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#but whose POV?
mrsbsmooth · 1 month
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Ik you're doing Harry Potter fanfic right now, I need dramione fanfic but set on love island 😂 you can skip the magic part, that used to be a common AU anyway, but LITGxDramione when? 👀
STOP THAT!!!!!!! YOU STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!
I AM NOT PICTURING THIS IN MY HEAD I WON'T ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR A CROSSOVER VILLA FIC
S T O P I T
GET YOUR ENORMOUS BRAIN OUT OF MY ASK BOX
fdhfgkadsbfghfds but imagine
I M A G I N E
Post-War for tension. It's a curse gone wrong. Or some sort of harebrained Wizengamot scheme to 'make peace'. Anti-apparition wards of course.
Bombshells: - Neville (glow up) - Ginny (doesn't she scream bombshell)? - THEO! BLAISE! NO ONE IS SAFE! (gender is not a concern)
The final ships are a mystery and are unrevealed?? Who will pick who?? Will Ginny pick Harry or Blaise? Ron with Daphne or Lavender? Neville with Pans? WHO IS THEO PICKING??? And are we getting Harmony or Romione or Dramione????!?!??!???! IT COULD ALL BE A MYSTERY
Snog Marry Pie. SNOG MARRY PIE anon and why would Theo be both insisting on snogging Draco and then insisting that he marry him WHYYYYY Y (Can you tell I'm a Draco&Theo fan)
Draco is using legilimency to find out what his girl did at Casa Amor
Kissing challenges featuring hexes and hilarious sticking charms.
The guys all getting jealous when they wake up one morning and Neville's just doing laps with the entire female populace as his audience (he's doing it in a speedo and they're waiting for him to exit the pool, ff readers know why).
I need to stop thinking about this or i'll do it god I hate how much I love this. Stop. stop it.
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kiaxet · 9 months
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HOW ABOUT THAT @somerandomdudelmao DISASTER TWIN REUNION, HUH
Went a little feral to the tune of 2.2K words of self-indulgence. What else is new?
~~~~~~~
Donnie can't sleep. More accurately, he won't sleep. Not until he's done. He'd never been one to leave a project unfinished; death and resurrection hadn't changed that.
He taps incessantly, repetitively, on a keyboard and screen, the motions long since past inputting data and now only serving to keep him awake. The repetition is soothing, easy, and - counterintuitively - he finds his head drooping forward into sleep-
And he snaps back upright. No. Not until he can confirm Leo is okay.
Leo is behind him, he knows. Breathing. In bed. Asleep. Very much alive. And-
He jumps and whips around as a thud sounds behind him. "What the-"
Leo is on the floor.
Well, that answers the question as to whether his twin is awake.
For a fraction of a second, part of him wavers uncertainly. He loves his idiot twin. The question he hasn't been able to answer is whether his reaction to Leo waking up will fall on love or idiot twin-
"Leo!"
He can hear the exasperation in his voice, and yep, it's the latter. He takes a knee next to Leo and hauls him into his arms, lecturing him all the while, and if he can hear the annoyance in his voice then Leo sure as hell can. Sleep deprivation for the purposes of keeping his brother's soul alight had done nothing for his temper. "I swear to God, all you had to do was make a sound! Why are you such a difficult patient?"
He deposits Leo carefully on the bed - "Sit still!" - and checks him over, running every scan he can think of and making sure his brother's new body really is in good working order, spouting increasingly irritated commentary all the while. Of course the fall didn't hurt him - Leo is tougher than that, and Donnie does better work than that - but he still can't help the rising anxiety in his throat.
This almost didn't happen.
"-stupid, stupid selfless idiot!"
Donnie almost couldn't save him.
"Grrhh-"
Leo nearly died for real. Permanently beyond Donnie's reach. Well and truly gone-
"Do you have any idea how close you were to having nothing left to save?"
And now here Leo is, in perfect health, sitting on Donnie's bed with a big dopey grin on his face as Donnie chokes on his anxiety and damn near shakes himself apart-
Oh for fuck's sake.
"Hey. Are you even listening?"
Leo speaks up for the first time since he's woken up, voice shaky from disuse. "D-Donnie?"
And that is not a goddamn answer to anything Donnie has been saying, because of course it isn't. It's Leo. He's always had his own priorities. "Yeah. No. You're not fucking listening." Donnie heaves a long-suffering sigh, sinking back into the routine comfort that irritation at his twin provides. "At least you're talking." Small favors. "Although I'm surprised you're not throwing your stupid jokes at me." Even smaller favors.
He stops short as Leo's hand closes around his wrist, drawing Donnie's arm to Leo's plastron. "You're real," his brother breathes, looking from Donnie's hand to Donnie himself with tears streaming down his face. "You're real!"
And then, in the space of a thought, Leo's joy breaks, his smile turning desperate. "Are you?"
For a moment, Donnie stares at his twin, wondering at the sudden change in expression. He takes a breath-
And the part of him that had lain dormant for so long after he'd woken up - the part of him that had been screaming for his twin's safety ever since they'd recovered the few scattered embers of Leo's soul - gasps to life, blooming like a time-lapse video of a flower and reaching to the edges of Donnie's soul. Leo had called it their twin sense, and Donnie hadn't had it in him to argue after a while. Whatever it is, it's back, connected to Leo's renewed presence, and-
Donnie's heart floods with emotions. Relief and joy sprout quickly and are nearly swept away in a tide of exhaustionanxietyfearfearfearfearFEAR-
But down beneath it all, steady against the rising wall of terror, is the little blue spark of hope that his brother always carried. His core. The thing that let him continue on in the face of insurmountable odds, and lent that same strength to everyone around him. A ninja's greatest weapon.
It's Leo. It's Leo-
And Donnie can't leave him alone in his fear. Not when there's no need for it. Not when they're safe.
He lets that breath out, and sits next to Leo on the bed. "Mhm. I'm alive. And you're alive. We're safe. The Krang are gone." That's all the news that's fit to print, or at least the most important parts. What else does he have to say?
Oh.
"I'm sorry I..uh…"
He's sorry he what? Died? Left a mess for Leo to deal with? Didn't do enough while he was alive to keep everyone else alive in turn after he was gone? Kept his brother's soul in a fucking mug, because that was the only way he could ensure he wouldn't break it while Leo was still fragile? All of the above?
…yeah, it's all of the above.
He owes Leo one hell of an apology, and he's never been good at any of this, so instead he shrugs haplessly and leans forward, pulling Leo into his arms and hanging on tight.
It's a matter of moments before Leo has him flat on his shell on the bed and is sobbing into his arms. Normally he'd hate seeing his twin cry, but it's proof of life - proof that Leo made it, that his soul is intact enough for him to still be Leo, that he's alive and awake and here - and Donnie will take it.
And if he's squeezing Leo back pretty hard himself, well, that's fine too. Nobody else needs to know.
~~~~~~~
Donnie is yelling at him.
Donnie is strong enough to have picked Leo up off the ground, well enough to be on his feet without support, running tests and reading Leo the riot act over his latest boneheaded maneuver - in this case, forgetting he was missing an arm and falling out of bed.
Donnie is yelling at him, because Donnie is here to yell at him.
And Leo is smiling, because he couldn't be happier. He lets the words wash over him, draping over his shoulders like a favorite cozy blanket that he'd lost so many years ago, and he basks in the warmth that is his brother's voice and smiles.
It's enough to interrupt the yelling for a question, though he doesn't really hear it - just keeps smiling, and says Donnie's name, and it's so nice to be able to say it with a smile now, because Donnie is here-
-he is, right? This isn't just a dying hallucination on Leo's part, right?
(It couldn't be- he remembers his death, remembers breathing his last, remembers being trapped- but this-)
He reaches out, taking Donnie's wrist in hand, and pulls his brother closer to him. "You're…real…" It certainly feels real - skin and scales, softer than his own, and his fingers barely fit all the way around the wrist instead of encircling them with room to spare - and he stares down at it, tears rolling down his face as he finally looks back up at his twin. "You're real!"
The Krang show you what you want to see.
The thought strikes him unbidden, turning his joy and relief to ice. It's a well-known fact: a Krang infection can show its host what they want to see, visions of comfort and family and home, and extract intel from the host's reactions. He knows that- he knows that, and-
And he'd died surrounded by Krang- and even if he couldn't see or hear or feel, he knows he'd been held captive-
But it's Donnie- he wants this to be real- he needs this to be real- he wants his twin back so badly he can't think, and the idea that this could be a Krang hallucination is almost too much to bear-
"Are you?" He can hear how choked the words are as they leave his lips, but he needs to know-
And Donnie stops, and sits down next to him, and tells him everything he wants to hear - everything he could've ever wished for. They're alive. They're safe. The Krang are gone. It all sounds too good to be true.
And then Donnie offers him an apology and a sad half-smile, pulling him into a strong hug-
And the ice in Leo's mind shatters in a flood of warmth as his twin sense opens for the first time since Donnie's death. He feels his twin's irritation, and deep-seated exhaustion, and a choking wave of guiltguiltguiltguiltguilt-
And beneath it all, steady and strong as ever, the thrum of unending determination, powered by an unfathomably deep well of love. It's the backbeat to the melody of Leo's life, the point-counterpoint to his own heartbeat- it's something he'd never had to live without until he did, but it's back, rushing in to fill the silence he'd known with the strength to go on and the knowledge that he is loved loved loved, strong and overwhelming and all-encompassing in the way only Donnie can love-
It's something the Krang could never imitate.
This is real. This is all real-
He throws himself against his twin, toppling them both over on the bed as he clings to Donnie, unable to stand even a fraction of an inch of space between them, as though he could push their hearts together through their plastrons, and he cries, sobbing out worry and terror and grief and the slow, crushing exhaustion of a losing battle finally lost. He cries as though the world was ending - and it had, once when the Krang had invaded and again every time he'd lost a member of his family, over and over until he'd sent his last hope through a portal that had cost his littlest brother his life and succumbed to death himself.
And now he's alive. Here, wherever here is, with Donnie. Clinging to his twin, and being held in turn as Donnie gently sits them both up, never letting go as Leo cries himself out.
It takes a while - long enough for Leo's gaze to settle into a stare and his thoughts to settle into a comfortable static. He's alive, Donnie is alive, and he has no fucking idea what else is going on, but he's just going to be okay with that for now.
His thoughts rouse enough to inform him of something wrong - the line of tension Donnie is carrying down his neck and over his shoulders. That won't do. Leo could try to massage it out with one hand, maybe try to get Donnie to talk about it, but Donnie never likes to talk about it, and Leo isn't one for slowly soothing away tension when he can just take an axe to the release valve instead. Plus, it gives him something definite to focus on, instead of…this whole situation. Whatever 'this whole situation' actually is.
Donnie had mentioned his stupid jokes, right?
"H-hey Dee?" His voice wavers from disuse, thick with tears, but he pushes through. "Why did- why did the tree buy a camera?"
"What?" Oh, Donnie is not going to see this coming. Excellent.
"To do a photosynthesis." It's nowhere near the level of pizazz he normally uses for a punchline delivery - he's still too tired and frazzled and clinging to Donnie entirely too hard for that - but that beautiful pause of a terrible joke sinking in tells him it had hit home nonetheless. Donnie moves - he can hear the telltale slap of face meeting palm - and then breaks down into helpless laughter, smacking the back of Leo's shell as the tension Leo had felt in his twin's shoulders abruptly relaxes. Good. It worked.
"This is so fucking stupid," is all Donnie manages as his laughter fades, and he slumps fully against Leo with a murmur. That's...abrupt. Sure, Leo had felt Donnie's exhaustion, but he hadn't realized it'd been that bad. He takes hold of Donnie, gently laying him down on the bed to rest-
Remember what happened last time Donnie fell asleep next to you.
He gasps sharply at the thought - not again NEVER again - and keeps his hand steady as he moves, laying both fingers gently against Donnie's neck and feeling for his pulse. It's easy to find, strong and steady and even, like it had been before the infection had taken Donnie's vitality and then his life.
But he's alive, and healthy, and sleeping. He's okay. And Leo-
Leo moves his hand to the side of his own neck. His pulse is also easy to find, quickened with the adrenaline of an unknown situation and multiple consecutive shocks to his system.
Okay. Take stock. Assess. Figure out a plan from there.
He's alive. Donnie's alive. The Krang are gone. And everything else…is a big fat question mark, with no easy answers and no indication as to where to begin looking for them.
Well.
Uh.
"What the fuck," Leo whispers to the room at large, as though the walls could answer.
~~~~~~~
(A world away and still very close, a younger pair of twins cling to one another the way a drowning man clings to driftwood: desperately, clutching tight, as though letting go will spell their doom. Neither of them know where the emotions came from, or why; all they know is that each of them are damn glad the other is alive, and they'll do everything they can to make sure that continues to be the case.)
(What the fuck, indeed.)
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thatswhatsushesaid · 4 months
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psa that the day there are no jgy stans left on tumblr dot com is the day i am dead
but rest assured i'll go to my grave exactly as i lived: obnoxiously proclaiming to everyone within earshot how great lianfang-zun is. narratively, metaphorically, spiritually. sexually, too, like why limit myself. i like to keep my options open
#the spirit of su minshan possessed me for a minute there but like. i'm fine with it#jin guangyao#he did crimes??? good for him 😌#editing this post to add that while the tone here is clearly joking#i really am fundamentally still engaged with this fandom#and with this book#almost exlcusively because of my enjoyment of jgy#even xiyao is secondary for me like i love it and i'm ride or die for it obvs#but jgy as a character is the main draw for me. and he would have me by the throat even if there was no zewu-jun#(tho i think jgy's life would be more depressing for his absence obviously)#but he is just. /clenches my fists!!!#THE most compelling character in the story and i cannot stop thinking about him!! cannot will not!!#who else in this book has his range? who else can be the doe-eyed idealist AND the spy with blood on his hands who ends a war?#who else is two different greek tragedies and at least two separate shakespearean tragedies rolled into one antagonist#an antagonist who but for the POV of the novel could very easily have been the protagonist#whose moral event horizon is so deeply entwined with his own trauma and abuse that there is no way to meaningfully separate#the violence he does to others from the systemic violence that was done to him for his whole life?#who else in this book manages to get five separate sect leaders utterly obsessed with him no matter how you choose#to interpret that obsession?#no one!!! that's who!!#ain't no one else in the jianghu doing it like lianfang-zun and that's just a goddamn fact
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wellfine · 10 months
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Thirst traps but only from the neck up
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melbatron5000 · 1 month
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Things that can be explained by POV switches
If you haven't read this analysis, you should start with that!
A list:
Crowley's hair and sideburns changing.
2. The Bentley changing. When it's Aziraphale's perspective, it's a four-door. From Crowley's it's two-door.
3. Gabriel's statue and the disappearing cross. From Gabriel's perspective, there's a cross. From Beelzebub's there is not. I wonder if it's because Gabriel sees himself as bearing some sort of burden?
4. Honolulu roast sign in Nina's shop. I wonder if that's because we switch to Nina's perspective, she knows the sign is there, she hung it. But someone notices it and someone doesn't.
5. Differing title/location cards? I bet they will give us a clue as to whose perspective we're about to see through if we pay attention to how they change.
6. The drawing of Gabriel being different when Aziraphale draws it versus when he shows it in the pub. When he draws it, we're seeing through his eyes, but when he shows it, we're seeing through Crowley's.
7. Possibly the Resurrectionist pub sign -- one of Mr. Dalrymple with a cleaver, one of him with a scalpel. Someone remembers him as a butcher, someone remembers him as a surgeon. I think we can tell who.
8. The vanishing/reappearing storefront signs in Whickber street. Someone knows exactly what shops are where, someone doesn't notice.
9. The streets and castle in Edinburgh when Aziraphale visits -- cobblestones versus paved; the castle in the background in every shot from every angle.
10. Several of the weird background noises can be explained by POV, but I don't think all of them.
11. Crowley's sunglasses changing? That one is iffy to me. Because they're silver for half the show, then black for the second half. If that were a POV switch, you'd think they'd change back and forth more often.
12. Crowley throwing books. And being nice to Jim. And wearing sleeve garters. He's telling Aziraphale on the phone what's going on, and we're seeing Aziraphale's image of it in his mind. That's almost certainly not what happened, but the gist is close enough.
13. Aziraphale's over-the-top reporter cosplay right after he is gently amused at Muriel's over-the-top constable cosplay. He's telling Crowley on the phone what's happening, and Crowley is imagining how it's going. Aziraphale's reporter persona is probably not as inconspicuous as he thinks, but it's probably not as cute and silly as Crowley imagines.
14. Gabriel not coming down the lift in the Dirty Donkey. Maggie and Nina see him first, they don't know about the lift, so they see him just walking down the street, not getting off a Heavenly elevator. He probably wasn't wandering around anywhere else -- but he does say he had to carry the box for soooo long, so maybe he was roaming around . . .
15. The high number of queer couples in the show. Both Crowley and Aziraphale are more highly tuned to humans who present as they do when in human form. It's probably not that there are more queer couples around, just that A and C take more note of them.
That's everything from my Murder Board that I think POV can explain. If anyone has other weird things that can be explained by seeing them through various character's eyes, I'd love to know!
And there is still PLENTY that can't be explained by POV. PLENTY. AND the POV changes mean we're not only seeing what they think is happening rather than what is, we're also NOT seeing anything they don't want known. We have to look where the furniture isn't.
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spinningelectro · 5 months
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Do you think of me
When you look to the sea
I know it's hard to grow
When you're pushed to your knees
I know hard times will pass
Your love it will last
Darling we will never break
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minubell · 23 days
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The Nyannatar brainrot is real
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bleedingoptimism · 1 year
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part four: Jeff
It’s been two weeks since their gig, two weeks since they last saw Steve.
Frank had been right in assuming Steve wouldn’t show up to hang out with them at rehearsals but Steve hadn't shown up at all, not at rehearsals, not at get-togethers or Hellfire meetings, they hadn’t even seen him at his work, although Jeff suspects that was because Robin was hiding him from them in the back.
He’s frankly a little offended Robin is being mean to them when they didn’t do anything wrong but he knows he would’ve probably reacted the same if someone had broken the heart of one of his friends.
And speaking of his friends, Eddie is been insufferable the last two weeks, he goes from quiet and twitchy to whining loudly about being stupid and blind and a mess. Gareth just agrees with him which isn’t helpful at all, Frank keeps telling him that it’s fine, he made a mistake, and he can still fix it, and Jeff keeps telling Eddie to shut up, man up, and go talk to him already.
But Eddie freaks out every time, says Steve is avoiding him, and that he wouldn't even know what to say if he saw him. 
Safe to say, it’s been a rough couple of weeks, and the worst part for them to admit is that they kind of, sort of, maybe? Miss Steve. This is why Jeff can’t help but get excited when they see him again.
The band is hanging out at Gareth's place, minus Eddie, who is studying at Nancy’s house just like every Wednesday since he came back to school. Something Steve knows, which is probably why he chose that moment to show up.
They are sitting in the living room chatting about their latest campaign, DMed by no other than their newest addition to the club, Will Byers, when there’s a knock on the door.
Gareth opens the door and Jeff and Frank lean over the couch to see who it is, surprised to see Steve there.
He’s holding the shirt Gareth lend him, washed and folded neatly, and on top of it is a box, a rich smell coming from it.
“Hey!” Steve says, “Sorry it took me so long to return this Gar. I brought you cookies! As a thank you”
And then Gareth does something that surprises all of them, probably himself too, he takes the offered items and puts them on the table beside the door and then hugs Steve.
Steve looks at them shocked over Gareth's shoulders and barely has time to return the hug before Gareth lets him go and pulls him inside by the wrists. 
“Dude! We missed you! Why did you have to disappear like that?”
“You know why” Steve smiles sadly at him.
“Are you mad at Eddie?” Jeff asks him as they make room for him on the couch, immediately digging into the box of cookies when Gareth brings it to the coffee table. But Steve just stands in the middle of the living room, probably not planning on staying long.
“No! Of course not!” he assures and runs a hand through his hair, “He didn't do anything wrong. I’m the one who fucked up. I should’ve never assumed tha-” he interrupts himself and shakes his head, grins at them “I shouldn’t have disappeared like that on you guys, I’m so sorry. After you practiced so much. Wished I stayed long enough to congratulate you as least. You were amazing!”
They smile at him, murmur some thanks, and then Steve claps loudly once, “Well! I should get going,”
“See you,” Frank says but it sounds more like a question and Steve picks up on that,
“I- look: the thing is, I really like you guys and I want us to be friends but I- I got everything mixed up in my head and I need some space to… deal with it. I need time,” Steve tells them and turns towards the door, 
“What if you didn't get it wrong?” Jeff blurts suddenly.
“Jeff!” Gareth exclaims shaking his head.
But Jeff is determined, “Steve, what if you were right, what if Eddie likes you back?” he says, ignoring Gareth.
“Well that kind of makes it worse doesn't it?” he chuckles, pinching the bridge of his nose,
 “No, but! See… Eddie didn’t know you like him too, and if you would just let him talk to you…”
And Steve laughs again but cruelly this time and he looks sad when he says, “Jeff that’s the thing, I haven’t been avoiding him. Yes, I didn’t show up when you hung out but It’s not like I’ve refused to talk to him. I’ve actually been waiting for him to talk to me. Does he even wonder what’s wrong? Because even if he didn’t like me back… I was hoping he would care enough about our friendship but it seems I was wrong about that too. I was wrong about… everything”
“Jesus Christ this guy is undefendable!” Jeff groans and Steve laughs again but this time is more sincere.
“You don’t need to defend him, I told you, I'm not mad” 
“It’s worse that you are sad, you know that right? I kinda wished you were mad at him” Frank says and Steve snorts, his eyes getting some of their usual shine back. 
“I’m gonna go but, I’ll be fine guys. We’ll be fine, I promise” He smiles genuinely and turns to leave again and Jeff stands up and walks him to the door,
“Steve wait, I know it's not fair for me to ask you this but, you know Eddie makes assumptions about people and it’s really hard to get him to change his mind about them, and he’s always thought of you as unobtainable” 
Steve's eyes go wide and his eyebrows raise before they drop in a frown, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about that”
“Nothing! Just I know Eddie will get his head out of his ass eventually, you just have to… just don't give up on him yet, please?”
Steve huffs and shakes his head, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Yeah, okay”
part one
part two
part three
part four (you are here!)
part five
☕🥐💕 cafecito?
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chamoemileclown · 4 months
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orange peels!
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fairy-orchid · 4 months
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The more I stare The more memories that overflow.
@asiandramanet ⋆.˚ jan-feb bingo ⋆.˚ transition
song lyrics from -> ​imase - NIGHT DANCER 
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ataleofcrowns · 24 days
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Putting in an official request for A and X patreon bath snippets (I'm kidding this is a joke this is a joke do whatever you want forever, I just really like the R and D snippets you've given us so far they're very very good thank you so much for them) (also for everyone else reading this if you're looking for a sign to subscribe to the patreon this is it, it's absolutely worth it)
Oh, you mean these tier 3 snippets?
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Yeah, I'll probably write a version for X and A as well 🤭
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royalarchivist · 10 months
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Hope everyone enjoyed today's QSMP Cinema event!
As expected, many VODs were unfortunately muted for certain animations because of copyright issues. I know some of the artists weren't able to catch everyone's reactions to their work, and I'm sure there are many other fans & VOD watchers who missed out too.
LUCKY I was able to archive Foolish, Roier, Cellbit, and Quackity's reactions to all the animations, and for anyone interested in viewing them, I'll be uploading them to Google Drive and will post the links here when that's available.
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sygneth · 1 year
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random Jeanvic dump
wanted to draw the idiot smile
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taizi · 8 months
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Could you write a sickfic type thing about Luffy where like the marines or someone uses kairouseki against him in a way that just wipes him out for a while Nd the crew looks after him??? much love <3
x
Sea stone bullets are a cause for concern, but not as much of one as a person might think. Nami’s captain has always been unsettlingly perceptive when it suits him, since well before any of them had any idea what observation haki was. He knows when a bullet is coming that he can’t bounce away.
It doesn’t do him any good to know sometimes, though. Not when he disregards the warning of danger on purpose. 
And there was really nothing else he could have done in this case, Nami is reluctant to admit even to herself, because if he had dodged, Chopper would have been shot in the back of the head. Luffy had, to his credit, thought to deflect the tiny missile with armament, but it only caused the glass casing to shatter and the substance inside to spill free. A few drops against his skin was all it took. 
He dropped like a stone. 
Usopp lunged in at the last second and caught him before he hit the deck. But then they all had to watch Luffy’s head loll, limp and unresisting. It was horrifying. It happened so fast. Despite everything Nami had seen up to this point, she had never been more afraid than in that moment. 
“What is that?” Zoro bites out, an arm spread to the side to keep his nakama from getting too close to the spill. 
It shimmered eerily in the late afternoon light, the sky overcast but still just bright enough for Robin to grow an expendable hand near the mess and pinch a bit of it in the corner of the picnic blanket they had all been lounging on all of ten minutes ago. She ground it between her fingers, protected by the blanket, to feel the texture. Within moments, understanding touched her face. 
“Infused with sea stone,” she said.
Chopper squirmed between his nakama’s bigger bodies, shouting, “Take him to the infirmary!”
Usopp was off like a shot, Luffy in his arms, Chopper right on his heels. Sanji joined Robin and Zoro at the starboard side of the ship, staring out at the remaining warships with the same look of murder in their eyes. Franky was already at the helm, and Sunny was turning in the water to face the Marines; the cannon mouth hidden in the figurehead opening to rain destruction. Brook was laughing, high-pitched and chilling, in a way that surely carried across the distance between themselves and the unlucky bastards who thought a cheap ambush would be enough to net the Straw Hats’ collective bounty. 
“A squall is coming,” Nami said, feeling the shift of the weather in her bones. “Destroy the ships but leave the soldiers alive. They’re so eager to play with sea stone—let’s give them a taste of how it feels to drown.”
“Fitting,” Jimbei rumbled. He was the most honorable person Nami had ever met, but just like the rest of them, all bets were off and morals thrown aside when it came to anyone who would try to rip Luffy away. 
By the time revenge had been swiftly doled out, and Brook’s violin easily covered the sounds of the Marines in the water, Usopp reappeared on the deck to say, “He’s okay.”
Nami’s heart still didn’t settle, not until she had bullied her way into the infirmary, planted herself on the side of the bed, and held her captain’s face in her hands to see for herself. 
“He’ll sleep for awhile, probably,” Chopper said. “Until that compound works its way through his system. There isn’t a counter-agent for sea stone—” yet, the glint in his eye suggests “—but it only weakens Fruit users, it doesn’t kill them outright. If it were a bullet lodged in his body, maybe ultimately it would fester and poison him, but this is just a trace. It’s like, um…like a sedative!”
“Maybe we should keep some on hand for when he’s being annoying,” Sanji said dispassionately, as if his hands weren’t trembling around the cigarette he was trying to light. 
Someone nudged Nami’s shoulder. She glanced up, and Zoro said, “Storm.”
“Right,” Nami remembered. “We need to get Sunny prepared.”
She was reluctant to leave Luffy, but he trusted her to lead them safely through troubled waters, so that much she had to do. Brushing her thumb over the scar under his eye, she eased her hands away then stood up and started barking orders. 
It took some effort, but Sunny danced through the wind and rain like it was all play, and hours later they came out the other side unscathed. There was a small island ahead of them, a crescent moon curve of pink sand and tropical flowers and a dilapidated, long-forgotten pier. The New World being what it was, Nami didn’t trust the peaceful picture for a goddamn second, but it would be a convenient place to moor for the time being. 
Besides, Luffy would whine if they started an adventure without him.
He missed dinner and slept through the night. Sanji is prickly and short-tempered at breakfast the next morning, crafting fluffy omelets and frying potatoes and chainsmoking angrily out the window. But his entire attitude shifts when familiar voices outside bicker their way toward the dining hall, and the galley door bursts open to reveal a wobbly-looking Luffy, an irritated Chopper, and Brook, who continues serenading their journey with a tiny ukulele. 
“SANJI!” Luffy calls across the room. “Feed me or I’ll die right now!” 
“No you’ll die ‘cause I killed you for leaving before I said you could!” Chopper snaps. 
“He’s already here,” Sanji says, across the room in seconds and frogmarching his captain to a seat at the table. “Might as well eat.” 
“Lu, how are you feeling?” Usopp demands, leaning across the table eagerly and nearly sticking his elbow in the butter dish. “You look like shit.” 
“Mean!” Luffy says. 
“Accurate,” Nami butts in. She takes him by the chin, turning his face towards her. His brown skin has an unhealthy pallor, lethargy clinging to him despite his animated good cheer. He looks like any other flu-ridden teenager. As she studies him, he wrinkles his nose and sticks his tongue out. “Brat,” she scolds without heat, releasing him.
It’s such a relief just to have him at the breakfast table. Franky starts in on a wild story about the storm Luffy missed, and Robin discreetly pushes the platter of brown sugar glazed ham closer to his plate. The morning sun, pouring through the window, suddenly seems warmer and brighter than it did moments ago. 
Still, Chopper is right. Luffy, force of nature that he is, starts to flag almost immediately following the meal. The burst of energy deserts him quietly. Nami only notices by chance, on her way toward the garden with Usopp. She casts her gaze out over the deck as she crosses it, and pauses mid-step. 
Zoro is sitting back against the side of the ship the way he always does when he’s trying to catch a few extra minutes of rest, the brim of a worn straw hat tipped over his face to shade it from the sun. Nothing about that stands out. 
But his strong arms are curled comfortably around Luffy, who naps sprawled against his first mate like a clumsily-thrown blanket, slack face pillowed on Zoro’s shoulder. 
“Luffy’s sleeping?” Usopp says, a bit too loud in his shock. “He just woke up.”
“Chopper did say it would be a few days before that shit was out of his system,” Franky pipes up. “Poor bro must really be feeling it.” 
“I told him to stay in bed,” Chopper gripes irritably. By now most of the crew has gathered, a combination of mirth, curiosity and lingering concern preoccupying their thoughts, and Nami watches Chopper cross the grassy deck and tug lightly on Zoro’s sleeve. “Hey, hey. Will you take him to the infirmary, please?”
Zoro opens his eye, a sharper gray than any blade, but never cutting when he looks at his family. After a second, he closes it again.
“Nah.”
Zoro may be a shithead at times to Sanji and Nami and Franky and—okay, most people—but all of his younger crewmates tend to get an automatic pass. Nami honestly can’t think of a time he looked at Chopper and said “nah” about anything that didn’t involve his own health. From the baffled look on Chopper’s face, neither can he. 
“Huh?? Why not?”
“We’re sleeping.”
“And he can sleep in the medbay!” Chopper insists. 
Zoro scoffs and moves his captain closer. 
“Go get your own.”
Chopper gapes wordlessly. All the rest of Nami’s nakama have a similar expression on their faces, something between stupefied and offended—save Robin, who presses a secret smile behind her hand, and Jimbei, whose rumbling chuckle is just barely audible over the sound of the sea. 
Nami—who knows very well what Zoro looks like when he’s trying to get a rise out of someone, who knows very well that she has a claim on Luffy that only a handful of other people in the world share, one that can never be broken or stolen or changed—feels herself bristle, too. 
“HE IS OUR OWN!” the majority of one of the most infamous pirate crews in the New World shriek like schoolchildren. 
Luffy’s eyes drift open in the chaos that follows, squinting through the haze until he can bring the faces of his nakama into focus. They’re all so lively, shouting and arguing about something, their ship the brightest, busiest thing under the whole sky. The sun touches his skin, warm and laughing, like it’s trying to tell him a joke. 
It’s so comfy. Soon he’ll get up and shout with them, and eat some more, and fish and play and plot a new adventure. But first he’ll dream a little while longer. He knows his friends won’t mind.
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funuya · 13 days
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i kept joking about fire emblem while reading danmaca
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himejoshiangels · 3 months
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"duke just seems less traumatized by comparison he just seems mentally stable yknow by comparison, he just seems normal and regular and he's a bat! so hm you know he has to be kinda quirky by definition just not as interesting or competent as the rest of them, you get it!!! he just seems boring by comparison"
do you see how yall sound
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