#though I think the score works in some places as discordance

[swissboyhisch]

All-Star Love

Pairing: Matthew Tkachuck x Lemiuex!Reader

Summary: The NHL All Star weekend is always fun. But bring in a romance... Then that's when it becomes interesting.

Word Count: 1742

Warnings: None I think. Please tell me if I'm wrong.

A/N: This comes from a fanific I've written myself. I adjusted it for this but I loved this idea/scene.

THE MASTERLIST JOIN THE TAGLIST HOCKEY DISCORD

All-Star weekend 2020. This year it was being held in St. Louis. You had arrived on the Pittsburgh plane with Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Tristan Jarry since you were currently working with the team. Despite being Lemiuex’s child, you had earned yourself a position as an assistant coach at such a young age. You grew up playing the game. Now you were also the captain of the Canadian Women’s team. 

The last few years, you had attended the games alongside Sidney, who was an older brother after he lived with you and your family after he was drafted in 2005. It was a staple weekend in the season schedule. You had the chance to see all the friends and players you were close with and get to have some fun. Often you could even find yourself doing media stuff. 

This year the NHL had introduced the Elite Women’s 3 on 3. You were the youngest on the Canadian team by 5 years. They also have allowed the women on the teams to compete in the skills competitions. You had been placed into the Shooting Stars event. This meant that you were competing against your boyfriend, Matt, and his brother, Brady. Others in the skills competition include Mitch Marner, Patrick Kane, Tyler Seguin, David Perron, Hillary Knight, Danid Pastrnak and Ryan O’Reilly. 

Right now you were dressed in a pair of jeans and your team jersey. Standing in line waiting to be called to the stage where you’d be shooting from. With Mitch, Matt and Brady in front of you, the four of you were chatting and laughing. Each of you were excited to shoot off the platform. 

“Now your Gatorade Shooting Stars… from your St. Louis Blues, number 57, David Perron!”

The arena came to life, all cheering on one of the home team players. Perron, with his son in his arms, made his way up the stairs from ice levels. Handing out beanies and high fiving the fans as he went up to the platform.

“From the Toronto Maple Leafs, number 16, Mitch Marner.” 

Mitch followed Perron up the steps. Handing out hats as he went. Matt stepped forward to the bottom of the stars, looking up at all the fans. He had a hand on your lower back. Brady had let your stand next to your boyfriend whilst you three waited.

“From the Calgary Flames, number 19, Matthew Tkachuk.” Matt follows Mitch up. “From the Ottawa Senators, number 7, Brady Tkachuk.”

“The Canadian Women’s All Star, number 11, (Y/N) Lemieux.”

As you walked up the many stairs, you handed out rolled up t-shirts to fans. It was weird to have this many cameras in your face though. If you were honest, the walk up to the platform looked a lot shorter from the bottom. Especially the amount of stairs you had to climb. You reached the platform and waited for the rest of the players to join herself,Matt, Brady, Mitch and Perron. When everyone had gotten there, it went straight into the competition. First to shoot was Perron. He scored a total of 14 points. Mitch was next on the platform. He scored an awesome 22 points.

“Our next shooter, Matthew Tkachuk,” Nick started. “Your brother Brady is following you so we thought, hey, why not get one more Tkachuk up here. Why not bring up your Dad. Give it up St. Louis, for all-star Kieth Tkachuk!”

Yourself and Brady grin, tapping your sticks as you watched Keith join Matt on the platform, an arm around his shoulder with a wide smile on his face. Nick motioned for Brady to join them as well. You decided to give him a light shove as a joke.

“You should be up here as well,” Brady commented as he joined his brother and father.

You laughed at Brady’s comment. Sending a wink to Matt as well who had the biggest smile on his face.

Keith turned to face you, giving you a joking look, “I think we’re missing someone up here.”

“I ain’t no Tkachuck,” You reply. “Enjoy the moment, big guy.”

Matt stepped forward from where he was standing, holding his hand out for you. “Well, maybe we should change that, hey?”

“What?”

Keith, Brady and Nick stepped back from the platform and Matt grabbed your hand, pulling you to the centre of the platform they were standing on. Your hands flew to your mouth as you watched Matt slowly kneel to one knee and open a ring box. In the box sat the most perfect engagement ring you had ever seen.

“No way,” you breathed, looking at Matt who had the biggest smile on his face.

“You’ve been my best friend since we met all those years ago right here in this very arena. When little (Y/N) bumped into me as she ran to get away from her dad. You’ve been considered part of this family since then but I think I need to make it official, make sure you don’t stand out too much with that last name. Will you do me the greatest honour of changing your last name from Lemieux to Tkachuk?”

You nodded, too shocked to answer in words. The arena roared to life when Matt stood up and kissed you. He pulled the ring out of the box as you dropped your gloves. You cried as Matt slid the ring on your finger. Once he had sealed the deal, you lunged at him, wrapping your arms around his shoulders excitedly.

The players around them and on the bench, as well as the whole arena, were screaming and cheering. Mitch and Brady made sure they were heard over everyone else. 

“I can’t believe you,” You laughed as you pulled away from Matt. Brady was the first to hug you congratulations. He had the biggest grin as well. The smile gave him away. “You knew!”

“Of course I did,” Brady chuckles, “I helped choose the ring.”

Brady was interrupted when Keith pulled you into a hug. “I think you should just keep your last name, it’s more recognisable.”

“Tkachuk is better, that's for sure.”

Nick soon joined the happy group. You were tucked into Matt’s side like usual. Nick held his hand out to Matt who shook it happily before handing Matt a new jersey. It was a grey All-Star Canadian jersey like you were wearing. You grabbed it from Matt, checking the back which now had Tkachuk on it.

“Oh my god,” You grinned, pulling off your current jersey for the new one.

“Hey, have a look at the photo up on the board you guys.” There was a photo of Keith kneeling by the bench in front of a young Brady, Matt and yourself. You had attended the weekend with her father and hung out with the boys. One of the rare times you got to see the Tkachuk brothers as a kid. “How exciting is it to be on this platform being here, history in the making, with your sons and soon to be in-law?”

“I’m so proud of these guys,” Keith stated, smiling at you three. “They’ve earned being here. Matt and Brady grew up here, watched me play here. I mean, Matt met (Y/N) just outside the home change rooms in this arena.” At that, there was a picture of Matt, Brady and Taryn, the youngest Tkachuk, standing with Keith now on the screen.  “I love these guys. I know they love the Blues deep down.”

“Oh, we’re excited to have you here. 18000 people wanna know, how many pucks can Tkachuk chuck, chuck? So why don’t you have a go at this.” Keith took Matt’s stick from him as the three young adults stepped back. “Come on, Keith Tkachuk everybody!”

Keith shot the puck, nearly getting it in the 10 pointer net. “Not a lot of love for that arch there Tkachuk,” You chirped as he turned to give Matt his stick back.

He hugged the three of you before Matt stepped up to the platform. But only after a kiss from you. Keith’s arm wrapped around your shoulder as they watched Matt drop his gloves.

“How characteristic…” You giggles, stopping when he pulls off his Calgary jersey to reveal an old St. Louis Cardinals jersey.

“Who’d he fight?” Keith laughed. “He won’t touch you.”

“He’ll fight me,” Brady mumbled from beside you.

The three of you chuckled as you watched Matt take his first shot. As he took his next few shots, you listened to Brady and Keith chirp your boyfriend, well now Fiance. Matt ended up with 24, getting a 10 on his last one.

“Look at you go,” You smiled, pecking Matt when he switched spots with Brady. 

Brady stepped up to the plate. Matt pulled from under his dad’s arm into his. Having you stand in front of him with his arms around you. When Brady took his first shot, Matt laughed at the fact his brother didn’t do anything special as a tribute to their hometown. 

“Next up we have the last of the three musketeers.”

You stepped onto the platform, with a good luck kiss from Matthew. You had 7 shots to hit the targets laid out on the ice below. With the first shot you hit a 5. After your 6 other shots, you came to a total of 24 as well. Tie with Matthew. After everyone else had taken their shot, it was only Matthew and yourself that had the highest score. No-one had outshot you two. 

“Since you both scored an amazing 24 points, we go to a sudden death shootout. One shot. Highest score wins.”

Matt shot first, missing the arch but a hair. You shot next. The puck went flying over the arch. Actually hitting Jarry who was chilling at the end of the end with some of the other goalies. 

“Injure your goalie, why don’t ya?” Matt chirps as he steps up once again. 

Round two. Matt shoots and hits the 5 points. Only way for you to beat that was to score the same or hit the arch for 10 points. You took a moment before finally shooting the puck. It went straight into the arch. You grin, cheering as you turn to where Matt was standing.

“Better luck next time Tkachuk!”

He smiled, coming up to congratulate you. He pressed a kiss to your lips. “Next time, you’ll be a Tkachuk as well.”

TAG LIST:

@findapenny @mp0625 @hischierhaze @11zegras @lvrzegras @francesfarhadi @cixrosie @daisysthings

[titoist]

two things that i have awareness of simultaneously:

it would probably be greatly beneficial to my well-being to harbor a general distaste for (& distance from) the internet. & not in my way where i come on here & try to type cathartic paragraphs dissecting broad or narrow things that happen on the internet, but rather in a more direct firsthand way

longstanding personal circumstances of isolation drove me into a place where because of excess exposure to the internet it has become kind of difficult to precisely draw the line between it & myself, muddling all attempts to identify exactly what i should apply distaste & distance to. i have a povertous store of early memories that i actually feel able to point to & confidently say that this one or that one portrays the original, standard form of my life before i psychologically entangled with life as refracted through the whole online lens. is it in the decor of my room? is it in this or that hobby? & is it in this, & is it in that, & what is it not in…?

the sum of these two things is a kind of scared desperation, a sense of infestation of my being

the most strict & obvious answer as to where to draw the line would be at the actual devices & applications that enable access to the internet in the first place. but, when i take it that far, the aloneness with my thoughts & the interminable stillness of a room can become unbearable at times. maybe it doesn't have to be that way though, maybe it's just a weaning process

can't decide whether i have a life to replace the internet with

a more liberal place to draw the line might be cessation of anything that could be called social media. the internet can be something to sift through rather than talk into. sift through databases. spend an hour hitting this button that opens some random ancient web 1.0 website & see what i uncover. investigate. torrent books, find my interests (doesn't tumblr have journaling / introspection utility for me? can it really feel the same just writing everything out in a local document? doing it this way feels so decisive, the progression towards a singular decision that the writing at hand is finished & will be published. would a private blog work? can i find the drive to do this without the constant pull of inferring that i am being seen in some capacity, even if it is so distant? is it a necessary component that, for /someone/, for no one in particular, i put in real effort to be understood & know that it will succeed or fail on those terms?)

or i could limit myself to Discord, with its privacy & direct conversation? can just that be good for me? but it can become just vicarious intake of other people's less careful intake. is watching videos still okay? i don't know. maybe block every html element that serves to present false commonality. no more reviews, no more comments, no more scores, no more metrics, no more forum. no more of the total thing so bigger than me that i always feel crushed by & have to find some productive way to react to, writing paragraphs instead of poisoning the psychic well by sharing the disgusting advertisement or what-have-you to relate around hearing it

the right people are having stimulating empathetic thoughtful productive discussions right before my eyes, where i can see, or join, & i can't bring myself to keep up with it all through the channels interface & the backlogs & the calls & the everything, i can't rein in my attention. i have the great fortune of finding people & things that feel really real, & i squander that with my indefinitely postponed of really exploring it all. i think i might just be apathetic, i think i don't care enough, i'm not sure that i care enough to really want to /really/ exist - but if that's the case then why did i type this post?

[howyoustudythestars]

My predictions for Coco Moon

It's been a while since I made an original Owl City-themed post on this blog. But with Coco Moon dropping in a few weeks, I figured now would be a good time to talk about my predictions for the tracklist, so I can then see how right I am once it's out.

Now, there will be some spoilers for things Adam hasn't officially announced but have been gleaned from reliable sources. So, if you want to be surprised, stop reading this post now. But if you're curious, click below to read on!

This is your last chance. Spoilers are ahead.

Okay, you have been warned!

Someone on the Owl City Discord discovered that ASCAP added 11 songs to their database, including some confirmed to be on the new album. With the album confirmed to have 11 songs, the titles are (likely) now known. The order, however, is not. Furthermore, we only know details about two songs: One from its description on owlcitymusic.com, and the other from analyzing a snippet on the guessed pre-save link for the album.

Well, before I go into details about what I think each song is about, I want to share with you what I think the tracklist is, in the order I think they will appear on the album:

Under the Circus Lights

Learn How to Surf

Adam, Check Please

The Tornado

Vitamin Sea

Field Notes

Sons of Thunder

Dinosaur Park

My Muse

The Meadow Lark

Kelly Time

As I said, these titles aren't 100% confirmed, and this is the order I foresee them being in based on what I think each song is about. So, what do I think each song is about?

I think Under the Circus Lights is the opening track for a couple of reasons. First, the coordinates to a circus-themed museum in Florida were in the first teaser posted to Instagram. Of the four teasers posted, this is the only one I think lifts the teaser audio from the song the coordinates are teasing. I could see a circus-themed, score-styled opening to the song before transitioning into something more classic Owl City synthpop. Lyrically, I predict it will be an autobiographical song about the first time Adam, as a child, went to the circus. It will be about the awe, wonder, and imagination it instilled in him, and I think the lyrics will be more dreamy than a typical autobiographical song. Think less like Adam, Check Please, and more like Be Brave.

The next song I think will be Learn How to Surf. This is the song that's teased on the pre-save link for the album that someone guessed. I could be wrong, but I think the intro to this song will be from this Instagram teaser (the coordinates relate to Vitamin Sea, though). As you can guess by the lyrics in the pre-save link, I think it's a metaphorical song comparing surfing to fighting through your struggles in life, and maybe even how to take your place in the world. Think Beautiful Times meets Michael W. Smith's Missing Person.

The next song after that is Adam, Check Please. We already have that as a single. It's about the first job Adam ever had, which was working in the frozen foods department of his local Hy-Vee store. In case you didn't know, Adam previously wrote about this in a blog post many years ago.

The next song after that is called The Torrnado. We don't have any audio snippets from this song, but we do have a description in the bio on the Owl City website:

Naming legendary film-score composer John Williams among his longtime influences, Young has embraced a certain thoughtful grandeur in the making of Coco Moon. To that end, songs like “The Tornado” set their ultravivid storytelling against a majestic sonic backdrop, ultimately lending a larger-than-life quality to the most intimate expression. “‘The Tornado’ came from wanting to invent a story rather than write something autobiographical, and it turned into a story of a kid who’s delivering papers when a horrible storm starts up and forces him to take cover so he won’t get swept away,” explains Young. Partly inspired by the childlike poetry of Shel Silverstein, the string-accented track slowly unfolds as a life-affirming epic, encompassing an entire movie’s worth of thrilling drama in just four-and-a-half minutes.

I foresee The Tornado being very much in the vein of a cinematic score, like the Adam Young Scores project or even Montana from Cinematic. I also think they're might be an occasional reference to The Wizard of Oz, seeing as Dorthy lands in Oz after "traveling through" a tornado. I could be wrong about that, though. If Oz is mentioned, I foresee it being in the context of fear. I expect ethereal lyrics like in Lucid Dream.

The next song I think will be Vitamin Sea. This is already a single. A music video will be premiering later tonight (or it already premiered, depending on when I post this). It's a dreamy song about wanting to go on a vacation. As I stated before, the coordinates in the "Take Me Back" Instagram teaser teased this song.

After this song, we have Field Notes. I predict that this is from this Instagram teaser (the coordinates are for Dinosaur Park, though). According to Wikipedia:

Fieldnotes refer to qualitative notes recorded by scientists or researchers in the course of field research, during or after their observation of a specific organism or phenomenon they are studying. The notes are intended to be read as evidence that gives meaning and aids in the understanding of the phenomenon. Fieldnotes allow researchers to access the subject and record what they observe in an unobtrusive manner.

This is common in biology, ecology, and psychology, just to name a few. I think this song is about the impact we can make on the world and how one person can make a difference. Given its title, I can see a lot of science puns and metaphors used throughout the song.

Sons of Thunder (which I think is the next song) will very likely be a religious song, given that "sons of thunder" are the names Jesus gave to his disciples James and John, who were brothers (Mark 3:17). I think this will be a story-based song, lifting the narrative from the Gospels directly. Unfortunately, I don't foresee it being more subjective like Galaxies or Meteor Shower, but I do hope that it isn't another dime a dozen worship or CCM song. I'm likely wrong in that department, unfortunately.

After that, I think we have Dinosaur Park. As I stated before, the coordinates are teased from the "Signs of Life" Instagram reel. The coordinates lead to an actual park in South Dakota called Dinosaur Park. However, I do think the last remaining Instagram teaser lifts its audio from this song (the coordinates for this reel, though, is for Kelly Time). I think it will be another narrative-based song, inspired by Jurrassic Park.

Then, we have My Muse. Many theorize this will be about Abbey, and I don't doubt for a second that this is at least partially true. However, I foresee this being a ballad about the ups and downs of Adam's love life. Figures like Anne-Marie and even Taylor Swift could be mentioned (maybe not by name), but I also think it will mention whoever Vanilla Twilight is about, as well as this blog post. Think something along the lines of, "You were never my muse, / But I dreamed that you were". (If Adam doesn't use that line, I definitely will in a future song of mine!) Of course, in traditional Owl City fashion, it will end on an optimistic note, looking at his life with Abbey now (who, if you didn't know, is now Adam's WIFE! Look it up on Minnesota's open records site if you don't believe me).

The penultimate song I think will be The Meadow Lark. I foresee this being a spiritual sequel to Cinematic's song House Wren. It will be a dreamy song about nature, including birds in a meadow. I think this will be heavily influenced on Adam's many nature-themed Instagram posts in July 2021 and beyond.

Finally, we have the closing song being Kelly Time. The coordinates in the "Unidentified" Instagram reel relate to this song, as the coordinates lead to the island in Fiji where Cast Away was filmed (and is exactly the same as it was in the 2022 Owl City ARG). This was the very first single for this album cycle, and I have a love-hate relationship with this song being the closer. Like, we already heard this song, and that's one of the reasons I didn't like the idea of Take It All Away and This Isn't the End being the closing song on their respective albums. (That, and I didn't want the album to end on a sad note, which I don't really like on any album to be honest.) Here, Kelly Time is at least hopeful. The main reason why I think this could be the closer is because of this line: "Well, you and me went on a journey / Full of tragedy and pain". That line and the whole vibe at the end of the song feels like this will be the closing moment of this whole album. Don't get me wrong: I will be presently surprised if this isn't the closing song on the album, but right now, I think this is where it appears on the track list.

As a thank you for those who read all the way through this long and rambling post, here's the snippet from Learn How to Surf from the pre-save link WITHOUT the fades (like I did with Vitamin Sea):

Like I said before, this is just my predictions and opinions. I could be 100% wrong about all of this. I am not Adam Young, nor do I know him personally. But I just thought this would be a cool exercise, and then, when Coco Moon comes out on March 24th, I can go back and see how right my predictions were! Thank you for reading!

[ryqoshay]

Putting on Hairs - Post Production: Drunken Duet

Primary Pairing: YohaRiko Rating: T? Words: 524 AU: Theater, Monsters, Cryptids Fandom: Love Live Sunshine Parent Fic: Putting on Hairs - Post Production Time Frame: Sometime after the main story Event: Promptober 2022 Event Source: Idol Fanfic Heaven channel on Discord Prompt: Duet Content Warning: Drunken antics

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Author’s Note: Primary entry for Oct 12th

Summary: Riko has some drunken requests of Yoshiko

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“Yoocchaa~n…” Riko drawled. “Shummun yer wingz ‘gain…”

Probably the most reasonable request Riri’s made all night. Yoshiko thought as she shrugged her shoulders. She cared not that the act earned a few startled glances from the few other people out on the street this late.

“Fwaaa~…” Riko shoved her face into the wing on her side. “Sho shoff… an’ warm…” She pulled it around herself like a feathered shawl. “Heehee… Thanksh, Yoochhan…”

Yoshiko couldn’t help laughing at her girlfriend’s drunken antics, even though it still surprised her that a demon could get drunk in the first place. But it was another afterparty for another successful opening night at the theater. And Mari had sponsored everything, including the booze, again. So here they were, walking, or stumbling in Riko’s case, back home.

Angels, even fallen ones, were immune to mere mortal poison, and thus Yoshiko could not get drunk. She still happily imbibed along with her friends, because she did enjoy the flavors of the beverages. And while her guardians had posited that with angels being self-actualizing, she could in theory allow herself to lose control. But that was absolutely something Yoshiko wished to avoid doing, especially with the powers she knew lurked within her.

“You really love my wings, don’t you, Riri?” Yoshiko said as they approached their apartment.

“Mmm…” Riko hummed a happy agreement. “Yocchan’s wing ‘re da bes’… Ev’n bett’r dan mine.”

“Oh, I dunno about that.” Yoshiko disagreed, opening the door. “Riri’s wings are pretty amazing as well.”

“No dey’re not…”

“They’re part of Riri, and Riri is amazing, so her wings are amazing.”

Riko paused in the entryway, gears spinning in her hazed mind. After a moment, pink dusted her cheeks. “… Oh…”

Yoshiko chuckled again. “C’mon, let’s get you some more water.”

“Ne… Yocchan…”

“Mm?”

“C’n we… do tha’ think again?”

“Which thing?”

“You know, the swappy thingy tha’ the thing Nozomi-san gave us duz.” Riko made hand motions she probably thought represented the effect of the artifact.

“The body swapper?” Well, technically soul swapper, but whatever. Yoshiko added silently.

“Yeah, tha’. I wanna feel Yocchan’s wings li’ they’re my own ‘gain.”

Yoshiko hesitated. How would that work when one of them was drunk? Drunkenness was a physical effect that should stay with the body, right? Riko’s soul wasn’t drunk, right? Maybe it would be…

Wait. My curse is on my soul, not my body. Yoshiko realized. Would that transfer with me over to Riri’s body? It was fine when she was sober last time and I was in full control. But her body is drunk now…

“Uhm… I don’t think that’s a good idea, Riri.” Yoshiko hedged. “Maybe in the morning?”

Riko pouted. “Fine, den Yocchan has ta sing a duet wi’ me.”

“Eh?” Yoshiko balked. What kind of alternate request was that? Sure, it was more normal than soul swapping, but…

“You ‘eard me.” Riko crossed her arms stubbornly.

“It’s not that I don’t… never mind.” Yoshiko took her girlfriend’s hand and led her to the living room.

Once there, Yoshiko started powering on one of the gaming consoles.

“Yoccha~n… I sai’ duet, no’ duel.” Riko whined.

“Yup, and I have a karaoke game we can play.” She handed a microphone to her girlfriend. “And with a score system, we can duel as well.” She grinned. “Must admit, I’m a bit curious how well a music demon will do in a game like this.” Even a drunk music demon…

“Ah’m not gonna hold back.” Riko summoned her wings, tightened her grip on the mic, and took a serious stance.

Yoshiko’s smile grew at the ludicrous, yet lovely sight. She also found herself thankful her parents had insisted she soundproof the apartment after taking on a few peculiar pets, of sorts. But she and Riko could belt out whatever lyrics they wanted and not worry about disturbing the neighbors.

“Right, let’s do this.” Yoshiko started the first song.

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Author’s Note Continued: Yeah, most of the story ended up being about last year’s prompt and I effectively shoehorned in this year’s. But I figure I can handwave it away as non sequeters are common for drunks. And Riko is a music demon, so music of some sort is always close to her mind, even while drunk.

[syekick-powers]

23, 32, 48 for the solidifying meme

i will answer these abt sabyn because i know that was who u meant to ask them about as per me clarifying on discord 😂

23. What do they want from a partner? What do they think and feel of sex?

i feel like in the stage sabyn's in right now, he's not 100% exactly sure what he wants in a partner or if he even wants a partner. i think he's probably had some crushes in the past that have mostly involved "this person treated me like A Normal Person rather than as a freaky weirdo and now i Love them, whoops." like specifically being treated as Normal rather than Weird or even Extraordinary is what causes him to have this reaction.

as for sex, i'm not 100% sure quite yet what sabyn's opinion on it is. because on one hand i feel like he has that awkward-teenager-who-hasn't-had-sex-yet vibe to him; but i also feel like with the level of charisma he has and his status in lavinis's order, that means that it's very possible he has managed to get at least a few people in the order in bed with him? with both of those in mind i feel like maybe he has had sex a couple times so far and like, has enjoyed it? but is probably kind of a service top more than anything. is definitely more comfortable taking orders than giving them in the bedroom.

32. How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively? Aggressively? Evasively?

sabyn's reaction to stressful situations is generally to Fawn at whoever is creating the stress. i don't imagine he very much enjoys being particularly forceful or aggressive unless he has no other choice. he will be evasive first, then defensive, then aggressive as a last resort if nothing else has worked up to that point.

48. How are your character’s gestures? Vigorous? Weak? Controlled? Compulsive? Energetic? Sluggish?

his gestures kinda vary with his moods, but usually they're fairly smooth and convey what he's trying to say pretty cleanly. when he gets excited/freaked out though they become messy and all over the place. i feel like his hands are probably the part of his body that he has the best control over. which. with his 7 dexterity score. means that his control over them still isn't great. so i could see him accidentally smacking someone next to him when trying to gesture during a conversation.

[college-chronicles]

tuesdays... mhm...

day two: song of the day: dumb dumb by Mazie (sped up is more fun)

I realized I didn’t do some work that was due yesterday at 11:59… but it’s fine because I’m getting it done in the CS lab. What am I doing here? Most of my friends happen to be CS majors, so I was invited here and now I’m doing creative writing homework. Working alone doesn’t seem to work for me. I think it’s called shadowing, just someone being present helps me get my work done. No talking necessary, just sitting and doing something in the same room. It worked pretty well yesterday in the library (besides the fact that I kinda didn’t do my actual homework because I DIDN’T KNOW.) I had my intro to calculus class where the teacher basically told the whole class that we should be in calculus, but we just scored lower on the online assessment due to test anxiety. Like, my testing day was a MESS, of course I didn’t perform my best. We already know the material, there’s really no need to relearn it, but we can’t prove we know the material outside of a test, and testing is anxiety inducing so we don’t perform as well, and the vicious cycle continues. I just remembered I have a meeting 3 minutes away from where I am in 3 minutes. I gotta go. 

Turns out it is in 10 minutes. My brain confuses me sometimes. Okay, so I got everything done, met some new people, got my resume reviewed, didn’t eat dinner (oops… I ate something though, just not in the dining hall.) Someone messed up the bathrooms and I just know our RA is angry. I had a fight with my favorite math major because I play guitar upside down and am unwilling to change. I like playing the way I do, and I’m getting good at it. Discord is an… interesting place. A lot happened there tonight. Nothing outrageous, just the typical unhinged behavior. I completed all my overdue creative writing assignments and no one gave ma gold star. rude. I've got to shower now and then come back to bed and get ready for a boring math lecture at 9:30 am. I know the stuff. Kinda annoying tbh, but what's' a girl gonna do. Gotta be on that woman in STEM grind.

p.s. i found the missing earbuds in my tech pocket in my bag where they were supposed to be all along

[briarlily]

So obviously you've been posting about DUTP and I've been tempted to get into it, so: what's your advice for starting out?

YES JOIN US

Okay, first off: gotham memoirs is my favorite book. Do Not start with Gotham Memoirs. The crafting is difficult and it took me over a month to finish. I think they changed the 3 book options you can start with, it used to be Magic Lamp, Gotham Memoirs, and Queen Marie, but I think one of those is replaced with Tang Dynasty Hunter now? I enjoyed Tang Dynasty Hunter and Magic Lamp (TDH has merman and repressed soldier bfs and I love them both and ML has Chapur who is a romance option in my heart) Anyway, they're good and not bad as beginning stories, definitely recommend doing them early on as opposed to some harder ones, but Queen Marie is the one that's really designed as a beginner story to ease you into the game.

Another thing I think beginners don't realize a lot is that you can't borrow required clothing. Each stage has a clothing score required to pass and a few particular stages have required pieces of clothing you have to craft to start the stage. There's a shared closet mechanism where you can borrow clothing from your friends with the right tags for the stage, but it doesn't work on required clothing pieces. (It does work for event stages though.) The discords are a good place to find clothing pieces or cats you're looking for.

One of the things I personally recommend is hoarding resources. This doesn't apply as much starting out, since you'll need them then, but they've added events where using stamina or spending diamonds gets you extra rewards, or where gold tickets get you higher rated items, so I save those up for the events, because they happen pretty regularly. Again on the discord, but the official one announces upcoming events there before they appear in game.

One of the things I like about TP is it's very playable without spending money. You can get through all the stories without buying anything. They've been getting slightly worse about that for events recently, but all the stories are unlocked just by doing more stages and earning tickets. So don't feel pressured by those, it's mostly for particular pretty dresses.

There's a couple really good resources out there for the game. There's a reddit and also a wiki, which is helpful especially for the older stories, where they have transcripts and guides to the story options.

If you're on discord, they have an official discord that's linked in the game where they do event/maintenance announcements and host interviews with the story creators which is fun. They have some cool concept art!

There's also the Royal Tea Cafe, which is unofficial but also open to everyone, and they host guides to all the stories, which are a lifesaver if you're stuck on some of the harder ones.

AND @aicosu hosts a nsfw time princess discord with excellent people, highly recommend.

I'm trying to think what else you should know starting out. The starting story is the biggest thing. The game is pretty good about introducing the different aspects, and the discords are great resources if you get confused about anything. If anyone in the tag has suggestions, please jump in!

Add me if you end up joining! I'm briarlily, igg id 997009017 . Here's my invite code too, which I think gets you some things: nxwkb8twz

[robininthelabyrinth]

Spilled Pearls

- Chapter 5 - ao3 -

The Nightless City was like nothing Lan Qiren had ever seen before in his life.

It was grand and glorious, everything writ large on a massive scale – the number of people, the number of buildings, the size of the buildings…it was said that Lanling City was more crowded and full of people, but that was because it had a smaller scope, shoving all those people into a small area, while the Nightless City never ran out of space because any time it did it would just expand its borders further.

For someone like Lan Qiren, who longed to travel to the strange parts of the world and see all sorts of things for the first time, it was a dream come true –

Or rather, it would be, if only he had the ability to give it the attention it deserved. Which he didn’t.

The issue had initially arisen in the week leading up to their departure from the Cloud Recesses. Like all the other disciples, especially those nominated for their musical talents, Lan Qiren had spent a great deal of time in the library pavilion, perusing score after score in search of the one that they would present as their own individual selection.

He’d found one he rather liked: an exceedingly complicated piece, composed for the guqin, meant to signify the orderly chaos of nature and winning mastery over the internal chaos within. It had been a challenge to master the complex finger work, not to mention the necessary qi fluctuations required to properly showcase the song even if he had no plans to wield it as a spell – no one actually needed roots to leap up from the earth to try to trap his enemies in the middle of a musical demonstration – but he’d accomplished it, meeting even his own stringent standards for excellence. He’d been very proud, and eager to display it at the discussion conference.

His brother, in conjunction with the teacher that would be accompanying them, had rejected it.

They hadn’t even let him demonstrate that he’d adequately mastered it – their teacher, the swordfighting master that his brother liked so much, had taken a cursory look at the score and deemed it too eccentric; his brother had judged it too flashy, and thus too risky. They had recommended he perform one of the more traditional Lan sect songs that they knew he had mastered perfectly: Inquiry, perhaps, or Evocation.

Lan Qiren had decided to ignore them.

He hadn’t told them that, of course. He’d kept his decision hugged close to his chest, buried beneath a façade of calm that was easy enough to keep in place since most people couldn’t tell his stressed expression from his regular one, and his tone never really got that far from a monotone anyway.

He’d kept that secret, turning it over and over in his head, unable to think of anything else, unable to enjoy the distant travel (well, unable to enjoy it as much as he should), unable to really appreciate the grandiose opening ceremonies, the sect leaders of the Great Sects seated together on their platform, the smaller sects beneath them…

Luckily, the music competition was scheduled for the very first day of the conference, right after the opening ceremony. First there was the technical challenge, in which they all played together – that made it especially difficult, because a single wrong note by your neighbor could knock off your own playing if you weren’t focused, while the judges were all cultivators powerful enough to sharpen their hearing and pick out any discordant sounds even out of the large crowd of them all going at it together – and then the individual performances.

Lan Qiren had the honor of going fourth.

He went out there, saluted the judges, saluted the audience of sect leaders, sat down on the platform and played the song he wanted to play. If perhaps he had his heart in his throat because of a mixture of nervousness and anticipation, if perhaps his gut churned, feeling unusually full of spite and rebelliousness – he put it all aside in favor of the music.

Nothing mattered when he played but the music. Nothing.

When it was done, he stood and saluted again – the judges, then the audience – and retreated back to the area where the Lan sect was standing. As he’d expected, his teacher was waiting for him, hands behind his back and apparently calm on the surface; a small jerk of his head, and Lan Qiren knew to obediently follow him.

They couldn’t leave, of course, since that would be rude, but they went a little ways off to the side to a more secluded corner of the field where they could be safely ignored - everyone’s attention was on the performances.

“Do not tell lies,” the teacher said, a censure, and Lan Qiren dropped into a deep salute.

“I did not lie, honored teacher,” he said, eyes fixed firmly on the ground. “According to the guidelines set out when the event was announced, each disciple has the right to select his own music for the independent portion of the competition, provided that they can perform their selected composition to an adequate degree of mastery. Although you and my brother recommended that I select Inquiry as my performance piece instead, I did not accept your recommendation, and have never said that I would.”

His teacher’s frown deepened. “I would have expected better of you,” he said, and Lan Qiren’s shoulders curled inwards a little, the words cutting as deeply as any knife. “Quibbling over such a technicality with your elders – do not forget, arrogance is forbidden.”

Lan Qiren held the salute in place. “I understand, honored teacher.”

“Have you anything more to say to yourself?”

Lan Qiren thought about simply accepting the punishment that his teacher’s tone warned was inevitable, but – he really, truly did not believe he deserved it. And so, even though it might only make it worse, he opened his mouth and stumbled clumsily through the argument he had written out in advance, citing the rules and prior interpretations of the rules that he believed supported his actions. He was very confident of his grasp on the rules, but less sure of his persuasive powers and altogether despairing of any oratory skill, and yet...he had to try.

His teacher listened in stony silence. When Lan Qiren was done, he said, “I had never supposed you to be born with a lawyer’s tongue,” which was an insult – the Lan sect, like most cultivation sects, were gentry and thus had no need to seek employment in the magistrates’ courts. “Do you intend to continue on this rebellious path?”

“No, honored teacher,” Lan Qiren said emphatically. “In all other respects, I will listen to your orders, and my brother’s, as if they were carved on the Wall of Discipline.”

His teacher huffed disbelievingly, but he flicked his sleeves and went back to the crowd of Lan sect disciples currently spectating the next player in sequence without imposing any immediate punishment. That was an implicit concession to Lan Qiren’s argument: if he had failed to be convincing, a punishment would have been imposed at once.

Lan Qiren straightened himself out of his salute – his teacher had not granted him permission to rise throughout his recitation, and he hadn’t wanted to make his rebelliousness worse by presuming – and allowed himself a brilliant smile.

His teacher’s departure did not mean that he would escape all censure; his brother, sitting up at the sect leader’s pavilion, would undoubtedly have his own views on the subject, and of course simply disrespecting age and authority in public was reason enough for discipline. But Lan Qiren had done it. He had maintained his own position despite adversity and remained true to himself; he had not yielded, even if only in such a small matter, and he had persevered. Truly, it was as the rules said: have a strong will and anything can be achieved.

He looked around to check to make sure that no one had noticed their little interchange, mindful of his promise and his brother’s instruction that he not lose face, but it didn’t seem to be that way. Even on the sect leader’s pavilion, the sect leaders were all watching the performance – Wen Ruohan even had his head tilted to the side as if sharpening his hearing so as to listen more intently, which Lan Qiren supposed was further evidence that he wasn’t as disinterested in musical matters as others had speculated, and also that whoever was playing (he wasn’t paying attention) must be quite good.

It didn’t matter. Lan Qiren hadn’t played his selection because he’d been obsessively determined to win; he had only wanted to display some part of himself sincerely, and he had done so. Whatever else happened, that was sufficient.

He took a moment to find his calm once again, allowing his face to return to an expression of neutrality – gloating was unseemly, and forbidden by the rules, if other lose to you, don’t look down on them, even if the victory here was minor – and then at last returned to his place among the other Lan sect disciples.

He watched the remaining performances calmly, and without incident.

After the competition was done, the judges began to debate their rankings. Musical competitions were generally not favored at discussion conferences because of the need for careful consideration before victory or defeat could be determined – unlike in a contest of martial strength, when the contestants were near to each other in strength there was no immediate understanding of who had won – but Wen Ruohan had apparently planned ahead for that.

He announced that the contestants and audience would be dismissed while the judges’ deliberations were ongoing – in order to allow them to begin enjoying the wonders of the Nightless City, he explained with a supercilious smirk – and that the results of the competition would be announced shortly before the banquet planned for dinner.

Lan Qiren was not surprised when the sect leaders largely stayed behind, at least initially, to continue conversations; he was only relieved that he had a small reprieve before his brother came to scold him. Similarly, he was unsurprised when his fellow disciples immediately split into groups to go out to explore the Nightless City, and when those groups did not include him – even the ones that he would have otherwise expected to invite him, the ones he was more friendly with, cast fearful glances at their stone-faced teacher and apologetic ones at him; no one wanted to be associated with a troublemaker lest they be dragged into the mire alongside them.

It was fine.

Lan Qiren nodded at them, indicating that he understood, to their evident relief, and turned to look at his teacher in silent question. It was not unthinkable that he could go out alone…

“Perhaps you should stay behind,” his teacher said icily. “You can use the time for contemplation.”

Lan Qiren had promised himself: one rebellion, and nothing more. He raised his hands into a salute.

“As you say, honored teacher.”

Instead of following the others out, as he might have otherwise wanted to do, he turned his feet instead to one of the internal gardens in the Nightless City, brightly lit and shining, with a bench for him to sit and observe the designs, seeking calmness and clarity.

Maybe he could meditate a little. At least that would help pass the time -

“Congratulations on your victory.”

Lan Qiren raised his head, surprised out of the trance he’d settled info.

He had not expected anyone to find him in the garden where he was lurking, least of all Lao Nie.

“What victory?” he asked, and the older man grinned at him.

“Your imminent one, of course,” he said, gesturing for Lan Qiren to move over on the bench and settling down next to him once he complied. “That was a fantastic performance you gave earlier, and it wasn’t like we weren’t all expecting the Lan sect to win the music competition anyway.”

“Expecting the Lan sect to win doesn’t mean that I would be the one to win,” Lan Qiren mumbled, feeling his cheeks and ears go hot. “Arrogance –”

“Forbidden? Big surprise,” Lao Nie teased, and Lan Qiren ducked his head.

Technically, as a junior, he shouldn’t be acting overly familiar with sect leaders from other sects, but Lao Nie – no one ever called him Sect Leader Nie, and it wasn’t disrespect but fondness that drove them – was an exception to most rules. His Nie sect was longstanding allies of the Lan sect, and he himself was effortlessly charismatic, charming and gregarious. Even Lan Qiren’s brother admired him.

Lan Qiren also admired him.

It had been Lao Nie’s occasional intervention that had convinced his brother to take Lan Qiren along on some night-hunts when he’d been younger, and while they weren’t especially close by any means – Lan Qiren suspected he was currently simply too young to interest Lao Nie as an equal, as opposed to a junior in need of mentoring, and he longed to get old enough that that to no longer be an issue – Lao Nie was one of the few people Lan Qiren knew that had never minded indulging his eccentricities.

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Lao Nie remarked. “With all your talk of travel, I would’ve thought you’d be out exploring the city.”

Lan Qiren’s mood, which had been starting to improve, plummeted.

“Hmm. Sore spot?”

Lan Qiren’s shoulders were up by his shoulders. “I shouldn’t complain.”

“That just means you want to,” Lao Nie said wisely, and nudged him a little with his shoulder. “Did you get ordered to stay behind? You? You never break the rules.”

“I didn’t break the rules! My teacher made a strong recommendation that I reconsider my selection for the independent performance portion of the competition…”

“And you didn’t take the suggestion?” Lao Nie was smiling. “What a show of rebellion.”

Lan Qiren flushed red again. He was being teased, he knew.

“Since you’ve already had one rebellion, why not another?”

Lan Qiren frowned, not understanding.

“Go out,” Lao Nie clarified, still smiling. “There’s still at least half a shichen before dinner; you could see some of the city, apologize later – no? Why not?”

Lan Qiren was shaking his head. “I promised I would listen to my brother,” he said simply. “He instructed me to listen to the teacher, and the teacher said to stay, so I’ll stay. Perhaps tomorrow he will yield and allow me to explore by myself.”

“By yourself?”

“It would trouble the other disciples to be associated with me until there’s been an appropriate opportunity to review my behavior and determine if punishment is required –”

Lao Nie shook his head. Presumably things were different in his Nie sect, as they often were.

“Well, if you really need some company to go out, let me know,” he said.

“I couldn’t presume –”

“I’m offering,” Lao Nie said firmly, and this was why he was Lan Qiren’s favorite sect leader other than his father. Sometimes, secretly, even more than his father. “Really, I don’t understand your sect sometimes. What’s the point of keeping you so restricted? You’re already an adolescent, you’re old enough to join your own night-hunts…you can go night-hunting, right?”

“I can,” Lan Qiren confirmed, because he really was old enough to have gone on his own - old enough to night-hunt and swear oaths, that first formal stage of adulthood - but then conceded, “With company, and permission from the sect. Otherwise, disciples are only permitted to leave the Cloud Recesses to visit family.”

“…your family is the Cloud Recesses, Qiren.”

Lan Qiren shrugged.

“Don’t you feel stifled by it?”

Most of the time, he didn’t. Lan Qiren truly loved his home: he loved the routine of it, the rules; the peacefulness, the predictability, and all the familiar people; he loved the comfort of knowing where everything was and why. There was no place in the world he would rather call home, not even if he had the rest of it placed at his feet.

Still, sometimes…

He shifted a little in his seat, and decided to be a little daring. It was only Lao Nie, after all. “Well, knowing I’ll be able to leave one day helps.”

Lao Nie laughed and reached out to pat Lan Qiren’s head. His hand was large and warm.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t consider a little adventure, earlier on…?” he asked, trailing off.

“No, Sect Leader,” Lan Qiren said, and he wasn’t even that regretful. “I promised my brother. It’s important to him, you know, that I not lose face for him and the sect, and that means it’s important to me. So I won’t. I wouldn’t do that to him.”

Someone cleared their throat.

Lan Qiren looked at the doorway even as Lao Nie pulled back his hand: it was Wen Ruohan, standing there with his hands behind his back, a false smile on his lips and his eyes glittering with some strange and inexplicable emotion. “Several of the other sect leaders are demanding that you come and settle a dispute,” he said to Lao Nie. “Assuming you’re not too busy.”

Lao Nie chuckled. “For my fellow sect leaders? Never. I’ll be along momentarily.”

Wen Ruohan nodded, surveying them both briefly – Lan Qiren felt strangely vulnerable beneath his gaze, and he didn’t know why – before turning away in a swirl of robes.

“He seemed angry,” Lan Qiren observed, wondering why, but Lao Nie was already shaking his head.

“Oh, Hanhan’s more bark than bite,” he said confidently, and Lan Qiren nearly choked. Hanhan? Who would call Wen Ruohan by a diminutive? And anyway, since when did Lao Nie do that – had their relationship changed since the Lan sect conference or something? “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him. Enjoy your upcoming triumph, Qiren!”

Lan Qiren didn’t bother to remind him once again that he was not sure to win, watching him go after Wen Ruohan with long, loping strides that Lan Qiren could only envy, his own frame gawky and still uncoordinated.

He sighed.

“ – such a fuss!” He could still hear Lao Nie in the distance, the older man’s voice carrying a little too far as always. “Really, Hanhan, haven’t you done enough already, with all those rumors that are always going around since last time…?”

A brief pause, murmurs in lower voices.

“ – more honored in the breach. Even in the Lan sect!”

And then there was laughter.

Lan Qiren wondered what Lao Nie meant by that. Was he talking about Lan Qiren? To Wen Ruohan?

Surely not.

[anzynai]

HAPPY NEW YEARS’ EVE!!

to celebrate the new year and to say goodbye to 2021, i want to talk to those who i met this year who mean the world to me. i love you guys.

(i don’t ever do appreciation posts like i want to but i really want to for you guys. i hope you all have an amazing new year)

Angie - @angivariety

HEYYY ANGIE I HAVE A FEW WORDS TO SAY TO YOU.. well, maybe more than just a few. idk how to say this without sounding stupidly corny but i mean it when i say i’m so happy to have met you. i can tell you i didn’t expect to meet my best friend here and i’m so grateful i did. i love how we can turn a perfectly normal and random stupid conversation into a suddenly serious conversation where we throw compliments back and forth to each other. i love how we always recommend games and animes to the other but we RARELY ever get into them. (you’re lucky you got me into pj sekai hehe). i love teasing you LOVINGLY and saying funny things when you’re high (all the things i said i said were true btw). i love how close we are. i adore your voice, your beauty, kindness, and creativity. AND DONT GET ME STARTED ON HOW TALENTED YOU ARE AT WRITING???? either way, can i just say i love you so much and i’m so so happy i can call you my best friend. you always can make my day better and you’re definitely one of the notifications i always look forward too. i love you so much angie, have a happy new year, you deserve it. <3

Riv - @satans-beloved-riv

RIV CAN I JUST SAY I ADORE YOU?? you were one of the first people i met on tumblr and even then, i feel like i liked you a lot then. there was even a time before we became wives where i knew i love being your friend already. i love your personality, it’s always so funny and amusing. i always smile back on the times where we tried to get #1 on the score thing for discord or when we tried getting rico to stop talking in her OWN server for 48 hours but we ended up missing her too much so we were the ones who forfeit. i’m glad you are one of my wives hehe and we shall be wives forever. i love you so so much rivera. i hope you have a happy new year!

Evie - @vanillawrites

HII EVIE i don’t think we talk as much as we should but ilysm <33 im glad to have you as a wife too because it might’ve been just some stupid kinda thing we did at the time but it’s really important to me. i love how funny you are and how sweet you are. i love how you can match the group chats energy, no matter how chaotic it may be. i love how amazing you are and i’m so so glad i met you. thank you for being apart of the wife cult hehe ily and happy new year <3

Ami - @fluffy-ami

AMIII HEYYY i love you!! did you know that?? well, you should because im here to say some things in light of the new year. THANK YOU FOR BEING MY FRIEND. you’re so nice and even though we don’t talk as often, you always brighten my day. you’re so unique and funny and i always look back on those mutual post things you make. ami i love you so much and im so grateful you’re apart of our wife cult as well hehe have a good year <3

Patty - @rattypattyy

hiii patty!! we don’t talk that often but you have a special place in my heart. you’re so fun and entertaining and i’m always laughing when we get into those weird conversations even when they’re totally random. we haven’t known each other long, but i think it would be pretty cool if we stayed friends for a long time hehe i’m happy i met you, if only it were sooner. thank you for kissing my forehead when i had a headache the other day even when it didn’t work. happy new year patty <3

Dani, Rico, Leo, Rex - @danibby @tickly-trashcan @eulafan420 @bashfulpinata

YALL ARE SO SWEET AND FUNNY. you always make the server to exciting and entertaining. dani, you’re so nice and you’re always there for someone when they need it. you reply to people when no one else isn’t and you always try to stay engaged. i think that’s really nice and i love you for that. rico you’re so fun and i’m always comfortable when i’m speaking to you. when i talk to you, it feels like i’m talking to someone i can trust and i always enjoy our conversations. and leo, you’re so unique and funny and sweet. i can tell you care a lot about your friends and are always looking after them. and rex lapis, YOURE SO FUN AND YOURE SO SWEET. you always make me laugh and you have an amazing personality. i’m totally jealous of your awesome drawing skills hehe. you guys are awesome and i’m so happy you guys are in the server (well, rico’s a given but i’m happy either way) I LOVE U GUYS HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR <3

AND JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, i wanted to add a couple more people here but some of their urls have been deleted or i didn’t know their @ or some other reason.

[whenihaveyouromione]

When I Have You - Chapter 59

Read on Fanfiction.net or ao3 if you'd prefer!

Join me on my Discord server, all about books!

---

Chapter 59

“Oh, you two,” Molly said, wrapping her arms around Ron’s neck to give him a hug. “It’s been so long since you’ve managed to get yourselves over here.”

“We were here two weeks ago, Mum,” Ron said as Molly let him go to hug Hermione as well. “Twice in that week, too.”

“Well, you don’t come by as often as you once did,” Molly replied, stepping away from Hermione to look them both over.

“That’s because we have a house, and believe it or not we can cook for ourselves,” Ron told her, smirking.

“I know that,” Molly said sharply. “It’s just good to see you. My children don’t stop by nearly as often as they did.”

“Could always visit us,” Ron said with a shrug. He took Hermione’s hand and guided her into the kitchen where Harry, Ginny and Arthur were. Ginny leant with her back against a bench, nibbling on some raw carrot, while Harry and Arthur sat at the table, apparently midway through a conversation about something.

“Did you get the lecture too about not coming by enough?” Ginny murmured to them as they passed her.

“Did you get time off work?” Ron asked in response. It was rare that he saw his sister these days, who had become a permanent Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies this season. The team was doing well — close to the top of the ladder — and a few weeks ago they had slaughtered the Chudley Cannons four hundred and sixty to one hundred.

Ron had almost packed up and left the match after the first twenty minutes when Ginny had scored three goals, and would have left had Hermione not insisted he stay put.

Ginny shrugged. “We don’t play for another week, so I thought I’d drop by. Apparently travelling the country with a Quidditch team is no excuse for not visiting here, though. I can barely get home, but I’m expected to use what little time I have to come back here.”

“Here is your home, too. Don’t forget that.” Ginny jumped out of the way as Molly made to get a saucepan from the cupboard Ginny was standing in front of.

“I’m sure our children remember where they grew up, dear,” Arthur said mildly, getting up from the table. “They have just grown and are leading their own lives now. How’s your new job treating you, Hermione?”

“Great!” Hermione said cheerfully, apparently relieved that the conversation had turned from guilt tripping them into visiting more and into something she was happy to talk to them about. “It’s really good. We started taking cases just last week, which has been interesting.”

“I think it’s great,” Arthur said. “The Wizengamot needed an overhaul. It’s left a fair few disgruntled people, but the system Kingsley has put in place is as fair as it can be.” He paused then, thinking for a moment. “I also hear you’ve got Draco Malfoy working with you.”

“For,” Ron corrected. “He works for her, not with her.”

Hermione nudged him gently. He’d spent the last two months reminding everyone that just because Hermione and Kingsley had ended up picking Draco Malfoy — ignoring all of Ron’s protests — as the senior lawyer in the new office, it didn’t mean he was on a level playing field with Hermione. She was his boss, and even though Ron thought the decision had not been one of Hermione’s greatest, he at least took comfort in knowing that Malfoy had to do everything she told him to.

“He’s on a constant probation,” Hermione said to Arthur. “And he can’t progress further than the position he holds now.” She glanced at Ron for a moment and then added, “It’s really not ideal, but he had the most knowledge by far and we were looking for people who were knowledgeable to help get the office up and running. Had we had to train people from scratch, it would have delayed the introduction by a month or so.”

“He’s still a git,” Ron said. “That’ll never change, and he’s made your life difficult in your first two months, Hermione.”

“Yes… well… I don’t think we’ll ever get along, but as long as we can work together in a professional manner, then I think it’ll be okay.”

“The other one you’ve got — the junior — she’s nice, though,” Ron said. “I like her.”

“Maia,” Hermione said, looking at Ron in amusement. “Yes, she’s decent. Pretty, too, isn’t she, Ron?”

“I remember her,” Harry said. “Yes, she was good.”

“Pretty, too, Harry?” Ginny asked.

“Much too young,” Ron said, joining Harry at the table. “She’s just out of Hogwarts.”

“Now,” Molly said, her head poking up from another cupboard as she guided some pans to the bench with her wand, “I’m not sure exactly who’s coming. I think George is, and Percy and Audrey will be walking from the village. I think they stayed the night there just for this. Charlie replied and said he’d let me know and then never did, but Bill and Fleur are currently in France visiting Fleur’s parents. So there’s maybe four more coming.”

“Almost a full house then,” Ron said, tugging on Hermione’s hand and dragging her onto his lap. “One day you’ll have us all here again, Mum.”

“Oh, Ron,” Molly sighed, “I’ll never have you all here again in the same house. It’s impossible. But I do appreciate the effort my living children go to, taking time out of their busy lives to come back home when they can.”

Ron looked over at Ginny and then at Harry, and they all smiled.

“We’ll try and make more of an effort,” Ron assured her. “I’m a terrible cook, anyway.”

“No you’re not,” Hermione said. “I like what you cook.”

“Not Mum-level, though.”

“Is anyone?” Ginny asked, and Molly beamed, though she tried to hide it behind the food preparation she was now doing.

“Do you need any help, Molly?” Hermione asked, as she always did when they came over.

“No, dear,” Molly replied, as she also always did. “You’re family. I’ve told you this many times.”

There was a whoosh from the living room, and a moment later, George stepped into the kitchen, brushing the soot off himself. “Hope I’m not too late to the party,” he said by way of greeting. He looked around the room, eyes resting on everyone. “One of the first ones, I see.” He smiled.

“So good to see you, George,” Molly said, abandoning the food in favour of hugging her son.

“How come George doesn’t get a lecture about not visiting enough?” Ginny demanded.

“Because I visit plenty more than you, Ginny,” George replied. “I’m not off gallivanting the world with a broomstick, am I?”

Ginny made a mock movement to draw out her wand, but joke or not, Molly scolded her and she dropped her hand by her side again, picking up another carrot.

George laughed. “You mind making room, Hermione? I don’t think there’s enough seats around here.”

Hermione actually did make to move off Ron’s lap, but he didn’t let her and she relented, relaxing against him again.

“You two disgust me.” George shook his head, sitting at one of the three empty kitchen chairs. “Who else is coming, Mum?”

“Everyone but Bill, Fleur and the kids, I hope,” Molly answered. “You know what Charlie’s like though — it’s always a mystery with him. Percy and Audrey shouldn’t be too far away. They stayed in the village for the night.”

“One day he will surprise us all by using the Floo with her,” George said.

“He can’t, though,” Ginny said. “Rules and all.”

“The bloke married a Muggle and he’s fussed about rules?” George asked.

“It’s not even a rule anymore,” Hermione interrupted. “I mean, it won’t be soon, and Kingsley is fairly lax about it at the moment. Anyone who is married to a Muggle is now able to perform basic spells and charms and travel with them via the Floo Network so long as they are aware of everything that is being performed in front of them — which Audrey would qualify with that alone.”

“When’s this coming into effect, Hermione?” Arthur asked curiously. “I’ve not heard of it.”

“It will be one of the first things discussed once the new Wizengamot has been established,” Hermione said. “There’s so many people out there who are married to Muggles, who have children with Muggles, who are children of Muggles, and there’s no clear and cut rule regarding the use of magic around them. Strictly speaking, it’s always been against wizarding law to perform any kind of magic in front of a Muggle, but for the most part when it involved marital or family issues, the Ministry turned a blind eye with the assumption the Muggle would not reveal anything that could expose us.

“However, that has led to many loopholes and unfair punishments in the past, so these new rules, so long as they are approved, should clarify anything like that. Wizards and witches should not be forced to deny who they are just because they choose to enter a relationship with, or are born to, people who cannot perform magic.”

There was a long pause in the kitchen as everyone digested that information. After a moment, Ron grinned and hugged Hermione tightly. “Isn’t she amazing?” he said.

Everyone else agreed, albeit not as enthusiastically as Ron sounded, and the conversation drifted into smaller ones.

Soon after, Percy and Audrey showed up, puffing from the long walk from the village up to the Burrow.

“Sorry we’re late,” Percy said between breaths. He placed his arm across Audrey’s shoulder and drew her towards him.

“Not to worry, dears,” Molly said, hugging them both in turn. Neither of them got told to visit more either, to which Ginny scoffed at.

“Favouritism at its finest,” she said to Harry, Ron and Hermione. “I have a career that means I hardly see my husband let alone anyone else outside of my team, Hermione’s the Head of an office, and you two are Aurors and work odd hours… but we get lectured. George, who makes his own hours, and Percy… they get off with just a hug.”

“I think she’s just finding it difficult,” Hermione said. “The youngest of her children is in her twenties, is married, has long since moved out… I think we should make more of an effort to get over here more. At least once a week.”

“I can’t do that, though,” Ginny said, though she now looked a little guilty as she watched Molly busy herself with the food.

“The rest of us can,” Hermione said.

Ron and Harry nodded in agreement, Ron unexpectedly feeling a rush of affection for his mother. She’d done so much for them all growing up — always offering a welcoming and loving home, and most of them had repaid her by leaving and coming by less and less as they got older. Yes, they had their own lives and families now, their own homes, and Ron was happiest when he was with Hermione, but this was still his family, she was still his mother, and it occurred to him in that moment that she wasn’t going to be around forever. There’d be a time one day where there’d be no one at the Burrow to come and visit anymore.

He kissed Hermione’s shoulder, breathing in the scent of her freshly washed hair. He toyed with the idea that one day this might be them, in their Nottingham home. Preparing meals and begging their children — however many they had — to come and visit them more. Ron hoped that was the case, anyway. The thought of he and Hermione living happily, well into old age, brought him a lot of joy. He couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else.

“Okay,” Molly said, distracting them all from their thoughts, “it doesn’t look like Charlie is coming, so dinner is ready. It’s a beautiful evening outside. How about we eat out there?”

Everyone agreed and stood up.

“Percy and Arthur, could you please move the table?” Molly said. “Ron, Hermione, George and Harry, please take all the food out once they’ve set it up. Ginny and Audrey, you can do the cutlery and plates, if you please.”

Everyone moved to do what was asked of them. Ron picked up a tray of vegetables and a tray of meat and carried it into the garden where Percy and Arthur had just Summoned the table from the kitchen. Arthur flourished his wand and the table extended to fit more people around it. Ron placed the food on top.

Hermione appeared beside him with a bowl of salad while Harry and George carried the last little bits.

“Looks great, Mum,” George said as Molly came out after Ginny and Audrey carrying the plates and cutlery.

“Thank you, George,” Molly said, and she peered over her shoulder as if to double check that Charlie hadn’t shown up.

Git, Ron thought. He never comes unless it’s for a special occasion.

“I can go to Romania and get him if you’d like,” George said. “Is your fireplace connected?”

“No, it’s not,” Molly said softly.

“Well, I’ll Apparate, send a Howler, whatever you want, Mum,” George continued.

“It’s okay,” Molly said, taking a seat at the table. “He never made any promises, and he did come back a month ago. He’s very busy with his work…”

“More like obsessed,” George said. “Worse than you, Perce.”

Percy turned red and pushed his glasses up his nose. He still didn’t like to acknowledge that he was a workaholic.

“Eat up,” Molly said, smiling at them. “I’m glad for those of you who could make it. I’m always glad.”

Everyone began piling food onto their plates, and for a while, conversation died while everyone ate.

Ron’s mind trailed to nothing in particular, thinking about the work he’d have to do next week and wondering if they’d get to go anywhere. If that week would be the week he'd finally actually be an Auror.

He was just picturing himself bringing in a large group of stray Death Eaters when a glass falling over caused everyone to jump. All eyes flickered to Percy, whose wine glass had fallen, its contents spilling onto the table.

Hermione quickly reached across the table to pick it up and used her wand to get rid of the spilled wine.

Percy flushed, once again pushing his glasses up his nose. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Ron saw that Audrey nudged him in the ribs, a meaningful look on her face.

Percy went even redder now and glanced nervously up at everyone. He cleared his throat. “Ah, yes, so I suppose now’s the right time — while all of your attention is on me — to tell you that next January, Audrey and I will be having a baby.”

“What?” Molly said, and she jumped to her feet.

“No way,” George said. “You, Percy, having a baby? That poor kid.”

“Wow, that’s such exciting news!” Hermione said. “Congratulations!”

“Another grandchild?” Molly said, all concern about Charlie gone in the event of this exciting revelation. “I don’t know how I didn’t work this out,” she then said. “Audrey, you look wonderful.”

“No sickness so far,” Audrey said, beaming. “I’m grateful for that. I saw how Fleur suffered during her pregnancies.”

Within moments, the silent garden was filled with chatter and congratulations and a lot of laughter and smiles.

“A cousin for Victoire and Dominique,” Molly said joyfully. “They’ll be so excited when we tell them. Do you know what you’re having? A girl or boy?”

“We don’t know yet,” Audrey said. “With… er… Muggle technology, you can’t really tell until twenty weeks, but I think we’ll keep it a surprise.”

“Fascinating,” Arthur said. “How do Muggles deal with birth and pregnancy? It’s not something I’ve ever thought about before.” And he leaned forward, as if expecting a long-winded story from the pair about Muggle births.

“They’re called…” Percy hesitated, turning to Audrey. “Um… ult-ero-sinds.”

“Ultrasounds,” Audrey corrected. “It’s where you can see the baby.” She laughed. “Percy almost fainted when he saw it.”

“Wait,” Ginny said, “you can see the baby? Like… inside of you?” She looked mildly revolted by the concept.

Audrey nodded.

“That’s so…”

“Weird?” Ron offered.

“I think it’s amazing,” Hermione said, and Ron looked at her.

“Really? They go inside of you and —”

“It’s beautiful,” Hermione said. “You get to see your baby before they’re even born. And they don’t go inside of you, Ron.”

“How else then, Hermione?” Ginny asked, and Harry laughed. She rounded on Harry. “When we have kids, don’t you go thinking we’re doing that ultromusic thing, alright?”

Harry held up his arms in defence, but was still grinning.

Ron had to agree with Ginny here. He didn’t like the sound of seeing a baby before it was born. That was just too much.

“It’s like a device,” Audrey said, looking thrilled to have everyone’s attention on her, being able to teach them something. “They place it on your tummy and they can see the baby. It appears on a screen…”

“Like a television?” Arthur asked.

“Exactly like a television,” Audrey said, nodding.

Arthur smiled. “Fascinating what Muggles can come up with. What purpose is there to see your baby before they’re born?”

“To make sure everything’s okay. To check for any abnormalities, to hear the heartbeat —”

“We have a spell for that,” Molly said. “The heartbeat. But the seeing through you is… well, I can’t quite describe that.”

“It’s amazing,” Audrey said. “It truly is.” She smiled around at everyone, once again acting as if being surrounded by a group of witches and wizards was perfectly normal for her and something she’d done her whole life.

Ron supposed it’d have to be, especially if she was going to be birthing one soon.

The talk of the baby continued as everyone helped clear the table and take it back inside. Percy had remained very quiet on the subject matter, looking a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. But Audrey shared all the unnecessary details that Ron really didn’t want to hear about, including sharing how long it had taken them to get pregnant.

Which was, no time at all.

“It just happened straight away,” she told the living room, where they all now sat or stood.

Percy shifted uncomfortably, apparently not at all comfortable with the idea of his family talking about his sex life as if it was public business.

Ron chose not to participate in the conversation. He was standing by the wall, arms folded across his chest, nodding when spoken to, but not really saying anything. He was becoming tired of talking about it, like it bothered him, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint why that was. Maybe it was the fact that he’d never really considered Percy as the father type, and the fact that Percy didn’t even seem that excited about the prospect of becoming one.

Or, he thought as Audrey rattled on about what the baby’s bedroom would look like, maybe he was just bothered by the fact that another one of his siblings had once again done something before him.

But… it wasn’t like having a baby was something he and Hermione had ever discussed before. Not seriously, anyway. They’d talked about it as if it was some far-off, futuristic event that might happen to them one day, but it had never been a here and now type of conversation.

He frowned. Was what he was feeling… jealousy? Jealousy over the fact that his brother was having a baby and… he wasn’t? That made no sense to him, yet… he was pretty confident that was how he felt.

“I always did wonder who’d be next out of the lot of you,” Molly said brightly, drawing Ron back to the room.

“Won’t be me any time soon,” Ginny said. “Merlin, no.”

“Nor us,” Hermione said, who seemed more than happy to participate in this conversation about their new niece or nephew due next year. “We’ve got far too many things to do. Probably won’t be for another four or five years.”

Oh. They’d never discussed that either. So, Hermione had a time frame in mind. That would put them close to thirty.

“All in your own times,” Arthur said brightly. “Live a little before you think about that. But I truly am thrilled for the two of you,” he then added to Percy and Audrey. “Another small child running around will brighten this place up even more.”

And the conversation drew on. Before he realised, Ron found himself standing in the kitchen. Hermione’s words kept swirling around in his mind. Not for another four or five years.

That bothered him more than he wanted to admit. That was not by any means a poor estimation. They’d been together almost four years before they got married, so why wouldn’t they wait another four to have a baby? And it wasn’t like either of them had ever specified when they would do that. It had always just been a simple agreement of one day.

It felt stupid to be bothered by it. He felt almost ridiculous that the thought of having a baby seriously hadn’t once crossed his mind, and now all of a sudden he was feeling like Percy had taken something away from him. Percy hadn’t stolen anything. Percy was older, he’d been married longer… he had every right to make this next step.

He collapsed against a wall at the side of the Burrow. A few chickens roamed, plucking at the grass, and two gnomes scuttled past by the fence, apparently thinking they had gone unnoticed by Ron.

He didn’t know how long he was sitting there before he heard footsteps approach and Hermione slid down beside him. She didn’t say anything at first, and they just sat, her presence enough for the moment. Besides, what was he supposed to tell her? ‘Why is Percy having a baby before us when we haven’t even talked about it before?’ That would go down well.

After a while, she spoke, keeping her voice soft and gentle. “Are you okay?”

He nodded.

“People who are okay don’t come out here on their own and sit against a wall with a morbid expression on their face. It’s what I said, isn’t it? About waiting four or five years to have a baby.”

Ron had to admire her perceptiveness. A lot of words had been spoken during their time in the living room, and she had managed to get to the crunch of it on her first go. She was incredibly clever and he was incredibly obvious.

Still, he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to admit it. “What makes you say that?” He didn’t look at her, not really wanting to see what her face said.

“Just a guess,” she said.

It took him a while to find the words, but when he did, they poured out. “I don’t know why it bothered me so much. It’s not like we have ever discussed it before. We’ve never put a date on the idea. I didn’t even think about it until today, really. We’ve been happy with the way things are, but… maybe I just assumed it would be sooner than that. I don’t know.”

It was Hermione’s turn to contemplate her words. “You may not realise this, Ron, because I do think it’s been subconscious, but I think it’s been on your mind more than you think.”

Ron looked at her. “What do you mean?” He couldn’t think of a time he’d considered the idea of being a dad. Not fully. Not really.

She smiled. “It’s just things you say sometimes. ‘When we have kids…’, ‘when our kids…’. It’s become a lot more frequent in recent months to the point that I think you mention it a few times a week.”

“I didn’t know,” Ron said, averting his eyes to his hands. “Sorry.”

“It’s nothing to be sorry about,” Hermione laughed. “If anything, it’s quite nice to hear. But my point is, I think I kind of worked out that… we weren’t exactly on the same page anymore. Which is okay!” She added the last part quickly, seeming to sense the questions he suddenly had for her.

Ron hesitated. Today’s events had suddenly set some kind of clarity in where he wanted their future to lead. He hadn’t known before, but he knew now. “Hermione… I think… I think I’m ready for us to have a baby. I mean… I want us to talk about it. I don’t want it to just be a ‘one day’ thing anymore. I want it to be something more than that. I want us to seriously discuss it. To set a timeframe…”

He glanced across at her, surprised to see her smiling and nodding. “Okay,” she said. “We can talk about it.”

He watched her for a moment, waiting to see if she continued. But she didn’t, and the miniscule bit of hope he’d felt vanished with her lack of words.

“It’s not the right time for you, is it? I mean, now?”

“I don’t want to have a baby now, Ron.” She shook her head. “Aside from the fact that we’ve been married for only a year, I don’t think it’s the right time for us to be making that commitment. I’ve started a new job and I think it would be pretty unfair on everyone to suddenly have to step away from it for a year to raise a child.”

Ron nodded, returning his eyes to the chickens. He didn’t speak for a long time, trying to gather his thoughts. His mind felt jumbled — filled with so many thoughts and feelings that he couldn’t quite understand. He didn’t know why Percy saying he was having a baby upset him so much, nor did he fully understand the sudden burning desire within him to have his own baby. He was perfectly happy with Hermione — he loved it being just the two of them.

“I could do it, you know,” he said quietly.

“Do what?” Hermioned asked gently.

“Raise our child or children. You could do your thing, and I could look after them. I wouldn’t mind. I’d quite like it, I think.”

Hermione smiled again. “It should be something we do together, Ron. I’d want to do that, but I just don’t think I’m in that place just yet to do it. But it’s okay if you are. We can find some middle ground, come to a compromise…”

“We’re good at that, aren’t we?” Ron asked, offering a smile. “Finding compromises.”

“We’re the best.” Hermione reached out and covered his hand with hers. “I want us to have children, Ron. Please don’t think that I’m shutting down that part for us. I’m not. I just want to be the best mother that I could possibly be, and I don’t think that with our current situation that I could be. When we do have children, I want it to be a time when we are both able to just fall completely in love with them and they’ll become our world….”

“I get it,” Ron said, nodding. “I think… maybe you’re right. Maybe I have wanted this for a while and I just haven’t realised it. In my mind, I think I just thought we were getting close. It was stupid of me to assume —”

“It’s not stupid.”

“I just feel so old. Not in an aging kind of way, but… we’ve been through so much and it just feels like we’ve lived an extra ten years or something.”

“Is that what it feels like to be with me?” Hermione asked playfully.

Ron smiled. “With you, it feels like I’ll never have enough time. I’m happy to wait however long you need, Hermione. I mean it. I just think I thought it’d be sooner. In my mind, I mean.”

Hermione fell silent again, thinking. Ron watched her, waiting for her to say whatever it was she needed to. She looked at him. “I know I said four or five years, but how about we look at our situation again in January next year? That will have given me almost a whole year where I am and I’d expect things to be more settled by then. I’m not saying that we are going to be ready then — or I’m going to be — but we can talk about it properly then? Does that… is that okay for you?”

Ron nodded. “That sounds perfectly fine to me. We’ll have great kids, whenever we choose to. They’ll probably be rule breakers, because they’ve got us as parents, but they’ll be smart, too.”

Hermione leaned her head against the wall, still smiling. “I’d like to think that they won’t be like us.”

They fell silent once more. It was nearly completely dark now and Ron contemplated getting his wand from his pocket so they could see. Instead, he turned his head, taking in Hermione’s silhouette, and squeezed her hand still on his. “I love you,” he said.

She smiled. “I love you, too.”

“Should we go back inside? I’m sure they’re wondering where —”

“There you are!” Ginny’s figure appeared around the corner. “For a moment, I was worried you two had taken off together behind the shed or something.”

“At Mum and Dad’s place?” Ron asked, he and Hermione both climbing to their feet.

“Then why did you escape?” Ginny questioned, and she looked mildly concerned. “Everything alright? Was it Audrey banging on about her spawn? It’s enough to bore anyone, isn’t it? They’re going to have the world’s most boring kid.”

“Everything’s fine,” Hermione assured her gently. She looked at Ron and smiled. “We were just talking. All this baby talk is a little overwhelming at times, don’t you think?”

Ginny eyed them both curiously, and then her eyes widened. “You’re not pregnant, are you?” she said.

“Nope,” Hermione said. “As I said before, it’s not the right time for us.” She looked at Ron, who nodded, and they interlocked their fingers.

“Well, Mum’s asking for you, so you better go back inside before she comes looking.”

Ron placed his arm across Hermione’s shoulders and together, he, Hermione and Ginny walked silently back to the Burrow.

Everyone was still talking about the baby when they came inside, barely acknowledging their return. Ron took a place on the floor beside the couch, Hermione sitting down next to him.

Now that he’d talked to Hermione about it, now that she’d given a vague timeline, it was easier to sit there and listen to them all go on about everything.

Hermione rubbed his leg encouragingly and said so that only he could hear, “Just think,” she said, “you’re going to be an uncle for a third time. That’s exciting, isn’t it?”

Ron smiled and nodded and placed his arm around her again, drawing her close to him. He could do the uncle thing again. He just wanted to do the dad thing, too.

One day.

[sugawarasnjgga]

pretty setter squad v-day hcs

quick a/n: hey loves! so sorry this so late, motivation runs thin these days and school has been kicking my ass lately. however, i have a lot of stuff in the works that i can’t wait to share with you all!! in the meantime please, take some pretty setter squad valentines day headcanons i whipped up!! love you guys <3

-arson

Akaashi-

- god what a romantic

- i feel like this man would be so like classy about it

- definitely would make reservations for a fancy restaurant like 6 months in advance

- on the night of your v-day date he would dress so unbelievably dapper that you’d feel under-dressed (even though you are both dressed up)

- he would let you order whatever you wanted and how much you wanted too

- and no you cannot pay don’t even try to fight him on this

- god he would give you such gorgeous red roses

- HE WOULD GET A VIOLINIST TO PLAY FOR YOU GUYS AT THE TABLE

- slow dance in the park at night slow dance in the the park at night slow dance-

- he would tell you how much he loves you and kiss you under the moonlight

Atsumu-

- he would send you a bunch of those valentine memes LMFAOOO

- he would try and fail to make sugar cookies

- i feel like your valentines date would just be you guys running around town doing stupid stuff all day and having the time of your lives

- he would definitely hit up the convenience store with you and buy you guys a bunch of valentines themed snacks so you both could eat it in the park

- he also fake proposed with a ring pop

- he would carry you around on his back…. like all day… don’t ask me why

- def would put on crappy rom-coms when you guys get home

- osamu would def tell you guys to ‘get a room’ every chance he gets

- he would def have to hide his blush from feeling you wrapped in his arms

- he would use the worst pick up lines on you all day... unironically

Kags-

- honestly poor kid does not know what to do

- he probably looked up videos on what to do for his partner on valentines day

- i feel like he asked sugawara what to do for you

- he’d probably buy you a little teddy bear and some heart-shaped chocolates because that’s what everyone does

- i think he would ask you to practice with him as a date LMFAO 

- maybe it’s because you two met at one of his volleyball matches ;))

- alternatively, your date would be going out for lunch and a walk

- AND HE WOULD BE TRYING TO DISCREETLY HOLD HANDS BUT BE WAY TOO FLUSTERED TO OMG

- but it’s okay because you notice and take his hand and he would be a blushing mess

- he would def stare at you while you were talking because of how beautiful he thinks you are

- and when you point it out he would definitely blush and deny it

Kenma-

- i feel like you and him would be gaming all day

- if you couldn’t be with him in person you would just stream w/ him on the discord server you guys have 

- DISCORD DATE LMFAO

- however, if you are in person he would get all of your favorite junk food and it would just be a gaming night

- don’t expect to go to bed early not in that way pervs

- you guys would build a whole cottage and farm in minecraft and raise cows together

- you guys would also play bedwars and he would profusely demand a rematch if he loses

- he would definitely blame it on the controller

- (i have to say it so bear with me,) you guys would put your minecraft beds next to each other :)

Koganegawa-

- he would also send you those crappy v-day memes LMFAO

- he would be so excited to see you aww

- when he saw you walking towards him he would definitely run at you,  pick you up and swing you around

- he would make you guys do the love calculator and if you got a low score he would almost cry 

- he would also put in his full name, nickname, etc. to get the highest score possible

Semi-

- he would write you a song omg

- and it would be a damn good song

- he would probably take you to a concert (in timeskip, his concert)

- he would give you his favorite guitar pick 

- he would tell you to pick your fav three restaurants/fast food places and get you food from all three

- he would let you wear his leather jacket home and give it to you (i'm pretty sure he has a leather jacket, but if not let’s pretend he does)

-his cologne is all over it and he smells so nice

- he would listen to classic rock love songs and sing them to you while you guys dance in his living room

- he would get you a heart-shaped locket that had a picture of you and him in it

Oikawa-

- he would take so. many. pictures.

- matching outfits are 100% mandatory

- whenever his fangirls showed up he would just show you off to them until they backed off

- he would get you a custom build a bear that looks him, and when you squeezed it, his voice came through the voice box and said ‘i love you’

- he would probably get you a t-shirt that says ‘property of tooru oikawa’ LMFAOAO 

- kidding…. kind of…

- you guys would make heart-shaped brownies in his kitchen

- he would take you around town to all of his favorite places, so they can become your little spots as a couple, including a little restaurant not many people know about

- he is their best/most frequent customer and he considers it his quiet/happy place, but it’s both of yours now

- he would totally carry you bridal style to like half of the places you guys went to

- he would definitely say some shit like “you’re cute but not as cute as me” all day but in reality he is so fucking flustered and such blushing mess just looking at you 

- he genuinely thinks you are an angel from heaven

- HE WOULD USE CHEESY PICKUP LINES ALL DAY TOO

Sugawara-

- he is such a GOD at valentines day

- fucking perfect oh my god

- he would gives you breakfast in bed even if you don't live with each other 

- he would probably get your favorite breakfast delivered to your house

- he would have asked for heart-shaped fruits on your plate

- he would also leave your favorite one of his hoodies that he sprayed his cologne on so it smells like him

- he would take you on a picnic in his favorite spot in the park and have your favorite food int he basket

- he would have gotten you your favorite flowers

- doting on you. all. day.

- he would have gotten you a plushie in your favorite animal and so much v-day candy

- he would give you such a stunning and expensive necklace

- he would cook your favorite dinner for you too

- you guys would cuddle on his couch and watch your favorite rom-coms or just movies in general

- you guys would also bake heart-shaped treats and have little flour fights in the kitchen

- paul anka’s “put your head on my shoulder” will most definitely be playing in the background as you slow dance together

- HE WOULD GIVE YOU SO MANY FOREHEAD KISSES AS YOU CUDDLE OMSABHIS 

- god he is just perfect

[izumiyagami14]

longing

enlightenmonth // [day 5-8] hug or longing Summary: While waiting for Taichi to come back from his soccer game, Koushiro fights a feeling unknown to him. Hikari, on the other hand, decides to keep him company.

Discordant clicks and taps of the keyboard tuned out the television broadcasting in the background. The tedious ticks of the laptop were coming from the boy sitting criss cross on the couch. Koushiro continued to type, preoccupied by tonight’s lingering thoughts.

He was asked to stay the night by Taichi to work on something “Digidestined” related, but he was running late from his soccer game. He stopped typing for a second to look at his watch. It was 8:26pm. What is taking him so long? How is he still out at this time of night? He thought to himself as he continued back to his work.

Being an introvert, Koushiro enjoyed the silence that rested peacefully upon the room, knowing that it will instantly change the moment his friend came barging through the front door. The background noise from the television was a nice reminder that he was alone with his work. Or so he thought...

Soft, cushioned footsteps slowly patted on the hallway floor and into the kitchen, causing his heart to jump a beat. He instantly stopped working on his computer to listen. Inaudible mumbles were carried from the kitchen to the living room the boy was sittting in. How could I forget she was here? She let me into the house in the first place.

Staying on the couch, he straightened his hunched over back and peered over to the direction of where the sound was coming from. He saw the silhouette of the girl reaching for a something on one the cabinet shelves and pulling down two completely different shaped mugs. She then took the mugs and turned to the tea kettle next to the stove. As she started preparing the tea, she hummed an unrecognizable tune to herself.

As he continued to quietly observe what Hikari was doing in the kitchen, Koushiro’s heart started pacing. He felt his hands get clammy when she grabbed the tea kettle of freshly brewed tea. As she continued to hum the song that was stuck in her head, she swayed left to right, pouring the tea into the two mugs. The sight caused a smile to unknowingly grow on Koushiro’s face.

It was then when Hikari turned her head to meet his lingering gaze. She smiled and gave him a small wave. Instead of simply returning the wave, Koushiro’s heart stopped, fumbling with his laptop and adverting his eyes downward. His heart rate drastically increased when he heard her footsteps grow louder. He was too nervous to look up at the girl who entered the room, but he quickly glanced up anyways.

Hikari was standing there in an oversized pale pink shirt that was partially tucked into her purple pajama shorts, holding a mug in each hand. His breath hitched, deciding it was best to look back down at his computer. She slowly shuffled with her fuzzy socks to where the boy was sitting and placed one mug on a coaster from the cofffee table in front of him. “Here,” she giggled. “I made us some tea. I heard it is good Koala-tea.”

Koushiro gave her a puzzled look until she turned the mug so he could see the design. It showed a happy little koala holding a mug with the play-on words at the bottom. “Oh, I get it. Koala-tea. Quality,” He responded stiffly, trying to keep his focus on the laptop in his lap.

“Yes, and mine is tea-rific!” She exclaimed, gesturing to her mug. It had a image of a giddy mug, shouting how terrific the tea was. Before Koushiro could respond, she changed the subject. “Taichi’s game went into double overtime so he should be a little late coming home.”

Koushiro hummed in response, not wavering his attention on the computer. And with that response, she scooted away, back into the bedroom, leaving him back to the silence and his wandering thoughts.

He took a sip of the tea that was made and then rested his hands on the keyboard. His hands were supposed to take control of his work, but his mind started to overcome his actions. The silence that now rested upon the room felt different. It once gave him peace a minute ago, but now it felt like a piece was missing. He scratched his cheek with his hand. How could the mood of the room change so quickly? He looked around the room to see if there were any variables to cause it to change.

He still sat criss cross on the couch. The television was still broadcasting the news. The laptop was still open, ready to be used. Maybe it’s the tea? He thought to himself as he picked up the mug and took another sip. No, that’s not it... He didn’t know why, but he had a different feeling from before. At first when he started his work, he yearned for silence, but now, he craved for something else. The dilemma in his mind now was that he didn’t know what this feeling was for.

He moved his laptop from the middle of his lap to one of his legs. Raking his hands through his frizzy red hair, he grumbled to himself. Not knowing the unknown was frustrating.

“You okay, Koushiro?” A voice came from the end of the hallway. He looked up to see Hikari wrapped head to toe in a fuzzy blanket.

His heart jumped again. He guessed that he didn’t hear her go back to the kitchen to put her mug back. He sighed to himself and looked back at the computer. “Yeah, I am fine. Just a little frustrated.”

“Why is that?”

“I honestly don’t know. That’s probably why I am.”

“Is it alright if I join you?” She asked, moving the blanket from over her head to around her shoulders.

The typing of the keyboard slowly started up again when he hummed in response.

She trotted over, blanket in hand, and gently sat down next to him on the couch. She took a deep breath and let out a long yawn. Adjusting the blanket to wrap around her small body, she proceeded to lay down, resting her head lightly on the boy’s lap.

Koushiro’s whole body tensed up and he held his breath. His mind went into overdrive, thinking about the situation, his options, and the scenarios that could play out if her brother was to walk through the door. “What are you dong?” He managed to muster.

“Keeping you company, silly. I thought that was obvious.” She said quietly.

He couldn’t think of a good response to that. He was too focused on his heart racing from her close proximity. The scent of cherry blossoms hit his nose and he was sure that his brain officially malfunctioned.

“Relax. It’s just me,” She whispered as she closed her eyes. “Go back to your work. I won’t bother you.”

Koushiro let out his unknowingly held breath and looked down at the girl next to him. She was slowly breathing in and out, drifting to sleep. He tried to follow suit with her breathing to calm his accelerated heart rate. He was certain that Hikari could hear it from where she rested her head.

He accepted his fate and slowly adjusted his body so he could type on his computer on one leg and leave Hikari undisturbed on the other. After twisting his body to a better position, the discordant clicks and taps of the keyboard started up again.

The ticks of the wall clock harmonized with the taps of the keyboards and the shallow breaths of the sleeping girl. After a while, Koushiro’s shoulders loosened and his heartbeat slowed. He felt his body relax, even with Hikari laying quietly next to him. Eventually, he stopped typing and looked down at her to she how she was doing. Her brown hair rested delicately on her angelic face as she laid there peacefully. A small smile found its way to his face as he admired the sight.

Out of impulse, he reached down and started brushing his hand through her soft hair. Slowly and carefully, he continued small and smooth strokes that caused Hikari to smile in her sleep. “That feels nice…” she mumbled.

Koushiro’s heart fluttered from her words, but that didn’t stop his movements. Instead, he nervously chuckled and continued to gently play with her hair with one hand while using his computer with the other.

Soft chirps of crickets and cicadas outside joined in the clock’s and computer’s harmony. The distant news report on the television quietly came to an end and a new program projected on the screen. The two souls in the living room of the Yagami residence stayed there on the couch. Hikari’s peaceful presence set Koushiro’s mind at ease as he continued to multitask. He only stopped stroking her hair when he heard a buzzing sound from his phone and answered the call.

“Hey, Koushiro! Just the man I want to talk to!” Taichi exclaimed through the phone.

“Hey, Taichi. What is all the noise in the background?” Koushiro whispered though the phone, trying desperately not to wake the girl sleeping next to him.

“We won! We won! We won! Scored the winning goal! The whole team is going out to celebrate!” Taichi continued to scream.

“That’s great. So I’m guessing you’re going to be even later then?” He continued to whisper. Koushiro moved his laptop to the arm of the couch so he could switch the phone to his other ear, away from Hikari’s face.

“Yeah! I hope that is alright with you! We can just work on what we need to more tomorrow,” he replied. “Why are you whispering?”

Koushiro started to stutter. “Well, I. I-I don’t want to wake up your family.”

“Is Hikari there?”

“I, uh. Uh, yeah. She is. She’s on the couch while I am working at the dining room table,” he lied, looking down the girl asleep on his lap. He noticed that a piece of her hair was out of place and covering the corner of her eye. Before he realized what he was doing, he began to reach his hand out toward her head and delicately brushed it away. She unknowingly smiled at his action, causing his heart to flutter once again.

“Okay, just tell her that I will be home really, really, late. You’re still welcome to stay. Just kick my sister off the couch if you need to,” Taichi laughed.

Koushiro huffed a bit, wondering how in the world he could do that. He’ll think of something. He always does. “Alright, I’ll try my best. To be honest, I will probably still be awake when you get home. Just be safe and I’ll see you soon.”

“You’re the best! Bye, Koushiro!” And with that, Taichi hung up the phone.

Koushiro took in a deep breath and analyzed his options. He didn’t mind staying like this all night, but eventually, Taichi will come home. He waited a good twenty minutes deciphering the available options before he decided his next move.

He sighed and slowly craned his head over the girl laying beside him. “Hey, Hikari…” he whispered as he lightly rubbed her arm. She grumbled his name and pulled her blanket up to her face. Koushiro’s heart skipped as he continued, “Your brother won his game. He won’t be home until much later. We need to get you to your room.”

Hikari shifted and grumbled again. “Nooo…”

He frowned at her attempt. “Yes, we do. As much as we want to stay like this, it’s better for you to get your sleep in your bed,” he quietly admitted, hoping Hikari was too tired to comprehend.

She lightly groaned at his point. “Okay,” she whispered, but put no attempt into getting up.

Koushiro moved his laptop to the coffee table in front of them. He cautiously lifted Hikari’s head and placed a pillow under it as a substitute. Slowly, he got up from his spot and looked down at the sleeping girl. With all the courage he could gather, he carefully picked her up, blanket and all, bridal style and started to carried her into her room.

As they made their way down the hallway, Hikari snuggled her face into the crook of his neck. Koushiro tried his best not to react to her action, afraid her might drop her in the process. When they made it to the destination, he slowly placed her down on her bed and brought the blanket to her shoulder.

He brushed a stray hair out of her face and said, “Goodnight, Hikari. I’ll see you in the morning.”

When he started to turn away, he felt a hand grab his. Turning back around, he saw Hikari’s eyes lock on his. “Thank you. Goodnight, Koushiro,” she whispered with a smile and let go of his hand.

He silently shut her door behind him and walked back toward the living room. When her sat back on the couch and placed his laptop back on his lap, he realized what made him frustrated before. Yes, at first when he started his work, he yearned for silence, but now, he craved for someone else. Her thoughtfulness. Her angelic face. Her happy mood. Her presence.

Koushiro realized he longed to have Hikari next to him… always.

[y4rdbird]

mcc 17 vod time: cyan edition baby

hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii <3 this mcc when watching other team vods i had some thoughts and decided to post them here lol? not much too it. im not an expert nor am i anyone whos opinion you should value to so dont sweat it if you disagree lol. 

I'm not gonna go over every game and more of where i had something to say so <3 time to get into it i guess <3

starting off controversial lol. skybattle i. didn't really enjoy. cyans placement wasnt that notable but something I noticed is they kind of revolved their strat around dream? round one the way he dies bridging to mid and then asks for ponk to do it at that part so *he* doesn’t get sniped again aswell as just prioritizing himself over his teammates a bit? just didn't really vibe w me lol. its not anything id call an issue and more just something i noticed, and kind of reminded me of the funneling strat for dodgebolt (something dream is well known for) vs arrow splitting. i don't like funneling but i also main falsesymmetry for mcc so. i am biased lol. dream is obviously a bit more of a sweat compared to players like h or pete who prioritize making sure all there teammates are getting their own shots in while dream goes for the win for all of them by doing the majority himself. tldr he can be a sweat good for him. dream fans please dont maul me im but a humble blog

moving on from the opinion that's most likely to get me cancelled (/j) sands of time!!!!! i think their sot strat was super smart and while i don't know if its ever been used before id love to see it again in the future! karl as sandkeeper was a great decision as he was on top of comms and communicating when he had keys, how much sand, and when he needed them to give him more. dream was great at instructing them on what to do and saved alot of time not running back for vault keys but instead going on a set path intending to get the vault, instead of go in and pray you stumble upon it lol. the entire team worked well and its genuinely a shame they had a shit run in with those ravagers. comparing the scores, first place was 4300ish, and cyan had at one point 4500ish coins, meaning they would have gotten first if not for it. never forget the cyan 17 incident </3

buildmart. made me want to bang my head against the wall. i dont think i can elaborate on it without flying into a rage again so instead i am going to copy some portions from my commentary on it from discord <3 hope you all enjoy the rage from someone who has been pampered by grian buildmart pov

idk what to say other then their buildmart makes me want to cry. like oh my god. It is just very frustrating

he started off by having multiple people go to the same resource zone or the SAME BLOCK and ONLY do one build and it was just so inefficient

furthermore when Karl said he was going to grab other woods he told him not to????

 if your basing it off speed and you are ALREADY GETTING THE WOOD. HAVE HIM GRAB OTHER WOODS. YOU DONT NEED TWO PEOPLE GRABBING 12 PIECES OF FUCKING WOOD

It was hell actual hell

not only was he giving out confusing commands but he was just wasting manpower. during the treasure build he had ONE PERSON GET 3 DIFFERENT ORE BLOCKS AND 3 FUCKING PEOPLE GET SPRUCE

never going to forgive dream for having 3 fucking people get spruce

like tbh after THAT id fucking hate buildmart too. couldn’t be me though

focusing to get first completion isn’t a bad strat but doing one build only causes more point loss then gain. if they focused on two they could have done so much better because they could have easily divided into teams of two since they were only going to like. 2 locations each build and could have maintained the speed dream was pushing for

that concludes the ‘maybe its better if you do sit out for buildmart dream that made me want to cry’ segment of this post. thank you and goodnight

next up and last!!!! survival games!!! im not going too critical abt this but obv they were kind of losing morale and that can drastically affect performance. that being said DREAM HOW CAN YOU SUCK AT COMMS SO MUCH WHEN YOU DID SO WELL IN SOT!!! I HAD HOPE FOR YOU!!!! my heart is forever broken and trust shattered into oblivion <///3. getting serious though, this was a game where tommy got to really shine. he’s always been p good in my book and survival games is no exception. they went in with tommy leading and giving commands and dream kind of just. ignored them. and pushed to do opposite of what tommy wanted which ultimately kind of got them killed. and when it was just him and ponk very quickly went to taking the shots and just. idk disregarded what his team might want to say or have actually said. dream suffers a lot when he’s not in the leadership role because he just. cant listen to other people ig LMAO. dream himself has said he’s not good at teamwork so this isn't a big surprise, but still made it super frustrating to watch.

hmmm that is all me thinks.... once again this is my OPINION please do not burn me like a witch <3  this is all v lighthearted commentary and obv i didnt cover all of the games so this isnt some end all be all they are shit or not. idk if ill do another one of these posts but it was fun to make <3 i am now going to make a sammie <3 bye 

[jbbarnesnnoble]

JBBarnesNNoble's 2nd Annual Mental Health Awareness Month Challenge 2021

Hello lovely people! And welcome to the 2nd Annual Mental Health Awareness Month Writing Challenge. The aim of this challenge is to shine a light on mental health, medical conditions, and the things that can have impacts on us. This started out initially being a PCOS Awareness challenge last year but through conversations with other writers over Discord, it evolved into a Mental Health Awareness Month Writing Challenge last year. I’m reusing some of the unused prompts from last year’s challenge and adding in some new ones!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. The goal of this challenge is to lift each other up, and show that it’s okay not to be okay. Spread some love and light during a challenging time in the world to those who struggle with chronic illness, depression, anxiety, self-esteem issues, grief, PCOS, acceptance from their families and communities for being LGBT+, and anyone struggling with insecurity.

This challenge will run through July 31st, 2021. It will run through Mental Health Awareness Month, Pride Month, and the month of July to give people time to write. You can submit it at any time. I probably have too many prompts, but I wanted to ensure that there was a wide array to choose from. Please don’t hesitate to message me if I haven’t interacted with your fic after a few days! Sometimes the tag system doesn’t work and I miss things!

The Rules:

1. Utilize resources available online if you’re dealing with subject matter you’re not that familiar with. I’m not going to go all “cite sources” on y’all, but please do make sure to do your research. Writing about some of these issues can be hard if you don’t have first hand knowledge of how it can affect you. The goal of this challenge is to write about topics that we tend to shy away from, that many of us struggle with, from mental health struggles to chronic illnesses to low-self esteem. A gentle reminder that if you think writing about a subject will be triggering for you, please look after yourself first.

2. Use #JBBNNMHAM21 to tag your fic

3. Dark!Fic- Due to the subject matter involved in this challenge, please don’t submit dark!fic. I enjoy dark fics, but this challenge isn’t the place for them.

4. Smut- Smut is welcome! Make sure you tag it appropriately.

5. No inc*st, dubcon/noncon, underage, etc

6. Ships- I prefer reader inserts, but show me what ya got.

7. NO JOHN WALKER FICS. Please. Please no. I beg of you.

8. Selecting Prompts: Just let me know which one you want to do! 2 people per prompt! The song prompts have a line from them under it. You DO NOT need to use the line in your submission! It’s mostly to help you decide if you’re interested in a song before you take a listen to it.

You also can alter the sentence and dialogue prompts as needed for grammar, be it altering the pronouns used or changing the pluralization of a word.

9. Trigger Warnings: Use warnings as needed. Fics dealing with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, or other mental health issues should be tagged appropriately to ensure that readers that may be triggered by the subject matter can avoid the fic. Trigger warnings are non-negotiable

The prompts are under the cut!

Prompts:

Dialogue Prompts:

“I feel like if I let go, if I move on, I’ll only be proving them right.”

“I don’t know. Am I? Because from where I’m standing it’s pretty damn clear that’s how you see me.”

“You don’t believe that do you? Tell me you don’t. Please.”

“It’d probably be easier if you left”

“Please leave me alone”

“Everyone’s got broken pieces. Some have more, some have less. It doesn’t make you less of a person to have those broken pieces.” @nekoannie-chan

“If it’s okay with you, I’ll take that shake now.”

“What’s the point if I’m going to end up breaking that promise too?”

“You sure about that, moonman?”

“It made you smile though. And that will always be a win in my book.”

“That’s not true. And I will tell you that every day of your life until you believe me.”

Sentence Prompts:

Feel free to adjust the pronouns as needed

It was a day. It was the only way it could be described.

Summer had a smell that reminded her of innocence and a time long since past.

In that moment, the world stopped spinning on its axis as it all shattered down around her.

Some things, there would never be a way to understand. @justrunamok

Like shattered glass, in that moment the illusion was broken.

Forever was a lie, just like everything else.

If you had another condescending doctor tell you your problem wasn’t a problem you were going to scream.

They’d say it was easy, like riding a bike. Except, you never learned how to ride a bike in the first place.

Today was going to be good. It had to be.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was going south.

AU and Trope Prompts:

Soulmate @samsgoddess

College

Childhood Friends @tellmealovestory

Friends to Lovers

Enemies to Lovers

Musicians

Writer

Professional Athlete

Teacher

Coffee Shop

Fake Dating

Accidental Marriage

Royal

Librarian

Doctor

Song Prompts:

1. Nobody Ever Told You - Carrie Underwood

Lyric Snippet: “Wish you could see yourself the way I do. Nobody ever told you, nobody ever told you. Shine like a diamond, glitter like gold, and you need to know what nobody ever told you”

2. Missing You - All Time Low

Lyric Snippet: “And if you need a friend, I’ll help you stitch up your wounds. I heard that you’ve been, having some trouble finding your place in the world. I know how much that hurts. But if you need a friend, then please just say the word.”

3. Barefoot and Bruised - Jamestown Story

Lyric Snippet: “Maybe when your sky comes crashing down, I can be your angel on the ground. If you get tired and can’t go on, I will carry you along, when the rocks below your feet wear out your shoes, when you’re barefoot and bruised”

4. Hold On Till May- Pierce the Veil

Lyric Snippet: “If were you, I’d put that away. See you’re just wasted and thinking about the past again. Darling, you’ll be okay.”

5. If I Surrender - Citizen Soldier

Lyric Snippet: “If I surrender, surrender, to the monsters in me, will it set me free?”

6. Home - Machine Gun Kelly, X Ambassadors, Beba Rexha

Lyric Snippet: “All these miles, feet, inches, they can’t add up to the distance that I have been through just to get to a place where even if there’s no closure I’m still safe. I still ache from trying to keep pace. Somebody give me a sign, I’m starting to lose faith”

7. Broken Arrows - Daughtry

Lyric Snippet: “The best of intentions I lay at your feet. And I need you to see past the worst part of me.”

8. Used - Serious Matters

Lyric Snippet: “The wounds are gone and the pain still lingers. But this time I won’t stand by, I don’t need you in my life”

9. According to You - Orianthi

Lyric Snippet: “According to you, I’m stupid, I’m useless, I can’t do anything right”

10. Let It Land - Tonight Alive

Lyric Snippet: “And everything we hate is something we just bought along the line”

11. Cold As You - Taylor Swift

Lyric Snippet: “You put up walls and paint them all a shade of grey. And I stood there loving you and wished them all away. And you come away with a great little story, of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you”

12. Tied Together with a Smile - Taylor Swift

Lyric Snippet: “Hold on, baby you’re losing it. The water’s high, you’re jumping into it, and letting go, and no one knows. That you cry but you don’t tell anyone that you might not be the golden one. And you’re tied together with a smile, but you’re coming undone.”

13. Human Interaction - Tonight Alive

Lyric Snippet: “I don’t know love. I don’t know hate. I am numb. Wish I could find the words to say. Asking please, as colors fade. I need to breathe. Before I turn the world to grey.”

14. Therapy - All Time Low

Lyric Snippet: “Give me therapy, I’m a walking travesty, but I’m smiling at everything. Therapy you were never a friend to me, and you can keep all your misery”

15. Scars - Alison Iraheta

Lyric Snippet: “Do you know how hard I’ve tried to become what you want me to be. Take me, this is all that I’ve got, this is all that I’m not, all that I’ll ever be. I got flaws, I got faults, keep searching for your perfect heart. It doesn’t matter who you are, we’ve all got our scars”

16. Hurts to Know - 1551

Lyric Snippet: “I can’t remember what I did to earn you by my side. I can’t surrender. I’ll fight as long as you’re in my life”

17. Spinning Bottles - Carrie Underwood

Lyric Snippet: “He’s in a hotel room, with the tv on. Getting lost in the static with the curtains drawn, knowing this could be the time that gets her gone for good, he’d quit if he could. But one down, two down, three down, four, can’t even recognize the man in the mirror anymore”

18. Praying - Kesha

Lyric Snippet: “Well you were wrong and now the best is yet to come. ‘Cause I can make it on my own. And I don’t need you, I found a strength I’ve never known.”

19. Jersey On the Wall (I’m Just Asking) - Tenille Townes

Lyric Snippet: “If I ever get to heaven, you know I got a long list of questions. Like how do you make a snowflake, are you angry when the earth quakes? How does the sky change in a minutes, how do you keep this big rock spinning? Why can’t you stop a car from crashing? Forgive me, I’m just asking”

20. Five More Minutes - Scotty McCreery

Lyric Snippet: “Time rolls by, the clock don’t stop. I wish I had a few more drops of the good stuff, the good times. Oh, but they just keep on flying right on by like it ain’t nothing, wish I had me a, a pause button. Moments like those, Lord knows I’d hit it. Give myself five more minutes”

21. Dad’s Old Number - Cole Swindell

Lyric Snippet: “Sometimes I forget, these ten digits ain’t my lifeline anymore. Every now and then I dial them up when life gets tough or when the Braves score. Sorry about the one ring hang ups, early morning and late night wake ups. It was just me. In case you wondered, you’ve got dad’s old number.”

22. The Other Side - Lauren Alaina

Lyric Snippet: “There’s gonna be a lot of sadness on a lot of happy days, I’ll try to think of this moment, this place”

23. I Was Here - Beyonce

Lyric Snippet: “So they won’t forget I was here. I lived. I loved. I was here. I did, I’ve done, everything that I wanted and it was more than I thought it would be. I will leave my mark so everyone will know I was here.”

24. Gone Too Soon - Simple Plan

Lyric Snippet: “Like a shooting star, flying across the room. So fast, so far, you were gone too soon. You’re a part of me. And I’ll never be the same here without you. You were gone too soon.”

25. Amelia - Tonight Alive

Lyric Snippet: “And you will always be perfect, you’ll always be beautiful, our hearts, will never forget you. You didn’t belong here, and it’s become so clear why heaven called your name.”

26. Heaven Right Now - Thomas Rhett

Lyric Snippet: “When the whole crew gets together, memory lane goes on forever. We twist a top and pour a little Jack D out.”

[lampoest]

Unfiltered thoughts watching mission impossible rouge nation inspired by @chaotically-cas

(sorry its so long my brain is all over the place)

this is also part 14 of me watching it every day :/

CURSING WARNING !! ALSO SPOILERS !!!

why is brandt first to speak

starting out with "shit" good call benji

brandt man we get the package is on the mcfucking plane

badass luther 10/10

nervous benji 10/10

that one sound effects sounds like the discord notif

why he in a fancy suit

*jumps on a plane with almost no plan on getting inside*

why did tom cruise think this was agood idea?

but like why would benji even open the ramp?

how is he not winded from that?

classic ethan

THE INTRO 1000/10

SOLOMON LANE !!

wait you can already see lane in the record shop.

how do they tell the agents these little convos?

also damn way to give it away

what if someone just looked in that room and saw the secret message?

also how did the disc get changed? because the imf definitely didnt make that

and how did lane know where he was going?

speaking of lane---

dang that man is pretty

he always sets guns down carefully

i can only see alec baldwin as trump from his snl skits so i dont take hunley seriously ;-;

damn brandt needs to step it up. man keeps letting himself be inturrupted

bruh the imf is only luck

why did no one resrict his legs?

also why is janik such an asshole?

dang she cool !!

why does it take janik so long to get that gun?

bravo-echo 1-1

this man is bleeding but decided instead of taking care of his wound he calls brandt.

i like how you actually see ethan worried and confused trying to plan his next moves. he is rarely caught off guard so it's refreshing to see his more human side

hunley spitting accusations damn bro

also a big fuck you from ethan to hunley

dang ethan is good

brandts little hidden smile

and ethan leaving trails

bitch how you sketch that good???

STAN BENJI !!

youve won, your way out of a job

benji is good

my little brandt x benji shipper in me is happy

simon pegg is such a good actor

the first time i saw this i was like: aww noooo

all dunn with that

TO THE OPERA !!!

TUX BENJI TUX BENJI

i cant tell if that was ethan

it just looks like youre talking to yourself thats more sus than using a phone

want drama? go to the opera

ok but like if you look like that im sorry you are a bad guy. thats like a stereotypical bad guy face

benji-

you can see ethan in the background of that scene

flute gun flute gun

oh no benji is in the closet. dont worry man we love you

if i were there and i just had a good vantage point i could find lane in an instant

ooh ilsa pretty

pipe gun

also pamphlet computer

those key things are cool and plausible

spiderman spiderman does whatever, ethan hunt can?

a W O M A N

what W O M A N?

reminds me of a marshmallow gun i made out if pvc pipes.

why does she not put that thing back?

also the dude loads it and then later it is unloaded

dang that guy is pretty tall.

ethan is so tiny

dis bitch is like uhh gimmie a sec to catch my breath mate

why he only dropkick people?

only 30 mins in ?!?!

the cinematography is exquisite

yes benji goin sicko mode

*gets shot* just a flesh wound

bruh i would've been so startled at that

i love how confused he is at that

ilsa saves ethan once again

they did this on the first day of filming

skdjs

ah yes random package in car = not bomb totally

if she tried to shoot benji then yes she is a bad person

but she didnt try to, she could've easily but didn't

benji being paranoid

she could just say the dude's name

benji being scared

hunley jumping to conclusions

brandt actually cares yeey

why di they approach from different sides of the street they were in the same car.

benji was far away from the sparks why he flinch?

friendship goals

oop plot dump that only mission impossible can get away with

ok...

why this mf's voice so smooth

lane is struggling with chopsticks

also lane :))))

ive chocked on my water so many times watching this scene

lanes voice :))))))

SHE RUINED HIS SUSHI WHAT THE FUCK ILSA

this man dont know what personal space is

gotta look up these peeps mbti types

casablanca references

also benji is wearing dollar store lookin glasses while ethan is wearing some fancy glasses

luther is top notch

as much as i dont like jeremy renner he delivers these lines really well

because atlee is a bitch

oh honey please, impossible is a walk in the park

benji just wants to wear a mask

id be so nervous walking through those

yes...

personal wellbeing who?

why not bring a plastic bottle full of air?

tom cruise can hold his breath for 6 minutes and he learned to do so for that scene

luther big brain

damn cctv

why did they need to break in while benji was going in?

das sus but ok

also isnt et voila french?

she just randomly tapping the ipad

benji being stressed

if he missed the exact center

i want one of those to open my locker's lock

if he just went with the current and didnt try to force his way against the water ilsa wouldn't have had to save him

imagine if he put the wrong one in-

she is breathing heavily to over saturate her body with oxygen so she can hold her breath longer

see ilsa makes it out without well and she went with the current

BENJI'S OUTFIT YESSS :))))))

no you didn't

you gave her a false sense of security

ethan's confused face for the next like 10 mins is great

liar

why does that one man look like sean ambrose?

parkour

skdjdksjdjdkfjs

the facial acting in this

STAIRS STAIRS STAIRS

the glare yesss

vrrrm vrrm

hey its you !

drivin like a grandma

shit !

benji just screaming

im convinced that ethan is indestructible

no you didn't survive that

bonk

dskfh

ethan didnt just-

also why didnt benji just tell ethan he made a copy ???

dont shoot and drive kids

high speed motorcycle chase with no helmet or leather. tom cruise, how?

i wanna learn how to drive a motorcycle

HOW THE FUCK IS HE NOT DEAD YET ?!?!

the lighting

ofc brandt would be the person why sits backwards on a chair. fkn bi vibes

benji to the rescue

fuck off atlee

i am so proud of us ...

the lines are done so well here

benji lookin like how i look when my parents argue

YES THIS SCENE

LANE LANE LANE LANE LANE

im too fucking gay for this movie-

once again no personal space

*inhales* :))))))))))))))

ive like memorized the entire script of this including the music

1 man performance of m:i5 ???

benji's outfit

also i love how youre able to see the characters in the background. props for the attention to detail

i need that haircut because his hair is lookin A+

fuck you atlee

ilsa spitting straight facts

uhh ilsa he still loves julia

NO BENJI NOOOO

EW FUCK OFF JANIK NO ONE LIKES YOU

speak of the devil-

betrayal--

WOULDNT YOU LIKE TO KNOW WEATHER BOY !??

actin sus

BENJI LANE BENJI LANE

his posture shdhskhsj (i cant be talking though)

0 personal space whatsoever

why does everyone have the same haircut in this???

simon mcburney pretending to be hunt prentending to be atlee

manipulation !?

the syndicate you say ? i know a thing or two about them 😼😼😼

damn though renner delivers these lines really well

a black tie? how informal. ..

complimenting hunt right infront of him

but he really didnt

i never realized that they were on the clock for this

huh...

the lil head nod though-

HAHA YEAH FUCK YOU ATLEE

is it bad that i hate atlee more than i hate lane?

ethan big smart wrinkle brain

janik just reading a fucking magazine

ethan has a photographic memory

oh look its benji :)))

lane :))))

ethan being tough

it must be aquward to get the low angle shots

lane is running out the clock to put pressure on ethan hmmm big brain

it isnt working though :\

damn he so cocky that hes telling the villain his plan

ill give you 1/5 of the money you wanted to get my bf back

ok but like does tom cruise just not age?

kill the woman

ugh i hate janik

the trust that is shown between those two is great

yes the score and the chase are so great

also this man really hates windows for some reason

fuck off janik

sneaky sneaky

EYY ITS LANE !!!

yeyy janik is dead

once again dodging bullets and hating glass

couldve killed him but needed him alive

the glass box

badass ethan

all the pretty men assembled

lane really let himself go aster this

dang though lane is my favorite villain ever

i like how for once the girl and the guy just are friends instead of romantically involved

eyy the callbacks to how the movie started.

welcome to the imf