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mamaestapa · 1 year

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The Argument, The Date, & The Disappointment

•pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

•series summary: Y/N Y/L/N moved to Cincinnati, Ohio for a new start. Move in day arrives and she discovers something terrible...the apartment complex gave her the wrong lease. Instead of living with who she originally was supposed to, she's now living with the hottest quarterback in the NFL, Joe Burrow. Y/N is stuck living in the same apartment with him for a year...which the two are not thrilled about. However, as time goes on, they realize that maybe this wasn't the worst thing that could happen to them. Will Y/N and Joe stay enemies, or will they find themselves falling in love?

•chapter summary: You and Joe enjoy a morning together that gets ruined by an argument. Joe tries to make it up to you, but you have other plans

•word count: 4k

•warnings: fluff, arguing, language, mentions of sex, jealous and sad joe, ANGST

series masterlist

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November 4, 2022

You put on your red oversized University of Arizona sweatshirt and went out to the kitchen to make your morning cup of coffee.

You have the day off of work today, so you figured you would stay home and do some cleaning. Joe had some of his teammates over after practice a couple days ago and the apartment was still a mess.

You cant even remember the last time this place was properly cleaned. Gross.

You pulled a coffee cup from off the rack next to the coffee maker. You put the cup underneath it and prepared the coffee grounds. As the coffee started to drip into the cup, the bathroom door swung open and Joe walked out, clad in his black gym shorts with a tucked in black long sleeve that had the bengals logo just above his left pec. Towel in hand, he walked down the hall towards your bedroom. Well he wasn't going into your room, right across from your bedroom was the laundry room. He threw the towel into the laundry basket designated for towels and walked back into the kitchen.

Joe smiled at you as he walked into the kitchen, "Morning Y/n."

You smiled up at him as you grabbed the coffee creamer, "Good morning Joe."

He opened the fridge and pulled out the egg carton, a diced green bell pepper, chunks of ham, and shredded cheddar cheese. As he put the ingredients on the counter he spoke, "How'd you sleep?"

"Pretty good," you said with a nod, "you?"

"Good until my alarm went off," he replied, chuckling lightly.

"You didn't want to work out at five A-M with Ja'Marr this morning?" you asked with raised eyebrows and a smirk.

"It was actually seven this morning."

"Oh, wow seven?"

Joe nodded as he walked over to the stove and got a skillet out.

"Can't believe he let you sleep in?" you said, shaking your head, "Usually he's pounding on the door if you're not out by five."

Joe and Ja'Marr have a very weird work out schedule. Some days they're up before the sunrise, working out for almost two hours before their all day practice. Other days they're up at a more reasonable time, working out for longer.

Joe chuckled, "He was feeling extra nice this morning I guess."

You smiled and let out a laugh, "Yeah, I guess so."

You went back to preparing your coffee as Joe started making his breakfast. As he was whisking the eggs together, he turned to you as you put the coffee creamer away.

"You want any eggs?"

You shook your head. "I'll stick to my coffee for now. But thanks."

He nodded and turned his attention back to making his breakfast. You stood in the kitchen, sipping your coffee and watching Joe make his eggs. He grabbed a plate from the cabinet above him and set it down on the counter, sprinkling cheese over the eggs and letting it melt before he put a large portion on the plate. He turned the stove off and grabbed a fork, setting it on his plate. He walked into the small dining room that was just off to the side of the living room. You followed him, deciding to keep him company as he ate his breakfast.

You and Joe have actually started to get along. You think it's safe to say you’re actually becoming quite good friends. You have learned a lot about Joe and you’ve realized he isn't as bad as you thought he was when you first moved in with him. It's easy to see why every girl loves him.

He's a really nice guy, he's extremely humble, and he has a great sense of humor. And you have to admit, he's not bad looking, at all. He's actually very attractive...

But, you don't have a crush on him, you swear. You’re really happy with how things are going with Evan. The two of you have agreed to take things slow and not rush into anything. Both of you have talked about a possible relationship, but for now you’re just happy with each others company.

You sat down on the chair across from Joe, setting your coffee cup down in front of you. The two of you sat in silence as Joe ate his breakfast. You grabbed your cup and took a sip of your coffee. As you sat the cup down on the table, your stomach let out a loud growl. You clutched your stomach, making Joe chuckle. He stood from his chair and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a plate and filling it with eggs. He grabbed a fork from the silverware drawer and walked back out to the dining room. He set the plate down in front of you.

"Here. Can't go to work on an empty stomach."

You looked up at him, feeling just the slightest hint of butterflies from his kind action. He smiled down at you before walking back over to his side of the table and sitting back down.

You smiled, "Thank you, Joe. I don't have work today though."

He shrugged, "Doesn't mean you can't eat breakfast."

You and Joe made small talk as you ate your breakfast. You have to admit, Joe is a great cook. You don't know what he did to those eggs, but they were delicious.

You and Joe got up from the table and went in to the kitchen to clean your plates off. As you set your plate in the dishwasher, your phone went off. You pulled it out of your leggings and smiled when you saw it was a text from Evan. Your eyes scanned the chat he sent you, your face instantly turning red as you read the words. Joe closed the dishwasher and looked at you as you smiled down at your phone, thumbs quickly typing away.

"What's got you so flustered?" Joe chuckled, running a hand through his damp blonde hair.

You shook your head, "Nothing that concerns you."

Joe clenched his jaw and nodded slowly, "Sooo, it has nothing to do with shooter?"

You furrowed your brows in confusion, "Shooter?"

"Evan."

You shrugged, picking up your coffee cup and taking a sip of the hot liquid before you replied. "Maybe."

Joe crossed his arms and just looked at you with a deadpan gaze and clenched jaw. It almost seemed like he was jealous?

"What?" you laughed, "would it be a such a big deal if it has to do with him?"

Joe scoffed and let out a laugh of disbelieve, "Yeah it would."

"Oh come on, no it wouldn't."

"Yes it would."

You rolled your eyes, "Fine. Why would it be such a big deal?"

"Because he's my teammate, Y/n! I told you early on that my teammates are off limits."

Oh.

You forgot all about that chat the two of you had after you met Logan and Ja'Marr that first week. After the guys left you mentioned something about thinking Ja'Marr was hot and Joe gave you this whole spiel about how his teammates were "off limits for you to hit on". You told him you understood because you truly did see where he was coming from. Coming home to see your roommate making out with your teammate would be extremely awkward.

But it's not going to stop you from talking to Evan. You care about what Joe thinks, but at the same time, you want to be happy here in Cincinnati. And you know Evan can make you really happy.

"I never said I was going out with him." you said, shrugging your shoulders, "we're simply just talking to each other."

Joe rolled his eyes, "Oh don't bullshit me Y/n."

"Excuse you?"

Joe scoffed, "I'm not an idiot, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that. I have a name."

"Fine. I'm not an idiot, Y/n."

You crossed your arms and kept your jaw clenched as Joe spoke.

"I think you're forgetting that Evan is my friend and my teammate. I see him basically every day of the week. I hear the things he says about you, Y/n. I see the posts on your stories, I hear about the text messages, I know about everything, You're not just talking to him! And I specifically told you not to get with any of my teammates. And what did you do? You got with one of my teammates!"

"You are unbelievable."

"Oh I am?"

You scoffed and let out a laugh of shock, "Yeah, yeah you are! It's none of your business who I date or who I talk to. You don't control me, Joe."

He ran his hands through his hair and sighed, "I never said I did!"

"It shouldn't matter to you if I date Evan or not! Don't you want him to be happy?"

Joe stayed silent, clenching his jaw as you spoke. You rolled your eyes and shook your head in annoyance. He was being so unreasonable.

You decided to hit him where it hurts.

"And," you continued, "It's not like i'm going to bring him over here all the time and have sex with him when you're here if that's what you're so worried about!? Because unlike you I have respect for my roommate."

Yep. You’re referring to that time when you walked into the apartment and saw Joe hooking up with a girl on your couch.

He rolled his eyes, "Oh my god," he mumbled under his breath, "that was one time!"

"Yeah, one time too many!"

Joe shook his head and huffed out a sigh of annoyance. He looked at me and crossed his arms, the look on his face was extremely hard to read. He seemed annoyed, but almost disappointed, too.

"You know what Y/n? Fine, you win. You wanna date Evan, go right ahead. I thought maybe you'd respect my wishes, but clearly I was wrong. Wrong about you."

You felt your heart drop to the pit of your stomach. All of your anger towards Joe turned into confusion. What does he mean wrong about you?

"Joe, I-."

He shook his head, "Save it."

"Joe, just let me explain-."

"Just get out!"

You furrowed your brows in confusion, looking up at him with concern. You gulped as you struggled to find the right words to say to him. You opened your mouth slightly, trying to think of what to say. You struggled to form a sentence as tears began to well up in your eyes. You were so confused. Where was this coming from?

"Go be with Evan or some other guy on my team. Clearly they're all pretty important to you."

You shook your head, trying to hold back tears. You grabbed your phone and stormed out of the kitchen. You quickly slid your tennis shoes on and grabbed your car keys. You needed to get away from here for a bit. You were hurt and extremely confused. Joe has never spoken to you like this before.

And here you thought the two of you were starting to actually become friends. Clearly you were wrong.

You grabbed your keys and as you opened the door to leave, you turned to face Joe who was still standing in the kitchen with crossed arms and a clenched jaw.

"Screw you." you said to him, rolling your eyes and slamming the apartment door behind you.

~time skip~

"Maybe I'm just being dramatic, but I don't get it. This came out of nowhere?!" you exclaimed, throwing your hands up in the air as you ranted to Macee, who was folding and displaying new t-shirts.

After storming out of the apartment, you decided to drive downtown to CincyStyles to talk to Macee. You knew she'd be able to give you some advice and talk you through the situation with Joe.

Macee frowned. She knew why Joe was being harsh, but she knew she couldn't say anything.

"I'm sorry hun," she said, reaching out to place a hand on your shoulder, "he shouldn't have made such a big deal over something so small. So what if you date one of his teammates? He should be happy! You're a wonderful girl, any of those guys would be lucky to have you."

You smiled, "Thank you Macee. I guess I see where he's coming from. I did promise him I wouldn't go out with any of his teammates."

"Well I mean, technically you haven't gone out with any of them, right?"

You shook my head, "No."

Macee smiled softly, "See? He's just being dramatic then. You didn't go against your word."

You grimaced slightly, thinking about how to break the news to Macee. You did go against your word to Joe...

"I'm going on a date tonight. With Evan." you said, pulling your lips into a straight line. Macee's eyes widened as her mouth fell open in shock.

"Like a date, date? Not just a get together at the gym and work out kind of thing?"

"Yeah, like a date, date."

"Y/n," she beamed, "that's awesome! Aren't you excited?"

You were very excited for your date with Evan, yes. But after the argument with Joe this morning, something just feels off. You almost feel a little guilty? You get butterflies just thinking about your date with Evan, but, you have this other feeling that you can't quite explain. You feel guilty for going out with Evan, but you don't why.

You know you shouldn't feel guilty, but you do.

You shook your thoughts away and smiled, feeling your cheeks burn at the thought of your date later, "I'm really excited. Evan is such a great guy."

"He is, isn't he?" Macee asked, a sweet smile on her face. She walked over to the rack of jeans, re-organizing the sizes as she continued speaking, "You didn't hear this from me but," she paused, looking over at you with a playful smirk on her face, "Evan's got a pretty big crush on you."

"Yeah, he does."

You turned around at the new voice that had joined in on the conversation.

"Hey Alisa!" Macee said with a smile as she hugged the brunette woman.

"Hey! Trey and I were out, so I thought I'd stop by and say hi." The woman, Alisa, said. She turned to you with a kind smile.

"You must be Y/n?"

You nodded, smiling at her. She held her right hand out and you shook it, the two of you introducing yourselves.

"I'm Alisa, Trey's wife. You're Evan's girlfriend right?”

Your eyes widened. You were not expecting that.

"Oh, uh," you let out an awkward laugh, "No, we're not dating."

She covered her mouth with her hands, pulling them away to say, "I am so sorry."

"You're okay, don't worry about it," you smiled, "you're technically not wrong. We aren't official yet, but he and I have been seeing each other, I guess?" you said with a hesitant tone.

You don't really know what you and Evan are. You guess that's why you’re going on a date tonight. To figure out what label to put on your relationship.

She smiled, "Evan is a sweet guy and I've heard he has nothing but good things to say about you, Y/n."

You blushed as Alisa said that. You have nothing but good things to say about him, too. Macee, Alisa and you continued to talk for a bit until Alisa decided to meet back up with Trey. You said goodbye and you and Alisa exchanged phone numbers. It was good to have another friend here in Cincinnati.

Once Alisa left, Macee decided to close the boutique for the night.

You furrowed your brow in confusion. We never close early, especially on a Friday.

"Why are you closing up?

Macee smirked, "Because you Miss Y/l/n, have a date to get ready for," she grabbed your hand, "so come on. I'm going to help you get ready."

meanwhile

Joe's pov:

God you're such an idiot, Joe. I thought to myself as I let out a heavy sigh.

I really didn't mean to start some stupid argument with Y/n. I just let my jealousy get the best of me.

I want her to be happy, I really do, but not with one of my teammates. Hopefully you all don't think I'm crazy and you can see where I'm coming from when I told her my teammates are off limits.

I just don't want things to be awkward. I don't want to come home one night and find my roommate on the couch with one of my best friends. Am I so crazy for NOT wanting that to happen?

I walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. I couldn't shake the guilt that was building up inside me. My mind wandered to the moment before Y/n walked out. It broke my heart to see her upset. Especially since I was the one that caused it. I said things to her that I shouldn't have said. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to her.

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out and cursed to myself as I saw it was Ja'Marr. (Ja'marr is in bold, Joe is in italics).

Hey Ja-

Burrow, where the fuck you at man?

What?

I'm at Hubbards, we're waitin' on your ass to get here

Shit, *sigh* I totally forgot that was today

Man how the hell did you forget?

I'm sorry! My mind has just been elsewhere today. Y/n and I got into a fight and-

Oooh, trouble in paradise

Oh, shut up.

*laughter* I'm just messin' with you man. What'd you get in an argument over?

It doesn't matter

Uh huh.

Look, I need to come up with a way to make it up to Y/n

That bad huh?

Yeah.

Hold on *silence* Hey Joe!

Hey Emma

Ja'Marr said you needed my help with Y/n.

What do girls like as an “I'm sorry gift"? I’ve never fucked up this bad before, Em.

Well, anytime Sam and I argue we usually just have make-up sex and then -

Yeah nope.

*laugh* You didn't let me finish. Sam will get my favorite takeout and we stay up late watching our favorite movies. That always gets me to forgive him, maybe you should try that with Y/n?

Yeah, I think I can do that. Thanks for the help, Em.

Anytime, Joey. Good luck!

Thanks.

*silence* Aight Joey B, you comin' with us or...?

No, I've got a movie night.

With?

Who do you think?

Lucky you. *smirk* Don't tell shooter

*Eyeroll* Whatever. Well, I gotta go. You and Sam have fun, but not too much fun.

I should be saying that to you. We don't need Joe and Y/n babies .

Good lord...see ya Ja'Marr.

Bye Burrow, be safe while you fuc-

I ended the call and put my phone down on the couch with a sigh. My mind wandered to Y/n. It's been a couple hours since she left. I knew she had to come back at some point, but I wasn't sure when. I wanted the takeout and movies to be ready when she got here, so I figured I should get everything prepared now.

I remembered Y/n telling me that her favorite takeout is bar food, so I ordered a variety of appetizers from my favorite bar in downtown Cincinnati. I'm confident that she will like it as much as I do.

As for the movie, I rented her favorite: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. RomComs aren't my favorite, but I'm willing to watch it with Y/n if it makes her happy.

I don't ever get nervous. I like to think I'm a very confident person. Right now though, I am very nervous just thinking about Y/n coming back. I never get this way, about anyone. It feels foreign to me.

But now, all I have to do is wait and hope Y/n will forgive me.

Wish me luck.

~time skip~

Joe's Pov:

I was sitting on the couch fiddling with my thumbs when I heard the apartment door open. I stood from from my spot, gulping when I saw Y/n.

She was wearing black leather pants with a red tank top. Her lips matched her shirt, and her curled black lashes made her Y/e/c eyes pop. Her Y/h/c hair was softly curled, framing her face perfectly.

She looked absolutely beautiful.

No, NO. You cant think like that. I scolded myself internally. I sucked in a breath and stood from the couch, giving her a soft smile as I looked at her.

"Hi."

She smiled, "Hey."

"I uh," I cleared my throat, knowing that my cheeks were now slightly flushed, “you look nice."

"Thanks Joe."

I nodded. It was somewhat tense as Y/n and I just stood looking at each other.

"I'm sor-."

"About earl-."

I chuckled as she let out a laugh.

"You go first." She said, gesturing to me.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I overreacted and was a complete dick. I'm really sorry, Y/n." I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly as I continued, "I uh, I rented some movies. You're more than welcome to join me, if you don't have other plans."

Y/n frowned, "I have a date Joe, I'm sorry. I just stopped by so I could grab my heels."

I felt my heart drop. I tried my best to hide my faltering smile at the news.

She was going out with Evan.

“No, no that’s okay,” I shrugged, “I was going to watch movies with Ja’Marr anyway so…”

She smiled softly and nodded, “Well, have fun.” She walked past me and to her room, grabbing her shoes and then walking out of the apartment.

“Yeah, you too…” I frowned, disappointment evident in my tone.

I could tell she was still upset about earlier by the way she was quick to leave the apartment. I sat down on the couch, exiting the page that had How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days open. Y/n didn’t even notice the movie on the TV or her favorite takeout sitting on the counter with a note.

So much for my movie night and takeout apology.

hey loves!!

i apologize for how long this chapter is, i got a bit carried away lol

poor joe, right? he’s trying so hard :(

i hope you’re all continuing to enjoy this book!! i’m having a blast writing it!

also, prayers for anybody that has been affected by the severe storms that went through the midwest<3

i love you all and thank you for much for your continued support with this book! more updates coming soon:)

tags:

@jackharloww @ilovejoeburroww @dandelionwrites8 @ijustcrypretty @sinners-98-world @a-moment-captured @stainednailpolishremover @spooky-stoner

#joe burrow #joe burrow x reader #joe burrow x y/n #joe burrow x you #nfl imagines #nfl #imagines #welcome to the jungle

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smallcanofworms · 4 months

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so, I finished my Lae’zel origin run and it was magnificent! however, the way the crew all wound up makes me laugh bc of the dumb choices I made so here they are (spoilers below the cut:)

Shadowheart: moonmote parents & following the Selûne path, also romanced (bc duh, Shadowzel brainrot) and are happily traveling the realm and fighting off 150+ Vlaak-gith (ha) assassins, per conversation with Wyll, her kicking her shoes off and enjoying the river also made my heart happy

Wyll: Blade of Avernus changed to the Ranger class, though we did save the duke and they are both happy & proud of each other

Karlach: became a Mindflayer… which, to be fair, was what I had planned on doing bc I’ve gone the Orpheus-> Mindflayer route and wanted to change it up! on the bright side, she seems happy but sounded different

Halsin: good ole daddy Halsin, now comes with an armored Owlbear bc I misread :)

Astarion: Ascension ending, he was a bit sassy w me but that’s to be expected - I had him ascend for similar reasons re:Karlach

Gale: became the god of ambition bc I couldn’t convince him to leave the crown of Karsus behind :/

Jaheria: ready for a new adventure bc her kids make her sit around

Minsc: up to the same weird shit with Boo per usual, I’m not sure if this changes either way

Minthara: rip, I started the run before the patches where you could recruit her & Halsin

BONUS:

I had a ton of allies in the end, like I clocked over 120 hours in this run alone just to do most of the side quests… BUT I didn’t know you’d get an extra cutscene with Raphael monologuing you about the havoc Gale will wreck as a god and it was a very pleasant surprise lol. I signed his contracted and then ripped it up <3 love u still devil daddy

alsoooo, idk what all changes with the letters/newspapers in the epilogue but there were like three things that stuck out to me:

1) not a goblin, creature crawling around Elfsong is a githyanki child - made me giggle, but also I kept the egg in my inventory and nothing happened w that so idk but yall already know my feelings on Xan (I love him just to be clear)

2) invitation to the House of Grief - we obliterated the Sharrans, save Nocturne ofc, so idk what that’s about or if it’s supposed to be like a rebrand of the building? idk I’m in too deep

3) THE PICTURE OF LAE’ZEL IN THE NEWSPAPER IS SO CUTE

I should be done with playing the game for a while, now having completed two runs… but I probably won’t :)

#bg3 #bg3 spoilers #lae'zel #shadowheart #karlach #baldur's gate 3 #wyll #wyll ravengard #shadowzel #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #astarion #withers #bg3 epilogue spoilers

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3terna15unshin3 · 11 months

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Then Because She Goes

You fracture light again

★ Chapter 2 of 15, 5691 words

★ Matty Healy x Original Female Character

★ warning: recreational drug use

<< 1

1 June, 2018

Inevitably, she recognized the voice she heard on the BBC the night before as Matty’s. Este listened intently to what she could catch of his interview with Annie Mac after the song played, and observed his played-up radio voice—subconsciously comparing it to the humbled one she had encountered over a month previously.

Of course Matty is in a band, she thought. He was the exact type to be a front man; flashy fashion sense, reads essays in his free time, patchwork tattoos. It only doubled the amount of questions she found herself asking. The song was enjoyable, too. It sent a surge of energy through her and Cate, inspiring a late-evening dance party between the two roommates, as they listened to the wordy and humorous lyricism contained throughout the 3 minutes. Este agreed that whiskey really did never start to taste nice, and also hoped that her 27th year didn’t involve any STIs. Her plate of eggs on toast had to wait until after the song was done to be eaten, eventually munched down by a very out of breath Este.

Back at work, she opened her phone, bored during a lull of customers. Typing ‘matty healy’ into Instagram, she found his account easily. The number of followers shocked her, but when she scrolled down to the posts, she only saw a sparse few photos. Este’s original plan was to, quite honestly, stalk his page for answers to all of her curiosities; but his basically empty profile put that idea to a stop.

Her thumb couldn’t help but click the ‘follow’ button before she even had the time to think. Glancing back at the small checklist of things she had to do before closing up, Este got back to work, letting Matty slip out of her head.

✴

[trumanblack]: este.manansala followed you.

Matty had been watching his notifications on social media a little too closely lately. With the new single out, he was heavily focused on the response it was getting, wanting to know what people thought.

Because of this, he happened to catch the fact that the girl from Greenhouse gave him a follow a few hours after the interaction came through. He was shocked that she found his account, as it had only been active again for a short amount of time, but he assumed that she heard Give Yourself A Try and did some digging. He felt extremely grateful that the new song was well-received so far, but jumping back into the public eye and kickstarting a new era of The 1975 was a mental rollercoaster. Meeting Este felt like the last normal thing he experienced before it all restarted, so he couldn’t get her out of his head.

She reminded him of Manchester, the smell of used books, the venues the band played before anyone knew their name, waiting in line at coffee shops, and the uneven pavements he last tripped over back in April. This sense of comfort he correlated with Este was a little strange, he admitted to himself. It almost brought him to shoot her a DM to strike up a conversation, but Matty thought logically for a moment and decided to just follow her back instead.

Heading onto the train, he was lucky that more promo brought him back to Manchester. He’d only be in town for a couple of hours, scheduled to meet with some local music journalists to talk about the new song and what’s to come. After his arrival, a few polite people, dressed quite professionally, took turns having a seat with him for a conversation. He enjoyed talking about his art and felt especially excited to dive into sharing the headspace he’d been in while writing A Brief Inquiry.

Matty had a completely new and introspective way to approach these interviews, and felt the need to answer every question incredibly thoughtfully. In previous years, press always felt a bit silly to him, so he took the piss out of interviewers way too often. Though he was still willing to be lighthearted and sarcastic, the conversations he held recently felt important to him. He felt some responsibility—especially while sitting in the midst of where he grew up—to push support for the arts and inspire the youth in his hometown with the passion he sometimes took for granted.

“Well, Matty, thank you so much for your time today. I have one last ask of you,” the last interviewer proposed, lifting her pen from her notepad for a moment.

He nodded welcomingly, a smile prominent on his face. “Shoot.”

“Do you have a favourite spot out here in Manchester? Whether it be a pub, restaurant, shop, what have you. I know you’ve spent a lot of your life here and I’m sure people would trust your opinion,” she said.

Matty thought heavily about it, though, sifting through the tonnes of recommendations flooding through his brain. One particular one came to the front, and he selfishly decided on it to sound extra intellectual and mysterious.

“You know, just across the Starbucks on Piccadilly and Gore is this sick used bookshop. Greenhouse, I think it's called. It’s super tiny, but I love going into secondhand shops just to sort through all the cool shit they all have,” he admitted. “Not even just that one in particular, I think the smaller the shop the better, when it comes to Manchester.”

✴ 13 August, 2018

The earl grey tea from Starbucks was super bland, according to Este’s grandmother.

“Tastes like nothing,” she complained in her thick Filipino accent. Este laughed and offered to take her tea in exchange for her own vanilla latte that sat in front of her. “You know it would just make my blood sugar spike, Anak,” her grandmother denied, calling her ‘child’, as always.

“Well then, you’ll just have to suck it up then,” Este replied, the both of them laughing and happy to be able to spend time together in London.

Her grandmother, Florencia, immigrated there from the Philippines almost 20 years ago to continue her work as a nurse. Despite the rest of the family moving up to Manchester, she and her husband remained in the big city. Now some years into retirement, Florencia always asked her granddaughter to accompany her to doctors appointments, helping them stay as close as ever over the years.

“You know everything I make at home tastes better anyway. Your Lolo would agree,” Este’s grandmother reminded her, taking another sip of her (bland) cuppa.

“Of course, Lola,” assured Este. “But seriously, do you want me to get you another drink? I don’t want to make you finish that if you don’t like it.”

Florencia thought about it, and almost said no to be humble. But eventually, she agreed, and said, “You know me too well.”

She knew she couldn’t go wrong with a black coffee, and that her grandmother would be much less critical to it; so Este got up from their table in the corner of the busy Starbucks, and queued back up to satisfy the picky woman. Approaching the lengthy queue, she soon realised who stood in front of her. His curly hair sprung in every direction atop his head and Este took note of the few greys she remembered from when they met.

“Matty?” she blurted, immediately regretting being so forward and suddenly anxious that it was a really creepy thing to do. He probably gets stopped by fans countless times a day, she thought and cringed.

He turned around, the sunglasses sitting on his face making it hard for Este to read his expression. It softened as soon as Matty recognised her. It had been a couple of months since he learned her name for the first time, and—unlike the usual cases of meeting plenty of strangers—he remembered it easily. Maybe it was the fact that he followed her back on Instagram, or maybe just that she was different from those strangers.

Este oppositely feared that he didn’t even know who she was.

“Este!” he smiled with relief.

Even with the friendliness within his demeanour, she felt the need to apologise for yupping at him from behind. “God, I didn’t mean to just call out your name like that,” she chuckled nervously. “That was weird of me,” she apologised.

“Please, don’t be silly,” he told her. “Not weird at all. I’m glad you did, actually. I was in my own little world so I would have never even looked up from my phone,” Matty said, laughing. “What are you doing in London?”

Este pointed over to her grandmother and their table. “My nan lives here and had a doctor’s appointment earlier this morning. That’s her. I’m horrible at reaching out and coming down to see her so I just escort her to her appointments to kill two birds with one stone,” she admitted.

He looked over and smiled at the old woman in the corner, noticing drinks and pastries already in front of her. “Getting a second round of drinks?” he wondered. She seemed vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't pin any name or context to her face.

“Oh—she didn’t like her tea. I’m just lining up again to replace it with a black coffee,” Este explained, and he understood. "She’s picky.”

A space grew between Matty and the person in front of him, so they both shuffled forward, still quite a few people before it was their turn to order.

“But what about you? I’ve seen online that you’ve been quite the busy bee,” she asked.

Matty laughed at her use of the childish phrase. “I have been a busy bee,” he mocked.

She rolled her eyes in response. “You know, I was just leading up to complimenting your new music but just for that I’m going to keep it to myself.”

His eyebrows rose in excitement, letting go of the bit. “No way! You’ve heard it?” he asked genuinely.

They shuffled forward again.

“Yes way,” she laughed.

Matty nodded, trying to portray how thankful he was for the kind words.

“When my flatmate and I first heard Give Yourself A Try on Annie Mac she said it made her feel like she had tachycardia,” Este said.

“Am I supposed to know what that means?” said Matty, chuckling in the process.

She giggled at the way he said it like it embarrassed him. “I think it’s when your heart beats too fast, or something,” Este attempted to explain. “The song made her feel like that, I guess. In the best way, I promise.”

“I didn’t know it until right now but that’s exactly what I wanted it to do!” he replied with genuine happiness plastered on his face. Another shuffle towards the register. “Seriously though, I’m glad you like it. To be quite honest I’m a little embarrassed that you were listening when it debuted on Radio 1. I was incredibly nervous so I kept saying stupid shit.”

Este dismissed his embarrassment and insisted that she enjoyed it.

Their chat continued as the queue moved at a snail’s pace, Florencia repeatedly glancing over to see what was taking so long. It must have been the late breakfast rush. A thought sprung into Este’s mind after finding out that Matty would be flying out to Los Angeles the following week.

“Want a book recommendation for the flight over?” she posed.

His eyes widened behind his sunglasses that were still on, as he tilted his head in curiosity. “Of course. Always,” he confirmed, curious to hear her suggestion.

Smiling, Este began explaining her choice. “It’s called Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata. I read it all in one sitting on one of my days off last week and it was one of the weirdest fucking books I’ve read this year,” she said with a chuckle.

Matty became conscious of the fact that there was now only one person left before it was his turn. What did she say she was ordering for her nan? A black coffee, right? he tried to remember.

“Weird-good, I hope?”

“100%,” she defended, grinning at him.

He thanked her and promised he’d pick up a copy before leaving town, and then finally walked up to the register. The poor worker was the only one taking orders as the other three behind her frantically concocted the drinks. She greeted him with a friendly ‘good morning’ despite the stress oozing from her ears.

“Morning, can I get two venti black pike roasts—one with room, please?”

The worker nodded and punched his order in. Eventually his payment went through, giving Este her cue to step up and begin her order.

But, he put a hand on her shoulder before she could greet the girl in the green apron. She looked at him, confused.

“I got it,” he said simply, without explaining.

Now understanding that one of the two coffees he bought was for her grandmother, she protested and insisted that he accept the ten pound note she pulled out of her pocket to repay him.

“Este, stop, really. Let me buy your grandmother a coffee,” he argued.

She couldn’t get him to budge, so as they waited for the drinks, they bee-lined for Florencia’s table. Her sparse and white eyebrows furrowed, looking at an unfamiliar Matty.

“This is Matty, Lola,” Este introduced.

He waved sweetly to her and they exchanged smiles once the confusion disappeared from her face. “Nice to meet you, madam. I’m Este’s friend.”

A fuzzy feeling wrapped around Este’s spine as she thought of him considering her his friend.

Her grandmother waved him off, shaking her head. “You don’t have to call me madam, Matty,” she corrected. All three of them shared a laugh, before Florencia continued on, “You can call me Lola.”

Este’s cheeks grew hot with embarrassment. Christ. She just told Matty Healy to call her Grandmother. Her hands flew to her face, covering it up, and then flying to her hair to nervously smooth down the already slicked ponytail it was in.

He chuckled and replied, “Oh, I’d love to—Lola is a beautiful name you’ve got.”

Florencia immediately locked eyes with her granddaughter and they laughed. “Lola means grandmother in Tagalog. It’s what I call her, and what you’d usually call any female elder in the Philippines,” Este broke the news in the midst of their giggles.

He went cherry red as worry crossed his mind and he considered how ignorant his comment sounded. Words tried to escape his mouth and form sentences but they were barely coherent. In perfect timing, Matty’s name was called out, signalling that the drinks were ready, so she left him with her grandmother to grab them and let him continue squirming in embarrassment.

She could tell he was apologising and that Florencia was telling him that he didn’t need to, trying to help him with the pronunciation.

“It’s not like the name Lola, the ‘o’ should almost sound blunt and cut off,” she explained, and Matty attempted to pronounce it in the way she instructed. They shared an endearing moment of laughter as he tried it a few more times, and Este set down the drinks, interrupting them.

“Here’s your coffee, Lola. Matty paid for it, so you should thank him.”

Delight spread over her grandmother's face as she repeatedly thanked him, using a tone of voice Este rarely heard. She loves him, Este thought, grabbing her necklace and fiddling with it.

Matty picked up his coffee, not even realising how much time had passed. “Please, it’s my pleasure, Lola,” he tried.

Florencia nodded excitedly in approval.

“I’d love to stick around but I’ve got to head over to a meeting. It was lovely meeting you, and seeing you again, Este.” He looked into her eyes.

She looked back at them, even though his shades hindered her from noticing. “Same here, Matty. Sorry if I took up your time by blabbering at you in line,” she apologised.

He shook his head, silently reassuring her, and uttered a quick ‘bye’ before waving at both her and her grandmother as he turned to approach the exit. Smiles were shared between the three of them, and eventually, he was gone.

“Ang pogi n’ya!” **

“I know, Lola.”

** He’s so handsome!

✴ 23 August, 2018

Before cleaning up his flat to take off to LA in a few hours, Matty remembered to reach into the Waterstones bag sitting on his coffee table and grab the copy of Convenience Store Woman that was inside.

He studied the purple cover and read the reviews advertised on it. ‘Irresistibly quirky! – The Guardian’, and ‘Exhilaratingly weird and funny, – Sally Rooney’ spelled a few of them. Scanning the description on the back, he understood why the underlying theme of everything he had heard about the Japanese book was that it was weird—but he trusted Este’s recommendation and followed through with his promise.

It was going to be a fast read for him, only containing a short and sweet 163 pages. If he read it on and off through the span of his flight, he could most likely finish the whole thing.

Matty was looking forward to forming some opinions on the novel and letting Este know what he thought of it, once the time comes. When will I next be in Manchester? he thought. Surely it won’t be for a while.

There was an obvious way to get in contact with her that wasn’t just showing up at her place of employment, but somehow he was still scared to come on too strong; even after randomly meeting her grandmother in a Starbucks. Sliding into a girl’s DMs had a certain connotation that he didn’t want to accidentally display while searching for a lighthearted chat about books with a friendly girl who made him feel closer to home. It wasn’t classy.

He met the rest of the crew at Heathrow, and had a couple of hours to waste time before it was time to board. Sandwiched between Ross and George and sat on the uncomfortable row of chairs at their gate, Matty pulled out the book to get started. All of them had music playing in their headphones, trying to stay reserved and minding their own business.

25 pages or so into the novel, he was shocked at how many times he had to pause to gawk at its writing, using a pen to underline a few of his favourite quotes. Somehow the author made this impact on him without even using particularly powerful words, which Matty usually ate right up. He wasn’t learning any new words from this book, and it intrigued him. The simpler words made a deeper print on the inside of his mind.

Next thing you know, it was time to board, and he had already finished Convenience Store Woman. The short novel started off strong, but ultimately, Matty had read better. He liked its commentary on conforming to socially constructed standards and how uniquely it was represented with Keiko, the main character, but as he turned more pages, he found it harder and harder to empathise with her.

“Well, that £11.99 lasted about an hour and forty-five minutes,” he muttered to nobody in particular while he and the guys stood up to get onto the plane.

“Didn’t like it?” asked George, as he took the book from Matty and started reading the back. After a few seconds of taking in the summary, he said, “Sounds a bit weird, mate.”

“I mean, I did like it, just not that much,” Matty justified, taking back the small book and shoving it in his pocket.

They paused their conversation as it was their turn to show their boarding passes and passports, walking down the tunnel to the plane. The four of them rarely travelled all together when they weren’t touring, so it was odd to fly as a group just to get some recording done in America.

“To be quite honest, I’m surprised you even chose to buy a book at full price, especially one like that,” George continued to judge his book choice.

Adam stepped onto the plane first, in front of Matty, and scanned the aisle numbers to find their seats. He found it eventually, and gestured to Ross to come sit next to him; George stuck sitting next to a blabbering Matty, as always.

“The girl at Greenhouse recommended it to me,” he continued. “You know that used book shop across the Starbucks on Gore Street?”

“Gore… in Manchester?” George replied. “When did you go back to Manchester?”

Matty lifted both him and Ross’s carry-ons into the overhead compartment. “Back in April. When I went for my birthday,” he clarified.

George raised his eyebrows. “That was months ago mate, and you’re only reading it now? And since when is a used book eleven pound ninety-nine?” he interrogated.

Matty rolled his eyes. “Geez, got any more questions for me?”

The four bandmates sat in the same row, the walkway of the small plane departing the first two from the second two. They tried to get comfortable as the other passengers continued to sort out their bags and find their designated spots.

He looked back at George. “I ran into that Greenhouse girl, Este, just last week. It was here in London. That’s when she told me to read it, since I brought up the fact that I’d be on a long flight to LA, and that we promised to eventually exchange recommendations back at the shop in Manchester. Funny story, actually, I ended up meeting her grandmother that day as well. Lovely woman,” Matty rambled. “And it cost twelve pounds because I bought it at Waterstones yesterday, not at Greenhouse.”

All he received from his friend was a raise of eyebrows in agreement, George resorting back to his music. I’ll shut up now, decided Matty.

✴

Two movies and a couple of bags of complimentary peanuts later, Matty, George, Ross, and Adam were barely half way into their flight. Unexpectedly finishing his book at the gate left Matty with nothing to do. His left butt cheek kept falling asleep and George was snoring soundly next to him.

Deciding to try and be productive, he pulled out his laptop and placed it on the pull-down table from the chair in front of him. Matty never felt the need to pay for Wi-Fi in moments like these, so he resorted to sorting through the cluttered files on his desktop and tidying them up. Random references and photo inspiration from years and years ago still collected virtual dust in the laptop he’d carried around for the past four years.

He yawned, then continued quickly opening the countless amounts of .jpeg files he knew were of no use to him anymore and dragging them to the trash icon. The thumbnail of the image he was about to click was difficult to make out, but Matty realised it was a photo of him in the hospital after getting his gallbladder removed back in 2011. He expanded it, the grainy photo filling his screen, and he was shocked to discover that in the meaningless relic from his surgery seven years ago, he recognised the nurse posing beside him.

Este’s grandmother.

He rubbed his eyes, which were slightly teary due to his constant yawning, to try and study the photo even closer. That’s her. This world really is insanely small, Matty thought.

Florencia’s hair was slightly less white in the photo, but her beauty remained the same. Her arms were spread wide to pose playfully and a 22-year-old Matty with a baby-face was sat in the hospital bed. Blue gown on and all, he was pointing at her excitedly.

Though one of the most common surgeries to have, there was an unlucky handful of complications with Matty’s cholecystectomy. He had to be admitted for a couple of nights and he remembers being fairly nervous about the situation; but Florencia took amazing care of him, and her bright and bubbly personality stood out to him. It really helped keep his spirits high in a relatively depressing place like the hospital; that fact being the reason Matty remembers his mother asking them to pose for a photo together. He decided against deleting it, thinking that if he ever mustered up the guts to message Este, it would be a funny thing to bring up.

Mindlessly clearing his laptop of rubbish made his eyes feel heavy, so he dozed off. The guys followed suit, and for the rest of the flight they fell in and out of sleep; the band seemingly exhausted from the amount of work they’d been doing and would continue to do once they landed in California.

Excited, and slightly nervous to be back in America, they finally arrived. It was close to 8pm LA time, so nothing special was on the schedule for that night. They smoked a quick zoot outside their Airbnb and discussed what they needed to get done in the two and a half weeks they’d be staying.

Coming back inside and trying to adjust to the new time zone, Matty emptied the carry-on items he’d need to reach for the most onto the sink in his adjoining toilet and then some onto his bedside table. He came across Convenience Store Woman and opened it back up before putting it away. Flicking through it, he found what he decided was his favourite line. His eyes ran over the paragraph and felt it even more deeply a second time, especially in the context of the city he just touched-down in. Saying it aloud to himself a third time and feeling particularly loose from the weed, he impulsively opened his phone to Instagram and searched for Este. He drafted a message, quoting the book, and sent it quickly.

It didn’t say much, but Matty was far too tired to care and passed out as soon as his head hit the crisp white pillow.

trumanblack: ‘My present self is formed almost completely of the people around me. I am currently made up of 30 percent Mrs. Izumi, 30 percent Sugawara, 20 percent the manager, and the rest absorbed from past colleagues such as Sasaki, who left six months ago, and Okasaki, who was our supervisor until a year ago. My speech is especially infected by everyone around me and is currently a mix of that of Mrs. Izumi and Sugawara. I think the same goes for most people.’

trumanblack: Ouch I just landed in LA and this part felt too real

✴ 7 September, 2018

“I was wanting to read some more classics,” the curly haired customer explained. “But I just have no idea where to start. I’ve only read ones like The Picture of Dorian Gray and To Kill A Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies. They’ve all been a little heavy, and I don’t know if I’m in the mood for that. I want some more humour, something lighthearted, maybe?”

“I’m glad you came to me for classics, I have tons of recommendations.” She smiled sweetly at the young woman, hunting down the shelf she stood in front of often.

“Emma and Persuasion are my favourite Jane Austen novels. I don’t think people realise how funny she is,” Este gushed, pulling a rather old edition of the former book off the shelf. “A likeable main character makes a book heaps easier to read, and Emma is so likeable. She’s witty and confident and charming and reading through her is so fun.”

Thirty minutes later, full of the worker spewing on about her picks, the customer walked out with both Austen novels in her hand.

One of Este’s favourite things about her job was being able to just talk about books all day. Her personality was so obsessive that nothing made her feel more energised than trying to get everyone around her to enjoy the same things as her. Whether it be novels, films, music; anything.

Suddenly becoming aware of the song humming through the store, she realised that the Greenhouse Spotify playlist was looking particularly sparse as of lately. Este worked full time, so she grew tired of the same music repeatedly filling the air. She had to turn over each song quite quickly or else she’d go insane. Whenever these moments arise, she’d spend every free minute on the clock sifting through her Daily Mix playlists on her Spotify home feed to find new material.

As she had streamed Give Yourself A Try plenty of times, Este found some other The 1975 songs being recommended to her. One called Love It If We Made It caught her eye, and as the store was empty, she played it through the speakers to judge if it was worthy to be added to the rotation. She wondered if Matty ended up reading Convenience Store Woman.

Its powerful beginning took her by surprise, as she felt the pulsing beat deep in her chest. The profanity prevented her from adding it to the shop’s playlist, but she kept listening for her own sanity. The longer Este did, the more she was amazed. Her mouth remained agape as the words stamped into her subconscious and refused to leave. It was extremely bold, desperate, political, and shocking—all intentionally, Este could tell. She wanted to pick apart Matty’s brain. Hear the thoughts his mind whispered to him. Feel his emotions, deep and shallow, and know why he felt them; so much that Este considered letting Matty know how much she loved Love It If We Made It.

The idea of it scared her; throwing herself into the surely abundant sea of DMs on his Instagram, but the song and her experience listening to it felt important. She was aware that he likely heard praise on the daily and that her message probably wouldn’t mean much to him, but she continued typing away. She barely opened her own DMs herself, so she eventually found comfort in the fact that the chances he would see it were low.

It was a purely cathartic process, writing the message. Exposing her love for the song helped her put her love for music and art into a concrete and physical space. It reminded her how lucky she was to have the ability to listen to music, read books, and observe film. Este was a sponge, soaking up the world around her with open arms.

‘Love it if we made it is such an important song, I listened for the first time at the shop earlier and felt it so deeply!!!!! Hearing new music and having it impact you is such a beautiful sensation. Thank you for making me feel that again <3 The minute it feels like you’re saying too much it’s immediately just enough. It’s desperate and declarative, in sort of a scary way. But i think that’s the intention. Seriously it might be my favourite song of the year. lmk when you’re back in Manchester, you should come into the shop so i can gush some more!!!’ read her notes app.

Este shook her head and deleted the last sentence, deciding it was a little too much. She ended it with a second ‘thank you’ instead. Did I use too many exclamation marks? she thought. Yeah. Then, Este copied the text before her thumbs clicked away at her phone with the destination of trumanblack and the paste button.

To her surprise, she already had a message awaiting her—from Matty. She wasn’t lying that she rarely opened her DMs. It was dated to two weeks ago. Este instantly felt guilty for airing him and never seeing it, and a bit concerned to learn what it was about. She opened it tentatively, and her eyes scanned across the familiar words from the book she had recommended to him. A feeling of relief spread across her chest when realising that he actually went and read Convenience Store Woman, and thought to reach out to have a conversation about it. Este quickly felt guilty again.

There was no way she was sending her exasperated paragraph of compliments, now knowing that he would see it and that he sent her one first. She tried to match his casual tone and typed a couple of short replies.

este.manansala: Ugh such a good quote

este.manansala: Conformity can go die x

este.manansala: What did you think of it?

Setting her phone down after being on it for way too long while on the clock, Este busied herself with mundane tasks around the shop. She was a little sad that she sold one of her favourite copies of Persuasion, but it wasn’t the end of the world. She vacuumed the carpet, watered the plants, ordered toilet roll and Brita filters with their work card, re-alphabetised their thrillers, and more. Her goal was to have no time to spiral about a response from Matty—and it was working.

Soon enough, the shop was closed, and Este was clicking the switches of the handful of lamps that keep it warmly lit after sunset. Sam bought them from various charity shops so they were all different in their shape, size, and colour, but that’s what she loved so much about them. It was a bit of a pain to have to manually do it every night instead of flipping a master switch like most stores, but she got used to the routine and found it comforting.

She twisted the store key into the door to lock up, and the quiet walk down the street to her car allowed her to think for the first time in a couple of hours. The notifications on her phone were itching to be opened and Este could hear them screaming at her. It wasn’t until Este sat at her and Cate’s dining room table to eat her dinner that she finally scrolled through her daunting notification centre. The ‘Do Not Disturb’ setting on her iPhone was her best friend.

But, alas, Matty had responded. As she waited for Cate to arrive home from work, Este figured there was no harm in embracing the situation. They both felt some urge to reignite their conversations, whether it be by accident in a Starbucks or intentionally over Instagram. So, she opened it and typed away.

3 >>

#the 1975 #matty healy #matty healy fanfiction #matty healy x oc #the 1975 fanfiction #matty healy fic #tbsg #Spotify

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jellyfishloveletterghosts · 9 months

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Any other headcanons for Steve x kilt guy? I don't know why it works, but it really really does

Not going to lie forgot I had stuff in my inbox >.<

Thank you for the ask <3 these mostly specifically go with a half formed Barbie Dream House BnB wip I have for them.

Kenneth is on the swim team with Steve. But his other sport is wrestling, he probably does weight training too.

Steve always gets turned on when they play wrestle and he always finds himself pinned because Kenneth knows all the moves. It always leads to a sweaty good time for the both of them.

Kenneth gets a scholarship for wrestling, is offered a couple and takes the one nearby the little state school that accepts Steve.

They get a little apartment, a shitty two bedroom they can barely afford. They wanted one bedroom, would have been more in their price range but the appearance of separate bedrooms is safer.

Steve finds a job at a little family owned grocery store, ends up working in the bakery. Kenneth finds a flexible job doing construction.

They're getting by, but they don't get a lot of time for each other. They do their best to have a date night on the rare days they both have it off.

When Steve’s grandpa passes she leaves the old family cabin to him in her will. Original the plan is to clean it up and sell it.

Kenneth insists on going with him when he decides to spend his summer getting it ready. Steve got a little money in the will as well, enough for them to take the summer off and add a little to a nest egg for the future. Or whatever emergency expense comes up next at least.

The cabin is a disaster. No one's been there in a long time and the place hasn't been well kept. The yard is over grown, there's more than one hole in the roof. Steve is so upset at seeing what’s happened to a place that holds so many cherished childhood memories he puts his fist through a wall.

Kenneth realizes how important the place actually is to Steve and offers up a different plan. “We could make it into a bnb. People eat those places up. We just need to clean it up and you happen to know the hottest contractor in town who will do the job for a very reasonable fee.”

Steve loves the idea and is more than happy to pay that fee when he’s not hopped up on painkillers. He’s a little too unsteady and queasy stomached before they lower his does as his arm starts to heal.

There’s a stash of barbies in the basement, in an old panic room his grandpa put in after his grandmother was home during a robbery. She took the guy out but his grandpa wanted her to have some place to go in case it was more serious next time.

The only time he got to play with them was when he was visiting, the majority belonging to his cousin and when his grandma noticed he liked them she started making more just appear when he was around.

Kenneth notices also has always known Steve likes the bright colors in decor. “You know every god bnb has a theme.” He doesn't know that but he notices the way Steve lights up at the idea. “We could do a theme. People love barbie.” Kenneth has an aunt that goes to doll shows and know there's a following at least.

#Stkilt #jellyghostask #jellyhc #stranger things #Steve Harrington x Kilt Guy

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the-hydroxian-artblog · 2 years

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Just blitz read through all of the IDW Sonic comics over the last couple days for the first time. Non spoiler yes/no question, because if anyone follows you they're bound to be curious, any plans for Belle in Hangin' Out? And as an aside, how would canon Belle and Mike get along?

No such plans, but I'd prefer her origin to be fairly accurate in some capacity. Because I HAD no plans, I'll spoil what I would do anyway, now that you asked!! This probably won't happen! Enjoy!

If Eggman was Mr. Tinker-like in his younger days, I think her as one of Eggman's first, oldest robots before he started trying to dominate the world would be pretty neat actually, but maybe that'd be too much of a deviation. I like to imagine Eggman snapped when he successfully created and programmed a Good Person from mostly scratch, and couldn't figure out whether that means there should only be robots on the planet if robots are safer and nicer than fleshy folk. Maybe Belle would protest where he's headed, he shuts her off "for her own good" because he "knows what humans are really like" and thinks she's too naive, but promises to reactivate her when "the rest of the world is like her". Then decades later Orbot finds and reboots her, with all the emotional shock that'd entail. That'd be the broad strokes of a Hangin Out!Belle, but again maybe that'd be a bit too deviant.

Canon Belle and Mike would be... kind of hilarious? He'd always egg her on (ha) to be a bit more dangerous or even mildly mean-spirited, and she'd have none of it 90% of the time. Then she has one single mild outburst, and then it's a stream of apologies, while Mike is like "You JUST had it!!"

They'd also, like. Work on cars together or something. I could see it being really cute. Mike always bringing out torches and Belle constantly just nervously side-eyeing him. They could actually make a fairly sweet pair of siblings, since Mike is at least trying to be a decent person in general.

#littlestartemis

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kimageddon · 2 years

Text

A Prince of Dathomir - Q&A 100 Celebration

Introduction:

Thank you to everyone that has been reading thus far, those that have been here from the beginning, and those that have recently started this fic. That is a lot of words so I hope those that binged have enjoyed everything so far!

There are a few easter eggs that I wanna point out, some behind the scenes and inspirations I am curious whether anyone noticed.

Some may have noticed the Fifth Element reference in a blink and you’ll miss it moment during the events of the comic featuring Eldra Kaitis.

The name of Zaiya’s father is actually a hint as to who he’s related to. Temuss is a reference to a very dark film that Temuera Morrisson was a part of (and I believe was the main factor in getting the role of Jango in the first place). It was a film I was forced to watch called Once Were Warriors and was about a Maori family dynamics and featured domestic violence, child abuse and suicide. It was brilliantly done and all the actors were incredible but it was very badly triggering. The name of Temuera’s character was Jake The Muss (the muscle) and in a reference to him and his character, Temuss Fett got his name. Only one person has ever gotten that one!

Originally Jango Fett’s fate was going to be canon compliant. One line of dialogue made me realise that I had to either make him live or that Zaiya would have to babysit Boba for the rest of the story. I only realised that as I was writing the line. I had such a strong sense of Zaiya’s character that there was no way she would stay silent -- she would offer her help in that case. It made the re-planning for the future chapters a little annoying.

I have such a sense of Zaiya in my head that I can “invoke” her character and were anyone to send me questions, I could indeed have her reply or talk to people as strange as that might sound.

The “bad” chapters when Zaiya was enslaved, were inspired by a very abusive relationship that I was stuck in for 10 years. I had to dial back a lot of the details for those chapters so they are a lot more watered down than I had originally planned, but I am glad I did. I have several people that literally cried on reading them and my friends were a little bit triggered by it. For anyone that felt those chapters hit a sore spot, I’m so sorry you’ve been hurt. You aren’t alone.

D’Sarr’s name is quite clever in my humble opinion, it originates from the Marquis de Sade who was the author of the book The 120 Days of Sodom and the inspiration for the word sadist. Fitting name, I thought.

The following are questions that come from Tumblr, AO3, Wattpad, FF.net, Discord and my DMs. Questions were submitted by Summathespaceman, Corruptedmaia, @eloquentmoon, @high-functioning-fangirl473, Antex-the Legendary Zoroark, @moonstrider9904, @justalittletomato, @stardustbee and @maulslittlemeowmeow.

Thank you so so much for the questions, comments, fanart, feedback and the love you have shown to me over the last year and a half. Thank you so so much to you and all my readers, commenters and friends. You have brought a life to my life that I really needed.

About the writing/story:

Do you know where you're going to end the story or are you just seeing where it takes you?

I know there needs to be an ending and I have a lot of story to go before I am anywhere near the end. There is the Mandalore Arc, the Seige, Order 66 and Solo where we have canonicaly seen Maul and his shenanigans. I admit I don’t have a solid ending, though I do have ideas for adventures that aren’t mentioned in canon. It’s a very roundabout way to say yes and no. No, I don’t have “The Ending” set but I do have a vague idea of where I want to go.

Would Maul and Zaiya ever be able to have children given Maul’s new *ahem* appendages?

Technically yes. However I am still debating whether to include any mention of possible pregnancy in the fic at all as I know a lot of people dislike pregnancy in fics. I am one of them. If it were mentioned, I think perhaps it would be fleeting and potentially traumatic. I know someone who has pregnancy as a trauma point and so there is a lot of debate within myself as to whether I put it in at all. So technically they could, whether or not they will is another thing entirely.

Are you going to be diving into the Son of Dathomir comic for the story considering it was a Clone Wars scrapped start arc for Maul?

As weird as parts of that comic were, I do actually like it quite a bit so I think that it is important for Maul’s personal growth. And Zaiya’s too of course. So while I will not reveal the extent of what events I will be using from that comic, I can say yes, I am interested to use it as a basis of some events that might take place.

Seeing as Zaiya has been "officially" dubbed as a traitor, what sort of destinations will she and Maul retreat to?

They have quite a few places to go while they find their way, of course Dathomir is one of the first places, but once they have a ship again, they will need to seek their own fortunes. I have ideas, some scary, some more fun, and without severe spoilers… perhaps they need to find Zaiya a crystal of her own for a …certain weapon? I think that will be fun!

I noticed that Obi Wan could feel like he’s "seen" the Lightsaber Zaiya used. I’m assuming he’ll eventually connect the dots. So my thoughts are how things may hypothetically go once they meet again?

Obi-Wan is no fool, he’ll figure it out eventually, though whether or not it’s too late for him to do anything about it remains to be seen. I can only imagine he will treat her much the same as he does Ventress… I do wonder how that will go for Maul? I don’t think he will like that very much, will he?

When it comes to gaining an edge over Palpatine, is it possible you could use some Star Wars Legends lore to perhaps "even the field"? Like gaining artefacts or other possible post arts that could benefit them before Palpatine gets his slimy hands on them? Thus building their power ever more than his? They are as he’d say "a rival"!

I am very careful when I craft my characters to keep them balanced and make them fit the world. Anakin is completely overpowered of course but even he cannot do everything. Palpatine has experience and he is the same age as Qui-Gon I believe. While I do think Maul and Zaiya will be searching for something to help them defeat Sidious, I need to make sure she is still at a level where she can still encounter danger and things that oppose her are still a threat. So if they do find something to help them, it will need to be very powerful indeed!

Have you any plans for Mandalore? If so, might I suggest relocating a possible Force Cadre of Nightbrothers to train there if they’re successful in showing them the ways of the Force and conquering Mandalore?

Short answer: yes I have plans for Mandalore.

Slightly longer answer: absolutely I have plans for Mandalore and I don’t want to spoil the story line but we will be spending some time there as we did with Kamino. Some of my favourite plans involve the Mandalore arc and I am very much looking forward to writing it!

I know APOD is still just at its start…do you plan to continue past certain events from Rebels?

When I first watched the fated episode, it was barely thirty seconds in before I was utterly bawling - the episode had been spoiled for me before I watched it properly - and in that moment I realised that Maul seemed fated to that place on the sands of Tatooine. That with the way he was raised and the tragedy of his life, it really only could have ended one way.

The very next moment I vowed to write a fic that’s entire purpose was to avoid that fate. The whole reason I began writing was to give Maul a choice, a real choice to avoid his fate.

Part of me however wonders if I should be cruel and have the moment arrive anyway. Have Zaiya try to save him and for it to all prove folly.

That would be terribly evil, wouldn’t it? I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it. But I do wonder.

What has been your favourite way to get inspired for your writing?

Music. As Siren was born from song so too does my inspiration for cool scenes and dramatic moments… but also the smaller softer moments too. I almost always have music playing whenever I write.

How did you come up with the idea in the first place? Have you planned it to be this long in the beginning?

I may have mentioned it before, but I had been contemplating delving into the world of fan fiction and creating a character to go in the Star Wars universe. I was hesitant but a few things aligned for it to happen.

Firstly was my rediscovery of Tumblr, second was the choice to stop taking my antidepressants, wanting to get into writing etc and all of this was floating around my mind at the time aimlessly.

Then I watched the infamous Rebels episode. I bawled all the way through it and the moment it ended I said. “HELL NO” and threw open my laptop.

I have a planning document that has all the chapter names and a short blurb with what is in that chapter. I wrote out the events from their birth to I think so far it’s til Order 66. It will go beyond that but I have yet to write a lot of it, it’s mostly in my head. I will say, I have added so many chapters as I have been writing expanding scenes etc -- and coming up with singular words that do not repeat is not easy!

-- I just counted. I have at LEAST EIGHTY FOUR CHAPTERS planned. Ant that only gets us to Order 66. At this rate, chapter 200 will be the siege of Mandalore and all that entails. My god… I am realising the depth of my insanity.

Did you start posting APOD as soon as you started writing it? Or did you build up a bit of a library before you let people see it?

I built up a few chapters, like ten or so, though I didn’t have the guidelines for how long chapters were when I started, hence some big re-writes about a year ago and why the early chapters were so short.

I tend to begin a chapter with dot points for what will happen and write it out to be approximately 5 - 7k in length, then when posting I split it into part 1 and 2. My reasoning for this was to not post big chunks at once and also so I could post more often. I am currently (at the point of writing this) two full chapters ahead and I like to be that way so that my wonderful beta reader has plenty of time to read and edit, and also so I do not have to fret if I don’t write as much in one week.

About the characters:

What character from the Star Wars universe that isn't in APOD yet would you love to write/put in the story?

There are a few I like, one being Qui-Gon! I did mention him in the AU story Sins of the Father and it made me really want to put him in. I didn’t think I could but then I read “Ghosts of Maul” and now I wonder if Force Ghost Qui-Gon could appear. I have no idea how but… well it’s an idea.

Another character I really like is Ahsoka! She’s awesome and I definitely plan to include her though I am not sure where they would meet, but I am working on it!

Have you created Adaji's full backstory? I loved his POV, will we get more Adaji content at some point? Maybe more flashbacks?

I definitely do want to create more around his story, as some may know I posted a little blurb about his backstory a while ago, regarding his family and his history. One day I hope to be able to include it into the story itself though I have to find the right moment to do so.

Please tell me our baby boy Savage is going to live (same with Feral)?

Alright I don’t wanna spoil exactly HOW it will happen… but I will admit that YES Savage and Feral at this point in time -- the plan is to make them survive. It hurt too much to watch them die in Clone Wars and I am going to try to keep them alive. I say try. Sometimes the story evolves on its own. :/

What character has been your favourite to explore?

I would say Maul most definitely, getting into his mind and motivations and such, delving into his past and unexplored aspects of his psyche.

Secondarily I would say Savage, because I definitely think that he deserves exploring and I have enjoyed writing about him.

About Zaiya:

What has been your inspiration for Zaiya’s evolving looks throughout the fic? I am wondering if she has been inspired by any real life cultures at all.

Ooh! I like this one! Zaiya’s looks have had an influence in the way I have studied the Nightsisters and specifically Merrin’s designs. I wanted the hair to be important, and I looked at a few aspects of warrior braids and there was an inspiration from vikings/Nordic culture that I took for her hair design I wanted her to be fierce, strong and I felt that the Norse had a very interesting hair style, they inspired me with the power it represents.

Zaiya herself in her physical characteristics I wanted her to have the physical attributes of a Polynesian woman, her nose, build etc was my inspiration, as it’s briefly mentioned, Temuss her father is similar-looking to Jango.

When did the idea of Zaiya as a character *first* come to you? For example, did you have her in your head in any kind of way before you started writing APOD or was she crafted for the story specifically?

I can’t say specifically when she came to me, she developed naturally as I began to craft a character that I wanted to be Maul’s equal. Not the same in powers and strengths, but her own strengths and powers to make up for his weaknesses and the connections of trauma and injustice etc.

I put together names from sounds I liked and I knew I wanted a ‘Z’ name, and wrote down letters and sounds, I kept coming back to ‘Zaiya’ and the feeling of her name really solidified her character and I could begin to picture her. So I suppose she began first as an idea of an equal, but once her name came into being, that was when she really solidified as a character, it was like her personality was in her name as weird as that sounds.

Please would you tell us where the idea of Zaiya's powers/her being a siren came from? Were you inspired by anything in particular, did anything spark it into life?

Music is very much a part of my life and I have music playing constantly. I personally can’t sing or play and instrument, but I have always found inspiration in songs. I can’t remember at what point I chose to make her a Siren but it was early on. I wanted her to see the Force in a way that was not described previously, and perhaps that’s due to my own way of seeing things differently but I wanted her to be in touch with the deep and mysterious side of the Force. Maul is strong with his fighting style though in his characterisation he was more physical than spiritual. To me, music ties into that, so hearing people in the Force as music, receiving songs and feelings in the Force. I also listened to a lot of songs and imagined music videos in my head and imagined Zaiya doing cool stuff and was like “wouldn’t this be awesome?”

Do the patterns of Zaiya's tattoos mean anything specifically in Nightsister culture?

So something I read of the Nightbrother markings was said to indicate their physical prowess and strength, whereas the Nightsisters in my opinion base themselves in the more mystical arts. The lines of Zaiya’s tattoos are an indicator of her power, how she has magic in her hands and feet as she walks. The squiggly looking lines over her eyes are ancient symbols that suggest she sees things differently. The multiple ‘eyes’ (the incomplete circle patterns on her hands, feet and belly) on her body give a strong root of power in her core and her extremities. It’s part of the reason Talzin keeps her close, Zaiya has always been destined for power.

If you give Zaiya an irl theme song, what would it be and would she sing it if she knew it?

I left this question for a while because I was thinking about it for a long time. There a lot of songs that I like for her, and I think I will have to settle on “What Could Have Been” from the Arcane soundtrack. She absolutely would sing it, with her whole chest. Sidious hurt of her

Some of my favourite lyrics are:

I am the monster you created

You ripped out all my parts

I am your ghost, a fallen angel

You ripped out all my parts

I couldn't care what invention you made me

'Cause I, I was meant to be yours

It could be to Maul, or Sidious or the Galaxy at large but I think that’s the song that suits her. I may of course change my mind but we’ll see.

Any chance we can get hints on how she’s gonna be with Ezra in Rebels?

Gooood question! I know they will have to meet, but also Rebels era is not going to be the same for Maul as it is in the show. There will be a lot of differences. Without any spoilers, I think she will find this little Jedi very interesting. I can tell you that she will find C1-10P (chopper) very very fun.

I remember seeing an Art of Zaiya dancing, and to me it really looked like a Tribal Fusion Bellydance sort of dance since I'm a dancer of that style myself, and I was wondering if you had any specific song in mind for Zaiya dancing. I'm always looking for new music to dance to 👀

You are correct! That was indeed my inspirations when I was researching the dancing and the way I thought the Nightsisters would move. One video I watched was this one: https://youtu.be/XWDRdJ6O4cY

I included the link for those that may not know exactly what Tribal Fusion is, but this is more or less my inspiration, I don’t know if it is a specific song I can share, but I do have the playlist that might have some fun tunes on it there.

How did you come up with Zaiya’s character and design?

This is similar to the above questions but I will elaborate. For Zaiya I looked at the Nightsisters and knew she would have to look like them, but I also wanted her to be a bit different - hence the Mandalorian father - so Zaiya has a more solid frame and muscle and a tummy, I always include that when I draw her. I also liked the idea of tattoos over the eyes and I had seen a makeup look with an upper black lip and I loved how expressive it was. I wanted her to stand out like Maul does, but in her own way. The eye was something that I thought of after seeing that one episode of Rebels where Maul drinks the Nightsister potion. The imagery was so cool and I took elements of what was already there in the lore of Star Wars. I may have also taken a little inspiration from Danerys from Game of Thrones with the way she carries herself.

The braids were inspired from Nordic tradition and the women in good standing in the society and have intricate lore about their hair. Also Danerys had some cool braids too, so I was definitely inspired.

Thank you

For those of you still reading, thank you! I cannot say it enough! Thank you, thank you!

I wanted to go into a bit more detail about the origins of this fic.

I had never seen Clone Wars until about 2018/2019 and a boyfriend had me watch it. I was liking it alright… then the Maul episodes happened. And he talked. He had like two or three lines in the Phantom Menace. It wasn’t until I heard Sam Witwer’s buttery voice and Maul in that very pretty animation that my brain decided I was going to latch onto it and make it part of my personality.

In 2020 that relationship fell apart and I moved out on my own for the first time in about 15 years.

I was in a bit of an odd space. As I mentioned above, a few things had to align and one of them was my decision to stop taking medication. It was a trial period of six weeks initially to see how I felt about it. It was around then that I began writing. I had the time as I was only working part time and I spent the rest of the time planning, thinking and just pouring my reviving creativity into this.

I have never had a project that I have done for so long before. Usually I would write other stories and then it would trickle off, and the passion would wane. With this however, it just kept going.

I poured my life into it, my trauma and everything that hurt. But apparently I made Zaiya likeable. Not just to the characters, but to you. All of you that keep reading to find out what angsty or wholesome thing she might do next.

This has given me so much validity, acceptance and just a sense of love that you guys all like my work. You like the ideas I put on the page, even with the typos, the errors that crop up and my nonsensical rambling in the notes.

So, sincerely, to all of you. Thank you. Here’s to another 100 chapters!

Get ready for Chapter 100 to drop! You are all in for a treat! I saved the tasty spiciness for the special

The List of Tags: (If your name is crossed out then check your settings! Tumblr is not letting me tag you!) @two-black-leviathans @fallenrepublick @eyecandyeoz @ashotofspotchka @littlepossss @octupus-on-the-moon @justalittletomato @mach-opress @mustluvecho @nahoney22 @leotatombs @eloquentmoon @the-chains-are-the-easy-part @maulslittlemeowmeow @misogirl828 @alwayssnivellus @stardustbee @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @bacarasbabe @nobody-expects-the-inquisitorius @rain-on-kamino @herbalina-of-yesteryear

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#chapter 100 #q&a session #tumblr milestone #fanfic milestone #a prince of dathomir #star wars #darth maul #darth maul fic #darth maul x oc #maul fic #nightsister oc #kima answers

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scribbuluswrites · 2 years

Text

The Destruction

Oh lovely readers, it’s finally Friday. As of noon, I’ve already done 75 hours at work for the week. So... I will be the laziest slug bastard on Sunday. I cannot wait.

As always, thank you so much for reading along and journeying far from canon with me. I appreciate each of you endlessly, and all of your comments/reblogs/interactions keep me fueled.

Now, as we reach the conclusion of this, I want to ask. Is there anything else you’d like to see from this story? Are there stones unturned? Are there situations unexplored? I’d love to hear from you guys on this. I might just have some extra bits to toss out there if I catch an idea. :)

It was another three weeks before Coco finally went back to the apartment he shared with Katarina. Her car was in the lot. Coco grimaced, remembering a time when that filled him with joy instead of dread. He almost wished Kat was still at work so he could just sneak in for a shower and a change of clothes.

He trudged up the stairs, taking a deep breath before unlocking the front door. Coco wasn’t sure what reaction he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t the one he got.

Kat barely even glanced up as she stood in the kitchen, heating something up on the stove. Her face was blank, and the total lack of reaction almost hurt more. A flash of rage at least meant she was still invested in him.

“We gotta talk,” Coco started, surprising himself. He took a seat at the kitchen table, watching her still working in the kitchen. “Kat,” he added, raising his voice just a bit when she still didn’t look over.

Katarina didn’t acknowledge him, pushing the batch of scrambled eggs onto a plate. She stood her ground when Coco finally came into the small kitchen, standing just behind her now.

“You gonna ice me out now?”

Kat snorted, shaking her head as she stayed facing away from him. Coco put his hand on her elbow, starting to turn her around.

“You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve,” she snarled, yanking her arm away from him. “You just show up like this,” she said, gesturing to his current state, “and act like we’re just going to have a chat.”

“Show up here? I fuckin’ live here,” Coco snapped back.

“Don’t make me laugh. You haven’t really been here in months.” Katarina was starting to give up on her original plan of not giving him hell. Despite the time apart, she was still burning with rage at the last fight they’d had.

“Yeah? And how many times you called? How many times you tried to check in? Tried to get me to come home?”

“What was that really charming thing you told me?” Kat said mostly to herself, looking at the ceiling as she pretended to think. “I’m not your fucking ma? I think that was it.” Katarina pushed past him, not willing to let him keep her trapped between him and the kitchen counter. “I shouldn’t have to beg you to come home, Coco.”

“Yeah, and I shouldn’t have to tell you to fight for me,” he shot back, following closely after her. “I ain’t even know why I came back. You got Happy now, you ain’t need me, huh?”

Kat stopped short, spinning to face him with her mouth dropped open. “You still want to try and act like I’ve done something wrong when you’re standing there reeking of some other woman?” She closed her eyes, struggling not to throw something or scream at him. She scrubbed her hands over her face, trying to push some of her frustration down. “How long have you known?” she asked, her voice quieter.

Coco shrugged. “Found out the night I lost my eye. Guess it just slipped my mind.” He looked like a trapped animal now, clearly unwilling to face his own mistakes. It was easier to just be furious with Katarina.

“Six months? You’ve known for six months that he wasn’t dead?” she asked in disbelief.

“Of course you’re more upset about him than my fuckin’ sight,” Coco growled, frowning at her. He knew that wasn’t the point, but he wasn’t about to back down now.

“I’m upset that you couldn’t find five minutes in your pity party to tell me,” Kat nearly shouted, her frustration with him starting to boil over. She loved Coco, but she didn’t have it in her to keep reminding him of it. The past few months had worn her down, taken all of the optimism from her.

To her shock, Coco shoved her. “I’m sick of people telling me how to deal with this. I’m losing everything over this.The fuck you know about it?”

“You went through something really shitty, I know that. You feel like everyone has turned their back on you, like you weren’t worth the fight,” Kat said through gritted teeth. “But, you threw everything away. I loved you, Coco. Really, genuinely loved you. I would have been here through all of it. I would have…” she paused, biting her cheek briefly to stop herself from crying. He didn’t deserve any more tears. “I would have chosen you every-fucking-day.”

Katarina looked at the floor, unable to look at Coco any longer. She wanted to comfort him, blame him, hate him. But, really, all she felt right now was sadness, and Kat refused to let herself regret anything.

“Go back wherever the hell you’ve been staying. I’ll be out by the end of the week. Then you can have the apartment all to yourself,” Kat murmured, refusing to meet his eyes. She couldn’t bear to see what he had become.

“Where are you gonna go?” he asked, his eyebrows pulled together.

“That stopped being your business when things ended between us,” she replied, still not looking at him. Coco nearly laughed.

“Five minutes and I’m already locked out?”

“It was over weeks ago when you picked her,” she muttered. Coco stood frozen where he was as Katarina walked down the hall to their room. He heard the door slam, but it didn’t feel real. He felt disconnected from this reality.

Inside, he knew he should apologize. He wanted to beg her forgiveness and tell her he was going to fix everything. He wanted to tell her it would all get better and have it be the truth.

Instead, Coco left. He knew the people at the camp he’d been visiting would give him a place to stay. They weren’t the people he should be with, but at least they wouldn’t judge him.

Later that night, Coco made an even bigger mistake. His hangarounds were desperate for money and heroin. He knew the consequences if he didn’t help, and they barely outweighed the consequences if he did help.

Coco had a way to supply them with a bit of both. He would steal from the club to prevent the Mayans learning how deep he’d gotten with these people. If they found out about his debt, betrayal, or continued usage, he would be dead before the morning anyway.

As he sunk to his deepest depression, Coco also gave up his address so they could ransack the place for jewelry or anything else of value. He told them to go during the day because most people in the building worked, and it would be empty at midday. He no longer cared what they took or destroyed in the place he’d never go back to again. Without Katarina, the apartment wasn’t home.

Tags: @gemini0410 @scuzmunkie @woahitslucyylu @chibsytelford @withmyteeth @heyitsperfect

#coco cruz #johnny coco cruz #coco cruz imagine #mayans #mayans mc imagine #mayans imagine #mayans mc #sons of anarchy #samcro #sons of anarchy imagine #happy lowman #happy lowman imagine

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goldlightwriting · 8 months

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Changes I’d Make To Ochette’s Story

The following contains massive spoilers for Octopath Traveler 2. Proceed at your own risk.

Long ago, a mighty beast rose from the blackest depths of the ocean: the Darkblood Beast. The creature, fueled by malice and hate, set its furious gaze upon the island of Toto’Haha. From its tainted flesh, monsters descended upon the isle, threatening to snuff out all life that dwelt there.

Destruction seemed certain, until three legendary creatures from the distance corners of Solistia emerged. Glacis, Guardian of the Skies... Tera, Guardian of the Land... Cateracta, Guardian of the Seas...

The three guardians quelled the tide of monsters and repelled the Darkblood Beast, before returning from whence they came. Thus, the island was saved, and calamity averted...

We’re getting rid of the Night of the Scarlet Moon. The calamity will instead be replaced by the Darkblood Beast.

The Darkblood Beast was a creature twisted by Vide’s influence, whose hatred could manifest as monsters.

The Three Guardians were created by the gods(?)

The Darkblood Weapons were created from the remains of the Darkblood Beast(?)

Petrichor, the Dark Hunter, wants to create another Darkblood Beast from the captured Malamaowl/Lajackal.

Roi was actually the first attempt; Petrichor wanted to use his broken faith in the church as a basis, but his morals proved too strong and so he was an imperfect Darkblood Beast.

Cateracta’s chapter can remain more-or-less the same, but rather than fighting Alpione, Ochette befriends her with meat. Also we can remove the preachy bit of Alpione rambling about the greed of men, since it was the Dark Hunter who felled Cateracta.

In Tera’s chapter, I think the humans actually should be a little more openly hostile towards Ochette. Crackridge is home to a number of Moonshade cutlists, as shown in Temenos’s story.

Pom can be a guard whose entire purpose is guarding the entrance to Tera’s layer. However, after being provoked by Ochette, he easily concedes due to not being a fan of fighting. Upon learning that Ochette plans to take Tera away, he resigns his post with the goal of becoming a farmer instead.

No one is really guarding Glacis’s peak anymore, since the blizzards would make it perilous to traverse anyway.

Heig was not a part of the original hunt for Glacis, though his nephew was.

Heig still wants revenge for the death of his nephew, though he didn’t know about the broken eggs.

Once Ochette saves Heig and calms Glacis, the two makes amends. The old hunter and the sacred beast come to a mutual understanding over the fact that they’ve both lost kin, and choose to set their grudges aside.

Ochette befriends Heig with jerky in the shack, after which he tells her about his nephew being recruited by the Dar Hunter.

Ochette returns to the island with the three sacred beasts in tow. At first, the people of Cohazeh’s village are wary of the monsters, as well as the fact that the Beastlings seem to be preparing for battle. Just as tensions begin to escalate between Beastlings and humans, however, new abominations appear, attacking both sides.

Humans and Beastlings are forced to fight together as monsters swarm the island. Juvah deduces that this must be the work of the Darkblood Beast.

Ochette, Juvah and the Guardian Beasts fight their way through the swarm. Along the way, Alpione, Heig, and even Pom arrive to lend a helping hand. They ventured to the island to help fight the coming calamity that Ochette told them about.

Ochette finds the Darkblood Beast deep within the jungle, and is horrified to find that it resembles the Lajackal/Malamaowl that she didn’t choose so many years ago.

Glacis and Tera note that this creature is different from the Darkblood Beast they fought long ago, but are repelled by arrows fired from the shadows.

The Dark Hunter appears, revealing her name to be Petrichor. She explains that this is indeed a new Darkblood Beast, born from nurturing the hatred and contempt in a rare beast she found long ago.

Ochette questions Petrichor’s motives, but the Dark Hunter only states that violence and cruelty is the natural state of all living creatures. Ochette provokes Petrichor into a battle to prove her wrong, and the two set all their beastly companions upon each other.

Petrichor is defeated, but the Darkblood Beast is not. Urged on by its maker, the Darkblood Beast devours Petrichor, consuming her strength and acquiring a new, more ferocious form before knocking Ochette into the ocean.

From there the finale more-or-less plays out the same.

#Ochette #Octopath Traveler 2 #Octopath 2 #Gold Light Writing

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theicewingbeannamedowlet · 11 months

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Fake faces (CoT AU/DoD AU/WOF AU)

original bases by K9pestilence Lore the dragon flew through the sky, a egg of a skywing in their talons, his red skywing like scales shifted to the colours and shapes of a rainwing as the dragon changed the tribe, still dissappearing into the storming weather. 'i hate flying through storms, but this is what Clear'vision asked me to do, i do not get why we had to get these eggs THIS night specifically, but i know she is smart, smarter than me as a dumb rainwing i am... was that hint of a icewing wing and sandwings?' he thought to himself as something caught his eyes, his direction changed as he followed, silently using the woods to hide and he’d see something very very disturbing, he could see the icewing get caught by Burn and her dragons, he hissed to himself wanting to help, but couldnt. He silently approached as the sandwing princess was playing with a skywing egg, he hid by the wall of the cliff and as the sandwing dropped the egg, he would whisper some kind of spell and he felt the egg in his hold grow, saving the hatchlings life was easy, magically transfer the hatchling to hatch from this egg, he could lie to Clear'vision, yes he could! He felt bad for cheating life and death as the icewing was thrown over the cliff. He muttered to himself as he dissappeared into the night and continuing his flight through the storm, the Talons plans would be overthrown by loosing their skywing but he couldnt focus on that, he had to focus on getting this egg to the island. As Blueberry flew above the sea, his scales again began to morph into the form of a pink icewing with hints of blue scales, hiding his hideous rainwing appearance and appear stronger, as strong as he was supposed to be. He landed on the wet sand of a lonely island after another dragon left, placing the skywing egg in the basket with the sandwing and nightwing eggs there, just before another dragon arrived and Clear'vision didnt speak to him, she was still upset that he failed to clean up his mess a few days ago, he should be a better dragon and he knew it, hed try to be better.

Base by Talia8pie (edits by me) Dignity (previously known as Blueberry) A rainwing/changewing hybrid with close songwing ancestry. His father was a change/song spy in the rainforest during the times of war examining the culture of the rainwings while blending in and falling in love with a rainwing. Dignity has a sister named Strawberry who is antagonistic and more selfish and being pretty opposite from Dignity, the siblings are naturally more aggressive towards one another. Oddly he inherited more his traits from his father and retained some powers from that ancestry, these powers being small scale shapeshifting(limited to changing tribes, getting gills, breathing fire/frostbreath), weaker screech of a songwing and most pecularly of all, animus magic from the great songwing grandfather Blueberry had kids of his own before his mate died and he found solace from a nightwing named Clear’vision, helping the dragoness with creating many spells for her, becoming dependant on her in emotional means but also doing his best to appease her. Like the enchanted tattoo giving its wearers insisibility powers and telepathy, enchanting some of the CoT with unique abilities, protecting the Wings for future organization from being found by other animusi Due to this he barely has time to check on his kids, but he did try to be there when they hatched, but failed to do so for his youngest. Who may his kids be? ((the kids are full rainwings so no special stuff for them from him))

#wings of fire #wof #wof au #cot au #children of trickery #dod au #storytelling #character building #shapeshifters #fantribes #rainwing #rainwing oc #skywing #icewing #animus magic #animus

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anywaymurder · 2 years

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All Fun and Games

Chapter 26

The rest of the night passes peacefully, and the group reconvenes downstairs the next morning for breakfast (presumably the first of many). Annori asks Egfried for fried eggs and is highly amused by her clever pun, though Egfried himself seems not quite charmed. As they eat their eggs, Kevin excitedly reveals to the party that his mother spoke to him again, and she wants to meet up to talk soon, though he has no further details. He inquires what else he should ask her about once he gets to talk to her. Definitely about the Masked Ones she was investigating, but maybe she’d also know about this mysterious disappearance in the Nifty Squirrel? Ara admits that even a great tracker like himself couldn’t retrace the steps of something that happened weeks ago, and so they find themselves at a dead end.

Raiden lays out their options and states that going back to Coldvale at this point seems useless, since they have yet to gather any real information on these disappearances to take back with them. They could go back to Louton in order to travel onward to Ashvale, as was their original plan before going to see Ishmael. However, they’re currently also close to another town on the list: Drengar. If they ever intended to investigate there, now would be the time to do it. They discuss what would be the best way to give Kevins mom an opportunity to come talk to them, and agree that traveling would probably be the best way to do that, since she seems to follow everywhere they go. To Drengar, then. Raiden asks the second innkeep, now introduced as Caflan Graves, about the nearby village, and learns that it’s a moderately sized fishing town currently preparing a festival for Bahamut. They head out onto the country roads that will not take them home, and Annori expresses her regret that they left the horses behind in Louton (while Raiden does a tiny victory dance).

As they travel, Raiden tells Kevin about some questions he has for ‘the Fable’, should he get the chance to talk to her. After all, he grew up hearing stories about her but always assumed they were made up. Could she really manipulate the shadows of the dead and slay her victims while making it seem like they were still alive days after the fact?? Kevin is highly freaked out by these questions and mumbles that he might just ask his mom to talk to Raiden about it. The rogue then asks Kevin what he intends to ask his mom when the time comes. He’s mostly curious about who his father is exactly, and whose decision it was for him to not be in their lives currently. He struggles with it a bit, because the answers could be painful, but his curiosity is much greater. He mentions that Raiden probably knows how that feels, since he as well only recently learned about his father. Raiden grows uncomfortable and takes a while to answer. He confesses to Kevin that he does have questions, but it’s not like tracking him down would be an easy task, and he’s not sure he’d like any of the possible answers. He feels it might be easier to keep pretending the man is dead. Kevin suggests that maybe Raidens father has been looking for him, too.

After two days of undisturbed travel, they arrive in the town of Drengar. It’s covered in colorful decorations also featuring the metallic, platinum hue that represents Bahamut. The atmosphere is festive and exciting, and the party passes by all kinds of vendors and games of skill and chance. Eager to participate, Annori turns to the closest game. A lady hides a ball underneath one of four cups, but warns her that she might also slip it into her lap. If Annori pays close attention and guesses correctly, she can double or triple her bet. With a fair share of luck, Annori guesses right the first round. The second time she focuses and knows exactly where the ball ended up. Happy with her winnings, she passes the seat to Kevin, who also manages to win the game. Leaving the lady slightly frustrated, the group moves on to a larger crowd surrounding a mud pit. Inside, there’s a pig dressed up with paper wings to resemble the platinum dragon, being chased by several contestants. Ara steps forward, takes off his shirt, hands it to Kevin and steps inside the ring. His first attempt at grabbing the pig goes pretty well, but it turns out the creature is covered in grease and it slips through his fingers. Luckily, the others don’t do much better. On his second try, he launches himself at the pig and manages to hold on tight, earning him a little dragon plushie (which Ara happily pretends to be a winged frog). Still shirtless and covered head to toe in mud, he rejoins the group as they are drawn to another big crowd. Here Raiden tries his hand at fire breathing, succeeding after two tries to set alight one of the cloth dummies made to resemble demons. Kevin ends up winning in a single try, and finally Annori manages to set ablaze all of the dummies at once. She loudly cheers in Infernal, causing the spectators to fall silent before awkwardly applauding. The crowd parts widely for her as they walk along to buy some garlic bread and candied apples, and as the sun starts to set they join the townsfolk in listening to a halfling woman tell the story of how the god of justice and mercy, Amoth, was slain by three demon princes Orcus, Demogorgon and Rimmon. Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, then took over Amoths duties as a deity, and still seeks justice for his murder. He built his old friend a tomb on this plane, hidden and forgotten, hoping to one day bring him back. After the story ends, Ara expresses his confusion over whether Bahamut is actually a dog as the name suggests. Raiden, Kevin and Annori dance to the music for a bit and they all then decide to cool down with a swim in the river. Ara playfully pushes Raiden under, a gesture that goes entirely unappreciated. Kevin clambers up onto Annori’s shoulders and they wrestle another group of festival goers into the water. Cheering for her win, Annori raises her arms, effectively yeeting Kevin back into the water. They all warm up next to a fire for a bit, and then get a room in the local inn, where they fall asleep happy and exhausted.

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#anyway murder #session summary #dungeons and dragons #ara #annori #kevin #raiden

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eglectic · 1 year

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Write It Down & Move On - December 24

What did you overeat or overdrink that wasn't on your protocol?

5-6 deviled eggs, chocolate and regular hummus with veggies, brussel sprouts, vegetarian meatballs, gluten free biscuits, mashed potatoes, some challah bread with homemade dipping sauce, 2 chocolate chip cookies, a carrot cupcake, 4 double chocolate cookies, dairy free egg nog;

Why did you overeat or overdrink it?

I didn't really prepare for the event mentally. I originally planned to go to karaoke where I knew what I was going to eat. When I learned my friend wasn't going, I changed my plans for the night. I also didn't know what food would be there at the event, since it was a potluck.

What did you notice?

At first, I was doing OK and eating according to my protocol - no sugar, no flour. Then they made gluten free biscuits, which I wanted to try and told myself that it's ok to have flour because it's gluten free. Then I just kept going, justifying it to myself that it's ok because it's a holiday. I also kept eating until I was so stuffed that my stomach hurt and I felt nauseous. I literally felt like I would have thrown up if I had taken another bite of anything.

What would have worked better? What else could you have done?

I could have at least looked at the worksheets for events - one for following protocol and the one for making an exception. Even looking at the questions and considering my answers might have prepared me to eat until I'm full but not stuffed. I could have eaten in alignment with my protocol. I could have also just not eaten anything at all and enjoyed the fun of game night. Also, I could have taken 1-3 minutes to meditate and connect with my 170 lb self, and kept her in mind as I went through the night. Another question I could have asked myself is "How can I act in the most loving way towards myself?" because eating until I felt like I was going to throw up wasn't kind.

What did you learn?

I want to keep practicing being the new me at events. When I overeat, I feel similar to my "old self" that was acting unconsciously. I enjoy living a conscious life, and making my eating decisions consciously. I'm proud of myself because I didn't drink alcohol or smoke any weed. I learned that when I'm in a group setting I have a very strong, subconscious desire to fit in. Maybe this is an area for me to explore - feeling like I belong with others while making different choices from them. The game night felt very intimate and cozy, and that type of setting always brings up thoughts that create a desire for food.

How can you let this go now?

I feel like I can let this go because I know what I can work on now - belonging and standing out in intimate group settings. I feel even closer to my 170 lb self, actually. All day today I felt like I was embodying myself as the me that has achieved my goal already. I walk like her, talk like her, think like her. She's not stressing about one, two, or even three nights during one week of December. She also enjoys the holidays, and might have even made an exception plan, where the planned to eat off protocol for multiple days in a week. Finally, she and I both fast the next day until we feel hungry again, in order to let all that food actually digest before eating more.

How do you want to feel about this moving forward?

I feel empowered, curious, and happy. I'm learning a lot from every "mistake" made, and getting closer and closer to my goal. I chose to eat off protocol, and I'm so proud that the next day I fasted. Based on how my body has been functioning today, I feel like all that food has properly digested.

How will you handle this next time?

I have the questions of worksheets from the program already written in my notes app. Moving forward, I'm going to open that folder up and at least glance and at least think about my answers to the questions there. Even if it's less than 24 hours before an event, due to unexpected changes in plans. One thing I've learned over these years is putting in even a little effort is much better than not trying at all. I also do think I did the right thing by fasting after!

#overeating #write it down and move on #170 #fitness journey #fitness #weight loss

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icharchivist · 15 days

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I did say i think the two Wall Market's themes and all still work but doing all the quests to unlock everything is just... it feels jarring how none of the quests in Wall Market nor before that really connect to the goal?

Like in the OG, the moment Cloud and Aerith are turned down at the door, Aerith mentions Cloud could crossdress to get there, and while he protests at first, ends up rolling with it for Tifa's sake, so everything you do in Wall Market following that is specifically with the goal of finding a pretty dress for Aerith and crossdressing Cloud.

So anything you do is literally to get specific items you need for the final auction, knowing that if you do some quests wrong you'll just get the wrong item and therefore, Cloud will not be considered the prettiest girl during the auction, and Tifa or Aerith can end up picked instead and it's something you're supposed to dread.

But in the remake... Well, while Aerith planned on going inside of the Corneo's Mansion, there's been no talk about Crossdressing Cloud. So everything you do is specifically so Aerith can get picked by one of the Trio, and then when she gets to have her makeover, Cloud gets to do all sort of different quests, and doing those quests will influence how his dress will look like.

but.... legit none of the quests themselves are really for the goal itself. They're here to kill time, to wink at the audience for the easter eggs, and mostly, you're doing stuff to impress the Trio. And anyway, no matter what you d, Cloud gets picked as prettiest girl either way?

and idk there's.. a bit of a disconnect in the investment here?

Like in the OG you talk to the drunk dressmaker because you need his help making two dresses, and it's by cheering him up that you get your dress, depending on what recommendation you gave him for that. (the OG is also especially how he lost inspiration but the moment you ask for him to help Cloud crossdress he gets inspirations all over because it never occured to him to make dresses for something other than ciswomen, and he's now thrilled to realize he has inspiration again for new things)(edit: just finished this quest and now they say the only inspiration of the old man was going to watch girls dance at the honey bee inn? bro.)

in the Remake, you also have to cheer up the dressmaker because... Madam M told you to do it to kill time while she gives Aerith a makeover?

and i'm supposed to feel like making this quest or not is going to change the fate of Cloud's dress? While Cloud crossdressing still hasn't been mentioned yet, so Cloud doesn't have a horse in this race. he's really participating because "Madam M said he may learn to be a Man in the city by doing that"

It really removes any kind of connection to your cause/effect ratio. I'm killing time and it's going to change my ending, rather than actually working specifically, tangibly for it?

And i'm really starting to be a bit peeved about the crossdressing being this late of an idea on their plan to infiltrate Corneo. In the OG they come up with this plan the moment they want to infiltrate it and while Cloud originally protests a bit, he quickly accepts it's the better plan, and he will have to work his ass off to find out the best outfit for him to do so, and the hours you spend then grinding Wall Market are with a Cloud who's determined to do it well and to pick every parts of his outfit himself.

But now it's really just, he's been only working to get Aerith into the mansion, and now he's killing time to remember "how to be a man", and therefore the crossdressing plan would be a last minute addition where Cloud probably will have to hear it out right before going to Corneo and immediately roll with it, rather than spending hours sitting on the idea.

Like it's just.... i do get that Wall Market is more Glam and less DIY like in the OG, but i'm really doing things... aimlessly except from the fact i, as the audience not as Cloud, knows that if i do some things it will help my greater goal. And the OG really made you feel, in comparaison, that what you did was tangible.

in the OG you'd talk to the dressmaker to have him make a dress for Cloud and Aerith. In the Remake you talk to the dressmaker because you were told to kill time while only Aerith get prettied up in response to missions you fullfilled two chapters ago for totally unrelated reason.

idk it's just. The Remake makes me feel a lot less involved into this whole quest than the OG did.

I don't like the mindlessly bash the Remake because it's still a very fun experience!!!

But ngl they were getting me into a fetch quest where i had to keep running through OG easter egg to easter egg i could fondly remember having helped me in the OG, and then i just freeze because "and why am i doing it exactly again".

it's getting a tad frustrating DLKFJDLFKJD

i also kinda feel like it may be results from overcorrecting the problematic elements. and those elements needed to be corrected!!! love Andrea as a way to fix things.

but the more i walk through OG easter egg the more frustrated i get at it because like, oh, the quest to meet Jules is still there! in the OG it's because Jules is a drag queen and if you win against him he'll give you one of his wig, and how good you do on this minigame will influence how good Cloud's wig will be because Jules will decide which one to give you then. But in the Remake, while they do put Jules into some effeminate makeup, there's no mention of him being a drag queen at all, and then you do squats because..... you were inviting there to prove you were a Real Man?

The vending machine that gave you a tiara to use on the perfect Cloud outfit is now in a convoluted fetch quest to give "Real Men The Sauce", and Cloud joking about how he's Totally The Most Chad Of All Men because he got the Sauce from the machine like.... the machine that dropped him a feminine item is now a masc sidequest with no purpose in the story except "Cloud is killing time"

And it feels like overcorrecting? Both elements added in easter eggs in the sidequest to crossdress Cloud went from "getting feminine items for Cloud" to "Cloud proving he's A Real Man". The homophobia from the Honey Bee Inn, and i'd say also the grim look on sexworkers, was something to fix yes..... and they needed to tackle the crossdressing itself to show it's just a great thing to do, and they really show it well with Andrea... but all those little "feminine moment" are replaced by "but don't worry, Cloud is still A Real Man Who Does Real Men Things", all while Cloud is unaware of the fact he will need to crossdress soon.

Like idk i think there was an idea, no matter how well it's handled or not in the game, of having Jules supporting Cloud because he recognizes another queer man and want to help from a queer person to a queer person, but now it's just because they're both strong men showing off their strength just to show off their strength (even if Jules is still queer-coded.... though now he's only coded instead of canonically so like in 1997).(i say, but also note i'm still doing wall market's sidequests so i don't know how the crossdressing itself will go down so if Jules come back with a wig for Cloud during the Andrea makeover i'll need to correct myself, but, like, so far yknow?)

i think i was kinda rolling with the changes in Wall Market early on because i understood the politics of adding a hierarchy and stuff, but now on the "Killing Time" with Cloud which are full of easter egg about the OG it just really put a spotlight on how.... pointless all of this feels.

like yeah i'm having fun, but it's just because the game wants me to be distracted for a bit, not because i'm actually working for the goal.

it's peeving me a bit and i really wouldn't have felt so if they didn't lampshade the OG easter eggs stuff and really made me aware of that yaknow?

#ichablogging ffviirg #sorry i'm back to complain

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