#but no less rewarding

[lambsouvlaki]

For the Hell of It - Date Night

Characters: Jason Todd x fem!oc

Rating and warnings: G, no warnings.

Word count: 1,237

Summary: Dating a vigilante is hard, but worth it. Early on their relationship, she has to face that.

Masterlist

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On an early autumn night they strolled across Robinson park. Actors in Elizabethan costume were prancing around the low concrete stage, doing some warm-up crowd work. Jason’s arm was slung over her shoulder, and her dog Marlow trotted happily alongside them. 

They weren’t great at the actual Dating aspect of dating just yet. It was still early days, and they had sidled into being together by following the same trajectory as their friendship, now with sex. They supported and trusted each other, they were both loyal and committed. They had already had two years to figure all that out. 

Romantic nights out had been planned, postponed, and cancelled. Andy had eaten alone at a restaurant booked for two, not to know until later that Jason was fighting Killer Croc in a cage match. The week after he was blowing up an exotic animal trafficking ring before the major players could flee to south america. 

He was apologetic and self recriminating. She could already see the barbed little seeds of ‘can this even work?’ trying to take root in his mind. 

But she wasn’t a quitter. 

It wasn’t the first time he’d been forced to stand her up. It wasn’t even in the first five, and she’d long since made her peace with it. It just felt more calamitous because now it was called a date. 

It wasn’t a big deal, she decided. If other people could make it work, the partners of firefighters, nurses, other on-call professionals, then Wonder Woman help her, she could too. 

Despite telling herself it wasn’t a big deal and she wasn’t worried, when Friday night swung around: bright, warm, and dry she let out an audible sigh of relief. 

The light was swiftly dying but the park was surprisingly busy. It was the last Shakespeare in the Park of the year, and there were food trucks and little battery-powered candles for sale. Families and couples of all ages milled about looking for good spots. A polite group of children came over and asked if they could pet their dog, to said dog’s eternal happiness. 

“I propose a strategy,” Andy said.

“Hit me.” 

“We split up to look for clues, and by clues I mean the best food trucks. That yellow one has empanadas, and we passed a flag before that said something about paella.”

He nodded seriously. “You take Marlow, I’ll take the backpack, and we’ll meet back here in ten.” 

They broke off like fighter jets zooming away, and roughly ten minutes later they returned with arms full of delicious smelling cardboard boxes. They set up their picnic blanket on the slope some distance from the stage where they had a good view of the whole area. They’d arrived at the perfect time, because the park was filling up. 

They sat on the ground and laid out the spoils of their hunt, just as the show was starting. 

The empanadas were sold out, but they had choripan instead, which Andy picked up for Jason. The paella was with shrimp and mussels, and was absolutely delicious, if a little small. Jason had found Korean fried chicken, and little skewered things called tteokkochi that neither were familiar with but were excited to try. 

It was a confused and messy dinner that they dove into with relish, and some negotiations over final bites. 

Getting the choripan was a strategic move on her part, because Jason was a sucker for anything in the neighbourhood of a hotdog. The fried chicken was the perfect counter, he knew her weaknesses. The tteokkochi turned out to be deep fried rice cakes slathered in sweet and tangy hot sauce, that had them both licking sticky fingers and promising to try them again some time. 

Up on stage a short performance of the play within a play from Midsummer Night’s Dream was finishing up. 

Next up, and the main show for the night, was an abridged version of Much ado Nothing. Jason scrunched up their food packages and lobbed it into the nearby trash can, and Andy got out the thermos of non-alcoholic mulled wine from the backpack for them to share. 

They relaxed together on the slope, leaning back on their hands, with Marlow sitting up next to them on look out. 

Jason glanced away for a moment. 

“Hey, can I borrow your scarf?” he asked. 

“Yeah, sure.” She handed it over without questioning the strange request. 

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek then wrapped it around his neck so he could pull it up and hide his face.

“I’ll be right back.”

He snuck away through the crowd. 

The play continued, the actors hamming it up appropriately. The night had set in properly now, and large lights beamed down onto the stage leaving the rest of them in darkness. The audience around her laughed at the jokes and gags. 

She leaned against her dog. 

The night was getting cooler.  

Why did it hurt more now than it had when they were just friends?

She’d had no expectation of him then, she supposed. She hadn’t wanted him to be hers.

No. That wasn’t true, she had wanted him badly for some time, but squished it all deep down inside of her. Now it was out, with promises made and claims staked, it was hard to keep that once contained desire on a leash. 

He would give his life for her if the situation demanded it. She knew that, with the same confidence she knew tomorrow would follow today. 

But he would give his life for just about anyone if the situation demanded it. He was never going to change. She wouldn’t want him to.

She looked at the silhouettes of people in the dark around her, an elderly couple on camping chairs to her side, and ahead of her a family with two children who were fast asleep on a blanket. Not very long ago this park was so dangerous people rarely came here during the day. 

She looked at her things around her, and thought about what she would need to do if he didn’t come back tonight. She would take a taxi home and bring his stuff with her, hold onto it for him until he could come to her place to pick it up. It could be in two weeks, it could be tomorrow. 

This was going to be her life, forever. 

She pulled in deep breath and leaned her forehead on Marlow’s neck.

“Okay,” she said to herself. “Okay.” 

About twenty minutes after Jason left, Marlow looked up and to the side. She followed his sight line and she saw Jason returning through the crowd. He dropped something into the trash can with such a casual air it took a few moments for her to recognise it as a disassembled pistol. Nobody else noticed him at all.

He stretched out on the blanket behind her and gently pulled her back against him, his hands around her waist. He returned her scarf, wrapping it loosely around her neck. The knuckles of his right hand were grazed. He drew no attention to it, acting for all the world as though nothing had happened and nothing was ever going to happen. He definitely hadn’t just disarmed whatever dangerous hooligan had been planning to do something terrible. 

She loved this man so much it hurt.

“What’d I miss?” he said in her ear.

“Not much.” She leaned back against him. “But I’m starting to think this Benedick guy doesn’t actually dislike Beatrice after all.” 

He snorted a laugh. They settled in for the long haul.

Next>>

#jason todd #red hood #dc #jason todd x oc #red hood x oc #jason todd x fem!reader #jason todd x reader #for the hell of it #my fanfic #fluff #angst #yearning #dating a vigilante is hard and lonely #but no less rewarding

[nucleqr]

i never posted the full initial conversation that astarion and karlach had before going to the hells, so i'll do that now before i go ahead and delete all my files

"astarion. no."

#it's so strange #because like #i never expected to get so far in an origin karlach run #much less beating the game? #like i did that #and i got this as a reward which like #feels good man #astarion #karlach #astarion x karlach #karlach cliffgate #the woman that you are #astarion ancunin #bg3 act 3 spoilers #bg3 ending #karlach origin #bg3 #john baldur #baldurs gate 3 #nuclear.7z #origin karlach

[leupagus]

On Voting in America

So one of the most profound comments on routine chores that I've ever encountered was, hilariously, the Pickle Rick episode of "Rick & Morty," where (after a lot of shenanigans have already ensued) this therapist absolutely lays Rick out:

"I have no doubt that you would be bored senseless by therapy, the same way I'm bored when I brush my teeth and wipe my ass. Because the thing about repairing, maintaining, and cleaning is: it's not an adventure. There's no way to do it so wrong you might die. It's just work. And the bottom line is some people are okay going to work and some people, well, some people would rather die. Each of us gets to choose."

I think about this at least once a week — usually while I'm doing my laundry or sweeping or some other task that needs doing and won't get me anything more than clean clothing or a dog-hair-free floor. There's no Pulitzer for wiping down your microwave or scrubbing your toilet; no one's awarding you for getting all the dishes out of the sink. At best you have the satisfaction of crossing it off your list.

Voting is very much the same (and I'm talking about the US here, as an American). Sure, you sometimes get a sticker; but nobody's going to cheer for you. There's no adventure here, no potential for anything more than crossing something off of a list. It's a chore, something that needs doing in order to repair, maintain, and yes even clean. So I get why people don't like doing it.

And I've decided I don't give a shit.

Do it anyway. Your country takes astonishingly little from you — taxes, the once-in-a-blue-moon jury duty, and a theoretical draft that hasn't been used in over half a century and likely will never be again — but it asks you (asks! not requires! not demands!) to vote once a year. It's not always easy; especially in conservative states, the impediments to vote can be ridiculous. But it is once a year and unlike in our nation's all-too-recent past, you will not die if you do it.

In fact, the worst outcome from voting these days is that the person or issue that you vote for loses — but you won't know if they lose until after the election. Polls are less accurate now, for a whole host of reasons; you cannot know until after the election who or what will win. This makes your vote more valuable than possibly ever before.

Use that power. Not because it's exciting or even rewarding, but because your vote is what keeps our country's metaphorical teeth from falling out and our metaphorical ass from stinking.

Brush, wipe, vote.

#ok the metaphor may've gotten a little gross but rick & morty chose it not me #anyway if voting didn't matter then rich people wouldn't do it #and I can assure you: they do #also: please don't think of voting like a reward for the person you're voting for #or as a punishment for the person you're not voting for #my mom's advice was: #think about the most vulnerable people you care about and vote for the person or issue that will make their lives better #and you'll rarely go wrong #yes there are often two bad options but if you're old enough to vote you're old enough to understand the difference between bad and less ba #anyway that's all the political lecturing I'll do this year #except maybe to complain about the 18-hour day I'll be having on Tuesday #oh also SIGN UP TO WORK ELECTIONS WE NEED MORE HELP #thank you #politics!

[salthien]

bugs. gay ones, even

#hollow knight #quirrelhollow #hk quirrel #hk the hollow knight #thk #quirrel #ive been doing pomodoro method for packing and rewarding myself with ipad time #right one was initially going to have 'i survived being doomed by the narrative' shirts but i got lazy #please enjoy more gay bugs. i want to draw others eventually but i need to put thoughts into How i want to draw them #so will likely have to wait until after move #also shoutout to yrlocalghost for letting me appear out of nowhere slap art into a discord convo and then vanish again #i dont have anywhere else to test post/preview stuff (god knows im not posting qh art in the hk discord) #makes me less anxious when Someone Else likes it before i post anything :') #lorne art

[nellasbookplanet]

The more time I sink into andromeda, the more I suspect the biggest reason it ultimately failed commercially was because of the massive tonal shift I've already mentioned, and how there was probably a pretty big chunk of original trilogy players who simply no longer fit as a demographic, while the game failed to reach the people who might’ve enjoyed it.

The original trilogy, much as I love it, feels a little bit like a wishfulfillment power fantasy for a very obvious demographic. Almost all women are overtly sexy in design and the f/f relationship in the first game seems to be written along the guidelines of 'what would a straight man find hot'; you play as someone cool and confident and powerful, the most specialest human ever, and maybe you aren’t always respected but YOU and the NARRATIVE always know you're right and you get to be rude to and sometimes punch/murder people who disagree with you so it’s fine. The game then salvages all this by means of genuinely well-written characters and arcs, really cool sci-fi tech and lore, a fantastic story, and meaningful and hard-hitting choices and consequences (which also allow and often encourage you to steer away from that exact macho ideal).

Enter andromeda. Instead of being a super powerful supersoldier from the start, you're the kid of one. You barely know what you're doing. Everyone doubts you, including yourself. You don’t get the assuredness of knowing you are Right and Cool that you have as Shepard. You don’t demand that same respect. And I'm sure there are a lot of people who hated that.

#mass effect #mass effect andromeda #to be clear: i don't think this is an actual flaw of the game but i do think it played a part in why it wasn't a hit like ME 1-3 #andromeda has plenty of flaws #some similar to the original trilogy and some all of it's own #the biggest being that it fails to take the same big swings and risks as the trilogy #and therefore feels a lot less hard hitting and rewarding #had it succeeded in that emotional core the way the trilogy did i actually think that original demographic would've enjoyed it too #in a similar way to how i adore the trilogy despite not being the intended target audience. it has enough substance to carry past its flaws #nella talks

[mariusroyale]

depression kicked my ass today

#it won today #maybe tomorrow #ill make myself a cake and hate myself less or something #i notice i always make a cake if i feel like sinking into the earth #(usually cos baking yields a result that i like and feel accomplished for) #(it’s mostly therapeutic and rewarding if everything goes well) #(if it turns like shit im gonna kay em ess) #text post #i don’t remember whose art this is i just remember saving it years ago and it still feels the same #*melts into the ground*

[enden-k]

aventurines best team comp having ratio in it makes me feel so many things

#hthm and kvh not working super well together in a team so we got ratio and aven who u should not separate <3 #and who work amazing in a team RAAHH #topaz is also included which is super cute i love it (topaz-less tho bc i lost the 50/50 on her banner as usual from me) #im alr looking bc i wanna use the triple reward thingy for aven or better drops for my other chars and saw that and im #*clutches chest* #babbles #tbd #hsr tag

[doumekiss]

Lately I've seen a lot of complaining in the dungeon meshi tag about how now there is a lot more m/m works on ao3 than f/f but like farcille is still the most written pairing and by a lot :

And the reason why m/m is more popular is because there are more possible pairings like labru, kabumisu, chilshi, laishuro and others, while f/f ships with the main characters the only available options are farcille and marcille/izutsumi. And Kabru being the most shipped character with the male characters it's kinda cool because it is still rare to see characters with dark skin being shipped with the main character in anime fandoms (I literally can't think of any another example of a character with dark skin being part of the most popular slash ship in a anime fandom).

#also people if you want more farcille content go and write it #it's what the labru shippers are doing #and I get it that sometimes being a femslash writer can be a little frustrating I've published 432 femslash works on ao3 #and in general they are way less popular than my m/m and f/m works because it seems that the only people interested in reading f/f are wlw #but it can be really rewarding even with a smaller audience #thoughts #fandom #dungeon meshi

[favouritefi]

im always surprised when anyone lists jopsons promotion as a happy scene because when my friend and i were watching it they were like "papa's paying attention to you but he's not really Listening" cause like, a promotion isnt really what jopson wants and it doesnt benefit crozier to show this level of favouritism when the chances of mutiny are at an all time high and it wouldnt hold up if they returned to england anyway. so crozier giving jopson this promotion is akin to him admitting to himself "we won't make it" and more specifically "my best boy won't make it" and trying to give jopson some amount of recognition / daddylove before its too late. he does a shit job at it because it isnt the kinda love jopson truly wants, but crozier thinking he knows best for everyone else is pretty par for the course.

#and also like the whole #let me give you a higher rank #that is actually further removed from me #that entails less intimacy #because from my understanding of the world #this is a reward #is so yummy #and so terrible #all at once #the structures of empire #always fucking them over

[uniquezombiedestiny]

come on

please tell me

#link leads to the music used in malks 5th story - alone by dan farley #art #malkuth #lc malkuth #malkuth lobcorp #lobotomy corporation #lobotomy corporation spoilers #made this at like 2-3 am in a fit of 'god i love malkuths story and dialogue so much' #i could go on forever and ever but here ill talk about how much i love her expressions. they way the cognition filter has her with that #constant cheery look #when shes not smiling it looks odd #and in her 5th story cutscene the music really hammers in the feeling of like. loneliness. of the facade fading away or crumbling #'come on; please tell me. so i can feel rewarded; just a bit.' #this final moment when her smile fades hits the hardest of all for me #knowing it doesnt come back beyond that (ofc until post meltdown) #the just... desolation. desperation? it feels so alone. calling out into the void #the entire time it feels so profoundly sad honestly #but this makes it feel hollow. when malkuth truly feels/looks entirely hollow #though here i may have drawn it less empty more like. expectant #i hope it still gets that across - the feeling of hollowness #again i could go on about malkuth forever. my favorite sephirah i love her so much

[extrajigs]

Forcing myself to do a walk cycle instead of a run AH.

Want to get into the chimeric body language a bit more but something I wanted to note is that natural chimera posture is not 'upright'. So generally a chimera will walk/stand with their head more parallel to the ground and only lift it up when their attention is perked. Also they walk with the diagonally opposed limbs pretty well synced up, their hind legs are further spaced then the front as well.

Animated on 2s, 32 frames.

#walk cycle #animation #chimera #mirum #fantasy #spec bio #speculative biology #worldbuilding #art #walk cycles are like runs only double the work and much more precise #therefore MUCH less fun #but rewarding! #also might revise the front feet since i SEE the popping but will fix on my clothing pass #no true north

[soft--dogs]

dragon friends i found on ebay this week and immediately purchased without hesitation

#THE HOARD GROWS #my taxes ended up being less than i thought so this is my reward #normal adult purchases #gotta take more comms soon to fund my dragon army

[daffi-990]

Fuck it Friday

Here’s Buck and May’s first meeting from I’ve been sleeping so long in a 20 year dark night (now I’m wide awake). I’m so close to finishing this one. It was meant to be just a small 2K fic but it’s more like 5K now .. whoops 😅. Got a few things left to type and then I can edit and maybe get someone to read it and she’ll be good to go!

Prev snippet here.

Buck closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, letting the sea air fill his lungs to the brim. Evan Buckley has finally been boxed up, tape sealing the lid shut. This is his fresh start. He exhales, opening his eyes and setting off in search of breakfast and coffee, so much coffee.

The Main Street of town consists of different shop fronts including a grocery store, flower shop, hardware store, butcher and a cafe called Abuela’s. Buck sighs in relief as he opens the door to the cafe and it quickly turns into an appreciative moan as the smell of freshly brewed coffee hits him.

“If you’re letting out sounds like that just from smelling the coffee, we may need to put a warning sign up on the door for the noises you make when you actually drink some.”

A blush begins to creep up Buck’s neck as he looks behind the counter where a young woman is standing. She’s maybe 18 or 19 with warm brown skin, dark brown shoulder length hair and a face that should really be on tv or in magazines. She’s beautiful, and Buck can tell just from her kind eyes and warm smile that it’s not just a skin deep beauty.

“Uh sorry, it’s- it’s been a long couple of days and I’ve been living off of shitty gas station coffee and- and whatever they’ve had in their hot boxes.” He rubs the back of his neck, ducking his head sheepishly.

“Well today you’re going to be having fresh coffee and an equally fresh breakfast.” The young woman states, leaning casually against the counter. “I’d go with the chocolate chip pancakes, they’re extremely popular and for good reason.” She picks up a menu and slides it across the countertop towards Buck who steps forward to grab it, leafing through the pages. “I’m May by the way.”

May holds her hand out towards him and Buck accepts it, shaking her hand. “I’m Buck, and chocolate chip pancakes sound amazing.” She smiles at him and Buck is helpless but to return it with one of his own, a genuine Buck smile, not the fake one he’s had to wear for so many years. “And the biggest cup of coffee you have. I don’t care what kind, surprise me.”

No pressure tagging: @jamespearce9-1-1 @thewolvesof1998 @watchyourbuck @callmenewbie @spotsandsocks @hippolotamus @wikiangela @lover-of-mine @rainbow-nerdss @giddyupbuck @devirnis @fortheloveofbuddie @loserdiaz @spagheddiediaz @malewifediaz @wildlife4life @weewootruck @exhuastedpigeon @eddiebabygirldiaz @theotherbuckley @try-set-me-on-fire @athenagranted @disasterbuckdiaz @fiona-fififi @homerforsure @hoodie-buck @honestlydarkprincess @jesuisici33 @jeeyuns @ladydorian05 @clusterbuck @captain-hen @bekkachaos @monsterrae1 @prettyboybuckley

#this is before Buck meets Chris and Eddie 😊 #fic: I’ve been sleeping so long in a 20 year dark night (now I’m wide awake) #daylight series #daffi writes #it’s school holidays here in Australia so I have two kids home instead of one which means less typy typy time #but I’m also loving having both my kids home 🥰 #but Mumma also needs space 😅 #haha parenting is fun! #(it’s hard and rewarding and all the emotions rolled into one)

[thornofthevale]

things i thought i was prepared for: decoding the morse on the mandelatech website things i was not even fucking remotely prepared for:

#the mandela catalogue #i'm SOBBING #i couldn't slow the video down enough i had to pull frame by frame and count frames #it was misery and was rewarded with TEARS #WHO #if it's ruth i'm going to LOSE IT #we never had her body tbf and thatch survived his alternate encounter #if its dave i will ALSO LOSE IT #though it feels less likely

[timemachineyeah]

I think in the next Animal Crossing, you should have to earn your control over the environment. And I don’t just mean working to get terraforming, I mean, like, earning it before getting to decide where other people’s homes are and stuff.

Idk, the deserted island is fun but I kind of hope in the next one we’re back to being a new face in an already established rural community. And you can still progress to moving absolutely everything on the map and decorating each square foot and flower to your liking, but, like… these other people have lives of their own.

I like knowing a rando isn’t gonna move onto my carefully curated flowerbed and ruin my path, but I don’t like how much the villagers in ACNH feel like fashion accessories rather than neighbors.

#timemachine wuz here #acnh #animal crossing #also Isabelle should be mayor #also I know I said this before the last game but we should get to choose a biome #and maybe even change the biome later idc #it’s not that I am opposed to godlike control of town aesthetics #I miss being able to choose themes for public buildings like let me redesign town hall cowards #it’s that I don’t want the villagers to be just another piece of furniture #I want them to feel individual and relationships with them to matter #like in new leaf you had to have a good relationship with villagers before they’d request a public works project #so if you wanted to decorate your town you had to befriend your neighbors #and certain requests would only come from certain personalities #so you had to get to know ALL your neighbors #which gave you the reward or breaking through a cranky or snooty’s shell and seeing their dialogue change #not like the crafting recipes which might be personality locked but they’ll just give it to you #idk I just want to feel more cozy again. less Instagram more strange comedic zen garden with animal friends y’know?

[autismjpg]

i think something i really love about steeplechase in comparison to Balance is how intentionally the boys have played the steeplechase PCs as friends who become friends over the campaign. montrose talking about how beef and emerick are like some of the immeasurably FEW people he enjoys talking to felt really and earnest!! they rely and trust each other, they have fun banter and it feels warm!!

now, obviously, taako merle and magnus are known friends and have a found family with the IPRE, but there is much much MUCH more tension. taako and merle are actively antagonistic towards each other, and there’s a lot of limited warmer moments until much later in the campaign. and this totally totally suits the campaign and the characters and makes a delightful dynamic!!

but i just love how warm steeplechase is!! montrose emerick and beef have a real rewarding sense of bond and affection and it’s something i’ve really adored about this campaign now that we are looking at the close end of it

#balance is forver my favourite #but the warmth and love and trust is less blatant #it exists in some very real scenes that are really important #and small moments #and that is also really rewarding #but the warmth and softness of steeplechase is something i’m feeling very affectionate towards #it’s a sign the boys are a little more intentional with the characterisation and roleplay #but gosh it’s wonderful #steeplechase is the first campaign i’ve seen to the end since balance #so this has been a hard won battle by the boys #taz steeplechase #taz balance