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#How to get a friend via strange means of kindness

fanonical · 22 days

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look people who've been around here for a while know exactly how i feel about the early doctor who serial edge of destruction but i rewatched it recently and i have feelings

so edge of destruction is the third ever serial of doctor who, right? it's an unearthly child, the daleks, then edge of destruction. and it's also kind of a bottle episode. edge of destruction is a two-parter, and is set entirely on the tardis featuring only the main cast

the plot is weird. everyone wakes up in the tardis with confusion and memory loss, not knowing what's going on. the tardis isn't safe, and strange things are happening. the ship seems to be malfunctioning, but there's nothing notably wrong with it. everyone's freaking out and accusing each other of sabotaging the tardis or hurting each other

now, as i said, this is early doctor who. companions barbara and ian had been kidnapped by the doctor and susan so they don't tell anyone that time travel is real, and at this point they don't trust the doctor and the doctor doesn't trust them. the doctor immediately starts accusing barbara and ian of sabotaging the ship to force him to take them home, which they angrily refute. they've spent the last two stories saving the doctor and susan from whatever's trying to kill them

barbara has a speech here which is brilliant and i can quote verbatim. 'do you realise, you stupid old man, that you'd have died in the cave of skulls if ian hadn't made fire for you? and what about what we went through against the daleks? not just for us, but for you and susan too. and all because you tricked us into going down to the city. accuse us? you ought to go down on your hands and knees and thank us! but gratitude's the last thing you'll ever have, or any sort of common sense either'

and the doctor spends the whole two episodes either accusing ian and barbara of being evil or being wholly unhelpful. (he straight up drugs everyone with a sedative at one point!) yeah, turns out the tardis is trying to tell them what's wrong via cryptic clues, and barbara's putting the pieces together. and the doctor still doesn't listen to her! she's so close to figuring it out and saving them all - they're all gonna die in about ten minutes and the doctor's basically given up, but barbara's trying to solve the problem

and in the end, they have the eureka moment and get out of trouble, but barbara's still understandably pissed. that is, until the doctor takes the time to apologise to her and tell her that yeah, she was right and he's sorry he didn't listen to her and he's going to do better to respect her opinions in future. they go into the next serial as friends, a first for the series to that point

so why do i love this weird little two-parter so much? because it is the moral centre of modern doctor who. this is the start of the characterisation of the doctor that we know and love. before this, the doctor is ruthless! he tries to kill a guy with a rock! he sabotages the tardis to satisfy his curiosity and lands everyone in danger from the daleks! he drugs them just because he doesn't trust them! he thinks he's smarter, better, and more important than the people he travels with

but then barbara stands up to him. she tells him that, no, she and ian are important too. and no, they're worth listening to. and yes, they can help and are worth something. and that's important, because barbara and ian are way more compassionate than the doctor is at this point. they want to help people they come across even if it means putting their own lives in danger.

sound familiar? yeah, the doctor's whole thing of helping everyone they come across and compassion towards everyone starts here. this is one of the most enduring things about the doctor and it would never have happened without barbara telling the doctor he's full of shit

and it's all because he listened to an ordinary woman

#Doctor Who #Classic Who #Ian Chesterton #Barbara Wright #First Doctor #Susan Foreman

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wolfiesmoon · 4 months

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A day to remember

Inumaki x gn!reader

this is a request!! thank u so much for requesting💗anyways time for jujutsu tech prom hehe😌 (lets pretend prom is a thing in japan and that there's actually enough students to do a cute thing like this lmaoo)

also since this is a prom fic, the second years are now third years and the first years are second years

@noomon one tag for uuuuu

The atmosphere was oddly lovey-dovey at Jujutsu Tech recently. Prom was just around the corner, so it wasn't exactly odd that spirits were high, but considering the usually grim faces that you see in the halls of the school, it does feel strange to see everyone so excited.

Then again, you suppose it is better to make the most of every day as a sorcerer and little joys like this are precisely what make all the death and injury worth it.

But, on the topic of prom... You don't know who to go with! You might just end up skipping out or going alone if you must (Gojo will probably force you to go). After all, prom isn't all about dancing with a guy and romantic stuff, it's about having fun with your friends and laughing at the memories you made as students of this school.

Or, well, for this kind of school, maybe some of the memories are better forgotten.

"Hey, senpai!" you heard a familiar voice behind you. It was Yuuji and Nobara! They often come to talk to you about random things so you aren't at all surprised to see them.

"Hello." you greet them, wondering what crazy story they'll tell you today.

"Do you already have a date for prom?" Yuuji and Nobara beamed.

"Do I- No, no I don't." that's the question you were expecting the least. Why are they asking you this anyways?

"Great." Nobara huffed, very satisfied with your answer. Yuuji seemed even more excited than before. You had little question marks floating above your head.

"Why are you happy about me being single? Are you two trying to tell me something?" your eyebrows furrowed slighly. But then again, Nobara and Yuuji are idiots (affectionately), so you don't think they're seriously trying to insult you.

"Oh, actually, it's because-"

Nobara slapped a hand over Yuuji's mouth before he could continue his sentence. "It's nothing, don't worry about it." she smiled at you, dragging Yuuji away and muttering something you couldn't quite catch.

Huh. How strange.

But now that you think about it, there is one person you'd really like to go to prom with.

The next day, Panda approaches you after class.

"Hey, you should like, totally follow after me right now. I have something to show you." Panda suggested cheerfully. And why not? Knowing Panda, he probably just has something funny or stupid to show you, which is always a pleasure.

As you followed him, a strange feeling started rising up inside you. You felt oddly fidgety and excited. Maybe it was the whole prom thing. I mean, with the strange conversation you had with the second years just yesterday is it that much of a stretch to assume that you're about to get confessed to via a prom invitation?

Nah, you shouldn't get ahead of yourself. If anything, Panda's going to let you in on someone else's promposal plan so you can help them out. Not that that's a bad thing, you just really get your hopes up sometimes.

You were being lead down a dimly lit hallway in one of the more secluded areas of the school. There was even candles here and there, to set the mood, you assume. Wow, this is really a last minute invitation. They're asking you to help out at the last possible moment, huh?

You soon found yourself in front of a group of students, all lined up to make a little walkway for you and Panda. Panda stops right at the end of the line, motioning for you to continue walking. All the other third years lined up were smiling knowingly at you. What in the world is going on?

You walked down the line of students a bit hesitantly, taking the flowers each of them handed you along the way. Oh wow, this is impressive. And also definitely means that this promposal is meant for you. You can feel your heart start beating faster with excitement when taking each rose into your hands.

Who orchestrated a confession so grand? Please be him...

Nobara handed you a rose when you walked by her, smiling proudly at you. Now the question from yesterday makes perfect sense.

At the end of the line of students, you saw a few of your classmates holding up signs that said "I know I'm not a man of many words, but I really need you to kelp me out here. It's almost prom night and you're still not together with me (which is criminal in my opinion). This isn't just a prom invitation, by the way. Will you go out with me tunaight?"

There's only one person that could have written those signs. Not just because of the familiar handwriting, but also because of the words he chose. And sure enough, Inumaki Toge was proudly holding up the middle sign, looking at you.

You clutched the makeshift boquet of roses in your hand. It was him after all.

In all three years of your schooling at JJT, you've found Inumaki Toge to be especially charming. You had a bit of trouble talking to him at first, but you quickly got along after you bridged the whole "onigiri ingredient" gap. Honestly, you don't know how long it's been since you felt... a special way about him.

It took you a while to realise, but you definitely like him. More than a friend.

And knowing it's mutual...

He looked at you with such hope in his eyes that it made you want to hug him and kiss him all over. And so you did.

The sign he was holding fell to the ground as you embraced him tightly and he immediately hugged you back, as if it were the most natural thing in the world to him. As if that is the place where you belong.

"Yes, yes, I'll go to prom with you!" you yelled happily, leading everyone around you to cheer. You didn't really notice it because you were busy kissing Inumaki's cheeks, but all the other third years looked satisfied, knowing their ship has sailed at long last.

"But bad onigiri ingredient puns, really? I'm feeling the second hand embarrasment real hard right now." your face scrunched up slightly, cringing.

He simply giggled quietly in response, squeezing you again.

You can't deny, that is so him.

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iaure · 1 year

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𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁; 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟthe dearest collection - part one/beloved 𓆩♡𓆪 part two/prized 𓆩♡𓆪 part three/devoted 𓆩♡𓆪 part four/desperate 𓆩♡𓆪 part five/blind 𓆩♡𓆪 part six/watcher 𓆩♡𓆪 part seven/ardor 𓆩♡𓆪 part eight/fervor this is very heavily inspired by @//clusterfuck-yandere's yandere leon headcanons; please check out their works. this is something of a love letter to their puppy obsession series.

yandere leon s. kennedy headcanons; reader is a survivor of raccoon city. the death of reader's brother, who was an officer, is mentioned. tw: general yandere behaviour, cyberstalking, stalking, harassment, slight nsfw, ptsd

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ i am very flattered by the quick response that part one garnered! ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝) thank you everyone! every like, reblog, and comment means very much to me ♡ as such i wanted to get part two out as fast as possible. please enjoy leon's thoughts ♡

he met you in the aftermath.

♡ the nightmare was fresh, the dead still clung to leon's clothes, and he had no idea what to do.

♡ he still had sherry to take care of; but his mind was scattered.

♡ he had no family. he had just broken up with his girlfriend. he was out of a job, out of a home, out of a life.

♡ it was crushing.

♡ rather than try and let it show how badly he was being consumed, he decided to try and get some help. therapists were booked up by months, going to a hospital would mean sherry would be alone, and he barely had anyone to vent to.

♡ keyword: barely

♡ he had found an online forum via AOL and realised it was for survivors. at first, he posted a bit on an anonymous account, not wanting to stick around for long.

♡ he spoke about marvin, claire, ada, everyone he had met, the horrors he saw, with some discretion to the less believable parts.

♡ the people were kind. they spoke softly to him.

but then they turned to you.

♡ you had a post detailing your sorrow at the loss of your brother, who had been on what would've been Leon's squad, and how you tried to save him. but your brother was altruistic to a fault, and you couldn't save him from himself.

♡ his heart ached. he understood. he got it. he couldn't save marvin, after all. someone who was already gone is the worst kind of person to mourn.

♡ he began looking through some of your previous posts. it was a lot of you trying to give people advice, comfort, camaraderie in death.

you were so...achingly sweet.

♡ it was easy to start spiraling, truth be told. you were that kind. you were that overwhelming, like incense or perfume or chloroform.

♡ it started out just as friendly talking. Leon didn't want to put his name on the forum, nor did he really want to make an account, so he simply kept on commenting on anything you wrote.

♡ you were hurting, that's for sure. he was too. maybe you could hurt together.

♡ you were so compassionate, answering everything he sent with wise words and cautious exposure.

♡ after a while, you began to open up to him. luckily, he put his last initial as a calling card-K-so you would remember him, and soon enough it felt like you two were truly friends.

♡ you seemed to grieve differently from him, as evidenced from how quickly you seemed to shift from wounded to medic, to trying to help those in the forum.

he then got curious

♡ your username wasn't that strange, but it had your first name in it.

♡ from there, it was a simple search on the STARS database to find out who you were.

♡ and oh...you were just as lovely as he thought you were. your eyes, your skin, your face-everything was you.

♡ he took some liberties, sure. he printed out some of the photos from the database, took some home, held on in his wallet.

♡ maybe it was weird that he placed them in frames around his house.

♡ maybe it was bizarre that he slept with one of the photos. held in his arms, tucked under his pillow when he's not in his new apartment.

♡ the photos tie him over, in those restless nights where he's alone and wishes oh god that you were here that you were with him.

♡ he thinks about how soft you'd feel, how warm you'd be, how gentle the touch of your fingers would be against his arms, his chest, his-!

♡ maybe it was a bit creepy. he's not so delusional as to think it wasn't-not yet, at least.

that's okay, though. he's doing it out of love!

♡ he finally cracks. after a day of no response, he decides to abuse his power and find out where you are.

♡ and when he does, it's like the world is crumbling around him.

♡ you had gotten a job? you'd gone outside?

♡ it's good, sure. but at the same time, it's so alarming. was your job really so tiring that you couldn't do anything but go home and sleep?

♡ he sends a message, horrified at the idea, but realises how horrible of an idea it was to admit that he knew that you were working. but he can't delete it. it's really too late.

♡ he gives up. he knows he's destroyed any chance of getting to you online.

♡ he spends a day or two in a complete, shallow depression. it's like a withdrawal, and he's shaking, unable to sleep, staying up staring at his ceiling at his fuckup.

♡ he could always see you. where you work is only a block or two away.

♡ but that would be a step too far, wouldn't it? right?

♡ then he'd be no better than any other sleezeball.

but another day passes, and he can't take it anymore.

♡ he snaps, deciding to finally take that detour he's wanted since the day he found out where you worked. it's just around the corner from his gym, and he can't decide if he wants to work out first or visit you.

♡ but the urge is too much, and he sees you first.

♡ and...oh.

♡ you're everything, and more.

♡ seeing you in real life is almost too much. he stands outside of the door for what feels like hours, watching you just past the corner of your eye and praying that you didn't notice him yet.

♡ you don't, because you're dedicated and hardworking and smiling and laughing with your coworker about something, and it's like bells pealing and the heavens opening with the songs of angels. if the end times were coming, he hoped Gabriel's horn was your laugh.

♡ it takes him what was, realistically, about thirty minutes to even get the courage to go inside. after researching the bakery, he found that workers were given a commission in addition to normal pay, so that meant that he had to eat the most expensive things on the menu.

♡ truthfully, he didn't have much of a sweet tooth. he liked to keep fit, and sweets always managed to mess up his stomach.

♡ but the most expensive thing was a piece of cheesecake, and when he asked about it, you lit up and it was all worth it.

♡ the cheesecake was fine, but with your touch on the plate, he wanted to lick up every crumb.

he was addicted.

♡ he began coming in almost every day. just looking at you made his day brighter, with your smile like a sun. he dropped money at every moment, trying to talk with you every second.

♡ he could tell the moment you wanted him gone, the moment he overstayed his welcome, but he'd just come back the next day.

♡ there were several times he'd caught your eye, and he could feel you scanning him up and down.

♡ it felt almost lecherous, but he held those gazes so tightly in his mind's eye. god. you thought he was hot. maybe handsome? or cute? every possibility felt so intimate and made him so...warm, for lack of a polite word.

♡ now that he had confirmation that you thought he was cute, every inhibition was over. the proverbial pandora's box was unlocked, and that meant Leon needed to brush up in his sneaking.

♡ after all...there was nothing more 'you' than inside your home ♡

#yandere resident evil x reader #yandere resident evil #yandere leon kennedy x reader #yandere x reader #yandere leon kennedy #˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ palabras muertas #divagaciones (per)

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dairy-farmer · 22 days

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You know? Seeing all these Breeder Asks makes me want to give it a go >.>

You know what seems to be the Universe's version of the Oak tree? As in a Being both willing and able to breed with fuckin EVERYTHING? Humans. Know what's really REALLY Heroic? Saving a species from Extinction.

Too some? Lois Lane is legitimately a greater hero then her husband. She's the mother of the next generation of Kryptonians, a race that otherwise would have died with Clark.

It's? A big universe. Doesn't have to be an entire Race. The extinction of X planet. Y people. Last of their kind. How utterly hopeless they would feel. Unable to bring their people BACK. And THEN? This MIRACLE of a Race? Compatible dispite being from galaxies away?

You could SAVE YOUR PEOPLE.

They're your HERO.

One(1) space adventure gone funky. Suddenly young justice is... uuuuuuuh.... Space? In Space, definitely. Yep. Lots of stars. Very lost.

Fuck.

They're looking for a Lantern. Someone who could direct them home. Find The Last Scion of (unpronounceable)! Under heavy fire by the people who wiped his people out. The save him! Do a Heroics! Wooo!

Dock on his much bigger, but strangely empty ship. Tragic backstory: unlocked. Is Space Superman. He totally can help them find a Lantern though. Neat.

Everyone but Robin heads to bed. S.S. is tragically hot and has Cool Technology. They get talking. He eventually mentions, tragically, how he will never see his babies brooded. They just need to be incubated, huh? Couple weeks? Then get pushed out?

....you got a Machine to finish hatching um?

............hypothetically, HOW many are we talking here?

Because Robin? A hero. This guy is alone. Last of his kind. And... TECHNICALLY... Robin... COULD fix that. In the time frame they're talking. Technically. But he wants specifics.

And S.S.? Drops his god damned control pad in shock and heart breaking awe. Choked up hope at the impossible, dangled right in front of him. R-really? In a soft teary whisper. Fallen to his knees like Robin has offered him salvation in his despair, the terrible darkness of his life.

Well shit. Yeah, really. Now Robin DEFINITELY has to do it. He can handle it, probably. And it means EVERYTHING to this guy. Let's ball.

So before his teammates can, rightfully, talk him out of what's probably a stupid idea. He follows S.S. back to his quarters. Pulls his pants off. And loses his virginity to the most worshipful tentacle fucking known to man. Gets beads stuffed into him until he feels like he'll burst. Deep where they can't fall out, heavy and growing in his gut.

Pregnant.

It's... it's AMAZING. The new sensations. The way S.S. hovers and flutters around him like he's the most precious thing that's ever lived. Being treated like someone precious. The center of his world as his gut swells. Feeling everything shift and press. And when they come OUT?

Thick orbs, one after another. Feeling like they won't END. Grinding against everything good and popping out of his poor abused hole. He cums and cums. Feels so EMPTY once it's done.

Of course, his teammates are LIVID at S.S.. Won't let him NEAR Tim once the brood is out. Bundle him off to the Lantern and tattle. Meaning Tim has to sit in a Lantern health office before they can go home. But...

Tim learned something about himself.

Makes a note if it.

And eventually? Whoop! Weeee're in space again! Damn it. At least this merchant vessel is headed in the right direction, huh guys? Everyone makes new friends!

Tim meets another Last of Their Kind. Their babies are tiny masses of shape-shifting tentacles. Tim says Bet. Learns a lot about their culture, flat on his back, as the babies are Fed inside him via fucking. Births a healthy brood so hard he passes out from the pleasure. Last one has to wriggle its way free on their own.

Kon is gonna tear his hair out. Space is trying to Lewd his team mate. This is two for two! No space for Timmy!

Next time they get yeeted by Heroic Shenanigans into space? Him and Bart basicly handcuff themselves to Tim's side. No babies this time!

There are babies.

A birdman puts an egg in him. Tim feels like a Kiwi. Can't stop rubbing his swollen belly. Kon tries to rip the wings off said bird man and make him EAT THEM. Bart is busy stretching Tim so nothing tears when it's time to push. It feels like being fisted.

The Birdmans father takes responsibility for his grandchild AND child's seduction of Tim. Flys them back to earth on the condition Kon stop trying to kill his idiot son.

Young Justice holds an intervention. Tim you have a problem.

Tim does NOT. Tim has a KINK thank you very much!

THATS NOT BETTER. They argue.

No one believes them, when they try to warn others. The PRUDISH Bat child? Who are you trying to fool they scoff, time and again. Then others end up in Space with Tim. And when they come BACK?

They very much Believe Them Now(tm).

Tim is traumatizing the Heroic community and Saving dying Races Left And Right. Is a SAINT and CELEBRITY. There are Space Newsletters and lovingly penned reviews. 10/10 would fuck again. Fantastic surrogate and would Mate Up in an instant, if their teammates didn't try to kill me.

NONE of the other Bats are aware of this. No one wants to be the one to tell them.

Eventually, someone IS going to be saved by Superman in space, hear his story, go "oh that's so sad! But don't worry! We TOTALLY know how you can fix that! See there's this AMAZING guy on the planet Earth called-"

And it's going to be DELIGHTFUL~~☆

-🐼🐼🐼

😭😭😭😭😭 i'm dying at superman being in space, saving someone, spilling out his woes because bruce has put a cap on the amount of times he can bring up being the last of his kind a week, and getting told there's someone on earth that can birth the revival of his race and learns its TIM!!!

also the thought of tim's team almost pulling their hair out over the fact that their teammate keeps getting knocked up with alien babies! and they try their best to be vigilant but they can't be on every space mission. so they corner tim's team that he's being sent out with and they warn them "do NOT let him get pregnant out there again he keeps doing that shit thinking it'll be alright and won't STOP". and all other capes know about the strightlaced robin, the 'lets get down to business' robin and they don't really believe tim's friends. they think they're just exaggerating. but then tim is humming and round with some last of their kind alien following them around like a puppy because robin is pregnant, he's pregnant and how the FUCK are they going to explain to batman how badly they fucked up?

but it's fine. robin gives birth and they try to cope with their near heart attacks and they decide not to say shit about it because it worked out! until it doesn't because it keeps happening and they don't know how to stop it this kid keeps fucking and getting knocked up and giving birth to tentacle monsters and little eldritch horrors.

giving birth is like his default diplomatic strategy and they HATE that it works so well.

when clark comes back he's so awkward around tim because all he thinks about is the endless amount of stories he's been told about how he's a perfect little incubator and surrogate and how he heals well and gives birth to healthy broods.

#answered asks #asks #anonymous

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infiniteeight8 · 2 months

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Prompt: continuation for the obsession verse , like their first time together or people's reaction to their relationship. (Prompt sent via messeges.)

I do want to write their first time, I swear, but for now you are getting Rhodey’s reaction to their relationship.

“Rhodey-bear!” Tony greets him, grinning broadly and slapping him on the shoulder. “It’s been too long since we’ve had some us-time. I’m glad you could make it.” He leads James into the kitchen, opens the fridge, and pulls out a beer to hand to him.

James takes the bottle, smiling back, if less broadly. “I wouldn’t miss it,” he promises. “I’m only sorry the brass have kept me so busy.” Some of the developments in Tony’s life lately seem… Well, Pepper had sounded genuinely worried.

“You know I can fix that,” Tony says, taking a beer for himself and leading them back out to the living room couches. He flops down easily. “I may not have the pull that I did back in the day, but the military still wants me for my body armor, among other things.”

“And you know I don’t want you boosting my career,” James counters. He sits on the couch opposite Tony and puts his feet up. “Not any more than being your friend does all by itself, anyway,” he says wryly. Tony makes a derisive noise but lets it go. “So,” James goes on, trailing his voice off leadingly for a moment. “What’s this I hear about you dating Strange? Aren’t I supposed to vet your partners?” James laughs a little, because that’s always been mostly a joke between them. It feels less like a joke this time.

Tony’s chuckle is more honest. “What can I say? He swept me off my feet. Almost literally: we turned that corner at one of the Superhuman Defense Fund galas.”

Damn. That’s longer than Pepper had thought. “And you really like the guy?”

Tony’s eyes light up and he sits up out of his sprawl, leaning forward instead. “He’s amazing, Rhodey. I mean, obviously he’s gorgeous, but he’s also brilliant. Magic is one thing, but you should hear him talk medicine. Plus, he looks at me like I hung the fucking moon. He’ll drop anything short of a life or death emergency just to talk to me. It’s like… I think he thinks I’m the most important person in the world. Not just to him, either, the most important person, period.”

James sits up, too, and chooses his words carefully. “He sounds a little intense.”

“Intense, or obsessed?” Tony asks, smirking.

Of course he sees right through James. “Pepper’s told me some things,” James admits. “Honestly? I was a little worried he wouldn’t want you to see me.”

Tony scoffs and takes a swig from his beer. “Look, I do actually get where that concern comes from, I’m not blind, but Stephen knows how important you are to me. Taking some time for the two of us to hang out tonight was his idea, believe it or not.”

“Seriously?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Tony says, making an X over his heart. “Except not really, Stephen would kill me. And with his power set, I’m not ruling that out as a literal impossibility.”

A laugh escapes James despite himself. “You know I’m in favor of anyone who gets you to take care of yourself,” he says, “it’s just… Pepper says sometimes he just pops out of a portal and sits there watching you. I did some checking, and it seems like he might have been poking around your confidential records. And weird shit has been happening to people who talk shit about you in public.”

Tony doesn’t look surprised by any of this. “What kind of weird shit?” He takes another sip of his beer.

“One guy swears after he made a comment about you and reckless driving, every stoplight he approached for a week went red,” James says. “A journalist who published an article speculating that you were still dealing in weapons under the table claims they couldn’t tell a lie for a month. The woman who wrote that so-called ‘exposé’ about your ongoing drug use had to be checked into the psych ward for three days because she started seeing monsters all over New York.” James could go on, but Tony’s smirking. “It’s true, isn’t it? All of that, it was Strange.”

“Is it such a bad thing that someone wants to come to my defense?” Tony asks. “None of them were hurt, right? None of those three, and none of the others, either.”

“Well, the wife of the guy who couldn’t lie left him,” James says. “But other than that… no.”

“There you go, then.” Tony takes another swig from his beer.

James hesitates. “Just because no one got hurt doesn’t mean that it’s okay. This is not normal behavior, Tony. If you’re not worried about what Strange is doing to these people, aren’t you a little worried that he’s keeping such close tabs on you that he knows about these things what seems to be the second they happen?”

Tony finishes his beer and sets it aside. “Look,” he says seriously. “I am absolutely aware that this isn’t normal behavior. Stephen isn’t normal. And neither am I. I’ve tried to do normal relationships. I tried really fucking hard with Pepper, Rhodey, you know I did. But you tell me: was I happy?”

“No,” James admits, sighing. Tony had put on a pretty good show with Pepper. James thinks that he even convinced himself he was happy, for a while. But it wasn’t real.

“Stephen makes me happy,” Tony says. After a moment he snorts and flops back against the couch again. “And like everything else that’s ever made me happy, if it blows up in my face I know you and Pep will be there to help pick me up after.”

Despite everything, James smiles and says only, “Always, Tones.

Because that’s the first time Tony has ever said “if it blows up” instead of “when it blows up.”

#ironstrange #ficlet

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kore-links · 2 months

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So anyways I’m making my own links meet au

Here are the designs! I’ll go onto more depth about my AU if someone asks but it’s called kore links Teheheh

First: strong headed confident leader (most of the time at least) who’s loyal to a fault with a ‘no funny business’ attitude. Try’s his best to keep the rest of them in check in his own way. Keeps his secrets to himself and himself alone.

Twilight: a kindhearted farmer who despite his looks is an absolute sweetie. He’s the one who actually keeps everyone in check and is like an older brother figure to all of them. Many sleepless nights have been had via nightmares from his adventures and a longing feeling that there’s still a bit of her out there.

Kore/koreidi: a so named high priest/priestess of farore aiding the group on their quest with strange magic and odd abilities. It’s quite odd how she knows everything about everyone else but nobody knows a smidge about them or his past, Half of the time the links don’t even know if they’re traveling with the same person or not. They’re quite rambunctious and eager to see the world but also focused on the task ahead like the sands of time are slipping away from her…odd isn’t it?

Warriors:a level headed captain of the royal army who also just so happens to be second in command to the tallest and the oldest. Cocky at times as a front to others to hide the fact that he HATES how he looks, Not because he’s ugly, but because he’s the reason a war started in the first place. Will never show it but he is one flirt or cat fight away from flying off the handle. All in all he’s a good leader when he needs to be.

Sky: the sleepiest hero by far and surprisingly the one with the most education experience. In by no means should you take him for granted in any way, he may like a nap but his sword skills are unmatched even by the standards of the very first hero! Quite sassy when needed but kind and courageous! The core of what a hero should be!

Wild: a quiet yet resourceful person who tries to not think about his life before the calamity , but it’s always lurking in his mind and there’s always an urge to find links to his past (AHaHAHA). He lost his arm after his last adventure, however purah did find some spare shikah tech that they hadn’t destroyed to make a new arm for him! He’s very close to his zelda and gets insecure talking about his scars. He doesn’t know why, he can hardly remember how he got them. Guess it’s just another reminder of how he failed.

Hyrule: The sassiest hero by far! He’s somehow a hoarder and has nothing on him at the same time. However sassy he may be his resourcefulness is absolutely what makes him such a good fighter! He’s great at puzzles and surprisingly is one of the more strategic links when it comes to dungeons! He’s also quite the magic user- but prefers to keep that hidden! If they ever knew about the fairy thing…yikes!

Wind: a fun loving pirate who loves his family dearly and is better on water than land. As much as a goofball he might seem his big brother attitude and his brave nature makes him a force to be reckoned with! Also surprisingly an astronomer at heart! All in all a brave young hero with the courage of someone 100x his size!

Time: a mischievous little creature who’s main goals are to prank steal and prank more. Despite this however he’s a sweet boy who’s willing to help his friends no matter what. He’s a little confused on his age at the moment but he’s sure he’ll figure it out…eventually! As chaotic as he is he loves giving justice to those who deserve it and will do exactly that!

Ravio: the definition of “I got lost but I’m not complaining”. Ravio is a random researcher kore/koridi found who tagged along in their search for the heroes. He’s a shy man who is a coward of cowardice was a human but when it comes to those he loves a bit of courage seeps through him (though he is practically useless when it comes to fighting). Ravio is, as kore puts it : “a purple deku nut who’s either as brave as a lion or as oblivious as a rock” endearingly of corse

#links meet au #link #kore links #omg I’m so nervous #digital art #so scketchy Ik don’t mind it #I still need to make banner/cover art for this comic lol

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thatmexisaurusrex · 2 months

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For Bucky's birthday, I thought I'd post 11 fics I've written that are some of my favorites when it comes to writing Bucky. Enjoy! 🥰

A House-Trained White Wolf, Looking For a Home | Rated: M | WC: 3.9K | Touch-Starved, Family Fluff, Co-Workers to Friends to Lovers | Summary: Bucky Barnes wasn't sure what he was doing when he knocked on Sarah's front door. All he knew was that being near Sam felt right. | AO3 |

Nice | Rated: T | WC: 3.1K | Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Literally Sleeping Together, Didn't Know They Were Dating | Summary: Based on the fanart piece "nice" by @sumbacky , Bucky has a mostly uneventful night at the Wilson household as he waits for Sam to come home from a mission. | AO3 |

Kind of a Big Deal | Rated: M | WC: 8.7K | No Powers AU, Passover Romcom, Getting Together | Summary: Sam is Bucky's next door neighbor, his best friend... possibly Bucky's crush. Bucky has been good about keeping those feelings hidden. That is, until Sam kisses Bucky before Passover Seder. Now, they both must figure out what they mean to each other. | AO3 |

And I Love Him Too | Rated: E | WC: 5.8K | Secret BuckyQuest Side Story, Sugar Daddy, Two Buckys | Summary: Sam goes on dinner dates with a mysterious donor which are... just dinner dates? With a tablet. Just him in a restaurant dressed nice, eating alone as he has a conversation with someone via tablet. It makes sense, though, after he tracks down who the mysterious donor actually is. | AO3 |

Buffy Burnes Ph.D. the Scientific Illustrator Roommate | Rated: M | WC: 5.1K | Getting to Know Each Other, Crack Treated Seriously, Strangers to Friends to Lovers | Summary: Sam decides to take a break from Avengers business after Age of Ultron. He puts out an ad for a roommate on Craigslist for his new apartment in Delacroix. He gets one response from a "Dr. Buffy Burnes". | AO3 |

#sambucky #sam wilson #bucky barnes #sambucky fic #sambucky fic recs #happy birthday bucky barnes #my fics

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starseneyes · 10 months

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Spock / Nurse Christine Chapel - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S2 Eps 4 & 5

Folks, this is a wild time to be alive. Since we had bits and pieces leading up to 2x05, I'll touch on those first, and then we can get into the meet of a super uncomfortable, yet hilarious episode.

SPOILER ALERT: If you're looking for a friendly non-spoiler glimpse at this ep, please do not click through! I am a spoiler queen, and I go deep.

There's a tiny sliver of 4, so I included it in this recap, but it's primarily episode 5 in all its cringey, hilarious glory.

Everyone squared away and ready to play? Let's dive in!

"Among the Lotus Eaters" AKA "Who Am I, Again?"

"Hi, Spock. What's happening?"

He's the lieutenant currently in charge of the Enterprise, but she's totally conversational with him, here. She's got bigger things on her mind, which is why I think the formality escapes her.

Una Fumbles for Words

Spock looks to Christine to see if she's on the same page, but she's way ahead of him. I love these little wordless interactions of theirs. It shows that they're still them under these complicated emotions flowing between and through them.

"Charades" AKA "Hijinks Part Deux"

After watching the sneak peek, the promo, and reading the episode description, I came up with what I thought was going to happen:

Spock/Christine crash near beginning of episode

Spock loses his Vulcanness because some alien wants him and Christine to match like collector dolls

Spock's "What the F-" leads into main credits

Christine spends the whole ep working the problem

Spock has very little interaction with her, all things considered, as a human

Christine has to appeal to an alien entity to get Spock back to himself

Spock and Christine share a moment of truth before he is returned to himself

Possible Spock/Christine kiss to end the episode

IF Spock/Christine kiss, they were kissing before "What does this mean?" from preview

How did I do? Well, if you watched the episode, you know already. And while I didn't get all the details right (you'd have to be inside my brain for that bit), I think I did petty well!

Chistine's Log

It's great that we're getting a look into her mind, what she values, and how she organizes her thoughts. And I have to applaud Jess Bush on the voice work on this one, because her inflection on her lines has always been a treat, and it's just as wonderful via VO.

Christine is excited about the Kherkovians and excited about her possible fellowship. What I love most about the montage is how we see everyone rallying and supporting her.

This is Christine's "Elle Woods Studies for the LSATS" montage. And as we go through matching cuts (this director seems to be a huge fan of them), we eventually arrive at a table with friends... and shots!

And can we talk about these three boss ass bitches hanging out together and drinking together? Like, I love that we're back to that idea that a starship is a family, and that these people are the people you actually like and want to be around. It's so bloody glorious.

"I don't get it. Your interview is with a Vulcan. So why aren't you practicing with Mr. Spock?"

Yeah, Christine. Why aren't you spending alone time with Mr. Spock? Of course, that's not what La'an means, but you can see how Christine blanches at the mention of their pointy-eared friend.

"Oh, things are kind of weird between them."

Erica. Ortegas. You did not just do that! M'Benga would never.

But, I'm personally glad Christine opened up at least a little to one of her best friends. We saw her hesitating back in S1 to tell Erica about her crush on Spock.

So, at some point, Christine opened up enough to Erica that now her friend's spreading her messy maybe-relationship to their mutual friend.

"Weird how?"

Erica's smirking while Christine's in shock. Christine doesn't talk about her feelings. She shoves them deep down where she doesn't have to deal with them and pretends they don't exist.

Friendships are great for Christine. Friends-with-benefits? Hell, yeah! But talk about the potential for a relationship? Or having feelings rather than simple attraction? This is outside of Christine's comfort zone.

She buries herself in her drink, much as she did in the first season with Erica when she said, "It would have to be the right man."

Well, honey, I don't know if he's the right man, but he's definitely the man in your mind right now.

A Scientist, A Doctor, A Nurse, And a Turbolift

The turbolift scene is brief, but impactful. Christine tries to catch his eye because she wants to assure herself they can get back in their boxes. But Spock cracked open Pandora's box of emotions. There is no going back.

Spock is praising himself for his emotional control. But he was almost tripped up by crumbs. Crumbs. What would he do if he was face-to-face with the woman he wept over right now?

As Spock leaves without a single word to the two of them, M'Benga and Christine look at one another.

And I thank God I was watching this on my bed at 3 in the morning and not during my lunch break, per usual, because I'm pretty sure my drink would've shot through my nose at M'Benga's face.

Seriously. If you haven't rewatched this brief scene, go back and do it if only for his look after Spock leaves. It's hilarious.

Spock's Log

The temperature firmly established on Christine's present goals (prep for interview/avoid Spock), we now get a glimpse into Spock's mind and life via montage.

He is hanging out with friends, cooking with Pike, and trying not to murder Kirk for crumbs. In short, we're getting a glimpse at status-quo Spock so we can later compare and contrast.

Spock has always enjoyed being around his friends. I think of Spock in his later yeas camping with Kirk and McCoy (my personal favorite classic Trek character). He has always enjoyed being surrounded by people he trusts.

And I posit that's part of why he's so committed to Starfleet. On Vulcan, he is reminded of his father's disappointment in him, the conflict with his older sister (though they resolved it), how Vulcan children bullied him, and how he must perform as a full-blooded Vulcan despite being half-human or face derision and discrimination.

In Short: It's a lot.

But as a member of Starfleet, he spends time with people from many backgrounds, cultures, languages, and creeds. He doesn't have to be the perfect version of anything. In general, his friends take him as he is without asking him to be anyone or anything. He can simply be.

Though there is one notable exception, now. And it's not her fault. It's simply a necessity of reality—Spock feels he can no longer be himself around Christine.

Nearly losing her in 2x01 when his emotions were still quite raw and exposed was devastating. He literally wept over her lifeless body and had to endure the agony of potentially ordering her death.

Spock is trying to fit himself back in the Vulcan box because he's worried about what he'll say or do around her. He wants to be true to his fiancée and everything he's promised her. He knows to do this, he must suppress everything he feels for Christine.

But this isn't like a fresh herb he's never smelled (see next scene) and can't miss through his suppression. He knows what it is to kiss her, to taste her, to hold her, to want her, to mourn her, to save her, to hold vigil over her.

In short: He's so screwed.

"I am afraid my nasal suppressants inhibit my perception of scent."

Forgive the fangirl flail, but my two favorite characters of Enterprise were Trip and T'Pol—apart and together. So, getting a bit of confirmation of the Vulcan's keen scent that we first learned via T'Pol made me kick and squeal a little.

Reminder to Self: Gotta read that fix-it book, at long last, to save Trip from his Enterprise fate.

A Passenger

The whole conversation with Pike reminds me of the last time Spock was having concentration issues—when T'Pring was busy looking up human sex.

I find it fascinating (sorry, Spock) how much T'Pring throws him off. Whether it's his human side or Vulcan side, she tends to spring things on him that send him spiraling.

"I am fine, Captain."

Why call this out? Because "I'm fine" is going to come back later in this episode, and I find it fascinating (again, apologies, Mr. Spock) that it first presents itself here—when Spock is decidedly not fine.

And now he's getting a passenger. Of course, we're gonna cut straight from the line to the person for impact. But, oy, Spock's having a rough day.

He's already distracted with his relationship issues. The last thing he thinks he's going to get is more relationship issues.

A Nice Day for a Shuttle Ride

Christine ides alongside Spock, both of them facing forward. But Spock can't help but catch a glimpse of her.

This isn't a short ride in the turbolift. This is an entire mission together, in an enclosed space, with nowhere to escape.

He tries to approach her as a Vulcan—with tact.

"It is good to see you, Nurse Chapel."

Ah, now he's going to try to be "normal" because they're in a forced professional situation, and not talking at all would be ridiculous considering they have to work together.

"We did see each other in the turbolift the other day. You seemed busy."

This is such a passive aggressive line from Christine. The dude literally stared at the doors the entire time. But, it's also an "out" that she's offering him.

She doesn't want to talk about this anymore than he does.

But a small part of her wants to know if she's imagining it. She doesn't think so (M'Benga's reaction is confirmation enough), but she wants to hear it from him.

"I have many duties. If I offended you, I apologize."

He speaks without emotion, without emphasis, straight facts. But it's still hurtful. And he knows it.

Watch how he closes his eyes, admonishing himself. Do better. He tries to talk to her, really talk to her, like he would before he realized he was falling for her.

"You are here for the fellowship you are applying to? Archeological medicine?"

Note how his cadence and timbre have changed. This is how he normally talks to her—honest and open. It's how he wants to talk to her, but he's afraid of what will come out of his mouth if he opens it to speak.

Remember, Vulcan emotions are reportedly stronger than human emotions. And he's removed some of his control when he fought the Gorn. So, while he is making progress on regaining control, he's still terrified of what emotions Christine Chapel might unleash.

But he's choosing to talk about work. That's safe.

"You know, the Vulcan Science Academy would be lucky to have someone of your experience."

I love the use of "You know". It's so... conversational. It's true Spock slipping through. And this is a true sentiment. He means it.

"Thanks. It's, um, it's nice of you to say."

Ah, yes. This is nice, right? Just two coworkers talking about coworkery things. No reason to get emotional, right?

But Christine's struggling with this whole thing, and it's hard for her to believe what he's saying. Is he saying it as a nicety? Does he believe it?

There's too much weirdness between them right now, and she feels pushed to clear the air.

"Spock? I don't usually read into this sort of thing much, but, uh, it's felt like you've been avoiding me." "Has it?"

Welp, the plan to keep it professional backfired. Because while Christine doesn't want to have this conversation, she can feel the shift in their dynamic. And she doesn't like it.

She had put them into a happy little box of Friendship, and until they started making out on the Bridge of the Enterprise, they were doing a pretty good job of staying thee. Even later in the season, they seemed to have regained their footing.

But Hemmer's death set off a tidal wave of emotions in Spock that are still churning under the surface. Christine isn't blind to that, but I don't think she understands how much this Vulcan man feels for her.

He almost started a war for you, honey. You gotta mean something to him, right?

Spock's fortunately saved by the scanner, but even then, it takes a second for him to switch back into work-mode.

"I should... initiate scans."

Christine acknowledges the shift, no longer pressing for answers. But, did you see the way she checked him out when he stopped close to him? I mean... hubba, hubba. Christine's jonesin' for her coworker.

And, look, I am not a supporter of adultery. I applaud how Spock has tried to keep his distance while Christine has tried to keep him in the friend box. Neither of them want to do something they'll regret.

But this tension's reaching a tipping point, pushed over that edge by two major events in this episode that overlap and intersect.

The tension in the room shifts from, "Wow, I want him/her and shouldn't" to "holy shit, we're gonna die" in a matter of seconds.

The first time watching it, I noticed how Spock reached for a dial at the last second. My first thought was, "Oh, that was an intentional movement, there, but I bet we'll never know what it was for."

Folks, I was so excited to be wrong.

We'll get into what Spock was doing in that moment, but I love that the last thing he heard was Christine saying his name.

There's an intimacy to how Jess Bush says it—putting so much emotion into a single syllable. What do you say when you're about to die next to the one person you wish you could tell everything, but can't?

Do you break that invisible barrier of civility to tell him how you feel? Do you lament you didn't have time to sort it out? What can you say?

Genetic Manipulation Steals Spock's Eyeliner

He does have it in other shots as a human, but for this closeup, it's very jarring to go from Spockliner to none. All part of the illusion, folks!

"I feel... strange."

I love that the first words out of his mouth as a human are, "I feel." We talk so much about Vulcan emotions and Vulcan feelings, and he knows from the first moment that something is off.

"What happened to me?" "We don't exactly know."

It's almost a question on "know" that is so much fun. Jess Bush really has some incredible deliveries as Christine, and I adore it. There's such a dynamism to her deliveries.

I love that one of the first details is Spock investigating his hands. Why? Vulcans are touch-telepaths. No doubt, his hands feel strange without that ability coursing through them, even if he's touching nothing.

"Remediation was made. The beings now match."

This. Says. So. Much. Because so often in the history of this blighted country, we've seen racism tell people they can't be together unless they're the same. Heck, I've seen it in faith, too.

And these beings have the idea that making them match is the right thing to do. But they miss that having differences is part of the joy of connection.

Yes, you can be from the same country/speak the same language/worship the same way and have a beautiful relationship. But that isn't required.

Sameness does not equal compatibility or value. As Star Trek says, Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.

"Nurse Chapel is already working around the clock to find a way to reverse your genetic alteration."

Because she's the expert. Hell, yeah, that's my girl!

Now, we can play the "Christine's falling in love with Spock and that's why she's killing herself over this" all day. But the truth is that if this had happened to any member of the crew, Christine would be the one dealing with it because she's the expert.

It's simply juicier because she was the one with Spock when it happened, and she happens to be falling for him.

"Emotions must be new to you." "Vulcans have emotions. We learn to suppress them. These human feelings are different. They're intense and they never stop." "What you're going through, it sounds a lot like being a human teenager."

I love this whole explanation of what's happening with Spock. He hasn't changed who he is. We've watched him going through the exact same montage as before, but this time his control is gone—because human emotions work differently from Vulcan.

Through the Vulcan experience, he could suppress his emotions and box them up. Human emotions work differently. He lacks the chemicals in his brain to behave as he did before.

Remember, Vulcans are wired differently than humans, and while genetically Spock descends from one human and one Vulcan, dominant genes are at play.

For example, of my three children, only one looks like me with olive skin, dark brown eyes, and dark hair. My other two children take after my husband with strawberry and sandy blonde hair, pale skin that easily burns, and one even has hazel eyes!

Same parents. But different amounts of each of us and our genetics.

Spock's anatomy presents primarily as Vulcan, which would apply to the chemicals in his brain, as well. He's lacking those chemicals that retrained his brain to deal with emotion in a controlled and suppressed manor.

He is still the same person at his heart, but it's as though he were born entirely human in his genetics. Problem is, he didn't grow into them. They were thrown upon him as a grown man who was used to entirely different genetics.

It's not odd, to me, that while his core principles remain unaltered, how he approaches them is partially informed by the tools he has and/or lacks with an entirely human anatomy.

"Have you been here all night?"

Of course, Christine would do this for any member of the crew. But the pain she feels is amplified by her belief in her responsibility, and the fact that it's someone she cares about, deeply.

"If I hadn't been there, then maybe they wouldn't have done what they did to Spock."

Oh, there are so many layers to this. The obvious take is that she feels guilty that the aliens modified Spock's genetic code. But I think there could be another layer.

Because Christine was not initially on that mission with Spock. When La'an called her out on not talking to a Vulcan about the whole thing, I think she decided to prove that she could handle it, and requested to be added to the mission.

What if her ulterior motive for joining the mission was to prove to herself that they could be okay? That she could be okay around him? That it was all in her head that he was avoiding her, and that there really is nothing between them?

Because, that's what she wants. She wants for there to be nothing between them. She's tried to will it into being.

And what if her desire to prove they were nothing but platonic coworkers was what brought such pain to the person she truly cares for? What if it's her own hubris that brought this on?

Of course, we all know that M'Benga is right when he says that her presence might have been what preserved Spock's life at all. With "mixed instructions", who knows what the aliens might've done without Chapel's example.

And yet another example of just how biased our own medical system can be in this country. Did you know we are just now seeing medical diagrams and training materials that take different levels of melanin into consideration for bruising, bleeds, and reactions?

Sorry, back to the story—Christine's hurting.

"Survivor's guilt is easy to spot from the outside. But it's not fun from the inside."

I love their relationship. These two are deep friend who truly understand one another.

"Are you forgetting something important?"

Oh, shit! The interview!

"What? We're done?" "I have all I need. We will contact you."

I feel like all the other Vulcans in this episode are a reminder of why Spock is different, and special, and why we love him so much. It's not that he's a half-Vulcan. As Angel would say, that's not what this is really about. It's because of who he is.

No matter what version of himself he is, he cares about his friends. He loves his work, and he pours himself into it. He tries to do what is right, even if he sometimes gets it wrong. He's loyal, and patient, and kind.

Now, human Spock doesn't have impulse control, as we've seen. But if he were trapped in this state forever, I'd like to think that's something he could learn.

"Christine?"

First off, woah. Spock avoids saying her first name because of how intimate that is... and I have a theory...

See, Vulcan emotions are reportedly stronger than human, right? We saw what happened when Spock tried to let a little anger out with the Gorn... he went postal. He couldn't regain control. It was a flood that he couldn't stop.

What if he's kept such a tight rein on those emotions as of late because he's afraid of the flood to follow?

Spock's humanity is offering him the opportunity to talk to her, to engage with her, to be in the same space with her without losing all control.

His human emotions are a bit out of sorts, yes, but he can work in spurts and starts with them. Once a Vulcan emotion is unleashed, it won't easily be bottled up.

"I'm fine. I'll be fine."

She starts to say the canned line we're taught to say whenever someone asks how we are, "I'm fine." I hate "I'm fine."

Unless you're talking about how you look in your favorite outfit, when you say, "I'm fine" I wonder if you're telling the truth or bowing to society's standards.

"Vulcans can be such jerks."

The iron of that statement. Christine smiles at him, because she really needed that laugh. But it's also so strange a statement as she's working to restore his Vulcanness.

Insert Awkward Hug

In the history of awkward hugs, that might be one of the most cringe between two characters I actually adore together. He enters into it with the best of intentions, but once he's there, it's really awkward for both of them.

While Christine loves being near Spock, it doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like him.

"It felt like you needed that. Did I read the moment wrong?"

This moment really struck me, but for very personal reasons. See, I have an Autistic son, and hugging is one of those things that, God bless him, is a big part of him.

He likes to go up to strangers and hug them. And while they all smile because he's a super cute 8-year-old, someday he'll be an adult and they might not think it's as cute. So, we work on asking permission and understanding situations.

I know sometimes people liken Spock to being Autistic-coded, and while I don't know if that's true, this moment really struck me.

"It was really nice. It wasn't typical for you." "Is that okay?"

As M'Benga would say, there's technically nothing wrong with it. But it's not him.

"I'm fine. I'll be fine."

He's echoing back her words to her, but it also feels like growth. At the top of the episode, he declared, "I'm fine" when he wasn't. This response is far more honest and realistic.

Also, my mind drifted back to my first Human/Vulcan lovers, Trip and T'Pol. Their mutual confession of feelings scene is one of the funniest, sexiest, and most beautifully written/performed scenes in Star Trek, to me.

It's Season 3, for anyone who wants to relive it, but I'd do so before Paramount+ removes it like they did Season 4.

Spock's Elle Woods LSAT Montage

Echoes of Christine and Spock.... and how the team all rally around him, now, to help.

"We better hope Dr. M'Benga and Nurse Chapel come up with a cure before the mind meld"

Fascinating that he's going professional on her name with his mother, and I think that makes sense in the moment.

Despite what Spock may feel for Christine, even in his human state he's trying to stay true to T'Pring and his Vulcan obligations related to their engagement. That's important.

Because Spock is still Spock. He's altered, but not gone.

"Yes, I'm way ahead of you."

I love this. We need the reminder of the Chapel we met on Day One, "I know I'm good at what I do". This is where she excels... and she can't make it work. And now she's on a time-clock of her own.

Also, I love how she and M'Benga talk as equals, here. There's no ego in what they're saying. He's trying to offer solutions, but she's already way ahead of him—because this is her speciality.

She respects his, and backs him up, and serves as an amazing assistant when needed. But right now he is the assistant, even though he carries the "Doctor" designation and she the "Nurse".

Let me tell you, I've often experienced Nurse Practitioners who were better in their field than Doctors. This is a nice reminder of that reality while also showing how it can work in a practical situation without bias. Ah, the utopian vision of this era of Star Trek's timeline.

Christine Interrupts Dinner

Look, these two just got their meals, and in comes their sweet-but-oblivious-to-her-feelings friend begging them to go on a mission with her to save her not-boyfriend.

And it makes sense that now that Spock is beyond the help of (most of) his friends the team swivels to helping Christine, again. This is their episode, after all.

"Look, I can't ask either of you to risk your lives for this. But if there's a chance to save Spock, I have to try."

She's willing to risk her life for him. Golly, they are so similar. Because she's in a shuttle craft on her way to the anomaly where he once chose to risk his life for her... but she doesn't know that, yet.

"He didn't choose to be live this."

I remember when I was guessing at what would happen in this episode that I really thought his choice was going to have more to do with it. I guess the writers thought it obvious that he wouldn't want to continue being human.

Yes, we've seen that being human is impacting his life in negative ways, but it could also impact it positively. That's the dichotomy of life in all its facets—it's beautiful and terrible.

"So, we're doing this?" *Uhura touches her shoulder* "We're doing this."

I really think those two bonded when Christine held Uhura after Hemmer sacrificed himself. But I also love this moment of Christine feeling the warmth of sacrificial friendship. She's growing closer to everyone with this civilian post.

We know that in childhood Christine didn't have a lot of friends. She was bullied. She was different, somehow. It's one of those points where she and Spock always related.

Christine also tends to rely upon herself rather than others. Trusting others means letting them in. Letting them in means opening herself up to potential pain.

But as she goes on this mission to help one friend, she's in the company of two others. And you see the moment their friendship washes over her and she relaxes into it.

"This is not going well. How is the cure coming?" "We've hit a roadblock. Nurse Chapel went to find the Kherkovians" "She what? And you just let her go?" "You and I both know that when Christine sets her mind to something, she is hard to stop."

I love the transition from professional to conversational, here. M'Benga is one of the few people—if not the only—privy to the fact that Christine's feelings aren't unrequited.

Yes, Christine's girlfriends have clearly picked up on how she feels about Spock. But even Christine is unsure about how he feels.

But that last line is so bloody powerful. Christine can be a bit like a bulldozer when she's locked onto something. What happens when she locks onto Spock? What happens if she locks onto something else and leaves him behind?

"What is your relationship to this being?" "Um... He's my friend." "Friends are not allowed complaints outside of the response period." "What? Why not?" "Because they do not have sufficient connection to the being in question."

Holy shit, they made HIPAA a character on Star Trek.

Think about it. My best friend can't go into the doctor's office and make decisions about my medical care if I'm unable to speak for myself. But my husband could.

Blue and Yellow might as well be documents you fill out when you show up in the waiting room. They're contractual, factual, literal, benevolent beings.

"You are each other's caregivers?" "No. Well, sort of." "This would answer a question we had. During the crash, the other being diverted shields away from himself to protect you." "He what?"

She finds out that he was willing to die to protect her. This is a huge shift for her. She had a malamute sticking up for her as a kid. A malamute, people! But now there's a man literally willing to die for her.

And he couldn't bear the thought of her dying, again. Rather than watch her die, he chose to increase her likelihood of survival, thus minimizing his.

When she was searching for last words, he was soaking in that last look at her knowing it might be the last thing he saw.

"What is your relationship to this being?" "I don't know." "Oh my God, Christine, come on!" "Seriously. You do know. Tell them." "Tell them what? I don't know what to say." "Tell them you like Spock, that you have feelings for him." "Are you so obtuse that you don't even see that?"

This is the line that broke me. Because Ortegas knows her. Erica has been through a lot with Christine, and knows how she handles relationships—poorly.

Also, Erica has a tendency to notice things before Christine—like the fact that Dever was going to become a problem for Christine's sensibilities.

So, I love that while Uhura is just as fed up with Christine's inability to put it into words (my husband beside me said, "It's now or never") with Spock's genetics on the line, it's Ortegas whose words strike me hardest.

Because Erica knows that Christine's not trying to be difficult. She's been hurt, before. She's afraid of relationships and love. She's tried so hard to follow her rules of dating. And with all that programming, it's difficult for her to realize what she's feeling.

"It's complicated." "Then make it simple. Because if you don't, he'll never be like how he was again."

Damnit. The future rests on Christine facing her feelings head-on. She soaks in Uhura's words, knowing they're true. If she can't convince the aliens that they have true connection, then she can't save Spock.

That means she has to tap into what she really feels. She has to acknowledge it. She has to allow herself to feel it.

But she can't do that with everybody watching.

She motions for Uhura and Ortegas to turn around, which they do with much eye-rolling. As much as Spock's dealing with the emotional maturity of a teenager, Christine's just as stunted, in some ways.

"Spock is..."

The emotions strike her before she can get out more than two words. Because, there's what he is... what he isn't... and what she wishes he could be in her life.

"He's my friend. And, maybe, sometimes, I wish that we had... more... connection."

She's reaching for the words the aliens use, trying to keep this controlled.

"But when you healed him, you changed him. You made him, um, easier to talk to. Someone who probably, um, understands my feelings a little better."

There it is. Her feelings. She's finally acknowledging her feelings. But in this heartbreaking realization of her feelings, she's admitting that Spock in his full self may never understand her feelings.

Restoring him to his former self means stripping his current understanding away. But it's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to restore Spock so he can live the life he was meant to—even if that means Chapel helps him complete his Engagement Dinner to another woman.

A tear slips out of Christine's right eye, and she wipes it away. And while I know these things are random, I can't help but smile to realize it's the same eye that Christine's tear fell from in TOS when Spock wiped it away.

"But, um it's not him. At least, it's not all of him because you took away the other part. A part I was connected to. And I miss him... as he was."

Connection. In the history of Starfleet and all our many stories within that world, connection is always emphasized. It doesn't have to be romantic. In Christine's case, she feels it never will be between her and Spock, no matter how she feels.

But they are still connected. Just as she's connected to everyone in her inner circle. As he is to his. They have found community and connection with one another.

And Christine was able to bring her thoughts back around to save Spock. Because their connection—no matter how deep or shallow it will become—will always be there.

"Mr. Spock. I have your vitamins."

Spock's, of course, grateful. Christine is alive and she beat the clock (barely... thanks, Pike, for the charades!). As he joins Christine in the bathroom, T'Pring watches them thoughtfully. She's had suspicions that something was going on, but I think this is when she's almost sure.

Not that she thinks these two are going to hook up in the bathroom, or anything, but that she's on the outside, yet again, with her own fiancé.

"Uh, the Vulcan genome should start coming back immediately, and physical changes may take a couple hours."

We know that Christine can rearrange and manipulate genetics temporarily, but Spock's body is about to go through a massive change. His arteries and internal organs are going to shift. His ears are going to grow back to their normal state. His blood's gonna shift from red to green.

I'm gonna take a wild guess that those Kherkovians put some heavy painkillers in that cocktail Christine's about to shove in his neck.

"I'm glad to see you're okay. I was worried about you."

This is completely consistent with character, except that he would not have vocalized it before. We know Spock worries about her. We know that he's relieved when she's okay. We've seen it.

"Why did you do it? On the shuttle, you moved the shields to save my life." "I... it was the logical choice. As a Vulcan, I had a higher likelihood of survival." "Just logical, huh?"

She normally wouldn't call him out like this, especially when she should be rushing to give him these meds so he can get into that Mindmeld. But she's raw, and she's hurting, and she's confused.

Her nerves are exposed and a part of her needs to understand if she's reading too much into the situation.

"Christine, I feel many things. It's confusing." "Yeah, I know. For me, too."

Welp, they're both confused. There's something.

They both look down, and I'm grasping for what motivated it. I'm guessing he took her hand, but we're in a shoulders-up shot, so we can't actually see what's happening.

I'm going to go with him taking her hand. It makes the most sense. And it's fucking bold of Spock.

"I have to tell you-"

Christine shuts him up with the hypospray. Because, if you're going to hear a love confession from someone you care about, you want it to be when they have all their faculties. If they're under the influence or inhibited somehow by something outside their control, it's hard to know what they really think and feel.

So, Christine stops him. But, from Spock's perspective, it feels almost like rejection.

"Get back out there. You have people waiting."

But he's frozen in place. Vulcan emotions are rushing back in, and they have to be compartmentalized and suppressed because he feels the pain of that rejection.

Christine walks out, instead, but she's hurting just as badly as he is. Because even if he said all the things she wanted to hear, it wouldn't have been him. She might have lost her only chance at hearing what she wants, but it was the right thing to do.

Spock Decides to Talk with Christine

I have to call this out because of where we last left these two—heartbroken. Spock was opening up to Christine about how he felt when she stuck a hypospray in his neck to shut him up.

She did it because she felt she had to—to restore Spock, that meant restoring him to the "honest man" who wouldn't pursue her while he had a "girlfriend".

For Spock, he had to endure that moment of all his suppressive abilities sliding back into place while simultaneously recognizing Christine pushing him away.

And yet, here he is, making the decision to go to her.

Now, let's be clear that this would not have happened if T'Pring had not said she wanted time apart. Spock has done everything that he can to stay away from Christine, to avoid what he feels for her, to suppress what he feels.

In a strange twist, T'Pring's actions have created a scenario similar to the one he just experienced—freedom from expectation.

Now, I've seen the "we were on a break" arguments, and I think it's up to Spock and T'Pring to define what that means for them. I can only hope there's Vulcan precedent to help guide them on what is (and isn't) acceptable during their time apart.

Because I hate cheating.

I've had friends who were cheated on, and it was the bloody worst. I don't like it in media. So, I'm hoping my assumptions are correct in that this is accepted within the constructs of Spock and T'Pring's separation.

Spock has been stewing on the events of the day and his mother's last words to him. Despite Christine pushing him away earlier, he makes the decision to seek her out. He needs to talk to her.

"I'm here."

The way she says this is so adorable. There's such optimism and openness in it before her more cynical nature kicks in to shut it down.

And why is she here? She's the one who walked away from him, before, but I like to think her own emotions and feelings are swirling inside to the point she can't think.

As she finally had to be honest about it with herself, she's sought out Spock to be honest with him. She doesn't expect anything from him.

But Erica once told Christine that she should spend her next relationship being more honest from the start. So, she's going to be honest.

"What were you coming to see me about?"

Spock wordlessly steps into his quarters, inviting her in. As he stops, he turns sharply over his left shoulder to face her.

In the hallway after Hemmer's wake, he turned over that shoulder, away from her. In Sickbay as she slumbered he turned over that shoulder, away from her. But today, he turned over that shoulder to face her.

He's no longer avoiding her, and his body language tells us before his words.

"That T'Pring and I decided to take some time apart." "And how do you feel about that?"

Christine, the queen that you are. This reminds me of their conversation at dinner, of their chat in the hallway, of every time she makes space for him and how he's feeling.

She doesn't make any assumptions about what he's saying. She leaves space for him to speak, even though we can see her initial reaction was elation.

She tamps that down to be sure she's reading the room correctly, and give Spock the opportunity to correct her initial assumption, if needed.

"I feel badly."

Christine nods, ready to be in friend-mode.

"But also, it was necessary. I am conflicted because I have feelings for someone else."

He said it. He fucking said it.

"A Vulcan with feelings?"

Classic Christine to deflect. But it's also a flirt. You can hear the smile in her voice as she says it, because she knows he has feelings.

She's the one who's talked to him about his emotions, wiped the bloody tear from his cheek. She knows that Spock has emotions, but it's so her to deflect a little in this moment.

Nearly losing her forced him to confront his feelings in 2x01. In 2x05, Christine faced losing Spock, and it similarly forced her to face what she'd been avoiding.

But she didn't imagine he'd feel the same way.

"We do have them. They are more powerful than human feelings which is why we suppress them."

Translation: My feelings for you are so strong, I had to suppress them.

He's explaining why he's been MIA. Suppressing this emotion has meant avoiding the cause of it. This isn't a messy table he can clean up and forget.

Yes, I've talked about love being messy before. And I have a feeling this is about to get very messy. But I hope it'll be fun along the way.

"I don't want to suppress this one any longer. I want to feel this."

The emphasis on want is incredible. And he's telling her without doubt that he is choosing them in this moment. He's choosing to embrace whatever this is, without allowing logic to dictate it.

Christine watches him, and this time it's words failing her. Her lower lip is trembling as she listens to him. It's too good to be true.

And I swear there's a smile in Ethan Peck's eyes when he says that last bit.

Christine's lack of response isn't because she doesn't share his emotions. We know that she does. But I posit she's told herself so much this was never going to happen that even as it's happening, she's struggling to believe it.

It reminds me of my response to my husband when he proposed. I literally said, "Are you kidding?"

Folks, he planned a four-hour scavenger hunt through multiple cities, calling friends in England and California, finding hidden notes, all to end in a black box theater he rented with a bloody light plot, dozen roses, and a poem he read to me.

After all of that, I was still convinced it would never happen. So, as he knelt before me, I fumbled to believe... even then.

"What did you come here f-"

His voice drops to a whisper. So intimate. So afraid to hope that she's there because she feels the same way. He got a hint of that when she gave him the hypospray, but it's not the same as confirmation.

Christine launches herself at him. Her hands grab his face, drawing him to her, but he already sees her coming. His eyes close before her lips meet his. Christine's take a little more time to close, and I like to think she was watching to see if he was into this.

Christine, honey. He's so into this.

As they kiss, the camera swoops around them, and I mourn the tightness of the shot. I've never been a fan of tight shots for kisses, to be fair. This is purely personal preference. I want to see the hands.

I have two communications degrees, and as an ambivert who was quite introverted in grade school, I spent a lot of time observing people.

I feel like the lack of hands takes away from how I can rate Spock's true engagement in this snog-fest... which might be the strangest sentences I've ever written in a Meta.

For any Rose/The Doctor fans, you must remember the clone they made of him and how they kissed, right? That kiss looked emotionless and cold filmed as a head-shot to me. I never believed Rose was into it.

But the behind-the-scenes where we could see the hands!? Hubba, hubba!

I really wanted to see Spock's hands to better gauge his interest and response. Especially after reading an interview with Ethan Peck about how he had to determine if Spock kisses a human differently than a Vulcan. I wanna see that in action!

Christine drops off tip-toes as the camera settles, and Spock moves with her, his lips still locked on hers. They're already moving as one.

But the part that guts me in the best way is the little kiss after they start to pull away.

Remember their first kiss on the Bridge? Of course, you do. Who could forget that!?

Welp, I didn't notice until long after I wrote my first Spapel Meta that Christine lingers momentarily after they part—as though she wants to go back in for more.

This time, they both have that same instinct. And this time, they actually get it. That little micro-kiss is one of the hottest things in this scene to me.

Why? Because it's a fulfillment of an unspoken want to have such intimacy that you can share something so small and have it mean just as much as the big, sweeping kiss before.

And as they share this moment, Christine's fingers trail down Spock's Vulcan ear. And while I doubt Vulcan ears are as sensitive as Ferengi, I'm sure that felt pretty damn good, too.

Because Christine accepts all of him. She doesn't have to tell him, "I'm okay with you being Vulcan" because it's not a matter of her trying to convince him. It's implied. It's understood. It's apparent via their interactions.

And during this episode, Christine showed it in how she fought for him to regain his Vulcan half—even at her own expense.

Think about it... Christine spends a lot of her time helping Spock with T'Pring. And even though there was a countdown clock to the diminishment of genetic plasticity—Spock's biggest concern was his engagement dinner with his fiancée.

Christine fought to restore him not for her, but for him. Yes, she is attracted to Spock in his fullness of self, but she recognizes that restoring him meant restoring him to the half-Vulcan who has been avoiding her for weeks.

To be here, now, with him is beyond her wildest hopes. She's tasted him once, but this time there is no pretense. This time, their attraction is so much deeper. This time, it's all real and honest and open.

Christine opens her eyes almost immediately, but Spock's remain closed as he revels in the feelings he's experiencing. He's soaking it in. This time, there's no awkwardness. Nobody's watching (besides, well, us).

And the fist time I listened to this moment with headphones on, my heart about stopped. It's. Their. Song. The same theme that played during their first kiss on the bridge is playing as they kiss, now.

Our doomed lovers have their own theme.

Christine looks to Spock with new desire, her hands finally free to touch him, her mind finally free to wander to the places she didn't dare. Girl is ready to go! Look at how she's taking him in, letting her fingers explore his skin.

And Spock's taking the logical role of hoping to define what this means.

"What does this mean?" "I don't know. Shut up."

His eyes close before her lips meet his as she pushes him away from the door and deeper into his quarters.

Spock and Chapel are gonna get some tonight!

And, did I see this coming at the beginning of the season? Honestly, no. I thought they'd sleep together at some point in the run of the show. But definitely didn't call it this early! Especially when we all know it's going to implode/explode/end in tears.

I'd be remiss if I didn't at least address the separate-yet-similar arcs of our two lovers. Both of them are on arcs of understanding themselves better, just in different ways.

Spock has been made fully human. This has always been a part of him, but not something he could even imagine experiencing. He had the opportunity to see life through human eyes, to feel human emotions, to smell like a human, and to better understand his own mother.

And major props to whichever character decided they should meet in Pike's quarters with Pike present so the smell of humans might be explainable, even with Vulcan suppressants helping.

But in his journey to navigate life as a human, he started to see his mother's journey. He saw all the pain she suppressed over the years to give him a life of joy. And I'm not saying that we, as mothers, should have to suffer for our children. But I know all good parents often make decisions that are to the betterment of our Little ones, even at our own expense.

Spock finally understood the sacrifices she made. It reframed his own quest to be "Vulcan enough". His mother was never Vulcan. Could never be Vulcan. And yet, so much of what is good in him came from her.

I think that's part of what gave him the emotional freedom to declare himself to Christine in that final scene—freeing himself from the expectations of others. He realized he could thrive without compromising who he is. It's something Angel—for all their flaws—was trying to teach him.

And being released from his obligation to T'Pring by T'Pring freed him up to go after Christine. Again, I'm really hopeful that in the framework of Vulcan culture this is not cheating. I don't like cheating. But, I do like Christine and Spock.

Christine's arc is similarly about defining herself. Somewhere in the mess of the past year, she's lost a bit of her trademark confidence. And I think the problem of trying to solve Spock's genome issues was especially disheartening.

If you're the expert who can't expertly do the one thing in which you're supposed to excel, how much of an expert are you?

The initial rejection of the fellowship deals yet another blow to her psyche on a bad day. But after embracing who she is—a badass scientist, a loyal friend, an innovator, and even a woman capable of romantic love—she enters her second interview more confident in herself.

And I want to be clear that loving Spock doesn't make her who she is. But it's a part of her. It's a part of her she was denying and avoiding.

By releasing the burden she'd been carrying, she freed herself up to so many other things, including regaining her confidence in he prowess in her field. She's a badass. And now she's remembered that.

When they come together in that final scene, they've both been on journeys of self-discovery in their own ways.

Christine remembered that she was born to stand out in the best way, that she is capable and strong, but that she can also be vulnerable.

Spock learned what it is to be truly human, and finally understood the sacrifices his mother made for him.

And they were both surrounded by the love of their shipmates. In an episode all about connection, we witnessed so many different kinds: Familial. Friendship. Romantic.

Connection is more than tonsil hockey, despite what some media might say. Connection is when two hearts meet and feel kinship. That is what both Spock and Christine have found on Enterprise—with each other, and with their beautiful friends.

The over-arching theme of Season 2 thus far seems to be, "Who am I?" You can see it in different characters in every episode so far. It's a universal question—one that so many of us ask of ourselves at many points in our lives.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! I hope you know that you are beautiful, have intrinsic value, and matter more than you know. May the next morning bring light and love into your life like never before. See you on the next.

#Star Trek: Strange New Worlds #Strange New Worlds #Spapel #Spock #Chapel #Ethan Peck #Jess Bush #Star Trek SNW #ST SNW #Meta #Christine Chapel #Nurse Chapel

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teafuelledwriting · 5 months

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How do you go about setting up a chapter? Do you plan ahead or just start writing and see where it takes you? Or do you do both?

Hey and congrats, you are my first anon and my first asker! Thank you~ Grab yourself a drink, this got wordy.

Short answer: I plan enough to have a guide for where I’m going and then explore away, so a little of both.

Long Answer: Out of necessity I’ve learned to be a planner with my writing. Having a guideline to follow that tells me where I am in the story and where I’m going and what I need to do to get from story-beat to story-beat helps me stay excited, focused and avoid any kind of writer’s block.

I think of it like a roadmap. The story’s end is my destination and in the meantime I have all the information I need to get there via landmarks (story-beats and character arcs) and points of interest (cool scenes that I’m excited to write). It’s not set in stone and allows me to be adaptable and explore while still giving me a framework to work with (think theme, structure, etc).

Usually this ends up being a big document of dot-points organised into story-beats (Inciting Incident, Point of No Return, etc) and then very rough groupings that make up the chapters.

I do this for any writing project I tackle (including this ask) and apply the same process to my chapters. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve dived into a chapter with only a few details and found myself stalling or forgetting that I was supposed to foreshadow X or include scene or conversation Y. Let me know if you want me to talk about my planning process.

Also I’m a big believer in iterative writing and planning. I start with big broad ideas and refine until I have enough ideas, and write then rewrite until I’m happy. You'll see what I mean.

Here’s how I do Chapter Planning.

As an example let’s say we’re a few chapters into a project. We have our protagonist Dan, a fairly badass hero with a dark past who lives in an apartment building next to Laura, a mysterious supporting character that eventually becomes his friend and ally.

In the previous chapters Dan has met Laura, learned a little about her, and noticed a few odd things like eyes that gleam in the dark and strange bruises. The last chapter Dan overheard Laura return home in the early morning via their shared fire escape, weapon in hand. Suspicions aroused, Dan has decided to follow Laura the next time she leaves by the fire escape and find out what she’s up to.

The first thing I do is check my outline which at its simplest form, looks like this:

Chapter 4 - Ben is suspicious and follows Laura - She is aware and they have a confrontation and are overheard by monsters - Fight - reveals they’re both not as they seem to each other - Decide to trust each other, return to Laura’s home to patch up and talk - Start of friendship. Reminder: Suggest Laura’s back story. Highlight character similarities.

The plan is for these two to become friends triggered by an extreme situation and the uncovering of secrets, and while this can be enough to start with, I prefer to have more detail before I start writing. How do these things happen? What time is it and what’s the setting like? Where do these events take place and exactly how?

At this point I have at least a scene in my head that I want to include, so I note that down and build from there, starting broad and elaborating as I go.

My notes end up looking like this:

Chapter 4: -Dan waits for Laura in a dark apartment, tipped off by the last chapter’s phone call. It’s 2am and cold. -Laura leaves and Dan silently follows at a distance through quiet streets that grow more empty. Dan gets a bad feeling. -Laura arrives at an empty boarded building frequented by squatters and seems to investigate, sniffing the air. She then enters the building and Dan follows. -Something is wrong. There are bad smells like urine and blood and rot. -Laura is waiting for Dan and she confronts him, telling to leave. They argue, Dan wants answers, Laura wants him to go. -Too late, they’re surrounded by monsters (Gaunts, skinny and human like at a distance but stretched and gangly with long limbs, claws and needle like teeth) -Laura passes Dan a weapon and they start to fight back to back and help each other. -Dan’s enhanced strength is revealed, as is Laura’s skill and yellow eyes. -Fight done, they have a stare down and lower their weapons. -“What the hell are you?” “... A werewolf.” “Wait what?!” -They dispose of remains and decide they need to talk and patch up. - Laura tense as they walk back and Dan muses on his options. - He enters her apartment for the first time, it’s warm, inviting and colourful. - Laura welcomes him and boils water for clean up and gets her advanced first aid kit. Many vials and things like suture and burn kits. - Talk - go over what they have in common, what his deal is and hers. Hint at Laura’s back story and trauma. Hint at Dan’s. - They share some food (Laura is big on Old School Hospitality) and Dan realises he enjoys her company. - He offers friendship, she accepts, and he leaves.

And this is usually enough for me to start writing. As I go I refer back to these dot points but I also give myself room to elaborate, divert and explore interesting ideas or things that make more sense than my guidelines. I let myself be very rough. I try not to worry about editing beyond fixing spelling mistakes and typos, and if a section isn’t working, I cut it out, go back a bit and try again. Afterall, writing is rewriting. You can always fix things.

Once the chapter’s been drafted, I give it a read, make a mental note of what I enjoy, what bores or confuses me and do some tweaking and rewriting. At this point if I’m on a third or fourth draft, I poke at my Very Amazing Alpha/Beta reader to try and catch anything I’ve missed.

And then I do it all over again for the next chapter, checking the story outline, adding any notes for future events or adjusting anything that needs adjusting and starting to write at least enough that it’s easy to pick up the next session.

Hope you got some ideas from this, anon! <3

#on writing #writing tips #writing resources #writers on tumblr #writerscommunity #writeblr #writing advice #writing advice: chapters

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gretchensinister · 5 months

Text

Perhaps you should buy yourself a book as a present

Such as…

It’s Spring Break, and five friends have decided to spend the week at a cabin in the Berenson Wilderness Recreation Area to get away from the stresses and pressures of college. It turns out they’re the only ones staying at the park, but that shouldn’t be anything to worry about—even if someone did recently get killed in an apparent animal attack just outside the park’s boundaries. They know enough to stick together.

Unfortunately for them, it isn’t anything as ordinary as a mountain lion or bear that’s responsible for that death. It’s something—someone—truly extraordinary that calls the park his home, and calls them the perfect prey.

But even a monster wants more out of life than simple survival, and this one might well decide that one of these campers could be something other than prey to him.

Fear is in the air—but so is spring.

Berenson Wilderness Recreation Area invites you to a story that’s not as familiar as it might first appear, an exploration of friendship, fear, family, and finding out just how far you’ll go for the ones you love. ($2.99, equivalent to 234 print pages)

OR PERHAPS

Stella Black has been followed by a terrifying, malevolent entity since she was a child, but she’s never been certain of its ability to affect the physical world until now. With new evidence of its power to affect matter, she can only assume it is finally going to end her life. Desperate, she seeks out a paranormal society, and, to her astonishment, they promise to do whatever they can to help her, despite her destitute state. The entity, however, proves too powerful to be destroyed by the society’s means. While it is temporarily bound, the mysterious Alexandra Poppy says that she might be able to permanently destroy it using the knowledge contained in books on her rural estate, Dreamers’ Hill. The powerful draw of freedom and of time spent alone with Alexandra lead Stella to agree to accompany her far away from any life she’s ever known, but the forbidden wishes of her heart are not the strangest possibilities that might come to fruition under the cold stars of the year’s longest night… *** The Solstice Alliance is a story of sapphic romance and dark magic set in a strange Victorian England where love is not the only way to bind souls together. ($4.99, equivalent to 442 print pages)

OR THERE’S ALWAYS

The Watcher and the Sacrifice, which is only $1.99 and is about a young man who is all too willing to be his village’s sacrifice to their local terrifying many-limbed monster. It turns out that this is not a lethal kind of sacrifice, and a very good time is had by all.

The first reblog will have a link to all the ebooks. If you do not want to go through this Major Retailer please message me and we can work out a way for you to buy the file directly from me.

---

It's the time of year when reading The Solstice Alliance would really suit the mood! I know I'm the one that wrote it, so I'm biased, but I've been thinking about rereading it myself. The dead of winter, mysterious and threatening magic, and discovering that one is a lesbian via overwhelming crush on a mysterious wealthy woman...it's good times!

#queer sff #fiction #fantasy #horror #I appreciate every reblog

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tentacledsnakelover · 2 months

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The Owl House Finale Rewrite Part 2

I love many things about The Owl House, from its animation, characters, world, music, and themes. However, I feel the finale, good as it was, was far from perfect, and there are many glaring issues, from character retcons, to unexplored lore, lack of nuance, and several other issues. I am by no means an expert writer, and I have nothing but respect for Dana and her team. I give them the benefit of the doubt because we all know corporate disney has given them much trouble in making this show. So here is how I would rewrite the finale. Keep in mind some of the stuff I mention may not be feasible to include even if the writers wanted to put them into the story.

The special starts out with Luz, Eda, King, the Hexsquad, Camila, and the Collector watching as Belos possesses the Titan, and they narrowly escape the now deserted archives as Belos destroys it with his new body. The Collector explains via a flashback that he told Belos titan hearts can continue to beat long after they die (I find it hard to believe only Belos knew what the Titan's heart and the rest of the isles didn't) and that Titans are technically stronger than Collectors, even being immune to the star species. Belos wanted to use the Draining spell as his first plan because he believed possessing the Titan wouldn't be as effective (In this rewrite, I headcanon that the Draining Spell would have concentrated all magic and used it to destory the demon realm planet, as in canon, Belos' plan was just to kill everyone with sigils) and he made the Titan plan his plan B.

Having gotten to the heart during the previous special, Belos managed to possess the titan. The Collector attempts to try and get through to Belos using kindness and forgiveness like in canon, and like in canon, Belos takes advantage of this to try and destroy the Collector. Luz and King both fly up to intercept the shot and are knocked to the ground, both presumed dead and covered in the ever growing Belos-fungus. Luz and King's friends and family angrily try to stop Belos, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, Luz and King's souls end up in the In-Between realm, where they meet Papa Titan. The Titan explains while they are dead, their souls have not yet submerged in the In-Between liquid, and thus, have not fully passed on, giving them a chance to heal their bodies and return their souls to them.

When Papa T imprisoned the Collector, the force of the spell burned his body away, killing him, though his heart managed to remain intact, and is still beating, thus, making him technically still alive. He is now tethered between life and death, and his soul, like all souls, has passed to the In-Between, a type of realm that acts as the glue for other realms, like the frosting on a cake. Papa T has been able to use the strange boxes to watch over King. He explains the cubes are the Collector's magic. When he trapped the Collector, he used the speaking tablets the Collector gave him as a catalyst, and when the Collector got imprisoned, some of the magic inside the tablets leaked into the In-Between and formed the cubes. Frustratingly, Luz, King, and Papa T aren't 'alive' enough to use the cubes to speak to people, only watch.

After hearing how the Titan took his anger out on the Collector, she nervously asks if they are as bad as Belos. The Titan, decides he can't sugarcoat the harsh truth and asks Luz rhetorically if Amity's decision to bully Willow was justified because she was protecting her, or that Lilith shouldn't face consequences for ruining Eda's life just because she didn't think things would get so bad, or that Hunter should receive death like Belos because he thought he was doing the right thing.

Papa T explains that while Belos' desire to save humanity from witches comes from a genuine place (This is one of my biggest gripes with the finale. The show went out of it's way to hint that Belos and Caleb might have had a complex and interesting story, only to never answer any of the questions fully outside of vague, second hand tales, and reduce Belos to a hate sink. Belos needs to be stopped but acknowledging the nuance and complexity of a character is not the same as excusing their actions), his belief that he is doing good means his actions are justified. Belos is an extremist, and anyone can become like him if they believe their goals are noble enough to excuse their actions.

This strikes a chord with Luz, who has been conflicted with guilt over leaving her mother, as well as her other past actions. King's soul then starts to glow, and Papa T explains Belos inadvertently sealed his fate. Baby titans like King have a special adaption where when they are on the verge of death, or get extremely hurt, their bodies activate a special Titan adrenaline rush, that makes them grow and able to use magic for a short time. King embraces his dad and his soul leaves the inbetween as it returns to his body. King can use his temporary powers to heal Luz so she can lead the fight against Belos, and destory the heart, ending Belos' possession of the Titan.

Luz is worried that she will never be able to stop Belos because she doesn't have any innate magical abilites. The Titan assures her she never needed any innate abilities. The Titan then reveals because he is dead, he never had any control over the glyphs, and thus, couldn't reveal them to her. He certainly never would have let Belos find them. Luz and Belos found them all on their own, but Luz found them faster because Belos never took the time to look for them, and actively feared the magic of the Isles (My headcanon is that Belos etched Glyphs onto his body as a reminder to himself that the glyphs were unholy magic, and only brought suffering to mankind). Luz's confidence is brought up, and her soul is brought back to her body as it is healed by King.

Back on the isles, King reawakens in a burst of energy, and heals Luz, before growing to massive size as he begins to wrestle the massive form of Belos. Luz informs her shocked and very relieved family and friends that King won't be able to restrain Belos forever, and explains they need to destroy the heart.

While Luz and her allies fly to the heart, the Collector, humbled by his inability to heal Luz and King, as well as his lesson on empathy and ethics, is unable to use his magic to fight Titan Belos, so he goes around the isles to protect the freed citizens. With Belos distracted wrestling King, the citizens of the isles rally and begin fighting the infection of Belos-fungus (This could be a nice scene for all the minor background and fan favorite characters like the Blight Twins, Viney, Skara, etc. to do something). This keeps Belos even more distracted as Luz and her friends make their way to the heart.

At the heart, Luz's allies help her distract Belos and she manages to slap a light glyph on the heart, destroying it, and all the remaining Belos fungus. The castle collapses around them, but everyone is saved by Hooty, who coils around everyone, shielding them from the debris. As the last of the Belos fungus is wiped away, King returns to his normal size, and everyone embraces.

But they notice a tiny bit of Belos glop, and corner it, a hissing, furious, Belos tries to possess someone else, but he is trapped. The Collector has a fitting idea for what to do with Belos, and they trap him in the In-Between. (I found Belos' defeat unsatifying, as it unintentionally makes him a martyr by his standards. It also doesn't allow Hunter to get any last moments with his abuser outside of the fight in Thanks to Them, but this feels more karmic to me, as Belos reneged on his deal to free the Collector).

The Collector agrees to stay around, unlike in canon, so he can help fix the damage he caused. He is living with Eda and King, and spends time helping to repair damaged buildings, and he is forming a budding friendship with Hunter and Lilith, too, who are also helping to rebuild the isles.

Luz and Camila also reconcile, and Luz begins to move past her black and white worldview. Camila allows Luz to spend time with her friends and visit the isles, but to take her life on Earth seriously too. The finale ends with the timeskip, as Luz celebrates her Quinceanera with her new friends and family.

#the owl house #toh salt #toh #toh critical #toh criticism

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headspacedad · 10 months

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You seem to know a lot about bunny behavior. My friend's bunny as a kid was allowed to roam her living room sometimes. It would specifically go up to people who were laying down, turn its back on them, and then do this very hard kick/launch thing off the top of their head. It seemed to do it more to some people than others qnd absolutely never to her little sister. We just assumed it was being mean, is there some sort of bunny code it was trying to communicate? It also liked biting people's earlobes and staring into the birdcage for hours so it wasn't exactly the most normal animal.

Thanks for the faith! I mostly just know about rabbits via living with some very opinionated ones over the years. Sounds like your friend had a very opinionated one as well and it was absolutely saying something with its flying launches.

What it was saying is a little harder to parse without knowing the details but I'll give it a shot.

There are two potential reasons I could see a rabbit doing that. One - them's fighting words or two - for play. It really comes down to context, which you have more of than me so I'll leave you to be the judge of which it might have been.

Rabbits are pretty social little critters. They'll pick up social interactions from their surroundings, especially if they're the only bunny around. Jumping around and at each other is a rabbit form of play (and courtship)

the rabbits in the above gif are courting. It could be that her rabbit was playing with the people they were launching off of (or courting them). I'm not sure how much rabbits divide up human bodies into different entities in their minds but a human head is about the same size as a rabbit, makes all the noises and is, at least in my case, often kissing and nuzzling them. They could have seen people's heads as something rabbitish enough to want to try to engage in play with. Excited rabbits love to dart, jump, leap and otherwise be energetic and interactive if they like the people around them and feel safe in the environment. Her rabbit could have been trying to find a middle ground between what passes for a rabbit's playtime and whatever kind of weird stuff humans' would count as play time.

Or the rabbit could have been feeling territorial and been kicking to establish their dominance. Put that ugly weird shaped rabbit on notice that it wasn't the boss of the place. Not necessarily mean, just feeling the need to be bossy.

Off the top of my head? Since the people were laying down and the rabbit was seeking them out and then launching off of them, it sounds more like playing. But it really comes down to context and how the rabbit was acting before and after the launch as well as whether it saw the human rocket pad as threatening or not.

As for nibbling the earlobes - sometimes bunnies forget that humans don't have fur and their grooming gets a bit too aggressive. Sometimes they see something that just needs biting. Sometimes they nip to tell someone to back off, they've had enough attention for now. Sam's got a bad habit of nipping my butt if I'm sitting in what he thinks is the way of his traffic pattern. Also I think he likes the way it makes me jump.

Considering I also sit in front of a computer screen and stare at it for hours I can't really judge what a bunny does in their downtime with a birdcage but I will add that a lot of rabbits sleep with their eyes open, so maybe it was napping. Maybe it was watching its daily soap opera. The mind of a bun can been pretty unfathomable sometimes.

Thanks for sending me this ask! I love talking about bunnies and their strange behavior. It's nice to get a question I can dig down into and have fun with. You've made me very happy and enriched my environment so thank you! I hope your day/night is as awesome as you are!

#rabbit #bunblr #bunny #language of lagamorphs #rabbitube #answering asks #bunny behavior #rabbits #bunnies #okay to reblog

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chaos0pikachu · 7 months

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okay, so, regarding this post -> https://www.tumblr.com/chaos0pikachu/730266845520805888?source=share and your tags on it i just wanted to say that i've had similar thoughts while watching; like, i don't interact with the fanbase too much - i don't go into the tag for example - so i can't completely speak to that but the way the show treats Boston not wanting a monogamous romantic relationship is bizarre to me, this constant judgement towards him not wanting to date, calling him cold and uncaring, and overall acting like he needs that kind of relationship.....and just, huh? what makes it worse (to me, anyway) is that the "mouthpiece" for this is mostly Cheum for some reason? the only woman who is more than just "the bartender" or "the girlfriend", i don't know, i don't like it

i have more thoughts on this but this is already enough rambly thoughts to drop in somebody's inbox + putting thoughts into coherent writing is my enemy, aksisosisi, hope you have a great day <3

So I'ma say something potentially controversial but whatever time to let the chaos freak flag fly and all that shit.

I think Only Friends is strangely puritanical all things considered. I was talking with a mutual the other day about this, how Mew ended up "corrupted" in a sense after his first experience with sex went sour via Top's cheating/Boston's friend betrayal, and his "corruption" as a character that follows that betrayal is him hooking up with people, and having non-monogamous sex. Like, Top and Boston hurt Mew, no doubt, but his "villain era" as it were is all tied into sex now; using sex as power. He hooks up with Drake to get access to Boston's revenge porn, then uses that revenge porn as "punishment" against Boston by threatening to show his father. He makes out with Ray as a means to "punish" Top, it's not "sex" in the traditional sense, but it's dangling the possibility that he's going to have sex with Ray - someone Top has historically been jealous of and has disliked - as a means of punishment.

The thoroughline here is Boston and Top are being "punished" for their sexual indiscretion, Mew's newfound power is using sex as a means of retribution, and the endgame would be Top finding redemption in his "love" for Mew and Mew either learning to forgive him or learning to move on from him; either way the endgame is monogamy opposed to non-monogamy. Monogamy will "heal/cure" Top who has found solace and growth in falling in love with Mew, while Mew will go back to his "real" personality - one that doesn't revel in tormenting others, and acting self-destructive - once they go back to monogamy and give up casual sex with others.

At this point, I'm only half blaming fandom for these takes b/c the show is reinforcing them. Boston's flaws are all tied to his "whoring" rather than anything with more nuance. Does Boston act out b/c his father mistreat him? Does Boston just not want to be monogamous and is frustrated people - including his friends!! - constantly slut shame him for it (but for some reason don't slut shame Ray who is also having casual sex BUT is romantically in love with Mew meaning Ray would give up casual sex if it meant he could have Mew while Boston actively doesn't WANT a romantic relationship)? Lol nope, no further nuance for Boston he's just an evil slut.

Which would also even be fine IF there was some contrast to balance it out. Like, if Sand, who is probably the most well adjusted of the characters had casual sex and preferred non-monogamy. But we all know Ray and Sand are endgame (which is a different problem I have that's more Wastonian than Sherlockian). Their endgame is the ending of casual fwb sex and entering a "real" relationship. Top and Mew are probably on the same path as well. Top no longer wants casual sex he wants a "real" relationship with Mew, he's fuckboi ways are cured! All his boundary pushing, and inconsideration of Mew are all gone now b/c Top was cured by Mew's bussy in their dry toast first time.

Chuem is supposed to be the shows Voice of Reason, she's acting as an audience surrogate; when she says Top is trying we're supposed to take her words at face value, when she says drugs are bad for Ray we're supposed to agree with her, when she calls Boston a whore we're supposed to believe he is, a whore (derogatory).

I've seen a lot of people say we have to "have trust in Jojo". Idk why. Firstly, Jojo isn't even the only writer or director on the show. Den (War of Y, Playboyy) and Best (Moonlight Chicken, Bad Buddy, Never Let Me Go) are fellow screenwriters and I honestly think all 3 of their writing styles aren't meshing well together. There's also another director on staff as well. This isn't Jojo's show wholly.

Second, I haven't watched The Warp Effect, or 3 Will Be Free, or Never Let Me go. Thirdly, even the best directors and screenwriters have flops, you follow someone's career enough they will make a flop it just is what it is no one bats 100 all the time.

In the end, what I'm getting from Only Friends is the root cause for all the drama isn't things like selfishness, or inconsideration of others it's sex, specifically non-monogamous sex. It showcases itself in the development of Top and Mew's relationship, and also in Boston's char - if Boston wasn't such a whore maybe people wouldn't make sex tapes of him without his knowledge, why else would he be punished with them later? We're supposed to view Mew's actions as justified (and fandom does!) and see Boston hooking up with Top as a greater violation than Mew threatening to show Boston's dad his revenge porn! - And I find that really puritanical.

Now, I'm gonna give the show SOME grace b/c things could turn around depending on the ending. Like I think this is a show I won't 100% have a fully rounded opinion on until the end, so this is how I feel as of right now. It could change, and I hope it does.

#chaos pikachu speaks #why would I say something so controversial yet so brave.png

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000yul · 6 months

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so i love the ak lonetrail event. i really do. this isn't a post about it but reading it did prompt me to think about a bunch of things

this is more about how strange i feel when i read fictional stories about fictional scientists, and sometimes they're celebratory stories, but much more often they're stories about hubris, how science has gone too far.... and regardless, i'll see responses to the story that are like.. damn.. science/scientists powerful!!!! woah!!!!!!

and whether people are saying that positively or negatively—either can make sense in context, i'm not really criticising these responses—it feels so strange, seeing the state of science irl. i've kinda been in and around a bunch of STEM institutions, briefly debated joining academia, still kinda do vaguely researchy things sometimes, still know a lot of people in STEM... and among my friends and I there's been this sense of disillusionment. not just in the sense of oh, science is being used for terrible things (there's plenty of that, yes, and that IS important, but)—also the sense of. wow. there sure are a lotta .... plain ass fraudsters.....

it's this latter thing that's giving me so much dissonance when i read scifi these days. in fiction: scientists are punching holes in the sky! irl, well. two scientists are suspected of separately, independently, falsifying data... in their papers about honesty. you can't make this shit up. the entire field of psychology has been going through a crisis because so many results are just not reproducible. knowledge be damned when there's a publication count to worry about. (not to single out psych as a field, i think it's a bigger problem than that.) on the tech side, crypto... exists, and we are all the worse for how much time it's collectively wasted, that's the nicest thing you could even say about it. and even apart from crypto, silicon valley isn't really driven by tech, or engineering—like the tech is there but that's not what's pushing things along, it's money doing that. not any pretty ideal like the "pure pursuit of knowledge/invention." just the next shiny grift that can shake ass well enough, speaking the right buzzwords to get that sweet sweet VC dollar. and then starve some existing industry via attrition, and cash out when everything's in ruins.

i don't mean to exaggerate how doomed things are. i still work in stem, and i do think there's plenty of good to be found still. but when i think about how the fraudsters hide behind this Science! Wow! trope, and how they invoke the image of genius for their own actions it's just. wow. "omg science" starts ringing hollow, in that way where if you see a word too much it starts not looking like a word any more?

fiction about these dull, basic bitch kinds of hustlers is maybe less entertaining than the ones about super smart scientists/inventors, i get that. but it's probably a good thing to just keep in the back of the mind, to, idk, watch out for the people who'd really love for you to believe they're sooo hypercompetent.

just like in the stories.

#just thoughts i had to get out of my head........man #messy... messy thoughts hardly organised at all #just so frustrated #man.#separately tho related i despise the genius trope. presented uncritically i think its responsible for a lot of unnecessary imposter syndrom

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doevademe · 1 year

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Sweet sappy prompt: it’s been a few years since Percy and Nico have seen each other, they talk sometimes via iris messages but haven’t actually seen each other face to face. Nico has been off doing whatever chore Hades makes him do and Per y has been trying(and failing) to live a semi normal life, including learning how to braid his now four year old sister’s hair. One day Nico pops in saying that he is going to need him for a quest in a few days and Sally and Paul force Nico to stay over in the mean time. Nico sees Estelle’s braids and compliments Sally, only for him to be surprised that it was Percy. Right before they go on their quest, Nico asks Percy if he can braid his hair since he has been so busy that he hasn’t cut it in a while and it got fairly long. They both don’t know why they are so embarrassed or why their hearts are racing so much over braiding hair.

It was strange how life worked out. When he was 16, he never thought he'd ever truly get close to Nico di Angelo, and that his friendships with other demigods would be forever. Yet, here he was, 22, a college dropout working as a cashier and still living with his parents and dealing with monster attacks every week or so. Most of his friends had moved on and had their own lives now (or in Annabeth's case, were too pissed by his dropping out and their break up to keep contact).

The only person from his past he talked regularly with was Nico.

He knew he was mostly a dead man switch, though. Nico would call twice a week. If he didn't, it meant he was in trouble and Percy would go rescue him (not that it had ever happened).

Speaking of, Nico was supposed to call that day, wasn't he? Percy wondered if something happened.

Well, nothing said he couldn't be the one to call for once, right?

Decided he opened the door to the apartment and almost had a heart attack.

Nico, in the flesh, was on the other side, looking serious.

"I need your help."

"Di Immortales!" Percy swore. "Give a heads up when you do that!"

"Nico, I'm done!" His younger sister called. "Come here!"

Nico sighed and turned around, putting on a soft smile as he sat by Estelle and her construction block tower.

"Impressive," he praised. Now that his back was to him, Percy noticed how long his hair had gotten. It reached below his shoulders. "It's almost as tall as you!"

Percy shook his head at his sister complaining about how tall she actually was and went to the kitchen, where his mother was finishing dinner.

"Hi, mom," he said and kissed his cheek. "How long has Nico been here?"

"Just an hour or so," she answered with a smile. "Said he needed to tell you something in person."

"Huh," he said. Now that was a surprise. "Need help with anything?"

"Just set the table, honey, I'm almost done."

Percy nodded and set to work. Nico was sitting at the table, resting while Paul took over playing with Estelle.

"She really knows hows how to tire people out, huh?" he teased. Nico grunted and opened an eye. "So, what do you need help with?"

"It's nothing dangerous," he said. "But it's a quest that kind of needs two people... I need to settle a dispute between two minor gods, but they won't speak directly to each other... Or to someone who spoke to the other. It's a mess."

"Couldn't you sent me an IM for it?" he asked. "Don't get me wrong, it's great to see you in person after so long, but this doesn't seem that urgent."

"One of the gods is Iris so..." Nico shrugged. "Anyways, the actual parlay will be tomorrow, so I just came to ask if you would help. I'll be on my way soon."

"Tomorrow, you say?" Sally's voice made them jump a bit. "Then please, stay. You can sleep in Percy's room!"

"That's really not—"

"I insist," his mom said in her cheery voice that left no space to argue. "It seems like you haven't had a decent meal in a while."

Nico turned to glance at him, but he just nodded encouragingly. It would be nice to have Nico around.

"Sure," he said. "It'll be my pleasure."

---

"Your hair is so pretty and long," Estelle said in wonder while they ate. "Mommy keeps mine short."

"Well, yours is much better kept than mine," Nico said. Percy would have never guessed his friend knew how to deal with children. "Your mom braided your hair so nicely."

Estelle giggled and shook her head, while their parents chuckled. Percy could only blush as he hid behind his fork.

"What?" Nico asked, bemused.

"Mommy didn't do that! It was Percy!" She said loudly. Nico turned to look at him and he tried his best to avoid his gaze.

"I... picked it up after dropping out of college," he muttered.

"Percy watched around 80 videos on it," Paul piped, making Percy shrink in embarrassment. "Fashion influencers, how to videos, I think even a mom youtuber."

"Okay, so I looked it up!" Percy exclaimed loudly. "I wanted to pitch in with my sister in some way while I got a job, sue me!"

"I'm just kidding," Paul said, raising his hands. "We appreciate you helping us with Estelle."

"Yeah, I love my braids!" the little girl declared. "No one does them like Percy!"

"Yeah, it's cute," Nico said, giving one of his rare, small smiles.

Now Percy was blushing for a whole other reason. Did Nico mean Estelle's braids or...?

"So, Nico, you were telling us about Lisbon?" Sally asked, sensing Percy's discomfort.

He sighed in relief as Nico went back to explaining his last quest, tracking missing souls through Portugal.

---

"Percy?" Nico whispered so low the son of Poseidon might have missed it if not for the fact that the inflatable mattress was right by his bed. "You awake?"

"Yup," Percy whispered back. To be honest, something about Nico being in his room made him too alert. He had been awake for an hour already.

"I was thinking... I don't look the part to mediate in a godly conflict, do I?"

Percy wanted to reassure Nico, but he had to admit he looked like a cross between a hobo and an 80s metalhead.

"Well..."

"I've been busy, okay?" He snapped. "I haven't had time to cut my hair. That I shampoo at all is a miracle as it is!"

"You were the one to bring it up, not me."

"Well, since you seem to be an expert I was wondering if... if you could braid my hair like you did with Estelle..."

Percy coughed. The request somehow felt personal... intimate.

"You sure?" he asked. "My only experience is my little sister, so I don't know how good it'll turn out."

"Anything's better than this," he said, pointing at his hair.

"A-alright," Percy said, swallowing. "Just... sit with your back to me, I'll do my best."

Nico obeyed him wordlessly. Percy's hands were trembling as he took the first strand of Nico's hair and started combing it with his fingers. The son of Hades tensed for a second before relaxing.

As Percy worked, he couldn't help but think of how different this felt from when he did it to his sister. It felt like Nico was letting him inside in a way he never allowed anyone else.

It made him feel special. Like he was showing Nico how much he... cherished him, or something.

The seconds became minutes as Percy worked on Nico's hair, his heartbeat increasing every time Nico sighed or moved.

What was happening to him?

"There, done," he forced himself to say after a while. Nico stood up and saw himself on the mirror Percy had on his desk that he never used.

Nico reminded Percy of those statues of young, beautiful men from Ancient Greece, and Percy couldn't help but think no one would doubt the existence of demigods if they saw Nico right then.

"How do I look?" He asked uncertainly. And Percy could feel his heart pick up the pace like he was running the marathon.

Percy tried to shake his head, to get a clear head. It was still Nico, his friend, the guy who once said he was not his type. Even if he was feeling... something. This was something that had no future!.

"Perfect," he still said, because there was no other word to describe Nico.

The son of Hades smiled gratefully, and Percy knew he was lost.

#Percico #my writing #writing prompt #ask #heroichalfblood #this one's longer than usual #that's why it took so long #hope it's enjoyable!

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ask-healthy-light · 2 months

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Fortunately, her Mother's compassionate and calming words helped Nox to calm down again, and a warm smile swiftly grew upon her face as she thanked Luna for her kindness, promising her that she would find a way; but since speaking through the Void was still the easiest option for now, Nox said that she would practice, even if only with small scraps of paper, before she sent her a letter that way.

At that moment, Luna was snapped out of her focus when Frost stirred around, as Lord Shining walked into the Great Hall again, bearing his weapons, and wearing thick protective clothing over a set of golden armour; and Luna discreetly peered over Frost's shoulder as Shining greeted the others, when she saw Young Twila, wearing a sombre expression on her little face, weakly holding on to his back.

Closely following Father and Daughter was Lady Cadance, who was carefully holding a sleeping Flurry Heart in her arms, who was the only member of the Crystal Royal Family still wearing a smile on her face; for even from where Luna sat, she could see how red Cadance's eyes were, and how stained with tears her face was, and she sighed as she embraced Frost even more tightly, and spoke to Nox again.

Although she tried her upmost best to not be affected by the despair she saw on Cadance's face, the mood in the entire Hall had fallen so drastically and quickly that Luna could not hold back her own tears; and she only narrowly managed to break through her own unfounded grief to tell Nox about the Royals, and she politely told her to look after each other, regardless of what had happened before.

Even through the Void, Nox could hear that her Mother's voice was breaking, and only after she took a deep breath did she promise to protect Shining, to which Luna immediately apologised, and replied that she was not clear enough; for she did not mean that she needed to look after him, but instead, she sweetly asked her, Inferno, Light, Boom, and even Courage, to all take good care of each other.

After a moment of thought, Luna sighed deeply again, and admitted that she knew there had been much hostility between her friends and the Crystal Royals, and Light and Cadance in particular, but even they could only handle so much; so she kindly asked Nox, and Light, whom she hoped was able to hear her voice, to leave any hard feelings behind them, and to look after everyone else unconditionally.

When Light did not respond to her Mother's words, however, Nox briefly looked at them, only to find that they were calmly and quietly speaking with Inferno, and even though she did not know what they were talking about, she warmly smiled, and turned away again; and she told Luna that she would talk to Light, and Boom, too, whenever they met up with him again, about what she had requested of them.

But they had yet to hear back from Boom since they left the cave, and now it was clear that Shining Armour was nearly ready to go, it was getting increasingly more challenging to organise everything; for they had to balance the speed at which they travelled East, to meet Boom, with their secrecy in this strange and hostile area, all while also communicating with Shining, without Cadance noticing.

Only then did Luna realise how complicated this entire situation was, since even her own Sister was unaware of how much she knew through Nox, who knew via Light, then from Spike, Twilight, and Solar, then to Celestia at last; so after she let out a deep sigh, Luna told Nox that they should leave to head East as soon as they could, before she added that she would speak to Celestia in the meantime.

With some luck, they would meet Boom again before Shining had even left the Empire, and he would be able to create a gateway for him to step through to the Dragon Lands, which she was certain Shining would appreciate very much; for he would first have to travel through the terrible winds outside of the Empire, and the faster he could make it to the relative safety of the Dragon Lands, the better.

After these last words, Mother and Daughter wished each other the best, and said goodbye for now.

North of where Nox was, Boom was close to his destination, hoping that it was not for naught…

(Thanks for reading! And if you enjoyed, please reblog! Thanks in advance!)

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Featuring: Nox Lunarwing from @nox-lunarwing Princess Twila from @twila-bloggin Solar Eclipse and Twilight Sparkle as Twilight Eclipse from @asktwilighteclipse Boomlord from @thedumbguywithaheart43

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