#which considering the everything: yeAH I GUESS IT MAKES SENSE HUH

[baekuras]

Started AFK Arena, got Eugene as my first Legendary, liked his design but was worried I might not like his story bc I haven't yet read many of them and it didn't seem like a story/event heavy game, finally gave in 3 days later Anyhow order of operations: -love it, joke around why there isn't a series about it -no there actually is a comic and other ones too -read them all -actually go back to read Gavus and the kids stories as well -learn you basically JUST missed all them being introduced like 4 months ago -hide your pain by consuming everything NOW -it's 7 am i haven't slept since yesterday where am i

[quitealotofsodapop]

because this ask brought the Jttw Stone Egged Au (+the Post au) to the front of my brain;

I suggest an... interesting encounter the Pilgrims can have on their Journey while in the Country of Jisai. Macaque was in the middle of baby-carrying duty (a task he accepted wholeheartedly) when he encountered a stranger with odd words to say;

Stranger: "Nüwa blesses you." Macaque, surprised: "Oh! Thanks..." Stranger: "Do they have a name yet?" Macaque, focuses on the baby in his arms: "Yeah, we've been considering Xiaotian. Our Little Heaven." Stranger: "Beautiful." Macaque, cheeky smile: "I credit my mate though. I probably would have called them"Macaque's Kid" or something. I'm terrible for names." Stranger, chuckling: "He certainly has far to go to fit his title! It will take him a long time to be recognised with the renown such a name begets." Macaque, amused: "Oh, let me guess, you're some kind of fortune-teller?" Stranger: "In a way. I can sense when certain actions affect the future." Macaque, interested: "Huh. I have a similar ability, though it's not very reliable. I need the wind to pass by my ears and block out everything else to get something tangible." Stranger: "I know. Your title is Six Eared Macaque for a reason." Macaque, suspicious: "So you know who I am..." Stranger: "I do not wish any harm. I only wish to see the little one who's altered so much of the future. Even I was taken aback by what was changed..." Macaque, cautious: "You can look at them. But if he makes a single chirp, you're history." Stranger, carefully peers past the sling: "I understand. He's too precious. Your lives are enriched tenfold by his presence. Which is why I was surprised to see him born so early this time." Macaque: "This time? Do you mean-" Wukong:, some distance away "Moon! Master found a place for us to stay for the night! Time to regroup!" Stranger: "That's my cue to leave. I don't need the sight of the chaos to tell me that Mama isn't keen on well-wishers at the moment. Take care of that child, Liu'er Mihou. And take care of Sun Wukong. They're the only reason you breath at this moment." Macaque: "Wait! What do you mean-!" Stranger: (*transforms into a green bird and flies away*) Wukong, catches up: "Who was that Mihou?" Macaque, holds out baby for Wukong: "I dunno. Some demon with fortune-telling abilities wanting to see the cub. Says he has far to go in the future." Wukong, taking the baby into his arms: "Hopefully not a future as as eventful as our pasts. How's my little apricot doing?" Xiaotian: (*lazily yawns, having slept through the whole encounter. Reaches out chubby little hands to his parent.*) Macaque, smiling fondly: "Nah. Nothing big. Xiaotian is going to have a childhood we never got. A normal one." Wukong, sly smile as he cuddles the baby: "Oh, is it Xiaotian now?" Macaque: (*blushes as he realises*) Wukong: "Did you finally come around to my naming suggestion? Or did the fortune-teller say you would?" Macaque, still sheepish: "Whatever, sunshine."

A certain green bird would appear from time to time after this encounter. Mostly watching from afar to make sure that the little family stayed safe and out of harm's way. Macaque and Wukong were always suspicious of the creature, but it soon left without much explanation.

Xiangliu is happy that Xiaotian managed to find another way to be born before his time. Hopefully he'll have more time to prepare for what is to come...

[letstalkaboutshtufff]

In another life pt 2

Pairing: Satoru Gojo x Reader

Summary: A visit to Nanami and trip down memory lane

Warnings: Language and suggestive themes but only a bit lol

Part 3

****************************************************

A/N: was so overwhelmed by the amount of love I received for part one!! Thank you all so much for the support😭🩵

“This is definitely a first” Nanamis gaze travelled up and down your body.

You shuffled uncomfortably from your place on the couch. Gojo stood leaning on the wall behind you.

“Yeah I’ve been hearing that a lot today..” you sighed.

“Hmm, well from what I know. This curse has been known to travel through dimensions, which is why he’s been so hard to catch in the past. He disappeared several years ago after somehow escaping from a seal. Looks like he ended up in your universe.”

“That makes sense, it was only a couple years ago he appeared and Satoru subdued him. A couple months ago he told me he found some weird residual energy on the seal but otherwise everything was ok… I guess the theory of the spy was correct but…” you brought a hand to your chin.

“Go on” he encouraged.

“We placed three seals on them. There’s no way an amateur broke through them… I wonder if he has any clue on who it could be...”

BZZT BZZT BZZT

“Another call?” Gojo tilted his head forward.

You picked up the phone and read “Weird Bangs” well speak of the devil!

“Nope just a text.”

-Hey you ok? Satoru just told me what happened. Don’t worry, we’re investigating as we speak. We’ll have you home in no time.

You smiled warmly and replied,

-Thanks Sugu, I have complete faith in you two. And don’t worry I’m ok.

“Anything important?”

“Not really, Sugu was just checking in. By the way, is he on a mission or something? I haven’t sensed your version of him yet. Unless you don’t have a version of him which would be honestly so weird since I swear you two are like your own couple..”

Little did you know the room had gone from warm to freezing cold.

“What did you just say…”

“Huh?” You tensed seeing the mood was a bit off now.

“Wait…don’t tell me he’s…dead?” Instant dread washed over you.

“No..he’s very much alive…” (excuse me while I change the timeline a little)

“Then what’s-“ you tilted your head.

“Nanami, what can you tell us about the curse transporting other people?”

You blinked at his sudden change in topic.

“Honestly nothing.” Your shoulders slumped.

“Really?”

“Yes but I promise I’ll do everything in my power to ensure you get home safely”.

“Thanks Nanami…” you tried not to feel to sad, after all you had so many people working hard to figure it out.

“Well it’s getting late, why don’t we continue this tommorow, Nanami you’ll reach out if you find anything yeah?”

He nodded, “I’ll dig into some of the old archives, and let you know what I find.”

“Thank you Nanami” you smiled and followed gojo out of the room.

“So what now?” The sun had set and you realized that for the first time in years you were not going to sleep in your own bed, cuddled next to your husband.

“Well… I could take you to one of the spare dorms here but considering the curse is still out there I think it’s best if you stick with me”

“So back to your place?” Haha that takes you back.

“That ok with you?”

“Mhmm” not like I’m used to anything else but being with you…

“Ok then, hang on” he touched your shoulder and suddenly you were transported to a place that smelled like fresh linen and his cologne.

“Oh wow this takes me back” you flicked on the light and took in the old place.

Gojo raised a brow that you seemed to know your way around.

“I take it you’ve been here before?”

You nodded fondly while taking in the place once again, “yeah, we spent so much time here back while we were dating…I lived in a really crappy apartment that you had to bend down in.” You laugh at the memory.

You turn to look out the floorlength window and promptly scream.

“AHH is that me!?!? Have I looked like this all day!?!” You could barely see your skin it was covered in dirt and grime from the previous fight and your hair was basically inviting birds to make it their home.

“I need to shower…” ah crap I didn’t think to stop and get clothes.

“I’ll find you some clothes… the shower is over the-“ but you were already beelining towards the bathroom eagerly to wash the filth off of you.

“Right you already know… so weird” he crossed his arms.

The second the steaming water hit your body you sighed in relief. It took a good 15 minutes for the water to run clear.

Using his body wash sure took you back to the days you’d sleep over. Those days were some of the best of your life. Watching movies late into the night, eating junk food, making out, falling asleep tangled together…

You shut your eyes before the tears could come.

No, none of that, you had the best and strongest people on the case. You’d be home soon, so let’s think of this as a weird mini vacation.

After your shower you dried yourself off and peeked into the bedroom where the door connected to. Sure enough you found a set of his pjs on the bed.

His shirt engulfed you, looking more like a dress. You thought for a moment to forgo the pants but realized you probably shouldn’t go pantless and underwearless around new Gojo.

Once you were decent you stepped outside into the main living space.

A delicious aroma immediately invaded your senses.

Wait… no fricken way!?

“You cook!?!?”

“Huh?” Gojo paused to look back over his shoulder. “Of course I cook… does your Gojo not?”

“He- he tried once but burnt everything… and anyway I’m home way more so I usually do the cooking..”

“Well I hope you like seafood, I haven’t gone shopping yet so there wasn’t really many options.”

He turned back to the stove to continue stirring.

You sat on one of the counter barstools and watched him in awe.

He even has the towel thrown over his shoulder and everything...

“So tell me about other Gojo. How did you guys meet?”

“Well… actually it’s kind of embarrassing…”

“Oh well now I have to know”

“Well I was jogging by this old elementary school and this curse popped out. It was so cute tho it looked like a super fluffy puppy. And then suddenly you popped in, ready to blast it to smithereens when I jumped in front and defended it….” He paused his stirring and looked over at you again.

“Yeah I know.. it was crazy but the curse really wasn’t that bad. So anyway I picked it up and started running away from you…”

“Pfft seriously?”

“Yeah… you should’ve seen your face haha. I made it about 10 steps before you warped in front of me”

*Flashback*

“Uh listen lady, that thing your holding is very dangerous so it’s best if you-“

“No way!”

“Huh?”

“No way, he’s just a little baby, he hasn’t hurt anyone!” You hugged the curse tight to your body and for some reason the curse seemed… relaxed?

“Lady… it’s a curse.. we can’t exactly just leave it to roam free..”

“Well then….”you thought for a moment..

“I’ll keep it!”

“You’ll keep it…” he repeated to himself in disbelief

“Mhm hm” you nodded.

“Uh…” he watched you snuggle the curse closer and the curse for whatever bizarre reason seemed content.

“It hasn’t hurt anyone has it?”

“Not that I’m aware of..”

“Then it’s settled! I’m keeping him.”

“Uh…”

“Don’t worry, I have some skill in exorcizing curses if anything goes wrong but it won’t will it little cutie?” You rubbed under its chin and it started to purr.

“Ok so you’re serious…uh well here’s my number… in case he decides to turn murdery and you can’t handle him”

You smile and hand him your phone, when he hands it back you glance down and let out a little gasp.

He smirked, you must’ve realized who he was now.

“You have the same screensaver as me! I love that show!!”

Oh

“Haha well it is a good show, even if the heroine sucks.”

“What- what did you just say?! She’s the best one!”

“No way, if you ask me the best friend should be in the spotlight.”

“That snobby bitch? No way” you made a face.

“Snobby? I see it as confidence.”

“You must’ve gotten knocked in the head too many times by a curse..”

“Well it doesn’t really matter, I think she’s gonna take that job in the next episode.”

“Wait you think so? As much as I hate her, she makes the story interesting.”

“Yeah I-“ BZZZT BZZZT BZZZT

“Ah sorry hold on”

You watched him turn and take the call. Looking at him now, even without seeing his eyes you could tell he was good looking.

“Sorry, duty calls. Make sure to call me if…that thing suddenly decides to eat you ok?”

“I will, thanks”

He whooshed away and you looked down at your phone.

Satoru Gojo….

Oh my god

No fucking way…

He had the same name as your favorite book character! What a small world…

“Alright cutie, let’s get you home. I wonder what you eat?”

*End flashback*

“Don’t tell me you still have that thing?”

“That thing has a name and his name is cutie. And to this day he hasn’t hurt a fly! Well actually that’s a lie because he does eat all the bugs around the house.. but other than that he��s harmless. He does chew the furniture though..” awe I hope he’s ok..

“You’re a little strange you know that?”

“You’re one to talk..”

“Hey, you shouldn’t insult the hand that feeds you.”

“You’re right sorry chef” you bowed jokingly then went to grab plates to set the table.

“Oh I hope you don’t mind me touching stuff.” You retracted your hand afraid he might get upset.

“Be my guest.” He waved nonchalantly.

Ten minutes later you were sat across each other.

“Oh lemme grab some drinks” he stood up and disappeared into the kitchen again.

You nodded and began plating your dish and his. His having three times the portion like usual.

Gojo came back and sat down with his mouth slightly open.

You realized your mistake and felt heat rise to your cheeks. “S-sorry it- I did that out of habit. Didn’t mean to make you feel weird..”

“It’s fine it’ll just take some getting used to is all…” he smirked and dug in.

“Thank you for the meal.” You twirled your fork around the shrimp and pasta and took a bite.

Oh

Oh

Oh hell no

“Something wrong?”

“Satoru this is amazing… like really really amazing”

“Glad you like it”

“No but seriously this is so good…Why can’t my version do this??”

You took another bite and swooned, maybe you’d leave your version for this one…

BZZT BZZT BZZT

“Oh it’s you! Well other you..”

“Satoru?”

“Hey babe you doing alright?”

“Yeah, I’m alright… we met with Nanami earlier, he said he’s going to do some more research and let us know if he finds anything..”

“Same here, Suguru and I are tracking the curse down but it’ll take a little bit of time, he’s a slippery one that’s for sure”

“Mm, sorry for putting everyone through this trouble…”

“Don’t worry, I have plenty of ways you can make it up to me later”

“Ah geez I need to stop putting you on speaker..”

“You’re not alone? It’s pretty late..”

“Yeah well other you thought it would be best to keep me close for safety reasons. I’m here at the old penthouse actually.”

“….”

“Toru?”

“You’re with other me?”

You blinked. “Uh yes?“

“Hey other me!”

You tilt the phone closer to this Gojo so he can hear better.

“Uh yes?”

“I know it’s tempting but no canoodling my girl alright?”

“S-satoru!”

“Not even a little touch, I mean it.”

“Satoru what are you talking about?! I just met the guy!”

“And? Do you remember how I was back then?”

“Well...” yeah a manwhore..

“Oh yeah and another word of advice, no girls over to the place. She gets suuuuuuper jealous, one time she even told our pet to attack and-“

“I did not! That was-!-you know that was an accident!”

“Mhmm sure”

“You know cutie feeds off my feelings, I didn’t tell him to bite her arm!”

“Of course sweetheart of course..”

“You- what about that time you hijacked my date!”

“That was purely coincidental, I was in the area.”

“Sure you were…”

“Anywhoooooo, did you take your meds?”

“Y-yeah”

“Liar”

“Hey make sure she gets those pills, she’ll faint without them and I don’t need her falling into anyone else’s arms”

“S-satoru good night already, I’ll talk to you later…”

“Alright sorry, you know I worry. Night baby, don’t feel too lonely without me”

*click*

“Ugh annoying jerk” you words didn’t match your soft tone.

Gojo leaned back in his chair and scanned your form.

Did he? Did a version of him really fall in love and settle down. You were certainly beautiful but he’d been with a lot of beautiful women.. did your strength draw his attention? He supposed he hasn’t seen you fight yet, maybe he would fix that soon..

“Oh uh sorry you had to hear all that again, I hope it’s not too weird”

“Well I’m not gonna lie and say it’s normal but..”

You smiled and brought another forkful to your mouth.

“Thank you for everything, really… you don’t even know me and you’re doing all this..”

“Well hey don’t worry about it, any alter ego/universe me’s wife is a friend of mine”

“Heh thanks” glad to know all Gojos humor are the same across universes.

After dinner you helped clean up and were lounging on the couch while Gojo went to shower.

He wouldn’t mind if you turned on the tv right?

So far this Gojo was 99.8 percent a carbon copy of yours so no he wouldn’t mind.. plus tonight the new episode of “Wishing I was yours” was airing and you couldn’t miss it..

And that’s how Gojo found you 20 minutes later, arms wrapped around your knees cuddling a pillow, tearful eyes glued to the TV screen.

‘No! No you can’t leave me. You can’t give up after everything we’ve been through’

‘Forgive me my love, you’ll have to continue this journey without me…’

‘No! I need you!!’

‘I’m only going to put you in danger… it has to be this way… I’m sorry’

‘Noooooooooooooooo!’

How can she watch this crap…

Gojo made his presence known and stepped in front of the couch.

“Oh hey, I-i hope it was ok that I- ah no don’t go!!” Your focus was quickly redirected back to the gripping scene. You groaned when the credits rolled.

“Dammit you were right about the ending…now I have to do that thing… ugh” you mumbled into the pillow.

Gojo couldn’t help but be curious what that thing was but stayed quiet.

“Don’t tell me that I actually watch this kind of stuff?”

He sat on the other end of the couch watching as you paused the tv and turned towards him.

“Well not at first but we worked out a deal, every week we watch one of my picks and one of your picks… but ugh you always choose the scariest stuff…”

“Better than unrealistic lovey dovey crap…”

“Unrealistic?? Says the one who spouts the most corniest lines 24/7”

The title screen for another episode started playing and he swiftly grabbed the remote.

“Allow me to show you what true cinema is.”

Uh oh, you had a bad feeling about this..

1 hour later

“Ah no way no way no way” Gojo smirked watching how you hid behind a pillow shaking like a leaf.

“Oh come on, it’s not even the scary part yet…”

“Liar! Ew ew ew I accidentally looked again”

“Human snake vs Octogator is a masterpiece , you’re insulting one of the greatest films of all time!”

“You just chose this because you knew it would scare me!”

“Lady I barely know you, is that something I would do?” He smiled, glowing eyes peeking behind his glasses.

“Yes, that is exactly what you would do..”

Well you sure did seem to know him he was realizing more and more…

After the movie you were basically half asleep so Gojo decided to call it a night.

Sleepily you rose up and followed after Gojo to the hallway. But instead of turning right to the guest room you automatically turned left to his room and bumped into his back.

“Huh”

You froze, eyes shooting up to his.

“A-ah s-sorry!” Embarrassed you darted to the guest room and shut the door.

BZZT BZZT BZZT

Hm?

*NEW MESSAGE*

-Since you’re all alone, use this to tide your appetite over xoxo

*image loading*

“Ah-!”

The heat rose to your cheeks immediately.

(I’ll let you imagine what kind of picture he sent lol)

-Don’t send anything back tho ok? Don’t want the creep next door spying on you and catching a glimpse of my pretty girl~”

-he’s in another room obviously..

-wait he wouldn’t look through the walls with his eyes would he??

-would- did you ever do that??

-ah gotta go baby, the line is bad, nighty night!

-We’re texting idiot, what line?! And answer the question!!

-xoxo 💋

Ugh jerk… you threw the phone on the bed then slowly got in the unfamiliar bed.

You hated sleeping alone… even when he was out on overnight missions you were surrounded by his scent, his clothes, his everything…

You grabbed a pillow and snuggled it for comfort.

“I miss you idiot…”

Part 3

***************************************************

Aaaaaaand that’s chapter 2! What did you guys think about Suguru’s mention hehe. The angst boat is coming y’all, but first came a little fluff before the storm. Please lemme know what you thought! Until next time!

@gojosatorulover7 @goaway-plzz @goldenglow149 @taakt17 @kneesheee @yumii-34 @ritsatoru @generalstephkenobi @author20 @bitchycloudstrawberry @hojoslutoru

[takaraphoenix]

Tutoring and Teasing (Sneak Peek)

(GUESS who is writing her first Steter smut??? So, naturally, I gotta celebrate that by teasing you with the scene leading up to the smut. I present to you, my No Hale Fire AU where Peter raised Malia alone, and Stiles still manages to get dragged into the supernatural and into the Hale Pack. Now, Stiles is trying really hard to seduce Malia's hot dad, while Peter is trying really hard to not get too close to his supposedly underage mate... until he learns that Stiles got held back a year. The full fic will be posted here and on AO3 on August 9th!)

--

“So—o,” Stiles’ eyes wandered over the kitchen and settled on the calendar. “Any plans for Mal’s upcoming birthday? Sweet seventeen. I know it’s sweet sixteen, but I think seventeen can be sweet too. I know what we have planned with her, but well. I always have special plans with my dad too on my birthday, so... Do you have any plans?”

Peter turned to look at the calendar too. Malia’s birthday was circled with a blue heart, two weeks from now. The smallest smile spread over his lips at the thought. A small noise from Stiles drew his attention back to the teen. The look on Stiles’ face was nearly smitten as he stared at Peter.

“I’m taking her camping,” Peter replied, to distract himself. “We’re spending the whole weekend in the mountains, hunting and enjoying the forest, and then I’ll bring her back home in time for her party in the evening that I know you have meticulously planned.”

“Nah, I did moderate planning. Lydia did the meticulous bits,” Stiles grinned. “But that sounds awesome. I didn’t know you guys hunted though.”

Oh, that was too tempting, Peter couldn’t help but flash his blue eyes and grin with sharp fangs. “Of course do we hunt, Stiles. We’re predators.”

The scent of arousal was so sudden and so strong, it made Peter growl. This boy tormented him.

“What about you,” Peter cleared his throat. “I mean, your seventeenth birthday?”

“Tha—at would require a time-machine,” Stiles blinked those pretty doe-eyes at him with a grin.

“Oh,” Peter blinked slowly. “I didn’t realize you were older than Malia.”

“I’m eighteen.”

Peter froze, his fork in his hand, hovering just in front of his mouth. “What.”

Those eyes again, eyelashes batting against pale cheeks as he blinked. “I’m eighteen. Have been for like three months now. I got held back a year when, well, when my mom died. Had just a couple too many panic attacks to keep up my school work and stuff. But hey, that’s how I ended up in the same class as Scotty, which inevitably brought me here, so there’s that.”

“You’re eighteen,” Peter repeated, dragging the word out.

He knew of Claudia Stilinski, of course, but he hadn’t known that Stiles had been held back because of it. As much as Peter wanted to focus on that part, on comforting his mate about his mother’s death, expressing his condolences, all he could focus on was the fact that his mate was legal.

“Uh… huh…?” Stiles looked very confused. “Okay. What am I missing here because I am missing something, you are being super weird right now.”

Peter was out of his chair in a moment and so was Stiles, jumping up startled by Peter’s sudden movement. With the lowest growl did Peter back Stiles up against the counter, until the boy bumped into it. His heart was racing but Peter didn’t smell any fear, only arousal. Again. Damn that boy.

“Three months,” Peter dragged the words out of himself. “I could have had you for three months.”

“What,” Stiles squeaked, so high it hurt Peter’s werewolf ears.

Peter braced himself on either side of Stiles, caging the teen between his arms. He leaned down, finally allowing himself to drag his nose along the length of that tempting, pale neck. A whimper. An actual whimper was what he got. Peter growled again, darker, possessive.

“I know you noticed that I’ve been avoiding you.”

“Y… Yeah. Honestly, I figured I was just making you uncomfortable with my horniness for your… everything… considering that werewolf senses are sharper, so you’ve probably been able to tell from the moment we met,” Stiles looked embarrassed by that. “So, yeah, didn’t take the avoidance personal, because I guess I would avoid someone too if I could smell them get horny for me all the time while I don’t want them but also this is giving me very confusing, different vibes.”

“I wasn’t avoiding you because of that,” Peter huffed out a breathy laugh. “I was avoiding you because of how much I want you, how much I need you. Because you are… were… the underage son of the sheriff and friend of my daughter. But you’re also mine.”

Another whimper, even more delicious than the first. “Wait, what.”

“You’re my mate,” Peter’s voice dropped, softer now, filled with the awe this fact bestowed upon him. “You’re mine. I knew it the moment you lot walked into the Hale House for the first time. And I’ve been avoiding you since then, willing to wait until your graduation, until you’re legal, but… if you’re telling me that you’re eighteen, right now, I will not wait for your graduation.”

“Wait… uhm… with what?”

“To claim what’s mine,” Peter purred pleased, licking a stripe up Stiles’ neck.

“Oh fuck,” Stiles gasped out, grabbing Peter’s arms. “Okay.”

“...Okay?” Peter reluctantly removed his face from Stiles’ neck to look at his mate.

“I mean,” Stiles let go of Peter so he could motion around a little with his hands. “I know about werewolf mates. I am literally friends with the three most insufferable pairs of True Mates in the existence of mates – and yes, I am fully calling it, as soon as Jackson receives the bite and turns into a werewolf, him and Lydia are going to have an epic True Mate realization. I know what True Mates mean for wolves, and I know how it works. It also really explains why I have been so ridiculously drawn to you, I mean, I know I like older guys, but damn you’re doing things to me.”

“I’d love to do things to you,” Peter offered the most wolfish grin.

[sammy8d257]

Did you know that in a recent video Alan made with DJ he confirmed that TSC, Green, Yellow, Red and Blue are around the ages of 10 to 12 years old. He also said that they are just really smart children. I really like that they just young kids, makes their mannerisms and child like behavior make more sense.

Hmmm... okay, I want to preface with saying that I'm happy you find joy in headcanoning the Color Gang to be 10 to 12 year olds. I'm glad you like thinking they're kids.

BUT

I've seen a lot of people use that clip of Alan saying they're 10 to 12 year old kids as canon. And like, frankly, I don't see how it can be.

(Goddamn, this is long as hell. Click on the "Keep Reading" if you want to see my entire rant but

TLDR;

It's fine if you see the Color Gang as kids in the range of 10 - 12, more power to you, but I don't see it as canon because it doesn't make sense to me and I personally can't relate to them. So I see them as young adults. )

First off, I honestly don't trust anything Alan has to say when it comes to what is or is not canon to the videos because Alan has said via his Members discord that there isn't any concrete "lore" for the characters and the world aside from a paragraph of personality traits for the Color Gang. While I myself, am not in the Discord, I have a friend who sometimes talks about stuff in there with me. A lot of the things story and lore things he and the team make up as they go. He will just say stuff without really considering previously establish canon.

(Trust me, I know. I've spent so much brainpower trying to connect the stick figure world together in a cohesive manner, its not even funny anymore aldkglsjsgs /lh)

No knock to Alan and his Team though. I understand that AvA/M is an on-going series with SO MANY videos to keep track of. It'd be hard to keep everything inline with lore if you don't have a dedicated keeper of it. But that's the reason why I take anything Alan says outside of the animations themselves, with a grain of salt.

SECONDLY,

Let's break down this "canon" scene shall we?

Actually, lets start a little bit before the scene, so everyone can get some context:

( https://youtu.be/Oz5mDcDK9I4?t=4668 )

The scene is Purple going off with King, to which DJ says:

DJ, voicing over King: Come on son, let's go

DJ, voicing over Purple: Bye guys! I'm gonna go hangout with my adopted dad. I'm 32.

[Alan and DJ laugh]

Alan: Maybe he is.

DJ: That'd be so weird if you find out all the characters are like in their 30s. [more laughs]

Alan: Yeah even though the internet hasn't been around that long.

DJ: Yeah, that's true. How old are they, like since their creation, I guess?

Alan: Huh, good question. ... 14?

DJ: 15? No...

Alan: Probably like 10, 12, 13,

DJ: Yeah, yeah. Which is cool because I feel like they act around then

[Alan laughs]

Alan: Yeah, they're just very smart children.

[END SCENE]

Just reading this, it looks like Alan confirmed that they're 10-13 year olds right?

Yeah if you ONLY look at this and not take into account the joking and non-serious tone both Alan and DJ had throughout this entire conversation. They like joking around and saying things. That's kinda their whole thing during their reacts. Alan is a more dead-pan but he was definitely making a lighthearted joke or comment playing off of the statement of them being 10.

Actually, lets go look at the question leading up to this.

"How old are they, like since their CREATION, I guess?"

Since their creation. AvA 4 is the video where Second and RYGB were first introduced and can serve as their creation date (assuming we're not taking about lore because while AvA 4 is Second's creation date, I'd argue the Stick Fighters were created prior and would in fact be older). AvA 4 premiered in 2014

Which is almost 10 years ago.

There is a high likelihood that both Alan and DJ were using the upload date of AvA 4 as the Color Gang's "creation date".

And if you want to headcanon a stick figure's age is how many years since their creation date, then more power to you.

To me that makes no sense because then that'd mean King is 2 years old. (AvM Parkour released April, 2021) Which is insane. alskdjglsjglsgd

I much prefer the idea that stick figures are created with an age in mind (baring the born stick figures like Purple).

And yeah, maybe Alan "intended" to make the Color Gang 10-13 year olds, but as I stated above, with how joking Alan and DJ were while discussing it plus Alan's whole thing about making things up as they go, I don't really believe it.

ALSO

Not to get too personal, but I just want to address something that's been bothering me with this whole thing.

The idea that because the Color Gang act childish = being children.

Because the sticks are heavily neurodivergent-coded

And as someone who is also neurodivergent, can act childish, see aspects of themself in these sticks, and is an ADULT.

Saying that people who act like this are children??

FUCKING SUCKS

Now I know, DJ, Alan, and probably even yourself Anon, don't mean any harm when you say the sticks act like children so they must be children.

But there is a LONG history of neurodivergent people getting infantilized because they display more "childish" behaviors like stimming or hyperfixating on specific topics.

So for at least me, someone who headcanons the Stick Figures as young adults, this who "age discourse" feels icky to me.

Plus, I personally can't relate to kids because I myself, am an adult. It's easier for me to relate to characters around my age range.

Listen, this rant is getting too long but here's the long and the short of it

There is nothing wrong with headcanoning the sticks as kids if that's what you want to believe that it's canon,

But it just ain't for me.

[bitterpngs]

...

...

...

… trust, huh?

TL;DR: what i want to highlight with this comic: satoru calling suguru "geto" / suguru crossing satoru's metaphorical line and permanently severing his relationship with him. kenjaku's plan in canon will never come to fruition in this au. what happens after is up to you :)

and yes ik the trust quote is in the context of the other 2nd years! i added it bc it fit, in a way.

this got long sorry lol i started to ramble

LAST NAME - what started this all and what i hope others picked up on was gojo calling geto by his last name, not his first: geto. even after everything geto did during jjk v0, gojo still calls geto 'suguru.' he's still 'suguru' to him. i wanted a scenario in which gojo would reject his first name - reject their past and their relationship. this whole comic idea sprung out of being unsatisfied with geto and gojo's canon relationship. personally, im not the happiest with how things were written in the story and feel like the author could've done some things differently. this isn't to say i don't like or enjoy what the author has written either. i just have mixed feelings.

KENJAKU - in case it wasn't clear, the door closing on page 14 depicts geto with stitches on his forehead - aka kenjaku. what that page is trying to convey is that the moment geto killed yuuta, the future where geto's body is used to box gojo ceased to exist. in this au, kenjaku's plan that we see in the canon timeline would never and will never work. by killing yuuta, geto crossed a line and permanently severed his relationship with gojo. if gojo wins here, gojo will dispose of the body properly. the panel after shows a closed door with the memory of who suguru was. the person who suguru used to be and the best years of gojo's life etc etc. but "broken" bc it's gojo truly realizing that's not who geto is anymore + the whole "severing relationship" thing. does this make sense.

what happens after the comic ends is up to interpretation though

GETO'S PLAN - i didnt focus a lot on the specifics of how this could've happened considering geto's plan changed in this au. how it happened isnt really important, you can come up with whatever you want. what i wanted to focus on, and what i hope people managed to pick up on is the situation itself - geto killing yuuta. sorry yuuta. i'll make it up to you.

i ended it here because it felt the best place, but here's some scrapped dialogue of a few seconds after: GETO: "… It was a necessary sacrifice, Sato-" GOJO: "don't you dare call me that" basically to emphasize the first name vs last name situation

GOJO N GETO - ive always felt uhhh. nitpicky, i guess. about the specifics of everything regarding gojo and geto. ive felt unsatisfied for a variety of reasons, and this was basically an idea that sprung out (a looong time ago) of a want for gojo to be angry at and feel more.. negative emotions, i guess, toward geto. i still do genuinely enjoy their canon relationship a lot tho. i enjoy the way they’re written together and individually, i just have different/multiple feelings about the same thing :)

RIKO AND YUUTA - erm there was a scrapped panel... you can find it on my blog if you're really curious but there was a panel of geto 'remembering' riko's dead body (a distorted memory, because the blood reflects yuuta's injuries). it's not necessarily that riko and yuuta are similar, it's that geto becomes a bit like toji in the end. just like toji, geto tries to kill a young teenager for the sake of his own goals. while toji's was selfish and geto's, in his own eyes, was for the greater good, there's still the similarity of killing a child. of stealing their future for their own goals. plus the fact that gojo killed both of them in a similar way.

TRUST - yeah i know the quote is in the context of the 2nd years fighting geto. still. gojo trusted geto to a large degree, despite everything he did. so. it's going here.

PG 4-6 - geto values and cares about sorcerers so so much. again, he was fine with trying to kill yuuta for his vision and all but i dont think he wouldn't feel some level of. conflicting emotions i guess. (i am very against the idea that geto wasn't... trying to kill yuuta? i don't really get that perspective at all. it'd make all of that meaningless imo. but this isn’t about that.) ok im done.

if you read this entire rambly thing, thank you :D hope you enjoyed!

[iluvshinytwink]

The Night We Met - Jude Bellingham

"Take me back to the night we met."

Synopsis: It's the last year of highschool, someone throws a huge party to celebrate. The music's loud and the lights were achingly bright but you meet him, Jude.

a/n: im a sucker for highschool au its not even funny

Now Playing . . . The Night We Met by Lord Huron

The end of highschool. The end of an era and the start of a new. It felt surreal. You remember the first time you stepped into your class a freshman, your first quiz, your first friends. And now, you were experiencing your last. How long were those years? And why did those years feel so short?

Everyone was happy that everyone was graduating, all of you would start a new chapter of your lives. And while everyone was smiley and happy, you weren't. You didn't know how to start that new chapter. This feeling that you need to basically restart highschool with a new school, new batchmates, new teachers, and new lessons- it scared you.

"Hey!" Your friend snapped her fingers, finally making you slip out of your thoughts. "Class is over. We have to go prepare for the party!" She exclaims with a smile.

Oh right, the party.

A batchmate of yours was gonna go throw a party because it was almost graduation.

You nodded in response.

Luckily, you weren't the only one feeling this sense of uneasyness.

Jude was making his way through the hallways, his eyes glued on the people swarming their lockers as he mindlessly walked. Laughter was heard and the harsh slams of lockers rang through his ears.

After he graduated, he was going to go to Germany because Dortmund had offered him a contract. He was happy, of course he was. But he didn't consider the fact he would have to leave everything behind. His friends, his family. Everything. And it scared him in a way, he didn't want to tell anyone about this feeling.

"Jude! Are you coming to the party?" One of his friends stopped Jude from his mindless walking. His eyes widened and he blinks. "Yeah. What time is it?" He quickly responded. "Uhh.. I think they'll start around 8." His friend smiled at him. The boy nodded and gave a small smile before resuming his walk.

You checked your phone for what felt like the millionth time. 8:19 pm. Your phone read.

You looked around the parking lot and your friend was nowhere to be seen. Above, in the apartment complex you could already hear the music blaring. A sigh escapes your lips and your leg jolts up and down in a nervous panic. Finally, you see your friend jogging towards you. "Jesus Christ." You said, your leg finally stoping its jiggling. "Sorry!" Your friend huffed out.

The music was indeed loud. It roared in your ears and the room was dark and it was only accompanied by led lights which didn't help much.

Your friend hands you a classic red cup with liquor inside it. You stare at the cup, trying to find out what brand of beer or whatever was in your cup. You look up to ask your friend of the contents but alas, she disappears. An uneasy sigh escapes your lips. The only person you knew well was gone. You looked around and see a couch with a vacant spot. You walk over to it.

You plop down the couch. Still looking at the red cup.

Jude looks over to you, his airpods were in.

Jude arrived at the party 20 minutes ago, found the couch and never left. Minutes pass and more people rush in, the room began hurting his ears. Laughter, simultaneous chatter. A friend of his hands him the same red cup.

"What's in it?" Jude asked, examining the cup. "Some cheap beer, I guess. I've had like 5 and I'm still not feeling anything." His friend joked. "Might be beer with water." Jude says, taking a sip. His friend laughs before walking away.

"It's cheap beer. My theory, it's beer with water." He says. You look over to him, the dim lights weren't really helping you. "Huh." You chuckle, taking a sip. "This tastes like iced tea with water." Your nose scrunched, putting the red cup on the table. Jude laughs, and for the first time since he came here, he puts his phone away.

And then it worked just like that. A simple joke bloomed into a conversation. Every passing minute you take a sip of your beer/ice tea concoction and so does he.

Several minutes pass by and the liquid inside the red cup was indeed beer because you felt a little tipsy. You closed your eyes for a few seconds before opening them back again. "Drunk already?" Jude chuckles, taking another sip of his drink. "It fucking reeks in here." You commented.

"Let's get out of here." Jude offered before standing up. Jude offers you his hand and you gladly take it.

The two of you exit the apartment, the loud music finally dying down for just a moment.

Jude trips and fumbles into a wall and you bump into him. You laugh, trying to regain balance.

Jude walks over to the balcony, resting both of his arms on the railing. The wind howls, blowing into his face, sending a feeling of comfort through him. You follow, putting your hands on the cold railing.

The moon glower tonight. It was a bright full moon and it was there for the both of you to admire. Jude looked over to you, your somber eyes stared peacefully at the moon. But somehow, someway he could tell something was on your mind.

"What're you thinking about?" Jude asks softly. You look at him, eyes softening. "Just scared, to go to college." You shrugged your shoulders.

College. He almost forgot about college. With the transfer of him going to Germany to play for Dortmund, he couldn't go to college.

Jude nodded. "I'm scared too." He whispers, his heart aching. You knew about his move to Germany and as much as you felt happy about your batchmate, you also felt sad for him. He was going to leave everything behind, his childhood, everything.

Your body inches closer to his, eyes still on the moon.

The both of your arms collide against each other. Jude looked at you and he felt a sense of comfort washing over him.

You looked at him, eyes slowly meeting his. "You're gonna do great." You whispered with a smile. A smile creeps Jude's lips, a chuckle escaping. "You too." He says, pushing you jokingly.

Jude knew deep down that he was going to have to leave you behind. Even though he'd only properly met you for a few hours, he didn't want to leave you behind. He wanted to help you if you were struggling, and if he couldn't help you the two of you could struggle together.

Even though the two of you have only smiled at each other a few hours ago he wanted to smile with you everyday. He wanted to go on stupid convenience store runs with you with your parents' given allowance. He wanted to stay up with you on call studying but he doesn't study and ends up looking at you through his laptop screen.

But he couldn't.

"Look." You said, pointing at a star. Jude snaps out of his thoughts once more and looks at whatever you were pointing at. "Ha, made you look." You chuckled, putting your finger down. Jude looks at you before laughing. He wanted to stay distracted like this forever.

Jude looked over to you, a monotone expression on his face. His mouth gaped open, his white teeth peeking out. You look back at him, a small smile on your face.

Jude's face starts nearing yours. He wanted to stop in his tracks but he couldn't, his body refused to. Your heartbeat raced. You didn't move, hell you didn't even blink. You held your breath. Whatever that would happen in this night, you'd accept it.

Jude's eyes slowly close as his lips meet yours. It didn't take long for you to kiss him back.

His lips felt soft, plump.

Something rushed through your veins, adrenaline? Fluster? Embarrassment? Whatever it was, you loved the feeling.

A few seconds pass and Jude breaks away. You finally breath. You look at Jude and he has a flustered expression on his face. "I'm sorry." He muttered, a smile on his face. You couldn't see it but he was blushing. Jude felt his ears redden and his entire face felt hot. You couldn't help but chuckle. "You taste like beer." You smiled.

I did this in my bed with no music just the sound of my loud ass aircon and my bitch ass dog snoring. No deadass why he snore like thst. I'm convinced the mf was a pig before he was a dog. NO BEVAUSE MY DOG SOUDJS LIKE HE HAS ASTHMA WHEN HE SNORES LIKE WHAT

SNAHS RHAT LIKE BUTTON SUBSCRIBEZZ FOR MORE BANGERS I DID IN MY BEDROOM BECAUSE I COULDN'T SLEEP ‼️‼️

[turretistrying]

Caged Bird and Chased Mouse

Part 3: The Beginning of the Never Ending Mouse Wheel

A/N: ahahahaha,,, im sorry? But at least im finally reaching the Sabzeru festival bit of this story, im sorry its been a while. The reader’s feeling about the arts is based on my own, because I’m an artist and anyone who demeans any form of art make me angry >:(. Let’s start ig (oh stars this is not gonna be good) Anyway’s send me asks if you want

Warnings: Swearing (fuck and shit)

You head hurts so bad, but at least you’re comfy (small victories).

You open your eyes to see… your bedroom? Oh, yeah, you’re in a pseudo dream so not really, you guess.

‘Wait if im in a dream why the hell do I have a headache?’ You ponder to yourself while siting up from your bed, your body missing the familiar coziness and warmth,

You look around in hopes to see the lil green girl, Nahida she said? You’re not a hundred percent sure, considering how… hazy everything felt in the moment, including the time passage. ‘How long have I been out?’ You wonder, knowing you’ll gain no answers without Nahida. You decide to wander around your room, seeing what you could do here. You walk towards the window, which shows the outside with the bird feeder you had been meaning to refill before being sucked into a nightmare that has been this experience thus far. Grabbing the ledge on the window, you try and open it out of pure curiosity, it takes a struggle you know it didn’t need before only to see..

Black. Everywhere.

You try the door to see if it’s the same situation (it was). Just a never ending darkness stretching on seemingly forever. Deciding that most of the items in your room was useless for really anything in the moment, you walk towards your desk that housed your device for playing Genshin. The wretched thing that condemned you to a nightmare, but you knew it really couldn’t do anything to worsen your situation (God you hoped not). Booting it up just showed your lock screen, so far so good, putting in the password bring you to…

Huh?

Genshin??

You sit there for a solid 5 minutes wondering ‘What the actual hell???’, because thats crazy, somehow more crazy then being stuck in the damn game itself. You snap out of your stupor and decide to click on the screen (which is no longer welcoming you by your email, but your ingame name. Your somewhat glad it wasn’t using your real name) waiting for the loading sequence, but it just skips to opening the giant door. You wait with just a white screen, no elemental symbols in sight. When it finishes you’re not greated by any playable character’s back, but by a spirit??

What?

It looked like you in a sense, it was transparent with a simple robe. You took a look at the icons that the normal attack, elemental skill, and burst was usually located, only to see a button that looked like it was punching (?), one that was touching, and the final one looked like it was… well you couldn’t really tell what it was supposed to be. But you decided against trying any of them out of fear of what might occur. Looking around you realized ‘you’ were right in the middle of Sumeru City, right next to the adventurer’s guild. Walking around was a bit odd, you were very used to hearing the character’s footsteps and clothes moving but this spirit had no noise at all.

You end up at the front of “The Grand Bazaar”, an area you had been meaning to visit before falling into a coma-state. Opening the door and walking down the small hallway led to somewhere that was bustling with festivities! It was so pretty with all the flowers and decorations, you wonder what the occasion is as you continue onwards. Looking at some of the food stalls you really regret not going there, it just looks so good (you bet it smelt delicious). Not paying attention you end up walking the spirit right though someone,

“Brr! Woah, did you just feel that?”

“No?”

“It was a really cold draft, how did you not feel that?”

“There’s no draft in here.”

You just stop to listen,

‘So this character is functionally a ghost? Huh’ You continue through the Grand Bazaar to another entrance, hearing a… familiar voice, one you haven’t heard in forever. Walking through the doors you see,

Lumine and Paimon.

They were talking with a strange looking man with 5 containers in front of him. But all you could think was how were they here. You remembered you left your team in Inazuma before getting sucked in because you set commissions there (you were grinding achievements), in all honesty you wonder where your team is at the moment… you hope they’re okay and don’t hate you. You walk up to the two, deciding to follow them for now, to follow a story you never got to see before getting sucked into this.

“—speaking of tradition, do you want some Yalda Candies? They're a festival staple, and I happen to have some boxes readied here. Take a look and pick whichever one you want.” The odd looking man with a mustache and flower hat offers Lumine and Paimon the mentioned candies

“Whichever one... Don't these boxes all look the same?” Paimon asks with her not at all annoying voice (you’re being totally honest!)

You muse while peering down at the containers with your character, “Yeah, they sorta do. But they do have some different colors!” You speak to yourself in the dream-room, simply speaking aloud.

“?!” Lumine suddenly started to look around them, seemingly startled

‘Wonder what Lumine’s spooked about?? Nothing seems out of place or weird…’

“Haha, this is the fun part. Each box contains a random flavor — it's up to the luck of the draw. Flavors include Lavender Melon, Harra Fruit, Sunsettia...” The flower man continues to talk, seemingly unaware of Lumine’s confusion.

Paimon, the flower man, and a regal looking lady kept talking to each other, but at this point I was focused on Lumine. ‘Maybe she can hear me with this character?’ You move the character to be closer to Lumine, “if you can hear me Lumine, uhm… Pick the 2nd container!”

Lumine immediately pointed to the 2nd container “I pick this one.”. Her sudden interruption made the three others pause.

Flower man cleared his throa, “uhm, A-atten-tion! That's unfortunately Harra Fruit. The Sunsettia candy was in the 4th one”

“Aw man! I thought you only won battles because you had good luck but i guess not” Paimon interjected

“That still sounds good! I’d assume Harra fruit tastes like dragonfruit so that seems like it’d be a good treat!” You say out-loud, then turn your voice to Lumine, “Thanks Lumine, ignore Paimon ahaha. I’m sorry I left you in Inazuma…”

Lumine seems to blush then nod to the direction of where my character was.

You follow the three throughout the day, and we finally arrive to watch the dancer Nilou’s performance. You were pretty excited, never have really seen a dance performance. While you couldn’t see it with your own two eyes in person, at least you could get as close as you could. But it seemed like there was someone yelling at Nilou.

The regal lady (that you learned her name was Dunyarzad) chimed in “I think I just saw the Akademiya's Grand Sage... Why is he here in person?”

The two Akademiya officials kept yelling at Nilou, while Dunyarzad looked like she wanted to step in and stop it. “Lumine, please stop Dunyarzad I don’t thing things will go well if she tried to intervene.” You whisper into Lumine’s ear, having become a bit worried for Dunyarzad since you discovered what she was dealing with.

Lumine listens and convinces Dunyarzad not to confront the Akademiya people. You get closer as a group to hear a bit better, and as you listen to what the Akademiya officials are toting about, it makes your blood boil.

You valued the arts before all this, buying several commissioned pieces, listening to music at any given point, and seen a musical or two. Hearing the Sages (?) demean those arts makes you want to punch them. “Not everything is about knowledge you old idiots! Art is human nature just let her dance, and besides the arts can be used to understand the past, and find more knowledge you fuckers. Be lucky I can’t physically punch you.”

You rant to yourself (maybe a lil to Lumine too, considering she can hear you) angry at what they’re saying. You move your character over to the Sage’s and spam the punch button (it satisfied you to know it was in-fact a punch button and watching the character’s transparent fists phased through the Sages made you deeply happy). While you’re enjoying your non-consequential vengeance, they leave (muttering how cold the Bazaar is) and Paimon and Dunyarzad starts to comfort Nilou while Lumine and you stay back.

Lumine and Paimon return to where they’re staying, you follow. They lay down for sleep and suddenly-

BEEP

The loudest noise you’ve ever heard in your life rings throughout the dream-room, your head feels like it’s about to explode. “FUCK!” Your hands try and block the noise from your ear but it’s too late and you faint from the pain.

You head hurts so bad.

You open your eyes to see… your bedroom? Oh, yeah, you’re in a pseudo dream so not really, you guess.

‘Wait if im in a dream why the hell do I have a headac- wait this feels familar?’ You ponder to yourself while siting up from you bed.

You stand up from your bed and walk (back?) to the desk with your device, opening to the Genshin door again. You click and wonder what the hell that noise was before you fainted (?) was. When it finishes loading, you see the spirit character you remember, with the three buttons, punch, touch, and mystery. You make the character run around, hoping you’ll find Lumine and Paimon. You got lost so many times unfamiliar with the layout of the city, eventually you end up back at the candy stand you first saw Lumine and Paimon. The flower man (you really need to find out his name..) was still there with the candy containers. ‘Wait, shouldn’t he not be here since the Festival was cancelled?’ You wonder to yourself, not realizing that Lumine and Paimon started to walk up.

“Farris, the Knight of Flowers, is another Sabzeruz Festival icon, and one immensely popular with children.” After hearing the newly familiar voice Dunyarzad, you turn the character’s camera behind you to reveal the 3 approaching.

“Haha, it's all thanks to Miss Dunyarzad's sponsorship that the children can meet the Knight of Flowers.” Farris (that doesn’t seem right…) replies, “Oh, do you want some Yalda Candies? I happen to have some boxes readied here. Take a look and pick whichever one you want.”

Your eyes widen, ‘Wait, i remember this! The fourth one has the sunsettia candy, but why is this happening again?’

“Uhh, what's to pick? Don't these boxes all look the same?” Paimon says the same thing she said the first time

You move your character behind Lumine, and your finger hovers over the touch button. You click on it, your character’s hand laches onto her shoulder. “Pick the 4th one Lumine.”

“Ah, excellently chosen! Number four is indeed Sunsettia.” Farris congratulates Lumine on picking the right one.

You follow Lumine and Paimon throughout the day (again?) until you reach the Bazaar again, Nilou’s performance supposed to be underway. But the Sage’s are there and yelling at Nilou, Dunyarzad wants to stop them but Lumine stops her. The Sage’s demean the arts, you ghost punch the sages, and Dunyarzad comforts Nilou.

Lumine and Paimon return to the hotel, they get ready for sleep.

BEEP

“SHIT NOT AGAIN” You scream, again, it still fucking hurt but you don’t faint this time. Your device crashed and everything around you became blurry and glitched and you felt sick. You closed your eyes for just a second, and when you opened them again, you were in bed.

‘Am I in a timeloop?’ You walk to the desk with your device, again. With the idea of a timeloop troubling you.

Genshin boots up.

Loads in as the spirit character.

Punch, touch, mystery.

Flower Knight and candy containers.

“Container 4.”

Sage’s yelling.

“Punch the Sages, Lumine”

Dunyarzad comforts Nilou.

Return to Hotel.

BEEP.

Headspliting noise.

Reset.

______________________________________

Im so sorry this took so long, IM NOT A WRITER. Also do you guys want me to put this on Ao3 I have an account but i’ve never posted a fanfic on it.

Taglist: (if your name is crossed out i couldn’t tag you! :( )

Taglist: @no-name-omo @moosieman12345 @tinandabin @esthelily @d0rmiens-fact0rem @lunalily19 @meerpea @justasleepyboi @lunarianillusion @cumbermovels @allblognamesaretakenlikereally @dulleyeddreamer @ello-its-me-ya-boi @jayastronomicnova @apple-ai @campanula-rotundifolia @kokomisimpppp @the-dumber-scaramouche @aintrovertmortal @i-loveyou013 @mochicurls21 @elernity

[coolstuffiseverywhere]

Revolutionary Girl Utena - S1 E5 "The Sunlit Garden - Finale"

I'm sure if anyone does see this after the previous posts they're annoyed by the wait times. I'm just going to be happy with it being infrequent for now. Still a bit unsure on formatting. If you want to look at the whole thing, everything should be under a tag for "RGU Liveblog"

So, Juri and Miki are fencing before she teases him about his feelings for Anthy and compliments him for his victory, which she attributes to his happiness from his crush. It's then followed by this line, which so far seems to mean that his feelings aren't enough to "win"(ownership, not love, but with his crush being for Anthy and her being The Rose Bride it can only really be ownership at the moment) with his minimal social power and masculinity. It probably makes more sense in retrospect, but that's my read so far.

It seems like Miki more wants the same close connection he had with his sister, a bond over making something, then Anthy or romance. Which I think is similar to what I said last time too. His sister stopped playing because of being forced to play alone with stage fright, but I wonder how close they were after.

I mean, better late then never, but notice that it's "Anthy Himemiya" and not "someone." He's doing this because of a crush, not out of having an issue with the system. Still, at least an ounce of sanity is around here.

A revolution for the world via the smashing of it's shell, which somehow revolves around basically patriarchy+(dueling addition). How is it revolutionary? I guess making things worse is still a revolution.

Oh, yay, I get an answer to my earlier question! They clearly don't get on well, and that seems to be more Miki's fault then her's.

Ah, well, interesting on how his first words are comparing Miki to his sister(who I'd really like the name for considering the points I'm about to make). With the clear implications of this scene, it's

Setting her up as an extension of Miki in this conversation

He clearly did this to get back at Miki for his earlier suggestion

He's using the victimization of Miki's sister(which, sure we barely know her, but she's decidely younger then Touga since she's twins with Miki) via patriarchy as a weapon towards Miki. The same goes for his threat towards Anthy shortly after this. It's objectification. Making oppression a power struggle between oppressor and benefactor(someone who benefits from the oppression but isn't actively aiding it, although Miki was/is actively aiding it as a student council member).

Touga also highlights that Miki wants to have Anthy rather then to be with Anthy, and make her do what he wants. Miki later refuses to 'lose' Anthy, once again ignoring her agency(which, she is too, but unlike Utena he doesn't even ask). Basically, all the men suck.

Yeah, this kinda solidifies my read so far that it's all about ownership rather then love. Miki barely even wants Anthy, just what she represents to him. Although I feel like this might be about another character too, feels like foreshadowing to me.

And his illusion of what Anthy wants is shattered.

Oh, huh, Miki's sister isn't even good at the piano. So yeah, it's about the connection, maybe even more the brief emotion then the bond, rather then anything specific.

That's all for now!

[likelyfox]

Would It Change?

F!Reader x Bae Jinsol

wc: 1.8k

tags: fluff, friends to lovers, first kiss

ao3

You never really considered yourself close to Bae which made sense, she was considered as the popular girl in your school. 

However it wasnt that uncommon for you to always try to somehow get her attention, she is still the popular girl after all so it makes sense…well that's what you thought.

Bae, being the popular girl she is, she never caught on how you tried to talk to her. Maybe just starting a small talk in the hallway would change her mind and actually pay attention but at the same time you thought she wouldn't pay attention to someone like you.

Everything changed in College. With the beginning of the first year of college starting you didn't expect anything apart from you practically only being close to Haewon as she chose the same major as you, wanting to be the supportive friend she was. While waiting for the professor to come in, you were talking to Haewon about anything to fill the time in, that was until someone arrived in the class.

“Hey, Y/n” Haewon said pointing at someone, you quickly looked to be met with Bae. It was a surprise for you as you didn't expect her to be in the same major as you but nonetheless she was.

“Oh” You said

“Go talk to her, you have the chance to get close to her finally” Haewon said

“No. Not yet.” You said

“Why?” Haewon asked

“It's only the first day” You said

“Alright then” Haewon said

Just a couple of days you said to yourself, maybe letting her know that you are in the same major will make Bae notice you, instead it didn't. Haewon knew that if you waited for Bae to notice you would just turn into you, never even getting closer to her.

“Hey Bae” Haewon said

“Oh hey” Bae said

“It appears we are in the same major!” Haewon said in a bright tone

“Yeah I noticed, I guess we are really meant to be!” Bae said

“Maybe we are” Haewon said “Any plans today?”

“Not really” Bae answered “Wanted to hang out?”

“Sort of.” Haewon said “Y/n does”

“Oh. Where is she?” Bae asked and as if on cue you arrived.

“Hey” Bae said

“Hey!” You said

“So I'm the popular girl you couldn't get close to!” Bae teased

“I'm glad i can talk to you now” You said

“Haewon told me you want to hang out” Bae said

“Sort of yeah, are you free tonight?” You asked

“I am” Bae said “When exactly do you want to meet?”

“Whenever you can” You said

“Alright i will text you” Bae said to which you nodded.

This was it, you would finally be able to get closer to Bae, the girl you deemed as a Popular girl a couple years back. Nonetheless you were waiting for Bae to text you. While waiting you were thinking where to even go with her, however at the same time you sort of knew that Bae would have decided and planned everything already.

When the time rolled around she finally texted you the place to meet at. You quickly got ready and went out.

“Hey, i'm glad you ended up coming” Bae said

“I wouldn't say no to you!” You said “So…i sort of didn't plan anything”

“And that's fine because i did” Bae said “Just follow me”

And you did, Bae led you quite far to the point you thought that she might be leading you to a place where anything could happen but after a bit of walking you finally reached a beautiful view of a river, even with the sun that was slowly setting it made the scenery even more beautiful.

“Oh wow…this looks insane” You said

“I know right!?” Bae said with excitement

“Something straight out of a movie” You said

“I thought it would be a nice place to finally establish our friendship” Bae said “Alright, why didn't you come talk to me all these years?”

She asked as you and her sat down on the blanket Bae set down on the ground.

“You seemed hard to talk to” You said “I always saw you the popular girl who doesn't have time for people like me”

“Seriously?” Bae asked to which you nodded “I also wanted to get closer to you”

“You did?” You asked

“Yeah” Bae answered “And i thought you were the popular one”

“Huh. Its weird how we viewed each other” You said

“Yeah, but hey at least we can get closer now!” Bae said

You and Bae continued to talk, Bae mostly talked about her life, dreams and the future and you listened. Bae was easy to open to, funny and smart she knew how to get you open up easily which hadn't happened with anyone else. Even with Haewon, who's your childhood friend didn't make you open up this fast and easily, but with Bae it was a lot easier and safer.

After what felt like hours Bae stood up.

“So. This was a fun night” Bae said

“It really was” You said “So are we friends now?”

“Oh totally” Bae said “We should hang out more”

“Now that I have your number I would love to!” You said

Both of you said your final goodbyes and went to your places. All of this talk left you with a lot of thoughts but the most important one probably was that you and Bae were friends now. Something you deemed impossible just a couple of years ago.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months you started getting closer and closer to Bae. Haewon noticed especially how close you had gotten to Bae and she seriously felt happy as Bae was the person you wanted to be friends with and now that you are, she felt happy for you.

Everything felt awesome and for good reasons. 

You, Bae and Haewon were all walking after a long day at College, Bae and Haewon did the most talking as you just listened occasionally listening and also speaking up but mostly listening. It didn't take long for Bae to arrive at her house.

“It was nice talking to you two” Bae said

“You too” Haewon said

“Oh and another thing” Bae said before giving you a kiss on the cheek “Bye!” She quickly ran off to her house leaving you wondering what just happened. 

It wasn't anything you didn't expect, Bae usually gave you a hug before finally ending the day between you and her but this time? This time it was a lot different.

It wasnt that you and her were alone there, it wasn't, Haewon was also with you and saw the whole scene. She hesitated for a moment before answering but she did speak up to break the awkward silence.

“Well that was interesting” Haewon spoke finally breaking the silence

“Didn't know you two were at that stage already” Haewon said

“We aren't” You said

“Yeah right, then why do you look as if someone dropped a surprise party on you?” Haewon teased

“But why would she do that? She never does it, apart from just jokes but…” You said

“You and Bae are so cute, it hurts sometimes” Haewon said

“How so?” You asked

“Well, you two know that you are finally friends and are really close and she is really talkative with you, she smiles whenever she looks at you or whenever you talk.” Haewon said “And the way she just turned to you, kissed you and ran away? That is definitely something.”

“I guess but it's just out of nowhere, no?” You asked

“Of course it is.” Haewon said “Look, talk it out with Bae tomorrow”

“Yeah. I will.” You said before saying your final goodbyes to Haewon.

And that's what you did, the next day you and Haewon arrived a bit earlier than expected but you didn't care all you wanted and needed was to talk to Bae. After what felt like hours Bae finally arrived.

“You are happier than usual” Haewon said

“I am?” Bae said “I guess I'm just in a good mood today!”

“That's great to hear” Haewon said

"Hey" You said

"I'm sorry about yesterday it was just something i was dared to do" Bae said

"By who?" You asked

"Not a problem now is it?" Bae said before going past you and Haewon to her own friend group. Haewon looked at you for a brief moment before speaking up

“A dare.” Haewon said “Who am I to figure out the thing between you two, right?”

“Did you notice how she-” You said

“Dont worry about it, Y/n” Haewon said “Talk to her later”

The day passed with you distracted, your thoughts frequently drifting back to Bae and the kiss that had set off some sort of an alert of emotions. When the day finally ended, you decided to just go to Bae.

“Hey” You said

“Oh hey!” Bae said “You usually wait for me outside”

“I know, but i want to talk to you” You said, Bae knew what you wanted to talk about.

“Yeah” Bae said “Go on then.”

“Was it really a dare? I just don't understand why you did that…i hope that kiss doesn't ruin our friendship” You said

“It wont, but it was sort of a dare and more of me wanting to kiss you” Bae said “Of course i couldn't kiss you on the lips, but well i hope you understand”

“Do you have feelings for me?” You asked

“Y/n, I do. This friendship made my feelings come back but i don't want to hide them anymore” Bae said 

“This is a lot” You said “I also have feelings for you”

“You do?” Bae asked to which you nodded.

“Is this where we are at now?” You asked

“We are dating. Girlfriends.” Bae said

“Oh my god!” You said excitedly

“Now that that's settled, how about I finally do what I wanted yesterday?” Bae said before pulling you behind the building where usually no one walks. Bae pushed you against the wall of the building before kissing you.

Bae's lips were warm against yours, and the world seemed to blur around you, leaving just the two of you in that hidden spot. The kiss was soft at first, tentative as if she was afraid you might pull away. But when you didn't, when you kissed her back with the same urgency, she deepened it. Her hands rested on your waist, pulling you closer.

When she pulled away, both of you were out of breath. There was a short silence before Bae spoke up.

“What would Haewon think?” Bae asked

“I don't know” You said “But i'm so happy to be with you”

“Me too.”

[carica-ficus]

"Nona the Ninth"

14/07/2024

Reading progress: 274/477 (57%) Read through since last update: 158

Reading this book is such a joy. I keep surprising myself by how easy it is to read. I go through twenty pages without even realizing. it I missed reading such books. I missed being so immersed in a book. Man, it feels good! I decided to share some really CRAZY ideas in this post because my reading diary is meant as a brain dump. Don't take them too seriously. I just like thinking about all the possibilities. (I'm usually wrong, but it's fun to see by how much.)

So, notes:

I was so into these last two chapters that I didn't even remember to comment.

I love how Pyrrha calls Nona all these cutesy nicknames. And how sweet and gentle she is with her.

I audibly gasped when Palamedes needed to confess to Pyrrha that Cam sold her cigarettes. Literally 😮. Only for Pyrrha to take it as a champ. (She obviously took enough shit that day.)

So, blue dot in the sky. Earth or Uranus? Or Neptune? I'm guessing we're on some moon, but not sure which one. Considering they keep talking about how hot it is and that it's almost always day, they should be somewhere near the center of the solar system. Might as well be Venus considering how everything is VERY toxic and they need to wear gas masks outside. (Addition from future me: Bruh, I have no idea.)

Palamedes, my man. 🤝 This is a guy that knows what it's all about. (The nurse thing. I'm dating one, so yeah.)

Been thinking about Harrow and how she ruled on a dead planet and how John promised her new people when she succeeded with her task as a Lyctor. New people. New future. But where do all those bodies come from? So, my random thought of the day is that maybe she got promised some of the bodies transported in the Convoy? Speculating, speculating, I know. But I decided to write this down, so I can reflect on it later. (Future me: Still have no idea what the Convoy is for, but with everything happening, this idea really is a LONG SHOT.)

HAHAHAHAHHAA Palamedes calling Cam a hypocrite. Love it.

I keep forgetting to comment, and a lot's been happening. The "little" meeting Cam, Pyrrha, and Nona had with the Crown and the Comander was insightful, but difficult to follow. I got like? Half of it? But managed to understand the most important things - there's a craft in orbit and they have no idea what it is, there's some background for the first book and Cytherea's mission, then we see Judith and Crown realizes Cam is hiding Palamedes. Marvelous.

Millie? Lol, I'd be mad too. I have no idea why Palamedes didn't react. I certainly would.

Nona's the weapon. Cool. They're growing their own Lyctor. So, the body needs to be a necromancer that ingested the soul of a cavalier? Yeah, whatever, we'll see. My money's on The Body being Nona, but who even knows at this point. (Not me.)

But one thing I am excited for (after I finish Nona) is FINALLY going into the locked tomb tag without the fear of spoilers. Can't wait!

Fuck! That's true. Nona truly is Camilla's age. And Corona's. I keep imagining her younger because she is childlike, but I shouldn't. Granted, I think that's also the point of Muir writing her like that. Nona is constantly babied and talked down to because she doesn't understand the world as the rest of them do. She can't. At least not yet. Anyway, yeah, this sentence reminded me to adjust the way I imagine Nona. She definitely needs to be a little taller in my head. (Even though she is still shorter than Camilla.)

"Beef." 🙄

HAHAHAHAH crying again. Yeah, me too, John.

Yo. What the fuck.

Makes sense because Gideon has taken over Harrow's body, but still. Huh? (At least that's my guess. I don't know)

PYRRHA'S MISSING? NOOOO.

Oh yeah, ok. Are John and Harrow somewhere by the River like how Harrow's dreams were? Also, still guessing at this point, but I've been thinking about this ever since John's chapters started. (Primarily because their location is very surreal, very dreamlike.)

"I've carried you, Warden. And I've carried your memory... I'd rather carry you." AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ok, so... If Hot Sauce didn't know Nona was a Lyctor, what was the secret Nona told her when they were lying next to each other at school?

Okay, wrapping off here because this post got a little long. I'll do my best to finish off this book quickly because I have a trip coming up next week and I won't have the time to read which will make me frustrated because I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. Anyway, I'm really, really loving Nona so far. It's very different and the pace was quite slow, but I love that about Muir's writing. Every book in this series has been a breath of fresh air, something so unique, but familiar at the same time. ❤

[pochipop]

＃DILUC RAGNVINDR !! ♡ — DROWN ME IN YOUR FLAMES - CHAPTER II: TO DINE ON EMBERS.

#. synopsis! — with diluc's plan set in motion, you venture far outside your comfort zone (and far outside your own reality.) as you rekindle the long-lost spark you had with him in your youth, you realize rather quickly that this place is nothing short of disorienting; and as diluc gears up for his first fight, the arrival of some unexpected guests might just throw everything off its already rocky course .

#. characters! — diluc .

#. warnings! — brief mentions of alcohol presence and consumption .

#. word count! — 4.8k .

#. alt accounts! — @ddollipop (nsfw) @yyolkchi (reblog/spam)

#. others! — navigation & masterlist .

#. previous chapter! — here .

#. taglist! — @cafekiri , @sunukissed , @lez-zuha , @crowleyco , @sunlittsu . (if you'd like to be added/removed, contact me through tumblr dms or simply leave a reply under this post!)

As expected, gaining entrance to a so-called “abyssal zone” was no easy task. Diluc handled the formalities (if you could really call them that) over the coming days, —managed to track down where the next zone would be opening, made arrangements for his entrance under the appropriate moniker of “The Phoenix,” and even managed to find time in the evenings to swing by your family’s bakery and give you the day’s rundown. Those times, however, his presence was much less unwelcome, much more expected, and he actually purchased a few items during his loitering; some of which he would nibble on throughout the conversation, and others he would take back to the winery for the staff.

Your father remained mostly stagnant in his health, which was better than getting worse, of course, but far from what you would have wanted. It only made sense his condition wasn’t improving without the proper medicine, but it didn’t make the reality of it any less hurtful to bear witness to.

The door to the quaint shop opened just before closing time, and in stepped Diluc, hands adorned with those same black gloves that fit so snugly around his long fingers, —thick, brilliant hair pulled back and tied just above the nape of his neck. He really had grown up to be incredibly handsome in every sense of the word. Even the way he walked was alluring, head held upright and proud, boots thudding against the floor in a sturdy rhythm.

“Ah, you again,” you joke with him, “guess my baking skills have really turned you into a regular, huh?”

Diluc breaks his typically stoic demeanor to give you a slight smile.

“I suppose so,” he plays along. “That, and we have a long few days ahead of us, as I’m sure you’re well aware.”

Were you ever.

It was hard to sleep last night knowing just what was approaching. You laid in bed, body quivering under the weight of the anxiety, whispering soothing phrases to yourself as if chanting “everything will be fine” to yourself just under your breath would somehow manifest that actuality. All things considered, something was bound to go wrong. What that something was, well, you’d just have to wait and find out, —and that thought made sleep none the easier to come by.

“Yeah,” you acknowledge, a solemn tone lacing through your voice. “I know.”

In the brief silence that follows, there’s a lingering sense of uncertainty that sends ripples of fear through the space between Diluc and yourself. It’s so thick that you’re sure he can feel it too, and you’re left to assume that’s why he continues on so promptly.

“You’ll be fine,” he says, but swiftly corrects himself, “—we’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it.”

You worry it’s a promise he doesn’t quite have the faculties to keep, but choose not to voice your concerns just yet. If nothing else, starting the journey off on the right foot is likely the best you can do for him, and far be it from you to drag him down into this hellish pit of anxiety with you when it really doesn’t seem to be necessary.

“I trust you,” you say instead, giving him a slight nod.

It’s not just for show, either. Funnily enough, trusting Diluc was the easy part. Maybe it’s the influence of having known him so fondly in the past, —or maybe it’s just the way he carries himself as if he’s never faced an obstacle he couldn’t will himself to overcome. Either way, it was a simple endeavor to entrust your safety to him (perhaps a bit foolishly, and for better or worse.)

He doesn’t say it, but the way his eyes soften ever so slightly upon hearing that sentiment tells you everything you need to know. Diluc may be a bit rough around the edges, but there’s a lover buried deep inside that chest of his, —one that cares and yearns and strives like there’ll never be another tomorrow. That’s how he’s always been, and it’s nice to know that some things really haven’t changed since you were close.

“We’re lucky the zone isn’t far off,” he continues, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “We’ll have no trouble reaching the area before sundown if we leave soon.”

Lucky feels like a strong word, but you don’t seek to correct him.

“I’m ready when you are,” you confirm, mustering up the best brave-face you can.

The evening air makes for an uncomfortable walk, but you manage to keep up with Diluc’s long, deliberate strides. It doesn’t take long at all before he halts you in your tracks, opening his coat to pull a set of plain black Fatui masks from the inner pocket. When he hands one over to you, your face twists in a mixture of disgust and confusion, prompting him into an explanation.

“It’s a requirement for entry,” he states, “—trust me, I’m not a fan of it either.”

With a soft sigh, you slip the mask on and Diluc does the same. If nothing else, it looks good on him, you suppose; though that’s a pretty sorry excuse for self-comfort.

“It makes me uneasy knowing that something like this is happening so close to the city,” you comment.

This area of Windrise is so close that you can still see the soaring windmills of Mondstadt just off in the distance. Lingering shreds of sunlight still cling to the horizon, but the ever-darkening atmosphere feels much too fitting for the mood.

“I wish I could say it doesn’t worry me,” he answers despondently, “but I admit, there are nights it keeps me awake.”

You figure that’s part of the reason he hasn’t sought the help of anyone outside of his spy network. That, and he has a notoriously poor relationship with the Knights of Favonius these days, —not that you have any of the specifics on that (nor will you be asking anytime soon.)

“In any case, how exactly do we. . . Enter?” You ask, pushing the other worries to the back of your mind for the time being.

“Well, obviously I've never done it before," he begins, "but as far as I know, there should be a guide arriving soon enough. We just have to wait for them to show up."

"A guide?" You question. "What, is this interdimensional pocket of mimicked Teyvat supposed to be some kind of tourist attraction?"

Diluc let's out a soft snicker, a smile creeping onto his face just below the edge of his mask. If nothing else, it's nice to banter with him like this again. . . It feels natural in a way you hadn't expected, especially after so long.

"It shouldn't be too much longer now. The sun'll be completely set any minute, and once it's gone down, the zone entrance will open up for a bit. Tonight's the last night to gain entrance to this one, from what I hear," he says. 

"How long has this one been open for?" You inquire.

"I got wind of it six days ago, but I'm sure you can tack a few days, give or take, onto that. Most zones stay up for about two weeks their time, —not even a full day in Teyvat's typical timeline. I'm sure there's a range, but we'll know more once we've entered ourselves, so it's best not to make assumptions without proof," Diluc replies.

"How many people do you think will be there?"

"I couldn't say for certain," he shakes his head. "Henley said there was upwards of a hundred in the zone he entered, but I'm sure the number varies for a variety of reasons. At the very least though, it's safe to assume we'll see ten matches across the next two days, —mine included. That's at least two people, fighter and representative, plus who knows how many spectators willing to place bets. . ."

Diluc lets his words trail off, the low whisper of his tone going utterly silent. Through the slits of his mask, you can see his scarlet eyes follow something, —and you swallow the lump that instantly forms in your throat.

"Guide," he mouths to you, and it's then that you realize just how painfully unprepared you'd been this entire time.

It's far too late to turn back, but a part of you wants to run for the hills.

"Hello there," a surprisingly chipper, feminine voice says to the two of you.

Diluc moves to stand at your side, tugging you along by the wrist to turn your attention to a woman with wavy, shoulder-length brown hair, a Fatui mask in a different style than your own covering the top half of her small face. She's dressed in purple with a pair of nice, black dress shoes, and she all but skips along the grass to make your acquaintance.

"Dawn Winery's fighter and representative, I presume?" She inquires, a sickeningly sweet smile stretching across her rather delicate features.

If you'd have met her under any other circumstances, and she'd been void of that mask, you likely would have thought of her positively as a simple optimistic spirit. Here, however, her joyous demeanor unnerves you more than anything else.

"Correct," Diluc answers with an affirmative nod, "I hope we haven't kept anyone waiting too long."

"No, not at all!" She waves her hand dismissively, "—the true show doesn't begin for another few hours. The rest has been the usual mingling of the guests, enjoying the refreshments, things of that nature. Given that it's your first time, I'm sure the both of you will have some exploring of your own to do as well, and I wish you all the fun in doing so!"

You find it increasingly creepy how she speaks as if she's selling you some kind of retreat or an island getaway at a resort in another nation rather than slitting reality open just to send the two of you off to watch people punch each other. Nevertheless, you bow your head in thanks, forcing a smile onto your face that pales in comparison to her own.

"Thank you," Diluc vocalizes for the both of you.

She seems pleased enough with what little chit-chat has gone on thus far, clasping her hands together in front of her chest like an excitable child.

"Well then, I won't hold you up any longer!" She says cheerfully.

It's then that she pulls a pair of daggers from either pocket of her dress, gripping them so tightly that her knuckles lighten in the process. You take a cautious step away out of instinct, heart thundering against your ribcage. If not for the faint, blueish-purple glow of the blades, you might not have been able to spot them so quickly, and the thought of it is anxiety-inducing to say the very least.

"It's okay," Diluc whispers, —and if she happened to catch wind of it, she chose not to react.

The so-called guide raised one hand above her head, but kept the other at waist-position, and with a grunt that seemed to be more for show than anything else, plunged both daggers into something previously unseen. The blades were buried up to the neck, their glow completely stunted, —first by nothingness, and then by some black, oozing substance that you wouldn't have been able to identify even if you'd tried. Face scrunching up in visceral disgust, you fight the urge to take another step back, though the desire to put distance between yourself and whatever that is remains. 

"Sorry," she apologizes, but giggles as she does so like a little girl, "—I always forget to warn people that this part can get a little messy."

A little seems like a grave understatement to you, especially when the pitch black goo begins to seep from the open slits like puss. It churns your stomach just looking at it, and that feeling doubles tenfold the moment she yanks the daggers further along, creating a larger gash that intersects somewhere in the middle. 

"What is that stuff?" You question, fingers nervous curling around the end of Diluc's coat sleeve.

"Not sure," he mumbles under his breath, "some kind of secretion, it seems like, but. . . I really haven't a clue what it's made of."

The woman then proceeds to pull the oozing flaps apart, her daggers falling haphazardly to the grass at her feet. Despite having been buried in the thick of the goo, they're as clean as they were the moment she jabbed them in, but their glow has disappeared and they register as nothing more than typical weapons now. There's little to no struggle at all as she peels the two sides away until a hole more than large enough to climb through has been left in her wake. 

"Don't be nervous," she says, motioning for the both of you to come forward, "just step through! And don't be scared if you experience a little dizziness or nausea at first, it's just your body acclimating to the new surroundings."

Standing outside this weird, gaping hole has already made you dizzy and nauseated all on its own. You really didn't need any artificial help on that front.

"Thank you," Diluc says again.

Before you have the time to utter a single noise, he's walking forward and plunging a fearless leg through the misty entrance of the abyssal zone. He looks back only for you, as if sensing your anxiety before you could put it into words.

"Don't be nervous," the woman repeats herself, "—you're sure to have a good time."

You really don't want to go through with this, but somehow, staying in your everyday reality with her would appear to be a fate much worse. That, and after all the trouble Diluc and his team had gone through to set all of this into motion, you knew the guilt would eat at you much worse than any nausea ever could if you denied him this now when he’d already come this close. Thus, you hold your breath as you step through the blackened slit of the material world as you know it, preemptively reaching out for something to grasp hold of. For a moment, it feels like you’re falling, —like your body has slipped into a state of weightlessness and gravity has relinquished its hold over you.

A soft yelp escapes your lips and you find yourself feeling breathless, even as you meet with solid ground. It’s not so much dizziness or nausea that takes hold of you now, but more of an eerie unease; like your body is in fight or flight mode and you don’t know how to flip that switch off again. A chorus of unfamiliar voices fill the air, speaking words that you don’t quite catch over the reverberation of your thundering heartbeat.

“Y/n?” Diluc says, his softly-spoken call laying waste to the rest of the noise, “—are you okay?”

You look up at him with fear in your eyes, —fear that he wishes he could soothe away somehow.

“. . . Yeah,” you answer after a moment or two, “I’m okay.” 

You really are. Mostly, anyway. All things considered, that could have been exponentially worse, and as far as you can tell, the throes of it have ceased for the time being. The two of you are standing in the exact spot of vacant Windrise through which you’d entered, but darkness has yet to overtake this version. The sun still hangs up in the sky, and the isolation of the area as you knew it just prior has been overridden by a barrage of faces that you don’t recognize at all. You can tell by the various styles of dress that many of those standing around are not from Mondstadt, and it makes you wonder just how far some of them must have traveled to be in attendance today. . . Makes you wonder how they managed to get here without raising suspicion somehow, just considering the sheer numbers they've peaked at.

“There's. . . A lot of people here,” you mutter.

Diluc nods, then motions for you to follow along with him. He all but exudes the kind of calmness you wish you could have under these circumstances as he saunters into the crowd, taking quick glances at those around him. You catch bits and pieces of various conversations in passing along the way.

“Last I heard, they were struggling to pay back the hefty sum they lost in the last fight. . .”

“The drinks they’re serving this go around are much better. . .”

“It’s a shame! He was a good fighter, but poor management of finances can kill even the loftiest of businessmen these days. . .”

You’re quick to tune out. When it comes to discussions of the rich and powerful, you’re hardly one with a stake in the waters. Diluc, on the other hand, you know to be quite affluent, and you’re sure he could hold his own much better in such conversations if the need presented itself.

You make a mental note to ask him about that later. Considering how much these people seem to enjoy chatting amongst themselves, you’re sure a time will come when you’ll have to be part of the conversation, and it would likely be best for you to know the basics of it all if nothing else. Like it or not, you have an image to keep up in this place as the face and subsequent mouthpiece of Dawn Winery. Having to talk the talk and walk the walk simply comes with the territory, and you've gotten yourself wrapped up in all of this quite tightly, so it's only fair that you make appropriate efforts. 

“Where are we going?” You question. 

Knowing Diluc, he has to have some sort of plan. He’s not the type to rush into anything without some form of meticulous planning. Not much has changed about him in that regard, and that makes you happy, though you couldn’t exactly say why. 

“To scope the area,” he replies. “Look just up ahead and tell me what you see.”

Right to work it is then, you suppose. . .

Focusing your gaze ahead, you scan the general area with an inquisitive scrutiny. There’s green grass, a few of Mondstadt’s representative dandelion’s bent in the breeze, —nothing you’d consider to be out of the ordinary. You keep pace with Diluc in spite of his longer legs, searching for anything to hone in on.

“I don’t get it,” you admit. “Is there something in particular I’m supposed to be looking for?”

“Nothing like that,” he answers, “—but you’re being too near-sighted. Take a look at the bigger picture and try again.”

Sometimes, Diluc talks in circles. It’s not for the pleasure of annoying you or making you feel less intelligent, even if it can admittedly have those effects every now and again. He does it in order to encourage your critical thinking and spur you to consider all possibilities whenever the option presents itself. Now, you acknowledge, must be one of those times.

Staring straight ahead now, you squint your eyes off into the distance. . . And that’s when it hits you. The closer you get to the oncoming trees and bushes, the less they seem to be fully there. From back where you’d entered, the general blur of the horizon line wasn’t as visible, and Archons knows how Diluc was able to pick up on it so quickly from so far away. It’s blurry now as you come closer to the edge, like the background of a painting that’s been smudged over time.

Diluc takes your silence as understanding and stops just short of the haze.

“If you watch closely, you can see it ebb and flow like water,” he says.

Indeed, he’s right again, and just the sight of it leaves you feeling a bit seasick.

“What does it mean?” You inquire.

“That these zones likely aren’t as stable as anyone here would like to think,” Diluc replies. “Don’t forget, this place is connected to a realm we know little to nothing about. They’re created by harnessing power even the elemental Archons might not have been able to fully decipher.”

Add that to the list of reasons for you to get out of here as soon as possible.

“That being said, we should go back with the others. It’s best not to draw attention to ourselves, and being outliers like this is sure to do just that if we’re not careful about it.”

“I think it’d also be best to stay away from these spots,” you tell him. “I know it might sound silly, but just being so close to the edge has given me chills. I feel like standing here is inviting something dangerous to happen, and I’m sure we’d both rather avoid that at all costs.”

He hums in acknowledgement.

“Agreed.” 

You're thankful that he's bothered to take your feelings on the matter into consideration. That's a rather low bar, of course, but it happens to mean a lot coming from someone as capable as Diluc. He's experienced in this area to some degree, —possesses knowledge that you likely won't ever be privy to. . . But he's listening. As if he trusts your intuition on this, even when all he has to go on is your word. 

"Do you know how long we'll be here?" You inquire. "A rough estimate, at least?"

"Hard to say now," he replies, sounding somewhat apologetic about it, even when it's clear that you're not upset by his lack of an answer.

The vagueness is something you expected, though you get the feeling that part of it is purposeful on his part. Even if he's allowed you to come this far, perhaps he's still uncertain as to just how much he can trust you. It's understandable, to a degree, but. . . You can't say it doesn't wound you a bit, even if you get it.

"In any case, we have time to burn," Diluc says. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

"I don't think I could stomach anything," you reply honestly.

It's not so much the nausea you were warned about, or even a general sense of sickness. The anxiety of this situation is the real killer here, and it's clawing away at you with maximum fortitude. Try as you might to keep it under wraps, you're sure most of it has been obvious to Diluc from the start, —and you'd be right about that. He's picked up on your unease and has taken the liberty of squashing as much of it as he can to the best of his ability. You're a simple individual in many respects, so taking you away from the crowded areas and giving you a better feel for the situation was strategic on his part. The fact that it aided in his understanding of the abyssal zone was simply a net positive; —the sweet syrup drizzled atop a stack of fluffy pancakes.

"Fair enough," the redhead says, offering you the glimpse of a smile.

He pauses, as if thinking on what to say next, then utters: "Let's grab two glasses for the sake of appearances. We'll find somewhere to stand and observe."

You're quick to agree. From the long, stretching table sat off to the side, Diluc parts with you for just a few moments to snag two glasses of deep-red wine. As he hands you yours, he takes a small sip from his own, then makes a subtle face.

"Not good?" You inquire as a giggle bubbles up from your chest.

He considers this a win. If you're amused, it means he's at least partially succeeding in making you feel safe at his side.

"Not good," he confirms with a shake of his head.

You take his word for it and leave yours untouched.

"Stand beside me," Diluc prompts, though it sounds more like an offer than a command.

His voice is soft when directed at you, like he's trying to temper your nerves in any way he can.

"That man over there," he begins, "the one in complete Fatui garb. Do you recognize him?"

Surprisingly enough, there aren't many actual agents of the Fatui here. You'd spotted a few thus far, but considering just how many longer around Mondstadt City and the surrounding areas, you were almost expecting a full house of them. Instead, you've found that their presence here is minal, as if donning the masks has made everyone in attendance an affiliate. The thought of it is a bit disturbing.

This agent, however, is pleasantly familiar. It's actually quite the relief to see him here.

"That's Henley, isn't it?" You inquire, keeping your voice low and facial expressions to a minimum in order to avoid suspicion. 

Even with this mask on the upper half of your face, you find yourself being rather cautious of what you allow yourself to show so visibly. 

"Correct you are," Diluc replies, taking another unhappy sip of his wine. "And the young woman just over there, with the long, black hair? Her name is Eloise. She's also a member of my network, —albeit much newer than Henley. I say this to assure you that no matter what, there are people looking out for you here."

As if sensing that she's been introduced, Eloise looks over her shoulder, catching Diluc's gaze before letting it flicker over to you. She gives you a quick, warm smile, then returns her attention back to the two young men she'd been chatting with. Even from afar, you can tell that she knows how to control a conversation. It seems the two men before her are practically eating out of her palm, and you find that quite impressive.

"I do trust you, Diluc," you say to him. "If I didn't, I wouldn't have had the nerve to come."

He already understands as much.

"And I trust you," he confirms. "Not just to make the calls during fights, —not just to be Dawn Winery's executive official. . . But with all the information I know about these places, and all that I can tell you about the work I've done from the shadows."

You suspect there's a lot of truth to that, but have to question the extent of it. There's quite a bit you've been left in the dark on, and perhaps that information will come with time, but for right now, you're hard pressed to believe that Diluc has told you everything you should know. Still, you give him a small smile in spite of that.

That smile fades, however, when everyone's chatter goes silent. An air of unease overtakes the entire space, as if sucking the oxygen from everyone's lungs, rendering them utterly speechless. Diluc seems much less afraid than you, but you can tell that his guard is up quite high.

It only takes a moment longer for you to understand what all the proverbial fuss is about. From a swirling, blue-purple, portal-like entryway completely opposite the oozing slit you and Diluc had stumbled in from; a trio of well-dressed individuals emerge. The first of the bunch is a raven haired man with rounded glasses and a deceptive smile. You feel chills creep up your spine from having just seen him, even from afar. The next is a much shorter, stouter, aged man who also dons glasses on his face; but these are pure circles perched along his lengthy nose. Below sits a curled mustache that covers his top lip entirely, and on his head he wears a tall hat adorned with many enrichments.

Lastly, a stoic-faced woman with silvery-white hair that bears a section of much darker strands toward the front moves to the head of the small group, her sharp gaze flickering about her surroundings. Even this miniscule gesture leaves your nerves prickling. She commands so much respect from simply existing in this space that it’s almost unreal. The tension that surrounds everyone can be cut with a knife, and you hold your breath without meaning to.

“W-Who are they?” You stutter.

The wine glass in your hand bears the remnants of your fear, the crystalline glass fogging up as a result of your clammy palm.

These three aren’t wearing masks, their faces in full view. . . Henley steps forward from out of the crowd, and you resist the urge to call out to him to beg him just to fall back in line and play along. You don’t know who these people are, but one thing is for certain: you don’t want to get on their bad sides. The brunet man unsheathes the sword he wears on his hip, stabbing it directly into the dirt between his feet. He falls to a single knee, head bowed in what you can only assume is an expression of respect. The crowd follows in suit, kneeling before the three of them. Diluc pulls you down with him, and you barely manage to keep your wine from spilling all over the grass.

His tone is hushed and urgent, head turning to meet your eyes for no longer than the time it takes to utter a single word in reply.

“Harbingers.”

[mcl4r3n]

dando pre-slash h/c after lando's break up announcement

for @landoisokay <3

-

Daniel wishes he smoked. He doesn’t, has only ever lit a dart a couple of times when he thought he could fit in with the cool kids better, but he hates how it tastes, and considering how much cardio Michael makes him do, it just would be terrible for him overall. 

But sometimes he wishes he did, if only to give him something to do with his hands, if only to give him an excuse to step away from everyone and everything for a few minutes. 

Not that that stops him from pulling away, anyway. It’s an exceptionally cold day in Zandvoort and he’s still dealing with the news breaking about his leaving McLaren. He really doesn’t want to talk to anyone. 

He finds a spot in the paddock that’s blessedly quiet, which is rare considering that it’s media day, but he really can’t be arsed to care right now. He needs to be alone. 

Except when he turns his head to the left, he sees Lando sitting on the ground a bunch of meters away from him, looking as dejected as he feels, which makes no sense. He’d think that Lando would be in the garage or something, probably relishing in the fact that his position as first driver has been solidified. 

Daniel wants to ignore him. Sure, they’ve become better friends over the year, but Lando is still his main competitor. He clenches his jaw. He’s better off not paying him any attention. They haven’t even spoken properly since the news was announced. 

But then Lando sniffles, peering at his phone, and that’s when Daniel’s phone goes off, the notification that Lando’s posted something new in his stories appearing on his screen. Yes, he does have Lando’s notifications on. Sue him. They’re friends. 

So Daniel opens the story up and sees the announcement: I wish her the world and have so much respect for her and all she does as such an amazing and strong women with nothing but kindness. 

Ah, Christ. 

Pls respect our decision and respect our but more Importantly and especially her privacy moving forward. Thank you for your endless support.

Daniel locks his phone. Now he really can’t ignore Lando. 

“Hey,” Daniel calls out, and Lando looks up, then sees Daniel. His expression goes from shocked to shuttered in the span of a few seconds. 

“Hey,” Lando replies, and then fiddles with his phone. The endless pings of notifications seem to cut off immediately. He pockets his phone, and looks away. 

Daniel pushes himself up, makes the short trek to stand next to Lando. 

“Is it okay that I’m here?” Daniel asks.

Lando only sighs, lifts one shoulder up in a shrug, and nods to the spot beside him. He’ll take it. 

Daniel plops down next to him with very little grace, and knocks Lando’s shoulder with his. 

“I’m sorry,” Daniel says. “I just—yeah. I saw.” 

Lando lets out a wet little sob-laugh. “How the hell did you—“

Daniel waves his phone around a little. “Notifs on.” 

“Ah,” Lando says. “That’s—yeah. Didn’t think you would.” 

They sit in silence for a long while because Daniel hasn’t ever been great at comforting people after break ups, especially when he doesn’t know the details in the first place. He just knows that Luisa made Lando happy, and had a chance to meet her a couple of times. 

“D’you—I dunno, d’you wanna talk about it?” 

Lando sighs again. “I don’t wanna—you have enough on your plate. It’s fine. You don’t have to like—pretend or whatever.” 

Daniel nods, figures it’s fair that Lando would think this was pity. 

“To be honest mate, I feel like listening to your shit would give me a chance to stop thinking about my shit, so I’m actually being selfish in asking. But it’s cool too if you’d rather not.” 

Lando’s mouth curls up in a wry little smile. 

“I’m gonna—miss this,” Lando says quietly. 

“Huh?” 

“This whole—you don’t bullshit me,” Lando replies. “Everyone else has been just like—It’s okay, she didn’t deserve you, you didn’t deserve her, all that crap. You’re just. . .  you just wanna know. I appreciate that, I guess.” 

Daniel huffs an exhale through his nose. “That’s me, Mr. I’m Your Therapist For The Next Five Minutes.” 

Lando nods again. He wrings his fingers into a tangle. Daniel sees three spots of raw skin, obviously from where Lando’s bitten through the hangnails. 

“I dunno mate, I thought we were good, but I guess I’m a shit boyfriend or whatever.” 

“This sport eats you alive,” Daniel replies. “It’s hard to like—“ he gestures with his hands. “Juggle everything.”

“I thought it was going okay,” Lando says. “We were both really busy, and I wasn’t—like, I don’t know. Stupid. Like, stupid to get jealous over shit. Stupid to be angry about her not being able to fly out. Stupid to get mad at her for being pissed that I wasn’t giving her enough attention.” 

Daniel is painfully aware of how difficult it actually is trying to maintain a relationship while also just fucking—trying to drive well weekend after weekend. 

“Some people are built for it, and some aren’t, mate, that’s just how it goes.” 

“Yeah,” Lando says. He brings his thumb to his mouth again, dry skin between his teeth, and despite Daniel having the same problem, he still reaches out and takes Lando’s hand and rests it back on Lando’s thigh. 

“Your hands are fucking filthy,” Daniel says. Lando snorts under his breath. His hand is still firm on Lando’s. 

“You’re one to talk,” Lando replies. He uses his other hand to tap on Daniel’s short-as-fuck nails. 

“Well, I’m jobless next year, so I think I get a pass,” Daniel says, nudging him with his shoulder. 

Lando sobers up real quick after that. Crap. 

“I’m sorry—about that—“ 

“Nah, that’s—it’s not on you,” Daniel waves off. “It’s—eh. Just. It’s fine.” 

Lando sighs, moves his hand away in order to rest his weight on both hands behind him. He closes his eyes and tilts his chin up to the sky. Somewhere, a breeze blows through. 

“The fucking pair of us, eh,” Lando says. 

“Yeah.” 

“I didn’t—I don’t want this, you know,” Lando says softly. Daniel looks up to see Lando looking at him, piercing blue-green, wide and shining and sincere. “I—we weren’t great, and you dealt with a lot this year especially, but I thought—I thought you’d have more time. To fix it.” 

Daniel tilts his chin to his chest, the words washing over him. 

“We both lost something thinking we still had time to fix shit,” Daniel replies. “Never know if that’s true or if these things are just meant to happen.” 

“No way to know,” Lando says. 

“Did you know? That the breakup was coming?” Daniel asks. God, he really wishes he had a cigarette or a vape or something to like—just have something to do. Quell the buzz of anxiety that’s coursing through him. 

Lando pulls his lower lip between his teeth, and starts shaking his head, before it turns into a reluctant nod. 

“I gave her the option,” Lando says. “We had a really bad fight and like, we’ve been on the rocks for months now, and we didn’t talk for a while, and I just—I didn’t wanna keep making things harder for us both. So yeah I just—fucking—I asked her if she wanted out and she said yeah. So. Yeah. I didn’t fight it. And now we’re—We’re here.” 

“I’m sorry, mate,” Daniel says. “That blows.” 

“Yeah, I’m sorry too, about—everything, and about you,” Lando replies. 

It’s not quite a heart-to-heart, because how much can they actually talk about their respective hurts stone-cold sober while they’re set to face the fucking media for this weekend’s race. 

But Daniel manages to bring his hand to the back of Lando’s neck and squeeze, and he feels Lando’s tension leave momentarily. 

“It’s gonna be okay, yeah?” Daniel says, willing himself to believe his own words. Neither of them know what the landscape of their tomorrows will look like. He doesn’t know how many fake smiles he has left in him. He doesn’t know where he’ll be next year. Lando doesn’t know how he’s going to move on. 

But at least they have this moment to themselves where they’re just mates sitting next to each other, commiserating their own respective heartaches. 

“Yeah, Danny, it will be, you and me both,” Lando says. He manages a small smile, and it actually reaches his eyes. Daniel hopes that his own looks the same. Lando claps him on the knee. 

“Good talk, okay, sweet,” Daniel says, laughing a little. Lando rolls his eyes, rubs the heel of his hand to his nose. There’s a thin sheen of snot on Lando’s upper lip now from it, but Daniel figures he doesn’t need to point it out. 

They both get up, and Daniel’s ready to make his retreat into hospitality before he feels arms envelop him, arms slung around his neck. His own arms go around Lando immediately, automatic, and Daniel closes his eyes to relish in the solidity of Lando, the firmness of his body, the reality that he’s real and Daniel is real, and for the first time in three weeks, Daniel feels like he belongs in his skin again. 

“Thanks, DR,” Lando says, muffled. “I—yeah. Thank you.” 

Daniel squeezes him harder, and he doesn’t even care if they get papped hugging. It’s been a hell of a time. Shit’s hard. This fucking sport is hard. Dealing with a break up is hard. It’s nice to know that in all of that, he still has this real thing, too. Sure. They’re friends. He isn’t losing Lando by leaving McLaren. This feels like a promise. 

“Anytime, Norris Lando,” Daniel replies with one last squeeze. “Any fuckin’ time, yeah.” 

They pull apart, and Lando’s big hands squeeze his traps one last time before he visibly shakes himself out of it. 

“Christ, let’s get media over and done with,” Lando says. 

“Time to face those cunts,” Daniel replies. They walk back into hospitality together, closer than they normally would, elbows brushing and shoulders bumping. 

[tommyssupercoolblog]

Writing Pattern Tag Game

@bootlegfrank tagged me and @septiccoffeefreak - who shares this post w me because we're writing partners >:3 (frank tagged us indirectly. and then directly because i responded saying i was gonna do it. so in-indirect-diretly(??))

Rules: list the first lines(s) of your last 10 fics and see if there's a pattern. I also said where each one is from in case u don't wanna scroll through our ao3 and do the math urself!!!

all these fics except one r RPF, sooo BE WARNED. i'm putting everything under da cut, and i'm also putting my reblog banner since fanfiction!!! is!!! art!!!

Seán’s about ready to burn his entire calendar.

from "Scheduling Conflicts and How To Cope - A Guide For The Busy Homosexual"

Tommy hates LA with every fiber of his being.

from "City Of Angels"

it's cold, and it hurts.

from "The Part Where it Gets Better (Lads rescue AU)", and also THIS SOUNDS SO WEIRD OUT OF CONTEXT LIKE WHAT'S COLD??? it's water. the water is cold. this is the character based one btw. WE FOUND IT, THE NON-RPF!!!

Tommy inspects Seán’s behelit tattoo carefully, running his thumb over it a little, then kisses it.

I fucking would. kissing all his tattoos right now. mwah. this goddamn MOOD is from "There's No Place Like Home"

Ethan N3st0r was not expecting Seán to still be awake at three AM, even though with jet lag considered, he really fuckin should have.

I censored the name for search but it's not like that in the fic, that's just for tumblr. anyway, from "Three Drabbles In Which Tommy and Seán are bad at Keeping Secrets"

Ethan's the one to bring it up first, on Brain Leak, of all things.

OPENING WITH ETHAN AGAIN LMAOO. this is from "And Suddenly, It Makes Sense."

"So, who would have thought, huh? T0mmy1nn1t and Jacks3pt1c3y3, famous YouTubers, passed away in their sleep on the same night."

censored for tumblr again. from "Count your Soulmates- There's only one."

Seán and Tommy have sleepovers sometimes.

from "kissing practice". very original opening line /sar /lh (also tbh i feel awful about em being evil in this one :( I know its fanfic and i can do whatever I want but like. idk. i'm not accusing em of being mean IRL okay??? OKAY))

Seán spends about fifteen minutes pacing and staring at himself in the mirror, doing breathing exercises his therapist taught him and trying not to rub or scratch his wrists too much.

from "Puppy Love", the closest we've ever gotten to full misce posting on main

They were gluing ducks to a jeep the first time it happened.

FROM "PETNAMES" AND ALSO THE BEST OPENING LINE EVER

INTERPRETATION TIME!!!!

soooo yeah!!! we like to jump right into action as well but I think it's safe to say our autistic ass habits of giving exposition for everything lead to the specific outcome of starting in the middle of a scene, WITH an explanation of the scene. like we're already in the middle of something going on but also sometimes it's exposition at the same time somehow?? or like right after these first lines. idk maybe that's just me????

the way it's usually less (character does this) and more (character does this BECAUSE ____ // character is doing this and FEELING ____) feels like it's trying to give context, to me. but again idk maybe just me

TIME FOR SEÁN'S READING:

@septiccoffeefreak - "What I'm noticing here is more along the lines of just, how we almost always seem to open with a person. Usually by their actual name(s) too and not just a pronoun. I understand what you mean, Tommy, but I don't personally get that vibe? You could totally be right, of course, I just don't pick up on that. I defenitely notice, though, just how many of these are sentences where the literal first word is a name. the two exceptions to that are the pronoun "they" (which is still a person- or two people actually), and then water.

I guess the dialogue could also be considered an exception, but I don't think it counts since it also directly references us as characters.

and that's not something you necessarily have to do. You could open describing scenery or objects, or with dialogue that DOESN'T have the names of the characters in it- you could open with wind through a blade of grass or a character cursing under their breath or someone's cellphone crashing to the pavement or something. So it's definitely an "us" thing, it's a quirk of our writing style and not just normal writing. I don't know if like, we ALWAYS do this, but I do know that in these ten fics you pulled we do. I wouldn't be surprised if we did it like literally all the time as well, but I'm not going to pretend to know every first line we've ever penned to paper. or...print?? I don't fucking know, here, I'm just analyzing sentences on the internet for a tagging project.

Sorry if this ramble is kind of long, I hope it's at least interesting though??? sort of interesting? kind of interesting, in it's own way, hopefully. at least mildly, like a video you didn't turn on but aren't really reaching for the mouse/remote on to change it. You know?? Yeah. Like that. Or more interesting then that, hopefully. Thanks for uh, reading or, whatever, listening if you have a screen reader i guess, I'm getting nervous and it's very obvious because i'm rambling so I'm gonna hand things back off to the birthday boy, Toms. wish Tommo a happy birthday or I swear to fucking god your liver will be missing in the morning and you'll find it at the bottom of your morning cup of coffee."

back to me:

LMAO

wow omg i love my babygirl,,,, that made me laugh >:p

ANYWAYS. i didn't notice that!! oh em gee,,,,, name moment.

YOU SHOULD DO THIS TOO AND SEE IF YOUUUU SEE ANYTHING!!!!!

I'M TAGGING @kalcifers-blog AND.... no one else because all my other mutuals who i know for a fact write have paused as far as i'm aware, bc they're into mcyt RPF like I am and the w1lbvr situation put them on hiatus. and i don't know if any of them are back to feeling up to writing stuff.

I don't write about w1bvr ever and didn't watch him so I wasn't that affected but a lot of people were even if they just watched so like... Kalcie ur alone on here i'm SO SORRIE. ALSO this is /nf so u don't have to if u dont want to :p :3 >:D :000 >:PPPP :000 >:00

[iobakena]

Iobakena's Tattoo Ideas ⁰¹

Had a burst of creativity and needed to do something with it. So here are some colorful ideas for simple, not that unique, tattoos!! Please read everything if you're considering doing one of those designs (doubt it, but still).

01 — Rat Doing The Gay Hand

This lovely little guy is asking if you're gay, do you answer him? Choose wisely and never lie, as he can sense your gayness from afar.

This specific design was, of course, the first one, the predecessor to all those who follow. I really loved the results, he's very expressive and looks so damn tired! Perfect boy.

02 — High Ass Witch Kitty

A wouldn't want a kitty to smoke whatsoever, but a (implied) conscious kitty witch who can make their own decisions in their life? Heck yeah I want them to smoke!

This design came out looking a lot like Kasey Golden's art, especially the tongue! I guess it's difficult to not mimic someone else's art when you have been following their journey for years, and even more when the artist in question helped you through your own art journey. Anyways, what a silly little non-binary kitty. Hope they can get a girlfriend or something.

03 — Frog With High Heels

Frogs have awesome thick legs, you can ask the french about it. Or not, I've never interacted with french people, but they might be chill. So-- Why not rock some high heels to go with said legs? She looks high, you say? No, of course not.

The designing process was a bit tiring but still fun, since I was nineteen percent of the time thinking she looked like Pou. You know, the old mobile game pet alien thingy. She still looks like him, but that doesn't bother me anymore.

Send an Ask!!!

If you want to see more tattoos like those, and you have some wacky ideas I can try, send me an ask and I will gladly do you design!! Or you can just ask me to draw anything that is not related to this tattoo post, I would love to do drawing requests here!

Permission Disclaimer

If you want to tattoo any of these, ask beforehand! But why should I ask you permission, if you're already doing these for tattooing? These designs are not even that original, why should I ask?

Great question! Although I would love to see those working as tattoos, and would be very proud of myself for doing a design so good it needed to be immortalized in someone else's mortal skin, I don't feel comfortable not being credited for it. I will explain.

A lot of posts from Tumblr™ get reposted on all social media, which means that ill-intentioned people might see this. I've seen a lot of bad (as in morals, not talent) tattoo artists that ended up claiming other people's drawings as their own work. I wouldn't like that to happen to me. And some people even treat any drawing, without even knowing the original artist, as a tattoo and do it without asking.

Of course, if you ask me permission I will grant you on the spot, just understand that I have my reasons to put the disclaimer there, on each image. Thank you for reading.

TLDR: Reposts in other socials may cause people to not credit me, and claim my art as their own. I'm protecting my art.

What a big post, huh?

[quietbluejay]

Betrayer 7

this one has the nature of Kharn, best boy, and some of the Night of the Wolves

and now time to ponder the nails and war

tldr:

hmmmmmmmmmm

really love this phrase though "when Kharn hit the shield wall, he was barely Kharn any more"

eeesh also going full Khorne as I said in Angel Exterminatus, you never go full Khorne

this really does sound like Kharn trying to cope except also, the story is genuinely trying to use this to explain how the World Eaters are still around

Argel Tal shows up while Kharn is berserker-ing

Kharn: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN???? so they're fighting the Ultramarines and talking now Argel Tal had problems of his own Kharn gets a call from Syrgalah and sends Argel Tal to help, since he can fly, lol rip the Syrgalah crew they're also fun, I haven't been posting a lot of them, but they're fun normal humans Keeda manages to get herself and her fellow crewman (who is missing an arm now) out of Syrgalah unfortunately the princeps is dead Keeda's got smoke in her eyes. yep. that's what's going on

Keeda has had a rough day another thing ADB is good at is good lines for ending scenes and chapters

we return to Lhorke so they're dealing with approx 90 UItramarines the WE dreadnoughts are called The Wounded

this book really is about brotherhood and betrayal huh so how did this happen? Angron. Angron and the Nails

the War Hounds didn't hate Angron for his choice. They worshipped him for it because it shows him as understanding and feeling brotherhood enough to turn his back on everything for the sake of his people

as you may have guessed lol Lhorke's definition of "good man" differs widely from most peoples Gheer was killed by Angron the first night …interesting at first they saw the nails as a virtue

from what I've seen that wasn't uncommon elsewhere as well the last thing so apparently the Emperor was displeased and he sent two primarchs to talk to Angron lmao thinking about Monarchia here

"lacked Horus" Lhorke isn't a big fan of the Wolves man, is anyone

oh we get to see the meeting of Russ and Angron Lhorke's a big Russ fan oh boy Russ greeted Lhorke first and was like "if you were still Legion master I probably wouldn't need to be here"

lol

Russ' wolves are circling them Angron: I am not your lackey to judge Angron tells him he doesn't have authority over any of them

i love narrative profanity filters, they're fun Russ: you're coming back to Terra with me Russ: your sons will submit to mine Russ: and we're taking all the Nails out like what does he think is going to happen Angron says as much lol Russ replies with a quote that Lorgar wrote that apparently he's been pondering

IM WHEEZING RUSS RUSS WHAT VIRTUES ARE YOU BEQUEATHING RUSS WHAT CORRUPTION ARE YOU OPPOSING Angron tells him his ideals are meaningless yeah if i were angron and i heard this

CITATION NEEDED I'd expect this from Dorn, not Russ yeah like this whole conversation reads way more like Dorn than Russ

i know i know different authors but still

like half of this argument at least? I can see Russ making it

see here's the thing I don't get is Angron has literally nothing to lose he doesn't want to fight for the emperor and yet…?????

like if one fight is as meaningless as any other why does he follow orders then why doesn't he just go completely rogue or slaughter planets that were pacified by a different legion or or or

also he wants to die! no but seriously WHAT fetters does the emperor have on him i want to know both legions tense up

yeah this sounds like Dorn angron: we're the same, I'm just honest about it

another thought which was that like, Angron suffered zero consequences for nearly killing Russ and killing a bunch of Wolves he's got proof he could do whatever he wants!

this is actually what I've found to be one of ADB's flaws, like it works fine in-story as a moment, it's very well done but when you consider the greater context… it reminds me a bit of Barber's writing for Transformers IDW like in the actual story things all make sense for the characters but if you look at the setup that happened prior to that it makes zero sense

this was my main issue with how he wrote Monarchia I didn't really notice anything like this in the Black Legion novels but also they're a lot smaller picture and Khayon's unreliable narrator so it's easy to dismiss stuff (there's one thing but i feel like most people would say I'm nitpicking)

re Monarchia:

the way it's written is very, what's the term, emotionally appealing? but the way it's described as happening makes very little sense, in terms of existing characterization of characters and in terms of just, like, logistics, common sense it's going for spectacle over substance perhaps "emotional appeal" would be a better way of putting it than spectacle

re the characterization issue:

Ultramarines and Guilliman like c'mon man I'm not saying "they would never" lmao but it would be way more organized and detail oriented and they wouldn't have just left all the survivors to die these are the guys who make sure every i is dotted right on the line with a perfectly shaped circle they'd have i dunno stuck them somewhere else or set up work camps or something there was some other stuff that bugged me too but I don't remember it well enough to complain lol

like I think Guilliman's reaction when he's actually meeting Lorgar in that bit was in-character, it's just the overall setup that wasn't anyways, it's the reason I didn't actually read The First Betrayer, it kind of soured me on reading the rest of the book lol

me before reading it: why do people not like ADB and say he thinks [xzy] me after reading this: ah. okay i see where they're coming from it was his first full length book so I'm willing to cut him some slack but it wasn't about something I was super interested in given I got enough to satisfy my Lorgar curiosity from Betrayer, so I gave it a pass