#you know i love a side character

[workingforitallthetime]

drawn arrows unseen

part 11 / previous installments/tags

Two days later, the coaches call them all down for a meeting, or at least all of them who haven’t already had a positive test. They announce that the tournament is canceled. Omicron wins. 

The room rumbles with disappointment and frustration. Next to Mason, Connor’s silent. His expression above his mask is typically impassive. This must be easier on him. He’s got so many more world Js ahead of him. Mason tries to count how many more years Connor will be eligible, but he stops when it starts to get depressing.

This might be Mason’s last shot, but he can’t even be mad about COVID fucking his life up yet again. Distantly, he hates the loss of any opportunity to compete, to win. But he’s holding his entire body tense at Connor’s scent seeping through the edges of his mask — he’s been doing the same thing for weeks now — and he’s wrung-out and exhausted and grateful just to leave, to get away from the terrible flood of want that Connor’s scent threatens to unleash.

He thinks it’ll get easier once he leaves Connor behind. But his flight to Ottawa is excruciating. He’s restless and sweating, tugging at his mask to try to get away from its bleached factory scent. When they land, the only thing that stops him from shouldering his way up the aisle to escape the stifling confines of the plane is the obviousness of the Team Canada gear he’s wearing.

In his billet bedroom, he tips his suitcase onto the floor and unzips it. The scent that wafts out, preserved all the way from their hotel room in Red Deer, brings him to his knees. He stays there like a supplicant at a Samsonite altar and gets a hand on himself, and when his knot swells he curls up on the floor to ride it out with his face in his dirty laundry, waiting for the relief that’s surely going to come when his knot recedes.

The relief doesn’t come. But Mason does. Again and again. After the next knot, he fumbles for his phone and bites down hard on the inside of his cheek to clear his head long enough to send a couple of texts. He tells the trainer from the Petes and his billet parents something about a positive COVID test. Then he locks his door for the next three days. He gets through his first rut alone, just him and his hand and the fading scent from his untouched suitcase.

After he emerges, they tell him he’s getting traded. Hamilton’s a contender. He’s going to have a chance to go for a championship, maybe a Memorial Cup. All Mason feels is relief that he’ll never have to see that billet room again.

“Welcome, brother.” Arber Xhekaj is one of the first guys in Hamilton to greet him, giving Mason a back-thumping hug.

Mason flicks his eyes around the room in a silent question, and Arber claps him on the shoulder and answers loud enough for everyone in the stalls around them to hear. “No, only one alpha on this team.” He gives Mason a wolfish smile. “Two now.”

Mason locks eyes with him and waits for Arber to look away first. Arber smells like cinderblocks, but Mason feels like an avalanche. He wants to fight. With Arber, against Arber, it doesn’t even matter. He wants to hit and take and howl, and that’s what he does all spring. 

He leans into the aggression that’s supposed to come with being an alpha, hunting every puck, winning every board battle, taking whatever he wants. Is he fearless because he’s an alpha, or because he just doesn’t care? There’s nothing for him here except to win, so that’s what he’s going to do. He barrels through everything in his way, straight to an OHL championship and the finals of the Memorial Cup.

After they lose, he gets a text from Kent. i know it fucking sucks, sorry. Mason remembers talking to him after the Frozen Four. Kent gets that going to the NHL doesn’t make up for losing when it counts. They’ve been in touch off and on since the aborted world juniors. Kent shit-talks USA Hockey with Mason and tells him how Luke Hughes keeps saying he wants to be a beta because he has one brother who’s an alpha and one brother who’s an omega (what is the deal with all Trevor’s friends, Mason wonders) and he doesn’t want to deal with all their bullshit.

Mason doesn’t ask Kent about Connor. But sometimes Kent tells him about something that happened in their training group or a sick roller hockey goal he scored off Connor’s feed. Keeping in touch with Kent feels like keeping alive Kent’s theories about Connor, about Connor and Mason. Like cupping that tiny spark in his hands, making space for the possibility, even as Mason keeps telling himself no and he’s sixteen.

In July, he texts Connor hbd, how’s the beard coming? and updates his mental refrain to “He’s seventeen.” Connor reposts another photo from his girlfriend. She looks like she smells like a pink macaron. Mason wonders if Connor’s into that. Then he reminds himself that Connor can’t smell anything yet anyway. He must date whoever he wants.

(next)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bonus 8: How met your mother (CSSR design by @qourmet!)

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[0fps]

JANE DOE ❖ undercover r&b

The big bad daddy who cussed you out every day is gone and yet you still miss him. What are you, a bunch of daddy's boys?

[most-likely-fandom]

✌️✌️.

[divineandmajesticinone]

4 MINUTES (2024) I 1.01 "I'm sorry. My dad wants me to go home now. For dinner."

[blackkatdraws2]

This little NPC is lost. The Narrator [Black] has come to guide her back to where she needs to be. [Blank Scripts AU]

I imagine Black would be a lot more tolerant toward his NPCs since they're basically just the Dungeons spawns, and by extension, his own creations.

[If you're familiar with manhwas / manhuas that features the dungeon / system genre, you'd be able to understand this AU a lot easier. The majority of my inspiration for worldbuilding came from those specific genres.]

[NOTE: 'Dungeon' is just another term for the Parable. Technically, Black owns a Dungeon and the Parable is just a small part of it. The Dungeon itself is much, much larger.]

For context, the comic below references this post about the Dungeon's children/guard dogs.

[They're more like the immune system since all they do is make sure the (body) is safe.]

[The reason the Narrator [Black] considers them his children is that the Dungeon is feeding off his energy and in turn shares the 'nutrients' to the monsters it produces, which transforms them into an image that resembles his power.]

And the old man below is Joseph!

Joseph is NOT AN NPC! He is a person who exists outside of the Dungeon!

[There are two separate 'worlds' for this AU. Inside the Dungeon (where most of the game-like stuff is happening) and the world outside (pretty much their normal world.)]

[There is a secret third world, and that's our world. Our reality.]

These characters are not actually important or anything, I just made them to make the AU feel more lively. To make a world that exists, you know?

When the Narrator [Black] first established himself in their world, he found a growing problem with homelessness. Not understanding human norms or why this has become a problem in the first place, he offers (tricks) them into working for him as janitors for the Dungeon and they accept for the money.

Most of them left after they got paid, but Joseph was one of the people who stayed. He doesn't have anywhere else to go and has no ambitions in life. He just wishes to live a peaceful life with food and a roof over his head.

Joseph defaults to referring to the Narrator [Black] with feminine terms due to his appearance despite his voice. The Narrator [Black] is not the type to care for such terms anyway so he doesn't care how other people refer to him as long as there's respect.

--------------

This post focuses more on the worldbuilding and background aspects of the AU! There are a lot more in store for the Blank Scripts AU, and I want to explore more on how the characters might interact with their surroundings and how this would work to make a world that makes sense.

It would be so cool if people made self-inserts or OCs for my AU actually. I'd love to see how you guys would work with my stuff. Play around with it like a barbie world for your little barbie dolls. Be canon compliant, be canon divergent, who cares, have fun.

[tricoufamily]

did my challenge <3 came up w this story about a hitman who falls in love with his boss's new fiancé and they have an affair

[musubiki]

my best friend is the main character

[thesmokinpossum]

If My Body Could Speak, Blythe Baird | The Godfather, Mario Puzo | My Father's House, Sylvia Fraser | To The Daughter Who Secretly Longs For Her Mother’s Affection, Lynne Shako | Storms from Jupiter, Wanda Deglane | DO NOT REPLY, @filmnoirsbian

[couch-house]

it is with a heavy heart i must announce the fankid-enjoyer has made another fankid 😔 this is comet... ive been playing with him for a while. he's a couple years younger than johnny jr and umm well I'll tell you more about him later. when i post the other pile of drawings i have of him.

[lavendarneverlands]

put 5 songs you listen to, post it, then send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers <333

Thank you so much lovely🫶🫶🫶

Oh goodness this is a hard question because I like way too many songs😂 though I am a huge Swiftie & since I’ve on my TOG binge have been listening to a lot of fan playlists so let’s let my history decide🤣 these have been in a heavy rotation:

“Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” by Taylor Swift

“Red Wine Supernova” by Chappell Roan

“Please Please Please” by Sabrina Carpenter

“Blonde” by Maisie Peters

“Can’t Catch Me Now” by Olivia Rodrigo

@impossibelle @iwantavaldezinator @idfendyr @shadowhunters77 @archerons-elain @cheap-spirits @maevecrom @endlessdaydream @somethingsomewhereanywhere @korepio

p.s. as always, no pressure tags :-) 💕

(Heads up for some tags: this is my main account, the side-blog ur probably used to seeing (as I’m more active) is @acourtofquestions I have a terrible habit of mixing up pages/conversations; so if ur going “who tagged me?” it’s just me lol)

[ronsenburg]

because I’m curious:

I’m primarily interested in your opinion as a reader (please answer the poll from that angle), but if you’re a writer and want to chime in on your experience writing from alternating POVs, that’s cool, too!

This could be alternating every chapter, every book, at seemingly random intervals… however you want to interpret it.

Explain in the tags, please!

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bros before Ho(oh my god is that Hanguang-Jun?)

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[imaybe5tupid]

Why bother? (Why bother?) It's gonna hurt me. (It's gonna hurt me.) It's gonna kill when- (Why bother!) -You desert me! (Gonna hurt me!)

Set after Nightmare. Laios is reminiscing and contemplating.

[shuutingstar]

pjo side characters have to be the funniest shits in the world. like all the campers at camp are all doing their own thing while the main characters go save the world for the hundredth time. I’ve fallen madly in love with every single one of them and all of Rick’s books that showcase just how chaotic and unhinged they are will always be my favourites. it’s sad that they’re background characters because they’ve got the potential to be so much more.

[shakingparadigm]

what is the theory that ivan manipulated the event where till and mizi met the wagyein?

It's not a theory, actually! It's confirmed that Ivan orchestrated the whole event. The true reason as to why however is still unknown. The information provides more context to this scene, though:

During the earlier times of ALNST the most rational explanation for this scene was that Till ran after a flower crown (presumably Mizi's) and Ivan followed him in out of curiosity. Now we know that Ivan was conveniently just standing there because he was waiting.

Side note, I find it heartbreaking (and maybe a little funny, sorry) that Till most likely didn't notice Ivan in this scene. That's just like him, isn't it. Always too busy running after Mizi while Ivan trails behind, an ever-present shadow.

I'm not sure how Ivan manipulated the circumstances for both of them to end up there, but it is confirmed that everything was intentional. What strikes me most is how they describe this particular scene:

I can't copy down what they said word-for-word (Patreon info), but they described Ivan watching "creepily" as Till and Mizi are faced with danger. We know that Ivan was familiar with the Cerberus wagyein beforehand, enough to touch its teeth and even to rest himself inside its maw. To Ivan, the wagyein is not dangerous, but to Till and Mizi, it could be. Ivan prepared the wagyein, led them there, and watched "creepily" from afar as Till fell on his knees, seemingly injured.

The closest I can get to making sense of Ivan's "scheme" is that he wanted to see how other children would react in a dangerous situation. Ivan's always been an observer, after all, and he's learned to survive by copying the more "normal" behaviors of his peers. This situation occured when Ivan was still young and had not yet developed his more charming mask, so perhaps he staged this encounter to study a situational response, to learn and mimic the emotion of fear. And what better subjects for the experiment than two of the most expressive and reactive humans of their batch? It helps that he was already fixated on Till beforehand, too. I think Ivan became irreversibly obssessed after this incident, especially since it's framed as a turning point in Ivan's life, comparing Till to the stars.

This is just my attempt at an interpretation, though. It could very well be for another reason. He most likely chose Till and Mizi specifically for personal reasons, not just for reaction. I'm still not sure on the purpose behind the whole thing.

The team wanted to capture Ivan's "dark emotions" through the shot of his stalking, which could relate to his more sinister intentions. His gaze can be read in a few different ways, though. Curiosity, interest, fear, etc. Maybe that's why they decided to redraw the shot in ROUND 6.

I think this better sells the feeling they were trying to convey.