#or first read if there's someone out there that hasn't discovered it yet!!!! <3

[shehungthemoon]

Fell back into the Reciprocation world again and am very much trying to live there right now. Everyone should go give this beauty a reread 🤧

[thisismeracing]

okay but a request for a new face around the paddock and Lando having a huge crush and gets some assistance to ask her out 😔

Hi, love!! <3 Since you didn't specify if it was a smau, a blurb, or a full imagine, I decided to go with a blurb, 'key? I hope you like it!! *mwah*

New girl | LN4

― Pairing: Lando Norris x reader (sher/her) ― Warnings: mentions of alcohol, getting stuck on the roof, and typos; ― my masterlist | my taglist | patreon guide ― check some exclusive pieces here ― you can support my writing by reblogging, leaving a comment (don’t forget to follow me if you like the piece), or buying me a coffee

Someone was playing early 2000s remixes, the sound escaping to the roof where Yn was sitting, nursing a half-full red cup. She was a bit tired. It was her first week attending a race, and things were more hectic than anticipated, though Charles told her it was crazy when you weren't used to the pace.

Still, she was looking for the next Sunday. The next plane ride, the next country to explore.

"Oh- hey," Lando waved after opening the door and finding her sitting in one of the small couches. His face read surprise with a tinge of confusion, but, in reality, he knew she would be there. Carlos told him as much. His friend actually encouraged him to go after her. Lando was infatuated the second he saw her, and when he discovered she was Charles' friend he was quick to ask Carlos for help, which coming to think about now wasn't the best idea.

Maybe he should have asked Charles instead. He probably knew her better. She was the new girl for Carlos too, having just met her the same day Lando did. Or just tried to get to her without any help, but then again, she was so beautiful and so cool, he felt like the whole paddock stopped the first day Yn showed up, though rationally he knew things kept going as usual. He was the distracted one.

"Hi," she waved back, a small smile gracing her lips before she took the cup to her lips sipping whatever drink she was nursing.

"Can I- huh- Can I stay here too?"

Yn nodded, "It's a bit packed in there, huh?" she asked before patting the spot beside her. "Carlos told me I could get some air here instead of in front of the house, the air is flowing good there, but there's still too much noise- and drunk people," she ranted, and Lando thought it was cute the way she would explain things he hasn't even asked yet.

"I'm Lando," the British extended his hand to her, and they shook it right before she said her name as if wasn't etched on his mind, and he sat beside her.

"I know," there's a hint of amusement in her voice. "There's only twenty of you, and you happen to be really close to my friend's teammate."

He chuckled, taking a pull from his beer, and sensing someone behind him. When Lando turned he saw Carlos and Charles at the door, and before he could stop them both, the noise of the door closing echoed around.

"Shit."

"Was it the door?" Yn asked, getting up.

"I think the wind closed it," he tried to keep it cool, even though he was finally understanding why Carlos had asked to borrow his phone.

"Can you call one of the guys to open it up?" she asked, and then added, "For when we want to get back...I'm fine for now."

He smiled, and then his face twisted in a grimace, "I forgot my phone with the guys."

"Mine doesn't have any signal here," she stated, but didn't seem too worried.

"Do they know you're here?"

Yn nodded, "You?"

"Carlos will probably come looking for me any minute now," he tried to convince himself, taking another pull from his beer.

They sat in silence for a beat, the wind making their cheeks cold and the noises of the party muffled by the distance, until Yn started talking about racing, Lando following the train, catching the ride and the opportunity to talk with her and not embarrass himself trying to figure a good topic.

"How do you keep up with all the traveling?"

He chuckles, "Sometimes you don't."

"Oh-"

"Yeah, it can be tiring for the drivers as well, but we just...get used to it I guess. Most of us- all of us, have been driving since we were kids."

"mmhhh, so a bunch of outlaws?"

"What?"

"Driving when it wasn't even legal yet," and she answered with a straight face, no hint of amusement, so much Lando thought she was talking serious, and when he opened his mouth to explain, a nervous look crossed his features, Yn started laughing.

"That was a terrible joke, but you fell for it so..."

"Horrible," he shook his head with a small smile, tipping his bottle upon his mouth. "How about you? How are you keeping up? Are you coming for the next race?"

"I'm exhausted. But I'm also excited about the next stop. I'm definitely joining. I'm just getting my maps ready because Ferrari has a bunch of media stuff this next week and Charles won't be able to be a huge company in exploring...not that he was a big one this last week, but, yeah."

"I can go with you...that is if you want, I can keep you company, I know the next stop pretty well, I used to go there on vacation with my family during my teenage years," Lando shoots his shot, half expecting her to let him down gently, but Yn gifts him with a bright big smile.

"Would you?"

"Yeah, totally."

"Perfect then," she crossed her legs sitting more comfortably on the couch, neck resting on the headrest, while she watched the dark sky above them. "Now, tell me about your side gig- Carlos told me you're into DJ stuff?"

Lando crossed his legs too, his shoulders aligned with hers, staring at the sky as well. He turned his head to the side, and she was already looking at him. He bit his lips to keep the infatuated smile from showing and started telling her about the things he liked to do besides racing. Yn shared with him as well. She told how she and Charles had met, how she loved music, and though she was into sports, she didn't practice any. She told him about her family, studies, and job. And Lando listened to everything attentively, feeling his silly little crush grow with each giggle and look she shared.

A couple hours later, when Carlos and Charles went to check, Yn had her head on Lando's shoulder, both were sound asleep on the couch. The Ferrari duo snapped a picture, and a high five for playing cupid to what would eventually become one of the paddock's favorite couples.

[fourmoony]

Hi oh my gosh I love literally everything you write. And you're doing poly!marauders. So excited.

Would you be willing to do something like reader doesn't have a great self-esteem so she never thought she'd find someone who'd love her just the way she is but then she found them. and is just super in love and incredibly happy?

could be nsfw too if you want.

thankyou!

you are so kind, thank you so much, angel! thanks for requesting, hope you like it :) p.s. this is my first time writing poly!marauders so be gentle pls <3

poly!marauders x f!reader | 1.2k words | masterlist

cw - implied self esteem issues

You feel content in your little bubble.

The kitchen is warm and filled with love and laughter and bodies and the conversation flows freely. It's comfortable and cosy and Remus is making soup so really, your day couldn't get any better.

James is cutting vegetables under Remus' watchful gaze and Sirius is practically hanging over Remus' shoulder, as excited as you about the pot of soup on the stove. You're content to just watch them, let them just be from your place on the counter beside the stove. Remus had chastised you'd burn the side of your leg, James had made an ill timed joke about getting to kiss it better, and said burn was yet to occur. So you sit. You watch. You smile to yourself because you're happy.

It's a daily struggle to remind yourself that you're worthy of being included in this little bubble, that the boys want you here as much as you want to be here. Some days it feels impossible, some days you feel like an intruder, like a burden they're too nice to get rid of. Then Sirius does something so stupidly Sirius and Remus will lean over, kiss the shell of your ear and thank you for being the only sane person in the house. And James asks if he can sit with you while you shower. It's not about sex. Not always, at least. James just likes to listen to your day and tell you about his without the constant buzz of conversation around him, sitting on the toilet with fogged up glasses and a smile on his face. He joins you on the bad days, helps you forget. It's peaceful, and it's your ritual.

They do everything they can to remind you, every day, that they want you there, that they love you as you love them. It's a nice feeling, to be wanted, to be loved, to be understood and appreciated. It's an even lovelier feeling to be a part of someone's routine. The showers with James, pestering Remus while he cooks dinner, reading to Sirius until he falls asleep, sprawled out across the three of you on the couch, his breaths heavy and your hand in his hair. It's a nice life you have. That counts for a lot, even on the days you don't feel worthy.

Today isn't necessarily one of those days, but it's there on your face. That 'outsider looking in' type of mood you get when you think about it for too long. You've discovered you're allowed to feel both content and undeserving at the same time - or, at the very least, that it's possible. You often wonder why Remus, Sirius, and James chose you. It's not a secret, you've asked many times and received many answers, varying in seriousness to Sirius' absurd "we tossed a coin.", to which Remus chastised him relentlessly.

You'd laughed, and that was all Sirius had needed.

Now, you're watching the three of them with the same awe you always do, and Sirius seems to catch it in the split second his eyes leave the pot of soup on the stove. He's on you in a second, not a far walk considering you're sitting so close to the gas stove that you're surprised Remus' theory of your burnt thigh hasn't come true. Sirius' eyebrows furrow in that concerned sort of way they often do when he's trying to read one of the three of you, his hands gentle as they come into contact with the pudge of your hips.

"Spill," He tilts his head, lips downturned at the corners and it makes your heart ache.

They've always urged you to be open, to share your concerns and tell them what, exactly is going on in that 'big beautiful brain of yours', as James calls it. But the look of knowing, of concern, on Sirius' face hurts. You hate that after all this time you still feel this way sometimes. Even on the good days, you catch yourself asking what you did to deserve your boys.

"Hm?" You hum, hands lifting to hold the sides of your boyfriend's face in hopes of distracting him altogether.

His hair is tied back, but you curl an index finger around a strand of stark black hair thats fallen into his face and Sirius smiles, soft and lovely, "You've got that," He waves his hand in front of your face with wiggled fingers and you laugh, "look."

"What look?" You ask, leaning forwards to press a kiss to his lips.

Now Remus, if you had tried a move like that, would tsk, tell you to spill before he rewards you, and it's why you know it'll work when you try it with Sirius. He always gives you whatever you like. His lips return the favour, hands pulling you forward a little on the counter. It's a nice kiss, a sweet kiss, until James scoffs and declares Sirius is easily manipulated.

"Am not." He grumbles, shooting your two boyfriends a dirty look.

Remus rolls his eyes into the soup, sets the lid on it to simmer at the same time James drops the knife and starts putting the vegetables into a bowl.

"C'mon, Dove, what's up?" Remus asks, hip balanced against the stove, turned to face you.

He's in his comfies, the first of the four of you to arrive home from work, earlier, and he looks so soft and warm. You know he won't give in to whatever interrogation Sirius has unknowingly started so you heave a sigh and slump back against the wall cabinets.

"Sirius is being dramatic. The 'look' I had was contentedness with a little bit of 'what on earth did I do to deserve these men?'."

Remus' lips turn up at the corners and he crowds your space, pushing an annoyed Sirius to the side for the moment, "You didn't have to do a thing. We love you as is."

You hum, delighted with the appraisal, a bashful smile coming across your lips. Remus kisses it, quick and sweet, and returns to his soup. Sirius sticks his tongue out at the side of Remus' head and you laugh. James passes the vegetables off to Remus because Sirius is not to be trusted with the good kitchen knives after the Christmas Eve in A&E incident last year, and comes up behind Sirius, arms wrapped around his waist, head firmly on his chin.

You know James' back is probably breaking at the angle, but Sirius would simply be offended for the rest of the night if James used his head instead of his shoulder. He's in denial about his height, you suppose.

"It's more like what on earth we did to deserve you. I've no idea how you put up with those two." James gives you a knowing smile as he speaks.

You both wait for Sirius' outrage and Remus' offended scoff. Both come. They team up on the other side of the kitchen, Sirius hovering over Remus and likely causing more of an annoyance. James uses it as an opportunity to get you closer to him, whisk you off to the couch in the living room now his sous chef duties are complete.

You set up the usual dinner time sitcom and pause it, relaxing into your boyfriend and talking about anything and everything until Remus calls that the soup is ready.

In the kitchen as James and Sirius fight over who should get the first bowl, Sirius because he waited so patiently, or James because he actually helped, Remus slides you your own bowl with a lovely big smile reserved just for you, and you couldn't imagine yourself anywhere else in the world.

[kurogane2512]

Hello! Can I asked some sfw and nsfw headcanons relationship for cloud retainer, please? (Male reader), if not then, you can ignored this if you like. Have a good day!

Ugh mommy CR my love <3

CONTAINS NSFW

Game: Genshin Impact

Characters: Xianyun (Cloud Retainer) x male!reader (can also read as gn!reader with a cock)

Type: SFW + NSFW hcs

SFW

How you met

She met you through Ganyu's relations, you were a human working with the Qixing alongside Ganyu. You were well aware of Ganyu being an Adeptus and that the legendary Cloud Retainer was her mentor. Though, you had never met Cloud Retainer yourself before, you greatly looked up to her.

One day, a mysterious lady by the name of Xianyun came to the Qixing to meet Ganyu. Ganyu instantly recognized it was Cloud Retainer disguised as a human, she was too busy to meet her so she asked you to assist her on her behalf. While you were reluctant to do so since it was the Cloud Retainer, you complied.

And the moment you laid your eyes on her, you were flabbergasted. You didn't expect her to be such a beautiful mature lady, you practically fell in love at first sight. Xianyun too, was impressed by you and considered you reliable enough due to how Ganyu talked about you.

Slowly, you accompanied Xianyun more as she roamed Liyue. She found you to be good company, you listened attentively to her stories about the past and were very curious about her mechanical prowess, often silently watching her invent something new right in front of your eyes. Before long, you were really in love with her but didn't know if Adepti were even open to forming such deep relations with humans.

Dating Experience

Nevertheless, you confessed your feelings to her one fine day, and to your surprise she accepted. She stated her reasoning to be curious about human relations and wanting to experience them, but she was yet to realize she too had fallen for you. Your relationship was unique to say the least, in her Adeptus form she was taller than you and appeared majestic.

She would let you ride her in her Adeptus form and soar the skies together. You even learned some combat skills from her, along with many other things. She was highly knowledgeable, and it seemed after a long time she was excited enough to share her knowledge with someone. She wasn't big on physical affection; she never denied you when you wanted it but didn't ask much herself.

She was big on giving gifts, especially her own handmade inventions. She was very observant of your likes and whenever she noticed you wanted something, she'd end up inventing her own version of it which would be far better than the market one. You also discovered she was quick to get jealous but didn't express it properly. She was too prideful for it.

NSFW

She has moderate sexual experience, she used to have fun in her younger days with Guizhong but for a long time hasn't indulged in it. She is quite well aware of most things and will take the initiative especially since she finds out it's your first time. Somehow, that gets her fired up. A human's first time with her? You should definitely feel proud.

Amazing blowjob skills, like there's just something about her technique that reduces you to a panting mess as if your life was sucked out. And she savors every moment, watching your cum drip down your cock and lapping it up so well. She wants to be on top mostly, will ride you all night and take in your cum.

She's also very motherly, she loves to have you lay your head on her lap and suck on her boobs while she strokes your cock and relieves you. She knows how tiring the work with the Qixing is, especially having to deal with someone like Ningguang. Will unknowingly pamper you like a baby, she's just used to it so much due to taking care of Ganyu and Shenhe

You eventually discover her more.... daring side. She's into outdoor sex, yes I said it. But she definitely prefers to be hidden. She loves it when you bend her over a tree at Jueyun Karst and pound into her from behind, she knows her fellow Adepti could come anytime but she needs you first.

As your relationship goes deeper, she finds you worthy to give her a child so she will make you breed and impregnate her. A baby between a human and Adeptus will surely be fascinating, but she more so cares about having your seed inside. Centuries later she finally experienced true love, and she will give you her everything.

[sadceline]

THE ENHYPEN HOST || 3

|| Reverse harem || ft. TXT, Mingyu (Seventeen) & BTS

PAIRING: FEM READER X ENHYPEN

WARNINGS: foul language, explicit content, group sex, humiliation, sex in public, threesome, foursoome, rough sex, red flags, immoral acts, unprotected sex, morbid jealousy, comedy, parody, possessiveness, violent quarrels, arguments, betrayals, lies, femdom sometimes.

GENTRE: +18, reverse harem, comedy, enemy to lovers, friends to lovers

SUMMARY: You moved to Seoul to start over after a bad experience, and everything seems to be going well, you even manage to work for HYBE. You discover, however, that you owe them almost a billion won, money you don't have and don't know how to recover: but don't worry because Hybe itself offers you a solution.

Your body in exchange for paying off your debt.

Do you accept?

PREVIOUS CHAPTER:

READ THE FIRST CHAPTER:

"I'll wait for you to sober up a bit." Sighs Jay, laying towels on my arms doorways toward him.

I sincerely laugh, visibly nervous. "They call you mr. kindness?

"Look at your condition, doing it now…. - he tells me, lowering his gaze as he strokes my cleavage exposed by the plunging neckline of my humble t-shirt with his index finger. - It would be so easy."

"I don't have to if I don't want to." I remind him, dazed, now less by the alcohol than by him.

My breath is suddenly short, even though I'm not looking at his face I can see his neck, his pronounced jaw, the way his skin fills with breath, puffing up his broad chest, even too much seen so closely.

"True, but since you won't be able to refuse for another four days, I'd really take it - he explains almost in a whisper, as his fingers move over my neck, then pick up strands of hair to tuck behind my ear - on the personal."

"Not… care."

"Do you really want to lose your only ally here? In fact, the strongest."

I smile amused, isn't she going to have inferiority complexes or something? The situation in the house didn't seem that desperate at all, but it's true that I haven't spent even twenty-four hours in here and Jay doesn't seem like a fool to me, though, I mean…

I suddenly lift my gaze: shouldn't I think better of it instead? After all, I'm going to sleep with someone else sooner or later anyway, and it's not certain that "this" is intended as a bargaining chip for others as well - so if there really was a strange situation in this apartment, I could at least think of myself with an ally.

"Do you understand? You will give weight to my words when you see it."

"What's going on? I can still … try to get out of it…."

"That made you give up so quickly? And I was trying to persuade you nicely." He grins in surprise.

I shift my eyes in embarrassment. "You're putting pressure on me."

"I know." He says, and his hands begin to slide down my exposed arms. His touch is slow and heavy, I can feel every millimeter of my body under his fingertips.

"T-Then stop doing that."

"I think I will - he says. - If that's the situation, I should just take advantage of it, right?"

How? How dare he? First he offends me, then he calls me an object practically, then he decides to take such liberties, like lifting my t-shirt a few inches from my bra, and in all this, I don't react. It's not the alcohol, I know.

I can smell him perfectly, it's not perfume, he smells like a man. He hasn't showered yet, probably, but his fragrance is aphrodisiac as it penetrates my nostrils and seems to engulf me in a spell.

And to say they make a lot of memes about his hygiene - if only they knew how untrue it is!

Jay grabs me by the hips, lifts me onto the sink. Before he kisses me he looks at me, perhaps still seeking my consent, but my eyes are already full of him and I don't care enough whatever he thinks of me to pull back. I'm the one who instinctively pushes my lips against his, he doesn't pull back either, instead he tightens his tapering fingers behind the back of my neck, pressing my head against his face.

He bites my lips, caresses my hips, kisses my neck. I barely catch my breath between kisses, he's especially passionate, I don't quite understand what's going on but I feel like I'm on fire, like I have a fever. Deep down, I didn't think I could ever be in a situation like this, realistically.

To be able to see the pores of his skin, to feel his touch, to know what his lips taste like, it's all simply divine.

"Are you at least good at it?" He whispers, pressing his mouth to my ear as he clings to the elastic of my black leggings.

"Let's hope so." A shy tone comes out in my voice.

I hear him chuckle, it's pleasant, I don't know why.

"Hold on to me." He says, handing me his shoulders to which I meekly cling, he uses the opportunity to slip off my pants, I am left in my underwear in seconds. He looks into my eyes, then at my breasts, I feel it even fuller and more beautiful under his eyes, then he places his hand on my hip, grasping it.

"Don't… look at me like that." I whisper with shame.

"I like it to the point of annoyance."

I stare at him, feeling like smiling but for some reason not following my instincts. "Really?"

"I don't tell lies."

He unhooks my bra and caresses my modest breasts with his cheek. He bites the nipple rather aggressively, to the point that I gasp in pleasurable pain, but he abruptly uses his tongue to treat the wound, and only confused, stifled moans come out of my mouth.

"Really? From now on," I say, bravely sinking my fingers into his hair, clutching him to my chest for him to keep licking, to make me gasp like this, "if you tell even one lie, I won't believe anything you've told me."

"The all-or-nothing rule is fallacious, you know?" He asks, amused, as he sucks my breast, squeezes it, massages it.

I am completely defeated, voluntarily surrendering to his will.

After taking me in his arms like I don't weigh, he pushes me against the wall. We kiss again, and I am increasingly addicted. His kisses are impetuous, his tongue is expert, moving slowly, and as a few drops of pleasure slip between my thighs I can feel his fingers exploring my intimacy.

He puts in only two but they are enough to make me gasp again. I cling as if desperately, I don't do it on purpose, but it is hard to enjoy so much in such a position, and although his grip is firm and he holds me even with his leg as his swollen sex rests in my thigh, I still feel precarious.

He's different from all the guys I've been with; it's like I'm experiencing new sensations. It's not like I've never had a one-night stand with a beautiful boy, as in this case, and it's nothing more than that (aside from the fact that he is an established celebrity from one of the most famous bands in South Korea), sure, but maybe deep down I'm living every fan's dream of this guy.

I'm not a little girl anymore, I delude myself it's different but this situation is really dangerous, didn't the Hybe agents foresee this? I find it hard to believe that a rich, independent woman would still be able to handle something like this.

What if I became so infatuated with them that I wanted to ruin them? Well, maybe the Hybe goons would kill me.

But maybe that's okay, because then the woman loses so much value that she can never be anything to them - or even a problem for the company. What will remain will be the end of a delulu era and a few tears, but it will still be a funny page in my life, albeit a dangerously borderline one.

"I'll put it in, okay?" He says, pressing his lips to my cheek, he's laughing, still doing it.

I nod, lost in him now.

"You don't talk much, during…" He says, as I feel him rest his cock on my opening, then willingly let it slip a little between my large lips, which moisten it.

"I would just say - I moan, surprised to feel him enter suddenly and before I can finish the sentence, using my fingernails to grip his bare skin - obscenities."

"I want to feel them."

Man, man.

It's a little girl thing, isn't it? My heart is pounding.

I don't have time to notice because his pelvis literally punctuates the rhythm of my breathing, I feel him enter me with ferocity, it's as if he uses his whole body to pound into me, I feel full to my sternum.

I hold on tight, I don't want him to stop, I really don't want him to stop.

"S-Slower…" I try to say, slurring my words.

"And why?" He whispers amusedly, as if he already understood.

It sounds bad to say I'm desperate, doesn't it? I am desperate because of him, I never want him to stop, I need this moment to last longer, I want to feel him in my belly, along with the butterflies I haven't had in so long, he shakes them all.

He lifts me abruptly, to better weld his grip, but what I sense is only how he pulls his length out of me, inserting it again and abruptly inside me, trembling because of him.

My breathing is desperate, my gaze blank, he is desperate. He's not lucid either, I can see it in the way he squeezes his eyes shut, the way he breathes erratically, the drops of sweat that bead his forehead, too focused on the pleasure we are sharing.

Is the clock still ticking? I don't understand it, I don't know anymore.

"Ah… Jay… - I swallow, my mouth is full of saliva, like I'm hungry, resting my chin on his shoulder as his steady, assaultive strokes bounce me back onto him holding me by my thighs, resting his hands on my buttocks as he steals one kiss after another - more…more…"

"Please ask." He whispers so close to my ear again.

"Ple…please …"

He means it, maybe because I asked so pitifully, but he manages to go even faster than he has so far, and I don't understand how he doesn't sound the least bit tired after all this time holding me up.

I can't control my voice anymore, I feel him deeper and deeper inside me, the more he moves the more my breathlessness increases. It may be because he is a dancer, a professional, but what kind of stamina is this?

I can't even control my body anymore, I start to convulse, I need to stretch, he's going too fast, so fast I can't even hear my own thoughts. I see him take on a strange expression, very focused but also in pain. I am too focused on his beauty to realize it - ""luckily"" he notices and puts me down.

He's pulled it out, holding his majestic cock with his hand, breathing deeply. I am confused, guilty.

I was too involved to remind him that I take the pill on Hybe's orders.

I look at him wearily, as strands of hair dampened by sweat and the warmth of the bathroom, which normally shouldn't have such a high temperature without even having bathed, slip past my distraught eyes.

"Oh, what an ass." He says in a relieved tone.

"W-What?"

"I didn't want to come yet." He explains.

Yes, it's great, but I can't look away. What is… that stuff? Was it really that big? Is that why I felt it all the way to my sternum? Should I stop staring at it? I can't, anyway.

"Do you like it?" He asks, still holding it up and turning his body toward me.

Guilty.

"So what do you say…" with his gaze he points to his cock, big and veiny, perhaps the first I've seen of this kind, in Korea.

He doesn't say anything else, his smirk is enough for me to realize that I will bend on my knees, prostrate myself to him helplessly, it doesn't matter anymore who he is, or I am, there is nothing else in this moment, in the world.

It is strange, my heated skin makes contact with the cold floor but not a shiver. The heat is inside my body, burning like a forest has just been given to the stake, every inch of my skin is on fire because of him.

I can smell my scent mixed with his as soon as I take him in my hand, and as I languidly lift my gaze to his, Jay caresses my head. He doesn't push it, he doesn't need to, he knows I'll do what I can, I want my lips to be able to touch his pubes, although judging by the thickness and partly by the length, that will prove to be a tall order.

"Good." He says, as I begin to lick him, moving his hand from my hair to my face.

Why? That annoying fluttering again. No Amanda, don't let your daddy issues take over, deal with it in a mature way, don't brood over it.

I do what I can, it's not easy to take it all in my mouth, my hand tightens around the base, moving with the movement of my lips, for a second I swallow over half its length, and a second later I pull it out with difficulty, as lines of saliva build bridges between me and him. I want to go deeper, I want to have more.

I hear him moaning, differently than before, now he is not exerting any force, pressure, he is completely free to surrender to the pleasure and as he lifts his chin making almost guttural sounds, I can only continue, inch by inch, to have more and more.

Perhaps I don't want him to think me inexperienced, perhaps I want him to have a good memory of it so that I can once again take advantage of him, of his body.

When I suffocate, literally, because of him, I see him burst out laughing as gently pulls my head away from his sex. "You did good, now let me do it."

Did he laugh at me? I failed, I guess.

And so he grabs both my hips, spinning me around, this time my back is to him and I can't look at his face, a little sorry. At the same time, however, feeling him knead my ass, as his intimacy presses against mine again, reddened and swollen, because of him, erases all doubt.

"Are you on the pill?"

"A-Ah… - I stammer, continuing to do so in front of him, starting to annoy me - yes."

"That's great. You know, you shouldn't tell other people…" He advises me, though it doesn't have the dispassionate tone of a recommendation at all, but of threatening advice, as he plunges it into my humors, suddenly.

I groan, it's inevitable. "M-Maybe I will, m-m….maybe I won't…"

That no from me is enough for him to gather my hair, twisting it in his hand, tightening it like a rope, pulling it, but I feel no pain. "Now you don't beg anymore?"

He pulls me to himself, arching my back I can feel his size even more, inside my belly, inside my body. "No…"

Jay doesn't answer, at least in words, because he begins to charge animalistically into me, he is more comfortable, he can force his legs up and you can feel it all, the force I mean. My body bounces like lifeless on the rhythm of the song that produces his. Yes, because his every movement is music to me at this moment.

After long, intense minutes, what comes out of my mouth are inhuman verses, a mix of tiredness, weakness and total addiction. My body is devastated, because of him. I feel like convulsing, he holds me by the arms, I have my cheek resting against the now-warm marble of the sink.

I hear him gasp louder, then hold back, I know what is happening, I can feel it because my belly has just warmed up. After a long stream of warm pleasure inside me, Jay stays still, breathing or trying to at least.

I am exhausted, to the point that as soon as he slides out of me, I fall to my knees. I am devastated, physically as much as psychologically, because it hasn't felt this good in a long time, no, maybe it never has. It's a first for me, in a way.

"Are you… okay?" He asks me, as he lifts up his black pants, which have fallen to his ankles the whole time.

"Yes…"

"Really?" He holds out his hand to me, seeming to recover.

I still have his humors dripping down my inner thigh, but he looks at me as if nothing has happened. "Really."

Afterwards, he explains to me how to use the bathroom, we manage to talk normally, or rather, he acts normal, and this sincerely gives me the feeling of being a colleague, wanting to be nice. I spoke little, still in shock.

"If I'm already asleep when you come back, wake me up. I'll move."

"I'll try not to." I smile weakly, still tired.

"If you touch me when you sleep, it's okay. Just not too close."

"I'm not going to-"

He freezes me, puts a finger over my mouth, presses it so that I stop moving my lips. "Lock up, anyway."

When I walk him to the door, Jay heads to his room but I can't help noticing there's someone else across the hall, I turn away when I sense his presence closer.

"Have you started yet?" He asks, surprised but amused, I think.

"Ah…no. I mean-"

"Even if you are here for that, you could have waited a while."

I was wrong, I'm a pest to him, too.

It's not that I'm surprised, they may be handsome and famous, but they are men, and men are strangely too equal to each other, as if in an unspoken camaraderie. There will be different ones and there will be good ones, I'm sure, but I haven't met any yet, so they must be very few.

However, being a fan myself, I feel bad about it. I mean, it's normal for me to feel bad about giving such an idea to people I like so much. Besides, I had a different idea about him, I thought that he himself would be the least critical - but why did I think that?

At the very least, I reflect, seeing them like this will make the mystical and pure aura that hovers around them fade away in my eyes.

"I do what I'm here to do." I answer him, suddenly fearless, my pride is blatantly wounded.

"It was just a advice, why do you get hot?" Heeseung asks, laughing and moving closer.

"I'm not warming up."

He is one step away from me when he stops. "Don't wear it, I read it ruins tits." He advises me again.

I chase the direction of his gaze, right - even though I'm dressed I'm not wearing a bra, and judging by my nipples, it shows. "But…"

"You wore it before, didn't you?"

Now I look him in the eye, it devastates me but I try to maintain some form of dignity by remaining serious.

I am too embarrassed to realize how beautiful he is up close.

"What do you want?"

"I'm giving you another advice."

I step back into the doorway, not quite lucid enough for him to make fun of me, and no matter how much just looking at him makes me feel like the center of a tornado, he's annoying me.

Heeseung puts his foot in the door before I can close it. "You don't listen to advice, do you?"

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Actually, I feel my privacy has been violated by a stranger."

"Then ask them to send me away, maybe they will listen to you. You're quite authoritative, aren't you? You're Lee Heeseung."

He smiles, as if pitying me, but why should he? "By the way, you said you were a fan, who is your bias?"

Ah. I didn't expect this one, he really changed the subject, putting me in an uncomfortable situation.

Suddenly my hands begin to tingle and my body to boil-essentially, by spending time with Jay, I have normalized that these people in front of me are Enhypen, and that I am still obsessed with each of them.

Why am I blushing? Am I an idiot?

"I don't have it."

"Liar, you took a long time to answer."

"N-No, I mean it."

"Ah, you don't say that because it's really me?" He asks me, with an innocent expression and a dazzling smile, I seem to melt in front of him.

I giggle in confusion. "You wish."

"So you don't want to go against the others? Is that why you won't tell me? Look, I'm not a snitch."

Is he trying to convince me as if I were a child? Ah, that's annoyingly adorable.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because it seems like an interesting experiment. An engene, in our dormitory, to have free access to every member - she nods, raising her eyebrows convincingly, I continue to stare at the perfect shape of her smiling lips - she will try to conquer her bias, no? I'd like to observe him."

I laugh, genuinely. Can I believe that he doesn't know? Or is it precisely because he knows that he wants to observe him?

Conquer? But who am I supposed to conquer in my situation? It's hard enough to find a normal guy with an open mind, should talented kids who expect everything to be owed to them be?

"Are you kidding me?"

"Just a little." His laughter fades into a warm smile.

And of course, he knows.

"So why did you want to know?"

"Because I'm curious, by nature I guess."

"Then I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you'll never get an answer."

He removes his foot, not seeming at all impressed by my knockout response, but whatever, I close the door without even saying goodbye. Now that I am finally alone, leaning against the sink again, I look at myself in the mirror.

My heart is about to burst, my brain is the on the verge of its worst short-circuit, my muscles are trembling.

Did this really happen? All of this? With Jay? With his…body? And that fits into the korean standard? What about Heeseung? Wasn't he a little too handsome? I can feel it, at this rate I'll end up going crazy.

NEXT CHAPTER:

[playedcrowd5610]

Adventures of the Decepticons' Pet Ghost - Chapter 1 Soundwave

"Danny finally manages to get a chance to talk to Soundwave and discovers why Megatron hasn't discovered him yet. Maybe he also makes a friend along the way."

--

Notes: This is part 3 of my Haunting The Nemesis series and I am so excited! This will be a series of short chapters of Danny's adventures on the Nemesis and all of his interactions and chaos with the Decepticons, as well as a few with some Autobots! I do recommend reading the other two parts of the series first for context! But most of these will have enough information and references that you can read this on its own.

Part 1: Chasing Stars Part 2: Burning Rubber

---

Danny had been on the Nemesis for over a week at this point, and for some reason, Megatron hadn’t come kicking down Starscream’s door in order to confiscate his new pet and blast Danny to smithereens or throw him out the airlock. From what he had heard about Megatron from Starscream’s dramatic retellings he seemed to have more of a dislike towards humans than Starscream did.

Though to be fair, Starscream still greatly disliked humans, he was just stuck with one who was now not going to leave him alone and was starting to reluctantly enjoy his company because Danny is the only one who tolerated his monologuing. 

But so far, the only Decepticons aware of Danny’s presence were Starscream, Knockout, and Breakdown.  The two later found Danny inside Starscream’s crushed subspace after pulling them away from the cave Danny had phased them out of. Once a more lucid Starscream had threatened them enough about what would happen if they told Megatron, even Danny was scared for them.  

Danny didn’t know if Starscream was more worried about Danny getting killed if Megatron found out or if Starscream was worried about what Megaton would do to him if he found out that his second-in-command adopted a human pet.  Probably a mix of both.  

So far, from what Starscream had relayed to him in the last couple of months, Megatron seemed like the kind of mech to let Starscream keep Danny until he messed up and then would promptly squeeze the new pet until he exploded just to prove that he had power over Starscream.  And that thought was enough of a reason for Danny to try and stay in hiding. Not that he was worried that Megatron would kill him — Danny didn’t think anyone on this ship could — but he didn’t want Starscream to get hurt in the process and Danny to be a means to achieve that hurt.

But still, Danny was confused.  And he could tell that Starscream was as well. The last few days, he had seen the seeker pacing incessantly around his room and talking to himself about how something seemed off. Starscream had warned Danny not to leave his room, which Danny didn’t listen to.  But apparently, the bedrooms (berth-rooms? Personal quarters?) were the only places on the Nemesis without security cameras.

But with all of those cameras, there definitely had to be some way that Megatron knew about him, that is unless someone was messing with the footage.  After some light questioning of Starscream about how the security worked and who had access, he discovered that a mech by the name Soundwave had control of everything on the ship. He was apparently constantly watching and recording everything that happened and was the third in command on the Nemesis after Starscream himself. And if anything was happening to the footage Danny was in, it was ‘cause of that guy. 

Danny decided to take this questioning into his own hands. A few days later, while Starscream was out, Danny turned invisible and slipped through the door, weaving in and out through the hallways until he found a big enough door that he could safely assume was the bridge. 

There, standing at the main control panel, surrounded by monitors, was a tall purple mech who looked like he was pierced together by several thin pieces of metal. Even his arms seemed as thin as paper compared to the rest of these guys. 

The purple origami man was rapidly typing on the keys with fingers even longer than Starscream’s (which Danny didn’t even think was possible). As Danny floated closer to his side he saw the black screen covering his faceplate, removing any expression from the table.  He remembered Screamy talking about that “faceless freak” before, and how unnerving it was to be around him.  

Well, now was as good a time as ever to make an introduction.  “Heyyy, just the mech I wanted to talk to,”  Danny said as he turned visible and walked out of the shadows. The mech simply turned its helm towards him and tilted his visor to the side. Screamy was right; that was a little unnerving. He could see his reflection looking back at him in the black glass. 

And if Starscream’s EM field was hard to read, this guy’s was impossible. Danny strolled up closer to him, pretending that the staring didn’t bother him at all. “I was curious. Why didn’t you rat me out, to the big M?” Danny put his hands in his pockets. “I know you saw me on the cameras in the lab.  There’s no way you didn’t.  And I've been in the halls many times.  I was expecting to be exterminated like the “pest” I am by now.” 

Soundwave didn’t move from his position. “Curious, -saw- -on the cameras-, didn’t- know -why-.”  The mech clipped back to him in his own voice, which made Danny’s eyes widen. 

“You were curious about me, so you wanted to know more before you go tell your master?”

The mech paused, as if trying to comb through Danny’s sentences for words but instead decided to lean in closer, awkwardly crouching on one knee so that Danny could see his visor more clearly as English words appeared on the screen for Danny to read like subtitles. ‘Subject gives off unstable readings, waiting for more data before proceeding…’  A scan of Danny’s body showed up on Soundwave’s faceplate.  Things like ‘below average body temperature’ and ‘Energy feedback readings’ stood out.

Danny laughed nervously. It seemed this guy was closer to finding Danny out than he would have hoped. Danny rubbed the back of his neck as he stepped back a bit. “If you find out what I am, will you tell Megatron?”

Soundwave stilled a bit too long for Danny’s liking before responding. “Negative.” The voice sounded strangely monotone and robotic compared to any other mechs he encountered. “Statement: Report is required for all unauthorized guests.  Statement: you are not unauthorized.”

Danny smiled. “So because Starscream let me on, I’m allowed?”  He paused. “Also, was that your real voice?”

The mech again waited a long moment before responding.  “Both assessments: correct.”

“I didn’t think you spoke around other people?” Danny questioned. He was sure that Starscream had mentioned he never heard the mech speak, and Starscream didn’t even think he had a voice.

Soundwave straightened slightly so he wasn't crouching down so far to meet Danny in the middle. “Only when necessary.” He then started turning around to face the monitors again. Ahh, the work grind never stops. 

Danny scuffed his foot back and forth on the floor. Starscream wouldn’t be back for another hour or so and he was bored of those data pads.  Danny coughed into his hand, causing the mech to turn his helm back towards Danny again with a slight tilt.  “You mind if I join you for a bit?” 

Soundwave paused in thought before he replied with a quick nod. Just as Danny was about to walk closer to the terminal, a long purple tendril extended from Soundwave’s side and slowly wormed itself toward Danny.  Danny stepped back a bit in surprise at first but the tentacle gently wrapped itself around Danny’s waist, gently lifting him to the height of the desk and placing him down with more gentleness than he had received at any point being on the Nemesis thus far.

Soundwave must not have been doing anything important, as he let Danny watch. Or maybe he just didn’t think Danny was able to learn Cybertronian that fast.  Danny sat down on the desk with crossed legs as he glanced over the text flashing up the screen rapidly. The other monitors were showing cameras and other information they were scanning from Earth, photos, maps, and even articles of dig sites.  Danny sat there, enamored by the work.

“Request: reveal your designation.”  Danny’s head snapped up and back towards Soundwave’s visor, which was solely focused on him.  Danny guessed on the cameras he was just called ‘the human’ or ‘pest’ or ‘Starscream’s pet’. It was nice of him to ask. 

“Danny. My name is Danny.”  Danny smiled brightly.

Soundwave nodded as a smiling emoticon appeared on his visor and he turned back to his work. 

---

Disclaimer: Soundwave talking — so I know that Soundwave doesn't commonly talk in Prime like… at all. But he is shown to speak (even if it was only one line) in the series. He can talk, he just chooses not to unless the need arises. This started back when he was in the Senate and no one listened to him, so he decided that actions speak louder than words. After that, he only speaks to those he respects, and when the need arises. Mainly Megatron, or his mini-cons.

As much as I love Soundwave's somehow snarky silence and clipping things together with previous words he has recorded, I think it’s sweet if he finds himself willing to speak to Danny, especially because I see him as treating Danny almost like one of his mini-cons. Either way! Hope my interpretation of Soundwave is up to your standards and that people enjoyed how I wrote him <3

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Gotta say your au mixed with the art style and such and amazing work in what we seen so far with the horror and some laughs it's just become a treat every time I saw new details (whenever you supplies them up, thanks for that)

I know you already disclosure that it's gonna be bad BAD TIMES for the puppets gang but does it have it's soft ad fluff times??

The shot were Frank ask Wally if they're dying will looking up for the ceiling hasn't leave my brain, such a raw emotional clear on them, I wonder when they were just the two of them for a while they cuddle or hold hands for comfort??

I just.i just want them to have small victories of comfort

of course it has fluff and comfort! a lot of it! having a nice blend of both makes the fluff feel sweeter & the hurt hit all the harder <3 i will now supply some (written (for now)) examples and tidbits. putting it under the cut cause it got kinda Long

Frank & Wally do become very affectionate with each other! ofc as soon as Frank woke Wally was like "ok im holding your hand everywhere we go, this is Non Negotiable". because its dark! he doesn't want Frank to stray too far or get lost! and it's easier to yank Frank outta harm's way if they're already holding hands. comfort factors into it later, when Frank starts initiating & Wally does it purely to make sure Frank is still there. but yeah they get Very comfortable with each other, to the point where when Eddie wakes up he asks Frank - misinterpreting the situation entirely - "if you'd rather have Wally than me, i understand." ofc Frank laughs his ass off bc uhhh no that is Not what their relationship is, Ed

~ similarly, (almost) everyone acclimates to Wally's need to be as close as possible at all feasible times. he's Very physically affectionate and has little to no regard for personal space or boundaries anymore. like, he'll listen when someone asks him to back off or somethn, but until then he does not give a fuck. and this rubs off on the others as they get used to it

and then there's OH WAIT IDK IF I'VE MENTIONED THIS YET but! Wally - during his main exploration phase - found the Welcome Home episode recordings! and he eventually figured out how to work a tv he found, so he added "watch an episode of me and my friends" into his Routine. when the others wake up, he includes them in this. is it horrifying for them at first? yeah. but they get used to it and find similar if not the same comfort and enjoyment in it that Wally does. like in This Scribble, Frank & Wally & Poppy & Howdy are all watching an episode, and are quoting the lines they've memorized. they all cuddle up on a couch together and watch their favorite show <3

& Wally also teaches them (as they wake up) how to repair and care for themselves / each other, sleeping or otherwise. picture a little sewing circle of Frank, Wally, and Poppy, with Poppy giving tips and guidance on how to improve. these sessions provide them with genuine smiles and sometimes even some laughs.

before Wally & Home's divorce, they'd pass much of the time with games! go-fish, charades, i spy, etc. one of their favorites was when Wally would toss a ball at Home's door, and Home would hit it back. additionally, whenever Wally discovered something new, he'd rush back to Home with it - either the information or the actual thing, if he could carry it. ex: when he'd find books or files, he'd bring them to Home and (quietly) read them aloud while resting against them

and just in general know that the Post Office is a place of safety. Wally has made sure it's secure. i like to imagine like... little craft sessions and impromptu dancing lessons and story sharing going on in there among the awake neighbors. they try to have fun despite it all

that's all i can recall for Act One's fluff tidbits rn, but trust me there is More. and also abundant angsty comfort. the downright painful stuff has to earn its existence yk yk this au is Not grimdark

[kingsandbastardz]

@riderofspades

TROPE 1:

1st one is definitely has to be sharing a bed. Because they actually do. But that sort of repeated and forced contact of being really tight roommates means a lot of 'playing nice' that we don't see on camera. I have like 5 different scenarios in my head surrounding that - but all of them still have the same element of Fang Duobing being either talkative just because he has company. Or being a sleep octopus. I 100% strongly believe he moves around in bed and will latch onto whatever is nearby so that's been a big consistent point in my headcanons. But dfs' reactions are where things become varied. On one hand, I like the idea where he's accepting of it because a) he honestly doesn't mind because his ego goes to very specific places and that damn upper floor does not have walls and he's cold b) Accepts it because of peculiarities surrounding his concept of physical boundaries - like maybe he's ok with it because he used to sleep in piles with the 3 kings and wuyan cuz they were poor as shit and it got cold at night and he just sees this as being part of the same. OR maybe he's touch starved and this is a bit of stolen affection that he can privately keep for himself. OR maybe he sleeps like a log and just doesn't notice because he either trusts fdb that much or just doesn't see him as a threat at all, even subconciously. c) he doesn't accept it but can't figure out how to get fdb to stop since he's asleep. And it creates continued shenanigans until he finally gives up and lets it happen Whether this ends up in a case of aggressive "Competitive sleep" where he ends up kicked onto the floor -- that's another matter LMAO but I tend to find these sorts of accidental/harmlessly forced intimacy pretty fun. You can't stay emotionally distant from someone if you're cuddling every night.

But that leads me to TROPE 2:

Enemies to lovers - but this would be strictly from FDB's pov bc I don't believe DFS ever sees FDB as an enemy. Even early on, he was fairly careful with him (for dfs' level of care which is still rough lbr) -- and he just got more and more bro-y as time went on until he started exhibiting that care more obviously. FDB however has this whole built up mental narrative in his head where he sees himself cast as the hero, and DFS is the big evil demon guy - even to the end, he still buys into the narrative because LLH keeps so much information from him. All the things we discover about dfs is filtered through LLH's silence. FDB hears none of it. Like take the scene where dfs shows up to give llh the styx flower? And fdb says to llh - hey he's giving up his dream for you. Because as far as he knows, dfs hasn't broken through to the next level of his martial arts yet. He doesn't know that dfs was caught/almost-or-temporarily died, tortured, etc. He doesn't even know that DFS was searching for the flower for llh. The situation I like to think about are when he's finally pushed into a situation where he has to apply his natural protective instincts -- but onto dfs instead of llh. Who... is prone towards getting in over his head due to narrative-karma being shit-tier. (I have a whole meta about that I've been stewing over) But basically dfs getting into trouble is a given. lmao. The issue is his tendency to not talk about things. Fdb, unlike llh, can't read dfs' mind and requires actual verbal communication. DFS doesn't really communicate like regular people do. But honestly, that's all technicalities. I like playing with gender roles and DFS being cast as the damsel in distress or the female-narrative-role is really fantastic. So having that played out with fdb in his self-cast hero role, falls naturally into that. Especially as llh's successor.

Which then brings me to TROPE 3:

FDB as llh's successor where he inherits the house, the dog, the sparkly underwear, and the wife nemesis. I mean. The first thing FDB tries to do is get dfs to call him shifu. And later, the first thing llh does to a-fei is to get him to call him 主人. Like master, like disciple, amirite? But it's like their immediate instinct is to try to keep him. And in his letter at the end, llh was telling dfs he can go to fdb if he wants. I took that as an indirect message from llh to fdb with a giant arrow pointing at dfs saying "KEEP AN EYE ON HIM, HE'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY NOW"

AU TROPE

Something time travel or timeloop related because I like the idea of FDB being forced to truly learn the real stories of the people and events around him and not the story-version he taught himself. He truly understands llh -- because llh was his special interest, but he drastically lacks understanding of everyone else. Which is especially interesting regarding dfs because he's painted as the main nemesis to llh? You'd think that fdb's hyperfixation would partially extend to him bc he's llh's big enemy. But that never happened. I think it's no mistake that fdb's conversation with a-fei in the zombie village uses such broad terms like "You don't have to chose evil you can be righteous" -- all meaningless words because he has zero knowledge or understanding of dfs as a real person existing in real society. He only knows of him as this storybook figure of great 'evil'. Without him even thinking too hard about what that evil could be. It's just the word 'evil' flying around in his head with no real weight. I feel like time shenanigans forcing him to address that lack of knowledge or understanding would open up some interesting story potential. Also I really like the whole gaining knowledge thing. It's one of the reasons I like thrillers and mysteries -- finding out and understanding a person is like a personal version of puzzle solving.

[greenerteacups]

hihi i saw you were semi-active on tumblr and figured i would ask if you'd be willing to elaborate a bit on the whole push/pull relationship theo and daphne have in lionheart? i've done a couple rereads but i still can't quite figure out how they feel about one another.

hope you're having a great christmas gt <3

i've got good news and bad news. the good news: you've read it perfectly well, because "can't figure out how they feel about one another" is exactly what's going on with them at any given moment. so this is greatly vindicating for both you as reader and myself as author. the bad news: you have just given me license to talk about theodore nott and daphne greengrass, a dynamic that gets an understandably small amount of attention and yet consumes large volumes of my headspace. so. spoilers ahead!

daphne and theo break my heart, because they're a story in wasted potential. theo and pansy are obviously old childhood friends, but i think daphne is just someone who knew them socially and only really got close to them at school — cf. her conversation with draco at the yule ball — because first year forced theo to make friends who weren't pansy for the first time, and daphne finally had a chance to socialize without her parents coddling her. they get along like a house on fire, pansy rocks up to join them in second year, and this is the cute little nega-Trio draco meets in book 2. it's a fashionable nucleus of dry humor and ferocious mutual protectiveness, which theo demonstrates especially in the hospital wing at the end of book 3.

but theo continues to suffer the chronic condition of Being Theodore Nott, and so when the plot comes knocking, things go south for him expeditiously, especially his personal relationships. daphne develops a crush on him as early as book 3, and being daphne, she's incredibly obvious about it, but being (1) a teenage boy and also (2) an incipient domestic terrorist, he naturally avoids dwelling on it — and then maybe-kind-of-starts-to-reciprocate, because hey huh wait a second you sure do care about this girl a lot, don't you, theodore? — but by that point the war's started revving up in the background and he has Other Shit To Deal With.

it doesn't help that the two of them are being drawn in radically different political directions, partly because of her friendship with draco, but also because of her own choices. theo's mistake here isn't malicious, but he really does ice daphne out (as he does everyone but pansy, pretty much, in fairness) for most of book 4, and by the time he realizes that he could actually lose her, it's too late. probably he doesn't realize how far she's migrating once she drifts out of his influence — daphne is incredibly susceptible to suggestion and is deeply influenced by those around her, which becomes clear once she's transplanted into gryffindor and discovers this much kinder, more chivalrous side of her nature. given that chameleon-quality of hers, it's understandable for theo to be shocked when she pivots away from him and pansy the space of less than a year. but also, I think it's telling that he's that surprised, since daphne hasn't been in good with the rest of slytherin for months at this point. and in turn, this surprise angers her, because like — dude, seriously? forget the romantic stuff; you're supposed to be her best friend, and you couldn't tell that she was doing a Character Arc behind your back? (strains of this feeling heavily inform what she says to draco during the Yule Ball, especially re: theo and pansy being each other's platonic soulmates. she feels locked out, in every sense: from slytherin, from her friends, from her parents, from everything. she wants in on something, and it drives her to do something pretty callous to draco and hermione, as she realizes and regrets. daphne is not always a kind person, even when she's a nice one.)

that anger, and theo's unfortunate failure to do anything useful about it whatsoever — slytherins! purebloods! low EQ! not great at the whole making-amends thing! — is what makes it possible for her to sever ties with slytherin completely, effectively terminating the close friendship she had with him and pansy (who's slightly less reconciled to that separation, but pansy is also much less politically involved than theo both philosophically and functionally, so it's easier for her to double-dip). it's my headcanon that if theo had even 15% less to worry about, he'd be making more of an effort to revive that relationship, but kid is in hardcore Survival Mode for most of book 4, and just knowing that daphne's not in immediate physical danger has to be enough for him. meanwhile, upstairs, daphne is discovering the Life-Changing Magic of Real Friendship, and like, it's kind of a blast? and lavender and parvati are really cool? and gosh now that theo isn't the center of her living universe, isn't it funny how all these tall good-looking boys are wandering around? funny, that!!

this isn't to say that their story is finished — it isn't! there's still a lot of gas left in this tank, and many, many things these two have left to say to each other — but that's where the story leaves us. they were close; there was a real possibility of something, and likely some degree of mutual interest; but the timing was never right, and it's not going to get any easier if things keep going in the direction they are now. (but who knows?)

[bonsaiiiiiii-fics]

Eggs

Is it destiny? Is it a coincidence? But especially, What should she do now that the person she has been looking for doesn’t exist anymore?

Words: 5300-ish

Genre: fluff, slice of life. a bit of angst too? cos memories and stuff…no trigger warnings mentionable.

Fandom: Thunderbirds are go!2015

Characters: boi, all of ‘em! We also have Lucille, and I sprinkled in some oc’s!

Special mention: thank you to @louthestarspeaker for lending me her Laurie, your girl has been an absolute delight to write!

This story is kinda weird, and I don’t know if there’s gonna be a continuation or not. I just had an idea, wrote it down and here we are! Nothing serious, just for fun/writing again/passing the time. Don’t @ me, if you read it and discover you don’t like it, leave it where it is and back tf away slowly. (just for precaution. moots i don’t wanna bite ur ass <3)

Ao3 link

"...Is it too late to back up now?" She asks timidly, grimacing and taking a small step away from the door. Gran Roca Ranch. At least that's what it says on the billboard at the entrance. "Probably she isn't even here anymore!" 

"Nope." Laurie answers her first question, a haunting hand hovering on the door. "This is the time to act like that amazing, confident, person that you are, no ifs, ands or buts about it." She tries to fight her best friend when she gets a grip of her hand, forcing her to depart it from the door the farthest possible. "And you- ugh!, you won't know if you don't knock!" She grunts, noticing just how strong Quinn can be. Seriously, she eats tacos and smoothies all day, how the hell does she manage to keep it if she's as slim as a twig? Genes? 

"Well I need a reinforcement taco before this!" Quinn forces through gritted teeth. "And what do you think I'm going to tell her, hey! I'm your donor baby and I'm here to flip your life upside down?" She rolls her eyes, adjusting her sunglasses. "What if she doesn't even want to see me?" 

"If she left you her address in the envelope, then I think she wanted you to find her." 

"Well, I'm not ready to find out just yet!" 

"Not that you can help it, you know. You're screeching so loud I think all the neighborhood heard you." Laurie says, hands on her hips and a false innocent smile on her face, the plan morphed into her mind taking action. "And if she hasn't heard you before, she surely will hear this now!" And with that awful sentence she rings on the doorbell, doing what Quinn tried stopping her from doing until now. 

The blonde girl, in return, starts by gawking at her with her eyes almost out of their sockets and a jaw so low you could store an entire cake inside her mouth, then punches her -not so lightly- on a shoulder, making Laurie gasp at the pain and the sudden movement. "Traitor!" She spits, just seconds before the door opens, revealing... 

"Uh..." Kayo falters, taking in the scene in front of her very eyes upon opening the door. There's two women, soft blonde waves and some midnight black locs, arms tangled in each other, more like the blonde is trying to strangle her friend and the latter is trying to defend herself, both looking awkwardly at her. "Can I...help you?" She asks tentatively, her eyebrow raised, studying them intently. The blonde is holding an envelope in her hand, and now that she looks at her...the resemblance is dangerously familiar to someone... 

"Uh!" Quinn gasps, detangling from her best friend and just smiling broadly, as if nothing happened. "Hi, my name is Quinn, and this is Laurie." 

"Hi, Quinn and Laurie. So, what can I help you with?" Kayo repeats, her patience wearing thin. Who are these two strangers? This isn't pizza delivery! She mentally prays that it’s not another string of paparazzi striving to secure an interview, them being the first two of a long queue. Even if the Tracy’s like to be reserved about their whereabouts, the paps’ job is to unveil, tell and write as many tales as possible, and this requires some great investigative skills, for example finding Jeff Tracy’s old house. It’s not the first time paparazzi are at their door, and it certainly won’t be the last.

"Um," Quinn clears her throat, shifting from embarrassed to confident, again, that spark in her eye that looks dangerously familiar. Now that Kayo thinks about it, if Gordon was to have a female counterpart, Quinn would be embodying it. "I'm looking for Lucille Collins. Does she, um, live here?" 

Now this leaves Kayo dumbfounded. 

And with a lot of questions. 

How does she know? Why is she looking for her? Could it be...? 

"Um. Excuse me." Is all Kayo can say to excuse herself and close the door in their faces, now leaving both girls with a fish out of water face. 

"What was that?" Quinn asks, her cordial smile still plastered on her face, but one eye twitching in incredulousness. 

"I don't...know?" Laurie is smiling too, holding her still painful shoulder. They both look at each other, and this is the moment when Laurie knows Quinn's about to lose control. 

"So who was it at the door? Did the pizza delivery read our minds before we could place the order?" Gordon asks smugly, a note of curiosity in his voice. 

"That would be so dope!" Alan adds, leaning forward in his chair so his arms come to rest on his lap. 

Kayo, however, doesn't seem to hear them as she clears her throat, ready to drop whatever bomb this is on them.

"Are you okay, Kayo? You look like you've seen a ghost." Virgil butts in, obviously concerned about her losing all the color in her face. 

"There's two women at the door, they're looking for Mrs. Tracy, and I don’t mean Grandma." She says as neutrally as possible, not seeming to avoid massaging her arm awkwardly in the process. "What am I supposed to do?" 

Nobody answers her, and the silence is so audible you can hear the indistinct chatting of the women still at the door, probably debating on whether to stay and just vanish from the premises from the heat of it. 

"Huh." Jeff mutters, taking the situation in his own hands. "I think I know what this is about. Help me up, please." He asks no one in particular, Scott jumping up from his armchair like it's on fire, instantly by his father's side. "Thank you, son. Take me to the door." 

"If we disappear silently, she probably won't even know we were there! We can say she just imagined it! Or that I'm the, uh, mailman?" Quinn tries, shrugging her shoulders in the process. 

"I don't think she would believe you, you're not exactly dressed up as one." Laurie counters, eyeing her short romper. 

"Gasp," she audibly gasps. "Are you trying to say I look ugly?" 

"If the shoe fits." She winks at her bestie, earning a glare from her. 

"I hate you." 

"No you don't." 

A sound near the front door, like a crane tapping on the floor, makes both straighten their backs up, standing like soldiers in wait for their general. Moments later, Jeff Tracy himself, accompanied by his son, opens the door, and the girls just...stare. 

"Uh, Quinn? I think we got the wrong house..." Laurie recognizes immediately the man standing in front of her, seemingly unlike Quinn, that flashes him and his exact same, younger copy, her dimpled smile. 

"Hiiiii!" She tries a more energetic approach. "I'm Quinn, and this is Laurie." She gestures to her bestie, who is looking mildly uncomfortable, deeming it necessary to introduce themselves again. "We're looking for-" 

"I know." Jeff nods. "You must be her daughter. Co-" 

"HUH!?" Scott gasps, involuntarily interrupting his dad who side looks at him. "What!? Her what??" He looks wide eyed at her, then at his dad, then back again at her. 

She seems to ignore his apparent outburst. "Yeah, something like that. So, does she live here?" If there's one thing to know about Quinn Prescott is that she gets straight to the point. And eats tacos nonstop, apparently. 

Jeff is silent, a pang of sadness visible on his face. "Come in." He replies to her question, stepping aside - and forcing Scott, as still as a statue, to do the same - and welcoming them in what used to be Luci's house. Scott disappears right back in, probably to warn everyone of the unexpected new visitor invading their home, or to prepare them psychologically for this, leaving the girls to let themselves in without too many ceremonies, Quinn taking off her paperboy hat and just holding it in her hand as Jeff slowly accompanies them to the living room, where everyone is gathered. 

"Holy shmeesus!" Is the first thing she mutters to Laurie upon seeing all these people, wondering just now that maybe she got the wrong house. But if she did, the man living inside it wouldn't let them in, right? She's probably not home at the moment, yeah, that's it. One thing for sure, the room is loaded with people and every single one of them seem to be looking- no, gawking, at her. Expecting her to be joking about the matter. There's the woman that opened the door the first time, the man that opened it the second, 5 other men and a old lady. And not to mention this house is gigantic. Dam, egg mama's loaded! 

Everyone is so still, the silence is so deafening, like they can't believe their eyes; she manages to get a sound from them all, a collective general gasp, after her sunglass lenses fade back to clear, not sensing any sunlight inside, revealing her warm brown eyes. 

"It's uncanny." Scott mutters, breaking the silence. 

"It's mom." Virgil backs him up, just gaping at her. She shares his same eyes, and, well, mom's. Come to think about it, she is mom, just a different smile, skin tone, and some round glasses added.

"What is this, dad?" Scott confronts their dad, wanting, needing, to know more. A perfect stranger, with the same appearance as their mother, comes at their door, searches for her, and apparently she's her daughter? And seemingly, Jeff knows about it all. 

Jeff in reply looks at Quinn, holding out a hand towards her as if to show she's there. "Want to do the honors?" 

She nods, taking in a deep breath. "So...I'm Lucille's donor baby, and I'm invading your lives!" She jokes, to then immediately facepalm, followed by a nervous chuckle from Laurie, accompanied by a head shake. "Hehe, sorry...I always joke when I'm nervous, I don't know why I do that." She first scratches her jaw, then behind her ear, handing Jeff the envelope she carried until now, covering her lap with her checkered white and brown hat. "But that's about it. The address listed in her description was this one." 

"Yeah, I know who you are already." Despite this statement, he still opens the envelope, suddenly invaded by his eldest three sons that read over his shoulder too, reading indeed his late wife's name, but another as well. "I just didn't think you'd even show up, even if she hoped to see you." 

"She does?" She smiles, her dimples showing. She unconsciously side glances at Laurie, which shoots her a timid thumbs up. 

"She did." He corrects her, the pain in his words leading her to lose the dimples she shares with Scott. 

"Um, care to explain for those who can't understand the situation?" Alan butts in, knowing the heaviness of the situation but now how to decipher it. 

"Yeah, like, we just got mom's clone and then what?" Gordon counters. 

Just when she wants to speak, Jeff looks again at her, prodding her silently to explain herself. It's her situation, and she gets to take it into her own hands as she wants. 

"So, from what my parents told me, they weren't able to conceive, so they picked out donors from both sides; Lucille was my egg donor, while Clinton was my sperm donor. I don't really know anything about them, my parents told me about it just recently and recommended that I speak personally with them first, but without them I wouldn't exist, so...ta-daaa!" She slightly enlarges her hands, waving her open hands up and down. 

"Well, you surely took your time." Jeff comments sarcastically, loosening her stiff shoulders a little. 

"That's cool! Is it something like out of a lab?" Alan asks, earning a side glare from Virgil. 

"Egg and sperm donors have existed for a long time, you know?" The second eldest points out to him in a scolding tone. 

"I didn't know about the egg ones, Virg!" 

"Me either Virg! We're not all medical like you." Gordon, as always, speaks as if he and Allie are the same. 

"Pardon my sons," this sentence from Jeff seems to override their sons'. "They're just curious about you, she never spoke to them about you." 

"How to blame her?" Grandma says, laughing gently. "She didn't expect the gal to even show up. She just did a good deed." She gets up, sitting on an armrest of the armchair Virgil sat back on, patting gently his shoulder. 

"That she did." Jeff looks at her, drinks her in with those silver eyes of his. Yep, she's Lucille's spitting image: long blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes, same nose, same lips. The only thing changing is a golden skin tone, complimenting perfectly her eyes and hair and making her look like a golden ember, and the way she smiles; even if she has Luci's lips and dimples, she smiles differently, a charming and 'I'm sexy and I know it' kind of smile instead of Luci's warm and harmless one. "You look a lot like her." He says after a long while, in which she seems content basking in the attention. She knows she's beautiful, she probably has an overly big ego, and the fact this family is feeding it is rather nice to her. 

"Yeah, Laurie says I'm her spitting image. Uh, from the pictures I found in the envelope." 

"I'm sorry, but you won't be able to see her anytime, I'm afraid." He says.

She doesn't seem to read between the lines. "Oh, yeah, I totally get it! She has another family now, not that I was her family before, but I get it, no worries. Just tell her I've been here." She gets up, dusting absent-mindedly her dress and hat. 

"No, you don't get it." Jeff is finding all the strength in himself to say the words long dreaded in the Tracy household. "She passed some time ago." He lets out after a long, painful, sigh. 

"Oh." She mutters, to then plop back down. "Can I ask for how long?" 

"Almost 20 years." 

She gets silent, a lot of thoughts whirling in her brain, but she pushes them aside for her to think about them later. "I'm sorry for your loss." 

"I'm sorry too." He raises his eyes to look at her. "She wanted to meet you, she really did." 

"Well...I wouldn't be me if I didn't keep my always being late rap, right?" She tries to crack a joke, earning a cheeky smile from everyone, even a tiny laugh from the tinies. 

"Oh, preach!" Laurie exclaims, happy that her friend finally noticed. 

"So, what is it you do in life, Quinn?" Jeff changes subject after she so helpfully contributed in raising the spirits back up; unfortunately, Lucille has always been a tough topic to talk about after her passing, and probably this is just what they needed now that they're all back together. 

"Oh, I just got into college, Columbia." 

"Ah, Ivy League! Impressive! Major?" 

"Programming." 

"I see. Well, I wish you best of luck on your journey." 

"Thank you, um, Mr..." She just now realizes she never properly caught his name, nor the others'; it sure looks like a wide family, though. 

"Oh! We didn't introduce ourselves, sorry! We were just so caught by everything..." He immediately apologizes, getting up not without any help from his second eldest. "I'm Jeff Tracy." Once in front of Quinn, who just got up too, he extends his hand for her to shake it, and notices she has a very tight grip, too. 

"Huh, Tracy you say?" Quinn is silent for a second, an eyebrow raised to try and remember when she heard that name before, while Laurie, once her suspicions (that weren't so suspicious) got confirmed, draws in a shaky breath, not understanding why in the Heavens her bestie doesn't realize how lucky she is to even breathe the same expensive air as these business tycoons. And, yeah, International Rescue themselves. "I like it. I assume you are- uh, were..." 

"Yeah, her husband. These are our kids. Boys?" He calls out for them to get up and present themselves, to which they oblige dutifully. 

Scott is the first one to present himself, his grip somewhat strong, but not menacing. He saw the description, everything true to the minimal detail, and the fact she's their mom's spitting image contributes greatly to the cause, as if she was cloned, and their dad seems to know and support of this situation; however, he still doesn't know if she's lying, faking it all, and found sensible information, touched a nerve who could bring them down, his Commander brain gearing up for action. He, alas, has complete faith in dad, and in John, who didn't go unnoticed by Scott as he briefly excused himself to go to the bathroom, secretly fulfilling the eldest' order to run a background check on her. He notices her firm grip too, complete with the fact she either doesn't seem to care, or is oblivious to the pinning, calculating stare he's giving her, flashing him a taste of his own medicine, killer dimples. Yep, truly mom's child. 

The next in line is Virgil, who takes her hand softly and shakes it gently, and she swears he's like massaging it or something, because she finds instantly relief from a throbbing she didn't even notice until it passed, truly magical. They both get lost in the eyes they both share the color of, mom's color, and both wonder how one could be a spitting image of the other. Virgil is calm, trusting, not wanting to start any rumors or thoughts, just trusting what the person in front of him is saying. Like, how could she lie with those eyes? He swears he's looking at mom who came back to life and waltzed back into their lives.

Gordon pops up next, and damn! If she thought to be Lucille's spitting image, from that little description pic, then this man is taking it up a notch! Same features, different gender. It's almost frightening. Gordon, on the other hand, is totally unaffected by any negative thoughts and emotions, just excited to hear about this new, strange thing, egg donation, and the fact that a new sibling is added to their family, even if she's just a half-sibling. It's still something from mom, and everything from mom is precious right now. 

Alan is quick in presenting himself with a fist bump, a gesture that Quinn loves gladly, evolving it into a weird bro hand salute Alan seems to be on board with, professionalism not necessary right now. After all, if she’s in college right now…same as him! They’re college buddies!

Last but not least brother, John, shaking briefly her hand and directing a hidden thumbs up at Scott, who nods and exhales briefly, his worries dissolving temporarily. 

Kayo is up, her way of shaking hands translated into shoving a tablet into Quinn's face, that shrugs and places her thumb on it, more than calm about the fact that they can't get money from her as she's broker than a broken record, having invested her last savings in...tacos. Kayo swiftly nods, and Quinn just shrugs, before she gets presented to the next person.

A sweet old lady, who seems very spirited. “Hello, gal! Well, I’ll be damned, you’re her spitting image!” This makes Quinn crack a wide smile, the girl identical in her biological mother even in these simple gestures. "I'm Sally, but you can call me Grandma. I'm the boys' grandmother and Jeff's mother. It's nice you finally joined us." To unknot her nerves, Grandma gently squeezes Quinn's shoulder, to which the girl looks at her warmly. This woman, this part of her newfound family, has this capacity to melt her worries and insecurities away in a way...familiar to her, like it's been done to her since she was born. 

"Don't blame her too much, she has this knack for always showing up late." Laurie butts in the conversation after being presented too to the boys, daring to see if a joke can fix up the mood. 

"I call it being fashionably late." Quinn replies, swooshing a strand of hair behind her shoulder smugly. 

Grandma laughs heartily. "I know a thing or two about it. Between us, but...your mother was always fashionably late too." She confesses to the girls, Quinn gaping a little. 

"See?" She triumphantly points out. "It's all in the genes!"

Laurie laughs too, looking at her bestie. “Don’t give her excuses now, or it’ll get to her head!”

Quinn is about to counterattack with a not too ladylike answer, when another voice joins in the conversation again. "Clinton Smith?" She turns to look at Jeff, which looks at the envelope then at her.

“Oh, yeah, that’s my donor dad. Or at least that’s all I know about him, I haven’t visited him yet.” She replies, looking somewhere else with a bitter smile, that doesn’t go unnoticed by Jeff.

“Is he…unavailable too?” He tries this word, not having enough guts built up to say that word, that nefarious word he wishes he never had to say to describe his wife.

“Actually…I don’t know?” She replies questionably back, scratching her neck in the process. “I haven’t been able to find him at all. Either he vanished, or he doesn’t want to be found, or…yeah.”

“Doesn’t want to be found…why is that?” Jeff asks back, trying to understand more from that situation; maybe he can help, he can ‘rescue’ her if she wants to.

“Well, there’s his name, but no address. But I suppose if he didn’t want to be found, then he wouldn’t have wanted his name to be added to that document, because it’s supposed to be for me to read once I came of age.” She plops down to her previous seat, crossing her arms with a focused frown painted on her face, the upper lip touching her nose septum, her dimples visible and her eyes looking upwards, painting Lucille’s face with an almost childish and exaggerated undertone. “I know I’m very late in searching for them since I got the documents, but if you don’t want your child to know anything about you, then…you cancel everything they might know about you, right?”

“I don’t know exactly, it never happened to me…” He replies ironically, earning a broad smile from his boys, a sign that they had a father from the start that cared about them and loved them deeply. “But if you want to get to know him, we can help you out.”

She widens her eyes slightly. “Really? You don’t have to…”

“Yeah, of course! Family is important, and if you want to know exactly who both of your biological parents are it’s perfectly normal! I just happen to know a detective that can help you out on this, that is if you accept our help.” He states tentatively, knowing he doesn’t have any ‘power’ over her, despite her being Lucille’s first child and only daughter, her only female lineage, making her very precious; but at the same time he knows that he can’t force her to be a part of their lives just because she’s family by blood, she has another adoptive family that love her and raised her to be the woman she is now. The decision to be a Tracy must belong to Quinn and Quinn only. “And, of course, I’ll tell you more about your biological mother as well.”

“Well…” Quinn takes it all in, pondering deeply which answer she should give in return and moving her gaze to the floor. She knows that if she replies positively, this means she’ll come in contact with part of her biological family again, but she also knows that this decision is totally up to her, just like before when Jeff allowed her to explain who she was and why she was connected with this family. The question is, does she want to be part of this family? She already has another one, the one that has been there with her from the start, waiting for her at home. Can she replace them so easily? Being part of more than a family at once, even her biological dad’s side, is it possible? Does it mean that if she chooses to do this, she’ll have to leave her ‘old’ family behind, or can she rotate between one family and the other on random days?

“I’m sorry…” She finally comes up with an answer. “...but I have to think about it. This thing about Lucille has been a huge blow for me, and I’m not saying this because she…well, passed, but I think it would have been a blow even if today I would’ve gotten to talk to her. I received the document just recently…and…you guys…”

“Don’t apologize at all, Quinn, it’s understandable.” This is the first time that man calls her by her name. it’s…strange. “You have yet to elaborate all of this, and we’re here when, if, you’ll be ready to talk to us again.”

“Thank you.” Quinn smiles fondly at Jeff, and for the first time since she smiled at him, it seems like Lucille is smiling at him again after 19 long years where the world has been deprived of his wife’s warm and innocent smile. Another person notices, and where Jeff forces himself to keep the tears in, Virgil can’t manage to, a single, lonely, tear leaving a trail down his cheek but a happy smile painted on his chiseled face, Scott and John reaching out to place a hand on each of his shoulders, sharing the same emotion he’s feeling in seeing that smile, happy that they got the wish to see their mother’s smile one last time, even if it’s not their mother that’s in front of them right now. She captivated with that dimpled smile of hers everyone in the room, not just Jeff and his second eldest, and she doesn’t even notice it, how similar but how different she is from her biological mother. She glimmers with that smile.

“So…I’ll go home now, I think I already spent too much of your time.”

“Believe me,” Jeff starts, raising himself up to his feet and prompting his eldest and Quinn to do the same. “This time has been very well spent.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for dinner?” Alan, surprisingly, asks, like it’s not the first time he makes this question. Surprisingly, because he doesn’t feel the same way as his brothers and dad; sure, he saw mom’s photos, but she unfortunately doesn’t have the same place in his heart like it does for everyone else of them, since he didn’t have the opportunity to grow up with her, leaving the surprisingly vivid picture of her with an eerie heaviness over it, almost as if, everytime he looks at his mom, it’s like he’s worshiping a Goddess. It used to be like this with his dad too, before he returned from the deserted and secluded place he was left in for all these years, just after mom’s death…for as long as he can remember before things changed, his dad disappeared, his mom left them, and he was essentially an orphan growing up with his brothers, under Scott’s guardianship over nothing more than a toddler. But now that he looks at things under another perspective…it’s bad to say, but she also will never get the chance to meet her, didn’t get the chance to grow up with her either, and will always look at her photo to remember where she came from…they’re similar, if not the same, in this. Maybe they can help each other.

“Yeah, we have pizza!” Gordon butts in too, visibly perturbed by her departure.

“If you remember to place the call to order it.” John points out like usual with a raised eyebrow, earning an eye roll from his younger pufferfish sibling.

“I’d love to, but my parents are waiting for me at home.” Quinn turns towards Jeff, as if to seek some approbation from the Commander Supreme. “Another time, maybe?”

He nods, waiting for his two youngest sons’ faint oh’s to dissipate before speaking again. “We are more than happy to welcome you again. You can take my contact or one of my sons’, so that you can have your way of reaching out when you’re ready to.” He offers, glancing at his sons that all nod.

“Yeah, that would be a great idea. I hope you won’t mind if I take my time in…”

“Ah, no worries! We’re more than happy to help.” Jeff replies while he scribbles something on a paper, probably his comm link or his number; once he’s finished, instead of passing it to Quinn he raises it somewhere on his right, Virgil taking the paper and scribbling something on it too. “Once you’re ready, reach out to us, here’s our contacts.” Once the paper is in Jeff’s hands again, after it being passed through some brothers, he hands it over to Quinn, who takes it gladly, folding it and tucking it into her romper’s pockets.

“Well, then, I’ll leave you to your dinner. Thank you for everything, and it’s been a pleasure meeting you.” Quinn bows her head slightly, smiling warmly to everyone.

“It’s a pleasure for us too, and it was nice meeting you too, Laurie.”

“Are you living far from here? Do you need one of us to accompany you?” Virgil asks, his ever caring spirit always present.

Quinn shoots a quick glance to Laurie, which in the meantime has almost teleported to her side; in exchange, Laurie raises her eyebrows and glances to the side, Quinn responding to her by shrugging slightly, and this ‘conversation’ goes on for a bit, all the while Virgil looks confused at them, then at his father.

“It’s a girl’s way of communicating, boys. You wouldn’t know.” Grandma intercepts the question marks in Virgil’s mind, talking to everyone.

“Well,” Quinn’s voice makes them all turn towards her and her bestie, who is smiling. “She’s coming back home with me, and we live just here across the neighborhood, so we’ll manage on our own, thank you anyways.”

“Perfect then. We hope to see you soon again, and I wish you good luck again on your journey. Please say hi to Bentley from me, and tell her I’m sorry I didn’t get to visit her and Charlie.” The procession has finally arrived at the door, escorting warmly their newfound family member out.

Quinn smiles as a sign of gratitude, before dropping her jaw to the floor and widen her eyes. “You know my parents?”

“Of course! Me and Luci have known them for a very long time now, we’ve been to school together, but we lost contact after we started working and had our children.”

“Oh…!” Quinn replies, then looks at the floor and smiles. “Sure, I’ll let them know.” She looks at Jeff with that smile on again. That warm smile that makes her dangerously familiar in his eyes.

“Well then, thank you for coming by. It was truly needed.”

“You’re kidding me? Thank you for having me!”

Once they finish bidding their farewells and the door closes, making them depart from the ranch, she turns towards her bestie, her smile radiant. “Girl, that was…”

“I’d say it was a success, but you didn’t find your mom.” Laurie counters, matching her newfound speed towards Quinn’s home. “Why are we running?”

“Well, but my parents are supposed to know her well, and I have all these step-brothers. And…oh, don’t brag.”

“We have no reason for running!” Laurie hisses, out of breath, her long locs whirling in the wind. “They can help you find your biological father too. Maybe you have some brothers or sisters from there too.”

“Well…” They both pant profusely, finally arriving at their destination; Quinn also lets out a deep sigh. “I don’t know…I gotta talk to my parents. I want to know them, but…having them in my life…ugh! I need tacos.”

“Nu-huh. We’re home now and we’re eating what your parents made. Stop spending your life savings on tacos, bestie.” Laurie ushers Quinn towards the entrance door, forcing the latter to get the keys out to open it with another deep sigh. “And if talking with your parents is what you need…just, think about it. They are pretty important after all.”

“Hm?” Quinn says after greeting her parents loudly, announcing them she’s back home. “They’re just my biological half-brothers and their dad. Yeah, they’re important, but-” “Girl,” Laurie interrupts her with a serious face, making Quinn furrow her eyebrows in confusion. “You have no idea who they are, do you?”

[oscurascout]

Y/N As A Doorman

From That's Not My Neighbor game

Note - The D.D.D agent will be a sort of OC like he will just be there for the fun of the story but won't be that important (unless people want, ... I finally discover the read more thing, 😅).

Part 5 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10)

A whole week has passed since the Hoon incident, and the D.D.D still hasn't returned him, which has been making me, not only angry but to also overthink. I also tried to find the doppelgänger who hurt him, yet it's easier said than done. After all, I can't just go ahead and ask them. Instead, I just said 'Hoon', and I got a lot of reactions from every doppelgänger; everyone reacted in anger. I also acquired a weapon, a taser, which my father had bought for me while I was still working.

Today, I was at work, the same old routine. At this point, I didn't even need to check the ID or folders because now I knew everything like the back of my hand, though I still checked if I had my suspicions.

I let Mr. Gauss in before he tried to flirt with me. After my first week, he started to flirt with me, but as a joke, or at least I hope it's a joke. I was about to look at my phone when I saw someone else come in; it was a D.D.D agent. “What can I do for you?” I asked a bit annoyed.

D.D.D Agent - “I see you are still angry at us *chuckles*. Don't worry, your friend will be released tomorrow.”

“Really!?” I asked, surprised that they had actually listened to my requests and pleas. “He must be a high-ranking person for the D.D.D to want to release Hoon,” I thought as I tried to figure out what they were truly aiming for.

D.D.D Agent - “We are going to leave him at your home, but there is a catch.”

I looked at him angrily, “Ugh, what is it now?” I asked, very angry.

D.D.D Agent - “First, let me in, please.”

I groaned and pressed the green button; they entered and got into the office.

D.D.D Agent - *chuckles* “Okay, the second thing to say is that he is going to have to stay with you. After all, there is a very high probability that he was exiled from the group. Every time you called us to get rid of the doppelgängers, they would all scream for your friend and scream at us to 'kill the traitor.' Obviously, they all got wiped out, but it did lead us to believe that he was exiled from the doppelgängers. Therefore, he cannot return to them, or something worse will happen to him, which led us to decide that you'll become his guardian.”

“What do you think was the cause?” I asked, looking at the floor.

D.D.D Agent - “That is a possibility, but we think, it was a problem caused between him and his kind, since we did find more injuries from some time ago, showing that he probably fought against them. These are all theories, so don't overthink it.”

“Well, anything else?” I asked, somehow knowing that he was leaving something out.

D.D.D Agent - “We would like to get both yours and his approval to observe him. We already have his approval; we only need yours.”

��Observe him?” I asked, confused and annoyed at them.

D.D.D Agent - “Yes, even though he has been exiled, he is still a doppelgänger, which could help us in our research. As you know, ever since these creatures appeared, we haven't truly gathered useful information or any important information for that matter. Therefore, with your friend's help, we may come to know these creatures more and maybe, someday, truly make the world safe again. And don't worry, we'll make sure to keep him safe.”

I thought about it; it was actually a very good thing. Hoon would be safe, and they would get their research. “What type of observation will you be making?” I asked, just to be sure.

D.D.D Agent - “Well, we were thinking about normal stuff—what they eat besides humans, what they like, or just anything that he shows us, even if it is his personal opinion on things. It could still help us.”

“Alright, then when are you going to bring him home?” I asked in case I'll have to leave work early.

D.D.D Agent - “Don't worry, I'll bring him to your home and stay with him while you work.”

“Huh? Wait, what?” I asked, perplexed.

D.D.D Agent - “Yes, this is a protocol measure in which any D.D.D agent has to be there with you to protect you, in case your friend turns aggressive, and also because of the observation matter.”

“So, you'll live with me?” I asked, even more perplexed.

D.D.D Agent - *with happiness in his voice* “Yes!”

“No,” I said quickly.

D.D.D Agent - “What!? But you need someone to protect you.”

“I can do that myself,” I said without hesitation.

D.D.D Agent - “Then what about the observation?”

“I can also do that. Actually, I think Hoon would prefer me over you watching him,” I said. They seemed unable to argue with me any further. I sighed, “Why do you insist so much on living with us?” I asked, confused.

D.D.D Agent - “Well, because I've always found doppelgängers interesting. That was the whole reason why I joined the D.D.D—to be able to see them up close and see how they truly are. Yet, the sad reality is that I'm never sent to deal with them. I only get to briefly see them while I have to do a ton of paperwork.”

I thought about it. I didn't think Hoon would ever attack me, but that wouldn't be the same for all the others who were after Hoon. “Okay, you can stay with me, but you will have to pay me in some way,” I said with a smirk.

D.D.D Agent - *surprised* “Huh?”

“What did you think? That you could live with me and not do anything? Well, nope. If you want to stay, then you will either pay rent or do house chores,” I said, smiling. Even with the mask, I could feel them overthinking their life decisions. “So this is the power that parents feel,” I thought as they began to mutter to themselves.

[cerealmonster15]

[background template source!]

hmm yknow what. maybe i was supposed to describe the unique magic in that bottom box. oh well teehee!!!!!

updated references for twst rsa ocs Char and Dañarte!!!!! for now. i'll add them to artfight soon!!! I was gonna do another one for Dañarte's Scarabia Era but I worked on these all week.... so i'll just do that one separately sometime maybe lol. anyway i've posted about these guys a lot as u can see from the tags i gave them on my blog, BUT my main origin post about their soap opera lore is really long and intimidating to read.... I have a shorter lore post here, but JFKSJLDJFKLDS.... finding these templates made nice, more condensed intros for them lol. and I [slightly] updated their looks so they aren't just carbon copies of what the seven dwarf characters are wearing!!!! but i'm bad at clothing design so i didn't really change them much!!!!

also i tried to be careful but my handwriting is Bad so i'll retype the info / talk more under the cut.

First guy: CHAR

Age: 18

Best Subject: Animal Languages

Birthday: March 19

Class: 3-C

Club: Fencing [does rsa have a fencing club. idk. they do now.]

Height: 175 cm

Hobby: Horseback Riding

Homeland: Shaftlands

Likes: Arts & Crafts, Shellfish

Dislikes: Keeping Secrets, Beets

Unique Magic: Unknown [I haven't decided one for him yet, and I may simply make him a late bloomer who hasn't discovered his yet lol]

Extra info:

Favorite Stones: Pink Opal & Chrysoberyl

Older Cousin to Dañarte

Long-lost childhood friend + new love interest to Cater

Source Character: Prince Charming from Cinderella

Second guy: Dañarte*

Age: 17

Best Subject: Ancient Magic

Birthday: February 13

Class: 2-C

Club: Equestrian Club

Height: 182 cm

Hobby: Writing Speeches

Homeland: Shaftlands

Likes: Planning, Grain bowls

Dislikes: Tenderhearted people, Undercooked meat

Unique Magic: Kiss of Frost: He kisses something or someone and temporarily freezes them ICY STYLE!!!!! or something like that. idk it doesn't kill people[???? maybe it could. idk.] but it don't feel good. Perhaps the area of frost can vary as well, like a small smooch spot vs spreading through the whole body? We gotta workshop it a bit more I'll get back to u on that someday. maybe.

Extra info:

Favorite Stone: Apatite

Char's younger cousin

"Love interest" to Cater + later on, Jamil...

Source Character: Hans from Frozen

RSA -> NRC -> Scarabia [He gets expelled and/or leaves RSA for whatever reason, I still haven't come up w/that part LOL... and ends up at NRC post breakup with Cater and gets sorted into Scarabia.]

* Disclaimer bc I feel the need to point out whenever I bring him up about his name lol- Dañarte isn't truly a name, it's just a spanish verb that's like "to hurt you". his character literally spawned from a convo I was having with a friend when I was trying to think of a name for Char, and something I said got autocorrected to Dañarte, and we made jokes about an evil princely character... so he became his own thing and I just kept that as his name lol.

anyway. i like talking about them but i also get shy and embarrassed about it klfjslfjks. also i probs did not draw them to scale bc life is hard. so are colors. i went very basic bc im scared but im trying to remember how colors work again in our year 2024 or whatever. WAHOO FUNNY LITTLE GUYS!!!!

shoutout to op of this template [@unfinished-projects-galore] making me sit here and consider the lives of these boys a lil more w/that bio layout. i was tempted to put summoning as Char's best class but WHAT do they summon. tell me idia what does that MEAN - jk it's probably like how juice bb summons cauldrons lol. I also considered Potionology for Dañarte but I think he'd like stuff like history and all that jazz and older [perhaps FORBIDDEN] ways of doing things.

[shwoo]

Grumpus Headcanons (2/3)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Part two of unnecessarily detailed Bugsnax headcanons, and I had second thoughts about splitting it into three after sleeping on it, but ph well! Too late to change it now!

But I will put part of it under a readmore, because even if the word count isn't quite in the thousands, it's still a big wall of text.

I only arranged these by character surname by surname so that Jamfoot The Secret Guy wouldn't be first, but... I guess putting him exactly in the middle didn't work out how I wanted either.

Character Headcanons (Alegander Jamfoot - Shelda)

Alegander Jamfoot He was not expected to survive being stationed in the Triplicate Space. Maybe he was too openly ambitious, or saw something he wasn't supposed to, or was just kind of annoying. He knows he upset someone, which is why he suspects it's a punishment. It's normally almost impossible to survive on Snaktooth Island alone for more than a few months, because the less outside stimulation someone has, the easier it is for the cravings to take precedence. Jamfoot lasted more than a year in part because he was so focused on his research, but he was already experimenting with eating Bugsnax when Bronica's expedition came along. If they hadn't given him something else to think about, he definitely would've died.

Journalist Their most successful story is probably the Soylent Grump story Lizbert mentions in the opening. Soylent Grump was a meal replacement that the manufacturers claimed was made of soy and lentils, but according to rumours, it was secretly made of Grumpuses. Grumpus DNA was eventually found in some of the products, which didn't help. The Journalist ended up breaking into the main factory, and discovered… that Soylent Grump was made of soy and lentils. But also, the safety standards were so bad that bits of factory workers were ending up in the food. Once they knew that, the Journalist found a whistleblower and published an exposé. They believe that this proves that there's always a story, even if it's not the one you expected. Clumby thinks they got lucky.

Bronica Lottablog Not sure about her personality (intense?), but she cowrote a series of books about zoology and history aimed at kids. She started doing this about ten years before her disappearance, and the books did so well that they stayed in print for another ten years after her disappearance. Most of the cast are at least aware of them from their childhoods, except for Wambus, Cromdo, and Shelda, who are too old. Gramble would be a little too young, but his school's library was underfunded and extremely out of date. The Journalist had Bronica's book about cryptids, which they read so much it fell apart.

Triffany Lottablog The Lottablog method she mentions in her interview was her own invention, and is fusion of archaeological techniques and the adventuring techniques her (non-archaeologist) grandmother used. It's actually quite effective, and part the reason she's a "leader in [her] field". It's a bit of a high risk high reward thing, but it hasn't got her killed yet.

Lizbert Megafig She really likes standing dramatically on high places, like one of the pictures in her hut. If she's standing around somewhere, especially outdoors, she'll climb to the highest place she can get to, without really thinking about it. I'd say she likes to be tall, but she already is pretty tall. The Snaxsquatch's tendency to stand dramatically on high places might be related to this.

Wambus Troubleham It is very difficult to grow sauce plants, on or off Snaktooth Island. They basically are normal plants, but they normally don't grow very well. The island helps them along because they make it easier to lure in hosts. Wambus was just so stubborn and good at plants that he figured out how to get them to grow without the island's interference. It was still a struggle to get them to sprout, especially since the soil on the island is not very good. His success at growing sauce didn't influence his decision to try to grow Bugsnax like plants, though. He started both projects at the same time, and the sauce is the one that worked out.

Wiggle Wigglebottom Wiggle is not her given name, but it is the name she's gone by since childhood, as well as the one she uses professionally. It's a nickname based on her surname, and the way she's always moving around. It actually does sound slightly silly, even to Grumpuses who think Filbo Fiddlepie is a super normal thing to be called, but everyone's used to it at this point.

Beffica Winklesnoot She didn't join Lizbert's expedition until the night before they left, during the getting-to-know-you party that Filbo definitely threw. She ran in halfway through and asked if this was the expedition to the deserted island a long way from here. She'd just been kicked out by her roommate, and was also worried about legal action, but she didn't bring that part up. Lizbert felt bad for her, though Eggabell was more suspicious at first.

Shelda When she asked the Journalist to bring her a Bugsnak for her first sidequest, she really wasn't intending to eat it at the time. She wasn't going to have the light of Mother Naturae purge it either, because that's not really a thing. She just wanted to look at one up close, while also preparing to convince the Journalist to stop bringing people Bugsnax. But she hadn't had proper food in a long time, and she convinced herself that just one wouldn't hurt. And nobody would notice anyway. Even though they absolutely would.

[probablygoodrpgideas]

Will you be my Hunter Session 1

The player characters met on their way to the residence of the late Emir Patli. They talked for a bit, not revealing much about each other's intentions yet. Morena weirded people out by talking about the weather - with a spoon.

Before entering the residence, our heroes talked with the guard for a bit. He is a Goliath soldier called Sava and can't tell them much, but he does ask them repeatadly to please not rob this place, then hands them the key. He also warns them that there might be monsters inside.

Once inside, the first room they check out is the master bedroom. Apart from the bloody bedsheets, there is nothing of interest there.

Next, they check out the kitchen. It is a bloody mess. The corpses have already been removed, but there was clearly a massacre her in the past, as the bloody silverware clearly shows. Morena reunites her spoon with its family. The heroes also notice that the kitchen hasn't been in use for at least a week. They conclude that most people must have been undead for a while before Lugno gave the vampire spawn the order to kill each other.

After exploring a few rooms that have nothing of interest, they stumble across the library. There, they discover a bunch of recently read books next to a few papers.

The books are mostly fairy tales with some scientific books on the feywild with a focus on people turning into Fey as well as stuff on the new King of the Winter Court: Ashtar, the Living Nightmare. There is also a book about the Wolf Killers (an adventuring party that imprisoned the Snow Queen and became Fey with one of them becoming the new Quen[sic] of the Autumn Court, they were the player characters 3 campaigns ago so I didn't have to explain much during the session) and a book about the council of the 12, the 3, and the one (I have written about that here, tldr it was the event where some gods decided how the afterlife should be run).

Some of the papers were love letters written in Common, between the Emir and a "Nahoma".

"Nahoma"'s handwriting is similar to that in the remaining papers, though the different scrip makes it a bit difficult to say for sure. These papers are written in Northern Elvish. None of the characters know Noerthn Elvish well enough to get much from these notes but Mhoira and I're do notice that the graphs for "enter" and "person" as well as the graph used to mark a name were repeated multiple times.

The last room they explore is the laboratory. There were some alchemical experiments done here recently, seemingly someone extracted pure caffeine from coffee beans. Not knowing exactly what to make of this, our heroes decide to try and ambush the monsters and attempt to question them.

This turned out to be unnescessary as they were greeted by these monsters as soon as they left the laboratory; A group of devils as well as one surviving vampire spawn.

One of the devils, a succubus who tells them to call xer Jill, announces that they were ordered to kill I're. Lugno had grown tired of her and also wanted revenge for I're killing Zarya. I're says that getting rid of one of Lugno's servants in exchange for her arm and eye wasn't really worth it, to which Jill replies that I're might have gotten a lot more from this than just getting rid of one of Lugno's servants.

Sethra tells Jill that xe didn't stand a chance and they would kill xer. Jill replies that she knows this but orders are orders. Besides, death is only a temporary setback for a devil, as they will just reform in Hell after a few weeks.

The heroes ask Jill if they can ask xer a few questions before fighting and she agrees. She tells them that Lugno has left to get the second ingredient for making a potion that allows its consumer to temporarily shift into the Feywild. The caffeine was the first ingredient. No one asks what the second ingredient is.

Then the fighting starts. Here's the map I used:

1 is a Spined Devil (Sniper with the demon template).

2 is Jill (Succubus)

3 is the vampire spawn (Ghoul Wailer, technically without the Relict template but it didn't really matter because if there's only 1 it can't rise again anyway)

4 is a Veil Tearer (Hollow Void Demon)

5 is a Chain Devil (Starving Battle Demon)

The * are Lemures (Natals)

We ended the session after the first round of combat, so you'll get my thoughts on these foes and my map next week.

As always, I hope you're enjoying these posts. If you have any questionsI'd love to answer them but keep in mind that I can't reveal any secrets here so if you want a secret revealed to you, you'll have to either ask off anon or join my discord server.

[void-inked-pen]

Yo, sorry for the Like spam, but I have some questions, if you've got time?

I was reading through your posts about the turtles' fighting techniques, just because they were interesting at first, but I have a 2012 AU I'm working on in which their fighting styles change drastically over time, and I learned a ton from those posts. Trouble is, I... Don't actually know much of anything about real martial arts or combat in general. I want things to be more realistic in my AU, mainly because of how each weapon ties into their character development. If you have any, like, "actually decent combat techniques for dummies" video recommendations, that'd make my life a million times easier.

More importantly than that, though, I'm interested in what you have to say about archery. The AU is called "Sniper Leo" for a reason; he swaps to a bow in the middle of season 3 after discovering (or rather, finally accepting) that his knee injury isn't just something that can be brushed aside like Splinter was raised to do, and sure, he doesn't have all the same capabilities he's used to, but he's still a badass, competent leader with a longbow instead of twin katanas. His disability has changed his life, but certainly hasn't ended it.

(Similarly, as Don takes more of a tank role, she finds another weapon that fits her new style and allows her to adapt, but I'm not sure what it is yet; meanwhile, Casey gets a tomahawk, bc (1) he's Seneca and it ties him back to his roots before New York was New York - I'm native, this is important to me, y'know? And (2) that hockey stick is cool and all, but it's not great for fighting up-close and personal, so he needs to have something capable of dealing serious damage and punishing opponents who get too cocky, thinking they can just duck in past the effective range of his main spacing weapon. Plus, it's great utility-wise.)

Infodumping about traditional Iroquois weapons aside, my main three questions are:

(1) What kind of bow would best suit Leo, if he's trying to be stealthy, make use of his absurd upper-body strength from all that katana training, stay at a safe distance, and pierce enemy armor where possible? If those three things don't mesh well, what compromises would you suggest?

(2) What kind of secondary melee weapon would be good to combine with this? If someone manages to sneak up on him, he'll need a smaller, likely concealed Plan B to defend himself while his siblings are busy on the front line. I'm thinking a blade of some sort, since he has training with them and it'd lend nicely to him getting a better variant when Splinter... Y'know. There might be more fitting options, though, and any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated!

(3) What sort of hurdles would someone go through when switching from melee weapons like katana to a long-range one like a bow? Like, any base technique concepts that he might have to unlearn. I'm guessing there'd be a lot to do with positioning and stance, but again, I'm just kinda assuming right now.

This is a long-ass ask, and if you read all the way to the end, thank you. Even if no answer pans out, I appreciate you taking the time to listen. Keep being badass ✌️

your not spamming dont worry! i'm happy to help with this (I actually get these kinds of asks all the time on discord so this isnt anything new lol)

One of the biggest difficulties that your gonna face when switching weapons is the different requirements that each weapon needs. Bows, believe it or not, actually need more upper body strength than most melee weapons because of the tension in the bow itself and pulling the arrow back. Patience as well as accuracy long range is gonna be his main issues i thing both narrative speaking and training with a new weapon. Imagine being in a leader role for so long, running into the fray yourself, and then suddenly switching to being long range where the goal is to stay as far away as possible from your target but still in range to hit?

in terms of what kind of bow? i would suggest he get a more current era bow. old style bows like the traditional long bow in japan require a huge bow that doesnt really allow for much movement but are VERY GOOD at shooting long range. Japanese long bows were able to pierce through samurai armor and same for Europe long bows (which had to pierce through chainmail and steal.) so putting current era bows with a strong arrow head which gives the bow its flexibility, range, stealth, and piercing ability (plus maybe a little donnie tech on the side) could EASILY get through robots and armor, no problem! I would suggest you look at this video of the worlds greatest stunt bowman who helps with movies and stuff to give you an idea on what leo could still do with a bow:

for a secondary weapon, i feel like he'd still stick with tradition. which is a short katana. Japanese archers tended to have both a long bow and a short sword to defend themselves if samurai broke through the flank or came at them from behind. (they also had something guarding their back like a samurai to help with that but short katana helps too). I've seen people also have archers use the pieces of their bow as weapons in a fight as well like wrapping the string from their bow around an arm or their neck to stop opponents, stabbing with one of their arrows if they got to close and couldnt draw their sword, that sort of thing.

you don't HAVE to follow traditional martial arts to make a fight interesting, in fact the reason fights can be cool is because a character uses the weapon that has a traditional style for something new and unique! having an understanding of the basics DOES help with how a fight should go and what could be possible for a character but creativity is also important in a fight. not every fight is gonna work like a traditional "honorable" dual or tournament match.

I think leo would just have to relearn to be a stealth fighter, fighting long range, hiding in the rafters so his enemy has to find him with some interesting arrows that could cause smoke screens or explosions (both of these are actual things traditional bowman could do, especially ninja. this is not like a "oh donnie would come up with this!" kinda thing no it is very common to attach things to an arrow it just depends on how you use it creatively). it would be cool to see him become a long range expert when he used to be so close range. like he gets good at Senbon (throwing needles) which target pressure points but dont kill, or throwing knives, maybe even darts!

leo stepping back also... lowkey might be good for his mental health just saying~

(also to comment on the hatchet thing, i would LOVE TO SEE THAT HAPPEN!!! we dont see hatchet combat much anymore and its such a good and useful weapon for both long range and close range. like hatchet throwing? sick as shit. also imagine casey throwing a hatchet above an enemies head, teh enemy being like "haha you missed" and they look back to see casey running up to them, jumping to HANG ONTO THE HATCHET IN THE WALL and use it as momentum/leverage to kick harder! just an idea ;3c )

thank you for the ask!!! I appreciate talking combat like this, trust me~ feel free to ask any other questions anytime! (that includes anyone who reads this lol)

-Pen

[nastybuckybarnes]

Hey Beautiful, how've you been? If it's okay here's a few of my thoughts on your tedtalk. Sorry it's a bit long.

1: I started this blog when I was in high school, and for so many years it was my escape and my safe space. And I feel like I've been gone for so long that idk if its that anymore.

Try it out Babe and get a feel for things. Hopefully you still find some joy here cause personally speaking we all need somewhere and something to just chill out and fantasize and dropping that without exploring the possibility of it still existing seems like such a shame.

2: I have stuff written and I have ideas but im just worried that I'm old news lol and I know, I know 'write what you want' but to an extent, I also want to write stuff that people enjoy.

Old news? Please. That could never happen Lex. As for wanting to write what people enjoy. I know I sound like a broken record, but I still remember the excitement I felt the first time I discovered your Madness series. I still smile when I think of you and that little tale of yours opened up this whole fanfic adventure for me and the beneficial results have been unbelievable. You did that and it hasn't stopped with fanfic. As you said in your birthday reply, this wild adventure has even spilled into original works and not just yours. You did that.

You have the talent. Let it shine and those that find your work will hopefully appreciate all you have to offer.

3: If I were to come back, I think I would make some changes and I would start writing for new fandoms as well.

Now the first part of this. I'm sure you've heard the old saying 'a change is as good as a rest.' Go for it Lex. It could be exciting. Now as for other fandoms. What can I say except, who are you planning on ruining us with now? Why can't a writer have multiple fandoms? I too seem comfortable in the Marvel fandom, yet I have an Andy Barber fic that just seems to be wildly popular. It often reminds me of an inflatable clown that pops up, disappears for a while and then up again when someone else finds it. Like I said earlier, you've got talent. Do your thing.

Either way Lex, whether you remain here or go solely down the original route, just remember there are those of us who will always be interested in reading what you write. As long as we're made aware of it😂

You are a gem. I feel so overwhelmed with love and support and I cannot put into words how much I appreciate you❤️

I think I'm gonna give it a go! Gonna spend a decent part of the day editing my account to make it more reader-friendly and then who knows, maybe I'll actually post one of my dozens of drafts tonight.

Baby steps, but I think I may get back into the swing of things for real now💘