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forbidden-sunlight · 5 months

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yandere!Jax with gender-neutral!magician!reader headcanons

Warnings: obsessive behavior, implied bullying, spoilers for the pilot episode.

There may also be possible triggers in this story.

If you do not feel comfortable venturing any further, please hit the 'back' button on your mobile device or computer and read something much more pleasant than a possible series of unfortunate events.

You are responsible for your own Internet consumption!

Hey guys and welcome to my very first fic for the indie animation that has shaken up Youtube, The Amazing Digital Circus! If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it! :) Special thanks to @ceoofdabicorpsensfw for helping me figure out characterization and with a few scenes I was struggling with in this new writing style I am trying out. If you would like me to write more TADC content on here or on my other blog @an-idyllic-novelist please let me know!

So with that being said, sit back, relax, and let's see what's going today in the digital plane! :)

Whenever someone new arrives at the Amazing Digital Circus, it would fall on either Ragatha or Alakazam to get them all sorted out before they start to lose their mind. Alakazam, of course, would be Caine’s reference to you. You couldn’t remember your name and the ringmaster needed a magician. Tit for tat as they say, right?

The daily adventures around the digital plane provide stimulation and prevent everyone from losing what remaining insanity you all had left, especially since you couldn’t eat or sleep. A routine is also very good too, as you have suggested to Pomni. But she still insists on finding an exit. Just like what you all have tried to do when you first came here.

If there is one person who is seemingly unaffected by the situation, you would have to say it would be Jax. Either that, or the purple-furred rabbit just didn’t give a shit so long as he got some fun out of it. The guy’s existence would have been obsolete ages ago if he didn’t insult Kingler or ‘accidentally’ broke Gangle’s comedy mask for the nth time, which would lead you or Ragatha to calm her down long enough for it to be properly fixed for the next adventure.

What you did not realize, however, was that the pranks Jax pulled on you were actually much tamer compared to what he did to everyone else. Especially when one of them was getting more attention from you than he was receiving.

After all, there’s nowhere else in this place who can keep up with his sass and jokes and not get so bent out of shape over something small like popping a balloon right next to your ear. Maybe Ragatha, but she’s so boring~.

Not only would Jax be a possessive yandere who can get jealous easily, he’s also curious. He wants to know everything about you, down to the smallest detail about what you did today, yesterday, and the day before yesterday. Don’t be surprised if one of your items goes missing, only to have it suddenly turn up the following day. Actually, you might not wanna know why Jax took it and what he even did with it. If he took your journal or your playing cards, the last remaining building blocks of your sanity in this place…well, you must have done something to really piss him off.

Who knows? Maybe if you gave him the attention he craved for and even participated in a well-meaning, harmless prank, Jax might leave a love letter on your bed, written with a [Favorite Color] crayon inside the shape of a purple heart.

If you had a really bad day that led to your abstraction, Jax would also go insane. Because losing his darling, the most important person in his life, would finally push this childish jackass to his breaking point and just…let it go.

Taglist

@angelltheninth

@nunezs-stuff

@dragonempress18

@thejester0897

#forbidden-sunlight #yandere x reader #x reader #yandere male #gender neutral reader #gender neutral y/n #tadc #tadc jax #tadc x reader #yandere jax #the amazing digital circus #yandere fanfiction #the amazing digital circus jax #jax #jax x reader #the amazing digital circus x reader #ns.fw #yandere romance #gn!reader

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nellasbookplanet · 4 months

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Book recs: alien intelligences

Intelligent spiders, octupi, plants, bacteria, and even entire oceans, intelligence without sentience, extra terrestrials and strange intelligences evolved right here on Earth - alien minds can take many forms. Allow me to share with you some books featuring the most alien and fascinating ones.

Previous book rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding, really cool sci-fi worldbuilding, dark sapphic romances, mermaid books, vampire books, many worlds: portal fantasies, many worlds: alternate timelines, robots and artificial intelligences, post- and transhumanism

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

The Doors of Eden is something of an experiment in speculative biology, featuring versions of Earth in which various different species were the one to rise to sentience, from dinosaurs to neanderthals. Now, something is threatening the existence of all timelines, dragging multiple different people and species into the struggle, among those a pair of cryptid hunting girlfriends and a transgender scientist.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

Millenia and generation spanning scifi. After the collapse of an empire, a planet once part of a project to uplift other species to sentience is left to develop on its own, resulting not in the intelligent monkeys once intended but in sentient giant spiders. Millenia later, what remains of humanity arrives looking for a new home, only to be met by the artificial remains of the ancient woman who once led the uplift project - and she is not willing to let them on her planet.

Semiosis (Semiosis duology) by Sue Burke

A generational story following a group of humans trying to survive on a new planet, where a strange and unkowable intelligence is finding ways to use them to its whims. As the humans come across an abandoned city wrapped in the roots of a strange plant, they slowly come to the realization that mutual communication is the only path to peace and survival.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

While I felt the characters could’ve been better developed, this is undeniably a well-written novel featuring an alien race and culture developed on a planet vastly different from ours. Firmly in the realm of hard scifi, this is a realistic, fascinating and slightly terrifying look at how first contact may look.

Brain Plague (The Elysium Cycle) by Joan Sloncewski*

Chrys, a struggling artist, agrees to become a carrier for a sentient strain of microbes. With their help, Chrys breathes new life into her career. But every microbe society is different - some function as friends and brain enhancers to their carrier, while others become a literal brain plague, a living addiction taking over the life of their carrier. And like every society, the microbe community is in constant flux - inluding the one inside Chrys's head.

Rosewater (The Wormwood trilogy) by Tade Thompson

In Nigeria lies Rosewater, a city bordering on a strange, alien biodome. Its motives are unknown, but it’s having an undeniable effect on the surrounding life. Kaaro, former criminal and current psychic agent for the government, is one of the people changed by it. When other psychics like him begin getting killed, Kaaro must take it upon himself to find out the truth about the biodome and its intentions.

Dawn (Xenogenesis trilogy) by Octavia E. Butler*

After a devestating war leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, survivor Lilith finds herself waking up naked and alone in a strange room. She’s been rescued by the Oankali, who have arrived just in time to save the human race. But there’s a price to survival, and it might be humanity itself. Absolutely fucked up I love it I once had to drop the book mid read to stare at the ceiling and exclaim in horror at what was going on.

Blindsight by Peter Watts*

Vampires and aliens and questions of the nature of consciousnesses, oh my. A ship is sent to investigate the sudden appearance of an alien vessel at the edge of the solar system, but the crew, a group of various level of transhumanism, isn’t prepared for the horrors awaiting them. No, seriously, this book will fuck you up, highly recommend if you’re okay with a lot of techno babble and existential horror.

Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson*

Utterly unique in world-building, story, and prose, Midnight Robber follows young Tan-Tan and her father, inhabitants of the Carribean-colonized planet of Toussaint. When her father commits a terrible crime, he’s exiled to a parallel version of the same planet, home to strange aliens and other human exiles. Tan-Tan, not wanting to lose her father, follows with him. Trapped on this new planet, he becomes her worst nightmare. Enter this book with caution, as it contains graphic child sexual abuse.

Fragment (Fragment duology) by Warren Fahy*

The reality TV show Sealife is having a rough time - as it turns out, a ship full of scientist doesn’t make for the kind of drama they hoped for. Hoping for some excitement, they reach Hender's Island, a fragment of a lost continent that may contain an interesting new ecosystem. But as they step foot on the island, they quickly come to realize the ecosystem isn’t just new, it’s highly dangerous and very hungry. Among all this life is one single species that may be more dangerous than any other, but which may also be the salvation of the scientists on the island. A bit wonky, but genuinely one of the most fun books I have read, I love it so much.

Axiom's End (Noumena trilogy) by Lindsay Ellis

It’s 2007, and a leak has just confirmed that the US has reached alien contact. Cora wants nothing to do with it, but as her absent father is the whistleblower who dropped the news the media won’t leave her alone. Even worse, she soon finds herself meeting and being pursued by the alien presence itself as it tries to remain in hiding - and discovering that there is a much larger threat on the horizon.

The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis*

Francie has just traveled to Roswell to attend her college friend's wedding to a UFO conspirasist. Not a believer herself, Francie is shocked when she finds herself abducted by an alien. Her abductor is not much what popular media would have you believe, looking more like a tumbleweed than a grey alien, and is clearly on some kind of mission it isn’t willing to put on hold for the sake of Francie attending to her duties as a bridesmaid. As more people get roped along - among those a conman, an old lady, a ufo conspirasist, and a retiree with an RV - Francie finds herself getting closer to the alien and wanting to help it succeed.

Bonus rec: if you like this book, you may also enjoy the movie Paul, which has a similarly humorous tone and similar plot.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir*

Ryland Grace just woke up up from a coma, unable to remember anything. He finds himself alone on a space ship, and as his memories slowly trickle back, he realizes he's been sent on a mission: to find a solution to the impending doom of the earth. Still struggling with holes in his memories, Ryland tries to fulfill his mission, but as he gets closer to his goal, he discovers someone else got there first. And they aren't anything close to human. Funny, heartfelt, and heavy on the science.

Survival by Julie E. Czerneda

Mac, a biologist studying salmon on Earth, has little interest in life beyond her own planet. Despite this, she’s sought out by Brymn, an alien archaeologist hoping her expertise as a biologist can help him solve the secret behind the Chasm, a region of space completely devoid of life. Trying as she might not to get incolved, Mac has little choice as she and her colleagues come under attack by the mysterious Ro, the species Brymn's people suspect to be the cause of the Chasm.

Translation State by Ann Leckie*

An exploration of the alien as filtered through the human. At what point does the human become something else? When does something else become human? Is it a question of biology or culture, nature or nurture? Can we choose it? Can it be forced upon us? Set in the Imperial Radch universe, Translation State follows three different characters embroiled in the question of what makes a human. The alien Presger can only communicate with humans using their translators - people they’ve created that are not quite human and not quite alien. But as news of a translator fugitive arises, conflict brews regarding what right they have to choose their own identity and home.

Exo (Exo duology) by Fonda Lee*

Young adult. Earth has long since been under the control of an alien presence. Donovan Reyes is an exo, a human enhanced with alien technology, working to keep the colony and its people safe. The biggest enemy is Sapience, a terrorist organisation opposing alien rule by any means necessary. When a mission goes awry, Donovan finds himself abducted by Sapiance, something that risks a war. While it took until the second book for me to be fully sold on this series, it features a genuinely nuanced take on oppression and resistance rarely seen in YA genre.

Needle by Hal Clement

1950s classic. A small island in the pacific ocean and a fourteen-year-old boy have just become the center of an interstellar chase between an alien Hunter and the criminal he's pursuing. Robert is a regular boy, but he has a very special passenger: an alien symbiont hiding inside his body. The alien became stranded on Earth as he pursued a criminal of his own species, and now they are both trapped on the same island, playing a game of cat and mouse as Robert and the Hunter struggle to find their prey before it finds them.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers series) by Becky Chambers

Rosemary Harper just got a job on the motley crew of the Wayfarer, a spaceship that works with tunneling new wormholes through space. With a past she wants to leave behind, Rosemary is happy to travel the far reaches of the universe with the chaotic crew, but when they land the job of a life time, things suddenly get a lot more dangerous. A bit of a tumblr classic in its day, this is a cozy space opera with an episodic feel and vividly realized characters and cultures.

Under the Skin by Michel Faber

A dark allegory of alienation and dehumanization, Under the Skin follows Isserley, a woman traveling along the roads of England and picking up hitchhikers. Little does her passengers know, she’s an alien hiding her true self, and they are her prey and a delicacy for her species.

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

1960s Polish classic. Arriving on a station orbiting the planet Solaris, Kris Kelvin is meant to study the strange, possibly sentient ocean that covers its entire surface. But the effects of the ocean are far reaching - Kelvin finds the crew of the station secretive and unstable, and is shocked to wake one day to the embodiement of a long dead lover. Was it created by the brain-like ocean, and if so, why?

West of Eden (West of Eden trilogy) by Harry Harrison

65 million years ago, the meteor that killed the dinosaurs never arrived. Without it, the dinosaurs lived and thrived, allowing a the complex society of the matriarchal Yilanè to arise. Meanwhile, in the new world, humans still evolve, and when an impending ice age forces the Yilanè across the ocean in search for a new home, the two are destined to clash. A bleak story of the cycle of violence and hate leading to war, West of Eden is a marvel of world-building.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool

Triptych by J.M. Frey

Kalp is a widower and alien refugee newly arrived on Earth; Gwen is a language expert secretly recruited by the United Nations to help integrate a ship of alien refugees; Basil is an engineer who loves them both. Together they must defend their relationship against a violently intolerant world.

The Sparrow (The Sparrow duology) by Mary Doria Russell

When proof of alien life is found, the United Nations are too slow in their plans for a first contact mission. Instead, the Society of Jesus overtake them and send their own ship, but the crew could never have been prepared for what they will find.

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor

Something massive and alien crashes into the ocean off the coast of Nigeria. Three people, a marine biologist, a rapper, and a soldier, find themselves encountering this presence, and have to race to save humanity before it's too late.

Honorary mentions AKA these didn't really work for me but maybe you guys will like them: Salvaged by Madeleine Roux, Exodus by Nicky Drayden, The Lesson by Cadwell Turnbull, Embassytown by China Miéville

#nella talks books #the doors of eden #children of time #semiosis #the three-body problem #brain plague #rosewater #xenogenesis #blindsight #midnight robber #fragment #axioms end #the road to roswell #project hail mary #species imperative #translation state #exo #needle #the long way to a small angry planet #under the skin #solaris #west of eden #there are more alien centric books that I love #but this list is pretty focused on books where the truly alien unkowable and inhuman is central #so anything featuring human looking or acting aliens got disqualified #same as books where the aliens themselves weren’t very central #also i need you all to know that i have had official art of the 'alien' from Fragment as my screensaver for a decade #that book is so silly goofy dialogue and absolute gory slaughter i love it so much #i still have one of these rec posts in my drafts but! will soon post a new poll in preparation for more

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chrollohearttags · 1 year

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goth and nerdy mikasa w/ a baddie yn just simply in love wit a slight spicy scene😋😋

y’all must’ve known I’ve been itching to write about my baby again! bc I’ve actually had this in the back of my mind for a couple days.

cw: fem x fem, !black fem reader, nipple play, pussy eating, fingering, tribbing, just them being simps for each other

so imagine !goth nerdy mikasa who works at a bookstore downtown..a quaint little place with a coffee shop attached to it. It was her favorite place..quiet, cozy and surrounded by literature of every variety. She’d spend her days aimlessly thumbing through books to add to her own collection and helping customers find their next big read. The girl who always wore silver plated rings on her fingers..nails painted jet black at all times. Her pretty little pixie cut underneath a unique headband every day. Dressed in the prettiest lace, corsets and pleated skirts that never had any color to them, down to the six inch Demonia boots on her feet. Her makeup always flawless and featuring a Smokey eye and red lipstick. She was breathtaking..but one day, along would come someone that brightened her world beyond comprehension. “Excuse me..do you think you could help me find something?” the voice coming from possibly the most gorgeous person she’d ever seen. In comes walking this literal goddess: a girl dressed akin to that of a Bratz doll. Her curvy frame perfectly modeling the pink mini skirt and matching top. Thirty inches of frost white platinum blonde coming down her back in perfect contrast with that pretty brown complexion. Plump lips stained with glistening gloss as well as chocolate liner and nude lipstick. It was the first time in her life that she had been completely awestruck..as anyone rarely captured her attention outside of the characters in the works she read. You explained that you were looking for something pertaining to the history of fashion for an upcoming course you were taking. She was more than thrilled to assist you and even walked around the store to help you find what it was you were searching for. Maybe it was an excuse to get close but it didn’t matter..she enjoyed every bit of that interaction. As did you, stealing glances and smiles of the goth girl with the cutest face you’d ever seen. By the time you’d go to leave, she couldn’t help but ask: “what’s your name?” being met with a sweet reply. “..(y/n) and yours?” Naturally, she replied and you couldn’t help but smirk because her name was as beautiful as she was. “Well thank you for your help, Mikasa. I’m sure I’ll be back..see you later!” And she’d patiently await that day when you did. Luckily for her, it wasn’t long before you’d not only pay her another visit but begin frequenting her workplace. Stopping in to study, grab a delicious Frappuccino from the coffee shop..any excuse to see her again. The two of you eventually and inevitably struck up a conversation, which led to a fast friendship and soon…much more. Although polar opposites in every essence of the word, you were equally smitten with one another! That infatuation soon blossomed in to the most beautiful of love stories that not even Sparks or Roberts themselves could pen down. Six months came and went since that day you first stepped foot through the door and you fell deeper and deeper each day. You’d bring her flowers or her favorite food and she’d show up to your college campus, doing the exact same. Every second you got to spend with your lady was a win. And trust, she never thought she’d fall so hard for someone yet here she was..head over heels for the little hottie that changed her life. Her cheeks burning bright red and her breath catching each time you came around.

tonight though..was for a whole other reason. As it was closing time and you had stopped by to see her. It was then that the two of you began flirting heavily; as the outfit you wore that day just looked too damn good on you and the tension became too much to bare or wait until she got home. As soon as those entrance doors locked, Mikasa snatched you up to a back room where she put you against a wall and began sliding her tongue between your jaws..the steel ball of her tongue ring thrashing around in your mouth as her fingertips made home on the seat of your panties. Rubbing on that clothed clit as you moaned out for her. “Ah-ha! Fuck!..baby..” the words spilling in a choked moan but they were music to her ears. The sweetest sound she had ever heard and she wanted to keep it going. Sliding that thin pink thong to the side, she’d slip a digit into that tightness and work it around as she pulled your little tube top down and suckled on those pretty titties. Flicking that jewelry around your cocoa colored nipples to make you shudder. “Mmm…you’re so wet right now. All this for me?” clear as day that she had caused you to whimper and fall apart so pathetically. The two of you made out as you rode her fingers to a climax. That sweet honey trickling down her knuckles until she pulled them out and let you lick them clean. You couldn’t let her go that easily and in a matter of seconds, you found yourselves lying atop a pile of discarded cushions. Her back to the floor and you on top of her as you tugged her panties down. She too was dripping like a faucet but you’d make haste in lapping it up. Bending down to flick your tongue across her breasts before making a trail down her exposed stomach until you reached that aching center and those fat, plump lips of hers rested against your mouth. If walls could talk, they’d tell about the very sexy scene that was taking place there. Two gorgeous girls licking and lapping on one another, trying to bring the other to a mind numbing climax. Glaring right into those dark eyes of hers, you’d go down, tasting and devouring her pretty pussy to your hearts content. “Mmm! (Y/N)…baby…” unaware that those sweet little moans and high pitched cries were only pushing you further. “What’s the matter, you gonna come for me?” Sucking on her aching bud and shoving the only short nail on her full set of acrylics into her tight little hole. She was losing her mind and eventually couldn’t hold back any longer. That’s when she became completely unraveled and filled your mouth with her cum. So sweet as always. You’d finish out this little impromptu session with legs intertwined, tribbing and grinding those cute little clits against each other until you both collapsed in climax. Once you came to, you’d both laugh and realized that all those months of tension had exploded into this. Even still, right there on the floor of her employer, Mikasa turned to you and kissed you once more. “I love you, (y/n).” and best believe that you felt the exact same!

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frangipanilove · 11 days

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Full Circle Apple Symbolism; Rick's "Resurrection" in TOWL

From TWD 10x13 What We Become to TOWL 1x6 The Last Time

Apple symbolism was always tied to Rick and Michonne specifically, but in a more general sense, it tells a story about reunion, rebirth and resurrection.

In TWD 10x13 What We Become, Michonne went with Virgil to his island, because he insisted there were weapons to be found there, and Michonne needed weapons for the Whisperers war.

Once there, things took a turn. There were no weapons, and Virgil wasn't in a great place, psychologically speaking. He was confused and traumatized after the loss of his wife and children. He trapped Michonne in a room, and poisoned her by mixing Jimsonweed into her tea.

My favorite way to decipher symbolism in TWDU is through etymology. Almost everything in TWDU has multiple layers of symbolism, and an etymology search is helpful in most cases. This one was no exception; the name Jimsonweed is ultimately derived from a Hindi name which translates to "thorn apple".

Yup. Jimsonweed is ultimately an apple reference. In fact, "Jimsonweed" goes under the name "thorn apple" in many languages, my own included.

The first apple reference of the episode came as we watched Virgil pick the hallucinogenic plant immediately after the opening credits. There would be more to come later...

Michonne did not have a pleasant reaction to the drug. She hallucinated herself in a series of alternate existences, such as being one of the Saviors, and not being around her real family. After the drugs wore off, she overpowered Virgil, and scolded him for putting her in a drugged out state where she experienced having temporarily lost her family:

Then she asked him about his hallucinations:

And this is where we start to touch on the true meaning behind the symbolism around apples. Because, unlike Michonne, Virgil experienced that the hallucinogenic thorn apple brought his family back to him:

"What do you see when you're tripping anyway?"

"Lisa with that damn camera pointed at everyone.

My babies.

Bobby and me lying on the roof of that Annex, looking up at the stars."

It brought his family back.

Virgil wasn't primarily evil, he was broken from the trauma of losing his family.

There's a parallel with Rick there. Where Rick survived in the CRM by meeting up with his loved ones in his dreams, Virgil got to be with his family by taking hallucinogenic herbs. They both found ways to stay close to their loved ones through an altered state, Rick through his dreams, Virgil through the thorn apple tea.

On a surface level, it's clear that Michonne had a bad trip from the thorn apple, and that she was shook by what she experienced as a temporary loss of her family. She was rightfully angry about having been drugged. Virgil, more confused and traumatized than evil, explained that he had wanted to help her because he could tell she was in pain over having lost loved ones, much like himself.

Michonne was not impressed, but at the very least she didn't kill him.

However, under the surface, the apple symbolism heralds "reunion, rebirth and resurrection", something which she was about to discover:

Virgil took her to a boat marked with the numbers 672, in which she found Rick's boots and an Apple iPhone with etchings of herself and Judith. It was the same boat we later saw in 11x24 Rest In Peace, when we saw Rick throw his backpack onboard, before being recaptured.

This is the first "proof of life" both we, the audience, and Michonne got from Rick, and it was the apple symbolism that led us here. Because, apple symbolism is about reunion, resurrection and rebirth.

As we know, finding the Apple iPhone and his boots was what convinced her Rick could be alive, it was what encouraged her to leave to search for Rick.

We recently watched her succeed at finding him in TOWL, but not without some resistance from a deeply traumatized Rick.

In TOWL 1x4 What We, which is the episode where Rick fully "came back", the episode where he finally broke free and chose "life" with Michonne over staying "dead" in the CRM, we learned that he had initially gotten through the days in the CRM by meeting up with Carl in his dreams.

Then that had stopped, Carl had stopped coming to him in his dreams.

Michonne had gotten an iPhone with an etching of Carl, and implored Rick to do what Carl would have wanted him to do, which led to a psychological breakthrough for Rick.

This was Rick's true "resurrection", this was when he fully "surrendered" to Michonne, to his family, to "life". It was the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture that truly made Michonne able to reach through to him, through all the layers of trauma and isolation accumulated over time.

On a symbolic level, the apple symbolism and the Apple iPhones were what facilitated this reunion between Rick and Michonne. He had survived in the CRM by "being dead", then the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture "brought him back to life".

This symbolized Rick's "resurrection", this was the true purpose of the apple symbolism all along. Apple symbolism is about "reunion, resurrection and rebirth"!

Similarly, it was the Apple iPhone Michonne found in the boat on Virgil's island that made her believe that Rick could truly be alive, it was the Apple iPhone that convinced her he was out there, that made her go out searching for him.

Apple symbolism as something that heralds reunion, resurrection and rebirth had started with Virgil picking the white thorne apple flower in 10x13 What We Become, and was fulfilled with Rick's "resurrection" in TOWL 1x4 What We.

In 1x6 The Last Time, we see Rick utilize this new insight during Major General Beale's Echelon briefing:

"He brought me back".

The Apple iPhone with Carl's picture brought him back. Back to Michonne, back to his family, back to himself, back to life.

Just like how the thorn apple tea brought Virgil's family back to him, the Apple iPhone with Carl's picture brought Rick back to his family.

Then finally, we see the apple symbolism fulfilled one last time:

We see Michonne holding the Apple iPhone she originally found on Virgil's island, the one that convinced her that Rick could be alive, the one that prompted her to go out searching for him. We see this phone, with etchings of herself and Judith just as the apple symbolism comes full circle:

The final reunion, resurrection and rebirth!

#twd towl #the ones who live #rick and michonne #michonne grimes #rick grimes #twd #the walking dead #richonne #team delusional #michonne

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multidimensionalsock · 3 months

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A list of indie games that take you to weird places with weird vibes.

My favorite genre of video game, go to a weird place and meet other weird people while you explore the weird little world and learn about the meaning of life.

Truberbrook

A sci-fi set in 1960s Germany. Quantum physicist, Hans Tannhauser wins a lottery he quite determinedly, did not enter, to visit the tiny, strange, remote and rather dead town of Trüberbrook. On your first night you have your research papers stolen, meet a woman who insists on you going up the mountain with her, and get far more than you bargained for in terms of multidimensional, universe warping nonsense.

Night in the woods

Mae, and anthropomorphic cat, drops out of college to come back to live with her parents in her dying home town in the American rust belt, for reasons she refuses to explain. Here she discovers that not only has the town moved on from where it was when she was younger, but the people have too, and she's forced to battle with this as well as supernatural dreams about instrument players, and a town full of a range of weird people that feels just as alive as she does and have their own stories and lives.

eastward

After the world was threatened by a substance called 'miasma', the lasting human population hides in cities that offer some form of protection. Your main character finds himself a miner in a controlling and subterranean town, knowing nothing of the outside until he finds a mysterious girl and takes her in. You go from being the best, frying pan wielding miner, to getting kicked out of the town into the wider, post apocalyptic world, exploring the weird settlements of the outside and making friends with equally weird acquaintances.

oxenfree

A group of 5 teenagers take the last boat out to an old military fort for an overnight party on the beach. There are legends about the island, that sometimes you can pick up frequencies to radio stations that don't exist, and that is how you unwittingly open a ghostly rift tied to the islands past, your friends start disappearing, and you need to solve whats going on by exploring the island, and the frequencies in the old military tech that haunt it.

disco Elysium

You're a cop, or rather the closest this unpoliced area of revachol can call a cop. You're drunken, and a drug addict, and a body has been hung on a tree outside for the past week, threatening to start a civil war between corporate and unions and minor militias for the past week, beginning to rot. As a husk of your past, apparently accomplished self (though you cant remember that, you cant even currently remember your own name after the bender you went on) you need to try and solve the mystery, alongside your partner Kim. Along the way you can also decide to join a union, or a bootlicker, a drug addict, or wear some very questionable clothing while telling a woman her husband died, all while being fully narrated to by 24 weirdly talkative voices in your head.

Everybodys gone to the rapture

This is a town with no people, just an empty place with the stories of those that were. In the shopshire countryside a town exists where everyone has disappeared, only bright orbs to lead you around the valley, listening to telephones, radios and recordings, as well as the lights themselves morphing into their human counterparts, to show the past events that led to everyone disappearance, symptoms of illness, before eventually fading, unexplainably, into lights, an infection created by a none human entity, a 'pattern', which can travel from human to human. A look at the tangled lives of humans in the town, and eventually how they reacted to their quarantine and those around them vanishing.

#video games #indie games #gamedev #truberbrook #oxenfree #everybody's gone to the rapture #disco elysium #night in the woods #eastward #game recommendations

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ghost-proofbaby · 19 days

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I would love a Getting to Know Eddie with your coffee shop blues Eddie. (I’ll let Abi ask for Maroon). 😘

(oh i don’t think i could tell abi much more about maroon eddie than i already have. the space under my desk when im writing maroon literally has her name on it <3)

alright. so. COFFEE SHOP BLUES EDDIE. first and foremost, that eddie is from my purely self indulgent barista!au for those of you who don’t know. for legal reasons, it’s totally not based on true experiences or a very real company. totally not. for legal reasons. but, the entire premise is this eddie entirely untouched from the upside down — non-canon compliance so we can be happy for once baby ! — and just playing around with who he is without all that. he gets the job as a barista, he’s a damn pessimist, and- well, i liked to play around with what would happen if he was the grumpiest barista to ever exist and got reality checked by a sunshine-incarnate barista. and, spoiler alert, the boy would probably melt. he does melt.

my inspiration is drawn entirely from uh… well… can i have a lawyer if i admit this? nah im just kidding he’s based on my own experiences! and contrary to what plenty of people have said to me (if i had a nickel every time said they imagine me as reader i’d be far richer than i am which makes me so 😭), eddie is the character based around me. i think he’d react very similarly to how i do most of the time at work. being grumpy, being so easily inconvenienced by every small thing, always huffing and puffing and wanting to be better. and i think reader is what i’d like to be. at the end of the day, it’s just a nice way to romanticize life, i guess. <3

my favorite headcanon that i’ve never shared in the story is that everyone actually finds that he’s very good at his job. it’s emphasized he isn’t necessarily friends with the other baristas, and there’s a whole lot of him internally comparing himself to the people he thinks do the job better (*cough* reader *cough*), but that whole “i can do better. i have to do better” mentality has led him to being quite good at the job actually. he puts himself down, says he isn’t that good, etc. but he is. customers like that feline grumpiness (the girls that come in regularly for frappucinos in the afternoon are always secretly hoping he’s there, definitely living their ‘i can fix him’ fantasy despite reader already having set sail on that boat), his coworkers admire him albeit they get a lil scared of him due to resting bitch face, and all that. he makes a mean fucking cappuccino. his drinks always just taste better. he’s just good. he’ll never admit it, but damn is he good at his job.

on a casual day, this man is living in comfy clothes. big band tees, plaid pajama pants or sweats. the only time he puts on jeans these days is when he works. which, i mean, listen — he works often. he lives his days by what shift he has, not by days of the week. weekends are nonexistent to him. he’s earned some damn comfort when he’s just at home, ya know? (also, most of his clothes that aren’t graphic tees or comfy pants just stink of coffee these days. ugh.)

his favorite food is probably the cake pops at work. he’s a sweet tooth fiend with them. someone accidentally breaks one when opening the packages? oh no !! he’ll take that off their hands. all of his free food mark outs? 50% cake pops. he’s on food? he’s definitely accidentally bagging and slipping one or two off to the side for himself. sometimes coworkers will try to convince him when he’s on the food position to slip them a free cake pop as well, and every time, he’s flipping them the bird and a quick “steal on your own time, bud”. (unless it’s reader. unless it’s sunshine. then, he’s caving, handing over the birthday cake pop he just marked out for himself without second thought. even if he rolls his eyes as he does it — he’d give her the world if she just asked).

his family situation is pretty close to canon — wayne. and obviously he has hellfire, he has corroded coffin, but all of those are just… small things. he’s finally graduated in this universe, so hellfire doesn’t meet as often. corroded coffin’s members are still in their senior year, so sometimes studying for a calculus test is overriding band practice for them. which i mean, was a bummer and led to him needing a distraction like a part time job (also — money) but it’s all good now, cause he gets to bug Sunshine on his days off when he’s bored. they’ve definitely exchanged numbers, and they’re definitely sending each other an obligatory dumb meme a day. sorry, i don’t make the rules.

he likes pop music. don’t ever ask him about it, he denies it, but Sunshine got him into all those radio hits. he’ll find himself humming along to the radio at work constantly too. and, the one time he and Sunshine worked a very rare, LITERALLY only happened once close together, they definitely were belting out britney spears’ “hit me baby one more time”, dancing around the closed stores and eddie using the mop as a mic while Sunshine tried to stock up all the cups. the shift on duty was unamused, to say the least.

he’s pretty pessimistic in all avenues, but there’s something deep inside of him that’s just a bit hopeless romantic. especially after meeting Sunshine. he listens to her prattle about her romance books all day, and he hates the fact that he finds himself smiling at some of those different scenarios she’s gushing about. but it’s cute, okay? besides, it’s only giving him more ideas about how to wow his favorite barista. sex, on the other hand, he’s still pretty bland on. he’s had one or two one night stands, names he’s forgotten at the Hideout after shows, and he’s not really got the energy to be some sex-crazed fuckboy. listening to his coworkers’ hookup stories and relationship problems work pretty well to remind him he could be doing far worse (but if anyone were to ask him what he thought of Sunshine in that context? oh. oh the poor boy. the scary dog facade fades, and his ears have never been pinker as he’s stuttering about having to grab something from the back that he just stocked. he’s just grateful she never seems to have her own escapades to talk about — he probably wouldn’t survive the world-ending jealousy that would cloud his vision.)

pessimistic. so so pessimistic.

a couple months ago, he would have said his room. alone. or practicing with cc, on his guitar. or behind his dm screens, watching as his little sheep panicked over the latest twist he’s revealed for his current campaign.

but now? maybe he’s just gone soft, but the first place he thinks of is a rainy afternoon in the back of his van, his head in Sunshine’s lap as they listen to the slight drizzle bounce off the roof. he swears if he closes his eyes, he can still feel her fingers against his scalp.

---

JO. JO. I DON'T HAVE THE ORIGINAL POST FOR THIS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT PARAGRAPH IS ANSWERING WHAT PROMPTS. but honestly, even now that i'm free of the siren, i wanna post this. i love prattling on about our little grumpy barista. i luv him.

#tumblr keeping THIS ONE in drafts has to be grounds for fighting right?#like?#it's BARISTA EDDIE #how dare this not post? or maybe i wasn't done answering??? i don't even know anymore #thank u ily <3 #jo <3 #coffee shop blues #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #still laughing at the way i insert the under the desk joke any time i can

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extra-stout-stories · 3 months

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About / Index of Stories

[FYI: This account replaces @cigarette-smoking-bird, which was shadowbanned by Tumblr. As of May 2024 all my content from that account has been reposted here and @cigarette-smoking-bird has been deleted.]

Writer. Fat4fat switchy feedist and mutual gainer. Believer in fat liberation and responsible hedonism. IRL smallfat in pursuit of a sustainable balance between real life and my wildly kinky desires.

I'm here to share my fiction and have interesting conversations about the kink. I love to receive feedback, story suggestions, and thoughtful platonic messages about this endlessly fascinating thing of ours. DMs are welcome. Minors DNI.

I'm a lifelong feedist who's been active in the community in the past. I'm taken by a partner who's fat but not a feedist, and this Tumblr is a outlet for this part of myself. Cishet male, but I follow inspirational bellies of all genders.

Index of stories below the cut. I write in a variety of genres and themes from wholesome to extreme, so please read the content warnings.

Stories

A Cat's-Eye View - A cat watches his human owner slowly give in to her desire to become fatter. (XWG, BBW to USSBBW, non-explicit, light romance. CW: Description of furniture breakage.)

Contrast / Gift - A hedonistic fat queen receives a package with a very special gift. (USSBBW, fit male FA. CW: Explicit sex and cunnilingus.)

Immobile Weekend - When a feedee agrees to try a weekend of bedroom roleplay, he enjoys it even more than he expected. (BBW feeder, BHM to USSBHM feedee, XWG, romantic vibe, spicy but no explicit sex. CW: Immobility, mild discussion of health issues.)

Marshmallow / Bondage - A fat dominant feeder and her even fatter submissive enjoy a night of bedroom fun. (SSBBW, USSBHM, femdom/mommy domme, orgasm denial, food play, light impact play. CW: D/S with roleplayed dubcon, immobility, bariatric equipment, cunnilingus and orgasm.)

Special Delivery - As a growing gainer's mobility diminishes, his regular delivery order takes an unexpected turn. (SSBHM to USSBHM feedee, gender-unspecified fat feeder, no explicit sex. CW: Immobility, bariatric tube feeding, brief moment of dubious consent.)

Stuck At Work - When two fat fast food workers end up in a tight situation, they discover that their feelings for one another are mutual. (Romantic soft feedist meet-cute, nothing explicit.)

The Weight Clinic - A fat man who's unsure about losing weight signs up for a very unusual treatment program led by a dominant doctor with an agenda of her own. (SSBHM feedee, SSBBW feeder, implicit XWG. CW: Dubious consent, drugs, medical and deathfeedist elements.)

The Weight Clinic: The (Brief) Return of Dr. Moore - Everyone's favorite mad scientist returns to introduce Feedist Kinktober '23. (Second person feedee POV, gender neutral. CW: Immobility, bariatric equipment, self-indulgent metafiction, threats of a terrible fate if you don't reblog my stories.)

Werewolf / Sweater Weather - On a secluded rural homestead, a man brings a meal home for his mate. (BHM, SSBBW, wholesome romance, non-explicit. CW: Wolf-on-stag violence.)

Short Vignettes

I post a lot of short vignettes, but I don't bother giving them titles or full descriptions. They can be read on the #feedist vignettes tag. I haven't put content warnings in the header of these short ones, but they're generally not too extreme. If you see something on this tag that you don't want to see and would like me to put a content warning in the tags, just shoot me a DM.

Here are some additional vignettes with titles:

The Beach (BHM, SSBBW, non-explicit)

Not Fat Enough (BBW feedee, dominant USSBHM feeder, stuffing. CW: Consensual power exchange.)

Plump Little Tummy (First-person feedee POV. CW: Immobility.)

That Little Bit Fatter (Second person feedee POV, wholesome feedism, SFW.)

#weight gain fiction #feedist vignettes #wg fiction #mutual gaining #mutual feeding #gaining weight on purpose #feeding kink #fat4fat #mutual weight gain #mutual gain fiction #mutual feedism

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melodicbreeze · 5 months

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What's your favorite Venti lore/references?

For me it's him guiding souls after death and being connected to istaroth. Also the whole prodigal son thing, What do you think it means for him? (Hope you don't mind getting asks like this, i couldn't help but be curious)

CRACKS MY KNUCKLES. ALRIGHT FOLKS, BUCKLE UP.

DEATH

First off, I absolutely love his ties to death! Usually in media, when gods deal in the realm of death, they're all dark and dreary and either sad or evil. Venti, on the other hand, embodies more of the aspects of comfort. A final rest after a life well lived. Barbatos is said to guide the souls of the deceased to the afterlife on a wind, yes, but he also lets them live on through song! There is a belief that someone isn't truly dead until their name has been spoken for the last time, and Venti places importance of using names in his songs, as seen in the manga when he asks Venessa if he can use her name in a song.

There's also how heavily anemo ties into the concept of loss (gestures at the dead friend gives you an anemo vision joke), and the anemoi wind spirits from myths were also once a guide of souls to the afterlife.

There's also the post I made last night- "Not death, but his brother, sleep" (shout out to The Ra.ven Cycle book series). In Greek mythologies, which Venti does have a few ties to, Death and Sleep are brothers- and we all know of Venti's ties to sleep. Aside from his times of sleep, he was also seen singing the guards to sleep when going to free Venessa.

ANYWAY all this to say I think along with the wind, freedom, and hope, death is one domain that Venti falls into. (Which just makes him and Hu Tao even better buddies).

ISTAROTH

This is where I can more theory crafting rather than reflective. We've learned the the Thousand Winds were the Thousand Winds of Time. Now, I do not think that Venti is a son in the traditional sense- rather, I think that the Thousand Winds of Time form one being- Istaroth.

Venti also called himself a single breeze/wind, so I believe he was one of the thousand that made up Istaroth, only to rise up above the others in terms of power during the rebellion against Decarabian, and then becoming a god in his own right.

Do I have much evidence for this? Not at all! It's just my thoughts.

(Also, apparently prodigal means wastefully extravagant, which while I admit my first thought is his indulgences in drink and revelry, also make me wonder if it is perhaps that he has made Mondstadt into a home where people can act as such if they please- free to do so.)

OTHER THOUGHTS

One of my favourite bits of lore comes from the Wings of Shimmering Galaxy lore. It's spoken from the perspective of Venti post Archon War! It goes to say,

"For he knew that someone must heal the hurts of the world, and thus someone needed to find a way to communicate with them."

From Zhongli's character stories, we know that Venti went to visit, bringing a gift of wine- and that that led to the 7 all meeting together regularly. He is a bard, and the god of the wind- music and poetry flow like the wind, after all. Of course he would facilitate communication! HOWEVER, this didn't work for a long, long time. In fact, the glider lore continues,

"But the poet knew this would happen. (...) Still, the poet did not give up, though not because he believed or anything. This was just the way he was."

Despite being called the god of Hope by Neuvilette, Venti didn't have any hope. He just... didn't know what else to do.

Anyway, I should end it here, before I ramble on for many more paragraphs about all the things I love about Venti.

#headcanon;;#about;;#anonymous #lost post #MAN I RAMBLED

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kindly-whisper-norbury · 2 years

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I love AO3. I really, truly do. But at the same time, it reminds me that fanfic had a very different feel back in the day… in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

We didn't so much promote our stories as we traded them like literary contraband, handing them out in the back alleys of newsboards and forums and LiveJournal to be gobbled up by the desperate, starving masses. Sometimes you wouldn't post them, you would simply mention that you had written them; and when someone asked to see your story you would send them an email with the creation copy-pasted within. Those of us who had our own Geocities or Angelfire websites would make elaborate pages for each story, setting the background and font color to match what we felt the fic evoked, and of course adding pictures that we had slapped together in Photoshop for flavor.

When FFnet came along, we eagerly thrust our creations into its algorithm, like birds shoving their babies out of the nest; then we held our breath and waited to see if anyone cared enough to make a comment before our stories slipped into the depths of the pit, never to be seen or read again. And the tingle we felt in our chests when someone did finally comment left us on a high for hours or even days.

There were annual fanfiction awards for some fandoms, and if you won any category at all you would wear that award proudly... a badge of honor to be displayed in your forum signature or FFnet profile. But really, the ultimate honor was when someone did fan art of your stories and posted it on DeviantArt or LJ, and you would hold on to that picture like a child clinging to a favorite teddy bear.

More often than not, the people you knew in real life weren't aware of what you did with your spare time, and you would have died of embarrassment if they ever found out. In general, you stayed in your lane, keeping other fandoms out of your business, except for the occasional crossover (which came with the added complication of having to choose which fandom to post them under on FFnet). We didn't have beta readers... hell, sometimes we didn't edit at all. Grammar and spelling mattered less than your passion for the subject, and research was conducted somewhat haphazardly, to the point where any anachronisms were shrugged off. Still, OOC characters were raked thoroughly across the coals; questioned and poked until the author explained why they had written them that way.

The tropes and cliches that people now cringe at were created then, embraced wholeheartedly. Mary Sues and self-inserts and songfics were everywhere… and we loved it. Authors would interrupt their own stories in the middle to add notes, sometimes presented as the characters themselves giving you information about what was going on in the story or what led the author to add this or that small detail.

We were afraid of being copyright claimed, we were afraid of being ridiculed, we were afraid of being sued by Anne Rice (even if we didn't write anything that took place in her universe). We felt rebellious, accomplished, and maybe a little guilty about what we wrote; but we wrote it because we loved it, and that was enough.

As I said, I really do love AO3… but there was just such a culture surrounding fanfic back then… a kinship and a sisterhood. I wish that those who have never gotten to experience it could have the chance to go back for a while, feel the way it felt… same as I wish my own kids could have experienced the freedom of summer vacation back when summer vacation meant freedom.

The world is just too fast now, the internet too loud; you have to run to catch up, scream to be heard... when sometimes all you want to do is whisper, "Hey… I wrote something… does anyone want to take a look?" and to have someone whisper back, "Yes! Send it to me and I'll print it out to read in bed tonight!"

#writing #writers #fanfiction #writers on tumblr #writeblr #ao3 #fanfic #the 1990s

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edgarbright · 4 days

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Ikevil Wrapped in Wicked Romance story event route with the premium ending + epilogue for Alfons…

Unpopular opinion but I admit I loved it

The content warning is very real! If you don't like, don't read, just put it on auto if you want the blouse/event completion lol But the cw only made me more curious about him and the route did not disappoint in showing how twisted and spicy and wonderfully villainous Alfons's ability can be! Like William's ability will make you take the knife to cut your throat with your heart bursting out of your chest and your skin turned to ice. Alfons's ability, meanwhile, will have you willingly take the object in his hand and go where he leads with a smile on your face and joy in your heart.

While Alfons's ability can take away your perception of reality, I liked how he never used it to make anyone, least of all the MC, feel bad.

And I did like how unapoletically he was about what he did, especially since, in his own twisted way, he was creating this route's illusion for the MC's sake.

Some may remember way back when Ikevamp Arthur's main route dropped and I seethed over what happened in like chapter 4. Arthur's pseudo-sexual assault intended to punish and scare the MC for getting involved in a house of vampires. Ikevil's MC is an actual hostage at Crown where she needs to prove her loyalty or lose her life. Alfons could easily have fallen into a similar Arthur-like trap of treating MC like a fly caught in a spider's web, and punishing her for putting her nose in the wrong place.

But he didn't!!!

MC was traumatized from walking in on the prologue murder, and to follow Alfons for the day meant she would be forced to face even more bloodshed because that's what Crown does! But MC (and me as the reader whoops) weren't thinking about that part; we were thinking about the silly pretend lover mission part. So it was simultaneously shocking yet hilarious how quick Alfons was to enchant MC into thinking he was her lover. Like that man did not miss a beat in going from enchanting her to convincing her to getting that first kiss. I can't even be mad because he is supposed to be a villain, so go ahead and have the kiss, sir...!

The rest of the story is written so well in a surreal kind of way. I think I'm just very into this veneer of sweet and soft with the sense of danger lurking underneath. Even when we get the meat of the dubcon, it felt dark but like in a fairy/spirited away kind of dark.

And I think this route and that content warning worked because of the MC. Her observations, her internal dialogue, her internal conflicts, her anger, her desire--they held the spotlight even while Alfons led most of the way.

The question now is which event route to pick next? I've completed two premium routes (Alfons and Ellis) and I should be able to do one more route (I've estimated four premium routes are just out of reach at around 43.7k unless I want to spend). I'm not that interested in Victor or Harrison, tbh (I'd love to hear from people that favor them!) so at the moment I'm inclined to go for Ellis's bitter end (or even Alfons's bitter end). Are the bitter ends darker? Anyone have any recommendations?

As a side note for main routes, I've put William on hiatus at chapter 18 and switched to Liam. That Liam performs a particular play surprised me and made me super happy, because that play is one of my favorites, so a great start! His route has some serious content warnings so let's go...!

#my ikevil #ikemen villains #wrapped in wicked romance story event #alfons sylvatica #when i say rambling i mean rambling

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yelenasdiary · 2 years

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I’d love a flo x reader wlw series about wanting kids, picking a donor, and Flo being pregnant. I think a sweet birth story where Flo really depends on her partner would be cute and sweet! Bonus points for a fun cooking with Flo where she makes something she’s craving!

(I sent this to a few favorite Flo writers as well)

Cravings || Flufftober

Pairing: Florence Pugh x Reader

Summary: Flo being a cute mess while pregnant

AC: I don’t have children so my knowledge on IVF and IUI isn’t great, so I hope I didn’t stuff this up! I hope you enjoy otherwise! x

Flufftober Masterlist

It was late that night when Florence asked you if you’d like to have children. The two of you had just gotten home from Rose’s birthday party, Scarlett threw a party for those close friends and family but when Florence saw you playing with the young babies it made her heart melt and she couldn’t wait any longer to pitch the idea to you.

“I want to have a baby” she said while looking into your eyes, a wide smile took over your lips before you covered her face with soft kisses, “me too” you replied. For the coming weeks it was all the two of you could talk about, both happy with the choice of Florence to carry the baby which led to appointments and looking through possible donors. Florence was so excited to be adding a new life to the world but most importantly she was looking forward to this next step in your lives. It’s no lie that she’s a big family-oriented person and you could see how wonderful she was going to be as a mother.

Nights were spent looking through many donors as the two of you made a list of people you think we’re a good fit then from that it made for a long, long discussing on who to pick in the end. Florence did a lot of research before the insemination just to make sure everything was set and stone within her own body first. You of course went with her to every appointment and prepared yourself for any outcome as you didn’t want to miss anything, no matter how small. During this time, Florence cleared her schedule to give you both the best chances. She was stress free and full of excitement.

Florence wanted to surprise you and did her best keeping her symptoms to herself until she was 100% sure. She managed to flip away for a doctor’s appointment, telling you that she was just popping to the store to grab some things for dinner and when she came home you were gone on a walk with Billie. The first thing she did was circle the baby’s due date on the calendar, smiling softly as her hand naturally stroked her stomach.

“Honey, can you call Billie please? she’s making a little mess in here!” You heard Florence call from upstairs one afternoon. “Billie girl!! Come outside, I’ve got your ball!” you called back, you could hear the thumbing footsteps of the pup running downstairs with Florence following behind in a walking pace. “You put a shirt on her?” you looked up at the top of the staircase confused. “It was a little quote on it, go read it, it’s adorable! I had to get it for her” Florence replied as she made her way down the stairs. You called Billie over to you again and got her to sit in front of you, the shirt reading “Big Sister” with an envelope clipped to her collar, you took it off and slowly opened it. Florence wrapped her arms around you gently as you pulled out the 6-week ultrasound photo of a tiny bean like baby. Tears of joy filled your eyes as you stared the photo before turning in Florence’s arms and kissing her gently.

“We have to wait another 6 weeks before we can tell anybody, but I couldn’t wait that long to tell you” She explained but you couldn’t care, you had everything you ever needed right there in front of you.

----

You held her hair back when her morning sickness strike, rubbing the small of her back for comfort. When she was done, you’d grab the wet cloth from the countertop and wipe her mouth softly before offering her a glass of water and a kiss on her forehead, promising to be with her every single step of the way. By noon Florence was usually found lounged out on the sofa with a book that she could only read a few pages before you found her peacefully asleep. You grabbed a throw blanket from the guest room and covered her with it, making sure to place her book on the coffee table, safe from being damaged.

Billie became more protective over Flo as the weeks went on, she wouldn’t leave her side during the night as she slept at Florence’s feet. You adored how protective she was, always at Flo’s feet while see cook and sitting patiently at the bathroom door for her to return.

Telling her family was a big event, Florence threw a lunch and had the whole family over. Billie following Florence closely everywhere she went. Everybody could tell something was going on as the two of you failed to contain your excited smile and the secret soft belly rubs you give when nobody was looking. Florence loved whenever you stroked her stomach, she loved watching you fall more and more in love with the unborn child and how you’d whisper sweet nothings to her stomach.

It wasn’t a surprise to you when Florence mentioned she’d like to have the baby in the UK. You both owned a holiday home in London for when Florence wanted to be home but was needed in London for whatever even took place. When a few more doctors’ appointments and check-ups Florence was given the okay to fly back to London for the rest of her pregnancy.

At 6 months, Florence had announced publicly about the pregnancy as she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide it for much longer. The two of you were showered with support and love from everybody, and her fans were just as excited as you were.

“Darling, could you pretty please get me the ice cream and hot sauce?” Florence looked up at you as she laid between your legs as you both watched a movie on Netflix. “Hot sauce? Really?” you slowly shifted out from under her. “I’m craving it” she sat up, her hand resting gently on the top of her bump as you walked into the kitchen and grabbing the requested items. “Our baby is going to come out screaming for chilli” you joked as you handed your wife a bowl of ice cream and the bottle of hot sauce and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

“Do you want to know what I had for lunch while you were washing Billie?”

“Do I want to know?” you smirked. “Tacos, with tuna and peanut butter, absolutely banging!” she replied, her British accent thick. You laughed and shook your head, “that is disgusting!” Your hand gently stroked Florence’s bump, “you’re giving mama some odd taste buds”

“Ooo, could you please get me some mangos? I could really go for some of them to dip in my ice cream” Florence looked at you with excited eyes. “Anything for you” you smiled softly.

----

Sometimes at night before bed, Florence’s hormones would get the best of her, and you’d find her staring at herself in the mirror. “Baby, come to bed” you suggested, she turned and faced you with puffy red eyes. “Honey” you rushed to her side and gently pulled her into your arms. “I feel so yuck” she sobbed. “Oh baby, you’re so, so beautiful” you’d remind her. “You’re rocking this pregnancy” you added as she sobbed harder. “I saw the comments” she said as you wiped her eyes, “that’s all they are darling, just comments. They don’t see how beautiful you look in this moment right now and they don’t see how happy you are when you’re talking to our little garlic glove or when you’re cooking in the kitchen talking to them as if they can see what you’re doing. You’re carrying our baby, that’s something far beyond beautiful and if they don’t see that, that’s their problem because to me” you paused and kissed her lips softly, “to me you look beautiful every single second of the day”

Florence kissed you once more, “I love you so much, we love you so much” she spoke as she guided your hand to her bump, “I love you both more than you’ll ever know” you replied.

Each morning Florence would wake up in your arms as one of your hands protective rested on her pump, she smiled and placed her hand on top of yours. “You have the world’s best mommy, my little darling” she whispered to her baby bump. The baby kicked slightly at the mention of ‘mommy’ that woke you with a smile. “Go back to sleep, darling, it’s 5 am” Florence whispered before you drifted back to sleep. “We’ve gotta let mommy sleep, darling. I can tell you want breakfast” she whispered before gently getting out of bed.

It wasn’t long until Florence was trying to hide the pain she was starting to feel in her lower back and her ankles, you knew she wasn’t sleeping the best and trying to find a comfortable position on the sofa was just as hard. While she was making lunch one afternoon you moved the TV from the guest living room and placed it in the bedroom so Florence could prop herself up in bed where she could get comfortable. But the only place Florence found true comfort was in your arms with one hand placed on top of yours as your thumb gently stroked her baby bump.

“What do you think our little garlic glove is?” she looked up at you with a soft smile. “If I had to guess, I’m going to say a boy but I really don’t mind what they are because they are half of you and half of me and that’s already so special to me” you replied ignoring the true fact that there was a donor and you were thankful for them but to you, you spoke to the baby day in and day out, they knew your voice just as much as they knew Florence’s. “I hope they are everything like you and more” Florence brought your hand to her lips and kissed the top of your hand gently.

---

At 8 months and her odd food cravings haven’t subsided.

“Hey guys! I’m baccck!” Florence smiled into the camera as she starts to film a new Cooking with Flo. “Bit of an odd episode this week but I’m trying to prove to my loving wife, Y/n that tacos, peanut butter and tuna is actually really good!” she explained with a hand rubbing over her bump. You couldn’t help but burst into a laughter from the living room. “Darling, stop! They can hear you” Florence chuckled. “Baby, I don’t even your fans are going to agree that” you walked into the kitchen and sat behind the camera, “go on, show how great it is” you smirked playfully.

“As I was saying” she turned her attention back to the camera, “This is something I have been eating all throughout my pregnancy along with ice cream and hot sauce” she adds. You watched as your wife paced around the kitchen making the worlds oddest combination of foods with a free hand on the small of her back for extra support. Even though you could see she was in pain, and you would rather her rest her feet, you admired her for how she embraced this whole experience. You loved seeing how in love she was with your baby from the start and seeing that love grow bigger and bigger by the second.

“I’ve got my taco shells in the oven for 2-3 minutes at the most” she explained, “I have my orange juice in a wine glass because I can” she joked before taking a sip from the glass, you smiled as you watched on. “Once those shells are done, I’m going to grab my can of tuna and peanut butter” she spoke, you shook your head at the odd combination, trying not to think about how awful it would taste. Florence turned and looked at you after her first attempt to take the taco shells out of the oven.

“Baby” she pouted, “yes?” you smiled, “I can’t reach the tray” she chuckled.

You got up from your seat and grabbed the oven mitt, giving Florence a gently kiss on the lips before pulling the hot tray out of the oven, “thank you darling” she smiled, one hand rubbing over her bump once again. You returned to your seat behind the camera and watched Florence finished up her odd craving. “Just place the tuna in first and then put a big scoop of peanut butter on top and that my darlings, is the world’s best snack!” she explained before she took a bite and hummed as the goodness filled her cravings. “Until next time, I want you all to try something completely different, unusual, something you think would be disgusting and give it a try, you never know! You might just enjoy it! I’m not sure when the next Cooking with Flo will be, as you can tell I have a lot on my hands right now” she chuckled, rubbing her stomach once again, “but I look forward to coming back with new videos! Stay safe guys!” she blew the camera a kiss and stopped the video.

“Pass me one of those tacos, will you? Please?” you asked as she took another bite. Florence pushed the plate gently over to you, your stomach turned but you still took the taco and regretfully took a bite. Florence watched you chew with a chuckle, “it’s good, isn’t it?” she asked. You shook your head and swallowed harshly, “that was so bad baby, I’m sorry” you chuckled before reaching for her orange juice and downing half or it to get rid of the horrible taste. “Well, I’m proud you gave it a try” Florence smiled and continued to eat her new favourite snack.

----

11:17pm on a Thursday night, Florence shook you awake, “darling, wake up!” she said as your eyes flickered, instantly your hand went for her bump, “what’s wrong baby?” you asked. “It’s time” she smiled softly, “my water broke” she adds. Your eyes widened at her words, and you shot up out of bed and grabbed the pre-packed bag that was by the door before helping Florence out of bed.

You called her family and told them she was in labour. Florence reached for your hand to squeeze whenever a contraction would rush through her. The two of you had thought of a list of names for both genders, the nursery was almost complete, just missing the small baby to bring home. You were overwhelmed with nerves and excitement as it slowly became to hit you that you were going to be a mother within a few hours and that everything over the past year was more than worth it.

“I love you” Florence would say after every contraction, “I love you so much, you know that right? so anything I saw is purely out of pain” she added causing you to chuckle, “I know mama” you smiled, kissing her lips softly, “I love you too” you whispered against her lips.

At 2:03 PM on Friday afternoon, Florence gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She was born with fine hair, big beautiful eyes and little a button like nose just like Florence. She filled your heart with a love you knew would was possible, you held her for the first time and tears filled your eyes as the little bundle of joy slept peacefully in your arms.

Florence woke up to find you rocking the baby gently in your arms, her heart grew bigger the longer she watched her wife and new-born and she knew in the at moment that there was nobody on earth that she wanted to share this life with other than you.

#florence pugh #florence pugh x reader #fanfiction #flufftober

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chairteeth · 7 months

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“Nemu Hiiragi: The Shadow”

The promised Magius Nemu essay arrives. I have given up on proper essay formatting and will simply leave my analyses in semi-rant form because my brain is too chaotic and goes on too many tangents. It cannot be tamed. Informal essay under the cut!

So. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has heard others refer to Nemu as a shadow, Touka 2.0, or some other frankly reductive term. Most of the time, unless her creations come up, she’s not discussed at all, and even then… barely. That’s not exactly surprising. Given Nemu’s normally calm demeanor, and the fact that she and Touka are joined at the hip, it’s only natural that Touka would be the one to get the most attention, the one who stands out. Where Touka is the boisterous sun, Nemu is the humble moon. Today, we turn our eyes to the moon.

There is so much to talk about when it comes to Magius Nemu and pretty much all of it is going to make you really sad. Much like Touka and all other magical girls, she led a double life the entire time, but in her case, when she “traded one terminal illness for another” she got the short end of the stick. Imagine being a writer and discovering that your magic allows you to give physical form to your stories, to breathe life into your creations—literally. Now picture finding out later down the line that each time you use it, it consumes so much magic that it shaves off pieces of your very life force. That’s one slap in the face. But, it gets worse.

Let me lay out everything we know about how Magius Nemu’s sacrifices affected her physically, and how each of the people around her responded to her worsening condition. First, we know it causes pain severe enough to temporarily affect her vision and speech, and severe enough to make her fall to the ground, though she doesn’t always faint from it. We know it inflicts exhaustion and that even something like releasing an uwasa for the first time can make her pass out on the spot, so presumably it’s a lengthy process that takes a toll on her at every stage (well not sure about conceptualization, but creation and release definitely do). A voiced example of one of these episodes is in Arc 1 Chapter 8, 4:02:36 - 4:03:43 if you're watching the video.

Now, as for the people around Nemu, starting from more distant to closest. Her family? Oblivious, responsible for her state of emotional deprivation and for several other issues. Alina? Ehh she seems to either not care or care very little, which is properly Alina-esque of her. Mifuyu? Oh let me talk about MIFUYU for a second. Disclaimer, despite her many sins committed against my favorite characters, I do love the sheep, she’s too much of a failure, I cannot hate her. But Mifuyu “I want to be a nurse” Azusa is insensitive beyond belief, and I was honestly surprised when they appointed her to be some sort of… ethics teacher for Touka? Bruh. You see, an MGS is supposed to put us in the shoes of whatever character it’s about. That’s what it does. However my brain is broken and perceives the world from a TouNemu perspective by default. Which means I had a completely different reading of Mifuyu’s MGS. I am going to illustrate my point with screenshots this time because I happen to have them on hand.

Mifuyu says this about Touka and Nemu getting worked up over Alina wanting to prioritize witches above rumors. But. Here’s the thing. The thing that Mifuyu seems to be missing completely. Rumors are created by Nemu, through a sacrifice of her own life force that worsens her pain and makes her suffer more with each subsequent use. Evidently, the girls reply that no, they don’t think they were getting too emotional.

YOU THINK? Have you given any thought to why that could possibly be the case, Mifuyu? But, okay, fine, we can look past this. Alright. Next scene, it’s Touka and Nemu being upset that Yachiyo just destroyed the Divorce Stairs (I call them that, but for clarification, it’s the Friendship-Ending Staircase). I’m going to bring something up that I don’t believe is exactly contradicted by canon, though not confirmed either, but I’d be willing to believe by the fact that Nemu knows of Iroha (by name and I assume appearance) that there’s a psychic link of some kind between the uwasa and their creator. That would make sense, considering they are made of her magic and have pieces of her life force. If this is true, then that massacre Iroha and Yachiyo go on during Arc 1 Chapter 7 is far, far worse.

But alright, back to the scene. Touka is standing up for Nemu here, and Mifuyu proceeds to go and dismiss their feelings because, as she says in her thoughts, “they’re just children”. Okay, Mifuyu, hear me out. They’re 11-12. They’re not toddlers. Just because they’re children doesn’t make their emotions invalid, unimportant, or not worth considering. Particularly in this case, where they have a good reason to be upset. Nemu even mentions the life force she’s using up and Mifuyu’s first and only thought is “Yacchan…” (this is a repeating pattern).

The next relevant scene is one where Mifuyu does something Alina has also done and Touka hasn't: ask Nemu to make a rumor for her.

Nemu reminds her that it comes at a cost, and that she’s using up her life for this. Nemu gives in, of course. I will talk about this imminently. First though, the final scene of Mifuyu’s MGS. Where Mifuyu repeats the previous pattern but worse. How exactly is it worse? I’ll let the screenshots speak for themselves here. Nemu and Mifuyu meet at the shrine where the uwasa is going to be released, Nemu does the deed, and faints, then Mifuyu reacts like this:

These screenshots are less than a second apart. It is the immediate follow-up. Absolutely zero concern for one of the people she’s supposed to be responsible for who just did her a pretty big favor (as if you needed someone’s blood to open a door, they stabbed themselves to get you the blood, and then you left them on the ground in pain). So yes Mifuyu is insensitive and she is not helping Nemu’s view of adults. Relatedly, before I move to talking about Touka, since I’d like to actually end this on a non-depressing note, I’m going to circle back a little to Nemu’s family.

I am infamous for not liking Nemu’s family. Her parents, mainly. Her brother, for as much of a snotty brat as he is to her, is presumably still very tiny and has had scarce interactions with his sister, therefore leading to the way Nemu describes their relationship (“strangers”). As a slight aside, Nemu does try very hard to have a relationship with her brother, not only in her MGS, but in her solo Christmas quotes where she’s lost on what to get as a gift for a kid that likes soccer and asks Homescreen-chan for advice. And you see, Nemu has this thing where once you get past a certain point with her, she becomes a people pleaser. Unlike when Ui’s parents have visited before (seen in TouNemu’s Christmas MGS), Nemu was shocked to hear that her mother and brother had come to see her. This leads me to believe the visits are an extremely rare occurrence and that there is no other contact besides them. Ui’s parents at least video call her, from what the quotes say.

And now we have reached the point where it’s unavoidable and I have to talk about Nemu’s emotional trauma. Her family does not seem to know about her writing, which was a good call because it shielded her from much of the gifted kid trauma. However, that doesn’t mean her parents’ actions (or lack thereof) were without consequence. A lot of these might be subconscious, so bear with me a second. At this point in the timeline, Nemu struggles to believe that others will meet her needs or care for her. She seeks affirmation, acceptance, approval, and fortunately seems to get it in the form of her website and Touka during this era.

Let me give you some examples of Nemu’s people-pleasing tendencies, as any kid would learn that catering to the needs and desires of others can sometimes lead to a sense of belonging or validation—she explicitly wants that, she is aware that she wants to feel loved. This is immensely obvious with her family’s visits, where her first reaction isn’t good but then she plays along and puts up a happier face (which drops literally as soon as her mother and brother are out of the room), even apologizing for the slightest inconvenience regardless of whether or not the reaction to that inconvenience was bad (the book that was hard to find, the general Presence™ of her family in the room, apologizes again for talking about her feelings, etc). So that she doesn’t have to burden them with her feelings. So that her mother can feel like she’s fulfilled her duty by walking into the room, giving Nemu a rundown of what the family has been up to, and leaving without really actually spending any real quality time with her or bothering to really ask about her. Touka gets (righteously) angry in Nemu’s stead once her mother and brother have left precisely because of this. Nemu proceeds to, like many children in her position, defend her parents completely and then chastise herself for “looking down on them”. Touka and Ui both understand at least the heart of the issues at play here, and express as much. My point here isn’t exactly “Nemu’s parents are equivalent to Sana’s” or anything, it’s more that they’re extremely oblivious and their actions (and lack thereof) have hurt Nemu deeply.

That habit Nemu’s parents have of never truly showing interest in their daughter’s life seems to remain after the hospital, and then they’re focused on her brother’s comfort. Not Nemu’s. Never Nemu’s. Then, later on, in the Wings of the Magius, every time someone asks her to make a rumor (read: sacrifice a piece of her life force and make herself feel physically worse presumably forever), she agrees. Mifuyu asks her to, yeah sure. Alina wants a rumor? Of course. I won’t count when everyone asked her for stuff to add to Fendt Hope solely because I’m not sure Fendt Hope works like normal rumors do. Something, something, difficulty setting and maintaining healthy boundaries, struggling to distinguish her own needs from the needs of others…

A child who learned that her voice and desires were not prioritized in such critical stages of her life naturally struggles to articulate her own needs and wants. Prime example, Fendt Hope’s creation. She listens to the others give their ideas for it, never suggesting anything herself after reminding them of her usefulness. Until. Touka asks. When she does, Nemu seems almost taken aback. She apologizes. Nothing comes to mind. That very same day, she gets home, tries again to have some sort of positive interaction or time with her brother, gets rejected. As soon as an alternative form of service (doing the dishes for her exhausted mother so that she may help her brother with homework) presents itself, she practically jumps at the opportunity. The scene after that one, with the way she views Touka, Alina, and Mifuyu, vs the way she views her mother and brother, only makes this more obvious. How is Nemu supposed to feel any sense of value at home? At least as a magical girl, she’s useful. At least as a Magius, she has people who know her. The feelings of low self-worth aren’t as obvious on Nemu as they are on many of the other girls who have them, though.

The next time there’s a Magius meeting, this time to decide on a name for their base, Touka is again the one who asks Nemu for her opinion. It’s important to note that Touka is never once hostile, aggressive, or even annoyed when she does this. She considers Nemu’s thoughts and feelings more than anyone. Heck, Nemu would have no way to doubt Touka’s care for her considering their history and the way she acts.

Now I get to talk about the relationship between Magius Nemu and Magius Touka. If I start gushing incoherently, I apologize in advance. I covered a bit of Magius Touka’s attitude towards Nemu in the essay dedicated to her, and slightly in this one, but now I want to draw attention to how incredibly sweet Touka can be when it comes to Nemu. Nemu desperately needs that reliability and that love Touka provides, the hope she brings. And Touka is the one person who openly shows her care, attention. Over and over again.

Touka considers Nemu an equal. During the main story, as I said in my Magius Touka essay, she shows concern for Nemu’s health and wellbeing when no one else does. This goes beyond her magic-given affliction! I only wish we had more bits and pieces from that era, but as for what we do have… Well, I have to point at Nemu’s swimsuit costume story for the easiest and shortest point of reference. I’d use screenshots, but if I did, I would just end up showing you every single piece of dialogue and expression.

In that costume story, Touka and Nemu are at Fendt Hope, talking about their future trip to the beach (which they made plans for together in Touka’s swimsuit costume story). Nemu has her insecurities, and she’s shy about putting on the swimsuit, but then Touka proceeds to be incredibly supportive by first making her feel comfortable—for some reason she also had her own swimsuit lying around and offered to wear it too because Nemu mentioned it’d be embarrassing if she was the only one wearing a swimsuit and Touka was wearing clothes—then as soon as Nemu expresses self-doubt, she doubles down via genuine compliments (these two compliment each other way more than you think, even in main story Touka praises Nemu for her ideas). This is also a rare occasion where we’re shown that Nemu’s parents, or her mom at least, who seems more present than her dad, mean no harm, since it was Nemu’s mother who helped pick out every element of her swimsuit. After that, Touka goes off to change back into her school uniform, and Nemu is “uncharacteristically giddy” (as she states) looking at herself in the mirror. Touka gets back, and Nemu is startled to have been caught in a vulnerable state, but, critically, Touka is happy to see her happy and doesn’t tease her, although Nemu (jokingly, blushing) laments that letting Touka read her heart is the greatest failure of her life. Nemu asks Touka to listen. And Touka complies. Nemu trusts Touka with her heart, with her honest feelings, and knows Touka will never hurt her. That’s why she’s able to be so sincere with her. This is shown in Nemu’s Tap 8 quote, where she also refers to Touka as trustworthy (Touka has a matching Tap 8 quote, and hers is about how reliable Nemu is for her). This relationship, no matter what it is, is deeply important to both participants.

Finally, to end this glorified rant… I know I used the sun and moon metaphor earlier, but. I would like to borrow the words of Nemu in one of my fics: “It’s silent at night. Touka stays up with her telescope, I stay up reading nearby. We are stardust brought to life. A quiet place, just for us. The gentlest fire in us, like binary stars.” (I’m sorry but the binary stars comparison is too good not to mention). Their connection was there before the Magius, and after everything they went through, their lives became irreversibly bound, intertwined beyond the understanding of quite literally anyone else. They practically always speak in plural, the time they spend together has been on the rise, and at the time of writing? To avoid spoiling Arc 2 Chapter 12, I won’t go into specifics, but the relationship has reached a beautiful point that I will froth at the mouth about eventually.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the Nemu essay, I went slightly more feral this time so apologies for that. I’ll see how soon the hospital era essay can be thrown into the wild. Nishi out!

#magia record #essay #nemu hiiragi #hi I'm back to torment you all #today we have:#very sad girl who needs a hug #nishiposting

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ouroboros-hideout · 19 days

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WIP WHENEVER

@chevvy-yates tagged me for this. Thank you a lot 💚

This will be a huge wall of text aswell, since I am not really of the „visual“ side of creating atm.

Writing // Worldbuilding

I'm still writing the next two chapters for my fanfiction, but would rather briefly introduce my other OCs here (yes, Aon isn´t the only one by now). Maybe I can create all of them ingame at some point, depending on how stupid I´ll act with modding etc. when I start. Since things can change quickly in the story while I'm writing, I wouldn't say that everything is 100% set in stone, a lot of it isn't finished yet. But it's a good base. Most of them appear in my „Like Napalm“ fic. Some of them will be in my main GARMR fic aswell. So prepare for half backed character data entries and some rambling.

Gan

Gan Tomobataar, or Iron as he is usually called, is a mysterious man. Many stories surround the Mongolian giant and it always depends on who asks him whether he affirms or denies these tales. It is therefore uncertain which of them are true or fictional and he really enjoys keeping his past in the dark. He is said to have served in an elite military unit. The metal teeth that earned him his iconic nickname are said to have been lost in numerous boxing matches as he tried to turn pro to make a better life for himself and his family, and he is allegedly a descendant of Ginghis Khan (which is probably one of his favorite rumors). One can assume that his closest confidants have more clarity, but none of them would dare say a word about it. Undeniably true is that he has two brothers, of whom he is the second-born. Together with them, he leads one of the largest nomadic clans in eastern Europe and Asia. The Tomobataar nomads are divided into three large families, each led by one of the three brothers. Iron's family stays mainly in Mongolia and Russia, but he would also travel to more distant parts of the Soviet Union for profitable contracts. He doesn't have many vices, but one of them is definitely greed.

By sheer luck, at least that's what he claimed, he picked up Aon on the street when she was trying to flee Moscow on her own. He promised to protect her from the Secret Police and other bounty hunters if she proved to be a useful member of his clan. However, his methods for testing her worth would put the young woman to the test.

Yakov

Yakov always had problems finding his place in the world. He grew up in St. Petersburg, studying or an education other than working in his father's car repair shop were never an option financially, but the young man always yearned for something greater than being stuck in the alleys and streets of his childhood. He decided to join the military when he was old enough, but was discharged immediately after basic training for insubordination and general unsuitability. What remained for him was to work in his father's garage until he died after a long illness. Yakov tried to keep the store running on his own for a while, but he found it difficult to do good business without proper management and eventually had to sell the store. This was followed by a relatively dark period. He saw himself as a failure, was unable to find a new job and drank away the money he had received for the workshop in the bars in his neighborhood. One evening, a man came into his local pub. His car had broken down outside, he wouldn't get any further that night and kept him company for a few hours. The next day, Yakov repaired his car for the man called Gan and left the town with him to live with the Tomobataar nomads.

Gregori

Gregori's mother, a singer from New York, came to the Russian capital for a gig and met a military officer there. The two got together and the result was little Greg. Shortly afterwards, however, the couple fell apart and she took her son back to America, where he spent most of his childhood and youth being raised by babysitters and nannies, while the singer preferred to spend her time on tour or in the recording studio. Gregori at least inherited much of her creativity, starting to make music himself at an early age and drawing a lot. Just what small children do when they need to keep themselves busy.

When he was 16 years old, his mother died of an overdose. As she never bothered to write down a testament or anything similar, her entire fortune goes to her greedy manager, who leaves Gregori penniless.

The boy, who has spent his whole life sheltered without much contact with the outside world, is left with nothing and doesn't know exactly what to do. So he scrapes together the last of his money and buys a ticket to Moscow, where he tries to find his father, but in vain. He quickly goes off the rails, barely speaks a word of Russian, is recruited by a gang and gets exploited. An arms deal with a group of nomads goes wrong, a shootout ensues and Gegori is the only one left of the gang because he hides instead of fighting. Yakov, who was on the other side of the deal, takes pity on him and eventually takes him to his new family where he tries to find his place within the group.

Anna

Anna grew up with the Tomobataar nomads from an early age. Her parents were killed in a botched mission when she was just four years old. Iron, who in a way blamed himself for this, took on a guardianship for her and looked after the little girl like the apple of his eye. As the years passed and Anna grew older, the relationship between her and her foster father changed. He became increasingly demanding, punished misbehavior and put the still young girl under pressure. Aon, who had already earned her place in the clan by this time, could not tolerate this behavior as she herself had grown up under similar circumstances. No one else in the clan interfered with Iron's "parenting methods", which is why she ended up doing it. Anna and Aon then became inseparable and she naturally followed her later when they left the clan along with many others.

Anatoly

Anatoly, or Tolik as Aon calls him, belongs to the Russian working class in Moscow and cannot claim to own much. As a boy, he dreamed of studying mechanical engineering in order to open his own workshop or business. A dream that his father would never have been able to afford in this life. So after school, Tolik started working at his father's scrap yard on the outskirts of Moscow, not an easy job. He regularly drives into the city to pick up old components and scrap metal from SovOil and other big corporations, where he meets Alyona one day. The two strike up a conversation, exchange banter and hit it off straight away, which over time develops into a teenage love story. Aon spends a lot of time with him at the scrapyard, where she can test and improve her skills on old machines and has a place to hide from her hated stepfather. He, in return, benefits from the knowledge she brings with her from university, and his dream of building his own big thing soon becomes her dream too. Together they consider leaving the city at some point and make plans for the future

unnamed_chromed_up_terrifying_SovOil_Secret_Police_agent

Yea well, I don't know yet how to call him. After Aon has fled Moscow, the officers of the normal police force give up the search for her, as it theoretically no longer falls within their area of responsibility. However, since Kristof claims that Aon stole the data he wanted to sell to Petrochem, SovOil is naturally very interested in finding her and the data chip. So they send a Secret Police agent after her, who, together with a small unit, tries to track her down. He actually already had a kind of "Easter Egg" appearance in my other AU. He would have been the agent sitting next to Kurt if he hadn't switched the cards on the table. Funny how differently things can go. Anyway, he doesn't really have much of a backstory other than he used to work for the KGB and is a bloodthirsty hound dog who chases Aon halfway across the country (spoiler: and finds her). If I were to compare him to another character from movies etc, he would probably have the closest vibe to Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds. The character was very well written, even though I would probably make my namesless_pig a bit younger than him. But since he'll be pumped full of cyberware anyway, it probably doesn't matter much in the end. It's just supposed to be a fucking horrible character and Aon's nightmare.

Robert Walker

Robert is one of the key-characters in my main fanfiction. I haven't thought about him in depth yet, but the general concept is there. He's a British journalist and photographer who wanted to go high by exposing wrongdoings in society. For him, there is nothing more exciting than achieving "fame and notoriety" as a whistleblower. He's not necessarily stupid or doesn't know what he's doing, he's just unlucky. He gets into trouble with the wrong people and upsets the even worse ones, which is why he has to flee the UK and ends up in NC. There he tries to start over and stay out of trouble. However, he soon develops an "unhealthy" obsession with Kurt Hansen. He is incredibly fascinated by him and spends every free minute in Dogtown so that he can perhaps take a photo (or two, or ten) of his idol. At some point, he goes so far as to seek direct contact and wants to interview him. Kurt is flattered at first, but has little desire to reveal information about himself in some strange blog or gossip magazine. But that didn't stop Robert from continuing to stalk him and even trying to become a member of Barghest. At some point, Hansen got too pissed off and gave him the choice of leaving Dogtown or catching a bullet. Robbie chose the second option. After all, he hadn't forbid him to camp outside the gates of Dogtown, had he?

Technically I could tell something about Aon´s mom and her stepfather too, but I don´t have that much yet. So will keep em for the next WIP together with the other OCs for my main fic. There will be three more. A general, a corpo guy and the last is still up for discussion with my brain. Considering somekind of warlord or a netrunner.

Art

I tried to do something different than a full rendered piece of artwork. I am not yet confinced that I like it. I like, that it was finished really fast lmao but...I dunno.

Aon and Tolik - 2055

But happy that Aon is actually recognizable in the end. During the process she looked so much like So Mi at a point that my brain went: WHO ARE YOU GIRL. But I like the long hair. Will give it back to her in her 2078+ appearance. Not exactly like this, but longer than her normal style.

Not quite sure about Anatoly tho. I mean, he looks like this in my head, but I will reconsidere if he will get some cyberarms. He is poor like a mouse, so probably can´t afford expensive tech like this, but he feels kind of „empty“ without anything.

Congrats and huge thanks if you read this far. Brainrot stronk!

Tagging some ppl aswell. Everyone else is invited too to show off some awesome stuff ofc, no pressure as always!

@blackrevell @olath124 @cyberholic77 @cybervesna @pinkyjulien @theviridianbunny @therealnightcity @wanderingaldecaldo @miss--river @barghestapologist @kdval @streetkid-named-desire @aggravateddurian @androgymess

#wip whenever #worldbuilding #writing stuff #art stuff #oc stuff

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burningvelvet · 4 months

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My analysis on Heathcliff and his relationships, and some interesting excerpts from Juliet McMaster's "The Courtship and Honeymoon of Mr. and Mrs. Linton Heathcliff: Emily Brontë's Sexual Imagery" via JSTOR (TW: abuse, sa/sexual violence, generally graphic and potentially triggering content)

*note: I've had half of this in my drafts for a while. My last reblog, which discusses Heathcliff's lack of attraction to Cathy II, inspired me to finally expand on & post it. That reblog is here: https://www.tumblr.com/burningvelvet/738896230943522816

Cathy II is one of my favorite characters and I think her dynamic with Heathcliff is fascinating. I would say that while he may not be attracted to her (indeed, he sometimes seems repulsed by her) his behavior toward her IS explicitly predatory as it includes lying to her, manipulating her, physically abusing her, kidnapping her, and forcing her into a marriage in which he helped to seduce her with love letters under his son's name.

Combine this with his behavior toward his wife Isabella, in which sexual violence may be easily inferred as he says Isabella hated him a day into their marriage (and sure, some people conceive on the first try, but what are the odds? and the concept of marital rape didn't legally exist back then) — not to mention Heathcliff calling her a slut (sexually violent epithet* *editing this post to say that "slut" was a mainly gendered term, but in Brontë's time it didn't have today's more sexualized meaning; for most of history it primarily meant "slovenly" aka messy/careless), and both of them vaguely referring to heinous abuses she undergoes in private (and what could be worse than what we already know about his treatment of his subordinates). With how determined he was to get a male heir, and that being the whole reason why he married her, it is not much of a stretch to assume that he bedded her multiple times until she showed signs of pregnancy. It is a very easy thing to infer actually.

He was probably as insulting and as violent (or at the very least, cold) with her in bed as he always was in every other aspect from the very start of their relationship. As they both confirm that she receives his abuse openly (until her escape), and as she wishes to be a "good wife," she likely did not struggle to avoid her "marital duties," but again, she clearly hates him for most of her marriage, and we learn that she despises him immediately after their marriage when the veil finally fully drops. And with how upfront with her he initially was about his intentions, and how his own verbal admissions + outright verbal abuse failed to quell her desire for him initially, what more than physical and especially sexual violence could have led Isabella to despise him so soon after their consummation? Their sexual experiences couldn't have gone splendidly for her, and for him it was likely a mechanical chore he likely resented and was therefore probably not delicate with (he hates delicacy anyway).

Yet, while Heathcliff is violent and predatory (in the colloquial as well as the primal, animalistic sense, as he is always related to nature even in his very name), he also contains hints of a long-buried goodness, as we all know, and this is what makes him a fascinating protagonist. He has a capacity for strong feeling, a deliberate if not faulty moral code, and he sometimes shows kindness accidentally.

This is why Heathcliff catching baby Hareton is such a pivotal moment in the story, because it is only after he saves his life that he actually realizes what he's done and then muses that he should've let the child die. This scene shows that his natural subconscious instinct is actually good, and that his external situations are what have shaped his darker impulses on the conscious level. In other words, he causes us to examine the nature vs nurture debate.

Despite later abusing him, Heathcliff sees Hareton as a son-like figure in his own twisted way, and in the end as he loses his life forces, he gives Hareton and Cathy II his blessings like a father would — he essentially is Hareton's father, and he is legally Cathy II's father-in-law, first through his son Linton and then we could say through his unofficial adoption of Hareton, who he says he would have preferred as a son. So Cathy II has Heathcliff as a sort of double father figure, though of course she would never accept this.

At one point, Heathcliff notes that he takes good care not to do anything that could be proven to be criminal or illegal. In his usual exactness, he was pretty much right. He is always tip-toeing the line of immorality: in the gothic literary tradition, his relationship with Cathy I has incestuous undertones, but they are not legally or biologically related, and so he skates by.

He declares that he has no regrets and that he's done nothing wrong by technical standards. Manipulating, lying, mental and physical abuse of one's financial dependents, and marital rape (hypothetical or not) were all within legal bounds for the most part, and even the forced marriage of Linton H./Cathy II was done through the process of emotional blackmail (and physical evidence in the form of her love letters) so that in his mind, he wasn't actually responsible.

However, Heathcliff may have reasoned that sexually abusing one's daughter-in-law in revenge may be in violation of the law; that he would gain severe detraction from his "slaves" Nelly, Hareton, even Joseph; and that if such a huge scandal broke out, he would have a harder time finding tenants, etc. — also, I don't think Heathcliff would have felt like he "needed" to sexually abuse Cathy II to get revenge against her/her family, because as he says, at that point he already has his revenge and his victory; he already has her lands, and degrades her every day by forcing her to be a servant and a slave, and by abusing her in every other way. Sexually abusing her would be an extra effort on his part.

And I don't think he would gain anything out of it aside from revenge. I don't really think Heathcliff has much sexual interest in anyone at all, probably not due to inborn asexuality but due to his depression, trauma, emotional repression, and general issues. Although he and Cathy I have an extremely passionate spiritual relationship, I can't say that I believe he ever experienced fully actualized/conscious sexual feelings even for her. Considering their youth and rocky position when he leaves her for his hiatus, and the very brief period of their reunion, their relationship was likely never "consummated" — or at least I see no hard textual evidence to suggest that it was, although I'm sure many people could probably argue against this. And regardless of whether or not he and Cathy I ever had a physically sexual relationship, I don't think he could ever really be seriously attracted to anyone but her.

But in order to get his revenge, he did bed Isabella likely multiple times until her pregnancy. And as McMaster demonstrates below, by encouraging Cathy II to marry his son — and quite literally seducing her himself by writing love letters to her under his son's name — Heathcliff essentially beds her by proxy, if not in actuality. He wants her property, and he wants her, and because his son is the same age as her and dying, he decides to use him as the perfect pawn to access her by

If Linton H. died before he could be married to Cathy II, would Heathcliff have attempted to marry Cathy II on his own? I think this is a fascinating topic to theorize about, and I can only assume the answer would be yes, because Hareton wouldn't have worked as a pawn, though perhaps Heathcliff would have simply manipulated Hareton to sign over Cathy II's inheritance to him instead (as the laws of marital coverture meant husbands were entitled to 100% of their wives money/property/inheritance). But at that point Heathcliff was still looking for revenge (and therefore may not have been adverse to getting it like he did in his first marriage with Isabella), and he may not have wanted to be financially responsible for the newly weds and their potential offspring, or to suffer legal repercussions if Cathy II or someone else convinced Hareton to hire a lawyer lol. But I digress.

And as the last quote in the following list demonstrates, I think it was not only a touch of the gothic incest theme that Emily was going for by having Lockwood assume Cathy II is Heathcliff's wife, but that it was intentionally symbolic of how weird and difficult-to-define their relationship is: they don't act like father and daughter in-laws, but he is legally her provider and in-house patriarch, and she is the lady of the house, and she is the closest thing to her mother he has. I could write whole essays about that last point & the similarities of both Catherines, such as their fearlessness, particularly toward Heathcliff (and I believe this makes him uncomfortable and even scares him at times).

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Excerpts from Juliet McMaster's "The Courtship and Honeymoon of Mr. and Mrs. Linton Heathcliff: Emily Brontë's Sexual Imagery" via JSTOR:

"Linton is called at one point 'only a feeble tool to his father' (205). In the sexual context he becomes a sort of human dildo, which his father uses to rape and degrade the second Catherine, the child bride whose birth caused the death of the Catherine whom Heathcliff loved."

"'Making love in play, eh?' says Heathcliff of the young couple, with grim jocularity (188). And that is the way in which Bronte develops this courtship of juveniles."

"Heathcliff even writes half of Linton's love letters for him, so that they turn out 'singularly odd compounds of ardour and flatness,' 'copious love letters, foolish as the age of the writer rendered natural, yet with touches, here and there, which I thought were borrowed from a more experienced source' (182), records Nelly. Catherine is being wooed by son and father together. And when the time comes, the marriage is consummated by the same team."

"[Linton] takes his pleasure, when Catherine pushes him off, in summoning his father and in witnessing the physical domination of his bride [..]"

"After Heathcliff abducts and incarcerates young Catherine and her attendant, he keeps our narrator, Nelly, imprisoned for 'five nights and four days' (220). Meanwhile the marriage ceremony is performed, but we have no one to describe it for us."

"'She's not to go; we won't let her' [..] Now more than ever Linton's life and opinions are ruled by his father: he can do little more than parrot what 'he says.' If Linton's satisfied mein suggests the happy bridegroom, his role as husband, lord and master is shared with his father."

"Heathcliff testifies, 'I heard him draw a pleasant picture to Zillah of what he would do [to Catherine], if he were as strong as I. The inclination is there' (228). Linton evidently has a conception of himself and his father as complementary in this sexual context, part of a team."

"Heathcliff's appropriation of the property and physical abuse of the bride leaves her in effect deflowered. His brutal blow that makes the blood flow recalls his symbolic defloration of Isabella, Linton's mother, when he hurls the knife."

"[Heathcliff] won't listen to Nelly's pleas that since he hates the young couple he may as well let them stay at the Grange. 'I want my children about me, to be sure,' he answers with chilling irony; '—besides, that lass owes me her services for her bread' (227). One wonders what sort of 'services' he has in mind. He apparently intends to prolong the honeymoon at which he has assisted. And as he takes her away, there is some doubt, as in Lockwood's mind at the beginning of the novel, whether Catherine is Heathcliff's daughter-in-law or his bride [..]"

Source: McMaster, Juliet. “The Courtship and Honeymoon of Mr. and Mrs. Linton Heathcliff: Emily Brontë's Sexual Imagery.” Victorian Review, vol. 18, no. 1, 1992, pp. 1–12. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27794707.

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harryssattelitestomper · 9 months

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Adore You💘

My Masterlist

A/N: The third part of The Fine Line - series!

Warnings: Maybe some cursing. Fluff.

Wordcount: 623

in which, Harry has never been happier.

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"Bye baby, have fun!", you wished Harry as he picked up the lunch you made him to take with and left to go to the studio. He was going to go work on some new lyrics he'd been stuck on with Tom and some other people.

That gave you the time to get some work done and go to the grocery store to pick up some things for the dinner you planned for tonight.

Harry had been really stressed because he was having a major writing slump he just couldn't get pass. So you thought making his favorite dinner would take some of the baggage off of his shoulders.

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It was nearing four pm and you had finally finished your work. So you had time to head to the grocery store to get a few things you needed for dinner.

You took your purse and your keys and headed to your car. Playing some Fleetwood Mac, you drove to the store.

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The trip to the grocery store only took you about a half an hour so you had more than enough time to prepare dinner. You decided to make a creamy pasta that was one of Harry's favorites.

The pasta was almost done when Harry sent you a message saying he was on his way home. After you quickly answered him to drive safe, you finished up the pasta and poured some wine to the glasses.

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"Lovie, I'm home!", Harry yelled out as he was taking hi shoes off. He had had an awful time at the studio, nothing going well; the coffee was out, one of his friends was sick and the lyrics he had wrote were complete shit - he just wanted to go home and see you.

As he put down his stuff and made his way through your shared home, the smell of a home cooked meal filled his nostrils. The smell making him immediately feel more at ease.

"Hi baby.", you said to him as he walked past the kitchen enterance and towards you, wrapping you in a tight hug.

His face smushed in between your shoulder and neck, he mumbled "Smells good." "Good, I made your favorite. Figured you've been so stressed and wanted to do something nice for you" you huffed out a laugh as you removed yourself from his warm embrace and led him to the dining table.

Harry didn't think he could love you any more. He couldn't help but think what he'd done in his life to deserve to have someone like you to love him the way you do.

As he slowly made him way down to sit on the chair, he looked at you with so much love in his heart it almost burned it through.

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Harry woke up the next morning turning to his left side to face you, admiring your peaceful face as you slept. Sometimes he couldn't believe his luck. He had you; someone who loved his family as if they were her own, who always went the extra mile to make him smile, and most importantly, someone who loved him for him, someone who loved him unconditionally.

And he came to the realization that he would do anything for you, including walking through fire.

As he was in his own bubble of thought, sudden inspiration hit him. It was like a light bulb just went on, on top of his head.

He quietly got out of bed, as to not wake you. And quickly made his way through the house and into his homestudio. Taking out his notebook and swiftly scribbling down the lyrics that came to his mind.

'I'd walk through fire for you Just let me adore you Like it's the only thing I'll ever do'

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A/N: I'll try to make the next parts longer. But everytime I feel like I'm just rambling and there's no story behind it.😫

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