#i literally just started this book today and good lord

[mad-maximoff]

We Met Again

Part 2 of When We Met since y’all asked so damn much! I just hope this one doesn't get censored too😅

Summary: You were on a 6-month-long mission with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes only to come back to the compound and face Wanda.

Warnings: G!P reader, angst, making out, unprotected sex, ejaculation , soft sex turned rough, hair-pulling, breaking the bed (literally😂),

Word Count: 3,702

Prt 1 Here

"Welcome back Y/n, how was your little adventure with the boys?" Kate Bishop stood behind the bar making herself a pink alcoholic slush of some sort. You were covered in dirt and soot from head to toe. You just got off a mission with Sam and Bucky. You were in Egypt going about looking for a highly classified terrorist ring. Thankfully you got to them before they started their reign. 

"Adventure my ass. I slept on the dirt while the boys slept in cozy beds like princesses. I tell you what I need is a shower and to take a well-deserved dirt nap in a real bed." You threw your weapons on the table halting at a chair and flinging off your boots. "I'll clean this shit up later Kat, I've been waiting for this." You turned to see Kate pouring herself a tall misshapen glass full of pink slush. "Sure thing Y/n, you and I are the only ones here I think. You want the rest?" She licked the side of her glass where she spilt. "Why not, might help me crash harder." You reached around Kate grabbing the whole blender. There was more than a mouthful left. You thought maybe it was strawberry daiquiri, so you thought nothing of it and chugged it. The first sip made you gag.

"Jesus Christ Bishop! Paloma? Really? What are you 40? You've been around Potts too long. Good lord.." You hated tequila, especially grapefruit. You polished it off not backing down leaving it on a table in the middle of the hallway. You knew there were empty beds not touched by any of the other Avengers. Basically new. It was funny really. Everything to you looked new but it was just the same as the last time you were down this hallway. Maybe it looked new because the last time you were here you were drunk with your pants around your ankles. Come to think of it. That table was new. You pivoted around noticing the table on further inspection. You saw a crack along the wall. Oh yeah, you remember. That was the spot. The spot where you and Wanda...

Yeah...Wanda...

You remember where her room was. You remember you crashed there after you both finished your fun in the hall. Curiosity killed the cat. You noticed the door was slightly cracked allowing light to shine through. But it was almost midnight, it wasn't natural light. It was from a light. Is she there? Did she forget to turn off the lights? Maybe. You pondered. Kate did say after all you two were the two here so it was bound she forgot. It's a common mistake. 

You tip-toed over to her room letting your fingers creep through the part between the door and the wall slightly allowing the length of your fingers to pry the door a bit more. Your strength got the hold of you as it flung open. Wanda was sitting at the edge of her bed in her room, with her leg raised to lean her elbow on her knee, underneath her chin. 

"Kate honey I told you for the third time today. We can drink and watch Sex and The City tomorrow. I don't feel up to it." She huffed watching the news. Her brows were furrowed, her eyes darting back and forth watching the live footage of whatever catastrophe happened. "So you're the one drinking Palomas huh?" You leaned in the door frame crossing your arms. You had to laugh. You never thought she was a cocktail girl. Though..you never thought she was the kind to give blowjobs either but you were surprised by both.

"Oh..it's you...no I don't drink that shit. She found Tony's recipe book for Pepper and his date nights and she's drinking like a fish...When did you come back to the States?" She was genuinely surprised to see me. Her leg fell from where it was prompted. Wanda stood up walking the length of her bedframe around to meet you.

You were shocked also. Maybe she wasn't showing yet? You swore you thought you'd come home and find her pregnant but unless she's super athletic or has it hidden she doesn't look like she's expecting.

"Ah 30 minutes ago. Um..stupid question.." You scratched your head looking down at Wanda then back up at her eyes. She laughed standing in front of you. Her hand reached to your cheek whipping the loose dirt from your undereye. 

"Haha no! Unfortunately, I'm not pregnant. I don't know how. I always thought that first tries always work. I even helped you out a bit." 

"Unfortunately? You wanted me to get you pregnant? Are you insane? You don't even know me and you want kids from me! I'm too young to have a family! Even with my powers...let alone, what gives you the right to choose for me!" You broke her hand away backing away. You had to leave or else there'll be bigger cracks in the wall. 

"Y/n please, I never meant to hurt you. I just got confused that's all. You were so nice to me and after I lost Vis 2 times and lost my boys I just felt you comforted me. That's all." Wanda reached again grasping your bicep. You pulled away again this time hitting the wood casing around the frame with your elbow. The wood casing flew off behind you hitting the hallway floor.

"No! Don’t you dare touch me! All you cared about was yourself! Just because someone showed you comfort doesn't mean you let them cum inside you, Wanda! That's really fucked up! I'm sorry you lost your family but you can't just use me to play house!" You growled noticing your rage was becoming the better of you. Wanda through your eyes was becoming tiny. Her body language was making her small. Curling her fingers into the sleeves of her black cardigan, crossing her arm over to her elbow. She looked down at her bare feet letting out a shakey breath.

"I'm really sorry Y/n...I don't know what I was thinking. I've been so used to having people around me. That it feels weird to be by myself." Wanda's head was bowed letting her newly brown hair almost cover her head. A tiny tear ran down her blushed cheek wiping it away quickly.

All you saw was red. Not by Wanda's magic. But for some reason, you were enraged. How could you be this angry over something you fully did with Wanda 6 months ago? Maybe you do have a tiny bit of an anger problem. Little? In this case, that's an understatement. 

You huffed feeling the hot pressure on your chest cool down to your stomach. You think seeing Wanda so visibly upset may have broken your cross attitude. 

"Get used to it, Wanda." You had to storm off. If the conversation got any more heated; one of you was going to end up in a wall. And it was most likely going to be you. Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe if I get some sleep and a good shower I can speak to her more clearly. 

You thought gliding to one of the newly furnished rooms. 

Each room had its own bathroom. Tony is a playboy so obviously the bathroom was soundproof. The entire compound was all technology so a press of a button and the bedroom could be soundproof. You didn't need that tonight. You wished there was a switch to soundproof your head. 

How could I snap like that? I haven't done that in years! What the hell was I thinking to begin with?! You felt like you could stand under the hot water for hours. It took two layers of body wash just to scrub away the dirt from your body and finally feel human. Maybe you were scrubbing off your anger with it in a sense. You had your little outbursts but this one almost made you black out. Your lofa scraped at your skin furiously, leaving little imprints everywhere. Your back flexed in the mirror examining your clean body. Your hips were women but your shoulders and torso were the shape of a man. You had average-sized breasts. They were nothing special, they were nice to look at but nothing that could turn any heads. Perhaps you could say they were bigger than average but you never noticed.

You got out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around your waistbone, as you inhaled walking to the foot of your bed your v-line showed every breath you took. You thought if someone was to walk in it would be less surprising seeing you topless instead of bottomless. 

"Fuck...you got buff little one.." You gasped in fright hearing Wanda's quiet voice coming from the chair hidden next to the wall. Wanda's makeup was smeared all over her under her eyes. She was sniffling back what little tears she produced. She was crying heavily, using the sleeves of her cardigan. "What the fuck do you want now? Can't you see I'm busy? I'm not giving in to your mind games." You turned to face your back to her loosening the towel from your waist to dry your legs. You reached around putting on a pair of boxer briefs. You heard a creek come from the corner of your room knowing Wanda got up. Her bare feet were quiet on the hardwood but not quiet enough for you to hear. 

"No mind games Y/n. I-I...wanted to apologize...you were right. I need to start learning how to be on my own. I deserve to be alone. I shouldn't have let you do those things to me." She held back a cry making her eyes gloss over. 

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that. I was actually going to apologize to you. I don't know what came over me. I lost my temper too quickly. I haven't done that in years. I shouldn't have taken it out on you." Your hands lifted Wanda's chin to look at you, letting all of her hair fall back behind her shoulders. She looked like a baby raccoon. It was cute but you felt awful that she was crying because of you. "I'm so sorry Wanda." Wanda's hands placed around your hips, sliding herself closer to your body. You pulled her in deeper holding her close. Her head rested on your shoulder letting her finish her cries. Your hands caressed her skull, intertwining with her locs. 

"It's okay..please, please stop crying. You're making me feel worse." You sat her down on the foot of the bed still massaging Wanda's head. She buried her face in your chest noticing her sobs being muffled into silent sniffles. One of your hands dropped placing it on her chest, directly on top of her heart. Her beats were rapid on the first touch, but once you dragged your fingertips along her skin she settled. Your other hand finally dropped rubbing her spine. She was frail in comparison to your body. Every muscle you flexed made it seem more apparent. 

"Thank you," she sniffled, using her sleeve to wipe away her stained makeup. "Thank you very much Y/n. I feel like sometimes I can just go off the handle." Wanda wiped another tear with her sleeve again, the tears glossed in her eyes and made her pupils sparkle as she looked so passionately into your eyes. 

"It's fine Wanda. We all go off the handle some days. I did it on you earlier. We just need to relax a little. The both of us." 

                             ╳°»｡ ∾･⁙･ ღ ➵ ⁘ ➵ ღ ･⁙･∾ ｡«°╳

You and Wanda laid down together in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence however, it felt somehow to you a healing silence. You two didn’t need to talk, that’s what got you two into shit before. Just cuddling together. Wanda laid her head on your bare chest. You threw on a random stupid movie on TV, it was one of those goofy movies that two dudes probably smoked a joint and started filming. You didn’t like it; Wanda found it comical. She’d laugh at the slightest action or joke. 15 minutes later however she was silent. You peered down checking up on her. Her eyes fluttered, she was falling asleep. You twitched which made her jump. 

“Jesus…what’s happened?” She whispered. I knew she fell asleep for a moment. You could hear it in her tone. Groggy and low. 

“Nothing sorry. My leg just spasmed. It’s okay, you can go back to sleep.” Your hand ran down Wanda's thigh. Her skin was soft just like you remembered. 

“Shut up, I wasn't sleeping.” She giggled rolling her head the other way. 

“Oh I'm sorry, I just saw the stucco on the ceiling coming apart so I thought you were snoring.” You joked.

“Fuck off!” She laughed sitting up on your lap. “I do not snore!” Her hands grasped a fist full of your bare breasts in either hand. It felt good to be handled again. As soon as her hands touched you that way, you instantly felt you were getting hard. It wasn't an embarrassment any longer. You had another one-night encounter after Wanda that made feel 10x better about your appearance. 

“No, that's just loudly humming in your sleep isn't it?” Your hands tightened around her hips slowly moving them back and forth. Wanda sucked air through her teeth letting a little gasp. "Ohh-stop!" She laughed biting her lower lip. "You want something else don't you detka?" Her dress grazed the front of your boxers, just to tease you. 

"Perhaps. This time, it's on my terms. This time." Your hands pushed down on Wanda's thighs rubbing your forming bludge on the fabric of her panties. Her brows raised, turning her cheeks into a rose colour. "Really? Would you still want to? Even after everything I did?..."  

“Of course.” You freed your hands from her thighs, swishing a strand of her hair away from her face looking into her emerald eyes. She giggled again looking down at your chest. “You’re tits are huge Y/n.” Wanda’s hands clutched my full chest. "I don't think I saw them last time." She squeezed each handful. You whinced with her nails digging into your skin. 

"Ha! Well, I hope you remember something else's size." You joked lightly tugging at your boxers. “Hmm..I think I definitely need a refresher.” Wanda tugged the hem of her dress; pulling it over her head as her arms whisked it to the floor. Wanda’s hands jerked at the elastic band around your hips. Your fairly large erection greeted both of you with a fair shock as it bounced its way to freedom. “Oh yes, I remember now.” Her tongue folded against the tops of her teeth. Your hands held a firm grip on either side of Wanda’s panties ripping them off. “Seems you don’t need this huh?” She giggled letting out a small whimper. “Fuck-…can we stop all this talking Y/n? I really need you.” Your fingers trailed along her mound going further in her slit. Her inner core was silk. Your finger slipped inside effortlessly. Her little sounds became more low. “Oh…g-god.” Her head dropped down making her lips lay on mine. "Stop fucking teasing me..." She groaned as her teeth bit the bottom of my lip. "Okay, you asked for it." You flipped Wanda onto her back. The bed's feet raised as the bed made a thump. "Did you want condoms?" 

"N-no. No, Wanda, I can pull out." You bent down locking your lips with hers again. "Haha..sure, sure you can Y/n." Wanda's eyes glowed red again briefly. "Fuck no more games. Just let me fuck you by myself." Your fingers slid between Wanda's folds before slipping your cock inside. She gasped curling her fingers into the sheets. Your hands planted on the mattress on either side of Wanda's head. She uncurled her fingers from the bedsheets, moving them around your wrists. Her breaths were choppy trying to get ahold. You thought she looked so beautiful underneath you, the way her skin naturally glowed, her pearly white smile chewing her bottom lip, the way she looked at you. Not in a loving way just yet, in an adoring way? A needing way. 

"Go on. Keep making those pretty sounds for me, sweetheart." Your hips dove in feeling her walls coating you effortlessly. Wanda’s whines grew deafening, her eyes did not stop turning shades of red. 

“Oh shit…y/n…uh-…” Wanda's head rolled back on the mattress. Dropping her jaw open. You began to thrust with a heavy pace. Becoming quick with every moan that escaped Wanda’s lips. The bed frame formed a squeaking noise with each pump into the brunette. Wanda’s leg had a hard time trying to stay afloat around your hips, slipping every movement you two shared. You stopped pulling out briefly. 

“What-..Y/n? Why did stop?! Continuă…” Wanda cried out allowing her hands to fall scratching your biceps. “I will, don't worry. Go flip on your stomach, on your knees and bend over.” Wanda sighed a sly smile flipping onto her knees, arching her back letting her chest lay on the mattress. She glanced over her shoulder with her hair covering her face. Your hand traced her temple softly, leading your fingers into the brunette's long strands. Grasping a fistful of Wanda’s hair. You peered down watching your cock twitch in anticipation with Wanda’s ass sway in the same feeling of suspense. Your other hand grasped Wanda’s thigh sliding your shaft back into her slick folds. 

“Oh…fuck-” Wanda sucked air through her teeth tilting her head down with your hand still tight on her hair. You did begin to thrust slowly as you once did, you began to ram yourself deeply inside the witch as though you were pushing through air. Wanda's hand gave out mid-pump landing on her chest. Her hands gripped the bedsheets as she tried to move her head to a more comfortable spot. "Fuck...you have such a nice ass." You twisted Wanda's hair around your knuckles applying a forceful tug. Her head raised leaving a spot of drool on the sheets. "Uh-huh!" Wanda's head cocked further to watch you. Your hand jerked the fistful of Wanda's hair pulling her hair as hard as you could muster without ripping all of her hair out entirely. Her body lifted off the mattress onto her knees. Her back pressed on your chest laying her head on your shoulder. "Oh god!...Shit!" Your wrist could not take it anymore, you let go of Wanda's hair allowing it to fall behind your shoulder. Your hand relaxed on Wanda's thigh attaching every finger around the softest part of her leg. Wanda's arm flung around your throat holding herself up. "Shit...I'm going to cum..." Wanda's moans were silent as she took a small breath. "Huh? Good baby...me too." You sighed out feeling yourself climbing higher and higher up to your point of no return. "Do it Y/n." Wanda used her knees bouncing her body against you. 

"Do what Wand?" You groaned in her ear smelling her sweet perfume sweat off onto you. "Cum in me...please..." Her cheek heated on yours as you felt her jaw lock open not letting another sound out. "Y-you sure? I don't know." You did not want to take that chance again, you had some rendezvous with a certain green bulky woman in Egypt, knowing you mastered your craft of pulling out. If you did not get her pregnant 6 months ago, hell, you couldn't do it again right? 

"F-fine...you want me to cum inside you huh?" You huffed tightening your grip on Wanda's thighs, the wooden bedframe continued to rattle. The frame began to bell out with your knees ready to cave. "Yes! Yes!" 

"Yes, what?" 

"Cum inside me Y/n! Fill me!" Wanda's voice shrieked out letting go of a low-toned moan. "Oh god! I'm cumming!" Wanda grasped firmly on your neck vibrating her entire body. Her eyes glow red tracing red mists around both of your bodies. "Fuck!" The pressure within you exploded, you could not think if it was you that came or if Wanda had some help to speed it up. You felt your cock throb spewing out your cum in the witch. She tried her best to make her body stay still, her thighs would not stop fidgeting. You bucked your knees forward to have Wanda fall on her stomach as you fell with her. The bedframe finally gave way as the mattress hit the floor. You both hit a thump, Wanda chuckled under your body softly as she took a quick breath. "Well, shit. How do you expect to explain this to Tony?" 

"We'll blame Kate," You sighed wiping a bead of sweat from your brow. "She got too drunk and we found her jumping on the bed. Agreed?" 

"Agreed detka. Let's get out of here. We can go to my room." You arose to see the bedposts still standing but the wood beams holding the bed just fell. "Well, this was a great welcome back." You stretched out your arms above your head hearing the cracks of your shoulder blades. "I'd say so." You stood up from the mattress whisking your boxers off the floor. 

"Y/n? You don't need those." Wanda sat up on her knees running her hands through her hair. You bent over as you picked Wanda up by her thighs and wrapped them around your waist. "Haha! I sure do. I don't want to scare Kate if we run into her." You took hefty strides over to the bedroom door, making your way down the hall to Wanda's room. Wanda draped her hands around your neck giving a sly little smile as she looked over her shoulder. Her wrist flicked a red mist, you witnessed the red mist run down the staircase doing nothing after it left the stairs. "There. She won't bug us. I put her to sleep for the night. Now, we can have more fun." 

"Good. Let's hope I don't break your bed this time." 

"Well, don't promise that. I'd love you to ruin me." Her finger traced along your jaw down your throat. "Ask, and you shall receive." 

[rthko]

Hi :) I read The Tragedy of Heterosexuality and loved it — do you have any other books you’d recommend about gender/sexuality? Thanks <3 I love reading your long posts, you have really insightful ideas and I think we view the world very similarly

Glad to hear that! Here's some context for anyone not in the loop: The Tragedy of Heterosexuality is a book about Heteropessimism, or rather, finding a way out of it. The notion is that heterosexual love is doomed because men and women are just different by nature, and it manifests through relationship self-help books, incels and pickup artists, and the memes and ramblings of countless straight women who they wish they could just be lesbians. Jane Ward think heterosexuality as we know it self sabotages through what she calls the misogyny paradox: straight men love women, except they don't love women. But she doesn't think heterosexuality is doomed or prop up political lesbianism as a solution. She calls for mutual respect and actually leaning into the heterosexuality of, well, actually liking each other, rather than try to "queer" it. This is part of a really interesting turn in queer theory where heterosexuality has emerged as a subject of study--another good example is Hanne Blank's Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality.

So I want to start out by disclaiming I'm not actually that well read. This is something I've been trying to work on more recently. That said, here are some gender and sexuality recs:

Two essays by Gayle Rubin: The Traffic in Women and Thinking Sex. I don't completely cosign everything she says, but these are monumental texts. Thinking Sex is topical especially as the "sex wars" keep playing out.

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler. Everyone's heard of this, so my specific recommendation is to skip to part three and the conclusion, where the text is at its most concise. Butler's theory of gender performativity has exploded beyond their initial reach, so they've since had a lot of interviews and given talks that address a wider audience. People who have read both Gender Trouble and Bodies that Matter tend to recommend the latter text, but I still need to.

The Trouble with Normal by Michael Warner, or if you want a shorter version, his essay "Normaler and Normaler." Even if you're not against marriage in its entirety, his criticisms are so incisive and helpful, especially now in countries where gay marriage was passed but proved to be a dead end. It also really gets into gayness as identity versus behavior, which seems to have exploded into a huge conflict recently. This is how you get people who are on board with queerness in the abstract but appalled by its real-life specifics. I also still need to read Fear of a Queer Planet.

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde, is a collection of speeches and essays by one of the most influential Black feminist writers. "Uses of the Erotic" especially stuck with me, where the erotic is taken not so literally but as a sort of creative synergy with political implications. If you've ever heard "the master's tools will not dismantle the masters house," that's included in this collection.

Close to the Knives by David Wojnarowicz, also a collection of speeches and essays, is one of my favorite books on AIDS. The rage is palpable and crucial, and the essay "Do Not Doubt the Dangerousness of the 12-inch Politician" is eerily resonant today as politicians still stoke violence on TV (and now social media).

Lately I've been getting more into trans writing, with Transgender History by Susan Stryker and Whipping Girl by Julia Serano. The former alarmed me with how much I didn't know, and the latter blew my mind. It was written at a time when trans people, for better and for worse, weren't really in the public eye except for in niche circles, and academia about trans people was about or at the expense of them but not by and for them. Her mark is so tangible today. My next read will be Reverse Cowgirl by McKenzie Wark after hearing rave reviews. I think I'm going to like it.

I am also accepting recs!

[etherealbelphie]

An Unwanted Interruption (Ft. Lucifer and GN!MC)

Warnings: Slight romantic implications? (Lucifer has a crush on the MC if you squint)

Word count: 0.7k

A/N: I've had a bunch of Christmas/winter themed stories in my drafts for a while, I figured it was about time to polish them up and post them! This will be the first of many :D This is also somehow the second Lucifer-centric fic I've ever written. This concept had me giggling the entire time I wrote it, so I hope you enjoy it!

I think I added all the right warnings, if I should add any, please let me know!

-Ethereal ^J^

Story below, please don't claim as your own!

Lucifer had agreed to take you to the human world during the holiday season.

While Christmas in the Devildom was alright, they hadn’t begun celebrating the holiday until much more recently, when Christmas became less about religion and more about spending time with those you love.

Christmas in the Devildom didn’t have the same history and tradition that the human world did.

Which is why you were so ecstatic, even if you were only going to a mall for a few hours.

“Come on, let’s go!” You said impatiently, bouncing on your heels.

“The human world is cold this time of year, is it not?” Lucifer asked, buttoning up his jacket.

You could’ve sworn he started going even slower just to spite you.

“It’s cold, but it’s not that cold,” you emphasized, gesturing to your outfit. You two were going straight inside, and you didn’t feel like lugging a ton of winter gear around. “You know there’s heating in the mall, right?”

Lucifer rolled his eyes but finished buttoning the rest of his coat quickly. He tugged on his gloves, then turned to you. “Very well, let’s get going then.”

He wrapped an arm around your waist and tugged you a little closer. “So the both of us will be teleported,” he claimed.

He mumbled something you couldn’t be bothered to decipher -though it sounded vaguely Latin- and next thing you knew, the two of you were standing in an empty alleyway.

“Holy crap, we’re here!” You exclaimed, unable to look away from the snow glittering in the sunlight. Even as the cold wind whipped at you, you could still feel the faint traces of the sun’s warmth.

“Of course we’re here,” Lucifer scoffed. “Did you really think I’d fail?”

You rolled your eyes good-naturedly, though your mock-irritation was quickly replaced by excitement once more. “Now, come on! I know where we are! The mall is this way!”

You grabbed his hand and began leading the way through the snowy streets. If Lucifer had a problem with that, he didn’t say so.

With the enthusiastic pace you’d set, the two of you had made pretty good time, and were by the front entrance no more than ten minutes later. The first set of automatic doors opened, and the two of you stepped inside.

You sighed in relief as a wave of warm air hit you, then you turned to Lucifer. “So, what did you want to do first?”

“I don’t have a preference,” He answered, tugging off his gloves and tucking them into his pocket. “I figured that I would allow you to choose what we did today, seeing as you’re more familiar with this environment than I am.”

“Oh!” You paused a second, thinking. Lucifer always took your opinions into consideration, of course, but him having none of his own was exceptionally rare. “Well, when I’m here, I usually go to-“

You noticed a woman had approached the two of you, patiently waiting for you to finish your conversation.

“Ah…can we help you?” Lucifer asked.

She smiled, pulling a book out of her bag— Oh no.

“I was wondering if you had a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior?”

You were certain you had an expression of absolute horror on your face and couldn’t form a coherent sentence if you tried.

Thankfully, Lucifer took the reins and answered. “Oh, no thank you.” He smiled at the woman politely.

“At least take this, then?” She held the book in his direction, and he recoiled.

“I’m sorry, madam, but I can’t touch that. I may literally burst into flames.”

You brought your hand up to cover your mouth. You weren’t sure if you were absolutely mortified or about to start crying from laughter.

“What, are you a Satanist?” She asked, scowling.

“Certainly not,” Lucifer said, sounding offended at the mere suggestion. “He wishes.”

That response was enough to push you over the edge, unable to contain your laughter. This prompted strange looks from literally everyone around you, but you didn’t care.

The woman stared at you a long, long moment before she finally turned around and left, which only made you laugh harder.

Lucifer looked at you a moment. Though his lips were pressed together, you could see him cracking a smile too.

“I-I’m sorry!” You exclaimed between fits. “I- I didn’t know what to do!”

He chuckled. “That wasn’t the first time, and I’m quite certain it won’t be the last time someone approaches me about my father. I’ve gotten good at responding. You, on the other hand…” He simply smirked at you, which made you start laughing all over again.

[nap-mak]

LOTR in a modern world headcanons? I think yes.

I did this on one of my old accounts that i ended up deleting for some reason, i don’t remember, but here. Back on my Lord Of The Rings BS, let’s gooooo. This’ll be the fellowship with everyone intact, no one is dead.

As always requests are open and let me know if you want more!

LOTR x GN! Reader, general headcanons for if you had to take care of them today, in 2023. Enjoy!

The ring most likely has no power in this dimension, so yay Frodo is free from torment!

Sam loves watching cooking, gardening and home renovation shows, and he gets very invested in the former two. You learn a lot you didn’t really need to know from his commentary

Once Pippin learns about pyjamas and fuzzy slippers he never goes back, you literally cannot get him out of them

Boromir and Aragorn, being human and coincidentally two of the most responsible members of the fellowship, are the easiest to take in public to the grocery store and such.

You can pass off the hobbits (if they cover their ears with their hair) as children, and Gimli is your friend with dwarfism.

Gandalf you can pass off as your grandfather, and Legolas looks pretty normal if you cover his ears.

Pippin is the type to bounce in his seat in the car and ask “Are we there yet?!” every 5 minutes

Frodo really likes to draw, especially when there’s so many cool places and movies to draw inspiration from.

Movie nights? No horrors. The hobbits are terrified by ‘em.

Movie nights are literally so difficult because they all have such different tastes

Merry really likes James Bond movies.

Pippin is obsessed with nail polish when you introduce him to it. Boromir gets his repainted every time the polish come off. His nails need serious help after a while

Pippin and Merry often start pillow fights, and drag everyone else into it

If you have space for a garden or plants in your home, Sam is on it. He finds it calming, so now you have some home grown plants :)

Taking the hobbits in public? Bad idea. You can trust Frodo and Sam, but Merry inevitably drags Pippin off to do something dumb and possibly dangerous.

Gandalf has an old man rocker. There is no discussion.

The hobbits do the classic “getting one sibling to ask for fast food because whoever’s in charge will say yes”, they get Frodo to do this because he has the best puppy dog face and he’s unsure about asking for things normally.

Pippin and Merry cannot handle too much caffeine or sugar or they go crazy

You thought Legolas’ hair was good before? He steals your hair care products and his hair is literally perfect.

(He’s also willing to do skincare with you, not that his face needs it. Again, flawless)

Game nights are so chaotic. You can’t play a lot of games since they don’t know what many things from this world are, so games like Trivia and Charades are off the table

Gimli and Legolas verse each other in video games, often enough it ends with Legolas winning and Gimli rage quitting

Aragorn is so responsible he’s literally the perfect man to do anything with, and he can hold the fort down if you need to leave

Pippin is so clingy, he trails you wherever you go and asks you random questions but it’s adorable

Boromir insists on carrying your stuff, bags of groceries, all that

Frodo often goes to the library to find new books to read, with you of course

There’s a whole debate on whether 3D or 2D animation is better, i would not get involved if i were you.

Pippin and Merry are also avid fans of quoting their favourite movies, once they see them

Legolas and Frodo are the best listeners, they will just sit there and not judge or try to give you advice they just. sit there. like the perfect men they are.

Legolas would have a meme for everything. Like any situation. You text him like “PIPPIN FELL DOWN SOME WELL WE DON’T EVEN HAVE A WELL HELP” and he just has a meme that fits the situation perfectly.

Frodo and Legolas would watch Avatar: The Last Airbender together because it’s their favourite show. Aragorn jumps in also.

Those three are also avid tea drinkers.

Boromir likes Game Of Thrones. I don’t know anything about it, he just does. Please confiscate Pippin while he does.

Pippin gasps dramatically whenever a plot twist surprises him.

Sam loves to cook, and he does a lot of cooking in the house once he arrives. You two just work together in the kitchen (if you can’t cook, he’ll teach you) and have nice sweet conversations

Legolas is great at doing people’s hair. If you ask him to, he’d probably agree, though he’d probably be a bit flustered as that is a courting ritual in his culture.

Ask Legolas to talk to you until you fall asleep. His voice is so heavenly istg-

The hobbits get sleepy when their hair is played with and it’s adorable

Won’t lie this hyperfixation came back then it circled back to TMNT and today i watched these films with my friend and now i’m back to LotR love. Most of this has been sitting in my drafts for a couple weeks.

Anyway, I think that’s about it from me, I hope you guys enjoy! :)

If you want to request, rules are pinned on my page! Let me know if you want a general part two or a set of modern headcanons for a specific character. I love LOTR in the modern world content so much.

Have a good day, and remember that you are loved!

[batrogers]

Civilized Or Not

So there’s some common Zelda fanon I wanna talk about, relating to civilization tropes I think some of y’all haven’t really thought about in detail before, and that’s Hyrule (Zelda 1 &2 Link), Wild (BOTW mostly), and Ravio (LbW).

I’m using the Linked Universe names, because that’s where most of it comes up, because these things happen most often where you can contrast the boys with each other. This is often done, quick and dirty, by people assigning “roles” to each without much thought. Ravio’s unfortunately tends to be extremely pervasive outside LU spaces, too.

But, in brief, there is a trend for people to craft these characters in a framework of innocent vs savagery vs trickery that can have some really unfortunate implications I’m not sure many are even aware of. Hopefully I can explain better where these ideas come from, why they’re so easy and appealing, and why we should try to avoid repeating them for more than just the sake of “easy” but also to stop repeating some really nasty historical tropes.

I would start from what’s probably the simplest one to address: the tendency towards a “feral” personification of Wild. This tends to come from two places: Wild’s amnesia, and the collapse of society around him and his lost place in it.

Now, brain damage is complicated. You can lose a range of things to any given injury because of the way information is encoded differently and in different places. You can lose memory and/or skills and/or coordination and/or balance, etc, because it all depends on what got damaged. But in-game a lot of stuff suggests that Link retains things like speech, reading/writing, coordination, and martial skills. None of the people who knew Link prior to his injury suggest he seems changed in any way not attributed to stress and anxiety...

And, more importantly, real people suffer memory loss just like that in the real world. Treating him like he’s become “feral” due to memory loss is cruel to actual people living with brain damage today, and if you go there you should have a good reason for it.

Social collapse is a wide-spread theme in basically every Zelda game. The threat that the Big Bad poses is almost always the destruction of society as it exists: Malladus literally vanishes the infrastructure of New Hyrule in Spirit Tracks; the Twilight turns people into spirits living lives they don’t realize are questionably real in Twilight Princess; Veran freezes the passage of time to force people to work forever in Oracle of Ages. King Daphnes and Ganondorf under the sea vie over the fate of the world above in Wind Waker: keep what’s been made, or start all over again?

In modern culture, people tell a lot of stories about the fragility of civilization and what happens in its absence. You get the range from Lord of the Flies, in which children wrecked on an island attempt (and fail) to recreate civilization on their own, Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” in which Mowgli is treated as reckless and innocent, and a much more obscure piece from the 18th century “Paul et Virginie” (and likely many more I don’t know offhand.) Essentially all of them play with the question of how do people become civilized, and what happens when they do? In Lord of the Flies, the children were civilized and failed to maintain it; in the Jungle Book, the boy wasn’t civilized and innocently interacts with it. In Paul et Virginie, the children were (relatively) uncivilized on the (French colonized) Mauritius, raised by their mothers but when the girl was sent away, she becomes civilized and dies tragically to preserve it.

The two Links most removed from civilization are Hyrule and Wild. Wild “lost” civilization, losing both his memories of it and the structure of it. Making him feral, without manners, and without a place to belong is that kind of Lord of the Flies savagery mixed with Mowgli’s innocent playfulness: there isn’t a structure to adhere to, so he’s a savage. Whereas Hyrule is more like the Paul eg Virginie side: innocent of civilization, he remains pure and sweet and kind, unable to conceive of big concepts like evil or money or so on. Neither position permits them to interact with the civilization that is right there in front of them! Wild can buy a house; he has people who know and care for him. He has social connections and social rights. The world exists, but the fandom does not seem to want him to interact with it in favour of remaining “wild.” In Zelda 2 – a game explicitly set within a decade of Zelda 1 – there are whole towns with trade and a castle and massive structures with on-going life in them... but very few fans seem to ever reach into that story or relate it back to the first. Hyrule, the character, does not exist within Hyrule, the country.

Strangely, Wind Waker does not fall prey to this, I think because the structures are presented as fait accompli: Link wakes up with his grandmother and his sister, he has a defined home, and a society in which you spend the entire game forced to engage with. Zelda 1 & 2 were not sophisticated enough to waste resources on going as in depth in social terms (although such interactions absolutely exist in Zelda 2!) and BOTW leaves such interactions as optional: you can survive the game with minimal social contact... but it’s a choice to play with it that way, not the default. The ways in which this edges onto the noble savage trope, in which “uncivilized” tribes are either innocent or brutish (rather than complex social systems in their own right) is fairly obvious.

There is one other character in Zelda who gets treated to the question of whether he is an innocent, free of civilization and all its rigour... or something else. Ravio, coming from the devastated world of Lorule, can often wind up slotted into the scared, innocent child trope and unfortunately that’s the better position people frequently take. The worse one evokes the Merchant of Venice: the deceitful, Jewish merchant who values money over people’s lives.

Lorule (and Nintedo’s approach towards their humanoid Zelda villains in general) is near-eastern-coded in many ways, down to the fact that Yuga’s outfit is the spitting image of Ottoman dress. Yuga being a depraved bisexual (a common historical trope about Muslim men towards Christian men and boys), and Hilda being deceitful and conspiring against everyone she was once allied to are a backdrop to the ways in which Ravio is a greedy coward. He’s not an evil character in the game; the mechanic of penalizing death without being too severe is interesting and works well! But that doesn’t take away the stereotype, just like it’s not okay Nabooru is pretty explicitly predatory towards child Link in Ocarina of Time, too.

Arab and Jewish stereotypes often converge, because both people's originate from the same region, and both are hostile "Others" to Christian Europe and Nintendo doesn’t have a great track record of their near-Eastern coding in Zelda. It crosses the whole gamut from harem and amazon tropes with the Gerudo to breath-takingly anti-semitic or anti-black (Ganondorf being green, eg. non-human, in various incarnations), all packaged neatly in the ideal of medieval fantasy Europe. The scale would be impressive if it wasn’t so damn awful, but we can at least stop repeating it in our fanworks.

Wild doesn’t have to be feral to be a playful little shit; Hyrule doesn’t have to be pure and innocent to be kind. Ravio doesn’t need to be innocent or scheming, and he shouldn’t place money over Link’s well-being (If you chose to respawn at home, he is consistently only ever concerned for Link! Once you buy the items outright, he promises he'll still be there to take care of you.)

Do better. It’s more interesting that way, and I want to see that variety grow!

[If any of y'all would like me to dig up better sources on any point, I can do so but I didn't want to bog this post down further. I have largely left the anti-arab stuff alone because it's not the biggest issue with Ravio's fanon presence, which is the focus here.]

[thekatebridgerton]

A little venting post about the changes made to the show.

Sometimes I miss the era where book adaptations were true to their source material. Lord of the rings, Harry Potter, pride and prejudice, Twilight, The Hunger Games. Books with adaptations that literally had the power to change whole generations. Create such a cultural impact that we'll still be defining facets of our personalities by their influence for years to come.

And I think that those books had so much success as adaptations because the people who made them understood that watching the movie had to be an interactive experience between a person and their book. Not just their screen. People would finish watching the movie, go home, read the book and feel connected to a story where they knew the ending. So giddy and excited to know something they thought other movie goers didn't know. This made the experience exciting! It made it interactive enough to cause an impact.

I recently watched Lord of the Rings (yes the whole 24 hrs of it) and I realized how much I miss that excitement. That same warm blanket of knowing the ending that I experienced when I watched The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Bridgerton showrunners are so obsessed with delivering something with a 'plot twist' or 'different from the books' that they completely miss the point of how big franchises managed to make their adaptations impactful. So focused on curating the source material to make it more 'original' and new. So focused on driving up buzzfeed articles that read ' 100 ways Bridgerton season 2 was different from the books' that they alienate the interactive experience that exists in a viewer who enjoys reading.

Call me a book purist or maybe I felt sad today because I saw yet another article titled ' 10 reasons why Eloise storyline shouldn't follow the books' but it sucks to have creators spit on the books you love. It sucks to watch an adaptation that looks like fanfiction because it's all the media is currently offering. And you just wanted to see Kate bite Anthony's ankle and laugh. But you have to put up with all the changes of season 2 because complaining is met with an ' oh we wanted to do something different from the book, we wanted to surprise viewers'

Excuse me showrunners, I liked that book, what's wrong with liking that book? What was so offensive about it you had to turn it into something so far away from the source material the Author herself had to come out and say ' the books are the books and the show is the show' basically drawing a line between her creation and the show she authorized to adapt said work.

Netflix If the books I loved were so bad you felt they needed to be changed so much for an adaptation, then why adapt them at all? Why not find some kind nice very much in need of their big break author who has written a story that looks like the narrative you've got in mind.

As a reader I loved all the storylines as they stood. To me it would have been a giddy and exiting experience to be able to follow the show along with the source material. And I'm so sick and tired of show viewers and basically all the sensationalist media like buzzfeed and screenrant implying and outright saying that there is something wrong... with people like me. Who simply liked the books as they were. Because that's how they treat us, and that's what they think and it makes me sad.

And as I wait for season 3 I I sit and wait to see how many ' 100 ways the show is better than Romancing Mr Bridgerton because of how much the showrunners decided to change ' articles start poping up on my feed as soon as it's released. Because it will happen and as a reader you feel so powerless and confused, because all the media kees saying is that you're not allowed to feel angry, because even getting an adaptation is supposed to be a good thing, so don't start being a Debbie downer about the changes made for the screen. The book you loved was outdated anyway, the book you loved was boring anyway, the book you loved needed more excitement anyway.... And the message you keep getting is that The things you loved needed to stop looking like the things you loved, to be worthy of the masses attention

So what does that say about you?

Tomorrow, maybe I'll be back to being my usual positive self. Tomorrow I'll look at the bright side and feel ever so grateful that Julia Quinn's work is on screen. But for today, just for today. I needed to get that off my chest.

[writethrough]

The Accident That Led Me to You (Part II)

(Morpheus x Female Reader)

Synopsis: You and Morpheus finally go on that date.

Warnings: Feelings of unworthiness, fluff, mutual pining, Death and Lucienne being the ultimate wing-women

Word Count: 2542

A/N: Here it is! Part two! Grammarly decided to be a bitch today and not help me edit. Also, I don't know why I'm doing this to myself, but what about part three?

Read Part I

If the emissary and janitor of the Dreaming had gotten wages, neither would’ve been happy. A month had passed since that day in the library. You and Morpheus were still making cow eyes at each other, Matthew and Merv kept renewing their bet, and Lucienne had enough of you four. Death, on the other hand, was greatly amused by both of you.

You were a close friend to her now. Despite her compassion and kindness, she didn’t have many. She practically jumped at the opportunity your strange circumstance put you in. Not that either of you minded.

Though Death was busy frequently, she always made time to see you. Now, curled up on your couch with wine, you couldn’t help the giggles as she told you a story about a younger Morpheus.

“It’s true! He doubted me, and I had to prove him wrong!” She said it like it was the obvious thing to do.

“But did you have to steal the horse?” You pursed your lips, trying not to laugh.

She shrugged. “I had to make an entrance.”

You both erupted into more giggles.

You could only imagine the look on Morpheus’ face when all of this happened. Did his lips tug into a smirk? Were his eyes alight with amusement at his sister’s antics?

It wasn’t until Death spoke that you realized you’d gone quiet.

“So…” she drawled, giving you an expectant look. “How are you and my dear brother?”

You groaned, knowing exactly where she was going with this.

“We’re fine,” you said, taking a big gulp.

“Just fine?”

You nodded, avoiding her gaze.

“You looked cozy when I dropped by the other night,” she said.

She had arrived in the Dreaming a few nights ago to talk to Morpheus. When she didn’t find him in his throne room, she searched and discovered you and him in the library. Lucienne was off somewhere while you were shoulder-to-shoulder over a book. Death would’ve made herself scarce if Morpheus hadn’t caught movement out of his periphery. Later, when she questioned her brother about it, he said nothing was happening between you two.

“Come on, (Y/N)! When are you going to ask him out?” she whined, gripping your wrist.

“Why would I ask him out?” You pretended to be clueless.

“Because you like him!” she said, exasperated. “And he likes you.”

“Has he told you that?” You weren’t expecting her to answer.

“He literally doesn’t stop asking about you,” she said. 

“Oh.” You paused. “Do you really think it’s a good idea?”

She pinched the bridge on her nose. “You are both going to be the death of me.”

You snorted and couldn’t help bursting into laughter, and she soon joined you.

—

No matter how long Morpheus stood in front of his soon-to-be creations, he couldn’t seem to finish them.

Half-formed shapes and featureless bodies could not focus him. Instead, he thought of you.

What were you doing at this moment? Did you start a new book, or were you still stuck on the previous one? Were you having a good day? When would you go to sleep so he could see you? Should he visit you before you go to bed so he could see you sooner—

“My lord?” Lucienne broke him from his thoughts.

“Yes, Lucienne?” He continued to face his would-be dreams, intent to appear as if he were busy.

“Are you alright, my lord?” she asked tentatively. “You seem distracted.”

Of course, his librarian could read him like a…well, like an open book.

“There’s no need to concern yourself. I am alright.”

There was a moment of silence. Morpheus could feel Lucienne wanting to speak.

“Is there anything else, Lucienne?”

She clasped her hands in front of her. “If I may…you and (Y/N), you’ve gotten quite close.”

“I suppose,” he said, smearing a wave of hair onto one creation to distract himself.

“And you enjoy her company—greatly,” she added.

“Yes.” His reply was a bit drawn out as if he didn’t know where the librarian was going.

“It’s just…I believe she’d be happy if you were to tell her. And��”

Morpheus now fully faced her. “And?”

“And perhaps you should both stop mooning over one another and do something about it,” she said, letting a breath of her exasperation slip through.

Morpheus, shocked at her outburst, could only think of one thing to say.

“I’m not mooning over (Y/N).” His cheeks turned a faint shade of pink.

“My lord.” It amazed him how Lucienne could twist his title, like she said, “We both know you’re lying.”

The look in her eyes made him divulge his hesitance.

“How could something possibly come from us? It…It could not last.” He let his gaze linger over her shoulder, recalling why they had been able to meet in the first place.

Lucienne gave him an understanding smile and took a step forward. “We both know there is no such thing as an ending. Only new beginnings. Perhaps this is one the both of you must start together.”

Her words sunk into his bones. Death had never been final—it did not signify extinguishment. It was simply a transition. One which (Y/N) somehow avoided before meeting him. But maybe that transition was taking on another form—one that could begin with a simple question.

—

You and Morpheus had just left Cain, Abel, and Goldie. The young gargoyle was rapidly growing and was ever the playful creature. Though, she tired fast, too. Goldie spent most of her time curled up on your lap, sleeping.

“Abel grows more worried each time you visit,” Morpheus said as you walked back to his castle.

Your brow furrowed. “What do you mean? Why would he be worried?”

“He fears Goldie will want you instead of him.”

You rolled your eyes. “Oh, please, she loves him and Cain too much to ever leave.” You squeezed his arm slightly. “And besides, I can’t take care of a growing gargoyle part-time. I’d need to move in if that were the case.”

“That can be arranged.”

You stopped, your hand on his arm halting him as well.

“You’d let me live here?” You both got along well, but would he really want you invading his space?

“If you wished, yes,” he said, earnestness in his eyes.

“Would that even be allowed? How would that even work?” You were mortal. And alive. You knew Matthew had been a human, and Cain and Abel were invited by Morpheus to stay here, but all of them were technically dead.

“I am the ruler of this realm, (Y/N). Of course, it’s allowed.”

“But wouldn’t I have to die?” You’d be lying if you said you weren’t a bit worried.

He chuckled. “No, I would never suggest it if that were the case. And you’d be free to come and go as you please. I would not keep you from your life.”

“Oh.” You sighed, relaxing. “That’s reassuring. The not dying thing. I know you’d never do anything to hurt me.”

“Good.” He gave you a gentle smile.

You stood there, taking each other in.

His eyes never left you. Usually, you’d shrink away if someone paid this much attention to you, but Morpheus always made you comfortable. It was uncanny how connected you felt to him, and sometimes it scared you. But you couldn’t shake the feeling of something more. Maybe Death was right. Maybe her brother did have a soft spot for you.

You hadn’t noticed you had returned his smile, and it was the way he glanced down at your lips that had you speaking before you could think.

“Would you want to go on a date with me?”

—

A few days later, you sat with Lucienne, trying to figure out what a date with an Endless should look like.

“Whatever you plan, he will enjoy,” Lucienne reassured you.

“But how will I even know he’s enjoying it?” You sighed, exasperated. “It’s not like his face will show it! Honestly, it’d be easier to read Moby Dick in Mandarin.”

“I’m afraid the closest you’ll get is reading it in Chinese,” she said without looking up at you.

You brushed her comment off with a wave of your hand.

“You know what I mean.”

She set her pencil down. “Yes, I do. And I also know his lordship. He would not have agreed to a date with you if he wasn’t completely interested. You could take him to watch paint dry, and he’d be happy.”

You considered what she said. It was true—Morpheus had no issue denying someone. He also seemed…content when you were around. After all, he was the one to approach you after you ran away from him and his sister.

“It’s just…I want him to have the best time. He’s this powerful entity who’s had all these experiences. What am I going to do that could ever keep his interest?” How could you ever compare to him?

“(Y/N),” she said, gaining your attention. “You keep his interest. All you have to do is share the same space, and he’s entranced. Not to be rude, but it’s why nothing ever gets done anymore. His lordship’s nearly useless when you’re around.”

“...I’m sorry?” you said, uncertain if she wanted an apology.

“There’s no need. I’m hoping once you’re in a relationship, everything will be in order again.”

“A relationship?” Would Morpheus want to take things that seriously that quickly?

“(Y/N),” she gave you an “are you serious” look, “he’s—oh, what’s the colloquialism—he’s whipped.”

—

Your biggest concern about your date tonight wasn’t if Morpheus would show up or not—no, he would never stand you up—it was if he’d like what you had planned. What kind of first date would an immortal being enjoy? Dinner and a movie seemed too simple. A museum had sounded intimate initially, but frankly, you weren’t interested in looking at anything other than him. You landed on an evening at the local fair.

It was during a weeknight, so it wasn’t that crowded. And you could snack on fair food as you walked around and talked. There were benches scattered around the grounds. And in an hour, music would play at the stadium near the back.

You told him to meet you at the front gate. You had to force yourself not to play with the beginnings of a hangnail as you scanned the incoming people. He had a few minutes before he’d be late, but he was a king. He had better things to do than go on a silly little date with y—

“(Y/N).”

You turned, and there he stood. The first thing you noticed was his smile. Though small, it was gentle, and his eyes were bright. He seemed lighter somehow.

His gaze slid down your form, and heat settled in your cheeks when he looked up again.

“You look beautiful,” he said, and if he couldn’t tell you were already blushing, he could once he pressed his lips to your cheek.

“Thank you,” you whispered, then cleared your throat. “Shall we?”

He nodded, still giving you that look, and held out his arm.

Once inside, you pulled him to your favorite hot cider stand.

Walking around the various vendors, you pointed out different spots you had tried and reminisced about your family and friends.

“The look on his face when she proposed was priceless,” you said, gesturing to a bench in front of a stack of hay bales. “Then he pulled out the ring he got for her as his answer.”

“They are fortunate to have found one another,” he said. “Not many can say they’ve found their love.”

“No, they can't.” You led him to the bench, needing to rest your feet for a moment. After brushing the hay off the seat, you sat shoulder to shoulder, the band starting up.

“It’s a common dream—and nightmare,” Morpheus said. Then, after a pause. “Tell me, what is your dream?”

You opened your mouth, not sure where to begin.

“I…well, after what happened, I want to try everything,” you said. “I want to travel, and explore, and…and find love.” You breathed out a laugh. “I guess my dream is to just…live.”

The look he gave you was one you couldn’t decipher. He was focused, maybe searching, trying to figure out a puzzle you weren’t aware had something to do with you.

Then, his features relaxed. “If I can help you achieve those dreams. I will.”

You blinked. There was no sign of a lie or uncertainty. He wanted to see you succeed. And before you could say or do something to embarrass yourself, you returned his question.

“What about you? What’s your dream?”

His brow furrowed as he considered your words.

“I…I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that.”

“Really?” He was the embodiment of dreams—surely someone had wanted to know what the Dream Lord wished for.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I suppose I’ve had dreams, but now…I haven’t thought about them in ages.”

You hummed. “We can help each other then. If there’s anyone who deserves to accomplish their dreams, it’s you.”

His eyes grew wide. And just because it was so rare to see him surprised, you continued.

“I’ll be your own personal Queen of Dreams,” you teased, wiggling your fingers as if casting a spell.

He chuckled. “I quite like the sound of that.”

“Good.” You then realized a slow song was coming from the stadium, and an idea popped up. Before you lost your nerve, you stood, holding out a hand to him.

“Dance with me?” You smiled when he placed his hand in yours without a second thought.

His hands rested on your waist, and he pulled you close.

Your arms wound on his shoulders as you swayed, not noticing the glances and small smiles thrown your way.

Morpheus’ thumb grazed your side softly, a breath of a touch.

“Thank you. For tonight,” he said, eyes boring into yours.

You tilted your head. “Does that mean you enjoyed yourself?”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “I always enjoy it when we’re together.”

Heat pooled into your cheeks as you let out a nervous chuckle and looked down.

He returned your gaze to him with a hooked finger under your chin.

“I believe this is when I request your company for our next date. Or am I mistaken?” The slight narrowing of his eyes suggested he was trying to remember.

“I don’t think the social rules apply to us,” you said. “And I would love to.”

His smile made your stomach all fuzzy.

“Tomorrow?” he asked, hopeful.

His tone emboldened you to answer with a kiss on his cheek.

“Sounds perfect.”

—

Morpheus was in his throne room, preparing for your next date when Death arrived. She strolled in, whistling.

“So, when can I expect a wedding invitation?” Death teased.

Morpheus shook his head slightly with a small smile and played into her. “I already asked her to move in with me, unintentionally.”

Death laughed. “Your first date, and you already want to cohabitate.”

“It was before.” His reply was somewhat hesitant, knowing his sister would enjoy that information a little too much.

She clutched her side, still giggling. “Oh, little brother, you’ve got it bad.”

[acourtofladydeath]

Poly+ ACOTAR Week Day 1: Beginnings

All his life Nyx has been raised by his parents, Rhysand and Feyre, and their mate Tamlin. One day he decides to ask him mom how their bonds snapped and she is more than happy to oblige.

Inspired by the storytelling in "The Princess Bride" and "How I Met Your Mother" this is angsty, fluffy fun.

So excited to kick off the first day of @polyacotarweek with one of my favorite trios, Feytamsand. Start reading below, or read the entire fic on AO3 here!

“Mom!” I shouted through the hall of the River House. It was her day off, which probably meant she was painting. The River House had a state of the art studio for her to work in, but she typically painted wherever inspiration struck. Which means she could be anywhere. 

The house was entirely too large. Something I loved growing up when I wanted to hide, but hated when I needed to find them. Sure, we could mind speak, but once I walked in on my parents having daemati sex, something I literally didn't know existed before then. After that, I refused to communicate that way unless there was an emergency. 

“In here Nyxie!” She called back from the library at the end of the hall. It had a huge window overlooking the Sidra and sunset. Throughout the day light cast through the window, ricocheting through the room. As it traveled it glanced across the wide array of books, some gilded and some plain, painting the floor in its own way. With the kaleidoscope of colors and dancing light, it was one of mom’s favorite spots to paint. Aunt Nes spent most of her time here when she visited, but today it was just mom. 

“What’s up, baby?” Mom said as I walked in. Covered head to toe in paint, she turned to look at me and wiped even more on her apron and one of her mate’s old shirts. Now which one, I wasn’t quite sure. But judging by those giant, billowy sleeves and the gauzy white linen fabric I had a pretty good guess. 

“I’m not a baby anymore,” I scoffed from the doorway. There was no way I’d get any closer to her like this. Last time she hugged me while painting it took three baths to get it all off and my clothes had to be burned. 

“Nyx you are thirteen, you are definitely still my baby. Even a hundred years from now you’ll still be my baby. I’m your mother, that’s how it goes.” She smiled softly at me then, one of those smiles that told me she was thinking about the past and the future all at once. They were my favorites. 

“What did you need? Or did you just want to watch me paint?” My mom asked, slight worry in her eyes. I’d never been great at schooling my expressions like dad was, mom and I had that in common. We both wore our emotions on our sleeves for all to see. 

I sighed, settling in to ask the question that had been gnawing at me for some time now. “One of the kids at school said something today that bothered me,” I rubbed at the muscles in the back of my neck with one hand, my gaze cast down on the floor as I tried to find the right words. 

It took me several long breaths, but mom waited patiently even as I felt her own anxiety build. “They said…” I let out a long sigh, there really was no good way to say this. “They said it’s not fair that I have two High Lords for parents, or for you to have two mates. And it’s not the first time, either.” 

Mom wrung her apron uneasily between her paint streaked hands, her art now completely forgotten as she focused on me. “I’m sorry you’re having to deal with this love. We knew people might say things like this, Nyx. I wish I had better answers for you, but the Mother gave your fathers and I each two mates.” She looked up at me with apology in her eyes, something I never intended and didn’t need to hear from her again. “I never wanted it to affect you negatively though.” 

“I know mom, and I know we’ve talked it to death.” I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. “It’s just still a lot, you know?” A thought struck me then. I knew my parents were all mates, I knew they’d met around the time of Amarantha’s reign under the mountain. We’d had a lot of conversations that time so I wasn’t caught off guard if other kids or parents mentioned it, but still…

“How’d you all find out anyway?” 

Mom cocked her head slightly to the side, her brow furrowed just a bit. “What do you mean?”

“How’d you find out you’re all mates? I mean, we’ve talked about the mountain and how you met them, but I’ve never really heard the full story of how your bonds snapped.” 

A secretive smile slid across her face then, and my mom straightened her head toward me. “Would you like to hear the full story? I think you’re old enough now.”

“Only if you promise to spare the gross bits…” I said, internally cringing as the unbidden image of mentally walking in on them flashed through my mind again. Fighting back a shudder at the memory I continued,  "But I am pretty curious.” I smiled slightly, and her own brightened wide enough to light the whole room. 

“Are you too old to sit on mom’s lap for story time? I can change out of my paint clothes first, I know you’ve taken after your dad with how much you care for your clothes.” she asks, humor alight in her words. 

I feel the heat of a blush on my cheeks as I answer. “Definitely too old for sitting on your lap…but maybe not for the couch…” She knew what I meant. When I had bad dreams or hard days at school, sometimes I’d lay on the couch, head in her lap. It felt too juvenile to use the word ‘cuddles’ but I guess that’s what it was. A kid’s allowed to cuddle his mom right? 

A few minutes later, mom was back wearing leggings and one of her favorite sweaters. She sat on the couch next to the big window in the library and patted the seat next to her, warmth filling the space between us. I pushed off the wall from where I stood and went to join her. As I settled in, she began her story. “Alright Nyx, let’s start from the beginning. Here’s the story of how I met your fathers.” 

Continue reading at the first cut on AO3.

Please let me know if you would like off or on my taglist!: @pippsmcgee @born-to-riot @chunkypossum @bubybubsters @queercontrarian @yanny-77 @fieldofdaisiies @iftheshoef1tz @secret-third-thing

[nkjemisin]

Things in my ask box

Hi folks. Every so often I get questions from folks that are good, but which I worry might catch them some flak from my other readers or whoever. Sometimes I answer those people privately, but in general I prefer not to do private replies to asks; for one thing, other people might want to know the answer, and for another, I've had a few awkward situations result from doing so (basically just people going parasocial on me), and I think that sort of thing is less likely when it's clear I'm talking to everyone. So, I'm going to handle these awkward asks by just treating them as Q&A questions -- without showing that person's username and where necessary, altering the question in order to protect their identity. I've got a few of these stored up, but just gonna do two this time for length and time reasons. I'll get to the rest later.

Are you a proshipper?

Yep. Feel free to alter your decision re following me on social media now that you've read that answer. But I believe in "don't like, don't read," and that fiction doesn't indicate what an author really believes (because it's fiction), and that there's no subject matter too immoral to explore on its face (everything depends on the execution), so... yep.

2. I love the Broken Earth trilogy, but I have to say, the middle book really didn't go anywhere, literally. Essun stayed in Castrima and Nassun moved around a little more but mostly stayed in the same place too. It killed a lot of the story momentum for me. Why did you decide to do this?

[spoilers for Broken Earth books, though I'll try to minimize them and will put a "read more" before I get there]

Because I felt like it. I'm not saying that defensively, I'm just noting that the answer to pretty much any question you might ask a writer about why they do a particular thing is... because they felt like it. Period full stop. Sorry that wasn't what you wanted to read! It was, however, the story I wanted to tell.

To elaborate... different people have different expectations of trilogies. That's because there are a lot of different ways to handle them, narratively speaking. Sometimes a trilogy is really a group of shared-universe stories taking place in the same world but not necessarily featuring the same characters, and with unrelated plots. Some are telling a single story, but through different POVs and smaller plot arcs that each have their own terminuses; that's what I did with the Inheritance Trilogy, for example. And sometimes, as I did with the Broken Earth books, the author is just telling one big story broken up into three parts. (There are more ways to do a trilogy than this, but let's keep this brief, lol.)

Now, there are a lot of ways to handle this kind of story, but a pattern that most of us are used to is:

Book One: Introduction to the world and important characters and the apparent stakes;

Book Two: Deep dive into the important characters and world, thus giving the audience a reason to care more; and

Book Three: Now we really know the stakes and shit just got real! Now we care what happens to the characters when EVERYTHING! BLOWS!! UP!!!

(I am feeling very silly today, sorry.)

We're familiar with this pattern because we see it all the time, especially in American media. It's a variation on the three-act structure seen in plays and other narratives. It's the basis of our most popular longform stories! The original Star Wars trilogy did it. The Mass Effect trilogy did it. (Andromeda was a separate story, probably meant to be the start of a new trilogy.) The Lord of the Rings did it, prequeled by the Hobbit and mirrored by the Silmarillion. I mentioned those examples because the middle stories of each all exhibit the same traits: a drastic change of pace or location for the protagonists, putting the protagonists through personal character growth arcs, and poking at minutia or seemingly unimportant aspects of the world (which usually end up pretty important before all is said and done).

Now let's answer your question. Spoiler warning again:

In the Broken Earth, we got introduced to the Stillness and Essun in Book One. There was a lot of physical movement in that book as Essun was on the road for most of it (as were other characters), but the plot itself was relatively simple: A bad thing happened to this person and she needs to go somewhere and find someone, to fix it! And then pretty much the entirety of that book's narrative was "Who is this person, why does the bad thing matter, and how close does she get to finding her missing person?" Then in Book Two, we learned a little more about this person, a lot more about her impact on other characters including the one she's been trying to find, and we spent a while learning about orogeny, the Obelisk Gate, and what the stone eaters have been up to. I cheated a little on this; there wasn't room to do a deep dive into the backstory of one pivotal character, but I did finally reveal that this character is the "secret" narrator of the whole trilogy, and made his agenda clearer. I ended up putting his "deep dive" into Book Three instead, where it was particularly relevant to the STUFF! BLOWING!! UP!!!

The reason a lot of readers complain about "Middle Book Syndrome," I suspect, is because of this pattern -- and because of their expectations. A lot of people come at a middle book expecting Book One Redux. That's what you often get in shared-universe trilogies -- Book One over and over again, roughly the same balance of characters vs events each time, in a familiar setting. We're conditioned to want that, I think, from other episodic works. Comic books, for example: When I was working on FAR SECTOR, my editor at the time explained that I needed to try and have a fight or action scene in most of the issues. I hate fight scenes -- sorry! -- so that was hard for me. TV shows -- the ones that aren't themselves telling a single big story over time -- do this, too. I think of it as the "If You Liked X, Then Try... X!" structure. Absolutely nothing wrong with this structure, by the way. I'm just describing it, not throwing shade. I'm a big fan of stories like this myself.

But even for audience members who were expecting the Three-Act Trilogy structure instead, that middle book is going to be jarring. It's supposed to be jarring. The refugees have survived the first book but stopped to dress their wounds and regroup; the adventurers on a quest have reached an impasse and need to find allies and grind to build up their strength; the stalwart hero has just suffered a massive setback and needs to overcome their own doubt or character flaws. A good way to handle this is to take the characters out of their familiar space, and put them somewhere new, or give them a very different kind of challenge. [Mass Effect and LOTR spoilers] Oh, no, Shepard died and their team broke up! What now? Oh, no, Frodo and Sam are on their own trying to get to Mordor! They're just these little guys! How are they gonna make it? If you got overly attached to Shepard team from ME1, or the Fellowship, you're in for a rough ride in these followups. But the jarring nature of this kind of followup is absolutely necessary. An author who does this knows they're going to lose some readers, when they do it. Clearly I almost lost you! But I stand by that choice, because I think it made the whole trilogy better.

Sidebar: I'm old enough to remember the controversy back when "The Empire Strikes Back" came out. Critics haaaaaated that movie! It was too dark, they said; wasted too much time on unimportant stuff. Too much character work, not enough space battles. Then it became clear that audiences loved the second movie even more than the first, precisely because it was darker and because Luke spent so much time futzing around with Yoda and because there were all these girl cooties romantic moments between Leia and Han. A lot of the critics backpedaled at that point, with some of them even acknowledged that they'd been hoping for Star Wars All Over Again and not What Happens Next That Is Not Star Wars. They'd simply brought the wrong expectations to the story.

This is not to say that you have the wrong expectations, Ask-er. Maybe you were expecting exactly that structure, and you just don't like the way I handled it, or you think I did a poor job. Every reader's experience of a story is different, and not everybody's gonna want to pick up everything I throw down. But you asked why did everyone stay in one place, and this is why: to do a deep dive into the character of the Stillness itself. In a story where the setting was as much a "character" as the people in it, I felt it necessary to show enough of that setting for readers to care about it. Would you care, for example, if the town of Brevard (Damaya and Schaffa spend one night there in Book One) got blown off the map in Book Three? Probably not, because I spent no time on any of its citizens or issues. A lot of people cared about Castrima, though, by the end of Book Two.

Whoo, this got long! Hope it answers your question, Ask-er.

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

(Genshin Impact) Jean, Lisa, and Ayaka reacting to their S/O having a bottomless inventory

Jean's stomach growled quite loudly, which she awkwardly cleared her throat.

(Jean) "M-My apologies. It seems I haven't eaten."

(S/O) "Oh, here lemme get your favorite!"

And from S/O's backpack they pulled out a boxed Mushroom Pizza.

(Jean) "For me? Thank you so much!"

(S/O) "Let me get the rest of lunch out, it's on me today!"

Jean smiled as she looked at S/O fondly. They always thought of her, to the point of somehow fitting lunch inside a small backpack.

...Actually now that she got a closer look that was too small to fit.

And now they were pulling out utensils, drinks...plates? Even more food?!

Jean becomes more and more concerned about the bottomless bag with every passing second. Where in Barbatos's name did that thing even come from?!

Even when they're finished, she's staring at the bag the entire time in disbelief.

Lisa at first was impressed how many books S/O could fit in their small bag.

They must have been really good at organizing, not to mention the weight it must have been.

...Okay, now they were a little too good at organizing them. This was the 9th book now, and they weren't exactly small.

Good lord, now they were pulling out textbooks.

(S/O) "Where is the book?! I know I have it somewhere!"

Lisa stares at S/O pulling out even more books, quietly blinking in awe.

(Lisa) "Goodness S/O, you could fit an entire library in there."

Though she said it jokingly, she was sure they literally did that.

It was intriguing yet highly disturbing to Lisa.

S/O didn't know Ayaka was in the room when they started pulling out their equipment.

At first Ayaka didn't say anything, just admiring the view.

Until she saw a katana get drawn out of a handpurse, in which she paused to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

Then it was armor. Then arrows. Then even more katanas and swords.

Was that a Naginata that came out as well?!

Ayaka thinks this must be some kind of cursed bag, or at least a very advanced bag that didn't originate in Inazuma.

(Ayaka) The world sure is...interesting. Oh you have got to be kidding, how did they even Oni masks and scrolls in there without it being torn apart?!

Ayaka is sure she was hallucinating the entire thing, despite the overwhelming physical evidence that littered the floor.

[081314]

Book 7: The Ruler of the Abyss – Chapter 2 (Part 2)

Following is part 2 of my translation of Chapter 2 of Book 7: The Ruler of the Abyss. This part contains episodes 7-25 to 7-29.

Main storyline spoilers after the cut!!

Episode 7-25

Kalim: Hey, Lilia! Thanks so much for the invite.

Lilia: Kalim, Jamil. I’m so glad to see you. Thank you for coming.

Kalim: I was really surprised when I heard you were dropping out. I know we’ve talked about this before, but right after I enrolled here… I decided  to join the pop music club after seeing you guys perform live. I just can’t believe I’m not gonna be able to hear your screamo anymore after today… I'm really gonna miss you. I thought about getting you a set of instruments and an amp as a farewell gift, but Jamil axed the idea.

Jamil: You’d literally need an entire truck to lug around the instrument set you were looking at. He’s not going on a live tour here. You have to keep in mind he’s just a normal person moving house.

Lilia: Kufufu. My apologies, I’m aiming to travel light when I leave. But I do thank you for your thoughtfulness, Kalim.

Jamil: Lilia Senpai, thanks for getting on so well with Kalim in the pop music club. I’m afraid you’d need to add this on to your luggage, but we’d be delighted if you would take this with you.

Lilia: What are you being so formal for? …This is… a business card?

Kalim: My dad told me to give that to you!

Jamil: What’s printed on that card is….the direct number to the Asim family’s private concierge.

Lilia: Private concierge?!

Jamil: If you ever find yourself in Scalding Sands, please do give us a call. The entire Asim family will be there for you every step of the way, starting from the moment you step foot in our country, all the way to your departure.

Kalim: As long as you have that card with you when you’re in Scalding Sands, whether you’re at an airport or a department store, there’s always gonna be someone there to look after you. And my mom and dad said they’d love to meet you someday. You’re welcome to come by my place whenever you want! And I’ll be happy to show you around with the magic carpet.

Lilia: Talk about rich! Please do give your parents my thanks. I’ll take good care of this card, I’m sure it will come in handy someday. Thank you, Kalim and Jamil.

Jamil: ….It seems like there’s other students here who wish to speak with Lilia Senpai, as well.

Kalim: Yeah, we don’t wanna hog up all your time. I hate to say goodbye, Lilia, but… Stay well!

Lilia: Yes. And you two, as well.

(Kalim and Jamil depart)

Lilia: Phew.

Silver: Father.

Lilia: Hm? Did you finish eating already, Silver?

Silver: It seems Lord Malleus still hasn’t arrived.

Lilia: Looks like it. Oh, what am I going to do with him. …Well, it’s nothing to worry about. We’ve been together for so long I’m sure we’ve just about grown tired of seeing each other’s faces by now. It’s fine if he doesn’t come see me off-

Silver: It’s not fine! You’re departing for the Land of Red Dragons tonight! And once you’re gone, Lord Malleus won’t be able to….! I… I’m going to go look for him!

(Silver runs off)

Lilia: Oi. Silver, wait! …He’s gone. Just where did he get that stubborn streak from, I wonder.

(Sebek comes running over, his mouth full of food)

Sebek: Shir Liria! … *Swallows food* W-What just happened? I thought I heard Silver raise his voice.

Lilia: Silver went to go look for Malleus.

Sebek: What on-! Then I shall go join him…

Lilia: Wait. It’s fine. To be honest with you, I’ve been wondering just what I should say to Malleus when I wish him farewell. But no matter what words I string together, it always feels so gloomy.

Sebek: Sir Lilia…

Lilia: You know what, Sebek. What little time I have left before I must depart, I’d like to enjoy it together with everyone. Don’t go saying something so coldhearted like you’re going to up and leave, too.

Sebek: O-Of course I wouldn’t. …Tsch. Darn you, Silver. You better not go fall asleep in the middle of the road!

Episode 7-26

Rook: Good evening, Monsieur Curiosity and Monsieur Crocodile. I do hate to interrupt your conversation, but we just wanted to say thank you for inviting us to your farewell soirée tonight.

Lilia: I’m glad you two could make it. As expected of the Beautiful Queen’s devotees – it feels like the party’s become even more grand just with your arrival.

Vil: ….Lilia. I’ll get straight to the point here. Is there really no other way?

Lilia: No other way…? What do you mean?

Vil: I’m talking about you losing your magic and leaving school. When I got all wrinkled from going into the underworld, Malleus was able to turn me back to normal by giving me some of his magic. Can't he do the same for you?

Lilia: Malleus said so himself, he can’t turn back time. I didn’t lose my magic due to some external reason like you did, Vil.

Vil: What do you mean?

Lilia: I’ve just gotten on in years, is all.

Vil: But you’re… 18 years old like the rest of us…?

Lilia: I’m just about 700 years old.

Rook / Vil: 700 years old!!!?

Sebek: OI! DON’T RAISE YOUR VOICES, HUMANS!! Sir Lilia is a member of the long-lived fae race. There isn’t anything to be surprised about.

Vil: H-Hello? …This whole entire time we thought he was the same age as us. I’m pretty sure anybody would be surprised if they just found out their classmate was literally 700 years old!

Rook: How could this be, Monsieur Curiosity? I’d noticed how you’d oft wax philosophically in a way no common 18-year-old would, but… To think, you were our senior in life to such a great extent.

Lilia: Kufufu. Perhaps I went a bit too low when fudging my age.

Vil: People in showbiz do stuff like that all the time, but I’ve definitely never heard of someone “fudging” it by over 680 years!

Rook: Ah, does this mean Roi du Dragon is also…?

Lilia: Oh, no. He’s much, much younger than I am. You could say he’s a “little” older than you boys. Even amongst us fae, the Draconia family is renowned for their long lifespans. At 200 years old, they’re but fledglings; and at 500, but youths. They’re finally considered adults once they reach 1000. They’re descended from dragons, after all.

Rook: Ça alors! I’d heard before that the fae have long lifespans, but that’s…

Lilia: I've heard the members of my species are also able to live to 1000, but… I was a little too reckless in my heyday, and I began to show my age earlier than I’d expected.

Vil: Reckless?

Lila: It’s perfectly normal for people to go a little wild when they’re young.

Sebek: Please don’t demean yourself so, Sir Lilia! Why, my grandfather has told me all about how you put your life on the line and devoted yourself to the Valley back in your day.

Lilia: Oh, *Baul. How many centuries has he been telling those same old stories now? Kids don’t like folks who always prattle on about the “good old days”, you know. However, although I committed my fair share of mischief in my youthful enthusiasm…. These past two years I’ve been super into video games, and I keep staying up all night with my nose pressed to the screen. It’s very unbecoming of my age, I know. Honestly, that might be the worst of my transgressions. You boys take care not to overdo it with those games, you hear! Ha ha ha!

Vil: Good grief. Please try and take care of yourself a little better from now on. ….Hah. It’s strange. Even though we just heard how old you really are, it’s like nothing’s changed. You’re the same Lilia as always - just another one of our classmates.

Rook: Indeed. I feel the same way. I guess you could say, age is but a number when it comes to sharing in youth together with your friends.

Lilia: What a lovely thing to say. Vil, Rook, please have as much fun as you can tonight.

Rook: Oui! Merci, Monsieur Curiosity.

Vil: Yes. Let’s enjoy ourselves to the very end!

*バウル Could be Baul, Bauru, Bahr, etc. Won’t know for sure what the correct name is until the official ENG localization comes out.

Episode 7-27

Ortho: Big brotheeer? Hey…. Are you even listening! Since they invited us and all, let’s go to Lilia Vanrouge-san’s going away party together. I’m sure you must have met him plenty of times before at your dorm warden meetings, right?

Idia: Honestly... Lilia-shi’s not my friend or anything…. I guess you could call him an acquaintance, but that’s about it… Even if I go to the party, it’s not like we’d have much to talk about together…. Anyways… I’m way more upset about having to say goodbye to Muscle Crimson-shi!!!! *sob*

Ortho: Oh, that’s right…. Muscle Crimson-san announced yesterday he’s quitting gaming, didn’t he.

Idia: Yeah… I dunno the specifics, but he’s got something going on IRL. And he also wiped out the Magicam account he was using for gaming… We’ve been messaging each other almost every day for the past two years and played so many different video games together. He was the first person I’ve ever done that stuff with.

Ortho: Mm. I remember guilds kept trying to recruit you since you’re so skilled and all… but anytime you joined one you’d always say stuff like, “Having to follow this guild’s stupid house rules sucks!” and, “These cocky weak ass ““veteran”” players suck!” and, “Getting all chummy with people SUCKS!” And then you’d always go back to playing solo soon after.

Idia: I’m just not cut out for co-op multiplayer games….

Ortho: But you and Muscle Crimson-san have played all sorts of games together, everything from MMORPGS to FPS. To my knowledge, he’s the only friend you’d ever done that with.

Idia: And despite all of that… He just dipped out of my life like it was nothing. Turns out that online relationships really are as fragile as people say… But hey, that’s fine with me… Ha ha… haaa…. Man, I can’t do this anymore… It hurts too much…. I don’t wanna ever make another friend ever again….

Ortho: Aww. Don’t say that, big brother. …Hey, I know! Why don’t I just look up Muscle Crimson-san’s location for you? Then you can just go see him in person!

Idia: Nooooo!! That is absolutely not cool! Not unless somebody posts a bunch of baseless slander about you!! B-Besides…. Even if we met up face-to-face, I bet I’d just annoy him.

Ortho: Huh? I don’t think so…

Idia: Of course I would! There’s no way anybody would have fun hanging out offline with a friggin’ gloomy meganerd like me..….*sob*  ….Ugh… It’s no use. I think I’ll just stay in bed for the next 10,000 years. Ortho, please just go to Lilia-shi’s party by yourself…

Ortho: *sigh* ….Okay. I’ll come back as soon as I can. Please don’t feel so down, big brother.

(Ortho departs, and Idia turns the lights off in his room)

Idia: ….That’s right. There’s no way anybody would wanna hang out with me offline. But I… I really should’ve mustered up the courage and asked for his contact info before it was too late…..

Episode 7-28

Silver: Lord Malleus! Where are you, Lord Malleus?!

(A cold wind blows and snowflakes start to fall)

Silver: …What the? It’s springtime, and yet the temperature’s suddenly plummeted. And it’s even started snowing….

(Silver sees Malleus standing in front of the statue of the Thorn Fairy)

Silver: ….! Lord Malleus!

Malleus: ….Hm? Oh it’s you, Silver.

Silver: So this is where you were, my Lord. I’ve been searching for you. Today is father’s going away party, so could you please join us and say a few words to him before he departs?

Malleus: ….So the celebration has already begun. Since Lilia invited me, I need to give him a blessing of some sort before he leaves. It is said that the Thorn Fairy would present the most splendid of gifts at the parties held at the royal palace - gifts that would astound all in attendance. And as the leader of Diasomnia, I must be sure to choose a gift that won’t sully her good name.

Silver: But that’s… I’m sure your presence alone would be more than enough for father, my Lord.

Malleus: I’ve been mulling it over for so long now. Just what should I give him….

(A cold wind blows)

Silver: Ack… It’s starting to snow even harder now. Lord Malleus, it’s awfully cold out tonight. Let us hurry back to the dorm now.

Malleus: It’s cold? Ahh, drat. I’ve done it again…

(Malleus snaps and it stops snowing)

Silver (thinking to himself): (….It stopped snowing? Lord Malleus is pretty infamous back home for causing thunder to split the sky when he's angered, but.. could this snowstorm also have been spurred on by his unrest? Lord Malleus… Your demeanor says otherwise, but you really are taking father’s departure hard, aren’t you. …And why wouldn’t he? He’s known father for so much longer than I have. I’ve only known him for a mere 17 years…)

Malleus: Hmm…. It won’t do any good to stand here fretting about. Let us set off for the party.

Silver: …….Please…. Go on ahead without me.

Malleus: Silver?

Silver: I’ll… be right along…. *chokes back a sob*

Malleus: What is the matter? ….Are you crying?

Silver: I-I’m so sorry… I must look so pathetic right now.

Malleus: There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Children cry. It’s what they do.

Silver: I’m already 17 years old. I’ll be an adult next year. I’m sure I must look like a child in your and father’s eyes, but… 17 years ago…. Father found me deep within the Briar Valley woods when I was just an infant.

Malleus: ……

Silver: Father is a fairy, and I am a human. We don’t have any blood ties or anything, and he really had no obligation at all to take me in….. But despite that, he raised me as though I were his own child. He made sure I was never want for food, he taught me so many different things, and whenever I lay ill in bed, he’d spend the whole night by my side.

Humans are so much weaker than fae, and we mature at a completely different rate than you do… everything about us is different. There’s hardly anyone in Briar Valley who knows a thing about taking care of human children. And not only that, but father was all on his own.  I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for him to raise a human baby without anyone to rely on, just fumbling ahead one step at a time the best that he could….

I can’t thank him enough. I’d intended to spend the rest of my life just trying to repay him for everything he’s done for me…!  And yet… I… I still haven’t done a single thing for him in return! And now he’s setting off to go die alone in some faraway land.

Malleus: …………..

Silver: I…. Father can no longer use magic, and his body is growing weak… But even if the day should come where even his mind finally fails him and he forgets everything that's happened, I still want to be there for him right by his side…!

Malleus: …Lilia, you truly do have yourself a wonderful son.

Silver: No, I’m a good-for-nothing son. He wanted us to send him off with a smile, but I can’t even manage to grant him that one wish. I just… I… *sobs*

Malleus: ………….

Episode 7-29

Malleus: Earlier, you said you were someone who has no blood ties with Lilia, someone he had no obligation to raise… I’m sure he thinks the same way that you do.

Silver: ………Huh?

Malleus: Compared to how long we fae live, human lives are strikingly ephemeral - over and done with in the blink of an eye. Perhaps he felt you had no obligation to waste what precious little time you have left on him, in his enfeebled state.

Silver: Father…. Why…. *sobs*

Malleus: ...........There’s this one thing my grandmother often told me. The reason why the members of my species - those followers of the night who are descended from dragons - are born with such awesome powers, is so that we can ensure the people of Briar Valley never lose their smiles. And yet I cannot even dispel you and your father's sorrows. Despite all my strength... I’m powerless.

Silver: That’s not true….!

(beep beep beep)

Silver: Ah… L-Lord Malleus. Your phone is ringing.

Malleus: That wasn’t my phone, it’s a toy that Lilia gave me… Ahh. It seems Drakon has once again departed for its next journey.

Silver: ….You must feel lonely when it leaves.

Malleus: Not at all. Within the confines of this little device, it simply goes through all the motions of its fictional life over and over again. So there’s no need for sorrow…. Wait!

(Malleus starts to have flashbacks)

Lilia: Within the confines of a game like that where you have to tend to someone's needs… Perhaps it’d be fine to have it live forever, so long as you look after it. Like a never-ending fantasy of sorts.

Malleus: If… Say, if there was some way you could stay with your friends and family forever, and you would never have to worry about saying goodbye to anyone or anything ever again, would you wish for something like that?

(The flashbacks end)

Malleus: ….Yes, that’s it… That’s it! That was it all along! Ha ha… Ah ha ha ha! Oh, why did it take me so long to realize something so simple! Now I know what gift I should give to Lilia.

Silver: L-Lord Malleus…..?

Malleus: Come, Silver. Let us go to Lilia’s side.

Silver: Huh…? Uwahh!?

(Silver and Malleus disappear as Malleus teleports them away)

Chapter 2 (Part 1)

Chapter 2 (Part 3)

[lorcandidlucienwill]

omg you're back!!! i missed anoning you about misc. grievances about these stupid books now, I've been a Beron hater since day 1, but you cannot tell me he didn't lowkey eat during the high lord's meeting in acowar. also lowkey, why does helion do nothing? like i'm not trying to be dismissive or anything, but like in the books i'm not seeing anything at that same high lord's meeting: rhysand: i know i was actually the worst and allied myself with the enemy for all of their reign and did atrocities but its not the real me, promise!! </3

somehow everyone except tamlin and probably beron: wow we believe you and we trust,, we don't even care that your court in this meeting has started 2 physical fights and that you literally said it would be easier to just go into our heads and force us to do what you want

tamlin: okay, i know i kind of messed up on the hybern thing, but i literally was trying every way to fight for her after someone kidnapped her and after the fact i was going to figure out how to break the alliance. I was with hybern for all of like 5 minutes and also here's all of their attack plans and everything you would need to take these guys down.

everyone: EWWW Boooooo we don't like youuu go home!! we aren't discussing shit with you here tamlin: i actively have a better track record in terms of all of this stuff and overall just being a stand-up guy for someone who didn't even want the job in the first place everyone: you suckkkk we're taking the word of the guy we hated up until literally today over you L bozo (or that's just my interpretation, also just realized Dawn is supposed to be East-Asia inspired, or at least the people are... I see actually none of that, dawn had like one koi pond and that's it, where's the architecture, the fashion, the idk... everything)

And I hate Beron too, but why did SJM write him being soooo right?

It’s fucking hilarious that SJM wrote the High Lord’s meeting fully expecting us to take Rhysand and Feyre’s side when Tamlin and Beron came in serving cunt and FACTS!!! Like yeah, they were bitches, but where did they lie???? As for all the other High Lords siding with Rhysand:

Logically: SJM just wanted us to side with Rhysand and make him out to be the good guy because look! Everyone agrees with him!

Fun Headcanon: The Prythian High Lords never liked Tamlin’s progressiveness and therefore rejoiced at his downfall, even if it did come at the hands of Rhysand.

Is Dawn supposed to be East Asian? Wouldn’t know since SJM worldbuilds like a 12 year old girl on Wattpad…

[veayrss]

Second chance lovers?

Theodore Nott x reader

[Angst] Fluff Spicy

Warnings: swearing, arguing, toxic theo, LMK IF I MISSED ANY.

꧁★☽𖦹☾★꧂

Theodore Nott. Your ex boyfriend, why you may ask? Well he cheated on you with your raven claw friend Presca flowtop. You walked in on them fucking. God you were furious.

Two years down the Drain on some nimwhit like him. But Merlin were you in love with that nimwhit. But when you walked in they noticed after a few seconds and hurried with their clothes. You fought the butch then next day, and LORD it felt amazing.

But in that moment of seeing them, all you wanted to do was beat the shit out of Nott, but also cry in his arms. He was your safety net and vice versa. Not any more though, that was four months ago.

And right now your in the middle of the hall way lost in thought, but once that bell rang it snapped you out of it and you ran to snapes class room.

You do not want be late again, merlin knows what he would do.

As soon as you enter the class you were the third person there. You sigh in relief and take your seat. This is your LEAST favorite class for many reasons. You hate snape, it’s the first class of the day, and it’s with Nott.

Like your good at potions, your not failing but your not amazing at it. Your in the middle which is where you want to be at this moment.

You take out your book and quill and open to the page your going over today and then take out some parchment.

While doing so you hear someone pull out a chair and sit down, thinking it’s your friend ginney you turn to say hi but realize it is not Ginney. But a skank.

He gives you a small smile and greets you, “hey Y/n.” You roll your eyes and ignore him, he’ll have to leave when ginney arrives and she’s usually early to class on most days.

Hopefully that’s today, so you grab your ink and place it opening it dipping your quill in it and start writing the date and your name.

Theodore sighs turning fully to face you, “come on y/n. You can’t ignore me forever.” He says quietly trying not to alarm anyone in the class, yes it’s early which means it’s kind off empty. But that also means it’s very quiet, so just raising your voice a tad bit is loud.

You look over at him in disbelief and scoff is he really serious right now? “Watch me Nott.” I told him, already annoyed with a few words he’s spoken.

His face scrunched up at the use of his last name, he doesn’t mind if it’s other people, hell he prefers other people to use that name when talking to him but you.

Never the less he rolls his eyes “come on N/N.” He scoffs back. ‘Is talking to me that bad?’ He wonders, missing the conversations you both used to have before everything was better.

i scoff again, why is he even calling me by my nick name? Since when has he gotten that privilege again? “Stop calling me that. And leave me alone.” I tell him still not giving him a single glance.

His face slightly sours but before he can say anything else he moves his seat hearing snapes footsteps but before he leaves he says, “Fine.” his hands clenched in fists as he moves and sits down, and looks out the window.

I sigh listening to the teacher, Professor snape, as the whole class is now here. He says we need partners for the potions project and he’s picking them himself.

As he says names he says mine, then he says Theodore Nott, i groan and look over at Nott. Snape literally hates me and he’s clearly out to get me.

We get up and move to sit with our new partners. I sit down next to him. Snape hands is the instructions on what we have to do and I groan knowing this will most likely take a week.

Theodore hears your groan and rolls his eyes. “Oh for Merlin’s sake. I don’t want you as a partner either.” You internally laugh at how quickly his opinion and feelings can change.

You make a fake pouty face “didn’t you want to talk to me five seconds ago?” I say in a teasing tone. He scoffed, “Yeah five seconds ago, but now I realize how annoying you are.”

You roll your eyes and ask, “When do you want to do the project. I wanna hurry up and get it over and done with as soon as possible.” He shrugs. “After class I guess. But I’m warning you I’m Not doing all the work.”

“Ok?” You look him up and down annoyed, ‘god he’s so fucking- I have no words to describe this boy.’ You thought, then continued to pay attention to class.

Theo watches you, bored. his eyes lingering on every small movement, the smallest facial expression, every time you hear a small noise and look that way, every time you move your hair out of your face.

꧁★☽𖦹☾★꧂

after class you start packing and Presca walks over to theo hugging him, then making eye contact with me smirking. You scoff, you do not wanna deal with that today or ever.

Theo rolls his eyes at something kind of hard to tell, before greeting her back and awkwardly hugging her.

You watch, your eyes start to get watery, you leave before you can make scene. As you walk away you mumble ‘jackass’ and walk out of the class pissed off and hurt.

Theo chuckles to himself before getting up and following you. You can tell Nott is following you, annoyed with the boy you confront him still walking to the library to get books. “what the fuck do you want Nott.”

Theo smirks behind your back. “I want to see if my ex is okay is all.” He shrugs before reaching your side and slightly touches your hip assuming it’s to stop you from walking any farther.

You smack his hand away “don’t touch me. Don’t talk to me. And don’t look at me. I’ll do my part of the project and you do yours.” You told him, staring at him with a look of mixed emotions.

He sighs. He was hoping for a response, but that wasn’t the one he wanted. He just wants to talk to you. His hand rests back on your hip, but this time he doesn’t budge after you try to move it. “I’m just talking to you, calm down.”

You move out of his grip “if you wanted to talk to me then you should have never cheated.” You say with a scoff before trying to leave again. Are you overreacting? Probably who knows. But what he did was just a few months ago.

The wound is still fresh, you still feel angry and mad at him for what he did. It’s not like in four months you can just stop caring for a two year relationship that ended horribly. And just simply have small talk and spend time with him.

Theo catches your arm again not letting you leave. “just wait for a goddamn moment!” He says, his voice sounding harsh, and a little demanding.

You groan. “god your fucking tiring what do you want?!” You say, on the verge of pulling out your hair. Theo stares directly into your eyes. “I want you Y/n.” He says sounding somewhat sincere..?

 that doesn’t matter though, you stare at him in disbelief, “like I said-you should’ve thought about that before you- hm- oh! cheated four months ago.” Theo scoffed “Are you that sensitive? You know I was drunk.” He said, looking at you with a raised eyebrow, but you know he was lying. Theo doesn’t drink on school days- and he simply wasn’t drunk.

And with him lying trying to save his ass just pissed you off. You began to raise your voice, people now starting to look at you both, “drunk my ass! The only thing you were was high off your ass! And that isn’t an excuse!”

Theo chuckles lightly. “I admit it I was high. But you’re being such a baby about it! It was 4 months ago, let it go.”

You start laughing at how ridiculous he sounds, then you look at him, “so I cheated on you with mattheo your best friend you wouldn’t be mad?” You ask egging him on knowing he would get mad.

Theo doesn’t speak for a few seconds. He looks at you with a stone cold stare, trying his best to not let that theory affect him. but after a while he spoke. “I wouldn’t care.” He shrugs. And then laughs. “Mattheo has nothing on me anyways. Why would you cheat on me with him?” Theo scoffs.

“Maybe because he would treat me better then you ever did.” You said tearing up out of anger. not caring if it hurt theos feelings or not because at this point you were done.

Theo laughed at you for saying that. It was a cruel laugh. As he took a deep breath to continue laughing, once he stopped he saw your tear stained cheeks and then new ones coming down. his face changed to one that was soft and remorseful for a second, but he refused to let you see it. “I treated you fine darling.” He said.

“Maybe in the beginning. Not in the end.” You say wiping your tears, every one now looking at you both in the hall making you embarrassed.

Theo doesn’t acknowledge the stares. He simply looks at you with a smirk and his eyes slowly travel the length of your body from top to bottom before he spoke again. “Don’t cry darling, you’re not the victim here.” He said, chuckling you couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not.

But the heat of the moment got the best of you. So you slap him in the face, shocking him. “fucking hate you.” You told him before turning to leave to the slytherin common room.

Theo’s eyes widen before he quickly grabs your wrist. “No! Don’t you dare walk away.” Theo says in a demanding voice. You yell has he grabbed you, “Let go Theodore!”

Theo didn’t let go of your wrist, his grip tight, but not painful he had no intention of hurting you, he never did. “No. Calm down and we can talk about this privately. Stop making a scene!”

You struggle in his grip ignoring what he’s saying. “let go!” you yell still crying, everyone gathers around whispering. Theo looks down at you, his eyes staring down into yours. As you struggle he slightly loosens the grip, making sure he’s not hurting you. “No, Y/n relax.”

“I don’t want to talk at all anymore! We did you clearly don’t feel bad about cheating. Just let go!” You yell at him, voice all hurt begging him to let go.

Theodore’s eyebrows raise. He scoffs a bit before his eyes rest on yours. “You’re really not making this easy, darling.” He puts you down but not letting go of your hips in a gentle grasp, but strong enough that you can’t leave.

You try to push him back, “do you not get it?” But it doesn’t work.

Theo was stubborn, as he tried to bring you somewhere more private, but you don’t budge. “Enough Nott!” And this time you push him hard enough having him stumble back. Mattheo, Draco, Pansy, Blaise, and Enzo runs over. Enzo and Pansy helping me, and Draco and Blaise trying to reason with theo to drop it and mattheo yelling at theo.

Theo’s eyes instantly goes to everyone. “You all, stay out of this this is between me and Avery.” Theo says with a annoyed and frustrated voice.

mattheo scoffed telling him “she clearly doesn’t want anything to do with you!” Mattheo yells at theo poking his chest harshly, “leave theo your breaking the poor girls heart even more.” Pansy said rubbing my back as I hug Enzo, theo getting a bit jealous at that.

Theo was getting angrier and annoyed by the second, he wanted to tell everyone to fuck off and take you away from Enzo’s arms, as he saw you hugging him, his jaw slowly clenching.

Blaise sighs and yells at circle around us “show is over you fucking assholes! Go fuck off!” And everyone starts to leave. Then everyone but theo leaves with you, to pansy’s room leaving Theodore in the middle of the hallway.

꧁★☽𖦹☾★꧂

Part two? YAY or NEY.

[sailxrmxrs]

so. it's been a few months. OOPS. the creative juices have not been flowing lately BUT WE ARE SO BACK. and getting festive!! today we're decorating for christmas with our beloved infinite blue boys. this one won't be full fics but more so thoughts strung together. throwing my brain at my computer screen and seeing what sticks type beat. shoutout to itsu for the art that made me go insane abt the boys and desperate to write smth again. also shoutout to ito for listening to me ramble my thoughts aloud. always a pleasure to brainrot with u. determined to try and get back to regular writing but we shall see how that goes LMAO. for now enjoy christmas decorating gamers WOOOO.

♡ leo ♡

Leo gets SO excited for Christmas time. He loves seeing the neighbourhood lit up with strings of lights and bright displays of festivity. He's not one to hold back either with his own decorations. Leo has built up a rather eclectic collection of decorations and baubles for his Christmas tree, most of them being movie references or themed. Stormtrooper wearing a Santa hat, a resin hanging decoration made to look like a stack of Lord of the Rings books, that sort of thing. He excitedly asks what sort of fun decorations you own or want to get because he wants the tree to match both of your interests. Definitely surprises you with a few that he thinks you'll like, barely able to contain himself. Leo is bad at keeping presents a surprise. He just loves seeing how excited you get!! Very much the embodiment of golden retriever boyfriend. Always. I can see Leo also having some decorations with sentimental value too. Like this one bauble he painted as a kid that's definitely not the prettiest mix of colours, but it brings back memories of childhood and excitedly trying to stay up late to see Santa leaving presents behind. He LOVES good christmas tradition too. Every Christmas Eve he's watching the same movie (probably Home Alone) with an array of snacks laid out to enjoy. He loves getting to share it all with you too as well as starting new traditions for future Christmases together. For example, this year he dumped strips of coloured paper on the floor, put his Christmas playlist on, and declared you were both making paper chains and paper snowflakes to hang around the house with the tinsel already on display. There's no such thing as too many decorations in Leo's world so I hope you're prepared for your home to look like a festive spirit exploded in every room. Bonus note he also owns sets of festive pyjamas specifically for December and will only wear these. If it's not Christmas related he isn't touching it. Also owns slippers made to look like reindeer.

♡ milo ♡

Milo might just be the worst one to decorate for Christmas with. He's never really been overly fussed about buying decorations or a tree and has literally nothing of the sort at home. He hadn't even considered the thought that you might want to indulge a little and spend a day or two putting up lights or finding a tree for your shared living room. When you do mention the idea to him, Milo is somewhat surprised, but will nod along that sure you can get a tree. Will suggest you buy one of those pop-up trees that comes with the ornaments already attached because it's easier and will only take a couple minutes to set up and put into place. It takes a lot of convincing to sway him away from that idea. He doesn't seem to realise that half the fun is spending hours fighting the tangled mess of lights, or finding that one specific ornament you bought a few years ago just to hang front and centre on the tree. Will only agree to it if you promise to buy him an early Christmas present too. Bribery is a wonderful tool for convincing Milo to join in all the traditional couple behaviours and outings. He'll enjoy it once he's there and sees how much you're enjoying yourself, but will make a point to complain about the weather, or that he's getting bored looking at different variations of the same lights. His boredom is easily cured by a request to get food before heading home. Once you're home, he offers to reach all the tallest parts you can't reach, but not before making a smug joke about how you only asked him to help because you wanted the extra pair of hands. At the end of it all, he'll be stood behind you, arms enclosed around you and pulling your back against his chest. Will rest his chin atop your head and admit that yes, he had a lot of fun today and yes he will do it again next year. Offers to take you out again next weekend to go ice skating or put together gingerbread houses. Just as long as you don't make him wear one of those awful Christmas jumpers Leo sent a picture of himself wearing the other day. You don't make any promises.

♡ rory ♡

Ever the hopeless romantic, Rory equally adores and despises this time of year. He loves the romanticism of the festive atmosphere, the twinkling fairy lights, the decadence of the food. He's secretly been craving the chance to share it all with someone else. But he would never admit to it. Which is also the cause for his self-proclaimed hatred of the holiday season. He likes to lament about how so much of it is commercialised and specifically catered to couples wanting an excuse to show off how cute they are. He'll acutely ignore the fact that you came home to him watching one of those cheesy Netflix Christmas rom-coms. The type where a prince gets isekaied into the suburbs of New York and falls in love with generic city woman. Will try to hide his face in the neckline of his sweater while you set down boxes of decorations to dress up the room. Claims he wants no part of it and acts all indifferent to your enthusiasm, though it is blatantly evident on his face that he actually means the exact opposite. So you get to hanging baubles from the tree, singing along to Christmas songs as they chime from the speakers. It's when you notice Rory stand up, eyes flickering from you, to the tree, to the floor, that you ask if he would like to give you a hand. Will say no, but you should move that one ornament a bit higher up. It will look better there. Or maybe add a different coloured one there to brighten up that section. Pass a box of ornaments to him and tell him that if he's going to comment on your decorating then he better just do it himself. Rory acts as though this is some large inconvenience but within minutes he's quietly singing along under his breath, a rosy colour staining his cheeks. Pull out some mistletoe and watch him turn an even brighter red. Do it I dare u. And once the room is sufficiently dressed up for Christmas, Rory will collapse back on the sofa, shyly admitting how much he loved spending the time with you as you burrow into the warmth of his side. Will get a little flustered but tries to play it cool until you tease him about finishing the rom-com you caught him watching earlier. Goes to push you away but immediately pulls you back in. Maybe he can be a little more affectionate than usual today. Maybe.

♡ alexei ♡

Alexei doesn't usually decorate a whole lot around the festive season. It's not for a lack of wanting to, nor does he dislike it at all, but rather he just never felt like he had a reason to before. For him, Christmas always felt like a very family-oriented time of year so after he moved out, the thought simply never occurred to him that he could go out and buy a tree and ornaments, even just for his desk at work. When you pose the idea to him to get your home all decorated up for the season, Alexei's interest is piqued. He will scroll for ideas on how to pick a colour theme and will get really into the colour ratio of the baubles too. He lines the tree with golden fairy lights and makes sure the balance of red and green baubles is even. Makes sure to find tinsel that matches the exact shades as well so it doesn't look mismatched at all. It's really rather cute how focused he'll get over it, eyebrows furrowed and this tiny little crease in his forehead. Stands with a look a pure concentration in the way his eyes are surveying the tree from top to bottom, his finger tapping against his lip while you watch from your spot on the sofa sipping a hot chocolate Alexei made for you. You tried to tell him he doesn't need to take it so seriously with the way he's alternating between different coloured baubles but your voice falls on deaf ears. He'll stand back to admire his handiwork, looking to you for excitable approval. Once he deems it good enough, Alexei will lay down, his head just beneath the tree, and he'll gesture for you to join him. He feels all tired out after a day of decorating and has a distinct urge to nap under the tree like a cat. Will sleepily ramble about how he's been looking forward to spending the holiday with you, how he's excited to try all these new things and start ned traditions with you until eventually his eyes betray him and they blink slower and slower and he's falling asleep in your arms.

♡ brooklyn ♡

Brooklyn's home on Christmas is a sight to behold. The man knows how to decorate no matter what the occasion may be. He always loves to make a day of it too. Expect him to wake you up with a cup of tea, already dressed in a cosy Christmas sweater with his hair unstyled and a little messy. Winter Brooklyn is a delight for the eyes. Especially when he's got a hand-knitted scarf bundled around his neck and matching gloves warming his hands. Drives you to a local Christmas tree farm he always visits on the first weekend of December every year without fail. The owners know him by name at this point and are particularly excited to see he has company this year. His hand is entwined in yours as you wander around, talking and musing together over which tree would fit best. If it's snowing, expect Brooklyn to flick a snow-covered branch at you, a dusting of cold powder freckling your cheeks. Will laugh but lets you throw a snowball at him as payment for the attack. Once you pick out the perfect tree, Brooklyn takes you to a local Christmas market to pick out some new decorations. He has a rather rigorous theme he likes to stick to but wants to add something meaningful to signify the two of you—especially with this being your first Christmas together. He tries not to go too overboard and is only stopped by the sight of a stall offering decadent mugs of hot chocolate. Once you're back home and in the warm, Brooklyn is lighting the fireplace, along with a few festive themed candles, and rolling up his sleeves. It's at this point you see just how serious he is about Christmas decorating. And it certainly pays off because once you're both done, the tree looks like someone opened pinterest, found the most visually pleasing tree and managed to extract it and place it directly in your living room. Brooklyn looks very pleased with himself as you praise his well thought out planning. Ends the day with a surprise gift for you because his family always had a tradition of giving a gift on Christmas tree day and he wants to keep that going with you. Is generally just the embodiment of Christmas rom-com love interest with how perfect he makes the day turn out to be.

♡ tobias ♡

Decorating with Tobias is so unbelievably chaotic. There is no rhyme or reason to the scattering of ornaments all over the floor. Decorations are everywhere except where they are supposed to be. He claims he's got a strategy but you're not so certain. He also doesn't really bother with any particular colour theming and just picks out what he thinks looks cool. Loves to have a range of different shapes and colours for the ornaments. Also buys a string of multicoloured flashing lights to drape around the tree because 'regular white lights are boring'. Tobias doesn't care too much about whether you put up a plastic tree or a real one, that is until he sees Brooklyn post a photo of his own Christmas tree on instagram and suddenly Tobias wants to buy a real tree too and make it look as aesthetically pleasing as possible. So he's dragging you out into the cold to go and buy one. Finds his idea of the perfect tree after a good hour of deliberating over which one looks best. Wants one that's got a good shape to it and has plenty of branches. In doing so, however, he very much overestimates how big his car is and how big his apartment is. Drives home with the top of the tree sticking between the seats it's basically sitting on the passenger seat with you. And then there's getting it into his apartment. It's just a little bit too tall so the top of the tree is bent over a little against the ceiling. Tobias rejects your idea to buy a saw and cut the trunk down because surely you can just trim to top, right? No, Tobias, you cannot. Ends up deciding to bend it so the top is angled down a little since you won't let him take the kitchen scissors to it. You're about to attempt to put the star on top until Tobias stops you, claiming he needs to make some adjustments before it goes up. Runs into the bedroom and returns like five minutes later with the star but now it has a picture of his face taped onto the front. Reaches up to put it on the tree but because it's a little too tall, the star is angled down so it looks like star Tobias is watching over like some cursed angelic watchman. Leo is very unsettled when he comes over to visit.

[swanimagines]

Summary: Little prequel-like thing to this, where Morpheus gets to know he's going to be a father. Female reader. Suggested by @smokeprincess24

A/N: A little reminder just in case, I don't feel capable of writing about pregnancy bumps (they just feel weird to write to me for some reason), but pregnancy announcement to the child's father is fine. And just an info that I'm not forgetting about my other requests, Sandman is just in fresh memory right now + I need to board its train early so I won't get ignored because I'm late to the hype (which makes me uninspired to write more as that what's happened before) and last one was fun to write so I thought why not write this too while I work on my queue.

Warnings: pregnancy, a sentence-long mention of smut x2 as you can't get pregnant without having someone's seed inside you in some way, but no actual smut ofc, dw my smutless followers, I'm still not writing it even though this fandom seems to have a lot of smut and literally my second request was a smut one and I already had to lecture someone about checking my rules 😅

Word count: 820

Living in The Dreaming and having all these magical beings and creatures around you also meant that some sensed things that weren't there. Today, when you had just woken up and taken a stroll around, one of said creatures had stared at you for a moment and you had smiled at her.

"Good morning, Nerjan," you had greeted the young fairy-like servant with a smile on your lips, but frowned when she kept looking at your belly. "Is something wrong?" You asked as she fluttered towards you.

"My lady, are you aware there is a life growing inside your body? Your blood has started to flow differently than before," She informed you quietly, tilting her head curiously.

You blinked at her. "What do you mean?" You asked and her eyes glowed as she replied.

"It seems you are with child, my lady."

You froze for a few seconds before laughing nervously. "That can't be right. I... Morpheus is an Endless, Endless can't impregnate humans."

"I have never heard they cannot mate or reproduce, my lady. You've been surely misinformed about their nature." She replied simply. "You should tell about the news to Lord Morpheus. I saw him at the library."

You frowned as Nerjan took off, leaving you standing alone in the hallway. You blinked, looking down at your belly and then dread flooded you - what would Morpheus think?

Nevertheless, you took a route to the library and well enough, he was there in middle of books, researching something. He looked up to you the moment you appeared from around the shelves and smiled. "Good morning, my love. Did you sleep well?"

You smiled a little too. "When I'm in your arms, I always sleep well. Otherwise I'd be worried about your abilities."

"Of course," he grinned. "I'd be worried too."

You swallowed, fiddling with your thumbs as Morpheus read a book, tracing some old runes with his index finger.

"I have something to tell you..." You said slowly, unsure how this conversation would go.

He turned back to you and arched an eyebrow, intrigued by whatever you were going to say next. "What is it? Has something happened?" He asked cautiously.

You had to spit it out, not ramble.

"I'm with child," you blurted out. Morpheus instantly stilled, and for a moment, the room went deathly silent.

"With child?" he repeated. "Is it mine?" He sounded cautious—as if perhaps there had been some mistake.

You swallowed thickly, nodding. "I have never been with anyone else than you like that." You could feel your cheeks heating up. "I know we only made love one time, and I didn't think anything would come from it. But..." Your voice faded off as another wave of embarrassment swept through you.

He ran a fingertip over your lips then took both of your hands into his own, holding them into his chest. His expression softened slightly at the corners of his mouth, showing just how happy he was for you. You blinked at him, you were partly expecting him to not be happy about it. He always said he's busy, he's got work - somehow you didn't picture him having a child in middle of it. You didn't even know an Endless like him even could impregnate a mortal, even if he had made you his Queen and now you would also live forever.

"I am glad," he finally murmured before leaning forward and pressing his soft lips against yours tenderly and pressed a palm on your abdomen. "This baby will be cherished in our Kingdom."

He pulled back to see your frown, and his own smile died away too.

"I... I thought you wouldn't want this baby," you confessed.

"Why would you think that, my love?" he asked, stilling again.

"Because you always say you're busy. I thought you wouldn't have time for a child screaming for attention."

His gaze became more intense as he watched you. "Did you think I would regret making love with you? Making you pregnant with me?"

"Well, yes..." you replied softly.

Morpheus' face morphed into a stern look then a small smile came out. "No. My time is spent working but never wasted or unnoticed by any being, mortal or immortal. The best moments are those shared between us two. This child will bring joy to all of us."

You felt tears come up in your eyes, but they weren't sad ones. They were happy and grateful tears because Morpheus loved your child so much already, and you knew he would make an amazing father. You smiled at him, placing Morpheus' hand on your abdomen again.

"We'll be a family, right?" you said, closing your eyes as you leaned against your husband.

He nodded, smiling happily. "Always," he promised as he brushed his thumb over your belly and then nuzzling his face to your neck, making you giggle.

This would be a new, marvelous chapter in your life.

---

The Sandman taglist: @jesllianaquilesrolon // send in an ask to be added, and specify which of my fandoms you want to be tagged on! Don’t just say “can you add me to your taglist” as I can’t know what taglists do you mean by that!! ALSO IF YOU WON’T INTERACT BEYOND LIKING, I’LL EVENTUALLY TAKE YOU OFF THE LIST!!

[ohbo-ohno]

hi <3 i THINK i remember u mentioning some erotica authors / works u liked so i was wondering if you have more recommendations?

outing myself as a horny bastard today!!!

i literally always have recommendations for books. i tried to keep this list to erotica authors, so i left out books that are romance/relationship heavy. there are a shit ton of authors who have great smut that i wouldn't really consider erotica authors though!

Harley Laroux's Dirty 1st Dates novellas & her Losers duet is some of my all time favorite erotica. Very kinky - I can almost guarantee that if you like my smut you'll like hers

Shantel Tessier. I hatehatehate the way she writes relationships and her FMCs, but her smut is just... fucking insane, truly. I'd recommend starting with Sabotage and then reading her The LORDS series

Eve Dangerfield - her stuff is kind of romance heavy, but her book Act Your Age has some fucking delicious cnc smut. For more vanilla smut, Locked Box

I wouldn't call Tessa Bailey an erotica author by any means but her book Captivated... that's definitely erotica and it's sososo good

For heavier BDSM stuff:

Lindsay Murray's Ashes of Sin and Stardust is a pretty fantastic kink-heavy romance. There is a lot of relationship/character exploration, but it's like 600+ pages so there's a fair amount of smut too!

Anneke Jacob's As She's Told isn't my cup of tea (it gets really insane with kink stuff, and there's a lot of stuff that is pretty far out there. i ended up dnf'ing) but if you're interested in a 24/7 power exchange where a sub suffers physically and emotionally for her Dom, I'd suggest checking this one out!

Cara Dee's The Game series doesn't have as much smut as I'd personally like but if you're looking for something with BDSM as a lifestyle and with a focus on kink community, check it out!

R.J. Morray's A Collar For His Brat is one of my all-time favorite BDSM books. I think the balance of kink and more vanilla relationship dynamics is done so well, and the smut is fucking fantastic