jeanmoreaux · 1 year ago
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okay enough time has passed: theories predictions hopes dreams fears what are you expecting from TSC
so. while my mind is still processing the tsc announcement i think i am finally read to try and answer this ask djdjdjjdjd ((had to add a read more because this got longer than i intended 🧍🏼‍♀️))
nora said it’s about jean learning to live, so i assume the story will either overlap a little with the og series’ timeline or begin with jean’s start at usc (or somewhere close to that). i don’t expect a bigger time jump than that tbh. also, thinking about pov i assume it’s single narrator/main focalizer (hopefully jean!). i’d be very surprised by a multiple pov narration happening—doesn’t really feel like a nora thing to do. to me. also i assume it's gonna be a one book thing. not a series.
i do not expect the foxes to be a big part of the story beyond maybe seeing them at a banquet or championship game. i cannot even see renee being a big part of the plot tbh. ((but don’t be fooled i will eat up these glimpse for sure)) nora seemed so. hesitant? to touch tfc that i don’t assume she wants to include them much.
we have no idea how long the book is going to be, but i assume it’s not gonna be longer than tkm? so as much as i love jerejean i don’t think it’s gonna be a thing nora is going to explore with this story. not just because of things she said in the past, but also because i think it would be hard to deal with jean working through his trauma and moving on to live life and not just exist AND develop a relationship. ((same goes for the renee/jean pairing tbh)). and i am fine with that. the most important thing for me about this book will be jean and seeing him heal and adjust and get better. i don’t NEED more. if we get more that’s great too, but i have my doubts about that.
i assume we will still get a decent amount of jeremy and jean interactions because i can really see jeremy (as captain but also just as the person i assume him to be) to take on the responsibility of caring for jean and help him recover from everything he has been through with riko and tetsuji. i think not matter what happens he’ll have a big part in helping jean navigate his new environment.
and omg do i expect jean to STRUGGLE!! the trojans are THEE anti-thesis to the ravens in attitude so i see jean really being a slightly disruptive force at first. while i think he’ll adjust to the trojan way i cannot see him being like the others. he’ll always be a little different but i think it will make the trojans stronger (i can totally see jean teach them raven drills lol).
now moving on from that and more into trojans and exy territory I WANT TO SEE THE TEAM DYNAMIC SO BAD. and i am sure we will see it. i want to see the trojans be soooo patient with jean and absorb his anger and hurt and trauma and transform it into something bearable. i want for jean to HAVE FUN playing exy and not just play it because he has to. i want him to really fall in love with the sport in a way that is not affected by the fact that the moriyama still own his game.
at the same time i want to see him build a life outside of exy. i want him to de-centre exy and find hobbies that fulfill him. i want him to have genuine friends. i want him to spend time like other 20 somethings. i want him to get a taste for a normal life and mundanity. and i want him to like it. i want him to learn to sit in that feeling of just. being okay. without the fear of things going sideways at any time. i want for tenderness and not violence to become the norm.
as for stuff i’d LOVE to see. i know i just said i don’t expect to see much of the foxes, i would kill for a jean and kevin interaction that has them Talk to each other about the past and the present and maybe even the future. not sure we’ll get that but a girl can dream. i honestly don’t expect a neil and jean reunion. but who knows? ((also. maybe jean reuniting with his sister??? that would be something wouldn’t it.))
i am a little scared and a little nervous to see what tsc will be about and how jean’s story will play out, but i do trust nora to do the characters and the story and us justice. ((that doesn’t necessarily mean giving us what we want but the story as a whole being a good fit for her characters and the aftg thesis of exploring life after trauma)). i also hope she won’t mess with aftg too much. i don’t think she will. but just to have it said.
in the end the only thing i want out of tsc is jean getting to a point where he feels okay and sees a future for himself that makes him want to live rather than simply exist. i want to see him embrace his new found freedom and get hobbies and interests and friends and break out of ravens’ nest MENTALLY for good. i want him to be able to look at himself in the mirror and be okay with the person he is. and excited to become the person he’s slowly becoming. i want him to learn to live life in the sun <3
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adrienneleclerc · 5 months ago
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TikTok Gone Viral
Paring: charles Leclerc x Hispanic/Latina reader
Summary: Y/N used a specific TikTok audio and it goes VIRAL
Warning: spelling and grammatical errors
A/N: I had this audio in my head so like why not. It’s my version of making Y/N a “PR nightmare” as other fanfic authors put it
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Y/N was scrolling through TikTok while Charles was washing dishes, as he should because she cooked, and came across a video of a girl using a Megan Thee Stallion song with the caption “ovulation week be like”. She thought it would be fun to use the same audio so she put her phone against the napkin stand they have in the counter and started recording.
I need *points to self* this pussy *points down* on his *points to Charles off screen* nose *points to her nose* I spread it, I spread it, I pose *random dancing*
However, she did not see Charles move into the frame as she danced because she had her head down and just posted it without looking back at it. She did caption it “needing my boyfriend a little too much lately” and just exited TikTok. Their relationship has always been private, no one really knew Charles was dating anyone after Alexandra and they’ve only been dating for a few months. At least it WAS private.
“What were you filming, Mon ange?” Charles asked.
“Just a silly little TikTok, muñeco, don’t pay mind to it.” Y/N said.
“Alright well I’m done with the dishes, you want to watch a movie?” Charles asked
“Can we watch ‘Nosotros Los Nobles’?” Y/N asked.
“Whatever you want, Mon ange.” Charles said.
“Get the chips.” Y/N said as she got up from where she was sitting to head to their bedroom for a blanket while Charles gets chips from the pantry. They both headed over to their couch, sat down, Y/N put the blanket over them, and Charles gave her the bag of chips and passed her the remote. “Okay, it’s has English subtitles, so I hope you find this movie funny.”
“I’m sure I will.” Charles said. Sadly, both fell asleep on the couch, charles was cuddling Y/N. However, with Charles’s phone charging in his bedroom, he missed multiple missed calls from the Ferrari media manager, Fred, Pierre, Arthur, and his other friends. Y/N also has missed calls from her friends
The next morning, Y/N woke up on top of Charles. She shook him awake.
“Muñeco, we fell asleep on the couch, get up.” Y/N said and Charles woke up.
“Mm, what time is it?” Charles asked.
“I Don’t know, my phone is charging in the room.” Y/N said, getting off the couch to get her phone.
“Can you get my phone too?” Charles asked.
“Sure thing, muñeco.” Y/N went to their bedroom and unplugged their phones and she was shocked to see how many missed calls both of them received. “Charles, you have so many missed calls, here.” Y/N handed him his phone.
“Thanks Mon ange.” Charles said. He unlocked his phone and called the media manager. “Hello?”
“Charles I’ve been trying to reach you yesterday, your girlfriend posted something on TikTok.” The media manager said and Charles was very confused.
“How do you know I have a girlfriend?” Charles asked and Y/N’s head popped up.
“What about me?” Y/N whispered asked and Charles made an “I don’t know” face.
“The whole world knows she your girlfriend because you’re in the background of her now VIRAL TikTok. I’ll talk to you later.” The media manager hung up and Charles looked at Y/N.
“Ma Belle, my beautiful beautiful girlfriend, what did you post on TikTok last night?” Charles asked. Y/N took out her phone to open up TikTok.
“Just a silly TikTok using a trendy audio…oh shit, I gained SOOO many followers.” Y/N laughed and Charles took her phone to click on her profile and see the video he posted. His eyes widened when he saw himself appear on screen. The video had 9.1 million likes, 60.7 thousand comments, 231.8 thousand saves, and 76.3 thousand shares. Y/N looked over his shoulder. “Oh that’s why the video went viral. Oh I’m so sorry, muñeco, I didn’t know you appeared, I didn’t rewatch the video before posting, are you in trouble?”
“I don’t think I’m in trouble but now I have to introduce you as my girlfriend.” Charles said. “We are no longer private, Mon ange.”
“Shit, I was doing so well without the hate comments.” Y/N pouted and Charles chuckled before kissing her.
“I hope you’re ready, Mon ange.” Charles said before he grabbed his phone to record a video. “Hello everyone, this is my girlfriend, Y/N. We have been dating for a few months. Say hello, Mon Chou.” Charles said, pointing the phone to Y/N.
“Hello” Y/N waved shyly. Charles pointed the phon back to him.
“We met at her job, she’s actually a bartender, it was after my break up with Alex, we talked, we hit it off, we started hanging out, and now we’re dating, not that it’s any of your business. But I like her a lot and we’re happy together.” Charles stopped the video and posted it on his Instagram.
“You really had to say I was a bartender?” Y/N asked.
“Well you are a bartender, mon coeur.” Charles said.
“Watch them say I’m only after your money.” Y/N said.
“But we both know that’s not true, your salary is pretty good AND you get tips. I am glad I don’t have to hide you anymore though, I can finally post pictures of us together.” Charles said, kissing her.
“Well I’m glad you’re happy. Do you have to go to maranello?” Y/N asked.
“Nope, you want to go out today? We could go on the yacht.” Charles suggested.
“Ooh, a picnic on the yacht?” Y/N asked,
“Yep.” Charles said.
“I’m gonna start cooking.” Y/N said already looking in the pantry to see if they have anything to make. Charles just looked at her with love in his eyes, now the whole world knows he has the cutest person as his girlfriend.
The End
Hope y’all liked it, I found this very fun to write. Also, is there a market for Logan Sargeant x Hispanic reader fanfics?
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pickingupmymercedes · 1 month ago
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1K Jukebox
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I don't even know where to start, but I'm so beyond mind blown that 1k of you chose to follow me and these stories.Honestly, thank you to each and every single one of you, from the bottom of my heart.
REQUESTS CLOSED
And to celebrate we’re creating our very own jukebox of blurbs and one shots.
Requested Songs
1:59 - Normani ft. Gunna
Me & U - Zeke Bleu
Agora Hills - Doja Cat
No chill - PND
Nothing without you - The Weeknd
Die with a smile - Bruno Mars & Lady Gaga
Ride it - Jay Sean
Partition - Beyoncé
Broke me first - Tate McRae
Rocket - Beyoncé
Through the night - Maeta
That girl - Olly Murs
Blessed - Daniel Caesar
Let me go - Lou Val
Bryson Tiller - Blame
Sexual love - Maeta
As you leave - Cannan Cox
Steal my girl - 1D
Grovel - April Jai
London boy - Taylor Swift
Do me - Kim Petras
Need to know - Doja Cat
34+35 - Ariana Grande
Pretty Please - Dua Lipa
Seven - Jungkook
Bed chem - Sabrina Carpenter
Kiss me - Cassie
Diamonds - Rihanna
Press me - Chris Brown
Wap - Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion
Position - Ariana Grande
Always - Isak Danielson
Black Pearl - Exo
Haunted - Beyoncé
Neva Play - Megan Thee Stalion
Hands on you - Austin George
Back to december - Taylor Swift pt.1 pt.2
Next to you - Chris Brown & Justin Bieber
Nervous - John Legend
Sand - Dove Cameron
Red - Taylor Swift
Ausência - Marília Mendonça
Let it happen - Gracie Adams
Won't say I'm in love - Hercules Movie
Dynasty - MIIA
There you are - Zayn
Fallin' all in you - Shawn Mendes
You're in love - Taylor Swift
It Girl - Jason Derulo
Hold on 'til we're old - Jamie Miller
If you want to follow, all one shots will be under the ella1k hashtag
Rules:
Only Lewis requests
Please give me a general direction of genre and where you'd like things to go
I’ll write it as sfw and nsfw (please state if you don't want it nsfw)
I'll be accepting requests from the 29th of September through the 6th of October (a week)
They can range from 400 words to full 2k one shots (depends on what my mind comes up with)
I won’t write for a song twice (they’ll be listed down below and will be updated as they get requested)
The fics won't necessarily be posted in that order but they'll all be written (I'll try my best to get them all done asap)
Note: your idea might be incorporated into one of my on-going series.
Note 2: I'm updating the requested songs list every other day, so if you sent a request and in two/three days it hasn't been added tumblr probably ate your ask (do send it again, please)
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4pfsukuna · 2 months ago
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could you write smth for long curly haired reader who isn't doing the best mentally so she isn't ty taking care of here hair and geto who has a crush on her offered to help her with it? i just know he'd be soft and gentle.hed even look up how to take care of curly hair to help make his girls (he wishes 😔) hair look the best it ever has (so she can ask him to keep doing her hair for her) i need him down bad 🙏🙏
omfg girl. GIRLLLLLL. This may have just healed my writers block🥹
Suguru Geto was the neighborhood heart-throb with his dark volumtious hair, midnight black eyes that were so dark they nearly looked purple his tall muscular frame (his thighs were drool worthy when he man spread) and his hands that could probably… no definitely palm your whole face. Between that warm honey coated laugh and the smooth calm tone he always heals in his voice he had every girl and woman in a 10 foot radius always swooning over him. Not that he noticed his eyes were always on you and when you werent around his mind was thinking if you ate today, how your day was, what new hobby you picked up what conditioner you used? The last one was a bit unhinged.
Last week he made a complete fool of himself when he seen you in the shared hall of your apartment and finally gathered up the courage to ask you on a date but it started off so well. 
“Hello sweetheart, how was work?” He grins down at you waiting for your brown eyes to meet his and he feels his heart stutter when you do with a soft smile.
“Hey Geto, it was alright, glad im off though im starving” you answer” as you fumble with your house keys pushing some of your long curls out of your face with a single finger.
He can feel his insides exploding, this was it you just put the ball in his court for a lay up or whatever silly basketball analogy Satoru used when he told him about you, now was his chance.
“Oh? Theres a new family owned restauraunt that just opened nothing to fancy. You should go” he blurts out faster than he has time to think about it and his tongue instantly feels heavy in his mouth. His jaw feels hinged and hes clenching his mouth and fist so tight he doesnt know what will break first his teeth or the skin on his palms from how bad his nails are digging in.
“Yeah, i think i will. Have a good night” you wave and hes so in his own head he doesnt realize the way the smile doesnt reach your eyes from either dissapointment of him not asking to go together or the long day of work is something he spends the next few days pondering about once he gets in his apartment.  The only thing hes glad about is that neither Shoko or Satoru was there to embarass him endlessly. He always had a smooth slightly arrogant demeanor but when it came to you words fealt heavy in his mouth, his hands got clammy and his eyes could not leave you what so ever.
The next time he sees you hes shocked. Its around midnight after a full day of listening to anxiety by meg thee stallion on repeat loud enough for him to hear it in his living room that he begins to get worried. Its when he sees you in a dark blue hoodie blanket going to take out your trash that he stops you.
“Hey sweetheart, i can take your trash for you. You shouldnt be taking it down this late anyway” he reaches for the bag not expecting you to pull away.
“N-nah its cool, i got it” you voice cracks and he finally looks at your eyes seeing them puffy and red which makes him fall into defense mode. 
“Who did it? Ill kill them” and that wasnt exactly what he wanted to say but fuck it its not like he didnt mean it and it earns a chuckle from you. Ok, finally he was doing something right.
“Everything and everyone” you pout and he feels his heart soften at the helpless look of defeat on your face. If only you knew you had a man that would actually burn the whole world down in front of you.
“I dont have enough matches for the whole world but if you give me enough time i can run to the store to buy more and burn the it all down for you” he rubs his chin earning a smile this time.
“Maybe not the whole world” you start with a slight giggle and his heart starts doing that weird thing again “It's just… my anxiety has been in overdrive this week and my job has rumors about letting some people go and i think its me since i've been talking about being home sick and my hair stylist canceled my appointment which ruined my week because not only does she not know when she’ll return but my hair products are nothing more but empty containers that won't get shipped here until next month. NEXT MONTH Geto, i cant just put anything in my hair and nobody here can help me” you pout feeling your bottom lip tremble as you fight back tears not wanting to cry infront of your neighbor you needed to hold onto some shred of dignity— hes already watching you in this snuggie with kuromi socks on.
Your face is quickly found in his chest as he pulled you in for a hug and you nearly start sobbing, its not your fault when people hugged you when you were sad it only made you cry more.
“And then i forgot to go grocery shopping” you finally break the hot tears running down you face you wait for him to push you off instead he just holds you tighter resting his chin on your head and rubbing your back. His embrace kinda felt nice and this was the only thing that felt right in your whole horrible week you were going to bask in it.
“I can help you with your hair” Geto blurts and you wipe your eyes to make sure you heard him correctly.
“You what?” Your raspy voice questions looking up at the man whos tall enough to nearly reach the hallway ceiling.
“I can help you with your hair” he repeats, using a thumb to wipe some of the tears from under your eyes, his palm cupping your cheek to keep you in place. Completely unbothered by the fact that any of your other neighbors could walk out and see you two like this he’s just happy to have you this close.
“No shade but what do you know about kinky curly hair, plus im not trying to let anyone experiment on my hair let alone a man” you cross your arms but you don’t pull away from his embrace which he selfishly enjoys.
“You think this long healthy hair comes from using a body wash and shampoo 2 in 1? I actually take pride in my 8 step hair routine” he tells you reaching up to pull his hair from its bun letting his long obsidian locs cascade down over his broad shoulders the coconut scent hitting your nose.
You stare at him for a second debating how wrong this could go letting this man play in your head. I mean worse case scenario it gets tangled and you big chop after your hair crisis(amongst the several youve had throughout life) youve always said ‘fuck it im going to just go bald’ and maybe you finally spoke it into existance. 
You see the hopefulness in his eyes and know this man is fully convinced he can do your hair and will spend all night convincing you if he has to and you're not sure if it's his resilience or your lack of sleep that has you finally crack and let out a long sigh.
“I promise i can do it just give me a second to toss this trash, grab my products and i'll be over in a second” he promises with an excited grin grabbing the trash from your hand and taking off down the hall.
“And thats not all… they were roommates” you gossip with him as he runs the detangler through your hair after parting it into four sections. He was on the last section before having your lean back to begin the wash process and maybe he did know a thing or two about hair. Gently guiding your head back to the running water you hear the CLICK of the bottle opening before you feel the cold substance on your scalp.
Your eyes instantly close when his fingers begin massaging your scalp his nails feeling so heavenly against your roots.
“Oh my God Sugur your fingers feel so good” you nearly moan and he has to stop for a second, pretending to look for your detangler comb to not lose his composure. he cant even help his pants getting slightly tighter, he was honestly so down bad for you. 
He rinses repeats detangles conditions detangles again with very little instruction from you and honestly it was because you had began dozing off quite a few times enjoying the physical touch of another human while he is the physical embodiment of happy to be here.
He notices the song you had on repeat is also off instead choosing Sade to listen to which was alot more calmer. Its when he begins humming along that your brows scrunch and he panics assuming that hes hurting you.
“What you know about Sade?” Youre soft voice pokes making him chuckle and damn does he have a nice laugh.
“Im a man of culture” he pokes your temple and you jokingly pretend to attempt to bite his finger your goofyness slipping out easily around him. “Besides im washing your hair obviously im very cultured” he adds in and you cant argue there.
An hour later you find yourself rambling about all your favorite things favorite music, hobbies and embarassing stories of you from the fourth grade which he counters of embarassing stories of him in high school with him and his best friend satoru who he promises to introduce you to.
“And i'll section the braids up here into smaller parts So if you want a middle part or side part you have options” he tells you absentmindedly and you crain your head back to make direct eye contact but he gently grabs the side of your neck using his thumb to push your head forward.
“You'll get neck pain if you do that sweetheart” he commands softly in a way that makes your spine tingle and you rest your head against his large thigh.
“Have you done this before?” You ask your mind instantly floating to another woman and while there weren't too many girls that looked like you in japan with a hair texture like yours he was entirely too good to never have practiced this once.
“Yes” he answers honestly and you force yourself to push down the thoughts that make your stomach drop. “Though they usually fall asleep by the time i get to conditioning their hair”
And it's like you can hear the record scratch and the peaceful bliss you're in ends abruptly.
“So it's nice having someone to talk to up until the end” he tells you before finishing a braid and you feel it fall mid back before he shuffles around. There's a bright light gleaming on the side of your face and you turn slightly to see a picture of twin girls, one with dark hair and one with light brown, almost blonde hair.
“They're so cute, how old are they?” you ask taking the phone in your hands to get a better look as he swipes showing different clips from what looks like a trip to the aquarium.
“11, thats mimiko and nanako usually they are here with me but they are with uncle Satoru for the summer making his pockets hurt as they say and spending time with their little cousin megumi” he tells you before he stops sliding landing on a picture of him satoru the twins and a dark spikey haired little boy that looks angry at Satoru.
“He looks like he absolutely hates satoru” you giggle resting your head back on his thigh which earns a laugh from him.
“Despises him, actually thinks Satoru is so annoying but he loves him… deep deep deep down inside his tiny little body since he adopted him. We knew his dad… real piece of shit actually” Suguru admits using a bit more force on your hair, its not painful but you could tell he hated Megumi's dad more than Megumi hated Satoru. 
“You must've had them really young” you pry slightly which he snorts at before using the comb to detangle a section of your hair and adding in more product. 
“No, I met them at an old job. They were in a bad environment and I took them in. I just couldn’t watch them go through that horrible system it's not a place for innocent little girls” he tells you his touch becoming so featherlite you almost forget he's doing your hair 
“Yeah it makes sense you are such a girl dad. Definitely dilf material” you ramble going back to look at the pictures zooming in on how happy the girls look.
His eyes widen and breath gets caught in his throat he nearly has to stop what he's doing to focus on you again.
“Dilf? At Least take me out to dinner first”he jokes trying to calm his heart before you lean your head back once more making eye contact with him.
“How about the new family owned restaurant you told me about? You could even bring the girls I’d love to meet them” you smile at him watching the blush build on his face.
“R-really?” He stutters, not expecting you to ask him out on a date… shit was it a date?
“Yeah they seem to play an important role in your life and I need to make a good impression on them as well… I mean unless I’ve been taking your staring, heated looks and your kind offer to wash my hair the wrong way?” You tease with a sly smirk and he can feel the flush running through his entire body.
“Oh so you've just been letting me embarrass myself in front of you… this entire time” he exaggerates, holding a hand over his mouth in faux shock.
“I thought it was cute” you shrug watching his reactions before he tilts your head back forward using neck cramps as an excuse.
“Hey suguru?” You yawn, leaning your head back against his thigh and it was just the perfect head rest as his fingers began massaging through your scalp again.
“Yes sweetheart?” He asks slowing down for a second and you begin enjoying, a bit too much, the way he sounds calling you that.
“Thank you for washing my hair and styling it” you smile closing your eyes and shoulders dropping slightly and he grins at the signs of you falling asleep. He's seen it too often with the twins but he had to admit he may have been enjoying this more than you, acts of service being his love language that much was clear.
“Anything for you” 
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redskull199987 · 1 year ago
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Ola may thee great Skull of red write a Mike×Male reader where Reader is an old friend of Mike's and visits him at his house?Like reader and Mike were best friends but reader moved away at 16.Reader hopes that Mike remembers him and he dies and he is smitten by him and always was.Wants to deny it but after seeing that reader Is good with kids Aka. ABBY Mike is just really goofy and awkward but like super in love if that makes sense.
Back Home
Mike Schmidt x male!reader Request
Word Count:1.2k
Warnings:literally nothing at all, it's all sweet, only thing is slight movie spoilers, but not really
Summary: After moving back into town for your new Job at the Police Department, you realize that you now live next door to your childhood best friend…Mike Schmidt…
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You didn’t exactly know what you were doing. Why you were here or what you were hoping to achieve. All you knew was that you had to try. You just had to. You couldn’t just move into the apartment next to your childhood best friend and not say hello.
So, here you were. Standing in front of his door, theoretically ready to knock, but not really. Your mind was racing and for a second, you thought about just going back Home and trying to avoid Mike for the rest of your life.
But that idea was quickly discarded again and with one last deep breath in, you finally raised your hand and knocked on the door a few times.
When nothing happened for a hot minute, you were ready to retreat from his doorstep without a second thought, but against all odds, the door opened after all. But what you saw in front of you, was not what you expected at all. It wasn’t Mike, nor his parents or a friend or anyone.
It was a little Girl.
And she looked at you with curiosity in her eyes. Her gaze wandered over your entire figure a few times, before she finally decided to say something:”Who are you?”
“Ehm..I’m Y/N, Y/N L/N. I moved in next door.”, you explained with confusion written all over your face.
“Oh I saw you last week, when You arrived.”, the little Girl smiled at you gently,”I’m Abby, Abby Schmidt.”
Your eyes widened, upon hearing her last name. Schmidt? So you were at the right house after all? But where was Mike and where were his parents? Was this his little sister? You were honestly surprised that his Parents managed to have another Kid after everything that happened with Garret. Of course, you had tried to help Mike through that tough time, but after your Parents decided to move away when You were 16, you and Mike slowly lost contact until you had no idea anymore what was happening in his life.
And here you were again. Standing on his doorstep with furrowed brows, while his little sister opened the door for you.
“Uh, is Mike home?”, You asked gingerly,”Him and I were friends when we were kids.”
“I think he talked about you before…”, Abby mentioned casually, while she bid you inside. You quickly recognized that their apartment had the same layout as yours. A small living room that was connected with the kitchen and a hallway that led to the bathroom and two bedrooms.
You were slightly startled, as Abby suddenly called out for her brother, before she retreated back to the sofa to draw and watch TV. You looked after her for a second, until your attention was caught by a very sleepy looking Mike who stumbled down the hallway.
"Abby?", he mumbled, rubbing his eyes. Only now he saw you standing in the middle of the Living room, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Mike?", you stuttered, still not sure if this was such a smart idea.
Mike rubbed his eyes once more, before walking over to you:"Y/N? Is that you?"
Startled by the fact that he even recognized you, you opened your mouth to say something but nothing came out.
Luckily, Mike didn't even notice and just kept asking you questions:"How long has it been? What are you doing here?"
You looked to the ground for a second, finally finding your voice again:"I moved back into town because of my new job and realized that you and your sister live next door."
You tried to convey it all as calm as possible, but you feared that Mike would notice, that your hands were slightly shaking and that you could barely look at him.
" Oh ehm, wow. That's nice to hear. ", Mike muttered and pulled you out of your thoughts, "Do you… Do you want a cup of Coffee maybe? And catch up?"
You were honestly surprised that he welcomed you back into his life so easily. You hadn't seen each other in years and then you suddenly stand in his living room and now he's asking you if you want coffee.
" Sure. ", you answered with a smile and followed him to the kitchen.
"Please tell me if I am overstepping, but are your parents…?", you carefully asked, as the two of you sat down at the small table.
Mike only nodded, running a hand through his hair. Only now, you noticed how tired he actually looked. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked as pale as a ghost.
" I'm sorry, Mike.", you mumbled after his short silence.
And then you did something, neither of you expected. You reached forward and put your hand on top of his, squeezing it gently.
You felt heat rising to your cheeks, as Mike returned the gesture with a lazy smile.
" Thank you", he said, before slowly pulling his hand back. You quickly returned the smile, looking away for a second.
"You've already met Abby, I presume.", Mike questioned, after standing up again to pour the coffee.
"Yeah", you uttered, as he handed you a mug, "She's lovely."
The two of you gazed into the living room for a second, watching Abby happily draw with her crayons.
"So, you're back in town because of a new job?", Mike interrupted the small silence while sipping on his coffee.
You nodded at him:"Uh yeah. I work at the Police Department. They already assigned me a new partner, can you believe it? But she's supposed to be a nice person."
Mike furrowed his brows at your statement:"Her name wouldn't be Vanessa, would it?"
Now it was your turn to look at him in confusion
:"You know Vanessa?"
"Yeah, I met her the other night. I work as a security guard at that old Pizza Plex and she came over to see how I was doing", Mike quickly explained. And now it made sense to you. Some guys at the Police Department had already told you about the creepy old Pizza Plex…and about the fact that the Security Guards often didn't make it very long…
"Well, maybe we'll see each other sometime then.", you joked a little awkwardly.
"Yeah", Mike agreed, a little smile forming on his face, "That'd be Nice. Hey, do you perhaps have time to meet up to… You know, really catch up?"
You were a bit taken aback by his question, but not in a bad way:"Yeah sure."
Mike gave you a tired grin, probably not realizing how over the place his hair was. You couldn't suppress a little chuckle, as you looked at him.
"What!? Is there something on my face?", Mike quickly asked, making a dumb face at you. Now, you fully had to laugh at him.
Oh, you had missed your best friend. And you were glad to see him again.
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liaromancewriter · 3 months ago
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I Thee Wed…
Premise: Ethan and Cassie are ready to say, ‘I do,’ but they forget one important step.
Book: Open Heart (post series) Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Cassie Valentine) Rating/Category: Teen. Fluff. Words: 1,560
A/N: So, I first did Ethan and Cassie's wedding in June 2021. In all that time, I've never written their wedding vows. Maxenna's vows were easier to write. Well, I finally cracked this nut! Yay, me 🎉
Submission for @choicesaugustchallenge prompt "summer wedding"
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Cassie Valentine updated the patient chart and mentally crossed off another item from her seemingly endless to-do list. In just nine days, she would stand in the garden of her family home and marry her soulmate.
She couldn’t contain a small, excited scream, a dreamy smile spreading across her face as she imagined Ethan’s awestruck expression when she glided toward him at the floral-decked altar. But, she thought with a smirk, she couldn’t wait to knock him over on their wedding night with what she had on beneath the layers of tulle.
All in good time, Cassie reasoned, turning her attention back to work.
“Marlene?” she called to one of the regular nurses on her floor, handing over the tablet with the patient record. “Keep an eye on potassium levels for Mr. Dubois in 504. Page me if there’s any change in his condition.”
“Will do, Dr. Valentine,” Marlene nodded, scanning the chart quickly to confirm the orders.
She flashed Cassie a friendly smile. “Are you excited about the wedding? You and Dr. Ramsey make such a beautiful couple.”
“I’m counting the minutes,” Cassie grinned. “I have a final fitting for the dress next week, but otherwise, we’re all set.”
“Summer weddings are the best,” another nurse piped in. “Flowers are my favorite part.”
“I love hearing the couple’s vows,” Marlene said. “Are you and Dr. Ramsey writing your own?”
Cassie nodded in response, keeping her expression smooth even as alarm bells blared inside her head. Crap, crap, crap!
Between work, packing up her things at the apartment for the move to Ethan’s and coordinating with Sienna and her mom on the wedding, she had forgotten entirely about the vows.
She and Ethan had negotiated a hybrid ceremony, honoring her Episcopalian beliefs and his agnostic ones. He had agreed to have a priest officiate and receive a spiritual blessing in exchange for non-religious but personal vows, no Communion, hymns or readings.
Writing their own vows had sounded so simple before. A few words of promise, a declaration of their love, exchange rings and you-may-kiss-the-bride. End scene.
But now she realized it was anything but easy. Worse, she had no idea what she would say on the most important day of her life!
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The pen dug into the paper, leaving dark, jagged lines on the legal pad as Ethan scratched out yet another sentence. His handwriting, usually neat and precise despite the doctor-like scrawl, had turned into a chaotic mess of crossed-out words and half-formed thoughts. Frustration simmered in his chest, his mind spinning as he tried to wrestle his emotions into something coherent.
He sighed, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his temple. Sitting through a room full of demanding board members was a walk in the park compared to this. How was he supposed to find the words powerful enough to capture the depth of what he felt for Cassie?
Each attempt felt clumsy and inadequate, the words slipping away from him no matter how hard he tried. Irritated with himself, he muttered a curse under his breath, tearing the paper from the pad and crumpling it into a tight ball. It joined the other pieces of crumpled paper balls scattered around him.
Why had he insisted on their own vows? Should’ve just taken a template and been done with it.
He had been working on them all week and was no closer to the finish line. He had tried writing at home, in his office with the door closed and on a bench in the serenity garden at Edenbrook. Eventually, he retreated to Derry’s Coffee Shop in the hope that a place special to them both would inspire him.
The wedding was a week away, and he did not relish the idea of standing at the altar with nothing more to say than “I do” while Cassie no doubt recited something meaningful about him being her soulmate.
“Tough case?”
Startled, Ethan looked up to find Cassie standing above him.
He had been so absorbed in his frustrated scribbling that he hadn’t even noticed her enter the coffee shop, place her order and walk over to him.
“You could say that,” he hedged, hoping she wouldn’t press for more.
“Maybe I can help,” she suggested, sliding into the seat across from him.
Before he could stop her, she reached for the pad, and he blurted out, “No!” even as she read the words out loud.
“Cassie, my love for you is like an unspecified virus that I couldn’t shake….”
Ethan saw the look of shock on Cassie’s face. Her eyes widened, and her mouth opened slightly. For a moment, they just stared at each other in stunned silence.
“Wait, are these your wedding vows? And did you just compare me to a virus?”
Ethan quickly tried to recover, realizing how the words sounded when said aloud. “I—I didn’t mean it like that. What I’m trying to say is that my love for you is something I never expected, something that took hold of me and changed everything.”
Cassie blinked, and then, to his relief, a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “Babe, I appreciate the on-brand medical analogy, especially since I diagnosed Naveen’s bacteriophage, but maybe we can find a less…clinical way to describe it? This is our wedding, after all, not a keynote at the AMA annual symposium.”
“A keynote at the AMA would be easier than these damn vows,” Ethan muttered, running an exasperated hand through his hair.
He picked up his coffee and looked at her over the rim. “I suppose you’ve already written a masterpiece?”
To his surprise, Cassie blushed and looked away. “Not exactly. If you must know, I kind of forgot about them.”
She waved one hand dismissively. “Anyway, this isn’t about me. If you’re struggling, just focus on us, our relationship—what makes me the one for you? How you see our life together. Things like that.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “That’s some solid advice.” He reached for his phone, unlocking the screen. “In fact, it’s almost identical to the advice I got from another Valentine just a couple of hours ago. Ah, here it is.” He turned the screen to show her the text from Max.
Cassie’s eyes widened in disbelief. “That cheat!” She snatched the phone from Ethan’s hand, scrolling up to check the time stamp. It was from earlier in the day before she’d texted her brother. “He totally copy-pasted his response to me!”
Ethan chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “Looks like great minds think alike…or at least steal from each other. When did you speak to him?”
Cassie gave him a sheepish look. “Maybe half an hour ago. ”
“Isn’t it the middle of the night where he is?”
She rolled her eyes and made a face. “I know. Max wasn’t thrilled, which is probably why I ended up with recycled advice.”
She straightened in her chair, a hint of frustration in her voice. “I can’t seem to find the right words for our vows. At least you managed to compare me to a virus—I’ve got a completely blank page.”
Ethan chuckled softly, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand gently. “How about we work on them together? We always did our best work figuring out diagnostic differentials as a team. Why should wedding vows be any different?”
Cassie’s smile widened. “Just promise you won’t tell my mother this is how we wrote our vows, or I’ll have to call you a big, fat liar!”
“Deal.”
Nine days later…
Ethan faced Cassie, a deep contentment settling over him, unlike anything he’d ever felt before. As he held her hands in his, the words that once eluded him now flowed as naturally as breathing.
“Cassie, when I first met you, I had no idea we’d end up here, but from that moment on, you’ve captivated me in ways I never imagined. You’ve challenged me, frustrated me and inspired me to be a better person. And I've fallen in love with you again and again, even though I didn’t believe love or family were in the cards for me. You opened my heart to more. I promise to support and encourage you, embrace the unexpected with you, and always work on being the best version of myself for you. I vow to hold your hand and cherish your heart, loving you always and forever.”
Cassie flashed a mischievous grin, her eyes sparkling with amusement as she held Ethan’s gaze, recalling the day they wrote these vows. Her voice was light and playful as she began, making it clear she was savoring every moment.
“Ethan, from the moment you walked into my life—full of arrogance, calling me an amateur—everything changed in ways I never could have predicted. I told you then I was your biggest fan, but that barely scratched the surface of my feelings for you. I can’t imagine a single day without you, and I hope I never do. I promise to stand by your side, to love you fiercely—even when you’re driving me a little crazy—and to choose you every day, no matter what. You are my partner, my soulmate and my greatest adventure. I vow to cherish your heart with all that I am, always and forever.”
And then they lived happily ever after…
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All Fics & Edits: @bluebelle08 @coffeeheartaddict2 @crazy-loca-blog @jerzwriter @lady-calypso
@mainstreetreader @peonierose @potionsprefect @queencarb @quixoticdreamer16
@justyourusualash @tessa-liam @liaficreplies @trappedinfanfiction
Submissions: @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics
Ethan & Cassie only: @cariantha @custaroonie @youlookappropriate
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blkkizzat · 2 months ago
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Hi kali,
GRE studying is going....OK. I was reminded that I SUCCCK at math. Will be working on my critical writing paper starting next week as well as studying. I did not miss this part of school. I'm not going for a phD in writing. Though writing is a big part of it. I am in the arts though. You know my handle just check my blog description if you're curious.
But speaking of PHD....professor Nanami and Professor Geto.
Professor Nanami is low key sexy. He doesn't show off but one time you saw him remove his suit jacket and roll up his sleeves and you about fainted. You're a grad student (Not his grad student- Not even in the same department) so it's not exactly unprofessional for him to date you. And when he asks you out, you can't think of any reason to say no. What you don't expect is to have the time of your life. Nanami is really fun outside of classes. He takes you to a local festival. A one night event. He wins you a stuffed bear and a gold fish. You weren't sure about giving him a kiss when the date first started but by the end of it you have butterflies as you lean up and give him a peck on the cheek. He moves his head though and you end up with a short peck on the lips. It's sweet and hot at the same time. When you guys come out as dating You're the talk of the both your departments.
Professor Geto, however, is in your department. He's not your advisor, though. You see him everywhere. And your conversations are good. Deep and incitful. When he asks you for dinner the last thing you expect is to be fucking him in his car outside the restaurant. You got there early. You were just in his car talking when he leaned over and kissed you. He apologized at first and said he just couldn't help himself. But he knew what he was doing. He gives you these beautiful puppy dog eyes and suddenly your kissing him again. And again. And then you're full on making out. Ten minutes later you've moved to the back of the car. You're glad his windows are tinted because as long as you don't move too much, no one will know that you're getting railed in the back seat of a professor's car. And he does go hard. You hardly notice that the man hasn't bothered to use protection until you're walking into the restaurant (cause he's hungry now), and you feel him leaking out of you. You're glad your dress is long enough that no one can see your legs. You can't even chastise him cause you were both caught in the moment. And you continue to date through graduation. One thing about Suguru is that his ass is stubborn. When he makes up his mind that he wants something, he's going for it. He keeps your ass under lock and key. Everyone knows your dating, though no one will say shit to your face. No one is surprised when a week after graduation, you have a rock on your hand. But you'll never be Mrs. You're Dr and Dr Geto. And Suguru finds it hot!
Respectfully, I needed this - 🧠
🧠 nonny... u may not have figured this out yet...but im slower than thee fuck fjklshfkdjhgkfd. i never figure out who my anons are unless they tell me. u gonna have to let me know fam. msg me 😭😭.
omg these ideas are delicious...
prof nanami, i love how innocent and whimsy it is going on a first date to a festival and him winning you prizes and the kiss was! ahhh im such a slut i would have to fuck him night one but when it comes to be slow courted i wouldnt mind if it was nanami. he wants to let you know what you mean to him and i find that saurrrr cuteee.
prof geto, i also adoreeee because he was wasting NO time lmfao. Dr. & Dr. Geto okfjdhvksdhfvksjdb IMMA SCREAM thats so perf 🥹🥹. also lmfao at him just raw nutting in us day ONE. he definitely knew wtf he was doing. lmfao he didnt even care to ask if we were on the pill just busted fkjhfkjhrsfkjrshbdfj.
also i just had a thot...
we never get prof sukuna and i know in AU people tend to write him as a bad boy/criminal/fuck-up and although he IS a villain he's not a dumb one. he's very smart and intellectual, he just doesn't give a fuck. i think he would teach something like physics. i can see him being an astrophysicist for some reason, ex-NASA (i'd like to think he got fired bc he ended up knocking out an astronaut who thought he knew more than Sukuna cause he's been up in space before and almost jeopardized lives because of it). But prof Sukuna is notorious for being a huge hard ass and making his already insanely difficult classes, due to the subject matter, even harder than they need to be. you, a future astrophysicist in the making, are determined to learn from the best and your cheery disposition is not discouraged by him. in fact you like the challenge and arguing with him. however he IS your adviser which makes the situation a bit more scandalous. especially since it was in one of your advisory meetings where one minute you were arguing about your thesis topic and the next you are spread out on his desk, your thesis papers everywhere and Sukuna's head between your legs. but you don't get caught. if anything, once you do start dating Sukuna is harder on you. he wants you to succeed but he wont coddle you, he'll critique you more—expect perfection from you. However he will be there to tutor you and take you on special field trips. He knows the person who runs the observatory near campus and gets a special private viewing for you when conditions are clear and you can see the pretty gaseous clouds from the next galaxy from the powerful hub telescope.... all while seated so pretty on his cock. He'll rub slow tortuous circles on your clit with his rough thumb while he making you list various constellations and quizzing you on basic chemical composition of stars and planets—which you would usually spout off flawlessly but when he is making you see your own stars as your eyes cross into the back of your head there's no way you could focus on the ones in the sky. now i kinda wanna write professor sukuna kfhdadskjfhaskjf.
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shadowgast-recs-weekly · 2 months ago
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This week, we have seven shadowgast character studies! Featuring looks at aftereffects of manipulation, poverty, learning how to work as a team, and more. Check the out under the cut, and as always, comment and kudos if you like them!
to love something small by jakia (9662, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: Abusive/Neglectful parenting
Essek, the Mighty Nein, and the slow road to redemption
Reccer says: A comfort fic for me, I return to it again and again. Love this look into Essek
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swallowed with all hope by renquise (14319, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
In Eiselcross, Essek writes reports, makes new acquaintances, tries not to die in snowstorms, and thinks of all the things he did and could have done.
Reccer says: THEE Essek at the Vurmas Outpost fic, IMO. Thoughtful and amazing worldbuilding and so much heart.
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clear waters by wanderinghooves (5951, General) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
In which Essek communes with the Wildmother, eats soup, and is in love with Caleb Widogast.
Reccer says: The conversation with Melora is great, but what I really love are the other characters in this - Fjord and Caduceus and various glimpses of other Clay siblings
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poisoning the well by saturdaysky (1549, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
Old habits are hard to break, even if you have shed the skin that formed them.
Reccer says: A short fic that really delves into Caleb's past and how hard those thought patterns can be to break - angsty in the best way
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of more delight than hawks and horses by Anonymous (1431, General) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
Caleb, Essek, gifts, and money
Reccer says: I love this little look in how different members of the nein are about money, and how thoughtful it is
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simple math by SaltCore (4310, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence
Beau knows Essek can be ruthless, and she knows he loves Caleb. The point where these facts meet still manages to surprise her, and she never has been able to let anything lie.
Reccer says: A look at how ruthless Essek can still be - great Beau voice, great Essek voice, and also a look at how Essek might be on the Nein's side, but that doesn't mean he's fully reformed
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a place to call home by DotyTakeThisDown (1015, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
Essek has a surprise for Caleb.
Reccer says: It's soft and sweet - and the tower as insight to Essek's mind is one of my favorite tropes
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Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week, we’ll be back with a recurring theme - Hidden Gems (fic with fewer than 150 kudos)
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welcomingdisaster · 5 months ago
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golden birch, silver oak
russingon, M, 1k. for day one of @russingon-week .
“I must speak with thee,” Russandol says. They are stretched out side by side in the hypaethral in front of the great hills and caverns of Manwë’s temple. Findekáno’s feet ache, and so does his lower back; three days ago they have started on a horse-race around the isle, which turned into a barefoot track across the shallow tide pools of the starlit beach, then a climb across the rocky cliffs, and in all of it, eating as they did the fruit of whatever tree happened to be in their way, grilling fish and clams over a fire, they have neglected any sleep at all.
It calls to him now, wrapping heavy about with the certainty of the coming tide. But next to him Russandol watches him with cheerful grey eyes, though something of his mind is awfully veiled and sad.
“Soon,” Findekáno promises, not meaning it in the slightest, “we shall talk, if thou wishest. But remember, cousin, what I have pulled from the earth.”
He holds out his hand. In it are mushrooms, white-stemmed, brown caps reaching for the silver light of the distant trees. Russandol laughs, and takes some from him. Findekáno likes to watch him eat mushrooms, and feels a little mean for it; despite his best efforts, Russandol is awfully choosey about the textures of his food. He breaks some off and pushes it to the very back of his mouth, squishing it with his molars and swallowing quickly as not to taste it, his nose wrinkled and eyes squeezed shut. Washes it down generously with watered wine, and laughs when Findekáno rolls atop him and kisses the look of his disgust off his face.
“How wouldst thou live in the East,” Findekáno asks him, “in the olden days, when we had no butter nor bread nor tamed beast, and fed ourselves on any manner of scavenged root and twig?”
He pops his own dose in his mouth, chewing with pleasure.
Russandol turns from him, groaning. “I suppose I would be a whole lot shorter,” he says, “with so little to sustain me that I should be willing to eat. Perhaps that is where all the designs have gone amiss in my coming here, for often I think I ought to have matched better the rest of my kin.”
Findekáno ignores the heresy in it. There are other things, like the warmth of Russandol’s body and the tempting curve of his ear, the strong white column of his neck. They kiss lazily, for after the days’ exertion it is hard to muster any urgency; they had spent the first night together, whispering and shushing each other, in Findekáno’s childhood room in Tirion, then had tangled together in the shallow tide, engaging in the pointless exercise of licking salt from each other’s skin, then had each other again in the mountains, where purple clover had looked very pretty in Russandol’s long braid.
Findekáno is determined to have him again, because he can, because there is no one here to see them. He works open Russandol’s robes, bites at the open expanse of his chest, his stomach, trails kisses along his sharp, jutting hip-bones. There Russandol cries out, and says, “Oh, there thou art. There it is.”
“Mm?” Findekáno asks. “Dost thou feel it, now?”
“Uh-huh,” Russandol says, “oh, I see stars. Red and blue.”
“’Tis not the color stars ought to be,” Findekáno says, “look again, love,” and Russandol laughs, though truly it is not funny, and Findekáno takes him into his mouth, half-hard, and hollows out his cheeks, and then he begins to feel it too, twinkling around him in the air like bells.
For some time he is there, working Russandol up to his pleasure, feeling the pleasant things of the world wash over him in waves. Then somehow time passes, and his head is on Russandol’s thigh, and he traces the little patterns of freckles on his knee and bright firelight bursts chase each other in the woods around them and the music of the sky is plainer and louder than he can remember it being and that is all very well. “Wouldst thou still love me if I were a birch and thou wert an oak?” he asks, and in response Russandol hums a little tune, ta-ta-ta.
“Are the birches at war with the oaks?” he asks.
And Findekáno says, “They are kin, I think,” and knows it does not answer the question.
Later still he’s on his back on the marble and Russandol is atop him and inside him, kissing his temples, biting the junction of his neck and his earlobes, hands in his hair, and Findekáno catches his right wrist and takes his fingers between his lips, running his tongue over his thumb-pad, mouthing at the joints of his long fingers. For a moment he tastes blood, he thinks, and it is cold within him—but then he swallows, and there is nothing but dirt and seed on his tongue, and Russandol senses his unease and tucks him closer, into his arms, whispers, “only the mushrooms, heed them not,” as though heeding them is not the whole point.
Then they lie in in the grass, having lost somewhere the the great marble columns, and Russandol says, “truly we must speak,” so Findekáno looks up at him, and asks of it, though just them it all seems very far away, and Russandol sighs.
“My father asks me to watch thee,” he says, “to report in secret thy deeds to him, and learn what I may of thy father’s mind.” It must be that Findekáno is quiet for too long, because Russandol nudges him, and asks. “What dost thou think of?”
“Flying,” Findekáno says quietly, “I think of flying.”
Russandol groans. “Come back to me,” he says, “this is important.”
But all around him there are great feathered wings, brown and mighty, and their fathers are small as dolls in the green and blue world below them. “Come back to me,” Russandol says again, and turns and whispers against his skin, I did not go, I never left. It is not I, it is not I who goes.
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joesheistyy · 2 years ago
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Driving in his Benz - Joe Burrow
I've never been a taylor swift girlie but midnights is iconic and I was inspired by vigilante shit sooooo here you go :) more angst? yes please! ending in some fluff? count me in!
2.2k words || cussing || some harsh grabbing
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Of course your evening was spent bickering with Joe. This was the second night in a row you two just couldn’t get on the same page about a handful of things. Once again going to bed angry with each other, backs facing each other.
In your late high school days, the way you’d cool down from heightened emotions was by going for a drive. Could you do this in Cincinnati? Sure, but it wasn’t as soothing as driving back roads in southern Indiana. It was definitely much preferred to do during the day. As you fell asleep, you made a plan to get up and just drive to get your head on straight when you awoke. 
When you woke up, you did not have the energy to deal with Joe. Needing to be caffeinated before any hard thoughts came to mind, you decided to go to Panera to grab a coffee and a charged tea. Of course those drinks would be spaced out throughout the day, you just needed an out for the morning. This would probably be another item Joe would want to bicker about-your caffeine intake. 
You put on your favorite oversized crewneck and Lululemon leggings before you left the bedroom, making as little noise as possible. What you didn’t know was that your stirring before getting out of bed woke Joe up. He wanted to start the day off on a good note, hoping to talk things through over breakfast, but you had already gone down the stairs and grabbed the keys to his new Benz.
The sleek black car was parked in the garage, windows yet to be tinted. You lifted the garage door before turning on the car and picking out your “bad bitch” playlist. Joe was able to hear the garage door open and close, he knew driving was your go to outlet to clear your head, so he let it go. 
After an hour or so, you had picked up your drinks and were driving with the windows down, cool spring air flowing throughout the nice car. You pulled up to a stop light, blasting Vigilante Shit by Taylor Swift and singing along with the song, dancing in a way that made you feel hot. What you didn’t know was that the car stopped next to you knew who you were and snapped a video of you in your own little world. Swiftly posting it to twitter. 
Joe was sitting on the couch at home, almost in a wallowing state. He just wanted to talk things through in a calm manner because he was just as tired of bickering as you were. Little did he know, the video of you was blowing up on twitter. His phone pinged from his pocket with the special text tone for his manager. 
Yo dude, what is your girl up to? There’s a video of her blowing up all over twitter.
Joe had no clue what you were doing, opting to trust you to clear your head without causing a scene. 
I’ll handle this. Was Joe’s response to his manager. 
You continued on the windy back roads, blasting Girls in the Hood by Megan Thee Stallion. A text came through the car’s ApplePlay. 
What the fuck are you doing, y/n? Get your ass home right now. The car read out to you. 
You let out an aggressive sigh, opting for that over tears. “Hey Siri, text Joey Boy back and respond with you don’t own me, don’t tell me what to do.”
That ring states otherwise honey. What made you think you could take my car without asking? Get home now, it’s about time we sat down and talked. 
These words making your heart sink to just about you asshole. Your anxiety had been heightened all week with the constant bickering. The phrase or anything close to we need to talk always seemed to make any situation worse in your opinion. 
“Hey Siri, respond to Joey Boy and say Fine, as you wish.”
You headed home, opting to take the longest route possible. Pulling into the neighborhood of your shared home, you took some deep breaths to try to calm your anxiety. As you opened the garage door to park the car, you saw an angry faced Joe waiting at the door to enter your house. 
“Y/n, what the fuck?” he emphasized in a stern tone, shooting daggers with his eyes. 
“What? I really don’t understand what you’re so upset about,” you huffed out, tossing your hands in the air as you approached the door to enter the house. 
“You don’t understand? How could you not understand?” he led you into the house, anger obvious not only his voice but in his tense back and shoulders. 
“Joe, I just wanted to clear my head. Why can't I do anything without getting bitched at?” You retorted, hanging the keys on the hook by the garage door. 
“Don’t start this with me, y/n. I’m not happy with you,” 
“Yeah, obviously,” You rolled your eyes, setting your drink down on the counter. 
Joe swiftly turned around, once again glaring at you in a way you had never seen before. His blue eyes were dark, eyelashes framing his gorgeous orbs in a scary yet beautiful way. His fist slammed on the counter as he began to take a deep breath. You could only imagine what was coming. 
“Oh my god, y/n,” He began as he rolled his eyes and huffed, “do you have any idea what you’ve done? First, you take my car without asking me, then you get caught and recorded in my car that you didn't ask to use, singing some stupid ass song about driving in a Benz or whatever the fuck it was, dancing and looking like an absolute fucking idiot,” he continued as his cheeks and neck turned a red as bright as a rose. Arms flying around as another outlet for his anger. 
You looked at him with emptiness filling your mind and body. He never had a problem before with you taking his car out. Plus, he always thought your singing and dancing was goofy, who did he think he was to call you all these things?
Looking up at him yet trying to avoid his scary eyes, you could see his breath hitch in his chest. “Babe, I-” you began.
“Don’t babe me, you're in the dog house with me right now,” he said, beginning to walk away. 
“So what? We’re not gonna talk about this? You’re just gonna bitch at me over something that I do on a normal basis? Alright Burrow, have your way for now. I’m done,” you directed yourself to the stairway. Joe swiftly came up behind you and grabbed your wrist with haste. That’s gonna hurt later.
“No no, you’re not done. We're talking about this now,” Joe forced you to follow him, pushing you down to the couch which caused you to swiftly get up. Inches from his chest, you look up at him, finger poking his chest with as much force as you could handle. “Don’t you ever handle me like that again,” you jabbed at his chest. Pushing through his strong stance, you headed toward the stairs determined to get away from him. 
Joe didn’t chase after you this time, he had practice in an hour and decided he didn’t want to get into it with you. His practice bag was in your shared bedroom where you had locked yourself in. As you heard his footsteps approach, you grabbed his bag and tossed it onto the floor outside the door, making sure to close it with a harsh nature. You could hear him sigh as he retrieved his grey bag from the floor. You took a couple deep breaths before sliding down the door, blocking any entrance with your weight. 
You hated to cry in front of Joe, so once you heard the garage door close, you felt safe to come out of your little pity party. Heading downstairs to give yourself a change of scenery, you plopped down on the couch where just a few minutes ago, you were scolding Joe for grabbing you in a way that was uncomfortable and not in a sexual way. Tears beginning to fall uncontrollably. You pulled your legs up to your chest, opting to put your crewneck over them so you could curl into a little ball and cry. 
You soon heard footsteps. What the fuck, Joe is at practice, isn’t he? You thought to yourself as you lifted your head to look around and see if anyone was there. After determining that you were alone, you went back to your little sob fest. All the emotions from the previous bickering fights catching up to you. The way Joe yelled at you really did your emotions in. 
Footsteps approached you and you felt a weight dip down on the couch next to you. You jolted out of your crewneck, craning your neck to your left to view Joe sat down next to you. You blinked a few times to try to clear your cloudy eyes as you pulled your body out of your crewneck ball. He sighed and tried to scoot a bit closer to you, only causing you to scoot further away from him. 
“Can we please not do this right now?” you sobbed. He sighed again. 
“Honey we need to talk,” he began. There were those words again. 
“You have practice and you need to go,” you began. He reached out to grab your hand. Your left hand to be exact. That alone scared you more than anything considering the absolute rock sitting on your ring finger.
“I texted Zac that I’m gonna be late. You’re more important to me right now,” he stated as his features softened. You scooted into him a little more, opting to rest your head onto his shoulder. The lack of physical touch lately didn’t help with all the bickering. Your sobs wracked your ribs. Joe knew you hated to cry in front of him, but it was inevitable after the recent events. 
“Joe I can’t stand this bickering and arguing anymore,” you sobbed again. He took an opportunity to give you a soothing back rub. 
“I know, y/n. I can’t either. Everything has just been eating me up and building up lately and we need to address all this,” he said, slowly turning to look at you.
“Why do you yell at me the way you do, Joe? It’s so hard to want to be kind back when I get talked to the way I do when you’re upset,” you spoke with shaky breaths. “I feel like I have to defend myself to you when you raise your voice with me. That’s why when we bicker, it feels never ending. How am I supposed to stand there and take criticism for every little disagreement or every little thing that makes you upset?”
“I don’t know, babe. I just get so lost in my own emotions that sometimes things just come out that way,” he began. 
“No Joe, they always come out that way. But when you start attacking me for things like singing and dancing, that’s when it goes overboard. You can’t keep criticizing me for things I do when you’re worked up,” you said with a more stern tone. 
“I’m sorry, y/n. I’m going to try to be better,” he said, grabbing at your hand again and fiddling with your ring. “This ring is supposed to represent my undying love for you and I’ve done the opposite. I promise I’m going to work to be a better fiancee so I can be the best husband. I love you y/n and I can’t lose you. I’m so sorry for the way the cards have fallen lately. I deserve to be blamed and torn into,” he said, looking down in embarrassment. 
“Babe I’m not gonna bitch back at you the way you yelled at me earlier. While I don’t appreciate the way I’ve been talked to lately, you don’t deserve to be talked to like that. I just need your help in talking things out before shit hits the fan, got it?” you looked at him, waiting for him to look into your eyes and agree. He nodded, leaning in to kiss your forehead. You both sighed as you leaned into his chest for comfort. He held you so close and tight like it was the thing he knew how to do best. You both needed that tight embrace. 
“No more talking to each other like that, got it?” you pulled away as you spoke.
“Of course, future Mrs. Burrow. We can settle things like adults because we are adults,” he showed a soft smile.
“Now go to practice, Burrow. You shouldn’t keep coach and the team waiting. I’ll be here to hug you later. I’m just glad we talked at least something out. We can talk more out when you get back,” you held out your pinky and wrapped his into yours. 
“I love you, y/n. I’ll be back later,” he got up and rushed out the door. You sighed and leaned back into the couch in hope that more talking to each other would help cure all your anxieties. Maybe even going for a drive, together...
-----
lmk if y'all want a part two, I've got some ideas up my sleeve!!!!!!
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nats-revival · 10 months ago
Note
Love story au: you and Abby have a sort of forbidden secret romance 💛 takes place during medieval time.
𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 | 𝙖. 𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣
pairing: abby anderson x afab!reader
tags: (sorta modernized!) shakespearean english, no smut, abbys father is mentioned, reader lowkey living that rapunzel lifestyle but like not rlly. 😭🙏, abby has a bow and arrow, im still terrible at tagging, so i probably missed some stuff??
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a/n: honestly, i rlly only chose this song for this fic bc i was watching berlin while writing this and lowk.. i figured that it was fitting! honestly this prompt was super fun to do!!! i absolutely loved doing this, and i promise i will finish out my requests soon. 😭🙏 there’s still two more i have to start. uploads might be slow next week since i have some tests at school but ill def still try to be active here. ^^
You weren’t supposed to see each other, it was forbidden. Ever since your families began to quarrel, they had kept you held up in your room for seemingly no reason at all. Your father often fought with Abby’s, and they’d go extreme lengths to show their superiority, whether it be trading and buying the most expensive things they could, draping their daughters and significant other in the finest silks, or flat out going toe-to-toe with each other. Of course, you had already been seeing her secretly beforehand, and she showed you things you weren’t ever gonna be allowed to see. Fighting tournaments, erotic literature, the finest alcoholic beverages her kingdom had to offer, and how it felt to rebel. You loved doing these things with her.
These days, you’d been confined to the stone walls of your room, cold floors, and whatever other luxuries your father decided to drape you in. You were only allowed outside for a few minutes, or whatever your father allowed. It happened to be 45 minutes today. During this time you and Abby meet up secretly. Today, you found yourself running through the thick forest behind your castle. You were out of breath and your mouth went dry, but there she was. Her long braid would’ve been noticeable from any distance. You catch your breath and you stand up straight. “Abby.” You say with a smile. She turns to you with a smile, holding her bow and arrow. “Wherefore doth thee at each moment come running to see me? What is the reason behind thy eag'rness to seeth me?” The curiosity in her tone was playful. “I couldn’t possibly miss out on seeing thee. I'm willing to wend to most wondrous lengths just to beest with thee, coequal if 't be true t means running a million miles. You know that I can't be outside f'r long these days, so I want to make it count.” You admit as your smile grows. Abby chuckles. “Nobodys ever did like me so much to running to me ev'ryday. Concluded, be it, follow me. I want to showeth thee something, and I think you’d plaited it.”
   Abby takes your hand and she leads you deeper into the forest. The flora of the forest was to die for this season. The beautiful greens, the flowers, the dew drops sliding off tree leaves, it was a sight that was just impossible to want to not see. But it was only something the two of you knew about. After some time, she stops by some trees. Attached to them were some targets. “I suppose thee haven’t forgotten that day we spent a few fortnights ago? Did thee say.. thee did want to see how valorous mine aim was, no?” Abby asked with a smile. You nod enthusiastically. “Oh, of course I’d want to see how well thee uses yond bow and arrow. You speak so highly of thy aim, I’m sure it’s better than any sirs in the entire kingdom.” Abby always found your enthusiasm cute. Her body felt warm and fuzzy, as stupid and cliche it sounds, but she always felt that way around you. She loved how alive you made her feel. She readies her bow and arrow, and you watch her. You observe her pulling the string back and being mindful of how much she does. She inhales and loses the arrow in the middle of her exhale. Dead center of the target! She turns to you with a smile as your face lights up equally as bright.
   She was amazing! God, you’ve seen men competing for the other princesses hands in marriage (thanks to Abby), but you wanted her to do this for you when your time came. “That wast most wondrous! Oh my gosh, thee should it again. I want to see you do it again!” You say as you give her a face of pleading. She lets out a small chuckle before she turns to another target. This time, she decides to be flashy. She readies an arrow yet again, closing her eyes before she lets it loose. She opens her eyes to find that it had just nearly hit beneath the target. She shrugs her shoulders with a small smile. “Well, art thee did impress, princess?” She asks as she goes to collect her arrows. You turn to her with a small smile. “Of course I’m impressed.  Thee nev'r faileth to impresseth me, Abigail.” “That’s the second timeth you’ve hath called me that. I still rememb'r the first liketh it’s yest'rday.” Abby’s cheeks were dusted in a pink blush as she remembered that day you’d asked her out. All loopy from your drinking, your drunken rambling had resulted in you asking her out. “I rememb'r that day fondly. It was the day I hath asked thee out.” You reply in a soft tone almost as if you were falling in love with her all over again. But you couldn’t help it. This woman was timeless, and she never failed to take your breath away no matter what she did. Whether it be simple housework, gardening, or using that bow and arrow. Every aspect of Abby was attractive. Once all her arrows had been collected, she walks back over to you. She grabs your hands, her thumb gently grazing your knuckles as she looks in your eyes. Your gaze meets hers. She smiles, you look away with a giggle. She turns you back to face her. “I loveth thee. For many nights, I’ve hadst these dreams. Those dreams beshrew mine own mind.  All of those were about thee. Well, us.  Running hence. Being joyous. Not having to encave our love.” Her voice was soft. Her tone was sincere.
   Her gaze softened. One hand comes to softly hold your face. You melt. You couldn’t stop the words from spilling out of your mouth now. “I want to be with thee. I’m not restful of hiding. I want to run in the lush gardens, waketh to a sleep chamber that isn’t bitter cold, and stay out with thee for howev'r long mine own heart desires.” You smile at her and she smiles back. Slowly, her eyes become half lidded and she moves closer to you. “Run away with me, princess.” She whispered before she softly pressed her lips to yours. She pulled away for a moment to see if you were okay with it, but when you pulled her right back in, it solidified that you were more than okay with this. Her arms wrap around your waist, and yours find solace around her neck. This moment felt surreal. Being surrounded by forest, her hands on your body, the humming sound of cicadas and whatever else was in the forest, and the sounds of her soft, quiet moans filled your ears and burned in your memory. While you’re kissing her, you remember its way past the time you should’ve returned. You pull away. “Goodness, it’s getting late. We shall meet. Here, before sundown. I expect to see thee waiting for me here.” You say sweetly but in a rushed manner. She crosses her arms, then closing her eyes as she gives you a confirming nod before she bids you farewell. “I’ll see you soon, princess.” She says as she watches you walk off, then turning to head towards her own castle. This was the start of living freely, not confined by the restraints of parents.
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lousypotatoes · 6 months ago
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heyy! just wanted to say ive read your mukuroxreader n i love it :DD im not really sure if an ultimate!reader would count as an oc, but would it be alright if i request a gundham/gonta with an ultimate florist!femreader platonic imagine where theyre classmates? id also like to request one for hiyoko, mahiru n celestia but if its too much then gundham n gonta will be enough!
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Friendship In Bloom - Platonic! Gundham/Gonta/Hiyoko x Female! Reader
Gundham Tanaka
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Song Recommendation:
Zombie - The Cranberries
Y/N was in the school garden, looking for some flowers to put in a bouquet. While students were allowed to sit in the garden, her being the Ultimate Florist, she was one of the only people actually allowed to use it.
"What mysterious endeavor doth thou undertake amidst this verdant realm?" said a deep voice from behind her.
She turned around and saw none other than Gundham Tanaka, one of her classmates. She hung around him enough to understand the strange way he talked.
"Hi Gundham," she said brightly. I'm just picking some flowers to put in a bouquet. What are you doing here?"
"I am merely seeking solace before I embark to my next class," he said, sitting on one of the benches. "What mortal being is this bouquet for?"
"No one," she replied. "I'm just making it to pass the time, I might put it in my dorm."
"May I beseech thee with a question, Y/N?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure," she answered. "Ask away."
"Might I implore upon thee, to craft me a bouquet?" he asked, blushing slightly. "'Tis intended as a gift for a soul dear to my heart."
"I'm guessing it's for Sonia?" she asked, smirking slightly.
"Maybe," he muttered, pulling his scarf up.
"Sure, I'd be happy to make you one!" she said. "Any flowers you have in mind?"
"Any blossoms in the hues of white or yellow shall suffice for this noble endeavor." Gundham said.
"Hmm alright," Y/N said. "I'll have it to you by Tuesday at the latest."
"I extend my deepest gratitude to you, Y/N!" he exclaimed, getting up. "Reveal to me the sum of currency that you require."
"You don't have to pay me, Gundham," she waved off. "I'm more than happy to do it for free."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Of course, anything for a friend!"
Gonta Gokuhara
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Song Recommendation:
august - Taylor Swift
"I'm gonna punch Kokichi in his smug little face, I swear," Y/N muttered as she walked through the busy hallway.
She was forced to partner up with him for a chemistry project, and all he did was goof off, making Y/N do the whole thing be herself.
She needed to clear her head, and the only place to do that was the school garden.
As she entered, she was surprised to see that someone was already in it, sitting down in the dirt.
Hearing the footsteps behind him, Gonta turned around, a smile lighting up on his face once she saw Y/N.
"Hi Y/N!" he said.
"Hi Gonta," she smiled, setting down her bag. "What are you doing in here?"
"Gonta just here, looking at all the bugs in garden!" he exclaimed, showing her a butterfly on is finger. "So many, like little friends!"
Y/N giggled, sitting on the dirt next to Gonta.
"I didn't know that you came here, Gonta," she said, picking a tulip. "I've never seen you here before."
"Sometimes, Gonta come here to clear mind," he said quietly. "Nature good for thinking, make mind feel calm."
Y/N hummed in agreement.
"Gonta also come here to look at all bugs." he said.
"That's nice," she said, letting a ladybug land on her finger. "I didn't know anyone else came here but me."
"Gonta started coming here few weeks ago," he said.
"That explains why I haven't seen you then,"
The two of them stayed quiet, listening to the sounds of nature.
"What is that flower called?" Gonta asked, pointing at an Iris.
"Oh, that's an Iris," she said.
"What about that one?"
"That's a hydrangea,"
"And that one?"
"That's a Sakura tree," she said, smiling. "That's what our national flower grows on."
"Gonta didn't know you knew so much about flowers." he said.
"I am the Ultimate Florist after all," she laughed.
"Do you think you could teach Gonta more about flowers?" he asked, his eyes lighting up.
A small smile graced Y/N's face.
"Of course, Gonta. You see that one there? That's a Sumire..."
Hiyoko Saionji
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Song Recommendation:
Speed Drive - Charli XCX
"Hey! Y/N!"
Y/N lifted her head up from her desk and saw tiny little Hiyoko walking towards her.
"What do you want, Hiyoko?"
"I need you to pick me some flowers," Hiyoko answered.
"Why can't you do it yourself?" Y/N asked.
"'Cause you're the Ultimate Florist and I know nothing about flowers," she said. "Pretty please?"
"Fine," Y/N said. "What are the flowers for?"
"None of your business," she said, sticking out her tongue.
"Fine, don't tell me," Y/N said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "What kind of flowers do you want?"
"Anything that's pretty and red,"
"That's not much of an answer but okay," Y/N muttered. "When do you need them by?"
"Tomorrow," Hiyoko simply said.
"Tomorrow!? I won't be able to-" Y/N cut herself off. "You know, fine. I'll get them to you tomorrow."
"Oh yay!" Hiyoko exclaimed. "I knew you'd be able to do it! Bye Y/N!" she said, as she ran out of the classroom.
"Wait! Hiyoko! You owe me-" she yelled, trying to get Hiyoko's attention, but Hiyoko was already down the hallway.
"Five dollars.." Y/N grumbled. "I am way too nice for my own good."
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sorry it took me so long to upload this anon
i was planning on doing mahiru and celestia as well, but it was too much different scenarios to think of
i'm sorry 😭
stay safe and drinks lot's of water <33
xoxo, Izzy
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butchhamlet · 1 year ago
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hi :) i don't know if it's really my place to say since i'm not sure if i actually have ocd or not; but as someone who's struggled with a lot of horrible taboo intrusive thoughts, guilt, rumination spirals and possibly trich this summer your ocd hamlet post really resonated with me.
i've been rereading hamlet and hamlet being an ocd sufferer just reframes so much of his acting and his “antic disposition”. to me it feels like he’s putting on masks upon masks upon masks not just because he NEEDS the control (if it’s all an act it means i don’t actually want to hurt anyone right? if i’m pretending to be insane i’m not actually insane?) but also because he’s afraid of being known. like my deepest fear is probably anyone knowing the extent of my intrusive thoughts and the things i feel guilty about and obsess over. so if he says all this nonsense nobody will know what’s happening in his mind—which i guess was probably the original intention anyway, the idea that claudius wouldn’t suspect him of treason if he acted insane, but i think it still fits.
there’s also his first soliloquy, “o, that this too [solid/sullied/sallied] flesh would melt, / thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!” i like the reading of “sullied” because it really highlights that feeling of being contaminated. hamlet feels tainted by the immorality in the danish court, but if we’re going by the ocd reading, he also feels tainted by the horrible intrusive thoughts and obsessions he has (tying in with what you’d said about him having sexual intrusive thoughts rather than um. an o*dipus complex.) the disgust towards the flesh can also be related to physical compulsions like body repetitive behaviours (e.g. skin picking).
this one is a bit “trust me bro” but the “i have of late, but wherefore i know not, lost all my mirth…” line is just. exactly what my experience was. i’ve always had intrusive thoughts, but one afternoon everything just Went Downhill and suddenly i couldn’t stop thinking about it for a couple weeks. i’d be normal for a while before it all started happening again. again, i know in the play he DOES know why he “lost all his mirth”—he saw his father’s ghost—but well.
the famous scene where he yells at ophelia too feels so striking. “get thee to a nunnery. why wouldst thou / be a breeder of sinners?” feels like such a PERSONAL fear of raising a child or being responsible for another life. obviously this isn’t unique to ocd but i imagine for people who have taboo themes (harm ocd, scrupulosity ocd, especially pocd) it’s especially prominent. i feel like the word “sinners” is really important because someone with moral/scrupulosity/religion-related ocd would be very preoccupied about the idea of sinning, and that guilt is something you would never wish on anyone, least of all a child. (HE wouldn't know this, but ocd has genetic factors so even though i don't know if i have it, the possibility of passing this guilt and anxiety on puts me off ever having kids even more).
that ties in to the next lines too: he says, “i am myself indifferent honest, but yet / i could accuse me of such things that it were better my / mother had not borne me. …. what should fellows such as i do / crawling between heaven and earth?” hamlet admits himself he’s “indifferent honest”—rationally he’s probably not the Worst Person In The World Ever—but in the next lines he does seem to consider himself the Worst Person In The World Ever. that kind of all or nothing thinking (small mistakes puts you in the same category as the worst, most morally repugnant criminals) is apparently really common in real event ocd. (https://ocdspecialists.com/real-event-ocd/) hamlet goes on to list everything wrong with him (“i am very proud, revengeful, ambitious…”) which itself feels so much like an intrusive thought. that self-condemnation just feels like he's trying to cover up his anxieties about not being a good person but telling everyone he's not a good person so nobody gets the wrong idea. (he's not an inherently bad person, but he can't possibly convince himself of this because what if he believes that and he starts doing bad things? what if not beating himself up makes him lose control and become even worse? better keep suffering to keep himself in check.)
sorry for clogging up your inbox!! i really wanted to put this out there somewhere but i didn’t want to put it out on my blog since i’ve never really talked about potentially having ocd (? i don’t seem to ALWAYS have it maybe i was just going through a rough patch mid 2023). again i don’t have a diagnosis or anything i’m just going by my own experience and hopefully i’d read enough about it for this to not be way off—though please correct me if i am!! hope you’re having a really nice day, thanks for reading this if you made it all the way through :)
!!! i'm so glad the post resonated with you! honestly, i've gotten some of the sweetest messages about that post from people who saw themselves reflected it in it, which is astonishing to me because i wrote it basically for myself. so it makes me very happy that it means something to you :]
not just because he NEEDS the control (if it’s all an act it means i don’t actually want to hurt anyone right? if i’m pretending to be insane i’m not actually insane?) but also because he’s afraid of being known. like my deepest fear is probably anyone knowing the extent of my intrusive thoughts and the things i feel guilty about and obsess over
YEAH. YEAH. YEAH! i sometimes catch myself having the paranoid thought that people around me can read my mind--i don't actually believe this, but i have a simmering fear of my Worst Thoughts sort of seeping out of me, so reframing hamlet in this light is. ohhhhh man. and sullied really is such a good word for it! the stains! the contamination! miasma theory was right <- JOKE
(also, "if i'm pretending to be insane, i'm not actually insane, right?" is the kind of thought that ocd will chase in CIRCLES, my god.)
i’ve always had intrusive thoughts, but one afternoon everything just Went Downhill and suddenly i couldn’t stop thinking about it for a couple weeks. i’d be normal for a while before it all started happening again
BTW ANON THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME AT AGE 14. SHAKING YOUR HAND. DOING A FANCY CODED HANDSHAKE WITH YOU. it really can get so much drastically better or worse at once and it's often (in my experience) hard to tell why, but even when it's not hard to tell why--i think the reasons for Losing His Mirth can be multiple. like, my OCD always gets way worse when i'm stressed about unrelated things. i can see a hamlet whose father's death pushes him over the edge into his worst-ever symptom flare, which exacerbates the grief, which exacerbates the obsessions, which...
i feel like the word “sinners” is really important because someone with moral/scrupulosity/religion-related ocd would be very preoccupied about the idea of sinning, and that guilt is something you would never wish on anyone, least of all a child. (HE wouldn't know this, but ocd has genetic factors so even though i don't know if i have it, the possibility of passing this guilt and anxiety on puts me off ever having kids even more).
YEAH. GOD. OH, MAN. anon your fucking MIND. (i personally read hamlet as having religious components to his OCD; this is at least in part me projecting lol but i think there's evidence throughout the play that he is a deeply religiously conflicted person, & this line is part of that.)
(he's not an inherently bad person, but he can't possibly convince himself of this because what if he believes that and he starts doing bad things? what if not beating himself up makes him lose control and become even worse? better keep suffering to keep himself in check.)
ocd will literally be like "okay so i'm not allowed to believe i'm a good person because if i let myself off the hook for one second i will become complacent and self-justifying and then become a bad person. could this possibly be maladaptive and self-harmful thinking? no, it's the everyone else who is wrong."
AND ABSOLUTELY DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR ANYTHING! i fucking LOVE talking about ocd hamlet this ask was SUCH a delight to receive. me clicking on this and seeing how long it was
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also tbh anon it sounds like you are definitely having symptoms that could be grouped under OCD, and ultimately diagnostic labels are just the words we apply to groups of symptoms. which is to say, i can't armchair-diagnose you, but looking into coping skills/tips for OCD might help whether you "have" it or not!
thank YOU my comrade for the brilliant thoughts and analysis :3
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seeingivy · 8 months ago
Text
method acting asks!
first of all, you guys ate the style chapter so bad EEK im so glad you guys loved it. more where that's coming from! been having the worst week but watching people react as they read has been super fun and I thank you all for that :')
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https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMM2wqGJV/ oh bestie...oh you're SO RIGHT. like y/n's nickname is princess but I definitely think as time goes on historia fits more of the princess vibe and y/n as the popstar. also some part of their friendship is loosely based on olivia rodrigo and sabrina carpenter, just like solely as vibes so
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https://x.com/erjgrs/status/1765732630643851685?s=46&t=Uk-oZnZapecdEA4wRzncKw real. a picture lana would post and the quote tweet would be y/n.
(this isn't a method acting ask but it's eren and legit the only eren thing i've written since july so it counts)
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hi!!!! thank you so much for the love :') i'm so excited to share it with everyone!
the opening and ending songs are the same! I make a shinzo sasageyo joke in the next set of tweets....I agree with you, I do think that they would write all the music that was included in the actual show and that certain songs are for ceertain characters
table scenes twitter reactions coming...your wish is my command...
vampire by olivia rodrigo, ding ding! one of my fav songs that I get to include i'm so excited eek. I def think lana would cover the song but I think the main like song she would write about ricky would be something like would've could've should've by taylor swift/goddess by laufey/ or history of man by maisie peters
I hope you have a lovely day too!!!! thank you so much for supporting me :')
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I actually considered going with heavenly bodies as the theme for this met gala in the fic (just bc that was litearlly the best met gala) but I ended up deciding against it. but I totally get what you mean,,, they would serve....
also a slight hint, but I did end up giving lana marilyn monroe kim kardashian controversy dress because that is something that lana would do. also in general, lana/clarkson's are based off of kardashians (if you couldn't tell) so....it fit
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HARD AGREE. I think whatever they bond over is something that eren just...can't do. like if they're watching a reality tv show and really invested, he'd sit there being like....it's fake just to get mad glares fro zeke/carla/and i'm adding colt to the mix. eren's cool with the kiddos (falco and gabi) but y/ns cool with the big brothers (zeke and colt)
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@najaemism omg I'VE ACTUALLY NEVER HEARD THSI SONG BEFORE but actually you're so right. also very mikasa during jeankasa meltdown.....also historia (more on that later)
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@leave-rae-alone HI POOKIE! don't worry...I disappear off the face of my blog like every other week. I hope you're doing well and take time to rest!
am I allowed to say megan thee stallion bc I am in love with megan thee stallion? but actually though, I think her style fits the character, she likes anime and this is an anime fanfic, and her using like stuff from tokyo ghoul as references during the nicki drama is actually something that I think y/n would do. also I just love this outfit i would include it as a red carpet outfit or something
hm. there are a few that @/bsenpai and I mention bc we actually talk about method acting everyday like its an illness. I think y/n and eren would do she's the man (that's the movie they've promised ethan cole btw), eren and y/n also do pride and prejudice 2005, I also think she would act as the daughter as interstellar. those are the ones that come to mind rn!
no comment. you did ask this before I posted the chapter tho but you like manifested that one hard so.
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LMFAOOOO. wait can I tell you the funniest thing....is that I actually think young gojo in method acting would be like young justin bieber. like i had this thought the other day when i was listening to somebody to love and i was like....ok chill out gojo damn. like I naturally think he would have that charisma and be one of the first people to pop off on youtube....but he would not flop like current justin bieber.
that's all for today. here are the songs + some hints for the next chapter:
see you again by tyler the creator ft. kali uchis, end game by taylor swift, and vampire by olivia rodrigo
an award wrapped in a ribbon
a red lipstick mark
smashing a crown
sukuna splashing a glass of wine in someone's face...soulmateism if you ask me
there are some of these i think you could technically figure out. but oh well, I will see you then!
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amadeusgame · 5 months ago
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A Small Developer's Next Fest Retrospective
This write-up is mostly intended for people working on their first indie game who have no idea what to expect from an event like Steam Next Fest going in with a relatively small following and wishlist count. Almost all of the advice and available information I have seen is geared for games that have wishlists in the 4-5 digits, which is decidedly not me. So I am publishing my numbers for reference.
For full transparency and disclosure, Amadeus: A Riddle for Thee ~ Episode 1 ~ Waltz went in to Next Fest with 137 outstanding wishlists. This number was huge and hard-earned for my standards, even if it's a number that most studios consider "nothing." If there is one takeaway from this writeup, I hope it's that "nothing" is highly contextual, and any number you worked hard for is substantial.
As the Fest wraps up, the current outstanding count for Amadeus is....
259.
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That is almost double what I started with. THAT'S HUGE!
It is incredibly important to keep perspective in mind when analyzing numbers like this. If you go in to Next Fest with 40k wishlists, getting ~120 more will feel like absolutely nothing. But if you go in with under 150, 120 is remarkable and significant. So whatever amount you have in anticipation of Next Fest, set your expectations based on that. Don't compare yourself to a super polished game made by a team of 30 people and a budget.
What follows is a lot of numbers and strategies and analysis of what I tried and how I think it went.
This write-up is going to be split into three sections.
The first is "Strikes Against Amadeus," in which I will outline all of the things I did that were not-optimal. You can decide whether to learn from that and avoid the same issues, or understand that doing them anyway means your numbers will suffer (as was my approach). This first part is very writing-heavy and has a lot of speculation and subjective commentary from a small solo dev POV.
The second section is "What Apparently Went Well," discussing the things that I think contributed to the game almost doubling its wishlists. Clearly, I did something right!
The final section is just numbers and data. Numbers on wishlists, wishlist deletions, correlations between stream viewership and wishlists/stream viewership and timeslots, etc. Feel free to skip directly to this part if you just want data.
I. Strikes Against Amadeus
Things that certainly contributed to it not doing as well as it might have.
Unpolished demo
Capsule art doesn't really show what the game looks like
Inconsistent gameplay
Streaming mistakes
1. Unpolished Demo
First things first—I ignored a very key piece of advice about getting the most out of Next Fest. Ignoring it was the correct choice for me, but I am aware it almost certainly had a negative impact on the numbers.
The advice: do not enter Next Fest until your demo is basically release-ready, as polished as it will ever be.
Next Fest is showing your game to a massive audience who are checking out hundreds of games. If you want your game to have a chance of standing out it should be the best it's going to be. And you only get one Next Fest for your game.
Why did I ignore it? Because I am a solo developer with limited time making a game that will never feel polished, and I wanted to focus on the big picture of my game's eventual release.
I am aiming to release the full game in October. If I waited until the following Next Fest, that festival would also be in October. I already know from releasing the demo that a release is MASSIVELY time-consuming and stressful. Do I want to deal with the stress of participating in a week-long festival while I am also dealing with the stress of a release? Absolutely not. I decided it was better to enter the June festival so when October comes my attention is not divided.
Given that I'd decided on the June festival, I was faced with another decision: I had already made many mechanical and writing improvements in my test build since the released demo. Should I update the demo build with those improvements before the Next Fest, so the demo feels better?
For similar reasons, I decided no.
Pushing an updated demo build would probably require a dedicated week just to test & troubleshoot all platforms in case something broke, and I am deep in the middle of development to finish the full game. Taking a week off of development to release a slightly more polished build for Next Fest felt like bad prioritizing.
I already know my game is a bit scrappy, and unlikely to do Big Numbers no matter what. More importantly, it doesn't matter HOW many wishlists I get if I don't actually finish the full game for release. So I focused on just continuing to work on my game.
If you choose to enter the Fest with an unpolished demo, as I did, you do need to accept that this means a lot of people will pass on it who may have given it a chance if it was more finished.
If you are anything like me, you might also need to prepare yourself for getting stressed out when you find yourself with 200+ people watching your unpolished game in real time, in silent judgement, causing you to become hyper-aware of every flaw and imperfection.
2. Capsule Art Doesn't Showcase Game
I knew that my game's store visual assets are not, shall we say... optimized. You can barely read the game's subtitle in it. It's also one of the only capsules in the whole Visual Novel category of the fest that doesn't clearly show what any of the characters actually look like.
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I DO think that it looks unique, which is a large point in its favor, but I should probably consider making the protagonist or other discernible-at-a-glance art visible so people can see what the game actually looks like. There are so many hundreds upon hundreds of games in the Fest to scroll through, and a lot of people might scroll right past mine even if it's a game they would like because the thumbnail shows them nothing about how the game itself looks.
I'm not a graphic designer and my budget for this game is $0 + all my spare time, but it might have been pertinent to learn a little about graphic design principles in much the same way I have learned a little about animation principles to create Amadeus's walking animation, etc.
...That said, I am kind of attached to the non-optimal thumbnail just because it really does look different from all the others. Sometimes standing out isn't a good thing, but hey. This game exists because of unmarketably niche self-indulgence. I still feel that it suits it in a way.
3. Inconsistent Gameplay
This is something inherent to my game that I will absolutely not be fixing, but it is worth addressing.
Amadeus has scenes that are pure visual novel with minimal, if any, player input. These largely just feature text, character sprites and/or CGs, music/sound, and... that's really it. There are barely any choices or interactions to speak of.
It also has scenes where you control Amadeus and interact with the environment via point-and-click (or WASD) gameplay. These portions were inspired by my love of games like Zelda and Paper Mario, and for better or worse, I basically refused to compromise on the vision of actually walking around and controlling a little guy in my game.
These two gameplay experiences, in all honesty, have very little in common with each other.
Important note: I scripted every mechanic in the game myself, which means that neither of these very distinct scenarios feel polished (the visual novel scenes don't have pauses after punctuation in the shipped demo - I only figured out how to do this very recently; and the point-and-click scenes have janky pathing where Amadeus walks against walls not-infrequently). This means both gameplay types introduce potential friction/frustration because they're unpolished. This also makes the player experience very inconsistent between scenes.
The reason I draw attention to the inconsistency is that I noticed, during my livestreams throughout the week, a particular pattern in viewership.
It seemed at first that I would accumulate viewers during the point-and-click segments and they would drop off dramatically during VN segments. I attributed this to an elitist "VNs don't have GAMEPLAY" attitude and shrugged it off, until I noticed on a later stream that the exact opposite pattern was happening.
On that later stream, I accumulated viewers during long VN segments with no "gameplay," and they dropped off dramatically when it transitioned to a point-and-click gameplay segment.
That's when I realized that it's not a matter of one part of the game being Better To Market than the other; it's a matter of people generally valuing consistency. This bodes very well for people making pure visual novels, or otherwise hybrids that are more cohesive than mine is. The fact that my game feels like two different games awkwardly shoved together is, understandably, off-putting.
This is also not an aspect of my game I have any intention whatsoever to fix. The jarringly different gameplay experiences in it are a core part of its identity as a visual novel inspired by Sonic Adventure. However, it is probably worth noting that this doesn't make it very marketable.
(Maybe I should put Solea in a mech in Episode 2?)
4. Streaming Mistakes
This is probably the #1 thing to fix for next time I participate in a Next Fest, and the easiest adjustment to make now that I know better.
Before Next Fest, you are encouraged to sign up for 2 hour-long slots during which your game will receive a spotlight on the streaming schedule. This grants it a significant boost because the stream schedule is right there on the main page of Next Fest.
I've seen a lot of debates about when to schedule these and I do not have enough data points to draw any strong conclusions other than "definitely take advantage of this and schedule two, on two separate days." I've published my own numbers in the data section.
If you take no other advice from this write-up, take the following:
Test streaming to Steam before the Fest.
Publish your scheduled stream events before the Fest, so they appear on the schedule in advance.
Start streaming at least an hour before your spotlight time begins.
Continue streaming until you are back down to what an average, no-spotlight stream viewership for your game looks like.
My biggest "mistake" was really that I had no idea what average, no-spotlight stream viewership looked like because I scheduled my first stream at the start of the fest. I did start about an hour before the spotlight, and was steadily climbing in the double digits of viewers. I assumed this was with no boost (as my spotlight hour hadn't started). During the spotlight I averaged around 200 viewers, which felt insane. After the spotlight, I kept going for another half hour and it went back down to a little over 100, and since I was kind of exhausted and stressed I cut stream.
The next time I did a stream with no spotlight.... I averaged, um, maybe 8 viewers.
This was a very important lesson.
I still tried to do streams just about daily, mostly at night when I had time (and since there were fewer streams total, these seemed to do very marginally better anyway; maybe averaging closer to 10 viewers); but not very long ones. I didn't want to stress myself out trying to maximize exposure when I knew my game would never be a smash hit on release anyway, especially since the story won't be finished until all 5 episodes are out.
These smaller streams were really key in helping me figure out what viewers were looking for, though. I kept a close eye on viewer count while playing to look for patterns. More on that in the "What Went Well" section.
My second spotlight stream was on Saturday, and this time I started streaming about an hour and a half before it started. The beginning was pretty average, maybe slightly above average, but right on the hour-before mark I saw a pretty sizeable boost to an average of 30ish viewers (compared to 10ish, that's significant!), and then the hour itself saw a peak of around 400 viewers and an average of around 350, which is almost twice as good as the first stream, and just totally nuts. After the spotlight hour ended, I stayed live for another 2 hours because it was still in the triple digits and I knew that I would never get those numbers again. I eventually cut stream with still over 70 viewers because I was exhausted and needed food, but boy, was that a learning experience!
If I had kept going for another hour or so on Monday's stream (not that I knew better at the time), I really think the numbers from that day could have been even stronger.
II. What Went Well
This section covers the 4 major things that I think are working in my game's favor and helping it gain some interest.
Unique aesthetic identity
Additional marketing efforts
Good tagging
Adapting Livestream Approach
1. Unique Aesthetics
It's impossible to put a number on this, but I believe the fact I am a musician and an artist well before I am a programmer means the game has an aesthetic vision that stands out. It looks and sounds very unlike almost anything else I can immediately think of, including its clear influences. And because I have coded the mechanics myself instead of using an engine built for that purpose, I have made my life harder for no reason, and also made a game that feels unique.
If you can't be marketable, be memorable! Not a lot of people proportionately are going to find or be interested in Amadeus, but I like to think some of the people who saw it were captivated by the heart I've put into it and the clear vision I have for it.
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2. Additional Marketing
This will be further outlined in the numbers section below, but on most days of the Fest I did some shilling elsewhere (mostly on Twitter) to try and get the most out of it. I have no way of knowing whether this was successful, but I will note which days I did which external shilling in case it is insightful.
I sincerely apologize to all of my Twitter followers for all that spam, by the way. You only get one Next Fest...
3. Good Tagging
This was almost certainly invaluable. There are SO MANY games participating in the Fest that anyone just scrolling through upcoming games will never see mine, as it's almost at the bottom in terms of wishlists. But the whole point of the Fest is to connect gamers with games they want to see, including really specific ones.
Steam has an awesome tagging wizard to tag your game on their store to identify really specific factors that people might look for. People browsing the Fest can use tags to filter for games that sound appealing to them in particular. So even if there are thousands of games, someone looking for a very specific type of VN/point-and-click that Amadeus fits the bill for should be able to find it.
(Even before the Fest, I am certain a nonzero number of wishlists came from my game being tagged "werewolf.")
4. Adapting Livestream Approach
Related to a point above, on what didn't go so well... in my second spotlight stream, I was able to get a lot more eyes on my game from knowing full well how much the spotlight hour mattered, by starting earlier and continuing later.
I had also learned from paying close attention to viewership patterns during the smaller streams over the week that certain behaviors on stream tended to drop viewers like flies. Opening menus too much instead of just letting VN scenes play out turned out to be a big no-no! I thought they'd want to see GAMEPLAY AND INTERACTION(TM), but it turns out viewers do not want to see adjustment of text speed sliders or opening of a backlog on someone else's pace; viewers want to see the game so they can decide if it's one they want to play or not.
I learned from this, so by the time my second major spotlight hour came around, I knew that the optimal way to play for viewers was just to toggle on the auto button and watch the Sonic Adventure 2: Battle 180 emblem speedrun world record VOD on another tab until a point-and-click segment came up.
III. The Numbers
Data from streams, wishlists, demo plays, etc.
I showed the overall total wishlist numbers from "demo launch on Steam store" to "right now" at the top to show just how much Next Fest has helped, but here is another view of that: wishlist adds and removals per day, since demo launch through Next Fest:
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The big peak you see on the right, from Day 1 of Next Fest, is the single biggest day ever for wishlists the game has ever had. INCLUDING LAUNCH DAY.
I saw so many people say "Next Fest isn't going to help you if you're a tiny game with 50 wishlists," but, I mean.... I'm a tiny game with ~130 wishlists, and it has helped massively.
Zooming in on the Next Fest week:
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I'll transcribe the exact numbers, for both wishlist adds and deletions, because the deletion number is interesting too:
Sun Jun 09 - 3 adds, 0 deletes Mon Jun 10 - 38 adds, 1 delete - Scheduled Stream 1 Tue Jun 11 - 19 adds, 4 deletes - Unscheduled Evening Stream Wed Jun 12 - 16 adds, 0 deletes - Unscheduled Evening Stream Thur Jun 13 - 9 adds, 1 delete - Unscheduled Daytime Stream Fri Jun 14 - 10 adds, 0 deletes - Unscheduled Evening Stream Sat Jun 15 - 24 adds, 4 deletes - Scheduled Stream 2 Sun Jun 16 - 16 adds, 0 deletes - No Stream
Adjusting for Additional Marketing:
It is probably worth noting that on the following days I made a lot of annoying Twitter posts shilling my game trailer on blue check accounts asking people to post their #indiegame. I have no idea if this influenced the numbers, but here is the amount of shilling per day:
Mon Jun 10 - 1 original post advertising the stream Tue Jun 11 - 2 original posts advertising Next Fest, 11 replies to "show me your indie game in Next Fest" blue check engagement bait posts (I am sorry) Wed Jun 12 - 1 reply to "show me your indie game in Next Fest" blue check engagement bait post Thu Jun 13 - 1 reply to "show me your indie game in Next Fest" blue check engagement bait post Fri Jun 14 - 1 original post advertising the stream Saturday. Lots of unrelated posting about Sonic the Hedgehog Sat Jun 15 - no posts Sun Jun 16 - 1 original post saying "it's my birthday play my game" that got more engagement than usual (5 RTs)
Important data points:
The two biggest days for wishlist deletions - ever - were Tuesday and Saturday. Presumably Tuesday is because it is the day following the most adds ever, and people got around to playing and decided "nah." Presumably Saturday is because it was the first weekend day where people got around to trying the demo and decided "nah."
The two biggest days for wishlist adds were Monday and Saturday. These correspond exactly with the days of my 2 scheduled streams. While I have heard that generally wishlists start high and taper off as the week goes on, the Saturday stream clearly had a massive impact on wishlists. That said, although it had almost twice as many viewers, it did not have nearly as many wishlists, implying the stream was far from the only factor.
Sunday performed above average and I did not stream at all that day.
Thursday performed the lowest throughout the week, and I streamed around midday (other days I streamed at night).
My extrapolations from these data points:
Small non-promoted daily streams... may not really matter; considering how well Sunday performed on a day I didn't stream at all, it seems that the boost I got from doing those small streams could be negligible.
That said, I recommend streaming late at night and not at midday if you are a smaller game for unscheduled streams.
It is difficult to tell if Thursday's low performance was due to the lower-than-average stream attendance from streaming at a more competitive time, or if that is just expected on a Thursday. Also, with numbers this small, some fluctuations may simply be statistically insignificant.
The "worst" day of the fest was still WAY above average for the game, and 4 days of the fest did better in wishlist adds than any other day except Day 1 of demo launch.
I obviously cannot say how well this scales to games that go in with 400-1000 wishlists, or games that go in with 50-100. But hopefully this helps!
I also want to show some metrics from the streams, including the times and whether they were spotlight streams or just extra streams. BEHOLD. DATA:
Mon Jun 10 - 278 max viewers | 7,213 total viewers | 2h16m Tue Jun 11 - 19 max viewers | 454 total viewers | 1h30m Wed Jun 12 - 10 max viewers | 161 total viewers | 1h00m Thur Jun 13 - 12 max viewers | 247 total viewers | 1h58m Fri Jun 14 - 18 max viewers | 481 total viewers | 2h30m Sat Jun 15 - 428 max viewers | 10,440 total viewers | 5h11m
That comes out to the following "average viewers" (total/length):
(All times in Pacific.)
Mon: 53.0 viewers/min - 1:15PM-3:33PM - spotlight 2PM-3PM Tue: 5.04 viewers/min - 9:00PM-10:31PM Wed: 2.68 viewers/min - 9:40PM-10:41PM Thu: 2.09 viewers/min - 10:54AM-12:53PM Fri: 3.21 viewers/min - 9:14PM - 11:45PM Sat: 33.6 viewers/min* - 9:34AM - 2:46PM - spotlight 11AM-12PM * this is much lower than monday only because the stream started well before spotlight and continued for another 2-3 hours after the spotlight ended, whereas Monday the stream only lasted a little longer than the spotlight hour.
Here's how the spotlight hour affected the Saturday stream, so you can see the boost in the hour before as well as how even with the drop-off after, it's a significant boost:
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The boost at that first vertical boundary is it going from ~10 viewers to about ~30 viewers on average, then it is probably obvious where the spotlight hour itself starts. Notice that even with the sharp decline after it ends, it still tapers off to well above the average before the hour.
This is why I think it's essential to stream an hour before your stream starts, and continue well after the hour ends until viewers have truly tapered off to nothing significant. You'll get way more eyes on your game than you would any other time of the Fest!
I honestly have a lot more data points, but this post is getting long enough as it is. If you have any particular questions please feel free to send them my way. My primary goal is to put numbers out there for a game with a very small following, because I want small creators to have some data points on which they can base expectations for their own experience.
I hope you find this helpful or insightful! And if you're interested in a visual novel/point-and-click hybrid about a shithead teenager werewolf getting trolled by Witches in a super metanarrative-y game about memories and trauma, you know where to find it.
Good luck out there!
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triniteevee · 2 years ago
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Hey, Neighbor
(giacomo x reader ficlet)
by law, shared walls suck
tagging @nyandemo for requesting thee dj vice (◕‿◕✿) i hope all u giacomo enjoyers enjoy
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There it is again.
For the past two weeks, the person occupying the dorm next to you seemed to make it a point to make your ears bleed. It was the simplest explanation. Otherwise, they must have never heard good music before.
You desperately needed a good night’s sleep. Especially tonight. Your traitorous mind conjures up images of an angry Director Clavell chastising you for not being better prepared for your meeting tomorrow.
Like a ghostly power came over you, you bang your fist against the shared wall and yell out, “Turn it down!”
Immediately, you’re overcome with guilt and shame. A harried voice exclaims, “Oh crap!” The music dies down in an instant, and the same voice apologizes profusely. “I’m sorry! That was my bad! Please don’t be mad— wait you probably already are. I didn’t realize—“ The rest of the words are muffled, and you would not be surprised if they had smushed their face against the wall in an attempt to appease you.
The blanket tightly wrapped around you is warm, and so cozy, but you couldn’t help the need to go over there and apologize yourself. Before you exit your dorm, you give yourself a quick once-over. You snap out of it soon enough. What did it matter what you looked like anyway?
As soon as your neighbor opens up their door, you realize oh no, maybe it did matter what you looked like. (Oh no, he’s hot.)
You’re all too aware of your embarrassing state of dress. Penny’s star patterned joggers, Arven’s sandwich print shirt, and Nemona’s Cyclizar slippers. Not to mention, the bird’s nest of a hair you’re sporting.
If he thinks you look funny, he doesn’t say it. In fact, he stands there, hand on his door knob, mouth gaping open. As if in disbelief.
Speaking rapidly, like there’s a magnetic pull forcing you back into the safety of your own bed, you say, “Hey. Sorry for yelling like that. I appreciate you turning it down. Your music was keeping me up. I have a thing early morning. ‘Kay, thanks, baiii.”
Before he could get a word in, you hightail it back to your room.
Giacomo could only poke his head out into the hallway, staring quizzically at your door. “No problem,” he whispers, knowing full well you couldn’t hear him.
Because of how restless you had felt after seeing him last night, you tossed and turned for hours. You’re not exactly sure what pulled you to sleep, but the need for sleep had caught up so suddenly that you realize you had slept through all three of your alarms.
The red 7:00 on your bedside table gleams mockingly.
A series of rapts on your door rids you of all drowsiness. You’re a little bothered by all the ruckus, but admittedly you’d rather have that than miss your meeting happening in fifteen minutes.
Opening the door felt like déjà vu… sort of, except you’re on the other side of the wall. And the man standing there is a lot better dressed than he’d been last night.
“Good morning.”
Your brain still hasn’t quite caught up to the weirdness of the morning. You stare at him, unintentionally memorizing the color of his eyes, the slope of his nose, the curve of his smile.
The brightness in his eyes soon dim down, and is accompanied by the clearing of his throat. “I was wondering if you could keep it down. Your alarm kept waking me up.”
“O-okay.” You’re still confused by everything, the instinct to flare up at his words doesn’t appear.
A paper cup is thrust at your direction. “Anyway, the café gave me an extra coffee. Thought I could make up for all the noise from my end.” The smell wafting from it suggests it should be worth like 12 dollars at least. So, the good stuff. “Plus you said you have a thing this morning so…” He lets the words die down.
You take a tentative sip. “Thanks.”
It was exactly how you liked it. The kind of order you treat yourself with after finals.
“I should let you get ready,” he smiles.
Before he could shut his door, Giacomo feels a hand pulling on his sleeve. You’re looking at the carpet beneath you as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. Cute.
“I want to make it up to you too.”
Giacomo knows his cheeks are going to hurt from how much he’s grinning.
“Buy me a drink tonight?”
You eventually bring your gaze to him, and he has to catch his breath at the sight.
“Sounds fair…” Your eyes widen like you just realized something. “…neighbor.”
He laughs, and you have the decency to look a little embarrassed. A sadistic part of him almost wishes to see that expression more often, but ultimately the gentlemanly part wins over. “Giacomo.”
You repeat his name a few times, and he feels himself blush.
When he gently reminds you of your impending meeting, and you leave his presence, the grin is still fixed firmly on his face.
Pawniard snickers at his trainer.
“Shut up.” He couldn’t even keep the giddiness off his voice.
Not his fault, he lucked out rooming right next to his café crush.
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