#life by the sea is... meh

[soupcrouton]

Ok picture a girl who drives a suburu outback and wears long flowy pants and butterfly hairclips ok now picture her blasting three days grace and screaming inside her (very girly) suburu outback ok youre picturing me thats who I am and what I do

#me blasting three days grace and SCREAMING the words to I Hate Everything About You. with like... a sea turtle bumper sticker on my car #do i have anyone in my life that i hate that much? fuck no!!! is it a good song? yes!!!!! #idk i just think my music taste vs everything else i use to express myself are two very different (and often conflicting) things #and i think its funny #ALSO shoot me down if you want but i hate everything about you is a mujin song. i said it. #its also the only good tdg song. the rest of them are meh

[heartfullofleeches]

Clownfish reader can be paired up with a few yans:

-Yandere Fisherperson who is a somewhat collector of rare finds of fish and has taken a liking to you so they keep you in a huge aquarium and keeps you there.

-Yandere Predator who was supposed to prey on you until they realized you were their perfect soulmate and decided to keep you for themselves whilst they hunt for you and keep you safe.

-Yandere Sailor who managed to stumble upon one of your performances that has them in a trance, They sail all over the seas just to find you and watch your performances until they were to capture you so you only perform for them and sail away with them.

-Yandere Kraken who has watched all of your performances and yet is somewhat jealous of the fact you still weren't theirs, They make sure to be at an appropriate distance that they can keep an eye on you and make sure you weren't frightened by them.

These are cheesy but meh, I still like the idea of Clownfish reader tho as long as they wear the orange black and white pattern as clown makeup.

(I combined the Predator + Kraken one because I felt they could work together)

-

Another shipwreck.

So many of those recently. You feared for, and even attempted to entertain stranded humans until better help arrived. This wreckage was completely devoid of life, and its content spilled along the sea floor - making it grounds for you to savage parts for future acts. It wasn't stealing if no one was around.

You swim through the wreckage collecting whatever catches your eye. Shiny jewelry, things you could use to paint your face with on the surface- What's that? You drop nearly your entire horde to pick up one object. A long strip of metal with holes and held together by straps of leather. You've seen humans play with something similar before, blowing air through the top to make such lovely sounds. You try it yourself, but all that comes out is jets of water through the otherside. Obviously not what you wanted, but it still amuses you. You sit on a nearby rock and trying again with a deeper breath, blissful unaware of your surroundings.

Such a cute little fool you were.

Well fed and lethargic, the creature watches its destined mate amuse themselves from the shelter of the dismantled ship. Dinner and a show were such a beautiful mix. That obvious angel was next on the menu at one point in time, but the creature's stomach just wouldn't settle right if it ate something so sweet. Instead, it chose follow them and their humorous act - falling mad with love by the day. How comforting it was to see them smile when pleased a crowd, and how righteous it felt to devour those who turned away their loves generosity though both groups met the same ill fate as soon as their bethroned looked away. With all this talk of food, it was about time it shared its bounty with its lover.

You pause to sniff the air as a faint scent wafts through the ocean sky. It's fish, and not the kind you're used to. It's that stuff in cans you've discovered in other shipwrecks that was somehow even better than that. You swim over without even putting danger into question. At the source you find that cans with their lids popped, and fillets of fish the humans must've cooked. The skin is a little mushy thanks to the water, but you're too hungry to care. You look around as something grazes your back, just missing the tendril that retreats into the ship as you dive back in for another bite.

Adorable as always.

#Clownfish reader #yandere oc #yandere #yandere x you #yandere scenarios #yandere imagines #yandere headcanons #yandere x reader #yandere blurb #yandere insert #Sea creature reader #Clown reader #yandere teratophilia #yandere monster

[mothwingwritings]

There’s Honey On The Moon Tonight

F!Reader X Kaoru Hanayama

Maaaaan it’s been so long and I am SO sorry. I kinda got out of my groove for a bit and life got overwhelming and draining, hence the radio silence. I wanted to come back with a little fic to get me back into the swing of things and since I have wanted to write for Hanayama for some time, this came about. It was based around a yandere prompt I saw that was “I love you so much, you have no idea what limits I would go to prove that to you.” I actually started writing this for Jack, had all kinds of issues, and decided to write it for Hanayama instead lol. I may still possibly post the little Jack fic I plucked at, but I am overall pretty meh about it so we’ll see. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I really want to work on writing some shorter stuff for a while. I am so in awe of all of you that can churn out these small masterpieces. My ass does NOT know when to shut up and when I start to write my brain is like no… You must explain EVERYTHING, which (whether my mind believes it or not) is not something that needs to be done. ( ͜。 ͡ʖ ͜。) So going through a lot of trying to unlearn that.

ANYWAY I will be quiet and leave this hear for your perusal. It is my gift for coming home (finally) and working to get back up to speed! Thank you all for reading anything I write, and thank you if you like it! I am constantly floored by how wonderful you all are, and I appreciate anyone that reads my stuff more than you all know. (╥﹏╥)

This fic is set a few years in the future, you and Hanayama are both adults and at this point he is even more of a Yakuza big shot. You play the starring role of his forced little mob princess wife, isn’t that sweet? I love romance! ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

WARNINGS: Yandere, very dubcon (dare I say even noncon?), power imbalances, grooming, unwanted touching/kissing/heavy petting, forced marriage, mentions of violence and hints of cruelty, mentions of sex.

Some people may call this ‘the dream life’.

Sitting on this private beach, you soaked in the last of the sun’s rays before it dipped beyond your view. The world was bathed in a swirl of pinks and oranges as the sun sunk into the sea, the gentle lap of the waves coming so close the water nearly touched your toes. The sand beneath your feet was soft, still warmed by the quickly setting sun. Gulls cooed as they circled above you, the flap of their wings diminishing as they began to fly off for the night. You were envious of them as you watched them soar freely, pained by how easily they could fly away to their home.

If only you could be so lucky.

Drops of salt water dotted your arms, mingling with what was left of your sunscreen. Though you had long since applied it, the remnants of the lotion and sea water left a slightly uncomfortable film on your skin, flaking under your nails when you scratched at it. A gust of wind blew, sending a chill through you. Absentmindedly you wondered if despite your preparations, you had been burned.

“Do you plan to stay out here all night?”

Your breath caught in your throat, an all too familiar voice shattering the tranquility of the evening. You had been so caught up in your thoughts that you didn’t notice the lumbering form coming up behind you, his arrival marking the end of your solitude.

Another gust of wind blew causing you to shudder once more. As it whipped wildly around you, your body grew colder. It was an unwelcome feeling, especially when just moments ago you were surrounded by such blissful warmth.

If only you could have just a few more minutes to yourself…

It had been a peaceful day, the nicest one you had had on this little honeymoon of yours. Kaoru Hanayama, your newly appointed husband, had been occupied most of the day, leaving you to your own devices.  The peace that awarded was something you sorely needed, seeing as none of this was anything you had ever agreed to willingly.

But now that he had returned all the contentment you had felt moments prior had been drained away, the joy of this island paradise tainted by his unwanted presence.

The night Kaoru proposed he had told you that he could not imagine living a life without you by his side, that his love for you had grown so rampantly that he could no longer bear the thought of not having you officially. He had long since coerced you into being his lover, leaving marriage the logical next step. Brandishing a ring so extravagant it bordered on gaudy, Kaoru got down on one knee. The upper echelon of the Hanayama group surrounded you in a constricting, tight circle, each set of eyes on you fixated on the scene with great interest… Thinking back on it, you had no idea how you didn’t pass out from sheer anxiety.

At that point, you were doomed to become his blushing, beautiful bride.

To you, Kaoru was husband in name only. This marriage would be just another trial that had been forced upon you since meeting the man, his ceaseless infatuation continually ripping your life asunder.  Needless to say, when he was off doing some important ‘family’ related things that ate up the majority of the day you didn’t have many complaints about his absence.

When he had departed this morning you did your best to look forlorn as he kissed you goodbye, shoulders slightly slumped as he ducked through the door, off to do god knows what to god knows who. Even as his now wife, you were never made privy to his ‘business’ dealings. So much of his life was shrouded in mystery, and you were just fine keeping it unknown.

You preferred when Kaoru was bogged down by work. If he was otherwise preoccupied that meant you had no expectation to be latched to his side, forced to play the role of obedient, doting wife. You abhorred the part you played in his life almost as much as you detested the man himself. It took years of whittling you down, making you shed piece after piece of yourself until you were everything he envisioned you would be, his perfect partner. He had molded you into his ideal love, and even though you knew you were sinking to a depth you were unsure you could ever escape, there was nothing you could do to stop it. It was hard going against a man who had the whole Yakuza at his fingertips, and the threat someone of Hanayama’s caliber posed against your family and friends was too high to risk insubordination.

So you acquiesced to his heavy handed flirting, playing along with his awkward and curt stabs at romance. You dropped everything for Hanayama, not because you wanted to, but because he expected it. And if there was one thing you gleaned about the mob life these past few years, it was what the boss wanted, the boss got.

He needed you in every way he could have you. You never had the option of saying no.

A heavy sigh came from behind you, annoyance radiating from your husband when you didn’t acknowledge him. Despite the irritation, the words he spoke came surprisingly gentle. “It’s time to come inside, (name). Dinner has arrived, it will be ready for us shortly.”

You wrapped your towel tightly around your shoulders, and with a deep shuddering breath, rose to your feet.

~

Silence hung heavy over the dinner table.

The meal Hanayama had served was nothing short of gourmet. ‘Only the finest for the finest’ was something he once joked to you, but he held firm to that ideal with every aspect of your life. The Oyabun’s wife was spared no expense, why would your meals be any different?  A caterer must have come with him to set the table up when Kaoru first arrived home, as it was set in a way that was far too charming for just him to pull off. Flowers and delicate candles garnished the surface, giving the whole room a romantic feel. Condiments and spices stood within arm’s reach, concealed in aesthetically pleasing containers, ready to season the cuisine as you saw fit.

Sighing lightly, you raised your glass for another sip of champagne. Even with the pretty presentation, you lacked the appetite to enjoy the meal. Picking at it lazily, you swirled the food around to make it appear as though you had eaten more than you had, like a child desperate to meet their parent’s approval so they could leave the table.

“Aren’t you hungry,” Kaoru’s deep voice finally interjected, his own feasting halted to shoot you a questioning glance. “You’ve barely touched your dinner. I thought you liked this restaurant? I chose to cater from them to please you.”

“Sorry,” You gave him a forced smile, “The food is delicious, but I think I may have snacked too much today, so I don’t have much of an appetite right now.”

You always had to choose your words carefully with Kaoru, his doting had a tendency to become overbearing if he believed you to be suffering from any ills. The last thing you needed was him fretting over you missing a dinner.  “I’ll have to box it up soon, that way I’ll have something to look forward to tomorrow.”

He grunted in response and an uneasy quiet once more loomed over the table. Hanayama did not seem totally appeased by your excuse, and refrained from placing his focus back on his meal. Dark, steely eyes bore holes into you as you sat hunched over, fixing your focus on anything but him.

“(Name)...”

He waited a moment before continuing, a look of brief tension flashing across his features.

“I know you are upset with me for leaving you alone all day, but you must know that I am sorry… Will you forgive me?”

To most people, this would be a shocking sight. It was highly unusual for a man like Kaoru Hanayama to be asking forgiveness so modestly, in fact, you were more apt to be groveling at his feet begging mercy than ever hearing the man beg pardon.

But things were different with you, they always had been. Try as he might to harden the soft spot he had for you, he never could seem to bring himself to give you the same detached treatment he gave others. And while his love for you was something he quite proudly displayed, he also refused to let his affections make either of you a target.

Being the Oyabun’s cherished wife put you in danger, his devotion to you making your demise extremely appealing to his enemies. The knowledge that your death would be a huge blow to the indomitable Hanayama was not lost on any who opposed him, but the problem laid in ever getting close to you. He certainly made it hard for anyone trying, finding a moment when you weren’t glued to his side was rare, finding you completely alone even more so.

However catching you by your lonesome was not entirely impossible, and leaving you vulnerable and ripe for assaulting was not something Kaoru could live with.

To combat this threat, he chose to lock you away so that no one could hurt you, touch you, see you, or ever be near enough to harm you. You were his and his alone, and he would let no other soul take you from him.

Ever since you had become ‘official’, the only people besides Hanayama ever allowed to have any correspondence with you were his closest inner circle and occasionally your family. But even then, Kaoru made sure he was always close by to monitor, hovering near to insure nothing untoward or upsetting could happen to you.

In your mind, the isolation hardly seemed necessary. No one ever questioned Hanayama’s might-one look at the man was all you needed to ascertain that he was a terrifyingly powerful figure. When you were in his vicinity your safety became his only care, any risk to that transforming him into a downright beast, bloodthirsty and rage filled beyond compare. Any unfortunate idiot wandering your way who held even a smidge of bad intent was in for a world of excruciating pain, followed by a slow and agonizing death.

But alone, in your own shared space away from prying eyes and hidden dangers, traces of that monster were nowhere to be found. When it’s just the two of you, Kaoru lets himself be overcome with his fondness for you, serenity overtaking his brute side. This display of vulnerability, these small moments of sickening intimacy, he saves solely for you, blanketing them upon you in suffocating layers until you can scarcely breathe.

“It was wrong of me to do,” He reached across the table, his thick hand encompassing yours in a tight grip. “A matter required my utmost attention, but it was not fair to leave my wife at any point during our honeymoon. This time is reserved for you and me alone, and I went against that. I just want you to know that I only left because I had to, and that I hurried back the moment I was able. I hope you can forgive me.”

If you could have done so consequence free, you would have burst out laughing. Of all the wrongs Hanayama had committed against you, giving you breathing room was the most minor of offences.

“It’s alright Kaoru,” you shook your head, keeping your voice even “I understand, and I’m not upset at you. I spent most of my day out enjoying the ocean while you had to get work done, so really I’m the one who should feel sorry for you in this situation, right?”

He smiled at your jest, a sparkle in his eyes as they drank you in.

“You are always my top priority,” Releasing your hand, he went to cup your cheek, engulfing the entirety of it. His calloused thumb pressed in a bit too hard as he stroked you, scratching at the soft skin of your cheeks apple. His hold was deeply uncomfortable, but you dared not move. “Don’t forget that, (name). Never question how much I treasure you.”

A chill ran through you at the intensity of his words, the rough feel of his palm reminding you of each violation his hands had ever committed against you. You watched as his eyes darted to your lips, a different kind of hunger overtaking his expression as he began to lean towards you, eager for a kiss. In a slight panic, you readjusted yourself, creating a moment to break away.  

“W-well, I really need to get this boxed up,” you spoke, pushing off the table until you were standing. Hanayama’s hand lingered in the air for a brief moment, still savoring the memory of holding you. An aggravated look flashed through his eyes, but was gone as quick as it came. “I don’t want to keep it out too long or else it will go bad. I’ll go grab a box.”

If there was going to be a time to escape him for the evening, this was it. You sprang into action, darting around the table as you made your way to the kitchen. The faster you could box up this meal, the faster you could excuse yourself and leave the room while Hanayama took his time finishing. Though it only would buy you a few minutes of privacy in the long run, any time to yourself was worth the effort.

But just before you could completely round the table, a tight grip around your waist snatched you from your course. In an instant you were tugged to the side, plucked up and planted until you were straddling one of your husband’s girthy legs.

Before your brain could even fully register what had happened, he was on you. Desirous, sloppy kisses littered your face as a salacious grin spread across his lips, a low growl rumbling from his chest with each smack of his lips. Your head was spinning at the speed it all occurred, a protesting whine all you could muster as his lips feverishly claimed yours.

Sweat mingled with the scent of his cologne, the heady scent a sign that his actions were quickly and effectively getting him riled up. Overcome with the essence of him, you could do little to fight his intrusion of your personal space, your balled fists pressing against his chest doing all they could to try and create distance. His tongue worked violently, the muscle forcing itself inside you until you were nearly choking on it. Your whole body was thrumming with discontent over how quickly Hanayama came to control your every sensation, his sheer mass totally overpowering all that you were.

The feverish grip he had on your hips kept you rooted, grasping you as if you were his lifeline. Bruises were already starting to form around the press of his fingers, your flesh searing in his hot hold. His hands began to forcibly gyrate your body, rocking you against his leg so that the short skirt you donned had ridden up completely, the sheer fabric of your panties the only thing keeping you from the raw friction of his leg. Your breath hitched as he jostled you against him, small pulses of unwanted pleasure resulting from the action.

His lips parted from yours, moving to latch on your neck. A dull ache emanated from the area he sucked, the bruises he had marked you with days prior not yet completely healed. Without warning, he bit into the tender flesh, causing you to jolt. A dark chuckle rumbled from within him at your response, his tongue laving up the small trail of blood the fresh wound had inflicted.

“My pretty wife,” he murmured in your ear, brushing the straps of your top off your shoulders, “Being apart from you made this day seem never ending. I longed for the moment I could come back and have you all to myself.”

He grabbed one of your hands off his chest, trailing it down his body until coming to a rest on the growing bulge of his crotch. He released a shuddering breath as he thrust against your unwilling palm, his hand guiding yours to trail his length through his tightening pants. Dread gripped you as he began to harden under your touch, his already impressive size growing with each hesitant stroke. Feeling him throb beneath you made your stomach turn, a horrible precursor to the pain you were about to endure.

“Feel what you do to me?” He rasped in your ear, hot breath fanning your neck, “This is all for you.”

“Please Kaoru, I-” Your meek voice began to object, but was cut off by another domineering kiss.

“You don’t have to beg me,” his voice was growing more ragged, breathing becoming choppier the harder he grinded your body against his, “Let me spoil you tonight, it’s the least my beautiful wife deserves for being such a good, patient girl for me.”

Unable to stand the torment of your touches any longer, he stood, throwing you over his shoulder in a display you could almost call barbaric. Making his way towards the bedroom, he smacked your ass harshly, eliciting a pleased hum at the pained gasp the act had garnered.

“I was going to offer dessert after our meal, but you have presented something much sweeter to me,” he chuckled as he entered the bedroom, tossing you to the awaiting bed, “And what you offer is something I would much rather devour.”

Tears stung your eyes as you watched Kaoru begin to shed his clothing, his scarred body coming more into view with each piece of fabric he cast aside.

“Get undressed,” he ordered, lust dripping from his features. His tongue darted out to wet his lips, before shooting you a cocky grin, “I can wait no longer. I love you so much, and you have no idea the limit’s I’ll go through to prove that to you.”

He took a step forward, inching his way up the bed, “But tonight, I don’t intend to stop until you understand.”

#baki x reader #yandere baki #yandere baki the grappler #hanayama kaoru x reader #hanayama kaoru #yandere hanayama kaoru #baki the grappler #baki reader insert #yandere fic #yandere reader insert #baki the grappler x reader #baki the grapper reader insert #baki the grappler fanfic #it has been 500 years and I am so sorry please enjoy #mothwingswritings

[captainwinterrsoldierr]

you'll be ok

jason grace x fem!reader

Authors note: I haven’t written in a while I’m sorry if this is meh also it’s in y/n (you perspective)!

Warnings: None

syn: jason is feeling overwhelmed with who he should be and who he wants to be.

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

It was midnight as the Argo ii sailed across the seas. The night was beautiful. The waters reflected the jittery stars in the sky. Jason sat at the edge of the ship, his head on his knee. He looked as he felt, troubled and a sense of confusion. All these made up memories, feeling more at home at a different camp than where he was raised. He felt conflicted on what he should feel.

Y/N restlessly flipped in her bed. It was like this lately. Not being able to sleep until the cracks of dawn. She sighed heavily, grabbed a blanket and got up and made her way down the halls of the Argo II. Small snores and swoons were heard in the dark hallway. She noticed one door was open, Jason’s. She mentally noted that and went up the stairs leading to the outside of the ship. As her eyes adjusted to the night light she noticed the blonde guy missing from his quarters sat at the bow of the ship. She made her way over to him and noticed he looked distressed and deep in thought.

“H-hey Jason,” You said. Jason slightly jumped at the sound of her voice, startled that someone else was up at this time of night.

“Sorry sorry didn’t mean to make you jump!” Y/N exclaimed.

Jason patted next to him acknowledging for her to sit, “no please sit down I’m sorry I just wasn’t expecting anyone else out here.”

You furrowed your eyebrows, “are- are you ok?”

Jason smiled softly, “yes- no I’m ok I don’t want to burden you.”

Y/N slapped his shoulder lightly, “you can never ever burden me Jason. Whatever is bothering you, you can talk to me ok? I’m here for you, always.”

Jason sighed and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, “I’ve just been feeling stressed ever since leaving Camp Jupiter and the Argo II accidentally attacking there. They probably think I’ve outright betrayed them without knowing the truth. And it’s just been making me think who am I? And who do I want to be? Roman, Greek? How many more false memories do I have? It’s all very overwhelming.”

You listened inventively. Your heart ached for him and how you wish you can just take even a half of his pain away from him. He was a puppet to so many and you wanted to help him. Help him find who he deserves to be, and help him find his peace.

You scooted closer and wrapped your blanket across his legs to keep him warm. You placed a hand on his shoulder and looked into his blue eyes. “I think Jason Grace is who Jason Grace is. a loving, selfless, kind soul who will help anyone in need. Someone who wouldn’t think twice of sacrificing himself for his friends. And that Jason, that’s something not even fake memories can take away from you. That’s just who you are. The rest of this will come as you navigate this newfound freedom outside of Camp Jupiter. There’s no harm in being both. It will come and you’ll know when it hits you. You’ll be ok I promise.”

Jason pulled your hand off his shoulder and held it softly in his hand, “Thank You Y/N, that makes me feel better, I’m grateful to have someone like you in my life.”

You smiled at him warmly, “of course dummy and if you ever need a reminder of how sweet and awesome you, my quarters is hmmm? 2 doors down from ya….. on the right side.”

He chuckled and surprisingly leaned in to kiss the top of your forehead, “I’ll be sure to take you up on that.”

You blushed softly, “I hope you do.”

#pjo #jason grace #pjo fandom #pjo hoo toa #percy pjo #pjo tv show #jason grace x reader #jason grace imagine #jason grace fanfic #heroes of olympus #jason grace headcanon

[canirove]

In The Name of Love | Chapter 6

Author's note: Since next Monday is Christmas day, I will be posting the chapter that should be up that day on Wednesday, which means that next week you will have new chapters on Wednesday and Thursday 😊 Also sorry about this chapter being a bit meh and on the short side, but I think I am making up for it on the next one 😁 Also, to those of you who are just reading this and don't follow me, happy holidays and merry christmas to those of you who celebrate! 💜

Previous chapter | Next chapter

Masterlist

Good luck tonight! Hopefully it won't rain, because those clouds look so bad… (📸) Also look at the sea. Back home it doesn't get like this  (📸) The food here is just 🤤 (📸) You have fans who aren't teenagers 😱 (📸) I wonder if they'll think I'm one too (📸)

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"And?"

"Nothing yet" I sigh. "This was a good idea, right?"

"It was" Emma says, giving my hand an encouraging squeeze. "Traveling to the other side of the country to watch him play is so romantic!"

"I don't care if it is romantic or not. I just want to explain everything to him and for things to go back to the way they were."

"Who would have thought you would end up missing a teenager's dick, uh?" she laughs.

"I should have brought Silvia with me" I reply, rolling my eyes.

"But sadly, she's too busy with Pau finally being back, so you'll have to deal with me" she smiles.

It's been a month since that stupid engagement party, since Pedri and I had that argument, since I last saw him in person. And I've felt like shit every single day.

I should have been honest with him. I should have opened myself to him, share all my fears. But I couldn't. I was too much of a coward, and because of it, I may have lost the person who managed to finally make me close a chapter of my life. The person that gave me what I needed to finally let go. 

But I'm ready now. I'm ready to tell him everything. And that's why Emma and I are here, though her first plan was a bit stalkery.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"I just sent him a good luck message before the game and he has left me as read. Again" I sigh. 

"At least you know he hasn't blocked you."

"Yeah, I guess. But I can't keep living this, I have to do something."

"Why don't you just show up at his house and don't leave until he listens to you?"

"I can't do that, Emma. He'll end up calling the police."

"Then why don't you go watch him play at the Camp Nou? Maybe his friends can help you corner him somewhere so you can talk."

"That isn't such a bad idea, you know… Though they are going on international break after tonight's game." 

"Then let's go watch him play with Spain! You could even wear his shirt, I'm sure he would like that. You aren't allergic to that one, are you?"

"I'm not, no" I laugh. "But I don't know where they are playing and when. And there may not be tickets left."

"Then let's find out" she says, taking out her phone and starting to type.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

A couple of hours after that conversation, and mostly thanks to Ferran, we had it all ready. We would be spending the weekend in La Coruña, a city in the West of Spain where the national team is playing, and where, hopefully, I will find a way to convince Pedri to let me explain myself. 

"Is it him?" Emma asks when my phone buzzes.

"Oh my God" I gasp. "It's him, he has replied!" I say, my hand shaking.

"What does he say?"

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Val, what is all that? 

Are those photos real?

Yep

Are you here? 

In La Coruña? 

And wearing my shirt? 😳

I am

Wait a second

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Emma, he's facetiming me."

"Then pick up!"

"How do I look?"

"For the love of God, Valeria. Who cares? Pick up!"

"Ok" I say, taking a deep breath. "Hello" I smile.

"Show me around."

"What?"

"Show me around, Valeria."

"Don't need to be so rude, Pedro" I say, moving so he can see where I am. Emma and I had sat down on a bench not too far away from the stadium to kill time until we can go inside.

"You are here. You… Why?"

"Well, Emma and I had a free weekend and wanted to disconnect from the kids, we saw an ad about the game, we had never been to La Coruña, and we said, why not?" I shrug.

"Let's go disconnect from the kids by watching other kids play" Pedri chuckles.

"Asensio isn't a kid."

"Then why are you wearing my shirt?" he asks, arching an eyebrow.

"It was the only one left in the shop" I shrug again.

"Sure" he laughs.

"It was yours or Morata's, and you know how I feel about him."

"I do, yes" he laughs again. God, I had missed hearing him laugh. "Anyway, I gotta go, we are leaving the hotel now."

"Ok."

"Thank you for coming to the game."

"Of course" I smile. But he doesn't. He's gone serious again.

"Bye, Valeria."

"Bye" I say before he hangs up.

"That went well, didn't it?" Emma says.

"Did it?" I sigh.

"It did! You had a little moment there, so there still is hope."

"I guess, but he kept calling me Valeria and… Wait" I say when my phone buzzes again.

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

Don't forget to send me your good luck text. 

It is the last thing I always read before warm up

I won't. I promise 😊

❤️

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"See? There still is hope!" Emma says, grabbing my arm and squeezing it. She's actually hurting me, but I don't care.

Because there still is hope.

#pedri #pedri gonzalez #pedri fanfic #pedri gonzalez fanfic #pedri imagine #pedri gonzalez imagine #football fanfic #football imagine

[sgiandubh]

Life beyond OL - Xmas movies and a short Bucharest tour

About three weeks ago, What Else Anon prompted me to tell her what else I was reading, watching or interested in lately (https://www.tumblr.com/sgiandubh/734634576675274752/so-about-tcnd-no-im-kidding-dont-throw-me). That gave me an idea for a poll:

Should I turn this ask into a Life Beyond OL weekly, preferably on Tuesdays?

97,1% of the 35 brave people to answer said yes, so here we are.

Reading won't do it this hectic week: since Friday is my last day on the job before the holidays, I'm literally in a wrap-up frenzy, both at home and at the office. Let's say I am not exactly the type who buys her presents in July, which pretty much explains the circus.

As for watching, well: nope, I will not watch A Princess for Christmas if you'd pay me. It's both beyond and beneath my dignity, I am afraid and bless The Boy, but that is not enough for an incentive. By the same token, I shall not willingly acknowledge in public (at the blessed age of 45) that I know all the damn lines of Home Alone 1 by heart. With age, my absolute go-to Xmas movie has to be Love Actually. If only for this perfect opening scene with 0 cheesiness in it - you watch it and you are immediately hooked:

Interested in: going home for Christmas, what else? And before local exasperation hits hard (roughly two days after arrival, to be honest), I am still procrastinating on YouTube and watching those foot-in-mouth travel vlogs ('John and Jane Doe do ...'). In a sea of meh, you might find something interesting enough: I have no idea who Sammy & Tommy are, but they are smart people and they surely know a thing or two about travel. Once in Bucharest, my hometown, they followed their instinct and engaged with the natives - always the best plan.

Let's say it was worth it and probably went above and beyond their expectations: we tend to be obnoxiously hospitable. And I found the bakery people flawlessly endearing. I can confidently say it was something absolutely spontaneous and something I would do myself anytime for a total stranger:

A bit of context: the Cișmigiu Gardens look way better than the last time I ventured in there. It is probably one of the most beloved parks of the city, a stone throw away from the Old Town, and also a wannabe copycat of Munich's Englischer Garten.

The featured bakery & cake shop are actually quite decent, serving traditional pastries from Transylvania (the West of the country) and some of the local dessert mishmash fare. Despite what the very nice bakery guy is telling Sammy and Tommy, neither savarina, nor amandina are 'traditional ' Romanian cakes. Savarina is simply the Polish/French rum baba, Stohrer invented for Stanisław I Leszczyński, the exiled Polish king who was also Louis XV's father in law. As for the other one, let's say it could be the love child of a Sachertorte and a Rigó Jancsi cake - totally Austro-Hungarian (Wikipedia babbles: it has nothing to do with French cuisine!)! Both sickeningly sweet and both personal favorites, amen. The first one they tried, cozonac, is a babka spinoff: something I hate with a passion, but also something that is going to be literally every(fucking)where this Christmas ('oh, you don't like my cozonac?! huh, nonono, I do, it's so fabulous I am taking my time!').

Honestly? This is a place that suffered a lot, especially during the Eighties, when Ceaușescu thought it would be a great idea to bulldoze about 60% of the old neighborhoods, after the horrific 1977 earthquake (perfect pretext). Words could never decently describe the shock, the drama and the abuse: people throwing themselves under the first passing car as their beloved houses were torn down, people displaced in the middle of nowhere, a human chain of people holding hands in a failed attempt to stop the demolition of a beloved church. All that quiet, endearing charm suddenly replaced by a Pyongyang transplant smack in the middle of town. This explaining perhaps why Bucharest is not the best/most touted tourist destination in my country. Tourists usually choose Transylvania (absolutely deserved) or, if they really want to be adventurous, Bucovina (or Țara de Sus, literally: The Highlands, hehe) - an off the beaten track gem and a very special place to me (half of my family hails from there). Impressed to see these guys hit Timișoara - one of the most beautiful, interesting and definitely underrated cities, right next to the border with both Hungary and Serbia.

Nice guys or not, I would never take you to that bakery, though. Nah: I'd take you round the corner, at the Athénée Palace's English Bar - the red arrow marks my very own spot since, heh, forever? And we'd have the Amalfi Old Fashioned cocktails: they are mandatory, here.

PS: the Romanian guy kept his word and took them places the next day. I'd happily babble about this next week, though - from home. :)

#Life Beyond OL #Youtube

[malleusarcanum]

⚠️: Field Trip

Ashton : These muscles are impatient, I'll blast this bus off if you don't hurry up!

Crowley: You can't fly if you don't spread your wings enough.

Ashton:....

Sam: My friends of the other side translated what this raven want to squawk. You can't rush things.

Ashton: I know that, not only my muscles are active, also my healthy brain.

Trein: Tardiness is unacceptable or if you want our campsite be positioned by others.

Lucius: Meowwwwww!!!!

*Crowley ignored the cat. When he's done with lifting his 5 suitcases he went to his seat beside crewel*

Crewel: You have to be fashionable most of the time, those suitcases can be exempted but that type of clothing *raised an eyebrow*. Atleast these puppies knows that.

Mc: Is he referring to us?

Epel: Looks like it, but I can't wait to arive already. Even my sleep never visited me last night. *Yawned*

Mc: You can sleep at my shoulder.

Epel: I don't think I need....*yawn* maybe a.... Little.....*fallen asleep*

Vil: I want also a beauty sleep beside a majestic flower *sparkled his eyes*

Mc:.....

Mc: Then open that window and throw yourself out, I'm sure there's a flower planted there.

Vil: *sulked*

Mc*sighed heavily*: fine, Take a nap then *pointed at it's shoulder*

Vil: Can't I sleep somewhere softer?

Mc: *annoyed* *flicked Vil's nose*

Vil: Ah?!

Mc: Shh-

Epel: *rubbed his eyes* Am I seeing things? Vil looks like a red nosed reindeer?

Vil: Good News baby potato, you're not

------------while others------------

Lilia: Do any of you left something?

Silver & Sebek: *thinked* Meh nothing

Silver: Why old ma-

Sebek: shoot?!!!!!!

*the bus shakes after sudden drift*

*teachers turned their heads to Sebek*

Crewel: what was that?!

Ashton: Give me 10 pushups!

Crowley: I'm afraid push ups are not allowed here...

Ashton: hmp

Trein: Explanation must be provided after that life threatening situation.

Lucius: meaw!

Grim: I hate this pussy cat *whispered*

Ace: I'm glad you despise yourself

Ortho: *behind them tapped an audio meme at his tablet* Nani?!

Grim: Funyahhhh?!!!!

Idia: *scrolling yuutube shorts, played a song accidentally*

so pack up, go home, you're through 🎶

How can I make a man out of you? 🎶

Grim: They're really testing my patience!! Nyarhghhh! *Can't attack, Deuce hugged him*

Sebek: Apologies, I somehow forgot something.

Crowley: is it important?

Sebek: Without it I'll never have a peaceful mind and despair may conquer through those dark nights.

Ruggie: nightlight?

Kalim: happiness?

Jack: courage?

Jamil: Revenge?

Crewel: puppy?

Silver: *realized something* don't tell me you really left it?

Sebek: *nodded*

Lilia: No! Not the crocodile plushie

Everyone:.....

*Back seats*

Floyd: One hundred and five

*one car passed*

Jade: *another vehicle passed* One hundred and six

Azul: can't you be quiet?!

Floyd & Jade: Boringggggggg

Jade: Oh! Look! That one looks like Azul. *Pointed at a billboard promoting takuyaki*

Floyd & Azul: Where?!

*Azul then looked sharply at jade*

Floyd: Check this out! He exactly looks like Sea Slug

Azul: *arranged it's glasses* precisely.

Jade: Is he trying to catch this bus

*Azul, Jade & Floyd smirked*

*watching "MALLEUS" running desperately*

Cater: I wanna take it a picture!*lifted his phone steadily*

Sebek: Who dares imitate young master? *Stood up joining at the back seat*

Trey: Even the details of Malleus's face is captured, well portrayed.

Rook: Roi du Dragon! you must see this fascinating being

Riddle: Sit down! We're still in a bus! *Stopped after sensing himself that wants to puke, face turned green*

Leona: I haven't felt Lizard's presence.

*Mc got curious also looked*

Mc: shut the motherf**ker?!

*Everyone turned to find Malleus's seat*

Crowley: STOP THE BUS!!!!!!!!!!!

#disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #twst wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst #twst funny #twst x reader #twst disney #twst malleus #twst Crowley #twst crewel #twst ashton #twst sam #twst trein #twst deuce #twst ace #twst grim #twst floyd #twst azul #twst jade #twst sebek #twst epel #twst rook #twst silver #twst lilia #twst leona #twst mc #twst cater #twst trey #twst ortho

[cerastes]

I can't decide on what type of sea life Ulpianus will be. Like I'm pretty sure he'll be some form of cetacean but I can't decide what (being an orca like Skadi would make sense but also feel meh). Kind of flip-flopping between cachalots and humpback whales.

He’s a Humpback Whale.

He’s got the distinctive throat grooves on his hat.

#arknights #not official info #ulpianus

[axyer]

Imminent Sunrise

Lost at Sea (CCCC AU) story, seventeen-hundred and twenty-one (1.721) words

A simple no stakes fluff fic where Heart and Mind talk on a rooftop and Soul stops by to reminisce.

WARNING: Canon-divergence up ahead!

(Read it on AO3! https://archiveofourown.org/works/53570137)

“(Where do we go when we die?)”

A soft layer of a muted magenta hued the horizon.

A duo of unsightly beings seated themselves at the oak brim of a tall building, tired eyes swallowing the large sight of extending ocean.

“[I feel like you ask me this at least three times every month.]”

Consumed cans of strong beverages lay awkwardly compressed, if not slightly destroyed, occasionally set into a roll by the seaside wind.

Cool dew began to appear on neighbouring plant life; quiet water sifted and shuffled atop itself and crumpled at the shore, far below their point in the sky.

“(Yeah, but I mean… Have we ever came to a solid conclusion?)” Heart asked, finger wrapped around the open side of another can. “(Reincarnation, afterlife, oblivion… do we really know, mate?)”

“[We don't, there. Will that put you to rest?]” The robotic id ruffled the other’s fluffy violet hair.

The Sun at once begun to march up the quiet distance.

A dangling blue light hung from Mind’s esca; a luminescent white eye watching.

“(I don't think so. Sometimes I wonder if you and me have had lots of previous lives, each where we were strange, out-of-place beings with no ties to the nature of this world. Or sometimes I wonder if we’re both angels, anchored to this reality without a trace of our memories until we can prove ourselves…)”

“[…Or maybe we’re just really strange animals that bear no difference to the fauna among us, and we just put ourselves on a pedestal for being supernatural.]”

Mind swallowed a sip of hardy flavour; a fine twinge of pine-like water added to his mouth.

“(You’re boring, you know that?)” Heart said, shoving his brother.

“[Watch it, I wouldn't survive a fall at this height.]” Mind smirked, steadying himself.

The waking cries of gulls had sliced through the otherwise silent morning, daybreak crossing the brightening sky.

“(Soul says when we die, we go to Heaven. What do you imagine Heaven is like? There, that should be easier.)”

“[Well… I like the thought that we would be happy. And anyone we’ve loved will be there, and if we don't love them anymore, we can love them again. All those friends we never got to see again… All of those faces we saw a final time… All of those passerby aquaintances… We’re in a state where everyone loves each other.]”

“(How boring. I like the thought that we fight until only one of us remains, and then that person gets to make the next sentient planet.)”

“[Gee, someone’s got an imagination.]”

Soft feathery appendages shifted and contorted into a fine stretch, several tiny crackles clicking from each as they lengthened.

Long violet feathers stretched from the id’s rear; swaying across the wooden rooftop.

“(Okay, but in all honesty… I think when we die, if there’s a Heaven at all, I like to think we’ll live our best lives. If you've always wanted to be a bird, congrats! You're a bird now, but you've got all the advantages of being a human that you liked. Have you always wanted to live at a waterpark? Well good news Thomas Ralph the IV, now you have a waterpark all to yourself that grows forever.)”

“[But why are we even alive then? Why would we want to exist when we could just die and then live happily forever? Seems like give or take eighty years of ‘meh’ and then forever of wonders seems pointless, don't you think?]”

“(Maybe… Maybe we only get a free trial, until the world has ended.)”

Croaks and groans of feet hitting stairs sauntered up the entrance to the hangout area.

The two ids suddenly bore a frantic expression as they scrambled to gather each can and collect them into a decently neat, insidious pile.

“{Did you two stay up again…?}” Soul said, creaky hands washing the sand from his eyes.

“[Yes.]”

“(No.)”

Trailing towards his two beloved parasites, the Host deposited his form into a comfortable slouch, and snatched a can for himself before taking a greedy string of gulps.

“{Ugh, you two brought the weak stuff.}”

“[It makes my head hurt…]”

“{Can’t believe you two came from me.}” Soul tossed the can from his palm to a long plummet down to the sand. “{…I'll clean that up tomorrow.}”

“[You’d better! Did you know fish and seagulls can get their heads stuck in those?]”

“(It’s true! I had to rescue a good few of them!)”

Soul chuckled.

“{For being such little menaces, you two really do care about everything around you…}” He spoke, words like tepid frost, both hands offering firm, soothing scritches into their hair.

“(Well, our time on this Earth is limited. Why not put what we have to good use?)”

“[We don't belong here… we weren't invited. I think it's only fair we help a tad with the housekeeping.]”

With a violet and indigo form leaning on oppositional sides of him, Soul stared out into the approaching dawn.

Their tall, birch home towered into the cold sky; a tiny island among a limitless sea.

Just little visitors in the vastness of this world. Imagine that: These little parasites are just a glimpse into the possibility of what can and can't happen.

Soul remembers the good old days, just when the two were little kids; they were no ordinary children, of course, but it brought a certain charm.

He’d just found refuge from a dark family life, and out split from him were two small souls; one hued purple, the other hued blue.

They had no mouths, but had a lot to say alright; those things sure loved to whimper and whine.

He wasn't even sure if they realised they got all their food from Soul eating overtime; he’d have to grab a lot more bites than usual to sustain them, but it was worth it for their elated faces.

“Oh!” Cameron said, a happy gaze settled on the little page scrunched between two small paws. “What is this?”

“…!” The idfant whined.

“Is it a dragon…?” He cocked his head, an awkward smile lapping at his lips.

The idfant only stared back.

“Or is it… a crocodile?”

Its face lightened.

“A saltwater croc? The one you see on those little shows you like?”

Suddenly, it was bouncing and whimpering with ecstasy.

“Oh, you did such a good job!” It didn't really. He could barely tell what was its mouth and what was its claws.

But everyone starts somewhere, don't they?

As the two idiots melted into his arms, Soul’s eyes settled on a peaceful, sleepy expression.

He didn't expect to become symbiotic in his lifetime, no-less with these two. But he’s sure happy that he got to be the one selected to be a Host.

“What are you building there, little tuna fish?” Cameron smiled, knees bent beside the indigo idfant.

“…” He removed his hand’s position on a brick, then positioning them on a stack of Legos, bundling the flimsy blocks into his palms and propping them to meet Cameron’s eyes.

“Oh!” Cameron’s hands made a rapid series of collisions. “You did that all by yourself?”

“!” Mind nodded hastily, struggling to hold his excitement within his little body.

“I’m so proud of you,” Cameron grinned, giving his hair a firm, delightful ruffle. “I could personally never get into Legos… I never quite had the attention span. But I assume for someone like you, who loves all things logical and analytical, building things that require such attention-to-detail and intricate focus must be very relaxing, yeah?”

From the looks of it, Mind just ignored everything he said.

“Heh… too many big words?”

He seemed to have appreciated the love in his Host’s voice nonetheless.

“I love you. I’ll be sure to buy you lots of Legos this Easter, alright?”

The reminiscing that poured out of him rocked to a sudden standstill as Soul felt his two ids form strokes of heavy breaths at his sides, and Soul made a little smirk.

“{Tired?}”

“(Mmm…)”

“[Kkkkkh…]”

“{That’s what I thought.}”

As a second set of arms poked from Soul’s abdomen, the two ids were collected into his grasp, and he descended the upwards-leading staircase, leading-downwards into the cosy confines of his own room.

Albeit definitely foul-smelling, kicking past the empty energy drinks that made a metal ruckus the Host then lent the two the safety of being bundled up within a large comforter.

Tucked between thick sheets, Heart sunk into Mind’s chest and limbs, the latter burying his chin onto the former’s head.

“{Before you two collapse, would you like one last story?}” Soul smiled, seated beside the cot.

“(Mm…)”

“[Yes…]”

“{Next time I'd like a ‘please’, but okay. I’ll tell you my favourite one: }”

A finger bitten by a worn fingerless glove twirled and pirouetted through the two parasites’ hair, and a simple hum drew from him.

“{Once upon a time, there was a little human child. You may know him as Cameron: Or me. He was very handsome, and very good at everything, as you may remember from yours truly. But he was very sad… and very lonely. He wasn't happy with his life. He was hurt by everyone around him. Everyone wanted to either leave or hurt him…}

“{But he didn't lose hope. He was still kind, and still decided to love. He hung on until the very end, which hasn't come yet in the story. But even then… things could still be rough. It didn't feel worth it sometimes.}

“{And one day, he felt something inside of himself. Just this crazy, burning feeling, that he had to get out of there. So he did! He went to the local beach, and walked across the sea. And he walked, and walked, and walked… until he found a new home waiting for him. And out he released two little baby ids, whom would have made all that pain worth it.}”

Heart and Mind had buried themselves into one another, their breathing hushed and heavy.

“{Alright, that's the abridged version. Go to sleep, you two. We’ll have lots of time to relax tomorrow.}” Soul cooed, crawling into his cot among the two and enveloping them to his body, his warmth seeping into them.

The lights fell to a silent darkness.

Everything was okay in the world, maybe just this once.

#chonny jash #chonnys charming chaos compendium #heart chonny jash #cj heart #cccc heart #mind chonny jash #cj mind #cccc mind #soul chonny jash #cj soul #cccc soul #chonny jash fanfiction #cj fanfiction #cccc fanfiction #cj au #cccc au #chonny jash au #lost at sea

[balladingbard]

How the Unsundered Faced their Fates (and How It's a Lesson for Us All)

This is the first in more planned posts regarding the ending of Pandaemonium, so it will be hidden under a spoiler cut, but let's tie in some threads from both Endwalker and its raid series when it comes to the character arcs of Emet-Selch, Lahabrea, and Elidibus.

One of the most interesting parts of Endwalker and Pandaemonium to me is that every Unsundered (either in reality or through memory) got to learn what they'd become later on.

Venat learned she'd become Hydaelyn and sunder the world. Emet-Selch, Lahabrea, and Elidibus learned they'd become Ascians that would try to undo what she did through sacrifice and calamity. And yet, despite learning the future, every one of them had a different reaction, as well as how they handled their ends.

Let's look at them one by one:

Emet Selch: Denial and the Refusal to Heal

Emet-Selch learns of his fate through the Warrior of Light while in Elpis. Throughout the journey, despite helping them try to stop Hermes and Meteion from unleashing the Final Days, he says that he doesn't believe the WoL's story. It's too much to fathom as truth, and he refuses to believe that he'd give up in his duty. "You do not know me!" he says in spite. Of course, as history progresses, he eventually learns after his defeat that the Warrior of Light was telling the truth all along, and in the Aetherial Sea, he's forced to come to terms with an uncomfortable truth: the past he wants to hold onto is never coming back. No matter how hard he tried, the world he loved is gone. And frankly? He can't come to terms with it.

I remember a while back ago how Yoshi P mentioned that he didn't think Emet-Selch would ever want to be reborn, and as much as I'd love to see a reborn Emet, I tend to agree. Because this is the arc (and tragedy) of Emet-Selch. He is meant to represent the people who never heal from the past. Despite fighting for millennia to bring the people he loved back, he rejected the opportunity to live another life with Hythlodaeus and Azem's reincarnation ("I will not suffer to live again under Hydaelyn's magic.")

Whether Emet-Selch will be reborn or not, of course, is up to debate (I personally think Hythlodaeus is going to drag him into it regardless and we'll eventually see them again), but the lesson of Emet-Selch is clear: some are just unable to heal from the past, and in the end, it denies them a future.

Lahabrea: Acceptance and Distance

Lahabrea's memory learns of his fate while in the Aetherial Sea after a slip of the tongue reveals his role as an Ascian and the Warrior of Light is given the option to confirm it. Through Lahabrea's journey in the Pandaemonium series, we learn that he's blunt, logical, and to the point. So, when he learns that he sorta follows Athena's footsteps with the Heart of Sabik and goes full-blown Ascian mode, he accepts it. Despite the absurdity of it all, he essentially says, "Yep. That sounds about right. That's totally something I'd do."

The fact that he's able to accept his fate with such a calm demeanor tells a lot about his character. He's one that's willing to admit both his strengths and weaknesses, as well as accept whatever will come next. But how he reacts to his end is a bit of a middle-ground compared to Emet-Selch (and Elidibus, as we'll eventually see.) Rather than fight his fate, he accepts it. There's little to no emotion in it all. And as he's saying his farewells to the reincarnation of his son and the rest of the team, he brushes everything off almost...casually.

Everything is about the circle of history - what will be, will be. He played a part in it, yes, but now the cycle is about to begin again. And unlike Emet-Selch, he's willing to let go of the past, because that's how it's supposed to be. He's the type of person that has seen the chaos, tried his best, and is now shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Meh. Time to go to the next thing." The past is the past and the future is the future, but all of the memories are just part of a moving wheel that will always keep turning no matter what. Whether it's the Ancient world or the new one doesn't matter, as long as the wheel continues to turn. There's really nothing special about it to him.

Elidibus: Regret and Healing

Elidibus doesn't hear directly about his fate, but after listening about Lahabrea, and gathering a few memories from his own soul regarding the clash on the Crystal Tower, I believe he's smart enough to put two and two together. Elidibus is shown to be a clever detective of sorts, and his facial reactions when Lahabrea learns of his fate is quite telling as he's got a "pondering, yet surprised" expression as well. He doesn't get the chance to speak as Claudien awakens, but at the end of the journey, when it's just him and the Warrior of Light, he finally starts to share his thoughts.

Though his memories of everything but Pandaemonium are still hazy (due to Athena or some other factor), he mentions more than once about being "unburdened by regret" after thinking about his journey with the Warrior of Light. He knows that they become enemies. He knows he is an Ascian. His mention of regret, despite little being said, makes me wonder that unlike the other Ascians, he did feel guilty about what happened. Erichthonios even says, "Themis would never want to be your enemy." Though I have a post planned on Elidibus and who he really is that will be shared later, I think that his journey shows quite a contrast to Lahabrea and Emet-Selch, especially when it comes to the end.

Faced with the reality of a grim future, Elidibus (like Lahabrea) doesn't deny it outright. He accepts that the future is going to be grueling and that he loses himself. But unlike Lahabrea, he doesn't dismiss it as an ever-moving machine that keeps turning. He sees meaning behind it. As he tells the Warrior of Light, his becoming an Ascian essentially helped send them to the past to save the Star, and despite it being one act of many that led to Meteion's defeat, it mattered. And despite having regrets of all the pain he caused, that burdened was lifted because good was able to be wrought from it in the end, saving everyone.

Further still, we see Elidibus embrace the future. Not that he didn't appreciate the Ancient world and its past. But unlike Emet-Selch (who refused to see it go) or Lahabrea (who accepted whatever as long as the Star remained), Elidibus sees the new world and is excited for it, even mentioning how he liked the name of the Aetherial Sea for the journey it represented. He's the type of person that sees the bad that has happened but chooses to heal and grow from it. To learn how to make the world better and embrace the change because he knows that it's for the best. It's why we get that final scene in the sea, as well as getting that implied reincarnation that lets us know we'll probably be seeing him again (but more on that in a later post...)

Regardless, it's a good contrast between the three unsundered to see how they all differed in their response to learning their fates and facing their end. Like any good story, it gives us lessons to ponder for ourselves as well.

#endwalker spoilers #6.4 spoilers #pandaemonium spoilers #ffxiv #ffxiv spoilers #emet selch #lahabrea #elidibus #themis #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv lore #ascians #ffxiv ancients

[fiovske]

i am going to say something controversial here. i don't think Ed is that happy to sit and fold laundry. I don't think Ed is happy to be sitting in a place with nothing else to do. I think he would get bored real quick again of these repetitive tasks.

I am not entirely convinced with "I'm folding socks. And that's completely okay." I don't think it's that okay with him. At that moment, he's trying more than anything to reassure Stede that this is what he wants, that this is a choice he made and Stede shouldn't feel guilty for it - and at the same time he is worried that without his beard, now visually stripped of that persona, Stede won't find him exciting anymore. I think in this scene Ed is trying very much to overcompensate, as he is trying to seek Stede's approval that this is something they can both settle for, that he's content here and hopefully Stede is too, right? This is a best-case scenario for the two of them, given the circumstances.

He folds the socks then unfolds them and then folds them again. His hands are itching for something more to do. He wants the finer comforts of life but he loves the seas too much to settle for no adventure at all. He didn't think he was allowed to want anything more. His eyes light up at the idea of inventing new names, escaping to China, a new hope blooming at the prospect of a new life where he is loved by Stede and it fuels his energy his shoulders don't slump and he gets so excitable at the prospect of the escape he was all meh about until a moment ago. He wants another adventure, he wants the seas he wants the piracy of it all.

He just doesn't want it to be as rough and cutthroat as he is used to. He wants to mellow out. He wants to be able to pirate merchant ships and then welcome Stede with loving arms on their shared ship. He wants the middle ground, the sweet spot where things are fun to loot and pirate when he's doing it with Stede. That's the most fun he's had in years, maybe ever. He wants the loving environment Stede creates for him to explore these softer parts of himself, something he has been missing all along. I agree that he feels the need to sever himself from "Blackbeard" in this process but I feel like if he retired completely he would be unsatisfied, it would not keep his soul still. He would love folding laundry if it wasn't the only thing he does.

I feel like the ideal way for Ed to be happy is if he gets to be a pirate, have his adventures on the high seas, where he lets Stede take the lead in the looting but without feeling the need to contribute to the looting to feel happy about this shared equality of co-captaincy. He wants to be seen as soft, as loving and be soft and loving. He doesn't want to be a pirate from the necessity of it as he had been pushed to before because of poverty, among so many other things. He wants to be able to enjoy his life, finer silk and marmalade on toast. He also wants to get to choose when he wants to be "the dread pyrate Blackbeard" for shits and giggles bc planning the theatrical antics of their piracy makes Stede laugh, but not have to perform this role in a way that is taxing and all consuming, like it had gotten for him until he met Stede and found a respite; and realized he was allowed to want something more, something different.

#ofmd #edward teach #our flag means death #ofmd meta #ed teach #stede bonnet #blackbonnet #blackbeard #i guess a lot of ppl will disagree #but i think blackbeard is an integral part of him. and he has to make his peace with it #i think he still wants to be a pirate. just a different flavour of pirate. #where he doesnt have to resort to the brand of violence and toxic masculinity #he wants to be free from THAT. #i still think he loves the seas too much to like. envision a future without it. #and be truly content without it. #me.txt

[estcaligo]

Twisted Thoughts: Why each dorm can be dangerous for you

TW: dark content, drugging, poisoning, implied rape, mental disorders, eating disorders, physical injuries, death, many deaths, suicide, slavery, drowning, closed space, murder, etc.

Careful~

Heartslabyul - drugged at a tea party. / Poisoned. / Collared by Riddle and broke your neck because of it.

Savanaclaw- Beastmen. In. Heat. Good luck there. / Just beaten half to death. / Probably eaten.

Octavinelle - drowning in that sea. Definitely not without help. / Scammed and put in a life threatening situation meh. / Drugged at Mostro Lounge. / Slavery aka working at Mostro Lounge without any rights 24/7 etc.

Scarabia - get lost in the desert, die of dehydration or freeze to death at night. / Drugged at a banquet. / (Alcohol) poisoning, it’s a banquet after all. / Bonus: fatal snakebite.

Pomfiore - Eating. Disorders. And. Body. Shaming. Yes, mental tortures can be as harmful as physical. / Death from starvation. / Death by exhaustion. / Most definitely suicide. / Plus you get poisoned of course.

Ignihyde - your automatic door breaks (accidentally or not) and you’re stuck in your room and nobody hears your cries because the walls are soundproof and you die of starvation or commit suicide. / Machine injury. Crushed limbs. Slow and painful death.

Diasomnia - you fell off that fucking bridge and break your spine plus you fell on thorns so it hurts like hell I am sorry. / Got into a fight with some Dia bullies and they killed you with some horrible spell. Ugly death. / Lilia’s food is too cliche so I don’t want to mention it.

#twisted wonderland #twst #tw dark content #tw everything #having too much fun tonight #such a good stress relief #twisted thoughts

[the-french-belphegor]

I finished another fic for the @critter-genfic-events's bingo card! "Beach day", this time. I swear I did mean it to be funny and only funny, but then it was also Vox Machina post-campaign, so "Missing someone" ended up being A Thing. Plus "Found family" because that's unavoidable when Grog and his gnomes are concerned 💜

I'll be posting this on AO3 shortly here if you prefer to read on AO3!

—

Grog wiggles sand between his toes and squints at the Marquet sun shining through a passing cloud.

“Oh man,” he hears Scanlan sigh from the chaise lounge thing next to him, “this is the life.”

Meh, Grog thinks, just a little.

Sure, it’s a nice day out, and it’s great that they finally got everyone for a little vacation weekend in the Bay of Gifts – even Keyleth, who’s very busy being leaderly, and even Vex and Percy, who have their hands full with Whitestone but mostly with little Vesper. (Grog still calls her ‘Whisper’, because it became A Thing, and to be fair she’s a fairly quiet kid, in his meagre experience.) Now the girl is napping with her dad under the shade of the parasol after burying Grog into the sand (with helpful pointers from her mum, her uncle Grog and her auntie Keyleth) and playing in the shallows with her auntie Pike and her uncle Scanlan. That’s a lot of things to do, and the little mite is all tuckered out. So’s mostly everyone, it seems, except for Trinket, who is having fun chasing seagulls in the distance.

And Grog is slowly but surely getting bored.

Of course, that’s the moment his insides choose to give a twinge at the lack of Vax shenanigans. One of the many things Grog misses about the guy is that you’d never get bored when he was around. Sometimes not getting bored meant getting half your beard shaved off or various belongings stolen for a prank, but… well.

Pike, Wilhand and Scanlan all say that it’s normal to still be sad about Vax even now. Privately, Grog wonders if it’s stupid to miss some of the truly infuriating things Vax did, like the beard thing. He has a feeling the answer would be “no”, but there’s no way in hell he’ll ask.

“Hey Pike!” he calls out, mostly to distract himself from the oncoming boredom but also from being sad on what’s supposed to be a fun day out. “Wanna go fight the sea?”

Pike is in the process of gathering Vesper’s discarded beach toys and eyeing Percy – who is currently fast asleep near his daughter – with Vesper’s shovel in her hand and a gleam in her eye. Just as Grog is starting to think pranking Percy might be a good distraction as well, she turns to him and grins.

“Sure, buddies. How d’you wanna do that?”

“I was thinkin’ I could walk into the waves and just, like, not budge. Or put you on my shoulder and then see how far we can go till you get splashed.”

“Okay, yeah, that sounds nice,” she says, nodding. “Scanlan? Wanna come with?”

“Eh,” says Scanlan from under the hat covering his face, “I had my share of the ocean earlier. Might work on my tan for a little bit.”

“Come on,” says Grog, because the first time they took a beach holiday Scanlan wasn’t there and their second trip to Dalen’s Closet was, well, A Lot – way too much to just let loose and have fun afterwards, “I have two shoulders. That’s one for Pike, and one for you. It’s huh. Balance.”

(He’s really proud to be able to say a number and not hesitate even a bit. Long sentences with lots of letters still elude him, but he’s starting to know numbers well.)

One of Scanlan’s eyes peeks out from under the hat, along with a smile.

“Aw, big guy. Okay, for balance then, but on one condition.”

“What’s that?” asks Pike with something sharp in her grin, like she really wants to laugh but she’s saving that for a better moment.

“My hair stays dry.”

“That’s it?” says Grog, eyebrows raised. He was expecting something a lot less simple.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

That sounds pretty fair, so Grog agrees.

So maybe walking into the surf isn’t quite fighting an entire ocean, but the three of them manage to make it fun, just like Grog thought they would. Pike stands on his left shoulder, hanging on to his head, and shouts at every wave just as loud as he does; meanwhile, Scanlan sits on his right shoulder, beating a rhythm on his chest with his toes and humming a vaguely familiar tune. There may be something magical at work there, because Grog is feeling a tingling warmth along his spine and into his ribcage, like they’re in the middle of a battle and Scanlan is singing to give him inspiration. That’s nice of him to do that. Maybe it’ll give Grog and Pike an edge.

(Even wearing no armour at all and with waves rolling up to his chest, Grog always feels just a little invincible with those two on his shoulders.)

“You know what, Grog?” says Pike after a while, settling down on his shoulder and grinning at him, her cheeks red and her chest heaving. “That was really fun. I think we could all do with some screaming at the ocean once in a while.”

“Seconded,” says Scanlan, who didn’t do any shouting and mostly either chilled with his eyes closed or looked at Pike like he does sometimes, all soft eyes and slight smile.

Pike gets the same sort of look every now and then. It’s this kind of little details that tells Grog that one of these days the guest bedroom in Wilhand’s attic might become a real guest bedroom again (that and the fact that dawn often finds Pike and Scanlan tiptoeing out of each other’s room). As long as they keep most of the lovey dovey stuff out of sight Grog is fine with it.

“Well, I’m smart like that,” says Grog with a grin, like a joke where only he knows the punchline. Which is kinda the case, actually, if the joke is The little bits are dating and Grog did notice. “I got lots of good ideas.”

Scanlan leans his back against Grog’s head and nods.

“You sure do, buddy. And you guys definitely win in my book. Eat your heart out, ocean!”

“Hey guys!” They all turn – which means the gnomes have to turn a second time because they’re facing the wrong way now – to the beach, where Vex is standing with her hands cupped around her mouth. “Keyleth says there might be some jellyfish in the water by now, have you seen any yet?”

“Some what?” asks Grog, and promptly steps on something squishy.

It’s like walking into a bramble bush. The sole of his foot is fine, but tendrils sneak up his ankle and fire up a prickling pain that instantly runs up his whole leg. The surprise, more than the actual sting, makes him bark a shout and instinctively jump back, but this is uncomfortable as hell.

His shoulders suddenly feel somewhat lighter. Oh shit, he thinks with a flash of fear, old habits taking over, Scanlan should float but Pike’s in heavy armour, she’ll go straight down—

But they’re on vacation, not adventuring – no weapons, no plate armour, just sun hats and bathing suits. When he whirls around he spots Pike easily treading water not far from his elbow. The waves rolling in towards the beach make her go up and down, but she’s completely unfazed.

“You okay, Grog?” she asks, looking a little startled, and Grog isn’t even sure if that’s from being thrown off her perch or on his account.

“Sure,” says Grog, not that sure. “Except, uh, question. Can people die from jellyfish?”

“Well,” says Pike reasonably, “that depends on the jellyfish. I saw some really big ones on the Broken Howl, like big big. But the ones around here just burn a little.” Then her eyes zero in on something ahead of her and her nose crunches. “Yikes. Yeah, you can tell Vex Keyleth was right, look.”

The first and last time Grog saw a jellyfish, it was in Vesrah. Two kids were poking a small blob with a stick until their father told them to stop. What’s floating close to the surface five feet from them is still a blob, but it’s got long thin tentacly things that look like a bunch of transparent seaweed. They’re trailing underneath like it doesn’t know what to do with them. It’s creepy, and it’s weird to think these are why his ankle and calf are stinging like he kicked through embers without a boot on.

Grog scoops Pike up, holds her up out of the water, and makes his way to the beach, trusting Scanlan to meet them there.

When he’s close enough to talk without shouting, he tells Vex, who’s been watching them curiously, “Yeah, maybe don’t let lil’ Whisper into the water just now. There’s at least a couple of the suckers out there. I even got bit, look.”

“Stung, Grog,” Pike corrects, hanging on tight to his arm to avoid toppling over when he lifts his foot. Oops. “Jellyfish don’t bite.”

Vex throws him a look, complicated and quick – worried-sharp-relieved – then grins.

“You know, I’ve heard you can treat a jellyfish burn by having someone pee on it. Not that I’m volunteering, but perhaps if you ask—”

It’s the way she says it. Something flashes in Grog’s mind, like he’s realised something isn’t right but his brain is taking a while to catch up on what, exactly. (It happens.) It’s not that it’s wrong for her to say that – although in the old days Grog wouldn’t have put it past Vax to bring it up instead – so much as she shouldn’t have been the first to say it.

Fortunately, Pike’s brain works much better and faster than his. Her eyes go wide real quick and she exclaims, “Wait – where’s Scanlan?”

A small sliver of cold creeps its way up Grog’s spine. Oh. Shit.

“Didn’t he swim to shore?”

“He didn’t,” says Vex, tense and sharp once more, but worse, like she used to just before a fight. “I would’ve seen him.”

“Well, he has to be somewhere, he can’t just – oh gods no.”

Pike’s voice goes sideways on the last word like someone tripping and falling down a flight of stairs. Grog looks into the same direction and goes cold all over.

There is a shape bobbing along in the water a little ways behind the waves crashing onto the beach.

Grog runs.

He does kind of end up fighting the sea for real today after all.

When he reaches Scanlan, what feels like the next second but also so much time later, the gnome is floating belly down just under the surface of the water. His arms and legs drift a little in the current, like the jellyfish’s tentacle things did. It looks so much creepier. But not as creepy as the way Scanlan lies completely still when Grog picks him up, arms and legs at odd angles like his limbs and joints are missing strings. Both his eyelids and his lips are a little bit blue.

At least there’s no blood. It would bring back real bad memories if there was blood. Well, it does, because this is not the first time Grog’s carried his second best little buddy cold and lifeless like that, but the absence of blood makes it a bit easier to push those memories away.

Pike takes charge as Grog limps out of the water, white seafoam frothing around his calves. Her face is nearly as pale.

“Lay him down,” she says, her voice steel under the usual warmth, and Grog does. He watches her press her ear to Scanlan’s chest, tip his head back, open his mouth, and blow into it. And look, Grog usually doesn’t like it much when they start getting kissy and too wrapped up in each other, but it’s the last thing he’d mind right now. This is the worst kiss he’s ever seen. He’s not even sure it counts as one.

Pike lays her hands flat on Scanlan’s chest and her arms find a steady rhythm – “…three four five six come on eight nine ten—” and Grog winces when he hears something crack. Pike with her gauntlets and her mace and the Blessing of the Everlight is strong, second only to Grog in strength in Vox Machina, but even without she’s a force to be reckoned with. Scanlan’s going to feel that when he wakes up. If he wakes up.

They can’t lose somebody else that’s theirs. They can’t.

Sometimes people go and you never get them back, Grog remembers Kerrek say to Keyleth once, that time Scanlan was dead and Grog spent a very complicated few hours grappling with the fact that all those powerful spellcasters couldn’t bring him back right now. Kerrek had looked surprised way before that when Grog had told him that when someone died, they just brought them back. Like that was usually not the way of things. Like sometimes even people you knew and loved a whole lot just died, and that was it, no Revivify spell, no resurrection.

Grog hadn’t really understood that before Vax died and then became feathers.

If Scanlan dies now, for real, is he going to become feathers, too?

Just as the terror starts to give way into rage – that’s always been Grog’s default way of handling things like that, mostly – Scanlan’s body gives a lurch and he upchucks more liquid than Grog’s ever seen him down in one go in all their years of tavern hopping.

The next second he hears Keyleth yell, “Turn him on his side!”

She’s motioning the water out of Scanlan’s lungs with her hands even as she’s full-on running towards them, spraying sand where her feet hit the beach. In the distance, Vex talks urgently to Percy sitting up next to Vesper before following her, almost as fast.

By the time she’s standing nearby, Keyleth is drawing out the last of the water and replacing it with air with complex arm gestures, long fingers flexing fluidly. The second she’s done, Pike flips Scanlan on his back again and smacks her hands flat on his chest with a flash of intense light that makes Grog see bright spots for a while. A heartbeat later, Scanlan is coughing and retching as if it would make more sense for his insides to be outside. Between dry heaves he takes big gulps of air that sound painful.

But at least he’s breathing.

Grog’s knees suddenly feel like jellyfish tentacles. Sea salt burns in his eyes, and wiping them doesn’t really help. He spares one furious thought towards the ocean – I still won, motherfucker, you don’t get to keep him, just a fleeting remnant of rage – before sitting down on the sand a lot more abruptly than he means to.

From there he catches some soft whispers, some in Gnomish he doesn’t understand, some in Common he does – “It’s okay, you’re okay”, “Slow down, deeper breaths”, and “I know, sorry about your ribs, babe, hold on a sec” – as well as the faint glow from Pike’s fingers as she runs her hand gently along Scanlan’s back. Scanlan’s breaths do come easier after that. (So do Grog’s, incidentally.) He still looks a wreck, though, his soaked curls all over the place, ashen-faced under his tan and half covered in a fine layer of sand. So much for keeping his hair dry. Oops.

“Are you gonna be okay?” asks Keyleth, her voice trembling just a little.

“What the hell happened?” Vex’s voice sounds clipped and almost angry, so sharp it could cut through diamonds but also kinda like it could break if she wasn’t careful. It only does that when things get bad.

Scanlan blinks up at her; he looks at Pike, at Keyleth, and at Grog, and blinks again.

“Good… question?”

It’s because of the jellyfish, Grog realises, and only notices he’s said that aloud when everyone turns their eyes to him. He concentrates hard on not voicing the niggling doubt that it’s his fault more than the jellyfish’s. The squish and the burn might have startled him, but letting both gnomes fall was on him alone. And that… that sucks. A lot.

Pike helps Scanlan sit up, one hand in his and the other still on his back.

“We were just messing around. Grog stepped on a jellyfish – by the way, you okay, buddy?”

“Yeah,” says Grog, even though his ankle still burns a lot, kinda, because he’s – they’ve all – gone through way worse during battles. Fortunately they’re not battling anyone, so Pike still has plenty of magic, and he almost immediately feels the familiar warmth of a Heal spell down to his toes. The next second the red welts on his skin are gone. “Thanks, Pike. And, uh… sorry for getting your hair wet, Scanlan.”

“That’s… a way of putting it, I guess,” mutters Vex.

Scanlan stops brushing wet sand off his face, still looking a little dazed. He looks up (and up, and up) at Grog and waves off the apology with a slightly shaking hand.

“Eh, it’s fine. I probably should’ve told you I can’t swim in the first place.”

Everyone stares at him in a stunned silence that Keyleth finally breaks.

“Wait,” she exclaims, “you can’t swim?”

Scanlan gives half a shrug. “Just never learned, I guess. And I learned Polymorph years ago, so I can just turn into something that swims better than I ever would anyway.”

That does nothing to placate Keyleth, whose voice climbs straight up.

“But – how did we not know that?!”

“It never came up!” protests Scanlan, eyes wide, almost defensive.

“How the hell did that never come up?”

“Guys.” Pike’s voice is clear and sharp; it’s not brittle like Vex’s was, but it’s a fine edge that slices easily through the rising tension before it turns back into her usual soothing tones. “Thank you,” she says to the two women. She opens her mouth, closes it again, and finally just says, “You know. Just… thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Vex says in her normal voice, but her face is pretty pale for all that she just ran a bunch of yards to go get Keyleth. “And Scanlan?”

Grog almost expects him to look up and go “Oi?” with a small smile that could mean pretty much anything. But he just looks up at Vex and doesn’t smile. His eyebrows go up a bit.

“A soon as we can find a body of water that doesn’t have waves in it –”

“Or jellyfish,” adds Grog, whose takeaway of the misadventure is that those things are more dangerous than ocean waves. One corner of Vex’s mouth twitches.

“– or jellyfish, we are teaching you how to swim, darling. And that is non-negotiable.”

Scanlan’s face is still a bit white, his voice still a bit raw when he nods and says, “Understood.”

“I mean it. I hope you can handle a crash course.”

“Well,” says Scanlan, sounding a little more normal, “you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks, but I—” Vex’s eyes glint, “—yep, okay, swimming lesson, no prob.”

Vex flashes a satisfied smirk, but it only stays up for a second. The next moment she’s hugging Scanlan, and it’s over just as quickly before she mutters, “I’d better go and inform Percy that nobody died, thank the gods…”

And it’s like Grog can hear the ‘nobody else’ hidden in that sentence, clear as day.

After she leaves, Scanlan looks at Keyleth with one of those smiles that mean he’s being serious.

“Thanks, Kiki. You know, you’re pretty awesome.”

Keyleth looks less spooked now. She gives a short snort of a laugh and unfolds her long lean body from where she’s sitting on the sand.

“Yeah, well. I spent a long time learning these spells, so. I’m glad you’re okay, Scanlan,” she adds in a softer voice before following Vex.

It’s when her back is turned and she’s a few feet away that Pike – who’s been so still Grog almost expected her to start vibrating – grabs Scanlan by the shoulders and then throws her arms around him. Doesn’t kiss him, just goes straight for a tackling hug that seems to drive the air from his lungs (again).

“I thought you’d Dimension Doored to the beach,” Grog hears her say in his hair, a little muffled, because after a second of surprise Scanlan is hugging back, just as tight. “I thought you’d swum back. You should’ve said you couldn’t, you… I should’ve checked… Holy shit, Scanlan. That was so fucking dumb.”

But she’s trembling a little as she says this, so maybe it’s not really dumb to be scared still, even though everything is okay now.

…Well, kind of okay. No matter what happens, Vax will stay dead. Which means Vex, and Keyleth, and Scanlan, and Pike, and Percy, and Tary won’t really be okay okay for a long time. They’ll still have those moments where they go quiet and still and kind of fragile, like they’re made of glass you can’t quite see through. Like Grog, when his memory betrays him and he thinks I gotta show this to Vax, or Vax will go nuts when he hears that – and then he remembers that Vax is gone and they’ll never get him back.

Maybe that’s part of why Pike is holding Scanlan so tight, and why Scanlan is murmuring to her in Gnomish looking like he just smacked his head into a wall.

And since there’s no kissing involved, just ‘holy crap you’re alive I love you you’re alive’ hugging, Grog picks up his gnomes for some hugging of his own.

The thing is… well. It’s like this. It’s Wilhand and Grog and Pike and Scanlan, living in Wilhand’s house. It’s Grog and Scanlan and Pike, going to taverns and sometimes – less often than they used to, but still sometimes – going home so smashed they can’t walk straight. It’s Pike and Grog and Scanlan going to Vasselheim via teleportation circles; Grog and Scanlan check in at the Slayer’s Take headquarters while Pike drops by the Temple of Sarenrae first, Pike and Grog fight at the Crucible while Scanlan sneaks them some inspiration from the stands, and Grog and Pike and sometimes Scanlan take a contract from the Take to kill some big beast that doesn’t hold a candle to a dragon or a god but is still fun to fight.

The thing is… Grog knows gnomes live a long time. The particulars are unclear and not really interesting to be honest. He just knows that one day, he’ll be too old to fight anything – which sucks, so he hopes it won’t last a long time – and he’ll die for good, and Pike and Scanlan will still be young compared to him. That’s not scary in itself. Grog Strongjaw has never been afraid of dying (especially not since the two halves of Kevdak’s corpse hit the cobblestones of the Westruun town square). But Grog Strongjaw has learned to fear death like he used to before he learned about resurrection spells, whether it comes from the fingertips of a snarling god or the whisper of raven wings. Revivify doesn’t always work, and it gets harder if you died and got brought back more than once. And then sometimes they’re just. Gone. (They could have lost Vex for good as well at the not-wedding a couple of years ago. Sometimes Grog looks at her playing with Vesper, or slumped against Percy with her head on his shoulder, and the thought goes through his brain and leave ice in its wake for a while.)

The thing is… They’re not always out of harm’s way, but they are safe now.

They killed dragons. They thwarted a god. They lost family. They’re entitled to safe, now, right?

None of them are allowed to die before Grog. Not for real. That would just be unfair.

(Especially because of a stupid misstep and a stupid jellyfish.)

So yeah. The gnomes hug each other, and Grog hugs his gnomes.

“Hey, Scanlan,” he says when the two break apart – slightly – and make themselves comfortable against his chest without even thinking about it, out of habit.

“Yeah?”

“Are you mad we didn’t know you can’t swim?”

Something complicated flashes across Scanlan’s face for a second, but then he shakes his head.

“I’d be mad if I’d told you and you’d forgotten,” he says, and Grog believes him.

“I wouldn’t forget a thing like that.”

“I know, bud.”

“We’re gonna teach you, anyway,” Pike points out as the three of them make their way up the beach towards the others, the towels and the parasols. “And no Polymorph allowed. You’re not cheating your way out of this one.”

“That’s not cheating, that’s just… creative thinking! Swimming is boring – why would I want to swim when I can turn into a porpoise instead?”

“Why didn’t you do that earlier, then, instead of giving us all a heart attack?”

“I was taken by surprise, obviously!”

“Wait,” says Grog, “how the hell do you turn into a purpose?”

“P-o-r-p-o-i-s-e, buddies. It’s an animal. Kinda looks like a dolphin.”

“Dolphins are usually purposeful, so that tracks.”

“You’re not helping, Scanlan.”

“Yeah, you’re not helping me cultivate my litter-a-see, Scanlan.”

Grog isn’t sure (yet) how to spell ‘literacy’ and he mostly means it as a joke anyway, but Scanlan’s whole face lights up with delight, so maybe it means he stuck the landing.

Of course this is where Vesper’s little voice pipes up to ask what ‘literacy’ means, and what’s a porpoise, and then what does a jellyfish look like, because she’s a curious little one and she loves to know things and figure things out. Scanlan spins a tale on the spot for her that only looks like what actually happened if you tilt your head and squint really hard; at some point a giant whale is involved and Pike, Vex and Keyleth swing down from an airship to save the day. Percy’s eyebrows shoot up from behind his glasses at that, Keyleth laughs, and Vex grins and takes a mock bow before returning to scratch the spot behind Trinket’s ear.

Vesper listens to Scanlan with increasing awareness that this is A Story – firmly in the land of make-believe, where no one dies, nobody is ever in real danger, and all’s well that always ends well – and gives dramatic gasps and laughs at the right places.

Pike plops Scanlan’s hat on her head and settles behind him to comb the sand and the knots out of his hair with her fingers as he talks. Sometimes she smiles the same soft little smile Scanlan had earlier, while she and Grog were screaming at the ocean.

And Grog?

Grog settles on the ground, wiggling sand between his toes, and watches his family being alive.

—

Raise your hand if you love Grog Strongjaw and his gnomes 🥰

Me a couple of months ago seeing this post:

"Ooh, that's great! Great potential for comedy!" So I jotted down these lines -

“Wait, you can’t swim!? How did we not know that?” “It never came up!” “How the hell did it never come up??

- and then a couple of months later came up with the fic above 😅

Hope you liked!

#critter genfic bingo #critical role #vox machina #pikelan #grog strongjaw #pike trickfoot #scanlan shorthalt #vex'ahlia #keyleth #percival de rolo #fanfiction #tlovm spoilers

[traumxrei-archive]

(pov i forgot to write “have fun with the event” in my last message lmao whoops)

Okay but consider, #10 with Floyd please? i think it’d be cute!

(sorry this is the first time requesting writing from someone hkakdjaj)

anyway, i cant wait to read everything, (actually i can, take your time :]), have fun writing!

-🍓

【 somewhere only we know 】

prompt #10: This wasn’t meant to be a date, but he had such a good time and now it’s 2 a.m. and he should really go back… (ft. floyd leech)

gender neutral! reader, 600 followers event ficlet

author's note: HI STRAWBERRY ANONNNN !! it's been a pleasure chatting with you so it's also exciting to finally be writing your request woo~ i had a bunch of fun writing this bc. i love writing floyd sm, and i'm real excited to see how you'll enjoy it so i hope you liked it hehe <33

"C'mon Shrimpy~" Floyd giggled softly as he watched the Little Shrimp struggle to catch up to him. He was in his merform, so he had the advantage, but it was fun to see them try nonetheless. "If Shrimpy doesn't speed up, Imma leave you in the dust."

"You said that a million times already, and look at you now," They huffed, though he could see the slightest trace of smile. "You could run laps around me in your merform and yet you're still waiting."

"That's cuz I feel like bein' nice today."

"Uhuh," They finally caught up to him before he flicked his tail, smoothly sailing ahead of them once more. "Shouldn't we go back to the others?"

"The others?"

Oh. Floyd had almost forgotten about them.

They were all initially at the Atlantica Museum but it got boring real quick for Floyd. It was the same as he remembered when he was a little guppy. And it was boring. He needed some real fun so he staged a little Shrimp-napping. Just a little one. He was sure no one would mind if he borrowed the Little Shrimp for a bit, right?

So that's where they were now. He had taken them around the Coral Sea for a bit and now they were making their way towards Floyd's favorite spot.

"It's probably been hours now," They reminded, sighing before attempting to catch up to him again. "You're sure they aren't looking for us?"

"Nope!" Floyd said, his voice clipping at the edges from the clack of his teeth. They always felt longer when he was in his eel form. He gave them a big grin that he hoped was pointy and sharp. "I lefta message for Azul. Don't be such a party pooper, 'm tryna show you something cool here."

"I'm just worried about them," They said, flailing around as they spun in the water. "Azul said that Crow–"

"Meh, I didn't bring ya here to talk about Azul," Floyd frowned, letting his tail curl around their waist. "You're here to be with me."

"And I am here with you," They said, huffing. "Now stop squeezing already, my ribs are starting to hurt." Floyd tittered again at the frowny expression on their face. They were always so cute. He was right to Shrimp-nap them!

"Mm, maybe it'll be faster if I hold you 'n swim," He pulled Shrimpy closer. He could see them starting to protest. "But you said 's been hours! 'M tryna help here, Shrimpy. Plus I'm a big eel, I'll keep ya safe."

They scrunched up their face in contemplation before sighing, "Fine, where do I go?"

Floyd whooped before turning around, "Here, here~ Hold on to my shoulders ti~ght or else you'll be taken by the currents." As soon as their hands gripped at his shoulders, he did an experimental flick of his tail.

He heard the startled yelp they let out, "Wait Flo–"

Floyd made sure to place his hands over theirs before properly propelling himself forward. There was a screech from them, and he felt them squeezing for their life as he sped up even more. It was kinda funny to him, because usually he was the one doing the squeezing, yet look at him now! Being squeezed so nice and tightly. (Not that it hurt at all. He was stronger than them after all.)

When he finally slowed down, he could feel their head curled up right against his shoulder. He just couldn't resist commenting, "Curled up like that you're lookin' like a real Shrimpy now!" And maybe he should've anticipated the smack that was landed on the back of his head, but right now he couldn't even mind about that. He was too amused by their actions to think about being angry in any capacity! That was the magic of the Little Shrimp.

"C'mon, c'mon," Floyd tugged at them so they would be next to him. "The underwater breathing potion's supposed to run out soon, so we're goin' up!"

"Wait what?" They blurted, unable to keep their annoyed composure. "We've been wandering around that long...?"

Floyd chuckled as he brought them closer to the surface, "Shrimpy really has no awareness of their surroundings."

"You wanna talk about having no awareness?" They bumped his elbow with theirs. "I might've drowned if you weren't fast enough."

"But you didn't."

"...But I didn't."

Floyd broke the surface first, feeling the cool night air gently brush against his slick skin. They followed soon after, hair a mess from being underwater.

"What is this place?" They murmured and Floyd simply smiled. He didn't just swim that fast for no reason. The start of winter was when they would be the brightest after all.

"It's bioluminescence. Pretty, right?" Floyd said, letting clawed fingers trace over the glow of the ocean. "Read it in a book once, 'n I've been coming here ever since. Come, there's a lil cave to sit in." He slowly led them towards the cove, the water splashing gently against the sand; the motion causing the algae to flare brighter in pulses.

"This is amazing Floyd," They breathed and Floyd tilted his head.

Was it the lack of light, or did he really want to see the way their eyes sparkled at that moment? No doubt they had that look on their face, the same one they'd get whenever he showed them something particularly cool. It was the whole reason Floyd even bothered to take them around in the first place. He just...he wanted to see that look again. He placed a hand on their chin, tilting their face toward him so he could see.

They blinked, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" And maybe if Floyd wasn't so much of a coward— someone who hid behind easy smiles to hide his anxieties— maybe he would've kissed them right then and there.

But he was a coward, and a big one to boot, so he just smiled lackadaisically, "Just got some seaweed on ya, Shrimpy." They puffed out their cheeks and it startled a real laugh out of him as he watched them search their head for the piece of seaweed that wasn't even there in the first place.

"Floyd Leech I swear to the Seven-"

"Eh~ I brought you to my special place 'n you're getting mad at me?" He made a show of pouting, and he saw their expression flicker and- It wasn't long before they mumbled a promise to get him a treat when they got back.

They were so kind to him, the Little Shrimp was. And always so patient. It was something he liked about them. Another being the fact that they could be stern when they wanted to be. The hard stuff could wait. Confessing and kissing and all that, he would do it when he was feeling braver.

For now he sidled up to them, unwinding and coiling his lower body so that the light would continue to envelop them. It was late into the night, but that didn't matter to him. All Floyd wanted was to see that look on their face again. And again and again and again.

thank you for reading the floyd shenanigans ! if you'd like to read more, check out my masterlists :D

#/trau's milestone event #UGH #MY HEART #i'm still thinking about the beanfest tweel rot #morays are cowards by heart #it loops in my mind daily #floyd leech #floyd leech x reader #floyd x reader #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland fics #twst fic #twst fics #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland scenarios #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #/trau writes #/trau fics

[timkonshipper]

Pickup lines(organized by PJO cabins)

Athena cabin:

Life without you is like a broken pencil: pointless

Good thing I have a library card because I’m checking you out

My favourite numbers are 1 and 4 because I’m the 1 4 you. 

If you were a triangle you’d be an acute one. 

Hermes cabin: 

I'm a felon. Cause I felon love with you

Can I take a picture of you? I wanna show santa exactly what I want this year

Your hand looks heavy, can I hold it for you?

Apollo cabin: 

Do you know CPR? Because you took my breath away.

Do you have a bandaid? I scraped my knee falling for you.

Can you pay my life insurance since you make my heart stop

Percy:

Are you nemo? Cause I’ve been trying to find you

Did you know that your body is made up of 60% water? Good thing I’m thirsty

Do you fish? Because you have me hooked

Are you a sea lion? Cause I can sea you lion in my bed later. 

I lost my stuffed fish, can I hold you instead? 

Did you feel that earthquake? Nevermind, that was just you rocking my world. 

Nico(he’s totally the one who tells the dirtiest pickup lines) : 

Is your name winter? Because you’ll be coming soon. 

Roses are meh, violets are fine. You be the 6 and I’ll be the 9. 

Are you a box of chocolates? Cause I’m dying to take your top off and eat you all night. 

#PJO #percy jackson #nico di angelo #athena cabin #apollo cabin #hermes cabin #pickup lines

[lazywriter-artist]

Ocs playing minecraft dynamic go

Oo good one-

🦅 Galileo - really just spends his whole time building a little house with a beautiful flower garden and what not, does his best to help anyone out and even has a little set of chests where others can pick things out and stuff. Really just number one Minecraft dad

🦅 Storvis - entire time grinding (even if he’s meh at it since he’s too hardheaded to listen to tips or anything) and getting the best gear he can, will grief anyone who gets in his way. Do NOT ask his ass for help, he will bully you and then exterminatus your base. Often steals all the stuff out of Galileo’s chests and makes fun of his flower garden- doesn’t dare touch it tho, made the mistake of blowing it up once and was nearly obliterated in game and then in real life—

⚙️ Kallisch (mantis Magos) and L-319 (Crab Logis) - they don’t play too much but when they do they kind of just follow one another around on mining trips and put their beds together all the time. Sometimes you’ll find these huge mega structures they built solely out of like copper blocks of the cog mechanicum or something nerdy ass shit like that

⚙️ ‘Delta’ (Beetle Explorator) - sole purpose is to travel as far as they can manage, huge nether railways all neatly labeled with names they made up and shit. Probably has some underground bunker they made just filled with a “living Pokédex” of every mob in the game and such ( something like this )

⚙️ Thanatos (Dominus centipede) - K I L L . not as much of an asshole as Storvis is but much more calculated. Has his weapons and armor min maxed with their enchantments and has done so many raids he has just a fucking sea of totems of undying, had killed the ender dragon single handedly several times and in so many different ways with such horrific efficiency it would make any sort of Minecraft YouTuber cry at the title possibilities. Has this mega base that’s armed to the teeth with booby traps, just loaded with beacons too bc he’s probably got a Wither farm or some shit. I pray for the soul who wants to PvP him, not even Storvis dares

⚙️ Rure (Silverfish Logis) - doesn’t really understand how the game works, mostly just hides out by Galileo, he thinks the flowers are pretty though and the bees are neat! Has little collection of wolves Galileo helped him tame and builds them dog houses (Galileo showed them). Figured out you can name animals and fish up name tags so they spend a lot of time doing that. Living their best life really

#sniffle thank you so much 🥺 #warhammer 40k #wh40k #lazy text #lazy answers #lazy’s ocs #wh40k oc #admech #log & explr #commissar ocs #commissar storvis #commissar galileo #commissar 40k