#<- cause I feel like I’m gonna be talking about this campaign more anyways

[arlo-rose]

me wanting to talk about my dnd character on here vs the fact that I’m mutuals with someone in the campaign and I don’t want to spoil anything

#I love jasper so so much #Their backstory is so cool and I’ve spent way way too long thinking about tiny details about it but *I can’t say anything* #Cause I want to be dramatic and reveal stuff during the campaign #The party is absolutely terrified of jasper which makes me happy #Yeah they’ve killed people. He’s also a sad little guy and I love them. Have you thought about that? #The dnd tag #<- cause I feel like I’m gonna be talking about this campaign more anyways

[misc-obeyme]

Hello hello CC! Long time no see, 🦀🐚 here.

Just saw that you’re gonna run a short dnd campaign and wanted to crash through and wish you a nice session with the party!

I’ve really been wanting to get into Dnd but can’t really find a group to do it with. If I introduce it to my friends I’ll probably end up as the one running the campaign and I’m not too sure whether I’ll be able to do that given that I’m new, so I’ve mostly been listening to dnd podcasts during work.

It’s just fun to see someone else trying Dnd. If you don’t me asking; since you’re running the game, did you create the campaign or are you using a premade one? I can definitely see you maybe writing one if inspiration struck…

So again, have a nice session and hope you’ve been doing great during these past few months.

Oh, welcome back, 🦀🐚 anon!

Ahhhh DnD! Thank you, it was indeed a lovely session!

I will say that the thing about podcasts is that they really go heavy on the roleplaying element of DnD. I haven't listened to a ton of them, but I do feel like part of the point is to make it entertaining enough for other people to listen? And really you can kinda do whatever you want when it comes to some of this stuff. My group is super chill so I'm not sure we do the same level of like... acting lol.

Well, lemme tell you a bit about my personal experience so that some of what I'm saying makes sense!

I started playing probably... five or so years ago? Our usual group has six players, plus the DM, which is not usually me. That's a lot, but the interest levels between the party members vary. So there are about four of us who are really into it (aside from the DM) and two of us who are not as into it, but play because they like the friend group. They enjoy combat more than roleplaying and because there are so many party members, we tend to spend a lot of our sessions in combat. It's also big stretches of time between when we play because you know, adults with lives and what not.

So the rest of us were like what if we run a smaller, separate campaign just for fun so we can play a little more frequently?

And then it was like well... our DM has been DMing for years, you think he wants a break??

And someone was like yo CC you're creative, you'd be a good DM!

And I was like... yeah okay fine! LOL!

This wasn't my first time DMing, but it has been years. And then people got sick, so I ended up with a party of only two people lol. I had to fudge some numbers but they made it through the campaign.

Anyway, all of this is to say that I found it surprisingly easy to DM. I thought it was gonna be super difficult, but it really isn't that hard at all.

I used a premade campaign that I found for free online. This was because I was kinda just getting my feet wet, you know? I think I'd rather run a homebrew campaign, where I get to make everything up. But I'll probably do a few more premade modules with the full group just to get into the swing of things.

The biggest challenge is to roll with the nonsense players throw at you. For instance, this story started out with a sheep holding a Scroll of Speak with Animals because it wanted to talk to the party (it wasn't really a sheep, but a cursed wizard). Well, it runs up to the party and immediately one of my players is like, "Can I lasso it and ride it like a pony?"

And I was like... sigh. Roll an acrobatics check.

They didn't even notice the scroll before they wanted to lasso that poor sheep. And since my player was a halfling, they could actually ride it, so I was just like okay, sure why not lol.

I swear players just really enjoy coming up with the most bonkers response they can think of because of the DM's reaction lol.

Anyway, I totally get if you're nervous to DM, but I promise it's not as hard as it seems. And if you're playing with other people who are new, they tend to be more lenient and you can all learn together. Like there were a few times where I had to ask my players about rules 'cause I forgot them.

There's a starter pack that you can get that has a whole campaign and dice and like a booklet of rules and stuff. I think it has premade characters too iirc? It's pretty good for if you want to try it out with your friends without committing to buying all the books and stuff.

My group used to play in person and our DM had one of those grid white board style maps and he'd draw out every dungeon every session. We had little figures for our characters and tons of dice! I have some really pretty purpley blue sparkly dice...

But now we play on roll20.net online because I moved across the country. If you're planning on playing virtually, you can use roll20 for free. It has built in modules you can use, but you can also just upload your own maps and stuff.

ANYWAY. Wow I rambled a lot about that, huh? Sorry about that, I guess I had a lot to say about it! But I felt like it was kind of a unique situation what with the two groups and stuff.

If nothing else, you can also check local gamer stores or sometimes independent book stores. They often run DnD campaigns that anyone can join. I think there are also online campaigns you can join on roll20 and possibly other places, too! I hope you're able to find some people to play with!

#and I have super social anxiety too so I get why it can be intimidating #but it's worth it #anyway thank you for stopping by I'm always happy to hear from you! #not obey me #🦀🐚 anon #misc answers

[starbornsoulrider]

this whole horse girl mess still really confuses me and I do agree with what ppl are saying on here, like sso should use redefine instead of reclaim. but I mean... on the other hand depending on the context “horse girl” can still be used maliciously. Obviously it’s nowhere near as bad as much worse slurs and sso shouldn’t treat it like it is, and that nowadays people say it in a more playful way than mocking way. But I’ve seen people use the term “horse girl” as a way to belittle someone as recent as like... two years ago now I think? and a few times after that.

this incident comes to mind every time sso brings up this whole thing about the term horse girl, and whenever I see people saying no one rlly uses horse girl as an insult anymore. I’ll try to be as vague as possible since I don’t wanna like, expose anyone I guess? but like two or less years ago there was this activist I often saw on my tik tok for you page. I don’t remember her very well or even her username, but a LOT of fascists and trump-supporters targeted her. one day she just posted a normal video of her chilling or playing with her horse, I don’t exactly remember. and the comments were flooded- and I mean FLOODED- with typical trump supporters saying “of course she’s a horse girl” “you’re a horse girl you really think your opinion matters” “shut up horse girl”- yknow stuff along those lines. obviously it was disgusting, and of course those ppl were just saying that stuff cause they didn’t actually have good a arguement, but still. mocking a woman’s interests and saying they made her inferior, typical misogynistic bs.

and there were a few less bad but still kinda sucky uses of “horse girl” I was exposed to. or just like general sneering at having an interest in horses. SSO was what re-ignited my love and interest for horses, but for maybe the first year of playing it I was kind of nervous to express it. I overheard my sister say to her friends “yeah, their thing is horses now” in a tone that felt like... a little mocking, I guess? and I felt the need to speak up and say “o-oh, I just play SSO out of boredom, I’m not actually that horse crazy, haha” and I’m pretty sure I felt the need to repeatedly say “I just like SSO for the weird and wacky story, that’s all!” on multiple occasions, too.

so yeah incidents like that were what made me hesitant to fully express that horses were a big hyperfixation of mine now, cause I felt like all my friends and family would find it silly and cause I had already seen some pretty viscous attitude towards horse lovers before. even now I’m a little cautious talking about it at times. like I feel embarrassed whenever my family makes a remark about my interest in horses sometimes cause deep down I worry that they think it’s childish or something.

anyways, idk where I’m really going with this, I guess I’m saying that yeah there’s DEFINITELY a better way sso could approach this, although I wouldn’t say this “standing up for horse girls” stuff is completely out of nowhere? Idk, I feel like it’s important that “horse girl” can be a playful term but there are times where it’s used in harmful contexts. I mean, it’s definitely not as bad as slurs, and as I said before sso should rethink this and use better wording. it’s just ever since they started this whole horse girl campaign and saw people saying it felt a little ridiculous, I felt like sharing my personal experience with the term, so I supposed now was the time to finally do that. I wasn’t born into the horse world or really grew up with it, though there are quite a few equestrians on the other sides of my family. again, not exactly sure where I was going with this and I have a lot of “ehhhh...” feelings towards SSO’s approach at this topic for several reasons, even though they do seem to have good intentions, I dunno if my input will help at all but I felt like if I was ever gonna say anything about this it might as well be now. not trying to be like “YOU’RE ALL WRONG HORSE GIRL IS A BAD WORD” of course, my experience with the term “horse girl” has been on my mind before the “reclaim horse girl” post was made and the post and people’s reaction to it made me remember it again. I guess basically, I think sso’s heart is in the right place and I don’t think it’s totally out of nowhere but this was definitely not the best way to approach it.

#there’s still a few other things that bother me about this ‘reclaim horse girl’ thing #like how there are still male and nonbinary people this issue applies to #but this is all I’ll post abt it for now #maybe if I sort out my thoughts more I’ll make another post #I just wish sso was a bit more sensitive to this issue :/ #sso #shut up blake #again- not trying to attack anyone or prove someone wrong #just sharing my own thoughts and experiences on the matter #maybe my input will help maybe this post is useless I dunno #if anything this was just me writing down my thoughts #so I might not keep this post up #delete later #EDIT: just adding some additional thoughts to this #because to be honest #while I don’t necessarily thing sso is going about this the BEST way #I heavily disagree with people on here saying that it’s pointless or means nothing #obviously horse girls aren’t some super oppressed group #but from what I’ve seen from a few other sso players #it’s still often thought of as cringey or weird or dumb to like horses #as I said in the post even I feel awkward or embarrassed bringing up my interest in horses sometimes! #so like. it’s nice when people reassure you that you aren’t childish or ridiculous because of your interest #so while I absolutely agree that sso should change the wording and acknowledge that this issue isn’t limited to girls #and stuff like that #I don’t really agree that there’s absolutely no point in doing this #anyways that’s my stance I guess #maybe I’ll remake this post idk #I doubt anyone will see these updated tags lmao

[eddievanhammettmunson]

Rain and Pain

Trips Part 3. Eddie Munson x Female reader

Authors note- Hello lovelies I’m back for a part 3. This one is 11k words with no smut yet I’m sorry babes but we’ll get there in the next part don’t worry.

Warnings- 18+ story. No smut in this chapter but it still ain’t for kiddos so get out <3.uhhhh drugs (weed), foul language, violence, sexual humor I suppose.

Summary- Joining hellfire has been an excellent addition to your life. But the better addition to your life was Eddie. Will you screw it up by going on a date with him?

Walking into Family video on a fine Saturday morning was always a fun hobby of yours ever since Steve and Robin started working there. Not only did you get special discounts on movies (that you made sure not to abuse for the sake of your friends' jobs) but you got to bug your best friends at work. Today however you were extra excited.

Last night you’d gotten a chance to play the campaign you and Eddie had worked on and you and the party had managed to win. It has left you in an extra good mood today. So when you walk into Family Video wearing a dazzling smile Steve and Robin can’t help but notice the contrast to your usual snark and deadpan demeanor.

“Hey Y/n what brings a lovely lady like you in here on a beautiful day like this” Steve says in a somewhat sarcastic tone as the thunder and lightning continues outside the shop.

“Well I was wondering if you guys had any copies of Fright Night in actually?”

“Ughhhhhhh y/n now I actually have to do my job and check the computer” Robin says with a pout swiveling the chair towards the computer screen.

As Robin searches on the computer you lean on the counter and grab a movie that was sitting next to Steve and you begin to fidget with the case. As you fidget with the case Steve can’t help but wonder what’s got you all peppy and fidgety today.

“You got somewhere to be?” He muses as he takes the movie out of your hand and throws it onto the cart of movies he has to restock later.

“Not right now at least" it’s vague but lets both Steve and Robin know that you have plans for later.

“Oooooo y/n got a hot date later?” Robin says standing from the counter and heading around so she can lead you toward the movie.

“I wouldn’t call it a date necessarily…I’m just going to see Eddie later. That’s why I’m getting the movie. He mentioned something about wanting to see it so I figured I’d pick it up” Steve perks up at hearing this and walks to follow you and Robin.

“Oh god, not you too. Dustin won’t shut up about Munson and now you’re hanging out with him too?”

“Yes Steve. I joined hellfire and now you get to hear Dustin and I talk about Eddie Munson everyday for the rest of your life” you said in the most sarcastic voice you could and Steve was obviously not as amused about it as you were.

“I just don’t get why everyone is obsessed with the freak”. You were sure Steve hadn’t meant anything by it cause well everyone in town called Eddie a freak. But you weren’t sure why hearing him say that pissed you off a little.

“You know what Steve maybe if you got your head out of your ass and gave him a chance maybe you’d see the appeal” you hadn’t meant for it to come out as mean as it did but as soon as you said it you looked up to see both Steve and Robin looking a bit shocked as Robin placed the copy of Fright Night in your hands.

With a heavy sigh you begin to speak again. Making sure you keep your tone as light as possible. “All I’m saying is. Steve, maybe if you got to know him you’d see that he’s not what everyone makes him out to be. There’s more to him than the town freak you know?”. With the movie still in hand you walk back to the counter and place the movie on it. Suddenly feeling guilty for snapping at Steve.

“I have a feeling Henderson is gonna make me hangout with the guy someday anyways so who knows maybe him and I will become best friends and it will have to be you and Henderson tolerating me” he began to check the movie out for you and Robin began to protest about how Eddie better not replace her as Steve’s best friend.

Once you finish getting your movie you decide to just hangout in the shop and talk for a bit since they don’t have any other customers yet.

“You know Eddie was in here last night actually “ As Robin said it, you couldn’t help but inquire as to what Eddie could have wanted at Family Video after hellfire last night.

“Oh really? What was he uh getting”

“He got some movie called Creepshow” as Robin revealed it to you Steve hit Robin on the arm and mentioned something about that shit being confidential. You were no longer listening to them bicker however because you knew exactly why Eddie was in here.

At lunch when Eddie had mentioned how he wanted to see Fright Night you oh so briefly mentioned wanting to see Creepshow. So you knew he got it for you.

You glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw it was only 10 am and you and Eddie had agreed you’d go over to his trailer around 4. Feeling a little bummed about having to wait to go see him now.

Around lunch time you, Robin,and Steve all pile into Steve’s care to escape the rain and you all begin to get high. Steve stays in the driver seat and Robin in the passenger seat with you laying down in the back. Robin stares at you for a minute.

Robin had seen you at school that day when you walked in wearing the hellfire shirt and she watched you sit with Eddie and his gang at lunch. She’d been watching you spend quite a bit of time with Eddie lately and couldn’t help but think there might be something there. Especially after the way you snapped at Steve this morning after the freak comment? She definitely thought you had to have some sort of feeling for Eddie.

“So y/n is all of hellfire going to be there for movie night or is it just you and Eddie”

The last thing you wanted to think about right now was Eddie. He consumed all your thoughts lately and sitting in the back of Steve’s car while you were stoned was supposed to be an escape from that.

“No…just Eddie and I” a simple answer you give as you turn your head back to facing the roof of the car. Hoping Robin won’t ask anymore questions about Eddie.

“He asked about you, ya know?”

Shaking your head and giving a heavy sigh you sit up a bit and turn until your eyes meet Robins.

“What do you mean he asked about me?”

“Last night Eddie. He asked if I knew you cause he was pretty sure he’d seen us hanging out before”.

You don’t respond to Robin's comment as you lean back and continue to stare at the roof above you. Refusing to let your thoughts get sucked in by Eddie you try to focus on the sound of the rain.

But with the smoke around you clouding your brain it’s like Eddie suddenly becomes the fog in your brain. No intense thoughts but just clouds of ideas. Things he might be doing right now. Things he might like. Things that make him smile. His smile. How badly you want him to smile. How much you like his smile.

You don’t even notice the car door behind your head open until Steve is leaning over your smiling face. Steve taps you on the forehead with his fingers lightly.

“Hey silly girl, it's time to go. Robin and I would like to keep our jobs today so we gotta get back inside”

You all run back inside the family video avoiding the rain as best as you can. Checking the time you see it’s only around 1 pm and you sigh heavily. Trying to think of anything that can kill the time before heading to Eddie’s. Even thinking of just going by early but you decide against it.

Finally deciding on the plan you say goodbye to Steve and Robin and head over to a convenience store and grab some snacks and sodas, throwing them in the backseat of your truck before driving towards the Byers house. You were actually going to see Nancy but you knew better than trying to find her at the Wheelers.

Knocking on the door you’re greeted by Will instead who looks very eager to see you.

“Y/n?! Hey what are you doing here”

Deciding not to tell him you were just here for Nancy you decide to opt for something more vague.

“Oh you know just killin some time on a Saturday Byers. What are you up to?”

He takes you by the wrist and drags you all the way to his room and straight past Joyce and Hopper who shout their hellos as they watch you be dragged.

Once in Will's room you can’t help but notice the absolute mess this kid has made. Paint and papers and sketches absolutely everywhere.

“I’m working on a painting for Hellfire. I’m hoping to show it to Eddie at the next session and see if he’ll hang it up in the D&D room”

As he turns the easel toward you, you can’t help but wear the widest grin on your face.

The painting was absolutely stunning. It was the entire party with Eddie at the lead. Decked out in armor and holding a sword and shield as the party gathers behind him to face a large dragon.

You couldn’t help but admire the boy's work because the painting was magnificent. But even more than that you couldn’t help but admire what you assume was supposed to be your character in the painting. You hadn’t been in the club that long so you wouldn’t have blamed him if he hadn’t included you but he did. Something about it warmed your heart and you grabbed Will and forced him into a quick hug.

“He’s gonna love it, Byers. Shit if he doesn’t hang it up I will” you rub his hair and mess it up a bit as you continue to stare at the painting intensely. Trying to capture every detail. The knock on Will's bedroom door frame is what snaps you out of it as you turn to find Nancy and Jonathan.

“Oh hey Nance. What’s up?”

“I thought I heard your voice come into the house. What are you doing here”

“Oh just stopped by to kill some time you know. See what you and Jonathan are up to?”

Nancy turns to Will

“Will I trade you one Jonathan in exchange for a y/n?”

“Sounds like a shit deal to me” Will says as Jonathan walks into the room and hits Will on the arm as they both laugh.

You walk out of the room with Nancy and down the hall towards Jonathan’s room. Once there you opt to sit at Jonathan’s table while Nancy rests on the bed propped up against the headboard.

“So why’d you really come over y/n”

“I don’t know what you mean Nance I really did just come by to kill some time”

You turn to Nancy who’s looking at you with a raised brow. Clearly not believing what you’ve said. But really that’s why you were here so instead of trying to fight Nancy, you decide to just ask her what she and Jonathan were up to again.

Nancy starts going into detail about what she and Jonathan had been doing before you showed up. Lots of talk or articles Nancy was planning to run for the school newspaper and talk of Jonathan and his cameras. It wasn’t lost on Nancy that you weren’t entirely listening to her but what broke her was your constant fidgeting with everything on Jonathan’s desk until you got to the blinds. Flicking them open and closed, open and closed, open and closed. Nancy couldn’t handle it.

“Y/n! Seriously! What is going on with you today?”

“I don’t know what you mean”

“You don’t know what I mean? Your Saturdays are usually reserved for quiet days reading at home or bugging Steve and Robin. And the entire time I’ve been talking I can tell your brain is going a million miles a second I mean seriously are you okay” Nancy is now sitting on the edge of the bed closest to you.

You quickly drop the blinds you were fidgeting with and adjust yourself and attempt to sit still and you just shrug.

“Yeah Nancy I’m fine. Just killing some time before I go see Eddie later that’s all” as you say it Nancy’s concerned disposition disappears and is replaced by a coy smile.

“Oh so that’s why. I get it now.”

“Get what? What do you mean?”

“Eddie. That’s why you’re acting strange. All week you’ve been hanging out with him and acting funny”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Nancy. I’m not acting weird. If anything you’re acting weird”

Nancy scoffs as she stands up and walks around the room and shuts Jonathan’s door to ensure Will doesn’t hear.

“So Y/n. Tell me everything. Do you like him?”

The question startles you and creates a weird feeling in your chest.

“What? Nancy we’re just having fun hanging out you know”

“Y/n I’m your best friend. I can see it all over your face that you feel something toward him. Even if you don’t quite get it yet”

Nancy walks over to where you’re sitting and lifts your chin up to where you’re looking up at her

“Don’t worry. I’ll be here for you when you figure it out yourself”

She sits back down on the bed in front of you and crosses her legs and rests her head on the palm of her hands.

“So what are you guys doing tonight?”

“Uh the usual. Probably just get high and watch movies”

“What are you gonna wear?”

“Well I was planning on wearing this? Why what’s wrong with this?”

She studies you for a second and brushes some hair off your shirt.

“Nothing, it's cute. Was just wondering if that’s what you’d planned on wearing”

Suddenly you were a little more self conscious about your outfit but knew Nancy didn’t mean anything by it. Nancy continued berating you with questions about Eddie that didn’t help you forget about him at all. Instead just made it harder to wait until you could go over there. Pretty much as soon as it was 3:30 you rushed out of the Byers house and got in your truck to head over to Eddie’s.

Eddies POV

Eddie's Saturdays were usually filled with band practice or Smokey days filled with the music in his trailer to keep him company. But there was no band practice today and the music just wasn’t holding his attention like normal.

All morning all Eddie could think about was the fact that you were coming over. He’d even woken up early on accident out of excitement. He tried and tried to fall back asleep but he was just so excited. He decided to kill some time and try to clean up the trailer a bit. It wasn’t spotless but it was clean. He knew when Wayne woke up for work later that he would be surprised.

Even after all this cleaning it still wasn’t even close to the time you two had agreed upon. He paced by the phone debating on whether or not to call you and just see if you wanted to come by earlier instead. But eventually decided not to.

Instead he decided he’d go place a visit to a certain curly headed nerd and kill some time. So he grabbed his keys, got in his van and headed over to Henderson's house.

Dustin wasn’t mad to see Eddie at his house on a Saturday morning. He was however confused and even a little surprised to see Eddie was capable of being awake this early in the day.

Ms Henderson made them some snacks as they went to Dustin’s room. In Dustin’s room Eddie sat crisscross on the floor as he toyed with some nicknacks in Dustin’s room.

“Soooooo Eddie. What’s up did you wanna talk about the next D&D session or did you need help with math again”

Eddie scoffs and stands up, turning to Dustin.

“Jeez Henderson have a little faith. Can’t I just want to hangout with my friend?”

“Normally yes but it’s a Saturday morning Eddie. Honestly I’m just mostly surprised to even see you awake”

Eddie processed Dustin’s words and realized he didn’t have an argument for Dustin so instead he just threw the little toy he was holding at him.

“So Henderson, what do you wanna do today? Kill some time, you know?”

“Well I was gonna go over to Lucas’s house cause I have some figures for Erica that she wants to repaint and add to her collection”

“Well Henderson what are we waiting for let’s go”

Eddie and Dustin gather the figures and get into Eddie’s van and over to the Sinclair residence. Upon arrival they knock on the door only for Lucas to answer. Lucas wasn’t surprised to see Dustin at all but Eddie? Awake this early in the day? He must be hallucinating.

“Eddie? Dustin? Look guys I’d love to hangout or whatever but I gotta head to practice with the guys. If I had known you were comin I coulda-“

Dustin held up his hand

“Sorry Lucas, love ya buddy but we’re here to see Erica”

Lucas registered what Dustin had said and his face fell slightly.

“Oh. Erica is in her room. Make sure to knock real loud I think she’s listening to something on her Walkman”

Lucas walked past Dustin and Eddie and headed to his bike and he was off. Dustin and Eddie head towards Erica’s room with Eddie taking point and banging on the door being immediately met by an angry scream.

“LUCASSSSSSSSS!”

The door swings open and the boys are met by a very angry Erica who is wearing a magnifying headset and holding tweezers and a paintbrush. She rips the headset off and gets a look at the boys.

“This better be good Dustin I’ve been working on this set for 3 days and you two just messed me up”

Eddie was fighting back his laughter as he spoke.

“Sorry Sinclair. Lucas told us you were listening to music so we should knock loud”

With a large huff paired with a heavy eye roll as she turned and walked back into her room.

“Of course he did. So what do you two want?”

“I brought the figures you asked for”

“Oh good, set them over on the table with the others. What about you stretch. What are you here for?”

“Just being the chauffeur Ms. Applejack” Eddie said as he walked around the room and studied some of the figures that Erica had drying on the table.

“That’s interesting. Dustin told me you aren’t normally alive this early in the day let alone being a chauffeur. But that’s none of my business”

“You’re right, dwarf it’s not. And what is with everyone I am alive sometimes this early on a Saturday? I attend band practice and on some occasions I have gotten there before noon" Eddie was clearly trying to defend himself but it also was clearly a bad argument. All three stood there for a moment before Erica began to become annoyed.

“Well, is there a reason you two are still here?”

Dustin turned on his foot to leave the room when Eddie put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Lady Applejack. Would you care to accompany sir Dustin and I on an adventure?”

“What kind of adventure”

Eddie thought for a moment. He knew he had to make it interesting for her to join him and Dustin.

“One that involves a sugary treat of your choice”

Erica set the magnifying headset from her hand and placed it on the table and walked toward the door.

“Fine I’ll come but that really made you sound like a kidnapper and it’s not any better that I’ll be getting in the van”

“Fine then you sit up front and Henderson has to sit in the back” Eddie said with a laugh as he hit Henderson on the shoulder.

As they got in the van and drove towards the Wheelers house Dustin didn’t expect Eddie to come out of the house empty handed. But apparently Mike was out with Eleven and Max so they’d be down a party member. Dustin decided to try and use the radio to call Will to see if he would join but he didn’t get an answer.

So they decided to continue the adventure without him. They found themselves at a record store and the kids were a bit confused.

“Dustin does this look like a place with sugary treats to you cause it doesn’t to me”

“Shut it Sinclair I didn’t say it was gonna be the first stop. Now come on.”

Eddie walked into the record store and said hi to his friend Daryl at the counter. Eddie asked Daryl if they had any copies of the most recent Metallica album in. Everytime you and him had hung out so far you made him listen to it at least twice and he knew you knew most of the words. He could just tell you liked it and at one point he heard you say something along the lines of “you’ll have to let me borrow it on cassette sometime”. So he figured he’d just buy a copy and give it to you and lie saying he happened to have another copy or some shit.

That was until Dustin noticed what Eddie was buying.

“Eddie you already have that I literally just saw it in the van?”

“Uh yeah I know. I just uhhhhhh. I wanted it as a spare copy for the trailer and one for the van?”

“You’re a shit liar” Erica said holding a handful of tapes that she placed in Eddie’s open hand. Eddie already assumed he was paying for these tapes.

“Okay look I’m just- I’m seeing Y/n later and she mentioned something about wanting to borrow a copy and I just figured this would be easier. That’s all.”

Erica looked at Dustin with a smirk and high-fived him. They were beaming and Eddie felt like he’d missed something.

“Of course!” Dustin said, holding his hands up.

“Of course what? What the fuck is wrong with you two?”

“Y/n it’s Y/n you like her”

“You know what Henderson I changed my mind I don’t wanna know what you’re talking about now shut it”

“Oh come on Eddie ever since she walked into the Hellfire room you’ve been off. And for the past few days you guys have been hanging out I mean you can’t stand here and think we’re that stupid”

“Shut it Henderson I’m serious.Here I’ll make you a deal go grab a few tapes of your own and promise you won’t mention anything said or thought in here today to y/n? Okay.”

Dustin agreed and Erica said she would but only if he took her to a place she wanted before the treats and before she went back home. Eddie agreed to those terms and they got in the van.

By now it was around 2 pm. Robin sat on the counter of Family video on the verge of death from boredom. It was a Saturday and yet there was no rush. And since y/n had left earlier there hasn’t been a single customer. Steve sat facing the tv behind him.

“Steve. Steve oh my god”

“What Robin it’s just getting interesting”

“Steve shut it off your children are here with your sons second father”

“Robin what the fuck are you-oh. Why couldn’t you just say it was Dustin and Eddie, why is that so hard for you?”

Erica,Dustin and Eddie walked into the family video and Erica immediately went up to the counter and asked about some videos she had Robin put on hold.

Robin called over to Eddie from the movie stand he was somewhat glancing at.

“Uh hey Robin right? What’s up?”

“Uh did you get a chance to watch that movie by any chance. What was it called oh Creepshow right?”

“Oh no I haven't watched it yet. I’m actually gonna watch it later”

“With Y/n right?” Steve said as he poured more pretzels into his mouth still staring at the screen behind the counter. Which means he didn’t see that Robin was about to smack his arm.

“Uh yeah with Y/n. How do you know about that?”

“Yeah Steve, how do you know that?” Robin said as she kicked the chair out from under Steve’s propped up seat forcing him to sit up.

“Y/n was in here earlier hanging out with us and it came up in conversation”

“Oh. Did she say anything else?”

Robin looked at Steve like she would kill him if he said anything stupid and luckily Steve knew better.

“Not really man”

Eddie wasn’t an idiot cause he could also see the death stare and the arm punch. He knew there was something else that could be said and as intrigued as he was he wasn’t going to push it.

Erica got her movies and Eddie took the kids to get candy of whatever they wanted and figured he’d grab some snacks for you and him as well. He even grabbed a couple sodas and some beer. He didn’t realize how long everything had actually taken being the chauffeur and once he rushed Dustin home it was already 3:40 so he turned heel and started to head home.

You got to Eddie’s trailer before him. His uncle's truck wasn’t there and neither was Eddie’s van so you assumed nobody was home. You thought about waiting in your car but over in the grass was a little white cat. So you got out of the car and went to pet it.

Approaching slowly and getting low you reach a steady hand toward the Kitty. They come toward you and sniff, choosing to rub their face into your hand. And the cat comes closer receiving pets as you two walk along the grass.

You let the cat guide you and you're slowly making your way towards the Forest. Eventually the cat stops by a tree and lays there and you sit on the ground to pet them.

When Eddie got to his trailer he wasn’t entirely shocked to see your car in front of it. What did confuse him was that you weren’t in your car or around his trailer so where the hell were you.

“Y/N?! HEY WHERE ARE YOU?!?”

He didn’t get a response and he wasn’t quite sure what to do. He looked towards Max’s trailer but it didn’t look like anybody was home so he didn’t think you were over there. Luckily he heard a rustling in the Forest and decided to head in that direction.

That’s when he saw you sitting on the ground having a conversation with a cat in the Forest and Eddie stopped. He almost lost sense of time seeing you there on the ground with the sun peaking across your face between the trees as you spoke so sweetly to this little cat.

He eventually regained some sense and decided to walk forward.

“Hey Alice. How’s wonderland?”

Eddie’s voice out of the quiet bubble in the Forest started both you and the cat in front of you. Luckily the cat didn’t run away but it did jump slightly and puff their tail a bit.

“Oh hi Eddie sorry yeah I suppose I got a bit distracted didn’t I?”

“Yeah you two looked deep in conversation, didn’t even hear me calling your name” he sounded obviously fake hurt. He walked closer to you and crouched down next to you on the ground and stroked the cats fur. The cat responded in kind by eliciting loud purrs.

“So do you follow every animal that guides you into the forest or did you just wanna make me nervous leaving your empty car by my trailer”

“I had every intention of waiting for you at the trailer but this little kitty was just so convincing and said this was the best spot in the forest. After spending some time out here I think I might have to agree”

You stood off the ground and walked back towards the trailers and the cat followed suit. Once you were back to the park the cat headed off towards a different trailer that Eddie said the cat lived in.

As you walked back to the trailer you remembered the bag with the snacks and movie you bought.

“One second Eddie I have to grab my stuff”

Eddie watched as you grabbed a bag full of snacks and drinks and he slapped his face to his forehead.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me”

“Ha what’s wrong?”

Eddie walked over to his van and grabbed out a bag full of snacks and drinks that had almost all the same products.

“We really need to start collaborating on this shit”

You two laugh and continue your way into the trailer. Getting the snacks and sodas set up on the table you decide to tease.

“So what are we watching first? Creepshow or Fright night?”

“Goddamnit! I knew they must have told you what movie I got!”

Eddie and you agreed to watch fright night first and then Creepshow. Two movies you had both really wanted to see and neither of you cared. Just your friends' words in your heads. Obviously other people were noticing the tension between you two. So could you two just talk about it? Whatever it was.

The movies finish and you two decide to just listen to some music and get high. Eddie lets you pick the music. You automatically go for the Metallica album.

“Really Eddie I mean it you gotta let me borrow it sometime”

“Oh uh here how about you just take this one?”

He takes another cassette out of his jacket pocket that he’d set on the floor.

“Oh thanks but you don’t have to give me one of them I promise I’ll give it back”

"No seriously you can keep it it’s fine I want you to”

“Why’d you have two copies anyways?”

“Oh uh you know one for the van and one for the house you know?”

Something about his voice and the way he won’t look you in the eye lets you know he’s lying. Why lie about the tape?

“You’re a shit liar Eddie” hitting his arm with a light laugh.

“Okay okay you got me I happened to go by the music store today and decided to pick one up while I was there. Is that so bad?”

It made you blush. He bought it for you? He didn’t have to but he did. It brought a smile to your face paired with a rosy blush to match.

“No, that's not bad at all”.

Eddie studied you for a moment. Watched as you looked at the tape that you held in your lap and watched as you turned it in your hands not looking up at him. It’s like the words start tumbling out of his mouth and he can’t quite catch them.

“You know y/n I was dying of boredom all day cause I was excited to hangout with you? I even thought about calling and inviting you over sooner?”

“And you still managed to be late at your own house”

He put a hand to his wounded heart. You did have a point but he really did want to make it back before you.

“In all honesty though Eddie? I was too. I was out all day wasting time just waiting to hangout with you?”

Hearing your admission finally got a blush out of him. He looked a bit coy now. You’d been waiting all day to see him too? Why didn’t he just call this morning? He would have had so much more time with you today.

“So that means you’re keeping the tape right?”

“Yes I’m keeping the tape Eddie”

You two eventually drifted off laying next to each other and when each of you woke up in the middle of the night it wasn’t even a question you were just sleeping over.

Sunday came and went and you two spent the entire day hanging out with each other. When you went home Sunday night you two agreed to hangout after school on Monday. On Monday night when he went home you agreed to hangout on Tuesday night. Suddenly it was the new routine and everyone expected it. Whenever you two had free time you were attached at the hip. When you two didn’t have free time you were usually glancing every once in a while to see how long it would be till you could hangout again.

This Saturday in particular. The pitter patter of the rain on the roof of the trailer combined with the low hum coming from Eddie as he strummed his guitar while sitting on his bed was a kind of calm you’ve never experienced. Could be that and also could be the weed you two have been smoking or maybe just all of it.

You can’t explain why but you weren’t able to have moments like this with anyone else. Where everything was just peaceful and your mind wasn’t racing a million miles a second. With Eddie it was easy. You didn’t have to worry with him. Just sitting here on the floor of his room in silence as you read his comics and he plays his guitar, it’s enough. It’s all you need to be happy right there.

Eddie wouldn’t admit it but he felt the same. Yeah he loved playing D&D with hellfire and he loved hanging out with all of his friends and he wouldn’t trade that for anything. But he also wouldn’t trade his alone time with you for anything. As he sat on his bed and strummed his guitar he just stared at you as you read and hummed away. Eventually using the pitter patter of the rain on the roof he even managed to get a tune going in his head. He wasn’t sure how but he knew somehow he’d use this little tune in his head to write a song for you someday.

As the rain got heavier and you finished another comic book you leaned back and turned so you could watch Eddie play a little. He was sitting on his bed in a black AC/DC crop top and black sweatpants. As he played he looked at you and you stared back watching as his hands worked their way up and down the guitar creating beautiful melodies. In the moment as Eddie watched you watching him play he got a brilliant idea.

“You ever wanted to learn?”

You’d never much pictured yourself playing guitar but you did love music a lot. You’d learned how to play a little piano and after years in choir you knew how to read sheet music pretty well so you weren’t totally musically blind. And although you’d never pictured yourself playing guitar how could you pass up the opportunity to learn from Eddie.

“I mean after watching you play, who would want to compete with that?”

You both laugh at your words and Eddie leans forward and grabs your arm leading you to where he is on the bed. He sits you between his legs resting against his chest. He puts the guitar on your lap and he wraps his hands around yours guiding them to the correct placements.

He began slowly teaching you just general positions of holding your hands on chords and what not. When the lesson should have been over neither of you even thought to move. It’s almost as if the moment you two got into that position you silently agreed there’s nowhere else in the world you’d rather be.

So as the hours of the day ticked by and you both listened to the storm, Eddie used your hands and gently puppeteered them to play some songs. Eventually Eddie’s head finds its way to resting in the crook of your neck and the more he plays the more he begins to hum.

Hearing the strum of the guitar and the calming rain and Eddie’s peaceful humming so close to your ear, it’s the perfect symphony of sounds you never knew you needed. You’d found your own personal perfect lullaby.

As the day turns into night the two of you end up falling asleep like that. Wrapped up in one another clutching Eddie’s guitar as the sounds of the world drift away.

Waking up on Sunday morning you were prepared for the fact that you and Eddie had to meet up with the gang as you’d promised to have a day at the arcade. What you weren’t prepared for was to wake up in Eddie’s arms that Sunday morning with his arms wrapped around you and the guitar. Looking up at him and seeing the light streaming in from the window across his face and his long brown hair falling down his shoulders. His face is so close to yours.

The feeling you got in your chest meant you couldn’t deny what everyone thought. Everyone thought you liked Eddie but on some level you already knew that. No this feeling scared you. This feeling was deeper than that and you know if you even thought the word that you might not be able to take it back. You refused. You could like him for now but no not this.

That was until Eddie shifted and cuddled into you more in his sleep, squeezing you into a tighter hug. And you couldn’t help it. It radiated through your entire body and you knew. You just knew you were in love with this boy. The crackle of the hand radio on the floor across the room is what lulled Eddie out of his slumber.

Eddie didn’t seem bothered by the situation or position at all. Instead he squeezed you a little tighter and in a deep sleep filled voice began to speak to you.

“What time is it? What time were we supposed to start picking them up?”

You reach over to his side table and grab his watch.

“Well it’s currently 11:15 and we agreed to get the kids at 11”

“Ah so we’re right on time. Okay get up sleepy head I have a chauffeur gig to get to”.

Eddie and you went to go get the kids and one by one they all got in the van and gave you guys shit for being late. Getting to the arcade Eddie watched as you, Will, El and Mike went over to play some games in the corner. And Eddie saw an opportunity.

“Hey Henderson come here I wanna pick your brain about something” Eddie took Dustin away from the group and to an old pinball machine on the opposite end of the arcade as far away from you as Eddie could get.

“So Dustin you remember that day at the record store you mentioned something about me and y/n?”

“Am I actually allowed to speak about this or are you messing with me?”

“Yes Dustin you can actually speak about it this time. I actually have a special mission for you and you alone. You think you can handle a mission for me?”

“If I do, can we discuss me running a campaign?”

Eddie stands there for a moment weighing his options. But eventually decides to agree. Figures letting Dustin run one small campaign can’t hurt too bad.

“Okay so do you understand the plan”

“Yes I go over an talk to Y/n and try to bring you up in conversation and report back to you on what she says”

Sitting on a chair next to Will and having to deal with Mike and Eleven making out next to you two was becoming nauseating. Will decided to go over and see how Lucas was doing with his game and you decided to go over and see how Max was doing with Dig dug.

“You beat your high-score yet” you say as you wave a hand in front of her screen in an attempt to mess her up. But she’s too good and isn’t phased by you.

“Seeing as I just started playing? No. How about you? You screw Munson yet?”

The question left you shocked. You quickly look around to make sure none of the others had heard you and luckily they hadn’t yet. You look over across the arcade to see Dustin and Eddie talking by the pinball machine and it doesn’t look like either of them heard what Max said.

You take Max’s hand away from the game and make her look at you momentarily.

“What the fuck are you talking about Max?”

“Oh don’t give me that” she says as she turns back to her game.

“I’ve seen you at Eddie’s trailer almost every single day lately and whenever you’re not at his trailer he’s usually at your house from what I hear. Everytime you guys are near each other we can all tell there’s something going on”

You scoff but still process her words. To be completely honest you had no idea what you and Eddie were. Friends didn’t quite feel right but you guys hadn’t done anything that pushes it far enough past friends for it to be something else.

You lean on the machine and speak slowly to ensure others around you don't hear you.

“For the record him and I are not “screwing” as you so kindly put it”

“Then what are you two?”

She turns her attention away from the game and scans your face for an answer that she realizes you don’t have. As you stand there in silence leaning against the Dig dug machine Dustin walks over and greets you.

“Hey Max. Mind if I swap in and take a turn on Dig Dug?”

“Sure Dustin but you’re never gonna beat my high score you know?”

Max walked away to join Will and Lucas by their machine and you stayed leaned up against dig dug in thought as Dustin began to play. Your eyes wandered over to Eddie who was still playing the pinball machine.

“Staring at him won’t make him come any closer you know?”

You gave Dustin side eye but didn’t respond. Your mind is too deep in thought. What if you did ask Eddie what you guys were and he didn’t feel the same way. What if everything so far has just been one thing and you’ve been misreading it as another. Especially after waking up in his arms like that today you weren’t quite sure if you were ready to face that kind of heartbreak.

“Something wrong over there? Helloooo earth to y/n”

“What? Yeah I’m fine Dustin. Just play your game.”

“You know you can talk to me ? We are friends and can have discussions”

You sigh and look at Dustin and think on it for a moment. You’re not an idiot. Dustin is Eddie’s little minion. His right hand man. No matter what you say to Dustin now it’s probably just going to be relayed back to Eddie anyways. But you can’t help yourself.

“Dustin….does Eddie ever….talk to you about me?”

“Pfft when doesn’t Eddie talk to me about you”

The response made you blush deeply.

“Well what does he…say?”

As soon as you said it you felt like you were in middle school passing stupid notes to see if someone liked someone else and you felt childish. Dustin began to speak but you gave him a quick never mind and left your spot next to the machine and walked over to Eddie at the pinball machine.

Eddie hadn’t noticed you walk up. In fact, since he sent Dustin off on his mission, Eddie had actually been trying really hard to beat the score on this machine. And he was so close until the voice behind him made him mess up his shot.

“Mind if I give it a try” as soon as you said it so close to his ear Eddie jumped back and looked at the machine's score. Disappointed he turns to you.

“Fine it’s all yours princess but I almost had that”

You take over using the pinball machine and Eddie leans next to it like you had been on dig dug. Eddie scans the arcade and makes eye contact with Dustin who is watching them intently. Eddie tries to mouth “what the hell” to Dustin without having you see and Dustin just shrugs and mouths that he doesn’t know.

Eddie turns his attention back to you and the pinball machine. You’re actually really good at it and he thinks you could beat the score if you really wanted to.

“So what made you want to play pinball so bad all of a sudden to where you had to ruin my game?” He said as he tapped his fingers lightly along the machine. Teasing as if he’d knock into it and ruin your next move. You flicked your eyes over to him briefly and then back to your game.

“Just figured I’d come have a chat. Wanted to pick your brain about something.”

“Oh and what would you like to discuss sweetheart”

Sweetheart. The way is rolled off his tongue with such ease around you all the time. Yet every time he did it, it shook you to your core. Losing some focus you have to laser focus in on the game so as not to lose your current score. After correcting yourself you begin to speak.

“Well I was wondering if I could come with you to the hideout on Tuesday. Watch you guys play. You always talk about your band and I just figured I’d come see you guys if that’s alright?” You didn’t look up from the game to gauge his reaction. You wished you had when you heard the laugh boom from his chest knowing he probably had a giant smile plastered across his face.

“Sweetheart it would be an honor to have you at one of my shows.” He got real quiet and leaned into you from the side of the machine.

“How’s about we make a whole date out of it? You know I’ll pick you up bring you to the show. We can go out grab some food after. Head back to mine and watch a movie” as soon as he said the word date your pinball game was over. Just shy of beating the high score but you didn’t care at all. Turning away from the game and looking him in the eyes as he rested so close to you. Giving a slight smirk and leaning up just enough to where if either of you leaned in it could become a kiss.

“Sounds like we have ourselves a date then”

The rest of the day was filled with laughs not only with each other but with all the kids. Eventually you all piled back into Eddie’s van and he dropped off the kids one by one. And when he stopped at the Wheeler residence both you and Mike hopped out of the Van because you had a sleepover to attend with Nancy.

As you step out of the van you turn to Eddie.

“So what time should I expect my carriage to arrive on Tuesday?”

He took your hand briefly and just held it as he spoke.

“Well for the fair maiden I would tell her to expect her carriage to arrive around 6 pm”

He kissed the backside of your hand and relinquished it back into your control. You missed the feeling of his hand on yours and his ringed fingers intertwined into yours. You nodded and hopped out.

Acting normal until you and Mike were out of Eddie’s sight and then you made a running b line for Nancy’s room. You had oh so much to tell her.

You didn’t even bother to knock as you threw the door open to a stunned Nancy sitting amongst homework on her bed.

“Jesus Y/n you scared the crap out of me. What happened to knocking?”

“Now isn’t the time for knocking Nancy”

You turned and shut the door, locking it as you threw your bag on Nancy’s floor and began changing into some pajamas you brought with you.

“I have a date with Eddie on Tuesday”

You couldn’t help the way you beamed as you said it. You were so excited and so nervous at the same time.

“Wait what? You and Eddie have a date Tuesday? How did this happen tell me everything”

Nancy put away all the homework and you crawled up to join her on the bed. Confiding in her about the day's events.

“So the hideout? That’s where your first date is going to be?”

“Well yeah…I’m going to see his band. Corroded Coffin? They play there pretty often”

“Okay so what are you gonna wear”

Shit. You hadn’t even thought of that. This isn’t just any normal time hanging out with Eddie getting high in the back of his van. This was a date and not just any date you were going to see his band.

“I have absolutely no idea Nancy. What should I wear? I don’t wanna look too showy but I also still want to be an eye grabber you know?”

Nancy began to discuss options that she remembered from your wardrobe and you two agreed on an idea that made you very excited.

Monday morning was quite hectic as everyone was running late and you and Nancy had to threaten to leave Mike behind unless he got his ass to the car. After that Monday just seemed to go by so insanely slow. You felt like knocking yourself out in hopes of not waking up until tomorrow.

By the time you saw Eddie at lunch you could almost tell he was as impatient as you by the way he constantly couldn’t sit still to save his life. You and Eddie didn’t hangout on Monday night and you instead chose to go home for the first time in what felt like forever.

Around 9 pm on Monday night as you sat in your empty living room with your finished homework on the table, cuddled up in your blanket watching a movie. The knock at the door startled you enough to wake you from the sleep that was washing over your body.

You hopped up off the couch excited figuring it could be Eddie coming by to see you. But upon opening the door your face falls and your heart drops through your stomach.

“What the fuck are you doing here Chance” you look around him briefly and see Jason, Patrick ,and Andy leaned up against his car in your driveway.

“Just wanted to stop by for a chat. Is it okay if I come in?”

“Absolutely not. You can stand right out there and say whatever it is you need to say from outside my home.”

“Come on Y/n. Baby let’s talk this out?”

“Talk what out Chance? We have absolutely nothing to talk about? You’re not in my life anymore so you can leave?”

You move to shut the door having decided this isn’t worth your time. As you shut the door his hand flies up and slams it back open aggressively. Startled but refusing to show it you stand tall.

“Do that again and I shut the door with your fucking hand in it, got it?” You hold back none of the hatred in your voice as you speak at him and he refuses to back down either.

“You have no idea what you’re doing Y/n. Our relationship was protection for you. If you really decide to give that up for this freak then I can’t protect you”

You scoff. What fucking nerve did these assholes have to come here and say this to you.

“Protect me? Protect me from what? If you mean protect me from those assholes back there then you’ve already failed. And it’s not like I was ever protected from you. I made my decision the second I dumped your ass last year and I’m not changing my mind so you can take your friends and fucking go.”

So slam and lock the door in his face and make sure to draw your curtains shut tightly. You tried not to let it get to you. Tried not to let him get to you but you couldn’t help but think about what he said. What if you just made a mistake? Not so much being worried about yourself but worried about what they might do to Eddie. To the club. I mean hell last time all you did was join the club and they had decided that was enough motive to vandalize Eddie’s locker.

Failing to get any sleep, you attend school the next day. The entire day you watch Jason and his goons closely. And they watch you too. You can’t help but feel nauseous and scared.

By the time you get to lunch you’re utterly exhausted from lack of sleep and paranoia.

“Y/nnnnn? Earth to Y/n can you hear us”

Mike snapped his fingers in front of your face and you finally turned to look at the group who were all watching you with intense concern.

Even as you speak you sound tired and sluggish.

“Yeah, yeah sorry I’m here, what'd I miss?”

“Eddie asked if you were okay. And then Will asked and then I asked and then Lucas asked and you didn’t hear any of us. Are you okay?”

You finally looked at Eddie who had his face twisted in concern. You hadn’t quite realized just how zoned out you actually were. You didn’t even get the chance to answer because you heard a loud boom across the cafeteria and turned to see Jason and his friends rough housing. The sound had certainly gotten a reaction out of you as the entire table watched you nearly jump out of your skin.

You could feel the questions and concerns coming but you just didn’t feel like doing this anymore. Gathering your bag and standing from the table you begin to speak.

“Sorry guys I was up real late studying and didn’t get much sleep at all. I think I’m just gonna head home early and get some shut eye”

You turn to Eddie as you walked away from the table “don’t worry Eddie I’ll be ready by 6”

Eddie wanted to call after you but he wasn’t quite sure what to say. He’d noticed how exhausted you were when he watched your truck pull into school and you parked completely crooked. He watched as you stumbled out of your truck and immediately took notice of the tired look in your eyes.

He watched as you walked out of the cafeteria and he felt a bit guilty that he couldn’t help you. As he watched you he also watched your ex boyfriend Chance follow behind you.

Eddie didn’t even address the table or grab his stuff as he rushed out of the cafeteria to follow you. He was a bit too far behind the two of you but he did his best to catch up.

As you walked to your truck you could hear the footsteps behind you and you caught a glimpse of Chance following behind you when you saw his reflection on the window you passed.

“Y/n wait up!”

You didn’t. Just keep walking and get to your truck, that's all that matters. But Chance was fast and he caught up quickly. Grabbing your wrist and forcing you to spin around.

“Chance I swear to god let me go before I make you”

He obliged and let your arm go and you continued back to your truck. With a low laugh he shouted at you

“Hope we didn’t make you too nervous last night. I know how you get after we fight”

You finally reached the door of your truck and turned to look behind you. Chance was gone and you felt relief. Leaning your head against the window of your truck you take a deep breath.

“Y/n?”

Shit. You don’t turn around to face him but you know he’s standing rather close. How much did he hear? How much did he see?

“Y/n are you okay”

He put a soft hand on your shoulder and you exhaled a shaky breath.

“Yeah Eddie. Just peachy”

You turn around and finally look up at him with tired eyes and you immediately know he saw more than you wanted him to.

“Y/n? What was that about? What did he mean last night? Did he- did he hurt you?”

He took your arm into his hand and examined it where Chance had grabbed you, it was still a little red. Eddie looked at you expecting an answer.

You really didn’t want to tell him. Didn’t want him to feel bad. Didn’t want pity. But you knew you couldn’t not tell him. He heard it. He saw it.

You spoke so quietly and in such a small soft voice that Eddie almost didn’t hear you when you started speaking. And hearing you speak like that broke his heart.

“I’m fine Ed’s really. It’s just that Chance and his friends paid a visit to my house last night. Tried to scare me s’all”

You were looking back down at the ground now. You knew he probably looked upset and you didn’t want to see it. You just wanted to go home and rest.

Eddie stepped forward and took your chin in between his fingers and tilted your face up to meet his. Hearing that those assholes came to your house to scare you last night killed him. He wanted to kill those guys or go in and kick their asses for you. But he knew you needed some sort of comfort. So when he finally got you to look at him he made a choice.

“Hey, you look a little tired. How’s about I drive you home and we start our date a little early. I’ll take you home and we can take a nap before we go to the hideout tonight. I promise I’ll watch over you as you sleep so those assholes can’t scare you again.”

God he was so sweet. How is this tall long haired leather wearing “cult” leader this sweet? Even now as he holds your chin in between his ringed fingers. How can people look at him and call him a freak? How can people look at him and hate him?

You don’t respond but instead you jump up and tackle him back into a bear hug that he accepts. You two stand there for a moment just hugging each other in the parking lot as he rubs his hands up and down your back. He walks you over to his van and opens the door for you to get into the passenger side and you do.

You watch as he walks back into the school to get his stuff and you just lean back into his van. Taking comfort In the familiar smells and what not. You turn on the radio and put in one of his cassettes.

By the time Eddie gets back to his van he finds you passed out in his passenger seat, lightly snoring away to the sounds of AC/DC and he couldn’t help but admire how adorable it was.

He pulled into your driveway and left you in the car and kept it running as he brought you guys stuff inside first and kept the door open. Using the spare key you showed him above a nearby windowsill. Next he went back to the van and shut it off. Walking over to the passenger door he opened it quietly and lifted you into his arms as gently as he possibly could without disturbing you. Luckily for him you were really tired and knocked out so he made it all the way inside and to the couch with no problems. He laid you down on the couch and went to your room to get a blanket for you.

Waking up to light taps up and down your arm allowed you to come slowly and gently out of your slumber. Fluttering your eyes open to meet Eddie’s face in front of you. It took you a moment to register your surroundings. Realizing you were covered up on the couch and remembering what had happened you figure Eddie must have brought you here. When he spoke to you his voice was gentle and soft.

“Hey sleepy head. It’s time for that date we talked about. If you’re still up for it”

You smiled and sat up quickly.

“Give me a couple minutes to get ready and I’ll

Meet you back out here”

Eddie waited on the couch patiently. When he heard you walking toward the living room he stood up and headed for the door. Stopping in his tracks the second he saw you. His eyes trailed you up and down his jaw was practically on the floor against his will.

His eyes transfixed on you. Taking in your ripped tights that led from your combat boots all the way under your very very very short black dress. The dress was skin tight and the more he looked at it the more he could notice his heart beating in his chest. You had a black leather jacket draped over you. You had done your hair and makeup a bit and all Eddie could think about was how badly he wanted to abandon your plans for the evening and spend his time ruining your makeup and outfit.

He stared at you like that for so long without speaking that you took it upon yourself to get the boy to move.

“I know rockstars are usually late to their shows but I don’t think you wanna miss it entirely”

He began to choke words out through his now dry throat.

“You-you look ho-I mean you look stunning baby. Every rock stars dream”

You two get into his van and head for the hideout. He left you at a table to go join his band and you took time to study the hideout. He’d exaggerated that they only got a small crowd of drunk people. It wasn’t packed in here but it wasn’t empty. And everyone seemed to recognize Eddie and his band so you knew everyone in here were regulars for the most part.

Finally seeing Eddie and his band get on stage was something else. There was something about his stage presence that drew you in and you couldn’t help but become transfixed by him. He was so passionate as he played his guitar. Just seeing his fingers work along the strings to create these songs. But you never could have expected the reaction you would have when you heard him sing. His voice came through the microphone and it was like realizing you loved him all over again. But it was more than that. You listened to the cords he was playing and the lyrics to his song and you recognized it. From that night in the trailer where you sat with him playing guitar. You heard him strumming this lightly.

You don’t even realize you're standing up at your table and dancing to his music. But he does. He watches you the entire time. And when you finally register that he’s staring at you , neither of you breaks eye contact.

The band finishes the set and Eddie promises the guys he’ll help pack up with them next time but told them he had a hot date to get back to. Hopping off the stage with his guitar case he made his way over to you and before he could reach you, you were already jumping onto him in a hug.

Wrapping his arms around you tightly holding you to him as he laughed in your ear.

“Like the show that much did ya?”

You pull back slightly and hold his face in your hands. You let the excitement take over your voice and don’t hold back as you shower him with compliments.

“You guys are amazing! I mean it Ed’s you’re a real rockstar up there I mean Jesus I knew your voice had to be nice but shit I didn’t know that!”

You got so excited you hadn’t even given yourself time to process before you pulled his face in for a rough quick kiss. Before pulling away wide eyed and staring at him.

The moment you kissed Edward Munson he was pretty sure his brain short circuited because he could not form a single coherent thought. All he could do was plaster a goofy smile on his face as he continued to hold you to him.

He moved his hands up to cup your face as he pulled you in for a much deeper and longer kiss before pulling away.

“Does this make you my groupie?”

“I mean I won’t be throwing my bra up on stage or anything but you bet your ass I’ll be at all your shows from now on”

“We’ll see about the bra part sweetheart” he gave you a quick wink before you both sat down at the table and began talking for a while. You asked more about corroded coffin and their songs. You even asked him about the song you were pretty sure was about you and he alluded to it being about you and that made you blush.

Sitting there laughing with him and losing track of time. That was until the door swung open and filled the hideout with obnoxious laughter that killed your smile instantly and Eddie took notice. Turning to see Jason and his goons walking through the doors.

You turned to Eddie and nodded silently agreeing to just leave and continue your date elsewhere.

You were almost to the Van almost home free hand in hand with Eddie as you heard Jason’s voice from behind you. “Well Miss y/l/n, you are a hard lady to find” you chose to ignore him and attempted to keep walking but Eddie hadn’t. You just wanted to go and not have your night ruined by these assholes.

“Maybe Carver, you should take the hint that the lady doesn’t want to be found”

“Hey freak how about you leave that up to her”

Jason and his friends were right in front of you guys now. Jason’s friend Andy walked right up to your face and you could smell his horrible breath.

“Y/n this punk isn’t corrupting you is he? Convince you to join his little freak cult and then try to ensnare you with his music?”

“That’s what it sounds like to me” Chance said as he stepped towards Eddie and grabbed the other end of Eddie’s guitar case.

Eddie snatched the guitar case back protectively.

“Back off man”

Jason, Chance, and Andy looked at each other with smirks on their faces and you knew this wasn’t going to be good. Chance was the first one to swing at Eddie and luckily he missed. Sadly though Jason didn’t and Eddie stumbled back dropping his guitar case on the ground. You quickly ran to Eddie’s van and grabbed a crow bar from the back as the boys got close to Eddie.

As you were running back to Eddie you could see Jason yank Eddie up by his jacket and Chance punched him in the stomach. As Eddie recovered from the punch he managed to back up and kick Chance as hard as he could in the dick. Chance was down for the count but Eddie still had Jason’s hand on his jacket and Andy coming at him with a swing.

As soon as you were close enough to do so you swing the crowbar at Andy’s knee and he crashes to the ground in a cry. But not before grabbing you and yanking you down to the ground with him hard. Scraping your leg on the pavement and hitting your head slightly on a curb stop. Once on the ground you lift yourself up and raise the crowbar and smack it into his leg a couple more times. Eddie looks at you in shock as Andy starts to scream. he couldn’t believe you just beat Andy with a fucking crow bar. And he couldn’t believe how insanely hot you looked doing it.

“CRAZY BITCH. FUCK I THINK SHE BROKE MY FUCKIN LEG”

Eddie was so focused on you and Andy that he wasn’t prepared when Jason hit him again. Jason’s manhandling Eddie to the ground now and begins to punch him and Eddie’s punching back. Each man gets in a few good swings but you’re done with this shit. You walk behind Jason and give a mean swing to his head knocking his ass out cold immediately. Hell for a second you questioned if you killed him but you didn’t really care.

“Holy fucking shit Y/n”

Eddie stood up off the ground and looked at the sight around the two of you. Chance was on the ground crying clutching his dick, Andy was on the ground screaming at you about his leg and Jason was face down on the fucking pavement and Eddie couldn’t believe it.

He was so impressed and turned on by you right now, but also really didn’t want you two to get arrested on your first date so he grabbed the crowbar from your hand and dropped it on the ground. He quickly grabbed your hand in his and ran towards the van. Only stopping once he remembered his guitar as he ran back for her. Opening the case and making sure she was okay before putting the guitar and you in the van and speeding out of the parking lot.

#eddie munson x female reader #stranger things #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #stranger things imagine #stranger things fluff #stranger things fanfiction #eddie stranger things #stranger things x reader #stranger things x y/n #stranger things 4 #fanfic #fanfiction

[hellocupie]

Haha I found Yosuke’s attachment to Kiyo amusing from the start. Which is why, while I was reading Kiyo’s season 4, I could already imagine what was happening behind the scenes even before I read the ending set story. But I’m sure it was obvious to other people as well. :) And we later on get confirmation about Yosuke’s attachment to Kiyo’s on his season 5. About the VIP events, I’m very picky now on what to pull for because my priority has always the stories but it’s hard to get them sometimes. So I just made peace with just completing some events only. I mean it is expensive but it’s okay to spend for something that makes you happy in my opinion. Yeah and I know, right? I was also wondering why Kiyo was skipped but I will just go with the theory that Kiyo didn’t really want any part of the bunny boy thing because he was just forced to do so by Yosuke and hence Voltage kindly spared him from it. XD The love more stories are pricey indeed but I’m honestly just glad that we’re finally getting them now because there was no way I was going to buy them on the Japanese website. XD Anyway should you decide to get them all, you can wait until the coins campaign in May to save a little with the free coins. :) Thank you for your wishes for the VIP event I’m saving for and I hope you enjoy Yosuke’s bunny boy story. I just saw that he will be the last one to be released but I guess it’s something to look forward for, for you. :)

yeah, i thought kiyo's season 4 was interesting cause we got to learn more about kiyo and meet his slimy old boss. the guy showed up again in one night in purgatory and it seemed like something was going on but then season 5 didn't address that plotline at all?? kind of like with shun's plot around the investors and his father. and while we're on the topic of shun, i still can't believe they decided to go on hiatus without giving us his season 5... i know these 2 are not as popular but i can't stand seeing him and kaisei being behind on seasons.

i know these stories are centred around romance but i really loved reading about what was going on in their professional lives too, but season 5 was focused on the mc's stances on getting remarried so i'm not surprised they put those plotlines on the back burner. we did get a sneak peek of what's coming for taki and yosuke's stories though, ofc voltage is gonna drag it out smh

about the vip events, my first vip event that i completed was perverse ventures (yk the one with yosuke and the pole ;) ) and that took me about 3 reruns iirc. so yeah, you shouldn't feel any pressure to complete every single event.

i feel the same about the more stories. i'm not too bothered about price cause call me jaded/pessimistic but i actually wasn't expecting voltage to bring these stories to love 365 and if anything i thought they would only release the stories that came out after they made the rebrand from otona to more.

thank you!! i feel like my responses to your asks always get very long without meaning to but i seem to always have a lot to talk about ><

#::​askcupie #kings of paradise

[beels-burger-babe]

D&D Story Time

@bloopthebat you may be interested in this

So ya'll know how I play D&D? While I had a crazy fucking session tonight, and my roommate is unavailable to rant to, so you guys get to hear it.

I've talked about the Three Cleric Campaign that I'm a part of before. There are three of us, we all play clerics, in a world where gods mostly live amongst us and are our political system as well.

I play Riona, an aasimar order cleric who follows Islina, sun goddess and queen of the pantheon. She's our party's healer

Then there's Taman (Riona's perfect opposite). A human raised by elves, a light cleric who follows the Moon God, a god who has been missing for centuries and is believed to be behind the dark corruption that is slowly killing the world (we only found that out post start of the campaign). He's utilities.

And finally, Thassa. A princess teifling of the Mother of Monsters who is a tempest cleric that follows the sea god Cashoctik (who is neutral in most of the wars that have happened in the lore). She's combat/tank.

ANYWAY! We're in the Mother of Monster's (a demi god) domain on a mission from the Father of Gods to kill her and bring her soul to him to help release him from his prison so that he can save the world from the corruption.

Rather than just go in guns blazing, we know the Mother to be very protective of her children (literally any monster race) and generally quite civil. We go to her, we explain the situation, she's like "Right. You are not the first the Father has sent to do this, and you probably won't be the last. I will let you kill me. But only if you can beat my Champions in battle. Consider it a test of sorts." So for the past few sessions, we've been doing combat and role play in this colosseum against the champions of each of the six children of the Mother: Goblinoids, Yaun-ti, Beast-Men, Orcs, Hags, and finally Demons. (Our DM homebrews a lot of stuff in the best way, so the lore for these races has been changed).

Tonight was our Hag fight and OH FUCKING BOY

All of us were already worried because we've fought hags before. They fuck with your head, and we've all had some recent trauma.

Riona especially.

For context, Riona is currently on the run from her temple (for whom she is seen as the "Marked of Islina", was practically raised by the goddess herself, and is officially a Mother (similar to a nun) of the temple and is the "Head Mother" of the entire orphanage and children care sector). She's been thrown curve ball after curve ball, being told that her goddess committed multiple massacres, imprisoned people, and is overall not always the best person. But then also told that most of those things she did were either with good intention or just cause and was also shown a number of really incredible and compassionate things she's done. So in terms of faith, it's wobbly. Not to mention, she hasn't actually heard from Islina in MONTHS, found out the artifact that her goddess gifted her was a tool for the temple's Cardinals to spy and track her, and that she HAS BEEN LIED TO HER ENTIRE LIFE AND APPARENTLY HAS DIED AND BEEN REINCARNATED SEVERAL TIMES THROUGHOUT HISTORY!

OH YEAH! AND THE LAST TIME SHE SAW THESE HAGS? THEY HAD ONE OF HER PAST LIVES FUCKING TAXIDERMIED IN THEIR OFFICE!!!

*clears throat* So Riona is having a great time.

So we're fighting three hags, and Taman (as usual) nearly dies several times, Riona and Thassa barely have a scratch on them. We kill the first one pretty early in the fight. Riona had to fight the undead corpse of her past life (yay necromancy) due to one of the hags, which was traumatic in its own right since looking in its eyes gave her flashbacks to its memories of its life and its death (which was in the very colosseum we were fighting in). Killed the hag that caused that.

But then there's the last hag. She casts Anti-Gravity, and everything goes to shit.

I won't go into fine details, but basically, since Riona can fly, she wasn't really affected by the spell, so with Taman and Thassa clinging to her leg, she's shooting arrow after arrow at this hag (I got like three nat 20s) and the hag summons this beast thing above us made of wood and bones from the other hags and the remains of Past Life!Riona. Monster thingy grabs Taman and Thassa. Thassa kills the monster thing. Riona grabs the two of them and then kills the hag.

But then Anti-Gravity drops as a result.

Ri (Riona) has everyone pretty sturdily in her arms, so it should be okay. Right?

Wrong.

The branches and sharps pieces of bone and rubble from the monster that had been above us start falling and we're still 90ft in the air held up only by Riona.

Ri fails a dex check to make us all dodge, and I ask the DM if Ri can move her wings so that she takes the brunt of the damage.

DM says if she takes more than 20 damage, she drops Taman and Thassa, and we continue with our house rule of if Riona takes more than 10 damage in one hit to her wings, they're broken until someone heals them.

Riona takes 18 damage.

We're falling. Riona is screaming in pain. Thassa trying to adjust Taman so he won't take any damage if we do fall to our deaths, and Taman is casting guidance on Thassa.

With a 25DC Dex save, with shattered wings, Riona forces herself to push through the pain and catch enough wind under them to slow us down.

Taman casts Cure Wounds on Riona. (The DM describes his magic to be silver with these ghost-like hands that grab, mend, or tear at things depending on the spell. In this case, mid-flight, they were re-setting and mending Riona's wings. The feeling is excruciating and feels wrong as Taman's temple is opposite/enemies with Riona's).

Riona slowly brings them all to the ground.

Just in time to see her Past Life's skull plummet to the ground and with its empty eyes staring into hers, split and shatter.

Riona turned and hid her face in Thassa's shoulder, Thassa pulled Taman into a group hug, and we all stood there, ignoring the audience booing at their champion's defeat, clinging onto each other as we tried to process what we had just gone through.

Deeply traumatized, we're lead to our waiting room to heal and plan before our last fight against the Demon King, the original Demon.

Riona is shell-shocked and finally breaks from just everything she's been put through with her temple and her goddess and this. She's shaking, she's crying silent tears and can't fully bring herself to talk. Taman lays down near where she's sitting, pats her leg and sleepily tries to comfort her. Thassa, after dealing with some of her own shit that went down, grabbed a bowl, sat behind Riona, and gently hummed to her as she wiped down Ri's wings and helped ground her.

This was the closest, most family-like moment our party has ever had.

By my own choice for role play, Riona will not be able to fly for the rest of the day, and from here on out will have to do a Wis save before flying to see if she can actually push herself to do it again.

She's traumatized as fuck and I have no idea what's gonna happen now.

#d&d story time #story time #dungeons and dragons #d&d campaign #campaign #homebrew #homebrew campaign #cleric #d&d 5e #aasimar #the hive #b talks #🐝 talks #d&d #dnd #dnd homebrew #dnd stuff #dnd campaign #dnd character #oc #oc backstory #original character

[pro-fangirls-unsocial-life]

You’ll do wonderful with anything you write! But to help jump start your writing (as I know very well), Angst 14 & Fluff 11!!! ❤️❤️ - @snippy-tano

Thank you so much @snippy-tano for the inspiration! Although... I got a little carried away so here you go! A whole fic for you! 

Stitched Together 

Kix x Reader

Warnings: Blood. Mentions of injury and the treatment of that injury. Mentions of death.

You can find the prompt list here.

“Can you shut up for once in your life?” and “I think I’m in love with you.”

 You were running. The sun beating down on you as you ran through the camp toward the med tent.

 The transmission had come in while you were on your break. You had just been about to settle down for your first sleep in days after it looked like the campaign had started to calm down when your communicator beeped. It was from Jesse.

 Kix was injured. We are bringing him back to camp now.

At that, you instantly jumped up and put your boots back on as fast as you could. Now, with the med tent in sight, you saw Jesse and Hardcase carrying Kix between them on a small stretcher.

 The armor on his left side was shattered from his leg all the way up to his shoulder. He was covered in the tan dust that was constantly surrounding you on the planet and you could see blood seeping from one of the cracks in the armor around his middle.

 You ran up to the entrance of the tent, holding open the flap for the two carrying Kix inside.

 “What happened?”

 Jesse grunted as he and Hardcase lifted Kix onto one of the raised beds. “Seppies got word of our location. Kix here was working on a shinie when a charge landed near them. He threw himself onto of the kid to protect him instead of—”

 “What did you expect me to do,” Kix said with a wince as his right arm went to grip at his side. “I wasn’t just gonna leave the kid there!”

 You started to carefully examine Kix’s midsection, making sure that you were clear to take off his armor without doing any more damage.

 “And that is very admirable,” you said, quickly continuing your search, “but you’re the best medic that we have and one of the only senior field medics. We can’t afford to lose you.”

 “I can’t afford to lose you,” you thought, something tightening in your chest just thinking about not having Kix by your side anymore.

 “Oh, quit it with that,” Kix breathed out, his jaw clenching at the effort. “You’re just as good of a medic as me. Besides, it’s only superficial. You’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

 You rolled your eyes and smiled. Kix never was one to see the downside in anything.

 You heard Jesse start to laugh as he quipped something back at Kix, when your eyes landed on the piece of armor that was sticking into Kix’s side, blood still gushing from the wound.

 “Oh, kriff…” You meant to only say it to yourself, but your voice was just loud enough that the others could hear it.

 The tent went silent, all eyes turning to you.

 “What,” Hardcase asked. “What is it?”

 You leapt up, pointing at one of the junior medics that was awaiting your instruction. “Get me the surgery pack and the armor removal kit.”

 You rushed over to one of the storage bins and opened the drawer, grabbing a numbing agent, a sedative, and a blood cleanser.

 “Why,” Kix asked, his voice laced with pain and confusion.

 You walked back over to the bed, prepping the sedative as you looked at his face that was covered with pain. “A piece of your armor is stuck inside you and is still attached to the rest of your chest plate. Every time you breathe, it opens the wound more and you lose more blood.”

 Kix’s eyebrows shoot up in a mock laugh. “Oh, is that all,” he said sarcastically.

 “Shut up Kix! This isn’t a joke.” You stuck the sedative into his neck as the junior medic walked back into the room and handed you the armor removal kit. You then suck the numbing agent into his neck, telling the junior medic to prepare another one for his side once you get his armor off.

 He smirked, his head tilting toward you. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s kind of funny to be the patient and know everything that is going to happen.” He blinked his eyes a couple of times, the sedative starting to take effect. “First you are going to have to cut off the armor around the affected area. You’re supposed to give five inches of clearance on either side, but I usually make it bigger to give me more room.” His words start to slur as the numbing agent makes its way through his bloodstream and the crease in his brow starts to loosen. “Then you are going to scan to make sure the piece hasn’t pierced any organs, but that takes time and blood flows quickly.”

 You give him a hard look before you start cutting the armor around his midsection, being careful to avoid his small movements beneath the armor as he breathes. You can see the shard in his side open the wound a bit more, causing more blood to spill out.

 “Then,” he continues, his words all melding together, “you’re gonna have to get the piece out and stich up the wound and stop the bleeding.”

 You finish cutting the armor and carefully pull the piece from its place. “I know what I’m doing Kix. Trust me.”

 He keeps going, not paying attention to what you just said. “Course, I’ll probably be dead from blood loss at that point anyways.”

 You grab the second numbing agent from the medic, sticking it into the flesh a little ways away from the wound. “Don’t say that. You’ll be fine.”

 “S-just the truth,” he mumbles. “Most men with somthin’ like this don’t make it past the scanning.” You see his head loll toward Jesse out of the corner of your eye. “S-because the armor shard usually does too much damage on the inside.

 You grab the scanner, running it over the area slowly trying to keep your hands steady. “Damnit Kix! Can you just shut up for once in your life and listen to me! You’re going to be fine!”

 You see Kix look at you out of the corner of your eye, wishing that you could see his face.

 “You have to be,” you whisper.

 Taking a deep breath, you keep running the scanner over the area, worry creeping up your spine as you slowly see the results filling the screen. “Jesse,” you snap out harder than you intended.

 “Yeah,” he asks quietly, not knowing how to respond to everything he has just heard.

 “Get him talking about something else. Nothing that will make him too excited. I don’t need him moving. The sedative is going to take just a couple of more minutes to work.”

 Jesse steps forward, crouching down so that he is almost eye level with Kix. “What should I talk about?”

 “Anything, just get him off of this conversation.”

 “Alright,” he says, apprehension in his voice. “Hey Kix, remember that seedy diner we found last time we were on leave? The one a couple of levels below 79’s? The one that had those burgers you loved?”

 The scanner beeps in your hand. You look at the screen, holding your breath as you read the results.

 No internal injuries found. Organs intact and functioning at 100% efficiency.

 You breathe out a sigh of relief, hearing Kix reply.

 “Yeah!” He is talking slow, struggling to form coherent words as they all slur together. “I loved that place. And I loved those burgers.”

 You pick up the surgery tools from the kit, starting to take the piece of armor from his side. You motion to the junior medic whispering for him to be ready to hand you the stitching equipment.

 Right after you finally pull the huge, four-inch-long piece out of Kix’s side, you see him moving, his arm coming up to point at Jesse with a big dopey grin on his face. “And I love you guys so much. You guys are the best brothers a guy could have.”

 You look over at Jesse as you press gauze to Kix’s side, sopping up some of the blood before you start the stiches. “Keep him still Jesse.”

 Kix’s head moves to look at you at the sound of your voice, the grin still on his face as Jesse lightly holds his arm down at his side. “And you,” he slurred out. “I think I’m in love with you.”

 Your jaw drops open, your task at hand leaving your mind for a fraction of a second before you turn back to your work feeling a deep heat rising on your face.

 You see Kix turn back to Jesse out of the corner of your eye. “Y/N is really the best. I love them so much. They’re just so nice and -kriff- so gorgeous. I just wanna sweep’em of their feet and kiss’em like it’s the last thing I do.”

 His voice starts tapering off, the sedative finally overpowering his will to stay awake.

 “Jesse?” His voice is groggy and barely above a whisper.

 “Yeah, Kix?”

 “This’s gotta be our secret m’kay? You promise not to tell Y/N?”

 You look over at Jesse, his head looking between you and his brother before he settles on Kix, a soft smile gracing his face. “Yeah vod. I promise.”

 Kix hums. “Thanks, vod. You really are the best.”

 You take a deep breath, looking at the blood-soaked gauze in your hand as everything that just happened rushed through your head.

 You couldn’t think about that right now. You had a job to do and you were going to make sure that you could see Kix after this, regardless of what had just happened.

 You shook your head and took another breath before holding your hand out to the medic and taking the needle before pulling the gauze away from the wound and beginning your work.

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

It had been a couple of hours since you had finally finished with Kix. You were able to close his wound without any issue and his vitals had been stable ever since. And, according to your scans, the blood cleanser was working perfectly.

 You still hadn’t had a break since then, having to tend to the rest of the men who were injured when the rest of the group got back. There had been quite a few major traumas as well as the usual minor injuries.

 But now, after the last of the men had been taken care of, the tent was silent. It was strange to have so much peace in the atmosphere after such a long period of pure chaos but you were just glad that you could finally check on Kix again.

 All of the scans were the same as they were before. He was stable, and when you checked the stitches on his side, they were holding up beautifully.

 You gave a sigh of relief before turning to one of the screens across from Kix’s bed, your back turned to him. Once you had everything logged in your datapad, you turned to leave so that you could go sit by the entrance in case any late-night injuries came in.

 “You know,” you heard from behind you, “if you keep working without sleep, you’re going to kill yourself.”

 You whipped around, seeing Kix smirking at you from where he lay on the bed.

 “Kix!” You rushed over to him, quickly glancing at his vitals monitor again before looking at his face. “How are you feeling?”

 He groaned, bringing his right hand up to rub his face. “Like I was blown up and then drugged. Which I think have worn off.” He looked up at you with a mischievous smile. “How much would I have to bribe you for another stim?”

 You chuckled and sat down, reaching behind you to grab one that you had already set out for when he was due for another shot. “Don’t you know it’s against the rules to bribe medical staff for drugs,” you teased as you gently angled his head so that you could inject the medicine into his neck.

 He grunted slightly at the feeling, but quickly relaxed once you pulled away. “You won’t go ratting me out, will you?”

 You laughed. “I promise.”

 At your words, Kix’s eyes widened, his body tensing before he winced and forced himself to relax again. His eyes now found place on his hands in front of him, which were now fiddling with the edge of the blanket he was under. He cleared his throat. “So, um… Did I say anything? While I was going under? Or-or was that just all in my head?”

 Your eyes widened in realization and you felt your face begin to heat up as you remembered his admission. “You, you um… May have said some things while you were going under.”

 He looks up at you briefly, an embarrassed look on his face. “Did I say what I think I said?”

 “Uh… yeah,” you said sheepishly. “But I know that the meds can make people say things that they don’t mean, like when we had to put Echo under on the last campaign?” You chuckled at the memory, clearing your throat as you realized Kix was still listening. You got up and began slowly backing away from his bed. “But anyways… I-I’ll just go, and we can forget that it ever happened. I know that you didn’t mean it and I don’t want things to get awkward. “

 You turned around but immediately felt a hand around your wrist. “Y/N, wait!” You heard Kix groan in pain and turned around to see him hunched forward so that he could stop you.

 “Woah, woah, woah! Take it easy! You’re gonna tear your stitches if you do that!” You lightly pushed on his chest to get him to lie back onto the bed.

 “Y/N, I-“

 “Now hold on,” you said, your mind switching into doctor mode. “I need to make sure you didn’t tear your stitches.”

 You lift up his shirt, and carefully inspect his side, checking for any sign of damage. Your hands grace over the skin just around his wound as you work in silence.

 After what feels like an eternity, you pull away and turn around to grab a bacta patch. “The stitches look fine, but the area around them is looking a little more inflamed than it should. I’m going to put a bacta patch on it just to be safe.”

 You pull apart the package, and once again silently begin working. You concentrate on the wound, being as gentle as possible as you place the bacta on Kix’s warm skin.

 “It wasn’t just the drugs you know.”

 His voice pulls you from your thoughts as you finish securing the patch in place with medical tape.

 You look at him, eyes wide as he stares right back at you. “What?”

 “What I said. It wasn’t just the drugs.” He reaches to his side and pulls your hand from there up to his chest, tenderly rubbing his thumb over your knuckles. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you for the longest time, but I just never knew how. I guess taking away my filter and thinking that I wasn’t going to see you again just… made my brain have to say it.”

 You don’t know what to say. Your skin was buzzing under his touch and you could feel your face getting hotter and hotter as your heart pounded in your chest.

 He continued. “I know you probably don’t feel the same way, but I just had to tell you. I needed you to know, even if just for a moment, that I love you.”

 “I do,” you blurt out.

 “What?”

 “I… I do feel the same way.” You start to smile as you see Kix’s eyes light up. “I never thought you would reciprocate, so I never said anything. But I do. I love you.”

 Kix smiled, bringing his hand that was not holding yours up to cup your face. His thumb ran over your cheek as he gazed at you with pure admiration. “Can I kiss you?”

 You sucked in a breath and smiled as you bit your bottom lip slightly between your teeth. You nodded and closed your eyes as Kix guided you forward.

 You felt your lips softly collide with his as your noses lightly bumped each other.

 As his lips moved against yours, it was tender and gentle and over far too soon.

 You both pulled back just enough so that you could look into each other’s eyes before bringing your foreheads together.

 “I love you, Y/N.”

 You smiled. “I love you too, Kix.”

 You then leaned forward and pressed another light kiss to his lips, feeling him smiling.

 “Well, I guess I don’t have to pretend to keep that secret anymore.”

 You whipped around, finding Jesse smugly standing in the doorway.

 “Shut up Jesse,” you said as you started getting up.

 You turned back to Kix, giving him a light peck on the lips and squeezing his hand. “I have to get back to work, but I promise that I will keep coming in to check on you.”

 He smiled at you squeezing your hand. “Don’t work too hard cyar'ika.”

 You smirked, picking up your datapad. “When have I ever taken it easy?”

 Kix chuckled and rolled his eyes. “I know. But just know that I am going to force you to take a three-day nap once I’m healed and can work again.”

 You laughed, feeling your eyes droop at the mention of sleep. “You have no idea how much I am looking forward to that.”

#kix x reader #kix x gender neutral reader #blood tw #injury tw #death mention tw #clone trooper kix #my writing #stitched together #snippy-tano #anon

[spider-boy1989]

Roy was a intelligent, educated man. At least, that’s what he would never stop bragging about whenever he met someone new. It’s all he talked about around the water cooler too. He wanted everyone else to know how dumb they were in comparison to him. One day, I had enough and decided I needed to take him down a few pegs. I will say I also could gain a lot from him being out of the way, as I was his competition for a promotion.

Anyway, back to the main event! See, Roy was hot, and I had always considered asking him on a date, but his pompous attitude and need to be the smartest man in the room always stopped me. We both are gay, so I figured...why not make him more my type? I was 34, and as hot as Roy was, my usual type was a young himbo. If I could build my perfect man AND get the promotion ive fought years for in one go??? Amazing.

The company we work at was working on a lot of new technology. I’ll spare you the details on all of them, but in order to tell you this story, I need to tell you about at least two. The first one is a new kind of subliminal message. See, the old way didn’t work as well as advertisers had previously thought. So they needed a better option to get people to buy, buy, buy. It was the same idea-messages just below the surface of a commercial, but this time it was changed to be an adaptable frequency that targeted specific parts of the brain. I switched out all his music from his music library(...he didn’t stream his music, he bought all of it...such a boomer.). I waited patiently for results as I programmed him to act dumber, more immature, and to care less about what people thought of him. I wasn’t sure it was working until one day I walked in on him taking a selfie. He wasn’t dressed in his usual sharp manner- he looked like a frat boy.

“Hey Roy. Whatcha doing?” I smirked as he was completely unphased at being caught taking a selfie when he had left a meeting to ‘go to the bathroom’

He smirked right back.

“I’m just takin some pics for Insta... I’m trying to hookup tonight and I figure maybe a thirst trap will do the trick.”

I laughed. “When did you start an Instagram??”

“Like, last night, dude. I dunno. I’ve been feeling myself lately and I just wanted a place to show off this sexy body!”

“I mean it is pretty sexy. Not gonna lie. You’re still not quite my type, but I love the new energy.”

“What new energy bro?? I’m just bein myself!”

“Of course! Why don’t we head back to the meeting...dude?” I guided the dumber Roy back to the meeting. It was his turn to propose something for the new campaign, and he completely didn’t give a shit. He hadnt prepared. He cursed, he talked about how he didn’t wanna be here. Of course, they put him on leave, assuming he was having a mental breakdown. That’s what brings me to the second thing. I guess our company doesn’t technically make it- we’re ad men, not scientists.

Anyway, one of the companies we work for was working on a drug that would completely change a persons body. It didn’t just make you younger, it changed your dna. It made you permanently younger. As you can imagine, it wasn’t too difficult to convince the newly dumb Roy to take it. He didn’t even ask questions once I told him I’d have sex with him. So now Roy was being programmed to be dumber, and boy, is he a dumb himbo now, and being turned into a much younger man who looks nothing like Roy. So it was easy for me to convince him he wasn’t Roy.

“What do you mean dude?? I think I’d remember my own name haha”

“That’s not your name, Ronny! I’m telling you. You know you’re my cute little himbo boyfriend, right?”

He nodded his head obediently.

“Good boy...well, I think since I’m the smartest one in the room I can safely say, your name is Ronny.”

“You’re right daddy hahaha. Sorry for the mixup. I guess I just had a brain fart.” After saying fart, he started to laugh way harder than any smart person would at the word fart. I smirked “it’s okay, boy. We all make mistakes. I’m glad to have you to help around the house and it helps you have a big...” I smirked and rubbed the front of his pants, causing him to moan.

“Please more...” he begged.

I can’t say no to him, so I reached around and played with his hole a bit. “Such a nice hole, too, Ronny boy.” I had complete control of him, just by getting him aroused now.

So, that’s how I got Ronny here. He works as my intern now. I think everyone knows how he got the job, but Ronny doesn’t mind that. All Ronny wants is to make me happy, work out, and have sex. And sometimes get me coffee, and occasionally get me off at work. He calls me daddy at work and I’m not sure the other interns know he’s not calling me daddy cause I’m his father. I got the promotion, I got the guy, I guess a gay man in his 30s really can have it all. Cant say the same for annoying loud 50 year olds who cross me, though!

#Age regression #transformation #dumber #himbo #TF #personality change

[justalittlebluetiefling]

i CANNOT believe we haven’t talked about the moment yet what is happening please tell me the things you need to get off your chest like how ‘i’ll see you in the morning’ haunts you

HOW have we not talked about this yet?!?! Oh my gosh there’s so much. I have so many feelings about this conversation.

Uh oh, this needs a cut. Didn’t mean to turn this into an entire analysis of that conversation, but apparently I had a lot I needed to get off my chest.

How are YOU holding up with all this?!?!

I was really worried about you... when you fell. ... This suddenly feels far more serious than I thought it might be.

UMMMMM. His voice?! This whole time. His voice is like... unsteady and rough and he’s quiet the entire time. Fjord tends to be pretty subtle anyway, so quiet isn’t exactly rare for him, but this actually shook him to his core AND YOU COULD HEAR IT. It messed him up so bad that he threw all of his plans to wait out of the window?!

It felt like hell. It felt like torment.

And we have to stop it, right?

I’m emotional about THIS because JESTER?! She lost FIVE YEARS. Not only did she have to see this again, feel it, but she lost five years. And it’s clearly hurting her, but she’s not letting herself worry about it, because there are bigger things to worry about. It’s just the way both of them push their own emotions to the side to be dealt with later in favor of the larger problems at hand. It’s so admirable.

AND HE’S NOT EVEN... okay wait.

I... I may have a... a... a problem.

THE WAY HE CAN’T EVEN SAY IT. He’s so NERVOUS. Because he KNOWS why he’s THERE.

And JESTER. What is it? So fast! She’s so worried! She probably thinks it’s Uk’otoa or Kotho contacted Fjord about Sabian again or something.

I saw you standing on that pillar. It was the first time where I kept myself from... trying to... stop something that was happening TO you and... I didn’t do anything and it’s bothered me.

He has a problem. His problem is that he can’t focus past the fact that something might happen to Jester. THE THING HERE. IS THE EMPHASIS ON THE WORD ‘TO’. “Stop something that was happening TO you”. Like, all of the times throughout this campaign that we weren’t overanalyzing. We’ve made the list a thousand times and I don’t need to repeat them. here

ALSO. Think about how many things in Fjord’s life have happened TO him. He doesn’t WANT that to happen to anyone else. Especially not Jester.

But wait. Like. He didn’t say it, but he really CAN’T focus past the idea that Jester specifically might not make it out of this. The guilt he’s been carrying after the Iron Shepherds. He took all the responsibility of that onto his shoulders and I don’t think anyone realizes that he’s still hanging onto that.

It seems to have exacted a pretty serious toll.

It’s just... his voice! And the way Jester’s face falls!! I’ve been pretty worried about how Jester still seems to be putting up the ‘happy’ facade for everyone and you can truly see in this moment how much it bothers her that she’s lost time.

I want to come out of this and be able to go back to the sea and go back to Nicodranas and go back to where it’s warm and not fucking freezing and...

Me too.

They miss HOME. The poor Coast Kids miss their home. They’re both so sad. But okay. The hilarious thing here? Is that Fjord? Is talking about how he wants to go back. To THEIR home. With HER. And it hasn’t HIT HER yet, because she’s distracted! She has no idea what’s about to happen.

I just don’t know if that’s... I don’t feel as optimistic now.

Me neither. But... I’ll try to be safe. And you should, too. But if it comes down to it, if it means stopping that thing? I want to stop that thing.

AND HERE. What was it he said to her at Travelercon? And you care about people you know, about people you don't know. You cause chaos, but in the end, you don't want to hurt people. You care. This is something that he LOVES about her, but right now, it’s just... okay I’m trying to put this into the right words.

*sharp inhale* I told your mother I would look after you.

Yeah. I’ll be fine, Fjord. We always are.

Continued from the previous thought. HERE’S THE DEAL. Fjord knows he can’t protect Jester from this, no matter how much he wants to. His voice is breaking over that. And Jester’s is, too. They’re saying all these words here, but they’re also NOT. I don’t know. I’m watching the video again while I’m typing this, so this moment is breaking my heart in slow motion.

It’s not even just on Fjord’s side. Jester’s doing that thing right now where she deflects, because that’s what she does and trying to reassure Fjord because he’s never been so worried about her and she doesn’t know what else do to while Fjord is sitting here like we’re running out of time we’re running out of time we’re running out of time. Like, that’s the whole thing. He can see that they’re running out of time on Jester’s face. Literally. It was one thing for him to wait to tell her until after he sorted out his life when they felt invincible. But... out of all the danger they’ve been in before, he’s always been able to follow her. She’s never had to be alone in it, because he was one step behind her. And this time? There was literally nothing to do. He was powerless. He is powerless.

This part of the exchange is so loaded. You can FEEL Fjord about to break. It is tangible on the screen because his voice keeps shaking and he takes that huge breath.

IT’S JUST. He’s trying SO HARD. I always talk about this, but this one specific  time Travis was on Talks lives in my head rent free. The time when he talks about how much Jester’s unconditional and unrelenting support has meant to Fjord and how much Fjord wants to be able to return that. ALL he wants to do is be there for her and she’s still not opening up to him and he has NO IDEA if what he’s about to do is going to work. He has no idea if she’s going to be okay with what he’s about to tell her.

I care very much for you.

Really?

JESTER’S VOICE IS SO SOFT. SO SOFT. AND HE’S LOOKING AT HER. AND SHE’S LOOKING AT HIM.

I’m melting over this moment.

*huge sigh*

Is it because I have chiseled cheekbones now?

It’s the longer horns.

Yeah, it really does it, doesn’t it?

Yeah. It gives you an intimidating look.

YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS?! Jester saw that Fjord was nervous and she immediately tries to defuse the tension with a joke. And he jokes back. Because that’s what they do together. They’re goofy and silly and they comfort each other and Fjord LIKES that she’s strong.

Listen I’ve got clips saved up from my last rewatch because I want to make a gifset of the times Fjord has been openly appreciative of strong Jester and one day I’m gonna do it.

I mean they’re joking around, but Fjord is like, super attracted to Jester and I really love that for her. But it’s MORE than that, because he’s attracted to her, but the thing that won him over was who she is so every time he talks about how attractive he finds her, it’s just icing on the cake. He doesn’t just want to see her, he wants to know her and I don’t know how I got to this point from this section but here I am, I’m not going back.

C A N I K I S S Y O U

OKAY.

I’m gonna hyperventilate again for a sec.

It caught Jester SO OFF GUARD. AND THEN SHE’S NODDING AND THEY’RE SMILING AT EACH OTHER LIKE THEY’RE SO IN LOVE AND IT’S JUST BEAUTIFUL HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO LIVE LIKE THIS

HOW.

Kissing is a lot more fun when you’re not dying.

Jester!!! She brought up the kiss! THEY SMILE AT EACH OTHER AFTER THIS. LIKE. They both acknowledge the “kiss that wasn’t a kiss” AS A KISS. I never thought we’d hear about this again! But Jester’s been thinking about it THIS WHOLE TIME!!!

I love this though. The first time, he kisses her to save her life so she can get them out of that temple. This time, he kisses her, because he can’t stand the idea of losing her.

BUT ALSO. KISSING IS FUN. Jester!!! Liked!! Being kissed! By Fjord!!!

I want them to have downtime so bad. I want them to be able to spend time walking around Nicodranas and kissing and going on little dates and eating ice cream at the Lavish Chateau and hanging out at the beach with Luc. I WANT THEM TO HAVE QUIET MOMENTS.

I don’t know what to do with myself anymore.

This was so cute! This last part might be my favorite part of the conversation. Because Jester got all flustered and FOR ONCE Fjord didn’t get awkward! He was just so RELIEVED to have told her! And she was so HAPPY?! The CUTEST grin on her face! EVER.

I’VE WANTED TO DO IT FOR A WHILE.

JESTER’S GIGGLE HERE!!!!!!!!!!! I love this for her so much. I just do. She’s been SO into him for SO long and she didn’t think he liked her back and here he is TELLING HER HE’S WANTED TO KISS HER FOR A WHILE. Her giddiness is contagious!

And FJORD! How LONG have you wanted to kiss her?! For some reason, this isn’t something I’ve considered when trying to figure out the timeline of Fjord’s feelings. When is the first time he wanted to kiss her? I think I need to go watch all their big conversations again to see if I think it’s any of them. For some reason, I feel like it’s going to be in one of those silly little moments they have together and I’m going to miss it. Do I rewatch the entire campaign for a third time???? Is that what I have to do?

I’m kind of a big coward.

No, Fjord, you’re very brave.

I am very brave, aren’t I?

You are.

Jester FULLY believes this. She’s just smiling over at him this whole time. But he looks down. Because he still doesn’t think he’s brave. Or he’s brave enough for most things, but there’s ONE THING he knows he can’t do and that’s let her go and I’M. 

Is this all just speculation and guessing and me making stuff up? Yes. Do I care? No. That’s what his face says to me in that moment.

ALL WHILE JESTER IS JUST SO HAPPY. She DOES think he’s brave and she thinks he’s amazing and he just kissed her and it’s not how she thought it would happen, but IT DID and it was so meaningful.

We could get cats and just flee.

I need to get the whole dialogue for this, but I’m tired tbh and I need to sleep, so I’m gonna focus on this last part. How they’re talking over each other to joke around, but it’s really smooth and flows really well between them. But right before this you can still see how heavily the upcoming trials are weighing on them. They feel a little better about EACH OTHER, but there’s a very real possibility that they’re about to lose each other, but they can take this ONE moment of hope?!

And I just love it when they joke around with each other to try to make each other feel better. They’re so good to each other. 

I’ll see you in the morning.

God, the way his voice is just ROUGH and small and quiet and he DOESN’T WANT TO LEAVE and they just SMILE AT EACH OTHER and they’re scared of what’s coming but THEY KNOW THEY LIKE EACH OTHER and they’re SO HAPPY FOR THIS MOMENT. 

And the soft way they say goodnight to each other!!!

THEY!!!!!!!!! make me want to walk into the ocean. In a good way. I SWEAR I CAN’T WITH THIS.

And then the way Jester sighed and giggled after Fjord left! And I can see her leaning back against her door and sighing and looking up at the ceiling and just..... SO. HAPPY.

She doesn’t even ask for a cat cuddle pile!!!! She just stares at her unicorn until she falls asleep. SHE DOESN’T ASK FOR A CAT CUDDLE PILE! 

And then there’s Fjord! Who doesn’t sleep much!

That part makes me a little more angsty. There’s lots of reasons he might be awake most of the night. There are some really cute ones. Like he’s thinking holy shit I just kissed Jester and she kissed me back and she said it was fun that’s good right? And then there are the angsty ones where he could have been laying there thinking about how he doesn’t have any control over the situation and how scared he is. But he did something and he made her smile and that’s all he ever really wants to do. Is make Jester happy. And maybe he made Jester happy in this moment where she was trying to hide that she’s sad. AND THE THING IS THAT HE DID! 

And I’ll leave you with a very short list of random things I expect them to say to one another at one point with no context:

I can’t stand the thought of losing you.

Are you sure you don’t miss the longer horns?

You don’t always have to be fine.

OH. ALSO. 

Get ready for casual intimacy. I’m ready for hand holding. Shoulder touching. brushing someone’s hair out of their face. GET READY BECAUSE IT’S GONNA HAPPEN.

#i didn't proofread this yet don't judge me #i'm not sure if this is what you wanted to happen #but it did #i got very excited and couldn't stop talking #OH MY GOD THIS IS SO LONG I'M SO SORRY #critical role #the mighty nein #fjorester #fjord #jester lavorre #cr spoilers #cr2e118 #gosh these two are adorable #neondvcks #erin answers things

[sidras-tak]

Please write that Caleb/Veth friends with benefits meta, I would LOVE to read that!

I’ve talked about this before in the widobrave server, and it’s not so much “friends with benefits” as it is “not quite exes”, in my mind. So I’m basing this whole thing off two moments: Keg assuming Caleb and Nott are together, and how Caleb reacted when Nott kissed him right before the failed Widogast’s Transmorgification spell. Also, this is less meta and more speculation.

Let’s assume this: Nott and Caleb, in their time traveling together pre-stream, had a sexual relationship. At the very least, they cuddled and gave each other physical comfort (this part is canon actually). Sometime before the stream began, or shortly after it began, one of the two broke it off. Maybe Nott started falling for Caleb and felt guilty about Yeza. Maybe Caleb’s internalized guilt and shame about being worthy of love caused him to break it off. Either way, they decided to end it while still being friends, devoted to each other. This leaves them on a weird footing. When canon begins, they still are physically comfortable with each other (Nott climbs all over Caleb, he holds her frequently, they sleep in the same bed, hugs all the time) and this is untrue with any other member of the MN and Caleb, who is usually bad at receiving or giving affection. However, they are not romantically together. What are they? Exes? Taking a break? No longer friends with benefits? Pining? Who knows! Not them! Not us!

On to the canon.

Moment one: Keg assumes Caleb and Nott are together. Caleb rolls with her assumption, clearly unbothered by her thinking they might be together. In almost the same breath, Nott denies it, and Caleb looks confused and concerned. Nott berates herself (“he could do much better than a little freakshow like myself”), Caleb shushes her and gets an inn room specifically for the two of them, doubling down that he doesn’t care if people think they’re together. If you view this from the not-quite-exes perspective, it shows that Caleb isn’t ashamed of being with Nott and is willing to take it back up again at some point, while Nott is firmly trying to put it in the past. Given that she has a secret husband, not surprising. It also shows that Caleb isn’t convinced what they have is over. It’s a gray area for him. “Are you together?” Keg asks, and Caleb says, “Sure,” because fuck if he actually knows what they are. Anyway, “together” is close enough.

Moment two: the kiss. It’s hard to separate the actor and the character, especially with Liam, who tends to be in-character as much as possible. When Nott leans in and kisses him sweetly on the lips, Liam/Caleb moves back slightly in surprise and blinks rapidly for a second, then focuses all his attention on Nott while she speaks. He does not appear distressed or confused by the kiss, though he was taken off-guard by it initially. When she’s done speaking, he cups her face in his hand and says, “this will be our best trick yet.” No reference to the kiss, no question as to what she did or how she feels about him, and then they never fucking talk about it again. If one assumes this is their first kiss, that’s odd. Most people would react somehow if their best friend kissed them on the lips, no matter if their feelings were romantic or platonic. If you approach it with the idea that they used to be together and still care deeply about each other, it’s not a confession of feelings, it’s a callback to their shared past. Nott isn’t startling Caleb with the confession that she’s attracted to him, she’s simply reminding him where they started and who they are and were to each other. It fits in perfectly with her speech, thanking him for being devoted to her and spending all this time with her.

The meta angle: we know, almost certainly, that Sam and Liam did not plan for romantic widobrave since the beginning of the campaign. But as early as episode 25′s talks, Sam addresses that Nott’s feelings for Caleb are liable to change and morph as the show progresses (I direct you to this excellent video about nuance), so it’s possible this is around when he and Liam start considering pre-stream widobrave as a possibility--and it falls right before Keg’s assumption and all that it entails. Liam has said that during the course of the game, it’s not unusual for a player to come up with a bit of backstory that they hadn’t considered before and share it with Matt to be used later, so it’s entirely possible from a meta level. 

Caleb and Veth being in a former relationship would fit in with how they struggle to define their relationship in canon. (“he’s my boy and i protect him” “I don’t know what our family is” and “you’re not my....hmm....” all come to mind)

And really, wouldn’t it be exactly like Sam “no metagaming unless it’s funny” Riegel and Liam “this backstory is gonna hurt you so much” O’Brien to make widobrave retroactively canon and not tell anyone for as long as they can manage it.

(As a side note, I am not looking for a debate on the nature of Veth’s feelings towards Caleb. If you believe that Veth views Caleb as her son, you are free to do so, but please leave my post out of it, thanks).

#spent way too long on this #widobrave #critical role #sparklepants #ask #caleb widogast #nott the brave #veth brenatto

[oumaheroes]

Earthbound: Ludwig’s Story

Characters: Germany, Prussia

Context:

Hundreds of years after the fall of Earth, mankind is slowly starting to return. Some people have a stronger urge to return than others, confused by fragments of memories from a life already lived.

Arthur’s story can be found here. 

Matthew’s story can be found here.

Gabriel’s story can be found here.

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

Ludwig is six, and is sick again. The doctors don't know what's wrong with him; they know what's causing it at least but they have no idea why. He can't keep food down and every time he tries to stand the world pitches and swims and he can't keep his balance so he never manages to stay up for long before he bonelessly falls to the floor, where he feels no better.

It's the gravity, the doctors say, for some reason he's affected by the gravity. The artificial gravity that he's known all his life; it's as if he's just climbed aboard and his body suffers from relapses where it just can't acclimatise. Where it suddenly realises that something's not quite right and rebels against him for a week or so. This his family already knows, but his mother isn't satisfied with such a lacklustre answer so she takes him to a different doctor every time he suffers another attack just in case one of them is even marginally more competent than the last. These 'episodes', as his mother likes to call them, don't happen all that often, but he seems to have one every ten months or so and they are regular enough to annoy his mother to no end. Ludwig doesn't really know if she's annoyed that no one can fix him or with him himself, Gilbert won't say and normally his big brother talks to pretend that he knows something so his silence worries Ludwig the most.

Mother is a very important person with a very important job: she's a governor of the space station upon which they live and it is very important that Ludwig remembers this. So, when he's laying in bed clutching at his belly and desperately clenching his eyes shut to minimise the swaying, his friends at school think that he is away for a special training academy. Because can you just imagine, the governor of a space station's son being space sick?

His father doesn't like to call it that because he thinks it's degrading so his mother doesn't, when she thinks Ludwig can't hear, anyway, but Ludwig knows that's what the kids at school would say so he happily keeps mum because it's easier than lying. They don't talk to him much besides, they find him too cold and distant but that's because he's so scared of disgracing his mother further that he can't quite relax fully.

When Ludwig is thirteen his mother, after exhausting all doctors aboard their large floating colony, finally accepts that it's unlikely that this small problem of his is going to go away. Her way of dealing with it is to pretend that it just doesn't happen; during an attack Ludwig is sent to his room where he stays painfully alone with only his books for company whilst she busies herself with her new campaigns. She's running for director now, aiming as high as she can go and there's no room for weak, feeble Ludwig all the way up there.

His brother tries his best to keep him entertained and happy during these times, but Gilbert is healthy, strong, smart; he's everything that Ludwig should also be able to grow up to be and their parents have sent him off to expensive schools which means that he's more often away from home than not. Sometimes Ludwig wonders if they've sent him away because they want Gilbert to be the all around best he can be, or if it's to distance him as much as they can from Ludwig. It's almost as if they're worried that Ludwig will taint him, or that maybe Gilbert will grow too attached to him and distract himself from what's really important. That Ludwig will anchor him down.

At five years older it's highly unlikely that Ludwig will be the one doing the influencing, but his brother, despite hardly seeing each other and such a large age difference, does seem to genuinely care for him. During one particular attack, when Ludwig is eighteen, Gilbert is home from university; it is almost Christmas and his family are preparing to travel to where his grandparents live on the other side of the space station, where they'll spend the holiday. Of course, it is now that his body decides to betray him.

He, his parents, and his brother are gathered around the large dining room table finishing off dinner. It is tense. Mostly it is Gilbert who talks because despite their mother's cool demeanour and their father's lack of interest he seems to always have something to say to fill the silence and speaks easily. Even with the response he gets, or lack of it, he seems honestly unperturbed and remains cheerful, somehow managing to both eat and speak without seeming impolite. As much as he loves his brother, Ludwig is also supremely jealous.

He stares at his fork, contemplating which point in the evening would be best to ask if he could slip away, when his body decides for him. His stomach swoops, his ears pop and the table tilts alarmingly. He clenches the edge in panic to remain upright and the noise alerts his mother, who looks up from her dessert in irritation.

'Ludwig, we are going away tomorrow.'

'M- mother-'

His mother sighs and looks at his father, who sharply stares back. 'Dear?'

His father grunts and spears another forkful of fruit pie. 'They're expecting him to come.'

'But the photographers-'

'What do you want me to do, Hilda?'

Meanwhile, Ludwig has still not been dismissed and cannot now seem to find the words to ask for permission himself without spewing all over the fancy silverware. He doubts that that will make the situation better, somehow. Gilbert notices and stands, attracting his parents' attention.

'I'll take Luddy to his room.'

'Darling...' their mother tries to say something, but it's what she's trying not to say that comes across the loudest.

Gilbert ignores her and walks around the table, slowly helping Ludwig to his feet, then away from the table and swiftly towards a bathroom. They make it just in time. Gilbert pats him comfortingly on the back and rubs soothing circles into his shoulders until he's finished, then hands him a glass of water.

'So, they're still arseholes, huh?'

Ludwig snaps his head up in horror, but this is a bad idea because the image of Gilbert swims before him and he has to shut his eyes.

'Don't call them that.' He finally manages, weakly.

Gilbert tuts. 'What the fuck did they feed you with in order to churn your personality out.'

Ludwig lays his head on the cool tiles of the floor and groans inwardly at how nice the feeling is. 'They're not arseholes.'

'Yeah, and my name's Shirley.'

Ludwig cracks open an eye, but Gilbert's not joking. He is, for once, deadly serious. 'How'd you put up with them Lud?'

Ludwig shrugs and gives a small shake of his head. 'They're our parents, Gil. They still care for me. Besides, I'm not exactly making it easy for them.'

Gilbert looks disgusted. 'You're their fucking son, arsehole. They're supposed to take care of you. They ain't even doing that right are they?' Gilbert runs a hand through his shock of white hair and bits his bottom lip whilst he shakes his head. 'Look at how they treat you versus me.'

'Yes, but I'm not exactly-'

'But nothing!' Gilbert raises his voice slightly and swallows. When he speaks again, he's much quieter, back under control. 'Have they got you in a university programme yet?'

Ludwig's silence is answer enough and Gilbert sighs deeply before brushing back Ludwig's sweaty fringe. 'There's nothing wrong with you Lud.' His brother sounds so very sad. 'Fuck, there's nothing wrong with you at all. They know full well that if they put you on a planet rather than this floating heap of rust that you'll probably be alright. And have they? Have they fuck.'

Ludwig wants to argue against him, wants to say something to stand up for himself if not for their parents but his eyes are suddenly burning and his throat is choked up. He knew a long time ago that his parents had given up on him, but to hear it from someone else hurts more sharply than anything he tells himself.

There's an odd companionable silence for a while; Ludwig lays still with his face against the floor and his brother's hand carding through his hair so he almost misses what Gilbert says next.

'I was gonna wait till Boxing Day, but I've got us tickets for Earth.'

Ludwig tenses and holds his breath. Gilbert continues. 'I was gonna wake you up on the 26th and take you away with me, but I want to tell you now instead, cause you look like shit. We're gonna get out of here Luddy; I've always wanted to take you to a planet and what better one is there than the original, huh?'

'You, I- you can't- what about your studies? The internship you've got?' Ludwig manages to stammer out, opening his eyes.

Gilbert brushes his concerns aside. 'I never liked medicine, really. I've always wanted to go to a planet, so I'm mega up for it.'

Ludwig knows he should say no, knows that he shouldn't take up the offer. He'd be denying his brother so much, he'd be exactly what their parents worried he'd be because he'll only drag Gilbert down and down and down like a heavy lead weight and ruin all of his chances at a good life.

But Ludwig wants to be selfish. He reaches out and clasps onto Gilbert's hand, squeezing it tightly. 'Gil...'

Gilbert flashes him a grin and winks. 'I know, right? How awesome am I?'

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

AN:

I’ve been a very busy bee recently and haven’t been able to write anything, so in lieu of something new, have something old.

This is from my fic Earthbound, which I’m embarassingly fond of. It’s made up of several different stories and Ludwig and Gilbert’s is the one that I’m the most happy with after all these years.

Hope you enjoyed!

#aph germany #hws germany #hws prussia #aph prussia #hetalia #Hetalia Earthbound AU #my writing #I'll give it that epilogue one day i swear it

[decolonize-the-left]

You responded to the side you perceive I'm on instead of me again. So I'll say, once more, voting alone won't solve shit and that's why you can honestly say "we voted and it didn't do shit". But I can honestly say not voting made it worse for everyone involved. Stop imagining all voters as white moderates saying they support you and then looking the other way, and you might realise there's lots of people like you voting the lesser evil before protesting all evils. And it works better.

Okay, honestly maybe if voting wasn't everyone's primary "voice" I'd agree with you. Maybe if ppl protested as much as they voted, I'd agree. But they don't. And for a lot ppl their political engagement begins and ends with vote every four years. And a lot of those times they don't even support the protests, which makes the ones we have Less effective since there's only like a 50% support rate. So like.... yeah sure voting and protesting works.... but only when ppl are voting and protesting 🙂

So your argument would be a good argument... if it was an argument worth having but it's really not. But lemme explained why even further, because if there's one thing I love it's talking shit about the USA.

Firstly, it's really important for me that you understand that if voting alongside protest was affective and ppl had control for their government then Trump wouldn't have been elected, nor would he have remained president. You know he legally can run again, too (and honestly might)? Like do you think we haven't tried protesting and voting before? Where have you been the last year?

Secondly, change my mind but voting is just a chance for the other side to shoot down progress anyway. Because if we are out and protesting to end police brutality, voter suppression, and value indigenous sovreignty and our government listens by some miracle... why put it on a ballot in the first place? So it can end up like the George Floyd Policing Act? Or would voting yes on HR-1374, a bill aimed to legislate the brutalization of Indigenous pipeline protesters, somehow be a good thing?

Voting only works when you can get worthwhile bills passed in the senate & congress. You have to do that first. So lemme guess, you're gonna talk about voting for better representatives, right? Because that's how you -as a voter- have the power to influence things like that, right?

Okay, so then let's talk about available resources candidates have, how campaigns are funded, advertised, and gain support. How candidates win by networking, grassroots efforts, & taking HUGE amounts of time off for the purpose of their campaigns. Now let's discuss which type of ppl have more availability and resources to do all that. Let's discuss which type of ppl are more likely to be shut down and struggle to find support and ppl in power willing to endorse them once they do have their name on the ballot. Y'all heard what happened to Princess Blanding?

And what say you to the the voices being systematically oppressed from being counted in the first place? Voting isn't as powerful as you think when you acknowledge in order for voting to be actually as affective as you hope a LOT has to change first. And this isn't even getting into voter suppression and the many other layers of shit like that.

Also "not voting made it worse'' except it literally took a fucking war (and then some) to end slavery.

Voting didn't fucking do that, okay and who knows of it ever would have.

You know why?

Because despite hundreds of years of resistance and generation after generation protesting and voting for the same causes, our government is still Absolutely fucked on a cellular level. If voting was really all that helpful, why is shit still fucked? Because they just manipulate the law into allowing it. The same laws and lawmakers you think will save us are the same ones allowing this continue and making shit worse. Because ppl keep putting faith into that broken system, the system is allowed to exist.

Only when threatened does anything change.

But it doesn't need to change at all when ppl like you are content to keep validating and participating in the system regardless of the immense damage it's doing. Why change when ppl like you (that's right, this behaviors isn't limited to white moderates) happily look the other way and make up excuses for the system's inefficiency?

I'm not replying to the white moderate in my head. I'm replying to you and your persistence to get an indigenous person to recognize and participate in a government and legal system that was (and still is) built to subjugate & kill me and ppl like me.

And for what? because it makes you feel better to vote?

fuck off

#asked #answered #if there are typos.... no there arent #politics #voting #liberal bs #also im not answering another one of your asks #You won't change my mind to juatify inaction of the masses #like you just wont so im not gonna keep entertaining this #its a waste of your time and energy as much as it is mine to continue

[sorry-apsalar]

Frender Week Day Three: Jealousy

I picked this prompt because they're both the jealous type and I wanted an excuse to write Fry being the jealous one for once. Initially it was gonna be a direct tie in with my 'Friends With Benefits' drabble and the conversation Fry and Leela have would've ended with them breaking up because she'd never liked him like that anyway. And then at the end with Bender, Fry would be like 'well we're both single now, wanna go out?' But writing Leela and Fry in a romantic relationship, even for a little bit made me unhappy so I changed the circumstances to this instead.

~

Bender spoke fairly often about hating humans and wanting to kill them all. Fry had never taken it seriously because had proven many times that if nothing else there were at least humans he made exceptions for, Fry being his best friend was one of them. But one thing Fry had always assumed, or would’ve if he’d ever given the matter any thought, was that Bender would never be interested in dating a human.

That was exactlywhat he was doing though. And… he was happy, very much so supposedly. He seemed enthused by Amy and she with him. Fry had gone out of his way to show nothing but support for them, what kind of jerk would he be if he hadn’t? But… he hated it. He hated seeing them together so much that the temptation to try to break them up was hard to resist at times.

Seeing Bender dating other people had kind of bothered him for a while now. But it had mostly been other robots and none of those relationships had ever lasted long. And Bender had never been so enthusiastic about any of them the way he was with Amy. It was unlike Bender to even be like that, right? He just wasn’t the type. … Fry was just making excuses, huh? There was no logic behind why he hated seeing them together so much and thus he was just searching for a reason to justify his dislike for it when he should be nothing but happy for them.

It ate him up inside, especially since it meant Bender forsook their usual evenings spent watching TV together to go to Amy’s place instead. Even when they were at work Bender chose to spend most of his time with Amy. Eventually Fry just couldn’t keep it to himself anymore, he had to tell someone.

“So you’re jealous,” Leela said matter-of-factly as soon as Fry had finished spilling his guts to her. Maybe while working wasn’t the best time for such a conversation but Bender declining to go on the delivery mission with them to spend time with Amy instead had been the last straw. Fry should’ve been happy to take such an opportunity to try to impress Leela again but was far too preoccupied with Bender to do so – which was probably for the best since it probably wouldn’t have worked anyway, nothing ever seemed to.

“No, why would I be… well, okay I guess maybe I might be a little jealous.” More like a lot. “But he’s supposed to be my best friend and he’s not spending much time with me anymore. And when we are hanging out, Amy’s always there too and I swear it’s like they’re going out of their way to rub it in my face. And I just… I just want to hang out with him again like we used to.”

“Have you tried talking to him about this?”

“No. How could I? He’s my best friend and Amy’s also my friend, and I want them to be happy, you know?” Just not while dating each other. Did thinking that make Fry a bad friend? Probably at least a little, right? But… he just wanted to hang out with Bender, just the two of them, like they’d done before all this started.

Leela didn’t even look at him. “I think you should try talking to him about it.”

“But…”

“No ‘but’s. When you get a chance to, talk to him about both this and about your feelings for him. Lord knows you’ve never had any issue telling me how you feel about me, why should he be any different? Especially since he has a far better chance of actually feeling the same way. And then if you two get together you can finally stop asking me out every other Friday.”

“I don’t ask you out every other Friday.” He’d gotten a lot better about that even if he hadn’t given up on winning her yet. “And what did you mean by…” He cut off as the full meaning of her words hit him. He took a breath to voice a protest, say he didn’t like Bender like that, they were just friends. But… he’d be lying if he tried to say he never thought about Bender like that. He’d never seriously considered it though because Bender was always ready to say he hated humans. An obvious lie given who he liked to hang out with but one that would make any logical person think that he wouldn’t want to date one. But that was apparently not a thing. So really it was Bender’s fault and Fry was officially annoyed with him over it. Also… “He’s dating Amy so I can’t talk to him about that stuff.”

“For now, yeah. I doubt it’ll last for much longer.”

“I don’t know about that. They seem pretty happy together.” Fry would know, they liked to talk about how happy they were together around him all the time. It’s almost like they wanted to make him jealous.

Leela shrugged. “I guess we’ll see once they finish up the last of the Proposition Infinity business. Now get ready go, we’re almost there. The Professor said this package is going to someone important and potentially dangerous so we should handle it with care.”

Fry groaned but at least work would provide a distraction from thoughts about what Bender and Amy might be doing together right now. They were probably on a date or kissing or maybe even having sex. Ugh! How exactly did robots even have sex? … He was going to have to google later.

***

“I’m bored and it’s not working so we should break up,” Bender said as soon as he and Amy were alone in her apartment.

“We should finish making sure Proposition Infinity passes first though,” she replied as she settled on her bed. “We’re kind of like the heads of it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. As soon as it passes though we’re through.” Even if they had ended up entangled in campaigning for it on accident it was still a good cause and would result in Bender being famous so it was definitely worth it. Keeping up the pretense of being happy with Amy grew increasingly more annoying every day though.

“That’s fine with me. But uh, we don’t know if this whole thing failed entirely. Fry could be jealous and just hiding it because he wants to be a good friend. I mean you’re jealous of how into Leela he is and you don’t show it often because they’re your friends and you want them to be happy.”

She had a point but… “I doubt it. He’s only ever really had eyes for Leela.” The fact that Leela clearly wasn’t into him was fitting because that was exactly what Bender was going through too. The best he’d been able to get out of Fry with this scheme was annoying him enough to make him leave the room by being overly lovey-dovey with Amy. Which was fun, especially since it had annoyed everyone else too but it wasn’t enough and even that was starting to get boring.

“Hmmm… maybe. But do you think Kif will really take me back after you dump me?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care.”

Amy sighed. “Yeah, I know you don’t because you don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

“I’m glad were on the same page.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just hurry up and get the rest of this Proposition Infinity business done so we can finally breakup and be done with this dumb act.”

*Some days later*

“You uh… dropped Amy really fast,” Fry finally said as they strode into the apartment. He’d been dying to bring it up for hours and couldn’t wait any longer. The fact that Leela had been right about Bender and Amy breaking up soon wasn’t surprising because she was right about most things, it’s part of why Fry liked her so much. But the timing of the breakup and just how sudden it had been was still strange.

“Yep,” Bender replied nonchalantly as he settled on the couch and switched on the TV. “I was getting bored of her.”

Fry joined him on the couch, happy their evenings watching TV had been restored. But he wasn’t ready to drop it yet so… “You didn’t seem like you were getting bored of her.” If anything, it had seemed the opposite right up until he’d dumped her.

“Well, I was.”

“And you dumped her because she wanted a monogamous relationship?” It just didn’t make sense because they’d seemed pretty monogamous the whole time they’d been dating, why would that suddenly be a problem?

Bender shrugged. “I guess. I was mostly just looking for a reason to dump her. Now shut up about it, it’s not important.” He was annoyed but seemingly mostly at Fry for asking so many questions and not all that bothered by the actual breakup.

Well as weird as the whole situation was, he was no longer dating Amy and that was a good thing as far as Fry was concerned. And if he wasn’t upset about it then maybe… it was time to take Leela’s advice? She’d never steered him wrong before and the past few days he’d had plenty of time to think about it. He hadn’t really decided anything so maybe he shouldn’t say anything? Or maybe he should? Before Bender ran off and started dating someone else who he might not get bored of, thus killing Fry’s chances permanently. What though and how? Words really weren’t Fry’s strong suit. Well, no sense beating around the bush, right?

“Now that you’re single again you want to maybe go out on a date with me sometime?”

Bender froze for a few seconds before turning to look at Fry. “Are you really asking me out?”

“Uh… yeah. It’s fine if you don’t…”

“What brought this on? You’ve never showed any interest in me like that before so why are you suddenly asking me out now?”

“Well uh…” Blushing, Fry looked away. “I got kind of jealous about you dating Amy and spending so much time with her. It made me realize some things. Or more like talking to Leela about it made me realize why exactly I was so jealous and stuff. It’s fine if you say ‘no’, I’m pretty used to getting turned down and stuff so you don’t have to worry about hurting my uh…” He trailed off at Bender’s borderline evil chuckle. He seemed very satisfied by something, what though?

“Nah, I’m not saying ‘no’. We’re going on a date uh… how about tomorrow afternoon?”

“Yeah, tomorrow afternoon works for me.”

“It’s a date then.”

“All right uh… cool.” Fry wasn’t one to question luck or good fortune even if it was strange. “That’s the easiest I’ve ever had convincing someone to go on a date with me.”

Bender put and arm around Fry, pulling him closer to his side. “Don’t question it.”

#my writing #futurama #frender #frender week

[hiding-under-the-willow]

Hey can we please hear more about the dnd campaign?

Of course! I assume this is about the slenderverse campaign I run, so I’m gonna talk about that, but if you wanna hear about the other campaign I’m a player in feel free to ask lol

So we play every Wednesday, we’re about ten sessions in, and I’ve got four players, all playing fucked up teenagers living in a tiny ass town in Ohio in 2016. They’ve all got custom subclasses based on the EMH Everyman play character archetypes. 

We’ve got Kaesy, an orphan living with his ex-FBI agent grandmother who now runs a bakery. He’s a conspiracy theorist with a cryptid themed podcast. He used to live in New Jersey with his parents until they were killed by the rake. He’s the party’s Voyeur and he hasn’t quite figured it out yet but he has some childhood connections to the EMH crew. The party has fully taken to calling Habit his best friend bc out of everyone in the group he’s kinda the one Habit has taken to fucking with the most, to the point that they're like fully penpals at this point. They fully just text each other and it’s so fucking funny bc I can tell that the party is lowering their guard around him slowly while I know full well that he is like. the main antagonist of the campaign.

There’s Abigail, who happens to also be an orphan who’s parents were killed by the rake. Abigail and Kaesy’s players fully separately both wrote backstories in which their parents were killed by the rake. The funny part is that Kaesy’s player doesn’t know shit about the slenderverse, so he fully did that shit on accident, while Abigail’s player fully knew what he was doing. Anyways, Abigail’s parents raised her like fully off the grid in the woods, and now that she lives with her uncle, an ex-college professor turned cop, she is only going to school and participating in society as a whole because legally she has to. Her inventory looks fully like a normal dnd character’s inventory, weapons and rope and torched and shit. Not a single school supply. Her player is the only one who knows slenderverse lore and also she keeps finding lore shit and then hiding it from the rest of the party bc none of them trust each other so that’s been really fun. She is the Firebrand of the group and ended up connected to all this shit a) bc of her family’s connection to this town the party lives in, and b) bc her uncle fully used to be a film professor in Alabama and may or may not be in some way connected to Marble Hornets. He’s slowly started to take on the sort of vibe of The Guardian archetype (bc our pc who took that subclass hasn’t quite fully played into the vibe) so you can see where that may or may not be going lmao

Then there’s Logan, who is one of my personal favorite pcs. He is a fake-woke hypebeast vlogger/streamer with a kind of neglectful family. He used to live in New Jersey with his father until his father died and he moved in with his mom and her girlfriend in Ohio. His mom gives off like girlboss silicon valley business woman vibes and everyone thinks she’s a higher up in some big cosmetics company up in New York. Which. Uh. Between you and me, is not the case, at all. She’s fully a part of ‘The Family” from Whispered Faith, and spends all her time that she claims she spends on business trips to New York in New Jersey. She is so incredibly neglectful and may or may not have something going on with Lexx <3 Anyways I am entirely planning on making Logan a Carrier to pit them against each other. Don’t even get me started on Shelly, his mom’s girlfriend back in Ohio, I fucking love her and she’s never done anything wrong in her life. But yeah, Logan fully like tries to sell his merch in the hallways at school cause he couldn’t figure out how to set a merch website, and constantly lands in detention for it, and like hangs out with all the popular kids even though they’re mean to him. He once started explaining fnaf lore to one of the other pcs in the middle of an emotional argument and then somehow managed to actually make it work to get his point across, and he carries around a shit ton of youtuber books and like entire packs of lacroix in his bag. He’s the Everyman of the group.

Lastly we have Jasmine, who is so incredibly annoying and so incredibly fun to fuck with. Her dad is the mayor, she’s student council president, she gets straight A’s, she volunteers at the church on the weekends, and she is such an entitled and overly sheltered asshole. She is supposed to be our Guardian, except that she has separated herself from the party in such a way both emotionally and physically you would never be able to tell. So at this point I’ve just started manifesting a religious trauma fueled Alex Kralie arc for her. Her father canonically had a scandal before the last election in town where he was caught kicking a dog on camera at a campaign event and if that doesn’t say enough about what’s happening in her family I don’t know what else you want me to say. Jasmine’s absolute ability to be the most frustratingly annoying character to work with possible is the source of the campaigns long running ‘roll to spontaneously combust’ which has recently come back to haunt me. You can read about that here lol

Things have been really fun so far, they spent the first few sessions running around the eastern US trying to get back to Ohio after a mix of a slenderman encounter and some Habit fuckery landed them in Alabama along side two other NPCs, Mr. Laurel, a first year art teacher who was in charge of them in detention when shit went south, and Mae, a mysterious classmate of theirs who was later found out to be related to Alex Kralie. They met a lot of people along the way, namely Habit, Tim, Skully, Stan, and Patrick, and eventually ended up back in their small town in Ohio, where some of them have started trying to figure out what the hell happened to them and some of them are trying to go back to normal. And by some I mean exclusively Jasmine is trying to pretend nothing ever happened and it is going incredibly badly for her on a number of levels, meanwhile the other three are starting to uncover the mysteries of the town but have gotten no closer to figuring out why the hell this is happening to them. 

I should probably stop rambling here lmao cause this post is getting really long but like feel free to send me follow up questions about the town or npcs or encounters they’ve had so far because I could literally talk about this forever

#atlas speaks #slenderverse dnd #long post

[uniquemagics]

i’m gonna be talking about disordered eating and how it manifests in both vil and neige — the obvious trigger warnings apply.  i also want to add that these are very based in my own experiences with EDs, so please don’t accuse me of like...talking out of my ass.

i’m going to use ‘disordered eating’ rather than ‘eating disorder’ mostly because i think it’s useful to describe the experience and behaviors more than the innate sickness, but they both do have eating disorders.  i’m just going to be talking more on the behaviors than the causes, which seem fairly obvious — in both of their cases some of it is a dysphoria deterrent, especially with vil wanting to be read a fem person and all the expectations that come with that, and more than that it’s a result of being literally raised on the screen and having your outer appearance always, always matter so much.

anyway, with that out of the way — vil, ironically, indulges slightly more than neige does.  (  i’m thinking of vil’s SR lab coat story specifically.  )  that being said, it’s always done very carefully, and when she does ‘overeat’ she always makes sure to ‘zero it out’ by skipping a meal later, exercising more, or both.  neige’s disordered eating, on the other hand, manifests as consistently low calorie intake; if he does have some kind of high - calorie snack, you can be sure it’s the only thing he’s eating that day.  in the context of calories, you could say that vil’s method is “i’ve eaten 200 more calories today than i should, so i’ll burn 200 more calories while working out tomorrow” whereas neige simply does not go over his calorie limits, even if that means that one ‘high - calorie’ snack is all he gets for the day.

neither of their calorie limits are especially healthy, though i’m not comfortable like...putting an actual number on it.  but you can be sure both are below what they should be.  vil has a stricter exercise routine, so their allowance is slightly higher; neige almost entirely depends upon not eating much and works out comparatively rarely.  neither of them are prone to purging, but neige will if he ‘overeats.’

both of them are aware that this is Not Healthy — neige has been a part of ads and campaigns advocating for ED awareness! — but neither particularly feel like they have any choice in the matter if they want to continue being on screen, which they both badly do.  vil especially strongly feels that her value is rooted primarily in being traditionally beautiful, so to gain any weight, then, comes at the risk of being seen as less valuable to others and thus less loved.  that her most important person is also very aware of their weight and notices when they gain it does not help.

vil tends to dress in a way that draws attention to their toned figure and emphasizes how slender they are — there’s a sense that she’s not going through all this bullshit just to not have her hard work be acknowledged.  neige, on the other hand, very rarely dresses in anything that isn’t loose — some of it’s a way to avoid dysphoria, but most of it boils down to feeling like a hypocrite if just how slim he is becomes apparent.

#vil : headcanon. #neige : headcanon. #god i gotta repoST ALL THIS STUFF FROM MY OLD BLOG I KEEP FORGETTING #disordered eating / #anorexia / #bulimia / #dieting / #weight loss /

[callioope]

Thoughts on Critical Role Campaign 2 Episode 133 below the cut!

Post-Battle Capeleb Scene

Me to spouse as I was pressing play: “I apologize ahead of time for any squealing this episode may cause.”

Cut to Capeleb picking up Essek after the battle! All King Kong style!!! Shoving him in front of the two clerics like “Heal him!!!” ahhhh that definitely got a squeal ... incidentally just as my husband was starting a call... oops. 

Bonus: Caduceus being like “dude I wanna heal you too”

Bonus 2: everyone like “Caleb you can put him down” Caleb: nO *puts Essek on his back* i mean caleb knows better than anyone you gotta protect the squishy wizard

Bonus 3!: Jester’s comment about “He doesn’t think clearly when he’s an animal.” and Essek’s “Evidently!” lol 

Let the Cleric Rest!

Okay earlier in the episode, when Laura was insistent on “guys we need to start our long rest ASAP,” I felt that in my bones. I play a cleric in the Tomb of Annihilation campaign I’m in, and we spent 3 or 4 sessions stuck in a dungeon filled with poison gas where we took 1d6 poison damage every hour. So no long rests there. Top that off with the fact that we’ve been in the Chultan jungle even longer, and we don’t get long rests unless we can find and secure a very safe location, and the pain of being a spellcaster and not getting a long rest is REAL.

And then no one was acknowledging her at first! Yeah later Fjord and Beau were like “yeah yeah we agree” but she had to say it so many times!!! And I kept shouting at my screen “listen to Laura Bailey!!!” thinking “my dudes you can do ALL of this talking and planning while you rest pleeeeze get that rest it” because I play a cleric too and running out of a spells is a thing.

Of course, having finished the episode/in hindsight, I’m actually not sure if the even had a full 8 hours from the moment Jester finished her Commune with Artagan to the moment the Tomb Takers arrived, but still. I feel so bad for Laura right now knowing she only has ONE SPELL SLOT left and they’re going up against the Lucien and Cree. She’s clever so I’m sure she’ll think of something but that just is a really sucky feeling going into any battle knowing you don’t have a lot of slots left, let alone The Super Scary Big Battle ahead. soo. yeah. Gonna be worrying about that all week through the end of the next episode. 

Also side note but jeez poor Laura rolling two one’s on that Heroes Feast. She needs to cleanse her dice or buy new ones altogether. she has the WORST luck with rolls.

TOWER TALK & TOUR!!!!!

IT!!! FINALY!!! HAPPENED!!!! I have been longing for Essek to see the Tower since episode 124 if not longer and at last! It was wonderful. AND CALEB SHOWED HIM THE NINTH FLOOR!!! amazing. fantastic. and what a talk. what a talk. ughh yes. they didn’t really have much time in the Tower outside of the Heroes Feast and the long rest but i’m sooooo glad Caleb got the chance to give the tour and they could talk. YAY!

Pursuing Lucien & Cree

Does anyone have any ideas of what they can do here? UGHH i wanna speculate on the best strategy for them (just because I find it to be a fun thought exercise). Like digging through the collapsed tunnel might take too long? Although we have no idea how long Lucien and Cree need. Hopefully the lack of the rest of the 3 Tomb Takers slows them down somewhat but who even knows at this point. I’ve been wondering if there are any teleportation spells that might work -- but Essek’s teleport is way too high to risk in Aeor right? Wonder if there’s any spells to magically clear the rubble? I’m stumped on this one. Super excited to see what they do but in the meantime while I have to wait would love to ponder this puzzle.

Fjord & the Rangers

not super wanting to like dive into intense discourse about this but like. I did have thoughts so here goes. I don’t blame Fjord for making the decision that he did, he had to make a spilt second decision and it seemed very in character for him to choose what he did. It did seem like he was trying to stall to help his party members get more rest, and it makes sense that he’d want to do that, BUT. here’s the thing. Battles in DND only take a minute or so TOPS. There’ s no way the battle itself would slow down the TT. If you’re hoping to delay the TT, you gotta hope the rangers can do enough damage to force them to at least take a short rest if not a long one. That’d only give an hour and that’s still not enough for the long rest the M9 need. 

ALL THAT SAID!!! I think there’s a very good chance that whatever that battle did helped lower the TT’s HP enough so that the traps the M9 laid could finish off the three members it did. So I don’t think it was in vain. Worth it as a delay tactic? Ehh not really. Worth it to hurt the TT? Yes.

And while I do think that Fjord and Essek knew the chances were high they were sending the rangers to their Doom (a) I think the rangers being here in Aeor know that’s an everyday possibility to begin with, and (b) I still think there’s a chance they might have been able to survive/flee. Maybe the TT decided to push past them and fled from the skirmish themselves? Yes it’s possible everyone (including Dagen T_T) fell during that battle, but I don’t think that’s set in stone. 

Also I don’t think the TT would think it’s weird to come across the rangers, they likely already knew they were there. And another thing -- even if they were like “Hmm rangers coincidentally by the entrance we were going to use?” Look they know the M9 became unscryable AND were trying to stop them. I honestly think the TT knew to be on the lookout for TM9 no matter what. And in hindsight -- which obvs Fjord did not have but we know now -- Lucien way underestimated them bc hey, despite everything, the trap still worked. Like, very much of what the M9 was trying to do during this whole arc was keep their cards close to their chest so Lucien would underestimate them. They really did lay the groundwork for that when they were traveling with them. Yeah technically they sort of revealed some of their hand during the Gelidon fight buuut they also ran from the TT limping later that day. So. Yeah. Anyways. 

I’m rambling now and gotta go start dinner. But those are my initial thoughts!!!! Happy to engage in polite discourse. Main things I love talking about are theories for what happens next!!! and also hello, this is my first like, big post in the tag although I’ve already posted a few times in the shadowgast tag. 

#critical role #critrole c2 #critrole spoilers #shadowgast