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dragonrider9905 · 1 year

Text

Don’t Call Me Flower

Alright @techs-stitches! At long last, it is here!!!!! I finally finished the square you requested! I really hope you like it and thanks for the prompt :)

This story is a participating piece in @clonexreaderbingo.

Square: Phee

Attempt number 283: failed.

You fumbled and mumbled over your words and the babbling turned into a short stutter.

Luckily he didn’t seem to notice.

Ugh.

You’ve tried starting a conversation with Tech 283 times since he arrived on Pabu, but each ended in a complete and utter failure. You were cut off, not loud enough, or your tongue would tie itself in knots.

This isn’t saying you haven’t talked to him; you have…just never from your own initiative. Phee helped introduce you a great deal (you believed there was more to her motive here than just being friendly and inclusive like normal), one of the other Batchers or Omega brought you into the conversation, or Tech himself struck up an interesting comment. If the latter was the case, most of the time you just listened anyway and didn’t have an obligation to say much other than your appreciation of his observations.

It’s been exactly three weeks since this ragtag group of clones arrived on your little paradise. Good thing they came when they did too. They’d become an important part of the community after the tidal wave that wreaked havoc on the island’s home and uprooted their entire lives.

They were the breath of fresh air on a hot summer’s day which cools, but doesn’t chill. The kind that fills you with contended energy, and adventurous spirit.

And Tech, well, he’d caught your attention right away at Shep’s house; Phee invited you to join them for dinner the first night they were there. You smiled, seeing him hunched over his datapad. It was kinda funny, and cute in a way and you decided to try to pull his attention from it. You weren’t very successful. Phee was better at it than you but she worked some magic with her words then somehow always left the conversation suddenly and you and Tech would be ‘stuck’ with each other.

Then the tidal wave hit and you, Tech, and Phee made a great team rescuing the people of Pabu.

That introduced a whole new tie you had with the clone but somehow, even though you worked well together, you were still shy when it was only the two of you, and struggled with making yourself seen or heard in a semi-intelligent way.

Tech would come by more often than not with a new idea about improving town life (if you didn’t know any better, you’d say he’d enjoyed it and wanted to talk to you. Did he seem excited when he approached you? You wanted to say so *shrugs internally*) which would segway into other ideas and conversations. The topics always varied, but whatever it was, you always enjoyed it.

What really made you fall for Tech (or when you finally realized it or stopped denying it or admitted to labeling this nonsensical attraction that drew you to him—you haven’t decided which one to choose yet) was when you were discussing your name to the Batch. How it came up, you didn’t remember. You thought maybe Wrecker or Omega commented on how cool it sounded. It was a normal name to you, and you told them what it meant and how your parents chose it for you before they passed. Phee had mentioned she had various nicknames for you. Of course, you turned bashful as she was naming them off but couldn’t help your outburst as she concluded:

“Those are my special names for her. I don’t know what you lot will call her, but you can’t borrow mine. They’re exclusively for me to use, so you’ll just have to think of something else special for her.”

“Call me anything, but DON’T call me flower!”

“Why?” Tech tilted his head curiously to the side at your pout and curious out of character announcement.

“Would you like to explain to them why I don’t want to be called that?”

“It’s short for wallflower. Many of the town's kids growing up would call her that.”

“Wait, what? I don’t get it? Flowers are nice.” Wrecker scratched his head, confused.

“Ah, I understand the negative connotation. Wallflower is a term defined as a person who from shyness or unpopularity remains on the sidelines of a social activity. Often, the term is given to mean someone who is unattractive as well.”

You groaned and couldn’t repress an eyeroll, regretting it minutes later. You cringed at how you must have sounded at Tech’s explanation.

“Flowers are also fragile and weak. Often trampled without a second thought.” You finished for him, crossing your arms annoyed. “So any way you look at it, it just isn’t…” you waved your hand dismissively.

“Yes, but flowers are also…beautiful.”

The way he looked at you just then made your heart melt, your stomach twist with too many butterflies fluttering, and a red heat filled your face.

His eyes were perfect and shining. Not looking down at his datapad making an off comment, but rather, they focused on you and his words felt very intentional. A small smile graced his lips and something gentle blanketed his face.

“Besides, flowers can surprise you by being rather resilient and resourceful. Never underestimate.”

He proceeded to name many species that were eye-catching and cunning for being plants.

How could you not?

Tell me, who could blame you for letting something blossom in your heart after that?

Thinking back to that day always made you feel better after a blunder. As mentioned, 283 times, but you never tired of looking back. It calmed you and encouraged you to try again; maybe you’d be able to have him look at you the same way again.

Currently though, you were sitting on the deck of Shep’s boat. Leyana wanted to take everyone out on the water after a long day of rebuilding the city. She and Omega were playing about the boat, Shep was steering the ship, and everyone else sat about stirring their drinks and telling jokes, laughing and relaxing. Tech was on his datapad but also joined in with comments of his own. When Phee asked him why he didn’t just put the thing down, he claimed he could do both.

That earned an eye roll from Omega and Wrecker. You wondered what warranted that.

“What’s got your tongue tied, Gorgeous?” Phee came up beside you, while all the others looked out over the water at the coming sunset, putting an encouraging arm around your shoulders. By the look in her eye, she already knew.

You and Phee had been attached at the hip ever since you were born. She definitely was the older sister you never had. Growing up, she was always getting you in trouble and pulling you out of it. Phee looked out for you and practically raised you. She was only a few years older but sometimes when she got protective of you, it felt like she was much older than she naturally was. Kids weren’t always kind; you got bullied and called all sorts of things but Phee never let it slide. She got put in detention a few times at school for the extent she’d look out for you. You’d wait for her on the swingset outside and walk home together, every night without fail.

You loved her, and never minded how different the two of you were. She was everything you weren’t, and you admired that. Together, you felt like a complete circle. Where she was outgoing, adventurous, spirited, confident; you were calm, shy and nervous. You were cautious when she threw credits to the wind. You were observant, watchful and insightful, playing in the shadows, calculating, accurately foretelling, while she confidently and boldly put out her ideas. You never minded being in her shadow, until now. It felt like only she would ever see the light you had to offer. It wasn’t the same kind as hers, but that didn’t make it any less special. She made sure you knew that, but it would be nice having it come from someone else as well…

You groaned.

“How do you do it, Phee? It all comes so naturally to you. You can flirt, be fun and express what you feel and it comes across amazingly. When I try just getting a sentence out around him I can barely string a thought into words. And it doesn’t have to be an important thought either. Just saying I like the same berry juice he does sounds stupid. Why am I like this?”

You let your head fall forward and hit the table with a bang.

“I’m hopeless.”

“You must reeeaaaally like Tech if you’re vaguely mentioning him.”

You didn’t reply. You just let your shoulders droop and turn to face her with a scowl. Her grin was teasing but her eyes sparkled softly.

“I think you and Brown Eyes would make an amazing couple. He could learn a few things from you. Hun, just let him see the amazing woman I know.”

Phee gave your arm an encouraging squeeze.

“And I got a few ideas that might help him!”

“Really?”

“Of course! That one can be kind of dense. He probably likes you but doesn’t even know it. Let’s help him realize it, shall we?”

“I don’t know about that…I don’t know if he even knows I’m alive.”

“If he doesn’t, I’m going to fix that too; even if I have to smack him in the face.”

“Don’t do that!”

“Not literally, Hun, figuratively.”

“Oh, as long as it doesn’t hurt.”

Phee chuckled, “Oh I can’t promise that. I’m going to make him notice you one way or another if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Now I feel like I should be nervous. Phee, what are you planning?”

“You leave that to me. And why on earth would you be nervous; it’s me we’re talking about here!”

“Isn’t that reason enough?”

“Very fair.”

Your grins were missed by everyone except for a goggled pair of eyes. He didn’t know why you were smiling, but he was happy to see it. He only wished he could have been the reason.

— — —

Phee’s first attempt at matchmaking arose the next day, and did she have an idea! Phee assigned you and Tech to work on a pier so there could be more ports on the island for fishing and boating.

You were handy and confident working with your hands. Phee knew you’d be at ease doing something you were capable of with your eyes closed. Perhaps you could teach Tech a thing or two as well. That would boost your confidence and your conversation topics.

And Phee was right, for the most part.

You and Tech worked in perfect synchrony—and the repairs took the entire day so by the time the work was done, it was sunset. There were absolutely no hiccups with the construction.

“I think we’re set!” You said excitedly testing the boards you both were kneeling on, “We should be able to head in for dinner.” You spoke too soon. The nails poking out on the board just under you caught your eye. You’d have to make sure those were bent out of the way so no one would get hurt. “Oh drats.”

“Hm, it shouldn’t be too hard to fix. We’ll only be delayed a few moments.”

Tech rolled up his sleeves. Your jaw dropped in a gawk.

“Oh…”

Tech’s eyes snapped to yours, head tilted curiously.

“Ohhhh…..ohhh! Look!” You tried to cover up your blunder by pulling your eyes away from his forearms and to the water, pointing down at the glowing algae. “They never glow blue. They usually are green. Do you know why?”

You looked up at the same time Tech was bending over to look down, hitting your heads on each other. The shock of the hurt sent you both hurtling into the water.

Gasping and spluttering, you both emerged from the water covered with the glowing sea plant.

“Well this was an unexpected pleasure.”

At first you couldn’t tell if Tech was being sarcastic or not but then you saw him examining the algae. “Quite impressive.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Looking into the water surrounding you illuminated by the mysterious blue, you missed the enchanted look he gave you. Of course, you couldn’t read his thoughts, but if you could, you would have known that the incident made him chuckle internally and it was worth it to see you crowned in the elegant plant. It was beautiful, tangled and dripping from your hair while the orange gold of sunset threw its color on you. You rather looked like a siren, calling him to you.

But no, instead, you could only think all you accomplished was getting Tech thoroughly soaked and even more late for dinner because of your mishap. Now you’d have a matching bruise at least. That was something, right? Maybe? Maybe not? At least he got to examine the algae, that was a win. But he probably now thought you were a klutz.

You couldn’t know how impressed he was with your skill.

— — —

Phee wasn’t discouraged though. Her next idea was great in the planning and execution, for the most part. You somehow found a way to bangle it up.

She asked you to make your favorite dish so everyone could go on a picnic. There was a beautiful field on the other side of Pabu where the scenery was green and lush and the animals were frequent visitors. It would be a fun and relaxing way to end the day.

Originally, it was supposed to be Phee, Shep, Leyana, and the Batch…or at least that is what you were told, but somehow, Tech was the only one who showed up—also under the same impression.

You immediately saw right through the scheme but said nothing, blushing a deep red and internally cringing at the fact you didn’t see this coming. In fact, this is a scheme you pulled on Phee last year. She was just reusing it. You were relieved to see Tech did not catch on and thought it was a mishap the others didn’t show up. His brothers and sister had a last minute accident resulting in them not being able to go (which of course you knew was orchestrated between Phee and the others. How could it not. You’d put money on the guess Omega was in on this too.)

“No use letting the food go to waste, right?” You tried to shrug off the awkwardness, and it worked.

Tech heartily agreed and while you ate, your shyness melted away. You found yourselves swapping stories about those who you both loved and were not present. Laughing at foolish stories and regalling in the exciting ones.

“Phee’s really brave. I’m not so much. I’m kind of her shadow. Everything she is, I isn’t.” You winced at the weird choice of words. It’s fine. Play it cool. Everything is fine…Everything is not fine. That sounded so dumb.

“I don’t get opportunities to be brave like she does. She creates those opportunities. If they came along by chance, I’d probably miss them or go running in the opposite direction.”

Before Tech could answer, a clan of moon-yos jumped you from behind, tangling themselves and laughing. The things clung to your arms and legs while the little ones stole away the cake you made for dessert. The treasure acquired, all the little annoyances left.

You could only sit there and stare, dumbfounded.

How? What just happened?

In retrospect, you knew this about moon-yos. You should have seen that coming…you were just so eager to share your favorite fruit cake with your friends you didn’t even consider the creatures had the same taste as you. You normally foresaw this kind of thing! What was wrong with you? You were too eager, that’s all.

With a heavy sigh, you closed the basket.

“Are you alright? Their claws didn’t hurt you?” You asked him, only letting a small bit of exhaustion into your voice.

“No, it was rather an unusual occurrence…I would be alright if it didn’t happen twice in a lifetime though.”

“For you and me both, I guess we’d better head back, yeah? Lots to do tomorrow.” Packing up hid your embarrassment well, feeling like you wanted to die inside.

Tech helped you clean up, but in your distractedness, you missed the grin on his face and the wonder in his eyes. Their attack barely phased you. You were calm, cool, collected. Many would have shrieked and panicked. Not to mention how well you handled the loss of your famous desert.

The day certainly didn’t go as planned, but when was that a bad thing?

— — —

A few days later, after one of Tech’s famous flying lessons with Omega, the Marauder needed some light repairs. The close proximity sensors went out…again. Phee slyly and quickly suggested that you could assist with the repairs to your great horror. You didn’t know anything about mechanical stuff. On the island, everything was hand built practically. You were good with a hammer, not a spanner.

“Relax, Tooka,” Phee chuckled, “he probably won’t let you touch anything anyway. He’s rather particular about that ship. You’ll just talk and keep him company.”

What shocked everyone was when he excitedly agreed to your help.

You were not there to just keep him company.

Furthermore, dropping jaws, Tech was showing you what he’d like you to do.

Tech was under a desk panel inside the ship, and you were on the comms outside working on the roof, connecting the wires he told you, when he told you. Sweating buckets, you wiped your palms on your pants again. This was his ship. His pride and joy. You couldn’t mess this up. Breathing heavily, you waited for the next set of instructions.

“Alright, now connect the red sensor wire with the port of corresponding color. Then connect the blues.”

“Consider it done!” Somehow you managed to sound more confident than you felt. But that was a simple enough task. So far his instructions were easy and clear. But when you looked down at your panel, you noticed something looked off. The orange wire looked like it was melted into the port. If you connected the red now, you were sure the whole system would short circuit again.

You knew you should have asked but you didn’t. Instead, you took a firm hold of the orange wire and pulled.

Sparkles flew everywhere, a small explosion sound startling you. A scream escaped your mouth and you fell off the side of the ship.

Tech, hearing the snapping, was already on his way out to see if you needed anything. Good thing, as you fell almost right into his arms, the force almost knocked him over but he somehow righted himself.

“Are you alright?”

He set you down and started to examine your hands.

“You are fortunate, you are not burned, what happened?”

Throat constricting, you tried to explain the situation. Tears pricked your eyes but you wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of falling until you were alone.

“Let me take a look.”

When Tech reached the top, he looked down at the panel amazed. He guessed right away you weren’t a mechanic, but he was excited to have you around and share this with you if you were willing. But, actually, if you didn’t do what you did, this would have been much worse. The tiny explosion would have been a bigger one. You had an amazing head on your shoulders and a great knack for technology. All it would take was a little training and you’d be a natural. He’d be more than happy to show you.

He was going to offer just that, but you’d disappeared before he reached the ground. Perhaps you needed space after the shock. That was logical. He’d finish this up. He’d see you at dinner and ask how you were.

— — —

Tech did not, in fact, see you at dinner.

Indeed, Tech didn’t see you much after the accident. You were present the following morning when the boys and Omega went to market but after that you made yourself scarce and by the afternoon, he’d decided to seek you out. It didn’t take long to find you. You were on the ledge of the pier the two of you worked on together a few days ago. The thought made him smile.

Tech watched you hunched over on the pier, staring into the water and dangling your legs carefully over the edge. Your easy, relaxed smile he would often see on your face when you were alone or you thought no one was watching, was not present, and a feeling of worry washed over him.

Your eyebrows pressed together, hyper-focusing on something that wasn’t there. Lips were turned into a frown and mind distracted.

That really wasn’t like you. From what he observed, you were quiet…but also observant. You watched and understood everything that was happening. You always knew your surroundings and not much got past you. Your eyes were ever watchful, a hidden light which carried a flame underneath. A mysterious flame that intrigued and fascinated him. It danced with an unshed energy which promised something great, though what was yet to be seen—your power veiled behind a mask.

There was so much to you.

And he enjoyed every moment you let him in to discover something new.

The hidden garden of knowledge in the vastness of your mind and imagination was beyond anything he’d ever experienced. You brought up points he never even considered, and they excited him. Not many people outside his family had the ability to evoke an emotion of happiness from him.

You did.

And he found himself wanting to do the same for you. To be the reason you smiled. To be the reason you blushed and laughed. To be the reason for the clumsy mistakes out of distracted love.

He chuckled thinking of your late encounters. They didn’t ‘end well’ according to what Phee explained at lunch (though to be honest, he didn’t understand how), but each time left him with a glowing feeling in his chest which spread to his cheeks in a blush. How could they not have ended well when each one left him feeling a glow of love and pride towards you?

You’d been down today, that he knew, but he didn’t know it was this bad. Tech thought it was merely your social anxiety he found got to you when things were loud and crowds pressed in on you. The market was hectic getting ready for that festival. He thought that was all it was.

This wasn’t that…He wanted to check in with you and make sure you were alright after that last incident but now he was unsure. Did you need some alone space? Would he only make matters worse? Then again, Omega had commented on it being nice knowing you’re cared for even if you didn’t want it at the moment.

A huge crash broke him from his musings and Tech watched you turn in horror towards the source of the sound.

You started yelling something in a language he didn’t understand, tripping over yourself to get to the collapsing building. You didn’t stop to put your shoes on, you didn’t hesitate. You just ran.

He started running too, there could be people who needed help but there was something about your urgency that made him pause. Why….

Oh.

Tech doubled his speed. “Hunter, we have a problem. The orphanage under reconstruction is collapsing. I fear some of the children are still inside.”

“On it. I’ll get Wrecker. We’ll be there shortly.”

— — —

This just wasn’t a good day.

You screwed everything up. You were sure Tech wouldn’t want to speak to you again after what happened. After everything Phee had done to help you. After how far you thought you’d come, you’d always be the screw up.

You sighed and ran your fingers through your hair, feet dangling over the edge of the pier. In a better mood, you’d playfully kick in the water but now, they just hung idle, lacking the energy for anything more than allowing a cooling, numbing sensation to creep up your legs.

Perhaps you were just overthinking everything. A little bit of sleep might do you some good. You and the boys had been doing so much to repair the town, you’d gotten little rest. Your mind would go into overdrive when you were tired. Perhaps that was just the case here. No need to panic (yeah right). Some little sleep would show you you were not over with (maybe). You’d gather the courage to apologize and fix your mistake.

You would make it up to him somehow.

If your friendship wasn’t permanently damaged, you’d find a way to mend it. You had to. Tech had grown to mean too much to you for you to let him go so easily.

Disaster after disaster went before your eyes and you thought them through. Analyzed where you’d gone wrong. How you’d fix it or how you would make up for the blunder. It might take a while but it’d be worth it.

However long it took.

You’d talk to him first. This time, you wouldn’t stutter. You’d have to practice but you were determined. You would be heard and you’d get it out right.

Before your plans could progress further, a huge crash broke through your thoughts. You turned to see the orphanage had collapsed. Fear coursed through your veins. Some of the children were helping where they could; they prided themselves in their hard work of what they contributed. They could be trapped! When you heard shouting and screams, you knew you were right.

“Hold on, I’m coming!”

You pulled your feet and dashed toward the construction site.

“I’m coming! Lil, run to the village and get help! Myles, go get the physician! Tali, get Shep!”

You quickly took stock of the situation around you. One of the walls fell outward, seemingly because the upper floor was unstable and tumbled through it.

You heard your name cried out over and over and saw little Trisy running up to you.

“Hep! Hep! Tabby is twapped inside, please hep!” She cried and pressed herself into your leg. You held her and knelt down to her level.

“Hey, hey Tristy, look at me.” You swiped the hair from her face. “I’ll get her, ok? Where was she? Is anyone else inside?”

Tristy shook her head emphatically. “No, only Tabby.” She whipped her face only for the tears and mucus to be smeared over her cheeks and forehead as well. Her breath was coming in heaves.

“I’ll get Tabby; you stay here, ok?”

You only waited for her nod of confirmation before dashing inside the building.

“Tabby? Tabby! Where are you?”

You carefully tip-toed your way around the fallen logs, not wanting to upset anything.

“Tabby, please answer me!”

“I-I’m down here!”

You looked down and saw a part of the floor was broken through one more level. A pair of shiny eyes looked up at you with newly enkindled hope grappling with fear.

“Are you hurt?”

“N-no? I fell in after i-it fell. I think my ankle hurts a little, that’s all.”

Looking around for the best possible solution, you grabbed a rope to use as a pulley. Tossing it over what looked like a stable beam, you tested its strength, pulling and tugging. When it didn’t give, you tied one end around yourself and lowered yourself down into the pit.

When you reached the bottom, the child crawled over to you and clutched your middle. The poor thing had been crying but was trying so hard to be brave.

“It’s ok, I’m here now! I gotcha.”

Wrapping one arm around the child, you slipped the rope around her.

“Hold on tight, ok.”

The child nodded and you hoisted the two of you up with a huff and humph. Grunting, you tugged the rope, dragging your body and the extra wiggling weight up. Sweat beaded on your forehead. Shoulders and arms squeezing and solidifying. Lumps formed where your muscles used to be and your neck felt like it was ready to burst. You just had to reach the top!

Hand over hand. Break. Heave. Hand. Hand. Heave. Heave. Hand. Heave. Hand. Heave. Heave. Heave.

“We’re almost there. Almost. There.”

Gasping for air, you tugged one more time. Your muscles were shaking and you knew you couldn’t hold on much longer. You were so close to the top but you couldn’t let go. Tabby would get hurt if you fell. You just had to reach the top…

“May I be of assistance?”

That voice. One that you did not expect but yet were so happy to hear made you laugh and tears sprung to your eyes. Looking up, you saw a pair of goggled eyes looking down at you worriedly, hand stretched out in hopes of helping

“Can you grab her?”

“She is secured against you rather well. I would not be able to maneuver her without hurting her. I’ll grab the rope and pull, just hold on.”

Tech reached for the rope and pulled the two of you up, easing you into the unstable floor around the hole. His grip was firm and gentle. If you had time, you’d marvel at it, but your head was still reeling and you gasped for breath.

“Thank you.”

He didn’t anwer. He merely nodded…and placed his hand on your cheek? Quickly withdrawing it, he warned:

“Be careful, move slowly toward the outer part of the room. You should be safe then.”

As fast of a talker as Tech was, he didn’t speak fast enough for Tabby who was already trying to hobble toward the opening in the wall. Your eyes went wide, seeing the unstable beam before anyone else.

“Tabby, no!” You darted, scooped her up and tossed her (praying you didn’t hurt her) to the opening where you knew the floor was ok.

Breaking through and falling through the floor in the process.

Wood ate your leg, shards of teeth scraped all the way up from where you stepped. Hot blood seeped through the scratches as you tumbled into the darkness below. You were vaguely aware of someone shouting of your name.

You hit the ground with a sickening thud and crack.

You couldn’t breath and you couldn’t move.

Debris fell on top of you so whatever wasn’t broken, was weighed down.

“Just great.” You gave a little sigh when air could enter your lungs again, trying not to give up too much breath. “This is fine. Everything is great.”

Closing your eyes and focusing on your breathing, a peace settled over you. You knew you should be scared, but you weren’t. Shouldn’t you ask for help? Shouldn’t you be trying to get out? Definitely. But you could only lay there.

Everything hurt…but it felt so nice to just lay there and sleep…

You loved Tech but why was he shouting at you? What was he shouting?

Oh.

“Wake up! You cannot go to sleep! Wake up!”

When did he climb down? How did he get down? How long have you been laying there? Surely not long…

Wait, did he just slap you?

Your eyes fluttered open.

“Hey.”

You tried to focus on Tech, eyes scrunched with undisguised worry as they searched your face and body.

“That wasn’t nice. Waking sleeping people isn’t nice.” you mumbled with a slight smirk.

To your surprise, he didn’t spout off a fact like you expected him to, instead he smiled a little sadly. For the first time, he seemed unsure of what to say.

“It is, if you’re afraid they will expire in their unconsciousness.”

“Fair enough.”

Wait, he was afraid of you dying? WAIT? WERE YOU DYING?

Panic overtook you. Eyes wide, you started to gasp and move around, words failing to form. Thankfully, Tech guessed your line of thought.

“Nothing to worry about. I have already woken you. You just need to stay awake for me, alright? I’ll move the debris off, and you will be just fine.”

“Are you lying to make me feel better?”

Tech looked at you and readjusted his goggles. “Now why would I do that?”

Wanting to shrug but not being able to, you settled for a sigh and fell silent.

You felt a piece lifted off you…he was so strong…you could get lost in the movements of him heroically saving you but then he stopped. You nearly pouted but held back.

“Please, while I work, give me assurances you are still conscious. Talk if it isn’t painful or clench and unclench your free hand. I…was worried before. You fell rather far and hit your head.”

“Ok…”

Your mind searched for topics but the only one that came to mind was the thought that gave you comfort these past few weeks. You laughed a weak huff.

“Like I said…easily crushed…very appropriate…right…about now.”

“No,” His voice was firm, not angry but steal-like, “like I said. Beautiful, brave, resilient, resourceful.” His soft smile returned. “Seems like Phee isn’t the only brave one of the two of you. My hypothesis was correct; I just wish you didn’t test it in such drastic measures.”

Your head nodded a little, the ghost of a laugh on your lips while your eyes fluttered closed.

“Please don’t go to sleep. I can’t lose you like this.”

Wait…he was worried he’d lose you?!?

You wanted to comment on that. You didn’t know how, so after opening and shutting your mouth a few times, you settled on something equally important.

Not knowing what else to say, you decided now was as good as ever to apologize. He might even be more forgiving with you in this condition.

“I’m sorry…for everything, Tech.” Tears started to well in your eyes. “I messed up so much. I ruined your ship. I—”

“You’re upset because you thought you hurt me or I was angry with you?”

You nodded, letting out a little sob. You couldn’t look at him, so you clamped your eyes shut and bit your lip, the pain keeping you from falling asleep. …he said your name so gently, the lump in your throat returned.

“You didn’t at all. I am sorry you thought that. I would have talked to you sooner had I known that is what upset you so. You were so grave I thought you needed some space as when you were overwhelmed. Phee told me you thought you ruined some important moments together, but I did not equate that with the toll it took on your mind. How could I when everything you did evoked a feeling of love for you?”

You sucked air through your lips and let the tears fall.

“You’re not teasing me are you? Because l love you. And if this isn’t real, I swear…”

But you were startled into opening your eyes anyway.

Did you die, or was Tech actually kissing you?

Tech placed one of his hands on your cheeks, stroking it gently with his thumb. His lips moved over yours ever so softly, as if he was afraid the movement would hurt you, yet there was a firmness there which reassured you that he wasn’t timid of you or how he felt.

“You’re my beautiful flower. Nothing will ever change that. I promise. Now let’s get you out of here. If you wilt before, that is simply unacceptable and unforgivable after this confession.”

You chuckled, “Alright. Deal. No croaking before we leave.”

“Or after.” He sighed. “That was not giving you permission to ‘croak’ after being helped to safety.”

You could only laugh.

“I won’t plan on it. Not when I’m finally yours. And Tech, only you can call me flower.”

“I thought it would be obvious...my flower.”

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satinoflowers · 2 months

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Hey! What are your thoughts on Satin being a Reach lord’s bastard? I think GRRM kinda left it open for himself, but there’s seeds of being a lord’s son for sure. Or do you have other theories?

Thank you so much for the ask!! <333

Textually theres a decent amount of suggestion to me that satin is a lord's son. He uses the formally educated "my lord" instead of the common "m'lord" when addressing jon, which rly stands out to me as grrm seems to be consistent with this. Satin is a crackshot with a crossbow despite minimal training, and i like the reddit user muflonlesli's point about tyrion's line about "i never thought to feed the fire, that had always been a servant's task" in regards to satin not being as diligent with lighting jon's. That one always stuck with me because as fanficable that that character trait is within satin, in the context of the chapter it does seem a strange bit of coloring to add. Satin is proved diligent, so by pointing out his negligence in that aspect i think grrm is purposefully and specifically hilighting it.

One of my favorite hints to him having the surname flowers (which is an incredible reach and is so so sodelusional of me. I mean seriously take this with a pound of salt) is the line from acok, dany iv where she has the vision with the "sweet-scented blue flower growing from a chink in a wall of ice"... hear me out, instead of having blue roses be represntative of lyanna, think of them as being a symbol of love within lyanna's line. If r+l=j and satin SPECIFICALLY has a line about the "sweet-scented oil" being registered by jon in the godswood on an icy day,, satin is the sweet smelling blue FLOWER (bastard surname in the reach) and jon is courting him just as rhaegar courted lyanna. And if u think about it. Jon does need a nyssa nyssa so like how far of a reach would it be to say that by comparing jon+rhaegar and their need for a cute person to fulfill a prophecy,, u get sweet smelling satin flowers???🤪🤪🤪

Realistically i dont think theres much of anything to be gained by having him be a lord's bastard, though. It serves as explanation for his mannerisms and character traits for sure (theres also the littlefinger's spy theory but again i dont see the need for him to have one that far from kl and having nothing to do w the current events in his story. Maybe he is a jonsa stan idk) but... the only addition would be to his role within the story on a meta level, if grrm is hinting at a parallel between satinjon and another pairing of characters, which is rife with opportunity for sure.

One more thing to add would be that since empathizing with and aiding those in marginalized groups/ different walks of life from jon's own is so vital within his story (including satin being a prostitute), having satin be a fellow bastard in a much worse position than jon would be a decent addition. Does that set jon up for empathizing with those whose bastard-ry leaves them in positions in which they must make (in jons judgement) immoral choices? In satins case, prostitution, but in aegon vi blackfyre's case? If satin is as important to jons story as i hope he'll be, then a conversation/ philosophic monologue in a jon pov about discrimination being different across class division with those two could be poignant in regards to jons development and future actions.

#jonsatin count for this is only a one!#i didnt bring up the tysha tyrion parallels yw #ty again for the ask mwah #asoiaf #a song of ice and fire #game of thrones #jon snow #my.#valyrian scrolls #satin of oldtown #satin flowers

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wulvert · 7 months

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this post is abt my ocs so they have up to date context on this blog. i genuinely dont remember if ive made this post before, i could have, my memory is bad & i want to talk abt them so i dont mind repeating myself

selkie

& wolf

those r placeholder names but they dont get real ones

selkie is a selkie with no coat & wolf is not a werewolf but they were a werewolf like 5 mins before the start of the story.

setting is pretty generic grimish fantasy world where magic just got fuckign zapped out of existence causing all curses to break, thts probs been done 1000 times before but idc vampires have too let me live.

wolf is the first werewolf ever & theyve just been a giant wolf wreaking havoc full time for a good 1000 yrs or so, all other werewolves have a weaker version of their curse. it only affects them on the full moon bc thats the moon phase wolf (the person) was cursed on wweuueh wolf did stop wreaking havoc once a year on the day they were cursed, this became a holiday where locals vent their frustrations to the giant wolf that usually tries eating them every other day of the year, giving it to god kinda idea but for giant wolves.

now that everyone evers curse has been broken as a byproduct of magic being obliterated, wolf is a person. why doesnt magic being gone make them stuck as a wolf fuck off shut up. magic is what makes them a wolf thats how it works thats how magic works go to magic school idiot,

wolf is a person again, but god** forgot what they looked like before being a giant wolf so theyre kinda just whatever wolf felt like at the time now. despite it being their actual genuine fucking heart and soul and spirit in physical form, they arent super happy with it bc now they have to see their muther (who isnt dead) (despite 1000 yrs passing) who will probably be judgy abt their actual ficking hesrt and soul ajd spirit in physical form & that feels bad. so wolf wants to be a giant wolf again asap to avoid tht mother child reunion.

** there r two gods but one is dead but thats fine so like the world they live in is one massive dead gods head & the other one is like cultivating a mould population on it but the mould is the creation of man. the rest of the body is there too but ppl usually fall off & die trying to get to the neck & shoulders. they dont know its a head they live on though like its massive theyd never know, they just think some landmarks look weirdly like an ear & eye socket & stuff. the god tht is alive is like hes not a guy who glows god hes an unknowable being god but also i imagine the universe is in a shed & they are humanoid shaped so i dont rly . i do think dying and growing tiny teeny versions of your shape on you is cool

selkie lost her coat like ages ago and has been looking for it for years, but now that magic fucked off selkies cant even be seals anymore. so even if she got her coat back it wouldnt work. selkie is pretty bummed abt this, still wants it back but also feels like she wasted years of her life at the same time & wants to move on. relates to wolf on these things.

theres also a vampire who isnt a vampire anymoere but also sort of is but not really & he wants his ex wife back who dumped him for being miserable.

also probs an elf (the elves here are plant based not meat based & very magic based except not anymore)

all the fairies died bc i dont like faries. and i dont kniw how to spell fairies. theyre the only crestures that died with no magic only bc i dont like them.

so i guess the goal is wolf wants to shout at god. its like horton hears a who. watch horton hears a who thats this comic one to one.

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minhosimthings · 1 year

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Vanilla Meat

Synopsis: In which your husband makes your weird pregnancy cravings.

Pairings: Husband!Minho × pregnant reader (fem duh)

Warnings: FLUFFY SHIT YEAH. Mention of throwing up, mention of food

A/N: One more drabble because I have writer's block rn. Absolutely cannot write another chapter. College is getting more work filled, so I'll try to update more often if I can! Oh btw, I took inspo from my cousin! She had really weird cravings when she was preggers and she told me some stories so this is based off of that!

Your mouth tasted so weird today. And you had no idea why. Oh wait you did have an idea. And that was the baby growing in your currently ravenous stomach. Being pregnant was harder than you thought (and your mom had told you) and now, at five and half months, your mouth started craving weird things. Thankfully you had a husband and said husband was a simp for you so he would basically make you anything you asked for, but not before giving you the biggest side eye ever.

"Kitten you ok?" Minho was leaning against your side as you bent over the toilet seat. Morning sickness had gotten worse since your fourth month even though your doctor assured you that morning sickness usually subsides by the fourth month. But then again, as I said, dear audience, you were a weird person. "Yeah I think I'm fine. I, uh, alright don't get mad but I didn't take my meds today." Minho sighed deeply at your words as he helped you get back on your feet. He knew you hated taking meds, pills especially since you didn't like the way they got stuck in your throat and you had to force it down although you enjoyed doing that with other things. Minho helped you get comfortably into bed and tucked the corners of your baby blue blanket in just like the way you like it. You smiled sweetly at him, silently appreciating your husband for doing so much for you. "Kitten please you've got to take those meds. I know you don't like them but I don't like avocado and you forced me to try them so now you're gonna have to pay me back." You pouted and furrowed your brows at his words. You tried to put on the best puppy eyes you could but you knew they wouldn't work on the sexy man standing in front off you, in a black turtleneck sweater with rolled up sleeves which made you kinda horny. Minho sighed again and cupped your face gently and said, in a tone unlike his normal one, "How about I make you something and then you take the meds?" Your eyes lit up at that as you did a tiny bounce and looked at Minho, like a child looking at the ice cream man. "Only if you take the meds though." Minho added sternly gently moving his hands to your aching legs. You thought for a moment before extending your hand out and shaking Minho's after which he placed a gentle kiss on your hand. "I'll make some japchae and order your favourite songpyeon ok?" "Actually baby?" Your voice stopped Minho as he made to get up. "Can you make me something weird?" Minho's face contorted into one of humour as he knelt down to your level and said, "Well of course your Highness. What delight would you like today?" You let out a tiny giggle and booped his nose. "I want meat." Minho was kind of taken back as he placed his hands softly on your belly and asked "That's it? Our baby is craving for dada's famous meat?" You tried to hide your mischievous smile and instead said in a playfully commanding voice, "Yes. Our baby is craving the best grilled meat in the kingdom. Oh and I would prefer if it was last night's meat please." Minho got up and kissed your forehead gently, but not before doing a tiny curtsey "Your wish is my command, Your Highness. Anything to go with the meat? Pudding perhaps?" "Can you also get me some of that vanilla ice cream Jisung left here last night?" Minho smiled and gently squeezed your hand before disappearing through the bedroom door.

He came back a few minutes (read : hours, since you were an inpatient and hungry pregnant woman) with a blue porcelain plate and your favourite pink bowl, which you expected was filled with ice cream. You pulled out your tiny bed table and settled it on the bedsheets as Minho put the delicious meat down along with the ice cream and to your disappointment, your packet of pills. You decided, however not to pull a face, and instead thanked your husband for bringing food to you. "Your welcome Jagiya. But you need to take the pills alright? Otherwise you can't see Doongie for a whole week." You let out a dramatic gasp at his words at his words and gave him a flying kiss, which he gratefully took. You took some of the slightly charred meat and picked up your ice cream spoon as Minho watched with curiosity, his cat like eyes wide open to form those cute star filled ones no one could resist. You then, to the horror of your husband, scooped some of the ice cream, put it on your piece of meat and then proceeded to put the entire thing in your mouth as Minho watched on very disgusted. He let out a very heavy sigh and said "Kitten, I know you're pregnant and I know all of your weird all cravings. And they've been normal usually like fish with mayo but kitten really? Vanilla ice cream with meat?" You looked Minho's cute frame and jut out your bottom lip to form a pout. "Just try It once Min. You'll like this I promise." Minho sighed again and said, "If I try it, because you've peaked my interest now, what will I get in return?" You thought for a moment and said "You can name our baby." Minho's eyes, now lit up with determination and excitement as he teased you, "Really kitten? Are you stooping that low for me to try your cravings?" You merely shrugged your shoulders and prepared another bite of the vanilla Meat for Minho as he took a deep breath and leaned forward, as if he was ready for combat. You gently pushed the meat into Minho's mouth and waited for his reaction, which, quite possibly, was the most adorable thing you have ever seen in your life. His closed eyes slowly opened and widened to form two big globes and mouth stayed closed. You couldn't decipher the expression on his face, but you knew it was the same expression he did whenever he ate pudding. "It's that good huh?" You questioned him. He was quick to shake his head. "That was the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten in my life, well except for Jisungie's cooking. Im gonna go wash up, while you eat the rest of your definetly not edible food." You threw him a sarcastic smile as he got up and went downstairs. You happily ate the rest of your food, with the nice thought in your head that Minho was definitely going to make this for you again. You didn't have the heart to tell him the next morning, that you heard him call Jisung in the dead of the night with the words, "Dude you gotta try meat with vanilla ice cream."

Epilogue

"Hon how are you eating that?" Minho was laying on his pillow, watching you eat Oreos with pieces of raw fish. You shrugged your shoulders and continued eating. "I mean it's what your twins are craving." "Alright then." You slightly smirked and turned your head towards Minho as he turned his head with the speed of lighting to face you. "WE'RE HAVING TWINS?"

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blkkizzat · 10 days

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Do you have any tips for writing fanfics? Like I wanna make my own but I’m scared people aren’t gonna like them 😭 Also how do you usually end a story? I’ve written before for school and stuff but it’s just kinda hard when I come to the end of the story…😓

-🪼

hey 🪼 babes! sorry i wrote alot so it took a min lol. take with a grain of salt though as what works for me may not work for you!

writing tips:

so first off: write for yourself. i know it's been said a million times and a worn out cliche but to break it down a bit— i feel like if you like your fic than other people will too. that is to say, we are all in the same fandom and are dorks/nerds, and like similar things even outside the fandom. i know people have their preferences on content but if you write it for your particular tastes and preferences, i promise there's other people in the fandom that will share in that too.

also even though my adhd works against me, i at least try to be organized and i always make an outline for a fic.

its super helpful to break everything up into small pieces. because then you arent staring at a blank page expecting a story to materialize from thin air LOL.

heres some things to include in your outline.

set the scene/world. where are we? what time is it? what are we initially feeling? which all Setting these things up from jump hooks in a reader as they want to feel like like are immersing yourselves in the world. especially x reader stories. i feel like x reader is so much easier to write then for two seperate characters, because if all else fails you can always call on how you personally felt or would feel in a situation then elaborate on it.

characterization. don't be afraid to make your characters a bit unlikeable, highlight their faults as you do their good parts. ex. my plug!choso fic, reader is a bitch lmfao. she takes choso for granted even though she's the happiest with him. the thing is—she knows that and it starts to eat her up. if a character can have self awareness and grow, then they have more depth than a character written with no faults.

conflict/goal. whats the conflict or what are we working towards? like even for a short pwp for ex: the goal is cum without getting interrupted/walked-in on because we are in a public bathroom. then from there you can work backwards and think. okay so what conflicts/problems would arise? where is this bathroom? what time of day is it and how many people are around? is anyone waiting on us/did we leave others to run off/will they come looking for us? you can make a conflicts out of any of those. conflicts drive the story forward and help you reach your end as its your beacon for how you progress.

ending. your ending only needs to tie the immediate conflict up. there could be an overarching conflict but you dont need to solve everything in your story. ex, continuing from the previous, y'all could be in the bathroom fucking and although the immediate conflict concerns no one interrupting you, the overarching conflict is that you both have significant others already and have yet to break this affair off. of course a pwp so you arent going to dive deep and explain the aftermath or the breakups, etc, but you can leave the story on a cliffhanger and lead the audience to guess whats next.

other tips.

don't write linearly: that is you dont have to write your story in the order of beginning, middle and end. start from wherever you want. skip around. its easier to write out the parts you do know you want then connect it together. even if its just a random piece of dialogue thats a sentence you know you want 2 scenes later, just write it down. writing is a messy process, not neat at all. which leads into... just write: even if you arent sure if you liking the idea 100% just yet write it down! you cant get to the next idea if you are stuck on why the current idea you are thinking of isn't good enough. lol this is why i say i get to a point in the process where i hate everything because ill be stuck with these meh-ideas but i know i have to get them out to get to the good idea.

edit: i edit my fics until l its something im having fun with. if you like it on first go around then thats great but just saying that to say its better to rework it or come back later to it (move on to something else in the meantime) than to put out something you aren't happy with. if you are proud of something you did that will definitely be reflected in your fic!

meditate to tap into characters: idk if you meditate often but i like to try to visualize myself in the character's shoes. what am i feeling? physically or emotionally? are there any distractions? how would i react to this? it helps with conveying character emotion, motives and makes the scene be more immersive. but in at same note, you don't have to give everything. focus on the most important aspect or two and the audience imagination will fill in the rest. some of the best compliments ppl have given me is they felt like they were watching a movie reading my fic (ty y'all the best) and i feel like its because of the immersive aspects in my fics which i take from my own reactions/experience. this also circles back to the point of liking your writing. because if you can convey what you are feeling well enough that you personally feel it re-reading your work, others will too. I hope these tips helped! 💕

#🪼 anon #ೃ༝💌⁀➷ 𝓀𝒾𝓏𝓏𝒶𝓉мαιℓ #ೃ💌⁀➷𝓀𝒾𝓏𝓏𝒶𝓉αησηѕ #writing tips #fan fic writing #reader insert

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andmaybegayer · 1 month

Text

Last Monday of the Week 2024-08-19

Tech companies will give you six interviews and think it's normal.

Listening: Got introduced to Skiltron who unfortunately I don't like very much. I'll see if it grows on me but not quite my speed, which is a shame because normally "metal and it has bagpipes" would have me from minute 0.

This is a metal band that does a bunch of Celtic-y sounds so they are, of course, from Argentina.

I think that this goes too far away from what I'm coming to metal for, their vocals are too clear. Strip out the vocal stem and I think I would like this a normal amount, but the clean vocals pull me out of it. You don't have to go full croak for it but at least growl a little.

Reading: Started up on The Tyrant Baru Cormorant which about ⅕ of the way into the book already feels like I'm getting to the end of a book which is a good and normal sign that everything is going to be smooth sailing for the remaining sections of the book, I'm sure.

Baru is so fucked all the time it's incredible, like, you can see at every point how she just cannot keep herself from playing into the Masquerade's hands because she owes all her power to things she wants to destroy.

The story is very careful to not linger too long on all the horrible things she's doing to herself and others which means that while they're not hard to spot, you feel much more like you're inside her head where these things are the price you pay for the power she wields.

The setting of "sailing around in frigates but with essentially 1920's medicine" kinda rules.

Watching: Watched Blade (1998) which is a great deal of fun. If you can't ignore old CGI you're in trouble but otherwise it's over the top in a really enjoyable way.

Masquerade settings are a lot of fun, I kind of mentioned this in the John Wick entry, the idea that there is a secret parallel world overlaid on the real one scratches some good itches, I need to find more and more diverse kinds of masquerades.

Some motherfuckers always trying to ice skate uphill! Perfect metaphor.

Also more Gundam, up to like, e32? They just got back to space for the first time since arriving on Earth. I think that sometime around Odessa I went from kind of enjoying Gundam to really thinking it's doing something special. It's really dedicated to keeping you off-balance and throwing these very thorny situations and questions at you, even as a show that has to completely ignore a bunch of its deepest questions in order to be a children's toy advert.

Playing: Picked up KSP for a couple hours, I keep on not playing it long enough to do anything interesting so I'm completely ignoring time, I'm allowed to fast forward as much as I want to make missions happen. Trying to "fill time" often kills my desire to do missions, since even a simple mission can require hundreds of days of in game time and even if you have a whole lot of orbital admin within like, Kerbin and Jool systems those only use a couple days at a time.

Built some resource scanners and chucked them at Eve and Gilly, want to try and set up a fuel refinery base on both to operate a fuel interchange where you can launch crew from Eve and refuel in orbit with fuel more economically harvested at Gilly to account for the stupendous fuel expense of leaving Eve. Busy trialling re-entry of a little rover thing for scouting ground sites

Making: Made a bunch of progress on the LED driver, writing to flash storage, updated webui, but it is currently getting stuck after running for an hour or two and I cannot figure out why. Some of these issues seem to be more power delivery related rather than actual issues so it might be time to actually set up regulators and power supply for this thing.

Tools and Equipment: You can just put cups of water in the fridge to cool down. No one can stop you. I've been filling up my Tumblr Colour Of The Sky cup with water and fridging it to help keep cool.

#last monday of the week #Bandcamp

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generalkenobitrash · 2 months

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spoilers for the season finale of s2

i really don't think i will watch s3. nothing makes sense anymore. there were some good moments, there were more than some of bad ones. i must say that alyn's actor (abubakar salim) is so, so good and corlys really deserved the shit alyn gave him. i was really thinking that they would make alyn continue to be loyal despite growing up the way he and addam did, but i am glad to see that he has his own reservations about it, especially now that addam is a dragonrider. aemond is so fkn stupid fr. calling helaena 'sister', reaching out to touch her arm, saying they're of one blood after probably scaring her to death in front of their mother, only to say that he could have her, HIS QUEEN, killed for saying he was going to die. i liked daemyra's reunion, even though it felt kinda stupid for daemon to realize his loyalties only after seeing the future. i think that should've happened much sooner and because he remembered that rhaenyra is the woman he chose to marry, to defend and fight for. he crowned her. anyways. simon strong is a real one. sara hess and ryan condol are utter idiots. wtf was the scene between larys and aegon? i literally facepalmed. and what the fuck were they on when they decided to drag out the tyland in myr scenes? god they were so fucking useless. still, i do think the scene between gwayne and criston was okay, mostly because it explored some themes that are important to them (chivalry, honour), but the writing was soooooo boring. i do hate that the writers think they can just swap around nettles and rhaena. like i said in my rant about the previous episode, rhaena didn't need to become the rider of sheepstealer, when morning holds SO MUCH importance to the story post-dance. and not to mention, it was so stupid of her to cartoonishly shrug off the duty given to her by rhaenyra. those boys are basically left alone with the several knights. i don't know what i was expecting when basically half the episode was already leaked. the second secret rhaenicent meet-up was fkn stupid as well. rhaenyra sassing alicent was nice. her being a bitch (which was kind of within her right) was truly nice. i do kinda like that she's a flawed character now. referring to jaehaera as 'helaena's child' hurt me physically. i still hate that the writers didn't let helaena grieve. jaehaerys died for basically NOTHING. alicent still talking fondly about viserys aggravates me. the music and cinematography was great (except the cgi monkey and three-eyed raven). the shots of the dragonseeds getting ready, together with all the different armies marching (and sailing) was cool. sheepstealer's design is cool ngl. really shitty for rhaena's story this entire season has been setting her up as sheepstealer's future rider and she doesn't even bond with it in the season finale. but hold on a sec. has otto been in the dungeons in the red keep this entire time???? i fr thought he just refused to come back bc he was tired of this shit. anyways, i still think the blockade is a little stupid. king's landing's main source of supplies is the reach. spices, salt and other fancy stuff is what's mainly coming in through the narrow sea. i actually stuck around to watch the inside of for ep8. abubakar and steve talking about their scene together was so good. tbh ryan condal looks so disinterest in the show that HE'S making. so yeah. good luck waiting another 2-3 years for, quite possibly, another messy season.

#house of the dragon #alicent hightower #hotd #criston cole #daemon targaryen #hotd spoilers #rhaenyra targaryen #aegon ii targaryen #aemond targaryen #corlys velaryon #hotd critical

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photo1030 · 1 year

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Hello, lovely!

I’m here with a request, but first I gotta profess my love for your story again (perhaps you lust for what you cannot have). Oh, it has stuck to my mind like glue ever since I first read it. The story is so good and your writing skills are excellent! I’m in great need of those fantastic writing skills of yours please. 🥰

Could you give me some good ol’ sweet fluff with F!Reader watching Arthur Morgan play/snuggle with a cat. Maybe you can add in there that he didn’t want any pets in the beginning, but immediately fell in love with the cute little guy/girl. I can picture Arthur writing in his journal with the cat laying in his lap. OMG. Imagine him drawing the cat in his journal?? 😭

Thank you in advance and please take all the time you may want or need 💚.

Thank you so much for this "ask"! This is my first request ever, so I hope I did it justice. I didn't do a "x female reader" but Arthur and Jack with this kitten. Hope that is OK? Still Arthur being adorable, so can't go wrong, right? But if you'd prefer the f!reader prompt, I can tweak it. This is the clearest image that came to my mind, so I went with it.

*I had my good friend @rivetingrosie4 beta-read this for me, so I kinda feel like its co-authored, too.

Tag: @misspearly1

ARTHUR'S SHADOW

Summary: Arthur finds an unlikely companion.

*This image is not mine. This comes from greyswan618 on fanpop.

By the time Arthur drags his latest bounty score into the sheriff's office, it's late in the day. And this one, although not necessarily hard to catch, took him a while to track down. This job was good money, but it has left Arthur exhausted. The sun is already hanging low in the sky outside of town and preparing to descend behind the mountains for the day. Since the bounty paid well, Arthur decides to treat himself with a stay at the hotel before returning home. After securing his room, he pays the hotel owner to keep his horse stabled overnight as well. May as well treat his horse too.

After walking back outside, Arthur takes Buck by the reins and leads him around to the back of the hotel to where the stable is. When he finds the stable empty, Arthur leads him to one of the larger stalls, since Buck is a rather large horse. He gets him bedded down for the night, taking off his saddle and brushing him down.

With Buck cleaned up, Arthur walks over to the rain barrel just outside the main door of the stable to fill the water trough in the stall. As he stands at the barrel, a sudden rustling catches his attention out of the corner of his eye. Turning to his left, he notices two pairs of shining eyes staring back at him from under the workbench that lines the wall. Curious, Arthur tilts his head to get a better look. He slowly puts down the bucket that is in his hands.

When he crouches down closer to the barn floor, he sees two tiny kittens hiding there. Even with the encroaching darkness of the evening, with the help of the glow of the lamplight, he can tell they’re still very young. Their fur is just growing out of that baby-fuzz stage, the gray color of rain clouds, and they're awfully skinny. Arthur looks around to see if he can see any signs of the momma anywhere, but there's nothing nearby. Either she is out hunting for food for her babies, or she's abandoned them here.

The fatigue in Arthur’s body is no longer his focus, now that he’s found these little ones.

“Well, look at you,” he chuckles quietly. He reaches into his satchel at his side and pulls out a piece of dried fish that he has tucked away. "Bet you're hungry," he says, his voice rumbly, but soft to keep from frightening them.

He holds out the piece of meat, but the two kittens do not move and only stare back at him with scared, vacant eyes.

"Alright, then," he says with a smile and tosses the meat over to them, so they don’t have to leave the security of their hiding place.

The kittens both spring backwards, tripping over each other clumsily, as the projectile hurtles towards them and lands just in front of their tiny faces. But it only takes a second before curiosity and hunger gets the better of them. Once they get a whiff of the aroma of the meat, the kittens pounce on it and begin to devour the morsel.

Satisfied, Arthur stands up, wiping his hands together. He goes back to getting Buck watered and fed for the night, humming peacefully to himself as he does. Every now and then, he glances over his shoulder to watch the kittens, who are feasting on the fish.

With his task with Buck now complete, Arthur heads back to the barn door to return to his room for the night, his boots scraping across the dirt as he moves. The kittens pause momentarily in their feast to cautiously watch him, their little heads bobbing up and down, before returning their attention to the food.

The next morning, Arthur is early to rise from his hotel room and heads out to the stable. But as he approaches the big stable door, he slows his pace as he is met with a gruesome sight. In the tall grasses just outside the door, he finds the body of one of the baby kittens. Judging by the way the carcass is torn open, it looks like a raccoon or hawk got to it.

"Ah, damn…" sighs Arthur as a slight pang of disappointment hits him. They were cute little things, and it’s a real shame that something happened to them. But such is the way of things, he supposes. He then looks around for the second one. Having some small hope that the other kitten may still be alive, Arthur makes a clicking sound with his tongue, trying to coax it out of hiding. After a few moments, he sees a flash of gray fur under a beam in the stable. He bends down and pats his hand on the ground, and the second kitten slowly creeps out towards him.

"Looks like you're an orphan, now," Arthur says to the kitten, slightly tilting his head to the side and assessing the situation. "Ain't we a pair, then?" he chuckles softly.

Arthur slowly reaches over and picks up the kitten by the scruff, the little one giving a soft and pathetic "meow" as it's hoisted up. He holds the kitten up before his face to get a better look. It seems alright, no fleas or other parasites that are noticeable. It appears to be a male cat, too. Arthur places him in the palm of his other hand. The kitten is so tiny to begin with, and with Arthur's large hands, the babe sits perfectly within his palm. He twists his wrist back and forth, pivoting his hand, so he can continue looking over the kitten, trying to decide what to do with it now. The kitten simply stares back at Arthur with tiny smokey blue-gray eyes, blinking innocently, an occasional "meow" squeaking out of its petite mouth.

Arthur sighs with resignation. "Alright, little one. Better come back with me. You won't make it out here on your own, that's for sure."

Arthur pauses another moment, looking at the kitten in his hand, second-guessing whether he's making the right decision to take this cat with him. He's never particularly cared for cats. They always seem so temperamental and judgmental. He gets enough of that bullshit from people. Dogs. Arthur is a dog-person, with Copper being his pride and joy and best friend as a kid growing up with Hosea and Dutch. And, of course, there's always been his horses as his constant companions.

Sighing again with a shrug, he adds, "Well, maybe you can keep Jack company."

Arthur carefully sets the kitten back down and gives him another piece of fish out of his satchel to keep the kitten occupied while he gets Buck saddled and ready to head out and start for home. It's another day's ride, so Arthur is anxious to get going. By the time the kitten has gobbled up the food Arthur gave him, Arthur is ready to go and gently scoops up the kitten again and mounts his horse to begin the journey home.

As they ride out of town, Arthur protectively holds the kitten in his arm, close to his chest. The kitten doesn't move or fuss, but simply lifts its tiny face, turning about to look around at what's around him. After a while of riding, though, Arthur's arm begins to tire, and the kitten's fur up against him is making him start to sweat a bit. He needs to decide what to do with this cat so they can comfortably ride home. He considers putting him in his satchel, but quickly decides against it, worried the kitten would either suffocate inside the leather bag, or, get into all of the contents of the bag itself.

Noting how calm the kitten has been so far, Arthur simply decides to set the kitten down in front of him in the saddle. He's small enough to sit there between Arthur's thick thighs, and his burly forearms keep the kitten contained in the space pretty well. The kitten instantly sinks its claws into the leather of the saddle, bracing itself in a slight panic at being released from Arthur's protective grasp. But although the horse beneath them is walking at a brisk pace, his gait is smooth, so Arthur doesn't worry too much about the kitten getting jostled about.

And soon enough, the kitten finds its bravery and relaxes to release its claws from the soft material and sits up a bit. Arthur doesn't say anything, or hinder the kitten in any way, but watches the little one, amused at its quest for discovery. It doesn't take long for the kitten to gain more confidence, and he eventually climbs up to stand, putting his front paws up on the saddle horn. Like a tiny lion sentinel, the kitten observes the new world around himself.

After a long day's ride, Arthur decides to stop and make a small camp and settle in for the night. Once he finds a quiet, out-of-the-way spot, he halts Buck. Arthur wearily climbs down from his saddle, kitten in-hand, and sets the baby down on the ground to wander about in the cool grass while he sets up his temporary camp.

"Stick close. Don't be goin' and wanderin' off and gettin' into trouble," he warns the kitten with a pointed finger, as if scolding a child.

The furry face simply stares back at him, offering Arthur a quick "meow" in response.

Arthur goes about setting himself up for the evening, getting a small fire going first. Next, he pulls a can of food out of his saddlebag and proceeds to open it. He casually watches the kitten out of the corner of his eye, constantly keeping watch over him as he works. He sets the can next to the fire to heat up while he continues with his task at hand.

Arthur gets his bedroll set out and sets Buck's saddle atop it to use as a pillow to sleep against later. And all the while Arthur works, the gray kitten putters about his feet, following him around continuously as he moves. With every item that Arthur sets down, the kitten eagerly saunters over to sniff and investigate it. He constantly follows and lingers about Arthur's footsteps, poking at everything in innocent interest, to the point that Arthur has to watch his step so the kitten doesn't come under one of his massive footfalls and gets stepped on.

With camp finally set up, Arthur returns his attention to the can that has been warming by the fire as tonight's dinner. He grabs the can, pulls a fork from his bag, and settles down on his bedroll, leaning back against his saddle to get comfortable. Arthur lifts his eyes from the food in his hand to see the kitten slowly approach him. Now that the man has finally stopped moving long enough, the kitten can get up close to him again. The aroma of the food intrigues the little one and he lifts his tiny head, hungrily sniffing the air.

Raising an eyebrow, Arthur spears a few of the beans with the time-worn tines of the fork and extends his arm out to the kitten. "Ya like beans?" he asks the ball of fur.

The kitten cautiously sniffs the food, but turns its nose up at it, backing away.

"Come on now, you eat what's offered or you don't eat at all," he scolds the kitten. "At least that's what my momma used to say." Arthur waves the fork out in front of the kitten again to try to coax it to eat. "Come on…gotta at least try it."

The kitten comes back to him, sniffing again and reluctantly extends its neck out and licks the morsel with its tiny pink sandpaper tongue. After a few licks, the kitten decides it's edible and grabs the piece off of the end of the utensil.

"Atta, boy," Arthur says approvingly. He smirks to himself, realizing how ridiculous he sounds having a conversation with a cat. But then again, he talks to Buck all of the time, so he supposes that this really isn't all that different.

After Arthur and the kitten finish the can of beans, Arthur lays back against the saddle again to relax, his heavy frame melting into the bedroll beneath him, and lights a cigarette. He lets out a long, tired sigh as his eyes land on the kitten once more. As Arthur shuffles his foot a bit to get comfortable, the kitten takes great interest in the movement of his boot and decides to test his bravery.

His little butt rises in the air, tiny tail like an arrow straight up and at attention. The kitten crawls along the ground on his belly, attempting to be stealth-like. Arthur sees this and with a grin, he slowly waves his foot a bit again in temptation. And when he does, the kitten pounces on his boot, attacking it playfully and bites on the leather of the sole. The gruff outlaw lets out a soft laugh of amusement through his nose and begins to slowly wave his foot back and forth at the ankle, causing the kitten, who has wrapped himself around the boot, to sway back and forth above the ground. After a few more gnawing bites, the kitten plops down to the ground, confident in its own victory.

Fully invested in this as his entertainment for the evening, Arthur reaches over to his gambler's hat that is set off to the side, leans forward and drops it overtop of the kitten, trapping it underneath. There is no further movement, but Arthur can hear its little meows from under it. Smirking with his cigarette dangling from his chapped lips, he carefully picks up just the brim of the hat and tilts his head to peer under it.

He sees the kitten's little nose and a thin little paw swipe out at him, causing Arthur to chuckle.

"Fighter, ain't ya?" When Arthur lifts the hat up a bit more, the kitten quickly hops out from under it, grabs ahold of Arthur's forearm, and starts grappling with it, biting and digging its needle-like claws into Arthur's shirt and leather gloves.

Amused, Arthur rests his arm on the ground, carefully pinning the playful kitten underneath. He playfully growls at the kitten and uses his hand to roll the ball of fur over and over again, wrestling and playing with him.

When the kitten finally wears out, Arthur pauses to give him a break. The kitten stands up and gives itself a full-body shake, causing little pieces of grass and dirt to fly through the air. He's a scrappy little thing. Arthur will give him credit for that, at least. Arthur slowly pulls his black leather gloves off of his hands and reaches over to tuck them into his saddlebag, as he is truly getting settled in for the evening now.

The kitten sits on the bedroll next to his thigh, innocently watching Arthur as he moves. Arthur rolls back to lie flat and glances at the kitten for a moment before he extends his large fingertip out to rub along the top of the kitten's head, right between its ears. The kitten's eyes slowly close as it gives into the heavenly feeling, and it eagerly pushes its head up into Arthur's hand. Arthur can hear the kitten purring happily, the soft sound almost hypnotic.

"Ya like that, do ya?" Arthur's low voice rumbles in the quiet night. It's funny how such a small gesture can be so impactful on another living soul. The campfire crackles and pops softly next to them, being the only background noise to be heard in the night; its heat radiating and keeping the two of them cozy and warm.

Arthur eventually ceases petting the kitten and returns his hands to his lap. At the abrupt end to its massage, the kitten looks at Arthur again expectantly, and springs up to stand atop Arthur's chest. Inquisitive as ever, it crouches a bit and crawls towards Arthur's face, its head bobbing up and down, as cats are want to do when stalking their object of interest.

Just as the kitten gets close to Arthur's face, Arthur purses his lips together and blows a short burst of air into its face, causing it to jump back in surprise. It then suddenly leaps forward again in challenge and starts to chew on Arthur's beard. This causes Arthur to bark out a laugh a bit in spite of himself. To see such an innocent creature, so full of energy, warms his bitter old heart. He brings his hands up to start to pet the kitten again, running his large hands along its diminutive and skeletal body. After just a brief moment, the kitten seems placated with this as an "apology" and switches from biting at the man's beard to the occasional lick to his nose instead. And even though it is meant to comfort the kitten, Arthur has to admit that stroking the soft fur is oddly calming to himself as well.

"Alright, then, that's enough of that," Arthur grunts out as he picks up the kitten with one hand and sets him off to the side of him again and reaches over to grab his journal. Arthur rolls himself to sit up with an exaggerated groan, and sets the precious book onto his folded legs, opening the pages to the next blank ivory-colored page. He hasn't even set his pencil to the paper yet, when the curious kitten jumps up to perch itself on his knee.

The small face peers down to inspect the latest object of focus. Before Arthur can even stop him, the kitten hops down onto the book itself and starts walking around in circles on the pages, sniffing and inspecting it, chewing the corner just briefly, before plopping down to lay himself right across the smooth, open surface. The kitten innocently looks up at Arthur, wanting his undivided attention yet again.

"No, now, come on, fuzz-butt, get outta here now," he gruffly chides, but with only a slight annoyance in his voice as he playfully sweeps the kitten to the side with his forearm. The kitten meows in protest, lifting its paw to swat at Arthur's hand. "Hey, don't sass me, now. We're done playin' for the night."

And by this time, exhaustion has finally caught up to both Arthur and the little gray kitten, so Arthur only takes a few minutes to capture some brief thoughts in the journal before turning in for the night. He notes the job he completed, the money brought in for it, and then jots a few lines about this kitten that he'd found. He even takes a moment to quickly sketch the little one onto the paper, the strokes of the graphite tip skipping fluidly across the paper. Every time Arthur looks over at the furry ball for a perspective to assist in his drawing, the tiny face peers back at him, watching the pencil move in Arthur's hand, but obediently staying put.

When he's done, Arthur carefully closes his journal and tucks it back into its rightful place in his satchel. Taking a deep breath and stretching his tired arms over his head for a brief moment, Arthur then takes his hat and scoops the kitten into it in an effort to keep him safe and warm overnight while they sleep. He's hoping the little adventurer stays put and doesn't wander off in the night.

"There, now," peering down at the babe. "You stay there tonight, and then we'll get you home to Jack tomorrow." Arthur rubs his fingertips along the kitten's head again, gently scratching its scalp with his jagged fingernails, and then sets the hat right next to him, protectively along his side, before lying back and closing his eyes for the night.

The next morning, as the warm sunlight breaks over the horizon, consciousness slowly grabs ahold of the outlaw. He can feel the chill of the morning dew clinging to his clothing. With his eyes still sealed shut, reluctant to release the bliss of sleep just yet, Arthur stretches his body, hearing the familiar popping sound of his joints. He's getting too old to be sleeping on the cold, hard ground anymore.

Suddenly, he is aware of a slight weight on his abdomen. He peels open his eyes and sees the kitten curled up into a tight ball on his stomach, fast asleep, with its nose buried into the fur of its tail. It obviously crawled out of the make-shift bed of Arthur's hat and climbed up on top of the man at some point in the night. Whether it was seeking protection or warmth, Arthur's own body heat and the slow rise and fall of his chest kept the tiny animal comforted while it slept. The corners of Arthur's lips involuntarily pull up and a whispered "aww" escapes before he can even stop it.

--------------------------

When he gets back to camp, Arthur dismounts his horse and walks through the collection of tents and tables with the kitten tucked in his hand. He heads straight over to Dutch's tent to drop off the bounty payment. Dutch is sitting outside his tent, reading a book with a cigar clenched between his teeth, and as he gets closer, Arthur eventually sets the kitten down on the ground to walk so that his hands are free to dig into his satchel for the bounty money. The kitten continues to follow him as he heads over to the cash box and ledger in Dutch's tent. Dutch lifts his head as he notices Arthur's approach, but quickly tilts his head in confusion as he glances down at the little bundle of gray fur at Arthur's feet.

"What you got there, Arthur?" asks Dutch, pointing at the new arrival.

"Hmm? Oh. Found him. Thought he'd be a good playmate for Jack," says Arthur dismissively, focusing more on his scribbling into the job ledger.

"Well, ain't you the soft-hearted one?" Dutch muses with a slightly mocking grin before he leans over to get a good look at the kitten, reaching his ringed-fingers out to briefly pet him.

"Oh my goodness, look at that little face!" squeals Mary-Beth suddenly when she catches sight of the kitten while walking past the men. In a moment, she rushes over. She bends down and scoops up the kitten into her slender hands and snuggles him into her face. "Tilly! Come quick! Look what Arthur brought home!" she hollers over to her friend who is doing some stitching at one of the tables.

Tilly is quick to her feet and rushes over to join them, eager to see what the excitement is all about. Soon enough, a small group has started to gather around Dutch's tent to see the baby kitten.

"Awww, isn't he just the cutest!" exclaims Tilly, running her fingers over the kitten's fur. "Arthur, are we gonna keep him?" she asks him excitedly.

"Don't matter to me, but I thought Jack might like 'em," replies Arthur, crossing his arms over his chest as he stands back and watches them fawn all over the kitten.

"Jack, come here and see the kitten!" Tilly calls to Jack and Abigail and waves them over.

Jack runs over to them at the invitation, excited to see what they have for him. The second his eyes land on the tiny bundle of fur, Jack gasps with excitement and wonder, his pudgy little hands waving slightly in anticipation as he runs. Mary-Beth sets the kitten down in the grass again as Jack approaches so that the boy can play with him. And thankfully, rather than being timid and frightened by the commotion, the kitten is all too excited to play as well, absolutely loving the attention. Jack gets down on his knees and immediately starts to pet the kitten, talking and cooing to it.

"Momma! He's so soft!" he giggles.

"He sure is," agrees Abigail as she too kneels down next to Jack and reaches over to run her fingers along the tiny feline. "Be careful, though, Jack," she gently tells him. "Be gentle with him so he doesn't bite or scratch you."

"I will, Momma, I promise!" the little boy squeaks in excitement.

Standing back a few feet from the girls and Jack, Dutch and Arthur watch the happy sight.

"Good work, son," says Dutch quietly, patting Arthur on the shoulder and giving him an approving grin.

Arthur casts his eyes over at Dutch with a nod of acceptance in return. And upon seeing that his new traveling companion is in good hands now, Arthur turns and decides to head over to the fire to sit and relax his tired self.

Suddenly, despite the attention he's getting, the kitten notices Arthur moving again and instantly becomes alarmed, his little head poking up to attention. At the sight of the burly outlaw leaving him, the kitten darts away from Jack and the girls, squeezing his way between their legs, and quickly catches up to Arthur's boot-heels. Surprised, Arthur halts and looks down at the kitten.

"Now what are you doin'?" he asks the kitten. "Go on, go play with Jack," as he lowers his hand down to sweep the cat towards Jack again. He stands upright and moves on, walking over to grab a beer bottle from one of the crates. He ungracefully plunks himself down next to John on one of the logs by the fire where other gang members currently reside.

Of course, the kitten is right back behind Arthur with every step. And, of course, Jack is right behind the kitten, giggling excitedly, trying to keep up. The sight of the three of them walking about is really quite sweet; like a duck and her two ducklings tailing behind. Abigail's fingers hover gracefully over her mouth as she smiles, watching them. Arthur has always been good to both her and Jack, and Abigail is quite grateful for it. And right now, her son is just over-the-moon about his new present from his grumpy uncle. She casually walks over to the fire to join everyone, and stands behind her boy.

Sean is already sitting by the fire with Karen in his lap and notices the commotion. "Aww, would ya look at Arthur Morgan, there! The most wanted man in da tri-county area, carrin' on wit a little pussy cat," jokes Sean, "I thought you were supposed ta be da mean one 'round here, Arthur!"

"Shut it, Sean," huffs Arthur, as he reaches down and absentmindedly pats the kitten along its side when it takes a seat on the ground at his feet. "I brought him home for Jack."

"That was mighty nice of you, Arthur. Thank you," praises Abigail as she beams brightly at her son. Jack is currently crouched on the ground right next to the kitten and talking to it as if they are already the best of friends.

Arthur says nothing in response, but simply nods to her as a "you're welcome" while taking a big gulp from his beer bottle.

"Well, Jack, what are you gonna name him?" asks Hosea, his face pulling into a huge smile at the sound of the boy's laughter.

The kitten begins to playfully explore again, taking a real liking to Jack, as it climbs all over him. Its nose sniffs all about the boy's face, the softness of the fur dragging delightfully across his rosy cheeks with a ticklish effect.

"What about 'Milo'?" suggests Mary-beth, who has come to take her place by the fire as well, choosing a spot on the ground close to Jack so that she too can play with the kitten.

"Nah, he don't look like a 'Milo'" says Jack, his eyes still glued to the little cat.

"How 'bout 'Oliver'?" Abigail offers.

But Jack only scrunches his little face up even more in displeasure as he continues to think of the perfect name for his new companion.

"I suppose 'Fluffy' is out of the question, then?" jokes John as he too reaches over to wiggle his fingers in front of the kitten in an effort to join his son and play.

"No!" laughs Jack. "That's not right, either!"

The boy sits quietly, his eyebrows knit in deep thought, as if this is the most important decision he has to make in his young life. And he is quick to notice that the kitten springs into motion every time Arthur moves a muscle. When Arthur stands up to get a log for the fire, the kitten hops up and follows him. When Arthur sits, the kitten is right at his heels again.

"I'm gonna name him 'Shadow'," says Jack definitively, reaching over to pet his kitten, which is still perched at the large man's feet.

"Oh, that's a good one, Jack," his mother encourages. "'Cause he's gray?"

"No! Because he's Uncle Arthur's shadow!" says Jack emphatically at the obvious conclusion.

This observation causes Arthur to pause for a moment. His chest tightens just a bit, flattered by Jack's choice. He looks down at the kitten sitting by his boot, its little face and beautiful eyes peering back at him.

Arthur reaches down and rubs his rough and calloused fingers over Shadow's head, curling the pads of his fingertips around his velvety ears. He grins, but just ever so slightly, a softness settling there that rarely shows. "Huh…'Shadow'…I rather like that."

#arthur morgan #arthur morgan rdr2 #rdr2 #jack marston

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maypearlss · 1 year

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𝐰𝐢𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 : 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐚 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭!

this is an intro post for my current main (and favorite) wip, "the nona incident!" i've had this wip for about 2 months now and it's currently still in the development and plotting stage, but i'm kinda... obsessed with it... so i'm super excited to actually start writing it, whenever that will be! for now, here's a little bit of information about it!

𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ⋆｡°✩

genres: historical fiction, drama, romance, thriller

target length: novel

setting: the united states, mid-1980s (begins in 1985, ends in a currently undetermined year)

rating + content warnings: "the nona incident!" will be intended for a mature/adult audience. content warnings include strong language, drug/alcohol use and addiction, sex and sexual content, an abusive relationship, biphobia and homophobia, compulsory heterosexuality, misogyny, graphic violence, and death. there will be other content warnings i have yet to nail down; just know that this story will be on the (for lack of better word) grittier side, so if you aren't comfortable with some generally disturbing content, this probably won't be for you.

𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 ⋆｡°✩

it’s 1985, and there are two things on may costa’s mind, the same two things that have always been on her mind for as far back as she can remember: making it in the professional music industry, and being with her best friend since childhood, nona darnell. but as a guitarist with no band and few friends to speak of, stuck working as a local music store clerk, and with nona busy living an exciting life on the sunset strip with her too-cool boyfriend, duke strickland, may is about as far from those two things as is possible to be. that is, until nona invites her to accompany duke’s growing band, overconsumption, on their first tour—accompany the band, and her. with this opportunity, may is determined to carve out a place for herself in both the rock legendarium and in nona’s life, but success has unexpected consequences, especially in the untamed world of rock ‘n’ roll.

��𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬, + 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐬 ⋆｡°✩

the thing about tni! is that it's a very self-indulgent project—like, even more self-indulgent than usual, which is saying something—so the themes and ideas explored in it are pretty much all things somewhat personal to or specifically geared towards myself. for the most part, they all boil down to one of two things: bisexuality and rock 'n' roll. basically, tni! is meant, in part, to be an exploration of both the good and the bad of the 80s rock scene from the point of view of a closeted bisexual woman who feels out of place in the world she loves. this does make may somewhat of a self-insert, i suppose, but i don't really consider her a self-insert, because she's not meant to be me? she's more meant to be an avenue for me to express my feelings towards the concepts presented in the story. if that makes sense. to get back to the point, tni! is more or less just me projecting onto and living vicariously through a fake 80s rock band for an indeterminate number of pages. boom, there's the theme.

𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 + 𝐜𝐨. ⋆｡°✩

may costa: a talented but lonely guitarist from vermillion spring, california in search of a band and respite from her own dislike of herself

nona darnell: the treasured girlfriend of duke strickland with aspirations of becoming a photographer and filmmaker

duke strickland: overconsumption's charismatic frontman with a famously kind and humble reputation

tommy salem: overconsumption's reserved bassist with a penchant for nighttime motorcycle rides

logan vaughn: overconsumption's multitalented drummer who started it all in the first place

rj patterson: overconsumption's rhythm guitarist who loves stirring up conflict for the sheer fun of it

𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 ⋆｡°✩

the short answer to what inspired tni! is music (shocker)! if you haven't put it together yet, i live for the rock music of the 80s (and 70s, and 90s and onward, but especially the 80s). a huge amount of the inspiration for this story came from me listening to my favorite music, and i specifically decided to make this an actual wip while listening to the use your illusion albums by guns n' roses on a drive home. from there, the ideas just sort of collected and collected, which has kinda... never happened for me before? So that was really cool (and probably only because i daydream about being a rockstar way too often).

beyond just the music itself, i've also gathered a lot of ideas and inspiration from researching my favorite bands! i went through a span of time a month or two ago where i was just obsessed with reading up on the history of the bands i love (and i still am, honestly), and a lot of the stories i discovered—there were some crazy-ass stories—had a big influence on some of the plot points and the overall "vibe" of tni!.

𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 ⋆｡°✩

⋆ bad obsession - guns n' roses

⋆ nona - mötley crüe

⋆ magic touch - aerosmith

⋆ hide your heart - kiss

⋆ rocket queen - guns n' roses

⋆ detroit rock city - kiss

⋆ patience - guns n' roses

⋆ you could be mine - guns n' roses

⋆ thrills in the night - kiss

⋆ don't cry (original) - guns n' roses

⋆ mr. brownstone - guns n' roses

⋆ get in the ring - guns n' roses

⋆ sweet child o' mine - guns n' roses

⋆ too young to fall in love - mötley crüe

𝐟𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 ⋆｡°✩

⋆ the plot of tni! was originally going to be a lot more... extreme? it still gets pretty extreme as it is now, but may used to be a way different character in a way that made the plot much more horrific before i realized that that wasn't the kind of story i wanted to tell with these characters

⋆ may is probably one of my favorite main characters i've ever written, so you guys have that to look forward to <3 facets of her character are also inspired by slash (the person, not the fanfic, since i know this is tumblr lmao), because... i love slash... shock and awe, i guess

⋆ this is my first attempt at realistic and historical fiction

⋆ nona is the first of two ocs i have that unintentionally have the same names as characters from the locked tomb series (maybe you'll meet the second someday? who knows... not me)

so, that's "the nona incident!" if you read this far, thank you so much, i really appreciate it! i'm not new to tumblr, but i am new to writeblr, so i'm not 100% sure of how to go about connecting with people and making friends here, so if any of this seemed interesting to you, or we have some common interests, or you just wanna chat, feel free to reach out in any way you want, and i'd be super happy to talk!

#wip : the nona incident!#wip #my wips #wip intro #wip introduction #historical fiction #drama #romance #thriller #writeblr #creative writing #80s rock #rock and roll #queer fiction #wipsbymor

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outstandingblue · 2 years

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Promises to Keep

Six - Meeting the Team

recom!miles quaritch x fem!na'vi oc

part six is finally here! this part kinda really got away from me. i hope y'all enjoy!

Jiniraa never liked fighting. It wasn't in her nature, but violence was ingrained into the lives of the Recoms around her. Also - never threaten to take Mansk's sunglasses.

cross-posted on ao3 - find it here content warning: anxiety, blood, fighting word count: 3.4k

Jiniraa didn’t like fighting. She didn’t like anything that involved harm to another living being. Sure, her body had the potential to be one hell of a weapon if trained properly, but she never had the desire. One second of pain and she was already tapping out.

When Neytiri and Jake went on their date nights, Jiniraa was often left in charge of babysitting duties. On numerous occasions, these babysitting adventures would turn into full on wrestling tournaments and she found herself rough housing with the Sully children and Spider.

Neteyam and Lo’ak had been trying to make their father proud for years, trying to draw his attention with flashy fighting skills. Tuk was an absolute manic when it came to play-fighting. She was able to zip through legs and before you knew it, she’d have you flat on your back. In reality, she always felt her weakest around those kids; they were years younger than her, but knew more about self-defense and offensive fighting than she ever could. The fact that those kids had that knowledge at such a young age made her sick, especially because it was a necessity for survival when the Sky People returned.

Time and time again, Jake attempted to instill the most basic of survival skills within the young woman. Jake tried for weeks to teach Jiniraa the most basic hand-to-hand skills. He saw the potential she had to become a great warrior. Her build was stockier than the Omaticaya woman, giving her a muscular upherhand. She was shorter, allowing her to move undetected through the forest and fast enough to evade incoming attacks. In the end, Jake’s attempts to train Jiniraa were a complete failure.

When it came to her own body, Jiniraa just didn’t have any sort of self-preservation. Frustrated with his failure, Jake gave up on Jiniraa’s training, moving onto a new, more promising student. While the disappointment on Jake’s face stung, she was relieved to not receive further instruction.

Jiniraa didn’t particularly like the violent, fast paced hand-to-hand Jake attempted to teach her. Under the direction of the Tsahik, Jiniraa sought a different type of self-defense, one through exploitation of the body’s weakest points. Through years of trial and error, she was able to map out the vulnerable pressure points the Na’vi body hid within.

Most Na’vi warfare was through long-range bow targeting. She was a decent hunter, not the worst and certainly not the best - she was simply adequate. Those bow skills were not honed enough to ever save her life. Her pressure point skills were reserved for the most dire of situations.

She’d only actually used her skills in confrontation once; with a swift, targeted two-finger prod towards the lower side, Jiniraa was able to bring Ja to the ground. In all honesty, she didn’t even realize she did it. Her body acted on instinct as adrenaline coursed through her veins.

So now that Jiniraa has found herself stuck in a room full of warriors trained in the art of killing and warfare? She was utterly helpless. These people probably know a hundred and one ways to kill me. And that’s probably just with their bare hands. She thought to herself, feeling her palms growing damp with sweat.

Like the Sully children, Jiniraa enjoyed hearing stories of when Jake was a human on Earth, especially regarding his career as a Marine. Neytiri did not like Jake sharing these details of his human existence, so storytime was often kept a secret between Neteyam, Lo’ak, and Jiniraa.

Jake’s most popular stories were about boot camp where recruits were taught more than a dozen fighting skills before graduation. His favorite story was how he almost got drowned in a river during a shallow water grappling exercise. From that day forth, his three audience members declared Jake insane.

Jiniraa felt anxiety pulling at her stomach as more memories of Jake’s stories flashed through her mind. Since she was older than his children, she sometimes got a special insight into more explicit and damning stories. The amount of training he had was probably nothing compared to the Recoms standing in front of her, all hand-selected for this program to be the best killing machines imaginable.

Miles watched with a careful eye, trying to see how far he could push the Na’vi in front of him. He wanted to use this day to demonstrate just how skilled the Recom unit was. A way to scare Spider and Jiniraa into obedience.

Jiniraa let her eyes fall shut as she took a deep breath. It’s going to be fine. They wouldn’t kill us. The Colonel said he needed us for this mission. Her thoughts began to spiral. What if they only need one of us? What if that’s what today is? Is he going to use today to determine who lives and who dies? I can’t let them hurt Spider. The Colonel promised he wouldn’t hurt any of the kids. Does that mean I’m going to die today? I can’t leave Spider alone with them.

Jiniraa’s heart rate began to increase as her breathing became labored, she could feel the panic creeping up her spine as her hair stood on edge. It felt like her body was on fire and covered under a sheet of ice at the same time. Her thoughts became louder and flooded in faster.

Miles could almost hear the pounding of her heart from across the room. His ears twitched in all directions, trying to focus on anything other than the woman who was clearly on the brink of an anxiety attack. He turned his shoulders, not expecting how seeing her current state would affect him. Her eyes were wide and afraid. Her chest was rapidly rising and falling, but it didn’t seem like she was receiving enough air.

Her mask dangled around her neck. He pursed his lips together - she needed to slip the mask on. His internal battle came to a halt as he watched her come to her senses. Jiniraa brought a palm up to her sternum, resting her hand there for the skin-to-skin comfort. Her self-soothing let her calm enough to realize to lift the mask to her lips, taking a few deep breaths. Miles' shoulders dropped as the tension resolved itself, relieved before turning back to his own task.

A minute passed before Jiniraa realized they were supposed to be stretching. The Colonel’s vague directions didn’t help ease the pit of anxiety within Jiniraa’s stomach, the one she barely managed to control just now.

She looked around for her human counterpart, only to find him awkwardly standing five or so meters away, awkwardly stretching his arms out and trying not to make eye contact. He was probably just as nervous as Jiniraa was, but doing his best not to show it. Spider was a decent fighter, his spirited heart carried his body through the air, but his body was his greatest weakness. At his full height, he was only two-thirds the height of other Na’vi. He was a weak little child in comparison.

You’d never expect how being locked up in a cold, stark-white, metal box for a few days could impact a person. Within the past week, Jiniraa hadn’t moved more than twenty feet at a time, the stagnant lifestyle taking a toll on her body. This was her opportunity to get around and move. She shook out her shoulders, attempting to shake her anxiety with it.

Reaching up, she pulled a bone hairpin out of her dark locks, letting the waves fall across her face, momentarily blocking her vision. She held the pin between her teeth as she pulled all her hair back, securing it with a bracelet. Pulling her hair off her neck improved her wellbeing instantaneously. There is something so soothing about a cool breeze against one’s neck.

Reaching her hands up towards the ceiling, Jiniraa stretched out her body, mirroring the stretch she had in the holding cell. Her clothing shifted around her body, following the limbs underneath.

The pants she wore were loose enough to cover her legs, but not hide the movement. The long slits running from ankle to hip allowed onlookers to almost completely see her legs. When she squatted down, her knees and thighs would reveal themselves to the world. Around her ankles and waist, the pants were tight to her body, but loose everywhere else. The garment wasn’t the best choice for a forest dweller, as she was reminded a hundred times over, but it’s what she liked.

Her tan macrame top offered more coverage and support than the traditional Na’vi chest pieces. It secured itself around her neck, and mid back, leaving her shoulders and upper back completely exposed. Like most Na’vi women, Jiniraa tended to leave her hair free flowing against her back, but she always secured the front sections of her hair backwards, hating when it fell in front of her face, hence the hand-carved bone hair pin, a gift from Kiri.

Jiniraa glanced over to Spider who seemed even more out of place than a few minutes ago. She gave him a little nudge on the shoulder and smile, attempting to comfort him. He returned the smile and seemed to lighten up a little bit.

Knowing Spider was watching out for the both of them, Jiniraa let her eyes flutter closed as she started stretching her stiff limbs. While the Recoms spent years molding their bodies to be killing machines and building muscles, Jiniraa spent countless hours working on her flexibility, applying her skill to maneuver and trek through the forest. The entire Recom unit would glance over to Jiniraa and Spider every once and a while. Some watched in awe, others in aversion as Jiniraa twisted and folded her body around itself.

For a peaceful moment, she completely forgot where she was. She wasn’t a prisoner. She wasn’t in a foreign place. She was back home, surrounded by the people she loved. She was in her own world.

Miles’ skillful eye caught how distracted his unit was by Jiniraa. He grit his teeth together and clapped his hands together loudly, getting everyone's attention instantaneously. Of course, he watched as Jiniraa fell out of a backbend, head slamming into the floor, alarmed by the sudden noise. A small smirk pulled at his lips as he watched her revel in pain for a second.

Big green eyes looked over to Miles as she stood up, rubbing the sore bump on her head. She muttered something under her breath, but he couldn’t hear it.

“Fall in!” Miles yelled as everyone jogged over to the center of the room. Jiniraa and Spider walked. Their defiance annoyed Miles to no end.

“Let’s go ladies!” Lyle called out, causing the rest of the Recoms to increase their pace. As for the other two, they continued walking. Well, Spider was borderline speed-walking to keep up with Jiniraa’s long strides.

Miles looked over to Jiniraa, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to one hip, annoyance and frustration spread across his face. She said nothing, only smirking in return before looking at Lyle. The bald Recom had his blue sunglasses on. Inside. Douchebag.

Jiniraa and Spider surveyed the remaining Recoms as they circled around. The Recoms did the same to measure up the Na’vi and teen-Na’vi-wannabe.

This was the first time since the forest incident almost a week ago the entirety of Deja Blue had gathered together, Miles felt a twitch in his stomach remembering the deaths of Walker, Brown, Warren, Fike, and Zhang whose bodies were left in the Pandorian forest. He didn’t even want to think about the animals who’d scavenge the meat off their bones before insects moved in to clean the rest.

Miles’ thoughts drifted to how the same thing happened to his human body. Well, the Colonel’s body. It wasn’t technically his. Technically.

“Everyone, this is Jiniraa and Spider. Spider and Jiniraa, this is everyone.” Miles talked down to the pair as if they were children, being introduced to their first grade class after moving to a new town. A town where the entire class were bullies. And knew how to kill without remorse. A thought that kept zipping through Jiniraa’s mind.

Spider scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Jiniraa reached over and gave him a light tap on the back of his shoulder, dipping her chin in disappointment as if to say be nice or you’ll make it worse for us. He didn’t respond.

Jiniraa looked back at the group in front of her, taking a quick scan of everyone before offering a quick smile with soft eyes, “hello.”

Miles pointed to the members of Deja Blue one by one to introduce them. Even without hearing their voices, Jiniraa surveyed their physical characteristics.

“Lopez.” Lots of tattoos. Wide set eyes.

“Prager.” He just looked lost. Weird hair on his chin.

“Mansk.” Long sleeved shirt. Dark sunglasses.

“Zdinarsk.” She crossed her arms and blew a bubble. Pretty tattoos. Looked scary. She had

Tuk in the forest.

“Or Z-Dog.” She spoke sharply.

“Corporal Wainfleet.” He was the only one Jiniraa had exposure to before.

“Lyle is fine.” He brought a hand to his chest, feigning humility. Spider scoffed and rolled his eyes. She laughed lightly at his antics, causing his ears to perk up. Miles ground his teeth together even further, jaw clicking at the pressure. Corporal Wainfleet - Lyle - was quite the character.

“And last is Ja.” Jiniraa turned to the last member of the unit - the one who held her by the queue in the forest, meaning he was the one she brought to the knees with a targeted pressure point strike. She averted her eyes to the ground, suddenly unable to look at the Recom in his eyes. He slightly narrowed his gaze at her, trying to overcome the embarrassment and borderline harassment he faced from Lopez and Prager over the fact he’d been bested by a Na’vi - a Na’vi woman nonetheless.

“Lopez. Mansk. You’re up first. Let’s go.” Jiniraa had no clue what was happening, but it seemed everyone else did. The woman with the tattoos - Zdinarsk - had a smile on her face as she rubbed her hands together, excitement etched on face.

Miles stood between the two men, briefly reminding them of mat rules before stepping back. He held out his hands as both men took off their breathing apparatuses and handed them to their Colonel.

Everyone watched as the two Recoms circled around each other, trying to see who would make the first move. Who would slip up first.

Lopez smiled at Mansk, flipping his hands in the air. He was baiting him.

“I’m gonna knock those ugly-ass sunglasses right off your face, Mansk.”

There was no change on Mansk’s face.

“You might wanna take those glasses off, Mansk. Wouldn’t want them to get broken. There’s only so many shades on Pandora big enough for your fucking face-” he wasn’t able to finish before Mansk charged, leaning down as he sent his shoulder into Lopez’s abdomen.

Lopez was ready for the charge, his wicked smile widened. Mansk sent him flying onto his back, but Lopez rolled over his own shoulder, landing with one knee to the ground.

The Recoms continued to grow louder as the fighting continued, the energy in the room swelled. The men wrestled on the ground, fighting for dominance before Mansk was able to wrap around Lopez’s front and grab his wrist.

Their fighting was relentless. It didn’t seem like a simple sparring exercise. It was life or death to them right now.

Mansk twisted Lopez’s arm around, forcing a gasp out before his face was shoved to the mat. Mansk held Lopez to the ground, a knee between his shoulder blades. Lopez thrashed for a few seconds, trying to get out of Mansk’s death hold. Giving up, he tapped the mat three times.

Miles walked up, slapping a hand on Mansk’s shoulder. Within seconds, the men were up on their feet, fighting personas completely gone as they returned to normal people as they laughed.

“Lopez, you can’t talk big game like that and then tap out like a little bitch.” Prager laughed as Lopez retreated to the circle.

“I fucking hate those sunglasses,” he muttered, wiping a trail blood from his nose.

Mansk’s mouth only twitched for a quick second, if you blinked you would’ve missed it. He revealed how butthurt his opponent was.

Ja and Lyle were the next to go. Lyle already knew Ja’s ego was bruised from the forest and getting taken down by Jiniraa, but that didn’t mean he was going to go easy on him. It just made him more surprised when the moment the Colonel stepped back, a leg was already flying through the air at Lyle’s side. He pushed the foot away with ease, bouncing on light feet.

The pair circled the entire perimeter of the map, sending punches to each other, but never making contact.

“Just fucking go!” Zdinarsk screamed next to Jiniraa. The volume of her outburst was unexpected, causing Jiniraa to wince and cover her ears.

Ja glanced over to Jiniraa momentarily, flashing a cocky smile before going in on Lyle. He punched the Corporal directly in the jaw, but he didn’t stumble at all. Lyle retaliated with a swift punch to Ja’s ribs. As he was knocked off balance, Lyle dropped down and swept Ja’s legs out from under him, robbing his lungs of air as he fell to the ground.

Ja thought about kicking Lyle in the nuts for that shot. His better judgment warned him against it. A cheap shot like that? The Colonel would make him run with full gear till he threw up, started bleeding, or passed out. Maybe all three.

They both knew the fight was over and Lyle reached down, offering Ja a hand. He reluctantly wrapped his arm around Lyle’s forearm. With a swift tug, Lyle launched Ja upright and gave him a firm slap on the back.

Zdinarsk and Prager were next. Their fight was over the fastest. Within seconds, Zdinarsk had Prager on the ground as she wrapped her legs around his throat until he submitted.

Jiniraa looked around, realizing all the Recoms had gone at this point. No one was moving, except Miles. He walked to the center of the mat and opened his arms.

“Alright, sweetheart. It’s your turn.” He took a final sip of air before slipping his breathing apparatus off his torso, handing it over to his second in command.

Jiniraa pointed a finger at herself, her mouth open in disbelief unable to produce a sound.

He nodded, “Yup. You and me. Wanna know how you took that one down.” He pointed at Ja, more butthurt than ever.

“Um - No. It’s okay. I don’t think I can.” She stuttered.

“Not a question. Get over here. Now.”

Spider looked up at the Na’vi. He didn’t expect her to actually take a step forward, slowly walking towards the Colonel. The foam of the mat was soft under Jiniraa’s feet. It felt like a mossy clearing in the forest.

She looked Miles up and down, sizing him up. Of course, he was faster, bigger, and stronger than she could ever be. There were no apparent weaknesses on his body. She noticed how he had his combat boots on. If he tried to kick her in the ribs like Ja did to Lyle, he’d break one. Maybe even two.

She was barefoot and in loose clothing. So much material he could grab and use against her. Only her top was smooth to her body. He could easily grasp her hair or queue and force her into submission in seconds. She’d tap within a moment of pain.

Miles knew that. He recalled the day she was forced into the interrogation contraption and some white coat said she received pain much differently than other Na’vi - her pain was heightened. He was already planning on going easy on her, but this meant he had to keep her from hurting herself as well.

She gulped as she stopped, two arm lengths away from the Colonel. He didn’t say anything before he took a step back, bending himself at the knees and opening his arms to her, daring her to take the first move.

Next: Seven - A Winner and a Loser

Taglist - if you'd like to be added, just let me know :)

@drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed

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itsliyahhbih · 10 months

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Into the spider-verse: Xiomara’s intro

Sum: this is my intro to my au fanfic. Puerto Rico’s Araña-Mujer & it takes place on Earth 906. This starts in Xi’s POV‼️

A/n: The other characters come in later. The story really starts after her intro so this of this rlly as an intro/pt.1 ‼️ In this story Xiomara does end up with Miles G. Morales. HOWEVER, this is being posted as a test to see ‘how good’..this fic is. This is basically a ‘rough draft’ I’ve honestly barely edited this. I have read thru it so hopefully I didn’t miss any BIG errors. I just wanna see if others enjoy this or if maybe I get thrown suggestions. If this does good I’ll possibly continue with this fanfic on here :))

Okay let’s get this started , Hi I’m Xiomara Marina Aguillar . Puerto Rico’s one and only Spider girl. I got bitten by a radio active spider on a school field trip to Oscorp Labs for a career day. My spider bite gave me special venom powers through nails that can temporarily paralyze my victim. As well as camouflage effect that allows me to blend into any surroundings, also my body temperature drops leaving me undetectable to heat vision. I’m 15 years old and attend Visions, the center of advanced studies..It’s..It’s really just a highschool, but I like to remind myself of what my papa said to me. “Mija, you earned your place at that school! I’ll be damned to see stuck up children run you away from a proper education!!” Something my father didn’t have growing up. I tested very highly my whole life and always got good grades, school and education came so naturally to me..friends..not so much.

It was my papa’s dream for me to go to this school , so who was my mother to deny a man on his deathbed his dream for his eldest daughter right?…he..hehe. Yeahhh uh…My pa, he’s gone…He passed away when I was 13 from Cancer, but I don't like to remember him as a Cancer patient! I like to remember him for just being my papa. The one cracking jokes, cooking good food and saving lives as a firefighter…

I always wished he never got sick because then I just know..My life wouldn’t be the way it is now..

Months after my papa’s death my mother went downhill even almost lost her nursing license. She picked up drinking and smoking cigarettes heavily, also picking up extreme hours at the hospital to try to keep us afloat. She liked to claim all the hours were for keeping us afloat..a part of me believed that. That she was still the mami who used to give pep talks and smother you in kisses every morning, but really I knew it was also to feed her addiction..Apart of my mom still wanted to be a mother but sometimes couldn't bare to look at us and so I tried really hard to shelter my siblings from this part of her, but as they got older they became coherent to their surroundings . It was hard for us emotionally and financially, we were even still paying off his medical bills and that alone was a struggle to do.. Don’t get me wrong, my parents both made good money. I wouldn’t say we are DIRT poor as of right now, just struggling.. Those bills were just always a harsh reminder to us that he was gone..

We even lived in a beautiful house when he was alive but the hospital bills, caring for us, our wants and needs no matter what, bills..It swallowed them as his hours at work decreased more and more due to his cancer getting worse. Eventually putting him on disability we slowly got back afloat, but when he passed and we no longer got his disability income we lost our home and my mom lost her sanity. My parents worked so hard their whole lives to get us outta the hood for us to end up right back there . As I stated my mami kinda went..loco, She wasn’t herself any more, gave us no attention and became very cold and mean as the alcohol addiction increased so I picked up the care of my younger siblings and our apartment we moved into after the loss of the house. It was just my moms job to give me her paycheck to get it ALL done..Eventually we would argue about the money and costs of her habits so I had to pick up a job to pick up her slack..But that's enough of my life story let’s just get into it…

To be continued..?

#into the spider verse #atsv #hobie brown #peter parker #peter b parker #miles morales #gwen stacy #beyond the spiderverse #across the spiderverse #spiderverse oc #spiderverse fanfic #the spot #miles 42 #spiderman #spider woman #pavitr prabhakar

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writerfae · 9 months

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Hi! I am kinda having a writing problem and I want to ask if you can give me some advice. (It's okay if you can't!)

From the beginning Adél has been a character that I struggled with alot (perhaps directly because she's my protagonist, though there could be other factors).

I feel like she serves her purpose in the "book" part of the story well, but I am unable to put her in a situation outside of that, and I don't know how to fix it!

I just wanna be able to get excited about her! Because I like Adél, I really do, but sometimes I get stuck when I try to think about her and it makes me really sad!

Perhaps the best way I can describe the problem is that I am being too "strict" with her. I let the other characters kinda run around and do their thing, but I really struggle to do that with Adél. Like I don't know how to let her out of the initial box that I had for her.

Idk if you noticed it or not, but even when sending you crossover scenarios I talk more about her brothers than her (or if not that, than the scenarios for her brothers are a lot easier to come up with for me). This is what I mean when I say I don't know how to put her in situations outside of the planned book.

The worst part of this all is that in canon Adél's worst fear is that one day all her fears and anxiety will grow so large that she won't be able to do anything, not even move, and I am litteraly making her unable to move in the situations that I come up with! I am unintentionally making her worst fear happen when I try brainstorming for her, and it's not in the good way!

I know how much you love Aiden and since he's your protagonist maybe you have some advice on how I can let Adél be a little freer? How to play around with her more?

Thank you in advance!

Also, I really hope this explanation made at least a little sense💀

It made lots of sense to me! I understand your problem and it’s pretty valid. I felt pretty much the same.

Because while yes, I love Aiden and I have him quite developed now, I had a really hard time shaping him. For the longest time he seemed flat to me, without much of a personality.

I think the problem with main protagonists is that sometimes we as writer focus so much on their task of holding up the story that we forget that they are a person, too, not story tools.

They have hobbies and feelings and plans and dreams outside of the story. Not everything about this character has to serve the progress of the plot. It can be hard to remember that.

To struggle with a character, a main character especially, is pretty normal. They need lots of time and care and constant work.

I think you might really be a bit too “strict” with her. Let her run wild once in a while, play around with her a little bit. A character needs to be removed from their story from time to time so that they can grow. I know it’s hard, but like you said, you have to get her out of the box.

Maybe you have a harder time to get Adél out of there because she as a character is really anxious and might not want to leave her box (which means she’s already a pretty much alive character with her “own will”, which is good!), so you have to nudge her a little bit.

Honestly the best way you can do that is with AUs. I know it sounds silly, but as someone with tons of AUs, let me tell you: never before did I learn as much about my characters as in AUs.

(A lot of oc development happened outside of my main story and in AUs. They made me grow more attached to my characters too, I feel like I got closer to them.)

Because those do exactly what I said earlier, they remove the character from their story and that’s pretty helpful.

The modern au helped me especially, because it confronted me with an important question, one you should ask yourself (if you haven’t already):

If Adél wasn’t the protagonist of your story, if she wasn’t even in your story’s setting but just a completely normal teenage girl, how would she be like? What would be her hobbies? Her passions? Her goals in life?

For example, I didn’t know a single hobby of Aiden beside archery before I had my modern AU, cause in-story Aiden doesn’t have time for hobbies all that much. What doesn’t mean he has none. But I only got ideas through the au.

I had to translate them to the old time / fantasy world a bit. Modern AU Aiden is a film geek, so canon Aiden has a love for stories, but not for written ones but told/performed ones.

Or alternatively, how about an AU where Adél isn’t the main protagonist? Think about how her life would be as a minor character or bystander. What would be different about her? Would something be different? Even realizing that she’d still be the same brings you closer to understand her.

I don’t mean that you should make up big and complicated AUs, just that you give some alternate scenarios (and how they would influence Adél) a thought.

Basically, just play dolls and dress up with her. Have some fun. Try to distance her from the story a bit. Because maybe the plot of your story blocks certain aspects of her that can only be unlocked by putting her somewhere else.

AUs are fun and help build the character. Plus if you keep changing the setting you can see what really makes a character themselves, which traits and such move with them from au to au and which don’t.

Something else that might help is do an interview with Adél in your head. Or on paper. Just ask her questions about herself. Or well, ask questions and think about what her answer would be.

Get to know her. Start small.

Little facts like her favorite food or color or animal or her favorite plushie as a kid or anything, really, can make her easier for you to grasp. (Maybe you already know those things, but if not they are worthy to consider).

Or you can get questions from character sheets or get to know me templates. Or more complex questions like “how would Adél react if [insert thing here]?” or “what would she take with her to a deserted island?”.

(Or yet again a different thing to ask yourself: what will Adél do after the story? Or, regarding your worries about her anxiety, work with that, too. Why does she fear what she fears? Since when? What if this fear actually comes true? What would she be like without that fear?)

What might also help is if you let her interact with the others more, let them drag her into their own “outside the story” adventures.

Like I said in that one post I made, Aiden only ever really talks to me if other characters are around. Maybe Adél needs a little help getting dragged out of the box. Next time you imagine a scenario for let’s say one of her brothers, let her join.

Letting characters react is sometimes easier than making them do something on their own.

And most importantly, take your time and don’t be too hard on yourself. You can’t fully know Adél yet. That’s completely okay. (I don’t know Aiden fully yet either). Tale your time figuring her out.

You will keep learning things about her as the story develops and progresses. She will grow along with it, trust me. If you adore her, that’s already enough. The rest will come to you eventually (maybe this answer helps you with it).

I’m really not good at giving writing advice, but I hope that what I said makes at least a little sense I was able to help you :)

And good luck with Adél! She’s lovely and I’m sure you’ll get to understand her better and help her grow!! ^^

#this was lots of input and not much structure I’m sorry but I hope I was at least a little helpful #writer speaks #writeblr

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