WIP WHENEVER

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

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

Writing // Worldbuilding

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

Gan

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

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

Yakov

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

Gregori

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

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

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

Anna

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

Anatoly

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

unnamed_chromed_up_terrifying_SovOil_Secret_Police_agent

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

Robert Walker

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

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

Art

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

Aon and Tolik - 2055

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

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

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

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

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

A Vigilant Eye

Pairing: Éomer and his OC wife Mereliss (That translates roughly to “famously kind”. There’s more about her here, where she first appeared in the form of the “reader” character.)

Summary: Our king of Rohan stubbornly refuses to acknowledge a riding injury, but his wife is not going to let him get away that. This is as close to anything smutty as I’ll ever write—that is to say, it’s not really smutty at all in the actual sense, but it’s headed that way and you’re certainly free to imagine where it goes from here!

“Have you not earned yourself a break? I don’t think you’ve moved from that desk since I left here hours ago.”

Mereliss looked up from a stack of papers to see Éomer standing in the bedroom doorway, leaning against the frame and watching her with a wry smile on his face.

“I could ask something similar of you, as you have spent all of those same hours on your feet dealing with one problem or another.” She dropped her pen on the desk and leaned back to stretch. “Are you finished for the day?”

“Unfortunately, no.” He walked over to plant a quick kiss on the top of his wife’s head. “I have only a few minutes to change my boots before Hildred and I are due to inspect the new earthworks outside the main gate.”

He went to collect his riding boots from the closet, and as he walked she took note of the small hitch in his step that had been developing over the past few weeks. He would never admit to being in pain–it was against his nature to be perceived as complaining, no matter how legitimate the reason–and so far the effect was subtle enough to escape the eye of a casual observer. But Mereliss’s attention was far from casual when it came to Éomer. She knew every inch of his body better than she knew her own, and she watched over his health and well being with the vigilance of one who protects a priceless treasure. She had asked him about this slight limp two weeks ago, and he insisted that it would go away soon. But, if anything, it seemed to her a little worse now. She stood and followed him across the room.

“I cannot help but notice that your hip still troubles you. You spend so much time in the saddle, perhaps you should take a few days’ break from riding and allow it some rest.”

He scoffed. “There is nothing wrong with my hip, and certainly nothing that would make me unable to carry out my duties.”

He grabbed a pair of boots and moved toward a chair to put them on, but she stepped into his path and blocked his way.

“I never said that you were unable to carry out your duties. I am merely proposing that a short period of rest might help you to see to those duties more comfortably in the days ahead.”

He attempted to step around her, but she moved sideways in tandem with him. When a second step also failed to circumvent her, he frowned.

“I am comfortable enough already.”

“The way that you walk suggests otherwise. And if you do not take better care of yourself, it will only continue to get worse with time.”

He blew out a frustrated breath and raked his hair out of his face. “As I have told you before, it is nothing to be overly concerned about.” He put a hand on her shoulder and looked directly into her eyes. “You needn’t worry about me. I promise.”

She arched an eyebrow. His stubbornness was legendary, but she had learned her own counter maneuvers over the years. She could be very persuasive when she set her mind to it, and she had no intention of letting this particular issue go.

She pulled his hand from her shoulder and wrapped it around her waist instead, pressing in close to him and running her own hand up his spine to the nape of his neck. He inhaled sharply.

“Very well,” she said. “But if you refuse my advice to rest your hip for the day, then surely you would not also deny me just a few moments to attend to it myself?” Standing on her toes, she brushed her lips lightly across his and looked up at him plaintively from beneath her lashes.

He laughed, almost a nervous giggle. “Mereliss, I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work. I have many things still to do this afternoon.”

“Of course you do,” she murmured. “So do I. Just say the word, then, and I’ll step aside and we will both go about our business. Or…”. She snaked her free hand down and pulled the riding boots from his grip, dropping them to the floor with a thud. “You could stay here for a few more minutes and allow me to help you feel better.” The hand trailed slowly back up the inside of his leg.

“Mere, Hildred is expecting me.” Even as he protested, he leaned down to nestle his chin into the crook of her neck, breathing in the sweet floral scent of her hair. “He is waiting as we speak.”

“Oh, that is no cause for concern.” She pulled his shirt from his waistband and slid her hand underneath the fabric and onto his bare skin. “If I know Hildred, he is happily chatting up whatever woman happens to be nearby, and he’ll be glad for the extra time.” She pushed forward, her body against his chest and thighs propelling him backward step by step until his legs made contact with the edge of their bed. “Besides, it will ease my heart to lessen your pain, and a little tardiness can be forgiven if it is necessary to please your wife. Don’t you agree?” She pressed her lips to his jaw, to the dimple on his right cheek, to the corner of his mouth.

He turned his head ever so slightly to meet her lips, and she knew then that she had succeeded and he would do anything that she asked of him. Breaking their kiss, she grabbed his waist with both hands and slowly turned him around. “Lay face down for me,” she whispered into his ear. He looked over his shoulder at her, one heavy brow drawn up in surprise, but she shook her head. “Just do as I ask.”

He climbed onto the bed, face down, and she clambered up after him, shifting her skirt so that she could sit astride the back of his thighs.

“Mereliss, what are you—”. His question was cut short by the deep, guttural moan that escaped his lips as soon as she sank her fingers into the muscles around his left hip.

“Now is that a good moan, or a bad moan?” She already knew the answer, but she would enjoy hearing it nonetheless.

“It’s good,” came the muffled reply, his face buried in the mattress while his hands clung tightly to fistfuls of the sheets. “Very good.”

She smiled and set about working her way methodically through all of the tense, rigid muscles in his hip and lower back, alternating between light circular motions and smooth, deep arcs. The more she worked, the more she felt the rigidity start to give way until eventually the whole area was soft and pliant beneath her fingertips and his occasional grunts or groans sounded less of desperately needed relief and more of contented enjoyment.

When she was at last satisfied that he would be able to walk and ride that day with little or no pain, she lay forward onto his back and tucked her chin over his shoulder. “Éomer King, you are released now from my care and may go about your duties for the rest of the day as needed.”

He turned his head to look at her from the corner of his eye. “You know, it’s very strange, but all of the sudden I can’t seem to recall any duties.” He reached an arm back and put a hand on her leg.

“Oh, allow me to refresh your memory. Hildred is waiting for you to go to the earthworks.” Smirking, she put her hand atop his and moved it further up her thigh. “You’re already late.”

A low rumble came from his chest, and he suddenly rolled beneath her. In an instant, they had somehow reversed positions, and she was on her back below him, the weight of his body pressing her down into the soft sheets. He tucked a few curls behind her ear and smiled at her. “Well, fortunately, a very wise woman once told me that a little tardiness can be forgiven if it is necessary to please my wife.”

Unlikely Wingman

Relationship: Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Reader, Jake “Hangman” Seresin x Jolene Seresin OC

Fandom: Top Gun: Maverick

Request: No

Warnings: Fluff, Mentions of blood and injury, Mentions of past bad ex’s

Word Count: 4,052

Main Masterlist: Here

Top Gun Masterlist: Here

Read Part One: Baby Girl

Summary: A single dad and a single mom walk into a park…

It was Jake’s one day off this week. This whole week was long; hops, classes, and paperwork piled up. But thankfully, today was the day he could spend with his daughter. Jolene was growing up so fast; it was hard to believe that she was about to celebrate her 5th birthday and go off to kindergarten. He didn’t want to think about that, but he did. He thought about his daughter going off and joining school. All the friends she would make, and how much she would learn. He couldn’t wait to see all the art projects, and yet, he was terrified. What if she didn’t like school? What if she got sick or hurt? What if she got sick or hurt and he was in the air or on a mission and he couldn’t get to her? All the what ifs ran through his mind, but was only brought out of it by his princess stopping in front of him. She held her favorite running around shoes in her tiny hands and put them up to Jake’s reach.

“Daddy, can you hewp pwease?” She asked, sweetly smiling up at him. He was so proud of his little girl. She always made sure to use her manners, and ask for things nicely. He couldn’t believe that he was raising a tiny human that would soon go forth into the world.

“Of course princess. Come here.” Jake knelt down, and propped her shoes up on his knee. He laced them up quietly as he observed his girl’s choice of outfit. She was in her pretty dresses phase; she always wanted to be wearing a pretty dress. But she made sure she was wearing a set of shorts underneath, which pleased Jake. She was really smart and aware for being four years old.

It felt like yesterday he was getting her on a plane to fly her out to California. So much had happened in that time that Jake couldn’t even wrap his head around. The Dagger team got stationed together in Fightertown. Apparently the Navy didn’t want to split up the team made of the best of the best. They occasionally had small missions away from Fightertown, but that was their home base. Maverick and Bob had been the two that would watch Jolene when he was in the air or had to stay late with paperwork, but he tried to take paperwork home. Phoenix made sure to teach her things that only a woman could, which Jake was thankful for. She also taught him how to do different hairstyles and how to get better at them.

Coyote, Fanboy, Payback, and Rooster were the fun uncles. The kind that would pick her up from school and take her for ice cream just because it was a Tuesday. Their little dysfunctional team has really helped Jake adjust to his life as a single father. He never imagined himself in that position but he couldn’t be happier to be one. Right now, he was getting his little lady ready for a day at the park. The schedule was simple. Go to the park and stay there for a few hours. Go get some lunch out at their favorite pizza parlor which also happened to sell their favorite gelato. And end the day at Uncle Bob’s house because Bob’s sister and niece and nephews were in town. A simple and easy day for them before he had to go back to work for a few days.

On the way to the park, Jake threw on some country hits that his daughter had fallen in love with. She just simply couldn’t have a good day unless she heard Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton. She defiantly was his daughter. They belted out tunes, while Jake periodically sipped his coffee. One of his favorite liberties of being in the civilian world was the coffee. He had so many more options than he did on the bases. The park came into view and he could feel Jolene get excited.

“Alright, alright darlin’. Calm down just a minute. You’re jumpin’ like a dog. I can’t get you out if you don’t stop that wigglin’.” Jake tried to get out but he kept laughing. Jolene was so excited to go that she was making it take longer to get out of the truck.

“Come on daddy!! Let’s go!” Jolene exclaimed as she finally made it out of the truck. He only laughed and made her wait as he got the bag from the other side of the back seat. When the doors were finally closed, father and daughter walked hand in hand towards the park. Jake found a spot on a bench where he could see the majority of the park’s play equipment. He could see through some of the equipment which definitely helped when it came to keeping an eye on his surroundings. He made Jolene applied an adequate amount of sunscreen before letting her go play.

“Stay within my line of vision please baby girl. If you can’t see me, daddy can’t see you. Now go have fun okay? I’ll come join you in a bit.” Jake pressed a kiss to her cheek and let her go run around. The late morning air felt wonderful. July was a really nice time of year in California and the breeze that accompanied the morning added to his relaxation. With aviators on, Jake pulled a book out of the bag he packed and began to read. Every few words, he’d look up to check on Jolene, but she always stayed where he could see her. His coffee was sitting comfortably next to him as he simply enjoyed the day that he had. While his job made it a bit difficult sometimes to be a father, much less a single one, they made it work.

Jolene was very understanding that her daddy was going to be gone for long stretches of time occasionally. And for that he was thankful. But he’ll never forget the first deployment he had with Jolene.

~

“Baby, I gotta go okay? But Auntie Phoenix is gonna take real good care of you.” Jake said, holding Jolene who had tears in her eyes. This was the first time Jake was going to be gone for longer than a couple days.

“But…b-b-but daddy. You gonna come ba-ack right?” She asked while her voice got choked up with a sob. Jake felt his heart break and he pulled his daughter into his arms. Phoenix was behind them, standing in her threshold of her on base apartment. She specifically cleared out her guest room for the little girl. She watched the heart touching scene, feeling her own heart break at the little girl.

“I’m gonna come right back baby girl, okay. But I need you to stay with Auntie Phoenix for me please. I’ll be back before you know it. But daddy needs to go, okay? Daddy has to go.” As Jake started to pull away from his little girl, she started sobbing. Full on, heart wrenching, sobbing. She kept crying out for Jake and he had to force himself away from her. Natasha came up behind Jolene and picked her up while she kept reaching out for her daddy. Jake felt tears come to his eyes while Natasha turned Jolene to sob into her neck instead.

“I’ll send you pictures and updates. Go Hangman.” She said, delivering a pat on the arm to him. Jake leaned over and kissed his daughters head. She turned as quick as lightning to wrap her arms around Jake. The three of them stood there for a minute before Jake let go once more.

“Auntie Phoe is gonna take good care of you. I love you Jolene.” And with that he left his daughter in the arms of the woman he trusted most, besides his own family. Jake hopped into his truck, and took one last look at the girl he was leaving behind. Natasha lived on the ground floor, which made it easy for her to get into her home after long training days when she was sore and bruised. Phoenix waved goodbye to Hangman and went inside to quell the distraught girl she held in her arms.

Jake left for a three month deployment afterwards and it was torture for him. One of the things that made him be able to go to sleep at night was being able to go into his daughter’s room and make sure she was okay. But the updates from Natasha made the deployment better. Once he had been so lucky as to have enough cell service to have a video chat with the girls. Jolene was so happy to be able to hear Jake’s voice again, and the next day Phoenix said that was the best night’s sleep the girl had gotten in six weeks.

When he got home six weeks later, Jolene refused to let go of him. She held him tight when he came to pick her up, and only let go to drive back to their house. But when they got out of the truck, well, Jake had to carry his bags and Jolene when he entered the house. She held him while they ate dinner, and would start getting hysterical when he let go of her to put her down for sleep. He finally conceded and allowed her to sleep with him that first night back.

That had been almost two years ago and he had another three month deployment coming up shortly after Christmas. He wouldn’t be home for New Years, but at least he’d be home in time for her birthday in May. Hopefully this time would be easier than last deployment.

~

“Daddy!” Jake started running. His fatherly instinct simply taking over when he heard his daughter’s scream. He abandoned his book, drink, and bag. None of that mattered as he located his daughter with someone else near her. A boy who was laying down. As soon as he got over, Jolene let out a sigh of relief.

“Jo. What happened?” He asked kneeling down next to his daughter and the mystery boy.

“Well, um, me and Mike were playing and he missed his jump, and hit his head. Then he laid down and he keeps saying that he’s dizzy. I didn’t know what to do.” Jolene was scared about what happened to her new friend.

“Okay,” he responded before leaning over the boy, “Mike? Mike? Hey buddy can you see me? My name is Jake. I’m Jolene’s dad, and I’m also in the navy. Can I help you please?” He asked, keeping his voice soft and his words simple. He saw the boy open his eyes and nod, noticing the dazed look in the boys eyes.

“Okay bud. I’m just gonna check your head really quick okay? I just need to touch your head so I can make sure you don’t have a boo boo.” Mike nodded, and Jake placed his hands on the boys head. He found nothing at first, and then he felt his head get wet. When he pulled away, he noticed blood on his hands. Jolene gasped and turned away from the sight and that’s when Jake heard it.

“Mike? Mikey? Michael! Are you okay? Oh God.” She exclaimed loudly as she neared the trio. Jake looked up and saw her. A gorgeous young woman was coming near them.

“Is he okay? Mikey? Mike!” She pleaded that her son look at her but Jake gently pulled her hands away from his head.

“Miss, miss! Hey, I’m trained in first aid. I’m trying to help Mike but I need you to back up just a little bit.” By now a crowd has formed around the small group, which was exactly what Jake didn’t need right now. He felt around the back of the boy’s head yet again, trying to gage how big the cut is but he couldn’t be certain. It felt small but it could be big.

“Mike, I need you to open your eyes buddy. I need you to look at me.” The young boy opened his eyes with much struggle and Jake started his tests.

“Okay bud. I need you to follow my finger and answer some questions okay? Can you do that for me bud?” Jake asked; the boy still laying down.

“Otay.” He said quietly.

“Okay so just follow my finger,” and the boy trained his eye on the digit, “what’s your name?” The finger moved up and down.

“Michael Jones, sir.” He followed the finger.

“Okay, how old are you Michael?” The finger moved side to side.

“Um… four. I turn five soon.” Diligently, he followed the finger. Jake turned to the woman who was over his shoulder and she nodded, confirming the information.

“Okay little man, one more question. Do you know where you are?” Jake stopped moving his finger and pulled the child’s lids open gently. When he didn’t see any obvious signs of distress, he stopped and let the boy rest.

“Sun… sun glow park. My mommy’s here. Where’s my mommy?” He asked starting to get up and look around. The woman from beside him sprung forward.

“I’m right here baby. Are you okay?” She asked getting closer to her son and gently helping to raise him up. Jake gingerly helped her son up while double checking to make sure Jolene was still there and okay.

“I’m otay mommy. My head hurts.” Jake used this opportunity to take a better look at the back of his head. The cut was small, but head wounds bleed.

“Hey,” Jake grabbed the woman’s attention, “I have a first aid kit in my truck. Would you mind if I patched him up? I don’t see any signs of a concussion or any serious trauma so I think he just hit his head.” She nodded and picked her son up who clung to his mother. Jake dispersed the crowd that had gathered saying that the boy was just fine and it was nothing serious. Jake walked his daughter, and the mother and son over to his truck, stopping to pick up his items really quick. He threw that stuff in the back seat before moving to the truck bed and popped it. He saw the bright red bag and placed the boy on the edge and began to put a bandage over the cut.

“I know little man. I’m sorry.” Jake said after Mike hissed as the alcohol cleaned the blood away. Thankfully the bandage went on without a hitch.

“There you go little man. All patched up. Just gotta watch that noggin’ of yours better next time, mkay?” Jake asked, his voice lighter. Mike nodded eagerly but soon stopped as the area he cut became sore.

“Thank you,” his mother spoke up, “seriously. I’m really glad you were there. I don’t know what I’d do if something worse had happened or if you hadn’t been there mister…” she trailed off waiting for a name.

“Jake Seresin, naval aviator, ma’am.” She smiled at him, and gave him her name in return.

“And this is Mike, if you haven’t guessed. Is she yours?” The mother pointed to Jake’s daughter who stood slightly behind her father. Her red hair and green eyes were vibrant as ever. Jake placed and arm around her and pulled her in towards him.

“Yeah, this is Jolene. My baby girl. She’s actually the same age as Mike there.” Jake let go of Jolene who went to Mike immediately, while his mother stepped closer to Jake.

“I really do appreciate it. Mikey is my pride and joy and I was terrified when I saw him on the ground. How can I repay you?” She asked,looking straight into Jake’s eyes. Jake began to protest when he heard Jolene and Michael giggle to each other. Both parents looked over at their kids with smiles.

“What’s so funny, Red?” Jake asked of his daughter, which caused her to start laughing more.

“You like Miss. Jones. Just bring her to lunch with us.” Jake was stunned, as was Mike’s mother. And then, Jolene turned back to her conversation with Mike like nothing happened.

“Um, you’re totally okay to say no but would you like to come have lunch with us? We’re just going to D’Antonio’s around the corner if you’d like to join us. Seems the kids like each other.” Jake offered, suddenly feeling his neck heat up with a blush he hadn’t felt in a long time. Mike’s mother smiled at Jake.

“Yeah, I’d like that. It’ll at least give me an opportunity to pay you back for helping Mikey.” She said shyly, while looking to the kids.

“My momma would have my head if I let a woman pay for a meal in my presence. I’ll treat y’all to lunch.” Jake walked them back to their car, and then walked with Jolene back to his truck. They arrived at the restaurant, and got a table going while waiting on the mother and son duo. He saw them come through and stood up to pull her chair out.

“Wow. Southern gentleman.” She said with a hand over her heart, as she sat in her chair. Jake chuckled as their kids settled into the seats near their parents.

“You can thank my mom. She insisted on raising me proper.” He stated with a soft smile on his face. She returned his smile, and they helped the kids order. It felt very soft, and domestic. Something Jake wasn’t use to.

“So a naval aviator, huh? How’d you get into that?” She asked, setting Mike and Jolene up with some crayons and paper. Jake found it odd that she pulled it out of her bag that she had, but maybe it was because she had a young artist on her hands.

“Yes ma’am. It’s the best job in the world. And I get time with Jo so it’s a win win. What about you?” He asked politely, while the children were paying no attention to their adults.

“Oh I’m a teacher. I’m a military brat so I get the stress of the job. That’s actually why I’m a teacher. Some of my fondest memories on bases growing up were my teachers.” The young mother shyly explained. But Jake loved to hear her talk.

“Where- um what do you teach? Sorry you don’t have to tell me where you teach.” He had no clue why this woman was throwing his off his game. Normally, before Jolene came around, he was chasing skirts all over the place. It wasn’t a matter of if Jake Seresin was going home with someone, but who. But now this mother who happened to be a teacher was causing him to stumble over his words.

“I’m a second grade teacher on the nearby navy base. My dad was navy and we needed a change of scenery.” Right then, the pizza arrived and the parents dished out for their kids first. Jake made sure Jolene kept her napkin in her lap, while Mike’s mom made sure he chewed thoroughly.

“So where you do you work Jake? Being a naval aviator and all.” She questioned, and began to dig into her pizza.

“Well I uh- I actually also work at the nearby naval base. That’s where my team is stationed.” Jake explained; she listened eagerly. They continued to talk all through the afternoon, periodically breaking away to interact with their children. The more they talked, the more the two found that they loved talking with each other. She was impressed by this bachelor turned single father, working through all the trials and tribulations that he has to have his daughter.

“If it’s not too forward of me, where is Mikey’s father?” Her smile dropped, as did Jake’s.

“I’m sorry. That was too forward. Um.. how did you get into teaching?” Jake very quickly tried to change the subject. They young mother held a small smile as she shook her head.

“No, no. You’re fine. You told me about Jolene’s mom so it’s only fair. Umm…” she trailed of, looking over at Mike and Jolene. They were actively engaged in a very competitive game of Tic-Tac-Toe.

“It’s actually very similar to your situation I guess. I told his father I was pregnant, and he didn’t believe it was his. He accused me of cheating on him and he left. Come to find out he was cheating on me, and I think he’s now married to the mistress he knocked up. We divorced shortly after he left.” The calm way she explained everything made Jake’s heart ache. It was like she was use to it. Her smile had fallen by now and tears started to well up in her eyes. Jake reached across the table and placed his hand on top of hers. He saw her smile return and it made him feel better. The dad smiled back at her before he glanced down at his watch.

“Oh crap!” He exclaimed, grabbing Jolene’s attention.

“What is it daddy?” The young girl asked, pulling away from her games.

“We need to be gettin’ to Uncle Bob’s baby. You remember his niece and nephews are coming over. We need to get goin’ so we ain’t late baby girl.” Jolene started to pout, not wanting to leave her new friend but they already made the plans to go over.

“And Mikey isn’t there something that we need to go do before it closes?” His mother pointed at her watch.

“Library!” He exclaimed proudly. The adult smiled at his eagerness, and they began to get ready to leave.

“Jake, let me pay please. A thank you for taking care of Mikey today. Just give me the check.” She begged reaching out to take the piece of paper from the man. He yanked his hand back with a chuckle at her insistence.

“No. You ain’t payin’ for lunch on my watch,” she deflated at his words, “tell ya what, you can get next time.” She perked back up.

“Next time?” She asked hopefully. Jake smiled charmingly at her.

“Maybe next time could be dinner?” The look on her face was a mix of impressed, shock, and something Jake couldn’t quite pinpoint.

“What makes you think there’s going to be a dinner next time? Kind of sounds like a date Lieutenant.” She teased, and Jake smirked at her.

“Call it a gut feeling accompanied with your number.” Pure shock took over her face. She started to laugh, and Jake joined her.

“Alright. That was good. Give me your phone.” And they exchanged phone numbers. Jake paid the bill and the group left the restaurant. Jake walked Mike and his mother to their car. She helped her son into his seat and stood next to the driver’s side of the car.

“Thanks for today Jake. We had a great time.” She said, opening her car door.

“You’re welcome. I’m glad I could help out little man over there. And his momma isn’t too bad either.” Jake’s lip was caught between his teeth as he smiled at her.

“Well, this momma needs to get her boy to the library to check out our weekly books before they close. And you need to get your baby girl to her uncle’s house.” She said calmly and gently. She was just about to get into her car, when she stopped, and turned back to Jake. She reached up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. The laugh she let out at his blushing face triggered his own laugh and he began to take Jolene back to the truck. When they finally piled in, and buckled up, Jolene got her dad’s attention.

“Daddy, is Ms. Jones going to be my mommy?” She asked which startled Jake. He looked back at his daughter before turning back to the road, continuing on his way to Bob’s house.

“No baby. She’s just a friend, okay? Just a very good friend.” He continued to drive and enjoyed the peaceful drive till his daughter piped up again.

"Friends like you and uncle Cy, or friends like auntie Phoenix and uncle Chicken? Cause auntie Phoe and uncle Chicken sometimes have sleepovers when I stay there and they always smile at each other and touch each other."

"Wait what?!"

Gaming Thoughts - October 2023 - Xenoblade Chronicles X

Ever since the announcement of the Wii-U's internet being discontinued, I had found myself going back to this game after so many years. Also, knowing me as a small disclaimer, you may be seeing this game a bit from me as well. XD

I had actually picked up XCX back at Launch and played it quite a bit, but because things got busy and also there was a point that I was stuck in the game, I had put it down for a period of time and said that I would come back to working on it later when things calmed down a bit. Well...now became that later so I may be a little scrambling to get things in it somewhat gone through. At least get some of the online-only content in there at the least before it is no longer accessible. (I know that Pretendo could be an option in the future, but I'm not 100% confident on if they will be able to get XCX up and running through their service since looking at their roadmap it isn't quite a priority yet and also I just have great skepticism on fan projects of this large of a scale ever getting finished as well, so it is more or less a 'I'll believe it when I see it deal')

Though coming back to this game now, I've been enjoying it a LOT more now that I'm finally able to understand certain mechanics. The game does jack-shit to explain how some mechanics with the battle system works (ESPECIALLY Overdrive most of all) and the digital manual is like a pain for me to even go through as well (and why I miss physical manuals in games, dammit) either way, after a bit of research and such I've been finding myself highly enjoying it more and more now at this point. It already was my favourite game as it was even with how difficult it was being before, but now only just cemented it even further.

Just as a note for anyone that may want to try to get into the game, DON'T ever approach it the same way you do with normal JRPGs, if you do and just try to go at it entirely for the main story and only hit the side missions here and there, you will find yourself disappointed since the main story itself doesn't present a lot of development for the other characters as it was with the exception of one. You get more of your development of the characters and even of the world itself through the affinity missions and the side missions most of all. Even most of the sidequests have a lot of their own little storyline to them as well too that helps expand more on the world and everything.

I actually wish this game will get at the very least a port to the modern consoles, though. Or even at least Nintendo's next console since because it was on the Wii-U it hardly got a lot of attention as it was and not a lot of people would have played it, but more of all, I would actually also would love to see there be a sequel as well considering there are so many things that are still unanswered as well that I would love to find some resolution to.

Anyways, when I played this game, I made my primary OC, Conrad, being my custom character as well. So I tried to draw him with at least the equipment that I have currently in-game. Out of the weapon types that there are, because of some of the prior things that I have done with him, I felt that out of the weapon options in the game, the Sniper Rifle was still the best one that did fit him as well and I'm still keeping that as being the main weapon that I'm basing my build around. (You have a LOT of options of how to make your build and a few different weapon options to use. You have to have one ranged and one melee weapon in your setup, but with how the game is designed, you really cannot balance your build between the two and it becomes more of one being your main damage dealer and the other being essentially there for support because of the arts that are available to it.)

Either way, odds are likely I'll be playing this game quite a bit either until I get a lot of things finished up finally or after the end of April, whichever comes first so if I end up needing to cover this game again because of this, I'll try to at least make it more on that month's summary as opposed to the game as a whole. XD

(All in all, I don't think I will ever see this being dethroned as one of my top favourite games anytime soon)

🎮, 🖊️ & 💯 for both Cerberus and Kia! 💕

Certainly! 💌

🎮 VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER — what are three of your oc's favorite hobbies? Cerberus can be difficult to separate hobbies from...general life pursuits sometimes, as the two areas tend to overlap kind of a lot, so I will start with occult history/research. It's a bit of both, but it's a genuine casual interest of his as well as a sometimes practical one, so...that. His primary hobby that's purely a hobby, I guess, is probably recreational cooking. He's actually very good at this. A pity he's not much into the hosting dinner parties scene, because he really could put on an amazing one. And he's a quite competent metalworker, though it's not something he necessarily keeps up with, and it's a fairly sporadic interest. But he's made more than one sword in his time. Forging, unsurprisingly, tends to go rather well for him. Kia's main hobby is sewing, and she makes quite a few of her own outfits. She's not a master seamstress or anything, but she's pretty good. She's very interested in Underworldian history, and has written/compiled a series of interviews with various influential/important residents she called the Chronicles. Doing that is actually how she and Cerberus get to know each other; he was both the inspiration for the idea and her main subject. She also enjoys dancing, and does yoga. 🖊️ BALLPOINT PEN — does your oc have any tattoos? do they want any (more) tattoos? It's a no and no for Cerberus here. Kia has a back-of-neck infinity symbol, very small and usually hidden beneath a lot of hair. She's considered getting other tattoos but so far hasn't committed to anything. 💯 HUNDRED POINTS SYMBOL — share three random facts about your oc that others may not know. Cerberus can speak Latin, though he's out of practice (I am being informed fairly emphatically) and not what would be considered fluent. Although there aren't a lot of people who'd be able to tell, honestly. He ran a small occult club back in his mortal days; it was VERY underground, and everybody involved thought the fire tricks were illusions. He didn't contradict this at the time. He's a fairly accomplished horse rider - this is also connected to his mortal years - but hasn't owned horses personally since becoming Demonics Leader; it's a time thing. Bit of a shame, really. Looks hot AF on horseback. 😂 Kia's got some impressive skills in gymnastics, and was actively competitive in her teens. She worked for a short period as a pole dancer; this is peripherally connected to the former, but mostly connected to being out of home and out of work for a time. She, um, did well. Secretly checks in on some old mortal friends from time to time. This sort of thing is strongly discouraged, and she knows it, but does it anyway. Definitely counts as something others may not know.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OCS PLS

there r so many and i am going 2 explode now, you have opened pandoras box

i am, i am going 2 start with ones i amn thinking about, which are ocs from an original story about destiny, because

The three main characters for the story which wip name rn might just be split destiny(abbreviation: two of a kind) it's about two kid's who accidentally get chosen under the same destiny despite it only being meant for one person and their mentor, Süsi who was kinda trying to get that.(not sure about the names because i thought mason and peggy at first but now kinda just wanna use the estonian ones i thought for them, Tiivi and Madis)

The three main characters for the story, images of them:) (timeskip versions of Tiivi and Madis in the top right one, tiivi digital sketches from me trying to figure out her colors)

ohk, details nd characters, Tiivi's a high energy person in general and positive for the most part, has had the ability to speak to animals forever. She's someone who's always wanted adventure and felt special so she was pretty thrilled to have something greater than life happen to her, summons a sword or spear thanks to the chosen one biz. She finds out her mother(who she hasn't seen in years and barely remembers) is very much active in the magic world and has a whole phoenix and rebirth theme going on(also doing some shady stuff), Also finding out she has an older brother she never met apparently, he's got plant powers (seems to be working for some sort of magical authority?).

Madis is very much more of a wallflower and has a tendency to draw in on himself and also ignore anything strange happening around him including his luck powers which is why he is at all not happy with what happened and would like to live a normal life, summons a scythe or shield. He lives with his aunt and has a cat, didn't know his parents, does seem to have some talent when it comes to this magic stuff and has eyes on him.

oooohg, let's get to tha mentor, Süsi, they do not know what they are doing teaching these children. He's been doing this awhile and has a whole detective thing going on (because i am like this and like making detective characters), seem to work place to place, generally seems mysterious, she's got a whole fire and dragon theme going on and also may have escaped death one too many times.

post timeskip a lotta changes happen and developments, Süsi goes into hiding, Tiivi keeps learning magic and also doing odd jobs with her brother and Madis goes to do normal teenager things back at home.

They try to keep in touch, in this period might also find more out about how their powers are connected and a mental link.

This story idea mostly came about out of kid me's anger at the lack of male female friendships and deciding i have to do this myself(Madis and Tiivi aren't even the first time i decided "actually this boy and girl character's would die for eachother and are not at all romantically invoved, fuck you" you can see a lotta YA. novels and cartoons pissed me off with that)also apparently i just wrote a snippet of a depressed boy and cheerful girl in like 2009? idk i was like 10 and had an assignment for writing and that also led to this.

(oh god there's so many miscellaneous sketches here of the cast for this shit)

There's also a shady school in this, mostly pre-timeskip and some immortal fuckos(to be fair one of them's trying to stop the other one, there's implications of them being connected in this cycle due to similar reasons that Tiivi and Madis are connected to eachother), also everyone aspec, süsi has an ex gf(Linda) in this that works for said school and seems blind to any wrongdoings by her workplace. Also a selkie girl at same school who's her prodigy gets a crush on Tiivi because i like to put lesbianism in my stories.

here's more recent sketches on my tablet from their postimeskip looks and also messy rough comics of scenes i have in my head during late night because thinking about them and need to get these thoughts out or else i will not sleep

anyways THANK YOU 4 the ask so i can ramble about my cringe ass nae-nae ocs(despite this i still have hundreds of other ocs and stories i have not mentioned here because this post is long enough, most likely have posted sketches of em but this does remind me i should try posting about them more again)

(follow up)

writing asks, 17, 2, 4, 19, 20, 23, 28, 40!

:D

You can find the writing asks here!

Also, I’m putting this under a readmore because this got ridiculously long lmao

2. Anything that you'd like to write but feel like you're unable to? 

Yeah, right now this god damn Julia AU lshglskdhgllsaks I’m about to rewrite chapter 1 for like, the eleventh time, because it keeps turning out really dry :( But I will write it! And I will publish it so help me god! lol

Also like, I feel like I can’t write horror. Not that I don’t think I could if I worked at it more, but like, I’m not big in the genre to begin with and only have mild interest in it from time to time. Mostly because I get scared way too easily slgkhslkgad Doing the minimal amount of research on what the catherine wheel is for The Academic Illusionist gave me nightmares, and I didn’t even get too deep into what it was and didn’t describe it being used in the story very much lol :/

4. Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?

I do, in fact, actually have an OC that I’m writing about currently! lol Meadow Cottonwood is the OC main character of the eighth bird AU I’m calling Double Troubles. They’re a half-elf and a self-insert OC, and I originally wasn’t going to flesh out their story and write this AU at all, but the idea I had for them was really good, and Sunny enabled me to actually fully flesh it out alskdghsldakg <3

So the backstory is this: Meadow was born in the two-sunned world, obviously, but they have two bodies connected to one soul: one of them was born in the Material Plane, and the other was born in the Plane of Logic. And how that works is that when Meadow is awake in the Material Plane, they’re asleep in the Plane of Logic, and when they fall asleep in the Material Plane, they wake up in the Plane of Logic.

This phenomenon is not well known, and while Meadow was in that reality, he never met anyone else like him, and no one believed him when he was little that this was happening. His parents in both planes did know that he had weird sleeping habits between sleeping for a longer periods of time than most people and falling asleep suddenly while he was in the middle of doing something (which happens when someone or something wakes up the other body that was originally sleeping without them having gone to bed in the body previously awake). His parents on both sides did take him to get checked out by a doctor, and because no one believed him about living in two worlds, the doctors couldn’t find what was causing it, so they just said he had a general sleeping disorder

Both sets of parents also weren’t exactly the greatest, see abusive, and they especially hated whenever Meadow brought up their double, so they eventually learned to keep quiet about it and told anyone who asked about their sleeping habits that it was the disorder.

When they were about 14, they basically had had it with their parents, and they ran away and lived on the streets for a while, and they met a couple of people during that time whom they traveled with, and they tried to explain to them that they have this sleeping disorder and it’s really important that no one wakes them up, even if they suddenly fall asleep standing up or something, because it would hurt them. The real reason, of course, being that if they were suddenly woken up by something in the other plane, it was potentially life threatening or at least a serious problem was happening, and it would be important for them to deal with that and get somewhere safe before they could fall asleep again. Most people they met weren’t very receptive to that, and they had to leave people more often than not who would refuse to respect their boundaries like that.

Eventually, Meadow was able to find an opportunity in the Material Plane to go to school to become a scientist and joined the IPRE. By the time they went on the mission, they were 22 years old, so I figured to make the timeline make sense on why they would be sent on this mission as another scientist when they couldn’t have been in school for all that long, I would make it so that there was a spot open on the team for an Institute student to go as part of a study program, and Meadow was approved to fill that role.

In the Plane of Logic, however, he never got a chance to find an opportunity to do something other than live off the streets. By the time the Hunger rolled around, he was caught (thankfully) sleeping inside a locked library, so that’s why he didn’t immediately die.

Then during the Stolen Century, Meadow lives out a lot of the century going between the worlds the Starblaster touches down on and literally inside the Hunger, fighting to not let it take him over. It gets really hard though at the end of the cycle when the Hunger gets there because the attack sucks them into being awake in that body as the Hunger kind of successfully takes them over temporarily, and he gets dropped down into the Material Plane to wreak havoc and destroy and kill everything. He tries his best to remain aware enough and fight that impulse though, so he doesn’t do a ton of damage himself.

Of course, after spending more than a few years together with all of this going on, the rest of the crew eventually catches on that something is up with him, so he confesses the whole double situation, and they believe him and try to help him deal with that the best that he can.

One cycle, when the Hunger comes, Magnus is fighting his way back to the ship, and Logic Meadow finds him, and they fight really hard not to kill him which Magnus notices and realizes it’s them. So he restrains them and takes them on board the ship, and when they leave that reality, their body is still there. Merle has to work on getting the corruption out of that body, and Meadow wakes up in the Material body and is like, what the fuck, but from that point on, both bodies are on the ship and relatively safe.

When Lucretia erases everything, she takes Logic Meadow back to the Plane of Logic in the Faerun reality because there would be no reason for both of his bodies to be in the Material Plane that wouldn’t immediately raise suspicions that at least someone figured out about his situation and somehow kidnapped his Logic body and dumped him in the Material Plane. What she didn’t know and didn’t account for, however, was that because Meadow’s Logic body was from the Plane of Logic and was placed in the Plane of Logic, whenever he’s in that body, he remembers everything. So in a very Barry-esque trying to convince himself to do shit to figure out what is going on and find a way to stop Lucretia and find her, Barry, and Lup, Logic Meadow tries to leave instructions for himself when he wakes up as Material Meadow to do all that stuff. But of course, he can only do that convincing by using his own thoughts and trying to think specific things that won’t get censored because it’s not like he can physically write reminders and send it to the Material Plane while he’s trapped in the Plane of Logic. Also, he’s a very stubborn and anxious person, so trying to get himself to do anything is like pulling teeth aslghsdlkhgslg

Anyway, that was a lot, but I really hope you find it an interesting concept? Because I’ve written a few thousand words for it, and it’s been very fun :D

17. Past or present tense? Why? 

I used to write in past tense because I thought that was the only tense anyone ever wrote in when it comes to writing books and stories and stuff, but when I got back into writing more recently, between reading some fics from a couple of different people who wrote in present tense and playing dnd and listening to dnd podcasts where everyone talks in the present tense, I find it easier to write in present tense now lol I did try to write in past tense, but it felt very weird and wrong, and it kind of felt weird at first switching to present tense, but it seems to have worked out better lol I do write in past tense though when I’m writing dreams or flashbacks

19. Share a snippet from a wip without giving any context for it.

This is going to be from Double Troubles because I feel like it’s the funniest thing, out of context, that I’ve written in a while (I mean, I guess now there is some context after the info dump on Meadow that I did salkghsdlgh)

There is no way in hell Meadow is going to kill Barry J. Bluejeans.

Screw the list they made and fuck the idea that Barry would be able to tell them anything after he's dead. Deceased. Lost his consciousness and soul. And why in the world would he be okay with dying after he's dead? That's like saying the poor old woman up the street would be okay with someone stealing from her after they've already stolen things from her. Except worse because he's dead.

And if Barry knows of some way to get rid of the amulet, he would be better suited to tell them now while he's alive, but no one could pay them any amount of money to convince them to even tell him about the mere existence of the amulet, let alone show it to him or ask him for advice.

Meadow scrubs his face vigorously with his hands as he swings his legs out of bed. He knows he was just complaining yesterday that he doesn't trust himself anymore, but honestly, how can he trust himself if he has so obviously lost his gods damn mind? Murder Barry Bluejeans, mira...

20. Do you work on a single project or many at the same time? How does that work for you? 

:’)

There was a time, back when I first started writing for the taz fandom, a very short and treasured time where I restrained myself to one project at a time. A project, that was just a single ficlet that could be written within a few days max.

Then Julia Burnsides vs Canon Lore came into my life, and I needed a break from that to write other one shots. And thus two projects at the same time came into my life which I thought I could handle.

And recently, Sierra? It has gotten so out of control

I now have two multichapter fics, two long fics, and like, 8 more ideas I haven’t touched on yet that I said I was going to eventually, and in that time I have written 5 unrelated fics, 4 of them which got published and 1 I just remembered I said I would clean up and then never did, and I! Am! Going! To! Scream!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Anyway, it’s fine, I’m fine, thank you for asking lol :)

23. Dialogue or description? Why is the other one so hard? 

I think it depends on the fic. Dialogue gets hard when I’m trying to figure out how to navigate a social situation that I have absolutely zero idea how I would navigate it in real life and/or I don’t know how to get from point a to point b. And description is generally easy for me, but I did recently notice that I’ve been forgetting to add it in in some places where I should, and I also cannot write facial expressions for the life of me. I have zero ideas on what people do with their faces to communicate any sort of emotion, and I have even less of an idea of what neutral faces are acceptable in what situations because I have no idea about that in real life either so everyone smiles 24/7 because that’s what I do and it’s exhausting to do and even more annoying to write about when every other damn dialogue prompt has some sort of description about the person smiling >:(

I’m getting worked up, sorry :(

28. Any writing advice that works for you and you feel like sharing? 

When you find yourself staring at your computer dreading to open up a particular project even though you desperately want to finish it, it most likely means you’re having a hard time figuring out what to write next to actually finish it and need to take a break or you just need a break from it in general. It sucks sometimes when you’re really excited about it, but it’s better to put your energy elsewhere for now whether that means writing a different section of the same project that you have inspiration for or working on a different project altogether. I honestly was really excited about the John fic when I was first writing it, but then I got really stuck and I had put it down for so long I legitimately thought I was never going to finish it. Then while I was trying to figure out something else only tangentially related yesterday to use in Double Troubles, the mental block to finish the John fic lifted, and now I still need to finish it because I had to do other stuff today and ran out of steam last night, but I’m hopeful that it’s going to get done within the next couple of days

40. Write a 9-word fic. 

Davenport’s soul died; then he remembered and came alive

had the random thought of i'm not actually sure if we ever brought up how the two Zeroes met. like, whether one purposefully sought the other out after hearing about them or if they met by coincidence and were both just like "you. i like you". am thinking though that if it's the former, then it was probably easier for my Zero to move around freely considering the whole being a ghost who doesn't officially exist and thus isnt being paid attention to thing. what's your thoughts?

also semi related semi unrelated. the incorrect quote thing that's like "someone will die..." "how fun!" fits with them, though who is saying which line probably depends on context. (i do remember the "of fun!" one, it's just this version specifically i'm thinking of) (@canarycurse)

"Someone will die..." "How fun!" Damn, you're right, this is perfect.

Okay, so.

Yes, I'm pretty sure your Zero would have to come and find mine by herself. I don't see many opportunities for a coincidence that could be written into the plot naturally...

Mostly because, while your Zero can enjoy freedom that comes with being mostly incorporeal and having no official status in the prison (no constraints of a prisoner, no duties of an officer... you know, with the whole topic of freedom that goes on in the manga, your s/i might provide a pretty unique perspective on that), my Zero is, unfortunately, has very strict limitations put on her.

By that I mean she has practically no autonomy and she is constantly being monitored. There's rules for when she can get out of her cell, where she's allowed to go, and what she's allowed to do. Obviously, she's also always accompanied by guards who have to keep an eye on her every move. And before all that, there's always a long negotiation process...

(As you could probably guess, there's no way my Zero and Liang could have had any actually intimate moments before they left the prison... Couldn't even kiss him because of the damn muzzle.)

So basically, even when my Zero learns about the existence of another Zero, there's no way she could seek her out herself, which is disappointing because she would be very curious about her (at that time mostly from the scientific point of view). I think my Zero will most likely learn about yours either from the main characters during her introduction arc, or later from the guards that are responsible for her, with whom she's in pretty good relationship (another two of my OCs, by the way).

In any case, the only time she will have the relative freedom and possibility would be said introduction arc, when Jyugo and the gang got her out of her cell, but at that moment she would be too focused on escaping from here, certainly not planning on going around getting to know other people.

So... how well can your Zero see in the dark? Because she will most likely have to visit mine while she's locked up on her probation/punishment period. Technically, there was also a week between my Zero being brought to the men's Nanba and her escape attempt, but if you visit her at that time you really won't get much from her. At that moment she was heavily restrained, and the mask on her face prevented her from speaking (and biting).

I think that when your Zero visits mine during those eight or ten months while she's stuck alone on probation, at first my Zero would seriously consider whether she can experience hallucinations... then she would consider whether you Zero is edible. Sorry about that. But othervice, she would like a company. Staying alone in an empty cell 24/7 is pretty boring. Ghost Zero better be ready for endless questions both about herself, as well as about the prison and it's inhabitants (she needs you to tell her all information you know about Liang).

And. It is most likely that she will be mulling over whether she can use your Zero for help in her future escape or not. Because before she got into contact with Elf, she was planning to escape fully by herself, and what she needed the most was the map/layout of the prison, or at least some directions. Your Zero could possibly provide her with that, but she could also tell on her...

Anyways, what do you think?

As seen on my FF.net

Following the events of fifth year, a new adventure awaits for Norah Lee. Boys, exams, school events, common room parties, and old foes outside of Hogwarts. Even battling pensieve guardians was easier than this.

Main Pair: OC/? Genre: Adventure/Angst/Fluff (it's a little of everything, tbh)

KEEP IN MIND: Characters are aged up (even if the story's got them in sixth year) to make it more appropriate. Time period is leaning towards the modern day so in case you might find anachronisms in the dialogue or references, this is why. This may also be quite a lengthy fic too.

BE WARNED: Social anxiety, mentions of blood and injury, grief, drinking, kissing but nothing more than that, death (this is Hogwarts Legacy, after all)

P.P.S: Sorry in advance for any mischaracterization and other mistakes. Tag list is open if you would like to follow this story on here. Reblogs are much appreciated.

Masterlist

Chapter 2

"Welcome to NEWT-level Charms, everyone!" Professor Ronen's cheerful voice resonated in the classroom the next day. His greeting was met with low grumbles from the students. Norah, who shared the class with Natty and Ominis, looked on nervously. Professor Ronen chuckled. "I know, I know, the exams for this level is going to be dreadful, but fortunately you have me as your teacher and I will try to keep it as fun and as engaging as possible. Who knows, I would've already tested you without you knowing it."

Earlier, before they went off to their classes, Norah made sure to tell Natty, Poppy, and Amit about what she planned to show them. But not without another passing comment from Imelda about the tryout schedules for the team. Thankfully, a crowd of first and second years were already lining up to take part in the tryouts. Norah knew it should keep Imelda preoccupied for the entire time she tested everyone who wanted to join the team.

"If you were not informed about this before, your NEWT exam for this subject will have both a practical and written portion. Therefore it is imperative that you understand the spells I will discuss and teach you. Not a lot of us are able to put these spells into practice outside Hogwarts, so this is the next best thing," Professor Ronen eyed Norah as he said it. "Please pay attention."

Norah glanced at Ominis, who had already begun jotting down Professor Ronen's explanations that were being written behind him. The quill in front of him hastily taking down everything he was saying. It prompted her to do the same, opening her almost battered journal that served as her field guide for the past year. In time, she'd probably need a new ledger, or at least several thick rolls of parchment.

"You do know he was also talking about the two of you, right?" Norah whispered to the blonde boy sitting next to her. Natty, who was sitting closer to her fellow Gryffindors, gave them a knowing look in which they returned with nods. Ominis had been tilting his head in her direction whenever Professor Ronen hinted at it.

"Shut it, Lee, you did more than what I could do," Ominis replied, but Norah could tell he was trying to suppress a laugh. "You got cursed on my behalf, for god's sake."

Norah shook her head. "Don't be so modest, Gaunt. You still helped. Much like how Professor Ronen himself also helped."

Ominis shrugged in defeat, and Norah could tell he was still quite shaken about their search for the scriptorium. A dark cloud remained over his family name, at least he and many others thought so, because of their continued belief in pureblood supremacy. Norah understood how hard it was and still is for him to continue straying from his family's ideals. She remembered the times she'd catch him standing by the window, looking rather wistful while clutching a letter from his parents. He would later reveal to her that his parents weren't too happy about him befriending blood-traitors like her.

Norah took down notes in whatever space was left on the page of her field guide. She suddenly remembered the conversation she and Sebastian had the night before, about Ominis. "...How's Anne?" She muttered to the blonde.

"Hmm?" He hummed.

"Anne...You wrote to her last night, didn't you?" She asked. "How is she? I haven't heard from Sebastian about her."

Norah sensed that the mention of the Sallow girl's name laid a pink tinge on his pale cheeks. "She's alright. She sends regards to you, wondering what's going on with you and Sebastian," He glanced at her direction.

"What do you mean? She lives with Sebastian, doesn't she? Don't you?" Norah raised a brow.

Ominis' lips formed a smirk. "Never mind then," he said, sitting back.

Norah smiled to herself as she continued to take down notes. "How far the two of us have come in one year," She muttered. "You weren't so sure about me when we first met, look at us now."

Even if Ominis didn't say anything, she knew he felt the same. That or he was already thinking about what she was going to show them later.

By the time classes were dismissed for lunch, Norah was determined as ever to bring them to the place she promised she'd show them. But not before she found herself getting pulled in opposite directions by Lucan Brattleby, who led the duelling club Crossed Wands, and by Grace Pinch-Smedley and Leander Prewett, who were both good at Summoner's Court. Since becoming champion in both areas, they all wanted Norah to take part in the upcoming games and matches.

"Norah Lee! The Hero of Hogwarts, care to join in this year's Crossed Wands? I have a feeling it's going to be great again this year," Lucan asked, a proud grin on his face as he approached their table.

Norah turned to Ominis and Sebastian, who were both snickering. "I don't know, Lucan, Professor Ronen's Charms lesson this morning kind of wore me out, I didn't realize we needed to study this much for the subject" She said with a sigh.

That didn't change the pride in the Gryffindor male's expression. "That's exactly why you should come. At least watch the new duellists! I'm sure they'll be motivated if they see you there," He said.

"Lucan drives a hard bargain," Leander grinned, having also been part of Crossed Wands. "But are you sure you'd want the hero of Hogwarts to join in? She might send them all into the hospital wing if they tried to duel her. She might even scare people away from joining, if those rumors about facing Ashwinders are true."

"If that's your way to convincing me to take part in Summoner's Court instead this year, you're not doing a very good job," Norah laughed, nudging the red-headed male. "Besides, if both of these need new champions, I will happily relinquish my title this year. Professor Ronen's the strongest Summoner's Court player, and Sebastian over here's more known in this school as a good duellist. He's my first duelling opponent if you need more reassuring."

"But you're the first student to beat Professor Ronen, I hear," Ominis suddenly chimed in, and Norah frowned. "Wouldn't that make you the strongest player?"

"Professor Ronen has seniority," Norah pointed out. "He's been playing Summoner's Court for much longer. It's his game. If you force me to play that, I will purposely give up and that would be worse."

That didn't waver the three of them one bit, with Lucan already seating himself next to Sebastian while Leander joined Grace. Norah sighed as she finished her serving of mashed potatoes and sausages. She also needed to stop by her vivariums to check on the beasts that were staying there under Deek's care.

"If you're not playing, at least stop by and watch, hmm? Eric Northcott's betting chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties if you'd rather do that," Lucan suggested, looking as hopeful as ever.

Norah looked over at him, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips. "Alright, I'll drop by, but I can't promise I'll stay until the end. I've got a lot of things to do."

Lucan cheered, helping himself to a chicken wing before leaving their table to return to his house. Ominis, who was sitting next to Norah, tilted his head toward her. "You know, he's not wrong, neither is Leander," He said. "Wouldn't hurt to check how good people are in Crossed Wands this year, wouldn't it?"

Sebastian raised a brow at his best friend's uncharacteristically optimistic tone. "If you don't go and watch, I'll have to go and watch, Natty too. They'll make either of us or both of us join. At least come and support me," He grinned.

Norah knew he had a point. She suddenly got up after taking a last drink of pumpkin juice. "Since both of you are done, let's go!" She looked over at the three other house tables for a sign of their three other friends, gesturing them to the door. Seeing how Leander and Grace had eventually gotten absorbed in their own conversation, they quietly left the Great Hall, Ominis quickly brandishing his wand to be able to follow them.

The Map Chamber was hidden underground, in the caverns below the castle. With its elaborately decorated path and doorways that led to one big space that had somewhat of a view of the caverns. At the same time, four giant portraits, now vacant, made up the four panels that the chamber was designed to face. Since the defeat of Ranrok and after Professor Fig's memorial, Norah found herself going back to the empty chamber every now and then.

It might have been out of grief, out of wanting to think that maybe he hadn't died, that he was just waiting for her there. Or, he might've gone away on official ministry business on behalf of Professor Black again. Norah wanted to believe those things, but she couldn't bring her mind to it.

If anything, Norah didn't have any business coming back to the chamber every so often since then. She had done her job, the duty she inherited. It's all over now, and she could go back to her studies. But she missed the adventure, missed the thrill of investigating and snooping around, missed actively doing some good. This was like going through a withdrawal period from an addiction.

As she had expected, all of them, save for Ominis, were amazed at the size and scale of the chamber they were in. All the more so when she revealed how she was able to enter the caverns and faced off with Ranrok and the goblins. It had only occurred to her that she hadn't told them how everything took place.

"You, my friend, are blessed with quite a gift," Natty said as they gathered in the middle of the chamber. "To be able to come here and do all these things and ultimately choosing to make sure that those who have the gift can learn about it too, making sure that it isn't to be feared. It's to be learned about."

"This is quite big, We can safely practice some of our lessons here. Do you think we can turn this place into our study room?" Poppy looked up at the high ceiling.

"I probably wouldn't try that," Ominis cautioned, evidently sensing just how large the room was from what his wand was picking up. "If those portraits reappear, we'll be in trouble from them."

"That might happen, yeah," Norah frowned at the thought. "But I made my choice in opening that up. Like what Natty said, this type of magic isn't something to be feared. I have my work cut out for me, it seems."

Amit approached what looked like the high windows that had the view of the caverns. "Ominis might be right about that. This seems too sacred a place for us to just come in and use," He said, looking apologetic. "Besides, we're underground, there's no place for us to look at the stars like those tables we were going to find."

Sebastian shrugged, evidently agreeing with what Ominis had said. "Alright then, where do we get to study aside from the library? Madam Scribner's already got it in for me there," He frowned as they proceeded to leave the chamber. "It's a lot quieter in the restricted section, though."

Another hour of classes later and Norah chose to spend her free period in her vivariums. Walking into each one felt like stepping inside another world, free of any obligation, of any burden that she suddenly realized was on her shoulders. She made sure that they knew where to find her if they needed anything, so as not to shift any more elements in the room in case they came looking.

"Hello Highwing," She smiled upon seeing the majestic white hippogriff that bore the name. Highwing approached her and Norah gently leaned in for a hug. "Oh, I've missed you, I'm sorry I couldn't fly you for a while but that'll change this year, I know it," She whispered upon pulling away to brush her feathers.

When she entered the swampy vivarium, she was immediately greeted by the Lord of the Shore himself. He had one of the diricrawl babies on his back. "Your lordship, I have arrived," Norah grinned, brushing the graphorn's skin and feeding him, which he enjoyed. "I didn't doubt Deek when he told me you've been playing with the rest of the beasts," She said.

The house-elf himself, Deek, came inside to join her. "How has Miss been? Deek thinks the beasts have missed you as you have them," He said wisely.

Norah bent down to greet him again. "And I missed Deek too," She said with a smile. "They weren't too much for you yet?"

Deek shook his head. "Deek's managed to make sure they're fed and groomed just fine," He replied. "The offsprings have grown quite a bit since Miss last saw them."

"They have, yes," She said. "Thank you for checking in on them while I was away, I really can't thank you enough for that."

"Deek loves spending time with the beasts, Miss," He beamed, immediately sweeping away some of the tumbleweeds and leaves from the vivarium that housed Ruby.

Norah peeked inside the vivarium with the phoenix, seeing for herself how much the other hippogriffs have grown. "I might have to release them when they've fully grown up. It's getting a little crowded," She said with a slight frown. "But what if they don't like being out in the real world? The poachers are still out there..."

Deek only smiled as he listened to the young woman. Norah looked down for a moment, figuring that those things will be dealt with another time. She stepped inside, seeing all the colorful fwoopers flying in the sky before landing in front of her. "All of you have really grown," She said, brushing their feathers.

"Has Miss been alright? Deek knows it's only been a year since your mentor was killed," The house elf suddenly appeared near her.

Norah nodded. "I must admit, I'm beginning to miss going off on random requests out of Hogwarts. But Professor Weasley told me it should be easier for me to stay in now. I've got exams ahead, and lessons are turning out to be a lot."

She stepped out of the vivarium again, slipping on dragonhide gloves to harvest some matured chomping cabbages and venomous tentaculas. Norah figured the mandrakes she had in pots could wait a little while, mostly out of not wanting to put on a pair of earmuffs for now.

"What about your friends?" Deek asked.

She hummed. "Well, them too. I could never have succeeded without their help. They've all taught me things that were useful when I faced those goblins and Ranrok," She said, taking the gloves off and putting them to the side. "We'll be going on a hunt for astronomy tables soon, whenever we get to go out," Norah remembered. That still counted as an adventure, she thought.

They suddenly heard a commotion coming from the doors of the room. Norah and Deek ran out, climbing down the stairs to see who was coming, or trying to come in.

It was Natty and Poppy, both of them looking concerned. "Norah!" They called out when they saw her. "Norah!"

"What? What's going on?" She asked.

Poppy held up the page of the Daily Prophet. The enchanted mug shot of the infamous poacher was laughing maniacally in between flashes of cameras.

Harlow Escapes from Azkaban

"It can't be-how can that happen?! We got rid of him!" Natty looked worried. "What is he going to do?"

Poppy frowned. "If anything, he might try and come after you. You said if Natty didn't jump in, you would've been tortured, or at least killed."

"You think he's going to try and finish me off for taking his business apart?" Norah asked, and the two girls nodded. "And some of those poachers are on the run too..."

They nodded again, studying her expression. It was at that time that Amit, Sebastian, and Ominis also came in. The three males also found out of the news. When they stopped in front of her, Sebastian raised a brow. "Planning on getting to him first, aren't you?" He said.

Norah glanced at him. "If he wants me, he'll get me. I'm not afraid," She shook her head.

"Looks like the Hogwarts heroine isn't done quite yet," Amit chuckled. "But we're still looking for those tables, right?"

bad boy good thing | drabble i. | m

WARNINGS. jealous jk, jk's gf is hot and he's not the only one who thinks that, jimin and tae as instigators, i swear jimin and jk love each other, fucking in public spaces aka a car in a parking lot, jk luvs his gf, appearance of perpetrator jin!

NOTE. i missed this couple 🥺oc is living her hot girl summer life and jk does nawt know how to deal with it Lol. hope u enjoy loves!!!!

WORDS. 3k+

“I’m okay,” Jungkook murmurs, eyes fluttering shut as he repeats his own personal mantra. “I’m good. I’m fine—I’m chill. Chillest person ever. I’m good—”

“He’s not okay,” Taehyung snickers.

Jungkook blocks the negativity out, purposefully and intentionally. Nothing could ruin his day—not on his watch, especially as the sun shines over bodies across the beach while the waves break into beautiful fragments that he’s yearning to dip his feet into.

Personal affirmations came first.

“I’m good, I’m fine, I’m okay,” he chants like a crazy person, definitely earning some form of side-eye from the people next to him but he can’t be bothered. Another person thinking that he was insane wasn’t the worst thing that could happen to him—not when—

“You should open your eyes,” Jimin says, “How are you going to fight them if you don’t know thy enemy?”

Immediately, Jungkook’s peace is disturbed by the mouth of Park Jimin, who painfully reminds him of why he’s got into the entire personal mantra and affirmation thing. He used to think it was redundant, unnecessary. How could the universe return your wishes just as you’ve uttered them into the atmosphere? It didn’t seem logical to him.

But right now, that didn’t matter—not when he had bigger things to be worried about.

“Don’t disturb my peace,” Jungkook snaps.

“They did it first,” Jimin retorts, cocking his head towards the flock of people at a certain part of the beach, specifically towards where the water meets the shore.

Jungkook’s eye twitches. His peace is disrupted, his happiness is compromised and it’s all Park Jimin’s fault. He spent a good amount of time getting into his zone, reaffirming himself that he was in fact, fine, good—he was okay! But now, he feels all his resolve dissolve when he realises he can’t even see the main thing that was responsible for his dilemmas.

“You’d think a celebrity was on this beach,” Taehyung snorts.

“Not helping,” Jungkook says dryly.

“So isn’t your crazy person chanting,” Jimin points out, “but yet, here we are—listening to you reciting your own version of a biblical verse.”

“I’m fine,” Jungkook grits for the umpteenth time, and no less is his assertions any more convincing than it was a moment ago. The flicker of his irises towards to crowd is enough to prove that fact. “I’m just enjoying my day at the beach with my friends and my girlfriend.”

“See, there are two false statements in that,” Taehyung tilts his head downwards, offering a smug smirk that Jungkook wishes he could shove into the sand beneath him. “You’re definitely not enjoying this because I can see the veins protruding out of your neck at how hard you’re clenching your jaw, and”—the older boy makes the effort to taunt Jungkook further by letting out a low whistle the moment the crowd seems to grow slightly bigger—“you’re partially right about the friend part. Your girlfriend though … where is she?”

I’m good. I’m okay. I’m cool—

“Oblivious, as usual,” Jimin sighs, plopping back onto the beach towel beneath him while shooting Jungkook a pointed stare. “It’d be sad if you only called her your girlfriend for six months when you’ve been in love with her for seven years.”

“Okay that’s it. I’m going there,” Jungkook declares, huffing as he pushes himself off the ground while Jimin makes an effort to grab at his ankle, halting the younger boy from causing any damage and potentially getting them banned from ever returning.

“Not with that temper you aren’t,” Jimin snaps, “Sit your ass down. God. Can’t you take a joke?”

“A joke?” Jungkook splutters, abhorred. “You literally just said she’s going to break up with me!”

“I said that it’d be sad if—”

“Same fucking difference,” he hisses, rubbing a hand across his face before he kicks Jimin’s petty grip off his ankle while levelling him with a menacing glare. Jungkook’s eyes slowly drift to the side where you finally enter his vision, still smiling like the soft and sweet person you were as you help Namjoon with whatever crab hunting mission he had.

See, Jungkook’s mature enough to know that you and Namjoon were good friends, great ones, even. The two of you were smart and clicked well, and if anything, Jungkook was more envious of the fact that the two of you shared such a wholesome and meaningful friendship than anything else.

The fact that Namjoon used to have feelings for you didn’t bother Jungkook anymore, not when he knew where your heart truly laid. He also trusted Namjoon with his entire life and his firstborns (not that he’d ever tell you that, and God—did he hope that day would eventually come when it came to you). But still, Jungkook was mature—he did some growing up, and he was proud of that.

But Jungkook’s human, a flawed, ever-learning and constantly improving human. A human who’s crazy in love with his pretty girlfriend that he’s longed for years—and a human who isn’t blind. A human who can’t ignore the fact that, apparently, he wasn’t the only person that was trying to keep himself in check at how stunning you were. Every day—and especially today, with how your dainty yellow bikini drapes over the curves of your body.

Jungkook nearly cries. Yellow was his favourite colour. You wore it for him.

Not for—

“Maybe you should head over,” Taehyung murmurs, snapping Jungkook out of his love-filled mind as his eyes clear, immediately catching what his friend was referring to.

Some dude. Talking to you. Smiling at you like you carried all the answers to all the world problems as you giggle a tune comparable to birds chirping. Maybe Jungkook was exaggerating but it always sounded like you were singing his favourite song even if you were just explaining economical concepts to him like a soothing e-book.

“God, why couldn’t she have been ugly,” Jungkook groans.

“You wouldn’t have dated her otherwise,” Jimin retorts.

Jungkook gawks, affronted as he gives his two friends a scandalised expression as he places his hands over his chest to indicate the offence he took to that statement.

“I’m not superficial,” he huffs, “I fell in love with her because of her—”

“Personality, yada yada,” Jimin mocks him in a lower tune that has Jungkook glaring at him. “Yeah, okay. But don’t tell me that her being pretty doesn’t help you bust a nut every once in a while.”

Jungkook flushes.

“Well, yeah, but I’m her boyfriend—”

“Thank you for reminding me that you are in fact, still a boy,” Jimin rolls his eyes, “Men. Mansplaining everything, really.”

Jungkook’s jaw slackens as his eyes briefly land on Taehyung’s figure who doesn’t look too bothered with how the conversation turned out as he shrugs in response.

“How about you do the typical manly thing of being a jealous prick and go over there and stomp over all her fan club members,” Jimin says sarcastically, resting his arm over his eyes to shield them from the sun.

There’s a brief rustle from where the sand meets the towel, and a relatively long period of silence while the only thing that permeates the air is the sound of waves with laughter coming from a family a distance away.

“He did exactly that, didn’t he.”

“You need to stop giving him ideas,” Taehyung sighs, plopping a grape into his mouth before occupying the space next to his friend. “Should we find another beach to frequent?”

“Really?” you laugh, “That’s so cool! I’m actually planning on landing an apprenticeship there over the summer.”

“Oh?” The man is leaning way too close to you for comfort, but you’re unfazed. Jungkook doesn’t even want to know where the hell Namjoon had gone, leaving you with this broad-shouldered, terrifyingly handsome man. “I could definitely put a good word in for you if you’d like.”

You beam, appreciative rather than brazen. But Jungkook thinks the man doesn’t know that.

“I don’t think I can accept that, Seokjin.”

And of course, you knew his name.

“Why not?” Seokjin smirks, and Jungkook knows that it’s definitely done him justice in other situations. “For a beautiful—”

“____,” he interjects, smoothly (or not quite) sliding next to you as his arms wrap around your waist before his glare rests on the man before him, who looks both shocked and unbothered at his appearance. “Who’s this?”

You jump slightly at Jungkook’s arrival but relax when you realise that it was just him and not some other beach weirdo.

“Jungkook, this is Seokjin! He actually attended our university—”

“Really,” he says dryly, “That’s nice.”

“Is this your …?” Seokjin looks Jungkook up and down before settling with a rather unimpressed look. “Do seniors usually bring their shadows out for playdates?”

Your eyes widen at his patronising tone, and before can even think to correct him with a tilted frown, Jungkook’s fingers dig into your waist, a precursor to his jaw that clenches while he engages in his own version of a staredown with the man before you.

“Boyfriend.”

Seokjin raises a brow.

“Me,” Jungkook blinks, unnerved and quite frankly, tired. He’s crossed this bridge enough times, and it’s always the same. Some older dude who thought that you were doing charity work by having Jungkook tag along with like some puny little brother. “I’m her boyfriend.”

“Jungkook—” you start, softly reaching to grip his arm.

“Interesting,” Seokjin says offhandedly and Jungkook knows it’s anything but. “Well, my offer still stands.”

He’s directing it to you as you peer up at him with your notoriously innocent eyes. Jungkook hates that this douche is still unaffected by his blatant declaration of the fact that you were—taken.

“I—that’s fine, Seokjin,” you say softly, lips curling into a thankful smile before he nods.

The look he sends Jungkook is nothing short of unimpressed, and Jungkook’s thinking of clamming the dude into the sand and quite literally, bury the hatchet with him. Sure, he was handsome and broad, and undoubtedly ripped—but Jungkook trained to benchpress twice his weight so he could beat up assholes who tried to hit on his girlfriend.

Right before he leaves, Jungkook calls for his name—intentionally calling him Seokmin—noting the way his face drops into a scowl.

“You’re not her type.”

He scoffs.

“And you are?” he throws back, brows raised as a challenge.

“That’s why I get to hold her and you’re walking away.”

With that, Seokjin doesn’t bother responding to Jungkook, especially in the way that you gawk at your boyfriend’s blatant warning to the older man.

He titters off, and it’s effectively just you and Jungkook standing by the shore while you briefly see the way Namjoon stutters before deciding to return to where Jimin and Taehyung lays.

Jungkook’s still seething in his rage, clenching and unclenching his fists even though he got the last word. It wasn’t that he thought you’d elope with Seokjin and leave him—he trusted you wholeheartedly and vice versa. He knew you loved him and so did he.

It had more to do with the fact that Seokjin saw you, and eventually, him—and thought that Jungkook wasn’t fit to be your boyfriend. That he saw a gorgeous girl on the beach and expected her to be single, and if not—to be with a boyfriend that had his shit together and not … not Jungkook.

“Jungkook?” you say quietly, tugging at his elbow while you peer up at him with wide and apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry.”

It’s no good, the fact that you’re apologising. As if you were responsible for his insecurities when you’ve done nothing but shower him with love and support ever since the two of you started officially dating.

“Don’t apologise,” he says stiffly, though his heart isn’t angry—he can’t help the way his words get out. “It’s not your fault.”

“But—”

“If you apologise then you’re gonna piss me off, baby,” he says lightly, peering you down with a small smirk as your eyes widen.

“I—okay,” you say weakly, and before he knows it, you’re intertwining your fingers with his, eyes suddenly twinkling in a way he’s grown all too familiar with.

“You have the keys?” he murmurs softly.

You nod, blind and in love as you sigh.

“Take care of me?” you ask sweetly, and Jungkook forgets all about Seokjin when he has you right in front of him.

“O-Oh, fuck—Jungkook—ngh—”

Maybe Jungkook really was a crazy person, but he’d argue that you were equally as crazy to oblige to indulge in his lewd fantasies. He was crazy, for you and your cunt that was like nirvana, and it’s proven further when he fucks into you at a brutal pace, uncaring whether or not the car shakes with the exertion of the activities that were taking place in it.

It could be the fact that he had a decade worth of fantasies to play out, but he knows that he plays a huge part in opening your sexual nature and he couldn’t be happier about it, especially when you unabashedly throw your head onto your chest, whimpering with the dirty squelches of his thrusts that echo in the vehicle.

“You’re mine, aren’t you?” he growls, hand wrapping around the back of your neck to force your glassy eyes to look at him.

The look on your face is enough to get Jungkook even more riled up, your flushed cheeks and swollen lips while you nod your head manically, crazy—and his.

“Y-Yours,” you whimper, and just about then, Jungkook brings your hips down with his free hand and meets you with a sharp thrust that has your mouth dropping open and your face scrunched up in pleasure. “F-Fuck, J-Jungkook.”

“No one gets to fuck you like this,” he hisses, pressing a hot kiss to your neck as you whine, hips involuntarily swivelling to meet his fast pace. The car is shaking and it’s all too risky, Jungkook knows that—but his rationale is clouded with the antagonising face of Seokjin. “No one gets to see you like this. Only I do.”

“Y-Yes!” you sob, clutching onto him as he feels your pussy tighten viciously around him, the walls of your inner linings spasming as Jungkook hisses at the feeling. “Only you K-Kook. Only ever want you.”

Jungkook believes you, especially when you desperately hold onto him as he feels himself slowly reach the edge. He knows you are too, especially when your whines get higher in pitch, and your tugs against his shoulders get tighter. He knows because he’s learnt about your body as your boyfriend—and he’s the only person that will ever get to have you like this.

The thought, paired along with the risk of your situation only fuels his determination to get you off, his strong arms immediately wrapping around you to root you into place as he shoves his cock deeper into you.

“Come on, pretty girl,” he croons as you mewl in pleasure, breathless whines turning more desperate as your eyes flutter shut. “You wanna show me how much you want me?”

You nod manically, your pussy fluttering around his length as he grunts in exertion.

“G-Gonna—pleasedon’tstop—fuck, I-I’m cumming—!” you cry, tugging your face into the crook of his neck as Jungkook bites his lips in focus, all ready to accept your hot pleasure and his own.

“Come for me,” he encourages, lips hovering over your earlobe as you obey his orders, head thrown back as he watches your mouth drop wider and your eyes roll to the back of your head, pussy tightening around his length.

Jungkook thinks you’re beautiful. On days where you don’t feel like you do, but he may be biased to say that he thinks you look absolutely stunning for him like this. When he knows that he’s the one responsible for your reddened cheeks, the way you so desperately cling onto him whenever you’d orgasm (the only person that would ever know this fact about you), and the way that you’re left breathless, satiated and with that hazed expression after his resolute efforts.

Jungkook cums shortly after, with those exact thoughts plaguing his mind. He was so whipped. He really only had to think of you and he would get hard, and having you right above him, soft and warm with your arms draped loosely over his form made his heart all mushy and soft despite the way his cock stands erect.

You mewl in oversensitivity although you don’t complain. You never do, whenever Jungkook cums after you. Even now, when Jungkook comes down from his high with pants of his own, his own mind-clearing while his cock softens in you—you remain patient. Patient like the ever-loving, wonderful girlfriend that you were—one that Jungkook wasn’t sure he deserved.

“Wow,” you giggle, forehead resting against his as you return from your own post-orgasmic bliss. “I can’t believe I let you fuck me in a parking lot.”

Jungkook flushes, reality sinking in when he realised that the two of you weren’t hidden from plain sight. While the idea of being caught was definitely arousing, Jungkook knew he wasn’t too keen on having anyone see you delirious, even if it was all for him. He was lucky enough that your bikini top remained on the entire time, but both your sweaty bodies were enough of a dead giveaway.

“I just,” Jungkook tries to explain, words slurring in embarrassment as you raise a brow at him. “You look really pretty today.”

You stare at his forlorn expression as if admitting that pained him. Jungkook feels slightly embarrassed at how he reacted, and if you notice this, you don’t point it out—yet.

“Wore this for you,” you murmur, pressing a soft kiss to the mole under his lip. Jungkook’s heart soars at your admission even if he knew that. “You know it’s only for you, right?”

Your question is purposeful and Jungkook shamefully looks to his lap, and even then—you’re still connected. He slowly pulls out, wincing when his cum threatens to pool out of your pussy, but before he can pretend to clean you up, you’re putting your bikini bottoms back in place and clamping your hands over his cheeks so that he’d look at you.

“Jungkook,” you say sternly.

He sighs.

“Yes,” he groans, feeling a lot like a child who’s being berated. “I just—God. He was such a prick.”

“I know,” you say gently, fingers combing through his hair while he melts into your touch. “There are a lot of pricks out there, but you know that I only love you, right?”

Your confession is the same as the one you’ve made six months ago, and just last night before the two of you fell asleep—but it’s a confession that Jungkook never grows tired of.

“I know,” he mumbles as you giggle at him. “It’s just that … he really thought he had a chance with you, and when he saw me it was like—”

You frown, finger pressed against his lips to stop his rambling as he peers up at you with doe-eyes.

“None of that,” you chide lightly, “I don’t care what people think. The only person I care about is you, and no one will change that, okay?”

Jungkook feels himself relax into your touch, especially when you lean forward to capture his lips in a soft kiss that isn’t set to lead anywhere. He remembers. He remembers the times where you were unsure and all too worried of the words of others—and here you were, with him and with your gentle and loving soul, the embodiment of comfort as you tell him the words he’s always known but needs to be reminded of.

“I love you,” he says quietly as you grin widely at him, “Sorry for—you know.”

You roll your eyes, lifting your leg to get off his lap as you wince at the cum that threatens to escape your lips.

“I mean, it was kind of hot,” you shrug with a small smirk.

“God, I’ve created a monster,” Jungkook snorts, looking over at you when you shoot him a devious grin.

“You love it,” you throw back cheekily, leaning into his shoulder as he wraps an arm around you with a sigh.

He does. And he knows that he’s the only one that you’ll love back.

Spotlight: Ties That Bind

This one’s a doozy folks! If you missed the last spotlight you can go read it here, but strap in for The Ties That Bind, an absolutely brilliant take on humanformers. It’s hosted here at @tiesthatbind-tf​ created by @artsy-hobbitses​!

Q) Give us a run down of your cont! What's it about, what's it called, what's it like?

Ties That Bind is a humanformers-based original continuity which is part Science Fiction and part Alternate History where the invasion of Quintessons and introduction of their technology to Earth in 1920 sets the world and humankind on a completely different trajectory. The active narrative spans a period from 1920 to 2070, covering the First and Second Quintesson Wars, the interplanetary Antillan War (leading to the creation of Unicron on Mars) and the Great War which involves the Autobots, Decepticons and Functionist stalwarts, and how it affects the characters.

The cast is pretty sprawling and the narrative is mostly centred around human drama with bits of humor interspaced and a dash of horror (mostly centred around how the previous government often chose to utilize the technology left behind from the Quintesson Wars to create new systems of oppression, which affected many of the characters, in the name of worldwide rebuilding efforts).

Q) What characters take the lead here? Any personal favorites?

I will admit to this continuity being very much heavy on the relationship between Old Bastards  Optimus Prime and Megatron, which is given considerable weight as they were best friends who had known each other since childhood and were deeply intrinsic to each other’s growths as individuals, which makes it all the worse when guilt and betrayal enter the party. Despite being captains in two corners of this battle, there’s a part of them that just cannot let go of their pasts together and they need to reconcile with how this will affect their agenda (Megatron) and how they lead their team (Optimus) who don’t necessarily share their history.

Other characters with significant development include:

Starscream, a Cold Construct in a toxic working relationship with Megatron with whom he is hiding a dark secret, who struggles to balance the underhanded viciousness he believes he needs to gain power and his innate desire from his Senate days to make the world a better place. 

Windblade, a Camien native who fights her government’s apathy concerning the situation on Earth which they see as unsalvageable compared to their more Utopian society. 

Prowl, a Cold Construct raised from childhood to be a cop in a police state, who finds out that he was brainwashed several times  to ensure his obedience and efficacy as a government asset and is now working to reclaim some semblance of the humanity he was never allowed to feel and figure out how much of him is who he really is and how much is programming.

Hound, a sheltered Beastman who joined the fight to ensure that Beastmen the world over would have the same rights he did in his homeland of Shetland Isle, but is forcefully stripped of his humanity and faced with his animal side during the war and has to relearn what personhood means amid his trauma.

Q) Is there a bigger point to this, like a theme or some catharsis? Or is it just fluffy fun?

God with the amount of time I spent sleepless trying to figure out how the logistics of this or the semantics of that were supposed to work in universe, I cannot for the life of me say it’s fluffy fun, but I can’t exactly say it hasn’t been pretty engaging either!

There’s elements of war being messy for everyone involved where there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between friend and foe at times, but I think for most part it prescribes to  Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that people are inherently good, but are corrupted by the evils of society. Despite its dark themes (Including but not limited to child abuse, torture, illegal experimenation  and brainwashing), love and friendships do prevail, kindness does beget kindness, found families are made, even the smallest actions matter, and things do get better because there are people on both sides who genuinely want to, and strive to make it better.

With Cold Constructs and Beastmen, it also delves heavily into what it means to be human; to have agency and personhood.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of taking responsibility for one’s actions, even if they were made with the best of intentions (Avoidance of this is what eats up Starscream and Megatron from the inside, and what Starscream eventually embraces).

Q) How long have you been working on it?

There’s two answers to this!

I’ve had a Humanformers-related universe going all the way back to 2007 around the time the first Bayformers came out---basically I had a choice between learning to draw cars or draw people (I was an anthro artist back then) and I immediately chose people.

The 2007 draft however had no worldbuilding or connective storylines and was mostly a fun little venture into character design and practice which were actually instrumental to me experimenting and learning how to draw humans properly.

I left the fandom for about a decade and when I came back to it in late 2020 around September via the War for Cybertron series on Netflix, I immediately got hooked on the 2005 IDW comics I missed out on and wanted to get around to updating my old designs as well find a way to translate several of the concepts I wanted to explore in a human sense, so the 2020 update became its own full-fledged original continuity with detailed worldbuilding and history.

You can see the artistic evolution of several characters from their original incarnation below!

Q) It’s incredible to see your artistic improvement too! Give us a behind-the-scenes look! Show us a secret ;))

Say hello to my workspace! I’ve been working exclusively on the Ipad Pro since late 2016, which is fantastic because I can basically whip up concepts and sketches on the go anywhere. Nowhere is too out of bounds to work on TTB!

Also, do enjoy this sneak peek at true!form Rung, whose synthezoid human body took years to perfect.

Q) YESSSSS alright I must admit this is one of my favorite Rungs, and certainly my fave within TTB. Amazing. Phew, anyway. Where did you draw inspiration from? What canons, what other fiction, what parts of real life?

TTB was initially conceived as a faithful retelling of the IDW 2005 narrative before it was transformed into its own continuity and as such, it borrows heavily from concepts and mirrored plot lines introduced in that run! I chose to have the series inspired off it specifically for the amount of history and worldbuilding it introduced to the franchise.

Anime like Gunslinger Girl and Beastars inspired the depictions of Cold Constructs, especially the more harrowing aspects of their upbringing as government assets instead of children, and Beastmen (Beastformers) in TTB.

I haven’t depicted the world itself in my art all too much, but the architecture from Tiger and Bunny, which has sort of a futuristic Art Deco feel to it, is what you’d usually see in major cities. There is an in-universe reason for that---with a Point Of Divergence set in 1920 followed by 25 years (an entire generation) of progress basically being kicked to the curb due to the Quintesson wars, mankind was basically in a time-locked bubble until the end of the wars, and by then their heroes were 1920s-style rebellion leaders, which lead to 1920s fashion (especially among the Manual Working Class---Megatron, Jazz and Optimus all rock 1920s fashion at some point of their lives) and architecture being celebrated and retained as sort of a reminder of how things were before The Invasion. This anime’s background design is also where I adopted the tiered system TTB’s major metropolises are often built on (with each tier being designated to a different working class) from.

The main artistic style itself is a love letter to 90s cartoons, in particular Gargoyles’ deep and drama-driven character narratives and designs as well as The Centurions’ take on body armor logistics.

I also take inspiration, especially armor-wise, from the characters’ given heritage and background. As an example, Hotrod who is depicted as Irish has the flames on his armor done up with Celtic knots. Welsh aristocrat Mirage’s armor bears olden knight-style filigree and has his Autobot logo designed as a coat of arms. Indonesian Soundwave’s armor and Decepticon logo takes cues from Batik and Wayang Kulit while their mask is based off the Barong.

Q) They are absolutely gorgeous! Show off something you're really proud of, a particular favorite part of your cont.

The worldbuilding in general! Most Humanformers I’ve seen tend to treat it like a fun exercise which it is and is definitely valid, but I found myself wanting a full-fledged world to lose myself in and I sought to try and make that world myself by drafting a detailed history and timeline of events which would affect ongoing narratives, having indepth worldbuilding to include almost all societal aspects of the universe and  expanding on the concept of Beastmen and Cold Constructs existing in a human setting.

I’m not so secretly proud of the research and diversity included to make the cast look like the multicultural, globally-based team that they were meant to be instead of being locked to a single region! My original draft from 2007 was, to put it simply, quite culturally monolithic and I wanted to improve on that aspect with TTB.

I’m also proud that I’ve kept to it this far! I’m a notoriously flaky person jumping from one idea/fandom to another and to have kept at this continuity for the better part of ten months is honestly a personal feat.

Art-wise, this scene depicting a young Megatron working alongside Terminus and Impactor (cameo by @weapon-up-wallflower​‘s OC Missit!)  is definitely one of my favorites since it helps build up the world they live in and plays to familial bonds and comfort found in one another despite their less than ideal circumstances.

Q) Everything has come together so beautifully, you absolutely should be proud. What other fan canons do you love and why? Would you like to see them interviewed?

I am dying to hear more from @iscaredspider​’s Sparkpulse continuity! Her designs are MIND-BLOWINGLY GORGEOUS and I want to hear more about what inspired her to work on it!

Also YOU. Yes YOU BLURRITO. LET ME HEAR MORE ABOUT SNAP.

Q) [wails and squirms away in the mortifying ordeal of being known but in a very flattered way] I WILL SOMEDAY I PROMISE aflghsdjg thank you QwQ

Well that was fantastic, Oni, thank you muchly! A magnificent continuity with so much to look forward to! Coming up next is another personal fave of mine, the first inspiration for SNAP, so stick around...

omg I love your work very much! You write really great and it's a pleasure to read you. I have a small request, if it's possible. I've never read this before so why write a one-shot (or series?) with a reader pregnant with chishiya ? (pleassse) With this news, it becomes extremely protective with the reader. Thank you so much !!

Yeah sure! Here you go! ❤

Trying My Best | Shuntaro Chishiya

{Alice In Borderland Masterlist}

{Main Masterlist}

Character(s): Chishiya (ft. Ann, OC)

Summary: You tell Chishiya that you’re pregnant and his change in behaviour from the news is hard not to notice

Warnings: accidental pregnancy, murder, swearing, graphic violence (guns), heavy angst, vomiting, panicking, blood

Word Count: 3.3k

*reader is female

Chishiya gif credit

“Chishiya, I think I’m pregnant.”

The statement hit the young man like a thousand knives. He stood up on the roof of the hotel, the moon reflecting off his glowing skin. You stared at his side profile, waiting for his reaction to the news, but he merely sighed and tucked a piece of his bleached hair behind his ears. “How do you know?”

“I’ve been throwing up a lot, without even feeling nauseated at first. It just suddenly hits and I have to run to the bathroom,” you began listing your symptoms to back your claim. “I also have been a lot more tired, going to bed super early and waking up super late. As well as my period hasn’t come yet, and it’s been a week since it was due.”

You still kept your eyes on Chishiya, trying to figure out how he was feeling. His emotions hardly ever come through his body language. He seemed too calm for your liking, but you couldn’t exactly tell because you weren’t able to see his eyes.

“It is mine?” he asked, turning to you with a serious expression. Your eyes widened in shock. “Whose else would it be Chishiya?” you exclaimed, shoving his shoulder in disbelief.

Chishiya smirked and looked away from you again. “Just making sure.”

“Do you want to keep it?”

The question took Chishiya off guard. “That’s not my choice to make,” he said.

“Yeah but if it were?” you pressed, sliding along the railing until your sides were touching. Chishiya went quiet for a few minutes, thinking about his answer. “I would hate to bring a baby into this world if I’m being totally honest,” he started. “But it’s not like we have a choice.”

You nodded and laid your head on his shoulder, feeling safe and sound against his warmth and scent. He laid his cheek on top of your head and sighed heavily.

“What are we going to do Chishiya? We’re too young to be parents, let alone in a world like this.” You felt your eyes start to water but tried your best to hold in your cries. You were terrified. Not only would you have to go through nine months of pregnancy, you would also have to play games in order to keep your visa valid.

“Hey,” you heard Chishiya say. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll push through this together. And I’ll make sure I’m here with you every step of the way.”

His words made you smile sadly, and droop your head down into your hands. You cried softly as Chishiya rubbed your back in a comforting manner.

It would be tough, impossible even. But the both of you had each other, and that’s all you needed to push through.

***********

Ever since that evening on the roof with Chishiya when you told him about the baby, he had acted strangely since.

He had lost his cocky and smug personality, being replaced by a cautious and anxious type of behaviour. You began to feel worried about him, because it was so out of character.

It didn’t go unnoticed by other members of The Beach either. Although you hadn’t told anyone else about the news (wanting to keep it between you and Chishiya), you found yourself being confronted by a lot of people asking if Chishiya was okay.

Ann mentioned that during a meeting he rushed out suddenly, not even stopping to say where he was going or why. You reassured her that he was fine, and that the stress of the games may have just started getting to his head a bit.

It was like you were suddenly dating a whole different person. There wasn’t a moment where he wasn’t by your side, always asking if you needed anything or that you were okay. He’d refuse to let you do the smallest of things, liking lifting heavy objects or even dancing in the crowd at night. There were times you would have to reason with him and remind him that you weren’t helpless, and you were basically only a few weeks pregnant, and he was acting like you were eight months. He always shrugged it off though and argued back that he just felt overwhelmed, so he wanted to try his best to be the best partner he could be during the stressful time.

But when push came to shove and you had to participate in games to renew your visa, Chishiya always insisted that he went with you. Even if you said no and tried to convince him that you would be fine, he refused to listen. You didn’t have a chance when trying to reason with his stubbornness.

*************

You had decided to participate in a game a few days earlier than when your visa would expire so you wouldn’t have the stress of having to rush to one on the night it expired. As well as you had been feeling okay for the past few hours and you didn’t want to lose the opportunity of clearing a game when you were at your best instead of being forced to play one on one of your worse days.

When you told Chishiya your plan, you ended up having a small argument. Chishiya thought it was unreasonable for you to put yourself in danger when it could be prevented, as well as he felt anxious due to you not being able to perform to the best of your ability because you were holding your child.

But after you both calmed down after realizing that arguing would get you nowhere, you both decided to go to the game that night, as long as Chishiya was able to come with you.

The game was simple enough. It was a six of clubs. Each player had to find an area of the building to stay put in no more than groups of three. You were able to move around these small areas, but once the game started and you were inside one, you were not permitted to leave your area. There were four seekers, each with a different animal mask on their heads. Each area in the building also represented one of the seeker’s animals. The goal was to kill the seeker that had the animal corresponding to your area. So the players would have to create a way to lure the seeker’s to their position, but if they lure the wrong one, they would have to hide until they left.

To clear the game, players would have to kill all four of the seekers. But if they failed to do so in the time limit, flames would emerge from the ground of all areas, killing all the remaining players.

In the registration room, Chishiya kept a firm grip on your arm, making you stay close to him. There were two tables, one holding the usual phones for the players, but the other was covered with a variety of hand-held weapons, scattered across the top of it.

Chishiya strolled over to the weapon table and scanned the dangerous objects. He reached to a moderately sized blade and felt it in his hand before turning to you and holding it out, wanting you to take it.

“Here, you have this one. If we happen to get separated and you come across one of the seekers, give them a short jab to the throat with this. I have my taser to defend me.”

“We won’t get separated, we have designated areas.”

Chishiya looked directly in your eyes and sighed, placing a hand on your head. “You know what I mean.”

You hung your head low. He was meaning if he was to die. “Don’t you dare die on me now Chishiya. If you do anything reckless, you bet your stupid ass I will make sure you survive this game just so I can kill you later.”

Chishiya chuckled at your threat, allowing you to see his shiny teeth in a smile. He knew that if there would be a point that you were in any kind of potential danger, he would throw himself in front of you. His life wasn’t worth as much as yours or his child’s, to him at least.

Around ten minutes later, you both sat in a dark room that had a large painting of a wedge-tailed eagle across one of the walls. You both already assumed that was the seeker you were trying to attract. You came up with the plan to wait a short while before starting to attract the eagle’s attention, because then other people may have already killed their seeker, making it less of a chance for a different animal to come find you.

You both sat in silence on the uncomfortable couch that had springs and stuffing pouring out of it. It was the only piece of furniture in the room, so there wasn’t really anywhere else to wait.

You groaned as a short stab of pain shot through your lower abdomen, making Chishiya snap his head to you and place a soft hand over your arm that held your stomach area. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

You waved your hand in front of you. “It’s fine, just a cramp.”

Chishiya sighed in relief and rubbed your back soothingly. You swore you could hear his heartbeat through his chest, thumping against his ribcage rapidly. He was terrified, but he sure knew how to hide it from you.

You both sat in silent together, your head leaning against Chishiya’s chest as he stroked your head softly, trying to keep your nerves down. “How are we going to keep this up Chishiya?” you asked out of the blue. Chishiya hummed in acknowledgement. “I don’t know, we’ll just take one step at a time.”

The situation was overwhelming for you. With the mix of the fear of dying, your stomach cramps, Chishiya’s comforting voice and the eerie atmosphere, you couldn’t help but feel tears of stress start developing in your eyes. Before you could even get the chance to wipe them away, a sudden sob erupted from your throat, making you cover your mouth and push your face further into Chishiya’s chest.

“Aw no, don’t cry,” Chishiya cooed, wrapping his arms around your torso and holding you close. “We’re going to be fine. Trust me,” Chishiya pulled back and held your teary face in his palms. “As long as I’m here, nothing’s going to hurt you.”

You smiled at his promise, leaning into his touch on your cheek, making his face glow slightly pink.

As you and Chishiya stayed huddled close together and spoke in whispered tones, you froze as you began to hear a small noise just outside the door of the room.

Chishiya didn’t seem to hear it, and he kept talking. “Shh!” you said, cutting him off. He frowned at you and followed your gaze to the large, grey door that stood opposite to your position on the couch.

Silence filled the air as you both tried hard to listen. The tension in the room was making you almost suffocate.

“I think there’s someone outside.” you stated, standing up from your position and slowly beginning to shuffle along the floor towards the door. But Chishiya rushed after you and pulled you back before your hand could touch the door handle.

“What are you doing?!” he whisper-yelled, turning you towards him by moving your shoulders. You blinked at him, confused. “What do you mean? We need to kill it!”

“But we don’t know if it’s the eagle or not. It’s better if we hide until we’re sure it’s the one we have to kill.”

“We haven’t got time! We have less than five minutes to finish the game, so the chance of the eagle being the only one left is quite likely.”

“You don’t know that. And we aren’t even sure whether they carry weapons or not. It’s too high of a risk, and I’m not letting you put yourself in danger like that, especially when you’re pregnant with our child.”

“For fucks sake Chishiya! I’m not defenseless!”

Your yells became louder and louder with each argumentative statement, which eventually gave away your position to the seeker that stood just outside the door.

Just as you were about to rip away from Chishiya’s grip on your shoulder when you heard the large door creak open. You both turned around abruptly at the sound and laid on your eyes on a tall figure with an eagle mask covering his face. In his hand he held a small machine gun, making Chishiya’s stomach drop at the sight of it.

“Y/N!”

He grabbed your shoulders once again as you stood there in shock, not being able to move. Chishiya yelled as he pulled you roughly further into the room towards another small door that led to a closet. A few rounds of bullets shot around the room, illuminating the small space for a few short milliseconds and making the both of you develop a piercing ringing noise in your ears.

Chishiya pulled you against him as you struggled, pushing you against the wall with him in front of you, shielding you from the seeker. As he did so, he ripped the small closet door open beside you and shoved you inside, panicking and trying to get you to safety as soon as possible.

You fell to the floor of the closet, a small groan leaving your mouth as you hit the ground harshly. You were about to stand up again to push yourself out to help Chishiya, but he kicked you down before you had the chance. Your eyes landed on his, filled with frustration, but they softened as they saw the waterfalls cascading down his face.

“Please,” he choked out, putting the door behind him so the seeker can’t shoot him from the back. “For once in your life just listen to me and stay in here. Please don’t come out.”

That’s all he said before he stepped around the closet door and slammed it shut. The absolute fear and sadness on his face was burnt into your mind. You had never seen Chishiya hold such dreadful emotion on his features. It made you feel awfully guilty for picking a fight with him.

You finally came to your senses, the ringing in your ears faded and the gunshots just outside the door made your head spin. You sobbed and covered your ears with your hands, trying to block out the sounds. Your stomach churned and groaned, and you suddenly felt the urge to throw up.

You lunged forward from your sitting position on the floor and emptied the contents of your stomach on the tiled ground, coughing and gagging on the putrid smell and taste of it in your mouth.

“Fuck,” you mumbled out, rubbing your eyes to clear the tears dripping from them.

Something shifted in the pocket of your jeans, making you turn your head and place a hand over the object. Reaching in, you hissed as a sharp blade slightly cut your finger. You pulled it out gently and held it in front of you.

It was the blade Chishiya gave you at the start of the game.

“I can’t abandon him. My last words to him can’t be an argument,” you rasped out, putting a hand to your chest to recover your breathing. “I’m not going to let him die. He can’t escape being a father that easily.”

Slowly you lifted yourself up onto your feet, using the shelves in the closet as leverage. You shuffled towards the door, holding your blade out in front of you, ready to attack if you needed. You weren’t thinking straight, at that moment you didn’t even think about the fact that the seeker had a gun, all you could think about was Chishiya.

You slowly pressed down on the door handle, opening it carefully in case the seeker was still in the room. It was back to it’s darkness, making your heart drop lower.

You stepped out around the door. It was eerily quiet, making you become anxious. Something must have happened. It wouldn’t be this quiet if Chishiya and the seeker were still fighting.

A sudden wet feeling on your foot broke you from your thoughts and you glanced down to see a dark liquid seeping into your shoe. You leaned down to look at it more closely, noticing how a strong metallic smell filled your nostrils as you did so.

It was blood, but whose blood was it?

Your breathing began to quicken as you started panicking. It was a large puddle, there was no way Chishiya would survive if he got injured that badly.

“Chishiya!” you yelled out, hearing nothing but your own echo answering you. You held no care for being heard by the potentially still alive seeker at that moment. All you wanted was to find Chishiya.

“Chishiya, please!” You lifted your feet and rushed to the grey door where the seeker originally came from. It was slightly ajar and a light from the hallway outside was shining through into the room.

You pushed through the door, almost tripping over in the process. Further up the hall, two people laid on the ground. One was on their back with no movement while the other was leant up against the wall clutching their shoulder.

The injured one wore a white hoodie, making you immediately recognize them as your partner.

“Oh my god, Chishiya.” you whispered as you approached him, eyes locking on the large blood stain on his white hoodie. “Y/N, I told you to stay in the room,” he groaned out.

You placed a hand against his that held his wound, trying to keep pressure on it to lessen the bleeding. “I couldn’t. I wasn’t going to let you die that easy.”

He smiled up at you, a pained expression on his face as he hissed and whimpered at the pain of his wound. “They got me in the shoulder, but that was it.”

“You should be fine. If we get back to The Beach and get Ann to remove the bullet, it’ll heal fine.”

He knew you didn’t really know that. You were trying to reassure yourself that he would live. But either way, he wasn’t planning on dying on you anytime soon.

You looked away from him, glancing over at the figure lying on the ground motionless. The eagle mask was still lazily placed on their face. Chishiya probably didn’t want to remove it out of respect for the individual.

“How’d you kill them?” you asked, locking eyes with him once again.

“A few shocks around the ears to knock them out. But I didn’t take any sharp blades with me so I had to get creative,” he explained, nodding over towards a small slab of metal that laid a few metres away. “After a few hits with that to their head, they were gone.”

You cringed at the thought, but you appreciated Chishiya having the bravery to do that.

You felt a soft hand pressing itself against your stomach, rubbing the spot up and down. “Are they okay?”

A smile spread across your face. “I think so. They didn’t help much by making me throw up in the closet,” you laughed, making Chishiya grin.

“Causing mum trouble already.”

A happy tune being played from each of your pockets caught your attention.

“Game Clear. Congratulations.”

The reality suddenly hit you. You were alive and so was Chishiya. And although you would have to go through many more traumatic and harsh events such as the one you had just experienced, you would at least be there for each other, whether the outcome was bad or not.

“Come on. Let’s go home,” Chishiya groaned, using his good arm to push himself up. You helped him by lifting him by his shoulders.

You were alive today, and that’s all that mattered. You would worry about tomorrow when it comes round to it.

I never make reference posts for my S/I’s or OC’s and the one time I did for Aldrich, I deleted it so! Here’s take two!

BASICS

Full Title: Dread King Aldrich Coulstra

Other Titles/Nicknames: Dread Behemoth Aldrich Coulstra // Aldrich Foxglove // Dala (used only by Sage)

Birthday: 18th December (31 yrs old biologically and mentally, centuries old physically)

Height: 8′7″/265cm (Humanoid) // Roughly 20-30′00″/609-914cm (at the shoulder - Full Behemoth)

Gender Identity: Non-Binary (They/Them)

Sexuality: Pansexual Panromantic and Polyamorous

Voice Claim: King Albert from Shining Resonance Refrain [timestamped for convenience (it’s literally just Patrick Seitz but shh ghdkg)]

CHARACTER

Special Abilities: Capable of using extremely powerful spells that are too strong for many to cast // Can transform into a full Behemoth (their true forme which is distinct from other Behemoths by their wings, horns, and mane/hair colour) and humanoid forme (shown above) // Created the Behemoth species with their sister’s aid (originally was Sage’s idea) // Technically a god and despite giving up their godly forme, is still very capable of proving their power if need be.

Family: Noctis Lucis Caelum (Adoptive son, specific to my FFXV and FFXIV AUs) // Sage Foxglove (Sister)

Personality: Cold; introverted and sometimes actively aggressive towards strangers, but patient; kind; compassionate; and fiercely loyal to family and friends.

EXTRAS

At their core, Aldrich is naturally a very calm person who is difficult to anger. The easiest way to do so, however, is to either wander into their territory (intentional or accidental), or actively harming/trying to harm their loved ones.

Extreme anger also results in Aldrich returning to their true forme and so, their full strength. Naturally, you will not survive an encounter with Aldrich unless you are very, very lucky or also incredibly powerful.

Aldrich is very much autistic, with their main quirks being literal thinking, and so, not being able to understand figures of speech especially;  often speaks in a monotone; and sometimes not thinking before speaking. They don’t bother to filter their words when talking to people they don’t like/don’t know, however.

They greatly despise liars and people who enjoy harming others most of all, and may go out of their way to punish those people, which can result in the person either admitting their mistakes and surviving, or being killed by Aldrich if the crime is incredibly severe.

With romantic partners, Aldrich can be very flirtatious and enjoys making their partner’s blush/showering them in compliments and gifts. They, however, are very difficult to make blush or fluster, so making them do so is definitely considered an incredible feat.

They are very much a cuddler and enjoy holding onto their partner and keeping said partner close to them. If the partner isn’t into being touched at all or for long periods of time, however, Aldrich will gladly oblige. They always put their partner’s comforts over their own.

When happy and content, Aldrich will purr very loudly, especially if kissed.

They have incredible cold resistance and could stand in a snowstorm for weeks on end with no effect on their body or health. Naturally, they prefer to live high up in the mountains where the cold and lack of air would kill the average person.

They can shorten/remove their long claws and fangs (dulling the latter as well) if a partner is worried about being harmed by them if said partner wants to be held/kissed by Aldrich. Aldrich’s teeth are naturally sharp and canine-esque.

Their legs are digitigrade (hence their impressive height) and they also have a long tail with a large fin on the end.

Circe by Madeline Miller: a review

As you might have noticed, a few of my most recent posts were more or less a liveblog of Madeline Miller’s novel Circe. However, as they hardly exhausted the subject, a proper review is also in order. You can find it under the “read more” button. All sorts of content warnings apply because this book takes a number of turns one in theory can expect from Greek mythology but which I’d hardly expect to come up in relation to Circe. I should note that this is my first contact with this author’s work. I am not familiar with Miller’s more famous, earlier novel Song of Achilles - I am not much of an Iliad aficionado, truth to be told. I read the poem itself when my literature class required it, but it left no strong impact on me, unlike, say, the Epic of Gilgamesh or, to stay within the theme of Greek mythology, Homeric Hymn to Demeter, works which I read at a similar point in my life on my own accord.

What motivated me to pick up this novel was the slim possibility that for once I’ll see my two favorite Greek gods in fiction, these being Hecate and Helios (in case you’re curious: #3 is Cybele but I suspect that unless some brave soul will attempt to adapt Nonnus’ Dionysiaca, she’ll forever be stuck with no popcultural presence outside Shin Megami Tensei). After all, it seemed reasonable to expect that Circe’s father will be involved considering their relationship, while rarely discussed in classical sources, seems remarkably close. Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women and Apollonius’ Argonautica describe Circe arriving on her island in her father’s solar chariot, while Ptolemy Hephaestion (as quoted by Photius) notes that Helios protected her home during the Gigantomachy. Helios, for all intents and purposes, seems like a decent dad (and, in Medea’s case, grandpa) in the source material even though his most notable children (and granddaughter) are pretty much all cackling sorcerers, not celebrated heroes. How does Miller’s Helios fare, compared to his mythical self? Not great, to put it lightly, as you’ll see later. As for Hecate… she’s not even in the book. Let me preface the core of the review by saying I don’t think reinterpreting myths, changing relations between figures, etc. is necessarily bad - ancient authors did it all the time, and modern adaptations will inevitably do so too, both to maintain internal coherence and perhaps to adjust the stories to a modern audience, much like ancient authors already did. I simply don’t think this book is successful at that. The purpose of the novel is ostensibly to elevate Circe above the status of a one-dimensional minor antagonist - but to accomplish this, the author mostly demonizes her family and a variety of other figures, so the net result is that there are more one dimensional female villains, not less. I expected the opposite, frankly. The initial section of the novel focuses on Circe’s relationship with her family, chiefly with her father. That’s largely uncharted territory in the source material - to my knowledge no ancient author seemed particularly interested in covering this period in her life. Blank pages of this sort are definitely worth filling. To begin with, Helios is characterized as abusive, neglectful and power-hungry. And also, for some reason, as Zeus’ main titan ally in the Titanomachy - a role which Hesiod attributes to Hecate… To be fair I do not think it’s Hesiod who serves as the primary inspiration here, as it’s hard to see any traces of his account - in which Zeus wins in no small part because he promises the lesser titans higher positions that they had under Cronus - in Miller’s version of events. Only Helios and Oceanus keep their share, and are presented as Zeus’ only titan allies (there’s a small plot hole as Selene appears in the novel and evidently still is the moon…) - contrary to just about any portrayal of the conflict, in which many titans actually side with Zeus and his siblings. Also, worth noting that in Hesiod’s version it’s not Oceanus himself who cements the pact with Zeus, it’s his daughter Styx - yes, -that- Styx. Missed opportunity to put more focus on female mythical figures - first of many in this work, despite many reviews praising it as “feminist.” Of course, it’s not all about Helios. We are quickly introduced to a variety of female characters as well (though, as I noted above, none of these traditionally connected to the Titanomachy despite it being a prominent aspect of the book’s background). They are all somewhat repetitive - to the point of being basically interchangeable. Circe’s mother is vain and cruel; so is Scylla. And Pasiphae. There’s no real indication of any hostility between Circe and any of her siblings in classical sources, as far as I am aware, but here it’s a central theme. The subplots pertaining to it bear an uncanny resemblance to these young adult novels in which the heroine, who is Not Like Other Girls, confronts the Chads and Stacies of the world, and I can’t shake off the feelings that it’s exactly what it is, though with superficial mythical flourish on top. I should note that Pasiphae gets a focus arc of sorts - which to my surprise somehow manages to be more sexist than the primary sources. A pretty famous tidbit repeated by many ancient authors is that Pasiphae cursed her husband Minos, regarded as unfaithful, to kill anyone else he’d have sex with with his… well, bodily fluids. Here she does it entirely  because she’s a debased sadist and not because unfaithfulness is something one can be justifiably mad about. You’d think it would be easy to put a sympathetic spin on this. But the book manages to top that in the very same chapter - can’t have Pasiphae without the Minotaur (sadly - I think virtually everything else about Pasiphae and Minos is more fun than that myth but alas) so in a brand new twist on this myth we learn that actually the infamous affair wasn’t a curse placed on Pasiphae by Poseidon or Aphrodite because of some transgression committed by Minos. She’s just wretched like that by nature. I’m frankly speechless, especially taking into account the book often goes out of its way to present deities in the worst light possible otherwise, and which as I noted reviews praise for its feminist approach - I’m not exactly sure if treating Pasiphae worse than Greek and Roman authors did counts as that.  I should note this is not the only instance of… weirdly enthusiastic references to carnal relations between gods and cattle in this book, as there’s also a weird offhand mention of Helios being the father of his own cows. This, as far as I can tell, is not present in any classical sources and truth to be told I am not a huge fan of this invention. I won’t try to think about the reason behind this addition to maintain my sanity. Pasiphae aside - the author expands on the vague backstory Circe has in classical texts which I’ve mentioned earlier. You’d expect that her island would be a gift from her father - after all many ancient sources state that he provided his children and grandchildren with extravagant gifts. However, since Helios bears little resemblance to his mythical self, Aeaea is instead a place of exile here, since Helios hates Circe and Zeus is afraid of witchcraft and demands such a solution (the same Zeus who, according to Hesiod, holds Hecate in high esteem and who appeared with her on coins reasonably commonly… but hey, licentia poetica, this idea isn’t necessarily bad in itself). Witchcraft is presented as an art exclusive to Helios’ children here - Hecate is nowhere to be found, it’s basically as if her every role in Greek mythology was surgically removed. A bit of a downer, especially since at least one text - I think Ovid’s Metarphoses? - Circe directly invokes Hecate during her confrontation with king Picus (Surprisingly absent here despite being a much more fitting antagonist for Circe than many of the characters presented as her adversaries in this novel…) Of course, we also learn about the origin of Circe’s signature spell according to ancient sources, changing people into animals. It actually takes the novel a longer while to get there, and the invented backstory boils down to Circe getting raped. Despite ancient Greek authors being rather keen on rape as plot device, to my knowledge this was never a part of any myth about Circe. Rather odd decision to put it lightly but I suppose at least there was no cattle involved this time, perhaps two times was enough for the author. Still, I can’t help but feel like much like many other ideas present in this book it seems a bit like the author’s intent is less elevating the Circe above the role of a one note witch antagonist, but rather punishing her for being that. The fact she keeps self loathing about her origin and about not being human doesn’t exactly help to shake off this feeling. This impression that the author isn’t really fond of Circe being a wacky witch only grows stronger when Odysseus enters the scene. There was already a bit of a problem before with Circe’s life revolving around love interests before - somewhat random ones at that (Dedalus during the Pasiphae arc and Hermes on and off - not sure what the inspiration for either of these was) - but it was less noticeable since it was ultimately in the background and the focus was the conflict between Circe and Helios, Pasiphae, etc. In the case of Odysseus it’s much more notable because these subplots cease to appear for a while. As a result of meeting him, Circe decides she wants to experience the joys of motherhood, which long story short eventually leads to the birth of Telegonus, who does exactly what he was famous for. The final arcs have a variety of truly baffling plot twists which didn’t really appeal to me, but which I suppose at least show a degree of creativity - better than just turning Helios’ attitude towards his children upside down for sure. Circe ends up consulting an oc character who I can only describe as “stingray Cthulhu.” His presence doesn’t really add much, and frankly it feels like yet another wasted opportunity to use Hecate, but I digress. Oh, also in another twist Athena is recast as the villain of the Odyssey. Eventually Circe gets to meet Odysseus’ family, for once interacts with another female character on positive terms (with Penelope, to be specific) and… gets together with Telemachus, which to be fair is something present in many ancient works but which feels weird here since there was a pretty long passage about Odysseus describing him as a child to Circe. I think I could live without it. Honestly having her get together with Penelope would feel considerably less weird, but there are no lesbians in the world of this novel. It would appear that the praise for Song of Achilles is connected to the portrayal of gay relationships in it. Can’t say that this applies to Circe - on this front we have an offhand mention of Hyacinth's death. which seems to serve no real purpose other than establishing otherwise irrelevant wind god is evil, and what feels like an advert for Song of Achilles courtesy of Odysseus, which takes less than one page. Eventually Circe opts to become mortal to live with Telemachus and denounces her father and… that’s it. This concludes the story of Circe. I don’t exactly think the original is the deepest or greatest character in classical literature, but I must admit I’d rather read about her wacky witch adventures than about Miller’s Circe. A few small notes I couldn’t fit elsewhere: something very minor that bothered me a lot but that to be honest I don’t think most readers will notice is the extremely chaotic approach to occasional references to the world outside Greece - Sumer is randomly mentioned… chronologically after Babylon and Assyria, and in relation to Persians (or rather - to Perses living among them). At the time we can speak of “Persians” Sumerian was a dead language at best understood by a few literati in the former great cities of Mesopotamia so this is about the same as if a novel about Mesopotamia mentioned Macedonians and then completely randomly Minoans at a chronologically later point. Miller additionally either confused or conflated Perses, son of Perseus, who was viewed positively and associated with Persia (so positively that Xerxes purportedly tried to use it for propaganda purposes!) with Perses the obscure brother of Circe et. al, who is a villain in an equally obscure myth casting Medea as the heroine, in which he rules over “Tauric Chersonese,” the Greek name of a part of Crimea. I am honestly uncertain why was he even there as he amounts to nothing in the book, and there are more prominent minor children of Helios who get no mention (like Aix or Phaeton) so it’s hard to argue it was for the sake of completion. Medea evidently doesn’t triumph over him offscreen which is his sole mythical purpose. Is there something I liked? Well, I’m pretty happy Selene only spoke twice, considering it’s in all due likeness all that spared her from the fate of receiving similarly “amazing” new characterization as her brother. As is, she was… okay. Overall I am definitely not a fan of the book. As for its purported ideological value? It certainly has a female main character. Said character sure does have many experiences which are associated with women. However, I can’t help but think that the novel isn’t exactly feminist - it certainly focuses on Circe, but does it really try to “rehabilitate” her? And is it really “rehabilitation” and feminist reinterpretation when almost every single female character in the book is the same, and arguably depicted with even less compassion than in the source material?  It instead felt like the author’s goal is take away any joy and grandeur present in myths, and to deprive Circe of most of what actually makes her Circe. We don’t need to make myths joyless to make them fit for a new era. It’s okay for female characters to be wacky one off villains and there’s no need to punish them for it. A book which celebrates Circe for who she actually is in the Odyssey and in other Greek sources - an unapologetic and honestly pretty funny character -  would feel much more feminist to me that a book where she is a wacky witch not because she feels like it but because she got raped, if you ask me. 

Circe evidently having the time of her life, by Edmund Dulac (public domain)

Forget About Me - NCIS Reader Insert

Pairing: McGee x fem!reader/mom!reader, Gibbs x reader (platonic/fatherly relationship)

Warnings: anxious reader, child lost and scared, fluff ending

Word count: 2k

Request: @gibbsandpridegirl​

“I was thinking that McGee and reader find out their expecting a baby, and Anastasia finds out and runs away, because she’s scared that Tim and reader won’t want her anymore, and Anastasia gets lost and is all alone, and Tim is in full panic mode, and Gibbs won’t rest until he finds Anastasia, and Gibbs finds her, but she refuses to go home, and clings to Gibbs”

A/N: I am so sorry this took so long @gibbsandpridegirl​ ! I changed it a bit, so I hope you don’t mind and I hope you love it! This is another part of my one-shots with Mcgee x reader with an OC child. 

Thanks so much for the request darling! (Also, I chose this picture because I thought it was cute, but you imagine Anastasia anyway you want to.)

You stare at the pregnancy test in your hands, shock rushing through you at the positive result. Despite your suspicions (your period had been late and you had put on a few pounds despite Tim dragging you to early morning defense classes), you hadn’t expected the pregnancy test to come back positive. You lean back against the bathroom countertop, a hundred different thoughts running through your head, the predominant one being that of how you would tell Tim and Anastasia. When you had married Tim, you hadn’t expected that you would have children anytime soon, at least not within the first few years of your marriage. And yet here you were, within the first two years, with one pre-teen and a baby on the way.

You stand up and hazily walk downstairs, the forgotten test still in your hand as you sit at the kitchen table. You stay that way, blankly staring at grain in the wood of the table until Anastasia walks through the door, followed shortly by Tim. Anastasia comes up and gives you a hug, which you distractedly return as your eyes meet Tim’s. He must have seen the bewildered look on your face because you see him catch Anastasia’s attention and quickly sign something to her. She responds just as rapidly before stomping her way upstairs.

“Ugh, one moody kid is enough.” You murmur as you rest your head against the kitchen table, a wave of nausea abruptly washing over you. You feel a hand come to rest on your upper back, the chair next to yours scraping against the ground as it is pulled away from the table. 

“Y/N?” Tim’s voice is gentle as he starts massaging the tension away in your muscles with the hand he has on your back. 

You wordlessly slide the pregnancy test out from under your arms and over to Tim’s other hand, which was resting lightly on the table. You don’t lift your head, fearing any look of disappointment or regret that might come across his face. Instead, a gentle finger lifts your chin until your eyes meet his soft green ones, which are sparkling with excitement.

“You’re pregnant?” His voice betrays his unbridled joy, barely restrained beneath the surface.

Seeing his reaction brings a smile to your face as you nod. His arms are suddenly sweeping you out of your chair and almost into his as he pulls you in for a tight hug. The hug only lasts a moment though before Tim is quickly standing up and, far more gently, letting you go. “Sorry Y/N. I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He asks in a frazzled manner as he closely looks you over. His hands float over you, lingering around your hips and abdomen, as if to assess the damage he may have caused by hugging you.

“Tim. I am not made of glass. You can still hug me.” You say, a firm undertone carrying your words. Tim gives you a sheepish smile before looping his arms back around you. You bring your arms around his neck, pressing a kiss to his collarbone as you rest your head on his chest. The two of you stay that way for a while, before Tim moves back enough to rest his forehead against yours.

“We’re going to have a baby. A little baby McGee.” He whispers, his excitement reflecting in his green eyes. 

You smile softly at his phrasing. “Maybe we should call him Tony, Tony McGee.” You joke lightly, a laugh bubbling up in your chest at Tim’s horrified expression. “I’m joking Tim.” You step back enough to press a soft kiss on his lips. 

“We should tell Anastasia. She’s going to be a big sister after all.” You say, taking his hand in yours as you move towards the steps. Tim is quick to place a balancing hand on your lower back as you walk up the stairs, making you wonder just how cautious and protective he would be when you were heavily pregnant.

You reach Anastasia’s room, the first door on the left at the top of the stairs, but find it empty. You look at Tim, a curious expression on your face before you walk to the bathroom. You find it empty, a feeling of fear seizing your heart as you do. You roughly push past Tim, rushing to check the spare bedroom, as well as the master bedroom.

“Anastasia!” You call, despite knowing that she can’t hear you. You barely wait to listen for her reply before you are calling her again. After not finding her in the master bedroom, you frantically start looking through the upstairs rooms again before scrambling down the stairs and to the rooms on the main floor. Each empty room leaves you feeling a little more hopeless. 

Tim finally stops you, with a firm set of hands on your shoulders, when you start to head outside to look for her. “Y/N,” he starts as you desperately try to get out of his grip to continue looking for her. “I need to find her Tim. I need to find her.” You say, tears distorting your vision as the fight leaves you. “I need-I need...” You taper off as it becomes harder to talk through the tears. 

Tim pulls you in close, wrapping his arms tightly around you. “I called Gibbs and he’ll be here soon with Tony.” You press your face into his chest, allowing his familiar scent to comfort you. The two of you hold onto each other for a while before Tim leads you to the kitchen table, helping you sit. You sit stiffly in the hard chair, staring at the wood grain of the table top as Tim putters around in the kitchen behind you. 

Tim slides a plate with your favorite snack in front of you on the table, snapping you out of your trance. “You need to eat Y/N.” He says quietly, sitting down next to you as you shake your head at him. “I can’t Tim, not when she’s out there, scared and alone.” You whisper, blinking away the tears as you look at him. He leans in close, wiping away a tear falling down your cheek as he leans his forehead against yours. He places a soft hand on your cheek, pulling you in closer to press his lips against yours. The kiss is comforting and reassuring, not meant to be seductive but to serve as a reminder that he was there for you.

Just as the two of you break away from each other, a loud knock sounds on the door. You scramble up from your chair, moving quickly to the door. Swinging it open, you find Gibbs and Tony standing on your doorstep. One look at Gibbs’ all knowing, ice blue eyes and you feel the tears coming back. As he steps inside, you impulsively hug him, needing to feel a kind of comfort you only ever felt around him. He squeezes you tightly as he whispers, “We’ll find her Y/N.”

After twenty minutes of going over the night’s events, in which you quietly admit that you had discovered you were pregnant only a few hours earlier (to which you are greeted with awkward congratulations, considering the circumstances), the four of you decide to split up and search for Anastasia. 

Gibbs POV:

Gibbs was tasked with searching your neighborhood’s park and the surrounding area. The park was less than ten blocks from your house, so he decided to walk. He kept a brisk pace, looking for her among the darkening features of the quiet suburban street and scanning for any possible signs of struggle on the way. By the time he reached the park, his outlook had diminished and his fear of a possible negative outlook had increased. His initial scan of the playground equipment and the outdoor pavilion does not uncover anything, which doesn’t help his current feelings. He still does a thorough search of the equipment, his hope waning by the time he reached the old wooden castle shaped play structure. A soft whimpering sound catches his attention and he follows it. 

Huddled in the small space at the top of the structure is Anastasia, her legs drawn in close as she rests her head on her knees, her arms wrapped protectively around herself. Gibbs knows she can’t see him, nor could she hear him, so he takes heavy steps, hoping she feels the vibrations of his footsteps, as he climbs the playground equipment. She lifts her head and he can barely make out the terrified expression on her face due to the growing darkness, which is only broken up by the low glow of the park’s floodlights. 

“Poppa!” Anastasia’s garbled cry comes as she stands up and runs to him, throwing her small arms around him in a hug. He returns the hug, a profound feeling of relief flooding over him as he did. He holds her for a few moments before pulling back. 

‘Your mom is worried sick Anastasia.’ He signs slowly, making sure she can see his hands properly as he does.

Anastasia shakes her head violently, backing away from him at the same time. ‘No, no. I’m not going back.’ Her signing is rapid and choppy, almost to the point where he misses what she was saying.

He gives her a quizzical look before asking her, ‘Why don’t you want to go home Anastasia?’ She starts to sign quickly again, her movements jagged as she wipes tears away from her face at the same time. He places a hand over both of hers, waiting for her to look at him before he signs ‘Slowly.’ 

She takes a deep breath before starting again, much slower this time. ‘Momma and Papa are going to have a baby. They won’t want me anymore.’

Gibbs pulls her in for another hug, holding her close for a moment before moving back. ‘Anastasia, they are worried about you because they love you and will always want you. You are their child just as this baby will be.’ He signs.

Still Anastasia shakes her head. ‘I want to be with you Poppa. Please?’ Her signing is slow, yet still shaky as new tears form in her eyes. Gibbs wipes away a stray tear before pressing a kiss to her forehead. 

‘Anastasia, you can always stay with me, but you belong with your mom and dad. They love you just as much as I do.’ He stops a moment, taking her in before continuing. ‘If you ever need me, I’m only a call away and I will always let you stay with me, okay?’ She nods, taking the hand he offers her. Gibbs shoots you and Tim a text, saying he had found Anastasia and that the two of you were on the way back to the house. The walk back to the house goes by quickly, Anastasia clinging to his hand the entire walk back.  

Your POV: 

You hear the door opening and you rush to the foyer, your eyes searching frantically for Anastasia until they land on her. You pull her in for a tight hug, warm tears of relief rolling down your face. You trace the words ‘I love you’ on her back as you hold her close. Anastasia is stiff in your grasp for a moment before she returns the hug, saying “Momma” as she does. 

You pull back, sniffling out “Anastasia?” as you look at her. It was the first time you had heard her say the words and a feeling of joy courses through you.

You quickly sign in response. ‘Thank you Anastasia. It means so much to hear you say that. I love you so much.’ Anastasia lets out a small smile just as Tim comes around the corner. You take his hand, pulling him and Anastasia in close for a group hug. Even after the scare with Anastasia, you couldn’t feel happier. You had everything you needed with your family safe in your arms.