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yuri-is-online · 4 months

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Happy Holidays! I’ve been on a bit of an angst fix lately, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to brainrot in your inbox about it.

I’ve been thinking about a scenario where Yuu just finally snaps. I mean, an entire school year of being trapped in a foreign world with no certain hope of seeing your family again, being forced to contend with (at least) 7 life-or-death scenarios, the massive egos these teenage boys have, and probably at least a little bullying from the NRC students for being magicless. I mean come on, I love our boys and all, but a lot of them are kind of awful people. There’s no way a regular person’s mental health survives that.

And maybe Yuu, tired of it all, packs up what little they have and leaves. Surely their prospects couldn’t get any worse than at NRC. Maybe Yuu tries their luck at RSA in finding someone to help them go home. Maybe Yuu just wanders until they find somewhere where they can be something. Would they even leave a letter behind explaining what happened to them, or would they just assume no one would care anyway?

I just want some more Yuu angst lol

Do you have any thoughts on this?

Happy Holidays to you too annon! Everyone is welcome to brainrot in my inbox, especially about Yuu. And I do have some ｢(ｰﾍー;) but I might be a bit nicer to the NRC boys than they deserve.

notes: they/them used for Yuu, more fleshed out fic can be found on my masterlist here. SPOILERS FOR UNRELEASED CH 7 CONTENT. CW for abandonment issues, ptsd, bullying, and just general ignorance on the part of the OB boys. Heavy on the angst, this is a mega oof tm of a post.

I want to start off by saying that, in my personal opinion based off of the in game voicelines and vignettes, that the various NRC boys do like Yuu and enjoy having them around. They think of them as the same of any other freshmen student at NRC, which is sort of the problem.

The average NRC freshmen has magic, a dormitory with a housewarden responsible for "guiding" them, and a family they can fall back on if things get rough. The average student has a basic understanding of the history of the world they live in, of it's pop culture, it's food, it's clothes, and a bunch of other things that they might not think about because of how ingrained it is in their very being. Yuu has none of those things. They don't even have a cannon club which I think is more meant to allow players to have head cannons, but since we are talking angst I have wondered if since Yuu and Grim are one student, any club Yuu wanted to join would have to take Grim as well and no one wanted to deal with that. So Grim started his own "club" and Yuu just takes pictures of birthday celebrations and events they aren't able to fully participate in for the school at Crowley's request.

Ace's first reaction to Yuu is to bully them for not having magic. Deuce admits to having done the same thing as when he was a child, and is very embarrassed by it. We don't really see Yuu getting outright bullied outside of this, but given how the faceless students reacted to Deuce being excited for Starsending, yeah I think Yuu has had to deal with some bullying. And while I do think Adeuce (and the rest of Heartslabyul really) would stick up for them, it wouldn't make it stop. If anything it just gets sneakier and Yuu, not wanting to cause any problems, does their best to cover it up. Something about keeping a stiff upper lip or a smile better suiting a hero and all that.

The overblots is a whole separate issue. We get two real apologies, one from Riddle and one from Vil, who again do not take Yuu being magicless in to much thought. They think of Yuu highly! They are a housewarden of their own little dorm! And they take such good care of Grim and the others, not to mention all those overblots you survived! Not many mages can claim that but you can! What could you possibly have to be stressed about?

As if that isn't the entire problem. As if anyone understands where Yuu is coming from. As if they even would care if they did.

They might be just as capable as any other freshmen, but when school ends, hell even when it goes on a break, they have no where to go. They were stripped from their friends, family, and especially their belongings, including money and autonomy! I have some thoughts about my own Yuu wanting to be nurse in her world, but given how much of even basic medical care seems to rely on magic in Twisted Wonderland I wonder if that would even be a career path any magicless person could take. We know a lot of them work at Styx because they don't risk blot accumulation, but even cooking is done with magic (if it can be) in Twisted Wonderland! How would you feel if you had your heart set on being a doctor, worked really hard to get good grades and took up a part time job to save for college/university only to be transported to a different world with different laws of physics completely against your will. A world where all that hard work is meaningless and you might not be able to accomplish those dreams of yours. And! AND AND! If you get upset about it, that will be seen as a weakness on your part and no one will care.

Because hey, they had to work for what they have. Why can't you? They didn't ask to be born with magic (even though they would have probably) so there is no use crying about things you can't change. Ruggie and Jamil do seem to feel a bit of sympathy to Yuu's plight, but neither of them think twice about exploiting Yuu for their own gain. Sure it might be unfair, but life is in general! It's not their fault, they aren't to blame. And that's really how all of NRC sees it, they aren't to blame for Yuu's circumstances, so they aren't owed any special treatment.

How Yuu snaps and what they do because of it would really come down to how you hc your Yuu to be. My own personal thoughts come back to personal autonomy a lot; I don't think Yuu has much of it and that would grate on me constantly. I could see Yuu hearing their friends talk about their plans for the future, and though Ace and especially Deuce try to include them in the conversation they can't add much. Ace applauds them, says "we need to take things easy! We're still freshmen..." and drones on about how he just wants to enjoy school life. And maybe Yuu does too, but they have no concrete answer about whether or not they can get home. They don't have the support system that their classmates do, so there really isn't anything waiting for them after the school year ends. Yuu feels so helpless, and they don't have the words to explain how they feel, because how could they?

If Malleus's overblot ends without any real repercussions (which I doubt it will but hey, I am like 65/35 on whether or not he apologizes to Yuu specifically for almost killing them I will be so pissed if he doesn't) I could see everyone else making fun of Malleus for loosing while Yuu just. Stares off into the distance, trying really hard not to cry in front of people they are convinced will make fun of them. This has all been scary, things like this just aren't possible in their world and they aren't mentally prepared to face death again.

And they are convinced they will. You can say overblots are rare all you like, but Yuu has practically seen one once a month ever since they arrived in this world. It is normal to them, and who should they trust? The lying headmaster or their lying eyes and ears?

If Yuu decides to run away, I think that the Ramshackle ghosts might try to stop them. Sure the headmaster sucks, but your ghost buddies really love you! And want to support you in anyway they can, so does Grim! He wants to be together for the next 100 years, and while he does really want to stay at NRC so he can be the world's greatest mage... I think he might love Yuu more. Just a tiny bit. He would play it off as him being too good for the school, or that he and Yuu are only one student after all so he will be expelled... but really he wants to come with because he will be worried about Yuu.

While going to RSA does sound nice on paper, Yuu doesn't really have a reason to go there. They aren't exactly on first name basis with any of the students we've met so far, and there is always the risk of Che'nya snitching to Riddle and Trey. Better to try and find a place where they can be something and maybe send letters to all the magical academies they can get contact information for to see if they can help. And also, to see if they will accept Grim as a full student, got to make sure he isn't sacrificing his dream for nothing!

The ghosts, realizing they can't convince Yuu not to leave decide to help. They already sell things at the markets downtown, so maybe they chat with some of their clients and convince them to let Yuu rent a room for a while. You have the option in Portfest to mention you have been to Craneport before, and I like the thought of Yuu having a part time job there. Maybe the ghosts explain that Yuu has no real family to go back to and Yuu's part time employer agrees to give them a full time job while Yuu figures out where they want to go.

Another thing related to personal autonomy, Yuu wouldn't have government documents if they just got isekaid out of the blue. I could see that being a huge issue for traveling to different countries and trying to establish a life. I also wonder if Crowley even did anything about that... but assuming he did since he (allegedly) talked to the school board about what to do with Yuu I think the ghosts would get them for Yuu on the condition they still come visit sometimes.

As for the note, I think Yuu would leave one simply because they feel like they didn't have the words to explain themselves out loud. And because they don't want to face the fight they know will come where everyone tells them to just suck it up and get on with it. These are teenage boys they are dealing with, their brains just can't fully comprehend the situation Yuu is in and they have given up expecting them to.

Just so we're clear, I think this would devastate Ace and Deuce, maybe to the point of destroying their friendship, at least for a while. Ace does think about Yuu not having magic, he wants to protect them. He says so when you level him to max, that protecting you will be easy, but clearly it wasn't. Clearly he failed you, and what does Ace do when he feels bad? He takes it out on everyone else and in this case especially Deuce. Deuce just feels stupid, which he already does a lot, but he really saw you as being around for the rest of his life. And now you aren't, and not for a happy reason like you got to go home. You aren't there because they failed you.

The others are a bit of a mixed bag I could do a separate post about but to hit the other big one...

I have no real idea how Malleus would react. I can see him thinking this means Yuu is afraid of him now, which I don't think he would react well to, but assuming this is post ob then he might be willing to take responsibility for it. It would certainly make him think, but how that thought would manifest? Outside of the obvious weather changes I do not know. I could see him being slightly resentful to his mother for cursing him to be hated by humans and loved only by fae when he so desperately wanted to be loved by one specific human. They were his first real friend, and he didn't treasure them in a way they found meaningful.

idk Yuu dropping off the grid isn't something I can see Crowley letting happen, but I can see why Yuu would want to try.

#twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #twst yuu #my own yuu is supposed to be a delinquent type who spent some time in residential treatment #and worked really hard to try and not be like her actual criminal parents #but feels like a lot of that work has been undermined by being transported to a world where magic makes most of her talents irrelevant #so yeah i think about yuu angst a lot #i am yuu's biggest faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan i want good things for them except when i write angst

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fromchaostocosmos · 5 months

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If you will forgive my somewhat clunky metaphor, being a Jew on the Left often feels like I'm in abusive relationship.

I'm most certainly not going to go to the Right not only because of my morals, ethics, and values, but because whether it be overt or covert their end goal is the death and destruction of me, my people, our culture, and everything we hold believe in. It is like the Right is someone who just all red flags and your gut tells you if enter into a relationship with them the only way it ends is with them killing you. But the Left, well the Left seems cool and you get along and have similar view points so you think okay this could work. But it turns out the have some strange friends who have some real not okay thoughts and the Left will say "I'm not really with them you know", but they will still do stuff with and invite to stuff and won't end the friendship when those friends say some real disgusting things. Then as things progress you are not allowed to have things from a different perspective made from the nuances of your history and experiences. Then Left is telling you can't have certain thoughts, feelings, or be hurt by things. The Left is telling you what think is not what you think, what you heard you didn't, what you saw you didn't see, you just don't get it, you don't understand. Suddenly the rules that you both agreed to are being changed on you, and you are being told that you liar and are in fact the one with power and abusive. Not just that antisemitism is not antisemitism and according to Left you call everything antisemitism to delegitimize and downplay and shutdown. Suddenly the Left knows your history better then you and is explaining your beliefs, history, just everything to you as if you don't know it all already and know it better and more in depth. You are alone with no one and the Left is saying you are cheating with the Right when you would never and you just want to make it work. And it all is mess.

That is basically how I feel right now about the Left and how it feels to be a leftist and Jewish.

I mean it has always been somewhat difficult. There has always been a pretty large amount of antisemitism there. But right now it is on a whole kind of level.

I mean there is the old joke about hating Jews being the one thing that can bring the left and right together.

I think a fair amount of what I'm describing other marginalized people's have felt to a degree as well on the left. I do not want to discount those experiences.

I think overall the left needs to do better, I think it needs to stop being so White TM like white focused in its leftism, I think also that using the USA understanding of Race and Racial politics is dangerous and plain unhelpful when applied to global scale.

I think the Left needs to stop viewing the amount of color in a persons skin to what they must be because it ignores so much history and nuance. This doesn't mean we ignore White Privilege because we can not. This means we need to start having nuance and dialectical thinking going on. Such as understanding Conditional Whiteness and White Privilege are not the same.

The Left also needs to take Colorism more seriously as a whole and do more to combat and end it.

The Left needs to learn and understand just how much of the world we live in now is built on so many systemic abuses. And that the very foundation of it, no material that the foundation is made of is Systemic Ableism, Systemic Anti-Blackness, Systemic Antisemitism, and Systemic Misogyny with everything really branching off and out from there.

#antisemitism #jumblr #leftist antisemitism

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slashersteve · 2 years

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A Little Closer

pairing: Steve Harrington/Female Reader

summary: There is a time and place to proclaim your love for somebody, and being injured and trapped in the Upside Down is not one of them.

warnings/extra tags: cursing, reader and steve arguing for no reason, and some kissing tm. >>>SPOILERS FOR ST4<<<, not beta read i edited myself but can't be trusted either.

note: I haven't written an imagine for him in a hot minute, and I say this because I have an ongoing series so check out my masterlist ;) Anyway, I wrote this with a dream my friend had about him in mind (she knows who she is). Thanks in advance for reading and please enjoy!

✧ ✧ ✧

You liked Steve Harrington, a lot. And have since you first met in that junk yard years ago when you were introduced to the creatures of this other dimension they called ‘the Upside Down’

Only then you just liked him, because these days you were pretty sure you were hopelessly in love with the guy. This didn’t mean he couldn’t get on your nerves though, especially when he treated you like you incapable of doing literally anything.

"No, you're not going down there."

Steve's voice was firm as he spoke, his words directed at you as you were starting to unbutton your Hawkins Letterman jacket, preparing to dive into Lover’s Lake and see if this gate was down there like Dustin theorized.

"Says who?" You bit back as you were pulling the jacket off, "Robin said Nancy was in charge, not you, Steve."

"Yeah well, I was the co-captain of the swim team and have had life guard certification for 3 years, so logically, it should be me," Steve stated as he too began to undress starting with his shoes all the while Eddie, Nancy, and Robin just watched. You scoffed at him.

"And I was the Captain of the girls swim and water polo team, and have had my certification for 3 and a half years,” you replied, “Can someone tell me which is better?"

They looked awkwardly at each other until Robin began to speak.

"I mean...technically speaking you both had similar responsibilities as a captain and co-captain, but I mean…” her eyes went to Steve who was looking at her with raised brows, “She doesn't have the co in front of hers and didn't have to share responsibility, and uh…her certification beats yours by half a year…so...I would say hers is better."

Steve shot a look at Robin as he was taking off one shoe as fast as he could.

"Gee. Thanks for taking my side Robin," he told her with a scoff while Robin shrugged and claimed she only said so because you asked, "It's just dangerous alright? There could be a gate down there, or worse Vecna could be there- and I don't think you should-"

"Look, out of everyone here I feel like I've been the most useless, and I'm taking the chance to do my part," you explained briefly, "Let me do this because I can do this."

"I know you can, but that doesn't mean you should-"

“And why not? No matter who goes down there the risks are all the same,” you said tearing your t-shirt off now, leaving you in just a tank top and your Hawkins gym shorts.

Steve was untying his other shoe now, trying not to become distracted by your sudden loss of layers, and argued, “Yes, but I don’t want you to take the risk-”

“So anyone but me can?” You gave him an odd look, one that made Steve shake his head quickly.

“No- No I didn’t say-”

"Okay. Are you two seriously going to argue who gets to swim to a possible underwater gate to another dimension where yet another thing is trying to kill us?" Robin was asking, successfully making you and Steve finally go quiet, “Is this a regular occurrence? Arguing over who gets to do risky shit? Because I think this happened last time too.”

She remembered how when coming up with a plan to infiltrate what they thought to be a simple stock room at Starcourt, Steve argued against pretty much any plan that involved you risking your life. Many valuable minutes were wasted with arguments like this with you two going back and forth.

It was almost embarrassing honestly that Steve didn’t realize how into you he actually was or how into him you were because for everyone else on this boat, and on the shore line, it was pretty obvious and has been for quite some time. This was just more evidence of it.

“No, we’re not arguing because we all already decided I’m going,” Steve said, making you laugh and toss your shirt at him before he could even think about taking his other shoe off. It hit his face and momentarily blinded him.

“We decided? No, you decided. Are you implying this needs to be voted on Steve?”

Steve took your shirt in his hands, and looked back at you, “Well maybe it should be- Robin who do you think-”

“I think the one who is already ready to go should go, you still have one shoe on and she does not,” Robin replied quickly as she was shoving the flashlight in the plastic bag Eddie had handed to her.

Steve groaned, “Are you never going to take my side or something Robin? I’m getting hurt over here.”

You were twisting your neck side to side, a pleasant smile on your lips that Robin chose you, but it hadn’t compared to when Nancy finally spoke up.

“Let her do it," Nancy told Steve, then cringed as her eyes went to yours, "Not because I think you're useless or anything, but I've been to enough swim meets for the paper throughout the year to know she's damn good…and she does hold the Hawkins High record for how long she could hold her breath...she can do it, Steve."

It was always nice to have Nancy Wheeler on your side, especially when it was Steve on the opposite side. He always seemed to listen to her and take her words to heart and while other times in this friendship of yours he seemed to drop everything and listen to her it made you feel a tad bit jealous, this time you felt satisfied.

“And like I said, I know she can, better than me, and certainly better than the rest of you, but what if-”

“Dude I’m about to dive down there just so I don’t have to hear you argue for another minute,” Eddie interrupted for the first time since your argument started, “I mean, I’m not going to, of course, but the fact that I was tempted to says a lot. You just gotta trust your girl, Harrington.”

All eyes went to him besides yours at his statement. You kept your gaze trained on Steve, seeing his expression turn from grumpy to confusion then to what you confused with amusement rather than nervousness.

“What? My girl? She isn’t…” he laughed, and you hated how a small part of your heart cracked, “She isn’t my girl, if anything she’s all of our girl-” he cleared his throat as he realized how weird that sounded, “I mean, she’s nobody’s girl, but definitely, definitely not mine-”

Nancy cringed at Steve’s words, and Robin had rolled her eyes for you while Eddie just raised a brow. You were frowning now, turning away from all them after you snatched the flashlight from Robin with a little too much force. Her eyes snapped to yours, being the only one to see your aggravated expression and understanding why.

While Steve’s concern was appreciated and not exactly unwanted, you were starting to get annoyed with him. Sometimes it really felt like when he was with you and the kids…he just saw you as one of the kids he had to keep an eye on and not as… something else.

Well, he didn’t get to tell you what to do, especially now when everyone was on your side and not his. So, without much of a warning, you dived into Lover's Lake.

The splash of the water had captured their attention, especially Steve’s and when he saw you were no longer in the boat. He cursed and looked over the edge and saw nothing but the darkness of the water.

“Dammit! I should’ve known she’d do that!” he said as he gripped the edge of the boat.

Why did you have to be so reckless sometimes? It seriously stresses Steve out, from you throwing him out of the way from that Demodog and getting smacked by it yourself despite it being your first encounter with one to you flirting with the guards at Starcourt and to now jumping into the lake to see if there’s a gate down there. One obviously was more dangerous than the others, but he wished you would just stop.

He was taking his shirt off now, obviously going to dive and swim down after you until someone's hand hit the back of his head just as he got the shirt off.

“Ow, hey-”

“Don’t be dumb, Steve!” Robin told him, “She’s going to be fine. Nance, how long can she hold her breath?”

Nancy answered, and it was more than a minute longer than Steve could, and it was obvious when he sighed.

“See, we’ll just time her and if she doesn’t come back up then you can valiantly dive in there and rescue her, maybe even give her mouth to mouth since you want to kiss her so bad-” Steve’s eyes widened slightly and he scrunched up his nose.

“Woah what? I never said-”

“Please, it’s obvious, so, so obvious that our new pal Eddie here thought you were together.”

Eddie looked at the both of them, "I thought you were like…an overprotective boyfriend or something with how hard you were trying to take her place.”

“Man, what do you know, you barely got here…”

“I’m just saying, man, I don’t think you would’ve fought that hard if it were one of us,” Eddie stated, making Steve scoff because he wouldn’t even hesitate to do the same with Robin and Nancy at least, but it was the fact that you could very well make this dive better than him was enough to prove to them at least that there was something more to it. And maybe a little to Steve too.

“Oh you don’t even know the half of it,” Robin said while Nancy half-smiled in amusement as she looked down at her watch, being sure to keep track of the amount of time you’re down there, “One time she flirted with a secret Russian guard, and lover boy here looked like he was going to explode-”

“What!” Steve’s cheeks were heating up at the mention of that, “We remember that very differently.”

Sure, he was a little annoyed but not because he thought you were trying to hook up with him, because it was risky. It didn’t matter if it kind of worked…and he was a bit jealous...not explosion jealous, but still in the spectrum of jealous.

“And the way they’re always around each other? We had no room on this boat and Steve insisted she come with…”

“Yeah, it is a little exhausting having to keep you two apart to be honest,” Nancy stated, “We could’ve used her at Pennhurst.”

“Hey, that is different, you guys are making it sound like I tell her what to do or something- first, I didn’t want her to be a babysitter again and second- she wanted to stay behind with me when you went to Pennhurst.”

“And I wonder why that was…” Robin hummed. Steve bit the inside of his cheek, not understanding was Robin was getting at, “You like her Steve, just admit it and things will feel better. I swear.”

Steve sighed, “Okay yeah, so I like her, but she isn't into me and I don't see why it's important right now-"

“Oh Steve, I thought you were a pro at this,” Robin said, and he shot her a little look as she grinned back, “I’m just saying, after all this is done, and your only problem is finding the ‘one’ maybe look at her, yeah?”

Steve swallowed a lump of spit, and laughed, “You’re just trying to mess with me so I'll ask her out and you can laugh when she says no.”

“Am I really that cruel?" Robin questioned, but was met with silence, she scoffed and continued to say, "Like I said, just look a little bit closer.”

Robin was finished speaking then, and Steve shook his head in disbelief before deciding to keep asking Nancy how much time had past.

✧ ✧ ✧

You hadn’t resurfaced yet, and the time you usually could hold your breath underwater was inching closer and closer by the second. Steve was getting nervous, eyes flickering all over the lake to see if you had maybe emerged elsewhere.

Already, he was moving to stand, “That’s it, it’s been too long, I’m going down there-”

“Steve-”

Suddenly, you were bursting out of the water with a loud gasp and splashing water all over everyone. Steve nearly fell over as it was where he was about to dive into. You looked up at him as your vision readjusted and saw him staring at you with relief.

And then he started to speak.

“Were you trying to beat your own record down there? Why did it take you so long? Were you sightseeing or something- I was about to swim down there and-”

“It’s there,” you interrupted him before he could blast more questions your way, “I saw it, Dustin’s right- there is a gate right beneath us.”

Steve went quiet, and the other three all shot shocked looks to one another and Robin quickly relayed the information Dustin on the walkie-talkie.

“It’s really down there?” Nancy asked more so in disbelief. You were nodding.

“Is it snack-sized, or like the one we saw at Starcourt?” Robin asked.

“Definitely not as big as that one was, but still pretty big,” you replied breathlessly as you began to climb up. It was Steve who was offering you his hand, and you ignored the fact that he was no longer wearing that yellow long-sleeved shirt that made you forget for a moment you were annoyed with him.

“That’s insane,” Steve was saying as your hands met. He was about to pull you up when he was suddenly jolting forward and nearly falling into the water. Your eyes had met each other, and it dawned on you that something was wrapped tightly around your ankle and pulled.

In one breath you said frantically, “SteveDon’tLetMeG-”

The rest of your sentence was drowned out by water as you were suddenly submerged once again, but this time it was very much against your will. Whatever that was coiled around your ankle was forcefully dragging you back down to the bottom of the lake.

Your hand had unfortunately slipped from Steve's grasp as you were pulled under, and he was calling your name. He didn't think twice, diving in after you while leaving Robin, Nancy and Eddie behind. In fact, Steve went after you so fast that for a moment they thought he was dragged down with you.

“What the hell was that, man! What the hell was that!” Eddie was shouting.

“What do we do?!” Robin shouted moreso at Nancy because she trusted her with decisions more than herself or Eddie. Nancy was already standing at the edge of the boat, ready to dive in after you and Steve.

It was hard not to panic as you were being dragged further and further from the surface. The water of the lake filled your lungs, and you desperately swung your arms upward in an attempt to swim back up, but it was to no avail.

As fast as you were underwater though, before you could possibly drown, you were suddenly gasping loudly and being dragged across rough terrain. You were shouting, water spilling from you lips.

Just seconds after you were pulled through the gate, Steve was coming through it too. His eyes frantically looked around for you until he heard your shouts. He called out to you, already beginning to run as fast as he could toward you.

You called out to him too, "Steve! Help!"

Your hands desperately tried to grab anything that could anchor you, but everything easily slipped from your grasp. It was only when you hit something particularly large the thing let go of you, and the sudden force of the stop caused you to roll a couple of times before you were burrowed in a bunch of sticky vines.

Steve called out your name again as he was by your side. You were too winded to comprehend what exactly had just happened, your eyes blinking rapidly at Steve and your new surroundings.

You were breathing heavily, gazing up at him with wide eyes as his hands grasped shoulders and making you face him. His eyes flickered all over you, making sure you were okay while asking you if you were hurt.

"I-I don't know, what- wait- where are we?" You said between pants as Steve eyes fell back onto yours. You were moving to stand, and Steve helped you.

After catching your breath with Steve’s arm wrapped firmly around you, you finally had taken in your surroundings. It was Lover’s Lake, yes but not your Lover’s Lake, and there were the same dust-like particles floating all around you.

The terrain was covered with the vines, and the sky was permanently cloudy. What really had you staring in awe was the flashes of red in the distance that came with cracks of loud lightning and thunder.

“Steve…are we?”

You looked at him now, and he was staring at the sky too, “Uh yeah…yeah I’m pretty sure.”

You were in the Upside Down.

✧ ✧ ✧

Steve was mad at you, though you couldn't really understand why. Because after he killed that bat-like creature that once had you by the throat by slamming its body repeatedly on the ground, he wasn't mad then, at least at you.

But, now he was and you thought maybe it had something to do with your newly sprained ankle that you were struggling to walk on. You knew the thing that had dragged you all the way down here was to blame for that.

After being dragged into this god forsaken place, these bat creatures had surrounded attacked the both of you. You were so high on adrenaline that you hadn’t even realized you could barely even walk on your ankle until you were able to catch your breath under Skull Rock.

"You shouldn't have dived down here," Steve said with a shake of his head, "It should've been me putting myself in danger. Not you."

You were leaning against Steve, who insisted despite his own injuries that he'd be the one to help you walk on your faulty ankle.

You rolled your eyes, "Again, it doesn't matter! We're all down here now, trapped and with no way of defending ourselves yet. The only way it changes is you being the one dragged and us coming after you."

"You went before we even properly decided who's going to go, at least you wouldn't be hurt or almost strangled to death-"

You huffed and began to try and move away from him, "You know what, I think I'd rather walk by myself."

Steve scoffed at the idea of that, "I'd hand you to Robin before letting you do that."

For some reason, this made you finally snap.

"Steve, seriously, what the hell is your problem? Why do you always treat me like I'm a kid who’s less than capable of doing literally anything? You treat me worse than you treat Dustin, an actual kid," you claimed in an irritated tone.

Steve seemed taken back by your words, stopping the both of you from walking (you limping) any further.

"Woah hey, I don't treat you like a kid-"

"Yeah well it sure feels like it," you interrupted with a deep frown now, "I just don't get it, do you not trust me or something? Is it because I'm a girl? Because you don't treat Nancy like that, or Robin-"

"What? No! It's not because of that, also I thought I made it pretty clear that I do trust you!" Steve argued back to you. You laughed in his face.

"Pretty clear? We wouldn't be having this lovely conversation if it was 'pretty clear' like you claim," you mocked slightly, Steve frowned too then.

"Well...yeah, I thought it was pretty clear how much I trust you and how much I..." he suddenly paused in his sentence, before sucking in a breath and saying, "...care about you, enough to not want you throwing yourself into danger and getting hurt," he explained, you pressed her lips together as you stared at him, "Seriously, you do it all the time-"

"For the same reason you throw yourself into danger all the time!" You exclaimed, this time loud enough for the other three to hear your back and forth, "I care about you too, maybe more than you actually know, so do you think it doesn't...affect me when you throw yourself into these situations too?"

Your voice was shaking slightly as you recalled him getting into a fight with Hargrove when he tried to attack Lucas, or when he was tortured and drugged up by those Russian soldiers. And how, more recently, you had to listen to his shouts of pain of the bats biting and chewing on his sides, being reminded of how helpless you felt.

Steve paused then, and furrowed his eyebrows.

"It does?"

"Yes Steve, it does because you're my friend. In fact, it terrifies me, Steve, when you do that because I'm also absolutely in love with you," You rambled on, "But I still trust you, you know? I trust that you know what you're doing and you'll just be okay. And I really, really wish you'd do the same for me."

Any words Steve was going to say had been wiped from his mind as he took in what you had just said. It seemed that you hadn't even realized what you said as you stared up at him with your eyebrows taunt and eyes meeting his directly.

'I'm also absolutely in love with you'

Steve's breath hitched gently, wondering if he actually hadn't of heard that and he was delirious from the blood loss.

"Shit, seems like he doesn't have to look closer," Robin muttered to both Nancy and Eddie who watched with raised brows that you'd just admitted that out loud.

"Uh hey, I don't think we have time for this-" Nancy called over to you too but was promptly interrupted by the ground beginning to aggressively shake beneath all of you.

Deep rumbles echoed from all around you as the tremors caused you to fall forward onto Steve. He caught you, but ended up falling backwards and hitting the floor with a thud.

You landed right on top of him with a short yelp, hands clenching the denim jacket Eddie let Steve borrow and your face pressed into his bare chest.

Despite the circumstances, Steve couldn't let go of your confession that he was now sure he actually heard you loud and clear. You were in love with him? Did everyone see it but him? You just had always seem to be this untouchable girl to him, even before you became friends, like you were there but never within reach.

When the floor had finally stopped shaking, you looked up to look at him with wide eyes that probably realized you'd just confessed your secret love for him. You looked ashamed, embarrassed even, and he could tell you were already thinking about ways to change what you had just told him before.

Steve realized in this moment you were always within reach, but just like Robin had said...he wasn't looking at you and just assumed you weren't interested when you very much were.

He prided himself in being able to capture the signs someone is into him, even called himself a pro, but clearly that title is wrong if he couldn't even tell if the girl he was in love with as well for almost a year returned his feelings.

"Steve I didn't-"

"It scares me too for the same reason," he suddenly told you. It took you a moment to process what he was getting at, "For the exact same reason."

You tilted your head, about to ask him if he knew what he was saying, but it was cut short by his lips meeting yours. It was a short kiss, but one that took your breath away in the few seconds your lips were touching.

“Are these two serious?” Eddie asked out loud.

“Oh yeah they are. This is not the time!” Nancy called from her spot, but her words fell on deaf ears as you and Steve kissed. Robin scoffed out loud and began to make her way toward her friends who were (finally) in a lip lock.

“Hey! I’m happy for you two to realize you have soft and fuzzy feelings for each other! I really am! But does it have to be right now!?”

Neither of you listened as you kissed, too engrossed with each other and the fact that these feelings you’ve both had for a year were reciprocated. It didn’t matter, at the moment, that you were in the Upside Down and would always remember your first kiss being here of all places.

You kissed him harder, pushing down onto him the way you always dreamed of kissing him and he returned with the same energy.

The kiss was brought abruptly to an end though when someone was grabbing you and making you stand. You blinked a few times in your stupor and saw that it was Robin.

“Like I said, I’m happy for you, but we seriously have to keep moving,” she told you. You looked back at Steve who was being helped up by Eddie. His eyes found yours, and so did a winning smile on his lips.

You laughed softly, still in a bit of a shock of what had just happened. Your fingers went to your lips that still felt tingly from his lips that were on yours.

“I better not wake up in my bed and realize this was just a dream,” you suddenly said to Robin.

She wrapped an arm around you, determined to be the one to help you walk now and replied, “Nope. This is real, we’re trapped in another dimension, and you just kissed Steve Harrington.”

You leaned against Robin now, a laugh escaping your lips.

Meanwhile, Steve was standing on his own, and gently placed a hand over his lips like you had, still feeling like he could feel your lips there and tasting you.

Eddie had cleared his throat, "Now you're really an overprotective boyfriend."

Steve coughed into his hand now as if to hide the fact he was touching his own lips, and stood up more straight. His eyes had found yours again, catching the smile on your lips as Robin helped you turn around and he grinned to himself as well.

He couldn't wait to kiss you again, preferably in your own world and on one of your first dates.

#please enjoy this im shy about posting again for some reason #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington #reader insert #stranger things imagine #stranger things 4 #st 4 #st 4 spoilers #imagines #lys writes again

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indieyuugure · 2 months

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I don't know if this was explained before, so sorry in advance- but is there a reason Donnie is the only one who ends up sick from the chemical? Or is it more like he's the first?

I think I have in a post(I will later in the story too), but I’m to lazy to go dig for it so I’ll just post it again🤣

It’s actually related to his size.

While I was writing the story, I started wondering how much mutagen it actually takes to mutant someone. It at least seemed to me that you could actually come into contact with small amounts of the substance without too many problems.

Leo eats it and gets an upset stomach(I think it was probably watered down since Donnie did stuff to it, but it still had mutagenic properties), Donnie spills a tiny bit of his hand and gets a rash, so I wondered if perhaps you actually need a certain amount to mutate. I then wondered how wide that threshold was, and what would happen if you were extremely close, but not close enough. It seemed like the more you came into contact with, the more extreme the reactions, so there must be a point at which you begin mutating but perhaps not completely?

TMS utilizes that sort of idea for Donnie’s “sickness.” Essentially, because they were never intended to be injected with that mutagenic chemical, the dosage was completely off. I have a theory too that how much mutagen required to mutate an organism is also dependent on its mass (i.e. it takes more to mutate and elephant than a fly).

However there was enough overlap that Leo, Raph and Mikey’s body could safely mutate, Donnie, though, was a different story. Essentially, because he is bigger than his brothers, he has a larger mass and so while his brothers were okay, it wasn’t enough of the chemical to fully mutate him. So he is mostly mutated, but not completely, and his reacting to the foreign cells and killing itself.

Hopefully that made any sense, I thought WAY too long about this while writing the story 😂

Good question! :]

#tmnt #q&a #the mutation situation #lol #info dump

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dairy-farmer · 1 month

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I just had a thought! :3c Multiverse+A/B/O/ shenanigans! And it goes on longer then I expected it too!

Consider!

Tim. Clever, ruthless, barely holding in there. Standing in the ruins of what once was Gotham, air tank running, filters On. The air of planet earth has finally passed the point of no return. The last human hold outs have finally fallen.

He was hoping it wouldn't come to this.

The Great Pyrrhic Victory.

Batman's Doomsday Vault. Buried deep under the rumble of Wayne Manor. With every last Fuck You, Batman ever found. All the "taking you with me" plans, laid out side by side. And Tim?

He needs the one at the very back.

Because this... THING. Won't stop. Not ever. And the Multiverse can't afford that. So Tim fights forward. Runs out of weapons. Bashes in those last few skulls with and empty air tank. And then he digs.

And digs.

He runs out of air tanks, day seventeen. But the rubble filters the poisoned air enough. It has to be enough. Three hours later he hits Vault. Uses the last of his wrist computer's battery to power the entry pad and door. He's in. At least the air is clean here, for now.

And there? In the back? Sits the plain black lock-box.

A sci-fi looking hand grenade with extra bits. The bomb that can Destroy Everything. Not just the world. But the entire universe. Tim's whole reality and everyone in it. He would never consider it, if there was anyone left. Any way to fix this. But there's not.

It's just him, a monster, and the bomb that can end all of this.

He doesn't bother to say good bye. Why give that THING a chance to stop him? He pulls the pin.

And let's go.

Aaaaand it works EXACTLY as it's creator designed it too. VERY big boom. Everything dead. Etc etc. Reality? Hard Deleted. No take backs. But! Creator dude was a coward and a scoundrel. Like FUCK was HE going to stick around and Die with you PEASANTS. Absolutely the fuck not! He just hated you! To death!

HE was gonna hop to a DIFFERENT reality! One that probably had blackjack and hookers! Appreciated his GENIUS! Or at least that had been the plan... until Batman Super DUPER broke his bones for threatening all of reality. As one does.

It was in the file.

Page 17.

Tim only bothered to read to page 15. Because he was short on time and the world was dying. He didn't give a shit about the assholes life story. He probably should have. Because if he HAD? He would have realized he wasn't going to die today.

Instead he's in the Vault.

THE Vault.

The Super Dangerous Batman's Final Fuck You Vault of DANGEROUS EXPLODING DOOM Vault(tm). He's not doing so hot. What with the hiking for days without rest, poisoned air, no food or water, and expecting to die. He's standing in front of THE "destroys the universe" bomb. Blinking dumbly down at it.

These many factors are probably why he fails to dodge.

WHAM!

Getting full body takled by a well rested, highly trained, adrenaline filled Alpha? BIG Ouch. But at least Tim get medical aid and an IV of fluids! Followed by everyone's FAVORITE gameshow~ Paranoid Bat Duel Interrogations, Code Word Exchanges, and General Angry Wet Cat Posturing!

The fact that Tim does not EXSIST here? Doesn't help. But his wrist computer DOES. The OTHER problem? Is this Reality has secondary genders? What? I mean, he HAS heard of planets like that. But...

It apparently trips them out just as much, that he only has one. But apparently Uncle Clark has the same problem. So he's given fake Beta pheromones to where.

He's... surprised they just let him stay. To be honest. But apparently "pack is pack", and HIS family may be gone, but so long as THIS version is alive? He has a home with them. Tim doesn't cry. It's dust. Sweat got in his eyes.

But! This wouldn't be a smutty Ask Thought if it stayed so wholesome, would it?

Because Tim is awkward. Clearly trying his best. But unsure of... how to? Bond. He doesn't HAVE the enhanced sense of smell. The scent glands. The instincts. He loved his family, but they didn't DO touch nearly as often as A/B/O/ packs need for healthy bonds. So really, he comes off as skittish. Jumpy. Abused almost.

In need of attention.

Bruce casually rubbing his shoulder. Clasping the back of his neck. Sitting near him. Duck tucking Tim's arm in his, resting his head on Tim's shoulder theatrically so he can rub his scent on him subtly. Jason slinging arms around him and using him as a leaning post.

And Damian. A child who never knew him as any sort of Rival or threat to his position, who sees him NOW as a battered and abused member joining the pack. A hero in his own right, Tim is no threat to Damian's long held position as Robin. Damian is out here legit RESEARCHING how to rehabilitate abused Betas and Omegas, trying to apply a hybrid approach.

Treating him like an easily spooked cat.

Tim starters getting used to being touched. Cuddled even. Pulled into laps and flopped upon. Honestly, even kinda LIKES this whole nest idea. It's pretty comfy.

But then it goes to shit. In the way it always seems to. Tim has started helping out. Building a record of Red Robin's presence LONG before Tim Wayne appears. Planning outings for when he CAN go out together with the others. Comparing realities. But then? Ivy. And ugly fight.

Heat inducer, straight to the face.

He calls it in. Already used a near by hose to get it off him. But... but he feels sick. Like, lose meal you ate as a four year old sick. Nightwing gets to him. Jabs him with the counter agent. Helps him back to the cave.

But not before a dangerously high fever starts to kick in. Blurred vision. Sever nausea. He's not REMOTELY aroused, but he IS being affected. They scramble to figure out what's happening.

The inducer is poisoning him.

The counter agent is helping, so another, STRONGER dose is applied. But that's all the can do. And even that, is incredibly rough in his liver. And he's still nauseous, still has a fever.

His body just doesn't have the proteins to break down the chemical of the inducer. Bruce sends everyone back out on patrol. He scoops Tim up. He'll tuck him into bed so he can rest. There really is nothing they can do.

But that's not true and they all know it. It's that none of them are willing to SAY it. To name the truth. There very much IS a way to get Tim the proteins he needs to break down the drug poisoning him. And with how deeply nauseous he is, it wouldn't be orally.

But they choke on it.

Eyes lingering on their other-reality pack mate. Frustrated, they leave to go take there anger out on some goons. Bruce himself tries not to think about it, as he carries Tim upstairs. As every jostle and sway makes Tim desperately suck in air to keep from hurling. As sweat catches the light. Making the younger man look like he'd just run a marathon.

He rests Tim on his bed. He's refusing to think about. Helps Tim out of his clothes. Isn't thinking about it. Goes, comes back, with cool water and a wash cloth. Most CERTAINLY not thinking about it.

Tim his thrown an arm over his eyes. To block out the light. Is pulling in even, practices breathes. Utterly miserable. When... when he doesn't have to be. Bruce wets the wash cloth and wipes him down. It's basicly with holding treatment.

Bruce's eyes stray the the sheet, lightly draped over Tim's hips. Only thing that covering him, now. He is horrifyingly glad Tim is scent blind. Tears his eyes away. Tells Tim that... technically... there IS one way to get the proteins into his system. If he doesn't want to wait this out.

For a long, terrifying, moment there is dead silence.

Bruce has ruined everything.

Tim hates him.

He's going to run away and never speak to him aga-

Bruce is pulled from his brooding panic spiral, by Tim dryly pointing out, that in CASE Bruce us unaware? He's fucking huge. And Tim is nauseous as shit right now. He WILL blow chunks. Not exactly sexy. Perfect timing as always, Bruce. Somethings truely ARE universal.

Bruce snorts. But Tim has a good point. This is hardly the most romantic situation. As sensual as sandpaper to the face. He promises to make it up to Tim. Feels that distinctly Alpha thrill at the prospect of GETTING to take care of someone. Tuck them close and provide for them.

For now, he massages. Gently. Careful not to rock. Slides his hand down to gently rub. Twirl his finger around and tease Tim's little cocklette clit, when things are wet enough, drift lower to slid in. Start to gently stretch his hole.

He doesn't have to fit. Today. Just has to get deep enough that no seed will slip out. A though occurs to him. They have heat aids, don't they? He bought them for Dick and Jason. They probably don't USE the smaller ones anymore, since they've grown. But that doesn't mean Alfred would have thrown them out.

Bruce leans down. Presses a kiss to Tim chest. And tells him he'll be right back. He's gonna get something that'll help.

Heads for the Heat/Rutt nest.

And yep. Right there on the high shelf in the back. The smaller plugs and toys. Grab that and a bottle of artificial slick, he's good to go. Back in short order.

The slick makes his fingers slide in so EASILY. He pulls back, picks up his favorite rutt sleeve from where he stashed in the box. And imagines what it will feel like, working himself inside that tight, fluttering hole. Brings himself to the edge with brutal efficiency, but doesn't let himself fall over. Sleave off, crawl forward.

Gently pushing. Still too tight. Tim gasping and gripping his arms, legs spread beneath him. He wants so BADLY to rock forward. To fuck into him. But he won't. Not Today. Just the tip, pushed just deep enough to gush inside, as he cums. He shudders, milking his cock into that body. Then grabs the cute little blue plug that'll keep it all inside him.

Rock it in.

It's impossible NOT to cuddle Tim after that. To wrap him in his scent and body. Instincts and hormones demand it.

His son's are of course FURIOUS. Mostly that he enticed Tim with out discussing it with them or with them there. His youngest, also being an Alpha, tries to stab him at breakfast. It's to be expected. The important thing is Tim feels better.

Tim is ALSO immediately hunted down by Damian, when maiming his father for sexing up Delicate Timothy failed. Scoundrel! Cad! Damian bets he wasn't even gentle and attentive! Barbarian! How could he!

So obviously, it's up to the ONLY Alpha in this household with ANY decency! To fix this! Which is how Tim starts the first day of MANY exciting days to come, by waking up to Damian eating him out like it's his mission in life. Fingers on a mission to find his g-spot or die trying. One overwhelming, if confused, and still waking up orgasm later?

Damian is tucking a pillow under his hips. Adjusting his grip. And..? Oh! Oh, big is genetic! Very full! And he hasn't even hit his final growth spurt yet. Holy shit. Then Damian pulls his hips back and snaps forward, and Tim's not thinking much of anything. Mostly just incoherent babbling and scrambling at the sheets.

Getting That Spot HAMMERED.

Shuddering apart.

Feeling something... different. Pressure. Stretch. Popping in and out, until it CANT and its just dragging the grind, just inside him. Damian shuddering, snapping his hips forward like he wants to FORCE it deep. Like a FIST inside him. Spraying his guts. Full! Oh god, full! It's grinding against everything that feels good. Amazing and like he's gonna die. Tim can SEE the little bulge of seed, from how full he's gotten.

He gets to learn EXACTLY how long it takes for a knot to go down.

"They" get caught Dick. Who hums and offers Tim advice. It CAN be a lot, can't it? Dick meanders over. Eyes trailing over Tim's straining and sweat soaked body. Where Damian is buried deep and knotted inside him. And leans down.

You know what always helps DICK when a knot is too much?

Tim knows that look in Dicks eyes. He does not trust that look. Tim doesn't want to know, Dick.

Too bad~☆! Says Robin number one, grining like a shark.

What helps HIM, is more orgasms, He informs, as his clever hand makes contact with Tim's clit. Tim jerks but can't escape. Pinching, twisting, tugging. Rubbing. Tim whines and jerks, coming apart while Dick watchs. Waits his turn.

It's a long morning.

Luckily, Omegas can't Knot. Unfortunately, that does NOTHING to stop them from bending you in half and railing you through the mattress. Pulling you up into their lap then up and down their cock like a sleeve. Kissing the air out of your lungs as they pin you to a wall, so they can get better leverage, fucking deep and hard like they want to permanently rearrange your insides.

Sometimes Omegas are ALSO Superhero acrobats.

Tim hides out in Jason's room, after he escapes Horny Devil and his beloved gremlin. Gets a shower. A nap. It's a mistaaaaake. Or not? Jason, at least, props him up in a comfy position before sliding home. Apparently stretched him A LOT while he slept, because frankly, the fullness feel nice instead of bloated.

He could almost go back to sleep.

Gentle rocking. Sweet praise being rumbled in his ear. Warm pressure covering him like a weighted blanket. The slow, building, hum of pleasure. 'S nice. Jason even arranged the pillows so Tim could slump face down and still breath just fine!

........you know what? He NEVER gets to sleep this easy. Go for it. This is nice. Unlike SOME people, at least Jason is being thoughtful. Have fun.

And Jason does have fun. Tim drifts in and out of a light snooze. Getting some sleep, getting some orgasms. Waking up to an absolutely GUSHING hole stuffed with cum. An exhausted Jason cuddled up next to him. The sheets may be beyond saving.

He has to shower, again.

Sticks to the walls. Hugs corners. As he keeps an eye out for Fuckwing the cuddler. Tim is HUNGRY damn it! He missed both breakfast AND lunch thanks to him! He eats quickly. Does not notice Alfred's exasperated look. The Beta can smell everything, after all.

And since HIS room is compromised. Tim, having learned nothing, decided to hide in Bruce's room. The perfect place to nap!

Which is obviously exactly where Bruce finds him. Smelling like bratty, young adult drama and jealousy, exhausted on his bed. Poor Tim. His kids fighting over Tim Time should NOT be taken out of Tim. They'll learn THAT the hard way, when he inevitably avoids them to rest.

Bruce, luckily, already learned all this in his playboy phase.

Want a massage? Some juice? Cuddles? I'm VERY non-threatening. Here if you ever feel horny. Let's get you all nested up, hmm?

And Tim's not even an Omega. He's not an ANYTHING. But damn if that's not effective. Bruce paying attention to him. Talking in that low, soothing rumble. Touching all soft and gentle. Not pushing or demand, just warm and smelling so GOOD and just.....

He's squirming out of his clothes and dragging Bruce down on top of him. Feeling incredibly decadent and kinda bratty. Pay attention to him. Fill him up and make him feel good. He's pouting and demanding and feeling clingy. And wonder of wonders?

Bruce doesn't scold him or scowl. But grins so indulgently, hums and hushs. Yes, yes. Of course. His little pillow princess, gonna get so full and knotted.

And Bruce is huge. But Jason stretched him so, SO much. So Bruce can rock into him now. Punch the air out of him, little by little, as he gets filled up. Whine and pant as his clit his teased. As Bruce fills him even when it feels like there should be no room left. Until he bottoms out. Grinds with little rocks of his hips.

Slides back and seems to take Tim's insides with him. Slowly. The more. In and out. Held still. Praised as his insides stretch out. As it starts to feel overwhelming good instead of just overwhelming. Faster. Harder. Whimpering and drooling as everything is pummeled by the snap of those hips. Fucked.

He's not even knotting him yet.

Bruce making him orgasm first. Almost dragging it out of him. So his body will relax enough to TAKE it. Then the pressure. The short, brutal little rutts against Tim's best spots. Made all the more sensitive having just orgasmed. Each one making Tim jolt and squeeze, milking that quickly expanding pressure. Having it GRIND, almost cruely, against where it feels best.

Unable to move, barely able to BREATHE, as he finally locks and begins to gush. Pumping deep. Filling and filling. Hot hands, rubbing to ease the strain. Or maybe just in fascination. He's been with Beta's but never someone who body straight out WASN'T designed for this sort of thing. Not poorly designed for. NOT designed for.

Tim looks almost pregnant. Not heavily. Just that tiny swell. But it's enough to wonder. Are they even compatible? He finds himself hoping the might be. Let's his hand drift down as he leans forward to press kisses to Tim's face. Works him up to another orgasm. See? Being knotted is nice. Feels good.

It's a bit awkward due to the angle, thanks to his own poor planning, but he is able to cuddle close to Tim. Who is finally getting used to it. Is nested in pillows, covered by Bruce, and filled to the brim. High as a kite on hormones thanks to the near but not quiet pain and repeated orgasms. There'll be no Red Robin on patrol tonight.

Tim of course, can barely walk the next day.

Which means he can not escape his brother's. Who love him VERY much and have multi-step plans to becoming THE favorite. Tim may soon become the stabby one, if they don't let him rest. Alfred is the favorite. He has food and doesn't keep Tim from his work.

(That's a lie. He loves all of them. But his fuck bruises have fuck bruises, so currently they're all BASTARDS. Dead to him! Hisssss!)

-🐼🐼🐼

!!! the angst of tim losing his universe but then ultimatly sent to another, an a/b/o one where he's the object of their desire but he can't fully handle it because his biology just isn't fully compatilble but that doesn't stop them from trying!!!

#answered asks #asks #anonymous

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marzipanandminutiae · 14 days

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i just reblogged that post about saying nice things abt prev but i wanna send an ask too, so: thank you for being one of the only people to be correct about the winchester mystery house and sarah herself!! so many people spread the stories of her being weird/crazy/whatever when she was just. a woman who suffered some tragedies and liked architecture.

i went on a tour of graceland recently and was intrigued by how they barely talked about elvis as a person, whereas winchester tours are basically a trap where you think you're getting to explore a weird fucked up house but actually you're going to hear about how wonderful sarah winchester was for an hour and if you say anything mean about her design skills one of the tour guides will push you out the door to nowhere.

i go through your winchester tag sometimes when i'm nostalgic and missing the house (i got laid off during quarantine) and it's just nice to see that even people who didn't devote years of their lives to the house can genuinely understand and appreciate it.

I'm so glad it's gotten better! Someone once anonymously told me the guides had to sign a contract saying they would only stick to the story made up by that ridiculous carnie family that bought her house in the 1920s, and even though it was an anon and therefore unverifiable...I believe it, sadly. For Profits often are more about...well, profit. As opposed to history. But it's good to know the guides care about getting the truth out there.

In Sarah Winchester I see a woman whose character assassination for being different(tm) has carried on after death. It's not that she was perfect- far be it from me to lay perfection at the feet of a white 19th-century gun fortune heiress -but she seems like a genuinely caring person in many ways, about her workers and her community. She was an unattached woman of means with an unconventional hobby (architecture), though, and that seems to have made wagging tongues nervous. During her lifetime that meant claiming she thought she'd live forever if construction never ceased (it did, several times), and after- well. The tale of the mad widow fleeing from invisible ghosts has come to prevail.

It feels unfair to me that she should forever be remembered by what her detractors said about her, instead of her own triumphs and setbacks, merits and flaws. And that her beautiful house, where she poured so much love and attention, should be so misrepresented. I'm glad people are trying to fix the narrative.

#sarah winchester #ask #winchester mystery house #lakesandquarries #spoiler alert for those who didn't know: she was NOT trying to hide from ghosts of Winchester rifle victims #she was just passionate about architecture and had the money to make that her Hobby #it's widely believed among historians that the 'doors and stairs to nowhere' are remnants of house sections destroyed in the #1906 earthquake and never rebuilt #the 'seance room' I've been told is just an attic storage room converted after her death- she would have held seances in the parlor #with tea to follow #like a normal Victorian

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stormsthatrage · 10 months

Text

Have an angsty KHR AU (Playing fast and loose with flame lore and characterization. Also, I haven't figured out what the 10th Gen Guardians are doing during all this, but whatever it is, it involves So Many miscommunications.)

The AU:

Tsuna doesn't want to be a mafia boss. He hates the violence, he hates the danger, he hates knowing that if he messes up, it can get people killed.

But no one really listens to him. Not even Reborn, who just sees Tsuna's whole "I don't want to be a mafia boss" thing as a sort of juvenile rebellion phase.

(But it's not. Every time one of Tsuna's people comes home hurt, every time Tsuna has to inflict harm on the battlefield, every time Tsuna is exposed to the casual cruelty of the underworld, it damages something inside of him. It scars his soul. He hates it. He does not want to be a mafia boss.)

And then Timoteo's health declines. (These next two paragraphs were heavily inspired by Break These Chains on Me by Luki on AO3.) Tsuna, knowing his time is running out and absolutely desperate, tries to make plans to get tf out. Maybe he signs up for civilian university. Maybe he makes plans to travel. Maybe he tries to create a fake identity to just run. And Tsuna, who has learned to rely on and trust Reborn -- after everything, how could he not -- confides in him about these plans.

And Reborn -- who has never really understood why Tsuna hates the mafia -- thinks this is one last (highly irritating) attempt at a teenage rebellion. It's not entirely unexpected, what with the weight of being Don Vongola looming over Tsuna's shoulders. And so, in a true Disappointed Reborn fashion, he responds with a harsh but effective lesson. He plays along with Tsuna's escape plans for a bit, and then. And then. It's the day Tsuna plans to vanish, and Reborn sits Tsuna down at the table, with Xanxus and Timoteo, and tells Tsuna if he doesn't fall in line Bad Things are gonna happen to his people.

(Reborn does not intend this to be an actual threat. It's supposed to be a slap on the wrist. A sort of, "Yeah, you're a teenager, but you need to start conducting yourself more seriously, knock it off before I actually get mad." Sure, Vongola is threatening to kidnap Tsuna's mom, but the kidnappers are just going to take her out for tea and cake and a spa night, and when Tsuna shows up to rescue her she'll be fine. The real punishment will be the physical path to go get her -- Reborn has an Embarrassing Obstacle Course TM planned.

And so on, for all of Tsuna's precious ones.

Reborn does not consider that Tsuna might actually believe the severity of the threats. After all they've been through, after all they've done for each other, Reborn knows Tsuna would never believe that Reborn could actually hurt Tsuna's people.)

But Tsuna. Well, Tsuna's on a different page. This life is killing him, slowly, and when Reborn tells him that he never intended to help Tsuna escape, it hits Tsuna like a full-on betrayal. And while mere minutes before, Tsuna knew that Reborn would never even dream of harming Tsuna's people, Tsuna no longer can trust this. Tsuna fully and absolutely believes that Reborn's threats are real, and that there will be permanent consequences if he doesn't comply.

It gets worse.

Tsuna thought Reborn actually cared about him. Reborn had, slowly but inevitably, become something like a father to Tsuna. But in that moment, Tsuna realizes that he actually was just a job all along.

And Xanxus. Tsuna also thought Xanxus cared about him. He thought they had come to an understanding. He thought they were starting to become brothers, of a sort -- bonded by battle and trauma and shared responsibilities, by nights complaining to each other over dinner or over the phone. And as Tsuna sits across from them, hearing his people threatened and knowing he is, in fact, going to be forced to Italy, he comes to believe that none of that new brotherhood was real.

And Tsuna realizes he has no choice. He never had a choice. He will end up in Italy, as Don Vongola, no matter how much it is going to kill him inside.

And worse: the people he has come to love clearly do not love him back. If they did, they would not be doing this to him. And sitting at that kitchen table, seeing the disappointment in Reborn and Xanxus' eyes, he knows that he is never going to be enough.

But he knows, he knows, that he isn't going to survive Italy without having them in his life supporting him. Because even if they don't love him, he does, truly, love them.

And he comes to the conclusion that if he remains as he is -- weak, useless Tsuna -- not only will he inevitably lose them, but he just flat out won't survive the life stretching out (long, so long, and so so desolate) before him.

So he uses his flames.

He images the mafia boss that they want him to be (as he perceives it). He thinks about all the characteristics they must want him to have, all the things they expect him to want, and he conjures an image of this better Tsuna in his mind. And then he harmonizes with it, becomes one with this false image of himself.

But it doesn't work, not all the way. There are still bits of him, the original, weak, disappointing Tsuna left. He can feel it, in the dread at the thought of the life before him. In the shocked-hurt he feels at this betrayal. In the agony of knowing that they don't care about him, they never cared about him, they only care about his title.

So he puts those bits of himself in ice.

And suddenly, the years ahead don't seem so bad. Suddenly, the betrayal seems reasonable -- after all, wasn't he acting so silly, so juvenile, trying to escape like that. Suddenly, it doesn't matter that they don't love him back -- of course they don't, why would they love him? -- all that matters is he loves them. As long as he keeps himself in check, and matches their expectations, nothing is wrong.

Tsuna looks at them, sitting across the table, and complies with their demands.

Reborn does, for a moment, think that it happens a bit too easily. There's none of the usual screeching, no dragging of the heels, no protests. Right then, Reborn fully expects it to boil over at some point in the future. (He thinks, maybe, that Tsuna is playing along now, but will have a teenagery-protest again as it gets closer to the time they leave for Italy.)

(It never happens.)

Reborn thinks, merely, that Tsuna has put on the mantle of maturity. It's a little ahead of schedule of what he was expecting, but then again, Tsuna has always exceeded expectations.

Time passes. Timoteo's health declines. He dies. Tsuna goes to Italy, and becomes a mafia boss.

(It's a golden age. Tsuna is just as compassionate and selfless and determined as Reborn always knew he would be. There is a peace, unlike anything the underworld has ever seen, because of his rule.

This peace is a result of the core of Tsuna peeking out. It always would have happened.)

It's five years into Tsuna's reign before people begin to realize that something is really, really wrong with Tsuna.

They do figure it out, eventually. And when they do, when they realize what happened and what caused it, it breaks them, just as much as they broke Tsuna all those years ago.

#khr #au #khr au #angst #flame lore #sawada tsunayoshi #khr reborn #dear god this was supposed to be short plot bunny why are there so many wordsssssssssssss #long post #katekyou hitman reborn

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444rockstargf · 8 months

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if ur requests r still open and u rnt overwhelmed AND if youre okay with what im abt to request...

heres a thought. euronymous and like opposite style innocent reader (mb i love dark guys and innocent bimbo-y girlfriends)

so theyve had sex before obvi. and typically she just lays there and is disinterested because frankly.... he has a little fear of breaking her and shes like "this isnt enough for me :((" so one day she just looks up at euro like "smack me." and it shocks him ! and when he does it opens a door for both of them. they like impact play 🤷‍♀️ and sprinkle a little bit of euro breeding kink but not rly breeding just more like "im cumming in u coz ur mine and i want everyone to know it when your bellys full and round" not rly like "i want u to have my babies" coz i think he wouldnt like babies.

mb that was a bit tm ranting woopsies

i love opposites attract type of stuff, im obsessed!!

"he dyes his hair black, i dye mine platinum blonde" | euronymous

me & my boyfriend. - lana del rey

p.s. this story has nothing to do with oystein aarseth. this is rory's portrayal of the character.

bimbo!female!reader x euronymous

contents: spanking, p in v, unprotected sex, creampie

you two were as different as could be. you were like day and night. he went around trying to instill fear into the souls of all who made the mistake of looking in his direction. and you always looked like a child's doll, the way you were always dolled up making you extremely pleasing to the eye.

you never showed any interest in the dark and evil stuff that euronymous invested all his time into. you revolved your life around looking good and geting everything you wanted, giving the impression that you were soft and fragile.

that's why euronymous always tried to be as gentle with you as possible when it came to sex. he would go painfully slowly, always asking if he should stop. you had always appreciated him being so kind to you, but you couldnt help but yearn for something more than all that.

so the night you asked him to completely have his way with you, he was completely taken by surprised. "a-are you sure? i wouldnt wanna hurt you or anything, y'know." you continued to insist, but he kept on resisting. this went on for a while before you snapped and decided to take matters into your own hands.

without any further communication, you took off your miniskirt and tight shirt, throwing them to the side. you sat on the bed, only in your hot pink thong and matching bra. he attempted to speak, but his words got caught in his throat as his eyes wandered down your beautiful body. no matter how many times he saw you like this, his reaction would never change.

you turned around and stuck your head into a pillow, putting your ass in the air. "spank me." your voice was slightly muffled, but he heard you loud and clear. he hesitated, but seeing that you were actually serious made him want it almost as badly as you did.

you got behind you, his hands on your hips, gently rubbing your soft skin before he raised his hand and laid the first slap. you winced in pain, but you kept yourself together. you heard euronymous chuckle, and you knew that it was about to get a lot worse. finally, your fantasies were being fulfilled.

he lands another hard slap on your ass, this on stinging even more, making you whimper enough for him to hear. it sounded like music to his ears. he continued to spank you, each slap getting more and more painful. you could tell that he was enjoying this. this was something that he'd been dreaming of for a long time.

your hips got a little sore from keeping them up for so long, so you lowered them a little. euronymous started to unbuckle his belt, throwing it to the side. he slapped your ass once more. "ass up, whore." he said, his voice lower than usual.

you whined as you stuck your hips back into the air. euronymous undid his pants and pulled out his already hard cock out. he ripped your thong off of you, your little pussy aching to be fucked. he smiled at the sight, thinking of all the things that he was going to do to you.

he rubbed your slit gently with his thumb before stuffing you with his cock. you let out a loud, slutty moan. euronymous had never heard anything like it before considering how gentle he always was with you.

he wasted no time quickly thrusting into you, his hips coming into contact with yours making a loud slapping sound each time. you started falling apart instantly. you had never felt this way before. he was being so rough and wreckless with you, but you loved it.

your moans got louder and louder, along with the sounds of euronymous slapping your ass. he fucked you at an inhumanly fast pace, finally letting out all these years of sexual tension. he had always fantasized about being able to destroy your insides and make you go completely dumb on his cock.

he kept a firm grip on your hips as he pounded into your sore little pussy, whispering things that couldnt be heard underneath the sound of your moans and whimpers. you felt you pussy tightening around his cock, signalling your orgasm coming.

his groans became more audible as he felt you getting tigther around him. he wanted to make you cum harder than you ever have before. he reached a hand forward and started rubbing fast circles on your throbbing clit, sending you over the edge.

your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you came all over his cock, which was still pounding into you at lightning speed. you felt your vision going blurry as he started to overstimulate you. you sobbed as you started cumming even harder, making his cock throb inside of you.

he started speaking to you in between strained groans. "a-ah... gonna fuck my cum into you... gonna fill you up real good..." you felt your body completely surrendering to him as you felt a second orgasm about to him.

with the feeling of your pussy squeezing him, he started releasing his hot cum into you, making you feel so warm and full. his nails dug into your skin as he reached hit orgasm, throwing his head back as he continued to fuck you. he kept going until you were leaking his and your cum.

he finally pulled out of your sore little cunt, flipping you over so he could see you. your mascara was completely ruined, your lipgloss was smudged, and your cheeks were flushed, making you look like a total mess.

euronymous grinned before giving you a kiss on the forehead. "such a pretty girl... i think i like your makeup better this way." you rolled your eyes. euronymous spread you legs and sat himself right infront of your pussy.

he used his fingers to spread your lips so he could watch all the cum drip out of you. needless to say, sex got a lot more entertaining from then on.

author's note: so sorry this took a while to come out, i can procrastinate for the olympic i swear. im working on another request rn dont worry yall :))

#rory culkin #rory culkin smut #euronymous #lords of chaos #lana del rey #444rockstargf

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lesbianjobutupaki · 3 months

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Art practice by trying some other artist's styles that I'm a huge fan of!

From Top Left to Bottom Right:

@ghostishere0 - the original reason I started this doodle, as I wanted to draw a "shepherd lovers squad" and their OC (who I don't know the name of F) was the perfect fit for it.

@luminesparkz - the best interpretation of Pom pikmin. If I were Mr. Nitendo, I would make them the official comic creator along with the manga comics.

@marblyso - If I was a little more unhinged and made a shrine to Erma Shepherd, it would be mostly marblyso's art of her, it's my absolute favorite Erma depiction <3

@rexscanonwife - another OC that I don't know the name of, but she makes such a cute pair with Shepherd and has such cute art that why not, let Shepherd have multiple canon wives at this point.

@citruscrisp - I think this is secretly Alph in an alternate universe where he makes comics about himself, because citrus has Alph's character SPOT ON, and also loves to put that boy in a situation (which I am happy for, I enjoy seeing that boy in a situation)

@daisythecomic - oooaaaaaaaaaa they look like little mice people they look so soft and sweet I love them so muuuuuuuuuccchhhhhhhhh

@louie-posting - I can't not include actual Louie Pikmin on this list.

@kiwilittle - the soft, the sweet, the one who makes the best family style art, really making me wish I was an inch tall so I could go to holidays with the olimar family, also their wife design is so cute that if Olimar didn't already get it I would shoot my shot for her m a a m

@pikbugz - really nails the soft aesthetic that makes pikmin such a calming series, and their coloring style is so soft and good that it gives me the ratatouille nostalgia flashback moment.

@splitster - more than just the wraith au guy, they are the one who makes incredible and funny comics; I've seen so many fics with the rescue corps where I can pick up that yes, this trait came from a splitster comic, and that's a GOOD thing. Made me actually LIKE Dingo, the nerve.

@diesaur - I can't do diesaur's incredible, unique art justice, they are amazing at using geometrics and have the best charlie (his little teefs...)

@solluxander - Cars, one of my favorite pikmin Ocs I've ever seen! Collin deserves a slightly unhinged sentient fluffball boyfriend, and I always love seeing the new ways Cars will interact with him.

@sillypikmin - all hail the best pikposter, who I'm still convinced is an actual leafling living on actual pnf-404, literally every time I have a bad day I look at drawings of Moss and feel better.

@eggpathy - thank goodness they came back to give us old man yaoi. I keep their drawing of olimar kissing the pikmin good night on my phone and look at it before I go to sleep and so far I have yet to have a single nightmare.

@the-knife-consumer - the only person I trust with Louittany, toxic yuri my beloved, I just adore their beasty brittany design so so much, I wish I could have a small brittany to live in my house...

anyway they have the best headcanons for our beloved blorbo hamster people

@natibranch - there's a voice line of Louie going "wa-ha!" in this really cute sing-song voice and every time I see any art by natibranch I hear that sound in my head as a little burst of serotonin, they just nail that exact feeling so so well.

@pikked-min - Another of my favorite Pikmin OCs, Yuva! A really interesting and unique character concept with a lot of thought put into the worldbuilding, followed by a strong unusual personality that had me looking at the pikmin world through a new perspective entirely. Please, someone, give them some sunglasses. Read the fic it's so good

@ssserf - artistic and deep while still somehow looking like official nintendo tm art, genuinely the best at the pikmin proportions, how could I resist trying my hand at the classic amazing beautiful Brittany Fruit Sweater moment, literally SO iconic

@kashi-pon - while I was working on the part of this that was just kashi's various highlife dresses there was a part of me that wanted to dedicate the rest of the space to paying homage to the joke comic of Louie lifting his skirt to show Olimar that he's wearing shorts, except this dress....well......

@diamondwerewolf - the reason we got louie in a little bunny outfit anyway, and thus why we got kashi's dress version. you single-handedly turned Louie into a tumblr sexyman, how could you

#pikmin #pikmin art #pikmin artists #pikmin 2 #pikmin 4 #pikmin 3 #my art

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stirringwinds · 3 months

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sorry if it's a dumb question but i've wondered about the nations' skills or what suits their personalities, and who do u think would win in a swordfight between yao and kiku? japan does have such a kenjutsu culture but what about china, since china has a very old history too?

i have thought about this before, actually 🤔 when thinking about pre-modern sino-japanese power dynamics between yao and kiku. personally, i say it actually depends on which point in history. this is my headcanon:

before the kamakura period/shogunate (which overlaps with the sengoku/feudal era of japan) tbh I'd say yao wins. one reason is well, the symbolic power balance between china and japan. the first time china and japan properly met face-to-face in conflict was in the 7th century CE, during the baekje-tang war at the battle of baekgang in korea. long story short: it was a power struggle between korean kingdoms, and the korean kingdom of baekje (yong-soo's brother) was allied to japan, so japan came to help them. their enemy was the other korean kingdom of silla (aka: yong-soo long before he becomes south korea), who...was allied to china. despite being outnumbered 3 to 1, china pretty much crushed japan in that battle. then, kiku is very much an inexperienced upstart challenging the regional hegemon who has far far more notches on his sword. getting wrecked like that by yao is imo, quite a formative experience for kiku (to put it mildly).

but as the centuries go by, yeah no, kiku is the swordsman alright. because of samurai culture, and its elevation to power during the muromachi and edo period. further, there's of course the imjin war, where the samurai lord toyotomi hideyoshi invaded korea with the goal of overthrowing ming china too. even during the successive edo period/tokugawa shogunate, where japan was unified, far more peaceful under isolationism and many samurai became more like bureaucrats, i think kiku continued practising kenjutsu or at least in the form of kendo—swordsmanship and his swords became very much an extension of his personality and identity by then, as well as a way he'd blow off steam even during peacetime. his katana and wakizashi would always be properly maintained and you'd see him carefully oiling it with the mix of mineral and clove oil to prevent rusting, even during the most chill years of edo japan. they'd be nicely displayed like this somewhere in his quarters.

this is compared to how, for all that pre-modern china was an empire and all empires need military violence to expand themselves, warriors as a class in chinese culture never quite ascended to the same type of political prestige as the samurai. it was a very different cultural/political context. it's like, you can't underestimate yao still, as an experienced old empire (tm), but by the 1400s/ming dynasty, i think he might've shifted more to being that kind of general presiding over maps in his military tent, and directing strategy, compared to the younger warlord he was in his earlier years, who was down in the dirt all the time fighting in every single skirmish. so, while yao can and will get his hands dirty if need be with a blade, i think kiku edges him out by then in sheer focus, skill and devotion re: kenjutsu becoming a pretty core aspect of his personality/experiences. to me, it’s also an “old and experienced soldier surpassed by his younger, hungry protégé” dynamic too.

#hetalia #hws japan #hws china #hws south korea #hetalia headcanons

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wynought · 5 months

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The Horror in Burrow's End

I have been having Thoughts (TM) about the horror aspect of Burrow's End for a while now, and I think I can put at least some of those Thoughts (TM) into words now. Spoilers for Burrow's End (up to, and including episode 8) and Neverafter below.

Many people have pointed out that Burrow's End has been more horrifying (or at least felt more horrifying) than Neverafter, Dimension 20's proclaimed Horror Season. There has been a lot of terrifying body horror and gruesome gore, and with the latest episode (episode 8, as of writing this) we've also seemingly risen to another level with the absolutely stunning Wenabocker tapes (kudos again to Carlos Luna, the acting and sound design were legitimately masterful).

But we've also had that with Neverafter; the opening scene with Rosamund waking up is a perfect example of body horror, the Stepmother is an advanced lesson in eldritch horror, there are powerful and unknowable antagonists all throughout the Neverafter. So why is it that so many (if not all of us) feel that Burrow's End is so much scarier than Neverafter? I think there's a multitude of factors at play here.

Of course, we have the difference in the cast - the Intrepid Heroes are a well-oiled machine of tight comedy at this point, they know each other, their strengths, their comedic timing, they know what they can get away with in terms of shenanigans. The Stupendous Stoats are all incredible performers and have obviously worked together before in various constellations. However, they don't have an Established Dynamic in the way the Intrepid Heroes do. It is also the first time that Aabria is DMing a full-on D&D game in the dome, with battlesets and minis, and everything that entails, and she has said herself that she usually does theatre of the mind - there's a good possibility she wasn't even aware herself, how exactly this would influence her own style and the atmosphere she would create. All of this contributes to a vastly different feel of Burrow's End compared to Neverafter.

Additionally, both players and their characters in Neverafter were genre savvy, as was the audience. Neverafter was marketed as a horror season. We knew the tone going in, the Intrepid Heroes knew it going in, their characters were conceived as being horror versions of commonly known fairy tale characters. The marketing for Burrow's End was different; sure, we all immediately made the connection to Watership Down and The Secret of NIMH, and those aren't exactly known for their easy and happy themes, but I don't think any of us from the audience, or even the players were expecting the bear. This also ties into the player characters themselves. The Intrepid Heroes' characters didn't know each other beforehand; they grow together and they have/develop familial vibes, but they aren't family with all the added baggage that entails. Rosamund and Gerard may be cousins, but they're 100 years apart in age and have never met before. Pib and Pinocchio are successfully running scams together and do care for each other, but they don't quite have that long-time sibling dynamic. Mother Goose and Ylfa are arguably the closest to each other before the events of Neverafter, with Goose taking on a parental role, but they are stuck in their own recent traumas and seem to have gravitated towards each other more out of the need to fill the respective holes in their lives than out of a genuine, pre-established bond. Destiny's Children do grow and go on to become important people in each others' lives, but there's a difference between bonds forged by danger and choice, and bonds forced by necessity. The Stupendous Stoats were conceived as a family. Viola is Ava's daughter, and also Tula's sister, and also Thorn's wife, and also the kids' aunt, and also the co-leader of a cult. She has so many roles to fulfill already that 'horror protagonist' isn't even on anybody's list, least of all her own - and that goes for all the player characters. Their established dynamics mean that, for a bit, they don't, no they can't even realise what kind of story they are in. Thorn is living in a story where he is the tragic hero destined to save his people, Tula lives in a story about grief and loss and acceptance, Viola lives in a story of political intrigue, the kids live in a YA adventure novel a la Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Ava lives in Encanto (but don't tell her, she'd hate that). Then they encounter the bear and there's a slight record scratch, but, after having dealt with that mess, they go right back to their established roles. They react to the horror in a very, for lack of a better word, human way, they treat it as incidental to the reality they live in. They feel like a real family, slowly finding out just how scary their world truly is. The horror's impact on their lives is very different from the way Neverafter impacted the protagonists. We get to see the stoats' realisation that they're horror protagonists, but Destiny's Children had already gotten that message by the time they come together.

Another huge factor is the season length. Neverafter ran for 20 episodes, while Burrow's End is half as long. A lot of horror hinges on the audience and the protagonists being unaware of how exactly the antagonist/monster/spooky thing works. The audience usually knows on some level that there have to be some rules the horror has to abide by, the protagonists may or may not; but especially in something like an actual play TTRPG show there have to be some rules because this is a game, after all, and it would be incredibly unfun for the players, the DM, and the audience to have a fully unsolvable mystery. The problem with this is that the actual terror goes away once the rules are solved - sure, you can still do gore and disturbing stuff, and you can scare the protagonists, but your audience will expect an action-based story now, instead of a reaction-based story (e.g. the protagonist figures out that a silver bullet can hurt the werewolf, so now the audience expects them to stop running and make/find silver bullets in order to protect themselves, and either succeed in killing the monster or die trying). The longer your story is, the harder it is to keep up this level of suspense. You will either start to tread ground and the story will begin to feel stale, or you will reveal too much too early and lose that sweet sweet terror of the unknown. I think Neverafter was too long for an effective horror season; I don't think it is bad how many episodes we got, I enjoyed every single one of them. But I do believe that much of the horror aspect was lost around the halfway point - one of the worst things to happen to a D&D party, the TPK, happened in episode 2 and was "solved" (in the sense I talked about above) in episode 3. The Lines Between and the Authors were introduced in episode 8. The world's rules were established by then, and the Intrepid Heroes could start acting on them. Of course, there were still scary elements (the fact that Death itself had been imprisoned and was being tortured, the undead Dwarven army, Rapunzel's trickery and unsettling personality, etc. etc.), but to me this felt more like a very dark fantasy story, instead of a tale of horror. Burrow's End is so much shorter than Neverafter, and I think this works to its advantage as a horror story. The protagonist stoats' limited perspective on what is going on in the Blue Forest, in Last Bast, with the Blue in general, their general lack of knowledge on all things human make for so many different vectors of horror, and the abundance of mysteries means that even after 8 episodes there are still aspects of the world we are unaware of.

This neatly brings me to my last point: There is a unique dynamic at play in Burrow's End that contributes a lot to the uncanniness of the story. Namely, that the protagonists are stoats with no/minimal knowledge of humanity, while the players and the audience know so much more than the protagonists. TTRPGs oftentimes make it hard not to metagame, not to let your prior knowledge influence your character's decisions, and Burrow's End takes this to an extreme level. There is a difference between the "my husband was killed by the thunder on a cloudless day" kind of horror, and the "this stoat was shot by a gun, but his body wasn't collected immediately, meaning that probably wasn't a hunter, so why are people shooting stoats?" kind of horror; a difference between "humans are faceless monsters with hairless, yellow, smooth skin" kind of horror, and the "that's a person in a hazmat suit, why are they wearing hazmat suits?" kind of horror. The beauty of this is that we as the audience (and also the players, because the fun thing about TTRPGs is that you can be both audience and protagonist at the same time) get to experience double the horror. We can feel for the protagonists and their struggles in this dangerous, deadly world, where everything seems out to get them, and we get to understand things that they don't or even can't grasp. We get to put the clues together, painting by numbers in the negative space left by the stoats' explanations, while still reeling from trying to understand why the world works the way it does. We can piece the kind of environmental disaster together that caused the Blue, while being surprised by a horde of carnivorous chipmunks piloting a dying bear. We get to feel twice as afraid of this world by virtue of hearing the words "loss of coolant accident in reactor charlie" spoken by a human, but understood by stoats, and understanding what those words imply.

All in all, I am very happy with Burrow's End. I have previously stated that as a horror fan I was disappointed by Neverafter; I did enjoy it a lot, but it just didn't scratch that itch (not trying to badmouth Neverafter here, just stating my personal experience). Burrow's End is more than making up for that, especially since I didn't expect it going in. I am extremely impressed by Aabria's ability to first create, and then hand us the tools to unravel a mystery on this scale where every new piece of information makes the whole picture seem more terrifying, and her nerves of steel to not reveal too much information, even this late in the game (reminds me a lot of how long it took to figure out everything about Kalina in Fantasy High Sophomore Year, to the point of only fully understanding her in the finale episodes, while she had been a mystery for almost all of the season). It takes a lot to not spill all your very cool lore as soon as you get the chance, and the organic way things have been revealed to the stoats and to us is really something else. I'm just really looking forward to episodes 9 and 10 of Burrow's End, and also all of Aabria's future projects with D20. Thank you @quiddie for this beautiful season, I'm enjoying myself so much!

#burrow's end #d20 #d20 burrow's end #stupendous stoats #aabria iyengar #burrow's end spoilers #d20 spoilers #f: burrow's end #f: d20 #horror in burrow's end

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