#i should count how many human fighters i have at this point

[ghostlynimbus]

I keep being like, i'm going to make a nonhuman d&d character and then i make another human character

#i just like feats a lot okay #; A ; #i've been using the custom origin/custom lineage from TCoE too sometimes i gues #d&d #dnd #i should count how many human fighters i have at this point

[gingericywolf]

one day I'll make myself an Ao3 account, until then

[Carrying the bull's shadow part ??; A Safe Space (temp title?); Word count: 3875; have fun on this trip in Ben's mind]

Ben couldn’t sleep. He had tried, multiple times already that night, managing to only get short naps before his body woke up again. He looked at his watch, but it was useless, the thing had stopped at some point, not sure if the battery ran out or it just broke the day all fell, the hands fixing at 2:38 and never moving again. Why did he keep the thing he didn’t really know. Its reflective surface was good to start fires with the sun. Right. He closed his eyes hoping to rest at the images of flames flickering and rising, keeping him warm and cooking the fish he caught. But a few minutes later they were open again, mind on alert. It was a stupid habit that just didn’t want to let go from his time alone, when any sound would mean a dinosaur coming to get an easy meal, a sleeping human. Sleeping on trees had helped ease the constant anxiety a bit, at least from the idea of Compys chewing on him alive, not that they would have dared after that stunt he had pulled on them.

He could not stop the smirk coming and pulling at his lips at the memory. Yeah it had been like one of the worst days ever. Even then he couldn’t sleep, both for anxiety and Bumpy stealing his leaf ‘bed’ in the small shelter he had. And apparently he got a really bad temper when sleep deprived. He had snapped against Bumpy, scaring her away, shelter destroyed. And without the, at the time, baby ankylosaur at his side the Compys seemed to decide to torment him. The whole day, everytime more of them showed up, until after he had cried himself to sleep he woke up to a storm thundering and a swarm of like fifty-more Compys surrounding him. And that was the night they learned to fear Benjamin Fitzgerald Pincus. So many things changed since then. It was like the island opened a door for him, taking him in, and he became who he was now. Not anymore scared Ben from camp, but a true survivor, a fighter, the boy of the island, wild child, as sometimes they called him now. One that instead of running from an angry dinosaur would stand his ground and fight. And somehow this worried the rest of them more. I can take care of myself. They don’t have to worry. A bitter thought, but a true one. He had survived alone for he didn’t know how long while they had each other, easy access to ‘food’, if that canned stuff could be called food, and a “solid” safe base. If there was something that still scared him, it was the idea of turning back to who he was before. There were only a few times where he wished he wasn't like this, that he still was the same as before, that the… incident…, had never happened, that he could have stayed with the others from the moment of their stranding. For the most part he was happier with how things went. Here. On the island. He learned to call the place Home, to the point he was reconsidering leaving it. Staying on the island.

Maybe that was something he should have worried about more, but he was done worrying and overthinking and panicking and… oh that was what he was doing now, wasn’t it? Who did he want to fool, he still was scared of many things, he just learned to hide it better and to fight. Scared and armed, a terrible combination. He sighted and slowly started sitting up in his bunk, looking around.

It wasn’t actually his bunk, it was Yaz’s, but she was sharing the bed below with Sammy that night and he had been just too tired to stay on the couch or a branch, wanting the feeling of something closer to a bed under him.

And then he didn’t sleep, because of course that was how it worked.

He rolled over and silently jumped off, avoiding the creaking planks and casting a quick glance behind, making sure to not have disturbed the two girls cuddled together. Sammy holding Yaz and Yaz’s head resting on Sammy’s chest. Quite the adorable sight.

The impromptu cuddle sessions were probably the reason the two had claimed the bunks hidden behind the couch, which was the most amount of privacy any of them had… if you didn’t count the couch piece was usually Ben’s night spot, since he didn’t have a bed, and in the weeks passed he had gotten a lot of material to tease the Track-star like an annoying little sibling.

Peeking over he took a quick head count. Darius bunk was on the floor above, the only other instance of privacy in the treehouse, and hopefully he was asleep. Kenji was in the hammock at the other side of the treehouse, his tall frame barely fitting and one of his legs dangling out, but definitely sound asleep. A dinosaur could roar in his face and he would still keep on sleeping probably. Then the bunk on top… was empty. Must have been Brooklynn’s time to take watch. And indeed there she was next to the ladder, resting on the railing with her bat in hand. Rip the possibility of sneaking out. He could have managed if any of the others were up, but Brooklynn was impossible to deceive, second to her were only Yaz and himself probably. Still it didn’t kill to try. Unless Lynn hits me with that bat, then maybe it would kill to try.

Picking up his own weapon he silently moved out of his hiding spot, still sure to avoid the creaking and unstable bits of flooring. If he could reach the tree on the side maybe he could swing off the branches.

“Where are you going?” The whisper was loud enough for him to hear without disturbing the others, and the tone firm and serious. Ben froze in his tracks and slowly turned to the girl, trying to not look too guilty and come up with an excuse. Brooklynn was still facing the jungle, and not looking at him. How in hell did she bust him? And I'm the one with freaky jungle senses? 

“Uh. Umh. Bathroom?” He attempted. Oh now she turned her head towards him, eyebrow raised. Not buying it. He did not mean to make it sound like a question and that busted the lie.

“Ok ok… uh, just checking on Bumpy.” He hoped this was more convincing. 

Brooklynn pointed under the treehouse, where Bumpy was resting. Then she fully turned to him, arms crossed and bat bouncing, like the tail of a cat that was getting slightly pissed off. Pink hair glowing almost white in the moonlight and giving her a more menacing aura. 

“Oh, weeelll, look at her. Sleeping nicely” He said a bit too enthusiastically and leaning on the railing himself. Idea! “Yooou  know what, you look pretty tired too, why don't you go to have a nice rest, mm? I’m plenty awake. I can take the watch turn” He smiled at her, putting an arm around her shoulders and pointing at her bunk.

“And yooou know you are a terrible liar. Also Darius just woke me up for the turn change so, I’m plenty rested too.” She smugly said, “And as if I didn't know you’d sneak away god knows where.”

“Aw. shit.” He was so unlucky tonight, and if Darius had just woke her up then he probably was still awake too, so he was probably observing the interaction. He had noticed how he seemed to keep an extra eye on him. Everyone was worried he’d disappear in thin air. Sometimes he thought of doing it. There was a reason they didn’t let him do many night shifts.

With a groan, he basically slumped against the railing, letting one leg fall between the bars, enjoying the feeling of partly weightlessness.

“Ben?” She was looking at him, bat resting at her side. He gripped his spear tighter. 

With a roll of eyes Brooklynn went back to watch the jungle. “If you need to go out a bit, I'm not stopping you, you know. Just… don’t hide it. I guess we get a bit too much sometimes, but it’s just because we are..”

“Worried? yeah.. you guys don’t have to. I..”

“Can take care of yourself. We know.” She finished. “See you are fitting right back in, we are starting to know your lines.”

He should have been happy about that, why wasn't he? Still a small smile formed on his face. “I knew it was useless to try and sneak past you. Thanks for… letting me out,” he laughed a bit, “I just need to go on a walk and get some air. I can’t sleep anyway” He started making his way down the ladder, securing the spear in his belt.

“I’ll bring Bumpster with me, so I’ll not be alone. She will wake up anyway once she senses me on the ground, we have a bond like that.” He proudly smirked.

“Yeah sure, Wild Child. You and your Amazing Dino be careful, and don’t give me that look, I’ve heard some big roars.” That nickname Yaz had given him really had stuck with everyone it seemed.

Ben gave her a thumbs up, indicating he had heard her, and jumped the last steps landing on the ground. On cue, Bumpy stirred and looked at him questioningly.

He greeted her and patted her head, then rubbed her horns in apology for waking her up. He didn’t need to speak, but did anyway.

“Sorry girl, wanna go for a walk and get a midnight snack, or two or three a.m one. I have no clue what hour it is”. Walking at her side he directed her to the shrubbery and out the camp clearing.

Brooklynn watched him disappear in the dark jungle, a bad feeling of deja-vu coming to her. Then she looked at the upper floor of the treehouse and crossed eyes with Darius.

-

As he walked next to the bushes, Ben picked up a few berries and tossed them to Bumpy, who wasn’t one to refuse the sweet snacks. He felt bad for needing this time alone, but he also knew that if he didn’t move he would go insane in bed without sleep. He planned on tiring himself out so that at least the next night he would pass out without a doubt. 

He took a drink at the river and then kept walking along it, trying to remember to not stray too far from the camp. Bumpy nudged him in the arm.

“What's up girl?” She looked at him, making a low bellow. He wished he could understand her as well as she seemed to get him. After a while, heading back, they found a big bush, filled with the red berries they both loved. Bumpy started munching on it happily and Ben refilled his bag. You never had enough stash here in the jungle

As he did so his mind started spiraling again on many unsaid things. There was a lot he wasn’t sure he would ever be ready to share with the group. The only thing he ever talked about was his fight with Toro, and even there just part of it. He thought a lot about the Carnotaurus, who a few weeks after the fight, started appearing everywhere he went. Following him like a shadow. Or was Ben unknowingly following the dinosaur? Sure it was more than just coincidence, considering he even saw him…

He got distracted by some chirping and the sound of tossing around. Picking his spear back in hand he went looking. He took notice of Bumpy huffing and was quick to tell her she could keep on eating. He had an idea of what it was. He had been thinking about them just now.

And turning behind a big tree, he found exactly what he was thinking of. Two baby dinosaurs. Small nubs on their heads where horns would soon grow, bodies made for running, sharp pin-needle teeth filled mouths, rows of rounded scales on the striped coloration.

Baby Carnotaurus. And not just any Carnotaurus.

Toro’s babies.

“Ehi, Arrow, Bullet,” he called. Yes he had named them.

The two raised their heads and stopped play-fighting, or better to say Bullet stopped bullying her brother, to go and jump on him. Ben raised his braced arm with practice as the little one grabbed onto it and they started playing tug, while Arrow watched, unsure. Shy. Ben smiled at that, he reminded him so much of how he was before. Still once he grew up he would become one of the greatest predators of the island.

Bullet was total opposite of her brother, as one could easily tell. She was totally her father’s daughter, having earned his aggressive disposition. She was very much a bite first and think later. Just like me now. As much as it made him proud it also worried him, her recklessness could bring her to danger.  Just like the others worrying for me.

The brace snapped and Bullet ran away victorious with the bark piece in her mouth and low happy barks.

“Nice job girl, you were faster this time, I need to step up my game.” He clapped his hands. He had played with them like this a few times now, in the couple weeks they had hatched, sometimes even with Toro around watching. He wasn’t sure what all of that meant.

Truth was he only kept the brace for this. And for looks. He didn’t need it anymore, the skin under it having scarred completely. It was kinda ugly and he didn’t want to let the others see so he kept on covering it. Like he covered all the scars, the ones he could, physical and psychological ones. While he was overthinking again, Arrow had gotten closer, bumping his round scaly snout to his cheek, where another scar rested, one he could not hide. Then the chick crawled on his lap and half under his shirt, head poking at the neckline, nubs and scales tickling his chest. He laughed as the dinosaur shifted in a comfortable position and happily purred. He had been doing it since day one and didn’t seem to care he was quickly overgrowing his favorite spot. He checked back to see Bumpy still eating at the bush and he relaxed against the tree, before looking back again realizing they were quite close to camp.

Were the roars Brooklynn warned about Toro’s? Then where was he?

“What are you two doing over here, where is dad?”

That wording felt right.

Of course they could not answer him, instead just looking up with their big eyes. Bullet came at his side again, giving him the brace back, her little fangs showing through the lips and eyes shining.

“Round two?” He put the brace back on and prepared his arm again. It was harder playing with Arrow on his lap, chirping in protest. They kept playing for a while, until the ground started vibrating and the trees parted. The scarred Carnotaurus entering the small clearing.

Ben had smelled him before he came into view, the stench of burned flesh never seemingly leaving the creature. His skin still, and probably forever, not fully healed. He was amazed by how he still survived with everything he went through. With all the pain he was constantly subjected to. Probably as unlucky as he was.

The little ones ran to him chirping and he reached down rubbing his snout to theirs, lowly grumbling, sniffing. Then he saw Ben and grumbled again, louder. Before the boy could move the dinosaur closed the distance, leaving no way for escaping. Ben closed his eyes preparing for what was coming.

Lick.

Wet and sticky saliva all over him.

He opened an eye just as Toro snorted, the smell of rotting flesh from his meals filling the air around for a moment. He would definitely need to shower later. Another lick. His hair now sticking up like Kenji’s.

He was alive.

He was laughing.

He blinked trying to get the saliva out of his lashes, and looked up at the Carnotaurus. The scar on the snout glistening in the moonlight, mirroring the one on his cheek. His stomach twisted knowing he had partly reopened that scarring with the spear point at his side, hitting an already vulnerable spot. He looked into Toro's yellow eyes, and he was transported to a different clearing, at a more desperate him, ready to fight the one that was blocking his path, fear crashing through his body as he thought it was either win or death.

Rough scales rubbed against him and he took hold of the large head, scars brushing scars.

“What..” he managed to say, before the air was taken out of his lungs, body being pressed against the tree and he grabbed onto the horns. He felt his feet leave the ground as the dinosaur raised his head. “Well this is familiar.” He said, upper body now laying on the dinosaur head and snout, like it had once before, just that at that time he was being tossed around like on a rodeo bull, his shoulder scraped, remembering how it felt to hit the sharp horn. He also remembered the moment after it, when Toro roared at him and for a second he looked in his eyes and understood him. A feeling of respect and… something. Battle over. Then Bumpy came crashing before anything else could happen and the rest was so fast that he couldn’t rationalize anything. After that he just buried it all in his mind, happy to have Bumpy back and the rest is history.

Back to the moment he could hear the babies’ chitters under him as he was put back down. They twirled around his legs as Toro laid down, with a big yawn but not relaxing, curling his tail around the babies and the boy.

Ben remained watching a bit, still dumbfounded by the situation, before resting his back on Toro’s side, feeling the scales with one hand. They were different from Bumpy’s ones, having a more leathery feeling even burned, with occasional hard bumps. Osteoderms was not the right words to describe them, but the only one that popped up in his mind. Darius would have known better, but it was the only word he could think of as it was the word for Bumpy’s, who even in the less armored spots had constant hardened scales, rough to the touch, abrasive almost, if his legs where any proof of what riding a dinosaur without protection and in shorts was like. So similar yet so different. Thinking and overthinking all the encounters with the dinosaur as he memorized the feeling of each nub and scale.

He stretched his legs and yawned, before curling against the warm side, feeling it rise and lower with every breath. Arrow took back his place on his lap, and Ben started petting him; Bullet attached herself to his side. He looked at the two babies and then at Toro, his attentive gaze resting on the three of them, a huff puffing his nostrils, lips curled in an almost amused expression, before turning to the jungle again. Maybe Ben was getting tired, because his mind was starting to give him absurd ideas. Yet it seemed so logical. Observing the dinosaur. Was it a crazy realization he had just now, or had he been too blind to notice earlier.

He had greeted him like he did his babies, he let him play with them, brought him to his nest, he had been watching over him from way before, after their fight.

It was because of an interrupted, unfinished battle first.

It was because he saw him as one of his own too, now.

Well that was going to be a hard thing to explain to the others, he didn’t even know how to start. Or if he wanted too. There was so much he was keeping from them, but would they understand or think he had completely lost his mind? He had not realized it until now sure but he somehow had felt it anyway, in the way he always found him.

In a way he too had watched over Toro. That's how he knew that there was something that was making him nervous at this moment, feeling the twitching muscles behind him, as the big dinosaur looked around the darkness, keeping them all close.There was a reason he had been now openly ‘affectionate’ with him. If he had moved the babies closer and closer to where the kids camp was. He would not be surprised if one morning he found them under the ladder, or directly on the treehouse. He did not know what could cause the normally bold and aggressive dinosaur to be more on the defensive side, but for sure it could not be anything good. Not if he wanted to keep his family close.

A heavy thumping came from the bushes that got Toro to look in the direction, baring his teeth growling.

A familiar asymmetric head popped in, bellowing, tail swishing from side to side and thumping on the ground.

A Small body trembled under his shirt, Arrow hiding as well as he could, Bullet stretching with an annoyed peep.

“Ehi Bumpster, it’s all ok, see. We are all chilling.” He raised his hands to calm his friend. “Look”.

And Bumpy looked, at him, at the babies, at Toro, and she huffed. Almost looking more jealous than anything. This surprised Ben and he wondered if Bumpy already knew, if she and Toro understood each other or if they were too different species.

Toro looked away, not fully relaxed, remembering the hard hit he took from her and the humiliation of falling off the cliff, but not hostile, giving space.The ankylosaurus was Ben’s pack and he accepted that long ago. What he could not accept were other members of said pack.

After a bit Bumpy lumbered closer, lowering herself to the ground and then plopping on her side with a sigh, effectively creating a shield, her tail close to Toro’s front side and her head next to his tail. Theoretically keeping watch on the backside, but practically falling asleep after the fill of berries. This got Ben to truly smile, the two sides of his dino family being ok with each other.

Because Ben didn’t know how or when it happened exactly, how long it had really gone on, but now he knew. And somehow that made sense. For once in his life he found it easy to accept what was probably the strangest thing ever happened to him. It was easy to feel like, and maybe imagine, the dinosaur as a father figure, that here was where he belonged. More than his own home had ever felt to him. Looking at the baby Carnotaurus again, no, at his little siblings, he let his eyes close and finally that night, sleep found him peacefully in that safe space within the forest of Nublar.

you reached the end! here a little treat with some bonus images, what i actually see on my pc, a version that i could not replicate and an un-burned toro one

#jwcc: carrying the bull's shadow au #jwcc #camp cretaceous #toro jwcc #bumpy jwcc #ben pincus #arrow and bullet the baby carnos #giw art #giw writes #jurassic world #carnotaurus #ankylosaurs #brooklynn jwcc #B-team #darius bowman #jurassic world: camp cretaceous

[flanpucci]

I already talked about why I love Pucci on a logical sort of level but I didn't get in depth about what I think and feel about him as a character and why he stuck with me enough to get him permanently tattooed on my skin so I'm gonna get into it a little bit. Feel free to skip this one because it's not really analysis and delves a tiny bit into interpretation/headcanon so I guess it's more blogposting than anything.

To be honest although I really liked his design and the cool black representation he is, and Whitesnake was instantly my favorite stand, I didn't like him right away, I thought he was a little bit of a weirdo in his introduction scene with Miraschon, and it took some time for him to grow on me. His design and themes land right in the middle of stuff I've been interested in since forever (Christianity, the moon, space, technology, arts, science...) so of course I had an interest in him. I remember that I really liked the fact that even though he's a priest he's knee deep in the occult with the green baby and making Foo Fighters etc, I thought that was super interesting. It took me til the end of the part to root for him, and then when he was defeated, I realized that I wasn't as happy as I should have been lol.

I guess one of the first reasons why I was touched by Pucci on a personal level is that I felt really strongly empathic towards him, and his behavior and actions just let me feel like I caught a glimpse of his many emotions inside, even though he has a thick facade. For example, his loneliness felt very real to me. Having lost most of his family, and his dear ones by his own fault, them being taken away from him, him choosing to live a celibate life in the clergy, shutting himself in a prison for the biggest part of his life... His self inflicted suffering just saddened me a lot deep down inside. He's also got big existential dread, wondering about the greater purpose of his life from his childhood. Isn't this something that touches everyone at some point?

But not many people have their entire beliefs about their existence and identity crushed at a young age in their life. Pucci, when his brother is found out to be alive, has everything that he built himself upon, his justification for being alive, completely shattered. It then turns into tragedy, yet he seems to find a little hope and comfort with Dio, only for them to be crushed again when he dies. And then he holds on to this impossible grief for 22 whole years, unable to accept that his fate in this world is to suffer so much loss. We don't see him sad after his sister died, we don't see him cry or flinch. Living his life in this manner, he surely had to have a lot of pent up emotion, which he surely dealt with by dissociating them from himself and pushing them onto Whitesnake. But not entirely, it's a little 'see-through'. When you think of it, he's amongst the most 'perfect' characters in the series, he's superior, composed, poised, tightly upkept, articulate. He has both an advantage in status and seniority in age over almost everyone in the part. He seems to be well adjusted and respected by people working in the prison, and in the city. Yet he's also very faillible, often prone to panic, he begs for his life at multiple times. Scenes like the frog scene where he slips and messes up the prime number count because there are frogs on his expensive pants make him reek of humanity when otherwise he could easily feel 'out of reach' and inhuman because of how superior he is (like let's say, Kars is, which is a lot of his appeal though!). Same when I recently discovered his watch is worth several thousand dollars. It felt like peeking into his true self right through the wall of righteousness that he built to protect himself and further the plan. His bad sides and inclination towards cardinal sins are really fun to watch and try to notice. That's also why I don't like when people pass him off as a good person, because to me he's really not, he wouldn't be half as interesting if he was! But he's not completely evil either, and as Weather tells him, being so sure that his evil is necessary for a greater purpose is what makes it even more heart breaking to me.

On top of that, his quirks and unique traits make him both very endearing and relatable, especially if you happen to have similar ones! In my case counting has been my primary means of shutting down anxiety attacks for years now, and when I saw him do it too, I automatically felt really drawn to him. Same goes for his ramblings in the worst moments, they made him really stand out, and I felt drawn to him because of some examples he used that hit close to my interests. If you've read my other analysis maybe you know that I tend to interpret him as autistic and so this hits close to home too. In the same manner, the fact that such a cool and powerful character grew up with a canon disability (in his foot) made me feel happy as a disabled person.

There are scenes where he expresses love and devotion very directly and in a raw way, which is very rare, and was also surprising because of how indirect he usually is to make a point... His love for Dio however you wish to interpret the nature of it is deep and sincere and rooted in both despair towards his impossible situation and the hope that maybe another miracle could occur and turn things around for him. I thought the evolution of the way he talks about Dio was really interesting and it moved me to see him very attached to his dear friend. Also the scenes with Dio let us see how sweet and interested he is when he's with someone he gets along with, and how different Dio behaved towards him made me like Dio a lot more too.

When I watched Stone Ocean I had just finished The Outer Wilds and FFXIV Endwalker, and in a way these 3 pieces of media hit the same nerve in me. I was thinking a lot about the purpose of existence and the end of the universe, so I really wanted Pucci to fulfill his potential and go as far as he could, taking the entire universe with him, breaking every rule of his world and becoming bigger than the story itself. It's still how I see him and why I admire him a lot. I was very shaken by his death and the part it played in the entire series. In a sense I get the feeling that he was obsessed with destiny because he knew he was created to do something, and he was right, he was created by Araki only to suffer his horrible backstory, to have everything taken from him. But his extraordinary inability to accept it pushed him to break the wall of the story and try to subtract himself from it, while opening everyone's eyes on the cruelty of the (fictional?) world they live in, and giving humanity the possibility to be at peace with it. The first time I saw the ending, I was completely crushed by the weight Araki put on him, making his total erasure from the world the only condition for everyone's life to suddenly become better, almost perfect. I was disgusted that it was expected from me to be happy that the world was finally rid of him when it all started with an impossible to predict chain of events. Now that I look back at the ending, I think maybe I misunderstood it, and I've decided to believe that he maybe was freed from the curse that was his existence in the story, and that he took upon him many of all the 'wrong' that was in the original world, making it all right for the other characters. I hope Perla is happy in the new universe... Even though this is probably just delusional coping...

Although I feel sorry for Pucci and wish he could have solved his problems differently, I'm glad the story is sad as it is because otherwise I wouldn't have felt so deeply for him. In a sense I felt his pain so strongly that I was instantly drawn emotionally to find a way to 'solve' his situation, he's like I tormented soul that I have to appease, and that's why I pick up a pen and draw, write, or spread love and wholesomeness. That's also why I draw him peaceful or sleeping most of the time, why I bring my plushie to see nice things 😔🫶 I also get a lot of different feelings coming from Araki's way of drawing him throughout the part, and I think Pucci was a character that Araki learned to love and understand along the way too, instead of liking him from the start like he did Dio or Jolyne, but he probably was a lot to handle even for him lol.

Jojo's been one of my favorite mangas for more than 7 years now and I'm so glad Pucci was the last boss for it, embodying and carrying in him the legendary Dio without being overshadowed by such a legendary character, while giving the story and Dio's character the last missing piece of the puzzle to truly tie things up nicely. Saying goodbye to him and to Stone Ocean after watching it also meant saying goodbye to the universe that I had loved and enjoyed for many years so it was bittersweet. In any case he's the peak, the climax, the strongest and has permanently changed the course of one of the best mangas in existence with his actions, and I take a lot of pride in my taste and the fact that my favorite character is the one who did all that haha 😫

And lastly I'd like to say that even if it's not really related to Pucci as a character, this last year that I've been active in fandom, liking him as pushed me to develop my skills, I started drawing, got back into writing, went on trips cause I wanted an excuse to bring him to the Louvre, go out of my way and explore new places when I made that collection of pictures representing the 14 words, made friends, I'm going to Japan soon and I'll be bringing him with me to meet them, he has fueled my imagination and given me more inspiration than I've ever felt, and I'm forever grateful for that. It is not easy nowadays to feel very intense positive emotions, life can be stressful and tiring, so I'm thankful that liking him has given me the push I needed to start doing many new things, interest myself in the wonders of the world, go to church, explore my city, go see art, travel, feed my mind with knowledge and beauty. Heck I even listened to that Handel's CD, it was wonderful. And read an essay on prime numbers when I have math dyslexia!?

I don't know how much deeper I can get without sounding completely off my rocker so I'll leave you guys here, hope you enjoyed and feel free to tell me how you relate to your favorite characters and how much they mean to you!

Fame redraw for illustration by me~

#enrico pucci #pucci #jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #stone ocean #jojo #wild as fuck post #i might be crazy #as you can see i dont relate at all with being an obsessive person too /s

[winniethewife]

It's undeniably real (Layla El-Faouly x The Moonknight system x Reader)

Chapter 10: Sometimes I'm in a room where I don't belong

Last Chapter ~ Next Chapter

Words:992

I never knew how it would affect me. It seemed simple, or maybe just necessary. I loved them, I should be able to do what they do. I just had no idea how good I was going to be, or how that would change my life. Sometimes I swear that in the silence I can hear everything come crashing down. I can see them, their loving deep brown eyes looking at me, they know I didn’t mean to, I can’t control this. Our life hangs in the balance, I just have to tip the scales… I wasn’t the same after that day, I wasn’t meant to be the same after…But will they ever look at me the same after this? Will they still love me the same? Knowing who I really am. Knowing the monster I could become? I feel like there’s a bomb in my chest, any minute I will explode and hurt everyone I care about. Their bodies, against mine, the warmth of their love. It’s like a Band-Aid on my bleeding heart. I can’t keep up, I can’t keep doing this. It’s eating at the corners of my mind. Sounds are so much louder, the lights so much brighter, everything is intense. Constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for something that will never come.

I need to tell them. I have to tell them. Now, not later. It can’t wait any longer

I look out the window as I stand with my back to the room, my heart is racing. I have to tell them. I know they’re starting to get more worried, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve told them that everything is fine with a fake smile that doesn’t reach my eyes. I don’t think I can avoid their questions any more. I take a deep breath and close my eyes in an attempt to bring my anxiety down, I feel a familiar arm wrap around me, and I turn to see Marc, his eyebrows furrowed.

“What’s on your mind?” he asks softly, worried. His dark eyes looking into mine. I leans into his embrace, he puts another arm around me.

“I need to talk to you, and Layla. There’s…there’s something we need to talk about.” I say softly into his chest. I feel his body stiffen and his breath hitch in his chest.

“Did we do something?” he asks with obvious pain in his voice, already blaming himself for my odd behavior.

“No, Marc, This…It’s me, all me okay?” I reassure him, my hand over his beating heart.

~

I sit across from them as they both look at me with astonishment on their face. After telling them that I had started to remember what had happened, and that I had been training to be a part of an underground syndicate of extremely deadly fighters hired out to do the dirty work of the villainous people and organizations of the world. When I told them the fact that the academy’s solution to the system being dismantled was to brainwash the students into forgetting it happened, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Marc so angry, the way his dark eyes are filled with fire, his expression stone cold. Layla on the other hand the moment I stop speaking rushes to my side and held me close.

“If I had any idea…We’re going to figure this out, and they will pay for this.” She says softly to me.

“I don’t know if there’s anyone to make pay at this point. If the system, whatever it was, is now dismantled and gone, is there any justice to be found at this point?” I sigh and I feel Layla’s arms tighten around me.

“We have some contacts who might know something. Jake has been working in the underground world for so long, someone has to know something.” Marc says darkly his face still as cold as ice with passion burning in his eyes. Its obvious they want to do something. I just don’t know what to do. Do I even want to look into this dark part of my past?  Layla and Marc start talking about possible routes as I feel the numbness creeping over my senses again, I can barely feel Layla’s touch anymore.

~

“So you’ve been dissociating then?” Steven asked softly as I sat halfway in his lap on the couch. His arms around me as he looks at me with a caring nature.

“I guess that would be the term yes. I don’t know, I’ll just be doing something and everything will go numb, like I’m not really here? I don’t know. It started when Jake took me to the shooting range and we started to realise…what happened.” I answered, my voice is wavering more than I expected. Steven Hummed softly in understanding. He seemed to be thinking about everything we had been talking about. The dissociation, the nightmares, and the distance I put between myself and them. It was hard. Steven seemed to be deep in thought as I rested my head on his chest, listening to his breathing, his heartbeat, it was calming, helping me stay in the present.

“Well, Jake’s contact in New York checks out. And they found someone who might be able to help us make sense of all this.” Layla said as she walks into the living room, pocketing her phone. “It also seems that some of the Leadership of The cult of the Jackal has been seen in Manhattan, they’re trying to drum up some support, maybe get some new members.” Layla says as she sits down on the couch next to me putting her hand on my hip as she smiles at me. “We’re going to figure it out okay?”

“Alright. So New York it is.” I smile at her. Steven chuckles.

“Always wanted to see the big apple. Why is it we never go anywhere nice when the world isn’t in great peril?” We all laugh.

~

Masterlist

Taglist: @redeyerhaenyra @summonthesoups

#moon knight #marc spector #x reader #jake lockley #layla el faouly x reader #marc spector x reader #jake lockley x reader #moonknight x reader #steven grant x reader #polyamory #poly representation #moon knight system #moon boys #layla el faouly #Spotify #steven grant #angst #hurt comfort

[itsscromp]

Welcome to HELL-A

Time for another experiment, Dead island has been taking over me for a while and Ryan has interested me as a character. Note: Loosely inspired by character.ai. Warning: Intense violence and gore. Word count:2.2K

Los Angeles was now the biggest shit show you had ever seen in your life, With the infection now spreading city-wide, you were unfortunate to miss the evacuation flight. You were sadly left to fight on your own as the infected mauled your grandparents to death... What was once a simple vacation with them has turned into a fucking nightmare.

You were wandering the streets of HELL-A as what people are calling it now to find some food, Most of the supermarkets have been wiped clean, but thankfully you saw a convenience store that managed to be fully stocked. So sneaking in, you began to stock up your backpack. But in the midst of doing so, you then began to hear heavy footsteps as the person entered the store also. You grabbed your weapon and hid yourself. Looking between the shelves, you saw a man, he was wearing a fire fighter's uniform. But with people fighting for survival, You were given little choice but to leave. As you snuck around, you accidentally kicked an empty soda can, making it cling across the floor. The man was now on high alert.

"Hey !! Who's there ?? Come out !!" He gripped his sledgehammer tight.

You froze in place, holding your breath in tight. You could hear the footsteps increase as he got closer and closer. "I know you're there, Just come out." He continued to walk around the store until he then saw your face in between the shelves. "I see you back there"

You were now in fight or flight mode, You pushed the shelf onto the man and tried to run. He got pushed down against the shelf before pushing it off and held his sledgehammer over his chest preparing to swing. "You ain't getting away that easily" He swung the hammer at you.

"Woah woah, Easy easy... Friendly..." You raised your hands in surrender.

The man held his hammer up, pointing to you. "And how can I be sure ???"

"Uh... I have a brain... ??"

He looked over at you. "I mean... How do I know that you're not a zombie pretending to be a human ??"

You gave him a "Are you stupid ??" Look, this guys has clearly watched too many movies.

He lowered his sledgehammer finally a little bit. "Alright... You're acting like a human, I guess I'm gonna assume you're one" He put the sledgehammer over his shoulder. "What's your name kid ??"

"Y/n, You ??"

"Ryan... So what are you doing out here ??" He looked at you with a relaxed look.

"I was looking for food"

"Oh... so you've been surviving by yourself ??"

You nodded, putting your weapon away.

"Must be pretty lonely out here eh ??"

"A little yeah"

"How long have you been surviving out here by yourself ??"

"About a week now ??" You lost count of when the outbreak started, everything had gone so fast.

"Dang, you've got some guts kid, I'm about the same as you and it's been fucking hell"

"I guess, maybe stick with me ??"

"Hmm... Well... Yeah why not, I need someone to survive with anyways, especially with those damn zombies roaming the streets."

"Speaking of which, It's getting dark, they'll become more active and aggressive, we should find some shelter." You looked out the window, finding the sun setting.

"Yeah.. your right, You got any place in mind or should I take the lead ??" He looked at you.

You then pulled out a tourist map of LA pre-outbreak. "If we take this road up here and then continue on, we should be able to make it to Beverly hills."

"Why are we heading there ??"

"Because one, all the rich people have likely evacuated, and two the houses will be empty" You smirked and folded the map.

"You're right, so it's basically free shelter now, alright let's go !!"

The two began to walk out into the street, finding the road and now on their way to Beverly Hills. The two now getting to know each other.

"So your... a fire fighter ??" You looked at his uniform up and down before finding the helmet. On the front you noticed something a little different, trying not to laugh at it.

"Yeah.... Why ??" He looked at you confused, but really... Please don't say it, Please don't say it.

"Ok, first off, You're not a fire fighter, cause if you were your helmet should say the state dept, not the sexy dept" You began to snicker.

"What ?? W-wait how did you know that ??" He tries to hide the helmet and immediately turns a little red on his face.

"You're a male stripper ??" You tried not to laugh so loud.

He put his hand on the side of his face, hiding his embarrassment. "Well... yeah..."

You regained your composure again before being serious and playfully nudging him. "Hey, no judgment, serious" You smiled reassuringly.

He sighs "Ok... Fine you got me, I'm a stripper, And I was using the uniform to get onto that flight... But now I'm stuck here... I can't even deny that I do look attractive in it though" Making you both chuckle.

The two then eventually made it to Beverly Hills and found themselves in front of a mansion, Y/n then pulled out a bobby pin and began to pick the lock. "You must be really popular with the ladies"

"I mean... Yeah I am, I get paid good money just for dancing and stripping, it's a pretty embarrassing job, I have to admit" He shrugged.

"Why would it be embarrassing ??" You continued to pick the lock.

"I mean... I get paid to just take off my clothes and dance in front of strangers. People are bound to make fun of me since it's a pretty weird job" He paused for a brief second. "But you know... money is money"

"You gotta do what you gotta do"

"True that... I'm curious though... what was your occupation ??"

"Retail clerk" you shrugged

"Did you like your job ?? He looked at you "Because I used to work retail and it's the most annoying job ever... I don't miss it one bit !! Especially with those customers... They were brutal sometimes"

"Oh tell me about it !!, God specially those people who always are so perfect and everything had to be perfect for them" You grumbled

"Yeah... And especially out here in LA, Most of the people out here are rich and entitled. They just don't know how to act towards other people sometimes. And I had to work once during Black Friday. Worst day of my life" He shuddered

You managed to get the door unlocked "Got it"

"Dang, you're quick" They walked through the door. "So did you always live in LA or did you move out here ??"

"I was on vacation with my grandparents, Just before the outbreak..."

"Oh man... you got caught in the middle of this ?? That sucks..." He looked at you sympathetically before then looking around the house. "So now what ?? This place is fairly big, There's probably a lot of stuff inside"

"Yeah, Make this out little base or something" You smiled a little

"Yeah, that would be perfect... Although I hope no zombies have made their way in there already." He says as he walks around looking at the different rooms, he sees a stairway that went upstairs. "There's probably even more rooms upstairs" Motioning you to follow along.

The two then went upstairs, finding 5 more rooms, shit this place was really big. "Who freaking owns this house ??" You inspected one of the rooms and found a massive gaming setup and cameras too. "A streamer ??"

"Yeah... It seems like it too, Hell I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we use some of there their stuff" He smiled having a look.

"Big time, but we should check if the power is still operational" You stood up.

"Yeah, good call" The two then walked around the house to find the circuit breaker, Ryan then found more gaming consoles in the living room "Woah !! This guy is loaded !! look at this whole setup he has !! How much do you think he spent on this whole gaming thing ??"

"Focus on the power Ryan" You chuckled

He realized he got distracted as he heard you call out his name, he stopped admiring the set up and walked to your voice. "Huh ?? What'd you say ??"

"We're finding the power breaker" You snickered.

"Oh right right" He chuckles a little

The two continued to look around the massive house until finally finding the circuit breaker in the garage and switched it on, The house coming to life.

"Alright the power is on !!" Ryan clapped and rubbed his hands, he could hear the stuff beginning to run up the top. "Now that's figured out, we can go search the whole place for food and other stuff"

"Yeah we sho.. Oh hello there !!" You turned around and then found the owner's cars. "6 fucking cars !!"

Ryan then noticed and his eyes went wide. "Holy hell !!, Look how fancy they are !!"

"Lambo's, Mclaren's, you name it" You walked over and inspected one of the cars, You two picked the best freaking place to hide out.

Ryan admired his reflection quickly in the window "This guy must have been super rich... Or has a ton of debt"

But the happiness was short-lived, some of the noises from outside the house attracted the infected to the house door, You and Ryan heard all the familiar groans.

"Did you hear that ??" Ryan was immediately on high alert as were you.

"Yeah, Follow my lead" You pulled out your weapon and headed upstairs, Ryan closely following you. Once they reach the top, they can see at the entrance windows, the infected outside were banging on the door, trying desperately to get in.

"Something must've attracted them" You looked out.

"Yeah... Damn this isn't good"

You looked around and then saw a display weapon, Smirking. "I got an idea" You then went over and smashed the glass of the display weapon, flicking your thumb against the blade, yep super sharp. "Get the door would you ??"

"Thinking what I'm thinking ??" He then went to the door, readying himself with the handle. "On 3 ??"

"One... Two... Three !!"

Ryan then flung the door open and then swung at the first zombie he laid his eyes on. You do the same, the pure carnage ensues as the two of you start to get covered in blood and gunk. The innards of the infected spilled out onto the pavement as you hacked and slashed your way through them.

"Got a good swing on you bud !!" You said as you chopped a zombie's head in half.

"Thanks" He continued to swing though more of the infected. "You doin' alright ??"

"Managing !!"

The two continued to slash your way through the infected until there was none left, you breathed a sigh of relief for a little bit until you jumped, feeling a zombie's hand on your ankle. Ryan pushing you out of the way, stomping his boot on its head, smashing it open like a ripe watermelon.

After gathering himself for a bit, he turned to you and smiled. "I'm kinda impressed, where did you learn those skills ??"

"Video games" You nonchalantly said.

"That's it ??" He chuckled as you shrugged

"Guess you can learn a lot from video games then"

"Yeah... But now I need a shower" You flicked the blood off your hands.

"Yeah, That's probably a good idea"

So the two headed back inside and barricaded the door, heading for the first shower, Finding some of the owner's spare clothes, this would do for a while until you and Ryan could head back out and try and find something in your size. After you finished your shower, Ryan took his turn and came back out later, shirtless, letting you see his physique. "Wow the ladies reeeeeeaaaaaalllllyyyy love you" You chuckled.

"Yeah well, it's a part of the job, The ladies seem to have a thing for muscle" He bounced his pecs as a statement. "Maybe I could show you a few of my routines" He snickered before making you both lose it.

"You know Ryan, you're a good guy" You said now serious.

"Thanks, man... I appreciate it, you're a good person too, I haven't met anyone as nice as you since shit went south. I feel everyone out there is so... self-centred, but you're not, it's just nice seeing someone who's actually kind... If that makes sense" He chuckled

"Yeah, It's refreshing"

"Yeah, It's comforting... It helps knowing someone with you who won't judge you for what you do or stuff like that... It feels safe... I feel safe"

You smiled wide, raising a fist. "This is gonna be a good friendship, I know it"

"Yeah, I believe it too, this will definitely be good" He gladly returned a fist bump.

Whatever HELL-A throws at you both, you knew that you two would have each other's backs.

#platonic #reader insert #Dead Island #Dead Island 2 #Dead Island Slayers x Reader #Dead Island x Reader #Ryan Dead Island #Dead Island Ryan #Ryan x reader

[makima-s-most-smile]

Trigun Maximum 9.2

And the second part...

Trigun Ultimate: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

Trigun Maximum: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 7.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, You are here!

04: At the verge of death

Again, complex feelings. Wolfwood spared the bandits, but not Livio? No way. Wolfwood expects Livio to heal with the vials after he killed Chapel.

And here, Chapel goes Speedwagon for us readers and explains what modifications Livio went through.

I… just how Nightow draws the blood splatter on the wall, makes Wolfwood’s wounds feel so much more real. And I have to be honest, that started with the last fight on the ark, it is like NIghtow’s drawing had a level up.

Willpower against Willpower.

Midvalley was right that Wolfwood is a God of War.

This panel… Damn. The dynamic poses, the lighting especially on Wolfwood and the way his face is drawn... Wow.

And this sounds so incredibly desperate. Wolfwood pleads for Livio’s life. Wolfwood’s desperation feels so real. I don’t remember reading Wolfwood begging before. Even on the arc, Wolfwood was somewhat kept together, his doubts and pain expressed internally only when he thought he would die. Here he shows his fear and care for Livio openly to Livio. Wolfwood loves Livio. Livio cannot die. If he dies, I do not trust that Wolfwood could go on.

Wolfwood is an incredibly brilliant fighter, but if Chapel is right then Livio is physically better than him. Wolfwood has only a set amount of chances until Livio would overpower him in the end, so he has to take desperate measures.

05: Demon

Is Wolfwood the demon the chapter title mentions? He went beyond Chapel’s expectations and overpowered Livio. Like Midvalley he stands corrected.

I mean… he was trained by you and then he had to run after Vash for like nearly three years. You learn a trick or two from that.

But that is not the only thing, yes, Livio has physical buffs shoved up his arse til kingdom comes, but Wolfwood has for one much more experience on the field and with Vash, too, and, while he is a massive derp in human interactions, he knows how to read people. He just does not know what to do with it.

Does… Does Wolfwood do the weird killing aura plant stuff now, too?!?!?

First time reading, this confused me. There are only 9 of these important weapons! You get the tenth. Now I know it means that Wolfwood is good enough in his… uh… craft that he deserved to get his own made. But, question, is it only ten Punishers? Or ten of these cross weapons as a whole with each having their own name? Because Chapel has one, I do not count Livio’s two and Razlo’s three, since he got under Chapel after Wolfwood, so after this flashback.

The Eye of Michael was founded around 5-10 years after the Great Fall. This is a flashback to TeenWolf, so he should be 6-10 years younger than the current timeline Wolfwood. Sects and such tend to sprout out of the ground like conspiracy theories when times are hard and what is harder than the Great Fall? I’d like to know more about its foundation time. Knives and Vash were walking around together then, so I would be surprised if Knives helped it along. Did he corrupt them later and they started out as something hopeful?

I love the flashback and what it points to. The name of the Punisher is sacred. Wolfwood does it justice by bringing Punishment not to Livio, not to humanity, but to the abuser Chapel.

This will be important later. I always interpreted this as that there is a finite amount of vials your body can process. Like everyone has a limit. Additionally, the vials heal by fast aging the body to heal it up. So every vial is a few years off, but if you go beyond that limit, you die, because you are beyond your maximum time. But Stampede makes me wonder, is it how many vials you can take at the same time or over your whole life? Because I thought the latter, but at the rate StampedeWolfy seems to throw them back… Another thought to my former idea, if you take more than one, it’s effect does not add to another but gets multiplied for the better AND worse. But those are headcannons, since we do not get much about the vials.

We, the readers, get an additional visual hint by Nightow drawing Razlo’s expression from the masked side. This is Razlo.

Did he hide the third arm in his body? I thought it was somehow weirdly placed on his back, wait no, that is the fabric ripping. Still, the third arm makes me laugh so hard. It… just looks so derpy. And off balance, too! Yeah, give him a full additional iron arm on one side! That will teach him.

The chapter starts out with Wolfwood presented as the demon, but it ends with a picture of Razlo in diablo mode. Razlo is the demon. I know Tri-P stands for Tri-Punisher, but the Trip of Death sounds, well, like a trip in itself.

06. Fortitude

Razlo may be stronger, but he is so much more naive… Why would he even think that the Eye of Michael would be friendlier? I get that they trick kids, but that is really… Dunno.

Razlo IS Livio’s fortitude. But is this chapter truly about Razlo’s or will it circle back to Wolfwood’s fortitude?

Uh… that’s a way to appreciate your servants… Again, Razlo does not care about others. Razlo exists because he is there to protect Livio’s life at all cost. But this introduction makes it difficult to feel empathy for him. The way he treats others and life in general is revolting.

Wonderful fight scene and the way Wolfwood crashes into the surroundings makes it just feel so much more visceral.

Again… Does Chapel want Wolfwood to die? I… Razlo boasts about his fighting prowess and Chapel puts him down, commenting on how Wolfwood did not fight with his true power, that he held back for Razlo. And… It does not read as Chapel being on Razlo’s side, but Chapel wanting Wolfwood to let go of his chosen path and return to his true “assassin” form and that Razlo is the thing that will make Wolfwood do that… Razlo reads as the unaware sacrifice for that specific goal.

And Chapel’s anger comes from Wolfwood staying true to his chosen path. His pride is hurt from Wolfwood rebelling against his order. And now, after he tried the last time to return Wolfwood, he prefers to kill him for his transgressions.

Is he? Wolfwood started his path to change before meeting Vash. He tried to kill Chapel beforehand for the orphanage. Yes, the way Wolfwood comfortably stays against killing if it is not needed, is thanks to Vash. But he was on the path to that decision long before meeting Vash. 

Additionally, isn’t cursing Vash kinda against Chapel’s belief system? Vash is an independent plant, he should be at least on the same level of reverence like Knives, even if he has no authority over them.

I do not get this sentence. May be because English is not my mother tongue. Does Wolfwood think this fight, his fight is stupid?

But… Vash can die. He learned that from Luida. Vash does not bleed like humans, he heals easily, right, that adds to his ignorance and arrogance when he judges people who kill to survive or even for others. (But the reason is not Vash’ immortality, the reason is that Vash does not understand community, because he is just that unbound by it.)

And Wolfwood does not follow Vash completely. Wolfwood is still ready to kill Chapel. I… don’t think Wolfwood has truly a No-Kill-Conviction, but he knows his skills. The bandits from before were outmatched, so why should Wolfwood go the easy way and just kill them if he has the ability to not do that? That’s mercy.

“Killing is a sin but also a path to redemption. Do you understand?” No, do you? This is a contradiction in itself. Fitting for Christianity, truly. You build up guilt and guilt and guilt, by all these rules that are partly so complicated and changed through translations and intention that you cannot hold up every last one. If you feel guilty, you will keep your head down and follow the head mocho. This only leads to suffering and easily exploitable followers.

I do not like that it reads a bit like the only way to survive is by killing or you die by trying to find a way out. 

The one part where Wolfwood was right in the past is that sooner or later Vash will be forced to decide. And making no decision is also a decision. 

So much about Vash is avoiding, avoiding connection, avoiding rejection, even avoiding real responsibility by feeling responsible for everything. But if he acts, he stands by it. And Wolfwood respects him for that, he respects Vash for that with him he was able to live a softer life, a life where he didn’t always have to kill, where he had another option, even if Wolfwood was in the position of the preacher, warning Vash about his fallacies and getting him out of shitty situations. 

“An iron bell is tollin’ inside my head… Or at least one should be... I can’t seem to hear it now…” 

I was confused about the meaning, but in the first chapter of the volumes they are already mentioned as a sign of warning. Wolfwood is saying that he will do something dangerous, that he will go against his better senses, against his survival instincts. If that isn’t an omen, I do not know what is. :) 

#trigun bookclub #trigunbookclub #Trigun Maximum Vol. 9.2

[mdhwrites]

🦝 This question is simple but I thinks it packs a lot. How does TOH write/treat it's male characters?

Short version: They're either villains at one point, incompetent or comic relief. There are literally only three guys (at least that me and one other person) could figure out who do not fall into one of these three categories and many of them end up in multiple over the course of their time on the show. That's pretty shit for an entire gender. Okay, so I should preface that I'm not trying to call the crew of TOH Femi-Nazis or anything like that. I don't think the treatment of male characters in the show is a conscious choice or anything. Reminder: It's okay to hate a piece of media, it's another to hate the creators for making it. As far as I know, the creators of TOH are good people. That doesn't change that how the guys are treated is pretty fucking shit. And kind of always in the same ways. Even from S1 you get my three main versions of male characters. (Caveat: This doesn't stop any of the male characters from potentially being good characters. You can like them with them falling into these things. However, these are also roles with little respect or care attached to them and that does matter in aggregate). They are either evil (ALMOST all of the one off villains in S1 count for this. It would be all who aren't actually monsters if not for Once Upon a Swap.) or bare minimum start as evil which is why Darius doesn't avoid this. And if you want to claim "But they were just pretending," then why did they go so hard on trying to kill Raine once it was just Raine, them and Eda? Comic relief, at least for the majority of their appearances: King, Gus, Hooty to name a couple really obvious but REALLY BIG DEAL ones. And by comic relief, I don't just mean having jokes. Darius has jokes but is taken seriously (and is one of the only two 'straight men' (the comedy term) in the entire series despite it claiming to be a comedy). No, when I say comic relief I mean that their presence is commonly inconsequential, their plot lines are jokes if they have any and the characters themselves aren't taken seriously. And I named a main character, part of the main character's house so a major part of the setting, and a main supporting character. All of whom are guys. Or they're incompetent. This actually gets tacked onto a lot of the guys. Part of Gus' joke is how bad his illusions are at actually helping at any time. Alador may be capable as a craftsman but as a human being he has the attention span of a gnat.

And people can fall into multiple categories really easily. I already listed Gus in two of them after all. How about Hunter though? He starts as a villain but by his third appearance is the "Mad but sad boy" with no one taking him seriously. That problem only gets worse in Sport in a Storm where he somehow can't get anyone to want to join the EMPEROR'S COVEN and is a complete buffoon doing. I don't know if I could claim he is comic relief most of the time but he starts falling into being incompetent (especially since the only truly trained fighter in Hexide Squad is easily the least capable of them if we go off of how effective any of them are in combat) REALLY QUICKLY. I did mention that there were characters who didn't qualify for this. That means there's some good, right? ...They're more exceptions to the rule. One is Manny. Who is dead. One is Bump who... I'm kind of being REALLY generous to here. One could make a claim of him starting as a villain since the first time we meet him, he's there to dissect Luz but that's more just doing his job and he's definitely not the primary antagonist in that episode. He also never shows extreme incompetence or made out to commonly just be a joke. He is actually allowed to be serious, a good guy and a fairly decent character... With very little screen time and impact. And then you have Dell. Eda's dad. Who has all of five minutes of screen time. Those are your good, competent, taken seriously, male characters. Good job TOH. Now... A few days ago, I would have actually talked about TOH not having this be a gender thing as much as it's a flipping of what happens in male, main cast focused shows. Those shows will treat their female characters pretty poorly. Only problem is that that hasn't been nearly as true since... the 80s or 90s? If even then? I mean I grew up with Danny Phantom and Kim Possible, Total Drama Island, etc. from that time period and I'm not going to say the gender balance was always great but it was better than TOH. If we go even younger for me, there was a show called Recess that was AMAZING with its diverse, six character main cast. The shows that do still fuck this up... Aren't shows you want to compare to TOH. They're your garbage that's not being given a lot of care because 'it's a kid's show'. It certainly isn't what you get from the good shit nowadays where you have Amphibia, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, etc. just to name a few off the top of my head. So if it's not because they're guys, but I also can't excuse as just a writing trope... Why are all the guys shit? I mean... It's probably just because TOH doesn't see its characters as characters. A lot of little touches are missing in even the girls. Remember, canonically, Amity is a skater. A skater who is good enough at it, and dedicated enough, that when her and Luz need to get out of somewhere fast, she summons a skateboard for her, Luz and Kikimora in Falls and Follies. Is it effective and technically works? Sure. Does it fit high society, book worm Amity Blight? Fuck no. And that's one of the characters obviously care a LOT about. So yeah, the guys, none of whom until Hunter and Belos are ever taken that seriously in the show, are going to get shafted. Most of the characters do just filling in whatever role or joke the writers need them to. And seeing as honestly very little humor in TOH plays into wordplay or interplay between the characters, you are left mostly with slapstick and punching down on other characters and their traits. And that sucks for the whole show. =========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

#TOH #Hunter #Gus

[animehouse-moe]

I'm terrible with timeliness and acknowledging things, but I hit 300 followers on Tumblr a couple of days ago now, which I thought was pretty cool. The conditioned response is a "thank you", but that doesn't feel right (and not in a selfish way, at least I believe). It's really cool that 300 people actually follow me and this account on a platform as I talk about anime and manga and whatnot, but it's one of those things where the longer I think about it the more I wonder as to why.

It's not like I offer anything unique with my stuff. I don't post art or fanfictions or anything that I can say is my creativity alone. As far as I see it, I'm just a crazy person scribbling away at a wall in an empty and white room. But I also don't really make any attempts to humanize myself in a lot of what I share, mostly because I struggle with riding the line between getting my point across effectively and in a meaningful fashion, and sounding like a person instead of an AI-generated response.

So maybe I should try a little to express myself some more, starting now.

I never intended to ever make something like this, nor do a lot of people. I was a university student over 2 years ago now that wanted to work on a project, but I needed a direction, a purpose. I deeply struggle with creation without reason, so I tried to find a way to drop a carrot in front of my face to encourage progress. A blog website is a very simple and easy thing to build to fill out your project portfolio, so I thought on what I'd be interested in making it for. Cars? Cool, but too costly to really do much of anything with. Computer hardware? Similar struggle. At that time, "Anime" came to mind as a cheap and accessible focus thanks to my increased watch time of media due to covid, so I ran with it.

I would just build fake or temporary blog posts to fill out the site and test it. Then I thought, if I'm going to have a blog site I should probably make a Twitter account for it as well. Oh, I should probably do this too, and that also. And so I accidentally made an entire platform based off an idea for a programming project. After about a year I abandoned the blog website because the project was "complete" and it's not like I was getting much traffic to it. But I kept the Twitter going, and going. And then one day I ended up here, and just kept going until I reached this follower count. It's weird to think about, in a sense. I never intended this for last, but it won't let go of me. It's even weirder because in all of my life I've never really been one to do anything like this before.

That's about it for the history though, I should probably add some details to the present.

As I write this I'm listening to a playlist of my favorite Nine Inch Nails songs. I'm a really big fan of their earlier work from albums like The Downward Spiral, that Industrial Rock sound is just so satisfying to me. But I'm also a bit of a music whore myself. When I say "everything except Country" I really mean it. Everything under the sun aside from Country music I'm cool with, but no matter how many phases I go through in terms of genres, I'll always gravitate towards the older music I used to listen on the radio to in my dad's car as we traveled for sports tournaments when I was younger. Foo Fighters, Muse, Soundgarden, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, all the great bands of the early 2000s.

I also really do love art books. I'm terrible at art though I've never seriously tried, no matter how many times I tell myself I will. It does make me feel like an asshole though when I comment on art when I have no talent. It makes me feel unqualified to offer input on it, and makes me painfully aware of how shallow my analysis can be in comparison to what actually knowledgeable people can provide. I feel very similar with how I talk about anime. I refuse to view my words as an end all be all to any of the creative aspects because I've never even tried to what some of these authors/staff members have. But just like the couch potato dad will critique all the star athletes making hundreds of thousands a game, I'll sit myself down at my desk and belt out my complaints with very little reservation. A very hypocritical activity.

Sometimes I struggle with a healthy relationship between myself and this account. I think it's important to view them as two separate things for sanity's sake as well as to stave off an inflating ego, but it doesn't always happen. There's days I feel guilty for not saying something, for not making use of the platform I've created. I can feel a need to post, to be productive and compare myself to actual content creators despite my adamant declaration that I'm not one. It's a silly thing, but the internet and social media can be a terrible place that inspires people to desperation, to a deep desire for validation and popularity and that the numbers that you can see matter a great deal. It's not really fun.

Despite my (self proclaimed) "knowledge" of social media and the spheres of it that I engage with, I'm pretty terrible with outreach. Someone asking questions or challenging a point that I've written are things I can do very naturally, but genuine outreach and interaction is something that I struggle with. Should I do a giveaway? What's the best way to do it to make sure it goes to someone that deserves it? How should I go about finding similar accounts to interact or collaborate with? Is it okay if I reply to this post or ask a question? Truthfully, I might go as far as to say that I'm socially inept in regards to social media. It's a wave that I struggle to ride despite my reliance on it in several ways. But it's something I'm at least trying to stick with, so if there's any accounts similar to mine or anybody reading this thinks I'd be interesting in, tell me about them. Yes, a pathetically lazy request to make, but I just find myself intensely apathetic to a lot of the forced nature of social media.

But I'm still here, for whatever reason that may be. And I like talking about anime, manga, and all sorts of other similar things, for whatever reason that may be. And people follow me and like my posts, for whatever reason that may be.

[chubbycaucasianchristiancloseted]

Brave & Beautiful. Such a touching story of lies, deceit, depression and LITERALLY leaving a trail of women’s bodies

Brave & Beautiful. Such a touching story of lies, deceit, depression and LITERALLY leaving a trail of women’s bodies that you destroy. What a role model for young children. 

A lot of these stories start this way. An individual FEELS “disconnected” or uncomfortable in their body and then searches the internet and find out “I’m transgender”. I wonder if that missing feeling had anything to do with their relationship with the Lord? It also states that Fallon Fox fathered a child at 19! I’m sure becoming a father so young helped tremendously with Fox’s mental health. I do appreciate that Fox sought out counseling prior to making irreversible changes to their body and mutilating themselves, most don’t these days.  

This article is slightly misleading. According to PubMed research studies the OVERWHELMING majority of Transsexual suicides are due to a “break up of a romantic relationship”. The high suicide rate in Transgenders remain consistent whether they’ve, started hormone treatment or had surgeries, the rate drops significantly when a Transgender turns 35.

The article attempts to convince you that your transphobic if you question a man fighting in a women’s sports but then lets you know that Fox does not care “what anyone else thinks or says” and that they don’t need to argue the science. I completely disagree, we needs to argue the science! Why have chromosomes and hundreds of thousands of year’s worth of human medical history just been thrown out the window?

Expectantly, Fox entered some amateur WOMEN’S competitions in 2011 and won all 3 fights. Then went pro and won two more fights. Fox went on for 2 years before the MMA found out about the significant advantage of going through puberty with testosterone. Fox “knew it would come out eventually” but I guess decided to hide it? Why?

Direct Quotes:

Fallon Fox was a little boy, just 5 years old, when she first sensed the disconnect, that the body she had wasn’t the body she felt she should.

She was male, yet felt female. She tried to be a straight man, even fathering a child at 19, but nothing was right. After a stint in the military, she returned to find the stress of not feeling comfortable in her own body nearly overwhelm her. Finally she scoured the Internet for an answer and there it was: she was transgender.

She came clean to her family and friends – a painful, difficult ordeal that wasn’t met with understanding. “At the time, they weren’t supportive.” She went through counseling. She became a truck driver to raise money for a procedure and in 2006, she flew all alone to Thailand for “gender reassignment surgery.”

The road to realization for transgender people is incredibly lonely and difficult. It is a trail lined with casualties. Suicide. Depression. Drugs. Alcoholism. There’s no way to even count everyone suffering from identity issues – so many just internalize the pain and destroy themselves quietly, their struggles unknown to even those closest to them.

You make it through all of that and come out the other side at peace with yourself for the first time in your life and, well, you don’t want to hear about what some say you shouldn’t be able to do.

While the 37-year-old fighter understands the questions and concerns from fans who find it unfair for a one-time man to fight a woman, she can only point to the science of a sex-change,

So she’s fighting no matter what anyone else thinks or says. She isn’t going to argue why the science clears her, she’ll let the boxing commissions – not historically known as groups swayed by political correctness – do it for her.

You don’t wait decades to truly start your life by engaging in a major medical procedure in face of condemnation by much of society, including many closest to you, to suddenly worry about what others think. Her entire life has been about ignoring how society defined her.

She wasn’t seeking to become a professional athlete when, in an attempt to shed some pounds a few years back, she went looking for a good workout routine. She stumbled upon MMA and began putting together disciplines.

In 2011, she entered some amateur competitions and won all three fights. Then, she turned pro and won twice more. She never told anyone about her background. It finally broke earlier this year, when the Florida commission discovered something unusual.

“I knew it would come out eventually,” she said, “and I always expected a certain amount of backlash.”

She knows that will never be the case again. She is now an unexpected role model for transgender athletes.

#USA #TheChubbyCaucasianChristianClosetedConservative #LBGTQ #PrayForAmerica #transgender

[the-winter-spider]

Element

Pairings: Bucky x Reader, Steve x Reader

Warnings: Mention of a possible suicide attempt, angst

A/N: Honestly not sure what this is, i just started writing what came to mind lol not proof read or edited, try to enjoy.

Word Count: 2.6k

—

You were always the quiet and reserved one, everyone was each known for their own personality trait. Steve was brave and courageous, Bruce was smart and kind, Nat was a flirtatious, beautiful and brave, Tony was cocky genius, Wanda was strong and a fighter, Clint was mostly always right and gave the best advice, Thor was heroic and loyal, the list could go on and on for everyone. When Bucky was finally able to leave Wakanda Steve was over the moon to have his best friend back, a place you took while he was gone and you were sad to give it up but it was the right thing to do, Steve couldn’t stop talking about how he knew how well you and Bucky would get along, you were both quiet, reserved and extremely observant both have gone through torturte and human experimentation.

And he was right, when Steve wasn't there, Bucky would be with you and you with him. At first there was just silence, but it wasn't an awkward silence, it was comfortable. That's how things stayed for a while before slowly you started to crack small jokes here and there, you were funny and you knew it but it was the type of humour that wasn't for everyone, and the first time you made a joke around Bucky you didn’t even expect for him to hear it. You were all sat around the dinner table everyone else was chattering away and Bucky and you of course remained to yourself just observing and eating dinner, someone said something and you don’t remember who said it or what was said all you remember was whispering out “that's what she said” it was stupid so stupid, you felt your cheeks heat up when you realized you said it outloud but everyone else kept talking you thought you were in the clear that was until Bucky nearly choked on his food and laughed, not just any laugh but wholeheartedly laugh and then everyone when silent almost immediately, all eyes on your two. You could see the shock on their faces, that was the first time anyone heard Bucky laugh besides Steve, you looked up to see Steve with the biggest grin on his face, Tony looked between the two of you raising his eyebrows “So she has jokes? Please do have the honours of filling us in on what was so funny you made a guy” he gestured towards Bucky with his hands before continuing “with the permanent frown, turn it upside down?”

Before you knew it Bucky was groaning, you could hear his fork clattering against the plate, you could still feel everyone staring at you, you still did not respond to Tony, someone else said something but you couldn’t hear it because it started raining hard, your heart rate was picking up. Steve looked out the window knowing why it suddenly started to rain and decided to take the attention off of you too “Alright guys, how about we leave them alone and finishing eating so we can watch that movie Bruce wants us to watch” Steve reached over giving your arm a slight squeeze, you felt your breathing become normal and heart rate slowing down, and suddenly it stopped raining.

That was only the first time you made Bucky laugh, there was countless times after that, where you two would be sitting so close to each other on the couch whispering back and forth only loud enough for you two to hear and you would giggle and his laugh would boom off the walls, but as soon as someone walked in you two would stop almost instantly, but when they left it would start again.

Slowly Bucky became more comfortable around others, not just you. It started when he was training in the gym and he and Nat started to spar with one another, that made Steve happy, Nat was one of his other close friends he wanted Bucky to get along with like you. You didn’t go to the gym ever and that was even an understatement, you didn’t need to train that wasn't your area of expertise, you controlled the elements, including anything to do with nature. When you were feeling too overwhelmed your emotions could show outside, when you were with Bucky it was always sunny out, when you got worried when Steve was on a mission it would be a gloomy day. You sometimes didn’t even realize you were doing it and as soon as you did you would turn it off, it was one of the reasons you were so reserved because you felt vulnerable that people would just know how you were feeling sometimes. That wasn’t all you could do, when you found out Bucky loved Plums you grew him his own Plum tree outside in seconds he was in awe of you. You felt butterflies in your stomach and that day there also just so happened to but a swarm of butterflies hanging around the tree, you were thankful Bucky didn’t catch on to why.

When Bucky and you went on missions together after they were complete he couldn’t stop telling you how amazing you were, and you couldn’t help yourself from falling in love with him each time that he did. On your days off you would hang out in his room or yours, and would just lay in bed with one another talking about everything, he became your person and you hoped you were his. Your favourite memory was this one time you were sitting directly beside his body while he was lying down, you were holding his metal hand with both of your hands, you started to run your hand over it making small flowers grow on it, you felt Bucky's eyes on you “You make everything beautiful don't you doll?” he sat up, using his free arm he plucked a flower from his metal arm twirling it in between his fingers “Who woulda thought?” he laughed, reaching over, placing it behind your ear. That was the first of many moments you two had like that, and you were in heaven, you smiled more, you were in love. You always wondered if Bucky felt the same, he experienced the same moments you had together because he helped create them but that didn’t mean he felt the same way.

—

You were eating cereal at the table when Steve came over. “Hey y/n, first time I've seen you alone in'' Steve pretended to count his fingers, “in forever!”

You looked up at him “ha ha, very funny”

Steve sat down across from you, pouring himself some cereal “Where is Bucky anyway? Thought you guys were inseparable?” He smirked.

“He’s training with Nat” Steve gave you a knowing look, he knew you never set foot in the gym and Bucky wasn’t going to change that a small silence fell over you, all you could hear was the crunching of cereal till Steve swallowed “He likes you, yknow”

“Well i'd hope so we are friends”

“That's not what I meant”

Before you could finish your conversation you could hear his laugh, followed by someone elses laugh, it made your ears perk up, you dont think you've ever heard him laugh with anyone but you or Steve, you felt a pain in your heart followed by a turning in the pit of your stomach, jealousy? You thought, couldn't be you were just friends and that's all you would ever be, you should be happy for him he was happy.

You put your bowl in the sink turning around to see Bucky entering the kitchen with Nat trailing behind him, she gave his shoulder a shove, and the smile on his face was your favourite smile.

“Ain't that just the best sound!” You heard Sam shout from behind, Bucky and Nat stopped in there tracks to turn around to see where the voice was coming from, Sam took the opportunity to through each arm over their shoulder “Laughter is the best sound”

Bucky scoffed, shoving Sam's arm off of him, Sam laughed “And just like that he's back to normal” Steve laughed with him.

Bucky made his way to you “Hey doll” you gave him a smile “Train well?”

He opened the fridge grabbing a bottle of water chugging it “With Nat? Always” You gave him a smile before he walked away to sit with everyone else, you don't know why but the way he said it made your stomach uneasy, you could feel self doubt swirling in your mind, before you let it get the best of you and let it affect the weather giving away how you felt, you left the kitchen in a hurry and for the first time in forever no one was trailing behind you.

—

Slowly Bucky was with you less, he still would make an effort, he considered you his best friend he told you once and he knew you prefered to be alone, so he didn’t push you as much as you wish he did to come hang out with everyone when they would go out for drinks, or to eat. You would just sit at the compound in your room by yourself, letting your mind race with thoughts you didn’t dare talk about. The thing is you were always like this, from what you could remember at least you were? but you knew Bucky wasn't, so when he started to get more comfortable he started opening up more to everyone, taking a step ahead of you mentally, leaving you in the dust behind and you were so happy for him, or so you told yourself.

The first time Bucky, Sam, Steve and Nat were going out and he didn’t stop by to invite you like he always did, when Steve asked if he was going to as they were passing your door, you stood there and heard Bucky pause before saying “No point” you could feel him shrug his shoulders before Nat and Sam laughed, then there footsteps retreated. Your heart broke, that was when you knew he was giving up on you. You tried to convince yourself it was okay, you were okay, you were better off alone anyway it didn't matter, you didn't matter.

Things like that started to happen more frequently, slowly losing Bucky that is. When he entered a room he didn't always greet you anymore, he would just smile and nod your way, till he just didn't acknowledge you at all. He stopped calling you doll, the pet name he used but instead he would call you by your first name, it was so foreign to you that the first time he said your name you didn't even answer till he was standing in front of you waving his metal arm in front of your face you felt embarrassed, everyone started to laugh, you apologized before giving him the papers he needed for the rest of his mission report and left the room almost immediately. It wasn't his fault, you didn’t blame him for retreating away from you, it wasn't his fault he wasn't the same damaged soldier he was and you were never going to change, everyone tried to get you out of your shell at some point but they just slowly gave up, you didn't mind, you weren't worth all the effort and you knew that.

You spent most of the time from there on out in your room, you didn't want to bother anyone, you started to feel like Hydra was right you didn't belong anywhere and locked up in the glass box back at their old facility was probably the best place, did the avengers really and i mean really need you? They were more than capable before you, so they would be after too. You let your thoughts ponder while you laid in the bath, you let your head become fully submerged, you could still breathe underwater, this was one of your favourite things to do, it was so peaceful under there, no one could get to you. You wondered if you held your breath under the water would it be like above where you couldn’t breath like a normal person? Before you knew it you weren’t sure how much time had passed you started to see little black dots and for some reason you still hadn't let the breath go.

—

Everyone was in the kitchen having dinner, Tony spoke up “When was the last time y/n ate with us?” He questioned out loud.

Everyone looked up before Bruce responded “When was the last time she even left her room?”

This had everyone's attention especially Bucky and Steves. Bucky couldn’t remember the last time you spoke to him or when you two last hung out, he tried his best to get you out of your bubble like you did for him, he wanted to take you out and show you off to the world but he knew how it felt to be forced into that before being ready, he just hoped it would have been sooner rather than later, he missed you but he got the message after so many “No Bucky, its okay im fine here, you go ahead” it broke his heart not to see you but he stopped when he went to your door one day and before he could even knock FRIDAY was informing him you didn’t want to see anyone that day, and he thought he wasn't just anyone to you, he thought he was someone to you, he thought you two were falling in love with one another, or at least he was with you. So he pushed back his feelings, burying them deep down like he was use to and let you go, hoping that the saying Steve told him when he was comforting him that you would come back to him and if it was meant to be because he didn't know what to do if it wasn't but that was weeks ago and he was losing hope.

Bucky was broken out of his thoughts when it started storming outside, everyone’s attention snapped to the window “There's no chance Thor is supposed to stop by is there?” Steve asked

“No” everyone murmured, it wasn't unusual for the weather to drastically changed at the compound, everyone got use to it when you started learning how to control your powers but it only stormed when you were experiencing emotions too deeply, this worried everyone.

Tony stood up “I'm gonna go check on the kid” as he made his way to the kitchen door and as he pushed it open water was making its way down the hallway, trickling like it would on a window “Please tell me someone left the front door open” Everyone's eyes turned to the hallway, Steve and Bucky stood up at the same time “Y/n!” they shouted before they pushed passed everyone running to your room, Tony was behind alerting the A.I to get medical on standby. When they got to your door it was locked, not just via the A.I system but manually too, Bucky used his metal arm to punch your door down, water was everywhere and all the plants in your room were dying.

—

You don't remember how long you were under water for or when things started to fade away but you felt like you were floating and you felt happiness, at peace was the best way to describe it, your memories flashed before your eyes, happy ones, most of them of Bucky, a few of Steve before your accepted the darkness, you heard banging and shouting before letting the darkness take you.

Part two

#sebastian stan x reader #bucky barns x y/n #bucky barns x you #bucky x you #bucky barns x reader #bucky x reader #bucky #reader x steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #stevebucky

[the-mute-raven]

Mcall and puppy pack

just realized at its peak the Mcall pack had 7 members and the puppy pack also had 7 members so now i’m assigning each a “mentor”. this doesn’t mean i think the puppy pack is just a remake of the OGs they both are great. also i am on like the 4th episode of the last season so some of this could be wrong

1. Scott - Liam

this one is pretty obvious. they’re both the leaders of their packs (idk if liam actually was called that but whatevs). both bitten werewolves and both are considered “special”, Scott being a true alpha and Liam being super strong cause he’s angry?????

2. Stiles - Mason

they both take on what i call the druid role of their packs cause they kinda did what druids do. they were the main people who found info and advised the alpha (also the druid and alpha in both packs are the closest friends). they’re also both the only humans cause i don’t count Allison as human that bitch is a werewolf hunter

3. Allison - Hayden

both badasses that i’m a little bit in love with. only explanation needed.

jk but i do love and cherish them. so both dated the leader of their packs and at one point were enemies with their packs (Allison when her mom died and Hayden when she joined Theo’s pack). also their vibes are just the same i can’t really explain it but they are

4. Lydia - Corey

this is a bit of a stretch but imma try to connect it. they both are still learning to control their powers and are most of the time the most level-headed of the packs. they also did both date the druids in their groups and were at first not completely on board with joining their packs.

5. Malia - Theo

this one is pretty face value but both had some childhood traumas (Theo’s were a lil self-inflicted tho sorry not sorry) and are a lil stand-offish/scary when people first get to know them. they also both have trouble showing their emotions especially love but do it in different ways (just all of Stalia and Thiam prove it)

6. Isaac - Brett

the 2 guys i read way too many fanfics about. now i’ll give you some factual evidence incase that didn’t convince you. both started as enemies to their packs, were still the “agitator” and sarcastic bitch (lovingly) when they joined (idk if Brett ever actually joined the puppy pack i’m still on 6a). both tried to be the cool kid and left too early :( also both had different family dynamics. Isaac, with his horrible father, and brett, who i still have no idea if he has parents. also i’m pretty sure they’re the only 2 in the entire show to not be an only child which is probably the most unrealistic thing in a show about werewolves.

7. Kira - Nolan

this one is a shot in the dark cause i haven’t even met Nolan yet i’m just going off what i’ve seen on the internet. both are very skilled fighters (i think) and are both very compassionate and controlled by their emotions. also both kick butt at lacrosse (anyone else mad that everyone forgets Kira had never played before but was so good she made varsity without trying out? cause i am i honestly think she was the best lacrosse player in the entire show). this is a major stretch but they can also sometimes lose control of themselves. not in the anger explosive way but like how Kira kept losing control to her kitsune and Nolan joined the hunters because he let his fear and anxiety control him

so that’s the end of my comparisons, if you think they should be matched differently or have more similarities to add please reblog/comment/any other thing i haven’t figured out yet. thanks for coming to my ted talk!

#teen wolf #scott mcall #liam dunbar #stiles stilinski #mason hewitt #lydia martin #nolan holloway #corey bryant #kira yukimura #allison argent #hayden romero #malia tate #theo raeken #isaac lahey #brett talbot

[aggressive-positivity-network]

Tf2 headcanons? Aw yeah! So let's say a new merc joins the team. They're a total asshole: Cocky, sarcastic, overconfident, refuse help. But both Spy and Scout see right through that, it's a defense mechanism. How do they go about making this person comfortable enough to not be an asshole?

*chanting* HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT HURT COMFORT HURT COMF

Okay, jokes aside, this is one of my favorite tropes. Maybe I’m too naïve to believe that some people are just mean to be mean, or maybe it’s a sort of comfort to know that even the worst people can be understood, but either way, WOOOOOOOOO!

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

An Ass For An Ass

Headcanons

Scout:

To be honest, Scout’s threshold for asshole-ery is pretty high. Growing up with eight brothers will do that to you.

But when the new recruit came around, something immediately rubbed him the wrong way.

Recruit always stole his thunder with the crass jokes and over-the-top displays. Every battle turned into a competition, which messed with Scout’s system of fighting. He never had to focus much on his own team before, and now he had to worry about keeping his own reputation upheld while trying not to get stabbed, shot, or blown up.

Recruit also kept hitting on Miss Pauling - even after reminding them again and again that she was lesbian, and was not and never will be into dudes.

“Come on…you just haven’t been with a real man yet…”

“No, no, I’ve been with a lot of men. Real men. I just wasn’t into any of them. After a while, it was kind of obvious.”

But what really pissed a lot of people off was Recruit’s fighting style.

They were an absolute monster on the field - that’s why they were chosen - but every interaction was treated as some sort of survival scenario.

One would think that would be a good thing, but Recruit was ridiculous.

No matter what the situation was, he was fine, he was okay, he could take it, he could fix it.

He could be killed only inches away from a Medic because he would never yell for one. Sometimes Recruit would even show visible anger at being healed. It got to the point where Medic didn’t heal him at all, and just allowed him to die as to not waste time he could give too more grateful patients.

Missions were even worse.

He followed orders to a T, but Pauling had to beg him to leave a failed mission, or to leave without completely destroying the site.

Everyone just took it as Recruit showing off, or having something to prove as a rookie.

It was annoying, but ultimately harmless in most circumstances.

However, it all came to a head when Recruit tried disengage a sentry by himself and was severely injured.

Both Engineer and Medic, who had had to fix most of Recruit’s past and current recklessness, ripped him a new one, one chewing out after the other.

“What we’re you thinkin’, son?! One crossed wire and you woulda blown the whole base!”

“Zhe only reason you are allowed in my lab at all is because it’s in my contract. Personally, I vould have rather left nature to it…”

Since then, Recruit did exactly as he was told, and nothing else. And most of the team liked it that way.

But Scout recognized some warning signs immediately. Fatigue, near silence except for missions, self-isolation, snapping when people got too close…it all paved the way for a pretty nasty (and, for Scout, very familiar) result.

One night, Recruit was sitting on the balcony, and Scout came out with two bottles - a beer for Recruit and a root beer for himself.

(Scout can only drink on the weekends because one, unlike most, he can’t go to work hung over because his job requires a lot of movement, and two, he has no restraint and can’t stop once he starts.)

“What do you want?”

Scout shrugged. “Depends.”

“On what?!”

“What are ya willin’ to tell me?”

Recruit just looked at the beer and sneered.

“Can’t we just skip this?” Scout said. “Maybe get to the part where you tell me what kinda Sally Sob Story we’re dealin’ with here?”

Recruit looked away.

“Aw, c’mon, don’t tell me you don’t got one. ‘Cause you do. I can see it a mile away. So what happened? Pop leave? Somebody died? Lotta brothers and sisters? Ma had a few too many and smacked ya around?”

Recruit didn’t turn around, but Scout could tell he was crying. He had hit a sore spot. Hard.

“Hey, pal, listen…”

Scout trailed off, then slowly began again.

“…the only reason I know is ‘cause I’ve been through it, ‘kay? Outta everybody I knew, I only trusted me. And that was great when I did a good job, ‘cause I knew I put me there.”

Scout opened his bottle of root beer and took a long swig.

“But when I screwed somethin’ up, it’s like everybody I ever knew just let me down. The one thing I could count on was gone.”

Recruit looked at Scout with tears in his eyes.

“But ya can’t do everything by yourself,” Scout continued. “Believe me. I learned that the hard way.”

Scout laughed, but it was mostly to clear the air. He didn’t get serious very often.

Recruit hadn’t touched his beer, but was leaned over the balcony with his head in his hands.

Scout sighed and looked up at the stars.

“But here’s somethin’ that nobody told me - it gets easier, y’know that? You just gotta relax and cut yourself some slack.”

Recruit shifted uncomfortably. “But the Administrator said…”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I know what she said. Gave ya that whole speech about how bein’ part of the team means discipline and focus and whatever. It’s all bull crap. She don’t know the first thing about bein’ on the field. If she did, why’d she hire us?”

“Sh-she said my perseverance was an asset to the team.”

“Perseverance, my ass. You know what would be an asset to the team? Stayin’ alive for more than fifteen minutes!”

Recruit looked at his feet. He had blinked away his tears, but he still looked on the verge of falling apart.

Scout put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it a little.

“You’re a great fighter, Recruit. You’re one of the best…that’s why you’re here. You got nothin’ to prove to nobody. Not to me, not to the team, not to the Administrator…not even to yourself. You’ve made it, kid. You’ve made it.”

Scout slid his hand off Recruit and started to walk away.

“Hey.”

Scout turned to see Recruit in the process of opening his beer.

“Thanks.”

Scout smiled. “No problem, pal. Plenty more under Demo’s mattress.”

“No, I mean…for that. I needed that tonight.”

“Oh…yeah! Sure. Don’t worry about it.”

Scout went back inside and to his room - but not before checking the cameras on the balcony a few times. Just in case.

Over the next few months, Scout kept helping Recruit break some old bad habits.

Recruit learned to take criticism without getting angry, to leave tanked missions, and to take care of himself.

He still occasionally flirted with Miss Pauling, but it was now more of an inside joke than anything.

Recruit still isn’t perfect - he still cringes a little when he’s healed, and falls back into survival mode when times are stressful - but he is now a much happier, much healthier person.

Spy:

Spy’s asshole wasn’t a merc, per se.

They were more of an informant, usually giving out important facts about locations, missions, and a target’s history.

Sometimes they would even use the Administrator’s PA system to announce new rules and reminders.

This would be perfectly fine - after all, you get kind of tired of hearing the Administrator all the time - except for the fact that Informant was the most sarcastic, most nasally, most apathetic, most matter-of-fact person on earth.

Even outside of a work setting, which was rare because they stayed in their office most of the time, Informant would go out of their way to be as condescending as possible.

Especially to whoever they considered to be in the “less intelligent” category: Heavy, Pyro, Scout, Demo, and Soldier.

To all the “others,” he turned every briefing into a contest to see who knew more at any given time…which, of course, usually meant he won.

“Now, does anyone know where his address is? Come on, any takers? Yeah, I thought so.”

Unlike Recruit, which would only warrant a few grumbles here and there from the team, Informant was the subject of a lot of hissed complaints and terrible rants from even the calmest of members.

Informant was the only one who could get under Heavy’s skin - a personal pet peeve of his was being considered less intelligent or less of a human being because English wasn’t his first language, which Informant chose to remind him of constantly.

It began with a few simple jabs at his grammar or word structure, but once Informant figured out that Heavy wouldn’t hurt a fly outside of battle, the taunts grew more and more daring.

Heavy would usually ignore Informant, which would only exacerbate their need to be noticed. This led to some pretty nasty interactions - from spouting the statistics of Russia’s average intelligence to even saying Heavy was a disgrace to his country by being a literature major.

“How’s that Russian literature major treating you? You know - in America.”

Sniper and Medic had tried to set Informant straight, but Heavy refused to accept any help. This was something that was his to bear, and his alone. He knew that they both took their own helping of harassment.

But one day, Informant went a little to far.

He did the one thing you should never do: insult Heavy’s family.

“You mother and sisters can’t do anything more than wait for you. No wonder you’re the only source of income.”

Before he knew it, Informant was against a wall, struggling to breathe, blood running into his eyes.

Heavy walked away after the incident, and told Medic about it, but he refused to heal him. Informant had called Medic a Nazi on more than one occasion.

This, finally, is where Spy comes in.

Spy was walking by Informant’s office, when he heard a strange sound - barely suppressed hiccups and sobs.

Despite his aversion to displays of emotion, the promise of seeing one of his greatest enemies as their lowest was too amusing to resist.

He knocked lightly on the door, then slowly opened it - always the master of drama.

Informant was under their desk, bloodied and bruised, sobbing into their knees.

Spy entered noiselessly, sitting in Informant’s office chair and lighting a cigarette.

It was only when Spy made a dramatic exhale of the smoke that Informant looked up, tears streaking their face.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Spy finally spoke.

“Oh, how the mighty fall. Flown too close to the sun, have we?”

Informant couldn’t do much more than snivel and retreat farther below the desk.

“Who did it?” Spy asked. “I want to give them my regards…and maybe a bottle of wine.”

“H-Heavy…”

“Oh? Well, if anyone can bring him to blows, it’s you.”

Spy put his feet on the desk and continued to blow smoke out of his nose, thinking.

“It’s strange,” he said. “Most offices have at least a few pictures of family. A trip to the beach, perhaps the zoo…?”

He took a quick glance around.

“No children. No army mates. No graduation photos or a large catch at a local lake. The only personal item you have is this…”

Spy picked up a Rubik’s Cube. The plastic still around it crinkled.

“Unused.”

Informant looked at the floor.

“I like to keep my personal and professional life separate.”

Spy pursed his lips and squinted.

“How noble of you. But I don’t think that’s the case. You know what I think, Informant?”

Spy took his feet of the desk and bent down, looking Informant in the eyes.

“I don’t think you have a life.”

Informant’s eyes went wide for a moment, then his face immediately crumpled. Bullseye.

Spy smirked and got up from the chair, starting to leave.

Informant’s sniffling turned into sobbing, and before Spy could put his hand on the doorknob, muffled wailing filled the office.

Spy closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. He was trying not to remember something. But the imagery was too strong.

He remembered hiding under a table, like Informant was. People screaming and cursing at each other in French. His knees all scarred and his nose runny from a cold that should have resolved weeks ago. Waltz music coming from next door, trying to drown out the fighting. Glass breaking. Biting his knuckles so he wouldn’t whimper or cry.

Spy’s hand closed into fist. He took a deep breath, and turned to face Informant again.

“But to be fair…”

He walked towards the desk, putting his hand in his suit pocket. He got on his knees and pulled out a pink handkerchief.

“…I don’t have one either.”

He offered the handkerchief to Informant, who put it to his face, still staring at Spy through red eyes.

The pair were silent for a moment, with Spy putting out his cigarette and lighting a new one while Informant cleaned themselves up.

“But the difference between you and I,” Spy said, his voice wavering a bit, “is that I am a Spy. If my information got into the wrong hands, it could be the end of me and my team.”

He tapped his cigarette on a nearby trash can, letting the ashes fall into it.

“But what are you hiding from?”

Informant took a shaky inhale, the handkerchief still covering his nose and mouth.

“W-what?”

“Why do you feel the need to be, as Scout puts it, a tier five jerkazoid?”

Informant sniffled. “I…I didn’t think I took it that far.”

“Took what that far?”

“I just…snrk…I thought that’s what I had to do to get them to take me seriously.”

Informant laughed, but their heart wasn’t in it.

“I’m five foot four with red hair and freckles. I look more like someone’s Andy doll than a contract killer. I thought maybe if I knew everything…I’d be worth it.”

They shrugged.

“At best, they’d be impressed. At worst, they would never get close enough to me to know the truth: the only reason why I’m here is because I can rattle off a few names and that I had good grades in school because I had nothing better to do.”

Spy’s chest ached. He didn’t know why, but it was a strange feeling to him.

“Mon ami…”

He cleared his throat.

“If half of the team is any indication, you don’t need to be Nikola Tesla to be hired. Hell, the fact you can read is an anomaly in itself. But there is something you must understand…”

Spy cleared his throat again. His voice had gotten quite unstable all of a sudden.

“Intelligence is measured in different ways. Scout could never read even the simplest of children’s books, but his physical intelligence - reflexes, spatial awareness, aim - is phenomenal. Medic would have to put my spine back together if I even attempted to do what he does on the field.”

Informant snickered at the joke, or perhaps the image it conjured.

“And me,” Spy continued. “I can speak almost any language, adjust to any social setting, charm anyone, fool anyone…kill anyone. Just like you, I can remember, and I use the information I absorb mostly to show how superior I am to all my lowly colleagues.”

Spy furrowed his brow and looked away.

“But I know less about myself than even my enemies. I have hidden it so deep within my mind that I can hardly remember…or perhaps would rather not remember…who I was before this mask of mine.”

Informant hesitated. “I…I’m sorry, Spy.”

Spy sneered and puffed a few smoke rings.

“I don’t want your sympathy. I want you to have some self-respect - and respect for my teammates. Because next time you are beaten within an inch of your life, you might catch me in a less generous mood.”

With that, Spy got up, reached into his suit pocket and presented a small MediKit, which he tossed to Informant.

“I’d suggest freshening up before going to any more briefings.”

Informant nodded, and set to work healing himself.

Spy started to leave, then stuck his head back in.

“And hang a few posters, would you? Your office looks like a prison cell.”

Finally, the Frenchman took his leave, adjusting his suit and nodding solemnly to the team members he happened to pass - or scowling at them, depending.

He glanced over the security feed, and once he was satisfied, made his way to his smoking room.

Spy closed the heavy oak door, poured himself a small glass of scotch, and sat down in his chair next to the fireplace.

He put a magazine on his knee and began to flip through the pages, but his gaze soon started to wander.

He closed the magazine, tossed it into the fire, leaned into his hand, and wept.

…So what became of Informant?

Well, after a reluctant heal from Medic and a few well-deserved apologies, Informant began to try and break the cycle of self-sabotage.

The process took a lot longer than Recruit’s did - especially since Informant’s transgressions were a lot more egregious - but, little by little, they began to heal.

A lot of the time, the other mercs would have to tell them to tone it down a bit, or to cut him off completely if necessary.

Informant still almost has a panic attack if he doesn’t have the right papers, and his office is still pretty bare, but he took Spy’s advice - a few AC/DC posters hang on the leftmost wall.

As for Spy, well…he needs to have a talk with Medic.

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

I am so sorry…this is all so messy and weird. One is so much longer than the other, and I’m not even sure half the dialogue sounds right.

The two headcanons were just typed out at different times, the first where I had less motivation and the second when I had more motivation. This wasn’t on purpose, it just happened.

I hope you still like it, though!

#tf2 #tf2 fandom #tf2 ask blog #tf2 headcanon #tf2 headcanons #tf2 spy #tf2 scout #scout tf2 #spy tf2 #tf2 mercs #headcanon requests #incorrect tf2 quotes #humor #funny post #funny content #just for laughs #funny #send asks #dank humor #ask blog

[piratesfromspace]

Training Day

Frank Castle (the Punisher) x Reader

Word count: 2k TW: knifeplay, mention of death and violence, gun, sexual tension, mention of alcohol

Female pronouns for reader

Note: Please keep in mind that in real life knifeplay should ALWAYS be discussed with your partner before anything, and that you should play with the safety of your partner being a priority. Stay safe.

“Again”

You scramble up on your feet, with a little bit less enthusiasm than at the beginning of your lesson. It was at least the 6th time you had fallen hard on the ground. You’re starting to seriously question what seemed like a very good idea at first. Who would pass the opportunity to be trained by such a competent fighter? By the Punisher himself? Definitely not you. 

You, the little rich girl forced into the streets and into hiding after your estranged father - a shady politician - messed with the wrong mafia boss. Your privileged life had fallen apart in a matter of seconds a year ago, half your family killed in the process, and since then you had learned that any valuable lesson usually came the (very) hard way. So when the vigilante had run into you while investigating said mafia, alone and in dire need of some help, he had wordlessly offered his protection and you had gladly accepted. Despite his brutality in a fight and his very unique moral code, you understood very quickly it wasn’t really the first time he chose to protect a runaway.

And here you are, on the floor of his small modest apartment, trying to apply the self defense techniques he taught you. You’re not the best student and it’s beginning to be a little bit annoying, the feeling of failure gnawing at the edge of your already pretty low self-confidence.

“Come on, try to catch this gun, I know you can do it.”

You take a deep breath through your nose, you shake your head a little, and without any warning you throw yourself toward him with all the strength you’ve got left. He dodges your attack with a surprising speed considering his massive frame, grabs your shoulder and throws you forward. You fall on the floor - again - and before you can get up, he’s on you, both knees on either side of your lean figure, his hips straddling yours. Gun pointed at you. You try to squirm to the side despite his legs caging you and you literally punch into his hand holding the gun. There’s a grunt of surprised pain, and the gun clatters to the floor. A small victory. Although it is kind of a cheat, knowing very well the nasty bruises and cuts already covering his right hand (he earned them in a fight against some tenacious gangsters a couple days ago) gave you an unfair advantage. But you’re not done yet.

Your secret weapon - a small pocket knife - has been hidden in your jacket sleeve, and you finally have the opportunity to take it out. With a grin you press the blade over his jeans against the inside of his thigh, where the artery would be. At the same time there is a metallic sheen in your visual field, and you unexpectedly feel the cold of steel against your throat. Of course, Frank fucking Castle has a knife of his own. And you were too caught in what you thought was the idea of the century to be wary of him striking back.

The blade of his combat knife is resting on your neck, barely touching your skin, but raising goosebumps anyway. He holds the weapon with a steady hand, careful not to hurt you.

“Not fast enough.”

his voice is always so impossibly deep, the tone confident. No trace of effort in it, while you’re trying to catch your breath under him.

“But I like the spirit. Keep it up, little one.”

You expect the exercise to be done, but he doesn’t budge, still straddling your hips, keeping you pinned to the floor. His blade flush against your throat. To anyone else, it would be a deadly threat, but not to you. You find it almost comforting to surrender like this, even though you know it’s not him who has the upper hand in the entirely different kind of game you’re both entangled since you met.

His body so close to yours, the adrenaline of the training, the thrill of the sharp edge of steel against your skin: it’s too much and not enough at the same time. You’re still trying to calm your breath, but now it’s for another reason than earlier. There is a moment of hesitation, you can feel it in the way his jaw clenches while his eyes look for yours. But whatever Castle has in mind, you don’t want him to stop. You bit your lips, raising your chin higher, baring your neck even more, just like animals do when they submit to a stronger one. The primitive display of submission awakens something feral in him.

He grabs slowly your wrist, the one threatening his thigh with the blunt pocket knife, and squeezes, just hard enough to make you let go of your weapon. It falls in a muffled thud on the carpet next to you as Castle lifts your arm above your head until he’s able to pin your wrist against the floor. He’s closer to you now, leaning over you, and you suddenly feel so small under him. He’s taking all your space, filling all your senses with what makes him him .

The heady scent of after-shave and smoke and a faint tangy smell that’s probably gunpowder.

The roughness of his denim and the delicious pressure of his fingers around your wrist.

The way he’s the only thing in the room you’re able to focus on, authority and confidence radiating from him.

The scars adorning his body - they are everywhere, some you can’t see, but others pretty obvious, and your eyes are going from one scar on his face to another, before landing on his lips.

When you meet his gaze, he’s already intently looking at you, and you can feel the dilemma playing in his mind. You’ve known him only for a couple months, but it feels like it’s been your entire life.

Frank Castle is not a very complicated man. He’s been hurt and betrayed in ways you unfortunately can relate to. He’s not a good man, he has killed and tortured too many to deserve to be called “good” - he’s not even interested in doing good himself. But, buried deep under the violence, the misanthropy and the anger, lies a sliver of hopeful belief, almost naive, that some of humanity can still be good. That somehow some of us can shine some light in the darkness of this world, and that those people need to be protected at all costs. Because they’re too pure to do what’s really necessary to fight off evil, he will do it. He will sacrifice his soul if it means a few can be saved. His conscience will never be clear ever again, so the least he can do is put to work his own wicked mind to support the good ones.

And for some misguided reasons, he thinks you’re one of those.

Compared to the fury he unleashes when he fights, the patience and softness he never fails to show you makes your heart flutter. It’s like he’s afraid he could hurt you more than life already did, no matter how many times you assure him he won’t. You’re pretty sure he would do anything you ask him to - he did kiss you that one time you asked, a few nights ago, both of you drunk on cheap whisky. Plush lips finding yours, callused hands gently holding the side of your face, his breath hot on your skin. The memory is brought back at the front of your mind, heat settling low in your belly.

This time it’s different though, he’s the one initiating whatever this is.

He moves his hips ever so slightly, unwillingly bringing your attention to his crotch and you can see how tight the fabric of his jeans has become. He follows your gaze but before he gets embarrassed, your eyes dart to his and in a bold move you lift your free hand to touch his thigh. Your own way to say this is ok. His lips part, and he shifts a bit again, unconsciously, pressing against your pelvic bone, the feeble friction enough to send a pleasant tingle in your body. You admire his calm and his sense of self-control though, because despite the now very visible desire burning in him, the blade on your throat is steadier than ever. Your hand leaves his thigh and slowly but surely wraps around his fingers on the handle of the knife. The tension is thick, the silence is deafening, the only noises your shallow breaths and the sound of fabric each time Castle is grounding your hips harder with his own.

You guide his hand with your own, removing the blade from your throat and as his pupils go wide, you bring it to your lips, pressing a kiss against the smooth steel. The gesture is both obscene and pious at the same time, like you’re paying respect to some holy relic, worshipping his own ability to take lives, revering the dark God he is.

“Fuck, girl…” he lets out in a growl, voice laced with admiration and with something else, something very unholy .

You’re actually surprised he allowed you to move his own arm, letting you take some control. The realization emboldens you. Maybe this will work . Frank Castle is too busy processing the aching fire that consumes him to anticipate your sudden attack. A mean twist of his wrist brings the knife to his own throat. The surprise makes him let go of your other hand, and you’re able to push him hard in the middle of his chest, your upper body surging up, legs coming out from under him. He tumbles backward, he’s swearing and laughing at the same time, like he’s actually amazed you managed to unsettle him. I can do it. You crawl on the floor as fast as you can, quickly grabbing the previously discarded gun and you turn around, aiming at him. I’ve got you Frank Castle, I won . He chuckles and raises his hands, surrendering to you.

“Not fast enough” you taunt him “but I liked the spirit”. You get up on your feet, and lower your aim. “Maybe I’ll teach you a thing or two.” This time you’re pushing your luck and you know it.

Frank smiles, and he gets up as well. He’s not wearing his Punisher gear, just his civilian clothes, a simple black shirt with sleeves rolled up, the thin fabric taut over his firm chest. Even from across the room, even without the kevlar vest, it’s impossible to forget how tall and broad he is, how the muscles of his forearms flex when he rubs the palm of his hand, how the bulge in his jeans leaves nothing to the imagination. You’re not the only one to stare though. Dark eyes are roaming your body, making your cheeks go red under his searing gaze.

A few seconds ago, you thought your training session was over but now you’re afraid your little stunt has done nothing to make him want to stop. And truth be told, you don’t want it to stop. Don’t want him to stop.

“Never lower your gun.” he breaks the silence, husky voice sending shivers down your spine.

“You still have a lot to learn, little girl.” he adds darkly, a smirk on his handsome face.

“Show me, then.” you reply too quickly for your own sake.

In a heartbeat, he’s on you, prying the gun from your hand, crushing you against the wall. There’s a split second of hesitation before his lips are on yours. His strong body pressed flush against your trembling figure, the tight knot of repressed desire finally snapping. And it feels good, so good you’re pretty sure your legs will give up under you. But it doesn’t matter because he’ll catch you, he’ll get you, of that you’re sure.

You know you’ve lost this round. But defeat has never tasted more like victory than now.

#frank castle x reader #the punisher #punisher x reader #frank castle imagine #knifeplay

[that-blue-vault-dweller]

Can you do a one shot story of the companions coming together to organize a surprise birthday party for Nora. I find it really funny to think of them having to interact and corporate with one another to make Nora happy. 😂😂😂

Awww!!! This is an incredible idea, and I absolutely love this so much!!! 😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰 I had an amazing time writing this one (as you can probably tell by the length of the thing 😂), and I hope you enjoy! Thank you so much for the request! 💙💛

Word Count: 3505

  “Hancock, if you put Day Tripper in those brownies, I will personally make sure that Blue has your head—”

  “Calm down some! I didn’t put any chill pills in the brownies, okay?!” Hancock replied, raising his hand up defensively before placing the pan on a nearby table. Piper just raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

  Since Nora had left that morning with MacCready and Dogmeat, everyone had been moving as quickly as they could possibly manage with Piper at the helm of the preparation crew. It was February twelfth and the birthday of the vault-dweller. And they had to do everything they could to make Nora’s birthday as perfect as her.

  And if Hancock brought chems in, then it was definitely not going to be perfect by Piper’s or Nora’s standards.

  “Okay, then, prove it. Cait!!!” Piper called. She knew that Hancock would cave if Cait came over to try the brownies. After all, he respected Cait quitting the chems too much to let her risk a relapse.

  She could feel Cait’s glare on her back, and Piper resisted the urge to say something sarcastic as the redhead approached the two.

  “What do ye want?” Cait questioned, not much kindness mustered in her words as she glared at Piper. After all, they were not really the best of friends, and for Piper to ask anything of her was a bit of a stretch. The only reason Cait was helping with the party was because she loved and cared about Nora so much.

  “Go try those brownies.”

  “Why? This feels like a trick,” Cait spoke, crossing her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes skeptically. Piper barely withheld the groan as she put her hands on her hips and glared at the other woman.

  “We’re testing them to make sure they’re clean.”

  “And ye chose me?! Look, I’ve moved past my days of addiction, ye hear?!” Cait informed her aggressively before spinning on her heel and leaving Piper with Hancock. Piper rolled her eyes, moving her mouth a little as she mimicked the other woman.

  “Alright, then. Curie! Come taste these brownies!” Piper called, and Curie looked up immediately, her eyes sparkling with the promise of sweets.

  “Ooh! Okay!” Curie cried, hurrying over. Piper smirked widely, knowing that Hancock would not just let Curie get high. Especially since Nora would be positively livid if anything happened to the innocent synth.

  “No, no, no, on second thought, I think I might’ve burned them, and I probably should just throw them out. Nora deserves the best, right?” Hancock grinned winningly before heading out the door with the brownies. Curie stuck her lip out a little in a small, disappointed pout before returning to her previous task of cleaning up the house alongside Codsworth.

  “That’s what I thought,” Piper muttered, and she turned to look and see what Cait and Danse were doing together. Currently, the both of them were attempting to hang decorations, and Danse was looking slightly flustered as Cait grinned widely. Piper immediately knew what was going on as soon as she saw it.

  “No fraternizing in the workplace, got it?” Piper announced just behind them and Danse was almost pitiful in how he straightened immediately and cleared his throat in an attempt to look more proper. It was obviously a reaction left over from his time in the Brotherhood, and he quickly caught up on his mistake before releasing his shoulders a little and loosening.

  “Who died and made you queen, anyways?” Cait questioned, and Piper scoffed as if it were obvious.

  “Look, since I know Blue so well, I have been self-appointed as birthday party coordinator, alright?” Piper informed her. Piper mentally added in the fact that she believed that she herself was Nora’s best and closest friend out of the bunch, but she did not voice this opinion aloud since she would likely offend the rest of the people around the house.

  “The rest of us know her pretty well, too, y’know. I think you just want an excuse to boss me around!” Cait challenged, pushing the thumbtack into the wall firmly, and Piper just shrugged, everything in her fighting the urge to say something that would provoke the former cage-fighter.

  “Does this look balanced to you?” Danse questioned, and Piper squinted a little, tilting her head.

  “Yeah. Except Cait’s end looks too high and mighty,” Piper commented, and she mentally scolded herself for not having more self-control than to aggravate the other woman. But it was just too fun to resist, and Cait got so irritated which made it so funny.

  Sure enough, Cait looked like she might kill someone as she lowered her end ever so slightly.

  “Good enough, your highness?” Cait questioned, clenching her fists tightly and her face turning a little red as she quite obviously tried to resist the urge to deck Piper. Piper just offered a smug smile and a thumbs-up.

  She then headed over to check on Nick, Preston, and Deacon where they were working on wrapping the presents for Nora.

  “How’s it going, guys?” Piper questioned, looking over the gifts for Nora on the table. They had labeled all of them with the people who were gifting them on the bottom and Nora’s name on the side.

  “It’s going alright over here,” Deacon trailed off with a chuckle, looking over at Preston and the Minutemen shrugged a little with a grin.

  “Piper, are you playing nice with Cait?” Nick questioned, raising an eyebrow knowingly, and Piper just grinned winningly, squeezing Nick’s shoulder affectionately.

  “Oh, Nicky… When have I ever not played nice with the red-headed woodpecker?” Piper questioned much too innocently, and Nick rolled his eyes fondly, the barest of smiles pulling at the corners of his lips.

  “Behave yourself now,” Nick chastised half-heartedly, too much warmth in his voice to be taken too seriously about it. Piper just laughed a little.

  “I always do, Gramps,” Piper assured him with a wink and finger-guns.

  At that moment, X6 entered the house with the cake. Piper turned around just as he placed the cake on the counter and faced her.

  “I have completed the cake,” X6 announced, his voice completely calm as he wore an absolutely ridiculous apron. Piper had to search deep inside of herself to try to keep from laughing.

  She had seen Nora wear this apron on many occasions when she was cooking around Sanctuary, and Piper always poked fun at her when she saw her wearing it. Apparently, Nate had bought it for Nora back before the bombs fell and it had been such an ugly apron that no one had stolen it from Nora’s house during the entire time that she had been frozen.

  Of course, no one would want to steal a bright blue apron that had “Hot Mom Summer” written across the front of it.

  “Did the apron work out for you, X6?” Piper questioned, unable to help a bit of mirth leaking into her voice.

  “It performed its function properly, if that is what you mean. However, the aesthetic quality left a bit to be desired,” he very dryly replied. Piper just shrugged, chuckling a little.

  “Nice! So, did you put a sweet little message on top of the cake like I said?” Piper questioned, and she could hear Cait muttering something to herself somewhere behind Piper. Piper simply chose to ignore her for now, focusing on the courser before her.

  “Yes,” he replied simply, and she grinned widely, finding herself to be quite relieved since everything was going extremely well so far.

  “Did you cover it in frosting all over?” Piper asked, raising an eyebrow, and X6 hummed in agreement. She let out a breath of relief, very happy to see that things were going so well as of now.

  “Great! Let me see,” Piper spoke, moving over to look at the cake. To her pure, unadulterated horror, the cake was completely and barrenly white with a simple message in pretty lettering on top of the cake in blue letters.

  “‘Pleasant regards?!!!’ You’ve got to be kidding me!” Piper cried, her eyes wide as she looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted two extra heads. She could feel the coolness of his gaze even behind the sunglasses he was wearing.

  “You did not make a specific request. Therefore, I put a kind message on the top as you said,” he replied, and it was so dry that she could not help but think he was being sarcastic.

  “If this is your idea of being funny, it is absolutely the worst time to start pulling that—”

  “Tiny human, Mack-Ree-Dee, and little dog are back!!!” Strong announced very loudly, sticking his head through the doorway as he bent over a little to fit. He had been outside waiting for Nora, MacCready, and Dogmeat’s return, and Piper had told him to let them all know when the group came back. Piper brought her hands up to the sides of her head, breathing deeply as she tried to hold it together.

  “Aww, well, that’s just wonderful!” Piper sarcastically declared in pure aggravation.

  “Okay, quick!!! You guys fix this cake! I’m going to try to get MacCready’s attention and see if he can distract her for a little longer,” Piper swiftly told them, and it was then that she noticed Hancock had re-entered the room after throwing his brownies outside behind the house.

  “And do not line the edge of the cake with mentats or something, Hancock!” Piper demanded, pointing an accusing finger at him before hurrying out the door and barely dodging Strong standing there. She quickly spotted the three heading up the road through Sanctuary slowly. They had just gotten off of the bridge. Nora was laughing at something that MacCready had said to her, and Dogmeat was happily trotting along ahead of them.

  Piper raised her arms up, waving to MacCready since Nora had just stopped to pat Dogmeat when he brought her a stick from nearby. He unfortunately was not looking. When he finally did happen to gaze in her direction, he just stared at her for a long moment, completely and utterly confused as she motioned to him.

  Very unfortunately, he still did not seem to get the message whatsoever. Piper just groaned loudly before looking around quickly, trying to find something that could throw Nora off and that would take up some time.

  It was then that she spotted strong standing nearby, just staring at her as if she were insane. Piper held back the grin that threatened to come onto her face and instead replaced it with a surprised look.

  “Strong! I think you better go see Nora! I’m not sure, but I think she found milk of human kindness!” Piper announced to him, and he looked at her strangely, moving his gaze between her and where Nora was standing in the distance.

  “Tiny human have milk of human kindness?!” Strong cried, growing quite excited, and Piper nodded swiftly.

  “Yes! Tiny human have milk of human kindness! You better go check!” Piper told him, gesturing in Nora’s direction, and Strong took off running in Nora’s direction to pester her about the nonexistent beverage.

  Piper sighed deeply with relief before hurrying inside to see how things were going with the cake.

  “How’s it looking?” Piper questioned quickly. X6 was just standing nearby, looking slightly irked as Hancock and Danse tried to shove each other out of the way to fix the cake. Deacon was trying to get around them to throw in his additions, and Cait had her arms crossed, her brow furrowed in some combo of frustration and nervousness. Codsworth and Curie were offering suggestions to the people fighting over the cake, and Preston just looked a little uncertain about the entire thing. Nick was propped up against the wall and watching the entire thing unfold.

  “It looks like the beginning of a disaster,” Nick commented dryly, and Piper made her way over, trying to shove Danse, Hancock, and Deacon away from the cake. For a long few moments, they did not even notice her.

  “Hey, hey, hey!!! Stop it!!! Let me see!!!” Piper yelled to get their attention. After much pushing, the three moved out of the way finally. Piper looked down at the cake, and she tilted her head to the side a bit as she looked down at the really strange cake before her.

  There was a pair of sunglasses on the front of the cake, lug nuts lining the edge of the cake on the plate it was sitting on, and a flower on the top positioned in such a way that it bordered the top of the word “Pleasant.”

  “Y’know… I’m not sure whether this is the weirdest cake I’ve ever seen or if it is literally the actual embodiment of Nora’s personality,” Piper finally spoke, and they all shrugged, honestly not too sure themselves.

  “Well, I hope it’s good enough, because I think we’re about out of time,” Nick informed them, as he looked out the window carefully.

  “Hide!” Piper quickly called in a whisper-yell, and they all tried to find a place to hide. Piper quickly turned off the lights that Nora had going in the house, turning the switch that connected the generator and the network of lights inside the house. She then took cover on the far edge of Nora’s couch where it was hidden from people coming in from the front doorway.

  Curie, Nick, and Codsworth hurried into the hallway, Curie peeking out just barely and one of Codsworth’s eyes poking out to watch the door. X6 left out the back door and Danse hurried out the back door with him, standing just around the side of the doorway. Hancock, Deacon, and Preston hid behind the island countertop nearby and Cait kneeled down nearby them.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I probably left it on the nightstand by my bed— Wow, it’s dark… I don’t remember turning the lights off before I left,” Nora trailed off, and Piper could hear the blue-clad woman feeling around in the dark for the switch that Piper had just turned off a few moments ago.

  As soon as the lights came on, everyone hiding jumped up and yelled surprise. Nora jumped out of her skin at first, falling back into MacCready as she instinctively placed her hand on the holster of her pistol. However, as her fight or flight instinct disappeared, a look of pure awe and joy overtook her, and she just looked around slowly.

  “Happy Birthday, Blue,” Piper told her, a giant smile on her face as she slowly approached the other woman. Nora was suddenly snapped out of her stupor, a giant grin coming onto her face as she wasted no time in closing the distance between her and Piper and wrapping her arms around the reporter tightly, burying her face in Piper’s shoulder as she squeezed her firmly against her.

  After a moment, Nora pulled away, just gazing at all of it as she marveled. Curie hurried over, latching onto her waist quickly, and Nora reciprocated the hug with a half-choked laugh before kissing the girl softly on top of her head. It was then that Piper realized her Blue was near tears.

  “What… When… How did you guys even come up with this?” Nora breathlessly questioned as she moved to the next person so she could hug them to. It just happened to be Nick. Piper shrugged, chuckling a bit as she hooked her fingers in the belt loops of her trench coat.

  “Well, we told MacCready to get you out of the house and keep you out there for a while, and we all busted our rears to get everything together for you,” Piper expressed, and just as Nora latched onto Cait, she pointed in MacCready’s direction with a watery smile.

  “You, sir, are a huge liar. Your scope was definitely not off all those times, and you do not exclusively pee in hubflower bushes, do you?!” Nora cried with a loud laugh that was somewhere closer to a sob as Cait crushed her in her arms, those bony limbs wrapping around Nora tightly as Nora rocked with her a bit and waved a scolding finger at MacCready. He just grinned sheepishly, shrugging. Piper scoffed as she raised an eyebrow at the man.

  “Seriously? Peeing in hubflower bushes?” Piper questioned as Nora continued to make her rounds and hug absolutely everyone there. She next went for Codsworth and quickly after that latched onto Preston.

  “Hey, you told me to distract her by any means necessary, and you wouldn’t believe how long it takes to find a hubflower bush out in the middle of the wastes,” MacCready admitted with a small laugh. Nora had embraced Danse, Deacon, and Hancock during his statement.

  Nora shook her head, finally hugging X6 against his will.

  “I just… Wow, I don’t even know what to say, you guys… Thank you so much,” Nora laughed, sniffing hard as she wiped at her eyes carefully, her hand squeezing X6’s shoulder.

  Piper just grinned widely, looking down at the floor self-consciously before looking back up at the woman. Piper could tell that Nora knew Piper had been the one at the helm of the entire thing, and Piper treasured the soft, adoring gaze that was thrown in her direction especially.

  “Well, then don’t say anything at all! We’ve got gifts and lots of them!” Deacon told her with a laugh, gesturing to the giant pile all over the kitchen table. Nora’s eyes went wide and she somehow looked even more deeply touched than she was before.

  “Monsieur Deacon, let us show Madame the cake first, oui?” Curie suggested excitedly, and Nora turned around, looking for the cake as she looked as if she might cry all over again.

  “You guys actually made a cake?”

  “X6 baked it,” Piper informed her, coming closer to her best friend as Hancock reached over for the cake on the counter behind Danse. “And Danse, Hancock, and Deacon put some really weird spin on the whole thing as far as decorating it goes.”

  As soon as Nora saw it, she looked somewhere between laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it and crying from the tenderness of the whole thing. She placed a hand over her mouth, just staring as her shoulders shook. She finally released a sharp bark of laughter, and everyone could not help but chuckle quite a bit over the silly cake.

  “‘Pleasant Regards’ was the moron’s idea,” Cait pointed at X6 as she explained in her usual gruff manner, and Nora just laughed and smiled widely as she looked at him. He did not provide an outward response.

  “When I was instructed to put a kind message on the cake in distinguished lettering, I was not given specific requirements,” he explained calmly, and Nora just laughed even harder.

  “I absolutely love it. You could’ve written literally anything on it, and I would’ve been happy,” Nora expressed wholeheartedly, and the sad thing was that Piper knew that was the absolute truth. Nora was always so happy with even the slightest shows of kindness and that was one of the many things that Piper loved about her best friend.

  “So, sister, do you want to eat some cake or do you want to open some presents first?” Hancock questioned with a smile, and Nora looked a little guilty as she eyed the cake.

  “I hate to mess up this beautiful cake… But I’m honestly kind of hungry,” Nora chuckled a little, sheepishly smiling at the group.

  “Don’t worry. Cakes are made to be eaten,” Danse assured her in that deep, stoic voice. However, his tone was filled with warmth as he looked at the woman. She flashed him an affectionate glance.

  “Well, why can’t she have both? She can eat cake and open presents at the same time, right?” MacCready suggested, and everyone quickly agreed, the entire bunch excited for her to see their gifts to her.

  “Alright! Let’s do it!” Nora agreed with a shrug, but the thrilled look in her eye betrayed her true feelings.

  “Let’s do sing ‘Happy Birthday!’” Codsworth called out, and everyone paused in their migration to surround the kitchen table. There was a collective sigh, but everyone cleared their throats before starting the song.

   Piper almost could not sing for the huge grin threatening to overtake her face as she lovingly looked at her best friend who was just basking in the love that her new found family held for her. As Piper and the group sang the last bit, Nora’s eyes met Piper’s and Nora just smiled softly at her, mouthing a thank you to Piper as her gaze practically glowed with tenderness and lovingness. Piper stopped singing for a moment to mirror her best friend’s expression.

  Piper had succeeded. Although it was not completely perfect, her Blue was getting all of the love she deserved.

  And that was all Piper needed and wanted for her.

#piper wright #female sole survivor #fallout 4 #fo4 #fallout #fallout companions #fallout 4 companions #nick valentine #curie #cait #x6-88 #paladin danse #danse #codsworth #maccready #robert maccready #deacon #preston garvey #strong #dogmeat #fanfic #fic #fiction #fanfiction #nora hale #f!sole #f!ss #sole survivor #sole #nora

[bonjour-rainycity]

Late in the Night | Part Four

Previous part

Prompt: Friends have a bet how long it will take the ship to get together (Content Challenge Day 7)

Pairing: Legolas x Female Reader

Rating: PG-13

Word count: 1602

Warnings: None

Challenge participants: @game-ofthe-company @grunid @themerriweathermage @errruvande @the-reformed-ringwraith @awkwardkindatries

^^ Hey! If I haven't commented on your post(s) yet, it just means I haven't gotten the chance to read them. School has been ramping up, but as I have free moments, I'll be going back and looking at all your challenge posts <3

A/n: You guys...IT'S THE LAST PROMPT OF THE CONTENT CHALLENGE! What?! Thank you so much to everyone who participated and interacted with our posts. I had such a blast creating this past week and getting to know each and every one of you. I think it would be fun to do something like this again in the future, so let me know if you would like to be involved in planning/get updates! 

As always, I encourage you to check out the accounts tagged above and our masterlists! You can find the challenge masterlist here and my personal masterlist here. Okay, enjoy :)

Aragorn waits, keeping an eye on the trees.

The minute his friends from the eastern inn arrive, they will leave town.

He had a pleasant night — private room, hot bath, well-prepared meals — but is ready to get back on their journey. For all he knows, the brief rest he allowed them could have already cost them vital time.

That thought causes him to pace.

“Calm yourself, dear friend, they will be along shortly,” Gandalf councils.

Aragorn tries to heed the wise wizard’s advice. Sure enough, he soon hears the light sounds of feet crushing grass and twigs, and knows they are close.

The four of them break into sight at roughly the same time, and Aragorn notices two things:

One, Legolas and Y/n refuse to look at each other.

Two, Gimli wears a grin bright enough to rival the sun.

Aragorn knows he must speak with the dwarf as soon as possible.

Something has happened.

Merry, who doesn’t get enough credit for his observation skills, notices the oddities too, and elbows Pippin in the side. Their eyes grow wide, and it takes everything in them not to shout guesses as to what this means.

It is a good while before Aragorn, Pippin, Merry, and Gimli have a chance to convene and discuss the new development. All four of them, though of course dedicated to the task at hand, desperately want a resolution to their ongoing bet.

It had started innocently enough.

Merry made an off-hand comment about how well Legolas and Y/n seem to get along. Gimli noticed the lass was a clumsier fighter when Legolas was watching. Aragorn realized his friend seemed nervous around the human woman. Pippin saw how each of them smiled brighter when the other was near.

Somehow or other, the four of them had put together their observations, and the rest is history.

The bet was born.

Each of them had put down fifteen coins and a deadline, losing the coins if Legolas and Y/n did not become a couple by the deadline, and winning coins if they did. Knowing his friend’s shy nature well, Aragorn had given the two the lengthiest allowance — six months. Pippin and Merry recognized the bold nature of humans, and guessed it would only take four months for Y/n to speak her mind and Legolas to reciprocate. Gimli, on the other hand, thought the two were already head-over-heels for each other and wouldn’t be able to keep quiet about it, and had given them only a month and a half.

Each participant, knowing his deadline was drawing nearer, had taken steps to push the two in the right direction.

The hobbit friends moved Legolas’ and Y/n’s bedrolls closer when they weren’t looking.

Aragorn put them on watch together. A lot. To the point where he actually felt bad about the bags under Y/n’s eyes.

But Gimli, perhaps, had been the boldest of them all, and proudly tells his friends so the moment they are alone much later that evening.

“Quickly, they are suspicious why it took four of us to gather firewood and herbs,” Aragorn mutters, darting a quick glance in the direction of camp.

“Yes, just get on with it,” Pippin squeaks, then throws a hand over his mouth, knowing he might alert Legolas with his volume.

“Alright, listen up lads.” Gimli grins and proudly tells his tale. “Boromir and I got to the inn first, as planned, and the innkeeper asked how many were in our party. I said two, and the innkeeper made a comment how it was good we didn’t have more folk waiting outside, as his inn was almost full. Well, that got me thinkin’, so I inquired how many more rooms were available. The innkeeper said two, not including the ones Boromir and I purchased. So I whipped out my velvet pouch and paid for another room, fibbin’ a bit and saying I might have a lady friend visiting and wasn’t sure if she would want to sleep in my room or not after our activities.” He wiggles his eyebrows in response to the stunned looks of his friend.

Aragorn shakes his head slowly, a bemused smile setting in his lips. “So you paid for an extra room just to force Legolas and Y/n into sharing?”

“Right you are,” Gimli grins, placing his fists on his hips. “It wasna even that expensive — I’ll make it back three times over, now that I’ve won this thing.”

“Ah, ah, ah, hold on,” Merry holds up a hand, halting Gimli’s gloat. “You can’t prove they did or said anything to start a courtship, so you haven’t won!”

“They won’t even look at each other and the elf’s as red as a strawberry, of course something happened,” Gimli practically shouts.

Aragorn, reliably a voice of reason, intervenes. “We shall have to inquire then, but be smart about it. We do not want to jeopardize their potential courtship with our game.”

The companions agree, then quickly turn to the forest, gathering firewood and herbs to supplement Sam’s soup and their cover story.

{***}

Back at camp, Legolas sits on a low tree branch, keeping watch over all his friends.

But mostly Y/n.

He cannot pull his eyes from her face. She sits on a rock, staring into the fire, absently cleaning the mud from her boots. Without permission, his mind goes back to the way he held her this morning, tucked against his chest, her leg wrapped around his. It was wildly improper, and he should be ashamed of himself.

But he doesn’t feel ashamed. Because the way they woke up this morning didn’t feel improper, it felt natural. With all his heart, Legolas wants to wake up like that every morning — his favorite person kept safely against his side. He wants to guard her and give her a wonderful life and bring her home and have his people adore her, too.

Legolas’ resolve hardens, because he knows he can no longer keep this to himself. Y/n has a right to know how he feels, because it affects her too.

He pushes himself from the branch, landing on the ground in silence. With four long strides, he stops beside her, reaching down a hand. “Will you talk with me?”

She looks up at him, nerves like she’s never felt before erupting within her. But she gathers her courage, forces what she hopes is a smile, and takes Legolas’ hand.

She wonders what he’ll say.

All day, she had been lost in embarrassment. Somehow in the night, she’d thrown her leg over his and practically attached herself to his chest — who does that?! And he’d said nothing when they woke up, only got up and went about his routine like normal.

So obviously, he doesn’t feel anything for her.

And that’s what this conversation has to be about.

Briefly, though, she allows herself to remember what it felt like to be in his embrace, and knows that she will cherish that feeling forever.

The warmth of his hand in hers helps her hold on to that memory and, to her surprise, when they reach a secluded spot, he does not let go. No, he takes her other hand in his, clutching both tightly.

Legolas nearly shakes with nerves, and he wonders if she can tell? Does she know how he feels like he might be sick? Oh, he has never felt anxiety like this before, and desperately wishes for it to be gone.

So he wastes no time in putting himself out of his misery.

“I want to be with you.”

Y/n blinks. Surely she can’t have heard him correctly? “What?”

Legolas sighs — her reaction gives him no indication how she feels either way. He bolsters his courage, and tries again. “I feel affection for each member of this Fellowship. But whereas I love the others as if they were my kin, I am unable to deny that how I love you is different. Elves live long lives and thus take matters of the heart very seriously. And, well,” he shrugs, all eloquence leaving him the moment he sees the shy, hopeful smile spread across her lips. “My heart is with you.”

Y/n can hardly believe her ears. She thought that he didn’t…that there was no chance of…but rather than dwell on all her miscalculations, or the myriad of dangers that haunt their future, she decides to just enjoy the moment. She throws her arms around Legolas’ neck, and he grips her tightly against him.

She turns her cheek to rest on his shoulder, unable to contain her grin. “You hold mine as well. I love you, Legolas.”

He pulls back only to rest his forehead against hers, head swimming from the joy of her acceptance and at being this close to her. “And I love you.” She lets out a giddy laugh and he closes his eyes, soaking in the sound. But then he focuses again, for there is something important he still must ask. “Will you accept my offer of courtship?”

Y/n can’t help herself from bumping her nose against his affectionately, and it feels so wonderful, so free to be with him this way. She has no desire for her future to continue without him, and so, her answer is found easily. “Of course.”

Relief settles in Legolas’ bones, the nerves finally leaving him and being replaced with happiness.

Just as their lips meet, the four friends break through the tree-line, back from collecting supplies.

Gimli’s triumphant shout can be heard for miles.

“Pay up, lads!”

A/n The end! This is the last chapter of this mini-series! Thanks for sticking with me as I had some fun with this one. I keep tag-lists, so at any time, just let me know if you would like to be tagged in anything. I’m in the planning stages of a Haldir x OC fic, and while I usually stay away from OC’s, I just cannot fathom typing “Y/n” for the length that I’m planning on making that story. So be on the lookout for that! Hope you all are taking care of yourselves and please know that my inbox is always open. Lots of love!

LITN tag list: @angelic-kisses13 @lainphotography @anangelwhodidntfall @sheriffgerard @themerriweathermage @k-llama-llama @hirokosoul @wellfuckmyexistence @ipsychosocial @anjhope1 @my-lotr-obsession-is-unhealthy

#bonjourcontentchallenge #lot #lord of the rings #tolkien #legolas x reader #legolas x female reader #lotr fic #lotr imagine #legolas #legolas imagine #legolas mini series #aragorn #pippin #merry #gandalf #gimli #boromir #sam #lotr reader-insert #lotr female reader #tolkien fic #tolkien imagine #legolas greenleaf #legolas fanfic #legolas x yn #legolas x you

[imthepunchlord]

Adrien’s Best to Least

Marinette, Alya, Nino, Kagami

Alright, officially four seasons in, we got more on Adrien which wound up to be... something. Let’s get this character study going covering his best to least fit. I apologize if this comes out on the side of salty, trying to be as neutral as possible, but be ready for his issues to be addressed.

Adrien is a complicated character in his set up, but Adrien himself is not a complex individual. He is, quite literally, one of the more straight forward characters in this show, and is quite stagnant and unchanging. And that is more the fault of the writers who don’t want to change him at all and deem him to be “perfect” while ignoring any flaws. Looking at him as a character without the narrative to act in his favor, there’s actually quite a struggle for him miraculous wise, but two seem to suit him best. 

His best are Turtle and Peafowl. Turtle meets the core who he is, working off his strengths, where he likes to be in the field, and his instincts. And this miraculous actually offers him the growth he really needs, while keeping true to who he is. Peafowl it turn can best adjust to his style and needs, his want to be flashy and dynamic. 

Adrien at the core is a protector, supporter, and follower. Being an incredibly reckless and active character, he thrives to be in the front lines, and has largely always prioritized his partner’s safety over his own, which has become problematic behavior at this point. But that’s what you want for a Turtle, someone who’s ready to be on the front lines and is being conscious of their allies. And out of the 5, this suits him best in who he is and how he works. 

The growth potential comes from the limits of his protection as Shelter can only be used once, and he has to be conscious about timing and how to use it. And typically, Adrien does have good responsive instincts for when he needs to be a protector. While this won’t stop him from diving in, it can afford him more means to do so while also keeping himself safe and in the fight, and it can shape him up to be smarter in how he protects others. This miraculous also counts for self-protection and ideally can get it into his head that his safety matters to. 

Overall, I do see Adrien and Wayzz getting along as Wayzz is friendly, engaging, and will adapt and adopt quirks of his humans so he can quickly bond with them. This sets up for him to click with his kwami a lot sooner, and with Wayzz being a more serious and responsible kwami than Plagg, this can set up Adrien to respect and listen to Wayzz. So when Wayzz calls him out on anything, Adrien is more likely to listen to him and consider his words. Wayzz is a kwami who doesn’t approve of reckless behavior, and that will address one of Adrien’s biggest issues. 

With Peafowl, in comparison to Fox, would be a lot forgiving of Adrien’s quick, responsive, and straightforward thinking. When Adrien makes his golems, they are made with a clear purpose that they will see to. And they will function as he expects them to. This will match his want to play by his own rules, as whatever he wants can come into existence, and for sure, he’d be quite the attention grabber. This miraculous is quite flexible in battle, able to be settled on the sidelines or join the golem in combat. 

Growth wise, this miraculous can inspire a spark of creativity, as while he makes golems to serve out a purpose, thought is required for them. He will also need to learn to be conscious of his resources as each golem is born from a section of his fan, and if he makes too many, he can end up weaponless. 

For him and Duusu, I see them being a very energetic pair, probably borderline chaotic. Duusu would actually probably add onto his flamboyance and encourage him to really let loose and “show his true colors”. She’d also be a source of affection and support, something that he really wants. She could also have Adrien step up in maturity as she can be a goofball. 

Adrien’s 2nd best is Bee. Bee can work off his energy and allow him to remain a mid-to-close-range fighter, though there are concerns to him using it which keeps this from being apart of his best, though he has enough potential and promise to use it well that keeps this from joining the worst. 

Bee will have a lot of the same appeals as Cat that makes this manageable for Adrien. It is direct, involved, allows him to be a teamplayer, and has an aggressive power. But while it has the same appeals to Cat, it has the same issues as Adrien can be reckless with his power and has activated Cataclysm at the wrong time a few times which has led to issues (Aeon’s death being the most iconic example). Chances are even higher that he’d have similar issues with Venom, and be more reckless with Venom as unlike Cataclysm, this is just a temporary paralysis, not pure destruction. Cataclysm requires some level of control and consideration in use. Venom is not the same in its use, so Adrien can end up more reckless with it as there aren’t so severe consequences with it, in theory. And with his tendency to charge and Venom requires some stealth and calculation in use, chances are good that many are going to see his sting coming and prepare for it. 

Growth wise, Bee can help Adrien grow as a team player, as teamwork is a big part of bee society, and while largely good, Adrien does have moments where he has struggled (like pranking his partner during a Lucky Charm use in the beginning of Refleckta, or Glaciator, rejecting to work with his partner due to her not showing up for the maybe date she said she was uncertain of making it to). And by chance he is reckless with Venom, ideally it would eventually click that he needs to be smarter in how he handles it. 

Adrien and Pollen as a pair could end up very problematic or very interesting. The Bee miraculous seems more designed to be used by girls and so far, we’ve only seen Pollen work off girls, we have yet to see how Pollen would engage with a boy as her user. She could be quite critical. But playing off the assumption that Pollen will engage with Adrien the same as we’ve seen in canon with Chloe, this would not be a good match as Pollen would essentially enable Adrien, and I don’t see him prompting the same sort of growth to her as other characters could. 

Adrien’s least fit are Butterfly and Fox. These two make up his greatest weaknesses: empathy and the capacity to plan before acting. 

Adrien can match Butterfly as he can be very supportive and encouraging (Origins and Mayura), but the issue stems that these instances are limited both in number and in depth. Adrien can be very emotionally deaf to the needs of others, often putting his own needs over them, and has made use of guilt to manipulate people (largely Marinette, seen in Syren and Malediktator). Another big issue with Adrien and Butterfly is that Adrien himself doesn’t make connections, he doesn’t include himself in anything. To use this miraculous well, one has to be or become, quite literally, a social butterfly. This miraculous at the core is about emotion and connection, to be aware of the feelings of others, to make connections, to assist and help raise others up. It requires teamwork and being on the same page. To have the user become a leader or teammate. This is not something Adrien is known for. He in general isn’t good at getting a grasp on emotional issues, as seen in Maledicktator, not getting the happiness everyone was feeling and lectured Marientte about it. Possibilities are good that with his tendency to lecture, who can upset the wrong target and end up championless. And with how passive he can be, can it be certain that he can rein in a champion if they go out of control? 

Growth wise, this does offer the most, but at the price that this is one of two that he’d really struggle with at the start. This miraculous can help him learn to branch out, make connections with others, and open his world more to making friends. But until he gets to that point, he’s going to be limited in diversity in champions and is more likely to stick to who he knows, and unfortunately, that’s not a lot. Chances are good that Chloe and Nino could be the only champions to be seen for a while and Chloe would not be inclined to share. 

With Nooroo, on the surface they can be a sweet pair, but being a very gentle and soft spoken kwami, I don’t see Nooroo as a kwami that Adrien will listen to if Nooroo spoke out or voiced his concerns. Nooroo can help Adrien understand and deal with emotional situations he may not have a grasp on, but that’s not a certainty until Adrien actually listens. 

Adrien can match Fox as a risk taker, someone who likes to be flashy, is playful, and wants to put on a show. But that there is where it ends. Adrien at the core is a very reactive character who likes to be in the thick of things and that’s not where Fox is supposed to be. Fox requires creativity, observation skills, and means of manipulating your audience without ever confronting them. Adrien is more offensive-oriented than a good Fox should be. He shares a similar issue with Alya that he would go with the first thing that comes to mind, whether its good or not, or even if he has all the details down needed for a good illusion. Chances are also good that (like Alya), he also waits to hear what illusion his partner may tell him to do than think of one himself. He tends to go with his gut and responds to the first thing he sees. And out of the 5, this is the one most designed to be background oriented, so him joining any fights makes things risky for him as he’s quite limited in fights. And having a Fox seen, enemies get a sense that there’s going to be an illusion soon. 

This would be the 2nd to address issues of his recklessness, but would be far more punishing. If he’s determined to become a good Fox, this is going to force him to step back, observe, and think. But being so action oriented and responsive, and having this instinctive need to act rather than plan (as we really see him struggle and get frustrated in Refleckdoll), its going to take a while before he gets that patience. 

Trixx and Adrien would be a pair that I see to be quite one sided. Passive as he can be, I see Trixx quite easily manipulating Adrien. And depending on one’s stance, this could be good or bad. Trixx is sharp enough to see what his humans desire, and knows what to say to change how think or change their actions. Trixx maybe the best kwami to pair with Adrien as he will assist Adrien in getting what he wants and needs, but is capable of getting Adrien to reconsider his stance or actions, which can improve Adrien’s character and his relation with others. 

Between Ladybug and Cat... honestly Adrien isn’t the best fit for either of them. But if he HAS to have one... it would technically be Cat as the power is more suited to who he is. It’s up his alley, though certain aspects don’t make it ideal. 

it is the same issue and risk as Bee, Adrien is very reckless and reactive. Canonly he has summoned Cataclysm too soon. And then there’s the issue of kwami. Plagg is not a good kwami match up with Adrien. Plagg isn’t a very involved kwami and he relies on his humans to self-sufficient and figure out issues themselves, largely expects a small mention will be enough. Not so with Adrien who needs a more direct personality to listen to, and by the time Plagg realizes he needs to be more direct, Adrien largely dismisses him as Plagg has set himself up as unreliable at the start. 

Between the two, Tikki would be the better kwami for Adrien. She is very involved and engaging, and makes it clear when she has an issue, to a point she’d be hard for Adrien to dismiss. Though chances are slim that he would as she’d be engaging at the start unlike Plagg. Adrien can even get Tikki herself to grow as he needs clearer answers than just a simple call out, forcing her to offer up solutions and alternatives for his own actions. Tikki also would get Adrien to start involving himself in others, if not outright stepping up as a leader, be more conscious of others and help them with their issues. She would’ve been good to help Adrien branch out. Unfortunately, the Ladybug miraculous is confirmed to not be a good fit and there would be a lot of struggles for Adrien at the start. 

#miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #kwami swap #character study