#shes more interesting that I gave her credit for from my first sit-through (because I spent half the run-time listening & working in CSP) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tallymonster · 4 months

Text

Memories of Us chapter 10

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |

AO3

Okay first things first. Partial writing credit goes to @micropoe10 because she helped me write a good chunk of this. I owe you so hard bestie.

As always thanks to @cheesy-cryptid for allowing me to use their art as inspiration and for reblogging this. I literally would not continue this if I hadn't gotten the attention from them I did. So thank you thank you thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤��❤️❤️

One last thing before I post the story. This has been the most fun I have had on Tumblr. All of the support and love I have gotten from my friends on the Astarion Brainrot discord has been so encouraging. I owe you guys more than I could ever express.

ALRIGHTY THEN. WITHOUT FURTHER ADO.

Tags: @justporo @satanicspinosaurus @sleepy-timaeus @tragedybunny @davenswitcher @wayward-hel (if you wanna be included let me know ❤️❤️)

chapter 10. I caught fire

The day went on slowly. Octavia stared at the clock on the wall, the anxious feeling gnawed at her. Earlier, she had briefly seen Astarion at the end of the office corridors. He gave the same empty stare he has for the last few weeks.

She stood in front of her office door, glancing down at the handle. She should go say something, it's been long enough. Octavia turns to walk towards him, but as she looks over, he's already gone.

As she walked into the office, Gale was sitting on his desk going through a few things he was researching on his own. He tears his eyes away for a moment and slides a small red piece of paper towards her.

Another note.

“You know at some point, you'll have to admit you fucked up, Octavia. This is all becoming a little childish isn't it?” Gale chided.

He put down his pen and sighed. “You're not the only one suffering here, it's so ridiculously obvious that you're both miserable. In the years I've known him, I have never once seen him be so quiet around anyone else. You, my friend, are a first in many instances.” he chuckles at the end of his scolding.

“You two are so dumb sometimes, it makes for fine entertainment.” He smirks and continues to write.

Octavia scowls a bit, “I’m glad my misery is so interesting to you, Gale. Do you and your mother gossip about us during your brunches?”

Gale immediately stares up at Octavia, “Okay, I apparently hit a nerve…I’m sorry. Really, I am. You know I'm only telling you this because I care about you both? I hate that you're not speaking. Not only because it's unprofessional for me to be your note lackey, but because the others have started to notice. So I suggest you read whatever is on this note, and go fix it. For all our sake.” He shuts his notebook and walks up to the office door.

“I’m going for a walk, I hope you can figure out how to amend this.” He steps out, leaving Octavia to sit in her own anguish. She fiddles around with the folded piece of paper before deciding to get it done and over with.

She unfolds the little more and her whole soul escapes her body. The note sent with Gale only said "Office. Now." Well that's it, he's firing her, or demoting her, or even worse, nothing at all.

Octavia made the long walk over to Astarion's office. She stands in front of the door, hesitant to knock.

The whole argument replays in her head like it has for the last few weeks, she should've knocked on the damn door. But no, like a petulant child she was only thinking petty thoughts.

As she lifts her hand to knock, she hears some banging on the other side. She presses her ear to the door and listens quietly. Nothing. Was he even in there or was he testing her?

It doesn't matter in hindsight, he's got his reasons for whatever he called her here for. She softly knocks on the door, the sounds behind the door stopping immediately. "Astarion? I got your note."

On the other side of the door, Astarion quickly picks up the papers he's thrown everywhere. Thank the gods he still used that arcane magic Gale taught him while they’d sort through maps and scrolls during their adventures. Within seconds his thrashed space is as impeccable as before. He composes himself and takes a moment, the mask expertly back on. "Come in."

Octavia walks in, Astarion is standing with his back to her, facing the window. "Locked. I don't want any interruptions." He speaks in a curt tone, not turning at all. Octavia locks the door, nervously sitting on the chair across him.

Astarion slowly walks over to her, stopping in between her and his desk. He sits on the edge facing her, his eyes two sunset orange orbs glaring deeply into her. He takes a long breath before speaking, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have raised my voice to you like that. I hope we can go back to how we were before, I'm not angry anymore."

Octavia's face is suspicious, her eyebrows furrowed, eyes turn into slits and she's taken back. "Hold on, you haven't spoken to me in three weeks, and you're apologizing? Why? Aren't you still furious with me? Are you okay?"

Astarion scoffs a skewed scowl on his face."I'm trying to be open with you like you asked me to. Are you really going to get mad because I'm apologizing to you? What is wrong with you?" He asks exasperated, closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Gods you are so infuriating you're just like-" he takes a sharp inhale, "Listen, I'm trying, okay? This whole being patient, kind, open communication sort of thing is still very new to me."

He continues, "I'm willing to look past this little invasion, honestly I'm amazed that you of all people would be the one to sneak in here." He sounded impressed. "Either due to luck or stupidity, but you're the first to leave alive." He chuckled a dark sarcasm behind it.

"Besides," he paused, shuffling his feet, clearing his throat, and pursing his lips, "I missed talking to you. Passing notes like we're school children isn't as fun or exciting when you're an adult and Gale is the one you're passing them through." He pouts softly, as if seeking some sort of playful pity.

"I find that hard to believe, you seemed to like those little notes. I had so many, I thought it was an excuse to keep seeing Gale?" Octavia mocked, giggling softly. "Can I be honest with you too? I mean since we're in the spirit of openness and all?" Astarion motions her to proceed, "I missed talking to you as well. You're fun to talk to and complain with."

Astarion smirks and extends a hand towards her. "Then, may I offer my apologies to you? Will you let me air my sweet grievances and complaints to you?"

His voice dripped like warm syrup towards Octavia, his eyes had a sultry energy behind them which made her cheeks quickly heat up. Her mind is scrambling to react, but the only thing working on overdrive is her need to see how much further this could go. She decides to play into his dangerous game, one that she knows she will most likely lose.

Octavia takes his hand and leans forward on the chair, "As long as there are no complaints about me, I've been working very hard to earn your forgiveness." She chuckles, smiling with her eyes, dragging her gaze slowly back to his own, inhaling quietly as she stares into those gorgeous golden sunset pools.

Astarion leans in mirroring her movements, "Well you have, if that makes you feel better. I'm willing to work hard too. If you allow me to-" she stops him from speaking, pressing a finger to his lips.

He's taken back slightly, his lips stay puckered on her finger and he takes his chance to kiss it gently, earning him a sharp inhale from her.

"Honestly, an apology is more than I ever thought I'd get from you Astarion, no offense." Octavia laughs, she stands and removes her finger from his lips. She stands in front of him, and reaches her hand down to hold his again.

He smiles and tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear, gods she's even more beautiful up close. She breathes deep, allowing his touch. He caresses her cheek, gliding his hand down to hold her chin tilting her head up and looking her over.

"You expect so little of me, how can I show you that I'm much more than that?" Astarion looks at her through hooded eyes, he was incredibly persuasive in the most benign occasions, and now that he had the invitation from her, he wasn't going to let that go to waste. He pulls her in closer, letting his arm rest on her waist.

He spoke so sweetly and Octavia wants to trust him, if he's willing to drop his guard, she can drop hers. "There's so much I want to tell you, but I'm afraid it will change your opinion of me." She spoke so softly, almost a whisper.

Astarion's face turns to worry, there was a vulnerability he wished to share with her, how he did with Tav, they're so similar, this feeling is bittersweet and it terrified him. "Octavia, nothing can deter me. How intelligent, thoughtful, genuine you are..."

Octavia can't breathe, the words from his lips are so saccharine, like a forbidden fruit she longed to taste. "It scares me, the last time something like this happened, I ran from it, like a coward. I'm afraid of what it would do to you. The lengths I would go for someone like you." He confesses, she can sense the heartbreak behind the words.

His hand falls over the edge of her jaw sliding down and trailing it across her shoulder, up around her neck playing with the strands of hair that betrayed its styling, pulling her closer, his lips feather lightly across hers. Octavia's knees felt like they were about to give out, this is what she was hoping would happen in her garden, at the fundraiser, practically any time she saw him alone, he was so hard to understand but that made the appeal more undeniable.

"What if I wanted to find out? What would you do?" Octavia presses her forehead to Astarion's, her breath shuddering under the closeness between them.

Astarion chuckles "Curious little kitten aren't you?" His hand intertwined in her hair turns her head so he can lean in closer, his voice a low whisper in her ear "If you let me, I could drown you with my love. You would die a million little deaths each day. Allow me to show you."

She felt his lips press against her skin. They were cool and soft, he could feel her shiver underneath his touch, a warmth grew inside that was boiling over both of them. The fire was certainly lit, but she had to be the one to control it before it became unstable.

Her hands shot up to his shoulders, stuck between pushing him off and entangling a hand in his hair. "Astarion, wait.."

Octavia turns and looks into his eyes, full of hunger and lust, she takes a second to catch her breath. "I want this, but I want to take my time with it, I- I don't want to do anything to make you regret this. I really like you." Astarion's eyes grow wide, "I won't. I can't." His voice was soft, pleading almost.

One of Octavia's hands settles on Astarion's cheek, he settles into her touch and kisses the inside of her hand. His normally angular eyes are so round and soft, looking up at her, wanting. The vulnerability she was seeking on full display. He continues to kiss her hand, slowly going down her wrist.

She continues to watch as he leaves a trail of languid kisses. As soon as he passes halfway up her forearm, she can't take it anymore. She pulls him in, kissing him, her whole body feels like it's floating and sinking all at once. She feels his arms pull her into himself, holding her closer as he deepens their kiss.

One of her hands rests on his shoulder as the other snakes up to his hair, wrapping it in his curls. After a few moments he pulls away, placing a chaste kiss on her cheek. "You are going to be the death of me, and I welcome it with an open embrace."

#bg3 #astarion #baldur's gate 3 #astarion ancunin #bg3 astarion #baldurs gate 3 #astarion bg3 #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #fic: memories of us #headcanon #bg3 headcanon

36 notes · View notes

taccobelle · 11 months

Text

Teenage Dirtbag

Paring: Eddie x fem!reader, Eddie x Cheerleader!Reader

Word count: 2.9k

Summary: In the small town of Hawkins, Pixie Dunphy, and Eddie Munson couldn't be more different, living in a small town like Hawkins, where rumors define you. Pixie is a charming and independent girl who seems to have it all. Pixie is adored by many in Hawkins High, Eddie, on the other hand, is the school's freak. Their paths cross unexpectedly, igniting a love story that defies expectations, learning they have much more in common than they initially thought.

Authors note: Hiya! this is my very first story🫣 (that I have made public). I really hope you all enjoy reading this, I truly tried my hardest to make this as good as possible, but please be kind 🥹

Warnings: language, slow burn, opposites attract, she/her pronouns, the reader is FAB, Eddie might be a little shit, I gave the reader a nickname because y/n is so cringe. There is no mention of race, but I do occasionally describe what Pixie looks like, but those are subtle enough that you can ignore it!

Chapter One: The Notorious Rumors

As I cautiously navigated the foreign halls of Hawkins High, my heart raced with anticipation and uncertainty, school would start next week, but the halls flooded with freshmen and their mentors, getting a tour of the decrepit building, an attempt of avoiding the inevitable, the freshmen being lost on their first day. You can’t help but relate to those poor kids. Entering the halls of this high school, knowing damn well that the fact that Hawkins High is small, is exactly what makes it that much scarier. Tiny meant close knit, everyone knew each other from birth, and you were just an unwelcome stranger. You huff in frustration, realizing the freshmen had one leg above you, they at least had pre-existing friends from junior high, you on the other hand, knew nobody.

Being the new girl in a sea of familiar faces would be like treading on uncharted territory. A group of teenage girls, all adorning white and green cheer uniforms, hairs perfectly in place, tied in a fashionable ponytail stood in front of the packed bulletin board, near the principals office. The group of girls chatted away, each holding printed out copies of extracurricular activities offered for the fall, pretending to show any interest in the activity. They looked as if they owned the building, displaying fake smiles, whispering about every person that walked by, commenting on their shoes, if they had volunteered to hand out sideways glances, they’d get their credits immediately. This all only heightened my anxieties, their presence made me feel like an outsider, an alien amidst the established cliques and well-worn friendships. But then, like a shimmering ray of sunshine piercing through stormy clouds, she appeared before me. “Hey there! You must be the new girl Higgins told me about, I’m Chrissy!" a cheerful voice called out, I turned to find a girl with a crooked smile, strawberry blonde ponytail, flashing a genuine smile that instantly dissolved my worries. You introduce yourself as Pixie Dunphy and explained that Pixie is not even actually your name, it was a nickname your grandpa had given you as a kid because of your short stature, and it just sort of stuck.

Chrissy showed you around the school, going on about which teachers were a pain, and which weren’t, the school policies, and which table was the best to sit at during lunch. The halls of Hawkins high couldn’t have looked more like a maze to you, surprised how a school so small, could be so confusing, the walls filled with posters and fading pieces of art projects made by past students, lockers that resembled a bumpy road, adorned with dents and grooves from the years of nerds being shoved against them. The chipped paint on the wall gave away the lack of maintenance, and the yellowed lights above on the drop down ceiling flickered with every gust of wind. As you both rounded the corner, back to the bulletin board by the principals office, you see all the posters for sports and clubs the cheerleaders had been holding pretending to pass out to fulfill their community service hours requirement for graduation. “You know, we’re having tryouts this tomorrow at 10, I know it’s short notice, but u can talk to coach to let you bring in your physical when school starts off. . . It is just that I noticed you looking at the flyers” Chrissy’s voice startled you out of your day dream, her warm smile brought you back to reality. it is true that you had previously been eyeing the flyer, it is a sure way to make friends, and you had been part of the cheer team in your old school as well, you had thought about joining anyways, but the ironic group of girls that lacked any sort of cheerful bone in their body kind of made you get cold feet.

In the end of the tour, Chrissy and I stood by the front door waiting for your rides home, you both spend hours waiting for your parents to arrive to pick you up, you found out you both lived near each other, meeting her had given you hope. Hope that maybe things in Hawkins would be so bad, maybe you’d get along just fine. After finding you you two will basically be neighbors, she mentions something about a party on Saturday, something about it being the last of the summer before school started back up in the fall, the small amount you both had exchanged, made her invitation not feel unexpected, Chrissy even offered a ride. What could go wrong? I needed to socialize if I didn’t want to be some outcast. It felt like a golden ticket into a world of belonging and acceptance, a chance to shed the label of the "new girl" and find my place among the vibrant tapestry of high school life. In Hawkins, the opinions others had of you determined how others would treat you. In this tiny town, full of people with even tinier brains, one rumor could determine a person’s whole life. As I mulled over Chrissy’s invitation, a whirlwind of emotions swirled within me, excitement danced in my veins, a symphony of nerves and doubt as I imagined myself at the party, surrounded by laughter and music, feeling like I belonged for the first time since my arrival. I had never been the outcast, always had made friends easily in school, but it wasn’t anything like Hawkins. Hawkins felt claustrophobic, like a small box of a high school. Chrissy’s invitation was a glimmer of a future where I wouldn't be an alien, where I could forge connections and weave myself into the intricate threads of teenage camaraderie. In the face of uncertainty, I chose to embrace the invitation, to believe in the kindness behind Chrissy’s smile.

When it came around the time of the party, you take one last look at yourself in the full-length mirror hanging from the inside of your closet door, boxes haphazardly stacked on top of each other full of unpacked clothes, decoration, and untouched sticker packets you have been saving for a “special day” to use them. You take a minute to look over every detail of your outfit. You had spent your whole Friday afternoon at the mall with Chrissy picking out the perfect outfit for tonight. You had settled on a pair of white Keds you already owned, with wool white socks that bunched up around your ankles, a bubblegum pink sweater with a white turtleneck collar underneath, and a denim pencil skirt that reached slightly below the middle of your thighs. Chrissy had convinced you to wear the skirt, it was a little short for your liking, considering you haven’t worn a skirt this short since you were about 14 and Jennifer McLaughlin pointed out how thick your thighs were, and offered to lend her mother’s copy of the Jazzercise VHS for the summer. You had tried curling your hair with the heatless curling rods you secretly took from your mother’s room, making a secret bet with yourself how long the curls would hold up, your hair being way too slick to hold them for more than 2 hours. You fixed your wispy bangs and tied half your hair you with your favorite scrunchie, matching the color of your eyeshadow, which was a pink of Pepto Bismol, and glossy lips.

You looked nice, nice was good; nice would get the kids at this god forsaken town to like you. Chrissy had said she’d be over to pick you up at your house at 8:30pm, you look at the digital clock laying on your desk, and curse under your breath, you were going to be late. “…shit” Pixie huffs out making haste to grab her purse and house keys her dad had given, he the new copies earlier today, making her promise not to lose it in 5 minutes like always. Once she got downstairs, she sees Chrissy sitting in the front seat of her boyfriend’s burgundy wood panel Ford Station Wagon Jason had gotten as a birthday gift earlier in the year. Pixie makes her way down the steps of her suburbia home, and made her way into the back seat, sitting behind Jason to get a better look at her friend. “It’s no problem at all, Jay would be coming this way anyways, I live two streets down” Crissy says with a cheery tone “So, you excited? You look so nice” Chrissy said, turning her body back to have a better look at her friend. I feel your face start to heat up from the comment, I gently smile and express my gratitude and buckle up, I clear my throat and say “Jeez, thanks Chris, you look amazing as well! I take a deep breath and chuckles out her answer “I’m a little nervous” I take a deep breath and continue with a chuckle “but I think it’ll be fun” I feel Jason’s eyes on me, preparing to say something.

As they arrive Pixie looks out the window. The house was considerably larger than the others on the street, it was a pale shade of green, and was littered with teenagers talking around on the lawn. The song was booming from the inside of the house, and it belonged to one Steve Harrington, Chrissy said that the 16-year-old had the house to himself after his parents went on a business trip very often, frequently throwing the raddest parties that anyone who was someone, was invited to. Chrissy mumbled a quick hello to the girls sitting on the couch with red solo cups in their hands, grabbing my hand, dragging me across the sea of people in such haste you’d think her life depended on it. In high school, everyone has an “identifier” a descriptive word, that everyone will associate it to you for the full four years—or how many years it takes for you to graduate. Tommy Fletcher’s identifier was “Angel face” Tommy just had this face to him, that made people almost want to trust him from the get-go.

It was at that party where Pixie met Tommy, they hadn’t really talked much, but when Tommy asked if you wanted a ride home, you didn’t sense any malice in his words. That is how whispers began to ripple through the streets, carrying with them an account that had the power to stir curiosity and ignite judgment. It was a false rumor, a tangled web spun by idle minds, woven with threads of teenage gossip, and embellished with imaginations eager for scandal by the elder women of the town. According to the murmurs that churned like a hidden undercurrent. The vicious rumor began with none other than Tommy boy himself. Tommy felt the pressure of his friends’ questioning gazes after he had giving Pixie a ride home. Not confirming nor denying his pal’s suggestions of going past first base, when in fact Tommy had gone in for kiss as he parked his car in front of her modest house but failed miserably spilling Pixie’s drink on her lap. Too embarrassed to admit his lack of game, he just said something about not kissing and telling, and their futures forever altered. The truth, obscured by the thick fog of gossip, remained elusive, leaving Pixie to bear the burden of a rumor born from the whispers of a small town's collective imagination.

That is how Pixie got her very own identifier, as a matter of fact, Pixie got multiple identifiers. From that party on, Pixie started to be known as "easy" and "Hawkins whore." The shit these people will come up with is unbelievable. The rumors spread like wildfire through the halls of Hawkins High, each murmur chipping away at Pixie's resilience, threatening to tarnish her spirit. But Pixie, with a strength hidden beneath her delicate frame, refused to let these cruel words define her. Instead, she clung to the unwavering support Chrissy had shown her, Chrissy saw beyond the gossip and knew them to be untrue, stood by her side, solidifying their friendship even further. Every day they’d walk to and from school together, seeing as they only lived two blocks away from each other. Chrissy's unwavering support and friendship became Pixie's sustenance, a constant reminder that she was not alone in the trenches of the American school system. With Chrissy's support, Pixie found the courage to rise above the malicious rumors, and chose to defy expectations thrust upon her, everyone thought she’d shrivel away and hide. Anyone else with an identifier like that would. But not Pixie, choosing to rebel against the rumors, and in defiance, Pixie joined the cheer squad the following month. It was a decision that sent shockwaves through the school, challenging the judgments and assumptions that had been cast upon her. Though some still regarded her with a lingering skepticism, Pixie discovered a newfound sense of belonging among the spirited cheerleaders. The support and camaraderie within the team became a shield, warding off the arrows of judgment that continued to be hurled her way. Yet, even with her newfound confidence and belonging, Pixie couldn't escape the persistent advances of boys who believed the rumors to be true. Their unwelcome attention became a bitter reminder that the stain of gossip could be stubborn to wash away. However, Pixie refused to let their misguided perceptions diminish her worth or tarnish her spirit. She stood tall, armed with resilience and an unwavering belief in her own truth. Pixie's journey through the tangled web of rumors and judgments was not without its scars. It tested her strength and resilience, leaving behind wounds that would heal with time. But she carried on, navigating the intricacies of high school life and her untiring belief in her own worth.

As Pixie walked out the house, the crisp morning air hit her skin, sending a chill down her spine. Pixie never dressed for the weather, she dressed for the fashion, always trying to mirror the magazine covers. Today’s ensemble would embrace the essence of the times, it included a pair of form-fitting acid-washed jeans, hugging her figure with a rebellious edge. The jeans, featuring strategically placed rips and frayed edges, you choose a pink oversized sweater, slouchy and comfortable. It would drape casually over your shoulders, and exposing your collarbone, and giving off an air of nonchalant confidence. To complete her outfit, she would slip into a pair of high-top sneakers, their pristine white canvas sneakers that exuded an athletic-chic air and added a touch of sporty flair to her look. Accessories played an integral role in Pixies fashion, a collection of jelly bracelets, stacked high on her wrists, would jingle melodically with each movement, letting everyone know once she had walked into a room, a testament to her trendsetting status. Oversized hoop earrings, gleaming with metallic finishes, framed her face perfectly and added a touch of glamour. Your makeup of the day was a delicate light purple eyeshadow, thick lashes made darker with mascara, eyebrows perfectly in place, and lips were adorned with gloss, shining n shades of hot pink, amplifying her radiant smile.

As the students make their way into the halls of Hawkins High, Pixie’s day began like any other, spirit radiating with confidence, she gracefully navigated the bustling corridors. Conversations and laughter filled your ears as you weaved through the throng of students, your presence attracting friendly smiles like moths to a flame. As you approach your locker, the familiar chatter of your circle of friends caught your attention, pulling you in animated conversations, going on about the outfits in Whitney Houston’s new music video. As the bell rang, books and notebooks were quickly retrieved from the organized chaos of your locker. Walking into class before the second bell rang, you gave Ms. O’Donnell a tight-lipped smile, a silent apology for rushing into class right before the bell. It’s not like you absolutely loved Ms.O’Donell as a person, but the teacher adores you! Ever since you had helped the woman in the library carrying the mountain of books, she has taken a liking to you, always brushing minor tardies under the rug, you weren’t complaining. But you couldn’t deny the way your teacher’s voice never failed to lull you to sleep, just as you were about to start to doze off into a comfortable nap, a rushing mop of dark curls comes bursting into the room. “Late again Mr.Munson” O’Donnell’s graining voice pointed out the painfully obvious.

Eddie Munson, identifier: Freak. Eddie had a distinctive sense of style, everything that he wore screamed that. Eddie's wore a pair of well-worn dark denim jeans, cuffed at the bottom, bore the marks of a well-worn piece of clothing. He wore his favorite band T-shirt, faded just enough to give it character. Always adding layers to his outfit, Eddie wore his customized jean jacket, heavy with pins of various sizes. On his feet, Eddie would sport a pair of worn-in white sneakers, his bulky studded belt and his folded bandana tucked away in his back pocket. Eddie’s outfit, much like your own, perfectly reflect your personalities. Eddie looked down, being caught trying to sneak into the room, he grinned had the back her O’Donnell’s head, and took a seat in the back of the room, near the right corner. You never understood why everyone hated him so much. I mean sure, he can be kind of annoying sometimes, with all his screeching and hollering in the halls, or his disinterest in school, but cult leader was a bit much, it’s literally a board game, nerd shit. He is just a geek, that has it out to lose his hearing, with the type of music he enjoys listening. You’ve come to learn not to judge a person solely based on rumors.

You had always enjoyed joining extracurricular activities, you knew it looked nice in your college applications. So, when Higgins suggested you be the head of a study group afterschool, of course you said yes. Higgins had said I would be able to pick the time and date, but to be able to earn credit, It would have to be at least once a week. You had agreed to do it every Wednesday, after cheer practice, it’d be a taxing to administer this tutoring business, and cheer every week, you would have to rush to the library after cheer practice on Wednesdays. You were a little nervous to meet the kids you’d be tutoring. Higgins hadn’t given you names, only a number. It would be you, and two other students inside the stuffy study room in the back corner of the clammy library.

You slugged your compact backpack on your left shoulder, heavy with thick textbooks, the canvas material of the straps making a permanent dent on your soft skin, leaving a red mark where it rested. Making your way to through the empty school hallway, a profound sense of anticipation hangs suspended, the ache from practice making its way up your back thigh. The distant hum and flicker of fluorescent lights, their yellowed glow casting long shadows along the vacant corridor. That is when you meet the eyes of Principal Higgins, the look on his face displayed a certain amount of concern. As you approached him, he stood in the way of the entrance of the library. “There has been a change of plans Ms. Dunphy” he pauses, almost looking for words “…Ms. O’Donnell has informed me that Amelia Richardson won’t be needing tutoring any longer…so, it will be only you and Mr. Munson.” Munson? You hadn’t known you’d be tutoring Eddie. You don’t have anything against him per say, you feel bad for him even, in the unfair way people treat the guy. But one thing remains true, Eddie Munson was intimidating, perhaps it was on purpose. The hair, the clothes, the chains, and tattoos don’t really make him look like a boy next door. You would manage, you had never interacted with Eddie before, but he was hard to miss, making his presence known in every room possible. After you gave your principle a tiny acknowledgement as you passed by him, making your way to the study room. You knew Higgin’s worry stemmed from the fact that your father had recently made an extremely generous donation of new textbooks to the school earlier this year, he was rather important in town. As you make your way into the musty room, your body reacts before you can hold back. Stopping in your tracks, holding the handle, you lock eyes with the metal head. You knew he’d be the one you would tutor, you thought you’d have time before he showed up. He sat there like he was in his living room, feet up on the table, chewing on the end of a pencil, patiently waiting for your arrival. The foreign feeling of his eyes fully locked on yours, causing all the hairs in your body to stand up. “Cats gotcha tongue Tink?”

I really hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter, I have so much planned for these characters. Please be patient with me as I am definitely not a pro at this yet, but I will get the hang of it!

If you have any sort of constructive feedback, feel free to leave them down below! I’d love them 🫰🏼 leave a heart for support, or repost for double support 🫶🏼🥹

Much love,

Belle.

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #slow burn #stranger things #eddie munson x cheerleader!reader #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson masterlist

64 notes · View notes

pedropascal-y · 1 year

Text

Look Away From Me - Joel Miller x Reader

joel miller x f!reader

MDNI, 18+, ageless/empty/under 18 blogs will be blocked.

word count: 1.9K

Warnings: Domestic abuse, mentions of domestic abuse, cussing, violence (typical TLOU stuff), age gap (26 to Joel's 56), ‘cheating’, please lmk if I missed any.

While there is no smut in the first couple of chapters, there will be eventually, and thus the 18+ requirement

Summary: In Jackson, WY, you are one of the teachers in the community. You are quite young which means Ellie takes a liking to you and she’s not the only one.

a/n: please share your thoughts! I’m not new to fanfiction writing but it HAS been a while. I am a massive Joel Miller girl. I will try my hardest to avoid ‘y/n’ but it may happen occasionally. You do have a nickname, Sunny, that your father gave you before he passed.

(i made the mdni & arrows picture, credit me if u use it.)

Index:

Chapter 1 - Fruits of Labor - 04/13/2023

Chapter 2 - X - Coming Soon

Wyoming summers are unbearably hot, at least this one was. I pulled my desk drawer open and set my planner and journal inside. He would never let me have something private, so I kept my journal locked in my work desk. “I haven’t patrolled something in a while and Jackson is so large,” Ellie said, drawing on a piece of loose paper. The other students have grouped off to chat while they finish up their assignments for the day.

“You’ve got this, Ellie, you’re stronger than the majority of the kids here.” I smiled at her, watching her try to hide her blush. Ellie preferred to sit next to my desk and talk to me, rather than the other kids. She was more grown than the others which broke my heart. At fourteen, she lived through more than some of the adults in the community. Besides, unspoken social rules went out the window the moment the world ended. Being friends with a fourteen-year-old was the least problematic thing I could do. Dina placed her paper on my desk and smiled at Ellie.

“Are you coming to the summer party this week, Sunny?” Dina asked me and looked back at her friends.

“When have I ever missed it, Dina?” I smiled at her, grabbing the paper from the corner of my desk and sliding it into the basket, “Ellie, you and Joel should come! The community hasn’t seen much of you two.”

She dropped her pencil and brushed her loose hair from her face. “I’ll see if I can get the old man to get out of the house.” Ellie grabbed my calendar and looked for the party. Since I’ve no clue what day it is exactly or what month for that matter, I’ve made a calendar specifically used for keeping track of schooling for the kids. The community picked up on using it because their kids spread it around.

The classroom fell silent as I stood from my chair and dismissed them for the day. I tightened the braid in my hair and grabbed my apron from the shelf beside me. The sun was shining brightly, the heat was radiating and everyone was wearing as few clothes as possible. The farm was a decent walk from the building they designated as my schoolhouse. I wasn’t one to complain, I loved being in nature. Whenever people were needed for runs, I volunteered to go. There was nothing like a Wyoming forest, the scenery of the hills and mountains was breathtaking, even the thirtieth time around.

“Hey there, Sunny,” Judith waved to me before bending back down to tend the carrots. I waved back quickly before pulling my apron on. My dress was a pale yellow with small daisies on it. I wasn’t worried about dirt getting on it but if I could minimize the amount of dirt, I was going to. Ellie made eye contact with me as I picked up the small basket for weeds I pulled. She waved and continued walking with Hayden, the teenager who was also assigned to patrol duty. He was interested in her and it was obvious to everyone who ever looked their way. Ellie? Ellie is a, and I am quoting her here, “hardcore lesbian.” I kneeled down in the dirt and started tugging away the weeds around the strawberry bushes. I sank my hands under the freshly turned dirt and took a deep breath. The sun shone on my face and warmed me both inside and out. Ellie stood at the gate of the patch and watched me. “Sunny?” She called out.

“Yes?” I answered.

“Why haven’t you gone home yet?”

“I like being in nature and they don’t care that I help them out.” I shrugged, gently pouring some water onto the leaves of the strawberry bush. Ellie waved Hayden off and opened the gate. She knelt down beside me and pulled a strawberry from the bush. “At least help me pull weeds if you’re going to steal produce, Ells.” I laughed and nudged her. She laughed and tugged on a small weed near the bush she stole from.

Ellie and I stood up from the ground and high-fived each other for our work. “Ellie?” Someone called out for her. We turned around and I locked eyes with Joel.

“Hey, old man!” She yelled to him. Ellie watched as Joel locked eyes with me, “This is Sunny, my teacher and part-time gardener.”

“Sunny isn’t actually my name, my dad gave me that nickname.” I smiled and brushed the dirt from my apron and dress.

“It’s a good nickname,” Joel said, his eyes still locked on me.

“Ew, stop staring, Joel!” Ellie exclaimed and left the gated farm patch.

“I wasn’t staring, let’s go get dinner.” He groaned and waved goodbye.

They continued to bicker with one another as they walked toward the canteen. Judith had left the farm not too long ago leaving me alone to put the supplies away. I tuck the emptied basket into the shelf I retrieved it from and pull my apron off. The walk to my house was quiet, the majority of the population was headed to the canteen or eating in their own homes.

“Ace?” I called out as I opened the door. Snickersnee rubbed his face on my leg, meowing softly as I shut the door. “Is your daddy not home yet?” I asked my cat. He chirped at me in response. I pressed a soft kiss to Snickersnee’s head. He was probably still working. The house was quiet and still, not even Snic made a sound. It felt uncomfortable to have a quiet home, as a child before the outbreak my house was never quiet. It was always filled with life and music. My dad made sure of it.

I climbed the stairs and flicked the bathroom light on. I had some dirt smeared onto my face and my hair was half in a braid and the other half a mess. My face was red and sweaty from working so hard. I pulled the towel off the wall and put some of it in cold water. My dress was clean for the most part which was a win on my part. I wiped my face down and relished in the cool fabric cleansing my face. Snickersnee was sat on top of the toilet seat, quietly watching me. I tossed the towel into the hamper and let my hair out. My brush ran through my hair smoothly until I reached the ends of it. Snic hopped onto the counter and rubbed against me. He pressed his forehead to mine and began purring. I pulled my hair into a half-up half-down hairstyle and left for the canteen.

“Sunny! Come sit with us!” Ellie yelled to me as I entered the building. I nodded and headed to the food line. Today’s menu was chicken parmesan, we had more than enough chickens to spare. I piled my plate on and grabbed water before making my way to the table Ellie and Joel were seated at. “Your hair looks good,” Ellie said as I sat down across from her. Joel was on my left, quietly finishing his dinner. “Joel,” She nudged him, and he grunted, “Tell her she looks pretty.”

He looked at me for the first time since I entered the building and I smiled at him. Joel took a moment and nodded, “Pretty.” Ellie rolled her eyes and mouthed an apology. It made me laugh. Although they weren’t blood-related, those two were family. Father and daughter without a single doubt in my mind. The canteen was loud and busy, a signal that today was a good day of work for everyone. Tommy and Maria loved when the canteen was full and lively. It reminded them of all the work that goes into the place. Maria and Tommy walked in with their daughter, Zarah. An infant, she was born two weeks ago and they were on top of the world. The older women surrounded them immediately, desperate to hold the baby. It made me smile, and the community was so willing to help new parents. Bittersweet is how I would describe it. I always wanted children but not with my husband. I don’t want to bring children into our relationship. Ace has been pushing the narrative that he and I have been trying for a baby but we use every precaution possible and we haven't had sex in the past 4 weeks. For that, I am thankful if not concerned. Why would my husband not want to have sex with me? I guess the only time he wants his hands on me is when he’s beating me.

“Alright, well, I’m all done,” I cleared my throat and looked at Ellie, “Wanna help me do dishes for the kitchen crew?”

“Hell yeah.” She exclaimed. I wouldn’t have expected her to be excited about cleaning dishes but she and I were close and loved spending time together. I took Joel’s empty plate from him and placed a hand on his shoulder before heading to the kitchen.

“Joel,” Ellie nudged me, “Tell her she’s pretty.”

I rolled my eyes before looking up at Sunny. Her hair was nicer than when she was knees in the dirt and she was freshened up. Clean. She was gorgeous. I cleared my throat and muttered, “Pretty.” Such a weak word to describe how she looked. Ellie knew it and mouthed an apology she thought I didn’t see. I kept shoveling my food into my mouth. My back had been killing me all day and I was starving. Tommy made me miss breakfast today because he needed a crew to help lug the bodies of raiders to the river's edge.

“Alright, well, I’m all done. Wanna help me do the dishes for the kitchen crew?” She asked Ellie. Ellie agreed quickly and snatched her plate up. Sunny grabbed my plate, placed a hand on my shoulder, and tapped before heading to the sink to wash dishes. Tommy sat down in Sunny’s seat with Zarah. Maria was grabbing herself some food. “She’s married, Joel.” He spoke first, wiggling his finger for Zarah. He had named her after Sarah, he had brought the idea to me a day or two before Maria gave birth. Ellie helped me come to agree with it, my niece is beautiful, with the deepest brown eyes and chubbiest cheeks.

“Who?”

“Sunny.”

“Ah.”

“I see the way you look at her.”

“Got no clue what you’re talking about, Tom.”

“Oh fuck off. You’re my brother.”

“Watch your language.”

“She’s not even a month old. I can say what I want.”

My eyes drifted toward Ellie and her doing dishes. Sunny reached for an extra sponge from the shelf and her dress lifted up. Purple. Her upper thigh had a purple bruise on it and rage bubbled. Tommy was too distracted trying to get Zarah to laugh to notice my fist turning white. The idea of someone laying hands on a woman enraged me already but one as kind and beautiful as her? I wanted nothing more than to murder that son of a bitch she called her husband. “Who’s her husband?” I asked, trying my hardest to restrain the anger in my voice.

“Ace Hutchinson,” Tommy said.

“The doctor?” I asked him, looking away from Ellie and her.

“Yeah, so stay away from her.”

“I wasn’t the one who invited her to sit with me, that was Ellie.”

“Ok, whatever you say.”

I watched as Tommy went and sat at the table with his wife, leaving me alone. Ellie splashed Sunny and laughed loudly. It was nice seeing Ellie enjoy herself and break out of her shell. I was glad someone got to see what I get to see every day of my life.

90 notes · View notes

penmansparadise · 2 years

Text

Eddie Munson ~ Sonnet 18

*I DO NOT OWN THIS GIF* *CREDIT TO THE GIF OWNER*

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Tall Male!Reader

Word Count: 3.9k

Warnings: Mild language

a/n: If I told you about the kind of week I've been having you would probably not believe me. But before I get into that, here it is, the Eddie Munson x Male!Reader requested from my Wattpad. As you all know, I was traveling. Well, the good news is I arrived safely. The bad news is literally days after arriving, I get COVID. I mean, it has been a whole whirlwind. So, now I'm going through the worst part of this and have been feeling like I got hit by a train. So, in short, I'm fighting for my life. Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoys this one and can forgive me for taking so damn long to post it. My next post will be a Steve Harrington oneshot! As always, thank you all for the support!!!

Ms. O’Donnell droned on about Shakespeare and his impact on literature as you twirled your pencil between your fingers. Usually, you paid attention. In every class, you were an A+ student and were even projected to graduate in the top ten percent of your class. But when you got to Ms. O’Donnell’s class, things were different. Although you enjoyed Shakespeare’s works, your attention was captured by something much more interesting – a head full of perfectly sculpted ringlets and a denim vest that looked like it had been to war and back. You pulled your bottom lip between your teeth and propped your head in your hand. Sitting just a few seats in front of you was Eddie Munson, the kind of man that would make anyone want to write poetry.

Since elementary school, you had shared at least one class with Eddie. Which meant that your crush on the boy started at a very young age. But he never gave you a second glance. You had always assumed that, just like everyone else, he believed you to be the quiet weird kid simply because you had good grades and paid attention in school. But he didn’t know the real you. The guy who drove a little too fast while blasting hard rock through the speakers of your beat-up Honda CRV. Eddie didn’t know the guy who spent an hour every day after school lifting weights to sculpt his body into that of the Greek Gods. Eddie didn’t know a thing. And instead of embarrassing yourself and making the first move, you resorted to side-long glances while passing the boy in the halls. That would just have to do. Because despite your confidence, you just couldn’t bring yourself to ask Eddie on a date, let alone tell him how you felt about him.

You continued twirling your pencil as you stared at Eddie. It didn’t matter how many times you saw the boy; you always found something new. It was like a game. And you were so invested in discovering something new about Eddie that you almost missed Ms. O’Donnell’s statement.

“You will have the week to complete the project before presenting it next Monday.”

Everyone let out a collective sigh that earned a chuckle from Ms. O’Donnell.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she said, waving the class off. “But, lucky for all of you, this is a partner’s project.”

At that statement, you groaned while the rest of the class perked up in their seats. You were used to doing group projects by yourself, but that didn’t mean you enjoyed it. Ms. O’Donnell smirked.

“But you don’t get to choose your buddy. I do.”

The hushed chatter silenced as everyone stared at Ms. O’Donnell. She walked to her desk and picked up a piece of paper. Then, slowly but surely, she began to work her way around the classroom, pairing people together. Here and there, a student would grumble in disdain at their partner while you waited in anticipation. Then, finally, Ms. O’Donnell looked up from her paper and looked right at you.

“Mr. Y/N, you’ll be paired with Mr. Munson.”

It was as if time had stopped. Your heart began to beat like a race horse, and your body felt numb. In all the years you two had been in school together, you had never been paired to work together. Eddie had never even asked you for help on an assignment. You turned to face him, only to be met with his big brown eyes. He gave you a small smile, and you were a goner. You knew that there was no way you could work with Eddie. You could hardly pay attention in the classroom, and there was absolutely no way you’d be able to focus when it was just the two of you.

“Now,” Ms. O’Donnell began regaining your attention, “you’ll be discussing a piece of Shakespeare’s work. It can be a play or a poem. I don’t care. All I ask is that you make it interesting and have fun.”

With that, students began to rise from their seats to move by their assigned partners. But you didn’t move. Instead, you were trying to figure out a way to get around working one on one with Eddie. But while you were trying to formulate a plan, Eddie had already made his way to your desk. Your eyes were trained on the tile floor in front of you until a pair of beat-up white Reebok sneakers came into view.

“Y/N, right?” He asked.

You raised your head to look at him and had to reel in your emotions. For years you admired the boy from afar, and now he was standing directly in front of you. He was even more amazing up close. You could see little beauty marks on his fair skin that you never saw before. You were able to see the messy stitching on his denim vest and knew for a fact now that he did it himself. His lips were turned upward as he waited for you to answer him, but all you did was nod, unable to create a sentence. Eddie chuckled nervously as he grabbed a chair and pulled it up to your desk.

“I don’t think we’ve ever really been introduced before. I’m Eddie,” he said, straddling the chair.

You stared at him for a split second before finally gathering your wits and squaring your shoulders, your normal confidence returning.

“We’ve had at least one class together since elementary school,” you said, leaning in a little with a playful smirk. “I know who you are.”

Your sudden change of demeanor surprised Eddie, and you could see his cheeks turn a bright crimson.

“Right,” he said, nodding a little too furiously, “right.”

Neither of you said anything for a minute. Instead, you shared nervous glances and awkward giggles.

“So, do you-”

“I was thinking-”

Both you and Eddie spoke at the same time before falling into a fit of laughter. The sound was something you could never get used to, but you wanted to hear it over and over again. Eddie ran a hand through his curls and gestured toward you.

“You go first.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said with a light chuckle, “go ahead.”

You leaned back in your chair and folded your hands behind your head, stretching a little. Eddie’s eyes fell onto your toned arms, and you smirked.

“I was just gonna say I think we should do a poem.” You shrugged and sat up straight again. “It’ll be a little easier.”

“Okay,” Eddie said, his stare finally moving to meet yours. “Do you have one in mind?”

You chuckled.

“No, I don’t.”

Eddie looked down at his tapping foot before finally looking up at you and saying, “What about Sonnet 18?”

You froze for a second.

“You read poetry?”

Eddie didn’t cross you as the poetry reading type. He liked loud music and played the guitar in a metal band, and smoked marijuana. He wasn’t soft. He was hard and a little rough around the edges. Yet, he was suggesting a Shakespeare poem for your project. Eddie scratched his head and nodded.

“Yeah,” he began, “my uncle he, um, he has a few…poetry books?”

You raised your eyebrows in question.

“Poetry books?”

Eddie shook his head.

“Just, never mind. What do you think? Sonnet 18? You know, ‘shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’?”

You couldn’t help the way your heart swelled just slightly as you examined the boy in front of you. His head was dipped down a little, his messy curls covering most of the blush that graced his cheeks. He looked at you with eyes as innocent as a child, and all you could do was smile.

“Okay,” you said softly. “We can meet up today at my house if you want.”

You could almost visibly see Eddie relax at your suggestion. A wide grin spread across his face as he sat up a little straighter.

“Sounds perfect.”

It was cute how nervous he was around you. You wanted to make him blush almost as much as you wanted to hear him laugh again. Anything to see his bright brown eyes light up. So, you wrote down your address on a piece of paper, ripped it from your notebook, and handed it to Eddie. Your fingers just barely brushed over his as you gave him the paper. You could feel your heart jolt a little in your chest, and when you looked at Eddie, that beautiful blush was back on his cheeks, and you chuckled. The bell rang, and you gathered your things before turning to Eddie.

“I’ll see you later,” you said with a wink, then showed yourself out of the classroom.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. All you could think about was how later that day, you’d be alone with Eddie. There wouldn’t be a teacher or a class full of bored teenagers to act as a buffer. It would just be the two of you and the nagging urge to kiss is very plump lips. When the final bell of the day rang, you were nearly running to your car. Nervous energy was running through you like blood pumping through your veins. When you reached your car, you got in, turned it on, and turned up the radio. AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill” began blasting through the speakers just as you started to back out. People turned toward the sound of the music, and you managed to ignore most of their gawking until you turned and locked eyes with Eddie from across the parking lot. He was standing next to his van, and even from where you were, you could see his jaw a little slack as he stared at you while AC/DC thundered through your speakers. A smile tugged at your lips, and you just turned away before driving off toward your house.

By the time you reached your house, your anxiety was almost eating you alive. Despite your best efforts at relaxing on your drive home, nothing worked. So, you did the only other thing you could do. You changed into a pair of gym shorts, opened up your garage, flicked on your radio, and began lifting your weights. It was the only mind-numbing activity you could think to do to stop yourself from going crazy while you waited. After the first set of reps, you ended up pulling your top over your head, leaving you in just your shorts. Sweat glistened on your bare chest as you continued your workout. “The Number of the Beast” by Iron Maiden began to blare through the tiny speakers on your boombox, pushing you even harder than before. You went rep after rep until suddenly you heard the sound of a car door shutting. When you turned toward the sound, you were greeted by Eddie’s wide eyes. You grabbed a towel and wiped off your torso as you approached him.

“Holy fuck,” Eddie whispered a little too loudly, earning a light chuckle from you.

A smirk pulled at your lips. What you would do to hear him whisper that very same phrase into your ear over and over again. You wrapped the towel around your neck and held an end with each hand.

“What was that?” You asked, cocking your head to the side.

Eddie’s eyes snapped up to meet yours. His mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally said, “Nothing.”

He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I, uh, I didn’t say anything.”

You stood in front of Eddie for another moment, letting the late afternoon sun and sweat on your chest create a shimmer effect on your skin. Eddie’s eyes traveled down the length of your body again, taking their time as they carefully examined every inch of exposed skin. You smiled as he deliberately checked you out.

“You want to head inside?” You asked, gaining Eddie’s full attention again.

He nodded before you turned and led him to your room. When you reached your small space, you walked straight to your dresser, leaving Eddie to gawk in the doorway.

“You can sit wherever,” you said, but Eddie didn’t make a move to sit. Instead, he did tiny circles as he took in his surroundings.

You didn’t lead on at school that you were anything but a good student. You didn’t advertise your music taste or show off your body, so by just looking at you, no one would know that you were a metalhead who took pride in his appearance. But once they walked into your bedroom, it would become evident. Hanging on your walls were posters ranging from Motley Crüe to Judas Priest, and sitting on your desk was a paper detailing a pretty strict workout regimen. After you grabbed a shirt from your dresser and your textbook from your desk, you turned and found Eddie sitting on the edge of your bed.

“I didn’t know you were into this kind of music,” he said, turning to watch you pull the shirt over your head. “Or that you were like,” he gestured toward you, “in great shape.”

You laughed, took a seat next to him, and leaned in a little.

“You also never asked.”

Eddie dipped his head, and that cute blush crept back onto his cheeks, making you smile. You so badly wanted to just grab him and kiss every inch of his red face, but you didn’t. Instead, you opened your textbook to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18.

“Okay,” you began reaching down into your backpack for your notebook and pencil, “so I went ahead and began the analysis of the poem. I figured I’d just do the analysis, and maybe you could worry about the poster board? Or whatever way we’re going to present the poem.”

You put your pencil between your teeth and began flipping through your notes when Eddie chuckled.

“What?” You said, the word barely coming out audible with your pencil still in your mouth.

Eddie reached forward and placed a cautious hand on yours, and your breath caught in your throat, the pencil falling between you two. It was as if time stopped altogether as a series of shocks ran through your body. His hand was warm, and his fingers were rough, but he was soft and gentle. Every nerve ending in your body was on high alert as you stared into his eyes, brown like the sunlit bark of an oak tree. You could have stayed that way forever. Just sitting there in a comfortable silence with Eddie’s thumb drawing lazy circles on your hand. It didn’t matter that you had a project to do. All you wanted was to be with Eddie in every way imaginable. Eddie’s thumb stilled, and he gave your hand a light squeeze.

“I know you’re used to doing all the work by yourself, but I actually did some of the analysis too.”

You couldn’t remove your eyes from his face. He was so close. All you wanted to do was trace his every feature from the arch of his brow to the curve of his lips. Eddie never let go of your hand as he reached into his bag and pulled out a ratty notebook. He flipped a few pages before finally releasing his light hold on you and picked up the notebook with both hands. Eddie cleared his throat, and you could feel a shift in the air. His throat bobbled as he swallowed several times, and his hands looked as if they were shaking just slightly. He looked at you briefly before returning his eyes to his notebook.

“Sonnet 18 compares a young man to a summer day,” he said before swallowing again and looking up at you.

Your eyebrows raised, and a playful smirk pulled at your lips.

“You don’t say.”

Eddie gave you a knowing look.

“I wasn’t done.”

You chuckled and put your hands up in defense.

“Sorry,” you said, crossing your arms, “by all means, please continue.”

Eddie gripped his notebook a little tighter and squared his shoulders.

“Shakespeare wrote this poem to describe this, uh, this guy he likes. It was kind of like a,” he tilted his head back and forth, “confession of sorts. He doesn’t just say this guy he likes is handsome because that would be too boring. So, he says he’s beautiful like a summer day.”

Eddie shook his head, his curls bouncing around his face.

“No,” he said firmly before placing his notebook down and looking directly at you. “This guy is more beautiful than that. He glows brighter than the sun and lights up any room. He hides from everyone even though he’s actually really cool and hardcore. This guy, he doesn’t let things or people strip him of his beauty despite what they may say.”

Your lips parted as your heart began to beat so rapidly that you were almost certain it was going to beat right out of your chest. But you couldn’t say anything because Eddie huffed a sigh and continued.

“This guy is someone you can watch from afar for years because you’re too scared to make your move. You’re too scared to even say two words to him, but you secretly hope every day that he’ll look your way. He’s someone you can fall in love with before you even know a single thread of information about him.”

Your stomach was doing somersaults as you stared at Eddie. He was fidgeting with a frayed edge of his denim vest. You couldn’t help yourself as you reached forward and placed your hand over his to still his busy fingers.

“May I interject?” You asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Eddie nodded.

“He’s also incredibly adorable, especially when he’s nervous. You know, this guy that Shakespeare is talking about.”

You gave a playful smile that Eddie reciprocated.

“Right, of course.”

You leaned in a little.

“He’s also creative and funny and smarter than he gives himself credit for.”

A hint of red blanketed Eddie’s face, and he looked down. You placed a finger under his chin and forced him to look up at you. The two of you just held the other’s gaze. You moved your hand to brush his hair behind his ear and let your hand linger for a split second longer than necessary. Your eyes darted down to look at his perfectly rounded lips. His tongue slid over the bottom one, and a tiny rush of electricity zinged through you.

“Are you gonna kiss me?” Eddie asked, causing you to look back into his eyes.

“W-what?”

“Because,” Eddie began, scooting a smidgen closer, making the gap between you two almost nonexistent, “if you’re second guessing yourself, just know I really want to kiss you right now.”

Your body felt numb at his words. For years you had dreamt of being in this exact position. Your hand on his and his face mere inches from yours. It was surreal, and you didn’t want to wait any longer. So, you leaned down and pressed your lips onto Eddie’s. He froze, body going rigid with surprise before melting into the kiss. Your lips moved against Eddie’s slow, but the kiss progressively grew urgent. Your hands traveled down the length of Eddie’s back until you were pulling him onto your lap. His legs straddled you, and his hands gripped your toned shoulders. Eddie’s arms snaked their way around your neck, deepening the kiss.

Every part of you was buzzing, and every place Eddie’s fingers grazed was lit aflame. You wrapped your arms around Eddie’s torso and, without breaking the kiss, fell back onto your bed. Eddie let out a small yelp and released your lips. You moved your hands to cup the back of his thighs, and he hovered over you on his elbows.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that,” you said, a little out of breath.

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed, “that makes two of us.”

A burst of confidence zipped through you, and you squeezed his legs.

“Oh, really?”

Eddie dropped his head into the crook of your neck, chuckling lightly before lifting it again to look at you.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve had a crush on you for a long time. I always thought you were cute, but today when,” he motioned to your walls, “I realized we have a lot more in common than I thought, the feelings only grew.”

You couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out of you.

“I’m glad you only like me because of my music taste.”

A smile spread across Eddie’s face.

“Hey,” he said, poking your chest playfully, “music has a lot more pull than you think.”

The two of you started to laugh again. The sight of Eddie straddling you and the low rumble of his laugh against your chest was that of a dream. You could stay in that position for a thousand lifetimes if possible. But you knew you had a project to do. So, you nodded toward your discarded notebooks.

“Should we get back to work?”

“Actually,” Eddie said, drawing the word out, “I was hoping we could go get dinner.” He tilted his head to the side. “Like on a date.”

“Oh!” You exclaimed.

Within a matter of a day, you were kissing the boy you had a crush on and getting asked out on a date by him. Eddie bit his bottom lip and shrugged nonchalantly.

“If you want, you know?”

You knew that he was trying to play off his anxiety, and you couldn’t help the smile that crept onto your lips. You brushed his hair behind his ear again and cupped his cheek.

“I’d love to, Eddie.”

You planted a sweet kiss on his nose before he peeled himself off you. Neither of you bothered to clean up your notebooks, leaving them strewn on the floor. Instead, you followed Eddie out to his van and jumped into the passenger seat. Eddie got behind the wheel and started digging through his pockets for his keys. You looked over at him and furrowed your eyebrows.

“So, do you actually read poetry, or was this whole thing planned?”

Eddie pulled his keys out and shoved them into the ignition with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah, no. I don’t know shit about Shakespeare. I was just trying to be romantic.”

You rolled your eyes but smiled, nonetheless. Eddie leaned toward you with a smirk.

“Did it work?”

You tilted your head back and forth with an “Ehhh.”

Eddie threw his arms up but joined you when you started to laugh. You cupped his cheek and forced him to look at you again.

“I was joking. It was definitely very romantic.”

Eddie smiled so wide his eyes crinkled, and your heart jumped in your chest. You leaned forward and pressed your lips to his for a long kiss before pulling back and allowing Eddie to drive off. Neither of you knew where you were going, but you didn’t care. As long as you were with Eddie, that’s all that mattered.

Tag List: @violetrainbow412-blog @tellmehows @pastel-abyss-x @lilliandanelle @ilovereadingfanfics @thatnerdana

#eddie munson #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson imagines #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fandom #eddie munson x male y/n #eddie munson x male reader #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x you #stranger things #stranger things imagines #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fandom

341 notes · View notes

aptericia · 1 year

Text

So! A while ago I made redesigns for some of my least favorite Three Houses outfits. With a lot of the female characters, it feels like the priority with their design is "show boobs and/or bare legs". Obviously, I don't claim to be better at character design than the original artists, but here's my take with the following priorities (in order):

Representing the character and making them easily identifiable. Basically, the design should serve as a "condensed" version of their personality, abilities, culture, etc.

An outfit that I find (with my 100% correct and objective opinion, of course) to be attractive

Being reasonably practical, at least enough that it doesn't break immersion. Considers the character's job, available resources, etc.

Ordinarily I'd design an outfit to go with the character's body type, but I was lazy here lol. If people are interested, I could draw nice versions on the actual characters sometime. Oh, BTW, the concept for this post was heavily inspired by looking through the @bikiniarmorbattledamage tumblr :))))

Below are detailed descriptions on how I went about designing them, if anyone's curious! I will be bashing the original designs quite a bit because I find it funny, but I hold absolutely no disrespect toward anyone who prefers them to my poorly-thought-out versions :)

Bernadetta – I feel like the designers were trying to combine the female archer class outfit, Bernie’s own girly/plushie aesthetic, and the “fancy noble lady” style and it didn’t quiiiiiite work out. I really like the color scheme & overall shapes, so I just went about changing the few things that ruined it for me.

First off, the huge bell sleeves. They’re just silly and don’t match the outfit imo. I turned them into an elaboration on her cute gloves.

Gave her pants instead of booty shorts. I don’t think Bernie would wear a long skirt that would keep her from running around, but the exposed legs give her a “vulnerable” look that I don’t think she’d appreciate. Plus, having the leg-pouch strapped to her bare skin looked really uncomfy ☹.

The boots didn’t work as well with her shiny new Pants, so I gave her knitted leg-warmer things inspired by this gorgeous cipher art.

I expanded her leg-pouch-thing and gave her a teeny little dagger. I just think she’d carry weapons on her person.

Constance – Honestly, credit to her for doing the best she could with the god-awful Dark Flier class design. I still think her outfit is pretty ugly and sexist, so I made some adjustments. I tried to evoke a “noble lady” feeling, but keep the muted color scheme and lack of patterns to imply that she’s actually dirt-poor. I took inspiration from people like Ferdie (noble vibe; armor purely for show not practicality) but with her personal “edgy steampunk vampire” aesthetic.

I changed her stupid boob-cup breastplate. I don’t even care about the dangers of wearing boobplate in realistic combat—it just looks ugly. Like why do you need to go to extra trouble to say “I have BOOBS! TWO of them!!”? It’s embarrassing. I mean it’s fine if you’re proud of your boobs, but then don’t cover them up with metal maybe???

I realized that the designers probably gave her boobplate because, without it, her outfit isn’t actually all that feminine. Coco is a pretty feminine lady, so I remedied this by giving her puffy sleeves (inspired by the Awakening Dark Flier design) and a skirt-thing (with an awkward slit that would allow her to sit on a horse). The skirt had the added bonus of being incompatible with the stupid butt-grabbing hip armor. Good riddance!

Traded in her bare legs for some silly suspender-sock-things. I just thought they worked better with the skirt and more “girly” outfit overall. Also gave her shin-guards to extend the pink color scheme throughout the whole outfit.

I also changed her dress into a stylish vest that, imo, looks nicer (and comfier) with the armor. I gave her some gold accents on the vest & armguards for a dash of color.

Her belt got a revamp to work better with the vest.

Lysithea – On to our favorite doily princess! Her design doesn’t reek as much of “boobs and/or legs priority”, but it’s still silly and looks pretty uncomfortable. I actually really like the aesthetic, so I tried to keep it as much as possible. I did end up having to introduce another color (silver), though.

I think her doily skirt looks extra silly because it’s so dwarfed by her sleeves. I lengthened it, made it puffier, and added another layer beneath it.

More drastically, I ended up changing the whole top of the dress so it was a shirt & skirt instead. I’m not sure I have a justification for this beyond “I don’t usually prefer dresses”, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out 😊 Also, what’s with the weird rows of ribbons(???) at her sides? Into the trash lol.

The ribbon attachment looks like it would be really cold on her bare chest ☹. I moved it down to the level of her shirt and attached it to her shoulders instead of her neck (for comfort).

Her shoes got boringer but less dumb-looking. What can I say, I’m not good at designing shoes.

Hapi – Hers is the least-bad of the Ashen Wolves’ timeskip designs, not that that’s saying much. I don’t really like gray and green as a color scheme, so I gave her a bit of brown and some more gold accents. Other than that, I feel like she has a sort of forest girl/witch/traveler look, which I tried to keep as much as possible.

Obviously, the silly boob-separator strap had to go. I have no problems with Hapi being sexy, but she’s much more the “forgot to put on my pants when I rolled out of bed at 1:00pm” type rather than the “put extra effort into showing that I have TWO BOOBS” type. Therefore, I kept a similar amount of skin showing but tried to make it easier to assemble.

Her new skirt was based on the Valkrie designs from other games (you’ll notice the similarity to the Mist-inspired outfit in this post). I think this version is both cuter and looks easier to move in. Also, I love giving everyone too many belts! Hers has a lil pouch for carrying random junk she finds.

Both her arms and legs looked a little boring imo, so I gave her some pretty bracelets and altered her shoes. Plus, her original boots looked hard to move in. Here, the actual boot is pretty loose but is tied below the knee with an extra laceable piece and above the knee with a brown strap.

Petra – Ho boy. I always felt like Petra’s design could be potentially problematic, although I’ve never done any research. Anywayyyy, it’s clear that the designers wanted something “exotic”-looking, but they had no ideas beyond “well she’s from a warm climate right” (In reality, someone from a warm climate would probably be unadjusted to the cold and bundle up… but that goes against the goal of “condensed character description” so I don’t really mind). Instead, I took a lot of inspiration from this awesome Cipher art! Her color scheme is a hot mess but not without potential, and personally I think I did okay with it!

Ok, ok, her design also does a decent job of indicating that she’s royalty from a hunting-focused nation. When re-doing her top I tried to keep that in mind, so I gave her some fancy jewelry and animal goods (i.e. fluff). I don’t feel like re-iterating the boobplate argument, so suffice to say that her breastplate suffered the same fate as Constance’s.

I adjusted her arm jewelry to be more to my liking. Not really any logic there.

Her miniskirt is pretty dumb, so I changed the shape and incorporated some hip armor (someone tell me the official name). I also took away the fluffy fringe, seeing as she already got some fluff around her neck. Instead, I added the pattern that was originally on her leg-band.

Do I need to explain giving her another pant leg? I know her outfit is based on the female thief class, but it doesn’t look good there either. And once again, I had no ideas for her shoes beyond not liking the old ones ☹.

#my art #fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #fe16 #bernadetta von varley #constance von nuvelle #lysithea von ordelia #hapi #petra macneary #outfit design #character design commentary #digital art

99 notes · View notes

idealisticrealism · 2 months

Text

TCL 3x01 thoughts

I think it's clear that I will never not have thoughts about this show (even if my days of wordvomiting 10k words per episode were over the moment we lost Arman) so here's some short(ish) notes about 3x01, which include heavy spoilers.

The main things:

The title of the ep is Arman which is both accurate and devastating

Adan is credited at the start with the rest of the cast, and don't think about how this is likely the last time we’ll see that or you'll cry

Where's Arman? is the catchprase of this ep. Everyone’s asking it; Thony, Nadia, Arman’s mother, Fi, Russo and the FBI, Ramona and Jorge….

Okay, I expected the use of the body double, but oh man when he turned around and had Arman's (CGI'd) face? God that hit me right in the chest. Overall it was done unexpectedly well for a show of this budget, even if the facial expression was more neutral than how Adan would have acted it in that scene. Honestly though, it was not getting to hear Arman's real voice that was the hardest part to bear

The Nadia & Thony of this ep was honestly everything I dreamed of. Nadia (unintentionally) saving Thony's life. Both of them escaping together and therefore being complicit in 'abandoning' the man they both love. Thony going to check on Nadia and looking after her like an older sister. The two of them bonded by their fear and desperation. Nadia hearing Thony’s sincerity when she told Arman’s parents that she owes Arman everything (proving that she wasn’t just using him like Nadia had previously accused her of). Them trying to come up with a plan in the office at La Habana, a place where they were both so connected to Arman. Thony stealing the cartel medallion so she could make the risky search for Arman without Nadia being endangered too. Like seriously, I’m hoping like hell this alliance continues for the whole season (and even beyond) because I’m legit so here for it

Wanna cry again? Think about how Arman technically saved Thony’s life twice in this ep, first by drawing the gunfire at the hangar to allow her to escape, and then by saving her from Sin Cara through her association with him. Which means that saving her was both his first (aka the night in the warehouse with Theo) and last acts towards her, and if that doesn’t capture just how deep their connection was, I don’t know what does

“This season is dedicated to our beloved friend Adan Canto” it’s fine I was already crying anyway

Ok but seriously, the main takeaway here: I don’t think it is possible for anyone to watch this ep and not believe that Thony truly loves Arman. Not after seeing her sitting on the floor, half-drunk and ugly crying about losing him and leaving him behind. Or after she left Luca to spend hours searching for him. Or after she stood up to Arman’s father about the kind of man he was. Or after she literally lied to Jorge, even under threat of death, to protect him. Or after she told Ramona that she and Arman are “not exactly” together, while making it clear how important he is to her?? Other than the Thony & Nadia alliance, my only other desperate hope for this season was for it to show us even more evidence of Thony’s love for Arman (because both S1 and S2 already gave us plenty of proof, imo), and this episode already gave me that in spades.

Some other stuff:

Nadia definitely has access to RK's money despite it not making any legal sense, and it sounded like she was planning on leaving Arman, since she was buying a house just for herself

The Manila flashback where Fi and Thony are demonstrated as being 17ish years younger (aka in their mid 20s) purely by having different haircuts? Hilarious lol

"You're still protecting him? Even though his interests lie with another woman?" wow Russo calling it as she sees it re Thony/Arman

The re-use of the motel from when Arman and Nadia were in hiding in 1x09 was a really cool throwback (especially for me, as I've literally been in that room). Also, Arman's fake passport being under the name Eduardo Sanchez? Aka his father's birth name (as it seems his father took on his mother’s surname maybe?). Anyway help I'm crying again

Speaking of his parents, damn they haven’t seen him in 23 years? Since he was literally like 17 or 18?? Jeez. Also his dad’s eyes and mouth actually do remind me of him; definitely well-chosen casting

But tbh this family tree makes no sense. Arman’s dad has an older sister who’s 70 (as mentioned in S1) and yet apparently also has a younger brother (Jorge) who is maybe 45 at most??? Only a handful of years older than his own son?? It’s possible of course, but it would have made much more sense for the writers to have them be Arman’s mother’s siblings, yet Ramona refers to Eduardo specifically as their brother… anyway, ngl the whole idea of Arman being Jorge’s nephew (and so Jorge’s kid being Arman's cousin) feels weird to me. Why couldn’t they have just made Ramona & Jorge be Arman’s cousins?????

Ohhh so the price on Thony’s head is in The Philippines, not the US. That changes some things with the cartel situation. Also looks like Thony is definitely never going back there then lol

The warehouse place where Thony meets the guys from the first cartel looks a lot like the crime scene Thony has to clean up in the trailers… maybe some gang war stuff happens?

I totally called it weeks ago that Paolo is Chris’ dad. The timeframe is weird though bc they make it sound like they were actually together right before she left, though he surely would have noticed her being very pregnant, since she gave birth to Chris while still in The Philippines… plus Fi told Chris he was the result of a one night stand, so who knows what’s going on with this continuity lol

I also called it about Ramona being Sin Cara. (Well, I had thought it might be Jorge until finding out the other week that she was the older sibling, but after that i called it lol)

Ngl I did not see Chris going to The Philippines coming but I should have haha. Makes sense that he’s now going to do the Mexico crossing with Fi, which is why we see him in the desert in one of the trailers.

Well, good thing the child protective services lady didn’t show up while Luca was there for hours alone lol. Looks like this season’s Luca drama is going to be less medical and more custody related, though tbh I’m hoping the Luca stuff will be kept to a minimum in general…

Anyway the TLDR is that I thought the ep was really good, and was a fitting tribute to both Arman and Adan. I'm interested to see where S3 goes, and I just hope that they manage to keep Arman feeling ~present~ in the storyline of the season even now that he's gone.

#The Cleaning Lady #The Cleaning Lady spoilers #TCL spoilers #TCL recap #ngl a lot of crying was done today ugh #but it still felt good to have the show and my De La Rosa family back #feel free to come share your thoughts if you have any!#I'm always down to talk TCL (obviously. lol)

13 notes · View notes

adamshallperish · 9 months

Text

my rating of supernatural season 1

1 - pilot

this is a damn good pilot. i will be so real. it does a great job of drawing you immediately into the story, giving you a lay of the land of the characters and their dynamics, and sets up not only the greater premise of the show but the monster of the week formula. the chemistry between ackles and padalecki is pretty instantaneous and it's nice to see a show with two leads able to carry it on their charisma alone. fortunately, there's also a lot more left to offer. whoever the person was who wrote the first wincest fic like two hours after this aired, i get it. 7/10

2 - w*nd*g*

not saying the title because i belong to the school of i don't want to fuck around and find out. this episode was alright, as someone from colorado one of the most common demographics of people who come here are "dumbass hikers" so i appreciate the nod to our culture. other than that, it was pretty unremarkable. 4/10

3 - dead in the water

this one was pretty solid! it gave the boys a pretty good mystery to solve and it sets a dark tone for the rest of the series. the theme of self sacrifice is also set up well here. drowning is also just like. a pretty gnarly way to die. 5/10

4 - phantom traveler

i found the demon in this one to be pretty cool, but if i'm completely honest i don't necessarily care for the episodes that break the impala motel fucked up town setting dynamic. i also just don't care a lot for this kind of plane horror. you can see that plane hijjacking is a trope kripke enjoys, however, as he uses it again in the boys. 4/10

5 - bloody mary

this one genuinely fucked me up, and it sets up the fact that sam has been receiving visions really subtly and effectively, given how they tend to play out more in episodes more explicitly devoted to the demon the winchesters are hunting. also bloody mary always scared the shit of me out as a kid so i adamantly refused to say it. 8/10

6 - skin

this is the kind of body horror i personally really enjoy, and it was also crazy seeing some of the greater repercussions the boy's lifestyles has on their lives. at least it'll be a legal nightmare if dean gets caught doing credit card fraud because, thanks to this episode, he is legally dead. also the fact that the shapeshifter turns into people's romantic partners but for the brothers it tempts them with... each other? normal show about a normal brotherly relationship. 8/10

7 - hook man

any horror that involves faith i am immediately behind. this will be a theme throughout this summary. i found the idea that the monster was manifested by lori's own repressions to be especially compelling, and done really well. the idea that our own repressions can inadvertently cause harm to others around us if we don't sit and take time to work through them is fantastic. lori was also my favorite quasi-love interest for sam this season. sue me. i thought they were cute. 7/10

8 - bugs

we have our first instance of the "sam and dean trigger so many fag alarms it overrides the normal amount of homophobia any rural midwesterner feels at any given moment in time". sam and dean are better than me because i would have for real left the people building a housing development on old sacred american indian land and let them die. other than that development, the final battle with the bugs was a bit anticlimatic. points for dean slapping sam's ass. what. 4/10

9 - home

missouri mosely i am letting you know that i am free this wednesday and would be maybe willing to get a coffee or another delicacy this week on wednsday when i am free. for real though, i really liked missouri's character, and it's a pity she gets relegated to a magical negro stereotype, as this show doesn't tend to have a great track record with its female characters. however, she was probably one of my favorite side characters this season and i stand by her and would love to learn more about her. other than that, loved this episode. sammy's psychic abilities reappearing, dean reconfronting his childhood trauma, mary winchester sacrificing herself for her boys in a way that just sucked the soul out of my body, JOHN WINCHESTER????? definitely one of the seasonal highlights. 9/10

20 - asylum

i hate the haunted asylum trope and this didn't subvert it enough to make this worth it. it gets points for the john winchester phone call event and sam being forced to sit through a therapy session and talk about his relationship to his brother offscreen. 3/10 [edit: came back to this one and i think i'm gonna bump it up to a 5/10 because some truly unhinged samdean shit happens in this, and every time i see a gifset from it i'm immediately like oh right They Did That. insane.]

11 - scarecrow

Codependency Thee Episode. besides a genuinely good evil force (i love small town/suburban white people trying to deal with forces beyond their control it's so funny like what are the hoa and pta meetings like), it does a good job letting there be conflict between the brothers and show how they are really better together. also sets up meg as an antagonist, and she serves. 6/10

12 - faith

oh this episode had Everything. sam and dean being typically codependent with the fear that dean's gonna die? tent revival preacher whose abilities actually come from a dark force? critique of american evangelicalism? surprisingly nuanced discussion of how faith in and of itself is not evil and how we all make concessions in our personal beliefs to care for the others around us? the absolute batshit revelation that sam is just like. unfazed if people die if he can save the life for his brother? don't fear the reaper needle drop? it has it all. what can i say. 10/10

13 - route 666

overall not a bad episode, the handling of race felt a bit superficial and on the nose, but america's legacy does lead to the racist-ass ghost being a pretty fun thing to destroy. preyed on my fear of big trucks. dean is a romantic sap. 5/10

14 - nightmare

THIS EPISODE IS MY REASON FOR EVERYTHING. FUCK. THIS IS PEAK EVERYTHING I LOVE ABOUT THIS SHOW. max damn near broke my heart, and it was incredible seeing not only more of sam's abilities but also his empathy. you can really tell he doesn't know what would have happened to him if he hadn't had the family he does have. this episode completely ripped my heart out. 10/10

15 - the benders

everyone told me this was a great episode and i'm so grateful for my friends pals and mutuals who would never lie to me. i had the best time. i like the care this episode had, given that the show primarily focused on supernatural forces, to do a classic case of the "humans are oftentimes more evil than spirits and creatures from beyond our wildest imagination". it's one of my favorite tropes, and it was used so well here. the aesthetics of the show as well felt like the texas chainsaw massacre mixed with duck dynasty, which is an unexpectedly brilliant combo. 10/10

16 - shadow

getting to see the john/sam/dean dynamic is so fascinating but honestly this episode gives me hives just thinking about it. 5/10

17 - hell house

this episode didn't stick the landing for me as much as it could have, despite the concept of enough people believing in a haunting that they manifest it (and the internet exacerbating that) being really fucking good. i will give it some grace, i think it's good to have an episode that allows some levity in the show and in the brothers' relationship. 4/10

18 - something wicked

i'm sorry the boys as kids make me feel like really ontologically sick and miserable. it was really cool getting a deeper glimpse into dean and his intrinsic sense of responsibility for sam, as well as his clear empathy for kids that is often a lot less evident than sam's. dean winchester i love you, i just can't think about you as a baby or it will make me cry. 8/10

19 - provenance

i'm sorry, i really didn't care for this episode. most we got out of it was seeing why sam was hesitant to open himself up to new love after jess and dean's vested interest into getting his brother laid. which. uh. i will say the little ghost girl in her sweeney todd era served cunt. 3/10

20 - dead man's blood

can't believe true blood came out after this episode and not before. i like episodes that take place in colorado for personal reasons, but it was also so fun to see the boys take on some vampires, who have some pretty fun mechanics. this episode also introduces us to the series mcguffin, and i just have to say i think it's pretty funny how the boys get the colt and immediately like use all the magic bullets in one go. it's the opposite energy of when i get a cool item in a video game and hold onto it the whole time, even in occasions where i'm supposed to use it, because i'm scared i might need it later. 9/10

21 - salvation

feels unfair to rank this episode and devil's trap separately. all i will say is i got jumpscared by kansas because i wasn't expecting the wayward son to carry on until the next episode. 10/10

22 - devil's trap

eric kripke what the fuck. i can't even articulate my thoughts on this. i hate this show and everyone involved in it. 10/10

#onto season two #ugh #fuck #spn #spn liveblog #supernatural season review #mine #spn season 1

13 notes · View notes

seijorhi · 2 years

Note

Absolutely loved your new fic, and I’m intrigued about the dynamics between the reader and the twins in high school, like what about her drew them to her? Did they try sweet talking her first or straight up fuck with her from the get go. And poor reader who managed to move on and escape them and build a great life all for them to just come back and ruin it all ahhhhhh!!! Once again great work!!

i'd say that you caught samu's attention first, not in some big dramatic 'love at first sight, she's my soulmate' kinda way, but more a sparking interest that he doesn't quite know what to do with.

he doesn't know what it is about you that's drawn him in, only that between volleyball and school, he finds you occupying his thoughts more often than you should.

of course, while atsumu's somewhat singleminded at times, he's not blind to the way his brother's attention (and eyes) keep drifting towards you.

at the same time, neither are you. it's uncomfortable, the constant prickling at the back of your neck, the feeling of someone watching your every move – especially when you turn to find out who it is, only to be met by those impassive grey eyes staring unashamedly back.

at first, you try to rationalise it. he wasn't staring, he just wasn't focusing in your general direction and it happened to look like he was staring. there's no way that either of the twins'd have an interest in you, you're being awfully conceited. maybe he wasn't staring at you, but the person sitting next to you, or he was staring, but only because your shirt's inside out or your hair's doing something weird again. there could be a thousand reasons.

and yet none of them make you feel any better.

osamu realises of course that he could just go up and talk to you, and yet there's a little rush he gets when you turn around and spot him, the deer in headlights look you get, how you subconsciously try and make yourself smaller – the nervous little darting glances you keep sending his way to see if he's still watching that makes him pause, and reconsider. it's addictive.

he doesn't know why you make him feel like this, he doesn't particularly care – all he knows is that he really has no intention of stopping.

and then tsumu gets involved.

i think at first it's more morbid curiosity than anything else that fuels him. clearly you've sunk your claws into samu somethin' bad, he's never seen his brother this caught up in a girl before. surely there's gotta be something interesting about you, something that makes you worth all this effort.

it clicks for him, the day you muster up alllll that courage of yours to finally come and (politely) tell him to knock it off because it's making you uncomfortable. you wait, hanging around the gym 'til their practice is done. less people around that way, less of a risk of embarrassing yourself or making a scene.

atsumu clocks you first – actually, he'd clocked you a while ago, fidgeting in the courtyard in front of the gym doors, glancing nervously in every now and then to see if they were still going at it.

cute.

and he could just let you go up to samu and say your piece (if you can manage it without getting all tongue tied and chickening out) but where's the fun in that?

if you wanna get to samu, you're gonna have to get through him first.

in front of the volleyball club, watching you flounder and politely try and side-step him, shrinking away when he's only bein' friendly… maybe you are more fun than he gave you credit for.

maybe samu's onto something here.

#rhi answers #fic asks #menaces the both of them #<33 #ty nonnie!

83 notes · View notes

blackfemmecharacterdependency · 11 months

Text

BFCD Not a Review, by Nesha

The “Not Gugu,” and that Lyndie girl

@sleepyfangirl18

I finally got both time and my thoughts together and just decided to make a post.

First off, you might be wondering, “What TF is Nesha talking about with this “Not Gugu” thing?” So, I’ma start where that started. With Georgina Somebody.

She was in Broadchurch, and I remember asking myself out loud when she showed up, “Is that that Gugu girl?” You may have guessed that I was thinking of Gugu Mbatha-Raw (who I only knew as “Gugu” at the time and I couldn’t really tell you much about her work. I just knew her face and that I thought she was pretty good when I’d seen her and mistook this other lady for her. I finally learned Not Gugu’s name is Georgina, once and for all after I watched Barbarian, but I do still have to look up her last name.

So. I’m watching this lady and she doesn’t have a huge role, but Broadchurch is one of those shows where several people get a small bit of time and for the most part, the performances are extremely great. So, if somebody like this lady was on and not acting that dynamically, it really stood out, because of the surrounding performances.

At this point, I was thinking... Well, maybe I am misremembering Gugu’s acting chops or this is not Gugu. And I looked it up and it was not Gugu. It was Georgina... Campbell! Georgina Campbell, and I wasn’t going to remember her name for years, unfortunately, but instead, ask myself every time I saw her, “Okay, is this Gugu or is this Not Gugu (and Not Gugu was specifically her at the time, but later grew in my lexicon of Neshaisms.

Not Gugu became any lightskint lady, the ones that put the “u” in “colourism,” who seemed like they were only hired because they were that aesthetic that has blown up so much the past few years as we start to get more “representation,” through primarily ambiguously Black/biracial/multiracial/just plain ol’ light skinned women playing characters ranging from their own makeup, but extending into monoracial Black characters and canonically dark skinned characters as well.

I do not know if Gugu ever swiped any roles that should have gone to a dark skinned actress, but I know this - I have never seen Gugu perform and it not be great. So, even if she might have gotten in on colorism, she is giving you work. She earns the paycheck and makes it make sense that they gave her the job.

Unlike, say a Zoe Kravitz, who has two facial expressions, never seems to even acting? Like... she learns her lines. I guess that’s fine, but watching a Zoe Kravitz performance is always giving me, “This is an appearance, not a performance. She is being paid to show up and look how she looks and truly nothing else.” (And this heffa done took at least two dark skinned roles to sit up there and waste your time with, but I digress)...

So, since there are many of these women that really read the same on paper, I frequently get them mixed up, UNLESS -

They are big stars, like Zoe or Tessa. Tessa is trying, but not doing amazing. Sometimes, she’s almost there and I’m like, “It is missing SOMETHING,” but I try to give her credit, because she seems like a good person and she does strike me as she’s at least working, unlike previous, who seems to be modeling in motion.

They are great performers, like Gugu or... I mean, I’m drawing a blank right now, but it don’t matter, because I always remember Gugu, so Gugu became the example.

If you are going to bombard me with fithyleven lightskints across every genre, movie, show, channel, etc, Give me Gugus.Gugus across the board. Because if you tell me Gugu is in something, I am interested in checking it out. If you tell me some unremarkable lightskint is in it, or one unproven yet, I am waiting for them to get like Gugu before I’m interested...

OH! JURNEE SMOLLETT! THAT’S the prototype for me. I’ll give anything she in a shot. But, she wasn’t on my mind when this Not Gugu culture set into motion in there.

A lot of roles go to people who are not American. Canadians, folk from the UK, etc, and I rarely know where they’re from, but Gugu is like what I am looking for whenever they come into something. And either I am looking at a Not Gugu, or I am given a performance to make me learn their name. Now that you have that longwinded explanation, let’s dive into Miss Ma’am from the Lil’ Hollow Show.

First off, I initially saw her in Nikita, so when she showed up on Sleepy Hollow, in my brain, she was “Ol’ Girl from Nikita. The like... computer chick or whatever,” literally did not know her character’s name. Now... it may seem like I am shading her, and I am today, but I wasn’t from the jump. In fact, I was glad to see a Black woman working, particularly one who, in my mind, had escaped The CW. Always happy when a nigga gets free from them.

I truly enjoyed her. I didn’t think she did bad in the show. I was very invested in her character and her storylines, etc. I began to feel some type of way when she began getting these arcs that felt somehow better than Nicole’s, because not only was Nicole the star, but the only reason I showed up. I hated the premise. Last white man I wanna see is one from olden times, and then next to a Black woman? AND THEN SHE A COP? I hated every inkling of it and when it began and people immediately began shipping them, I was already fuckin’ tired. But I had been waiting for this woman to star in something for a long time.

I had seen her in a few things and Apartment 4E, I think I’ve told you before affected me to my core. I was invested after a short while in Abbie and in her relationship with her sister. Then. The bullshit. And Idk if I had began to resent Sis or if I simply was tired of the abysmal writing, but I was getting irritated that she wasn’t as good an actress and that they should be giving good stories to the GOOD actress, to the STAR. and then you started to hear about instances where she’d be shady about Nicole when all that was going on, and then all bets are off. Not, she’s just a Not Gugu I’ll be petty about.

Truth be told, when I even try to remember her face, I don’t even think of her face. I literally have to be looking at a photo to remember that she is this person

And not adorable queer actress Maisie Richardson-Sellers

I apologize, but I absolutely was like, “They got Jenny on Legends of Tomorrow? She done got snatched back up by The CW,” and used to truly mix them up. I was all set not to like Maisie, too, because ANOTHER lightskint Vixen? Megalyn already DID that. Give it up. We don’t need it. But, I enjoyed Maisie’s characterization, and grew to love her and learned her name and realized that she in fact was not Jenny. Or, I guess more significantly, Jenny was not her.

I thought that Lyndie was one Not Gugu and she wasn’t even that Not Gugu, but once Maisie grew on me, Lyndie actually became Not Maisie. Very specific to her in that way that Georgia had been Not Gugu, before Not Gugus were Not Gugu. Very specific to her in that she ain’t “Another Tessa,” or “Another Zoe...” No... She’s just so simply not That Girl, TM.

Lyndie did not have IT.

Baby, when these people gave you storylines that were so good and star worthy and every week the girls (not me, but the other girls) were still coming to see how it was gonna go down with Abbie and that mediocre British man with soulless eyes... When you were thought you’d be replacing Nicole, a STAR, and they gave you multiple lightskint love interest arcs, and the people ain’t even care like they cared for Abbie and Nicole, and after all the mess, and they finally got her up outta there while you was looking shady boots with the obvious beef you had with her and they looked at ya lil’ lightskint Not Gugu ass and said, “On second thought...” AND THEY PULLED IN SOMEBODY ELSE SIS

Now... I don’t personally know anybody who actually WATCHED the show after Nicole (I actually left before she did), but one thing I do know is whenever I did see a promo, I seent Papi from The L Word in the ads. Not you, Not Gugu. Not you, Not Maisie.

I actually have not seen this woman SINCE.

#Nesha Rants #BFCD Reviews by Nesha #Not really but feels like it is of that ilk #Not Gugu #Nesha Does Things #rant #sleepyfangirl18

5 notes · View notes

biblicallyaccuratebeskar · 1 year

Text

Metal Home

Read Chapter 8 Here

Also on AO3

Chapter 9/22: ~2K words

Unfiltered

Mando was purposefully vague about or brief “vacation.” Karga was curious, naturally, but luckily respected our privacy.

I healed well. The bacta was a miracle, even if it did feel like fucking molten lava. In a day or so I was up and moving again, almost like nothing happened.

The wound had apparently left behind a scar. It was out of my line of vision and I didn’t mind, really. I’d never minded scars as long as they had a story attached. Mando hated it though and I didn’t know why. Once I felt his gloved finger linger on it a second too long after applying more bacta. Maybe I just imagined that part, but it gave me chills nevertheless.

We’d been staying on the tiny moon Reius because of its low population and general level of boring compared to some of the other places we’d been to. Breaking through the atmosphere when we first arrived, the view took my breath away. Rolling hills of blindingly green foliage cut into pieces by rushing rivers that carved through the surface everywhere you’d look.

I loved being there. The air was crisp and cool and smelled of trees and soil. The vacation was a farce, but I could at least pretend, right?

Mando usually approached everything with neutral confidence, but since I got hurt it was like he was walking on an icy lake, trying not to fall through. I always felt his eyes on me wherever I went, never letting me stray too far from the ship.

I didn’t like feeling like I was a liability, like I was breakable. But, I admittedly found amusement in his attentiveness. After years on my own it felt a little nice to be taken care of.

One afternoon we were sitting in the hull, where I was helping him clean some of his blasters. I had no idea how much upkeep they required, all the polishing and reloading. Well, maybe that was just him and his tastes. I happily played along.

I was just finishing the barrel of his pulse rifle when there was a knock on the hull door.

We both jumped to our feet in surprise. He drew the blaster he wasn’t cleaning and slowly crept towards the noise.

“You stay here. I’ll take care of this.”

I drew my blaster and followed him, of course.

We opened the hull, backs flush with the sides of the door, ready to pounce, when I saw who was standing outside.

It was a tiny old woman. “Hello? Is anybody there?” she called out. I motioned for Mando to withdraw his blaster. He didn’t listen. I huffed as I put mine in the holster and walked out to greet her.

“What are you-Larkin!”

“Hi there, everything alright?” I asked, trying to angle my arms to cover the blaster on my belt.

“Ah, yes! Hello! Were you the one I saw tinkering on this ship?”

“I am,” I responded cautiously. It was true. I’d started updating the gas line underneath the cockpit that morning, but why she was interested in that was beyond me.

“Oh, good! I live in a town three or so klicks east of here. I saw your ship fly overhead a few days ago and I knew I needed to find you. You see, we have a water filter and it’s been broken for nearly a month now. There’s a reservoir, but we’re beginning to run low and I can’t help but fear the worst. I’m afraid we do not have the tools to fix it. Would you be willing to come help? We have some credits.”

“Our services aren’t for sale,” Mando announced, emerging from his hiding spot. The woman’s eyes widened and she took a few wobbly steps backward. Living with him and knowing who he was, I sometimes forgot how intimidating Mando could be to strangers. And right then, he was definitely turning the whole fierce Mandalorian facade up a few notches.

My jaw clenched. “Can we talk?” I said as I grabbed his arm and dragged him into the hull.

“One second!” I called, giving her an apologetic smile as the door closed.

“What the hell?” I hissed, letting go of his arm. “She seems harmless, why are you being so weird about it?”

“We aren’t mechanics for hire. And we shouldn’t trust just anyone.” “Oh yeah, because you should never trust sweet old women. I’m going to help her, whether you’re coming or not. It’ll probably be an easy fix.”

Now he grabbed my arm. “You’re not going alone for a handful of credits.”

I shook him off. “You know I’m not going for the credits.”

He sighed, turning away from me.

“I’m going, Mando. I know you’re worried about me, so then come with. I trust myself more when you’re around.”

He thought for a moment, pacing back and forth, boots clunking on the floor.

“Fine,” he finally muttered.

I bit back a smile and nodded as I ran to grab my tool kit.

——

The woman, who introduced herself as Pira, took us to her village on a gondola she expertly maneuvered through brush and over streams and rivers. She seemed kindly, her white, fine hair blowing in the wind as she explained how she was the matriarch of her people. In the early days of the Empire, a mining facility had been built upstream from her village, polluting their water supply. The young people who went to work there during the day, given no other choice in the new economy, managed to pilfer enough parts to build a filter with what they learned engineering in the plant. Five years after the mine was built, there was an accident, an explosion she said, and no one came home. The Empire left the ruin they created, dissatisfied with their failed venture, and Reius had been quiet ever since.

The filter had persisted through all these years, still required as the creation of the mine had torn a hole through the earth, leaking chemicals into the water supply. But now, since it broke, they were getting desperate. We were their last chance.

When we approached the village, the people slowly crept out of their homes to see us. Some grimaced, others smiled and waved. Children looked at us with wide eyes from behind their mothers’ legs.

I took a moment to look around the village, finding it to be beautiful. The homes were to be made of sediment from the riverbeds, adorned with greenery and flowers. It seemed as if they’d emerged from the earth itself. As the sun went down, lanterns flickered to life in every direction, casting everything in gold.

Pira led us just beyond the village to a small stream, no wider than my bed. There was a metal box there, sputtering and choking out water from the other side. I could smell the chemicals.

Luckily, I was right. It was an easy fix, just like realigning the coolant in a ship. Mando stayed right by my side keeping watch as I worked (I nicely asked him to put the blaster away when there were no imminent threats). He held a light so I could see as the woods grew dark.

When I was done we went to find Pira. She was in the main square of the village in front of a large fire, surrounded by children, animatedly telling a story. Her expressions were heightened by the shadows cast by the flame, eyes bulging, hands waving. The kids were entranced, laughing and screaming at all the right parts.

I stopped just beyond the firelight’s reach to watch, leaning on Mando’s arm. It reminded me of when I was growing up. My mother was a fantastic storyteller, like Pira. She was an expert at doing the voices and movements, each character in my nightly bedtime stories rich, almost living and breathing. Tears unexpectedly sprung in my eyes as I thought of her. Mom cared so deeply about stories. Mine probably wasn’t what she imagined for me, but I hoped she’d still be proud.

I could tell Mando wasn’t looking towards Pira. He was looking at me. That happened every so often. I’d feel his gaze on me, even underneath the helmet. I always wanted to look back at him, but I would rather look into his eyes than a visor. I knew that was impossible to even think about, so I never looked.

Pira approached us as the crowd dispersed.

“All fixed. Just an issue with the piping. Nothing a good tool kit couldn’t help.” I said, handing over the box in my hands.

Her light eyebrows shot up. “Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly-“

“Please, I insist. I needed to update them anyway. If you ever have another problem, you’ll be able to fix it yourself then. Your village needs water.”

Suddenly I was wrapped in an enveloping hug. To my surprise, I hugged her back. She leaned back, cupping my face in her hand, the deep wrinkles in her face curving over smiling cheeks. “Thank you. My people thank you. Both of you,” she spoke, looking over at Mando. He stiffened, never good with compliments.

“You have no need to travel back to your ship in the dark. Come, I have an extra room you may stay in for the night.”

Mando somehow stiffened even more at that.

“Uh, that’s a very generous offer, but we’ll need to talk it through first if you don’t mind,” I responded.

She bowed her head. “Of course. If you do decide to stay I’m in the one just there,” she said, gesturing to one of the dwellings across the plaza, covered in vines. “If not, may the Maker watch over your journey.”

As she walked away, Mando said, “We shouldn’t stay.”

“Ok, but here me out. Reius is quiet, nearly remote now since the mining incident. And just look around you right now.”

The lanterns swayed in the breeze, casting light all around in golden wisps. The stars were infinite overhead from the lack of light pollution.

“We told Karga we’re on vacation,” I said slowly. “Just one night?” I gave him my most convincing smile, and it worked. Like always. ——

Pira was happy to see us. She led us to the spare room in the back of her home. It was modest, just a bed and a table. The door closed behind her after she said goodnight.

Just one bed. We stood there for a moment, frozen. It wasn’t like we didn’t sleep next to each other anyway, but we did sleep separately. It wasn’t a big deal. Not a big deal at all.

“I’ll sleep on the floor,” he blurted out.

“No, that’s stupid,” I shot back, mildly offended for no specific reason. “We can both sleep on the bed.”

“I’m not taking off my helmet. Or my armor.”

I figured as much. He never did when we were outside the Crest. “Ok. I’ll just be sleeping by a block of beskar, then. Nothing new.” He huffed a little at that.

“I’ll take first watch,” he said curtly.

“Mando, we’re not on a job. You can relax.”

I might as well have told the sun not to rise, but I tried anyways.

I laid down first, staring up at the ceiling. I felt him lay down next to me, but I didn’t look. It reminded me of the first night I slept next to him with the blindfold. The nerves, the tension, it was all the same.

“That can’t be comfortable,” I muttered.

“I’m used to it.”

“Ah.”

It was about as relaxing as a business meeting with Karga, neither of us knowing what or what not to do.

“I’m, uh...I’m going to sleep now,” I said after a long period of silence.

“Am I stopping you?”

“No! No. I just...I don’t know. Thought I’d announce it.” Maker, what the hell was I saying?

“Thank you for sharing.”

I sighed, covering my face to hide my smile. “Goodnight, Mando.”

Surprisingly, I slept well. He made the bed warm with his body heat, even underneath the armor.

When I woke up the next morning curled into his side, neither of us said anything. It was like an unspoken agreement. Unspoken words.

#metal home #din djarin #din djaren #din djarin fic #din djarin x f!reader #din djarin x female reader #din djarin x female oc #din djarin x oc #din djarin fanfiction #the mandalorian #mandalorian x oc #mandalorian x female oc #mandalorian slow burn #mandalorian fanfic #mandalorian fic #mandalorian x female reader

8 notes · View notes

krystal-sylph · 2 years

Text

A Cozy Night | Brian x F. Reader

I drew inspiration for this from a piece of fan-art that ♠️ Embrace Ace ♠️ made a while back (I tried to incorporate the link, but I couldn’t find it on their profile anymore). Anyway, it was an adorable picture that showcased Brian, Tim, Alex, Jay, and Jessica sitting around a campfire in the woods as Alex told them all a story - the story of Marble Hornets. So it was basically an AU that implied the entirety of the series was nothing more than a spooky story Alex made up to keep his friends entertained while they were outside spending time together. I loved how creative it was and just had to make it into a one-shot.

If I made some mistake and credited the wrong person, I apologize! I had first seen the image months ago (and actually wrote this right after lol, but on my Quotev account instead of Tumblr), and I had written down the original artist’s name so I wouldn’t forget. Maybe they deleted it, for some reason? Idk haha. But yeah enjoy reading! Brian’s beautiful and I’ll always be soft for him ^^

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

“...And as Tim continued driving down the empty highway, he stared into the camera one final time. If one looked closely enough, they may have been able to see his eyes becoming glossy as the tears welled up. He released a shaky breath - one of relief or one of disquietude, we may never know - and spun the camera around, allowing the viewers to face the road when the car made a turn into nowhere. A moment later, the screen turned black, and there, fading across it in that familiar white font, were the words, ‘everything is fine’...”

Alex met the eyes of his five friends as the story, at last, came to a close, observing their mixed expressions. Some were eagerly looking on in anticipation, others didn’t seem nearly as interested but it was clear he still held their attention. After a few seconds of heavy silence, Y\n leaned forward and whispered, “...Is that it?”

Alex merely gave a small grin before standing to his feet and stretching his limbs out, as they had all been sitting on their respective logs, huddled around the warm fire for the past five and a half hours. Jay’s eyes widened at the implication and he restlessly tugged at his hat, making it obvious to everyone that he wasn’t satisfied. “But–but Alex, dude, you can’t leave us hanging like that! What happened to Tim and Jessica? Did anyone ever find Y\n again? You gotta tell us!”

“Sorry man, but my voice is shot for the night,” he replied, brushing the back of his pants off. “I’m ready to hit the sack.”

“But Alex…!” Jessica whined, clasping her hands together and giving him the classic “puppy-dog eyes”, to which he rose a brow. “I’m gonna be awake the whole night if I don’t know this stuff!”

“It’s up to interpretation.”

“No, but really! Did Tim actually escape from the Operator? You stopped on such an eerie note!” Alex didn’t say anything else as he turned and began making his way into his tent. Y\n smirked slightly at their persistent attitudes and raked her fingers through her hair.

“Say what you guys want, but I for one think it’s the perfect ending to an already great story.” She glanced over at Brian, who had been sitting beside her the majority of the time to see what he thought, receiving a dimpled smile and a nod.

“I agree.” Jessica crossed her arms incredulously. “Not every story has to have a dead-set ending to it. Sometimes, it’s better left up to the imagination.”

“Yeah, maybe for y’all, but I can’t just do that. ‘Imagining’ an ending gives me way too much anxiety.”

“Meh.” Jay shrugged and scratched at his arm. “I just like knowing what happened if I’m being honest. Maybe that stems from my being impatient…”

“Tim! What about you?” The male in question lifted his gaze briefly to acknowledge her before rising up and shaking his head in refusal.

“You aren’t dragging me into this weird little debate. I just wanna go to bed.” He brushed past the two that were already standing and rubbed the back of his neck, presumably because it was sore from the extended lack of movement. “Goodnight.”

The small group watched as he disappeared behind the cloth wall of his own tent; the only shelter that was intentinally set up away from the other ones. No one minded it though, considering Tim just liked the solitude. Jessica broke the short silence with a displeased huff. “Well, whatever. I’ll just write my own ending. C’mon Jay, you can help me so I won’t overwhelm myself.” Grabbing his hand, she hauled them in the direction of her tent while Jay sputtered out poorly-crafted sentences in agreement or objection, nobody could be sure. “Goodnight, guys! See you tomorrow.”

Y\n waved and bit back the giggle she felt tempted to release when Jay nearly tripped over a stray tree root, giving her yet another reminder as to why she needed to watch exactly where she was headed at all times, especially at night. She for sure didn’t want to stumble on something and break her nose - not only would it be embarrassing, but it would put a damper on the rest of the trip, and maybe end it altogether. That wouldn’t have been a preferred outcome for anyone involved.

Once the tent was zipped completely up, all was quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the soft crackling of the fire and occasional, distant cries of the coyotes coupled with the chirping of cicadas. This was one of the many reasons that she loved to camp, and it only made the experience more enjoyable to have some of her best friends to share it with. She could tell that they were all having a relatively good time, even if ones like Tim wanted to complain about bug bites and mud. It was a relationship-strengthening activity that any number of people could do together, and that’s what made it so fun.

Now, only Y\n and Brian remained sitting outside, the lustrous glow that the fire emitted crawling across their faces as they both stared at it, serenity filling the atmosphere between them. “So…how do you think the story ends?” Brian suddenly spoke up after a couple of minutes, brown eyes not leaving the orange flames rippling in front of him. Y\n shifted her position a bit in an effort to get more comfortable and replied in a mellow voice.

“...I like to think that everyone that wasn’t outright said to have died turned out alright…especially cause, they deserved a happy conclusion. But I don’t know really.” She tilted her head up to look at him curiously. “You?”

He considered her opinion as the corners of his lips tugged upward, soon providing his own. “I’m an optimist, so I like your theory. But realistically speaking, Tim - story ‘Tim’, that is - likely went somewhere that he’d be alone and killed himself cause he couldn’t take the agony of losing his friends. And Jessica got sucked into the Operator’s clutches all over again. As for Y\n…” He sent her a cheeky grin, “she totally survived everything against all odds because she’s just that awesome.”

She rolled her eyes and playfully nudged him with her arm. “Uh-huh, sure.” Releasing a gentle laugh, Brian leaned back a little, using his hands to support his body weight so he wouldn’t tumble backward off of the log. They relished each other’s company, enjoying being one with nature in the most peaceful of ways. Without warning, Y\n allowed her head to rest on top of his shoulder and her eyes grew droopy. “It’s pretty, huh?”

“Beautiful.” He welcomed the physical gesture and wrapped his arm around her smaller frame, giving her the opportunity to snuggle closer. “We should do this more often.”

“Hm, I thought you’d like it.” She pulled at her jacket, hoping it would do a better job at conserving heat, as it was getting chillier the more the night progressed. “This is actually the first time I’ve camped out with anyone but my family.”

“That so?”

“I guess nobody else just wanted to be this far away from civilization. They were scared or somethin’.” He released a hum of understanding. “I don’t get that sentiment, though. I think it’s relaxing.”

“To be fair, not everybody grew up in a family that took frequent trips like this. I’m sure the idea of being miles away from any help in case something were to go wrong, or being hunted by some big predator lurking in the woods unsettled them.”

“Pfft, that’s amateur stuff.” She flinched when he poked her side and gave a chuckle.

“The point still stands.” They spent a total of fifteen more minutes sitting side-by-side, not quite ready to say ‘goodbye’ to each other’s presence on such a nice night. But alas, the lethargy was weighing down on both slowly, though Y\n was the first to show it with a squeaky yawn. Brian laughed and bent over to catch sight of her tired face. “You wanna go to bed?”

She was quick to deny the question. “No, no, I’m fine. Let’s just stay here a little while longer…” Her mildly slurred words were all the confirmation he needed, and he brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek.

“Y\n, you need to sleep. We’re going hiking tomorrow, remember? You can’t do that on zero energy.”

“I’ll…be okay.” Her eyes were almost completely closed, making it clear that she was content to just stay where they were sitting together, but Brian pushed her away gently so he could rise to his feet, then he took her hands and helped her up, much to her protest. “Brian…”

“Y\n…” he replied with the same querulous tone, prompting her to shoot him a half-hearted glare, and he smiled, giving her a good view of the gap between his front teeth. “We’re both tired. I’m sure you’ll konk out as soon as your head hits the pillow.”

She used the tip of her shoe to drag at the dirt and finally muttered a reluctant, “fine…” and Brian tousled her hair in amusement.

“Good. You can go wait for me in the tent while I smother out the fire.”

She did just that, taking off her shoes and instantly collapsing onto her sleeping bag. She had insisted that she and Brian share a tent as soon as he agreed to go camping with her with the claim that “it would be less baggage” and that it would be a way to stay warmer at night when it got cold, but she knew he probably suspected the real reason was simply that she wanted to be close to him as often as she could.

She knew that the fire was gone when the majority of the light leaking into the space vanished, and this was further backed up when Brian revealed himself and zipped up the entrance behind him, capturing the pair in pleasant darkness. She saw his silhouette lay down on top of his own thin bed and grinned to herself. He appeared to still be adjusting to get cozier, and she curled up into a loose ball, feeling safe. “...’Night, ‘Hoody’.”

He turned his head to glimpse down at her as he processed the reference before snorting and flopping onto his back. “‘Night, N\n.”

#brian thomas #tim wright #alex kralie #jay merrick #jessica locke #marble hornets #marble hornets campfire au #brian x reader #marble hornets oneshot #marble hornets fanfiction

23 notes · View notes

dreadnotau · 2 years

Text

Big (but sort of not big) announcement time! (At the bottom is a TL;DR if you don’t have time to read paragraphs of my ramblings.)

First thing’s first, I got into college!!! A lot of you probably don’t know, but it’s been a massive uphill battle to practice for the exams to enter the art college I wanted. It’s why I haven’t been posting basically anywhere but here since the year started. It was a lot of work and stress, but it paid off! I’m gonna be studying subjects and doing art things that I’m ACTUALLY interested in! No more are the days of dreading the next German test or pulling my hair out because of some bullshit math equations, from now on it’s just blood, sweat and tears poured into canvases, baby!

Joking aside, this is genuinely monumental for me. Though it DOES mean I’m gonna be pulled thin on my time and creative juices the moment the first semester starts, I’m still excited to keep working on Dread Not alongside the schoolwork I’ll inevitably have to do, too. This comic is, as I’ve said many times, my biggest passion project yet, and the fact that I stuck with it for over a year now is another thing I have to be very proud of.

But, in all honesty, this project wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for my best friend, Meow! As some of you may know (or maybe noticed the changed bio), Meowchela is the co-author of Dread Not, and is the one who encouraged me to go through with a full comic telling of the story, (instead of just letting it sit idly in my brain like most of my Deltarune and Undertale AUs do, whoops) so, again, you have her to thank for all of this. She’s not directly involved with the creation of the pages (yet?), but she is the one who helped add many characters, sideplots, and satisfying conclusions to what was, originally, just an AU about Toriel, Asgore, Spade, Gaster, and Kris, as well as helping with designing characters both that appear later on and have appeared already (Rouxls’ fabulous design was made by her!)

The reason I bring this all up in detail now is because she is now OFFICIALLY credited as a co-author. I used to just mention her in posts and tags, as well as give her a special role in the discord server, but now she’s credited alongside me in the bios of both the Twitter and the Tumblr accounts! The reasons why she didn’t want to be credited until recently are her own, but I hope you all give her as warm a welcome as you gave me as a fellow author of Dread Not! She knows this story better than anyone (better than even me sometimes, whoops x2) and I hope we can all see it through to the end!

Don't take my word for it all, though, here's a statement from Meow:

Hello everyone! I'm Meow, who you now know as the co-author for Dread Not! I've been around for this project since the concept stages, and seeing all of your love and support for it means so much more than I can reliably say. You may now be wondering why I've been so silent despite being around for so long, and the answer to that is very personal. All I'll say is that it took a while to build up the courage to allow Kooki to even mention me by name (and trust me, he's wanted to since we made the blog!) and so having a proper credit like this is monumental. I'm happy to finally be more front and center for the project, even if still a litle nervous! =w=;;

Thank you for reading from the bottom of my heart. Seeing everyone being so kind about the comic is half the reason I came out of my shell in the first place. While it's true that without me the comic wouldn't exist, in turn my efforts would never have been realized had it not been for all of you! So thank you again, and I hope you're as excited for what's to come as I am!

And, lastly, and kind of least importantly (to me), I’ll be postponing this week’s page. Both so I can relax for 2 seconds after my exams, and so I can have more ready for the week after this one. I’m gonna be going on vacation soon, too, so I’ll try to have a page ready for posting while I’m away from home. And, if it’s not ready, it’ll just be postponed for a week, too. You guys have dealt with longer hiatuses, it shouldn’t be a big deal, right?

TL;DR: Kooki is in college now and October is gonna kick his ass. Meowchela is now officially credited as a co-author of Dread Not. This week’s page will be postponed so I can actually go touch grass for once.

Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for your continued support of this comic! Act 1 is in it’s last third, and progress on Act 2 is looking promising. Stay tuned!

#dread not #dreadnot #dread not au #dreadnotau #not comic #not a hiatus announcement thankfully #this is just a post basically bringing to the spotlight some recent developments #seriously tho i wish i could give meow more credit but shes like nooo ur the one drawing the pages dont put my name on those #and like i get where shes coming from but also? she def deserves more credit for helping as much as she has already #maybe i'll get to include her name on some future pages who knows #for now though im gonna go like. lie down. exams were HELL

14 notes · View notes

theangrypokemaniac · 1 year

Text

Thank you for your kind words, @iloitse, and your thoughts, with which I agree.

I also see Brock with Suzie. When I used to plan out my own region, it finished with them together.

To me she's the one girl receptive to his attention, perhaps not in a loving sense, at least not yet, but no other lady ever treated him so well.

Vulpix will always connect them, meaning Brock has a lasting relationship with Suzie, and a reason to find her again.

If Suzie handed Vulpix over within hours of meeting Brock, in that short period she'd recognized him as a kind, caring young man worthy of her trust, someone to keep Vulpix safe, and he did, repaying her faith in him.

That's the sort of lad any girl wants to marry, and, as Vulpix is one of my favourite Pokémon, both can own it if they're together, which is my main motivation.

Vulpix for everyone!

I understand Tracey's true dream being to meet Professor Oak, but that's almost more useless than aiming to be an artist.

Drawing is dull viewing, but it keeps him occupied, and may lead to a career, but what did he want from Oak?

Yes, you've seen him. Very nice. And what are you intending to do now?

If I think of it too much, it gives me the idea Tracey naturally assumed Oak would be so impressed he'd take him on immediately, and so he needn't plan further into future than that, which brings me back to his arrogance.

As for getting there, the only direct progress he makes is in three epidodes:

• The Lost Lapras, his introduction, by encountering Ash and Misty.

• A Tents Situation, his penultimate appearance, when he meets Oak.

• The Rivalry Revival, his exit, when he becomes an assistant.

Between the first and final two, there's a hole of nothingness.

I suppose each step he takes puts him closer, but plot-wise, it's an abstact quest of no use at this exact moment.

This wish of his won't motivate him into any action in individual episodes, nor does it affect how he behaves throughout.

He should've had a task in the meantime that combined both interests, if say Oak directly asked him to make detailed illustrations of all the tropical Pokémon varieties.

As in, he must purposely go out and find them, not just the few he sees passing through.

There'd then be scenes when Tracey led the team, racing off into the woods as he's heard rumours of oddly-coloured Pokémon on the island, having to traverse caves and cliffs to find it, and maybe the Pokémon wants a favour before it complies, leading to another search.

It might encourage him to colour the sketches in for a change.

As a trope, 'The Quiet One' works, but not so much in a trio. There's too few members for it to be a recognizable role.

It looks more like you're not doing enough.

I'm not certain it's what Tracey's supposed to be either, because he speaks often, but just doesn't say anything memorable.

Usually 'The Quiet One' is portrayed as sensitive, emotionally intelligent and highly perceptive, spotting the tiny details the loud mouths miss.

They'll sit on their own, or stare silently out to sea, in picturesque scenes absorbing their surroundings.

Whilst watching Pokémon encompasses this, I doubt he was deliberately designed to fill the spiritual or philosophical model, but that's the best interpretation of a flat, undeveloped personality.

He certainly doesn't behave as The Quiet One when he has the major part in the story, so given the show credit for making a calm, laidback yet deep character, isn't something I can do.

It's so ridiculous. These writers put effort into creating Tracey, and cared enough to include him in the series, and then never took it further.

As soon as he was in, they gave up!

If however I accepted him as intentionally reserved, perhaps to counter the wilder edges of Ash and Misty, we still come back to Brock.

Tracey as The Quiet One would only ever be well-received had he been there from the outset, his relaxed, or withdrawn attitude given greater focus and serving as integrel to its beginnings.

By coming in late, no one will ever judge him on his own terms, or for himself.

He'll be held up beside Brock, and found to be not as interesting, and the longer the comparison persists, the less consideration he'll get, until fans lock him out of their minds and feel nothing but resentment.

With regards to Pokéshipping, Tracey was seen as an obstacle to any theoretical romantic moments simply by being there.

When Pokémon started, shipping as a concept, plus the surrounding fandom 'culture' didn't yet exist, as least not fully, and the only fellow fans available for discussion were those you knew in real life, which limited the sharing of ideas.

Therefore, children watching the very first episode weren't conditioned to see everything in terms of pairings, obsessively analysing each scene for clues etc.

By the time Pokéshipping began, Brock was already there, so part of it, in a sense, and the ship fitted around him.

Whilst Tracey is also the 'third wheel', and technically, any allowances shippers made for Brock could also work for him, it will always come back to the ill-feeling Tracey provoked.

What people overlook or ignore in their friends they will hate in their enemies.

It's not particularly rational, but then human nature isn't rational.

Some fans take against Ash and Misty. Some dislike Team Rocket. But no one hates Brock. He holds both sides of the divide together.

Therefore, Pokéshippers will accept him, as he was there almost from day one, but not Tracey, as he's not built into the foundations, neither of the anime nor the ship.

The writers didn't help matters by hinting at what might have been, fully knowing they'd never deliver.

At the close of Pokéball Peril, as soon as Brock's gone, Team Rocket tease Ash and Misty as 'lovebirds', as if that's the obvious conclusion to them being alone.

A lot of shippers at home, still smarting at losing Brock, might've got over it had this continued, in that, whilst missed, Brock's absence is tolerable if it leads to more focus on Ash and Misty as characters, and greater detail on their emotions and thoughts, especially for each other.

Then Brock leaving means something, and can be justified as crucial to the coming story arc, but adding a replacement erases all that potential.

Removing Brock is pointless if we 'need' three Twerps, thus the writers squandered the opportunity to go in a new direction, which is, frustratingly, straight after they implied the opposite.

I forgot to say before that Tracey is also hindered by his and the Orange League's perceived lack of legitimacy.

Ash, Misty, Brock, Gary, Delia, Oak, Joy and Jenny all come from the games.

Jessie and James, whilst not specifically featured, represent the villains of Red and Blue, which is a necessary invention as there were no named Team Rocket members besides Giovanni.

Pokémon Yellow had also come out by then, retroactively adding them to the game world, so that's alright.

Tracey however was the first main character to exist inside the anime alone, so not someone we were eager to see onscreen.

Back then, the branches of Pokémon: games, cartoon, cards, manga and merchandise, were much more connected and cross-referenced than they are now, and for the anime to adapt the game was considered very important.

When Tracey, with no roots in Red and Blue, comes in, and takes the place of Brock, who does, there was a feeling he hadn't 'earnt' his right to be there.

Who do you think you are, coming over here and acting like you belong?

The Orange Islands aren't a bad series compared to what follows, but when judged only by Kanto, it marked a step away from the original purpose of animating the game, and that wasn't a popular move.

We 'knew' the Indigo League as players. We'd walked through the towns, battled there, and been the hero, but this place, this brand-new, never-before-mentioned archipelago, with little relevance to the mainland, held no such significance.

It's a bonus round before Johto, as if not worthy in itself, merely a stop-gap edition, just to have something, anything even, to keep the kids occupied until the real stuff arrives.

It didn't seem to matter as much because of all of the above, and the sleepy, drifting tone of wandering the seas, sailing wherever the currents go, amplified that.

If it doesn't care, why should we?

Brock experienced blizzards, deserts, shipwrecks and eruptions like a proper adventurer.

He'd been through it all with Ash and Misty as a true companion.

Tracey meanwhile, had really nothing but blue seas, clean beaches and fruit groves to worry about.

Overall, and visually, it's just one long summer holiday for him, with no hardship to test his mettle.

How could we even tell if he was worth our investment, when we never saw him deal with serious situations?

It's another circle: no one likes Tracey, because they associate him with the 'false' Orange League, and no one likes the Orange League, as that's the one with Tracey.

Hating him is a very time-specific reaction.

You need to have been a child then, watching Pokémon in order, with no knowledge of what's to come, to feel it.

I wouldn't expect any fan outside that to join in if it's not part of their experience.

My younger self would never forgive me for mellowing with age, but then, when innocent enough to think Tracey was the worst thing that could ever happen to Pokémon, I didn't realise how lucky I was.

Because he most certainly isn't.

#Pokémon #Tracey #Brock #Suzie #Vulpix #Pokéshipping #Ash #Misty #Ash and Misty #Professor Oak #Team Rocket #Kanto #Pokéball Peril #Orange Islands #GIFS

3 notes · View notes