#the number 49 has followed us around since we were like. A Kid

[bidokja]

i want to say I showed up at that Uriel v Castiel poll when it said “less than one minute remaining” but we did it

I WAS CELEBRATING AND THEN I SAW THE FINAL COUNT OF VOTES WAS 4949 AND I AM. HAUNTED. NO ESCAPE. MY OWN PERSONAL HARBINGER.

[sadlysoulx]

HAIKYUU CHARACTERS GOING TO IKEA

Part 2 (w/ Hinata, Kageyama, Sakusa, Oikawa, Ushijima and Tendou)

I really really like the idea of haikyuu boys going to Ikea, the part 1 is on my account so pls feel free to read it. As u can see. . . Double post😏😏😏 I want to spoil y'all coz ur my bbs😌✨ please enjoy ❤️ THANK YOU FOR 49 FOLLOWERS 😭💓✨

Hinata

Please this ball of sunshine's never been excited to go to a furniture shop

He likes it because he loves picking up mysterious tools.

GURLLL, THE MOMMENT YOU STEPPED IN IKEA HE GOT LOST😭

You got so nervous coz you can't find your boyfriend in the sea of people.

That is until the speakers blared out, saying:

"L/N Y/N, please come to the office, your child has been found,"

And you were like: wait I have a child???👀👄👀

But then you figured it's probably Hinata

So you went in the office to see Hinata pretending to crying his eyes out

And then when he looked up, he said to the staff:

"yeah. . . That's my mom,"

You:👁️👄👁️

Employees:👁️ᴗ👁️

Hinata: 👁️〰️👁️

After that, you made sure Hinata doesn't leave your sight.

He sat in that cart where your supposed to hang the yellow ikea bag.

Hinata likes to point to things you don't need and tries to convince you to buy them.

"Y/N. . . Please! Look it's so cool, you just have to spin this and then your pencil would be sharpened!"

"Ooooooh! Y/N we need to get that folding table!"

"WOW! Y/N, Y/N, babe! Look at that sofa that can turn into a bed, let's have one!"

But ofcourse you didn't buy them🙅

After buying things you need, you went to the Ikea food court to have lunch.

This baby likes the kiddie meal where you are given a colored plate filled with nuggets and french fries.

Please, Kuroo and Bokuto had a huge influence on him since they also like kiddie meals.💀

He also likes the Ikea meatballs<3

But then after that, he convinced you to let him go to the Ikea Kid playground.

Since he's a small baby, the Ikea staff let him in😭😭😭

(pretend there's no height limit)

Your watched through the window outside as he played.

He settled in the pool of plastic balls playing with other kids.

And then he went up climbing the big dust pan with those ropes and surrounded by plastic balls😖

He watched cartoons with other kids❤️

But then he immediately went out because he made a kid cry by accidentally cursing at them💀

Hinata may be a fluff ball but sometimes Tsukishima is a bad influence for him 🤦🏻‍♀️

Kageyama

ಠ_ಠ expression always on

When you wanted to show him something and ask if it's nice, he would nod and just be like: ಠ_ಠ

Seriously, when you show him a kitchen knife, he would nod and say:

"It's nice you should buy it,"💀

When you show him a useless kitchen tool, he would nod and say to buy it.

Help this boi✋🏻😭

He doesn't know how to shop😭

Buuuuut when it comes or the bedroom area, he would sit on it and lay down.

Kageyama would drag you on the bed and make you lay down beside him, not caring if people gave you weird looks❤️

He keeps on insisting to get a new matress because the one he's laying on is soft.

And then he mentioned how you need to buy a new bedframe because the both of you broke the ones in the house.😃

BECAUSE YOU WERE JUMPING ON THE BED SEEING WHO CAN JUMP THE HIGHEST.

He was bored whenever you stop by to check something out

So he stands behind you like🕴️

And one time he accidentally made a kid cry😭

He just tried to make the baby laugh with "funny faces"

But then he ended up making them cry¯\_( ˘_˘)_/¯

You know that part of Ikea where there are really tall shelves with full of boxes?? Yeah that one

It's so adorable how he looks up at them with his chin up in the air like how a child would look up on an airplane 😖❤️

Oh yeah and he insists on buying those cute tent playhouse 🎪. 😃

He even begs on his knees for you to accept to buy it.

When you stopped to eat, he wants to push the food cart for you, he find it exciting to out on the trays of the cart😣

he always go back to the line to get another carton of milk

He came back 3 times, back and forth just to buy another milk🤦🏻‍♀️

Kageyama likes the yogurt that Ikea sells, he likes the strawberries and berries decorated on top of it.

He doesn't have his own plate of food, he wants to share with you✌️

Sakusa

He doesn't want to go

But reader-senpai is so stubborn so you insist

He didn't want to go so you finally gave up, leaving him in your shared apartment.

But then at the last minute, he said he wanna come.

Yoomi-bby doesn't want people to touch you or even ask for your number.

What's his is only his so no SHARING 😤

He always scolds you on stop picking up things on everything you see.

So every time you drop the item, he sprays your hands with alcohol

Coz he doesn't want his baby to be sick😪

But when the both of you reached the bathroom/toilet models, he literally switched.

He finds them interesting😃

Like how the bathroom models are beautifully designed.

He finds it funny when the inside of the toilet is covered with plastic, so no one would really poop or pee in it

He laughs so cute 😖❤️

He laughs for straight 2 minutes and you don't really care, he's just adorable.

Please he collects Ikea pencils 😭

He takes more when he saw another Ikea pencil and ruler stall.

And then take some random paper and draws on it out of boredom.

He drew you😞

It wasn't the best but it's cute how he tries hard.

Kiyoomi also find the chair sections interesting.

He likes the rocking chairs and said that he would get one

How could you say no?❤️

He payed for it easily and it would be delivered in the apartment this night.

💸RICH BOI 💸

When you are in the rugs and mats section, he likes touching the furry ones

"Look Y/N! it's really soft. . . Touch it,"

But then he told you to leave the area immediately because it smells weird👁️👄👁️

It came from those leather and those cow skin looking matts💀

When lunch rolls by, he likes to watch kids playing in the playground 😣

He eats fancy so don't be surprised if you see him use knife and fork so expertly and eat steak with some sauce.

He gets so excited when going home because he can finally set up the rocking chair 💀

Oikawa

He loves shopping!

I can sense it, he radiates the vibes, you can't change my mind.

He picks up everything he sees and put in the cart.

And you have to get those things from the cart and put it back because you don't need them💀

He whines about how he needs all of them

And you have to remind him that they would just stay in the storage room like how the other things ended up he brought last time.

But nuh-uh

🎶He sees it, he likes it, he want it, he got it🎶

🎶I want it, I got it, I want it, I got it🎶

"Y/N-chan, I'll buy it with my own money! You don't have to worry about it!"

You know what are the things he buys?

A whole chandelier, an emergency lamp that charges by spinning the ledge, a WHOLE cabinet, some kitchen utensils–he doesn't cook💀 and some more things. . .😐

He actually bought the whole Ikea 😭

But then he came up to you and ask if you can buy him those dog stuff toys.

He pouted for it.

You gave in and bought two stuff toys for you and him❤️

And then you remembered why he asked you to buy it for him when he had no problem to pay the expensive things he wanted.🙄

"So that it would be special, Y/N, look it came from you!"

He likes the candle section.

He specifically likes the scented ones.🕯️

Oikawa keeps picking them up and smelling them😭

He ended up adding to cart once again🤦

He made a delivery truck deliver all the things he bought to your house.

Ofcourse he would, he 💸rich💸

After that you both ate

And he just had to insist on you feeding him because he wanted to make the lonely teen across him jealous 😭😭😭 slskskjfgh

He likes the bread bowls

No he doesn't put soup in them

He just likes the bread.

You don't have to go back to Ikea for a whole year because you remembered Oikawa bought the whole store.

Ushijima

He just follows you everywhere, stoic and not saying anything 😐

When you stop to check on something he'll be like🕴️behind you

He also picks up some things that interests him😖

And if her finds something weird, he'll pick it up also and try to find out how to use it

But he ends up breaking it, so he quickly put it back and walk back to you😭

He holds your hand and look around as if he's a lost puppy ❤️

Waka-waka takes those paper rulers and roll them into a tight roll💀 please I do that everytime

He also collects those Ikea brochures and still takes another one even though you have a lot at home 😃

You know those yellow banners that hung from the ceiling with the prizes labeled on it??

Like kenma from part 1, he jumps and hits it with his fingertips aww

He's a huge baby🤭

Until he breaks it and made it fall on the floor💀

The both of you quickly run away before a staff scolds you both

Everytime other time, out of the blue, he would hug you, telling how much you mean to him😢

You know those fake windows in house models where it's actually just wallpapers lightened up from underneath??

He thrash talked about who taught about it because it didn't look too realistic 💀

He likes the kitchen section because the kitchen tools amazes him nd he cooks in the house,sooo¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ushijima points at the things he find interesting and talk about them to you

"hey. . .Y/N. . . That thing is so cool, it can turn into a bed from a sofa. . ."

ANDDDD

He also likes the outdoor/garden section.❤️

He has his mini garden and he plants succulents😩

So he puts soils and other plant materials he needed for planting like pots and shovels.

He buys you plastic flowers too💀

It's not real but hey! At least it came from someone you really really love😏

He buys you unnecessarily a lot of those too😃

buys you things you needed, anything you want, he'll buy for you. . .

He'll just take out his credit card💳

When lunch comes, he always take the fruit salad because he likes it.

He would also feed you his own food•//////•

Ushjima always likes the fish with that kind of sauce

He shares food

So take it or leave it 😤

Tendou

Baki Baki ni oreeeee~

I love this boi, I don't get why people see him as a monster😤

Oki oki, he is sooooo excited to go around ikea

He takes a lot of the Ikea magazines

"it's free! So why not take many?"

He literally skips around beside you and gets excited over small things

"Ooooooh, Y/N! A rechargable light bulb!"

"Y/N! Y/N! Come here! Look, it's a chandelier that opens and closes!!"

He is very curious about things so make sure you stir him away from the kitchen section because that's where most of the weirdest things are.

Somehow you'd still end up in the kitchen section

He saw this weird looking scissors and he doesn't know what are the other features for.

You told him to drop it because he might hurt himself.

But no, he just had to figure out what is is for💀

He ended up hurting himself from toying around a scissors that separates each leg so that it can become a knife.

Of course he did hurt himself🤦

He run up to you, whimpering

And you just have to scold him😐

One time he got so curious about what that heavy door was for and he opened it

The alarm started going off🚨💀

IT WAS AN EMERGENCY DOOR

You made sure you don't let Tendou out of your sight again

When you stopped for lunch, you let him control the food cart.

But he accidentally pushed an old lady infront of the line with it.

Don't worry Gran is fine👵

What's with Haikyuu characters always liking kiddie meals?!😭

Yeah yeah he likes them❤️

But then when you two settled down to finally eat

He screamed why is his plate color is green, he wants red😭

You told him to finish his food quickly or else you'll leave him there

So both of you finished quickly and Satori wants to go home as fast as possible because he said he has a concert in his shower💀💀💀

My hands hurts😐

Anyways thank you for staying till the end❤️

Every like, reblogs and follow is appreciated 😏

This is my work so please don't steal in any way, not even turning it into a tiktok😐

REQUESTS ARE OPEN

[fffinnagain]

10 Years of Sherlock (TV)  AO3 stats!

Sherlock fans, new and old, click below to read a long list of graphs and comments about our communities fanworks over the last 10 years. I scraped AO3 again and demonstrate that:

More creators are writing longer works in 2020

Readers engaged more as the fandom changed after S4

Top ten new tags per year for the last 10 years

And a lot more. 

PS the code to gather this data and analyse it can be found way over here. 

Activity over 10 years

The last 10 years in the BBC Sherlock fandom have been tumultuous, but this community persists, with engagement from new fans and continued creative output. To commemorate over a decade of squee, I’ve done another scrape of the fandom’s imprint on the Archive of Our Own and will share some insights from the numbers in these plots. A very late update on my post S4 snapshot from 2018.

Note: This analysis is of completed public fanworks only, about 101000 of the 122000 Sherlock (TV) works available at present. This is to remove the late WIP effect, which adds a bulge to the last few months, and out of respect to creators who wish to have their material reserved for other registered AO3 users.

The works are still coming

Counting the number of works posted per day, we can see the peaks associated with each series airing (in UK and US). After that, the number of works continues fairly evenly, 20-30 per day, plus seasonal peaks. This rate is continuing on without a hint of new canon in sight. So who is posting all this work?

Creator-waves, monthly output

Years ago I started plotting creator waves, basically I group fanwork producers by the year they first posted to the fandom and then count how many of this group are active in later time intervals. This lets us get a sense of how long people are contributing and whether new fans are getting the urge to create. 

This plot of the Sherlock (TV) fanworks on AO3 shows the standard shape of plump participation in the first year of any given set of creators, followed by a slowly thinning tail as they because less active over time. Turnover is natural in fandoms, with most only posting a work or two within a fairly limited amount of time, while a precious few persist for years.  The surprise for me here is that the ratio of new creators is higher in 2020 than it was in 2019. Maybe the excuse of lockdown encouraged more folks to take a turn at creating content. 

Another way to look at the output of fan creators on AO3 is to see the total amount of words being shared across all fanworks. The total has been pretty close to 300-400k words per month since 2018! To get a sense of what that means per work, I also plotted the median number of words per fanwork in these monthly sets. The median in higher in the last year than it had been staying for a while. 

Reader behaviour: Hits & Kudos & Comments

Fan creators are only part of the story. Stats on engagement are a bit trick to interpret, I’ve got some plots here that tell us something about how works have been engaged with over time. 

The obvious first to consider is Hits. Above is the total number of Hits given to works published each month. This is the current totals, not a historical snapshot, so we have a very strong bias  towards early works, what we might call the Classics Effect. Works that have been around longer have had the chance to be seen by more people, and in particular those works that become must-read classics in a fandom, extending their exposure through prominence in top ranked works and recommendations. 

To cut down on the advantage of the classics, we can also consider median hits per work for each month. As most works get a lot attention when they are first posted and then fade out of sight, the median number of hits reflects instead the ratio of readers to creators, basically how many eyeballs are around to look at the latest work, regardless of status. The median plot shows how the hyper-visibility of the few work available before 2012, and then a more steady curve once the fandom had gotten established on the platform after Series 2. Amazingly, the hit rate for the median work was steady through the big bumps in activity with later series, a 1000 hits for median works between 2013 and 2018, followed by a slow decline. I’d expect the 2020 works to continue gaining for a few months yet, but the median is probably 50-60% of what is was when the show was in production.

Kudos counts and medians show a similar story to hits, but there is a dip down around 2013 for kudos reflects the frenzy of productivity that saw the fandom grow during the Series 2 hiatus. Readers were getting spoiled! From the airing of Series 3 (2014) until a year following Series 4 (2018), the median work received an even 60ish kudos and 1000 hits, a niche audience that decreased to 50/750 through 2018-2019. The numbers of 2020 suggest a smaller community of readers again, though these numbers may still rise a bit in the next few months before the median works are forgotten. 

The statistic that tells a different story is Comments. Looking at the total comments counts, there isn’t a drop after Series 3 (2014). Instead, the fandom compensated for changing numbers with more feedback and discussion attached to works. This is reflected in the median comment rate as well, which shows seasonal variation but doesn’t really drop off until 2020.

It’s remarkable that without fresh canon we continue to have new creators contributing to the fandom, and while that may be outpacing the readership somewhat, the standard of engagement has been very high. One could say the fandom is chugging along quite nicely!

What about Tags

So, with all that turnover and shifting population, is there a change in the kinds of works being posted? We can look at tags, all tags and freeform tags, to see if there were any meaningful trends. 

First up, I did a creator-wave like analysis of works just for tags, to see how tags continue to be used after being introduced. Unlike the creators, tags clearly persist for years. After 2015, it looks like the core tag set has been established, with very few tags persisting in usage per  subsequent year.

This graph reports numbers over time that are not proportional to the number of works or creators active. Instead, works on AO3 have been getting more and more tags over the years, with the average steadily growing from 5 in 2011 to 15 in 2020, with freeform tags (not characters or ships) from 2 to 8.

To get a sense of fic and tagging culture changes over time, I counted the most popular NEW tags of each year (wave). Note: this analysis is using exact matches, not the networked associations of tag meanings wrangled into AO3 today, so some things that pop up aren’t new concepts but instead newly popular TAGs for whatever they represent. 

2011: 2752 (First year, so all solid stuff, tags that continue to be popular forever)

Angst                 323

Fluff                 232

Humor                 216

Hurt/Comfort          188

Romance               168

Friendship            168

Crossover             138

Crack                 121

Alternate Universe    119

First Time            106

2012: 11637 (still early, first references to Series 2)

Fluff and Angst                           145

Episode: s02e03 The Reichenbach Fall       97

Kid Sherlock                               54

Puppies                                    50

Sad                                        48

Episode: s02e01 A Scandal in Belgravia     47

Mathematics                                42

Season 2 spoilers                          38

Omega Verse                                38

Feels                                      38

2013: 16176 (Omegaverse nomenclature is growing, Top/Bottom terminology, new challenges)

Alpha Sherlock                               65

Omega John                                   61

30 Day OTP Challenge                         59

Tumblr: letswritesherlock                    56

Top John                                     49

Sherlock Holmes Returns after Reichenbach    44

Bottom Sherlock                              40

Reichenbach Angst                            30

Don't copy work to another site              29

Age Regression/De-Aging                      27

2014: 19256 (Mostly Series 3 related

Episode: s03e03 His Last Vow         249

Episode: s03e02 The Sign of Three    167

Post-His Last Vow                    149

His Last Vow Spoilers                142

Sherlock Series 3 Spoilers           128

2000 AU                              100

The Sign of Three Spoilers            74

Fatlock                               72

Post-The Sign of Three                66

Post-Season/Series 03                 57

2015: 14272 (New challenges, new prominent Sherlolly tags)

Chats                                      47

International Fanworks Day 2015            34

Watson's Woes July Writing Prompts 2015    27

S3 referenced                              25

Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Kissing       22

English Accent                             22

Sound cloud                                19

Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper      19

Protective John Watson                     18

but not that kind of graphic               17

2016: 13517 (New stylistic tagging, TAB references, a lot of epilepsy?)

Slowwww burn                         92

John Watson Loves Sherlock Holmes    37

Sherlock Holmes Loves John Watson    33

post-tab                             30

JME                                  27

Post TAB                             25

Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy          23

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2016     19

epileptic                            19

fraternal love                       17

2017: 15067 (Series 4 tags and challenges)

Episode: s04e02 The Lying Detective         133

Episode: s04e01 The Six Thatchers            93

Post TFP                                     73

Sherlock Series 4 Spoilers                   69

Episode: s04e03 The Final Problem            60

Post-Episode: s04e02 The Lying Detective     55

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2017             50

Post S4                                      48

Sherstrade Month 2017                        44

31 Days of Porn Challenge 2017               41

2018: 10733 (Lost of new challenges, seasonal and weekly)

Towel Day 2018                       64

Mystrade Valentines Calendar 2018    25

Kinktober 2018                       23

Pregnant Molly Hooper                23

Soft Smut Sunday                     23

Tom Robbins                          23

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2018     21

Inktober 2018                        20

established universe                 16

Always1895                           16

2019: 7785 (More prompts, and character attitudes)

Sherlolly Appreciation Week 2019    25

221B Autumn Challenge               21

A-Z Christmas Prompt                19

KatsJohnlockXmas2019                16

Whumptober                          11

Poor Greg Lestrade                  11

Kinktober 2019                      10

Dissonance                          10

John Watson is a Good Friend         9

Sleepy Sherlock Holmes               8

2020: 8074 (Not all COVID related, thank heavens)

Mystrade Monday                           59

COVID-19                                  48

Coronavirus                               46

Mystrade Monday Prompts                   40

Whumptober 2020                           36

warning for a covid-19 setting            33

Flufftober prompts 2020                   24

Do Not Translate                          24

they're all right they're just at home    23

Granada Sherlolly                         21

A little note from looking across all freeform tags, not just the new ones, we see a curious pattern with regards to two actions: First Kiss and Anal Sex. They appear amongst the most common tags as of 2014, neck in neck for two years, than Anal Sex drops off the top ten in 2016. From there out, First Kiss stays in the top 5 from that point on, while anal sex appears at rank 9 from 2017-2019 and is gone again in 2020. This probably says something about the fandom, somehow. 

Bravo for making it to the end and thank you for reading! 

Questions/comments welcome.

[rootsrockweirdo]

The September issue of Honky Tonk Times is available now at thehonkytonktimes.com. This month I interviewed Mario Carboni and Norm Hamlet, who served as Merle Haggard's bandleader and steel guitar player for over 49 years. These interviews are a dream come true!

Carboni, Hamlet carry on Bakersfield tradition of music and kindness

Mario Carboni might be the nicest guy you’ve never met. From the start of our half-hour-long interview, Carboni exhibits the personality traits not of a traveling musician but of a man who genuinely concerns himself with the happiness of those around him. The 35-year-old piano and trumpet player extraordinaire is driving across Alaska in a van purchased specifically for runs in The Last Frontier. A mix-up has caused him and his lone bandmate to miss their hour-long set at the state’s largest festival. Instead of dogging the head of the event, Carboni simply says: “They’re busy. They have so many acts in there it’s understandable.” It’s not the reaction I expected, but as our conversation continues, it becomes clear that perhaps his heroes have not only influenced his music but his attitude toward life as well. A native of Oregon, Carboni’s lifelong affair with music began at 9 months old when he started playing the piano (yes, you read that correctly). By the age of 10, he added the trumpet to his repertoire. “I started out playing ragtime and improvising,” he says. “I ended up playing the trumpet in various school bands, then figured out how to play the two of them together when I was about 20. I ended up going from there, starting to play shows – I did a year of college, and it was not at all what I wanted to do – so I went over to Bakersfield and started meeting folks I considered to be my heroes and met Red Simpson in 2015.” One of the originators of “truck driving country,” Simpson rose to popularity as both a recording artist and songwriter in the mid-1960s, scoring hits such as “Roll, Truck, Roll” and “Hello, I’m A Truck.” The Bakersfield native remained a permanent fixture in the area's music scene, coming to the aid of many aspiring musicians until his death in January 2016. “Red was always helping younger folks and kids,” Carboni says. “He’d record a record with somebody in their little home studio, mention them in a radio interview or tour with them. He toured with me; he didn’t have to do that. The two of us recorded two records together; they were the last two records he ever recorded.” Following Simpson’s death, Carboni received an invitation to play at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, where a chance meeting with Norm Hamlet would change the trajectory of his career, forming an unlikely duo billed as “The Rebel and The Stranger.” As a member of Merle Haggard’s Strangers, Hamlet served as bandleader and steel guitar player for nearly 50 years, playing on more than 30 No. 1 hits and performing in some of the most recognizable concert venues in the U.S. Upon Haggard’s death in April 2016 and despite his age at the time, Hamlet too found himself wondering what would come next. “We were both hired to play in a band at Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace, and we started talking that night,” Carboni recalls. “I asked him if I could have his number and eventually called him up and told him I’d like to shoot a video of the two of us playing three songs; I’d pick my three favorite songs that he’d recorded on. We filmed this series of videos and put them out. I think there was one of ‘No Reason To Quit,’ another of ‘The Roots of My Raising,’ and it was really special to me because he’d played on the original hit with Merle in the ‘70s. I told him I could never afford to pay him what it was worth, and he was very nice to do that for me. “We put them out on social media and turned around a week later, and they’d hit 600,000 views each or something like that. I called him up and said, ‘Hey, this is significant. We should start a project.’ We started talking a little more about it, touring a little bit more and more dates started coming our way. It seems like the more stuff that we do, the more stuff people want to hire us for, and it just snowballed from there to the point where we’re touring the country.” For 86-year-old Hamlet, whose career began nearly seven decades ago and whose resume also includes working with Rose Maddox, The Farmer Boys, and once as part of a band opening for Hank Williams, the decision to return to the road

seemed like the natural course. “Mario had such a charisma about him,” Hamlet said. “When he played music, everybody loved his singing and playing, and I thought the same thing. It had been a long time since I’d seen a piano player that plays as good as he does, so I thought, ‘Well, I might still try to go out there and play a few things.’ This turned into a good job. At my age, I didn’t know how long I’d be able to go out and do it. As long as I can do it health-wise, we’ll keep going out there.” In addition to their busy tour schedule, the two recently completed their debut album, "Hello Heartache," a collection of 10 songs recorded aboard Carboni's tour bus, affectionately dubbed "Ol' Red," on the streets of Bakersfield. Of the 10 songs, eight were written by Carboni and Hamlet. “Most of the songs are upbeat in the Bakersfield sound, traditional style, with a slight twist of the piano being the rhythm and bass instrument instead of a traditional instrumentation,” Carboni explains. “. . . The album also features dobro played by Norm on one track called ‘Miss the Mississippi and You.’ We brought the instrument out of the museum in Nashville to record the album. The last time it was on a recording session was in 1969 on Merle Haggard’s ‘Same Train Different Time’ album.” For now, the album is only available at the pair's live performances, which Carboni says features a mix of songs made famous by some of Bakersfield's heavy hitters, including Haggard, Buck Owens, and Simpson. "They call it a second career when somebody does what Norm's doing, I guess," Carboni says. "He helps me out by playing with me; we help each other out. I get to be his rhythm section, and he lends his incredible reputation to what we're doing, and that's a really special thing, that's important." The pair has several dates scheduled for September. To view their complete schedule, visit www.honkytonkrebel.com. As for the aforementioned festival performance, Carboni and Hamlet were given a time slot for the following day, proving once and for all that nice guys don't always finish last. At least not the ones from Bakersfield.

[lizzielikeborden]

(ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥ prompts for requests (>‿◠)✌

These are some prompts to use for requests. They have labels, so when you request be sure to use the label and the number so I know which section you got it from. Happy requesting!

Fluff

1. “Is that my shirt?” “You mean our shirt?”

2. “It’s you, it always has been.”

3. “You’re everything I could’ve wanted and more.”

4. “Kiss me.”

5. “Home stopped being a place when you entered my life.” 

6. “You should probably go home.” “But I’m already home.”

7. “You’re an idiot.” “But you love me.”

8. “I’d do anything for you.” 

9. “You took all the pillows so I’m using you as one.”

10. “Stop moving and let me braid your hair.”

11. “I’m so proud of you.” 

12. “Could you say that again?” “Were you not listening?” “No I was, I just like hearing your voice.”

13. “I didn’t think it was possible to love someone this much.”

14. “You are my family.”

15. “I’m right here.”

16. “Can you just please hold me?” 

17. “I’m pretty sure (you’re/she’s/he’s/they’re) my soulmate”

18. “You come here often?” “Well considering I work here, yes.”

19. “You know, I think my (mother/father/parents) would be proud if I brought (you/her/him/them) home.” 

20. “I just want to see you happy.”

21. “I haven’t seen (her/him/them) smile like that in ages.” 

22. “You made me a better person. Thank you.” 

23. “I’d rather live in the woods with you than in a mansion with some (girl/boy/person) I barely know.”

24. “This reminded me of you.” 

25. “Your hair is really soft.”

26. “You’re really warm.”

27. “Are you blushing?”

28. “Can I stay here tonight?”

29. “Because I love you.”

30. “I’ve been in-love with you since we were kids.”

31. “I’m never going to leave you. I promise.”

32. “Make a wish!”

33. “I love seeing you smile.”

34. “Why are you wearing my sweater?” “Because it smells like you.”

35. “I just want to be there for you.”

36. “I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”

37. “You’re just a softie.”

38. “You owe me.” “Fine, whatever you like.”

39. “You’re safe now, I’m here.”

40. “Why are you scared of loving?”

41. “You are crushing me right now.”

42. “Darling I love you and all, but please step out fo the kitchen.”

43. “I love you.”

44.“You’re an idiot.” “But I am your idiot.”

45. “Take my hand. Just trust me.”

46. “You’re hurt. Please just let heal it.”

47. “At least let me clean it.”

48. “I told you to take care of yourself.”

49. “You’re the only thing that matters.”

50. “Stay.”

Angst

1. “I’m leaving.” “Of course you are, that’s all you know how to do.”

2. “You started drinking again, didn’t you?” 

3. “You promised you’d stop drinking.” “And you promised you wouldn’t hurt me!″

4.“But it’s my fault right?”

5.“I don’t want to feel this. I want to be numb again.”

6.“You’re lying to me again. Why can’t you just tell me the truth for once?”

7.“I love you.” “No you don’t”

8.“I can’t lose you.” “You already did.”

9.“Did it mean anything to you? Did I mean anything to you?”

10.“How was I such an idiot, to believe that you, out of all people, could ever love me?”  

11.“I loved you.” “Then why did you let (her/him/them) get in between us?”

12.“Maybe they were right, you never did change.”

13.“This is all in my head. It’s all happening in my head.”

14.“Don’t you dare walk away from this!”

15.“What gives you the right to just waltz back into my life after all the pain you’ve caused.”

16.“You’ve changed.”

17.“You win, happy?”

18.“Any other lies left to tell me?”

19.“Why did you wait until I moved on?”

20.“Don’t look at me like that.” “Like what?” “Like you still love me.”

21.“Its (her/him/them), isn’t it?”

22.“It’s always been (her/him/them).”

23.“When did you stop loving me?”

24.“Let me go.”

25.“You’re not you.”

26.“I miss the old you.”

27.“What happened to their happily ever after?” “Not all love stories get a happily ever after, sometimes it’s just once upon a time.”

29.“Move out of my way before I make you.”

30.“I risked my life for you.”

31.“I never would’ve thought (she/he/they)’d end up with someone else.”

32.“They were perfect for each other.”

33.“I was happier with you.”

34.“I would’ve done anything for you.”

35. “I loved you. I loved you so so much but you hurt me.”

36.“They warned me about this.” “About what?” “You.” 

37.“Lie to me. I don’t care what you say, just lie to me. Make me feel okay again.”

38.“You broke me.”

39.“You just threw four years of friendship out the window.”

40.“Hasn’t this addiction done enough damage already?”

41.“Sorry doesn’t fix everything.”

42.“You promised.”

43.“I don’t need help! I need an end to this pain.”

44.“What am I in your life? Because as of lately I feel as though I’ve been nothing to you.”

45. “Leave”

46.“I can’t keep playing pretend.”

47.“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t leave.”

48.“I wish we never met.”

49.“I’m sorry I’m not enough for you.”

50. “You scare me now.”

General

1.“I love you.” “Tell me that when you’re sober.” 

2.“It’s pouring rain why are you here?”

3.“I love you.” “You shouldn’t.”

4.“Where are you?”

5.“What happened?”

6.“Have you been taking care of yourself?”

7.“Is that blood?” “Yes but that doesn’t matter right now, what does matter is-” “You are literally bleeding.”

8. “Is that my book?”

9. “Are they dead?”

10. “You want to play pretend? Well two can play at that game.”

11.“Did you know that you talk in your sleep?”

12.“Come back to bed. Please.” 

13.“You’re who they warned me about.” 

14.“Come back.”

15.“You should’ve listened to me.”

16.“I haven’t seen you in days.” 

17.“Are you jealous?”

18.“Cheers, I’ll drink to that.” “You drink everything.” “Cheers!”

19.“Why is there a lion in the room?” 

20.“Is that vodka? At 7 in the morning?”

21. “Can we take this home?”

22. “Hey, look at me. Focus on me alright?”

23. “I haven’t seen (her/him/them) smile in months.”

24. “(She/he/they) don’t belong with (her/him/them)!” “Than who do(es) (she/he/they) belong with?” “…..with me.”

25. Come home.”

26. “I hope you’re happy.”

27. “They don’t need to know.”

28. “I made this for you.”

29. “Why is arson always your first answer?”

30. “Is this really the time for jokes?”

31.“Wake me up when it’s over.” 

32.“You look happy.” 

33.“I’m sorry, do I know you?” 

34.“Why can’t I get you out of my head?”

35.“Do you want that?”

36.“Don’t let go.” 

37.“Just let me stay.”

38.“Can I at least tell my side of the story?” 

39.“Do you trust me?” 

40.“Are you flirting with me?”

41.“Is the weight of your sins too heavy?”

42.“Just let me see (her/him/them) one last time. Please.”

43.“Are you afraid to die?”

44.“Are they really ‘just a friend’?”

45.“I wasn’t lying when I told you that I loved you.”

46.“I won’t hurt you.”

47.“Have you been sleeping?”

48.“I didn’t know where else to go.”

49. “It’s not 8:00 AM, it’s 8:00 AM”

50. “We should just play our music louder, then we won’t hear theirs.”- “That’s so much noise.”

Mental Health

1.“I didn’t know where else to go.”

2."you can talk to me about anything"

3."I don't understand but I believe you"

4."I'll stay with you as long as you need me to"

5."take a deep breath"

6."do you want me to give you advice or do you just want me to listen?"

7."you don't have to go through this alone"

8."I'll check on you again tomorrow"

9."you're not broken"

10."let's take a five minute break

11."I love you no matter what your brain tells you"

12."I'm always here if you need anything"

13."please don't talk that way about yourself"

14."let me know if you ever need a ride to therapy"

15."don't forget to take your medication"

16."it's okay to ask for help"

17."I'll go with you for moral support"

18."I don't know how to help you but I can help you find someone who does"

19."do you want to talk about it or would you like a distraction?"

20."you're safe"

21."there is always hope"

22.“I will do this with you, you’re never alone”

23.“No one is perfect.”

24.“I will sit outside this door for hours if that helps.”

25.“This is not your fault.”

26.“You do not owe anyone an apology.”

Wordless Ways to Say “I Love You”

1.Holding their hands when they are shaking.

2.Tucking the sheets around them when they stir during the night.

3.Traveling long distances just to see them.

4.Making their favorite meal when they are having a hard day.

5.Giving them a kiss before going to work and they are still in bed.

6.Tucking your head into their neck during a hug.

7.Lightly kissing on top of a freshly formed bruise.

8.Buying them something unrequested because it made you think of them.

9.Participating in their hobby even if it doesn’t personally interest you.

10.Sitting in comfortable silence while eating a meal.

11.Telling them a dumb joke just to see their smile.

12.Following their family traditions that they enjoy.

13.Singing and dancing to their favorite song.

14.Calming them down when they have a bad dream.

15..Having a tickle fight until you’re breathless.

16.Folding their clean laundry and putting it away.

17.Sharing a soft smile across a crowded room.

18.Bringing them a plate of their favorite sliced fruit.

19.Washing their back/hair in the shower.

20.Sharing your umbrella with them in the rain.

21.Listening to them while they vent.

22.Taking a picture together to print and hang later.

23.Tracing your names together in the sand.

24.Wearing clothes in their favorite color.

25.Doing a chore for them that you know they aren’t fond of.

26.Leaving a plate of food in the microwave for when they have a late shift.

27.Sharing a drink with them from the same straw.

28.Tucking their hair behind their ear to help them get it out of their face.

29.Helping scratch that itch on their back they can’t reach.

30.Pulling a chair out for them to sit down at the table.

31.Wrapping a blanket around them when they are sitting on the couch and watching a show.

32.Throwing away their piles of tissues when they have a cold.

33.Mending an item of their clothing that was ripped.

34.Running out in the middle of the night to get a food item they’re craving.

35.Helping brush their hair after a shower.

36.Making sure to be quiet while they’re taking a nap.

37.Letting them warm their cold hands under your shirt.

38.Giving them your dessert when you eat out because it’s their favorite.

39.Making a goofy face until they notice and laugh.

40.Giving them space when they express wanting to have some time alone.

41.Holding their hand while walking, even if there isn’t a crowd.

42.Holding shopping bags that are too heavy for them.

43.Standing between them and a busy road.

44.Rubbing the back of their hand with a thumb.

45.Giving them a back massage when they flop on the couch or bed.

46.Staying up half the night to finish a game with them.

47.Getting them a coffee just the way they like it.

48.Giving them a tight hug that makes them lose their breath.

49. Buying them a special treat when you go out shopping.

50. Watching shitty horror movies 

[warpedbelief]

some very random asks

1. how many pillows do you sleep with? Two, stack them when I’m watching tv, then separate them when I’m ready to sleep.

2. do you believe in soulmates? Sometimes

3. would you ever kiss a stranger? Maybe?

4. describe your dream house All on one floor. Lots of room in the kitchen with an island, but the stove and sink next to each other since it’s easier to transfer pots and pans back and forth. Walk in shower in the bathroom, with a jacuzzi tub. A separate room for my funkos. A big living room with tv and sound system perfect for watching movies. King sized bed.

5. do you usually use cash or card? Card

6. do you enjoy driving in general? I don’t drive.

7. do you like your name? if not, what would you change your name to? My mom wanted to name me Jedidiah, so this name is okay.

8. what’s your favorite cuisine? Chinese

9. how often do you get massages? Never

10. do you play video games? if so, what games? I bounce around between games a lot. Right now I’m playing Dying Light 2 and Dead By Daylight on PC and on Switch, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2, Animal Crossing

11. do you prefer to color with colored pencils, crayons, or markers? Colored Pencils

12. what other fandoms are you in? Doctor Who, Supernatural if that’s still a thing.

13. do you have a signature in your style/everyday outfits? T-Shirt and jeans when I go out T-Shirt and pajama pants when I’m home and it’s cold.

14. do you have any pets? if not, do you want some in the future? No pets. Maybe one day in the future but not with the current living situation.

15. do you give objects you own a name? (car, house, plants, etc) No

16. do you like the weather where you live? Not really. Feels too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. I hate snow.

17. if you could wear one color for the rest of your life, what would it be? Grey or black

18. do you like making small talk? Depends on who it’s with.

19. what’s your favorite social media platform? This hellhole

20. have you ever been to hawaii? No

21. name a fashion trend that you absolutely hate Can’t think of any

22. name a fashion trend that you absolutely love Can’t think of any

23. what was the last text you sent? Look at you go

24. when making plans, do you like to organize or go with the flow when the time comes? Organize

25. what do you want to name your future kids? Never thought about it

26. do you have a type? Yes

27. when was the last time you kissed someone? Eight years ago

28. how often do you cook? Never

29. do you think __x__ is overrated or underrated? Yes

30. do you always remember your dreams? Not usually

31. do you believe in ghosts? Yes. Please be nice.

32. would you ever want to move outside of your country? In theory, yes. In practice, probably not.

33. describe your first love We were long distance and it was on and off for years. It was very bittersweet.

34. more peanut butter or more jelly? Peanut butter

35. do your irls know about your tumblr account? A few do, but no one uses it anymore.

36. do you prefer hot or cold beverages? I like room temperature

37. when was the last time you finished a book? Phew, years.

38. what would you want your wedding colors to be? White? I’m not sure.

39. how long do you let your nails grow? I don’t.

40. if you could stay at a certain age, what age would you pick? 28

41. who do you think has it easiest: older siblings or younger siblings? Younger

42. how often do you post on social media? If this site counts, multiple times a day. I don’t really post to other sites anymore.

43. do you enjoy big groups? Absolutely not.

44. do you like it when you’re awaken by the sounds of birds chirping? Yes

45. which hand is your favorite? Right

46. how many people do you follow? 492

47. how many followers do you have? 859

48. how many drafts do you have? 28. Some old asks from Irma. Rest in peace.

49. do you hang or fold your sweaters? Hang

50. even numbers or odd? Even

[p-artsypants]

Arcadia or Bust (17)

Heartstone Hall

Previously on Arcadia or Bust:

James Lake Sr. came back to Arcadia while Jim and friends were out retrieving the new Heartstone. The deadbeat not only ran away with a girl, but he’d been dealing cocaine in LA. Now he’s come back to lay low, since he owes a lot of money to some really dangerous men. He got a kilo of cocaine to try to make his profit back, only to not pick it up from the drop zone before Jim found it. Thinking it was trash, Jim ate the brick and went into an 8 hour rage, busting up the town. The US army of Area 49-B got a whiff of the destruction and came to collect Jim from the hospital. With a campaign from the town and an old friend of Walter’s, Jim is turned loose. However, he’s not out of the woods yet, as his amulet was ripped out of his chest and now he has a crater. 

—

*points in a random direction* Hey look! What’s that over there?! *Drops update* *runs*

Ao3 | FF.net

—

“It’s okay Jim, you’re going to be okay,” said Claire, as she hovered just over his face, and pressed little kisses to his cheek. “We’re going home.” 

“…For the…glory…” he muttered, before wincing and falling silent. 

“Are you taking us to the hospital?” Barbara asked as the van sped on, faster than any speed limit. 

“Nope,” said Samuel. “I think this is a Heartstone issue.” 

She nodded, knowing that would be the best. “He needs a tissue transplant, but his skin is so tough…I don’t even know what we could do for him. Get human skin and have Merlin transform it into half-troll? I hate that I don’t know what to do! I’m not a surgeon, damnit! And I’m certainly no magic expert!” 

“Stop at the McDonald’s near the edge of town,” said Toby. 

“Really? You want a Big Mac at a time like this?” 

“No! Merlin is probably there, and I bet he could fix Jim up.” 

“Wait, Merlin-Merlin? Like ‘Amulet of Merlin, Sword of Excalibur’ Merlin?” Asked Samuel.

“That’s the one!” 

Once they got into town, Samuel pulled in at the McDonalds as requested, and Toby was out the door before he stopped the car. 

“Merlin! Merlin help!” He cried, as he ran inside the restaurant. 

The employees behind the counter all looked at him, and then pointed at Merlin, who had set up shop in the corner of the store. He was surrounded by books, and other magical artifacts. 

How had management allowed this? Well actually, Merlin wouldn’t have listened to any authority, so they probably didn’t allow it. 

Toby ran to the wizard. “We got Jim back! He’s in the van, and he’s hurt really bad! We need you to heal him!” 

“What kind of injury?” Asked Merlin, calmly packing up his books. 

“They took his amulet, and there’s a huge hole in his chest! I could see his lungs!” 

Merlin screwed up his lips in thought. “Where are they taking him? To the Heartstone?”

“That’s what Samuel said!” 

Merlin didn’t ask who Samuel was, so he probably didn’t care. “I will be there shortly. I must gather the appropriate supplies. Keep him reclined and relaxed. And try not to prod the wound.” 

Toby nodded once and then ran back outside to the van. 

One of the McDonald employees calmly came over and refilled Merlin’s coffee, as he had asked to be done every hour. 

“Good lad. I’m leaving now. Here, for your trouble.” And he dropped a sizable emerald in the kid’s hand. 

The kid looked at it and shrugged. “Whatever.” It beat minimum wage at least.

—

At the canal, Claire opened up the portal to Trollmarket while Walter and Samuel started to get Jim out of the van. She ran in and called out, “Blinky! ARRRGH! Jim’s back! He’s hurt!” 

ARRRGH came running, while Blinky gathered all sorts of supplies and carried them down to the Heartstone. 

It was a mad dash then. Jim was quickly, but carefully, brought down into Heartstone Hall, and rested on his mattress on the floor. 

“…cold…” he whispered as he grasped and pulled at the blankets. 

Barbara pulled the comforter up to his stomach, and draped a smaller one over his right side. “I know you're cold, but you have a wound, and we can’t cover it yet.” 

“…water…” 

“I’m on it!” Cried Toby, running upstairs.

Jim groaned out in pain, and the Heartstone responded with a pulse of light. 

“Is that good?” Asked Claire. 

“The Heartstone is picking up on Jim’s pain, and is releasing magic to aid in his healing!” Said Blinky, with a smile. 

“Is that going to deplete the magic we put back into it?” 

“No no! Well, maybe…it shouldn’t!” 

Jim moaned out again, tensing his whole body, and craning his neck in an effort to find relief. 

“Just a little bit longer, sweetie,” said Barbara. “Merlin will be here soon.” She gnawed on her lip. “I could probably get an IV for him from the hospital. I have my phone, so call me if there’s any change!” 

“I’ll drive you, Dr. Lake,” said Samuel. 

“That’s alright, I’ll take the tunnel to my house and grab my car. That way, you don’t need to be held up here any longer. You’ve been a great help.” 

The general smiled. “It was worth it more than I thought. The Trollhunter owes me a favor now, you see. I probably won’t need to collect, but it’s always fun to have that in your back pocket. And besides, I got to see Trollmarket and the Heartstone with my own eyes.” He glanced at the orange stone. “That’s a privilege everyone in the Janus Order longed for.” Before he got too wistful, he turned to Walt. “You’ll let me know how this all turns out, right? Because I’m invested in Mr. Lake’s fate now.”

“I’ll text you updates.” 

“Fantastic.” He gave Jim a pat on the shoulder. “Hang in there, Trollhunter.”

“I’ll show you out,” said Barbara as they left together. 

Then it was just Blinky, ARRRGH, Claire, and Walt. Time ticked on in silence, as no one knew what to do or say. Only occasional groans from Jim broke the quiet atmosphere.

“What’s taking Merlin so long?” Said Claire, with irritation. 

“He’s coming?” Asked Blinky.

“We told him about what happened before we came down here. Said he had to collect ‘appropriate materials’.” 

“So he’s collecting materials,” said Walter. “It might take some time.” 

“Yeah, but he’s probably doing it at a leisurely pace. The man has no concept of time anymore. We need to get him a phone. Or at least a walkie-talkie.” 

Just then, a gallon bucket of ice and water bottles descended on a rope from the center column of the room. 

“Heads up! It’s kinda heavy!” Toby called before it hit the ground harshly. Then he nearly tumbled down the stairs himself. 

“I got a bunch because I know Jim doesn’t have running water down here yet, and I didn’t want us to run out!” He took a bottle from the bucket and put a silly straw in it so Jim could drink without having to sit up. “Sorry Jim, this is the only straw I have…it says ‘big boy’.” Toby tilted the end of the straw so it touched Jim’s lips. 

In his half conscious state, Jim felt it, took it in his mouth, and sucked, emptying half the bottle in one go. He released the straw and licked his lips. 

“Better, Jimbo?” 

“Uh huh…” Jim managed a little nod. 

“Okay. I’ll be on water duty. You just say the word, okay?” 

“…For…the glory of Merlin…” Jim tried again, before wincing hard. “Hurts to breathe…” 

Claire sat cross legged on the bed next to him, scratching his scalp lightly with her nails. “Just hang on for a little bit longer. Your mom is bringing some medicine from the hospital, and Merlin is going to fix you up.” 

His eyes flickered open ever so slightly. “Where am I?” 

“You’re in Heartstone Hall, in your bed.” 

His eyes closed again. “My amulet…gone.” 

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it right now. Just relax.” 

“Hurts…” 

“I know, babe, I know.” 

Walt stood, looking at his phone. “Barbara’s back. I’ll go help her.” And he left. 

Blinky snapped his fingers. “I think Vendal had a recipe for a burn salve up there. I can work on that. Come ARRRGH! It’s the least we can do!” 

“Yell if Jim need help,” ARRRGH added, as he followed Blinky up the stairs. 

“More water, Jimbo?” 

“Huh Uh…” 

After he drank, he winced, and a tear rolled from his eye. “I want my mom.” 

“She’s coming, Jim. She’s bringing some medicine for you.” 

“Where…am I?” 

Claire then realized that Jim was barely conscious, and wasn’t listening to much anyways. She’d end up repeating herself a lot. 

She pushed his bangs out of his face and kissed his forehead. “Shh, it’s okay. You’re nice and safe, babe.” 

Toby and Claire sat in silence as Jim continued to struggle to breathe. 

Thankfully, Barbara and Walt appeared not a minute later, with all sorts of goodies. 

“Alright kiddo, let’s get you all cleaned up. Claire, would you put on these gloves? I’d like you to clean the skin around his wound with these alcohol swabs while I set up the IV.” 

“On it Barb!” Claire got to work quickly, thankful to be able to do something to help. 

Walt set up the IV stand while Barbara prepared the needle and inserted it in Jim’s arm. 

“I hate that I have to use a thicker gauge needle, but your skin is so tough, kid.” 

Jim didn’t seem to even register what she was doing. 

Once the IV was in and taped in place, Barbara took out a thick gauze and started taping it in place on Jim’s chest. “The wound isn’t bleeding nearly as much as it should,” she stated, with a frown.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Asked Claire. 

“I’m thinking it’s because of the burns on him. They weren’t this bad at the hospital. He had been out in sunlight that day, but it was overcast and he had on long sleeves.” She taped down the gauze with medical masking tape. “No, this looks like...well, third degree on a human. Direct heat like flames or burning metal. I guess that would be a UV light for Jim.” 

“I’m going to hammer that lady into the ground,” Toby muttered.

“There, this should be good for now. I’ll bandage him again once Merlin cleans him up.” She rested a weak hand to her head. “Lord help me, I’m depending on Merlin.” 

Thankfully, news came by Claire’s phone, with an unknown number. 

“Hello?” 

“Claire? This is Douxie.” 

“Douxie! Please tell me you’re with Merlin!” 

“I am! Not that I can get his butt moving any faster. He briefed me on the situation, and I’ve been trying to rush him…but, you know how he is…” 

She could hear the old man shouting somewhere in the near distance. “Three days? Well he’ll be dead by then! No need for it by that time! You don’t have anything in stock?” 

Claire winced. “Where are you guys?” 

“At the hardware store, ummm you’re better off not knowing why for now. We’ll be at Trollmarket soon, I promise!” 

“Thank you. And thank you for calling. We were getting worried.” 

“How is he?” 

“Barely conscious. He’s on an IV with pain meds now…so he’ll be feeling a little better. He keeps trying to summon his amulet, but he doesn’t have the strength.” 

“Uh oh, he doesn’t have the amulet with him?” 

“No, the army wouldn’t give it back.” 

Douxie exhaled in a huff. “We’ll figure something out. Oh, Looks like Merlin found an alternative. We’ll be on our way soon!” 

“Great! See you!” And she ended the call. “Merlin should be coming soon!” 

“Thank goodness!” Barbara sighed. “Though it looks like Jim finally fell asleep. His pain is mostly managed…all we can do now is wait.” 

It felt like they were waiting hours. But there was not much else to do. 

Jim slept fitfully, occasionally opening his eyes to look around. It was clear he was exhausted, so he’d just close them again a moment later, and they heard his slow breathing. 

“This is torture,” said Claire. “But I can’t imagine what he’s been through.” 

“I hope that along with her discharge, that Kubritz lady does hard time in prison,” said Toby. 

“And I hope they do everything to her that she did to him,” Claire added, with venom. “If they don’t, I will.”

“I’ll back you up.” 

It was hard to share small talk, but just listening to Jim’s labored breathing and waiting felt like a terrible option. 

Finally, finally, Merlin’s horrible grating voice echoed through the Heartstone husk. “Hello? Is this where the injured Jim is?” 

“Yes!” Claire cried out. She was never so happy to hear that man’s voice. 

No really, most of the time, his appearance filled her with dread. 

Merlin and Douxie descended the stairs, arms full of plastic shopping bags. 

And it finally seemed like Merlin was done wasting time, as he spared no greetings and got busy examining Jim. He removed the blanket that covered his shoulder, and the temporary bandages Barbara applied. 

He cringed at the sight of the crater. “Yikes. That is quite the wound.” 

“Can you heal him?” Claire asked, afraid that he wasn’t up to the task. 

“Sure. No problem. Douxie, prepare the plaster.” 

“Plaster?” Barbara asked, with horror.

“Ugh, I know,” said the wizard. “Three days for expedited shipping for clay! Ridiculous! I thought the modern era was a time of immediate gratification! But no, the one time I need something quick, it’s a three day wait! Do they not know where the nearest clay deposits are?!” 

“Okay, but the plaster? What’s the deal with the plaster?!” 

“What else do you expect me to use to fill a wound in a troll?” 

“You’re going to pour plaster in his open wound?!” 

“Yes! And more!” He glanced over to the bucket Douxie was mixing in. “How’s it coming?” 

“Do you want it more watery, or thick?” 

“Thick without being too dry.” Then he turned back and leaned in close to Jim. “None of you are going to like what I’m about to do.” He pressed two fingers to Jim’s chest, and spoke, “imperium.” 

Jim’s eyes flashed open, wide, pupils expanded so the iris was just a hint of blue.

“Jim Lake Jr., summon your amulet,” Merlin commanded. 

Jim raised his hand up in the air slowly and spoke clearly, “for the glory of Merlin, daylight is mine to command.” 

Then Merlin let go, and Jim fell back into slumber, Claire having to catch his hand before it smacked him in the face. 

“What was that?” She asked. 

“I thought it was fairly obvious. A mind control spell. Very weak, only works on unconscious individuals within range.” 

“You know Mind Control?” Asked Toby, with some horror. 

“To a degree. As I said. It’s more like the power of suggestion. Morgana has learned how to fully possess someone’s mind, but I always preferred to use my natural charisma to persuade people.” 

Someone snorted. 

“The plaster is ready,” said Douxie. “Did you want to start with the strips?” 

“Yes,” he collected the tray Douxie had prepared. Mesh cloth strips sprayed with plaster, which created a base. Carefully, Merlin began to lay the strips in the hole in Jim’s chest, applying just enough pressure to adhere them and blend the edges. Once he had completely coated the inside, without filling the hole, he stopped.  

“There, now we’ll treat his burns. You said you had electricity down here?” 

“Uh, yeah. There’s an outlet on the wall next to you,” said Claire. 

“Perfect.” From his various bags, he took out a palm sander with a coarse paper on it. He plugged it in. “Now how do I work this thing?” 

“Why don’t you let me handle that while you use the file…” Douxie took the power tool away from him. “Claire, can you sit him up and lean against his back as a counter weight?”

“The file? I don’t want to use the file! I got this so you would use the file!”

“Merlin!” Barbara scolded. 

“Fine, I’ll use the file…better for fine detailing anyways.”

It was agonizing moments as Douxie buffed away the dried, burnt skin that came off like dust, while Merlin shucked off the chunks that were too thick for the sander. 

Jim, for the most part, only twitched and cried out on occasion, only when they got too close to fresh skin. 

Once he was rubbed raw and bright blue, a little bloody in some places, they stopped. 

“It’s like an extreme pumice stone,” Douxie tried to soothe, feeling guilty as Claire wiped her tears. “The skin affected by the sun, or UV lights or whatever, was solid stone and had to come  off.” 

“I know,” said Claire. “It was just…jarring.” 

“Alright, we’re almost done,” said Merlin, scrounging up some compassion. “You can recline him again, Fair Claire.” 

Gently, Claire laid him back down on the pillows. 

Merlin took the loose plaster and slopped a bit in the wound, trying to make up for the missing space. 

Then, from the stairs came a ‘plink, plunk, plink, plunk’ as the amulet rolled its way down and stopped at Merlin’s feet. “Got here faster than I anticipated. I’d love to see the damage it did on it’s way.” 

“I thought if someone stole the amulet, it wouldn’t come back?” Asked Toby. 

“Not unless it’s properly summoned. If it only chooses one Trollhunter, you think it would want to be anywhere else?” Merlin cleaned the amulet with a rag to a near mirror shine, before placing it back in its spot on Jim’s chest. 

“Can’t you just keep it out of him? What if something like this happens again?” 

“Then we’ll just have to buy more plaster,” shrugged Merlin. “Anyway, it’s better this way.” He smeared more plaster in the cracks and smoothed it with his hands, until the seam was perfectly even. 

“Now what?”

“The plaster should start to dry soon, and a chemical reaction will take place, putting off heat. Then I will start the incantation.”

“Why then?”

“Must everything I do be questioned?”

“Yes.” Said everyone, unanimously.

“Because I said so. That’s why.” He touched the plaster, careful not to jostle it, and waited for the heat to set in. “Alright, I suggest everyone stand back. You too, Claire, get behind me.” 

Claire scooted off the bed and stood back with Toby and Barbara, then they waited anxiously. 

“It’s going to look and sound painful, but a little bit of pain, and he’ll be all better.” Merlin’s hands glowed blue, interacting with the pulsing, ticking amulet. Instead of a one word spell, like he had been doing, Merlin muttered a fast string of words that sounded like nothing and everything at the same time. Lightning bolts skittered from his fingertips, and drew patterns on Jim’s flesh. 

Jim screamed and writhed as every bolt connected. They danced across the plaster, turning it to his hardened flesh as they moved. The hands on the amulet spun rapidly as the stone pulsed a violent blue. The wound from Morgana, lower on his chest, flickered orange like embers. The Heartstone glowed as well. 

Claire felt her hair stand on end and goosebumps rise to her skin. The magic in the room was deafening, blinding, and amazing.

Finally, Merlin halted, and only smoke remained. 

Jim breathed deep, quick breaths, like you would after a run. But it wasn’t labored or halted, like before. 

“Cl-Claire?” He asked, his voice stronger than it had been. 

She nearly tackled him. “Jim! Jim you’re alright!” 

He winced slightly as she collided with his raw skin, but hugged her anyway. “Where am I?” 

“You’re home!” 

“Home?” 

“It’s a long story. How do you feel?” 

“Tired, hungry…a little sore. I remember being in a lot of pain…” he looked down at his chest, touching the amulet in confusion. 

“Merlin just healed you,” she explained. “They hurt you pretty bad, huh?” 

He rolled his neck and stretched his shoulders. “No kidding.” 

“Well,” said Merlin, “my work here is done. I think I’m ready for a nap of my own.” 

“Thank you, Merlin,” Barbara said sincerely. “Thank you for saving my boy.” 

“Of course! You didn’t think I was going to leave my greatest warrior to die, did you? Oh, before I forget, I should probably give this back.” He handed a black wallet over to her. 

“Wait, whose is this?” 

“James’. I needed to pay for the sander somehow.” 

Barbara laughed. “Well, he’s not going to be happy about it, but glad to know he contributed to this too.” Then she muttered, “considering it’s all his fault in the first place.” 

By the end of the day, Jim was up. Not fully recovered, but enough to shuffle around. He was able to go to his mother’s house and take a shower, while Barbara changed the blood-stained, plaster dusted sheets. When he was all clean, he sat in the living room in his sweatpants, exhausted, and aching. 

“Blinky made you a salve, if you want me to put it on you,” Claire offered, holding up a little jar. 

“I’d love that.” 

She delicately rubbed it into his skin, like Aloe on a severe sunburn. Careful not to scratch him, but also wanting to make sure he was covered.

James walked past the room and halted. “Jim! You’re—you’re back!” 

Jim just glanced at the man. “And?”

“I just…um, look, I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?”

“I didn’t know…that you ate trash. I would have made the drop for the cocaine somewhere else. I didn’t think—that’s not something people usually have to worry about, you know?”

“Yeah. Usually.” Jim said, stone cold. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Why do you care?”

“B-because you’re my son?” 

Jim couldn’t stifle the eye roll. “So NOW you think I’m your son? Where was that mentality when you pointed a shotgun at me?”

“I was in a severe crack withdrawal when I did that.” 

“And you’re just magically better now?”

James sat in an armchair opposite him. “I’m not going to say yes, but I’m better. I’m trying to get out of your and Babs’ lives, because I brought so much hurt in the first place. But…seeing what I’m missing out on—“ 

“No!” Jim snarled, standing up. “You don’t get to be sentimental now. You don’t get to change your mind. You suck! That’s all you’ve done! Mom’s moved on, I have men that are more fatherly than you could ever be if you tried! So just—finish your business and get lost!” He tried to step towards the basement, but he crumbled, still far too physically weak to walk on his own. 

“I got you,” Claire whispered, wrapping an arm around his waist. “James,” she turned to look at him briefly. “I don’t know if you realized how crappy that thing you just said was. Don’t try to get Jim’s hopes up. He’s hurt, he’s upset, he’s vulnerable. So just stay away. If you truly want to be back in Jim’s life, don’t mention that you’re considering it. Back it up with action, or else you’ll just be disappointing us all when you go back. And as far as I know…your word is worthless.” She helped Jim walk slowly back to the basement, to the tunnel back to Trollmarket. 

“Trouble? I heard yelling,” said Draal.  

“No, no trouble. Thanks Draal,” Jim gave him a weak, affectionate punch. 

—

Many many miles away, a group of men watched the news, an old broadcast that one of them had snagged. 

“—The campaign worked perfectly! Now, hero to Arcadia, James Lake Jr. has been released from his wrongful imprisonment for his bizarre appearance, and returned home. Lake is hailed a local hero, as his acts of kindness and selflessness during a horrendous tornado in the area have become well known in the community as well as on social media. A parade in Lake’s honor is set for this weekend, as Lake has made a good progression in his recovery from captivity.”

“Okay, a kid was arrested because he looks weird. Not sure what the correlation is.” 

The leader of the pack smiled. “Oh, it’s such a subtle thing. We don’t care about the kid, or his deeds, or even the city of Arcadia really.” 

“Then…what?”

“Did you catch the boy’s name?”

“I…Lake? Like…”

“Jim Lake Jr. is what they said. Maybe a common name. But if there’s a Junior…perhaps there’s a Senior nearby.”

—

I have not seen Rise of the Titans (though I expect to watch it this weekend) but I heard it was…not good, story wise. So in this fic, I won’t be applying any of it. Probably. Unless something juicy catches my eye.

[hotchgan]

Winning a Battle, Losing the War: Chapter Two

Summery: The team rushes the decode Mr. Scratch’s message

A/N: @yourlocalheartbreaker helped me with this idea so thank you to her! Disclaimer: I don’t know what’s it like being in a mental hospital so this may not be accurate.

Taglist: @ellyhotchner @unionjackpillow @eleanorbloom

Warnings: drugs, mention of serial killers, mental hospital, attempted murder, mention of murder and death

Here is part one!

The team left the hospital and went to the Behavioural Analysis Unit building and went to the briefing room. Garcia just told us that Peter Lewis emailed her. Knowing the serial killer, he is probably offering some deal in exchange to telling us what drug he used on Aaron. We told Jessica we had to go and she said she should also go because staying there was no use. Jack is still pretty shaken up after seeing what happened to his father.

The team went into the briefing room and waited for Garcia to come with her laptop. She quickly came in and projected the screen on the wall. She opened up the email that Peter Lewis sent her.

I see you’ve figured out what happened to Agent Hotchner and who did it. Well this is going to be so much fun now that I’m offering you a deal. You have 72 hours to decode this message. Decode the message and I’ll give you the antidote to cure Agent Hotchner. And to make this more exciting, every day you fail to decode the message, I’ll kill an innocent citizen. Good luck. - Mr. Scratch

The team all looked at each other after reading the email. They didn’t have any choice. They have to help Hotch and in order to do that is to play along his game.

“Well, what’s the message we have to decode?” Emily asks.

“Uh right here”, Penelope says as she clicks on the PDF in the email. Inside the PDF is a message that writes ...

18424 )90”8; 49@$ (49753 619) 17@;58+9, 048:+3 28””8@: +97;56, =84*i;8@, 22172 7#@

“Reid, do you recognize this? Is it some code spies used back in the days or something?” Morgan asks Reid. Reid looks at the screen and frowns.

“No ... it’s just random numbers and symbols. I don’t think it has any significant meaning”, Reid replies.

“Well it has to, he said we have to decode it in seventy-two hours”, Emily says.

“Ok well what do you think the message will tell us, like would it be a riddle or a phrase?” Rossi asks Reid.

“I uh ... I don’t know. I’m trying to think all the possible things each symbol would mean but I just ...”, Reid replies.

“How about you just trace back the email. We’ll arrest Lewis and force him to tell us where the antidote is”, JJ says.

“I tried that at first but he had deleted his email address after sending us the email which means I can’t do that ... this is our only option”, Garcia replies to JJ. The team says silent for a moment.

“Well what do we know, Lewis somehow drugged Hotch so I think we should start there”, Morgan says to the team, immediately taking leadership since Hotch isn't around.

"What about the code?" JJ asks Morgan.

"Emily, Reid, and Rossi will stay here and figure out the code while the rest of us go figure out how Lewis drugged Hotch", Morgan replies. The team nods and starts working on their tasks.

Meanwhile, Aaron is still isolated in the room. Every once in a while, a nurse would ask if he needs to go to the bathroom or is hungry which Aaron would shake his head. He doesn't know who those people are or why he is here. All he knows is that he's supposed to kill anyone he sees or else something bad would happen to him.

But he can't do that since he's chained to the wall. He hopes the voice in his head will understand. But who was that little boy? And why did he call him dad? He tried to remember if he had met the kid somewhere but he doesn't remember him. But he does look familiar ... He looks like someone Aaron used to love.

“Aaron! Come!”

Aaron looks at Haley and smiles. He runs over to her.

“Look ...”, Haley says, pointing at the sunset. Aaron looks at the sun that is setting down.

“It’s so pretty”, Haley says. Aaron stares at her.

“Yeah ... it is”, Aaron says. Haley turns to face Aaron and smiles. They both share a kiss. At that time, the only thing that mattered is that they both love each other.

Haley ... Aaron thinks. He doesn’t know who she is but he knows he loved her. And that the little boy looked like her. Was that boy actually his son? Is that why he didn’t seem scared of him? Suddenly the door opens and Aaron flinches. A nurse walks in with a tray. And puts it down in front of him. Aaron backs away.

“I’m not going to hurt you”, the nurse says softly. She walks up to Aaron and takes the cage out of his face. Aaron doesn’t say anything and just stares at her.

“I’m guessing you’re hungry right now so I brought food”, the nurse says. Aaron looks at the tray. There is beans, a piece of bread, and some vegetables. Aaron stares at the food. The nurse gives him a water bottle.

“And here is some water. Don’t worry, it’s not bad as it looks”, the nurse says with a smile. Aaron shakes his handcuffs that is still cuffed to the wall. The nurse calls the security guard and he come to unlock it.

“Try to attack someone and we’ll strap you to the bed”, the guard grumbles. Aaron rubs his wrists and nods. The nurse and guard leaves and Aaron starts eating. It’s not bad but not good either. He wonders though, what is happening to the boy right now.

Morgan, JJ, and Garcia go into Hotch’s house where Jessica was staying. It was late at night and Jack was probably sleeping. Jessica opened the door and let them in. Jessica is still wearing a turtleneck to hide the bruises. They all go to the living room and sit down.

“Coffee?” Jessica offers. Morgan nods and JJ and Penelope ask for tea.

“So what brings you here?” Jessica asks.

“We were wondering how Peter Lewis drugged Hotch and was hoping you would tell us”, Morgan replies.

“Well I told you that we were eating ice cream and then suddenly he just ... snapped”, Jessica says.

“You said that he came into the house for maintenance”, JJ asks. Jessica nods.

“Do you know if he went to the kitchen?” JJ asks.

“Yeah he went to the living room and then into the kitchen”, Jessica replies.

“Can you show us?” Penelope asks. Jessica nods and shows them the kitchen. She told them how he went through the cabinets and the washing machine.

“Did he went through this?” Morgan asks showing Jessica the drawer.

“Yeah, why?” Jessica asks. Morgan opens the drawer to show all the spoons, forks, and knives in there. Jessica gasps in realization.

“JJ, put all of these in separate bags so we can go test them”, Morgan asks. JJ nods and starts doing as he’s told.

“I-I didn’t see him. I just left a for a second- I swear and-“, Jessica starts rambling again.

“Jess, this wasn’t your fault. It was his, ok?” Morgan says to Jessica. She nods wiping a tear from her eye. It took a while to get the utensils into separate bags but they did and sent them to the lab. They then go into the briefing room where Rossi, Emily, and Reid is staying at.

“We think Lewis infected the spoon Hotch used and it’s why he’s acting like that”, Morgan says to the team.

“Well we noticed that these symbols were only used in the twenty-first century as codes. Some serial killers used them to send to police stations and news reporters”, Emily says.

“Yeah and we’re trying to see if we can use those messages to decode this message”, Rossi adds.

“Ok, I’ll go check up on Hotch”, Morgan says. The team nods and continues working on the message Peter Lewis sent them. Morgan leaves the building and drives to the hospital Aaron is staying at. Twenty minutes later, Morgan is following a nurse to Aaron’s room.

“He seems to be in a calm state right now”, the nurse says. Morgan nods and was about to go in when the nurse stopped him.

“Wait! I know Hotch is some sort of nickname but stick to his first name. It seems to trigger him”, the nurse says. Morgan nods and goes into the room. Inside he sees Aaron who is sitting on his bed. He wasn’t handcuffed this time. Aaron immediately back away as he sees Morgan walking towards him.

“Aaron ... it’s just me”, Morgan says. But the voice in Aaron’s head says something different. Aaron suddenly jumps up and attack Morgan. Morgan freezes in shock as Aaron starts punching him. Morgan kicks Aaron off him and holds his wrists so he won’t hurt him.

“Aaron! It’s me, Morgan. Remember?” Morgan says again but Aaron doesn’t seem to hear him. Aaron kicks him in the stomach and Morgan releases his grip. The nurses and security guards quickly come in. The guard handcuffs Aaron to his bed and the nurses pull Morgan away.

“Are you alright?” The nurse asks Morgan.

“Yeah, just a few punches. But why did he act like that? You said he was in a calm state”, Morgan asks the nurse.

“We don’t know. We’re still figuring out what is triggering him”, the nurse says. Morgan nods as the nurse starts stitching him up. Suddenly his phone rings. Morgan tells the nurses to wait as he answers his phone. Emily was calling him.

“Yeah, Emily?” Morgan asks into the phone. Morgan then frowns.

“What do you mean there is a dead body?” Morgan asks. He then checks the time. It’s been twenty four hours. Morgan then remembers what Lewis said in the email. Everyday the team doesn’t decode the message, he kills someone.

[we-are-inevitable]

not moving on, not looking back // ch. 3

A/N: AHHH HES HERE !!! 

Tag List: @tarantulas4davey (let me know if you’d like to be added!)

Read on AO3!

***

He's about five minutes early, but that's fine, right? Yeah. David raises his fist and knocks on the door.

Just a few moments later, the door opens, and David grins. “Hi, Ka-- Oh, you're... not Katherine.”

The first day is actually a lot better than David thought it would be. His kids are all pretty chill about him being the new teacher, and they all cooperated well and let him know exactly where they were and what they needed to be doing. It was a nice change of pace from the class he used to teach back in New York, which was all so fast and strict, but this is much more subdued. David loves it already, but he’s thankful it’s over; it’s been a long day, and right now, he just wants to go home and relax for a few moments before he gets ready for dinner with the Kelly’s.

Once home, which he arrives at around 4:15, David changes into something a bit more casual- a pair of ripped skinny jeans, a white shirt, and a light blue flannel that he leaves unbuttoned. The sleeves are shorter on this one, just barely to his upper arm, but he still rolls the sleeves up to his shoulder. David sees no point in dressing up particularly ‘fancy’ for this dinner; he’s 26, and Katherine seems to be around his age as well, so it isn’t like he needs to impress any actual professional adults.

David waits until about 5:30 to leave his place. According to Google Maps, Katherine’s house is about a twenty minute walk away from his own, but that's fine with David. He walked everywhere in the city, and he’s looking forward to the stroll. On his way there, David takes in everything he can: the color of the trees changing, the crunchy leaves beneath his brown boots, the crisp autumn air. He can get used to this feeling. It feels… nice. It isn’t rushed.

Maybe Tarrytown isn’t such a bad place after all.

David tilts his head to the side as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, looking down at the address. He checks the number on the mailbox and nods to himself, rubbing his arm as he walks up the driveway. The house isn’t huge, but it’s two stories. It looks historical. Colonial. He takes a deep breath and checks his watch. He's about five minutes early, but that's fine, right? Yeah. David raises his fist and knocks on the door.

Just a few moments later, the door opens, and David grins. “Hi, Ka-- Oh, you're... not Katherine.”

No, no. The man standing in front of him is most definitely not Katherine, but David isn’t exactly upset at the mixup. This guy is hot. He has a square jaw, tan skin, dark brown eyes, and perfectly messy hair- which is wavy and kind of long, coming just a few inches above his shoulders. He's a few inches shorter than David, too, but he seems pretty strong, especially since the shirt he's wearing- some college t-shirt- is perfectly tight in all the right places and, wow, David has never felt more homosexual. Someone call 911. Cause of death: hot guy.

The man standing in front of David raises a brow, then glances him over. “Nah, I ain’t Katherine. Who're you?”

Oh, fuck, his voice is deep. David isn't going to make it through dinner. “Uh-- Heh, David Jacobs, I work with Katherine… She, um, invited me. To dinner. Unless I have the wrong place--”

“David!” Katherine calls out, and he sees her rush out of the kitchen. She looks different outside of school- her hair is tied low, her bangs are swept to the side and held by a few pins, and she’s wearing a pair of mom jeans and a simple white turtleneck. She looks almost unrecognizable outside of her professional clothes. “Gosh, I’m so glad you’re here! This is my husband, Jack. Jack, this is David Jacobs. He just moved into town. Took Mrs. Ingram’s job, remember?”

“Mrs. Ingram got fired?” Jack asks under his breath with a confused expression, before shaking his head and turning his attention back to David. “Come on in, man.”

David nods slowly, taking a step into the house. It’s cute- there’s a fireplace, a big leather couch, and a nice little coffee table. A shelf lines the wall in the back of the room, with books and little knickknacks, as well as a few plants here and there. The living room was spacious, connected to a staircase that led upstairs. Everything is lit up inside, and it feels… bright. It feels homey. “You’re both really good at interior design,” David comments idly, but doesn’t miss the weird look that Jack shoots Katherine.

“Thank you! I got a lot of this stuff at TJ Maxx,” Katherine admits with a grin, before leaning up on her tiptoes to kiss Jack’s cheek. “You boys have fun, alright? I’m gonna go work on dinner.”

Just a few moments pass until Jack and David are alone. Jack looks at David with a curious expression, before gesturing for David to follow him. He walks to the living room and plops down on the couch, turning the volume on the TV down. “You’re the gay one, right?”

David sputters for a moment as he sits down, before nodding. “Yeah? Listen, if you have a problem with-”

“No, hey, it’s cool! I was just wondering. Calm down, man,” Jack shoots him a kind smile. “Want a beer?”

“No, thank you.”

“Suit yourself,” Jack says with a grin, then leans forward, grabbing his can of Bud Light and taking a sip. His eyes are on the TV, and as soon as the commercials turn off, Jack turns the volume back up. It isn’t very loud- probably because David is there- but Jack seems entranced by what was on the screen.

David turns to face it, and has to hold in a sigh as he sees a football game being played. Of course. David doesn’t know what else he was expecting. Slowly, he pulls his phone out of his back pocket, scrolling through his Twitter timeline for a few minutes before hearing a chuckle from beside him. “What, is football boring to you or somethin’?”

“Huh?” David glances over at Jack, who seems to be studying him. “Oh-- Sorry, no, I just don’t get how it’s played,” David admits, hurriedly shoving his phone back into his pocket.

“What do you mean, you don’t get how it’s played?” Jack asks with a bewildered look, then scoffs. “I mean, just because you’re gay doesn’t mean you can’t watch football. You’re still a dude, right?”

David shoots Jack a look. “Are you serious right now?”

“Right, sorry. I- I didn’t mean- I’m sorry. That won’t happen again,” Jack cringes, before leaning forward. “I just… Who ever said football is for beer-guzzling troglodytes in trailer parks? We scholars, you and I, can enjoy this on a whole other level!”

“Scholars?” David asks with a tilt of his head.

Jack makes a noncommittal gesture, but Katherine chimes in from the kitchen. “He’s a history professor down at Mercy!” She brags cheerfully, which causes Jack to shake his head. 

“That- That isn’t important right now. What’s important is that you know football basics when you leave my house tonight,” Jack says with a smirk, moving closer. He wraps his arm around David’s shoulder- clearly, he isn't averse to physical contact- then points toward the screen. “Look, first you got your two teams. Yeah? There’s a coin toss to begin the game. Both teams really wanna win tonight, it’s a big game, so this is gonna be intense. The coach assigns a starter and, boom, the game starts with kickoff. And…" Jack pauses, watching the action on the screen, before letting out a subdued cheer with a raised fist. "We’re four downs to the ten-yard line! Ya follow?”

“Uh…”  David really wants to speak, but Jack’s arm is still around him like that and, wow, it’s kind of hard to think. This was just a silly little attraction to Katherine’s hot husband, though, nothing worse than that. 

The rest of the first quarter goes just like that. Jack explains everything he can to David about the inner workings of the game. He’s so goddamn passionate about it, and David really has to concentrate in order to even hear what he’s saying. He’s talking, he’s saying all of this information that he knew by heart, but all David can focus on is his voice.

“Davey, dude, you’re missing the game!”

David blinks and comes back to reality for a moment. He nods and looks back at the screen, a soft blush rising to his cheeks. “Right. Okay. Focus on the fine men.”

“The offensive linemen?”

“Have you seen number 49? I said what I said.”

“Right,” Jack says with a chuckle, shaking his head. “Whatever. Choose your valentine, but let me have my game in peace.”

“Why else do people watch this stuff?” David asks with a soft laugh, smiling at Jack, and Jack smiles back and wow, David’s heart stops for a second. “When’s the intermission?”

“Inter-- What, you need a glass of wine?” Jack teases and gently nudges David’s shoulder. “God, ya kill me, Dave,” Jack murmurs, turning to face him. Their eyes lock for one, two, three seconds, before Jack tears his gaze away and focuses on the screen. “Glad you’re at least enjoyin’ yourself.”

“Me too,” David admits softly, turning back to face the TV. An awkward silence falls over them, until David slowly speaks up. “It isn’t as boring as I thought it was.”

“Huh?” Jack glances over at him, then chuckles. “Aww, you like football now?”

“I wouldn’t say that,” David clarifies, “but it was entertaining. Better than what I watched in high school, at least. I was in the marching band. Drumline.”

Jack shoots him a toothy grin, and looks as though he was about to speak until Katherine’s voice sounds from the kitchen. “Jack, David, dinner’s ready!”

[plounce]

do u have any reccomendations for how to read only comics involving rictor and shatterstar?? i used to be into marvel comics so i am immune to the usual comic shenanigans but i would like to learn more about these boys

here is a guide to reading xmen comics for rictor and shatterstar, my favorite canon comics couple! they were the first on-panel gay kiss in a marvel comic! they’re very special to me!

OKAY SO... ok. for anyone else using this, here’s a standard disclaimer that obviously there’s gonna be a lot in these that just absolutely sucks because 1. the 90s, 2. comics are an extremely cishet white male dominated industry. i do not vouch for everything written in these comics, but i think the gaycoding that eventually gets canonized is worth wading through a lot of stupid bullshit and very ugly art.

quick backstory on these two: rictor is a mexican teenager who was kidnapped by an anti-mutant terrorist group and was rescued by x-factor (the original 5). he hung around their auxiliary teen group the x-terminators for most of x-factor, being a delightful little punk (wearing a sleeveless leather vest a lot of the time!) and hanging out with boom-boom (who i love) and then got put into the new mutants for a very short time (where he had a thing with rahne/wolfsbane), before it was dissolved and transformed into x-force when rob liefeld took over the title. rictor hates team leader 90sdude cable because he thinks cable killed his dad in front of him. he tends to be the snarky asshole on the team.

the first part of this article has a lot of little rictor moments i’m not covering here. if you want the full rictor experience, check out x-factor (1986) and !x-terminators! x-factor starts very slowly but it picks up and improves when the simonsons take the helm.

rictor left the team. shatterstar was introduced by liefeld - he’s an Emotionless Warrior Guy Who Loves To Fight from mojoworld (a planet run by a despot who produces tv. it’s Commentary), where he was forced to be a gladiator from birth and doesn’t know a lot of earth customs and doesn’t have emotions (or rather, he represses them). 

x-force (1991) feel free to read through all of it, but in case you just want to skip to these two, all of these issues have one or two good little Moments - just do some skimming. i tend to focus more on rictor than star in this era because star is made more interesting than Emotionless Warrior Guy by butting up against rictor:

13-16 (rictor rejoins his old new mutants friends)

19, 21-26 (the first phase of their relationship where they don’t really get along. in one of these issues rictor stares at star’s ass. big moment of star being autism-coded in here too)

29-30 (rictor drives shatterstar around and they seem to get along better, you get to learn a bit about star’s past, adam-x the x-treme is there)

32-33 (just some little moments of them hanging out, a couple good rictor lines)

34 (VERY IMPORTANT - rictor backstory issue! AND this has the first big Subtext moment: shatterstar reveals he learned spanish from tv so he and rictor can have “conversations of a highly -- personal nature” HELLO?)

35 (some little moments where you can see star and rictor are now Friends and star is affected by that friendship)

39-40 (more good friendship - rictor asks if star has been watching dating shows and they just seem close. rictor also has gotten a haircut! we learn shatterstar’s mojoworld designation! they ride some motorcycles!)

43 (VERY IMPORTANT - the two go to a club. rictor tells star he’s a virgin then asks him if he has a dick. i am not kidding this literally happens. star learns what sexual attraction feels like and says ‘i don’t know what emotions im supposed to attach to that’, and rictor tells him he’ll help him learn.)

44 (VERY IMPORTANT - rictor leaves the team because he doesn’t want to have the team communicate telepathically (VERY interesting for a character who is eventually revealed to have been a closeted gay man). shatterstar begs him not to leave - “you’re my best and only friend.” rictor tells him that if he ever needs him, he’ll come back.)

cable (1993) #22 (follows up directly on rictor leaving the team - star accompanies rictor to the airport and has a lot of Feelings and has great hair. “julio. one last time. please, change your mind. what am i going to do without you?” oh so you’re dependent on your best friend who you’re in love with? oh?)

45, 47-48 (star’s weird biology, star brings up rictor as his emotional touchstone in a situation where he isn’t relevant at all. also, a plotline where tabby gets treated terribly by her friends and the narrative!)

49 (VERY IMPORTANT - star wanders around at night wondering why rictor hasn’t contacted him yet. he goes to the club he and rictor went to in #43 and turns down a girl who hits on him. he thinks “i miss julio...” (in an earlier issue, rictor tells cable not to call him by his first name - “only my mom calls me that”), then beats up some homophobes in an alley. I AM NOT KIDDING.)

51-52 (51 has more weird star biology. 52 has two pages of star and james talking that is a nice look at star’s developing emotional state - the rest of 52 is a fight with one of marvel’s extremely fatphobic villains, just a warning to skip the rest of it. although the letter page of 52 has someone go HEY ARE RICTOR AND SHATTERSTAR IN LOVE? thank you roeland looman from the netherlands)

54-56 (the start of shatterstar’s weird bad benjamin russell backstory that is quickly forgotten, disregarded, and uncared about by everybody. BUT in 54, there is some extremely loud subtext where star’s feelings for rictor are explicitly compared to a het romance subplot!)

58 (star is very chill and flamboyant for like two pages, it’s great)

59-61 (VERY IMPORTANT - rictor returns because star Needs him in the midst of his identity crisis!! it’s so joyful and sweet for them both, and the subtext is so LOUD here - there’s just. so much going on, i won’t describe it all, but it’s very good content and their emotionally intimate relationship is very apparent - really excellent gaycoding. the weird shatterstar backstory wraps up circuitously and to no great effect, but the art in the last issue is very nice, and rictor’s plain and uncomplicated concern for star is great.)

63-65 (some little moments - shatterstar and rictor time travel and beat up some nazis, star has a lovely conversation with siryn,)

x-force/cable ‘97 (the team goes to asgard! the important thing is that star says some goofy “ah... warriors...” things, and then rictor teases star for liking delivery pizza. it’s very charming)

67 (they hang out with tabby in a van. shatterstar has pigtails!)

70 (VERY IMPORTANT - rictor and shatterstar exit the team together to go take down rictor’s crime family in mexico! they seem very devoted to each other. shatterstar’s hair is all the way down!)

post leaving x-force:

76 (VERY IMPORTANT - ricstar return for one issue - rictor gets held captive to force shatterstar to fight domino!)

x-force annual 1999 (VERY IMPORTANT - ricstar get their own story about what they’re doing in mexico! shatterstar has an ugly little goatee, but rictor looks great! they choose to share a room rather than sleep separately and then it kind of feels like they shared a bed! rictor has learned star’s alien language! they genuinely just seem so close and comfortable with each other, it’s incredible.) (if you’re using RTO, it’s within the rest of xforce’s issues)

they’re both in comics limbo for the first half of the 00s besides a couple random flavorless appearances. shatterstar at some point goes back to mojoworld to help with the war against mojo. then we hit peter david’s x-factor run in 2006, known as x-factor investigations (xfi). this directly follows the “house of m” event - what matters is that the vast majority of mutants have been depowered by the scarlet witch. rictor is one of them.

rictor is a main character of the team from the first issue (the series opens with him about to attempt suicide), so if you wanna read the run you can start from the beginning. x-factor is... well, there are worse-written comics. it’s an okay read, but i find PAD’s writing insufferable a lot of the time (he writes multiple man as a pretty blatant self insert, and literally every girl on the team wants to fuck him at some point or another). i read the whole thing and it’s decent comics, but you might want to skip to the ricstar.

PAD canonizes ricstar, which is great! but unfortunately: 1. he writes star as  “slutty bisexual just can’t stop wanting to fuck people besides his partner who is uncomfortable with that!”, which is biphobic and sucks hugely, especially since it feels so different from xforce original shatterstar (see this post). rictor also just seems so annoyed with him all the time, which also sucks - they’re best friends!! let rictor like his boyfriend!!

anyway. if you choose not to read all of xfi, here are the ricstar highlights:

first issue of xfi for rictor's horrible mental state after m-day

14 (jamie implies that star would be jealous of rictor hanging out with quicksilver)

43, 45, 49 (star reappears!! he’s mindcontrolled, but it gets fixed, and he and rictor have the first ever on panel gay kiss at marvel!! yaaaay!! then they talk about their relationship a little)

after issue #50 it changes the numbering, so if you’re using RCO youll have to go to xfactor (1986) #200 to continue

200 (SHATTERSTAR FIGHTS THE THING!)

continue to read between here for star apparently being unable to stop kissing people. sigh. star sleeps with adult layla, which... sigh. whatever

207-208 (rictor and shatterstar semi-resolve the stupid biphobic plotline, resolve to work on their relationship, rahne discovers them (she and rictor had been sleeping together earlier in xfi), rahne is pregnant and homophobic, rahne and star fight, star is a delightful bitch)

209 (shatterstar on a pirate ship. that's it)

210 (rictor confirms that he is gay and it wasn’t legit when he’s been with women. there’s a moment where it's like "oh star makes rictor laugh" which is epic)

211-212 (star is said to be frustrated about rictor and rahne, rahne’s baby’s actual dad is revealed)

213 (rictor and rahne mostly resolve their shit)

216 (star and monet hang out, star thinks monet tells him to pee on rictor, spiderman is there)

217 (there’s a joke about the longstanding theory that longshot and star are related, monet is revealed as muslim in a very dumb way)

220 (star and rahne have a pretty nice conversation about their relationships to rictor and rahne’s faith. rictor does an offscreen internalized homophobia)

221 (star and rahne continue to hang out but it’s not as good as the previous issue.)

222 (oh my god, rictor cares about shatterstar being hurt! rahne owns up to how she kind of treated rictor like shit!)

pop over to avengers: the children’s crusade (a young avengers miniseries with good ol’ billy/teddy and i like it! but if you don’t want to read the whole thing - rictor and shatterstar appear in #6, and rictor is the first mutant to be repowered! they’re more tender with each other over their five page appearance than they are in xfi, so it’s a balm)

225-226 (PAD decides the first thing rictor does with his powers is be a scab [DEEP SIGH], rictor and shatterstar discuss rictor getting his powers back, the biphobic plotline is resolved again kind of in a very PAD-y way)

235-236 (shatterstar gets to be the main character of a mini arc. fights a mojo guy)

238 (ricstar go with rahne to help her find her son)

242 (they find her son. not as important imo)

248 (oh my god... they joke together :) they like being around each other :) also shatterstar goodboy moment. then in 249 rictor’s life is spared bc of shatterstar’s goodboy moment)

259 (SHATTERSTAR’S CRAZY CONVOLUTED BACKSTORY THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS TO HIS CHARACTER! YAHOO! and star has a cute little bob)

after xfi wraps up, there’s a couple years of limbo before they appear in secret warriors (2017) #2-3 (end of #2 and most of #3), which is a big crossover event or something. i don’t know, it’s an inhumans comic, and as an xmen person i am contractually obligated to roll my eyes at the inhumans. ricstar both have mustaches, star doesn’t speak, and rictor has the ugliest costume ever (green tracksuit with no socks??) (tabby also has a terrible costume). it’s just more inhumans trying to be a match to the xmen and utterly failing to not look & act like total jackasses (except, of course, for kamala and moon girl). rictor’s jokes that daisy johnson should get more original powers (she also has seismic powers - rictor predates her!), and then daisy blows up the xmen’s jet. while it’s in the air. this is a very neat summary of most mutant-inhuman relations.

now we enter the current era of “on again off again” relationship limbo.

rictor appears next in iceman (2017). in #9 he states that he and star have apparently broken up offscreen! and then he hits on bobby! sina grace is a cool person but this writing decision is so... aghhh. the next issue he and bobby go out on a date and he’s immediately like “yeah i only have my eyes on star”, so it seems to be more “it’s complicated” than “we’re broken up for good.” he sticks around to help out with a mission in #10-11.

they’re on again in new mutants: dead souls, where rictor is a part of the team and he’s hilarious and has so many great lines! shatterstar also makes a couple cameos throughout and they’re all super sweet! they seem very domestic and comfortable and happy, i love their dynamic in this. my favorite shatterstar panel ever is in #6, where he is making rictor pancakes and is only wearing an apron. please ignore all the big plot things that happen at the end of this, especially everything with karma. they are stupid, dumb, and do not matter.

related to nm:ds, rictor appears in multiple man #1 as part of that team and looks very very cute. and he isn’t whitewashed like in nm:ds!

off again in the shatterstar (2018) miniseries. i have a lot of mixed feelings about this because i LOVE all the rictor stuff, the first issue codes shatterstar as autistic in a very characterful way, it doesn’t whitewash rictor for once, and the covers are GORGEOUS! but it also attempts to retcon a ton of star’s emotional backstory AND arc set out in xforce, casting a black woman as his emotionally manipulative ex. also star is a landlord (ew). my advice with this one is to treat all the flashbacks as not-really-canon since they suck.

star appears in extermination (2018) #3-4 and gets mind-controlled into trying to kill the time-displaced teen o5 (timetraveling baby cable is trying to put them back where they came from), and the art looks great and i feel really bad for him. rictor makes a follow-up cameo in uncanny x-men (2019) #9-10, where you can see that he’s at the school in order to visit shatterstar since he’s with cecelia reyes. he then goes to fight nate grey/x-man, where he gets sucked into the age of x-man pocket universe/event.

around half the xmen get trapped and brainwashed in that pocket universe where there is no love or family, merely friendship and comradery (it’s an attempt by nate grey to ‘fix’ the xmen by getting rid of all the soap opera stuff - it’s a bit meta wrt how xmen are the soap opera superheroes). there are a couple different titles for this event: rictor appears in age of x-man: x-tremists #4-5. people have mixed feelings about this title due to the gay characters (northstar and iceman) enforcing no-romance laws that very intentionally parallel anti-gay laws from real life, but rictor is just chilling and running an illegal romance movies theatre, and then he gets drunk and then starts a riot and he’s just delightful in this.

everyone outside of the pocket universe thinks everyone who disappeared was killed. shatterstar is part of the team in x-force (2019) (there are two 2019 x-forces: this is vol 5, written by ed brisson) who are trying to track down young cable (baby cable, or “bable”), who killed older cable, who formed good old 90s xforce. boom-boom is the best part of this entire run, hands down. the art is expressive and interesting but i Hate how they draw warpath (the one time he’s free from comic book limbo!). shatterstar is in full “i only like fighting please let me fight i am a difficult asshole” mode, and talks about grieving rictor in #7 and #10. this is never really resolved since age of x-man is thrown over for hoxpox (BIG status quo changes & current era of xmen comics), but aside from my little ricstar heart i can’t really mind.

rictor is currently appearing as part of the team in excalibur (2019), and has been very... cozy... with apocalypse. at the time of writing (halloween 2020), it’s very heavily ambiguous what exactly their relationship is besides “intense” and i still have no clue what to think about it. he and star have been stated by the writer to be exes, but i also know tini howard is a ricstar fan so im holding out for good things! and it’s cool that rictor is getting a ton of focus and a lot of powering up. i remember reading xfi #1 and being amazed at how rictor described how soul-deep his earth powers were and wanting more of that, and excalibur has that for him in spades. (i am still withholding a lot of judgment wrt rictor’s writing in excalibur until i see how things pan out)

after reading to excalibur #12, switch over to x-factor (2020). read the first three issues because i love northstar and prodigy and rachel. please ignore a couple cringe comments towards poor daken. shatterstar appears in #3, trapped on mojoworld, getting traumatized, and breaking my heart as i write this. that last data page... free my boy!!!!

after x-factor #3, read x of swords: creation. more rictor and apocalypse being Close. after that, read x-factor #4 for apocalypse being very Attached to rictor, and then rictor looking very good and freshly resurrected. then continue reading excalibur. in may, x-factor is going back to mojoworld!!

that’s all there is so far! i think within the next year there will be even more content for us, and im very eager to get to that content. i will update this post as things come out.

[kinetic-elaboration]

100 Days of Writing: Day Sixty-Three

I decided to catch up on The 100 Days of Writing and then I... accidentally wrote a large number of words. In my defense, this is like 2 weeks’ worth of questions. Also I skipped the ones I didn’t have anything to say about so actually this could be worse.

(I’m not even kidding, this is really long. I talk about writing rituals, tools for plotting, my thoughts on opening with dialogue and why I don’t like it, my favorite topics, the weather, and what length of fic I like to write.)

I’m tagging, and apologizing to, @the-wip-project and fellow participants @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold, @thelittlefanpire, @hopskipaway, @easilydistractedbyfanfic, @dylanobrienisbatman, and @fontainebleau22.

*

Day 49: How do you get yourself in the mood to write? Do you have a ritual?

Every time I tell myself I’m going to get back into doing these questions, I see this one in my bookmarks and go nope! and turn around. It’s not a hard question; I’ve just been having trouble consistently getting into the mood to write, so I feel like any answer I try to give to it will be, in some sense, a lie. Like do I ever get “in the mood” to write? Really?? Also, I feel like I’m relying too much on ‘ritual,’ building up ‘the perfect writing situation’ in my head, which at the end of the day is less important than just saying ‘I’m going to do this now’ and then doing it.

I do have some things I always do when I sit down to a writing session. I write on my couch. Almost always (unless I’m on an event deadline where I just have to write in bits and pieces whenever possible), I write in sprints—I use write or die to keep me actually typing and not staring into space. I write in order, and I often write a whole scene at a time. So before I start I need to have at least a couple solid opening sentences in mind, plus some kind of idea about what happens/needs to happen in the scene. In order to get in the right headspace, I usually spend some time just thinking before I actually get to writing. I reread my outline or notes, and skim whatever I might have already written on the project. Sometimes I look at images that help me get in the right mood. Sometimes I just imagine or daydream for a bit. The difficulty, especially recently, is in making sure I do this just enough and not too much, because then I get too caught up in my head and I can no longer translate what I’m seeing into words.

In a broader sense, I also have a building up to writing ritual—again, I think this is part of my problem, that I don’t know how to balance this build up with actual writing. In the hours/days before writing something, I turn it over in my head a lot. I practice different versions of those critical opening sentences. I play it out like a fantasy just to see if there’s a possible flow, even if the final version is different. Basically, I try to turn it into something that just needs to be written, that just needs to get out. But again—this can lead to overthinking and frustration.

The best way I can describe writing for me is that, when it goes well, I find a rhythm, or enter into a zone, where I can describe the images in my head in a way that’s both accurate and pleasant to read. But entering that zone or finding that rhythm is like jumping into a game of jump rope. If you don’t do it right, you’re just going to trip over your feet and get tangled in the rope. But if you do it correctly, it’s fun and exhilarating and you can keep jumping for a long time. Sometimes it takes me some false starts to jump in. And recently I’ve been having days where I just can’t at all, where I tangle the rope up so much I can’t unknot it. Those are the days I just have the same sentences repeating over and over in my head, sounding wrong, and I can’t do anything about it. On the other hand, I write in much longer sprints than I did a couple years ago. I used to only write partial scenes, maybe a few hundred words. Now I can write whole scenes without stopping, and on a few occasions, I’ve written multiple scenes or even whole stories without stopping. So in other words, when it works,  it really works. But it doesn’t always, and there’s not a lot of in between.

*

Day 50 What fic/story made you?

Um… honestly I’ve been writing, in general and fic specifically, for such a long time that I didn’t have a ‘maybe I can do this’ moment. I mean one problem I’ve never had is thinking I can’t do this. I had positive reinforcement for my school and academic writing, and for a long time my fictional stories were just for me, and I knew what I liked. Even just thinking about my fic writing… I’ve been posting fic online since 2006, and I’ve been in multiple fandoms. I don’t really have much connection to a lot of those early stories anymore. They feel like they were written by someone else, a little. I’ve also moved on from most of the fandoms I wrote for in my early fic days so I don’t feel like I can really judge them anymore.

That said… there is kinda an obvious answer for my Star Trek fic lol. I also have favorite stories, and stories that stick out even years after I wrote them, in all (or at least most) of the fandoms I’ve been in. But I’m not sure if that’s the same.

Also, I had two teachers who were really encouraging of me and who I still think about often. One was my seventh grade English teacher, who had us do a lot of writing exercises of various types, both large and small, including keeping writing journals we wrote in every day at the start of class. He once told my mom that I wrote well, not for a seventh grader, but in general, and to be honest I still think of that with some regularity and take a lot of pride and comfort in it. The other was my creative writing professor in college. I don’t think I did my best work for that class, but she was very encouraging and seemed to like what I did. At the end of the semester, as I was preparing my portfolio, she told me that if I didn’t want to do much editing, I didn’t have to, because my unedited work would stand on its own. Again, especially considering all the problems that I saw with my writing for that class even then, I really took that comment to heart. When I’m feeling very self-critical, I remind myself that even my raw scribblings have, perhaps, something to them, and it helps ease the excessive and unwarranted pressure I put on myself. These aren’t really stories about specific writing pieces that ‘made’ me but I do think they speak to that ‘maybe I can do this’ feeling.

*

Day 51: Do you use tools for plotting and what are they?

So, generally, no. Sometimes I’ll look at various writing/plotting/organizational tools as a method of distraction, but my actual process is very simple. I use plain old notebooks and pens, and word documents on my computer, to plan all my fics, from the one-shots to the multi-chapters. I start by writing down general thoughts and brainstorming, then I build a scene list and/or outline, and then, if necessary, I separate the scenes lists into chapters. Sometimes I break down the scenes even more, if I have additional ideas I don’t wan to forget or if I know I need to hit certain points in a specific scene. The process varies a little bit from project to project, but that’s basically all I do.

I did use Evernote to plan the (still unwritten….) Ark AU. I don’t know if that was the best program choice or if something else exists that would have more precisely met my needs. But that’s what I used and that’s how it is. It’s a little annoying that every time I open it, it’s been updated, and the interface looks totally different and I have to relearn where everything is. But the tagging system has worked decently to allow me to see the big picture of this complex, multi-strand, multi-character, multi-ship disaster epic of a story. I struggled to plot it for a long time because I didn’t know how to balance all of the different parts. In Evernote, I made one ‘note’ for each character, and one for each scene (in addition to miscellaneous notes about sub plots, relationships, questions, etc.). Then I tagged each of them, including tagging the scenes by chapter. So now I can look at a list of all the characters, or all the scenes, or all of the scenes in chapter 8, or whatever, but I can also look at just one particular note at a time, and not be distracted by anything else. That said, I do also have one note that is just a total scene list for the whole fic, which is pretty reminiscent of my usual outlining process.

So… somehow this helped me plot (tentatively) the whole thing, but as I’ve written almost none of it—I finished outlining this in February 2020 so in my defense… I think you can see why it stalled—I’m not yet sure if it was a successful experiment in a ‘plotting tool.’

*

Day 60: How do you start your chapters? Do you start with dialogue? Why or why not?

While I am definitely against prescriptive “writing rues” generally, as my own personal rule, I try not to start with dialogue unless I have a very good reason.

To be quite honest, I think it’s lazy. I do think that dialogue openings can be used well, if the writer acknowledges that they are intensely stylistic and, from a reader’s perspective, quite difficult. Even within fanfiction, where a line of dialogue (especially if accompanied by a dialogue tag or swiftly followed by a reference to the speaker) gives a lot more information to the reader than in original fiction, opening with dialogue still shoves the reader directly into the deep end of the scene, with very little to orient her. WHERE is the speaker? WHO is being addressed in the dialogue? WHAT is the context of the conversation? Who ELSE might be present in the scene?

There are reasons you might want to throw the reader in the aforementioned deep-end. Maybe it’s an in media res situation and you want to emphasize the overwhelming nature of the action—starting a scene with “Get down!” for example. Or maybe the overall mood is one of disorientation or floating or uncertainty, and you want to create the same effect in the reader.

But I think if you’re starting a scene with dialogue because that’s the first thing that comes to mind for you—the person who conveniently already has the setting, character list, and even future plot already in mind—and it’s just simplest and easiest to start that way, you’re doing a disservice to the reader.

For example, I actually am planning to start the next chapter of the Sleeping Beauty AU with dialogue. My POV character is in a room with multiple other characters, and she’s examining something meaningful to her and not fully listening to the conversation around her. So I want the dialogue to float around in the background, to feel unmoored, and to stand in contrast to the very precise, detailed thoughts and memories that she’s experiencing, which are grounded in physical sensations like touch.

I haven’t quite gotten it to work yet, though, in part because opening with dialogue and doing it well is, in my opinion, quite hard. The difficulty lies in alleviating the challenges the reader is experiencing and making the text fluid and easy to picture. You need to get all of that scene-setting information—the who, what, when, where, and why—in very quickly, but without being jarring. In this scene in particular, I have multiple characters, all in a comparatively unusual location, and I need to establish where they are, who exactly is there, how they’ve come to meet my POV character (which happens ‘off screen’ between the end of Ch5 and the beginning of Ch6), all on top of the character’s thoughts and feelings.

I know all of this very well. To picture the scene in my own head takes only a moment. I just think about it and I see all seven of the characters, where they’re sitting, how they’re positioned, what their facial expressions are, and I also know roughly what each of them is thinking and feeling. To describe all of this in words would take several sentences. Do I put all those sentences on the front end? Do I weave them in among other description and dialogue? Is all of it even necessary—maybe we don’t need to know who’s sitting in what order on the couch, for example.

I’ve gone over a couple of different ways to do this in my head, and I’m sure it is possible, but I’m struggling to get it all down in a coherent way. (Admittedly, I’ve only made one solid attempt. As I was describing above, I’m probably going to jump in with several false starts, and then it will suddenly click.)

My initial attempt to set up the scene relied heavily on dialogue, but when I read it over, what sounded snappy and interesting in my head just fell completely flat—because it lacked context and thus, any meaning. I think the gulf between how dialogue openings feel to the writer and how they feel to the reader is large. To the writer, they feel easy and natural. To the reader, they can feel forced and, contrary to the writer’s intention, serve as an additional reminder that this is a constructed narrative rather than an immersive experience—the opposite of natural. In other words, as I said, they’re a highly stylized form of writing.

To illustrate, this was my first try at the Chapter 6 intro:

"I still can't believe it," a lightly awed voice says from somewhere behind Clarke. "The Princess of Alpha Station really used to live in our quarters.”

She pictures Miller, sunk into the couch cushions, slowly shaking his head, the expression on his face equal parts satisfied and amused.

"Really? That's what you think is the oddest part of all this?"

"Yeah, Bry, I do. Would you prefer I gloat? About being right this whole time? Who says she's just a legend now?"

My current idea is to still start with dialogue, but to move back into a significant amount of description pretty immediately afterward, and only then add more dialogue. Even this is a little hazy, since I haven’t thought much about this fic in a while. But I do think it’s quite clear this won’t work.

As for how I DO start chapters/scenes/stories… I like to start with a strong image that sets the scene and mood of the story, and hopefully leaves the reader wanting to know more. Here are some examples of story openings I’ve written recently, which I like a lot:

When Bellamy is angered, deafening bouts of thunder shake the heavens.

The cawing of the crows—high, sharp, angry shots of sound. The buzzing of the telephone wires.

Marcus Kane's body shows up again in June, skeletal and rotting, six months after his disappearance at the turn of the year.

The sky has turned a bruised yellow, like the inside of a plum, by the time Bellamy starts seeing the robots in the fields.

At noon on the third-to-last day before Christmas, Murphy leaves the cafe, with a single peppermint mocha and a small paper bag, and heads right, walking parallel to the ocean.

The last one doesn’t seem as interesting but consider: you get the who, what, when, and where, the mystery of the paper bag and where he might be going, and also the immediate understanding that this is probably going to be a Fluffy Beach Christmas story—which is correct, that’s exactly what it is.

I’m not saying that I’m always creative or unique. I often start stories off with descriptions of the weather. And I have committed the ~~cardinal sin~~ of starting with a character waking up, heaven forbid. I don’t have any hard and fast rules for myself other than that I try to avoid dialogue, or at least, be careful about its use (another example: I use dialogue to start off Mad Women—but it reads like narration, until it’s rudely interrupted, a sort of in-joke/reference/twist). I try to match the mood of the story and, as I said, include something that will create a question for the reader, some version of why, that the rest of the story will answer.

*

Day 61: Do you describe the weather? Try changing a scene you wrote by adding weather effects.

After writing a book for the last question, here’s an easy one! Yes, I describe the weather. A lot. Often. In detail.

(Though if we’re talking about the Sleeping Beauty AU as my “current wip,” I actually don’t do much weather describing there, because 4 of the 6 chapters take place in a location with no weather.)

 *

Day 62: What is your favorite thing to write about?

Honestly I like to write about people being dramatic about their emotions. That’s what I’ve discovered while writing my surprisingly self-indulgent Troped fic: I want to describe people acting as if Everything was the Most Ever. It’s fun. Part of this is getting into the usual romantic tropes—longing, pining, exaggerated touches and glances and the like—but why stop at romance when you also have stuff like The Weather and Random Feelings to contemplate?

I also like setting scenes that I find soothing, which is part of why I like Seasonal Stories.

 *

Day 63: Are you more of a drabble/flash or a longfic/novel kind of writer?

I’m in the middle. I mostly write one-shots, and I’ve noticed that a lot of them fall in the 4-6k range. Long one-shots can get all the way to 10-12k but I feel like most of those are, semi-objectively speaking, too long, and would probably have been stronger if they were pruned down to 6k, or, better yet, never made it past 6k in the first place.

I have written some multi-chapters, or, uh, started multi-chapters, but I’m VERY bad at it. The only thing that makes me slightly less bad is being stubborn. Hence the existence of a WIP that I’ve had going for over 10 years now and refuse to call abandoned. Hence this year’s extended angst about the Sleeping Beauty AU, which is only 6 chapters but has taken me literally years to write. I don’t honestly know if I’ve ever finished a multi-chapter WIP, like, properly speaking. I’ve done some short multi-chapters that I wrote as if they were one-shots and then split up for ease of reading or, I dunno, just because. I wrote a Big Bang once, but it’s not very good. Nor very long, if I remember correctly. Generally speaking I probably shouldn’t be allowed to write novels lol—I have a lot of them in my ‘I should write this one day’ idea list—but as it so happens, no one can stop me, so here we are. I definitely have wild fantasies of writing multi-chapters with ease but I’m just a very slow writer and my ideas can’t keep up with my actual-writing. Thus one shots are much easier than multi-chaps, and one-shots on a deadline are much easier than ‘I’ll finish this whenever’ one-shots. One-shots written for events or exchanges also tend to be shorter (and, imo, better) because of the deadlines they’re written on, and are thus more likely to hit that sweet 4-6k spot than stories where I’m allowed to ramble at will.

All that said, I ALSO write a good number of drabbles/writing exercises. I used to write them more often than I do now, but still over the last five years I’ve produced 110,000+ words in free-standing scenes so like… that’s also a thing I guess.

[ragingbookdragon]

Forging Paths Final Part

Batsis Story!

A/N: First and foremost, I apologize to the people who follow me because I just spammed the everliving fuck outta y’all and I’m so sorry. Secondly, here’s the last part! -Thorne <3

Set two years after Part 6.

(Y/N)'s body cried as she shoved open her window and dropped inside her apartment. She lay on the floor and groaned when the stinging sensation came back to her shoulder. I really need to get that sewed up. She thought as she began pulling herself off the floor. She hobbled into the bathroom, passing her nightstand and making a mental note to check her answering machine when she was finished. Layer by layer, she peeled off her uniform, which clung to her sweaty skin. Once her body hit the cold air, she moaned in relief. I love L.A., but I also hate L.A. Why the hell did I choose someplace that's 72˚, in the summer, at night? She shook her head and pulled out the first aid kit under her sink and began disinfecting the cut on her shoulder. Carefully, she stitched it back up and cleaned it once more before taking some aspirin and hopping in the shower. Wrapped in her bath towel, (Y/N) moved to her bedroom and walked to the dresser, pulling out some underclothes and a T-shirt. Slipping them on, she toweled her hair as she sat on the edge of her bed and hit the button to the answering machine. The machine spat out the usual: You have one new message, Friday 7:49 P.M. The voice that came out was one she was certainly not expecting.

"Hi (Y/N)? It's me, Selina Kyle. I...uh...Catwoman, if you don't remember." She snorted at Selina's awkward sounding message. "I was just calling to let you know about my engagement...to your father...Bruce." (Y/N)'s eyes went saucer wide and her jaw hit the floor. He's getting married? Big man that dresses in a Bat costume and hides all his emotions? Him? He's getting married? She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Selina's voice continued on the machine. "Look, I know, well actually I don't know, because I wasn't there, but that's not important. Anyway, I know you and your dad don't speak, at all, but I wanted you to know about us and I was hoping that maybe you would come? I know it's a stupid request, but when I tell you that everything you said to him weighs on his heart, I'm not lying. Your dad is weak, (Y/N). He is a weak man who misses his daughter and wants to make things right between you two, even if he's a damn fool who has no clue how to go about it. I know it's asking a lot, but I hope you'll come back for a while. If not, I understand. I wish you all the best in the world (Y/N). Goodbye." The message ended and (Y/N) sat on her bed in bewildered disbelief. There's absolutely no way he wants to see me, not after everything I said, after everything we said. She thought. But the more she thought about it, the more believable Selina's message sounded. She rose off her bed and began pacing around her room. Then, she stopped. Don't do it. She told herself. Don't do it, he doesn't want to see you. She brushed away her thoughts and groaned pulling a small suitcase from her closet and setting it on the bed. Reaching for her phone she dialed a number and waited, the person picking up after a few rings.

"Heyyy, Uncle Oliver. It's (Y/N)." (Y/N) looked at the answering machine once more and peered at it through narrowed eyes. "I'm gonna need a favor...."

If there was one thing she loved about summer in Gotham, it was the fact that it stayed in the mid 40's all night. The cool breeze felt nice on her skin as she drove around the city. Nothing had changed enough to be notice, but the drive was still nostalgic. Passing the high skyscrapers, she drove along the bridge that led to Wayne Enterprises. Parking her bike near the side, she pulled out her grappling gun and shot up to the top. Her hand gripped the top ledge and she pulled herself up and on it, reclining back and staring out into the city. Had you asked her two years ago what she thought of Gotham, you would have gotten the reply, "hell-hole." But looking at it now, she affectionately referred to it as a, "pretty hell-hole" (with a beautiful night-scene). She looked out into the night and watched the subways glide through the station, as night workers filed in to go home. She could see the clock-tower in the distance, a hideaway Barbara stayed in when she was too busy to get to the Batcave. No, she didn't truly hate the city anymore. It was bad memories that tainted it for her. She stayed silent for a few moments before speaking. "How'd you know I was in Gotham?" She glanced over her shoulder and watched as he walked forward. He stopped and sat beside her, removing the cowl before replying.

"I know everyone who comes in and out of my city." She rolled her eyes and huffed a laugh.

"Of course you do." His eyes crinkled just a little and he stared at her.

"Why are you back?" She raised an eyebrow at the question that sounded more like a suspicious accusation.

"Why are you so concerned about it?" He drew back slightly, tripping over his words.

"I...uh...I'm not...I'm not concerned about it. I just...hmm." She looked at him as he stumbled clumsily over his explanation, and her eyebrows drew together in humor. She reached over and nudged his shoulder.

"Relax. I'm just kidding." His mouth formed a small smile and he exhaled. "I heard from a certain Cat that she and a certain Bat were tying the knot." He looked at her, shock evident on his face. Well it's obvious she didn't tell him about her phone call to me. "She mentioned that she wanted me to come. And well, I think you and I need to have a heart-to-heart conversation that doesn't involve us screaming at one another." It was rare for (Y/N) to speak this way to Bruce, but if he really wanted to fix things, she was going to have to take the first step. She opened her mouth to speak when he rose.

"Wait right here for a moment. I'll be right back." He sauntered off, leaving (Y/N) confused.

"Uh, okay. Sure, I'll wait right here."

He returned shortly after with a bottle in one hand and two crystal glasses in another. Her face morphed into shock when she saw the bottle.

"Is that, The Macallan M Whiskey?" He nodded his head a smirk playing his lips, as he poured two glasses.

"Yes, yes it is." He handed her one of the glasses, taking the other himself.

"Dude, you know this shit sells for like 630 G's right? We could make a hella ton of money if we sold it." Bruce started laughing at that, and it shocked her. It had been so long since he'd laughed in front of her that she had forgotten he even could.

"(Y/N) you do remember that I'm a multi-billionaire, right?" Her face morphed into realization as she mumbled a quiet, 'oh yeah, I forgot about that.'

"So why are we drinking super expensive whiskey?" He placed his glass down beside him and he drew his hands together, glancing out into the city.

"When I was fifteen years old, I went exploring into the other parts of the manor I hadn't ever looked in. One of those parts being the cellar where we stored our liquor. I found a letter my father had written and stuck to the bottle." His face dropped and for a split second, (Y/N) thought her father looked so much older than he should have. He cleared his throat and continued. "The letter was addressed to me, telling me that I was to open this bottle when I hit a major accomplishment in my life." He looked at (Y/N) and the sincerity in his gaze made her chest tighten. "I should've opened it the day you were born. In fact, I should've opened it the day you left for L.A." She looked at her lap.

"Why?" He continued to stare at her.

"Because of the woman my daughter grew up to be." Tears blurred (Y/N)'s vision and she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Looking up at him, he wore a heart-wrenching smile, and his eyes were sad. "You were right about it all (Y/N). I never raised you like I should've. I put too much pressure on you setting the bar so high, thinking it would help, that instead of helping, it damaged you. I wasn't there for you like I should've been when you were younger, and if I could go back in time, I would spend every moment of free time I had, taking care of my beautiful baby-girl." (Y/N) brought her hands up to her face and covered it, as muffled sobs came out of her mouth. Taking a risk, Bruce reached out and put his arms around her, pulling her to his chest and placed a hand to the side of her head. His head rested on her shoulder and she felt her jacket begin to go damp. "You were right when you called me a poor excuse for a father. I am so sorry (Y/N), for everything. I'm so sorry I wasn't the father you deserved or needed. I'm sorry I made you resent everything you grew up with. I'm sorry that no matter how much I apologize, it won't ever be enough. Because no words or actions could ever fix what I've broken. I'm so...I'm so-.." His voice cut off as ragged sobs cut through his chest, but he just kept mumbling the words 'I'm so sorry'. (Y/N) wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face in his shoulder, feeling his arms tighten around her. When was the time dad hugged me? She thought. She couldn't remember, but it was sorely overdue. They stayed that way for a long while, a broken father holding his broken daughter, and cried.

After some time, they eventually pulled away and began wiping their faces. Everything was fine until, "Ugh gross! You snotted all over my shoulder!" (Y/N) took one look at her father pointing to his snot covered shoulder and broke into hysteric laughing; Bruce joining in, but still had a disgusted look on his face. (Y/N)'s stomach hurt she was laughing so hard, and tears rolled down her cheeks, and she let out an airy, 'I'm sorry'. Bruce just waved it off and kept laughing, tears rolling down his cheeks too. After their laughter died down, they wiped their eyes once more, and then picked up their glasses. Bruce opened his mouth to speak, but (Y/N) motioned for him to wait. He nodded at her. She sat up straight and faced him.

"Look, I know a bottle of whiskey and one boo-hoo fest isn't going to repair everything that's happened between us." Bruce looked down into his glass, until a hand gripped his own, causing him to look up at (Y/N), who wore peaceful expression. "But, I'm certainly willing to try." She reached out her glass and looked at him. "What do you say...Dad?" Bruce's eyes began to feel warm, and he reached up and wiped them before moving his glass to hers. He looked at her and clinked it.

"I think that's a fine idea...Daughter." They shared a smile and knocked back their glasses, staring out into city. It was peaceful for a moment before she leaned over and spoke.

"So, just out of curiosity, if I move back to Gotham, can I keep patrolling like I'm living back in L.A.?" She heard a strong grunt beside her.

"No."

"Meh. Thought I'd ask anyway." They both broke into laughter again, pouring each other another glass.

The summer nights in Gotham weren't exactly cold, just enough to wear a jacket for a little warmth. But as (Y/N) and Bruce sat on the ledge of Wayne Enterprises drinking whiskey and cracking jokes,

It was all the warmth they needed.

[tempesrature]

50 Wordless Ways to Say “I Love You” [END]

Pairing: Ride or Die | Colt x Ellie Summary: A highlight reel of the most important moments of their life. A/N: Highly suggest reading this in order (all even numbers for Colt). @lovehugsandcandy @dancingboba @choicesarehard

#49 Giving them a tight hug that makes them lose their breath.

Colt reminds himself to breathe, that oxygen is needed for the human body to function and live. 

But how can he?

When he looks down at the bundle cradled in his arms, all brain function is delegated to committing to memory the image of his son, Kai Kaneko. 

Colt has never had intrusive thoughts, always having a control on every aspect of his body and mind but when Ellie was holding his hand in a vice grip as she gave birth to their son—he was suddenly filled with thoughts he couldn’t control, ranging from the worst case scenario of her dying during childbirth to the terrible case scenario of her and his son both dying during childbirth, which sent his emotions and his head into a dark place he’d only ever experienced when he saw his father’s car go up in flames. 

But the first breath of air their son took followed by the strong wails (which he got from Colt) and annoying cries (which Colt knows he got from Ellie) he let out and Ellie’s happy sobs wiped his brain instantly. Relief so painful and instant it almost brought him to his knees. 

And now, as Ellie lays asleep on the bed exhausted and worn, his brain and his heart is filled with nothing but love.

“Hey…” 

Colt turns to Ellie with a big smile, her eyes blinking lazily as she looks up at the both of them. He sits next to her and pushes back the hair sticking to her forehead before he gently lays their son in her arms.

“You were great El,” Colt says, his heart expanding at the image in front of his wife cradling their son in her arms. “You also nearly tore my hand off.”

Ellie chuckles weakly, the little bundle fussing quietly in her arms. “You’re lucky it would’ve been only your hand.”

Colt grins, unbothered by her teasing threat of castrating him as he carefully lays down next to her. They let the comforting silence settle as the gentle coos of Kai fills the spaces between them. 

Colt never imagined—never really bothered to imagine—that an image like this would be a reality for him. That he would be a husband to a woman he adores and a father to a son he loves. Shit like that just doesn’t happen to guys like him. 

And yet it has and he’s desperate to keep it, to hold it tight in his hands and make sure it never slips away.

“My dad’s coming tomorrow,” Ellie comments, breaking through the silence as she gently rocks Kai in her arms. “Which means you’ll need to leave.”

Colt scoffs, a sliver of anger bubbling inside him. Turns out Detective Wheeler really wasn’t lying about his deal and his intentions. That all he wants is to reconnect with his daughter, which both baffled and relieved Colt. But ever since Ellie has met up with him once a week, she has become a lot happier and lighter so Colt has learned to put up with it (even though he still has someone tail Ellie during their meetings just in case something happens). 

“Fine,” Colt relents, reaching forward to lightly poke Kai’s chubby cheeks. “But I’m not leaving the hospital. As long as we don’t meet then the deal’s still valid.”

Ellie chuckles softly, glancing at him lovingly. “What rules are you willing to follow?”

Colt grins brilliantly. “You know I’ve never been good at that.”

Ellie hums in agreement, her eyes settling back on the sleeping Kai. Her heart flutters with something so heavy, it feels a little suffocating. The kind of feeling where she’ll do anything for her son. Which gives her a brief moment to reflect, a little guiltily too, that this must be what her dad felt towards her. If she looks back at herself and imagines Kai in her position—well, no wonder her father reacted the way he did.

“Ellie I...” Colt starts and Ellie looks up at him, her eyes suddenly shining with tears at the expression on his face. She reaches up and gently cups his cheek, smoothing her thumb over a stray tear that escaped his eyes. 

“The feeling’s amazing huh?” Ellie finishes for him and Colt lets out a choked laugh in agreement.

“I love you Ellie,” Colt starts, turning to her with misty eyes and a loving smile. “I love this kid too and I’ll do anything, everything, to keep you both safe and happy.”

“I know,” Ellie smiles brilliantly. 

“No, you don’t,” Colt lays his hand on top of her hand, gripping lightly. His gaze is sure, his heart is set and his face is at peace. 

“I’m leaving the crew, the shop, all of it.”

Ellie’s eyes widen suddenly, a wild panic thumping hard against her chest but Colt holds tight and signals with his eyes to listen—to understand.

“Not immediately, not until everything is safe for me to do so and after I make sure no one will even dare to come after us. I’ve also stashed away enough money for us to live off of for the rest of our lives,” Colt reassures, his brown eyes resolute. “It’ll take awhile but hey, it gives me the opportunity to stay home and help take care of Kai more.”

“Colt…” Ellie says, her eyes filling with tears as the weight of his decision finally dawns on her. That he’s willing to leave his crew, his shop, his legacy and walk away from all of it—for her and for their son. 

“Are you sure?” Ellie asks playfully, her chest seemingly expanding from a weight that seems to have suddenly been lifted. “I don’t want you to regret it in the future. I don’t want you to end up hating me.”

She tries to make it come out as a tease, as their usual banter, but the fear latches on to her words without her permission. Because she is scared that he’ll regret her—regret them—and that as the years go by, the fiery love that they possess between them fizzles out into nothing but hate and apathy. 

Colt smiles, picking up on the fear in her voice, as he grips her hand reassuringly. “I’ve told you Ellie. I never regret anything with you. Not then,” He looks at her pointedly, his eyes shining with mischief. “Not now,” His eyes flit down to Kai in her arms, his voice soft, before he raises her right hand and kisses the brilliant glint of gold on her finger. “And not in the future.”

Ellie lets out a choked laugh as she blinks back her tears. “You’re terrible, you know? Making a pregnant woman cry like this.”

“Oh no, you can’t use that on me El. You’re not pregnant anymore,” Colt pauses, a wicked smirk pulling on his lips as he looks at her suggestively. “Unless…?”

“You’re so annoying,” Ellie laughs, leaning her head on his shoulder as Colt immediately wraps her shoulders in a tight side-hug as his breath leaves him and he buries his face into her hair. 

“Colt?”

“Hmm?” 

“I love you,” Ellie says, her voice coming out shaky as she sniffs a little and her eyes flit back to their son in her arms. “Thank you for making this decision for me—for us.”

“Mm,” Colt acknowledges as he looks down at Kai, his head leaning against Ellie’s. “I’ll be a regular old boring dad now. Running a legit shop, beer with the guys, talking shit about sports. Looking forward to it El?”

Ellie chuckles, turning her head a little to kiss his cheek. “There’s nothing regular or boring about you Colt Kaneko,” Her eyes twinkle, her lips pulling into a teasing smile. “Old on the other hand…”

Colt grins, ready to retort with his own banter when Kai starts to fuss and cry loudly. Colt immediately takes him from Ellie’s arms as he stands up and bounces him around in his arms, his cries already starting to soften little in his father’s arms. 

“I’ll take care of him, you’ve done enough for today.”

Ellie smiles in gratitude and relief, the exhaustion pulling at the edges of her consciousness again as she settles back on to the bed. 

Her eyes start to flutter close but she tries to keep the image of Colt, cooing and bouncing Kai in his arms, in the forefront of her memories. So she can try to manipulate her dreams, in the hopes that the happiness, love and content she feels in this moment can be carried over into the depths of her soul and her consciousness will be filled with just Colt, the boy she has loved since her past and her present, and Kai, the child she will love until her future.

[kpoprp-multi]

the plot/au list

The following list of Genres shows you what kind of things I rp usually:

✔️= What I can do with you as an rp

❌= What I’m uncomfortable to rp as

➖= I would like to test it out on rare occasions

Credit: @thisisnoteuropeanstyle and the other writing prompt people I’ve copied and pasted from… thanks for that and the fact that it’s made publicly available for everyone to see, you’re the best!

(1)Al Invasion AU [❌]

(2)Al Human AU [ ➖ ]

(3)Alp/Beta/Omega AU [✔️]

(4)Andro AU [➖]

(5)Angel/Demon AU [✔️]

(6)Arranged Marriage AU [ ➖ ]

(7)Baby AU [ ❌ ]

(8)Bakery AU [✔️]

(9)Badboy(girl) meets Social awkward girl(boy) with a roasting problem AU[❌]

(10)Bookstore AU [✔️]

(11)Business AU [✔️]

(12)Coffee Shop AU [✔️]

(13)Crime AU [✔️]

(14)Darkside AU [✔️]

(15)Desert island AU [ ➖ ]

(16)Dystopian AU [✔️]

(17)Fairy Tail AU[✔️]

(18)Fantasy AU [✔️]

(19)Flower Shop AU [✔️]

(20)Genderswap AU [✔️]

(21)Hanahaki Disease AU [➖]

(22)Harem AU ��� Or Reverse Harem AU [❌]

(23)Haunted House AU [✔️]

(24)High School/College AU [hs ❌ /cl ✔️]

(25)Hogwarts AU [✔️]

(26)Hospital AU [➖]

(27)Hooker AU [➖]

(28)Hunger Games AU [ ➖ ]

(29) Hybrid AU[✔️]

(30)Ice Cream Shop AU [✔️]

(31)Law Enforcement/Military AU [❌]

(32)Mafia AU [✔️]

(33)Magic AU [✔️]

(34)Marriage Law AU [✔️]

(35)Master/Slave AU (Only if you’re over 18+) [➖]

(36)Merpeople AU/ Undersea AU[ ➖ ]

(37)Percy Jackson AU[✔️]

(38)The Red String/Soulmate AU [✔️]

(39)Anime AU [ ➖ ]

(40)Walking with my significant other and you but accidentally grabbed the wrong hand AU [✔️]

(41)Platonic living together AU[✔️]

(42)I hit you with my car and was the only one to visit you in the hospital AU[✔️]

(43)We met each other on a Sunday morning, both doing our walk of shame AU[✔️]

(44)My new dealer has friended me on Facebook and I’m unsure of how to react to that AU[✔️]

(45)A hopeless romantic and a horny beast are set up on a blind date AU[✔️]

(46)Painter/Writer au[✔️]

(47)Fake Dating AU[✔️]

(48)We hate each other but we both have a mutual friend so we have to put up with each other AU[✔️]

(49)Don’t tell anyone you saw me crying AU[✔️]

(50)You’ve been sleeping at mine because your house is being renovated and we aren’t even dating, yet every time you wake up to the baby crying and sigh, “I’ll go” I feel like we might as well be married for real AU[ ➖ ]

(51)We are the only two parents who agreed to attend the school trip (bonus: “So I guess we share this hotel room?”)[ ➖ ]

(52)Single parents AU[❌]

(53)We’re at a concert and I can’t see a thing let me sit on your shoulders, maybe? AU[❌]

(54)You’re afraid that you’ll lose me in big crowds so you always hold my hand but now you just hold my hand when there’s only, like, five people around and I’m getting very suspicious AU[✔️]

(55)So I know we haven’t talked in like, two years, and that things ended pretty badly between us but WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN you’re engaged to be married AU[✔️]

(56)Look, I know we agreed to be friends and everything but that’s what everyone says when they break up. I can’t take you asking me for advice on how to ask out the new person you’re interested in, okay? it’s killing me AU[✔️]

(57)It´s my [insert family relation here]´s wedding and seeing all these happy couples is killing me and all I can think about is how this was almost us AU[ ➖ ]

(58)My current partner is a huge asshole and I need a reason to break up with them so will you pretend to be my possessive and violent ex AU[ ➖ ]

(59)One Night Stand before the first of your new job and oops that was your new boss you were sleeping with AU[ ➖ ]

(60)Pen pals who vent at each other every week AU[❌]

(61)Oops friend looks like the only place to sleep in this house is this small, twin-sized bed, guess we’ll have to share AU[✔️]

(62)We sat next to each other during a really sad film and now we’re sharing tissues silently whilst we cry at the cinema AU[❌]

(63)We take a dance class together and our next routine calls for partnerwork, and we got put togeth-STop standing on my foot! AU[✔️]

(64)We’re literally the only two kids who ride this school bus maybe we should carpool or make out or something AU[✔️]

(65)Date auction for charity AU[❌]

(66)Strangers who end up on the kiss cam at a sporting event AU[❌]

(67)Bored single parents at a [Insert band] concert” AU[❌]

(68)Parents signed them up for the same shitty art program AU[❌]

(69)Look I’m glad you have a healthy sex life and all but will you please try not to pierce a whole through my ceiling with your bed, thanks. AU[✔️]

(70)My cat and your dog are totally in love, and I think it’s so cute until I realise that it’s your pet, because we kind of hate each other AU[✔️]

(71)Your mail keeps coming to my address which is really weird since they’re nothing alike, but it turns out our mutual friend who wants to set us up keeps switching the mail on purpose AU[✔️]

(72)I’m a waiter/waitress and you always sit in my section. I really like you and i thought you liked me back until you walked in here with a date, WHOOPS would you look at that I keep spilling stuff on them AU[✔️]

(73)That one asshole costumer that always comes in 5 minutes before the store is about to close AU[ ❌ ]

(74)We’re sitting next to each other on this plane and and I was eating gummies, but I left all the yellow and orange ones cause they’re absolute shit and now you’re asking if you can have them AU[✔️]

(75)My significant other just broke up with me and I impulse bought like 5 pizzas and a 3 floor cake. Can you help me eat them and make me feel less like shit? AU[✔️]

(76)We both got dragged to this concert for this shitty band by our significant others and we met in the crowd and spend the entire gig talking about better music and making fun of the shitty band AU[✔️]

(77)We’re both at this restaurant to meet blind dates, but we meet each other thinking that the other person is the blind date we were supposed to be meeting AU[✔️]

(78)You’re famous and I was hired by your management to date you for public appearances, but now I’m kinda into you cause you’re actually a really cool person, but you don’t give a shit about me AU[ ✔️ ]

(79)You’ve locked yourself outside of your apartment and there’s a storm rolling in and I pity you so I’ll let you into mine AU[✔️]

(80)Your grandma is really forward even though I swear we’re just friends AU[❌]

(81)I got the fake number from your friend and started texting you, thinking it was them but you’re too sweet to me that you continue on with this lie just to make me happy[✔️]

Note: You can use up to 4 AUs in our private chat, nothing more and as long as they fit in well together.

AU= Alternative Universe

This is for you guys who sometimes don’t know what you wanna do for a rp! 💖

[sheerfreesia007]

Fallin’ All In You (Pt. 49)

Title: Fallin’ All In You (Pt. 49)

Pairing: Agent Whiskey x Reader

Author: @sheerfreesia007​​

Words: 1,631

Warnings: Smut, Breeding kink, mention of injury

Tags: @synystersilenceinblacknwhite​, @two-unbeatable-beaters​, @randomness501​, @sevvysaurus​, @paryl​, @fioccodineveautunnale​, @talesfromtheguild​, @secretsihideinside​, @agingerindenial​

Permanent Tag List: @paintballkid711​

Author Notes: We’re back in the smut my dears. This was refreshing to write, it’s been a week or so since I’ve written Jack so it was nice to come back to this. Feedback is always appreciated and welcome!

Gif Credit: @claramaximoff​

         You felt the sweat slowly sliding down the side of your face and huffed out a harsh breath. Your hands held the elastic band that was hooked around your right ankle and pulled the band towards you making your right knee bend up towards you. Breathing through the slight ache in your knee you silently held the position for a count of five before letting it fall back down to the ground. Slowly you flexed your toes upward and then relaxed them back down stretching out the sore muscles under your skin.

         Today had been bad day for your knee. It had started this morning waking up with the muscles surrounding your knee tense and aching. During the day it had only gotten worse as you tried to walk on it to stretch the muscles but they had only tensed up further. Your medication to ease the muscles hadn’t even worked when you took it with your lunch.

         This stretching exercises were your last hail mary to ease the aching muscles before you called your physical therapist for any aid they could give you. Sitting there in the living room of the apartment you stared over to the floor to ceiling windows and sighed softly. The view was breath taking and you don’t think you’d ever get used to it.

         Just as you were lost in your thoughts you didn’t hear the apartment door open and Jack walked in silently. When he came to stand right at the juncture of the hallway and the living room he just stood there silently watching you. He watched as you grimaced lightly and idly massage the muscles around your right knee.

         “Everything alright darlin’?” Jack asked kindly and you jumped in surprise whipping your head over to him and Jack smiled softly at you.

         “Yeah just a bad day with the old knee.” You said easily and Jack walked over to you and held his hands out to help you up from the floor.

         “I hope you’re not over doing it today.” He said softly and you shook your head.

         “I’m not it’s just been very sore and achy today.” You explained as you stood in front of him. “I took my medicine to see if that would help but nothing has helped it yet. These exercises were a last ditch effort.” You said shrugging your shoulders as you swiped your cane from the coffee table and looked up at Jack.

         “I just don’t want you to over exert yourself.” He said softly as he cupped your cheek and leaned down to press a soft kiss to your lips. You smiled cheekily up at him when he pulled away.

         “I know my own body Jack I know what I need to do to make sure I get better.” You said easily and turned from him to walk into the kitchen to pull your dinner out of the oven.

         “Oh I know you do darlin’ I just worry about you and want to make sure you’re fully healed.” He said as he followed behind you setting his Stetson on the hat rack in the living room.

         “Goodness what are you going to be like if we ever get pregnant.” You said out loud but more to yourself than to him. Jack felt himself tense as he heard your words and desire instantly flooded his body. What would he be like if you were pregnant with his child? He’d probably just as bad as he was now knowing that you would growing his child within you. Suddenly the desire to see you pregnant with his child consumed him and let out a low growl before he stalked over to the kitchen. You weren’t paying attention to him and had your back to him.

         He silently entered the kitchen and crowded you against the counter placing his hands on either side of you on the counter top. Pressing his front to your back he heard your soft gasp as he knew you felt his erection dig into your ass. He ground his hips against your ass and groaned lowly into your ear as he nipped at your ear lobe.

         “What did you say darlin’?” he questioned lowly and you moaned softly as you pressed your ass back against his hips.

         “You heard me.” You said stubbornly and Jack growled against your neck before sucking a hickey into the skin. He lapped his tongue against the mark and ground his hips back up into you.

         “God you would be gorgeous as you carried my baby.” He crooned to you and you moaned lowly as your head fell back against his shoulder. Jack let his hands slip from the counter top to the waist band of your jeans. You shivered in his arms as his hands trailed over to the front of your jeans and easily undid them before sliding them down your legs. “Step out darlin’.” He commanded you and you obeyed easily making Jack preen with the knowledge that you’d follow his guidance. Jack groaned loudly when he saw your purple satin underwear covering your ass. His hand immediately came up to grope you and you gasped softly as his movement jolted you forward. “You alright darlin’?” he asked softly and you nodded your head quickly.

         “Yeah just wasn’t expecting it that’s all.” You said easily and Jack smiled widely down at you.

         “Don’t think I can make it to the bedroom darlin’. That alright?” he crooned lowly to you and nodded your head again.

         “Yeah here’s fine.” You said softly as you pressing your ass further into Jack’s hands. Sliding his fingers into your underwear he quickly slipped it down over your hips and let it fall the rest of the way to your ankles.

         “Fuck darlin’.” Jack husked out in a raspy voice as you stared at you before is hands fell to his zipper and button. He quickly released his hardened dick and held it in his hand for a moment, lust was racing through him and he couldn’t help but enjoy the view of you with your bottom half naked and revealed to him waiting for his next move. You had leaned over the counter top and braced your arms there so that all your weight wouldn’t be on your legs. Jack pumped himself once before he slid up behind you letting his dick slide against your slick core.

         Jack watched in awe as you flung your head back in ecstasy presenting your neck stretched out and a sinful moan escaping your throat. His hands slid to grip your hips as he mindlessly slid in his dick against your core ramping up both of your arousal until it caught fire and consumed you both.

         “Jack, now. Fuck me now.” You panted out and Jack nodded his head and dipped his hips to let his dick slide slowly into you. “Oh shit.” You gasped out as he slid deep inside of you and then held there. He watched as you shook your head quickly and your hips jerked back towards him. “Please, please Jack.” You chanted in a raspy voice that made Jack’s thighs clench in desire.

         “Gonna let me fuck you til you’re pregnant?” Jack asked lowly and watched as his words flowed over you making you whimper and begin to shake.

         “Please, wanna have your baby.” You panted out and Jack groaned before pulling out to the tip and then slamming back in. You whimpered as Jack’s arm slid around your waist and held you close as he began thrusting into you at an almost unforgivable pace.

         “Fuck darlin’, you know just what to say to get me all riled up for you.” He grunted out as he kept his hips close and thrusted his hips hard against your ass. You pressed back into him and keened loudly feeling your arousal clench low in your stomach. “Lord knows I wanna see you pregnant with our baby. You’d be such a good mom, always looking out for me and the little one.” He panted as he thrust harshly into you.

         “Oh Jack, shit!” you hissed out and Jack moaned loudly as he felt your walls begin to close around him. “How many you gasped out?” and Jack whipped his head to look at you confused for a second before you repeated your question. “How many kids do you want cowboy?” Moaning low in his throat Jack picked up the pace of his thrusts.

         “At least two.” He grunted out and slammed his hips against yours pressing deep into your core. Jack grunted again when he felt your walls clutch him tightly and you moaned sinfully as you flung your head back against his shoulder. Jack turned your head to him and kissed you deeply sliding his tongue against your bottom lip. “Fuck darlin’ as many as you wanna have.” He gasped out softly as he parted from your mouth. Your orgasm washed over you and you gasped into the air your hands clutching at the counter top as you fell over into the abyss of ecstasy. Jack grunted as he pressed deeper into you and felt his own orgasm blaze over him.

         It took the two of you a little bit of time to come to your senses and Jack slowly eased out you and helped you redress. As he slid your jeans back up your legs he pressed a soft kiss to your right knee when he saw the large scar on it from your surgery. When he came to stand in front of you he saw the wide warm smile on your face and cocked an eyebrow at you silently.

         “Two’s a good number.” You said cheekily and Jack laughed loudly before wrapping you in his arms and kissing you deeply.

[shineyma]

TAGGED BY @berestweys. thanks sweetheart!

I’m trying to write a fic and it is NOT HAPPENING so we’re gonna try disconnecting the brain via fun memes and see if it helps.

1. What is the colour of your hairbrush? I have two hairbrushes! the one I use when my hair is wet is kind of abstract with blue, pink, purple, and gold splotches on a black background. the one I use when my hair is dry is rose gold. (rose gold paint, that is. it’s not like...a solid gold hairbrush. Just to clarify.) 

2. Name a food you never eat. meat! I’m vegetarian. also no thank you to mushrooms.

3. Are you typically too warm or too cold? this has changed in the last couple years and I can’t explain it. I used to always be too warm but for the last few years I’ve been cold just all the time. I spent all summer wearing sweaters.

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? searching for inspiration via chores. I cleaned the bathroom. it did not help.

5. What’s your favourite candy bar? lion bar

6. Have you ever been to a professional sports game? I....think so? I have very vague memories of potentially attending an Astros game when I was a kid? but the keyword here is vague. very possible that was just a dream. I certainly haven’t done so in recent memory.

7. What is the last thing you said out loud? "no, that doesn’t work.” (seriously, writing is hard.)

8. What is your favourite ice cream? mint chocolate chip!

9. What was the last thing you had to drink? water

10. Do you like your wallet? it’s very functional, so sure.

11. What is the last thing you ate? a piece of chocolate.

12. Did you buy any new clothes last weekend? nope.

13. What’s the last sporting event you watched? uhhhh...when the Astros won the world series a couple years ago, I watched the last game. so that. (not a big sports fan, y’all.)

14. What is your favourite flavour of popcorn? mostly just plain butter and salt. but I do love some caramel corn at Christmas.

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to? my Lexi

16. Ever been camping? fun story: when I was a girl scout my troop leaders did not want to take us camping for real, so we were gonna set up tents in their backyards. except when the time came we were under air quality alerts. so instead we slept in sleeping bags on the troop leader’s living room floor. and that is the closest I ever got to camping.

17. Do you take vitamins? nope. (I should! but I don’t.)

18. Do you regularly attend a place of worship? not recently. I kind of fell out of the habit after I moved to Louisiana last summer because the priests at the closest church are just....very boring. which is awful, but true. I dozed off during the first couple homilies at the masses I attended and eventually I just stopped going. I made a resolution as part of my Lenten observation to attend weekly mass again and did really well at first! but then, you know. COVID. 

19. Do you have a tan? I do not.

20. Do you prefer chinese or pizza? pizza, definitely.

21. Do you drink your soda through a straw? only when it comes from a restaurant.

22. What colour socks do you usually wear? I have a whole bunch of different socks in varying shades of gold, grey, green, blue...they’re these socks, if anyone’s in the market. (#notspon) very warm and comfy, although I go through them pretty fast. I expect this is because I just wash ‘em regularly instead of following the detailed care instructions. (because who has time?)

23. Do you ever drive above the speed limit? everyone around here drives 5 miles above the speed limit. I do the same to keep with the flow of traffic.

24. What terrifies you? driving into water and being trapped. I’ve been having nightmares about it since before I could even drive.

25. Look to your left, what do you see? my phones.

26. What chore do you hate most? literally any kind of cleaning. why can’t things clean themselves. why does the floor need to be mopped so often. WHERE DOES ALL THIS DUST COME FROM.

27. What do you think of when you hear an Australian accent? that old Monty Python sketch where everyone is named Bruce.

28. What’s your favourite soda? diet coke

29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? drive thru.

30. What’s your favourite number? 13

31. Who’s the last person you talked to? ……like via phone/in person? my parents on the phone.

32. Favourite meat? none. don’t eat it.

33. Last song you listened to? hark the herald angels sing by pentatonix. got my Christmas playlist going.

34. Last book you read? I’ve been working on an autobiography of a stewardess on the Titanic for like....six months. It’s not a difficult or even particularly long read, I just keep not picking it up. I read half of it in a week and then haven’t touched it since like...September.

35. Favourite day of the week? Sunday.

36. Can you say the alphabet backwards? slowly and with many pauses to think, probably.

37. How do you like your coffee? I don’t. love the smell, can’t stand the taste.

38. Favourite pair of shoes? I have a pair of high heeled boots I wear everywhere.

39. Time you normally get up? around six usually.

40. What do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? sunrise

41. How many blankets on your bed? three - a quilt, a velvet throw, and a weighted blanket Mir got me for Christmas, which is the BEST THING EVER

42. Describe your kitchen plates. white with a blue pattern of leaves and hearts around the edges.

43. Describe your kitchen at the moment. my stove is in desperate need of cleaning. I heated up some tofu cubes the other night that sent tiny fragments flying everywhere, and when I ran a damp towel over the stove to collect the fragments, it came back soooooo gross. so that needs a real scrubbing.

44. Do you have a favourite alcoholic drink? nope, don’t drink. 

45. Do you play cards? when I was a kid, all the time. these days, not so much.

46. What colour is your car? white

47. Can you change a tyre? theoretically, yes, but I’ve never done it in practice.

48. Your favourite state or province? Texas is where the HEBs are. I miss HEB. so we’ll go with Texas.

49. Favourite job you’ve had? my current job is pretty great!

tagging @ilosttrackofthings, @andyouweremine, @safelycapricious, @sapphireglyphs, @thestarfishdancer, @heytheredeann, and anyone else who’d like to do this!