#ooh and also! maybe some might recognize it but

[genshin-obsessed]

Helliuw~ Can I request how Luocha from Honkai Star Rail going after his crush (reader)? Thank you!

𓆩⟡𓆪 Ooh this is a cute one!! Well they all usually are, but I really like this one. Luocha is just so *sigh* 𓆩⟡𓆪 This was also much longer than I intended it to be, i didn't even realize. It may not be entirely compatible with his personality, but I was just having too much fun to change it.

How He Confesses

Luocha is a generally observant person, and he's good a picking up emotions of others. So, it wasn’t hard for him to recognize that his own emotions stirred when he interacted with you.

However, just because he can recognize these feelings doesn't mean he's good at acting on them. He’ll understand them but he’ll try to either deny it or just avoid it for a while in the earlier stages.

Luocha doesn’t want to rush things, which is why he tries to take it slow. But over time, he realizes just how much he loves you.

It does make it harder for him to take it slow, so at some point, he throws caution to the wind and just attempts to confess.

Here’s the thing, there’s a certain rule to confessing, right? Like you don’t just say it to someone’s face that you love them without setting up something. Doesn’t need to be anything grand, but some effort has to go in it.

Well, that’s what he tried. See, he wanted to confess in private, wanting the atmosphere to reflect the love he felt for you. So, he set up a little picnic in a secluded area he’d found. It was perfect, with how easily the stars could be seen, to the way the moonlight poured onto the seating area. It was truly the definition of beauty. The setup was easy, he needed a blanket, maybe a couple of pillows, a bottle of wine, some snacks, and a clear night.

But then apparently it was an extremely windy night? Like, he couldn’t get the blanket to stay, the small rocks weren’t helping too much, the basket flew away, he accidentally spilled the wine before he could even set it up. Like, the date failed before he even asked you to join him.

So, he tried something else. Decided maybe something indoors would be a more neutral choice. Even if it started raining, you two would be fine. So, he set up a reservation, asked to be put in a more private area so you could talk without much noise. The venue was all fancy and stuff, so you'd love it for sure!

But apparently four customers got into a heated argument that became physical. Somehow the fight moved to the kitchen and they ended up starting a fire? Everyone was evacuated and Luocha got a call mere hours before the date that they’d be closed for a couple of weeks due to the damages.

So, that clearly failed. Well, to hell with fancy confessions, he just needed to tell you right? Maybe it was best to confess in person then give you the option to take some time to yourself and think just in case. He was a little disappointed that his other plans didn't work, but maybe it was for the best! Putting you in that situation might force some pressure onto you to give him a response immediately.

The next time you two met up, he decided to go for it. He was running with the conversation and was building up to the confession… when you got a call from Yanqing claiming he had an emergency he desperately needed you for… and you had to leave.

At this point, Luocha had to wonder of it was even in the cards for him to confess. Cards! Oh! Nothing could possibly interrupt a card, right? Sure, it was the tackiest idea ever, but desperate times call for desperate measures!

The process of writing a love letter was much more complicated than he realized. He needed it to be short and concise, but not abrupt. He also didn't want it to be too cheesy with over the top metaphors and whatnot. Honestly, it took him at least 6 drafts before he settled on one that was bearable.

He debated on sending it to you through the courier but decided against it since so much had gone wrong already. Best part about this idea? He didn't need to take up too much of your time, even a few minutes worked as he just needed to explain it. Basically, he gave it to you and instructed you to keep it safe until you got home and then read it, so that you had that privacy. You agreed and he went home feeling somewhat mediocre. On on hand, he finally got the confession out, but on the other, it was such a dumb way- in his opinion (Pocky thinks love letters are hella romantic).

APPARENTLY you lost your entire bag and the letter with it. I mean, Luocha was at his wits end. It’s like the entire universe was against him just confessing. Everything that could go wrong, literally went wrong. Your entire backpack vanished! You wouldn’t even get a chance to reject, which, at some point, had someone stopped being a fear of his due to these bizarre circumstances!

Finally, he gave up and just kept his mouth shut. He realized how much trouble was being caused every time he confessed and decided to save the entire world some grief and just bury his feelings. He’d just die with them.

The days went on, nothing really happened. Like those weird events just magically went away which did make him wonder if he was being set up. He threw that out the window when he realized no other soul other than him knew about his feelings. You two hung out as often as you usually did but you started noticing Luocha’s behavior. It was… odd. Less cheery and more distracted. You tried to ask but he kept saying it was nothing and he was just tired.

Honestly, Luocha hated lying to you. Omitting details for others was easy but for you, it felt wrong. He didn’t want to distance himself but clearly he wasn’t meant to be with you.

Then you did the unthinkable. You just… confessed. Lemme explain:

“I’m ok. You’re worrying again.” Luocha said with a slight chuckle as he raised the teacup to his lips. He easily noticed you weren’t really convinced in the slightest, but he didn’t intend on letting you know anytime soon. Who knows, the entire street might explode to keep him from confessing.

“Of course, I would worry. I really care about you, you know.” Your words were spoken with no hesitation that it made Luocha’s hand pause in the middle of him taking another sip of his hot beverage.

“Huh? O-oh, thank you. That’s really kind of you.” He said, slowly returning to reality and waving his hand a little. As if you didn’t have to say such a thing to make him feel better.

“I mean it.” You pointed out as you leaned forward a little. “I really like you and you being so withdrawn makes me worry a lot.”

“I can assure you, I really am just- wait, what?” Luocha’s eyes widened as he fully registered what you’d just said to him. You seemed confused by his expression and just shrugged.

“Well, yeah. It’s normal to worry about someone you like, right?”

“R-right but you like me. Like… you’re romantically interested in me?” His words were deliberate and he wanted to make sure there was absolutely no confusion between you two whatsoever.

“Yes. I have a crush on you. Well, for me it's a bit more intense than like but you know what I mean.” His eyes immediately darted around and he even turned around to see the area behind the outdoor café. “Luocha? What’s wrong?”

After a moment of silence from him, the blond man sighed and turned back to you. You could visibly see the relief he felt.

“Honestly, I was expecting a skiff to crash and kill us.” You were taken aback by his morbid words, your eyes widening.

“Wh-why?”

“Yeah. Why? That’s my question too.” He replied, rubbing his face. “Wait, no. Forget that, you actually feel the same way?”

“Feel the same? Wait, you like me too!? Why didn’t you say anything?” You asked, leaning even closer. At the simple words, Luocha felt a bitter feeling in his chest.

“I tried.” He replied flatly, pushing his hair back to recompose himself. “But my confession quickly turned into a series of unfortunate events.”

“Oh? What happened?” You asked, eyes filled with curiosity as you waited for him to elaborate. He was about to, opening his mouth to speak before he fell silent once more. What? No! No, he couldn't waste any more time.

“N-never mind that! Let’s talk about us. You like me, I like you. We should just go ahead and just get married.” You couldn’t help but laugh at his words, shaking your head a little. Now, it felt like he was returning to his normal self. Honestly, it wasn't that bad of an idea- technically speaking.

“Marriage? Shouldn’t we go on a date first?”

“Why? Tomorrow’s never guaranteed and we might as well just make it official.” That and… Luocha was a little scared to propose seeing as how his confession went. At this rate, you’d be the one proposing. Well, he actually didn’t hate the idea.

You couldn’t help but laugh again and Luocha felt a smile tugging at his own lips. Ok, maybe he was jumping ahead a little too fast. So instead, he reached out and grabbed your hand, feeling the warmth and comfort of it.

“Kidding. Why not turn this into an official date, then?”

“Yeah, I like that.” You said, nodding and squeezing his hand. "I mean, I don't mind getting married right now but we should probably take it slow."

[sadhours]

This thought of a fic just popped into my head and I thought you might enjoy it:

Billy being brash and a little cold about something, maybe even scolding you about something.

Whatever it is, It pisses you off.

You end up getting in a fight with him. It escalates loudly and you're just over it.

You slap him and walk away but he grabs your hand after it connects with his cheek.. furious.. but he liked it?.. a little too much

OOh!!! I love it! I hope you like this...

warnings: arguing, slapping, billy kind of being a dick, smut

Billy’s in the kitchen making himself some coffee. He impatiently leans on the counter, the craving for nicotine heightening his sensitivities. It bothered him severely that when you two had moved into this tiny house, you very firmly told him he could not smoke in it. You see, Billy isn’t the best at patience. He wants the instant gratification. He wants a goddamn cigarette as soon as he wakes up. He wants to smoke half of it while he waits for the coffee and enjoy the other half with it. Now he has to fucking wait.

The coffee is dripping into the pot too slowly, the news you turned on is too loud and when you walk into the kitchen to place your glass of wine from the night before into the sink that’s already accumulated too many dirty dishes and toss a chocolate wrapper in the overflowing trash and then turn to walk back into the living room, he can’t help but lash out and relieve a bit of his irritation.

“Jesus,” he scoffs, “Are you that lazy?”

You freeze at his tone, matching his irritability as you turn around, “Excuse me?”

“You go to a put a dish in the sink, you see it’s full, do the dishes,” he bites, “You see the trash is full, take it out. It's so fucking simple."

Your blood boils, you’re literally cleaning up the living room while you wait for the coffee. He’s standing in the kitchen just staring at it dripping into the pot and he’s got the nerve to call you lazy.

“If it fucking bugs you so bad, why don’t you do it?” you challenge, crossing your arms as you glare at him.

“I need a cigarette before I do anything,” he retorts with a breezy tone like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

You scoff, “Give me a fucking break.” With a roll of your eyes you turn to make your way back to the living room to continue cleaning up.

Billy calls out after you, “Just fucking do it. Stop being lazy.”

“Lazy?” you stomp back in the kitchen and poke his chest, “I do practically all of the cleaning around here. In fact, I don’t think you’ve ever cleaned a bathroom in your goddamn life and you have the fucking nerve to call me lazy?”

Billy squints his eyes at you, “I clean.”

You laugh and it makes Billy’s cheeks heat up, whenever you two fought and you laughed it would just make him angrier. Like you were doing it to make him feel stupid when in reality he just said stupid things sometimes. You did too.

“Whatever,” he scoffs again, “You’re being a fucking brat.”

“A brat?” you place a hand on your hip and look at him dumbfounded.

“Just take the fucking constructive criticism, you don’t have to turn everything into a fucking argument,” he rebuts, “You’re acting like a real bitch.”

Smack! Your palm connects with Billy’s cheek, not nearly as hard as you wanted but enough to get your point across. You turn to walk away but Billy’s hand is grabbing your wrist and holding your hand where you’d just slapped him.

“Did you just fucking slap me?” he heaves, a slight twinge of anger still there but there's also something else...

You look at him and the whole demeanor of his face has changed, he doesn’t seem too concerned about the messy kitchen or the need for a cigarette anymore. He downright looked aroused, you recognized the dark, glassy eyes and the particular one sided tug on the corner of his lips. You glance down to see the bulge in his pajama pants growing and you look back to his eyes with your own intrigued, wide ones.

“Do it again,” he orders.

Your thighs begin to tingle, heat rising through your body and once Billy’s hand drops from yours, you wind up and smack him across the face again, this time harder. He grunts at the contact, eyes fluttering shut with a big, satisfied smile spreading across his face. You giggle as you grab onto his wrist and drag him to the bedroom, coffee can wait.

You push him down onto the mattress, standing at the end of it as you pull off your flimsy satin pajama set. His eyes rake across you, propping himself up on his elbows and you see the redness still stinging his cheek, just as aroused by it as he is. You eagerly grab onto the bottoms of his pajama pants, tugging them down his legs and he lifts his hips to help. His cock springs free, the tip angry and red on display for you as it leaks more than you’ve ever witnessed. You groan hungrily, climbing on top of him and grabbing his length. You hover over him, lining him up with your dripping center and lowering yourself down on him in a swift, determined motion. He pokes at your g-spot upon impact and you gasp out, eyes narrowing in on him while you prepare to give him everything he didn’t know he wanted.

Billy bites his lip, watching you in earnest as he anticipates what your next move is. There’s no time for languid strokes, you’re already more than half way there and you’re feeling zealous. You bounce up and down on him hastily, your face contorting in concentration as you observe his reactions. When you decide he deserves it again, you deliver another slap to his cheek. The impact stings your palm, smiling deviously as Billy groans loudly. When you pull your hand away, his cheek is unbelievably flushed and the way he looks at you is something you’ve never seen before. Covetous like he can’t get enough and he’s willing to beg you for more.

Billy is distraught but painfully turned on at the same time. The stinging in his cheek and the force of the blows courtesy of you are making him feel something he’s never experienced before. He’s worked up like never before so he is desperate for more, for you to dominate him in this moment. And Billy always wants control, he’s the one who dictates when you cum but here he is, an absolute mess at the role reversal. If you slap him one more time he’s sure he’ll bust. He likes the bossy look on your face, likes knowing that you’re also getting off on this.

You’re hips falter and you furrow your brows, telling Billy that you’re as close as he is.

He holds his breath in anticipation when he sees you raise your hand again, absolutely giddy at the prospect of earning another strike. This one is loud, the sharp sound filling the room as Billy unloads inside of you with a cry. You grab onto his face and force him to look up at you as you ride him harder, funneling in on your own orgasm. You feel tears tickling your fingers holding onto Billy’s cheeks as you squish them together and you grunt out while waves of ecstasy crash over you.

You collapse next to him, heaving for a beat before you think, Oh, shit. Aftercare. and turn to cuddle up to your boyfriend. He’s never made you go without.

But he’s pushing you off and standing up, grabbing his pants and jumping into them. You look up at him curiously and then you roll your eyes as he places a Marlboro between his lips and opens the door.

“Now, go do those fucking dishes,” he says playfully with a wink.

Damn, him.

[once-upon-an-imagine]

Teenage Dirtbag - Eddie Munson

A/N: well, this keeps on working so far 😂😂😂 here's Eddie's story! and then is full Marauders, James, then Remus, and then Sirius! I hope you guys like it!

Request - lunamadhatter99 asked: I do have a request, my friend! I'm so happy requests are open😍 Anyway: Henderson!Reader x either Steve or Eddie (whoever works better for you), where the reader is very quiet, not necessarily shy, but still. She's targeted by the jocks too because she's the "loser" sister, you know, and maybe one day, one of their pranks went too far and she's very upset about it (maybe is the process a special possession of hers). Every time she gets bullied, Steve/Eddie helps her comfort her, especially because she doesn't want to tell his little brother, who thinks she is friends with them... does it make sense? I don't know, I'm sorry 😂👋

Warnings: mentions of sex; Billy being an asshole (also, this is kinda between s3 and 4 and Billy didn't die so Jason and Andy are his dumb friends I hope this makes sense) reader is kind of mean to Dustin (not really, she's just grumpy and a loner instead of shy, kind of like Kat in 10TIHAY)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Stranger Things :) gif isn’t mine :D  

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Teenage Dirtbag

'Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby Yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me, ooh

“DUSTIN! Hurry up! Steve is gonna be here any second! We’re gonna be late!” you smashed your hand against the bathroom door, yelling for your brother to get ready. You had been feeling anxious all day. Something inside you told you that today might not be a good day and, as much as you tried not to, you took it out on Dustin.

“I’m coming! Geez, calm down!”

You rolled your eyes and walked over to the kitchen to finish your coffee and wash the dishes but you tripped over a bag full of garbage.

“Ugh! Dustin!” you yelled as he walked over to you.

“What? What did I do now?”

“The trash is your chore” you complained, grabbing the bag and handing it to him. “When I say take out the trash, I mean outside of the house. To the trashcan!”

“Maybe you can show me for next time” he laughed.

“Maybe I can give your Nintendo to goodwill” you smirked back, erasing the smirk off his face.

“Fine, sorry” he said, grabbing the bag and going outside.

“Let’s go!” you said as soon as you heard Steve’s car parking on your driveway.

“Wait, where’s lunch?”

“Oh, shit!” you said, grabbing some of the money you left near the door in case Dustin needed to order food. “Here” you said, grabbing $10 for yourself and giving Dustin $5.

“Why do you get $10 and I get $5?” Dustin complained.

“Take out the freaking trash!” you replied, mocking his exact same tone.

“Good morning, Hendersons!” Steve smiled as you got in the front and Dustin got in the back.

“Thanks for the ride, Steve” you said. “Robin still out of town?” you asked, confused to not see her there already.

“Yeah, she’s coming back next week-”

“Why are we even going this early? School doesn’t start for another hour!” Dustin asked on the ride to school. “And why do you always ride shotgun?”

“Because I’m Steve’s favorite Henderson” you smirked. “And Steve has an early shift, so I wasn’t going to make him wait for us” you explained. “Plus, I have to get together with Nancy for something about the school paper” you informed him.

“Well, I could have taken my bike-”

“Just say thank you, Dustin!”

“Thank you” he said, rolling his eyes a little.

“Hey, aren’t those your old friends?” Dustin asked as Steve drove into the parking lot. You looked to where he was pointing to see the basketball players hanging outside the school with some of the cheerleaders.

“No” both you and Steve replied at the same time.

“Are you sure?” Dustin asked, confused. He recognized some of them, although he had noticed you never talked to them anymore.

“I’m sure” you said, rolling your eyes. “Just… stay away from them, okay?”

“Okay” he said, unconvinced. “Um, are we having movie night?” he asked Steve.

“Yeah, my house” he nodded.

“Cool. I think we’re going to Mike’s after school, so I’ll see you there” he told them.

“Okay” you nodded. Dustin started opening his door but you stopped him. “Dusty” you said, making him look confused at you. You rarely called him that anymore. “Nothing… I’ll see you at Steve’s” you told him and he nodded before he got out.

You saw him make his way over to Mike, Will, Lucas, Max, and El and you heard him complain about you and all of them saying how you used to be fun and happy all the time. You let out a sigh of frustration, throwing your head back on the chair.

“You know, you could just… tell him” Steve shrugged.

“I’m good” you told him.

“Dustin’s just worried about you” he insisted. “And to be honest, so am I-”

“Harrington, I know my brother’s your best friend now-”

“That’s not true” he glared at you.

“But you were my friend first and you promised we wouldn’t discuss this with Dustin” you told him.

“I’m just… a little confused, okay? Why did you all of the sudden stop hanging out with them like, what, a year ago?”

“You did too!” you argued.

“Well, yeah, because they’re assholes-”

“Exactly” you told him.

“But, now you’re here alone, because I graduated, I just don’t want you to be alone-”

“I’m fine on my own” you shrugged. “Plus… Eddie’s my friend-”

“Oh, right… Munson. That’s another thing. I know something happened last Halloween, okay? You mysteriously stop hanging out with all of our friends, you started wearing darker clothes, darker makeup and you start hanging around with Eddie, the freak, Munson-”

“I told you to stop calling him that” you glared at him.

“Which you also hide from Dustin-”

“Well, I just don’t want him to think that the only reason he and his friends are in Hellfire is because I asked Eddie to look after them-”

“But you did-”

“Steve, it is too early in the morning to have this discussion” you said, rubbing your temple.

“Fine… I’ll drop it” he said. “For now” he added, making you glare at him a little. “You working today?”

“No, it’s my day off” you informed him.

“Cool, want me to pick you up after work?”

“You sure it’s not too much trouble?”

“Nah, you’re my favorite Henderson after all” he smirked.

“I knew it!” you said, kissing his cheek before you opened the door. “See you later, Stevie” you said.

“Have a good day, kid” he waved at you.

He noticed you walking close to the group of jocks and they yelled something at you but you simply flipped them off and kept walking. Steve felt a bit uneasy about it but decided he would ask you about it when he picked you up. Sooner or later, you had to talk to him.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Hey, princess” you felt a small smile, trying to contain the butterflies you felt in your stomach when you heard that voice. You turned around to see Eddie smiling at you.

“Munson, I thought you were standing me up today” you said as he sat at your usual table in the woods, past the bleachers.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, love” he said, sitting in front of you. “What do you got for me today?”

“I forgot to make lunch, so I had to grab something from the vending machine” you said, putting your cigarette out. “So, pretzels, or Reeses Pieces?”

“You just… happened to pick my two favorite things?” he smirked. “If I didn’t know any better, Henderson, I would think you like me” he mocked you.

“Uh-huh, is that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? And two cokes?” your sked, looking at his bag.

“Grape jelly. Your favorite” he winked at you.

“Huh, if I didn’t know any better, Munson, I would think you like me” you returned the smirk.

“Wanna split it?” he asked and you nodded as you split the three things between the two of you. “So, what are you working on?” he asked, about to grab your sketchbook.

“Nothing!” you quickly said, putting it away before he could get it.

“Oh, that doesn’t sound suspicious at all” he mocked you. “Come on, show me!”

“It’s just… a work in progress” you told him. “It’s not finished yet” you insisted.

“Fine, be all mysterious” he chuckled. “Hey, did you get new colored pencils?” he asked, grabbing one of them.

“Oh, um… y-yeah” you said nervously. “There was a discount at the store where I work and-”

“Really?” he raised his eyebrow at you. “Or were your old ones… broken?”

“Um… there may have been an… incident-”

“Who?” he asked, his tone turning angry.

“It doesn’t matter, Eddie-”

“Yes, it does! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I don’t want you to get into a fight and not graduate with me this year” you told him, making him laugh just barely. “Look, it’s fine. I really did get a discount and…” you said, looking through your bag. “I got markers too” you smiled brightly at him. “Look!”

You stood from your place and sat down on the table with your feet on the bench next to Eddie. You grabbed his hand and placed it on your knee, which was not an uncommon thing for you to do whenever you drew something on him but he felt his cheeks blushing. You quickly drew a small doodle of the Hellfire symbol using different colors and you smiled when you were done, showing it to him. Eddie rarely get to see that smile on you and he loved it when it happened.

“Holy shit!” he smiled, looking down at his hand. It looked cooler than the one in his shirt.

“Do you like it?” you asked, bashfully.

“I love it, princess! This is amazing!” he said, looking back at you. “You’re amazing” he smiled.

“Um, thanks” you said, looking down at his hand and feeling your cheeks burn. You could not ignore the butterflies in your stomach any longer. You grabbed his hand and stroked your thumb against your new drawing. “Uh, a-actually, what I didn’t want to show you is um… kind of… a surprise…” you admitted, not facing him.

You saw Eddie’s hand untangle from yours and make its way up to your chin, lifting your head gently and making you look into his beautiful, chocolate-brown eyes.

“A surprise?” he asked, smiling brightly. You simply nodded, unable to form any words by the way he was looking at you. “What is it?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise!” you chuckled. “I just want to finish it before I show it to you” you told him.

“Okay, fine” he said, as his hand suddenly found its way back to yours and you started playing with his rings. “But… you promise you’ll show it to me when it’s done?”

“I promise. I mean, it’s kind of… for you” you told him.

“Really?” he asked, and you nodded.

“Yeah, it’s kind of… a thank you” you admitted. “For everything” you added. “Even for my brother and his friends. Thanks for letting them in Hellfire” you told him. “I know they're a bit weird but… I love them and I'm happy they found someone like you” you said.

“My pleasure, princess” he told you. “They’re cool kids” he chuckled. “Especially Dustin” he added. “Although he keeps asking me why I always have different doodles all over me” he chuckled.

“Yeah, he’s pretty smart” you laughed too. “I don’t think it’ll be long before he realizes about us” you said, without really thinking. “I m-mean uh-”

“Us?” Eddie smirked. “And exactly what would he realize?” he asked, getting up and towering a little over you, placing his hands on both your sides. “That we’re friends?” he asked, with the same smirk still plastered on his face.

“Y-yeah, I guess” you said innocently.

“Would he mind?”

“Um- I don’t think so, I just… don’t want him to think that you’re only his friend b-because of me” you explained.

“Oh, he wouldn’t think that” he assured you, as he gently brushed your hair away from your face. “And… what if he thinks there’s something else between us?”

“Is there?” you asked, as you felt him getting closer. And then the bell rang. The stupid bell rang. “Fuck!”

“Ignore that” he pleaded.

“No! We have a Math test” you said, pushing him away and gathering all of your things. “I told you, Eddie, you’re graduating this year, with me. Let’s go!” you threatened him.

“You’re killing me, sweetheart” he said, as you pulled him with you but he was stronger and he pulled you back. “To be continued?” he smirked.

For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, you smiled. It was a different smile, one that you didn’t think you had in you anymore and you could see Eddie noticed it. You leaned in and kissed his cheek.

“To be continued, Munson” you said, before you started pulling him towards the school despite his protests.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

You were waiting in the parking lot for Steve. As much as you wanted, you were not able to be with Eddie alone the rest of the day. You were hoping to catch him at the end but, as a surprise to no one, he got detention, so here you were.

“Well, if it isn’t my lucky day?”

You cursed under your breath, silently begging for Steve’s car to appear any moment now. But no such luck.

“Hargrove” you sighed. “Oh, if it isn’t Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum” you smirked at Jason and Andy, standing with Billy.

“Fancy meeting you here, babe” Billy smirked at you.

“Can’t say the same” you said, trying to walk away but he stepped in front of you. “What do you want, Hargrove?”

“See, I have a question for you” he said. “Andy here, says he saw you coming out of those woods with Eddie fucking Munson” he said, getting closer to you and making you take a step back. “Is that true?”

“I fail to see how that’s any of your business, really” you glared at him.

“Well, for starters, I think Munson can do better” he said, making Andy and Jason laugh.

“Lovely” you rolled your eyes, trying to walk away again but they blocked your way.

“Aw, did I strike a nerve there? Do you have a crush on Munson?” he mocked you.

“Just, leave me alone, Billy-” you said, trying to leave but, you felt your sketchbook being taken from you.

“Oh, what is this?” Jason asked, opening the sketchbook. “Do you write your love letters to that freak here?” he laughed.

“Give that back!” you said, trying to get it back from him.

“Oh, it’s even better than that!” he said, showing your sketches to Billy and Andy who started laughing.

“Give me that!” you said as he tossed it to Billy.

“Looks like you’re a bit obsessed with him, babe” he said, looking at your drawings. “I’m guessing you wouldn’t want anything to happen to this, would you?” he said, tearing a few pages apart.

“Billy, give it back!” you yelled, but he pushed you back, making you fall to the ground, your hands aching when they hit the pavement.

“Whoops, clumsy me” he said, tossing your sketchbook on a nearby water puddle.

“Stop it!” you said, getting up and trying to get to it but Andy pushed you away.

“HEY! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?”

“You want something, freak?” Jason yelled, smirking.

“Oh, speak of the devil” Billy smirked as Eddie approached all of you.

“Get the fuck away from her” he said, making his way over to Billy.

“Why don’t you keep walking and mind your business, freak?”

“You know, I gotta say, even for you, it’s pretty low, three guys against one girl” he smirked, erasing Billy’s.

“You really think it’s worth it? Standing up for that slut-?”

Before Billy could go on, Eddie quickly punched him in the face.

“Eddie!”

“You’re dead, freak!” Jason said, punching Eddie back while Billy got up, laughing.

“Looks, like you got some fire in you, Munson!” he yelled before he punched him too.

“Eddie!” you yelled, trying to get to him but Andy stopped you. “Stop it!”

“You having fun, Munson?” Billy smirked as he landed punches on Eddie before he grabbed him by his jacket. “No one tells me what to do!” he said before he pushed him to the ground again. He then threw himself at Eddie and started landing punch after punch, like a madman. The last time you had seen Billy like this was when he fought Steve and it shook you to your core.

“STOP IT! BILLY, STOP!”

“You really think you traded up, babe?” he smirked, looking at you. “He’s even worse than Harrington!”

“STOP IT, PLEASE!” you said, as tears started welling up in your eyes.

“Aw, you gonna cry, princess?” he said, mocking Eddie’s voice with the last word.

As if your prayers were finally answered, a car reeled in front of you, almost hitting Jason.

“What the fuck, Harrington?” he asked as Steve got out of the car.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

“Come join the party, Harrington” Billy smirked at him, finally letting go of Eddie. “Ready for round two?”

“Yeah, let me just get my friend here” Steve smirked, grabbing his bat out.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Andy said, letting go of you, and slowly walking away with Jason. You quickly ran over to Eddie, pushing Billy aside.

“Ready to go, Hargrove?” Steve said, walking closer to him as he and the other two stepped away.

“You know what? She’s not even fucking worth it” Billy said, throwing one last glare at you. “Let’s just go” he told Jason and Andy as they walked away.

“Eddie! Oh my God, Eddie! Can you hear me?”

“Do I have a concussion or did King Steve Harrington just save my ass?”

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Ouch!”

“Sorry, I’m sorry” you apologized, taking the cotton ball away.

You were now in Steve’s kitchen, cleaning Eddie up. You carefully pulled his hair up in a messy bun with your scrunchie so you could see him better. You placed your hand softly on his cheek and your heart broke seeing a big purple bruise printed on his left eye. He looked at you with his huge, deep brown puppy eyes and you had to take a deep breath to not lose it right there because you knew he needed you.

“You okay?” Eddie asked, worriedly.

“M-me? You’re asking if I’m okay? Eddie, Billy and Jason just beat the shit out of you, and you’re asking if I’m okay?”

“First of all, I’d like to think that I handled that with dignity. Secondly, you fell to the ground and that idiot Andy was hurting you” he said, grabbing your hand and tracing his thumb gently on the bruises forming in your arms where Andy grabbed you.

“I’m really sorry, Eddie” you said, coming out in a whisper and tracing your thumb against the now fading drawing you made earlier on his hand. A small tear fell down your cheek and Eddie quickly wiped it away before he cupped your cheek.

“Princess, you have nothing to be sorry for” he assured you.

“Yes, I do! You wouldn’t have gotten hurt if it wasn’t for me” you insisted.

“Hey” he said, pulling you closer to him. “I would do it all over again, love” he smiled at you.

“Hey, man” Steve said, coming into the kitchen and making you and Eddie jump apart. “Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I got some clean clothes for you” he said offering Eddie a shirt and some sweatpants.

“Thanks, man” Eddie smiled, grabbing the clothes from him. “I’m uh- gonna go change and I’ll get out of your way-”

“We’re having movie night” Steve blurted out of the sudden. “We’re ordering pizza and Dustin, Mike, and the rest are coming over. If you’d like to stay” he offered.

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude, man-”

“You’re not intruding. It’s the least I can do after you got hit for me” you told him.

“You keep bruising my ego, Henderson” he smirked at you. “What are we watching?” Eddie asked, interested.

“Gremlins” you told him.

“Seriously?” he asked, raising his eyebrow at Steve.

“Don’t look at me, man. It was her turn to choose the movie!” he said pointing at you.

“Shut up, you two. Gremlins is an awesome movie!”

“Isn’t that what you call your brother and his friends?” Eddie laughed. “I didn’t know that was your favorite movie, princess” he said. “Well, how can I say no to that masterpiece and pizza, I really can’t” he said, leaving the kitchen.

“So…” Steve started.

“So?”

“Are we going to talk about what happened today or are we just going to pretend nothing happened?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Well, you can choose between telling me why your sketchbook has smudgy drawings of Eddie” he said, opening your wet, torn, destroyed sketchbook. “Or why Hargrove and his friends were beating the shit out of him in the parking lot” he added.

“Steve, I don’t want to talk about it-”

“Well, tough. Look, we’ve been friends for a very long time now. I told you why I stopped talking to Tommy and Carol and all of our friends but you never told me why you did and somehow Munson knows!” he argued. “I get that you don’t tell Dustin everything because you want to protect him but what is so horrible that you couldn’t tell me?”

“You don’t want to know-”

“Yes, I do! You’re my best friend! You can tell me anything!”

“You’re gonna hate me!”

“What? No! I swear, okay? Nothing you say will make me hate you! We’ve been through enough shit that you should know that already-”

“I slept with Billy!” you blurted out.

“W-what?” Steve asked, hoping he hadn’t heard you right.

“What?” another voice asked, from another side of the kitchen. Dustin.

“Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me!” you said, feeling like you were going to throw up. “What are you doing here?”

“We all just got here, I was looking for you” he said, walking closer to you and Steve. “You slept with Billy Hargrove, what the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Dustin!” Steve warned.

“You know what? I don’t want to deal with this right now” you said, grabbing your damped sketchbook and walking out of the house to Steve’s backyard. Dustin was about to follow you but Steve stopped him.

“Look, I get that you’re upset but you’re not going out there if you’re only going to upset your sister more. She had a hard day-”

“Well, how would I know that, Steve? She doesn’t talk to me!”

“What’s with all the yelling?” Eddie said, coming back into the kitchen.

“Eddie? What are you doing here?” Dustin asked confused. “What the fuck happened to you?”

“Uh- I am…” he looked at Steve, unsure as to what to say.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on? And what are you two and my sister hiding from me?”

“We’re not hiding anything from you. You need to calm down and we can go sort this out, okay?”

“Fine” Dustin said, unconvinced.

“You promise you won’t snap at her like you just did” Steve glared at him a little.

“Okay” he sighed, rolling his eyes. The three of them walked outside to find you sitting on one of Steve’s pool chairs. Steve and Eddie sat next to you and Dustin sat on the edge of the one you were sitting in. “Uh, hey” he said, nervously. “Um-” he continued when both Steve and Eddie glared at him. “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier” he muttered.

“It’s fine, Dusty” you said, sitting up and hugging your legs to you.

“Look, Dustin and I are just worried about you” Steve continued. “We don’t want to push you or anything, we just… want to know what’s going on with you” he added. You looked up at Eddie and he softly nodded at you. He really wanted to hold your hand but he figured Dustin might freak out about it too.

“Um…” you took a deep breath. “Look, I know that… I’ve kind of been pulling away” you started. “And I’m sorry, it’s just…” you sighed. “It was a stupid mistake and I didn’t want either one of you to hate me” you admitted.

“What- uh, when?” Dustin stuttered. “Um, no, y-you go” he said.

“It just happened once” you informed them.

“At… last year’s Halloween party?” Steve guessed and you nodded.

“Look, I was… really drunk and, dad had just left and… mom was kind of a mess and… I don’t know, I guess I was too” you said, sadly.

“Wait, I was there that night, why didn’t you tell me anything?” Steve asked, confused.

“You had your own shit going on” you reminded him. “With Nancy” you added. “So, after you left I got drunker and… then I don’t know, Billy was just there and… it happened” you sighed. “And after I felt so awful” you told them. “When I came down I ran into Eddie and he saw I was upset” you explained. “He drove me home and… he stayed with me and he made sure I was okay” you smiled. “That’s how we became friends-”

“You two are friends?” Dustin asked. “I knew I recognized your doodles” he said, looking at the metalhead.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you” you told Dustin. “I just… didn’t want to get into the whole thing and… it’s not really the conversation you have with your little brother” you admitted.

“I get that but… we used to talk about everything” Dustin said, sadly. “We were always kind of a team and for the past year it just felt like… you hated me” he said.

“Dusty” you said, sitting closer to him and hugging him. “I could never hate you” you assured him. “I am so sorry I pushed you away, I was just… so embarrassed about what happened and, I kind of wanted to forget the whole thing and I guess that in the midst of it all I just… ended up pushing everyone away” you explained.

“So, what happened today?” Dustin asked, confused.

“Well, I was waiting for Steve to pick me up and Billy and his friends just started being idiots” you told him. “Eddie saw and tried to help me” you continued. “And then Steve got there with his bat and they went away” you told him.

“So, that’s why you tell me to stay away from them? I mean, I always knew Billy was a dick but… all of your friends?”

“Well, yeah. I told Billy that if he ever said a word about what happened to anyone, I’d tell everyone he cried like a bitch and he had a small dick” you said, making the three of them laugh a little. “And then, either I just stopped talking to them or they would stop talking to me and… it wasn’t just Billy, you know? You were right” you said, looking at Steve. “They were all just… assholes” you admitted.

“I could have told you that a long time ago” Eddie chuckled.

“You okay?” Dustin asked you.

“Yeah” you smiled. “I’m sorry… about… everything” you told him. “Both of you” you said, looking at Steve.

“Don’t worry” Dustin smiled at you. “I love you dumb-dumb” he said, putting his fist so you would bump it.

“Love you too, dumb-dumb” you smiled back and bumped his fist. “No more lies” you promised and he nodded, smiling.

“It’s fine” Steve said, getting up and kissing your head. “C’mon little Henderson, let’s go set everything up” Steve said, patting Dustin on his back.

“Wait, why do I have to go?” he complained, still getting up.

“Just be nice to your sister, man, she’s been through a lot” Steve complained.

“What about me? I have been through a lot too!” he said, dramatically as they went inside, leaving you and Eddie alone.

“Hey” you smiled back at Eddie.

“Hi, princess” he said, moving over to take Dustin’s place in front of you. “How are you feeling?”

“Not so bad” you sighed. “I still would have preferred not to discuss my sex life with my little brother but… it is what it is” you chuckled.

“Sorry about your sketchbook, love” he said, looking at it on the floor.

“It’s okay” you sighed, going through the damped pages. “It just… might take me a little longer to finish your surprise now” you said, sadly.

“Wait, is that… is that me?” he asked, feeling his heart flutter.

“It… was supposed to be” you told him. “I mean, your D&D character” you muttered. “I… wanted to um… I was trying to get it right and I thought you m-might like it-”

“It’s perfect, princess” he smiled at you.

“It’s ruined, Eddie” you chuckled.

“Well, then I guess I need to get you another sketchbook, love” he said, grabbing it from you.

“You don’t have to get me one, Eddie” you smiled as he scootched closer to you.

“Jesus, Henderson would you just let me do something nice for you” he smiled, cupping your cheek with his hand.

“You do nothing but nice things for me, Munson” you smiled.

“What can I say? You bring out the best in me, sweetheart” he smiled back.

“Well, in that case, maybe you can do one more nice thing for me” you said, pulling him by his shirt, well, Steve’s shirt and he pulled you gently, brushing his thumb against your cheek.

“Gladly, princess” he said, smiling before he finally connected his lips with yours. He felt you smiling against his lips as you started deepening the kiss before you were rudely interrupted.

“Hey guys, pizza’s here- what the fuck?” you jumped apart when you heard Dustin’s voice again, with Lucas, Will, and Max standing next to him, trying not to laugh. “You two are together? I thought there were no more lies!”

“Would you believe me that this literally just happened, Henderson?” 

The End

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

A/N: hope you loves liked it! :D

[diiwata]

district 6 headcanons! 🚂

yeah, i'm a d6 fan too!!! sue me! here are my top hcs that i use for worldbuilding. if you've read my fic, "o children", then you'll recognize a lot of these things.

industry things

district 6 has many industries involving transportation. oil rigging companies, vehicle manufacturing factories (that they call 'manu-factories' for short), exporters and importers, etc..

exporters and importers get to travel outside of the district for a few weeks at a time, but their activity is monitored by peacekeepers quite heavily.

exporters and importers have the most access to morphling, and consume it more too. of course, there's rings that trade it and such, but people (and those in different districts) usually get their fixes through them.

i can imagine d6 being a work accident prone district. falling off trains, spilling oil, falling manufactured parts, etc..

as part of my fic, there's also an underground boxing ring ran by the peacekeepers to keep themselves entertained, but also to put money in the pockets of those who might not wanna end up in prison and need an... alternative to jail time. i hc that other districts have it too! maybe in d2?

^ OOH! speaking of which, what if career districts developed it into academies while others had it die down/kept more on the down low?

places

VERY polluted district. like, they have to have air purifiers in their homes and wear "outdoor masks" made out of cloth around their faces type of polluted. i also think districts that manufacture things -- like 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 12 -- also have a smilar problem.

i think the problem is concentrated more on the urban areas or people who live next to the factories/train stations.

apparently their population is larger than the average district, according to the fandom wiki, so i imagine that the poorer section of the district live near the factories in large apartment buildings. a neighborhood that i've created is called "farren heights".

meanwhile, the richer folks lived in townhouses/rowhouses. they have more of their own space, but the houses are still very, very squished together. another neighborhood i've created is called "peregrine court".

between the two is their marketplace/commercial area called "traveler's square". of course, they'll have their own shops in their respective neighborhoods, but it's not as plentiful as traveler's square. they need those spaces to create new apartment units or housing developments for the growing population. TS brings them together as it has all the fun pubs, shops, etc..

i think they travel within the district via a smaller metro/train system!

i also believe that due to their growing population, and because not everyone can afford the rent, they have a group of people they call "vagabonds". they build their own homes, but because of the expenses, they don't have their own purifiers. they are the most affected by the pollution.

cultural influences?!

DISCLAIMER: i don't claim being part of the cultures mentioned, so if anyone wants to drop some info, feel free to comment or send an ask so that i can incorporate it into my d6 lore! <3

german and indigenous algonquin are their dominant cultures. (hugest shout out to @pottershawkinswp and @wxstfulthoughts for helping me with the german stuff TM).

this is b/c there was a big migration of german people in this region some time ago. and the indigenous tribes that occupy these lands are algonquin!

the more minor cultures are black and latino! this is because of the fact that they have a very, very small portion of illinois/chicago according to the fandom wiki 😜

potatoes are their main source of carbs. and they have a lot of german-style foods like cheese soup, cold breakfast, etc..

along with travel/manufacture themed names, i also think some people have german influences in their names or surnames.

as for indigenous influence, i can see the youngsters referring to the older people as "elders". they also definitely pass down cultures through story-telling or word of mouth.

i also think they have a cryptid called the W. nothing else to the name, just the W. it's known today as the w*ndigo, but b/c i'm scared TM of the taboo that saying its name will bring it closer to you, i will not say it 😇 over time, the name was forgotten and just became known as the singular letter!

those of indigenous descent would keep their hair long in braids. i believe beading is implemented into their clothes too :)

these folks definitely line dance, a bit of jazz, bit of freestyling. very lively and very rowdy, free, etc.. they're there for a good time, not a long one!

HEAR ME OUT: district 6 greasers. i'm talking the outsiders, random fights, overly gelled hair, cigarette in mouth, and greaser v. socs battles in very sketchy alleyways.

yeah! that's all i have off the top of my head. this was longer than i thought 😭 feel free to incorporate these into your own d6 lore, but yeah! i 💜 district 6

[allthingslinguistic]

Language Guinea Pig Diaries #2: Highlights & Troubleshooting

I'm trying to improve my skills at four languages in preparation for summer travel: Italian, Dutch, Finnish, and Estonian.

Italian and Dutch I've studied a bit a while ago and I'm now trying to "activate" so I can hopefully have a conversation or two in them, while Finnish and Estonian I'm trying to pick up some rudimentary bits in. Here's the previous post in this series describing these goals and strategies in more detail.

Highlights

I've progressed from my menu of only gelato-making videos in Italian to other recipes in general, and in particular to lots of cooking videos from this popular Italian home cooking channel which was in the recommended videos after another one I watched. Maybe I'll branch out again at some point to other speakers, but for now it's nice to be able to stumble into more videos without having to think up new keywords to search. Also, I might need to make some of these recipes now...

The Dutch podcast listening is going well (though see weird issue below) and I especially like that the podcast I chose because it's the only podcast I knew in Dutch contains a mix of adult-to-adult and adult-and-child speech, which is a fun way to mix it up.

In Estonian, so far I have learned one (1) highly useful word, "tere", which this video tells me is an all-purpose neutral greeting (neutral with respect to both formality and time of day). Ooh, I've just realized while writing this post that it's probably cognate to Finnish "terve", a greeting I learned from Duolingo! (Yes, I just looked this up, seems like they both mean something to do with health.) So I've already learned one neat thing!

I'm also recognizing a few Estonian cognates from the Finnish Duolingo lessons, especially the verb "on" (which means "is"). I'm not recognizing many other words though, and I'm wondering how much of that is differing vocab and how much of that is not having learned many common words in Finnish yet (I've been especially chafing at how few verbs we've learned yet, it would be really useful to have a word like "I want" even if it's unanalyzed because the grammar is more complicated than they want to introduce early).

Youtube's algorithm has, after about a week, adjusted to the fact that I now want to watch videos entirely in Italian, and started recommending further Italian videos on my home feed (it was already doing so at the end of previous Italian videos). Tiktok's algorithm, so far, has not done this yet, and is still recommending me stuff in English, despite me aggressively liking basically all of the Estonian videos I watch and nothing else.

Troubleshooting

I've noticed that it's been easier to remember to do the podcast listening in Dutch and the youtube videos in Italian because I already have habits related to opening those apps, whereas I don't have habits around using tiktok so I kept forgetting to open it and look at some Estonian videos. But a couple days ago I moved the tiktok app on my phone to a more visible location, and now it's getting easier to remember.

Something else very weird that I noticed about listening is that when I play the tracks on my phone fairly loudly, it's relatively easy to focus on trying to listen to them, sometimes while playing a simple visual game on my phone for something to fiddle with (I've already noticed that unfamiliar languages need to be played louder than familiar ones). But when I beam the podcast over to my speaker at a distance, suddenly I very quickly start tuning out the unfamiliar language and opening up apps that involve reading and completely ignoring it. I have no problems listening to podcasts on speakers in English; in fact, it's my preferred method when I'm at home, but for some reason this causes my brain to reclassify Dutch as background noise to be ignored, even if it's the same loudness as it would be when it's played right near me. Super weird, has anyone else ever noticed anything like this?

Previously in Language Guinea Pig Diaries:

Summer 2024 travel plans and Language Guinea Pig Diaries

[crazylittlejester]

How do you think the Chain would react if they found out one of them had an allergy to a certain food after the hero ate the thing they were allergic to? The allergy can be as severe or as mild as you want it to be, and the hero who has the new found allergy also just found out with the rest of the group.

oooooh, okay okay

so i base Warriors’s food issues and fear of poisoning very much off of my own food allergies, and the reactions he has to said poisons (the way i write them) are based very much off of allergic reactions. So with that being said I think it would take him literally .5 seconds to understand what was happening and how to get someone a life saving potion or a fairy even though their throat is literally closing up. because he could probably recognize the symptoms just by looking at them (because i was able to look at my friend who was in the middle of trying to figure out if they really HAD just eaten an allergen and just know because I recognize those kind of panicked facial expressions and i know why someone might be testing to see if they can swallow okay and if their tongue is swollen. when something that threatens YOUR life is actively starting to threaten your friends, you kinda just know and you recognize the signs even before they start breaking out in hives)

but if Wars DIDNT have knowledge of a similar experience, i think it would take everyone a hot minute to understand the situation. food allergies are fucking weird and also fucking terrifying. sometimes your tongue is just tingling and you’re thinking to yourself “oh haha it must’ve just been spicy” or “ooh the food just has a scratchy texture” and you’re not really thinking “oh huh my life could be in danger right now-“. sometimes the same way eating spicy food makes your tongue feel is exactly how it feels when it’s swelling up because you ate something you weren’t supposed to and it takes a second for you to figure out which one it was

I headcanon Wind has peanut allergies (BECAUSE NO ONE CAN STOP ME 🫶), and if he found that out with the chain I really think it would take himself and everyone else a good minute to figure it out. Like i can see Wild making some dish with peanuts in it and Wind being like “oh this is just spicy or whatever”, and trying to either force himself to think he’s completely fine or maybe he really just doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. and i think he wouldn’t tell the others until he was dizzy and nauseous or his throat was swollen shut, because that’s what would alert him something was SERIOUSLY wrong. I don’t think he’d try to hide it from the others on PURPOSE, i just think if it was his first reaction he’d be so confused as to what was happening to him

at some point tho I think someone would honestly just grab him and try to get a red potion in him, because at some point the visible symptoms would be so obvious to the others. and if it got to a point he couldn’t drink because his throat was so swollen, they have fairies

lmao sorry for rambling and if this was a bit incoherent, i just had spicy food and accidentally freaked myself out 🥺 (<- i am stupid, and also fine, it’s just been a long day lmao). THIS WAS A COOL ASK THO AND IT GAVE ME A CHANCE TO YAP ABOUT A HEADCANON SO THANK YOU, I JUST HOPE IT MAKES SENSE AND ISNT TOO REPETITIVE

[theamityelf]

crazy idea but how would everyone react if makoto was a werewolf and I guess you can decide how he would act towards people personally I like the idea of him being like a big dog or mother hen with some of his friends and also him running away from people cause he doesn’t want to hurt anyone or see anyone look at him with hate so makoto is hiding somewhere and Kyoko is trying to find him and comfort him and another thing is junko finds out and purposely stays near makoto when he transforms in a attempt to die by his hands only to end up with essentially a giant puppy also maybe Mukuro and byakuya reaction could be funny and especially how Hiro would act around makoto

Ooh, my first question to answer would be how he became a werewolf. Or, more to the point, when he became a werewolf.

I kind of like it as a condition he's had since he was little. Like, maybe he and Komaru were playing at the park one day, and Komaru suddenly screamed because a huge "dog" was nearby, and Makoto got the "dog" away from her but got bitten in the process.

This scenario requires the werewolf thing to happen during the daytime, unless I justify them being at the park at night. Which I could do, but I kind of want some daytime werewolf shenanigans for later, so I'm going to say that it doesn't just happen on the full moon. But I'm also not making it a change-at-will thing, because that feels maybe less cool, so here's the rule:

Turning into a wolf is still an involuntary thing. It still happens the night of a full moon. But first of all, the time when a werewolf changes back into human form varies from person to person; it can be anywhere within twelve hours of the following sunrise, and there are some rare cases where the phase-back happens early or late. It's like a period; it's not clockwork. Second of all, other celestial events can trigger a wolf to phase, besides the full moon. That one is kind of like a spicy food tolerance; some wolves (who have a lower tolerance for celestial events) would phase if they saw an aurora borealis, some (with higher tolerance) can stay in human form during a solar eclipse. The full moon is the only thing that will always get every wolf.

Makoto's phasing is sporadic. It's really hard to plan around. One month, he spent the whole day after the full moon in wolf form; the next month, he only stayed a wolf for like an hour or two and then got to go to bed. His tolerance for celestial events is also all over the place. It feels almost random.

As a wolf, he is unlikely to kill anyone unless they seriously attack him. If someone whose scent isn't familiar to his wolf form approaches him too recklessly, he might run or bite– the main thing he's scared of is biting somebody. (Well, he'd definitely be more upset if he killed them, but it's less likely to happen. Biting them is a very real risk. He might bite a loved one while trying to play.)

His general behavior, in wolf form, is very avoidant. He hides away from people. If someone approaches him slowly and carefully, he might growl in warning when they get too close. Unless he knows their scent.

Being someone's friend in human form doesn't mean his wolf form will necessarily recognize their scent. They have to spend time around him in wolf form, slowly gaining his trust, for that. (Exception: If he has something of theirs when he phases, that can familiarize him with their scent. Like, if he borrowed a jacket from someone and the jacket was in his room with him when he phased.) Before attending Hope's Peak, his parents and Komaru were the only people who had ever spent time with his wolf form. For them, he's basically a big fluffy dog.

(Maybe when Komaru's teacher snuck into her room that one time, Makoto was in the house in wolf form, smelled a stranger, and scared him away from her. The next morning, Komaru casually mentioned this to him, and he frantically asked whether he'd bitten the man.)

At Hope's Peak, his friends find out about his condition at different times. He misses school on certain days, sometimes without warning. (He usually just stays in his room in wolf form; he's pushed all the furniture against the walls, so he has room. His full moon routine is: bathroom break, clothes off, maybe ibuprofen or something, and lie down on the floor until the change happens.)

Kyoko and Junko probably figure it out first, separately from each other. Kyoko mostly plans to just observe without acknowledging that she knows, at first; it's pretty early in the school year, and the character development hasn't kicked in yet. Junko plans to take advantage of the information, but before she can, some luck fiasco causes him to accidentally phase in front of a handful of his other classmates. (Maybe they were studying late on a non-full moon night, but a shooting star happens and he phases.)

His friends convince him that it's okay to go outside to phase, instead of staying cooped up during the school year.

They deliberately get his wolf form accustomed to their scent, so they can have some fun wolf times. And Hifumi takes pictures on his camera, so Makoto can enjoy the memories, too (since he doesn't remember wolf stuff very well when he wakes up).

There's a picture of Wolf Makoto playing fetch with Leon.

A picture of Wolf Makoto chasing Mondo on his bike. (He's worried when he sees this one, but they assure him that everyone was having fun and he didn't hurt Mondo.)

A picture of Wolf Makoto laying on his back while Sayaka rubs his belly.

A picture of Wolf Makoto and Celeste with their backs to the camera, outlined in moonlight. (Celeste will be keeping a copy of that one. Werewolves aren't quite her thing, but the gothic vibes of that shot are perfect.)

Full moons become a class activity. Taka might be unwilling to violate curfew, but when Makoto's wolf time goes long, Taka takes the day shift while everyone else catches up on sleep. He makes sure Wolfkoto gets some water to drink, etc.

(For a while, Byakuya doesn't join in on full moon nights. When he does, it's character development. Until then, he just calls Makoto "puppy" sometimes.)

When Makoto is a wolf during classtime, that means he stays in his room alone while everyone else goes to class.

Perfect time for Junko to get Wolfkoto alone.

Maybe she has Mukuro kick his door down, or maybe she just picks the lock.

Of course, she approaches him recklessly. He doesn't bite her or Mukuro, but he might swing his bed at her or scratch her. (A nice consolation prize for Junko.)

He doesn't remember how deliberately she spooked his wolf form, when he eventually turns human again. She just shows him the very visible scratch marks, like, "You almost bit me, but I managed to get away. 🥺" He's so apologetic and ashamed and scared that he'll hurt his other friends, which is right where she wants him.

[stargazer-sims]

Cake

Vika was hungry (again), so she walked down the hill to the café to get some chocolate cake, and look who she met outside:

Dash: Hello, beautiful lady. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you around here before.

Vika: You’re speaking to me?

Dash: Do you see any other beautiful ladies around at the moment?

Vika: Excuse me. My English is bad. You said two times, I’m beautiful.

Dash: Because you are.

Vika: You don’t know me.

Dash: Do I need to know you to recognize your beauty?

Vika: Maybe I’m evil. What then?

Dash: Are you? Evil, I mean.

Vika: Sometimes, in bedroom.

Dash: Ooh… are you indeed? Now I’m intrigued.

Vika: What means ‘intrigued’?

Dash: Well, it means I’m very interested and curious to know more about you.

Vika: You can know my name. It’s Viktoriya.

Dash: It’s nice to meet you, Viktoriya. My name is Dash.

Vika: Dash? Like… running very fast?

Dash: *laughing* Yes, exactly like that, as a matter of fact. My real name is Richard, but nobody ever calls me that. It’s always been Dash, ever since my father stuck me with the nickname when I was a young child.

Vika: My family calls me Vika.

Dash: May I call you Vika?

Vika: Buy me cake. Then I decide.

Dash: Nothing like the direct approach, is there? If you want cake, then you shall have cake. My treat.

Vika: Thank you.

The café was super busy, but Vika and Dash didn’t seem to mind.

Dash: How’s the cake?

Vika: Tastes like you can call me Vika.

Dash: Ha! Success! If I can get this far with cake, imagine what might happen if we went out for dinner sometime.

Vika: I like food. Also pretty men. I could have dinner with you, and dessert.

Dash: Cake for dessert?

Vika: Yes, but also dessert you don’t eat.

Dash: *amused* My favourite kind.

Uh-oh… Look who just came in from the bookshop next door.

Vika: Dash, we should go.

Dash: Why?

Vika: I see… somebody.

Dash: Who?

Vika: No! Do not look. I try not to be noticed.

Dash: It’d be hard not to notice you.

Vika: I know.

Dash: Is this person someone you’re afraid of? I’ll give him a talking to.

Vika: Is not him. Is her. And I’m not afraid of her, but my brother is. She should be afraid of me.

Dash: And… you don’t want to be involved in a scene?

Vika: I don’t want to be arrested by police in foreign country. If I’m in same room with her for long time, it won’t be scene. It will be entire crime film.

Dash: Ah, okay then. Let’s get out of here and go for a walk. I just met you. I don’t want our first date to be at the police lockup, or for you to get sent home for breaking the law.

Vika: Good. I don’t want to go back to my country yet, and orange is not my colour anyway.

[zestialtheancient]

[ooh but do you think that when Zestial opened his wings or whatever up on "tell me" before he asked his question, he might have been trying to use some form of hypnosis, maybe on impulse? and Alastor was just like "I know your tricks old man" and kept talking]

[also I have a feeling Zestial knows something we don't about Alastor, if you rewatch the clip you can see how Alastor looks away nervously when Zestial mentions him falling to holy arms, and when Al says no Zestial is like "mhmm whatever you say bud". The idea that he fought angels before is unlikely because Adam and the other angels don't recognize him, but he could have almost died to a sinner. Maybe another overlord armed with angelic steel. Al won, but most likely at some cost. Zestial works with Carmilla so it's not out of the question that he might know in detail what overlords are buying from her. A bit of a crack theory but I've been over analyzing every clip I can find of him so idk]

[softspeirs]

for the one word prompt, can we maybe see #14 for kat & ron ? - @rosiegirlie

#14 - “bitter” … ooh. OOH. A great opportunity for some angst!

They've been in Haguenau for a week with no relief in sight - not from the front line, and not from the ceaseless, cold rain.

Ron Speirs squares his shoulders as he prepares to head into the CP to prepare himself for the fight that's sure to come.

It's the second time in as many days that he's pulled Kat off a patrol that Martin had picked her for. To his credit, Martin was less than thrilled and made so secret about it, but now Ron has to face the woman herself, who also, coincidentally, he made some pretty bold romantic overtures to not a week before.

He knows he's confusing her. Hell, he feels the whiplash himself. So he's come to check on her, to try to explain himself.

It's dark inside, the electricity long since cut off from this building and the surrounding neighborhoods. After dark they don't even try to light anything for worry the artillery will zero in on them.

The light of the moon in the fading twilight is all he has to go on, and he touches a hand to the smooth stone of the entryway as he finds his way inside.

There are a few low murmurs from inside, up the stairs. He recognizes Winters and Nixon's low voices, and knows Kat won't be far away.

She's been sequestered here while she recovers from her sickness, against her will. It took a lot of arguing and Lipton's calm reasoning to even get her to agree to sleep in a real bed in the first place, and she’s been furious about it.

He slips in pretty well unnoticed, up the stairs and to a room on the left. She’s in bed, bundled up and scratching at a few loose sheets of paper. She looks surprised initially when she sees him, but her expression quickly morphs into disinterest bordering on anger.

“Captain.”

He sighs. He had at least hoped she’d cut him some slack now that they were… doing whatever this is.

“Kat. Can I sit for a second?” He gestures toward the rickety wooden chair near the door.

She shrugs. “Someone might hear you.”

“If you want me to go, I will.”

He misses the way she looked at him a few days ago, eyes alight with affection and wanting. He swallows hard.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better.” She picks at a loose thread on the blanket covering her lower half. “Headache and a cough still.”

She’s talking to him like he’s a stranger. It makes something tighten in his gut.

“You’re angry with me.”

She meets his gaze directly. There’s something like hurt in their depths that has him clenching his jaw.

“I’m not angry. I— you’re my CO and I respect that, but I don’t appreciate you making decisions for me.” She bites the inside of her cheek. “Like taking me off a patrol roster even though I was requested.”

“You aren’t well, you need rest. I was making a decision that was best for the squad, not just you.”

“That’s not what it looks like to everyone else.” Her words are sharp, bitter like he’s never heard from her before. “You can’t make special exceptions for me.” Her voice softens, “Please.”

He exhales roughly. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“It is!” She exclaims, her voice a loud whisper. He turns to make sure no one has overheard them and then gets up to close the door fully.

He walks back toward her bed, abandoning the chair and sitting on the edge of her mattress. “I’m—“ he swallows hard. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to… to be…”

“To be using your rank and position to make decisions for me because we’re involved?”

He blinks rapidly, flinches back from her like he’s been struck. Involved. Such a simple word, not totally incorrect, but so so wrong to describe his intentions with her.

Involved doesn’t begin to cover it. Doesn’t incapsulate the way his heart beats it’s way out of his chest at the mere sight of her, the way her laugh and her voice have imprinted themselves in his brain.

He has known for a long time that while his advances and feelings are reciprocated, she doesn’t feel as strongly as he does. And he’s been fine with it. But not in the face of this bitter anger from her.

She seems to realize that she’s been harsh. “I’m— I don’t mean to diminish…” She sighs, frustrated with herself. “If this is going to work, we have to figure out a way to communicate with each other. And you need to understand how important it is to me that you don’t treat me differently now.”

“I do understand that.” He realizes his voice is still clipped, so he reaches out and takes her hand to try to soften himself. “I was trying to make sure you got the rest you needed and Roe handled the patrol. That’s all.”

She squeezes his hand. “Thank you for listening.”

It’s funny how her strength of will and the way she fights for herself only endears her to him more, even though he’s still seeking her forgiveness. He can’t fault her for making her own way. If anything, having a clear line between them should make things easier. He hopes so, anyway.

The smile she gives him when he tugs her blanket up higher is genuine, not the bitter thing he’d seen from her earlier in the day when he gave her orders to go back to bed.

“Get some sleep.” He whispers. His smile is a shy thing he can barely control.

“Tomorrow I’m doing my shift.” She insists, even as her eyes are sliding shut.

“We’ll see.” He says, chuckling as she cracks open one eye to glare at him as he heads out the door, pulling it shut behind him.

[cicadian-rhythm]

get ready mutual.. for my.. MUSIC BLAST !!!!!

a campaign of shock and awe, evelyn evelyn

MURDERS, miracle musical

mind electric, chonny jash or miracle musical [<- both are great]

unsweetened lemonade, amélie farren

over and over, rio romeo [THIS FEELS LIKE A CRESS SONG TO ME..]

blame gluttony, amandawaffles

kill the dj, greenday

shinigami, kenshi yonezu

Music Review under the cut to avoid a really long post!

Also, for clarification on the 'vibes' sections - I organize my songs into one of eight different playlists based on color vibes only!

A Campaign of Shock and Awe

Notes -

Two singers is always fun!!!

More than two singers? How many singers are there... (They sounded different but. Not the most different?? They could just be good at changing their voices/using different tones! I'm not great at telling voices apart) Either way it's a banger.

I think it's two singers.

Anyways this song is a vibe :3

Rating - 4/10 Will I Add it to My Playlist - I actually might! I know I rated it kind of low, but tbh I'm not nearly that picky about music. I don't think whether or not I love the song really affects how much I want to listen to it, which is STRANGE to say and I KNOW IT IS. HUSH. Vibes - Immediately clocked this song as Yellow!

Murders

Notes -

A great title tbh so that's already +1 point

OOH the vibe is great

Yeah, the more I listen the more I like this one!

The PIANO? Beautiful

The voice of the singer is also really haunting /pos

Some time I want to dissect the lyrics here lol. Lyrics aren't usually something I care about on a first listen, though, and are (usually) irrelevant to whether or not a like a song!

Rating - Easily a 7/10! Will I Add it to My Playlist - Yes!! Actually I already did LMAO Vibes - This is a Black song!

Mind Electric (Chonny Jash)

Notes -

So I actually have listened to this song before, back when Marc was trying to convince me to get really into Chonny Jash (he failed) but I will listen again because. I forgot what song this is. LMAO.

OHHHH this one...

This is also a vibe!

The effects on the voice of the singer are honestly great; it's not my favorite style of music, but it is fun to listen to sometimes!

There is... a lot going on here towards the end? Throughout most of the song, really, but it feels a bit more overwhelming at the end here. Harder to really hear the singer, which I like less.

Rating - 5/10! Will I Add it to My Playlist - I'm gonna say no </3 But also I do at times listen to the Chonny Jash playlist, when I'm feeling that style of music! Vibes - Purple or Yellow!

Side note - should I listen to the other version you have listed here as well?

Unsweetened Lemonade

Notes -

OH THEY HAVE A PRETTY VOICE

Oh, have a listened to this- YES I HAVE I LOVE THIS SONG!!!!!!!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE IT RIGHT AWAY BUT THIS JUST RECENTLY WENT ON MY PLAYLIST!!

????? ITS NOT ON MY PLAYLIST???? ITS SUPPOSED TO BE??? MAYBE THATS WHY I DIDNT RECOGNIZE IT RIGHT AWAY????

Rating - 8/10!! Will I Add it to My Playlist - I thought it was already there, so YES, definitely!! Vibes - Pink, really, but I don't have a Pink playlist, so Red!

Actually though thank you for recommending that one, I never would have found it again if you hadn't ^_^;

Over and Over

Notes -

A Cress song you say............

Love the way they sing! I love voices that aren't traditionally beautiful!

This does feel like something that would play during a montage of Cress dying Over and Over (gasp!! they said the thing!!)

Rating - 5/10 Will I Add it to My Playlist - Probably not ^_^; Some of the parts were a bit overwhelming to listen to. Vibes - Another Pink song!

Blame Gluttony

Notes -

I couldn't find this on Spotify? So I went to YouTube lol

A song about love that consumes!! Based!!

Very repetitive ^_^; It works for some songs, but usually I like less repetition!

Rating - 3/10 ^_^; I liked it for the most part, in fact I would say it's a good song!! It just had lots of repeating and the vocals bothered my ears. I would recommend it to other people, though! Will I Add it to My Playlist - No </3 For the above reasons, I don't think it would do well on my playlists Vibes - Green, perhaps?

Kill the DJ

Notes -

Green Day!!! I like them, in theory, but I haven't listened to them NEARLY enough!

Oh HELL yeah. Love the way this sounds.

Shoot that fucking DJ!!!!!!

I have no idea why we hate the DJ but I am SO ready to murder them!!!

Rating - 6/10 Will I Add it to My Playlist - Considering it! It does get a bit same-y in parts which might bother me in the long run, but it IS a vibe. Vibes - White? Ourgh or maybe Orange. Green? HM. This one is hard!!

Shinigami

Notes -

I'm gonna trust that the first result was the correct result, as I couldn't read the title lol ^_^;

This is also a vibe!!

I love the way their voice sounds...

No idea what this song is about but it is a bop.

Rating - 5/10 Will I Add it to My Playlist - Don't know! I might! Vibes - Green.... :3

[veliseraptor]

In your opinion, what was it about Xue Yang that XXC found so amusing in the 'Villainous Friends' extra ? And why was XXC so easygoing and gentle with this weirdo delinquent who ransacked a stall for no reason ?

Lol though I ship xuexiao due to their Yi City chemistry, I also find it confusing why yi city XXC would trust this shady stranger. Naivete ? The belief that he can easily protect himself against potential threats ?

ooh these are fun questions. to take the first one first: I think it's basically that to Xiao Xingchen, Xue Yang in that extra comes off less as a genuine threat and more as a boisterous young man with too much energy. it's not quite him being "boys will be boys!" about it, and certainly he knows it's not harmless - he chastises Xue Yang for causing the damage he does! - but to his eye he's not seeing a serious problem so much as a kid (funny, given that their age difference is negligible, Xiao Xingchen is also a kid based on canon ages at the time) acting out for lack of discipline. we do also know Xue Yang has a cute face and a sweet smile, which I'm sure also helps with Xiao Xingchen judging him as, like, mostly harmless, just in need of some minor behavioral correction.

which I think in general reflects how Xiao Xingchen approaches the world, particularly before his bad breakup with Song Lan: he wants to believe the best of people, and generally does. he just is pretty easygoing on the whole! he's not an aggressive person! even when he does go on to arrest Xue Yang and take him to be judged after the Chang massacre, he's presented as less angry and more matter-of-fact, presenting the evidence and expecting justice to come of it.

as far as Xiao Xingchen trusting Xue Yang in Yi City...I actually think there's a lot going on there. in terms of why, right off the bat, he's not insisting on answers or outwardly suspicious, I think at that point Xiao Xingchen feels like he's lost the right to any high ground. he understands, too, that there are many reasons that someone might want to hide their identity or not talk about a painful (literally) past - he's doing the same thing, after all. allowing Xue Yang his silence also allows Xiao Xingchen his own.

also, initially, Xiao Xingchen isn't expecting his mysterious stranger to stick around. he expresses as much to a-Qing when she warns him about Xue Yang: "Once he's healed, he will leave on his own. No one would want to stay in this coffin home with us." (Chapter 39). he's a temporary stranger who will move out of Xiao Xingchen's life as soon as he moved into it. why interrogate him too much when he'll be gone soon?

then as time goes by, and Xiao Xingchen gets to know his mysterious stranger...well, it's true that he has a shady past, sure, and clearly there's things he doesn't want to tell Xiao Xingchen about, but there are plenty of things Xiao Xingchen doesn't want to talk about. there's also the fact that at this point Xiao Xingchen is...a little more jaded, and recognizes that the world is not always just and people might be persecuted or targeted not because they actually did something wrong but just because they made the wrong person angry. maybe his friend is a little sharp-edged and not always kind, but that doesn't mean he's a bad person.

finally: Xiao Xingchen is so desperately lonely and in need of a friend, and this is a person who seems to have, in spite of everything, decided to be Xiao Xingchen's friend. to a certain extent...it's not "I looked at the red flags and decided they were sexy" it's more "I looked at the red flags and decided I could fix him and it'd be fine, let the past live in the past."

basically I don't think Xiao Xingchen was naive about it, or that he immediately completely trusted Xue Yang. I think he made a decision based on a lot of emotional factors, and some logical ones, and it just ended up really not working out for him.

I mean, what it also comes down to is the question Xiao Xingchen asks Song Lan (rhetorically) in true more than truth: “But how does one recognize a wolf, if there’s no fur or teeth to give it away? How does one determine when to reach out and when to hold back? Is it better to offer kindness too much, at the risk of danger to oneself, or too little, and risk abandoning those in need?”

Xiao Xingchen would rather risk putting himself (and he would think of it as putting himself, not others) in danger than abandon someone in need out of fear. and he believes too, I think, that choosing that compassion might keep the proverbial wolf from biting.

and the miserable thing is that, in a way, he's right.

[apompkwrites]

The way of the new chapter of Draconia sibling, or the very least the forgotten child , the way how their wings and horns been literally ripped off them givens me bit of an idea or two maybe three

1. They just ran away of what they have in person, maybe walked for days and somehow since the island of woe have technology and maybe have their own strange way of going out and getting in to the island, one of the dots finds them in a unknown location and taken them in as a new experiment as they have less knowledge about faes and this is their potential

With the memory erasing tech they have they possibly erased maybe parts or majority of their memories and replace them and Draconian child is a guard for the Shrouds for good some hundreds of years ( since Faes do live long, and with tech n sutch they have a new identity yet maybe someone might recognize them, Lilia maybe? )

2. They are half dead but humans finds them from a neighboring country and actually showed them genuine kindness and also teaching them modern things and they adapted to be liked a normal human as they cut part of their pointed ear off to blend in, or, very least as we don't know if there any other species in TW, they pretend to be an elf and thinking faes and elves have a very long rivalry let alone tension that even longer then faes and humans

As elf's willing to see humans as equals and perhaps even helped each other

3. I remember this story as a kind where a elf is an outcast and been attack by unknown means, and bunch of weak river and flower nymph helps the elf to be one of them and also help them get revenge as the outcast elf home they been harming the nymps for long time to the point that they are resentful

Idk, what you think?

ooh okok i like the idea of them somehow finding refuge in the island of woe (totally not bc i love the shrouds idk what you're talking about) and them becoming a part of styx's security? maybe they get experimented on a lot in terms of physical enhancements? like styx tries to see how tech can be used for fae who may have lost their wings since its such a big part of transportation in briar valley.

and maybe they start to get along really well with ortho and idia? idk maybe bc ortho introduces them to idia and they get really interested in all of the tech bc they've never seen that stuff before?

and then the idea that humans actually take them in is really interesting, esp bc i feel like this would be the first time that lil draconia feels love? and now that they basically lost their identity as a member of the draconia family, they feel more at ease with not having wings? like they don't stand out for not having any :)

and and maybe they just live a cute cottagecore life with elves and nymphs!! sure they have some trauma with the woods, but maybe they end up living in a clearing instead :DD

[deepwithintheabyss]

One of the batfam camming and the rest coming across it. Looking for lookalikes? Stumbling upon and thinking about it for the first time? Not realizing it’s them and getting off? Recognizing it’s really them (and getting off)? Guilty, shameless, jealous. The whole spectrum. Do they tell the person? The others??? They all continue tuning in tho :)

Oh yes!! I def read a DamiTim fic like that already!! (wait no two hehe the one was Damian as camboy the other was Tim stumbling upon his search history and realizing the dude could be him)

Hmm just picturing, one of them maybe Dick? He would love the attention, but also so would the others the praise they get for it 👀 actually I can picture all of them, anyway one camming and then someone stumbles across it, and it's so good and they fuck to it and a few other videos before they notice it through a small slip up. Or just a detail that wasn't covered.

Maybe they recognize the shape of the room as one of the safehouses from that sibling whatever it is it leads to a big "Oh fuck" moment, they decide to stop, but oh they can't, next time they get horny and need some material their like 5min into the video before remembering they swore off it, but ooh once won't hurt right? Just one more look, or two or- well okay they might not be able to stop but it's not like it's causing any harm right? As long as no one knows.

Though then maybe it slips up in a talk with another sibling, or they see the video somewhere and they laugh it off "haha can you believe x is doing such videos?" and then it gets shared around, everyone pretending to be shocked by it but ooh they all turn in to watch, every single time.

Maybe they even start talking about it more openly, in a separate group-chat still vague enough to pretend they don't watch it, just keep an eye on things

Something like this would slip up someday but oh with some luck it just turns into a private (live) show ;)

[katieskarlette]

I watched the trailers and read the Blizzcon '23 stuff on WoWhead.

Meh. Not the spark I was looking for to rekindle my passion for the game.

(Morose lack of enthusiasm for 11.0, and Shadowlands postmortem below.)

Instead of getting hyped for upcoming content, it just makes me feel bad about how little I care anymore.

I used to be on the edge of my seat, palms sweating, happily freaking out about new cinematics and new expansion releases. I would plan ahead and take time off to watch the Blizzcon livestream, and stock up on food I could eat while glued to the screen. Today I got home from work and turned on my computer...and only then remembered that Blizzcon was today. After seeing the trailers and stuff I'm like, "Okay. I guess that's fine. Whatever." [Garrosh voice] Times change. [/Garrosh voice]

I didn't expect the news about upcoming expansions to knock my socks off, though. If Dragonflight, an expansion that was practically custom-made to focus on my favorite lore, didn't rekindle my love for WoW, nothing was going to.

That said, I'm still underwhelmed. I can't say that Alleria, Thrall, and Magni are characters I'd be super excited to hang out with. (It was a nice touch to have Thrall going gray, though.)

Xal'atath (sp?) is pretty cool but forgive me for being wary considering the track record for female villains in this franchise.

Anduin...very mixed feelings there. I'm glad he's back, and it was nice to hear Josh Keaton's voice again. I don't recognize him physically anymore, except those baby blue eyes, which is probably why the cinematic spent so much time zoomed in uncomfortably close on his face. I get that that's the point, that he's grown up and gotten grizzled, but he looks and feels like a completely different person.

I think part of the problem is that we didn't get to see him changing. He went from dropping his sword to resurrect an army and being stubbornly optimistic in BFA, to weary but still full of the Light in the cutscenes with Sylvanas in Torghast, to completely blank (save one glimmer) while under Zovaal's domination, to this broken, unstable, self-loathing shell of a man in the 11.0 cinematic. Even if we're generous and count the tiny conversation with Sylvanas at the end of her novel, we have to just imagine what happened to him in between then and now. It's okay to ask the audience to fill in some implied developments, but this is jarring. (I suppose it's possible we'll see more characterization in-game between now and then. I'm not optimistic, though.)

I imagine Anduin will go through an arc where the Light comes back to him, or he finds some kind of peace again and reclaims his throne, but I don't have the patience to wait around for it to happen, or the confidence that it would be done well.

I also can't separate the character's angst with the real-world consequences of Shadowlands sucking as hard as it did. Yeah, Anduin, you've been through absolute hell--so have we. You haven't recovered--and neither have I.

When they had him do the "Arthas pointing Frostmourne just left of the camera lens" pose, instead of going "Ooh, I recognize that! That was cool!" it just reminded me of all the times they did fanservice callbacks to the Lich King in Shadowlands, only to shit all over that part of lore. That's the last thing I want to be reminded of.

It was a bold move to reveal the names and story hooks of the next two expansions, but rather than whet my appetite it just removed the hope that "maybe the next expansion will be better." Nope, it'll be more of the cosmic bullshit that I don't care about: Light, Void, Titans, etc. It's okay in small doses, but it's not the kind of story that pulled me in and made me fall in love with the world.

I hate to say it, but this might be the nail in the coffin for me. I definitely miss the glory days of WoW when it was a huge part of my life and I got so much enjoyment out of it, but I'm beginning to realize that those days aren't coming back. When I think of all the hours and dollars I invested in the franchise it makes me want to cry--not that I regret any of it. I just wish the spark hadn't gone out for me.

I had been so immersed for so many years that maybe it was just time for it to run its course. The social climate has also changed a lot for me, from a thriving guild during MoP, to sporadic bursts of people logging on in Legion and early BFA, to a ghost town in mid-to-late BFA and SL. Strangers can be rude and elitist, making pugging more stressful than fun. I've also been concentrating a lot on my own original writing in the last year.

Those are factors, to be sure, but I do have to lay a lot of the blame on Shadowlands. I had gotten past so-so expansions before. Cataclysm wasn't the best, but all the Firelands stuff was fun, and some of my favorite dragons got screen time. MOP was freaking fantastic. WoD was a dud expansion for me, but there was enough to keep me busy and playing right up to the end. Legion was awesome. BFA wasn't great, and the loss of Teldrassil left a very sour taste, but it had good leveling content, some fun characters, and generally enough stuff going on to tide me over. It was going in a pattern of great expansion, not-so-good expansion, great expansion, not-so-good expansion, and that was okay.

Then Shadowlands came, and it was grimdark, overly serious, cosmic-scale stuff, headed by the most aggressively boring villain the series had ever had. There were a ton of new characters, and, except for Denathrius, Renathal, and Theotar (and Merileth and his slimes, in small doses), none of them interested me. The game systems somehow became even more fiddly, complicated and confusing time sinks than they were in BFA. The afterlife setup barely made sense, conflicted with past lore, complicated future lore, and was ultimately depressing as hell--you probably won't spend eternity with your loved ones, and even if you do, you'll probably end up as a blip of red energy that gets consumed and then cease to exist at all. That's just how I want to imagine all my favorite Warcraft characters ending up! (We probably didn't see Tirion Fordring because some blue guy in a toga needed his anima to grow better grapes. FFS.)

But the worst aspect of Shadowlands, IMO, was the way the pre-existing characters were done dirty--every single one of them.

I don't know you manage to take one of the greatest paladins of all time, then turn him into fiery overlord of the undead, and have him be boring, but there's Bolvar. Get that man a throat lozenge and some personality. Taelia got cameos in which they mentioned their relationship, but nothing ever came of it. He was a father figure to Anduin in the king's youth, but you wouldn't know it by what they did/said in SL. Going by BFA and SL, freaking Saurfang was more of a father figure to Anduin than Bolvar, who literally raised him for several years of his childhood.

Nathanos got an epic sendoff courtesy of Tyrande in the prepatch, then got teased a few times without ever appearing or mattering again.

Sylvanas was a mess. I don't need to get into details; we all know the trainwreck of a story. The concept of making her soul complete again so she had to come to terms with what she had done was a promising one, but it was handled so clumsily and briefly that it was ultimately frustrating.

The less said about the Jailer, the better. I wanted so badly to like Zovaal, but he was the most flat, boring, paint-by-numbers Saturday morning cartoon villain in the franchise's history. Not interesting, not sympathetic, not fleshed out, not funny, not charismatic, not sexy, not scary--none of the things past Blizzard villains had going for them.

Uther's story was one of the better ones, but because of how closely tied it was to Arthas' story, and the unforgivably bad way that was handled, it ultimately fizzled.

Thrall was...fine? The bits with his mom were neat, but I couldn't stop thinking about what a crappy afterlife it would be to constantly fight, spy, scheme, and play politics, all while the supposed love of her life is nowhere to be seen. Poor Durotan.

Baine famously, frustratingly, amusingly in an if-you-don't-laugh-you'll-cry kind of way, did jack squat in the entire expansion. I know his arc got cut for time, but regardless of the reason he was yet another character whose involvement in SL was disappointing.

Jaina was wasted. Her history with Arthas (and, to a lesser extent, Anduin) could have made for some memorable, heart-wrenching story, but instead she was just a generic sorceress. That was especially disappointing given the respectful, deep treatment her character got in BFA. I know not every character can have the spotlight in every story arc, but the complete lack of personality she had in SL was especially jarring in contrast.

Anduin's arc should have been interesting, but we never got into his head enough to really feel what he was feeling. We had that glimpse of his horror after stabbing the Archon, and he left his father's compass as a clue, but those were fleeting moments open to interpretation and not enough to offset the blank slate we got the rest of the time. Even that would have been forgivable, given the limits of storytelling in a game, but the thing that sticks in my craw the most is that constant, blatant Arthas parallels led to...nothing. Anduin would have been just as devastated to be mind-controlled into doing evil stuff even if Arthas had never existed. Arthas meant nothing to Anduin. The only time he met the man was as an infant. They weren't related. Nobody in-universe was comparing them. Garrosh compared himself to Arthas in the War Crimes novel, and Anduin fleetingly thought about Arthas when he befriended Calia in Before the Storm, but that's it. Even as hokey as it would have been to make Anduin secretly Jaina and Arthas' son, at least that would have explained two expansions' worth of in-your-face parallels between the two characters. But no. It all came across as fanservice--or fan teasing--and had no payoff.

Speaking of Arthas, arguably the most famous and recognizable character in the franchise (competing with Illidan and Scantily-Clad Female Night Elf #17 for the top spot)...

After being teased about his possible involvement or whereabouts all expansion long, after they milked every possible drop of nostalgia out of his story in an attempt to make SL palatable, after all the flashing red arrows calling our attention to parallels between him and Anduin, despite his importance to three prominent characters (Uther, Sylvanas, and Jaina), Arthas never did anything (boss mechanics don't count), never had a line of dialogue, never appeared in a form we recognized, got insulted and belittled by Sylvanas one last time, and disappeared in a flicker of blue plasma that was less impressive than a drunk frat boy lighting his farts with a match.

So yeah. Toss Shadowlands in the trash heap (except Sire Denathrius). It was so bad it tainted the entire franchise for me, so that I couldn't even enjoy the long-awaited dragonpalooza that followed.

Phew, that was a long rant, and the first time I've written about WoW in ages. I guess it just goes to show that I have deep roots in the franchise that come along with strong feelings--which makes it all the harder to accept that I may not even buy the next expansion. I suppose I'll weaken when the time comes, but I'm certainly not shelling out for the collector's edition or other bells and whistles.

But then the Li'l Wrathion in-game pet stares at me from another browser tab, and I think about the new Wrathion plushie, and I'm like...DAMN IT, why couldn't you have done this years ago? :(

Anyway, sorry to be a downer, but I'm kind of in mourning, in a weird way, as I come to terms with the way I feel--or more importantly, don't feel--about Warcraft now.

[sunny-clover]

Ok so here’s a few thoughts after watching the Mutant Mayhem trailer

keep in mind, I haven’t been analyzing too long but I’m just super excited and wanted to share my thoughts.

if you haven’t watched the trailer, it’s right here

Okay so, first thing I want to talk about is the scene with Splinter. I really love his voice actor, he sounds like an actual loving and worried dad instead of just a sensei, and I am loving the glasses rep that we have!

Not really any eggs i that I noticed from the scene, just wanted to say how I like the touch of “it’s 2023 Mikey” (I love these boys sm)

(A screenshot I took from the scene to check out the background for little Easter eggs)

Next Scene! The brother bedtime (that’s what I’m calling it cause I’m not creative on the spot)

The brothers have a ton of stuff on their walls and Donnie has so many things on his bed, these are definitely teenagers lmao. I just have to say that I really love the art style I’m so excited for this movie!!!!!

When asked what he would do if they were accepted, Leo says “I dunno, get a girlfriend?” And Mikey says “can you imagine that!” To which Donnie answers “not likely”. I know it’s probably just a few snippets of their scene put together and that might not be exactly how the scene goes, or it could be just brother teasing, but I’m also a little hopeful that this is a hint that they’ve kept up the tradition of Leo being queercoded and he might be in denial. (Again, it’s probably not, but i think it’s be neat)

(Some screenshots of their room for further analysis)

Next thing! The villain mutants-

I don’t have a lot to say here because I haven’t watched most of the iterations and can’t point out too many familiar faces, but I do recognize repo-Mantis from Rise!

There he is ⬆️

Again, I don’t have much to say except the art style is just so AGAAVSGDBFHFHFHHDHDSHEHDHDHJDJDJDJFJFJFJJFJFJFBF

I love it.

Next!

April

I love her so much, the voice actor sounds amazing and I love her outfit ahshffffhffhfjjdjsjsjwjejdjhf

Took a screenshot of her board for further analysis

She seems to be a teenager who wants to be a reporter so when she finds the turtles she wants to interview them so that maybe she can get into the mindset of the other mutant forces (Superfly/ Baxter Stockman)

I’m thinking what happened is maybe they caught her off guard and she freaked out but then they fixed the misunderstanding and now she’s teamed up with them and wants their help (well duh, that’s part of the trailer),

OOH! They might have run inter her outside (or inside) of whatever grocery store they went to (the errands Leo mentioned as he held up grocery bags)

Grocery bags

I have a few more shots of their interactions

Absolutely in love with the designs and I think she looks so badass but also like a super sweet big sister.

it seems like there won’t be any Casey Jones appearances, much to my disappointment but I’m still very excited nonetheless. Maybe at the very end there’ll be a small glimpse of Casey for a sequel, because he usually does join in sequels or later seasons (save for 2k3) and I’m just so excited for this movie!!!

I had to add this shot because just look at the brother interaction!! That is some adorable bonding and I am so excited to see these little booger beans in the theater!!!!!

I’m gonna make them into clay figures. Okay, that’s my non-expert analysis and predictions on the Mutant Mayhem trailer!