#but I will say it was one of the greatest party moments I've ever had

[dancingbirdie]

Okay so on Astarion, I was reading this fic about him not knowing Tavs true intentions with him and it bothering Astarion a lot, so what if he goes to some mage or magic user and asks them to show Tavs true intentions to him, when he does the vision he sees is just... being snuggled. It's Tav on top of him and the both of you are falling asleep, his hands are under your shirt softly petting your skin as your sleepy self is contently snuggled up to him. I just start crying about him finding out that Tavs DASTARDLY and EVIL plan with him, their greatest desire from him... is to simply be held. 🥺

Hi @goblin-creatcher! Thank you so much for this BEAUTIFUL prompt. I, uhh, kind of took it and went a million miles an hour with it. This is honestly one of my favorite things I've ever written. I hope you enjoy it as well! xoxoxo

Something Imagined / Something Real

Word Count: 3.9K

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Astarion x f!Tav

Warnings/Tags: Brief but detailed description of rough consensual sex, descriptions and references to Astarion's trauma/trauma responses, minor Act 1 and Act 2 spoilers, FLUFF, angst

Suggested Song Pairing: Slow Dancing in A Burning Room (Stripped) - cover by ST LUNA

Summary: Astarion has been suspicious of Tav’s true intentions toward him. He persuades Gale to cast a spell and reveal her motivations. ANGST and FLUFF ensue. A rewriting of Astarion’s confession scene from Act 2.

The sun had just begun to set on the campsite when Astarion decided to put his plan into action. He had waited until Tav departed with some of the other party members before making his way over to the wizard. Gale was too busy reassembling the bookshelf inside his tent to notice Astarion’s approach. It wasn’t until he gave a polite cough that Gale jumped and whirled to face him. 

“No, no, no,” he began all at once, hands raised in a sort of shooing motion. Astarion stared at him in confusion. “I can respect Tav’s indulging in your need for blood, but as I’ve said before: I taste terrible.” 

Astarion scoffed. “Charming. Actually, wizard, I was coming to request your aid in a different, though somewhat related, matter.”

“Really? Care to elaborate?” Gale responded, still somewhat wary. It wasn’t often he found himself alone with the vampire. 

“Testy, I see,” Astarion crooned teasingly. His knee-jerk response to people treating him like a monster, to behave in the most false saccharine sort of way. 

But he drew up short, censoring himself before saying anything else he might regret. He knew he needed to get on the wizard’s good side if he had any chance of getting the answers he sought. 

“I was hoping you knew a spell to reveal someone’s true intentions. Their… motivations for behaving in a certain way, so to speak,” he finished more seriously. 

Gale pondered the question for a moment before answering. 

“Hmm… yes, there is magic to determine that sort of thing… Although it’s been some time since I practiced it…” He trailed off, rubbing his chin in thought. 

“Why are you asking for such a thing?” he asked suddenly. 

Astarion had been prepared for this question, of course. No one did anything for free, no questions asked. He delivered his explanation perfectly, as he’d been rehearsing in his mind.

“One might say our dear sweet Tav and I have been growing a bit… closer these days, but I can sense a master manipulator when I see one. I just simply want to ensure their intentions toward me - toward the party - are true,” he replied with mock innocence. 

“Ah, yes,” Gale nodded. “I gathered as much when the two of you slipped away from the tiefling’s party a few nights ago.” 

“But,” he continued on,”I needn’t think you should worry when it comes to Tav. She seems about as transparent as they come. I’m sure any intentions she has toward you are true.”

Yes, but the best actors always mask their motivations behind innocence and transparency, Astarion thought to himself. I should know. I’ve been doing it for centuries.

After the party’s unfortunate meeting with that Gur in the Sunlit Wetlands, Astarion realized he would have to take potential threats from Cazador even more seriously. He wasn’t about to lose his freedom, not now that he finally had some small taste of it. 

It didn’t hurt to be more suspicious of everyone he encountered, even the sweetling Tav. Anyone could be an operative sent by Cazador, and the best ones would be as skilled as he was in the art of manipulation. It was well-known at this point that the person he’d grown the closest to on their journey was their brave party leader, Tav. Unlikely as it may be that she was scheming for his master, Astarion’s paranoia wouldn’t let him indulge in interactions with her a second longer unless he knew how she truly felt. 

Given Gale’s hesitation, Astarion knew he would have to kick his acting up a notch. Press on that wizard’s heartstrings. Touch the one nerve he knew he was sensitive to.

“Gale, darling, from one literally damaged soul to another, indulge me just this once,” Astarion beseeched him. 

The wizard glared at him a moment, before finally relenting with a heavy sigh. “Fine. Fine. But I want it known that I don’t agree with this so-called solution one whit,” he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Yes, yes, noted and formally documented, on my word as a former Baldurian magistrate,” Astarion replied cheerily. “So, let’s hop to it then, shall we?”

“What, right now?” Gale asked, shocked. “Shouldn’t we be, I don’t know, a little less conspicuous?” 

“What better time than now?” Astarion responded. “Tav’s out gathering firewood with Wyll and Karlach. They won’t be back for some time. As for Lae’zel and Shadowheart, well…” he paused, gesturing over his shoulder. 

Said two were engaged in a heated sparring session on the outskirts of the camp. Snarls and curses could be heard emanating from both warriors as they tried, and failed, to gain the upper hand against their opponent.

“That lovers’ dance could go on until morning,” Astarion finished. 

“Fair point,” Gale admitted begrudgingly, grimacing at the sound of swords clashing violently. “Very well. Let’s get started.” 

Clearing his throat, Gale began to utter a series of phrases completely foreign to Astarion. He watched as the wizard began moving his hands in a wavelike pattern, forming a circle before them. Suddenly, a mist began to form from seemingly thin air, taking shape according to the boundaries Gale’s hands were creating. The mist grew more and more opaque until it appeared before them like a clouded mirror. 

As the fogginess of the ethereal magic began to clear, the “mirror” became a confusing blur of scenes whipping by, too fast for Astarion or Gale to really comprehend. There were flashes of Tav and Astarion, together and separate, but they disappeared too quickly to ascertain their context. It was as though the spell was shuffling through the entirety of Tav’s thoughts, assessing each one at breakneck speed. 

Finally, the spell slowed to a halt, stopping on one scene in particular. Astarion was struck speechless by what began playing out in the foggy portal before them. So distracted, he didn’t even notice Gale’s tight cough, or how the wizard suddenly became intensely interested in a copse of trees nearby, rather than the revelation the spell was revealing.

Not that the scene was especially profound, objectively speaking. In fact, to anyone else, it might be viewed as the least revelatory thing possible that the spell could have shown. Boring. Inconsequential, even. But to Astarion, it was almost earth shattering. 

He saw himself - he could see his face! - with Tav, lying tangled together in some immaculate four-poster bed. 

That was the first shock that coursed through him, nearly causing his knees to buckle. He was seeing himself for the first time in over 200 years. Or at least, he was seeing himself as Tav saw him. And… the person he saw… Well, he was gorgeous. White blonde locks, curled and tousled in a devil-may-care sort of way. A strong, patrician nose that suggested good breeding. High, sharp cheekbones. Full lips, upturned in a thoughtless grin. Red eyes bordered by long, sweeping lashes. Delicately pointed elven ears. Smooth alabaster skin, without blemish or spot. 

Astarion could scarcely believe his own eyes. 

The second shock to his system was the nature of their activities. He would have been less surprised had the vision shown them fucking. Him taking her roughly from behind perhaps. His name a cry of ecstasy from her lips as he pistoned in and out of her with a feral sort of determination. 

Fantasies of lust, of total domination, now those were things he was familiar with inspiring in the minds of the victims he had taken as lovers. It was what he strove for, in all honesty. Desire like that all but ensured he would capture his prey and live to serve another day for his master. 

But nothing of the sort was occurring between vision-Tav and himself. Instead, they were just… embracing? What in sweet hells was this?

She lay halfway on top of him. Her hair was mussed, perhaps from sleep or perhaps from previous lovemaking. One hand was drawing absentminded shapes across his chest, her lips trailing behind, leaving kisses in their wake. He watched as vision-Astarion chuckled softly, as his hands slipped beneath her sleepshirt to caress her waist, as he placed an innocent kiss on the top of Tav’s head. Eventually, she reached for his hand. They both watched their fingers intertwine, blissfully content.

It was the purest, unadulterated expression of affection that Astarion had ever seen. Something in his heart quaked at the sight of it. He wanted that moment. He envied, he hated, vision-Astarion for enjoying such apparent happiness.

So absorbed in the vision and its implications, Astarion failed to notice the soft padding of feet that indicated someone’s re-entry into the camp. 

“If the two of you are quite finished poking around in my head,” an angry voice suddenly spat from behind them, “I’d appreciate you preserving what little privacy I have left and shutting that damn spell off.”

Mortified, Astarion and Gale turned to see Tav, arms crossed and visibly seething with rage. Gale quickly dispelled the magic with a flick of his wrist. A blush was slowly but surely rising up Tav’s neck to reach her cheeks. Whether from rage or embarrassment, Astarion couldn’t be certain. 

“Tav, let us explain-” Astarion started.

“It was his idea-” Gale blurted at the same time, pointing at Astarion. 

Both paused, glaring at one another. But Tav would have none of their feeble attempts at backpedaling. 

“The explanation doesn’t matter. Whose idea it was doesn’t matter. The fact is that both of you violated the privacy of my mind, which I’ll remind you, has ALREADY been violated by having a bloody tadpole forced inside of it!” Tav shouted. At their words, the camp became enveloped in a heavy silence. Even the crickets ceased their chirping.

Astarion cringed inwardly, knowing the other party members could plainly hear this altercation and had likely stopped whatever it was that they had been doing to listen in. He noted the sounds of swords clanging together had ceased. He was certain Lae’zel and Shadowheart at least were aware of what was happening. Nosy bastards, all of them.

But what disturbed him even more was the realization that Tav’s eyes were welling with tears. She was too proud to acknowledge them or wipe them away. Such was her nature. But they were there nonetheless, and the knowledge that Astarion had brought her to the point of tears was enough to spur a rush of utter self-loathing inside him.

Without another word, Tav turned on her heel and marched stiffly out of camp, toward the direction of a nearby creek they’d identified as a water source earlier in the day.

“I can’t believe I let you convince me to perform that spell,” Gale said as she disappeared between the trees. He dragged his hands down his face. 

“How could we have been so doltish, forgetting that all of our privacies have already been violated with this tadpole business?”

Astarion didn’t have an answer to that. At least, not one the wizard could possibly understand. 

The thought hadn’t occurred to Astarion, he realized, because violations of privacy had been something so intrinsic to his being for over 200 years. He didn’t even recognize it as something abnormal. Like a fish unaware that the water surrounding it is, in fact, water. 

Violations of privacy were a part of life, at least for him. So much so that his request for Gale to perform that magic hadn’t even occurred to him as an overstepping of boundaries. To Astarion, it had simply been a matter of survival. He had needed to know another potentially manipulative person’s true intentions, and so he had found a means to uncover it and maintain the upper hand. 

Belatedly, he also realized that Gale’s hesitation to cast the spell had had nothing to do with being inconvenienced for the evening, but because the wizard had known that it was improper to do to another person. If he had misread that, Astarion wondered, then what other truly benevolent behaviors had he mistaken as pragmatic manipulation?

“I need to go find her,” Astarion murmured, clenching and unclenching his fists in an uncharacteristic fit of uncertainty. 

“Yes, you do,” Gale asserted. “We both owe her a sincere apology… if she’ll even accept it.”

“I’ll see if I can convince her to come back to camp,” Astarion replied, making to leave in the direction Tav had stormed off. 

“Wait,” Gale said, a hand on his shoulder. Astarion turned to meet his gaze. 

“Look, well, I’m obviously not an expert in healthy demonstrations of affection. But I do think it’s obvious from what you saw in that spell that Tav well and truly cares about you. In perhaps the purest way possible. Treat that carefully.”

Part of Astarion wanted to laugh aloud in utter hopelessness at the wizard’s advice. Someone cared for him? Truly and purely? No hidden games, no strings attached? Oh certainly, that wouldn’t be a problem for Astarion at all. Obviously, his 200-year existence as a master-manipulator-fetch-hound for a power-hungry vampire lord had perfectly prepared him to respond to this situation in a healthy manner. Obviously.

But all that was too much to reveal to someone he barely knew and too heavy to say aloud. Rather than giving some smarmy retort, Astarion opted instead to give a stiff nod and continue walking toward the edge of camp. He had no idea how he could make things right with Tav, but at the very least he could try. 

***

He found Tav sitting on a fallen tree near the edge of the creek bed. Her legs were drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around them as she rested a cheek to her knees. In the waning twilight, she reminded Astarion of some misbegotten gargoyle perched on the roof of a temple, solitary and so very sad. 

Her ears twitched as she noted his arrival. Astarion wasn’t trying to be stealthy. On top of everything else, the last thing he needed to do was scare her. 

“Can I join you?” he asked softly, wincing to himself at the awkwardness of the question. 

The reality was that there was no way to broach this conversation without some stilted beginning, and he hated it. Navigating tricky conversations was normally something he excelled at. But as he was quickly finding, when it related to Tav, nothing in his past life had prepared him to respond to her well. 

“If you’d like,” Tav answered tonelessly. 

Knowing it was probably the best response he was going to get, Astarion swallowed thickly and moved to sit down on the log next to her. 

“I… wanted to… apologize for what you saw, back at camp,” he began.

“Apologize for doing it, or apologize for getting caught?” Tav asked as she turned her head to look at him, resting her other cheek on her knees. 

Astarion balked at the question. Her piercing gaze unnerved him. He hadn’t really thought that far. 

“Both, I suppose?” he answered honestly, although it sounded more like a question to Tav. She huffed a laugh.

“You know, part of me really wants to yell at you. Scream in your face. Tell you off proper,” she mused.

“So why don’t you?” Astarion asked, perplexed. 

Tav didn’t respond at first, just sat there studying him. As if by staring at him long enough, she could project the answer into his mind. 

Astarion didn’t interrupt her, much as he would have liked to. Part of him always bristled when people gazed at him for too long. It was unfair that they could study him, when he hadn’t been able to so much as glance at his reflection in over 200 years. 

Finally, Tav released a heavy sigh, her body curling further in on itself. She closed her eyes as she spoke.

“Because then I would be just like every other bastard in your life who’s mistreated you.”

Astarion flinched in surprise. Those had not been the sort of words he’d been expecting. The truth of them cut deeper than had she raged at him like she wanted to. It left him feeling even more vulnerable, and that in turn made him want to retreat into the comfort of viciousness.

“I don’t need you to pull any punches,” he scoffed, glaring at her. “Go ahead and say what you will.”

She straightened up at his tone, opening her eyes and returning his glare. 

“No. I don’t want to,” she said testily.

“I don’t need your pity,” he hissed. “It’s insulting.”

“Gods damn it all, Astarion!” Tav exclaimed suddenly, causing him to jump in surprise. She threw her hands up in defeat. “I’m not doing anything out of pity! I don’t want to rage at you, because I know that whatever I say right now, I won’t mean it come the morning!”

Astarion blinked. Once again he was left feeling flat footed by the turn of the conversation. Sensing his surprise, Tav continued on with her deluge of words.

“You hurt me tonight, and I’m angry at you - and at Gale, for that matter - for what you did. But you’ve shared enough of your… history… with me, that I realize your behavior is just… just a byproduct of centuries of abuse and manipulation you’ve endured! And I won’t be another abuser in your life. I won’t,” she asserted. 

Astarion continued staring at her, as if she were some otherworldly creature that had just wandered across his path. He watched as Tav inhaled a deep breath, releasing it shakily. She turned away from him to peer out into the forest, uncertain. She opened and closed her mouth several times before actually speaking. As if whatever she was about to say was more intimidating to her than anything else she’d said tonight. 

“I… care deeply for you, Astarion,” she said quietly. “You obviously saw that in the vision. I’m not playing any games. There’s no hidden motive. I’m not trying to manipulate you.”

She turned to look at him again before continuing, her breathing a bit unsteady. 

“I didn’t sleep with you that night of the tiefling party as some sort of maneuver to gain your trust. Although I understand if that was your motivation for doing so.” 

Astarion’s expression morphed into one of guilt. But Tav nodded soberly, as if she had already expected it, before continuing on. 

“It’s okay. I’m not angry. But I’m putting all my cards on the table now, so to speak. Actually, your decision tonight forced my hand, but I had been planning on telling you soon anyway. So, there you have it. The truth of my intentions. What you do with that information is up to you.”

She turned back to gaze out at their surroundings. Like she was giving him the opportunity to bolt away without her watching him. As if she expected him to flee from her confession. 

But Astarion didn’t flee. He remained seated, staring at her in complete wonderment. 

“Why?” he asked quietly.

She looked back at him again, confusion evident on her face. 

“Why what?”

“Why do you care for me? You’re so… well-adjusted. And I’m well… this,” he finished lamely, placing a hand on his chest. 

Tav pursed her lips. “It would be a mistake to misconstrue my empathy for you as me being well-adjusted. Everyone has their own demons, Astarion,” she murmured. “Mine just look different from yours.”

Astarion mulled her words over in his mind, considering them. He leaned forward to brace his forearms on his knees, his head drooping slightly. 

“I…,” he started, unsure. “That vision… what it implied… You deserve something real, Tav. You’re incredible… truly.” 

Tav closed her eyes, bracing for the fallout. Even though she would accept his decision, whatever it was, she didn’t think she could bear to watch him deny her. It would hurt too much. 

“Look. When we met, I had a plan. A nice, simple plan,” he blurted all at once. Rising swiftly to his feet, Tav watched as he began to pace before her, near to bursting with frenetic energy. 

“Seduce you, sleep with you, manipulate your feelings so you’d never turn on me,” he counted off, laughing half-heartedly. “It was… easy - instinctive. Habits from two hundred years of charming people kicked in. All you had to do was fall for it. And all I had to do… was not fall for you… which is where my nice, simple plan fell apart,” he finished, stopping to stand before her. 

She held his gaze, speechless. 

“I want you,” he whispered fervently. “I want what was in that vision… I want us to be something real.”

Never in a million years had she thought he would respond to her like this. She opened her mouth to speak, but Astarion cut her off with another sudden exclamation. 

“I just don’t know what real is,” he confessed, his tone a touch hysterical. Tav knew from his body language that being this transparent was completely out of Astarion’s comfort zone. 

“Being… close to someone - any kind of intimacy - was something I performed to lure people back. For him. Even though I know things between us are different, being with someone still feels… tainted. Still brings up those feelings of disgust, and loathing. I… I don’t know how else to be with someone. No matter how much I’d like to,” he finished, staring at her with beseeching eyes, willing her to understand.

Tav rose to her feet, coming to stand before him. 

“I don’t want you for your body,” she whispered. “Or to perform any acts of intimacy. We can be together, without sleeping together, for as long as you need.”

“Really,” he asked softly, his voice pitched low, rough with emotion.

“Really,” Tav asserted, giving him a small smile. “Would it be all right if…” she paused, conflicted. He eyed her curiously.

“Could I hug you?” she whispered.

The fact that she asked before doing so caused a well of emotion to spring up inside him. Eyes watering, Astarion nodded. 

Slowly, Tav moved forward to wrap her arms around his waist. Her head nestled into the crook of his neck and shoulder. A perfect fit. He felt her exhale a deep sigh.

Tav hugging him was a sensation unlike any he had ever felt. At least, any he could remember feeling. The act of being touched, embraced, without any desire for something more. She just wanted to hold him, feel him close to her. It was incomprehensible to him, but utterly enjoyable, at the same time. 

Slowly, ever so slowly, Astarion raised his arms to return Tav’s embrace. Drawing her even closer, he bowed his head to rest his cheek against her hair. It was soft, like the finest silk. He closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply, appreciating her sweet, floral scent.   

She made to pull away after a moment, not wishing to overwhelm him. But Astarion gripped her more firmly, a silent urge for them to stay that way a little longer. 

“This… this is nice,” he whispered. 

He both felt and heard Tav hum contentedly in response. 

It wasn’t identical to the vision from Tav’s mind that he had seen, but Astarion reveled in their embrace nonetheless. It felt like the beginning of something new. And for the first time in his very, very long life, Astarion felt excited at the prospects of what would come next. 

#astarion #dancingbirdiewrites #bg3 astarion #astarion ancunin #baldurs gate astarion #baldur’s gate astarion #astarion x f!reader #astarion bg3 #bg3 astarion fic #astarion x tav #astarion x reader #astarion x mc #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 fanfiction #bg3 fic

[boonsmoon]

Would you do a Mu Qing from TCGF fluff request Xie Lian (and by extension San Lang) attempt to play matchmaker between Mu Qing and his god/dess crush (cause Mu Qing refuses to admit liking them despite them being the person he’s closest to since meeting each other)?

I fell in love with this idea instantly A Christmas special for the lovelies Btw for creativity purposes, you can be the goddess of literally whatever

Request Masterlist Mu Qing x f!reader Genres:🎉🌸💞🧪

Kiss of Winter

To the untrained eye you would seem like a subordinate or nuisance to the cold-hearted god; however, this couldn't be further from the truth. You would considered yourself a close friend to Mu Qing, you have known each other for hundreds of years after all.

Though when asked, Mu Qing would refer to you as "a valuable acquaintance," and boy did it hurt to say this. Luckily, there was a very observant god who decided he had watched you two dance around each other long enough.

The holidays were approaching and Xie Lian thought this would be a great time to force persuade both of you to be in each other's company more often. So, with some hard thought planning and input from San Lang, the boys decided on a special celebration for the gods.

Now considering all these higher beings actually have standards, lots of works will have to be put into this. And who better to ask than someone that'll be excited to attend?

"I can't think of anyone more fitting for this job than you," Xie Lian praised, hoping to get you on the project. Everything has to be perfect if he's gonna get you and Mu Qing together.

You hesitated for a moment, "I've been getting many more prayers recently, though I suppose those can be put on hold..." There was a look of pondering on your face, weighing the pros and cons of what this could do to your status among deities and humans.

"Don't you have subordinates? If anything important happens they'll surely yap to you about it," you tensed at San Lang's words. Subordinates yes, deserving of disrespect no.

Unfortunately though, you must admit he was right. Your subordinates were always more alert than you, even when it came to your own temples. You sighed, "fine, I will help you prepare for this celebration."

After tireless days? Weeks? Of work, you all finally finished the super secret super awesome holiday party. Now you may be wondering would Mu Qing even come to the celebration? The answer is yes, but only if you invite him.

And let's be honest, most of the Heaven Official's don't like Xie Lian and San Lang very much, so making you the messenger was common sense from the beginning. So after running around and inviting everyone you saw, it finally came to the one and only.

"It is a holiday that comes each year, what makes this one special?" So far, so bad, he doesn't seem very keen on attending your greatest achievement yet.

"Becauseee we put effort into enjoying it this year. It'll be fun, I promise!" You pleaded with Mu Qing, hoping he'd say yes. "I worked on it the most anyways, so you don't have to worry about Xie Lian's 'bad taste.'"

He crossed his arms, contemplating if that was really a good enough reason to attend. "And when did I say you have good taste? It is likely just as bad considering you dare interact with him." OW OKAY THEN.

You folded your hands and begged, "if it's not I swear to never invite you again! Just please come this once..." This is what convinced him, the pain that in the future deities will get to enjoy your hard-work and he'll be left out. No one could ever appreciate your efforts like he can.

"Fine! I will agree this once..." That was a lie, he will make sure to agree in the future, even if it means forcing himself to attend a celebration that involved Xie Lian and San Lang.

The day of the celebration was fantastic, several deities appeared, many complimenting you on your efforts. You most oversaw everything that was happening, what you didn't see; however, was Xie Lian spying on you and Mu Qing while talking.

He took this as his chance to put the real plan into action. After getting a signal from San Lang that the mistletoe was hanging up a few feet from you two, Xie Lian basically sprinted into the both of you, pushing you under the plant.

Mu Qing turned around, visibly angry at Xie Lian, "would it hurt to watch where you move?!" This caused Xie Lian to put his hands up in defeat and shuffle away.

While rubbing your head to try and soothe the pain, you noticed something bright above you. Realizing it was mistletoe your face got darker. This caused Mu Qing to seem slightly concerned, questioning what was the problem. You only pointed up, and when he took notice his face also darkened.

"We can simply move and ignore this tradition, it's not that important anyways-" He was interrupted by you however, "rules are rules, Mu Qing, we can't ignore them. Plus, I kinda like this tradition."

He tried to get over the initial embarrassment and decided it would be easier to dive into the kiss. What would've been a fleeting moment to others felt like an eternity to you both.

Pulling away you could both tell by the look in each other's eyes that the feeling was mutual. And hidden somewhere else was a very proud and excited Xie Lian.

this was a very beefy fic

not that i'm complaining i liked it

anyways, happy holidays everyone! may all be well for the new year

#tian guan ci fu #tgcf #heaven official's blessing #tgcf x reader #tian guan ci fu x reader #heaven official's blessing x reader #mu qing x reader #mu qing

[buckttommy]

jack 👉👈 how do you picture their second kiss? does buck initiate it? also do you have any general lil headcanons you feel like sharing? 👉👈💞

for u, my little meerkat?? anything.

so. their second kiss. their second kiss. hmmmm. i think their second kiss is a lot more hesitant than their first kiss, like. they actually know what they are to each other now. like, their first kiss, i think, kind of came as a surprise to both of them, but this one? this one means something. they're both jumping in head-first with this kiss. so. they're hesitant, not because they're afraid but because they're exploring what it means to be this close, to feel this connected to each other. their bodies are pressed together, they're dancing (swaying) to the tune of whatever's spilling through the hospital speakers (maddie and chimney are going to get married in hospital, mark my words) and. like. neither of them smell the greatest because *gestures wildly at the bachelor party* and whatever goes on afterwards, so they haven't had time to shower. but. they're close. this is their moment. no one that they loved or cared about died and life is kind of very fucking beautiful right now.

so. their noses are brushing. their breaths are caught in their throats. and, this close, buck can see every line in tommy's face and tommy can see every one of buck's acne scars and they both think that the other has never looked so fucking perfect, so fucking beautiful as they do right now. and when their mouths meet, neither of them are surprised by how much it feels like coming home. and it shouldn't, right, like. after two dates, one ending in complete disaster, being together like this, kissing like this shouldn't feel so safe, so warm, so comforting. but it does. and they're both in SO much deeper than they ever could have imagined. none of this has gone the way either of them thought it would when chim called tommy out of the blue. but. they're here now. they're here now and everything is so good. so good that they can't imagine ever wanting to be anywhere else than right with each other and one day, after they get married, they won't have to

+ bonus headcanon just for u: lately i've been feeling particularly soft about clothes sharing and so, like, one day tommy gets hurt on the job. buck sits vigil by his bedside, of course, and. every time one of his family sees him, he's in one of tommy's jackets. or if he's not wearing one of his jackets, he's wearing one of his pairs of sweatpants, or one of his pairs of jeans, or something. sometimes the whole damn outfit is tommy's from the shirt down to the boots (cos they're roughly the same size) and. it's a little tragic. you know? it's a little tragic and a lot sad because the pants are always a little too long and the jackets are always a little too big and the clothes so clearly do not belong to him. but no one says anything. i mean, how could they? neither tommy nor buck has said anything to suggest as much, but everyone sees them when they're together. everyone sees the way they touch each other, the way they kiss, the way they interact, and they're all pretty damn sure that tommy and buck are the loves of each other's lives. so when maddie comes to sit beside him and she takes his hand in hers and leans her head on his shoulder, she doesn't make a comment about how the sleeves of tommy's jacket are pulled over buck's hands so he can rest his chin on his fist and smell the lingering scent of detergent and cologne and tommy. and like. yes it's a little sad but i just love the idea of buck finding comfort in the way his boyfriend smells and the way his clothes fit even when he's not "around."

and of course when tommy wakes up, buck offhandedly mentions that he was practically living in his clothes because he truly has no idea how deeply that knowledge just... rocks tommy to the core because, like. he's never been loved so... desperately, so earnestly before. but buck, evan, loves him like that. so after his near-death experience, he goes out and buys a shit-load of jackets and hoodies and pants and whatever and wears the hell out of them. he makes sure his clothes are always covered in his signature cologne, makes sure he "accidentally" leaves a bunch of his clothes at buck's loft just in case and. it's not much. you know? and it kind of feels like jinxing something because tommy intends to love this man for the rest of his life and he intends to live for a long time. but. it's something. he loves him and he wants evan to have a piece of him always. even if he doesn't have him. anyways yeah i'll fucking cry about it.

#SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #tv: 911 #jack answers mail #bucktommy

[asallowgrave]

Birthday Wishes | S.S

As the night engulfed the castle, you knew you should be sleeping, yet being friends with a certain Slytherin sometimes gets in the way of your sleep schedule. You see, this evening, Sebastian has asked you to meet him in the Undercroft, no explanation or anything.

WARNINGS: hogwarts legacy spoilers, not proofread, first fic on tumblr

GENRE & TAGS: fluff, gn slytherin reader, reader is not the protag of hogwarts legacy

WORDCOUNT: 671 (or something)

You've known him for quite a while now, ever since your first year since you started as a Slytherin. He and Ominis were your greatest friends. Sure, you knew Natsai and Poppy as well as the extraordinary 5th year, and they were definitely your friends, but nothing came close to the bond you had with your fellow Slytherins. Being in your 6th year now, you've been through thick and thin with them, as well as with that 5th year student. You were honestly so relieved they decided not to send Sebastian off to Azkaban. His actions were severe, but to send him to Azkaban was too much. Either way, here you are now, on your way to meet up with the charming Sebastian Sallow. You were ecstatic to spend time with him. You really wanted to spend all you can with him until you had to return home for the summer. As you wandered through the, dare I say, obnoxiously large castle while cloaked in a disillusionment charm, you smiled, wondering about what he had in store for you, why he asked for you to meet him alone.

You finally made it to the clock that somehow serves as a gateway to the Undercroft, using your wand to have it reveal its secrets before you stepped inside, being greeted by a smiling Sebastian, one of your favorite versions of him. You smiled back at him, "Well, care to explain why you asked me to meet you here alone?" You spoke with a teasing tone, smiling throughout it. "Close your eyes." Way to avoid the question, Seb. You chuckled a bit, shaking your head at his silly behaviour before you did as he asked. You heard some odd sounds, like whoosing and clanging, maybe, before it stopped, the silence being replaced by his sweet melodic voice. "You may open them." He spoke in his usual charming and somehow awfully suggestive tone.

Your eyes widened as a smile appeared on your face. The room was decorated to be some sort of fancy party. "Since I can't celebrate your birthday with you during the summer vacation, I figured why not do it early." He had a smug smile on his face as you turned to him with glistening eyes, "Sebastian..." You couldn't really say more as you walked up to him as you looked him in the eyes. "This... this is beautiful..." You had a genuine smile on your face, looking at the Slytherin in awe. "I try." He laughed, causing you to join him. Though you were quickly cut off by the sudden music playing from the gramophone across the room, playing some sweet ballroom music. You turned to him with a grin on your face as you saw him bend over and hold out his hand, looking up at you. "May I have this dance?" You laughed softly, "Of course." You said as you took his hand into yours, joining him to the middle of the room. It wasn't quite the Yule Ball, but it was so much more sentimental. That he did this for you meant so much.

He carefully moved his hand to your waist, as the other held your hand. You grabbed onto his shoulder as you both started to sway to the song, laughing at how much you almost tripped each other. He calmed down his laughter for a moment. "You know, [Y/n], I've liked you for a long time now, but considering the circumstances, I thought I'd wait a bit. Yet I couldn't stand the thought of missing my chance, so I decided not to wait any longer." You looked at him in awe as both of you stopped dancing, just holding each other. "I really, really like you [Y/n]." He looked into your eyes, a face much more serious than what you're used to from him. You smiled, "Well, as it may be, I really, really like you too, Seb." He chuckled and smiled, "I expected that." You rolled your eyes at him but couldn't hold back your smile. "Happy birthday, Y/n."

#sebastian sallow #sebastian sallow x reader #ominis gaunt #hogwarts legacy #slytherin #harry potter #i never posted on here before

[hoeratius]

okay, asking this question is maybe the dumbest i've ever felt bc it feels like there should be a straightforward, obvious answer here, but every time i've tried to look it up, i've found nothing but pages upon pages of what feels like people talking in circles and only serving to make me more confused in the end. since you're the most knowledgable person i follow when it comes to the Classics, i figured this might be a good place to ask and maybe get an actual answer? (that being said, it's fine if you don't want to/don't have the time to answer this! obviously!!)

where can i read about the older greek myths? as in pre-trojan war. mostly, i'm interested in theseus but also just pre-trojan war stories in general. i know not everything got the iliad/odyssey treatment and there's probably not any surviving text to point at in a lot of cases, but there must've been something. every time i try to look up where to read about the history of theseus, i'm being directed to a bunch of modern retellings, but google has gotten so bad as a search engine, i literally cannot find anything about the origins of this thing everybody's retelling

from what i understand, theseus was sort of everywhere sticking his nose in everything at all times, so i'm not asking for a comprehensive timeline of his whackass life and everything he ever appeared in or anything, but if you could point me in the direction of anything about him--actual plays or academic texts, anything like that--that's more credible than, like, a self-published, self-described "bold new reimagining" with a stock image of a dude in party city roman cosplay as the cover, it would be MUCH appreciated 😭

(again, sorry about how... basic this question is i guess lol? i'm very new to classics in general and still pretty ignorant about everything, so it's EXTREMELY likely that this is a very dumb question with a very obvious answer, but thank you regardless!)

Hello! What an exciting ask (and apologies for my excited and maybe incoherent answer)!

Since you seem to be most interested in Theseus, I’ll use him as an example but much of this can be applied to other Greek heroes/myths/stories more generally.

As you noted, few get the Iliad/Odyssey treatment. In fact, even Achilles and Odysseus don’t, considering the Iliad spans only 7 weeks or so, and the Odyssey misses out on Odysseus’s actions before and during the Trojan War, and after he came home – and he did a lot after he came home. So where to go to find all the other stories that happened?

Some things to keep in mind:

Writers assumed their audience was familiar with the hero’s greatest deeds already

The big boys – Achilles, Odysseus, Theseus, Perseus, Heracles, Oedipus – had their stories shared in many formats. Think of the Parthenon metopes, which show Theseus’s key deeds in sculpture, or vases, hymns, public performances, bedtime stories, etc. People would encounter these often enough that the outlines of these heroes’ stories were known to them from a young age.

One of the Metopes of the Parthenon, showing (probably) Athena and Theseus.

As a result, ancient texts never show the entire story; they select the moment they want to tell and focus in on that. Hence the Iliad focuses on Achilles’s wrath, the Odyssey emphasises his homecoming, and the Argonautica tells the story of the Golden Fleece. Similarly, tragedies will choose a meaningful moment: not all of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra’s struggles, but his return home in the Agamemnon, or the events that lead directly to Pentheus’s dismemberment in the Bakchai.

So finding one text that will give you a useful overview will be hard!

These heroes are often also connected to so many other famous characters, that sometimes they show up as a side character in their stories, so it depends on which stories capture your interest most.

Pre-Homeric texts are few and far between

But this is not to say there aren’t pre-Trojan-War myths!

There are loads! Anything with Heracles or Theseus is pre-Iliadic, and others, like the house of Pelops, link more to the Trojan War but are also separate from it. Plus, there is Hesiod’s Theogony (roughly contemporary with Homer), which tells of the births of the gods and goes all the way back to the start of the universe.

The Ovid situation

Many Greek texts are lost, and we’ve only got allusions to this or that part of the myth in the existing fragments, etc. etc. So how do we still know so much about so many of these stories?

Enter my fave: Ovid.

Far later than Homer (1st century versus 8th century BC), but with access to all the Greek texts and them some, he wrote a lot of fairly comprehensive stories. These include the Heroides, letters written from the perspective of female characters trying to connect to their male lovers, with letter 10 coming from Ariadne to Theseus, and Metamorphoses 8 with parts of Theseus’s story.

If you’re looking for a high-level overview of what was what in ancient myth, starting with the Metamorphoses will give you all the big boys and many of the smaller ones.

Theseus specifically:

I must admit that Theseus is not my strong suit, but sources I’m familiar with that I would recommend:

Hippolytus, by Euripides and Phaedra by Seneca: these both tell of Theseus’s second wife Phaedra falling for his son Hippolytus and causing his death

Catullus 64: A lament from Ariadne after Theseus has abandoned her on Naxos

Metamorphoses 8, 12, by Ovid: Snippets of Theseus’s life, incl the Minotaur

Ones I’m not as familiar with but might be up your street:

Life of Theseus, Plutarch: a historian/scholar’s biography. He had them in pairs, where he compared the two; Theseus is linked to Romulus

The Argonautica, Apollonius Rhodus: Follows Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece; Theseus is one of his heroes

Oedipus at Colonnus, Sophocles: apparently Theseus is a major side character here but I don’t remember!

There is also The King must Die by Mary Renault, a modern retelling from the ‘80s that blew me away. The only book set in ancient Greece I’ve ever read that doesn’t shy away from how alien their culture and values are to us today and doesn’t try to sugarcoat things.

And if you’re looking for more heroes: Wikipedia is your friend!

The Classics-related pages are pretty reliable, and they often mention the main sources per character.  

I hope this gets you started but please do hit me up with more questions, I always love diving into these things!

#tagamemnon #classics #asks #theseus

[sarucane]

Why didn't Ed always protect Stede?

I'm a bit late to the party and only really got into OFMD with S2, so I've started watching S1 really thoroughly only recently. And I've noticed that there's this narrative in the fandom that Ed and Stede are super protective of each other, particularly Ed--but as I've gone through S1 (number redacted) times, it's been driving me nuts how much Ed doesn't protect Stede.

Sure, there's the meme we all love when Ed stands in front of the firing squad--but for most of the scene before that, he's been standing and watching Stede beg for his life. He's upset, but he doesn't intervene until it's nearly do late. And before that, Ed doesn't say or do a thing about Calico Jack treating Stede like shit--sure it's believable that he just doesn't notice the passive aggression, but not even catching the "Steve" thing? That's something that isn't even intervening, Jack could be making an honest mistake. But the thing no-protection moment that's really driven me nuts is this moment

In the scene before this, Ed and Stede have just had an incredibly emotionally intimate conversation. Ed is clearly at least half in love with Stede at this point. This is a relationship that means something important to him, this is a person he cares for deeply. And…and Izzy almost murdered Stede in front of him, because of him, and he just looked away.

But at the same time, Ed does love Stede, he does intervene to protect him from the English--at great personal risk and cost. By the end of S2 Ed's much better about this kind of thing (though I'd argue he's never as super-protective as I've seen suggested).

So what was going on here? Ed's a total softie inside, especially with Stede, so why was he like this?

And I've got a theory! Here goes:

Mr. "greatest pirate who ever lived" is, in fact, an overachieving rule-follower (cough teacher's pet cough).

Ed doesn't intervene to help Stede because Ed conforms himself to the rules set by whoever has the strongest personality in a room, or whatever "code" is being pushed on him/is easiest to follow.

I think this is part of why Ed often struggles to identify what he wants, or hold onto a firm sense of his self-identity. And I think it's a lot of why he's so attracted to Stede, and why that relationship is so important to his development: Ed is much less likely to follow the rules when he's one-on-one with someone, and spending a lot of time alone with Stede gives him much more mental space to understand what he wants.

And just like Stede is most successful when he doesn't try to follow the traditional rules of pirating, Ed is most successful--in his relationship with Stede and outside it--when he doesn't obsess over bending to the rules, and instead picks and chooses which ones to follow and which ones to discard.

I have a partly-written super-long version of this where I go episode by episode looking at how the rules theme works with Ed's character mechanics, but I'm just going to focus on the topic question here (I might get around to posting the long version, but I also might be distracted by something shiny;) )

So let's start with The Art of Fuckery and the thing that was driving me crazy.

Ed's core conflict in this episode was whether he'd going to send Stede to "doggy heaven." Why would he follow Stede to doggy heaven? Because according to Izzy, Stede is categorized as a pet, and Ed has "a policy regarding pets aboard your vessel." It's a rule. Ed has to follow it.

And Ed fully intends to follow it, right up until the kraken turns up and the rules go out the window. And then he's in a safe space with Stede, drowning in memory of the good rules he broke (don't kill people you love). But Stede rejects the idea that Ed breaking that rule makes him a bad person. He appeals, instead, to friendship. And offers his own rule: that they could pretend the murder thing never happened.

Because that's the amazing thing about Stede: he lives at the intersection of aristocratic and pirate rules (which isn't supposed to exist, and which drew Ed to him), and he makes up his own rules.

When Ed's with Stede, he can follow different rules, unlike anything he'd imagined. Can even sometimes make up his own rules. Can actually pay attention to himself, think about what he wants, what he likes and fears.

But when Ed's in a crowd, or alone with someone trying to impose something on him, he conforms. So when Izzy invokes Pirate Rules and steamrolls Ed ("no you're not doing this,") Ed lets him.

It's a character flaw, and it's a serious one...but it's also one Ed works on when he stops complaining about the treasure hunt business. And when he and Stede discuss the idea of co-captains, and arrangement that would break the rule that "a ship has only one captain."

Which Ed is able to do because he's in a safe space. Calico Jack disrupts that, and introduces a succession of games with clearly defined rules, which Ed follows one after another. And Ed has so little self-awareness, is so easily swamped by Jack's personality, that he doesn't notice how Jack's treating Stede, let alone defend him, and he bows to every hint of pressure.

And all that culminates in Ed having to make a decision: follow pirate rules, where everyone's just at "various stages of screwing each other over," or do what he wants. Go help his friend, the guy he loves.

Which just ends up with him being absorbed right back into the pirate system of rules. He tries to use this at first, faking a confession on the grounds that he's a "life is cheap sort of guy." But Izzy's outsmarted him, and Izzy invokes pirate rules again: that Ed told him the rule for a first mate was "above all loyalty to your captain."

Ed doesn't call out for the Act of Grace until the last minute. He could have done it at the trial--he didn't. This is a hard thing for him to do, because he's surrounded by rule-following pressure, from Izzy and from Chauncy. The last time he was in a situation like this, Ed just looked away and let Stede die (he thought).

But the thing about Ed is that he's "half insane." For years, he used the combo of being considered "mad" and also having Izzy around to have his cake and eat it too with rules, to be the world's greatest pirate and also hang onto his own authentic self.

As a result, Ed got good at finding loopholes. Places where you can follow the rules and break them, at the same time. Getting run through, but in a place that missed "all the important bits." Being sentenced to death, but asking for an Act of Grace.

It's a big deal when Ed steps in front of Stede like that. He's acting against pirate rules, risking being absorbed by the rules set by the English.

He does it for Stede--and that starts to set him free. After that, Ed's never just following the rules again. He actually can't, even when he tries: his going kraken at the end of S1 and start of S2 is doomed from the start and full of contradictions, starting with the fact that he's on Stede's ship, the ship with hidden passages where rule-breaking can be hidden until it's needed.

Ed struggles a lot to figure out which rules to follow ("I will abide by the guidelines"), which rules to set aside ("Can we take it slow?"), when to make up his own rules ("So we're innkeepers now."). And Stede helps him, telling him things like "This can be whatever we want it to be," and "you're not a dick, life's a dick."

I don't really have a clever conclusion to this particular meta. It's a messy thing, and individual figuring out how to their life does and does not intersect with society. This theme doesn't resolve neatly, it just stops at the end of the season, like the tension between Ed/kraken/Blackbeard.

But there's a lot of hope here, I think. When Ed acts to protect Stede, and to fight alongside him, he's not just being a protective partner. It's a learned action, the physical manifestation of a decision Ed's made about who he wants to be in the world. Rules be damned.

#ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd #ofmd s2 #our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #ofmd meta #ed teach #stede bonnet #blackbonnet #izzy hands #gentlebeard #i swear there really is a much longer version of this this theme is hella iceberg #every single episode has references to rules guys this is A THEME running straight through EVERYTHING and i'm a moron for missing its size

[talkintrashcann]

Can I call you mine this year? - Xavier Thorpe

Summary: you celebrate new year's eve together with your friends and give out gifts, counting down to the new year and while you were busy admiring the fireworks outside, someone else was admiring you 🎇

Warnings: just fluff really, kissing, mention of fireworks, lmk if i missed anything

Word count: 1.2k

A/N: i really don't know how to feel about this title but i couldn't think of anything else im sorry. i would also like to wish you all a happy new year, and i hope you enjoy!

Requests: to the person that sent me a request, im currently working on it but wanted to post this one first, any other requests are always welcome btw, could also be different genre from what i usually make

———————

"Omg this is so pretty, thank you thank you thank you thank youuu", Enid said to you while suffocating you in a hug. You and your friends were having a new year's party together and decided to do a secret santa, everyone pulled a card last month with the name of the person they had to make a gift for. Since you wanted to avoid someone getting a cheap lame gift, everyone had to diy their present. This way everyone would get an authentic and personal gift, which turned out to be one of the greatest decisions you've ever made.

Once Enid finally let you go from her tight grip, it meant you were up next. You still didn't know who pulled your name, so you looked around at the people that haven't given a gift yet. It could be Wednesday, Eugene, Divina, or Xavier. You saw Xavier get out up from his seat and walk towards you with a huge grin on his face, he placed his gift to you on your lap before returning to where he was sitting. You looked suspiciously at Xavier before shifting your attention back to the present. It had a rectangular shape and was very flat, an idea of what it could be already coming to your mind. As you carefully unwrapped your gift, your eyes widened at the sight of it.

"Xavier this is beautiful.", you looked up at him again with your mouth slightly open from shock. He had made a drawing of you, which was what you had expected, but you didn't think it would be a drawing of you out in the snow. A few days ago, you and your friends went for a walk in the forest as it had snowed overnight which caused the entire domain to be covered in a thick layer of snow. You were looking at the drawing again, recollecting memories from that day, when suddenly the drawing moved. He was using his powers to bring his gift to life right in front of your eyes. You could now see the snow slowly falling from the sky, laughter could be seen on your face. It was truly one of your favourite moments with your friends, and now you can remember this time forever because of this artwork.

“That’s not fair, he’s using his powers to impress them even more!”, Ajax yelled out causing everyone to laugh a little. Obviously, Xavier would use his powers for your present, he knows how fascinating you find it when he does that. He knew that if he didn’t show you now, you’d probably be begging him to do it later.

You were the one getting up from your seat this time, walking over to Xavier to pull him into a tight hug. "Thank you so much, this has got to be one of the best presents I've ever gotten.". You gave him a very small kiss on his cheek to express how grateful you are for what he gave to you.

The secret santa continued and soon enough it was time to count down for the new year to start. Everyone was standing around the television, looking at the timer going down. You can’t believe another year already went by, and that you get to say goodbye to 2022 with all these new friends you’ve made on the way. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the screen as the last minute went in, while you were looking around at the people you loved most. A smile crept up your face, a part of you didn’t want the year to be over yet, but part of you also couldn’t wait to see what the new year would bring you. What crazy adventures you’d experience with the group, if you would finally start living up to those new year’s resolutions, and if you might meet the person that belongs with you. At that exact moment, you made eye contact with Xavier. He was already looking at you, who knows for how long, a soft smile was plastered on his face as well. You felt like he could look right through you, like he could hear every thought of yours.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1…HAPPY NEW YEAR”

Everyone jumped up with joy, embracing the people around them. While everyone was celebrating the new year, you and Xavier were still looking at each other, it felt like your eyes were glued to his and his to yours. But after what felt like an eternity, Enid pulled you into a big hug which caused you to break the eye contact. After letting go of Enid, you went around the room giving the others a hug too. As you were hugging Bianca, you looked out the balcony window to see fireworks going off outside. You’ve always loved to watch the fireworks so without looking back at anyone, you went outside on the balcony to admire the spectacle happening in the distance.

The sound of the footsteps coming near you made you turn around to see who it was, your eyes locking with Xavier once more. The others were still inside dancing and singing to some music, but you didn’t pay attention to them at all. All you could hear was the distant crackling noise of the fireworks, and all you could see was Xavier standing dangerously close to you now. You smile at him before looking up at the sky, being completely mesmerized by the lights. Xavier was too, but by something else he found captivating.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”, you ask not taking your eyes off the tiny explosions.

“Incredibly beautiful.” Xavier responded but you noticed he wasn’t looking up at the night sky like you were, instead he was looking directly at you. You turned your head into his direction, faces only inches away from one another. You could feel your entire body heating up, you were certain your face had turned a dark shade of pink. For a second, you saw his eyes look at your lips, but they quickly went back up to meet your eyes. The fireworks reflected in his pretty green eyes, making this moment feel even more magical than it did before. Without realizing it, the both of you were moving closer to each other. And before you knew it, his soft lips had found their way to yours. The kiss was slow but passionate, your hands pulling him in closer by his neck while he did the same with your waist. It felt as if there were fireworks going off inside the two of you, and neither of you wanted it to ever end.

After what felt like forever, you slowly pulled away for a second to catch your breath, your noses still touching. “I like you, a lot.”, you heard him say and you would be lying if you said it didn’t make you feel things inside. “I really like you too.”, you returned the feeling by making him feel warm now.

“Can I call you mine this year?”

Without saying anything, you pulled him in for another kiss, hoping this would give him the answer he wanted. As you were deep in your thoughts, you could hear loud cheering coming from inside and when you looked at the window once more, you saw all your friends basically sticking to the window. Assuming they heard his question and saw your response very clearly, it looks like you weren’t the only ones waiting for this to happen.

If this is how the new year started, you can’t wait to see what the future holds.

#xavier thorpe #xavier thorpe x you #xavier thorpe fanfic #xavier thorpe imagine #xavier thorpe wednesday #xavier thorpe x reader #xavier fanfic #wednesday #wednesday fanfic #wednesday imagine

[fullstcp]

"GUTS" by Olivia Rodrigo Sentence Starters

ALL-AMERICAN BITCH

"I pay attention to things that most people ignore."

"I am built like a mother and a total machine."

"I feel for your every little issue."

"I know just what you mean."

"I make light of the darkness."

"I've got sun in my motherfucking pocket, best believe."

"I forgive and I forget."

"I know my age and I act like it."

"Got what you can't resist."

"I got class and integrity just like a goddamn Kennedy, I swear."

"I'm a perfect all-American bitch."

"I know my place."

"I know my place and this is it."

"I don't get angry when I'm pissed."

"I'm the eternal optimist."

"I'm grateful all the fucking time."

"I'm sexy and I'm kind."

"I'm pretty when I cry."

BAD IDEA RIGHT?

"Haven't heard from you in a couple of months."

"I'm out right now and I'm all fucked up."

"You're calling my phone, you're all alone, and I'm sensing some undertones."

"I know we're done, I know we're through."

"But, God, when I look at you."

"I can't hear my thoughts."

"I should probably not."

"Seeing you tonight, it's a bad idea right?"

"I know that he's/she's/they're my ex, but can't two people reconnect."

"I only see him/her/them as a friend."

"Biggest lie I ever said."

"I just tripped and fell into his/her/their bed."

"I know I should stop, but I can't."

"I told my friends I was asleep, but I never said where or in whose sheets."

VAMPIRE

"Hate to give the satisfaction asking how you're doing now."

"How's the castle built off people you pretend to care about?"

"Six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise."

"I loved you truly."

"You gotta laugh at the stupidity."

"I've made some real big mistakes, but you make the worst one look fine."

"I should've known it was strange."

"I used to think I was smart, but you made me look so naive."

"Everyone I ever talked to told me you were bad, bad news."

"You called them crazy, God, I hate the way I called 'em crazy too."

"You're so convincing."

"How do you lie without flinching?"

"What a mesmerizing, paralyzing, fucked up little thrill."

"Can't figure out just how you do it and God knows I never will."

"You said it was true love."

"You can't love anyone cause that would mean you had a heart."

"I tried to help you out, now I know that I can't."

"How you think's the kind of thing I'll never understand."

LACY

"Aren't you the sweetest thing on this side of hell?"

"Did I ever tell you that I'm not doing well?"

"I see you everywhere."

"The sweetest torture one could bear."

"I feel your compliments like bullets on skin."

"Well, aren't you the greatest thing to ever exist?"

"It's like you're made of angel dust."

"It's like you're out to get me."

"You poison every little thing that I do."

"I just loathe you lately."

"I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you."

"I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you."

BALLAD OF A HOMESCHOOLED GIRL

"I don't think I get along with anyone."

"I'm on the outside of the greatest inside joke."

"I hate all my clothes."

"Feels like my skin doesn't fit right over my bones."

"So I guess I should go."

"The party's done, and I'm no fun, I know."

"I told secrets I shouldn't tell."

"I stumbled over all my words."

"I made it weird, I made it worse."

"I laughed at the wrong time."

"Everything I do is tragic."

"Oh, God, what did I say?"

"Thought your mom was your wife."

MAKING THE BED

"Want it, so I got it."

"Another thing I ruined I used to do for fun."

"I thought it, so I said it."

"I took it cause I can."

"Another day pretending I'm older than I am."

"Another perfect moment that doesn't feel like mine."

"Another thing I forced to be a sign."

"Sometimes I feel like I don't wanna be where I am."

"Every good thing has turned into something I dread."

"I'm playing the victim so well in my head."

"It's me who's been making the bed."

"I tell someone I love them just as a distraction."

"They tell me that they love me like I'm some tourist attraction."

"They're changing my machinery, and I just let it happen."

"I got the things I wanted, it's just not what I imagined."

LOGICAL

"God, you're so good at what you do."

"I'd put myself through hell for you."

"I couldn't get out if I tried."

"You convinced me it was all in my mind."

"Love is never logical."

"Why do I do this?"

"I look so stupid."

"I know I'm half responsible."

"I know I could've stopped it all."

"Why didn't I stop it all?"

GET HIM BACK!

"I met a guy/girl in the summer, and I left him/her/them in the spring."

"He/she/they argued with me about everything."

"He/she/they had an ego and a temper and a wandering eye."

"I miss him/her/them some nights when I'm feeling depressed."

"Do I love him/her/them?"

"Do I hate him/her/them?"

"I wanna get him/her/them back."

"I wanna make him/her/them really jealous, wanna make him/her/them feel bad."

"I want sweet revenge."

"I want him/her/them again."

"Everyone knew all of the shit that he'd/she'd/they'd do."

"I wanna key his/her/their car."

"I wanna break his/her/their heart then be the one to stitch it up."

LOVE IS EMBARRASSING

"I told my friends you were the one."

"I stayed in bed for, like, a week when you said space was what you need."

"Waited by my phone like a goddamn fool."

"Now it don't mean a thing."

"God, love's fucking embarrassing."

"And I consoled you while you cried over your ex-girlfriend's/ex-boyfriend's new guy/girl."

"My God, how could I be so stupid?"

"You found a new version of me and I damn near started World War III."

"Jesus, what was I even doing?"

"I give up everything."

"I placed my bets, and it's not worth anything."

"I'm planning out my wedding with someone I'm never marrying."

"I'm giving up."

"But I keep coming back for more."

THE GRUDGE

"One phone call from you and my entire world was changed."

"Took everything that I loved and crushed it between your fingers."

"I doubt you ever think about the damage that you did."

"I hold onto every detail like my life depends on it."

"My undying love, now, I hold it like a grudge."

"I hear your voice every time I that I think I'm not enough."

"And I try to be tough, but I wanna scream."

"How could anybody do the things you did so easily?"

"And I say I don't care, I say I'm fine."

"But you know I can't let it go."

"It takes strength to forgive, but I don't feel strong."

"I'm so tough when I'm alone, and I make you feel so guilty."

"I fantasize about a time you're a little fucking sorry."

"I try to understand why you would do all this to me."

"You must be insecure, you must be so unhappy."

"We both drew blood, but, man, those cuts were never equal."

"Do you think I deserved it all?"

"You built me up to watch me fall."

"You have everything, and you still want more."

"I try to be mean."

"Even after all this, you're still everything to me."

"And I know you don't care, I guess that that's fine."

"It takes strength to forgive, but I'm not quite sure I'm there yet."

PRETTY ISN'T PRETTY

"There's always something missing."

"There's always something in the mirror that I think looks wrong."

"When pretty isn't pretty enough, what do you do?"

"You can win the battle, but you'll never win the war."

"You fix the things you hated, and you'd still feel so insecure."

"I try to ignore it, but it's everything I see."

"It's in my phone, it's in my head, it's in the boys/girls I bring to bed."

"It's all around, it's all the time, I don't know why I even try."

"I chased some dumb ideal my whole fucking life."

"None of it matters, and none of it ends."

"You just feel like shit over and over again."

"It'll never change."

TEENAGE DREAM

"When am I gonna stop being wise beyond my years and just start being wise?"

"When am I gonna stop being a pretty young thing to guys?"

"When am I gonna stop being great for my age and just start being good?"

"When will it stop being cool to be quietly understood?"

"Happy birthday to me."

"Got your whole life ahead of you."

"I fear that they already got the best parts of me."

"And when does wide-eyed affection and all good intentions start to not be enough?"

"When will everyone have every reason to call all my bluffs?"

"When are all my excuses of learning my lessons gonna start to feel sad?"

"Will I spend all the rest of my years wishing I could go back?"

"They all say that it gets better, but what if I don't?"

OBSESSED

"If I told you how much I think about her/him/them, you'd think I was in love."

"And I know you loved her/him/them, and I know I'm butthurt. But I can't help it."

"I'm so obsessed with your ex."

"I'm staring at her/him/them like I wanna get hurt."

"The life of every fucking party."

"And I know you love me, and I know it's crazy."

"Every time you call my name, I think you mistake me for her/him/them."

SCARED OF MY GUITAR

"Perfect, easy, so good to me."

"Why's there a pit in my stomach in the shape of you?"

"Maybe I'm just overwhelmed."

"Maybe I'm confused."

"Barely sleep when you sleep next to me."

"I keep thinking I'll find a cure."

"I say that I'm fine."

"I've never felt so happy and so sure."

"It cuts right through to the heart."

"He/she/they know(s) me too well so I got no excuse."

"I can't lie to him/her/them the say way that I lie to you."

"Once you let the thought in, then it's already done."

"I'll lay in your arms and pretend that it's love."

"I'm not half as decent as you."

"I'd rather be tied to someone, even if they're wrong."

"I'm not as alright as I claim."

"What if I never find anything better?"

"So we'll stay together?"

"How could I ever trade something that's good for what's right?"

"I lay in your arms and pretend it's enough."

STRANGER

"I hadn't felt that hopeful since the day that you left."

"Everybody told me it would happen in time."

"I always believed that it was some comforting lie."

"I was half myself without you and now I feel so complete."

"I can't even remember what made me lose all that sleep."

"I cried a million rivers for you, but that's over now."

"You're just a stranger I know everything about."

"I hope you're happy, babe, you know I really do."

"God knows that I am the girl/guy I am because of you."

"You know I'll always think of you."

"I'll love you 'til the end of time."

"You're the best thing that I'll ever keep so far out of my life."

"I loved you mad, but it doesn't matter anymore."

"If I'm not enough for you, you're not enough for me."

"I fought a million battles, but you can't get to me now."

GIRL I'VE ALWAYS BEEN

"You say I'm cruel beyond my years."

"I have captors I call friends."

"I got panic rooms inside my head."

"I get down with crooked men/women."

"I got wrapped up in the game again."

"You woke up in an empty bed."

"I can't say I'm a perfect ten."

"Don't say that I've been acting different."

"I'm nothing if not consistent."

"You knew everything you'd be getting."

"I told you right from the beginning."

"Now you're on my case."

"You never dreamed I'd be so cold."

"Then, with venom on your tongue you ask me who I have become."

"I'm a candle in the wind."

"I'll turn you out, I'll turn you in."

SO AMERICAN

"He/she/they say(s) I'm pretty wearing his/her/their clothes."

"He's/she's/they're like a poem I wish I wrote."

"It's just not fair of him/her/them to make me feel this much."

"I'd go anywhere he/she/they go(es)."

"If he/she/they keep(s) this shit up, I might just be in love."

"I'm so boring and I'm so rude."

"Can't have a conversation if it's not all about you."

"I really love my bed, but, man, it's hard to sleep when he's/she's/they're with me."

"I apologize if it's just a little too much."

"I don't wanna assume this stuff."

"But ain't it wrong?"

"I think I'm in love."

"Oh God, I'm gonna marry him/her/them if he/she/they keep(s) this shit up."

#rp memes #rp starters #rp prompts #rp lyric meme #lyric prompts #lyric starters #roleplay starters #roleplay prompts #sentence starters #not the old me. 2.0 me. no it's all of meme combined (ask meme) #when there was me and queue (queue)

[lemonhemlock]

finally sitting down to write my barbieheimer review and coming out as an oppenheimer hater so DO NOT PROCEED if you are annoyed by criticism of it or do not want to hear it or whatever. seriously. if you liked the movie, good for you. i did not. this is going to be a long rant. i am so not joking right now.

disclaimer that i went to the cinema with the very best of intentions, wanting and fully expecting to like oppenheimer. while that didn't happen, i loved the double feature experience and do not regret it. i spent the entire day at the mall with my boyfriend and we just had a fun, carefree day. i've wanted to see both and had planned to for a long time and it was great. v interesting as a cultural zeitgeist moment.

that being said, the reason oppenheimer leaves me cold is because it is a fundamentally incoherent movie that doesn't know what it's about, tries to do everything all at once and succeeds in nothing. each hour of running time could have easily been a separate movie: one about oppenheimer's life leading to los alamos, another one about the actual creation of the atomic bomb and another one with the robert downey jr plot.

there are huge disadvantages to trying to cram so many different story beats into one singular movie and, if you ask me, i wouldn't advise anyone to do it. but nolan strikes me as the kind of overrated ~artiste that rarely hears no for an answer. this movie was in DIRE need of a streamlining. you can hire the greatest editor in history, but if you give him that script, they're not going to be able to salvage it.

i thought the editing was consistently bad throughout the movie, but especially atrocious in the first part about oppenheimer's early life. the result of this lack of plot focus is that the movie basically consists in a string of tiny scenes that last for seconds sometimes, all meshed together like a freaking montage. now, to each their own, but i cannot emphasize how much i hate this storytelling choice. no, but i genuinely despise it. whenever i see it, in movies or television, it just drives me up the wall. you can say it's a specific pet peeve of mine or whatever, maybe it doesn't bother others as much, but i honestly do not respect it. i think it's categorically lazy, something we've seen in a hundred different movies already and the most simplistic way of doing an exposition dump. i abhor the feeling of watching a mashup passing itself off as some kind of creative experiment in storytelling.

now, had this overused, lackadaisical introduction lasted a reasonable amount of time (maybe 20 min?), perhaps my stance would not have been so riled up. but it went on for AGES. i think the whole exposition part lasted for about an hour and coupled with the hurried procession of unconnected scenes and the asinine marvel movie semi-upbeat background music, the result was just cringe. and i specifically choose this term because this movie is touted as being a milestone moment in cinema or whatever. genuinely insane to me.

cillian murphy meets florence pugh for the first time and within seconds she starts berating him for not joining the communist party. who speaks like that? no natural progression to the conversation at all, we have to get from point A to point B and that's surely more important. you blink again and they're having sex. she stops mid-act because she has the sudden, irrepressible urge to check out his library (??). she makes him recite his famous aphorism from sanskrit while shoving the Bhagavad Gita in his face. the man is craning his neck in the most uncomfortable sex position ever. there is nothing natural about this, just stilted dialogue and an edgy highschooler's interpretation of a cool flirtation. i struggle to even call it that because they don't even get to flirt. too many conversations in this film sound genuinely inorganic.

everything is so rushed. a three-hour long movie should NOT feel rushed. but this is the natural consequence of trying to cram so many things into it: the scenes are too short and, because of that, lack build-up and, because of that, the atmosphere suffers greatly, the actors don't have time to act, the relationships between them feel forced and the overall movie feels like it intentionally won't allow you to linger or catch your breath because then you'll figure out it has nothing to say. there is hardly any physics in it. there is hardly any social or philosophical commentary. the last third of the movie turns into this random whodunit / who-framed-oppenheimer type of scooby doo plot. that scene with rdj unraveling his evil plot to that young man feels lifted out of an agatha christie novel. why would rdj even care about what that green boy thinks of him? well, it's because that lad is the audience stand-in, of course. another stereotypical storytelling trick we've seen a million times before that nolan resorts to in his quest to create a "masterpiece".

there are some VERY talented people in this cast. a genuine tour-de-force when it comes to acting skills, even in cameo roles. yet no chance of showing any of that. they're just reciting lines because there is no time for anything else. there is no time to let their talent and performance shine. yes, not even cillian murphy, the titular character. i know that man can act because i've seen him for over a decade in various productions. not in oppenheimer though. there's no time. it feels like they're trying to read out to me the entire encyclopaedia britannica in 10 minutes.

i struggle to identify the theme or point of the movie. i heard nolan say it's about the consequences of one's actions. bitch, where? i'm not joking right now, there's like maybe 5 minutes of exploring that in a 3h-movie. i need everyone to stop being so unserious for real. i admit that i haven't been actively searching, but i haven't encountered any criticism either. is everyone just pretending to like this movie because they're afraid of being labelled a philistine? is this an emperor's new clothes type of situation? this whole previous discourse about how people will get bored or need to pay attention to what's happening on screen... there is nothing difficult or philosophical about oppenheimer. it's a very straightforward movie.

to me, it feels like nolan took a very interesting topic in and of itself, namely the creation of the atomic bomb, and did nothing interesting with it. he's just serving me facts about oppenheimer* with little to no commentary attached and a tiny amount of artistic interpretation. i say that because it has, like, that one scene when oppenheimer is imagining the flesh melting off of his audience while giving a war propaganda speech, meant to symbolize his conflicting views. the stream-of-consciousness element could have been an interesting lens through which to tell this story, but it was way under-utilized. this project could have slapped actually had it been filmed exclusively through oppenheimer's POV like an A24 horror movie.

*i say facts but in reality i need to actually fact-check to weed out the fictional elements bc i know next to nothing about this man, other than him spearheading the manhattan project

anyway, it's true that i am being harsh with this movie also because of the (undeserved) hype surrounding it and the inevitable ovations attached to any nolan production. but, imo, it is disappointing for a filmmaker of his calibre, with his experience and resources and the goodwill surrounding him to put out such fundamentally lazy nonsense

onto barbie now. first of all, yes, they're like apples and oranges, but one point of comparison is that this is a a very self-aware movie that never loses sight of what it's about and doesn't meander or diverge pointlessly from its main themes and message. after dismantling oppenheimer, i can't claim that barbie is going to revolutionize cinema or destroy the patriarchy or strengthen womanly bonds worldwide, but it's very on point. it's visually stunning, has a lot of easter eggs and cute details, catchy tunes and just general preciousness. everyone playing a doll was actively adorable. the re-watch quality feels promising, it has a very good chance of becoming a cult classic. it was heartwarming and endearing without being too overly sugary & funny without insulting jokes.

the choice to depict men as reductive and an afterthought as counter-point to how women are often portrayed on screen as accessories was indeed interesting. so was the idea of boys and girls diverging once they "discover" patriarchy. now, don't get me wrong, barbie is not a complicated movie either. its feminism is pretty simplistic, no doubt about it, but it doesn't take itself too seriously either. i do wish that america ferrera's mid-movie speech about women's position in society was a little more refined because those ideas were indeed very basic and kind of eye-roll worthy, like a feminism 101 class. i could have done without helen mirren's voice over (it didn't really add a lot, imo, although the joke about margot robbie was funny). the intro spoofing 2001 space odyssey was a little too on-the-nose as well, so i can't say it's not without a couple of hiccups and cringe moments.

nonetheless, barbie is, by no means, a short movie either. clocking in at 114 min, the pendulum swings towards the "long" side of running times. but, as opposed to oppenheimer, it feels neither rushed, nor drawn out. the pacing is just right. the actors in barbie have the space to shine, even those in small roles. the plot has room to breathe. relationships have room to grow. disregarding the subject matter (in an attempt at objectivity, as one might prefer one topic over the other), strictly from the perspective of storytelling techniques, editing, cinematography & character development, barbie is plainly the superior movie.

#phew #glad i got that off my chest #barbieheimer #anti oppenheimer #barbie #it's weird bc while i do not think oppenheimer is a good movie i did have fun experiencing it in the context of a lovely day out #i don't even necessarily think it's /BAD/ per se. but it is boring and lazy. which may be even worse #my favourite nolan movie remains Dunkirk by far #unmatched by any other of his efforts in terms of immersion + score + emotional impact and with some of the most gorgeous cinematography

[blackjackkent]

All right. Time to wrap the party up, and with it, Hector's story.

"I think I've caught up with everyone. What comes next?"

"What indeed," the skeleton intones gravely. "Prick up thy ears."

What this means, it turns out, is that Withers wants to give a speech. He gathers them all at the table, raises a mug that he cannot possibly intend to drink from, and discourses at unexpected length.

"The balance of the world restored. The balance of these lives, mortal and otherwise, brought to account."

"Hear me, thou heroes, wastrals, friends. I have waited long to tell you these words."

"It is over. For now. Thou played thy part in weaving the fabric of fate itself. But for every thread you sewed, so did the gods unravel another. Sleep, rest, revel. But be ready. For thou mayest yet be needed. Until we meet again, I wish thee every possible fortune. Health, wealth, love, and above all, problems worth solving."

No shortage of those, Hector reflects ruefully. The Hells are full of them, and he doesn't see that changing any time soon.

Withers looks towards him expectantly, apparently asking he give a toast. Hector considers for a moment. There are many things he could toast to. Future victory, past success. The prosperity of the city they saved, the power of the Moonmaiden, the death of the evil forces that sought to destroy all.

But in the end, there is only one thing he is here to celebrate, the thing that bolstered him through dark times he did not think he was built to survive, that strengthened him when he was at his weakest, that have driven his actions to a depth he did not realize until it was almost too late.

"To the greatest friends I could dream of," he says, his voice thick with sudden emotion.

Withers' eyes narrow in what might be a smile.

He raises his glass in answer. "To you," he murmurs.

They all rise to their feet, glasses in hand, cheers on their lips. Friends -- family -- in a moment of much-needed celebration that none of them will ever forget.

--------

Much, much later, Hector and Karlach lie cuddled in their tent on the far edge of the campsite, Hector's head nestled into the curve of her neck, her arms tightly wrapped around him. He nuzzles kisses absently along her throat, enjoying the quiet after the hubbub of the party.

"I have to say," he mumbles drowsily. "I know your engine's hotter here... but everything else is cooler. Rather nice not feeling like I'm cuddling in a blast furnace for once."

She snorts softly, running her fingers through his hair. "I could get used to it, myself..." she murmurs. A pause. "I think we might really have something, y'know. With those blueprints. A chance at fixing me, proper. At really coming home."

He gives a slow roll over so his weight is stretched out on top of her, catches both her hands in his and pushes them gently above her head. "Home," he says. "Chk. Do you know what I told Jaheira, when she asked me if I had found home?"

She grins up at him. "You said me, because you're a sap, Hector Carlisle."

"I am a sap. But I'm also right," he says gravely, his eyes narrowing teasingly. "We will fix your heart one day. And we will come back here. And I will follow you as gladly as I ever have."

"Mm." She tips her head up so she can brush her lips against his. "You know something?"

He grunts questioningly, kisses her back, pressing her head down against the pillow.

"I'm glad you didn't let me die..." she murmurs against his mouth. "I didn't imagine there was hope left, until you helped me find it."

He draws his head back and smiles down at her with an expression of deep love and deep gratitude. "There is much about this world that I didn't imagine for a long time," he says softly. "Before I traveled it at your side and saw it through your eyes, everything you loved about it, everything you were ready to die rather than leave. You taught me so much."

She listens quietly, and then grins slowly and pulls him down into another kiss. "Guess we were made for each other, huh, soldier?"

#bjk plays baldur's gate 3 #hector carlisle #and thus ends the tale! #a note i am pleased to end on #BUT GIVE ME THE ZARIEL DLC LARIAN I'M BEGGING YOU #bjk writes her own party banter #drabble

[andiwriteordie]

prompts um . um ! may i suggest a little piece with one of the boys having bird/angel wings

wibble!!!! ok i was a little nervous for this one at first because i've never done any wing fics, but this was such a fun prompt! so thank you for indulging my two current loves: 1) fantasy-esque byler aus and 2) some good ole fashioned mike angst :)

—

take these broken wings 

People always say that right before you die, your life will flash before your eyes—memories and images of the moments you lived, your worst failures and greatest successes, the highest highs and lowest lows, and every moment in between. Some people who have had brushes with death and lived to tell the tale claim that life flashes before your eyes in the same way that lightning strikes—there, one moment, and full of crackling energy which calls all of your attention, then gone the next. 

Mike’s had a lot of close calls with near-death experiences. After all, it just comes with the territory of knowing about the Upside Down and all its monsters, what with their faces literally made out of teeth and their creepily evocation of actual, less terrifying animals. Death’s not exactly something new to him, which is sorta sad, as a seventeen year old.

But in the five years since this shit all started, he’s never, ever had a “lightning strike, life flash before his eyes” kinda moment.

At least not for himself.

It’s funny, in like the world’s least funny and most morbid kinda way. Is it possible to have someone else’s life flash before your eyes? Only if you know them well enough, Mike would venture to guess. Only if you’ve been part of so many key moments in their life, only if your life is so deeply intertwined with theirs, and only if they are the one brushing hands with death and preparing to meet their end. 

Yeah. That would be Mike’s guess.

Except that it isn’t a guess anymore. It’s actually something that’s happening, right here, right now in front of him, playing out like the world’s worst movie written by a screenwriter with a personal vendetta against Mike Wheeler himself. Lightning strikes—figuratively and literally—and Will’s life flashes before Mike’s eyes, right as his best friend pushes him out of the way and puts his own body in between Mike and a rabid, snarling demodog.

We killed it, a voice in the back of Mike’s mind protests, and that voice isn’t wrong. Mike could have sworn that thing was already dead, that its snarls had been reduced to mere whimpers, that the threat had already been neutralized by a stroke of sheer luck and some unfortunate How To Fight In the Apocalypse 101 training they’ve picked up on over the last few years.

Clearly, the thing’s not dead though. Clearly, it’s alive, and in the slow motion moment when it lunges at Mike and Will pushes Mike out of the way and the demodog makes contact with Will’s back, Will Byers’ entire life as Mike Wheeler knows it flashes before his eyes.

Kindergarten and the swing set. Becoming best friends.

First grade and meeting Lucas. Their party of two becomes a party of three.

Second, third, fourth grade and running around on the playground together. Late nights spent talking back and forth about their favorite comic books. Dreaming of worlds together.

Fifth, sixth, seventh grade. Dustin joins their party. DnD is discovered by the four of them, and Will the Wise, as well as all their other characters, is born. Mike’s basement is the safest place in the world.

November 6, 1983. The nightmare begins.

Halloween 1984. It continues.

Summer 1985. It keeps on going and going and going.

Fall 1985. The Byers move away, far, far, far from Mike, and Mike doesn’t know what happens after that—in the in-between months, because he wasn’t part of Will’s life back then. He did that to himself.

Spring 1986. The worst fucking road trip ever and the start of the literal fucking apocalypse.

1986, 1987, 1988. 

Every. Single. Moment. 

And now.

Thunder rumbles above them, and with it echoes Will’s cry of pain as the demodog sinks its teeth into his back—into his wings, Mike thinks, vaguely, somewhere in the haze of his mind. He hasn’t heard Will scream like that in years. Not since the Mind Flayer incident, that night at the lab. 

The scream’s enough to kick him back into action. 

Well-thought out action? 

… 

Not exactly. 

See, there are actually no logical thoughts running through Mike’s mind when he throws—quite literally throws—his entire body weight against the snarling demodog. The sheer impact does succeed in his intended, vague plan of getting the dog off Will, but it does, unfortunately, come with the unintended (and very obvious, now that Mike thinks of it) consequence of having said demodog on top of him now. 

That’s a lot of teeth, Mike thinks. That thought is quickly followed by a barrage of curse words, Shit, fuck, shit, shit shit, holy fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK, as pure survival instincts kick in, and Mike tousles with the demodog. The thing’s growling at him, its entire face full of teeth and spit and blood—Will’s blood and honestly probably some of Mike’s too—snapping at him and trying its best to maul his arm, and holy fucking shit, there’s no lightning strike, but Mike’s going to die, Mike’s going to die, Mike is going to die—

A single gunshot rings out above the silence. Mike’s pretty sure his own heart stops.

Then, barely a split second later, a pained yelp follows the gunshot, and suddenly, sixty something pounds of pure monstrous muscle and evil collapses onto Mike, complete deadweight. Something warm and sticky presses against Mike’s old jacket, and he winces, doing his best to squirm away from the now dead demodog. 

Once upon a time, he remembers Mrs. Blackburn from across the street used to complain about how difficult it was to get up when the family’s golden retriever used to make a bed out of her lap. Growing up, Mike had never really understood that, having never owned a dog in his life.

He gets it now.

“Jesus,” Mike breathes, right as he manages to pull himself out from under the dog. His heart somehow must’ve restarted, because now it’s beating faster than it ever has before, and adrenaline courses through his veins, making him feel jittery and out of breath. There’s blood on his clothes and on his arms, so God knows he’ll wake up feeling like hell tomorrow.

But he’s alive. He’s alive. That’s all that matters. Mike’s alive, and so is Will, and—

Suddenly, a pained groan interrupts Mike’s thoughts, and he whips his head around, eyes widening as he catches sight of his best friend. 

Lightning strikes above the two of them. Will looks pale in the dim light, his eyes drooping and his legs swaying. He opens his mouth, like he’s going to say something, but he never quite gets to. 

Will’s body hits the ground before either of them are able to say or do anything.

“Will!” 

The strangled cry tears itself from Mike’s throat, and once again, his body moves on pure instinct as Mike throws himself down onto the pavement beside Will. Up close, it’s easier to see just how bad Will has been hurt—the ever darkening color of his fabric as the blood continues to flow, staining his shirt and the jacket he’s wearing over it, the open gashes and bite marks underneath torn pieces of fabric, the unsteady rise and fall of his best friend’s chest as Will tries desperately to stay conscious, and—

Bile rises, burning the back of Mike’s throat. His hands, which had been moving with a mind of their own, panicked and full of a desperation and need to help Will, save him, make sure he’s okay, oh God, he has to be okay, now freeze. His heart damn near comes to a stop, and it’s probably a miracle Mike’s still alive with how much his heart has been pounding, then suddenly stopping, then pounding again this evening. 

And worst of all, his eyes… his eyes take in a sight Mike had never wanted to see—the familiar, white feathers of his best friend’s wings, now mauled and stained with red. With Will’s wings still folded under his shirt, kept close to himself, it’s difficult to see the full extent of the damage, but Mike knows it’s bad. 

This is your fault, the harsh, critical voice in the back of Mike’s mind whispers. This is your fault.

Those words feel like a knife in the heart, and Mike falters, his hands still lingered on Will’s broken and mangled wings. Your fault, that voice taunts again. This is all your—

“M-Mike,” Will wheezes, and Mike can’t help but flinch, looking down to see Will straining to look at him. His face is still pale; his eyes are still barely open. But worst of all, there’s a fear in his eyes—one that Mike has only seen a few other times. 

It’s that fear that kicks Mike back into action. His trembling hands, now covered in blood that’s probably Will’s but also Mike’s but also the demodog’s, reach for Will, and Mike squeezes his best friend’s hand as tightly as he can.

“You’re going to be okay,” Mike reassures, even though he has no business saying that. “Just stay with me, Will, okay? Just stay with me; please don’t leave me, okay? Okay, just hold on, just hold on—”

Those words continue to tumble out of Mike’s mouth, mixed in with desperate, snotty sobs, even after Will’s eyes flutter close. He’s still breathing in small shallow gasps, and his hand is slack in Mike’s own, and he’s hurt, Will’s hurt, it’s your fault, your fault, YOUR FAULT—

Please don’t go, Mike thinks. The thought feels far away, lost somewhere in the loud cacophony of anxious thoughts. Please, please, please don’t go; stay with me, please, Will; please don’t go; please.

And then:

I love you.

Truthfully, Mike doesn’t really know what happens after that. He doesn’t know how much time passes or how the others manage to find them or how his body becomes unfrozen from its place, keeping watch over Will. Everything else becomes a blur of rainwater and blood—so much blood—staining the ground and Mike’s hands and Will’s clothes and Will’s wings that awful scarlet red. 

This is your fault, that voice whispers to him, the entire ride back to their makeshift home. This is all your fault.

**

It takes a scary amount of time for Will to wake up.

Time’s a really fucking strange thing, you know? Mike still remembers being six or seven years old and how the weeks between the first day of school and picture day in the first week of October always felt so long. That month stretched on for forever and ever to his little six year old brain, but slowly, as he got older, the month seemed to become a little bit shorter. Then, even shorter the next year and shorter again the next. Growing up, it was as if the older he’d get, the faster time would fly right past him.

But apparently, time has decided it wants to do a complete one-eighty on Mike while he’s down for the count. Apparently, time no longer wants to fly; no, it wants to move at a fucking snail’s speed, dragging on until every second that passes by feels like a minute and each minute feels like an hour and each hour feels like a day.

Time’s really fucking strange. 

And so, by the time Will wakes up, Mike honestly doesn’t know how long it’s been since the two of them were attacked. He knows a few things though—some that are helpful and some that aren’t.

Mike knows he hasn’t slept since then, choosing instead to sit by Will’s bedside and watch over him, as if that might do any good. 

He knows practically everyone in their little group of Upside Down survivors has tried to convince him to leave, and he knows that, in response, he’d turned into a creature about as vicious as the one who did this to Will. 

He knows that the fucking demodog that had attacked Will deserved a far crueler ending than a well-aimed bullet in the heart. He knows that it’s maybe a little sick and twisted for thinking that, and he knows he doesn’t really care right now.

He knows that Will’s wings are broken and torn, feathers brutally ripped off, bones broken underneath, damage near irreparable. He knows that Joyce cried when she saw her son, and he knows that she then picked herself back up and did everything she, with Hopper and Jonathan’s help, did everything she possibly could to mend Will’s broken wings and ease his pain.

And Mike knows that all of this is his fault.

So, when Will wakes up, eyes fluttering open and searching the dimly lit room, relief and guilt go to war inside Mike’s heart and mind. Relief wins out the initial battle, because Will is finally awake, and Mike doesn’t even care that Joyce and Hopper are in the room and can see him cry. But it’s guilt that ultimately wins the war, taking its place as the victor when Will sits up and immediately cries out, instinctively curling his wings around himself and only making things worse.

Bile rises in the back of Mike’s throat, and he feels frozen—just as frozen as he did in that moment when Will had stared up at him, terrified and bleeding out on the pavement. Joyce and Hopper are quick to jump to action, and Joyce’s soothing words fill the quietness in the room, “It’s okay, baby; you’re okay. Just relax, okay? Just breathe for me; that’s good; you’re doing so good, baby.” 

Mike can barely hear the words over the sound of his own blood rushing through his ears. 

Get out, something in the back of his mind pleads. Get out, get out, get out— 

He would get out, if he could. But instead, Mike’s stuck here. Completely frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch in horror and try not to throw up as Joyce and Hopper slowly unwrap the bandages around Will’s wings. 

Red is the first color Mike sees as the bandages come off. Blood, sticky and dark red, has stained the bandages, and Mike’s eyes wander from that gauze to the wounded appendages. Massive gashes, still a bright, painful shade of maroon, marr Will’s normally white wings, and there are chunks of feathers missing from where the demodog had attacked him. More than that, with Will now awake and able to stretch his wings out more, it’s easier to see the awkward, painful angles his wings are twisted at. 

Every single moment and every single touch seems to hurt Will, even if he doesn’t say it.

And all Mike can do is watch. He’s breathing. He has to be. But at the same time, it doesn’t feel like it. His chest is burning; his lungs don’t feel like they’re getting any oxygen. Will’s bandages are discarded to the side—red, red, red replacing white, blooming, spreading, overtaking, and—

“Mike, sweetie?” 

Mike flinches sharply, and finally, his body feels unfrozen. He’s able to look somewhere other than the blood-stained bandages and the bloody gashes on Will’s wings, and instead, he turns his attention to Joyce, who’d just called his name. 

“S-sorry.” Mike swallows the lump in his throat and tries to remember how to breathe. “Did you, um… did you say something?”

A sad smile forms on Joyce’s face. “I didn’t,” she reassures gently. “But I, ah… I think maybe it would be best if you stepped outside for a bit. Maybe… go get some rest now that Will’s awake.”

Mike’s gut reaction is to protest, but the words die in the back of his throat as Joyce’s gaze flickers to Will’s face. Mike follows her line of sight, and—

Oh.

Red colors Will’s cheeks too, and he’s hiding his face from Mike, like he’s ashamed to be seen crying. It’s hard to see, but Mike can feel the heartbreak and the pain his best friend is experiencing right now. All he wants to do is make it better—to help Will, to somehow make this up to him, to let Will know that he’s here and that he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. 

Protest rises again, clawing its way up Mike’s throat, but he manages to bite his tongue and stop himself from yelling, It’s okay; please, it’s okay; you don’t have to hide, not from me. Please don’t hide. It’s okay; I’m here. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere, and you’re my best friend, and I love you—

Warmth rushes to Mike’s face, and for just a moment, he feels frozen again. There it is again—that thought that keeps sneaking up on him, more and more with each passing day. It’s the confession that Mike’s too much of a coward to say out loud, but he’s no idiot. There’s no denying the implications of those three words.

Not when he couldn’t even write the damn words in a letter to his own girlfriend.

Not when the words sneak up on him, in the most mundane and the most insane moments of his life, like they’re something as natural as breathing.

Not when it’s Will.

I love you, Mike lets himself think again. 

Unfreeze.

Mike takes a step forward, ignoring the way his heart pounds inside his chest and the skeptical looks both Hopper and Joyce give him. Instead, he just sits down as carefully as possible as he can onto the bed, and he reaches for Will’s hands, pulling them away from his face so the two of them are looking at one another again.

This is your fault, that voice in the back of Mike’s mind whispers as Will tentatively looks at him, eyes full of grief and shame and embarrassment. It’s all your fault.

Maybe, Mike thinks. But Will needs me. 

So, without giving it another thought, Mike scoots close, and he wraps his arms around his best friend, being careful to not exacerbate Will’s injuries. Like two puzzle pieces slotting into place, Will falls easily into his arms, and Mike hugs him close, running his hand up and down Will’s bare arm. 

“You’re okay,” Mike whispers. It’s a reassurance and a reminder wrapped up all in two simple words and meant for both of them. “You’re going to be okay. We’ll get through this. I promise. I promise.”

Maybe that’s not a promise he should be making, but it’s one that Mike is going to try and do everything to keep.

**

Eventually, Will begins to get better.

His wings will never be the same again. That much is clear. Wings are already sensitive appendages—something that both Will and El can attest to—but it doesn’t help that they’re in the middle of the apocalypse with limited medical supplies. Hopper and Joyce do their best, and Will does slowly begin to heal from his injuries.

But his wings will never be the same again.

He doesn’t like talking about it, and that’s fine. Mike doesn’t like thinking about it, much less talking about it, so instead, he pours all of his energy into making sure Will knows he isn’t alone and also into keeping Will’s mind off the current reality of their situation. It’s no easy task, but if there’s one thing Mike’s gotten good at over the last twelve years of their friendship, it’s making Will Byers smile.

It’s… strange, actually. These past couple of months have objectively been some of the worst months of Will’s life—and Mike’s too, if he’s being completely honest. Will has spent these months recovering from a severely traumatic ordeal, both physically and emotionally. They’re living in the middle of the apocalypse, and One could literally return any day now to try and… destroy everything or whatever the fuck he wants to do.

And yet somehow, even in spite of how shitty things have been, the two of them have been able to find a little bit of light in the middle of the darkness. 

It’s different, and it’s maybe too soon to say this, but also not soon enough. They’ve been walking down this path for years now, and only in these past couple months has that walk turned into a sprint towards… something – something remarkable and exhilarating and terrifying all at once. Something Mike doesn’t dare name yet, but that he wants to name, every single time those three words, I love you, come to mind.

It’s an ordinary day when he finally finds the courage to.

“Okay, so I was thinking,” Mike announces as the door to Will’s room flings open, and he walks in, the way he’s done dozens of times, “we should—” 

He doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence. Before he can, Will turns around quickly, arms wrapped around himself, and he yelps, “Mike! Jesus, knock next time!” 

His face is bright red, his eyes are wide, and his expression is caught somewhere between embarrassed and actually mortified. Part of Mike wants to point out the fact that he’s done this multiple times and Will’s never seemed to care, but the words die in the back of his throat as he takes in the sight of his best friend.

For starters, Will is shirtless, and that – that’s totally fine. That’s fine. Mike doesn’t feel like his face is on fire or anything. Pfft, no. He’s seen Will shirtless hundreds of times, so this situation? Right here? Totally normal. Completely.

…

Anyways.

Beyond that, Will is… clearly trying to hide his wings. Despite the fact that Mike knows it hurts him to not stretch his wings out, he’s folded them down, so that Mike can just barely see the tips of his wings not hidden behind Will’s back. His eyes dart back and forth around the room anxiously, and a pang of hurt and guilt forms in Mike’s heart.

“Will,” Mike whispers, and he takes a step towards his best friend, unable to help himself. “Hey, it – it’s just me. It’s okay.”

Those words, apparently, aren’t the right ones to say, because Will’s face falls. He looks away quickly, wraps his arms around himself, and mutters, “It’s not okay. Just… please… can you go?”

His voice breaks on those last few words, and though he doesn’t say it aloud, Mike hears Will regardless. There’s no one in the world he knows better than Will, just like there’s no one in the world who knows Mike better than Will does. The two of them get each other.

“If you really want me to go, I will,” Mike says quietly and takes another step, holding out his hand for Will to take. “But if not…” 

He lets his voice trail off, waiting for Will’s reaction. It takes a few moments, but then finally, Will looks up, eyes watery and heartbroken. He doesn’t say anything; instead, he just slowly unfolds his wings and takes a step backwards, sitting down onto his bed and keeping his arms wrapped around himself. 

The invitation goes unspoken but not unsaid, so Mike takes another few steps forward, sitting down beside his best friend. Not a moment later, Will rests his head on Mike’s shoulder, and Mike responds by wrapping his arms around his best friend and holding him close. Neither one of them says a word, but Mike can feel the way the tension dissolves from the room, the way Will’s walls begin to crumble, the way both of them walk hand in hand back towards who they used to be. 

There was a point in their lives when things were too confusing. Too messy and too big to figure out. There was a time when this didn’t feel right, even though all Mike wanted to do was keep Will as close to him as possible. He didn’t understand it back then, but he gets it now. 

It’s pretty simple, actually. Mike is in love with Will, and he has been for a long, long time. Maybe since before he even met El, but definitely during the extent of their relationship. And while the feelings for El were there, they were never as strong as the ones he felt for Will.

…

The ones he still feels for Will.

So, it’s easy. It’s the most natural thing in the world for Mike to hold his best friend close, to let the rest of the world fall away, to think back to the very same thoughts that had flooded his mind on the rainy night all of this first began. Please don’t leave me, and You’ve gotta be okay; you’re gonna be okay, and even I love you, I love you, I love you. Please don’t go. 

Eventually, the tears stop falling, and the room grows quiet once more. The two of them sit there, arms still wrapped around each other, with Will’s head resting against Mike’s chest lightly. He’s shifted a little bit now, wings wrapped around the two of them as best as he can, and it reminds Mike of when they were little, back when Will’s wings were the secret Mike was lucky enough to know and back when the world seemed just a little bit smaller and less overwhelming.

As carefully as he can, Mike adjusts ever so slightly, and he lifts one of his hands, running it across one of the long, jagged scars on Will’s wings. He feels his best friend shiver under the touch, and hesitantly, both of them turn their gazes towards one another. 

There’s hesitancy written all over Will’s face, and his gaze flickers to Mike’s hand for just a brief moment, before returning back to Mike’s eyes once more. He looks like he wants to say a million different things, but finally, he settles on quietly saying, “They’ll never be the same again.”

He doesn’t say it aloud, but the words don’t go unsaid. 

I’ll never be the same again.

And there – there is the root of all of this, the grief that Mike knows Will has been feeling this whole time. Hell, it’s the same old grief and confusion and pain that’s been around since Will was first rescued from the Upside Down. It’s the same grief that appeared again the year after, and it’s the same grief that keeps on coming back, manifesting itself in new ways, and always posing the same question. 

Will I ever be the same person again?

Will any of us?

“Maybe not,” Mike says quietly. The words don’t feel nearly big enough to even begin to say what he truly means and how he truly feels. All he can do is hope that Will understands what he’s trying to say—that the words he can manage right now are enough until he musters up enough courage to truly tell Will everything Mike needs to say to him. “But they’re still beautiful.”

You’re still beautiful, he thinks but doesn’t say. Instead, Mike just runs his hand delicately down the broken, scarred wing, never once taking his eyes off Will. And I love you.

Will takes a shuddered breath, and despite the watery look still in his eyes, he manages to smile. “You really mean that?” 

“Yeah,” Mike whispers back, and he scoots closer, one arm still wrapped around Will and the other still gently stroking the patches of white feathers on Will’s wings. In return, Will wraps his wings around the two of them even tighter, and the smile on his face grows. He seems more relaxed. More at home. “I really do.”

The words still aren’t everything that Mike wants to say, but Will gets it. He always does. And one day, hopefully soon, the two of them will be able to talk about this, and Mike will be able to speak the words that have been echoing through his mind and that he’s kept close to his heart ever since the moment he came to this realization. 

Someday.

#byler #byler ficlet #andi writes not dies #andi's asks #ok sorry the ending was rushed #truthfully i probably could've written like 2k more words #but i was like oh this is getting Long #wing ficlet! #woohooo!!!

[perspectivestarters]

Perspective's Sentence Starters; GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo (Part I)

ALL-AMERICAN BITCH

I pay attention to things that most people ignore.

I'm alright with the movies that make jokes 'bout senseless cruelty, that's for sure.

I am built like a mother and a total machine.

I feel for your every little issue.

I make light of the darkness.

I've got sun in my motherfuckin' pocket.

I forgive, and I forget.

I know my age, and I act like it.

I got class and integrity.

I'm a perfect all-American bitch.

I know my place, and this is it.

I don't get angry when I'm pissed.

I'm the eternal optimist. I scream inside to deal with it.

Oh my fucking god.

I'm grateful all the time.

I'm sexy, and I'm kind.

I'm pretty when I cry.

BAD IDEA RIGHT?

Haven't heard from you in a couple of months.

I'm out right now and I'm all fucked up.

I'm sensing some undertone.

I'm right here with all my friends.

You're sending me your new address?

I know we're done.

I know we're through

God, when I look at you...

I should probably not.

It's a bad idea, right?

Fuck it, it's fine.

Yes, I know that he's my ex.

Can't two people reconnect?

I only see him as a friend.

The biggest lie I ever said.

I just tripped and fell into his bed.

I know I should stop, but I can't.

I told my friends I was asleep.

I never said where or in whose sheets.

I'm sure I've seen much hotter men, but I really can't remember when.

VAMPIRE

How's the castle built off people you pretend to care about?

Just what you wanted.

Look at you, cool guy, you got it.

I see the parties and the diamonds sometimes when I close my eyes.

Six months of torture you sold as some forbidden paradise.

I loved you truly.

You gotta laugh at the stupidity.

I've made some real big mistakes, but you make the worst one look fine.

I should've known it was strange.

I used to think I was smart, but you made me look so naive.

You sold me for parts as you sunk your teeth into me.

Every girl I ever talked to told me you were bad news.

God, I hate the way I called them crazy too.

You're so convincing

How do you lie without flinching?

Can't figure out just how you do it and god knows I never will.

Went for me and not her 'cause girls your age know better.

You said it was true love, but wouldn't that be hard?

You can't love anyone 'cause that would mean you had a heart.

I tried to help you out.

How you think's the kind of thing I'll never understand.

LACY

Skin like puff pastry.

Aren't you the sweetest thing on this side of hell?

Did I ever tell you that I’m not doin' well?

Like perfume that you wear, I linger all the time.

It takes over my life.

I see you everywhere.

The sweetest torture one could bear.

I'm losin’ it lately.

I feel your compliments likе bullets on skin.

Aren't you the greatest thing to ever exist?

Like ribbons in your hair, my stomach's all in knots.

You got the one thing that I want.

It's like you're made of angel dust.

It's like you're out to get me.

You poison every little thing that I do

I just loathe you lately.

I despise my jealous eyes and how hard they fell for you.

I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you.

BALLAD OF A HOMESCHOOL GIRL

I don't think I get along with anyone.

I'm on the outside of the greatest inside joke.

Feels like my skin doesn't fit right over my bones.

So I guess I should go...

The party's done, and I'm no fun.

I told secrets I shouldn't tell.

I stumbled over all my words.

I made it weird.

I made it worse.

Each time I step outside, it's social suicide.

I laughed at the wrong time.

I talkеd to this hot guy, swore I was his type.

Guess that he was makin' out with boys, like, the whole night.

Everything I do is tragic.

Every guy I like is gay.

Oh, god, what did I say?

I'm shocked I'm still alive.

MAKING THE BED

Want it, so I got it.

Another thing I ruined I used to do for fun.

I thought it, so I said it.

Another day pretending I'm older than I am.

Another perfect moment that doesn't feel like mine.

Another thing I forced to be a sign.

Sometimes I feel like I don't wanna be where I am.

Push away all the people who know me the best.

It's me who's been makin' the bed.

I'm so tired of bein' the girl that I am.

Every good thing has turned into somethin' I dread.

I'm playin' the victim so well in my head.

I read somewhere it's 'cause my life feels so out of control.

I tell someone I love them just as a distraction.

They tell me that they love me like I'm some tourist attraction.

They're changin' my machinery, and I just let it happen.

I got the things I wanted, it's just not what I imagined.

Counting all of the beautiful things I regret.

#rp sentence starters #rp sentence meme #rp sentence prompts #sentence starters #sentence meme #sentence prompts #lyric sentence starters #lyric starters #music starters #rp meme #rp memes #rp prompts #ask meme #exodusmusing #*mystarters #*guts

[silversiren1101]

Hi Mino! Some questions for you!

Would you ever consider starting a family? How do you feel about getting married, having kids, and potentially settling down?

How do you feel about makeup? Are you any good at putting it on? Do you wear it often?

What's usually on your shopping list?

Hello! Thanks for the ask :3

[Ask from this game: Muse Questions] We'll say she's currently Knight Commander for these rather than her post-canon!

Would you ever consider starting a family? How do you feel about getting married, having kids, and potentially settling down?

Minovae's eyes widen before she chuckles. A hint of sadness laces the sound.

"It's not impossible for a Hellknight to start a family, even as much as it's not... actively encouraged. I mean, the Lictor of the Nail has three daughters who are all Hellknights themselves. There's entire lineages across the Orders, even. But as for me starting a family? That would imply, well, a spouse... or someone that'd be interested in doing such a thing with me at all", she sighs in the delivery of the latter part of the statement. "I'm not sure such a person exists. At least, one I'd want to be with myself."

She seems to have a particular person in her mind, but says nothing further on them.

"I love kids. Always have. I used to..." There's a sadness in her eyes as she remembers a distant past. Her nostrils flare for a moment as she takes a deep, sharp breath before relaxing again. "I had Foundlings. Once. It was... Among the happiest times of my life." She smiles. A slight quivering takes to her lip. "That was a long time ago. My greatest joy. My... greatest failure..."

She sighs. Weary. Hurting.

"I know better than to try again, or want for something not meant for me in this life I've chosen. There is no 'settling down' for me. No wedding dresses. No cradles or bassinets. I'm okay with that. My path is ensuring that choice exists for others, keeping the roaring demons and chaos back from a quiet, safe, and civil life for everyone else out there. I became a Hellknight because I had nothing: nothing to cherish and nothing to lose and nothing to gain either. I have never once expected that to change."

[Words spoken by a woman who has zero idea she does in fact get married and have a child in the future (still no settling down though she's still an active career woman!)]

How do you feel about makeup? Are you any good at putting it on? Do you wear it often?

"What do It think of it? I think of it the same as armor polish or paint: a tool to make something look nice."

She shrugs.

"I don't get much use out of it; kind of hard to with the scales. Getting powder or cream caked up between them is just a recipe for a breakout or some type of infection, and they do a good enough job serving the purpose of makeup anyway", she smirks.

"The only type of makeup I've ever had much luck with is around the eyes: liner, shadow, you know. I don't get much opportunity for it. Contrary to what one Camellia Germ might say, you do not need to put on your sharpest eyeliner before fighting demons every morning. How she hasn't gotten a flake in her eye in the middle of combat..."

"Whatever, that's off topic. What I'm trying to say is that I don't dislike it. Working cases at noble galas and parties after the civil war, I loved getting all dressed and dolled up. I just... haven't had an opportunity or reason to since."

What's usually on your shopping list?

She blinks, violet eyes curious and wide.

"What a strange question. Do you mean in the sense of keeping a house? Because I've never done that, really."

Her tail flicks the air.

"I'm going to assume it's more about stocking up the party before setting out into the Worldwound. In that case--"she extends a hand and begins counting fingers, speaking.

"Healing potions and scrolls, scrolls of Death Ward for shadows and nabasus and bodaks, scrolls of Freedom of Movements also for nabasus--" she mutters under her breath, "hate those fucking things."

"Uh, what else. Scrolls of communal protection from and resist of every elemental damage type, because you never know. Scrolls of Restoration. Scrolls of Heal. Wow- we really do go through a lot of scrolls. Hrm."

She pauses, thinking. "I should talk with the Logistics Council on this... there has to be a cheaper way of keeping us outfitted. Allies we can call on to source us..."

#ask game #ask meme #oc: minovae arangeir #thanks for the ask!!

[your-local-vampire-lady]

hi, so, yea, tommorow is august and half of the 2023 is gone an i would just like to reflect some shit i've done during these 6 amazing, painfull, wonderfull, stresfull months

i started this year by getting my ear pierced, like literally, woke up on 1st of january and had my ear pierced, then i had breakfast

i went to my first openly queer party and to be honest, my first party in general, where i met one of the greatest human ever...and one of our teachers

i went to my first ever concert of my favourite fucking band and found out they are all much taller in real life

on the last moment i got myself into this years animefest and bought a sword there

i bought a fucking sword

somehow i managed to get through the semester that required me to actually write articles, so i basically had a full time job as a journalist and wrote a shitton of articles that are very public and very findable

i got an actual part time job at organisation that fights for trans rights in czechia and somehow became their social media person

i started hrt

i met my amazing partner on twitter and by like three weeks had emotional rolecoaster, that would fuel a whole season of romantic comedy series

with my amazing partner we somehow realised we had a crush on the same person and formed a polycule of unhinged gay ppl and i have never been happier, than with both of those people, i love them so fucking much

i realised, that me hating myself is actually a mental illness and that people are actually able to love me

somehow i got into the core team of first parade in Brno after 10 years and got into news

i got into a point in my life where i can say, that im happy...not everything is perfect and never will be, but i am happy with where i am and where im heading...and actually for the first time in my life i am not scared of the future, im looking forward to it...and whatever it brings

#i was feeling dramatic #and melancholic #next post will be unhinged thoughts again #also im not sure if it counts but kinda #polycule shitposting

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Christmas (9) Masterlist

part one, part two, part three, part four, part five, part six, part seven, part eight

A million little suns (ao3) - jestbee

Summary: Dan is just trying to get as far away from his home town as possible at Christmas when he gets stuck in a snow storm. He’s rescued by an enigmatic stranger who take him back to his cabin in the mountains. What Dan doesn’t know is that his rescuer is prolific, best-selling writer of erotica, Ricky Blitz. Will Dan end up with a porn-worthy situation all of his own? (hint: yes)

Porn with feels and some Christmas magic.

A Prince’s Choice - chocolatesaucelester

Summary: Prince Phillip reconnects with an old friend at the royal family’s annual Christmas party.

amidst the chaos (ao3) - orphan_account

Summary: “Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen” -Bobby, age 7

Air Hockey (ao3) - philsmeatylegss

Summary: Christmas fic where neko!dan, who has a horrific past, faces his greatest challenge yet: meeting his fiancé’s family…

all this bloody happiness (ao3) - graydar

Summary: It’s true that this Christmas won’t feel like any Christmas they’ve ever had.

bundle up, baby (ao3) - watergator

Summary: prompt: dnp taking their little kid for the first time to the iom for christmas

there’s nothing more exciting than a child’s first christmas

Christmas Coming Out (ao3) - FandomFeels17

Summary: He didn't intend to come out to his mum in his future mother in law's kitchen at Christmas... But here he was, doing exactly that.

Christmas Traditions (ao3) - outphan

Summary: It’s 1st of December and Dan reminds Phil that they have a tradition.

christmas traditions (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Phil hasn't really been feeling in the holiday spirit while Dan's been gone.

(A fic about holiday traditions and reuniting with the person you love the most.)

Christmas With The Lester's - dxnhowell

Summary: Dan’s family has never been exactly supportive of Dan’s relationship with Phil, but things do not go over well when Dan’s mum tries to keep Phil from spending Christmas with their family.

Christmasy Cuddling (ao3) - sunkatistrash

Summary: Basically D&P on Christmas morning, Dan being lazy and Phil cant resist his cuteness

close to me, you are all of me (ao3) - sunflowerwitches

Summary: a little insight to dan and phil's christmas day

Dan and Phil vs the Pantomime (ao3) - cafephan

Summary: Phil surprises Dan with tickets to a Christmas pantomime.

December Twenty-Second - placingglaciers

Summary: It’s the beginning of winter, Dan is alone during this Christmastime, and so is the guy he bumped into on the street.

festive (ao3) - irrationalqueer

Summary: “You’re like…sexy Mrs. Claus,” she says, reaching out to touch, mouth hanging open.

Festive Fun and Christmas Kisses (ao3) - husbants

Summary: Dan and Phil get ready for Christmas. There are plenty of laughs, plenty of bants, and plenty of kisses involved.

home for christmas (ao3) - danhoweiis

Summary: kath and dan have a chat on christmas day

home for the holidays (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Dan and Phil take a moment to themselves while hosting Dan’s family for Christmas.

i've got you on my nice list (ao3) - deletable_bird

Summary: “Phil Lester, actually,” he added, “and I’m a huge fan of people who hospitably provide tasty holiday drinks to harangued Christmas maintenance men.”

just one thing i need (ao3) - dizzy

Summary: Dan and Phil negotiate Christmas gifts.

kilt (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Their Christmas tree delivery guy shows up, and to Phil's delight, he is finally wearing a kilt

Now We’re On the Naughty List (ao3) - cafephan

Summary: Phil meets Dan after a Christmas Eve party, and invites him to stay after his taxi is stuck in the snow.

Patching the Holes (ao3) - philsmeatylegss

Summary: Dan is really close with his grandma. He spontaneously decides to come out to his very homophobic family on Christmas. Obviously doesn’t go well. Then stuff happens

Sober (ao3) - elena_stidham

Summary: It’s almost Christmas and all it takes is a cup of mulled wine for Dan to realise he has been in love with Phil all along.

Something About Christmastime (ao3) - TheWholesomePerv

Summary: Dan's sports anime obsession leads everyone's favourite platonic, not so platonic YouTuber couple to spend a day at the ice rink.

Spreading The Christmas Cheer - phanetixs

Summary: Dan and Phil, gift-giving and sexy baubles.

The Christmas Sweater (ao3) - Nefertiti1052 (Succubusphan)

Summary: Dan is on his way to Phil's to spend Christmas with the Lesters for the first time.

This Christmas - adorablehowell

Summary: Dan has always found something to dislike about Christmas, but this year, as he spends it with his 5 year old daughter and Phil, he might find that Christmas isn’t all that bad.

we'll all sing along to the song (ao3) - dizzy

Summary: Kath contemplates the way Christmas has changed.

When The Time Is Right I’ll Make It Happen - sleeplessnightwithphan

Summary: Phil should have known that him attempting any sort of physical activity wouldn’t end well. He watched in horror as the lump of snow completely missed his son’s head and landed a bit further to the left… on the head of someone walking there.

When the Weather Breaks (ao3) - sierraadeux

Summary: Sitting across from Phil on that worn out velvet Starbucks sofa, sharing sickeningly sweet coffees and what they would like to think were hushed giggles, was the first time Dan felt a glimpse at what real love could feel like. or Perception checks, pining, and peppermint mochas.

#phanfictioncatalogue #phanfiction #phanfic #phan #masterlists #christmas #christmas masterlist

[heartsofminds]

made-up fic: I Want More

okay okay okay so for this one, i'm thinking of times where this is said just randomly throughout the duration of your relationship.

"i want more ice cream" - so the first date is a cute little aquarium date coupled with a walk on the beach and a stop at an ice cream shop he used to visit a lot when he was a kid. i have a feeling that bradley is a chocolate ice cream kind of guy and never sways far from that ever. you get your fave ice cream and he mentions how he's only really ever tried chocolate ice cream and that's all he's ever eaten and you're all like "no way you need to try some of mine" and he's reluctant but you're like "well you paid so technically this is your ice cream too" and he takes a bite and actually likes it and he says that he wants more before waltzing back up to the stand to ask for a second scoop of whatever you had gotten.

"i want you around more" - your one-year anniversary and he's asking you to move in. he's certainly awful at saying exactly what he means and not dancing around the subject so as he's introducing the idea of you moving in he's not being very forward about it which makes you think that he wants to break it off so you cut him off and are like "well i'll head out if that's what you really want" and then he's like "no no no no i was asking you to move in. you know i'm awful with all this vulnerability stuff, but i've realized how much i enjoy you. even if we spend all of our time together anyway, i always want you around more and i want you to move in." (granted, if i actually wrote this, i would be worlds more articulate but this is what we're working with).

"i want more moments like this." - your wedding day. twenty minutes after all the bridal party pictures and fifteen minutes before you're set to come barrelling into your reception as "Mr. and Mrs. Bradley Bradshaw". you both feel like you haven't been able to breathe all day despite it being the best day of your lives thus far. you're holed up in what used to be a storage closet turned "lounge" by the venue; him sat on the velvet chaise lounge and you perched on his lap. your arms wrapped around his neck while his head sinks into your chest. "i feel like this entire day is about us yet i've barely seen you. everything is moving too fast for me to keep up," you say and he scoffs. "not getting cold feet now, are you?" "we're already married, you twit. besides, i can't get my money back from the deposit now so i guess i'm stuck with you." there's a pause before he presses a soft kiss to the exposed skin of your neckline. nothing suggestive, but nothing soft about it either. he almost does it as if it's a second nature to him; as if it's as natural as breathing or blinking. "i want more moments like this. where it's just you and me," he says. you smile before your maid of honor knocks on the lounge. "you two better not be in here screwing because your mom will have my head if she finds out that's the reason you guys were late!" she yells before you both bust into a fit of giggles. if she would have given it three minutes, you would've been caught red-handed.

"I want more kids" - your son isn't older than a few hours and bradley is completely smitten. he's not put your son down since the nurses handed him off, but they're stuck in their own little world. he thinks about the cool things he'll get to teach him, the awesome places he'll get to show him, and the greatest people he'll get to introduce him to despite your son not even having a name yet. the room is silent despite the hustle and bustle of the labor and delivery unit around you, and bradley's voice shocks you when he speaks up. "i want more kids," he says. "let's name the one we have first and then we'll talk, numbnuts."

"I want more time" - so yeah like i imagine it kind of like an allie and noah situation where old age comes into play and it's just such a good love story and such a happy life and i tried to write this part out but started crying while thinking about it? i literally might start writing this as an actual piece in the future

#L speaks #i wasn't planning on putting “bawling in the spare room of my aunt's house at 11 PM” on my 2023 cry count list #but here we are #rooster