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#DID Records - TECHNO
theminecraftbee · 1 year
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because i'm seeing it come up again, a quick "mod thoughts re: all the voter fraud" discussion:
okay so like. in a perfect world, tumblr would have email verification that actually mattered, and we, the mods, would have some more effective way to prevent voter fraud than saying "oh no don't do fraud that's bad". however, we have neither of those things, and doing fraud on our polls is... ridiculously, laughably easy.
so, imagine our distress when during the techno/scar round, a lot of scar fans started getting very, very angry about fraud we weren't sure was even happening? that, indeed, we had absolutely no reason to think was happening at the time, and no way to do anything about it if was?
well. there were two options. and we took the one that would lead to everyone having more fun and things being less toxic overall in the community. the thing is: if we'd said "voter fraud is entirely unallowed, this thing we can't prevent and can't moderate", then the toxicity of fanbases blaming each other for "breaking the rules" would have gone through the roof. full-stop. and we... didn't want that. this poll did not matter. it still doesn't matter. it had grown wildly, wildly bigger than we'd expected, and we had basically no way to control the way everyone was acting about it, but we didn't want to make a statement that would cause people to be even meaner to each other.
so instead, we took the funny option. we said "yeah do whatever voter fraud you want we don't care". SLIGHTLY regret that we didn't know tumblr tried to make you follow random strangers' blogs when you made a new account otherwise maybe we would have been a BIT more clear about 'don't do that', but listen. by saying "voter fraud is totally fine" we made it funny that people were cheating. we made it so there was basically no such thing as "cheating". we made it so, and this was key, the growing toxicity about "but they're BOTTING" was stupid, because like... everyone's doing it now. openly and blatantly doing it. voters fraud is a beautiful name for a baby girl, and this poll doesn't matter and isn't worth getting worked up over, and you can't cheat if it's not against the rules and everyone's doing it anyway, is the idea here.
like, in an ideal world, would we have rampant voter fraud? nah. in a world where we can't stop it if it happens, though... may as well make sure both sides have equal opportunity to fraud, right? like, that makes it even again, right? and more importantly, it reminds people that this shit really, really doesn't matter.
anyway all of this is to say that if you all start coming into our notes and inbox again to start being really toxic about the other side of the poll and make me cry again i will be pissed.
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the way you worded talking about grian implied that he used to be doing something that was not feeding off people online. what was he doing before that? what changed? why doesn't he go out where people can see him? (and, if it isn't already answered by the first question, what's his first choice method?) i might be reading into things that aren't there, but I'm curious.
So. If you're gonna be the one manipulating people, it helps if they can't trace it back to you. You can have some personal flair of course, but you don't wanna look so incredibly obvious that your every single move is gonna be under constant scrutiny.
In Grian's defense, no one he asked gave him a straight answer. But like, he only asked other Web people and Web people are terrible at giving straight answers. Even before he went, he knew he was looking for an excuse to poke his head in where it didn't belong and cause trouble. A lot of his Web friends will roll their eyes at him and tell him he's more cut out for the Ceaseless Watcher but he'll just laugh at them and ask "When have I ever just watched?" They usually concede the point.
So yeah. He'd heard the warnings over and over again. Don't go near the Goatmother's Peak. Do not go near the Goatmother's Peak. Don't even think about the Goatmother's Peak if you know what's good for you. But no one ever bothered to tell him why.
Anyway, he chartered a private plane from Impulse to drop him in by glider. The fall took far longer than it should have, of course. Long enough that Grian wasn't sure he would ever land. Long enough for the open sky to become a terror. But the Goatmother's Peak rose up to meet him some three days later and the transparent glider rendered him almost invisible as he landed on top of the Peak. Maybe he should have come in from underneath, but the rumors said that the good Doctor hardly ever left his lab.
Since then, he's often wondered if it would have been better or worse if those rumors had been wrong. Given what Doc is capable of, it probably would have been objectively much worse. But there is something that Grian particularly loathes in the fact that he can’t be sure that Doc even has any idea this ever happened. He likes to be in control of what’s going on. 
He felt that sense of control slipping away when he realized that he didn’t exactly have an exit plan. It was hardly the first time he’d thrown himself into a dangerous situation with no plan beyond talking himself back out of it, but “hey come pick me up from the Goatmother’s Peak” is– He doesn’t have anyone he could pull that kind of favor from who could actually carry it out. A Web friend would have tried to convince him that this meant it was subconsciously a suicide mission, but honestly he just hadn’t been thinking much beyond his own curiosity. 
All he gets is more questions. The first of which is “Why does it hurt so much?”followed by “Was I screaming?” and “Did anyone hear me scream?” and “Is that my blood on the ground?” and quite a few more related questions all in very quick succession. Okay, he doesn’t get no answers. For example, yes, the blood pooling in the divot between the Goatmother’s horns where he’s been hiding is very much his own and it’s spilling from two massive lacerations on his back from which weird lumpy mounds of flesh are writhing and flailing and he slowly realizes that he can feel them writhe and flail and it hurts. 
He doesn’t bleed out. He’s not sure how. The blood is enough to stain his white sweater through completely. But by the end of it, he has two huge wings hanging limply between his shoulder blades. He tries to stumble to his feet, but the wings weigh him down and he slips in the blood. Bangs his knee hard against the stone. Bangs his head a second later. Passes out.
Wakes up in a hotel a few miles away with a pounding headache and, yes, still a pair of oversized wings that are barely supported by the muscles of his mid back that are absolutely not designed for it. There’s a note waiting for him on the bedside table.
“Don’t come back ^-^ -E”
He doesn’t. 
The wings do though, every time he tries to rip them off. He learns to live with them eventually, though never to fly. But he doesn’t really like the way people stare. He’s not quite as curious about Doc anymore either. If this is what happens when you just get close to him, what could he do on purpose?
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butterfilledpockets · 8 months
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NEXT AU ON THE BRAIN
Chasing Shadows (named after the song)
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(essentially the entire plot) (did not expect to be able to draw Kraang first try ajgbksjrgbksg)
(oh erm , this is also not one with a happy ending)
Leo survives the final attack of the Kraang, and salvages a single old Walkman having belonged to Donnie, as well as the Resistance Karaoke machine, containing all the recordings of their singing and cheesy songs.
Now he runs across the ruined world, surviving purely to spite of the Kraang. And to keep alive the spirit of the resistance in this timeline.
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(a little concept art doodle) (I like drawing snow :))
eventually he is hunted down and captured. And becomes a prisoner aboard the techno drome. A living trophy of the Kraang's victory over the planet. There he discovers Donnie has become the Technodrome.
It is customary for the Kraang to appoint the greatest mind of their most recent conquest as the new mind of the Technodrome. Slowly, he gets Donnie to remember who he is, Leo's twin, his brother, his family. They plot to escape togehter.
This meaning, Donnie is uploaded into Leo's Walkman. Like GladOs into the potato. Supercomputer put into silly tech is my favorite thing okay.
The ending... not very happy I am afraid. they make one last trip, when they decide to journey back home. After a long journey, they arrive at their original sewer home, Leo severely wounded stumbles into the ruins of the lair. Where they record one last song on the Walkman together, the last voices of the resistance.
welp! That's it :) there is a THIRD Au- but If I draw that my hand WILL fall off
Here-> Life is strange AU
(Please tell me if you would like to see more of this AU because I will give the internet strangers what they want, they live in my walls)
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Halloween prompts no. 25
Nightwing came across some supernatural entities walking down the dark streets of Bludhaven. Upon confronting them he found out they were sloshed beyond belief and in a great mood. After chatting with them, they revealed they had just come from a party full of other supernatural beings and told him he should go too.
After getting the location from them he went on his way to investigate. If this party was harmful then he'd shut it down, if not, well. It had been a while since he cut loose.
Arriving at the location he found a bit more than just a party, but a full supernatural rave! It was hard to see past the darkness and the colorful lights shows, but everything was actually covered in a thick layer of ice. The walls, the floors, the cielings, heck, even the electronics, lights and discoballs were made of the stuff. It wasn't very cold to the touch and wasn't slick at all so he let it go for now.
The techno music began to wind down as a figure walked onto the stage in the back and people from the various dance floors and platforms cheered. Appearently the preformer had left for a bit on a break but was ready to start up again.
After greeting the crowd and hyping them up a bit he jumped straight into a new song called Monster Disco, a playful upbeat halloweenish tune that soon had Dick bopping to the beat. Nightwing did not expect for the spotlight to land on him or for him to be peer pressured into dancing by a bunch of excited mythical creatures, but superhero life is just like that.
Besides. He had a lot of moves to show off. His siblings didn't call him "Discowing" just for the old suit after all ;)
He knew he was being recorded even before the crowds parted to make a ring around him and the preformer. The kid looked around 14 or so, maybe younger and glowed with a soft white light. He looked ethereal and dick just wanted to ruffle his hair. He did so and got an indignant squad for his efforts and a challenge to a dance off. It was great and they wound up just dancing together in the end anyway.
Turns out the kids name was "Phantom", an obvious fake name but whatever, and his goal with the traveling party was for monsters and humans to have a good time without worrying about what society thinks of them. He confessed he was a type of undead and that he had a really hard time withing the first few years after his death, especially once he discovered he wasn't aging and couldn't pretend to be alive for much longer. This party was ment to bring joy to the people who came to it. Dick could understand that, he used to be in the circus after all. He spotted another camera on the icy cieling and waved at it.
He wondered what his family would say when they saw the video.
.
.
.
.
Nightwing was declared missing three days later.
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in1-nutshell · 3 months
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Hello! It's me Again! Firstly, I want to say thank you so much and I really enjoy/love it!
If it's okay to request could you do another part of this request (Elita One's twin sister w/ Sg Blackarachnia)?
The reactions/interactions of other Cons, Shockwave, Lockdown, Swindle (you can change/add Wasp or other cons, if you like);
Or reactions/interactions of Autobots (team Prime)?
(Takes place after reuniting with Optimus Prime, Autobots meeting Bot and their reactions/interactions to her)
also if it's okay to make a one of them as a separate request?
(Sorry if it's too much/complicated. Also take your time and thank you so much!)
She is back!!! Our Spider is back!!
I will be posting the second part to this request later on.
Hope you enjoy!
Elita One's twin sister with SG! Blackarachnia's personality reaction to Shockwave, Lockdown, Swindle, and Wasp
SFW, Platonic, Hint of Romantic, Slight Angst, Cybertronian (techno organic) reader
TFA
As Megatron’s personal and only medic in the Decepticon army, Buddy sometimes had to travel where he went. From across the mountains to someone on the opposite end of the screen. That was how she got to know many mechs in the army.
“We are going out.”--Megatron
“We?”--Buddy
“You and I.”--Megatron
“Me? Sorry, not today My Lord. I have to work on the med bay.”--Buddy
“What needs to be done in the med bay?”--Megatron
“Not going to tell you because then you’re just going to get someone else to do it. And no one here can organize my stuff the right way. I was trying to fix Blitzwing’s servo, my tool kit was nowhere to be found. For about half an hour I was searching for it, and it was under your throne. Who puts stuff there?”—Buddy
“You have been stuck here for the last couple of cycles. I do think it is wise for you to get out and stretch your struts.”--Megatron
“You would love to see that wouldn’t you?”--Starscream
“Starscream!”--Megatron
“Wait what did he say?”--Buddy
“Nothing! We are going!”--Megatron
Megatron grabbing Buddy’s servo and leaving without a word.
When Buddy met Shockwave, it was through the main screen in the Decepticon HQ on Earth.
Shockwave had all her information from her Academy records. To say he was skeptical of Buddy’s position on the team was an understatement.
It wouldn’t be the first time the Decepticons would have a former Autobot change sides. No doubt Buddy would be the last one to do so either.
In this case, however, it nearly seemed too good to be true.
Shockwave going through going through Buddy’s file before the video meeting.
“Let’s see here… death certificates with no body found… former student at the Autobot Academy…several medical certifications, impressive… Special powers? Strange... Excellent marksmanship… Former protégé of some field tech, boring… Most likely to follow the Prime status? Unexpected but nothing more…what… had connections with Ultra Magnus?!”--Shockwave
It truly seemed too good to be true, but he kept quiet about his skepticism to himself. His first step was to get close to Buddy and try and get some information on them. Maybe find out if she is a mole or any potential blackmail material.
Shockwave was expecting someone sketchy trying to fill in the stereotypical Decepticon role or an Autobot with a poor, and or, offensive Con skit memorized.
Not someone who had their own unique style that would be associated with Decepticonism and who deeply cared for their comrades.
“Shockwave.”--Megatron
“Lord Megatron.”--Shockwave
“This is our newest chief medical officer on Earth, Buddy.”--Megatron
“Hello Shockwave, it is a pleasure to meet you.”--Buddy
“Erm—thank you Buddy, is it? Such a peculiar name.”--Shockwave
“Yes, it isn’t a common name or one that sparks any fear into the sparks of the enemy but, that is who I am. How has your day been?”--Buddy
“My what?”--Shockwave
“Oh, sorry was that not an appropriate question to ask?”--Buddy
“I—it has been a good day as of now.”--Shockwave
“That’s good to hear. We can’t have one of the Decepticon’s top spy’s in a rough shape can we?”--Buddy
“Top spy?”--Shockwave
“Yes! I have read a little bit about your work through the reports.”--Buddy
“You’ve read my reports?”--Shockwave
“You’ve read some of the reports?”--Megatron
“Of course! They are interesting to read. And it also doesn’t help when you leave some of the data pads out in the open My Lord. Especially around my work area.”--Buddy
“Don’t you have to go and reorganize the medbay’s newest supplies?”--Megatron
“Oh yes! Good-bye Shockwave! I do hope to get to know you better and that your work is truly—”--Buddy
“Buddy.”--Megatron
“All right, all right I’m going. Bye!”--Buddy
Buddy walks out of the room.
“… She seems like a nice addition to the medical wing.”--Shockwave
“Yes…”--Megatron
“… I am not looking for a relationship now, My Megatron. Anyways Buddy is not my type.”--Shockwave
“…”--Megatron
Shockwave was left a bit confused after that interaction with Buddy. It only got worse once Buddy had willing gone to the screen to contact him.
“Hello Shockwave!”--Buddy
“Hello Buddy. Has something happened? This call was unscheduled.”--Shockwave
“I know but I wanted to talk to you.”--Buddy
“About what pray tell?”--Shockwave
“Anything.”--Buddy
“I’m not sure I am following…”--Shockwave
“Last call you seemed… well you seemed a little bit lonely. It cannot be easy keeping up the façade of being Longarm Prime all day, especially in front of the council, Ultra Magnus, and the entire Elite Guard.”--Buddy
“…It is not. But there are certain bots here that are a bit dimmer than the average bot. It makes things easier. One of the Prime’s has the IQ of a bag of rusty bolts.”--Shockwave
“Is that so? Ouch! Do tell more.”--Buddy
“I believe one of the Autobots are on to me.”--Shockwave
“Are you sure? Do you need back up or something?”—Buddy
“No, not at the moment.”--Shockwave
“Good, you can never be too safe.”--Buddy
“Yes…”--Shockwave
Shockwave was in denial of the friendship that was forming through those calls. He didn’t need friends talking to his audial all day long!
It’s not like he looked forward to having those talks with Buddy.
Nope.
Absolutely not.
It’s not like the two of them have swapped personal com lines to further talk about personal things and away from the prying optics of other Cons that entered the room.
It isn’t until one late night he realizes how deep he is in.
Longarm listening to yet another boring presentation with the other Primes, trying not to stab Sentinel’s big chin with a pen. His mind slowly wondering what Buddy is going to talk about this time when he tells them about Sentinel’s big chin.
He freezes.
Oh.
Oh no…
He has a friend.
He has a good friend now.
How does one keep a good friendship like this from falling into pieces in the face of a war?!
A little while later Shockwave starts searching up ‘Ways to keep good friend’ on Bing.
Blurr opening the door, giving Shockwave just enough time to go back into Longarm form.
“I know there is a spy here Longarm! I can feel it—what are you looking up?”--Blurr
“Umm… engex bottles.”--Longarm
“…”--Blurr
“…”—Longarm
“Oh really! What years are you looking at? I personally think—”—Blurr
Longarm/Shockwave sagging in a bit of relief from the scare.
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Swindle and Lockdown met Buddy at a weapons meet.
Megatron had invited Buddy to meet his arms dealer and favorite mercenary, Swindle and Lockdown. Buddy didn’t get much information on the two, being that they were on the borderline sections of potentially ‘sell outs.’
“Lord Megatron, is there any more things I need to know about these two mechs?”--Buddy
“Lockdown will not speak out of line. He is more interested in getting the latest gadgets for his collections.”--Megatron
“Mod collector, got it. And this ‘Swindle’?”--Buddy
“Any price he tries to get you to buy is a terrible one. Leave the bargaining to me.”--Megatron
“And when you mean bargaining, you mean peacefully or using intimidation?”--Buddy
“Yes.”--Megatron
“You are impossible sometimes.”--Buddy
“Only for you.”--Megatron
“What?”--Buddy
“Here’s our stop.”--Megatron
Swindle had been told beforehand that Megatron was bringing someone else to meet him. The new medical chief, from what he understood.
He thought about displaying a couple more weapons for this new Con, maybe get them to buy something.
Swindle placing a big cannon on the table.
“That’s a bad idea Swindle.”--Lockdown
“Oh hush! You don’t know what he is like.”--Swindle
“First, she. Second, I did my homework.”--Lockdown
“But they could have a fascination in cannons once they see this beauty.”—Swindle
“Like I said, I did my homework. I heard around that the medic isn’t too found in weapons.”--Lockdown
“If that is true, then why would she even want to go to a weapons meet with Megatron?”--Swindle
“I don’t know—Speaking of which, look who’s here.”--Lockdown
Megatron landing on top of the platform with huge mechanical spider coming off of his back as they both transformed.
“I thought you said Earth spiders didn’t get that big!”--Swindle
“That’s the chief medical officer, numb nuts.”--Lockdown
The two Cons were not expecting Buddy.
Well, more Swindle, after all, Lockdown did do his homework.
Lockdown kept to himself while politely introducing himself to Buddy. She politely responded back with a small smile.
Swindle kept on showing the weapons to Megatron as the other two made small talk about modifications.
“Hey Buddy!”--Swindle
Lockdown mouthing ‘no’.
Megatron wondering what this was about.
Swindle wrapping an arm around Buddy.
Megatron’s optics are staring at it like it did a capital offense.
“What do you think of these bad boys? I’m sure that there is something here that has caught your attention.”--Swindle
“Oh? Sorry I’m just here to visit, I’m not interested in buying.”--Buddy
“Oh please, I’m sure we can work something out. You’re the new chief medical officer, right? How about I show you some of the tools I—”--Swindle
Lockdown coughing.
“Lockdown and I got at another exchange. Top notch and… and…”--Swindle
“Umm, Swindle are you feeling, okay? You’re looking a little bit queasy?”--Buddy
Swindle just now noticing the Death Glare Megatron was giving him, specifically at the arm still wrapped around Buddy’s frame.
Swindle quickly dropping it.
“How about this, Buddy. I give you these tools, for… free. For free, and you tell everyone at the base about the great deals you got here!”--Swindle
“I mean, I could—”--Buddy
“That’s wonderful! Here they are and here are the weapons you purchased Megatron!”—Swindle
Megatron still glaring but nodding.
“Oh! Okay, Bye Swindle and thank you for the tools. I’ll be sure to tell everyone back on base.”--Buddy
“Anytime Buddy!”--Swindle
“Good-bye Lockdown. I hope you have a good time finding those new mods!”--Buddy
“Much obliged Buddy, bye.”--Lockdown
Megatron and Buddy transforming, Buddy getting on Megatron’s back as he zooms out of there.
“… Did you soil yourself?”--Lockdown
“N-no!”--Swindle
Swindle brushed him aside and continued organizing his stuff in his chassis.
Lockdown just wondered if one day he might see Buddy again. It was nice to have someone else besides Swindle to talk to sometimes.
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Buddy met Wasp under less pleasurable circumstances.
Buddy had been taking a break from the stuffy base one night and decided to take a walk on one of the islands nearby.
They had been walking around the area when they heard noises.
Like rapid little pede steps.
It couldn’t have been the Dinobots. Their steps were a kin to a mini earthquake.
It was someone else.
Quickly, she webbed herself to a nearby tree and watched.
A small green mech appeared from the brush.
He looked scared.
But what could have scared him?
Sure, Grimlock and the others were a bit much but if they were after the mech then Buddy would have heard them.
No, someone or something else was after the small guy.
“Wasp!”--Optimus
Buddy freezing.
“Wasp, I know you’re out there! Come out with your servos up!”--Sentinel
Wasp making more whinnying noises.
Buddy quickly snapped out of it and webs him up into the tree with her.
“Ah--”--Wasp
“Shh! Don’t scream, I’m here to help. But I can’t help you if you continue to scream, okay?”--Buddy
Wasp nodding slowly.
It was Optimus and Sentinel.
As much as Buddy wanted to know what was going on with both parties, her attention was on the shaky mech that looked like he was about to have a panic attack.
Wasp didn’t know what to think at that moment, but right now this bot was helping him get away from the Elite Guard so he decided to play along.
The Autobots suddenly came out of the brush.
Buddy and Wasp froze seeing them from their hiding place.
Wasp was already looking for a way out when he saw his savior start to shake.
At first, he thought it was out of anger and that they were going to pull out their weapon and start shooting up the place.
Until he saw her optics.
Big, wide, shaky, filled to the brim with fear.
He had seen those optics before. Those were his optics sometimes.
What had those Autobots had done to this Con to get a reaction like this?
Buddy thought that she had finally come to terms with everything that had happened, especially when Optimus showed up.
Seeing Sentinel there sent another wave of flashbacks her way. It was too much; it was too much. She knew that she should have been listening in on the conversation, it could drop some important information for the team.
But the flashes of Elita’s smile, Sentinel’s antics, and Optimus’s laughter filled her senses like no tomorrow.
Buddy was in such a shaky state she didn’t know it until the little green mech held her servo gently. Like one would do to their kid if something was scaring them.
He was trying to calm her down.
She slowly stopped the shaking as the Autobot’s left the area. After a bit more of waiting, the two climbed down the tree.
“Thank you. I’m sorry you had to see that. I was the one trying to help you and you ended up helping me.”--Buddy
“Wasp is glad you okay. Nice lady bot scaring Wasp a bit.”--Wasp
“Again, sorry about that… Wasp? Is that your name?”--Buddy
“Yes. This is Wasp.”--Wasp
“Well, I’m Buddy. You have some scratches on you. I have a med kit with me, I can fix those up right now if you want.”--Buddy
Wasp looking at Buddy hesitantly before nodding.
Buddy getting to work.
“You are doing such a good job at staying still Wasp. Most of my patients like to move a lot. You’re doing so much better than they are right now.”--Buddy
“Wasp doing good job?”--Wasp
“Yes, yes you are Wasp.”--Buddy
“Buddy bot too nice to Wasp.”--Wasp
“No one can be too nice Wasp. It’s just that sometimes… sometimes empathy can get lost in wars like this.”--Buddy
“Wasp don’t like Autobots.”--Wasp
“I feel you Wasp…”--Buddy
“…Autobots hurt Buddy bot? Hurt Buddy bot bad?”--Wasp
“…Yeah, you could say that…”--Buddy
“…Autobots hurt Wasp too.”--Wasp
“I’m sorry to hear that Wasp…”--Buddy
“Wasp sorry for Buddy bot…”--Wasp
“Welp, I finished fixing those scratches and dents.”--Buddy
“Thank you!”--Wasp
“…Would you like to come with me to the Decepticons? That way you’d be safe from the Autobots.”--Buddy
Wasp pausing not sure what to answer.
“Listen, you don’t have to answer that right away. That’d be selfish of me to expect that from you right now. This is my private channel, if you need me, just call me.”--Buddy
Wasp in amazement simply nodding.
“You take care okay, Wasp.”--Buddy
“Bye Buddy bot!”--Wasp
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choerrypuffs · 2 years
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fast times.
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pairing: co-worker!donghyuck x reader
genre: fluff, slight angst
word count: 7.6k
synopsis: throughout the snapshots of your life, lee donghyuck is always there. (or, you realize that you’re in love with the bane of your existence.)
author’s note: i started grad school and it’s literally eating me alive so i wanted to write something short and sweet to de-stress and then it ended up being almost 8k words 😭
warning(s): excessive drinking, family tension
playlist: fast times by sabrina carpenter ― the bottom by gracie abrams ―  stress by taeyeon ― ruin my life by zara larsson ― cruel summer by taylor swift 
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ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2022  sun’s up too soon like daylight savings, mixed emotions are congregating 
Liquid courage, as the poets say.
Well, don’t fact check that, but surely Wordsworth or Coleridge or whichever poet that Taylor Swift talks about in the lakes mentioned something about getting shitfaced during a St. Patrick’s Day office party.
Regardless, you’re going to pretend like they did because it’s a lot less romantic (lowercase r, not capital like the movement) if you’re just drunk off your ass at an office party without an artsy-fartsy literary reference to back you up.
You’re one too many shots of tequila deep, swaying to the shitty techno music that someone is blasting from their pretentious Spotify playlist while stumbling past the office cubicles, including yours and He Who Shall Not Be Named’s, on your wobbly trip to the bathroom.
Despite the copious amounts of alcohol in your system, the remaining coherent part of your brain is sounding the alarms that you’re probably going to throw up soon. You wish that part of your brain would just shut the hell up because you don’t want to think rationally right now.
You don’t want to think about He Who Shall Not Be Named and how he’s in love with your best friend. You don’t want to think about how his eyes found her the moment she walked into the office, how his gaze melted into a pool of honey, his head swiveling towards every direction she went like a stupid bobblehead. Not that you blame him; everyone is in love with Karina. It’s not his fault, but you’re mad at him anyways.
Ugh, see? You’re thinking about him again.
Anyways, you’re also grateful for that part of your brain because the poets definitely do not write about spewing chunks in front of your co-workers. You just want to hurl in peace and wallow in your misery with the porcelain toilet bowl by your side.
The poets probably wrote about that.
You finally make it to the hall where the bathrooms are, having steady yourself against the wall as you make your way down because walking in a straight line has become a luxury. However, you only get about five steps (at least you think it’s five, numbers are hard) when someone grabs your arm. You don’t even realize your legs are in the process of buckling until there’s a pair of hands supporting your waist to keep you upright.
“Jesus, Y/N,” someone breathes in relief, exhaling loudly.
You’d recognize that condescending tone anywhere.
He Who Shall Not Be Named carefully leans you against the wall, one hand still on your waist while the other removes the bottle of Jack Daniels that you didn’t even know you were clinging onto from the nook of your arm. With one smooth motion, he tosses the bottle into the trashcan and doesn’t even flinch when the bottle very audibly shatters inside.
“I know you’re a loyal worshiper of mine, but just Y/N is fine,” you slur, not sounding nearly as cool as you’d hope, “though it’d be pretty fucking funny if you washed my feet.”
He huffs and pauses, like he’s debating on whether or not he should say what he wants to say next. And because he’s a piece of shit, he says it:
“For the record, Jesus washed his disciples’ feet. Not the other way around.”
You groan, shoving him hard. He barely budges, so most of the force in your shove kicks back to you. Feeling yourself tip forward, you grab his shoulders out of instinct to avoid busting your head open against the hard tile. In the process, your forehead slams into his chest, and he lets out a soft grunt. His hands grip your elbows, fingertips warm against your even warmer skin.
“I hate you,” you sniffle, burying your face in his shirt. He smells exactly like a fluffy towel that just came out of the dryer. “You’re tactless and you never let me win and you have shitty taste in movies.”
“And you’re drunk,” he replies nonchalantly, “Why do you drink so much when you’re such a lightweight?”
“You don’t deserve Karina,” you continue angrily.
He actually laughs at that. “Okay, young lady. I’m going to drive you home now. Come on.”
You lift your head so fast that you nearly slam it into his jaw; luckily, he sees it coming and steps back before you can knock his teeth out.
“Don’t,” you hiss, poking his chest. “I don’t want you to drive me home. Don’t drive me home unless…”
He raises an eyebrow. “Unless what?”
“Pretty boys can never be trusted,” you hiccup.
“I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about, but let’s continue this discussion when you’ve sobered up,” he sighs, crossing his arms. “And when you are sober and realize that you don’t want to talk about this anymore, like I suspect you’ll do, I’ll even pretend like this conversation never happened because I am a gentleman.”
“Do you think I’m pretty?” you whisper blearily.
You’re wearing a green t-shirt that has “Kiss me, I’m Irish” plastered across the chest in big, bold white letters. You borrowed it from Karina when you realized you didn’t have any green in your closet. Of course, only Karina would look good in something like this, but you really didn’t want to be pinched the entire night. Someone had plastered four-leaf clover stickers all over your face, though you’re not sure how many of them are still on at this point. Your makeup should be intact since you haven’t been sweating, even if you probably have mascara residue under your eyes. You’ve certainly looked better, but this definitely isn’t the worst state you’ve been in.
It’s a stupid question though, really. No matter how pretty you are, he’s already chosen Karina.
When you glance back up at him, he looks like one of those cartoon characters that have two perfect red circles on their cheeks when they blush.
You haven’t seen him this flustered in a long time. He’s always had this smug, impenetrable mask of an expression that you want to punch off his face―like he’s constantly one step ahead of you in something.
You want to take out your phone and take a picture of his expression so badly.
Instead, you hunch over and throw up on his expensive shoes.
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VALENTINE’S DAY 2018 my feelings used to be serrated, but you speak in such a perfect cadence
Pretty boys should never be trusted.
That is your ultimate mantra in life.
Especially pretty boys that claim to be “nerdy.” The ones that smell nice and aren’t misogynistic but also like games and anime and know how to code. The ones that wear indie band t-shirts and actually enjoy the band but don't care if you wear the same t-shirt just because you like the aesthetic. The ones that wear rings on their fingers and metal-rimmed glasses on the tip of their noses.
The ones that other girls would claim were “written by women.”
It’s all a trap.
If anything, they’re worse than the obnoxious frat boy chads. At least those are straightforward about what they want. Nerdy pretty boys are professional manipulators, meticulously slicing your heart into thin little pieces to use as a garnish for their own ego.
So when the new intern swaggers into the office, hands tucked into the pockets of his designer slacks, your Pretty Boy senses start to tingle.
He’s wearing a crisp white button-up (not a band tee since he’s at work), and he’s got rings on his fingers and metal-rimmed glasses right on the tip of his nose. His hair is a little curly and falls into his eyes in that messy but charming look. He’s got a round face and pouty lips, looking just sweet enough to disarm someone.
After he walks in, the CEO of the company follows, and now everything makes sense.
“Everyone, this is my grandson, Donghyuck,” Mr. Lee explains, smiling warmly.
Nepo baby, you realize, fighting the urge to roll your eyes.
“I want you all to know he won’t be getting any special treatment,” Mr. Lee says firmly, “He will have to work his way from the bottom, just like everyone else.”
Right, that’s why you’re personally introducing him to us, you think wryly.
After receiving a load of ass kissing from the employees, Mr. Lee finally leaves, and your team leader points Donghyuck to the empty cubicle right next to yours. He strolls over with an ease as if he owns the building (he technically does) and takes a seat. He smiles at you, though it reads as more of a smirk than a good-natured smile.
“Hi, I’m Donghyuck.”
When he looks at you, he does so with his whole body. His lanky frame is completely angled towards you as he unabashedly drinks in your side profile with his mischievous, twinkly eyes. The way he stares at you with such intrigue makes you jittery, and you keep your line of sight glued to your computer screen, refusing to indulge him even through your peripheral.
He’s deploying his Pretty Boy tactics, you warn.
“I know,” you snap back. You don’t mean to come off that aggressively, but you just know he’s trouble. In an attempt to remedy your curt response, you softly tack on, “I’m Y/N. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You don’t like me very much, do you?” Donghyuck asks, the quirked grin on his face growing.
You blink in surprise. You were not expecting him to say it so straightforwardly. “I…just met you.”
“You’re not answering the question.” He tilts his head, though he doesn’t seem particularly bothered by it. Rather, he probably already knows the answer.
You’re not sure what to say to that, and Donghyuck doesn’t try to continue the conversation either. Instead, he begins to unpack his stuff and set up his work space. When he turns on his personal laptop, you see League of Legends downloaded onto it.
Yikes.
Like the standard pretty boy, he starts hanging up an indie band poster, along with some anime ones you don’t recognize and―a Twilight poster.
Your eyes nearly pop out of your head when you see it. Men, even the pretty boys who are trying to make themselves as appealing to girls as possible, rarely ever admit to watching, much less enjoying, Twilight.
Okay, so maybe your Pretty Boy tingle got one thing wrong, but it doesn’t change the fact that he checks most of the Pretty Boy boxes―
“Are you Team Edward or Jacob?” Donghyuck asks, an amused smile tugging at his lips.
You have no one else to blame but yourself for snooping, but you still grow hot from your face to the tips of your ears and all the way down your neck.
“I’m Team Charlie,” you reply breezily, sounding pretty calm for someone who’s screaming on the inside.
His eyebrows slightly raise, and he just laughs quietly to himself.
You relish in that tiny victory.
.
.
.
As it turns out, Donghyuck is an extremely fast learner.
And despite being a nepo baby, he puts his money where his mouth is. He picks things up extremely quickly and utilizes everything he has learned efficiently. In fact, he’s doing so well that he’s starting to threaten your position as the office’s favorite intern.
And of course, on today of all days, you fuck up.
Another intern messed up the report, and you somehow overlooked it while you were checking. However, the responsibility falls on your shoulders because it was your job to make sure the report was correct. You get viciously chewed out by your team leader, and you’re guaranteed to have to work overtime to fix everything.
Ultimately, it is your mistake, and you’re not disputing that; you just know that you’re being made an example of so the office can look good in front of the CEO’s grandson.
So, while everyone is gathering their stuff to leave, you’re the only one still at your cubicle, fingers clicking away on the keyboard. Your eyelids are already starting to droop, despite the fact that you have at least a couple hours left of work. Giving yourself a couple of smacks on the cheeks, you try to shake away the brain fog and keep going.
You’re so immersed that you almost don’t notice Donghyuck set down a cup of coffee on your desk.
“I bought two for myself, but I think you need it more than me,” he admits, actually seeming a little sympathetic.
“Thanks,” you say, a little wary but still appreciative. You’re too tired to even question his motives.
He gives you a wave before leaving. Once he’s gone, you turn back to your computer and start to work again. You nearly forget about the coffee until you pause to take a big stretch, noticing it in your peripheral. Picking it up, you notice there’s a message scrawled on it.
happy valentine’s day! maybe i’ll grow on you :)
You smile, but only a little bit. Only because he’s a little cute.
When you finally take a sip, you nearly spit it all over your computer screen.
It’s so bitter that it sends a shudder throughout your whole body. You start to cough, feeling like even a single drop of that coffee getting in your system is going to make your short circuit. You’re not even sure if this poison could be considered black coffee. It might be actual black tar. Frantically digging through your drawers to find some candy or gum to offset the bitterness, you begin to curse Donghyuck in your head.
When you finally find a half-melted caramel cube and pop it into your mouth, it occurs to you that Donghyuck didn’t even have a cup of coffee in his hands even though he said he bought two.
“That asshole,” you whisper.
Cracking your knuckles and rolling your neck, you start to type again with a renewed vigor, thinking of all the ways you were going to make Donghyuck pay to power you through the rest of the night.
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ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2022  sun’s up too soon like daylight savings, mixed emotions are congregating
You’re not sure how He Who Shall Not Be Named manages to clean himself up and wrangle you into his car in such a short timespan, but he does it. Most of it is a blur to you, though you do recall him throwing you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carrying you through the parking garage after you started trying to fistfight him.
Now, you’re leaning your head against the cool window, watching all the buildings whizz by, as he drives in silence. Well, not complete silence. Music is being softly played on the radio. It’s that stupid indie band he likes, and you hate that you know exactly what song it is. You remember it from last time.
I’ve only been in his car twice, including now, you think groggily to yourself.
He must really like this song.
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APRIL FOOLS 2019 three stories up here contemplating, but what the fuck is patience?
“Is this some sort of sick April Fools’ joke?” you demand.
“Come on, Y/N. Surely, you don’t think a prank of mine would be this lame,” Donghyuck retorts, offended.
The two of you are fighting again. At this point, it’s a daily occurrence in the office. In fact, Karina likes to say that the official work day doesn’t really start until you and Donghyuck start going at each other’s throats. You feel bad that everyone has to constantly deal with your bickering, but Donghyuck asks for it every time.
“You can’t just take someone else’s client,” you say through gritted teeth, wanting to smack that insufferable look right off his face.
“I didn’t take anything,” he corrects haughtily, “I was assigned your client, who is now my client. Take it up with the team leader.”
“The team leader would suck a fart out of your ass if you asked him to,” you hiss back.
He shrugs like you have a point.
“Fine,” you snap, grabbing your bag. “I’ll go talk to my client myself. I’ll get them to request to be transferred back to me.”
Before marching out, you grab the coffee on your desk and down it all in one go. It’s been sitting there for a couple hours, so it’s ice cold. The cold temperature in combination with the extreme bitterness is just the right mixture to light a fire in you.
Unfortunately, that fire is dimmed when you step foot outside and realize it’s thunderstorming heavily. The wind howls so piercingly that it almost hurts your ears, and the onslaught of rain is so strong that you can barely see the cars on the streets. You weigh your options: you have no car, there’s no way you can wait for a bus, and there sure as hell aren’t going to be any available taxis.
Just as you begrudgingly decide to do the walk of shame back into the office and wait out the storm, you hear a loud honk and see an obnoxiously red Ferrari pull up. The tinted window rolls down, and you find yourself staring at nepo baby Lee Donghyuck.
“Need a ride?” he shouts over the pouring rain.
“Not with you!” you holler back, turning to go back inside.
“Are you really going to wait it out?” he teases. “Their office closes in twenty minutes.”
You want to keep walking and ignore him, but your traitorous feet plant themselves on the concrete and refuse to let you take another step.
“Thanks for the new client, I guess!” he continues in a sing-song voice. A car behind him beeps, and you hear his window roll back up as he slowly starts to drive away.
“Damn it,” you mutter. Not giving yourself to think, you whirl around and dash out into the rain. Luckily, he decided to leave at a snail’s pace, so you have time to fling his car door open and slip inside.
Even though you were only in the rain for a few seconds, you’re soaked to the bone. Your pants make a squish noise when you settle yourself into his expensive leather seat. You want to make a joke about ruining his seats, but your teeth are chattering too hard for you to even speak.
Donghyuck reaches over and turns your seat warmer on before also blasting the heater. Your thin blouse has become see-through, and you awkwardly cross your arms over your chest, hoping he hasn’t noticed. Unfortunately, he has noticed, judging by the way he loudly clears his throat and reaches into the backseat to give you his hoodie.
“Thank you,” you say quietly, pulling it over your head before slipping your arms through. The sleeves are too long, so you roll them up to your wrists. His hoodie smells like fabric softener.
“No problem.” His voice cracks.
Neither of you say anything after that, only the sound of the rain pitter-pattering against his car filling in the silence. Eventually, he turns on the radio.
It’s a song you don’t recognize, but you deduce it’s from one of his indie bands when he starts humming along. You’re not even sure he’s aware that he’s doing it, though you don’t really mind. He’s not a bad singer, and you actually enjoy the song.
The two of you spend the remainder of the drive just listening to music, neither of you really feeling the need to speak. It’s a calm, comfortable silence―something that you never thought would be achievable between you and him. Rather, you wish you had more moments like this.
By the time you arrive at your client’s office, the rain has stopped. You assume he’s going to leave after dropping you off because it’s not raining anymore, and especially since the meeting ends up lasting way past the office’s closing, but you see his Ferrari still there when you come back out.
Walking over to him, you knock on the window.
“You didn’t have to wait up,” you say when he rolls it down, slightly touched.
“You have my hoodie,” Donghyuck states plainly.
Well, there goes the moment. You can always count on him to say something to piss you off.
“Right.” Rolling your eyes, you start to take off the hoodie in the street.
“I’m just kidding, Y/N,” he grins, “Come on.”
You let out a small huff, even though you’re smiling too, and you climb in. He turns the radio on again, and the two of you fall back into the ambiance. It occurs to you that Donghyuck’s car smells overwhelmingly like rain and leather and him. When you cross your arms, the scent of the fresh fabric softener from his hoodie wafts back up to you. You feel warm―the kind of warmth that blooms in the pit of your stomach and then melts throughout your body, like when you take a sip of hot chocolate on a cold day.
“How was it?” he finally asks after the song ends.
“Who do you think I am?” you scoff. “Of course I got them back.”
He smiles, and it makes you feel proud.
“You can tell the team leader to suck the fart out of my ass,” you retort.
This gets a laugh from him before he hesitantly adds, “I really didn’t want to take your client.”
You’ve never heard him sound so serious and so…vulnerable before. He says it with a slight desperation, like he doesn’t think you’ll believe him.
“I know.”
And much to your own surprise, you do know.
Now that’s a sick April Fools’ joke.
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ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2022 sun’s up too soon like daylight savings, mixed emotions are congregating 
“You don’t deserve Karina,” you mumble, coming in and out of sleep.
He Who Shall Not Be Named laughs again at that, though he sounds a lot more exhausted. “Why do you keep saying that?”
“Don’t think I didn’t see it,” you slur. “You were making those stupid moon eyes at her all night long. Looking like some lovesick puppy. Gross.”
He laughs for a second time, but there’s not a hint of humor in it.
What if it had been me, you want to ask him.
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NEW YEARS EVE 2019 tiptoeing past so many stages, but what the fuck is patience? 
You’re not sure what possessed Mr. Lee, probably the fact that his grandson works for the company, but he randomly announced one day that the entire office was getting an all expenses paid trip to a fancy ski resort as a New Years present. Needless to say, everyone was absolutely ecstatic.
But you should’ve known something was going to go wrong when Karina suggested that the two of you leave the bunny slope and move straight into the advanced slope, despite the fact that neither of you have ever skied in your lives until now.
You’d like to think that Karina’s sudden bravery was due to the adrenaline of being on such a luxurious trip. You’re going to blame your lack of judgment on the adrenaline rush as well because you actually agreed to it.
Of course, things derailed almost immediately and literally because the two of you ended up veering off the course due to your lack of steering abilities and somehow found yourselves in a random, remote wooded area off the edge of the slope. Karina also twisted her ankle after landing incorrectly, so there’s that too.
Oh, and there’s a snowstorm.
Well, it’s not really a snowstorm. It’s more of a flurry, but it’s terrifying nonetheless because of your current situation. Karina can barely move, and neither of you have any clue where you are nor do you have any sort of communication device since you left it all at the resort. It’s not like you can leave Karina by herself to get help either. You can really only hope that someone finds you before the frostbite starts settling.
“I’m so sorry, Y/N,” Karina sniffles, her nose redder than Rudolph’s.
You hug her tightly, both to comfort her and to keep the two of you as warm as possible. “Stop crying, you’re going to dehydrate yourself. You can apologize when we get out of here.”
She chokes back a sob.
You want to cry too, but you bite down on your lower lip and just cling onto Karina harder.
“Damn, and I was finally going to follow through with my New Year's resolution of fixing my sleep schedule,” you joke, voice trembling.
Karina laughs weakly at that too. “You say that every year.”
“I know,” you admit sheepishly, “but I really am going to this time. I need to make sure I’m in tip-top condition because there’s no way in hell I’m letting Lee Donghyuck get that promotion over me.”
That’s right, you tell yourself. I can’t die here. Not before that dumbass.
You’re not sure why you’re suddenly thinking about him again, but it makes you feel a lot less scared when you picture his dumb smirk and that sly glint in his eyes when he’s gearing up to say something to piss you off. He always knows which buttons to press on the exact wrong day to press them.
You kind of wish he was here now. He would probably be cracking stupid jokes and distracting you―
“Y/N!”
Blinking the snowflakes out of your eyes, you squint past the sheet of snow and tall trees, trying to make sure you aren’t hallucinating. You see a blurry figure running towards you and Karina, the beam of their flashlight peeking through the darkness. When did the sun start setting?
Speak of the pretty boy, and he shall come, you suppose, because Lee Donghyuck is suddenly kneeling in front of you.
The smug look he always dons is wiped clean from his face, instead, his eyes are wide like two saucers and his hands are trembling. You can feel how tightly he’s clutching your arms even through the thick material of your parka. His hair is damp against his forehead; whether it’s from snow or sweat or both, you’re not sure. His face is flushed, and his nose is red like Karina’s, but you want to reach out and boop it for some reason. You can see his labored breath come out in white puffs due to the temperature.
“I found them!” Donghyuck calls out, turning behind him. A couple of your other colleagues emerge from the trees, all holding flashlights. Then, he reverts his attention back to you. His face is all furrowed up, like he isn’t sure whether to be mad at you for being reckless or collapse with relief.
“Are you hurt?” he eventually asks, voice strained as he helps you to your feet. He brushes the snow out of your hair and lifts your ski goggles from your eyes, scanning your face.
“Karina twisted her ankle,” you reply numbly, unable to feel your lips.
He glances over at Karina, who’s being helped by your other co-workers, before looking at you again. “Are you hurt?”
You shake your head.
Donghyuck exhales loudly, and you watch his shoulders relax. Then he says, “What the hell were you thinking?”
You flinch at his sharp tone. He’s never raised his voice at you before. You’ve always been the one yelling at him.  
“You can’t even drive a car, so what on Earth possessed you to try and ski on the advanced slope?” he continues to reprimand you. “What’s the point in being this smart if you’re not going to use common sense―”
You burst into tears.
You cry for many reasons: the sheer terror you’d been trying to keep at bay finally catches up to you, you’re grateful to be alive, you’re upset that Donghyuck is scolding you, you’re happy that Donghyuck is scolding you, and most of all, you know he’s right. He’s right, and you’re glad he’s right. You’re glad that he’s standing in front of you.
“You’re such a dick,” you wail, “I can’t believe you’re yelling at me when I almost died. Why can’t you just comfort me like a normal human with empathy?”
Donghyuck grows quiet, and you see his expression soften. Sighing, he reaches over and swipes the tears from your face. When you sniffle, he takes his expensive cashmere scarf and wipes your nose with it. He doesn’t even blink at the snot on it as he cups your frozen cheeks with his gloved hands. Grinning evilly, he squishes your face together, a mush of tears, snot, and puffiness.
“I’ve never wanted you more,” he teases.
“I’m going to kill you,” you grumble, shoving his hands away. Though you do find solace in the fact that he’s making fun of you again.
Your colleagues call the two of you over for help, and you make your way to Karina, who’s still unable to get up.
“Hyuck, do you mind carrying her back to the resort?” One of them asks, their hands too full with Karina’s skis and their own emergency supplies that they brought.
Donghyuck hesitates for a moment, his eyes inadvertently flashing towards you, before he kneels down and turns his back to Karina as he prepares to give her a piggy-back ride.
“I’m heavy,” Karina warns as she carefully climbs on.
“Don’t worry, I do five pushups a week,” he replies breezily, and despite his joking, he stands to his feet without a problem.
She laughs at that, sounding like an angel descending from the heavens.
He adjusts her thighs in his arms slightly, pausing to ask, “That didn’t hurt your ankle, did it?”
She shakes her head, and he says something else that makes her laugh again.
It’s not that you’re jealous that he’s carrying Karina. After all, she’s injured, so it would be a bit obnoxious to be upset over something that isn’t anyone’s fault. And it’s not like you’re any more special to him than Karina.
No, this feeling isn’t jealousy. It’s…uncertainty.
You’re uncertain that he would do the same for you if you were in Karina’s position. Has he ever reassured you with such ease like he did with her? Has he ever treated you like you were made of glass? Has he ever spoken to you so tenderly like that?
You suddenly feel so cold.
Three.
When you get back to the resort, there’s an ambulance waiting to take you and Karina to the hospital for a checkup. You try to tell everyone that you don’t need to go to the hospital, but your colleagues, Karina, and the paramedics insist on you doing so.
“Your glove is torn.”
Before you can even register his words, Donghyuck is holding your hand and flipping your palm over. The fabric of your right glove is ripped, exposing the tip of your pointer finger. You must’ve scraped it against something in the middle of all the chaos because there’s some dried blood caked around your nail.
“You should go,” he says softly, giving your hand an encouraging squeeze before letting go.
Once Karina is properly settled on the gurney, you’re ushered into the ambulance after her. As the doors close behind you, you catch Donghyuck’s eyes one last time. You don’t get to see what his expression is because you look away almost immediately, focusing your gaze on your finger.
Now that the adrenaline has worn off, it does sting a little.
Two.
.
.
.
Once the hospital finally discharges you and Karina in the middle of the night, the two of you call an Uber back to the resort and clumsily stumble up to your room like two people that just came home after a long night of partying, completely exhausted.
You’re so busy fumbling with your room key and nearly miss the gift that someone has set in front of your door. Picking it up, you realize it’s one of those hot chocolate sets that come with a cute little mug and are wrapped in holographic plastic. There’s also a separate bag of marshmallows beside it.
You don’t really examine it that much, simply handing it off to Karina.
“Looks like you’ve got a secret admirer.”
One.
Karina doesn’t notice the note tucked into the holographic plastic until she’s hobbling to the trashcan to throw it away.
happy new year! maybe i’ll grow on you :)
She turns to you to ask you about it, but you’re already tucked in bed fast asleep. Shrugging, she crumples the note up and tosses it away without another thought.
“Happy New Year,” she whispers to you before crawling in bed herself.
It’s a shame you didn’t get to see the fireworks.
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ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2022 sun’s up too soon like daylight savings, mixed emotions are congregating 
“I’m hungry,” you whine, jolting awake and hitting your head against the hard leather headrest on your seat.
“Probably because you emptied out the contents of your stomach onto my Air Jordans,” He Who Shall Not Be Named says wryly.  
You ignore him, getting distracted by the hot dog vendor that you drive by.
“I like hot dogs,” you say absentmindedly.
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HALLOWEEN 2021 picturing us in all these places, ahead of myself’s an understatement
You just wanted to get away from the crowd, really.
The party was getting a little stuffy, and it’s pretty easy to get overheated when you’re in a thick Teletubby onesie. You and Karina had the bright idea of dressing as the purple and red Teletubby, but neither of you considered just how hot it would get.
So, that’s why you’re wandering around the dim hallways of the office, munching on a handful of candy―only to end up hearing a conversation you shouldn’t have.
“You are my biggest failure.” That’s Mr. Lee’s voice, hushed but angry.
“More than my mom? I’m honored.” It’s Donghyuck this time. He laughs, a bitter and choked sound.
You nearly yelp when the sound of a loud slap echoes down the hallway. No one else talks after that, and you only hear the sound of footsteps walking away.
Actually, walking away sounds like an absolutely amazing idea, so you turn on your heel to make a quick escape―
And of course, on today of all days, you fuck up.
All of the candy that you had been clutching to your chest slips from your sweaty palms, clattering to the floor. Every single clatter makes you shrink further and further into yourself, and you have no choice but to step out from the corner you were hiding in.
In probably one of the most poorly-timed situations of all time, you have to face Donghyuck while dressed as the purple Teletubby, and he has to face you while dressed as a hot dog―right after you just involuntarily witnessed a glimpse of his strained familial relationships.
“Hi,” you greet awkwardly, gesturing to all the candy that just fell on the floor. “You, uh, want some candy?”
When he looks at you, all the words die in your throat. There’s a red mark on his cheek, and he looks like a little boy again. He stares at you like a deer in headlights, a mixture of horror, embarrassment, and frustration all over his face. He seems so lost and alone, and you don’t know what to do to help him.
“No thanks, Tinky Winky,” he finally replies. He gives you a half-smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.
“What?” You blink.
“You’re dressed as the purple Teletubby, and you don’t even know his name?” He raises an eyebrow as he sits down on the floor, leaning against the wall.
“I think it’s weirder that you do know his name,” you try to tease.
He doesn’t react to that, and you just stand there. Not wanting to leave him alone, you squat down and start to pick up the candy on the floor to keep yourself busy.
“You should go back to the party,” Donghyuck says quietly.
“It’s too hot,” you complain.
“Y/N.”
“Wanna watch Twilight?” you suddenly ask.
He stares at you for what seems like forever, his expression unreadable as he searches your face. After a bit longer, he just says, “Okay.”
You gather up the rest of the candy before taking a seat on the floor right next to him, brushing your shoulder against his. Pulling out your phone, you open the Netflix app and start to play Twilight.
You pretend you don’t feel him trembling, and you tell yourself he’s crying because he knows Bella will eventually choose Edward over Jacob. The two of you watch in complete silence; he doesn’t explain, and you don’t ask.
Instead, you push your hood off so you don’t poke him in the face with your triangle antenna and lean your head against his shoulder. Then, you lace your fingers through his and hold his hand without a word.
A hot dog and Tinky Winky the purple Teletubby watching Twilight, who would’ve thought?
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ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2022 sun’s up too soon like daylight savings, mixed emotions are congregating
“I hate you, Lee Donghyuck.”
He doesn’t say anything to that.
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CHRISTMAS 2021 outlines on bedsides, give me a second to forget i ever really meant it
It happened on the last day of work before Christmas break.
You gawk at the opened box in your hands, a pair of fluffy white angora gloves wrapped in fancy wrapping paper staring back up at you. Even though there’s no receipt included, you already know that these gloves cost more than three month’s worth of rent for your apartment.
“Did you steal these? Is that why you’re giving them to me? So you can frame me for your crime?” you ask suspiciously.
“Please,” he rolls his eyes, “as if I’d let you take the credit for any one of my crimes.”
You carefully take the gloves out before tossing the box at him. Catching it deftly and handing it back to you, he pretends to wipe away a tear dramatically.
“I went through the trouble of remembering how your gloves were ripped during the ski trip, so I meticulously picked these out for you,” he whines. “And I can’t believe you’re now questioning my goodwill.”
That makes you pause.
Is he talking about those cheap gloves that you used only once for that disastrous ski trip and then threw out immediately afterwards? The gloves that you haven’t thought about once since then? The gloves that you had to rack your brain to recall when he started talking about them just moments before? You can’t believe he remembered something so random.
Why did he remember?
It’s a question that haunts you on the entire plane ride back to your hometown and follows you throughout all of your family dinners and even when you’re lying awake on your cramped childhood bed.
It’s a question that both baffles and angers you at the same time. You wish he didn’t remember, and you wish he never gave you those gloves in the first place. The company is always generous to their employees around the holidays, and you know that this isn’t anything special, but it makes you feel special. It makes you want to be special. To him.
He is just a pretty boy. A pretty boy that likes indie bands and wears rings on his fingers and metal-rimmed glasses on the tip of his nose. A pretty boy that likes League of Legends and Studio Ghibli and Twilight and that one Hallmark movie you once caught him watching in the break room. A pretty boy that drinks black coffee. A pretty boy that drives a red Ferrari. A pretty boy that gave you a ride in that red Ferrari when it was raining. A pretty boy that looked for you for an hour during a snowstorm. A pretty boy that dressed as a hot dog for Halloween. A pretty boy that gave you expensive gloves because he remembered.
When did he go from Pretty Boy to Donghyuck?
But he can’t be Donghyuck. He can’t just be Donghyuck to you. Because that would be too real, too unrestrained. Because Donghyuck makes Karina laugh, so he can’t make you laugh. There needs to be decorum, after all. If he’s just Donghyuck, then what happens after?
That’s right. He can’t be Donghyuck. From now on, you won’t say his name. You’ll only know him as He Who Shall Not Be Named.
.
.
.
It happens when your mom tells you to take the casserole out of the fridge.
You see it, that traitorous pack of hot dog sausages.
You think back to Halloween, and then―
Oh my God, I like him.
“What the fuck,” you groan loudly.
That gets you a couple of gasps from your elderly relatives and an asswhooping from your mom.
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ONE DAY AFTER ST. PATRICK’S DAY 2022 ― PRESENT fast times and fast nights, no time for rewrites
For the record, Donghyuck was not looking at Karina.
And if you’d stop avoiding him like the plague, he would be able to explain that to you.
He honestly applauds your ability to ignore the elephant in the room, considering that his cubicle is right next to yours. You’ve continuously managed to give yourself more work or conveniently slip away to the bathroom during any moment of down time. His patience is honestly starting to grow thin, but you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t wear it down to the wire.
Donghyuck finally manages to hunt you down in the same hallway where you threw up on his shoes. It’s hilariously ironic, and he would normally make a joke about it, but he’s in a bit of a time crunch. You look like a spooked cat, preparing to dart away the moment there’s an opening.
“Surely, someone as smart as you is aware that you can’t just avoid me forever.” He tilts his head.
“Well, if you move, we can find out if I can or not,” you reply, refusing to look at him and trying to walk past him.
“How’s your hangover?” he asks cheerfully, stepping to the side and blocking your way.
“Awful.”
“Do you remember what happened last night?”
“No,” you say instantly. You’re such a terrible liar.
“You said you hated me,” he starts softly. He isn’t sure why he’s saying this. This isn’t what he wanted to talk about first. The order is getting jumbled in his head. “Do you?”
You suck in a wobbly breath. “No.”
It doesn’t hit him until after your answer how deathly afraid he was of you hating him. He has grown so desensitized to the word “hate,” yet it’s only when it comes to the person he cares about the most that the gravity of that word becomes so apparent.
“I like you, Y/N.”
This isn’t exactly the grand declaration of love that he was imagining; he was thinking more along the lines of The Notebook or any romcom from the early to mid-2000s, but it felt like the right time to just say it now.
Your reaction isn’t exactly what he had in mind either.
You’re gawking at him like he just grew another head. He isn’t sure why you’re so surprised; he hasn’t exactly been subtle about his crush on you.
“No, you don’t,” you say in an accusatory tone. Leave it up to you to even argue with him on his own feelings.
Now it’s his turn to gawk. “What?”
“You don’t like me,” you state firmly, but it sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself. “How could you like me?”
Donghyuck raises an eyebrow, and he starts listing off reasons with his fingers. “I start a fight with you every morning because I want to have an excuse to talk to you, I bring you coffee everyday, I drove you to my client’s office in the middle of a storm so you could take back said client, I nearly shat my pants when they said you were missing at the ski resort and also bought you hot chocolate and a huge bag of marshmallows for New Years, and you were the only one I gave a Christmas present to last year.”
“You bought the hot chocolate and marshmallows?” You blink in surprise.
“Is that all you got from what I just said?”
“But Karina―”
Oh, right. He wanted to say this first.
“I wasn’t looking at Karina,” Donghyuck finally confesses, “I was looking at you. It’s always been you.”
That’s right, it’s only ever been you.
The stupid green “Kiss me, I’m Irish” shirt. Your smeared lip gloss that he wanted to kiss right off. The sparkly stickers all over your cheeks that made you look absolutely adorable. The way you buried your face into his shirt. How you fit right into his arms. Even when you threw up all over his favorite pair of shoes, there was no place Donghyuck would rather be.
Do you think I’m pretty? you had asked him.
Yes, you’re pretty. You’re so pretty that he feels like his heart will stop every time he lays his eyes on you. You’re so pretty that he can’t even think about the seasons without thinking about you and how you’re so much more beautiful than autumn, winter, spring and summer and anything in between. There’s never been a moment when you weren’t stunningly, breathtakingly, and heart-stoppingly pretty in his eyes.
“But―But that doesn’t make any sense,” you sputter, “You can’t like me!”
“Why not?”
“Because you just can’t.”
“Do you like me?”
“Yes―no! Regardless, you can’t just suddenly decide you like me―” you begin to explain.
“I’ve always liked you,” he points out.
“We’ve spent four years hating each other, and now all of sudden, we like each other? It’s too abrupt―”
“Y/N.” Donghyuck reaches over and grasps your wrist, his warm fingers against your even warmer skin as his thumb traces circles against the back of your hand. “Will you go out with me?”
When he looks at you, you have the same expression on your face as when he first met you and caught you staring at his Twilight poster. Your eyes dart around nervously, your pulse pounding against his fingertips, and he knows he has his answer.
“Okay,” you breathe.
He sighs, coiling an arm around your waist and pulling your body flush against his. Leaning his forehead against yours, he whispers, “Now was that so fucking hard?”
He kisses you, and you taste like everything he’s ever dreamed of and more.
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anarchy-and-piglins · 7 months
Text
"I know it's probably not as good as whatever your private chef could cook up for you," Phil says. "But I promise there's no poison in it or anything."
"Great," Techno mutters and picks up a fork. They got rid of the zip ties, so that's an improvement. He's not as thrilled about having his leg chained to the wall. The reach is far enough that he can walk around the room pretty easily. But he wouldn't be able to walk out the door, even if it wasn't locked. Which it always is.
Phil sits on the other chair across from him and pretends to tap away on his phone. Actually, he keeps glancing at Techno every few seconds in an almost calculated way. Techno doesn't like it - it reminds him of the way some politicians would look at his Dad during debates.
After picking at the food for a minute and wondering if Phil's use of the word "poison" was deliberate and the food could still be drugged with sedatives or something, Techno puts some of it in his mouth. It's pretty good, but that might also be because he hasn't eaten anything for two days and is starved.
Phil smiles pleasantly at him.
Techno looks at his plate. "They haven't paid, have they?" he asks.
Phil's smile doesn't fall. If he wasn't already kidnapping the children of high-profile senators as his job, the guy might have a decent career in poker.
"Nope." Phil crosses his arms on the table. "Are you going to say 'I told you so' now?"
There's a challenge in those eyes, cold and blue. Techno knows he should not mess with the person who has a gun and blood still stuck under his nails.
Yet, he can't help himself.
"Nah. But for the record, I did tell you so."
Phil's grin gets impossibly wider. "You did."
Techno puts the fork down. Maybe he isn't as hungry as he thought.
"Are you going to kill me then?"
Phil stares at him. Stares through him almost. Thinking hard about the answer.
Techno realizes he's not scared. Or maybe he is - he's scared Phil will say no.
“Not yet,” Phil answers eventually. “Sometimes people need a little… encouragement. To make the right decisions.”
“What, are you going to cut my fingers off one by one and send them to my parents?” Techno chuckles, dry and without humor. “You should know that will just have the opposite effect.”
Phil’s expression does not change, eerily calm. But there is more intensity when he looks at Techno then, a burning curiosity. Like everything will depend on Techno’s response to his next question. “How so?”
“A damaged heir won’t be any use to them.”
Clearly, that was the right answer.
“I think I’ll go down and have a little one-on-one with them then,” Phil says as he pushes back his chair and stands up. “They can give me their final answer to my face.”
Techno sits up straighter. He feels incredibly helpless, watching Phil head to the door with no way to stop him. “And what if they still refuse to pay?”
“If they tell me to fuck off, that’s fine.” Phil pulls the gun from his waistband. “You know what they say. Finder’s keepers and all.”
(same AU as this one)
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lariej · 2 years
Text
people have been sharing posts and thoughts today but i just want to put out an extra thank you and MAJOR respect to technoblade’s father
to deliver techno’s final words as he did, allowing techno’s personality to come through even though he wasn’t speaking the words directly, as well as to sit and record the video for him, for his son, would take so much strength i couldn’t even begin to imagine
props to technodad, major respect to the man and i hope their family is doing as well as they can in this time
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lowkeyrobin · 2 months
Note
hi hi!! could i get cricket crew (those a-okay with xreaders) with a reader who’s like a pro gamer, maybe reader is also a streamer? somethin along the lines of that pretty please 🦕
ahhh yes of course!! I recognize you mwahahha, lmk if you'd like to be addressed as 🦕 anon btw bc I can't tell if you used it in a silly way like how I use 🛒🛒🛒 somwtimes or as a way to address yourself LMAO no worries tho 🫶🫶🫶
HANDSOME BROS ; pro gamer era
includes ; ranboo, tommyinnit, tubbo & badlinu
warnings ; language, mention of Dream
masterlist
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TOMMYINNIT
he's been your biggest fan since day one, literally
he just so happened to be one of the first couple viewers you pulled while you began speedrunning minecraft
eventually you guys became friends and stuff
he literally watched your speedruns go from an hour and a half to half an hour so quickly
and over that time he's been boosting your stuff and everything
you ofc make other content and collab w other streamers, mostly Tommy and his friends
one time, you get a speedrun down to 25:03, your best so far and he's in a vc w you with your stream pulled up
literally screams when he sees the ender dragon explode into xp
"HOLY FUCKING SHIT, YOU GOT DOWN TO 25 MINUTES, THAT WAS SO GOOD, OH MY GOD, Y/N/N!"
you sit there like "omg I just did that that's my best record ever"
afterwards you play roblox for a bit with him (meep city) and throw a party to celebrate
you meet a bunch of viewers/chatters/fans as well bc you publicized yours and Tommy's usernames so they could join your server
"You're a pro now, y/n! even better than Dream!"
if he was right next to you rn, he'd be giving you the biggest kiss in the whole world
you'd been spending so, so long to get below a half hour or so and even just 5 minutes below that made you so ecstatic, same with him lmao
he literally makes 40 tweets about it and posts about it on his Instagram story
he also doordashes you some fast food + like three large waters
he's literally your biggest fan ❤️❤️❤️
when I tell you he's so fucking sweet to you
he's fully aware you're very serious with your video games and you try to be the best you possibly can
like he'll come over while you're training for a valorant competition with foolish & punz and just hang out behind you and watch
he'll go to snapchat and snap aimsey a pic of u grinding on valorant with the caption "look who's grinding valorant again"
star will respond with a "Jesus Christ how many hours do they have on there??"
he'll reply with a video of him asking
"how many hours do you have on valorant? like, all time"
you didnt even hesitate or think before you replied with "253"
"HOLY SHIT DONT YOU THINK YOURE GOOD ENOUGH?"
"amount of hours doesn't equal skill, tommy"
TUBBO
you're like a pro bedwars player istg
like techno and purpled type pro
he plays with you sometimes but he mostly cheers you on
the 18 in a row win streak?? holy shit that was a celebration in itself
he was in your chat spamming "HOLY SHAUT Y/N" "OMG PLS PPSK PLS PLS GRWT TO 19" "HOYKEHIT"
he can't even type he's so excited for you
you end up losing that streak to an adrenaline rushed bad move
next time you won't rush yellow 💀
months later, once you got to a 19 streak he was actually on vc with you and started getting your chat to become your cheerleaders
literally had 45000 cheerleaders for a bedwars streak + him who made a whole chant????
when you actually won the 19th you just freaked the fuck out
you couldn't even bare trying to get to 20 because you were shaking so much and you'd end up fucking up
you literally show your stream your shaking legs and hands
the entirety of your chair was soaked in stress sweat from your thighs 💀💀💀
he's seriously your biggest fan
everytime you do something relatively pro-gamer-esque he makes at least 5 tweets, a YouTube community post, and a post on his insta for ppl to go watch it and how awesome you are
he makes complications of your best bedwars moments on an alt YouTube account too LMAO
he did a lot of math but rounded up that you had 150 or so hours of bedwars streamed, plus the hours of grinding skill you'd done off camera
"only 150??"
dude even chat is somehow surprised
makes you a whole poster and brings it to your house to celebrate your 19 win streak its so cute
it's made a feature on every stream since because it's up on the wall right behind you and in perfect view for everyone to see 🫶
RANBOO
good god they're actually worried something is wrong with you
no way super Mario odyssey can be so fun to you
speedruns went from maybe 2 hours down to 58ish mins or so in just a couple months
you were friends prior, but you got back into smo and got addicted with trying glitches and bugs you knew about
once you reached like 58:05, (about 13th on the leaderboard) you quit
good lord there was no getting better lmao
then came the challenge to get all the moons and speedrunning the dark side & darker side of the moon
they got on a vc with you while you were collecting moons so you could deal w a lot of distraction, and asked you to check the hours time
the way this shit said 834 hours.
the amount of joke-yelling and "I'm not mad just disappointed" convo came out of that
"It's not my fault the game is fun!"
"that's more than a year! that's nearly two straight years!"
"I've been playing it since release in my defense. I probably grinded up half of that within the past year or two though to be honest"
never the less, they always cheer you on and always have to boost your content
for the leaderboards, you're around 70th place on the dark side, about two hours, and for the darker side, around 80th, so about 3 and a half hours
they literallt watched you do 10+ hour streams and got on vc to voice concerns of burnout or scoliosis
"I'm fine! shit! damnit!"
"Chat please tell them to go sleep, this is wild. go play Mario kart with Bill at least"
"Yeah, come play Mario Kart with me!"
"where the fuck did you come from, I didn't even hear you join???"
"I've been here for half an hour!?"
BADLINU
you're freakishly amazing at building in the Sims 4
like dude you're an idol in the Sims community it's so weird
you build like those humongous mansions and find new furniture glitches and new designs and share them and stuff
dude don't even get me started on your sims
most the time you make your friends but they're never inaccurate
you can dedicate a five hour stream just making the fucking characters dude
he'll sit next to you so you can properly make his face and he'll get all tingly in his head as he watches
when you're making a giant new build he'll tweet about it like 4 times and leave a link to your stream LMAO
"guys go watch y/ns stream they have polls set so you guys can actually decide on design choices"
he's actually your biggest fan omg
he'll be in your chat like "omg hi y/n"
"Hey Freddie!"
joins a vc with you and starts absolutely bombarding you with compliments
dude can't go one stream without taking 372882 screenshots of you
"Dude how do you have motivation for this?"
"It's fun! if I can't be a designer in real life then I'll be one in the digital world motherfucker"
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you-need-not-apply · 5 months
Text
What are you favourite artists really getting paid?
A comparison of streaming platforms
Music plays an incredible part in shaping our society. From protest songs, educational rhymes, folk, classical, rock, techno, indie and disco music, it shapes our world view in a unique and powerful way. The way of listening to music has changed dramatically over the last one hundred and fifty years, from live bands on corners, to the invention of the radio, record players, CD’s, tapes, electronic music and now live streaming.
However, in a world where everything is about profit and popularity, the competition between streaming services is stiff. The pay ranges from awful to poor and as the algorithm evolves to recommend new artists to you, who is really making the most money?
The obvious answer is the streaming platform itself. Spotify wracked in a $18.68 billion (AUD) revenue in 2022 alone. Although Spotify don’t post their net profit, they did report a $391.2 (AUD) million loss in 2022, assuming this loss came from their initial revenue, Spotify should, theoretically, have made a staggering $18.28 billion dollar profit.
This leads us to the artists themselves, with such a large amount of profit and roughly 11 million artists on Spotify, we can only assume that split evenly and leaving a $2 billion (AUD)  dollar profit for Spotify themselves that each artist would be paid an average of $1480 AUD per year.
This is not the case. Spotify pays around $0.003 - $0.005 USD per stream, a pitiful amount. In fact, per 100,000 streams on Spotify an artist can only hope to gain around $300 - $500 USD. On top of this already insanely low number, Spotify practices a 70/30 model with an average of 70% of profit going to the artists themselves, while they take an additional 30%. This leaves us with around $210 - $350 USD profit.  The remaining royalties are then divided between the songwriters, publishers, and owners of the master recording. This could include the artist themselves, but it could also be the label they're signed to, leaving an even smaller profit for the artists themselves.
One of the most popular artists in the world, Taylor Swift, makes around $0.0043 USD per stream on her music. The highest paid artist, Drake, makes around $0.0049 USD per stream on his music. To be considered for having a ‘good number of streams’, an artist needs around 10,000 to 50,000 monthly listeners, however only 213,000 artists have hit this threshold out of the initial 11 million we discussed earlier.
In conclusion, Spotify is a scam. Buy physical items, such as CDs, records, merch, concert tickets etc, to truly support your favourite artist. And for god’s sake, don’t use Spotify
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normal-internet-user · 11 months
Note
As promised, pumpkin pie! (/p) Here's my two cents for our favorite kiddo reader. The heir of Apocalypse!Peepaw Leo. The edgelord (and rightfully so!) turned dork nugget and their kooky adventures because I say so >:3
– ˚ ༘ ೀ⋆。˚ Adopted Reader Fluff!!! My serve!! (probs a smidgen of angst bc this one specific scenario has been rotating in my head & i definitely meant to include it in the headcanons last night but, as previously mentioned, my eyes felt like they were gonna fall out 🥴) ˚ ༘ ೀ⋆。˚
p.s , I am also listening to the Goofy Movie soundtrack, specifically Stand Out + I 2 I which are my faves!!! Tevin Campbell did not have to go that hard. Highly recommend.
💌🧚‍♀️💗🌨🥡🍥
Even More Reader Post-Movie Headcanons!
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈
Okay so
I really wanna start out with the scenario that I am positively aching to show you bc I really wanna know what you think, ANDDD I think it weaves in so well with the repairing (or rather, building) of Reader and Leo’s relationship in this timeline!
But, we’ll get there. 😉
After the events of the movie, everything is still raw. Not only are we recovering from a literal war, but all the issues that come with coping with a timeline that we aren’t used to – a timeline we’ve only heard nostalgic regalings of from Papa, lullabies and tall tales and stories meant to keep up some sort of hope and light in the midst of the darkness they lived in day by day, as well as in the mystic projections of Uncle Michelangelo 
. . . but now?
Seeing it in all its prime and modern-day glory?
It’s so, so beautiful.
Reader can’t and would never deny that. 
It’s vibrant. It’s colorful. It’s free. It’s such a far cry from the blood-red skies and dilapidated wastelands they grew up with. The ruins were their "sunny skies and rolling fields" so to speak.
Now that they are here. In the flesh? 
It’s. A lot to handle. 
Reader is wrecked, for sure. 
Casey is too! He’s just better at handling– hiding? Coping.
He’s more open and excited and gentle and polite and cheerful and.
We learn a lot from him as time goes on.
#caseythenationaltreasure
I like to imagine that Casey is a really big help in Reader’s journey to peace; not only within and with themself, but with the people around them too.
Eventually, 
Sure, it’s still a bit awkward with everyone; you guys are kids from the future stuck in a different timeline - with the people who raised you and they're the same age as y'all! What more could you DO to them? (/lh)
Ah. But they’ve got their family. and it’s no joke that they’re a big help!!
Mikey is in his Prime as Doctor Feelings and scheduled regular sessions with Reader bc his EQ is very sharp, as we all know, and he notices just how bad Reader wants to come to terms with everything, and he wants to help. He does help. A lot.
Donnie is ever the 'tism with the emotional constipation (/aff) but he helps and provides in his own little special Donnie ways!
Even if he may not outright say it all the time, he cares and loves his family so so much and he'd do anything for them.
He sets Reader up with some fun and unique techno-cool gifts that help them with things they don't speak up about;
– – like upgrading their mask to have a panoramic-projection so they can put a whole visual to the audio recordings and playbacks stashed in the device memory (only if they want tho! he won't touch it otherwise :'3)
He pretends like he's not hanging on to Reader's every little word when they do engage in casual conversation [which becomes more and more frequent as time goes by!] under the guise of typing on his phone or smth,
and takes those tidbits to create something so heartwarmingly thoughtful and faceted that we may as well just take a big ole stamp that says "You're Not Fooling Anyone With That Bad Boy Persona" and bash it on that forehead of his. JSJSJ (lovingly ofc :*)
Speaking of panorama-projectors, I can see him making it to interchangeable sceneries!
I'm talking about galaxies and solar systems (feeds into Reader's crow tendencies *sniff sniff* soooo many shiny thingssss)
Deep-sea oceans like Ariel's cove-esque or Pandora's sea settings from Avatar
Or even peaceful golden hills and orchards, just them and the big blue sky, the sound of the breeze dancing and larks singing in their ears.
... whatever they want, Don makes it happen.
He definitely takes Mikey's artsy avenues and teams up with him so they can surprise the Future Kids together!
– – 🩵🩶 Casey and Reader fall asleep curled up together in a pillow fort with the projector playing, and it's the best sleep they've gotten since the sleepovers with their Papa.
made myself cry thinkin' that up *sobs*
And isn't Uncle / Big Bro Raphie such a sweetheart during it all? He's the rock of the family, but he's learning to let the family in a lot more. He's learning to not be so "overbearing", especially with his Protective Instincts flying off the handle since the battle. Sure he can be heavy-handed, but he just wants to keep his family safe. And he always has! He always will. He heals to a comfortable place with time, and while he'll always be everyone's rock, you all are there for him too.
Family is stronger together, and-
You all reassure him of that.
In quiet moments, rare moments when it's just him and Reader – they tell him just that. Their hand is comically small on his forearm, but their eyes are earnest; they stare up at him with a sparkle of admiration. They'd only heard stories regaled fondly by their surviving family members, often accompanied them when they visited his shell on the wall lit by candles.
– meeting their uncle, so young but endlessly strong, is a fickle kind of honor. But still an honor.
(and Raphie may or may not have cried whenever Reader gets him right in the feels hurk-)
Reader and Casey get spoiled rotten (i.e: given the basic necessities to which they did not have access to in their timeline sjjsshahahd) by their family nonetheless!!
UGhhghghh imagine it with me, Normie!
Bubble baths! Warm, cozy clothes! Books that weren't rotting, charred, or furled at the edges! Taking them to comic book stores! Convenience stores! The park! The WATERPARK! The mall!! Introducing them to music and headphones/earbuds to match! Conventions and cons! Amusement parks! Ice cream parlors! Casual strolls throughout New York and doing all these things!
Oh and don't get me started on the adventures they get into in The Hidden City!! :DDD
....
seriously, don't–
foreshadowing -thickens-
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*ahem*
In all honesty, the whole clan becomes clingy with each other post-Invasion. That goes w/o saying.
Even Case and Reader, despite the initial tension, have little to no qualms with being pulled into Turtle Piles, nor all the casual affection that comes with healing and growing together!!
It's odd but sweet :')
—Casey and Reader eventually grow out of always seeing the guys as uncles/aunties/parental figures (save for Splints + Draxy + etc.), it becomes more sibling-like in a way!
But they'll always be just as close.
They were just that in their timeline.
But that timeline is lost.
And scary as it may be, they're building themselves a new life. A better life. It's what Papa would have wanted.
So. Why not do just that? :')
>> fam that gets traumatized together STAYS together (/gen)😤
Tragedy brings them closer in ways they didn't think it would.
the awkwardness between reader & leo melts into something more mellow, and we owe a big part of that to Casey!
He's their bridge. Seeing as he's closer to Leo at the given time, he hangs out with his sibbie and Leo at the same time so that they can hang together too. >:3c
Such a genius boy ueueu.
— and before they know it, Reader and Lee-Lee are actually bonding really well. It takes time, and there are withdrawals and setbacks along the way, but it is those obstacles that pave the way for something strong. Something true, honorable, pure, and real.
The reader knows — you know, glory do you know ... that this may not be your Papa.
But maybe...
Maybe that's okay.
You had him. You had Casey. You had your family, the ones once lost to fates beyond your control, and now here you were.
You had all won.
And if that in of itself wasn't something to celebrate with every breath you took,
—you would have given up on that war all that time ago.
Reader and Leo come to a mutual ground with one another.
Let's come to a place where they're more than civil with each other; Leo adores casual affection, and Reader does too— they just weren't willing to give way for such in the beginning.
But it's not unusual to see Leo and them curled up next to each other. Most of the time, Casey's with them too! But in the rare times he isn't, Reader and Leo are comfortable and just doing their own thing.
Like they'll be reading a book, or playing on a handheld device (game, Switch, phone, etc. they're amazed by present-day technology) and Lee's got a comic book,
or he's resting his head close to theirs while he guides them through what they may be doing on their fun little screen.
Leo finds a comfort in you, and you find a comfort in him— once you both let each other in.
All the time it took was worth it :')
I can see them being the most annoyingly caustic yet affectionate besties SNSNJJSJSJ biiig "only I get to make fun of them >:(" energy
or a complete opposite:
once we get past all the vitriol, they're so soft for each other hhhh-
Like Reader becomes fairly protective over him; handles him gently with small smiles and murmured words, helps him out and gives the best muscle massages or is quick to redress and assist when he's smarting from his wounds, knows him well enough to comfort him through panic attacks, indulges in his stupid jokes and puns bc he raised them, hello.
They bounce off each other for hours—
the rest of the guys have resorted to begging, multiple times jsjsj.
and Leo, by this time he knows how much Reader meant- means to him, but he doesn't try to take their Papa's place; he's not scared of them, he does learn to love them /p, and tries to translate that in the most respectful yet straightforward way possible,
and that helped their growing relationship a lot!
He rough-houses (gently) and spars with them, teases them just enough to see their flustered expression, annoys them affectionately — but is the first to come to their defense when someone else gets too cozy.
A lot like a best friend or a sibling.
... He also cuddles and slings his arm around their shoulders and gives the best bear hugs (when they want/need). He reads to them- either one of his comics or one of their acquired books- when they can't sleep or just needs something to hear other than the overbearing voices in their head. He always eats with them, introducing them to new foods he thinks they'd like and giving them the bigger portion (when they get used to stomaching it ofc). Holds their hand. Protects them from the small things and encourages them with the big things, because he knows they can handle it and they just need that little nudge. And to know that someone is right behind them the whole time.
All that good stuff.
(and Casey is so jazzed two of his favorite people are getting along so well aaaa!!)
—hey or maybe it's a healthy mix of both!! ♡₊˚ yeahhhhh.
big BIG ride-or-die energy. I like to imagine that (ㅠ﹏ㅠ)
At the end of the day, they'd die for each other all over again. It gets to THAT point.
Both figuratively and literally.
One milestone in their bond took place and in a way nobody really saw coming—
They were in the Hidden City, stopping by Señor Hueso's for some good grub,
but Leo's leg was pinching a bit more today, and Reader felt a migraine coming on; they wanted to get back home for Mikey's Miracle Migraine Tea, maybe a scalp massage if they pulled the puppy eyes the aforementioned taught them in the future (they don't need to. he'd do it at the drop of a hat. they just like to be eggstra 💅🏼),
so they're both kinda rushing this little outing. Reader's a touch grouchy and their notorious RBF makes a whole comeback, but Leo knows them well enough to know it's not directed at him. He feels for ya, and he sticks close as you both wait for your pickup order to come through.
Then, out of nowhere, some gigantuan yokai comes skulking over.
Reader notices immediately, having folded to lay their head on the cool countertop at the pickup counter; Leo was rubbing up and down their back in comforting circles, smiling down at them with warm, sympathetic eyes as he tries to distract them from their discomfort. He was too focused on them to notice.
and when they spot the glint in the yokai's eyes, they can practically smell the sinister intention as they stride over to them. They're looking for something they had no business to.
Reader tenses, hackles raised and fingers twitching where they gripped the forearms of their hoodie, and their eyes gleam as they peek out from under their hood.
Leo, who thinks they're about to be sick, frets and gently maneuvers them to sit on a nearby stool; he doesn't see the yokai until he's being clapped on the shoulder - the one that's sore, conveniently so - and nearly jumps out of his skin when he whirls on them.
This yokai - stocky, menacing, and a sadistic air about them, simply chuckles and cocks their head at the duo. They're wearing a server's uniform. Reader and Leo both realize it at once-- Reader with dread and Leo with (miscalculated) relief: they're an employee.
Anyways, Leo is put-off by this sudden intrusion of personal space and onslaught of bad vibes, but he's the Face Man and naturally a people person, so he greets them casually and asks if he can help them.
Alongside the incessant ringing in their ears that's their warning before disaster, alarm bells started going off in their head.
They can't really discern what Leo and this bum are saying at this point - everything was fuzzy and garbled like they were underwater; even from their vulnerability sprawled out over the countertop, Reader can tell from their body language that the convo is going in a very wrong direction,
especially when Leo is suddenly shoved back- too hard- and lands in a graceless heap on the floor behind them.
Your mind goes blank. A mindset that was wired into your being from birth – one you haven't had to enter for a while – burns your mind and chest and the alarm bells are deafening, even more so than the sudden uproar of commotion happening vaguely around you.
You're not focused on them. You become laser-focused on the yokai behind you, and between one breath and the next, you're out of your seat and tackling the yokai with a snarl, and you're beating the ever-loving spirits out of them.
You don't stop. You grab at fur and a muzzle, probably a tusk, but you don't care. You don't care, you don't care, you don't care–
– – you're relentless.
All that was in your head was blaring red letters: Protect. Family. Leo. Hurt. Still recovering. Threat. Protect.
Strike.
White-hot rage is pumping through your veins and powering your every strike.
You have them by the nape and slam the yokai's face into the ground muzzle/snout-first; you throw punch after elbow after backhand after punch, even as you feel bone and tendon cracking rather explicitly beneath your knuckles,
and when you're kicked off, rather weakly all things considered–
it doesn't deter you at all.
You use the airborne energy to bounce right back off the countertop (it would ache and bruise like heck later),
rip the stool that you were occupying just moments earlier, clean off its hinges,
and start wailing in on the no-good lowlife bully that thought it beneficial to try your brother.
–– it doesn't stop until the very seat of the stool cracks to shrapnel, the center rolling away like a hubcap, and you're gripping the bar in your hands, heaving like you just ran a marathon.
When the yokai unfolds their arms from shielding their head to peek at you, scrambling to stand, shaking and wide-eyed, your gaze is ferocious.
The skeleton of the once-seat in your hand gets thrown right at their face with a ridiculous strength, and if their muzzle/snout wasn't broken before, it was shattered now.
The yokai shrieks in pain and goes right back down as red iron seeps from their nose, mouth, through their fingers, writhing on the floor-
and you stomp forwards, plant your foot steady in the center of their chest, and press in close until you can see their pupils trembling; that's when you finally speak your first words of the evening:
"Don't you ever come near my brother again. If I see your sorry shank even breathe in his general direction? That stool? The end will find itself shoved right up your pathetic excuse of a voice box. You'd like that, yeah?"
Terrified head shakes and an even more terrified wheeze in response,
"You listen and you listen real good, geezer. I will find you, and a simple warning like this will be the least of your troubles. A warning in which I'm letting you off with, seeing as you're clearly mistaken in your endeavors. Even think of touching Leo, and you deal with this except a thousand times over. It won't be just me. Okay?"
your poorly concealed sadism makes a minor appearance in the sudden change of pitch in your voice and the smarmy grin that stretches your dry lips as you quirk your head and eyebrows in question; when the yokai does nothing but give an immediate jerky nod, you gently pat the side of their face, satisfied.
–which was a lull into a false sense of security, because you shifted your entire body weight and last bit of strength to shove their face back down as you stood up, ignoring their yowl of agony as you did so.
meanwhile everyone in the restaurant be like:🧍
when you came to, everything crashed into you at once: nausea rolled in violent waves in your stomach, the migraine came thrumming full-force, and your ribs creaked as you stumbled over to a shellshocked Leo.
You pulled him up on shaky legs, but much like every patron in the joint, his eyes were trained on the yokai you just obliterated, still writhing on the ground.
Eventually, Senor comes rushing out and, taking in the damage of the scene, demands an explanation. Reader is all-too glad to give it to him, eyes glazed over and voice a lot more calmer than the actual predator they previously were
But once they do, his eyes look over both of them and soften, especially when he takes in how Leo is visibly shaking and Readie looks like they're milliseconds away from passing out.
They get out of there, food in tow, Leo still extremely shell-shocked and Reader worse for wear at what just transpired.
Blue barely manages a portal home- but they do, and when they're safe in the familiarity of the Lair, they both metaphorically collapse.
The night ends with the perturbed fretting of the Clan, but it all boils down to one thing for sure.
Leo has Reader's hand in his, Reader is gripping with the same intensity, and they refuse to be separated for the next few days thereafter.
Anata wa hitori janai.
That is the Hamato way.
oh and that employee never showed up to the restaurant again :D sorry not sorry for using them as collateral for my bebes
more tidbits that came to mind when typing that storm up:
reader's a bad mofo . didn't ya know they were the scourge of the apocalypse? they were clandestinely feared by the kraang. leo kept them under wraps bc he knew how powerful they were. (/j) reader: they protecc, they attacc, but most of all, they gone need ice for they bacc SNRRRTTT
☁️🖇️🥛
HOOOWEEEEE, THAT'LL DO IT– ˚ ༘`✦ ˑ ִֶ 𓂃⊹ I hope you do read all this, sugarcube!! I got kind of carried away, ahaha ^^;; I'm sowwwyyyy!~ But i AM excited to hear your thoughts, whenever that may be! <333
I'm mostly glad I finally got the well-awaited scenario in there!! Basically, Leo has a no-no moment with some lowkey bully and Reader completely overcompensates, even thought they're BOTH still tender from war, yet they go batty-bonkers over his oppression! >:( Don't touch their family!!! The scenario was inspired by a ficlet I read a while ago with Leo in the same situation, but Reader was in Donnie's place :''))) I'll have to find it for ya if you haven't read it yet-
aaa after this, i think i can chill without so much heaviness!! i need to indulge in some crack! some fluff! somethin' now that we've explored the reader and leo's dynamic!! they're the sillies ever and we need more!!
muwah! Hasta la vista, baeby! I'll be back!~ /p
Aaaa goodnight now XD! (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡ Love ya loads, toots!! Enjoy the nomz, haha!🍓❣🍰💌🧸
Ok. First of all, and most importantly, I FREAKIN LOVE THE GOOFY MOVIE IT'S LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVS EVER- AFTER TODAY IS MY FUCKING JAM-
ALSO ON THE OPEN ROAD??? HEHEH
Ahem.
Now that that's out of my system, let the headcanons begin...
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READER'S HEALING PROCESS POST-MOVIE
....................................
Post-movie, after everything calms down, and everyone's just trying to heal,
You definitly open up a bit more.
You'll apologize to everyone for how you acted before,
For being so hostile towards them.
Casey will 100% nudge Leo and you into hanging out together.
It was hard to do since you avoided Leo like the plauge, and he kinda thought you hated him or something.
Casey manages to kill the awkwardness, and now you and Leo go EVERYWHERE together.
Besties for realzies.
Donnie will try to be subtle with his gifting,
Spoiler: he isn't.
Most of the time he'll just leave whatever it is on Reader's bed for them to find with a small note.
He's dissmissive when you thank him too,
"Don't worry about." "It's no big deal."
The projector is now your most prized possesion aside from your mask.
I feel like you always had trouble sleeping in the dark,
In the future it would have been hard to have any kind of nightlight.
Limited resources and all.
So Uncle Michelangelo would fill your and Casey's room with little glowing lights.
Think Gaurdians of The Galaxy when Groot saves everyone, the little balls of light?
So thats what you usually project into the room.
And obviously you and Casey will have the occasional stargazing night.
Meeting Raph for you was pretty much the equivilent of Casey fan-girling over Leonardo.
The stories Papa told you about him made Raph sound like some kind of super hero.
So when you met him, you had to physically try to keep your rbf on, and not freak out.
You think he's so freakin' cool-
Omg if you show even the slightest signs of discomfort or sadness Mikey is on that crap.
Here comes Dr. Feelings, tell him what's wrong.
No family of his is going to be sad for long.
He'll 100% do his best to make you and Casey feel more at home in your new timeline.
Sometimes you'll turn the tables and now you're Dr. Feelings.
He doesn't like it, but he knows mental health is important, so he deals and ya'll have therapy sessions with eachother.
You not so subtly try to spend lots of time with Splinter as well.
You didn't have very much time with your Grandpa before the end of the world took him as well,
But now he's here, and you can tell that he did not change one bit with time.
His younger counter-part is exactly the same as the one you knew in the future.
You do the same thing with Draxxum as well and omfg he is so weirded out.
Like, why does this teenager want to willingly spend time with me? Did Mikey put you up to this? WHAT IS GOING ON-
But nope.
You just missed your weird alchemist Gramps.
April takes you for walks around the city, kinda showing you and Casey what it looks like when it isn't in complete ruins.
She shows you all the cool things it has to offer, and you even come back to the Lair with some shiny things you find on the ground!
You lost your old collection when you left your old timeline, so now you have to start your hoard all over :(
It's ok though, people drop tons of shiny things down water ways and sewer drains.
You and Leo will wander around the tunnels and look for your shinies.
It's a bonding experience, and he teases you about it.
Great gallileo the back and forths between you are so horrible.
They last almost all day, and when ever one of you starts one evryone groans out loud.
The only two people who can get you two to drop it and leave eachother alone are Casey and Raph, but Casey rarely does anything to stop it-
Once you and Leo get close he is such a little terd-
Teasing, and picking and poking.
Big brother energy for realzies.
He'll wake you up by playing California Girls really loud in your ear, and then giggle about it all day, while you try not to strangle him.
If he ever overexerts himself, god help him escape the scolding-
EVERYONE is on his shell about it.
But ESPECIALLY you.
It's even worse when you get upset at him, because after everyome else is done scolding him, they'll move on.
But you? You are so petty about it.
You scold him for hours,
Then you'll just kinda... sit there, silently glaring off into space.
It makes him feel so bad for worrying Reader, that he doesn't overwork himself more than like- five times before guilt makes him just chill tf out and heal.
That scenario you wrote, where Reader absolutely rocks that yokai's shit for messing with Leo?
(Wonderfully written by the way, truely a masterpiece)
First of all total fuck around 'n find out energy.
Second of all, I'm in LOVE with the idea of Reader going absolutely feral on the battle field.
In the future, EVERY fight was life or death, and I think Reader may need to learn that here, in this timeline, not every fight requires you to freakin' wreck the opponent.
Raph kinda has that talk with them after Senor told him how they messed that employee up.
Not every fight requires your 100%.
Then he'll totally congradulate you for destroying that jerk that hurt Leo.
Reader gets a reward cookie.
....................................
Apologies this took so long to answer my dear (/p).
But here it is!! That scenario at Runof The Mill- *chefs kiss*
Beautiful. Amazingly written. I LIVE for feral reader.
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give-grian-rights · 1 year
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Hermitcraft Fic Rec!
HELLO. i have hundreds, HUNDREDS of hermitcraft fanfiction bookmarked and living in my brain without rent. Breaking this up into categories for some of my PERSONAL favorite fics in the fandom- including categories for shipping, crossover, and worldbuilding.
Some of these fics are from 2019 but generally speaking you don't need knowledge of past seasons you should be able to pick up on just about all of them. a lot of these are mostly included BECAUSE they're older and therefore, harder to accidentally stumble upon. put in no particular order.
If your fic is on here and you'd like it removed, send an Ask with the fic, a dm, etc
World Building
The Parting Glass / To Pass The Jungle You Have To Go All The Way Around - Sekrap.
Doc has been trying to forget. He has done everything everyone told him he should do to make the memories go away. And still the jungle calls for him. / He was a monster. Then, a man. Now, a machine. Doc, once a normal Creeper, was not meant to live. Let alone become a Player. He learned to speak, he learned to fight, he learned to build. Some things stayed the same. aka- the Domestic Creeper au.
____
Carpet Trick - CrazyCatMeow
You all know the double carpet trick right? What happens when that joint with a tired mad scientist meet.
Mob hybrids can't see carpets <3 extra silly and very lighthearted
____
Window Pane - blueticked
Tango and Impulse discuss the brand new presence of Helsknight.
It's not a coincidence that all the evil personas have red eyes.
Tango is a Hels, struggling with self-acceptance and his place in Hermitcraft, which was never meant to be for him. in my head ALL THE TIME
____
"I know" - KindaJustHere
Bdubs was used to death. He was used to being killed by his fellow hermits. He was very used to being killed by Grian. Maybe a little too much.
(This is based off Grian’s episode 61 of hermitcraft season 7 where Bdubs says “I know” and shoots himself) BDUBS SELF ESTEEM ANGST!! Griangst !!!! Emotionally fucked up Grian from YHS !!
____
Hiss and Scratch - TheNerdyTurtle96
Doc is a mad scientist who isn't afraid of anything. Actually, that's not true. His only weakness is cats.
exactly like it said it is . SO GOOD AND CUTE
____
For the Record - Anonymous
Tango shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I did. Xisuma’s teaching Impulse some Galactic Standard so he can cheat at enchanting or something. Apparently Xelqua’s, like, some sort of god in Xisuma’s culture? It was kind of unclear, I wasn’t paying attention when Impulse told me.”
“Huh,” Grian said vacantly. “How about that.”
oops! Grian is Xisuma's god. amazing
____ GrianMC - SixteenthDays
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Techno says frankly.
“You know,” Grian says again. “Your- Watchers.”
Techno squints for a moment before understanding visibly dawns behind his eyes. “Ohhh, you mean Chat?”
(On watchers, and Watchers.)
This IS technically a crossover but its more worldbuilding than anything else. its literally so funny. i love it
Crossover
These Days I Don't Feel Like Myself At All / Mercury (No One Can Unring This Bell) (Series Ongoing) - RoguishOne (DarkWolfMoon)
TommyInnit had died. Again. To Dream. Again. And it sucked exactly as much as he thought it would because he'd wanted to move on and have a chance to actually live this time. Seems he won't be getting that.
Then he gets pulled out of Limbo, but he doesn't wake up back in the cell with Dream or next to his bed on the server. He doesn't wake up on the Dream SMP at all.
Little does he know that this is the least of his worries.
i want to scream and cry and hypervenilate thinking about this fic series. literally cannot recommend it enough. your life will be ROCKED. THE WRITING IS SOOOOO OGOOOD . i just want to shake. i cannot put into words what this fic makes me feel.
____
Shells in the Foam (a Hermit!Tommy fanfic) - Cedarwhisp21
When Dream attacks Tommy in Logestshire, Tommy runs. Badly injured, he somehow manages to slip between worlds and wakes up in a badlands biome, on a server far from home, with no other players in sight.
The Hermits are surprised when a new player logs in, and confused when no-one's at spawn. Five days later, after waiting for the new player to introduce themselves, Xisuma uses his admin abilities to access their coordinates. He takes Impulse with him to welcome the new player to Hermitcraft, but instead of the beginnings of a base, they find something a lot more concerning.
NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION. the NUMBER ONE kudo-ed hermit fic . by my beloved. and using the one of the beloved au by pertrichormeraki . its so good and im sooo glad i was here for the ride of seeing it unfold <3
____
let me give you a piece of my mind - Interjection
Dream and Grian practice building for MCC, and hold a conversation in the process.
Or,
Grian gives an outside perspective on Dream’s actions. Dream is having none of it.
Grian is a fucked up lil guy <3 Dream is a piece of shit
____
He would not die - Nicoforlife
If phil could save only one person from this place, that would be enough.
Tldr I made phil a watcher :)
Watcher Phil and Grian !! ! !!
____
Scared as hell - Nhi_theuserof_this
Grian was one of the closest people to Fundy at this point. He wants to be honest, really, but with the rest of his family history being a total train wreck, he spends an awkwardly long time dancing around what he wants to say.
Tldr; Grian is Fundy’s uncle, Fundy comes out to him
OK SO THIS ONE. WAS BASED OFF ONE OF MY AUS but i had to include it. ok .short and sweet
It was just a game - QuasarsFaults (UNFINISHED)
Taurtis Has been on the server awhile now, he's made new friends, a really tasty toritos shop, a new job working with Concorp, and he's even made this really cool pirate rollercoaster. So why did his and Scar's idea go so wrong?
OK. so i honest to god cannot remember if this is my au or if i just partook in it. i think its my au. who knows. either way seeing this again makes me want to work on my own Taurtis-Became-a-Hermit-Instead-of-Grian fic
Shipping
heartfelt confession - mysteryguest
it shouldn't come as a surprise to iskall, he thinks, when he finally settles on a term that feels just right. and yet, it is. and it's dreadful, feeling that urge, that need to tell someone, without knowing if they would accept you or not.
at least he knows the person he can trust the most with this info is his boyfriend, mumbo.
non-binary and bigender Mumskull !!! coming out. finding identity. finding pronouns.
____
I Hate You (I Promise I Don't) - BewitchingNotes
If someone asked Grian why he was relentlessly pranking Etho now that he was finally back in Hermitland, he'd say it was just for pure fun.
To Etho, it meant Grian was mad at him.
To everyone else, Grian had a huge crush on the redstone user and obviously didn't know how to communicate it.
OR: Grian just wants Etho's attention, Etho misreads this as Grian being mad at him, Grian thinks Etho hates him because of his pranks and everyone else just wants these boys to communicate properly already. Grian's love language is pranks...i love it
____ A Study Of Love in the Universe Itself - 2point5
Love had a strange meaning on Hermitcraft, where everyone loved each other. 
OR
Joe looks into the different ways he loves some of his fellow members, and what that means for him as a human.
ITS A SERIES TOO AND ITS SOOOO GOOD i love it . Joe x Cleo x Bdubs x Etho . what more could you want. and their sexualities and how they perceive love is . OAUGHHGHGGHHGHGHBHGHFHHVIJXFSHDF IUSDHIUSAHDUIA
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ourladyofomega · 5 months
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I was getting deeper and deeper into everything electronic and industrial, all during my one-year break in-between the Brentwood era and community college. The UK electronics invasion, MTV's Amp, and Wipeout XL were the major influences that led me to that point. I was starting to have an endless appetite for music, and one thing I learned about myself that I could be interested in anything and everything. I already had an affinity to golden-era hip-hop / rap and alternative. The seeds of hardcore started to grow, so there would be no stopping me at this point. There were so many genres, artists, and sounds I was getting into, and I wanted to keep up. I had a position at a department store in the shopping mall, then later at a movie rental store, so I could afford to buy titles for whatever cash I had in hand.
I didn't have a desktop with internet to find independent stores. I had yellow pages instead: thick phone-books listing hundreds upon hundreds of pages of local businesses, their addresses, and their phone numbers all in minuscule print. That's how I discovered them back then. It was a year after visiting my first-ever independent record store, Commack's Mr. Cheapo's. Then came West Babylon's Looney Tunes before the holidays. Still enthusiastic in discovering the vast unknown, I wanted to find more. Port Jefferson's Music Den would be the next destination.
I already felt like an outsider when I arrived on campus. It was a different type of demographic I was used to. I looked around and I'd still see cliques, circles, and other "exclusive" groups of students that I felt I wouldn't be included in. I'd meet newfound friends who'd introduce me to their friends, but it felt forced, and they didn't seem to care. I was crazy for Atari Teenage Riot because they showed me exactly what techno always should've been: deafening loud, criminally high-speed, and maniacally all over the place. I tried looking for people who were in them, and observed what types of music the majority were into. Simplistic, manufactured, predictable dance hits. Boring weekend club-mashers. Formulaic radio chart-toppers. I wasn't impressed. The people who were into that were shallow, superficial, judgmental, needlessly competitive, and at times just unnecessarily mean. Drama artists and attitude jockeys all over the place. That's why they called community college "13th Grade". Now you'd see the disgusting distaste of the late-Nineties music scene I had. But, I did have a couple of good cards given to me. I joined the campus newspaper which I'd write music reviews for. An attractive brunette, Sandra, randomly stopped me to strike up a conversation, and wanted to get to know me better. She was also a Jesus freak. I also made another friend I met on campus who decided to set me up with an Irish blonde acquaintance of his, and we hit it off right away. Even then, I'd deal with constant games, rudeness, and random acts of ego during my time there.
The newspaper meeting ended one late October Thursday night. I finally had the opportunity to drive out eight miles from campus to the Port Jefferson Music Den for some shopping. I walked right in, and started digging. I'm not even there for two minutes and I already find gold: the import version of Alec Empire’s The Destroyer for only $9.00 used ($22.00 brand new otherwise). That was a huge deal for me because (once again) I was an Atari Teenage Riot / DHR fanatic. Right after that? Another label release, this time from EC8OR. I'd finally discover all those artists I heard about on the internet; thirty-minute download times of grainy 480P-resolution video and all. I was really starting to like this place. I start scouring the used CD bins, and I’d stumble upon KMFDM’s banned version of Naive for $8.00 - back when used copies on eBay were selling for…$80.00 each! Then came Pigface’s Washingmachinemouth and Ministry’s The Land Of Rape And Honey for a few dollars used. I copped Fluke’s Risotto because of Wipeout XL, and I’d snatch Skinny Puppy’s Back & Forth Volume 2 and Cleopatra’s Industrial Revolution: Third Edition, all for regular price. Finally, Coldcut’s "Atomic Moog 2000" / "Reboot The System": the first-ever multimedia CD I'd ever own.
Minute-by-minute, I'd slowly discover all sorts of wild and unusual sounds and artists they had on the racks. The Port Jeff- Music Den carried all the rare, unusual, and obscure stuff no other store on the island did. Sure, there were plenty of used CDs and vinyl bins in pop, metal, alternative, shoegaze, indie, hip-hop, and jazz. It was their industrial, noise, electronic, and experimental selections, however, that would be the all-important tie-breaker. They had all what I was looking for. I remembered seeing titles like Gescom’s Minidisc on the racks, Coil’s “Autumn Equinox: Amethyst Deceivers” 7", tons of Clock DVA, Controlled Bleeding, plus some Oval and Microstoria albums. It was wild. I felt stimulated because I found plenty of abnormalities that I never knew existed, instead of the expected, typical, calculated fare that did absolutely nothing for me.
90 minutes later, I took my short stack of CDs, placed them on the counter to be rung up, cashed out, and wrapped up what would be my first visit to The -Den. $82.00 later, I leave fucking satisfied.
With each visit after, I’d continue to score big victories where I’d find them. They were Phil Western’s debut album The Escapist, Muslimgauze’s Hamas Arc, Mike & Rich’s Expert Knob Twiddlers, Aphex Twin’s Analogue Bubblebath 3, Merzbow’s Pulse Demon, and Sam & Valley. I’d nab more DHR albums from 16-17, Shizuo on vinyl, Fuck Step '98, Give Up on 12", and Alec Empire’s Squeeze The Trigger. The best? Autechre / Gescom’s “Keynell” 12" that I found under the vinyl bins and hidden inside the cabinet underneath. It was stickered for $17.00 - another record where second-hand copies sold on eBay for $125.00. I also managed to pick up a few of their 12" EPs, mainly Chiclisuite and Envane.
All these finds made The -Music Den the most unforgettable store I had the privilege to visit. They were like nothing else on the island. Sadly, they closed down after the turn of the millennium, and no store that came after was half-as-good enough to fill the hole they left behind. Believe me, if any of you reading this would’ve shopped there, you’d feel amazed and blown away like I was. I’d still have a tough time dealing with all the constant, petty drama on campus over the next couple of years. At the Port Jefferson Music Den, however, I knew that was a place where I felt like I’d belong.
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dr3amofagame · 3 months
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ctechno was not the nice dude everyone wants him to be
oooh interesting take lmao. im gonna insert a courtesy "c!techno is generally a good person and does good" disclaimer bc like, c!techno is generally a good person that does good and cares about people and gets ridiculous amounts of hates for stupid things all the damn time, for the record, but also ... i cant say i dont get what you mean in part?
i think there's a phenomenon with c!techno sometimes where people can make him either too much of a paragon or strip him of too much agency in a way that's weird to me. i mean like, "he's canonically 3 years old" jokes aside, this guy isn't someone whos just doomed to be taken advantage of everyone unless they "respect his boundaries 🥺🙏" and can't assert himself at all and whatever, yknow? like, he can AND DOES assert himself when he thinks it's necessary. he can AND DOES act like an asshole sometimes!
like c!techno is a full, well-rounded character. he gets too angry sometimes and does shit he regrets. he has to make efforts to change. he has feelings, he gets hurt, he lashes out. he's too dismissive sometimes because he copes with shit through humor. he isn't perfect, and that's ... a good thing? it's a good thing that he's a full well rounded interesting character with flaws. but at the same time, pointing out said flaws and treating them as flaws isn't damnation!
like, for example, right, it's perfectly understandable for him to feel used and betrayed by c!tommy. was he also kinda mean to c!tommy in the aftermath in a way that can be pointed out? i mean. yeah of course! and like, of course he was grieving and hurt and in a lot of emotional pain when c!ranboo died and did that probably play into his attitude towards c!dream post-prison break? absolutely! was stripping a guy that is literally being chased down by his literal torturers and a server of people who want to kill him of his armor and telling him he can keep a weapon For A Favor and then going "awwh we didnt get him to use his necromancy powers :/" absolutely still kind of a generally asshole-y thing to do? i mean, YEAH ???? like, if they werent doing that bc of some kind of plan, that was still kind of a jerk thing to do? in a way that's very understandable, because c!techno is a character that becomes more of a jerk when he's stressed and in emotional turmoil. and this isnt about damning him or condemning him ... but i don't see the point of erasing said moments either.
shrug anyway i think c!techno overall was a pretty damn nice dude and a good guy and im kind of trusting that u dont mean this in the same way as certain c!techno takes ive seen back in the day that felt like crucifying him every time he made a joke that broke the fourth wall aSKFJLasf. c!techno should've been meaner, actually, for the record. and it's so awesome that he put c!sam in a prison and cask of amontillado'd that guy, GOD BLESS
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hetaologist · 25 days
Text
APH America "Ethnography" and Headcanons (SFW)
The United States of America, Alfred F. Jones, Mr. Stars and Stripes, 'Merica, Pretty Boy, um... or just simply America.
Here is a list of data I have gathered from this country and oh boy, what an interesting specimen we have here....
Ethnography
You will find this find this mythological creature at your local Walmart superstore during the evening hours on a weekday, sporting flannel loungewear pants (The plaid kind), a cotton t-shirt that definitely has been worn no less than two (2) times, Old Navy $1 flip flops, and a gray jacket.
When asked about his late night runs to the popular supermarket chain, his answer is just simply:
"There's nothing else to do and no where to go."
America's Cart Inventory for March 22nd:
One (1) package of "Mega Stuf Chocolate Oreos" for $5.97, One (1) 6-Pack of "Starbucks Frappuccino Chilled Coffee Drinks" in Caramel Flavor for $7.98, One (1) Family Sized Bag of "Flaming Hot Cheetos" for $5.94, One (1) "Furby Interactive Toy" for $39.19, and One (1) Stick of " Axe Apollo Men's Deodorant Stick" for $4.97. Total of purchase was $64.05 before tax.
When questioned about the "Furby Interactive Toy", he replies:
"Yeah dude, there's this thing I wanna make that's called a "Long Furby". Wanna come by my place and check it out?"
I agreed to the invination as it would give me a better look into his living space and lifestyle. He's very friendly person.
Living Space (Home):
Oh dear god, why did I agree to come here?
House is a what you would expect from a typical American college student such as:
"Saturdays Are For The Boys" banner flag, Marvel and DC posters, a very unsettling looking blue leather couch that looks like it has been through hell and back, random dumbbells and untouched exercise equipment, every game console from the 1972 "The Magnavox Odyssey" to the PS5, action figures from various popular TV shows and comics, an old KFC bucket with half eaten chicken on the coffee table and a shelf with a huge vinyl record and CD collection.
Conclusion: What a fucking gross nerd.
America offers a cold can of Coca-Cola, I accept it.
He shows me a very long light blue "Long Furby" from his collection, further proving how much of a dork he was.
When asked what kind of music he liked (in regards to his music collection), he replies:
"That's hard to answer, it changes every week. Because of my diverse music, I pretty much like everything. One week I could be listening to 1980's classic rock, 2000's techno-pop, Bluegrass Country, 1990's Hip Hop or anything. But, if I had to give you this week's favorite artist, it would have to be Taylor Swift and Doja Cat."
"Interesting..." I replied.
I have recorded enough data for today (the smell was bothering me) and left his home to do further extensive research.
Headcanons:
America has a deep love for cars and trucks, he can be seen working on his vintage 1968 Dodge Charger R/T called 'Thunderbird' (an absolute speed demon that can reach at top speeds of muthafuckin' 156 mph), and his enormous 2019 Ford F-150 'Big John' that he loves to drive to world meetings because he is a total stud muffin showoff.
Oh yeah, he defiantly modded 'Big John' horns with airblasters. So when he parks his car and he sees other nations come out of their vehicles, he pounds on that horn and scares the living shit out of them.
He totally does 2 am donuts in the Thunderbird the front of Walmart parking lots with his brother Canada to freak him out.
Other than seeing him work on his cars while listening to "Waking Up in Vegas by Katy Perry" on the radio, he's in his room sorting out his action figure and comic book collection.
Damn, what what a geek.
He has an eBay account where he buys, trades and auctions his collection as his interests constantly change.
If you think him being a geek, dork and a nerd is gonna save him from getting a basic ass Stanley cup, you're wrong.
He has a navy blue one that he takes to meetings and he would get dirty looks from the other nations.
"Goddamn it America, you do not need that much coffee."
"Fuck you, you scone sucking twink. It's not coffee, it's the Panera Super Charged Lemonade mixed with Redbull."
"I beg your fucking pardon..."
He gave Canada a red one for his birthday that he also takes with him to meetings.
"Canada, mon ami~. That better not be that merde American drinks that makes your heart explode."
"No, it's Tim Hortons iced coffee."
"Well.. that's better than what America drinks..."
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nobodywritingao3 · 8 months
Text
Cold Love
masterpost
Wilbur is a dragon, his most wellkept secret. Tommy finds out so he brings him back to his hoard in the mountains.
CW: - vore
title taken from Cold Love by Rainbow Kitten Surprise
word count: 1.7k 🐉 read it on AO3
"Let me go," Tommy spits out. Despite his aggression, there's a fearful, panicky air about him that sends pangs into Wilbur's chest.
"Toms, come on. You know me - you know I'd never hurt you." He wrestles him into the ground, easily pinning him to the dirt without having to exert real effort.
Tommy's arms shake from the effort of trying to fight him off. Wilbur is almost relaxed above him, a slight frown on his face as he easily presses the boy down. The more he tries to fight and the more he sees how futile it is, the more his hostility slips into abject terror.
"Wilbur, please." His voice cracks and he starts to go limp. He blinks back tears. "I won't tell a soul. Your secret is safe, just let me go. I'll disappear, and you'll never hear from me again."
No. No, he doesn't want that at all -
And something must show on his face too, because Tommy's eyes widen at his reaction, and he starts to writhe again, sobs building in his chest.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I don't - I didn't - "
"Hush."
He falls dead silent, tears still streaming down the sides of his face.
"You're fine," Wilbur murmurs to him, trying to imbue his words with as much love as he can. "Everything's going to be fine, okay?"
He starts to stand, pulling Tommy up with him as he goes.
He's tense in his arms, but Wilbur remains gentle.
As soon as they're both standing up, Tommy lurches away from him, but he's not fast enough.
Wilbur pulls him close, his arms still loose around Tommy. "Were you trying to catch me off guard?"
Tommy is sobbing and yelling and hitting at his chest, but he doesn't react.
"I... what are you doing? You - you know I'm much stronger than humans, sweetheart, you've got to stop fighting me."
He breaks down in his arms and tries to fall to the ground, but Wilbur catches him and holds, staring at him in puzzlement.
"How do I make this better?" He asks, almost blankly.
Tommy is still crying. "You - you ate the mayor," he whimpers. "You burned half the village to the ground. You burned the orphanage to the ground. You killed Phil and Tech - "
Wilbur swallows a lump in his throat and shoves down rising feelings of guilt. "I did what I had to do. I ate the mayor, I destroyed your village, including the orphanage. But how else could I get you?" He brushes a strand of hair from Tommy's eyes. "All that paperwork... it's easier if they think you perished in the fire. And for the record - " he conspiratorially winks at Tommy, trying to get humor him, "Phil and Techno are just fine."
He doesn't wait for a response, closing his eyes and starting to shift. He pays extra mind to Tommy's position in his arms. The change is done in seconds, and when he opens his eyes again, Tommy's just a tiny little thing lying between his clawed paws.
"Treasure," he purrs irreverently. "My little human - let's get you taken care of, yeah?"
Tommy stares up at him with wide eyes, completely frozen on the ground.
Wilbur wastes no time in leaning down and swallowing Tommy. He screams and kicks as he goes down the throat, but Wilbur's body was designed to eat live prey. Functionally speaking at least, Tommy is no different from the deer or tigers or knights he regularly eats.
He hums contentedly as Tommy settles into his brood pouch. It's padded out so he can be rough as he wants in there and it won't hurt either of them (and let it be said that he is trying very hard to hurt Wilbur).
"You're safe now, Tommy. Let's get you back to the rest of my hoard." He purrs again, a burst of delight in his chest. "I've waited so long to get you with the rest of my collection. Bit of a shame that you found out this way, but I'm a little glad too. I was going to reveal myself in a few months, but now I don't have to wait."
He spreads his wings and takes flight towards the treacherous mountains. Only the royals' finest knights could traverse the landscape, and even then, they were so tired and cold from the trip that their hands could barely grip the hilts of their swords.
He lands in the entrance and strides in. Techno and Phil sit idly on a pile of gold coins, chatting away, but as soon as their eyes land on him, they avert their gazes and seem to wilt. He's learned not to take it to heart - they've gotten better about managing their fear of him in the past few months since he added them to his hoard, and he's sure that as the years progress, all three of his humans will come around again.
He leans over Techno and Phil and opens his mouth up, finding it just the teeniest bit funny when they flinch back and start to plead with him not eat them. He brings out Tommy, letting the boy gently fall onto the two men below.
He sits back and admires them, a happy sound growing in the back of his throat.
"Finally," he says dreamily, "I have all three of you."
He shifts back into his human form and saunters up to them, ignoring how Tommy flinches backwards into Techno and Phil.
Phil pulls Tommy into his arms and starts to soothingly rub circles into his shoulder. "Wilbur, you're scaring him."
He shrugs nonchalantly. "You were scared too, in the beginning. He'll get over it soon - you all will - and then you'll be a proper part of my hoard."
Phil and Technoblade share a glance that he doesn't bother to decipher.
"Your hoard... what does that mean?" Techno asks slowly.
Wilbur grins brightly at him. "My collection! My treasure - it means you're mine now."
Tommy stares at him slack-jawed.
"Why us?" It seems like it slips out of Phil's mouth, something he says before he has a chance to apply a filter. But Wilbur doesn't mind answering.
"Techno is my twin, Tommy is my little brother, and you're my father." Those are all the human words for the familial terms, so they should understand.
Phil bites his lip. "Wil... we love you, but you can't - "
"I can do whatever I want," he cuts in, his voice edged with aggression.
Phil falls silent.
Wilbur smiles at him again. "Do you have anymore questions?"
Techno awkwardly coughs. "I hate to be the bearer of the obvious, but humans don't live as long as dragons. We're a lot less hearty, and you've stationed us on Dead Man's Hill. Because that's the name of this mountain, Wilbur - Dead Man's Hill. Are you sure you don't want to take us somewhere else?"
He feels his expression darken. "That won't be an issue. You're my hoard now. Which means your life force is tied to mine, and all three of your aging processes have stopped. If I'm to die - if - then you'll begin to age again." He turns a steely eye to Techno's. "And we will leave this mountain. But only when I know you won't try to do something silly, like leave me."
Techno nods, avoiding his eyes. "Sounds good."
"It does, doesn't it?" He agrees happily. "Now that I've taken Tommy, my collection is complete."
"Sorry - sorry, what the fuck?" Tommy chimes in, finally having found his voice.
Techno lowers his voice and says into his ear, "Wilbur is a dragon and he's keeping us now."
Tommy stares at him. "I thought you were fucking dead."
"Mm, me too," he says dryly. "But I'm not. I'm just the adopted twin brother of a dragon."
"Did you know?!" Tommy asks, sitting up and stumbling away from them.
Wilbur watches him curiously, fondly noting as he tips backward into a stack of gold coins.
"Did they know what?"
"What do you - what do you fucking think, Wilbur?!" He screeches.
Wilbur smiles, and lets himself shift again. Tommy flinches away as he approaches but he doesn't mind, picking him up in his mouth and plopping him back down next to Phil and Techno.
"They didn't know," he says soothingly, gazing down at them. He curls his tail loosely around their little group, forming a protective barrier. Or a cage.
Techno slides an arm around Tommy's shoulders. "Trust me," he murmurs, "if we had known, we never would have let you - " he cuts himself off, seeming to stiffen as his eyes nervously dart up to Wilbur. "We didn't know," he concedes.
Wilbur laughs lightly. "Can you imagine if you had? You never would have been my friend! And Phil never would have taken both of us in. I had to lie."
There's a look on Phil's face that he can't decipher. "Wilbur... I would have. Of course I would have," he says gently. His words carry weight, but the meaning behind it is unidentifiable to Wilbur.
"No," he says simply. "So it's a good thing I lied. Because the years passed and you realized how much you loved me, and now that you know I'm a dragon, you won't leave."
A sharp wave of paranoid insecurity strikes through his chest. "I don't think you'll leave," he mutters in afterthought, his tail slightly tensing around them.
Technoblade looks conflicted. "We love you for you, your being a dragon doesn't change that."
Wilbur frowns down at him, puffing a plume of smoke out. "Why are you saying that?"
"What - what do you mean?"
"We aren't leaving this mountain, Techno. I'm not that stupid."
A look of surprise crosses his face. He's a good actor, Wilbur decides. "I wasn't saying that to trick you, we do love - "
"I know you do!" Wilbur sharply cuts in. "Because I spent years bonding with you as a human. And now that you know I'm a dragon, it doesn't matter!" He gives them a smile with his large, sharp teeth. He ignores how forced it feels. He ignores how it feels like he's trying to convince himself more than them.
Phil looks at him with a pained expression. "Mate - "
"You're a little scared right now, but that's fine," he purrs, cutting him off. "We have the rest of time for you to love me like you used to. You weren't supposed to find out, but you have, and that's fine. I'll just keep you here. I'll just keep you here, and we can be a proper family."
He nuzzles the three of them with his snout, ignoring how they flinch away from him. "I love you!" he exclaims. "And you love me. So everything is fine. It's fine."
~ ~ ~
🏷️: @i-am-beckyu @da3dm @flowers-of-plenty @gracideaviolet
hope you enjoyed :3
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