#twistedsinews

[faejilly]

last week's Weekly Tag Wednesday: Firsts

tagged by @michellemisfit no pressure tagging: @twistedsinews @breadedsinner @indigorally @lynne-monstr @bettydice & anyone who would like to play along

Name: jilly

Age: I am older than the meaning of life, the universe, and everything

First Pet: I believe we had a budgie (parakeet) when I was very little, but I don't so much remember said budgie as I remember that I remembered him when I was 5, if that sentence makes sense?

The first pet I remember was a cat named Gandalf (the Grey).

First Word: no fucking clue. I don't know what my kids' first words were either, sorry?

First Celebrity Crush: / First IRL Crush: I am grey-ace enough to have no answer to this. what are crushes? how do?

First Kiss: in college (see above 😅)

First Car: A pontiac something? it was blue and its transmission died after maybe a year, because it was Very Used (and I was Very Broke, so that was not fun)

First apartment/house/dorm/whatever away from your parents: Yes? I don't understand this question, I do in fact no longer live with my mother. (I had a dorm room at the one year of college I successfully completed? Then we had a series of varying degrees of cheap apartments. Currently we have a house because my husband has a very responsible Real Job and supports me and my magpie brain, we are very lucky that he can do that.)

First Time on a Plane: When I was 7 or 8 we did a plane trip to visit friends of ours in Virginia (we lived in Wisconsin, for those of you familiar enough with US geography that this means anything).

First Cellphone: Nokia something? It was one of their classic bricks

First Concert: Does a Sesame Street concert when I was 6 count?

First Foreign country you visited? Iceland! Family reunion when I was nine. I went again for the next family reunion when I was 19, but have not managed the 29 or 39 ones, and mostly don't talk to that side of the family anymore so probably won't get invited to the one when I'm 49.

First sport you ever played? I do not sport

First career aspiration? Mermaid (when I was four). Despite hating swimming lessons? I think I wanted to just... be able to swim with none of that learning bullshit.

Actual Real Career: I wanted to be a pathologist for the longest time, but I am not actually very good at school, so I had mostly given up on that by the time I managed to graduate high school.

Now I'm mostly just trying to get a good counselor/med cocktail so I can do anything consistently so. :sighs: SUGGESTIONS ON FUTURE CAREERS WELCOME *snerk*

And finally… tell me about the first time you wrote/drew/created/whatever something that made you think “wow”

I was an occasional hobby writer most of my life, but probably when I did Lost for Words because it was the first long/chaptered fic I'd ever written and posted and finished.

Honorable mention to the summer in high school when I took a notebook with me to band camp and spent half my down time sitting outside with a flute case beside me (or leaning against the alto sax case for week two) writing in a notebook and confusing the hell out of everyone who saw me because there was also a creative writing group on that same campus so I looked like I was trying to be in both at once. I was weirdly proud of the chaos vibes there.

for copy pasting:

Name:

Age:

First Pet:

First Word:

First Celebrity Crush:

First IRL Crush:

First Kiss:

First Car:

First apartment/house/dorm/whatever away from your parents:

First Time on a Plane:

First Cellphone:

First Concert:

First Foreign country you visited?

First sport you ever played?

First career aspiration?

And finally… tell me about the first time you wrote/drew/created/whatever something that made you think “wow”

#jilly spam #michellemisfit #weekly tag wednesday

[chessalein]

WIP WEDNESDAY - 21/06/23

So uhm.. yea. My WIPS at the moment are three things. One of these you know already. Its a clothing mod for Jackie in the Lumberjack outfit. I'm tr ying out different combinations. Different colors, variations like dirty and clean and what not. And fighting against mean clipping and... oh boy. Its hard. actually the only problem I have with this shirt are the armpits. I really have to butcher this poor mesh so it won't clip anymore.

Maybe I just have to learn that it won't be perfect but it stresses me out because I have the feeling I'm letting the people who are hyped to put Jackie in new outfits down.

The second thing I'm working on is kind of like the same as the first but I'm completley stuck right now. I don't know why but my wolvenkit just doesen't want to save .app files anymore so that I can change his clothing in these files. I can't even redo the shirt that already worked. I wanted to do it again to see if its the shirt or if I missed some steps while trying it on other clothings but... It just doesn't want to work anymore. I don't know what to do anymore.

So if one of you ever had this problem, please let me know how you solved it. I already have the newest wolvenkit nightly version because Wash thought it might help, but sadly it doesen't.

And I have the "Jackie's Wardrobe vol. 1" mod from @twistedsinews so I thought I try to look how they did and to find out what I'm doing wrong. But they did it completley different. I tried to use their stuff as a frame and maybe just somehow make it work with the stuff I want but... no. After seeing Pinkydudes new amazing seductive input poses I really wanted to have some shorts in which I can put Jackie so people can take hot underwear-model like pics. But... yea.. I didn't get that far and I'm stuck with this method as well. So I'm a bit lost right now.

Just so you know: 1. twistedsinews wrote in a readme file: "permissions: share, modify, whatever. just don't sell the darn thing for money, please!" If it wasn't I wouldn't dare to open someones mod to play around with it. 2. The name of my mod was inspired by theirs :) Because I just love all the outfits that are in there. The mod was available in a Tumblr post but I think the link expired.

Thats what I got somehow working but the texture is.. I don't even know what and he still has shoes and... yea. I'm out of ideas right now.

We share the same expression right now. Both absolutley not happy but don't know how to change it. And beside modding, I work on chapter 18 of "Bringing back the sun" :) In which we learn how Misty is doing with her grief.

#WIP Tuesday #cyberpunk 2077 #jackie welles #wolvenkit is bullying my 2 braincells #I'm sorry Jackie I swear I will give you propper shorts someday #even really sexy ones!

[chyrstis]

- OC Tarot Card -

It’s Saturday, so I’m cashing this in while I can! Someone was also aiming to break my heart here, and I think I loved this uquiz all the more for doing it. Sorry, Han. 

Tagged by: @adelaidedrubman @gamer-purgatory and @jackiesarch! 

(I think most have been tagged by now too, but I’m going to sneak in a few more) Tagging: @writerofblocks @twistedsinews @hunnybadgerv @painterofhorizons @cobb-vanthss @amistrio @foofygoldfish  @redroci @ma-sulevin @teamhawkeye @shellibisshe​  @its-jeph​ @blissfulalchemist​ @strafethesesinners​ @starsandskies​ @turbo-virgins​ @scorpiosleeps​ and those that are reading this this very instant. ;) but really, no obligation intended at all either!

Deputy Hana Vao (Far Cry 5)

- The Fool -

There is only so fast a car can go before it flips. You would do well to memorise that speed, though whether that is to reach it or avoid it is none of my concern. Your life cannot be made only of beginnings; you forget that for every new life there is one you had to smother. Adventure beckons, must you rise to meet it? Have you spoken to a loved one from a past life recently? I’m sure someone, somewhere misses you.

#deputy hana #hana has been the fool for a good long while now #staying in one place long enough to start to put down roots only to have to leave again #and much as she's focused on the present the past lingers just out of view #Hope County was supposed to be different dammit (and to that adventure question? yes yes and yes)

[gatticus]

Becca/Troy: not realizing they’re holding hands till someone points it out

Gryphon is still speaking, a loud monotonous drone, and Troy can’t even remember the last time the man drew breath. He even sees Jaime’s eyes droop across the room, the most dedicated receptionist there is.

The only thing that’s keeping him awake is the presence of the woman sitting next to him, she acts as if she’s entirely relaxed, but if she’s feeling anything close to what he is, she can’t be. He’s barely looked at her since she had taken a seat next to him, but chances a glance towards her anyway.

 She’s changed her hair, he noted that when she came in. The teal hair that sits below her shoulders makes her a very obvious odd-one-out in the business meeting, full of ties and pocket squares and receding hairlines. 

She must be the youngest there by about five years, if you discount Jaime. Even he is one of the younger ones, and that’s never a good thing. 

“If you could take one and pass it on,” Gryphon instructs, as he blinks himself back into the room. 

Papers shuffle next to him, but he keeps his eyes pointed forwards. She obviously doesn’t get the same memo.

A nail prods his forearm. “Hey,” She murmurs, he barely registers. “Take one.”

He wordlessly takes one from her expectant hand, not even looking at it, but his fingers brush hers and she doesn’t jerk away. She’s watching him as he swallows down the fact that he can hear his heart in his ears.

He almost throws the paper to the person sitting next to him, he doesn’t even bother to look in their direction. She hasn’t moved her hand, and he’s trying desperately to read the paper in front of him but none of it is going in.

He feels like an awkward kid, his right hand stubbornly touching hers, but he can’t bring himself to move. He reads the paper again, or attempts to.

Proposal...Rebadeaux...none of it is sticking. He narrows his eyes, shuffling in his seat as the hand next to his drops to her lap. He should feel relieved, but he doesn’t.

His hand that rests on the table drops to his knee as he sees her stiffen out of the corner of his eye. He has no idea what he’s doing as it seeks hers, curling around reluctant fingers under the table. 

Her hands are warm, but she carries on watching Gryphon like nothing has even happened. He almost thinks she’s going to push him off until he feels her fingers bend at the knuckle, clutching his hand in her own that rests on her thigh.

He knows his cheeks are red as he clears his throat, trying to get rid of the lump there. She is acting as calm and collected as she usually does when they see each other in public, a little cold, hard to predict, an entirely different woman to the one with bounds of energy from the row.

A scrap of paper is pushed into his vision, neat looping handwriting that he recognises;

Are you as bored as I am?

He blinks, glancing to her, to see the left side of her lip twitching in the effort not to smile. He only squeezes her hand in response, and sees her reaction first hand, the small swallow, acting entirely bashful under his watchful eye.

He picks up the pen, feeling now entirely like a school child, and writes back, scratchy capitals that aren’t as neat as her careful scrawl. It’s the only thing about her that’s anything close to put together;

Trying not to snore.

He hears her laugh quietly through her nose as she grabs the paper back. She’s halfway through another note when Gryphon clears his throat. Troy blinks at him, but doesn’t see any disappointment or beration, Gryphon looks expectant. 

“Chief Bradshaw?” Gryphon questions. “You said you had a talk prepared.”

He had forgotten entirely about it. Swearing softly under his breath, he gets to his feet, forgetting entirely that his hand is tucked carefully into hers. He only realises when she squeaks in surprise, almost pulled up with him, and the short gasp of Jaime next to him confirms that everyone can see her fingers around his.

He swallows, glancing up to the room to the confusion of everyone watching. Becca even looks horrified as she stares upwards at their hands.

Shit.

#twistedsinews #otp; not a mistake #boss becca #fic #rachael dont look #i actually quite like this one #thanku for sending it as always ♥

[lexigraph]

The Way You Said I Love You: Slowly, the words dripping from your tongue like honey

This one I took for Dragon Age II. Marie Hawke and Varric, who in my canon had what they call a fling between Acts 1 and 2, and who take a very long time post-game to come back around to where they should have been (and were) all along.

It’s late, late enough to really count as early, and almost everyone has long since excused themselves to their bed of choice. The Hanged Man is quiet at this-- and no other-- time of day, and tonight-- or rather, this morning -- is no exception.

There are still two awake. A human woman with red-orange hair that nearly glows in the dim firelight and a dwarf with a dirty blonde ponytail and no beard but an abundance of chest hair on display. There are a number of empty flagons around them, and a pink tinge to their cheeks that tells a tale of indulgences.

Currently, she is lounging across one of the tables, propping her head up on her hand and listening, eyes half-lidded to a story he weaves in an unnecessarily low tone, considering the complete lack of company.

She laughs at something he says, a throaty murmur of a laugh, and leans forward toward him, her spare hand reaching out to run against the collar of his shirt, tracing the embroidery there with delicate fingers. At some point, her fingertips move from fabric to skin, and his voice falters for a split second.

She bites her bottom lip, and he grasps her wandering hand in one of his,  stopping it in its tracks. Her lips part now, as she sits up and leans forward further still, bringing her face close to his. The dwarf’s head tilts upward into hers, but their lips do not meet. Instead, her mouth finds his ear, and a phrase is murmured into it. The dwarf's hands go to her hips, pulling her forward off the table and into his lap. She slides easily into position, straddling his powerful thighs.

“Again. Slower this time, Firestarter. Let me see you say it.”

She smiles, lips forming a wicked curve, nearly a smirk. 

This time, rather than a murmur, she rolls the words around, parceling them out, eyes steady on his own. “I love you.”

They spend the rest of the night -- or really, rather much of the morning -- repeating these words to each other again and again in his quarters, until the exhaustion takes them, When they wake, tangled together, the words are forgotten, slipping away into the fog of time, of too much booze, of a wall around vulnerabilities they don’t know how to feel in the light of day.

#dragon age 2 #varric x hawke #marie hawke #ls posts #sorry it's not Jackie!! #varric tethras #dragon age #twistedsinews

[corpsebrigadier]

I also wanna ask: Dorter Thief Who Throws His Hat on the Ground for the Character Meme. For reasons. Mostly silly reasons, but I am intrigued. XD

Ah yes! The pivotal and important man at the heart of Final Fantasy Tactics labyrinthine plot. So often overlooked. So little appreciated by the plebian masses.

OTP for them: Gaffgarion/Dorter Thief Who Throws His Hat on the Ground: one of the great romantic tragedies of our time. It's clear from his emotional recognition of the man that they are exes. Why else would he have a unique animation for throwing his hat to the paving stones in shocked surprise? Why else would Gaffgarion offer to waive his fee? Don't tell me I'm using shipper goggles. The subtext is obvious.

BROTP for them: I don't think he's classy enough to hang with upstanding nameless NPCs of the caliber of Riovanes Knight Covered in Blood, but I also don't think he'd slum it with rubes like Death Corps Member Algus Kicks in the Ribs. I guess I can see him being chummy with Folksy Mushroom Identification Expert. They're both in Gallione. "As the cap rises, the house falls" might even be the sort of dumb quip he lent his buddy. If I want to lean into my Gaff/Hat Guy fic continuity, I can also see him getting on with poor Rad.

Other ships: He has terrible taste. I can see him having a fling with Fake Ovelia and getting the wallet containing his latest 700 gil bounty stolen from him.

What kind of fic I’d write about them: There is precisely one fic that I really felt needed to be written for him, and I have written it.  If I had to write another though, it would probably involve some combination of other unnamed but iconic NPCs. He could be a starting point from which I might explore the rich interiority of the Panicky Nanten Deserters or Miluda's Green-Cloaked White Mage Twins.

A favorite canon moment: Oh... I think people can guess.

Color that reminds me of them: Green.

Song that reminds me of them: Easy. Obvious. Behold.

A random AU I think up on the spot for them: What if things had been different? What if he had killed an entire party of specialist knights and main characters? What if he--eager to actually get his 700 gil a head that Vormav would no doubt stiff him on--had to be the hero uncovering the corruption and diablerie hidden within the Church?

A headcanon about them: Goffard G. Gaffgarion bought that attractive young swain his hat. He bought him that hat and was requited with only RANK INGRATITUDE.

Anything else: This whole fascination of mine with the misadventures and romantic follies of Hat Guy was started via a twitter conversation in which I noted my frustration at characters like Agrias and Mustadio not really having the same sort of stories as other Final Fantasy party members, given that the game has to allow for the possibility that you will let them be eaten by goblins at any given point in time after they join. I joked that Hat Guy has a complete narrative arc (foolishly undercharges for killing people, realizes he must face Gaffgarion, dies alone) as part of thinking through why all my faves in this game are non-player characters who meet a definite end in their tragic deaths.

#final fantasy tactics #fft #dorter thief who throws his hat on the ground #goffard gaffgarion #fandom #memes #twistedsinews

[heywoodvirgin]

2. 3 facts about your V/OC?, 22. If you had the choice, would you have chosen to let Jackie insert the shard instead?, 25. What’s one of the funniest things you’ve encountered or had happen?, 29. If there were 3 things you could change about the storyline or game structure, what would they be?, 35. Anything else you’d like to add about the game/V/yourself?

2. Since I haven’t played the game, I don’t have a clear idea about my V, instead, I wrote something with an OC, Rachel Ortega ( Jackie’s love interest in The Virgin of Heywood) 

Rachel is  Latina but doesn’t speak Spanish, shame huh. It’s just that her family never spoke it at home and never talked about heritage. She herself never really thought about it, that until she met Jackie ^^ 

Rachel has a secret skill, she’s very good with knives, in more than one way, shuuut, don’t tell anyone!  

Rachel lived most of her childhood and teen years with her grandma in a little family farm but never was a part of a nomad group or any fraction. She grew up as a lone child surrounded by silence and void. That’s why after her grandma’s passing, she wanted to know what life in a city was and landed in Night City. 

22. Oh boy. I think no. I mean, I wouldn’t want to take this risk, wouldn’t want to expose him to any kind of danger, really. 

25. Delamain rogue Ai cars are funny I guess, also the glitches and bugs in important moments of the game, when it’s supposed to be solemn or sad or whatever and there is that glitch and you can’t stop laughing instead. 

29. Number one: save Jack! Number two: romance Jack. Number three: marry Jack u_u ( I know this is not Pride and Prejudice lol ), more seriously, befriend Voodoo boys, have them as allies, that would be cool. Save Dum Dum, make of him a decent Night City citizen, he needs Jesus (JK) :p 

35. Well, more interactions with NCPs, more missions with River, more time with Claire! 

That’s it! thank you for asking! 

#cyberpunk 2077 #oc #asks #twistedsinews #thank youuuuu #jackie welles

[nihilnovisubsole]

twistedsinews replied to your post: Hi! I really enjoyed the Roman Empire inspired...

dangerous crowns style w/egypt inspired world preorders when

there’s an area in the far west of kaditha and the far south of juba where the two provinces meet and have a lot of cultural exchange. the actual location of the border between the two is more political than representative of the people who live near it. some of my worldbuilding notes already say that this area has signs of a great civilization that came before, making it a hotspot for scholars and excavators. kaditha has prominent palm leaf religious imagery, and juba has tapering pylon-style architecture and khopesh swords. i mean, of course i wouldn’t want to pursue it without research, but it’s definitely something i kicked around at one point!

#twistedsinews #brb grabbing my like 150 photos from the LA tutankhamun exhibit #and my huge very expensive full color translation of the book of the dead #kindlefic stuff #replies

[galedekarios]

...if I'm not mistaken, it was your birthday the other day? PLEASE ACCEPT SOME FOND BIRTHDAY WISHES AND HEARTS, MAY EVERYTHING YOU HOPE FOR THIS YEAR COME TRUE!

Thank you so much, Liebes!

🖤

#I'm so happy to hear from you again #But yes #Tuesday I turned even more Ancient(tm) #Anyhow #text: personal #text: Asks #twistedsinews

[thetwobosses]

@twistedsinews replied to your post: I hope my followers are alright with me putting so...

I kinda think anyone following you is not going to be bothered by a SR cascade. …or they’re very lost. XD

I mean just like, the avalanches of SR posts all at once xD Might get overwhelming. But then again, might not!

#twistedsinews #I think one of my fave things from years ago #was getting an ask after I returned from a trip saying #'How to tell that TTB is back: dash is suddenly nothing but Saints Row' #XD

[faejilly]

10 characters/10 fandoms/10 tags (in no particular order)

Alexander Gideon Lightwood--Shadowhunters (TV)

Joan Watson--Elementary (Honorary mentions to Granada Watson & ACD Watson & the robot & tomato & etc. But Lucy Liu y'all.)

Oz--BTVS (Daniel "Oz" Osbourne. I still know his actual full name! From when it aired! I was the same age as Oz when it came out oh gods I'm old. And yet Seth Green is not. How unfair. 🤣)

Joker--Mass Effect (Jeffrey "Joker" Moreau. Now I'm just making some weird nickname & Seth Green commentary, idek anymore)

Amanda King--Scarecrow and Mrs King (#formative influence)

Murderbot--The Murderbot Diaries (Or as I usually call it when it comes up in conversation: Murderbot!Murderbot!Murderbot!)

Molly Grue--The Last Unicorn (Book & Movie & Graphic Novel)

Alec Hardison/Eliot Spencer/Parker--Leverage (The OG OT3 deserve their own line, I don't make the rules that's just how it is)

Anne Elliot--Persuasion (Favorite Austen. Favorite Everything.)

Sebastian Vael--Dragon Age 2 (He's why I'm on tumblr even!)

tagged by @tamsinwilloughby & no pressure tagging @twistedsinews @wellreadpigfarmer @leahazel @rubyvroom @poemsfromthealley @ohfreckle @msviolacea @genginger @numbuh12 @defira85 & anyone else who'd like to try it

#jilly spam #fandom memery

[fucknooovirmire]

@twistedsinews does the person in the middle look familiar to you?

#twistedsinews #my resources arelimited and i tried to make do with what i had #when even was the last time we heard from her?

[hunnybadgerv]

A, B, N, O, U, V, Z

From the Fandom Meme

A - Your current OTP(s)/OT3(s)/OTX(s) Currently I’m mainly writing two of them:

fShenko

Jedi Knight/Doc

Though I have WIPS of so, so, so many OTPs and OT3s. 

B - A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind Sharky Boshaw and John Seed. Yep! This is all thanks to Chyrstis’ wonderful writing. She really captures an element between these two that just spans the seeming personality gap so wonderfully. 

Another pairing I was never really a fan of that someone turned me onto was JK/Doc. I didn’t even play Republic side characters until I read @alyssalenko‘s fic for her Trooper and later her JK. It really opened up a whole other world of intriguing characters and storylines, for which I am eternally grateful. 

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice) This was a struggle to answer once, so I’m going to direct you to the previous answer for this one.

O - Choose a song at random, which ship or character does it remind you of

Okay so the shuffle says: You Might Think by The Cars

This one really feels like Leah Rook and John Seed. They go through this kind of boomerang type of situation. It captures the way they can read things about one another, and how they just can’t stay away, and how they keep ending up in one another’s orbit. There’s also an element of the clash between and they way they kind of also keep one another going in some ways. It’s not a healthy relationship or association by any stretch of the imagination. But they keep coming back around and foolishly playing with fire together again. Because when it comes down to it, they both really want to be with one another when you strip everything down to bare bones. 

U - 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms Dragon Age:

Varric

Sten

Aveline

Cassandra

Wynne

Mass Effect:

Kaidan Alenko (shocking, I know!)

Kasumi Goto

Thane

Garrus Vakarian

Joker

Middle Earth:

Faramir

Gandalf

Tom Bombadil

Treebeard

Eowyn

Skyrim:

Brynjolf

Vilkas

Cicero

Kodlak

Arngeir

Saints Row:

Oleg Kirrlov

Johnny Gat

Shaundi

Carlos Mendoza

Matt Miller

V - 3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms Going to choose some different fandoms for this one, so I guess I’ll grab up the ones that I have written for in the past. Though to be honest, in hindsight these felt a little trite and obvious. But alas ... here they are.

Far Cry 5

Deputy/Sharky Boshaw

Nick and Kim Rye

Deputy/John Seed

(Though I do adore @chyrstis’ OT3: Sharky/Dep/John Seed)

The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Dovahkiin/Brynjolf

Dragonborn/Vilkas

Cicero/The Night Mother

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Jedi Knight/Doc

Lana Beniko/Koth Vortena

Sith Inquisitor/Theron Shan

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go (prompts optional but encouraged)

I’m going to be totally lazy and point you back to the previous answer to this question. I’m really not in a great space for rambling today. 

#Fandom Meme #twistedsinews

[gatticus]

Becca/Gat: whispering in their ear, lips touching the skin

ok so i was a dumbass and answered the wrong one here's the correct one lmao ANYWAY

it was supposed to be horny adults in a theatre but instead its sad people in a graveyard, u know how it is

There’s blood all over her suit. It’s in her hair, under her nails, splattered across her forehead as the rain slowly slicks it down her cheeks.

Her breath comes out harshly but she hasn’t moved for minutes, neither of them have. They drop their shovels and force out air from their lungs in silence.

All she can hear now is the rain, but even that seems quiet after the gunshots. Splinters are all around their feet, gravestones scattered across the grass like marbles, a mix of black and yellow uniforms are thrown on top of one another.

Johnny is staring at the uneven ground where the coffin used to be. Shogo had stopped screaming a while ago, or they had piled enough dirt on him that he could no longer be heard. She isn’t sure what she prefers.

It doesn’t feel appropriate to speak, but what now? rings through her head like the gunshots in her ears. He needs time, but they do not have it. They’re surrounded by bodies and broken headstones and just one of those would be enough for the cops to arrive.

She can’t bear to look at her coffin, casts a glance in it’s direction and then immediately stares at the floor again. It’s splintered and covered in gunshots, rogue hits that have left the handles on the floor and the roses crushed under lumps of headstones.

She doesn’t ask, simply walks over to it and picks up the shovels as she hears his footsteps behind her, his shoes sticking in the wet mud. In a strange way, the Ronin disrupting the funeral meant that she could put off doing this, she could focus on chasing Shogo and hitting lieutenants, but they’re back to where they were twenty minutes ago, where everything is still and it’s just them and the coffin.

The rest of the attendees are dead on the floor, hit by a stray bullet or caught in the crossfire. She stares at the chipped black wood so intently that she burns it into her brain.

Without any preamble, he leans forward and presses the button, watching the coffin jerk as it is pulled into the earth, wood falling off as it went. It’s not the funeral she should have had, it’s abrupt and classless, a falling apart coffin and a graveyard full of corpses. Aisha had been failed, again.

They stand in silence, as she wordlessly curls her fingers around his hand. It remains lax for the briefest of moments, before she feels his fingers wind around her own.

The coffin settles with a squeak, as she squeezes his hand before she lets go. They both duck low in unison, and the first pile of dirt hits the coffin like the rain around them. It feels clumsy and she wants to make it delicate but she doesn’t even know how.

By now her shoes are sodden and her hair is in wet strings down her back, making her blink through water logged eyelashes. She carries on without a word of complaint as Johnny follows, a strange developed rhythm between the two of them as they work in complete silence.

The hole is filled as the realisation of what they’ve done is hauled over the two of them. When Johnny drops to his knees, she follows him, her nails digging into his suit as her shins are covered in mud. She’s gripping him so tightly it must hurt, saying harsh whispers into his ear so close that she can’t even hear the rain anymore.

“We gotta go.”

Sirens and blue lights flash in front of her eyelids as her nails pierce the suit. He doesn’t react, only blinks behind glasses covered in raindrops.

“I’m sorry,” She says, and if she were any closer she would be kissing his skin. Her eyes fill with frustrated tears as she exhales into his ear, at how messed up this is. “We gotta go, c’mon, we gotta leave.”

He gets up to his feet but his eyes are empty, she can’t tell whether he is clinging to her or she is clinging to him, but they hobble towards the cop cars, her heels sinking into the mud and his steps sticking in the dirt.

She knows why the cops let them through. She sees Troy, but barely gives him a glance, her fingers only curl around Johnny’s arm tighter.

She isn’t embarrassed about how tightly she holds him as they make it onto tarmac. He doesn’t bother to hide his tight grip on the back of her blazer. They walk together out of the cemetery in silence, one clinging to the other.

Eventually even the rain fizzles out.

#twistedsinews #fic #otp; not without you #rachael dont look #boss becca #thanku :)

[lexigraph]

The Way You Said I Love You: In awe, the first time you realised it

This one is actually a scene I’ve been planning to do, later! So, consider this a sneak peak/very rough draft! It got a bit long so hiding it under the cut.

V emerges from the back office of the car dealership, rolling her shoulders and massaging her right wrist. An hour, at least, of paperwork. Her eyes scan the room, and spot Jackie occupying approximately one and a half of the waiting room’s molded plastic chairs. His head is tucked down, mouth slightly open, a magazine she can’t see the cover of dangling loosely in his hands; he’s apparently nodded off. A familiar feeling of pure affection squeezes her heart, and she heads his way.

She nudges his foot with her own, watches his eyes flutter open. “Wake up sleepy-head. I am officially the proud owner of ‘23 Archer Hella. Older than my parents, a’course..”

Jackie stretches vertically, looking up at her with a drowsy smile. “‘grats. Have to sign away too much of your life?”

“Naw, just a coupla years. Padre pays well.” She nods backwards toward the car, jangles the keys, “Let’s go.”

A sly smile suddenly spreads across Jackie’s face, but when V tilts her head, it vanishes. “Jackie…?”

“Nothin’ nothin’. You’ll see. C’mon!” Jackie hauls himself up, rubbing his backside. He takes a moment to glare at the unforgiving seats. “Sheesh. Ass’s deader than a double crossing merc.”

V pats him with half-mock sympathy on the arm, then almost twirls around and springs toward the doors. The doors part as they approach, and the mid-afternoon sun blinds V for a second. She blinks, eyes adjusting, and finds her new car in the lot. She reaches back without looking to grab Jackie’s nearest hand, pulling him forward.

It’s not that the car is much to speak of, but it’s hers, a grey patch over the hole in her heart previously occupied by the Rattler. A new ride for her new life, and a welcome respite from the constant use of an overcrowded metro. She jams the unlock button on the fob (it’s a bit sticky) and hears the latch release.

Jack swings around to the passenger side, letting her hand go with a quick squeeze. He opens the door but drapes himself across the top of the car momentarily, grinning, “You know the best part?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll actually fit in the seat of this car.”

V reaches for her own door handle, smirking, and remembering him all squished into her tiny hatchback. “We’ll see.” She sticks out her tongue playfully, then dips down to slide into the driver’s seat.

“Oh! Wait- V, I wanted to -- shit !”

She’s already in the car, and looks toward the passenger side, where Jackie is ducking down, expression curiously anxious. Something catches her eye as she asks, “What?” Then she processes what she’s looking at, turns her head, mouth falling open.

The old, grey plastic. The oversized head, paint chipping on the rows of teeth, one ear worn down in time. The bright shine of a cybernetic eye. A memory flashes through her, a truck stop somewhere in Kansas, the pleading with her father to buy just one stupid souvenir. She remembers watching the tow truck haul her car away, realizing later that night she’d left it behind, and the sinking disappointment that she’d bottled up, let out into the pillow of Jackie’s bed on that first night in the City.

V looks back at Jackie, who is still stooped, half hanging on the car, finds that her vision is blurring, and blinks several times.

“Jackie...?”

“Ah--surprise! You like it?”

“You’ve got no idea -- How’d you…?” V reaches up, thunks the dog’s head and watches it roll around. She has to blink again, and swallow, hard.

“Y’know, remembered watching his little head bobble around when we were being chased by those Arasaka goons. When you said you were lookin’ for a new ride, I figured...“ Jackie slides into the passenger seat now, his eyes moving from the bobblehead to V, anxiety and a forced casualness battling for control of his expression. “Misty helped track down which ‘yard your car went to, we took a day trip out and did some negotiating. Then, snuck it in while you were signing all that paperwork. S’no big deal, really.” 

“No big deal? Jackie!” V half rises from her seat, leaning across the console, arms wrapping around Jackie as best they can in the space. “Thank you.”

She smothers his reply with a deep kiss, and only pulls away partially, arms circling his neck, just far enough to really look at his face.

His lips are parted from the kiss, but curve in a tentative smile, his eyes dance, eyebrows belaying a lingering concern.

“Jackie I--” She looks down, and then up again, “I love you too.”

#cyberpunk 2077 #jackie welles #V x Jackie Welles #jackie x v x misty (technically) #lexi V tag #ls posts #twistedsinews #v for victory

[corpsebrigadier]

Zalbag for the character meme!

OH HECK YES. My present fave among undead faves! Thanks for asking, because I can talk about my feelings for this dysfunctional corpse man all day every day. 

Here goes:

OTP for them: WIEGRAF! Seriously, Wiegraf/Zalbag is really one of the first things I ever really considered to by an OTP. I'm usually a very OTC-focused sort of person, but one day somebody made a comment on a ficlet I made about the two characters, indicating that they'd be a quality rarepair. I suddenly realized that I shipped it. Hard. FFT is a game where pretty much everyone can serve as a foil to everyone else, and there's so much cool stuff you can do in reading these two guys as foils (and more specifically as foils who also bang). For two people who never explicitly meet, they have so many nifty ways you can draw cool comparisons between them. I love their opposing stances as organizational leaders in Chapter 1, the different trajectories of their personal tragedies, and the ways in which their eventual transformation into monsters inverts the scope of their power as men. I also just like that they're deeply flawed characters who do awful things, and I love to think of all the ways in which they could channel that awfulness into an awful relationship with one another.

BROTP for them: I feel Zalbag & Dycedarg is cheating, given that they are literally bros, but what marvelously messed up bros they are! I got the impression throughout the game that Zalbag doesn't actually have a lot of close interpersonal relationships outside of his incredibly terrible brother. They're constantly mentioned as though they function as a single unit, and they clearly have a deep amount of (misplaced) trust in the other. As much as I completely dig their eventual, melodramatic, everyone-gets-some-fratricide battle, I also just... really like imagining all the ways they might have functioned as two human beings who presumably cared for one another. I will eat up pretty much any fic with a spoon if it features them having a real fraternal bond.

Other ships: I really need to write some Zalbag/Elmdor someday, as I feel like there's a lot of potential for two guys who are celebrity war heroes from opposite ends of the country and who eventually go on to be on opposite sides of a civil war. I am occasionally game for some awful Adrammelech/Zalbag darkfic. Zalbag/Ruvelia might also be interesting, although given my present headcanons for each character, I'd have to re-envision them a bit to really make it work. At the end of the day though, I'm a multishipper who likes the challenge of envisioning weird ships and who obviously does not care about characters in a ship even meet one another in canon. I'm frankly open to pretty much any Zalbag ship somebody can make a case for.

What kind of fic I’d write about them: Angst. Whump. Angsty whump. In canon, Zalbag is a guy who does bad things and who has bad things happen to him, and I am always up for more of that.

A favorite canon moment: The mosfungus scene is such an easy pick, but it's just *really good* on a narrative level. The realization that House Beoulve has been rotting from the inside (just as its patriarch did) is such a great moment, and I love how the scene ends with Zalbag not having anything to say. So much of his narrative up until that point has been failing to act or allowing others to act for him, and there's just this marvelous pervading sense of "Oh God. I'm the one who has to do something."

Color that reminds me of them: Dycedarg and Zalbag both rock out the same black/gold/red color scheme, and I tend to associate the black more with Dycedarg and the gold more with Zalbag.

Song that reminds me of them: It doesn't remind me of Zalbag so much as he appears in canon, but Patrick Wolf's "Oblivion" evokes a lot of the traits I ended up assigning to younger versions of him in fic: specifically a sense of isolation and a drive towards doom. It also is very literally concerned with fatherhood and warfare, even if the mentions of guns mean I'm unlikely to shove it on a playlist.

A headcanon about them: I have a ton of Zalbag headcanons, many of which stem from me trying to tease out a family history from the decade long age gaps between him and each of his two brothers. I suppose one of the really big ones is him being a perpetually frail and sickly kid up until a certain point. My ficverse's explanation for the gap between him and Ramza is that Balbanes decision to beget and/or acknowledge some bastards was informed by Dycedarg sabotaging an engagement and Zalbag appearing to be fatally ill.

A random AU I think up on the spot for them: I've dreamed up a lot of FFT AUs in my time (Inverted Sibling Dynamics AUs, Modern AUs, FF7!Fusion AUs). For something on the spot, I think it would be cool to imagine a continuity in which Dycedarg and Zalbag are the half-commoner bastards and Alma and Ramza are the legitimate heirs. It's not quite the shift in power dynamics that a full Class Swap AU would be, but I'd love to think through how the older Beoulves might conduct themselves if Ramza was the legitimate inheritor of the estate and they were the aftermath of a misalliance. Zalbag would be especially interesting if he still managed to make himself a war hero and maintain a strict devotion to the Glabados faith.

Anything else: Like Wiegraf and Dycedarg, Zalbag is a fave that I'm very aware of as problematic, and I find myself a little frustrated when people try to handwave his complicity in murdering Teta. I understand the impulse to soften a character who is later supposed to draw our sympathy, but I also don't think finding a character to be a good person should be a prerequisite to finding them sympathetic. Zalbag's capacity to be callous, selfish, and elitist in monstrous ways is honestly part of what I enjoy about him.

#final fantasy tactics #fft #zalbaag beoulve #fandom #memes #twistedsinews