#then gave it all to marina afterwards

[stylespresleyhearted]

what’s the secret project you posted 👀

oh gosh i keep meaning to answer this and then i keep forgetting or pushing it back for reasons unknown to me i think im just unaccustomed to having any asks lol but anyways this is something that actually started because of a certain thing me and marina yell about when it comes to austin and then as our love for callum grew it came to something else grand and beautiful. now it’s only something that has been discussed in the chat, it has no doc or nothing official to it, it may never even come to fruition (marina is already gifting us with so much goodness in the fic worlds she dabbles in)

but i will share some of it and feel free to come further talk about it if it interests you 😘

Warnings: nsfw below the cut, open relationship, threesome, guy x guy, guy x guy x girl

So we’re all aware of how Austin put his blood, sweat, tears, and soul into his Elvis role. This man gave it his all and I’m truly so grateful to him for it because in my opinion (and most importantly in Lisa Marie’s opinion) he did Elvis Presley justice.

• Bree is a famous and highly esteemed guitarist, singer, and lyricist. She’s won multiple Grammies and written for and with Lana Del Rey, Arctic Monkeys, etc., that’s more her vibe. Baz hires her on during the making of Elvis movie so she could help him modernize the soundtrack and help with the choosing of songs. Maybe she’s even there when Austin gathers all the people from the record label and has them ridicule Austin after his first run through.

• But she’s there before filming and she’s there during filming and her and Austin even shack up together for a while during the first COVID lockdown, spending time with him in his apartment and staying up at all hours of the night to help him get certain scenes right. The bed sheets are tangled, kisses are shared, breakfast is eaten in bed not in the kitchen and there are multiple walks on the beach taken together.

• Bree tries her best to be there for him through all of it. She can sense he’s about to sky rocket and rightfully so, she doesn’t think anyone around can currently measure for his talent. She tries to be a soundboard and a friend and a girlfriend of sorts and a co worker and he’s got her playing all these different roles to keep up with him but keep in mind he never asked her to do any of that. She’s doing it because she loves him, maybe she isn’t in love with him or if she is she isn’t aware of it yet but she does love and care for him.

• And he’s going through his shit. He isn’t sure where Austin begins and Elvis ends and he isn’t in the headspace for a relationship, especially with Bree who deserves the world so when he’s sick as a dog and bed ridden before heading to London he makes sure to have the conversation with her. They were never official. Never went public or had rumors swirl. It’s better to end it on a good note and leave it how it is.

• So consider his surprise when a few months into filming MOTA, Bree shows up on Callum’s arm being introduced as his girlfriend. It’s supposed to be a lads night and Barry dragged him out and now someone who he calls one of his closest friends is introducing Bree as his current girlfriend. A close friend who he goes on walks in the parks with, who places kisses on his cheek after a few drinks, who places his hand on the small of Austin’s back when he approaches him, who pinches his cheeks and welcomed him with open arms. Dating someone who was there at his worst and gave him her heart and stayed up entire nights talking him down when his anxiety was too high and made him do self care when he forgot he was supposed to be his own person.

• and see, Callum and Bree are both Brits so they run in semi same circles and they knew of each other and were friends but Callum was with Vanessa Kirby and they were in love and for a while Bree was with Alex Turner and them afterwards there was Austin. So Callum and Bree were already friends and when they run into each other at a record shop and then head to lunch after and maybe Callum gave her a kiss goodbye when they went separate ways - it all just grew from there.

• so maybe Austin feels a green jealous monster growing inside his chest but who he’s jealous of he’s unsure and a larger part of him is actually happy for both of them. They’re good people, they love each other and both deserve each other.

• they’re suddenly everywhere. She accompanies Callum on set and it’s clear to everyone how in love they are and one time when they’re filming the POW scenes and everyone’s on lunch Austin is looking for peace and quiet so he wanders into their “bunks” but there right in front of him - Callum holding Bree up against the wood panel walls, pounding into her as she moans his name so prettily, his sheepskin jacket still on and making him sweaty. Callum’s eyes open and he catches Austin walking, Austin who trips over his own feet to back away but Callum just smiles and winks at him.

• and later Callum approaches Austin with a high five and a cheeky, “see how good I was giving it to her, mate?”

• and fuck, Austin gets hard thinking about it. Gets hard thinking about Bree’s moans and Callum’s grunt and his sweat and her breasts bouncing against his chest.

• then filming wraps and Austin’s free of them. Doesn’t have to be in there presence every day anymore and he meets someone, a nepo baby who’s beautiful and kind and he’s in a place where he feels he can be with someone so he goes for it and he falls in love.

• and MOTA press isn’t until 2024 so it’s two years of only a handful of run ins with them but then press starts and news break: Callum and Bree are engaged. And the entire cast and crew are happy and they all celebrate.

• She didn’t join Elvis press because she was touring.

• so now Austin is around his engaged friends and he has mixed feelings regarding both of them. See he’s happy and he loves his girlfriend and his career is good but if he’s being honest something is missing and when he wants to torture himself he admits he knows exactly what it is. And he’s doing interviews and Bree is backstage and Callum’s always so touchy and so kind in his words in regard to Austin and one day Callum admits Bree told him what went down between Bree and Austin and Callum’s a confident guy, he assures Austin it’s all fine.

• But maybe it’s the first screening of MOTA, and Callum and Bree are tired of Austin’s sad puppy dog eyes every time they catch him watching them so Bree corners Austin backstage. Gets close and starts palming him through his pants, assuring him Callum wouldn’t mind, in fact Callum has been purposely teasing Austin during interviews trying to get him to cave.

• Callum and Bree both decided if they all wanted it how could it be wrong? Why not go for it?

• And Bree’s falling to her knees and taking Austin in her mouth, pretty pouty lips wrapped around him as she takes him all the way in and suddenly Callum is there, watching them, talking her through it.

• “Isn’t she phenomenal, mate? Had to work with her to get rid of that gag reflex and now she can deep throat me.”

• and Callum waits until Austin mewls his name and calls him over, begging him to be a part of this somehow, to please hold him. So Callum is joining them, Bree so pretty on her knees between them and Callum is flicking Austin’s nipple and letting Austin let his moans out in his neck.

That’s all we have more to come soon if ya’ll wish 🌚

• oh yeah there’s a scene where Bree holds Austin’s hand the first time Callum fucks him because she’s aware of the pain of how large Callum is.

@precious-little-scoundrel

[sulumuns-dootah]

WHB HC's - Gehenna demons

A/N: I'm not that far into the game, so some of this might be ooc to the game, but i based this off of what I've seen + Ars Goetia (Solomon's book of demons)

⟡ Masterlist ⟡

Characters: Satan, Sitri, Belial, Leraye, Astaroth, Zagan, Paimon

      ༺☆༻

Satan

Definitely has Gen Z humour

His necklace is a gift from Solomon

If Satan and Beelzebub happen to be at the same pub, they eventually end up having drinking competition

When he's depressed, the only ones he'll allow near him are Sitri and Ppyong

His playlist mostly contains metal and rock (He also has a secret playlist with pop music, but if you find out, he'll kill you right on the spot)

      ༺☆༻

Sitri

He has only one horn, because he gave the other to Solomon

Knows his dining etiquette and glares at anyone who does something wrong, including Satan

Loves watching horror movies with MC just to hear their heartbeat, but gets nightmares afterwards

Enjoys mixing batter for baking, but absolutely hates the rest of steps

A big fan of Edgar Allan Poe

      ༺☆༻

Belial

Frequently forgets to take Jiyu off his horn before shower

Secretly uncomfortably stares at everyone around him (Like we all do when we have sunglasses on)

I imagine his personality being just like Belphegor from Obey Me

Has a collection of plushies on his bed and a fully decked out dollhouse where Jiyu sleeps

Loves classical music, but also has few playlists with indie and symphonic metal

      ༺☆༻

Leraye

Would rather prefer bow and arrow than a gun, but bows don't have as much range

As an offering from mortals, he prefers fire water (=rainwater collected during storm with chilli)

Every teddy bear body on his outfit has a name

At first I was gonna say he loves playing darts, but he strikes more as a chess guy

Very competitive

      ༺☆༻

Astaroth

Loves gossip and secrets

In Ars Goetia it says his breath is toxic and I kinda like that idea

Always has a smut book on hand and sometimes he can be seen reading during battles

During sex the viper stays on (or even participates)

Gives really good advices

      ༺☆༻

Zagan

Favorite beverage is wine

Can move silently if he wishes to

Unlike Astaroth, you can actually trust him with your secrets

Absolute cuddle-bear

Actually kinda sassy and sarcastic at times

      ༺☆༻

Paimon

Complete Asmodeus from Obey Me energy, definitely follows him on Devilgram

Always wins the popularity contest despite the not being held one

If you introduced them to human music, they would love Marina & the Diamonds

Good friends with Zagan due to his Wine-to-Blood ability

Loves singing and has an amazing singing voice

[carolineforbes-mikaelson]

Thoughts on Bridgerton Season 3 Part 2

Now that I've slept and am able to process a little clearly after the adrenaline of binging part 2, I do have a bit of gripe.

While the acting was superb, Nic and Luke gave it their all and it shows, and also the music was on point. As soon as Yellow and You Belong With Me kicked in, I was a sobbing mess!

Things that I do hate - or at least extremely dislike (coz I'm still gonna rewatch the heck out of it) is the whole LW secret.

I hated that this thing was hanging over Pen's head and that it tainted what should have been the happiest moment of Pen's life.

1. Pen should have been extremely happy when Colin announced their engagement but then Eloise had to make it all about her and how she was ignorant of Pen's feelings for Colin - when Debling clocked it only after week of talking to Pen for a few moments.

2. Pen should have been ecstatic during her wedding day but then Colin has still trying to process his feelings about Pen being LW that he wasn't really 100% during the wedding day and SLEPT ON THE COUCH ON THEIR WEDDING NIGHT"

These are 2 things that Pen can never get back. For her to look back at those times and have a stain on those special moments. That's why I preferred if they went on the book route for this. Have the whole LW reveal before they got intimate in the carriage, coz even when Colin knew her secret, he still did what he did in the carriage and proposed to Pen afterwards. And when they got married in the book, it was because he knew he fully loved her - and not because he was honor-bound to do so since they already had sex.

Other gripes:

- Benedict's storyline this part 2 was all cringe to me and all the sex scenes appeared very gratuitous. I will fast forward them during my many re-watch.

- Eloise really ticked me off several times. She was running hot and cold and in a way a hypocrite.

-Total lack of acknowledgement of how Pen has "saved" the Bridgertons - Colin from Marina, Daphne from Nigel, Eloise from the Queen and now Violet and the entire Bridgerton family from Cressida's lies..... WOW.... and yet they are so quick to judge Pen about the TRUTH that she publishes.

I have some more (I can't recall now) but those are the major ones so far. I know that the show can't please everyone so I just choose to savor the moments that did make me giddy, that did made heart full, that made me into a sobbing mess.

I love Season 3 because it did give us all these Polin moments that would just otherwise only be in our imagination. I love season 3 coz it empowered our girl Pen to see her worth and step into her light. It gave us the ending we want - Writers Polin - Polin Lord Featherington - happy and in love Polin.

Despite all my rant, I can still say that this is the best Bridgerton season yet. 😍😍🔥🔥

[ynscrazylife]

Hey for your 4k celebration could you do purge the poison from marina with anyone from the mcu please?

Poisoned Mind, Poisoned Heart | Chapter 1

Series Summary: Dr. Strange turns to you, Wanda’s ex, to help him stop her before it’s too late. Can you do it or will Wanda corrupt you, too?

A/N: This is what came to my head when I listened to the song! Hope it fits. I'm excited for this series to start. Let me know if you want to be on this taglist.

Request to be on a taglist (or multiple) here! (Taglists are at the end of the fic)

Main Masterlist | MCU Masterlist

Doctor Stephen Strange was the last person you expected to see when you opened up your door. For a fleeting second, you considered slamming the door in his face, but that type of rudeness was never in your nature, no matter how much the flight in your fight or flight response was yelling at you to do so. “I should really start looking through the peephole before answering my door,” was what you ended up saying with a sigh. 

Stephen fixed you with a small, knowing smile. “I’m going to pretend that’s just because I might’ve been a stranger and not because you don’t want to see me,” he joked. You knew what he was doing - trying to ease you into whatever reason he had for coming over here when he hadn’t seen or spoken to you in years with humor. 

“Well, this isn’t just you being in the neighborhood and wanting to have a nice chat, is it?” You said, glancing down at the intricate costume he adorned. 

Catching onto the fact that you didn’t want him to beat around the bush, Stephen gave you a slight nod. “May I come in?” He asked politely. 

Despite being still weary and a bit nervous, you stepped aside. You knew that if he was coming here, he must have a good reason. Years ago, after the civil war between Steve and Tony, when you left the Avengers and said goodbye to being a superhero, you had strictly instructed everyone to leave you alone unless there was some threat to the universe. You had gone back briefly to help them fight Thanos, but quickly returned to your civilian life afterward. 

Stephen walked in and you closed the door behind him, but didn’t lock it. You weren’t intending for him to stay long. The sorcerer took a moment to look around your hallway, at all the paintings and photos on your walls. “Nice house,” he murmured, picking up a photo of you on a nearby table and looking at it. 

“Stephen,” you warned gently. 

Stephen cleared his throat and set down the photo, turning back to you. “What do you know about what Wanda has gotten up to recently?” He asked. 

It was akin to him dumping a bucket of ice water over your head - you visibly flinched, taken aback. Wanda. You had worked very hard to get over the woman you once loved, the love that ended due to you being on opposite sides of the Accords. Like Natasha, you had sided with Tony not because you really believed in the Accords, but because you wanted to keep the team together. Wanda hadn’t seen it that way and you didn’t exactly blame her for it, until you two started to get into awful screaming matches. 

“I heard on the news about Westview . . . They say that no one’s been able to reach or find her since,” you answered carefully, remembering the conflicting emotions you had when finding out about it all. Even after all this time, you haven't been able to fall out of love. She stuck with you. A part of you hated it, the other part was enchanted by it. You still wanted the best for her and discovering what happened in Westview was painful. 

“That was true, up until now,” Stephen said, taking a small step towards you. 

You tried to hold back the gasp building up in your throat, but you failed. All you could do was bore your eyes into him as you waited for him to continue. 

“There’s this . . . girl. Her name is America Chavez and she has these powers of accessing alternate realities that Wanda wants. I think she’s been corrupted by the Darkhold . . . If she gets access to these alternate realities, there’s no telling what she’ll do,” Stephen said. 

You furrowed your eyebrows, now confused and feeling a little overwhelmed as his words swarmed your head. “Alternate realities?” You questioned. 

“I can explain everything in detail, but I think you can get through to her, Y/N,” Stephen said. 

No matter if you still loved her, if there was some deep part inside you that wanted to help, you still felt reluctant to return to that life. You started to shake your head. “She doesn’t love me, she fell in love with Vision,” you muttered, trying - wanting - to deny it. 

“She never stopped talking about you,” Stephen revealed softly. 

This caused you to squeeze your eyes shut, feelings and memories of another time washing over you all at once. “Stephen, I can’t-” you started to say. 

“Let me explain everything back at the Sanctum Sanctorum and then we can go from there,” Stephen said, his voice still as sweet as honey. So charming and alluring, “This . . . isn’t just a threat to our universe. It’s a threat to all the universes.” 

That was the nail in the coffin - you would never be able to fully rid yourself of your natural, heroic instinct to help people. “Okay,” you agreed, letting out a breath. Despite just telling yourself that you were only agreeing to hear him, you knew deep down, in your heart, what you got yourself into - you were going to try and help. Help Wanda, help Stephen, help the goddamn multiverse.

[whileiamdying]

Marina Abramovic Relents and Adapts a Provocative Piece for Today

1970s has been altered to suit contemporary mores. “Really, the smart thing to do is compromise,” the artist said.

For a presentation of Marina Abramovic’s 1977 work “Imponderabilia” at the Royal Academy in London, an alternative doorway is provided if visitors do not wish to pass close by two naked performers.Credit...David Parry/Royal Academy of Arts, London

By Alex Marshall Reporting from London Sept. 25, 2023

In June 1977, visitors to the Gallery of Modern Art in Bologna, Italy, were met with a shocking sight: Marina Abramovic, the Serbian performance artist, and her partner, Ulay, standing in the museum’s doorway, completely naked.

The only way inside was to squeeze between the couple.

Abramovic and Ulay remained in place for three hours, staring intently into each other’s eyes, as a stream of visitors pushed through and sometimes stepped on their toes. Then, the police arrived, and shut down the performance as obscene.

This fall, Abramovic, now 76, is restaging that work, “Imponderabilia,” at the Royal Academy of Arts, in London, as part of a major retrospective of her work that runs through Jan. 1, 2024. Since Abramovic no longer performs the work herself, and Ulay died in 2020, she has recruited younger performers to take part — and there is another major difference from the 1977 piece.

If a visitor would rather not squeeze past a naked man and woman in a three-foot-wide doorway, they can walk through another entryway to the left, and skip the experience entirely.

In an age when museums are grappling with how to show audiences challenging work, and adopting measures to protect artists and staff, Abramovic is also adapting her old works to suit contemporary mores.

On a recent morning, most visitors chose that nonconfrontational route, until Sarah Raper, 59, gave her coat to her husband and announced: “I’m going to do it!” Raper then briskly pushed past the naked man and woman, facing the female performer.

“That was quite unsettling,” Raper said afterward; it felt like “a real invasion of personal space.”

Jason Speechly, 60, stood watching the two naked performers curiously for several minutes but then opted for the other door. “I just got sheepish and followed the rest of the crowd,” he said.

In an interview, Abramovic said she’d had “millions of meetings” with the Royal Academy’s staff to ensure “Imponderabilia” and three other provocative performances could be included in the retrospective — and she was now conflicted about the compromises that she had made.

If “all of these restrictions we are facing now” had been in place in the 1970s, she said, 80 percent of her works would never have been performed. On the other hand, Abramovic said, artists should not “live in a prison of your own promises” and refuse to change with the times. By making concessions, a new generation was witnessing her art, she said. If she’d complained about the new doorway for “Imponderabilia,” the performance would only exist as “a stupid gray photo in a book” that no one would ever see.

“Really, the smart thing to do is compromise,” she said.

Abramovic has done this with “Imponderabilia” before: In 2010, for “The Artist is Present,” a career survey at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Abramovic said that MoMA asked for the performers to stand far enough apart so that a wheelchair user could pass between them. “I felt the piece really suffered for that,” she said.

MoMA’s lawyers also asked for significant changes to “Luminosity,” a 1997 endurance feat in which Abramovic sat naked on a bicycle seat mounted high on a gallery wall for six hours while holding her arms and legs outstretched. The MoMA presentation used other performers, and the day before the opening, Abramovic said, the museum’s lawyers insisted that they needed to wear a helmet and safety belt.

“I said, ‘This is ridiculous!’” Abramovic recalled. “‘It’ll become a ridiculous work.’” She said she ended up signing documents that made her personally liable for $1 million in case of any accidents, and the piece went ahead as planned.

Brittany Bailey performing “Luminosity,” a 1997 work by Abramovic, in the Royal Academy show.Credit...Joshua Bright for The New York Times

MoMA did not respond to a request for comment. Klaus Biesenbach, a former MoMA chief curator at large, who organized the 2010 show, said in an email that he couldn’t remember “details and anecdotes” as well as Abramovic can, but added that “it was a miracle” that the exhibition took place.

Biesenbach is now the director of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, where he recently saw another example of how attitudes to performance art have changed over time, he said. Earlier this month, the museum restaged Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece,” a 1964 work in which audience members are invited to snip away a performer’s clothes with scissors. The audience behavior today was very different from the 1960s, he said, with visitors aware that there was a “‘right’ or correct” way to act, and conscious that hundreds of cellphone cameras were trained upon them.

Andrea Tarsia, the Royal Academy’s director of exhibitions, said that most of the changes for the Abramovic show were small and made for the performers’ safety and comfort. With “Imponderabilia,” for instance, the doorway was heated so that the naked man and woman, who stand there for up to an hour at a time, don’t catch a chill.

Nearby security guards also keep an eye on visitor behavior, Tarsia said, and at the end of each day, the performers gather for a “detox” session to discuss any uncomfortable moments that occurred. All performers would have access to therapists, Tarsia added.

The doorway at the Royal Academy is heated so that the performers in “Imponderabilia,” who stand there for up to an hour at a time, don’t catch a chill. Credit... David Parry/Royal Academy of Arts, London

And even if visitors avoid squeezing past the naked bodies, Tarsia said, the work would get them thinking. “In art, when something riles you, that’s often where the interesting bit is,” Tarsia said. “Maybe if people choose not to go through the door, they’ll later reflect on why they made that choice,” he added.

Abramovic, who recently survived a life-threatening embolism and spent time in a coma, said that she did not mind if only a handful of visitors experienced “Imponderabilia” as she originally intended it. Artists, she said, committed to their performances no matter what happened during them.

“If there’s an earthquake, if electricity stops, if somebody walks into you, it’s all part of the work,” she said. “And if nobody passes, that’s still part of the work.”

Alex Marshall is a European culture reporter, based in London. More about Alex Marshall

[akane-kurokawa]

Chapter 143 thoughts!

Alright so I skipped my thoughts on the last chapter, but I wanted to say that I don’t have especially negative feelings about it. It’s nice to see Ruby’s character taken seriously again after so long, and the framing of the chapter with the specific language and horror-esque directing was very pointed. It’s just frustrating that this matter seems to keep getting pushed off and unresolved after so many chapters whereas other major plot points (such as Ruby learning the identity of her father) are being off screened entirely.

Enough about two weeks ago, my thoughts on THIS chapter

We open where we left off, Aqua is clearly brushing Ruby off and she is being insistent. She tells him (as Gorou) that he listens to her selfishness

Aqua, having some of Gorou in his nature, calls for a compromise. Unfortunately that just fuels her on more.

It’s interesting how he “becomes” Gorou in this way for her. It’s very performative, an act he’s doing to appease her. It reminds me of how different Taiki seems when he’s acting vs when he’s not.

Small note, but does he just carry those glasses on him? Like Ruby’s popsicle that disappeared last chapter.

This is what I wanted all this time! There is a significant difference in how these two view their past lives that is finally getting addressed here. Ruby feels like Sarina, she sees her second life as an extension of the first, a New Game+ where she gets to do everything she always wanted.

But Aqua isn’t Gorou, he hasn’t been for a long time. He’s an 18 year old boy who has been shaped by the (mostly traumatic) experiences he’s had in this life already. Gorou appears to him as a manifestation of guilt, and unfinished business when he tried to move on with his life, but that’s no longer his identity.

Also ow this panel

I also think the feeling guilty about being alive comment hits so much with Ruby because that’s how she felt in chapter 121 after seeing Marina Tendouji.

To her, Aqua revealing his previous identity saved her, gave her what she needed to carry on. Which is why she does the same for him here.

Ruby right now is very “I can fix him” which makes sense for her character and experiences. It’s naive and selfish, but very in character for her. Considering she’s also avoiding her own hardships in life with love it makes perfect sense for that to be her advice to him, and forcing a kiss on him -while not a cool thing to do to someone- also lined up with that.

My biggest complaint comes afterwards, or rather the lack of afterwards. Aqua’s expression in the kiss panel is of shock, but it’s hard to gauge exactly what he’s feeling after that without the following scene. It leaves it up to interpretation in an arc rife with “all subtext no text” writing already, prolonging this arc even further.

That said, it’s an interesting transition. Ruby, the initiator of the first kiss parallels the placing of Aqua/Hikaru in the second. Outside of the movie Aqua is the one in Ai’s position.

With that in mind, Ai’s “I can’t love you” set up at the beginning of this arc holds much more weight.

[canirove]

In The Name of Love | Chapter 34

Previous chapter | Epilogue

Masterlist

I've been back in Barcelona for a couple of months now, and so far everything has been great.  

I took my mum to Rome, where we stayed for a week doing all the touristy things you could think of, eating our weight in gelato, and having long conversations that have made us understand each other a lot better, finally managing to have a good relationship. 

I also went with Marina and David to Mykonos, a place they both had always dreamt to visit. Though it wasn't as dreamy as they thought. After a couple of days struggling to find somewhere that wasn't too crowded or full of tourists, we decided to just stay at our villa. During the day we would lay in the sun, take advantage of our private swimming pool or just sleep and relax, and at night we would sit outside drinking some wine, talking and laughing about anything and everything. We realized that we didn't need to go to a fancy place to have fun. Being together was all that mattered.

And now I am back home, getting everything ready for the new school year, feeling as excited about it as I did the first time I got to properly teach.

"Do you remember how we spent the day before looking through both your wardrobe and mine trying to find the perfect outfit for your first day as a teacher?" Silvia asks me while we are chilling on the sofa.

"I remember that the house was a mess afterwards."

"Yeah, that too" she laughs. "But you looked really cute."

"I did, didn't I? I got many compliments from the other teachers. One of them even tried to flirt with me."

"I mean, it was a really nice dress. Do you still have it?"

"I gave it away when we did that big spring cleaning a couple of years ago."

"Oh, shame… But have you kept any photo where you are wearing it?"

"Of course I have. You made me take a bunch before I left for work so I could remember that day" I laugh.

"I was a proud mum" Silvia smiles. "Can you search for them?"

"Just promise not to make fun of me if I look ridiculous" I say, unlocking my phone. "It was a different time."

"You didn't look ridi… Val. Val, hey, what is it?" 

"Nothing."

"Then why are you crying? That bad are those photos?"

"No, it's just… I hadn't realized… today."

"Uh?" Silvia says with a confused look.

"Today is my anniversary with Pedri… or was. And the memories thing on my phone showed me a photo of us together and…"

"Aww, Val. I'm sorry."

"It's ok" I say, wiping away my tears. "It's a good memory."

"Can I see it? The photo with him, I mean."

"Sure" I reply, giving her my phone. "It's at his secret beach as he called it, the one where he took me when we started seeing each other. The 14 of each month we would try to go there to watch the sunset and eat something, and we would spend our time talking about the most random things until it got dark and too cold. It was just us, and it was… perfect."

"It does sound perfect" she smiles.

"Today it is so hot that we would have probably gone for a swim and then buy some ice cream."

"What if… what if we do that?"

"What?" I ask.

"Go for a swim and buy some ice cream. I know I am not him, but…"

"I would love that" I smile. 

"Great" Silvia says, getting up from the sofa and offering me her hand. "Shall we?"

"Let's go."

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"You don't have to do it, Val."

"I know. But I want to" I say, opening the car's door. After going for a swim and getting some ice cream with Silvia, I asked her to drive me to the beach Pedri and I used to go to. For some reason, I felt like I needed to be there today. 

"Do you want me to go with you?" she asks.

"Please" I nod.

We walk in silence, Silvia holding my hand and giving it little squeezes as we get closer to the lookout from where you can see the whole beach. 

"This is beautiful, Val" she says.

"It is" I whisper, taking in the view. There are a couple of fluffy clouds here and there, the sea is calm, and the light is making the sand look almost golden. The sand. There is someone walking on the sand, someone… It can't be. 

"Ouch, Val! That hurts!" Silvia says when I squeeze her hand as if my life depended on it.

"It's him."

"What?"

"Down there" I say, my eyes fixed on the beach. "That's him. He's here."

"Who… Oh, shit. That is him."

"What do I do, Silvia?" 

"Go down there, of course!"

"What? No! I can't… I can't do that."

"You can and you will, Val. Go tell Pedri that you still love him and that you want to spend the rest of your life with him." 

"But what if he doesn't want to see me? What if he has moved on?" I say, looking at him while he kicks the sand.

"Val, do you really think that if he had moved on, he would be here on a day like today?"

"I…"

"Besides, what has Ferran been telling you all these months?"

"That he still loves me."

"Exactly. So go down there and get back with your teenage boy."

"He isn't a teenager anymore" I chuckle.

"Even better."

"But Silvia…"

"You were waiting for destiny to give you a sign, right? Well, this is it. Now go" she says, pushing me towards the stairs.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Ok, Valeria. You can do this" I say to myself. He is standing with his back to me and looking at the sea, completely oblivious of the fact that I am behind him, that I also am here. "Pedri?" I call, my voice sounding all squeaky. But he doesn't say anything, just shakes his head. "Pedri" I say again, this time a bit louder.

"Yeah, I've completely lost it" he laughs, running a hand through his hair. 

"Lost what?" I ask.

"My sanity, Val. I can hear your voice as if you were here with me."

"I am here, Pedri."

"You are in my head."

"I'm here" I repeat, putting my hand on his shoulder, my touch making him flinch.

"That's an illusion. I've completely lost my mind, you aren't real."

"I am real and I am here" I say, now moving to be in front of him. "Open your eyes, Pedri."

"No."

"What?"

"If I open my eyes you will leave."

"I'm not going anywhere, Pedri" I say, caressing his cheek and wiping away a tear.  

"I can't lose you again, Val" he says, resting his hand on top of mine. 

"You won't, because I am not going anywhere. Please open your eyes."

"I can't."

"Pedri, please" I beg him. Now I am the one who is crying. 

"Val…"

"I'm not going anywhere, Pedri. I promise. I want to be with you, to spend the rest of my life with you, to fight for this, for us. And I don't care if I have to do it against a horde of crazy teenagers, bullies like Isabel, or judgy parents who have nothing better to do than gossip. I'm done with letting people's opinions rule my life." 

"Val…" he repeats, his voice now almost a whisper.

"You know, I've never believed in love at first sight" I continue. "I always thought it was something from fairy tales, something that didn't exist. But then, on a day like today, in a club I had never set foot before, I met you and you completely changed my mind. Because I fell in love the moment we locked eyes and you smiled at me, Pedri. It was all that smile, to be honest. The one that by now you know makes me giggle like an idiot and feel funny things in my stomach. And when I think of the way you made me feel when you kissed me, when you…"

"Made you scream my name on the rooftop?" he smirks, opening one eye.

"I was going to say it in a more cheesy way and you just ruined it."

"Damn it" he chuckles. "You saying something like that happens once in a blue moon."

"It does. And when it happens, it is because of you. Because I love you, Pedri. I love you in a way I've never loved anyone before, and in a way I think I will never love anyone else. It's you. It's you, Pedri" I say, both my hands cupping his face, my eyes fixed on his now that both of them are finally open. "It is and will always be you. Only you" I whisper. 

"Can we kiss now or are you gonna keep being cheesy?" he smiles. And it is that smile, the one that completely disarmed me the night we met. 

"Idiot.”

"No one calls me idiot the way you do."

"I know" I smile back.

"But before we kiss…" he says. "Can I confess something?” 

"Ok."

"Ferran has been telling me almost daily to not give up, to be patient, that you still loved me and wanted me back, that we are destined to be together… So to keep reminding myself of all that, I've been coming here every 14 since you left, hoping that somehow you would show up."

"Really?"

"Yeah… I know it was a bit stupid because I knew you were in Manchester, but… I don't know. I just felt like I had to, you know?"

"It isn't stupid, Pedri. Because today I felt like I had to come here, it was like something was calling me… You."

"Glad to know my plan worked out" he laughs. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"I had missed your laugh" I shrug. "But that won't happen ever again. And do you know why?"

"Enlighten me, Valeria" he says with a teasing smile.

"It won't happen again because I'm not going anywhere, Pedri. I promise."

"Are you sure? Because you know how serious our promises are. You can't go back on it now" he says.

"I won't. I'm here to stay" I say, putting my hand over his heart. "Forever."

"Forever" he whispers before finally kissing me. 

At first it is a very soft kiss, almost shy. But it doesn't take us too long until we are kissing as if our lives depended on it, as if we needed the other to breathe. 

"I love you, Val" Pedri says when we manage to break apart. "I love you and I'm planning on telling you every hour of every day of the rest of my life."

"Isn't that a bit too much?" I laugh.

"It actually won't be enough."

"Dear lord, Pedro. You are so cheesy" I laugh again.

"Only for you, Val. Only for the love of my life" he smiles. "Happy anniversary, by the way."

"Happy anniversary" I reply with a matching smile before we start kissing again, the sun setting behind us as it did that first time on this beach. Like it did that first night at his house when he made me feel things I had never felt before. 

The night that even if my brain kept denying it, my heart was already completely his.

[cain-speaks]

💥 𝙋𝙄𝙂𝙎𝙔, 𝙈𝙆, 𝙍𝙀𝘿𝙎𝙊𝙉, 𝙎𝙄𝙓-𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝙈𝘼𝘾𝘼𝙌𝙐𝙀, & 𝙎𝙐𝙉 𝙒𝙐𝙆𝙊𝙉𝙂 𝙒𝙄𝙏𝙃 𝘼 𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙆𝙇𝙀𝙎𝙎, 𝙀𝙓𝙋𝙇𝙊𝙎𝙄𝙑𝙀𝙇𝙔-𝙋𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙇𝘿 💥|| Various & Reader

» the family jewels (marina) « 0:50 ─〇───── 3:58

╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝❀╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗ AUTHOR'S NOTE ╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗❀╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝ ➤ This is a scenario. ➤ This is platonic/familial. ➤ For this scenario, MK will be aged up to 23! ➤ TRIGGER WARNINGS include profanity, hurt/comfort, implied child neglect, homelessness, attempted robbery, break-in, animal attacks, violence, biting, blood, injury, PTSD(?)/trauma flashbacks, and past near-death experience. ➤ Word count: 4,224 words

•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

❝ Welcome to the family jewels; coal to diamonds, sold to fools .❞

╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝❀╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗ 🐖 PIGSY 🐖 ╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗❀╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝

➤ You were a frequent at the shop. Pigsy immediately took notice of how you were alone each time you visited, how you were dirty, how you ate like it was your last meal...

➤ It was easy for him to put 2 and 2 together. So, each time you visited, he gave you anything you wanted, and even went out of his way buy you gifts (toys, clothes, books, etc.). Tang even stopped being a freeloader for a while to ensure Pigsy could afford it.

➤ Somewhere along the line, Pigsy managed to adopt you! Now you were always at the shop, or at least not anywhere without him and Tang. No longer did he have to worry about you!

➤ ...or so he thought. One day, a robber busted into the shop demanding Pigsy hand over the money. Of course, the pig demon wasn't surprised; it wasn't the first time this has happened, but it was the first time he'd been threatened with a butter knife.

➤ Anyway, that's to say Pigsy knew there wasn't any real danger proposed by this rude stranger. But you, well, you were so young, and god knew what you'd been through—how were you supposed to know the difference between genuine danger and a mild inconvenience?

➤ Just as Pigsy was about to give the guy the typical "bugger off or I'm gonna toss you out and report you", you raced out from behind the counter and slammed your fist into his stomach, sending him crashing against one of the (thankfully) empty booths.

➤ Pigsy was stunned for a minute, watching customers race out to avoid being caught in the crossfire. His eyes landed on you, still approaching the downed robber, and honed in on the electric green glow encasing your hands and eyes, snapping around your body like emerald lightning.

➤ He managed to shake himself from his stupor before you reached the crumpled man and stepped between you two, kneeling in front of you with gentle words and a soft voice, trying to coax you out of your explosive state.

➤ "Hey, hey, kiddo. We're alright. He's not gonna hurt you. You can calm down now."

➤ Exhaustion from the exertion your body experienced seemed to finally catch up to you, the green snaking around your body before disappearing. You collapsed forward, curling into Pigsy's arms and beginning to cry softly.

➤ "Bàba," you sniffled, trembling.

➤ Pigsy hushed you, holding you close as the guy limped out of the restaurant.

➤ "It's okay, kiddo, I'm not angry. Let it all out."

➤ He had quite the research assignment for Tang later.

╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝❀╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗ ✨ MK ✨ ╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗❀╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝

➤ MK met you after defeating Lady Bone Demon. You were the unfortunate host she used, and you needed a lot of help afterwards. You were fragile in a number of ways; afraid of your own shadow and plagued by nightmares. MK understood all of that, and so you two became close, helping each other recover bit by bit.

➤ It was a day where you were hanging out with everyone at Flower Fruit Mountain, including Wukong. One of the cheeky monkeys had snagged your phone, so you chased after them to retrieve it. Unbeknowst to you, Wukong had followed after you to make sure his subject didn't give you a hard time.

➤ You managed to catch up to the monkey, but not before they squirreled away into a tree. So you were left at the bottom, hands on your hips as you attempted to negotiate with the little cream-furred simian.

➤ What came next happened fast: another monkey dropped from the foliage cover of the tree, beginning to tussle with the other. It flung the electronic in the scuffle and you stumbled forward in a venture to catch it, and then you caught sight of the monkey king's hand outstretched towards you.

➤ "So, your plan is to fist fight a child?"

➤ "Have you forgotten? Destroy me and you destroy the host!"

➤ "Have you become so desperate to end that you would sacrifice this blameless, innocent child?"

➤ "I told you—"

➤ "y o u s h o u l d h a v e s t a y e d b u r i e d . "

➤ "NO!" you shrieked, crossing your arms over your face as you braced for the hit that should have taken your life months ago.

➤ Sobs wracked your body as you crumbled to the floor despite remaining untouched. A cold, incessant chill pressed in on on you and you hated it, you hated it so much. All you could think of was her; the stink of old bones, the constant ache of ice, the cracking of your very body as that wretched demoness used you as a vehicle for her wicked deeds...

➤ and how willing the legendary Monkey King, the greatest hero of all time, had been to kill you, if it'd meant she would have died too.

➤ You continued to sink further into your memories, hands clawing at your scalp in a vain attempt to pull yourself out of it. The cold got worse, making each breath grate your throat on the way in; your tears froze to your face and your body weakened more and more until you collapsed in a heap, praying under your breath that someone would save you.

➤ "Hey!"

➤ The voice reverberated around your head, your thoughts moving sluggishly as you attempted to place a name to the familiar cadence. The cold went away ever-so-slightly as you calmed, focusing on the voice.

➤ "M...MK?"

➤ A sharp, cracking noise came from your left, followed by the last hints of a green flame. You blinked wildly out of a newly formed hole, light pouring into whatever dark place you'd gotten stuck in. Warm air scented with sweet fruits and flowers billowed into your face and you breathed it in deeply, feeling your body begin to relax.

➤ Hands temporarily filled the hole, blocking the heat and making you frown, but they ripped away more and more of your enclosure until MK's face comes into view, strained with worry and fear. As soon as his eyes met yours they softened, the successor leaning forward and gently pulling you up and towards him.

➤ You allowed him to do so, limbs shaking as you stepped out of the ice ball you'd been trapped in—wait. Ice ball? When... how did that get there? It was the middle of summer on Flower Fruit Mountain! There shouldn't have been any snow, much less ice!

➤ You looked around wildly, eyes taking in your surroundings: most of the scene is the same plentiful forest, but there's about a 15ft radius surrounding the shattered ice ball, marred with gnarly spikes curled like claws. You see Mei and tang exacting magic on the ice to melt it, trying to free—oh god. Wukong lies pressed flat to the ground, ice digging into his clothes and, more frighteningly, his throat.

➤ Did... did you do that?

➤ You started sobbing immediately, clinging to MK. You grabbed fistfuls of his shirt, feeling the fabric tear under your desperate grip, but you couldn't will yourself to let go.

➤ "Hey," MK cooed, sitting on the ground and holding you close. "It's okay. You're safe."

➤ "S-She's still here! She's still in me! MK, please, please, we have to get her out b-before she gets too strong a-and Monkey King has to...has to—"

➤ "She's not," MK reassured you softly, gently rocking you as you waded through your panic. "It's just the after effects, (name). You're still you. You're safe."

➤ "I'm safe," you choked out, pressing hard into MK's, warm, solid body.

➤ The gang'll have to do some research on just how much power you retained from the Lady Bone Demon's possession, but they'll wait until you've had proper time to process.

➤ For now, they'll just make sure you remember you're safe.

╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝❀╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗ 🔥 REDSON 🔥 ╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗❀╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝

➤ After the defeat of the Lady Bone Demon, the demon bull family welcomed a new member: you.

➤ Redson was immediately enamored with you. After only days of existing, you had your elder brother wrapped around each one of your tiny fingers. He was a dutiful sibling, working late into the night to craft you new toys, weapons, vehicles (the latter two he was forbade to give to you until you were at least eight); anything you could desire.

➤ They discovered early that you had wind magic similar to your mother, with the added gift of blessing any item with your powers. This eventually earned you the title Prince/ss Strong Wind and brought your family great pride. And while it wasn't fun to chase around flying cups or run from enchanted bullclones, at least you weren't a Redson level catastrophe!

➤ That was before the... hm, accident, though.

➤ It wasn't your fault! You'd practically been attached to Redson's hip since you learned to walk (and he to your's for even longer), what were you supposed to do when you heard him shrieking "dragon horse girl" at the top of his lungs?!

➤ (Nevermind you knew how dramatic your brother was...unfortunately for your parents [and anyone else who got involved with your family], you'd adapted his theatrics.)

➤ So you, upon hearing your beloved brother's scream, raced out of your mother's very important etiquette lessons and to your brother's room, damn-near ripping the door of its hinges when you busted in. You were so trained on the fact there was a stranger in Redson's room that you didn't even spare him a glance, missing the giant grin on his face (one that quickly morphs into "oh shit", mind you).

➤ The stranger—or the dragon horse girl, as you presumed—gave you a big, lop-sided smile, acting as if she hadn't just broke into the Demon Bull family's keep!

➤ "OHHHH, you must be Redson's new nibby! I'm—"

➤ You didn't give her the chance to go a second further. Whipping winds travelled down your shoulder to your wrist, and when you outstretched your hand, a powerful gust struck the dragon horse girl right in the chest and forced her into the wall, cracking it.

➤ She peeled herself from the wall with a groan, wincing as she looked at you. You're quite the sight, raging winds strengthening around you, steam surely billowing from your ears and nostrils, teeth bared threateningly as you stalked closer.

➤ For a second, she looked afraid, and you internally rejoice at that. Yes. Yes! You've done it; you've protected your brother, your family, and your reputation as the baddest demons in this sorry city!

➤ But just as you were about to send the dragon horse girl through a few walls (and hopefully out of your house), Redson slid in front of her, halting your attack.

➤ "(Name), you have to calm down!" he yelled over the wind, bracing his arms over his face and creating a small shield.

➤ Your brows furrowed upon hearing your brother speak. It was hard to understand what he said between the wind and the adrenaline, but you managed to grasp on to the words just enough that the air relaxed ever-so-slightly.

➤ "But I...I'm protecting you! I'm protecting the family!" you replied back, the harsh gusts making you stumble to the side a bit.

➤ "Yes, you're doing so well, (name)!" Redson praised you, an ecstatic expression on his face. Then his eyes flicker behind him and you can just barely make out a scowl on the dragon girl's face, making him clear his throat. "However, this is no stranger. This is my... friend. She just has no manners."

➤ "HEY!"

➤ "Your friend?" you echoed, and the wind finally relented. When it disappeared, a fair amount of your energy went with it. Redson hurried forward to stabilize you, one hand holding your shoulder and the other holding your hand.

➤ "There you go, (name)," Redson said softly, guiding your breathing. "There you go. Breathe. Relax. Let it go."

➤ "I'm sorry," you mumbled, bone-tired now that your attack was over. "I didn't—I was worried, I thought you were...in trouble."

➤ Redson hummed, walking you to his bed and sitting you down. "I understand. I'm sorry I worried you."

➤ Eventually, the dragon horse girl wandered closer, rubbing the back of the neck sheepishly. "Yeah...I'm sorry, too. I'm used to just Redboy being here so I, uh...don't bother knocking," she says with a small smile.

➤ Redson gave her a side-eyed expression and a raised eyebrow, then huffed and focused back on you.

➤ "Would you like to spend the day with us? Mei and I are making gauntlets to help her with her powers, so you two can get acquainted and make sure we're playing nice."

➤ You smiled, comforted by your brother's sweetness. "That'd be nice."

➤ Mei will definitely bully him for being so soft later, but for now (and, let's be honest, forever), all he cared about was that smile on your face.

╔⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤╝❀╚⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤╗ 🔮 SIX-EARED MACAQUE 🔮 ╚⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤╗❀╔⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤╝

➤ Macaque was no stranger to life on the streets, well-aware of the lack of food and water, shelter, good clothes, and protection. He was familiar with just how dehumanizing it could be to live in Megapolis' alleys, scrounging from dumpsters and snoozing in dilapidated buildings until having to move to avoid being found by less-than-forgiving company.

➤ Maybe that's why, when he found you in the alley behind his dojo trying to cram yourself beneath a dumpster to hide from a hailstorm, he invited you in.

➤ And maybe MK's rubbed off on him more than he expected, because after he let you in, he never made you leave.

➤ Eventually, you two went from co-existing to something more...familial. It was sort of like you'd been there the whole time with the way Macaque's routine came to revolve around you.

➤ Anyway. That's to say you were very grateful the demon gave you a home that stormy night.

➤ Maybe a little too grateful.

➤ Early on, Macaque noticed your determination to "pay him back" for his kindness. It was a silly concept to him, and when he started to realize just how dedicated you were, he tried valiantly to convince you it wasn't necessary.

➤ You didn't relent, and for several weeks, you bent over backwards to try to make things even between the two of you.

➤ And then, just when you were coming to terms with never being able to repay him, a big bad wolf wandered by.

➤ You were asleep when you awoke to shattering glass, the sharp sound making you bolt straight-up. Your heart pounded in your ears as you kept listening, and you contemplated calling for Macaque, but the man had six ears. He could hear your heart, and surely its rabbit-like rhythm would have been enough to draw him to you if the broken glass didn't.

➤ Something was wrong.

➤ You slipped out of bed as quietly as you could manage, tiptoeing out of your room and to the top of the stairs. You listened intently, hoping for a clue of what to do.

➤ With every second that passed, you felt sillier. Maybe you imagined it. Maybe you had a nightmare and it scared you so bad you woke up. Maybe you were still dreaming.

➤ But then you heard a screech unmistakably belonging to Macaque, succeeded by crashing, and you couldn't stop yourself from racing down the stairs, your thudding footsteps nothing in comparison to the thud thud thud of your hammering heartbeat.

➤ As you turned the corner, you found the broken window, glass scattered all over the dojo floor; and across from it, Macaque pinned beneath a behemoth of a wolf demon.

➤ You didn't even think, your body naturally moving towards the intruder with malicious intent. You barely noticed your body shift, teeth and nails sharpening like daggers and a tail sprouting from your back.

➤ You landed on their back and, purely on instinct, sunk your teeth into the back of their neck, tightening your grip on them when they shrieked and reared back, allowing Macaque to scramble away. The demon watched in shock as you remained latched to the intruder's neck despite their wails and attempts to tug you off, blood dripping down their body and on to the dojo floor.

➤ Unfortunately, Macaque remained in his shocked state until the wolf demon managed to grab you by the hair and rip you off of them, making you cry out as you dangled from their hand. You heard the shadow caster snarl, your only warning before the intruder was helplessly dragged into a shadow portal by angry clones, one of them snagging you before he disappeared completely.

➤ "..id, hey, kid, kid!" You blinked as you found yourself in Macaque's arms, the monkey's expression sharp with pain and worry. "Hey, are you with me, kid?"

➤ "I...I'm...I don't know what...I was...who..." you babbled uselessly, your voice began to descend into sobs as the pain set in. Aside from your body just aching, your head felt hot, a little wet, and that scared you—but not as much as the sticky, iron taste coating your mouth, staining your chin and your hands when you tried to wipe it away.

➤ "Fuck, kid," Macaque hissed under his breath, a gentle hand pressing against your head. "Why would you do that?"

➤ "I-I have to protect you," you stuttered, whimpering as a wave of pain rippled through your head.

➤ "Protect—" he cut himself off, his expression firm and his lips pressed into a thin line. When he spoke again, it was softer. "We're going to have a very, very serious conversation about this "I owe you" bullshit later, but for now we're going to go patch you up, okay?"

➤ You don't answer, too busy trying to fight off tears. But then Macaque presses a soft kiss to your temple as he gathers you in his arms and stands, whispering, "I'm proud of you, (name)."

➤ Maybe taking care of each other was just part of having a home.

╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝❀╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗ 🍑 SUN WUKONG 🍑 ╚⏤⏤⏤⏤╗❀╔⏤⏤⏤⏤╝

➤ Wukong... didn't really know how he met you.

➤ You just kinda...showed up. No, literally. He was taking a walk along the beach one day and you were just there; some random little seemingly human baby crying on sand, waves lapping at your chunky legs.

➤ Wukong knew jackshit about human babies, but he figured he couldn't just leave you there at the mercy of the ocean (and he'd never hear the end of it from the troop's elders, which might have been the more effective encouragement at the time), so he picked you up, cradled you in his arms as best as someone with no knowledge of how to hold babies could, and sought out the mothers of the troop.

➤ Despite knowing he wasn't really qualified for the job, he grew attached to you very quickly. And you seemed to do the same, if your wails were anything to go off of when he tried to hand you to some of the other, more experienced parents. So Wukong, for all intents and purposes, became your father, giving you a liege of auntie and uncle and cousin equivalents ready to fight for you at the drop of a pin.

➤ It was...hard. Oh, wow, it was hard. You seemed to be an especially picky baby, which made caring for you even more difficult considering all your guardians were monkeys who barely ever interacted with humans. Wukong found himself frequently visiting the growing village across the sea, keeping himself updated on appliances and foods in human homes.

➤ As you grew older, he discovered you especially liked fish, which meant he had to learn how to fish (it was very, very embarrassing in the beginning), but also that your fussiness over food basically evaporated as long as you had some seafood during the day.

➤ Foolishly, Wukong thought this would be the end of his parental struggles.

➤ It was one of many days where you picked fruit with the troop, but the first in weeks where you'd gotten to check out the west side of the island. Previously, Wukong had said some hunters moved in and he wanted to make absolutely sure they left before allowing you or the monkeys near that side of the mountain. That time seemed to have come, the scent of humans faint on the breeze.

➤ So finally, after hundreds of agonizing hours, you got to harvest the westside fruit with your family! Some of the adolescent monkeys aided you and the adults in filling the baskets while the infants played, with a few hanging on to you and napping. It was going wonderfully...

➤ Until it wasn't.

➤ All you heard was a shrill warning bark before one of the monkeys screamed. You whipped around, horror gripping you as your eyes locked on to a hunting dog latching its jaws around the arm of one of the elder monkeys, forcing them to the ground.

➤ "NO!" You shrieked, dropping your basket as you raced towards the dog. You tried valiantly to rip it off, but you were quickly seized from behind and pulled backwards.

➤ "Stop! Let me go! BÀBÀ!" You screamed, fighting and kicking as hard as you could to break free. It was a fruitless venture, and you felt yourself slow to a stop in shock as hunters poured from the woods, escorted by hunting dogs who kept the monkeys from running away.

➤ Seeing this did nothing short of destroying you, and you felt something...swimming beneath your skin. It grew hotter and hotter, your breath coming out in ragged ivory puffs like...steam? It was strange, to you, to the troop, to the hunters, and everyone stopped, watching you with bated breath.

➤ "Let them go," you hissed, straining with effort as the heat increased. "and get off my mountain."

➤ The hunter holding you laughed, condescending and wicked. "Your mountain? What is this, some "raised by wolves" bullshit?"

➤ "No," you wheezed. "raised by monkeys, and I'll not have you beasts terrorizing us any longer."

➤ "Wha—" the hunter had no time to finish as your body dramatically morphed, replaced by a green-blue scaled dragon; small by dragon standards and yet still vastly sized compared to the foolish humans that invaded your home.

➤ With a roar, the heat coursing through your body built in the back of your throat and shot out in way of boiling water, making the victims who didn't duck in time howl in agony. Hunters dropped their weapons, screaming indistinct orders as they ran, dogs in tow, and you gave chase for a bit, literally snapping at the heels of the few slowpokes in the back.

➤ When they're out of sight, you stomped back to the troop, softening your footsteps when you saw them. You quickly realized speaking was hard in this form, so you laid down, hoping you hadn't scared your family.

➤ And slowly, surely, they crept towards you, running their hands over your scales. Some of them crawled on top of you, exploring your new form, while the others held your face, stroking you comfortingly. A few vanished into the forest, presumably to fetch Wukong.

➤ "We thank you, Prince/ss," cooed the monkeys.

➤ "Yes, you've vanquished the hunters, Prince/ss! Our King will be proud of you."

➤ Finally, Wukong appeared, rushing in on his somersault cloud with a few monkeys hanging on to his clothes. You nearly cried upon seeing your father—or you would have, if you weren't currently a dragon...

➤ "Oh, pit seed!" Wukong cried, the other monkeys making room for you as he knelt before you and held your head. "The monkeys—they told me that t-the hunters didn't leave. I'm so sorry, pit seed, I swore they'd left, I should have been more careful, more thorough—"

➤ A rumble cut through you, a desperate attempt to speak to your father. In quick succession, another rumble of frustration escaped you, boiling water beginning to drip from your jaws.

➤ Please please PLEASE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO TALK TO YOU, I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CHANGE BACK, I DON'T—

➤ "I understand you, pit seed, don't worry," Wukong soothed, brushing the water away from your scales without so much as flinching. "You have to relax. Think of your human form. What it looks like, how it feels. Imagine changing back. Go on, that's it. You're doing so well, pit seed."

➤ Before you knew it, you'd shifted back, on your knees with your head in Wukong's hands. You met his eyes and your lip quivered, and the Monkey King pulled you into a tight hug once he saw it.

➤ "I-I'm sorry, Bàba, I didn't know what to do a-and Tāo got hurt and—" You tapered off into sobbing, burying your face in your father's neck. He hushed you affectionately, rubbing your back and gently rocking you.

➤ "I'm so tired," you whimper.

➤ Wukong laughed gently. "I bet, pit seed. Go on and sleep. Bàba will handle it from here."

➤ And sleep you do, comforted by the closeness of your troop and familiar presence of your father.

➤ Wukong lifted you carefully, cradling you to his chest as he approached his cloud. He turned to two of the larger monkeys in the group, the two straightening as their king addressed them. "Put Tāo up here so I can see to him," he said softly. "and make sure everyone steers clear of the westside again. I'll make sure the problem is properly dealt with this time."

➤ The monkeys didn't think the hunters would get off with a warning this time.

❝ I can't keep my cool, I can't keep my cool . . .❞

[kingsmoot]

I would like to please here about the TheonAsha sex please.

your wish is my command i've been dying to talk about it. halfway through writing this i got:

so no less than two (2) people want my scroll unrolled.

i'll start by explaining why it will never happen in canon and why it shouldn't, since that's the first thing i said in my reply:

theon's pursuit of "esgred" and asha's sexual humiliation and assault of him throughout acok is evidence of theon's failure as a greyjoy, and of their total familial disconnect.

theon doesn't recognize asha. doesn't know the names of any of the captains of the iron islands or their ships. doesn't notice the locals paying deference to their princess. he's totally willingly blind to his environment and to his sister.

asha, in turn, is disconnected enough from this young stranger that she propositions him, humiliates him, and assaults him. because he is not her little brother, he is just some wolfbrained greenlander.

i'll let someone else summarize this more concisely:

^ managing monsters by marina warner, screenshot originally posted by @/amourdoloup

which, of course, is why when they reunite in adwd

this is what i meant about theon's arc having what could be a sound and narratively satisfying conclusion in adwd. after spending all of agot and acok in denial and in willful ignorance of his own identity, the old gods gave him back his name. asha is not a stranger to him anymore, nor is he to her. he knows who he is. he knows his name.

interestingly, i think this is a great narrative parallel to cersei and jaime, who are convinced they are one soul in two bodies, totally inseparable, both the warrior and the maiden, as familial as it gets, but who ACTUALLY do not know one another at all. and i think their narrative arc will conclude similarly, when this inability to truly recognize one another is destroyed and they die in one another's arms. but that's neither here nor there.

ok. theon and asha. BEAUTIFUL. we love it. a masterpiece as always. george, i owe you my life.

however,

under the cut for rape and sexual assault and consensual rape kink at the end and also thramsay mentioned and also nsfw text

as to why i started shipping it this is very simple i thought asha pretending to be a rando named esgred to assault her baby brother was hot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i thought it was hot before the asha reveal and i thought it was way hotter afterwards

i would lurve for them to have fucked during acok before theon left to go conquer da norf BUT

(a) i don't think if asha had propositioned him again that theon would have taken her up on it. he's very sensitive to humiliation and very prickly about being talked down to, especially by his family who he is already pissed did not miss him while he was away. i actually think asha does proposition him again in the great hall when she grabs his penis and he immediately flushes with rage at the invasion. he is no longer open to fucking her because she is seeking to (and succeeding at!!) belittle him, and he cannot tolerate that. but i think if he hadn't raged out on her she would've been down.

(b) i think if they HAD fucked (and i use that word v broadly here so like any version or degree or base of "hooking up". like if they had gotten physical in some way that involved mutual erotic and sexual pleasure) before theon left, he would have gone with asha when she stopped by winterfell to call him a pathetic failure and offer him a ride home. i think it (hooking up) would have been enough to either convince him that she did care for him (even if only as a lover and not as a big sister) or engender an affection for her in him that would have been greater than his pride. i think what makes theon stay at winterfell when all hope is clearly gone and what makes him scrap his one chance at survival/rescue is that he resents asha for being a better more desireable heir than him. while being a woman!!! so he lets her leave him even though he knows it means his death. because he will not concede to be coddled by her. just part of the relentless pride and arrogance that dooms him 🖤🖤🖤

why would i have loved for them to hook up during acok even though it would not work narratively? because it would be hot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i don't want or need this to happen in canon i can just enjoy and produce one shot fanfiction

the latest room in my mind palace is one in which while they're stuck snowed in at stannis' camp asha coaxes theon into playing the aggressor in her rape kink fantasy and she does this with sweet sisterly motivations of sexual healing

this is also just because i think it would be hot

like theon has been gang + solo raped and tortured in a shipping container for upwards of a year. i think it would be affirming and validating for his first consensual sexual experience after all that to allow him to play aggressor. and asha likes playing victim in her rape kink, like... it writes itself.

this is too cutiepie honeybunch to be canonically plausible but that is ok with me i don't need george to write it i can write it myself!! i hate all his sex scenes anyway so this is much preferable (also unsurprising that a 70yo straight man has a different concept of The Erotic than i do. i forgive him for making me read all that shit.)

ummmmmmm i also like the idea of someone restoring theon's confidence enough that he would put his shortened fingers inside of them AND I WOULD LIKE THAT PERSON TO BE ASHA. again too cutiepie honeybunch to ever happen but perhaps jon snow will pull through in this regard I'M SURE WE'LL FIND OUT WHEN TWOW DROPS THIS YEAR

[flamingskull28]

Ok so I may have made an Agent 32 villain AU. Here is a very rough draft of it.

4 and 8 are ruleing over basically everything after the events of side order showed them just what they could accomplish.

They live in a manor over looking Splatsville, thats fairly large. They even installed a throne that looks out a window looking at the city.

They have the "One sits in the throne and the other is strewn on their lap." kinda thing going on (4's mostly the one on the throne)

and they get back at everyone for leaving them to watch the canyon

like 3 is forced to be a servant for them as punishment for mocking 4 and 8 and acting likes she's better than them.

She hates having to watch them being stupidly gay while she just has to stand to the side and wait for orders. Like getting them wine or giving them massages.

Marie is forced to be like a sub cook so she knows what being bossed around is like. She is also in charge of their paperwork (its double checked afterwards to make sure she didn't sabotage it)

Callie I'm not sure but maybe something like having to spend 2 hours everyday fighting full x ranked teams by herself for making 4 have to fight her over and over.

though I think 4 would be a bit more lenient with Callie.

Even so 4 and 8 watch the matchs for fun all the time.

Neo 3 is forced to keep the others in check as some sort of guard (they secretly like getting to boss around 3 and the squid sisters but try not to abuse it)

Neo 3 was left alone at first but tried to free the others and got captured, 4 convinced them that it would be it much for fun for them if they complied and just guarded the others.

I think pearl and Marina would be allowed to be free, by order of 8 but they come by 4 and 8's Mannor every once and a while.

Pearl is kinda supportive and 4 and 8's rule

Marina is less so but doesn't full object (and knows better than to do so)

I think deep cut would be in full support of them and 4 and 8 would leave them be.

4 and 8 would also be in command of the octarien army

that's how they keep their mix of chaos and order

they treat them much better than Octavio did so they stay loyal (and they aren't forced to stay)

they used lines like "we were used as well but now we can be in charge!" to convince the soldiers.

Octavio is probably on public display for people to throw eggs at

a similar thing is probably the case for cuttlefish, or he was just thrown in a retirement home.

the other agents live in like shared prison room in 4 and 8's manor

at this point I think they all have come to terms with their fate and all accept the punishment for their actions

they did try and escape and rebel once before or maybe more times but 4 and 8 beat them easily and they just gave up.

Feel free to ask questions or add ideas. I may do a short fic about this someday. Might make it more angsty as well.

[dollypopup]

colin should 'suffer' for penelope

aka: 5 short reasons why wanting colin to 'suffer' or 'grovel' or whatever other bullshit this fandom keeps pulling is stupid and makes no sense and should have been buried ages ago, how is this still a thing?

1: it sets a terrible and unhealthy dynamic between an endgame couple

especially considering Polin's motif is that of a mirror, if Colin is expected to grovel or suffer for Penelope's affection and forgiveness, it only stands to reason that Penelope then, too, would have to reciprocate. how Penelope treats Colin's ills is setting the precedent for how he's expected to handle her own against him, of which there are many. giving him the cold shoulder, holding what he said over his head and rubbing it in his face, potentially not even explaining why she's upset at him: these are not signs of a mature woman ready for a marriage to ANYONE

2: Colin's slights against Penelope are considerably less harmful than Penelope's against Colin's and it makes no narrative sense for her to be on her high horse about it

'he ruined her prospects' 'he talked about her behind her back' 'he laughed at her' (we don't even know if that one's true, frankly speaking)

but Penelope did the exact same to him and she did so first. Please remember that Penelope is the reason Colin and Marina broke up, and it was her express goal the entire time. Penelope humiliated Colin and Marina both by exposing them publicly (not to mention rubbed the salt into the wound for days afterward). Penelope didn't even think about Colin's feelings because she tried to confess her crush on him immediately after his engagement went poof. Penelope holding Colin accountable for what he said without herself recognizing the ways in which she's hurt him, too, makes her out to be a hella hypocrite

3: it's weirdly catholic on main?

love isn't about suffering points or penance or guilt and i'm tired of Christianity pervading every damn thing. sorry not sorry, some of us want an actually fulfilling love story

4: y'all are just mad Colin didn't love Penelope back from jump and it's a revenge fantasy

which, fine, that's what fanfic is for, but it's OOC, y'all are aware of that, right? because if he DID want her from the start, we all know that it wouldn't be Polin? why are you shipping a friends to lovers ship if you INSIST that the friends to lovers dynamic is less than? guess what? unreciprocated love is kind of part of the deal. you don't hold a grudge against your friend for not loving you back immediately. Colin shows he cares about Penelope in SO MANY WAYS that somehow are completely invalidated because it isn't meant to be romantic? imma say it: fuck you if you think that way. friendships are important and beautiful and deep and fulfilling with or without romance. Colin sticking his neck out for Penelope to help her family from Jack's scheme? an act of love. Colin sending Penelope letters after her father passed? act of love. Colin telling Penelope she's 'really very good' and holding her hand in appreciation of her coming to talk to him? act of love. if you think those acts of love mean nothing just because he isn't fucking her seven ways to sunday, maybe analyze your own viewpoint of relationships and ship Pen w/ some random stranger who makes heart eyes at her tits from jump

5: it makes Penelope an asshole to her own long term partner

dude, if a friend of mine insisted I crawl on hands and knees to determine whether they want me back in their lives, i don't want to be around that person? so many of these narratives make Penelope a straight up terrible person. if you want your partner to suffer? you probably don't actually like them very much, but Polin is narratively MEANT to be the couple that likes AND loves one another. be real, if your friend ghosted you for months, gave you the cold shoulder when you tried to talk again, treated you like shit (you can't argue that him 'suffering' isn't treating him like shit in some way shape or form) as you tried to apologize, and then you find out that she was the reason you and your ex broke up and she wrote straight up nasty things about your family for YEARS, you would want absolutely nothing to do with that friend. why should Colin be expected to be any different? do these two not deserve a lovely love story built on love and affection and trust and honesty? a healthy happy relationship in which they see one another and appreciate one another for all they are? no? so why do you ship them?

+1: it's oversaturated in this fandom

polin is a fantastic ship. how is THIS their main trope?

find a new fucking idea, PLEASE

[frodothefair]

New OC for Expats, let's go!

Ok, this wasn't even that hard! I was in the shower, and came up with a character sketch for my movie-star OC for Expats. What do you think? (Any similarities to real people, living or dead, are purely incidental).

Meet Elliot James. He is a Hollywood actor who got his start as a child star, but came to prominence when he appeared in a fantasy epic loosely based on events in early Medieval Britain, where he played a sweet, heroic squire who saved the day, but ended up giving his life in the process. Afterwards, he became a household name and in demand for everyone's epic or period piece anywhere, and while this was certainly very nice, it was somewhat disappointing to be typecast, so he tried to seek out other roles -- in indie films, horror movies, and genre cinema.

In rapid succession in his early 20's, he played a sick WWI veteran in a period piece with a plot like Flowers of Mordor, a prince in the medieval French history franchise Les Rois Maudits, a young Louis XIV, King Francis in a movie about Mary Queen of Scots (ok, yes, a lot of Frenchness here), and Nikolai Rostov in War and Peace. He also played Pip in Great Expectations, and Link in a cinema franchise of Legend of Zelda, and was one of the brothers in a multi-season Regency-era show similar to Bridgerton. He came to see his period piece and fantasy work as a "Jury duty" of sorts, but did it to please the fans and because he had some difficulty saying no. In the end, however, he put his foot down, and instead of taking the role of Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island, which he was all but being bribed to do, he insisted on auditioning for Blind Pew and Israel Hands.

Why does he get typecast playing young literary and historic characters, you may ask? Well, this is because after age 20, he looks like he essentially stopped aging. He is also short and slightly built, and looks like he stepped off a renaissance painting. He has striking hazel eyes that look like liquid gold, and naturally curly dark blonde hair.

In terms of personal history, he hails from South Dakota, from a long line of ranchers and early settlers to the area of Swedish and German extraction. (Hello, inspiration from Mr. Nisilë's white heritage). His mother raised him and his sister alone, and he has a very loving, down-to-earth and supportive family of origin. However, work as a child actor gave him a lifelong hair-pulling habit, to the point of trichotillomania at times, and he is completely unable to grow a beard of his own as a result.

In his personal life, he gets together with a fan named Marina who is an immigrant from Ukraine and has both Ukranian and Russian heritage. They connect over his upcoming work on War and Peace, and impending trip to Eastern Europe to film it. (This is obviously well before the present day). During his (very ample) free time, Elliot enjoys collecting and listening to vinyl records, attending live concerts, traveling as incognito as he realistically can with his distinctive looks, and watching off-off-Broadway plays (or whatever the LA analog is for this). Ironically, he has never been in a play himself, except for a school play at a very young age.

With his girlfriend and later wife, he is a total sweetheart, and his mental illness helps him understand hers. He is also a complete and utter goofball, slightly disorganized in his household and self care, and unassuming and slightly awkward whenever the cameras are off. The weirder the topic of conversation with him, the better.

His partner, Marina, works as a medical malpractice lawyer who defends doctors, and has a crazy, domineering mother who both loves and dislikes Elliot, and belittles his work behind his back, comparing him to old Soviet actors who she thinks are the true greats. However, she has no qualms about accepting gifts and financial assistance from him. (Guess who this is based on, haha).

Elliot never went to college himself, but he paid for the college education of his sister and Marina's law education. The only thing he asked for in return was that Marina and his sister share the particularly interesting things they learned whenever they could.

What do you think?

@konartiste @emmanuellececchi

[squidkidnerd]

Writing Notes - "Bomb Rush Blush (but it never ends)

Hey guys! Happy C4ll13 day! If you haven't read it yet, I posted a fic to mark this special occasion, and you can read it here. Initially I was just gonna ramble in the notes in ao3 like I've done for the other 2 oneshots I've posted, but then I realized I have too many Thoughts™ to just put there... so here we go! Spoilers for the fic ahead!

Before we talk about the fic itself, I want to talk about Side Order.

When it first came out, many people were disappointed. I worried I would be too, at first, but after beating it the first time (and now having done it with all of them except Eight's) I can say that I personally wasn't. The color chips are insanely fun and I love them: truly the best take on upgrades we've seen in Splatoon. However, that's not the main part people were disappointed by: instead, it was the story.

And yeah, I agree.

The problem with Side Order is not conceptual. It has all the ingredients to make something really good. The problem is that it doesn't use any of them. Specifically, with grayscaling. What even is grayscaling? We don't really know. All we get is an exposition dump from Marina and that's it. That's... not good. There's a reason "show don't tell" is preached to the nines. Because we don't know what grayscaling means, it's hard to really care about anything that's going on. We're climbing up this tower for... what? To save a bunch of random people? We don't even have any reason to believe they're in danger. Saving Marina would have fixed this, but that goes out the window after you clear the tutorial because she's just... there. Afterward. There's no motivation to get to the top of the tower, no reason to beat Order. You just do it... well, because you have to.

That's bad.

So yeah. After Side Order, I was eagerly waiting to see if anyone would do something cool with the grayscaling... but to no avail. So, I took power into my own hands and wrote this thing.

Grayscaling—what even is it?: Yeah, I had to answer this before I did anything else. What I came up is well, best summed up by the phrase used in the fic itself: dissociative depression. One of the few details we get about grayscaling canonically is that it's a "loss of free will." And well... depression kinda is exactly that, isn't it? Well, it literally isn't, but in a way, depression saps out the energy you could've used to make changes in your life. It traps you, making you believe there's no escape. It's stagnant, unchanging, just like Order wants everything and everyone to be. And the dissociation comes from the fact that grayscaling occurs when your soul is literally sucked in to the Memverse. The way I see it, with a "soul" almost being like consciousness, that means your mind is being sucked into the Memverse too. Given that souls are very resistant to being separated from the body, I imagine this isn't a pretty process. Hence, the dissociative episodes that occur when a soul is being sucked in... and the "snap" back. These episodes are uncontrollable, which is what makes them dangerous. Imagine if you're driving on the highway and this suddenly happens to you. What happens if the person in front of you breaks during it? Well, an accident.

The Squid Sisters and mental health issues: Famous celebrity or not, everyone struggles with mental health sometimes... hence, why I gave the Squid Sisters a history of it in this fic. For Marie, it felt very fitting to give her depression. She comes off as cold and uncaring sometimes, and depression can make you into that. I also wanted to reference the fact that she's struggled with this several times throughout her life, because while many people have one depressive "episode," many cycle through several in their life like Marie. Just like in real life, it gets better and worse for her from time to time. And for Callie, while the focus is Marie for most of this fic, I think she struggles with anxiety. Callie is the exact opposite of Marie, she's happy and peppy and go go go, and anxiety is almost like the opposite of depression. Like Marie, she suppresses her symptoms just as intensely, if not more.

Callie and Marie's relationship: As with what happens whenever I write new characters, I was at first worried about writing these two, but as it turned out, it went pretty well! They're like true sisters in that they do their fair share of jesting (see: Callie calling Marie "grandma," which is something actually in in-game dialogue), but deep down, really care about each other. They've also done a lot of growth since S2, which is why this situation is so distressing for them at first. It can be scary to realize you're falling back on old patterns... but at the end of the day, you're moving forward regardless.

Dr Herring and THE EMAIL SKIN YAAAYY: Part 1 of the snazzy formatting, the email skin! I found it online, it's pretty neat, but let me tell you... it was a pain to get it all right for every single email. Still, I think it worked out really cool and adds some nice realism to this fic. Now, as for the emails themselves, I think they serve several purposes. For one, they show how deeply Callie cares about Marie because you know, she's literally emailing her therapist. They also do some exposition. I always like doing exposition like this, where it's an-universe thing that is directly told to characters rather than being in narration or something, because it's far more natural and interesting. It's also why there's the scene with Jay... and just in general why I write a lot of scene where characters find things out by eavesdropping

The News (snazzy formatting part 2): Yeah, the news articles! Again, for a touch of realism and to include exposition without it being jarring. While the first one wasn't that hard (I just made the text into headers), the second... definitely was. Specifically, because it's a podcast transcript and I wanted to have the names on the left and the text a unified block on the right like real ones... so, I had to learn how to code tables with HTML! It took me a bit and at some points it randomly moved the text to the end of the fic with a bunch of line breaks, but I figured it out and I'm very happy with it! I hope to do more cool formatting with my fics in the future.

The... Actual Content of the News: Remember when I mentioned how the dissociation caused by grayscaling could be dangerous? Yeah, I knew I wanted to fulfill my promises with that. The reason was... well, I wanted grayscaling to have actual consequences. I mean obviously depression is bad, but this makes it way scarier. Like, people are dying! The Persona series does this in its beginnings and it works super well.

The Ending: Man, poor Callie. She's been through the ringer. I ended it like this because it's still a few months/weeks before Side Order, and I imagine Order's takeover took a while. Yeah, canonically it took place in *one* day I think, but I don't care about canon. It's way more interesting if it gets actual buildup. But... don't worry, she isn't like this forever obviously. I might write a second chapter of some kind where she gets better in the future, who knows.

So yeah! Happy C4ll13 day! I've wanted to share this fic for a while, especially because it's more angsty and I haven't written anything quite like it yet? Or at least, anything that I've posted. I'm also planning a similar fic from Marie's perspective that covers the same events called "Tide Goes Out (but never comes back in). That will come out... whenever I feel like because March 13th is in like, eleven months. I also have a larger, Side Order-related project that is basically my retelling of the story with some tweaks called Monochrome Malaise. Both are fun and I hope I get to them so... no promises.

Anyways, enough writing talk. I'm on April break, which means... I'm graduating soon! Yay! That also means I'm one step closer to getting a cochlear implant in my left ear. If you've been following my writing for a while, you know that I lost hearing in it randomly in February 2023 and have been basically half-deaf ever since, which has been a struggle and a half. This implant will hopefully help me hear better, since I can't use a hearing aid. It's a surgery though, which is scary... they literally stick a magnet under your skin and put a wire of electrodes through your cochlea. No, I'm not making it up. Since I'll be out of commission for a bit because of that, that means... more writing! Yay! I can only imagine I'll be bored out of my mind lol.

So yeah! RIP Splatoon 1 and happy April, Neil banging out the tunes and Homestuck day! Hope it's a good one for you.

[spaceshipsoutthepool]

Another WIP Wednesday!

You get a second one today cos this one is festive! Belated jingly bells! and blame @teapotteringabout re the mistletoe.

and context, for the fic Marina is using a mix of signs and gestures and werid ocean hokey pokie telepathy jazz.

“For Kissing? Poinous plants for are kissing?”

“Yes. It’s a tradition. A Kiss Under the mistletoe.”  Atlanta explained. 

despite being told to take it easy Atlanta was insistent she still hang up the decorations. and woudn’t hear of anyone else doing it for her. Troy was only allowed to hold the step ladder while she was up it in the lounge door way. She was being careful while and where she was hanging the mistletoe. Marina still eyed it with mistrust as Atlanta pinned it’s ribbon in place.

“Even plastic plant? And Kiss? Like really kiss? land / Human kiss?” she clarified, and Pointed at her lips, then tapped them. 

“No!” Atlanta squarked. She nearly dropped the darn thing. Atlanta amended. “no. No honey, You don't have to do that.”  

“Maybe just give people a peck on the cheek instead?” Troy suggested.

“Or nothing.” Atlanta Stressed at him. Then finishing hanging the fake decoration tuned back to Marina. “You don’t have to kiss anyone. at all. not if you don’t want too. And you don’t have to be kissed either, cheek or lips. Don't let anyone pressure you!”

The mermaid relaxed a lot at that.

“That said, don't teach them a lesson like you did to Mackle.” Atlanta warned. Troy agreed.

“Yeah, we don’t want you grounded again Marina!”

“I'm only going to hand a few sprigs up. This one and a couple there and maybe over in the hall. so you can avoid it at the party.”  

Marina nodded and signed her thanks. And then [fill]

Both helping her down the step ladder.

“Peck?” Marina asked Troy. “That's a cheek kiss? called peck?”

“Yeah.”

“so still kiss under plant? Tradition?”

Atlanta frowned.  

“What are you getting at? oh!”

Atlanta was Taken surprise As with a little hop up; Marina kissed her. On the cheek just before the corner of her of her lips.   she dosnt plucker her lips enough or angle her head quite right. So it's more a brush of closed lips and her nose pressed to Atlanta’s cheek / Nudgeing her nose agaist Atlanta's cheek.

 It was more a bump or a nudge then a Peck really. Like the one Marina had given to Shellfia that time, but not as squishey.  

“Ain't that sweet.” Troy teased. Atlanta blinked.

“Like that?” Marina asked cheekily.

“Yes! i mean. I suppose. but Only if you want to, Marina. And like the person.” Atlanta stammered. Marina Beamed nodding. 

Oh no.

[Atlan heart eyes]

Atlanta felt possivly Giddy. To giddy to go back up the ladder and let Troy take over.  

Worse she was distracted about it all evening. Right up until Troy gave her a real kiss in the same doorway. And even then she was still thinking about Marina afterwards.

;) hark a smooch!!!

[adrianasunderworld]

The White Ash Midnight Ball: event concept.

I've mentioned before in some of my White Ash post about this thing called the Midnight Ball. It's an annual joint ball between WAI, NRC, and RSA. It's meant to honor part of the legacy of White Ashes founder, the fairy godmother, and her most famous achievement: turning a scullery maid into a princess. In the spirit of Cinderella, the big thing about the Midnight Ball is to not know who your dance partners are. Just as she did not know the identity of the prince. And what better way to ensure that than a masquerade? The ballroom is enchanted so you can't actually take off your mask until the stroke of twelve when it ends, then you may choose to reveal yourself or keep the mystery alive. The ball is held during the spring the night before students leave for spring break. It's something fun to send them off home in high spirits.

The SR card backgrounds would look like the ball scene from Cinderella. With all these dreamy soft colors.

The gist of how this would play is that it's a twistune event. That you would play while people are dancing. As for the plot, the gist of it is that the ball is coming up, and the schools each send a couple students to form the planning committee. Yuu, of course, gets roped into it as one of NRCs representatives. Along with Silver. White Ash is the one who typically hosts it, so a magic carriage is sent to pick up the students at the other schools and Yuu and Silver are whisked away to WAI for the committee meeting. There Yuu meets the students who are also on planning duty and among them is a girl named Phillipa. Phillipa and Silver know each other from equestrian tournaments and Yuu is often tagging along with them.

Like in the Wish Upon a Star event, we see other characters and what they are doing in preparation for the event. Like other committee members talking about their jobs. Along with students from the other schools talking about their plans. Are they meeting friends? Have they picked out their mask? Etc. At some point Phillipa excitedly talks about the dress she bought, the only detail she gave  was that it was a striking red. Afterwards Yuu and Silver get pulled into impromptu waltzing lessons by WAI etiquette teacher, Professor Adelaide, and her daughter Marina. Insert twistune here. 

Eventually the ball comes and students are whisked away to White Ash in pumpkin carriages in their masquerade looks. While there, Silver comments that he can't find Phillipa anywhere in the sea of masked people, and the beginning of his drowsiness was not helpful. Silver falls asleep in a corner of the ballroom, and Yuu meets a girl in a red ball gown and owl mask. Something about her seems familiar, but she vanishes into the crowd. Switch to Silvers pov, he wakes up to that same girl asking him if he's okay. Silver replies that he's fine and to not worry. He and girl strike up a conversation and at some point she asks him to dance. Not wanting to be rude, he agrees and decides to look for the others after. The girl hangs out with them for the rest of the night. Silver wonders where Phillipa is, and the girl merely says she’s fine and enjoying herself. Yuu’s dialogue options imply they know the girls identity, but Silver doesn’t catch on.

As Midnight is drawing close and so does the ball, the girl ask Silver for one last dance and he goes along. At the stroke of midnight, the song ends. Everyone is cheering, people unmasking or running off in laughter. As Silver looks around at the chaos, he turns back to his partner, only to find that she’s gone, leaving only her mask behind.

[thecorvidcurio-if]

I am, have been and always will be obsessed with your writing. I am soo inlove with Abby but exceptionally excited to meet Kaida. I am always drawn to the crude standoffish characters call me a masochist 🤣♥️ i would love to know how the RO's would react if MC got into a minor accident ending up in the ER and had them as an emergency contact. (If it's not too much trouble)

Also wanted to share my appreciation and say i hope you are doing well. I know writing can be stressful and alot of pressure. Take care of yourself. 😇

This is such a sweet ask thank you for your kind words and well wishes ♥ I promise I'm taking care of myself as best I can. I appreciate you reading and sending this in ♥

Vicente wouldn't think twice about the fact that you put him down as your emergency contact. He's used to it. He's Abby's as well, and Kaida's, and Thea's (Thea is Marina's, Kaida is Shiloh's.) He'd be a fretful mess but once he finds out it's minor he'd lose the frantic edge and just generally be fretting about making sure you're comfortable and have everything you need. Expect to be spoiled, he worries too much and finds the act of care-taking to be soothing.

Abby's reaction to "MC put you as their emergency contact" is "oh yeah I can totally provide emergencies!" Once it is explained what an emergency contact actually is (someone else filled out his form) his reaction is an attempt to be responsible. Trying to keep himself on task to get there and do what he's supposed to do. He'll bring someone with him to help him navigate, literally any of the others except Shiloh would do, and their job is basically to act as intermediary between Abby and Human Society until they can get MC home... and to grab him when he starts wandering off. He's very flattered you put down his name, but he really doesn't think he's the person you want them to call in an emergency. He'll just make things worse, he thinks. Marina would play up how irritated she is to be bothered but really she's just miffed that she's so worried. When she finds out it's nothing serious she's a lot more chill about it, pokes fun at you for whatever happened since it didn't cause any lasting harm, says she better not get a call like that again but notably doesn't say to remove her as the emergency contact.

Thea would seem very put-together on the outside but on the inside she's melting down until she can confirm with her own eyes that MC is okay. There will be a lot of "are you sure you're alright? You're sure that you're sure? Okay but are you s-" She's very attentive and is actually very relieved to be MC's emergency contact so she can personally be sure that all is well. Kaida, similar to Thea, is glad he's the emergency contact. If someone he cares about is going to be in a bad spot, he wants to be the one called about it so he can make sure they're properly taken care of. He's efficient, meticulous, and gets MC out of the hospital in record time. It isn't that he doesn't worry, but when Kaida gets worried it's usually because a situation needs to be Addressed, so he shuts down his emotional responses until he can afford to deal with them. So, his initial panic when called is pushed down to make room for logic.

Shiloh wouldn't know what to do. Not the same way as Abby, it knows what an emergency contact is, it just doesn't know what to do because it has no official identity. It doesn't technically exist, and it can't just walk into a human hospital and sign release forms or anything like that. It would definitely need someone else to go in, and it would sort of... travel with them, in a way I can't explain without spoilers, and that person would need to speak for it and essentially pretend to be it. It would be very worried, and very confused, and afterwards it will be very clingy because even if the issue was minor, you gave it quite the fight.