#kind of burned out and stuff happened irl

[phantom-0-writer]

*standing menacingly at the door* i made u something

anyways lol. i had a lot of school work and was really busy freaking out and stress studying for a singular test that was 4 questions and would be over in like an hour and then i proceeded to cry about it in my car for various reasons.

but yk what that means!

time for our irregular and unscheduled update of

Gotham Academy's Mentorship Program

this episode featuring a fan favorite: Duke Thomas (aka The Signal - but thats kind of irrelevant for this)

you were supposed to read that like it was from a '90s sitcom and the off screen crowd cheers rly loudly.

some house keeping updates: this scene happens in the beginning of the school year (going by the american system should be september) danny meets damian (and upsurges tim on the same day) around midterm which is around october and then the stuff with jason and damian's drawing happens around december. i kinda accidentally burned the irl timeline for anything dc first scene so now im just gonna do whatever i want.

anyways with out further ado:

table of contents

scene 04: after school activities for normal kids

Duke stood around the corner of the classroom awkwardly, wondering if he had made the right call. Sure the bats and the birds had a plethora of hands on deck any time, but most of them specialized as night time heros. Not to say that they were incompetent or anything, they were some of the most skilled and innovative people Duke had ever had the pleasure of meeting. Sure if anything happened, they could handle it, at least until Duke could slip away and show up as the Signal- Alfred and Bruce had assured him so much. But Duke couldn’t slip the guilt of busying away more of his time to after school activities when he could be patrolling or studying instead, 

But Duke had wanted to do something outside of those things, which was specifically why he had made the difficult decision to join a few clubs and after school activities. He could use a break from being surrounded by people who worked the vigilante life-style just to remember how to be a normal civilian. Let himself take a break from constantly be consumed by one case or another, one disaster or another, not being able to do enough no matter how much he tried or how much time he spent patrolling. 

Duke needed to feel grounded, like his feet were on the ground and he could press the brakes and smell the fragrance of life. Even if the fragrance was a forgotten pile of dog s-

“Alright,” The instructor for their culinary club started with a weird German accent that sounded really fake. “I am Herman. You can call me Chef or Chef Herman or just Chef. I will not bore you all with the boring introductions, and let's head right into the cooking, yes. On this paper here I made the partners for all of you to cook with for the rest of the year. If you have problem with it then quit.” 

This Herman guy seemed like quite the character, and was definitely not helping any of Duke’s previous anxieties. Many of Duke’s clubmates seem to think so too, sending their friends various looks. But no one spoke out, and instead shuffled to the front to look at the singular sheet of paper that would assign them their partners. Duke finally made it to the front and saw that he was paired with a Daniel Fenton at Station 7. 

Crossing his fingers that Daniel had at least only a half-rotten personality, Duke made his way over to station 7. The station was already prepped with an assortment of ingredients and cooking equipment. Duke had already set his stuff down claiming the seat closer to the exit (in case) when a lanky kid comes over, “Uh, your Duke Thomas?” He asks hesitantly looking back at the front counter the partner assignment sheet was. 

It took Duke an awkward second longer to realize that this kid was probably his partner. “Oh yeah I am.” He laughed apologetically, “You must be Daniel.” 

“Danny’s fine.” The boy smiled, absentmindedly brushing his messy black hair out of his face, his glacier blue looking at the equipment. Duke couldn’t help but feel like there was something off about Danny. Not in Gotham’s usual psycho-maniac-out-to-terrorizer-the-city-and-kill-innocent-people kind of off, more in a he’s not in sync with the rest of the world off. While Chef Herman explained the general structure of various types of kitchen and kitchen hierarchy that Duke was already familiar with, Duke tried to get a read on him. 

Weird did not mean threat, after all many of the Justice League- heck even the local Wayne/Batclan were pretty weird- and they (usually) didn’t mean any harm. It wouldn’t be fair of Duke to jump the horse like that. 

Deciding he should try to be friendly with him, Duke leaned over, “Is it just me or is Chef Herman’s accent totally fake?” he whispered. 

“Oh, Ancients,” Anciets? “I thought I was just going insane.” Danny sighed in relief with a small chuckle. There was a moment of silence between the two of them where no one said anything for longer than socially acceptable and Duke debated using his powers to see if he could find a clue or something. That seemed kinda invasive, though. 

When the Chef had started instructions on making today's recipe, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Danny helped Duke measure out the ingredients. “So,” Danny tried again, “What are you in for?” 

“What am I…” Duke repeated confused, 

Danny chuckled awkwardly, “Like why you joined the club.” 

Duke seriously needed to get his head in the present; this was getting embarrassing. “Oh.” He nodded in understanding, “I’ve always liked cooking,” Duke shrugged, “When I was little my parents and I would always cook together, and it was always one of my favorite things to do. And I’ve kinda always liked it, but I fell off of it for a while with school and stuff,” emphasis on the stuff “I thought joining a club could help me get back into it and get away from… everything.” That was a little more candid than Duke had planned on being with someone he had met quite literally a few minutes ago, but it felt good to have that out of his chest. The pleasant memories of his parents swimming in his mind. Mixing the dry ingredients, “Sorry that was kind of a lot.” Duke laughed genuinely this time. 

“Dude, no it’s actually so cool that you like to cook.” Danny said admiration was easy on his face, and Duke couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. 

“What about you, then?” 

“Ugh,” He groaned jokingly, “You can’t seriously be asking for my lame ass reason after you pulled out the flashbacks.” Danny whined, letting the oven preheat like Chef told them to. 

“C’mon, it’s only fair.” Duke played along, already ahead of the other groups. 

Danny sighed, “Promise you won’t laugh.” 

“Okay, it can’t be that bad.” Duke could already feel the smile cracking on his face. 

“It is.” Danny drawlled, “So I live in the dorms right, and I got to pull some strings and room with one of my friends from back home this year. And well, let’s just say my family has a bit of a reputation for causing problems, and the kitchen definitely wasn’t an exception. One time my dad tried to make some soup for my mom because she got sick.” Duke nodded approvingly, that was a sweet gesture, “It was all fun and games until the bomb squad had to show up and long story short we had to move.” 

“You’re joking.” Duke gaped at the bizarre story, but at Danny’s solemn expression, Duke couldn’t help but be appalled, “A bomb squad over soup.”

“My parents were never really heavy on lab safety,” Danny added, as if that explained everything, “But I burn one pot of water and maybe make a few extra-crispy eggs, and suddenly its all ‘Danny you’re not allowed in the kitchen unless you start taking actual classes’ and ‘Danny that's a biohazard’.” 

“You burned a pot of water.” Duke echoed, Danny nodded innocently, “Water doesn’t burn.”

“Well, maybe you’re just not trying hard enough.” Danny sneered, trying to crack an egg on the corner of the bowl only for all the shell to fall in the bowl and the yolk on the counter. 

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s true.” Duke said, taking the bowl from him and expertly cracking an egg single handedly. Danny looked on in awe. “You said you live in the dorms?” Duke asked easily. 

“Oh yeah, all of the non-local scholarship kids have to.” 

Before Duke could respond, a girl from the station in front of them whips her head around, “You said you’re here on a scholarship?” She asked almost oppressively. 

Danny just as taken aback as Duke felt, “Uh, yeah.” 

“Me, too. Have you heard anything about the Mentorship Program here? Apparently we all have to join.” The girl’s partner was looking between Duke and Danny confused, but returned to their cooking uninterested. 

“Oh, yeah. They make us all join.” Danny nodded. 

“I heard from some of the older kids, that no one actually gets picked for that. It’s just like a weird formality thing.” The girl spoke animatedly, “What department are you in?” 

“Applied physics and engineering design.” The oven beeps that it was ready but no one moved. 

The girl seemed to deflate that answer, “Oh, I’m doing culinary science.” And with that solid conclusionary statement, she turned around and got back to her work station. 

Danny blinked, processing what just happened and slowly turning to look at Duke for proof that just happened. But the second the both of them met each other’s eyes, they burst into a fit of silent laughter. 

Bent vunuralably over the table, trying to catch their breath, they were accosted by Chef Hermon. “The two of you are having a comedy club, not a cooking club.” Chef crossed his arms at the edge of the table. Duke was pretty sure he was trying to sold them, but the fake accent was making it hard to tell. 

Danny cleared his throat and striated up, “Sorry, Sir.” He apologized quickly. 

“Chef.” Hermon peered at them, his hat looking comically large and lopsided on his head now that Duke was getting a closer look. 

“Sorry, Chef.” Duke amended, trying to keep his cool. 

“Yes, finish cooking your cookies.” He nodded satisfied, leaving their station. 

“Okay so,” Duke tried to recount what the last thing they did was, but one look at Danny trying desperately to hold in his laugh had ruined all of Duke’s efforts as well. Barely managing to get their cookies in the oven, over Chef’s fake german accent and floppy oversized chef’s hat. 

“So scholarship for applied physics and engineering design, huh.” Duke recounted from earlier, impressed. 

“Yeah…” Danny trailed off embarrassed, “It sounds kinda snotty.” 

“Dude. That’s literally one of the hardest departments to get into, and the scholarship is no sneeze either. There’s no doubt you worked your butt off to get that.” Duke assured Danny as they sat in their stools waiting for the cookies to finish. 

“Thanks,” Danny smiled sheepishly. They sat in a much more comfortable silence now before Danny spoke again, “What grade are you in by the way?” 

“I’m in 10th. General studies for now, but I was thinking of doing medicine. You?” 

“I could totally see you as a hot-shot doctor.” Danny nodded approvingly, “11th. Technically, I’m your upperclassman then.” 

“Technically?” Duke asked.

“I mean, how old are you?” 

“15.” Duke supplied confused. 

“Me too. I skipped a grade in elementary school, so we’re actually the same age.” Danny explained, sheepishly. 

“Dude, you're actually way smart.” Duke gaped in awe. 

“Hey medicine isn’t a day walk either.” Danny nudged his arm playfully, “I’m glad the mentorship thing is just for show, though. Now that we’re upperclassmen, y’know. I would not want my hands full with some random rich kid.” 

Duke laughed, “Yeah, that definitely sounds like a lot of work.” 

Easily unfolding the conversation into various topics and interests Duke found that he didn’t mind that the cookies were burnt. Or that Danny was definitely weird. But in a good way. Duke was glad they met and would get to hang out and cook with their weird not-German Chef every week. And if Danny and Duke exchanged numbers and planned to hangout outside of club activities, then well who was going to stop them.

[pointless-discourse]

homestuck characters as related to trans stuff

head canon

JOHN EGBERT

closeted repping tgirl who will likely not realize she's trans until after 16

avoids mirrors, unhappy with appearance but tries to avoid looking at it

gets dressed in the dark

once she comes out she's gonna dress like the most hideous anime girl for the first few months

like goes HAM

her fav nerd shirts paired with a weird fucking skirt but eventually it looks really good just because of how much time she spends on it now that she likes how she looks

DAVE STRIDER

cool cis guy that will respect the pronouns

will treat people the same regardless of transness

goes down the transfem nonbinary any pronouns route in mid 20s

unfathomably chill

JADE HARLEY

divisive subject. either cool nerdy tgirl or closeted trans guy

tgirl jade puts a lot of effort into dressing for the sake of mirrors

doesn't necessarily look GOOD (ultranerd furry island social recluse) but she looks intresting

however tgirl jade doesn't voicetrain and not only is her voice kinda clocky but also very hoarse from lack of use

closeted transguy/transmasc nonbinary jade is very online and performative feminine stuff until he realizes in his late teens he's trans

does not learn what trans is until late teens, very in sheltered parts of the internet despite being very online

was out online years before he came out irl

third option: chill cis girl who, during

ROSE LALONDE

terf

no hate to rose she is one of my top three characters in all of homestuck but she is very terf vibes

she spends a lot of time "debating" with trans people online (harassment) and frequents a lot of terf forums

i think that after a few years of earth c and maybe meteorstuck she grows past it and eventually to her it's not a fight she's proud to be the lead general of but a phase she's really embarassed of, much like her other silly 13 year old traits

i also really like tgirl rose, not for character basis but i think its cool and i (obviously) love trans headcanons

KARKAT VANTAS

i am very divided between ftm and cis guy.

cis guy karkat is cool, he's very much just some guy who's comfortable in his "girly" hobbies and, while isn't really tied into his physical appearance, isn't dysphoric and is just a little insecure

however: humanstuck karkat will always be trans in my mind, just for the persecution bit, although i would also buy ethnically-middle-eastern adopted into a white american family karkat

he'd be a truscum or just kinda shitty to nonpassing trans people i think, we've seen how many alternian empire boots he licks so conforming to the status quo as a pick-me minority is not above him

again i think he would grow out of it in his later teen years/early 20s (like in the comic) but i don't ever see humanstuck karkat escaping the eternal shame that kind comes with being trans

ARADIA MEDIG0

ily weird unnerving tgirl aradia she is like so that to me. she reminds me of the boymoder NEET memes i see chronically online trans girls on reddit posting

but also i do equally enjoy weird girlboss cis girl aradia

either way she is far too etheral to be bothered with gender stuff

like you could come out to her with sixteen hard to pronounce xenos, pass so badly you unearth masculinity/feminity so prominent it burns to the touch, and she would not give a single fuck. and she would never mess up with pronouns and shit

tAVROS nITRAM

i see her as a hardcore deep deep in the closet repper tgirl as like a core part of my interpretations and yet i can never imagine her coming out

like i just see her boymoding forever

not really? like i think it would happen eventually i just can't visualize it

hypothetically i could see her being one of those cool goth girls named lilith but it seems very removed from the original starting point

2OLLUX CAPTOR

repping tgirl or amab nonbinary or just plain cis

either way still horrifically greasy and that will never change

there is no self reflection that will even vaguely incentivize sollux to maintain his hygeine

:33< NEPETA LEJION

cis girl

maybe comes out as ftm in 20s? if trans, i could also see nepeta repping till death

like just a weird cis girl who is like "oh, you're trans? just like in my warrior cats rp discord server!"

again, gives more of a fuck about gender than aradia but it is close

she just cares if you will listen to her talk about her ships and art

nepeta is the type of person where it might take her a while get the new name and stuff right

"HER PRONOUNS ARE THEY/THEM!"

but she would be your staunch defender

KANAYA MARYAM

eh? nothing strong here, i don't really have a hc for her

but there is a lot of mtf symbolism in the comic and i do enjoy that

like a socially awkward youngshit who's not out to many people because she can't really bring herself to correct people in public but still has a really passing voice even after first coming out

bad facial dysphoria

do like her as intersex. feels right

TEREZI PYROPE

nonbinary

no genders, all the genders, new genders, old primal genders, everything

both simultaneously afab and amab but not intersex?

the living embodiment of androgyny

probably has a very long list of neos/xenos but is any pronouns

you cannot misgender her. hes too cool.

VRISKAAAAAAAA SERK8!!!!!!!!

transgirl transgirl transgril

literally not even a headcanon at this point vriska is a trans girl and that is that!!!!!!!!

if you disagree im kickng your ass so hard it comes out of your mouth. your days are numbered and that number is 0. (not 8 :( )

EQUIUS

option one: cis gymbro chaser.

he sleeps with trans men to steal their t shots

in the streets he'll occasionally say the weird shit but i know he'd be crankin his hog to futa/cuntboy shit by night

option two: trans girl

never comes out because of insecurity but indulges in long hair and the occasional skirt in private and then feels really bad about it

option three: insane roided trans man

t gave him big muscles and big sex drive

option three poiont 5.

racist sexist homophobic nonbinary

like drops the most despicable shit in conversation and finsihes it off with "my pronouns are actually they/them), like one of those nazi femboys

GAMZEE MAKARA

does not gaf

cis (? idk) guy who is fine with any pronouns and crossdresses for fun

i guess not technically cis? but still identifies as a man when it comes down to it. like barely guy

FEFERI PEIXIES

cis girl who is a little infantilizing

if you're transfem she will give you makeup tips

but still a little hugboxy

"oh no you totally pass even though you're 8'100 and have a full beard! women come in all shapes and sizes!" (not shitting on the made up trans girl here, passing is fucking hard and it has no bearing on personal worth)

JANE CROCKER

jane is a repping/closeted trans man and you can pry this from my cold dead hands

the mustache? the projection onto only male figures?

also i think its fun with jane's ties to the girls-only fuchsiablood club that he ends up a dude

also st4t janeroxy my beloved

DIRK STRIDER

gonna be honest here no strong leanings

i am a firm believer that estrogen would save her but i dont really think of dirk as anywhere on the gender spectrum

maybe just cis dirk? i could buy cis dirk

JAKE ENGLISH

one one hand i would like the transmasc rep being not restricted to hairless twinks and i would enjoy ftm jake that way

transmasc nonbinary jake is an insane concept to me but i do find myself intrested

a little iffy on the trans headcanons (especially transmasc) because a big part of the concept of jake english is that he's a big strong man who takes on the literary role of an objectified girl character and having him be

ROXY LALONDE

ex twinkhon femboy now BDD gigapassoid

literally one of the most gorgeous trans women you will ever meet

creating e substitutes in her laboratory since age 12

again not even those most immersed in trans culture and the ways of clocking would be able to tell thats how good she is

her speaking patterns hail solely from those cutesy minecraft/unboxing youtubers she religiously watched as a small child

however she is fully convinced that she doesn't pass for shit so she believes that every genuine complement and people treating her like a woman is just them being nice

she'll attempt to boymode and go "stealth" in scenarios where she doesn't want to be visibly trans but it fucking backfires because everyone assumes she's ftm

DIRK STRIDER

trans man with literally no basis because my dirk-themed friend is also a trans man

4channer transman robotics nerd dirk my beloved

DAMARA MEGIDO

transfem ig? or cis woman

very girl adjacent

idk i dont think about the dancestors much

RUFIOH NITRAM

cis man

MAYBE trans man

i am also cool with that

MITUNA CAPTOR

cis man

MAYBE transfem nonbinary

KANKRI VANTAS

trans man because very few cis men were tumblr "SJW"s

and he reminds me of of some chronically online trans guys i used to hang around

also hes very fuckign petite and girls and feminend and twinky dinky and im just projecting my dysphoria onto him sorrie kankri fans

MEULIN LEJION

cis fujo girl

when she discovered trans men she was like 'YAAAAAS MPREG'

will respect your pronouns and shit but is VERY HORNY

lowkey chaser that will also date cis people

PORRIM MARYAM

two choices: cool goth transbian or lesbian terf

cool goth transbian is the nice one. first off, she looks a lot like some transfem transition goals ive seen online.

second, cool feminist could also be trans rights and trans people are kinda forced into being political

third, being flat as a board could also be interpreted as her just not having tits (tho she does seem like the type to DIY HRT)

TERF porrim (correct): first, a lot of "feminists" turn out to be bitchy to trans people

second, her activism for groups she's a part of and groups she likes is good, but she really infantilizes kankri, and considering that's the beforan equivalent of hemoracism, if trans people didn't fit her motto she would not hesitate to shit on them

LATULA PYROPE

cis girl. maybe she/they

ARANEA SERKET:

trans girl serkets trans girl serkets

would also buy cis girl that makes you wonder if she's actually a repressed ftm because some of her actions are a littttttttle suspicious

HORRUS ZAHHAK

cis man who ends up hanging out with a lot of trans women anyway due to shared intrests in hyperpop and furry stuff

again very respectful, very small chance that he's chaser-y

KURLOZ MAKARA

i honestly do not know and this isnt because i dont really care about his character, it just evades me

transcends gender

could be cis woman, fuck if i know. i'd buy that

all and neither a gender above our human comprehension

CRONUS AMPORA

trans man that proves tboys are real men because they can be just as creepy and awful as cis men

thinks him being trans means he's immune to all types of discrimination

uses it a pity point/to get out of stuff

MEENAH PEIXIES

maybe tgirl? idk

may just be cis

possibly transmasc nonbinary

tho i lean mostly towards cis woman whos gnc and actually cool with trans peopel (be aware she will still groom them tho)

equal opportunity grooming

CALLIOPE

technically transfem anyway because her body isn't sexed so shes kinda intersex

but even if she wasnt a cherub she would still be transfem anyway

chronically online transgirl who spends most of her time in internet spaces with cis girls of her same age

warrior cats fan

humanstuck calliope hung around the warrior cats girls since elementary and never left

CALIBORN

evil trans man

transmasc for same reasons as calliope

humanstuck caliborn avoided all female socialization because he didn't socialize and instead spent his formative years on 4chan

the nature of the /lgbt/ board probably gave him some shame about being ftm

DAD EGBERT and crocker as well, very similar people

cis man who is a staunch ally

MOM LALONDE

cis ally

she's trying? can't say anything more

will occasionally and unintentionally say some out of pocket shit about trans people she knows when drunk

will mess up the pronouns a lot because very scatterbrained

GRANPA HARLEY:

cis man who lowkey fetishizes trans people

straight but fucks non-passing transmen because he doesn't see them as men

trans women are some exotic fetish

if jade came out he would repair his ways tho

NANNA EGBERT

transphobic

not even a terf because she has beef with feminists

but again if john or jane came out she would badger them at first but her love would win out and she would change her views

BRO STRIDER

personally i see him as a cis man but i think trans man bro strider is cool and also an icon

DIRK'S BRO:

cis bisexual man who is cool with trans people

ROXY'S MOM:

cis woman who is in a fucked up evil messy situationship with a transgirl

will trans rights

GRANDMA ENGLISH:

either a. elder trans woman

or b. cis woman (a little nonbinary) who is accepting

does not know the terminology

"oh so you want to live as a woman now? alright, i suppose. i had a friend like that back in college"

HIC:

evil elder trans woman who has an illegal diy hrt empire

will sell out the trans community if it benefits her

grifter

LIL CAL

i dont know it s scary

[theteasetwrites]

Healing Touch | Part 2

❧ Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader ❧ Era: Season 5 ❧ Pronouns: she/her ❧ Warnings: SMUT—bathtub sex (slippery, I know), handjob, fingering, missionary, str8 people sex, oral sex (m receiving), ball stuff (?), praise kink (!!!), dom(ish?) Daryl, language, mentions of injury ❧ Word Count: 9.1k

❧ Summary: Daryl returns for his follow-up appointment for his injuries, and this time, he's not leaving without the special treatment you so boldly promised him.

❧ A/N: Finally! I think this is my second most requested sequel, after Soft Spot (which I WILL make a part 3 for...). Sorry it took me like over a year to do this lol but I hope it was worth the wait! I simply had to write a smut piece for the sequel because the sexual tension was through the roof. I mean Daryl sported a big boner throughout the first one so... It was inevitable that this would happen. Also I realize Daryl might be slightly OOC here (I made him kind of more confident than I usually write him), but also, I feel like Daryl actually would get kind of confident once he gets in the mood. I mean he definitely does have his nervous moments here, but I like writing confident Daryl making the first move. Also I realize bathtub sex probably isn't all that great irl but a girl can dream ok? Plus any kind of sex with Daryl is amazing to think about, let's be real. Enjoy!

He could’ve changed the bandages himself, but maybe you wanted another excuse to touch him. Well, there was no maybe about it. That was your plan.

You wondered if maybe you’d been too bold by suggesting you could “help him out” the next time he got a hard-on, but then again, you took the opportunity to shoot your shot, and he still agreed to come to the office today and let you change his bandages. 

That night, you hadn’t been able to get to sleep for a few hours after settling into bed. Though you tried to clear your mind, you couldn’t shake the thoughts that had formed in your head since that day. Daryl’s body was beautiful to you, even if it had been covered in road rash from his crash. It only made you want to touch him more, to heal his wounds so he wouldn’t have to feel the burning of the dirt digging into his skin. 

Even as you touched yourself, fingertips getting more and more desperate and moving frantically towards pleasure, you thought about him. The comforting weight of his broad body on top of you, thrusting and panting and grunting and groaning and—

“Oh, Daryl…” Finally a wave of vibrations, a swell of bliss, a series of tiny, breathtaking shocks… “Yes… Yes…. Oh, yes!”

In the hazy images that played in your pounding head, you saw his half-lidded eyes blinking softly at you as his own body became overwhelmed with the release your body had granted him. With his thick, work-worn fingers tangled through your hair, he let out a grunt and sunk his head into your neck, where his open lips pursed to drag a sloppy, tongue-heavy kiss across your skin. 

The ghost of his body over you, you writhed in pleasure between sweat-soaked sheets. You swore you could hear the man’s gravelly whisper in your ear, the sound of your name on his lips, in his low, honeyed voice. 

You imagined him still inside you, keeping you warm and filled. Your fingers, though, were hardly an adequate substitute for the real thing. When you saw the “problem” growing in his underwear yesterday, you could just barely make out the length—substantial, and very tempting. Even his thickness made you instinctively swallow hard, with a nervous lip bite that nearly broke through the sensitive skin of your lips. 

Two fingers weren’t enough, so you’d tried for three, and that seemed to feel more like what you imagined he would, opening you up almost to the point of discomfort, but quickly soothing you the deeper he went, soon hitting a spot inside you that had your other hand tightly clawing at the bedsheet. 

Several minutes of straining, thrusting hard against the palm of your hand as the fingers inside you curled and pulsed impatiently. When the pressure became too much, you felt release again, and now, in your mind, Daryl nestled his head between your bare breasts, with hands pawing at the supple tissue. 

When his mouth moved to suction around your nipple, you imagined his sleepy bedroom eyes tilted back up at you, admiring your lips as they fell open, and a breathy moan escaped into the night air.

“Daryl…”

Sleep had so rudely interrupted your bliss, ripping you from the man’s embrace to plunge you into a restless, dreamless slumber. Perhaps it was for the best. After all, in your heart of hearts, you knew it couldn’t work out. Daryl was a patient, and you shouldn’t have been so forward with him, even if it was some kind of half-serious joke. 

Would he even come to the office the next day? 

You busied yourself with whatever tasks you could find—disinfecting the counter, reading up on Pete’s appointment notes, preparing prescriptions… 

Only a small handful of patients passed through. Little Nina came in with a scraped knee, Mr. Treneman had a routine checkup, and Ms. Sherman picked up a new inhaler for her asthma, but no Daryl. 

But he was across the street, watching the last patient leave the house. 

His teeth clamped down on his bottom lip, eyes narrowed as he tried to spot you. He felt like a pervert, standing there, waiting for his moment. 

Of course, he didn’t even know what his moment was. He could still hardly believe the things you said yesterday, and how he somehow flirted back. Whatever it was about you, it emboldened him, made him… confident. 

Well, as confident as he could be, considering most days he didn’t think much of himself at all. Still, you could ignite something in him, and he’d only felt a taste of it yesterday, with that small burst of confidence which promised you he’d return today, with the hopes of changing his bandages and cleaning his wounds once again.

Your touch hadn’t left him. Of course, the physical feeling wasn’t there, but the feeling you left inside him remained. There was a roaring fire in his belly when he saw you, and there was no quelling it. 

As he made his way across the street, hands anxiously stuffed in the pockets of his leather jacket, he made a promise to himself in his head: if he got… excited again, he wasn’t going to hide it. He was either going to wait for you to make a move, or make one himself. Either way, he was mentally preparing himself for rejection, but also… sex. Just in case.

When the bell on the door chimed delicately, signaling that someone was making their way into the doctor’s office, you straightened your back in your swivel chair, dropping your pencil to subconsciously fix your hair and smooth your plaid wool skirt. Looking at your oversized cable knit sweater, you pulled off a few cotton “fuzzies” as you cleared your throat before calling out, “Be right there!”

Please be Daryl, please be Daryl, please be Daryl, please be Daryl… The phrase was repeated like a mantra in your head. It was strange, though, because although you desperately wanted it to be Daryl, to see him and to take care of him again, another part of you was so nervous and embarrassed that you almost wished it was anyone but him. The man was doing things to you that turned your brain upside down and inside out. 

“Hi, Daryl.” The words slipped out a little too soon, a little too enthusiastically, but the moment you saw him, awkwardly loitering in the kitchen turned examination room, you couldn’t help but smile so wide that your cheeks began to ache. It was such a pleasant ache, though. Daryl was here, and that felt good. “What brings you in? Oh! The bandages.” You noticed that today he wore a jacket over his vest and button-up shirt. You were slightly disappointed, considering his arms were so… pleasing to you. But if you were going to change his bandages, he’d have to strip down again. Well, maybe you could have him strip a little more than he needed to. Maybe.

I’m a terrible nurse. 

“You got time?” he asked, not knowing what came over him. Indeed, he wanted to make sure you didn’t have any other patients after him, in case… Well, the air was thick and heavy with whatever tension there was between you two. It should’ve been obvious. He wanted you all to himself, however long that would take. Preferably, it would take a very, very long time. All the rest of the afternoon, into the night. That would be ideal. Daryl certainly had nothing on his schedule, having denied Aaron’s suggestion of taking the day to go on a recruiting mission, due to his minor motorcycle accident yesterday. It was the only time he’d ever milked an injury, just because he wanted to see you.

“Of course,” you said, turning to prepare another bowl of warm, soapy water. “I don’t have any other appointments. I’m off the clock in an hour… Well, there’s no clock.”

You turned back around to see Daryl sitting himself on the exam table, slowly removing his jacket as he let out a hiss of discomfort between his teeth. “Damn,” he said with a wince. Your breath faltered as you set down the bowl on the counter before coming to his aid, taking the other sleeve and gently pulling it off. 

“Poor thing,” you sighed, setting his jacket on a nearby coat hanger. When you returned to his side, you began stripping his vest, then his shirt. He watched you bite your lip, concentrating on undoing the buttons. He could’ve done it himself, but you wanted your hands as close to touching him as you could get. “How’s your head?”

It took him a few moments to register your words, as he was finding himself lost in the hue of your hair, the way it so beautifully framed your face. “It’s uh… It’s fine. Woke up with a bit of a headache, but I’m all right.”

You tilted your head and clicked your tongue. Even the thought of him with a headache made you want to wrap your arms around him and make all his pain go away. “It will go away,” you assured him. “You should really rest for the next few days. Have you been resting?”

Daryl didn’t get any sleep last night, none at all. Maybe he dozed off between thoughts of hearing your imagined voice whispering sweet nothings, your soft words settling on his ears like the delicate dewdrops on a flower’s petal in the haze of early morning. When the sun had risen, he took a walk outside the walls of Alexandria, trying to clear his mind, but all it did was remind him of how lonely he was, how much he wished someone was there with him.

Not just anyone, though. Just you, you and him together. Him holding your hand and keeping you within arm’s reach, safe and never in danger of the dead that roamed aimlessly outside. You’d smile as you told him about your day, all the things you did at the infirmary. Maybe he’d learn a thing or two about medicine, but mostly, he just wanted to hear your voice, to hear you speak about things he had hardly any grasp on. Just to see your face light up as you spoke about your work was enough to keep him interested. 

Love had never really occurred to him before as something available to him. It always seemed like something people talked about in movies, or something everyone else had but him. Now, with these feelings you had awakened in him, he couldn’t stop wondering about the possibility of it being real for him. 

As he trudged through meadows of sunkissed wildflowers, he found himself pondering, wondering what your favorite flower was. You seemed like a rose kind of girl… Blush pink with a dark green stem and red-tipped thorns. Maybe an innocent, sweet daisy on some days, but a fragrant, beautiful rose most days. 

Where the hell was he going to find a rose bush, though? 

“Daryl?” 

He shook his head and blinked hard as he removed himself from his thoughtless thoughts. “Didn’t sleep much at all last night,” he replied.

Though you meant to ask him why, you remembered the arousal in his jeans, and maybe that had something to do with it. “Well,” you sighed, and suddenly Daryl realized he no longer had a shirt on, “this shouldn’t take long, I’ll just change these bandages and then…” You trailed off, as you didn’t know what would come next. You certainly hoped for something… special, though maybe he’d forgotten about your less than subtle flirting yesterday. After all, he was slightly concussed. “Yeah.”

You went to work slowly unwrapping the gauze around his right arm, revealing the bright red rash spread all along the surface of his skin. That gravelly road must’ve done quite a number on the epidermis, and maybe it was the different lighting of the new day, but his rash almost seemed worse than yesterday. Squinting at the marred flesh, you spotted several tiny pieces of gravel and dirt that you hadn’t gotten out yesterday. 

It made your eyes shoot wide open. How could you be so neglectful? Of course, those pieces were very small, and it was inevitable that there would be some missed spots, but you should’ve been more careful. Maybe you were too busy letting your eyes roam over the defined muscles in his arm. You’d never seen any man with arms like that, deltoids so firm and triceps so distinctly separated from the biceps when he flexed. You could point out practically every little detail of them, even the brachioradialis and the flexor carpi radialis… 

“Oh, Daryl,” you sighed, and he had to admit, he’d thought about you uttering those words in a much different, more intimate setting. “I think I might need to do a deeper clean. There’s still dirt and gravel in there… Oh, I’m so sorry, Daryl. I should’ve done a better job.”

“Huh? It’s fine. A little dirt ain’t ever hurt nobody.” 

“But… It’s not fine.” You wrung out your washcloth in the bowl, then gently dragged it up and down his arm, trying to find the balance between scrubbing too hard and not hard enough. No matter how hard you tried, though, it seemed the more stubborn bits of dirt lodged in his skin refused to budge. You didn’t want to hurt him, though. If you scrubbed any harder, you might make the rash worse. 

He caught your worried expression, and eyed the guilt in your face. You felt horrible, like you’d neglected your duty as a nurse all because you were infatuated with your patient. If the world was anything like it used to be, you would’ve been fired. If you’d acted on your fantasies, you’d lose your license. 

Now Daryl felt for you, your worry permeating the air and translating into his own sympathy. “Hey,” he said, using his other hand to place it gently upon yours. The feeling stopped you from scrubbing, your hand and the washcloth underneath it frozen in place on his bicep. His strong, firm, warm bicep. 

You swallowed hard as your eyes met his. They were so kind, and so blue. It wasn’t an electric, vibrant blue, though, it was more like a subdued ocean blue, calming and deep. You didn’t even notice that your lips had split open slightly, agape in your awe of him. It didn’t help that his hand held yours so tightly now, and neither of you wanted to let go. 

“It’s okay,” he said. “I ain’t gonna sue you.”

You laughed under your breath at the idea. “Oh, thank God. Well, um… I think the best thing would be to soak these rashes in warm water for a while, loosen the dirt.”

“You mean like a bath?”

“Mhm… Would you, um… We have a bathtub here.”

Perhaps it was unspoken, but there was no doubt that you both had the same thing in mind. It had escalated so fast, and there soon became no other option for either of you. The mind is a powerful thing—it can convince you that the least practical solution is the best one.

Once again, you didn’t need to bathe him, and you knew you shouldn’t, but Daryl didn’t protest, and you only went with your gut, your instincts telling you that you needed to, quite simply, rid this man of his dirty old jeans and get him into a tub of hot, steamy water. 

You’d shown him briefly to the bathroom, then turned on the bath, putting your hand through the stream to test the temperature. It was hot, but just right. That comfortable, steamy heat. “I’ll be right back,” you said, voice shaky in slight disbelief of how things had escalated. “I’m just going to get you some towels and a washcloth.”

As you walked down the hall, retreating to the linen closet, you knew there was only one logical conclusion to this. Well, there was only one you were thinking of, and that was… You couldn’t even let yourself think of the words. There was no universe in which Daryl would need you to bathe him. He was perfectly capable of doing it himself, in his own home, without you scrubbing him. You’d taken this all too far, and you had no excuse this time.

Still, he hadn’t protested, hadn’t said anything about the proposition making him uncomfortable. He seemed happy to let you wash him, and he was. 

He was so happy that, once again, he couldn’t quite fight the urge he had been so desperately trying to hold back. As he undid his belt, watching the water rise in the bathtub in front of him, he chewed his lip, wondering if he’d stepped into a dream. 

As far as nudity went, he wasn’t too prudish. He valued his privacy, but you were, as you reminded him yesterday, a medical professional, and you’d seen it all. Plenty of nude men, he was sure. Granted, he was still self-conscious. At least a nice bath would soothe the pain of his rash that, he had to admit, was hard to bear. If you used your healing touch on his naked body, maybe he’d get more out of the experience than just another fantasy. 

But what if it became something real? How else is this going to end? he wondered. He needed to make his move, that was certain. Now or never.

His injured, aching leg caused him to hiss in pain as he pulled off the right pant leg of his jeans. When he kicked off his socks, he was completely naked, vulnerable. Still, somehow it felt right. At least he trusted you, though his interactions with you were limited. After this, he’d know you much more… intimately, he was sure. 

When you returned, a few bath towels and washcloths in your hands, your eyes widened to see Daryl sitting in the bathtub, the water now turned off and filled much higher. He sat with his legs tucked up to his chest, and his arms wrapped around his knees. Chewing his lip, he looked your way, then lowered himself a little, as if in embarrassment. 

“I, uh…”

You laughed and shook your head. “I told you,” you said. “It’s fine. I have seen plenty of men naked. In medical contexts, of course.” Setting the towels upon the counter, you turned to close the bathroom door. “When I was in college, I worked at an old folks’ home. I can’t tell you how many old men I’ve—” Catching yourself, you shook your head as you sat yourself on your knees beside the bathtub. 

Luckily for you, he smiled. A small, playful, lopsided smile. He’s so cute. “You callin’ me an old man, nurse?”

“No, no,” you replied nervously, laughing under your breath. At least he seemed rather easygoing. When you first saw Daryl, he seemed like he would rather be surrounded by a herd of walkers than talk to anyone. Little did you know, your charm had worked wonders on him, and even if he really was quite shy, since yesterday, it became clear that he could no longer resist you. “You’re not old.”

He narrowed his eyes at you. “Why you bathin’ me then?”

Because I am a very, very bad nurse.

“Because you’re hurt,” you replied simply, but sincerely. As you soaked the washcloth in the bathwater, his gaze softened. You cared about him, you really did. Maybe you went a little overboard, but he didn’t care now. He knew he was in good hands, and if you wanted to take care of him in this way, who was he to stop you. Besides, if it meant getting your hands on him again, he was happy to oblige. “And yesterday, I didn’t take care of you as well as I could’ve. I need to make it up to you…” You trailed off, then cleared your throat. You felt his eyes on you as you wrung out the washcloth, water trickling back into the tub. “So you should let me really get this gravel out. I think I’d never forgive myself if you got an infection.”

You lifted your eyes to him again, and grabbed a hold of his right arm. Squinting, you tried to spot the stubborn dirt, and when you did, you raised your washcloth to his skin, and began scrubbing once again. 

“You, uh… You give all your patients baths?”

Your cheeks reddened as you cleared your throat. “N-no… I, um… No. Is this weird?”

He huffed and shook his head. At least he was still smiling. “Nah, just different. I mean, yeah, it’s a little weird, but after yesterday… Figure there ain’t many awkward situations left between us.”

“Hm, I haven’t given you an enema… Or a prostate exam… Or a colonoscopy. Do you need any of those done, too?”

Though you were joking, if he needed it… You’d do anything for that man. He was everything you wanted—attractive, funny, smart, brave… Well, you didn’t know him too well, but from what you’d seen, what you’d heard, what you’d known, you could tell he was a good man. 

“No, ma’am.”

The giggle you let out was heinously adorable. The way he called you “ma’am,” in that southern accent of his, with that gruff undertone and that wispy softness of his voice, it was too heavenly not to giggle at. It sent shivers up your spine.

And then his body, dotted with thousands of tiny water droplets, reddened by the steam of the hot water that surrounded him, soaked and soft and just so beautiful. He still kept his legs hugged to his chest, but soon you’d need to scrub there, too, as you knew he had a great deal of skin peeled off just above his right nipple. 

“Could you…” You gestured to his chest with your washcloth in hand. “I just need to get your chest wet.”

He loosened his legs until they were stretched out further, allowing access to his chest. You tried so hard not to look down, where his… penis—oh, God, you thought, his penis. 

Terrible. Absolutely terrible. You had no right to look down there, no right at all, but you did. Just for a second. A quick glance was all you needed. It was submerged in the steamy hot water, while his body lowered itself more. The squeak of his bare skin against the porcelain tub alerted you back to your task. Luckily, he didn’t seem to notice your stare. 

“Thank you,” you said, not quite sure of exactly where you were or what was happening. You eyed his chest now, focusing on the raw, red skin that expanded from his right side to his right pec. It looked so painful, like it must’ve stung so bad. Your heart skipped a beat, both from the idea of the pain he must’ve felt, and the fact that his broad, strong chest looked so enticing. 

Just as you’d never seen arms like his before, you’d never seen a chest or a pair of shoulders like his, either. Strong, wide, muscular… Even his collarbones tempted you, begging for kisses and your delicate finger to trace along them. Further down, his chest hair had caught little droplets of water, and soon, you were meticulously washing his chest, soaking it in hot water as you cleaned the wound. You hadn’t even noticed the time going by, having been so consumed by his body. 

As your stare got more intense, his eyes settled on your face, where you held your lower lip between your teeth. The sound of water trickling from the washcloth into the bath brought you back to your senses, and your eyes met his. 

Moments passed in idleness, until his lips curled into a half smile, and a breathy laugh emerged. “What’re ya lookin’ at?” he asked, though he knew he’d been looking first, watching your every move and wondering when he was going to make his. 

You cleared your throat and smiled back. It was a smile you couldn’t ignore, one that couldn’t be held back. Like the sun always rises in the morning, the crescent moon of your smile was inevitable. A face like his could send you into orbit, and the way he was looking at you… It was like someone had hung little stars in his eyes. Those pretty, gentle blue eyes, shrouded in darkness by deep brown locks that framed noble cheekbones. You always had a thing for brunettes with blue eyes. 

The question lingered in your ears. What’re ya lookin’ at? The most perfect man you’d ever seen. You couldn’t say that, of course. Well, you’d already broken every rule in the book, but you were determined to be a little more subtle.

“You have very pretty eyes,” you said with a shrug. “That’s all.”

He seemed confused by that. Indeed, no one had ever told him he had pretty eyes. All he knew was they were blue and sensitive, and he needed a good pair of sunglasses. “Pfft,” he scoffed. “Nah.”

“You do!” you exclaimed with a laugh. “And a nice face…” You trailed off, feeling yourself about ready to say, “and a very nice body,” but you didn’t thank God.

“You, uh… got a real nice face, too.”

“Thank you,” you laughed. “I… I really shouldn’t be doing any of this.”

He shook his head, and as you removed your hand and the washcloth from his chest, he quickly grabbed you, returning your hand, and keeping his above yours. He began to guide it, instructing it to keep washing him. “Keep goin’,” he said, his voice low and nearly a whisper, like what you’d heard so many times in your head last night, begging you to touch him. “Feels good when ya touch me.”

It felt so good that he knew what was coming… Down beneath the water, his cock strained and began to throb slightly, almost twitching. He could feel it rising, getting longer and harder with each circular movement of that warm, wet cloth on his aching skin. The unavoidable tingles along his shaft became concentrated at his tip, gradually reddening as blood pooled there. Veins became more prominent, bulging along the lengthening shaft. His instinct was to hide it, tuck his legs back into his chest in the hopes you wouldn’t see it, but another instinct was becoming stronger, and that was his need for you. 

Instead of hiding it, he guided your hand lower, now just above his navel. Your eyes widened almost innocently, but there was no real innocence inside you. It was pure lust, and at the sight of the little light brown hairs that led down from his belly to his cock, you forgot to breathe. 

“Daryl…” Your eyes followed his happy trail down to his swollen, hardening cock. Unabashedly now, you nearly salivated at the sight. So this is what he had tucked away in his boxer briefs yesterday. Impressive, thick length, with room to grow… You could think of a few ways to get him even harder. 

Though he tried to maintain his confidence, Daryl could never quite rid himself of his shyness. He looked away for a moment, clearing his throat, but keeping your hand just under his belly button. 

“I got that problem again,” he said lowly, his voice gravelly yet somehow breathy and sweet like honey. It entranced you. “Said you’d help me out… That offer still stand?”

As he lowered your hand down his pelvis, your shaky grip on the washcloth finally relented. It dropped into the water, and soon you felt a new type of flesh between your fingers. It was coated in a patch of tiny hairs, and his hand took you even further to the base of his cock, where his own fingers gently curled yours around the thick shaft. 

The heat of the hot, steamy water combined with his own pulsing body heat to warm you from your hand up to your chest, which was heaving with each heavy, nervous breath. 

His eyes grew soft, almost sleepy, but your touch was invigorating. Despite the utter relaxation in his face, inside there was a deep, demanding need to pull you in and use all his stamina to feel every sensation your body had to offer. He needed to explore every inch of you, every twist and turn of the inside of you. He’d bend his aching body every which way just to get every last angle of you. He wanted it all, everything, and that’s exactly what he’d give to you, too. 

With his question still lingering in the steamy, heady air, you swallowed hard, hoping to lubricate your dry throat enough to speak. “I—I… I really shouldn’t.”

“But I need it,” he said quietly, controlling your hand to slide it downwards, very, very slowly. Of course, you could’ve stopped him, as his touch was so gentle, so respectful, but you didn’t want to stop him. He felt so good between your fingers, and he really did need it. He was so hard, so swollen. You could feel the topography of his veins all along the shaft, each one so defined and practically pulsing. 

When he saw your face soften as you watched his hand instruct yours, he knew he’d struck a cord there. You wanted to take care of him, to help him. You wanted him to be safe and warm and healthy. It turned him on, far more than he anticipated. 

He needed a woman like you, to make him feel loved, to care for him even if he didn’t always care for himself. Of course, he’d care for you, too, and take you in his arms to keep you safe from a world that could take you from him at any second. There wasn’t any time in this world for waiting. There was a woman right in front of him, someone who was everything he could ever hope for. If you’d let him, he’d never let anything hurt you, and he’d always be there to show you the tenderness you deserved. 

“Daryl…” 

He never cared much for his name, until he heard you say it. The tone of your voice was breathy, almost begging. Every inch of your face was a reflection of your blissful confusion. As much as you hesitated, you knew you wanted him, too, and when his hand tugged on yours, forcing it to wrap around the tip of his cock, whatever strength you had in your arm faded away like the last strained breath trapped in your throat. 

Your sigh coincided with his as his strong, large hand put pressure over yours, squeezing around his swollen head. He moved your hand back towards the base of his cock, encouraging you to stroke him. He needed this more than he needed you to change his bandages or clean his wounds. He needed this kind of touch from you, not anything else. 

“Come on,” he huffed, leaning back slowly against the edge of the tub until his back lay against the white porcelain. He released his hand, but yours stayed put, coiled around his cock. It was a little harder now, and you couldn’t take your eyes off it, but when his hand pulled your chin so you could face him, you got lost in his eyes once more. “Please.”

His self-control was strong, and it was the only thing keeping him from rather abruptly lunging towards you and pulling your body into the tub with him, but you were wearing a rather fuzzy sweater, and getting it wet might’ve been an issue. Tearing it off would be the next best thing.

You leaned over the edge of the tub a little more, getting a better view of what you were doing. Just looking straight down at his hard cock under the water made a tingle surge between your legs. You leaned forward more, bringing your other hand to rest on the base as you stroked along his tip. His legs twitched slightly with every circle of your thumb, and though you were concentrating on your task, out of the corner of your eye, you saw his mouth drop as his eyes shut closed and his head fell back.

“Fuck,” he cursed under his breath.

He was so sensitive, more easily stimulated than the other men you’d been with. Maybe he hadn’t been touched in a long time, like you. “When was the last time?” you asked, your mouth moving faster than your thoughts. 

His heavy eyelids labored open, with slivers of silvery blue shining back at you. “Don’t even remember,” he said. His gaze drifted hazily downwards until he could watch your hand tug gently on his length. With his hands submerged in the water, he clenched his fists, trying to hold back his urges. He needed to savor the feeling, he knew that, but it was taking so much willpower not to get to know your body more intimately. 

You kneaded his cock with more pressure, now almost squeezing around the base and the tip with each pass. It was so long now, and thick with blood and swollen vessels that pumped his cock with arousal. It curved gently towards the end, leading you to wonder if he could reach some special spots inside of you. 

As it stood up higher, now poking out of the steamy water, you could get a better look at his testicles, which looked heavy and almost burdensome. He let out a hiss between clenched teeth when your other hand moved down beneath the water to gently massage them, moving your fingers tantalizingly slowly. 

Your touch became a slight squeeze, but it felt good. There was an ache there, where his body begged for release. He’d get it soon, if you kept touching him the way you were. 

“Is that good?” you asked, your voice softly quierving. You hadn’t touched a man like this in so long. It got you excited, too, as you found your thighs squeezing themselves together to try to satiate the tingling sensation between your legs. 

Daryl returned his heavy gaze to your face, where your lips were trembling in starvation for him and his affections. You could only think about dragging your mouth across his wide, heaving chest, painting it with your kisses and leaving love bites wherever you pleased. When he tilted his head side to side, it displayed his thick neck, the muscles and veins slightly bulging, the skin reddened and glossed over with a sheen of sweat. You’d leave a few heavy kisses there in the dreamscape of your mind. Well, you already had your hands in a very… intimate place, so maybe he’d let you get closer next. 

“Real good… Don’t stop.”

You wouldn’t dream of it. He felt so good in your hands, so hard and pulsing and begging and throbbing and—

Some moments later, with a low growl punctuating his sudden movement, he jolted forward, arms bursting open to envelope you and pull you forward. The bathwater splashed, some spilling out over the side of the tub, wettening your lap. 

His swift attack on your lips left you little time to think. He himself had forsaken thought, opting instead to ravish you much more spontaneously than he’d initially intended, but you held him, kissing him back, reciprocating his gesture by thrusting your tongue into his mouth and swirling it around his. 

Whimpering against his lips, you pulled away for just a moment, eagerly bringing your sweater up and over your head to reveal your bra. Without a moment’s hesitation, he tugged at the straps to pull the cups down, and you quickly undid the clasp on the back. 

“Get in here, girl,” he warned, his eyes dark and heavy as they gazed over your heaving breasts, your nipples hard and cold against the air. “Need ya to take care of me.”

You stood briefly to slide off your skirt and socks, followed by your underwear. “Are you sure?” you asked, despite your actions as you stepped into the tub, your feet on either side of his legs. “I mean… We shouldn’t.”

He reached his arms up as far as he could to grasp your hips, coercing you down until you knelt in the tub, knees and thighs submerged beside his. “Yeah, we should,” he said.

He couldn’t help but latch his lips to your nipple, sucking desperately at the hard tissue. “Oh…” you moaned under your breath. 

His tongue swirled and flicked wildly, his hands laced around your lower back to bring you even closer. You felt his cock against your mound, throbbing and twitching. Looking down, you watched it practically move on its own. “Your cock…” you panted, hardly even aware of your own voice and what it was saying. All you knew was that he needed you badly, and you needed him, too. 

His lips separated from your chest for a moment, his blue eyes dreamily looking up at you. “It’s hard for ya,” he said, and you swore you shivered under your skin with each pass his hands made up and down your sides. They rose up again to cup your breasts, massaging them, and giving them a squeeze which made you gasp. He smiled slightly, crooked and naughty. “You like it?”

You liked it too much for your own good. You weren’t ready for him, but you were in the perfect position to ride him, and it was so tempting. “Oh, yes… Daryl, you’re perfect.”

His cheeks blossomed with a pink hue. When you noticed, you laughed and cupped his face as you settled deeper onto his lap. “You’re blushing, tough guy.”

His arms wrapped around your back to pull you closer until your lips touched his. He pecked your lips, then your nose. His short, scruffy facial hair tickled you, making you giggle softly. You felt one of his arms loosen up, and his hand reached down between your bodies to guide his wet hard cock to your slit. 

You flinched and locked your hands around the back of his neck when the feeling of his tip grazing your clit sent shivers up into your belly. Your entrance tightened and contracted, already preparing for him. Letting go of his cock, he brought his hand up to your clit, putting pressure on the sensitive bundle of nerves. 

“Oh,” you whispered, letting your head slot into the crook of his shoulder. “That feels… Daryl, that feels so good.”

The sounds of the water became more boisterous as his hand moved faster, harder, increasing the pressure. Your knees dug into the hard porcelain surface of the bathtub, but it was impossible to feel any discomfort when the tightening and tingling started to overtake you. 

With his cock tucked firmly between your folds, he maneuvered you slightly to get the tip at the entrance, where it tickled your sensitive flesh. You couldn’t help but rub yourself harder against his firm hand, sending ripples through the water. 

One of his hands came to the back of your head, gently pulling your loose hair to lift your face from his shoulder. “Pretty girl,” he said, leaning forward to kiss your lips. His hand still moved, with one thick finger sinking slowly into you. “I wanna fuck you so bad.”

He slipped another finger in, and it felt like Heaven. If his fingers felt this good, you couldn’t even imagine what his cock would feel like. “Please,” you begged, lips trembling against his. “I’d let you do anything to me.”

“Mm,” he hummed with a smile. His fingers dug a little deeper, curling up inside of you as his thumb drew tight, hard circles over your clit. You threw your head back, moaning so loud that your voice echoed slightly in the spacious bathroom. “I wanna do all kinds of things to ya… Dirty things.”

He leaned forward to catch your nipple with his lips again, this time biting down gently, causing you to yelp and giggle. “Daryl!” This was a side of him you’d never known before, of course. It was strange to see his confidence reach such a new height. All you knew of him previously was that he was the shy, mysterious, slightly grumpy archer of Rick’s group. They were new in town, and most people were a little scared of them, but something about Daryl was comforting to you. His presence in Alexandria didn’t frighten you at all, really. It made you feel safe, and many other things, too. 

Water nearly splashed over the side of the tub as he pulled his hand out of you and firmly grabbed your bottom. “Why don’t ya put it in?” he asked. “Nice and deep.”

You missed his fingers inside you, so surely his cock would be the best replacement. You grabbed a hold of his cock, angling it towards your opening. Of course, you didn’t take it in right away, instead opting to use his tip to tease your clit. 

His fingers dug into your bottom as he let out a hiss between his teeth. “Fuck.”

You circled your hips over his cock, then lowered yourself, his tip now just breaching the entrance. “Ooo…”

The hot water felt so good flowing into you with his cock, warming you up from the inside. He could feel every ridge and curve of your body enveloping him. Soft, pulsing flesh massaged his cock with each movement you made to get him as deep as you could get him. 

When he was all the way inside you, you leaned forward slowly, your chest pressed against his as you lay there for a moment, eyes closed in pure bliss. Being filled by him was unlike any other sensation. 

You felt his strong arms wrap right around your back as he, too, shut his eyes. The pain he’d experienced from yesterday was all gone now. The warm embrace of you and the water surrounding him seemed to heal him more than any ointment or bandages could. 

Despite the pure beauty of that moment, he needed you to move, to let him prove to you just how much he had really needed you. 

“Come on, angel,” he mumbled against your cheek before leaving a wet, sloppy kiss there. “Take me for a ride, huh?”

You laughed. “What if I slip?” 

He tightened his grip around you even more. “Won’t let ya.”

You believed him. 

You straightened your back, placing your hands on his shoulders so you’d have something to hang onto, and, boy, were those shoulders wide and strong, with those adorable smatterings of freckles that charmed you so. You pressed several kisses to them as you rocked your hips back and forth, slowly but surely.

“I love your body,” you said between kisses. “These shoulders… Your arms… You’re so big and strong.”

His breath got caught in his throat when you began to rock faster, now simultaneously gyrating your hips, round and round. “Fuck, (Y/N)…”

Every movement you made drew you closer to release, with your throbbing, sensitive clit rubbing against his pelvis, which he moved against yours.

“Baby…” you moaned like prayer.

He’d never been called that before. He liked it, so much so that he used his strong grip on your hips to manually bounce you on his cock, with his eyes lowered to watch as the water splashed where your bodies met. 

Your toes were curled forward, trying to keep you steady. When they lost their grip, your knees slipped on the submerged porcelain surface. “Whoa!” you cried out, your forehead planting itself square in the middle of his chest. 

He flinched and sat up a little straighter, still inside you. “You okay?”

You raised your head with a boisterous laugh, and, instead of answering, cupped his cheeks to kiss him. Your weight made him sink back down, and your continued movements had him groaning deep into your mouth. 

You thrusted harder, now on the brink of orgasm. Lifting your lips from his for just a moment, you uttered the phrase, “I’m going to come.”

That sent a shiver of excitement through his cock. “Good girl,” he said. “Come all over me… Wanna feel it.”

You nodded frantically as you panted, now aggressively rubbing your clit on his pelvis as his cock simultaneously tickled you in just the right place. “Oh, God,” you sighed, your face straining as you worked so hard to feel your release. “I’m almost there, baby…”

He thrusted up into you as much as he could in his position, and more water seemed to splash all over, some pouring over the edge and surely pooling on the tile floor, but all that mattered to him was your pleasure. 

You grasped harder onto his shoulders, your eyes now closed as your breasts bounced with each hard thrust. He could feel the twitches of your walls becoming more and more intense, and soon he’d come, too, if you kept squeezing him like that. 

“Oh! Oh!”

“Come on, sweetheart.”

His honeyed voice was the last straw. The proverbial string inside your belly snapped, and a cascade of heavenly pulses erupted from your clit. You twitched and writhed on top of him, at first frantically, but soon your body fell into a natural rhythm as you rode him and your high. 

“God,” you sighed through agape lips. “Oh, shit…”

It lasted so incredibly long, allowing you to languidly sway with the current of the water as it settled down. Daryl’s body had stopped moving, but his hands were delicately caressing your sides, the rough calluses on his fingers tickling your soft skin every once in a while. His hands settled on the sides of your cheeks where he brushed your hair back behind your ears. With heavy eyelids, you looked back down at him and smiled wide, deliriously happy. 

“Feel good, pretty girl?”

“Mhm,” you hummed, your voice high-pitched and a bit dazed. Indeed, you felt a little bit lightheaded from the experience. It was the best orgasm you’d ever had, and now that you were looking back at him, that dreamy, mysterious man you’d fantasized about for so long, you were even more dumbstruck. 

“C’mere.”

He pulled you back down until your chest was pressed up against his, and your lips were receiving a passionate massage as his hands laced through your damp hair. His tongue traced around your lips as you smiled deliriously. “Ain’t done yet,” he said, nodding his head as his nose rubbed yours. “Scoot back.”

He helped you off his lap until he could stand, his body dripping with water as he did so. You were a little confused, watching him step out of the tub. Still, he was hard, throbbing, and red. You knew he couldn’t be done with you just yet. 

“Daryl?” you asked, a slight whine to your voice. “Baby?”

He grabbed a towel to quickly dry off his legs, then threw it aside. “I ain’t leavin’.” He stepped forward til his knees hit the edge of the tub. His hands came to the back of your head, fingers tangling in your hair once again. There was pressure to his touch as he pulled your head forward, and you realized now that you were in the perfect position. “You got such a pretty mouth,” he said. “Can ya finish me with it?” You nodded, of course. You’d be honored, and he was so ready to come for you, with clear liquid beginning to drip from his tip, and it definitely wasn’t water. 

With one hand moving up the base of his shaft, and the other cupping his heavy testicles, you brought your lips to his tip, where you left a long, sweet kiss. Even that seemed to make his cock twitch, and a soft, yet deep, moan escaped from his lips. Your touch was so tender and sweet, and your soft, pillowy lips engulfing his tip was just so heavenly. 

The deeper he entered your mouth, the more saliva pooled at the tip of your tongue, coating his shaft with every movement as you slid him back and forth with your hand. Each prominent vein bulged in your mouth, with the salty taste of the clear liquid on your tongue. 

From his perspective, he adored how you looked with his cock in your mouth, how your lips pursed and your tongue stuck out to cushion the underside of his shaft as he went in, pulling out a little, then going back as far as you could take him without gagging. He didn’t want you to gag, or to hurt you at all. He just wanted to feel every part of your body in the most intimate way. 

You pulled him out for a moment, taking the opportunity to place playful, sweet kisses along his shaft as your eyelashes fluttered up at him. He looked so beautiful in his pleasure, his head tilted back with his eyes shut and lips agape, a deep, sexy moan escaping when you suctioned your lips to one testicle. They were quite big, so only one could fit at a time. 

“Ah, fuck,” he cursed under his breath. “Just like that, sweetheart.”

You returned to his tip after leaving another trail of kisses on the underside, and a few extras on his reddened, leaking head. “Am I doing good, baby?” you asked. You found that you quite liked his praise, and that his tendency to call you a “good girl” was something you’d have to try extra hard to elicit. “Am I being a good girl for you?”

“Mmm,” he hummed with that sexy crooked smile of his. “Such a good girl… Doin’ so good with my cock.”

Well, you thought, I am a medical professional. 

But your tongue was unable to speak as you swirled circles around his tip, messily dripping saliva all over your breasts as they hung over the edge of the tub. 

Just before you could open your mouth to take him again, he pulled back, his hand now stroking himself as his soaking wet chest heaved and his cock throbbed harder. “I’m gonna come,” he said. “Where do ya want it, nurse?”

You laughed as you straightened your back, jutting out your breasts. “My chest, please.”

Something in the way you said “please,” with your perky breasts and cold, hard nipples right in front of him, made him let loose. 

He let out the loudest, deepest moan yet as his semen spilled over you, caught by your breasts. Your heavy eyes watched in lustful fascination at the display, and it seemed the white strings would never stop coming from the tip of his cock. He had so much that once he’d drenched your breasts, you brought your tongue to his head for the last spurts to be caught in your open mouth. 

“Good girl,” he praised again, noticing how much you liked it. As you swallowed the last drops, you were quite suddenly picked up, with his hands lifting you by your underarms until he had you in his arms, your legs wrapped around his waist as he carried you with a series of strained grunts. 

“Daryl!” you laughed, wide-eyed and slightly terrified he’d drop you. “Where are you taking me?”

“There a bed around here?” he asked, hoisting you up so he wouldn’t lose his grip. He immediately regretted not asking where the bedroom was before picking you up, as he now stood naked, wet, and carrying Alexandria’s naked, wet nurse (who was also covered in his bodily fluids, mind you). 

“The door to your left,” you laughed, clinging to his shoulders for dear life. “Don’t you drop me!”

He kicked the door open, then nearly sprinted to the bed, dropping you and himself on the soft mattress. You laughed as he frantically covered you both with the bedsheets and blankets, but the laughter died down when he bundled you up, rubbing your arms outside the blanket as he tried to warm you. 

“Are ya cold?”

“No,” you said, shaking your head with a smile as you looked up at him, marveling at his beautifully rugged face. “Quite warm… What about you? Are you comfortable?” You unwrapped your hands from the bundle he put you in, raising them to rub up and down his pecs when you noticed his rash. “Oh, Daryl! You need ointment on your rashes.” You began to sit up, planning on running downstairs to fetch the burn treatment, but Daryl’s arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you back into him. 

“Nah,” he said, a hint of a laugh coating his gruff southern accent. “All I need is you, ain’t no pain if I’m holdin’ you.”

“Oh…” You bit your lip as you rocked your shoulders, flattered and giddy. “Well, then I’m not going anywhere.”

“That’s right,” he replied, tucking you back under the covers, being sure that you were snug and warm before he kissed you. You trapped him in your kiss by wrapping your arm around his neck, pulling him deeper. Your tongue slipped into his mouth to greet his, and they swirled around for a while, dancing so playfully. 

Your feet found his beneath the covers, so you flexed your toes to tickle him, causing him to laugh into your mouth and nearly bite your tongue. “Hey,” he said as he pulled away. 

“What?” you laughed. 

He shook his head before diving back down to kiss just above your collarbone, where he licked and sucked at the skin. “Nothin’...”

“You’re easily distracted,” you laughed, watching him move to your shoulder with his tongue.

“Mm,” he hummed against your shoulder. “And you’re a sweet thing… Like to keep you.”

“Well, I’m yours.”

“Yeah?” he asked, his face turning a little serious. 

You tilted your head with playfully narrowed eyes. “You think I have sex in a bathtub with every patient, Daryl?”

He chewed his bottom lip before leaning in to kiss your lips once again. “No, just… Don’t wanna mess this up by assumin’ nothin’.”

“I’d be crazy not to be yours.” Your hand lifted to brush through his messy, dampened hair. It was a little darker from the water, but still a lovely ashy chestnut brown, which complimented his sparkling blue-grey eyes just perfectly. “And I think you need me around. To tend to you… ailments.” 

Indeed, you became Daryl’s personal nurse at times, patching him up when he inevitably got himself hurt in some sort of heroic escapade, or, more commonly, when he picked something up the wrong way and injured his back. In any case, you were more than happy to take care of him, and it helped that you soon moved in together, and that Daryl’s appointments often had… happy endings (if he wasn’t too injured, of course).

~

Thanks for reading! Likes, reblogs, and comments of any kind are always appreciated!

Masterlist

Part 1

[papple]

*slides in and bites lip* hayy....

so irl stuff happened but we've been cooking up some stuff here and there and we figured you guys might wanna see them :D

so we're gonna talk about the second dreamtale concept we have which is a variant of the swap!osd au by @calcium-cat,,,, and basically! nm has a harsher personality, but at the same time holds a much softer spot for dream. He fights back against his bullies and believes that dream is too kind and tells him so often using scathing comments, but dream understands that nm is just a little tsun tsun. Nm is also proud of all the knowledge he has cultivated and makes sure to rub it in peoples faces by delivering sick burns and insulting bullies left and right

For the apple incident, the apples blacken when nm and the villagers fight over the tree and he accidentally touches one of the fruits. Dream arrives in time to see the villagers dealing the fatal blow to nm as well as the tree

Desperate, dream feeds a black apple to nm hoping that it would still be able to heal him but instead intensifies nm's negativity. This later on will be the biggest factor behind dream's guilt

Nm is still dying so his negativity powers him to continue consuming the apples but he keeps going and the power eventually corrupts him

Now nm wants to get revenge so dream takes the last golden apple (this one fell from the tree while the tree was being cut, before the negativity got to it) to have more of a fighting chance and to better protect the people against nm, but he still gets petrified like in canon (or maybe we'll just put him in a coma induced by the intense negativity... i dont really understand the logic behind him turning to stone so we might toss out that idea) (we're open to suggestions though!)

Nm's adrenaline powered mind sees dream's petrified/knocked out self and goes mad, going on a rampage and destroying the entire village.

Of course, 500 years later, dream wakes up and joins ink's group. Ink actually asked sci to make something up that could weaken nightmare's gang but forgets about it, so the formula somehow ends up in dream's hands as the unofficial second in command. Dream, ever the guilt-ridden but hope-filled person, tests it out first on nm. Maybe, this could buy him just enough time to hold a civil conversation with him... imagine everyone's surprise when the lofty scholar-type king turns into a filthy mouthed baby gremlin

[gyunglitter]

introducing𓏧

the losers club !!

summary: just you dicking around with txt college!au besties

warnings: doja cat fandom slander, mentions of soobin's feet, mentions of bullying, cursing

contrary to your group’s self-appointed nickname, you guys are actually well known (and liked!) on campus!! :D

you guys have NO IDEA as to how so many people on campus grew to like you and want to hang out with you

especially since you guys had a hard time in school before

but woohoo to not peaking in high school right?!

tbh, you guys are testaments to that second round of puberty nobody talks about

ya know, the glow up that happens after you graduate high school and get away from all the pricks you were forced to see everyday?

yup, you and your losers are finally thriving

besides when you’re dying bc of all your classes and tests

but yeah

while other ppl really like your group’s personalities

YOU GUYS ARE SUPER HOT TOO🤭

i mean, just look at y’all!

[choi yeonjun]-

‘99 liner//junior

took a gap year before getting dragged back to go to school so he could learn to be a normal human being

did someone say IT BOY??

literally the girls and the gays are in love with this man

dance major and student athlete who unironically does zumba every saturday morning

had no social life in high school because kid was NEVER there

he was a bored only child, while his neglectful parents were filthy rich and figured their kid could do whatever he wanted to entertain himself

so what he wanted, they got it—including vacations

with him being gone so much, his classmates always wondered who this choi yeonjun guy was and how he could miss so much school while still passing

though the intrigue kind of stopped when he pulled up to school with the ugliest shoes to walk south korea

him and his obnoxious shoes gave a lot of people the ick :(

but never fear, yeonjun and his footwear are just ahead of their time!

(you can't say they are in quite yet, but they probably will come around some day!!)

yeonjun typically spent his days doing sports, travelling, and running away from talent scouts lmao

no idol life for him in THIS lifetime

but as life would have it, the man is too scrumptious to be out of the spotlight for too long

bc he became a model not too long after college started due to a school project photoshoot went viral on twitter!!

his twitter is a minefield while he reserves his insta for the wholesome content :)

[choi soobin]-

‘00 liner//junior

glue of the group despite insisting how much he HATES y’all

broadcast and entertainment major so he can get into the entertainment industry and get the bts of moviemaking!!

(really just wants to meet all of his favorite voice actors tbh)

known for being the Ultimate Boyfriend™ despite never actually being in a relationship lololol

in middle school he got into anime, which was COMPLETELY normal! he actually made a ton of friends that way!!

at least until one of his friends came over and saw his body pillow collection

yikes :/

unfortunately didn’t take long at all for the whole school to find out, and then they never let it go

all the way up until he graduated high school :(((

it’s okay tho!

he had tons of online friends from going to conventions and stuff!!

but making irl friends was definitely hard for him when he got to college

[choi beomgyu]-

01’ liner//sophomore

absolute MENACE to your little society

he’s the guy who gets whoever is in his company to unironically admit “last night was a movie”

music major studying composition while playing guitar in a band

the girlies are FAWNING

ppl are so in love with him because he’s so pretty

but then the kid opens his mouth :/

he was the most extroverted kid

which worked perfectly bc with his good looks and personality, everyone wanted to be his friend!! :D

but with high school, friends, and all his 100 extracurriculars

kid burned out by senior year :(

his last year of school, he totally ghosted his friends and stayed inside all day playing video games

(he actually got diamond 1 on LoL, boy is nothing if not determined)

eventually rumors went around that he got dropped and turned into a social outcast

but he didn’t really care since he was fine with rotting away the rest of the school year

by the time he got to college, he wanted nothing to do with things that would suck his already nonexistent energy

[kang taehyun]-

02’ liner//freshman

the one that always has the braincell

and really wishes he didn’t so he could escape yall

stem major for engineering, which is just another one of his controversial choices (being second only to befriending yall)

everyone on campus knows him as that one guy you go to when you need the answers to your homework or your final

yeah, he’s selling the test answers on the black market :P

what? he’s in DEBT

he never gets suspected tho bc he alrdy knows all the answers, so why would he be involved with that??

but the rest of the town?

well, the town knows him as terry

mans is always seen at the gym and the club pulling without even trying

this is TOTALLY contrasting to his high school life, where he literally only gave his time of day to his studies

mans did not have TIME to hang out with anybody

bc of this, he became a bit of an easy target to the one-dimensional jocks that tried to use him to get them better grades :(

he was a small kid, so he got picked on and tossed around a lot :(((

it’s okay, since he’s buffer than them now!! >:)

[huening kai]-

‘02 liner//freshman

maknae that’s more mature than ALL OF YOU

he acts like he isn’t, but kid grew up a MIDDLE CHILD between TWO SISTERS

they’d managed to craft the most perfect and thoughtful angel to grace south korea

except for his demonic laugh :/

but YOU GUYS LOVE IT!!

he’s coasting through college, wishing he could tell you what major he was

but boy is constantly changing it LMAO

he just loves learning about different subjects!!

not to mention he’s good at most things he tries

so he makes tons of friends!!

but he didn’t always :(

from middle to high school, he was THE band kid

he could play the guitar, percussion, trombone, and piccolo!!

so when little kai walked home in his minecraft hoodie carrying his giant instrument case

8/10 times kid would get pelted by eggs or something on the way home

good thing he had his trombone case to shield him!! :D

kai would also be insanely awkward and didn’t have good icebreakers besides his plushie collection

too bad that didn’t become socially acceptable for another few years

[y/l/n y/n]-

‘01 liner//sophomore

ladies and gentlemen i give you

her

the group's resident photographer, despite the fact that you're SO HOT

you are beauty

you are grace

well, you are now

high school: not so much

you were LOSER #1 girlie ://

you were just a little slow to pick up on a lot of social cues and what was "cool" or not, making you prone to awkward situations and bullying

for example: pinky promises and saying “on god” was quirky and acceptable, but spit shakes were not

neither were bowl cuts

or pretending to drown at the school pool and see how everyone would react

like i said, you were behind on a lot

but what took you the longest to learn—the people you thought were your friends were no longer laughing with you and your unfortunately timed puns, but at you (and your unfortunately timed puns) :(((

but you digress, because your overactive imagination worked to your advantage of getting clout and a full ride scholarship!!

you’re an art major with a minor in photography, winning a national photography contest that got the attention of your college

your genius piece of "different kinds of falls in public", where you purposefully tripped people walking by you and taking photos of them, had won the heart of the public and the school board over to the point of them begging to have you!

your parents and teachers just wished you had the same genius outside of cameras--as you slacked off in every other academic aspect

notes: enjoy me being unfunny but having a blast anyway! feel free to send in asks/requests regarding this fic. can't guarantee i'll respond to it, but i'd love to see what you guys think/want!

[tired-reader-writer]

I was re-listening to the AU playlist (thankfully my headache doesn't seem to be preventing me from music tonight) and I felt the urge to ramble about stuff sooooo. Lyric highlights, a brief aside on why I might've chosen a particular song, that kind of stuff! I won't be breaking down entire songs, though.

If y'all wish to listen along as you read this... inordinately long post... Here's the link to the playlist:

“If these newly sprouted feelings resound in your heart, I can stay by your side and protect you, right?”

-

“Holding up the light I erase my hesitations

What I wanted to give you was a future

I scream out my grief, holding onto crying nights”

— Oath Sign, by LiSA

Ain't this just so fucking Shapur in Wolfsong?

“Even if I lose, even if I fail

I have no choice but to keep living

No matter how many times I fall

I have something to protect”

-

“This is the path I choose, the only path given”

— Kamado Tanjirou no Uta, by Nakagawa Nami, covered by Raon Lee

Pretty much the theme of the AU. They didn't choose this world, but they have to live in it. And protect what they can, while they're at it.

“Can you still smile even after seeing the real world?”

-

“A spiral song clears the way for one willful hope”

-

“You don't know how reckless you are

You make me blue”

-

“Whisper your name again

Then restart it right away

Oh my bitter color ardour wander

Gotta feel it undercover”

— Avid, by Mizuki and Hiroyuki Sawano

Of Ayunnen and Kashi's POVs as they're befriended by Shapur, though the final highlight was from Shapur's POV.

“The moon moves on

Death rides on

The raven flies in the evening”

-

“Long is the journey

Long are the paths to go

Long-lasting is the longing of men, if this is to be”

— Máninn Líður, by SKÁLD

Aaaaaand the massacre happens. They're dead. Grief enters the scene.

“Within this neverending rain

No longer am I afraid of yesterday

The future that had lost you

Had just begun”

-

“The cruel sky shines upon

Both what was lost

And what will never change”

— Aria, by Kalafina

The neverending rain both for the literal rain that bookended the chapter but also the metaphorical rain of grief that will follow the characters for years to come.

“You who are crying, you who are lonely

It is you who is right, it is you who is human”

-

“Dreams you want to fulfill, dreams that you can't reach

They themselves turn into dreams, into hope, and that's how people live on, right?”

-

“Thank you to the miracle

That we were able to meet

Even in a dirty and ugly world

Even like this”

— My Song, by GirlDeMo(Angel Beats) uhhh I haven't tracked down the irl singer who sang this, SORRY 😭

I chose this track primarily for Farangis. Imagine a young Farangis, struck with grief of losing her parents, ostracized by everyone else in the temple out of jealousy, and the first highlight is a reassurance that she has a right to cry, that she's human because of it.

The second highlight is more abstracted from her, more about hope in general.

The third comes right back to Farangis, she feels grateful to have met the clan and expanded her horizons, even in a shitty world like this. It's what draws Ranna/Ashaya to her, as well.

“Tears spill for the days you cannot return to The sky above burns crimson”

-

“Here, fulfill the ancient vow O night, break to dawn!”

-

“As if piercing a passing doubt Nock your arrow to your bow, release it far, far away”

-

“You, don't forget Your dream of seeing the burning end of the skies Those fragments will surely awaken, waiting”

— Akatsuki, by Shikata Akiko, covered by Shannon

Mostly just for these lines

Ancient vows and dawn arriving, it kinda sounds like a prophecy, doesn't it?

“Where it's covered in all the colored lights

Where runaways are running the night

Impossible comes true It's taking over you”

-

“Colossal we come renegades in the ring

Where the lost get found in the crown of the circus king!”

— The Greatest Show, by The Greatest Showman Cast

Mostly for these lines about runaways and renegades lol

Also the song has immaculate Kazai vibes

And shenanigans

“Sticking it out, letting you down

Making it right”

-

“Seasons, they will change

Life will make you grow

Dreams will make you cry, cry, cry

Everything is temporary

Everything will slide

Love will never die, die, die”

-

“Some nights, I think of you

Reliving the past, wishing it'd last

Wishing and dreaming”

-

“Death can make you hard, hard, hard”

— Birds, by Imagine Dragons

The POV of those who remain.

“I met you

And had a dream that would never come true”

-

“Wanting to protect you

I reached out

And embraced you with my still trembling fingers”

-

“All we can do is keep on living

Until we lose all our strength

We'll keep shouting helplessly”

-

“The proof that I was here

Is still there, in your eyes”

-

“Crying, screaming, and even as we vanish

We are alive

We are here”

— Sprinter, by Kalafina

Themes of the story, pov of the survivors, the desire to protect, etc!

And from a people that kept being erased over and over, a declaration that they still exist.

No but really, the song is really good.

“In the silence of a world wearing a veil of misty rain Suddenly, I saw how cold the face of truth could be”

-

“What else shall we let go To live our lives the only way we knew The birds are soaring in the sky So high above us all, we who cannot fly We dragged our wounds behind us And kept walking on”

-

“Through the emptiest of nights, ones that freeze you to your bones If we stay together closely, we will see the morning light What is the reason why, we can't stop this chain of hurt How much longer will we relive the past, the same memories?”

-

“Unlike the birds that soar the sky We have no wings, and though we won't learn to fly We stand above the earth now And keep walking on”

— flowers, by Hana Hope (English version)

Almost copy-pasted the entire song here

It's a song about humanity. It makes me so damn emotional.

Keep walking on. Share the warmth. Stay close together. Hey why do we keep hurting each other?

Themes very relevant to Wolfsong.

“For what reason

Have I been engulfed by flames?

I have been captured by fear

For such a long time

Now these flames will never extinguish!”

— The Star Knows, by Hoshimi Junna (Revue Starlight anime), I don't know who the irl vocalist is

HILMES SONG.

MOST OF THE SONG IS VERY HILMES.

“Now I'm fighting this war

Since the day of the fall

I've been desperately holding on to it all

But I'm lost

I'm so damn lost”

-

“Oh I wish it was over

And I wish you were here

Still I'm hoping that somehow—”

-

“As I'm lying awake

I'm still hearing their cries”

-

“And I'm wondering why

I still fight in this life

Cause I've lost all my faith

In this damn bitter strife”

— Shot In The Dark, by Within Temptation

I know this song doesn't fit Saam's vibes but. Hear me out.

The first parts just scream of him after the siege of Ecbatana, yeah?

Though the part about losing faith reads more Kubard, tbh

“As I paint a crimson artwork on the ground

With every piercing sound another worthless soul lies dead

Until my hands are dyed a brilliant red”

-

“Destroy them all (destroy them all)

I can't stop

No, I cannot stop

This need inside of me for more destruction

Powerless, powerless

So fragile is humanity

Cause in the end (in the end)

They're nothing except useless puppets

‘What's the reason for our creation?’

Hey, I'm asking you

So what do you say?”

-

“Cause here we draw the line

And every single thing is defined (black or white)

The very moment we were given our names

Our roles have been pre-ordained

When I snap my finger

None will remain”

— Karakuri Burst, English cover lyrics by SirHamnet

Ranna/Ashaya and Hilmes duet. On hindsight Hilmes' parts need quite a bit of stretching, buuuut he is dubbed “The Prince of Justice” by the Master in canon so someone who's trying to rid Pars of “evil” could fit right in. Ashaya is lashing out, destroying everything in their path, and sees nothing worth saving in this wretched society. Hilmes is caught up on the birthright stuff (our roles have been pre-ordained) sooo. Yeah.

“Why'd you make my voice stutter?

Why do truths never matter?

Why'd you curse me with ‘You're a natural-born genius’?

Endless inferno (inferno)”

-

“If you wanted me to live

If you wanted me to forgive

If you wanted to pretend like we're civilized humans—”

-

“Why don't deaths end my torture?

Why don't anyone feel my hurt?

Why do we crown our most violent to be champions?”

— In Hell We Live Lament, by Mili

Could be Araya, could be Ashaya. Wounded by the world, questioning it.

“And besides in the mean, mean time

I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart”

-

“I just gotta get you out the cage

I'm a young lover's rage

God I need a spark to ignite”

-

“My childhood spat back out the monster that you see”

— Light Em Up (My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark), by Fall Out Boy

Kazai and Ranna/Ashaya's song. Their feral tendencies coming to the forefront!

“As long as we're together

I will believe

There's a continuation for our destiny”

-

“When we were small

We made a single precious promise

I will not give up

I will recreate it

I wanted to see you”

— Starlight, by Aijou Karen and Kagura Hikari (Revue Starlight anime)

Not gonna lie this song is on thin ice despite how much I love it.

I initially kinda wanted it to be a song for Ashaya and Alfarīd— in the case that they did meet in their younger years, but now I'm not so sure.

On second glance it oddly reads as Daryun and Narsus????

Do with that what you will.

“What will I embrace

As I discard in the shadow of desire

This ideal of mine, drenched in pain?

It feels like another world, but this is the truth

With these stained hands I will protect you”

-

“What have I lost

As my awakened heart

Betrays yesterday's justice?”

-

“Now I'll brandish my glittering dream in the darkness

So that it will shine upon our overlapping lives

With the strength I have chosen

I will reach the place I believe is paradise

The hope that is our bond

Is connecting us to the future

Let us overcome our unhealing sorrow

My full emotions, unafraid of being broken

Are simply waiting for dawn to come”

— Another Heaven, by earthmind

Shapur's song. His and Kazai's, moreso Shapur's for the lines about discarding the ideals he once had.

The song is from the perspective of a protagonist who lets go of his heroic ideals and his dream of becoming a hero, in favor of saving the woman he loves. A song from the story of a sword finally becoming human.

This is Shapur's resolve settling, having decided what it is that he wishes to protect.

“Finally breaking, so where are you now?

It's been such a long time that I've tried to live without

I'm suffocating, I need you to breathe!

So pull me up, pull me out

Before I am buried beneath!”

-

“Thought I was climbing out

But it's dragging me down

What's hidden here with me

Thought I was alone

But it pulls me deeper now

I can't escape!”

— Buried Beneath, by Red

Gurgin's song in this AU, imo. Thought he was sticking it to the society that hurt him and killed his brother by joining Team Zahhak, only to realize much later down the line (after unwillingly staying in Gorgan for a while) that... they were only dragging him down. Maybe he's calling out to his brother.

“Test my will, test my heart

Tell me how the odd's gonna stack, huh?

Y'all go hard, I go smart

How's it working out for y'all in the back, huh?

I've seen that frustration

Been crossed and told no

And I've come back, unshaken”

-

“I can't fall back, I came too far

Hold myself up and love my scars”

-

“I don't fold up and I don't bow

I don't roll over, I don't know how”

— Lost In The Echo, by Linkin Park

Mostly vibes, but I felt this captured Gurgin's kinda haughty attitude, lmao.

“An existence that was born in the city

Seeming stronger than anyone else

Now we can only imagine our cursed and doomed future”

-

“Running and falling

Embracing these wounds that won't heal

For this moment the world has been waiting for”

-

“Drowned in the weakness of my inner self

I don't even know what mask (face) I should wear now anymore

So won't you give me an answer?”

-

“I know that it may look ugly and pathetic

But this is who I am right now

A corpse that cannot become anything, so go ahead and laugh”

— Kaikai Kitan, by Eve, covered by Raon Lee

Hilmes, fresh out of the haunted-forced-redemption-temple :D

“The pain layers upon itself and becomes shackles

I have no time to be crying

The helpless night and the the disheartened morning

They keep passing over and over

And what was left of the cruelly broken hope

Was a wavering light”

-

“The justice someone's wielding hurts so much

Even if someone's crying

It will hurt my heart again

Even if there are scars behind every single truth

I have no choice but to simply—

Forgive them all”

— Untitled world, by ReoNa

Areyan/Arslan's song in the AU, after he's been rescued from Ecbatana.

“I will change reality itself

Even if the truth I find is harsh and cruel

The world is filled with disasters

Time to tame the sins, change our fate”

-

“The rocky castle is starting to shake, it's finally time to decide

Whether to repair or rebuild, a choice must be made”

— Vivid Vice, by Who-ya Extended, covered by Raon Lee

Song for a redeemed Hilmes.

“It's a scream that my body alone cannot contain”

-

“I have a heart that trembles

Only when I touch your hand”

-

“It's fine even if it's foolish

It's fine even if it's ugly

There where lies beyond righteousness

I want to hold your hand”

— Suzume, by RADWIMPS ft. Toaka

Song of a redeemed Gurgin who is in love with Isfan.

“A world where nobody hurts each other

May be a baseless optimism

But even so, I want to try betting on it”

-

“Anger and grief get passed

From person to person in the blink of an eye

They create enemies that don't even exist

And thus ignite the call to fight”

— Yakodou, by Sakamoto Maaya

The song's not particularly dedicated to any one character, really, it's more of an all-compassing song

ALL THE MENTIONS OF BELLS

Think of it as a song before the final showdown against Zahhak.

“As I carry irreparable shadows

The promised place is where flowers bloom

With no care for sin or love

There goes spring

The shining light

Is simply dazzling in the sky

Please do not forgive me

I want to be broken, I want to be reborn

I will laugh by your side”

— Haru wa Yuku, by Aimer

The ending song of the finale in a movie trilogy, this one carries a tone of finality. And the lyrics felt fitting for a Hilmes near or at the hypothetical ending of the story.

The rest of the song could be echoed for other characters, but yeah.

And that concludes most of the songs in the playlist!

Rapid-fire round for the ones I didn't cover:

Soleil: roughly has the tone of a tale being retold— a martyr who gave too much and then died— the song that inspired Araya, a mythological figure for the clan.

Lostbelt title theme: an instrumental, to set the tone for a grand story— though I initially envisioned it panning over the long-gone ancient island, where the clan was said to have originated from, the island where Araya died

Noh Chant: Kaykhusraw's betrayal, Iumaka's death

Dance of the Spirit: clan vibes, especially kinda sorta Kazai in a ceremonial setting?

Moonsong: Ayunnen's song

Parent's Feelings: the somber tone of the castle after the massacre.

girls, dance, staircase: the vibes of a quiet morning

Yuki no Hitohira: more of the somber grief.

Rain: The entire song is just so clan-coded

Wolf Blood: Isfan and Kashi, need I say more?

Crucible: Ashaya/Ranna character song

The Nights: Kazai vibes. The line “Think of me if ever you're afraid” makes me go soft.

Homeland: the castle and Shapur's lands as they grow with the clan's presence, the feeling of being home

Garden: joyful tone setter

Yakety Sax: SHENANIGANS

It's My Day: fun tune, an energetic morning

朝市にて: Ecbatana before shit goes horribly wrong

Sulcus: Areyan's brainstorming song during the siege and Lusitanian occupation

Chaotic Battle: Ashaya's battle theme

Shura Fire: Alfarīd's battle song

Spirit of the Wild: Kazai's song

Sediment: Team Zahhak vibes

Silhouette: Team Zahhak vibes

Deep Darkness: the haunted temple Hilmes gets trapped in

Hitogashima Ballad: seems to be a children's song/lullaby, the vibes fit Araya The Younger (not the mythological one, Kaykhusraw's son he killed and wiped off of history), a ghost Hilmes encounters in the haunted temple

Nijamena: I could not for the life of me find translated lyrics so it's on here for the supremely epic vibes

Fate/Apocrypha: preparing for the final showdown vibes, has a mystical air to it soooo

FGO's Grand Battle Theme: HERE COMES THE FINAL SHOWDOWN BABY

The Last of the Starks: Team Gorgan aka Shapur's family and the clan at the end of everything kinda vibes

Labyrinth: Hilmes leads a ceremony to apologize to those Kaykhusraw had betrayed and murdered, put the spirits at ease, held where the haunted temple is.

@innerchorus Since you were interested, here ya go!

[lepertamar]

what exactly do you make of the kinda odd title of the šehhinah series, actually? like obviously it’s based on the term shekhinah but does that choice…..reverberate? in your view? (obviously i’m not asking/interested primarily in the Doylism author commentary lol, or i’d just ask the author directly, also there may be a reason why it’s never made explicit or obvious why the name was picked)

yeah obv I don't know what's intent vs legit interpretation vs me making insane person connections but anyway the resonances I've personally noticed might be easier to just kind of list in bullet point form bc it's not like I have any unified thesis of interpretation just various red string connections and overlaps:

jewish stuff at least regarding the shekhinah is about manifestation/presence of g-d as smth that Is G-d but also is sort of a paradox, like Solomon wondering in 1 Kings during the dedication of temple on the paradox of g-d being able to dwell inside the ark but also in the heavens and also like Wherever. afaict theurgy (of any soul) in sehhinah is, idk if 'based on this' or just 'happens to work on this same logic' but either way parallels the framework very closely, and the presumptiveness of applying a logic about g-d's self to other people's selves is probably the Main Feature of the series.

the fact the world is named 'šehhinah' and is the aggregate souls of everyone who has ever manifested, in particular angels, who are entwined with g-d in an embodied way, is a weird sorta backwards gesture at this too I think, but I'm not sure I have an 'answer' about 'how' the connection tracks, just that it's clearly There in some way. I've speculated before (unrelated to the naming) that there's a possibility that g-d has a (affectionate) contaminating, radioactive mutation causing, polluting effect (various minor inconclusive hints throughout the series).

regarding this applied specifically to sehhinah!g-d too, the fact g-d 'is nowhere' (has no body or location) but also 'can be Seen' and 'g-d's soul manifests physically as flame/burning/burnt-ness in that interface/reaction when this happens' parallels this even more than regular theurgy, kjorel even at one point has a thought almost the same as Solomon's;

but even more significantly, another aspect of the shekhinah is that it's conceived of as the aspect of g-d that went into exile with the exiled jews, though the ark and temple 'where' g-d was said to dwell are lost/destroyed, the shekhinah still dwells/is There whenever jews do [various actions]. there's a sort of chronological chiasmus reversal in sehhinah where g-d's exilic state (in prices, angel bodies, discarded dismembered body parts, stars, etc) is the preexisting standard condition and They are cataclysmically spatially condensed in a specific location in an abrupt event during Lives. (reversals or sometimes chiasmuses of chronology and meaning-of-terms between irl and sehhinah is a pretty constantly recurring theme in the series).

I always 'recognized' sehhinah!g-d 'as' mythical jewish g-d (hence the dash) but also with the caveat that not only are there specific differences, Their overall scope is narrower: there's more things sehhinah!g-d is definitely Not, or definitely Not Capable Of, or not in charge of/has not decided to ask for. a lot of the difference here seems to be a sort of, I can imagine sehhinah!g-d resulting from a canon-divergent-AU of antediluvian genesis where g-d was nonverbal and also certain foundational events shook out differently; but also the result, regardless of the causes, is that the more-limited sehhinah!g-d bears significant resemblance to the shekhinah 'aspect' of irl jewish interpretation.

for elaboration on the previous bulletpoint on a very deep and meaningwise/characterwise/selfhood/behavior level I'd point to this paper; but on a more superficial level the fact that in sehhinah g-d seems to 'speak' using an elaborate nonverbal telepathy that seem to use a sort of 'cantillation-marks' type of anchoring via features usually attributed to angels -- eyes, wings, feathers, wheels -- is. well actually I forgot where I was going with this actually but I won't bother backspacing it. I was going to say something about torah. shekhinah as a liminal phenomenon that dwells in the interface of action.

g-d is tesena's whore? subversioned bride. connects dots. sabbath bride. [schizo voice]. uh.

There was more but I forgot. um. (?) anyway

[esther-dot]

Hey what is your stand on or do you know any metas on the whole "Dany will destroy Volantis and even the slaves will suffer" story. Because until now I don't see how it's not going too be just another rescued city to bolster her savior persona.

Oh, really don't write about this kind of stuff, I can't keep track of certain details no matter how hard I try. However, while I believe the idea is fire and blood from here onward, I don't think that means Dany will change or that suddenly, fans won't have everything they've always had to defend her? As in, her compassion, Dany's belief that she is saving people, it will all still be there, only, they'll also get the thrill of victory they've been wanting too, so for the fans, I think those already sensitive to the consequences of her actions will be more impressed with the horror, while her stans, they'll prolly be happier. They believe she is anti slaver (conveniently ignoring how her actions led to the rape and enslavement of others and how she used forced labor and took money from the slave trade...), so Dany as an avenging angel of the powerless, it's gonna thrill them.

I just googled to see what they're saying about her going fire and blood on Volantis and this is a few years old, but they're already prepped to defend whatever happens. Here’s an assortment of comments I found on Reddit:

"People keep saying this as some GOTCHA to Mad Dany but I do not legitimately care about her burning the shit out of slavers 🤷 I have no sympathy for what she'll do to them. She's learned diplomacy doesn't work with slavery. You get nowhere trying to compromise with them or being polite, and what's been proven time and again if you give them any leeway they'll go right back to slavery and trying to murder you and your people. So like...who tf cares if she butchers the shit out of slavers?" Innocents die in war, that's a consistent theme in ASOIAF and irl. However unlike the wars in Westeros, Daenerys is a lot more justified in her fighting slavery and yes, some slaves will die but we've seen the majority actively want to be freed, will fight with her and ones like Volantis are waiting for her to come free them. She just say the words "fire and blood", nothing more. That does not means she will burn everybody on sight. She still care about the innocents. Smashing select shit and burning a select few people to end slavery might be exactly what a fire and blood Dany would do. Yes it’s just her house words like winter is coming … it is to reassure her identity , that’s all. Even with dragons, the Targaryens were no more destructive than the others houses. The war of the 5 kings was just as devastating than the Dance yet it did not have any dragons.

....you get the idea. The hellish descriptions of what she leaves in her wake, her own complicity in in the slave trade, that didn't make a dent, I don't think Volantis will either. People are bought in. Although, someone did point out, the structure of the city might allow this to be a successful bloodbath for Dany ie fewer innocent casualties than we might expect which will make her even worse going forward because she'll think she can repeat fire & blood successfully and then kaboom KL due to the wildfire.

I'm not sure if Jonsas have written any meta devoted to Volantis, I quickly searched and didn't see anything, but there is stumpy’s recap of ADWD, Tyrion VII that you might find interesting.

[lokiina]

AIGHT LEMME EXPLAIN.

SO. Dino doesn't have a ton of lore, and when someone doesn't have a ton of canon info to work with, ya kinda start making your own. What's happened/is under his head plate was on my mind ever since I found the base mesh with the missing ear. So I finally drew this as a kind of concept/headcanon and I'm gonna take a minute to explain wtf is going on here and why.

First of all, ya boy lives a shady af life. He's a fixer, and evidence scattered in emails and shards in game shows he kinda low key runs things like a mob boss. The question is, how'd he get there? You gotta be involved in some things with a very high risk of violence. Hell it's Night City, it could have even been an out of hand bar fight.

But, I gave him some intensive head trauma scarring. A burn would def play a part in losing your ear, and there's a long surgery scar as well. If you've ever seen burn scars irl, they're pretty rough and often something that can leave someone incredibly self conscious no matter who you are.

On top of that, he's in a band. He's a musician and it's not uncommon for musicians to experience hearing loss from the sheer fact that they're constantly bombarded with loud af live music. So the lil technical implants I included are actually based on cochlear hearing aids to help move past the damage.

So if you slap that on top of varying head trauma's... Ya boy is probs pretty deaf without the implant help.

As a matter of pride, he tucks it all away with a cool custom head plate that gives him a pretty distinct look and no one really knows wtf is under it, he'd like to keep it that way. Makes it more mysterious wtf is up with his cyberware.

** this is just concept/personal headcanon. If ya don't like it it's fine it's cool. But I think it's neat as hell and I'm keeping it for my personal story stuff. c:

[oobbbear]

Wait does that mean if sun turned into his natural state he would be 400 times bigger and so definitely win the argument

Or are we saying that the sun is suddenly about the same size as the moon, but can still warm the earth and so is presumably super dense so SOMETHING is going to happen or maybe not

More theoretical, if the moon is next to the sun a lot, that either means the earth is going around both the sun AND moon, or that they are going around the earth and that means

Ok no no no no none of this makes sense I knew that when I signed up assuming y/n exists and is presumably an astronaut they shouldn't exist anyways because moon landing probably wasn't a thing because shooting a bunch of people up to a rock that talked for the purpose of putting a flag on it(him?) Doesn't sound like a good idea. So that wouldn't exist, so maybe the earth doesn't exist but then the moon wouldn't be there so no I think probably

So my conclusion is that earth just accepted that magic space stuff is a thing, and sent people up there to talk with the rock and plasma orbs in the sky and give them a laptop but why why would they do that so just I'm help me

Do sun and moon ever have an existential crisis

Like I am right now

TT

Okok first calm down my pal (;oo) ﾉ Ill try my best to answer the questions-

(This is like a, country human, or planet human kind of situation, so let’s not question why rock and gas speak English)

1- yes if sun turns into his natural state he’ll be a loooooot bigger than moon, but he won’t do that just to win over an argument, that will piss Moon off even more and their relationship might break which is the last thing Sun wants

2- no Sun is not suddenly the same size as moon, let’s throw logic outside of the window for now don’t panic

3- Y/N doesn’t exist in this au! I thought of making em the earth or an astronaut but I can’t come up with a proper way for em to interact without hating one another or worse so I just dumped that idea

4- The laptops or any other stuff doesn’t really exist irl. The two are still seen as a rock and a burning gas ball by the creature on earth. The whole au is more of a ‘if moon/sun has consciousness n’ we stuff em into a magical body and see what would happen’ situation instead of ‘100% scientifically correct’ situation cause that way the room for creativity is kinda limited

Lastly, these two not only have existential crises they also have so many other problems they need therapy-

Thank you for bringing these up, I thought of these questions before while I was brain storming the au, like why the two talk, why doesn’t sun talk to some other planets there’re like so many planets around him, or how sun touch moon and moon does get effected by it so on and so for, but in order to make this au work I have to throw some sense and logic out of the window… sorry this might not be a satisfying answer but just know that I really really appreciate your questions thank you for being curious and being interested

[minaharkers]

OC TAG GAME ｡*･♡;

tagged by @aragorngf to categorize my ocs and make them in this picrew by crowsen!!  

♡ FAVORITE OC. (At the moment) 

Lukas Warren — Fallout: New Vegas

This was cruel to make me pick between all of my kids but I think Lukas at the moment is always kicking around my head — my sweet boy my poor little meow meow. I have so much in my head about his relationship with his family both the complicated horror story that is his family and his adopted ghoul mom Majorie and how much that really shaped his worldview <3

♡ NEWEST OC.

Caroline Clarke — Various

Cara my beloved!! She’s my OC for a post-apocalyptic RP group I’m in and I love her sm <3 She’s a hunter from West Virginia who’s still trying to getting used to living in a (somewhat) civilized part of Boston after living in the literal Appalachian woods for a solid three years with her brother. I’m excited to write with her more !! She’s a sweet person but is still sort of closed off after so much has happened 

♡ OLDEST OC.

Aerie — The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim

Aerie is definitely one of my oldest ocs!! Skyrim was really one of the first rpgs I played and honestly I feel like she’s both gone through so many iterations but also stayed pretty consistent!! We love a wild girlie who the universe had to make her a short nord to balance out the whole dragon soul thing

♡ MEANEST OC.

Ethan Warren — Fallout: New Vegas

Some people deal with their issues in all sorts of ways; Ethan decided to deal with it by razing his hometown to the ground <3 Having his father be burned instead of crucified like the Legion normally would to not give him the satisfaction of dying like jesus is understandable given what an awful person Richard Warren was, but joining the Legion and staying for years is a bad move maybe 🤔

♡ SOFTEST OC. 

Merethel Lavellan — Dragon Age: Inquisition

This was tough between Merethel and Ophelia but I think he’s someone who’s got a quiet compassion to him. The role of inquisitor does chafe on him a lot with him being more comfortable behind the scenes and being with people one on one as a healer. But I think people tend to underestimate how intelligent he is at first with his gentle nature, because he definitely learns how to play the “game” of politics in his own right by the time of Trespasser (even if he is very eager to get rid of the Inquisitor title).

♡ MOST ALOOF/STANDOFFISH OC. 

Endaryn Ravel — The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Even before he lost his place at the Arcane University in Cyrodiil after being booted to Morrowind because the Emperor Said So (rip 😔) , Endaryn is someone who just wants to be left alone to study!! And stuff KEEPS happening to him and he just wants to finish his thesis can he please stop getting weird dream messages from Dagoth Ur

♡ DUMBEST (AFFECTIONATE) OC. 

Leondas Vendicci — The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

It’s not that he’s dumb, he just lacks any and all self-preservation or self-respect! <3 Jk, but Leondas is definitely the guy who acts first and thinks about it later when he realizes the consequences. A fuck around and find out kind of guy, you might say. But yeah, definitely the type to run into Oblivion portals without much of a plan. But he’s MY favorite dumbass so it’s okay

♡ SMARTEST OC.

Ophelia Faye — Fallout: 3

WOMEN! IN! STEM! Ophelia’s definitely the most intelligent; (I did actually give her a 10 in her Intelligence SPECIAL score). But I would say it’s pretty much all like science and medicine based intellect, and she’s the most comfortable in a lab or med bay than out in the Wasteland.

♡ OC YOU’D LIKE TO BE FRIENDS WITH IRL.

Euurydia Daeron — Star Wars: The Old Republic

I have NO idea if Dia and I would actually hang out IRL but she’d be the most fun to hang out with. She’s the perfect extrovert to adopt an introvert like me and talk my ear off and convince me to try one drink and suddenly it’s 2 am and we’ve been cantina hopping in the Lower Promenade on Nar Shaddaa for hours

tagging: @statichvm @chuckhansen @denerims @indorilnerevarine @risingsh0t @leviiackrman @florbelles @unholymilf @fashionablyfyrdraaca

[nighttimeebony]

The Scars of MHA

This might be a really weird thing to notice or care about, but I absolutely love the way MHA does scars. The scars in MHA are rough, jagged, off-color, asymmetrical. How often have you seen an animated property where scars are thin lines that are almost more like beauty marks than injuries? But not in MHA, where not only are the scars imperfect, but their appearance also reflects the nature of the injury.

Kirishima got the little scar above his right eye when his quirk first activated and he cut himself by accident. Since it was a relatively minor injury that happened so long ago, the scar is more silver/white in color but unmistakably there.

Izuku's scars are comparatively new, hence the red coloring to his scars, but they're also jagged and rough and give off the impression of major injury. Even his crooked right hand, which does have more faded-looking scars, but it was due to a healing Quirk, and even if the scars don't look quite as bad as the red one on his arm, it still gives off the impression of internal damage that, while healed on the outside, he will have to deal with for the rest of his life if he isn't careful. And speaking of the big scar on Izuku's arm, he's shown wearing a compression sleeve over it, implying that he has issues with chronic pain because of all the damage that's been done to his hands and arms.

Similar principle applies for Aizawa's scar that he got from the USJ. Because it's a new injury, it's still sort of pink in color, but it's also jagged and rough-looking because of course it would be after getting his face slammed into concrete. Even the placement of it is kind of significant. Because it's so close to his eye, you really feel just how close it was to completely fucking everything up, because Aizawa needs his eyes to use his Quirk, and if his eyes are put out of commission or damaged, then so is Aizawa's effectiveness in a fight. Aizawa is instrumental in almost all the fight scenes in this series, and we KNOW that if he were to get taken out, it would be bad for everyone involved.

Shouto's scar was a major, severe injury and was caused by a burn, so it's red, splotchy, and takes up most of the left side of his face. It's also surprisingly smooth when compared to other characters scars like Izuku's or even Endeavor's, and it's because burn scars are bright red and kind of smooth-feeling in comparison to the normal texture of human skin. This makes even more sense when you consider that Shouto's scar is technically a freezer burn, and when you compare the look and texture of irl freezer burn scars to Shouto's, the similarity is even more obvious. (No, I will not be putting images here, cuz it can be kind of gross if you're squeamish about stuff like that, but feel free to look it up yourself if you're curious).

Eri's scars are clean but numerous and entirely cover her arms and legs. This is due to Overhaul's continuous experimental dissections that were clinical and precise but relentless. And I think it's also notable that (with the exception of hospital robes) Eri always wears long sleeves and tights to cover them, which implies that she's self-conscious about them, which is a really good little character detail.

I just really like that the characters of MHA are allowed to be scarred and have physical imperfections that aren't glossed over or hand-waved, and they aren't treated like something that needs to be "fixed"; they just become a part of them and become natural integrations into their design. I just, I fucking love it.

[anantaru]

Hi Yoru! I was wondering if you have any tips on growing your blog? For someone just starting out or in general?

some overall things i think are important:

— figure out what fandoms you want to write for, if you want to be a single fandom only kind of blog (like me) or a multifandom one!

— have a nice theme, make your own rules, your byi, tag system, make sure to have these out of the way first so when someone comes across your blog they can find your rules and know what you‘re comfortable with etc.

— once you got more writings, make sure to have a masterlist for people to go back to!

— tag stuff accordingly, if you write dark content, please tag it, mention it. Mention who your writing is catered to, for example: fem! reader etc. etc. + also filter things that make you uncomfortable so you don‘t get triggered.

— write for yourself and don‘t be discouraged if you aren‘t getting much interaction in the first few months of writing. You can‘t expect to post 2-3 fics and already have a steady influx on asks, for example for me personally, it took me like 1-2 months until i had a steady influx of asks coming my way. I just want to get this out there because sometimes i see writers be discouraged about that (while they’ve been on the app for less than 1 week) but sadly you can‘t expect it to happen so soon. (also i hope this doesn‘t sound like me being as asshole, but it is simply the truth.)

— don‘t look at followers, notes etc. as long as you like a fic you wrote, that‘s enough reason. If you write for validation, you do you! but don’t be surprised if you get burned out afterwards.

— tumblr doesn‘t show your followers anyways so why focus on them + even if they would, it doesn‘t mean anything!

— don‘t be jealous of other writers, this is tumblr, no one‘s better than you and you aren‘t better either! be a nice person. (also if you see a writer you don‘t like, block them and move on, don‘t subpost and be desperate, please don’t be toxic and mean, you don‘t know anyone on here irl, we all have our own dealings, we have feelings, so just be a nice person and nice things will come back to you) + the amount of people coming into my askbox showing me stuff which only made me block them too because it‘s just childish, don‘t be like that, please be nice 💗!!

— this might be a hot take ?? but mutuals are not important, follow who you like, that‘s it. Don‘t expect follows back, you can make connections with people on here without following each other. I know it can be seen quite clique?? i suppose? i personally am not really someone who likes making mutuals because i‘ve sadly had a couple of bad experiences and they have traumatized me greatly so i might come off as shy! 🫶🏻

— with that in mind, block people freely, don‘t feel bad, again you don‘t know them. The moment someone makes you feel irritated, block them! if they complain? that‘s on them, whatever! this is supposed to be your safespace so you curate it how you like!

— last but not reast, "growing your blog" shouldn‘t be something you should prioritize, ever. Again if you‘re only here for followers, okay why not?? but keep in mind you‘re going to get very burned out some day, just saying.

— have fun, seriously, this is supposed to be a nice experience, writing about your favorite characters while sharing your creativeness 💗

— writing has become a very important hobby for me and i‘m very fortunate enough to be able to use it as an additional source of income now in my real life as well, (because tumblr has helped me sharpen my writing skills) you never know what will happen, let yourself move freely and enjoy the process! 🌸

[saeaideen]

Random Megumi hc’s because I said so-

Insomniac- 100%

Seems like he’s really organized but a slob (but like normal teen boy slob)

Only reason his room is organized is because that what he does when he can’t sleep

Probably listens to Mr. Brightside on a weekly basis

Definitely a Weezer fan, it’s literally canon

Was put in hip hop classes by Gojo and now secretly sneaks off campus to go practice

Mans is a Capricorn so he’s low key crazy but really fun when he trusts you

Will initiate physical affection for things like hugs or putting an arm around someone

I really hc Megumi in the dub, not because it’s better, but because he’s so curt and snappy

Takes two showers a day, one hot one cold- don’t ask me why

I feel like he’s naturally good at video games

I also hc that he’s low key really competitive

Was forced to sit in the middle seat of a car because Yuji was taller and Nobara didn’t want to sit in the middle

Constantly debating trying to name his divine dogs and other shikigami because he tried it once before and it died

This happened when he was like 13 and it scared him for life

Doesn’t panic or cry when something major happens but hyperventilates and gets more snappy then usual

Stress level 200%

Zones in when writing reports for missions and doesn’t even notice when Yuji and Nobara enter his dorm and hang out there

He’s been going on Gojo’s grade 4 and below missions since he was in middle school

Neither of them told Tsumiki and she was pissed when she found out

Tried asking Gojo about his dad once when the topic came up and Gojo didn’t talk to Megumi for the rest of the day

Can cook simple dishes because Gojo also can cook minimal dishes

Picks up things really fast, martial arts, cooking, music, techniques

Really popular but he doesn’t know/doesn’t believe it

Says stupid stuff like “time for you to get a watch” when someone asks the time

City Boy™️

He literally grew up in Tokyo

Minimalist fashion but really expensive

He wears a lot of sunscreen

He burns super easily

Also has really sensitive skin

Doesn’t like the feeling of excessive body hair but doesn’t like the razor burns from shaving or the pain of waxing

Has occasional circle group time with the other first years

They all found out they were kiss virgins still and all felt embarrassed

He’s not a feminist because he’s always been taught to see everyone as equal no matter what they looked like

(Tsumiki taught him that ^)

Also is used to Maki and Nobara dealing with their own problems in the most aggressive feminine manner ever

Gojo made all kinds of dad jokes when he was younger so now that’s his go-to sense of humor

Not socially awkward but also not very interactive

Little kids are always drawn to him

He likes kids but doesn’t know how to deal with them

Saw a girl who looked like Tsumiki while out in Tokyo and freaked out

Doesn’t think he should see a therapist

Boy- look what’s happened to you

I think that he’d be a fan of Seinfeld

He thinks it’s hilarious and watches it over and over again

Also really liked that movie Rescued by Ruby and was devastated when he found out the dog who played Ruby died irl

Doesn’t get bug/mosquito bites???

The only reason he doesn’t like fiction books is because he finds all kinds of plot holes and hates it

History nerd- developed during the start of his non-fiction phase

Startled by the thought of aliens being real

Doesn’t like thinking of space or other universes, it hurts his brain

Definitely holds his breath when going over bridges

Probably calls out animals when driving past them

“Cows.” “Horses.” “Sheep.”

Yuji and Nobara are so done with him for doing this

He really likes the hole-in-the-wall and mom and pop restaurants

Probably has a solid 10 that he frequents and knows the owners on a personal level

[the-force-awakens]

Hey, Nym, are you okay? I'm so sorry someone was ableist with one of your (amazing) hcs 🥺 I'm here if you wanna talk about what happened. But no pressure ♡

I debated answering this one publicly. Debated answering this one at all. Because sure, for all my playful kvetching, my passionate rants about why the things I like are cool and people shouldn't be dicks about it, and my occasional relatable depression text post reblog, I don't get negative on here. It's kind of my thing, or at least I like to think it is. I love to think my brand on here is that weird, positive autistic girl who is completely obsessed with Poe Dameron, and I also like to think it's a well earned brand. You don't stay on this bullshit for three years if you're normal.

So yeah, debated answering it because I didn't want to post the honest answer, but honestly this is a shitty situation, and it's important, so I am: I'm not okay.

I won't go into details, because contrary to what some clowns may believe I don't vague post (oh, oops, guess I just did a little), or at least if I kind of do, it's usually vaguing behaviors I see spread across multiple parts of a fandom, but I will talk about what it's like to be disabled and in fandom. What it is like to be autistic and in fandom.

I'm on Tumblr because it's a space where I can have a little dragon hoard of my special interest. It's where I can infodump about it. It's a space where I don't have to mask (much). In 2020, I jumped feet first into a certain special interest because life was shit and it made me happy. For every shitty take, every negative opinion I was hit with, I threw out more positive creations. I wrote. I giffed. I meta-ed to my heart's content and I was so fucking happy.

Then it....became a thing. I don't mind, as previously mentioned, my brand being that girl weirdly obsessed with a fictional pilot who isn't that popular outside of his fanon ships from a trilogy that this website loathes with as many burning suns as I hate - I don't even know something I hate that much. Anyway, I didn't mind that. But suddenly I became a wikipedia search bar. And....for the first little while, I didn't mind. Because I got to infodump about him, and I don't get to infodump irl, and my friends had heard plenty. And besides, I liked helping people! I like pointing people in the right direction of things.

But like I said. It became a thing. People were comfortable dm-ing me questions, getting mad about the answers I had, and sending back their own headcanons to contradict them. I got praised a lot for....having a special interest and being passionate about that subject. It started to feel a little bit...weird. But then I started realizing that people mostly only talked to me when they needed information from me, and that felt. Awful. It made me feel used just a little bit, and I took a step back from fandom because of it and some other mental health issues I was having.

(apparently if you're autistic this means you're 'distant')

But I wanted to keep creating, because making stuff makes me happy, and I'm autistic and I want a space to be autistic, and don't always want to (I know it does not bother you, but still) bother my friends with it, because there's loads of other conversations to have.

Fandom is more isolated now, but I feel that more keenly as someone who is disabled and audhd. Characters I relate to are seen as villains and monsters in the fandom, or manipulators that pressure people into doing what they want, or arrogant assholes who really just need to be put in their place. I try my best to ignore it.

It's harder to ignore when a not-super popular headcanon you made out of comfort after dissing your abled a bit more and living through a fairly traumatic job experience (and ergo losing out on a job because no one believed you were disabled), gets taken and written in an explicitly ableist way that mimicks precisely the trauma you were seeking comfort from.

I don't know who fandom is for anymore, but it's certainly not for me.

[agentsquirrelsgotrobots]

Ground Rules and Boundaries, along with my Fandom list and permissions

THIS BLOG REBLOGS NSFW AND NONCON. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Best post to start with:

https://www.tumblr.com/agentsquirrelsgotrobots/725772539371175936/give-me-a-fraction-of-your-power-or-else-i-will?source=share

Active Fanfic tags:

Mafia au: What if the Burns were the leaders of a gang, and the bots weren't in on it

Dpxtfrb : over a dozen one shots of an unlikely crossover. Some crack, some angst, really, anything is possible.

Little nightmares x tfrb: horror series, lots of gore

My Ao3: AgentSquirrel. There are all kinds of stuff that I don't plan to cross post on there, and I love getting kudos and comments and am open to requests.

I do not consent to my work being fed to aid algorithms or my original characters being on picrew, recreated in character ai, or being featured or cameoing in works that I have not been tagged in.

If I mess up something concerning the representation present in my fics, please feel free to point it out to me in my ask box or in the comment section. I will correct it as soon as possible, including taking down posts. I want this blog to be a safe and welcoming place.

I do not ship children and/or minors, but I won't judge or block unless it's nsfw, incest, or gives me bad vibes. Fictional characters are fictional, and as long as I feel that your taste in ships does not translate to real life, I don't care, and will likely thank you for a new set of tags that i can block.

I write a lot of dark fics, medical trauma, and nonromantic abduction. DUBCON CAN AND WILL BE PRESENT, and please, if I miss a tag variant or tw, reach out to me, I will fix it. Tiktok censorship made tagging a nightmare on here.

Onto the fun stuff!

I currently write for:

Transformers Rescue Bots, Transformers Prime, Transformers Earthspark

The Decepticon Justice Division (not the Lost Light crew, I just like the fanatical Decepticon secret police force and writing their war crimes),

Danny Phantom

Some DC

You will see on my page:

Transformers Prime

Transformers Earthspark

Transformers Rescue Bots

Danny Phantom

Reblogged fanfiction, answered and unanswered writing prompts, OC stuff, Fanart

Me lovingly yelling at some of my IRL friends about stuff that happened IRL without context

I adore fanart! Please, this is blanket permission to draw my ocs and scenes from my fics, and add to my fics and tag me in it.

Try shit, and I will be blocking and reporting with screenshots.

Flirting, even jokingly, is not tolerated from people I don't know IRL, and looking for my other accounts on any other social media site BY ANYONE, EVEN IF I KNOW YOU IRL, will not be tolerated. My private accounts are private, and if you reach out to them as a way to contact me about this blog, you will be found, blocked, and reported on all sites.

I value my privacy and anonymity and will take down this entire blog if I feel threatened in any way and feel that I can not use the site safely.