#as if it’s buildup | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lunarmoves · 4 months

Text

indirect continuation of this sun kiss drabble

you were being tailed for quite some time now.

you noticed by accident—a strange shadow in the corner of your eye as you made your way through the pizzaplex after hours for your nightly tasks. it was gone almost as soon as you'd turned your head to look at where it'd been. at first you figured you were just seeing things—maybe the shadows cast by the bright neon lights were playing tricks on you. maybe the late hours walking around the massive mall were making you tired.

but when you started to feel the prickle of your hairs standing straight—the burn of a gaze watching your every move—you realized exactly what you were dealing with. or rather, who.

"moon, why are you following me?" you sighed out sometime halfway through your shift, stopping in your trek to the arcade room to fix a few broken machines. hands placed on your hips, you looked up at the ceiling and tried to make out any odd shadows or faint gleams of metal. but when moon didn't want to be found, well... you could spend your entire night looking for him and you wouldn't be able to catch even the smallest of glimpses.

you waited patiently for a few moments, surveying around you in case he'd reveal himself. "moon, i know you're there." silence, complete and utter silence. you gave him another minute, then let out a huff. fine, if he wanted to mess with you tonight, whatever. it wasn't like you weren't used to it.

just as you took another step in the direction of the arcade, you heard it. the faintest, faintest jingle of a bell somewhere to your left. your head snapped in that direction, eyes moving from the polished floor of the pizzaplex to the darkest corners of the ceiling. there was a supply closet not too far from you, its door closed. you squinted at it suspiciously for a moment, then turned to make your way back t—

"boo."

you yelped—of course you fucking yelped—and swung at moon's upside-down face out of instinct more than anything. he was directly in front of you—nearly nose to nose in a way where you only really saw the redness of his eyes swallowing you whole. he dodged your punch easily, lifting himself up into the air with his wire so that your fist passed harmlessly under his dangling hat.

you exhaled harshly, your heart pounding away in your chest and your ears. it felt like you'd gotten the life sucked out of you. "you—!! gah! stop doing that!!" you huffed and straightened up to glare at him. you didn't think it was all too intimidating in his eyes.

he chuckled, a low thing that always made something in your gut feel strange, and said no more. only watched you from where he hung upside down in a pose reminiscent of a past spiderman movie. you eyed him, waiting to see if he'd say anything else. but when he didn't—his head clicking side to side ever so minutely—you frowned.

"what's wrong?" you asked bluntly. his head cocked to the left. "why have you been sulking around me all night?"

moon grumbled something indecipherable. "wasn't sulking."

"was too. what gives?" you pressed further, crossing your arms across your chest. he looked away, avoiding your gaze, and you knew something was bothering him. "you hadn't done that in a while. i thought we were past the 'stalking' part and on the, y'know, 'hanging out like friends do' part."

he only hummed shortly and turned his faceplate to look somewhere off to the side—at the door of the closed storage closet. your foot tapped against the smooth floor for a bit, waiting once more to see if he'd say anything. he didn't.

"moooon, c'mon use your big boy words." you approached him, popping back into his view so he wouldn't have any choice but to look at you. "i can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong." your words were gentle like a soft, spring breeze.

there was the slightest flicker of his optics as he glanced at your face. then he made a low sound—a groan of sorts—and seemed to struggle with saying something. your patience knew no bounds, so you were willing to wait however long it took for him to spill those pesky feelings of his. but when he only fell silent once more, you decided that this wasn't going to go anywhere.

"okay, fine"—you threw up your hands and turned on your heel so you could return to your actual job—"you don't wanna tell me, that's fine. i'll just go back to—"

you barely got a few steps away before your words were cut off by the back of your shirt being tugged on. your head craned back just in time to see moon flip himself down from his wire—landing nimbly on his feet, quiet as a mouse. and then he was dragging you towards the supply closet.

"hey! moon what—" you were crowded into the closet with little flair, tripping and stumbling over yourself no thanks to moon's tight grip on your shirt. the door closed behind you with a small snap. and suddenly you were in darkness, illuminated only by the soft glow of moon's ruby eyes. you blinked widely in the hopes of getting your vision to adjust faster.

your foot accidentally kicked a bucket somewhere to your side, sending it rattling onto the floor. it was cramped in here, especially with moon's lanky figure pressing against your front. his hands gripped tightly along your upper arms. you could feel shelves stocked with cleaning supplies pressing uncomfortably into your back. there was hardly any room to move.

you felt small—overpowered. caged in with the only exit blocked off by an unrelenting robot.

you stared up at moon with what you hoped was a flat expression, his face and upper arms just barely visible to you in this absolute void of a closet. "what are you doing." it felt like you couldn't speak any louder than a whisper for fear of breaking something you could not see.

moon's gaze trailed over your face, cataloguing every feature, before it landed on— on.... your mouth suddenly felt like it was stuffed with cotton, dry and unpleasant.

"you..." he suddenly spoke up in a quiet, raspy murmur, leaning himself down further into your space. it allowed the strain on your neck to abate slightly. "you and sun..." you slowly nodded your head, maybe as a way to encourage him to continue when it was obvious how hesitation lined his voice. "...you gave him a kiss."

your heart picked up its pace, thrumming in your ears. you did give him one some time ago—saved only from his strange pestering when the daycare's lights had switched off and you were able to escape during his painful-sounding transformation into moon. you hadn't seen him since, too rattled by his intense insistence. it made you feel... weird. "i did. and?"

"i... would also like one." the words came out in a rush—like he was forcing them out in a hurried exile.

something burned ferociously at the sides of your face and neck. you wondered if he could hear how erratic your pulse was. you hoped not.

"is that why you forced us into this dinky closet?" you whispered, refusing to let yourself sound anything but casual. like his request wasn't causing something torrential to swarm around in the pit of your stomach. you were suddenly reminded that their dual A.I.s allowed them both to see what was happening no matter who was in control. that moon had been watching sun demand a kiss from you before. and that sun was watching now.

you swallowed heavily and moon's gaze followed the bob of your throat in a manner that made you suppress a shiver.

"yes," was his simple, hushed reply. closer and closer, his face was but a hair's breadth away from your own.

your breaths bated. you closed your eyes for a short moment in a vain attempt to collect yourself. his request was simple. you didn't need to make a big deal out of it. it was just a kiss, and he was just a robot. it didn't mean anything. the words became a mantra in your head.

you exhaled, low and slow. "okay." an agreement that weighed more than you realized at that moment.

curiosity is not a sin, you reminded yourself. but yet— you were being forced to face something you knew would have repercussions. you only hoped it wouldn't be anything strong.

after bolstering yourself with as much courage as you could, you raised yourself up on your tiptoes to close that minute distance between you and moon. to press a gentle kiss to his forehead and hope that it would be enough for him.

but moon— moon had learned from sun.

and before you could realize what he was doing, he shifted himself forward in a rather fluid manner—towards you. so that your lips would land soundly in the middle of his static smile instead of where you'd intended. something leapt up in your chest.

you weren't sure what you'd expected. fireworks and confetti? the soft plushness of another person's lips pressing back against yours? had your mind been tricked into thinking it would be something familiar with his facsimile of a mouth? but no, there was just the cool solidness of a metallic smile. it was like kissing a wall—immovable and unyielding.

and yet... and yet it wasn't.

for the grip moon had on you was tight. tight tight tight. unwilling to let you go. his hands had shifted so that one pressed hotly (hotly? your hazy mind registered distantly) against the small of your back while the other wrapped around your shoulders. and he held you so fervently. like he could press you into him and meld you both into one. like he was scared to ever let you go.

and that was enough, you think, as you lose yourself not to a kiss, but to a hold. that was enough.

839 notes · View notes

x-i-l-verify · 3 months

Text

Being honest, I think using Miss Delight and Ollie in this chapter instead of the Critters was a mistake. Dogday would have been a great candidate for the role Ollie filled. It would explain why he already knows us when we find him in the dungeon, why he calls us "Poppy's Angel," why he already seems to know what she's planning. It would also just be thematically appropriate, because of course he knows Playcare like the back of his hand, of course he would be the one to bring back the power, the light, in order to chase away Catnap's darkness. It would make the fact that we couldn't save him at the end of the Playhouse section that much more of a gut-punch, because he would have already saved us multiple times at that point and he would have felt like a friend.

As for the other Smiling Critters, a couple of them could already be dead, sure, but others could have been lurking in various buildings and locations within the Playcare. Bobby Bearhug and Picky Piggy could have been who we run into in Home Sweet Home, with Bobby languishing in the bedrooms that held the children she once loved so dearly, while Picky, who has gone insane from hunger, haunts the kitchens, desperately prowling for fresh meat. We could convince Bobby to help us, while evading Picky, lending a sense of true danger and urgency to the level that was lacking in the original, since we are never in any actual danger inside Home Sweet Home in that version outside of running into the red smoke without our gas mask.

Craftycorn and Bubba Bubbaphant could be who we run into in the school, or Bubba could possibly be found in the caverns or in one of the power rooms, giving us a key piece of equipment that we would need to progress or helping us with solving puzzles. Craftycorn could take the place of Miss Delight, with the same mechanics and everything, but instead of being insane with hunger like Miss Delight, she could be desperately seeking out new art supplies, since she has long since run out. Fresh blood makes great paint.

The antagonists in the Playhouse could still be the mini Critters, or it could possibly be Kickin' Chicken or Hoppy Hopscotch, who are trying to get your grabpack and take it for their own in order to escape. Whichever character isn't trying to steal your grabpack would be helping you play keep-away with it. Alternatively, Kickin Chicken and Bubba could already be dead (since their voice lines end in screaming in their cutouts), and Hoppy could be trying to help us get the power back on after Dogday's death (since her symbol is a lightning bolt). When Catnap finally makes his appearance, she could sacrifice herself to distract him, giving us key time to get away and set up our defenses with the batteries.

#poppy playtime #poppy playtime chapter 3 #smiling critters #dogday #bobby bearhug #bubba bubbaphant #hoppy hopscotch #craftycorn #picky piggy #xi writes #idk it's a thought #i think this would have been way more interesting than what we got #which was months of buildup for characters that don't even appear in the freaking chapter itself #i want to see the Critters dammit! and give Dogday and Catnap more screen time!

885 notes · View notes

saphushia · 1 year

Text

sabo has some catching up to do, mostly on the new ways luffy's learned to create near death experiences. frankly it's shocking that ace survived luffy learning to perfect gum gum rocket, considering luffy's notably poor aim as a kid and the fact he was definitely practicing in a densely wooded area

#one piece #sabo is so easy to torment when he's 10 years out of the loop #it's okay sabo catches up on 10 years of cain instinct buildup too #art #portgas d ace #sabo #sabo one piece #monkey d luffy #fanart #asl brothers

3K notes · View notes

redliferiot · 1 year

Text

grian pearl and scott: none of us chose or even truly desired to win, rather, victory was thrust upon us like the cloak of destiny that we all don. victory was unwelcome and in some cases unexpected, it could've been anyone but it was us martyn: i murdered cause i wanted to win and i won cause i wanted to murder

#this is a hyperbole guys b4 u get mad at me #i just think its funny how especially grain and pearl's victories were these big climatic things with a ton of emotional buildup #and especially pearls #whos victory was very much thrust upon her #compared to martyn who literally just lied and betrayed his teammate to win #bc! he wanted to win!#couple that with the hc that c!martyn has at least some idea abt the watchers I think that's pretty interesting lore wise #but who am i to say anythinh abt lore (<- knows nothing about nothing)#being stuck in situations vs murder for murders sake #grian #scott smajor #pearlescentmoon #martyn inthelittlewood #limited life spoilers #innsjotxt #1k #martyn itlw

2K notes · View notes

gunsatthaphan · 3 months

Text

"I'm not afraid."

432 notes · View notes

tranakin-skywalker · 5 months

Text

So I'm pulling most of this out of my ass, but-

I think such an underrated concept to explore is Padme's first few years as senator. Like, just the culture shock of that alone must be enormous, going from Naboo and being the highest voice of authority to suddenly being just one of thousands (or hundreds of thousands depending on what canon you choose).

The slow creeping realization that Palpatine didn't fix any of the problems he told her existed under Valorum. Seeing just how deep and pervasive it really is. Realizing that most of her peers are only there for their own gain, that their priorities are themselves and not the people they claim to serve. That building, burning fury at the injustice of that. That she seems to be one of the only people trying to fix anything. Anger strong enough she could rip someone apart with her teeth that her colleagues are actively trying to stop her from doing that.

And that deep, alienating realization that she is so so alone in caring about any of this.

#padme amidala #it's pretty apparent how corrupt the senate is in star wars but no one really acknowledges how soul crushing it would be for padme #day after day trying desperately to improve whatever she can only for it to break apart more #first with civil war and then with the empire #everyone focuses on the end but there would have been a gradual buildup to her there #trying to fight it must have been exhausting

415 notes · View notes

wondrousmay · 2 months

Text

People are now saying Frieren’s current Mage Exam arc is “a filler arc”?! 😭 What are y’all’s obsession with calling everything “filler” nowadays??? We literally got a scene of Himmel saying that enjoying trivial adventures is a part of being an adventurer.

Because before you know it, the adventure will end and you won’t get the chance to enjoy things with your friends anymore. Frieren’s journey is about learning to enjoy the present and not to be too focused on the end goal.

#do you all even want stories now?? or do you just want instant gratification without any character buildup whatsoever?#sousou no frieren #frieren: beyond journey's end

327 notes · View notes

bardicblast · 8 months

Text

night of the full moon

#curse of strahd #dnd #dungeons and dragons #artists on tumblr #werewolf #dnd werewolf #dnd bard #dnd shifter #vallaki #isaac didnt change during the full moon so he witnessed the whole massacre and boy..#the buildup for this scene and the whole night just *chef kiss

609 notes · View notes

hyperactively-me · 8 months

Note

now NOWWW hear me out, from king!ghost's POV, i wanna know what he thinks of her after the wedding and after he leaves her alone without consummating the marriage. maybe he's just absolutely yearning to fuck her but he's respectful of her. he just really really REALLYYYY wants HER to be willing to give in to him, and to realize that she's not the one with the leverage in this relationship they have. like, he wants to be like "oh yeah, now you're giving in to me," if you know what i mean? idk if i explained that correctly LOL

i think i get where you're trying to go with this one! hopefully i wrote what you were expecting!

He shuts the door behind you gently, standing out in the chilly hallway. His fingers linger on the door handle, a mixture of emotions swirling within him. The sigh he heard through the crevice under the door felt like a heavy weight pressing on his chest, a reminder of the fragile situation you were both in. He takes a deep breath, his mind racing with thoughts of what to do next.

Stepping away from the door, Ghost wrestles with the current dilemma in his mind. No one can discover the unconsummated marriage, at least not for the time being. He's determined to ensure this remains hidden, resolute in safeguarding this secret. He understands that the consummation will come in due time, just not now, not when you’re not willing. He can be a patient man when he wants to be. And for you, he would wait.

Memories of your smiles and laughter during the reception flood back to him. That’s who he wants to see all the time. He wants you to show that side of yourself to him, to be more vulnerable with him, but he knew you were afraid. But the circumstances had kept you away from him, leaving wounds in you.

He quickly makes his way down the hall and to his own personal chambers, ensuring that no one catches him alone and without you.

Slipping into bed, he looks at his ring finger. Now he really was stuck with you forever, and you with him. And one of these days, you’ll realize what you truly want.

- - - - -

(masterlist)

#he's down bad #everything will happen in due time y'all #just let me finish the buildup first!!!#promise its coming soon #simon ghost riley x reader #ghost x reader #simon riley x reader #simon ghost x you #simon ghost x reader #simon riley x you #simon ghost riley x you #simon “ghost” riley x reader #simon “ghost” riley x you #hyperactivelyme

629 notes · View notes