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unloneliest · 1 month

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IIIIIIIIIII want to know about the complex machinations of the soul (and the web of reasons underpinning your story and symbolism choices)

WAH thank you i have like such a complex web of thoughts spinning in my head this week. i'm gonna put it under the cut but i've been thinking a lot about places imbued with enough magic that i'm considering them somewhat of characters? particularly the Forest vs castles in general, but as applied in specific to the castle that my oc silas had been the prince of specifically.

(silas is a part of the adult generation of my story? the story covers quite a span of time. the adult gen is introduced as 18-21 year olds & the story later follows their teen children as time passes; it doesn't stay in detail for the entire span of their lives. there's dull moments that aren't worth focusing a book on & the juxtaposition of generations is much more interesting to me. it'll be released nonlinearly)

point a is the Forest.

so like. the original inhabitants of this world are, to the humans and comparable hominids, giants, though they did not of course call themselves this. they were twice the size of humans and had unlimited magical power until the gods who made them got pissed they were using their unlimited magical power and took them out, creating humans and others in the process, & leaving a handful of diminished giants behind - they would now age to death/had limits to their magic/could not still have children.

and the Forest was beyond massive to them. the Forest in the valley is large enough that humans can live in the canopy, build homes on branches. giant magical forest. you get the deal.

but part of the deal of the Forest is that like - rather than fading out, most of the remaining giants consciously chose what to do when they were nearing their end, and used their still considerable magic to become a part of the trees. it was irreversible, and an end to their previous existence, but a way of preserving themselves as a collective and they're still able to communicate and have an impact with some highly magical humans. this is a very alive awake forest, and it's an alive awake forest that once experienced the world & time very similarly to the way that humans do.

my character rohsi escapes a shitty situation and finds out she does have magic powers and like. when gaining access to them also discovers that she's Chosen by the forest? for her this is a hereditary type of magical connection, and not one that the forest always activates - not everyone in rohsi's family has been forest chosen but it's easier for the forest to have a chosen person with certain attributes and those attributes are present in rohsi's family (but not only her family).

rohsi's mother, szadeh, was supposed to be chosen by the forest but a diety laid claim first; it left the forest with nobody to work with it and had ultimately catastrophic consequences for szadeh.

rohsi having uniquely strong magic/being connected to the forest has been true for probably close to a decade, but i haven't previously had the details of magical functioning to the level that i now do? ANYWAYS. even though "rohsi has weird magic and a forest connection" has been true i haven't previously gotten in to the like, ways the forest exists and is independently.

so what i've been thinking about is like - different people's magic works in different ways - some people are seers, some have a great talent for a particular craft, some have magic that most easily takes form as light, some are healers, some have natural resonance with different pieces of nature. and different deities have different domains of power. different natural features all have ambient magic of their own, too. but entities like the forest exist somewhere between all of these things, especially when they're enough of entities to have opinions about what's happening around them and can attempt to influence what's happening.

what's the nature of a forest, this Forest, and its magic?

communication/connection. i'm thinking about pando, i'm thinking about mycelial networks, i'm thinking about thee decay exists as an extant form of life post. and i'm thinking about how a community of people with shared interests and goals chose to become a forest together, and how that'd impact not just them but the plants they were in community with.

a lot of the abuse that rohsi experienced growing up was her being isolated from others; how is community and communication a strength? how does the functioning of the central group of characters resemble & deviate from the strengths of the Forest? how does rohsi's inclination to work well with the Forest impact the way that she does magic even when she is not working with the Forest specifically? etc etc.

also in this vein: how many people live in the forest now, and under what circumstances? is the forest as an entity representative of the coalition of allied resistances working against the monarchy on purpose? how does the relationship to the land that people who inhabit the forest - none of whom are supporters of the monarchy - differ from the relationship or lack of relationship people in other locations have and how is that reflected in/an extension of their politics? how did i not notice that i was doing this on purpose to this degree????

point b is the castle, possibly called north hold.

it's actually kind of just slightly north of the west edge of the valley but like. further north than that is mostly forest, so it doesn't get counted as a Further North that you could be in.

i have several inroads to thinking about this castle in conjunction with the Forest? i've been thinking a lot about the relationships that wakeful locations have to people in general, and the ways that members of the monarchy are alienated from meaningful relationship with the land despite ostensibly being rulers of it.

silas, of the adult generation, is the inheriting prince of the northern throne. there are three castles, three rulers, in the valley, but they function as one state overall. there have never been borders or edges or separate citizenships between the three seats of power - they're just the three corners of a single region, each "needing" their own local castle/monarch. i'm still working out the details on the structure of the government. a lot of it was invented when i was 13. by a dream.

but. the thing is. silas, as prince. he does think he's doing what's best for the people. he tries very hard to. it's not something he would turn his back on on a whim; he takes the duty very seriously. he is a prince but also a born leader. he's possessive and protective over the people who are his, both the unknown people he leads and the friends he loves. he's the younger of two sons. he's the only son remaining. he's haunted by the question of whether his brother would be handling things better than him.

there is no easily backed heir if something should happen to silas, if something first happened to his mother the queen & whoever it is she's married to [i have yet to fully develop. silas' parents/family dynamic but he's inheriting from his mother. no only men can rule in my universe. anyone can do anything forever, including gender transition. babes there's magic]. his heir until he weds and produces one is his cousin, but there's no guarantee there wouldn't be conflict over that, because there's others with similar levels of a blood claim on the throne.

things have been peaceful. silas was the spare and his mother can't have more children. there was no reason to expect it might be a problem, that there's only him.

it is a problem, that it's only him.

i can't get into the entire details of the circumstances because that'd just add. the entire plot of the actual first book. to this ramble. but silas' family is killed and his own life is in jeopardy. and he leaves. he runs off into the desert. and i've been rotating what it would take to make him do that, because he wouldn't do it just to save his own hide. it would take something very significant to convince him that it wasn't right/possible for him to stay and fight for the people by fighting for the throne.

part of the tragedy of silas is that it might have been possible for him to survive and win had he been able to connect with allies that truly supported him in the moments between when he finds out his family is dead & when he flees with jay. (jay is my best boy. who i talk the most about of my ocs. a guard/soldier/?? on the specifics who deserts and turns his back on his entire life when he's sent after silas to kill him because he knows that it's the wrong thing to do and would rather devote himself to silas' cause. listen to me. their relationship is everything to meeeeee but i'm getting off topic)

silas, when he returns to the castle/finds out his family is dead? he goes first to his mentor, norna. who is evil. i realized i love a fucked up mentor/mentee relationship after rewatching phantom of the opera at new years. i'm making her a sexy about it. it's better when villains are hot. she's in magic academia. she's butch. and she started going grey when she was like. twenty. and she knew his brother and he's been trusting her and the things she tells him are memories and she's a huge part of why he compares himself so much with his (much older) brother who died. and she's fully been manipulating him the entire time.

norna is sooo slay to me. i know she's done a lot of things wrong but she's hot about it.

ANYWAYS this is all just like, context around the idea that the castle, silas' castle home, it's a character too. oh i have to make a detour.

the biggest cities in this story, they're all built. well. let me take another step to the side.

in the valley, humans do not call themselves the people. they call themselves the people of the roads. because the giants used their magic to create roads that will never, not ever, need infrastructure upkeep, and that connect the most important central locations in the valley. if enough soil forms on top of one of the roads it might become buried and plants may grow in the soil above it, but literally nothing can damage them. the whole damn valley isn't full of roads, but the giant's roads between castles have seriously impacted the pattern of human dwellings & communities within the valley.

the connected locations each have their own "ruins"; highly magical structures abandoned by the giants, either when they went into the trees or before that during the great unmaking by the gods. so whatever castle it is silas grew up in, it either is a repurposed dwelling of the giants, or it incorporates one of those in the structures that have been built up around what the giants left behind.

the magic left behind by the giants behaves differently from a forest that was once people; it's aliveness is different but it was still created to be an active sort of thing. there was intention put into it.

what is the essence of a castle? a castle is meant to enclose, protect, enforce. a castle has strict delineations between what is inside and what isn't. a castle is stone and is of the earth. when danger threatens, the people in the communities around a castle come in to the castle for safety and protection until it's safe to return to their places outside of its walls. it serves and protects the people; or, it is at least supposed to do this.

if the castle's magic was created by the giants, it would not have stayed awake in their absence. and in the absence of all the giants, the humans and other hominids left the valley completely; it spent several centuries uninhabited. great magical catastrophe that altered plate tectonics and all that.

so the people who became the monarchs of the north when humans returned to the valley, well. originally they were the ones taking care of this abandoned castle/city, and making it a place people could live again. they're the ones who rediscovered the magical functioning of the castle, who established a connection and reciprocal relationship with the castle's magic. they woke it back up. they kept the connection alive and passing through the generations just like the crown did.

the valley wasn't originally intended to be a monarchy.

but like. what's the essence of a castle! what's the nature of its magic, the way the Forest's is communication? to protect and enclose. without active magical connection to people inhabiting it, it has no way of knowing there's anyone to protect. and that connection is something that has to go both ways.

norna is able to convince silas - if not completely, thoroughly enough that he starts closing himself off - that he's at fault for his family's deaths, and that his closest allies have been given cause to believe this too. his doubt and his withdrawal, his closing of himself off, that means - without realizing it - he's separating himself from the castle's magic. he mentally undefines himself as prince - not wholly, but enough. and the castle's magic going to sleep affirms that partial belief until it's whole. and that's why he turns his back on the throne. he believes it to have turned its back on him first.

but it didn't. it just didn't realize there was anything left to protect.

and when i think about the castle, about it alive, i think about it having a heart, some underground and physical representation of it having an essence. and i know that's influenced by a Number of things - the song of the lioness quartet's dominion jewel/book four climactic fight, the phantom of the opera final caverny bit, the so you want to be a wizard book with worlds each having something like a heart, probably barbie and the magic of pegasus' whole thing about keystones but i cannot remember enough about that to be sure - i just remember that there was something about the keystone of arches. definitely some fics i've read set in magical universes.

a castle with a heart, a stone radiating light, a light that goes dark when it sleeps; some kind of visual representation of the moment silas loses that connection.

something crucial, here: there's a post about what the individual unit of a bee is. i can't remember who it's by or find the damn thing but it was talking about how like, we're a part of our ecosystems? how if you're trying to define the singular unit of bee, that unit is hive. and how we're not separate from what's around us. and with my story like. that's how it is with magic. it's a deeply magical world, and though everyone's internal wellspring of magic is of variable size and not everyone has enough internal magics to use their personal magic to influence the world around them, anyone can use the magic that exists in the world around them to do magic, especially in collective group magics.

a barn raising is a type of magic. and the way that barn is rasied will include magical steps to minimize the risk of a fire. and the reason that it works is because it's a collective magic, dependent on ritual.

run of the mill academic magic users (read: anyone with any kind of training)? they may think of themselves as solo magical practitioners, but they're adherents of a school of thought. the group they are doing magic with is themself and the person who taught them how to do magic, or the many people; if they're using a spell or anything of that ilk, it's them and the person who created the spell.

high level academic magic users have learned about how all magic is collective and learned to do magic where they're in relationship with something in the world that has ambient magic: a fire, a flower.

without connection to the castle, and when explicitly disowned by a major teacher of his? silas' magic starts acting up, starts not working.

all of this has been like. developing in every direction at once for me, recently. it's not just one thing at a time. thinking about the castle having a heart means thinking about why it does, and how that exists as a coutnerpoint to the Forest, and that means thinking about rohsi's magic, and how rohsi skips straight to high level academic magic user methods because she grew up magicless and was already used to only doing collective magic & applies that principle to individual magic easily.

thinking about the conditions under which silas runs away with jay and how terrifying the disconnection from the castle must have been for both of them means thinking about what might wake that castle back up.

and nait is jay's son (& the son of two other adult gen characters who are jay's best friends/marital partners, riamin & ymalis; marriage conventions aren't 1:1 with our world). and jay never got to have a family with silas. silas never got to know nait. but they're still so fucking similar, in so many ways. of course it's nait who wakes the sleeping castle.

and that's knowledge he shares, because it's something he learned how to do from rohsi, rohsi with communicative connecting magic, rohsi with ties to the Forest. it's not something he ever has to carry alone.

jay more than anyone is the one who lost silas. he spends the rest of his life grieving. ym was the next closest to silas, and rohsi and nait are both so like silas it hurts. they're raising their son and then suddenly the kids he brought home with him, too, and there's echoes of silas everywhere even in their kids growing up in his absence.

and then nait's waking the castle.

and he's just a fucking kid!!! and jay and ym and riamin are so worried the pull of what's happening in the world is going to eat their son alive, because it killed silas. it killed silas but nait can't be killed and somehow that means it might be worse for him, though at first it seemed a blessing.

but anyways. thinking about whether the heart of the castle is conflated with sovereignty, that's currently on my plate. i need to stretch this web and explore the other key castles, too.

and i need to think about point c: the river, and how all of this applies to her.

because good lord, i think i finally have the right angle to approach the river with.

anyways. this is. a lot of words. it stretches in every direction at once and i tried not getting too far off topic with background information but like. i feel so fucking dialled in to enjoyable to write & include but also spot on symbolic representations of the underlying values of varying political groups in the story & the themes of the narrative in general????????? which i did NOT feel before yesterday when i started having most of the culminating brain waves on this stuff. holy Shit.

also um. thank you for asking me about this. ilu <3

#lamentablequeen #den replies #ostrela posting #<-my tag for things i've posted about this story #this is. 3.2k words. oops

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amtrak12 · 3 months

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@kla1991 replied to your post “I still have no idea why American Girl did a...”:

Do you have thoughts on who would be on Nikki's pokemon team? I was not quite a tomboy in 1999 but I was totally feral about pokemon and that doesn't really wear off.

Okay so APPARENTLY my memory has been wrong for the last 20 years? Because I stg since high school, I was under the impression that I got my kiwi Gameboy Color and Pokemon Gold for my 12th birthday -- but Pokemon Gold/Silver didn't release in North America until October 2000 which means I couldn't have gotten it until my 13th birthday. :| (And the Zelda Oracle of Seasons I remember getting for Christmas 7th grade wasn't released until mid 2001 which would make it Christmas 8th grade for me !!!)

Time is weird, I guess. Anyway, that means Nikki and her twin Isabel could only be playing Pokemon Original Flavor in 1999. Unfortunate, because I have much less personal experience with Red/Blue but also fortunate because 151 pokemon is a lot less to choose from than the 300+ in gen 2.

Disclaimers: It is impossible to select Nikki's pokemon team without also selecting Isabel's, so you're getting both. Also, I chose these without reading their corresponding American Girl books and without regards to type-matching against the Elite 4. We're going purely off of vibes here.

To start, these girls would've started playing Pokemon between 7-9 (they're 9 on NYE 1999) and while their mom is in the tech field, I don't think they would've dug into version exclusives at that age before selecting their Pokemon games. It'd be more about favorite colors and the pokemon on the box. So, Nikki picks Blue because it's closer to purple and Isabel picks Red because it's closer to pink.

Nikki likes Blastoise on the box and if they've watched any of the anime, she might know Squirtle has some punk attitude which she'll like as a skateboarder and daughter of a grunge band member. Isabel chooses Bulbasaur because she's not super interested in fire. By sheer luck, neither pick the hard mode starter and both skate through the first gym just fine. (Unlike me, haha)

No one raises Magikarp, even after they learn about the Gyarados evolution. Both have Pikachu in their parties, especially if they watch the show. Nikki evolves her Eevee into Flareon to have a fire type. Isabel evolves hers into Vaporeon. You get to pick your fighter after beating the fighting gym leader, if I remember right? As the skateboarder, Nikki chooses HItmanlee, the kicker. Isabel plays tennis and chooses Hitmonchan the puncher.

Isabel is CRUSHED when she learns Vulpix is only in Blue, so Nikki traders her one for her team. She also has Jigglypuff for the pink and cute vibes, and definitely sings the Jigglypuff sleep song when Nikki annoys her. Nikki rounds out her team with a Magnemite -- chosen solely for the vague hoverboard vibes they give off. And Articuno. Neither of them are patient enough to bother with Gyarados, but Nikki WILL catch one of those legendary birds dangit! No matter how many times she has to quit without saving.

In conclusion:

Nikki's team: Squirtle, Pikachu, Magnemite, Hitmonlee, Flareon, Articuno

Isabel's team: Bulbasaur, Jigglypuff, Vulpix, Pikachu, Hitmonchan, Vaporeon

And while they might easily be playing on original Gameboys, I'm still assigning them Gameboy Colors. Nikki has it in Grape and Isabel has Berry.

#kla1991 #reply #THANK YOU FOR ASKING AND MAKING ME THINK ABOUT THIS!#It was fun!!#Even if it did rewrite my memories of childhood ROTFL #my meta #(For American Girl dolls????)#(look idk BUT IT WAS FUN!)

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narrators-journal · 3 years

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A cat’s lament

So, decided to wrap up my little cat and mouse au story line. Was gonna leave it kinda on-going forever, but someone on my ao3 is slightly invested, so I thought I’d give them a little wrap-up to the pseudo plot. I will probably continue to toss up the rare entry, but maybe not 🤷‍♀️

It was weeks after Gen had gotten his little souvenir, and now he sat at a cafe table, fiddling with a tower of creamer cups he'd built to distract him while he waited for Senku to finally make an in-person appearance after so long. He'd been there for a while now, judging by the way afternoon was threatening to slip into evening, but he was sure his nemesis would show up, he'd given the souvenir back with a little note asking him to and Senku Ishigami was good at keeping his word, "Hey there, Asagiri, did I keep you waiting for long?" The sudden question broke the analyst's concentration and made him jump, sending his structure crumbling to the table when his knee bumped into it, "God damn it, Senku-chan," he huffed, giving the odd-haired man a dirty look as he plopped into the chair across the table from him, all unease from their first meeting forgotten, "Are you really more interested in some creamer than talking to me? Ouch..." the analyst rolled his blue eyes at his friend's feigned pout, "Of course not, but I was proud of that tower, and you messed it up," the leek mimed wiping a tear before a waitress came over to ask if they wanted food or anything. Once they'd ordered some drinks, the two began to talk, catching up on the young murderer's misadventures in America and joking around for a while as they sipped at their chosen drinks. Eventually though, Gen asked a question that had been eating at him ever since they began talking about his friend's academic habits. "So," He hummed, swirling his coke bottle around "where are you gonna work now that you're done with college?" he sipped at said drink as he looked up to Senku at last, who thought for a bit before he answered nonchalantly, "I'll probably go back to America to work for NASA. I want to work with space and stuff, and since my dad's an astronaut, it'd give us more chances to see one another regularly." He reasoned, and while the other man couldn't argue with that logic, his heart still dropped at the confirmation. Seemingly sensing the behavioral analysist's disappointment, Senku grinned and leaned back in his chair, arms crossed to complete the smug air around him, "Awww, is my nemesis going to miss me?~" He taunted, his ruby eyes twinkling with mischief while the dark haired mentalist rolled his eyes at his annoyingly haughty aura, "of course! Everyone else that I know is maddeningly boring. They're all so predictable! You're the only person who seems to surprise me anymore." he pouted, the leek laughing at his misery, his ego almost visibly growing in size. "And here I thought you were upset that you wouldn't be able to catch me anymore," he giggled, the mentalist once again rolling his sapphire eyes as he sulkily sipped at his drink while his friend almost preened at the admission of what they both knew. While the younger man enjoyed Gen for the ego boost his inability to convict him brought, Gen had grown to enjoy how unreadable the scientist was. They both knew this pretty well, it was an unspoken secret, but the younger man still relished the verbalization of the fact. The analyst simply moved the conversation along before his friend's ego suffocated him, "That brings up another question I had. What are you going to do about our little game? I can't exactly participate if you live in America." he pointed out, and the killer took a moment to think, "Guess I'll have to give it up," he decided with a simple shrug after a moment. That took the dark-haired man aback a bit, making him blink, "You're...just gonna give up? That easily?" "Yeah, you're not any closer to catching me, are you?" "Well, no. I'm nowhere near finding even a scrap of useable evidence." Gen admitted, "There ya go! Why push my luck? I can get out now and have a good life. I have no need for those experiments anymore, I've got access to live professionals, so I don't even have a reason to continue," He hummed, though the leek-haired man's smug aura increased a bit all the same, but with a sigh, Gen pushed his bruised ego down for later wound licking and simply changed the subject to a less harmful question, "Are you at least going to keep in contact? I'd hate to lose you as a friend." that made the now-ex-killer snort, "Nah, don't worry. My father still lives here, so I'll be returning semi-regularly to visit him, so you can still see me from time to time, and you can just find me on my social media or something to message me." He offered, which helped the analyst feel better. After that, the two simply continued talking for a while, getting one or two more drinks before separating, having swapped numbers to keep in contact. By the time the dark-haired man left the cafe, he felt better about the situation, happy to have not lost someone who had become a good friend, despite that friend being a killer he was originally hired to catch.

#sengen #drst #dr stone #senku x gen #au #cat and mouse #dr stone au #cat and mouse au

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inquisitor-of-hearts · 2 years

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Augmented Dreams

Adam Jensen & David Sarif, Adam Jensen & Francis Pritchard

When Adam wakes up augmented, Sarif and Pritchard try to console him in their own ways.

Contains (very subtle) Deus Ex: Human Revolution spoilers.

Rating: Teen/Gen

Word Count: 1,680

On Ao3

Adam sat in the infirmary station, clenching his fist as he was up in bed, pillows behind him supporting his back. It had been just minutes since he had woken up and heard of the augmentations he had - somewhat involuntarily - received. The first reaction, naturally, was shock, until it verged onto disbelief, then sped onto anger. David, who had his lawyer first of all speak to him, sat in the armchair next to the window and let the other do the talking. A clause in Jensen’s contract, he explained, had allowed them to fulfill this procedure and save his life. “Save my life?” Adam spoke, emphasizing what he thought they must have gotten wrong. The industry lawyer was quick to speak up, but David raised his metallic hand to stop him, and he indeed faltered as he saw the gesture, his head turned towards the man in charge. “You don’t need to thank me, Adam.” David said. “Damn right I don’t.” “But soon you will come to realize it was that or leaving you mutilated.” the CEO explained. “I didn’t -- I couldn’t give you back what you were. But I did the best I could. I gave you a body. I gave you what you needed to survive, to get a chance for a normal life. A better life.” “A better life you call this?” David watched the spiteful spirit in the man, but did not react. “You decided to patch me up like I’m a toy soldier to you.” “Believe it or not, Adam, I did what I had to. I did what I thought you would have wanted. You want to live, don’t you?” “Not like this.” “You’d rather have me take your life? The life that was given to you due to my decision?” David rose from his seat, his words chosen wisely but the slight agitation could be sensed fully. “Fine. I’ll take it. If that’s what you want, I’ll take it back from you!” Adam’s fist loosened, the grip opening so naturally that both pairs of eyes - the lawyer’s and David’s - were on it immediately. Adam tensed the second he noticed their stares, the way they watched him like he was just an expensive enhancement project, not a human being. “Get out of here.” David’s eyes wandered to meet Adam’s whose face in turn relaxed, eyebrows raising, then lowering in an effort to release tension before he spoke up again. “I said get out.” he repeated, calmly but in an overly firm manner. With a swaying gesture of his hand David encouraged them both to leave. “I know you’re upset, but give it some time.” His metallic hand rested on the equally cold steel of the bed frame for a moment, as if hoping the other would soften. But he did not. And so the hand was withdrawn. Before he took his leave, he raised it a last time in an effort to remind him of something. “Also, Frank will come to check up on you later.” “I don’t want to see anyone.” Adam spoke still defiant and cold. “Then tell him off” David suggested with a shrug, voice particularly coarse. “The man does what he wants, he will come here regardless of what I ask him to do.” Unmoved synthetic eyes watched the CEO of Sarif Industries until it became awkward enough and he turned to leave without another word. Words only got one so far after all.

Sleep came easily due to administered pain medications and hypostims while his augmentations depleted the little energy he had left faster than under unharmed conditions. And the dreams were vivid and surreal, although mostly forgotten upon waking up. Several times he thought Pritchard had come in without even so much as a knock on the door but when he turned towards the door, no one was there. At last, in a half-asleep state, he did hear a knock, and his eyes blinked open slowly.

“Come in” he said, thinking it might be the medical personnel. But once he took notice of the man dressed in the leather jacket, he regretted the invitation instantly. “Jensen” “Pritchard” He turned his gaze away from him on purpose while the other walked up, pulling in one of the chairs at the table closer to the bed and sitting down on it mindfully. “Am I-- interrupting something?” “What gives you the idea?” Adam brushed him off casually, without actually wanting to hear an answer. “I already told Sarif I don’t want to see anyone.” “Why let me in then?” “I thought you’re one of the doctors.” “Technically I am. In matters of robotics, you see. Although I never got a doctorate degree.” Francis explained, and Adam could guess he was referring to his cybernetics degree, although he was not sure if he really had an official one or was mostly self-taught. As the other man grew quiet, Adam dared to look into his direction and only now saw he had brought a modified tablet with him. “Look, I’ve written this program to check the efficiency of neural connections.” he explained after tapping a few instructions on the electronic device, then handed it to the other. “You wouldn’t mind clicking a few pictures to prove you’re not a robot?” Adam snorted. “Sure you don’t want to run a Voight-Kampff test on me?” “Ah, classic. But no, not at the moment.” came the, as usual, barely emotional response before he tapped the screen once more and handed it to Adam. The other man looked at the screen disengaged, then at his colleague, lids half-closed in an attempt at conveying his disapproval. “So you’re for real.” “Of course I am. Don’t worry, that test won’t actually tell me if you’ve turned into a robot.” “Know what?” But Francis eyed him at once, hearing the menacing threat that was not quite there yet. “I am tired of being treated like a broken machine, someone who can be fixed and have tests run on, just like that. And then I’m good to go. Then I’ll get in the field again, and -- what? You’ll keep monitoring my functions?” “Jensen, that is not--” “No, Francis, it is. And let me finish.” he interrupted in turn. “Just how long are you going to treat me like I am an expensive tech good? Don’t answer that. I don’t even want to hear how I can never repay Sarif my gratitude. That he saved my life and all that. He didn’t ask me.” “You’re... taking this the wrong way.” “Oh yeah? How am I supposed to take it then?” “Well, as for Sarif I can’t say anything but that he tried to save you. Although you will have to work out the details with him. As for me, I just want to check your neural connections.” “Oh and what makes you think you’re my doctor now?” “Fine.” At last he pulled the tablet back. “You don’t want my help. I get it.” “You could have…” Adam stopped. No, he could not. Even if he hoped for it, he could not ask for it. “Could have what?” the other asked. “Forget it.” A hand was raised to his face, a hand that still felt foreign and cold but worked well enough. Adam shook his head. He could not expect Francis to understand or empathize.

Days passed by like moments in which his eyes closed and opened for seconds. Only when the substantial healing phase was behind him, Adam started to take it all in for what it really was. The reality set in like the clouded gloomy sky that greeted him when he opened the window next to his infirmary bed. He pulled out a cigarette, reached for the lighter and inhaled once the flame was ignited, blowing out the grey smoke matching the grey skies. To him it was still nothing short of a miracle that he could even stand next to the window without breaking down. That his brain could calibrate it all like it matched the clenching of his free hand just now as it had when he talked to Sarif. Everything felt so natural, so real. And yet when he ran his hand balancing the cigarette over the other cold hand, it was not quite as real as he remembered it. He could sense the thermal differences, but he was lacking the very fine skills to tell if he felt cold in his limbs. Because he could not feel it -- because they were not his limbs. He coughed up a short chuckle as he realized he would never have to cut his nails again, never have to worry about dry skin on his hands or arms. Although probably around the parts where the metal met the skin even more so now than ever before. For everything else he would rely on an outsourced maintenance, someone patching him up, someone fixing him. That was what he was now when he was hurt, a broken machine, not a broken human. He extinguished the cigarette by pressing it against the outer window frame, only having finished half of it, and threw it out after carefully checking no one was beneath or in sight. He was not supposed to smoke here, he was well aware of that. But as an ex-SWAT he was also aware of how and when the rules could be bent. Looking at the pack of cigarettes, he wondered who had left the unopened pack here for him. It could not have been Francis, no, it must have been Sarif. And of course he would not leave any trace of his name. Feeling bad for how things had gone last time, this would be his quiet way of apologizing. It always was. Sarif was of the loud type, awfully loud in public, awfully charismatic with his grand visions while in the meantime his backhand seeped subtly into every action that he wanted to be in on. Adam knew his boss well and for that the after taste was a whole lot more bitter than he had imagined it to be.

#deus ex fanfiction #deus ex fanfic #Adam Jensen fanfic #francis pritchard fanfic #David Sarif fanfic #filling the gaps #character study #might be continued

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shinsouskitten · 4 years

Note

Hola mis amiga (I’m a French student what am I doing) I saw that your ass class requests were non existant so I’m here with a request. Can u do karma and Nagisa with a blind s/o who’s a pro assassin at 15 (is that how old they are??) and also v smart and they were sent by the government to 3-e to help with the Assassination? Bonus points if they’re low key a reaper level assassin like they have a good chance of winning if they went against the reaper 1 on 1. It’s chill if u don’t get to this 💖

Yo! I am no language student cause I can’t even english correctly half the time

Also this is what happens when I finally get requests for a character I love… I go a little ott

Warnings: reference to violence and assassination (uhh… yk, it’s called assassination classroom for a reason), Karma

---

Important info:

💬 To have the reader be a pro assassin at 15, my friend (@grapefantaenby the beautiful Sammy whom I love dearly but is also a bitch sometimes) and I decided it might be a good idea for them to be basically the next gen Irina - not as a femme fatale, but just the next gen of pro trained assassins

💬 So for this request I am writing the reader as if they were chosen to be trained (possibly by Irina herself) and sent to e-class after Irina’s original attempt failed. Only Irina and Karasuma knows the reader is an assassin

💬 If you wish to read it from another perspective that’s fine too, but that was the idea I was writing from, so I hope that’s okay

---

Karma Akabane:

🔫😈 When he first meets you Karma barely bats an eye. You’re just another kid stuck in e-class for some reason or another. Midterms are coming up, he has a weird yellow octopus to kill, a new student doesn’t really matter to him

🔫😈 It’s only when you all get your tests results that he first notices you. You didn’t take the tests with them, instead in a lone room with braille substituted for the usual test papers, and a scribe to write down your answers, but it was the results that Karma noticed. You scored as high as him, though perhaps in different areas. None of your scores were below 95%, but you weren’t nearly as showy as he was. If he hadn’t heard Korosensei praising you he wouldn’t have even realized

🔫😈 You didn’t travel on the school trip with them, which kind of disappointed Karma (not that he’d admit it). He wanted to find out more about you, but even so, he wasn’t too bothered. He’s Karma after all

🔫😈 As mean as it sounds, he highly doubts your ability to be an assassin - at least, when he first meets you. Sight is one of the most important senses, and if you’re trying to kill an inhuman yellow… thing, you’re going to need everything you have

🔫😈 The first occasion is in science class, where you trip seemingly on nothing while making your way to your desk. Karma moves to catch you, surprising himself for a moment, but Korosensei is there first. The second he offers a tentacle to help you up, it explodes. Your hand had been covered in antisensei pellets you’d powdered so that they were invisible if someone wasn’t paying enough attention. In his surprise he doesn’t move fast enough as you fling your other arm out, catching the edge of another tentacle and slicing through it halfway. You’re unable to make another attack, as this time Korosensei moves too far away, but for a moment the whole class is silent

🔫😈 You’d gotten further than anyone, destroyed 1 (and a half) tentacles and no one had even suspected it was an attempt. Korosensei is surprised, while Irina watches her protege from the sidelines, secretly incredibly proud of your attempt

🔫😈 And Karma… Karma doesn’t know what to think. Your first trick was similar to his original attempt on Korosensei; a hand covered in antisensei material and a seemingly innocent gesture of assistance/goodwill. Did you know he’d attempted something similar? Of course not. You weren’t even there when he arrived, and besides, it’s not like you could’ve seen what he did (okay is this mean I have rlly bad social cues)

🔫😈 He doesn’t know what to think. Had he really doubted you that much?

🔫😈 With AIFA’s introduction some of the attention is steered away from you, which Karma takes as an opportunity to steal you away for a moment. It’s during gym class, he slips away easily, leading you by the elbow until you’re out of sight of the others (sneaky boi)

🔫😈 He asks question after question, at one point even joking that the two of you together would be an unstoppable force. Of course, he doesn’t mean dating, but it slowly starts to become less and less of a joke the more time you spend together. Plotting assassination slowly turns into study dates, then just regular dates

🔫😈 It’s only when some jerkwads from another class try picking on you that you and Karma are forced to decide; is it something more? I say that, because when he sees this amateur bullying attempt, he quickly slides up next to you, curling an arm around your waist and warning the kids to stay away from his s/o. It leads to one of the worst questions a person can hear… “what are we?”

🔫😈 It all works out happily though, and when he finds out about your profession he’s only intrigued (I was gonna say he’d kill to be a pro assassin then I realized the irony of my sentence)

🔫😈 He was right, the two of you do make a great team, and although you’re unable to kill Korosensei, you’re grateful for him allowing you to meet the one and only Karma Akabane

---

Nagisa Shiota:

🐍🔪 Nagisa notices you almost instantly, a complete reversal of Karma’s first reaction. He’s attentive, and so he realises there’s something different about you (not the blind things tho, I mean the assassin thing), even if he can’t quite put his finger on it

🐍🔪 He’s amazed when you score as high as Karma in the midterms, but doesn’t bring it up to you immediately. He doesn’t want you to feel singled out, so instead he waits until the day is over. It’s the first time he gets to talk to you, and even though the conversation flows smoothly, there’s still something in the back of his mind that he can’t quite place

🐍🔪 Much like Karma he’s disappointed that you don’t join them for the school trip, but he can’t really blame you. You’ve only just joined e-class, you likely don’t feel comfortable trusting them to lead you around an unfamiliar city

🐍🔪 When he returns, Nagisa can tell you’re planning something, though for the life of him he couldn’t figure out what it is. Eventually your plan reveals itself to him. You’d changed your walking stick, something no one else had really noticed. It was the same colour, in fact it was almost exactly the same, save for the slight sheen of plastic

🐍🔪 It happens the next day, just before the bell rings when you’re sitting on the steps to your class building. You frown as your hands trace across the floor, unable to reach the stick a few feet from you. Korosensei sees, and ever the helpful teacher, speeds over to hand it to you, not realising until it’s too late the new material covering the surface. And just like that two tentacles are destroyed. You attempt to finish the job with a knife, jumping towards where you heard Korosensei’s surprised gasp, but he dodges quickly

🐍🔪 You smile, murmerming out loud that it was a good plan. Korosensei agrees, after the initial shock wears off, but notes that you should’ve made your final attack just slightly quicker. If he hadn’t recovered so fast, you likely would've had him

🐍🔪 Against his better judgement, Nagisa decides to ask you where you learnt to do that. You brush him off easily at first, but it quickly becomes clear he doesn’t believe you, so eventually you give in and tell him the truth

🐍🔪 He’s surprised, but also, he’s not. Okay that sounds confusing. He could tell something was different about you, the way you act seemed too mature for a 15 year old at the bottom of the school. But at the same time he almost expected it. I mean, you had no disciplinaries and your grades were superb. Why else would you be in e-class? Karasuma, Irina, you, AIFA, all of you were there for another reason. It wasn’t to teach, or to learn, it was to kill

🐍🔪 There’s a lot of things that draw Nagisa to you, and it’s only a matter of time before he realises he’s big fat crushing on you. Karma noticed Nagia’s crush before the boy did himself, and you can imagine the teasing that took place

🐍🔪 I was gonna say you couldn’t see him to think he’s a girl which gave you bonus points but I feel like it might be in bad taste

🐍🔪 He studies you almost obsessively, attempting to learn some of your professional tricks as a way to boost e-class’s assassination attempts. It’s not creepy, he’s just genuinely amazed by your abilities, and well… you

🐍🔪 No matter what you do Nagisa is always in awe of it (simp), and your relationship (hard as it is to get Nagisa to finally admit to you) is a good one

#assassination classroom #assclass #karma akabane #karma akabane x reader #karma akabane headcanons #nagisa shiota #nagisa shiota x reader #nagisa shiota headcanons #assassination classroom x reader #assclass x reader #assassination classroom headcanons #assclass headcanons

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moldisgoodforyou · 4 years

Text

lost time (chapter two)

pairing: rafe cameron x oc

warnings: drinking, cursing, mentions of sex

wordcount: 1.6k

MASTERLIST

_______

By some strange coincidence, Rafe and Sophie were in the same section of their debate class. (Some might call it fate. Sophie would call it a curse.)

It was one of the less popular general education options in the communications section that all Ohio State students had to pick from, but they were both drawn to the idea of the challenge while enrolling. The class was fairly small for a gen ed, only about 40 students. When Rafe walked in on the first day, two minutes to start, he spotted Sophie immediately. She was poised with her notebook laid out, colored pens and all, and Rafe couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He deliberately sat opposite the room from Sophie, hoping and praying they would never be paired together. It was fun to argue about useless things at parties, but less fun in an educational setting. About a month into the semester, the thing he wanted least, happened.

“Rafe Cameron...and…” Their professor trailed off, scanning around the room to find him a partner for the timed debate. Sophie kept her eyes trained on the doodles in the margin of her notebook, only halfway paying attention as she added another. She had been chosen once at the beginning of the semester and briefly entertained the short debate, something trivial about reality TV, but was left disappointed by her partner’s lackluster effort. “Sophie Flint!”

At the mention of her name, her head snapped up, caught off guard. “Hm?”

“You’ll be debating Mr. Cameron, here. Come up to the podiums please.” Their professor instructed.

She sighed under her breath and rose from her seat as Rafe did the same, both of them standing at the podiums at the front of the classroom. Sophie laced her fingers behind her back, lifting her chin slightly to acknowledge Rafe. He just smirked. Asshole.

“Alright, you two know the rules, keep it civil. Five minutes.” Their professor glanced down at her list of topics. “You’ll be debating...ah. Should golf be a sport or not? I’ll let you pick your sides -”

They spoke at the same time.

“Of course it should.”

“God, no.”

She held back an amused smile. “Alright. Carry on.”

Sophie nodded curtly, then turned slightly toward Rafe, stating her position. “Golf courses are an absolute waste of real estate.”

“Hold up - Professor Welch, are we talking about the sport or the course?” Rafe interrupted the debate, annoyed as he tugged at his cap.

Their professor just shrugged.

“Well you can’t have the sport without a course. Unless you want to play completely in the rough, which, with your skill level, you probably -”

“Ms. Flint.” Professor Welch warned.

Sophie barely held back a smirk. “Right. Anyways, courses are about 100, 200 acres on average? And say there’s at least 32,000 courses in the world. So by that standard…” she paused for a moment, doing the mental math. “You have roughly four and a half million acres of land occupied by golf courses.”

Rafe raised his eyebrows, curling his fingers around the edge of the podium as he leaned slightly toward her. “I don’t see an issue with that. Golf is a valuable, fairly low-impact sport that provides an outlet for many. It’s accessible even past retirement, so it’s a sport that grows with you.”

“Except the sport is classist. It’s expensive and typically located near neighborhoods that at least have a middle-class income. It’s only accessible past retirement if you have the option to retire, or if you retire with enough spare change to keep up the hobby.” She explained, almost seeming bored. “Not to mention, golf courses are destroying the environment.”

“No they’re not.” He shot back.

She raised her eyebrows at the meager comeback. “They are. What’s the one thing you need the most to keep the fairways groomed?”

Rafe thought for a moment. “Water. But you can just use rainwater -”

“Great, except most courses don’t.” She interrupted, rolling on. “It’s a huge waste of resources just to water the grass, instead of using that land for farming or preserving the biodiversity of the area.”

“Thirty seconds.” Their professor chimed in, keeping an eye on her watch.

Rafe hurried to make his point, knowing he was losing the debate by miles, but Sophie cut him off before he could even speak. “Not to mention, circling back to the sport being elitist, most courses require a country club membership to even play a round -”

“You belong to a country club, Flint, that’s hardly a leg you can stand on.” Rafe interjected just as their professor called time, a broad smirk tugging at his lips as he sensed Sophie’s frustration at not getting the last word.

“Enlightening.” Professor Welch turned back to the class. “Show of hands, who won?” The majority of the class voted for Sophie, only a few frat boys raising their hands in support for Rafe. The bell rang and their professor nodded as the class started to pack up and shuffle out. “Right then, don’t forget to read chapters three and four this weekend!”

Sophie just rolled her eyes at Rafe’s smirk and grabbed her backpack, starting off down the hallway with a satisfied smirk of her own. Sure, he might have gotten the last dig, but she clearly had a stronger argument.

“Sophie!” She didn’t need to glance over her shoulder to know it was Rafe calling out after her. “Flint!” She ignored him again as he jogged to catch up until she felt his large hand grip her arm. “Hey, I’m talking to you.”

She yanked her arm out of his grip but turned around anyways. “Get your hands off - oh.” She mumbled the last word as she saw her phone clutched in his hand.

“Chill out, you just left this behind.” Rafe offered it to her and she took it, giving him a short smile.

“Right. Thanks.”

“Hey, um. You did good, I didn’t know all that stuff.” He tried, offering her a rare compliment.

“It’s well.” She corrected before she could stop herself.

“Huh?”

“Well. I did well, not good.” The second it left her mouth, she regretted it.

Rafe scowled slightly at the correction. “Whatever. See you next class.” He headed off, shaking his head. She stood there for a moment, watching him go and silently cursed herself in her head. Would it be that difficult to accept the compliment?

_________

“You need to get over yourself and just go say hi.” Sophie’s friend and roommate, Julia, interrupted her train of thought as Sophie was completely zoned out later that night, staring across the bar at Rafe. He wasn’t even doing anything remotely interesting, just talking with his friends and drinking the Wednesday special dollar beers, but there was something about the backwards cap - that damn backwards cap - that did it for her.

Sophie shook her head absently, taking a moment until she redirected her gaze. “Huh?”

Her other roommate, Allie, shook her head with a smile at Sophie’s delayed reaction.

“Oh my god.” Julia snapped in front of her face to get her attention. “Look, if you’re not going to make a move, can I?”

“Can you - what? With Rafe? Rafe Cameron? Like, my Rafe?” Sophie stuttered, slightly in shock. “Why?”

“Have you seen him? He’s cute. And he’s always been nice at parties. I need a date for the Theta party this weekend, please?” Julia asked, shooting a glance over at Rafe. He caught her eye but his gaze shifted over to Sophie for a moment as he sent her a nod of acknowledgment and a raise of his glass.

“I - um, fine, yeah, whatever.” Sophie knocked back the rest of her drink as a final statement, not wanting the conversation to last any longer as she flushed just slightly under Rafe’s stare. “I’m getting more, do you guys want something?”

After a chorus of no’s from her friends, she pushed her way up to the bar alone. A few moments later, Rafe sidled up next to her, ordering a drink and leaning against the bar to face her. Sophie tried her best to ignore him, keeping her gaze trained on the glowing neon signs behind the bar.

“Not gonna say hi?” Rafe asked.

It took everything in her for Sophie not to roll her eyes as she turned slightly toward him. “Hi, Cameron. Are you free this Friday?”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Are you asking me out?”

That was enough to warrant an eyeroll. “No.” (She bit back the ‘no, stupid’ that threatened to roll off her tongue.) “My friend Julia doesn’t have a date for the Theta party. Are you down?”

“Oh, shit, yeah.” He turned as their drinks arrived, sliding enough cash across to cover both of them. “The taller one, right?”

Sophie tried to grab his cash back and cover her half before the bartender could take it, but she noticed too late. “Yes, the tall one. Here.” She shoved the $5 bill into Rafe’s hand. He just pushed it back into hers, taking her hand and closing it into a fist around the bill. “Rafe, I don’t want your money,” she tried again.

He grinned. “So you can cover me next time we go out, then. What’s Julia’s number?”

“Right.” She sighed and gestured for his phone. He handed it over easily. “Um, I don’t know it off the top of my head and they have my purse, but. Here’s mine and I’ll pass it on.” She typed her number into his phone quickly, saving her contact then handing it back.

Rafe nodded with an easy grin, hand lingering for a moment as he took back the phone. “Even better. See ya Friday, Soph.” He gently bumped his elbow against hers, hands full, before heading back to his crew. It wasn’t lost on Sophie that she was left standing there, again, without the last word.

taglist: @oopsiedoopsie23 @butgilinsky @taiter-tots

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cosplayingwitch · 3 years

Text

A Study in Dirt and Stars

September 30 Day Writing Challenge

Prompt: cloud/star gazing

Part one of the five part as-yet-unnamed series. (If you think of a name, let me know in the comments!) Each part will take place a good amount of time apart from each other.

Summary Star Wars AU with fem!reader and Poe Dameron as best friends/roommates (more?) and grad students- reader in archaeology, Poe in history/library science. In this part, the two get stuck when Poe’s old truck breaks down and they have to wait for a tow truck.

Triggers none, unless you have an issue with waiting for tow trucks or dirt/dust. Oh, they do swear too.

Tags: @make-me-imagine

Other tags: light angst, two idiots in love, mutual pining, would this count as angst?

The sound of shovels clanging together startled you out of your focus. You’d been reading up on bioarchaological research methods- something so boring most would fall asleep even thinking about it. You, however, find the whole thing fascinating, enough to dedicate your life to it. That sound was the announcement by your students that the day was done. Normally you’d have let them know this, but in that focus you’d lost track of time.

You shout “Nice work today everyone! Same time tomorrow!” even though you didn’t even notice their actual work. Hey, as long as they didn’t fuck anything up enough that it can’t be fixed, no one would ever know.

The university held a field school for archaeology students every year, mostly upper level bachelors students and the occasional early masters students. Given your status as almost graduating from the masters program, you were easily chosen by your favorite professor to GA the class. Which meant, per your professor, you’d be the one in charge for day-to-day goings on. But if you succeeded at this, it’d be a great addition to your work experiences. Very helpful for getting a job in this field.

Which leads you to look around, seeing that your slightly early dismissal was taken advantage of by the students- they left the equipment strewn about the site without regard for how long it would take you to clean up after them. They’d be in for definite trouble in the morning, you’d make sure of it.

You heard the sound of truck tires coming down the dirt lane that was the only access point for your site. You look up to see your friend coming to pick you up. With your car in the shop- all that dust was not good for the engine- he was your only choice if you were to get to and from work.

“Hey there, Indiana. Discover the ark of the covenant yet?” shouted Poe from the driver's seat.

“Not yet. Did you manage to run out of books in the library yet?” you shout back.

It was always like this between you two. You’d been friends since your freshman year when you took intro to anthropology together. For him, it was a gen-ed class; for you, it was the start of your career path. He was a history major, now working on his masters, like you. He had managed to get a job in the university’s library, though he would probably describe it like he had gotten a job at the Smithsonian. But joking between the two of you was more natural than having normal conversations. One year, he decided to get you a hat for your birthday, one that was suspiciously like that worn by the movie archaeologist. From then on, he called you Indiana instead of your name as an inside joke between the two of you.

You wouldn’t ever tell him- but you kind of liked it.

“Can’t leave quite yet, Mr Librarian. The students left this place a mess, and if Professor Solo decides to pop by the site in the morning with it looking like this I’d lose all hope of ever getting a job.”

“So? I can help! As long as these aren’t some kind of state-of-the-art technology shovels.” he teased. You could tell, he just wanted to get home. And even with the both of you working together, this could take a while.

About two hours later, once everything was packed up for the night, Poe went to start the truck so you could get home to your shared apartment (who better to be roommates with than your best friend?). And it wouldn’t start. He tried again, and again. Nothing. I guess even momentary exposure to this dust could mess with an engine, you thought. Or maybe his twenty year old truck had just finally kicked the bucket. You’d teased him about that truck for a while now, always joking about it someday just giving up and leaving him stranded somewhere.

Of course, you’d always imagine yourself as coming to his rescue, not being stranded with him.

“I guess you were right about it up and dying someday.” admitted Poe. “So are we walking or what?”

“It is getting dark, but it will take forever to walk back to the university. We could call a tow truck? Sit around waiting until it gets here?” you suggest. “It gets so beautiful out here. Without as much light pollution, the stars really shine bright.”

Poe was never one to turn down an activity that involved astronomy. That was his ‘secret’ hobby. He told you once that his dream when he was a child was to travel among the stars, but with that not accessible to him, the best he could do was study those who made the advancements in astronomy.

The tow truck would take at least an hour, the lady from the dispatch center told you. It was the bad luck of location and calling on a busy night. You didn’t mind, it was more time to spend with your best friend.

“It’d probably be more comfortable to lay in the back than in the dirt.” suggested Poe. You knew that wasn’t the only reason he suggested it. He also hated getting dirty, so the idea of laying directly in recently disturbed dirt had to be unthinkable to him. (This was another thing you teased him about often.) However, this time he did have a slight point. If anything, it would probably stretch your back out more than the ground could.

With both of you perched on the end of the truck bed, you watched the stars together. Poe pointed out the various constellations. Even though you knew most of them already, you let him continue because you knew how happy it made him. Not much of a sacrifice to keep your best friend/roommate, you thought. You zoned out while he started rattling off facts about famous astronomers. He’d be the one to know all this- astronomy+history would always mean Poe would know about it.

You thought about how nice this was. The two of you laying back, talking, nowhere to be until the morning. You could get used to this.

Every so often, you’d chime in with a fact about the mythology behind the names of the constellation. Poe assumed you knew these from your anthropology classes during your undergrad. Truth was, you’d learned them for him. That way you had something to add to the conversation when he was discussing astronomy, which was frequently.

It was inevitable that the tow truck did eventually show up, and your night of stargazing would end. It never seemed like two hours had gone by with just you and Poe laying there together. And just like that, your evening together was over.

When you eventually get back to your apartment, it’s past midnight and all you want to do is take a shower to get all the dust, dirt, and sweat off of you from that hell of a day you had yesterday. “Maybe I’ll call Professor Solo in the morning, see if he can take over for the day.” You think. After all, shouldn’t he be teaching his own class?

And maybe, if by some miracle your car was ready to be picked up before noon, you could return the favor by driving your boyfriend best friend to work.

You stop yourself in your tracks. God. Did I just think what I thought I did?

Yeah. After a day like that, your brain had to be at least a little scrambled, right?

At least you didn’t say it out loud. Poe would never stop teasing you about that.

When the two of you got home after midnight, Poe was beyond exhausted. Luckily, he wasn’t scheduled to work until after noon tomorrow. Or, with it being after midnight, would that be today?

Whatever. I just need sleep, Poe thought.

But he couldn’t sleep that night. (Morning? Every time Poe thought about that it made his head hurt.) He was too wrapped up in thinking about the night you just spent stargazing together. Just laying there, talking, sharing space facts and constellation myths.

He just couldn’t get past the relationship the two of you had. No pressure, no one constantly asking when they’d get together already. Just two grad students, hanging out and having a good time together.

Maybe, Poe thought, he could even be glad his car broke down while picking up his girlfriend best friend from work.

Wait, Poe though. Not my girlfriend, my best friend. I’m not ruining our friendship because I had one thought about her that way. Besides, he continued, who knows if she’d even like me that way.

Poe did fall asleep a little while after that, but not before sending in a request to his boss for a sick day. There was no way he’d get enough sleep to go to work tomorrow.

Author Note- I appreciate any comments/likes/reblogs if you would! Also, this is my first fan fiction published on Tumblr, so please be nice (and leave constructive criticism if you have any). I’ll probably also post this to Archive of Our Own at some point, but for now it’s only on Tumblr.

I have to say, I do enjoy writing for my two idiots here. Next chapter/part will be published on 9/10, so come back for that if you like this. And if you really like this, message me to be tagged in the next part.

#meras30daywritingchallenge #star wars au #star wars fan fiction #Poe Dameron #fan fiction writing #writing challenge #still new to this #these two are idiots #angst?#i dont know

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chibinekochan · 4 years

Text

Angel in Hell - Part 8

Obey me! Angel Reader Au.

Gen. reader insert.

~2,5k words

Taglist:

@gothjuulpod ; @purgatoryhall ; @sibit360 ; @a-personnamed-ace

_____________________________________

Just in case you had to skip the last part here a summary:

You had a mental breakdown, Simeon brought you home, calmed you down and you slept in his room.

_________________________________________________

After your shower and dressing in your usual clothes, you feel much more like your usual self.

A part of you just wants to forget everything that happened last night. You know you can't.

"How are you feeling now?" Simeon asks in his usual gentle manner.

"I'm still confused but I feel like myself again." You give him a kind smile.

"I'm glad to hear that." Simeon is very relieved.

"So will you now explain what happened to me last night?" You honestly just want to have an explanation and move forward.

Simeon seems to sense your simple desire.

"I know but this is bigger than just what happened to you last night. This isn't just about that, it will change everything that you know about yourself. There is no shame in not wanting the whole truth." Simeon offers you a way out of it.

You can't accept it.

"No, I want to know. Please tell me." You shake your head.

You aren't sure what the story might be but you have to know. Otherwise, it will keep eating you.

"Alright, in this case, we should go to Lucifer. I think it will be best to hear it from someone who has first-hand knowledge. I think he will be able to explain it in the best way possible to you." Simeon seems troubled.

"Why would Lucifer know anything about this?" You are very confused.

"It will all make sense once we arrive. I will be at your side the entire time and no matter what is being said in the room I will be at your side no matter what." Simeon gives you some encouragement.

You are glad that you can count on him.

"I will trust you, Simeon." You feel uneasy but at least you have him to support you.

"That you, that means a lot to me. I just hope that it will stay this way." Simeon casts his gaze to the ground for a moment.

"Are you ready to go?"

You take a deep breath. "Yes, let’s go."

"I would go with you but sadly I can't. Just don’t forget that I'm also here for you." Luke seems sullen but it's important to him to support you.

"That means a lot to me." You give him a light smile.

Simeon nods and you both head over to Lucifer’s room.

It feels like a long-distance away. Your thoughts are all over the place.

Then you are in front of the room.

Simeon knocks. "Lucifer is us. Please open up."

Lucifer opens the door. He looks like he hasn't slept at all.

"Please come inside." Lucifer does his best to sound polite but it's obvious that he has a lot on his mind right now.

You go inside and sit on the couch that Simeon sits next to. Lucifer sits down across from you.

"Do you want tea, coffee, or anything else?" Lucifer doesn't want to talk about it. Yet knows he can't avoid it much longer.

"No, I'm good." You don't feel like wasting time.

Simeon just shakes his head.

"Alright then. I think it's easier if I just tell you the whole story. Is that alright with you?" Lucifer keeps looking at the table in front of him. Like he can't even look at you right now.

"Yeah, that's alright." You aren't sure where this is going but you have a bad feeling.

"What I'm about to say isn't an easy topic and it will change everything that you think you know. We could all just pretend that last night never happened." Lucifer doesn't look you in the eyes. It's hard to read him right now.

"I don't think that I could live like this. Something is going on with me and I need to know the truth." You look at Lucifer with resolve.

You know that there is something that you need to know.

Lucifer nods and takes a long breath. Then his eyes meet yours. It seems to be very difficult for him.

"Alright then. The other day I told you about the person that lived in your room. They meant so much to all of us. They managed the unthinkable and made pacts with me and my brothers. On top of that, I personally was proud to call them a member of my family." Lucifer has a wistful smile on his face. He draws another deep breath, his expression darkens. "They died. It was a horrible tragedy. A moment unwatched and they were dead. It hit all of us very hard. It is still something that is weighing on everyone here." Lucifer shakes his head like he is trying to shake the memory away. Then he looks you deep into your eyes. "They were a good person. One of the best that I have ever met. So after they died their soul got send to heaven. It was, as they say, cleansed. All of their memories were wiped out. They were chosen to become an angel." Lucifer seems to tremble slightly before continuing. "This angel is you."

Your eyes widen, your lips open to say something. You feel frozen and yet somehow everything clicks into place for you.

All of the comments they made, their painful looks, the way they just knew things about you, everything suddenly makes sense.

It's a shock, but deep down you just know it to be true. "I was a human.. and made these pacts. It all makes sense now." You repeat the information you have just gotten. It has yet to fully sink in.

Simeon puts a hand on your shoulder.

Lucifer nods. "I know it must be hard to believe."

You don't doubt his words at all.

"I believe you but why didn't you tell me?" You look at both Simeon and Lucifer.

"That's because heaven ordered everyone to not mention anything to you. The past life of any angel is strictly forbidden from ever being mentioned. You know how much angels care about purity. Even the mere thought of humans being angels is disgusting to some." Simeon chimes in. He seems very troubled.

"Does that mean that both of you will be punished now?" You had an idea about the prejudice of some angels, you were taught the very same thing.

Yet the people you worry the most about are here with you right now.

"Michael can try to punish me. I was against this from the start. Not just for the sake of my brothers but also you." Lucifer doesn't seem to care much.

"Why was I chosen then?" It hurts a little to know that he didn't want you to come, even when you can understand it.

"That was decided over Lucifer’s head. Frankly, he wasn't told who you were until everything was already settled. I was the one that gave them a heads-up." Simeon himself is very unhappy with the whole situation.

"I don't understand this at all. Why did you then accept me coming here despite everything? You could have kicked me out. I would have left if you didn't give me the room." This whole situation doesn't make sense to you.

Lucifer closes his eyes, nodding. "I should have done that but I couldn't. After I saw you…I just couldn't send you away." Lucifer seems to have very complicated feelings. His face seems to hide great pain.

It gives you heartache.

"Is that why Satan destroyed the dorm? He didn't want me here?" You feel so conflicted right now.

"No, he was just angry that he had to lie to you." Lucifer doesn't even hesitate for a second. "As much as it hurt all of us that you can't remember us, what hurt the most was that we had to play pretend. I also think my brothers have done a poor job of keeping the secret from you." Lucifer gets a headache just thinking of their poor attempts of lying to you.

You weakly nod. Remembering all their mistakes, it's amazing that you just glossed over everything so easily.

"I'm very sorry. I must have hurt everyone so much." You know that you aren't to blame but you feel guilty.

"Nobody blames you for any of this mess. I have picked you from the list of possible candidates. You just fit perfectly. So I'm to blame. Just know that despite everything, I'm glad that you are here." Lucifer is ridden with guilt and grief.

His mixed feelings are reflected in your own heart.

"You picked me because of my file?" This surprises you a lot.

"Yes, I must admit that it reminded me of a lot of your old self." Lucifer feels like he should have known better.

"The others did they agree to me being here after knowing about my previous life?" You can't honestly imagine it.

"I cannot say what is in their hearts but overall they agreed. It's probably for the best if you ask them yourself about this." Lucifer himself struggles with his own emotions; he can't even imagine how anyone else might feel.

"You knew them… me before too right Simeon?" You aren't sure how to address this part of yourself yet.

"Yes, we were fellow exchange students and I counted them as a friend as well." Simeon looks guilty. He is deeply troubled about his own emotions.

"Did you take care of me as you did because of that?" You feel very uneasy asking this. It scares you.

"While I recognized you right away I simply took care of you like I would with any other student. It was simply required of me. Our relationship grew naturally from us working together. I honestly regret that I wasn't allowed to tell you the whole story about your previous life. This would've saved you a lot of grief right now. " Simeon looks sympathetic towards you.

You can feel that he genuinely cares about you and it's true that he treated you just like everyone else. Even if you felt like he was ever especially nice to you. Maybe it was subconscious, maybe it's just in your head or maybe there is another reason.

You can't figure it out right now.

"What am I supposed to do now? Go back to heaven? I don't want anyone to suffer because of me." You cast your eyes onto the table.

"You need to stay." Lucifer doesn't move a muscle saying this.

His words surprise you. You look up and meet his eyes. You open your lips, no words leave your mouth. Your mind is blank.

"Don't listen to him. You can do whatever you think is best for yourself. Take your time and decide what you want to do." Simeon makes a low sigh, you almost didn't hear it.

You glance at him and he has a kind expression.

"I'm dead serious. When you were a human I told you that your soul is mine and I intend to keep it that way. There are ways to get your old memories back and I have no intention of letting you go back to a place where I can't reach you." Lucifer's words sound menacing, but they speak of a deep, desperate wish. His pain must be too big to let even a semblance of your past life go.

You can only stare at him in disbelief.

"Lucifer, you can't just force them to do something like that. The person that you knew became someone else. You cannot force them to become whatever you desire them to be. They have their own life, feelings, and memories now." Simeon sternly tries to talk sense into Lucifer.

"I'm not forcing them to do anything other than staying here. If you or they are going to hate me for that then so be it." Lucifer doesn't even blink when he says this. He isn't joking.

"Do you even know what consequences there will be when we have to return to heaven and you keep them here?" Simeon is in disbelief.

"Yes, there might be a war unless they choose to stay and become a demon," Lucifer says this so matter of fact that it makes you shiver.

"Hold on, I don't want a war to happen." You can't stand for something like this.

"There won't be a war as long as you stay here at your own will," Lucifer states this so matter of fact. It seems like he has lost his mind.

"How can you threaten something like this? Lucifer, this is serious! You force them to stay no matter what. How can you be so selfish?" Simeon seems very angry right now. You are glad that he is standing up for you.

"I know you sometimes forget it but I am a demon and I will do whatever I can to obtain what I want." Lucifer's gaze seems to throw daggers at Simeon.

You feel the tense air pushing you far back into your chair.

"Lucifer, I will not let you force anything like this upon them against their free will." Simeon almost slams the table in front of him.

"So, it's alright for you if they agree to stay on their own terms, right?" An ironic smile grazes Lucifer's face.

Simeon narrows his eyes, shaking his head. "Are you even listening to yourself?"

"Well, it doesn't matter much to me why they stay but from my point of view. I still have an entire year to convince them to stay regardless." Lucifer seems confident.

You still have a hard time with all of this. You barely even understand how it came to this point.

"I think we should leave now. We will talk about this later. Come let's go, he is unreasonable right now." Simeon puts his hand on your arm, in a protective manner.

You look at Simeon, you can only nod. You don't even know where to start with this mess.

"You are free to leave Simeon but I will not change my stance and you can take a few days off to clear your mind. I already talked with Diavolo about this." He dismisses Simeon and then addresses you in a kind manner. His 180 response is very strange to you but then again this whole day is strange.

Simeon just shakes his head and stands up. He still seems irritated, you have never seen him like this.

You stand up and shoot a glance at Lucifer, who looks almost wistful at you.

Then you walk out, following Simeon.

Outside of the door, Simeon stops taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry that everything became such a mess. Everything must be a lot right now. You need to take your time and let everything sink in. I will support you no matter what." Simeon had no idea that Lucifer would turn this into an even bigger problem.

"I'm just so lost now." You are barely able to even say this much.

"That's understandable. I will bring you back to my room. You can rest there." Simeon wants to support you.

"Thank you but I want to be alone right now. I just need to collect my thoughts for a while. Can you tell that to the others?" Your head is a big mess.

"Of course. Give me a call or come to me whenever you want alright?" Simeon is back to his gentle self.

This must be difficult for him as well.

You weakly nod.

Simeon brings you to your room. No more words are exchanged between you two.

You take a heavy breath as soon as your door closes behind you.

"I was human before." You whisper these words to yourself.

It's still hard to believe.

What are you going to do now?

These words echo in your head for the rest of the day way into the night.

_____________________________________________________

So here we are at the end of this fic.

Thank you so much for sticking to the end of this ride.

I know it's just getting interesting.

I'm thinking of a season two of some sort but I need a break.

I don't even know who I'm shipping Angel Mc right now with.

I will work on requests again for a while as usual.

#obey me #obey me angel au #obey me fanfiction #angel in hell #swdom

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authorialarcanist · 3 years

Text

Monster Collector (Tales of Symphonia)

Summary: When Lloyd and Colette drag the party off to complete the Monster Book, Raine can't help but wonder about what her students are thinking.

Written for Colloyd Week 2021 Day 2: Sidequest.

Gen, crack.

—

“Lloyd, watch out!”

“Right!” Lloyd leapt out of the way of a hammer blow from a massive bear, forewarned just in time by Colette’s shout. “It’ll take more than that to beat me, you know! Hurricane Thrust!” Air burst out from his sword in every direction as he jabbed back at the bear, sending it stumbling away. “Thanks, Colette! It’s open now!”

“Right!” Colette darted forward, multicolored wings carrying her to her target before it could regain its balance, and plowed headfirst into its fuzzy stomach. Nonplussed by the impact, the monster closed its arms to catch the girl in a painful bear hug, only for Colette to raise one of her chakrams in celebration, leaving a deep gash in its face where it had leaned in. “Yay, I got something! Okay, Lloyd, that’s everything I can get from this one!”

Lloyd pumped his fist, and shouted “You two can finish it off now!”

Raine Sage, half-elf teacher and current world-saving tagalong, raised an eyebrow at her compatriot. Zelos shrugged back.

“I don’t get it any more than you do, but I guess we’re doing this! Get ready!”

“I suppose it’s just as well… Now!” Raine raised her staff above her, and light gathered around Tethe’Alla’s Chosen.

“Plasma Blade!” With a shout, Zelos charged at the bear sword-first. Raine’s magic propelled him easily into and past his target, causing it to collapse to the ground in pain. To add insult to injury, a bolt of lightning struck its prone form a moment later, bringing the battle to an end.

“Annnd… there we go! Colette, what did you get from it?” By the time Raine looked back at her students, Lloyd had already pulled out a red book and a pen, and was examining some sort of herb Colette was holding out to him. “Alright! That’s one more down!”

“That’s great, Lloyd!” Genis, Raine’s younger brother, ran up to Lloyd from where he’d been waiting in the back line. “Only… Does that mean you’re going to tell us what we’re actually doing here, now?”

“Hm?” Lloyd looked up from putting the finishing touches on the book. “What do you mean?”

“I mean here, Lloyd!” Genis splayed his arms wide, and gestured at the mountainous terrain around the group. “You dragged us to this random patch of mountain, and never told us why!”

“Oh! Right! Whoops, I forgot about that!” Lloyd scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Well… Colette, why don’t you tell them?”

“Uh-huh!” Colette stepped forward with a wide smile. “See, when we were in Izoold the other day, I heard a rumor that there’ve been sightings of a reeeaaaally big doggy up in these mountains! Apparently it’s been scaring goatherds and stuff! And there’s only one more entry we haven’t filled up in the Monster List, so I thought maybe it was the one we’re missing!” Lloyd nodded along beside her, and held up the empty page in demonstration.

Raine gave her two students a flat look. “…Lloyd. Is that really why we’re here?”

“Yeah! I mean, it’s really close to done, so we wanted to fill in that last slot!”

Raine sighed. “I’m loath to say this, since you’re apparently invested in your schoolwork for once, but… is this really the time? Aren’t there more important things we should be doing right now?”

“Eh. Kratos can wait!” Lloyd waved his left hand dismissively. “I mean, he’s like a thousand years old or something, right? A couple days should be like a minute to him! We can go and break Origin’s Seal once we’ve finished up with this!”

Suddenly, everybody jumped at a loud crashing sound. They turned to the source, to see Presea standing over a felled tree. The trunk was now bridging a gap that led to the path further up the mountain. “…Getting the Eternal Sword, and reuniting the worlds. Is less urgent than filling an empty page…?”

“I mean, yeah!” Lloyd nodded without a trace of irony. “Who knows what this place’ll look like once we’ve reunited the worlds, right?”

“Uh-huh!” Colette quickly backed him up. “And anyways, once we go to meet Kratos, we’ll have to deal with—mmmph!” Lloyd quickly covered her mouth. The two shared a meaningful look before he let go. “…Um, whoops! Ignore that, hehe!”

“Alright, what are you two hiding from us? Annnd… yoink!” Taking advantage of the brief distraction, Zelos leaned over and snatched the Monster List out of Lloyd’s free hand.

“Wh- hey! Give that back!” Lloyd dove at Zelos, trying to grapple for the purloined book, but his face met the ground instead as the Chosen leapt out of the way.

“Let’s see, here… No. 234, Meredy… No. 235, Abyssion, man that guy was an asshole… No. 236, Z—“ Zelos cut off with a choking sound, all the blood draining from his face.

“Hmm? What is it, Zelos?” Raine walked to Zelos, intending to check the list herself.

“…Hey, Lloyd? Hunny? Bud?”

Lloyd gulped. “Y…yeah?”

“Why do Ihave an entry in the Monster List?”

“Ehe…heh…”

Raine leaned over Zelos’ shoulder. Sure enough, there it was: a little, surprisingly well-drawn, sketch of Zelos facing the reader with orange wings spread behind him. Located at the Final Seal… Strong against lightning and light elements… Drops… “Zelos, were you hiding a Mystic Symbol from us?”

“What? No!” Zelos dropped the book in a panic. “I haven’t got anything like that, promise!”

“Hrm. Nevertheless, this is certainly odd. Lloyd…” Raine wheeled on her student, the righteous fury of a scorned teacher at her fingertips ready to be called. “Have you been writing fake entries to fill space…?”

“Wait! Hold on, Professor!” Colette stepped in front of Raine, shielding Lloyd from her wrath. “Lloyd hasn’t been cheating, I promise! It’s just… a reeeally long story, okay?”

Raine held Colette’s gaze for several long moments, but the girl didn’t seem to just be covering for Lloyd. Raine sighed. “Fine. But we’d better get an explanation once this is over, alright?”

“Ehehe…” Colette wilted and gave a sheepish smile. “A-anyways, let’s just keep going. We still need to find that doggy, right Lloyd?”

“R-right!” Lloyd, climbed back to his feet, and grabbed the Monster List from where it lay. “Come on, everybody! I’m pretty sure we’re almost there!”

Raine watched with a pensive expression as he clambered over the felled tree. Her students had changed a lot over the course of their journey, but… she wondered if they’d changed faster than she’d realized.

———

The group was resting at the peak of the mountain. After much searching, they’d at last found their errant beast; now, they were just waiting for Genis to prepare a meal to restore their energy.

Raine watched as Lloyd and Colette dance around, twirling each other by both hands and singing “Hun-dred per-cent! Hun-dred per-cent!”

Regal sat down next to her. “They certainly seem to be enjoying themselves.”

“Yes.” Raine nodded absent-mindedly. “For all that they’ve grown, I suppose they arestill children.”

“Hm.” The two sat and watched in silence for a moment before Regal spoke again. “You’re still thinking about what happened earlier, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Raine replied. “Did you notice? Those two are incredibly in sync when they fight, like they’ve been fighting together for years instead of months. And… Every so often, I’ve noticed them looking at each other and giggling, like there’s some secret that only they are privy to.”

“…” Regal raised his eyebrow. “…Are you certain they’re not just—“

“I thought that at first, too! But now, I’m not so certain. I just… I’m their teacher. It’s my job to notice and step in if they’ve gotten involved in something strange.”

“It’s a good impulse, Raine.” Regal awkwardly shifted his handcuffs so he could pat her on the shoulder. “But… those two have proven themselves time and again, right? That’s why we’re following them.” He met Raine’s eyes, a serious expression on his face. “As adults, it’s our shared responsibility to be there for them, yes. But it’s also our responsibility to recognize when they’re starting to spread their wings and fly without our help. It’s our responsibility to trust them, and give them space, when that time comes. Whatever those two know, I don’t believe they would ever use it for ill.”

“Perhaps you’re right.” Raine watched as the two in question grabbed Sheena and pulled her merrily into their dance. Whatever was going on there, they clearly still cared about all of their friends being happy. Maybe it was time to sit back, and simply have faith in them.

…Lloyd’s face, grinning sheepishly every time he’d gotten wrapped up in some prank or work-avoiding scheme gone awry, flashed in front of her eyes.

Alas. It seemed that the habits of a teacher would not so easily fade. “…And if they areusing the power of the Eternal Sword to transcend time and space in order to turn their homework in on time?”

Regal coughed. “Then that sounds like it would be a disciplinary question for their instructor to deal with. Mirage!”

Raine’s jaw dropped as Regal’s form rapidly vanished into the distance. What happened to their shared responsibility as adults? “Regal Bryant, you get back here this instant!”

#tales of symphonia #colloydweek2021 #lloyd irving #colette brunel #raine sage

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smilingperformer · 3 years

Text

Animevibe Pokémon Shield Run log, part 2

So, Day 2, and my second partner: getto daze! And I checked I won't be able to catch my third one til at least first gym is done so... this will be fun! |D

But also gotta mention how replaying SwSh games gives me such a good reminder of how beautiful this game is, and what a good OST. Ah, man.

I feel like I appreciated Marnie's introduction here a bit more this time around... also, she smiled. :D

Oh, and my chosen number revealed! (Try to figure out what it references to, it's quite simple)

Plus, dude, wtf, you don't just quit your job for watching TV!!

And so my journey to Milo's gym started... how did it go? Well... badly.

While I did do quite well against Bede with my Golett overpowering his team easily, against Milo I am... real darn weak. Ground/Ghost + Water type against Grass types? Bad. Very bad. And my next capture option is after Grass Gym Badge has been gotten.

But I won't give up! I have found out that I am actually a bit underleveled, so I must figure out a counter-attack against Milo's Gym. I have checked that Golett can learn ice type moves, one of them through TR, so I'm gonna figure out if I can do some max raid battles to obtain some.

So yeh. Current situation: Grass Gym 1, Me 0. I'll get you Milo.

(Cue the training arc that happens after gym defeat in Pokeani~)

The rules of the run:

1. The player can only have 6 Pokémon in total for the whole run, with the possibility of using an egg ‘mon if one of the determined 6 is a late capture. In SwSh, that would be Toxel.

2. The team used in this run was randomized through generator, using the criteria of the team needing to have a chosen starter line. For this run, I’ve chosen Sobble.

3. The randomizer determines which of the 6 Pokémon on your team evolve and which do not. Same applies for starter.

4. No grinding allowed. Must battle trainers, but must avoid avoidable battles

5. Can only enter gym matches with the amount of Pokémon that the Gym Leader one’s battling against has on their hand. Ie. Milo has two, I must only bring two.

6. Cannot use potions, instead must heal through Pokémon Camp or Pokémon Center, or berries. Anime never shows Ash and co. using potions during battles.

Below are extra rules to spice things up that I haven’t applied for this run due to knowing I ain’t capable for them with my team:

Apply Nuzlocke rules of Pokémon fainting meaning it’s gone for good.

Add regional bird as one of the 6 Pokémon for the whole run.

Make every single member on your team be Gen 8 Pokémon. I haven’t done so for this run, thou most are gen 8 anywho.

Must become a Champion without losing a single match in the tournament. If one loses, they can still finish it, but the run would be considered officially finished theme wise if one loses at any point during the league.

#aleira plays swsh #animevibe run #pokemon #pokegames #pokemon swsh #discussions #hehee I'm enjoying this run so much btw #there's so much CHALLENGE going on with my randomized team

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huilian · 3 years

Link

Summary: Five times the ruby earrings changed hands, featuring: the Queen Thief thieving, Gen wrecking havoc with his siblings, a raging at the gods™ episode, an obligatory palace sneaking scene, and finally, Gen’s kids wrecking havoc (with Gen).

The woman her father was courting was wearing ruby earrings, and she hated it. She always knew which items her father had stolen, even if she sometimes didn’t understand why, and these earrings bear the mark of her father’s hands.

This time, however, she could guess the reason her father had gifted that earring to this woman. In the year since her mother had died, her father had courted three different women. To give his children a mother, he had said, but she knew better.

None of the Thief’s current children were named after him and his god. None of the Thief’s current children fated to become the next Thief of Eddis.

Not even her.

She knew she had the god’s favour. Cleverness and skill she had in spades, more than any of her siblings, and when she jumped from roof to roof, she could feel the god’s hands guiding her. But she was not named after him, and so she would not be the next Thief.

She used to hate it, as a child. She would steal as many things as she dared, and she would place every single one of them on Eugenides’s altar, praying that the god would choose her to be the next Thief, if she showed him her skill and persistence. She gained a reputation that way, of being a thief as prolific, if not yet as formidable, as her father.

Her name still remained Vassilissa. The Thief of Eddis was chosen by the gods, and no one could change their decision.

She had learned to accept it, even if sometimes, when she placed her offerings on Eugenides’s altar, she wanted to scream and rage at the god. It’s not unheard of that the blessing from the God of Thieves skipped a generation.

She knew. She had checked every single record.

But her father would not stop trying. Since her birth, her mother had had two still-births, several miscarriages, and then finally, last year, had lost her life on the birthing bed, delivering yet another still-birth. Before the pyre had even cooled, her father had searched for a new wife.

Vassi had driven off the first two women easily. They were a regular at the court of Eddis, and when they realized that their belongings had disappeared and reappeared on the altar of Eugenides, they knew what it meant.

This one, however, was not a regular at the court, and no matter how many of her jewelry went missing, she did not catch the hint. She had stayed long enough for her father to give her the ruby earrings, and that brought Vassi back to this situation.

She had to steal it. The earrings. But no doubt her father had known about her part in driving off the last woman he had courted--He thought it was simple jealousy. For all the bragged about his mind being his best asset, sometimes her father could be exceedingly foolish--, and would do everything in his power to keep her from driving this one too.

Vassi didn’t mind. She loved the challenge.

In the end, it wasn’t even that hard. Whenever the earrings weren’t being worn, it would be under the guard of her father. The simple solution, then, was to steal them when they were being worn. A shy smile to the woman her father courted, a framing of her request to speak alone as a child who would like to know her future step-mother better, and a span of twenty seconds were all she needed. She showed up to the next court session with the ruby earrings on her own ears, carrying herself with all the grace of a queen.

They called her Queen Thief, then. A thief as formidable as her own father.

Her father courted no more women after that.

***

Temenus ran with all the speed he had in his body, cursing his siblings all the way, from Xenia to Euphemia to Iris and Penelope, to Alexis and all the way to Stenides.

Xenia had stolen their mother’s ruby earrings last week. Why, Temenus didn’t know, but that started the chaos. Mother had stolen the earrings back, of course, but chaos, like the waters of the Arachtus, cannot be stopped when it has started its journey.

Like clockwork, the day after Mother had gotten them back, Euphemia stole them from her. And then Iris had taken them from Euphemia. Which was then followed by Penelope stealing them from Iris. By that time, it had become the nightly entertainment for the court, to see which one of the women from the Minister of War’s family would show up wearing the ruby earrings.

And then Mother had stolen them back, again, and Stenides, sweet, sweet Stenides, had decided that it’s not fair that only the women could play, and told Temenus his intent to steal the earrings himself. Before Temenus could tell him what a horrible idea that was, his brother had dared him to steal the earrings too.

He had to accept. He should have known that it was futile to resist the call of chaos, especially when his mother was at the very center of it.

He cursed again, this time focusing the worst of it on Stenides. Why had his brother dared him to do it? And whose idea was it to measure a man’s courage by the insane bets he took?

The ruby earrings, rattling together in his pocket as Temenus ran, weighed down his leg with every step he took. The image of his mother, grinning delightedly as she caught him taking her earrings, weighed down the other one.

She had come into the room as he had closed the jewelry box. He expected her to take the earrings back immediately, but instead, she had smiled and lifted up her hand, all five fingers splayed out. Temenus had felt his body relax at the sight, but then, she bent one finger, leaving only four splayed out.

Temenus knew exactly what that meant. He pocketed the earrings and ran as fast as he could, leaving the false key he had used to open the jewelry box in the first place.

“Why are you running?”

The voice caused Temenus to jump. He looked around, searching for the source of the voice, but found no one. Then, his mind connected the voice to a face, and he looked up.

“Because I have Mother’s earrings in my pockets,” he told his youngest brother.

Eugenides gave him a shrug. “Then why run? She’d find you anyway.”

That was true, but Temenus was not going to say that.

“Are you going to help me or not?”

“Why should I?”

“Because I’m your brother, that’s why.”

“So should I go help Stenides?” Gen asked, voice full of the same mischief that decorated their mother’s face when she saw Temenus holding her earrings. Truly, Gen was their mother’s child, more than anyone else, though Xenia certainly tried.

“If you don’t want to help me, then don’t,” Temenus spitted out. He has no time to argue with his youngest brother. Either Gen would help him or not, nothing he said would sway the boy from his decision. Temenus took one more deep breath, preparing himself to run again. Gen was right, he wouldn’t be able to run from Mother forever, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t try.

Before he could run, however, Gen dropped down from the tree he was sitting on and smiled up at him. “I’ll help,” he said, the picture of innocence.

Temenus knew better than to trust the innocent face, but he had no choice. He took Gen’s hand and let his brother lead him through the courtyard and to the hidden passageways of the palace of Eddis.

When they were already so deep into the passageways that Temenus had no idea where they were, he turned around and saw that Eugenides was gone. Cursing, he put his hand into his pockets.

They were empty.

***

Eugenides looked up to the altar of his namesake, and clenched the ruby earrings tighter in his hands. He had stolen the earrings from his mother’s jewelry box just three days earlier, intending to present them to her with a smile and a glib comment about losing her touch.

She didn’t lose her touch, but she did lose her step, and the earrings stayed in his pocket throughout the funeral ritual and pyre.

The altar of Eugenides sparkled with the offerings from generations of Thieves. Near the front, Gen could see the fibula pins that were his grandfather’s offering, and scattered between them, the earrings that were his mother’s.

The ruby earrings burned in his hand.

A thief would only fall if her god drops her. So either Eugenides had dropped his mother, or…

“Or you don’t exist,” Gen said to the silent altar. He knew the sentence is heresy, especially said inside Hephestia’s temple, in front of her half-brother’s altar. But the other option was that Eugenides had dropped her. Eugenides had dropped his mother.

Gen clenched down even tighter on the ruby earrings, their points leaving indentations into his palm. Then, with a last look on the altar, he pocketed the earrings and turned around.

His grandfather’s words rang in his ears. Send a prayer as you start your work, send a prayer after you finish it, and leave a gift once a month on the altar of Eugenides. Gen had placed a gift on the altar this month, and he would do so again next month. The gods did not exist, or even if they did, they do not have any interest in lowly mortals such as themselves. But it would not do to abandon the tradition. He would leave a gift on the altar of Eugenides next month, just not these earrings.

Let the god of thieves have other earrings as gifts. This one, Gen would keep for himself.

***

With one hand outstretched, Gen carefully moved the velvet case containing the headband of the Queen of Attolia. She was beautiful, as she always was whenever Gen climbed into her chambers to look at her. Her face was expressionless, as it also always was, but in sleep, the lack of expression gave her a peaceful look, instead of the uncaring mask she wore whenever she wakes.

She suited the ruby inlaid in her headband marvelously. She would suit the earrings marvellously as well.

He had had the earrings remodelled, the design on the gold surrounding the ruby made to match the design on her headband. No one had asked what became of his mother’s ruby earrings after she died, and when he brought it to the goldsmith to be remodelled, the goldsmith did not recognize the earrings.

That was just as well.

The points on the earrings still left indentations on his hand. Gently, he opened his fist and placed the earrings, positioning them so that they are exactly next to the case.

Moonlight entered the windows of the queen’s chambers, dousing her features and softening them, making her look less like the stone statues of Hephestia and more like the girl who had danced under the orange trees, years and years ago. Eugenides wished that he could make her look like this all the time, and not just when she’s sleeping.

He stepped closer to the bed, drinking in the sight of her. A voice inside him urged him to reach out, to tangle his hand on her hair, but the more sensible voice inside him, one trained by years and years of practicing his trade, told him that to do so would be the most foolish thing he had ever done in a life full of doing foolish things.

He did not reach out. He stayed where he was, looking to the Queen of Attolia, watching as she drew in breath after breath. When the moonlight had dimmed, signalling that dawn was fast approaching, he nudged the earrings one last time, arranging them so that they looked as pleasing next to the case as he could, and climbed out of the queen’s chambers.

It would be foolish to think that the queen would wear his earrings, but then again, he made a living out of doing foolish things.

***

“My King,” Attolia said, not moving from where she was seated as her attendants did her hair. By now her attendants knew well enough the antics of her husband, and did not think if out of the ordinary that the queen was speaking to what seemed to be empty air. “Do you know where my ruby earrings are?”

Materializing out of nowhere, Attolis replied, “I thought they’re in your jewelry box?”

“They were,” his wife answered. “They are not anymore.”

Waving the attendants out of his way, Attolis made his way to the queen and placed the last of the pins in her hair. He took one look at the box, which was currently laid out on the queen’s dressing table for her to choose which jewels she would like to wear today. The ruby earrings were not the grandest of the jewelry inside the box, but they were very conspicuous in their absence.

“Oh,” the king breathed out. “She does grow bold.”

“Your Highness,” Costis called out to the seemingly empty tree in the courtyard of the palace of Attolia. “Please come down.”

No response.

“Your Highness,” he tried again.

This time, a small face appeared from between the leaves. “Shh, Costis!” the princess of Attolia said. “You’re going to get us caught!”

“Your Highness,” Costis said again, flashing back to all the times he had done this for the king. “I’m sure there is no one who would want to catch you.”

Just as he said that, however, another small figure appeared out of nowhere. “Nia!” the prince of Attolia cried out as he ran towards his sister. How he managed to evade the squad of guards assigned to guard him, Costis would never know. The same way his sister escaped hers, he supposed. “You have it!”

“No, I don’t!”

“Yes, you do!”

“No, I don’t!”

“Yes, you do! Why else are you in a tree?”

The princess changed her tactics immediately, the same way Costis had once seen Attolis do. “So what if I do?”

“You said we would get them together!” Hector protested.

“You’re too slow!” his sister retorted back.

“I’m not! You just keep leaving me!”

“If you can’t keep up, then you’re too slow, Hector,” Attolis said from somewhere behind Costis. Costis did not relax though. Not yet. It was always a toss on whether Attolis would curb his children’s behaviour or give them pointers on how to escape their flustered guards and caretakers running behind them.

Well, not really. Mostly the king would give pointers.

“And you don’t leave anyone behind, Eugenia,” the king continued, walking past Costis to the base of the tree. “A good companion is rare for a thief. You must take care of them.” He tilted his head up, and Eugenia, without even looking, jumped down to her father’s waiting arms.

“He’s too slow,” the princess said again. Hector, who had placed himself next to his father, complained. Loudly.

The king let out a snort of amusement. Ignoring the complaints from his son, he extended his hand towards the princess raised an eyebrow.

Scowling, the princess reached into her pockets and took out a pair of ruby earrings. Costis felt his eyes grow wide. Those are the queen’s ruby earrings, the pair that she wore more than any other earrings. There were many rumours surrounding that pair of earrings, and Costis was privileged enough to know that some of them did have a basis in truth.

Costis expected the king to pocket the earrings himself, but, as always, Attolis’s actions could not be predicted. He pulled the princess close and put the earrings on her ears, navigating them easily even with one hand.

Costis would never tire of watching his king doing things that never should have been possible with one hand.

After the earrings were in place, Eugenides brushed a hair out of her daughter’s face and pressed a kiss on her forehead. Then, after a shriek of protest, smiled and did the same for his son. The children then talk over each other, both of them eager to tell their father about the adventures they had today.

From his place behind his king and the princess and prince, Costis stood watch.

#queen's thief #eugenides #attolia irene #the forbidden sisters #(this is going to be a tag)#temenus #queen thief #costis ormentiedes #eugenia #hector #lian writes #rott #rott spoilers #return of the thief spoilers

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epochofbelief · 4 years

Text

Breath Control, Chapter Thirteen

An A Court of Mist and Fury College Swim Team AU

All characters belong to SJ Maas!

Feysand and Elriel

Warnings: Mentions of terminal cancer, alcohol use

Author’s Note: I DID NOT THINK THIS WOULD HAPPEN TODAY BUT I DID IT. IT WAS WRITTEN IN A FRENZY.

MASTERLIST LINK

Please enjoy:)

THIRTEEN

~~~Feyre~~~

In order to keep things as comfortable as possible, Mor helped me move on the last day of Christmas training before I went home. Rhys had left a day earlier to visit his father in London. Student-athletes who were recruited from outside the country got a few extra days over Christmas break in order to travel the long distance home. The rest of us were forced to wait the full extra six days before we could go home, training for about five hours a day and sleeping the other nineteen.

Exhausted after an early Christmas training practice on the Tuesday before Christmas, we managed to move me out of my place and into hers in under four hours. A remarkable feat. I hugged Mor goodbye outside the house.

“It’s going to be weird living with Rhys. Is this stupid?”

Mor pulled away. “I’d prefer you here with my cousin and me than with those two assholes. You have a whole floor to yourself! Rhys and I on the top, you’re two whole floors away from him. But don’t think for a second that I won’t be traveling to ground level to visit you, like, all the time.”

I smiled. “Thanks Mor. For everything.” I meant for more than just letting me move in. Being my friend, looking out for me, being supportive even with all the drama between Rhys and me.

Her nod told me she understood.

She pulled me in for one last hug and then flounced into her car without a glance backward. I’d really lucked out with Mor.

As Mor pulled away, I shifted to face the house. My new house. Two new roommates, one of them my ex. If I wasn’t before, now I had to be verifiably out of my mind.

I shrugged even though there was no one around. Fuck it. Better than Tamlin, right?

Three and a half hours later, I had run out of music and podcasts to listen to. I couldn’t forget that the last time I’d driven home, he’d been with me. How had my love life gotten so screwed up? While my swimming had improved, and my major change was forthcoming, the romance area of my life was still an utter disaster.

Unfortunately, one of the classic rock songs Rhys had selected on our past drive chose that moment to click on. As the lyrics filled the car, instead of turning the volume down, I blasted it as loud as it could go. Rolled my windows down. And let myself wallow the rest of the way home.

It was already seven o’clock by the time I made it to my place. I burst through the front door, weighed down by my suitcase, bags of gifts, and swim bag (I’d be training with my old team while home for the break).

“Feyre!” Elain’s voice floated to me from the living area to my left. I dumped all my things right inside the door to hug her. What with finals and my Christmas training, I hadn’t seen her in a few weeks. While she hugged me, I glanced over my shoulder and had to force my mouth to remain shut.

Damn. I’d forgotten Azriel was coming for Christmas. I loved Azriel, and I was so glad Elain had him (I repeated to myself for the thousandth time) but he was just another painful reminder that I was alone, and that both of my past boyfriends had chosen other, hotter, crazier girls over me.

But I smiled and hugged Azriel tightly. Then Nesta, a little less tightly. And finally my father. Dad and I had spoken on the phone a couple of times since Thanksgiving. I think hearing about how upset I was over Rhys (I was sure Elain had told him a few things) made him worried over me, and he’d made a big effort to call this past month. I was genuinely happy to see him.

“We just finished eating half an hour ago. We made a plate for you. It’s in the microwave.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“I’ll come with you,” Elain said, leaving Azriel behind.

As I sat at the table eating my dinner, Elain chattered away about how glad she was that Azriel was here, about how her finals had all gone really well, about how she was already looking forward to next semester, about how Dad and Azriel got along really well. I’d never heard her speak so much about herself in one go. It brought me so much joy for her that I thought I’d burst. I’d worried she wouldn’t find someone else, wouldn’t find purpose in her passion for nursing, for a much longer time after what Greyson did to her.

Finally, she paused to draw breath. “I’m so sorry, I’ve been talking all about me for the past twenty minutes. How are you?” She probably didn’t notice, but her voice grew hushed when she asked how I was. Was this how Elain had felt after her breakup with Greyson? Everyone walking on eggshells around her, making sure they didn’t say anything to remind her too painfully of her ex?

I waved my hand, standing up to rinse my plate and place it in the dishwasher. “Oh, I’m fine. Four-point-oh again, and I just finished all my Gen Eds. Next semester I’ll start taking classes for whatever new major I choose.”

Elain frowned. “Okay, but you know I wasn’t asking about how school is going--even though I’m really proud of you for your grades and for having the courage to change your major. How was the move? Did you have to see him?”

I shook my head. “Move was fine. Mor was great. Haven’t spoken to Rhys since I ran into him at the Astrid Oaks leasing office.” I’d texted Elain the night that had occurred, including every detail of our encounter. Like Mor, Elain insisted there was an explanation for Rhys’s behavior. I maintained that I wouldn’t be the one begging to hear that explanation, if it even existed.

“Okay. You don’t want to talk about it. That’s fine. You know I just want you to be happy, though, right? Do whatever’s best for you?”

I nodded. “I know. Thanks Elain. And I expect to hear more about you and Azriel later.”

The grin that split her face was so bright it was blinding. “Later. Right now, I think everyone’s waiting for us to watch Star Wars or something with them.”

------

At eleven o’clock that night, I sat next to my window at the top of the house, watching the snow fall. It was the first snow of the year, just in time for Christmas. I’d been worried it wouldn’t snow at all this year.

It had been a nice rest of the evening with my family. We’d watched two Star Wars movies, pigging out on junk food the whole time. I’d had to almost crawl my way up all the staircases to my room when the end credits of our second movie had rolled. I’d merely shot Elain a suspicious look as she escorted Azriel very loudly into his separate bedroom. It was so painfully obvious, I was almost sure my father knew and was just letting us girls go to unnecessary great lengths to fruitlessly keep him out of the loop.

My phone buzzed. A text from Mor.

Mor: Feyre?

Me: Mor?

Mor: Do you trust me?

Me: Uh… yeah?

Mor: I need you to have an open mind for the next thirty minutes.

Me: Okay. Why?

Mor: Look out your window. Love ya

It took me a second to process Mor’s text, realize that she really did want me to look out the window I was sitting next to, and then slowly turn my head to gaze into the black, snowy night outside.

Only I couldn’t see the black, snowy night anymore.

What I did see had me scrambling backwards, falling off the window seat and backing up five feet before I realized that the man crouched outside the window was Rhys.

I stood slowly as he jerked his head at the window latch, one of his eyebrows cocked in question. Shaking my head, I inched forward and eased the window open.

“We’re three stories up!” I hissed as Rhys stumbled onto the blue cushion of the window seat, tracking in snow as he did so. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

Rhys turned to close the window, then locked his gaze with mine. “I am out of my fucking mind, Feyre. Out of my mind for going this long without explaining why everything happened. Out of my mind for going this long without telling you I’m in love with you.”

Each of his words hit me like a blow. My first instinct was to speak. . . Say something, anything. But I held back. This was his rodeo. He was the one who needed to do the explaining.

He looked at me as though expecting me to speak.

I placed my hands on my hips, widening my stance as I stared back at him.

He took a deep breath and plunged on. “I’m out of my mind for not doing everything I could to be able to tell you why I couldn’t tell you why what happened even happened!”

“What?” I said.

He slumped onto the cushion. “Yeah, you’re right that didn’t make any fucking sense. Let me start at the beginning.”

“Okay.”

His head jerked up again, as though surprised I was acquiescing so easily. But I was nothing if not true to what I’d been telling myself for the past month. I wasn’t gonna come crawling. He could do that. And he had.

I led him over to the fireplace, tossing him a blanket so he could warm up. Settling myself into one of my plush armchairs, I waited.

“So, uh, the beginning. Right. Guess I’ll take the plunge.”

And he did.

“I liked you as soon as I met you on that recruiting trip two years ago. You were so confident, sure of yourself, even if you didn’t think you were. You had fun at that party the upperclassmen decided to take the recruits to without falling prey to a bunch of older, ‘cooler’, students. I just… Tamlin himself wanted to hook up with you at that party. And hooking up with recruits is obviously a big no-no. And you stared him down in front of everyone at that party and told him to hit the road.

“I’d just gotten out of a shitty relationship with… Amarantha… and had lost my sister,” his voice faltered for a moment and I had to restrain myself from reaching for him, “only a few months prior. Seeing how good you were, how strong, in an incredibly daunting situation. . . It blew my mind. My favorite girl in the world had just died, and my least favorite girl in the world was the only one I’d ever really dated. I’d lost all hope and there you were, right in front of me.

“You didn’t glance at me twice the whole night, but during the few conversations we had I knew you were intelligent, and well-rounded, and not an empty-headed athlete that some are.

“And so I spent the whole year forgetting about you. I didn’t date anyone my freshman year. Not because I was obsessive or anything--I’m not a creep, I swear--but because I had never met someone like you before. Someone so sure of their values. I couldn’t compare you to anyone… Amarantha especially. I couldn’t get the idea of you, a seventeen-year-old girl having the guts to party with a bunch of college kids and not bow down to peer pressure. You know I disapprove of a lot of the shit that goes on with the team during the season--especially all the sleeping around and not worrying about who it could hurt. I’m just not built to do things like that.

“And when you arrived a year later, you jumped straight into that relationship with Tamlin. I was so thrown off. I couldn’t understand why you could be with someone like that. I do now,” he added quickly, seeing my expression. “But I was nineteen! I was dumb--couldn’t figure it out. I know he was what you needed at the time.

“Anyways. Moving past that.

“It was when I saw you train from across the pool, never backing down, putting up with Tamlin and Ianthe’s shit, day after day… It was then that I started to love you.”

I couldn’t prevent the sharp intake of breath I took when he said that.

And when I realized I wanted to repeat those same words back to him. To Rhys, who’d loved me for so long without ever pushing himself on me, without trying to force me into anything I wasn’t ready for, who’d encouraged me through one of the darkest times of my life.

“And ever since the beginning of this year, when something shifted between you and your friends, I’ve been worried sick about you. Finally worked up the courage to talk to you at the Halloween party, offer to drive you home, get you the hell away from the cheating bastard.

“And then Amarantha happened.” His hands twisted in his lap. He was staring straight into the fire now.

“I’ve never told anyone this… At least, I hadn’t told anyone else this until about two hours ago. Remember how I said everyone thought I dated Amarantha to get through my sister’s cancer?” He glanced at me.

I nodded.

“I dated her because… because she knew something, and insisted I stay with her if I didn’t want anyone to find out.”

I glanced up sharply.

“I went on one date with Amarantha before I knew we weren’t compatible. One date. After that date, I was ready to tell her I wasn’t interested, kind of let it work itself out into nothing, you know?

“And then. . .” He trailed off.

“Rhys?”

“Right before I drove here, I told Mor everything I am about to tell you right now. I want you to know she gave me full consent to say all of this to you.”

Ah, so this explained her texts. I nodded. “Okay.”

“Mor’s gay, Feyre.”

I blinked.

“She’s not out, isn’t ready. She didn’t even know I knew until two hours ago. But back in high school, right before Amarantha and I started going out, Amarantha spied Mor making out with another girl in a car, at a mall twenty miles outside of town. Amarantha told me as much after I told her I didn’t things would work out between us.

“And I knew that if Mor hadn’t told me, she didn’t want anyone to know. No one at school knew. Her family didn’t know. ”

My vision blurred. I blinked rapidly.

“So when Amarantha insinuated that she’d spill Mor’s secret if I broke things off with her, I realized I had no choice.”

And now I could see that he was crying, too. His hands twisting faster and faster in his lap. He hadn’t looked at me for at least the past five minutes.

“I couldn’t let that happen to Mor. Mor, who was so happy, all the time, always lifting people up. The girl everyone thought was the height of confidence. That girl didn’t feel comfortable enough to share something that was such a big part of her identity. And that’s always her choice, of course, and I would never want her to come out before she was ready. And that’s why I stayed with Amarantha.

“I won’t go into detail about everything that happened,” he swiped at the smattering of tears he’d let fall. “Amarantha broke up with me the day after my sister died. And for some reason that didn’t even feel like a weight off my chest. It was supposed to, but coupled with burying my sister a few days after that… I’d never felt so alone. And Amarantha loved that by leaving me at the worst point in my life, she’d be ensuring the fact that I would feel so alone.”

“So when I arrived home at Thanksgiving, with you, both of us happy to be together, and Amarantha saw it. . . Her personality could not allow her to just let me be happy, let me be with another girl. So while we were at the club--she was sober, by the way, and I was definitely not, if that counts for anything--she brought it all back up. Told me she’d walk in there and tell all Mor’s friends the truth if I didn’t give it one more go with her.”

A few more tears slid down his face and I knelt on the carpet in front of him, placing one hand on his knee.

“And it’s not an excuse Feyre. But I had no idea what to do. I would never, ever cheat on you for my own sick kind of pleasure or something. And what I did was wrong. I was too intoxicated to think clearly, to find some sort of other solution. I didn’t want to ambush Mor and tell her I knew the truth. I didn’t think it would be fair. And apparently that was stupid of me, too, because when I told her tonight she bawled her eyes out and told me she would’ve come out to the whole high school over the intercom if she’d known what Amarantha was doing to me. So I’m just an idiot, but I’m an idiot who loves you, and if there’s anything I can do to convince you to believe me, to, gods forbid, to forgive me--”

Restraint was impossible now, and I flung myself at him, straddling his hips with my legs. And he went still as death as I kissed every one of his tears away.

When I finished doing that, I pressed a kiss to his forehead, my hands resting on his shoulders. His thumbs lightly, so lightly, slid just underneath my shirt to rest on the skin above the waistband of my pajama shorts. “I love you too, you idiot,” I whispered.

My words unleashed him. His touch went from light to firm, his hands gripping my waist and pulling me as close to him as possible. His mouth found mine and our tears mingled as his tongue swept across mine.

“You really--” He broke off as I covered his mouth with mine again, unwilling to be separated from him for a moment longer. He pulled back. “You believe me?”

I brought my hands up to cup his cheeks, slide them down his shoulders to his chest. “Of course I do.”

He stood up swiftly then, his mouth locking against mine, his hands gripping my ass. I could feel him hard against me as he strode for the bed, laying me softly on top of it. He stood there for a second, looking at me. Smiling.

“Let’s not waste time,” I hissed, grabbing the neck of his t-shirt and pulling him down on top of me.

And later, when he paused to ask me, “Are you sure?” as he hovered above me, both sets of our clothing in piles on the floor around the bed, I nodded. “Yes,” I breathed. “I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.”

--------------------

TAGS

@queen-of-glass @aknymph @sleeping-and-books @fabfire

#a court of thorns and roses #a court of mist and fury #acotar #acomaf #a court of thorns and roses fanfiction #a court of thorns and roses au #acotar au #feysand #elriel #feyre x rhysand #rhysand #high lord #sarah j maas #feyre #feyre archeron

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inmyarmswrappedin · 3 years

Note

Idk why but im curious what you think about rachel santana and quinn from glee

Hi anon 🧶 Wait, I have barely talked about Glee here. I’m surprised you know/have guessed I have opinions lmao.

But sure, fine. Let me regale you with a tale of watching Glee as it aired. 😂 Though I’ll be honest, I quit Glee after s3, because it just seemed so plotless and like the songs were chosen before the script, etc. I’ve never been one to stick with a piece of media to the bitter end.

But anyway, I’ve never really been an Unholy Trio fan. My faves were always Kurt and Mercedes. It’s not that I don’t like mean girls, because I got really attached to Mini from Skins gen 3. When Brittany said in ep 13 (can’t believe I still remember the ep number gvhv) that she and Santana had sex on the reg, I was like ???? Is this a joke, are they like evil lesbians and/or man eaters? (Because Glee would kind of present them as like, the Siamese cats from the Aristocats, evil twins who were also sexually involved.) Those weren’t the characters I’d have been interested in being explored as wlw, but I wasn’t against it either.

What happened later clued me in a bit on how an opinion will get passed down from top to bottom on a set. Ever since that joke, bi/lesbian fans and bi/lesbian sites (such as AfterEllen and an online forum called the L Chat, iirc) started petitioning the actors and writers to make Santana and Brittany canonly into women. To not relegate that line to a joke. It was impossible to miss that it was bi/lesbian fans agitating loudly for this to happen. There were the people who wanted canon Brittana, Quinntana shippers who wanted Santana and Quinn together because Brittany came off to them as like, not exactly able to consent, Faberry shippers who wanted Rachel and Quinn, and Faberrittana shippers who were writing them in an OT4 or love quadrangle.

And yet, when Ryan Murphy would be asked about Brittana, he’d say that perverted dudes had gotten obsessed with that relationship and were the ones making noise about it. It was so baffling, because if you were in fandom for any amount of time, you knew the fans congregating at these sites and forums and creating fan content for them were women. I have no idea if dude network execs were pressuring him at a creative level or where the fuck that idea came from, but like, that was absolutely not the case in fandom.

And then, the ACTORS THEMSELVES started saying the same thing. Harry Shum Jr. was asked about Brittana, and he said that fandom was just dudes. And I mean, at this point twitter was only getting started as a platform, but the people who would be tweeting Harry or Dianna or Chord about Brittana would most certainly not be guys. So I had to assume this was either the official PR line, or just an opinion/idea that was passed around on set as real. That the Brittana fan demand wasn’t coming from young bisexual and lesbian fans, but horny dudes who wanted to see Heather and Naya get it on. (Which is bizarre not just because Glee didn’t have a major straight dude fandom, to say the least lmao, but also because Glee never really featured sex scenes? In its earlier seasons, Glee was fairly tame because it was a network show on the period right after the Dubya admin, where there had been a greater focus on ~appropriate TV~, i.e. less homos, less sex.)

Heather was also asked about Brittana on several occasions, and she too seemed to think this was all coming from horny dudes. Many times, she would be asked about Brittana and reply about how much she liked the Brittany/Artie relationship, which was obviously disheartening for shippers. On the other hand, Naya was always very supportive of Brittana and always took the fans seriously. In interviews, she was tentative at first, and then with time more and more vocal about the ship. With the way the characters’ storylines went in s4, with Santana being shipped off to NY to date Demi Lovato and having sex with Quinn in one truly epic episode, and Brittany going back to dating guys (I can’t remember Brittany dating any girl other than Santana on the show, does anyone else remember anything like that?), I’m pretty sure Brittana shippers had given up on them being endgame until the last season.

As an aside on Quinn having sex with Santana, I think it’s so funny that all three initial cheerleading characters were wlw by the end of the show. Who’d have anticipated that when the show first started? Not me!

I also think it’s so funny that Ryan Murphy now pats himself on the back so hard for the representation, when he had to be dragged into the writer’s room kicking and screaming, and he pretty much fought for every other LGBT storyline (not just Kurt and Blaine, but also Beiste and Unique) before he’d fight for Brittana. I think it’s sweet that those fans managed to turn what could’ve been a one off joke into easily THE storyline that Glee is remembered for these days with any fondness, and the showrunners should be grateful to those fans. (And to Naya!)

#ask #glee #naya rivera #Anonymous

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miracleboiz · 4 years

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Making A Home Ch.24.5

Kita Shinsuke had experienced a lot in life. He had been raised with his grandmother, a loving foster parent and for some time he followed in her foot steps before finding his own path. He thought his foster care license had expired before getting a call at three am with two small boys thrust into his arms. Miya Osamu and Atsumu, from broken homes but still fighting. Thirty days before his license expires. Thirty days to make a choice, keep the boys or let them be separated into different homes. Thirty days to fall in love with them.

Words: 100k+

Relationships: Ojiro Aran/Kita Shinsuke, Gen

Warnings: Mention of past child abuse, non-graphic abuse

Not from Kita, but it is mentioned. I will post any warnings before any panic attacks or vague descriptions of abuse.

Read below or on AO3

“Promise me you’ll never celebrate my birthday.” Shinsuke’s dry voice made Aran laugh as he looked around the room. It was covered from the ceiling to the wood flooring with streamers and balloons, wrapping paper was gliding happily over the floor every time one of the kids ran past. Lady was happily on the tile of the kitchen floor, accepting attention from everyone who passed and licking the ankles of every child.

They had all invaded Shinsuke’s home as soon as the birthday party had been confirmed and Friday came. It wasn’t just the kids either, everyone in the shop and the Matsukawa’s had insisted on coming as well, not even mentioning Oomimi and Akagi.

“Can’t promise that… But I’ll make it a lot smaller.” Aran said back, leaning a little more comfortably against the wall. Hitoshi took off suddenly, Osamu hot on his tail, only to yelp as he slipped on wrapping paper. Aran and Shinsuke both jolted forward only to relax again as Hajime caught the child without even looking, lifting Hitoshi up with one arm and swinging him in between himself and Asahi so Osamu wouldn’t slam into him.

“Boys! What did we say about running?” Tooru’s voice called from where he was being held down for Shirofuki’s lesson to Rintaro and Akira about how to match clothes together. “Pick up the wrapping paper at the very least, thank you.”

Hitoshi and Osamu both looked appropriately admonished, especially Hitoshi who was still clinging to Hajime’s arm from his fall. Osamu turned back to start picking up the wrapping paper, then he paused.

“Oh there it goes.” Shinsuke sighed, voice incredibly fond. “Cain instinct.”

“The what-” Aran turned to ask only to look back at the sound of loud crackling and saw Osamu crunching the wrapping paper into small balls and chucking them at his brother’s back. “Ah.”

Atsumu squealed, diving behind Shigeru for protection, glowering at his brother. It was only for a few more seconds before Atsumu was moving to tackle his brother, trying to shove the wrapping paper into his shirt and both of them scrambled for each piece to attack each other with. Hitoshi just watched in absolute fascination, not even noticing when he was released from Hajime’s hold.

“They’ve calmed down a lot since they went out with you on Tuesday.” Shinsuke commented, carefully sneaking a glance over at Aran. Almost immediately Aran’s face shifted with guilt, and Shinsuke told his anxiety to quiet itself.

“And I know Atsumu told Osamu a secret the next morning and ever since then, they haven’t been worried about anything.” Shinsuke continued, moving his gaze back to the boys and Shinji trying to wriggle his way in between them despite Rintaro’s calls for them to keep fighting. Shinji was currently just trying to hug them into submission and it was, amusingly, seemingly working.

“Ah…” Aran sighed, breathing in slowly and letting it out again. “I’d apologize but I’m not sorry…”

Aran straightened his back as he turned to look at Shinsuke, brown eyes filled with so much more emotion then they had any right to be. Shinsuke tilted his head up, waiting patiently for him to continue. There was no point in speculating, if Aran had ever been in the habit of lying Shinsuke would have never been his friend much less fallen in love with him.

“I told Atsumu that if you didn’t want to adopt him and Osamu that I would. I’m assuming that’s what he told Osamu about.” Aran said, though the guilt lingered at the corner of his downturned mouth his eyes were bright with a resolute will.

Shinsuke didn’t say anything for a moment, wondering if it was the wrong moment to kiss Aran. Probably. The urge still lingered, however.

“Was there a particular reason? Or did you just want it to be known?” Shinsuke kept his voice neutral, watching the flicker of recognition in Aran’s eyes. He wasn’t upset, he wasn’t blaming Aran or angry he told them, but he was curious. Aran wasn’t the type to just tell people how he felt, he preferred to show it until he had no other choice.

“You weren’t certain if you could handle the boys even though you wanted them, and Asumu was panicking about being sent away. So I told him the truth, if for any reason you couldn’t or wouldn’t adopt them, they weren’t going to be sent away. I’d adopt them.”

“Ah, I should have guessed that… I’m going to ask them, after the party, if they’d like to stay with me. I don’t want them to stress about it right now, let them have their fun. But I’ve changed quite a few things the last few days, and I’ve been better for it, better for them.” Shinsuke informed him, heart turning to liquid at the same time it started to beat rapidly at the sweet affection on Aran’s face. His warm brown eyes softened as the guilt finally dripped from his lips and he was smiling so soft and small that Shinsuke wanted to kiss him to make it bigger.

“I noticed. I’m proud of you.” Aran murmured softly and Shinsuke hummed in response, not fully trusting himself to speak. “When I came home, you were on edge like you were waiting for a giant shoe to finally fall and crush you. Now… You’ve smiled six times in the last hour and honestly I think it’s a world record, has Akagi given you your award yet?”

Shinsuke shoved him away, rolling his eyes at the tease. Aran took a step back graciously, laughing heartily and drawing the attention of Osamu and Atsumu. They paused in their mutual shirt stuffing of the wrapping paper into a wriggling Shinji’s shirt, glancing at each other and then the adults as if thinking they caused it. Staring at the two, Atsumu shoved two wrapping paper balls in Shinji’s shirt again, making him squeal at the cold material and swat at both of them.

“Atsumu, don’t kill your friend.” Shinsuke said but he couldn’t stop his own chuckle, laughing a little harder when they both responded by covering Shinji with more wrapping paper. Much more and Shinji would be buried beneath a mountain, but he didn’t seem particularly distressed.

“You should go get your kids under control.” Aran chuckled and Shinsuke stepped forward only to toss an innocent look over his shoulder.

“I’ll get them if you can clean up our kids mess.” Shinsuke said easily, turning away and moving to hustle the boys off of each other as Aran seemed to break down behind him.

“Shinsuke.” Aran whined, only managing to move forward as Shinsuke removed his twins from Shinji’s new grave and shooed them off to join Takahiro and Hitoshi for more cake.

“Atsumu~ How’s your first birthday party?” Shinji asked, sitting comfortably on Takahiro’s lap as wrapping paper pieces were tugged off of him from where the tape had stuck.

Atsumu wasn’t quite sure how to say he’d literally never been more excited in his life so he just grinned and hugged the stuffed cat he’d gotten from Akira tightly to his chest. He looked up as a hand descended into his hair for a moment, watching Shinsuke continue on his path to the kitchen to help Oomimi with dishes.

He didn’t know what changed, not really, but Shinsuke was a lot more like he had been when they first met. Honest and firm, but kind and gentle. He didn’t seem so stressed anymore and Atsumu was pretty sure it was because of Aran, no matter what Aran said Atsumu knew they had to be married at this point. If his husband was in France for years, he’d be really tired and sad like Shinsuke had been the week before. But now he was okay and happy again!

Fear and apprehension still bubbled in his stomach, knowing that Shinsuke still might not want them… But if he was really married to Aran and Aran said he loved Atsumu and Osamu, then Shinsuke probably did too.

Or at least that’s what his six year old mind told him to keep him from feeling like he was going to start crying when he thought of Shinsuke trying to give them away again.

“I really like my presents! I didn’t know you got cool things for bein’ born.” He said when Shinji started to wriggle impatiently. “Like my new kitty!”

“Princess!” Akira chirped, hands waving at the toy he’d picked out for Atsumu that did indeed look like the Matsukawa family cat.

“Yes sweetie, you can see Princess later, you wanted Atsumu to keep the small Princess remember?” Tooru said from where he was holding Akira hostage behind them on the couch. He and Takahiro had been chosen to watch the kids while the remaining adults cleaned up the mess caused by half a dozen six year olds and an overly excited Akira who believed in destruction.

“Boo.” Akira huffed, turning and waving his hands at Osamu this time. “Oniisan. Oniisan.”

He chanted, shoving Shigeru’s face with a whine when Shigeru tried to grab him. He flapped his hands at Osamu again, even more aggressively.

“Oniisan.” He said, turning to stare at his dad before pointing at Osamu. “Oniisan.”

“Well that’s rude.” Shigeru huffed, ignoring his father’s amused smile as Akira was lowered to the ground and allowed to waddle over to Osamu until he could face plant onto his lap and close his eyes for a nap. Shigeru gave him a few seconds of peace before he flopped onto his side and laid his head on Akira’s back.

“That’s rude.” Shinji giggled, leaning back against Takahiro as Hitoshi tried to push Rintaro down to get his own spot to nap.

“I’m not a pillow.” Rintaro insisted, swatting the hands coming at his face with a whine.

“Rin-kun, I’m tired.” Hitoshi insisted. “Why can Shigeru nap but you’re just mean to me? You let him nap on you on the way over, do you like him more than me?”

“What? No, of course no- ah!” Rintaro froze at the accusation and Hitoshi immediately used it to shove him over and flop over his stomach. “You’re a bully, Hitoshi-kun. You can fight your own fights now.”

“Mmmnope.” Hitoshi yawned, blinking like a happy cat to Atsumu. “Wait, everyone gets to snuggle ‘cept ‘Tsum.”

The younger child was starting to sit up, looking genuinely worried as Atsumu waved the cat toy.

“No, I have Princess-” He fell backwards as something dove into him and the rest of the group burst into giggles at the sight of Shinji giving Atsumu one of his infamous hugs. “I have Shinji too.”

“Your kids are mean.” Takahiro told Tooru, looking down at his now empty lap. Tooru just laughed, waving him over and tugging him onto the couch with him.

“Funny, I was about to say the same thing. Also that you forgot to tell us you adopted Osamu.”

“Oh no, that was fully Akira, he signed the birthday card himself to make it official.” Takahiro hummed, leaning in to rub their noses together as a chorus of ‘ew’s rose up from the kids. “Oh hush or you’re not getting anymore goodnight kisses from me.”

Shigeru and Shinji instantly clamped their hands around their own mouths, leaving Akira to mumble in his sleep as Osamu awkwardly tried to pet his hair like Shinsuke did for him.

“I want a goodnight kiss! That would be the best birthday gift.” Atsumu gasped, blinking at the two adults as they seemed to wince. “What is it-”

A loud squeal erupted from him as two wet kisses were smushed into his cheeks on either side from the eldest Matsukawa boys. Atsumu giggled, not able to hear what Tooru and Takahiro were saying before they were laughing.

“Me next!” Hitoshi gasped, sitting up and elbowing Rintaro in his haste.

“No! I don’t want kisses-”

“Rin-kun wants kisses too! It’s night time, all the good night kisses!” Hitoshi insisted, loud shrieks of laughter erupting from the group as Shigeru and Shinji dragged Atsumu over to help hold Rintaro down despite his half-hearted whines.

“Okay… I’ll claim that habit, that was me.” Takahiro hummed, pressing a kiss to his partner’s forehead as they watched to make sure no one pushed anyone too far even for affection.

“I think the best birthday present would be parents.” Osamu said, rather lost in thought as his hand patted up and down on Akira’s head. Takahiro shot a pointed glance at Tooru, grumbling when he got a gentle nuzzle to his cheek instead.

“Just be patient, Osamu, I don’t think you have to wait for that much longer.” Tooru said, watching the child’s eyes slide over them to the kitchen. A wide smile started to spread over his face and he looked back to Tooru.

“I think so too!” He chirped, returning to his rhythmic patting of Akira’s head. “Aran and Shinsuke-san just need to walk, ice skating is really hard after all!”

Aran didn’t lift the arm from his eyes as a weight settled beside him.

“Didja finally manage to wrangle him in?” Aran asked, tucking the passed out Atsumu more comfortably against his chest.

“Passed out as soon as I picked him up, Lady helped.” Shinsuke’s voice came from his side before his head was settling onto Aran’s shoulder.

The volleyball player let his arm drop, wrapping it around Shinsuke’s shoulders and gently stroking over Osamu’s hair as the child snuffled in his sleep. Shinsuke yawned, eyes half shut as he tilted his head up to blink prettily up at Aran.

“... I’m glad I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.” Is all he said and Aran snorted, amused at the bright silver eyes taking him in. “What’re you doin’ tomorrow?”

“Mm, not much, it’s my day off too. I was going to let Lady go to the park with me, but that’s all… But I’m open for whatever you want.”

“I could be asking for you to be a nude model.” Shinsuke pointed out and Aran had to stifle another laugh to keep from waking up the boys.

“Oh yeah? And how are you planning on keeping the boys entertained during that?”

“... You make a good point… When were you planning on taking Lady out?” Shinsuke said, glancing over at the patter of paws as Lady moved over to sniff at them after hearing her name so much. She sniffled at Atsumu’s feet before sliding down to relax against the bottom of the couch.

“Mm, about seven or eight… When do the boys get up?” Aran tilted his head until he could just barely nose at Shinsuke’s hair and Shinsuke shifted even closer. He pressed a kiss there instead, too tired to care about pretending when Shinsuke didn’t care.

“Sevenish, though they may sleep in a little…. Mind if we tag along?”

Aran didn’t bother to tell him that he’d do anything to spend the day with the boys. He just pressed another kiss to his head and hummed in agreement.

“I should get going… Otherwise I’m going to fall asleep on the way home.” Aran sighed, already shifting to get up when an arm wrapped around him.

“Aran. We’re adults. You can sleep in the bed with me…” They both glanced at Atsumu’s loud whine at being shifted before he managed to wrap his arms fully around Aran’s neck. “Mmmkay, sleep in the bed with the three of us.”

Shinsuke didn’t bother to hide his lap, eyes half shut as his arm released Aran to pat at the bottom of the couch until Lady licked his hand.

“Four of us.” He amended and Aran chuckled.

“Do I need to carry the four of you to bed then?”

“Mmhmm… Soon, I would hope, otherwise I’m blaming you for my back pain.” Shinsuke mumbled, mechanically stroking Lady’s fur.

“And mine? For carrying you?”

“Mmm… ask me again in a month. When we’ve had the kids for a bit, might be ready to kiss you then… I think I just need a month… Adjust ‘n everythin’.” Shinsuke said into Aran’s shoulder as he tried to hold him again when Aran started to move.

“... I’ll give you eternity either way.” Aran murmured into his hair, pressing a final kiss there before pulling Atsumu free from his neck. It took some coaxing to get him to hold onto the pillow instead, but eventually Aran was able to get him off and slip Osamu from Shinsuke. He took hold of Atsumu again, wincing as his beard was grabbed.

The trip was fast, Lady trotting after them to jump onto the bed and curl around the twins. Then Aran was back, slipping his arms around Shinsuke’s back and under his legs before lifting. Shinsuke nuzzled into the hold, another yawn dragging one from Aran.

“Remind me… to ask the boys tomorrow… Got t’busy tonight… Not putting it off… just tired.” Shinsuke mumbled into his neck, clearly letting go of everything, even his own discipline to leave Aran in charge.

“I will. Now go ahead and sleep.” Aran murmured, carrying him to the bed and barely managing to crawl in himself and tuck the blankets up when the twins were moving. They seemed only awake enough to move toward the closest heat source, scrambling over Shinsuke until they were half laid across both of the adults.

Aran hummed and closed his eyes, letting the boys get settled without another thought.

#Haikyuu #HQ #Miya Osamu #Miya Atsumu #Kita Shinsuke #Arankita #Making a home au

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incorrect-marauders · 5 years

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THE OWLS ARE IN! IT’S TIME FOR THE SURVEY RESULTS!

So, as many of our followers are probably aware, we recently did a survey to get a feel of what people thought of our blog. We got a total of 57 results and we are grateful to each and every one of you for taking the time to let us know your thoughts. Now, we’re here to share the general consensus of what people thought and how we will accommodate these opinions.

We’ll definitely have some changes to the blog, so read on to see what those changes are!

Before we begin, we have a few things to briefly mention.

The results are pretty scattered. We didn’t want to restrict anyone, so most were free response or included “Other”. In hindsight, there were a few questions that could have easily been multiple choice without really restricting anyone. (Side eyes the first question.) Therefore, most of these will just summarize the results we got. Occasionally drop the graph for the multiple choice questions.

Because of the large amount of responses we got, not every answer will be listed here. We highlighted the things that were either most commonly mentioned or had us thinking the most.

If anyone would like to see the full results for some reason (par the names, to keep anonymity), feel free to email us at [email protected] and we’ll send it over!

And yes, we are making changes to accommodate these results! That’s what this survey was all about!

We’ll be opening applications for new mods within the next couple days as well.

We’ll have a tiny hiatus as all of this is going on.

Now, we begin...

How long have you been following incorrect-marauders?

The most popular answer seemed to be around 2 months or 10 months. A lot of people filling out this survey seemed to either be relatively new or here since the beginning. Kudos to you incorrect-marauders veterans, and welcome newer followers!

How did you find incorrect-marauders?

Somewhat as we expected. Keep reblogging us, lovely people!

What do you love MOST about incorrect-marauders?

"It's funny.” (x50)

No really, we got 50 variations of “It’s funny,” “It’s hilarious,” “The humour,” “The funny text posts.”

Thanks, we appreciate it!

“How weirdly in character the quotes always are.”

(Similar variations include, “How actually accurate your post are,” “That not every post is as funny, imho, but that they do keep true to the characters,” “How much they fit the characters.”)

“They offer new content to the Marauders 'franchise' as it were because some stuff within the fandom is constantly being reused.”

“How correct it actually is if Joanne made it canon.”

“McGonagall with the marauders and that the sources are listed.”

“Accurate representation, variety of ships and relationships, isnt toxic.”

“Very funny and can be great art/writing prompts.”

“The taste.”

“EVERYTHING.”

These are all very nice, thank you all. Glad we hit where we were aiming.

What do you love LEAST about incorrect-marauders?

The most common response was, “Nothing,” or a variation thereof, but that’s no fun for this question, so here are some of the legitimate criticisms we received!

“Quote sources, I think, occasionally aren't there.”

Our original quotes often don’t have sources. But if there’s one where a mod forgot to credit a source, please just message us and one of the admins will fix that!

“There isn't a particularly nice aesthetic to the blog, e.g. a matching layout and profile picture or quote.”

Yeah, we’re working to fix that. I like pretty blogs too.

“Could be updated a little more.”

(”Not much posting in my opinion,” “Long time between posts.”)

Strangely enough, we got this a few times but our later poll about how often to post were contradicting this. So, unfortunately, we will not be adjusting this.

“I mean I would say that Peter is on it, but can’t really get rid of him...”

(Got a few of these, like, ”Peter being seen as a good person.”)

Sorry!

“Some are a bit too small.”

“I don’t like the long quotes.”

Well, then.

“Seeing my #notp but that isnt rly a minus?? Its called diversity so im not gonna hate or anything.”

Thank you for appreciating the diversity. We get occasional hate over it, but we also get hate over not posting some of the other ships. I suppose that’s what happens when you have lots of different followers of different opinions.

“If I send you a text post you credit the source in # but i'd like you to include a link to my tumblr in the post itself so people would actually find my tumblr. I doent send you text posts anymore, cause it doesn't really profit me and it feels like you get credit for my work.”

We’re sorry you feel that way. We always put it in the tags, just in front of the source. We are more of a mod-based blog rather than a submission-based blog. Anyone is welcome to submit, but about 98% of our posts are created by our mods.

“Sometimes I feel like the wrong characters were chosen or not well thought out.”

We can assure you our mods put a lot of thought into what characters to use, but you are welcome to message us with your own suggestion! (But please note that we are a Marauders blog; we got a few comments about how we don’t post enough Hinny or Romione, but that’s not what our blog is about.)

What makes incorrect-marauders stand out?

Once again, we got a lot about how funny we are, so we’ll skip over those and highlight the more unique answers!

"They don't use things from other people without credit.”

“The love and attention put in to everything.”

“Don't think there are any other blogs about marauders in this style.”

(We got this a few times. ”Like the type of blog and incorrect-marauders was the first one Harry potter themed I found,” also, “Its really funny and pretty much the only blog that just does this kind of post and i LOVE it.” But alternatively... “There are a lot of textpost blogs like it, but it is one of the only ones that I have found that consistently keeps characters in character in the posts and appeals to my sense of humor.”)

“I feel the quotes are in character and from multiple sources which Is cool.“

“How open it is.”

“The continuous content.”

“The posts arent so often that my dash is spammed like other blogs of the same nature.”

“Not sure but I like you.”

Not much to comment on these except we’re happy to see people think this about us!

How satisfied are you with the blog and the posts, in all?

So, you’re telling me, we opened a public, anonymous survey and not a single hater filled it out? Am I impressed or disappointed?

Please explain your response to the previous question.

“I just love the whole blog.”

“It's not my favourite blog ever ever which is why it's not a 10 but i still love it.”

“You guys are just so awesome! But it'd also be cool to have a little, meet the creator(s).”

“Its good but I don't have or want notifications on.”

“It’s the #qualitycontent i signed up for.”

"Always room for improvement, and also there's no 9 3/4 option.”

Awesome! We definitely agree that we can always improve, which is what this survey is for!

How often should we post?

We got a lot of variety here. Some say once a day (which is how often we currently post) was ideal. Others put stuff like...

“I wouldnt mind my entire blog just being filled with your posts.”

While Once A Day is the most voted for, the rest of the options put together, which we’ll name Two or More Times a Day, do win overall. Since we have one new post followed by a reblog, we’ll compromise by posting two times a day, but with one new post a day (the second being a reblog).

In UTC, what times do you prefer us posting?

As expected, not many people cared. But two people felt very strongly and voted for 12am, 1am, and 6pm UTC. So, we’ll consider that.

What characters, relationships, universes, etc. would you like to see more represented in our posts?

We got a lot of responses here, primarily being more Wolfstar, Jily, and BFFs James and Sirius. We also got a lot saying we should post about Hinny, Romione, next gen, FBAWTFT, etc. in which I remind you that this is a Marauders blog.

We also got the hilarious response that said we should maybe post about the “merauders”. Well, we can certainly promise you that.

We also got a lot of people saying more McGonagall. That’s something we can definitely do.

Would you like to see more original quotes from us?

For the longest time, the option 50/50 was at exactly 50%. Kind of disappointed that is no longer, but the 25% option is at 25%, so that’s something. Anyway, we’ll aim for 50/50.

What else would you like to see us post?

This was one of the results that will make the biggest change to the blog. People seem to really love these ideas. So expect...

Marauder Mondays! Every Monday we’ll have Marauder Monday, where we’ll answer asks, reblog posts, and have a party! Probably when we’ll post the “extra” posts, like our GIFs, graphics, aesthetics, videos, etc.

How would you feel if we did sponsored posts?

Combined, it seems like ~75% of those who took the survey are good with sponsored posts.

These results honestly surprised us. We’ve gotten a lot of offers of sponsorships in the past but have always denied them because we didn’t know how our followers would feel. We probably won’t do this in the near future, but it’s an option.

What kind of projects would you like to see us host?

We got so many people suggesting merch. Shirts, stickers, pins, other merch... So we’ll keep that in mind! We’d love some Marauders shirts ourselves.

“Projects that other blogs can get involved with to help other accounts grow.”

Noted!

“An art challenge maybe? like, 30 day challenge where you have to draw them as characters from movies/tv shows? like, friends, clueless, avengers, dc characters etc.“

Definitely interesting. Art challenges would be a lot of fun. Hopefully there’s an interest for this!

Which of our other accounts do you follow/would like to follow?

We’ll look into bringing on people to regularly post on other sites.

What device do you use to browse our blog most often (whether through Tumblr or our site)?

Why are we bothering with a redesign again? Oh, right. Personal vain.

How often do you visit the blogsite?

Those numbers are higher than expected...

What kind of things would you like to find on our blogsite?

“Character aesthetics.”

“Fanfiction links.”

“Marauders fan art would be cool.“

We’ll be working on this! Thank you for the suggestions!

More meet the creator(s) (if not comfortable with should, maybe just telling a funny story)

We got a lot of people saying they’d like to know more about us. We are anonymous, but this particular comment had us thinking. We’ll be implementing something in the near future. We will still remain anonymous, but we will have “blog identifies”, I suppose you could say. More info to come!

Other than show, character, and ship lists, what would you like to see in our navigation?

We didn’t get many new suggestions for this, except for fanart, aesthetics, etc. which we will add as more people join the blog!

Do you have any additional suggestions for us?

"Maybe find a blog that could do fan art, but only if you’re comfortable with it. Also, you’re blog is already so amazing, and any redesign would just make it more awesome!!! Don’t let anyone get you down espically if some one puts something negative on the survey because it is so so great already.”

We got no negative feedback (just constructive criticism), but thank you for your concern!

“um. keep doing this. i like it. it helps fill the gaping void in my soul“

Mood.

“Thanks for making the survey, caring about our feedback, and being awesome overall :)”

Of course! This is not just our blog, this is the Marauders fandom blog. Your feedback means everything to us and we hope you will like the changes we’ll make in response to it.

And that covers all of it! Cookies to anyone who read all of that! Keep an eye out for those new mod applications if you’re interested in joining our team!

We’ll be taking a tiny little hiatus as we’re figuring some stuff out.

#admin #survey #survey results #updates

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