cry as a whole warped my brain and the way 109 was presented read to me exactly like the sort of narrative trick R07 would have used to make a character look suspicious of something they didn't actually do.

Now though… I really dunno lol. Like you said, it feels out of place - not just in Kamiki's arc but in the story as a whole. My best guess is that Akasaka maybe did originally intend to write Kamiki as a serial killer targeting women who would surpass Ai but in the process of actually putting his arc to paper, he evolved into a different character for whom that kind of arc wouldn't make sense. Which I actually prefer! The Kamiki we get in the manga feels a lot more nuanced and human to me compared to the yandere Light Yagami serial killer mastermind people were making up in their heads. But it also means that Yura's death is this weird snarl that I don't think Akasaka knows how to reconcile.

Actually - literally as I was writing that I suddenly realised, this might be why Nino suddenly came out of nowhere and started being written like she was? Akasaka has said in the past that he's had OnK's ending in his head for a really long time and I can't help but wonder now if part of that ending involved the twins' father playing an antagonistic role that ultimately did not suit the character that he became. So the character's antagonistic traits and role in the endgame were grafted onto Nino because she happened to fit the bill.

[nekole-doodles]

For today's DMSP AU, Imma talk about my Fullmetal Alchemist DSMP AU, one of my many AU mash-ups! Here we go!

Obviously, this is heavily based on Fullmetal Alchemist(The original manga plot and the FMA: Brotherhood series btw) so here are some of the roles the characters have:

Tommy - Edward Elric: They both have similar personalities but one is tall while the other is made fun of for being short which is hilarious in my opinion :) Also, Tommy joined the military when he was 12-14 and he's currently 16.

Ranboo - Alphonse Elric: I had to think about this one a lot since Tommy and Ranboo wouldn't be blood brothers like in the original and Ranboo would not be a suit of armor. Ranboo is the adopted brother of Tommy and they're still really close. Ranboo's soul was transferred into a sort of large organic doll/chimera that was the experiment of Phil(who takes the place of Von Hohenheim, I'll get to him in a bit). It's basically a lot like C! Ranboo's body but it's incredible durable/has tough skin(as in bulletproof), can't digest food(the body will reject and Ranboo would end up having to spit it out), can't sleep, and can't feel anything(he can hear, see, and smell, but not taste, feel pain/feel anything physical). His original body is basically Ranboo in real life but younger. The body Ranboo's soul is in has a lot of complexities to it that will be explained for another time.

Tubbo - Winry: He's an automail mechanic, it suits him. He also won't hesitate to clonk Tommy's head with a wrench if Tommy gets careless with his automail. He's surprisingly strong(as in probably being able to pick Tommy up and throw him) and hates feeling powerless despite always being left powerless.

Phil - Von Hohenheim: Still immortal and still left his family. Tommy doesn't like Phil because he left them but Ranboo feels more neutral about Phil. Basically like in the original FMA. Phil's wife is, of course, Kristin(RIP). He also doesn't have wings. Idk what else to say for Phil, he's really similar to C! Phil and Von Hohenheim.

Wilbur(not related to cc! Wilbur) - Roy Mustang: It just fits so well in my brain. His title is the Dynamite Alchemist and yes, he is sane. He's a lot like L'manberg era Wilbur but much less naive since he's seen what war is. ALSO, his uniform is extremely similar to the L'manberg military uniform in C! DSMP(but without the hat), I just really like that idea :)))) He and Tommy have a similar relationship as Ed and Roy in FMA but if you added more friendship and fondness because I love Crimeboys in AUs and DSMP :]

Techno - Scar: I debated VERY HARD on this one between Techno taking the role of Scar or General Armstrong/Olivier Armstrong because both fit so well for me. In the end, I decided on Scar but with a different backstory. Techno is a piglin hybrid because I added hybrid races to this world. So far, there are Enderians(I'll talk about them more in another post) and Piglins but there might be more. Techno is an anarchist still and he's very strong and good in combat. I still haven't figured out how he'll gain the destructive alchemy ability but I know that at some point, he'll be able to do more reconstruction, even being able to change the physical appearance of a person(that'll be elaborated on later). Techno did not kill Tubbo's parents btw, so Tommy doesn't have as much anger towards him besides the fact he keeps trying to kill state alchemists and succeeding most of the time. When Tommy and Techno had to work together, they had some surprisingly nice joking moments but it still took a while for Tommy to be comfortable around him since, y'know, Techno tried killing him on several occasions. I think he'll still have the voices which will be a major part of his backstory that I'm still piecing together.

Okay, it's late and I'm tired so that's all you're getting right now.

[clowningaroundmars]

morales twins vigilantes: getting found out pt 1

hey yall im in my fic writing era. but i am BAD at writing LMFAO i'm really not sure i'll ever write a proper fic with a plot or anything

either way, i hope yall like this lil drabble my brain came up with on a whim of the morales twins!

it's how i imagine the way their secret would be revealed after doing the whole vigilante thing together for a lil bit. it's kind of based on the hcs i had of the twins which is here, kind of a continuation of the last bullet point there actually

miles1610 is miles and miles42 is milo bc i read a couple fics with that name given to him and now it is stuck in my heart u_u

>2nd part here<

well. uh. hope u enjoy! :)

It was a fight that went slightly awry that really did them in.

No blood, no fireworks, no loud banging or explosions or anything. No one was even so badly hurt that they almost died, either.

It was simply just… a broken mask and their father unexpectedly being on patrol that fateful night that finally brought their secret out to light.

The Morales twins had been doing their vigilante thing together for only a few months now. Miles had been Spider-man for well over a year, of course, but it was after a particularly bad fight with a rhinoceros guy (what a freak…) that went semi-viral on social media that his brother Milo finally put his foot down and pulled those Prowler gloves from under his bed. He worked hard to modify the technology to better suit him, and had all of the armor and rope he needed in order to keep up with his brother all set in as little as 2 weeks.

Miles hemmed and hawed about bringing his not-super-powered brother around for the nasty fights he usually tackled alone. But he would be lying if he said that Milo’s concern didn’t put a small smile on his face in the end. Plus, it really helped out a lot when Miles needed to be somewhere quickly but still had a criminal left to take on and web up. Milo being just one text away from springing into action took a real big load off of his shoulders in ways he couldn’t even imagine.

That was about 3 months ago.

It was relatively smooth sailing until one Jefferson Davis took a night patrol under his belt without even warning the boys.

Well, Miles thought to himself in retrospect, we weren’t really around the house to catch if he did tell anyone, so.

Miles ran along a side of a building to catch up with the villain of the week. He was desperately trying to keep this super-powered baddie off of his not-so-super-powered brother, and not quite succeeding. Miles told Milo time and again not to tease any bad guys during a fight. Keep the attention off of you, bro. You do not have superpowers. I do! Is that not what Miles said? God, it’s like in one ear and out the other with this guy. Ugh.

Currently, Milo is parrying and deflecting attacks from this shocker-looking guy, a real piece of work. He still had his hi-vis vest on-- and Miles swore he even saw a name tag on it somewhere which was just hilarious, really-- but aside from his normal-looking work outfit, everything else about this dude was definitely not normal. Like the bright electricity fizzing all over his skull that just barely concealed this man’s real face, and the giant lightning bolts shooting out from his hands as he tried to fry Milo. It was a good thing Milo had enough sense to install energy-absorbing tech into those giant claws of his, or else Miles would be in real big trouble at the ER.

Miles ripped a chunk of some abandoned demolition project that never got done and swung it with all of his might in the direction of their fight, using his webs for maximum distance. It didn’t hit electro-dude but it almost hit his brother. Oops.

“Ayo, watch it!” Prowler growled, his mask distorting his voice the same way it distorted Uncle Aaron’s back when he held the mantle. He gracefully flipped out of the way and shot a grappling hook somewhere off into some scaffolding, pulling himself away from the action to let his bro fly in and give the temporarily-distracted electric-man some work.

Miles would snap back with a retort if he weren’t so busy pummeling this villain with all that he’s got. Both boys’ curfews were about an hour ago and they just knew their mom would be fuming once she got back and found out. But this needed taking care of, and neither Morales boys were willing to leave some freak of nature to take over Brooklyn and shut down all the power lines over a bedtime. Hell no.

But this needed to end now, or else good ol’ Spidey won’t be seeing the light of day for another 2 months. And by the looks of it, neither will the Prowler. Before Miles could even think to land the finishing blow on old lightning-head here though, tragedy struck.

An all-too familiar voice hollers out those dreaded words both boys hate hearing, especially in the middle of a fight.

“PDNY! Freeze! Put your hands up where we can see ‘em!”

Everyone did freeze, Milo looking particularly shocked as his head swivels around to the sight of waving flashlights and 3 burly but familiar silhouettes making their way past the far gates and advancing quickly into the fray.

Jefferson Davis’ gun appears to almost materialize out of the shadows, his face lit up in the harsh lights of his flashlight beam, sporting an intimidating, professional look. Cop mode, is what Miles and Milo called it jokingly one day as they lounged in their room, passing a bag of chips between them and having a laugh at their dad’s expense. That was before Milo took on the mantle of the Prowler. That was before this.

Miles panics slightly as he feels the man jump up underneath him, thrusting an arm into the police’s direction, ready to fire off a bolt--

Right after Milo lunges in front of the officers, ready to take the blast.

It happens in a fraction of a second. Miles didn’t even think he had enough time to open his mouth, let alone warn Jeff of the incoming danger. He figures that’s what Milo must’ve thought, too, otherwise there really was no other explanation for this stupid decision he just made.

Sparks flew, and then the thud of a body hitting the floor seemed to echo throughout the demolition site.

Shit shit shit shit shitshitshitshitshit, was Miles’ inner monologue as he finally landed the blow to the side of the baddie’s head, knocking him out successfully. He quickly webbed the man up to the floor, restraining him fully. The way I shoulda done in the first place, damnit, Miles lamented, freezing in place after the deed was done. His brain was working into overdrive to try and think of ways he could extract his now-nearly unconscious brother from this place without raising their dad’s suspicions.

Ever since Prowler joined in on Spider-man’s “adventures”, the media became even more fascinated with capturing every single moment it could of Spidey now that he had a sidekick in tow.

Headlines splashed on magazines, articles and news feeds read: “Batman and Robin! Spider-man and… the Prowler?” and “Webbed Menace Recruits Purple Sidekick, Even More of a Menace”. They haunted Miles’ every step. Milo, for his part, was mostly amused. But every now and then he would complain about being known as his brother’s sidekick, as if that was the most egregious part of having his every move recorded and uploaded for millions to see online.

Their mother became even more suspicious of her twin sons after she watched a video of the two vigilantes stopping a runaway bus in downtown Brooklyn. They looked eerily similar in size to her own teenage boys, and even seemed to banter the same way after all of the civilians were saved and back on solid ground. The way Spider-man clapped Prowler on the shoulder… hmmm.

To say that she shared her suspicions with her husband would be an understatement. Milo and Miles somehow always managed to catch a familiar cop car slowly rolling around corners and down streets, keeping pace just behind them, watching them. Miles would always roll his eyes, knowing it was their father. Milo would be annoyed but managed to shrug and keep minding his own business, since it was very obviously their father. When confronted, Jeff would try-- and fail-- to casually brush it off as simply doing Concerned Dad things.

“Listen, you two.” Jeff started one evening after dinner. He managed to get both boys down in their room one weekend, just for “a quick talk”. His excuse was that Brooklyn was getting too dangerous lately, especially at night, and that he was “gonna keep an eye on them” as a precaution.

But neither boy missed that slight nervous shift in his stance as he delivered the news, and once their dad bade them a good night and left, they gave each other a silent look that conveyed the exact same thought they were both thinking.

They’re onto us.

Well, their parents’ fears and suspicions were definitely going to be confirmed whether the twins liked it or not.

Milo groaned on the ground, the Prowler gauntlets having taken the majority of the blast sent his way, but the mask was halfway blown off, revealing a good portion of the boy’s face underneath. He rocked in place for a moment, blinking stars and dancing lights out of his eyes for just that one moment.

“Prowler!!” Miles shouted. In his panic, he forgot to lower his voice and conceal his identity, but his feet just wouldn’t move! What the hell, Morales… get it together! His brother was just badly injured and here he was, frozen in place like a deer.

Jeff, for his part, was barking orders to his coworkers and directing them to make a sweep of the place in case any other suspects tried to make a run for it.

They both left. He finally jolted his bright beam of light onto Spider-man, simply standing there a little ways away and staring back with those unnervingly gigantic bug-eyes of his. If Jeff wasn’t in work-mode right now, he’d explode on this guy and ask about what the hell was going on here, but Officer Davis was nothing if not a consummate professional.

Plus, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

There was what seemed like a teenage boy on the ground, wearing those goddamned gauntlets that Jeff could’ve sworn he shipped off to the junkyard after Aaron’s funeral. Damnit, if this punk was running around wearing his brother’s mantle and tagging along with Spider-man just to double-cross him in the end, there was gonna be hell to pay.

Jeff didn’t know why, but he felt slightly protective of the bug-themed hero, damnit. Sue him. And those claws brought nothing but terrible memories of screaming women, dead brothers and heightened stress. He did not need this right now, fuck.

Once the boy on the ground stirred, Jeff quickly pointed his gun and flashlight beam directly onto him. “Those orders were for you, too, punk. Do not try me tonight. Freeze. Put your hands out where I can see ‘em!”

Milo froze on the ground, and then tried to twist his face away from his looming father who was only a foot or two away with the world’s brightest flashlight in his face, fuuuuck. He just knew he was gonna be feeling this headache for the next 3 days…

Tentatively, he also raised his claws in front of his face as slowly as he could, trying to cover his face even more. He propped himself up on his elbows and tried to regulate his breathing.

Having a cop for a dad was not always peachy, but it helped a lot to know exactly how an officer would react if any sudden movements were made while having a gun out, and Milo was not trying to get a bullet to the chest on top of the mother of all electric shocks as well. No thank you.

It was in this moment that Miles’ brain started working again, and he unstuck himself from the pavement to reach out to his dad.

“Offi-- ahem, ahem. Officer Davis,” he remembered to lower his tone and conceal his voice a bit as well, and continued, “what a surprise to see you here. On this, uh. This very beautiful night!”

Groan. Oh my god. Even Milo rolled his eyes a bit, trying to shuffle back.

“I said FREEZE!” Jeff roared, attention still trained on Milo.

Without glancing up, he added, ���And you Spider-man. Oh, buddy you are gonna get it after I’m done with this little asshole, runnin’ around with my brother’s-- man, y’know what-- nevermind! Just stay back, okay? I got this handled.”

“But wait! Th-that’s uh. He’s not an asshole, officer, he’s my-- my sidekick! He’s the good guy!! He helped me take this guy down! And he even saved you just now!” Miles waved his hands around frantically, agitating Jeff.

Stop doing that, stupid! Milo thought to himself in a daze, still recovering from the electric blast.

“Stay back, Spider-man. I’m warning you.” Jeff growled.

Miles picked up the hint and halted his movements, giant white eyes flicking back up and down from his dad to his brother and back. He had to think of something, or else Milo would be dragged back to a holding cell and both of their identities would be out. He just couldn’t let that happen.

Biting his lip, Miles gathered some resolve and stepped forward again. “Officer Davis—”

“Not another word outta you!” Jeff swung the flashlight right back onto Miles threateningly, and then trained it back onto Milo again. “I am serious right now, Spidey. One more word outta you and I’m slappin’ the cuffs on you too, I swear to god! I got more than enough room in the back of the squad car for two freaks!”

Miles recoiled. “Freaks. Geez, is that what you think of us?”

But Jeff didn’t answer, because he was all of a sudden deathly silent.

Both of the other officers just finished their sweep of the area, and were making their way back to Jeff when he all of a sudden kneeled down, still training that gun on Prowler’s face. But his movements were slow and hesitant, as if he were performing them in a daze.

Miles’ spider senses should’ve been tingling by now, at the very least a little. Still, he stayed glued to his spot as he watched Officer Davis-- as if in slow motion-- shifting his flashlight and gun into one hand, lowering both slightly and away from Prowler’s shattered mask.

As his other hand reached out, Milo flinched, but he didn’t need to. Jeff simply carded his calloused fingers over his hair, his braid on the one side of his head, in reverence. Milo couldn’t breathe. He was too scared to speak.

And then everyone’s blood ran cold at the same time.

Jeff saw the beads of Milo’s favorite basketball team colors, ones that he was excited to get again at the barber shop last weekend, simply hanging there tied to the ends of the Prowler’s braid, sitting limply in his hand. Milo’s blood ran cold once he realized exactly what it was that his own father was looking at. He didn’t need to reveal his face whatsoever when his now-exposed hair told the whole story anyways.

Miles’ spider senses finally kicked up once Jeff looked up slowly, an absolutely ruined expression rippling across his worn-out features as he really gave Spider-man a good, hard look, eyes playing over what little he could see of the vigilante in the darkness of night.

For a split second, no one said anything.

Even electro-head seemed to be silent as he came to and tried to sneakily rip the webs off of him. No dice. He finally turned his attention to the trio not too far away and opened his mouth.

“Hey, what the hell is this, some family reunion or something? Let me outta here, man! Goddamn, what a fuckin’ punch, man… shit…”

Everyone startled at the same time, turning their attention to the villain. Damn, almost forgot about him.

The other officers finally arrived to surround the other angles behind Spider-man, one of them even kneeling down beside electric-- whatever, the villain of the week-- and started cutting him out of the sticky ropes to put him in cuffs.

“Don’t even think about it,” one of them grunted once they got to his hands and saw a tingle of electricity surging through fingertips. “We got dampeners in my squad car if you try anything cute, got it?”

Jeff slowly holstered his gun, keeping the flashlight trained on the Prowler, unable to tear his eyes from this boy lying on the ground at his feet.

“Davis…? You good?” This was the officer who wasn’t busy wrangling sticky webs off of the baddie. He had his flashlight and gun trained on said baddie of course, but his head was swiveled to look at his captain.

Jeff swallowed hard and nodded slowly, a weirdly mechanical kind of movement.

“…Okay. Hey, Spidey. Thanks for this, I guess,” said the officer, keeping his concerned gaze trained on Jeff, shrugging a shoulder. “Too bad about your friend though. Hope he’ll be fine.”

It took Miles a second to recognize that iconic mustache, and then it dawned on him that it was his dad’s faithful friend and his own sidekick, Officer Gutierrez. How ironic, Miles thought ruefully.

He turned back to his dad, who was now helping Prowler up from the ground and steadying him against his side.

“What’re we doing with these two?” Gutierrez asks, because someone has to.

Jeff startles, as if he was just asleep and happened to wake up. “Uhh, about...?”

Gutierrez gave him a look. “The mask guy under your arm. And, uh. This guy,” he points his chin towards VOTW (villain of the week) as he’s being hauled up forcibly by the other officer, now in giant sturdy cuffs binding his arms together.

“The… that guy. Electric man. Just… just put those dampeners on his hands and take him down to HQ. They’ll probably just ship him off to the Raft. Let me know when you guys get there, of course. I’ll uhm. I think I’m gonna be taking my break right now.”

“You taking the mask-man all by yourself, then, captain?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I will. It’s… something personal to me, to be seeing these claws on this boy. I’m sorry. I think I might explain later but right now, we gotta get that guy behind some kinda bars. Please, Gutierrez.”

Gutierrez gives him an unreadable expression, and Jeff shoots an apologetic look back.

Finally, his partner gives a small nod and turns back to the task at hand. Miles breathes out a sigh of relief.

But it was a breath too soon.

“Spider-man. Prowler. The both of you. My car. Now.”

[gellavonhamster]

u ship smoker and tashigi! 😭i luv them sm!! what is the most thing u like in them? And why u love them!?

Ok let's see, I can rarely put into words coherently why I ship one pairing or another, so I'm gonna freestyle here

I do remember telling @patron-saints when asked the same question that I like ships where both characters look in the same direction as much as they look at each other. I think this might be the thing I like about them the most - that both of them are people with a strong moral compass who try to do the right thing even if it goes against the rules, dedicated to pursuing actual justice not whatever passes for it for most other Marines. (I do wonder where they're gonna end up by the end of One Piece because I don't think that at this point the whole institution of the Marines can really be fixed). It's not an easy path, but they walk it together and they push each other to be better while at it. I love the moment in Punk Hazard where she literally yells at him that they should survive by any means whatsoever, even if it takes swallowing their pride, because they can't just throw away their lives - they have a duty to others:

And she's right! And he listens! And she's basically talking to him the way he talked to her in Alabasta when he urged her to become stronger, there's nothing nice about it but it works because that's how he operates and she knows it well by now. It also shows how more confident she's become and how they've grown used to working with each other - I don't think she would've dared to talk to him like that in Alabasta. And he, in turn, trusts her to carry on with their duty on her own and replace him as the leader if he doesn't come back...

...because she has become stronger and he knows that. (He's also protecting her here, and I think he also knows that appealing to her sense of duty would be more likely to make her not follow him into danger than insinuating she's not strong enough to face that danger with him. Because by now he also knows well how she operates). Not to make the same post again, but there's a similar moment in One Piece: Stampede, and it's, like. If I had a nickel for every time Tashigi wanted to follow Smoker into what might be a suicide mission and he had to force her to stay behind, I'd have two nickels, etc. So, battle couple but less in the sense of physically fighting back to back and more in the sense of fighting the same battle, working in tandem, guiding each other, and having each other's back. Or something.

Speaking of Punk Hazard, I don't think the bodyswap plot was done well with them. I think it was mostly an excuse to show Tashigi with her boobs out. But it did make my brain go brrrr because I started thinking about how he ought to apologize to her for being so careless with her body because poor girl must have caught a cold and probably developed a nicotine addiction, and imagining how that apology would go led me to ao3, and the rest is history (which included me writing my own take on the apology). Though I do think some seeds were sown in my mind way before that arc...

...for example, I feel like this panel in particular did something to my psyche.

Which brings us to the more headcanon-based and less serious part. I imagine their potential romance would grow to be a steady, solid thing based on partnership and trust (which is the kind of relationship I tend to ship because I'm boring like that <3), but it would start out extremely awkward. Because she's a sweet clumsy girl who tries hard to make people take her seriously and he's a gruff, rather rude guy who has a kind heart underneath that. Also, they're probably very much are not supposed to get into such kind of relationship considering that she's his subordinate. Potential for cute AND funny AND slightly angsty scenarios, for dancing around each other without knowing how to make the next step, whether to make the next step. Also for copious amounts of unresolved sexual tension... and what it would result in when it is finally resolved. And I like that for my ships.

(Also, lemme be shallow real quick: I think they're both hot, and even hotter together)

TL;DR I just think they're neat

[dogwooddiaries]

Writer's Tag Game

tagged by @strangethings-everywhere and @effervescentyellow thanks for the tag! <3

Rules: Answer some or all of the questions below. Tag your fellow writers. Enjoy!

Link to your masterlist: My tiny master list is here on ao3

Favorite and least favorite genres to write (angst/smut/fluff, etc): I have a hard time writing and not including at least a little angst, so I guess that's a favorite. Not sure about my least favorite; still figuring myself out. Maybe fluff?

Favorite characters to write for? well I only write Bobby and Don really :) I have an oc that I kind of adore for this newsies thing I'm trying, but it's been different/hard making an oc...

Which one of your works is your favorite? I'm so happy with finishing Undo Me and figuring out how to get to where I wanted to go. I had fun with my melodrama and angst and unoriginal use of light as a motif and the dash of chiasmus in the plot. I also really liked where I ended up with Sneaking Around because from concept to completion, it took a couple of hours and just came to me without a bunch of planning/drafting - so like the total opposite of Undo Me. These two favorites are also my lower kudos fics :')

Which one of your fics was hardest to write? Why? Undo Me was the biggest thing to wrestle with for sure. I knew where it was going but I didn't really know the route. It was very much a Flannery O'Connor experience of "I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say."

What is your favorite fanfic by someone else? in a show of rebellion to this singular question, I have written an essay. Like others said, fic after fic in this fandom is impressive. I love seeing the various styles, AUs, structures, etc. It's fun to see the creativity in the different works. I'll note a few much loved ones here but could never get to them all. Can You Tell I Have Been Revised by @arokel had me obsessed and in a chokehold with Don's journal and Bobby's choices when the ball was in his court. Let the Sea Roll High or Low by @kjxlll was an incredible piece of just being immersed in the time, place, and alllll the slow aching feelings. Everything felt so of the time, I recall this story in sepia tones. Kiss Me Tender by @shadowquill17 resides in my brain still, I think of it often. Stitch Me Up, Send Me Back Out to Dance by The_Hobbit_Ninja (sorry, don't know their tumblr!) was one of the very first I read in the fandom and god, I wish they still wrote for the fandom; so good. It always leads to you in my hometown by @borealopelta gutted me in the best awful way that I still feel a little unhealthy about. On the Border by @teaforarteza ate my brain, it was everything - angst, incredible smut, feelingsssss. Also, @seasidesandstarscapes 's constant new ideas and inspiration in their one shots always astounds me - if you haven't yet read their vampire au do it!! (trust me! I don't even do vampires!) @strangethings-everywhere 's WWII AU was an inspired idea to put Bobby and Don in that setting. I want to acknowledge @effervescentyellow and her as beautiful as you fic - it broke my heart while simultaneously stitching it back together. Finally, my darling and beloved The Cormorant by @sparrow-in-the-field is still in progress, but I adore it and have a probably dysfunctional obsessive relationship with it and I don't care. :D

Basically my summer vacation was made up of reading fanfic (and very occasionally writing it), can you tell?

Tags: If I mentioned you for something above OR you just want to jump in, please consider yourself tagged! <3

[ihasafandom]

Carnage re-write P1

So I woke up today with Words in my head and instead of assisting with any of my ongoing fics my brain has decided to re-write Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage ://

So I guess we’re doing that. (Originally a quick outline; cleaning it a bit and posting on Feb 6 for @symbruary's Fix-It day)

Post 1/??

Previous / Next

The movie had pretty effects and a decent soundtrack and some good action, but what it lacked was the heart and comedy of the first film (and the good good deep Venom voice, why is he so squeaky and annoying now??? (T o T) )

I’m not a comedy-writing person, and I’m not gonna be doing an actual fic or screenplay for this, so I’ll be keeping to the heart part. What gives a piece its heart I thnk are its emotional throughlines. Each character and relationship having their own story where they change from how they are at the start to how they are at the end, and having that story be concretely present and observable as the movie/book goes on.

There were hints of that in Venom2 but a lot of them fell flat, didn’t go anywhere, or didn’t have a satisfying change.

For example: both Eddie and Venom are frustrated with their relationship for X reasons. They fight, they separate, they do things on their own, but when they come back together they haven’t resolved any of the reasons that they broke up in the first place. Everything’s just magically better for no reasons and we are supposed to intuit that they are good for eachother and that they have improved as partners but we never really see that happen. Just a forced capitulation on Eddie’s part and the same traumabonding and extreme circumstances that made them work as a team in the first movie.

Another thing that sucked was how they dumped the uniqueness of certain characters and plots and emotional beats from the first movie to retread the same old tropes from everything else. Dan was unique and widely beloved in my parts of the fandom for not being a jealous jerk. He admired Eddie’s journalistic work, he dropped his dinner to do doctor work without complaint, he trusted Anne, and he didn’t fall into the stupid romcom plots even when Anne brought them up. Focused, intelligent, useful, kind, caring. A breath of fresh air. Entirely unlike how he acted in the second movie.

So let’s fix that.

Situation at the start of the movie:

Eddie is depressed, frustrated, and stressed. He is not used to being the self-control in a relationship, and is trying really hard to keep to his morals. He also needs to make enough money to keep them in food and home. He is lonely; he misses Anne and Maria and people in general since a large part of his solution to Venom is isolating them in their apartment so that they don’t eat people and don’t look crazy in public. He is spending all of his time and energy either trying to do work or keeping Venom entertained, controlled, and fed. He also might need some mood-stabilizing meds, he seemed heckin ADHD and/or autistic in the first movie.

Venom is stressed, bored, and starving. It is not used to not being able to do whatever it wants (bar keeping its head down around other symbiotes higher on the pecking order), it is not used to having to cooperated with a host, it doesn’t understand Eddie’s morals, it doesn’t understand Earth, it doesn’t understand money, it doesn’t understand human relationships and society. It needs higher quality food (mammalian, more variety, more human-specific chemicals since it’s bonded with a human), it needs enrichment, it needs to understand more about what its new situation is.

They both need to communicate and understand eachother and learn to find a balance that will get them both what they need. They also need a support system and an income stream.

Post 1/??

Previous / Next

[leaderintitleonly]

Alright so I saw Wish a while ago and here's some controversial takes.

I enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. Hell. 8/10. I enjoyed it that much. Here's my thoughts. Under spoilers because you will get mad, especially if you define yourself by 90s and current Disney movies.

Unless you know me really well. Then you saw this coming. And I already told you.

May there be no more twist villains or WOE IS ME! I AM GOOD INSIDE HONEST! Rebecca Sugar effect villains.

Evil is lime baby!

Happy divorce! GIRL YOU DESERVE IT! When was the last time we had a nice divorce like this? Parent Trap was a sad, miserable divorce. But when did we show that divorce was a GOOD thing in some cases? Only respect for my queen.

We been knew Sleepy was a snitch.

Disability rep at long last that isn't evil or eldery AND she impacts the plot.

Dahlia is my favorite and I love her.

Dahlia has her predecessor's anxiety and public speaking problem and I could cry so much cause that's an easter egg only I know and none of you will appreciate. So there.

Golden and silver age references as opposed to the Renaissance. Chef's kiss. There's a lot of Disney out there. Seeing even the Xerox era get respect was wonderful. Renaissance? Take a backseat, please. You already get favoritism as it is. You get so much merch so seeing a few extra things just for us fans? Yeah. Yeah it feels nice to be appreciated JUST ONCE cause we never will be EVER AGAIN after this.

If you call Asha adorkable for saying her face hurts/feels like it's stuck after working a tour guide job, I'm personally coming for you. As a former tour guide. Cause I have done this after EVERY SINGLE SHIFT. Because you're an asshole. Yes I said it. I'm not adorkable for smiling so hard my muscles went numb. But I am pissed at you for being a prick. And that's what you are. A prick.

This movie suffers from 'the straights are not okay' because they keep shipping Asha with any white man (emphasis on man) they can find, including her grandpa in Star form because he looked like Jack Frost in a earlier phase. Dude it was her grandpa and no I don't want your fanart even though "BUT IT LOOKED PRETTY!" But I know the only reason he has icy blond locks is because it's her grandpa AND IT EVEN HAS SIMILAR FACIAL FEATURES TO ASHA. GROSS MY DUDE. Yeah sorry if you feel personally attacked but no, this really wigs me out. Sorry if that upsets you but I KNOW THIS AND I HAVE THE ART BOOK. Says ASHA'S GRANDPA, SABINO, before we decided he should be alive and impact the plot himself! And... YEAH. Yeah, there.

You could literally ship her all cute with ANY of her friends but you go for the old white men in her life, kinda weird but OKAY THEN!

The movie needed ten or twenty more minutes more so I could chill with The Seven or Amaya. I just wanted more. That's me though.

Bazeema. Bazeema could hide bodies. Let her.

Harvey Guillen voicing Gabo is proof that Disney knows we gay coded Grumpy and they're in silent agreement but won't do much right now other than giggle with us so... thank you, Wish, for being immature with the fandom right now. The Snow White fandom thanks you.

Music was great. No subpar show stoppers that make me go THANKS FOR THE FIVE MINUTE WAIT TO RESTATE EVERYTHING I ALREADY KNOW ELSA.

The music fits together nicely. It's a soundtrack I can listen to without skipping anything because my brain isn't thrown out of whack. Everything segues nicely. I don't hate anything. I like it all.

For example, I feel this way about the Coco soundtrack. While I dislike the contemporary version of Remember Me, I can leave on the entire soundtrack and do anything. There's nothing bad about it. It's great. I sing along or I just vibe during instrumental pieces. I can do this for Snow White, Pinocchio, and Mary Poppins. I cannot do this for many other soundtracks. CONSIDER THIS A VERY HIGH HONOR FROM ME.

No, people just went in with shitty mindsets before reviewing and I'm actually looking for a good negative review because I'd probably agree with them cause different strokes for different folks. Cause no seriously someone said Cruella had more depth than Magnifico. And I love Cruella but... friendo. She's not that deep, she really isn't. I wanna sit that person down and just ask them how deep "old friend from college envies your dog's sparkly coat and steals them cause fashion". She's not that deep, truly. Glenn Close did spectacular but SHE'S ABOUT AS DEEP AS A PUDDLE. And if you mean that Emma Stone movie, no you don't. That movie doesn't exist. Cruella doesn't have some life long grudge against dalmatians because that's stupid and why would you ever write something as stupid as that? Because you wouldn't and it was a collective bad dream we all had. tl;dr I really enjoyed Wish and it makes me realize how much bad writing exists not just in animation but in Hollywood in general and maybe we stop finding some of these things acceptable from now on.

[pridepages]

Intimacy

I finished Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender. I have thoughts...

Here there be spoilers!

People crave closeness.

We can pretend all we want that we're just fine alone, but some part of us is always calling, reaching out, yearning to clasp hold...

So why is it so incredibly fucking hard?

How is it that we spend so much of our lives trying and getting it wrong?

Maybe it's because intimacy is alchemy.

Books have a way of getting in our heads, and that's what happened when I read Kacen Callendar's Infinity Alchemist. It felt like the right way to start the school year, considering "the original spark of Infinity Alchemist was rejection...specifically, the rejection of trans people by another author who wrote about a magic school."

Okay, sign me up. I'm here for trans magicians, or as we call them, alchemists. Ash Woods, our transman protagonist, is out to prove his credentials in a world that gatekeeps magic.

He crosses paths with nonbinary icon Ramsay Thorne, an alchemic prodigy with a dark past. Ramsay agrees to illegally teach Ash alchemy in exchange for help on a quest: to find the fabled book of the source and thereby restore the Thorne line's good name.

If Ash is the courage, and Ramsay the brains, all we're missing is the heart. Enter Callum Kendrick, the military brat with a heart of gold. Together, they'll save the world...and fall in love with each other.

Yes, all three of them.

I'm not going to spend anymore time on the plot. Boy meets companions, grows into his powers, achieves grand destiny...I've seen it all before. What really got my brain spinning was the polyamory.

Look, I'll be the first to admit that's not usually my thing. I just didn't get it. I couldn't really understand how three people could share their hearts, their bodies, their trust in ways that left no one wanting and everyone enough.

But, then, I've struggled to share my heart with one person.

I've been away for a while. And part of that was getting caught up in meeting someone new. Someone I wanted to share the parts of myself I've kept behind glass. So I gave my heart away in little pieces, hoping she would treasure them...

It took me a while to figure out I wasn't getting anything back.

Every time I'd try to get closer, I got pushed away. At first, I accepted that. Because boundaries need to be respected. Because I figured she just needed more time...

More time didn't solve anything. And when dared to ask for more than crumbs of affection, I watched her brush all the little pieces of my heart off her hands. All my insecurities were thrown in my face. My feelings, my concerns, they weren't listened to.

“Do You often make a habit of telling people what they think and how they feel?”

When Ramsay called Ash out, I had to stop. Put the book down.

Because I got it.

This is what I'd missed.

For so long, I thought intimacy meant sharing my body, my trust, and my time. While they are all parts of it, they're not enough. They need one last alchemical spark--

Intimacy needs connection.

Ash figures this out reflecting on a lackluster sexual encounter: “he still had emotions and thoughts that were his own, separate from his friend’s—and in a way, that was what made the experience even more uncomfortable and unsatisfying.” The key is the distance, the separation. “Though Ash and Tobin had shared a bed and touched each other’s bodies, Ash had still closed himself off emotionally. He still hadn’t felt safe enough to be vulnerable.”

But vulnerability is terrifying. The word itself means making yourself weak.

In the real world, we don't have magic to bypass human limitations. Ash and Ramsay are able to commune on a spiritual level. Unable to edit, they cannot hide behind pretense or omission. They cannot fumble words or misunderstand. They see each other's memories, dreams, hopes, fears, and ambitions. They experience each other firsthand.

Without the ability to see into someone else's heart and mind, we have to take the risk. And what if you choose the wrong person?

Maybe that's part of why monogamy is so persistent.

I'm not trying to downplay the social forces of economics, religion, etc in creating and forwarding the narrative of One True Love. But as society has evolved, monogamy has become less and less necessary.

So why is polyamory still so rare?

Well, what if it's because making yourself vulnerable to one person is scary and the idea of being that open to more?

Terrifying.

But what if we stopped thinking of it as weakness?

“It isn’t as if we should only feel attraction and love for one person,” Callum points out. “I’ve never understood it, this expectation that people should only love one other at a time…Energy is infinite, and love is energy, so love has the potential to be infinite, too.”

In a world where most people have more than one partner over a lifetime, we've already debunked the idea that love is limited to one. So why not more than one at once? Love is not just infinite--it's multidirectional.

Look, I'm not saying it's for everyone.

But if you're willing to leave your heart wide open--

Well, you never know how much room you have until you start letting people in.

[measureyourlifeincake]

Malevolent E9 (not specifically about that ep but yknow. i havent listened past it so if anything i say is contradicted by anything in later eps, that's why): Been thinking about how Malevolent's story is so defined by the constraints of its creation and the problem-solving used to get around that (I mean, I suppose the same can be said to some degree for nearly any piece of art, but it really jumps out for me here).

The first and most obvious example is Arthur's blindness, with John "acting as his eyes" by describing their surroundings for him (and the audience)—it's (to me at least) clearly contrived as a way to get around the "This Gun In My Right Hand Is Loaded" problem, but it also is kind of the main conceit of the plot, and immediately defines John and Arthur's relationship—Arthur has to rely upon John from the jump, even though he has no real proof of his intentions or trustworthiness. "I have your eyes," John says, a threat as much as it is a fact. All John has to do to harm Arthur is stop talking and watch him blunder around without his help (which he does do eventually, but the threat hanging over his head is, at least initially, enough to convince Arthur to cooperate with him). It's an interesting tool for the audience to understand what is going on at any given point of the story, but also, it has real actual consequences in the story that reverberate through the narrative.

(putting the rest under the cut bc this got Long)

There's also the fact that John and Arthur are constantly recapping what has happened and laying out what all their options and potential consequences of said options are going forward. To me, this (as well as the above) feels like the author's main goal is to make sure the audience is clear on Exactly what is going on At All Times. The episodes only come out once a month, after all, and it could be hard to remember what happened in the last episode if you haven't revisited it since then (also I am just now realizing that this is sort of paralleled with Arthur's month-long coma). There's also the thing about how apparently Patreon supporters can influence where the story goes, and I'm not entirely sure how that works, but it gives Guthrie another incentive to make sure the audience has all the possible options laid out for them.

But, while I do think this is done mainly for the audience's benefit, it does also tell us a lot about Arthur and John's characters/relationship. It says that, despite any differences of opinion or questions of trust they may have—they do view whatever they have together (which I have been told... changes over time, but for right now I'm just talking about their relationship up until where I've listened) as an actual partnership—they want to make sure they are on the same page, or at least understand what the other is thinking. They may disagree on the correct course of action, but Arthur pretty much always tells John what he's doing instead of trying to get one over on him. Also, since they do try to reason out everything they do, and Arthur keeps charging into risky situations ass-first anyway, it tells us that Arthur sees himself as a very intelligent and rational man, when really he just seems to be very good at justifying whatever stupid decisions he might make in the pursuit of Knowledge.

And then there's uh. Women. (I sorta mentioned this in a different post but I can't stop turning it around in my brain)

So it seems that Harlan Guthrie a) has decided to not hire any voice actors and just voice every character himself, and b) doesn't seem to believe himself capable of convincingly voicing a female character (or just doesn't want to. idk).

This doesn't mean that there aren't any women or girls in Malevolent—on the contrary, the podcast is full of them. They are all either old crones or daughters—crazy old women and wraiths and babies and missing girls and missing girls and dead missing girls. They cry, they wheeze, they laugh, they write letters to close friends (but of course, their friends are not there to read the letters), but they can never speak for themselves, in their own voices. They must be dead, or wordless, or both.

They haunt the narrative, and haunt the narrative, and haunt the narrative. They are metaphysically incapable of doing anything else. They can save Arthur's life, help guide his way, but they can never have a simple conversation with him. Obviously Arthur had to be in a coma for just long enough that Amanda/Sarah died before he could talk to her. It couldn't ever have gone any other way—the world doesn't work like that.

And then there's Arthur's daughter. She's dead. It hasn't been explicitly stated yet at the point I'm at (she's mentioned for the first time at the end of E9), but it's pretty obvious. Not only did he mention her name first when he was literally dying, but just. Of course she is. There's no chance she isn't, that maybe Arthur thinks she's dead but really something else has happened to her—all daughters are dead. That's just how it works. (except for that one baby, I suppose. The baby is interesting—I notice they explicitly refer to her as female when I don't think they had a way to know that*. She just Is a girl, she has to be. She needs protecting, therefore she is a Daughter, plain and simple).

And learning that Arthur has (had) a daughter has caused me to look at the rest of the girls in this podcast differently (and is honestly a big reason why I wanted to write this post in the first place.) Those missing-turned-dead girls, the baby, all those young girls haunting the narrative—they're all his daughter, naturally. (not literally but y'know, meta-narratively or whatever) They're not just haunting the narrative, but haunting him specifically.

Anyway, girls haunting horror stories and fridged women and whatever other tropes that keep women from fully participating in stories are nothing new, obviously (and I imagine that Guthrie is very intentional when he invokes those tropes—this whole thing is a big ol' nod to Lovecraft, there's no way this guy is doing horror tropes by accident), but the fact that it seems to be like that mostly because Guthrie just Didn't Want to Hire An Actor makes it way more interesting to me.

I'm sure most (if not all) of this has been discussed in the fandom already, but I haven't read any meta or anything yet and I just wanted to get my thoughts down. Honestly, part of why I made this post is that I feel like I can clearly see what Guthrie was going for in how he built this story (/is building this story) and how it works within the world of the characters, but I'm still trying to puzzle out how I personally feel about the choices he made. (ex: do I appreciate how clear he makes things for the listener or do i feel like my hand is being held to much and i'm not being trusted to understand what's going on? if the latter, is it integrated into the story well enough for me to forgive it?) Writing this has... not actually helped much. I'll let you know if I figure it out.

*Okay I went back to the transcript, and it seems they start using she/her pronouns for the baby as soon as the old woman gives her to them. I assumed that the baby was wearing clothes or swaddled in a blanket the whole time, but I don't think this is ever explicitly stated, so it's possible it could've been clear once John was able to get a close enough look at her. Still, this is very much glossed over. Which, granted, it would be weird if they took a moment in the text to like, look at the baby's genitals, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[letters-to-rosie]

for the fic writers ask (a bit late): 2, 3, 8, 9 and 41 please

it's not too late I like to talk lol

and I talked a lot so buckle in

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

my top 3 are "alternate universe - modern setting" (8/10), "alternate universe - college/university" (5/10), and "not beta read" (5/10, which is funny because 10/10 are not beta read lol)

and yeah, I can't say they don't represent me. when I was on ff.net I used a beta (my mom lmao) but now my grasp of English grammar is much better. I still miss stuff all the time (I found a word use error rereading something I'd published like a year and a half prior and wanted to scream lol), but it is what it is. even though I have professional editing credentials, it's really hard to edit your own stuff because your brain still fills in what it expects to see

re: modern setting and college setting, I started off my account publishing a couple college AU Fullmetal Alchemist one-shots; the only other college fic I had was my second prompt fill for the Arcane timebomb secret santa, where the prompt was to write in a modern setting. so that's all the college fics and 5/8 of the modern setting. another modern one is high school, since when I finished Arcane I felt a deep need to write Ekko in a high school setting because rarely had I felt so compelled by a single character. and the last two are the revolution universe, which is a funny story

idk how much I've mentioned this before, but the reason revolution is a modern setting is because I wanted to see if I could make an Ekko/Jinx roleswap work without the help of any of the story's magical elements. to restrict myself, I changed the setting. from there, developing modern Piltover/Zaun was just really fun. I took a lot of cues from the aforementioned high school setting fic I wrote and turned them up to 11. it has been and still is a fun ride, so I'm not mad about that choice at all

3. What are some tropes or details that you think are very characteristic of your fics?

hmmmmmmm lol well line breaks! I like to make detailed little line breaks. some show up better on one platform than another (for example, the revolution telephone line breaks look WAY better on desktop imo), but I think they are cute

in terms of more trope-related things, I actually had a hard time for a moment. I went and looked at some fics of mine to try and find an answer

humor is one, for sure. big believer in laughing even on the worst day of your life. I think that's how I survived mine, and I think the characters I write about would be the same, finding something absurd or funny even when things are really bad

another one, I think, is attention to the mundane. I'm not a super detailed writer; purple prose isn't really my personal style. but I like writing about boring things. little things, you know?

the last one I'll bring up is setup and payoff. that's one of my personal favorite writing devices. I really enjoy putting the pieces in place and watching it all come together is always really satisfying. especially when combined with a focus on the mundane. like I have one story where Ekko's wearing a tie, and it matters.

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

hmmmmm well I don't know if there are any I'd want to see just adapted straight into a fic, or nothing comes to mind directly. or maybe it's that the songs I am thinking of are more vibes than plot? well anyway, Willow's Symptom of Life is one I really like lately, as well as Sampha and Little Simz's Satellite Business 2.0, Kenny Mason's Firestarter (or Metal Wings tbh, or like the entirety of Angelic Hoodrat), and Isaiah Rashad's Headshots (4 Da Locals)

9. How do you find new fic to read?

scroll on a tag, or someone I know writes something and I go read it, and sometimes recs

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

honestly, I just want to write like myself, but the goal is to shoutout other people so I picked one from each other the fandoms I've read the most of on ao3

for Fullmetal, Swallows on the Beam is a long-time fave; the detail of the worldbuilding is really great, and I love the amount of thought put into a setting that isn't even seen in the canon material. the prose is just really lovely too. the author has done such an incredible job, and I need to go through and actually comment on all the chapters someday, but I have so much to say that I know it'll take me forever lol. but like how can a scene of a character touching another character's earring make me lose my shit? that is the magic of this fic lol. one of the most romantic things I have ever read

for Hunter x Hunter, I really love a thousand miles wandering; the Silk Road setting is just so unique! the prose is great, character work is great, setting is worked into the story in a great way. all feels like generic praise, but the whole thing is just so well-rounded in its excellence

for Arcane, my favorite has always been The Revolution Will Not Be Televised; just has such an infectious energy. it's fun, funny, and it takes this fantasy setting and makes it feel very real, which in turn helps the characters feel even more real than they do in the show, in some ways

[strangerficsxx]

Chapter Four: The Body

story: Midnight Rain wc: 3.4k when will's body is found, jennifer has a hard time getting through her day without the thought of her brother's wellbeing. the family and friends of the byers' family get ready for his funeral.

[a/n: all characters, plot, etc. are not mine. The only thing I own is my original character. credit to gif owner.]

{ late November 9, 1983 }

Jennifer rolled onto her back then on to her side, looking at her alarm clock. 3:45 AM the clock read. Flopping onto her back, she thought she wouldn’t have to go to school that morning due to Will's deceased body. The images are trapped in her brain like a VHS tape on replay. Tears well up in her eyes as she stares at the ceiling above before she begins to sob silently. It hurt because Will was just a child. A child who had his whole life ahead of him. And now, it was destroyed. After many attempts, Jennifer finally manages to get herself to fall asleep. 

Again, the time is now 6:01 AM. She will only get less than an hour of sleep since she needed to be up for school. Jennifer was only attending high school to distract herself from last night's events.

——

{ November 10, 1983 }

The next morning rolled around faster than she expected as Jennifer headed to school as usual, trying not to think about last night. She runs into Nancy and Steve, looking in Nancy’s direction to see that she wanted to announce something. Jennifer began to sweat, worried she’d tell Steve about her being jealous of them. But unfortunately, she didn’t. Nancy wanted to talk about what she and Jennifer saw in his backyard. When Nancy explains everything to Steve, he looks at them both confused out of his mind and probably thinking they were crazy. 

“So, wait a sec. I don’t understand. The two of you went back to my house?”

“To look for Barb,” Nancy says. 

“Yeah, okay, but why didn’t you just talk to me.”

“I don’t know, I… We were scared.” 

“You seriously think that you both saw a guy in a mask just hanging out in my yard?”

“I don’t think it was a mask,” Nancy adds. 

“But he had no face?” Steve asks, skeptical. 

“I swear, I saw nothing. I believed it was a dog, or a fox. It could’ve been a coyote.” You cut in.

“I don’t know, I just… I have a terrible feeling about this.”

Steve begins to relax, changing his stance where he leans against the brick wall behind him. Across from him, Jennifer is pretty much in the same position as him, but her hand holds the strap of her backpack. 

“Oh, this is bad. This is really bad.” 

“What?” 

“The cops…they’re gonna wanna talk to all of us now. Tommy, Carol, even you, Jennifer. Everybody who was at the party.”

“So?” Nancy asks, folding her arms against her chest. 

“My parents are gonna murder me!” 

“Steve, are you serious right now?" Jennifer asks as he looks over at her then back at Nancy.

His eyes were soft but annoyed. 

"Jennifer, Nancy. You both don't understand. My Dad's a grade-A asshole." 

"Barb is missing! And you're worried about your Dad?" Nancy questions. 

"Ok, just... when you talk to the cops, just... don't mention the beers. It's just gonna get the three of us in trouble and Barbra's got nothing to do with it okay." He says. 

Nancy scoffs. "I can't believe you right now. I can't believe you."

"Nancy. Nancy, wait!"

"Nancy!" Jennifer shouts, but it's no use. 

She turns her heel and walks away leaving Jennifer and Steve alone together, cutting the conversation between them short. She and Steve look at each other. 

“Will they question me?”

“Yes, but when or if they do just—” 

“Don’t mention the beers or Barbra, got it. You know, you’re an ass, Steve.” 

Jennifer turns from him and walks back to the school, leaving him standing there on his own before following after her.

——

In class, the teacher reads aloud the story in his hands; Heart Of Darkness. Of course Jennifer wasn't paying attention since she is currently doodling on a piece of notebook paper, and Nancy is staring blankly out the window. Suddenly, a woman opens the door and peaks her head in as she calls out a name.

"Nancy Wheeler?" The woman calls. "If you'll come with me, please?"

Nancy rises and collects her things before walking out of the classroom with her things in hand. She follows the woman out of the class as Jennifer wants to know why she left suddenly. You assumed it was the police who were ready to interrogate Nancy. To ask her questions about the night before. Jennifer wanted to know what Nancy will say about her, or if she’ll even mention her at all, in hopes that she won't say anything about Jennifer being involved or jealous of her and Steve dating. Jennifer begins to get overwhelmed, her breathing hitches in the back of her throat. Raising her hand, the teacher looks over at her sighing in annoyance. 

"Yes, Ms. Henderson?" 

"I, uh, have to use the bathroom..." She lies. 

"It's not the time to use it. You can use the restroom after we're done with the chapter."

She then comes up with a perfect excuse. Period. Certain men get uncomfortable with the topic, so she decides to use it. Now or never. Jennifer is going to embarrass the hell out of her male teacher.

"I don't think you understand. I... I am on my period which has causes me to bleed very heavy. Do you know how hard it is to come to school when you feel like there's barbed wire wrapped around your waist, and massive amounts of blood. And, don't even get me started on the--"

"Just... just go. This is the only exception." 

"Thank you,"

Jennifer makes way towards the door and smiles at herself before walking out and towards the cafeteria, wondering where Nancy went. Upon hearing a conversation, she looks through the opened door and sees two officers sitting on one side of a table in the cafeteria as Nancy and her mother, Mrs. Wheeler, sit across from them. 

"This argument you and Barbra had? What exactly was it about?" 

"It wasn't really an argument. Barb just wanted to leave. I just… I was in a mood because of Jennifer." 

"Jennifer Henderson?"

Nancy nods, finishing her sentence. "Yeah, she was there too -- So, I... I told her to just go home."

"Then what?"

"Then I went upstairs to put on some dry clothes," 

"And the next day, you returned and saw a bear, you're thinking?"

"I don't know what it was, but... I think it may have taken Barb. You need to check behind Steve's house."

"We did. There's nothing there. There's no sign of a bear."

"And no car." 

"We figured that Barbra came back last night and she took off and went somewhere else. Has she ever talked to you about running off? Leaving town, maybe?" 

"No, Barb wouldn't do that, ever."

"She wasn't upset about the fact that you were spending time with this boy? Uh, Steve Harrington."

"What? No." She denies. 

"Maybe she was jealous because she saw you go up to Steve's room?" 

"It wasn't like that.” 

"Like what?" 

"Steve and me, we're just friends." 

That was a blatant lie that slipped between Nancy’s lips. Jennifer continued listening, hearing the melancholy tone in Nancy's voice when talking about Steve Harrington. She could tell that Nancy was upset about Barb, but also not wanting her mom to find out what she and Steve did that night in his room.

Jennifer can't think about that at the moment as she hears footsteps approaching as she swiftly moves out of the way and into a nearby Girls restroom, hiding as she sees a blonde haired woman walk by. Turning away and leaning against the wall, Jennifer hears the footsteps recede as she steps out, wanting to listen in more but it seems that the cops are done talking to Nancy. Jennifer quickly makes it back to her class, walking in and taking a seat and act as if nothing had happened.

——

The officers called Jennifer back to discuss what happened as well. They basically asked her the same questions as Nancy. 

“When you were at Steve’s house, were you present when Nancy Wheeler and Barbra Holland had their argument?” 

“Yes, I was. I was standing by the staircase when it happened.” 

“And what were they arguing about?” 

“Well, Barbra wanted to leave and Nancy told her to just go home. After that, I saw her but the lights cut out and I fell. The next thing I knew, she was gone.” 

“The lights, did you trip on a chord?”

“N-no, no. I lost my footing and fell on a metal shard that was sticking up from the ground in Steve’s backyard. I got cut along the way.” 

“And can you show us that?”

“Yeah,” Jennifer says, rolling her sleeve up and showing the cops her bandaged up wound before peeling the large band aid partially off.

“Oh, yeah. That’s a slash alright.”

Jennifer pulls her arm back, rolling her sleeve down.

——

What felt like an eternity, Jennifer is done with the interrogation and for the day. She walks out of the building as she sees Steve is nowhere to be found. So Jennifer decides to walk towards Phoebe's car until she spots Nancy walking away from the building as Jennifer follows after her in her vehicle. She slowly drives up to her and stops as Nancy stops too. Jennifer rolls her window down, looking her way.

"Hey, uh, Nancy?" 

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to see if you were okay, I noticed you left in a bad mood."

"Jennifer, why are you even bothering me right now? Shouldn't you be on your way home?” 

“Well, yes. But I wanted to see how you were doing after… talking about Barb. Also, if you want I could give you a ride, so you're not walking too far." 

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Okay, suit yourself."

Jennifer begins rolling up her window as Nancy halts. She taps the brakes lightly, stopping the car as well, unlocking the doors. Nancy opens the passenger side door and slides in. On the way, the ride was quiet until Nancy decided to break the silence.

"Can we stop by the funeral home?" 

"Yeah, why?"

"Jonathan is there. Can you drop me off?" 

"Yeah, I can do that. What for?"

“Just to talk.” 

“Okay,” 

At the funeral home, Jennifer parks and she gets out along with Nancy as they both walk into the small building. 

"Why are you coming in with me?"

"I have to use the bathroom since I didn’t have time before school let out for the day. And, if you want to, I can leave you two alone so you both have more privacy.” 

“No, it’s okay."

As Jennifer steps towards the front desk, she looks around and tries to find someone who can direct her to the restroom. Finally, a woman walks out and Jennifer asks where the bathroom is. Getting an answer, she follows the woman's instructions and walk into the small bathroom. The bathroom was dimly lit and the smell of room spray filled the inside. Jennifer walks in and closes the door behind her, locking it. After, she washes her hands and walks out of the bathroom and toward the entrance when she sees Jonathan and Nancy sitting side by side on an ottoman. 

"--It looks like it could be some kind of perspective distortion, but I wasn't using the wide angle. I don't know." 

Jennifer appears in front of them, confused about what's happening in front of her. They look at her as she sees the sadness in Jonathan's eyes. She moves closer and sees the photo of Barb sitting on the diving board above Steve’s heated pool — in his hand. Reminiscing the previous night, she remembers when she fell as Jennifer looks away for a few seconds before looking back at the photo. Something on the right of the frame catches her eyes as she stares at it. A figure of some kind is seen. It was a very dark photo, but Jennifer knew there was something else in the photo that she nor Jonathan saw that night. She felt faint. Jennifer knew this wasn’t some kind of human. She felt it was something else, something more sinister.

"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else out there?"

"No. And she was there one second and then, um... gone. I figured she bolted." Jennifer says.

"The cops think that she ran away," Nancy adds.

Jennifer pretends to hear Nancy speak to him about her interrogation, acting as if it’s new to her. But she already knew what the worried brunette said because Jennifer was eavesdropping on the entire conversation between her and the officers. Jennifer comes back to reality and listens. 

"But they don't know Barb. And I — We went back to Steve's... and I, uh, we thought we both saw something." She pauses. "Some weird man or, I don't know what it was."

Jonathan looks at her, expression staying the same as earlier. Nancy's utterance changes to where she's more sincere. 

"I'm sorry." She apologizes. "I... I shouldn't have come here today. I'm so sorry." 

Nancy rises and begins to walk away as Jennifer is already making her way towards the entrance of the funeral home. The lanky male stands abruptly and takes a step.

"What'd he look like?" Jonathan suddenly asks. 

Nancy stops in her tracks before turning around. 

"What?"

"This man you saw in the woods. What'd he look like?"

Nancy fumbles over her words. "I don't know. It was almost like he.. He didn't have--"

"Didn't have a face?" He asks.

"How did you know that?" Jennifer asks, walking and standing beside Nancy as they look at each other. 

The three of them stand there, sharing nervous glances at one another.

——

Soon, Jennifer, Nancy and Jonathan make it to the school as they enter the photo room where the graphs are put through some kind of liquid to make them more vivid. Jonathan gets everything set up as she watches, Nancy perched her upper body weight on her arm and looked up at the male. Jennifer stood opposite of Jonathan, waiting for something to happen. 

“And you’re…” 

“Brightening. Enlarging.” 

“Hmm.” 

“Did your mom say anything else?” 

He grunts as Nancy continues.

“Like, um, where it might have gone to, or…” 

“No, just that it came out of the wall.” 

The machine dings as Jonathan flips a switch or some sort then sighing soon after. He sets the paper in a tub of liquid as they all watch intently. 

“How long does this take?” You ask.

“Not long.” 

“Have you been doing this a while?” Nancy then asks. 

“What?” He questions. 

“Photography?” 

“Yeah. I guess I’d rather observe people than, you know…” 

“Talk to them.” Jennifer finishes as they look at him before looking at each other.

“I know. It’s weird.” 

“No!”

“N–no, it is. It’s just sometimes… people don’t really say what they’re really thinking. But you capture the right moment… it says more.” He smiles. 

Jennifer watches as they begin talking about the picture of Nancy. Soon the two girls look down, a startling image captures their attention. 

“That’s it!” She says, looking down at the photo. “That’s what we saw.” 

Jonathan gasps. 

“My mom… I thought she was crazy ‘cause she said… that’s not Will’s body. That he’s alive.” 

“And if he’s alive—” 

“Then Barbra is too,” Jennifer finished.

The three teens look at each other then back at the photo, finally finding a clue to this crazy mystery. To Jennifer, it felt like she were stuck in one of her little brother's sci-fi comic books. But this was real life.

——

Later that night, Jennifer sits on the couch in her living room and is currently watching the news as the anchors discuss Will Byers' death. Soon her mother changes the channel to watch something else as Jennifer rises and walks toward her bedroom. She walks in and closes the door behind her, sliding out of her clothes and into pajamas before sliding into her bed. Thinking back at the photo she saw of the figure earlier, beginning to theorize who or what it could be. 

"What unidentified being are you?" She asks.  

Suddenly the thought of Steve taking her out enters Jennifer’s tired mind as she looks at her reflection in the window. Sighing in annoyance, she lays down before falling asleep.

——

Waking up, Jennifer hears the phone ring from the other room as she looks at her clock. It’s only 5:45 in the morning as she gets out of bed. Rushing out the door of her bedroom, Jennifer picks up the phone and says hello before hearing a voice on the other end. 

"Hey," Steve says. "You, uh, wanna meet somewhere private?"

"S-sure. Yeah, we can do that.." 

"Sneak out and meet me down the street at the entrance of your neighborhood."

"Okay." 

Hanging the phone up, she proceeds to go back to her room. Jennifer throws her clothes off and sets them on her bed before changing into a more provocative ensemble. Brushing through her brown-black hair, she lets it down before touching up her makeup. Jennifer opens the window and hikes her leg out as it touches the ground. She then proceeds to fall the rest of the way before standing. She brushes herself off before ushering away from her house and stride down the lonely street. Eventually Jennifer makes it to Steve's car as she slides in the passenger seat, out of breath.

"Hey." Jennifer says.

"Hi." 

Jennifer slides her seatbelt on as Steve takes off somewhere more private. She stares out the window the entire ride. Steve clears his throat as it breaks the silence between them. The Police’s Every Breath You Take plays on the radio. 

"So," He begins. "I didn't see you after school got out. Is everything okay? Especially between you and Nancy?"

"Yeah, actually." 

"Good. It's good seeing you getting along with her. Besides us… well,” He stutters.

“What happened between you and Nancy?” You ask as Steve stays silent. 

He pulls over and kills the engine. Looking towards her, he sighs before speaking.  

"It didn’t work between me and Nancy because she knew that you had a thing for me. Is that true?” He asks.  

“I, uh, I don’t recall any of that. I don’t have feelings for you, or anyone.”

“Jen, come on. We’ve known each other since we were in middle school.” 

“I know, but I don’t want to ruin things between you and Nancy.” 

“You won’t.”

Becoming overwhelmed, Jennifer grabs a cigarette and lighter from the cup holder of Steve’s BMW and step out of the vehicle. She sets the cigarette between her lips, lighting the bud. Jennifer closes the lighter and inhales before exhaling the smoke that crowded in her mouth. Steve steps out and walks up to Jennifer, making her look him in the eyes as she tries to look away. 

“What?” 

Steve doesn’t say anything as he cups Jennifer's face, leaning towards her. She pulls the cigarette out and toss it to the ground and rest her hands on his arms. Their faces are just inches away from one another. Jennifer leans in too, this time closing the gap between them. Their lips meet and her eyes close. Jennifer feels like she's floating right now. Kissing him harder, Steve leads them both to his backseat where they peel each other's clothes off, leaving them both in their underwear. Steve moves and slides Jennifer’s panties down to her ankles as he does the same with his, positioning himself on top of her. With each buck, Jennifer’s moans with pleasure. She begins to move slightly to were she’s more comfortable until—

——

Jennifer lands on the hard floor, waking from her slumber. She looks around and sees herself on the floor of her bedroom. Jennifer curses before standing up. She looks at her clock, seeing that it’s only 4:45 AM.

“Shit. What’s wrong with me?” Jennifer asks herself. 

Jennifer just had a dream about having sex with Steve Harrington, Nancy Wheeler's boyfriend. And to Jennifer, that made her freak out before getting up and sitting down on her bed. She tried everything to get that out of her mind as she begins crying. A part of Jennifer wanted it to be real then the other part of her wished it never happened. 

It did though, and she had to accept it and face reality.

[teddybeartoji]

MICKEY i am jumping out of the blanket fort excitedly <333 this is so long overdue bc ive been too excited to sit down and think abt the Vamps properly BUT it’s finally time.. this is just going of ur most recent rb abt them btw which was . a While ago IVE BEEN THINKING OF IT CONSTANTLY THOUGH BUT ;;;;; STSG…. THE STSG DYNAMIC….

mickey i’m convinced that u are secretly plotting my downfall there’s no other explanation. VAMP!SUGU FLIRTING W JOURNALIST!GOJO ……..…. i DIED i exploded they make me feel so ill. I’VE PROBABLY DEFINITELY SAID THIS BUT EVERY TIME U GIVE ME ANOTHER PIECE OF VAMP LORE I FALL FURTHER INTO THE PIT just . sugu feeling more comfortable in the dynamic & getting more confident… JOURNALIST!GOJO BEING FLUSTEREDPEKSJ HELP MEEEEEE vamp!reader would find that so funny wouldn’t they. so sweet. now i’m just imagining the vamps teaming up to fluster gojo 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 me next

(he doesn't want u to be jealous he's more asking for reassurance - is it okay if the two of them mess around together too? and of course it is bc you want your boys to be happy)

dont even get me started on this ^^^^ im sending u my hospital bill watch out . MICKEY :(( im so obsessed w vamp!reader it isn’t even funny i need them so bad it’s sickening. they KNOW they call the shots and sugu knows it too and the way they’re kind of just. indulging their beloveds…… they’re sooo <33333 yeah.

i just wanted to let u know i am in fact thinking abt these three constantly i am kissing ur brain always. pls give mr armin a lil kiss from me too !! <33

HI ARI BABY!!!

it's so good to see you here (i might keep you forever)(/hj).

what do you think of playground love by air (btw doesn't the cover for this song look like sugu lmao i just noticed that) for this stsg? it might not be something you immediately thought of, right? but i feel like it suits the sugu teaching satoru how to paint?? do you see the vision?? or did you imagine something else?? i need to know. i think this moment would be such an important one in their relationship such a pivotal moment

i can totally see suguru talking about the colors and anatomy and how to hold the brush and then little journalist!gojo is just staring at him with stars in his eyes trying to concentrate because he really does want to learn but fuck it's so hard with this angel before him...

and i think the song name is also funny in a sense that satoru is like a teenager bc how easily he pops his boners lmao okay he just gets so fucking excited in his head it's literally not even sexual????? like sugu is just sooooo handsome under the moonlight it's making his head spin and oh! oops!

another thing i thought about is the fact that they definitely have a cat!!! idk if i said this already somewhere but they do!!! not a black one bc that's a little basic but maybe like a siamese one? meow very cute. anyway i think satoru desperately want to have the cat's attention but it loves sugu the most lmao and he's soooooo smug about that too!!! satoru is all pspspspsps bribing the kitty with the treats but it literally ignores him?????? and just gets comfy on sugu's lap without a second thought. imagine the pouty little satoru here:((( btw the reader is also jealous of sugu in this case but they refuse to show it. bc c'mon they're the leader of the house they can't be upset over their own cat liking their beloved more. no way. never. that's so childish. :(.

oh and and and!! the vamp!reader really does like satoru and they know that he's the perfect guy to help bring suguru out of his shell even more yk they know that a little curious puppy like him is only gonna do good in their household (after they reassure sugu ofc)

wait actually i can't remember whether i said that satoru just kind of moved in too right??? like he rarely goes to his city apartment and he just has his own room (as if he fucking sleeps there smh) and he absolutely loves lliving in the mansion he doesn't even hide it. i do need to say that he also adores having maids and a butler but he's still incredibly respectful towards them yk like he isn't pointlessly bossing them around

he also loves to blast stupid fucking music over the whole house.... canon i'm afraid. idk why but justin timberlake just popped into my head lmao like his music in the 10's wheww bangers though i won't lie

OHHH WAITT I JUST THOUGHT ABOUT SHOKO AND SATORU bc like they don't know each other yet!!!!! so imagine shoko comes over for their usual wine night and then finds this blue eyed guy lazing on the couch without a shirt on????? like who are you???? but then she recognizes him hehehe i think journalist!gojo is a rather known one he's good at his job so she just rolls her eyes but after an hour or two i think they actually get along surprisingly well!! (okay i mean it's not a surprise for us but for the reader and sugu) they kind of share the same stupid af humor and it all just gets super fucking funny when they're all playing board games together lmao (shoko always wins btw)(always.)

also heheheh armin came to sit with me just as i started writing this!!! he has received his kiss!! he meowed back!! he loves you!! i know bc i know his language so just trust me!!

ANYWAYY THIS IS THEMM!! i love talking about them it comes so easily the words really write themselves really (i can't wait to actually you know.. write something real for them lmao)(SOON I PROMISE SOON)

thank you for coming by i hope you never leave!!! mwah mwah mwah!! love you lots and lots and lots!!