#if i get replies or starters anything like that ill try and get to them in my downtime

[hermitkat]

Grian had been living alone for a while now. He had spent most of his time in single-player worlds, and even if he got together with friends, he always ended up alone at the end of the day.

This meant that he was accustomed to having to take care of everything himself. He got pretty decent at tending to his own injuries and making sure nothing got infected. Illness usually just meant he'd be out of commission for a while, spending it in his bed, trying to eat and drink when he had the energy. Health potions helped when he had access to them, though that was rare.

Back then, no one would really notice his absence unless he had had a collab planned. He usually had enough foresight to notify his friends if he wasn't going to be able to show up, so that didn't make much of a difference either. Telling people you had been a little ill usually satisfied them enough to not poke further if you looked well enough by then.

Hermitcraft, as it turns out, is a little different. Grian fell ill after only four weeks on the server, suddenly having been in contact with a lot more people than usual. He didn't think much of it, considering he didn't have anything planned with the others anyway. So he just stayed in his bed, mostly just staring at the ceiling or sleeping, waiting for the fever and pain to pass.

He quickly found out, however, that the Hermits didn't work like that. Within the second day of him being "missing", they begun to worry. On the third day, Mumbo decided to go looking for him, deciding that Grian likely wouldn't be so engrossed in his work for THAT long. Usually, he would at least read the messages sent to him, even if he didn't reply. He found his base easily and dove into the water to check on his friend.

He found the unconscious man lying in his bed, pale as a ghost, hot to the touch and clearly uncomfortable. He freaked out, immediately calling in X to help, as he trusted him a lot more than he did himself. The admin gladly helped him look after his friend and made a mental note to ask Grian why he hadn't asked for help with the state he was in when they found him. The hermits did already have healing potions by now.

When Mumbo first placed a wet rag on Grians head to lessen the fever he was sporting, he startled awake, confused as to why there were multiple people in his room. He tried to convince them that he was fine and didn't need assistance, but did eventually cave and let them help him. He wouldn't admit it, but it was nice being taken care of for once. It certainly made him feel a lot less miserable during his recovery.

When he managed to convince his friends that he was well enough to get back to work, X requested that he come visit his base before he started work again. "Just want to have a quick chat about something," he had said. He would be lying if he said that it didn't make him feel nervous. His mind was racing to try and figure out what might be wrong. Was he mad? Had he done something? Was he in danger somehow? It couldn't be anything good. Talks like that never were.

He gathered his courage and followed his admin without voicing his concerns. Might as well get it over with. Also, he was afraid he'd try to dip out due to the anxiety if he didn't force himself to do this right away. He was led into the little kitchen in Xisumas starter base, where the admin made them both tea and offered him biscuits that looked homemade. It didn't manage to calm him down completely, but the calm vibes of X and his cute little kitchen certainly did help.

And then it was time to talk. X looked serious, but his eyes were kind. There was, however, worry barely hidden behind his gaze.

"Are you ok? You seem nervous."

Grian nodded and made a quiet sound of affirmation, avoiding looking at the admin at all costs.

He decided to let it go. "Alright. I invited you here to talk about your behaviour."

Grian looked up at that, confusion and anxiety lacing his face. "What?" His voice was quiet and unsure. It made Xisumas heart ache.

"It's nothing bad! We're just worried about you and want to make sure that you know that you can reach out for help when you need it. All the Hermits are always willing and gald to help. You don't need to do everything alone, yknow?" X took a breath, realising that he had been rambling without taking any time to breathe.

Grian was looking at X, hus face not portraying any particular emotion. A quiet "Oh" was all that he managed to say.

"Sorry. Got a bit rambly there." X chucked quietly, rubbing the back of his head. He hadn't meant to talk so fast but Grians anxiety had made him anxious as well. "Just. When you're ill or injured or just need company. We will always be there for you, okay?"

"Yeah." Grian was nodding, finally having understood why he was here. "Sorry about not asking for help. I kinda forgot that was an option.." Now it was his turn to scratch his head and chuckle awkwardly.

X looked concerned: "Wha.."

"It's not you." He interrupted X quickly, sensing what he was thinking. "I've been living alone for so long I just... forgot, I guess? Just got used to having to tend to myself alone." He gave a small smile and a shrug, hoping to convey that this wasn't a big deal.

"Oh." X looked thoughtful, as if searching his memory for something. He shook his head lightly and smiled, saying, "That makes sense, then. I was worried you didn't think we would be willing to. Just know that we would love to help, yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded and was a bit surprised at himself, as he had not expected to trust these people so quickly. But everyone here was so sweet and considerate that he somehow didn't doubt it for a second. It would take some getting used to, but he was willing to try.

Both the men felt relieved. They fell into a comfortable quietness, both sipping at their tea occasionally. Eventually Grian remembered that he had actually meant to ask X about a couple things he had noticed, so they chattered on about random observations and funny stories for a while after both of their mugs had been emptied.

It was nice. Xisuma was glad to be talking with his new Hermit, happy that they now knew to ask for help. Grian had mostly kept to himself, so both of them savoured the easy conversation. Grian was just glad that his concerns about having a one on one talk with the admin had been unfounded. Eventually, they did part ways, getting back to work on their individual projects. Neither of them forgot that conversation, though.

[rissynicole]

“ tell me who did this to you. “ with Dib asking Zim :D

Okay. So, this ask was sent in a long time ago as part of a whump/injury sentence-starter ask game. When I say a long time, I mean the time stamp was August 27th. And I didn’t forget about it, delete it, or file it away. I just got super carried away with it. These writing prompts were supposed to be relatively short, and I ended up writing damn near 3,000 words for this. 

On to the story, itself, I got kind of dark with it. For anyone who wants to read this, that’s just a heads up. It is tagged appropriately, and I implore anyone who is sensitive to darker themes and mental illness to use their best discretion. I did my part by tagging; do your part by abiding by those tags if you know it will upset you.

That said, here’s the story for this prompt.

Prompt: “Tell me who did this to you.”

Characters: Zim, Dib, Computer

Relationships: ZaDf

Words: 2,990

“Tell me who did this to you!”

Zim began to murmur some response, but the already incoherent words tapered off into ragged gurgling in the back of his throat. He weakly clutched his midsection and choked down unsteady breaths, seemingly unaware that Dib’s hands were already pressing down on the same area to apply pressure to the wound.

“Zim!”

The lab, dimly lit even when the electricity was working properly, had been pitch black when Dib had entered it. The entire base had been like this—decrepit and void of its usual hum of energy and life. Dib had called for Zim, growing more and more concerned the further down he made it into the base’s subterranean levels. That was, until he heard a faint moan that had managed to permeate the shroud of darkness and silence.

Zim had been on the floor, square in the middle of a pool of dark, sticky liquid. It took only a glimpse for Dib to connect that it was blood. Zim’s blood. It took a closer look, however, to see where it was coming from. Sodden gloved claws gripped at his abdomen, unable to hold on as Dib pried them away. This only led to the pool of blood expanding quicker on the ground. Dib had abandoned his effort at getting a good look at the wound and had turned instead to trying to stop the bleeding.

“Zim!” he shouted at him again. This only earned a faint flick of his eyes in his direction.

“We need to get you to the med bay now,” Dib muttered frantically and mostly to himself.

Zim didn’t reply. He was fading fast and likely didn’t hear a word of what he was saying. His face was ghostly white and almost glowing in the darkness.

Against his better judgement, Dib removed his hands from the wound and quickly shrugged out of his jacket. He hastily wrapped it around Zim’s torso and scooped him in his arms with alarmingly little protest from the Irken.

“Computer, prepare the med bay.”

A beat of silence passed. The room remained just as dark and deathly silent as it had when he’d entered.

Perhaps Dib would have felt stupid if panic wasn’t overtaking every inch of space in his mind. He clutched his phone as best he could and angled it in front of him to cast its weak flashlight over the walls. At the far end of the laboratory, he spotted what he was looking for—the breaker system. Several handles lined the back corner, all switched off. He raced to the other end and flipped them all back on.

He heard the power return to the base before he saw it. It started as a low hum that gradually increased in volume until the floor they were on lit up and Dib was blinded by the light of Zim’s huge computer monitor. He didn’t really stop to take in anything as he raced across the room towards the elevator and ordered it to the next floor.

As his eyes adjusted, he could see just how much blood he and Zim were covered in. It felt unfathomable that so much blood could have possibly been in Zim’s body in the first place. Even harder to believe was that Zim hadn’t yet stopped breathing. In came in and out in weak, shaky bursts.

As soon as the elevator came to its stop, Dib raced out and into the main room. “Do something!”

Despite the snappy order, he was still spooked when several metal arms dropped down from the ceiling. Two snatched Zim away from him while a third deployed some sort of scanner that trailed from the Irken’s antennae and steadily moved downward. It paused noticeably on his torso, then traveled down to his feet before shutting off and disappearing back into the rafters. 

Somehow, Zim managed to open his eyes again. Dib’s breath hitched in his throat. When he had found him on the floor in the base’s laboratory, his eyes had been somewhat alert. Now, they were taking on an oddly glassy quality. Before Dib could react further, the platform Zim was on opened into a trapdoor and promptly carried him away.

Dib blinked. Everything had gone from complete mayhem to stillness in an instant. “What’s going on?” he asked the empty room. His pulse was still pounding in his ears.

“Emergency repair protocols for biological shell,” came the computer’s response from above. “Scan shows severe blood loss from a gunshot wound in the abdomen and through the lower squeedlyspooch.”

“Gunshot wound?” Dib pushed his glasses up on his nose, disturbed by the scent and sight of Zim’s blood on his hand as he did so. “Is he going to be okay?”

“Prognosis: 50% chance of survival.”

Dib’s heart dropped to his stomach. How could this have happened?

His mind traveled back to what had transpired just moments before. He had walked into Zim’s base. Noticed it was dark and eerily quiet. Began searching for Zim.

Dib thought about one of the first things he’d blurted once he’d found him.

“Tell me who did this to you!”

After the precursory “What happened?!” and “Oh my God!”, the very next thing he’d thought to say was “tell me who did this do you!” It was obvious someone had done this to him. Zim hadn’t been anywhere near any tools or equipment that could have led to his injury. Not to mention, the location of it on his body seemed too exact to have been a lab accident. Dib had learned enough over the years to know that the only surefire way to kill an Irken was to target both their body and their life support. Impalement through the abdomen and PAK would destroy the biological and mechanical shell in the same shot and prevent any chance of the PAK operating without a live host.

“Computer…” Dib started, voice weak. “Is there anyone else in the base?”

“Unknown.”

This simple word turned his blood to ice water. Unknown. How could the computer not know? Did being taken offline mess it up somehow? Did an intruder disable its security system? Did it simply not have the capacity to give Dib an answer while focusing its energy on Zim?

Dib opened his mouth to ask another question, then pursed his lips. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be getting any meaningful responses from the computer while it was working to “repair” Zim. It was just as well. There had been a time not so very long ago when the computer wouldn’t have let anything resembling Dib’s bio signature near the base, never mind answer questions spoken from his own mouth.

Deep from a lower level of the base, the sound of clinking echoed up. It could have been nothing more than the computer retrieving something in Zim’s surgical theater, but Dib whipped around nonetheless, eyes wide.

There could be someone in the base right now. The very same person who had just tried to murder Zim in cold blood.

He swallowed thickly and glanced every which way. The med bay was quiet. He crept to the elevator. “Take me to the main level.”

The computer still didn’t respond, but the elevator began its leisurely trek upwards. Dib didn’t even know what he would do if he saw an intruder. Would the intruder still have the gun on them? Would it be some sort of Irken plasma gun or a typical Earth handgun with typical Earth bullets? Would he, too, end up left for dead in a pool of his own blood if they crossed paths?

The elevator slid to a stop, and Dib stepped out of it meekly. The front room was utterly silent, television powered down and lights flicked off.

He peered into the kitchen. Nothing. A glance at front door revealed that it was just as he’d left it when he’d walked in, closed with only the bottom lock in place. He turned his head towards the couch. The cushions were perfectly aligned with both pillows arranged neatly at either end.

“Hello?” he asked the room, shivering at the sound of his voice as it pierced the air. There wasn’t a single stir in response, though. Still keeping his head on a swivel, Dib stepped back into the elevator.

It occurred to him that the next logical place to check would be Zim’s Voot hangar. It would be a likely place for an intruder to hide… then again, Dib couldn’t recall if the hangar was even unlocked. Zim hadn’t used his ship in years. He couldn’t use it even if he’d wanted to…

“Take me to the next level down.”

The computer did as it was told, and Dib stepped out into the cold, dimly lit room. This level was wholly unremarkable—some storage area where Zim kept his old, junked projects. Many of them were caked in dust, and some had been scavenged from to add to others. The more impressive inventions were near the back of the room. These had been created back when Zim and Dib were actively at each others’ throats. They had also been created back when the Irken Empire was still funding Zim’s mission.

It had been several years now since Zim’s leaders had cut him off. They’d cut him off in every way possible. Any and all funding for his mission was gone, leaving him financially desolate. No transmissions would go through. He had no money, nor did he have the means to order more supplies, be it ammunition, parts, fuel for his ship, or even food. 

Right around then had been the turning point in Dib’s relationship with Zim. They had gone from being sworn enemies to… well, not friends. Certainly not. They were more like two people who checked in on each other.

Once it became clear that Earth would no longer be in any real harm… well, Dib couldn’t necessarily explain his actions. He had taken some initial (and outwardly expressed) joy in the idea that no armada was coming, no shipments of superweapons would appear in Zim’s yard, and Zim had no real means or motivation to accomplish his goal of world conquest. If he had been cut off from Irk, then he wasn’t much of a threat anymore, was he?

These feelings faded over time, though.

It began with one pity-visit to Zim’s house, then became a several. Sequentially came trips to the convenience store to try to find things he could eat. Once it became apparent Zim had no real idea how to live on Earth independently, Dib had taken to checking in on him every now and then.

Hence today...

Dib stepped out of the elevator, trying to stay alert, but wondering all the while who could have targeted Zim. Why would anyone target Zim? He hadn’t really done much in the last few years to warrant it. Dib would know that better than anyone.

To his own chagrin, he was back in the laboratory. With the lights on and his mind not clouded with panic, he was able to properly observe the scene of the incident. Irken blood streaked the floors and coated the walls outside the elevator. It smelled strongly of… something. It wasn’t quite like human blood, but it had an oddly powerful scent to it.

Dib took a few shy steps out of the elevator and looked around. There was something on the floor near the blood puddle, but he couldn’t tell what it was until he got closer. Then, with an overwhelming jolt of confusion and fear, he realized it was the gun.

The one the intruder had used to harm Zim. They had… just left it there…

While it was undeniably Irken, it was small and rather simple-looking.

How had this happened?

It was possible that it was left over from Zim’s own arsenal and had been pilfered when the intruder broke in. Maybe from a squatter who had assumed the base was abandoned? Zim did live rather quietly these days.

It occurred to Dib, too, that the intruder could have been Irken and had abandoned their gun after doing the deed. That wouldn’t be totally out of the question. 

Dib didn’t dare touch it. Instead, he walked around the lab, sharply glancing around for any movement. He turned a corner, towards the area Zim kept old machinery and parts.

“Ahhhh!” he nearly jumped out of his skin, shouting in the emptiness. He slapped his hands over his mouth and stumbled backwards. His immediate thought was that he’d been caught by Zim’s attacker, lying in wait. When his eyes adjusted, though, he saw what it actually was—GIR. 

The robots eyes were a dull gray, and his head was slumped forward next to a toolbox. Nestled beside him was a round purple lump. Minimoose.

Dib examined them closer, going to far as to tilt GIR’s chin upward. They were both free from any visible disrepair. It just looked like they’d been powered down. He didn’t know Zim’s robots could be powered down.

Absolutely perturbed, he took a few steps backwards.

From his periphery, he could see Zim’s massive computer flickering. It had nearly blinded him with its brightness when the lights had come back on, but Dib had been too preoccupied to give it a single glance.

Now, he could see it was a video, playing and replaying on a loop. Some sort of news broadcast, he surmised. Confused, he sat down in Zim’s chair and watched what was happening on screen.

Footage of dead and dying Irkens. The ruins of buildings that resembled the architecture of Zim’s base uncannily. A masterful camera pan of shrapnel floating aimlessly in space. Shrapnel that, when Dib closely examined it, began to take the form of what had once been The Massive. More footage of the first planet, this time overrun with oddly familiar aliens. Dib had seen them before… he knew he had. They resembled manta rays and radiated with a strange, gossamer light in the dark streets of… of Irk.

Suddenly, several realizations hit Dib at once. Those aliens. They were the Meekrob. And that planet was Irk. Zim’s home. They had destroyed the mothership of Irk’s rulers. Quite likely had killed the Tallest in the doing so. Taken over the planet. 

Dib thumped back into the chair, dumbfounded. Zim hadn’t had access to anything beyond Earth in years. He’d tried, of course, to make some sort of connection with nearby spaceships, radio stations, news broadcasts, and of course, with his beloved Tallest. Nothing had been successful.

Until now, Dib thought.

Zim must have been down here, trying to establish some sort of connection for the umpteenth time and had finally done so… only to discover that Irk had been overtaken by the Meekrob sometime during his lost years of computer static and connection errors.

Dib squinted at the taglines at the bottom of the broadcast and realized it wasn’t written in Irken—no, it was written in another, vaguely similar script. This was a Meekrobian news cast. One of celebration.

Dib sat frozen in the chair, taking it all in. The news segment ended, then repeated from the beginning.

Zim must have been devastated…

Another realization hit Dib, this time with a sinking of fear that settled like lead in his stomach. The strange, meticulous nature of everything he’d stumbled upon. The lack of power in the base that prevented the computer from activating security protocols or otherwise intervening. The robots, deactivated and placed carefully in the corner. The gunshot wound that could not have been an accident…

Dib lifted a shaky hand and pulled his glasses off. The other hand cradled his forehead, elbow propped against the consul. “How is Zim’s condition?” he asked at last.

“Survival rate now at 96%. Major organs were not harmed, and only slight cosmetic PAK damage was sustained. Blood loss is severe.”

His shoulders untensed slightly, but the sick feeling in his stomach remained. “Do you—” his voice cracked, and he swallowed thickly. “—Do you mind if I stay for a while… until he wakes up?”

“Sure.”

A couple more hours passed, and Dib remained in the laboratory curled in Zim’s too-small chair in front of the monitor. He’d long since asked the computer to turn off the gruesome footage and was simply waiting in silence.

Late into the night, he was finally allowed back into the med bay where Zim was propped in a recovery bed and awake. His abdomen was notably swollen and wrapped extensively with bandages. He looked both woozy and alarmingly pale, but he was still worlds more alert than he had been when Dib had originally found him.

Dib drifted to his bedside and stared down at him. “Zim…” He had to gather himself before he could repeat the same words he’d asked before. “Tell me who did this to you.”

The words hung in the air between them. Dib’s tone had taken on a quality that, coming from the mouth of any another person, would demand respect. Gone were the petulant, whiny inflections of his youth, and in their place was a certain poise that was easily reminiscent of his own father’s confident speech pattern. Unfortunately, what he had to say often overpowered how he said it. his attempts at persuasion scarcely had any effect on anyone in his life. They certainly never had any effect on Zim. This time, though, he hoped against hope that they would.

The Irken blinked his sunken eyes a few times. Even under the fog of anesthesia, they looked unusually morose.

Dib waited.

Zim opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it. His antennae pressed back flush against his skull. He took a breath and opened his mouth again. “I did.”

[welcometotherpsideblog]

˚.⋆ ✶ 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨 ! ✶₊⊹

⊹ ࣪ ˖ he/him, 17 (bday in jan) ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁

.𖥔 closed|OPEN to more RP partners ꩜.ᐟ

ᯓ★ ┆ semi-lit/lit, historical + fandom RP ✮⋆˙

⊹ ࣪ ˖ CARRD ⊹ ࣪ ˖

HAS MOVED TO @writingatthedisco

𝐑𝐏 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐑:

- ᴘʀɪᴍᴀʀɪʟʏ ғᴀɴᴅᴏᴍʟᴇss ʜɪsᴛᴏʀɪᴄᴀʟ ʀᴘ: victorian, wild west and regency period the most. medieval eras and greek/slavic/general mythology not so much, but still.

- ғᴀɴᴅᴏᴍ ʀᴘ: night at a museum, bridgerton, red dead redemption 2, percy jackson, frankenstein (only the novel), marauders era

but 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐑 𝐑𝐏 𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐈 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 rn are:

- 𝗥𝗗𝗥𝟮 specific, i have a rough idea for a 18 y.o. golden retriever type cowboy who gets seperated and lost from his usual cowboy group during a cattle round up across America, and decides to stay back so his group can get him on the trail back, in the meanwhile getting accidentally involved with crime and getting sucked into the Van Der Linde gang for means of staying alive and getting money as he waits through the months.

- 𝗙𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗜𝗡 specific, currently i am in the process of working out a Victor x Henry plot (with me playing Victor) (either during the era when Victor is nursed back to healthy by Henry, orthe summer before Victor leaves to study and Henry stays with his family at lake Como)—if you are into the book ship (i am not interested in any other Frankenstien fandom) and love the AO3 fandom surrounding it—reach out! i'm obsessed 😭

(currently: i am looking for answers on only these two ideas- sorry, folks!)

...but ofcourse i am very open to plotting together, if you have any of yourown ideas that fit these settings i wanna hear them!! just please try to be as involved with the plotting as i so we can bounce off eachothers ideas <3

- old ADs: (Bridgerton ServantxServant) (Percy Jackson Museum Quest)

𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐱𝐌, 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐎𝐂 𝐱 𝐎𝐂

- this is because i don't really enjoy playing preexisting characters, however occasionally i do find the muse for a pre-existing character and ship—mostly then it is only CCxCC and it happens very rarely

- VERY open to making more ocs if you have ideas for settings and plots, i love writing especially when collaborating HHWJSHWHE

- side characters who are canon being played occasionally for scenes and stuff is completely fine by me btw, as long was we both play them from time to time when needed- not just one of us!

𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐒 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓:

slow burn, friends to lovers, found family, misfit/outsider, mutual pinning (those the MOST like all my rps had at LEAST one (but all were slow burn and misfit) (ill be fr i only do slow burn and misfit...)) enemies to lovers, various academies/schools, past trauma, forbidden love, abusive/no parents, hurt/comfort, i also dont take my rp too seriously- i include a lot of humor!

- i also love my RP to be plot heavyy, not like... JUST romance, yk? and come to me with plot ideas, not just tropes

𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐏:

- semi-lit/lit, i stay around a three to six paragraphs depending on how much needs to be said, my starters are usually longer as in pushing on 6 paragraphs however i don't worry about length, ofc the lengths will depend on the scene, as long as it gives enough to work with and fits whats happening, i just mirror the other person in terms of it all!

- i rp and reply mostly or at least once daily (unless ofcourse i/you notify the other that you cannot that you are busy or sick or anything) this means i at least want to know you are alive once daily, be it in the form of a OOC DM if busy or a RP reply, and you can reply whenever—don't feel pressured to rush replies out quickly, timing is not important to me! i myself mostly reply around once or twice daily in RP (i write slow, lol), while OOC it depends.

- NO smut

- English is my second language, although i've been speaking and writing in it most of my life, i still may make some slight mistakes

- i roleplay in private discord servers using tupperbox, but tupperbox is not must, though!

- we will also most likely exchange writing/RP samples- it's just the easiest way to see if our RP styles click and if we are both looking for the samw thing in RP!

lot of communication and plotting out OOC is required! im autistic and prefer everything to be cleared up like that 😭

𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐃𝐌 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐲𝐞/𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚! <𝟑

AND come with whatever specifically caught your eye, your character/an additional idea or whatever, and/or bit about yourself as a roleplayer (lit level/para count, activity, age, whatever you feel is important)! (just gimme smth to work with with the first DM so we can get rolling for the love of god 😭)

[redemptionofthefallen]

hey there...its me again....

hello, remember when i said i was going to get onto replies and start being productive? 

im so sorry i didn’t deliver that after like a week of saying that. 

ive been trying to reply to them, but once i get to starting i get all insecure and overwhelmed and its all stupid because i know everyone has been so patient and kind to me so its alright but the ants crawling under my skin wont stop DX 

i took a long hard look rather i wanted to take a hiatus, stop completely, or keep rp in my life. 

i have decided i still want to rp, i still love all of you and i want to interact. im not ready to give it up yet or if i ever will be able to give it up. 

so this is what i have decided to do, i want to start over. 

i am going to tag every single one of you that i have a thread with and im going to treat this like a starter call. 

LIKE THIS POST IF YOU STILL WANT TO RP WITH ME AND IS WILLING TO START A NEW THREAD WITH ME! 

cause i wanna clear all of my threads out and start from scratch. 

the only ones that will take an exception of this clean wipe is those i have only replied once or twice to. such threads belong to: 

@thuganomxcs, @the-rovarians, @chiisaikintsukuroi, and  @hortussecretum

to those i tagged above i need you to give me a like and/or comment to see if you want to continue the thread we have going or start over as well. 

to the rest of the rp partners i tag: 

@occupationallyhazardous, @little-yugi-muto-rp, @systemadministratorclu, @toranoya, @arrowablaze, @miss-pieck-finger, @multifandoms27-blog, @redeyesblackjou, and @verratensduo

i need you to like and/or comment on this post to let me know that you are willing to drop the current thread we have and start a new one from scratch.

to those who like and/or comment on this post i will personally come to you via ask box or IM to discuss how you want to go about the new thread and anything you want to discuss with me. 

if you do not like and/or comment on this post i will assume after a week that you do not want to continue a thread with me. if this is the case i will completely understand and i will hold no ill will. i just want to give you the option given im clean slating everything. just know i enjoyed it while it lasted and i appreciated you giving me a chance and being so gracious with me during this hard time ive been having. 

everyone here has been so nice and caring and i just want you guys to know that i means the WORLD to me that you guys are so awesome ^^ 

i still have a busy life however, so even though im doing this i may still be slow at responding to them. but i feel in this way, maybe i need to just start over and see if that helps me ^^ but if you decide to continue with me then i will tell you i will give it my best to work with you and give it another try ^^ 

thank you to all who read to the end and i hope you have a great day ^^ 

Forever grateful, Garnet  

[lcdybonbon]

indie oc rp blog for Bonnie "BonBon" Gillanders!* fandomless and with a backstory + a bunch of very specific verse adaptations.

*Note: this character is disabled and disfigured even if icons cannot portray it: she limps and walks with a cane, her left cheek and chin are scarred, and usually hidden by a veil depending on the fandom. Alt fc when Karen Gillan is already there.

MUTUALS ONLY! People who ignore this first rule will be blocked: I signal interest by following, don't ask me to plot or rp if I don't.

I also write @smiletimeisrunningout & @savingthrcw (multi) & @re-regeneratedanomaly and take commissions. If you don't see any threads I probably don't owe anything and I don't rush rp partners, but I'm still active! Link to check out threads here

Links: memes (if you follow me on my multi consider the memes I reblog there as doable here too) // all starter calls // open starters //open to ship call // reverse meme calls // plotting calls // headcanons // self promos

rules under readmore

I'm Ele, 35+, will write with 20+ yo rpers. Italian (time-zones are hell), with a bunch of chronic illnesses and ptsd, so some days I'll be super active and insta-reply and other days everything is shelved except for one reply or two that I can tackle, and my angst is pretty vanilla. Mutuals only, as I said. I'll send passwords AFTER being followed. To me rp is the equivalent of playing with dolls, I respect the real people behind it, but if your doll is a Bad Guy I won't think you are a Bad Guy (I might just not want to write that sort of story, that's all). We write when we can, what we want, as much as we want. But also please don't follow me if you don't want to write, just read the bio first so you KNOW, instead of checking it only after I ask you to plot only to realize you are not interested? I don't want silent followers, I'll block you if after we become mutuals you don't respond nor start anything.

Some communication is a must to keep threads going, and I match enthusiasm. If you send me a thousand memes chances are I'll reply to like... 700 of them. Don't feel forced to keep them but you can, and we'll just naturally stop writing the ones who don't have anything special to add to the story. Having multiple threads is my fave thing! The more the merrier! She's an oc and I'm picky so I don't anticipate having a LOT of mutuals, you won't be bothering me if you want to interact more!

Bonnie is straight. I only ship with people who are 21+. I LOVE shipping but I'll NEVER forceship, so dynamics are 'he's my friend' unless allowed otherwise, even if she can flirt as a joke. She doesn't expect men to be interested anyway, so she won't even notice if she is. I'll fade to black unless I tell you otherwise (tagged as nsft), because my repulsion goes up and down. And listen, I'm a big shipper so I get if it's not your cup of tea, but if you are interested in writing female friendship too, then give her a shot!

She's not submissive in ANY aspect of her relationships, including on/offscreen smut or hostile interactions (though she might be scared of your muse and act accordingly). People in the past went way too far or showed some legit misogyny through it. In fact: if your muse is like 'ugh go away' straight out of the gate, she'll go away. End of thread. Plot with me why she shouldn't but the answer can't be: "because she's friendly so she'll keep trying and embarrassing herself".

I welcome duplicates, chances are I'll be online a LOT more than everyone else and I could never have exclusives: I have enough interest, time and energy to give to dozens of the same muse (given that all portrayals are different) in my semi-healthy days.

Please tag images of horror/gore, daddy kink references, and all sexual stuff: written or images even if fanarts. I will unfollow/not follow over this!

I will not tag written topics outside of ns.ft UNLESS they are detailed (general violence, references to past abuse etc), except for no.ncon in canon backstories. I know I can't promise anything different because I know I'd forget if they are just mentions. If I'm writing about it with the other rper it means it's not a trigger for them either, so I can only suggest YOU not to read my threads if a mere reference is too much (I won't read yours either, but s.exual stuff is immediately noticeable when I'm scrolling, unlike a superficial discussion of absentee parents or a mention that someone is pregnant). I cannot tag ableism because it's a permanent part of her life.

I WON'T WRITE: abusive relationships, r.ape outside of backstories, and relationships that are meant to stay hostile, which need some plotting anyway to start as such, or Bonnie being your muse's 'therapist' and being hit with never-ending negativity. I HATE bad endings (death, permanent hate).

I especially want to write with muses I already know or ocs that I can find info about; I have a hard time with muses from fandoms I don't know even if I can make exceptions, especially if there is a bio for them. If your bio is a link to their wiki and nothing more, I might say no on account of not being sure of who they are and if I'm comfortable/interested. Wikis can have 30k words about episodes and still tell me very little about who they are (plus I don't have the energy for that amount of info, I just want to know if our muses can get along and what plots I can come up with!)

I won't write WITH (due to me being uncomfortable, traumatized or not interested): 

deities/myths/religious figures (with rare exceptions because this triggers me). Aliens that are called gods are fine.

vampires and similar creatures outside of B.uffyverse and A.starion from BG3, including anything that has the power to attract my muses against their will.

children/teenagers outside of the 100, with RARE canon exceptions (the 'bratty' teen trope stresses me, mother/literal-child threads bore me).

No H.arry Potter, no ga.me of thrones, no as.oiaf.

"evil" characters due to her personality (not because I judge you tho!): why would someone like her hang out with a serial killer? Some canon exceptions can be made due to how you write your character, especially because most modern character in the villain role aren't child murderers or have body parts in the car trunks (maybe you write a canon divergent villain, maybe they are an 'acceptable' level of evil for that fandom).

[townofinaba]

Rules

-I am tracking the tag townofinaba!

-This is an in-character rp blog for a few p4 muses. I will be highly selective who I rp here with because muse is low and it's mainly to test a few I enjoy. I may not even rp with anyone but friends at first while I do.

-My social anxiety is really bad-- I really struggle to initiate conversation. If a person reaches out I'll happily interact with them though; I'm kind of a social-vampire, and feeling invited in helps a lot. On the other hand, once I'm spoken to, I talk a LOT, so I apologize in advance and hope it isn't too overwhelming. Feel free to tell me to tone it down!

-I think communication is vital to a hobby like this. If you have a question or issue, please let me know! Also, If I do something insensitive or hurtful, please let me know and I'll try to do better next time. Also, this blog does not condone any bigotry, and I refuse to write anything depicting incest or pedophilia.

-I will not do mature threads on this blog. Most of the muses are teenagers.

-I likely am going to be selective in what I rp. I will answer asks and reply to things from anyone, so feel free to send in! But while I want to interact, I also only have so much energy. I have the right to refuse to answer RPs or starters or asks.

-I am also chronically ill in a few different ways, so sometimes I will disappear to recover or not have much energy. I have no problem waiting for replies to rp or messages, and I hope we can be patient with each other as needed to have a fun time. Take your time, and I'll get to you as soon as I'm able, too.

-No autohitting, godmodding, or metagaming. If you want something to happen specifically, talk to me and we can work out why or how.

- I will always give at least a paragraphs or two in an rp response but even if you give me several pages, my reply may be succinct. I'm trying to be better about not putting filler in a reply just to match lengths. I also don't really enjoy backtracking dialogue in a thread, since it gets confusing really fast. I totally get wanting to respond to everything, but doing so to every talking point ends up with the muses having like six differing conversations at once. So I might skip things I want to respond to, to avoid that, and my replies may be smaller to keep the flow of interactions smoother. Hopefully I'll give my partner enough to work with. If not, let me know!

-I'm fine with writing pre-established platonic relationships with canon characters from persona 4, but I'm very hesitant to jump into anything romantic. I've had some weirdness with that in the past, since interpretations can vary wildly. Related, but I'm gonna try to stick to canon, but mine will likely be divergent in ways as well.

-All Icons I use will like be from p4 canon, if i use any. I don't expect anyone to use them to write with me. I also don't format my posts except for fun on rare occasions where it feels fitting. I don't expect anyone to match my format, and I hope my simplicity won't be an issue for anyone.

-Anything triggering or issue causing I will try to tag. The format for tagging will be ‘#cw *insert trigger here*’. Example being #cw injury. I will try to be consistent! Please feel free to ask me if I need to tag anything!

If you read through this, then thank you very much! I hope to interact with you soon, and if not, then I hope your day is great and I appreciate you looking at my blog!

[mystical-strawberry-sheep]

🍓 Mun Info 🍓

🍓 Name: Kohitsuji (Kohi)

🍓 Age: 29

🍓 Gender/Pronouns: Female, She/Her

🍓 Timezone: CST

🍓 About: Hello hello! My name is Kohi and I am a unrefined veteran roleplayer. I’ve been roleplaying since I was in elementary school, about 5th grade, from notebooks to online forums to Amino. Tumblr is a recent platform for me, and Discord even more recent than that. At this age time has been difficult for me to really keep up with, but I believe I’ve been here for about two years now!

🍓 Writing: I’m a primarily semi-lit writer, getting about 2 paragraphs out per reply on average. But my writing fluctuates a lot depending on how excited I am or how much I have to say, and I also try to match my partner as much as I can.

🍓 Triggers: While I don’t have any triggers of my own, I want you to know that as a 21+ writer most of my content will at least contain blood, gore, and triggering dark content like mental illness, abuse, etc. Some blogs may contain NSFW sexual content and one blog contains SFW age regression content.

🍓 Selectivity: I am becoming a fairly selective roleplayer, in an attempt to keep from burning myself out. I will not roleplay with anyone that is not a mutual. However, I don’t mind answering headcanon and ooc memes and questions from non-mutuals. Even anons and personals can take part in those. I almost never follow someone first, but if I follow you at all, I want to roleplay with you. I do have a hard time with my social anxiety, however, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a long time to reach out to you. Furthermore, my “finish before you start” brain may hold me back from sending you more things if we have a thread already running. That being said, I don’t mind answering or replying to anything sent my way. If we are mutuals, please feel free to tag me in starters, send memes, whatever!

🍓 Relationships: I am someone that naturally wants to befriend everyone, and doing so can be very unhealthy for me. Therefore, for my own health and comfort, I will not consider us friends unless you tell me plainly that you consider me your friend. Otherwise I’ll keep our relationship strictly business.

🍓 Activity: My activity levels are extremely sporadic, and sometimes I’ll drop off entirely. I try to explain when I won’t be active and why, but sometimes I simply don’t have the chance to. Please be patient with me and my levels of activity.

🍓 Conditions: With my current insurance I cannot afford therapy or professional help, so everything is undiagnosed, but there are certain conditions which may effect roleplay. I almost assuredly have some form of either ADHD or autism (or both?) that makes organization and communication extremely difficult for me. I also almost assuredly have some form of either social anxiety or agoraphobia as interacting with people, even over the Internet, is incredibly frightening and any kind of miscommunication or perceived frustration/upset feelings can hurt me. I also appear to have something at least similar to RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria). Depression is also a possibility, as there are times when general functionality can be difficult. I can’t know for sure if any of these things are at play and which ones, but these are some things that have been tossed about based on my behavior and internal feelings alone. Is nothing else, my reactions to situations are similar to those in these positions. Even though I don’t have a diagnosis, please understand this going forward.

🍓 OOC Icons: These pink sheep icons can sometimes indicate me speaking ooc. I may not use them, but be aware this is not a muse, it is me. This is no character but are of my own making.

[blueskilled]

⥫ Mun Info ⥭

◓ Name: Kohitsuji (Kohi)

◓ Age: 29

◓ Gender/Pronouns: Female, She/Her

◓ Timezone: CST

◓ About: Hello hello! My name is Kohi and I am a unrefined veteran roleplayer. I’ve been roleplaying since I was in elementary school, about 5th grade, from notebooks to online forums to Amino. Tumblr is a recent platform for me, and Discord even more recent than that. At this age time has been difficult for me to really keep up with, but I believe I’ve been here for about two years now!

◓ Writing: I’m a primarily semi-lit writer, getting about 2 paragraphs out per reply on average. But my writing fluctuates a lot depending on how excited I am or how much I have to say, and I also try to match my partner as much as I can.

◓ Triggers: While I don’t have any triggers of my own, I want you to know that as a 21+ writer most of my content will at least contain blood, gore, and triggering dark content like mental illness, abuse, etc. Some blogs may contain NSFW sexual content and one blog contains SFW age regression content.

◓ Selectivity: I am becoming a fairly selective roleplayer, in an attempt to keep from burning myself out. I will not roleplay with anyone that is not a mutual. However, I don’t mind answering headcanon and ooc memes and questions from non-mutuals. Even anons and personals can take part in those. I almost never follow someone first, but if I follow you at all, I want to roleplay with you. I do have a hard time with my social anxiety, however, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a long time to reach out to you. Furthermore, my “finish before you start” brain may hold me back from sending you more things if we have a thread already running. That being said, I don’t mind answering or replying to anything sent my way. If we are mutuals, please feel free to tag me in starters, send memes, whatever!

◓ Relationships: I am someone that naturally wants to befriend everyone, and doing so can be very unhealthy for me. Therefore, for my own health and comfort, I will not consider us friends unless you tell me plainly that you consider me your friend. Otherwise I’ll keep our relationship strictly business.

◓ Activity: My activity levels are extremely sporadic, and sometimes I’ll drop off entirely. I try to explain when I won’t be active and why, but sometimes I simply don’t have the chance to. Please be patient with me and my levels of activity.

◓ Conditions: With my current insurance I cannot afford therapy or professional help, so everything is undiagnosed, but there are certain conditions which may effect roleplay. I almost assuredly have some form of either ADHD or autism (or both?) that makes organization and communication extremely difficult for me. I also almost assuredly have some form of either social anxiety or agoraphobia as interacting with people, even over the Internet, is incredibly frightening and any kind of miscommunication or perceived frustration/upset feelings can hurt me. I also appear to have something at least similar to RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria). Depression is also a possibility, as there are times when general functionality can be difficult. I can’t know for sure if any of these things are at play and which ones, but these are some things that have been tossed about based on my behavior and internal feelings alone. Is nothing else, my reactions to situations are similar to those in these positions. Even though I don’t have a diagnosis, please understand this going forward.

◓ OOC Icons: These pink sheep icons can sometimes indicate me speaking ooc. I may not use them, but be aware this is not a muse, it is me. This is no character but are of my own making.

[strawberry-barista]

⚅ — Mun Info — ⚅

⚀ Name: Kohitsuji (Kohi)

⚀ Age: 29

⚀ Gender/Pronouns: Female, She/Her

⚀ Timezone: CST

⚀ About: Hello hello! My name is Kohi and I am a unrefined veteran roleplayer. I've been roleplaying since I was in elementary school, about 5th grade, from notebooks to online forums to Amino. Tumblr is a recent platform for me, and Discord even more recent than that. At this age time has been difficult for me to really keep up with, but I believe I've been here for about two years now!

⚀ Writing: I'm a primarily semi-lit writer, getting about 2 paragraphs out per reply on average. But my writing fluctuates a lot depending on how excited I am or how much I have to say, and I also try to match my partner as much as I can.

⚀ Triggers: While I don't have any triggers of my own, I want you to know that as a 21+ writer most of my content will at least contain blood, gore, and triggering dark content like mental illness, abuse, etc. Some blogs may contain NSFW sexual content and one blog contains SFW age regression content.

⚀ Selectivity: I am becoming a fairly selective roleplayer, in an attempt to keep from burning myself out. I will not roleplay with anyone that is not a mutual. However, I don't mind answering headcanon and ooc memes and questions from non-mutuals. Even anons and personals can take part in those. I almost never follow someone first, but if I follow you at all, I want to roleplay with you. I do have a hard time with my social anxiety, however, so I apologize in advance if it takes me a long time to reach out to you. Furthermore, my "finish before you start" brain may hold me back from sending you more things if we have a thread already running. That being said, I don't mind answering or replying to anything sent my way. If we are mutuals, please feel free to tag me in starters, send memes, whatever!

⚀ Relationships: I am someone that naturally wants to befriend everyone, and doing so can be very unhealthy for me. Therefore, for my own health and comfort, I will not consider us friends unless you tell me plainly that you consider me your friend. Otherwise I'll keep our relationship strictly business.

⚀ Activity: My activity levels are extremely sporadic, and sometimes I'll drop off entirely. I try to explain when I won't be active and why, but sometimes I simply don't have the chance to. Please be patient with me and my levels of activity.

⚀ Conditions: With my current insurance I cannot afford therapy or professional help, so everything is undiagnosed, but there are certain conditions which may effect roleplay. I almost assuredly have some form of either ADHD or autism (or both?) that makes organization and communication extremely difficult for me. I also almost assuredly have some form of either social anxiety or agoraphobia as interacting with people, even over the Internet, is incredibly frightening and any kind of miscommunication or perceived frustration/upset feelings can hurt me. I also appear to have something at least similar to RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria). Depression is also a possibility, as there are times when general functionality can be difficult. I can't know for sure if any of these things are at play and which ones, but these are some things that have been tossed about based on my behavior and internal feelings alone. Is nothing else, my reactions to situations are similar to those in these positions. Even though I don't have a diagnosis, please understand this going forward.

⚀ OOC Icons: These pink sheep icons can sometimes indicate me speaking ooc. I may not use them, but be aware this is not a muse, it is me. This is no character but are of my own making.

[qixiaoteamin]

QIXIAOTEAMIN. - UNDER CONSTRUCTION by claus

info. / visage.

blog entries. / face-to-face tag.

answered. / rp memes.

aesthetic. / musings.

direction to rules below... ⤵️

hi! my name is claus, i’m 22, and my pronouns are he/him.

LETS GOOOO MONKIE KID S4!!!! i haven't finished the latest season yet, but once all 10 episodes are fan-subbed, i'll incorporate them into blog canon. yahoo!

this blog is primarily an IC-run blog, meaning posts are made as though the character has a blog. i’m also open for face-to-face interactions through memes, DMs, or threads, though!

Rule One

i’m not terribly selective, so even if we’re not mutuals, you’re more than welcome to send in ask memes and turn them into threads! any starter calls however are reserved for my mutuals.

Rule Two

please be patient! i’m super slow and usually post my replies in bursts. i try to be as descriptive as i can, and i do my best to get to replies when i have the energy; most of the time it isn’t intentional when i leave threads untugged so to speak. i got a lot going on. that being said, it doesn't matter how long ago i rb'd an rp meme. if you see it, send it in!

Rule Three

i don’t mind if you use icons or cool formatting! i do pretty much the same thing, so if i can read it, i will rp with you. i'll be capping icons myself in due time. ILL DO MY BEST...

Rule Four

i feel like it goes without saying, but no sexual nsfw. sure, my interpretation based on word of god in the show staff places mei and mk at 23, but they were also designed to be interpreted as any age, so it's just kinda weird. jokes are allowed, but those will be tagged accordingly.

as for romantic shipping, definitely not with mei/long xiaojiao or familial/mentor figures like pigsy, tang, sun wukong, and the six-eared macaque. i work based off chemistry, age range, and communication here for any others, and that's not just for romance - even platonic relationships, too!

Rule Five

i’m cool with crossover rps, and while i’ve limited it to fandoms i’m familiar with in the past, i’ve actually followed fandoms i don’t know a lot about. basically, if you have a detailed bio about your muse i’ll gladly follow back! that being said, i’m naturally wary of these fandoms/media: camp camp, steven universe, rick and morty, doctor who, ava’s demon, and osomatsu-san. but fandoms i absolutely won’t tolerate include: vivzie pop's works, killing stalking, attack on titan, hetalia, mister pickles, south park, k-pop, and any other depiction of real people.

i only make exceptions for any of these if i know the other mun well enough to trust their interpretation.

Rule Six

while i only need graphic bird death tagged, if you like and/or post about anything related to pedophilia, incest, selfcest, dubcon/noncon, bigotry, demonization of mental illness (especially psychosis/did), i’ll block you, no questions asked. i understand muses being sa victims and muns coping with sa, but a lot of the time it gets glorified and i’m not for that graphic shit.

[obliviouskind]

//I’m taking on commissions, so my activity here may be slower than usual. Feel free to add me on discord (found within my Mun tab) if you wish to reach out as I may not be available here too often.

[mar-iiposa]

"You're What?"

prompt: How would the Bayverse boys react to their s/o finding out that she is pregnant, and she is afraid/scared to tell them? The pregnancy was not planned. Hope you're having a great day/night <3

a/n: this was requested by an anonymous user as a bit of a long story, meant for all four turtles, but I'm deciding on separating it so it looks better on my masterlist later on. hope that enjoy, and make sure to read the tags I have included down below, just in case !

warnings: slight mention of abortion but that's it, mention of needles drawing blood (not too graphic of course), unplanned pregnancy, mentions of unprotected sex.

word count: 2.6k

"Y/N, are you okay?"

Your roommate, April's, voice rang out when she saw you hurry towards the bathroom in such a rush, for the third time today, and it was just barely 2 pm. She was concerned that you weren't doing so good, never having seen you in a peculiar state like this before. As late of this past week, you've started to show signs of illness and restlessness, constantly moody, which we knew was odd for you at times. "Do you need anything?" She gently knocked on the bathroom door, hearing the faucet run on the other side before it was turned off. "I'm good, thanks," You murmur, loud enough for her to at least comprehend what you're saying. Outside of the restroom, April looked down for a moment, hesitant on whether to truly believe you or not. However, she didn't bother to really question it. "I'll be out, text if you need me."

After getting up a little too fast, you feel a small, sharp pain in your breasts, causing you to wince and cup them lightly out of instinct. Over the last few days, you've been noticing some changes. Weird ones too. For starters, you missed your period, it was supposed to roll around about, what, three/four days ago. You kept it tracked monthly on your phone, and by now, it would seem to probably come later than usually expected. Never did you have an irregular menstrual cycle, sometimes periods tend to come a little bit late but this was still odd enough. Not to forget, you had been vomiting like crazy at times, especially in the mornings and early afternoons of the day, sometimes at night if you're "lucky" enough. Topping those off, you felt fatigued, you were bloated, strangely moody, and you really needed to pee way more. A lot more, actually.

You had turned off the faucet in the bathroom, hunching over the sink, still with little droplets of water sliding down and into the drain. You look into the mirror, bags under your eyes have started to form from lack of sleep after literally vomiting your guts out in the middle of the night, having to hold your own hair back yourself if April would be completely knocked out from work. It wasn't a rare occurrence for her to be passed out on her bed or the couch, after a long day of working. You were employed, too, it was just that you took a day off to find out what the hell these symptoms were. Who knows, maybe you were falling sick?

You do your hair and style it just a little, unbothered by if you looked like crap or not, you could care less. You were throwing up and felt almost sick, why wouldn't you look unappealing at the very least? Grabbing your keys and things, you make your way towards the subway almost downtown, avoiding eye contact with almost anyone and everyone, not feeling at your best. It felt like your self-esteem had taken a downwards decline in the last couple of days prior. Not that you never got irritated or anything, but it was peculiar to you that all of a sudden, you had mood swings that changed from one mood to another like a bolt of lightning. Hell, even your boyfriend, Leo, noticed fairly quickly, but he decided not to press on you too much about it.

Getting off of the subway train, you head to your physician's office, opening the door of the building, the cooled atmosphere of the room hitting you within seconds of your entrance of the room.

"Hello, Ms. L/N, are you here for your appointment today?" The female receptionist gazed up at you from her glasses, frames pink, wearing a light shawl over her arms and shoulders. "I am," You give her a nod, her gaze traveling back to the computer screen as she typed away, the sound of her dark red acrylics hitting the smooth black keys. "Sure does get cold in here," She chuckled, a small short in the middle of her laugh, "take a seat, miss."

Doing so, you sit near the TV of the waiting room, the magazines on the table ahead stared back at you, the words 'VOGUE' written on the modernistic cover. The television was of bland taste, just going over the weather expected for today and the rest of the week and into the weekend. You cradle yourself slightly, your e/c eyes flickering down to your fingers and nails. About fifteen minutes or so later, the door to the back of the office opened, a nurse appearing in her scrub, "Y/N L/N?" Perking up at the mention of your name, you both make eye contact and she steps aside for you to walk in, giving a nod before directing you to a nearby room. Taking a seat, you wait until the doctor comes into view, greeting you with a friendly smile. "Ms. L/N, hi," She shook your hand, holding a clipboard under her left arm as she entered, "how are you? Is there a reason as to why you made an appointment for today?" Seconds after listing off your symptoms, she eyed you a bit suspiciously, writing down with her pen. "I'll send one of the nurses in for a blood test, I'm sure you'll be free to go then," The doctor pursed her lips in a tight smile, looking as though she had something on her mind as to what you could've had.

You sit there, for what feels like hours upon hours of silence, and you don't even notice the nurse coming in through the door at some point. "Alright, just relax for me." A pinching at your skin came from the needle, and the nurse draws some blood from your arm. Closing your eyes and glancing away from the view, the needle is drawn away from your arm after a while, patching the spot up with a band-aid. "You should get your answers shortly," 'Angela Bardot' (the nurse) states with a small, friendly smile as you give her a nod for a reply in return.

The receptionist sends you a wave goodbye as you approach the door on the way out, nodding your head and giving a wave back. Traveling home among the streets of New York, your mind is constantly filling up to the absolute brim of what the results would be. What if you were terrible sick? Had an illness that was incurable or deadly? How would you tell the ones you loved? Always tending to think of negative outcomes was a habit of yours, for as long as you can remember. You're so deep into your thoughts as you don't realize your boyfriend had called you a couple of times already. You unlock your phone after typing in the digits of your password, tapping onto his contact. "Hey," His voice rings from the other side, "I was trying to call you, is everything alright?" You can hear the worried tone through his end.

You run a hand through your hair as you neared the corner, coming closer to your New York apartment. "Yeah," you breathe out into the air of the apartment building, taking the provided elevator, "yeah, I'm okay." You could almost see the look of relief in those blue sapphire eyes of his, he responds, "Sorry, I almost panicked when you didn't pick up." You chuckle a little at that, knowing you almost always picked up on phone calls, holding onto your keys as you pushed your front entrance door open, "Nah, you know I can handle myself, Leo." You grin hearing his voice, chuckling at that. "I know, I know." 

"I'll see you tonight?" He asks on his end, you immediately smile. "I give you my word." You can feel him smiling from 'ear to-ear' at your response, "Okay, I'll see you later then. Love you, princess." Your smile growing warm, heart fluttering at the words coming from your boyfriend, you speak back into the phone, "Love you too."

He was the first to hang up on the cell phone call, before you fall back onto your grey couch with a heavy sigh, soon leaning forward with your head in your hands, elbows firmly sitting on top of your knees. The TV is turned on from the remote in your hand, head leaning back into the couch, but only enough to still keep your eyes on the screen. Your phone rings again, and you assume it might be Leo again, calling to tell you something he might have forgotten or who knows what. Turning the phone over from it's front facing the cushions, and you recognize the contact number. "Hello?" You pick up, a recognizable voice rang through. "Hi, this is Dr. Rullston, I'm calling you to discuss your blood test results, yes?" Sitting straight up quickly, you feel yourself nod almost frantically, "Yes, it's not anything, right?" A long pause resonates between the two of you, and you can slightly hear the intake of a breath from her.

"Ms. L/N, you're pregnant."

Your heart completely drops as soon as you heard that, standing up from your seat within milliseconds. "What? I- I can't belie- !" She continues, "About almost two weeks pregnant is what I'm seeing. Congratulations miss." No, no, I didn't want a baby! I didn't know this would happen! 

You look down at the floor as your breathing is nearly stressed, "Tha- Thank you, Dr. Rullston." Quick to hang up first, you almost drop your phone onto the apartment's hard wooden floor. How was this possible? Well, you knew how pregnancy and sex worked, but this was something completely shocking, at least to you! You think you at least had intercourse with a condom on! You and Leonar- Oh God, Leo! How would he react to this? He would be disappointed, he could leave you! Who would want to raise a child with you? Who would even want a knocked up lady if he did leave the relationship you had been building for practically a year?! You could get an abortion, that's it! No, no, no, you couldn't see yourself going through with that. Seeing others get abortions was something you were supportive of, but you had no absolute idea what in the hell to do! Do you want to keep it? That was something you didn't know the answer to. 

Two hours roll by until you're dressed a little more properly now, on your path to the turtles' lair in the sewers. As of now, you're (somewhat) rocking some jeans, with an old t-shirt, your commonly-worn shoes, and your hair combed through. Sticking your head through the lair, Mikey spots you straightaway, quickly riding on his skateboard towards you, guarding your own stomach, afraid for impact. Luckily for you (and maybe your fetus), there is no impact. "Yo, Y/N!" He gave you his regular fist pump, "how's it hangin'?" He notices you guarding your stomach, emitting a laugh as he points at you, "What's with the stomach guarding?" You realize your arms protecting your stomach, pulling them away fairly quickly. "Just, uh- Just hungry is all!" Michelangelo eyed you for a second or two before shrugging, picking up his board with a swift kick at its tail, "M'kay! Leo's in his room by the way. Catch you later!" He rode off again, presumably to bother either Raph or Donnie with his "dazzling personality."

Nearing Leonardo's room, you were undecided on the option of telling him about the growing baby inside of you or not. You didn't know. You didn't know what he'd think, what he'd say, how he would react, or if his perspective of you would shift entirely. Every fiber of your being grew anxious, scared to share the news with him. Or not. Leaning against the doorway of his room, he looked up from his katana, a smile gracing his features. "Hey," He stood up from his spot on the bed as you approach him, "Hi." Leonardo glanced down at your shorter human self, grabbing your hands to hold into his abnormally larger ones. "Took you a while to get here." Yeah, it did because you couldn't stop vomiting into the toilet until you got the strength to eventually walk all the way down here. "Sorry, busy," You threw an excuse at him, the leader of the clan nods. "Uh-huh," He takes your hand and leads you to his bed, "you're not overwhelming yourself, are you?" Knowing how concerned he can tend to be, you shakily exhale a little, giving a closed-mouth smile. "No, not really."

"You know ho-" You bit your lower lip, feeling the need to interrupt, "Leo, there's-- there's something I need to tell you." He paused for a little, knowing there was something up, a feeling in his gut. "Well what is it?" You can feel that pit of anxiety start to blossom within you once again, your palms nearly growing sweaty as you try to gather your words. Carefully wanting to break it to him was something you wanted to do, and correctly too. "Y/N?" He sends you a fervent glance, "is something wro-?" 

"I'm pregnant."

He's taken aback by the sentence you had just formed, staring at you, with almost little to no emotion being expressed. He's speechless. Out of words, completely. "You're what?! With- With my ba-?" Giving the leader a small, slow nod, it finally makes sense to him. "That's why you missed my call? Y/N, you sh-" You feel tears swell up in your e/c eyes, a hot droplet starting to slide down your left cheek, "I know it's all my fault. I should have asked for an abortion before I left that doctor's office. And you don't want a kid, I can see perfectly see that, and just know that I'm sor-" A warm green hand cups the side of your face, endearing blue eyes look at you and hold your stare as a thumb comes to wipe your new, built-up tears. Tender lips come to kiss your forehead. "I want this. Y/N, please listen to me when I say it'll be alright. I won't let you and the baby down, okay?" Leo's words are kind, softly spoken as he offers you a pursed smile while holding your face in his hand, "You'll be fine."

Your breathing is starting to calm down as you meet his eyes, your hand coming touch his on your cheek. "How far? How far are you, I mean?" Feeling at ease, your eyes are still watery with tears, a smile growing on your lips, "Two weeks." He grows soft at your reply, eyes flickering down towards your stomach. The stomach that held his kid inside of it. "How big are they?" You hold your hand up and leave a little gap between your index finger and your thumb, "Like a little seed." A smile of joy lights up his face before he carefully runs the bottom of your t-shirt up to expose your stomach to him. He pursed his lips together once more, fighting off tears as he gives a breathy laugh. "I love them already." You grin to your significant other, kissing his cheek.

"And we love you too."

[wontgodowninhistory]

HOW I RUN MY SHOW

SPEED: If you’ve ever watched a turtle try to cross the street...well you get the idea. I work two jobs. I also suffer from depression, anxiety and bipolar as well as chronic illnesses so sometimes this will greatly effect my speed and desire to be online / write. It causes me to disappear for long periods of time as well. If you are looking for speedy replies sadly I’m not the partner for you. See here I am cleaning out all the things I was tagged in and liked about 2 weeks ago...

REPLIES: I used to answer everything in the order I received it whether I had muse or not. I learned that this greatly effected my muse / desire to write. Now I answer based on muse and let Robin do her thing. If she’s feeling it, I’m also feeling it. f it’s not there I don’t fight it. It doesn’t mean I won’t get to it. I get to everything as soon as I can. If I can’t I’ll let you know. 

STARTERS: I love starters. If you leave them for me just be sure to @ me. If you just tag I might miss them. If I don’t give them a like it means I haven’t seen them. Don’t hesitate to message me to let me know. I am always willing to write starters but once again sometimes I’m slow. If I say I’ll write it I eventually will get it done. You are always welcome to gently remind.

INBOX: Send me all the memes. Even if I’m slow with these also I will eventually answer them all. If you think I didn’t receive a meme you sent you can always ask me. Memes are the easiest way to get started on interactions with me. If I do receive it and I can’t answer it, I’ll let you know. Also same with memes, if I sent you one and you answered it please @ me in it. If I don’t like it then chances are I didn’t see it. 

SELECTIVITY: I’m about as selective as a kid in a candy store honestly. I want to give everyone a chance. I want to interact with everyone but obviously that’s no possible. I’m very shy at following first / messaging first so that does limit my ability to form new friendships / interactions. If you come to me first I’ll be so grateful! If I did follow / follow you back it means I want to write with you. 

WISHLIST: I don’t really have one. Anything in the memes tag is usually something I really want! Consider this a wishlist of sorts.

tagged by: @misscrcft

[capricxs]

so you’ve been roleplaying for years... things change, the way the community does things shift, and sometimes there’s new skills you need to pick up and adjust to in order to make your time rping as creatively rich and fulfilling as it can be. one of those things that’s become extremely important is plotting & hcing. either in groups, in indie, or doing 1x1s, these two are the foundation to your interaction (unless you’re the type to wing it). sometimes when i interact with people, it seems they don’t really click with this process, so in the guide below, i’ll help to explain why these are so important, and how to do it in a way that not only gives you a rich plot, but helps inspire and keep your writing partner engaged with you.

disclaimer --- this is just my personal experience and opinions being shared. i am not the end-all-be-all on how to interact with writing partners. this is just here to get people to begin thinking about things they otherwise wouldn’t have thought about.

questions regarding this help post can be found here. let’s jump in!

WHY IS PLOTTING & HCING SO IMPORTANT?

firstly, rp has changed a lot since the days of launching into an rp or writing a random starter for a new follower. things are a lot more established and regardless of if you’re in a bio/skeleton rp with pre-written connections, or you’re in a new plotless group or indie and you’re coming up with them on your own, it’s a major foundation to your writing experience, so don’t treat it lightly!

secondly, regardless of format, and with the shifts in rp culture, behind the scenes plotting & hcing is crucial to the development of your plot & characters. as writers, we take more time with our replies so development on dash happens a lot slower. personally i don’t mind that, but i don’t want that to hinder my writing experience so i like taking things behind the scenes to help build up dynamics and situations so the whole relationship isn’t based off one or two threads/instances.

lastly, it helps to keep things inspiring. sound dumb? you bet, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles baby. so many times i have plotted ships, sibling relationships, best friends, or other core relationships, and wanted to sink my teeth in relationship lore and background and dynamics, only to be returned with “hahah yes! i love that!” now i understand this is never ill-intentioned, but it does suck the muse right out the situation. if you do not validate & expand on your partner’s ideas, it’s not going to make that writer’s ideas feel appreciated or loved. the way to tell them you love their ideas? sink your teeth right back and send an equally meaty response right back!

PART ONE: SO YOU WANT TO PLOT

you don’t need this post to tell you how to come up with plot ideas, that’s a whole different guide, but let’s say you’re in the brainstorming process. you’re throwing ideas back and forth based on your muse’s two backgrounds and seeing what sticks. what is SUCH a downer, is when a writing partner is just ... not contributing. yes, we are all guilty of the line “i’m open to anything!” but try and limit yourself to using that line once in a conversation. hell, i prefer it when a person doesn’t even say it at all and they’re HONEST. if i come in guns-a-blazing and i ask ‘what plots do you need filled?’ if a person responds with ‘i need someone who hurt my muse’ there’s two option, i fill that plot, or i don’t. it’s that simple. don’t be afraid to say what you want, the worst that can happen is the person says ‘eh, i don’t really think that fits my character’ and you come up with something else! but when you’re already passionate about the idea, you’re setting yourself up for such great success!

so what do you do when your one (1) braincell isn’t working and you can’t come up with any connection ideas? two options, you can either go to one of the dozens of guides for basic connection ideas and give your partner something, or you can look at the other person’s bio, and your muse, and try and find connections between them. both of these are painfully easy! i’m a personal fan of the latter as it seems a bit more grounded and juicy than the former, but those can be twisted into something great too! **if you’re in a group setting, even asking what that person’s other connections are, and piggybacking off of that. these create super spicy connections. example: you find out muse a is muse b’s ex, and your muse, muse c, is best friends w muse b, so it’s safe to assume your muse c will probably not get along with muse a.

this important thing is not to make your partner feel like they’re doing all the work. because that’s never fun, and truthfully, it doesn’t make that person want to write with you if you’re not also putting in the elbow grease. plotting is fun, not a chore! make it a party!

PART TWO: NOW YOU HAVE TO BACK IT UP

you’ve got your plot now, congrats! and you’re so excited. but now you need that plot to be fleshed out a bit. there’s some history there so you’ve got to establish it. in comes the powerhouse--- my favorite part to this whole thing: HCING. it’s the most laid back, and in my opinion, creative part of the rping process. truthfully, i enjoy it more than threads because of the absolute insanity you can dig up. but i only love it if my partner can hand it back just as i can serve it.

maybe you’ve never quite thought that this part was that important, but i can assure you, if a person is giving you 3+ sentences about the dynamic of your characters, they’re trying to hc with you, and if you don’t enrich them, your dynamic is going to wither away.

i brought up an idea in the first part of this guide that’s extremely important to how you hc with your writing partner: VALIDATE & EXPAND. it’s the idea that no matter how much or how little your rp partner gives you in terms of an hc, you respond to it with a validation, which can range anywhere from ‘i LOVE that’ to as simple as a key smash and the pleading emotion, or even repeating a fraction of what they said to show you understand their vision. but then you have to back that up with expanding on that idea. hcs could be about a situation or about your writing partner’s character, so expand on how your character feels and reacts to things. it’s beyond discouraging when i write a whole idea out, explaining how my character feels in this emotionally intense setting, and my writing partner only gives me the validation portion, and now i have no idea how my opp’s character thinks, feels, or interacts.

see, a point i mentioned above is the fact that threads don’t work like they used to. and that’s fine! but hcing is an easy and fun way to make up for the fact that we take time with our threads now. if you’re rping to find rich, in-depth, satisfying dynamics, it’s going to take many many months to get your understanding of your opp’s muse, and the relationship they have, hcing fast tracks that process. i’m writing with you, i love your muse, give me the dirty details, i promise it’s not obnoxious. the more your give back, the more you will receive. so why wait around, sitting on our thumbs for me to fully get a grasp of your character’s voice, and your character’s thoughts, when we could do that on chat and have a grand time.

but now you’re thinking to yourself: okay, but how exactly do i validate and expand? and for that, we go to EXAMPLE-BOT 3000 !! not a real bot, unfortunately, but example bot has dug up a personal interaction i’ve had hcing. for context, this is a 1x1 writing partner i’ve had for years. we have an excellent dynamic and they are perfect. they have also given me permission to use our convos as example.

here is my message [ CONTEXT: this is a sandbox-star-wars-esque verse]

Okay but I had a thot in the shower,,, where the best thoughts are had. And what if,,, after this meeting and they part ways and such and it was just another weird occurrence in their lives, blastis gets a mission and it’s either to protecc salia or like guide salia across the galaxy to do something smth and save some lives or whatever. And ofc not because she couldn’t take care of herself but he has smth she doesn’t that gives an edge or just a close loved one of her’s didn’t want to see her get hurt. So you have these two traveling across the galaxy,,, sometimes arguing bc she can manage herself but he’s just fulfilling the mission. And them both kicking but. And all the steamy tension and cliches.

let’s break this message down before we get into the response. first, hcs don’t have to be formal. they are the most fun when they’re less together and don’t rely so much on “sounding good”. you’re just rolling off the top of your brain, chatting like you would with a friend, don’t worry too much on formalities because this isn’t the place for that.

i am also presenting my idea in a way that is confident, and with plenty of ideas to work on. i am involving my partner’s character but not godmodding. i am taking things i have learned from character introductions (like salia being independent and empowered, and wanting to do good/help others) and not disrespecting them, but having her take part in the plot. there are also small bits at the end of this idea that are little nuggets to build off of.

let’s look at my partner’s response.

AAAAH okay i love the idea!!! however shes a v. freelance kinda healer and doesnt really take official things. and she doesnt have loved ones that would know if there was danger - she can telepathically communicate with her own people but if she doesnt want them to know things they cant just. force their way in its a Closed Communication line not an open invitation into her thoughts asdfghjsh. But i could imagine that some guy or family hire her to find their children maybe who were lost on their adventure/mission with friends and the last message sounded like one was hurt,,, badly. and the other cant help for some reason. and they hire blastis to both protect her and later the people shes supposed to heal??

but anYWAY the Important part is ofc. the tension. and his big ass in her ship bc why would she?? take another if hers is right there. so hes gonna take that single bed and not complain. but ooof those two?? just kicking ass and being amazing. growing on each other more and more.

right off the bat is validation. and validation doesn’t have to be as direct as it is in this message. the validation is important here specifically, my partner showed they were interested and supportive of the idea i presented, but needed the plot to fit in their character’s story better. we see them making adjustments--- this is a collaborative experience so i alone shouldn’t be the one coming up with the plot, nor would i want my idea taken just as is. instead they mold it to fit what makes sense, getting more specific than my idea with a “mission purpose”. this is where the bouncing off of each other begins.

they then take the “bait” and start building on the tension our muses will experience (this is a ship afterall). while this is the beginning of our conversation, and there’s aren’t specific moments we’re working off of, this is setting the ground for future headcanons (see: the focus on sexual tension, living in a ship together, kicking butt), we are both mutually giving each other little tethers to take hold of. this is a very good start to begin working out the dynamic and situations these two characters are found in, with multiple different launch-off points.

CONCLUSION

there’s no right or wrong way to rp. even the tips listed here might not be applicable to your style, just having the idea in the back of your mind helps. the important thing is you and the person you’re writing with are having fun. you both are respecting each other’s time and ideas and creating a beautiful dynamic or world or relationship. this is a collaborative experience, and it’s important not to leave your partner feeling like they’re doing all the heavy lifting creatively.

hope this helped! as always, you can send me any questions you have in regards to this topic HERE. you can find a tag of answered questions in relation to this topic HERE.

[bcbdrums]

Melon Misfortunes

A/N: A little foray back into the world of watermelon... Thanks to @split-n-splice for some clever lines and the great title.

Happy birthday, @jennaanneg!

Read on:  FFn     AO3

---------------------------

Drakken rubbed the back of his neck and straightened up in front of the watermelon crate at the grocer's. He had been bending over the sea of green, bulbous fruit for at least ten minutes, trying to find the very best ones. After the long day, he was finally feeling the exhaustion and pain in his spine.

Drakken glanced to his right to be sure the empty cart was still there, and then turned back to the melons.

"Hello, Drew."

"Gah!"

Drakken recoiled, banging his forearm on the metal cart at the sound of his former college friend's voice and nearly losing his balance as his recovery from that had him bumping into the crate.

"Just as light on your feet as you were in college, I see."

Drakken straightened up and adjusted his shirt, taking in the single quirked eyebrow of James Possible with loathing.

"Just as rude as you always were, I see," Drakken retorted as he gave the man a once-over with wariness and frustration.

Possible was exactly the same as he remembered him from college, except for some wrinkles, gray hair, and extra padding around the waist, all such as comes naturally with age. Drakken bit the inside of his cheek knowing he had aged at least the same, if not worse for his other problems and stresses on his life.

The man didn't seem one bit perturbed by his insult, and to Drakken's dismay he leaned up against the side of the watermelon crate and continued what he apparently thought was a welcome conversation.

"We haven't heard anything about you really since the invasion."

Drakken rolled his eyes and looked back to the watermelons, hoping the man would take the hint and leave. Unfortunately, Possible continued.

"Although my Kimmy-cub did mention running into you at this very store once, after stopping some crooks with Ronald."

Drakken's frown deepened as he considered that in all the stores in all the world, Kim Possible just had to have been busting some small-time criminal while he was buying watermelon. But his brow suddenly rose in the realization that there was no real reason for James Possible to be there.

"You know, she mentioned something about watermelon that time too... You branching out from flowers into mutant fruit, now?" Possible asked with an amused chuckle.

"None of your business," Drakken replied through a grunt, bending low over the melons to get Possible out of his line of sight.

A blessed silence fell for several seconds that made him hope the man had taken the hint and left, but then...

"Finally left the blue lab coat behind, I see."

"Don't you have someplace else to be?" Drakken snapped, feeling another twinge in his neck as he turned too quickly to give his former friend a venomous look.

Possible chuckled. "My wife and I are on a couple's cruise. St. Lucia is one of the stops," the man explained.

Drakken grumbled under his breath about the unfortunate reality of living so near various tourist locations. Perhaps it was time to consider online shopping for groceries...

"Getting a few grays there, Drew."

"Oh like you're one to talk," Drakken said, grabbing the closest watermelon and hefting it into the cart.

As Drakken's irritation rose he wondered if Shego would settle for watermelon-flavored gum. He could grab some off the rack near the check stand and run, and no one would be the wiser.

"All this time and you're getting that one?" Possible said with a concerned frown.

Drakken hesitated, narrowing his eyes on the man.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, those oblong ones aren't very sweet. They were over-watered."

Drakken blinked again, a myriad of new annoying thoughts running through his mind. He moved to set the melon in the cart, but Possible was giving him an all-too familiar, knowing and painfully smug grin.

Drakken frowned.

"Fine, which melons should I buy?" he asked through a scowl, shifting his weight as somehow holding the large melon was putting undue pressure on his spine.

"Well, what are you using them for?" Possible asked, raising that single annoying eyebrow higher as his smirk grew.

"For eating, you— Ngh!"

Drakken cut himself off as he nearly dropped the slippery melon. He grit his teeth as he carefully placed it back in the bin, not making eye contact with Possible who was surely grinning in his perceived pompous superiority that had only added to Drakken's disdain for the man.

"Fine! Which one should I get, then?" Drakken asked as he straightened again, crossing his arms.

His brow rose in curiosity as James Possible's face adopted a thoughtful, critical expression as he bent over the crate.

"For starters, you need something uniform in size and shape. That's how you know it developed properly," the man said. Drakken watched as Possible started sorting the watermelons before he continued. "And if it's dark and dull, you know it's ripe. Avoid the pale and shiny ones."

"Don't you have something better to do on your...so-called couple's cruise?"

"My wife is clothes shopping," Possible stated simply and with a slight cringe as he lifted a melon and examined it.

Despite himself, after nearly a minute of watching Possible sorting watermelons Drakken joined in, moving only the large oblong ones as he didn't know much else. He abhorred the idea of getting advice from the man who was partially responsible for his becoming a villain... But, if it meant getting the best melons for Shego...

"And there, those ones will be very flavorful," Possible said, pointing to a melon with a massive orange discoloration on it.

"It looks like it spent too much time in the sun," Drakken said skeptically.

"It spent a long time ripening on the vine," Possible explained, as if the topic were an everyday one. "But avoid the white spots. And here," he gestured to the ugliest of melons, covered in brown scars that spread over the rind in a webbed appearance that interrupted the green stripes, "is another sign that they're sweet and flavorful."

Drakken leaned away again and frowned. "Do you take me for a fool?"

Possible straightened as well, looking ever-confident. "The brown spots indicate numerous pollination attempts by bees, thus the melon is sweeter."

Drakken stared the man down for several seconds and detected no lie in his words. His brow furrowed.

"How do you know this?"

"I've done some research into various botanical fields."

"You're a rocket scientist. Unless something has changed in the past—" Drakken stopped as realization struck. His brow rose, and suddenly Possible looked uncomfortable. "Are you...trying to move in on my research?"

Possible cleared his throat. "Anyway, those are the tastiest melons...if eating is in fact what you need them for."

"You're trying to move in on my territory! You're...you're jealous!"

Possible turned on his heel and departed rapidly with a stiff wave.

"Pleasure catching up!"

Drakken stared in astonishment until the man vanished through the automatic doors of the store, and then a grin slowly broadened his face. James Possible was jealous...of him!

"About time," Drakken muttered as he turned back to the melons. His grin quickly faded into uncertainty.

What if Possible had been lying about the melons?

He tried to recall in the past which ones had tasted the best. Not that he ate much of them, but he had sampled more than his fair share.

It was true, the enormous long ones never held much flavor and seemed watery. Perhaps it was true that the ugliest were the best? He had never bought those before, so...he supposed it was worth a try.

Drakken shrugged to himself and started loading up the shopping cart. Possible had no idea after all what the melons were really for. There would be no reason for the man to lie...except malice. And yet...something told Drakken, that that hadn't been the man's motive...much to Drakken's confusion.

Shego was still in bed when Drakken returned to the lair with the watermelons, and he had checked on her while the henchmen unloaded them from the hover-car. She wasn't feeling as ill that day, but still didn't want to get up. Thankfully, the promise of watermelon seemed to calm her ire, so it was only with limited anxiety that Drakken portioned up one of the hideous looking melons and prepared her a simple bowl to start with.

The flesh of the watermelon itself did indeed look redder and was definitely juicier than what he was used to buying, but even if he thought it was good—which he wouldn't, having lost his taste for the fruit—it was Shego's opinion that mattered. And so he held his breath as he walked back to the bedroom to present the bowl to his wife.

Shego sat up slowly in bed and Drakken's brow twisted in sympathy at her grimace of pain. Once the bowl was in her hands he tossed off his polo shirt and pushed his feet out of his shoes, grateful to be home where he could shake off the displeasure of interacting with James Possible and focus on the important things. Namely, his wife and their unborn child.

Shego had one hand on the small swell of her belly as she adjusted pillows with the other so she could lean against the headboard while she ate. Drakken quickly moved to her side to assist her which earned him a look of annoyance, as if he should have already been helping her, but also a look of gratitude.

Drakken sat on the bed and un-tucked his tank top as Shego tossed the blankets down to her knees and then brought the dish of watermelon up to chest height with one palm supporting the bowl from beneath as she stabbed one of the succulent cubes with her fork. He held his breath again as she brought the bite to her lips, and after only a moment of chewing her eyes widened.

"Where did you get this?" she asked, the bite going into her cheek as she spoke. She put another cube in her mouth as she continued chewing the first.

"Sanchez's place, like always," he said with a slightly nervous shrug.

"Better than any he's ever had before," she commented through her full mouth.

Drakken watched as her eyes brightened through the enjoyment of her biggest pregnancy craving. He felt the irritation of the shopping trip melt away at the pleased look on her face, and he hoped the treat would also go some way toward easing the pain of the never-ending morning sickness.

He got his answer very suddenly when Shego set the bowl down, grinning at him as she pushed the bed-covers even farther away. He didn't even get to speak before he was knocked back slightly by her arms wrapping around him and her lips pressing against his. He responded with a startled hum as he caught himself from falling with one palm on the mattress, his other hand instantly finding her waist.

Shego pulled away just enough so she could smile into his eyes, and Drakken blinked at her dumbly in confusion as she shifted nearer, her pregnant belly pressing against his.

"Thanks, Dr. D.," she said simply, and kissed him again, the distinct flavor of watermelon on her lips.

For once, it was very, very sweet.

[sebastianshaw]

Someone at one of the boards I write at wanted to know if we had any advice or pointers about RP, and I got to thinking. I’ve been RPing fifteen years so it’s definitely a thing I have thoughts and opinions and tips on. I don’t mean to posit myself as the all-knowing expert whose standards you have to meet, but these are some things I think are genuinely helpful for a RPers to keep in mind no matter how long they’ve been writing. But also, just my opinions! SHARE THE SPOTLIGHT This is the biggest, first and foremost. RP is a two-way street, and I think the bulk of RP sins all trace back to people not understanding this and thinking that their character is the “main” character and everyone else is just an NPC in their story. This takes a ton of variations, with commonly seen ones being insisting that other characters act OOC for their sake (your character should fall in love with mine despite the fact they just met, your character should bully mine so I can be the victim in a hurt/comfort drama even if that’s totally unlike them to do that, your official-head-of-something character should bend the rules for mine because they’re just that special, etc.), needing to be the center of attention (the character who ALWAYS limps into the room having just suffered some terrible tragedy and needing immediate help, the character who always saves the day in such a way that the others weren’t even needed, etc.), or the character whose writer just can’t stop reminding everyone at all times how tragic/beautiful/powerful/helpless/witty/skilled/etc they are. This can go in opposite directions---the helpless character who always needs to be saved vs the all-powerful character who saves the day every time all on their own---but it comes from the same mentality, that their character is the star and everyone must revolve around them. This isn’t to say you can’t have RP arcs that “star” your character and are devoted to their story/development, or that your character can never be the hero, or never need to be saved, or any of that. That’s NOT what I’m saying. I’m talking about the person who does it EVERY time, often to the detriment of the story, derailing the plot, or showing up someone else’s cool moment to get the attention back on their own muse. If you’re gonna do that, just write your own fiction. DON’T DO PASSIVE STARTERS Something I see repeatedly in RP, whether it’s at a board or on Tumblr or on Discord, are starters where the character is just...sitting there. They’re studying in their room, or chilling at a coffee house, or just standing around at a party, or overlooking the ocean from a beachside balcony, or brooding silently in the corner... ...and not making any move to interact with anyone around them. It’s on the shoulders of the person replying to have their character make the first move and find some reason to walk up to them and engage with them. A starter is meant to begin an interaction, so if the second person is starting that interaction, why even bother with the starter you made? Starters where your character is just passively waiting for someone are not usually good starters, and that’s a big reason, in my opinion, why people usually don’t reply to a starter, because they’re stuck looking for a reason WHY their character would just walk up to this person and begin an interaction. My solution to this is, if it’s a planned starter, talk to the person you’re starting it for and try to work something out. For instance, the party starter. Ask them “hey, could it be a costume party?” and ask if their character might be dressed as a character from a show/movie/book that your character really likes---that gives your guy a reason to walk up to theirs and begin a conversation about that thing, and there’s your first post right there! A much more active starter! If it’s an open, it can be a little more difficult, but still doable. For instance, one open I did, I had my girl walk in and speak to whatever person was nearest; she was carrying a basket of Halloween decorations and asking if they’d help her decorate the place. I did not specify who it was, so whoever replied could decide if it was their character or not, but it was “active” in that she gave my partner something to respond and react to, rather than if she had just, say, quietly come in by herself without greeting anyone or doing anything. Obviously this might not work with characters who are shy or antisocial, but if you’re the one who decided to play that kind of character, it’s up to YOU to find ways to get them engaged; it’s not fair to make everyone else do it for you. For instance. Shaw is NOT a friendly person like Laynia, but I had him immediately address another person in one open by creating a situation where he’d have reason to do so, and would be stuck interacting with them. MAKE YOUR CHARACTER REALISTICALLY APPROACHABLE. This often goes hand in hand with passive starters; not only will the character not be engaging anyone around them, they will in fact be in situations giving signals that actively DISCOURAGE engagement. For instance, if someone is sitting in their bedroom, it’s entirely weird for anyone to come in that ISN’T their sibling or roommate. In a Discord college RP, one guy wrote his character going home and walking into his house and had that be an open...no one played any of his family members, so I’m not sure what he expected, that someone from school would just be waiting inside his house? There are also lots of situations where people are around, but realistically are not going to speak to you. Having your character studying in the library, sitting on the subway, or at a table in a restaurant are all common starter types I’ve seen...and all of them are situations where it’s extremely unlikely someone would engage you, unless it was an absolute emergency or they completely lacked any understanding of social norms. And if that’s the case for the character you planned it with, go ahead, you’re good. But if it’s not, or it’s an open, ask yourself---”If someone else made this open, how could my character realistically respond to it?” And if you have a hard time, change things to make it easier for the other player and their muse. This also applies to muses who are hard to approach regardless of the situation. People who are shy, or antisocial, or just for whatever reason do NOT want to engage with others. Those characters are great and I’m not saying not to play them, I play lots of people like that. But you shouldn’t expect other people to have to PRY an interaction out of them, and I see people do that---they write their cool loner or shy wallflower brooding in the corner, and if someone actually DOES walk up and talk to them, the character keeps pushing them away. It relies entirely on the other character just having to be that desperate to talk to them for some reason. And again, some characters will be, like I write a Squirrel Girl at another board who definitely WOULD pull someone out of their corner and into the party...but don’t RELY on other people doing that. Instead, try to find ways to make your character have to be engaged, instead of other people making them. See my Shaw example again. Shaw doesn’t normally like to talk to anyone unless he’s giving an order or has something to gain, but I found a reason he would for him. To use another example, there’s a very grumpy guarded girl that I write at another board, she doesn’t trust people or like them to begin with, and I put her on a subway car, aka one of the examples I gave about places where people realistically aren’t going to talk to you. No one talks to each other on subway cars except mentally ill people or beggars, unless you already know each other. So, how did I make it work? Well, I started the thread with just her and a few other people in the car. One of these people was a large man acting in an extremely threatening manner, pacing the car and muttering hostile things and occasionally shouting at the other passengers. It was in NYC, that shit happens. She kept her head down and ignored it, as most people would do, but when he singled her out and began to get her face, she confronted him back and stood her ground. I got things just to the boiling point, then had the subway doors open to let a new passenger in. Whoever stepped in would be walking immediately into a conflict, in a closed-off situation they couldn’t get out of once the doors shut again, and they would have to react to it in some way. If their character was the type to get involved immediately, great. If their character was the type not to, that’s also fine, because I could have the big scary guy turn his attention to them, basically dragging them into it. Either way, my open created a situation to REACT to, instead of just hoping the other person would do it, and it created a situation where interaction could realistically occur, even though it was in a setting when normally it would not. Btw speaking of that---”my muse bumps into yours on the street/in the hall/etc” is rarely a good idea for this reason. What do you think people normally do when they bump into each other? They say sorry, maybe help the other person pick up something they dropped, and go on their way. It’d be very odd if I bumped into someone and they tried to make an entire conversation out of it. Likewise it’d just be completely bizarre to, say, join someone you DON’T KNOW at their cafe table, etc. You can make these work but, as with the subway situation, you MUST get more creative to make a reason why it would work. “YES, AND” OR “NO, BUT” Okay, you got your interaction started, how do you keep it going? Well, there’s this rule in improv theatre for how to keep a scene going, and it’s that all your responses to your acting partners should be “yes, and” or “no, but” What this means is, whatever reply your character makes, it has to give the other character some hook to continue the interaction. Here are some examples. BAD Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Yes. GOOD Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Yes, and can we grab some pizza on the way? Joe doesn’t just agree to do the thing, he gives Sally something to reply to and keep the conversation going. And he could do this even if he DIDN’T want to go to the skating rink! BAD: Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No. Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No, but I was thinking, do you like the aquarium, how about that? Basically, whether he’s responding yes or no, he’s not closing the conversation. Of course, you do not ACTUALLY have to use the phrases “yes, and” or “no, but” just do stuff that will give the other person something to answer. Here are more good examples: Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Yes, I loved skating as a kid, but I haven’t been able to do it in years, so I might make a fool of myself! Promise not to laugh? Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Yeah, that would be great! It’ll be my first time. Do you skate a lot? Can you help me? Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Hell yeah, I’m the skatemaster! Prepare to eat my rink-dust! Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No, I hurt my ankle last Saturday, it’s a...long story.  Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No, and listen, Sally? I think you’ve really misinterpreted our relationship. We’re co-workers, and I think that’s what we should stay.  Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No, I’m sorry, my mom is sick and there’s just...so much shit going on. I don’t know what I’m going to do if this keeps up.  Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Are you serious?! That’s what you’re thinking of at a time like this?! I can’t believe you! Some of these are positive, negative, angry, happy, sad, competitive, but they all keep the conversation going better than a “closed” response does.