#half succeeded so a win in my book

[miss-hyoko]

Teasing Him ft. Heartslabyul

Character(s): Riddle, Trey, Cater, Ace, and Deuce

Summary: You're trying to tease him

Tag(s) and warning(s): GN!Reader, fluff, romantic, established relationship, mutual pining, cringe pickup lines

Note: This is inspired by some pickup lines that were once famous in my country. Many people say it's a bit cringe, but personally I think It's kinda cute though ╮⁠(⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)⁠╭

1. Riddle Rosehearts

You and Riddle are studying together in his room for tomorrow's test. In the middle of studying, you feel your neck a little sore, so you intend to take a short break. When you raised your head, you found Riddle very seriously reading the book he was holding. It should be nothing but an ordinary sight, but in your eyes, Riddle seems even more attractive like that. His eyes trailing down following sentence after sentence in the book, his slender fingers that gently turning the pages of the book, all of it seem to shout ELEGANT.

Noticing the way your eyes keep staring at him, Riddle's face would blush slightly before finally he will clear his throat to snap you out of your reverie. Caught red-handed staring at his face, instead of stuttering or looking away pretending to be busy, you just smiled mischievously.

“Riddle, do you know the difference between you and books?”

Riddle's brows furrowed in confusion at your out of blue question. Nevertheless, he still answered your question just now with a shake of his head.

“I don't know. What's the difference?”

Your smile grew wider when you heard Riddle's answer, “I can see the world through books, but through you, I can see my future.”

Your answer succeeded in making Riddle's face blush perfectly. His mouth gaped open as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out.

Not knowing what to say, Riddle then tried to cover his embarrassment by reprimanding you.

“Stop talking nonsense, (Name)! Focus on getting back to your book if you don't want to get a bad mark on tomorrow's test!” he said, then immediately covered his face using the book he was reading earlier, not realizing that he was holding it upside down.

Your boyfriend's reaction is so cute! You want to keep teasing him, but then you two won't be able to focus on studying for the test tomorrow. So, you decided to end your teasing for today.

“Riddle, can you please explain this part for me?”

“O-only if you promise not to tease me again!”

“Hahaha, yes, yes. I promise, don't worry~”

“Hmph! That's good then.”

“... only for today, though….”

“(Name)!"

2. Trey Clover

Soon, Heartslabyul will hold another Unbirthday Party. Trey once again gets the job of making cakes that will be served at the party. And since you're his lover, you volunteered to help him in the kitchen. Besides being able to ease his workload, you can also spend more time with your boyfriend. It's a win-win situation.

Trey, being the kind soul he is, always offers you to taste his homemade cakes fresh out of the oven. And every time you taste Trey's cake, the young man himself will look at you with a satisfied smile, glad you enjoyed his cake. It always makes you feel embarrassed while he just laughs at your blushing cheeks, and so, today, you try to tease him back.

When the cake on your plate is half left, you suddenly stop eating and turn to look at Trey, who's still smiling while watching you.

“Trey, don't you think I've gaining more weight recently?”

Trey's smile instantly disappeared, replaced by a confused frown on his forehead. Seeing your (fake) worried expression, Trey began to observe your body carefully.

“From my observation, I didn't see anything different from you,” he said as he fixed his glasses in position, “Why did you suddenly ask that?”

Here comes the question you've been waiting for!

“You see, every day you always give me your love, so I'm afraid my heart, that has been filled with your love, will make me gain weight,” you say with a sigh, a little dramatic.

Trey was silent for a few moments, trying to process the meaning of your words. When he finally caught what you meant, a blush slowly appeared on Trey's cheeks and he chuckled happily.

“Then, should I take the responsibility for that by loving you forever?”

3. Cater Diamond

When you and Cater are on a date in the park, as usual, Cater will take many pictures of him and you for later he posts on his Magicam. Of course, he won't forget to tag your account so that people know that he has a wonderful lover.

Looking at your account details, Cater is quite surprised to find out that his lover has a fairly large following, even though they rarely post something. And being an avid social media user he is, Cater sometimes tries to persuade you to post more often so that you two would be a famous Couple Goals. Also, so that people know that you are his, and he is yours.

“(Nickname)-chan, why do you rarely post things? You're very photogenic, you know. Surely, many people will like your photo,” he asked while editing the photo he just took a few moments ago, his head resting on your thigh.

You, who were playing with his orange hair, couldn't help but chuckle, “Honestly, I feel like I don't really need social media.”

“Huh?!” Hearing your statement, Cater spontaneously stopped his editing and looked at you incredulously, “Why do you say that, (Nickname)-chan?”

Seeing the shock adorning his face, you can't help yourself and reflexively lower your head to kiss his forehead.

“You see, I've been following you and like what I see,” you said, smiling playfully at Cater, whose mouth was still gaping from the sudden kiss earlier.

“O-oh…. Is that so? Hahaha…. I see, I see.” A blush began to appear, coloring Cater's face red. Realizing that it was impossible for him to get rid of the flush that had filled his cheeks, Cater chose to go back to editing the photos he had taken so that his phone could hide his face. But his plan failed miserably as soon as his eyes saw you in the photo smiling brightly at him, and again Cater felt the blush had spread all the way to his ears.

4. Ace Trappola

Today, the basketball club is holding a match to determine who will represent the school at next month's tournament. Ace being Ace, of course he tried to participate in that match as well. And of course, he lost against seniors who had more experienced than him.

Annoyed, Ace chooses to join you sitting on the side of the court. He'll grumble about his defeat to you, while you retaliate him with your witty remark. In the end, you two will start bickering at each other like usual.

“You know, Ace? Sometimes I feel like the two of us are like water and oil. We are different, and we can't be one,” you said very suddenly, looking straight into your boyfriend's eyes.

What you just said was instantly making Ace's body tense up. You two often bicker each other, so he is used to letting his mouth loose so easily around you. But perhaps he has subconsciously said something that crossed the line?

“What are you talking about, (Name)? If we are both water and oil, surely the two of us can't be together like this, right?” He gently elbowed your arm with a big smile, trying to break the awkward atmosphere that has covered the two of you.

But facing your serious face, Ace immediately stopped joking around.

“W-why did you suddenly say that?” Ace puts his hands in his pants pockets, trying to look calm, even though his heart has begun to panic when he hears you say that.

Realizing his panic, you then laughed so hard that it made Ace instantly confused.

“Although the two of us are like water and oil that cannot be united, but fortunately, there's love between both of us that acts as the emulgator.” You finish your sentence and smile mischievously at him.

It took a few seconds for Ace to understand the meaning of what you said just now, but once he understood, a faint blush would decorate his cheeks and he would pinch your cheeks together to cover up his embarrassment.

“Goodness, I didn't expect you to tease me using a science pickup line. If Professor Crewel heard that, he would definitely not be happy about the way you implement his lesson.”

5. Deuce Spade

Weekends should be spent relaxing away, but not for you and Deuce who have to dwell in your room doing homework. It's annoying indeed, but at least now you can spend some time alone with Deuce without worrying about being disturbed by his other first year friends.

When you finally finish your homework, Deuce has only done a third of it. You offered to help him finish the homework quickly, but he refused because he wanted to try to finish it all on his own. And so, you choose to wait for him by playing your phone. Opening your Magicam, you see people making videos about their lover's reaction when they say romantic words to them. Seeing the adorable reactions they show, you also want to try it on your boyfriend.

“Deuce, do you still use this book? If not, then I'll read it, alright?”

“Sure, no problem, (Name),” he replied as he turned his attention away from his homework to look at you, who were now reading one of the books he borrowed from the library.

“But why do you suddenly want to read that book? Isn't your homework done?” Deuce asked, tilting his head slightly, “Ah! Don't tell me that we have a new homework again?!”

Seeing you shaking your head, Deuce breathed a sigh of relief. But your next words once again made him surprised.

“You know, Deuce, ever since I started going out with you, I feel like I want to keep learning more.”

Wow, that was the first time Deuce heard someone say they used him as their motivation to learn. What's more, it's not just anyone who said it, but you, his lover.

“U-um…. I-I'm flattered?” Didn't know how to react to that, Deuce rubbed his nape and shifted his attention to the book you're holding, “A-anyway! What did you learn?”

Smiling broadly, you showed Deuce the pages of the book you were reading. When Deuce read the chapter title, his cheeks immediately flushed red.

'Courting Tradition From Time To Time'.

“I'm learning to be the best for you, Deuce!"

If Deuce's face had turned red before, now he has become a blushing mess after hearing what you said just now. Putting his hands over his face, Deuce took a deep breath before finally shouting with all his might to ease his embarrassment.

"ARGHHHH!"

"Deuce, are you okay?!"

#disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst wonderland #twst x reader #twst imagines #riddle rosehearts #trey clover #cater diamond #ace trappola #deuce spade #riddle rosehearts x reader #trey clover x reader #cater diamond x reader #ace trapolla x reader #deuce spade x reader #riddle x reader #cater x reader #trey x reader #ace x reader #deuce x reader #gado-gado #🍴_comp

[ladykiller-yt]

SOMETHING UNEXPECTED

They had succeeded. An Angel and a Demon had saved the world once again. Everything was back to normal except one thing. Their relationship.

At that moment their relationship was the most fragile thing that could be perceived even from afar. It was like walking on a thin sheet of glass where every step led to a crack...

A few days before...

Aziraphale had tried to contact the Demon many times that day, without success. He seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. So he decided to appear at the entrance to his house and ring the Kobra-shaped doorbell. The front door opened by itself and the Angel, a little confused, entered the house. The house was dark inside and the shutters were drawn down with only a few beams of light coming in. Aziraphale thought that he had been specially made by Crowley to his eyes being very sensitive to light. But in reality that was just a consequence. In fact, the entire apartment had been turned upside down, the floor was full of dirt, papers, books and broken glass.

Aziraphale: "What happened in here?"

He suddenly felt a gust of cold wind produced by something very big like... wings.

Crowley: "Hi, Angel."

For the first time, in 6000 years of knowledge between the two, Aziraphale felt a sensation that he had never felt when he was with Crowley. Fear.

That voice was so deep and rancorous that the angel sent shivers down his spine.

Aziraphale: "C-Crowley, w-where are you? What happened in here?"

Crowley: "You see Angel, these are called 'consequences'. They happen when a particular event turns your life upside down and makes you fall so low that you want to put an end to whatever your suffering is."

Crowley's eyes shine in the darkness of the house.

Aziraphale: "Listen to me Crowley, I need your help. Heaven and Hell have done damage again and I didn't know who else to turn to. You're the only one I can really trust."

Crowley: "Oh look at that. How strange. Yet you were convinced that this time things would go right and that you would make a difference. What's happening ARCHANGEL?! Have you lost all your confidence?"

Aziraphale: "Please, this is not the time to be sarcastic. I am in serious trouble and I need your precious help."

Crowley: "And where were YOU when I needed you!"

In Crowley's words Aziraphale felt a lot of sadness and anger. He knew he had hurt him greatly and didn't know how he could ever make it up to him.

Crowley: "Eh Aziraphale?! Where was my only friend?"

Aziraphale: "Crowley I know I hurt you and believe me, I'm so sorry. I'm unforgivable."

Aziraphale approached the demon, stretching out a hand towards his face as if to caress him but Crowley immediately withdrew.

Crowley: "Don't even try Aziraphale. I don't even want to be touched by you."

Aziraphale: "If you don't want to do it for me, do it for our 6000 years of friendship. If you change your mind, we'll be back in the same place."

The angel walked out of the apartment leaving Crowley alone. He sat down on the floor in the center of the room looking around at the mess he had made in that room. He felt confused and wasn't sure whether to let his mind or his heart win. The only thing that gave him some warmth and comfort were his black wings that he held close to himself as if in a warm embrace. In the midst of the confusion something familiar caught his attention. It was the old polaroid photo taken by Furfur of them together in 1941 during the Aziraphale magic show. A half smile appeared on Crowley's face and a few small tears tried to escape threateningly from his eyes.

Crowley: "Damned Angel."

He got up from the floor, tidying up the entire apartment with a snap of his fingers, quickly grabbing the keys to the Bentley.

By now Aziraphale had been waiting for hours at their meeting point and was certain that he would not come and that he would not help him anymore. In the distance he heard the sound of brakes which was very familiar to him and he felt reassured. From afar he saw the demon approaching quickly.

Aziraphale: "Oh Crowley, I knew..."

The demon immediately silenced him by moving his index finger in front of his nose as a sign of 'no'.

Crowley: "No no no shut up. Let me do the talking. I'll help you fix this damned mess again this time. But what will happen next will be this... you and I won't see each other anymore, we won't talk anymore and if you feel alone If you're bored or want to talk about how good you are at something, you'll have to find someone else to do it with. This is my end of the deal. Do you accept?"

Crowley paced back and forth nervously waiting for an answer.

Aziraphale: "You can't be serious. What about our 6000 years of friendship? Do you want to burn them like this, as if they don't count for anything?"

Crowley leaned close to the angel's ear, hissing.

Crowley: "I could say the same thing about you, Angel. When I kissed you in your fucking bookshop in that kiss there were all my 6000 years spent with you, trying to hide my feelings and my looks towards you. Trying to cover each other's backs. To ensure that Heaven and Hell knew nothing of our miracles, whether good or bad. And not a single century passed without me wanting to kiss you. So don't come talking to me about throwing shit at our friendship, sunshine."

Aziraphale: "Okay, I understand. And I apologize."

Crowley: "That's it? You're truly amazing! It's too late for apologies anyway, don't you think? Now we have something ENORMOUSLY bigger to deal with."

Aziraphale:"Yes right."

Now...

Now that they had finally managed to save the world in a very creative way like they always did, there was something in the air that gave a sense of tranquility and peace. Or at least that's how it seemed. Maybe there was still something else to save.

Aziraphale was very grateful to Crowley for helping him and hoped with all his being that the verbal agreement he had made with the demon was all a setup, a lie from the red man since demons were good at lying. While he was thinking about this however he saw Crowley walking away towards the Bentley and decided to run after him trying to stop him.

Aziraphale: "Crowley...Crowley wait a minute. Come on wait, where are you going?"

Crowley: "I hold up my end of the deal Angel and you should do the same."

Aziraphale: "Come on, what a deal, stop it. You're just angry, and I really understand you, but we just saved the world from a catastrophe and you don't want to celebrate with me. Come on, let's go drink until we pass out like we did before."

Crowley violently closed the door of his car, taking off his glasses with an equally violent movement.

Crowley: "I'm not angry, I'm furious with you Aziraphale! You abandoned me when I needed you most! You preferred Heaven to me. And I will never forgive you for this."

Aziraphale: "I just wanted to do the right thing, for the world...for us."

Crowley: "Ah now there is an US? Do you know what would have been right for me? To stay next to the person I fell in love with and..."

Even though Crowley's feelings for Aziraphale were true, the demon still had a hard time hearing those words come out of his mouth just as Aziraphale felt strange when the redhead did something nice for him.

Aziraphale: "Please let's talk about it, let's solve it together. I want to fix things. I want you with me, I want to be an US again. Just you and me. What do you think?"

Crowley: "I think you should have said these things when it was time to say them."

Crowley got into the Bentley and sped away as usual. Crowley was right, he should have said those things first. In reality he should have told her many things beforehand, such as, for example, having fallen in love with a demon with penetrating yellow eyes and thick fiery red hair. He had to stop his demon and talk to him truthfully and honestly and he had to do it now.

Crowley was now far from Soho, he just wanted to go very far away, get away from everything and everyone. He was on a straight road that ran alongside a forest on one side, or something similar, and some houses on the other when in the distance he saw a figure in the middle of the road. At first he didn't really understand what it was, then lowering his dark glasses on his nose he understood. It was Aziraphale, who showed no sign of moving a step.

Crowley: "Get out of the way angel, you know I won't stop the car for you."

Crowley put his foot on the accelerator, further increasing the speed of the Bentley. The distance between the two was getting closer and closer. Aziraphale continued to remain still and showed no signs of moving, he was certain that the demon would never harm him.

Crowley: "What the fuck!"

The demon hit the brakes in a not very graceful manner causing the car's tires to squeal as it stopped a few centimeters from the angel.

Crowley: "May I know what your head is telling you? What's your problem?"

Aziraphale: "I knew you would never hit me with the car."

Crowley: "What more do you want?"

Aziraphale: "You. I want you Crowley."

Crowley: "What?"

Aziraphale: "You understood very well, I want you. You were right about everything, I behaved selfishly, I acted according to what was convenient for Heaven and for me and I didn't think about what YOU wanted, what WE wanted In short, I reflected on the words you said in my bookshop and I think it could work great between US. It could be the truest US that ever existed. Please Crowley. Please forgive me. I love you."

Crowley: "Angel...I would really like to believe you. I really would but..."

Aziraphale:"Come to my bookshop in 30 minutes. I have a surprise for you."

Crowley: "I hate surprises Angel. It's like when you say 'wait and see'"

Aziraphale: "This one I'm sure will change your mind. A After."

The angel disappeared from the street leaving Crowley a little confused, his angel had apologized and told him I love you. What was happening?! He decided to calm down with the questions and do as the angel told him. Exactly half an hour later he was in front of the bookshop with the angel waiting for him trembling with joy.

Crowley: "You're too excited for my taste, what's going on?"

Aziraphale: "Come with me and then put this on inside."

It was a curious night blindfold that Aziraphale used to sleep. Crowley looked at her in disgust and then looked at the angel.

Crowley: "Why would I wear this thing?"

Aziraphale: "Come on, trust me."

Crowley put on the blindfold and waited patiently for the angel to perhaps give him some instructions. The air around them became strange, a little dark and with a strange sense of floating and suspension in the void.

Aziraphale: "Okay, now you can slowly take off the blindfold."

Crowley: "Angel I swear if this is another one of your stupid jokes...oh, oh my God."

When he took off the blindfold he couldn't believe his eyes, he even thought he was dreaming. Aziraphale had brought Crowley to Alpha Centauri. After so many years of wanting to go there they were finally there, together.

Aziraphale: "Well you've wanted to come to this 'place' for years and now I understand why. Listen, I know that maybe I haven't always been a good friend, a good angel and I've never even been very capable of fully understanding someone's feelings. But I'm sure of one thing, when you and I are close wonderful things always happen and I would like this to last forever and..."

Aziraphale didn't finish his sentence before he saw his friend turn away and sniff.

Aziraphale: "Crowley? Are you crying?"

Crowley: "No stupid angel...I just have a little stardust in my eyes."

The Demon tried to compose himself  by turning towards Aziraphale.

Crowley: "That was nice of you angel...I..."

He was short of breath and his heartbeat was racing.

Aziraphale: "Maybe it's the place we are in but you have a strange light in your eyes that..."

Crowley: "Shut up and kiss me."

They joined their lips under the stars of Alpha Centauri in a kiss that would last for eternity.

#crowley #good omens #ineffable husbands #aziraphale #crowleyxaziraphale #ineffable lovers #love quotes #ineffeble husbands #crowley and aziraphale #alpha centauri

[vivi-the-goblin]

5e Mechanic Variant

I'll admit I don't have every book, nor have I played a ton of systems (6 in total), so I might've just reinvented something that exists. I haven't heard of it though, and its been successful in the sessions I tried it in. It's a variant on 5e's group skill checks. When the group is trying to do something together, instead of a DC 15 four times, you'd do a DC 15 times four, so DC 60. The players add their results together and see if they can beat the DC. What this does is let the players who specialized in a skill help the others out, instead of rolling a 25 and it being functionally the same as a 15. In my opinion there are two primary types of skill checks that can benefit from this. The first is "everyone succeeds or we fail" For instance stealth, the paladin clanking behind might not get YOU caught but it will kill the stealth section. Doesn't matter if you got double the DC, you can either go it alone (killing session pacing and abandoning the party) or you can end stealth. Plus everyone is actively looking for you now, so you might suddenly get found anyway. Now the rogue is showing them the proper path or making small distractions to cover the barbarian's stumble. You don't have party members who feel like they failed everyone, and it gives benefit for specializing because you can help the party. The second is in team checks. Lets say the barbarian wants to topple a stone pillar or push a giant boulder down a hill. He could get advantage from the help action 10 times over, it's not going to make him able to move 4000 lbs of stone. This lets you say "It's like a DC 80, this thing's huge. Then the party gets together and keeps trying (I set a limit on times you can try a strength check before exhaustion) before finally getting that 26+18+14+22 and succeeding. It also lets them know something's technically possible without letting it be within easy reach, giving them a sort of puzzle on how to reach that goal (getting help, using pulleys for advantage, etc) The closest thing I know of this in 5e is "If half the people make it everyone does", but I find this works better. The basic reason is "You work together and overcome the DC 80 skill check" sounds impressive and feels like everyone contributed to a difficult goal nobody could accomplish on their own. "ok cool, the two specialists passed so we'll just call it a win" makes me feel like you shouldn't have bothered asking everyone to roll, just make it a single person check if my roll is just meaningless.

The more complicated reason- it gives the specialized players a reason to continue their specialization. Think of the Rogue, for an easy example. They chose the sneak class to be good at sneaking, right? well now they're level 11, and they don't get to play anymore. They can't roll lower than a 10 and even a CR 30 can't find them without proficiency in perception. The fun minigame they built a character around becomes "I'd like to-" "Don't bother, you're in the next room now, moving on." Future stealth bonuses don't functionally do much. Also your ranger's still angry because they have high stealth too but don't get to use it. With this model, keep buffing your stealth, disguise, whatever, it still helps! It lets you lower the effective DC for your friends. And other people who are proud of their score but don't get to use it because you're better? Well they're really useful now too! Use a group deception to infiltrate, the bard patching holes in the fighter's story. Group acrobatics to make that leap, the others benefitting from having a perfect example to copy and someone to correct their form. Sure, in some cases it's not that functionally different from base rule, but it just feels better to me. I recommend at least trying out something like this. It has worked great for me so far.

#dnd 5e #dnd 5e homebrew #5e homebrew #5e #homebrew #5e variant rules

[usafphantom2]

The subject of paint on the fastest airplane in the world is fascinating . White bird? Nope, it never happened. Fake Picture! Although ("Pastels are the best stealth colors," Ben Rich once observed, "real men don't fly pink jets.") This is the YF-12 airframe created by the Skunk Works, who also designed the (A-12 and the SR -71 and the M -21) but the YF-12 held four air to air missiles. YF-12 was created to intercept any incoming enemy bombers quickly. It was discovered that the way the enemy would attack would be with inter-ballistic missiles instead of overhead bombers, making the YF-12 obsolete before they made the 100 airplanes that had been ordered.

The program was canceled. The Air Force used three YF-12s and then transferred them to NASA. There is one YF 12 remaining and it is at the Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio half of YF 12 remains it is the back on SR 71, 981. Also known as the bastard is at Hill Air Force Base, Utah the other YF- 12 crashed. (it is currently being restored.)

Another frustrating example was the stubborn insistence of the Air Force to have its insignia painted on the wings and fuselage of the SR-71 Blackbird, even though no one would ever see it at eighty-five thousand feet; finding a way to keep the enamel from burning off under the enormous surface temperatures and maintain its true red, white, and blue took our chief chemist, Mel George, weeks of experimentation and cost the government thousands of unnecessary dollars. After we succeeded, the Air Force decided that the white on the emblem against the all-black fuselage was too easy to spot from the ground, so we repainted it pink." (p. 327) Ben Rich from his book “Skunk Works”

Using a law of thermodynamics, Ben Rich convinced Kelly Johnson to paint the A-12 Black. It was very rare when Kelly Johnson admitted he was wrong.

Overnight, however, he apparently had second thoughts, or did some textbook reading on his own, and at the next meeting, he turned to me as the first order of business. “On the black paint,” he said, “you were right about the advantages, and I was wrong.” He handed me a quarter. It was a rare win. So Kelly approved my idea of painting the airplane black, and by the time our prototype rolled out, the airplane became known as the Blackbird.

― Ben R. Rich, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed

~Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[thecrenellations]

okay, trying to go for at least one answer that’s funny because it’s extremely expected and one that’s funny because it’s unexpected???

2 3 6 12 21 25

these are the questions.

I think you succeeded, my anonymous inquisitor! (I laughed/smiled when I read the questions.)

2. Did you reread anything? What? YES, I DID! I was going to provide some numbers for this and got a little lost in the details, but half of the individual books I read this year were ones I've read before, I read some of those books (Lion Hunters) multiple times, and then I went and reread a bunch of the ones that were new to me, especially the Lymond Chronicles! The Game of Kings wins, I think. No, I know. I love rereading, and my favorite stories are the kind that make me love it more!

3. What were your top five books of the year? In alphabetical order, with an only-one-book-per-series restriction and my apologies to a few books I liked nearly as much or the same amount as these ones: The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett, He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan, The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor, A Power Unbound by Freya Marske, and Stateless by Elizabeth Wein.

6. Was there anything you meant to read but never got to? I should have thought to split up my answers, but yes! I remembered a few of the nonfiction ones: The Power of Babel by John McWhorter, Ducks by Kate Beaton, Caring For Your Books by Michael Dirda, Karachi Vice by Samira Shackle, and a biography of John Gielgud

12. Any books that disappointed you? Certain aspects of the Lymond Chronicles, the new-reading highlight of my year, disappointed me in ways that I have also found deeply interesting to talk and think about, and I felt that Wild Maps for Curious Minds: 100 New Ways to See the Natural World did not quite deserve its title. Get wilder and more curious!

21. Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama? These questions are from 2019, so I suppose they predate booktok becoming a major thing! But I certainly watched Claire run around Schuler books and, dramatically, cause The Thief and Code Name Verity to sell out!

At @red-sea-itinerary, the capital of booklr, our polls have been very dramatic, and an author has weighed in. We should all remember Abreha's palace's water clock. Nearly everyone prefers coffee with Turunesh over kingship and no one thinks Medraut should have the latter. Birds. And Telemakos is taller than Lleu!!!

25. What reading goals do you have for next year? To get around to a few of those books in 6, to read more nonfiction (I think trying more via audiobook would help), to read more diversely in terms of authors (including time periods), and to read another series that's new to me! Maybe to help poke a certain loose book club into meeting again? To have fun and escape and think and learn. Reading was enough of a challenge during and after college that I still feel delighted and grateful that I've been reading regularly and finding new books I love. :)

#thanks for asking! #GoK was at 4 proper reads and then i went and revisited a whole lot of my favorite scenes on saturday night so who knows honestly #;) #runners up for the top five question are system collapse and this is how you lose the time war #i thought i'd read other ever afters in 2023 but in fact it was last december! #still under a year ago i suppose #and i think the other lymond that would make the list is Pawn in Frankincense? #also i really feel like i'm forgetting books people i know have read and talked about this year #that i've been interested in reading #perhaps they will return #questions

[satansaidmyturnintheh3llscape]

Everything Right/Wrong with Ninjago “Legacy of the Green Ninja” E5: Child’s Play

I have some very strong opinions about some of the events that transpire during this episode… Disclaimers: Show owned by LEGO. This is not a professional review/critique - it’s mainly intended for comedy.

Reblog, like, or comment for more!

- Intro ✅

- Last appearance of baby Lloyd’s title card😔❌

- I know I’m starting on my Lloyd stan BS a little early, even for me, but COME ON- not enough people talk about how heartbreaking this opening scene is. He just wants to play like the other kids!!! Just let him play for five minutes please😭 ✅

- Petition to see Lloyd info-dump to his siblings about comic books in modern Ninjago ✅

- “The fate of Ninjago rests on your shoulders. As the Green Ninja you have a giant responsibility to hold. I’m sorry, but you don’t have time for such childish things.” HE’S 8! ❌

- “Come on, pint-sized,” Pint-sized ✅

- *after jumping on the grundle bones* “This is not a solid plan, Cole.” Then why did you follow him? ❌

- Why did the generals even attempt to shove the sarcophagus through the sewer? ❌

- Oh no! They’ve turned the ninja into marketable plushies-

-Okay, fine… I’ll add a win for the compilation of ear-splittingly high pitched screams ✅

- I’d love to sin the excessive amount of voice-swaps in this episode, but unfortunately, due to the kid voices, I can’t even tell half of who’s saying what in the first place, and trying to figure it out is giving me a migraine, and that in itself is a sin ❌

- “Perhaps Garmadon succeeded in turning back the clock…” “Yeah but nindroids don’t turn into kids…” AU where this episode is the same EXCEPT Zane got turned into a pile of lifeless scraps that the ninja had to carry around in a backpack the whole time ❌

- “What do ya got on, apple dumpling gang? Pajamas?” Apparently, the ninja’s suits are so low quality that they can be mistaken for pajamas ❌

- Also, apple dumpling gang ✅

- “Our spinjitzu doesn’t work!” Looked fine to me, at least long enough for the cops to see it and realize something was up ❌

- The cops picked up the ninja at night, and now it’s the next morning. They think these are actual kids, so why are they just now trying to call their parents? And who are they gonna call? Did the ninja give them a phone number? ❌

- Actually, why don’t the ninja just give them Wu’s number so that he can come pick them up? Surely he’s seen weirder things than his pupils turning into kids; I doubt he’d just ignore the call, especially if the ninja’s names were dropped ❌

- Ninja change clothes directly behind this group of young kids ❌

- ^ You may think the phone dangling is just a gag, but it’s actually a clever way to symbolize how the fandom is hanging on by a thread as we wait for the rest of Crystalized to drop ✅

- The TV in Buddy’s Pizza is playing the clips from the pilot that show how each the ninja met Wu. Where could anyone have gotten the footage for that? The fandom in REAL LIFE can barely find those episodes! ❌

- “You’re… SMALL!” Unsupervised 8 year-old walks into a public pizza place with nunchucks, shurikens, a sword and a scythe but him raising his voice is what draws attention? ❌

- “Yeah, but you don’t know the Grundle.” And you do? The only research you did was listen to Garmadon plagiarize a lecture from the History Channel ❌

- “I think I know just the guy…” Please don’t bring them to a dr*g dealer please don’t bring them to a dr*g dealer please don’t-

- “You brought us to a comic book store?!?!” Was that much not clear from the massive “Doomsday Comix” sign out front? ❌

- “If anyone knows how to defeat a monster that doesn’t exist, I know just the person to talk to.” D*mmit, Lloyd! What did I just say about bringing them to a dr*g dealer?!

- The ninja spend this entire episode making fun of Lloyd for reading comic books despite the fact that they are (near) adults who still play video games. Fun fact: there is nothing wrong with either of these things, but it still makes the ninja hypocrites for trying to claim one is fine when the other isn’t ❌

- “Fellas, meet Rufus McAllister, AKA, Mother Doomsday!” Oh, thank god. Not a dr*g dealer… just a Marvel fan. Wait, that might be worse…

- “Well, if it isn’t Lloyd Hemorrhoid Garmadon!” ⬇️

- ^❌

- Also, I thought Lloyd didn’t have friends? Granted, from that nickname, doesn’t sound like were friends, but still ❌

- F*cking illumi-swords??? I’d genuinely rather get sued for saying “lightsabers” than have to actually call something an illumi-sword ❌

- Mystake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ✅

- I get it’s life and death and all, BUT the ninja still steal (and ultimately break) four illumi-swords, and they never actually pay for those autographed suits ❌

- Also, episode expects me to now carry on the season with the knowledge that the 4 ninja are wearing cheap copies of their previous suits, with their OWN autographs on them ❌

- The Grundle takes a ridiculously long time to eat the ninja… no wonder it went extinct ❌

- “You’ll miss out on the rest of your childhood, dude. We can’t do that to you!” The problem is that Lloyd’s already missing out on his childhood, and realistically that probably won’t change, regardless of some magical age-up, but the episode never touches on that at all ❌

- “Fair? Fair isn’t a word from where I come from!” ✅

- “They are the real ninja” Yeah, no sh*t dude! ❌

- I love how weirded out the ninja look about older Lloyd ✅

- I’m gonna say it: his hair still f*cking sucks ❌

- “You can have my copy of Starfarer. You deserve it.” “That’s okay, I already know how it ends.” If people stopped watching a series because they already got spoiled about it then I can guarantee Ninjago would not have a fandom, especially in the U.S.❌

- Okay, look… I hate the age up. I wish it didn’t happen, mostly because it was kinda treated like the same situation as a young adult needing to grow up (“there comes a time we all must grow up”) and Lloyd is a child. He has a responsibility, yes, and his circumstances force him to grow up early, but he should still be allowed to enjoy whatever childhood he has left, because he’s not going to get that back. Even if they kept the age-up in, the better resolution for this episode should’ve been the ninja letting Lloyd have the comic so that he can read it in his off time. ❌

- Further, it’s treated as if the concept of “all work, no play” is a healthy mindset/work ethic, which it’s NOT. Nonstop training all day shouldn’t be Lloyd’s reality because it isn’t healthy, regardless of age. People are known to perform better when given breaks, so let him have some breaks! ❌

- That being said, this entire ending monologue with the comic book-style art of Lloyd vs. Garmadon is so f*cking cool. I want this art as a poster! ✅

- “Yes, the time until the Final Battle has grown shorter… but the Green Ninja has grown stronger.” ✅✅✅✅✅✅

Sentence: Lloyd kinnies’ tears

#ninjago #lego ninjago #ninjago lloyd #ninjago jay #ninjago kai #ninjago nya #ninjago cole #ninjago zane #ninjago sins/wins #kid lloyd

[invisibleraven]

Winter prompts! 2 (sees snow for the first time) character of your choice!

When Julie's parents sent her away to live with her aunt in the countryside, she had hated them fiercely. Yes, they had assured her that they still loved her, and would come back for her as soon as they could. And deep down, she knew she was safer here in this little house than anywhere near where the war was raging or bombs were being dropped. But she didn't have to be happy about it.

She missed the city, the ability to get a bus almost anywhere, even if she wasn't old enough to ride it by herself yet. The museums, the shops, the cinema. All tia's village had was a little store that sold sweets alongside the postage stamps and the newspaper. Plus you had to walk everywhere, not a bus in sigh. And you could forget about culture, the closest thing was the library, and Julie had exhausted their small supply of child appropriate books months ago. She was half tempted to see if the librarian would loan her something more adult, but she knew that woman would rat her out to her aunt.

Thus she was stuck inside exploring her aunt's house more often than not. She had a healthy supply of records, and the wireless was a good distraction, even if Victoria scrambled to change it when news of the world came on. Julie scowled at that, wanting desperately to know if the city still stood, if the country was winning... if her parents and their fight for victory was succeeding.

Eventually she felt she knew every corner of the home, down to the last dust mite. Except the one room that her aunt kept locked. Julie found the key hidden in a drawer, and one day while Victoria was out playing bridge, she clicked it open. Only to find it empty save for one large wardrobe against the wall.

Opening it up, she saw a wealth of coats, some even lined with fur, luxurious ermine, soft angora wool, one even had mother of pearl buttons! Julie dug in, pulling one on, posing in front of the mirror, pouting her lips like she saw the movie stars do.

It was then that she felt a chill, heard the tinkling of bells, coming from behind the coats. She dug into them, finding the wardrobe went even further back than she thought, and dove in, leaving the coat in a crumpled heap on the floor.

She kept going until she found a light in the distance, and when she reached forward, it didn't feel like coats, but the branches of a great pine tree, the kind her parents always got at yuletide. She could smell the evergreens, and when she pushed past their scratchy branches had to stop.

The world around her was cold, and covered in snow.

Snow!

Julie was delighted, holding her hands out as soft flakes fell from the sky, watching them melt against the warmth of her skin. Giggled when she could see her breath dancing on the wind. Skipped and danced through the crunchy snow beneath her, heedless of the wetness seeping into her sensible shoes. Holding out her tongue to catch the errant flakes that blew past, and twirling once more until she found herself in a clearing.

Where there was naught but a lamp post.

She approached slowly, the warm glow feeling welcoming amidst this new world of icy delights.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Julie whirl around and stared, for before her was a man... well he looked like a man, only with the legs of a goat! His chest was bare save a bright red scarf around his neck, and she could spy tiny horns peaking through his unruly brown curls. "Hello my dear. Welcome to Narnia. I'm Mr. Tumnus."

"Julie," she said, giving a little curtsey. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The satyr grinned, giving a mock bow, and Julie immediately felt at ease. He even offered to introduce her to his friends, the badgers, but she could hear her aunt calling, so she regretfully declined.

She gave Mr. Tumnus a mournful goodbye, and made her way back through the tress, struggling through the coats until she collapsed onto the hard wood floor. Then rushed off towards where Victoria was calling her.

Resolving to come back, to see snow, see her new friend once more.

One thing was for certain though, her sojourn into the country while the war raged on was looking a lot less boring!

#filled prompts #ficlet #julie molina #julie and the phantoms

[the-pjo-analyst]

Chapter 4 - My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting

Theme of the day: Love vs Duty

(I’m just picking random themes that seem good but hit me up if you have suggestions for future chapters)

A short chapter lol, as I was reading for themes of “duty” I found myself comparing it to actions of love so doing something a little different and using a concept as my theme instead of a word!

I’ll start with Grover since his duty is more straight forward. As a keeper, his job is to find demigods, protect them, and safely bring them to Camp Half-Blood. And I suppose he succeeded in that technically lmao. But I think it’s important that when he was explaining how he was watching over Percy, he specified that he was never pretending to be Percy’s friend. In this instance, the line between love and duty blend together.

And even though Percy was suspicious and wary of Grover and in complete shock learning about this and him being a satyr, he still calls Grover his best friend 🥺 Percy protecting Grover isn’t out of any sense of duty, but his caring personality and incredible loyalty to his loved ones (like... it’s his fatal flaw). He really could’ve just ran into camp after losing his mom bc logically how is a 12 year old kid supposed to win against the minotaur, but he stayed to fight and miraculously, he won. That’s just who Percy Jackson is, he’s a fighter and he always fights to protect.

With Sally, there’s a bit more of a distinction between love and duty. Her duty would be sending Percy to CHB because he’s more in danger being out in the world than he’d be at camp. But she loves Percy so much that the possibility of never seeing him again is unbearable. And so to compensate, she heavily researches Greek mythology and mythological monsters in hopes to prepare for any encounter Percy might face while raising him (knowledge is power as Annabeth would say!)

This distinction of “love vs duty” with Sally is interesting because this constantly comes up with Percy. His whole fatal flaw is how he’d choose love over duty. Like just in this book, his secret purpose in his quest is saving his mom over finding and returning Zeus’ lightning bolt. And he almost does! But just like how he decides not to sneak home during the museum trip bc his mom would be disappointed in him, he chooses his friends and the quest for the same reason. Ig in reality he’s still choosing love though, since he love’s his mom so much he’s always like “what would my mom think” lol.

Small things:

Zeus really wasn’t playing today 😱

Real talk, how did Sally navigate through that storm in the countryside at night and successfully made it to camp. Like even if CHB showed up on a map, this is before reliable GPS’s. Was she that prepared and memorized the various routes to camp?? Master navigator.

Annabeth probably would’ve punched Percy if he said his first impression of her out loud lol

Previous: Chapter 3 - Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants

Next: Chapter 5 - I Play Pinochle with a Horse

#percy jackson #grover underwood #sally jackson #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #the lightning thief #pjo meta #pjo analysis #tlt analysis

[thelionshoarde]

I know you don't follow it anymore, but I feel cruddy so if you have it in you somewhere to do some snuggily obiyuki I would be much obliged. Otherwise, as you were, lol

For you, my dear, I will attempt anything <3 Sadly, that does not mean that I succeeded?? There are indeed snuggles, but this is perhaps a very weird, highly ridiculous fic in which Obi has Touch Issues??? I am sorry but also not sorry and I hope you enjoy it <3

They learn how to come together stubbornly, anxiously, the both of them entirely out of their depth when it comes to love returned and what to do with it.

It's like speaking a new language, relearning your body and how it moves in concert with another. Redefining boundaries long held. Gazes unable to meet, yet unable to keep away. Obi scrubs at his nape with a rough hand. Shirayuki feels hot and cold in equal measure, her skin prickling, heart pounding, each inch between them electric with tension.

"Sorry," she says. "I can take the chair."

"No, no," Obi replies, fingers squeezing bloodless around his nape. "That won't do. My fault anyway, sorry, so I'll take the chair, it's fine, it's fine-"

"Obi," says Shirayuki.

"Hm?"

"We can try again," is all the bravery she can muster.

A grimace, his thin brows quirking up his brow. "Yeah? Yeah, I mean... We probably shouldn't though."

"Obi," Shirayuki says, because she has finally hit the point where this has become ridiculous and her nerves become steel instead. "It's only a cuddle."

"Is it though?" he asks, heavy with skepticism.

With a huff of a laugh, Shirayuki reaches out and grasps his arm in hers, hands resting atop his tensed forearm. She leans in against the softness of his uniform, the warmth that he exudes, and is amazed to find that she can feel the breath in his lungs, the gentle pull in and out, in and out, his rib cage expanding against her own.

It takes a moment, but she syncs their breathing together- as he deflates, she inhales into the space he opens up for her; as he inhales, she makes way for him.

"Easy," she says, smiling.

Obi stares down at her with a complicated expression, some dread and tender thing. "Yeah, sure. Easy," he murmurs, and then sits like a garden statue with Shirayuki a clinging vine for the next half hour or so, until he can't take it anymore, practically slithers out of Shirayuki's grip to dance off the bed, across the floor and out the door, all the while rambling about duty and mischief and the rapid pace of time.

There is a lingering warmth left behind, one that makes Shirayuki frown and curl her fingers into her palm, longing for more.

-

What matters in the end, she thinks, is that the stubborn wins out over the anxious. "Obi," she says, peeking over her book at him. "You don't have work?"

"No, I do," he says, lazing on the grass beside her.

For her lunch break, she has come out to sit beneath a tree to read in the sun, the rays shining down weak and barely even warm, but bright and lovely nonetheless.

"You're slacking?" she asks, more amused than anything when he gives a little innocent grin and lithe stretch of his body, like a smug cat that refuses to be moved. A warm rush of fondness sweeps through her, so she says, "You can use my lap as a pillow, if you want," before she can turn coward, and because she wants more of that closeness, that innocent touch with someone she loves and who loves her back.

Obi's eyes open wide, staring blankly at the sky through mostly naked branches. "We are not cuddling in public," he rasps out.

"No," Shirayuki allows, and her cheeks are hot and her heart pounding and there's a shiver running cold down her spine again. Her stomach twists. Her mouth doesn't know whether to smile or not. "But- the ground can't be comfortable, can it?"

"I've had worse," is the casual reply.

Shirayuki hates how true that likely is. With a sigh, she sets her book down. Smooths out her skirts and stretches out her legs. Obi rolls his head to look at her thigh, covered in thick blue fabric. She pats it nervously, staring down at her own hand as she does, the delicate bones and the dry knuckles and the freckles on her skin.

"C'mon," she says, strangled but determined.

"Is this a thing," Obi asks.

Shirayuki says, "I'm almost positive this is a thing." because she understands he means is this a thing people who love each other do and Shirayuki doesn't know, exactly, because she's never really cared much for romance or the expression of it, but she thinks she's seen lovers seated like this in books, in paintings, out the corner of her eye when passing through parks and courtyards and-

"I want you to," she says, muffled, face on fire.

With a hushed curse, Obi rolls over.

His back is to her now. He's laying on his side with his head just barely touching her, temple to her thigh, a heavy weight. Shirayuki stares at him, surprised even though she was the one pushing, but-

She knows this is hard for him.

She knows what it costs him to reach out, to touch and be touched, to be still and allow comfort, safety and trust.

Very carefully, Shirayuki reaches out and skates her knuckles across the ends of his wild hair, dark and silky. He shivers. His shoulders hunch up, but he doesn't flee and Shirayuki's heart is heavy, swollen up, and somehow love feels like joy and sadness at once, a pained affection.

She lifts her book again, does her best to continue reading.

Obi stays as long as he can.

-

"Are we getting better at this?" he asks one lazy morning, the two of them curled up on Shirayuki's bed. They are laying on top of the covers with the window open, their bodies puzzle pieces carefully lined up, the breeze tickling Shirayuki's hair across her face and onto Obi's neck.

He keeps having to gently sweep it back down behind her ear, smoothing the strands.

Beneath her cheek, Obi's shoulder is hard and bony and a little painful, but Shirayuki never wants to move. She is warm and happy and terrified and wildly afraid to put her arm over his chest like she so badly longs to. Afraid to hold him too close, pin him down the wrong way, to fracture this fragile peace by being too greedy, but-

That's okay, probably.

This is more than enough to start with- Obi's hand in her hair, her cheek on his shoulder, their bodies slowly, gradually relaxing into one another.

"Yes," Shirayuki says, smiling. "I imagine that we are, Obi."

#i hope you have a good day m'dear #and i would be anxious about how badly i cannot take direction but #you know me well #and you know how weird i am T_T #so i simply hope you like this <3 #and that you get through this without too much stress and misery #ans #obiyuki

[peaterookie]

Lupin III Chapter 62 Review

y'know what i said about chapter 61? FORGET ABOUT ALL OF THAT BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER SINGLEHANDLEDLY FLIPPED IT FROM AN ehh TO A MUST READ.

Yes!! This chapter is a continuation of the last one!! im so excited about this information!!

to comment more on this cover, for some reason it means a lot to me since it was the first couple of images i found really cool when i started getting into lupin, i was browsing mp art on twitter during that time and when i saw it i was like "wow, the way lupin stands and looks at you in this drawing goes raw as hell" it sounds stupid but idk i just really really like that drawing for those reasons, it stands out to me a special drawing

ok, on with the chapter! if you dont remember basically lupin and fujiko got split into a good and evil side and now theyre fighting each other

the setting is in like this factory place for some reason and were led to believe good lupin and fujiko got out of the dungeon. good lupin gets trapped by evil fujiko who got her hair color changed for some reason

wow! rare colored panel moment

evil lupin approaches good lupin and he thinks the good one is an impostor and tells fujiko to kill him good lupin wants to clear things up like how they're the same person and killing him only means evil lupin would die too but he doesn't believe any of that lmao he leaves evil fujiko to kill good lupin but good fujiko comes to the rescue!

(good) lupin then asks evil fujiko where his other half is and she completely plays dumb and lupin just slaps her :skull:

then good fujiko smacks lupin on the head with her gun and lupins like what the fuck??? i didn't hit you?? then shes like well shes also me and lupin just gives up (it's funnier when you read it)

then lupin does a whole 4th wall break recapping chapter 61 that part its also really funny because the way lupin poses and explains everything makes him look so done

ok so now lupin is finding his evil version they get out of the factory place and lupin finds himself just ontop of some random house then they fight and evil lupin obviously comes out on top

good lupin tries to tell evil loop one last moment before he dies and it... kind of works!

G for good loop and E for evil loop G: Fine! You win! Blow my brains out! E: Any last requests? G: Just one... WEARETHESAMEPERSONANDYOU'VEGOTTOBELIEVEMEANDIFYOUWILLHELPMEITHINKICANFIXUS!!! (good job tokyopop you made me laugh)

E: Okay, I'm naked, now what? G: According to the book, after we strip we have to crash into each other at full speed.

god monkey punch... we can't do this, the good and evil lupin dynamic is so fun.. dont turn him back into the boring singular one...

sadly, they will do it anyway, as existence as one half of the other is painful. one attempt failed because good lupin got scared by the evil one running at him so fast but they eventually get merged

then he checks up on the fujikos who seem like they succeeded he jumps in the bathtub that shes in and fujiko asks what happens if the merge didn't work exactly right, and lupin says that they simply needed to wait

then fujiko reveals that uh... the merge came out... sort of freakish..

the end.

#what a chapter #lupin iii #lupin the third #fujiko mine #local lupin manga fan screams about the manga as per usual #lupin iii manga

[sparrow-orion-writes]

Are we just supposed to send you lines?

❛    i’m the gambling kind, for the higher stakes and brighter takes i’ll play.    ❜

❛    when were you planning on coming my way ?    ❜

-tam

Essentially, yes; people may also want particular characters involved, it's not necessary, however!

❛ i’m the gambling kind, for the higher stakes and brighter takes i’ll play. ❜

(Took this one as a situational prompt because I couldn't see any of my characters actually saying it)

Neon Glow characters:

"Are you sure you can do this?" Edward's fingers wrap nervously around his wrists, dark eyes peering up at Ari with implicit trust, and poorly-concealed fear. "If there's anything he can do, it's con people out of their money," Eli utters dryly, eyeing Ari's cigarette with some wishful thinking. Even his usual calm demeanour is a little shaken. "So just as a recap-" Ari leans up off the wall, ignoring both of their words, his eyes drifting from the table of gambling figures, back to his companions "-all I have to do is win a game of poker?" "Hypothetically, yes," Eli frowns, "…it's impossible, though." "Poker isn't your usual game." Ari looks at Edward as he speaks; some part of him wants to ask how the man knows what his usual game is, the rest of him is preoccupied. "I can play, though, and I can play well." "You have to play this game clean." "I will." He's half telling the truth, he owes his brother that at least, a slight hint of honesty. "Are you sure this is worth it?" It isn't, Ari can honestly say that the reward for winning this game is something he could get under far easier circumstances. Information is easy to come by for him, if he applies the right pressure at the right point. But he doesn't want to walk away. He likes a good fight as much as anyone, but this is an unfair fight, this is a fight rigged for his loss. He can feel the way his heartbeat flutters in excitement, the sheer exhilaration of playing a game where the odds are stacked against him. His tongue darts out over his dry lips, and he shrugs. "Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, either way I'm sure I'm a faster shot than at least three of them, so try to hit the other one."

❛ when were you planning on coming my way ? ❜

Finally, an excuse to write some AprilEmber. This one is set way before the first book, so this one's just for fun!

As soon as the words left his lips, April gets the feeling it was the wrong ones. Ember turns sharply to face him, bright eyes lit with his usual fire, and a tinge of annoyance. "Never, if I can 'elp it," he retorts, as though his cheeks haven't immediately set aflame. It irritates Ember, April knows, that he's flustered by him; he's seen Ember interact with many other men, and not a single one comes close to phasing him. Which certainly makes his denial all the more interesting, a little more fun. Neither of them get much time to play games, after all. "Still digging your heels in?" He asks with a smirk, delicately holding out a packet of cigarettes that he definitely acquired by paying for. Ember tries not to look pleased as he takes them, his fingers lingering a little longer than strictly necessary as he does so. April holds his eye contact, neither of them flinching. "I'll start digging knives in if ya keep pushin'," Ember smiles, in an oddly calm way for the words he speaks. April grins back. "I'm counting on it." He'd been counting on it since the first time he'd laid eyes on Ember, some months ago now. He'd felt the fire that the other man held in some strange form of kinship. He wanted – wants – to know how many buttons he could push before the other man snaps. Judging by the fact their eyes can't quite tear away, April would say he's almost close to succeeding.

Thanks for these prompts! The first one kick-started a scene I actually needed to write! The second one was for fun.

#not edited #prompt fill #ng prompt fill #drabbles #save #for that first one because I get the feeling I will need it again

[startrek-readerslog]

The Romulan War: To Brave the Storm by Michael A Martin

Okay I think part of the issue with the last one was that it was too long!! This one was only 300 pages, and much easier to get through. Spoiler alert I liked it a lot better than the first one!

The Summary

This one jumps off basically where the last one ends. The Enterprise is on patrol duty around Earth and nobody's super happy about it (they want to be out there pew pewing at Romulans). But they get to just do nice things for passing vessels in distress which feels very Star Trek! They do rescue and repair missions. It is a really smart part of diplomacy, people are more likely to help you if they like you, and well everybody kind of hates Captain Archer because he left the Kobayashi Maru to die. They go on a few formal diplomacy missions and get denied official help.

We bop around a bit and see what Trip is up to (being a bad fake Vulcan) and the search for the killer of Surak's katra, what's going on with Gannet (being mad that she isn't covering the war), some politicking, and some Romulan POV. The Romulans deploy a bioterrorism weapon and try to bomb Mars with some meteors (don't worry they don't succeed). Trip is behind Romulan lines once again, and he let's T'Pol know where the next big offensive is going to be. Also Travis rejoins at some point here. T'Pol and Archer convince Starfleet to let them go to where the Romulans are staging and they do some fighting! They get back up from unofficial Andorian and Klingon vessels, as well as really sanctioned Vulcans. They win (Trip is once again presumed dead). The story ends at the beginning of the federation. The afterward is Trip and T'Pol's cute little family 25 years later.

My Thoughts

This one was genuinely good! It felt so much more Star Trek than the previous war novel. It was mainly the Enterprise doing good things and helping others while the bigger plot progressed around it. We got to see multiple POVs that allow us to glimpse what is happening in the Romulan government, in the United Earth parliament, and on Vulcan, but none of them take up enough story to really feel oppressive. Our main concern lies with the Enterprise and her crew, which is in my opinion as it should be. This novel's pacing felt better in that regard. I think it helped that the book itself was much shorter than the last one, probably about half the length accounting for formating. I literally sped through this one in a way that I could not for "Beneath the Raptor's Wing".

Because we know that Starfleet wins the Romulan War because of TOS, I think it is an interesting dilemma to make this story feel like something compelling. I do think that this book succeeded in that. I really enjoyed this book's exploration of the Vulcan's pacifism. T'Pau made for an interesting POV to read from. In general I still think Trip makes literally the worst spy, the man is nothing but a Southern Gentleman and is really bad at covering it up. I loved the epilogue, getting to glimpse him and T'Pol and their happy little family.

I give this one a 8/10! Really loved it actually. Next up is Starfleet Year One which apparently is only new character, so I am interested to see if it can capture my attention.

#star trek enterprise #star trek novels #t'pol #charles trip tucker #travis mayweather #t'pau #hoshi sato #michael a martin

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-pokemon-fan]

White Hardcore Nuzlocke: Success

I did it. It took six tries but I did it. I succeeded in hardcore Nuzlocking Pokémon White Version. This is my sweetest victory yet. I had wiped to the Elite Four twice, Ghetsis once, and N twice. But this time, I did it. My winning team?

Stardust the Samurott

Glitter the Stoutland

Din the Haxorus

Gripper the Cofagrigus

Walkway 2.0 the Durant

Shankah the Bisharp

Taki Shits the Darmanitan

Sexta the Zekrom

White 2 is next. The game that took three attempts to beat with items. Here we fucking go. Read on for reflections on this endgame boss rush.

Walkway 2.0 died to Marshall's Conkeldurr because I used Entrainment on it without checking his ability. Turns out he had Hustle, not Swarm. So Conkeldurr's ability changed from making its moves 1.3x stronger to making them 1.5x stronger. One shot killed Walkway 2.0, but Gripper was able to swoop in and use Will-O-Wisp to burn Conkeldurr, cutting its attack in half to let another team member finish it off.

Stardust died to Shauntal's Golurk. It was at a little less than half HP. I checked its stats and found that its Defense is slightly poorer than its Spec Def, so I used Aqua Tail instead of Surf. I missed and got Stardust killed. It was heartbreaking. We had come so far together. But I used the free switch-in to bring in Glitter, who slayed Golurk with a Crunch. Stardust and Glitter were my first two Pokémon of the run, and aside from using Taki Shits against Brycen, they were the only members of my team that I used before the endgame. Losing one of them hurt.

For the final battles against N and Ghetsis, I brought in Taki Shits to fill one empty team slot and caught Zekrom to fill the other. See, the lesson I learned from attempt 5's wipe was that I couldn't just rush in with the same exact team for N that I used against the E4. The game gives me a chance to switch my team, so I should take full advantage of that. It sucked not having the bulky Water type that was Stardust, but a glass cannon Fire type turned out to be the perfect replacement.

I made plenty of smart plays in those battles, but one that I'm particularly proud of is this one. N sent out his Archeops. Its ability, Defeatist, halves its Attack and Spec Attack once its HP drops to 50%. That's a terrible ability, but I knew it didn't matter when its HP was full. I switched to Gripper and tanked an Acrobatics. The move made contact and proc'd Gripper's ability: Mummy. Archeops' ability switched to Mummy. I used Will-o-Wisp to burn it, then switched to Din.

See, my Haxorus has the ability Rivalry, which buffs damage against Pokémon of the same gender and nerfs it against those of the opposite. Din is female. All of N's gendered Pokémon are male. But when I used Dragon Claw, Din took Mummy and broke free from her chains. I was then able to wreck shop.

I'll level with you. I did something this time that I hadn't the previous five attempts. Remember my stance on hacking in Nuzlockes: If I could achieve an outcome nothing but time investment, I can hack it in. I figured that this typically disqualifies EV hacking there aren't any patches of grass that guarantee the same EV yield every encounter. Besides that, how would I distribute EVs? It's just complicated so I avoid it. However. There are pools of water in Striaton City that only have Basculin. 2 Speed EVs per KO. The EXP yield is low enough that that grinding wouldn't overlevel my team. Uh huh. So I gave my entire team maxed out speed EVs.

Was I only able to win because of this? Honestly, maybe. There were 3 points where I actually opened a stat calculator to see if my Pokémon that had a lower base Speed than my opponent could outspeed it with the EVs. But I was playing optimally and I doubt anyone can hold that against me.

So yep. I did it. Mark it in my personal history book. White is conquered. Onward to greater things. Thank for reading if you made it this far!

#pokemon #nuzlocke #nuzlocke story #pokémon bw #pokemon black and white

[daniel306gaming]

¿What if Darkseid was in Avengers Endgame?

To: Ray Porter, the Russo Bros, Kevin Feige, James Gunn, Peter Safran, Marvel Studios and DC Studios

                                                          Intro        Welcome back my fellow Watchers to the MULTI-VERSE series where I combine different franchises to see who would win or this case what would have happened. In today’s fan fiction we’re going to be exploring what would have happened if the Apokoliptian known as Darkseid had cross paths with the Avengers and fought all of them including the Mad Titan Thanos. Now Darkseid is a force to be reckon with and since the Avengers had a hard time defeating Thanos then I’m pretty sure there gonna have a much harder time stopping Darkseid. ¿How can this affect the future of the MCU and DCEU going forward? ¿Will the Mad Titan be victorious in defeating Darkseid? This is an original what if created by me following the mythology of the Avengers and Darkseid and the timeline of the MCU and DCEU respectively. Without wasting anymore time sit back and relax and enjoy this fan fiction.                                                                 Story The events of Endgame start out the same as in your universe. Thanos knew what he wanted to do as he wanted to use the Infinity Stones to balance the equation of the world and reduce the population to ensure it was compatible with the resources on Earth but there was an end to his plan that always disturbed him. He knew that if he succeeded in collecting the stones and snap his fingers that his mission would be accomplished but he knew that the stones would need to be destroyed in order to prevent anyone from being tempted to use them but for him to destroy the stones it would take a greater part for his health. It would seriously leave him injured as the desperation on his part on how to avoid the inevitable deterioration to his health led him to the discovery of the multiverse and in the end the Mother Boxes. The Mother Boxes had been initially used by Darkseid on his Earth in order to terraform the planet into a look-alike of his apocalyptic home. It failed due to the alliance among the Atlanteans, Amazons, Man and Gods like Zeus who used his lightning bolts to split the Unity into 3. The boxes were given to the Atlanteans, the Amazons and Man to protect it from Darkseid when he would emerge to claim the boxes. After the death of the Man of Steel his final scream was loud enough and it woke up the dormant boxes which began to call out to all that were desperately in search of it hence it called out to Darkseid and Thanos from his own universe. Thanos had known that he would not be the only one after these boxes so he needed to prepare but after getting the last stone from Vision at Wakanda Thanos snapped his fingers and 50% of the population vanished. Thanos felt the accomplishment of fulfilling his tasks as he needed to destroy the stones which was the second task and Thanos had also known that the Snap had only affected his own universe. However, this was a minor issue which he had worked on during his travels and research to find the Mother Boxes. He discovered the Darkhold on his universe as he was able to manipulate the Darkhold but with this mystical book that allowed multiversal manipulation he allowed the Snap to affect the Mother Boxes’s universe thus wiping out 50% of the population that left these boxes vulnerable with half of the warriors safeguarding them in Thymiscira and Atlantis had vanished. This gave Steppenwolf the opportunity to easily take these boxes from the spots as the last box which was hidden by man was difficult for Steppenwolf to find but Thanos stood by while Steppenwolf invaded Thymiscira through a Boom Tube and stole the Mother Box effortlessly. He watched when he placed the second Mother Box he had gotten from Atlantis on the wall to begin the unification as like Steppenwolf Thanos was unaware of the location of the last box hence why he waited but after the stress of finding the InfinityStones individually Thanos had realized that it would be easier to let people do the work for him hence why he let Steppenwolf continue his search for the boxes and Thanos felt the similar pulse he felt when the boxes had called to him. The last box had been activated as Thanos did not want to make himself known by going for the bugs directly so he waited for Steppenwolf to get it instead but when Steppenwolf arrived with the third Mother Box before he could place it on the wall Thanos stopped him and Steppenwolf was initially shocked but he quickly got over the shock and he used blasts on Thanos. The Mad Titan wielded the Infinity Stones to his advantage as Steppenwolf’s parademons flocked towards the Mad Titan but this provided Steppenwolf with the opportunity and he needed to place the final box into the wall. The unification immediately began and the boxes began to seamlessly merge. Thanos defeated the demons and was faced with Steppenwolf who laughed and told him that there was no way he could stop the unification process till it was completed. The Mad Titan laughed and told him nothing was impossible. He raised his left hand where the gauntlet was and a green glow appeared around his wrist. Steppenwolf recognized the Infinity Stones as Thanos immediately began to rewind time till the boxes were separated entities but Steppenwolf saw this and roared when he charged towards Thanos who used the stones against him immediately knockinghim down. He picked up the boxes, opened a boom tube and left. After Thanos had left another portal opened and Darkseid came through the portal as he stared at Steppenwolf who was grunting from the force of The Infinity Gauntlet that had been used against him but Darkseid told him that he was a failure and that he was not worthy of coming home from his banishment. Since he could not complete the task given to him Steppenwolf kneeled before him and begged for mercy saying that he would retrieve all the boxes in time. Darkseid laughed and told him that mercy was for the weak. Steppenwolf knew what was coming next as Darkseid used his telekinetic powers to levítate Steppenwolf from his kneeling position applying pressure from his neck but Steppenwolf pleaded that he would get the Infinity Stones together with the Mother Boxes while Steppenwolf began to explain the powers of the Infinity Stones which were the the Mind, Reality, Space, Time, Soul and even the Power Stones respectively. He said that the 6 stones used together were comparable to the Mother Boxes but only more powerful while Darkseid said nothing and he flung Steppenwolf aside as the demons began to flock around him. He opened a portal with the mission to get back the Mother Boxes and now the Infinity Stones. Darkseid arrived at the destination of the Mad Titan’s hideout staggering into his farmhouse. He went in and met him. Half of Thanos’s arm had been burned as he had destroyed the stones and it had taken a toll on him. Like he had foreseen Thanos had sensed a presence as he turned and saw Darkseid immediately recognizing him. He told him that he was too late and that he had already destroyed the stones. Darkseid stared at the Mother Boxes and used his telekinetic powers to pull them towards him. The Mad Titan sluggishly lunged forward to stop the boxes as Darkseid invaded the mind of Thanos using his telepathy but he scanned through his mind of Thanos and found his regrets trapping him in an endless loop of the sacrifice he had to make for the Soul Stone which was the death of his daughter Gamora. Thanos stood immobilized as tears began to slip from his own eyes but Darkseid laughed and called him weak. He briefly told the Mad Titan on how he had killed his own mother and brother when he tried to use the Omega Force. He stated that he had no regrets and he would do it again. He also told the Mad Titan that he was unfit to wield such great power as he stretched his hands out at Thanos and folded his palms. Thanos let out a gut-wrenching scream as all his molecules began to dissipate and disintegrate. Darkseid levitated the boxes and began to merge them. He had the sole mission of acquiring these boxes in order to locate the Anti-Life Equation which was a mathematical proof that life is meaningless as anyone who wielded the equation would possess the free will to manipulate the universe and the people within to total domination. As the boxes merged there was a light and a low bling of the Earth. The boxes merged in unity but vine slowly broke out on the Earth the boxes began to terraform the Earth in likeness of Apokolips while Darkseid stretched his hands and closed his eyes. He freed his mind and left a single thought which was the location of the Anti-Life Equation. The mother box is twisted and rotated violently displaying a holographic projection of the location of the Anti-Life. It was Wakanda as Darkseid could not believe it but he had found what he was look looking for in this universe while the Anti-Life Equation had been engraved into the core of the soul and could not be revealed without the Mother Boxes. It would have remained untapped for years as he felt a presence there but he turned just in time to stop an ax with his telekinetic ability and he let the ax fall to the floor. He saw a team of heroes walk in as the boxes were still levitating and he had the location displayed. Thor asked for Thanos and Darkseid looked at the massive puddle on the floor. They followed his eyes and it dawned on them. “What happened” Captain Marvel asked for the Infinity Stones. Darkseid ignored them and grasped the boxes while a boom tomb appeared immediately. Captain Marvel flew directly towards him and took the boxes from his hands before he entered the boom tube. Darkseid grabbed her leg as she tried to fly over him with the box but he swung her towards the wall and broke the wall. The others wasted no time in attacking Darkseid as Iron Man levitated and began to shoot repulsor rays at him. Rocket blasted waves through his gun and Darkseid walked towards the box that had dropped when Captain Marvel came in contact with the wall. Thor threw his ax at the box and it hit it moving it further from Darkseid. As Thor retracted the ax Darkseid held on to it but Thor was shocked while Darkseid swung the ax and threw it at Nebula who was running towards him. Nebula fell to the floor in time to avoid the ax as Captain America leaped and punched Darkseid in the face. The force of the punch did not affect Darkseid but it made him angrier as he sensed that the battle would only be a waste of time and he shot his omega beams at Captain America who brought up his shield (giving by Tony Stark earlier in this universe) to protect himself. The beam broke the shield and ricocheted towards the wall. Darkseid picked up the boxes opened a boom tube towards wakanda and left. Back at the Avengers Compound the Avengers arrived after being beaten in battle with Darkseid as they had so many questions and little to no answers. They were wondering ¿who the stranger was, how he was able to disintegrate one of their toughest villains and what those boxes were? Captain America who had paid much attention to the hologram that was still being displayed by the boxes wondered ¿why Wakanda was highlighted in the map? It also bothered him how his laser beams were strong enough to break off parts of his shield made from one of the strongest materials on Earth as Thor was more bothered about how he was able to effortlessly swing his ax that only he could wield but with the eternal turmoil going through their minds Tony Stark had to remind the team of the essence of their visit to Thanos and they had to get back the stones from him in order to bring back their friends that had been lost in the Blip. Finding out the stones had been destroyed meant they needed to find another solution to their problem but Steve told them about what he saw on the map projected by those boxes as he expressed his fears about the being and what he planned to do with Wakanda. Thor told him that even if they wanted to do anything to stop him they would be incapable since he outmatched them as he told the team that in order to stop the villain they would need the help from others and this was the need of the stones. Tony suggested that they could harness the power of the Quantum Realm which is only accessible to Scott Lang through a machine and properly calibrating the time frame to years where the stones were just kilometers away from each other. Initially doubtful the team agreed since there had been no other options for the time being. Tony had already begun the construction of the Time Machine as a work to defy science but he realized that the machine had to work and not be a failed experiment. Captain Marvel offered to go to Wakanda and assist the warriors in holding off Darkseid while they got the Infinity Stones. Darkseid appeared through the boom tube at Wakanda as he scanned the landscape of the land and there was no one in sight. He levitated the box high above the ground but pulled it down with so much force as the box clattered to the ground and the earthquake rumbled slowly. Engravings appeared on the Earth for the Anti-Life Equation to be complete as it had to span the entire land of Wakanda but the remaining Wakanda warriors felt the earthquake while they saw the Engravings on their land written and then they saw a man standing by it watching carefully. They began to chant as they moved their army and they saw that it wasn't Thanos but it was somebody else. Darkseid looked up when he heard the chant from the warriors but he knew he couldn't let anyone move or touch the boxes while it was revealing the formula as it would make the boxes recalibrate and transform in the substance that possessed as the greatest weakness of the host. In Darkseid’s case it was Radeon an element which had toxic effects especially when dispelled through explosion as Darkseid stood by the box when the Wakandan warriors began to charge towards him but Darkseid stretched his hands and bent the energy around the box creating a force field to safeguard it. He looked at the Warriors again and closed his eyes. He created avatars to match the number of Wakandan warriors as the avatars charged at the warriors each possessing a unique ability but before they reached him a beam soared through the air and landed with gorce pushing the avatars in front backwards. Captain Marvel stood and flew towards the avatars starting the battle. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner had finished with the machine and they decided to test run its effectiveness if they had placed a toy on the machine's platform. They flipped the switch on it and the car disappeared. They switched it off and the car came back instantly. They waited a few seconds to see if anything would happen to the car as the car remained the same but Tony immediately began to hand them customized suits with their quantum particles attached to their thumbs and he told them that the particles was enough for just 3 trips. One time to go, one to come back and the other to spare in case anything happens. Fully clothed they climbed on the machine's pedestal and stared at each other for a while and nodding confirming their plans silently. They pressed the button to their device and they all travel to different points in time where the stones were close to each other. Captain Marvel had destroyed most of the avatars but they kept on getting larger as she realized that Darkseid was creating more in order to drain them of their energy and she noticed the Engravings on the ground expanding. She didn't know what it was but she felt that it needed to be stopped as she flew towards Darkseid who created a force field not in the mood to engage in belittling battles and CaptainMarvel pounded on the shield each punch getting harder than the last. Darkseid stared at her and admired her resilience. Captain Marvel went a distance and flew at the shield with force. A crack appeared on the shield and Darkseid recognized the strength of Captain Marvel deciding that he would use her to his advantage. He let her break down the shield with her as he stretched out but she tried to punch Darkseid and he stretched hishand using his telekinetic powers to push against her force. He stared into her eyes to begin the possessing process as he could possess the body of another super being and negate their powers if he chose to but he decided that he would use Captain Marvel as he stared deep into her. He trapped her in her own mind with an endless time loop in her trials at training camp as a soldier but he completely took possession of her mind and body. Nebula and Rhodey went back to Morag in 2014 to steal the Power Stone just before Peter Quill could lay his hands on it. When the orb was taken from it’s secured spot Nebula began to malfunction but this prevented her from traveling back to the present as she was attacked by her former self living in 2014 and was captured. Steve in 2012 went after the Mind Stone which was held in the scepter held by Hydra agents as he took possession of the Scepter by acting as an undercover Hydra agent but he met his 2012 self and had a brief combat with him before knocking him out initially. Steve,Tony and Scott had planned to seal the Space Stone and Mind Stones in 2012 from The Avengers themselves after theyhad captured Loki. Scott shrank madeway into Tony's electrical heart and pulled the plug. This caused him to go into cardiac arrest as 2012 Tony dropped the briefcase where the Space Stone was. The future Tony used this opportunity to seize the case but it was immediately knocked from his hands by an angry Hulk who was told to use the stairs as the briefcase fell to the floor and the Space Stone rolled towards Loki. The God of Mischief picked it up and disappeared with it. Tony and Steve using their second quantum particle went back to 1970 in New Jersey where the Tesseract alias the Space Stone was being held. Steve took more particles for their journey in order to return the Stones after use while Tony stole the stone. Natasha and Clint traveled to Vormir where the Soul Stone was guarded by the Red Skull. Natasha sacrificed herself in place of Clint Barton in order to get the Soul Stone while Bruce was able to secure the Time Stone from the Ancient One at Kamar-Taj after he explained that Doctor Strange in his timeline had willingly given the Time Stone to Thanos as they all traveled to 2023 alias their present but future Nebula who had been captured by her past self was being tortured to reveal information regarding how there were two of her in 2014 and amidst the torture snippets of the future were revealed to Thanos. The Mad Titan found out that he had won and that the Avengers were traveling through time to fix their grave loss and this made the Mad Titan think about the fact that the world would never be at peace as long as there were still people carrying the memories of ones they had lost. Thanos decided that he would travel to the current time with Nebula using her Quantum Particles in order to fully eradicate the beings on the planet while the Avengers traveled back to their present time as the others noticed that Nebula and Natasha were missing. Clint stared at them and shook his head. Banner yelled in anger while Steve knowing what was at hand told them to contain their grief because they had a threat and a war was going on. Although difficult the group came to realize that they would have to postpone their grief in order to have a clear head to fight Darkseid as Bruce was filled with anger over the death of his love interest but he picked up the gauntlet that he made for the stones putting it in and snapped to bring the friends. He had lost the gamma rays emitted by the stones and it was way too much for Bruce to handle. It weakened him when he was done as the gauntlet fell off of his hands but Steve knew that they had little time left before Darkseid would accomplish whatever mission he had for Earth and he told the team that they had to go and stop him. He instructed Bruce Banner not to follow them because of the exposure to the gamma rays which had greatly weakened him as Captain America took the gauntlet and headed out with the rest of the team towards Wakanda in order to stop Darkseid. Captain Marvel aided the avatars created by Darkseid and defeated the warriors of Wakanda. Captain Marvel's mind had been broken down and occupied by a single thought planted by Darkseid to destroy the Mother Boxes which had almost finished revealing the encrypted Anti-Life Equation. Darkseid had never felt tensed in his life but a few minutes left before he would receive the decryption of the equation left him on the edge of his seat as he knew that no one was powerful enough to stop him and a Quinjet soared overhead and landed at the battlefront. The frameless widescreen panel opened and the heroes stepped out before they all climbed out. Captain Marvel blasted through the thrust engines causing the jet to explode as the forces sent the Avengers flying backwards but they all stared at Captain Marvel as she walked towards them and Steve Rogers was surprised. Staring at her she released a blast of cosmic energy at him as without his shield he rolled quickly and the blast pinned him to the ground. Thor told the other members to try and stop Darkseid while he would hold off Captain Marvel. Thor charged at her knocking her to the ground while the other members rushed to try and stop Darkseid. As they rushed towards Darkseid a portal opened and Thanos came out with his gauntlet on his hand but with no stones. Thanos who was holding Nebula by the neck flung her at the feet of the team as he told them briefly on how they could not live with their own failures which led them back to him but Darkseid saw Thanos come out of a portal with a gauntlet on his hands and he realized that his vision would finally be equalized and completed with the stones which he suspected that the team of heroes dressed in spandex held. Darkseid thought of the unlimited power that the stones would provide him but after the Anti-Life Equation had been revealed completely he would be unstoppable as the Avengers and their limited numbers were torn between fighting two beings who were considerably stronger than all of them combined. The children of Thanos began attacking the Avengers and Steve had strapped the gauntlet tightly behind his back fearing that it would loosen him but as he reached behind to get it he felt a telekinetic pull at The Gauntlet and he grabbed it with both hands planting his feet in the soil. The force of the push was greater than his stamina as he saw a dark side with his hands stretching before him pulling at the gauntlet but Thanos saw this and threw his blade at Darkseid which hit him. Before he could react this made him loosen his telekinetic connection on the gauntlet as Steve crashed to the floor with his arms wrapped tightly around the Infinity Gauntlet but then he heard the voice of Falcon telling him to look towards his left and Steve still on the floor looked at the left. As portals began to appear his view got blocked by the Mad Titan who bent to pick up the gauntlet from his hand but the Earth quaked and began to split. The Anti-Life Equation was seconds away from completion as Wanda lifted Thanos using her chaos magic and began to unwind his armor. This was fueled by the anger of the death of Vision which he had caused as Steve stood and wore the gauntlet. The energy from harnessing the 6 stones coursed through his veins as he was about to snap his fingers but when he froze he could no longer move his body and Steve cited the Mother Boxes and for the first time the reddish glow of the Earth and how fast it was expanding. He told Sam Wilson that they needed to stop the boxes before it finished as Falcon began to shoot at the boxes and he noticed that there was a protective shield barrier around it. He called for backup as Darkseid knew that they would not be able to penetrate the field in time to stop the boxes but he shot his omega beams at the Wakandan warriors who had come through the portal running towards him and the Earth rumbled with each step he took. He disintegrated every one of them that tried to stop him from reaching Steve as Darkseid reached Captain America who was still frozen in place by his telekinetic powers but he placed his thumb on his forehead and tilted his head back. Steve began to relive his life without the Super Soldier Serum as Darkseid pulled the gauntlet off of his hands just in time for the equation to finish but he wore it and vines started to erupt from the Earth in Wakanda destroying the Earth. The Avengers focused their attacks on him as Darkseid manipulated the energy around and created a field. The energy coursed through his veins and he felt the satisfaction of knowing that he had won. With the Anti-Life Equation in mind Darkseid snapped his fingers and the universe becomes the new Apokolips…                                                                                                                          THE END!                                                 And that is going to be ¿What if Darkseid was in Avengers Endgame? Now I did end this on a cliffhanger with Darkseid winning and this opens up for a possible part 2 and 3 with the Justice League and DCEU getting involved in saving the Avengers and MCU. Now I have done fan fictions of this type before but not one as long as this because I never really imagine doing Darkseid being in the MCU. Now I have done that before but I really thought the story was too much for me and there was so many grammatical errors so instead I wanted to do a clean slate and a new and better version of that story. If you want part 2 and 3 do let me know in the comments down below and do make sure to be on the lookout for more what ifs coming soon. Anyways as always guys thank you so much for reading this and have a fantastic day. Peace out! 

#darkseid #avengers #Marvel Studios

[clarrissanewt]

hi! can i request a harry x slytherin!reader imagine? could you also write that the reader’s best friends are blaise, pansy and draco and she’s flirty and cool and popular and harry’s had a crush on her for a long time and now he finds out she always had a thing for him but she didn’t want to admit it? thank you so much btw if u will, have a nice day <3

Say That Again

Pairings: Harry Potter x fem!reader

House: Slytherin

Warnings: none

GIF not mine! Credits go to the original creator!

A/n: Genuinely sorry for the slow updates!

“Y/n and I had a bet,” Harry turned his heels towards the courtyard as he heard Malfoy’s mocking voice. “She said Potter might well last for half an hour. But I think he won’t even last for ten minutes.”

He resisted his urge to tumble Malfoy down the Black Lake as the Slytherin seeker scoffed at her friend’s direction.

“What say, Potter?” Y/n stepped towards him in calculated steps, her disarming smile never faltering as she stood in front of him. “Make me win.”

He never understood what was that thing about her that made his heart skip a beat every time he had to compete with this particular girl during Quidditch matches (he didn’t like catching the snitch before her, though she had succeeded in capturing the restless orb many times). Nor could he comprehend why the Potions class ended in a wink when he was partnered with her.

Was he falling for a Slytherin? Heck no- he already did.

“Y/n! Transfiguration this time,” Pansy pulled her friend before Harry could reply, sending a knowing glance at her as she whispered, “Flirt with Saint Potter later.”

Getting killed by a dragon or forgetting about Y/n?

He’s getting killed this time.

“How am I supposed to battle a dragon?”

“Bloody hell, mate!” The red-haired Weasley sighed as he dramatically threw all the bundles of papers that Hermione had made him skim. “Ask Y/n if you only want to last for more than half an hour for her. I’m going to ‘ed.”

Harry jutted his chin on the fragile book that lay uninterested on the table.

“Hermione?”

Instead of words, he met with a ‘tut’ from her direction as her bushy hair grew bushier, if possible, as she sat with a castle of library books plunked around her.

This was turning insane.

“Honestly,” She scrunched her nose up in the air, “whatever you are planning is ridiculous.”

“No, it’s Y/n,” he replied dreamily after which he met with a thick spined book on his head.

Hermione was scary but the dragon was scarier.

🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄

Double Potions? Nah, a total hell.

“Like them, Potter?”

Harry rolled his eyes for the millionth time that day as the familiar white-blond hair zoomed into his sight while he tried to enter the dungeons.

Blaise, the ordinary scowl stuck under his slitted eyes, blocked the door further, his chest purposefully thrust forward like Malfoy.

And Harry could not find even one sensible reason for Y/n befriending them.

“Made them myself. And this isn’t the only thing it does,” Malfoy pointed as the badge turned an ugly green, reading Potter stinks.

“Brilliant,” the raven-haired boy hoisted the bag on his shoulder. “Now move.”

And that’s where their illogical rivalry lightened.

Harry definitely didn’t understand how he stepped into this situation where both of them were standing inches from each other, their wands ready to at least sabotage this Potions class.

“Woah, mate, calm down.”

The familiar voice reiterated in the shell of his ears as he unconsciously lowered his wand, sending death glares at the boy who just shrugged and walked away with Blaise and Pansy as Y/n crossed her arms threateningly.

“Don’t worry about those badges, though,” she tried hard to maintain nonchalance. “Consider this gift from my side.”

And as she pinned the badge she had in the fist of our palm to his still chest (he couldn’t tell why he wasn’t breathing), he had to blink at least four times to make sure she did that.

She winked at him as she walked away, pointing at the badge for the last time.

Potter Winks.

🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄

“I’m telling you, you won’t even last for two minutes if you keep daydreaming like that.”

He ignored Hermione’s upbraiding as he lied, huffing at the bland ceiling of his four-poster bed.

“Are you even listening to me?”

“No.”

He heard Hermione pluck up her books rather aggressively, and when the last footsteps died away, he rubbed his eyes in frustration.

“So much for a Slytherin, eh, mate?”

“Does that even matter?”

Ron gulped in defeat, and shrugging, shooed Crookshanks out of the dorms.

“Why don’t you just ask her out? Maybe, I mean…”

To Harry, it almost felt that the landing of the mattress slipped from beneath him.

“I don’t know… Look at her- she is so popular, she flirts do well-”

“Just with you,” Ron replied in utter boredom.

“That’s out of point- er-excuse me?”

“Only with you.”

“Pirate L/n likes Saint Potter?” Malfoy looked with amusement between Pansy and Y/n- Pansy, who giddily laughed at Y/n’s not-so-common flustered expression.

“I’m not a pirate!”

“Don’t tell me you hoodwinked Draco’s badge making,” their other friend plonked on the luxurious green couch as Y/n tutted. “Makes everything so obvious.”

“I don’t know what you all are vomiting about,” she rolled her eyes and made her way out of the dungeons.

“Accio fireb- Ahh, darn it!”

Harry shrieked in annoyance as the broomstick dwindled mid-air like straw before falling down with a thud.

Now even bad luck found him.

“You know, you are doing it wrong,” his eyes landed on the same Slytherin girl who was currently leaning on the door frame, watching him intently. “Move your hand a little less. Just a little.”

Her cold hand molded onto his warm, sweaty hand and with a flick of the wand, Harry could see the Firebolt soaring towards them in stable movements.

“Nervous for tomorrow?” Her voice was soft, not challengingly attractive this time. And this softness suited her.

“Uh- no,” he threw himself over a stray chair in the deserted classroom, patting the chair next to him. “I’m dying this time.”

Y/n snorted as she sat beside him, her eyes following the movement of his green ones.

“You will be alright. I trust you.”

And she was quite right about him being...splendid. Harry saw her lips curved into a suppressed smile as she watched him hunting for the Golden egg.

Competing with him was motive driven, but watching him was different. Quite impressive he was, for sure.

🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄

“I will not have you, in the course of a single evening, besmirching the name of Godric Gryffindor by behaving like a babbling, bumbling band of baboons!”

The Slytherins visibly froze at this commotion well before they entered the hall. This meeting was going to turn interesting at a point.

McGonagall sighed at the sight of silver and green as she turned back to the ‘bumbling band of baboons’.

“Ah, well. Since Professor Snape is not fit for guiding this stuff, the Slytherins are joining us today. Sit down, boys on the left and girls on the right.”

Harry’s heart stood still as Y/n sat straight in front of him, and even though they were sitting feets apart, he could feel the palpitations down his chest.

Minutes after Ron demonstrated ball dance with McGonagall, and the rest of the students were moving hand-in-hand with slow movements, they both were still on their seats, eyes still scanning each other.

“I’d appreciate it if you join Potter, L/n. He needs practice before the ball,” McGonagall called out as she passed by with Ron.

What was she even anticipating at this moment? At least not those teasing smirks from her friends.

“Er- do you know how to do this stuff?” The Gryffindor pointed between them as Y/n shook her head.

“Not going to lie, no. But you got to be ready for the ball, isn’t it, Potter? So, together?”

“Together.”

It felt like heaven bestowed on them as they strolled through the hall, his hand on her waist, and her hand on his shoulder. They didn’t care that they were tossers at dancing, they just carried out, without a single word, silently swaying in each other’s embrace.

Harry knew he needed her.

🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄

“Staying back for Saint Potter?”

“Pansy, the door’s straight,” Y/n deadpanned as she sluggishly rolled over the couch.

No matter how pictureistique Hogsmeade looked today, she was drained till her guts.

“Tell him that if he doesn’t ask you for the ball today, I’m framing him somewhere.”

“Draco, door’s there for you too.”

Blaise grinned at the sour faces of his friends as he scurried out of the common room, anticipating to satisfy his sweet tooth.

Y/n had her to-do list ready for today- sleep, bath, eat, sleep.

But Potter found his way to eat out a big portion of it, nonetheless.

Brilliant.

“Where next?” He piped from beside her as they strolled through the empty corridors of the castle.

“You know, Harry?” He turned to her, his long raven hair brushing the periphery of his shoulder like a bird skimming the waves. “I’ve always been with green all my life. Why don’t you show me some red?”

“So restless to see Gryffindors?” Harry chuckled as he pushed her all the way.

“I mean, yeah. Don’t pretend like you haven’t seen ours!”

🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄🜁🜄

“Umm, Y/n?” Harry carefully looked up from the rug as she buried herself under the invisible horizon of the book. “I just realised you have your buttons fixed, er- incorrectly?”

“Are you asserting or just shooting in the dark?”

“They are… Should I help?”

He got to his feet as she hummed in response, a floaty feeling regaining its reign in both of their stomachs.

“I’ve always wanted to ask you since that day at practice,” he gently undid a single button and looped it through the correct place, “Would you come with me to the ball?”

“Are you sure we won’t tangle ourselves while dancing?” Her lips curled in a badly hidden smile as Harry shook his head, his fingers still fumbling with the buttons.

“Well, would you?”

His face grew hot as her fingers caressed his cheek, gliding further to his nape as she pulled him closer.

And for once she wasn’t cold; only a warm breath batted his cupid bow as her forehead touched his...her shallow breaths almost sounding like an addictive lullaby to him.

“I’d love to, Harry, only if nobody contradicts.”

“Did you just call this Potter by his name?” She could hear him grin as she bit on the obliterating walls of her mouth.

What was making it so difficult?

Her train of (unanswered) questions were wrecked in between as her lips converged into his, a sweet dampness of his mouth reminding her of butterbeer. His hand raced down to her waist, closing the non-existent hiatus between them.

This happened for a while until Crookshanks conferred on them by his presence, the sudden mewl, making them jump. And no surprises when both of them fell from the bed (all thanks to Harry’s clumsy self), a low gruff groan bursting from Harry's throat.

“So, I guess it’s a yes,” he inquired as she mended to his askewed specs.

They were interrupted by scruffy footsteps and as soon as Ron entered the dorms, he froze, the bag of Honeydukes sweets cowped down to the floor.

“Er- I’ll let you both finish,” he pointed at Harry's (more than ever) messed up hair, his hand encased compactly around the Slytherin, whose lips were far more swollen than Harry's.

Y/n awkwardly slipped off from Harry’s grip onto the rugged floor as he chuckled at his friend’s uneasiness.

“It’s a yes.”

“Brilliant. So what you liked the best about this red,” he pointed lazily at the silhouette of the dorms.

“The floor,” she laughed rolling into his chest, the soft material of his jumper rubbing onto her cheeks.

“What- what? Say that again.”

#harry potter imgines #harry potter x fem!reader #harrypotterfanfic #harrypotter #harry potter oneshot #harry potter x reader #harry potter x y/n #harry potter x slytherin!reader #harry potter x slytherin #draco malfoy #blaise zabini #pansy parkinson

[ijustwant2write]

Reconnect-Finn Shelby x Reader

(GIF credit to @peakystitches​)

Masterlist

Tags: @captivatedbycillianmurphy​ @jenepleurepasbaby​ @amirahiddleston​ @bloodorangemoonlight @haphazardhufflepuff​ @mzcrazy2​

Requested by anonymous: ‘Hello! May i request an either tommy or finn shelby x reader? (Whicheverr one u think suits best) for this prompt i found: character A and B have been in a longterm relationship and nothing can get in between, until one day something does and they drift away. But then they reconnect emotionally and everything feels like the first time again (first kiss, first meal together etc) 🙏🏼💜 i love ur writing thank u’

Characters: Finn Shelby x Reader, Polly Gray x Reader (platonic)

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Swearing, arguing, finance issues, drinking, fluff

                                    *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Finn, is that you?" I called out from our bedroom as I heard the front door open. I tensed up when I didn't hear a reply, only to let out a sigh when I heard him giggling.

He was drunk again, it happened almost every week now. Tommy would have given him something important to do for the gang, and whether or not Finn succeeded with that task, he would go out and celebrate with his mates. I would sometimes tag along if I wasn't tired from the week of working, but after seeing our finances, I realised we needed to stop acting like teenagers and start saving wisely.

"Hello my gorgeous girl." he slurred out as he entered the room.

"Hello Finn." I replied as I received a sloppy kiss to my forehead.

He flopped down beside me in bed, taking the book out of my hands and throwing it to the floor. Finn wrapped his arms around me, snuggling into my lap. I took off his hat, stroking back his hair. He was cold from the brisk walk home, causing me to shiver.

“You should have come out tonight." he said.

"I got off work late."

"He kept you again?"

"No, I decided to stay."

"Why? You always say you're tired."

"I'm tired because I'm picking up extra shifts and hours so that we can start saving up for a house."

"I've told you, we don't need to worry about that. Business is good."

"Finn, we're not going to be given the money. We have to earn it."

"Tommy will help us."

"He might help but he won't give us a lot. And even if he did hand us a house, we've got to have enough money for the bills, furniture-"

"It will be fine."

"Finn, we've not even had our wedding yet!"

We had been engaged for half a year. We were wanting to be married sooner, but problems arose with the Peaky Blinders it distracted us both from it, especially since our lives were in danger. I desperately wanted to have enough money for the wedding and house, though it looked like it was going to be one or the other at this point.

"What's wrong with the flat?" Finn now sat up.

"Did you seriously ask me that question? There's only so much I can do to this dump to make it look somewhat liveable. It just doesn't feel like home."

"We'll get the money. Don't worry. Look, look," he took my hands in his,"we will get a house. I promise. And believe me, I want to marry you as soon as I can, there needs to be another ring on that finger. And I need to see my name at the end of yours."

I stupidly believed him. Those adoring eyes I once trusted had lied to me. Finn kept his promise for a week at max, soon breaking it. I didn't mind him going out with friends, we both needed to socialise, I just disagreed with the amount of times he was out and the amount of drinks he was buying each night. He would always offer to get the next round, and although he was a Shelby, the discounts didn't make much difference at the end of the night. I decided I had to go with him to ensure that our money wasn't being poured away, struggling to stay awake for those long nights, and making work even harder every day. It was impossible to keep an eye on him like that.

Usually Finn would tell me if he was going out that night so I wouldn't worry. That stopped too. My mind was never at ease. How did I know he wasn't lying in a ditch somewhere after a job gone wrong? Or what if he was trapped somewhere by a rival gang? I could only rest when he returned, which he always luckily did. I pretended to be asleep, trying to not push him away as he slipped his arms around me, cuddling me for the rest of the night. My patience began to grow thin. I was too scared to speak up about it, worried that we would just end up having an argument. However, I knew we would have to bring it up soon, because our money was only disappearing instead of increasing.

One morning when I was leaving for work, I noticed that the drawer we locked our savings away in was slightly ajar, meaning someone had unlocked it and stupidly left it open. Of course it had to be Finn, no one had broken in during the night. My eyes widened when I saw how much he had taken, enraged that he would think me so foolish. Why would he take the money without asking? What was he using it for?

As I stormed towards the shop, I heard whooping from men in a car further up the street. My face turned into a deep frown when I recognised the car, managing to catch a glimpse of the people in it. They hadn't seen me, and I had to make sure my eyes were deceiving me.

I didn't care about the looks on me as I burst through into the shop, making a beeline for Polly's office. I harshly knocked on the door, entering when she called me.

"(Y/N)? What's wrong?" she asked, a lit cigarette in hand.

"Where's Finn?"

"Off out with his brothers, why?"

"Where are they going?"

"To the races."

I scoffed, placing a hand on my head in defeat.

"Why? What's wrong with that?"

"He told me he would be in the office all day today."

"So? Things change."

"No, he specifically told me that. I never even asked about it. He made a point meaning he didn't want to risk me waltzing in. That means he's hiding something."

"(Y/N), they're only going to bet on horses today. They're mingling."

"They're betting today?!"

She stood, putting a hand on her hip."What am I missing here?"

"Pol, he's using money that we don't have! I need a car, I need to get to him."

"Look, even if my nephew is being the biggest idiot, it's a bad idea to go there."

"Why?"

Her eyes widened."Don't snap at me young lady."

"I'm sorry, I just, I just know he's going to be stupid with what little money we have at the minute."

Polly was silent for a few seconds, and I didn't know if she was just staring me out, trying to make me leave. Perhaps she didn't think it was anything to worry over. But it was to me. She surprised me when she went into one of her drawers, pulling out a set of keys.

"Come on. I'll get one of the girls to call your work, say you're sick."

I tightly clasped my hands together as Polly drove. I was furious, trying to think of what to say to Finn when I got there. He stole our money. He went behind my back, gambling away the money we worked hard to earn. I had never said it, but Finn had it much easier than I did. For one, he worked with family, and although I liked my job, the boss could sometimes be an arsehole; second, he earned a lot more than me, so he was the bigger breadwinner between us, but I worked longer hours. Yes, he was in a gang meaning he had more days where his life was under threat, but he seemed to be having a jolly good time anyway. Really, it wouldn't have mattered who worked longer or harder, or who earned more, it was still our money to spend on our house.

As soon as Polly parked up, I was straight out of the car. She quickly followed grabbing my arm and warning me to not get lost in the crowds. I couldn't make a scene, especially since there could be potential business partners or enemies about. I refrained from rolling my eyes, knowing she was right but also knowing that I would find it extremely hard to not scream at Finn.

Polly guided me to where the men would be, ignoring the shoving and shouting. I wished for her to walk quicker. We swiftly entered the posher boxes, almost stopped by a doorman until his accomplice shut him up. I even heard him whisper 'That's Polly Gray you idiot.', the one time I was glad we had a reputation. She only paused to scan the room for the boys but I spotted them first. Quickly moving past her, I couldn't stop my fists from clenching, seeing Finn joyfully drinking and laughing with his brothers only added fire to my fury.

"Finn!" I snapped, quickly catching his attention.

"(Y/N)?" he exclaimed, struggling to stand and clattering the plates and glasses on the table."W-what are you doing here?"

"Stopping you from spending our money like a fucking idiot! Where is it?"

"Oh, Finn boy is in the doghouse." John chuckled.

"Shut up!" I fiercely pointed at him.

"Where's what?" Finn brought me back.

"Our money!"

"I told you, you do this outside." Polly warned, shoving Finn in that direction, and I knew I had to follow him.

Luckily, we were left alone. Finn continued on, finding someplace we would be alone. Once we were in the clear, the distant roar of the crowds covering our conversation, I saw him sigh quietly, running a hand down his face when he realised what was coming.

"Where's the money Finn?" I asked, calmer but with a mean tone.

"Let me explain first.”

"Explain how you took our money without asking? How you just waltzed out this morning without consulting me?"

"Tommy said that there was a good chance, a very good chance that this horse would win, and I thought it would help us if we put our money on it. Imagine how much we'll have if it wins!"

"If it wins Finn, if! You're gambling our money, why would you do something like that?"

"Because you went on about not having enough money! And here I am trying to help!"

My mouth dropped open in shock."You really don’t see the problem here."

"No, actually, I don't." he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Finn, you stole money from the drawer! You then go behind my back and bet it away. Have you thought about what we'll do if that horse loses?"

"But it won't, Tommy said."

"And what if Tommy is wrong this time? Also, don't pin this on your brother, I know he hasn't even suggested this idea."

"I'm not-urgh!" Finn groaned."Why don't you trust me?"

"I can't trust a gamble Finn. I don't think you realise how many nights I've spent lying awake, worried that we'll never have enough for our own home, and thinking that you don't even care anymore."

"Of course I care. This is why I've bet the money."

"How is this not getting in your head?"

"(Y/N)," he took my hands in his, but I couldn't even look at him,"in a few minutes we will hear them announce the winner, and we will start jumping for joy when we realise how much money we're going to get back, and we're going to be so much closer to getting our home."

"Finn, I desperately want to believe that. But even if we do win, you're in deep trouble." I took my hands away from him, turning around. I couldn't even look at my own fiance.

On queue, we heard a man come over the intercom, it was muffled to me but I knew Finn was listening intensely. Glancing over my shoulder, I watched for his reaction, turning around fully when I saw his expression. We had lost. We lost all that money.

"How could you be so fucking stupid?!" I screamed at him, throwing slaps onto his chest."Why couldn't you just listen to me? I don't understand why you had to lie to me Finn!"

I broke down crying, shoving him away from me. My sobs were loud but I didn't care. Finn could watch, see how much he upset me. My heart sank at the thought of it all gone, Finn had left scarcely any money in the drawer back at the flat.

"I'm sorry (Y/N)." Finn pathetically said.

"You know how you always go on about your family never trusting you enough for the big jobs? That you never get to go out with them and help? This is why. Because you do things like this, you fuck everything up Finn. Fuck!" I wiped away my tears, even though more spilled out."You know I've always stuck beside you, but this is the last straw Finn. I can't be with someone who doesn't want to put effort into their future."

"What are you saying? (Y/N), I can fix this. I promise I'll get the money back, I'll-"

"How? That took us so long to build that up. And you were spending our money almost every night on useless drinking. I can't Finn, I can't live like that anymore."

He ducked his head, and I almost wanted him to say something. When he didn't, I knew what I had to do.

I took a deep breath before speaking."I'm going home. I suggest you stay at Polly's tonight."

"Let me take you home-"

"No!"

"What's going on?" Tommy suddenly appeared, he, his brothers and Polly approaching.

"Your nephew, your brother, just gave away almost all of our money betting on a horse. Not only that, but he took the money without telling me. That was money for a house." I angrily explained.

"Is that true Finn?"

Finn shamefully nodded.

"We can get you your money back (Y/N)."

"It's not about that Tom. He's lied to me. He promised me he wouldn't spend our money every week, yet he did. And then he takes our money without asking me about it first."

"I'll fix it (Y/N), I promise I will." Finn was begging at this point.

"Another promise that you're bound to break. I've had enough today."

"Let's get you home love." Polly said, putting a stop to this argument as she stepped forward, taking me under her arm.

Finn didn't come home that night. I didn't sleep. I was sat at the tiny dining table, staring at the ring on my finger, wondering what to do. It broke my heart to think about leaving him, but it also broke my heart thinking about how reckless he had been. Did I really want to be marrying someone who acted like this? Would he mature? My heart wanted to believe he would, but my mind kept telling me that today confirmed he wouldn't. That was one of the worst nights of my life.

                                     *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I couldn't stand this job any longer. But it was the only thing keeping me alive. It was crappy work, the pay was just above minimum, enough for me to buy food, pay my rent and have the tiniest amount left over. Saving up money was hard when it was just you. Even after two years, I didn't have enough to consider looking at places of my own, or with less roommates. It was exhausting keeping up with these girls I lived with, there were 6 of us altogether. It was a big change when I moved away from Small Heath.

"You ready (Y/N)?" one of my roommates called out to me as I finished applying my lipstick.

"Just a second!" I replied, checking myself in the mirror.

It was the rare occasion that I was going out with them, the one time we could all go out together at all. I was looking forward to a few drinks, and although that sounded hypocritical, I realised that I had to have a night or two in at least a month to relieve myself of the stress I put upon myself.

We arrived at the small club we always went to, it had the cheapest drinks this side of town. We all shivered in the cold weather, walking as fast as we could to make it to the club. The warmth was very welcome, as well as the loud music that drew us further in. It was the usual routine, a few of us grab a table, the others get the drinks in, then we would all make our way to the dance floor. Hours passed, and I had to get away from the heat coming from the dancing, stepping back towards our table to get a drink. I saw my roommate stumbling in the direction of the bar, rolling my eyes as I went to help her, perhaps getting a drink whilst I was there. However, once I got closer, I stared at the man she was starting to flirt with.

"Isaiah?" I said as I got closer.

"(Y/N)!" he smiled, bringing me in for a hug.

"You two know each other?" my roommate asked, looking disappointed.

"He's an old friend. Just that, nothing else."

Isaiah let me go."How long has it been? Two years?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, two years. What are you doing here?"

"Business. Nothing dangerous though, you girls are still in for a good night. Especially you if you're good." he winked to my roommate.

"Is he...is he here?" my voice suddenly went shaky, and I felt almost completely sober.

Isaiah's playful nature dropped."Uh, he is. He's really misses you (Y/N). Hasn't even looked at another girl since you left. He's just not been the same." I wasn't sure how to reply.

"I can't not tell him I saw you. Imagine if he found out, he would be so upset with me."

"I know. I wouldn't want to hurt your friendship."

"Maybe you should see him. It might do you both some good."

"Or the opposite."

"He still loves you. Even if you don't feel the same, it could bring closure. But I know you (Y/N), I can tell what you're thinking."

"You were always annoying like that."

"He's out front, in the corridor. That's all I'm going to say."

I looked at him for a few seconds, trying to make my mind up."Well, this one is a handful, just so you know."

"I think I can handle her." Isaiah smirked.

"I was warning her about you."

I giggled at his reaction, walking away and leaving him in his natural habitat of flirting. But as soon as I turned around, my stomach dropped, nerves filling up my entire body. He was here. I hadn't seen him for two years, though I thought about him everyday. Would he look different? Did I look different? What was he going to say? What was I going to say? My brain didn't want to think of any words, maybe I was about to babble absolute nonsense to him.

Upon seeing him, my throat tightened, the cool air slapping me in the face; oh, now I was sober. He hadn't noticed yet, leaning up against a wall, hands in his pockets. Wow, he had changed. His boyish charm was still there, yet he had matured into a handsome young man. It was like I was seeing him for the first time all over again. I was just happy that he would be seeing me in my finer clothes rather than catching me after work.

Urging my feet to move, I almost sighed at how small my steps were. I really was scared. Isaiah had said reassuring things, yet I couldn't even walk up to him. It was too late to back out now, especially when he finally looked up at me. I froze on the spot, not knowing what to do. Finn seemed the same way.

"(Y/N)." he said, I only just heard it.

"Hello."

Hello? Really, that's all I could come up with?

He pushed himself off the wall, coming to stand in front of me, though not too close."I...I can't believe you're here."

"I could say the same about you."

"This is where you've been living then."

I nodded."It's not too bad. I mean, I'm on a night out."

"Who are you with?"

I knew he was wondering if I was with a man."My roommates, I live with five other girls."

"Oh, that's a lot."

"Yeah, it's the only place I could afford."

"I hope it's nice."

"I shouldn't complain. A lot better than other places."

We both knew we were making an awful attempt at small talk. I was sure he had so much to say like I did, we just didn't want to dump it on each other in case the other ran away. It was like we were teenagers again, awkwardly trying to think of something to fill the dreaded silence.

"I really want to talk about us (Y/N)." Finn said.

"You do?"

"I...I just have so much to say to you. I can't do it now, but what about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Tomorrow, um, yes, yes tomorrow works for me. It's the weekend, so I'm not working."

He smiled slightly."OK, good. I'll come get you. Um, I need your address."

"Oh, here." I dug around in my purse, thankful there was a folded up tissue and a pen, it was good to be prepared. I wrote down my address, handing it to him.

"I'll pick you up at one. I would want it to be earlier, you just never know what time you'll be back with this sort of thing."

"I understand Finn, I did live this with you once."

I barely slept, even when we stumbled in at three in the morning. Luckily I hadn't seen Finn, Isaiah or any other Peaky Blinder that evening, no doubt settling business behind the scenes. Despite the lack of sleep, I was wide awake the next morning, up before everyone else who were nursing their hangovers, trying on multiple outfits in a desperate attempt to look nice, but not as if I put too much effort in. The clock was rolling onto one o'clock, and my heart was beating much faster than usual. I was about to make my way downstairs when something glistened on my small vanity. Should I take it? Yes, I would.

Finn knocked on the door, and I waited a few seconds before opening it. We smiled as we greeted each other, not going in for a hug or kiss on the cheek, something I was worried about. That was the first hurdle jumped over.

"How was your evening?" Finn struck up a conversation as we walked further into town.

"Much better than yours I presume?" I smirked. He chuckled."Yeah, didn't exactly get to enjoy the music. Small fight, nothing we couldn't handle."

It was strange hearing about Blinder business again."Well I'm glad you're all safe."

"I thought we could go out for lunch, saw a nice place round here."

"Oh, that would be lovely."

"We don't have to, if you don't feel comfortable."

"No, no, no, it's not that. It's just a lovely thing for you to do."

We both bashfully smiled, luckily the restaurant was just around the corner. I had expected nothing less when we walked into the fancy place, not because I thought I deserved it, but because Finn wouldn't be seen anywhere else. His clothes were even more tailored now than they had been the last I saw him, indicating that the gang had been doing well, more money was coming in. We both immediately picked up our menus as we sat, hoping someone would speak first. Our eyes glanced over the top of them, it was as if we were on our first date again, only this time in a better establishment.

"You look beautiful." he said, still hiding part of his face.

"Thank you." I blushed.

"I'll never forget what you wore when I picked you up for our first date. That blue dress you just bought, with a matching purse, and those heels that you hadn't practiced walking in. Well, you used that as an excuse to latch into my arm all night."

I smiled, placing down my menu."It was a good plan, wasn't it? And I did struggle in those heels, I just didn't want to embarrass myself."

He copied me."I liked holding your hand all night."

"What a sweet sentiment."

"I mean it. And I mean this date. That didn't sound right, but...what I'm trying to say is that I want to make it all up to you."

"You do?"

"Yes! I really didn't expect you to leave. I mean I did, but I didn't want to believe that. I didn't want to believe that I had been so selfish that I couldn't even see how much I had hurt you." 

“That was the hardest decision I ever made. Most days I battle with myself whether I made the right choice. All night I kept making deals with myself. If you came back, I would hear you out, and if it was good enough for me I would stay. But then you didn’t, so I said to myself ‘Give him another hour.’. An hour went by, and I said the same thing to myself. That went on for the whole evening until I found myself angrily packing my things. Even then, I sat by door on top of my suitcase for another hour or so.”

“I thought you just got up and left. I didn’t realise how long you waited for me.” he sighed into his hands.“I’m such a fucking idiot.”

I could tell he was full of regret. Although it sounded sadistic, I was glad that he was upset when reflecting on our past relationship, it meant he realised his mistake. On the other hand, I hated seeing him sad. I took his hands away from his face, hesitantly reaching into my handbag to pull out the engagement ring I kept.

His eyes widened.“You still have that? I looked everywhere for it when you left, guessed you took it to sell.”

“I won’t lie, that was my intention at first. But it meant too much to me. It was like selling a piece of my soul. I kept it hidden, I didn’t want to risk any of the girls seeing it, they would just ask too many questions.”

I kept my eye on the beautiful ring as I spoke, slowly twirling it around to catch it twinkling in the light.

"I had such a hard time picking that out. I knew what you wanted, but I had to get it right for you. I'm so glad you kept it."

"I did try to sell it. I was stood outside of a shop for ten minutes debating with myself. It would have helped a lot for the deposit on the room, but I couldn't do it."

We were silent, both staring at the ring. We used to do that a lot actually. Finn would take my hand and hold it up as we laid in bed together, both giggling as we watched it glisten like it was in present times, before squealing at the thought of us being married to each other. I constantly fiddled with it when he was off on business, a habit which never wore off, even now; whenever I was nervous or worried, I would automatically do the same action, just without the ring.

A waiter awkwardly interrupted us, and I hurriedly put the ring back in my bag, sharing an embarrassed smile with Finn as we ordered. Once he was gone, I quietly sighed, looking out of the window. We were in such a nice part of town, so many ladies in beautiful dresses and men in smart suits strolling around.

"Are you...are you OK for money?" Finn boldly asked.

I was a little shocked by that.

"I don't mean anything by it. I just want to make sure you're OK, I would hate for you to be struggling, if you were."

"Uh, no, no I'm fine actually. It's not as generous as my old wage but it keeps me alive, I can live with the bare necessities."

I could see him itching to say something else, to keep the conversation going. I wasn't sure if we could go back to the serious topic we had before. However, I also wanted to bring it back up, it felt like we needed to talk about us.

"How's the family?" That's all I could come up with.

"They're fine. Everyone is the same. Well, they're not, they're a bit more serious nowadays."

"They weren't in the first place?"

He smiled."I suppose they were. Tension is the right word, tensions have been rising. Tommy's taking on a lot more, Polly knows all these secrets that no one else does, Ada is rebelling against anything Tommy says, Linda is still annoying, Esme and John have been popping kids out left, right and centre. Arthur is still crazy."

"Sounds like business as usual to me."

"They miss you too."

"Do they?"

"Yeah. Almost as much as me."

I cast my eyes down as butterflies rose in my stomach.

"I heard nothing else for the next few weeks after you left. They all told me what an idiot I was, that I was an extremely reckless, stupid and immature boy, and that I had let the best thing in my life get away from me. And they were right. I knew all of that already."

"I...I don't really know what to say right now."

"You don't have to say anything, let's just enjoy this meal, no more of that talk."

The nerves making my stomach flip built at that. What if we had nothing else to talk about? What if it was too weird to dive into our separate lives? I didn't want to sit across my ex-fiance, painfully and politely smiling through forced conversation.

The spark was still there.

When the waiter had returned with our drinks, we were already deep in talk about what had been happening in our personal everyday life. We were non stop, even as we ate through dinner. The waiters had trouble catching our attention each time they checked on us. I was deep in those eyes again, the ones I always dreamed of seeing. We were laughing hysterically, not at all acting how we should have in that establishment (there were a few eye rolls from other patrons). As if time had gone by in a second, the bill was slipped towards Finn, though I still reached into my purse.

"Are you mad? No, put your money away, I'm not taking it." Finn stated as he carelessly threw down some notes, surprisingly taking my hand in his and guiding me out of the restaurant.

I was tense as we walked, and I saw a flash of realisation in Finn's eyes as we made it outside. Both looking down at our interlocked fingers, Finn broke away, clearing his throat.

"Sorry, force of habit."

Hesitating, I smiled up at him, lacing our hands together again."These are new heels I'm breaking in. Need help walking in them."

He chuckled, pulling me closer as we walked down the street. We were silent, feeling like kids in love again. I couldn't deny that my feelings were still strong for Finn, I missed him dearly. At first, part of me had been wary of all this, wondering if he really had good intentions, or just thought he could get a quick shag in from an ex before he left; but the effort he went through, the things we spoke about, trying to heal old wounds, Finn had matured and he was wanting to fix this. I wanted to fix this, my heart was aching for my old life with him. 

“We’re not done yet, are we?” I timidly asked.

“Not unless you want it to be.”

I instantly shook my head.“No, I’d like to stay out for longer.”

“Even though you’re struggling in your heels?”

I smirked.“I know a nice place we can sit down.”

I took him to the local park, it had a huge lake with benches dotted around, luckily it wasn’t busy, there was somehow a hint of privacy here. We sat down close to each other, hands still entwined. 

“You still hungry?” I asked.

“Hm?”

I dug into my purse, producing a bag of sweets I had bought the previous day. I laughed as his eyes lit up, taking one without even asking. I took one too, reminiscing on how we used to do the same thing as kids. It seemed he was thinking about it too.

“Just like the old days.” Finn said.

“We spent way too much money on sweets back then. It’s a wonder we still have our teeth.”

 “Wish I got out of that spending habit. We could be married and in our new house by now.”

“So you never wanted to move on? You didn’t give in to those girls wanting to be with a Peaky Blinder?”

“Never. I couldn’t. I couldn’t even fathom being with anyone else, it was always you (Y/N). Did you date?”

“No, I felt exactly the same. Which is why I was angry at myself for a long time. I was supposed to be upset with you, not still in love.”

His head whipped round to face me.“You still love me?”

My mouth was still open, unsure how to answer. It seemed I didn’t have to as Finn leaned in, placing on hand on my cheek as we kissed. Instinctively I kissed back, placing my hands on him where I could, hearing the bag of sweets fall to the ground and spill its contents. This kiss was needy, the type of kiss you gave your partner when you had missed them, when they had been away for a long time; and although we had our hands on each other, our touch was still gentle.

“Get the ring.” Finn breathed out, our lips still almost touching.

I carelessly got it for him, heart beating extremely fast. He took it from me, pecking me on the lips one last time before standing up. He straightened out his suit, took a deep breath and got down on one knee. I was just as emotional the first time he did it.

“(Y/N), I know I messed up everything in the past, I was careless when I should have been supportive and helped to build our future. I learnt from those mistakes, and I really, really want to go back to how we were. I need you (Y/N), I love you so much. There aren’t enough words to express how much love I have for you. Will you marry me?”

I didn’t need to think about my answer. I blurted out a yes, waiting for him to slide the ring back on my finger before throwing myself onto him. We stumbled back onto the ground, our arms around each other as we laughed and cried. I believed him this time, I truly believed him. He put in the effort to show me his changes, he wanted to fix everything. I wanted things back to the way they were with my man, and we were back to building our future and living the rest of our lives together.

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