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marsspeedway · 27 days

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COD HEADCANONS! (1?)

This is translated from Spanish so I'm really sorry if there is a translation error or a word that shouldn't be there!

SIMON RILEY GHOST

His casual outfit is really simple: jeans and a t-shirt or hoodie, his shoes of choice (usually his sneakers or boots) and a leather jacket if it's a more "formal" outing (a date?) or if he feels like dressing up.

Yes yes, balaclava on the base and cloth mask off the base.

Due to his past he has developed a defense mechanism of making jokes to "get over" or lighten his trauma.

After the betrayal of his team and his capture by Robas he basically got used to survive with very little. Therefore: he doesn't eat much, doesn't sleep much and is always in alert mode.

His chuckles are low, deep and feel mocking 99% of the time even though they are not. Instead his real laughter, his guffaws, are LOUD but very very strange to hear.

This man does NOT have a driver's license.

He has constant nightmares and/or night terrors so he tends to sleep very little.

Simon "Ghost" Riley is sleep deprived.

Ghost is the soldier, Simon is the human. So, Ghost is the armor that protects Simon, the tough exterior that protects the sensitive and too fragile interior.

His room is simple, he doesn't have many belongings and the few he has are really valuable for him.

Ok yes, "Ghost collects knives" or "Ghost collects guns" but... Ghost collects lighters.

Bonus if you think he's a smoker.

Bonus X2 if you think he's an EX-Smoker!

Sleeping near Soap, or cuddling him, surprisingly calms him down (considering how much he dislikes and discomforts physical contact).

Soap is like his safe place, then Price follows, but he doesn't get that close to him physically (almost not at all really).

His closeness to Price has been very helpful to him, the man is a great listener and a great advisor and Simon can't thank him enough for always being there when he needs a shoulder to lean on or someone to give him good advice.

Ghost's "Fucking hell..." at the moment of meeting Soap in MW2 is mainly because he didn't expect to meet him again, he didn't expect to see him again after Makarov, let alone have to WORK with him again. It's not that he dislikes him, he just didn't expect the guy to be HIS sergeant instead of Price's.

During "Alone" Ghost tells jokes and talks to help Soap through the bad time, to calm him down and help him move forward but he also does it for himself because damn: just betrayed at the border of a country/city they don't know, with the colonel who received them captured, with a (his) wounded and messed up sergeant who is the only ally he has right now and who in turn is trying to get to him, with mercenaries nipping at their heels... I think the poor guy has a right to be a little bad. Well, Simon is bad because Ghost seems to be hiding it well.

Hairless?

He tends to eat fast, very fast.

JOHN "SOAP" MACTAVISH

He told Price that they should make varsity jackets with the Task Force logo on them...

Guess who has varsity jackets with the Task Force logo on them?

OG!Soap (2009) hates dogs (according to a line of dialogue) but personally I think Reboot!Soap (the current Soap, the one from 2022) likes them quite a bit.

He's a bit (too much) hyperactive.

He tends to gift and buy things for Ghost, little trinkets or things he knows Simon can use. It goes from clothes to some toy he thinks Ghost might like, they are usually toy soldiers, little action figures or legos (or anything that reminds him of Ghost).

Simon keeps them all. Every single one, even if it's a rock or a note that Soap left him or a doodle that Soap gave him.

He's a freaking master with butterfly knife tricks.

No, he doesn't use them to impress Ghost....

Maybe he does...

Ghost pretends the tricks don't impress him but they do.

He gives me Golden Retriever Boyfriend vibes that can send a bomb to your house.

Let's not forget he's a 30 year old man, military, explosives expert who basically operates in an elite task force... I mean, he could easily kill you. But, still, he's got a nice vibe, he's sociable and it's hard to dislike him.

Bookworm! He'll devour a book in a matter of hours and if he likes it enough he'll do an essay or summary.

He's a homebody with a big, big family. And he would love to have his own family with his own little house in the camp.

To pass the time he usually draws and occasionally writes in his journal. That thing is a little bit of everything: drawings, notes, stories, a personal diary, etc. Anything goes in there.

He cuts his mohawk himself and also usually takes care of rookies' hair, or really anyone who asks (nicely).

He can actually do more than cut mohawks or shave heads, his mother knows how to cut hair and he learned how to do it himself.

You want him to braid your hair? Of course, he's the one! He grew up with several sisters, so of course he knows how to braid. Ponytails? Go ahead. A bun? Sure. You ask and he'll know what to do and if he doesn't, he'll find it.

He can cook a little, just enough to get by and not live on instant noodles and take-out.

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fluffansmut-old · 1 year

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In front of the dungeon masters throne.

December 14th- infront of the dungeon masters throne

12 fics of Christmas - masterlist.

Summary: Eddie´s gives you an early christmasgift after hellfire one night.

Content warnings: Smut 18+, Oral, fingering, sextoy use, praise kink, Dom/sub undertones, honorifics (master),teasing, edging, aftercare.

Word count: 3342

Fic is also posted on ao3

Eddie had been scribbling on this little piece of paper for days.

Usually he wanted to tell you all about his campaigns as he created them, but this time the book slammed close as soon as you entered the room.

“Why so secretive?” You asked, as he folded the paper up and sat on it.

“You’ll see sweetheart, soon enough” he murmured in response.

Is this a christmas gift?” you asked, now more interested than ever. “one I might get in advance?”

“ You'll see, soon enough” he just said again.

When your shift ended you put your jacket on and put your hands in the pocket,trying to find your mittens, you found a note.

You knew Eddie had something planned, but not knowing what that something was, made it tingle inside of you with excitement.

Your mind bubbled with excitement as you made your way through town toward the high school and Eddie.

Why the drama room?

What game?

What did he have in mind?

You were a bit early so you snuck in as quietly as you could, hearing your boyfriend in full on dungeon-master-mode telling the group how they indeed had succeeded and slayed the monster.

“You present the head of the beast to the king, forcing him to hold his end of the bargain letting the villagers go, giving them their freedom as the most welcome yuletide gift, all thanks to you” Eddie tells as the party cheers, applauds and high fives.

The room was chatty and buzzing with excitement, and in the middle of it all there was Eddie, on his throne, looking so incredibly proud of this party.

He was gorgeous, in a totally effortless way, his hair was tousled up from moving around, telling the plot with his entire body. The smile was huge, he was always like this after hellfire, it was like the endorphins it gave him all immediately went to his face, making him look so unbelievably happy. His tattooed arms were holding up his body as he leaned over the table, giving fist bumps and high fives to his friends. But in this light they looked different, the way his hand gripped the side of the table made you feel something. That excited tingle that you had felt before came back, as you imagined Eddie's hands, doing other things, elsewhere.

Eddie's smile grew impossibly wider when he saw you enter the room.

“Hello Honey!” he called out, which made you shy, because suddenly a whole bunch of heads turned to face you. You liked Eddie's friends, heck you considered most of them your friends as well but, just in this environment, you felt like the intruder, no matter how welcome they all tried to make you feel.

“Cmere, sweetheart” Eddie said and sat down on his throne properly once again. You made your way over, greeting all the boys like you usually would.

Eddie pulled you onto his lap pretty much as soon as you were within reach.

“Hiya baby” he muttered into your ear as he rested his face on your shoulder.

“I’ve missed you” you said, relaxing into him, grabbing the hand that he had round your middle, fiddling a little with his rings.

“Feeling okay?” he asked, tilting your head towards his. The brown eyes looked at you with so much concern, lust and love that it was almost impossible to meet them and not burst into tears with how incredibly seen you felt.

“Yeah, I am, “ you said, “Just a bit tired from thinking so much, and also I’m a bit um… needy... for you.”

The last part was whispered. You watched as a glimmer of pride showed itself in the soft eyes of Eddie Munson, as he shifted you slightly closer to himself.

“Good girl for expressing how you feel baby” Eddie praised, knowing it was something that you sometimes had a hard time with. “I´ve got plans for us, don´t you worry”

His praise always created this warmth in the pit of your stomach, it was like it blanketed you in this safeness that made you want more of Eddie. You moved your head closer to his, connecting your lips. He was not late to lean into the kiss, the arms that held you in place pulled you closer towards him and his tongue met yours.

That’s when you hear the oh so familiar,

“Cmon guys,” from Mike Wheeler, who watched you, looking slightly disgusted.

“Want something Wheeler?” Eddie said with a grin on his face.

“You wanna get a room or wait til you're home or something?” He asked, hands now on his hips.

“No can do, right here right now works perfectly fine,” Eddie responded, the gleam of mischief in his eyes shining bright. “ or what do you say sweetheart?”

You put your finger to your chin,”thinking” about it.

“It does indeed” you said and started trailing kisses down Eddie’s neck.

“Oh for fucks sake” Mike said with an eye roll.

“I’m not sure why you bother anymore” Dustin said to him, already so used to you and Eddie and the constant PDA.

“Cmon Mike, we better get going, wasn’t Nancy supposed to be here by now?” Will said, him and Lucas already packed up and ready to go.

The younger ones left after Will’s reminder, knowing that Nancy never waited for them for long.

“Hey Eddie?” Gareth said as you decorated Eddie's neck with hickies.

“Yeah?” He replied, not really taking his eyes off you.

“You’re coming to Steve’s party right?” Gareth asked.

“Yeah, aren’t you?”

Gareth scratched the back of his head.

“”Yeah, but we don’t really have a ride.”

“We’ll take you” you said “ I’m driving anyways.”

You knew that Gareth and Jeff was still a little uneasy about the whole Steve-Harrington-actually-being-a-good-person deal, so you and Eddie did your best to make them feel as comfortable as they possibly could.

“Thanks, we appreciate it,” Jeff said as he grabbed his bag.

Gareth was about to say something else, of less importance when Eddie interrupted him with a,

“Gareth, it’s time to go”

The blond boy, looking like he just was smacked up the head for not understanding, was suddenly in a rush.

“We’re going.”

The gang of older students were on their way out when he stuck his head in once again, sing-songing a “haaave fuuun'' before Eddie gave him the finger and he shut the door.

You turned towards Eddie, now slightly panicky.

“Does he know?”

You weren’t sure if you meant what Eddie had planned or about the fact that you were needy for him.

Eddie calmed all your worries instantly.

He propped you up on the table in front of him, right where the DM-screen had been just minutes ago. He stood between your thighs. He had one arm around your waist and one hand tilted your face up to meet this eyes.

“He knows nothing, he might suspect a whole lot but he knows nothing.” Eddie reassured.

“Now baby, do you remember that I told you that there might be a gift in store for you before Christmas?” You nodded. “I’m gonna give it to you, right here, right now.”

As he told you the news, he ran a hand up your inner thigh, coming closer and closer to your core.

“Here?” you asked wide eyed, “Right now?”

“Yes, now I want it to be a surprise, so I´m not gonna explain too much, but this is a no pressure situation, you call safeword and I stop, like usual. You´re here with me and you´re totally safe okay?”

The idea of the sexy secret already had you dripping down your thighs with excitement but you couldn’t really shake the thought of the hellfire club members who were there just mere minutes ago.

“Can we lock the d00r?” You asked looking up at Eddie.

“Of course, If that makes you feel better then we can absolutely do that.” Eddie said. “you wanna do it? I've got something to unpack.”

When you returned to the table Eddie was sitting on his throne again. He stood you infront of him and reached up the dress you had on, hooking his fingers into your panties, pulling them down, leaving you in the dress and the thigh high stockings you had on.

“Won´t be needing these now will we?” he said to you and smirked.

He grabbed you by the waist and helped you onto the table once again, the top of it now feeling a lot colder against your bare ass.

“Now baby, do you remember what my note to you said?” Eddie asked.

You tried your hardest to remember what it had said.

“Something about Hellfire ending and our game beginning?” you said hoping that you remembered correctly.

“Exactly, that's right.” Eddie said, placing a hand on your knee. “Now If this is a game, then who am I, sitting here?”

You knew what he was after, and you would lie if you said that it didn’t make you tingle.

“You’re the master” You said, looking at Eddie, feeling lust fill you up completely.

“That I am, ” Eddie said, smirking at you. “Now can I expect you to behave?”

“Yes master” you said obediently, looking at him, feeling even needier for him than before.

“Thats my good girl.” Eddie praised.

He plucked something from his front pocket, something that you soon recognised as a D20.

“This little thing will decide your fate tonight my lady.” Eddie explained holding it up in front of you. “Now listen carefully, cause I'll only explain it once, this has 20 sides right?”

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes at him, of course you knew that it had 20 sides.

“yes master” you said, urging him to explain further.

“now if you roll this and it lands somewhere between one and four, I´ll finger you.” Eddie explained. Your eyes widened at his words, this game just got interesting.

“If it's between four and eight, I´ll eat you out.” he continued, twirling the dice around in his hands. “Now between eight and twelve it gets interesting, cause then this little thing is brought into play” Edddie said and held up a thinner dildo from your collection.

You felt yourself getting more hot and bothered just at the sight of it, wanting him to use it right now. But at the same time you were filled with anticipation for what was to come next.

“What about 12 to 16?” you asked, and Eddie just smirked as a response.

“Glad you asked baby,” he said, digging around in the bag that he had brought. “ 12 to 16 means this ole´ favourite”

Eddie held up your trusted magic wand vibrator and he chuckled at the gleam that appeared in your eye as you saw it.

“I know you like that one, but this one, which is 16 to 19 if you didn't figure that out yourself, is a new one.” Eddie handed you a wrapped up present.

Inside was a rabbit vibrator.

The sight of it made your stomach drop like when you're on a rollercoaster, all the potential it had was almost overwhelming. You were almost too excited.

“Oh my god Eddie, this, this looks amazing” you said, but then you realised what he had said.

“16 to 19, what about 20?”

“We’ll that my dear is the fun of it, the 20th is the orgasm. If you do not roll a 20 then I’m sorry but you won’t cum tonight.”

Your jaw dropped at his words.

“So you’re really telling me that I might not cum tonight?” You said.

“That’s the game, but hey,” he said, giving the dice a quick kiss before placing it in the palm of your hand. “I have a feeling you’re gonna be lucky tonight, now lay back sweetheart, and roll for me”

The first roll was a 7.

Eddie wasted no time, diving right in. His tongue flicking over your clit repeatedly as his hands held your thighs apart. His grip on your thigh made you wonder if the marks from the rings he wore would be there for days, but the magic he worked with his mouth made it all forgivable.

“fuck baby, you always taste so gooddamn good” he moaned. You resisted the urge to shove his head right back to where it previously had been. You felt the pleasure build inside of you, in the way your toes curled and your hips buckled up against him. Eddie continued to tease you with his tongue until suddenly, he stopped.

The moan that you were about the let out was caught in in your throat, and for the first time since laying back you raised your head and looked at the man inbetween your thighs.

“time for another roll? or what do you think baby?” he asked.

“God yes” you said, desperate for the pleasure that you felt to continue.

Eddies hand came down hard on your inner thigh, making you jump slightly for the surprise.

“Yes who?” he asked, now rubbing forgivingly on the small mark that he left.

“Yes master” you responded.

The next roll was a 14, and you swore that you could have orgasmed from the sound of the vibrator alone.

Eddie flicked it on to a rather low setting, but still you felt the pulsating response it the sound between your thighs.

“Now do you want this, sweetheart?” you asked as Eddie ran vibrator up and down your inner thighs.

“Yes master,” you said, almost panting already.

“Then I would beg a little more for it” he said, gracing it past your clit for half a second before continuing down your thigh again.

“Please, please please Master” you begged, trying to wiggling a little closer to him.

“Please what?” he asked, his eyes glimmering as he watched you grow desperate under his care, he did love to tease. “What do you want baby?”

“The vibrator” you breathed out, almost instantly.

“Yeah baby, I figured, but where sweet thing?” he said, now removing it from your body completely.

You felt a bit embarrassed, having to say it, because obviously he knew goddamn well you wanted it.

“Uhm, I want it.. on my clit master” you breathed out, “please”

“arent you the best girl, doing what your asked” Eddie praised as he pressed the vibrator to your clit.

The vibrations went through you like chockwaves. Everything tensed up and came to life in a different way when you had the vibrator against you.

Eddie watched your every reaction with gleaming eyes, he absolutely adored to watch you come undone before him, all whilst knowing that you felt safe enough with him it let him hold the reins and be in control.

Just as you felt your core tighten from the vibrations, Eddie switched them off, leaving you, panting, whining.

“awh, sorry sweetheart, were you in the middle of something?” Eddie said with a grin plastered across his face.

“urgh yes I was.” you muttered, as you still felt the plusations running through your core, making you clench and move around a little.

“Well well would you look at that,” Eddie said, “my poor babys so worked up that shes clenching round nothing now, roll the dice sweetheart and see if we can do something about that”

The roll was a good one, landing on an 18.

You almost cried tears of joy as Eddie worked the vibrator into you with ease.

“There we go,” He said, looking at how it slid into you with no hiccups what so ever. “Always so good for me, always taking whatever I give you so goddamn well.”

You actually started to leak tears as the rabbit filled your hole whilst at a steady pace graced your clit with its glorious vibrations.

“are you getting close?” Eddie asked as he noticed the tell tale signs, the muscles in your thighs clenching, the moans and whimpers coming from your mouths, the way you clenched around the rabbit, your body automatically trying to draw it in.

“uh, yes master” you moaned.

“Well do you wanna risk trying to roll for orgasm?” Eddie asked, and you didnt think long about it.

“Yes, please”

“Well mannered” Eddie murmured as he put the dice in your outstretched hand.

it landed on a 4. A goddamn 4.

“I´m sorry sweetheart, but my fingers will have to do.” Eddie said, removing the rabbit that had previously been filling you up.

“Ugh, no please” You pleaded.

Eddie cleared his throat and stuck two fingers into you, applying pressure to your g-spot instantly.

“Excuse me, but what was that? Are my hands suddenly not good enough for you, princess?” he asked.

Your breath hitched in your throat, you hadn’t meant to say it.

“No, not at all.” you quickly said. “I’ll take whatever master gives me”

“That´s what I though” Eddie said, and continued to work his hands on you, one hand sliding effortlessly in and out of you, the other rubbing your clit quite vigrously.

“I want you to fuck me master,” you moaned after a while.

Eddie thought about it for a moment, cause this wasnt in his original plans.

“What if we do this, you roll one time, if its above 12, then I´ll fuck you, but you still need a 20 to cum okay?” He suggested.

You desperate after being edged for ages nodded and grabbed after the dice.

You closed your eyes rolling it, only opening them when you heard Eddie say, “You are one lucky fucker, aren’t you?”

You opened your eyes to a nat 20. it felt slightly unbelievable so you turned to look at Eddie, who already was wiggling out of his pants.

“Come here baby, lets get you there, we both know you deserve it”

You straddled him on the throne, sinking onto him with a satisfied sigh.

“There we go” Eddie said, you moved slightly whilst still clinging onto him, kissing up his neck. “You always were a slut for close contact, werent you princess?”

You moaned in response, unable to do much more, cause of how close you were.

“Now take what you need baby, chase that orgasm and I’ll take care of you, I’ve got you sweetheart”

You came not long after that, feeling the euphoria wash over you like a tide wave.

“Master,” you moaned, head on his shoulder, feeling slightly fuzzy and complete.

“Baby, look at me please” he asked, voice soft and caring.

You did as asked looking up at him with halfopened eyes.

“Tired?” He asked, you nodded.

“I understand that sweetheart, you were such a good girl, you took everything so well” Eddie praise, whilst pressing kisses to your forehead.

“Now how do you feel, are you sore?” He asked after holding you close to his chest for a moment. “I know I gripped and popped your thighs pretty hard there before, does anything hurt sweetheart?”

“I´m a bit sore, but it’ll be okay soon enough,” you said, thinking about your slight aching cunt which was still streched around Eddies softening cock. “My thighs hurt a bit, but not to bad.

You pouted a bit and Eddie was quick to kiss it.

“I´m sorry baby, how about we clean you up temporarily, then we´ll stop at a burgershack on the way home, and then we can watch a christmasfilm whilst we eat it, and a bath maybe? If you want one?” Eddie suggested.

“That sounds very nice.” you said, nuzzling your face into the crook of Eddies neck.

“Do you want to clean up now, or do you want to cuddle some more?” Eddie asked, his arms wrapped around you, drawing shapes on your back.

“Cuddle just for two minutes more? you asked.

Eddie nodded and kissed the top of your head.

“of course sweetheart”

#eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie x reader #advent calendar #eddie stranger things #eddie munson smut #soft dom eddie munson #aftercare

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picturejasper20 · 6 months

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I want to talk about Vlad Masters characterization in the game "Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2" story mode.

So, Vlad is the main antagonist of this game, or at least that's what the game makes you want to think at the start until the weird time loops start happening and Plasmius keeps repeating things like "Mind controlling everyone is the way to save everyone" and "Don't you understand?!", which comes off as weird to the hero character.

The last time you beat him, Clockwork transports him into the same void "safe space" other characters are in. You can go and ask Vlad what he was talking about and he will answer how there is a bigger enemy at moment: Clockwork.

It is later revealed that Clockwork got infected by Vlad's mind control device, which in reality doesn't work as it should and makes people acts volatile and agressive instead. The "evil" Clockwork has been sending the hero protagonist to stop Plasmius from fixing his mind control machine and make the universe destroy on purpose again and again. Vlas has been trapped in these time loops like that player has been and he remembers what happened each time, forced to see the same event repeat all over again

Meaning that all this time the hero protagonist has been the "bad guy" while Vlad was trying to fix the mind control machine to prevent the universe from getting destroyed. Vlad even mentions this near the end of the game, calling himself "the hero of the story"

Of course, that's incorrect because Vlad was trying to freaking brainwash everyone. But it is interesting is how he is potrayed as sympathetic to some extent as he was trying to do the "right thing". He talks to the hero protagonist about how Clockwork isn't himself and he shouldn't be trusted.

This characterization reminds quite a lot from the one that he has in "A Glitch in Time" graphic novel. In the novel he helps Danny with searching for the source of ghost power and defeating Dan. He realizes the wrong of his selfish past actions and starts a path to redemption near the end of the story.

Considering that Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 involves time travel and time loops like A Glitch in Time, it wouldn't be out of place to say that Vlad's characterization in the game is intentional, probably being written with the goal to be close to his character version in A Glitch In Time.

While Vlad doesn't exactly regret his actions at the end of the game, the idea of him not being as evil as he looks/ having standars is still there. There has been certain change of how his character gets potrayed lately. To someone more sympathetic, less emphasis on "evil" and more "he doesn't understand what he is himself getting into" vibes.

It also suprised me how he was chosen to be one of the main antagonists for this game and one of the characters that has the most lines in the story mode. It makes you wonder why they didn't make a Danny Phantom game instead since all the plot revolves around Danny Phantom characters.

On smaller observation, despite Vlad's motivations being "taking control over the universe" there are some lines of dialogue that hint as his own loneliness such as saying the game player that "they would make a good sidekick" and regreting "not having an audience" to see how he activates the mind control machine. In part it is understandable this doesn't get expanded upon since there are likely people who play the game that don't know about Danny Phantom.

I don't know who was behind writing the dialogue from this game but one thing i can say is that they seem to get Vlad's character in a good part, specially how he doesn't seem himself as a villain in certain moments.

All this emphasis in Vlad from AGIT graphic novel and the Nick fighting game makes wonder if he is going to have some important role in possible future stories from the series. It seems to me that it is trying to build up to something to be more than just pure coincidence. If he does gain more protagonism on long run, i hope they continue with this potrayal of his character because i find it pretty interesting.

#danny phantom #vlad plasmius #vlad masters #dp a glitch in time #his dialogue in the game was cool #Like not exactly evil but not good neither #As doing a bad thing to avoid a bigger bad thing from happening

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flutteringphalanges · 11 months

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The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Adam Warlock x Star Lord!Sister Reader

Prompt: All babies get sick. You knew that. And yet, when yours caught a cold, it was the worst feeling in the world. If it wasn’t for Adam, you’d really be a mess. Just another bump in the road of parenthood--but also another sign of how great of a father he truly was.

Word Count: 1,613

A/N: Hello, hello! Another one shot installment to my Adam Warlock x Star Lord!Sister Reader baby series! Here is the LINK to the master-list of all of the one shots! Requests are open! To those who have sent some in, I promise I will get to them! I also plan to do more with Aydith being different ages besides a baby so please send some suggestions in if you’d like! Thank you guys so much for your support! Here we go! -Jen

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

It was just a cold. A simple runny nose accompanied by the occasional cough and low grade fever. Something you had personal experience with in your (age) years of life. It was nothing. A mere inconvenience. But now, sickness played a different role since you became a parent--or, rather when your child fell ill. The feeling of helplessness brought on by not being able to take it away at once and give them comfort. It was just a cold, but it was your baby’s. That was one of the many awful feelings you felt.

You watched with exhaustion as Adam paced around the room, lightly bouncing Aydith in his arms. She had been crying for what felt like an eternity now. It didn’t help that the damn cold hit right around when she had begun to really teeth. You were at a loss of what to do. Mantis had offered to put her asleep, but you didn’t want her to use any powers on your daughter. Not when she was so little. Not when you didn’t know how it could impact her. If you hadn’t brought her to Earth to visit your grandfather last weekend, this wouldn’t have happened. How were you supposed to know the bug was going around?

“This is all my fault.” You exhaled, shaking your head. Gods, you just wanted to cry with her. “I exposed our baby and now she’s infected. I’m a horrible mother.”

Adam made his way over to you, Aydith’s cries only amplifying. At this point, you were quite sure that all of Knowhere had been awakened by them. How such a little thing could be so loud was a question you didn’t have an answer to. Just like how you didn’t have an answer as to how to ease your daughter’s distress.

“This is no fault of yours, Y/N. And it is impossible for you to even be remotely considered a below average parent. Please don’t ever think like that.” He tried to assure you, his tone sympathetic. “I’ve done a great deal of reading and it is quite common for human infants to contract it. Our child is half Sovereign, I am more than certain that being so lessens the chances of this developing into anything serious.”

He had done research. A lot of it. As soon as Aydith let out her first cough, Adam had gone into protective parent mode and scoured through the entirety of what felt like every medical file in the galactic internet in search of answers. Meanwhile, you had reluctantly allowed Nebula to run some scans knowing full well that your baby was more than safe. That the Luphomoid would never do something that would put her in harm’s way. Still you worried, even after your partner was relatively satisfied with what he found.

“She sounds so miserable, and it’s like nothing I do makes any difference.” You looked over at Adam as he took a seat beside you. “I hate this. I hate this more than any of those assholes we’ve ever had to fight--and I’m not trying to be dramatic, but this is my baby and she is upset and nothing I try helps! I…” You inhaled deeply, trying to reel yourself back in. “When I first met you, I didn’t think it was possible to fall so deeply in love again--and even though this is a different kind of love, I just feel like I’m failing.”

Adam’s cheek rested against the baby’s as he maneuvered her so he had a free arm to put around you. “Your feelings are more than valid, my love. I wish I could ease your stress equally as much as I wish for our daughter’s recovery.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to your temple. “You need your rest. I can tell you are very tired. Let me take care of Aydith.”

You shook your head, fighting back a yawn. That would’ve only proved his point. “I’m fine.” You told him firmly. “I don’t need sleep. Not when she is like this.”

“But you do, especially as you’ve had the same exposure as her.” Adam countered, gazing straight into your eyes. “You becoming sick like her won’t do either of you any benefits, my love, so please, I implore you to sleep. Please don’t make me call upon Mantis to assist you.” He really had an odd way of saying things sometimes. “Deal?”

Adam was right. You really needed to rest. All of your energy had been spent long ago worrying and taking care of your daughter. As much as you hated to admit it, you weren’t any use to her if you were out of commission yourself. Frowning softly, you gave in and nodded.

“Okay.” You responded reluctantly, but finally agreed. “But if she seems like she is getting worse, you’ll get me up. And you won’t let me sleep too long.”

“I suppose that is reasonable enough.” He accepted as Aydith whined, wriggling in his grasp. Adam shifted her to his other shoulder and gently patted her back. “I shall take her in another room so it is quieter for you. We’ll be fine, won’t we, my tiny comet?”

Your mouth curved into a small smile, the first you’ve had in awhile. He was so good with her. So amazing that it made you love him that much more. You couldn’t ask for a better father for your child. And Gods did he adore her too. Talk about you hitting the jackpot.

You leaned in, kissing Aydith’s flushed cheek. “Only a nap, nothing too long.” You reminded Adam, taking a moment to kiss him. “And if she gets worse…”

“You have my word,Y/N. But I assure you, all will be well. Aydith is strong like her mother.” He hummed, glancing over at his daughter. “Now we will step out so you can sleep. I love you dearly and, though she cannot talk yet, I know Aydith shares my feelings too.”

“I love you both too.” And you wished there was a more powerful word to convey that.

Lying on your bed, you didn’t expect for you to fall asleep as quickly as you did. You honestly thought your body would fight your mind over remaining conscious. But you were gone. Floating in a dreamless state. A dark void enveloping you in a tight embrace. If it wasn’t for the distant sound of rhythm, perhaps you would’ve stayed there.

Your eyes opened, mind still fuzzy from sleep as you sat up. The music you heard was definitely there, not something you had dreamed up. And something about the tune felt so familiar. Adam and Aydith were nowhere to be seen--but what was more surprising, you couldn’t hear the softest of whimpers. Slightly worried, you forced your body up and made your way over to the doorway that led to the small space that served as your living room. The music grew louder as you quietly peeked in.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens. That’s why you recognized it. You didn’t remember much from your childhood on Earth, but you had the vaguest of memories of your mother playing that along with a few other songs when she was trying to coax you and Peter into falling asleep during a long car ride. You noticed the clunky radio Phyla had gifted to you--or rather, Aydith, as a present. The thing was pretty old and banged up, but that kinda gave it character. You looked away from it, your attention suddenly drawn to the figure standing right in the center of the room.

What Adam was doing, you couldn’t exactly call it dancing. It was more so like a bobbing, rocking sort of motion that kinda gave off the impression of someone having literal ants in their pants. Sometimes he’d sway back and forth before immediately stopping in his tracks to do knee bends. It was the strangest and yet, oddly cute thing you’d ever seen him do. And when you listened closely, he was even singing under his breath. Until that moment, it hadn’t even clicked in your mind that he was still holding Aydith. Nor that she was finally asleep.

“Hey.” You whispered, trying your best not to startle him. “Whatcha doing?”

Adam’s head snapped in your direction. “Oh! I’m sorry, did I wake you?” You shook your head and he sighed in relief. “Good. I have successfully aided our child.” “I can see that.” You smiled, making your way over to him. “You give Peter a run for his money with those moves.”

Adam beamed. “I call it The Dad Disco--I’m not quite sure what disco looks like, but I really liked the sound of it.” He looked down at the baby and you could’ve sworn his eyes sparkled. “I must admit, I was growing concerned but then when she finally fell asleep…well, I feel very accomplished now. I’m glad she’s out.”

“Me too.” You replied, admiring your daughter in his arms. “You’re an amazing dad, you know that?”

“I certainly couldn’t do it without you. We make quite the team, don’t we?” Adam smiled at you.

“Yeah. I’d say we’re pretty great together.” You reached out and lightly touched her small hand. “She makes it all worth it, huh?”

“Every millisecond.” He fell silent, eyes fixed on her before focusing on you. “If she stays asleep when I put her down in the crib, would you care to have a dance with me? I promise that we don’t have to do The Dad Disco. That’s more reserved for Aydith.”

You gave him a grin. “I think I would like that very much.”

#Adam Warlock #Adam Warlock x Reader #Reader x Adam Warlock #gotg vol 3 #Adam Warlock Imagine #Aydith Warlock #Adam Warlock baby fics

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luciddaydreamsstuff · 4 months

Text

Was meant to post this yesterday but forgot, so here’s more of the Caring Corporate AU (don’t know if Ima keep the name or not)

A bit more background information: FazBear is essentially the Disney of this world. Henry and William are both the founders of FazBear Entertainment but William is given more credit due to being more vocal and extroverted than Henry. Fredbear’s Family Diner was the first location and is considered the “golden era” or “humble beginnings” of FazBear. Then the location of Fnaf 2 and Fnaf 1 are the “renaissance” of the company. FazBear Frights isn’t connected to the company but after a lawsuit, then belongs to the company. FazBear tried pop-up pizzerias to gain money which is where Pizzeria Sim falls, then Security Breach and the pizzaplex are considered the “resurgence” of FazBear’s. The company started off as a family and friends establishment but with William going insane and becoming a murder it hurt the reputation. Then CEOs after only used FazBear as a way to get rich, making the company into a cash cow. After the events of Security Breach, FazBear goes through multiple temporary CEOs before landing on Henry, who then stays as the CEO bring FazBear back to its roots as a family and friends based company.

Info on DJ, Puppet, and Baby along with separated designs under cut.

DJ Music Man: Mostly referred to as DJ or the DJ. DJ is the tallest animatronic standing either 10’3 or 7’1. DJ had gotten an update after the event of Security Breach. Speaking of, due to how large DJ was, the virus could only latch onto one of his protocols it being the Bouncer Mode DJ had. Whatever was in his “territory” would trigger Bouncer Mode and therefore the virus would take hold for a bit. With the upgrades the other animatronics were getting, the staff thought that DJ should also get some upgrades.

While his regular body hasn’t changed much aside from a new paint job, DJ was given a smaller body that he could freely walk around in. The manager thought it unfair that Sun was able to walk around the pizzaplex before sometimes but the DJ wasn’t. His smaller body mirrors his more spider like one, with some changes. Around his waist, DJ has two more sets of arms that are interchangeable in size to help his Bouncer Mode. DJ has “dreadlocks” which are just cables that he can plug into any sound system and project music from it or his body or be used as a charging cable. DJ’s eyes are shaped like sunglasses and kinda work like Fresh Sans’ glasses if you’ve seen how that works. DJ mostly stays in the West Arcade where he is in a bit of a rivalry with Glamrock Puppet. He is closest with Moon, Monty, Puppet, and Ballora, though DJ is friends with everyone.

Glamrock Baby: Otherwise known as GB, Glam Baby, or just Baby. Baby stands around 6’5 and is one of the more middle sized animatronics. GB had been around from the start like Ballora, Puppet, and Foxy but due to budget restraints before the events of Security Breach, was shelved away for a later use. GB doesn’t know much about the virus or what happened after she was put on standby other than what staff and the other animatronics told her. While Baby doesn’t fit the “glam rock era”, her design is more based off of retro diners and 1950s diner fashion. She’s given roller skates in her feet to help her move around quicker in her area, though the wheels can be stored away similarly to heelys.

GB’s area is a food establishment within the plex called the GlamRock Diner. While the diner is her biggest attraction, Baby has a Cooking Mama-like attraction near China’s Bakery. In which Baby will allow children to try and make a recipe similar to how the Cooking Mama games play out. She also hosts an event similar to Master Chef in which she’ll allow the adults to make whatever they want under a time limit. GB is the closest with Chica, Sun, and Ballora.

Glamrock Puppet: Otherwise known as Puppet. Puppet is the third tallest animatronic standing at 6’8. Like GB, Puppet has been around since the start of the pizzaplex but due to budget restrictions had to be shelved some months before the events of Security Breach. Puppet doesn’t really know much about the virus, only knowing what staff told them. They don’t want to ask the other animatronics due to it being a sore topic and wanting bygones to be bygones. Puppet was the hardest to design but inspiration arose from the fanon Glamrock Puppet design along with some things from Glamrock Chica.

Puppet works in the East Arcade, mostly because if DJ’s area is referred to as the West Arcade,there had to be an East one. They have a friendly rivalry with DJ about whose arcade is better. Puppet tends to stay in the Prize Corner section of their arcade. Puppet’s main gimmick within their arcade is one similar to gambling or taking bets. Essentially, someone in the arcade goes to battle against Puppet in a game of the audience’s choosing. Whomever wins gets a prize out of Puppet’s Box, which has gain a reputation of having the best rewards. If the West Arcade is similar to a club/nightclub, then the East Arcade is similar to a casino/bar. Puppet is closest to DJ and Foxy.

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devoted-domme · 2 months

Note

How did you know your into being dominant ? Anything particular you like in a sub ?

So, this became a bit longer than I had anticipated, so my reply to both questions will be under a cut!

For your first question: Honestly, I think I have known from a very young age, even before puberty.

I’ve always felt drawn to stories about deep, meaningful relationships based on some sort of power imbalance and extreme devotion, like servants and knights who would do anything for their master or king. Basically, any character who was naturally submissive towards an authority figure and who was deeply devoted to them.

Scenes in which someone knelt in front of their master were my favourites and I’d re-read them over and over again. It wasn’t sexually motivated since I was too young for that, and yet something about these types of scenes always made my heart race.

Then during puberty, I discovered that I was attracted to both men and women but I don’t enjoy being penetrated and never liked the expectations that society held for women in straight relationships. I never wanted to be the object of someone’s desires, I wanted to be the active party who has agency and be the person who leads and initiates. I never liked the thought of me lying there and having someone else shower me with affection, I wanted to be the person in control and do these things to someone else and make sure they feel good.

Because of this, I thought I was fully lesbian for a long time, even though I do find men attractive. But I never thought it would be possible to be a man without all of the associated gender roles and the way straight sex was framed in general was such a turn-off, with the language people use and all the gendered expectations.

I only ever dated women because it was easier to escape those expectations and easier to explain what being a stone top means. I never believed men would be interested in getting penetrated and being submissive so I stuck to female partners who enjoyed it.

And of course, I’m not saying you can’t be dominant and enjoy being penetrated, it’s just something that I personally don’t want and it’s really hard to escape that expectation if you try dating in straight circles.

Seeking out online spaces for femdom (and in particular, Tumblr as it tends to be less focused on straight relationships and rigid gender roles, in general) really helped me strengthen my own understanding of my sexuality.

Now, onto your second question:

Truthfully, I am very picky when it comes to choosing a sub since I’m not really interested in just casual play so my sub would also be my romantic partner (I’m not talking about answering a spicy ask/message here and there, I’m very open to that, just anything beyond that is purely reserved for my romantic partner).

Generally, I would be looking for a “naturally submissive” sub, not just someone who is into it as a kink. That doesn’t mean I’m looking for a 24/7 type of deal at all, I just mean that I want a sub who is just that – submissive. They want me to actually be in charge in the bedroom and are happy to do what I want to do instead of only wanting a “kink dispenser” who caters to their every wish.

It’s a bit ironic, considering that my preferred domming style is very focused on the sub and their pleasure but at the same time I don’t want to be told what to do. It’s fine to give suggestions, they should absolutely have kinks they love and firm limits they don’t want to cross but it gets annoying when I feel like they want to “direct” the scene.

It’s also very important to me that my sub sees me as an actual real-life human being who is flawed, just like everyone else. I’m not some mysterious goddess who is always “on” and in domme mode 24/7. I’m often quite dorky and awkward and they need to be able to understand that and understand that real life isn’t fantasy and people don’t behave like they do in whatever pornography they have seen or erotica they have read.

I need to get the impression that I actually matter to them as a person, beyond the utility I can offer to them (and of course, I will do them the same courtesy!).

Needless to say, the same things apply here as in any other relationship: good communication, the willingness to listen and speak up if there are problems, mutual respect (especially with regards to boundaries) and trust, willingness to compromise, a strong sense of self and independence, loyalty, empathy, dependability, an overall emotional connection and so on.

(And of course, what I have listed here are things that I would also strive to give back in return in a relationship!)

Naturally, we should also have compatible kinks and a similar idea of what our D/s dynamic should look like and my sub should have a strong idea of their limits (saying they have “no limits” is a red flag, for sure!). I need to be able to trust them to actually use their safeword if they need to (just as they need to trust me to also then stop the scene if they do and not be mad at them for using their safeword).

Having standards is also a green flag – if I get the impression that they are actually picky about who gets to dom(me) them it already helps to make me feel more at ease and like I’m actually being treated like a person instead of just their kink wish fulfillment.

Of course, like anyone else, physical attraction plays a strong role in who I want to date/take as a sub, but I am attracted to a lot of different "types" and I do think how someone carries themselves and their general mannerisms and personality play a huge role in my attraction to them as well.

Also, I think as someone whose love language is Acts of Service and who enjoys taking care of my partners, it’s easy to attract subs who genuinely believe I can/will “fix” them when the truth is: no one can fix you but yourself. Of course, it is always easier to improve yourself when you have the support of someone else but the drive to change needs to come from within.

So, I need my sub to be an actual adult, capable of living their day-to-day life. That doesn’t mean they’re not allowed to struggle with things (I do as well), just that they need to be overall mature and independent.

Now, I do think it's fun to give subs incentives to improve their lives, to give them little tasks and rewards and I think it can be a good way to help them keep good habits, but this only really works to a small extent and they still need to be motivated to change by themselves.

Additionally, a potential sub would need to not be into any kinks that are misogynistic, homophobic or racist like s/issies and c/uckolding (it shouldn't be degrading to be penetrated or to wear feminine clothing or to have sex with black men, unless you actually believe being a woman or being black or gay is inherently more degrading than being a white straight man).

For male subs, they need to be feminist allies and be actively working on undoing toxic masculinity and be respectful to women in general, not just the ones they’re attracted to and not just for however long they need to get into a woman’s pants. I think a lot of male subs think just because they’re “submissive” they’re somehow above misogyny when truthfully, I have experienced more sexism from male subs than I have from any of the regular blokes in my life.

In terms of overall personality, I’m hugely attracted to people who are just genuinely good people – kind and helpful. I adore gentle people and even those who are a bit shy. I don’t need someone to be the smartest person or the most confident or the funniest, just try to be the kindest version of yourself you can be.

I think that’s all! Sorry for the long rambling response but I really enjoyed getting all my thoughts out. I hope some of this is still useful to you (or anyone else who happens to be reading this!).

#bd/sm discussion #bd/sm kink #fdom #gentle fdom #gentle femdxm #wlw bd/sm #female dom #gentle dom #mine #ask

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bluebudgie · 2 years

Text

Hello peeps!

Thought some of you might be interested in some tips and tricks for making gifs of your GW2 characters. Don't get me wrong here please, I'm by no means the be-and-end-all of gif-making, but maybe a handful of you might enjoy this? I do at least have experience with throwing myself in front of chak for hours. You decide if that's good or bad.

This is how I personally proceed and maybe some of you have better ways to do it! Feel free to share your own advice here :D

Let's get started! ･°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°.

Choosing a location

So you chose a victim and have a neat little idea of what you wanna show. Now all you have to do is find a fitting location. Here's some things to consider:

How's the ambient lighting? Rotate your newly found top model at your location of choice to make sure the light hits from the best angle. Keep day and night cycles in mind. Some places also simply have bad light for your character; in that case try to think of a similar location that might look more flattering.

How busy is the background? You probably want your character to pop out, so the choice of scene is important especially if you don't have access to 3rd party depth-of-field filters. Keep in mind that moving background elements might look distracting.

If there are enemies around, can you get rid of them reliably or will they keep interrupting you? Are there safe spots to stand in outside of enemy range? Most enemies really don't hate you as much as you think. Unless you're in the Crystal Desert.

Strike a pose!

The basics:

Play around with the camera sliders in your options. Having your character big in the frame goes a long way! The vertical, horizontal and zoom sliders are your best friends.

Remember the UI doesn't have to be visible for you to type emotes in chat. Just to be safe from (public chat) typos though, I like to type the command with the UI turned on, then hide the UI, and then once I've adjusted the camera hit enter to play the emote. This is especially useful if you're trying to pose around enemies and don't have the time to frantically type things in chat.

Some tips for posing:

Rotating the camera while in first person mode rotates your entire character. This way you can turn around without having to redo your /emote all the time. This is especially useful if you use persistent emotes that last an infinite amount of time (as opposed to emotes that play an animation once and then return your character back to the default idle).

Similarly, zooming into first person mode and zooming back out will (client-side only) display your weapons and back piece. Those usually get hidden during emote animations.

If you swap weapons via keybind mid weapon idle animation, the animation will usually keep playing despite not fitting your newly swapped in weapon. This will often look silly, but can sometimes get you some cool poses too. Try out some combinations!

The technical side

So you're a master at staging the perfect shot, how do you get all of this into a neat little moving image?

To capture your gameplay, any recording software of your choice works. Windows 10 should by default come with the ability to record your game (press the Windows key + G to bring up the overlay; you can change keybinds for active and retroactive video recording & other things in the settings).

Once you've made your video file, the tricky part begins. It's kind of difficult to write a definite guide for this since programs and methods for making gifs vary so much. Different programs might compress your file differently, giving you different results in terms of file size and quality. Personally I've been using an ancient student version of Photoshop CS6 since the dawn of time, and it took some trial and error to figure out a good balance between quality and size.

About posting on tumblr:

tumblr currently allows a file size of 10MB max per gif (you can have several <10MB files per post).

The tumblr dashboard displays images at a width of 540px, so make this your gif's absolute minimum width if you want to ensure a crisp image.

Now for some subjective observations based on my experiences with how I create gifs. ! Important ! This is how my particular version of Photoshop handles sizes. You might get completely different results using any other software that compresses files differently.

Getting a good balance between image dimensions, quality and length of animation is hard if you're limited to a maximum file size of 10MB.

Your file size will depend on: The amount of frames your animation is using, the amount of colours, how much movement there is, and of course the dimensions of your image. Editing your image in terms of colours, saturation, contrast etc. can also impact the file size (it can go both ways).

Using a video recorded at 60 fps I can usually squeeze about (give or take) 3 seconds of animation into the gif before it gets too large (given a – by my standards – decent image quality). Take this into consideration when you pick your poses.

Things you can do to reduce file size, other than the two obvious solutions of simply making your animation shorter or image dimensions smaller:

Lower the amount of dither. This has a huge impact on file size in my experience. If you have many transparent effects (e.g. smoke, fog) or use strong depth-of-field filters in your image it will look bad if you go too low.

Limit the colour palette when you export your gif. Highly dependent on the scene, sometimes you can get away with reducing your colours by half, sometimes it will look atrocious.

In the end I don't think there's one formula that works for every situation. It really depends on what you're showing, so mix and match different methods to try and get the best compromise between quality and size!

And that's all I can think of right now! I hope that maybe one of these points could help someone :D

#long post #budgie plays gw2 #gif

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ofoceansandtombsanew · 1 year

Text

a/n: and here is chapter 2. there was a lot of fun that went into writing this chapter and it’s great to finally have it out to be read. enjoy any references you can spot because i had fun inserting them. we are all the reader and we are clearly on our willow park vibe. i was late to add it to the masterlist but irnbtv can also be read on AO3.

Taglist (send an ask to be added or removed); @etherisy, @crowbird, @junephantom21, @tanspostsblog, @yaesflorist, @d4y-dr3am3r, @liesatemyocean, @masayanausuario, @xiaorby001, @ghostlysyntaxed, @personified-smol, @jasontoddisfantastical, @kurawooooooo, @yuii-v, @joeyxsnow, @levisbebe, @lemonlimesocks, @celestialsiren , @ainescribe,

Bold couldn’t be tagged.

chapter ii; finding your roots masterlist | previous chapter | next chapter

Dear Master Diluc,

Fuck offー

Dear Master Diluc,

We get on like water and oil; that is to say, Pyro and Dendro. Fire and Plants. You clearly represent the fire. Which, if you ever took the time of day to get to know me you’d know I fuckingー

Dear Master Diluc,

What if we just broke off the engagement?

No one would blame you for it. After all, to everyone else I’m just the Mad Dog of the [Surname] Duchy and a Crazy Bitch. I don’t want to just pull the misogyny card out all willy nilly but this world finds fault in a woman even if she isn’t 100% to blame in a relationship falling apart. Because I’m not.

You failed this relationship by willfully leading me on like I’m some sort of dog that you can give the carrot and stick treatment and I am tired ofー

Dear Master Diluc,

How else can I say it?

You’re being let go.

Your department’s being downsized.

You’re part of an outplacement.

We’re going in a different direction.

I’m not picking up your optionー

Dear Master Diluc,

While it would be best to say this in person, I feel like it would be best done through the written word.

Simply put, I don’t love you anymore.

Firstly, you do not love me. You weren’t obligated to return any feelings I had for you and I do apologize if my actions ever made you uncomfortable. But it would have been easier discerning you only considered our engagement a political one and had no love for me you two-timing, ginger piece ofー

Okay. Me. I know we hate him, but we need to do this in a way that won’t get me killed afterwards. You had no clue if it was possible for Diluc to kill you directly in Hard Mode; you never made it that far, unfortunately. Still, it wasn’t worth the risk when his favorability was at -10% to start with. Even if he didn’t attack you directly, some sort of ridiculous event could transpire with you dying in the process whether by fork or broken neck. And we can’t mention him cheating, he hasn’t done it. Yet.

You grimaced, looking at your most recent attempts at trying to script a sound and reasonable breakup letter.

To the compost they went.

You had plenty of time to come up with something more amicable before you officially split from the main cast of Seraphim’s characters. As it turned out, avoiding them was quite easy when you were at rock bottom status and most didn’t want to invite you to social affairs because of it.

You always found it strange how the parents of characters such as these rarely cared about the things that went on in their lives but you were thankful the negligent parent trope applied even now. As long as you didn’t do anything too outrageous, the Duke saw it fit to leave you be. So you had wasted no time in shopping after the idea struck you that you were in serious need of test supplies.

Now it had been nearly a month since the luncheon and things were going well all things considered. Perhaps too well, hence why you didn’t let yourself rest completely. For the time being, avoiding the main cast was your priority. Even if you weren’t fearfully fighting for your life because of Hard Mode, you read plenty of villainess manhwa to know where things would go if you interacted with them.

All I’d do is accidentally seduce someone and end up in a harem a la Catarina Claes, you reasonably concluded your first night of constructing a plan to leave the kingdom. Therefore, like Zombieland’s Columbus, you had your own internalized set of rules for surviving the situation you landed yourself in.

No writing things down. Carnelia Easter thought she was safe because she was writing in Korean but then that hot evil dude decoded everything and figured out how she knew everything that was happening.

Speaking of Carnelia, I don’t know what type of villainess isekai trope I’m in so avoid the love interests and if they can’t be, be as platonic as possible. This’ll either go the usual accidental harem route or in the Carnelia route of everything I do being seen as shitty and evil for the longest and ending up in me dying because of misunderstandings. I should probably avoid banging anyone in the first place even if they aren’t a love interest. It’s giving ‘Fantasy Game set in the Slut Shaming Era’ in Teyvat.

No rescuing any beggars or injured animals. That trope is as plain as day and old as hell. They always end up being some hot dude with way more baggage than originally intended when the protag first brings them in.

If I somehow end up being a lucky Raeliana where some really high level priest wants to adopt me and take me away on a pilgrimage, take it. It’ll get me out of here faster, but… knowing my luck that definitely isn’t going to happen.

In the case of this being a situation where Lumine is some other reincarnated girl from my world who isn’t a girl’s girl, forget any plan I already have set in motion and abandon ship immediately. It will not be worth any trouble I get. She can have whatever love interest she is obsessed with and I’ll gladly skedaddle.

In the case I catch feelings for someone or the horny gets too strong, I guess it’s fine later down the line if I do end up meeting a nice person. Just as long as it isn’t a love interest. And after I’ve left this place. Fucking hell, where’s MY Caesar? Not the Villainess Divorce Caesar, the one that dies in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Rest in Peace, my hunky beloved.

Excessive as they were, you knew these rules would keep you alive and on track. If only this was something like, I Reincarnated into the Heroine of My Favorite Otome Game and Seduced the Villainess. [First] I would have treated you right. With a sigh you stood up; you wasted enough of your paper trying to write a breakup letter and imagining being Lumine wouldn’t help your progress. Back to work I go.

The staff either thought you lost your mind or that perhaps you were returning to ‘your’ commoner roots, either way field cultivation was where you decided to direct the bulk of your attention.

Field one was for testing the extent of amplifying growth with Dendro.

Field two was for testing how long you could keep plants alive with Dendro.

Then there was field three, the Dendro-less control group.

Wherever you went, if you were going to make use of your newfound abilities to support yourself, you needed to know what all you could do. After all, you had plenty of questions and your endless supply of knowledge on Light and Abyssal magic from Normal Mode wasn’t going to help you answer them.

Maybe I should go to the Akademiya. The various books Lumine found in Normal Mode always proved themselves useful in the hidden gems Seraphim had to offer. Her research had always been geared towards her own magic, however, so most of the in-game books you read had to do with the topic. And I should really get some fertilizer for field three… Maybe I can get some at Pardis Dhyai? I could always go there to get herbs for potions but there’s bound to be other things there to purchase too.

But for now, the progress you were making was something to be satisfied with. Or maybe it wasn’t. You couldn’t find yourself caring considering you still had this high for the past month. I can do magic!

A large portion of you is sure that any of the magic types of Seraphim would have been satisfactory for you.

Geo would have meant you were an earthbender like Toph.

You remembered your moody teenage days of being annoyed by the constant loop of Let It Go but it was too easy to imagine yourself belting out the lyrics and attempting to see if you could make icy-themed outfits like Elsa if you could use Cryo.

And the idea of literal lightning being at the beck and call of your fingertips gave you a power surge that made you shudder with cackles.

Yet there was something wholly satisfying with Dendro being the magic your transmigrated self was stuck with.

Lumine described Light magic like a warmth in her chest. A faint glow that became blinding light behind her eyelids until it burst forth. That light was pure and feathery, an energy silky to the touch.

For you, Dendro felt like life itself. Behind your eyelids was a forest of tall trees and grass unkempt but beautiful and your fingertips felt like blooms were sprouting from them.

The easiest thing to make, you found, were leaves and grass. It was practically Dendro 101. A quick wave of your hand and a spray of leaves would strike in the direction you aimed in. When you first began experimenting with field one, you found that weeds seem to grow faster than your seeds did.

Specific plants required more specific mana instructions.

Roses felt like they were cloaked in perfume, earthy elegance exuding from them in waves.

Dandelions depended on the stage of life they were in; the flowers felt like they peppered your hands with its energy. Meanwhile seedheads felt light and wispy, ready to drift at a moment's notice.

Sunflowers were like the sun, bursting with inexplicable warmth. A humble leader.

Fruits were sweet and fluid, flexible in a way you couldn’t explain. Vegetables had a similar nuance, but the sweet was lacking.

You chalked these discoveries as simply needing to gather as much information as you could before you left. Yet not even you could deny that these discoveries were more so dependent on the child-like glee you had at the fact you were, in your own right, a mixture of Cornelia Hale, Winx Club’s Flora, Shiemi Moriyama and Willow Park. Oh my gosh this is so cool! Sorry Haylin, Sorry Irma, I’m all Team Plant right now.

You were giggling as you weeded your fields for your compost.

This magical stupid hierarchy doesn’t know what it’s talking about, you look at your work proudly. This is way cooler than anything else I could have been given. (You ignored the minute part of you that wanted to debate how this thought would have been the same regardless of your element.)

You wouldn’t let yourself get too distracted by magical antics; you still had many questions that needed to be answered.

The amplification of growth was easy enough once you began realizing the patterns. As for testing the durability your magic gave plants, that was still a work-in-progress.

You look at your second field with your lips pursed. It was hard to tell if your magic was actually doing anything. So I definitely need to ask someone about that if I can’t get any direct answers from the books. You considered asking Alhaitham himself before pushing that idea aside entirely. Alhaitham isn’t even an Amurta researcher though, pretty sure he is in Haravatat. As such, he confided in Lumine that his magic didn’t serve any use for him in terms of research and was more so a benefit in physical altercations. And I should just avoid the Love Interests for now unless I actually have to interact with them.

It doesn’t help that you don’t think Alhaitham would enjoy talking to you in the slightest anyway. And I forgot that he’s a total recluse, he never shows up to things if he can avoid it. You glance to your third field, recalling your need for fertilizer.

Tighnari would be safe to ask then, I think.

He wasn’t a Love Interest, nor was he someone who had been exposed to the deplorable reputation you were the proud owner of.

You stood up, dusting your dirt-covered gloves on your trousers. A trip scheduled to Pardis Dhyai was just the thing then.

next chapter; ? masterlist | previous chapter | next chapter

#look she's writing #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #diluc x reader #kaeya x reader #alhaitham x reader #scaramouche x reader #wanderer x reader #candace x reader #zhongli x reader #baizhu x reader

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lookninjas · 2 months

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Love Theme from House of Leaves

So.

POE.

Like I said, I don't usually explain the Bad Descriptions from my Bad Description Song Polls. Some of them I work hard on, some of them are just bad puns on the song lyrics or titles or whatever, but ultimately, the bad descriptions aren't really the point. The point is to get a couple people curious about artists they might not have heard before by erasing any preconceptions they might have about the artist, the genre, whatever. It's a goofy little game about my very serious love of music and my genuine desire to get people to experience the joys of just trying something new.

But then there's POE. Right? Specifically, there is Haunted by POE, an album that just straight up every time turns me into a four-hour video by an obsessed YouTuber down a really deep rabbit hole. Which is absolutely fitting, because as it turns out, Haunted comes from the same place as Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves.

You see, POE's real name is Anne Danielewski. Mark is her brother. And, regardless of the protests of the dudes on the MZD forums back in 2004, HoL and Haunted come from the same place -- the death of their father, Tad Danielewski, and their subsequent attempts to reconcile their complicated emotions about their perfectionist father, their estranged mother, and their shared and separate childhoods. The works contrast and complement -- House of Leaves is a labyrinth for the reader to wander; Haunted is a cache of tapes from a lost loved one that both sheds light on the past and casts preconceived notions into doubt. They reference each other (the "Poe T" in HoL, the "growling voice" in "Hey Pretty"), but don't require each other.

Even their creation is tangled. She read his book as he was writing it; he listened to her songs as she recorded them. He read a passage of his book over top of the album's first single when she was told radio was "just not playing women;" she took him on tour with her when she was opening for Depeche Mode. It was from the start a kind of double act.

And then it just wasn't anymore.

If there's a villain in this story, it is -- in a weird twist of foreshadowing -- WarnerMedia. Specifically, it is the disastrous AOL -- Time Warner merger, which saw POE unceremoniously dropped from Time Warner subsidiary Atlantic Records just six weeks after she'd signed a contract with them for three more albums. Copies of second single "Wild" were never sent to radio. Support for the album dried up. The ensuing legal wrangling saw POE's masters sold and resold from one label to another, while POE wound up unable to tour or record under her own pseudonym for years. So while House of Leaves went on to (deserved) classic status, Haunted disappeared.

I am not alone in finding this terrifically unjust. Mark Z. Danielewski himself calls the album "woefully underappreciated." Granted, he's biased, but so am I. I was a POE fan before House of Leaves was published. I discovered HoL through Haunted, although both came in close succession. For me, part of the mystery of the book is how it tangles with the album, how two people can go through the same maze and come out of it in such different locations, the same story told in different languages. But also...

I mean, it's just a hell of an album. Her voice is extraordinary. Her lyrics blend the metaphoric and the extremely literal in terrific ways. The mix of electronica, hip-hop, pop, and experimental is absolutely wired to my tastebuds (there's a reason she wound up invited on tour with the Depeche Mode, after all), and the overall work is plaintive, empowering, heartbreaking, and occasionally terrifying. It's so good. It's so, so good. I would almost be okay if this were her last ever album, it's that good.

I just wish more people were listening to it, you know?

So consider this my call to arms. If you are a House of Leaves fan, or even if you're not, even if the footnotes left you cold, give Haunted a listen. Just a couple songs. Just a taste.

Someone who loves you left a stack of tapes sitting by a boom box for you. Put one in. Press play.

#poe #mark z. danielewski #poe (musician)#haunted #house of leaves #sidenote: you don't appreciate how long ago some things happened until you're trying to find all the primary sources you remember #and they're almost unsearchable because of how long ago it was #twenty-something years wow

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bellshazes · 18 days

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I was going to reply on your post about C vs CC distinction but I couldn't, so I hope you don't mind me asking here - my brain wasn't cooperating today so I was struggling to read it and comprehend it properly as written. But does it basically boil down to the fact that it's difficult to create a distinction between what's considered "character" vs "creator" in the digital medium Minecraft offers for storytelling? That there's no real way to draw a distinction between "this PERSON did this in the game" and "this CHARACTER did this in the story's world" because it's told on a platform and in a way that makes it hard to find a non-fuzzy divide, and that we shouldn't necessarily try to find that line anyway? Basically that - when it's so hard to define canon when "canon" is influenced by the person both on and beyond the screen, and interactions between "characters" are often colored by the creators behind them, and when the story being told is never really fully concrete anyway, it's just...better and, honestly, more fun to just enjoy the nondefinable art form for what it is? Because if that's what you're saying, I wholeheartedly agree. ^^

When the story's medium is a sandbox game, it's much more fun to interpret canon and its connected fanon as a sandbox too, something malleable and formable and explorable in a flexible way that doesn't rely on defined boundaries to be enjoyed. It's sand. You can make a solid sandcastle for a while, but eventually the water that packed it together dries and the wind blows and things shift again, because that's what sand does. Just - let sand be sand. :3

(And if I've totally misinterpreted then I apologize, it's been a long day and like I said, my brain's not cooperating hah.)

~ Pixie

I definitely didn't get back to my original point in that rambling reblog, so I think you've gotten what I was trying for up until the idea that the SMP Thing is nondefinable. I really struggle articulating this all the time and people often do take it the way you have, so it's a failure of explanation on my part...

It's not resolvable into a single truth, but currently the dominanf response to that is to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say if there is no canon, everything is equally true no matter what the text says, because the text is as (un)real and unknowable as my own imagination. I comprehend that this is very fun and believe this approach has absolutely no moral valence. often this evolves into annoying (imo!) fandom standards that become quasi-canonical due to sheer popularity in the group sandbox but whatever.

However my patented peter bellshazes perfect world involve not this kind of overwriting being a dominant fandom mode, but people taking the lack of One Single Master Story all other pieces fit into as a joyous invitation to pick apart all the threads on their own and how they relate without forcing them into anything and seeing them more clearly. It's to me like the difference between trying to force jigsaw puzzle pieces to fit that are from different boxes and - I don't know, like a complex 3D sculpture that is one object but portrays different images at every angle its viewed from. And people discovering that instead of taking photographs to find the One True Angle in 2D, walking around to examine the previously unstudied backside.

that's abstract but in practice it means like... idk treating it more like a vivisection. I love taking different perspectives apart as standalones, and also interrelating them, but finding joy and spaces to explore and discuss and feel through in those individual examinations, and not forcing them to make sense in some master truth. It makes me appreciate different approaches to the medium more, how tone and technique contribute beyond C!Cubito Is This Trait or whatever. I like it when people articulate if we think about THIS event and how it was shown in THIS way (in terms of acting/performance, editing, cuts made or not made, ) then the story is like this and what's in the gaps or what if it extended or what would it have looked like if different choices were made from a craft perspective or how does that contrast with or contextualizes a different series or scenario. throwing nothing out but never looking for a grand unified theory of truth.

Again no moral valence but i just feel like maybe if I can articulate my brand of fandom joy people might want to give it a try! and I genuinely appreciate people who care enough to try and parse what the hell I'm getting at bc it's almost always only when I try and answer questions that I feel like I get better at explaining what I was trying to say, so!

#mc meta

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maryellencarter · 2 months

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have started a new playthrough of breath of the wild with the intention of practicing the combat techniques, which i am quite bad at. (look, shield surfing and flurry rushes both require using three of the control inputs at once, i know i have ten fingers but i was never very good at playing chords on the piano either)

i don't know how far i'll get on any of these goals, but i'm also sort of vaguely considering:

* 100% run? have never finished one. there's at least one korok (near the akkala tech lab, uphill boulder golf with a lynel in the middle of the course) that i'm genuinely just not sure i can complete. i want to do this part glitchless if at all, so no seed duping allowed.

* clear all enemies no blood moon run? this is technically possible, although the timing to get the blood moon shrine to spawn without actually respawning enemies is quite tricky. there's a save-reload exploit that lets you delay the blood moon for a full cycle at a time, which would be pretty necessary for some of the night quests to be completable. my main interest in trying this is to force me to actually fight more enemies (and therefore get better at the combat) rather than rely totally on sneaking around and avoiding them. also to make weapons rarer and therefore more valuable/exciting to find, because in a normal playthrough i usually get overloaded on high tier weapons pretty quickly, especially once i get woodland tower with the respawning royal claymore. it's not actually possible to completely clear the map, because there will always be random spawns, like nighttime stalkoblins, or yiga after you defeat master kohga, but i feel like it'd be pretty entertaining to just be waltzing around past enemy camps you cleared and having them continue to have been cleared.

* all chests run? this would not be a true 100% objective because i have no interest at all in the glitching required to get "impossible" chests. perhaps "poke my nose into every nook and cranny" run would be more accurate -- there are so many tiny hidden things in BotW that even people who've spent thousands of hours in the game have never seen. this kind of goes hand in hand with the no blood moon run, because i'll definitely run out of hero's path time long before i finish any such playthrough, so the main way to tell if i've already been somewhere (other than my own memory, which *is* pretty good for BotW locations because the geology is so realistic it feels like an actual landscape and sticks in my memory the same way) will be if i already killed off the enemies there.

* no guides run. at least until like 99% completion or so. i've been playing pokemon violet with a collectibles map constantly open, which is about the only way i can enjoy that game because the geology/geography is just impossible for me, and i have played BotW the same way on other saves, but... hyrule feels, idk, homey enough? it already lives in my bones enough that i can, and want to, run around it like a real place and get to know every corner. like i did with my childhood hometown, and have not had the spoons to do irl since. i'll definitely make a great deal of use of the sheikah sensor (i've done all shrines before -- on the switch lite, which is a *trip* for motion controls shrines) and any other detection things like the korok mask, any ingame method i'm granted to find the collectibles.

* no amiibo run? this is more practicality because i left my botw amiibos at leia's. but also they always feel a little game-breaky, not even so much with the exclusive drops as just with the extra resources you get early -- i don't even remember most of the places you can find safflina in the game, just because i always get so much from zelda amiibos if i'm scanning them daily, for instance.

i'm playing on my switch lite again because the regular size switch really kills my hands in handheld mode. my beat-the-game save is also on the switch lite and i didn't want to overwrite it so i made a secondary profile. so far i have done the magnesis shrine (failed deeply at using the metal boxes in the shrine to bop the guardian on the head, which will kill it if you do it right but you have to either use motion controls to fling it down or get the guardian to stand under the box while you drop it from a great height) and almost shot king rhoam for a squirrel because he was wandering around in the forest (as the old hermit, of course) and i didn't know he could spawn there if you dick around long enough before completing the plateau. so i'm already discovering things! ^_^

(the main issue with attempting a no blood moon run is that i am absent minded and usually fail to notice it's a blood moon night until it drops the cutscene on me. that will probably be the major obstacle there. i don't expect to run completely out of weapons -- at minimum i can always get more yiga gear, champion gear, and once i have the master sword it recharges. i've never attempted trial of the sword, idk if i will? certainly not until i'm much more confident with my combat techniques)

one of my favorite things about playing video games is that there's always an intended way for you to solve whatever puzzle is presented to you. in games where the intended way is the only possible way, i get pretty frustrated, because i do not have the 30+ years of gaming history knowledge that most games assume -- i got my first controller in 2021 (for PC, so as to decide if i even wanted to get my first console, the switch, which i also did in 2021). but botw is so committed to the open-world creativity thing that there are usually a bunch of different ways to solve the puzzles -- for instance, there are many "stand on this switch and the door opens, now find something to put on the switch and hold it down so you can go through the door" puzzles, and there's always something provided like a barrel or a chest to put on the switch, but on many of them you can also use the stasis rune or 1-3 campfires (which are weirdly heavy) to hold the switch down. so it feels... idk how to articulate this... when i know i *can* just use stasis or a campfire, it's more fun and less frustrating to try to figure out what the game devs were thinking, what the intended method is and especially how they signposted it. (i have watched so many botw streams just trying to get a feel for how the devs handle signposting, because i don't have much of that assumed gaming background -- mainly mass effect trilogy, which handled signposting and loot placement extremely differently in each game -- and i'm not naturally very observant. leia says i'm high INT/low WIS, and that definitely applies to my irl perception score too :P another reason to try for an all chests type of run. getting in the habit of Perceiving things more)

(mass effect 1 is why i even bought botw though. i absolutely love the open world aspects of dicking around on the uncharted planets, except when i trip over thresher maws, so i was like "people are calling this the best open world game ever? i will Investigate" and they were correct)

(also i am very impressed that moldugas are not thresher maws. so damn many things copy dune and have their desert sand burrowing giant enemy be sandworms, complete with the blue tongues, which i always think of as thresher maws because i encountered those way before dune. moldugas are completely unlike thresher maws except for the burrowing and popping up at you. i genuinely can't figure out if there's any rl critter they're supposed to resemble, but by god they're not fucking sandworms)

#jt plays botw

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kiltons-monster-manual · 9 months

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Dragon Talk

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Fanfiction Gen, mild romance. Zelink, Past Link x Mipha. Link, The Light Dragon Oneshot / Short HEAVY SPOILERS Summary: Link is known far and wide as a silent warrior. No words slip past his lips idly. Beneath his stoic exterior insecurities and fears run rampant as well as opinions on everything from food to politics. He finds himself “conversing” with a particular dragon that he likes to alight on and ride to try to unburden his heart. Available also on Ao3: Dragon Talk

Dragon Talk It was the first time he was up here since he had retrieved the sword. It had not been very long since he’d been to the Sky, but it had been a long time since he had been to this specific place… well, it wouldn’t be fair to call it a “place,” would it? Her body was certainly large enough to be a locale and Link wondered idly if one could make a home somewhere on a dragon, like one might consider a sailing-ship one’s home on a long voyage. He concluded that any shelter would be unstable, given the undulations as the great body worked with and against the wind like a snake in the sand. The young knight wondered if using her as a mode of transportation was disrespectful. He had known all this time that dragons were thought of by believers as holy creatures and perhaps as one of the rare people who could actually see them, he ought to be more reverent. How many loose scales and bits of horn had he plinked off of the creatures with well-shot arrows by now? Dinraal, Naydra and Farosh were a bit more dangerous, given their respective elements. Link required no special armors to ride the Light Dragon, a beast who, up until very recently, had kept out of sight in the upper atmosphere, beyond a cloud-barrier that no longer existed. A dragon’s sacred nature was the least of his worries now. He had learned her secret and felt like he owed her something. He certainly couldn’t give her anything he truly owed her anymore. To receive any of it required being a person. Link climbed the dragon’s mane and sat down gently on the patch of shimmering white fur on her head. He rubbed gently the place where the Master Sword had once been stuck. Given what it had taken to retrieve it, he worried that he had hurt her. With anything immortal it was difficult to tell whether they reacted with pain and the usual instincts or if they felt nothing and were merely giving him a test of worth. (Link remembered bitterly how the Master Sword, itself, had nearly killed him the first time he’d encountered it. He was supposedly bound to it by destiny, yet it still didn’t fool around regarding an assessment of strength). He sighed heavily, settling himself as he watched the sun hover on the horizon over the Gerudo Desert. The little hovercraft he’d built to get up here was long gone. He hadn’t been looking simply to get from Point A to Point B, anyway. “Some way to get back to the future,” he said, stretching out and giving the fur beside him another gentle rub. “I don’t know if some part of you is still there – I hope so. I have no idea if you can understand me. Anyway, Zelda, the sword reached me. You did it and now it’s all up to me.” The young man took a deep breath. It hitched. “What did you do to yourself?” He clenched his fist – no, the fist of a long dead king – and grit his teeth. The world beneath them was waiting on him. Every one of the people who knew even an inkling of his story – the Sages, the Sheikah researchers, even the Monster Control Crews who only knew him vaguely as the princess’ knight and accepted him as a decent fighter depended on him to be strong, to bear any burden without complaint. He limited his facial expressions around almost everyone. He threw back his shoulders and stood tall (at least as tall as he could given his short stature – he was rather small even for a Hylian) and presented himself as stoic. He could not let people worry – or panic. He was smart enough to know that he couldn’t bear it all alone, that he had friends, but he had to remain calm, for everyone’s sake. High above the world, however, where no one could see and where no one could hear him but his charge’s bestial remains – he let tears be lost in the wind, leaving their frigid traces on the sides of his face. Here and only here, could he allow himself to cry. ______________________________________________ “So, you know, Sidon’s hitched now. It’s been a while, but I guess I just left that out of our last little talk…” It had been roughly a week, a little more, since Link’s last dropping onto the Light Dragon. “I really ought to update you on everything, right? So much has been happening. A part of me thinks that you see it all, what with being a dragon flying around with nothing to do but look down and around… and you’ve certainly had enough time to know everything that goes on in Hyrule. You would know if the other legends were true or not – you know, the other heroes, princesses, incarnations of demons, that kind of thing…maybe? Maybe you wouldn’t because of the thickness of the clouds? Or because everything looks like ants from up here?” Link chuckled half-heartedly. “What Purah and Robbie would give for the data you’ve been collecting! Well, if you can remember it, or even think about it. Dear Goddess, Zelda, do you look derpy! I came in for a landing right here and… your eyes – it’s probably an illusion from the perspective of someone as small as I am in comparison, but you look like… you aren’t there. I wonder what it is like to be a dragon. Do you have stories that you just cannot tell, your language and very thoughts incredibly complex and inaccessible to mortals or are you as dumb as a sheep?” Link closed his eyes slowly and just as slowly opened them again, mimicking the slow-blink of the dragon. He tried not to think about Zelda’s mind being absent. He hoped with everything in him that she was still there, inside, that at least some essence remained and this is why he could still talk to her, and did. “Oh, where was I? Ah, yes… Sidon… I didn’t peg him as the marrying kind, I guess. I kind of thought that maybe…he was… the way he’d look at me sometimes, but I guess that’s just Zora-manners.” Link sighed again, “Or maybe a simple desperation for a connection to his sister. Anyway, it turns out that the last time we visited the Domain and he was off at another Domain on official business, he was courting the girlfriend. Her name is Kona. She’s very kind. I think you’d like her.” Link stretched out, letting himself lay down with his hands behind his head. Dawn was amazing when viewed from this height and angle. “She’s a healer, like Mipha. I… I miss Mipha. My memories of one hundred years ago are still full of gaps, but I remember more about our friends every day. And, of course, her spirit aided me for a long time… Ever since the Champions’ spirits departed, I’ve felt a lot of loneliness for them – and Mipha especially. I don’t know if you’d want to hear this, but…here goes… you’re…you’re a dragon now, so I doubt you care anymore – you’re beyond such mortal trivialities: With the memories that have been coming to me, I know that I would have accepted the Zora’s Amor. I was going to marry her, Zelda.” He thought he felt the dragon lurch beneath him. He kept steady. “Hey! Hey, easy there!” he said, sitting up and gently scratching the fur where her skin joined with one of her glowing, branching horns. “I’m not an idiot. Well, I’m not as dumb as I look, anyway. We… we had something, too, you and I – especially…recently. I spoke not a word of it… it was improper with my position, wasn’t it? I was your knight – in your employ. I understood the way you looked at me. I felt it in the air between us, and of course… the little gifts you’d make for me.” He patted the chest of his new tunic. “It’s good armor. The lacquered leather works well – has saved my shield-arm more than once already. I kind of think of it as your answer to the Zora Armor, just a little. Something made to protect a reckless man you care about – it’s the same sentiment.” He sighed, thinking about what could have been. “It wasn’t even a royalty and commoner thing… there were not such rules for the Zora, just some concern about the interspecies stuff and lack of heirs, but, with us… it was different, it would have been different. Conflict of interest – not a good look in politics for the people. I mean, after the Calamity, it didn’t matter, did it? After I gave you my place in Hateno and we were just traveling on the rebuild-projects, it seemed like the whole ‘princess’ thing was merely a holdover from the past – not something that was the same as it once was… “Did you know that I decided the outcome of an election? Yeah – in Hateno. The challenger backed down – that was Cece, you know her, that odd fashion-designer that moved in right before our… trip back to the castle. Rede remained in power after they made up. The whole thing was very silly, but the election idea? That’s how the towns have been staying alive. I’ve given thought to how it might apply to the rebuilt kingdom as a whole, in time. It’s not to say that you wouldn’t stay in power, I think you’d be elected in a landslide, it’s just… isn’t it an interesting idea for going forward? Maybe the time for monarchy has passed? My travels have given me a lot to think about. I never shared any of this stuff before because I didn’t think it was proper. In fact, I don’t breathe a word of this to anyone… a dragon makes for an easy conversation partner, I guess.” ____________________________________________________ Link visited the Light Dragon again and again. Her forehead was the best place for watching the sunrise. Every time he talked, it was a different subject. Silent and stoic on the surface-world, he was rediscovering the “chatterbox” days that he’d had when he’d been a child in the gentle, silent presence of this holy creature. He felt strangely at ease between her glowing horns despite who she’d once been, or perhaps because of it. He was finally able to tell Zelda everything he’d wanted to tell her, it seemed. Sometimes, it was something important, his strange theories about the future politics of the kingdom of Hyrule – or at least he thought they were strange – ideas regarding scaling up what had been working for the small settlements into larger plans. He did not know if the princess would have listened to him as a princess, but he had an audience in a dragon. One afternoon, he spent hours rattling on regarding his observations on monsters and some studies he’d taken part in with the help of Kilton: “Their power will diminish once I defeat the Demon King, just as with the Calamity, but they’re never absent from the land, are they? Ever since the days of myths, at least a few of them have been around. Kilton thinks that a few of them might be classed as animals – they bear a distinction from the class, but it’s… a borderline form of life. I know most people think they are born from evil thoughts and intentions, something that exists in nature, but becomes separate. Josha, that young Sheikah researcher that Robbie and Purah have been working with I told you about? The one who studies the Depths? She came across some old writing that classed Lynels as mountain deities. What I’ve witnessed spying on Bokoblin-camps has me thinking that, once freed from influences such as Ganondorf and that Ganon-projection of his, perhaps they could become reasonably peaceful if left alone. They’ll always be dangerous, but some aspects of them strike me as almost… a kind of people. A lot of monsters are smarter than people think – the Bokos can tame horses and hunt in strategy. The Lizalfos…” he winced, accidentally moving a fresh wound, “They’re… too good at ambushes. “I’m…actually afraid that they’re becoming smarter, Zelda, and stronger, and that we will not be able to keep up…” “I’ve got a lot of blood on my hands if they can ever become anything more than servants of evil. I try not to think about it. I come down on thinking that there’s really no chance for them to be anything but a plague. Gotta save innocent folk from being eaten alive. It’s not a fate that I want, although I can’t say I don’t expect it.” He laughed bitterly. “One day, the lost princess’ chosen knight screwed up and ended up in the belly of a Hinox. What a headline for the Lucky Clover Gazzette! ‘The Sacred Sword’s Chosen Hero Becomes a Burp!’ I wonder if I could still fight from within. Sidon has that giant Octorok story of his. Still… it’s so strange hiding in the bushes, planning a raid or looking for a way to sneak past… just watching a campsite with Moblins and Bokoblins eating around it – just like any Hylian and Gerudo travelers one might see out in the woods. It’s only when I snap a twig or they get a whiff of me that chaos breaks loose. “I think someday, it might be nice to see peace come even to them.” ________________________________________ “You don’t eat anymore, do you?” Link asked, casually taking a small, wrapped warm package out of the data-storage on his Purah Pad. “I suppose if you did, it would be something like clouds and sunlight. I’ve never seen any of the other dragons go after anything on the surface.” He sat down cross-legged and pulled apart something stringy and gooey. He savored small bites and licked sauce off his lip. “This is something new,” he said after swallowing. “The people in Hateno invented it. It’s called pizza. It’s a little hard to get the hang of making it at first, but once you do, it’s very simple. It’s basically bread with a stewed tomato sauce covering it and…cheese. It’s… solid fermented milk. I know that it doesn’t sound too appetizing, but it’s amazing. I wish… I wish I could share it with you…” To make good on this, he clambered over to the side of the Light Dragon’s face and leaned over, proffering a slice, dripping with cheese in the wind. The dragon gave no response and simply did a slow blink. Link took his slice of pizza back and solemnly ate it. “I… I suppose you would have to be a person to appreciate it,” he concluded. “I miss those nights in Hateno, sitting by the cookpot outside the house. “You had some of those royal recipes that you’d show me how to cook and you were impressed when I took up dinner with my…inventiveness, yeah…that’s what you called it. I had to survive out in the ruins and the wastes for a full year when I was building up strength to take on the Calamity. I couldn’t be picky and had to come up with some interesting dishes. You loved that venison and rice bowl I used to make. It wasn’t as dainty as a fruit cake, but it was what you frequently requested. Do you remember that, in this form? It must be ages past to you, so long ago to you that you would forget… nights on the road, stopped at the stables, cooking and eating under the stars. I remember how your eyes looked in the firelight when the fireflies would come out in Faron. “Is there a way to bring you back? Is there a way to have that with you again?... “You’d love pizza, I know you’d love pizza…” ____________________________________________ He landed with a stagger and almost fell over as he alighted on the dragon’s nose. Clutching his side and watching his latest hovercraft peel off to dematerialize in the distance, Link landed heavily atop his “therapist.” The Light Dragon, for her part, issued a low groan. It was impossible to tell if she was responding to him, or if it was a random roar. The clouds carried rain today – an easy disturbance to her scales. “Purah said I shouldn’t be out of bed yet… but I had to see you.” The dragon was silent once again, slowly blinking and riding upon her never ending path. Link sat upright and wrapped his hooded cloak around himself. “Gloom swords…cut me up pretty bad. Followed that unconvincing puppet of you into the castle. I was overconfident, I guess, thought I was going to face the bastard down then and there. The Sages saved my butt. We won, but… ugh… “I’m supposed to be recovering, but I don’t think we have any time… I’ll apologize to Yunobo when I get back to Lookout Landing. He was on watch over me when he fell asleep and I managed to sneak out. We… need to find a fifth Sage to add to our power… and… ugh… it’s the only way… I wish I could do this on my own, just finish it…” Link breathed deep, then let out a sharp cry as his movements pulled against some stitches under his clothing. He winced back tears. “I… I don’t know if I can do it, Zelda. The sword reached me…through time, but… it might not be enough… I might not be enough. All of us… we may not win this time. What if… what if all our friends die again? What if the Sages fall like the Champions did? I failed once. And… and… the Calamity was merely a projection of…whatever that was we awakened beneath the castle. He might win this time; despite everything we’ve been through.” Link took a long look at the sky before him, on this dragon-path, it was sunset. “A hero chosen by the Goddess and by the Master Sword isn’t supposed to doubt himself, right? I am full of doubt. I cannot tell anyone how scared I am. If I cannot best him, there isn’t another who can take up this sword.” Link looked at his right hand, trembling. “It will be all for naught. If I am killed, the world dies with me, screaming. I was just cut to ribbons and nearly killed by a mere shadow of that man! I just… I suppose I came up here to tell you that I’m sorry. If it doesn’t work out and you are left watching up here as the world becomes bathed in blood and shadow, I want you to know that I will have done everything to spite it – that I fought to my last breath and that… I am sorry that it wasn’t enough and that I wasn’t enough.” Link looked toward the east. The moon was rising and it was wreathed in red. He breathed deeply. “We have to be enough.” He shivered in the cooling night. Movement hurt. Fatigue made his bones heavy. Purah was right, he really shouldn’t have been out of bed yet. As the Blood Moon reached its apex, his eyelids fluttered. Link felt darkness clawing for him and tried to resist it. He fell in a heap, resting atop the dragon. She adjusted her movements to keep him from rolling off. Bright light greeted him as he awakened the next morning. It was well past sunrise. He felt…alive. Dragon hair and dragon scales shimmered beneath him in the mid-morning glare, but a certain light danced off of them of their own accord. A glow pulsed along the brilliant horns. Link stood to his feet. No stiches pulled and nothing raw aggravated his skin. He breathed deep and carefully walked to stand on the tip of the Light Dragon’s nose so he could at least try to look her in the eyes. “Thank you,” he said simply. _________________________________________ “I don’t really remember,” she’d said. Everyone who knew what had happened agreed that it was a good thing. Mineru, before she’d departed, confessed that her spirit had only kept its sanity while it was stored as data through centuries by going into a type of deep sleep. It wasn’t as though Zelda had much to remember of her years holding back the Calamity, either. She remembered some of it, her power concentrated to hold Ganon back and a bond to Link that had awakened with him in the shrine. She told him that she politely looked way during certain moments that he’d want to keep private, but he had no way of being sure about that. She was, however, in a type of sleep most of the time. Centuries trapped in a bestial form went beyond this, however. It was the kind of thing that could break the strongest mind if one remembered everything. And so, after the whole mess, life tried to resume for everyone who’d survived. After their return to the surface and parting ways with the Sages, each returning to their lands, Link and Zelda wondered what was next. Rest, of course, at the Landing. Hyrule Castle was still in ruins. Zelda, in the end, had simply wanted to go home - and, so it was, she and Link prepared to set out for Hateno Villiage. “So, what’s the first thing you want to do when you get back?” Purah asked her. Link was silent and making the last preparations for their travel by her side, getting bags ready to load onto their horses at the Landing’s small stable. “Oh,” Zelda said, answering quite casually, “I think I should like to try pizza.” Link’s eyes went wide. He stared. She stared back at him. “Pizza? What is that? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it,” Purah said. Link and Zelda stood shocked and still, unable to take their gaze off each other. “Is something wrong? Hey, you two, answer me!” “I…can make you some,” Link said softly. “Hey, Linky? You just SPOKE! And you look like you’ve seen a ghost!” “You wouldn’t believe the story if I told you,” he whispered to Purah as he took Zelda by the hand.

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stormblessed95 · 2 years

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Sorry, this is a long one:

I've read a lot about the „hot and cold“ dynamic with JK. Like him apparently sometimes being distant with Jimin or not praising him enough. I know some people get insecure with that. And if they perceive it that way, that's understandbale, it really is (as long as it doesn't serve a toxic narrative). Everyone brings their own personal experience to the table. But I personally never perceived JK that way. But that might also be because I see some of my personality traits in him (even though we are overall vastly different personalities).

That being said, I want to share my experience and viewpoint when it comes to JK and him being distant:

He's just not always focused on his surroundings: Some of the perceived coldness might come from him sometimes not fully reacting or engaging with Jimins shenanigans on stage.

My personal experience: I find it difficult to react spontaneously. Especially when I'm either zoning out or fully concentrating on something. It takes me several seconds to get out of my own head, realize what's happening around me and react to it. And during those moments I'm 100 percent in 'resting bitch face' mode. And I do see that with JK, too. Didn't he say that he sometimes zones out? I saw many instances during interviews, when he wasn't really there and I can relate so much. Or when Jimin said, that Bam isn't very interested in his surroundings and JK said „like father like son“ (something like that).

To be honest, he does that with other members, too. When V took his hands to dance with him during a concert in France, JK was quite stiff during that. And it has nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with him being distant towards V. He might have been surprised and needed a couple of seconds to adapt. And then the moment was already over. And then there are times when he immediately reacts to V's or the other members shenanigans. So it's really not a Jimin thing.

Funny though, that when Jimin jumped up to him during the Las Vegas concert and his immediate reaction was to try and pick him up. That was a muscle memory moment if ever I saw one. Dude didn't even need to think about it.

He prefers to be more emotionally intimate in private during the right time and the right place:

I can also very much relate to JK not immediately answering calls or text messages. Those stress me out a lot. I love writing with other people on Tumblr, because I can always chose when I feel comfortable writing back.

But write me a text message in private: I can ignore that shit for days/weeks/months if I don't feel like answering.

And yes, that might make me a bit asocial. But on the other hand, friends and family can always come to me with serious problems and I will do my damn best to make them feel understood, comforted and cathartic.

I see the same with JK. He might not always want to be social, but he will give his everything to support those he loves: in private! Not necessarily in front of a camera. He feels much more comfortable making compliments in front of a camera, though. Funny though, how JK immediately answered during Jimin's Birthday Vlive. There's only one special person in my life, where I'm (mostly, lol) answering immediately. But that's me (doesn't necessarily have to relate to Jikook).

He's a master at expressing his emotions through art

And then we also need to consider his other big love language: art. I also feel much more comfortable expressing my feelings through my drawings. It is like second nature to me. That's why I find his GCF's, his tattoos (@roo-bastmoon mentioned it to me) and the fact that we could often see him filming Jimin such a big deal.

He loves art and art is his love. Him expressing himself artistically is him expressing his love. You don't always need words to express your love and appreciation.

If you made it this far reading my gibberish: lol, thank you.

Very well expressed opinions my friend. You don't always need words to express your love and appreciation. But people love to forget all the times JK has done just that too. You mentioned his art. But like, his ACTUAL art too. He gifted Jimin a drawing of himself back in the day as the first unofficial golden closet sketch. He drew a masterpiece of Dynamite Hobi as Hobis birthday gift. The members talk often about how he is generous and kind to them. He offered up his OWN computer as a prize on run bts. He makes an effort to meet Jimin halfway on the things that are important to him, like actually answering his phone when group chats otherwise get ignored indefinitely. He is one of the softest and warmest and sweetest members. When people see him out and about he is often remembered for his kindness and inviting energy. He shows how much he loves and adores his hyungs ALL THE TIME. The song Begin literally exists. And he does so much to showcase how close he is to Jimin. People who think that man is cold, don't know ANYTHING about him and haven't been paying a lick of attention. He deserves better. They all do. And these narratives only ever come from antis. Don't align yourself with their bullshit.

#jikook #kookmin #jk softest bunny

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