#not really sure how i'm supposed to respond to this tbh

[krisdreaming]

Baby Fever

Pairing: Miya Atsumu x f!reader

WC: 1.2k

Summary: Osamu and his wife just had a baby. Now Atsumu sees them everywhere.

A/N: This kind of took a very different direction than I was originally planning and tbh, I kinda hate it now, but I spent over two hours writing it, so I'm gonna roll with it anyway. Maybe when I re-read it in the morning, I'll hate it less 😅

There's a term for it. Atsumu isn't sure what it is, but he knows that as soon as you're exposed to something new, you start noticing it around you more and more. That must be why, ever since Osamu's son was born, he's been seeing babies everywhere. They're at the grocery store. They're at the park. Suddenly, half of his teammates have been expanding their families like it's some kind of competition.

Suffice to say, Atsumu has seen more than his share of babies over the past few weeks. Sure, they're cute, or whatever. When a baby smiles at you, you can't help but smile back. When they grab onto your finger, you let them hold it for as long as they want. When they engage you in a staring contest across the grocery store aisle, you only put up a little bit of a fight before giving them the satisfaction of winning, flashing a sheepish smile at their mom or dad as you turn the corner.

The sight of the little monsters has started to trigger a strange twinge in Atsumu's middle, which he chalks up to the fact that he's an uncle now. There's a brand new member of his family, and he's really happy for Osamu and his wife. Seeing the babies everywhere reminds him of that. That's all it is.

See, the two of you had talked about this. You aren't ready for kids right now. He's in the prime of his volleyball career, and you love your job. You're both happy as just the two of you, spending your free time together doing the things you enjoy and getting a full eight hours of sleep each night. Having a baby would change everything. Your last discussion on the topic, right after Osamu and his wife had shared their pregnancy with the two of you, had ended on that exact note. He's pretty confident that's still how you feel. He's relatively confident that's still how he feels, too.

Of course, the longer it goes on, the harder it is to explain away. He watches Osamu doting on his son, snuggling him close and kissing his cheeks and smiling bigger than Atsumu's ever seen before. He knows his brother is tired, but he doesn't seem to care. He watches the way he looks at his wife, and the way both of them look at their son, and it softens something inside him. He sees you cradling your nephew close, cooing down at him with a soft smile, and his heart turns over in his chest.

Finally, one day, he comes to Osamu with a question.

"What's it like?" Osamu is wiping down the counter at Onigiri Miya, clearly trying to disguise his surprise and mild consternation at seeing his brother show up out of the blue, five minutes before closing time.

"What's what like?" He grunts, scrubbing at a ground-in glob of rice.

"Y'know," Atsumu gestures vaguely, "Being a dad."

"Ah," Osamu hums, grasping that quickly what this is all about. "It's incredible. I mean, don't get me wrong," He chuckles, "It ain't easy. It's way worse than whatever ya try to imagine based off a' everybody's helpful advice," He lifts his hands in air quotes. "But somehow, it's also worth it, in a way ya never could've imagined it would be. The way ya feel every time ya look at 'em - ya can't even put it into words."

Atsumu isn't sure how he's supposed to respond to that, so he just nods. Osamu smiles, looking him up and down with a too-critical eye. "Any special reason yer asking?"

"No," Atsumu says with a quick shake of his head, "Just curious, 's all."

Osamu nods, not saying another word, but the smirk on his face is more than enough to make Atsumu want to knock it clean off. Osamu's answer is exactly what he'd been afraid of.

It comes to a head one sunny Saturday afternoon when the two of you meet up with Osamu and his wife and son to visit a festival. The afternoon is starting to wind down when Osamu unceremoniously dumps the baby into Atsumu's arms. "Hey, mind watching him while we go to the bathroom quick?"

"Ah, sure," Atsumu says to his brother's already-retreating back. You poke at the baby's irresistibly pudgy cheeks, giggling along with him when your attentions illicit a bout of laughter.

"Oh my, what a sweetheart!" The elderly woman seems to appear out of nowhere, something Osamu is constantly describing but which Atsumu hasn't experienced until this moment. "Such a happy baby," She grins. "How old is he?" She looks expectantly at you, and after you gather your wits, you answer her.

The woman nods knowingly, as if she'd predicted as much. "Are you having a fun day with Mommy and Daddy?" She asks next in a goofy voice, completely oblivious to the way Atsumu chokes on the breath he'd just been inhaling and you shoot him a wide-eyed glance.

"Ah, well, actually-" You stammer out, at the same time Atsumu blurts, "We're not his parents."

"I see," She says good-naturedly, "Well even so, he looks very happy with you." With that, she goes on her merry way, and you and Atsumu share a bewildered look. Osamu and his wife return from the bathroom, and neither of you mentions the awkward encounter. It doesn't come up until later that evening, when the two of you are lying in bed.

"That was really somethin' today, huh?" Atsumu asks, trying to ignore the fact that his stomach is suddenly in knots.

"The old lady?" You chuckle weakly. "Yeah, 'Samu's right, they really don't have any shame, do they?"

"Yeah," Atsumu says, then takes a deep breath. "Do ya think, maybe, it's time to have that conversation again?"

You're silent for a few moments, and he can't quite place the emotions that cross your face. He doesn't have to explain which conversation he means.

"Maybe," You finally agree in a low voice. "Are you saying that your decision might be different this time?" It could be his imagination, but Atsumu almost thinks that you look hopeful.

"Maybe," He says carefully. "Would yours?"

"Maybe," You echo him, but there's a smile playing at the corners of your mouth.

"There would be a lot of changes," He says softly, fingertips tracing aimless shapes up and down your arm.

"Maybe we're ready for those changes," You murmur back, catching his hand in yours and letting him twine your fingers together.

He brings your hand to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to the back of it. "As long as I've got you, I think I might be."

"Me too," You say, leaning in slightly to nudge the tip of your nose against his. When he kisses you, he hopes the pressure of his lips can convey even the things he can't put into words. He can't imagine living this life with anyone else.

[starberry-cupcake]

After a weekend that exhausted me, I am finally able to come back to this book. My reacts proved useful to remind me where I left of, who would have thought.

previously, on harrowberry the ninth:

this happened

also, harrowberry is courtesy of @lady-harrowhark

after which I suggested the following album cover as a representation of her

currently, chapters 14-16:

"The Mithraeum, the seat of the First Reborn! The Sanctuary of the Emperor of the Nine Houses, the bolthole of God"

I don't want to sound like gideon

I really don't

but I have to be entirely honest here

I read that sentence twice, at separate times

and neither of those times did I read "bolthole"

MOVING ON

harrowberry is settled in a room which was made for a lyctor that never was

I don't know if this is at all important but it caught my eye

I wonder what happened there

and I am, as we have established, fixating on very particular things

the emperor johnny bravo has a room that's described as a locked tomb, but harrow says that, unlike the other locked tomb, she's not interested to see what's in this one

on the one hand, I want to know what this guy's actually doing but, on the other, I don't care about what's going on in his intimacy

harrow is also surprised that he gets embarrassed

which I don't, because he should be embarrassed and ashamed about all of the stuff that is going on in general

I don't know specifics and I don't know details, but I know he's at fault

like we say over here, I've got no evidence but I've got no doubt

he tells harrowbean about the BOE

he says they hate the nine houses and that they have agents who turn planets against them

they got themselves a leader about 25 years before harrow was born, who made things more difficult for johnny man

let's bring back the timeline I'm constantly discarding and bringing back

we've been told now that: this leader showed up 25 years before harrow was born, they disappeared nearly 20 years ago and gideon was born 18 years ago in space to a mom who was brain dead upon arriving at ninth

there's also the whole eggs thing that idk if it has something to do with this or not but we're not totally throwing anything away here

we've moved from a cork board to a 3d model at this point

emperor johnny boo is blaming these people for not!dulcinea going ballistic

idk johnny man, you kind of fucked that up on your own I think, but go off, I guess

he also says that the BOE folks hate necromancers and necromancy

I don't wanna be making assumptions with little to no info (literally all I've been doing) but all I've seen so far is these people teaching harrow to kill planets

that's not what miss frizzle told me I should be doing when she wore the most iconic looks in television history

maybe if the emperor dressed like this I'd be trusting him more

emperor johnny also clocked harrow being a ninth kid smoothie

because harrow was doing theorems in the river and only one other person ever did that before

the person who founded the sixth

we're ok with the sixth because camilla came from there

when harrow starts telling him the smoothie story, the emperor says "This was...all so different...before we discovered the scientific principles" and proceeds to tell her that her parents basically did a mini resurrection

he says "I have committed the same act, and I know the price I had to pay" and calls her "a walking miracle"

to which harrow responds "I have just told you that I am the product of my parents' genocide"

emperor, my man

he says "nobody has to know" about the kid smoothie

there sure are a lot of things people aren't supposed to know or ask about over here in the emperor's bolthole

*me, high fiving gideon's force ghost*

he says the initials of BOE mean "blood of eden" and that Eden is "someone they left to die"

then he quotes shakespeare??? I think king lear???

“How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child”, that quote

I'm not super knowledgeable when it comes to shakespeare tbh but...ominous

he also says "once you turn your back on something, you have no more right to act as though you own it"

and harrow thinks "at the time, that had made perfect sense to you"

that's pinned under the "hope for later" category

NEXT CHAPTER

harrow talks to ice cube barbie in her dreams

ice cube barbie says she's died twice

THEN, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT

harrow asks her if she has ortus's eyes or if her eyes are hers and what her eyes are like

and ice cube barbie says "she asked me not to tell you"

this is me, adding another thing to the "hopeful hints for gideon" shrine I am building

chapter 16

harrow asks yandere twin about her diary and she says it has been burned on her own orders

more hints for my theory of past!harrow knowing a lot and planning ahead

harrowcita calls lyctortus (name suggested by the reply gang, thank you reply gang) "the other one"

which could be "other" as in "other lyctor" or as in "other ortus", so it's fine either way

harrow is worried about not!dulcinea still being a threat

AREN'T WE ALL

AREN'T WE ALL

I SURE AM, ALWAYS

she should have been flushed into space

harrow thinks not!dulcinea is moving and yandere twin calls her "crazycakes"

then we start going a bit more in depth about augustine

I have come to understand that he isn't called "saint of patience" because he's patient

he's called "saint of patience" because that's what you have to practice when you're around him

good god, this man

he has the charisma of the fifth but the disagreeable nature of the eighth

here I am, making judgment on these people I only know like 2 representatives of, but anyway

he's like if magnus hadn't discovered a passion for baking and had instead decided his hobby was to be passive aggressive and thinking too highly of himself

his cav was his brother, apparently

harrow thinks he's hollow inside

he is absolutely horrendous to mercygirl

BUT, MOST IMPORTANTLY

he also alludes to not!dulcinea moving and thinks mercygirl is doing it

I don't know about this, you guys

two mulders in one recap is what you get when I have been forced to not read for a couple days

I think fox mulder represents my energy in these recaps

Augustine The Unpleasant mentions that johnny j has "spent the last 10 thousand years on a perpetual search-and-destroy mission out of, as far as I can tell, purely symbolic retribution"

great, that sounds fantastic for god to do

and that "I wouldn't set myself up as his replacement A.L. He doesn't need another bodyguard, and even she was significantly more lucid than you are" (you being mercygirl)

I had mentioned the possibility of ice cube barbie being this AL person, we still don't know, but this AL is "she"

let's put that in the 3D model

augustine calls chad a "nice boy", which tracks for him being a Senior Chad

he treats harrow badly, which we absolutely don't stan over here in the harrow respect corner

harrow obliterates him with a comeback and he calls her Anastasia (You were born in a palace by the sea / A palace by the sea? Could it be?) like the previous ninth

these people love comparing their old pals to everyone they meet, even if they supposedly didn't get along much

harrow also makes fun of yandere twin for being what gideon would call "a weenie" over augustine

then we get the augustine and johnny explanation of how to kill the beast

I am all for information but this whole thing gives me the worst vibes

basically he says the beasts (disrespectful name) eat planets like oysters and then keep the thanergy as armor

the beast can inhabit anything it's thanergetically connected to it via their death

like that which they kill

they travel as river projections

they have agents, which he describes like the borg in star trek

individual forms connected to its hive

the whole lyctor thing, having a necromancer's ability with a cav's training to take over the body, seems to be a key to fighting these things

because the necro part goes down into the river to do the thing and the cav can take over the defense of the body

this, I think, could be what we saw harrow doing in the prologue, the projection thing

but harrow's body isn't protected, because she's "lyctor lite"

because there's hope for gideon or so help me john

which might be why yandere twin was telling her she would not be guarded if she did what she was about to do

I am very intrigued as to what harrow will come to know to push her to do what she did

also, she got stabbed, so I'd like to know if she's fine

but we have 0 guarantees of anything over here in the mithrandir or whatever

the emperor's bolthole

god, what has gideon done to me

they say the point of the combat is to throw the beast's soul into the abyss and hope it doesn't come back

that's what I've been trying to do with not!dulcinea all this time

ALSO still no camilla

see you next time and thank you for not hating the length of these things ♥

[alia-schlatt]

Moustache || Ted Nivison || Pt2

a/n: I don't really know where this story is going tbh, but I love it!

Also, link to the first part!!

tednivison: I heard you have a thing for guys with moustaches?

I stare at the message in shock before screaming; "ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!!!".

"I swear on my life one of these days I'm going to have a heart attack because of you and all the screaming you do. How do your own ears not huuuurtt-" her voice drops as I turn around and look at her. My face must say a million things because she's immediately putting down the hot chocolates that I note she's put whipped cream and marshmallows on.

"What happened?" She says, crossing her legs and sitting back onto her chair. I pass her my phone, and her mouth drops before she starts laughing. "Ooooooooooooo, someone has a crush on youuuuuuu," she says in a sing-song way.

"He does not!" I say, pushing her and grabbing my phone back. I run a hand through my hair. "What am I supposed to respond? Do I even respond? Do I just like the message?" I start freaking out. My sister grabs my phone and starts typing. I tried taking it back, but she turns her chair around.

"Heyyyyyy Ted!! Can't believe you messaged me! I'm literally sooooooooooo in love with you! I can't wait to get married and have ten million of your children. Love youuuu" She says outloud before letting the phone and pressing send on a message.

"Oh my fucken god you did not!" I say standing and grabbing the phone, holding my breather. No way she just did that!

I look at what she actually red and let put a breath.

bluelilies: Only when they have a nice smile to go with it.

I look up at my sister as she sips her hot chocolate. She smiles, stands up, and walks out the door shouting, "You're welcome!!".

I look down at the screen as another message comes through.

tednivison: I've been told I have a nice smile

bluelilies: I wouldn't be surprised. You have a beautiful smile.

tednivison: Beautiful? Can say that's the first time I've been called that.

bluelilies: Now I'm surprised, surely someone had told you just how beautiful you are

tednivison: I can't say so

bluelilies: Also, I should have probably said this from the beginning, but I'm sorry if my comments on stream today made you uncomfortable. Have to say I was shocked you were even watching. I mean, it's a sims play though, while answering questions.

tednivison: Of course not! And hey, it led to us flirting now, so, no complaints from me. And I'll admit I often have you and your sisters streams on in the background.

bluelilies: You call this flirting?

tednivison: What would you call it?

bluelilies: chatting...playfully?

tednivison: If you call this chatting, I need to pull my socks up if I want to blow you away. And playful? What is this a game of sims?

bluelilies: If this is a game of sims, I hope you're taking me to the Studio PBP Lounge.

tednivison: If that means you want me to take you on a date, I'm sure we can make that happen.

[hazbin-hotlee37]

I'm seriously pissed off there's no fluffy AdamsApple tickle fics. It's like one of my favorite ships! So... Eat up, fuckas

Like the Garden

Switch!Adam, Switch!Lucifer

Adam had been brought back as a sinner, to... no ones surprise really. He knew it was bound to happen himself. What surprised everyone was that he went to the hotel and fucking APOLOGIZED!

It was the start of a great friendship :]

Soon, Lucifer and Adam ended up figuring out that their old feelings, new for Luci, were coming back/starting. Adam always had a slight crush on the fallen angel, even back in Eden, but at that time he had a wife... That Luci stole. (Tbh, he was more upset about losing Luci)

Some shit happened and accidental confessions were made. Bringing us to now!

Adam and Lucifer were relaxing in Lucifer's room at the hotel. Adam strumming his guitar mindlessly and Lucifer making a rubber duck. (BECAUSE ITS LUCI)

"Duckling? I'm fucking bored." The first man whines as he sets his guitar down.

"And what am I supposed to do about that?" The king of hell asks with a slight smile and an eyebrow raise.

"I don't know..." Adam mutters, slouching on the couch. He then looked over at his... boyfriend? He wasn't sure, yes, they confessed feelings but they never really put a title on what they had...

"Take a picture, lamb, it'll last longer~" Lucifer says, when he catches the sinner staring.

"Fuck off..." He replies, blushing a bit. He then got an idea. He smirked and stood up, sitting in the chair next to the fallen angels, he then wrapped his arms around him and pulled Luci close.

"Ah!..." The king of hell yelped in surprise, then looked up at the lamb sinner, "Since when are you a cuddler..?"

"Since now." The sinner responds with a smirk. The fallen angel shrugged it off, until he felt his... partners..? Fingers graze over his sides.

"A-Adam..." Luci stutters, holding back the giggles that threatened to spill.

"Huh? Whatcha so squirmy for, Luci?" Adam asks with a smirk, but he knew very well why. He then dug his fingers into the kings tummy and his grin widened when he heard the squeal it caused. "No fucking shot! Are you ticklish?~"

"Yohohou knohow that!" The fallen angel responds, trying to curl up, while simultaneously kicking his legs. It didn't work very well.

"Aww, y'know, this is pretty fucking cute" The sinner says, his smirk turning into a soft smile. He kept tickling for a good while, just relishing in the bright and bubbly giggles that came from his partner.

"Ahahadam! Plehehease! Noho more-" Luci begged through his giggles, pushing at the sinners hands.

"Oh fine, you pussy~" The first man says with a playful eye roll and stops his "torture". "Hmm, who knew you had such a cute laugh~"

"S-Shush." The fallen angel mutters, a blush forming on his already red cheeks. It wasn't often that the sinner got to make the king blush, but when he did... He definitely relished the victory.

The king of hell calmed down and playfully glared at his boyfriend, that was all the first man needed to know to fucking RUN. While the king was very ticklish, he was a fucking tickle monster! Having a daughter does that to a guy...

"Looks like I've got a lamb to slaughter~ Its all in good sacrifice, hon!" The king says as he manages to jump onto the sinners back and knock him over.

"FUCK- Wahahait!! I'm sohohorry!" Adam says, but Luci was already attacking his ribs and sides. He was gonna be here a while.

"Hmm, I dont think you are, apple. But you will be~" Luci sing songed, flipping over the sinner and tickling his tummy. He smirked at the squeal it caused and his grin widened at the sight of the Lambs wagging tail.

"You're enjoying this aren't you, Addy?"

"Ahaham NOHOHOT!"

"I think you are~ How cute! Awe, and look at that pretty blushy face~"

"SHUHUT IT- FAHAHACK!"

Sometimes it really felt like Eden all over again, and while they miss it... These two wouldn't change a thing.

[outrunningthedark]

Online fandom really does not understand how many people view this show. People upset over a daddy joke ran to give the episode a poor rating...but 99.9% don't give a shit.

Years down the line, if I'm going to watch an old show, I might check reviews to see if it's worth my time. Current shows? Only terminally online people care.

I think a big part of the problem is that people in fandom don't actually know what general audience and/or casual viewer is supposed to mean, tbh. The Facebook Moms who say something bad about the show are probably around the same age as the average audience member, sure, but posting comments for anyone involved with the show to see is still an extension of fandom no matter what site someone uses. Actual, true general audience members keep up with the show for one (main) reason and one (main) reason only - the premise. People can't get enough first responder/crime dramas, as evidenced by just how many there have been on the various major networks through the years (continuing now). General audience members are watching for Athena's commitment to her job. General audience members are watching for the "wacky" emergencies. You know what the general audience is not specifically watching for? Representation. Accuracy. "Good" dialogue and scenes that "respect" characters. More importantly, most importantly, they are not watching 9-1-1 looking for clues when 9-1-1 isn't promoted as an hour long "who done it?" even with Athena at the helm.

[roguishcat]

✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨

Thank you for the tag @astarionancuntnin! 💕

When did you start writing?

Wrote my first story when I was 16 (original fantasy stuff that was just random scenes that I kept dreaming up when I listened to my sad girl music.) Then I started reading fanfiction and decided to have a go at writing fanfic when I was about 20. Was quite active in a couple of fandoms but gave it up when I was 25. And then BG3 happened and now I'm in my early 30s and having a great time writing fanfiction again!

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I love reading all sorts, drama, horror (but not dumb 'everyone dies just because' stuff), mystery, romance.

And I will write most things, not straight up gore though.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I used to try to be 'clever' with my writing until I realised that you have to be clever for that. 😁😂 I just stick to slightly quirky, light-hearted stuff with some angst thrown in.

So no, I don't think I get compared to any writers. 🙂

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I mostly write on my laptop wherever I am at the time. At work during breaks, at home on the sofa (nestled between my dog and my cat), pretty much anywhere.

I have enough books in my apartment to sink a battleship (according to my grandmother), so I suppose the whole place has a bit of a 'library' feel. So, in a way my writing space is a library.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Dreaming up stuff before I fall asleep. I overfixate when I listen to music and replay the same scene over and over. Daydreaming helps me write dialogue and get a general out line, and THEN I will listen to the same ten songs on repeat. 😁

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Cute fluff stuff. My last relationship was toxic and ended awfully, and just want to write about romantic tooth-rotting fluff. What can I say, I love love.

What is your reason for writing?

I work two jobs and very long hours, so just want to do something for myself. And I enjoy writing. Though sometimes I hate it too! Like when words are really not wording and I have to abandon something for a while before getting back into it.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I love all comments, although of course ones that go into detail about which parts readers liked are the best! Feedback is crucial. I realise that my writing is definitely not the best out there (I'm working on improving it!), but if readers find the story moving and enjoy the way I portray their favourite characters and tell me, it honestly makes me tear up sometimes.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I'm not sure exactly how to answer this tbh. 🙂 Approachable, respectful, friendly. I am not sure that this is exactly how I am come across, but I hope that everyone feels that they can send me a message/ask and not feel silly for it. I love chatting and doing challenges and things. If you sent me something and I did not respond, I'm either working on it or Tumbl didn't tag me properly.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Dialogue, at least this is the part that I enjoy writing. The banter between Astarion and other characters especially.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I feel dumb when I make dumb mistakes and notice them after posting. I try to spot them by reading out loud.

But I do love my stories because I love the characters. When I finished my first run of BG3 I immediately started writing. What a wonderful game to have inspired so many creatives!

I adore works by many writers, like Maugham (especially 'Theatre'), anything by Bradbury, Tolkien (of course), Maupassant etc. I cried when I read Gail Honeyman 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine'. But I don't think that I would ever try to write in their styles. Not for any particular reason, I just write better when I don't try to 'reach for the Moon', because then I just get upset that my writing is crap in comparison.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

Both, that's for sure. I write stuff and find it delightful and funny, and then remember that I find oddest things funny. And then I think, is this weird? Ah well, we ball!

No pressure tags 💖: @preciouslittlebhaalbae, @clazberryk,

@inkymoonbunny,

@ladyduellist, @cinnamontails-ff,

@silent-words, @anacdoce, @bellasmumblingsandmusings,

@fangbangerghoul, @mellybaggins, @lavenderfluorite14, @waterdeep-weavemoss

[the-matron-of-ravens]

Genuinely curious, what are your thoughts on Dancer and FCG cuz like, he Literally, not figuratively, tried to kill her and did kill all of her companions at the time. I can see being critical cuz she doesn't seem to treat them like sentient beings, but even in the canon... most of the automatons aren't. Just some of the really old ones from Aeor/other old cities, right? So? She got a whoops!sentient microwave, treated them like a microwave, they killed all her friends and almost her and she's supposed to....? Be good buds with them? Also I know it's said that she trauma dumped on FCG, but let's switch it from microwave to personal journal - how would YOU feel if your personal journal popped to life and attacked you for trauma dumping? IDK haha I guess Idk you opinions and I'm just responding to my projected assumptions of your opinion. REALLY I'd 100% sincerely would like to hear your thoughts. I was really bothered by FCG pushing to meet with Dancer. Like jeez just leave her alone, you're her literal sleep paralysis demon, read the room.

Hey! Thanks for the ask, I put this a little bit in the tags but I can elaborate more here. (Edit: elaborate A LOT MORE it seems)

So here goes, I don’t know if you meant it this way but the analogy of a journal or microwave is helpful here because that’s exactly how Dancer treated FCG - as a tool to be used. But they *aren’t*. FCG is a whole being with emotions and thoughts all of which are apparent and so clearly distinct from other automatons.

So tbh, I think the perspective of “whoops! Sentient bot” makes sense for like a month, max. Not years. After all, we have seen NPC after NPC recognize FCG is a sentient being almost immediately after meeting him. I find it VERY hard to believe that Dancer never realized it herself.

Additionally, we need to step out of the plot itself and look at FCG’s mechanics. We know that every time he heals, takes damage for someone else, etc. he takes stress points, and that once past a certain threshold his switch flips and he goes full Murderbot.

We also know that rest and recovery are what reduces FCG’s stress points. So that tells us that Dancer was using and using and using FCG and not letting him rest (enough? At all?) even though he needed it. Because again he’s a person not a tool.

Even when they met back up recently and FCG sobered her up she remarked how she missed him doing that for her. And while I don’t expect her to miss him, I do think it’s indicative of her interest in him never being about him as a person but only how he could serve her.

And if we want to criticize FCG for his lack of boundaries, inability to take no for an answer and pathological need to fix Dancer sure that’s fair. He needs to unlearn a lot of that and quick. But we then have to ask ourselves where did those traits come from? They didn’t come from nowhere.

FCG is mentally extremely YOUNG. Aside from the 6?-ish Months spent with Ashton all he remembers is his time with Dancer. So, if FCG has a pathological need to fix others, to help them, and feels worthless if he’s unable to do so - that comes from how Dancer treated and trained him.

That doesn’t just go away; ESPECIALLY not when FCG doesn’t even remember going postal and doesn’t see to have the (IMO) most clear and realistic view of his and Dancer’s relationship.

After all look how he interacts with the Changebringer. She’s his surrogate Mom/Dancer. He needs someone to tell him how to feel, think, and what’s Good and Bad because he doesn’t know how to do it for himself - because he wasn’t *taught* to.

But here’s my real question. What do we call one person keeping another person in service to them, with no compensation or personhood to be had, and with no intentions of releasing that person from that service? That’s slavery my dude. AT BEST indentured servitude.

(but that implies there’s a debt. What debt? Waking him up? He didn’t ask for that; that was her choice.

And again this sounds a lot like children being “indebted” to parents for giving them life, housing, feeding, etc. )

That’s the part I can’t get over. And that’s the part I can’t get behind where FCG is the abusive one. The power differential was NEVER in FCG’s court; he never once thought of himself as a person or as anything but in service of “Soul Touched”. That complete sacrifice of yourself and your needs (or an inability to even know you HAVE needs) comes from being in relationships where those things are expected/demanded.

So, yeah, he literally tried to kill her, and I gotta be real I’m not surprised. Even children of abusive parents who they love snap sometimes. Because again, that’s mentally what he was at the time. A child.

But even then, no I don’t think it’s unreasonable or unrealistic for Dancer to be traumatized or not want to see FCG again. I don’t even think she’s wrong to say “I can’t give you closure” because closure isn’t something other people give you.

But the way she’s been discussed to be largely clueless about his sentience, blameless in his blow up, and FCG’s victim? I just can’t get behind that. Like at all.

[reverie-starlight]

I need to get some blood work done and I hate the experience so much, so to make me feel better, here’s some kuroo fluff. I don’t wanna hear anything about how soft this is. I don’t respond well to tough love or logic at all when I'm anxious, I need the softness.

gn!reader, no physical description. tw: blood, needles, hospital/drs office setting. slight anxiety/panic. very fluffy, maybe a little bit TOO fluffy tbh. extremely self indulgent, but what else is new on this blog? lowercase intentional. @emmyrosee I recycled a couple ideas from that one kuroo ask I sent you a while back, I hope that's okay :')

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can take the day off of work, I don’t mind.”

you sighed into your mug, one that the man sitting on the other side of the table had gifted you. it was halloween themed, and (very ironically, considering your current situation) had vampire fang designs all over it, many with blood dripping from them.

“I appreciate that, but I would never ask you to.”

kuroo slightly frowned. “you don’t have to ask me, baby, I’m offering.”

he watched as your own brow furrowed, resisting the urge to lean over and smooth it out with his thumb. he tried again. “I know how much you hate blood work. I don’t want you to have to deal with it alone.”

a feeling of guilt started bubbling in your stomach. “tetsu, that’s exactly it, though. I don’t like it, but I’m old enough now to be able to do it alone…” you paused and shook your head before editing your sentence. “I should be able to do it alone by now without spiraling.”

he sighed and gave you a sympathetic look. “baby, there’s no expiration date on fear, or a set age that you’re supposed to get over something by,” he took your hand and rubbed his thumb over it. “you’re scared, and that’s okay. as your fiancé, I’m not going to let you suffer through that alone.”

you took your bottom lip in between your teeth and mulled it over. he tried to hide a fond smile as he watched the wheels in your pretty head turn.

truthfully, he already booked that day off work. you didn’t know yet, but as soon as you had told him the date of your appointment, he had reserved that as a personal day on his schedule.

he’d never call you predictable, but when it came to things relating to your fears, he knew you needed some emotional support- whether you voiced it or not.

finally you looked up at him again with a hesitant, slightly guilty expression. “you really don’t mind taking time off work for this?”

he brought your hand up to his lips and kissed your knuckles. “for you, my love? never.”

and a week later, on the day of your appointment, he did everything he could to prove it to you further.

your appointment wasn’t until noon, so he made sure to spend the entire morning pampering you, distracting you enough so that you didn’t even have time to let the anxiety build up.

any time he noticed a faraway look in your eyes, he’d lean over and kiss your face until you laughed, really making sure to exaggerate the noises to embarrass you a bit.

and you recognized his efforts to keep you in good spirits, trying to meet him halfway. usually when you had a big nerve wracking event approaching, you were used to isolating yourself and trying to calm down alone. pushing through and wishing you could stay in control of your anxieties long enough to get through it and beating yourself up when you couldn’t.

however, since meeting kuroo, you didn’t have to do that anymore. when you first got together, you rejected any help he tried to give you. but once he realized that you just weren’t used to people giving you the emotional support you needed… that you were used to the opposite- being shamed for those feelings, he was able to navigate things better.

and along the way you realized that letting someone in was much healthier for you. so in an effort to keep that up, you let him take the wheel, figuratively and literally.

on the way to the doctor’s office, he played music and purposefully sang along badly, all in an attempt to make your life a little easier.

and it worked, because your brain had completely rejected any thoughts of worrying about the bloodwork.

until you had to sit in the waiting room, that is.

he could feel the anxiety rolling off of you as you waited to be called, and despite everything, he couldn’t help but feel a bit useless. all he ever wanted to do for you at any given time was make sure that you were happy and stress-free. he felt his heart break a bit as he watched you try to keep a composed demeanor.

so he pressed gentle kisses to your temple and let you play with his fingers. he even clogged up his storage and downloaded a ton of games for you to play if you asked (he knew how fast games drained your phone’s battery, so he gladly sacrificed his).

but he could tell from your crumbling expression and bouncing leg that the nervous butterflies in your stomach were turning into something much bigger.

he noticed a nurse walking down the hall towards the waiting room and quickly whispered something in your ear.

you looked up at him with wide eyes, surprised at his words, which pulled a shocked laugh out of your mouth. “tetsu!” you whisper-yelled at him, not wanting to disrupt the other patients.

he just gave you a charmingly boyish grin in response, squeezing your hand when the nurse called your name.

she lead you both into a small room, and you started shaking a bit.

“please take your sweater off or roll up your sleeve.”

you did what she asked and kuroo settled beside you on the opposite side of the nurse, tracing the palm of your hand.

“oh my- you’re shaking! are you alright?” asked the nurse and you felt hot embarrassment shoot through your body on top of the anxiety.

“um, yeah, I’m okay,” you said quietly, obviously nervous. she seemed to understand and thankfully didn’t make a big deal about it, rather making conversation about other things as she cleaned your arm.

“is this your fiancé? I love your rings, and it’s so sweet that he came with you today… I wish my girlfriend was able to come with me to my appointments.”

you smiled politely at her, and tried not to watch too intently as she got her equipment ready. you didn’t notice the look she gave kuroo, or the nod he returned to her, understanding her secret message. distract them.

that was his plan all along- even if the nurse hadn’t told him to, he would have done everything in his power to get you to focus on him instead of the test.

once he felt you squeeze his hand out of fear and noticed the tears forming in your eyes as the nurse was talking to you about finding a vein, he gently cupped your cheek and prompted your face away.

“hi, pretty, just look at me okay?”

your lower lip wobbled as you nodded, wincing and screwing your eyes shut as you felt the nurse feeling your arm. “make a fist for me, please.”

your hand cooperated and you let out a small noise of discomfort as she got to work.

kuroo stroked your cheek comfortingly and smiled at you when you opened your eyes again. “have I told you that you look absolutely stunning today, baby? just jaw-dropping. incredibly gorgeous. so blinded by your beauty that I should actually be wearing sunglasses right now.”

if it were under any other circumstance, you would have scolded him for flirting with you in front of someone else so unabashedly, but in that moment you were honestly thankful for it. so you shook your head a little.

he gasped. “I haven’t? how awful of me, I’ll make sure to fix that right away.”

and so as the nurse continued to draw blood, with a small smile on her face as she listened to the near one sided conversation, your boyfriend made it his mission to throw every compliment under the sun at you.

"going back to our conversation last night, reason number three hundred and twenty six why I love you: you're so sweet, even if you're not trying to be. you're just a good person through and through, babe."

though it was mildly embarrassing to need a distraction of this intensity, listening to him talk was definitely having the desired effect on you. your eyes were still a bit teary, and your heart was beating fast, but the expression on your face told him that you weren't as focused on the test anymore.

the soft look in his eyes as he tried everything he could to help you was captivating.

he leaned over to give you a quick kiss on the cheek and you huffed in disapproval. he laughed. "don't get shy now, there's still six hundred and seventy four reasons left to get through. I can space them out if you need me to, though. wouldn't want to send your heart into overdrive or anything. I can feel your pulse, don't even try to deny it!"

you were about to respond with what was no doubt going to be an attempt at a snarky comeback, but then the nurse pulled the needle out and pressed a cotton ball over the puncture site. "you're all done! great job."

you blinked at the nurse in surprise and she just smiled in amusement before placing a band-aid on your arm and walking out of the room with the vial of blood.

as soon as she was gone, kuroo tilted your chin up to look at him again. he gave you a big, wide grin and you weren't sure if the lightheaded, dizziness you were experiencing was because of blood loss or affection for your fiancé.

and once you finally made it out of the doctor's office, back into the car, he immediately leaned over the console and pressed yet another flurry of kisses all over your face and neck.

you giggled at him and tried to shove his face away, but he didn't let you, and instead grabbed your hands in his. he slowed down just enough to leave a few lingering kisses on your lips, rubbing his thumbs over your knuckles.

once he was done, he smiled fondly and stared into your eyes as you tried to catch your breath. his expression was as soft as his voice. "I'm so proud of you, baby, that went so well."

you smiled at him in return. "thank you, tetsu, you really helped me today... I'm glad you came with me."

he shook his head. "I told you, it's no problem at all. I'm happy I was able to make things a bit easier for you. Now..." he straightened up in the driver's seat and started the car, but not before giving you one last kiss. "let's get some food in you, and maybe a bit of orange juice, too. I read it's good after getting blood work done."

you nodded and stole one of his hands away from the wheel to hold in your lap. you placed your cheek against his now extended arm and sighed contently.

thinking about the day and how hard he tried to keep you happy and safe... how he did his absolute best to take care of you throughout your panic... there was never a time you couldn't feel the soft, gentle love radiating off of kuroo tetsurou. everything he did was with good intentions, all for you.

after a few minutes of comfortable silence, he felt a pair of eyes on him. at the next red light, he glanced down to see you craning your neck and staring at him with an unreadable expression.

he sent you a sly grin once he deciphered it. "...and maybe tonight, if you're feeling up for it, we can do what I mentioned in the waiting room."

you were one hundred percent certain that the dizziness from earlier wasn't from blood loss now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm not so sure how I feel abt his characterization or dialogue in this one :/

kuroo usually comes easy for me (...that's what she said) (I'm so sorry, I'll leave) but idk, the writing feels a bit off with this one, so I might do some major edits over time... I don't hate it enough to not post though, so I hope you enjoyed!!!!

[perotovar]

twenty questions for fic writers 💖

tagged by @kedsandtubesocks and @nerdieforpedro thank you, loves! ♥

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

technically 4 lol i'm slowly moving my stuff over there. i barely get any traction there compared to tumblr so it's sort of just there in case anyone prefers that format. i like the community i've built over here so i'm not worried about it!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

apparently 60,272 which is WILD

3. What fandoms do you write for?

the pedro pascal cinematic universe! i've thought about branching out into the bg3 fandom or possibly a couple other games, but the inspiration is with the pedro boys rn ♥

4. Top five fics by kudos

i'll go with the highest number of notes on here i suppose??

baby i'm-a want you (joel x javier p)

into the beat of the night (frankie x oc!river price)

bloody kisses (shane morrissey x tim rockford)

ásjá (pero tovar x ofc!helga)

rebirth (javi g x reader)

5. Do you respond to comments?

i've been really bad about it, but yeah, i certainly try to!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ch1 of bloody kisses ends pretty angsty, but it's got nothing on given to fly, my joel x tess drabble (which i don't think a lot of people even know i wrote lmao)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i can tell you right now, itbotn will have a happy ending :)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

i don't think i write the popular boys enough for that. and most of my stuff is queer, which has a smaller audience. so, fingers crossed, no not yet

9. Do you write smut?

yep

10. Craziest crossover?

i feel like putting one of the characters in a macho man heist movie into a goth club was a pretty insane crossover lol but probably bloody kisses, too, because it's between a criminal and a detective. who says opposites don't attract? 😉

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i'm aware of omfg

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

no, but that would be cool!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

yeah, me and @chronically-ghosted work on bloody kisses together! her contribution is my favorite chapter so far, definitely

14. All time favorite ship?

joel/tess has been one of my absolute favorites for years. halsin/astarion is a very close second <3

15. What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

i really wanna write the metal!pero and metal!ezra fic but i'm not sure i'll figure out the plot for it sdflkghjdg they're messing with me a lot

16. What are your writing strengths?

i think i'm good at dialogue? banter?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

interesting descriptions. describing a mood/atmosphere is fucking hard and idk how y'all do it lol

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

i think it's cool! i wish i spoke spanish better than my beginniner duolingo ass can so i can use it more often, but yeah lol

19. First fandom you wrote in?

it was for a band lmao like 10 years ago. i wrote like 2 smutty oneshots and have promptly deleted them off the internet

20. Favorite fic you've written?

god, that's an evil question! tbh it might be a tie between itbotn and bloody kisses. those are my babies and i'm super proud of the universes i created with them!

np tags: @ezrasbirdie @sp00kymulderr @qveerthe0ry @for-a-longlongtime

@goodwithcheese @missredherring @marisferasiop @swiftispunk @mrsmando

@ghostofaboy and anyone else that wants to ♥

[silvercap]

🎲

(idk if I'm supposed to pick a specific pairing or not... but anyway, I love drabbles so pick whatever random thing you want.)

Tbh I'm not sure either! If you want a specific pairing or number it's fine, but I can also randomize it for you!

Randomized, you got Weskennedy and #19 (a kiss underwater)! Sorry if that's not your thing 😭 I just put all the pairings I like on a wheel asjsjdjs and also this turned out really long

From this ask game

The fluid-filled tank in the centre of the laboratory room is large, lit from within by clean white lights that seem out of place amidst the facility's dingy, outdated light fixtures and cracking ceiling tiles. It's all chrome and shiny glass, the little computer screen tracking its subject's vitals set into the control panel at the base of it. Wesker hums thoughtfully.

Its contents interest him more than any of the complicated technology, familiar long eyelashes and golden-blonde hair brushing the tops of Leon's cheeks as he floats unaware in the tank, unconscious and entirely nude. Wesker isn't sure what the lab's denizens had been keeping him for before their containment fields had failed and left the place a ruin of viscera and corpses, but it can't have been good. Unfortunately, there's not much data available to help him---the computer won't let him in without authorized access, and even Wesker can't get into a system that belongs to his rivals without the proper passcode. The controls won't respond, either, so he can't drain the tank, but the system seems fairly straightforward to alter manually.

He supposes he could just leave Leon in there, now that's he's finally trapped---goodness knows what sort of biological data his body could offer after so many years of exposure to biohazards---but Wesker thinks he rather prefers Leon's company when he's awake. It would be tasteless to end their relationship of mutual respect without any sort of fight at all, and he can imagine Ada would no longer be so cordial towards him, either.

The water is tepid, like cooling bathwater, the walkway suspended above the tank offering Wesker leverage to lower himself down through the open ceiling of the pod. Water floods his shirt and shoes, but Wesker forces himself to ignore the sensation in favor of reaching out to lever himself downwards with Leon's shoulders. His skin is soft under Wesker's touch, brow visibly twitching---they must have put him in some sort of twilight state, rather than sedating him entirely. There's a respirator apparatus over his mouth and nose, Wesker's slender fingers slipping easily beneath the material to undo the straps and pull it away from Leon's face.

The moment water touches his face, Leon thrashes, lashing out; muscle memory fending off an attacker despite the fluttering of his eyelashes. Bubbles swirl around his face, but Wesker can't get close enough to drag him to the surface when Leon insists on kicking him hard in several sensitive spots. Wesker growls, lunging forward, and instinctively seals his lips over Leon's in a proximity of a kiss, offering a breath of air straight into the other man's mouth before pulling back slightly. It takes him a moment, but Leon finally stills, hands dancing confusedly over Wesker's sides as his lips part further and press somehow closer to Wesker's own. The tip of his tongue darts out as Wesker guides him gently to the surface, Leon's head tilting to deepen their embrace into a real kiss. How curious.

Wesker only needs one arm to pull himself from the tank and settle on the walkway with Leon in his lap, the latter's head lolling backwards to fix Wesker with a dazed look as the rest of his heavy limbs sprawl limply across Wesker's thighs. He grins drunkenly.

"Hey," Leon slurs, eyes rolling up into his head. He remains unconscious as Wesker tentatively presses two fingers to the pulse in his wrist, goosebumps forming on bare skin in the cool air of the lab. There's still a trace of a smile on his lips, though, the phantom sensation of a mouth pressing greedily into his own leaving Wesker in a roil of strange emotions.

Very curious, indeed.

[positively-peachy-143]

I heard you do writing for Dangerous Fellows! I was wondering, what do you think they would be doing if the apocalypse never happened and if they'd still meet somehow?

honestly thats a really cool question!! I'm not sure as a group how they would respond, but I can try the individual fellows!

Also I use "you" and kind of fourth-wall-breaking pronouns for this one, I'm sorry if you aren't comfortable with that, but it was between that and saying MC over and over again.

Harry: In a world where the apocalypse never happened, I think the two of you would be friends! He definitely seems like the type you'd meet in like a library or out at a park or something. He kind of gives coffee shop barista.

Zion: Zion seems like a fairly grumpy person, even before the apocalypse, so I could see him generally not really paying MC much mind, especially with how he seems to be wrapped around Scarlets finger most of the time. Though I could still see him having a faint curiosity towards you. I think as for hobbies/jobs, seeing as he's 18, (and Zion), he probably doesn't really have a job. It's hard to hold one with how short-tempered he is. As for hobbies? Gaming with Eugene 100%. Or like doing chores for Scarlet I suppose.

Eugene: Eugene could go either way! It really depends how the two of you meet. He seems pretty reserved, unless you match his energy. That energy being sarcastic, argumenative, and a little spiteful. But all around he isn't mean, really. His favorite thing is gaming with Zion, and I don't really see him as having a job either. He strikes me as the kind of guy to be really behind with schoolwork, overall hate school, and be overwhelmed with school, to the point having a job is too much of a weight for him.

Lawrence: He would DEFINITELY still want to be your friend and be around you, even without the zombies. I could see him laying eyes on you one day, and then simply refusing to leave you alone. Less in the overbearing, annoying way, and more in the lost puppy, can't-figure-out-what-to-do-without-you kind of way. probably texting you all the time and bringing you your favorite snacks/drinks and whatnot. Maybe he gets a little protective but thats just being a good friend!.... right? A violent outburst of some kind is inevitable though, so be weary of that. Also, I imagine him having a job that pays well, whether or not he likes it, so he can afford to spoil you.

Ethan: Tbh, I feel like he couldn't care less about you at first. It's definitely the kind of relationship you would have to initiate for the first few weeks. But when he realizes how much you must like him, and how interesting you really are, he'll likely become invested too. He seems like the athletic type, with not much time for a job outside of extra curricular activities like sports.

lmk if you liked this and would wanna see any other hcs from me!

[maisstars]

today I had my first class with my hallway teacher crush! I am so in love with this man but I can't tell if he fw me or not. within the first couple minutes of class, he called on my to answer a question about how the class would feel if we walked past somebody we knew in the halls and they ignored us because we didn't respond to his "good afternoon" well enough I suppose..? but I was the only one he called on that entire class period. one problem is that he is a veryyy scary teacher.. he is very strict and I am mildly terrified by him. but we were able to do a really fun activity so I'm not really sure what my opinion on him is yet. all I know is that he is SO HANDSOME. I kind of like the strictness tbh. I'm definitely not the only one crushing on him, though. my friend and I talked about how cute he was practically the entire bus ride home.

[sundial-bee-scribbles]

this was supposed to be longer but i got tired (and realized maybe this wasn't such a good idea) so i kinda bs'd this to just finish it up. sorry it doesn't look all that good lol

transcript of my shitty handwriting + more rambling under cut

panel 1:

len: rin, just leave him—

rin: NO! i'm not going to give up now—

len: i know you're upset, but all you're doing is—

rin: HE'S NOT GONE YET!

panel 2:

rin: i know he still remembers, he has to...

panel 3:

rin: kaito-san, it's me; rin. you tried singing one of len and i's songs the other day. you got the melody right, remember? meiko-san's birthday is soon. remember her? a few weeks ago you said you needed to buy her a present. what were you going to get her? do you remember? tell me.

---

aight yea so this is what yall get for picking that ❄️📺❔🕚💾🪦 option on the poll (which btw was related to this drawing)

i'll just keep it simple: basically kaito gets dementia (or i guess the robot equivalent of it??). yeah.

not sure if this takes place on the cusp of v3 happening and just this specific kaito v1 module was unable to be updated for some reason? or if they're all still stuck in v2 and v3 hasn't happened yet/will not happen for a while... but i do know its def before v4 happened, so people like fukase and una don't exist yet

anyways though as you might expect, it pretty much sucks all around for everyone involved. not just the other 5 cryptonloids watching their close friend so previously full of life deteriorate into a husk of his former self, but for kaito himself too. he suddenly can't remember things like where he is or who the people around him are, and its incredibly frustrating b/c he knows he did have the memories at some point, its just as if they got misplaced... there's random bits of recollections that do come sometimes but as much as he tries to hold onto them they flicker and fade away just as quick as they appeared. left sinking back into a feeling of hopelessness that then becomes pure emptiness, as you can feel how you're losing yourself but there's quite literally nothing you can do

visually the static is used to represent a lot of that "foggy" feeling as things become more and more unclear, and given the robot/android nature it makes sense i guess? it's not really seen here but just as an actual machine might be when breaking down, his visual + audio processors begin to malfunction, causing a literal static overlay on his vision with faces/objects he can't recognize occasionally glitching out as well as constant white noise in his hearing and the sound of people talking to him becoming garbled and unintelligible. as time goes on he also loses his own ability to synthesize speech so aside from becoming withdrawn and quiet out of fear he'll say something that makes no sense, he then literally just becomes incapable of responding at all

again (as you might expect), the other cryptons aren't doing very well as this is happening. rin and len see kaito almost like a father, so watching one of your parental figures slowly march towards death is... not great. rin (as seen here) is still trying to hold on, because she swears kaito has had a few good days where he does recall more, where he seems much more like his old self, and maybe, just maybe if they wait a bit more he'll get better [tbh she's speedrunning the 7 stages of grief but goes between being stuck in some of the earlier stages its... not good]. len's grief on the other hand is manifesting itself in a way more similar to meiko's: he's not as distant as her, but he has already recognized that there's pretty much nothing that can be done and just wants to minimize kaito's suffering. len's just as shattered as rin though, but he's not showing it openly, figuring he has to accept it, as fighting against the grief like his sister won't help anything.

i just mentioned meiko so speaking of her: this is also probably extremely difficult on her, as, yknow, the counterpart v1 to kaito. she's withdrawn herself away from kaito, as she doesn't want to cause him pain in case he happens to recognize her, remember something about their relationship, but not comprehend what it means and just become confused/distressed. at least, that's what she says; it's more or so she can't bear to see him in this state, as he slowly loses more parts of himself, so she isolates herself in hopes the pain will be somewhat less when its all over, for having seen him less and not having false hopes of his recovery. that being said though she has definitely still been around him and tried to keep her composure... from kaito's pov, in moments of recollection, its disheartening seeing your wife close friend suddenly ignoring you, almost like she's mad or sad about something, but you can't remember why. did you forget to do the laundry? is it something unrelated? you want to ask her but she won't tell you; why? did she already and you just forgot? why...

miku's usual cheeriness has also crumbled, as even with rin's attempts, she can't find anything to be optimistic about in this scenario. she just feels this immense guilt, that she should've done something about this; she has influence as the most popular of the entire group, surely she could do something to make it all better. but aside from the arguments and indecisiveness regarding ethics and not wanting to do something without everyone's collective decision, she does know deep down its not her fault. maybe someone like one of the technicians or programmers would be more at fault, but she doesn't want to blindly throw accusations either, because surely they hadn't foreseen this happening either; nobody would intentionally throw in such a cruel fate for someone, it was an unfortunate system glitch that they were working to fix, but even if they did come up with a patch for it, it would be far too late for kaito at that point. she doesn't want to dwell too much on the logistics of it, miku just wants to be there for everyone else, because she knows how deep in despair the others are—she is too—and doesn't want their whole group to fall apart after such a devastating event.

as for luka: i would assume we're kind of actually seeing everything from her perspective, so as an audience lens she'd be more objective about presenting everything as it is without putting too much of her own bias/thoughts into it. but she's not completely unfeeling either. she tries interacting with kaito quite often, despite some of the others warning her about doing that too much. she tries talking to him about random things, not necessarily aiming to get him to remember anything in specific, though if any of his memories do surface in conversation she'll def address them and ask if he recalls anything more (and if not that's alright too). on some occasions she's been accused of being insensitive, but she doesn't want his death to be this huge tragedy, she would want him to be somewhat happy in his last moments. after everything that's happened, he deserves to leave in peace, in her opinion.

i've mentioned death a few times and there's a literal gravestone in the original emoji combo so safe to say, yeah, he dies. unfortunately the damage to his hardware is beyond repair from the critical/fatal errors and glitches, and it's decided that it'd be best to ultimately just deactivate him and delete all his files to not prolong any pain he might've been in for any longer. not exactly sure what would happen afterwards (aside from an obvious aftermath of the grief): if this is before/on the verge of v3 happening, there's the situation i thought about of them receiving a new replacement v3 kaito module, which has its own angst w/ it: its almost like seeing a fucking ghost, but it's not the same one they all remember, nor does it have all those memories. and this v3 kaito himself experiencing conflicted feelings as someone who was brought in to try and give back happiness to this group, only to seem to cause more despair for being so similar to someone long gone that he'll never truly replace. again though i'm not sure if i'd actually have that happen for the sake of everyone involved's sanity but it is something interesting to think about

i've been typing this for like 3 fcking hours now and i have no idea if this makes any goddamn sense lolol uhhh. like all my things it sounds way better in my head than when i actually put it on paper 😭 but congrats if you actually went thru the effort of reading all this. i might do more explanations like this of my things if anyone's interested, like of the other poll options, but we'll see

[neallo]

(girl who was supposed to write 3k of vaguely serious pining tonight, or at least some weird smut) so about the furby au...

uhhh okay im gonna TRY to come up with some additional thoughts since i am going to the trouble of making this post. i guess one question is— does mello RESPOND to the emails??? probably. he loves to be mad about stuff and he hates not being heard when he's mad about stuff. so like. initially he's just replying to the emails from matt with “i hate that stupid fucking furby” and “how much money do i have to give you to set it on fire, or at least stop emailing me” but when matt points out that mello could just auto sort the emails to spam mello pretends as if he doesn't see that one. eventually, as mello's responses become marginally less hostile, matt is like 😌 it's time to up the ante. and begins including his Fun Near Facts. these include but are not limited to:

- he took college level differential equations when he was 14! 🤓 (mello response: okay, so he's a loser??)

- he's not a loser he's REALLY cool (note: matt loves to lie. or he actually has an unrealistically kind view of near's swag levels) (mello does not dignify this with a reply)

- he loves talking about math! don't worry though it's really easy to tune it out and he doesn't really care if you're not listening (mello response: i don't know why i would need to know that.)

- one time he saved me from drowning 😳 (note: matt also loves to embellish. near “saved him from drowning” by telling matt to not try his luck at jumping over a river, which wasn't actually even deep enough for him to drown in)

uuhhhhh okay running out of matt's fun facts about near BUT. the point is that he is wingmanning so hard. i guess another question is whether or not near picks up on the fact that matt is regularly taking candid photos of him? my thought is no. i could see near being sort of a space cadet in this respect tbh; if he's absorbed enough in something he tunes everything else out)

hmm. genuinely running out of steam so lemme just jot down a few more ideas and then someday maybe i will add more when more comes to me.

- near: lives in... actually, fuck it, NOT new york. he and matt room together in minneapolis. near is in a PhD program for math— either complex analysis or topography. idk. something. matt is a programmer of some kind bc i am not creative.

- mello: i think i already said but he lives in LA, works for the mob. probably isn't really that Into It but he got in when he was pretty young and it's not like he has a lot of other options at this point? i imagine it isn't something he spends a lot of time angsting over but he's probably kinda unfulfilled.

OH okay sorry i got an idea. these stupid emails from matt go on for a few months, with mello gradually responding in very slightly less mean ways & occasionally asking questions,,, and then one day the Daily Near Email comes through and it's a picture of near somewhere in LA. probably griffith's observatory actually. and matt (knowing full well from mello's social media that he lives in Los Angeles) captions the image something like “where did you say you lived again??? 🤔”

okay now i'm REALLY out of ideas. not sure how the fact that mello has barely Actually spoken to near would be resolved!! thanks for listening to the Morgan Being Deranged podcast, tune in next time for another incredibly niche stupid idea 🥰

[misc-obeyme]

Ok sorry super late but it's me the solobarb anon and yeah i was mostly talking about the art but i also find the story so silly

but anywyas about the art REOAOASFGFDSHQWHHSS first of all BARBATOS'S SHOULDERS?.$.@"!(1!$+1+"!$ i started to go insane im sure i transformed into a whole another being when i first saw that card i literally spammed my friend with it until she had to BLCOK ME for whole 5 minutes and only unblocked me when i promised to not spam her anymore 💔

AND SOLOMON'S FACE 😭😭😭 HE LOOKS SO CUTE THE LITTLE SCARY HAND POSE TOWARDS BARBATOS ONLY FOR BARBS TO LOOK BACK AG HIM LIKE HE WANTS HIM DEAD 😭😭😭 IM CRYING PLEASE

and yes i agree solobarb is way cuter when they're getting along but also JFDJWDSS angry Barbatos is so funny to me 😭 i was caught so off guard when i started to play nightbringer by the way he talks to solomon, i already shipped them before but nightbringer just made them jump to one of my biggest canon x canon ships in om

i see a lot of ppl theorizing Barbatos was mad at Solomon for another reason and just lied to mc because he doesn't trust them and tbh considering how long it took for him to open up to mc in the og game it's a very believable theory but also Barbatos getting mad at Solomon because he wasn't the first demon Solomon thought to make a pact with is very silly to me i love that part so much

also in the part of the story where mc says they'd like to do both of their ideas and Solomon just says they're greedy 😭😭😭 i hate that man so mMUCH /pos

(also is it just me or Solomon looks like he belongs in evangelion in that card like the art style looks so similar to me....)

Anon, you are not super late lol. If anything, I am the one who is late in responding... alas, I'm still always a day behind on asks...

Anyway, yes, Barb's shoulders which we so rarely get to see~ I am sayin' he looks like a freakin' bride!!

Solomon is always adorable but that funny lil rawr face is incredibly cute lol!!

I suppose you could say Nightbringer allows for them to have an enemies to lovers sort of story... and you could also rewrite the list thing to be a story about Barb feeling jealous in a boyfriend sort of way...

But dearest anon, I'm afraid I am one of those people who has theorized that Barb is lying to MC about his real reason for being mad at Solomon. I think the reason would have been funny if they hadn't made such a huge deal out of it. But Barbatos rarely displays that kind of emotion and to me it just didn't make sense for it to be something so minuscule, even if it is funny. It seems a little more plausible if you look at it through a shipping lens, though. Like if Barbatos really loves Solomon only to find that he only made it eighth on the list? That feels a little more likely to me. But even then, I feel like Barb's just not that dramatic about stuff lol. I could get into this further, but I digress!

Of course, I know a lot of people enjoyed that particular piece of the story and I'm not at all going to say that they shouldn't, so it's all good lol!

Solomon saying MC is greedy made me laugh, too! I was like exCUSE me, but you two can't agree on anything at the moment, what do you want me to do, choose a side!?!? I don't think so! If saying yes to my two faves makes me greedy, then just call me Mammon. >:(

I wish I could tell you if it was just you, but I'm not familiar enough with Evangelion to give you an opinion, I'm afraid. I'm just gonna say that you are probably right and should trust your instincts!!

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

Insinuation 2.3 Live Reactions

(This is me, writing reactions as I read, because why the fuck not. They're not complete, mature thoughts taken after I sit back and evaluate what I've read. Consider them as such)

It was stuff like this that made Mr. Gladly my least favorite teacher.  I got the impression he’d be surprised to hear he was anyone’s least favorite teacher, but that was just one more point against him in my book.  I don’t think he comprehended why people might not like him, or how miserable group work was when you didn’t identify with any of the groups or cliques in the school.  He just figured people liked doing group work because it let them talk and hang out with their friends in class.

I'm not sure if I'm gonna say this a lot (probably not) but I agree wholeheartedly with Taylor Hebert here.

Greg was just the opposite.  He was smarter than average, but he had a way of saying every thought that came into his head – his train of thought didn’t have any brakes.  Or tracks.  It would have been easier to be in a group with just Sparky and essentially do the work by myself than it would be to work with Greg.

I know almost nothing about this character except that he's a poorly social nerd that a weird percentage of the SB/SV/QQ side of the fandom is really into.

I sighed as Mr. Gladly picked Greg to do our group’s presentation, and was forced to watch Greg botch it badly enough that Mr. Gladly asked him to sit down before he was finished.  Greg was one of those kids I always figured made teachers groan inwardly when they raised their hands in class.  The sort of kid that took twice as long to answer as anyone else, and was often only half-right or so off-tangent that it derailed the discussion.  I couldn’t imagine what had possessed Mr. Gladly to pick Greg to do our group’s presentation.

On the other hand, given the average userbase of those sites... I can see exactly why they glom onto Greg. Teenage me might have done the same, but by the time I heard of Worm, I was past that...ish

I'm still not sure what purpose any of this extended bit serves. We already know how much the Trio sucks.

I gave a rueful chuckle, feeling the frustration welling up, “Great.  So they might miss a few days of school, and only if I can prove they were behind it all… and whether they get suspended or not, they feel a hundred percent justified in whatever else they do to the rat for revenge.” “If you want things to get better, Taylor, you have to start somewhere.” “That isn’t a starting point.  It’s shooting myself in the foot,” I said, pulling my bag over my shoulder.  When he didn’t immediately respond, I left the classroom.

How much of Taylor's belief there's no way to get justice (which then translates into the fandom) is real? Obviously she has tried to complain and it went nowhere, but I would never have expected Mr. Gladly to actually make this approach at all, honestly.

This feels like another filler chapter, tbh. Feels like 2.1 and 2.3 didn't really need to be there.

Like, all six parts of Gestation felt like they needed to be there, as they were. 2.1 and 2.3... not as much. But I suppose even Wildbow can't knock it out of the park every time, and stuff does need set up and such like that.