#it was relatively painless! i will say that much

[ot3]

modding terraria is like 'ok this is our giant mod it contains every qol change you want. download it through tmodloader' and then youre done. modding stardew valley is like 'heres our mod. here are the five other mods you need to load this mod. and here are the two mods each you need for those five to run.'

[ilostyou]

welp. the phantom cramps are no longer phantom 😃

[kel-is-here]

Alex what? 😨

Ahah I'm fine ^_^

[livesincerely]

”Hi,” a voice says, much closer than he expects. Davey turns to find a woman at his elbow—pretty, with long, tawny hair and big brown eyes—and her smile is sweet and a little shy. “I’m Julia.”

”Uh, hi,” Davey replies, a little confused.

His first thought is that she needs help flagging down the bartender; Davey’s tall and the place is packed, so it’s a reasonable assumption.

Instead, she says, “I don’t usually do this, but, I thought, maybe— And, my friends said I should just be brave and go for it, so, uh, would you be interested in maybe going out sometime? With me?”

”Oh, uh,” Davey rubs a hand over the back of his neck, a little thrown. He scrambles for a good way to turn her down without being mean. “I’m actually not—“

”Dave, did you want any food or just the drink?” Tony asks, tugging at his shirt sleeve to get his attention.

Davey latches onto him like a lifeline.

”I’m here with my boyfriend, Tony,” he lies, throwing an arm around Tony’s shoulders and pulling him in close.

Tony, because he’s the absolute best and Davey’s new favorite person, doesn’t even miss a beat.

“Oh, hey,” he says, curling into Davey’s side. “Sorry, this one’s taken, but believe me, I understand the appeal.”

”Oh my god,” Julia says, looking mortified. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize—“

”No biggie,” Tony says easily. “It happens.”

He turns back to Davey, lifts up on his toes, and presses a chaste kiss to his lips. “Come on, babe,” he says, with a ridiculous eyebrow wriggle. “Help me carry our drinks.”

Julia excuses herself with another flustered apology—Davey almost feels bad, but mostly he’s relieved at how relatively painless the whole exchange was.

“I owe you one,” Davey murmurs to Tony as they escape, heading to their table.

Tony snorts. “Oh, trust me, I’m about to get it back, with interest, in sheer entertainment value.”

“What do you mean?” Davey asks.

“Judging by the look on his face, Jack definitely saw what just went down,” Tony says, oddly vindictive. “And he ate the last of my fucking Froot Loops yesterday, so he deserves what’s coming to him.”

“What’s coming to him?” Davey questions, a little too drunk to follow this new thread of the conversation.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tony says, patting his shoulder. “Here, sit.”

He pushes Davey into the open seat next to Jack—who's watching them with a strange expression, tension pulling at the corners of his mouth.

That tension only grows more pronounced as Tony plops himself into Davey’s lap and makes himself nice and comfortable. Davey just wraps his arms around Tony’s waist, resigned to this becoming A Whole Thing.

”Everyone here owes me money,” Tony announces gleefully to the table at large. “He didn’t even make it five minutes.”

There’s a collective groan.

“Who was it this time?” Specs asks, digging into his pockets for his wallet.

”Girl at the bar,” Tony says, nodding in the right direction. “The one in the green dress.”

The whole group turns to look as one, not even trying to be discreet. Davey resists the urge to sigh.

“She actually seemed normal,” Tony continues, with audible disbelief. Davey wishes he could take offense but, unfortunately, it’s well-warranted. “Cute, too. I wouldn’t’ve chased her off if Dave hadn’t signaled.”

”And where did kissing him factor int’a the equation?” Jack asks, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans back in his chair.

“You kissed Davey?” Albert asks loudly, looking intrigued. He turns to Davey and continues, “You let him kiss you? Don’t’cha know where his mouth has been?”

“Fuck off, Albie, I’m fresh as a fucking daisy—“

“No one should be kissin’ Davey,” Jack insists with a scowl.

“Dave didn’t mind,” Tony says with a smirk. He’s clearly enjoying this way too much. “And anyway, we had’ta sell it.”

“Oh, I bet you fucking did,” Jack mutters under his breath.

“How come Racer gets to mack on Davey?” Albert complains, which tracks—tequila always makes him pouty. “It’s my birthday! If anyone gets to kiss Davey, it should be me.”

“Pretty sure that’s not how that works,” Romeo tells Albert as Jack sputters soundlessly.

“Sure, it does,” Al insists. “Hey, Dave, can I kiss you?”

“No one is kissing Davey!” Jack says. He kind of looks like he’s got a swarm of bees in his mouth, his cheeks flushed and puffed out, his jaw working furiously.

“Uh, not with that fuckin’ attitude,” Albert scoffs, extremely unimpressed. “How ‘bout it, Dave?”

Davey blinks. “Um…”

“No one else is kissing Davey,” Jack orders.

[friendlybowlofsoup]

Another Update

Hello Friends,

I have a rather long (but optimistic!) update to share with you all today. As many of you are probably tired of reading these kind of posts, I have a TL;DR here, but I did want to share what has been on my mind in that past half-year that I haven't been here.

It has been rough, and busy as always, but I think I'm finally facing myself and my project for the first time in a very long time.

TL;DR (it's actually long, I have a lot to say (*_ _)人)

I soul-searched and decided to stop compromising on my own feelings with regards to this project. I gave in to everything I wanted to do.

Plot changes, which means some character changes, which means some of the demo is outdated.

GotRM will be switching over to Twine.

----

OH MAN DID I SUFFER THE LAST FEW MONTHS

After my previous update, I hunkered down and really analyzed how I wanted to proceed with GotRM as a project. Because even prior to that post, I had already been going through long periods of hiatuses (which you are all aware of), and while I didn't lie about school taking up my time, I was also harboring a growing dissatisfaction with my own writing that really killed my progress for a long time.

So after everything had settled, I sat down and forced myself to peel apart my work. I know I said I would answer asks, but I uninstalled all of my social media and put aside this blog to focus. I made a note of all the things I liked and didn't like, and I made a list of things I wanted to change or improve on. The biggest point was that I also looked at my efficiency during actual writing sessions: how much of my time was spent writing vs. fighting with code? How could I change that?

And after a lot of deliberation, I figured there were a few things I had to change from the ground up, summed up in four points:

My working style was super incompatible with grad school. I can't spend 20-30 minutes scrolling up and down CSIDE checking code or looking for narratives while also jumping between chapters to make sure events line up. As this story grows, the more difficult it becomes to keep track of all the branches, so I needed an alternative working method, which I am adhering to now, and it prioritizes efficiency.

I hated the way I was tracking and coding stats in-game. I have griped so much about coding stats, and I have adhered to such a rigid style that I really felt trapped whenever I was confronted with balancing them out. So I'm throwing that to the wind and redoing how I utilize and convey them. Player-side, this decision doesn't change much since I never fully utilized stats in the demo anyway, and the stats page with indicators will still exist, but I'm getting rid of stat bars and how I treat stat checks.

The story I want to write now is different from the one I started out with. I've known for a while that GotRM was becoming far more than the tiny, wishful novella that I wrote as a teenager. I held onto that old story for a long time, but there's just so much I want to change that I realized I'd been clinging to a story I no longer enjoyed writing. So I spent the majority of the last few months rewriting GotRM from scratch. I redid some worldbuilding, I changed a lot of plot points, and I fixed a lot of characters' backstories accordingly. This meant scrapping stuff from even the demo, but that turned out to not be the biggest issue because:

I wanted to branch away from ChoiceScript. Honestly, I never really cared about getting officially published, but the camaraderie in the forums and on Tumblr were why I committed to CS and CoG. However, ultimately, I really want the functionality that other tools can offer GotRM, and so after a long internal debate, I will be switching over to Twine. Fortunately, since I was rewriting everything anyways, this has been relatively painless, and passage mapping has made everything so much neater. I am trying my best to make it up to chapter 2 before I release the new demo, so please look forwards to that!

And so yes, I am still here, chugging along.

I love this game and this story: it's been my creative escape for as long as I could remember, and you can imagine how frustrated I was when I realized I was starting to dread working on it.

I am forever learning more about myself and my writing style, and this is simply more of that journey. Thank you everyone for sticking around, for joining the discord, and for checking up on me--that I have all of you has truly been a dream.

Hopefully more updates to come soon! I understand that there may be questions about these new changes, so please ask away! I will (try) to release some asks that I've been working on in the drafts too, but I will wait until at least tomorrow to release them so that this post doesn't get drowned out immediately.

And as always, with a lot of love,

FriendlyBowlofSoup (Mei)

[five-rivers]

Neologism

For Ectober 2023 day 31: Ten Years! Last one for this year!

.

“Can you believe, Daniel, that it has already been ten years since we first met?” asked Vlad, topping off Danny’s wine glass.  

“I can’t believe that I’m hanging out with you after you tried to dissect me like a laboratory frog,” said Danny.  He was already a little tipsy.  Vlad’d had a party earlier.  A fancy one.  One that Vlad had invited Danny and his family to, for reasons unknown, and which Danny had attended for reasons unknown.  And now they were sitting on one of Vlad’s balconies.  Why Vlad felt the need to have so many of the things when they could both fly and walk through walls, Danny would never understand.  

“I never dissected you, my dear boy,” said Vlad, with an expansive gesture.  A bit of wine spilled from his glass.  He was drunk, too.  

“As if you could,” said Danny with a snort.  “I said you tried to dissect me.  There’s a difference, cheesehead.”

“No, no,” said Vlad.  “I never tried to dissect you.”

Danny rolled his eyes.  “Are you splitting hairs over whether or not you wanted to vivisect or dissect me?  Really?  Really?”

“I’m not splitting hairs, I’m making a cogent distinction!  And I never wanted to vivisect you, either.”

“What d’you call wanting to cut me up to figure out how I work, then?”

Vlad sniffed.  “Vivisection is strictly for things that are alive.  Dissection is for things that are not alive.  We are both alive and dead, and therefore such an act would fall under neither category.  Therefore, therefore, I came up with my own term.”

“What?” said Danny, drinking more wine.  Clearly, he wasn’t drunk enough to make dealing with Vlad painless yet.  If that was even possible.  “Vladisection?”  As much as Vlad mocked Danny’s father for his naming sensibilities (some of which were Mom’s fault, anyway), the names he came up with were much worse.  

Danny was never going to let him live Dalv down.  Seriously.  

“Divisection!” said Vlad triumphantly.

Danny nearly choked on his wine.  

“I considered hemisection and demisection, but hemisection is already taken.”

“By what?” asked Danny, phasing off the wine he’d spilled.  

“Something to do with tooth surgery,” said Vlad, waving his hand.  “Unimportant.”

“And demisection?”

Vlad ignored him.  “Divi.  A noble and little-used prefix, ideal for our purposes.”

“I don’t like how you’re lumping us together, there, Vladdie.”

“It accurately indicates that we are divided between two states, those of life and death.”

“I dunno that I feel all that divided.  I think that’s always been a you thing,” lied Danny.  He’d had his phases, back when he’d been a teenager.  He’d gotten over it.

“And, in a stroke of genius–”

“Kinda think that word’s overused these days,” observed Danny.  

“Let me speak Daniel.  It’s no wonder you’re getting a ‘B’ in Introduction to Relativistic Astrophysics and General Relativity.”

“Y’know what, I’m impressed you can even say that with how drunk you are.”  Danny sure wasn’t going to try.  He already bit his tongue too often, now that his fangs had come in.  

“As I was saying, in a stroke of genius, divisection also includes the first syllable from each of the terms that are so often misused in its place.”  Vlad nodded sharply, and drained his wine glass.  “I didn’t try to dissect or vivisect you, I wanted to divisect you.”

“I can’t tell if you’re serious or not,” said Danny.  

“I’m dead–” Vlad hiccupped, “--deadly serious.”

“You’re embarrassing, that’s what you are,” said Danny.  He leaned back to get a better look of the moon overhead.  “I really, really don’t know why I’m hanging out with you.  Divisection.  Can’t believe you tried to cut me up, and now you’re calling it divisection.  No respect.”

[crimeronan]

havent seen anyone talk about it yet which is SHOCKING to me but my peak luz hunter moment wasnt even any of the overt family talk or dramatic desperation hugs, it was just. luz giving hunter the owl mask to emulate the golden guard's confidence & then him bursting in with the "what happens next should be relatively painless... if you just do what i say :)" callback, but this time it's with her By His Side AS the golden guard and AGAINST belos.... you guys i love it so much i love it SO much i lose my MIND. i was anticipating golden guard atrocities angst but actually loved this so much more like. yeah fuck yeah reappropriate that fearless confidence and righteousness!! yeah take what your abuser made you and shape it into something you want for yourself instead!! yeah throw it back in his face!! yes yes yes be self-assured and powerful!! let's fukkin GO

[teecupangel]

Once upon a meadow, in the heart of the Enchanted Forest, lived a curious rabbit and a vibrant blue bird. The rabbit was known for his insatiable appetite for stories, while the bird had a talent for composing beautiful songs. One day, they discovered an ancient oak tree with a magical mailbox that promised to deliver letters to any faraway places.

Excitement sparkled in the rabbits eyes as he hopped around the bird. "Let's write many letters to put in it! Imagine the tales and tunes we could share!"

The bird, with a melodious chirp, agreed, and they began crafting heartfelt letters under the rustling leaves of the old oak tree. The rabbit added his whimsical anecdotes, and the bird penned verses that echoed through the enchanted meadow.

They wrote as much as they can and placed it in the mailbox hoping anyone could stumble upon some of the letters. Some were replied sooner, others took time but one specific letter was found by a courier and in haste did he went to deliver it.

Inside it says: "Desmond turns into a lamb. You could do whatever you want I just want to see Desmond as a lamb because symbolism lmao."

At the age of fourteen, the recruits of the Brotherhood were required to present a kill to the mentor. It could be any kind of animal but the Brotherhood preferred it to be some kind of animal that can be cooked and shared to everyone.

It was a way to prepare them to the inevitable time that they must take the life of another.

Their kill must always be in the presence of an Assassin of Master rank or higher. Someone who can provide guidance and protection for unforeseen circumstances.

They would usually be someone connected to the recruit, the one who found them or a blood relative.

Altaïr had neither.

Had his father been alive, he would have been the one to guide Altaïr.

Al Mualim, who had taken over Umar’s duties since Altaïr was eleven, could not do it. It would have been seen as something more in the eyes of many Assassins.

So the duty befell Faheem Al-Sayf as one of the few remaining Assassins to have known Umar Ibn-La'Ahad back in Alamut that was still of good body necessary for this tradition.

Tomorrow, he would do the same for his oldest son.

Faheem had never interacted with the young Ibn-La'Ahad. Those blindly loyal eyes trained at Al Mualim reminded him too much of Umar, making his mind annoyed and his heart ached in equal measure.

It was a travesty for him to be in charge of the young boy’s first kill. He and Umar had opinions and they were, for most part, on opposite sides. What their brothers call friendship was build on mutual annoyance and the stubborn desire to win against their opponent’s opinions.

Umar had been closer to Ahmad, the man who dogged at Umar’s every step.

But both of them were dead.

And it was small mercies that Ahmad’s boy would be guided by another than Faheem due to scheduling conflicts.

Still…

Faheem could feel a headache coming.

He knew something was wrong the moment they exited Masyaf and went to a nearby woods to hunt, only for a lamb of pure white color to come tumbling out of the bushes and run towards Altaïr, letting out sweet sounds as if trying to talk to the boy.

The boy had froze for a moment and locked eyes with the lamb before he began to pet the animal, slowly at first, seemingly in a trance or just plain confuse by what was happening.

When Faheem said that they were lucky and ordered Altaïr to make it quick and painless, both the boy and the lamb turned towards him with wide eyes.

Faheem felt like he was the villain all of a sudden.

“Altaïr…” Faheem rubbed his face before letting out a sigh.

If it was Malik, he would have told the boy to remember his mission and he knew his son would do it.

If it was Kadar, he would have done the same and his youngest would do it as well with tears streaming down his face, apologizing over and over again.

They would both get over it quickly enough.

But he didn’t know about Altaïr.

All he heard about Altaïr was that he was the best of the recruits and never complained over anything, no matter how hard or unfair training becomes.

But he also saw the way the boy’s face softened and the small smile he gave when he started to pet the lamb.

A bleeding heart was nothing but a weakness in the eyes of the Brotherhood and their master.

It might be harsh but Faheem needed to curb such a weakness before it leads to Altaïr’s downfall.

“Altaïr…” Faheem knew it was not his place to say such things. For a moment, he wished he could curse Umar for accepting his death so easily, “You must throw away what feelings you have for that animal. You cannot afford to be weak.”

Altaïr’s hands trembled before they gripped the lamb’s neck. The lamb stared at him with eyes that made Faheem uncomfortable.

There was intelligence in those eyes.

And understanding.

The lamb shook Altaïr’s hands off and bumped his head against the bow strapped on Altaïr’s back.

A quick death.

Was… was the lamb asking for a quick death?

Faheem stared at the lamb and realized…

Why was it alone?

Why did it approach them?

No.

Why did it approach Altaïr?

Faheem watched as the lamb walked away from them, turning around and letting out a sound towards Altaïr as if…

“Altaïr, wait!” Faheem ordered as Altaïr followed the lamb but the boy did not listen.

The lamb began to run and Altaïr chased after it.

Faheem chased them but the woods seemed to be against him for some reason.

No.

Altaïr was following the lamb’s steps better than him as it led them to the more dense part of the woods.

By the time he caught up to them, he froze when he realized that the lamb had led them to the claws of a wild bear.

There had been sightings of it from worried villagers and the Brotherhood had guessed that bandits had captured it from somewhere but had either left it or they had grown too greedy and the bear managed to escape.

“Altaïr!” Faheem shouted as he ran towards the boy who held the bow in his hands.

Faheem stopped when he noticed the determined expression on the boy’s face as he nocked an arrow.

The lamb was running in circles…

No.

It was bait.

The bear was chasing it and it knew it.

Altaïr fired one arrow, hitting the bear in the eye. He quickly fired another arrow, striking the bear between the eyes.

Altaïr didn’t falter nor slow down, striking the bear on the face with all the arrows he had.

The bear fell on the ground with a loud thump before Altaïr could fire his third to the last arrow.

The lamb slowly made its way towards the bear and tapped its head with a hoof before jumping back quickly. When it didn’t move, the lamb ran towards Altaïr and let out a loud energetic sound.

Altaïr returned the bow to his back before petting the lamb’s head as he said, “The Brotherhood do not accept unnecessary deaths.”

Altaïr turned to stare at Faheem and, for a moment, Faheem saw Umar’s face.

The same annoying face of that idiot who believed in the drivel he was saying with such faith that he would defend it to the bitter end.

“If caring for this one means I am weak…” Altaïr’s determination and stubbornness were clear in his face as he said, “Then I just have to become stronger than anyone else.”

“Strong enough to be weak just this once.”

That wasn’t how it goes.

Faheem knew he should say it but…

Instead, he sighed.

“Protecting the innocents is part of our duty as an Assassin.” Faheem said instead as he rubbed his face.

Ah.

He was getting the same headache he always had when he was dealing with Umar.

How annoying.

He turned around as he said, “It’s your kill so you drag it back to Masyaf.”

The sound that came from the sheep sounded a bit like a thank you.

Faheem shook his head.

He was thinking too hard about this.

If the boy wanted to have a pet lamb…

Faheem wasn’t anything to the boy. He had no say in this.

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad would have to take care of this himself.

= For those interested in the alchemist that sometimes appears in this tumblr =

“I… I don’t think we’re allowed to deliver any kind of living creature.” The courier said as he looked at the big innocent eyes looking up to him.

“It’s not a real creature.” The alchemist said absentmindedly, seemingly looking for something inside that huge container that was even bigger in the inside, “It’s a golem. Pretty much just clay imitating life.”

“Well this ‘clay imitating life’ looks and acts like a lamb.” The courier countered, “So unless you make the proper arrangement mandatory for shipping live creatures which includes enough food to cover the longest estimate for the entire delivery trip, a cage large enough for the creature to walk around a bit and-”

The alchemist let out a long suffering sigh and went towards the nearby table. They picked up some kind of long ribbon and a piece of paper, quickly writing something in it before walking towards the lamb.

The courier watched in horror, eyes widening and mouth gaping, as the alchemist just… struck their entire arm into the lamb. The lamb didn’t make any noise but there was some kind of squelching sound that made the courier want to gag. The alchemist pulled their arm out and the lamb froze, eyes glazing into nothingness. The alchemist shook their clay-covered hand before covering what seemed to be some kind of wooden trinket in the rough shape of a four-legged creature in their hand with the paper they wrote. Afterwards, they used the ribbon to secure both the paper and the trinket before tying it around the lamb’s neck.

“There.” The alchemist patted the lamb’s head and walked back to the container as they said, “Now it’s just a normal clay statue.”

It looked more like a taxidermy but… the courier wasn’t going to say anything more. He simply sighed and took the… statue… while saying, “I’ll place the order slip on the table before leaving.”

The alchemist simply waved a hand instead of answering him.

He sighed once more.

Thank the stars this was his last stop for today.

[bigfan-fanfic]

Convalesce (Batdad x Bruce Wayne x Bucky Barnes)

Requested by anonymous for  I love the idea of Bruce/batdad/Bucky and Steve/superdad/Clark. Please write a headcanon about their relationship if you’re ok with it

There's something just delightful of the way Bucky has begun to show affection.

And in its own strange way, it's a parallel of how Bruce has begun to grow freer with his own love.

When the Winter Soldier fled Vienna, it was the Justice League that was tasked with finding him - after all, they're a much more trusted organization than the Avengers, and it was their way of working to prevent the Accords from going through - if they were able to do better than the Avengers, they could continue to operate and keep metahumans safe and their privacy intact.

So with Batman on the case, it was soon evident that James Buchanan Barnes was being framed.

So with the Justice League helping to deprogram him, it was a relatively painless process to free him from Hydra control.

You offered your own house as a place for Bucky to convalesce and to keep out of the public eye - Wayne Manor was pretty secluded, even during gala season.

Bruce wasn't as happy about it, but with the potential of the Accords hanging over his head, he allowed for it. It was insisted upon that Captain America assume a new title, as the Justice League was already a sanctioned UN organization, and they did not wish to play favorites.

So Steve Rogers, simply going by the Captain now, joined the Justice League and was allowed to come visit Bucky at Wayne Manor.

Bucky never intended upon engaging in courtship with the Waynes, it was simply something that happened. He helped the Bats train down in the cave, and in daily life, acted as a personal bodyguard to Batdad.

But slowly, he came to deeply respect both Waynes and their children.

You kissed Bruce when he returned from patrol, like usual, and Bruce nudged his chin in Bucky's direction.

Bucky was watching you two curiously. You gave Bruce a little nod, and he moved over towards Bucky.

You approached as well, and Bucky froze for a moment, until you put your hands along his waist.

Bucky gasped, but Bruce moved behind him and lightly rubbed his shoulders.

From that moment on, Bucky joined the two of you, kept close and involved.

Bucky helps Bruce come to terms with a lot of things - his time as a tool and weapon makes him firmly against putting the Robins to use in the field, and he now has the courage to say something about it.

While Bucky gets to heal from his trauma and start to cope in a healthy way, Bruce gets a new perspective to look at his life from and start considering life outside of Batman.

And you meanwhile, have a bit more support that you didn't before - Bucky's a lot more outspoken about his opinions on Batman than you are most of the time.

Bucky understands you, and he doesn't let him being a third in the relationship allow Bruce to push off any responsibility. He's willing to say the things you've had to let go by.

Bucky is also sympathetic, deeply, to your whole family. He's happy to help out all of them with whatever they need.

But most of all, he loves the two of you.

And just like how Bruce was brought out of his shell, so too has Bucky begun to take initiative. Giving kisses, holding hands. Coming with you both to bed without needing to be asked (and occasionally bodily taking Bruce when he gets caught up with Batman work)

Because, as he confesses to you one night, when Bruce lies asleep between you, holding you as his head rests on Bucky's chest, this is where he feels he really belongs.

And he will live it out to the fullest, and help you both any way he can.

And this, he knows, is what love is.

[intotheelliwoods]

May have gone a little overboard with this ask hahahahaaaa... @wakerrife

If you are asking how to write ports from a story perspective:

Ports/prosthetics are still under lots of development in real life, which leaves such a big fantasy element to them for starters! Theres no right or wrong way to entirely depict them in stories you know? So theres my first advice, write them in a way that ties in to the theme of your story!

Slapping some good old FMA comparisons here since I saw you were a fan!

In FMA, when attaching the actual arm to the port its depicted as a very painful process that totally just takes the wind out of you for a while. This is since the whole motivation of that story is to retain the flesh arm back, shoving in your face how painful the ordeal is drives that motivation home and so that writing style makes complete sense!

In 2AL meanwhile, the whole story is about acceptance, therefore I opted not to have the whole ordeal of attaching/detaching the arm be a painful process. I wanted to drive home the idea that its is completely alright and normal for Leo to have a robot arm, as an every day painless thing just like a regular arm, and so my opting for it indeed being painless helped drive that theme of acceptance home

Meanwhile if you are asking from a more medical perspective:

I am going to be flat out honest and say I am pulling half of this out of my ass hahhaaa, apologies I have no resources since I did not put in much research! Most of what I say just comes from background knowledge, but hey do give me some slack here, I am a biology student who is still learning!

Although most of my inspiration for care and all, I actually loosely based off infected ear piercings believe it or not! For example, did you know if an earring gets too badly infected and is not removed in time, the ear can start re-growing around the piercing and just sorta,,, consume it?? Its entirely possible for nearly any foreign implant to get rejected by a body and I find that concept so cool. So hey there is food for thought, if you dont properly take care of a prosthetic port skin can start growing over it! Or the body can reject it!

I do have some more thoughts regarding care and such that ive been thinking about as of late if you happen to be interested, who knows maybe something can inspire you!

Make sure the skin directly touching the metal doesnt dry up! Since the skin there is used to being fully enclosed by a warm shoulder, not thinned out and pressed against metal! Its easy for the skin to start drying and cracking around there. Preventing it from doing that can be done easily by just using a q-tip or your finger and rubbing vaseline or lotion of some kind around the skin. Reason you dont want it to dry up and crack would be since the cracks can crawl further up the shoulder and tear perfectly fine skin, which would definitely get irritating after a long while if your whole shoulder ended up just being decked in scabs. Even worse of one of the splits in the skin got infected. No one wants an infected port just like no one wants an infected ear piercing.

Be sure to clean the area where the skin and metal actually meet! Same reason as above, you do not want an infected port! An infected port can potentially lead to a rejected port which is never a good thing! Cleaning it meanwhile usually looks like taking a toothpick soaked in hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol, and scraping out dirt/germs from the slim space in between the skin and metal, this is so the skin there doesnt grow over whatever gunk may be there and cause infection.

Make sure the inside of the port itself stays relatively clean! Clean out grime and gunk! Make it so the arm can actually fit into the port! The arm cannot fit into the port if you have 2 inches of mud stuck inside the rod, or meddled in the ratchet system, or whatever fantasy cool system you have! If you try and fit an arm into a port with stuff all up inside it you could potentially break the arm! Or if it doesnt break then overall quality would definitely be lowered through the more funked up movements trying their best when covered in stuff! Anyways cleaning the port itself depends on what materials you have half the time, looks different for different people ig!

Oh and reasons no one wants an infected port:

The slim chance the body just starts rejecting the port and trying to force it out

The slim chance that if the port was not put in correctly/out far enough from the body, the body will start trying to regrow around the port

The fact that infections are extremely painful especially in such a large surface area in comparison to just an ear

If the infection pain was not enough, adding a massive metal arm that pulls on the skin would be even more painful

Would also want to add that if your body rejects the port, its a god awful experience. Rejection means that your body tries to push the port itself out of the body, a very painful experience, it usually does this by growing in such a way that puts force to sorta try and pop the port out. Issue is, the port is very much bolted down via ball joints onto the shoulder blade and collar bone, and so the flesh that grows under it to push it out ends up just gushing out the sides of the port as gross as it sounds. Its a really nasty experience. So without help via surgery to remove the port, have fun being in agony the rest of your life! If this happens and you do manage to remove the port, you would have to undergo waiting for the shoulder to heal up again before even daring to put in the port once again. Should also note that this can only be done so many times, since with each surgery to remove and install, more and more excess flesh gets cut of, until you may eventually reach a point where there is not even enough healthy flesh to sustain the port any longer.

Hope some of this was helpful!! Oops I had too much fun writing this up!

More asks under the cut!

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@archieagain AOSDJNOSDFJKF HII HELLO!!! IM ELLIWOODS!!! I DONT KNOW!!!! have a great day you made my week btw <3 <3

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@gemini-forest everyone.. everyone point and laugh at the typo everyone!!!!! giggles!!!!!!

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@snipersiniora 2 Left Arms my favorite fanfic ever!!!!!

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@skylabrea Annnddd bookmarked for later! :) Thank you so much!!!

[lucysarah-c]

No, 'cause Levi insisting in Holy Ground that 'He'll stretch her and leave her soaking wet so it will slide right in, smooth like butter,' for me was SUCH an important dialogue to add!

It may sound, especially for Y/N, like Levi's regular 'straight-forward,' blunt self. BUT it means so much to me because he's not 'romanticizing' the idea of 'cherry-popping a girl' or the typical things men say like, 'She was so freaking tight it was hard to pull out or in.' No, no, no, Levi knows it can be a relatively painless activity or straight up painless when a woman is aroused enough, and the lubrication is there.

It was a huge responsibility for me when I knew I was writing for a virgin reader that I didn't want the stereotype of 'She was so tight, she bled, it was very painful, etc.' Levi knows it shouldn't be that painful, and he's damn sure he will give his best to make it enjoyable."

[stevecoven]

I don't know if you've been asked this, but I'm genuinely curious!

You mentioned that Murph had to undergo procedures/surgeries (if I remember correctly, sorry if I'm wrong!) Before getting pregnant. Are they originally AMAB perhaps? Or was it some funky BI/Witch biology?

Some extra context and rambling is under the cut, but the short answer to this question is: I'm not answering questions about Murph's AGAB. It doesn't actually matter all that much and (in the politest way possible, as would also be true for a real person) it's nobody else's business. I don't detect any bad faith in this question, so no harm done, I just want to make that clear for future reference

Murph does have to undergo some magical/medical procedures in order to carry their children, but mostly because they've already undergone a bunch of other transformations previously. They're genderfluid, and always have been, and during their adult life have made various transformational edits to their body; some out of curiosity to see if they prefer it, some to make themselves feel more comfortable in their body. Some were changes to external features, some were changes to primary sex characteristics, both internal and external. As a result their body in their late 20s is a mishmash, and while everything still functions as it should they do not have the complete apparatus to either get pregnant or make someone else pregnant. Hormone levels due to taking various potions for long periods has also affected their fertility, so they need to treat that too. All of these processes are slow (timescale of weeks or months sometimes) but relatively painless and almost everything is reversible without any adverse effects

Full disclosure, even I don't know what Murph's AGAB is. I never made that decision when creating them, and now that they feel like a fully-fledged person, it feels wrong to impose a decision like that on them. They have Schrodinger's Anatomy; at any given time in their adult life, any possible body type is a potentially correct answer because they've probably tried them all. The 'black box' approach is partly because it gives me comfort and freedom to portray them in different ways if I want to, and partly to stop weirdos being unnecessarily interested in their anatomy and using it as an excuse to misgender them (something that has happened with previous characters of mine). I try to write about their anatomy as neutrally as possible when I need to (basically when I'm writing smut) but on occasion a specific body part needs to be described, and just because they have that body part at that exact moment, it does not say anything about what they were born with. This has been a very rambly message, but I hope it makes at least a shred of sense

[liightsout]

the blue - part five

﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎﹎

✯ summary: mattie misses adam while he's gone, danny is there to make her feel better ✯

✯ pairing: daniel ricciardo x fem!oc ✯

✯ content warnings: none rlly - pure fluff ✯

✯ now playing: skinny love - bon iver ✯

✯ series masterlist ✯

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March 2021 

Adam had been gone for about a week now. Pre-season testing had started in Bahrain on the 12th and he would be there until around 15th, coming home for a few days before heading back to the country on the 24th for the start of the first race weekend. 

Mattie was used to Adam being gone for a lot of the year. Even when he was home it seemed that he was always busy with something at the MTC, or heading out to see all the friends he had made on his travels around the world. 

She wasn’t a jealous person. But she did find herself envious of the amount of time everyone else got to spend with her best friend. They had grown up thick as thieves, constantly in one another’s pockets. She now had to settle for sporadic texting and FaceTime calls at strange hours. 

He had sent her a message earlier in the day telling her how well everything was going, followed by a photo of him, Lando and some of the other guys out for dinner at a fancy restaurant. She hated that she immediately noticed the lack of Danny in the photo. 

She hadn’t spoken to Danny since that night in the bar. Their evening had ended after a few more drinks, plenty of banter and as Adam had promised, she was home and tucked up in bed by 11PM. 

The first couple days of Adam being gone had been relatively painless. As a freelance editor she had the luxury of picking how heavy or light she chose her workload to be. She had a habit of throwing herself into her work while Adam was gone. Taking on extra clients to help fill the time and pass the days until he came back home. 

By the 7th day of Adam being gone she had felt the loneliness creeping in. It was moments like this that she had cursed herself for not being more social during her younger years. It wasn’t that she didn’t have other friends, she did, it was just that they all had their own lives. She felt that the only times they would reach out would be when they needed something from her or had seen Adam on the TV at one of the races. 

It was a Wednesday evening and Mattie found herself half way through a bottle of wine, scrolling aimlessly through her Instagram feed. She smiled as she saw a photo posted by Lando. The young Brit praising how good the new car was for this season. She double tapped the photo and continued scrolling. 

Her fingers stopped as she saw a post from Daniel. It wasn’t even a photo of him. Just the same as Lando had, he’d posted a photo of the car. But why did she feel like her heart was beating out of her chest? She shook her head and double tapped the photo. 

It was only a minute later that she saw the notification appear on her screen. 

danielricciardo sent you a message 

Mattie stared at her phone screen. She felt like a teenager again. She could feel her heartbeat racing and palms growing sweaty. This stupid crush was not going away any time soon, she feared. 

danielricciardo: hello stranger, i see you’re creeping on my instagram again! 

Mattie huffed out a laugh. Of course he would say that. 

mattieryan: ha ha you’re funny! i wasn’t creeping. i just came across the post on my feed. don’t flatter yourself so much, your head will grow too big! 

She hoped he didn’t mind her jibe. She didn’t want him to think she was being rude. She hated that she over thought her every action when it came to Danny. Her worries stopped when her phone vibrated, indicating he had replied almost immediately. 

danielricciardo: you wound me mattie girl! but you might have a point there 

danielricciardo: anyway, how are you? 

Her mind went back to that night in the bar. Danny being so adamant that she knew that he considered them to be friends. This is what friends did; chat, ask each other how they are. This was normal. She could be friends with Daniel Ricciardo. 

mattieryan: yeah i’m alright thanks! currently on the sofa, drinking wine and deciding what to watch on netflix. how are you? testing going ok? 

danielricciardo: cute! yeah not too bad, still getting to grips with the car a bit, but we’ll get there! i’m just in the hotel now, also deciding what to watch on netflix. any ideas? 

mattieryan: you’ll get there, i’m sure of it :) as for what to watch, i’m settling on the office, it’s my comfort show lol 

danielricciardo: great choice! what episode are we watching? 

mattieryan: i’m on season 5, episode 27, cafe disco! it’s one of my favs. 

danielricciardo: i’ll put it on now. second question, why do you need comforting? everything alright? 

She hoped he didn’t pick up on that. She wasn’t sure how honest she should be. She sighed, contemplating her reply. They were friends right? 

mattieryan: didn’t realise you’d caught that, haha. i’m okay, it just gets a bit lonely at home sometimes when adam is gone. i would message him, but i know he’s out with Lando tonight so didn’t want to bother him. 

mattieryan: seriously, i’m fine though! i promise, it’s not that deep, i’ve just had half a bottle of wine and i’m in my feelings, haha. 

Mattie locked her phone and placed it delicately in her lap. She attempted to divert her attention by focusing on the TV screen in front of her. She found herself laughing as she watched the characters of her favourite show dancing round the screen. 

danielricciardo: i’m more than just a pretty face ya know? that’s perfectly valid. it must suck that he’s gone so much. but i also know for a fact that if you text him and told him how you were feeling he would drop everything to call you. 

danielricciardo: but if you’re not going to message him, you’ll have to put up with me bothering you instead :) 

mattieryan: you’re not bothering me danny, but thanks for being so sweet 

danielricciardo: careful sweetheart, you’ll make my head grow bigger! 

danielricciardo: we never got to finish our game of twenty questions. 

danielricciardo: what’s your favourite flower? 

Mattie found herself messaging Danny until the small hours of the morning. By the time she had finally caved and fallen asleep she felt that she knew the Aussie enough to feel confident calling him a friend. 

They had spoken about anything and everything. 

Danny had learnt that her favourite flowers were daisies and that she loved to fill her flat with them any chance she got. He also now knew her favourite film was Romeo + Juliet, but that she loved Tangled. 

He knew that she preferred autumn and spring to the summer heat or bitter cold. She told him she liked it cool enough to wear a jacket, but sunny enough she could wear sunglasses and not feel silly. 

She’d never been to Australia, but always wanted to go. He told her he would show her one day. 

Mattie had learnt that Danny was an uncle and that he loved kids. He told her all about his ranch in Perth and how he loved to ride quad bikes around the land. He had sheep and horses on the ranch and how he savoured going back home any chance he got. 

Mattie now knew how deep his love of music ran. How he had a playlist for every scenario and that he loved finding new bands and musicians that he had never heard of before. 

He adored that she hadn’t asked him once about Formula 1 or that whole part of his life. She wanted to know about him. Danny. Not Daniel Ricciardo, driver for Mclaren. 

Mattie couldn’t believe that he was interested. He wanted to know more about her. She felt seen, a feeling she hadn’t felt for a long time. 

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Mattie woke up the next morning, rubbing at her face, she squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light now pouring through her bedroom window. She definitely had forgotten to set her alarm last night. She checked the alarm clock next to her bed, 9:05AM. 

Time to get up. 

She went about the start of her day as usual. She showered, dressed and made herself a coffee before the clock had hit 10AM. Sitting down on one of the barstools by the kitchen counter she pulled out her laptop and began her working day. 

A couple hours passed and she had successfully responded to every email in her inbox, and started to read the latest draft of a novel sent to her by one of her clients. She was just getting into a new chapter when she heard her intercom buzz. Confused, she stood up and walked over to the control panel by the front door. 

“Hello” she spoke into the microphone, waiting for a response. 

“Hiya! I have a delivery for Mattie Ryan? Can you buzz me up?” a female voice came through the speaker. 

She pressed the enter button as she searched her brain, trying to remember what she had ordered. Coming up empty, she concluded that it was probably a delivery for Adam but that he had put her name down, knowing he’d be out of the country when it would arrive. 

A knock at the door pulled her from her thoughts. 

She opened the door gingerly and looked at the delivery woman standing in front of her. 

“Delivery for Mattie Ryan? Don’t worry, you don’t need to sign, hope you have a lovely day” the woman spoke as she handed the biggest bouquet of daisies to Mattie. 

Mattie looked at the flowers in her hands. Dozens of delicate daisies bound together by brown string, a white card placed on top of them with her name written beautifully in black ink. 

She found herself in a slight trance as she closed the door and walked back into her flat. Placing the flowers down carefully on the worktop she opened the card. 

Hope these make your day a bit brighter - DR x

Mattie’s face broke into the biggest smile. Her cheeks immediately turned a crimson red, a stark contrast to the snowy white daisies that lay before her. 

She quickly pulled out her phone and opened her chat with Danny.  

mattieryan: thank you for my flowers danny, they’re beautiful. 

Without thinking about it too much she snapped a quick photo of herself standing next to the bouquet with a grin on her face. The message turned from delivered to read almost as quickly as she had sent it 

danielricciardo: not as beautiful as you 

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✯ authors note: part five is here babies! i'm not totally in love with this one tbh, but i hope you all enjoy

i've not been able to stop thinking about the vcarb01 all day, it's giving 2017 toro rosso livery in the best way, absolutely beautiful

and danny looked so happy at the launch event it made my heart hurt. and the white racing suits/hugo boss fits..... i'm unwell ✯

[writhe]

Good afternoon. I'm responding to your answer. Of those you questions you responded with I can only say with relative confidence that prisons do keep the general population safe. What, in lieu of imprisonment, would you recommend happen to mass shooters, serial killers, pedophiles and serial rapists? The cop comment you made is an attempt at a red herring, if you answer me with fallacies, I'll probably just regard you poorly and leave you alone. In any case What would we also do with murdering cops like Derek Chauvin, who is currently serving his prison sentence? He didn't stop until we made him.

Of course prisons as they are harm people, that isn't a question. Nonviolent individuals do not belong in prison ever. However prisons are absolutely necessary to keep us safe from those who are violent. Life sentences are necessary. And death should be a choice anyone - ☆ANYONE☆ should be able to make. That death deserves to be utterly painless as well, hence my original statement. If it was distasteful to you, I apologize. I don't think death is a moral problem as much as pain and suffering is. Tit for tat. I hope you find that clarifying, I look forward to what you have to say.

📢 THE STATE SHOULDNT KILL PEOPLE. PRISONS DO NOT KEEP YOU SAFE ! 📢

[loquaciousquark]

hi! i’ve been a fan of your writing since da2 and i’m so glad you’re playing bg3 now too. it’s been really interesting following your play throughs and character choices and how that ties in with your fic. i know you went with the choice to have astarion kill tav when he firsts bites her because it’s hilarious and i always want to do that, but i think i’d miss the scene after with the whole camp (and all the approval for defending him lol) and ahhhh i just don’t know! if you feel like it, i was wondering if you would talk more about your HCs around that choice and what to you makes it worth losing the morning after scene with everyone because i feel like it’s such an important group moment but… i want to punch him for killing me and also kind of slow things down with him so we stay just reluctant but oddly compelled allies for longer

Ahhh, what a fabulous question! Thank you so very much for this handcrafted opportunity to sit you down at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee and trap you for the next three and a half hours.

So the first bite scene ending in Tav's death wasn't actually intentional! I started playing BG3 in a three-person MP team with @eponymous-rose and @mystery-moose, and it so happened that my character (Tavish Gale, already ironclad) was the one who came across the boar and triggered the bite scene that night. By pure chance I rolled two natural ones on both those checks, and when it cut to the next morning and Tav was outright DEAD, we couldn't stop laughing! We had no idea what to expect or what the consequences would be, and when I switched to a SP campaign so I could horrifically binge this game like the gremlin I am, I felt compelled to recreate that glorious, character-defining moment.

However, as you note, that does mean you miss out on that lovely post-feed conversation where everyone says they're okay with him. On the other hand, you get that absolutely flat read of "Oh no. Something terrible happened here. :|" and then you get to punch him, so, you know, basically equal losses on either path. I know you get a ton of approval points after with the survival track, but I'm finding I'm not hurting for approval even in early game (I actually had to go and mod his approval 15 points lower about halfway through Act 1 this run because I was triggering his romance scene too early ahead of the party).

I actually need to probably sit down and write out the details of what happens here, but I do think a couple things take place. I know for sure that Tav fails the checks & doesn't fight it because she gets sucked into the feeling of relaxation and lethargy and the sense that nothing matters anymore. She spends most of Acts 1 & 2 fairly certain they're going to die any day, so why not live life to the fullest and do whatever you want in the moment without thinking about the consequences? If she's going to go out early anyway, why not to a relatively painless vampire bite instead of the agony of ceremorphosis? She probably realizes she's dying in those last seconds, but it's very much a "finally" instead of "oh no," so it's not really any skin off her nose.

I'm almost certain Astarion is shocked out of his mind when her heart stops. I don't think he realizes what's happened until he sits back and she's ice-cold and smiling, and his first instinct is to run off into the dark ASAP before everyone else wakes up and shanks him. Except because this happens IN THE MIDDLE OF CAMP, LARIAN, I think someone sees the whole thing go down and realizes Astarion didn't mean to do it and Tav was a brick-thick idiot who leaned all the way into her own death.

On pondering, I kind of think it was Shadowheart, who is utterly disgusted with both of them but who also knows she can bring Tav back with a scroll and does so without much drama. She'd be the kind of person to see what was going on, but who doesn't care enough to intervene or go "hey everything okay over here I can't help but notice you're engaging in some risky behavior", but who also wouldn't leap to TIME TO KILL ASTARION the moment it went too far.

I think Tav wakes up with a raging headache, and now that there are suddenly consequences she can't immediately brush off, she gets embarrassed and mad. Cue the punch, the argument, and probably everyone else waking up in the aftermath. Lae'zel initially wants to boot him from the group, I think, but Tav's anger burns out pretty quick (and she's pretty aware of her own failures to stop him), and she points out that if they're going to saddle themselves with Wyll's, Gale's, and her own baggage, it'd be pretty hypocritical to dump Astarion over his. So we still get some defense of him to the group, and I think Karlach (and probably Wyll, and honestly maybe Shadowheart who saw his fear) would be onboard with keeping him around pretty quickly. Promises never to do it again, keep your teeth to yourself, etc.

Astarion I think spends this entire conversation very, very scared and doing everything he can to hide it. I think he's completely overwhelmed by euphorically feeding on a thinking creature for the first time and then completely horrified by killing her - not because he likes her but because what if this is why Cazador commanded us not to, what if I can't control myself on my own without his compulsion, what if I really am the beast he's always said. He's panicking from the outrageous swings of emotion and talking really quickly and trying to put up a bold front, but inside he's about half a hair from snapping off into the woods and never coming back.

I think it's the punch that kind of shocks him out of the spiral, and then Tav then defending him to the group helps him flip into the "well obviously I deserve to stay and in fact to kick me out of the group would be not only stupid, but deadly" mode long enough to get through the night. He tries to put on the usual devil-may-care indifference, even though everyone can see through it, and they have a tense few days where everyone's pretending everything is fine even though it's really, really not.

Astarion & Tav are also avoiding each other religiously here, until something happens in a battle (the harpies, I think) and one of them gets injured because of that avoidance. That night, Tav stakes him to the ground and makes them talk about it. I think this is where she says she's not actually averse to him feeding on her and in fact asks him to do it that night - to get them both over the hump of what happened the first time. Astarion needs to feed without fear & she needs to not get swept up in the lethargy, and if he's going to get back to the sneering equilibrium he ought to have in the first and second acts, he needs to be successful at this and he needs to feel like he's won, or at least like he has an edge over her again. She's a little transparent about wanting to be bled in part to help him get back to this position of control, and in part because she does like forgetting the weight of reality, and in part because, again, they're gonna die in like twelve hours, surely, so who cares?

Anyway, it goes as well as it can for the two of them, even if they're both a little prickly throughout, and by the end they're a lot more comfortably back in that manipulative space they prefer. From there it moves on compliantly with canon into the party leadup (Loviatar and such) and then the party itself, and then progresses as scheduled with the rest of the game.

Ahh, it's so fun to think about these kinds of things. I'll continue to ponder, but I think this is either it for them or very close. Thank you so much for asking and for letting me ruminate! <3

[cryscendo]

au+trope+prompt game, Klaine:

babysitter!au

exes

“you have the emotional capacity of a brick.”

I'm so sorry about the last one, but I'm curious to see how you fix it :)

thank you so much for the ask! unfortunately, i lost the original prompt a bit in writing this. I wanted to leave the dynamic pretty open-ended so sorry if it’s a little off. hope you enjoy regardless!!

Word Count: 777

fic can be read under the cut!

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Kurt has decided that he is going to kill Rachel Berry.

He’s never been one to consider murder as an option before, but it does feel appropriate that Rachel should be his first.

“Are you serious, Rachel?” Kurt asks in exasperation. He had agreed to babysit his nephews so that his step-brother and his wife could go on a date night. However, he should have figured that Rachel always had ulterior motives.

“It’ll be fine, Kurt! Your nephew really wanted to spend time with his Uncle Kurt and Uncle Blaine. Just this once, I promise!” Uncle Blaine? Since when did Blaine get upgraded to uncle? Before Kurt had a chance to argue, Rachel prattled on. “Make sure Chester gets his bath and is in bed by 8:30. Thanks, babe, you’re the best!” She kissed Kurt on the cheek before quickly heading towards the door. “C’mon, Finn!”

Finn followed behind Rachel silently, but not without directing an apologetic look towards Kurt. God, Finn, you pushover.

Once the couple was out the door, Kurt stared at the door, hoping to burn a hole in the wood through sheer agitation alone.

“So, are you just gonna stand there and look pissy or are you gonna help me babysit?”

And there was Blaine. He was sitting on the couch through the entirety of Kurt’s interaction with Rachel, but Kurt had been resolutely not looking at him.

“This is a bad idea.”

“Sure is,” Blaine agreed, and even that irritated Kurt. Finally looking over towards Blaine, Kurt saw his ex-boyfriend holding his nephew in his arms. Kurt heaved a sigh and eventually sat down next to Blaine on the couch, careful to leave an acceptable amount of distance between the two of them.

“Two people aren’t needed to watch one kid.”

“Then leave,” Blaine stated evenly. This took Kurt by surprise by how easily Blaine said that to him. “You can either do that or get over yourself for one night.”

Though Kurt appeared he wanted to argue, he simply shook his head dismissively. He didn’t want to deal with this, but at the very least, he could tell that Blaine didn’t want to either. But it was just one night. He could do this. Sure, he and Blaine aren’t on the best of terms, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t handle one night with him. Even if the only reason they’re spending any amount of time together is because of Rachel and her incessant scheming.

The evening went on about as Kurt anticipated that it may: casual bickering between the two paired with taking care of his nephew. Bathtime was relatively painless, aside from the fact that Blaine was insistent on playing in the water with Chester, therefore getting water everywhere that Kurt had no doubt he would have to be the one to clean up.

Eventually, once Chester was put down for bed, Kurt and Blaine sat down in the silent living room, on opposite ends of the couch once more. Despite his nephew being an incredibly well-behaved kid, Kurt cannot imagine taking care of a child every single day. He’s honestly amazed that Finn and Rachel can do it. He sighed, only this time not from frustration, but from exhaustion.

“Wasn’t so bad, now was it?” Blaine finally spoke up, his voice carrying none of the bite from earlier in the evening. He must’ve been just as tired as Kurt was.

“Could’ve been worse, I guess.”

Blaine huffed a laugh that was without humor. “Sometimes, Kurt, you have the emotional capacity of a brick.”

At this, Kurt felt a bit indignant. “That’s hilarious coming from you.” Truly, as if Blaine has any right to be casting stones in the emotional availability department.

“I’m serious. You have so much you wanna say, I can tell. Just say it.” Blaine caught Kurt’s attention with that statement. “Look, I know that we didn’t break up on the best of terms, but come on. We’ve got to communicate better than this. Much as you may hate it, our lives are still going to be interconnected. No amount of arguing is going to change that.”

“Are you saying that you don’t hate it?”

“Seeing you from time to time? I can certainly think of worse things.” 

Before Kurt could respond, Chester started to cry in the other room. “I got him,” Kurt said as he stood, ready to be away from this conversation. Blaine didn’t try to stop him, so Kurt left him to check on his nephew. Though not without thinking about what Blaine was implying. Does Blaine want to still spend time with Kurt?

It was all too much, too soon.