#Risk the Fall (We Have Felt It All) verse

[darklordofthesimp]

Dissonance (Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley x Reader)

Part of the "Anything" verse but can be read as a standalone.

Summary: When a mission-gone-wrong leads to a confrontation, Ghost confesses the way that he feels. 

A/N: Get a load of the fucking ART OH MY G O D 

Category: Angst || Hurt/Comfort || Mutual Pining || Tension 

Warnings: Graphic Language 

Disclaimer: Sunshine is Gender Neutral as always, however I am looking to start showcasing fan art as the cover pieces on fics and it will always be up to the artists discretion to decide what they want their Sunshine/Saint/Birdy to look like.

Like the characters? Birdy Masterlist || Saint Masterlist

Such amazing Ghost x Sunshine fan art by @hiskonigin honestly leaves me breathless every single time I swear to God.

___

The mission had gone terribly wrong. 

You felt like they always were, these days. Any task or deployment that started off well, started off controlled, they’d fall to pieces the second pressure was applied. It wasn’t all of them, though. Just enough that it had become noticeable to Price and the team. For the life of you, you couldn’t figure out the issue. 

But, as you stood nose to nose with the Lieutenant in the shared kitchen, you were beginning to see the common denominator. 

“I’m not doing this with you again, Riley,” you snapped. “I’m fucking sick of this conversation.” 

Simon’s fists clenched by his side, “I say when this conversation is done, not you.” 

Your eyes narrowed, grinding your teeth in an attempt to keep your mouth shut. You’d been warned by Price about your insubordination but the urge to risk it all was at an all-time high. Simon Riley was insufferable. 

“Yes,” you ground out miserably, “Sir.” 

The officer took a step toward you, unrest buzzing beneath his skin. You could feel the discourse running in his blood, you could sense the unreasonable rage that burned in his chest. You knew it because you knew him on a plane that nobody else would understand. You’d related to him. You’d experienced it all, too. 

“You’re a fucking pain in my ass,” he snapped.

Yet… every time. Every time. 

Rejection pinched your heart but the feeling was almost hollow. You’d been hurt by Simon so many times that you could almost say that you were numb to it. It’s not as though you were chasing his approval, it was that you were never going to earn it. You couldn’t get civility, you couldn’t get anything from him. 

You were tired. 

Things had changed, everything had changed since the incident. You’d been kidnapped, held ransom, beaten and battered, and then left to die in favour of your teammate. It was ironic that Simon had been the one to save you; it felt like he regretted it some days. 

The fire that burned beneath the skin had dimmed and you felt out of place. There was only so much you could take and you could feel that breaking point creeping up on you. It was foul that you were treated with the same hostility as König, your only crime was being brought onto the team. 

Your only crime was that you weren’t Birdy. 

“Okay,” you rasped, nodding your head. “Noted. Am I dismissed?” 

Simon took in a deep breath, eyes steady on yours. He didn’t waver and you knew that he had more to say. There was always more venom with Simon, quiet with others but angry with you. Always so angry. 

“Dismissed.” Ghost confirmed. When you turned on your heel, the man spoke up from behind you. “First parade tomorrow is 0700 at the gym with Birdy and König for training.” 

You whirled around as fast as you’d gone to leave. “Sorry?” 

Simon barely blinked. “You heard me.” 

“I have the day off tomorrow,” you snapped, “we all have the day off tomorrow.” 

The officer only shook his head. “Learn to follow orders and you’ll earn a day off.” 

Your chest burned, blood rushed to your head and you wanted nothing more than to just scream. You wanted to grip Simon by his stupid shoulders and shake him until that fucking mask fell from his face. You wanted to beat on his dumb fucking chest until you knocked some sense into him. 

“I’m sick of this, Riley.” Your voice shook as you raised a finger. “I’m fucking sick of this.” 

“Imagine how I feel, Sunshine,” the LT drawled, turning to leave like he hadn’t just ruined your night- like he ruins every night. 

You couldn’t breathe. The sensation of being alone, of being rejected over and over by the people that are meant to be the closest to you. You’d never stopped experiencing that particular pain. From your parents to your first few units, and now, to this. 

To the 141. 

To Simon Riley. 

“I won’t be there,” you rasped. The words escaped from between your lips before you could catch them. “I’m not going.” 

Your Lieutenant shifted his body to face you again, eyes square on yours. You couldn’t care less about the murder in his eyes, you couldn’t care less about the chill drifting along your spine. You didn’t care about anything anymore. 

If they wanted to treat you like some erroneous outsider, then you would act like one.

“What?” It was low, almost whispered, but you heard him loud and clear. 

You glared up at him, moving forward until you were only inches from him. You could taste his unrest, the shift in his body language, you could almost hear him grit his teeth. You didn’t care. His upset meant nothing to you, he meant nothing to you. 

“You heard me.” You dared him to do something. Anything. “I’m not doing shit for you people anymore. Especially you. I’m never doing anything for you again.” 

“That’s what you’ve been asked,” he snapped, “your job and nothing else.” 

“I’m trying!” You all but shrieked. You felt the tether to your calm demeanour beginning to slip from your fingers. “I’ve been doing nothing but trying and it’s never enough for you.”

Your lips trembled as you gasped for air. Adrenaline was rushing through your system and you prayed that he wouldn’t push you over the edge you teetered along. You felt the unfamiliar tingle along your nose and cheeks, the tell-tale signs of angry tears. 

Don’t say anything, you begged internally. 

But, if there was one thing Simon was good at it was disappointing you. 

“If you have to try that hard then maybe you’re in the wrong place, Sunshine.” 

Something inside you snapped.

Tension slingshotted from where it had been building in your chest and landed straight onto your tongue, tasting of venom and fury. Rage washed over you, tears spilling from your lashes as you pushed a finger into his chest. 

“Maybe I am.” You finally admitted to your own fears but you wouldn’t be conceding peacefully. There was too much you had to say, too much spite poisoning your lungs to leave it there. 

“Maybe this is the wrong fucking place,” you nodded, “because it’s just a fucking high school in here. Everyone’s fucking someone, everyone’s in love with someone and everyone hates someone.” 

The LT said nothing as you pushed him hard, stepping back from the force beneath your palms. 

“I can’t do anything right because I’m not Birdy,” your voice was warbled as you shouted, thick with tears and anger alike. “König can’t do anything right because of a mistake from the brass, Birdy can’t recover because they’re being babied, and you can’t be unbiased because you want to fuck Birdy!” 

“What?” Simon hissed, but the word was lost on you. You hadn’t even heard him as you pushed him again and again. He let you shove him, let you gain ground on him until his back was pressed against the wall. 

“And you!” Your voice cracked beneath the volume. “I’ve done everything for you, risked everything for you!” 

“I never asked you-” 

“You didn’t have to!” It was a sob. It was a confession. 

Simon’s jaw fell slack from beneath his mask. 

“I’d do anything for you,” you finally fell to a whisper. “We both know that.” 

The man took in a shuddered breath from beneath your palms. He was pressed hard into the wall with your hands splayed across his chest as though readying yourself for another attack. 

But then they fell slack. 

Then they left his body completely. 

He shivered at the loss. 

“I hate you,” you took a step back, body shaking from emotional overload. You had so much more to say, so much hatred built up over the months. There was just no energy to deliver them anymore.

And, the more you thought about it, maybe it wasn’t hatred. Maybe it was just hurt. 

The realization that you would never be loved, never be accepted- the understanding that you would never be the first choice. Always an afterthought, always a hindrance. 

A self-sabotaging menace that no one could tolerate. 

“You’re right. I don’t belong here.” You affirmed, sorrow forming a pit in your stomach as you finally came to understand. “But, I want you to know that you made this every inch as miserable as it’s been, you selfish cunt.” 

The insult fell like a gavel between you. 

You half expected Simon to yell. You almost wanted him to. A reaction would be better than the silence filling the small space between you both.

The air grew heavy with tension the longer the quiet continued. Your fingers twitched at your side, the understanding that this was the end of it all. The end of the farce that he’d put on in the hospital, the short pretence of caring. 

You supposed people did crazy things when lives are at stake. 

Maybe he only pitied you when he’d spoken those words, the sentence you’d been hanging onto for weeks. 

“I would follow you anywhere. We both know it.” 

The only thing that Simon followed you with was dissonance.

“Nothing?” Your voice cracked and wavered. “Got nothing to say?” 

Simon didn’t move, didn’t say a word, he didn’t even blink. You supposed you’d been expecting too much. The man never gave you anything when you needed it, when you were desperate for a sign. His silence was infuriating. 

“Yeah,” you said, wobbly and broken. “Of course, you don’t, you fucking coward. Never do when it matters.” 

You took another step away from him, forcing yourself to detach from the situation. The longer you stayed the longer you craved a response, you felt like he owed it to you. But no one is entitled to anything and you sure as fuck weren’t about to let yourself fall into that mentality. 

The man before you brought out the worst in you. 

As you were readying yourself to turn around, Simon Riley finally spoke. 

“Are you finished?” 

Your jaw fell slack. “Excuse me?” 

Ghost pushed himself off the wall, inches from you in what felt like a second. You could barely catch your breath at the sudden proximity, the overwhelming sense of being in his presence. The feeling of being on the back foot beneath him, rather than the one in control, was intoxicating. 

“I said,” he repeated, stormy eyes bearing into yours, “Are you finished?” 

Each word was enunciated, a pause in between that felt like a beat on your chest every time. You were, in all honesty, flabbergasted. There was no better way to put it. 

You couldn’t even string together a sentence to come back at him with, really. The audacity that it took to reply to everything you had said with such an arrogant question made your blood simmer beneath your skin. 

Simon took your silence as a confirmation that you were, in fact, finished. 

“Can I talk now, Sunshine?” He growled, stepping closer into your space as if there were any more room for him to fit. You receded, feeling as though you were gasping for air that wasn’t tainted by the taste of him. “You gonna let me talk?” 

You said nothing as he walked you backward, desperately wanting to dig your heels into the ground. When your back hit the wall you looked up at Simon with wide eyes, hands hovering over his chest. 

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna talk now,” the LT deliberated mockingly, nodding his head as though he’d given you the choice. The sarcasm dropped from his tone when he spoke next. “You have no fucking clue, Sunshine. You’re a fuckin’ clueless idiot, is what you fuckin’ are.” 

Tears burned in your eyes, collecting on your lash line against your will. Had he really trapped you against a wall just to shatter you further? Did he really hate you that much? 

His gloved hands came to grip your own and you flinched away, the back of your head thudding against the drywall. Simon’s eyes narrowed, pressing your trembling fingers against the thin shirt covering his chest. 

You could feel his heartbeat. To your shock, it wasn’t steady. 

His heart was racing. 

You met his gaze once more, watching as his eyes trailed the lone tear on your cheek. 

“You’re an idiot.” He repeated but, this time, his voice was a whisper. “You have no fucking clue.” 

You wanted to say something, anything. You wanted to believe what he implied, you wanted to hold onto it with the hope that you’d had so many times before. 

Unfortunately, vague confessions and sweet nothings weren’t enough anymore. 

Simon knew it, too. 

“I can sit here correcting half the shit you’ve said,” he shook his head. “But I’m not gonna bother ‘cos I agree with you.” 

Your heart dropped.  

“Don’t look at me like that, let me finish.” Simon rasped, his fingers tightening against yours. “You’re right about it all, ‘bout it being a fuckin’ high school. König wants Birdy, Price wants Saint, Soap wants Gaz, and everyone’s a fucking bitchy cunt to someone on the team.”  

You blinked at the last couple that he’d mentioned. 

“But,” he shook his head, gaze heavy on your skin. “I’m not targeting you because I don’t think you belong. And I don't. Want. Birdy.” 

You made a small noise, embarrassment burning flush along your neck. You cast your eyes to the side and took in a shuddering breath. 

“I don’t give a fuck who you want-” You began, the lie falling shakily from your lips. 

“Yes, you do.” Simon interrupted sharply. You looked up at him quickly, ready to defend yourself. “Because I give a fuck about who you want, too.” 

“Why?” You blurted, heart thrashing in your chest when he shoots you a pointed glare. 

“Come on, Sunshine, don’t play dumb.” 

“Then don’t be a coward, Simon.” 

The LT raised a brow, gripping your hands tightly at your words. The beating beneath your palms picked up in speed, reminiscent of a racehorse sprinting towards the finish line. You’d never have picked his anxiety if you were just watching him, those dead eyes unwavering. 

Maybe, that was why he let you feel it… feel him. 

He wanted you to know, he wanted to show you in the only way that he could- in the only way you would trust.

Simon Riley was laying himself bare. 

“I give a fuck because,” he paused, loosing a shaky breath. He blinked, finally. Those blonde lashes fluttered as his eyes scoured the features of your face, building the courage to spill his honesty to you. “I give a fuck because I want you, Sunshine.” 

There it was. 

There it was. 

You were frozen, suspended in time with your hands on his chest and your face inches from his. The taste of his words lingered on your tongue as you took him in with every trembling breath. 

“I give you a hard time,” Simon nodded, “I do. You put yourself in these fuckin’ situations to save me and I can’t do anything to protect you.”

And, as if someone had turned on the lights, everything suddenly became clear. 

The time he’d been so furious that he barged into your room after a mission to berate you. “I could have lost you,” he’d said, “You would have died and it would have been on me.” 

That shattering incident where you’d fought in the kitchen, “I don’t need you to save me!” Ghost had snapped, smacking your cup from the table. “I don’t need anything from you.”

And, of course, this mission. This whole debacle had started because you’d recovered him from an ambush. 

“This whole time…” You rasped, “I thought you hated me.” 

Simon scoffed, the sound bitter on his tongue. “No. I just hated the way I felt. The way I feel.” 

You opened your mouth to speak, your fingers pressing into the skin of his chest. These months had you doubting yourself, had you wondering what you could have done so wrong to deserve this treatment. The embarrassment of wanting someone that couldn’t stand you was crippling. 

But now… now as his eyes bore into yours, begging you to say something wordlessly. The way his body was on edge, waiting for your response, fearing your rejection. How could you be asked to articulate anything? How were you meant to formulate a sentence? 

You wanted to tell him how you felt, you wanted to tell him everything. 

You wanted him. 

But the craving to put your hands on his skin, to taste his confession on his lips, to show him what he meant to you, it was overwhelming. You wanted him to understand how you felt in a way that he’d never doubt, in a way that would explain why you were constantly risking yourself for him. 

You knew he understood when his hands moved to grip your waist.

“Oh, my God.” 

You leapt away, your body thumping into the wall as the spell broke between yourself and the Lieutenant. 

“Oh, my God!” Birdy said again, hands coming up to their eyes hesitantly as they stumbled back and forth in the doorway. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” 

You groaned, dropping your chin to your chest as you pinched the bridge of your nose. 

“Relax,” Simon coughed, his fingers trailing along your skin until they fell by his sides again, slow and hesitant. “Just- We were debriefing.” 

You could hear footsteps approaching from down the hall and the urge to throw yourself out the window grew exponentially. Out of all the times for these two idiots to make an appearance, they had to pick the most paramount moment. It was as though they were the main characters and you were simply a side-plot, cursed to never be able to develop further than the main story-line.

You glanced up at Ghost who offered you a similar expression, unimpressed. 

König cast a shadow over the intruder as he rounded the corner to the kitchen, undoubtedly investigating the commotion. His eyes fell on Birdy first, watching as their hands came up and down from their face, unsure whether they were allowed to look. Then, jade eyes moved to observe Ghost who hadn’t moved from his position posted next to your flushed body. 

“Oh…” König murmured, realization slowly dawning as he returned his gaze to Birdy. “Oh.” 

Gigantic hands reached to gently but firmly tug on the back of the stumbling sniper’s shirt. He offered an apologetic wave as he began to drag Birdy from the room, the latter still sputtering embarrassed atonements. 

“It’s okay,” you slipped out from your space between Simon and the wall. “I was just leaving anyway.” 

You quickly moved towards the door, wiping away any remaining tears from your face roughly. Just as you reached the exit, you realized that you’d left the man hanging. What if he thought that you were rejecting him? What if he went back to hating you? 

What if you missed your chance? 

You paused, turning to look over your shoulder. 

Simon was already watching you, eyes soft and his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. 

“Don’t worry,” he offered. “I’ll catch up, Sunshine.” 

You hid your smile as you turned back around and continued. 

You left the room embarrassed, sure. But, you also left with newfound hope and a promise. 

You left with the promise of Simon Riley. 

#simon ghost riley #simon riley #simon ghost riley x reader #simon riley x reader #ghost x reader #cod x reader #cod mw2 ghost #cod mw2 x reader #mw2 x reader #cod ghost #call of duty x reader #ghost call of duty #Call Of Duty MW2

[angelltheninth]

Jake skully smut please

Finally getting around to this one, sorry for the wait!

Pairing: Jake Sully x Fem!Reader

Tags: nsfw, smut, mating cycle, breeding kink, biting, tail shenanigans, Jake goes through his first rut, Na'vi!Reader

Word count: 1.4k

A/N: Took me long enough but here is the long requested Jake Sully filth.

Jake didn't know what the fuck was happening right now. He woke up feeling hot as hell. Not as in he was attractive, although yes, you assured him of that too, but his whole body felt like it was burning up. He didn't know what to do, he tried to ignore it and get his duties done, he tried to go as high up into the sky to get the coolest air possible on his skin, he tried to take a swim, he tried to run it off but his body was still on fire.

He hoped he wasn't sick. He hadn't gotten sick yet, not since he started his new life with the Na'vi. He was one with his Avatar now, so every risk was that much more amplified. Jake kept pacing back and forth, his tail twitching weirdly and the base of it itching. Fuck, maybe he really is sick.

If it came down to it he would go to have his blood analyzed to avoid the worse case scenarios. If he was sick he needed to know what exactly was wrong with him.

His ears and nose flickered towards the entrance to your shared home. "Jake? You are... acting odd today. Is everything alright?"

"Don't come in. I think I'm sick." He put his hand out like that would stop you. "Please."

"Sick?" You sniffed the air, quickly picking up a change in scent. This wasn't sickness, this was... his first mating cycle. You chuckled and crossed the distance between you two, looking deep into Jake's eyes before kissing him. His startled gasp allowed you to lick into his mouth. Your tail wrapped around his wrist, you were so happy, your mate was in his cycle.

"Hey, don't, if you get sick too-" You shook your head and caressed his jack to calm him.

"There's no sickness. You are going through a mating cycle." The look of confusion and surprise on his face was, well the only word you could use was cute. "We go through it once a year. Once we find a mate our cycles fall in sync. Usually the first once happens when we reach adulthood but since your case is special your cycle is hitting you just now."

A mating cycle. His first one. "My mating cycle? What do you take for it?"

You couldn't help but laugh at his absurd sounding question. "Well that depends on if you're mated or not. In your case, I suppose you would take me."

"T-Take you?!" His mind had a few things going through it. Take, fuck, mate, breed. His cock twitched against your stomach, tenting his undergarments.

"Or rather I will be the one taking you." You knelt down, kissing his chest and stomach as you went, "If you want to of course. If not there are other things. But the... medicine is not the tastiest, just so you know in advance."

He cringed already, imagining every gross thing he ever tasted, all the medicine he had to take before, from childhood, to the army. "I think I would rather be with you." He cupped your face in his rough hands. His extra fingers felt odd at first but not anymore, the things that made him different from you were never things you sought to think less of him for. "Where do we begin? Is there anything special that goes into it?"

"Only mating bites." You smirked as he grinned at the prospect of biting you. "Other than that nothing has to change, we already made love many times, I trust you know what to do."

"Based on how many times you came last time, I'd say I'm well versed." Your hands cupped his clothed cock, his tip making a stain at the front. "Take if off babe."

Babe. Such a human term. Simple, but it always worked on you.

As soon as his clothing fell to the floor your licked the cum off his cock, eliciting a choked moan from him. Jake shook, unsure what to do with this new kind of pent up energy. Given that this was his first mating cycle you really didn't want to tease him. But you could kiss his cock all the way to the tip before standing up and taking our own clothes off piece by piece. He purred at the sight of your naked body.

"You're wet already?" He could almost taste you on his tongue.

"Usually a mates mating cycle will effect the other, the two eventually becoming synchronized and able to enjoy a few days of bliss together." Hopefully this would happen soon now that he's hit his first one. "For now we should take care of this one. Shall we?" You grinned and pulled him to your bed when he nodded dumbly. As you laid back he grabbed his ponytail, offering it to you to bind with.

Soon as the connection happened you were able to feel his lust feeding into yours, your thighs dripping with desire. "I need to fuck you." He growled, hips rocking forward, the cocktip parting your wet folds.

His eyes rolled to the back of his head when his entire length was finally enveloped in your warmth. "You feel bigger then usual." You hushed against his ear and locked your legs around his lower back, making sure his cock stayed as snug inside you as possible. Jake hissed as soon as the cooler air hit his cock when he pulled away. No he didn't want to be out, he only wanted to be inside you but he also really needed to fuck you, he needed to fill you up with his cum. His seed.

To feel as less cold as possible he kept up a fast pace, his cock pushing in and out, moaning when you'd tighten around him in need. He felt like he would never be able to stop, he'd never been hornier in his life. And back when he was in the military there were so many times when he thought his cock would explode. All of that combined was nothing compared to this.

"You feel so good babe. So good around my dick. Taking me so well, so deep." He praised. You wrapped your arms around his back, feeling his muscles under your hands tense, "Love how you touch me." It was always so soft, like he needed to be touched in moments like this.

"You deserve to be loved Jake. I love you, I always want you to know this." You pulled him into a soft kiss, your moans muffled by each others mouth, mixing with the fast slapping of hips against hips. "Bite me and make me your mate." Your own fangs ached with the desire to do the same but you wanted him to do it first. "It will help you finish."

That was all he needed to sink his fangs into the area between your shoulder and your neck. His body went still against yours, his grunts loud even with the bite, his warm cum painting your inner walls white. A little more, he needed to fuck you a little more. His cock no longer felt cold when he pulled out, it was now covered with his cum, which he felt like he should push back into you. "What... are the chances of us having a baby?"

"Right now? Not very high. When our cycles are synced we can try." The noise he made was that of displeasure, "However since you are different from the rest of Na'vi, perhaps you will get me pregnant tonight." That's what he wanted, he wanted to breed.

His cock twitched, another orgasm ripping through his body, heightened by your own, your pussy pulsing around him, your connection prolonging them both as the scent of sex and cum filled the air around you. Jake moaned, almost roared when you returned the mating bite. He really couldn't stop now, he wanted to rut into you, it felt like every orgasm bleed into another, causing him to lose count of how many he had. "Fuck, fuck, so good, fuck yes!"

Your bodies went slack against one another, his cock still twitching, shooting more small jets of cum. "Leave it in until you're done." As if you needed to tell him twice, he was more then happy to. "You did so good for your first time going through a mating cycle. As I suspected your stamina is incredible."

"Keep stroking my ego." You smiled against his shoulder and placed a kiss against the bite you made. Jake did the same, wanting to give you as much comfort and after care as he can without moving away from you. "I love you so, so much. Thank you for spending this time with me."

"Oh Jake, we're not done yet. A mating cycle can last up to seven days or more." His eyes widened in surprise again but then his face shifted into a very happy grin.

He kissed you again and again until your bodies had enough rest, not even half an hour, until you fucked again. Seven days of this. "This is gonna be so great."

#jake sully x reader #jake sully smut #avatar x reader #atwow x reader #avatar the way of water #na’vi smut #na’vi x reader #jake x reader #jake sully x y/n #atwow #avatar #smut

[onesidedradiostatic]

Honestly a part of me thinks that Alastor and Vox WERE really good friends and Alastor is in denial about how important Vox had been to him. Maybe that partially factors into him playing down how much Vox irritates him. And a part of me feels like his love of attention outweighs his annoyance at Vox, even now, since Vox is ALWAYS willing to give Alastor his undivided attention.

(prev post)

ACTUALLY ACTUALLY this connects back to this rb. like about alastor's need to sever emotional attachments, "Ah, an enjoyable collective to be around. I admit one could get accustomed." to ""Great Alastor, altruist, died for his friends"? Sorry to disappoint... That is not where this ends!" pipeline.

the juxtaposition of the vees' verse and alastor's verse being back to back. they're both villain verses, but one is a secure team (maybe a bit messy toxic and unhinged but. they're tight okay) whose members have one another to rely on, the other is a solo mental breakdown about having attachments, yet they both end about the need to eventually be in control and with evil laughter.

like I've seen this mentioned before but also alastor's part in stayed gone where he says "he'd be powerless without the other vees", he's making fun of vox for relying on others but at the same time it does speak volumes about his own view on seeing attachments as "relying on others", because in THIS department, vox has the fact that he's fine and secure having allies he can trust compared to alastor seeing it as a weakness.

we have like sooooo little information right now that anything goes, but I like the idea of alastor having thought of vox as a legitimate friend at least a little. made a post on that once even.

I also kind of like comparing it to like how alastor currently is with charlie/the hotel, like he started out spending time with him for entertainment but then he saw a semblance of sentiment and had to cut that out.

but at the same time I also like alastor stepping away because he started noticing things about vox he disliked (because like I've mentioned before, his insults in stayed gone seem to be legitimate jabs at vox's character/practices).

OR we could have it so that the initial falling out happened because alastor felt the need to cut out any risk of emotional attachments (and I want to STRESS that I see both of them being at fault in this situation, regardless of alastor's motives, vox couldn't take no for an answer and got pissy), but later on after they were split, he started to see parts of vox's attitude that he disliked, how much of a sellout he'd become and he thought in his mind that this only proved him right to cut him off, and so he learnt nothing, after all he was right to cut vox off so surely his idea of attachments being a weakness is completely and utterly correct right?

anyways idk if I got a bit off track here, but about alastor being in denial, I think to some level he would be simply because of him seeing attachments as a weakness. but at the same time he's the one who called vox "old pal" (albeit condescendingly) and vox was the one who got ultra super embarrassed about "he asked me to join his team" (of course this is framed in a mocking way, similarly to "he'd be powerless without the other vees", like "can you BELIEVE he wanted me to join him and start RELYING on him like how he relies on the other vees? HA! as if." but he's also not hiding the fact that they were at least on good enough terms for vox to want to ask him that, but then again he doesn't speak of sentiment on his own side, so it could easily just not count as a point against him downplaying it). but yeah um. I do think him downplaying shit is related to him hiding weaknesses, similarly to how he's always smiling. he downplays how much vox bothers him because showing so would be a weakness. which could also go into how he let that mask slip with lucifer but this post is getting LONG and others have pointed that out before.

and the other part, about alastor's love for attention outweighing his annoyance at vox? I mean I think both can be true, I do think he enjoys the attention he gets from vox's obsession but I do also think he does legitimately hate vox.

anyways this post got LONG sorry I ended up rambling about shit. tried to address contradictions with my past posts (which can happen a bit, cause sometimes my opinions change or there's multiple possibilities of something and I can see multiple of those possibilities even if they contradict one another). this is a long post so my brain is too lazy to read it over and proofread so sorry if it ends up being a mess ✌️

#ask #osrs.txt #tagging when I talk about alastor's side of the relationship is so impossible for me #it's like I didn't bring up one-sided radiostatic at all so I can't even use the one-sided tag #this is about their GENERAL relationship okay #radiostatic #staticradio #completely platonic on alastor's side okay #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor #hazbin vox #hazbin hotel vox #vox

[allfortzu]

can we get closer? (let's get closer)

-- jihyo / tzuyu. 4.4k, smut ; tattoos // MEN DNI.

jihyo promises she doesn't bite – unless tzuyu asks.

tzuyu tries not to look. 

she tries not to get distracted by edges of faded black beneath sleeves, tries not to attempt glimpses of carefully lined maroon under cut hems. 

tries not to think about where the ink leads, and whatever else. 

but when she tries not to, her mind wanders terribly far. 

and when jihyo lifts her arms just so, cropped tee hiking up to reveal a taste of everything she hasn’t seen – tzuyu can only tilt her head subconsciously, curiosity piqued. can only start to wonder where the black ends again, where the red starts. wonder how it looks as a whole. 

unfortunately for her, jihyo is perceptive – and bold. 

she picks up on tzuyu's less-than-conspicuous glances, an amused smile playing at her lips. her head angles sideways playfully, imitating tzuyu. “checking me out?”

tzuyu jolts back at jihyo’s attention, the remark feeling simultaneously pointed but cocky all the same. moments like these, she wishes chaeyoung hadn't left them alone without a buffer. there’s a certain awkwardness that’s compounded when two people only start making the move to become closer friends after having known each other for months. 

nonetheless, tzuyu straightens her head swiftly, denying without a second thought. “what? no.” 

jihyo’s smile widens into a grin.

"just kidding," she reassures warmly. “but you’re a horrible liar, you know?” 

“i– “ tzuyu stammers, gaping a little at jihyo’s jab. the instinctual need to defend herself surfaces, and she huffs. “i wasn’t checking you out, just curious.” – which, in hindsight, doesn’t seem much better than owning it, but the words come out of her mouth before she can think about it. 

jihyo laughs at that, a soft giggle that comes out in broken waves.

“sorry, sorry,” she apologises, but it’s said the same way someone consoling a child would, so tzuyu’s features remain resolutely stoic in protest.

still, jihyo hefts herself up from the ground and joins her on the couch, as if she hadn't just made fun of tzuyu, and the leather sinks gently beneath her as it compresses. she plops down with a casualness that feels oddly familiar, and some of tzuyu's prior defensiveness simmers away. 

“curious about what?” jihyo asks, bumping her shoulder against tzuyu’s. 

tzuyu mulls over the question for a second, weighs in the risk of stepping out of her comfort zone to admit it. she could shut this down if she wanted to, could shift away from jihyo, and she knows jihyo would stop pushing if she did. 

she chances a glance, hesitant.

jihyo’s expression is bright, eager anticipation palpable.

“hm?” she hums, catching tzuyu’s eyes, encouraging. 

tzuyu decides she’s worth it, if only for that pretty smile and the friendship between them they high time tried to pursue. 

“i was looking at your tattoos?” she concedes, but it comes out as a question – not too imposing or assumptious, in case it’s not what jihyo expects. 

jihyo doesn’t seem to mind at all. 

“oh!” she beams, looking down at her exposed abdomen like she hadn’t noticed it was exposed.

“you could’ve just asked if you wanted to see, tzuyu,” she laughs. “i don’t bite.”

“well, i’m not versed in tattoo etiquette, okay?” tzuyu pouts.

the tension in her shoulders falls, dissipating into a comforting friendliness brought about by jihyo’s tongue-in-cheek jibes that she can’t help responding in kind.

“and you definitely look like you bite.” 

“i do not,” jihyo gasps, feigning offence. though, as if she wants to tease as much as be teased, she tacks on at the end, “unless you want me to.” 

tzuyu rolls her eyes, the intimidation she’d felt from jihyo before now long chipped away. “don’t even try.” 

“ouch, i thought that was pretty smooth?” jihyo juts her bottom lip out. 

“i was asking about your tattoos, not your… kinks.” tzuyu scowls in exasperation, narrowing her eyes for show.

“chivalry is so dead,” jihyo huffs. she crosses her arms ludicrously, head tucked into her chest. “you don’t even care about my interests anymore.” 

the dramatique of it all makes tzuyu choke back a laugh. the ease in which jihyo so comfortably picks apart tzuyu's stoic, deadpan demeanour is somehow exactly the type of ease tzuyu likes – effortless. 

“i care about your tattoos,” tzuyu offers, but it's really just to rub it in. 

“ever the heartbreaker, tzuyu,” jihyo sighs, and it rolls off her tongue naturally, like this isn't the first time they've been alone together this long, like this isn't the first time they've bantered. 

like jihyo's known tzuyu forever. and she has, in some ways, but never without someone else between them, never like this until now. 

“are you planning to get one?” she asks. 

she reaches out to take one of tzuyu’s hand in hers, careful but curious, looking over tzuyu’s uninked skin. 

tzuyu is more distracted by something else. 

she’s zeroed in on the red peeking from under the sleeve that has ridden up jihyo’s arm. 

“you have really good skin,” jihyo comments, fills the silence as tzuyu thinks of an answer. 

tzuyu has never been particularly interested in getting tattoos, nor has she ever had much inclination to. if anything, the pain that comes with leaves little to be desired, or maybe the idea of permanency scares her – too much of a commitment, one way or the other – but she’s certainly interested in jihyo’s, who seemingly notices she’s drifted off. she nudges tzuyu's jaw lightly with a finger. tilts her chin upwards.

tzuyu's eyes snap back. "sorry." 

jihyo smiles reassuringly. she changes the topic; it’s okay if tzuyu doesn’t know. “wanna see my tattoos?” 

“really?” tzuyu perks up. this was the main reason she was so intrigued after all. “i don’t want to impose.” 

“why else did i get a tattoo if not to show it off, right?” jihyo says, and she tugs on tzuyu’s hand gently, knowing tzuyu would need urging. 

tzuyu leans in with the motion, and jihyo lifts the hem of her shirt just slightly enough to show what tzuyu wants to see.

it’s all wisps of red and black winding below the underside of jihyo’s chest, brushstroke licks of flame that tzuyu wonders how she could ever miss. elegant in their form, but the subtle crimson bring out the natural warmth of jihyo's skin; a conscious choice, of course, in the palette itself. 

tzuyu thinks they fit jihyo perfectly. 

“i have these here, and then my back,” jihyo explains, eager to share. 

she pulls her shirt off her shoulders, and it would make sense if tzuyu had thought about it more, but right now she doesn't expect it.

she jolts back in surprise, heart in her throat. 

“oh, you– “ you don’t have to, is what she means to say.

she scrambles to stop jihyo, but the moment jihyo turns around, and tzuyu sees the ink on her back, she forgets. 

it’s breathtaking. 

it's red and blacks again, cohesive, flowing down the dip of jihyo’s spine, spreading over her shoulder blades like mist. they fade off in the edges, gentle strokes harshened by deep maroon, covering the expanse from the base of her neck to her rib cage. 

“oh,” tzuyu whispers, voice softer, like jihyo’s delicate tattoos simply warranted something quieter, or perhaps it's just plain awe. 

tzuyu reaches out to touch; a curious moth to a flame, almost without thought. traces her fingers over the lines. 

she doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t think anything can encapsulate her feelings, but she tries.

“it’s beautiful," she says, even if the words fall short of everything it really is; tzuyu hopes jihyo knows. 

"isn't it?" jihyo chuckles, a disbelieved sound, as if experiencing the novelty of her tattoo all over again. 

goosebumps rise in the wake of tzuyu's touch, but her chest swells with pride and something close to adoration for the girl so innocently intrigued. maybe she should show off more. 

"give me your hand, tzu." 

tzuyu doesn't know what she's planning, but she listens anyway. 

her gaze follows as jihyo grabs a pen before settling back in front of her. she takes the hand tzuyu had so obediently given, clicks the pen once, and tzuyu shivers at the cold ink head gliding over her skin. 

she tries to see what jihyo's drawing, but it's hard to tell when she's on the other side. jihyo's strokes are gentle, purposeful, she knows exactly what she wants on tzuyu. 

tzuyu can feel it when jihyo writes her own name – 

J I H Y O. 

jihyo hovers over it for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to add something else. 

it's oddly intimate, tzuyu thinks, watching jihyo work on her.

it's oddly intimate being so close, jihyo's tongue between her teeth, topless, and tzuyu feels her stomach curl. 

jihyo decides she's finished then.

she lets go of tzuyu's hand, prompting tzuyu to look with an upward nod. 

tzuyu retracts her hand, turns the back of her palm towards herself. 

it's a smaller version of jihyo's tattoos, altered in some parts to flow with the veins on tzuyu's hand, over the rise of her knuckles.

personalised. 

and then there's jihyo's name, a mark under her own work, and tzuyu doesn't know why she starts getting giddy.

"how is it?" jihyo asks. 

tzuyu muses over the temporary tattoo jihyo's given her.

"i like it," she decides, smiling. "did you design yours too?" 

"yeah," jihyo takes tzuyu's hand once again and holds it by her ribcage for a side-by-side comparison. she grins at the similarity. "now we're matching." 

tzuyu can't help but grin along, the fact of matching with someone itself is sweet. "i don't know why we weren't friendlier sooner."

"i think you were afraid of me biting?" jihyo teases.

she brings tzuyu's hand close to her mouth in turn, a threat tzuyu hopes isn't as empty as it seems. maybe she's a little curious now. 

"don't you dare," tzuyu narrows her eyes still, challenging. 

"and if i do?" jihyo opens her mouth wider, teeth peeking.

she makes a show of biting down just before she touches skin, then laughs when she feels tzuyu tensing up.

"don't worry, i'll only bite if you ask." 

tzuyu rolls her eyes, slightly infuriated. "be honest, you wouldn't do it even if i asked. scaredy cat." 

jihyo gasps. "i so would." 

tzuyu leans in, and she doesn't know what it is that comes over her, but she does know riling jihyo up is fun if only to see her reactions. 

she pushes her hand against jihyo's cheek, taunting. "you wouldn't dare." 

jihyo purses her lips, and tzuyu can see the cogs turning in her head for a comeback, only to find none. 

she's about to console jihyo, more to rub in her assumed victory than anything, but then jihyo’s grip around her hand tightens. 

and jihyo tugs hard. 

tzuyu falls forward with a yelp. all the air leaves her lungs.

she holds herself up on the cushion behind jihyo in a panic, avoids pressing against jihyo completely. her breath is still, frozen. 

“i’d dare, but would you?” jihyo says, voice low, breath hot. her boldness back. 

tzuyu is suddenly acutely aware of jihyo’s warmth, of jihyo’s proximity.

she tries not to stare into jihyo’s eyes. 

this isn’t… this isn’t what she meant. was it?

“i… “ she murmurs, but her mind is blank. 

“tell me to bite you,” jihyo teases, but there's something else in the edge of her words that isn't just playfulness. there's something else in the way her gaze falls on tzuyu's lips, fleeting but unavoidable. 

tzuyu exhales shakily. it's hard to think when jihyo's so close.

what does it mean now, then, if jihyo's asked. what does she mean by that. what does tzuyu want now. 

it's hard to think– it's hard to think when jihyo's half naked under her, but she knows she wants something that involves jihyo. 

"okay," tzuyu whispers, and if not for their stillness, she barely would've heard herself say it. 

jihyo lets the answer simmer in silence for a bit. 

for too long, in tzuyu's mind. 

she has a chance to second guess, one chance too many. it's not a good feeling and she doesn't want to feel it anymore. it's even harder when jihyo can see her so closely now – 

but then suddenly she doesn't have to, because suddenly jihyo lunges forward, and suddenly jihyo's kissing her –

she's kissing jihyo. 

and it's good. 

it's a good feeling. it suffocates her and makes her breathe again and jihyo's lips are soft and harsh and messy but knowing and good. 

and she bites on tzuyu's lips like she said she would, teeth actually on skin this time, knocking against tzuyu's own. it's hurried like she'd been thinking about it all day, thinking about biting tzuyu's lips even though she'd denied it in the first place, but she likes it now so she keeps biting until iron skates over tzuyu's tongue, until there's a hint of pain where jihyo's teeth press in. 

"unnie," tzuyu mutters, breathless, because it's unfamiliar and she doesn't know if she should like it. 

jihyo hears her, and she pulls back. "tell me when to stop," she says. it's as much for tzuyu as it is for her, but isn't this how it always goes; flame burning moth the moment they touch. 

tzuyu nods and then jihyo is back on her again, just as quickly. she pushes into tzuyu, heightens herself with an arm sinking into the cushion, deepening the kiss. 

she tugs and pulls and she can't get enough already; she's had a small taste of tzuyu and she's a little insatiable, maybe. 

the couch is terribly uncomfortable and too small for what jihyo wants to do, frustratingly so. tzuyu's knee press up her core in a mess of tangled limbs, and it's not that she doesn't like it, but jihyo's not quite done with tzuyu yet to get herself off, so in a bout of adrenaline, she picks tzuyu up with her arms under tzuyu's thighs. tzuyu shrieks in a panic, her haze breaking momentarily. 

it's awkward because tzuyu's much taller than jihyo, so she resorts to wrapping her arms tightly around jihyo's neck for some security. 

the edges of jihyo's shoulders jut out as she flexes, and tzuyu realises jihyo has two more tattoos on her clavicle, all the more defined now. it certainly does wonders to distract her. 

then, jihyo finally sets her down, settling on the dining room table. tzuyu would argue this is less comfortable than the couch, all hard wood and no cushion, but then jihyo slots herself between tzuyu's legs, lips finding her neck, and suddenly she no longer minds. 

jihyo noses the underside of her jaw, coaxing her to tilt her head upward so more kisses can be peppered there, and tzuyu feels teeth again. she suspects jihyo has a penchant for biting, and true to her thinking, jihyo nibbles at her skin, sucking lightly right after. 

all tzuyu can do – wants to do – is squirm and expose her neck even more, the buzz that flows down after addicting. 

jihyo pulls back just as the pain numbs, and tzuyu catches her licking her lips, eyeing the reddening mark on tzuyu's neck. 

jihyo definitely has a penchant for biting. 

"so you do bite," tzuyu muses. 

jihyo smirks, the jab not as incriminating now that she's gotten what she wanted. she laces her fingers with tzuyu's, tucking herself between tzuyu's legs while she pulls tzuyu's body close. "when i want to."

she tugs on tzuyu's arms until they're on her waist, holding them there. "you can touch, you know?" 

i don't bite, tzuyu can almost hear jihyo saying at the end, but the point has gotten through enough and she's much too distracted by something else to follow up. 

jihyo's bare skin is warm to the touch, nerve wracking; tzuyu heeds her advice, holding her breath as she carefully slides her hands upwards to jihyo's ribs, halting where her tattoos start.

"i really like your tattoos," she whispers. 

"mhm," jihyo smiles, proud of tzuyu's initiation. "i like you," she says, before her lips are on tzuyu's again and tzuyu can't even reply because all she's doing now is choking her whimpers back.

jihyo kisses down to the base of her neck this time, right at the edge of tzuyu's collarbone. she does the same thing over – sucking, biting, licking – painful, but less so now that tzuyu has experienced it, and there's such a pleasant electricity that follows, making her stomach curl deliciously. she thinks she might just start developing a liking to these marks, hands trailing up jihyo's back, mewling softly when jihyo's tongue runs over a particularly sensitive spot. 

"unnie," tzuyu breathes out, the only word she can muster among infinite pleas she has for jihyo. 

jihyo responds with a hmm, a low hum that seeps into tzuyu's veins and runs down her spine from where jihyo is, and it's not until tzuyu's shoulders tense that jihyo lets go. 

the edge of jihyo's lips tug up slyly. "something you want?" 

"you know," tzuyu says. she knows jihyo knows. 

and jihyo does know, but – "ask, baby" because who is she if not a commitment to her stunt– "you just need to tell me." 

tzuyu frowns, and she tries to minimise her pouting as best she can. she stares jihyo down, hoping jihyo would simply give in, but jihyo is hard headed, and tzuyu really has little choice. 

tzuyu bites her lip, mumbling out reluctantly, "touch..." 

jihyo's smug look is infuriating. "where?" 

"you–," tzuyu purses her lips.

inhales, exhales.

"down there." 

"and?" 

oh, what tzuyu would do to wipe that stupid smirk off jihyo's face. 

she grabs jihyo's arm, pulls her in harshly, and jihyo lets out a cut off yelp. tzuyu ignores it, intent on pressing jihyo's fingers into the button of her jeans.

"and fuck me." 

some bravado drains from jihyo's face. she loses her words for a moment, doesn't even dare gulp down the drool accumulating in her mouth. 

she makes quick work of tzuyu's jeans immediately, muttering a "yes ma'am" in between because jesus fuck. 

she fumbles to push the article open, then decides she'll take with exactly what she has right now, dipping her fingers in with a sudden fervour to just give tzuyu everything she wants. 

tzuyu grips jihyo's shoulders, nails digging deeper into jihyo's back when jihyo rubs over her centre, the slick sound stark in the quiet of their heavy breathing. 

"you're so– wet," jihyo grunts, tzuyu's jeans making it hard to manoeuvre, but she's far from complaining. "all over my fingers, tzu– god."

tzuyu makes a soft, high pitched sound, head hung and legs curled around jihyo from the instinctual need to close them. 

"i'll take care of you," jihyo coos, her other hand slipping under tzuyu's shirt, thumb stroking her waist. "don't worry." 

she continues running her fingers between tzuyu's folds through the fabric just to work her up more, and tzuyu jolts slightly, cries caught in her throat. 

"you're really fucking cute, tzuyu." 

she nuzzles into tzuyu's neck, the cute aggression kicking in, and she can't help but want to leave another mark. 

her teeth prob gently, finding a spot she hasn't marked before biting down again. it elicits a familiar whine from tzuyu's throat, a broken and staggered sound, choked up in a cry that heightens when jihyo's fingers dip under. she sinks two fingers into tzuyu's heat, thumb on her clit, and tzuyu fucking drips. 

"jihyo unnie," she moans, for no other reason than the want to say jihyo's name. 

her nails rake over jihyo's back, harder than she means to, but with jihyo's fingers pressing against her tight walls, pulling out and back in slowly; with jihyo's thumb following the motion over her sensitive nub, attentive snd meticulous and maddening; with jihyo letting go of her neck after leaving another mark, murmuring sweet nothings she's too dazed to hear – 

she wants jihyo to feel it the same way she feels it, wants to leave her mark on jihyo too, even if it's temporary, she wants the feeling to be as permanent as jihyo's tattoos.

and if jihyo does feel it, the only tells tzuyu catches are the faster, harsher thrusts, and the hand clutching her waist, pushing through with gritted teeth. 

"fuck, tzuyu," jihyo hisses, bottom lip between her teeth. her wrist aches from the angle but the warmth around her fingers feels too good to let up. "that's– fuck, you're so tight."

tzuyu digs her nails even deeper, the pleasure unbearable without an outlet. "please, harder," she sobs, thighs clasping around jihyo's hips, stomach taut. "gonna come." 

jihyo listens– anything tzuyu asks for.

she buries her fingers deeper, fucking into tzuyu so roughly the table starts shaking, and the lewd squelch that follows every pump is downright sinful. a few tight circles over her clit has tzuyu whimpering, the loudest one yet, and jihyo thinks it might be her favourite sound in the world– before it breaks into a cry, tzuyu whining, "jihyonnie–!" 

– and now that's her favourite sound in the world. 

"come for me," jihyo coaxes, voice liquid in tzuyu's ears.

tzuyu barely needs probing, spilling into jihyo's fingers almost immediately, cum pooling over her jeans and the table in a filthy mess of slick.  she claws at jihyo's back as jihyo fucks her through her orgasm, making her stutter and tremble wildly. there's a steady hand on her waist, jihyo wanting to drag her high out. 

"good girl," jihyo dotes, tzuyu's release pleasantly warm in her hands. "taking me so well." 

tzuyu keens at the praise, senses attuned to nothing but the rasp of jihyo's voice and all the words coming out her mouth. soon enough, she's spent to the point of barely being able to clutch onto jihyo's shoulders, sweaty and heaving. jihyo slows her pace when tzuyu's shaking calms, guiding her down. 

"s– stop," tzuyu mumbles, pushing at jihyo weakly. 

in turn, jihyo pulls her fingers out slowly, finally letting tzuyu catch her breath. 

though, watching jihyo lick her fingers off tzuyu's slick arouses tzuyu all over again, and she bites her lip, a quiet request.

jihyo doesn't miss the pleading look in her eyes. 

"open your mouth," she says, her other hand on tzuyu’s jaw. 

tzuyu obeys, parting her lips slightly, and jihyo pushes her cum-coated fingers into her mouth. she moans when jihyo presses down on her tongue, insistent, and tzuyu can hear jihyo’s breathing stutter when she starts sucking, running her tongue between jihyo’s fingers. 

jihyo drags her fingers out, wet with spit, and tzuyu almost mewls at the loss– but then jihyo tugs her in by the chin and kisses her hard, and all her sounds soften into a pleased hum. jihyo doesn’t bite this time, simply enjoys the kiss as it is. 

tzuyu feels bad for having to cut it short. 

“i need to pee,” she whispers sheepishly. 

jihyo is stunned for a moment, and then quickly endeared. 

she doesn't put up a fight, barely teases tzuyu for it like tzuyu would expect.

she gives tzuyu another peck, surprisingly sweet, a chuckle playing at the edges. “go.” 

tzuyu’s knees are still wobbly, but she hurries anyway, trudging to the bathroom quickly.

yet, all she does after she shuts the bathroom door is just stand there, staring into the white tiles. suddenly allowed to actually think about it all.

she lets it simmer for a bit, etches the memory of jihyo’s tattoos in her mind– red, black, flowy. curving into her sides and inching down her clavicle. her back, the dip of her spine, over her shoulder blades, a growing flame.

gentle fingers on her jaw that tzuyu can feel even now; urging, coaxing. the hand on her waist, in her, careful and slow but good. even though they'd never talked this much before, somehow jihyo knew what she liked.

tzuyu catches sight of herself in the mirror. 

there’s a trail of red scattered down her neck, her collarbone; marks of tattoos in itself. 

jihyo’s marks. 

tzuyu buries her face in her hands, cheeks hot. tries not to look.

–

by the time tzuyu returns, the table has been cleaned, moved back to its original position. tzuyu pretends her stomach doesn’t flutter at the thought. 

jihyo is in the living room, back towards her, fresh red lines running through her tattoos.

tzuyu did that.

tzuyu winces. “sorry about the… scratches.”

jihyo turns at the sound of her voice. 

“oh,” she chuckles, waving tzuyu’s worries away. 

she makes her way to tzuyu, tilting her face this way and there, looking at the marks she’d left. “it’s okay. i’ll get you back next time, hm?”

tzuyu’s face flushes, jihyo’s touch burning quickly. “next time?” 

“mhm,” jihyo confirms, tucking her fingers into the belt loops of tzuyu’s jeans. “or now, if you want.” 

she noses at tzuyu’s jaw again, as she did countless times before, wanting another mark of hers on tzuyu’s skin. it's like they've always been here, like they've always been kissing each other and all of this.

maybe she does like biting; maybe when it comes to tzuyu. 

 

“just ask.”

tzuyu thinks she might like it too; maybe when it comes to jihyo.

yeah idk why this is 4k and idk whats going on in this either <3 i rewrote this like 3 times and all of them have wildly different beginnings and endings! one of them even ends with jihyo just going home after giving tzuyu absolutely nothing bc i love slowburn <3 but i thought we deserved some smut after waiting this long so!! now you get to have some of the most mid smut ever happy jihyo debut!!!

thank you so much for reading!! interactions are always appreciated, genuinely <3

MEN DNI.

#twice imagines #jihyo x tzuyu #twice smut #park jihyo #chou tzuyu #jitzu #title: closer by jihyo #closer is so yummy btw listen to it!!!!!! listen to jihyos entire album!!!!!! #i definitely forgot where i decided hyo should have tattoos but thats okay 🫶 thats the charm of it 🥰 now you can guess #twice fics

[stirringwinds]

i know people talk a lot about the us and UK special relationship but it kind of fell after the Suez and France kind of sneakily stole it didn't he? I mean did the same before the wars

thanks for the ask! ngl, as a londoner, i've always personally felt the representation of the "Special Relationship" as this mega-close and affectionate dynamic is kind of...an un-holistic understanding of the UK or England, as well as of the United States. don't get me wrong, it's one of their most important relationships and there's a lot of deep history there—my issue is mostly with rose-tinted interpretations underpinning it and what biases they showcase. these were heavily biased by Churchill's (imperialist) gaze of envisioning Anglo-American affinity and leadership on the world stage. this interpretation quite significantly downplayed the rivalry, power struggles, conflicts and differences that historians existed between the US and the British Empire, or how US presidents tended to see it in far less majestic terms. like, Churchill rather downplays FDR's vehement disagreements with him over the issue of Indian independence lol or decolonisation (because the US was eyeing the world as a chessboard, re: new markets and also whether or not support for the old colonial power would be a bulwark against or risk soviet or other communist influence).

so, while you're right that Suez was a pretty low moment in US-Britain relations due to the US being pissed at Britain and France jeopardising its ostensible goal of swaying Egypt away from the Soviet sphere of influence (sidenote: Egypt itself was trying to navigate the mess of the Cold War rivalry to secure its interests), i don't really see it as "falling" after Suez or stolen by France simply because that dynamic Churchill painted a picture of never really existed in that way. plus, Europe (France included) and the ex-colonies of the British Empire (like the dominions and India) weighed heavily on British foreign policy/its national outlook too; i tend to find an overemphasis on a rose-tinted view of the "Special Relationship" leads to a lot of US-centrism that shuts out this understanding. to me, Arthur and Alfred's relationship is most interesting when we situate them properly amidst all these other imperial and geopolitical cross-currents. of which Francis is an important one, from the time he helped Alfred during the Revolutionary War, to the Entente Cordial, WWI and the post-WWII world of NATO, the EU and so on.

in hetalia-verse, it's one of the reasons I personally headcanon Arthur and Alfred as father and son. their bond is lasting, forged by the blood, steel and saltwater of empire, and all the familial, deep and troubling implications that implies. they are "stuck" with each other in some ways, because post 1945, it's a familial dynamic of the old king and the young, ambitious crown prince who thinks his father is out of time—and out of line. francis never really "steals" anything because he and arthur's relationship is on a very different axes: francis is the neighbour who has been by arthur's side as his enemy, friend, lover, rival in imperial douchebaggery, ally (for better and also for worse, like in suez...)—and everything in between. whereas arthur and alfred have some real patricidal/regicidal, titanomachy-level father-son power struggles going on, mixed in with this dysfunctional level of understanding and them also colluding together shadily (you are different from him in many ways, there are many things he'll never understand about you—but you are your father's son, alfred; to be powerful is to be tainted).

so in conclusion, i see alfred-arthur and arthur-francis as both very important foundational dynamics crucial to arthur's character, but conceptualised differently from that understanding of the "special relationship" because they're two different kinds of relationships, even if there is the overlapping dynamic of power, rivalry and empire. ✌🏼

#lord father and the crown prince #hetalia #hws england #hws america #hws france #hetalia headcanons

[awgeezitsthetoiletnator]

your mind !!!!!!!! literally it's that its the desperate plea of them both being like this meant something to us both??? it didn't just irrevocably change my world view alone right? and now i've got to pretend to be normal about it because we are forever linked in the same circle like!?!?!?!

this is why i feel so unnormal about them both- Tracker being a crutch for Kristen when they were dating because her whole life has been her living a lie. She's moving in because she can't be with her parents but I'm sure she wonders if it's just because they are girlfriends. I wonder how Kristen feels about living in Mordred and Jawbone being one of her guardians (not even mentioning how she struggles playing like a child role- being that shield for her brothers and how we often see her square up to Sandra Lynn) now they aren't together, like does she feels out of place there? I also think that feeling of being out of place was echoed in the recent episode of oh Kristen's address hasn't been changed either- like none of the parental figures in Mordred did that for her- especially Jawbone who works at the school and would have know that was kinda important.

Similarly I think Kristen provided that role on Sophmore year (even being in a messy arc) to Tracker of being that support and the one who does listen to her. Like I wonder how Tracker felt when Adaine & then Fig joined the household- because she's no longer getting priority attention from Jawbone since he's so busy. Yes she's very independent but that's because she's had to be. Even looking after Jawbone before he got better- like they did live together she's probably seen the ins and outs of all his business. The way I see her definitely has a heavy influence from you recommending scream by beach bunny for Tracker because wow- just incredible no notes. Her just moving on to looking after Kristen- like to make herself feel useful and needed- like when she gets brought along for spring break she's like oh I thought you were going to abandon me. Like. Head in hands. My poor girl. (Tracker being an npc is so hard i need all her lore now brennan)

I think it's also why it's so like explosive with the withholding stuff about Jawbone because her and Kristen have become this codependent team because there is so much going on its like oh your my person right now and you still did this, you know all these things and yet my feelings weren't considered & were pushed aside.

Like even after this happens- Kristen then starts unravelling Tracker's religion through finding Cassandra. Which tears them apart. They are both so influential in each other's lives its so crazy.

Apologies for the ramble as this might all be so incoherent but i just have so many thoughts on them and their dynamics- but I think it's like the tragedy aspect of it all that is so aligned with this music. Like the greater the risk the higher the reward and all that- they are built up to be so life changing that the fall consistently follows them. Like we haven't spoke in months but I'm still happy that your religious uprising is going well- even in my commune with my own Goddess you still linger there too. (Not even getting into the Goddess being sisters it's just so much)

Like the Bang the Doldrums line of better off as lovers and not the other way around vs Kristen trying to be normal about calling them friends to her cleric teacher. Just rattling them in my brain for real. I also like Bros by Wolf Alice for them because it's such energy of like If i did come back would you still be there? I know it's selfish of me to ask but would you do it anyway. And definitely less emo but Renegade by Big Red Machine gives them so much. like specifically the post chorus and second verse. again sorry for the ramble but these new episodes are just making me think so intensely about them :P

please never ever apologize for sending such thoughtful asks to my inbox!! i’m sorry it took me so long to reply, but you gave me so much for think about…

- you’re so right about how layered and complicated kristen’s feelings on living at mordred must be now. they were probably a lot easier to overlook when she and tracker were together. the current status shift of “i’m living with my partner” to “i’m crashing with my friends” is wild to me. while i think sandra lynn and jawbone do their best to be good parents for the teens living in their house, there’s just so many of them that it’s probably be easier to parent the ones that usually lean on them for help (adaine) or show clear red flags (fig). (i know this is most likely because beardsley was the one who started the tremors bit during the last episode, but the way jawbone leapt up to protect adaine and fig but not kristen gave me pause. not because jawbone (or brennan for that matter) did anything wrong, but it made me wonder how many little things like that must happen every day in front of kristen and how she might feel about it). given kristen’s reluctance to their parenting and tracker’s personal, recent experience with leaving the church of sol, tracker probably seemed like the best person equipped to support kristen, even if it put her in a weird, uncomfortable corner where she is constantly caring for the person who is supposed to be her main carer as well - although it’s never as reciprocal as it should be. tracker leans heavily on her own experience to try and help kristen, which is why she works so hard to support kristen in establishing her church. she wants kristen to experience the deep, primal connection to YES!? that she experiences with galicaea, but it’s not the necessarily the same situation as kristen is the sole cleric responsible for her gods. due to how much is resting only on her shoulders, kristen’s issues always seem to eclipse tracker’s, but that doesn’t make it fair. tracker tries to help in the way she knows how and it’s still not enough. i’m so excited to learn more about why tracker wants to talk to kristen in the present day. in part, it’s probably because at some point they will be living in the same house again and they should be on good terms. but i also wonder if tracker sees the same pattern with kristen’s gods that cassandra does, and wants to offer kristen an out of her current situation by asking her to join the wolfsong revival. i don’t think there’s any universe out there where kristen would have ever chosen galicaea over cassandra when that path was first offered to her in sophomore year, but tracker could argue that lots of things have changed since that initial offer. in joining her, kristen would be one of many clerics and share the burden of responsibility for keeping a god alive. and maybe that’s a way they can actually be together again. 👀

- kristen’s aversion to being parented is so fascinating to me that it needs to be its own list item. it feels so relatable as an experience of an eldest daughter who’s been parentified for longer than she can remember. because i don’t even think it’s an aversion to being parented really - i think she’s expecting to be treated as a child in a way that’s familiar to her. when you combine kristen’s eldest daughter position with her status as the golden child due to her connection to helio, it’s not a far reach to say that the applebees treated kristen closer to another adult in the family than a child when she lived at home. i’m guessing she was privy to way more information and it was her job to shield and distract her brothers from it or filter it in a way that her parents approved. this is one of the reasons why i think she struggled so much while questioning her faith - her parents had always communicated with her in a straight and simple fashion and this suddenly shifted to unsatisfactory, emotional answers to her questions. (granted, i don’t think any answers the applebees would have given would be satisfactory based on how stuck they are in their worldview, but they jumped really quickly into just shutting kristen down instead of actually hearing her out) i think she’s seeking out that kind of straightforward parent-child relationship she used to have with her parents when she approaches sandra lynn after the tryst with garthy, like “tell me what’s going on and we’ll find the best way to share this with the rest of the kids.” i know that moment is followed by a “classic ally chaos moment” of kristen asking for whiskey, but i wonder if there’s a way to recontextualize it here. maybe she sees herself falling into an old pattern. maybe she can’t resist the temptation of actually being treated like a child instead of a pseudo-adult. maybe she’s worried that whatever answer sandra lynn could give her isn’t worth her positioning herself like this. no one wants sandra lynn and kristen to bond this season more than me i’m awake at night wishing as hard as i can believe me when i say this but i do think that she’s still trying to be a shield to the best of her ability from afar. i think the underlying question behind kristen’s decisions now when it comes to her brothers is “how do i turn the selfish action of leaving them behind into the best decision for everyone in the end without compromising my own autonomy or putting them in a situation where they get hurt?” she stays away from the applebees house so that her brothers don’t have to deal with the tension she would inevitably bring with her. she leaves them gold but without a note so her parents can’t interrogate them about their contact with her. and even in the last episode - choosing to simply confuse her parents and keep her cool instead of actively arguing with them is interestingly as calculated as it is chaotic because she probably comes off as less of a threat to bucky’s devotion to helio and more as a neutral eccentric. for now, it’s easier on everyone in that house if she is cast as someone whose head isn’t screwed on straight rather than a complete villain.

- i too would love to know more about tracker. all of your questions about how she might have felt when jawbone’s attention shifted from her to adaine and fig are right on the money. add all the codependency with kristen to the mix, it makes me wonder if tracker feels like she missed out on having deeper, possibly sisterly friendships with adaine and fig. i think trackerbees being so joined at the hip resulted in her holding fig and adaine at arm’s length as “kristen’s friends” as opposed to new family members. it’s telling that she only chose to leave mordred once she was certain that she could trust that jawbone would be safe with the people surrounding him AND that they were taking care of him as much as he was taking care of them. i don’t think she was waiting for something to go wrong per say, but the fact is that something DID go wrong and her instinct to hang around was justified. she watches sandra lynn and jawbone reconcile and that point in time happens to coincide with her decision to start the wolfsong revival and then she’s finally ready to leave with ragh at her side - the only other teen she allowed herself to get close to probably by accident bc they spent a good deal of time together when the PCs were off on bad kids only mini-missions during spring break. (also how are they going to share ragh. i’m hoping it’s all cordial in the end but how do you share a person who was a bodyguard / confidant for one of you but also was the cofounder of the lgbtq+ student union / honorary party member for the other for much longer than that. how do you do that) i’m so curious about her place in the birth order, but given that we’ve never heard about any siblings, i’m inclined to believe she’s an only child and it seems to fit. i’m an eldest daughter with a couple of only children as best friends and the dynamic of how straightforward tracker is in her actions while kristen is constantly playing 4D chess in her head to figure out the best solution for everyone rings very true for me. we know that her parents kicked her out after she was bitten, but she didn’t stray super far - not even outside the same pantheon of gods. granted, I think the lycanthropy made galicaea a natural fit for her, but i don’t think the journey to get there took as long as kristen’s journey to YES!? two sides of the same coin and all that

- ANYWAYS. the music of it all. i completely agree with your assessment of the tragedy and risk that emo music usually lends itself to, but i also like your other recs here! i was racking my brain trying to think of where i’d heard bros before - it was featured in the life is strange prequel (that also happens to center around another tragic sapphic couple). i absolutely love renegade for them and it made me think of “the 1” - another swift / dessner collab that feels very of the moment for them. i think about them a lot when i’m listening to adult mom. most songs i feel apply directly to one or the other, but i feel like “checking up” from their most recent album feels very attuned to their relationship right before they broke up when tracker was first on the road.

for anyone who has made it this far down, thank you for coming for my ted talk! i guess i have a lot more thoughts about these two than i knew. thank you again @sabrirene for sending this in!

#kristen applebees #tracker o'shaughnessey #trackerbees #fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #fantasy high: junior year #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #sabrirene

[theladyelara]

Death Note 'The Game Begins' Remixed

Hello! I'm gonna start a little series about rewriting/remixing the English Death Note Musical songs. Most of the edits will be based off input from the Japanese versions of these songs! (plus some added literary analysis from an English major :D) The melody and arrangement I'm leaving exactly the same! All we're doing, is trying out some new lyrics. Let's begin!

Now I love The Game Begins in English, but the Japanese goes for a very different message. In English, TGB paints L as a very detached, emotionless computer (fr the computer references always felt like a bit much…) and it mostly explains his approach to cases—all cases—and showcases his skill and enthusiasm for solving another puzzle. 

The Japanese, on the other hand, comes out swinging as a psychoanalysis smack down of Kira’s ideology and way of thinking, at which point L personally vows to bring him down with the hook, ‘you’re an eyesore, so how about I play a game with you’. Notably, L sings this song directly to Kira, using the ‘you’ voice the entire time. It’s personal, emotional, condemning. 

Empty your mind of any theories Till all the facts are in Here’s something new, intriguing series Ripe secrets held within

The minor edits to the first verse give L more personality beyond ‘computer’. There’s the implied enjoyment of an intriguing case, and ripe secrets, which I feel falls more in line with who L is as a person. The lost lines, ‘start at the end of all your queries, to learn where things begin’ feels redundant enough to cut, plus I also never really understood the motif of working backwards in this song, except to justify the next lines which I left because they’re great. 

You analyse by working backwards Effects reveal their cause For even perfect crimes have perfect flaws A child’s rage is Kira’s calling He calls it ‘justice’ still I lie in wait, instead of stalling To find the point of thrill I poke and prod to find a weakness Where the bend becomes the break And make the most of Kira’s first mistake

Here we try to get more into L’s estimation of Kira. He spends much longer in the Japanese delivering better cut-downs which the original English lacks: ‘the ideal you are presenting is a cross of lies’, ‘you’re only lightly tracing the surface, conceitedly thinking you understand everything’. At least here in the edit he gets to call Kira a child, and deride his justice. This also is a nod to the deduction he makes, that Kira is a childish person. Again, ‘point of thrill’ gestures towards L’s personality as someone who enjoys the puzzle, like a game, which is the point of the song. I left the back half of the verse, because I enjoy it greatly. I think it is important to establish L as hypercompetent, and he is a little detached.

The game begins the same way Our course is set, we’re in for all Something about you moves me But I know I’ll still see you fall The game begins

The lost lines mostly reinforce the computer motif throughout the original, and just illustrate L’s method and determination.  The edit ‘in for all’ can reinforce the game symbolism, as well as the later ‘the die is cast’ line. Either way, this edit line goes to showing L’s determination as well.

The next line ‘something about you moves me’ showcases L’s more personal investment in this case, sort of accepting Kira as his rival and investing enough to risk his life for the first time on this case. This heightens the personal stakes, and builds up the relationship between L and Light. Then the final line brings it back to L’s confidence, assurity, and skills. 

He thinks he owns all information He’s certain he’s ahead Anticipate his adaptation Untangle every thread Some little thing, some minor detail You’ve overlooked and then I will be waiting here again

Again, the lost lines don’t do much other than use the computer motif and make L sound smart. Here the edit tries to get more character building for L, especially in contrast with Kira. At least here I get more derision in, but i just want to highlight the Japanese lyrics cause booiiii ‘While you’re flying the flag of your majestic ideals, you’re prancing about toying with people’s lives. You’ve long since abandoned any sense of fear, you poor fool, so let me show you a taste of Hell'

The game begins the same way Our course is set, we’re in for all Something about you moves me But I know I’ll still see you fall The game begins the same way The chase is on the die is cast Connecting bits of data Until I chase you down at last!

Only note here, I choose ‘connecting bits of data’ instead of ‘I sift a thousand pixels’, simply because we’ve lost most of the computer references, so I thought the first sounded more natural without that support.

The game begins!

I think the edit strikes more of a balance between the English and Japanese, but perhaps I’ll make a more substantial edit to more closely translate the Japanese, because the Japanese lyrics are truly delightful. I still really like the English version, and there are some turns of phrase that I enjoy, but perhaps some other time I’ll kill more darlings.

Lmk what you thought, and stay tuned for more!

OG English Lyrics

Japanese Lyrics

Japanese Lyrics (Japan 2015 production)

#death note musical #death note #L #L Lawliet #light yagami #lyrics #the game begins #literary analysis

[valiantamm]

Sunday thoughts for Tumblrstake 10/8/2023

Hello folks. Couldn't sleep last night so hard that it became this morning. But I took the opportunity to do a little bit of study along with some extra things this afternoon.

Since I think you can get a lot out of studying on your own terms instead of just listening to my conclusions, I decided I'd just like to share some of the stuff I've been reading and listening to today:

TW for racism, systemic issues, etc.

Instagram/TikTok posts: (all from James Jones of Beyond the Block): On "thinking celestial"... What the Black Menaces teach us about idolatry "The sin next to murder" Mormon Stories Podcast Praying the gay away as a Mormon teen Stacey Harkey on “leaving” the Mormon Church

Dialogue Journal Truth and Reconciliation: Reflections on the Fortieth Anniversary of the LDS Church’s Lifting the Priesthood and Temple Restrictions for Black Mormons of African Descent (much less scary a read than the length of this title would lead you to believe) ---

My messy summary

Deuteronomy 5:9-10, KJV (italicized for emphasis)

9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto [idols], nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, 10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

I always felt uncomfortable about this verse. Mentions of God as a jealous god feel harsh to me and others with a generally universalist perspective on salvation -- we have a desire for others to be able to be happy now and in the eternities.

Even further bothering me has been the generational guilt that is implied here -- a curse upon someone, their children, and their children's children. But today I see it not as a curse but an explanation of how familial trauma and societal inequality persist.

In the Truth and Reconciliation article I shared, our author brings up that the church might try modeling a truth and reconciliation intiative similar to the one which was used in the country of South Africa after the abolishment of Apartheid.

Obviously, a truth and reconciliation initiative is more complicated when those needing to ask for forgiveness may not have been guilty of the transgressions themselves but may be the present-day representatives of those persons, policies, and institutions responsible for the wrongs. Nevertheless, it seems that they must take the risk of responsibility if true healing is ever to take place.

As modern-day generations, it falls on us -- particularly us in positions of privelige and power, but also to anyone who feels "called to the work" -- to right the wrongs of the past. We may bear no personal blame for the events of the past, but without our own efforts, inequality and unkindness will persist.

I hope I (and you!) can believe and remember this quote from Nelson Mandela:

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

#i've run out of intelligent things to say but I hope you got something out of it #tumblrstake #queerstake #mormonism #scripture study

[phantasmicfish]

Okay so I want to get all my good omens s2 thoughts out there in one big swoop and try to sound coherent… and ofc I’ll later post exclusively what I loved because there is A Lot to love about this show!

I largely loved the first four episodes. I thought they were amazing, there was fantastic chemistry and humor between Aziraphale and Crowley. The back in time sequences were brilliant and slightly darker than they were in season 1! I felt they portrayed Heaven in a more critical light than we’ve seen before… ex: Heaven condoning the murder of children, messing Job’s life over a silly bet, kicking Crowley out for asking several questions.

I think the back in time sequences really showed Aziraphale’s struggle with his desire to follow Heaven/God because they're the Good Guys verses what Heaven/God is actually telling him to do being straight up bonkers. We see the first time he lies to other angels to save Job’s children, but this deed ends up in direct violation of God’s orders, so there’s this internal moral conflict here…

It was amazing to see angels and demons try to understand humanity and fail, versus Aziraphale and Crowley who are well-versed in humanity and their traditions and have the upper hand in this regard.

I love love LOVE Jim. I mean, Gabriel. I mean, James! The dynamic between him, Crowley, and Aziraphale was amazing! You have this horrible, completely awful boss who’s narcissistic and self-centered and completely detached from any form of human emotion… and you wipe his slate clean and stick him with two characters who think he’s a mega level asshole and watch their interactions unfold. I think Aziraphale promising to protect Gabriel and then upholding that promise despite Gabriel being a douche is so sweet, so in character… and Crowley going along with it even though he hates Gabriel with all his heart. And the way Crowley struggles to reconcile and accept this version of Gabriel with the one he’s seen in the past was very interesting to watch. Gabriel learning the alphabet, dusting the bookshop because he wants to be helpful, Gabriel jumping out the window because Crowley tells him this is how he can help Aziraphale really sold it for me— now, without his memory, Gabriel is kind and nice and just wholesomely curious. I think I would have liked to see more Gabriel-as-Jim scenes before he got his memory back, which brings me to what I don’t like about the show, namely, the last episode.

(HRHSHSHSBSZHSH)

So, the ultimate episode has the big resolution— it���s revealed Gabriel decided against a second Armageddon after his blossoming romance with Beelzebub, then he gets his memory back and the two of them go off together to live a life of romance and love and all that on Proxima Centauri, presumably.

And.

Just.

It’s too neat. It’s too tidy. Crowley and Aziraphale had all of creation to alleviate their prejudices and fall in love *cough they just don’t know it yet cough*. It’s not believable to me that Gabriel and Beelzebub would fall in love in such a short period of time based on such minimal interactions, I feel like love (a very human thing) is something pre-Jim Gabriel would look down on altogether. I wish we had more of Jim. I would, frankly, be fine without seeing the return of Gabriel altogether… or at least some scenes that show Gabriel as being grateful to Aziraphale and Crowley for hiding him out and risking destruction just for him…

I don’t know. I think that end was wrapped up too neatly and too tightly. I’d be happy if Gabriel never got his memory back this season, and we see the continuation of Jim in season 3. Why build a character up only to have him disappear just when we start to like him?

I didn’t care for Nina and Maggie. I thought they were superfluous in every sense of the word. I feel like their characters had a lot of potential in the beginning and then the plot just sort of ended up… not doing anything with their characters? Nina is in a maybe emotionally toxic relationship with Lindsay, but then that ends and we don’t even get to meet Lindsay. Maggie’s character has no development except for her love of Nina and her owning a record shop. And the two of them giving advice to Crowley at the end to just talk to Aziraphale just didn’t do it for me.

I was crushed when Aziraphale was asked to rejoin heaven and did so immediately and with open arms— it’s like that scene at the bandstand all over again, when Aziraphale said, there is no our side. He still believes in and wants to follow Heaven, whereas Crowley made his peace with being on his own side (not Heaven or Hell’s) many years ago.

So, essentially: I loved the show, but I’m not satisfied with the conclusion to Gabriel’s story or Maggie/Nina’s involvement, which sorta soured it for me. I do love the show! Especially every back in team featurette with Crowley and Aziraphale, any and all Crowley and Aziraphale interactions in the present today together and with Gabriel, the major ship vibes this season was pumping out! It was funny and lovely and aside from the imo lackluster Gabriel resolution, all around great!

#sorry just wanted to get all my thoughts in a bit ranty thing done and out of the way #long post #good omens season 2 #good omens season two #good omens #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 spoilers #go2 #go2 spoilers #aziraphale #crowley #good omens jim #the archangel gabriel #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands

[jadevine]

Unreal Unearth reactions!

While I got stuck on "First Time" for a few hours, I am baffled at how people seem to think the album's "too bluesy." This dude has ALWAYS done at least one folk/blues song per album. Are people just mad because he's not doing more "IRISH BOG MAN" songs?

I made the naive decision to look at some reviews of Unreal Unearth, which lasted until I read a review where the person said it's a weak album where he now sounds "normal/pop" and "defanged" except for two songs.

You know what this sounds like to me as an artist? Like he's playing with styles. If I really had to lock down a "theme" to the album, I find it more pop-standard or wartime-music than anything else, and his melodies and octave-stretching are never going to be "regular music."

Behind the cut for length.

--

-De Selby Part 1 - lovely way to start the album, but it might be too quiet for some. This is the kind of song I'd put on when I need to decompress and potentially fall asleep, which is a really good compliment from my high-strung and insomniac ass.

Gonna look up the posts from fans about what the Irish verses say, but I will talk about Shared Colonization Issues in Butchered Tongue. Lovely song, but I think its placement was off as one of the quietest tracks. I would have put this and "De Selby Part 2" with Butchered Tongue and made another song the first track, so people get warmed up.

--

-De Selby Part 2 - most definitely a callback to his soul sound, but with the bass and electric bits, it starts to feel more like motown or funk. Very dark and almost grungy bass, and I like it. This is a song that people would ask to use for a movie's climax, or for a big-money episode of a TV show--a season-finale, a long-awaited fight, or even the end of the show.

--

-First Time - my immediate favorite. GET READY FOR AN ESSAY, LOL. So I think Andrew's voice is perfect for big-band/swing and it feels like a follow-up to "Someone New" on his debut album. Andrew has the high notes, the low notes, and the flexibility to pull off jazz melodies, so this is just a really nice song for him to do some big vocal/melody stretches. If anyone knows the cover-band Postmodern Jukebox where they cover songs in old-time styles, covering "First Time" would be redundant unless they specifically rework it in the least jazzy style, BUT!!! I think PMJ would do a fantastic collaboration if they just get all their musicians and singers to back up Hozier!

In true Hozier style, this song is adorable and yet the lyrics talk about severe depression, with how the singer used to hate hearing people say his name and his actual soul was miserable.

Remember once I told you about How before I heard it from your mouth My name would always hit my ears as such an awful sound And the soul, if that's what you'd call it Uneasy ally of the body, it felt nameless as a river Undiscovered underground

And the first time that you kissed me I drank dry the River Lethe The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same But you spoke some quick new music That went so far to soothe this soul As it was and ever shall be, unearth without a name

When you take it literally, this gives me a lot of Filipino Spirituality Feelings. Our souls are said to wander when we 1) sleep, 2) get the shit scared out of us WHILE we sleep (such as a nightmare), 3) go hiking in the wilderness and our soul gets distracted and forgets to catch up, and 4) are possibly ill/stressed in general, because I thinnnnnnk some people believe certain illnesses are a sign of poor spiritual health. Do not take my word, though.

Normally we can just call our souls back because souls LIKE staying near their bodies--but like children, you gotta keep an eye on them. If your soul is too far away or if they stay out too long, they risk getting lost and/or kidnapped by a witch.

That's usually when your local folk-healer, relative-who-deals-with-the-spirits, or a GOOD witch has to do a reverse-exorcism/gang interrogation. I say "gang interrogation" because a lot of times, people start magically injuring you with special items, and that would actually be hurting THE WITCH wherever they are, which forces them to stop and give your soul back.

So Filipino Hozier's soul has been wandering beneath the earth, in the aquifers and caves and deep rivers, and he can't get it to come back. His family would be calling their relative-who-deals-with-the-spirits because "hey Tito/Tita, we think Kuya Hozier's soul got kidnapped! He's always miserable, and we don't know why!" until Significant Other arrives and the song gets Much, Much Happier.

"First Time" is a fucking adorable bop. It's peppy and I want to frolic on the beach! The chorus is also PRIME "misaimed wedding playlist" bait for people who don't listen to the rest of the lyrics.

Some part of me must have died The first time that you called me, "Baby" And some part of me came alive The first time that you called me, "Baby."

Like FUCK, this chorus is lovely. So pleasant and full of sunshine. But the rest of the song is bittersweet because uh, the couple has clearly broken up at the end. The singer does understand that this is life and you just gotta take the good with the bad.

I love Andrew's vocalizing from earlier albums, so I'm surprised he barely did any in a song that clearly harkens to jazz. But the melody roams a lot, so he might have thought scat-singing was too much for now. If he does this live, I am begging Future-Hozier to cut loose and improvise between the verses.

--

-Butchered Tongue - Another great song, but for the least-fun reasons. Time for severe mood-whiplash, as TV Tropes says. FILIPINO COLONIZATION FEELINGS AHOY.

This song is devastating, as a Filipino-American who enjoys languages but cannot speak her family's language (Tagalog) much better than a five-year-old.

Many people have the mistaken belief that Tagalog is "half/mostly Spanish," but IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT. Back in the 1500s, the only people who were guaranteed to know Spanish on the islands were the Spanish-born/descended nobles, their servants, and the monasteries, and that was like the top 10% of society if not less. The closest we got was the Chavacano creole, and it still used a lot of Austronesian grammar and reduplication.

I also used to think Tagalog was half-Spanish, but that lasted right up until I tried to watch "Like Water For Chocolate" without the English subtitles, lmao. I'm pretty sure I only understand as much Spanish as I do because I live in California, which used to be Mexico. Sure, Tagalog borrowed some basic Spanish words like basura, caballo, and kumusta, but we still have native equivalents like "taponan," "kuda," or "magandang araw/gabi." The bulk of our language is still firmly Austronesian and when I was growing up, I usually heard people call Tagalog "ugly" or "weird."

So we didn't learn much Spanish, but guess which colonizer DID impose their language on us so they could "civilize" us for the modern world? AMERICA, THAT'S WHO!

My parents didn't teach me Tagalog when I was young because they didn't want me to grow up with an accent, and this is a problem as a struggling writer. Here I am, trying to incorporate Filipino mythology and language into my work--but while I understand Tagalog and I know how to read words/names, I can't actually SPEAK IT in a conversation unless it's really basic, and I still sound like a five-year-old. I have to rely on online Tagalog translators for a lot, and I'm never really sure if the grammar is right, or if the words are actually Bisayan or Ilokano because the dictionary I used is operating with the "Filipino language" that isn't properly Tagalog, but a mishmash of drastically different languages.

Some Filipinos from the homeland mock the diaspora for not being able to speak our languages well, and they usually say we're "not really Filipino" or "not Filipino enough." I have gotten a couple of comments wondering why I bother to learn baybayin, if I barely know what I'm actually WRITING in it.

As a Filipino-American, the impression that I get from Butchered Tongue is, "The language barrier forced on you by colonizers has swept you away from your ancestors/family like a great wave. You yearn to go back home and speak your family's language, but the damage is done; there is no one left to teach you, or nobody who WANTS to teach you. Is there really a place you can call 'home' if neither your colonizers nor your people accept you as theirs?"

People often feel that their voice changes when they switch languages, and I wonder what I'd sound like if I could speak GOOD Tagalog. But instead I stumble around with my childish speaking abilities trapped behind decent reading skills and baybayin, and sometimes it feels like I got my tongue cut off.

If you asked me to speak Tagalog right now, you will hear the gears turning in my head, and I'm always worried that I'll butcher it. If I think too hard, I will panic and forget the words for basic body parts, or how to count to ten properly.

A+ song about Ireland's colonization. If this was the only good song in this album, Unreal Unearth would be worth it. You did it again, you fucking giant Irishman.

#unreal unearth #hozier #filipino american #colonization #butchered tongue

[daintyduck99]

Writing ask game!! 17, 37, 47, and 49 haha

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

There are SO many song-based AUs that I would just devour. A lot of them are based on country songs (the Rulie epistolary if I ever actually finish it, based on Something Like That, put on that old song of course, and what @jmrothwell is planning to do with Fearless and Kissed You (Good Night), all of which I am super excited about). Like, listening to country always runs the risk of giving me a new idea because it's a genre that's full of such rich narratives. Help XD

Then I guess I also have lucky enough to love you now where it was inspired by Brandy (You're A Fine Girl), which I had to write even though it's only a snippet of a much larger 'verse.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

I have to go with I Know It With All My Heart, the Stranger Things fusion ficlet that I wrote after @innytoes and I came up with that AU. Not many people seemed very interested in it, which is fair, given that it's basically the JatP characters in that setting and I only felt like writing This One Scene, but I really like how it turned out! There are a lot of short, punchy sentences and I think they really capture the depth of Luke's emotions (and his conflict with his parents).

47. If [insert fic] was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.

I'll go with lucky enough to love you now because I was just talking about it and it's in my head now, haha

This story is your favorite pair of shoes. Well-worn, comfortable, a great go-to for just about any outfit. Sure, you've had more than one pair of favorite shoes, but they're all still your favorite, and you hang on to them even when everyone says you should throw them away. You still remember them fondly no matter how many new favorites you accumulate. These shoes give you a ridiculous amount of dopamine. They're awesome. They fit perfectly.

(Please tell me about your actual favorites now because I'm curious!)

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

So the two big things I'm currently working on for Julie and the Phantoms are the canon compliant Rulie fic where they fall in love while listening to Fearless and the Peterpatterlina fake dating AU.

Here's a snippet from the former (tentatively titled have you ever thought just maybe for the time being):

"Hey, Julie?" 

She blinks, shaking herself out of her stupor. Her face feels too hot. She doesn't mean to keep looking at his mouth, it's just—he really does have such a beautiful smile. It's softened into something sweet and quirky, not unlike how he'd smiled at her right after they met. 

There's no such thing as cute ghosts. 

Oh, how wrong she'd been. 

"If we do this, I absolutely expect you to learn how to fiddle. A promise is a promise, Molina." 

She shrugs, mirroring his smile. It's easy now that she knows him.

"And you'll be on the hook for listening to eight more albums. A promise is a promise, Peters." 

#fic asks #about ash's fics #thanks for asking! ❤️ #please do tell me about your shoes lol #also I have a condensed version of that snippet for my tentative summary for the fearless fic #maybe it's a bit too long but I don't care lol I love it

[darbydoo22]

Into The Crows-Verse

a/n: So Happy to have gotten to work on this awesome idea for @grishaversebigbang ! My second of 2 fics so this is it for me this time ✨

Materialki: @oranges-and-stuff (x)

Summary: Basically how I imagine each of the crows introductions would go if they had the comic book style intros in Into The Spider-Verse.

Read it on AO3 or here under the cut!

Let’s take this from the top;

My name is Kaz Brekker. When I was a teenager, I was bitten by a radioactive spider that gave me all kinds of powers. I became the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

I fought tons of bad guys and won. Then I fought a ton more, and won again. Things were great. At least until I found my archenemy; the Lizard. Weird name, right? The guy kinda looks like a seven foot tall version of Godzilla, but I guess that name was copyrighted.

Anyway, I had some battles with The Lizard. Won a few, lost most of them, destroyed a lot of property all around.

I never really figured out who The Lizard was, just that he was part of some kind of science experiment gone wrong and that he was really mad about it. And yeah, I’d be mad too if someone had turned me into a giant lizard thing by mistake, but I don’t think I’d take it out on the general population.

But let’s get back on track, shall we? Anyway, giant lizard guy. We fought and I lost a fight that completely destroyed a huge chunk of the city.

During the fight, the building came down, and I did my best to get everyone out of the way. But in the process, my leg got crushed by some falling debris. Even with my spider powers, it will never heal right. I’d been using a cane to get around, so I had no idea how I could fight anyone anymore.

It felt like I couldn’t do anything right, and I couldn’t keep the people of (New York? Ketterdam?) safe. I couldn’t stop The Lizard. I couldn’t even figure out who he was.

But slowly, I learned to fight with a cane. I got better and better at it, and eventually, had the idea to build web shooters into it. I had a cane made specially reinforced with the same material as my Spider-Man suit, so it wouldn’t break during battle either.

After that, I fought The Lizard more often. It got to the point where I was fighting him almost every day and it was starting to feel like he was targeting me specifically. I didn’t find out why until it was too late.

During my last battle with The Lizard, the unthinkable happened. We were fighting, just like we had been for the last few months. The fight took place in a warehouse, some kind of industrial looking building where all the wires and beams were exposed. With his lizard powers and my spider powers, we both managed to climb up to one of the higher stories to fight.

The Lizard got a few good hits in on me, and I’d managed to hit him a few times too. And then finally, I got in a lucky hit that knocked him off balance.

The Lizard stumbled and fell from the second story down to the first. Considering his height, and some of the falls I’d seen him take before, he should have been fine. But when I got down to fight him, he wasn’t on his feet. He wasn’t moving, and when I went to get a closer look, I noticed a pipe sticking out of his chest.

As I got closer, the lizard features began to fade, and the human features became clear. And that was when I finally saw it. The Lizard was my missing brother, Jordie. He bled out and there was nothing I could do.

After that, I felt lost. I couldn’t stop being Spider-Man because the city needed me, but I became closed off. I couldn’t risk getting close with anyone in case they got hurt, or worse.

Then one day, part of the city started to look weird. Like a glitch on a screen. And the next thing I knew, I was being sucked into another world.

Let’s do this one more time:

My name is Nina Zenik, and I am Spider-Woman. When I was teenager, I was bitten by a radioactive spider that gave me all kinds of powers. I became the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Woman.

I fought tons of bad guys and won. Then I fought a ton more, and won again. Things were great. I was actually popular in school, and my crush, Matthias Helvar knew I existed. He even asked me out on a date!

I could tell that my best friend Genya was jealous of all the attention I was getting. The two of us used to be a lot closer, but ever since I got my powers we haven't been the same.

She was one of the head cheerleaders, and I guess she was happy talking to me when I was just some loser, but now that people thought I was cool too, it was too much? Whatever.

So we drifted apart, and I got to know Matthias more. We went on a few dates, though a couple got interrupted by some of my Spider-Woman activities.

The longer we dated, the more guilty I felt for lying to Matthias about why I had to cancel dates. It got to a point where I felt like I had to either break up with him, or tell him I was Spider-Woman. So that’s what I did.

I told Matthias about the whole secret identity thing, saving the city, and all that. Our relationship got even better than I thought it could be. Matthias started to get a bit more into the hero stuff, which was difficult, because his adoptive father Jarl is totally against it all. But we made it work.

Eventually, one of the villains started to get more interested in Matthias and I. He was so angry at me for some reason. It took me too long to figure it out and Matthias ended up paying the price.

One of my major villains as Spider-Woman, the Green-Goblin, figured out my identity. He kidnapped Matthias and used him to lure me into a fight. I went, obviously. I wasn’t just going to leave Matthias in the hands of my arch-enemy.

But when I got there, it was too late. Matthias was dead, and all I could do was give the Green Goblin the fight he wanted. We fought, and he got the upper hand. I tried to use my web shooters to get away, but he was following me on his mechanical glider. I took one tight corner, and the next thing I knew, he wasn’t following me anymore.

When I went back to see what had happened. I saw that he had crashed into a building. He got impaled on some debris that had fallen during our fighting. I got closer, and finally saw that the Green Goblin’s mask was cracked.

It was Genya’s adoptive father, Aleksander. He was the Green Goblin. He’d figured out my secret identity and had killed Matthias. It didn’t make any sense. I knew he wasn’t like that, but he had told me about some experimental substance he was working with, Merzots. It basically elevated all of a person’s senses. I’d looked into it though, and there hadn’t been a successful test where the subject kept their sanity.

I wanted to look into it more, but I had just lost Matthias. Genya had just lost her father figure, and I wanted to be there for her. But she just kept going on about how her father had respected me more than he had ever respected her, and how she didn’t want anything to do with me.

It hurt. It felt like I had lost everyone at once. Not only that but there was a new villain on the scene. She was basically a red version of the Green Goblin. I knew it was Genya, and it hurt so much to have my best friend going after me for something so out of my control. We were both grieving, and I hated that we were taking it out on each other.

Because of all the Spider-Woman stuff, I felt like I never really had the time to grieve Matthias. His dad hated me, and blamed me for Matthias’ death. It was the truth, even if he didn’t know the full extent. So I pulled away from everyone. I didn’t want to risk anyone else getting hurt because of me.

Then one day, part of the city started to look weird. Like a glitch on a screen. And the next thing I knew, I was being sucked into another world.

Let’s try this again. Third time’s the charm, right?

My name is Jesper Fahey, and I am Spider-Boy. I wasn’t bitten by a spider or anything like that, but my mom was. She was the amazing Spider-Woman.

I grew up hearing all these awesome stories from her and my dad, who even less frequently, went out as Spider-Man. They’re heroes! So I wanted to be just like them.

As I got older, I started to experience some of the same spider powers that my mom got when she was bitten. I also got a couple of powers that she didn’t have.

Through a lot of trial and error, we figured out what I could do. I could use the same web shooters as my parents, could climb buildings like my mom, and after some cool designing with my dad, we managed to create a suit that could let me glide. It meant I could basically fly, which was pretty awesome!

Thanks to my powers, I got to help my parents with a lot of the hero stuff. I got to spend more time with them, and it was just really great. But one day, while I was in school, my mom went out to do some hero stuff on her own.

She fought a guy with super strength, and managed to stop him from destroying a handful of buildings downtown. But the villain managed to damage one of the buildings so badly that it looked like it was going to fall over. While she was evacuating some of the civilians, a little girl was stuck under some of the debris. My mom managed to get her out, and get her to safety, but not before part of the building collapsed. One of her legs was crushed, and even with her powers, it would never heal right.

She had to give up being Spider-Woman after that, which I know she was really upset about. Because of that, I got to be the city’s number one protector. The friendly neighbourhood Spider-Boy.

I started fighting my own battles, getting my own villains, but I always had my parents to support me when I did. We figured out a way for me to keep up with school and continue being Spider-Boy.

Then one day, part of the city started to look weird. Like a glitch on a screen. And the next thing I knew, I was being sucked into another world.

Alright, this is the final time we are doing this:

My name is Matthias Helvar and I am the Spider-Man. I was bitten by a spider, and somehow, that gave me powers.

I have been spending my days trying to solve crime, and using my powers to put villains and criminals behind bars. It is a difficult life, not being able to get close with anyone. But it was worth it for the justice I was delivering. It was my true purpose. It felt like this was the reason I was given these powers.

Then one day, I was kidnapped. Apparently the military had heard of my powers, and wanted to use me for some kind of experimentation. I was held captive for months. During that time they took sample after sample of DNA from me. They tortured me, tried to brainwash me, all in the hopes that I would join them.

But one day, I noticed that one of the nurses working on me to draw blood looked familiar. She was another investigator I had encountered over the years. Nina Zenik. I could hardly believe that she was here. I thought she had stood for justice, like me, but here she was, helping the military experiment on me.

It was not until she told me that she was here to rescue me that I understood the gravity of the situation. Months went by, and she continued to help my captors experiment on me. At that point I knew she was purposely giving them false information, in hopes of destroying all of the information the military had managed to gain about my powers.

The longer I spent there, the more I started to trust Nina. I knew it was a mistake, because the people I cared about usually ended up betraying me, or worse. And when Nina helped me escape, I knew it would be for the worst.

I managed to get out, but Nina, who was innocent of any crime beyond freeing me, was killed. I have never been the same after that. I continued to solve crimes and protect people, but some part of me felt broken. I could no longer get close to others, because the one time I did, Nina died because of me.

I kept to myself, both in my day job and as Spider-Man. It was a lonely existence, but it was for the best.

Then one day, part of the city started to look strange. Like a glitch on a television screen. And the next thing I knew, I was being sucked into another world.

Alright, let's do this one more time. Last time, I swear!

My name is Wylan Van Eck, and I am Spider-Boy. I wasn’t bitten by a spider or anything like that. In fact, I don’t have any kind of powers at all. I save the city, and the world, with a super cool robotic suit that I built.

It all happened after my dad disowned me. He’s the head of one of the biggest tech companies in the world, and didn’t think I’d be able to manage it after him. I have as much, or even more tech knowledge than him, but I can admit that I don’t have the best business sense.

Anyway, after he disowned me and kicked me out, I didn’t have much to do. I wasn’t going to the fancy private school he had forced me to go to, and none of my friends would talk to me since I wasn’t super rich anymore.

I had a lot of time on my hands, so I started doing a bit of investigating. There were a few villains who were destroying the city, causing a lot of property damage, and, more importantly, were getting people hurt.

The worst of the villains was someone named the Green Goblin. He had a full body suit of green armour and tones of tech that looked way more advanced than anything I’d ever seen.

The tech, and some of the people and places he was targeting were all connected though. I knew he wasn’t just going around and doing things randomly. If he was smart enough to build the suit, there had to be a pattern. Some kind of motive.

The more I looked into it, the more the evidence led straight back to my dad’s company. All of the people he was going after and stealing from were competitors, or investors that hadn’t backed his company.

It didn’t really make any sense, until I broke into one of the company’s labs. Well, it’s not technically breaking in if my dad forgot to remove my access, right? Anyways, I was able to find a file on a top secret project. Something about a drug that would enhance all of a person’s senses, but would also drive them to madness.

At the very end was a video, there was a note that the drug had been rejected by every science board in the country. I knew my father would never accept that, so it didn’t surprise me that he had taken it to prove a point. Except that he had supposedly taken it years ago. He hadn’t shown any signs of the usual symptoms, and as far as I knew, he had been perfectly fine.

But I guess creating an entire villain persona and trying to kill people that hadn’t backed the project wasn’t exactly the pinnacle of sanity either. Whatever the case, I stole a bunch of parts from the lab, and built my own costume.

It was a spider shaped machine that would help me climb buildings. That way, I could fight my dad when he was flying around as Green Goblin.

I started to make public appearances, fighting not just my dad, but some other bigger villains as well. I started to be known around town as Spider-Boy. I guess I was a bit more visible than I thought I was in the robot, because people could see how young I was.

Whatever, I accepted the title and became the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Boy.

Then one day, part of the city started to look weird. Like a glitch on a screen. And the next thing I knew, I was being sucked into another world.

I really hope this is the last time we’re doing this. Okay, here we go:

My name is Inej Ghafa, and I am Spider-Woman. I lived a perfectly normal life up until a few days ago. I went to a normal school, or I guess as normal as possible for a private school I was at for competitive gymnastics. I had friends, who were also gymnasts, and hobbies outside of school and sports.

My parents were fully supportive of me in my school and sports. At times, a bit overbearingly so. So sometimes I just needed a break from it all. From the constant expectations, from the constant interest and pressure of living up to their expectations for me.

That need to take a break is where everything changed in my life. I was doing a bit of exploring with one of my cousins. We were downtown, hanging out in the abandoned gym where we used to train as kids.

The gym hadn’t been open for years, so it wasn’t the cleanest. There were definitely rats living in it, maybe racoons too. We didn’t care though, we just hung out, like we always did. At least until I saw what I thought was a spider. It looked huge, but every time I looked at it, it had vanished. By the time we were leaving, I’d almost forgotten about the spider, until I went to pick up my gym back, and it jumped out at me from underneath it.

The spider bit me, and that moment changed my life forever.

On the way home from the gym, I started feeling weird. Almost jumpy at the slightest sound. Even sounds that other people couldn’t hear.

It only got weirder from there. When I was walking home I felt an intense feeling of panic, and got out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by some supervillain looking person. Spider-Woman was right behind her, and that weird feeling I had told me to follow the two of them.

I did, and saw Spider-Woman get killed. But not before she gave me some information on how to stop what sounded like the end of the world. Apparently some mad scientist named Van Eck was trying to break the barrier between all of the different worlds out there.

It was up to me to stop it now. At least it was, until a bunch of other Spider-Women and Spider-Men started showing up.

#six of crows #grishaverse #fanfic #nina zenik #kaz brekker #matthias helvar #wylan van eck #jesper fahey #inej ghafa

[agentsquirrelsgotrobots]

"~Engex and cygarettes, well versed in etiquette, extraordinarily known~"

The tiny being sang like an angel, his sweet high soprano voice sounding like the tinkle of piano keys as he took the runaway decepticon by surprise. The big, burly bot was frozen in fear. The singer was a high soprano. The alto must be around here somewhere.

"~he's a killer-"

There he was! All he had to do was-

"queeeEEENN!" "QUEEeeeennn!"

The two bots harmonized perfectly, and the decepticon traitor's head exploded.

"That was beautiful, Darkmount! Our lessons have been paying off. I still think that little earth ditty isn't as grand as the classic melodies I have been teaching you, but I can see why you find the simple harmonies of earth music fun."

"Perfect for a perfect duet." Cody chirped, shaking out his new limbs. His first and only frame upgrade as a microcon had come in, and he was rushed to Soundwave for some strategic reformatting once his plates settled. His legs, which could switch between digigrade and antigrade limbs, had been given advanced shock absorption upgrades and little kickstands that helped him stop quickly and turn on a dime, along with making hand and foot holds when climbing flat surfaces, and grip onto textured ones. He could now ride on Tarn's tank treads in root mode without risking him going splat.

"I wanna keep singing. No powers, just for fun."

"Ah! You remember being Heatwave's canary then?"

Knowing what to do to make Tarn happy, Cody nodded.

"Well then, I guess you can continue to lead the ditty while we walk to where Kaon and Vos are tracking the next victim. "

Cody picked up where they left off.

"Gunpowder, gelatine-"

"Ion cannons with a laser beam!"

"Ion cannons with a laser beam!"

The two bots didn't harmonize that time, the two of them belting the line, just barely holding back from using their outlier ability.

"Guaranteed to blow your mind!"

"Ba da da da da da da da da da! Anytime!"

Tarn easily dipped into baritone while Cody shot as high as he could go without his powers. It still shook the few panes of glass still inside their frames of the abandoned buildings around them. Cody spotted the victim, and after signaling to Tarn, got permission to go chase.

He shot off after his target, bouncing off of pieces of rubble. Running felt good.

"~Recommended at the price~" Cody cut through his victim's achillies before they could even look down.

"~Insatiable an appetite~" Cody dodged the falling bot, watching them try and fail to lift themselves out of the dirt.

"~waNNAAAA TRY!" The victim's head exploded, and Tarn's hand picked up Cody by the scruff and brought him up to his mask.

"Darkmount, what did I say about getting ahead of yourself?" Tarn's tone was stern but playful. He was still proud of his former human pet for killing a bot many times his size using just his outlier ability. Especially using those high notes that he had worked so hard to teach him. Tarn tucked Darkmount into the hollow in the middle of his chest plate, and as he came to expect, Darkmount turned on a rainbow colored children's cartoon and dung into his subspace for one of the many energon treats Soundwave had showered him with when he was reformatted.

Tarn suspected that Soundwave had given Darkmount an entire bag just because he knew Tarn didn't let him normally have sweets. At least, none that he didn't steal or buy for himself.

"The rest of the devote got the last two, so how about some microcon cuddles, and then some ill-advised co-sleeping?"

Darkmount chirped, and snuggled into the back corner of the hollow, pressing his audial into the metal in order to hear Tarn's spark beat.

"I will take that as a yes."

#mtmte tarn #The Gods have found us (Megatron help us all) #Darkmount returnsssssss #tfrb cody #transformers rescue bots #humans to transformers #this is not a one shot #Darkmount au

[colemonroe]

WHERE: Reaper Crew Auto/Sons of Silence Clubhouse WITH: Open to all SOS!

Dressed in his blacked out button down and pants from the night before, Cole Monroe sat at the head of the table, a slowly dying cigarette hanging limply from the corner of his mouth. All night, he’d been trying and failing to come up with the words that would cover what happened at the charity gala and somehow make it make sense. On the ride over from Cassie’s apartment, he’d replayed last night over and over, hoping for any detail that might stand out to him and point him to whoever had killed the LB member and made it look like a Son— but so far he was striking out. He didn’t have answers for the people gathered around him, but he had the beginnings of a plan to keep them and the ones they loved safe, and for now, that would have to be enough. 

“I dunno what happened last night. I wish I could offer more direction, but I’m just as lost as the rest of us,” he murmured, knocking his head in a loose shake as he inhaled another drag, “Whoever did this is smart, knows our history.” The culprit that had orchestrated this was well versed in Tonopah’s long standing history between the Sons and Los Bandoleros, they knew what it would take to ignite a war— a decades old feud only needed one spark to blast the sort of inferno that even the Sons of Silence couldn’t outrun, and they’d found it. That was the part that disturbed Cole the most— they’d known exactly where to hit, which made him think their enemy was far too close for comfort.

“I tried to talk to Matias— I’ll try again, see if he’s got any leads on an outside threat,” he offered, although he felt like he’d have more luck kicking a hornet’s nest than speaking to Matias Santiago again. “Right now, all they’re seein’ is red— puts everyone at this table at risk. They’re gonna need a minute to mourn, that buys us some time— but not much,” he continued, his mind already jumping ahead to their next steps. “In the meantime, no one rides alone and we lock our shit down.” Cole knew better than to leave anything up to chance— he knew how grief could shape and mold a person’s actions, and Los Bandoleros had enough grief in the wake of Enrique’s death to move mountains. “We need to press everyone we know for answers— figure out if anyone at the gala saw anythin’.”

Leaning forward in his seat, Cole rested his hands on the table and clasped them together, “Obviously, this wasn’t us. I trust everyone at this table with my life— if we’re clear, then we’re clear,” he murmured, looking each Son in the eye before continuing, “Which means one of two things— they did this themselves, or it ain’t just Sons and Los Bandoleros anymore.” Plucking his cigarette from his mouth, he set it in the ashtray in front of him and huffed a heavy, smoke stained sigh, “And if there’s another player at the table, Los Bandoleros ain’t the only ones we gotta look out for.”

Clearing his throat, Cole lifted the gavel, turning it over in his hands and feeling the true weight of it. “Every charter from southern Cali to Washington is on alert,” he informed them, hoping that might ease some of the discomfort he could feel radiating around the table. Cole took solace in the fact that it wasn’t just Tonopah Falls— they had charters scattered across the country, willing and able to show up when called upon. He just hoped it would be enough. “The minute I know more, so will you,” he continued, wishing he could offer something more solid to the group clustered around him, “Any questions?” 

#( open starter 001. ) #( ft; sons of silence. )

[fabbyf1]

Hello Kate! What a wonderful and magical surprise have you dropped on us today!! Really loved the fic and I already commented this on ao3 but this really was such a lovely read!!

As always let me tell you my fav parts of this lovely part of warming! verse! Part 6 you are my fav you usurped my fav part 4!

1) The writing! Oh my god! This was one of your best writings so far!!!! Each sentence and paragraph was a banger after banger!! Hence, why I was going back and forth after each and every paragraph! There were many more but I had to pause for the sprint 😔 I always fall more and more in love with your writing with each fic you post!

2) the clothes sharing! A classic fabby. Always loved and appreciated trope in the fabby writting universe! The boxers. The pants. THE JACKET!!(the jacket part needs a appreciation on its own, i’ll get to that later)

3) the smut part, while wasn’t as smutty as other parts but it was amazing to read nonetheless. Especially Max coming undone because Charles has him wrapped around his fingers. Them not caring if they’re being loud and Charles hoping for a exhibitionism moment!?!! Max just praising his baby!

4) Charles’ growth. We have come so far from part 1. Max is really so good to him. 🥺

5) the unhinged behavior from both of them!! The press conference teasing, the texts (a classic warming verse moment), the impromptu blowjob idea!?!! Charles enjoying having the upperhand and feeling powerful and smirking. So much smirking!!!

6) them being in love. So so in love!! Disgusting(affectionate)!! I have never wanted to be in love more than I did when I was reading the fic today! The both of them thinking/saying about wanting to spend forever with one another!?!! GTFO. So in love!!!!!!!

7) Charles’ ability to shock and make Max speechless with dropping bombs out of nowhere is an art only done well in warming verse!! The power he has over the dutch man I swear to god!!

8) the whole jacket thing and the conversation and Max caring about Charles and thinking about Charles’ career. And them just being soft after sex!!! 🥺🥺 them knowing the risk they are taking with Charles wearing the rbr jacket and still doing it because they love one another!!!! 😩😩

9) the ending!!!! Charles who always has second thoughts, like in part 3, when charles goes to max’s and stands outside the door having second thoughts, but here while waiting in Max’s driver’s room having no second thoughts about a risky move! And them walking out hand held!!! And not letting go!! God!!!

Sorry this is long!!! I just wanted to appreciate this fic!! I don’t think I felt this much feelings about other warming!verse parts as much as I do about this part! Maybe it has something to do with yesterday’s magical quali and today’s sprint disappointment (from charles’ side). But really I just loved every single bit of this fic!!! 💕💕

bestie, oh my fucking god?????

I am spiraling about this.

You are so fucking sweet and I love you so much for taking the time to write all of this out for me. I cannot tell you how special it is for me to hear your favorite parts of the fics and your thoughts on the little moments I've written. It is like... the best most gratifying feeling in the world 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.

I want to print this out and frame it and put it on my wall.

.......... i'm an adult.... with my own apartment..... and nobody can stop me from doing just that. huh. interesting. just kate things

#i love you so much #also please never apologize for sending me long-winded comments and thoughts on my fics #i cherish them all so much #this really made my day thank you forever #warming verse

[etcrow]

Worst Best Date

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Genre: Fluff

Characters: GN!MC x Levi

Universe: Obey Me!

Warnings: none

A/N: requested by @nwaml

Word Count:  809

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One day, finally, Levi had come forward to invite you to dinner with him.

You had said yes to him without too many words and almost the demon had fallen to the ground unconscious from emotion.

You had prepared yourself to the fullest: you had asked Asmo for help with your dress, but you certainly had not forgotten to wear your headphones and take them with you.

Asmo had turned up his nose at your choice, but he couldn't stop the otaku soul in you.

As soon as he saw you, Levi would have loved to tell you how beautiful you were and how much your dress suited you, instead he had stumbled on his own feet, falling at your feet.

"... when it is said to fall for someone they do not mean literally, Levi."

"I-... MC, don't joke please"

You had laughed, helping him to pull himself up. The poor demon would have liked to disappear inside a black hole or the Mariana Trench without returning.

"So, where are we going?"

The avatar of envy had cleared his voice, awkwardly trying to take you by the hand. When he finally managed to take you by the hand, you could feel his trembling from the tension.

"Here, I found a very nice restaurant in the center"

As you walked out of the House of Lamentation, you could hear Mammon's furious gaze on you.

Levi had been stiffing all the way to the restaurant. It was a new place recently opened, made especially for two otaku like you.

The room was full of people like you, the waiters were themed clothes, and you could even get up from the table to dance to the new idol hits.

Levi had come forward to open the door but had awkwardly pushed inwards when instead the sign clearly said "pull".

The demon had made a shrill verse in shame, and you had tried not to laugh so as not to make him stay worse than he already felt.

You had pulled the door of the restaurant, and then entered holding the hand of a poor, disconsolate, Levi.

2 - 0 for otaku.

Arriving at your table, Levi had come forward to move the chair and make you sit.

He already imagined the scene: you who sat down and took each other hand in hand as in the last anime he had seen.

Instead, he had moved the chair too much, causing you to fall to the ground.

The poor otaku had almost fainted on the ground to hear the people around you laughing, but you had calmed him down by laughing in return and asking him for help to sit you in the chair.

Levi had been in total silence throughout the dinner, leaving you a little disconsolate.

You could notice the black mood of the poor demon from a kilometer away.

You had stretched out a hand to take his and he almost jumped, risking falling from the chair.

"Levi"

"Y-yes MC"

"Would you like it if we go dancing?"

You had nodded your head to the dance floor, but Levi seemed reluctant to want to dance.

"MC I risk only embarrassing you another time"

You stood in front of him stretching out a hand. "And what does it matter to you?"

The avatar of envy was roasted to the ears and took your hand, following you to the dance floor.

Music was one of your favorites and both you and Levi were going wild on the track, until someone tapped on your shoulder, making you turn around.

A young demon had come forward to ask you to dance and when you refused by pointing out that you were already busy with someone else, he had started with a 'But who, that fool?' and you had cut short with a 'You’re the opnly fool here’ And you had left him alone.

Levi had whispered an 'lol', even though he had been sweating cold for a few moments, thinking that you could leave him alone for another.

Once out of the room, Levi hoped to be able to walk with you as in one of those souls he had seen a short time before, but had begun to rain, ruining the moment.

You just had to run home in the rain.

Levi had offered you his jacket to shelter you from the rain and once home, you ran to change yourself so as not to catch pneumonia.

The demon had gone to his room, disconsolate at the total failure of the evening, but when he was about to go to sleep, you knocked on the door.

When he opened, you gave him a kiss on the cheek thanking him for the evening.

The demon was blown away by the kiss, but before he could replicate, you pulled out a controller, smiling.

"Is Player 1 ready for a hero's night?"

He had smiled, letting you into his room.

"Only if player 2 will follow me"

#obey me one master to rule them all #obey me shall we date #obey me #obey me mc #obey me post #obey me headcanons #obey me funny #obey me x gender neutral reader