#I like that you can see improvement in it though... it's a hopeful figure rather than a bad one. like for example the right eye is the first

[divine-knight-hand]

Now, You’re Mine

Loki Masterlist || Full Masterlist || Read on AO3

Pairing: Loki x Female Reader

Summary: A competitive sparring session leads to spicy times with Loki.

Content Warnings: Little bits of fluff, Loki does a fair amount of mind reading, Soft Dom!Loki, Sub!Reader, oral (f. receiving), p in v (missionary), unprotected sex, a touch of cockwarming, and explicit consent

Notes: I originally wrote this for sarahscribbles’s Birthday Celebration before I went in a completely different direction and decided to write and contribute Worshiping the Masterpiece instead. Even though this didn’t end up as my official contribution, I figured I’d still finish it and post it for you all.

It was honestly a little daunting. This was definitely a difficult write for me, and there were times where I thought I wouldn’t finish it. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy what I came up with!

Since this was originally for the Birthday Celebration, I had used some of the listed prompts for this work. The prompt that sparked the writing of this was "Is that a threat or a promise?", but I also snuck in the fluff prompt “Are you really so oblivious?”. What can I say? I’m an overachiever in all things where writing is concerned. Hehehe!

Word Count: 3,781

Dividers by @cafekitsune

“Umph!” With a flick of his wrist, Loki sent me tumbling to the floor once again.

Once every week, Loki and I sparred in the training room of the tower so I could practice fighting more powerful opponents. I figured that I would eventually sharpen my skills and prove useful on more intense missions. Unfortunately, I typically did more falling on my own ass than actual sparring, so I haven’t improved much since we first started.

Against my better judgment, I slammed my fists on the padded floor. “Son of a bitch!”

“Is that frustration I sense, agent?” Loki stood across the room from me, clearly entertained by my lack of temper. He didn’t even break a sweat, seeing as he barely had to move a muscle to defeat me. He just stood there, folding his arms behind his back as the corner of his mouth twitched upward in amusement.

I heavily sighed and slowly rose back to my feet. “No, no. I’m fine.” I dusted off my behind as I returned to where I stood right before getting knocked off my feet. “Let’s just start from the beginning… again.”

“How do you not tire of repeatedly falling before me?” He began to close the gap between us in large strides. “Though I find it rather amusing, I can’t help but wonder why you remain so persistent in the face of failure.” He stopped a few feet away from me. Too close and too far at the same time.

I scoffed. “You can condescend to me all you like, but I don’t plan on quitting until I at least manage to reach you.”

That was when it hit me. I hadn’t given much thought to my battle plan. I haven’t had the time before being thrown off balance every time. What exactly would I have done if I managed to reach him? How could I best someone who towered over me, even as I stood upright? Would I sweep him off his feet? Would I aim an attack at his perfectly chiseled face to disorient him? Would I wrap my arms around him and fall into the feel of his body against mine, desperate to never let go? Or would I just be too drunk on the air around him to even make it all the way, stuck in the stupor of my own attraction?

Get a grip! I chided myself. This is Loki, you’re thinking about! Do you honestly think he would feel the same way about you? He’s a god, for crying out loud! But I knew that. I was drawn to the danger of that feeling like a moth to a flame. There was nothing sensical about the way I felt for him, but regardless of how risky my feelings were for him, I would indulge in them.

“Condescend to you?” Loki held a hand over his heart in a show of mock hurt. “I would never. Honestly, the way you fell to the floor just now was truly remarkable. The Avengers are lucky to have you.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” I enunciated each dry laugh. “Very funny. Now, are we talking or training?”

Loki was unmoving, instead staring at me with an intensity that made me wonder if he could see straight through me. “You seem eager to return to our little session. Why is that?”

Wow! He’s intuitive. I thought, anxiety buzzing under my skin. But there’s no way I can answer that.

And why not? I jumped at the sound of Loki’s voice in my mind.

Too surprised to muster my own voice to speak, I formed the words in my mind. Loki? Are you in my head right now?

No, agent. I could hear him chuckle aloud as he responded. I’m right in front of you.

I physically shuddered. That is so creepy…

It’s natural to fear what you don’t understand. He raised his eyebrows at me.

“Can you cut that out?” I finally spoke up, shaking my head as if I could shake him out. “I don’t appreciate these mind games.” Nor did I appreciate the possibility that he could have heard me mentally rambling about how he truly made me feel. The thought of him having access to the secret I worked so hard to keep from him made me nauseous, so I focused on the part of me that was annoyed.

“I appear to have struck a nerve.” Loki commented matter-of-factly. “How odd. That wasn’t even my intention.”

Damnit! I thought. Why is he so good at pissing me off?

I appreciate your acknowledgment of my prowess, agent. Loki’s voice sounded in my head again. But, as I’ve said, my goal isn’t to infuriate you. I’m truly curious as to why you’re so passionate about our sessions.

“Ugh!” I threw my hands in the air. “Fine, we don’t have to spar if you’re going to ask a million questions. Just forget it. I’m done.” I turned away and began to storm off, eager to get away from the situation, and pausing only to call back, “And stop doing that talking-to-me-in-my-mind thing! It’s extremely invasive!” before continuing away.

I only took a few more steps before freezing again at the sound of Loki’s voice. “What exactly are you chasing, agent?”

Even as I faced away, standing across the room from him, I felt cornered. “What do you mean?”

“Our weekly arrangement seems to matter to you so much.” He began again. “Anyone would walk away in utter surrender after being so easily defeated the first few times. You differ. There’s a spark in your eye, and though it flickers and threatens to fade, it doesn’t extinguish. Why is that? What are you seeking to gain from facing off with me every week? What are you chasing?”

That was it. I had nowhere to run. I was completely vulnerable. I couldn’t get out of this situation without at least explaining myself to him. I just wouldn’t reveal too much.

I turned back to him, giving myself time to steel my nerves before responding. “My potential.” He cocked his head in curiosity, prompting me to continue. “Lately at work I felt… stuck.” I slowly began to make my way back over to him. “I know I can still improve, so I figured that sparring with you would make me stronger. But, now I just feel stuck fighting with you. I mean, I couldn’t even land a single hit on you. At all. I couldn’t even reach you!”

I stopped a few feet away from him and looked down at my feet in shame. “So, yes, I am a little frustrated that I’m not improving. I can’t help but feel like I’m on my way to being a failure.”

I suddenly saw a familiar pair of leather boots settle in front of my tattered sneakers before Loki tilted my chin up to face him. “I’ll hear none of that. You are not a failure. Far from it.”

My heart leapt up to my throat. Our faces were mere inches apart. Loki’s bright blue eyes kept mine glued to them like those of a hypnotizing serpent. I could almost feel our breaths intermingle between our mouths. His raven hair fell forward ever so slightly to frame his angular face as he tilted it down to focus on mine. For the first time, I saw Loki wear an expression of concern, and it was for me.

When I didn’t immediately respond, he continued, “You are more formidable than you know, agent. I never anticipated your persistence to be so drawn out, but as long as you believe you can grow, then it shall be. I will admit, I haven’t been very fair to your pursuits. Do forgive my hindering of your goals. I simply didn’t wish to let you go once you felt satisfied with what resulted from our sessions.”

My voice wavered more than I would have liked it to. “I- I don’t understand…”

“The only reason you felt stuck here was simply because I made it so.” Loki explained. “I knew that once you received the training you were working toward, you wouldn’t require my assistance anymore.”

“So, you weren’t just trying to make me look stupid?” I was genuinely surprised, especially considering the smile that graced his lips each time I hit the floor. I thought he enjoyed seeing me make a fool out of myself. I didn’t exactly hate the idea, either, if it meant I got the chance to see him smile down at me.

“Gods no!” His lips slowly spread into a grin. “Although seeing that little vein in your temple pop each time you grew agitated was quite amusing, that wasn’t my intention at all.”

“Jerk.” I breathlessly laughed, still struggling to keep my composure. I gulped, feeling his hand still on my chin. Sparks ignited under my skin where he touched me. I wanted him more and more with each passing second.

“I simply couldn’t resist.” Loki chuckled. “There’s something rather endearing within your vexation.”

“Ha. Ha. Ha.” I dryly laughed again. “But, besides you enjoying my annoyance… Why did you want me around so much? You put in a lot of effort just to keep me here.”

His voice lowered as his gaze grew intense. “Are you really so oblivious?”

My breath hitched as he seemed to grow closer to me, despite having not moved an inch. “I- I- I-”

“Darling,” He cut off my useless stuttering. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to ensure you remain by my side. Your presence is invaluable to me.”

Is this really happening? I felt myself growing redder by the second. I couldn’t believe it. Was this Loki’s way of telling me that he loved me?

Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided that making my own confession would help me know for sure. “Loki… I feel the same way. That’s why I asked you specifically for help. I did really want help, but I also wanted to see you more often. Work doesn’t really let us cross paths as much as it used to. Now that I know what it’s like to exist with you, I can’t imagine a life without you.”

His lip twitched up into another smile. “I’m glad we can agree.”

Then, he leaned in and kissed me. It was a short and sweet kiss, but once I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck, he deepened the kiss, slipping his dexterous tongue into my eager mouth. Oh my god! Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

No, darling. Loki’s voice sounded in my mind, and I happily welcomed it this time. This is as real as you are.

I felt my stomach flutter with excitement. This was real! I loved him and he loved me. I was so excited, I gained enough confidence to slide my hands into his hair, holding his face to mine. I felt that if he let me go, I would have nothing left to anchor my soul to my body. I willed our kiss to last as long as possible.

When we finally broke for air, I breathlessly giggled. “I guess it’s safe to say we don’t need to spar to spend time with each other anymore.”

“Oh, my darling pet.” He purred, sending a tremor down my spine. “I don’t need a training session to indulge in the luxury of seeing you fall before me.”

I instantly felt arousal pooling between my thighs at his comment. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

“It’s a guarantee.” He growled before effortlessly sweeping me off my feet—no magic required—and speeding out of the training room with me in his arms. I lightly giggled all the way, allowing myself to fall into in the feel of his touch and the mischievous glint in his eyes.

══ஓ๑♡๑ஓ══

We practically crashed through the door of his bedroom as we were locked in a mess of kissing and touching. We stumbled into the room as Loki just barely managed to slam the door behind him. He finally pulled me away from him and tossed me onto his bed. I fell onto my back with a very unflattering “Umph!” before propping myself up on my forearms to look back at him.

“There you are.” His mouth curved up into a sly smirk. “Fallen before me, just as I knew you would be.” I felt the beating of my heart quicken at his words.

There was something new about the look in his eyes. Something ravenous. His hair was ruffled from the way I ran my hands in it as we kissed, and his pupils were blown with lust, just barely rimmed by the usual electric blue color of his eyes.

“I must have you now.” His voice grew husky as he spoke to me. “Are you willing to give yourself to me tonight?”

“Loki,” My words were just barely over a whisper. “I’m willing to give myself to you, always.”

Then, a charged silence hung between us, and I felt Loki’s eyes possessively scour over my body. My skin was aflame and I felt my panties growing wet with my dripping arousal as the time passed.

I silently looked him over as well, my eyes trailing down his sharp cheekbones and jawline, and the leather draped over his towering frame, before freezing at the monstrous bulge forming between his legs. I mindlessly spread my own at the sight of it.

“You look absolutely ravishing, darling.” He finally broke the silence. “I can tell you hunger for me the same way I do for you. Let’s not waste another minute, hm?”

“Yes,” I breathlessly whispered. “Please.”

“Begging already?” Loki’s mouth cracked into a mischievous grin. “I’ve barely touched you, my dear.” He let out a low playful chuckle before he leaned in to push me back down onto his bed.

We kissed again, and even as my eyes were closed, I could see the green flash of Loki’s seidr before I felt a fresh draft over my body. He pulled away, and I opened my eyes to see that he was equally bare. My breath hitched as my eyes traveled down his body, taking in each inch of his beautifully toned figure. Between us, hung his large, throbbing cock. I wanted to reach out and trace each bulging vein with my fingers.

I let out the breath I forgot I was holding as my gaze returned to Loki’s eyes. “You’re gorgeous.”

“Oh, darling~” Loki purred before trailing kisses down my neck and breasts.

“Mmm, Loki,” I sighed. “I want you so badly.”

He settled between my legs with a devilish grin, propping them up on his shoulders. “Oh, how it excites me to hear you say that.” He began trailing kisses up my inner thigh. “You’re already so wet for me… Mmm, I can’t wait to taste you.” He lightly nipped my inner thigh, eliciting a small yelp from me before teasing his tongue at my entrance. “How divine~” His last words were a soft whisper against my cunt. I almost didn’t hear them. Almost.

I let out a soft moan as Loki continued to tease me. “Mmm, Loki… Please… More…”

“More?” He playfully tutted. “We’re needy tonight, aren’t we?”

“Only for you~” I mewled.

A deep growl rumbled from the back of his throat. “It would do you well to remember that.”

He licked an agonizingly slow stripe up my dripping cunt before deepening the work of his tongue, adding his fingers to circle my clit as he did.

“Ah- Loki! Mmm…” My back arched, and I resisted the urge to grind against the friction he was giving me. “Yes- Ohhh, that feels so good…” The transition from a little stimulation to a lot almost made me dizzy. I could have gotten drunk on that feeling.

Loki just hummed in satisfaction as he tightly gripped my hip with his free hand. I knew his fingers would bruise my skin, but I didn’t care. I was focused on the pressure mounting in my core, and how rapidly I was hurtling towards my peak. Bruises and body aches would be a tomorrow problem.

I gripped the sheets beneath me, trying to find something to anchor me to the moment as my quickly approaching finish threatened to carry me away from this plane of existence. As it would turn out, my anchor wasn’t the feel of the sheets between my fingers. It was the sight of Loki’s head bobbing between my thighs as he greedily ate me out, accompanied by the lewd slurping sounds that emanated from the act.

“Loki…” I all but squeaked. “Getting- Ah! C- close…”

He gave my hip an affectionate squeeze, keeping his pace on my aching cunt. Just a moment later, my eyes rolled back, and I came with a moan that nearly rattled the bedroom walls.

Loki slowed, but never stopped, helping me ride out my high before finally coming up to wipe his face on the back of his hand. My legs tingled as they slid off of his shoulders, and I could barely feel them as he climbed back to face-level with me.

“I’ve waited so long for this moment, pet.” He lifted a hand to cup my cheek as he kissed me, and I could taste myself on his tongue. While we kissed, he dragged the length of his throbbing cock between my folds.

When we broke for air, a string of saliva momentarily connecting our mouths, I was left panting. “Loki, please, I need you inside me.”

“Is that so?” He began to slowly stroke his length as he lined himself up with my entrance. “Tell me how much you need me. I want to hear it from you.”

“Loki, I-” I instinctively bucked my hips, desperate for more friction, as his tip teased my folds. “Please… Please, I need you so much. Ah- I’ve been dying for you!”

He pulled me into another kiss, our mouths crashing together as he finally began to slide inside. We moaned into each other’s mouths, and my hands found their way to his back. When I bucked my hips, he tightly gripped them, stopping me from rushing into bottoming out.

I was wet enough for him to slide in easily, but the excruciatingly slow pace he took nearly brought me to tears of frustration. He finally bottomed out, and I felt my walls clench around him as the full sensation registered in my core.

He pulled away from our kiss, cheeks glowing pink under a light sheen of sweat. “Mmm, you take me so well.” I felt my cheeks lightly blush at his praise. “Are you ready, love?”

“More than ready.” I breathed. I wasn’t sure how I was managing to speak as pleasure seemed to be slowly taking over each of my senses.

Loki buried his face in my neck, softly groaning as he began to trail kisses down my neck. “You are more formidable than you know, agent.” He sucked on the sweet spot on my neck, leaving another mark on my body before continuing. “You managed to penetrate the innermost walls of a god’s heart.” His voice was laced with both the most innocent love and filthy seduction. “Now, I shall never have my fill of you, but I will always return to you for more.”

He slowly slid out of me, leaving just the tip of his cock inside of me before ramming his hips back into mine, setting a brutal pace. I let out a loud moan, my voice clipping with each snap of his hips as my back arched off of the bed.

In response to his beautiful declaration, I could only manage to speak one word. “Pr- Promise?”

Loki dragged his warm tongue up my face, stopping by my ear to murmur. “I guarantee it.” The brush of his lips against my ear sent a shiver down my spine, adding to the immense amounts of pleasure I was experiencing.

I squeezed my eyes shut and raked my fingernails down his back, earning a deep growl from the god on top of me.

“How could you be the death of me- Mmm… and my whole life- Ah- at the same time?” I hesitantly opened my eyes to see Loki’s wildly looking into mine.

His hair dropped to surround both of our faces in dark curtains. Loki was all I could see, all I could smell, and all I could feel. The fire burning under my skin served, not as a distraction, but a reminder of the sensations he was able to create in me. As his calculated thrusts grew just the littlest bit sloppy, I could tell he was getting close, and that fact only brought me to my own peak faster.

“Loki…” I whimpered, struggling to voice my warning.

“I know, darling.” He breathed. “Let go. I’ve got you.”

Suddenly, I was seeing white as Loki helped me ride out my second orgasm of the night. As the waves of pleasure coursed through me, I was faintly aware of his cock twitching as its seed spilled inside me. We both let out moans that bordered on screams before coming down from our shared high.

As we both took a moment to catch our breaths, I wrapped my arms around Loki, holding his body against mine. I could feel him still inside me, our combined spent slowly dripping out, and I didn’t want him to move just yet.

“Mmm, darling…” Loki hummed as he buried his face in my neck. “You’re truly remarkable.”

I breathlessly chuckled. “You flatter me with that silver tongue of yours.”

“Really?” I felt Loki’s impish smile as it formed against my neck. “I seem to recall doing something else with it merely moments ago.”

“Alright, alright.” I couldn’t help smiling at his filthy comment. “I’ll give you that one.”

“Allow me to clean you up.” He offered.

Before I could form the words to protest anything that involved me having to move apart from him, he waved his hand, and his seidr once again bathed us in green light.

Rather than the sweat we worked up in bed, we smelled like fresh lavender soap. Though Loki’s cock was still inside me, I no longer felt our cum dripping out.

“Wow,” I reached up and gave his head an appreciative scratch. “You’re just full of surprises.”

Loki just hummed in content, softly kissing my neck until I found it difficult to keep my eyes open. Just before I fell to the lull of sleep, I heard his voice, low and sultry, in my mind.

Now, you’re mine.

#loki laufeyson #smut #marvel #marvel fanfic #loki fanfic #loki #loki x reader #loki x y/n #loki x female reader smut #marvel smut #loki mcu #mcu loki #mcu fanfiction #loki fic #loki smut #loki fanfiction #loki odinson #smut fanfiction #fem reader

[eyesfullofsttars]

☆ can we always be this close forever and ever?

synopsis: since abby and ellie moved in together, abs has been having trouble sleeping next to her girlfriend. so, one night she decides to stay awake to figure out the problem...

notes: hey!!! this is so silly and short, i'm not completely convinced, but i hope you like it even though it's simple

warnings: none, i think... just fluff!!!

The experience Abby initially endured when sharing a bed with Ellie was challenging. Though it may sound harsh, it was an unexpected issue at the start of their relationship.

At first, Abby thought the problem lay in the bed. She would wake up each morning with unusual back pain, but she dismissed the idea after flipping the mattress three times without seeing any improvement. She even bought a new mattress, but the pain persisted.

When the pain didn't subside, another issue arose: Abby often woke up in the middle of the night without a clear reason, finding Ellie sleeping far from her, mumbling nonsense and seemingly possessed.

Before calling an exorcist to alert them that her girlfriend was possessed by a night demon, Abby decided to talk to Ellie. She looked puzzled and denied everything, stating that she didn't talk, move, or do anything unusual while sleeping.

For a few days, Abby thought she might be the problem. However, her pride rejected that notion, so she decided to stay awake one night to observe Ellie while she slept, looking for any irregularities.

The evening started with Abby wishing her girlfriend goodnight, receiving a kiss on the cheek in return as Ellie nestled close, resting her head on Abby's chest.

Less than thirty minutes passed before Ellie fell into a deep sleep and then disrupted her peaceful slumber. Her relaxed expression turned into a furrowed brow, and she began tossing and pushing Abby away while continuously mumbling.

With some fear of being kicked by Ellie (which explained her pains), Abby decided to move away, sitting up in bed and giving her space. Ellie rested at the other end of the bed, unable to stop murmuring in her sleep.

Abs remained silent, focused on Ellie’s facial expressions, which showed neither dreamy relaxation nor peace but rather fear and distress. Abby quickly realized her girlfriend was having a nightmare and didn’t hesitate to interrupt.

"Babe," Abby whispered softly, carefully approaching Ellie and gently shaking her shoulder. "You're having a nightmare, Els. Wake up..."

Just a few gentle movements on her shoulder were enough for Ellie to wake up, her green eyes wide with fear. She sat up quickly, placing her hand over her chest as if scared her heart might escape.

"Fuck." That was the only thing that came from Ellie's lips as she tried to regulate her breathing while Abby gently stroked her back up and down. "Did I wake you?"

"No, no," Abby replied immediately, slowly shaking her head to assure Ellie that everything was fine. "Do you feel better? It must have been a terrible nightmare."

"No, not really. I've had the same nightmares since I was a child," Ellie murmured, as if being so disturbed during sleep was her normal reality instead of a peaceful dream.

"Would you like to talk about it? Your nightmares..." Abby proposed, seeking a possible solution to ease Ellie's mind. "Maybe that would help you rest better."

"No fucking way," Ellie responded quickly, firmly shaking her head and leaving no room for further suggestions. "I know they're not real, but I can't escape them."

"What can I do to help you? You don't want to discuss this with me, so..." Abby said, trying to assist her girlfriend in solving her sleep problems, even if Ellie didn't want to share her nightmares with her.

"I don't know, wake me up?" Ellie offered that solution with a frown, unsure of how to handle her nightmares. "Hold me close so I don't move around? Can you do that with your strong arms?"

Abby let out a small laugh at Ellie's comment, who smiled lightly at hearing her girlfriend's chuckle.

"Maybe if I hold you, you'll feel safer and the nightmares will seem less real," Abby replied, considering Ellie's suggestion.

"Just hold me if you see me getting worked up, and if it's too much, wake me up," Ellie agreed, moving a bit closer to Abby in bed.

"Your solution is just an excuse to sleep curled up next to me, Williams," Abby quipped playfully, rolling her eyes and taking advantage of the new closeness to kiss Ellie's cheek. "You really are obsessed with me, aren't you?"

"Oh no, you've discovered my terrible secret," Ellie responded, following Abby's teasing with an exaggerated sigh. "I've been faking nightmares to be the clingiest girlfriend. Now you can't escape."

"What a shame you have to resort to this for some affection," Abby joked without hesitation. "Aren't you embarrassed to take advantage of my kindness?"

Suddenly, the sweet cheek kisses Abby gave Ellie became less innocent as she trailed down to her jaw and neck.

"You can't deny my plan worked," Ellie said, shrugging and giggling at Abby's comment and the tingling sensations from the neck kisses.

It could be said with certainty that, after weeks of discomfort, sharing a bed with Ellie finally became a dream for Abby.

In the end, before going to sleep, after wishing each other goodnight and saying "I love you," Ellie would snuggle into Abby's chest, while Abs wrapped her arm around her, pulling her closer.

They simply lay down each night under the dinosaur-themed sheets of the bed, embracing each other, regardless of the weather, seeking comfort in each other's arms and sleeping soundly with dreams instead of nightmares.

And perhaps one night, Abby will wake her, and in the darkness, Ellie might begin to whisper her nightmares without any fear of sharing those terrible dreams about her past that continue to haunt her. By becoming vulnerable in front of Abby, who devotedly seeks nothing more than to comfort and and help ease her nightmares.

#ellabs #ellie williams #abby anderson #abigail anderson #ellie tlou #abby tlou #ellie the last of us #abby the last of us #ellie williams fic #abby anderson fic #ellie x abby #lesbian #tlou abby #abby and ellie #abby anderson headcanons #ellie williams headcanons #ellie williams fanfic #abby anderson fanfic #ellie williams fluff #tlou fic #ellie and abby

[glassrowboat]

Lounge Music

Word count: 1600+

The plan, originally anyhow, was to improve the atmosphere. The bar has its regulars, the patrons that always come crawling back, but being able to draw more people on with something new has its benefits. That's what Gallagher was thinking anyway as he posted a ‘we're hiring’ sign right out front for a singer willing to work in a bar.

At first he was expecting wide eyed young ladies coming through hoping to get any shot at being on stage, to have their voice heard, and admittedly that is what he got in a way. Only two applicants showed up. A bubbly little thing who was excitedly talking about using this to make her big break and the other girl who’s first impression was to sit down and tell him he will hire her.

Well, it certainly left an impression. Enough of one to tell Gallagher that she would be a pain in his behind if he did hire her, and oh boy was he right.

○He does not appreciate your constant teasing about him looking like the type of guy to call a girl dame, especially as you pretend to hold a cigarette up to your lips to take a long drag to really sell the bit. Worst part is when he went home that night, hand ruffling through his hair in pure exhaustion as he closed the front door right behind him only to be met by his tired and worn expression and Gallagher couldn't even deny you had a point. Dammit.

○Though on that note the bar used to be a smoke where you want place as he didn't see the point in knocking that behavior out of his customers when Gallagher is guilty of such behavior himself, but that changed after you were hired. A smoking section specifically being set up in the part of the bar furthest from the stage, the sign something he taps out now when he sees a customer pull out a lighter. Did he do this because you wouldn't stop pretending to cough every time he lit a cigarette for himself? Maybe. At least it gets you to stop being so dramatic every five seconds. 

○You've introduced him to more music and artists than not. Gallagher had gotten so used to the radio playing the same few songs again and again on repeat that he'd be sick of them, so when you came in with something new ( that you're playing on his phone for some reason rather than your own) it was more like a godsend than anything. Finally, some variety.

○Gallagher will always make sure you have a glass of water right beside you in case you ever need it. He's not sure how much of a strain singing all night would even put on you, but it's definitely something, right? Especially when you have to do exercises before even going out there. 

○He won't make a remark about how your voice sounds a little hoarse after each night, not even once, but if your voice cracks one time while you're singing it's going to be held over your head for weeks. Payback is a bitch and you have to deal with it. Not like it will stop your teasing though.

○Gal will not entertain your requests to sing with you, not even as you try to drag him on stage. Funny that you thought it'd even work, but good on you for having goals. Any time you ask it's always met with an “I hired you for a reason.”

○He does not keep up with trends at all so if you decide to sing a tik tok song it will fly right over this man's head. Use this information as you will.

○You're allowed to hide behind the bar if you ever feel the need to. He'll even keep an eye on you between the drinks he makes and customers coming up with orders to make sure no one is bothering you. At first he only did this as he tried to figure out how people would respond to this change, trying to see if they liked the live music or not, but somehow it just became second nature over time. Well, maybe not ‘somehow.’ More like when he noticed you cussing someone who was clearly a few drinks too many in pestering you. 

○He has never heard a woman call another person a bitch in heat that needs to go fuck a lamppost so the can leave her alone until that day and he still finds himself laughing about it on a rare occasion.

○But yeah, anytime you want you're free to come hide behind the bar with him. It's more common than not on days when there's less people coming in, just a few faces that stick to their seats with a drink in hand as you pester him over something. Again. On one such day Gallagher took one of the drink shakers and tried to teach you a trick or two, the simplest ones he knows just to waste time. It shouldn't be that hard, right? Well that was apparently wrong as the shaker slipped out of your grasp and landed right on your head.

○It was a good thing he thought ahead and chose not to fill it with anything. 

○”You're a real clutz, aren't you?”

○And yes, Gallagher has spotted you tripping over the wire attached to the microphone more than once.

○Would walk you back to your car every night after cleaning up. It has led to you running around wiping off tables because you want to catch up on some drama you've been watching. He can't honestly keep up with the details of this show either. What do you mean this girl just ate poison and walked it off like it was nothing? Where's the context, (Y/n)?

○He never gets that context in the end.

○You get free drinks. He's more than happy to pull out a glass or mix something he's been testing out together for you even if Gallagher claims this will come out of your paycheck. It never does. 

○Now when Gallagher hears a new song a part of him can't help but wonder what it would sound like in your voice. It's worse on the days you're off, having to go back to the radio just to fill the air a bit more than just the chatter of customers and the sound of glass on wood as people set their drinks down a bit too harshly as the alcohol starts to flood into their systems. 

○Somehow, in some way, the days you're not there have just grown to feel wrong. 

Which is why it's all the better as you're back the next day, your same habit of swaying along with the beat the same as ever. Maybe he'd call you out for it later if you decided to say something weird again, but for now Gallagher simply leaned against the counter, hand raising up in a wave as someone walks through the door. Bell attached to the top of the doorframe swaying back and forth as it rings. Somehow it doesn't come across as melodic as it once did but it still draws his attention well enough. It serves its purpose, so no point getting rid of it.

“Welcome in,” he calls out, voice already getting a bit gruff from having to talk so late into the night.

In turn a familiar face greets Gallagher, an old regular that stopped dropping by sitting down in a stool before him as Gal wipes the surface off to make sure it wasn't sticky from any spilled drinks. “Been a while, hasn't it?”

“That it has. Come back here cause of another fight with the wife, James?” Something else you make fun of him for, acting as the good old fashioned bartender people come to to spill their woes. But hey, it pays the bills on his end and it's cheaper than therapy to buy a beer or two to come whining to him about what's going on. 

“You can say that again.”

“The usual?” Even as he asks that Gallagher is already grabbing a beer, James preferred brand as the familiar label flashes across His eye while popping off the bottle cap.

“Why ask if you already know?” Even with his need to roll his eyes, James picked the bottle up, bringing it up to his lips for a quick chug. “It's clearly been a while since I've been here. The woman up on the stage is new.”

“(Y/n).”

“Okay, (Y/n) is new.” James leaned back into his chair to look at the woman, watching as you toyed with the cable attached to the mic between your fingers, letting it go round and round in circles between each word sung. “It's an improvement I'd say. Makes this old place a bit more lively.”

“She's certainly become a bit of a fan favorite.” 

“One you can't take your eyes off of.”

Gallagher could barely help the sigh falling from his lips at that, not exactly enjoying being called out so blatantly. Maybe a smoke would be nice, get his mind off this stuff just like he's been doing these past few weeks whenever that mischievous smile sneaks its way into his mind. “Just drink.”

He can decide what this all means later, but for now Gallagher can sit back and listen to your voice flooding over the bar and just like always, as this place shuts down for the night, he'll walk you back to your car and pretend he doesn't want to do more than tell you to get home safe.

“Can I still tell you about what bull my wife said this time?”

“Yeah, yeah, man. Just go ahead.”

#gallagher x reader #gallagher #gallagher hsr #honkai star rail #hoyoverse #x reader #fem reader #headcanons

[wayfayrr]

Sage is up and on edge! what crimes will he commit?

(all of them, and reader will be none the wiser <3)

Part Two of this! Part three is Here!

Also if anyone wants to see Sage introduced to anything in particular feel free to ask, I've got a couple of ideas in mind but I'm curious what you guys think would be interesting. and as a heads up Sage is TotK link as a separate link from wild

"Earth? The place you mentioned when you were talking about your home? That earth?"

"Yeah. That earth. My home actually, lucky as those odds are. so uhh, any questions? I know you’re probably as overwhelmed being here as I was when I first ended up in Hyrule; I won’t be afraid to answer anything."

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone’s face switch between emotions as rapidly as his in that moment, I don't even think it would be possible to be any faster. Shock, surprise, anger, and a few more that I can’t put my finger on before settling on pride?

It’s as good a guess as any for what he’s feeling right now, especially considering he looks like a smug cat. Granted he’s not outwardly panicking now which is an improvement whether that’s due to me offering to answer questions or due to me knowing where we are is up for debate.

"And I’m the only link here?"

…Unless you count the links in the games, not like I’m getting into that.

"Certainly seems that way doesn’t it? Hopefully, they’re not panicking badly."

You know what?

I was wrong. 

His face could switch even quicker, seemingly because I shoved the equivalent of a lemon into his mouth before he regained his composure. Blink and you’ll miss it moment really. I could question it, but right now? It's not worth my stress. 

I'm sure he’s just overwhelmed, right? 

"Oh don’t be worried [name], they’re heroes of legend. They already have Hylia looking over them. They’ll survive without you."

Okay then, he’s stressed. Of course he is, I know I was when this was all flipped. Just so happens that his way of destressing is by speaking bitterly about the others, so it’s probably worth it to change the conversation completely rather than get into it while he’s overwhelmed.

"... You’re probably right. I’m overthinking things."

Huh.

Didn’t think that would calm him as much as it did. Seems being alone with him, when we aren’t in his Hyrule at least, lets him show his true colours more easily. I wish I could say it calmed me as well.

Relaxing would be nice right now however I’ve still got a stupid number of notifications to respond to, to figure out how to respond to. Before people start getting suspicious; before they start asking questions; before someone recognises him.

It's fine, there’s time to pull myself together, to sort everything out. Sage doesn't need to have me panicking while he’s adjusting. He deserves someone stable after everything he’s gone through, and I can be that. I know I can, I just need to buy myself some time to think, to clear my head.

"It might be an idea to get you some clothes while you adjust. You should be able to fit into some of mine, they’ll do for a bit at least."

"You’d let me... You would let me wear your clothes?"

He would be mortified if he saw the look on his face now, what with him fawning like a lovestruck puppy. There wasn’t even a single hope in attempting to hold back my laugh while dragging him to my room. 

"What else could I do? It’s not like you can stay in those all the time. Take whatever you want, something in there is bound to fit you."

"Whatever I - Thank you."

If I wasn't so unnerved by how he was acting a couple of moments earlier? I’d be melting at how cute he’s being. But that raw visceral hatred in his eyes when I brought up the other heroes, even though it only lasted for a split second?

No. 

Worry about that later [name]. Focus on helping him adjust and to readjust yourself. Stop reading too deeply into things.

Luckily, it worked how I wanted it to. Sage is distracted for the minute giving me a chance to look over any messages and hopefully catch myself back up to speed. There can’t be much to have missed in less than a day though. Nothing that time-sensitive either. 

A bundle of clothes shoved into my face wasn’t exactly what I thought would snap me out of dredging through messages and playing catch-up; it’s a clear tell he’s found something he's pleased with.

"These are mine now."

"Huh - okay, I guess?? Are you going to change into them or just stand there?"

Have I done something wrong??

He's never looked at me like this before, I can't tell what he's thinking. 

"Do you want me to get changed into them here?"

"What!? No, I meant - Not here! You can change in the bathroom, you can have a shower as well then. You really need one…"

Seems he got his payback about me laughing at him earlier though, with how red my face is. Even if he did look a bit confused about my comment.

Wordlessly taking his hand in mine after regaining my composure, I led him to the bathroom; gave him a quick rundown of everything; then left him to sort himself out after I was confident he could manage.

To be fair to Sage it’s not like I don’t also need one, Hyrule’s hygiene left a lot to be missed. Soap, hot running water and even a soft towel sound like bliss. 

Between Freshening up with some clean clothes; reminding myself that nothing has expired here despite feeling otherwise; preparing a couple of drinks, and shifting back into this mundane life feels almost overwhelming. If Sage weren’t here with me I’d be going insane, doubting anything and everything that happened in Hyrule.

But he is here, and I’ve not gone insane. Not yet at least.

There’s not exactly any harm in waiting around and enjoying some luxury either though. Physics isn’t advanced to the point of having portals nor do we have magic to do it; waiting is our sole option to get back Hyrule and the chain.

Has Sage wrapped his arms around my waist!? When did he even get out of the shower? Have I really been so lost in thought and oblivious?

"You’re sure nothing here has been tampered with at all, I wouldn’t put it past the shadow. I still have supplies you can use, we shouldn’t risk anything."

"I well- it should be fine, shouldn’t it? If the shadow wanted us dead, it would’ve killed us outright when it had that chance, surely?"

"Um, also Sage, mind if I ask why you’re holding me like this?"

He sounds so tired and defeated, it’s hard not to drop everything for him at the slightest chance to ease his burdens. While a quiet groan then being tugged closer to him, at any other time would have flustered me again, is concerning given that portal could have affected him in any number of ways. 

"The gloom’s actin’ up like the portal did something. I'm just… You don’t mind do you?"

"Oh Lavender, do you want to take my bed for a bit, or at the very least sit-down? I should have some painkillers around here somewhere." 

Must be agonising if he’s like this seeing as he's not willing to go into detail, to set aside his fear of being vulnerable, nor is he willing to let go of me despite the promise of painkillers. He’s got me wrapped around his finger like this; it wouldn’t surprise me if he knew either.

"Hold me? Please?"

"Of course, I’ll hold you. Although wouldn’t you rather sit somewhere comfortable?"

Now he’s not even bothering to speak, only whining quietly while he clutches me tighter in his embrace. Therefore it was a simple choice to lay him against me as I sat down, giving him unspoken permission to rest his head on me.

Oddly enough with how he’s got his face against me…

I could have sworn he was smirking.

#linked universe x reader #yandere linked universe x reader #yandere linked universe #link x reader #lu sage #yandere lu sage

[spidori]

Doctor Danny Fenton: On The Run

Danny knew he was on borrowed time.

Sure, he was harder for Clockwork to find than most- something about it being harder to look for an acausal nexus than a causal one, and the medallion fused into his core severing him from standard causal flow, Dan had explained it to him once, before he... no! Focus Danny! You don't know how long you have until he finds you!

Dragging himself out of his dissociation, Danny took stock. He still had the Infinimap in one hand; it was still green and dripping from something he couldn't afford to think about right now. Where and when had the Infinimap interpreted his shout of "a way to run away" as asking to travel to?

"Dann'O! You're just in time to see our newest upgrades to the speeder!"

"Uhhh... You made it look like a Volkswagen beetle?”

"Oh, Sweetie, no. See!" his mom said, opening up a control panel and poking around, then stepping away from what was now a cargo van.

"Your father and I finally figured out how to fuse ectoplasm with metals to make ecto-alloy! We rebuilt the speeder from it and added a camouflage circuit. Now it can change shape into whatever will blend into the surrounding environment for any ghost hunting scenario."

"And the best part is, it even gives off an ecto-signature! Those spooks won't know what hit 'em when you ambush 'em from this one Mads!"

A transforming vehicle with its own ecto-signature to hide inside? Yeah, that might work, even though Danny remembered the camouflage feature had been a short-lived modification because of how often it would get stuck and have to be put through a hard-reset to get it changing again. And judging by the way the Infinimap was subtly tugging towards the improved speeder that's exactly what it brought him here for.

"Mom, Dad, whatever happens next, I love you, and I'm sorry."

"Danny, sweetie, is something wrong?"

"More than I have time to explain, mom. Look, if you see Jazz... If this timeline... Just, tell Jazz I love her too, ok?"

"Dann'o, you're scaring us."

"I know. I'm sorry. Hopefully you'll have the chance to be able to forgive me for this. Going Ghost!"

Ok. He had made it into the speeder. The new metal wasn't phase-proof, there were pros and cons to that, ones he would consider later if he made it that far. At least the interior was pretty much unchanged, so he'd been able to get the speeder started before he'd heard the sound of a clock tolling and his parents' banging on the door had suddenly stopped.

He'd gunned it into the portal quickly enough to get into the relative safety of the zone before its stop sign frame and hazard pattern doors dissolved into obliterated nothingness along with everything else he had been able to see, or sense, of his home dimension...

Something else to be stuffed in the trauma box to be unpacked never if he was ever able to stop running 'later,' something to unpack 'later.'

The tugging in his hand was getting stronger, so at least he was probably heading in roughly the right direction.

He tried veering a little to the right to see if he could get a better sense for the direction the map was tugging, only for its pull to remain unchanged.

Confused, Danny glanced down to see it was actually tugging towards the dashboard.

Or rather, the ectoplasm- all that remained of Dani... 'LATER!'- which coated it was tugging towards the dashboard.

Desperately hoping this meant there might be something of his favorite halfa left to save, Danny pressed the coated map to the dashboard, and prayed.

Within seconds, the map was gone, absorbed into the speeder. Then things got even weirder.

Weirder than the group of ancients putting aside their many feuds to team up on him had been.

Stranger than those ancients somehow getting the Observants on their side.

More out of the blue than the Observants using their binding vow with Clockwork to force him to try to eliminate any timelines with Danny in them, as well as anyone who was even part Danny.

It had been a hell of a day.

And now the speeder had apparently grown absolutely gigantic after absorbing the Infinimap if the anachrofuturistic room Danny suddenly found himself in was anything to go by.

And according to the view screens it was generating a relativistic time, space, and dimensional tunnel?

Oh Lord. Danny was going to have quite the time explaining this one to his parents if he managed to undo enough of this to have a timeline to return to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The tunnel let out in a universe with low-to-minimal ambient ectoplasm according to the external sensor arrays.

That phrasing! That was Exactly how Clockwork had phrased it the last time Danny had talked with him as 'Clockwork'; after the Observants took control of him with their vow he had called himself Chrona, which was the first thing which clued Danny in that something was wrong.

What was it Clockwork had told him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Local ambient ectoplasm levels are an important consideration for stronger ghosts, Danny. Your perception is skewed by the limits of your experiences, as well as your unique biology, but Amity park and the Infinite Realms as a whole are essentially the top of the scale for ambient ectoplasm levels.

Normally, ectoplasm is a renewable, but much more finite resource. A sufficiently powerful ghost can easily consume all that is available in an area with a normal level before they are able to accomplish anything worth the effort if they aren't extremely frugal with their use of power. Normally, it makes any plans which would involve other realms simply not worth the effort and energy expenditure involved, especially with the additional up-front cost of breaching the veil.

There are even locations with low-to-minimal ambient ectoplasm, which makes them practically immune to ghostly influence. Only the very weakest of shades, ones who require next to no ectoplasm to maintain their current state of existence, can naturally persist in such places. Well, them, and extremely rare exceptions such as Halfa's, whose unique state of existence allows them to generate nearly all of the ectoplasm required to sustain their ghostly half. Any other ghosts would have to gather all of the ectoplasm they would need before going to any such spot, like how the astronauts you love so much need to bring everything for survival with them into deep space.

Actually, the deep space metaphor is particularly apt, as there are whole dimensions with far lower levels of ectoplasm than the one you call home.

Should you ever find yourself able to indulge that space obsession of yours, that would be a good place to do it. Most ghosts would be unable to follow you there, and even those who technically could would have great difficulty sustaining themselves once they arived."

"Geez, Gramps, you're feeling talkative today. Usually I can't get anything nearly this direct out of you."

"It will be important for you to understand your options, my young halfa. Speaking of which, keep in mind that your specific nature is vital to your ability to so easily sustain yourself in such environments. Even other halfas will have much more difficulty surviving in the lowest ecto-level locations as a result of their less balanced compositions. I know your young mirror's obsession also involves exploration, but she would require near constant fulfillment of her obsessions to have a hope of generating enough to get by without supplementation for you or another living being with a similar drive to seek new experiences. Mr. Masters would be better off due to his greater degree of human biology, but would also be hindered by the less complete connection to his ghost side. He would likely find transformation essentially impossible outside of survival scenarios- though you yourself probably would as well- and even his human form would experience side-effects like pounding headaches, or the constant sound of his heart pounding in his ears like a drum as it was pushed to maintain his starving ghostly side."

"I'm sure Dani and I could manage. And if we couldn't, we could always call you to pick us up."

"Untrue, actually. Any location with low enough levels to cause young Danielle to suffer would also be extremely difficult for me to reach. Such low levels could require anywhere from days to centuries in order to push enough ectoplasm through the veil to form a link, possibly more if an entity- such as an injured halfa- or anomaly- such as a rift of any kind- on the other side is draining whatever bleeds through. Your own presence may act to shorten that time somewhat if you can generate enough ectoplasm on site, but even then I would have to find you first. My abilities as an ectoplasmic entity rely wholly on manipulation of ectoplasm, and that includes my near omniscience. Should you ever find yourself in a location with sufficiently low ectoplasm, I would have a great deal of difficulty locating you; the link between our cores would mean that I would always be able to locate you eventually, but you would need to stay in one place for quite a while, which would rather defeat the purpose of emergency rescue."

"So if I ever need to hide from you because I actually manage to pull a prank on you which you don't see coming, all I have to do is find and then literally flee to one of a very select subset of alternate dimensions?"

"Pretty much. Although if you're hiding from me you would want to actively muddy the waters as well."

"Setting aside that I don't think I'd ever want to hide from you, Gramps, muddy the waters?"

"I'm a conceptual entity, Danny. I anchor to that concept in every single reality in which it exists. If the concept of time is sufficiently redirected to something or someone else to any degree, whatever portion has been redirected is therefore unavailable for me to latch onto. The same idea applies to Nocturn not being able to enter the DC Dimension because of their Dream of the Endless. Meanwhile, Pandora could enter almost at a whim if not for her guard duties, because that universe associates hope with her almost directly. In my case, anything strongly associated with the flow and concept of time could hinder me, while spreading my own name would allow me a greater share of any ectoplasm generated by the dimension.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok.

Danny could work with this.

He would have to keep traveling so that Clockwork- no, it was Chrona now- couldn't lock onto him or Dani-fused-to-the-dimensionally-traveling-speeder (He would have to workshop that).

If possible, he would also have to find a way to make a myth associated with time in an abnormal manner; the question was how to do that?

And he would need to do all of this while expending as little of his ectoplasm as possible, and probably supplementing Dani's whenever he could if she was ever going to have any chance of reconstituting.

He could definitely work with this; he refused to accept otherwise.

Maybe his parents had left some things he could use in the speeder before they were- 'Later!'

Hmm... No tools lying around... There was the weapons locker, but he should probably use whatever was in those ecto-batteries immediately so they wouldn't act as some kind of concentrated-ecto-homing-beacon. Maybe they could help Dani heal?

As he brought the disconnected batteries to the console in the center of the room, he saw it. There, sticking out of one of the panels which would probably have originally been the cup-holder in the center console before everything was transformed, was his dad's favorite 'screwdriver.' Not that it was even remotely recognizable as a screwdriver anymore; his dad had modified it so many times that it looked more like a futuristic laser pointer now. It had become his favorite hobby project before he was- 'LATER!'

He recognized this one as the version which required next to no ectoplasm to work, but as a trade-off had been completely unable to interact with wood for some reason. Something about still partially living matter and destructive interference with foreign emotional resonance as a naturally evolving survival mechanism in- Ramble 'later', focus on surviving now.

And Danny was actually starting to feel like he could find a way to survive with what he had. It was like his dad had always said about the screwdriver.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"See how many things it can do now, Dann'O! If I had tried to turn it into this version from the start it never would have worked; I would have gotten frustrated and had to move onto some other project for the sake of my sanity, and our house's walls. But since I took it one small change at a time, look at what I've been able to turn it into.

Incremental change, son! It's how any real change happens. If you want to accomplish something big, you try to choose the things which you think will lead towards wherever you want to end up, especially when they won't get you all the way there, big easy changes like that almost never stick for one reason or another. Over time those small steps add up, and you end up somewhere a lot better than where you started. So, what do you think you can do to apply that to working on your grades?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah, Danny could start to do something with what he had. He was still half alive, and could keep himself that way as long as he never stopped running long enough for Chrona to find and catch up to him. He had a Time and Dimensional and Relativistic Space ship (still not quite right, but better) with Dani fused into it to help him do just that. And he had his dad's screwdriver and advice.

So where should he start?

Well, if he wanted to build a myth, and to fulfill his obsessions wherever possible, protecting people while exploring all of time and space was probably as good a way as any. A time-traveling madman with an ever-changing camouflaged space-ship and a 'screwdriver', just passing through, helping out, was sure to get some attention.

It just needed a name to really give people something to latch onto.

He had just gotten his doctorate in engineering before everything went to hell, but as much as he'd like to use Dr. Fenton, that was just laying down a trail and begging Chrona to follow. His real name would probably have to be a closely guarded secret; the title was good though, so instead, he would just call himself

The Doctor.

Now, where should he run to next?

#danny phantom #tw major character death #tw light gore #TW light body horror #All the death is off screen #but theyre still dead so be warned #dp x doctor who #doctor who

[cerastes]

What are your thoughts so far on reclamation algorithm? If you've played enough to form an opinion? I had some trouble at first before I figured out what exactly I should be focusing on, I think the game mode has a lot of promise but also needs a good bit of tuning, especially to the tutorial. I do hope they bring it back improved in like a year or two because I could definitely see this being a fun permanent game mode eventually

I’ve enjoyed it plenty, and I’m glad it’s here first on a trial basis first so they can tune it proper like they did with IS. They clearly put a whole lot of elbow grease into it.

I think they have to work with the mode’s eloquence first and foremost: It has a lot of tutorial that teaches you very little, it’s like I’m really reading Jacques Lacan again. So you go in and start getting blasted, and learning little by little, until you get a fundamental grasp of WADDUP. Which I’m fine with, but I can imagine it can be rather frustrating to most people who don’t have a shine to the ol’ get your face smashed in 10 times so you can start standing a chance on the 11th.

I also think the Dauntless Linebreaker is the worst boss they’ve made, literally a stat stick with no gimmicks. It’s 2023 Big Bob, except we don’t love. I get why he’s like that, since it’s hard to design a boss around what basically is “build your own map”. But that’s the next step they gotta nail.

The resource gathering is also pretty intense. I think they should lower wood prices just a little across the board so we can actually get shit going a bit faster, short and long term. Other prices are fine so far, wood just feels too expensive for how much you need it, even if you get a lot of it if you know what you’re doing.

I’d argue this game mode will need two difficulties, to be frank, it feels even more demanding than IS because your available roster and levels is a HUGE factor. It’s tuned for endgame players for sure. I think they’ll get this just fine, though, as they did in IS3 (with IS3 low Waves being significantly easier than IS2 and thus more welcoming to newer players, while high Waves IS3 is far harder than IS2, more suited to endgame players looking for a challenge).

So yeah! Liking it! It needs a lot of tuning but the baseline concept is lovely!

#weaseldale #arknights

[writingquestionsanswered]

I'm honestly rather new to writing.

English isn't my first language but I've been pretty much teaching the language to myself through interacting with other English speakers and so on.

I feel like I'm missing a lot of words in my vocabulary that could lift a story up to a better level of reading.

And, probably my biggest problem, I don't know how and where to start writing. How to come up with a plot or how to find inspiration. I'm incredibly motivated but I feel like I don't know where to start.

Since I want to write horror, as it's probably the thing I read and watch the most, I bought a few English horror books to study the ways of writing, words and plot build up. I also started watching analog horror Videos on YouTube to improve my plots yet I often feel like my head is empty despite all those attempts at improving.

I know this is a lot and I'm really sorry for it, but is there any way I could genuinely try and get more into writing as well as to improve the things I mentioned above?

Want to Write But Head Feels Empty

I want to start by saying I never would have guessed English wasn't your first language if you hadn't told me. You have a better grasp on it than a lot of native speakers, so I don't think you have to worry a whole lot about your vocabulary. You're not further behind in that sense than most other new writers. You can check out my posts Improving Vocab and 10 Tips for Improving Your Grammar Vocab for help with that, though.

Since where you're really struggling is with coming up with ideas and plots, what I would recommend is starting with writing prompts. You can find writing prompts all over--on tumblr, various web sites and forums, and even in books. If you Google "horror writing prompts" a ton of options come up.

Writing prompts are a great way to ease yourself into writing when you're struggling to come up with ideas and prompts. Much like fan-fiction (which is another option I'll get to in a minute), writing prompts are almost like training wheels for writers. They let you do the actual writing without having to worry about the initial ideas. And prompts are super flexible... you can interpret them figuratively or literally, you can combine multiple prompts together, or use what you like from a few different prompts. Whatever works for you. The key is to just open your mind and let it carry you wherever it wants to. Don't stress about it being good or making sense. You're not worried about quality or form, just taking those ideas and forming them into *something*. (And, side note: there are also plot generators that will give you more than just a writing prompt, so that's worth trying, too.)

I do also want to address fan-fiction as being another great way to practice writing when plots and ideas escape you. Since you want to write horror, think of a favorite horror movie, TV show, book, or video game and write a story set in that world. Flesh out a scene or moment that you liked that didn't go far enough in canon. Give a character a different moment or ending. You can even create an original character and drop them into the story to see what happens. Once again, this allows you to focus on the actual writing without having to start from scratch with ideas.

I hope something here works for you! ♥

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[take-taker-taken]

Hey there! How's everything going? I was just wondering if you could write a 1990 undertaker x fem!reader where he does his best to comfort her after walking in on her crying (that'd be a fun yet cute thing to read, plus, I've been going through some rough shit lately so taker was literally the first thing that came to my mind to help me cope)

Hi there, lovely anon and thank you for the ask! This idea was just so sweet - never written Baby!Taker before and I hope this makes you feel better, and that your situation improves in general.

Comfort

You dash down the wide hallway, tears blurring your vision; you’re so sick of your stupid boss! You’ve only been here a week and so you’re still learning your way around the arena and he thought it was funny to mock you in front of everyone about getting lost twice in one day. Honestly, all the hallways and doors look the same - just grey and blue everywhere! You turn a corner and go through the first door that you come to, relieved to find that it’s dark and quiet. You don’t bother switching the light on - it’s illuminated enough from an emergency exit sign over on the far side - just drop into a plastic chair and bury your face in your hands. You take a few deep, shuddering breaths as you try to bring your emotions under control but it’s useless and the sobs come in great waves, though you do your best to stifle them.

You’re not sure how long you sit there but the sound of the door opening brings you back to the present and you look around, gasping in shock at the sight that greets you. An impossibly tall figure fills the doorway, standing there in a hat and long black coat and your brain catches up and matches the figure to a poster you saw earlier when you were front of house. It’s one of the performers for the show tonight; a creepy-looking guy called The Undertaker. You notice that what looks like mist swirls around his feet and you swallow thickly before sniffing.

“The… The locker rooms are further along.” You say and then frown. “I think. I mean - maybe… oh, I don’t know.” Another wave of unhappiness descends, your bottom lip wobbles and the tears come again as you hide your face in embarrassment.

Rather than leaving the giant steps into the room, closes the door behind him and just stands there, watching. You look up, wiping your sleeve across your eyes.

“You’re sad.” The man’s voice is a monotone growl and you shift slightly in your seat as he moves closer. For an entertainer he’s not very gregarious - maybe he’s just trying to get into character for later.

“I-I’m OK. Just having a bad day.” You eye him nervously, watching the tails of his coat float in a non-existent breeze. You sniff again and then go very still as a huge gloved hand lands on your shoulder, lifts up and then comes down again. He’s … he’s patting your shoulder, but it’s entirely mechanical and a bit too heavy - as though he knows what to do, but not why he should do it. You roll your shoulder as you become aware that even through the gloves, his hand feels chilly and then you stand up before he leaves you bruised. Curious, you try to peer up under the brim of his hat in order to see his face more clearly. Two sharp eyes stare down at you and he grimaces slightly, seemingly uncomfortable with being looked at so keenly.

“It’s alright.” He says in that same flat tone and this time when his hand comes up you flinch slightly because it’s near your face and… oh. In the same automatic way as before, he starts to pat you on the head, the force squishing you down a bit each time. You allow it for a few moments and then reach up and catch his gloved hand in both of yours in an effort to save yourself from a concussion.

You hold on to his hand as you look up at him and you can’t help but smile at the endearing combination of cluelessness and well-meaning. He doesn’t smile back, but just tilts his head slightly as he stares down and you can see now that his eyes are green. He lifts the hand that you’re still holding on to and gestures to your face with it.

“You’re better.”

You let his hand go and nod, the smile still on your face. “I think I am, yes. Thank you.”

In a moment of inspiration you step closer and put your arms around his waist and give him a hug, pressing your face to his chest and leaving a stray tear on his wide necktie. You giggle slightly when as expected, his arms close around you in that mechanical fashion though he doesn’t squeeze. You stand like that for a good minute and you realise that if you don’t move, he’ll probably just remain. The thought is tempting but you still have work to do this evening and so you disengage from him.

“Thank you,” You say again. “That was really kind of you.”

“Welcome.” He replies, again demonstrating that he knows what societal niceties demand. He gives you a slow tip of his broad-rimmed hat and then in a swirl of coat tails and mist, he’s gone.

TTT

#the undertaker #undertaker #this character lives in my head rent free #wwe #wwf #the undertaker x reader #undertaker x reader #fanfiction #undertaker fanfic #the undertaker fanfic #TTT Tumblr Asks

[lingering-42-long]

Plsssss

Request: Alejandro x F/Reader.

Idea: the reader is a newcomer who recently joined the Vaqueros, she has difficulties with Spanish and spends more time alone, but Alejandro stays close to her and the two begin to have a relationship in secret.

La carta

Alejandro Vargas x female reader

Thank you so much for this request Anon! The story is short, but sweet. Spanish is rather difficult for many people, including myself (switched to Swedish). Enjoy!

Spanish was translated by using google translate. Somethings may be incorrect.

I wasn’t feeling this story, but it was in my WIPs and I needed to get it out.

Warnings: none, slight angst

When you first arrived at the base, you didn’t know what to expect. Obviously, you knew that a lot of Spanish was spoken. Coming from an area of your own hometown. In the states, where Spanish isn’t as spoken quite heavily as it is here, you were not as familiar with the dialect or the lingo. On some days, it was rather trickier than others, depending on who was speaking it could very between understanding common simple phrases to something more complex. This often lead you to get very frustrated. None of the people who you were talking to but at yourself. Oh sure you had the apps on your phone to help do what you can to translate the words that were being said and you also did lessons as well to help, but it didn’t seem like there was any improvement.

People told you that going to a country would help you understand the language better, but it only seems to cause more chaos than anything else. Sometimes it was just better to sit in your own room as soon as a job is done and to try to converse with everyone at the mess hall.

Alejandro had watched your behavior from the moment you arrived on base to help out too now. He was also very perceptive on you seeing that you were doing your best to engage yourself in whatever conversation was going on. But he also saw the struggle that you were having with connecting with the other soldiers. Some of the soldiers had also taken up the liking at light teasing on your behalf, knowing that you couldn’t understand the language. Whenever Alejandro heard this immediately put an end to it, which made them shut up immediately.

It was one of those particular days where you were sitting by yourself, enjoying your meal, while a small group of other soldiers were sitting a table away, gossiping about you. Alejandro usually likes to mingle with his own crew so walking around he noticed a small group before approaching them and giving them a hard look. “ so tell me why are we picking on her again?”

As soon as he spoke, they immediately shut up and looked down at their half eaten food. “ Sorry Sir it won’t happen again.”

“It better not and if I catch you doing it again there will be consequences”

Alejandro hated seeing people be brutal to one another, especially on his team. He picked the very best of the best and he was not about ready to have his own crew tarnish the name with another group. You had volunteered to come in to help. He decided to move over to where you were, and to sit down from you. “ I hope the special forces have been treating you well.” he looked at you.

“Oh, yes, sir! They’ve been, for the most part, decent. Still having a hard time understanding everyone though.” You gave a nervous chuckle as you continued on poking at your food, not knowing what to do in the presence of the commander. “ yes, that must be rather difficult…. If you wish I could potentially help you with some of the lingo around I understand that it can be rather difficult.” he smiled at her.

“ I would really appreciate it, sir but you don’t have to spend your time wasting it on me. Honestly, I can figure it out on my own.”

“Nonsense! You would not be wasting my time maybe after lunch you can head to my office and I can give you some documents to look over and you can do your best to decipher them” Alejandro wanted to help this new recruit. It felt odd for you. You were so used to doing things without the need our help with the commanding officer. You’re always told to do and to figure things out by yourself as that builds character. This new approach of somebody helping you was unique.

“Then sir, I will be more than happy to see you after lunch” you smile as he got up to continue his rounds.

“ good! See you around two?”

“yes, sir.” You nodded.

“ all right then, enjoy your meal” and once again, Alejandro carried on with talking with the other staff and soldiers.

It was around two when you finally were able to make it to his office. He brushed off any invisible dirt that was on your uniform before knocking on the door.

“Come in” his voice muffled from the wall.

You open the door and stepped into his office. It was a clean space with a large wooden desk with the Mexican flag pinned to the wall. A few small trophies and medals hung on their placards but overall it was pretty scarce. Not much to give away than any other desk or office that was on base. The name plaque was the only real thing that separated him from the others, with the golden letters spelling Colonel Alejandro Vargas.

You sat down on the chair across from him and waited for him to speak. Alejandro was reading some papers before handing them to her. “Can you read this?” He asked, allowing her to see what was written.

You shook your head, “no sir, I see a few words I’m familiar with but full sentences.”

He hummed “Ok then, let’s start with the basics… Hola, como estas?” He asked.

You smiled “that means hello, how are you.”

“¡Muy bien!” He smiled “now when you want to respond, you can say, Estoy bien, witch means I am good. Or Estoy mal, witch means I am bad witch can be used for in place of not feeling good.”

“Ok.” You took mental note.

As it to begin building a closer and closer, with Alejandro, helping her with her Spanish, practicing at least two hours a day, the two begin to develop a very close relationship. There was talk amongst the other staff about how close the two were, but most were pretty much shut up by Rudy. He was the only one who knew how close the colonel was attached to this new girl.

You were sitting in your dorm. You knew where the relationship was going. You had a suspicion for a while, that Alejandro was potentially showing.

Sighing, she got up and walked to the mess hall. A place, especially during this night would allow her to think. Most people were asleep, so it was quiet. Just as she was sitting down, a figure appeared. “Hola mi querida ¿Despierta tan tarde?” The figure, by now was recognized as Alejandro, asked as he was making his nightly rounds from his office to his own quarters. “Oh- sorry sir you startled me.”

“My dear… you know you don’t need to call me that.”

“I know…” you sighed “someone is going to catch us… this is getting dangerous Ale”

Without second thought, Alejandro hugged her. “My love, I won’t let them find out.”

“It takes one word… then it’s over for both of us.” Tears formed on your eyes.

Alejandro gently kissed her and cupped her cheek. “Trust me, my dove”

“I do but… I worry.” You sighed.

“ Listen just go to bed everything will be all right” he continued on rocking her in his arms.

After a few minutes of them, just being together, she separated yourself “good night Alejandro”

“Good night mi corazón” he responded sweetly as he let her go.

You made your way back to your bedroom. There was a plan in mind. You couldn’t be here you couldn’t risk hurting both of you and Alejandro’s reputation. You had given Rudy a letter to give to Alejandro in the morning.

In the morning, Rudy delivered the letter to his friend and Colonel. Alejandra open the letter, and it read: “ To my Love, i’m so sorry to do this. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I didn’t know how I know this is going to break your heart and our trust but I feel like this is the best option. I got called to work in another division. I know this is very painful for both of us just as our relationship was starting…. But because I love you so much I didn’t want you to suffer. Our relationship was very risky and I didn’t want us to suffer from it. I love you so much Ale… please remember that. Love, (y/n)”

Alejandro closed the letter and stared outside. Love was hard, he knew that… he wished he had done things differently, maybe then she would have stayed. Maybe he could find her, but for now he needed to be by himself.

#alejandro x reader #alejandro mw2 #alejandro vargas #alejandro cod #cod x reader #x reader #slight angst #cod x you

[clangenrising]

Hi! I really love the story you're building with RisingClan, and I'm so excited to see more. I just wanted to say I very much agree with your sentiment about tracing, there's no harm if you're open about it and not making money, and it's a great way to learn and improve. However, I would like to ask you to consider linking the photos you trace at the bottom of each post that uses them, or in a seperate master post that links back to the posts each photograph was used in, both to credit the original photographers and so those who might be interested in doing similarly can see the same poses and original photos! I saw that you said in a previous ask that you'd credit the photographers if they asked, but I feel that credit for their photos shouldn't need to be requested on a case by case basis, rather credit should be part of the baseline process. I feel that photographers often get the short end of the stick when it comes to crediting, even though so many of us artists would be completely lost without their contributions to the artistic world. I hope you will consider this perspective!

That's a really good point and I think I agree. Let me clarify what I meant:

From now on, I'll start linking photo references somehow (I'll have to figure it out since Ive heard that tumblr punishes posts that have external links in them) but posts I've already made will be very difficult to credit since I've since deleted the images I used to make them. I know this isn't a good excuse but I genuinely don't know if I can find them again so in that case if someone contacts me about it I would be happy to link from there.

Does that make sense? ^^;

#not art #asks and answers #duskstar727

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Malleus Draconia Masquerade Dress Personal Story: Part 2

"We should begin from the top once more"

(Part 1) Part 2 (Part 3)

[Diasomnia Dorm – Lounge]

Malleus: A song… And can such a thing truly be a suitable gift?

Azul: Oh, to brush it off as a mere "thing"… It seems you don't know the full weight of your worth, Malleus-san.

Azul: If a mage as distinguished as you were to perform a song at this social gathering from the deepest reaches of your heart…

Azul: Our hosts at Noble Bell College would be more than honored.

Azul: In addition, it would be a lifelong memory for those who participated in this cultural exchange.

Azul: This would be a much more wonderful present than some perfunctory token of appreciation.

Sebek: Human… No, rather, Azul-senpai…!

Sebek: You truly do understand the splendor of Malleus-sama!! I see you in a different light now! This is a spectacular idea!

Malleus: Hm. Is that truly so?

Sebek: Yessir! If I were to receive a song performed by you, Malleus-sama… I would feel I've died and gone to heaven!

Silver: I also love songs. As long as it is sung whole-heartedly, your feelings are capable of reaching anyone.

Azul: Indeed. Songs cost nothing, and yet are full of passion and leave a favorable impression. It's especially ideal for students like us to organize and perform…

Azul: It is the best, most cost-efficient present possible!!

Lilia: That sure took a sudden turn… But, yes, a song might be a good suggestion.

Lilia: Show them your singing, and they in turn will have a chance to become acclimated with you. Then perhaps you’ll find you fit in better with everyone else at the cultural exchange.

Lilia: When it comes to songs performed at Noble Bell College in the City of Flowers… One comes to mind.

Lilia: It is an old song that has been passed down in the City of Flowers for generations. If you were to perform a song beloved by the locals, your hosts should be overjoyed as well.

Malleus: I see. Lilia, elaborate more on that song for me, please.

Malleus: Silver and Sebek, I'd like for the two of you to gather all those who will be participating in this little exchange.

Malleus: I have very little experience when it comes to undertaking a musical performance with a large group, but I assume it will require much more preparation than if it were to be only for one person.

Malleus: Once we have settled on the piece, we shall have to assign parts, and begin practicing… From now until the day of the cultural exchange, we shall be extremely busy.

Azul: Indeed. Let us all do our best!

Azul: We'd selected a song as our cost-efficient gift choice, and I have been chosen to be featured as one of the main vocalists.

Azul: Up until here, it had all gone according to my plans, but…

Malleus: Ashengrotto. You started that part just now half a beat off.

Malleus: Additionally, listening to the chorus we recorded earlier, it seems as though the parts we sing together aren't harmonizing well.

Malleus: That is no good. The most important part of the chorus is the harmony… At least that is what Lilia has told me.

Malleus: Perhaps the fault lies with me. We should begin from the top once more to see where we can improve ourselves.

Azul: H-How proactive… I never expected Malleus-san to be this eager!

Azul: I helped create this training program, and yet for us to go through such a rigorous lesson… This is far beyond what I expected.

Malleus: Shroud, you should listen to Lilia's example more, as well.

Lilia: The tune here should be like, "♪La la la～～". Go on!

Idia: ………………la………, la……

Malleus: What is the matter? I cannot hear you at all.

Idia: I-I mean… Think about it…!

Idia: You got me, me of all people, to come all the way here to Diasomnia, so if anything, I should be getting an achievement or something!?

Azul: True, you did well to leave your room. I wonder, will it hail later today?

Idia: I was so hoping a meteorite would come crashing down, cancelling the whole thing.

Idia: And I was trying to figure out how to avoid this whole thing with Ortho back in my room, too…

Idia: But then Silver-shi and Sebek-shi just barged in with such force!

Idia: I didn't think my intricate security system could be beaten by sheer "brute force." I'll have to upgrade it tonight.

Lilia: Kufufu… If you're going to strengthen your room's defenses, we'll just increase our offensive capabilities.

Lilia: The impressive security system you folks in Ignihyde hold dear is no match for Diasomnia whatsoever.

Malleus: Indeed. Both Silver and Sebek, along with the rest of the Diasomnia students…

Malleus: Are under strict orders until after the cultural exchange has concluded to make the success of this song their highest priority.

Idia: No wonder I felt the glares of Diasomnia students wherever I went! Isn't this an abuse of the Dorm Leader's station!?

Azul: So, they are a thorough surveillance system, as well. His leadership abilities know no bounds…

Malleus: Understand this: Every single one of us who are participating in the cultural exchange will be a part of this special gift.

Malleus: On top of that, we, as the main vocalists for this event, are even more vital. You both are essential pieces of this gift…

Malleus: Which is why I will not allow either of you to leave Diasomnia today until you are able to perfectly sing the first part of this song perfectly.

Idia: He look scary serious…!

Idia: I already can't stomach having to practice singing the song in the first place, but somehow that intense pressure he's exuding makes it even harder to deal with!

Azul: Indeed. And the even bigger nuisance is…

Lilia: Alrighty, let's quit the chit-chat and get back to practice. I'll start the song over from the beginning, so Malleus, you go ahead and sing first.

Lilia: Okay, music, start!

Malleus: ♪ Frightened by the daybreak～

Malleus: ♪ I would wish countlessly～～

Azul: Malleus-san…

Idia/Azul: HE'S TOO GOOD AT SINGING!

Azul: While he has the proper technical skills… Somehow, he also has the ability to deeply touch the heart of those who are listening.

Idia: How's he this good at conveying emotions? What, does the royal training for the heir to Briar Valley including singing, too!?

Lilia: I do recall that back in Briar Valley, he had some musical training in order to improve his imagination ability, but…

Lilia: It seems he's put in an enormous amount of effort here. He must have practiced a lot.

Malleus: That's right. Every day, I practice by myself for two hours when I awaken, and two hours before I slumber.

Azul: If we're to sing alongside Malleus-san, then we will be expected to have an equal singing prowess…

Azul: I should not have been content with simply my ordinary practices. I also need to do more rigorous training!

Idia: So, you got the practice with all the reps, then the practice with the three main vocalists, and then another 4 hours of independent study…!?

Idia: I don't get how you have that much energy…! Or, more like, when do you actually sleep, Malleus-shi!?

(Part 1) Part 2 (Part 3)

#twisted wonderland #twst #malleus draconia #azul ashengrotto #sebek zigvolt #lilia vanrouge #idia shroud #twst translation #twst malleus #twst azul #twst idia #twst silver #twst sebek #twst lilia #twst glorious masquerade

[slashingdisneypasta]

I know I've sent you countless asks by now, I'm sorry 😖 but I was thinning about a certain thing I said about Kingpop that was bugging me, and now that I've really thought about it I wanted to like, offer an updated version of the headcannon. I figured it was probably best to send it in ask form so you could see it before you answer the asks (if you want to ^^). Of course, don't feel obligated to answer this ask right away.

Basically, it's Poppy's reaction/way of handling Kingston being married. I originally said that she would try to help fix their relationship even though she was scared about Kingston dropping her for Rena again. Now that I've had more time to think this over, here's what Poppy would really do; When she first discovered that Kingston was married, well she first felt very startled and very guilty as this was probably after their one night stand (unless King was open about that with her). She'd confront Kingston about it, asking him why he would cheat on his spouse, and becoming even more confused when he explains he and Rena's complicated marriage. She doesn't want to think this guy is lying, but this is her getting involved with a married man too. She doesn't feel right to just let it be with just Kingstons word, so she would ask if they could call Rena or something, kinda like your Callahan fic (and that's how Poppy gets to meet Rena in this AU XD)

It is still pretty weird for Poppy at first; if she didn't think a relationship with an older man was possible for her, she definitely didn't think she was going to be in this kibd of position 😅 As she and Kingston grow closer, though, she's more surprised out how she doesn't care. She feels awkward about it for a while, but she slowly relaxes and let's herself enjoy being with King, with his help and reminders that nothing is being hidden from anyone.

I can still see Poppy trying to help Kingston and Rena improve their relationship, but it's mostly for them getting along rather than romance; especially if by now King has proven that he wants her. As for her fear... Poppy is a more fretting person, but she has gone through some growth by the time she and Kingston get together. So although his marriage throws her off a little, Poppy trusts him enough to stay with her ^^

(the angst lover in me still wants that moment when she confesses her fear to King though 😅 maybe it'd just be her talking to King about how strange this is to her, but she still wants him and wants to make it work ^^)

Idk how you imagine King's side of this, especially whether or not he stays married to Rena while dating Poppy or he divorces her, but I wanted to give you this ^^ I hope you enjoy reading this ^^

I did enjoy this!!!

Now I'm imagining Christmas and Easter and all the 'family orientated' (mocking quotation marks because I don't think anyone has to see anyone for the holidays), and King is so excited for his first holiday with Poppy... until she suggests the invite Rena since Ryan's coming ^^ Of course Poppy doesn't want Rena to be alone for the holiday!! And neither do you, do you King?? (Kingston: ... // Poppy: King? // Kingston: Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking. Honestly not sure how alone she'd be anyway. // Poppy: Oh!! does she have some close friends who she's spending the day with?? ^^ // Kingston: No, she's a ho, Pops- )

Then King is just like... *sigh. Slump.* fine. I'll ask her.

He hopes she'll say no but of course Rena will come! XD She even turns up with a casserol, while King's being totally ungelpful just hanging out in the kitchen basically watching Poppy and Ryan do everything while sneaking tastes of the food XD (King will help if asked, but if not asked then it just won't occur to him. He's already gifting everyone with his charming presence and sense of humour?? XD )

And no- King probably won't ever divorce Rena (unless he actually decided to marry Poppy- but at this point marriage doesn't mean much to him. His relationship with Poppy is more safe and more meaningful then his marriage with Rena has ever been afterall). Not officially; its a pain in the ass. How would Poppy react to King's reluctancy to divorce his wife?

#i think this mkght be the fastest i've ever answered one of your asks 😅😅 #i'm so sorry 😅😅😅 #i love every single one of your asks so much!!!

[nakanotamu]

do you have advice for how one would start getting into women's wrestling (like where to watch matches etc)? for lesbian reasons of course

Yes I do! There are sort of a few questions here so I'll try and break it down a little, sorry this is going to be thorough:

What do you want to watch?

Obviously first and foremost you've gotta decide what you actually want to watch. The joshi companies I know the most about personally are Stardom, Act Wres Girlz, and TJPW, so that's what I can speak on, and I think they're also the most accessible as an english speaker.

TJPW, in my opinion, lacks a sense of urgency and drama in their stories that I really want from wrestling, but I know there are fans who specifically love it because of the slow pace of their storytelling and the fact that you don't have to worry about stuff like people growing to truly hate each other like you do elsewhere. TJPW is great if you want stories about everyone working together for the betterment of each other and the company, trying their hardest together, and losses not being devastating, but rather something you can always bounce back from.

AWG is narratively in a very unique place that they seem to not always be equipped to really make the most of. They don't bill themselves as a wrestling company, but rather say they put on staged performances, using wrestling moves, with predetermined outcomes, in a wrestling ring, to deliberately tell a story. Since that's not what every wrestling company is? In effect this basically means the girls can hate each other in the story and be evil and then go out and sell merch and be nice to everyone and post together on social media without breaking kayfabe. Occassionally though the in-ring story ALSO acknowledges that it is predetermined and that is incredibly unique. Like, one of the factions, Beastz Rebellion, their thing is that they'll play along with the script just fine, but they'll make the other wrestlers look bad because they think it's too boring without a bad guy and they're sick of having to pretend to like each other. They also occassionally have "real" matches where they treat them like a traditional wrestling match, an actual competition where both wrestlers are just trying to win. And all of their title matches use a point-system to determine the winner, where wrestlers are given points based on things like how good they are in the ring, how hard they work in practice, how popular they are, and a little for luck (decided by a dice roll). This is honestly probably pretty close to how wrestling booking works anyway but it's unique to see it laid out and sytematized like that. I'd say AWG is great if you want to see a LOT of rookies putting things together, Kouki, and a company trying new things and still figuring some of them out as they go. They also have one of the most openly queer rosters I've ever seen in wrestling, but unfortunately they're imo a little hamstrung by having a writer who decides how the storylines will be told rather than letting the wrestlers work the details out themselves. I hope they'll improve there, though.

Stardom is obviously my bread and butter and I won't for a second pretend to be impartial without a favourite. Stardom has imo the best in-ring wrestling, production (as far as putting on the shows), storylines, and roster in joshi wrestling today. Stardom is HIGH drama, to the point of frequently putting emotion ahead of any sort of believable physical story in a match. Stardom is about people falling in love and then slowly growing to hate each other, about people trying to hate each other despite their love, about failing and needing to change and not knowing how. I don't think every booking choice Stardom makes is perfect but I think their biggest strength is that the wrestlers have the freedom to tell the stories they want to themselves. Even if something is terrible, the wrestlers can almost always justify it in a way I end up enjoying. Stardom also moves FAST, things change quickly and almost everyone always has something going on.

How deep do you want to dive in?

afaik none of these companies are regularly posting full shows for free, though some do irregularly, so if you want to really follow along, you'll be paying for a subscription. But they do all post highlights and individual matches on youtube if you want to check them out. Act Wres, TJPW, and Stardom. If you want to go further than that, each company has their own platform.

TJPW is on their parent company Cyberfight's streaming platform Wrestle Universe. It costs 900yen a month, and you also get access to DDT, Noah, and Ganbare Pro Wrestling. (Ganbare has a women's division and occassional women focused GanJo shows, but DDT and Noah are primarily men's promotions.) It's a pretty slick platform with lots of livestreamed shows, and many if not all of TJPW's big shows have english commentary, if you are a commentary liker. (Personally I hate wrestling commentary and wish every company would provide a no-commentary option but that's just me.)

Act Wres has AWG Nets. It costs 1000 yen a month and iirc signing up was pretty easy but you'll need a little autotranslate. They are VERY quick with show uploads, with solid video quality and good editing and even a cute little intro to most shows that goes around the merch area and says hi to a few of the girls to really make you feel like you're there.

Stardom has Stardom World, for 920 yen a month, and this is absolutely where Stardom drops the ball, hard. And it's not hard to guess why, as far as we know even after 7 years and exponential growth they still have one fucking guy handling everything for some godforsaken reason. The editing of non-PPV shows frequently sucks with things like massive colour balancing issues, they have subtitles for in-ring promos but they aren't good and increasingly frequently they just stealthily edit them out, and as of right now because of tour schedules they're almost a month behind on show uploads. Also the guy who runs everything, while yes definitely overworked, has also stolen my and others' translations before, so he also fucking sucks and my beef with him is personal. I desperately want Stardom World to improve but for now it's all we've got.

Where to start?

Once you've decided all that you just need to... actually start somewhere. I'm a weirdo and always just say just pick a show and start watching, but I don't necessarily think that gets everyone hooked or is the best option. Probably the best thing to do is watch a recent big show and go from there. For Stardom, their PPVs are easy to spot these days because they have special titles, and Korakuen Hall shows aren't quite as major but do tend to have real storyline advancement. A big show will have a lot of stories ending and starting so it's always the most impactful place to jump in. The other option is to watch a tournament, as the focus on all the different competitors is a great way to get introduced to everyone. Stardom's major yearly tournament, the 5 Star Grand Prix, starts on July 23rd, so your timing is great if you want to follow along with that.

I would say the important things to remember are that it's supposed to be fun, not overwhelming, so it's fine to just focus on the wrestlers who jump out to you and to not know everything about anything, and you don't need to watch every single match or every single show. You'll get used to stuff as you go and also my asks and everything are open for a reason, I'm always happy - maybe a little too happy, judging from this length - to talk about it.

When it comes to following actual stories, getting into the real meat of the relationships and the drama, this is where it'll be tough unless you know Japanese. Act Wres does not have any real english coverage. You can still feel the emotion, and get a little from autotranslating comments, but you will miss a lot. I wish I could provide Act Wres translations but I just do not have the time. TJPW has occassional live-translation threads on twitter by Mr Haku, who used to be their full time translator, and my friend runs a twitter account @StorybookTJPW where she translates their press conferences and postmatch promos. For Stardom, World has bad subs for any in-ring promo they don't just cut, and I also run a blog, address in my header, where I post translations of big show postmatch promos and press conferences. My Japanese is definitely not perfect, and even if it was I don't have an editor, but. The official subs make me mad and lose all of the subtext and characterization, and sometimes we need to take things into our own hands.

Anyway sorry this is EXTREMELY long and way more exhaustive than you probably needed or expected, I should not have started this when I meant to be getting ready for bed lmao. Like I said though I am always so, so ready to talk about joshi wrestling and my asks are open for a reason, I hope you find something you like, for lesbian reasons, and have fun.

#long post

[preciouslittletoonette]

I've watched a few YouTube reviews of Return to Neverland in the past (spoiler alert all but maybe one or two were being a tad unfair towards it I'm so sorry RTN baby you deserve better no one gets you like I get you <3). And one question that pops up a lot that got me thinking and since I'm posting a lot more Peter in the last 2 days than usual, I figured I'd address the question.

The question is: If flying was really the only way out of Neverland, why couldn't Peter just carry her through the second star and take her back home himself?

And that, to my annoyance, was a pretty valid question to be asking.

Why didn't Peter just carry her back to London?

The first obvious answer to me is that if he did that, there'd be no story. That's the outside world answer.

The in-universe answer was lost on me, until now.

Thinking and confronting the revelation of Peter's character development from the 1st movie to JATNP to the movie sequel and beyond made me look further deeper into the story of Return to Neverland and made me look at Peter and Jane's interactions in a new light. And finally after what has been months of this question haunting the back of my brain, I finally have something close to a concrete answer that I am very satisfied with.

Why didn't Peter just take Jane back to London himself?

It's because he's noticed that there's something else in Jane that's weighing her down that's not just the situation in her family.

One of the bigger but not the biggest pieces of Peter's character that we see got developed and improved was Peter's ability to Read The Room.

In the first movie, he's awful at reading the room. Missing entire social clues and feelings like Wendy's jealousy and anger. In RTN, he catches on to people's feelings rather quickly and can sometimes effectively deal with them (like using Tink's jealousy to his advantage).

In Jane's first escape attempt with the raft, while she's building and checking everything, we see Peter has and is spending a good amount of time watching her very intently. He's so focused on Jane Tink even fails to get his attention. He's busy trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with her. Even while speaking with Jane, he's still trying to figure out what her problem was. He prods, asks invasive questions and watches her body language until he finally figures it out and everything clicks into place.

He sees Jane has lost her faith. Her hope. Her belief. He sees how badly the war has been affecting her and this in tandem was affecting her relationship with her family back home. That's why she wanted to go home so badly. To make things right and apologise. Though yeah, apologising will fix things, it won't get rid of the root of the big problem: which is Jane's lack of faith.

And that's where Peter steps up. He engages with her, banters with her and includes her in on the group. His personal goal is to reignite Jane's faith. And the only way he can see that truly is if Jane is able to fly on her own with pixie dust, which will align with the main goal of helping Jane return home. Even when the stakes get higher and Tinkerbell's life is on the line, Peter still has Jane's best interests at heart by including her into the Lost Boys and letting her let loose in a way she could've never have done back in war-torn London.

And he knows his goal was finally completed the moment he saw her soaring through the sky with the brightest smile on her face, looking at peace. It was then, he knew it was finally time for her to head home back to her mother.

He didn't fight to make her stay because while she's clearly having fun on Neverland, he knows she'll be her happiest back home with Wendy. And if there's one thing Peter wants for all his Lost Boys & Girls (but also especially for the Darlings), it's for them to happy and hopeful.

TL;DR: Peter didn't let Jane leave because he can see she's unhappy and hopeless, so he tries to cheer her up and reignite her hope and once it's reignited, only then does Peter help guide her home.

#peter pan #peter pan return to neverland #peter pan: return to neverland #i love rtn so much can you tell? #i see peter as being Jane's guardian angel/ fairy godparent who's there for her in her time of need #he wants her to be the happiest girl alive #she's his little lost girl and the fact she's Wendy's daughter only strengthens his fondness for her #jane darling #long post #man I'm on a roll with the peter pan posts recently

[sothischickshe]

I was tagged by @bourbon-ontherocks (ty! 💛💛💛) to answer 20 questions for writers:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

21!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

278,245

3. What fandoms do you write for?

The only fandom I've ever published fic for is good girls

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Bringing down the neighbourhood

waiting for someone who needs me🧞

What a sight to see🧛🏻

(a) time to kill

yourself and others

I'm not sure the middle 3 would def be there were it not for the anon kudos bombing but w/e it's nice having some single chapter fics in the top 5 🤘

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! 🥺🥺🥺

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

A time to refrain (from embracing) methinks!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Both installments of the Are you afraid or is it true series are pretty fluffy. Maybe the second part (Through the park and by the tree) wins out? 🤔

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not generally. There was someone in the gg fandom leaving mean bookmark notes tho 🙄🗑️

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes. What are the kinds? 👀

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I haven't, and I don't imagine I would?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, not that I'm aware of. It could be interesting to see how it would go!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes actually, as kids me and a friend co-wrote a tortall 'verse crackfic.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Ooof. Maybe spuffy? That met me at a very formative time of my life, and I didn't expect it to become so canon (as opposed to like under a spell etc) and I think that experience really reshaped my brain 🤯🤯🤯 but fundamentally faves questions are immoral thus this is a very rude question.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I hope I'll finish all of them, and do intend to! I'm not sure I'll ever write the hilarious abortion fic tho.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Mm, a love of language/interesting prose. A love of brevity/somewhat chiselled sentences. A love of editing/willingness to improve. Interesting stories. Dialogue, tho brio get little bc theyre annoying. Characterisation!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Well I violently dislike plot. I don't feel super strong on creating original characters. I'm slow! I'd rather let things be confusing than beat readers over the head with info, which I think can be detrimental. I wouldnt say my descriptions are super strong, though I think they've improved a lil. Sometimes there's too much internal monologue at a go which breaks up the pacing of an eg dialogue scene (though again think that's improved somewhat). My love of planning and love of pantsing are at constant war lol, I get grumpiest abt stuff not having been established earlier and thus needing to state things which couldve been well demonstrated. Blocking, sometimes. I love short stories and oneshots but I'm apparently prone to writing long fics & continuing things into series which I consider a real weakness, lol.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm not against it in principle, I've read a lot of books which contain a lot of eg French or Spanish (often untranslated). We've got access to Google translate or w/e right? I do appreciate it when translations are provided bc lazy (and I think Ao3 does poss let you do hyperlinked superscript?). I feel the same way abt it in fic as in other media I think -- if you're happy for it to be a bonus to those that understand and everyone else needs to work to figure it out, I concur. If you think it needs to be understood, then providing translations (even if just as notes @ the end) makes sense.

But I also think pls don't write it via Google translate... If u don't speak the language/don't have someone who can help u translate it, don't write dodgy shite Spanish or w/e 🙈 not everything needs to be literal dialogue u can just say 'he explained to his grandmother abt the change in plans' or w/e I swear

...o wait I'm guessing the q meant me as a writer not reader 🤦 I don't think I've done much of it? Altho I do always seem to imply that every character speaks French, a language I don't really speak so who the hell knows 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Published for: good girls. Wrote for hmmm I guess tortall books maybe? 🧓🤷🏼‍♀️

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Ooof, immoral question! Let's say upon your ignorance (and the gray despair) of your ugly life tho bc every time I remember I wrote a fic where rio & Dean swap bodies I giggle 😂 there's so much abt this fic which is very funny to specifically me teehee

Tagging🔖🔖🔖🔖🔖: @hereliesbb @nakedmonkey @nottonyharrison @inyoursheets @bensonstablers @blizabrth @delicatelingon & U right in the middle of your forehead if u wanna play 😚🎯

#Ty for tagging me this was fun! 😚😚😚 #Writing #On writing #Fanfiction #Hopefully I didn't fluff up any of the links; doing this all on mobile was not the easiest thing ever 😅

[overobsessedfanboy23]

Wow... Episode 80 was great

I... I expected nothing from this episode. If anything, I thought I would really hate it but no, this episode was actually really fun, along with genuinely hitting me in the feels. I'm gonna go into spoilers below the read more so if you haven't seen the episode, don't read it.

Overall though, it was a definite improvement from last week for me and a real contender for my favourite episode of Go Rush. Yes, I loved it THAT much.

So Zaion.

I think I've made it no secret that I hated his guts for a while. I couldn't care less about his furniture store plotline and last arc got way better for me when it stopped focusing on him. So knowing all this, I went into episode 80 with low expectations. I dreaded the episode having Yuhi lose and get turned into furniture and for us to have to get two duels in a row against Zaion. Or worse, the whole arc derailing to suddenly focus on him.

So I was incredibly delighted that Yuhi won. He's really been on a hot streak lately when he used to win and lose pretty equally. He's become my favourite of the three protagonists. Even before his victory, his positive energy throughout the duel was infectiously endearing. I love Yugioh protagonists who can have so much fun duelling and stay positive even when a lot is on the line or they're on the brink of losing. It's also a rather subtle non intrusive way to draw parallels between Yuhi and Yuga which I appreciate.

But the real highlight of this episode for me was Zaion.

I never expected this show would ever make me feel genuine sympathy for this character, let alone actually relate to him. I predicted rather early into the episode that he knew on some level that this fictional reality, and his highly successful furniture store, wasn't real but that he didn't care because he wanted to stay in this fantasy that was so much better than his reality. It's... a real thing people do, including myself at times. I think many of us can think of a time where we were a little too engrossed in something that wasn't real, to the point of neglecting our real lives. So to see that idea reflected in Zaion... that just really spoke to me.

I don't know if I can quite say I like him overall taking his past portrayals into account but I can say for certainty that I loved him in this episode: completely taken aback by Yuhi's energy, as well as Yuhi figuring out that he knew this world wasn't real and that... that damn scene where all the fantasies fade away and after being upset for a bit, vows to make those dreams a reality. Finally deciding that rather than escaping to his fantasy, he's going to work to make his reality more like that fantasy. And that's... that's just very inspiring to me.

Good job, Go Rush. You really knocked it out of the park with this one. Here's to the hope that the rest of this arc can keep this up.

#yugioh #ygo #yugioh go rush #ygo go rush #go rush #yugioh go rush spoilers #go rush spoilers #rambles #this episode was great #I loved it #zaion #zaion (go rush) #go rush episode reviews