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gingybimby · 2 months ago

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Tested Patience

Synopsis: You have one final thing planned for Sylus on his birthday. You've shown each other your vulnerable bellies, so you hope he's interested in playing.

Warnings/Notes: Sylus/fem!reader, Sylus/MC (you are MC), Blatant NSFW (MDNI), BDSM themes, established relationship, dragon sylus and you know, follows after his birthday event, breeding/breeding kink, knotting, panties shenanigans, pure fluff/no angst, no use of Y/N

I didn't mean for this to be so late Q-Q Life and such and such. Same universe as the this Dragon!sylus, doesn't need to be read to be understood. They're both standalone. I didn't really edit anything. If I cross post to AO3 eventually, I'll make the effort then.

wc: 4.8k

“You look like the kitten that ate the canary, sweetie.” Sylus’s amused observation followed you into the Onichynus base.

“Who me? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just happy we got to spend your birthday together.” You glanced over your shoulder at him with your smile.

You were rewarded with Sylus’s soft laughter and felt delight rush from head to toe from the sweet sound. You had texted the twins to go find something better to do for the evening and they’d responded to you with a flurry of emojis and variations of “ew” and “gross” though Luke did include brief “take pictures” that had made you swallow a snort at the time. Even Mephisto wasn’t butting heads with you this time, having performed this once in a lifetime favor of queueing up a custom playlist of favorite songs. A compromise seeing as the crow couldn’t exactly get a record safely set up and you’d faint if anything happened to that custom record Sylus had made of both your favorite songs he gifted to you on your birthday.

“So the music that is conveniently a nice mix of our favorite songs is just a final piece to the day you planned?”

Sylus was starting to prowl. You could tell in the way his gaze narrowed in on you, taking slow, measured steps to corral you against the kitchen island. The thrill of it pooled a welcome heat in your belly but you stopped him with a single finger to his chest, where you could feel his heartbeat. It was rarely ever at a slow pace, always pumping like he was mid-exercise. You wondered if it was due to his nature in these brief moments you take to notice the speed of it.

“Don’t think I don’t notice a predator that’s got me in his sights.” You hum softly to him, trailing your finger along his shirt, teasing the buttons as if you were going to undo them any moment.

Sylus’s controlled inhale was all you needed to know that he was going to take your bait. As if there was a world where he wouldn’t. He loved it when you had these little schemes of yours. You knew how to play into his every desire just as he did yours.

“Just how do you plan to handle this predator, Miss Hunter.” Sylus’s voice had dropped to a near growl and it took all your effort to suppress the shiver that wanted to dance up your spine.

“Oh, he’ll go quite willingly into my trap I should think.” You started to circle around him, knowing it put him more at attention by reflex. “I’m just curious if his patience is deep enough to stay in it. How quickly will he break, I can’t help but wonder.”

You slip your hand into his, pulling him along behind you. He follows, chuckling in that dangerous way that makes your hairs stand on end.

“You’re playing a dangerous game, sweetie.”

“Aren’t we always? Where’s the fun if not in a little danger? I can take it, thorn or claw.”

You felt his long fingers flex in your hand briefly, things left unsaid but no less understood. You loved that about this, about him. This absent need for words when the two of you came together like two halves of a whole. No matter what he could read you, and while you still stumbled occasionally, you were confident that you could read him too.

Opening the door to his bedroom you had to contain your urge to grin. There was a very carefully placed chair as close to the center of the room as you could manage. A chair Sylus instantly recognized with a slow exhale of a chuckle. Always willing to explore desires with you, he’s tied you to the very same chair many times before. Always he’d dance masterfully along a line of pain and pleasure that left you reeling and in this floating space afterwards that he always brought you back from with such sweet words and tender care. You had no delusions of trying to replicate what he did, but you had some ideas you’re hoping he’d be interested in.

“If you wanted to play, kitten, all you had to do was ask.” Sylus purred at your back, hand nearly slipping from yours until you held tighter. He always reaches for your waist first, casually saying once that it simply was where his hands belonged.

“I do want to play.” You nodded, pulling him towards the chair before finally stopping and turning to face him, suddenly feeling your face heat up.

“While I didn’t plan for our whole talk on vulnerability earlier, I did want to try something different.”

You struggled to speak over the forming lump in your throat and not think about how intense Sylus was watching you. He was always like that, you tried to reason with yourself, but you knew it was different. Still, you knew he waited patiently, even as your hand fidgeted in his.

“Control is important to you.” You finally manage, looking at your entwined fingers. “Important, but exhausting. Always making decisions, always thinking of every scenario, every way something can go wrong, and the steps to make sure it doesn’t. I just- I wanted you to have a moment to let go of that and… and trust me to hold it for you just for a little bit. No thinking, just feeling.”

You felt his hand on your face and instantly nuzzled into it with a sigh, almost nervous to see his reaction to your stumbling rambles. Almost. Your eyes flicked upwards to look at him and it left your heart racing at the way his cheeks and ears had gone that cute shade of red you adored. He looked at you like you were the most precious thing in the world and it was only in these special moments that you truly felt it. You bit your lip when he breathlessly said your name.

“You’ve had control this whole day.” His gentle words made you take in a quivering breath. “Do you have any expectations for how this ends? Something about testing my patience…?”

Now his other hand was on your other cheek, cradling your face as he kissed you momentarily. Soft and sweet, all his feelings in a single action. An action of pure, unbridled love that burned his insides with its heat. A flame you willingly gave yourself to if only so the two of you could burn together.

“As long as we go to bed happy and satisfied, how we get there is part of the fun.” You affirm with his lips just barely parted from yours. His answering quirk of his lips had you buzzing with renewed excitement.

“I think we can work with that.”

You had to resist the frantic delight rushing through you as he gestured to himself as if to say “do as you please.” You first point to the chair, voice quiet and firm.

“Sit.”

As he did, you went to the collection of playthings you prepared and slid a long, narrow piece of black silk into your hand and walked behind Sylus with it. His posture was relaxed, but you were able to see his anticipation the way his fingers drummed along his legs. You kissed the shell of his ear while draping the silk over his eyes. These eyes struck fear into the denizens of the N109 zone and anyone stupid enough to become an annoyance on his radar. For you, they were an endless expression of adoration.

“The silk one is nice.” He commented quietly. You usually asked for a linen or cotton blindfold since it felt the most comfortable to you.

“I thought you might like it the best.”

You kissed his temple while taking your time to tie the ends together. Firm. Secure. You slid two fingers beneath the fabric before draping your arms over his shoulders to kiss the top of his head. Your hands run down his chest, toying with the buttons again.

“Good?” You asked quietly, going agonizingly slow undoing one button at a time.

“Very good.” Sylus purred in response, relaxing his head back into the softness of your chest.

“You need to wear this again. I like it.” You comment on his extravagant birthday outfit.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

You removed each accessory from his clothing with a methodical slowness, as if it were a sacred ritual. One piece at a time, your fingers trailing along exposed skin for moments longer than necessary. Your body heat would move around him, tease him with your closeness, but he kept his hands down. He didn’t reach for you, though the little twitches in his hands when you’d drag your fingernails lightly over his exposed collar bone or his wrist told you how much he wanted to.

“You’re doing quite well keeping your hands to yourself.” You praised before kissing just below his ear, drinking in his labored inhale.

“It’ll take more than this for me to give in, sweetie.” You loved the smugness in his voice. The complete confidence. You wanted to ruin it.

“Oh I know.”

Your words were punctuated with you easing the suit jacket off of him, treating it with extreme care like everything else. You held it selfishly close for a moment, basking in his scent that clung to the fabric. His fancy cologne was a custom mix meant to enhance his natural scent and fuck if it didn’t do its job. You could bathe yourself in this smell and still it wouldn’t be enough. There was also the barest hint of motor oil and gunpowder that always clung to his skin and even these you found yourself enjoying more than you thought possible. You loved your pistols long before him, but being reminded of Sylus everytime you discharged shots into a wanderer was a silent pleasure beyond making the area a little safer.

Hanging the suit coat up, you returned to your lover’s side and plucked the few remaining buttons loose. He always reminded you of those grand marble statues a master artist carves over the course of years to attain perfection. Sylus shivered with a quiet curse when you suddenly raked your nails down his abdomen. Hard enough to whiten the skin before blood rushed in to leave faint red lines trailing your movement. You watched him for a moment, taking in the barely controlled breathing and the way he wet his lips.

You were painfully silent. He loved to hear you be it talking, singing, or his favorite being your sounds of pleasure. His senses were already greater than any humans, so you maintained your steady breath so he wouldn’t even get the pleasure of knowing how much this ruined you as it did him. His hands were curled into fists now. Not quite white-knuckled, but you’re sure you could get there if you wanted.

When you removed his shirt, your knee just barely nudged against the prominent bulge in his pants. Light enough that it could’ve been an accident. You grinned to yourself seeing those fists clench tighter and hearing your name on his lips so quiet like a prayer.

Again, you were dragging your hand from shoulder, across his chest to the other shoulder. You trailed your knuckles up from there, feather-light in your drag up his neck and cheek. He turned his face into your hand, panting like he needed the contact to breathe easier.

“Put your arms behind your back, love.” You murmured to him, rewarding his careful restraint with an open caress to his cheek.

Going back to your selection of toys, you picked up blood red ropes. He’s tied you with these very same ones, forcing your legs to be spread and hands pinned to your back. He always talked you through the way he tied your body up, letting you watch. You’d spent countless nights practicing the very same ties to keep his arms behind him so when you started the careful knotting Sylus hummed.

“You’ve planned this for a while.” He murmured, starting to calm his breathing now that you weren’t touching him constantly. “You can go tighter sweetie.”

Your pause was only momentary, nodding, then going to make things tighter.

“Better?” You lifted your hand to run in through Sylus’s hair, always tickled how he turned into your touch like a needy puppy. You had half a mind to say as much.

“Mm. Let me teach you next time.”

You grabbed his jaw to turn his head to the side, pressing a tender kiss to his lips. He tried to be greedy by biting your bottom lip and despite your grin, you pulled back with a click of your tongue.

“Naughty boy.” You hummed, watching his hands easily flex behind his back with his low chuckle.

You quietly retreated to your own personal wardrobe Sylus long since let you claim for yourself. Hidden at the bottom beneath some loungewear was a simple black box that contained lingerie you got when Tara dragged you into a boutique because she wanted help finding something cute, but sexy. You didn’t pry, but something had caught your eye. The saleslady noticed immediately and talked you into buying it. She was very good at her job.

“Changing into something? I can’t wait.”

You stuck your tongue out at Sylus even if he couldn’t see it. Then you slid your panties down your legs and watched his whole body tense, head turning in your direction. You pulled on the lacy under-things. The sheer fabric was stitched with decorative roses and hugged your figure. Pulling on the garters and stockings it matched with, you scooped up your soiled panties to return to your boyfriend’s side.

“Kitten…” Sylus exhaled when you drew near enough. He pulled against his restraints and growled softly.

You settled onto his lap, legs straddling his thighs. His groan was instant, head dropping to land in your tits perfectly held together by the lingerie. You held in your own noise feeling his cock throbbing against your ass. Your own restraint and patience would be tested before this was done.

“You must be aching.” You coo. “Poor thing.”

You drew your hand up his side to his chest, playfully circling a nipple with your nail. It made his hips buck into yours, making you gasp softly. It was all he needed to latch onto your neck, dragging his tongue over your skin and bite into it with blunt teeth. A part of you wanted to give in then and there, let him take you, but instead you dragged your hand to the back of his hair and yanked back non too gently. Sylus whined being dragged away from your neck and feeling your weight leaving his lap. “Wait- no. Come back, kitten. I’ll be good.” Sylus panted, desperate to feel your body against him.

His desperation went straight to your core, making you want to touch your aching clit. To drag his cock from his pants and ride him stupid. You clenched your wet panties in your hand, using the hand in his hair to drag his head back again.

“Open.” You ordered, managing to sound far more authoritative than you felt. You watched his hips buck into nothing.

He obeyed, after a few moments. Perfect lips parted to open his mouth to you and you leaned in close, murmuring right against his ear.

“Be grateful for this. I was half a mind to not let you have this at all for that stunt.” You shoved your panties in his mouth, letting him have a mere taste of the want you’ve felt all day. A truly weak noise broke its way from his throat, letting you see his arms strain and hips sadly rock into nothing. You noted, however, his teeth were tightly clenched now. A beast given a toy and now unwilling to allow you to take it back. You even tugged lightly on the waistband of the underwear only to be growled at, making you grin.

“Nasty.” you whispered through your glee. “I wore that all day and you’re gnawing on it like a dog with a bone.”

Sylus was silent, save for his low growling. He didn’t care if you were right . He was unwilling to let his prize go just for the sake of a few words lest you take it away from him. Your faint touch to his thigh made him jump as you circled him again to your collection of goodies.

Your grin was positively wicked as you eased the top off a small ice box. You popped one icecube in your mouth and took another one with you as you silently put the lid back over the box. Playing with temperatures has become one of your favorite things with Sylus. The sting of hot wax hitting your skin was horribly delicious and he looked at you with such reverence painting your stomach with the quick-to-cool wax.

“You must be burning up, love. This should help.” You hummed sweetly.

You pressed the ice cube to his beating pulse in his neck and watched his head lull to the opposite side with a groan. You could feel the accusation that you were being so mean to the needy birthday boy.

Dragging the ice down along his collarbone, you watched the melting liquid bead down his chest in tiny rivulets. Then you circled a nipple with the ice while teasing the zipper to his pants. It fascinated you to see black scales faintly start to collect along his limbs. His restraint was waning. If that hadn’t been obvious before, the way he jerked his arms and snarled slightly certainly did. You paused your ministrations, watching his chest heave with every breath.

“You’ve been so good so far, love. Is this the end of your patience?” It was an unspoken challenge. Both of you knew he could end this at any point, throw you onto the bed, and claim you again and again until you couldn’t think anymore. Still, your words seemed to remind him of himself and his worked up thrashing settled down, even if the scales remained.

You waited a few more moments before dragging the nearly melted ice cube to the other nipple, pressing in to the area until it melted to nothing while you dragged open the zipper to his pants. You drew a heart into his chest with the wetness remaining on your finger. Palming his cock through his underwear made your pussy clench around nothing. You felt ridges and heavy pulsing veins. A needy sound tore from Sylus’s throat as you touched his neglected cock, rocking desperately into your hand.

Instead, you tugged the rest of his pants and underwear down with his eager assistance. His cock throbbed against his abdomen, tip an angry red and weeping with precum. You kneeled between his legs, hands resting on his knees so he could feel you. The ice cube you popped in your mouth has long melted, but it still left it a pleasant coolness to your lips and tongue.

You kissed the underside of the tip, letting a hand settle at the base of his cock to rub your thumb lightly against the outline of his knot. His hips only twitched, moans muffled by the panties he still stubbornly held onto. That was until you dragged the head of him into your cool mouth and dragged your tongue along the weeping slit.

His jaw dropped to make the most toe-curling groan you’ve heard from him. It made your clit pulse and ache. Nearly made you trip over your own concentration.

“Fuck. Fuck, kitten. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.” Sylus begged you. He repeated his soft pleas, more desperate than the last, and your name. You knew he was close with the way his breath hitched and how his knot swelled slightly. You let him sit at the edge, staring up at him with a diabolical grin. Your lips left him with a soft sucking sound to be met with his frantic whining. Your hand dragged down below that slowly swelling knot and squeezed. Whining melted quickled into begging before settling back into snarling like before.

“You’re okay.” You chided, resting your head against his knee. You felt a sense of awe and wonder seeing twisting horns adorn his head. “Wouldn’t you rather cum inside me?” Sylus settled, the ropes that had started whining in protest going silent. Only his ragged breathing filled it.

“Yes.” A single word in response, rough in a way that dragged down your spine. “I want to see you.”

You shivered. He wasn’t asking, begging, or demanding. It was a simple command that you stood up to obey immediately. You couldn’t resist when he talked like that.

Your fingers were trembling slightly as they tugged the knot you made loose. Slowly silk dropped from Sylus’s eyes and the moment his eyes were free, they were staring at you- and it took your breath away. Red eyes burned into you, dilated pupils constricting in response to the soft light of the room. They never left your face.

You thought maybe you should say something, lips parting, but all that escaped was a shocked yelp as something curled around your waist as Sylus stood. That’s when you realized with a rising anticipation, that he’d been freed from those ropes the moment they’d gone silent. You could hardly process that it was a tail wrapping around you because he was backing you up towards the bed.

You fell back onto it with a gasp, flushing as clawed hands ran down your bare thighs to push them further apart for him to settle between. This was one of those times where he was unreadable to you. Was he upset? That was opposite of what you wanted. Uncertainty gnawed at you as you laid a single hand against his abdomen, a silent request to stop. He did, but his tail curled tighter around your waist.

“Did… did you not like it?” You hated that you sounded so small even to your own ears.

You felt his tail flex around you a few moments before he was crawling over you, settling between your legs like it was where he belonged. Your lip quivered as his hands, so gentle despite the claws, held your face. He leaned down, resting his forehead to yours, eyes closed before pulling back slightly to see you again.

“It was… more overwhelming than I expected.” He breathed quietly. “But yes… I liked it very much. Too much, maybe, because everything in me wants to act like a beast in making you mine. My mate. Mine to claim.”

Relief flooded you, so much so that you smiled and giggled, draping your arms around his shoulders and neck to pull him closer.

“Well… We did see a lot of different animals today… annddd I’m still an animal- and so are you.” You hummed, tilting your head as his face buried into your neck, the rumbles he made sounding like purring. “You showed me your vulnerable belly, I’ve shown you mine. What are we if not mates?”

Sylus didn’t really respond in words. He pulled your legs over his hips so that he could slide his cock into you in a single, easy movement instead. Bites were littered along your neck as he rocked in an almost lazy manner into you.

Your growing noises were music to his ears. Every gasp and sigh made up for the ages he’s gone without your presence. You were there, in his arms, right where you should be. “Sylus.” His name on your lips was its own blessing. One that dragged his head back just so that he could look at your flushed face, still dolled up in this pretty lace he resisted tearing apart when pushing it aside so he could slip into you.

“Does biting me act as a claim for you?” You asked, touching his face. So gentle. You were always so gentle with him.

“Yeah.” He murmured, dragging a hand up to your mark-riddled neck, tracing the harsh indents in your skin. “But so is filling you up. Claiming you. Letting the whole world see you carry my children. It drives me mad, imagining your belly round with my baby.”

You choked back a sob of pleasure as he finished his words in a growl, shifting slightly so his next thrust hit even deeper. You were clenching around him, needing him as badly as he needed you.

You barely needed to tug at a wrist before his hand slid between your legs, rubbing tight little circles into your swollen clit. It was just the thing you needed as you started arching your back. Every inch of him was like it existed purely to please you. The ridges on his cock dragged against that delicious spot inside you that made you buck your hips in time with his. Even his knot, teasing at your entrance, drove you mad, knowing it’d plug you up with the intention of ensuring you didn’t leave the encounter without getting pregnant.

Then, Sylus practically bent you in half. His tail shifted to support your lower back as he pushed your legs up, nearly making your knees touch your shoulders. The next thrust from this made you wail, clawing your nails along his arms. The tip of his cock met your cervix and you swear you were starting to see stars.

“Sylus! Hhaa…Fuck! Fuck… close- ‘mso close, baby. Please! Wan’ you to cum with me… Sylus… need you-” You frantically babbled with tears in your eyes, overwhelmed as your orgasm was just on the cusp of hitting.

Sylus groaned deeply, watching you come apart around him. Such a sight will never fail to ruin him as his hips stuttered.

“My pretty girl… my mate…” He breathed out, shaking when he looked down between you to watch as he fucked his knot into you. It took several heartbeats before he forced it inside your tight pussy.

The denial earlier mixed with the rhythmic pulsing of your pussy made him whine as he was finally cumming in you. Greedy rolls of his hips tried to make it all go deeper, like he wanted it all right in your womb.

He gently rolled you both so you could rest on him, knowing his knot wouldn’t be fading anytime soon. Not when his cock was still weakly spurting cum in your full pussy until it felt like your belly itself grew taught from it all. It was like those holidays where you’d eat your fill and then some.

As both of your breathing started to even out, you lifted your head to look at him. He was already watching you, as he always was.

“You know… I like how humans show their claim.” Sylus broke the silence with a lazy smile. “Metal bands decorated with gems. Eye catching. Obvious. A statement.” He reached to twirl some of your hair around his finger. “Would you want something like that?”

You could hit this man for the things he says like it's nothing. Instead you just gawked at him lifting your hand to push your palm against his cheek, only for him to take it and kiss it.

“Sylus!” You gasped in exacerbation, not sure if you should laugh or cry because his dick was still buried in you, but he might have just-

“Are you asking me to marry you? Right here? Like this?” He tilted his head like you were being the weird one, still sporting that lazy grin.

“I was just asking if you wanted rings. You said it yourself, what are we if not mates, hm?” He chuckled as your face scrunched up and you tried to playfully shove his face again, and again he caught your hand. This time he drags his sharp teeth along your palm.

“If you want it to be a proposal though, that’s fine too.”

He said it so casually, but the words made it impossible to think.

“...You can come up with an actual proposal and surprise me.” You finally landed on, trailing your finger down his nose. “Since we both know the answer is yes.”

Despite his nonchalant demenor, his face went completely red. He was so easy to read sometimes. It made you laugh softly, smiling at him as everything settled and just felt so right.

“Happy birthday, Sylus. I always want to celebrate this day with you, because you being born means I get to have you in my life.”

Sylus’s gentle eyes and smile that bordered with deep emotion left nothing unsaid as he leaned in to kiss you. You alone are the reason this day has any meaning, and he’ll celebrate it with you every year in this life and the next, because him existing means he gets to have you.

#sylus #love and deepspace sylus #sylus love and deepspace #love and deepspace #sylus x reader #dragon sylus #sylus smut #qin che #sylus x mc #love and deepspace sylus smut #lads sylus #lnds sylus #l&ds sylus #lads #sylus x fem reader #sylus x you

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sweetbans29 · 4 months ago

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Back to You (2) - CC Series

Pairing: Caitlin Clark x Reader

Summary: Who knew Indianapolis would feel so small...

Warnings: little pains

Word Count: 2.1k

Previous - Next

Back to You Masterlist & Sweetbans Masterlist

2.5 YEARS LATER

Moving to Indiana was not your first choice. It also wasn't your second or third for that matter but here you are.

You stand in your new apartment, looking around at all the empty space you are going to have to fill. You hate filling space.

"Yo, where are you going to want this?" Kate comes walking in holding a lamp.

"Well considering there is no furniture here yet, I'd say the middle of the living room floor should do," you say sarcastically.

"Ha ha ha, very funny," she says as she places it on the kitchen counter. Claire comes through the door with a small box and places it next to the lamp.

"Okay, once the movers get here with the hauler I will have them working from the bedroom out. We will need to go to Target and a few other stores to get all the smaller stuff," Claire says. You are beyond glad that she is here to help, also that she has an eye for filling space.

"I think that is my queue to go grab food," Kate says as she picks up her keys and shuffles her way to the door.

You shoot Kate a glare but know that you can't go without food for much longer.

Over the next few hours your apartment slowly starts to look inhabitable. The following few hours are spent shopping for things that you know are just going to collect dust but don't say a word about because Claire seems to be really enjoying herself.

After you drove away from Caitlin, you did everything you could to make it seem like nothing had changed. To everyone around you, nothing had changed - they had no idea your world had just been torn apart and run over. The only thing that has changed is you stopped going to basketball games. You came up with every excuse in the books to get yourself out of sitting in a stadium where everyone was cheering on your girl - who used to be your girl.

It took Kate halfway through the season to figure out what had happened and when she did - she ran straight to you. It all started to make sense in her mind, why you weren't at games and never really around anymore. She never suspected anything because Caitlin seemed so normal.

When Kate confronted you about Caitlin - you broke down in front of someone for the first time over the girl you loved. She sat there and listened to every word you said and she was infuriated but she never left your side. She had every intention of confronting Caitlin but you begged her not to. It was already hard enough to pretend like you haven't been struggling to survive.

Ever since then, you made Kate swear that she wouldn't let what Caitlin did to you get in the way of her relationship with her teammate. And Kate kept her promise - even if it took her a while to look at Caitlin the same again. Kate did an above and beyond job at maintaining both of your friendships and it is because of that ability that you consider her your only real friend.

After getting back from all the shopping and taking orders from Claire on where to put everything you got all around your apartment, the three of you collapsed on your couch.

"I don't know how I could ever thank you both for helping me with all of this," you say.

"It was my genuine pleasure," Claire says with the biggest smile. You smile back and hear Kate groan.

"I am never doing that again," Kate says, causing Claire to hit her shoulder.

The three of you laugh all sharing in the fact that Kate did the least amount of work. You all fall into a comfortable silence and it begins to hit you. You are now living in the Caitlin Clark center of the world.

Over the next few weeks you settle into the new city, doing everything you can to avoid Gainbridge Fieldhouse even though you know you will be there sooner or later considering that is now your new place of work. If you had a choice, you would be working for any other WNBA team building out there - hell, you even looked into every NBA building option. But you didn't have much say when your executive director said they wanted you in Indiana, that is where you were forced to go.

Aside from it being home to the one person you try your best to avoid, the job you are stepping into is one of your dreams. You worked day and night to get to where you are and you are super proud of how far you have come in the short time after college. Becoming the Director of Player Relations for Gainbridge Fieldhouse, you knew you would only be able to dodge Clark for so long.

You have settled into your office and have made your rounds to introduce yourself to your new team. You have even started connecting with the Fever players which has been quite eventful. You first met Aliyah Boston and connected immediately. You tried not too but ended up fan-girling over her TikTok's. She tried to get you to join one but you refused, not wanting to be the cause of her losing followers due to your horrible dancing.

You then got some time with Natasha Howard and Kelsey Mitchell. Both of whom loved your intentionality and vision for how management can support the players.

You have met the rest of the team, minus a certain someone, in passing making sure to figure out a time to connect. At this point, you assumed that Caitlin knew you were in the building but haven't seen her yet to confirm.

Today's the day that all changes. At least that is what you are telling yourself since it is the first game of the season.

After getting to Gainbridge, you planned to take some time in your office before heading down to the floor but the second you walk in the door you are swept to do 20 different things. Before you know it, you are on the floor as the team runs out for final warm-ups.

Walkie in hand, you do everything in your power to stay busy the second you have a moment to breathe. As much as you want to breathe, you don't want to see that girl plastered all over this arena. You keep your head down and find your shoes uncharacteristically interesting.

A hand graces your shoulder and you peek up to see your assistant looking at you with soft eyes and in that moment you feel like you are back in college - broken and hiding.

"Hey Ben, what's up?" You ask, trying to shake the pit in your stomach.

"One would think after a few seasons this would feel normal," Ben says as he looks around at the crowds.

"This will never be normal, it will always be special. Trust me," you say. It comes out just above a whisper. Ben smiles at you and you smile back, shifting your eyes from Ben to the court for the first time. With the amount of people in this place you are certain you will blend into the background.

Big mistake.

As your eyes hit the court, they are met with all too familiar brown ones. Your smile fades as your eyes lock on hers. Both of you froze in time. It feels like your eyes are locked for hours but in the 5 seconds of gripping despair your breath is taken from you and you feel the air sucked from your lungs. You turn away and take a hold of Ben's arm.

"I left something in my office, I have to grab it" you say as you begin to walk towards the back.

"I can go get it, you should be here when they announce the players - it's thrilling," Ben says with a smile.

"No, no, I got it," you insist and continue walking. You feel like you are suffocating.

When you get to your office you close the door and turn the lights off. Back against the door, you sink to the floor and bring your head to your knees.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

You sit there for who knows how long. When you feel your heart calm and your breath steady - you stand. Even after 2+ years of not seeing her, she still controls your heart. You grab your walkie and head back out.

You have no idea how much of the game has passed. As you are walking back out the tunnel an arm grabs you and pulls you into a small room.

"What the-", you begin but shut up immediately when you are met face to face with Caitlin.

She is looking down at you, hand still on your arm. Her fingertips brush the exposed skin on your forearm - a gesture you both were all too familiar with.

Neither of you say anything, not knowing what to say. You have imagined this moment every day since getting to Indy and now that you are here and alone for that matter, nothing comes out.

Caitlin hesitates but unlike your last meeting she brings her free hand up to brush her fingers against your cheek and her thumb against your bottom lip. You want to pull away but you lean in ever so slightly - she is too familiar.

Your eyes close as you feel your heart break all over again.

Caitlin can't take her eyes off of you. This feels like a dream, she has thought time and time again of how different things would have been if she cared more about you and less about the world. Cait continues to rub her thumb against your bottom lip until she feels a wet sensation meet her fingers. Her eyebrows furrow then ease when she realizes it's a tear.

She opens her mouth to say something, not that you had any reason to listen but she had to try. Before she can, the door opens and Steve pokes his head in.

"The second half is starting," Steve says and leaves right after.

Before Caitlin can do anymore damage, you step away from her. You don't look her in the eye - you can't. You see Caitlins hands grip the bottom of her jersey, just like they did the last time the two of you talked.

The last thing that Caitlin wants to do is walk away from you right now but she knows she doesn't have a choice. You watch as she makes her way to the door, stopping right before it and leaning her head against it.

You don't know why but before you stop yourself you find yourself reaching out and brushing one of her fly away hairs. It is now her turn to close her eyes. You pull her headband down and smooth some of her fly aways back before sliding it back onto her head. You bring your hands to her shoulders, giving them two squeezes like you would before every game to regulate her thoughts.

There is a soft knock at the door and you know Caitlin really needs to go but she doesn't move. She finally opens her eyes and you know she is doing everything she can to keep herself together.

She doesn't deserve your comfort. Both of you know it.

"Go," you say. It comes out softer than you intend - not that it was intended to be harsh.

She nods and reaches to open the door. Before letting herself out, she speaks.

"I would do anything to go back to that night," she says.

"Cait stop," you say, not wanting to do this right now. Not when she has to go out and finish a game.

"No," she says and turns to face you again. "That was the biggest mistake of my life and things are different now-"

The door opens and Caitlin is cut off.

"Clark, get your ass back out on that floor," one of the coaches comes in, grabbing her and dragging her out. You go unnoticed as you watch Caitlin be pulled out mid conversation.

Different? What could possibly be different now?

You have blocked her out of your life so much that you have no idea what is going on in hers. You shake your head - nothing has changed. This moment changed nothing. She is still the Caitlin that blindsided you and you did not spend the last two and a half years rebuilding your life to be broken again.

You grab your walkie and head back out, lighter than you have felt in a while.

The Fever lost that night and you can only hope that you had nothing to do with it.

AN: Part 2 in the books. Let me know what you think! And as always, thank you for your love and support 🤍

#caitlin clark #caitlin clark imagine #caitlin clark x reader #caitlin clark masterlist

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artificial-transmutations · 8 months ago

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4k! Dropout Dorm 1

Hey guys! And there is even more big news today!

It seems like yesterday I celebrated 3k followers, and now, all of a sudden, I have just reached 4k! Honestly, I'm at a loss for words. I'm really happy (and a bit bewildered) that so many of you want to read my stories!

As a celebration, I will receive one previously exclusive four-part story from my once membership site (now a tip jar) here on tumblr, with new pictures! The writing is more than a year old, but I decided not to adjust it to preserve the original charm, so please don't mind the rough edges here and there. And now, enjoy

Dropout Dorm

The line in front of Marvin was long and Marvin was unhappy with himself. He should have come earlier! Who could have known that it was customary to be that early for dorm room assignment? Well, that was an easy question. Obviously, every student in front of him.

He wasn't technically the last one to arrive, since there was one other guy that came even later, but the two of them marked the end of the queue. The student behind him, a brown haired young man with a narrow face, studied him carefully, before extending a hand.

"Hi!", he said. "I'm Aiden."

"Marvin", answered Marvin. He wasn't the outgoing type.

"Pleased to meet you, Marvin!", Aiden smiled. "So, we'll be rooming together, I suppose."

"We are?" How did Aiden know?

"I'm pretty sure we are." Aiden nodded. "College rules dictate that rooming is determined by order of appearance on the registration day. Since there are 84 people in the line in front of you, and always two are called into the office at a time, it is only logical that we will be roommates."

That made sense. Marvin didn't bother to count the line yet, but he wasn't entirely unhappy. The person directly in front of him looked like the typical meathead jock type, while the thin man behind him proved that he was capable of logic reasoning.

So, Marvin smiled. "Great. I'm looking forward to it, you seem like a good roommate! I'm majoring in computer sciences, what about you?"

Aiden grinned. "Mathematics. Sorry, that's hard to hide for me."

The grin was genuine, and Marvin and Aiden used the waiting time to get to know each other better. To Marvin's delight, Aiden was quite nerdy himself and wasn't keen on partying or taking girls home - which qualified him as a good rooming choice even more.

Finally, they were called into the secretary’s office, where a woman with large glasses looked at them.

"You are the last ones?"

Marvin nodded and the woman sighed.

"Good. Well, here is the bad news: You too should look for a room elsewhere, outside the campus."

Marvin was confused. Why was that?

Aiden verbalized his question: "Why? Aren't there any rooms left?"

The woman sighed again. "Technically, there is one room left, and you can have it, but... room 148 has a bit of a bad reputation."

"How can a room have a bad reputation?" Aiden asked quizzically.

"Look, the room is called the 'dropout dorm'. For whatever reason, no student that ever took that room graduated. Most dropped out in the same or the following semester.

Aiden looked at Marvin, who, in turn looked at Aiden. How to put it delicately, Marvin asked himself, but Aiden was quicker again, just being honest:

"So, it's just superstition?"

The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe. Maybe not. I can only tell you what happened to students in the years before."

"Did you always offer this room last?" Marvin asked and the woman nodded. He exchanged another look with Aiden and then smiled. "Thank you for your concerns, but I think we'll take the risk."

After the formalities were over, they got their keys and went up to their new room. It was located on the second floor, and when Aiden opened the door, he saw a big window facing the lake and the sun shining brightly through it.

"So, why do you think this is the 'dropout dorm'?" Aiden asked.

Marvin smiled. "Because it is the 'dropout dorm'. You see, there had probably been one or two dropouts in this room. Then, someone decided that the room was bad luck or something like that, and they started to offer it to the last students. Now, usually, the last ones in line are those students who care about their studies the least."

"Except in this year" Aiden added.

"Exactly. So, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. They gave the 'dropout dorm' to the students with the worst starting conditions, and they dropped out, fueling the myth of the 'dropout dorm'."

"Flawless reasoning", Aiden congratulated. "Now, do you have a preference on which side of the room you want?"

Both young men settled in quickly and moved their stuff to their dorm room over the course of the day. It wasn't a bad room at all: It had a small bathroom with a shower, and a nice view from the window. Most importantly, though, it had two nice, big desks, which were quickly filled with books on Aiden's side of the room, and a powerful PC on Marvin's side. The day passed quickly, and it became time for bed.

Aiden was slightly amused, as Marvin went into the bathroom to get changed and emerged in pajamas. He certainly didn't judge Marvin for being an introvert, but Aiden had given up pajamas a few years ago and slept in boxers since then. Still, that was nothing of his business.

Both their dreams were restless and although Aiden couldn't remember what exactly he had dreamed off, when he woke up the next morning to the sound of the shower running, he found himself with a bad case of morning wood. It was rare for Aiden to be aroused, but right now, he felt outright horny. His dick throbbed against his boxers and the outline was clearly visible since he had untangled himself from his blanked in his sleep. He just hoped that Marvin hadn't noticed.

When Aiden accidentally brushed against his erection, that was already forming a wet patch in his boxers from precum, he would have almost moaned out load. Damn, was this thing sensitive today. He looked at the bathroom. Marvin had left the door open, probably by accident. He could see the naked body of the other man moving under the stream of water and quickly drew back his head.

It looked like Marvin would still be busy for a while, so this was his chance! Aiden quickly disposed of his boxers and wrapped his right hand around his member, careful not to make noise. It was really difficult since he wanted to moan loudly so bad, but he could control himself.

He quickly moved his hand up and down, rolling back his eyes. This felt just so good! Wave after wave of pleasure rocked through him and he was already close when he heard the water stop. It took an awful lot of willpower to pry his hand from his prick for a moment, to peek at the bathroom door. Marvin was drying up. If he hurried up, he still had time to finish. His hand went back to his erection, and he pumped on. He threw his head back as he came - in complete silence, but with wide spurts all over his chest.

Aiden had no time to recover though, as only a split second later, Marvin stepped out of the bathroom. Lightning-fast, Aiden covered himself with the blanket, soiling it with his cum in the process. Marvin hadn't seen anything, right?

"Good morning!" Marvin said, the towel around his hips, but stopped in the middle of the room. "Does it smell weird here?"

Stay tuned for the rest of the short series, following Marvin and Aiden on their inevitable journey, posted soon.

Read the next part here

#male transformation #dumbing down

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muttoncon · 1 month ago

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my kingdon playlist - a soft analysis

aka: my deluded ramblings

frank ocean - trouble

honestly this is because i saw a really good edit of them to this song. i do think the vibe of the song fit them tho, this sort of "illicit" relationship since he's techinically her superior.

tanya tucker - delta dawn

i've made a post abt this before, but basically i think of s2 mel waiting for langdon to get back while everyone else has moved on, hoping that every time she walks into work, he'll be there.

frank ocean - novacane

seen a few fanfics with this motif of mel being a new drug for langdon or her replicating the feelings he gets from benzos with her (without the feelings of guilt n depression).

nancy sinatra - it ain't me babe

i formatted the songs to go with the progression of their relationship, so once langdon starts to understand his feelings for mel and her reciprocated feelings, i think he's the type to push her away (doesn't patrick ball say this in an interview?).

fiona apple - i know

(the next few songs are from mel's perspective) in the circumstance that frank doesn't get divorced before he comes back to PTMC, mel is obviously in his corner, but she can't love him the way they both want if he stays married.

ravyn lenae - love me not

frank, no matter how much he loves, is an asshole. once he starts to realize his feelings fo mel, i picture him as the kind of guy who would pull her in then get scared and push her away.

clario - juna

mostly i just love this song!! it's all about understanding and feeling comfortable with someone, i think that's very them.

cass elliot - baby i'm yours

reassurance baby!!! starting to get to the point in the playlist where mel is very open about her feelings!! in my mind, frank is still conflicted on if he returns them and if he does, should he act on them?

mac demarco - 20191009 i like her

(now we're on frank's perspective!) langdon seems to be very hung up on people liking him. love is one thing, liking is much more intimate (queue lady bird's "but do you like me?).

robert palmer - addicted to love

back on that trading one addiction for another motif!!! he's not just addicted to love tho, he's addicted to her love!!!

wham! - i'm your man

finally!!! frank confesses his love to mel :D remember his advice to jake? "hold her hand in front of your friends" i see him as a casual PDA lover! he's so proud and happy to be mel's man, he wants her and everyone to know!!

beyonce - ego

(back to mel's perspective) and mel also loves being langdon's!!! that's her man!! she wants that douchebag with a big ego!!! i picture her playing this song in the car and frank having a "is this fucking play about us?" moment lmao

#the pitt #kingdon #frank langdon #mel king #melissa king #i put way too much effort into the lyric images lmaooo

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bogkeep · 3 months ago

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forgive me father for i have once again listened to a podcast episode discussing a topic that makes me go >:( and now i must write a blog post about it.

the topic was, i guess Learned Helplessness although they never really used that term. the whole talk got very Kids These Days-y in a way that just. does not sit well with me, very generalizing and victim-blamey. but it IS a complicated topic, because there are many things i DO agree with:

- learning to sit with discomfort, inconvenience and conflict is a good and necessary skill

- anti-intellectualism is bad, and challenging yourself can be very rewarding

- people do have a certain amount of agency and responsibility for their actions

- being in community is good and hyperindividualism is not so good

but oh... how do people argue for how everyone should be constantly challenging themselves and be responsible for everything in their lives, in the same breath as decrying self care (or "self care" with the quotation marks) as hyperindividualist?

is this a los angeles thing. do all podcasters live in LA or something

do i have a different definition of community??????

one of my fundamental philosophies that i've carried with me through life is that not everyone can do everything, and nobody does everything the same. we have different strengths and limits, we do things at different speeds, and in community we can compensate for our differences. and most importantly, nobody needs to be "deserving" of help and resources - everyone should have a right to help and resources.

i volunteered at my local queer youth organization for several years. i did what i could when i could do it. for a while i was the only one with access to a car, so i helped out a lot when moving offices, or when we travelled to a rural town to help out with their first ever pride parade. when i moved out i no longer had access to the car. at every parade i was at, one thing that was made clear in all the speeches was that when we march, we march not only for ourselves, but for everyone unable to join. there was never any shame in being unable to join. be it because of safety reasons, or disability, or just plain availability - not everyone can join! not everyone wants to join! enough people do that we have a parade regardless.

something that became pretty difficult at one point is when the leader of the local chapter started taking on too many tasks and delegating too little, essentially bringing the whole organisation to a halt when she was unable to do the tasks and nobody else had access to them. not knowing your limits makes you a choking point.

and like, okay. i'll be the first to admit that i take the whole sentiment of "you're not trying hard enough" a little bit personally. me, and probably every other disabled and neurodivergent person who has had to hear it a million zillion times while they try and try and try and it just does not yield the results - or they yield only at a great cost.

i have several painful memories of my mother, a woman who gets huffy if she has to stand in a queue for too long, implying that i am unwilling to leave my comfort zone. i've grown up thinking that i'm a weak willed and sensitive soul due to personal failing, or maybe a failing to break a bone in my childhood, and hey, maybe it's true. though i AM starting to suspect someof the challenges i face are like, actual challenges, mayhaps due to being autistic and marginalized in a hostile society.

i can't speak on behalf of all disabled people, but i suspect many are familiar with the experience of not being believed when they say they can't do something.

so... okay. how DO we synthesize the 'learned helplessness epidemic' with the fact that people have limits. surely there's a middle ground between "you're not helpless, you can do anything you set your mind to if you just try harder" and "you're not responsible for anything ever and owe people nothing".

i don't know! i just don't think there's a one size fits all solution. making yourself be active and go out is good if you've got depression, and not good if you've got severe burnout. there are times when you may need to push yourself, and times when you need to be forgiving and let yourself rest. is scrolling on your phone for three hours rotting or resting? it depends! it just does!

i think there's great power in knowing your limits. knowing what you can and can't do means finding solutions - sometimes you find an alternative way of doing something, sometimes you need someone else to do it, sometimes you can learn and practice how to do the thing, and sometimes it doesn't need doing. i don't think it's necessary to have to do everything in the most challenging or normative way possible. if it's difficult to throw away trash, maybe you need more available trash cans. i think it's far, far more responsible to be honest about what you can do than overpromise only to crash and burn.

i'm just!!! so exhausted by the idea of constantly pushing yourself, as if improvement can only happen through exertion.

(quick rundown examples brought up in the podcast that made me grind my teeth:

- "unless you have a LEGITIMATE REASON i think picky eating is a moral failing" ghhgrghhgghhhhh

- the whole "americans are getting worse at reading and they only read garbage" as if all reading must be Intellectual and Challenging and that's the True Purpose Of Books. also, not to be like "the american school system has failed you" but the american school system has been failing to teach people to read. like that is actually a thing. i know anti-intellectualism is on the rise and there's a myriad of reasons behind it. but it's weird to me that nobody brings this up!

- "a fifteen year old feeling uncomfortable with this pop star because she's so sexualized" yeah they're fifteen. do you remember how uncomfortable it is to be fifteen and dealing with your body and sexuality in a society that's simultaneously pushing sex at you at every turn while also being extremely weird about sex due to religion probably. im willing to cut all teenagers a lot of slack for being weird about sex and sexuality tbh

- implying people mostly order food/grocery delivery because they're lazy and anxious. Surely People Do It For Myriads Of Other Reasons

- brief mention of "people have less sex than before". stares into the camera asexually

- they didn't actually bring up Therapy Speak but it feels very much in the same vein, you know? a lot of talk about people using mental illness and trauma as an excuse for avoiding things, but you know what might help with a lot of that? therapy. probably. i would hope. like trauma does in fact fuck with your conflict resolution skills, and a lot of people have plenty reasons to be traumatized. Considering)

anyway that's all for now

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aziraphales-library · 6 months ago

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hiii omg first of id like to say that yall are absolutely amazing and i love ur recommendations

secondly if its not too much trouble id like to ask for holiday fics because i definitely want to get into the holiday fic spirit rn :)

I'm bumping this up because, once again, the holiday requests are coming in too late. As stated in the pinned masterpost, it take us months to answer and queue asks, folks! We do have a #christmas tag. Here are more to add to the collection...

Secret Santa by AppleSeeds (T)

On the advice of his therapist, Crowley signs up to be a 'Secret Santa', an anonymous gift-giver for a community initiative aiming to bring some Christmas joy into the lives of people going through a hard time. He's partnered with Aziraphale, a librarian who has lost his home and bookshop in a fire. Through the power of Christmas Magic, Crowley ends up meeting Aziraphale in person when he takes his nephew to the library and is immediately smitten. He becomes determined to use his expertise and influence to give Aziraphale the only Christmas present that could really make a difference, but are some things too important to be kept secret?

it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you by thealienmeme (T)

crowley is a journalist at the top of his game. he asks hard questions and never lets a story slip through his tight grip, but he's also never taken a vacation. with encouragement from his boss, he books a cabin on the outskirts of the small town of Tadfield to rent out for the month of december so he can finally relax and maybe work on his book. he doesn't have any family anyways and he isn't really a fan of christmas or the holidays... then a snow storm hits. stranded in Tadfield proper, he meets a fussy bookshop owner and learns that maybe christmas just needed a little more love.

Ships in the Night by tishae (G)

Aziraphale did not want to head home for Christmas. Spending the entirety of the holidays with his Mother and siblings seemed, if you asked him, like a special version of Hell carved out just for him. Making up a boyfriend that he was spending the season with seemed like a perfect excuse (and no, he wasn't going to think too hard about why he had provided Crowley's name), until his Mother had insisted they should both come. "It'd be great to meet him!" Aziraphale had no idea how he was going to explain this to the coffee shop owner he'd had a crush on for the last two years, much less convince him to take part, but he was about to find out. or It's Christmas time, and our ineffable idiots are faking a relationship while definitely not being totally, completely head over heels for each other.

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe by IneffableToreshi (E)

Earlier this year, popular romance novelist Anthony J. Crowley met the love of his life when his agent booked one "A.Z. Fell & Co." for his most recent book signing. Aziraphale is a huge fan of Crowley's books, and they become fast friends. Unfortunately, Crowley let's his nerves convince him that it wouldn't be right to initially pursue a fan romantically, and by the time he feels it's alright, they've become so close that he's terrified of the possibility of failure. But now it's nearly Christmas - a time for miracles, right? - and Crowley has a plan to, hopefully, make Aziraphale fall in love with him the way he's been dreaming of.

The Anon Before Christmas by foolishlovers (E)

When Crowley’s friend, blogging buddy and business partner Anathema announces her annual Secret Santa Exchange on Tumblr, she is very adamant Crowley should join this year. The old-fashioned (but admittedly compassionate) man he gets assigned to send anonymous messages to every day until Christmas sounds awfully similar to the fussy bookseller that his friends adore, yet Crowley tries to avoid at all costs. But surely his friends would have mentioned if Aziraphale had taken an interest in the Bad Omens fandom as well… right? Or: An Enemies to Lovers Secret Santa Tumblr AU.

Any Foolish Thing by Caedmon (E)

Crowley is an overworked divorce attorney on the brink of burnout in London. He's irascible and mean to everyone, on the verge of verbally abusive, until his law partner, Fergus, gives him an ultimatum: He can rusticate in the small town of Tadfield for a month and come back rested in the new year, or he can be fired. His choice. Grumbling, Crowley takes off to Tadfield, eager to get it over with - and to skirt Fergus' rules. But all of that changes when he has a chance encounter with the gorgeous man who runs Mr. Fell's Books and Bonbons...

- Mod D

#good omens #ineffable husbands #human au #christmas #mod d

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thetriumphantpanda · 2 years ago

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Delicate - Chapter Two: Maroon

3.7k / pairing: joel miller x f!reader

Series Masterlist | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

summary: despite some last minute reservations about meeting Joel, you throw yourself into the date, but it doesn't go according to plan.

A/N: Ahhhhh oh my God - @hellishjoel and I are so excited to bring you the second chapter of Delicate! We're having the best time with this little pairing already and we hope they manage to worm their way into your hearts just like they have with us! We're taking turns in posting the chapters of this - so please make sure you're following both of us to keep up to date!

warnings: mentions of being a single parents, rom-com vibes, foul language, a bestie who is nothing but trouble, Joel being terrible at dating in general, a lil smattering of angst, mentions of food & alcohol consumption.

There’s a flow of peace that settles across you when the door to Noah’s room clicks shut. You love him, he’s the best thing that ever happened to you, and he keeps you afloat every day, but these moments, when he’s finally asleep and you can stop thinking for a minute, are the moments you crave each day.

You settle down on the couch, mug of tea in hand, with the TV playing quietly, just for background noise more than anything, as you pick up your phone for the first time that evening. There’s a few emails, mainly about shopping sales and holidays that you think you should book but never do - those are quickly deleted to stop any temptation of spending money on something that isn’t essential. There are a few messages from your mom, just confirming that she’ll pick Noah up from school tomorrow, what she’s planned for them to do and what she’ll feed him. You shoot a message off in reply that it all sounds good and that he’s excited for some quality time with his grandparents, because it’s true, and then you set your phone down on the coffee table and try to ignore it for a while.

You finish your tea and queue up a few episodes of a show you’ve been meaning to catch up on - something mindless that people at work always seem to talk about. So mindless that it actually sends you to sleep. You wake with a jolt a few hours later. The house is still quiet, which means Noah hasn’t decided he’s still got too much energy and needs to burn it off by jumping on the bed or pulling some of his toys out. You sigh, checking the time to see it’s almost midnight.

You gather your stuff, put the mug in the sink to deal with in the morning before trudging up to bed. There’s a moment at the top of the stairs, where you think it would be so easy to flop down on the bed and forgo the rest of your responsibilities, but you’ve got your mother’s voice in the back of your mind, something about wrinkles and pores and how bad it is to sleep in your makeup, so you turn left into the bathroom, cover your skin in serums and creams and then finally, just after midnight, you fall into bed.

Knowing it’s bad to look at your phone this late at night, once you’ve set your alarm, you click open the godforsaken Hinge app that Dixie had insisted on setting you up on. So far, after six months, you’d been on a fair few first dates, three second dates and had a God awful one night stand, but nothing had been sticking, no-one seemed to be exactly what you were looking for. You’d promised her that you’d try though, so as had become a nightly ritual for you, you set about giving away your daily likes, not really paying a huge amount of attention until he pops up for you. Joel. 45. From his first profile picture, the exact kind of man you’d been searching for. Rugged, handsome,

Of the few photos he had on his profile, he was often donning a flannel or a simple short-sleeved shirt that curved around his biceps and broad shoulders. He always wore the same tilted smile, with dazzling eyes and dark hair with licks of silver. He was a handsome lumberjack of sorts.

He looked to be an outdoorsman, at least two of Joel’s pictures were of him hiking a trail accompanied by a young girl, surrounded by greenery and tall rocks with the sunshine peeking through the branches. His face was glowing and tan from the light, his handsomeness so natural. Beautiful, even.

Joel’s “Typical Sunday” consisted of a black coffee in the morning, followed by making burgers on the grill for him and his family before settling down to watch a Dallas Cowboys football game. That was a typical Sunday for a man, but it showed how he liked to unwind and that he was a family man.

First, the mention of a family, plus that beautiful young woman in almost all of Joel’s pictures - a daughter, perhaps? Older than your own boy by quite a few years. He must have been on the younger side of having children if any of these assumptions were even correct. But there was something about knowing he also had a baby to be thinking of felt familiar, comforting, as they would always come first.

And it turns out that talking to him is pretty easy too. He’s charming, a slight insomniac like you, and from what you can tell from the slight back and forth you managed to have before you go to sleep, able to flirt a little with you too. It’s why when he asks to take you out you say yes without hesitation, it could be fun, he could be the one, who knows?

Mornings are always chaos. Half-eaten bowls of cereal on the table, a mug of coffee made with the best of intentions but sat to go cold, a rush of getting Noah dressed and in the car with everything he needed for school and then the annoyance of getting stuck in traffic on the way to drop him off, all coalesce to make you stressed as you help Noah out of the backseat.

“Remember granny is picking you up this afternoon okay?” You ask, bending down to kiss his cheek as he fiddles with the straps of his backpack.

“I know, mom.” He groans, using the back of his hand to wipe the kiss off his cheek.

You smile, ruffle his hair a bit, because no matter how much he might protest, he will always be your baby, “Behave for her, okay?” You warn lightly with a smile, “She’ll bring you back home tomorrow.”

Noah spots some of his friends across the playground and steps around you to make his way into school. You turn, hold your hand up in a wave and shout at him to have a good day. Noah turns, walking backwards to look at you, waving right back.

“Have a good day, mom!”

Underneath the way he’s growing up, he’s still the sweet little boy you knew you could raise on your own. You sit back in your car, picking your phone up to make sure you’ve got enough time to go to the store and stock up on some groceries, when you notice a notification from Hinge. It’s Joel.

Just checking you’re still okay for tonight?

For some reason, you sit and stare at it for a few minutes, fingers itching to type something, to confirm, but there’s that usual seed of doubt that appears after all this time that makes you want to tell him something’s come up, you’ll have to reschedule. After months and months of trying to find someone, to failed first date after failed first date, you wonder if it really is worth it, no matter how good of a match Joel Miller seems on paper. Is he really going to be worth getting dressed up for? You sigh, type out your usual message of I’m sorry, I think I might have to reschedule, when the screen is filled with the face of your best friend, trying to call you.

“Hello?”

“Hello sexy mama!” Dixie’s voice immediately soothes you, “How are you this fine morning?”

“I’m okay,” You speak softly, plugging the phone into the car so you can speak to her as you drive, “Just dropped Noah off at school.”

“How is my favourite man?” She asks.

“Yeah, he’s good, he’s staying with my mom tonight so I think he’s just pleased to be away from me for a while.”

“It’s like the universe read my mind!” Dixie exclaims on the other end of the phone, “Do you want to go out and get wine drunk tonight?”

You stutter for a second, because you could, you could cancel with Joel, go out and drink cheap wine and dance with your friend, but before you can say anything, Dixie picks up on your hesitation.

“OH MY GOD!” She all but screeches, “Do you have a hot date tonight?!”

You grumble a little, because how is she always so attuned to you like this?

“Yeah, although I don’t know if I’m gonna go.”

“Why not?”

You sigh again, “I don’t know if it’s worth it anymore?” You offer.

“Girl, get outta here with that attitude!” She chastises, “Is he hot?”

You grumble a little again, but you can’t deny it, Joel is hot, “Yes.”

“Well then,” You can hear her clap her hands in the background, clearly having you on speaker so she can go about her business, “If he’s hot, then there’s no harm in it, forget me and my wine, go out, drink wine with your hot mystery stranger and get fucked, girl!”

“Dixie!” You screech, “I’m not fucking him.”

“Whatever you say, girl!” She shouts down the phone, “If you cancel, I’m kicking your ass, okay?” You sigh, once again, something you’re getting more and more used to these days, “Have fun and be safe!”

And then all you can hear is the dial tone from where she’s hung up on you. You think about it all the way around the grocery store, she wouldn’t know if you did cancel, would she? But you’ve known her long enough to know she’d sniff a lie out of you in seconds. So, when you settle down at your desk, you pull out your phone and send Joel a reply to confirm the plans you made last night, and then spend the rest of the work day trying not to work yourself up about the whole thing.

You don’t think that the anxiety of waiting for a date to show up will ever get easier. Stood just inside the doorway of the restaurant Joel had chosen, you’re chewing at the skin around your thumbnail. Did you dress right? Do you look okay? When he turns up will he look like his pictures or not? Will he lean in for a kiss on the cheek? Do you give him a hug? You’d like to think of yourself as a seasoned pro at this now, but those first few awkward moments always made you anxious - there was no second chance at first impressions.

You needn’t have worried about Joel though. When the door opens and he stands in front of you, he is exactly the man you’d studied on that app. Taller than you, broad and big. Scruff, peppered with gray across his face, though it’s neatly kept, just like this hair, although more unruly, it’s still peppered with grays and it suits him. He’s wearing dark jeans, and a flannel that you think must be saved for best. You step closer, open your arms. Joel leans down, and does indeed press a kiss to your cheek, one of his wide palms pressed lightly on your lower back as he hugs you back a little.

“Nice to meet you, Joel.” You smile when he pulls away.

“You too, ma’am.” He smiles back at you, and you can tell he’s nervous.

“What have I told you about that?” You tease as you step towards the hostess, Joel giving her his name, you hope the slight teasing will put him at ease, you remember just what it was like when you started dating for the first time, and as much as you want to have a good time, you want to make sure Joel is having a good time too.

She picks up two menus, leads the two of you to a table at the edge of the restaurant. Joel pulls your chair out for you, pushing it gently under you as you sit down. The light is low, and there’s a thrum of chatter across the whole restaurant as you open the menu, glancing your eyes over the choices.

“Do you want to share a bottle of wine?” You ask, finger skimming the list of wines available.

Joel nods, “Sure thing, darlin’.”

You smile, looking down at the menu, deciding you much prefer darling to ma’am, especially in that sweet southern drawl of his. When the waitress returns, you both order food and a bottle of wine, which is quickly brought to the table, uncorked, with the dark red liquid poured into two glasses. The waitress leaves the bottle on the table as you raise your glass, Joel following suit, clinking them together before you take a sip.

You’re watching as he does the same, a smaller sip than you, and then watch as his nose crinkles and he coughs a little. It makes you laugh, putting your glass down to cover your mouth a little.

“Dunno why I said yes,” He shakes his head, “Fuckin’ hate wine.”

You can’t help but properly laugh now, hoping that it puts him a little at ease. You reach over the table, lay your hand on his wrist just a touch, “What would you prefer to drink?”

You don’t miss the way he subtly drags his wrist back from your touch, covering it by scratching at the skin on the side of his hand, but you don’t let it bother you. You’re a touchy person, it’s what makes you feel at ease mostly, but that doesn’t mean it works for Joel, so you fold your hands back in your lap.

“Usually beer,” He mumbles, flagging down the waitress as she walks past to ask for just that, “Or whiskey.”

“I don’t mind a beer,” You offer, trying to make light conversation, “But whiskey makes my throat burn.”

He doesn’t offer much of a reply apart from a short hum from his mouth, his attention moving from you to the room around you, letting the table fall into silence. You look down at your lap, trying to think of things to say whilst you wait for your food.

“So, Sarah, right?” You ask after his daughter, it’s something the two of you have in common at least, “You must be super proud of her, medical school is incredible.”

“Yeah,” He says simply, “She’s a very smart girl.”

You expect him to ask after Noah, ask him a little about what he’s like, maybe what his favourite subjects are at school or whether he’s in any sports clubs or anything, but he doesn’t offer anything else to you, doesn’t ask any questions.

There’s a lull in the conversation, saved by the waitress dropping your meals in front of you, fresh tomato pasta with chicken for you and steak and mashed potatoes with asparagus for Joel. You swirl your fork through the pasta, scooping some into your mouth as Joel cuts into his steak. Your eyes are trained on him, watching how he eats - it’s one of your big tests, table manners, and to be fair to him, he passes with flying colours - sure he eats a bit fast, but it’s nothing off-putting, and he seems to be able to use a knife and fork properly and chew with his mouth closed, which is a far cry from the last person you’d been out with.

“You look really good tonight,” You offer, setting your fork down for a moment, “The flannel is very Texas.”

You think in the dim light you can see him flush a little, and you’ve not said anything that isn’t true, he does look good. Fucking great actually. Joel finishes swallowing, takes a swig of his beer.

“Thank you,” He tips his head towards you, “You look nice too,” He brings his hand up to his face to motion, “Rosy cheeks.”

You try not to let your disappointment show, it is a compliment after all, so you put all your focus back down into your meal, the two of you finishing your food in a rather awkward silence - you willing Joel to ask you something, to start a conversation, anything really. You watch as Joel pushes the asparagus around his plate after eating two of the spears, finishing off his steak and potatoes but leaving the rest of the greens.

When the waitress comes back to clear your plates, she asks if you’d like the dessert menu. You look to Joel, who tips his head in a way to say it’s up to you, but this has quite possibly been the most excruciating few hours of your life, so you drain your glass of wine, tip the last of the bottle into the glass and sit to wait for the bill.

“Listen,” Joel starts, dragging your attention from the bottom of your glass to him, a look of slight regret on his face, “I ain’t too good at all this,” He tries to explain, “It’s been a long time and I’m a little rusty.”

You kind of want to wring his ass for it a little, but underneath his apparent disinterest, you can still see the nerves of the guy who first walked through the door, and you get it, you think you’d been similar when you first started dating again, but you don’t think you’d completely lost the ability to think of a single question.

Joel insists on paying the bill and you don’t fight him for the privilege of splitting it - you think it might upset some of that southern chivalry he has and for someone else they’ll love that. It’s a silent affair as you both stand up, gather your things.

“How are you getting home?” Joel asks, holding the front door open for you.

“I can just grab a cab,” You smile, “How about you?”

He points to a truck, “Only had one so I can drive home,” He explains, “Do you mind if I wait with you for your cab?” He asks, “I’d feel better knowing you get in one safe.”

“Of course,” You smile, “The hostess called one for me, so it shouldn’t be long.”

There’s another lull in conversation, thankfully your cab arrives quickly, saving the silence from falling into awkwardness again. Joel beats you to the door, opening it for you.

“I would say it’s been nice meeting you,” He speaks, “But I feel like I made this real difficult, and I’m sorry for that.”

Going to step into the cab, you stop, leaning down to put your bag in the back seat, pausing a little before you turn back around to him, meeting his eyes. They’re striking, dark brown and beautiful, and trying to tell you just how much he knows he’s messed up. It makes your heart sink because you feel that sadness too, knowing he had so much promise, that he understood you in a way you thought other people didn’t, without even needing to talk to you, he’s a single parent, he gets it, like other people don’t. It frustrates you, makes your breath catch in your throat and your eyes glass over.

You bring a comforting hand to his shoulder, “It’s okay,” You add a smile at the end, “It takes some time to get used to this all again, I was the same,” You look down at your shoes, “It’ll get easier each time you do it, I promise.”

His head dips, regret flashed across his face, like he wishes he could go back and do it all over but better this time.

“M’sorry, again,” His tone is low, morose even, then he dips, presses a soft kiss to your cheek, “Get home safe.”

You flop down on your bed, hand running over your face, wondering at what point it had gone wrong. He’d had so much potential, had seemed like he could be so right for you, so what went wrong?

No sooner have you sent the ‘home safe’ message to Dixie, do you feel the soft vibrating of your phone. You answer, put the phone on loudspeaker and set it by your head.

“So, how did it go?”

You groan, “He had so much potential Dix,” You let out a pained noise, “I don’t know where it went wrong?!”

“Oh honey,” She coos down the phone, aware more than anyone how much you wanted to be done with dating and finally have someone you could spend time with, “What happened?”

“I don’t even know!” You exclaim, “Like, I could tell he was nervous, and this was his first date in years, but it was like he’d never spoken to a woman in his life, it was so hard!”

You can hear her sucking on her teeth on the other end of the phone, “Are you being too hard on him?” She asks, “You always say the cocky men are no good because they’re rehearsed, maybe he just needs time to warm up?”

“Dixie, I’d need a flamethrower to warm him up!”

That gets a giggle out of her, “Mama, listen to me,” She goes into serious mode now, “Not everyone is as seasoned as you at this, and if this was his first date in years and he comes face to face with you? Of course he’s going to be nervous, you can’t write him off just for that honey.”

That’s when your truth really hits out, “But what if I spend all that time warming him up and it’s a waste of time? He could turn out to be no good for me and then I’ve wasted so much time instead of trying to find the right person.”

“Honey, respectfully, you’re forty, not at the end of your life, I promise that maybe spending some time trying to unravel someone a little instead of writing them off immediately might actually be worth it.”

“I don’t know, Dix…” You trail off.

“Just sleep on it, okay?” She offers, “See how you feel when you wake up before you send him the ‘thanks but no thanks’ message.”

“Okay, I promise.”

The two of your say goodbye to each other, you stay led on the bed for a while before you push yourself up, plug your phone into the charger, noticing the notification from Hinge when your screen lights up. You can see it’s Joel’s name that sits on the front screen. You sigh, sitting on the edge of the bed, weighing up whether to read it or not. Deciding that if you do read it, you’re likely to make a decision against what Dixie told you, so you leave the notification sitting there, get yourself ready for bed and then will yourself to sleep without going over every second of the date wondering what you could have done differently.

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cupid-ghoul · 1 month ago

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💜 THIS IS MY SKELETOUR/ HANNOVER RITUAL POST 💜

this post will be spoiler free because I just want to yap about my experience - since things weren't that great at times - and maybe post an outfit pic. the cut is just for aesthetic/space reasons. lmk if you also were in Hannover and what your experience was! xox

also fyi this post mentions fainting so if you're sensitive to reading that please be aware

okay so! the good things first: the ritual was SO fun and we had a great time. I really enjoyed the feeling of no phones, it gave me the freedom to fully be in the moment and not worry about ruining my/someone else's videos.

I really loved seeing the friends we made in 2023 again and this time hang out in a vacation appartment together! we had a great time and once the next tour rolls around we'll deffo do it again!! also going to a concert with 6 other people was a feat but it worked out so well haha.

the concert itself was absolutely fantastic and I even got the chance to give a bracelet and a silly picture I drew (it started as a joke but I'm not mad at the outcome lol) to dewdrop! In exchange he gave me a pick, which almost had me pass out ngl.

so here's my little haul of everything I took home ritual/merch/pop up store-wise

my bf actually made each one of us in our group a totebag??? he's insane and I love him very much! since I'm a princess he even made my totebag with the impera grucifix instead of the regular one! he also sewed the cape and wristcuffs for my outfit! what a man 😩💜

the pop up store was also really nice, even tho the best thing about it was probably the toilet, since it was the nicest one we had access to in the queue haha (we queued for 7 hours or so since last time we saw ghost that amount of time was necessary. however the Hannover ritual only had like 8k people, but yk gas station toilets aren't the most luxurious establishments).

we also got to trade bracelets, which also added to the experience and fun! I even gave a bracelet to the security guy that helped me when I was feeling faint during the encore after I got my dew pick. he was very excited and put the bracelet on right after getting it, which was SO cute. the security in the venue was so nice in general.

I'm just gonna slap my outfit pics here because the rest of the post won't be as light-hearted and fun. so if you saw me, no you didn't (jk). my fit was literally just me going "man I want to look like the impera bugs" so we made it happen 🥰 I felt very cute ngl.

I'm very glad that my overall ritual experience was so positive and even ended with me getting a pick from my favorite ghoul.

HOWEVER

with every great experience usually comes something not so great and in this case it was the venue and some people in the crowd. idk if anyone here (besides my bf - hi bestie!!) was also in Hannover but the organisation from the venue was awful.

the day before our ritual I called both the venue and the event company to make sure that the front of stage tickets had a separate entrance and queue, as was the case with probably all german tour stops. I was assured that this would surely be the case.

so when we as a group pulled up the next day NOTHING was set up, not even the gates or anything that would help to manage the queues/crowd. these gates would then be set up 1½ hours after our arrival and to the suprise of no one there wasn't a front of stage queue or entrance. the absence of anything remotely close to queue management left the crowd to basically manage itself, which went semi-well but tbf it could have been a lot worse. when I called the event company again, another employee told me that there wouldn't be a separate queue but that I should ask a security on site for more information.

which brings me to my next point.

THERE. WAS. NO. SECURITY. ON. SITE.

the weather was really sunny and while sometimes a little wind blew, the sun was pretty much beating down on the queues. we have queued for ghost before so we had water, food, and sunscreen on hand. once it got really rough we started scheduling breaks in the shade and little walks in smaller groups to not get sunstroke.

while we managed quite well to work through the heat/sun others didn't and we were "lucky" that only one person in the queue fainted. BUT due to the lack of security outside it was once again the crowd that had to take care of the person and alert the security that was inside the venue looking out through the doors. a lady had to hop over the gates to bang against the windows so get someone's attention. and when that finally happened, the security guy strolled our LEISURELY to "check out what was going on". it took almost 20 minutes till we had a paramedic on site.

leaving a crowd to manage itself in the heat and not having security at least walk around in regular intervals is extremely irresponsible and could have ended a lot worse.

sadly we also had a few people in the crowd that just weren't as nice.

the two highlights? lowlights? of that would be

- a person in front of us who kept farting 😭 there's even a tiktok about it from another person. it was really ... something.

and

- a guy came up to me and handed me a thong that had I love men in bands (in german mind you) printed on it. apparently he got it from someone else with the task to get it to the front of the stage and later thrown on stage. he was super relieved once he got rid of it and left super quickly, which I can't really blame him for. so I started the concert with a thong in my purse and I'm sorry if you're the person that made it and wanted it thrown on stage BUT we as a corner (me, my group, and the people around us) found it highly inappropriate to do so. if someone wanted it to go to the band directly they could have given it to the head of security. but throwing it was too much and there also wasn't really an option of passing it on, since a bunch of us found it super inappropriate and were uncomfortable with the situation. I might post the ghong at one point but idk.

so now the ghong is in my home and tbh I haven't decided what to do with it. the entire ghong experience was wild to say the least.

anyways this was my rant about my ritual 💜🥰 I still had an amazing time and I'm glad we chose to go as a group of friends. however we will not be going to any concert in Hannover again!

the divider used was made by @/saradika-graphics

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carlyraejepsans · 4 months ago

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ok enough twewying out for today. stopped around the beginning of day 4, after catching up to beat and rhyme. so! thoughts under the cut:

I'm completely addicted to this game's battle system. mind you it took me a WHILE to figure it out (i used to switch back and forth between neku and shiki after every combo in the beginning and never understood why i kept getting E rank before i realized i had to use them simultaneously) and then a while longer once i did to as they say "git good", but now I'm just tearing through enemies like paper. i love this shit. especially now that they let you queue fights together. i always clear an area of all noise the first time i enter it, even though it's gonna reset immediately after i leave and come back. grinding them is so much fun

new mechanics! memes! I don't know whether to make an internet joke or an SCP foundation joke. i was wondering when the random snippets of conversation were going to become relevant. i like that not all of the thoughts you gain are relevant for the mission, really gives you an incentive to fuck around and explore. also shiki should meme implant her period cramps into neku's brain, she's earned it at this point.

very amused by the clothes brand debuff system. from the pace it introduced the battle mechanics with, to the pin system, to the food, and now clothes trends, it's obvious that twewy is a very dynamic game in terms of strategy and item systems and it tries to get you to cycle through them to their fullest extent, as well as engage with its shops and money system. It's sure different from a lot of games I've played before! I'm very intrigued. it's pretty fun so far, nice way to keep me on my toes. it also 1) fits diegetically with the look and style of the game and 2) allowed for some cute character moments for shiki (she's so passionate about it!) and neku (get this autistic kid out of here please)

absolutely delighted by beat and rhyme every time they're on-screen. can't wait to see more of them now that we've officially teamed up. shiki becomes more and more interesting with every scene... is it doomed yuri i smell on her? god i hope so. neku amnesiac reveal made my opinion on him take a big leap forward, but he's also gotten progressively less insufferable all around. his shitty comments towards shiki have grown sparse enough that I've finally had the space to find his other scenes endearingly tsundere (and then he insults her again out of the blue and i go back to wanting to beat his ass). oh well. it's gonna end at some point. he's made progress at least.

"ready to die?" "then die!" is such a cute sync catchphrase. pinching their cheeks. i also like that they call out for each other when injured in battle, man i wish that vibe extended to their dynamic outside of battle as well.

players temporarily give up the most important thing to them when they enter the reaper's game, huh? i wonder if for shiki that was her best friend. and for neku his... memories maybe? or something else that would inevitably result in amnesia. if that's the case that tells of a character that is extensively defined by his past and looking backwards. that would sure be a cool setup. we'll see!

#twewy

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mt-oe · 1 year ago

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𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙁𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙—𝙜𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙯𝙪 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣𝙨

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

Hey dears!

I've been getting addicted with playing Valorant recently and thought it would be fun to try and make some hcs for Mizu <3

Clove's release is so exciting and I'm so happy non-binary people are given some representation in games. They're so much fun and their ult mechanic is such a game-changer.

Please tell me if you'd like me to make more of these or if I should make some for other games too (as long as I know them well enough).

Anywho, let's go!

Enjoy! Mwa mwa :*

warnings: not proofread, the use of "clutch or gay", she/her for mizu

mizu has a crush on you :3

✦ Her fave maps are Icebox and Bind. Whenever you play comp with her and these maps roll up, you're internally fucking hollering. You're thanking every possible deity there is, dancing in your seat, kissing your monitor.

She's such a god in these maps. Every good agent for every role, every lineup, and even some pro play shit strats, she memorized it.

She loves Icebox for how easy it was to clear angles and how easy it was to formulate AND predict strategies. The map was pretty straightforward and no bullshit. Perfect for her.

Bind for the outplay potentials. Teleporters + Yoru TP/Omen TP and Ult? There's no telling where she may be. Will she plant in A? Will she plant in B? Maybe she's already flanking? Who knows?

✦ Mizu doesn't buy skins but she DOES have some. They're gifts from you and her friends! An oni phantom, neptune spectre, and sovereign marshal from Akemi; An arcane sheriff from Taigen because they're probably taking their shit-talking to League too; and a reaver vandal, reaver karambit, and the oni katana from you.

She doesn't really give a shit about skins, but ever since she was gifted one, she started appreciating them. You'll see her using the inspect animation once in a while if she picks up a skin she's never seen before.

If it's just a chill comp game or she's playing solo queue, she'll use the oni katana. If she's playing with you and/or wants to show off, she'll use the reaver karambit. Of course you have to go with the sexy one when trying to impress.

✦ Doesn't shit talk heavily, but shit talks in a way that'll piss you off.

"Ooooh shit someone's mad," you laughed over the voice-comms, watching as the enemy Reyna started spewing all sorts of insults at your team. It was mostly targeted at Mizu, who was also playing Reyna, and was top-fragging. Soon after that fiasco, you'd see Mizu type "." in all chat every time she killed the enemy Reyna, got a clutch, and even an ace. Everyone was snickering at her antics, finding it funny how Mizu was shitting on them while the enemy was clearly progressively getting even more tilted.

On the other hand, if Taigen was there and Mizu failed to clutch the round, he'd be laughing loudly over the voice chat, making fun of her over and over. He'd even type "GG [insert Mizu's current agent]. Aimlabs is free" in team chat, which was so fucking embarrassing. The moment Mizu catches Taigen lacking, she'll be having a hayday in the team chat, spamming "GG [insert Taigen's current agent], Aimlabs is free" over and over which effectively pisses Taigen off.

✦ Along with the previous one, if someone ever decided to trashtalk you, she's going absolutely feral. She still wouldn't be spewing nonsense, but you'll notice her becoming more aggressive.

"Didn't you just use your ult?" You asked her, spectating as she used another Reyna ult which you swore she just used two rounds ago. "I just feel like playing a little better today," she replies. But then goes to strafe like a fucking bitch, doing a poppin' swing once or thrice, making the enemy struggle before killing the enemy and t-bagging them aggressively.

You raised an eyebrow at her antics but still laughed at it. "You sure you're not here for blood?" you joked. "Yeah.." she said while spamming your trashtalker's KD status in all-chat.

✦ There's no doubt about how well she plays with different agents, but her worst agent to use would be Gekko. Something about Dizzy's trajectory and letting Wingman plant and defuse felt off to her. Maybe it was because she was used to having control over the speed of her flashes and being able to fake defuse.

✦ Actually responds to "clutch or gay" jokes.

If a random teammate or anyone in your friend group (mainly Taigen) decides to use that joke on her during a clutch situation, it doesn't matter if it's a 1v1, a 1v5, a 1v5 + Sage res + Clove ult. She's winning. She's fucking winning.

You watched in anticipation as Mizu, using Omen, went through attacker spawn in Breeze. It was a 1v4, having picked one off when she picked up the spike. For a moment, you thought of something before typing "clutch or gay" in team chat. It worked for your other friends and randos, why not try it?

The moment she read that chat from you, you could immediately see Omen throwing his weapons off of the map. The noise of the agent's footsteps prompting the enemy to shoot him. "Bro what the fuck are you doing?" Taigen groans, annoyance heavy in his voice. Mizu doesn't respond in voice chat, but you hear her typing. After a while, a chat pops up.

(Whisper) From mizu: did you see that?

(Whisper) To mizu: mhm. why'd u do that :c

(Whisper) From mizu: you said clutch or gay

(Whisper) From mizu: i didn't clutch.

But she only ever does this to you.

✦ Actually plays fill but everyone in your friend group decided to place her as a duelist. She's going to treat every agent like a damn duelist anyway. Why place her somewhere else? You get site early and fast + She gets higher RR from combat score. It's a win-win. Plus, she loves secretly showing off to you. She relishes the "woah where'd you learn to satchel like that?", the "nice kill!" when she wins in an Iso 1v1, and the way you bought her an op upon her request when she used Jett as if you automatically trusted her.

#bes mizu x reader #bes mizu #bes x reader #mizu blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai x reader #mizu #mizu x reader #blue eye samurai mizu #mizu x you #mizu imagine

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fatratinatophat · 2 months ago

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Hiatus update, the future of the blog, and my plans for summer (For the blog obviously

“Wow Crumb I’m so glad you’re telling us this I missed you so much, I missed your art” said nobody but whatever, here

There’s a TLDR at the bottom if you don’t wanna listen to me yap.

So I’ve been on hiatus for a while, mainly because I’ve been sick and thus not at school and we just had April vacation, and I draw most of my art during my classes not at home so I haven’t been drawing. This hiatus SHOULD end soon, I’m currently drawing things I want to draw right now, but I WILL KEEP MY PROMISE of my first update being a New Craft page, I’m just getting back into the swing of things and finding the motivation to do so. But I need to talk about something else first:

If you haven’t noticed I’ve had like 0 motivation to do any art things for a long time

The constant hiatuses and lack of NC updates aren’t random, it’s because I dread drawing them. And I believe I’ve figured out why: The fucking schedule. I’ve noticed every time while drawing today that I end up rushing through and drawing stuff I don’t particularly want to just to fill my stupid quota and get my stupid drawings done to shove them in my queue. The result is rushed art, lack of experimentation and thus things getting stale, and dreading having to do it so taking breaks. Also the barrage of boring, transparent background bs.

This also causes a lack of notes, especially for some reason after DW became trending I’ve seen to become a bit less popular for whatever reason, getting less notes per post. NC seems to be the only thing that gets me good notes (Other than that stupid fucking Goob post I did forever ago I spent like maybe 10 minutes on that blew up, that’s STILL getting notes) and do I even have to mention any posts with my ocs on it that aren’t sketch pages that also include DW ocs, that get like- less than 10 every time.

So uh yeah not much motivation and an unhappy Crumb, but I’m here for solutions not to bitch. So, I’m NO LONGER going to have an upload schedule for my art. I’ll try and upload once weekly at least but I’m sick of rushing on everything. I’m also going to try and stop making posts with no backgrounds and just one or two characters standing around (Ironic cause I’m drawing another one but that’s more for study than to make something peak) I will however continue to do my asks that have been sitting in my inbox since LAST FUCKING YEAR (I’m slow as HELL, also all my recents have been One Forsaken request and daily fucking Gaza posts from someone I suspect to be a bot since they’re always on anon???) so that won’t change

But yeah, that’s for the general blog but now we need Crumb lore.

So, for the past 18 years of my life, every summer, I either hardly draw at all or DO NOT AT ALL for the entire few months. It helps me basically “reset” and be able to more easily dump the stuff I don’t like about my art. This has never been an issue before this cause I’ve never had actual fans and more than like 10 followers that aren’t friends before now (Insane how much I’ve grown in one year)

So the summer uploads are a bit iffy but I have 2 ideas:

-Upload nothing all summer, reblog some posts here and there to show I’m alive and return once I start college or sumn

-Upload less frequently and use the break to be REALLY experimental with things, I’ve also been toying with the idea of making a comic surrounding some of my ocs and then would be the perfect time to plan it and make it IF I DO, I dunno what I’d do and if I’m ready yet so it’s unlikely

No I’m not asking what I should do I’m saying what I could

I’ll decide later what I want I guess and of course give you guys a heads up what I’m gonna do once that time runs around. I have like a month left of school and maybe I’ll get into a rhythm and wanna keep going idk. We’ll all have to see.

Also, I WILL FINISH FUCKING NC BEFORE I DO THAT. I will upload them one after a fucking nother if I have to I want this stupid comic off of me, I’ll explain why once I’m done with it. Also chapter 2 is cancelled.

Also my Discord server is basically dead (Died after I had One Palworld hyperfixation) and I think most of them all lost interest in DW so if you guys wanna join please do I’m lonely there’s like 3 people who actually talk now help

But yeah I think I’m done. I bet like maybe 3 people read this entire thing. Anyways time for your TLDR:

-I have zip motivation for anything lately I’m trying to fix it

-I WILL BE MAKING THAT NC PAGE

-NO MORE UPLOAD SCHEDULE, it’s killing me. I’ll try uploading once weekly but don’t count on it

-I’ll try stopping the boring no background one guy standing there posts and make my posts more interesting and dynamic

-I may stop posting art over the summer, may be more experimental and upload less, might even make an oc-based comic idk

-Before I go on my summer hiatus/low uploads, I will finish New Craft, also chapter 2’s cancelled

Ok I’m done my head hurts ow

#crumb YAPS #LIKE A LOT #needed to be said though #if i said anything confusing just ask me abt it ill answer any questions anyone has

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artist-of-dawn · 8 months ago

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So High School

Chapter 7: "heartbeat"

Next: "Suga-san's masterplan"

Masterlist

🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊

The last few weeks have been extremely confusing. First Shoyo comes back and everything feels right again, his smile and laugh and genuine care for me warm my heart, but it seems that there is a line we both subconsiously don't cross. He's here flirting and having fun but it feels too light, it makes me feel unsure about how he truly feels about me and now I'm standing like an idiot near the door just to hear him ringing the door bell. He's supposed to arrive in 15 minutes.

"Don't forget how to breathe yn." Shimizu Kyioko was standing in the doorway to the living room with a small smile, she has always been the stability I never knew I needed.

"I'm scared Shimizu."

"I know. It's okay, It's normal."

"But how do I know if he's genuine? That he doesn't just do this with everyone and I’m just delusional?"

"I cannot tell you what to think of him or his actions, but have you seen him being this way with anyone else?" I hesitantly shake my head. "He adores you. Not more than me though. And you are not delusional at all, at the reunion when he came back he had this lovesick look on his face and talked about you for the rest of the night before koushi got shitfaced and passed out." She held out her hand and helped me up from the floor I was supposedly moping on.

"Yeah you're right. I should worry less." I shake my head and do my best to smile."Love you shimizu" Damn, I am so lucky to be able to call these people my friends. Once in a while these moments really make me so grateful that I have them in my life.

The sweet moment was cut short by the doorbell. Shit. The calm was long gone.

Shimizu took that as her queue to leave the room, winking at me before going upstairs.

I open the door hesitantly before he hugs me. Damn this man. I cannot even feel my heartbeat anymore. He's strong and comforting and all of the things I sometimes admit to long for.

"Hey Sho, ready to enter the life of a model?" He laughed a little.

🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊

"You're alright?" Shoyo says suddenly and I slam my phone face down onto the grass.

"Yeah it's just Kei being salty as usual."

"Ah, yeah I remeber you said that you guys kept in contact after graduation." I still remember how I dragged him to the celebratory dinner. I had to paint dino bones and name them for him to learn quicker, some sort of artsy flashcards.

"He needs someone to keep him in check while tadashi is away traveling." He hums in understanding. "Wanna listen to some music?"

He just nods and looks away with a distant, nearly dreamy gleam in his eyes. I wonder what he's thinking about. I shrug and open my phone scrolling and stopped and played a random song.

And so played mirrorball by Taylor Swift.

I dare to dream only for a moment of saying fuck it and just tell him everything there is to say. How I want nothing more than to spend my life with him and that I tried to forget him but failed terribly. That I'd let him ruin all my paints if he came to my house more often and wear his jersey to every game.

But I don't. Not yet.

Sometimes I'm disappointing myself.

I lean my head on his shoulder as he hums to the song. I'll shine for him meanwhile.

🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊🌸🍊

No fun facts this time :")

"Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me? (Kill me)

It's just a game, but really (really)

I'm bettin' on all three for us two (all three)"

Taglist: @nymphsdomain @writing-for-the-hell-of-it

#haikyuu #hinata shouyou #hinata shoyo x reader #haikyuu hinata #so high school #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu smau #hq #hq fluff #hq smau

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bleachbleachbleach · 2 months ago

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4/7/-5/3/2025

I genuinely thought I had done one of these recently but it turns out it's been four weeks and the entire month of April and a lot of time has passed. Half of me is not surprised by this, because I have known this was how April was going to be since last fall, when I was populating my calendar. The dividing line in me is unsure how I am still standing on the other side and deeply upset that my reward is a bunch of miscellaneous tasks that actually also need to be done, instead of getting to evolve into a more desirable state of being, which is to be a block of tofu jiggling in a little tub of water.

So far every month this year has just been ever-contracting time available to myself until I get very upset about all the things I don't have time for and rebelliously clean a bathroom, even though that had very much not yet come up in the task queue (this Wednesday's exploit).

I have been being kept afloat by *thinking* daily about my fanfic, if not necessarily writing more than one mental line edit at a time while I am driving. But I also feel super disconnected from Bleach as a whole, and from fandom, and anything that doesn't exist in the specific context of my fanfic. And I think (?) I'd like to figure out how to rebuild that. (The question mark regards whether such a thing is possible; whether "re" is an appropriate prefix; whether trying would make me feel better or worse, etc. Because part of me is like, I mean, doing things that will feel further isolating seem a bit counterproductive? But that's probably its own post.)

Because then I'm also at this impasse where I'm like, okay, but I also want to actually write my fanfic, which is not something I have had time to do, either, and in that case t i m e is the limiting resource if we're trying to have cake and eat it. Time and energy, because I feel like for some reason every damn thing outside of my blorbos I just want to play house with requires this huge all-encompassing scope of attention. Like, nothing can be easy and everything has to be some kind of epic, whether that means strategic plans and programmatic reviews or things that are legitimately existential and serious. And every time I open my email I'm like "YOU WANT ME TO WHAT NOW." But anyway, that's not what this space is for, either.

My point for this post, really, is to call to attention for myself that all of April has apparently happened. And to acknowledge that May is going to be highly irregular and probably not that useful for re-establishing routines, but maybe if I own that, I can still try to build something in spite of this.

FIRST OF ALL, I should actually adjust the goals-as-written for once in my life instead of Duplicating the same unedited sheet over and over again. Let's start there!!!!!!!

#stories for the sea

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novafire-is-thinking · 1 year ago

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(Until life picks up speed again, this is null. I’ll update it later.)

How to say goodbye ‘see you around’ and mean it…

The time has come.

First thing’s first: this isn’t goodbye—just a heads up.

Due to changes I’m making in my personal life, I’m easing away from the Transformers fandom for a partial hiatus. My ambition makes me restless, and it’s about time I put some of my plans into action.

Yes, a Chinese person becoming a doctor. How original.

Maybe I’ll turn out like Ratchet. Maybe I’ll suffer long enough to become Pharma.

Only time will tell…

In any case, I don’t plan on totally disappearing from the fandom any time soon. For the foreseeable future, you’ll see me around primarily on weekends, Wednesdays, and holidays—collecting posts for the queue, answering old asks, announcing completed WIPs, and making a post every once in a while.

What to expect:

The queue will publish a few times a day, and most original posts and extra reblogs will be scheduled.

I have 300+ post ideas saved in my notes and screenshots. My goal is to slowly release these into the wild.

I’ll try to keep writing meta, but when and how will depend entirely on how much free time I have, and what little energy I have to spare.

If I ever have extra time, I might open my ask box and play an ask game or two. Maybe…

Asks, tags, and other things:

If you sent an ask in the past, I probably have it saved either in my inbox or my drafts. Yes—even the asks that are almost a year old. I have not forgotten, and I still intend to answer, even if the sender doesn’t remember.

My inbox is closed for now, but I’ve set up a fancy little Google form as a replacement: Nova’s Commlink

If at any time, you tagged me in something interesting, I saved it in my drafts. If I’ve deemed it worthy of a response, you will see it eventually.

Feel free to keep tagging me in things. I’ll give posts a ‘like’ to confirm I saw them, and if I really like a post, I’ll queue it for later or drop it in my drafts if I want to give a longer response.

If you tag me and I don’t confirm receipt within a few days, drop me a note in the Google form.

If I said I would do something else for you, I haven’t forgotten. It’s on my list, and I will get back to you about it when I’m able.

WIPs:

Fics for my Constellations of Cybertron AU are on hold. I’ll still plot and plan, but it will be a long time before I publish any of those longer stories.

I will continue working on my shorter WIPs: short fics, zine pieces, etc.

How to reach me:

Anyone (mutual or otherwise) who has my Discord should message me over there. This extends to those I’m in servers with.

Mutuals who don’t have my Discord and anyone I follow here can still DM me through Tumblr.

Everyone else can contact me using the Google form.

Don’t be afraid of bothering me. It may take me a while to respond, but I welcome it.

Last updated: 5/14/24 - section(s) updated: intro, What to expect, and WIPs

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starryredpandawrites · 1 year ago

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*Rubs hands together evily in anticipation for possible angst*

What if. . . Audrey was the one taken by the Keepers instead of Bendy?

Basically, the cutscene where the Keeper gets Audrey and she wakes up in the train, but instead they drag her off either kicking and screaming/fighting back or unconscious while Bendy is stuck fighting another horde off. I'd imagine Bendy would freak, thinking they'd torture and butcher her like they did him. Or just not being fond of Wilson getting his creepy wrinkled hands on her.

Another thought, what about Alice taking her like in the manors bathroom? Bendy being helpless due to the coils surrounding Alice's hideout, possibly trying to sneak in with his toon form, hoping he doesn't come across her gutted carcass strapped to a table like oh-so many Boris clones.

Man would he be pissed with Wilson's attempt to kill and use her to make a tool for Gent to overthrow him. Probably wouldn't take Audrey's legs getting ripped off too well either.

Yanno, depends on how far they take her.

Adding a cut because this is a little spoilery for where I plan on taking the story

I think that if they found and tried to take her while he's fighting the horde, he most likely wouldn't have gotten captured again. One of the reasons the Keepers were able to take him down was because he got so carried away ripping them to shreds he accidentally wandered into an area where the giant rainbow coil things could be activated (I forgot their actual name) and I'm sure y'all can imagine what happened after that. He could've just led them into the next room and disappeared, then came back for Audrey later, but he was having too much fun.

If he heard Audrey screaming or sensed that she had been knocked out, he would go charging back to find her. I don't think the Keepers would be able to take her that far before he would catch up. Queue him ripping the wannabe kidnapping Keepers to shreds, grabbing Audrey, and fleeing with her. Don't ask me why he didn't do that in the first place, maybe he figured it was too dangerous/risky but realized after the Keepers got her anyway he should have just done that from the start? IDK

If he was too late and they got away with her, he would do some major damage to the Pit and every area outside the signal dampeners (idk if that's their real name but that's what I'm calling them now) radius until he eventually stumbles into a dead zone and would likely get captured again. Now both of the siblinks are captured and Audrey would have no idea and possibly think Bendy gave up on her and is ignoring her.

Oof, the angst possibilities there are huge and hurt my heart, so let's go back to the happy-ish version where he gets her back.

I say happy-ish because I see two possible courses of action that Bendy could take after saving Audrey from the Keepers.

He takes her back to his lair and basically imprisons her there. He cares about her too much to risk losing her again, sort of giving up on his goal of defeating Wilson and taking back control of the cycle in favor of hoarding her all to himself. She is obviously unhappy with this and keeps trying to sneak out but he's gotten way too good at finding her for her to really get that far. They spend their time watching cartoons, fighting/arguing over Audrey's agency and poor past choices, and playing together when Bendy is in his toon form (It's really hard for Audrey to stay mad at him in that form). This also would have happened if he hadn't been captured and was able to return to Audrey's hiding place after dealing with the Keeper horde like he was in the fic. Eventually, Wilson would force their hand by sending Keepers all throughout the studio/ink world to look for Audrey and idk what would happen after that. Endgame type stuff probably. Kind-of a fun alternate ending to think about.

He panics so much at the thought of losing her again that once he does get her back he devours her/takes her soul like he does at the end of the game and they become big ink monster right in the Gent building. When Audrey wakes up she feels super unhappy and betrayed and wants to yell at him but they get attacked by more Keepers almost instantly after the transformation is complete. So, Audrey willingly lets the Ink Demon handle the fighting while she sort-of mopes in a corner of their mind. I imagine with their combined power, the dampeners hardly do more than give them a headache so after they destroy the Keepers, Bendy would get started on just absolutely obliterating the Gent building. Audrey would let him until they get to the prison cells, where she holds him back from killing Henry and Sammy and just frees them instead (Bendy also has more empathy for Henry after hearing his side of things during Audrey's conversation with him, so it's not as hard to convince him as you might think). She would probably steer him clear of Big Steve too, but everything else is free game. Together, they go on a massive destructive rampage, and without Memory Joey's little speech to inspire her, I don't think Audrey could stop it even if she wanted to. Honestly, she would probably start relishing in the destruction almost as much as the Ink Demon seeing as she has some pretty good reasons to hate the place after getting kidnapped by Wilson. Speaking of Wilson, they would super duper murder him dead. Like, super dead. Possibly Betty too but I would hope Audrey would have the self-control to spare her. Story would probably end with Henry, Allison and maybe some others like Memory Joey teaming up to take them down. I think they could probably talk Audrey down and convince her to look into the End reel to restart the cycle. This would be a major betrayal in Bendy's eyes and permanently damage their relationship, so maybe we could see this as a sort-of bad alternate ending for the fic.

If you're still here after that major case of word vomit, congratulations! Let's talk about Alice/Malice Angel

Warning of MAJOR incoming spoilers, skip to the next paragraph if you want to avoid those:

I actually do plan on keeping Malice kidnapping Audrey in the story. When Bendy sees her get kidnapped (he's free at this point) he gets so panicked he DOES come after her again, this time in his toon form. Shenanigans ensue, such as Audrey thinking to herself while chained to her chair, "Well, at least Bendy's safe." and then looking up and seeing him in his very adorable and very vulnerable, toon form right above where the murderous Malice Angel is monologuing at her.

I won't spoil more than that but hopefully you get the gist.

And yes, Bendy is going to be super pissed at Wilson no matter what he does, but especially for stealing Audrey away (going off the idea that Wilson successfully kidnaps her while Bendy is fighting off Keepers). I would hope he would be fast enough in intervening against Shipsahoy Dudley to prevent her from getting her legs ripped off this time but who knows what could happen ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If you made it this far, congratulationsX2!! Have a gold star ⭐ I appreciate you so much for reading my silly little thoughts and hope you have a fantastic day 🖤🤍🖤

#batdr #batim #bendy #audrey drew #henry stein #wilson arch #batdr audrey #batdr wilson #the ink demon #ink demon #Malice Angel #bendy and the ink machine #bendy and the dark revival #sammy lawrence #born from the same ink #answered ask #ask

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