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erstwhilesparrow · 3 months

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I just saw that post you reblogged about archiving MCYT stuff - is there a particular reason stuff disappears so often? (That's very cool people are putting in so much effort to preserve it, though; big respect to that tbh)

reyni! :D okay i should be clear upfront that some of my information may be incomplete here because (1) i don't have twitter and (2) i'm not directly involved in any mcyt archival efforts. also putting this under a cut because it's long and i do need to reference recent events involving abuse and sexual assault:

despite mcyt = minecraft youtube(r), a lot of stuff relevant to mcyt happens like. exclusively on stream? really, really ~plot-critical or deeply characterizing stuff happens on stream sometimes and never makes it into a youtube video! and on twitch at least, unless you explicitly set it to save your vods, twitch will just delete them after a certain number of days. i don't know exactly how this works if you stream on youtube but also my impression is that a significant majority of people are not streaming on youtube anyway. since fairly early in my time in mcyt fandoms, there's been concern about creators not saving their own vods, and on top of that, sometimes you save a vod and it gets taken down anyway for copyright infringement (playing copyrighted music, the creator themself asked for it to be removed, etc). so like. as baseline, there's a sense of inherent ephemerality to the medium. that post i reblogged is explicitly pushing back against the description of mcyt vods as "a constantly burning library of alexandria," and in light of the evidence that follows i agree (and also am a little weepy about the efforts people make to save these things), but that sense doesn't come from nowhere, you know?

speaking of that post though, i suspect this archival stuff is coming up More now because it's been a rough couple of weeks in mcyt fandom. several really influential creators in the space were recently outed as being abusive or predatory in a way that's caught a lot of attention, and many people in response have been (understandably!) deleting their fanworks or otherwise distancing or removing themselves from mcyt fandom. i want to be clear, i know stuff gets deleted all the time in fanspaces -- the internet is kind of just Like That in terms of how easy it is to lose things -- and it's incredibly fair to go "no, even if there was a strong distinction between character and creator this leaves a sour taste in my mouth and i'm not doing this anymore." i don't want to pretend that no one has ever deleted a fanwork outside of mcyt spaces, and i don't want to insinuate that it's bad to vocally revoke your support of those creators -- those people have done awful things and generally failed to meaningfully apologize or take accountability, and it is worth remembering and saying so. but to give you a sense of numbers: antimony-medusa does monthly stats on mcyt fic on ao3, and dsmp, which even after it's kind of died off has seen monthly increases in the range of hundreds of new fic per month, saw a decrease of roughly 800 fics. other fandoms have similarly seen decreases, and video blogging rpf, which ao3 treats as an umbrella for basically all mcyt stuff, saw an increase of 51, as compared to last month's increase of (approximately) 3500. and that's just fic -- there's also a rich trove of animatics, fanvids, fanart, etc that i don't have any numbers for, but i've seen people talking about deleting those, too, you know? you see how people might be worried about what we are losing.

at this point i think your question is answered, but if you'll forgive some baseless speculation here, i wonder to what extent mcyt is also. complicated by how closely character and creator can sit? i don't know how other people feel, but there is a difference to me between "i've written fic about This Person Specifically (or, arguably, their streamer persona which may be somewhat divorced from the Real Life Human Being Behind The Screen)" and "i've written fic about a character this person plays." i dunno, there's a sense to me of the flimsiness of the line between creator and character and then also of the line between creator and fandom that i think makes it harder to be like "okay, i am doing my own thing, separate from the creator, so i'm going to keep my stuff public even if i don't stand by it 100% anymore." i remember when i first joined mcyt fandom, there was a period of time people were really worried that the creators were actively on ao3, or that fans would try to send their fanfic directly to the creators. i thought to myself, "well, if anyone Tries Shit with my work, i will simply delete all my relevant accounts and disappear." that's... not really a back-up plan that i feel good about these days, but. you know. it's been a thing, if not always for the same reasons, and i do understand the impulse.

#chattering sparrow #is this... a helpful explanation? does it clarify anything for you?#i've been having a weird week for reasons unrelated to ~fandom bullshit but wow the bullshit has certainly not helped #thank you for the ask though! gave me the kick i needed to go back and add disclaimers to some of my existing fic

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cinnamonest · 2 months

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I'm not looking to start shit so I'm not linking it or anything, but you may have seen a recent anti-dark-content post circulating with a lot of notes making rounds in the x reader sphere and while I have nothing against people posting their feelings in their own private spaces, every time I see these kinds of posts there's a lot of misinformation that gets regurgitated in the reblogs/replies and I saw what looked like a battlezone in the replies, so.

I know posts like that can be very jarring and affects people like my readers, so to combat misinformation/shaming for anyone who saw it, I'm going to share some of my information on combatting fandom puritanism/misogyny/kinkshaming in its most common forms.

The most important fact, if you read nothing else, is this:

Most women have rape fantasies.

62% to be exact. I think the most pervasive myth on this content is that consumers are "weird" for it, when the numbers don't indicate that. You're in the majority!

The vast majority of people who have rape fantasies do not put them into practice in real life. A variety of factors can determine whether or not they do, particularly specific psychiatric disorders. (X)

To specifically address common harmful and pervasive myths:

the "go to therapy!" line

Generally any academic or professional resource will immediately tell you that consuming and engaging in "dark" fantasies is accepted and encouraged by mainstream psychiatry and part of the professional education for psychiatrists. (This also used to be pretty well-known until like the last 5 years or so, not sure why that changed.)

Here are some particularly insightful resources:

1) This article by Dr. David Wahl, in my opinion, hands-down does the best job of simply and thoroughly explaining why these fantasies occur and why couples practice CNC, as well as the fact that they are both harmless, psychologically beneficial to those with them, and not at all correlated to real-life rape.

2) Dr. Claudia Six has some of the best and most thorough material out there on the subject, specifically explaining why this is taught in mainstream academia psychology and how it is incredibly helpful to rape victims (X).

3) Lisa Diamond is a professional who focuses on this subject a lot, and was featured in the documentary "The Dilemma of Desire," in which she specifically focuses on how these fantasies are not correlated to real-life desires. (X)

4) Dr. Casey Lyle has specifically talked a lot on his socials about how fantasies, even in men/the perspective of the offender, do not correlate to actual risk of offending.

5) This article is not by a professional, but from the perspective of a survivor discussing how it is beneficial to survivors.

the "why would you want that?" line

The idea that fictional tastes = what you want to happen to you in real life is actually of misogynistic origin. I don't want to seek out or add links on this one, but if you're really curious, you can research about how the idea that "women read rape fiction, that means they secretly want rape!" was originally a classic "red pill"/MGTOW/4chan talking point that made its way into mainstream dialogue and thus the public mind in the last 15 years or so due to the incel epidemic popularizing those communities.

the "it's only valid for survivors then!" line

On one hand, yes it's very important to acknowledge that trauma victims use it to cope, however I feel that over-emphasizing that gives the impression that non-victims should be excluded from consumption of dark content, so to clarify, it's a very valid means for all women. Many women who have not personally experienced rape still fantasize about it, and that's fine.

The full explanation as to why this is true for many of them would be lengthy (and addressed in the aforementioned Dilemma of Desire documentary), but in the simplest terms, nonconsensual sex is the only context in which patriarchal society permits women to have sex at all without feeling guilt. For many women, particularly those in more heavily misogynistic or religious cultures, these fantasies are appealing because the idea of consensual sex may give them feelings of shame, guilt, "sin," etc. These fantasies allow them to experience the feeling of being desired without guilt of participation.

No society on earth is free of the psychological grip that cultural misogyny has on women, and shaming women for adapting to the conditions they are forced to exist under is as harmful as the misogyny that causes it itself.

ALL women experience a form of psychological trauma inherent to female childhood and female adolescence in a patriarchal world, and that is just as valid as coping with individual traumatic events.

Good resources on the subject of why women have these fantasies and how they are helpful in general:

(X) (X)

The "what you consume will make you do it in real life!" myth

Although the resources above already address this, it's important to establish why this myth is so prevalent and what its origins are.

The idea that consuming media with dark themes leads to or indicates desires to replicate those acts is a residual element of two major events:

1) Puritan revival culture, popularized in the US and UK in the 90s and 2000s (also known as "Satanic Panic"). A major facet of this movement was TV megachurch preachers making money off of exploiting well-meaning but paranoid parents into believing that your child playing Dungeons and Dragons or Pokemon would make them future serial killers and lure them into satanic cults. (X)

2) at the tail end of this, it was cemented in the public mind as a cultural ripple aftershock of the Columbine shooting, where this sentiment became popularized as the general public blamed violent video games like Doom and "dark" music like Marilyn Manson (whose life was temporarily completely upended by the events and took him years to recover/be safe from) for the 1999 shooting. This event had MASSIVE permanent and global effects in all sorts of ways that the public often underestimates the sheer scope of, notably that it solidified, prolonged, and, in the minds of many, "proved" the paranoias of the preexisting Satanic Panic. (X) This established a precedent, leading to virtually any major horrible event being blamed on the perpetrator's media consumption, including murder and sex crimes.

What this myth ignores in the cases it references (the slenderman stabbings, columbine, sasebo slashing, batman shooting, etc) is two crucial facts: that hundreds of millions of people consume the same media with no negative effects (helpful effects even), and that in every single case cited as "evidence" to the claim, the perpetrator had a preexisting psychiatric condition correlated to acts of violence (which usually went ignored, downplayed and even accelerated/worsened by those around them rather than the help they needed).

Sorry for the wall of text, but I feel an ethical obligation to combat this kind of misinformation, and I hope these resources are helpful for those who may be negatively affected by common misunderstandings.

You are not abnormal or wrong for the fictional content you consume or the fantasies you have!

#im very passionate about this because this sort of thing severely affected younger me #and i dont want that for anyone else!#love yall

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deerspherestudios · 4 months

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Hello fireflies!

I've been debating this for a while now, and after some helpful discussion with trusted members from the community, I've decided to make it official. As of today, Mushroom Oasis now has an official age rating of 16+ due to the content warnings listed (and not listed) above.

To clarify:

THERE IS NO EXPLICIT OR GRAPHIC CONTENT DEPICTED. THERE WILL BE NO NSFW/18+ SCENES.

DOES HOWEVER, CONTAIN DARKER THEMES UNSUITABLE FOR A YOUNGER AUDIENCE (especially tropes within the yandere genre)

I hope everyone can respect my decision on this matter, thank you.

Longer explanation for the age rating change under the cut:

Edit: Since some have been asking, the age rating is a precaution more than anything else. I just can't guarantee players younger than 16 can consume these kinds of content responsibly. And with the growing popularity, I feel like a proper rating is better than a list of trigger warnings.

So to ease my mind that I'm not exposing young kids to themes commonly found in yandere media (such as stalking/manipulation/violence/drugging/etc) 16+ is a safeguard for that. I'm just looking out for myself and others as MO continues to develop.

I don't wanna bend my own rules by saying "if you think you can responsibly play Mushroom Oasis, you're fine." That is up to your discretion. Just stay safe out there.

Take care, fireflies! ❤️🍄

#mushroom oasis vn #cheea chatter #bts #i know there's already an established fandom but this is for the best <3

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noodlesarecheese · 1 month

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So Watcher is launching a Dropout (it's not called Dropout but they're clearly using the same template format platform thing idk what it's called, and the same pricing structure), and the reaction so far has been wildly different than what I remember from Dropout's launch. I was curious about why that was or if I was just misremembering the Dropout launch, so I went back to the Dropout launch video to compare them and I think I can see where some of the difference is coming from.

If you want to make the comparison yourself: Watcher's Video, Dropout's Video.

I wanna clarify first though that this isn't a knock against Watcher or the fans who are reacting one way or another or anything like that, I genuinely am just fascinated with how different the reactions are to what seems to be the same business decision. This also isn't a 'wow watcher sucks and dropout is so much better' I'm just using them for comparison because they did the same thing with different results. ALSO this isn't about the business decision itself, just the presentation! Disclaimers out of the way, here's the analysis.

Title and Thumbnail So the Watcher.tv announcement video is titled "Goodbye Youtube" and the thumbnail is Ryan, Shane, and Steven sitting on a couch looking serious, with a dark background. That really makes it seem like they're quitting (which, ok, they are quitting youtube but not quitting quitting). Viewers are already primed to be upset, and it's easier to go from upset to angry than upset to excited, curious, or neutral.

Compare to the dropout announcement video: "How the Internet is Ruining Comedy" - inline with other collegehumor video titles, might make you curious. Thumbnail - Big News! with Sam smiling and a bright background. We know its big news, but he looks happy, and the exclamation point let's us know they want us to be excited. Viewers are primed to be curious and excited.

Tone The Watcher announcement has 2 main tones. The first half is very sentimental, almost sad or wistful at times, and while there are parts that veer into pride at achievements, it's mostly bittersweet and sentimental. The second half is a bit more uplifting, but still quite serious. It reminded me of a tech announcement, like when they introduce the new iphone or something like that. Very professional, sleek, and serious, which isn't automatically a bad thing! But I do think that's not the vibe a decently-sized chunk of the audience expected or wanted. Many people watch Watcher for the cast's dynamic with each other, humor, and the more relaxed/conversational/friendly feel that most of the series have.

Compare to dropout - excited and comedic tone. Still professional, but also fits the expectations of the viewers. People watch collegehumor for the humor (it was in the name, after all). They also poke a bit of fun at themselves, which lightens the mood, shows self-awareness, and alleviates some of the bad feelings about paywalling.

Focus The Watcher announcement focuses a lot on the creative journey of the cast and company, as well as how this move will benefit them. Which isn't a bad thing, that's actually quite interesting! The problem here, I think, is actually more about what isn't here - a solid explanation of how this will also benefit the viewers and why the viewers should be excited. There's a brief description of one new show, and the promise that existing shows will get an upgrade, but we weren't given many specific details about how they'll be improved, and there's only one new show to tempt us into subscribing. Some people will be excited for that, some people won't, and some people will be excited but not enough to subscribe. Having 2 or 3 series (even if it's 1 fleshed out plus a few teasers of what's in production or what is being planned) plus some more details about how existing shows will be improved would've helped. Without that, it really does seem like it'll just be the same stuff viewers were getting for free, but now paywalled, rather than new and exciting stuff. That makes a big difference. I think with the fans not getting as much focus, this also led to some (accidental, I hope) hurt feelings. Based on what I've seen from fan reactions, all the talk about hitting the peak of what they can do on youtube and wanting more, translated for many people to 'youtube isn't enough' which became 'you (the current viewers) aren't enough.' Which I don't think was their intent! But I also don't think fans are wrong for feeling hurt by that.

Compare to dropout: They clearly explain how the move will benefit fans, and reassure viewers that existing content will stay where it is, and only new content will be behind the paywall. (Watcher clarified this too, but in a comment. It's not in the video itself, which is a huge problem.) They include clips of several new (at the time) series that would be premiering on dropout, including things that specifically could not be made on youtube (due to weed, violence, and sexual humor), so the reason for the shift is clear to the audience.

Advertisers Both videos contain the sentiment that being monetarily successful on youtube means working to appease the advertisers, and that over time what the advertisers want and what the creators want drifts further and further apart, putting strain on the creators.

However, I think the message gets lost a bit in the Watcher vid. Instead, it leaves viewers with the idea that the main problem is just ads are annoying instead of advertisers putting constraints on content. I'm not even sure what the specific constraints are for watcher, because they didn't give any examples. And the focus on ads being annoying leaves viewers frustrated because people typically either don't mind ads or they already have an ad blocker.

Timing and Size Okay, this isn't exactly about presentation, but it is still a factor that impacts perception so I'm tackling it. And I'm actually going to do dropout first. CollegeHumor launched dropout in September 2018. Pre-pandemic, but also pre-Sam Reich as CEO. The company was still owned by IAC. It was a Company, and while it wasn't huge it wasn't tiny either. So launching dropout was a Company Decision, a Business Strategy. Some people were upset about, but it wasn't a personal betrayal (generally, anyways). If I remember correctly, this was also not a high point for the company. They kinda needed dropout to do well to keep things running smoothly (which is why they shut it down and sold it to Sam just 1 1/2ish years later), so the sudden shift made sense.

Watcher Entertainment is a company, but it doesn't feel like one. Ryan, Shane, and Steven own and operate things, but they're also the faces, and they're youtubers. Which makes every business decision they make feel more personal to viewers, especially those who have been watching for a long time. They've also seemingly been doing well on youtube, which makes it more difficult for viewers to understand why the sudden change is happening now. They do talk a bit about it, about the company expanding and wanting to do things that advertisers don't like (which I've already covered). However, mostly the choice to start a streaming platform is framed as 'the next big step' without much clarification on why it's the next big step. Plus, it's post-pandemic, and a lot of people are still struggling financially with the ripple effects of that. Yes, $6 isn't a wild amount of money, but there have been some months where $5 absolutely meant the difference between paying all my bills or not, and I know I'm not the only one. This, coupled with a lack of clarity about why exactly they're doing this, leads to fans feeling hurt, betrayed, bitter, and frustrated.

Now, presentation and framing isn't everything. No matter how perfect your announcement is, some people are still going to be upset. It's a big change, of course people will be upset! But I do think a more careful presentation would've alleviated some of the hurt and anger that fans are feeling. While I do think a lot of the reaction we're seeing is due to the decision, I think (based on what I've seen) that some of it is also based on the poor communication in the video itself, and that could've been avoided!

So I'm gonna get a little speculative and describe what I would've done. In this hypothetical, they've decided to launch the streaming service and brought me on just for the announcement.

Firstly, switch the title out. If they're married to Goodbye Youtube then add a (and hello...?) after so it's at least obvious they aren't fully quitting. The dark color scheme of the thumbnail fits their regular vibe, but they want everyone to be excited so they should look excited. Next, let's lighten the tone up. Being proud of what they've done so far is great, but we don't need the sentimental music and bittersweetness. Remember, the goal is to get viewers excited about what come's next - so let's focus on what actually comes next! Talk about specific show plans and mention why they wouldn't work on youtube. Then, take some time to reassure the fans. Predict a few likely worries and address them in the video. Acknowledge that it's a big change, that it will take time to get used to, and that not everyone will be onboard, and let the fans know that it's ok if they aren't onboard.

Like I said, this wouldn't fix everything. There are a few differences in between dropout and watcher that don't have anything to do with presentation. Dropout launched with primarily new shows rather than new seasons of existing shows, and they continued uploading to youtube relatively regularly in addition to the content behind the paywall, which I do think went a long way to keeping fans happy. At this point it's unclear if watcher will do either of those or not. But, while I don't think it would fix everything, I do think improved communication in the announcement would've helped.

#watcher #feel free to share your own thoughts but please be nice #I just like communication ok! And I really enjoyed the 1 marketing class I took in college #and it's pretty rare that you get such a clear comparison between 2 unrelated companies!

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rebeliz7 · 8 months

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We have to stop meeting like this

Natasha Romanoff x Doctor Reader

Request: Can you do Natasha x non avenger/reader where reader is very possessive and protective over her wife “Listen pal. There are two things I need from you. Number 1 is get away from my wife and number 2 is stay the hell away from my wife.” Natasha finds her wife’s treats very amusing, considering she’s the black widow and can more than well take care of herself.

Word Count: 2255

…

You’re about to leave the hospital, your shift having just ended, when your phone rings.

You see Steve’s name on the screen, and your heart stops for a second before you slide a trembling finger across the screen to answer.

“You need to come in.” He says after murmuring a soft greeting, and you immediately become terrified.

“Steve, is she - ”

“She’s okay.” He hurries to explain, probably realizing his mistake. “She’s fine, she’s a little beaten up, but she’s fine.”

“She’s alive.” You assure yourself, before taking a deep breath, and gathering your things. “Give me fifteen minutes.”

…

The moment you get to the Compound you know that Steve was more than vague in his explanation, because you walk into the most chaotic state you’ve ever seen the Avengers in.

Thor is speaking loudly, his voice booming and making the windows shake lightly while Tony rubs his temples, trying to soothe a certain headache. Sam is nursing a bleeding arm on the couch, and he looks pissed as he raises his voice at Tony too.

Steve, on the other hand, seems to be trying to keep everyone in check while Wanda and Carol sit on the nearest couch looking exhausted. No one notices you at first.

“Good evening, Doctor.” Scratch that, Friday notices you, and suddenly everyone else does too. They all fall silent the moment they see you, and when no one opens their mouth you rush down the hallway to the med-bay, terrified all over again.

“Wait up.” Someone calls behind you.

“What the hell happened out there?” You ask over your shoulder, and you realize that everyone is coming with you.

“You know we can’t tell you what happened.” Steve says calmly, and you turn around abruptly causing him to stumble trying to catch himself before running into you.

You notice that his brow is bleeding from a small cut, and his suit has a tear on its chest, and he looks exhausted.

“I don’t want the details of the mission, Steve. I meant what happened to my wife.” You clarify, and he looks to his left as he swallows, and then nods.

“Bullet wound.” He says, and you close your eyes as you take a deep breath. Then you turn around, and resume walking.

You know how secretive Natasha’s work is, and you understand the risks. She’s an Avenger, and protecting the world is her job. Injuries are, at this point, just a professional hazard for her.

Still, she’s your wife, and over the years you’ve only become more protective of her instead of more accustomed to the inevitability of these kinds of calls.

“She should have waited.” You hear Tony say, as you round a corner.

“Yeah, and you were a load of help.” Sam says sarcastically, and you begin to pay closer attention to their conversation.

“More help than you, that’s for sure. Getting yourself shot the second you showed up.” Tony snarks back, getting angrier by the second.

“You put us all in danger by going for that computer, Stark.” Thor says, and the steel in his voice is terrifying to hear. “You are not a team player.”

“Newsflash, beach boy.” Tony starts, just as you reach the med-bay. “We need that computer if we want to put an end to this nightmare.”

“That’s enough.” Carol says, and even you straighten up at hearing her command. “Not now.”

The second you spot your wife you rush to her side, while simultaneously assessing the situation with a critical eye. Her waist is patched up, and you breathe a little easier when you realize that the bullet must have not hit anything vital. She’s being hydrated intravenously, and they’ve administered an antibiotic. Other than that, she just seems to be sleeping.

You know she heals faster than a regular person, but you can’t help but feel as scared as you do every time that she comes home with a bruise, let alone a bullet wound. She’s not invincible, despite the world’s beliefs.

You take a moment to look at her before you press your lips softly to her temple, and pull up the sheets to cover up to her chin. You pick up her chart next.

The bullet went through and through just like you thought. They just had to patch her up, the wound was already healing when they brought her in.

“She should have waited.” Tony says again, and you pick up on the fear lacing his tone. Natasha and Tony go way back, you know he’s her oldest friend among the Avengers, and he wouldn’t put her in danger deliberately.

So whatever’s happened, you rest easy at knowing that he had her back. He always does.

“That’s enough, Stark.” Carol speaks again, her voice is steel now, and it scares you slightly. “You can try to justify what happened out there all you want, but we all know the truth. We all heard what you said. We all know that it was you who gave Natasha the go-ahead. So stop. Nat is on this bed because of you. Own it.”

The silence that falls upon the room is deafening, and your confusion only increases the moment Natasha opens her eyes.

“Jesus, Danvers! You’re being way too harsh.” Your wife rasps with humor in her tone. You know she’s okay, but that still doesn’t stop you from leaning down to kiss her lips the moment she’s done speaking. “Who called my wife?” She asks, her hand cupping your face as you comb her hair back with your fingers before kissing her again.

“We gotta stop meeting like this.” You joke, and she scrunches up her nose.

“You think you’re funny.” She says, her thumb caressing your cheek.

“Yeah, well. You married me.” You shrug, and she smiles up at you.

However, your joy at having your wife in one piece is quickly snatched away when you can feel the rising tension among her team again.

“We can talk about this later.” Steve says, as you sit down on the edge of the mattress, your wife’s hand in yours as you both turn your attention to her friends.

“Of course.” Tony says, but you can hear the sarcasm in his voice, and so can everyone else.

“Tony, come on. We’ll talk about it later.” Wanda insists, her hand on his forearm, but he’s quick to shake her hand off, and step closer to the bed, his eyes firmly locked on your wife.

“You were an idiot!” He points a finger at Nat, and it’s your turn to frown.

“Tony.” Sam, and Carol try to stop him but he continues to advance on your wife anyway.

“What the hell are you talking about?” You wife asks as you slowly stand up.

“That’s enough, Tony. Come on, man.” Steve intervenes, but Tony ignores him, his eyes still trained on your wife.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the master spy? The brains of this bunch, besides me?” He shouts, his anger sparking your own, and you find yourself pushing him back before he can take another step closer to Natasha.

“Listen here, pal.” You growl, as he stumbles back a couple of steps. “There are two things I need from you right now. One: Stop yelling at my wife, and Two: Stay the hell away from her. Got it?”

“Seriously?” He raises an eyebrow at you, and you step closer, daring him to try you. He may be Iron Man, and a dear friend, but you’re Natasha’s wife, and he’ll have to respect that.

You glare until he takes a step back in response, still frowning. He looks at Nat over your shoulder, and you hear her snicker.

“I’d listen to her, Tony.” She tells him, and you can hear the amusement in her voice. She’s not angry, or hurt, despite Tony’s frustrations.

“Is anyone seeing this?” He asks, his index finger pointing at your chest, as he looks at everyone else in this room.

“Come on, man.” Steve sighs again, and you catch Carol smirking, as Wanda rounds the bed to get closer to Natasha.

When Tony looks at you again you can see the regret in his eyes as clear as day. You don’t know what happened out there, but you don’t blame him for your wife being on this bed. Natasha doesn’t take uncalculated risks, at least not since you two got married. Whatever decision she made during their mission was her own, you’re certain of that.

“How about a shower, and a nap?” You tell him, your hand on his arm now, and he lets out a deep breath. He looks exhausted, and he’s a dear friend of yours too. You need him rested, and taken care of before he attempts to speak to Natasha again. “Come back later, we’ll be here all night.”

“Yeah.” He nods, and he leaves quickly, leaving you surrounded by equally exhausted superheros.

“How do you do that?” Sam asks you, as Carol and Steve walk closer to the bed too.

“Do what?” You ask him, feigning ignorance.

“You know what.” He says, and Carol is laughing when you turn around.

“What’s so funny?” You wife asks her as you sit on the mattress, and begin running your fingers through her hair again. You smile to yourself as the Avengers gather around your wife’s bed.

“Nothing, really.” Carol shakes her head, and your wife frowns, fixes Carol with a glare that only makes the Captain laugh harder as she turns around, and makes for the door.

“Don’t say it.” Sam shakes his head, also amused and you’re tempted to laugh at the look on their faces but you limit yourself to watching the interaction.

“What?!” Your wife insists.

“Well, your wife is a lot scarier than you these days.” Carol shrugs, one foot in the hallway already, and Sam hides his laughter behind a very fake coughing fit.

“And that’s funny why?” Your wife asks, and Steve shakes his head, finally smiling.

“You’re the Black Widow.” Carol deadpans, and your wife glares harder.

“It is kinda true.” Wanda says, nodding her head, and your wife huffs in disbelief this time.

“Children, the bunch of you.” You call them, as you stand up again to put an end to their teasing. Natasha really does need to rest, as do all of them. “Go, take showers please. And eat something.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Steve says with humor in his voice, and you roll your eyes as you practically push him out of the room.

When they’re gone, you close the door before taking off your jacket, and heels.

“What are you doing?” Your wife asks with a smile, even while she scoots over on the mattress, already making room for you.

You get in bed with her, your arms wrapping around her middle as she presses her lips to your temple, and hugs you tight.

“You need a shower too.” You tell her after a little while, and she pinches your arm as she laughs.

“Rude.” She says, but you’re quick to kiss her lips.

“Babe, I love you. But you’re all sweaty and gross right now.”

“I was shot!” She reminds you, and you hum in response.

“No need to remind me.”

“I’m sorry.” She apologizes. “I got distracted for just one second.”

“What happened?” You ask her.

“There was this really cute tabby-cat, and he was right in the middle of - ”

“Hold on.” You interrupt her, your hand in the air. “Please tell me that you didn’t get shot because of a cat, Natasha.”

The silence that you’re met with is answer enough, but she looks absolutely adorable as she grimaces, and pulls back a few inches from you. But that’s exactly who she is, isn’t it? She’s the kind of person that would get shot because she was trying to protect someone… or in this case a cat.

“You really are scary.” She tells you, and you roll your eyes again. You know she likes cats but this is just ridiculous.

“I swear!” You huff, and she hugs you closer, her lips pressing sweet kisses on your shoulder again. “Do they know why you got shot?”

“Wanda does.” She says with a smile.

“That girl is always helping you when you’re reckless.”

“That’s why I love her.” Natasha smiles wider this time, and her wandering lips continue to press kisses along your neck, your jaw.

“If you think you’re getting lucky while you’re lying on a bed after getting shot because you saved a cat, think again.” You tell her with a pointed look and she lets out a disappointed breath, a smile on her face as she presses one last kiss on the corner of your lips.

“You need to tell Tony that. He thinks you got shot because of him.” You tell her quietly.

“I know.” She sighs, and you can see how tired she feels.

“Thanks for defending me.” She says after a few minutes of lying in silence.

“Anytime.” You grin cheekily at her, and she presses one last kiss on your cheek before getting more comfortable.

You both know that she doesn’t need you standing up for her. She could have handled Tony on her own, and she can take her teammates teasing. They all know how far to push after all. She is the Black Widow.

But ‘Black Widow’, ‘ex-assassin’, ‘deadliest woman alive’ or not she’s still your wife, and the love of your life and you will always, always stand up for her.

…

#natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff imagine #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff #black widow imagine #black widow x reader

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mistydeyes · 9 months

Text

miss americana: gaz edition

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series summary: The 141 has varying thoughts about Americans which range from finding them wildly entertaining to thinking they’re the worst people on earth. However you challenge their perspectives when you meet them. Something about you makes them feel a little more patriotic ;)

summary: When you finally move to the UK, there are a few things that confuse you and Gaz is more than happy to help out! From realizing cars are not automatic to the different colloquialisms, he enjoys clarifying the differences in culture.

pairing: Kyle "Gaz" Garrick x American!Reader

warnings: none

a/n: FINALLY something that I don’t have to do research on because I’m from the US🦅🎆 I have other parts planned to this as well!

also these are 100% inspired by all the questions I ask @lundenloves, she entertains my constant surprise and shock lol

┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊ ⋆ ┊ . ┊ ┊┊

Whenever you go out with Gaz you ask him to “translate” for you.

When you first walked the rainy London streets with Gaz, you felt like a toddler with all of your questions. "Why does that stationary store have a sale on condoms?" you asked, confused, as you directed his attention to the sign that displayed a sale on rubbers. "You mean erasers?" he corrected, laughing. Next was when you saw a store you liked and immediately directed him inside, saying you needed pants. Despite how cute you looked while shopping, he had to correct you saying they were trousers and that pants had a very different meaning. Finally, the most egregious example was when you went to a restaurant and ordered biscuits to accompany your savory dish of soup. Once the waiter laughed in response, you looked at Gaz confused. "A biscuit is not like what you get in the Southern US, it's more of a cookie," he explained as you flushed with embarrassment. You would have to do some research next time and consult your British tour guide.

You’re an absolute menace when he goes to the grocery store or what he calls the grocers. You will go up and down the aisles, picking up whatever you fancy.

"Where are those chocolate oranges?" you demanded as you went down the aisle with Gaz. He pushed the cart, or trolley as he called it, which was already filled with a variety of snacks. Anything that looked distinctly British and that you knew you couldn't get at home, went in the cart. He had to hold you back from getting biscuits and crumpets. "Do you think we're having a tea party?" he joked as you waddled back with your selection. "Can we?" you asked, excitedly, and Gaz knew you were going to spend another 30 minutes in the tea aisle. "Let's just find you some Terry's and then we can consider getting tea," he corrected and you pulled the cart rapidly ahead. "I'm going to buy a whole orchard of those oranges."

Later on, you did buy a bushel worth of oranges and Gaz gently rubbed your stomach after you ate two entire ones. "They're just so good," you mumbled before you regretted the lactose coursing through your digestives.

Sometimes you’ll entertain him with distinctly American experiences.

"Did I ever tell you I was going to join a sorority in college?" you mused as you sat on the couch. He looked down at you before replying. "A what?" he questioned and you laughed. "You're telling me you've never heard of Greek life!" you exclaimed as he shook his head. You sat up for this fun explanation. "Essentially, if you're a girl you join a sorority and you spend like 4 days meeting the sister, trying to get them to like you, and then you're given a bid," you explained, he nodded as if this wasn't a foreign concept to him. "Then you all gather, usually in a football stadium or field, and they call your name as well as the sorority you're in and you run towards them." At that, he looked in horror. "It sounds cultish," he remarked and you lightly punched his arm. "It's cute! Everyone dresses up in different themes like 'Las Vegas' or 'Teddy Bears'," you smiled but he still shook his head, "it's the hazing that's cultish."

You will always insist on driving but Gaz remembers the one time he let you drive.

"Kyle, just let me drive!" you exclaimed as he beat you to the car door. In all honesty, you were a little used to being on the passenger side back at home but nevertheless, you were annoyed at his constant insistence at driving. "No," he simply said, "need I remind you what happened last time." The minute he said that you remembered the first time he tried to let you drive. First, you were surprised it was a stick shift rather than an automatic but it was nothing to worry about. It took you a few streets to get used to the changing gears but Gaz still had confidence in you. It wasn't until you pulled into a shopping center and started driving on the wrong side of the road that he made you park and take over. "It wasn't that bad!" you exclaimed, buckling into the passenger seat. "Love, my life flashed before my eyes."

He’ll make fun of you when you order coffee with a smile and try to make a friendly conversation with the barista.

As you entered the coffee shop, you were easily the happiest one there. It was 7 am and even Gaz wasn't as cheery as you are. "Good morning, how are you?" you smiled at the young barista. She returned your smile and eased her tired shoulders. "I'm doing alright, what are you having today?" she replied and you took a minute to think. “Just a cup of coffee for him,” you replied, pointing at Gaz. You pondered for a minute as you strained to look at the signs. "What do you think is good here?" you questioned and her eyes lit up as she began to list the options. "If you're looking for coffee, a cortado is my favorite, but I personally recommend trying our tea," she recommended and you nodded. "Hmm I'll take both," you cheerily replied, watching as she typed in your order. When you pulled out your wallet, you looked around curiously and the barista noticed your hesitation. "Is there anything else I can get you?" she asked before you looked up at her. "You don't have a tip jar here?" you wondered and she let out a laugh. "We don't, more of an American thing," she answered and you frowned slightly. You let her know to keep the change and waited patiently for your order at the end of the coffee bar. "You're too cute sometimes," Gaz said, kissing your forehead gently. He made sure to get a picture of you with your two cups, captioning it, "They finally got their cuppa!"

He helps you navigate the surprisingly easy currency and pricing system.

“Kyle I need more,” you corrected as he handed you a handful of notes. You had gone souvenir shopping in London but forgotten your wallet at his flat. “What do you mean, that’s enough,” he replied as he flipped over the postcards to check if he did his math correctly. “What about the tax? You forgot about that,” you said triumphantly and he laughed in response. “Oh this is one of your American things,” he said, his new favorite term to use, “Love, you pay what’s on the sticker.” Cue your shocked face as you couldn’t fathom the moment of anticipation as your items were rung up at home. On the ride home, you were sure to explain to Gaz the ins and outs of the different taxes including that there was no clothing tax in Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. “I cannot believe you don’t know how much you’re paying when you go up to the till,” he remarked, shaking his head in dismay. “The what?”

There are some disagreements on the meaning of different words (especially ones that you both share but mean two completely different things).

On a rare day, the entire 141 was free, and Gaz decided to introduce you to them. You returned back from the grocers and were surprised when Gaz began preparing a late lunch. “We’re not going to eat at the bar?” you asked, noticing him turning the stove on. “No, no they don’t have food there,” he corrected as your face turned to confusion, “what do you think the bar is?” Upon your explanation of an American bar with cheap drinks and greasy food, Gaz laughed and kissed your cheek gently. “If you want to go to a pub, I can just let them know the change of plans. There’s plenty around,” he responded and went to put the items back in the fridge.

When you arrived at the lively pub, Gaz made sure to sit you next to Soap so you could listen better to his thick accent. While you appreciated the gesture, the Scotsman still spoke a mile a minute. Despite your initial uneasiness, you soon fell into lively conversation and entertained everyone with your stories from college and things you found differently in the UK. "I think the time zone was the biggest issue," you said in response to Ghost's question about your transition to living abroad, "although, the lack of ceiling fans was interesting." They all laughed in response before Gaz interjected. "Tell them about when you ordered a baked potato," he joked and your eyes immediately lit up before you went into a long conversation about your experience. As everyone laughed at your bewilderment at the lack of serving the side with bacon, cheese, and sour cream, Gaz looked at you fondly, his favorite American.

#kyle gaz garrick #gaz x reader #kyle garrick x reader #task force 141 x reader #task force 141 #cod x reader #call of duty modern warfare #cod mwii #modern warfare 2 #call of duty #mw2 imagine #madebyizzie #gaz imagine #kyle garrick imagine #mw2 #izzie is writing

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takaraphoenix · 4 months

Text

Polympians Event!

Clarifying right off the gate: This does NOT mean exclusively Percy x poly Olympians, it means any god/Percy ship.

EDIT: I made a sideblog for the event: @polympians-event

EDIT 2: Here's the link to the AO3 collection!

What is the Polympians Event?

What I have in mind is an open event for any and all god/Percy ships. You ship Percy with only one god? Fill the prompts with only that ship! You sail many different god/Percy ships? Fill each prompt with a different ship, if you want! A full Percy/Olympians poly ship, OT3 or any poly constellation? Primordial gods, titans or non-Olympian gods? Any god(s)/Percy ship goes!

I've seen, in recent years, that god/Percy ships have gained quite some traction and I love that, so much. But while there are bigger ships that do have their own events, there are also the tiny rarepairs that don't get these chances, and even with the bigger ones, not everyone has the time/energy to participate in all their ships' events. So one blanket event, where the biggest of god/Percy ships and the rarest of god/Percy ships are equally welcome.

Are there rules to this?

Yes, but only the most basic. No ship bashing or harassment of other participants. The event is open to all god/Percy ships, which means people will participate with your NOTPs too. Don't like them? Don't read them. Instead, focus on the new content to your own ships! If you can't be a civil, normal person about this, then this event isn't for you.

Whether you want to write smut or not is entirely up to you, but you ought to tag appropriately!

What's the plan?

I chose the dates of the Lightning Thief quest for this event! Meaning it will run from May 28th (Percy waking up at CHB) to June 21st (Percy returning the Master Bolt and Helmet).

That length works out well for there to be 12 prompts, and you would have two days to post each prompt, plus an additional 13th prompt on the last day, to keep with the theme of the Olympians.

I'll get an AO3 collection started to which you can submit your entries on AO3 and, if there would be interest in it, I could start a sideblog specifically for this event to which entries (with proper ship tags so you can filter out your NOTPs) will be reblogged as a signal boost.

What are the prompts?

May 28th/29th: Roman

May 30th/31st: wedding/marriage

June 1st/2nd: The sea does not like to be restrained

June 3rd/4th: family focus

June 5th/6th: jealous/possessive [god]

June 7th/8th: role-swap AU (god!Percy/demigod![god])

June 9th/10th: Modern AU/no powers

June 11th/12th: metamorphosis/shapechange

June 13th/14th: godly gifts

June 15th/16th: Aphrodite ships it

June 17th/18th: Percy accepts godhood

June 19th/20th: yearning/pining

June 21st: Mythology

And because I'm bad at phrasing short prompts, here some explanations on what I had in mind with them, though you are of course free to interpret them in whatever manner you read them!

Roman: could mean the Roman aspect of the god, a Roman!Percy AU, or whatever else you want to make of it!

family focus: Are Percy and the god married with children of their own? Percy as step-parent to campers? The god meeting Sally, Paul and/or Tyson?

metamorphosis/shapechange: the gods have a track-record of turning people into animals or plants. Does this mean full animal, or catboy/other hybrid? Is this angst or fluff?

godly gifts: magic powers granted to Percy, or literal physical gifts to court, or something else?

Aphrodite ships it: Aphrodite as wing-woman, hyping and helping, can also very much include Aphrodite/Percy since she would be her own biggest shipper

Mythology: could be a mythological AU where Percy takes on a role from the past, or specific elements of a tale that recur, anything

Let me know if you're interested so I know I won't be hosting this just for myself!

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cepheustarot · 7 months

Text

Will you achieve your goal? What needs to be done to achieve it?

Attention! This reading is for entertainment purposes only. This tarot reading does not give a 100% guarantee that all the described situations will occur. You build your own life and destiny.

Pick a pile. Choose one or more pictures. Trust your intuition.

Pile 1: you will achieve the goal, and here I see people who have a common goal with someone, or are connected with people, with a certain person. People can also help you achieve your goal. As I see it, here some may have lost their way, find themselves in a dead end situation and the actions you are taking to resolve this situation do not help. You are in search of a solution, come up with new strategies, new plans, try to look at everything from different angles, objectively assess your situation. The cards say that in order to move on, you need to abandon the old strategy, actions that you already do out of habit or automatically and try something new for yourself. Here i am talking about the fact that you need to try something that at first glance you would consider unsuitable for yourself, like: "this is strange, not in my style, I would think about this last turn", in general, try something new, unusual for you, to go beyond the usual, that's what I mean. And just people can help you take the first steps towards discovering something new and unusual. I thought it necessary to pull card with advice for you, it says: give yourself a second chance. Perhaps you have already tried something before, but it didn't work out, so it's worth going back to it again and trying again. I understand that my explanations may sound very vague, but the tarot readings are common to everyone and I try to describe it in such a way that it fits at least most of the options. In any case, I believe in you and that you will cope and achieve success!

Pile 2: you will achieve the goal, I see that you are determined to achieve your goal. you yourself possess such qualities as intelligence, insight, accept any challengs, you are one of those whom competition and rivalry motivates, sets up to reach heights, to be better than others, than everyone else. And you need to continue to maintain this attitude in order to achieve what you want. But be careful, do not be arrogant, because competitors can get ahead of you and because of this you will fall into complete despondency, the desire to do something will disappear, you give up. It is also possible that you are a workaholic who work day and night, you do not know what rest is and therefore often burn out, which then results in apathy. But if you have already lost your attitude and are in a pessimistic state, then you should remember why you did not give up earlier, which helped you move on. remember what you have already achieved and remember that your condition is not eternal, it will pass. You will definitely achieve what you want, believe in yourself.

Pile 3: You will not reach the goal, there is a chance that the goal that you have now seems no longer relevant and you will change it to something that suits you more at this time. I took out the cards to clarify why you will not achieve the goal, and here I see that many people have this goal associated with close people with whom you have made plans. Maybe you are now going through a breakup, divorce, loss of a person, or you are disappointed in a person and do not want to have anything to do with him anymore, because you saw his other side, saw that he lied to you, did not keep promises or something like that. You could also have a misunderstanding that is difficult to resolve, because you and your interlocutor are very stubborn and cannot find a compromise. Also, someone may have a division of things, money, property, etc. by inheritance, and perhaps you did not get what you expected or did not get anything at all, although you were promised a lot. Here we can also talk about business, for example, an unsuccessful transaction took place or your investments in something did not pay off and competitors pushed you out, ahead of you. In fact, all these failures will end and what you have lost will return to you many times better, more, so try not to hang up your nose. I am sure that everything will get better in your life and you will cope with everything, you are stronger than you think.

Thank you for reading! I will be glad of any feedback <3

#pick a card #pick a card reading #tarot #tarot cards #tarot reading #pick a pile

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noaltbruh · 1 year

Note

Saw requests open. May I request Giorno, Narancia and Fugo with a short petite girlfriend who’s self conscious about her height? So no short nicknames. I’d like to see how they’d like having a short gf 💗 Maybe their reactions to her standing on her tip toes to kiss them or asking them to reach something for her on the top shelf.

Hii Abella! 😊 Always happy to write for you :)

~~~~

Giorno, Fugo and Narancia with a petite S/O

Giorno 🐞

I think that Giorno knows he was supposed to be taller/more muscular, but being malnourished by his mother as a child, he failed to properly develop.

Which means that the idea of making fun of you for your height doesn't even cross his mind from afar. It's not like it's something you can control anyway.

I feel like he'd understand your self-consciousness about your body without you really needing to tell him. The way you look at yourself in the mirror or the comments you make about yourself already clarify everything for him.

Just know that if you ever felt insecure, this boy is ready to fill you with compliments and sweet words until those thoughts go away. He hates to see you criticise yourself, especially for something as insignificant as your height.

He actually thinks that your appearance makes you look cuter than you already are, and it reflects your sweet nature very well. He couldn't imagine you with any other way, he just thinks you're perfect as you are.

He makes you to constantly remind you this, he knows you may still doubt his words from time to time.

Buddy, you won't even have to ask him to get something for you. It's almost as if he has a sixth sense for this sort of thing. Once he thinks you're going to need a book or such, he'll take it down from the shelf and leave it on a table for you.

He doesn't want to see you struggle and figured you might get a bit embarrassed from always asking for help, he prefers to quietly help you as subtly as he can.

Also, I can see him avoiding putting stuff on high shelves in general unless it's absolutely necessary, he knows it must be a pain for you not to be able to do this sort of thing alone.

Definitely likes to take advantage of your figure when it comes to cuddles. Expect a lot of head pats from him, it's one of his favorite ways to show appreciation for you :)

This is a bit extra, but I can totally see him getting down on his knees to kiss your hand or flirt with you, just to make you feel above him, in a sense, and show that he's always at you full service.

He already knew you were going to get on tip toes to kiss him, but he didn't expect you to look so adorable. He'll smile at you softly before gently lowering his head in order to assist you.

He'll definitely pick you up bridal style quite often, so you don't have to struggle every time you try to reach his lips.

Fugo 🍓

Okay, to be frank with you, I don't think Fugo had thought about you possibly being insecure about your height until you hypothetically brought it up yourself.

Not because he doesn't care or he's neglectful to the point of not noticing. It's simply due to the fact that he's never been someone who focused a lot on physical appearance and considers it completely unimportant.

You can basically see hearts in his eyes everytime he looks at you, he could never criticise or believe there was anything wrong with your appearance. He thinks that would be incredibly superficial and hypocritical, considering his own...Fashion sense.

So, when you tell him about this, Fugo is just...Confused. He doesn't get it at first glance, but he's not stupid and can tell it makes you uncomfortable. He'd probably even ask you if anyone ever made you feel bad about your appearance, since it's the only logical explanation to him as to why you'd dislike this aspect of yourself.

Either way, although he doesn't fully grasp this idea, he'll still try his best to make you appreciate yourself like he does.

He's not as good with compliments as Giorno though, so he may sound a bit awkward lol. But I promise he does mean what he's saying and genuinely believes you have no reason to doubt your beauty.

I can even see him writing down what he thinks on paper so that he doesn't come off as extremely embarrassing like he does through words lol.

Whenever he's feeling stressed, Fugo will actually use your appearance for his advantage. In fact, he loves the feeling of leaning on you, specifically your shoulder, when he wants to relax. Your height difference makes it easier for him to do so.

Something similar would happen if the two of your were to read together. He'd shyly ask you if you want to sit on his legs, as he'd let his chin comfortably fall between your shoulder and your neck while you hold the book.

If you ask him to get something for you on a high shelf, he'll just do so without making a big deal out of it. He secretly thinks it's kind of cute and loves to do so, he feels like he's doing something useful.

Do not try to get on a chair to reach it yourself, however, because he WILL get mad. Don't take this the wrong way, he gets that you don't want to bother him, he's just worried you're going to fall off and get hurt.

He's a bit surprised when you get on tip toes, he hadn't realized you had no other choice if you wanted to kiss him. I can see him being conflicted on whether he should lean down on your level or not.

On one hand, he can see that you're struggling a bit and doesn't want to see you like that. On the other, he's afraid he's going to come off as condescending or male even more self conscious.

So he just stands there for a moment contemplating his next move, but you kiss him by the time he actually chooses what to do.

Moreover, your petite body only makes him want to kiss your forehead and the top of your head more than he already would.

Narancia 🍊

Buddy, I don't think you realize how happy Narancia is to have you.

Personally, I think that he was never supposed to be supet tall, but living on the streets only worsened the situation, as he either had very little or no food at all, which caused him to remain...Well, shorter than average, let's say.

Because of this, he's just as self-conscious, if not even more than you are about this. I wouldn't be surprised if someone had made fun of him in the past too.

Which means that, even though he's not usually the brightest, you won't have to say anything to him either before he realizes you struggle with this insecurity too.

Needles to say, it really pains him to see you doubt yourself like this. He's very emphatic and will tell you that he knows what's it like to look at yourself in the mirror and not like what you see.

Nonetheless, he has begun to feel more confident in his appearance ever since you got together, and he wants you to feel the same way.

He would never dare to call you shortie or anything alongside those lines, since he'd be very uncomfortable with it himself.

Instead, he'll always be ready to fill you with praises, compliments and hype you up anytime he gets the chance to. Like- maybe you weren't even feeling bad in that moment, he just thinks you're beautiful either way and wants to let you know.

And he doesn't say this just to make you feel better. He genuinely means every word he speaks, and there's nothing that matters more to him than to make you feel validated no matter what. He wants you to love yourself and your body as it is in its natural beauty, and if you can't do that, he's got enough love himself to make up for it.

Your height is one more reason for him to hug and snuggle you in literally any moment. He loves the feeling of holding you in your entirety, without leaving a single part of your body out.

He loves to piggy back ride you on his shoulders, that way you can feel tall together! And the others can't make fun of the two of you anymore.

Is it partially an excuse just to carry you around? Yes, yes it is, but does it really matter anyway? You're both having a good time and can even triumph over Abbacchio and his bad bitch high heels.

Similarly, the two of you would also use this technique to get something from a high shelf if both of you were too short to reach it...Although you have fallen off a couple of times because of this-

If he's tall enough, however, he'll help you out without a single moment of hesitation, you can tell something as simple as this makes him happy. He has the hugest grin on his face, and he hands it to you like he had just delivered some legendary object after a dangerous quest.

He's just glad his height can actually be useful for once and you don't consider it a flaw, it makes him very grateful to have you by his side.

When he sees you get on tip toes to kiss him, Narancia literally can't contain his excitement nor can wait for you to actually reach his lips. He'll just pick you up, hug you and swirl you around before kissing you himself.

No, he will not let you go after this either.

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inkyvendingmachine · 4 months

Text

Moving Pieces Season 4, Episode 2

💀 Call of Cthulhu: Haunted Hijinx Masterpost 💀 Call of Cthulhu Season Four Masterpost (Coming Soon)

Warning: This campaign is an edited version of a Call of Cthulhu scenario from the Tales of the Crescent City book. While a lot has been changed, there IS spoilers for it throughout these posts.

The boys are going through a normal one.

Can you tell I recently played Betrayal for the first time,

Art Credit: @inkdemonapologist : sketching + inking @inkyvendingmachine : concept + colouring

Joey wakes up to Sammy bursting into his office and demanding an explanation of why he didn’t come home last night. Bendy happily lets Sammy know that Joey tried to do a dream spell, which just sets him off more. They go back and forth some, Joey confirming that yes, he did that, but he was just trying to see what the general feel of Y was right now… and he doesn’t seem to be like Moonlight had been before. It seems like he’s just… doing his thing, discussing possible options with some dream-version of his sister, and not that he’s specifically scheming or anything.

While they’re doing their usual arguing dance, Sammy is suddenly interrupted by Prophet… urging him not to submit to the call of the yellow king. This is when they both notice that Sammy had actually been going for the ink faucet in Joey's office???

Joey takes this opportunity to turn the argument around on Sammy, asking if Prophet isn’t going for the ink, then why is he being called towards it? IS THE INK GOING BAD?? DID SOMEONE MESS WITH IT AGAIN!?!??

Bendy clarifies that the ink isn’t tainted, but it does seem to be resonating with something nearby… and that Sammy is sensitive to it. Sammy calls Prophet out to confirm this, as well as confirming it’s def yellow king stuff, before fading again. With that as solved as it could be, Sammy heads to Music to catch Jack up on these developments, while Joey goes and info dumps all the same info on Henry. During this he kinda talks himself thru realizing that maybe Y’s sister is not as dead as they expected… since they don’t really know what sorts of immortal properties come from making yourself an ink body.

Joey goes back to his office and gets in contact with Peter to make sure he’s still alive, gives him a command to check in at the end of day and immediately hangs up as Peter is trying to complete a response. Sammy and Jack try to find Norman to get him up to speed, but find he's called out for the day. And of course, he gave some outlandish excuse, so nobody really knows why he’s staying home. Joey calls Norman and, surprisingly, he actually picks up?? Norman admits part of the reason he’s staying home is because he’s noticed some weird shit is happening again. Joey gives him an update, which is cut off by him asking, “So when’s the trip to New Orleans? That’s where it started, right?”

That’s… a good point.

Joey hangs up on Norman and calls Grace Fowler. He plays off the reasoning as wanting to thank her for the holiday gift, and catch up with her daughter Estelle, who’s also interested in catching up with him.

Especially because between an odd dream Estelle had, where her father showed up and told her to both be careful and stay away from New York, and that night of yellow mist, she thinks Joey’s calling because there’s something weird happening. Joey confirms this, he’s not gonna lie to a child that he likes, and manages to learn from her that a strange man had also been asking her about odd happenings recently. Joey asks if he looks like how he remembers Avedon, and Estelle is extremely impressed that he’s exactly right.

So maybe this is why Norman is waiting at home for a call…

Joey promises to send her a present and tells her to keep up the good detective work, along with reinforcing not to worry her mother and stay safe and all that stuff. (the present is going to be a very good quality notebook that he gets Henry’s help to doodle Bendys and Friends on the page margins throughout it, and an engraved pen to go with it.)

Their strongest lead, at least as far as Sammy's concerned, is that weird performance of Sammy's old improv last night -- so with half a day of work done, Jack, Sammy and Susie head out to one of the clubs they remember some of that band from the charity event tends to frequent. They manage to easily get in, being recognized from their speakeasy days and Jack and Susie being their usual charming, talkative selves. People probably tried to talk to Sammy too, but he’s just interested in chatting with the Jumps after their set. Until then, they get to grab some drinks, sit back and actually enjoy the music for a while. It’s actually… kind of nice? No terrible haunted songs being played, no ink spread throughout the city gnawing in the back of Sammy’s head, no gun fire.

When they do get to talk with the band after the show, it’s immediately apparent that the clarinetist from the charity event is not there. That’s… interesting, since Prophet’s prophecy mentioned a “black wood” and Jack has noted that could be slang for a clarinet instead of a forest… Jack does remember some of these fine folks though, and starts off the conversation, only for Sammy to interject during a lull and ask where they got the music from the other night.

Everyone laughs and agrees that Sammy is still Sammy - A whole hecking gunshot weird cultist nonsense goes down and Sam’s here asking about where they sourced their music. Well, to answer that question, yes it came from a guest they were playing with that night, and yes it was the guy playing a mean reed. His name is Alan Leroy, and they’ve got a lot of nice things to say about him that can also be taken in an extremely concerning way, like how he can make sounds come out of his instrument they’ve never heard before.

Yay! That’s exactly the kind of descriptions of musicians we love to hear about!!!

Jack manages to get the information for where Alan lives, along with some of his friends. Sammy is content with this and attempts to head to the door (in entirely the wrong direction) while Jack winds down the conversation… finding out that also they haven’t been able to contact Al since the other night. He’s probably at home??? But he seemed so shaken up by that guy yelling nonsense at him…

Jack and Susie catch up to Sammy to lead him to the right door, but when Sammy opens it, it… IS the right door? Susie thinks so at least, but it seems odd to Jack, who thinks that they definitely entered through a different door, and Sammy isn’t sure what to think. Things like this haven't been reliable for him for an exceedingly long time, and he can't tell if this door is any different. Something might really be wrong if Prophet’s navigational skills are working with him and not against him…………

But outside, everything seems chill. Normal… Susie even thinks this is the same door, but Jack is very sure they were not on this block earlier. And when he turns to head back to the car, he notices a certain unmoving, pale face in a different car passing down the road. And it’s looking right at him.

Joey and Henry do a tour to check in with people after work, starting with Peter. He’s gotten in contact with his old paper and confirms the weird mist was down in NOLA. He also talked with the police and got confirmation that the shot was fired by some gangster named Johnny Nero, and some places they could look into to find out more about him.

Oh and also there was this weird guy. Peter saw him across the street during lunch, unnaturally pale, dark suit… but he didn’t get to see much more before he just up and vanished. Just a wee bit odd fella, that’s all.

Neither Joey nor Henry are feeling good about this info.

Maybe it’s time to install the buddy system again.

Joey also ends up just calling Norman instead of stopping by, from Peter’s phone of course, and updating him on what’s been going on, as well as asking him if HE knows what’s Avedon up to. Norman says he hasn’t been able to get ahold of him, but it’s good to know he’s out and about.

The other three meet up with them at Peter’s place late that night and updates are had all around. We keep splitting up so you’re gonna hear that sentence a lot this season I feel. This is what happens when our DM has given us multiple NPCs we enjoy so we keep forcing her to take them along with us. c:

Anyways, between all these comparisons, Joey is starting to think that maybe their previous experiences in Carcosa-like situations in NOLA is perhaps giving them a different view of events than say, Susie, who’s very sure that the door they left out of was the same they went in. With this information in hand and a pretty good inkling that apparently things are moving around and there’s a weird pale guy following them, the boys decide they want to go and try to talk with that Alan guy tonight.

Arriving at a pretty nice house in a pretty nice neighborhood, the boys all shuffle out of their new fancy red Mercedes to go wake Mr. Leroy up in the middle of the night. Instead they get his… butler? Who is not too happy about our middle of the night bothering. After some standard Joeying Up, he admits that Alan hasn’t been home for a few days, but also that’s not unusual. He can give us some information of friends Al usually stays with and stuff, and Joey hands over a number to be called if he returns home soon. (A number for a second phone line he got installed over the last year. It goes directly to his office and is listed under an alias, specifically for situations like this where maybe he doesn’t want to lead every gangster and cultist back to JDS right away.)

While Joey is doing his Joey thing, the others start hearing a lady around the side of the house chatting excitedly. Perhaps in a conversation with a beloved? But it seems to be just one side of it… like, WEIRDLY seems to be just one side of a conversation.

The group heads out from the house, around the corner and finds… the car isn’t there. However, there is another Mercedes up the street. Almost the same exact car, just parked somewhere different and now a stunning new colour!

It’s brown.

(well i guess they were out of blue ones.)

After closer inspection, they confirm that it is indeed their car. This is just a wee bit disorienting, and while four boys puzzle over this, Henry tiredly notices that apparently a lady has wandered up to him in the meanwhile. She takes his arm and starts talking about how she’s looking forward to when he gets his own ship, and when they sail away to spend their life together.

Henry just mumbles back “I’m married..?”

Jack and Sammy recognize her as the lady they heard earlier. Joey feels like he’s on the edge of remembering something about her, but none of them actually know who she is so. Uh.

TIME TO LEAVE.

Everyone awkwardly shuffles into the car, since it seems about as safe as anything else around them now, and drive off as the lady continues to monologue and wave Henry into the distance.

Joey asks Jack to drive directly away from the water, and watches the car as they move out of the mist.

It’s still brown.

(also Joey is still taking the middle seat as he usually does, he’s just leaning over Sammy to stare out the window.)

While they could head out to the other addresses in the middle of the night, it’s starting to feel not very safe to be split up and looking for clues with these sorts of changes happening. They pull over and Henry makes a phone call to Linda, telling her he’s not heading home tonight since it feels like eldritch nonsense may or may not be following them, and they’re gonna stay in the studio tonight. He also sees… a familiar pale face in a black suit… reflected in the glass of the phone booth… but of course, when he turns, it’s gone. The group makes their way to Norman’s, wanting to check on him and Susie in case they’re actually getting Carcosa’d.

When they get there though, Norman and Susie seem to be perfectly fine, and don’t understand why Joey is insisting on them looking at the car. It seems to Norman a very odd midnight activity, to have him look at their new paint job.

Susie’s confused. Paint job? It’s always been brown.

Welp. That seems to confirm the suspicions. Whatever’s going on, it seems only those who touched Carcosa in some way have been able to tell that things are different. Anyone else is seeing these changes as if that reality had been true from the start. Susie isn’t pleased about being kicked out of the Oddly Affected Club (or the Oddly Unaffected Club?), but it is nice to have someone they can get reality checks from. Joey states they’re gonna go back to the studio for the night, but Norman declines the invitation. He’s still waiting for a call.

Alrighty, good luck with that.

The group gets back to the studio and starts pulling some cots out of storage, Jack sits down with Lurks and chats some, while Joey goes and starts to prepare a dream spell. When Henry questions him on this, he talks about wanting to try and reach out to Fowler?? Like… up until now, they had been running with the idea that Fowler wasn’t able to be communicated with at all. But if he reached out to his family through their dreams… then maybe Joey can reach out to him in his?

Henry offers to help, because he’s actually had dreams and communication with Fowler in the past, and they both have a sort of understanding with each other. Joey can’t deny that it’d probably work better than him trying on his own, so he sets up the spell for Henry.

And Henry finds himself in a very misty dream. There’s really nothing to see, except three lit corridors going off in different directions… Henry calls out to Fowler, and sort of hears someone in the distance call back? So instead of walking into any of the lit areas, he follows the voice into the fog, and calls out once again, letting Fowler know it’s Henry…

And suddenly, from all around, a very loud booming voice shakes Henry to the core, telling him to get his family out of New York, before it’s too late.

Henry sits up from Joey’s lap and immediately goes for the phone, saying he’s sorry, he didn’t get much information but he needs to call Linda. Telling Joey what he heard as he dials, a freshly awoken Linda gets an exceedingly serious sounding Henry telling her to get the kids packed up and get out of New York ASAP. of course, her first question is about whether or not he’s coming too.

“No.”

“How do you know you’re going to be safe then?”

“I’m not.”

JOEY SNATCHES THE PHONE FROM HENRY,

and gives her an actual explanation of the situation. Something’s following them, tied to Henry, they’re trying to get it untied from them but the longer Linda and the kids stay in New York the more likely they might also get wrapped up in it which will be worse for everyone, Henry included. He’s not doing any dumb sacrificial bullshit, and Joey promises he will do everything in his power to keep Henry safe.

She knows he wouldn’t let anything happen to Henry if he could prevent it.

With that all actually said, Joey hands Henry the phone back, and he’s able to apologize for being dramatic instead of informative. With a soft I love you exchange, Henry hangs up.

And he goes and gives Joey a hug.

[Next Episode] (not yet released)

#call of cthulhu: haunted hijinx #joey drew #henry stein #jack fain #sammy lawrence #peter sunstram #norman polk #susie campbell #the prophet #they're all here in the text also yes i promise i am going easier on the thumbnails this time round #look it's not fully fully coloured

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riiwrites · 3 months

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Do you have any tips or advice on writing,your way with words truly is amazing-♦️

thank you sm lovely anon, this is such a sweet compliment 🥹

i’m not good with tips or writing tbh, like one day I just started this blog and started writing and now I’m here I guess 😭 (funfact i acc ran an IT fanfiction blog back when I was like 11 this is not my proudest moment I shouldn’t have even been on this app)

i’m a big fan of english literature and always have been, im taking higher english next year for s5 and I’ve learned quite a bit tbh that I think can help!

1. my teacher always tells me to not repeat the same words over and over again. like for example :

“character watches s/o walk into the room with their bright smile and bright eyes”

instead, you could say :

“character watches s/o walk into the room with their beaming smile and bright eyes”

personally in my opinion repetition is good for both writing and poetry but using more adapted words can really elevate your writing. but that’s just my opinion on what it does for me and i try my best not to repeat the same words consistently. if you struggle to think of more advanced words you can use google because that’s quite literally what i do but you can also use a thesaurus, they’re quite helpful i used to use them in primary school for writing :)

2. another tip i can think of is using techniques of writing, this also goes for poetry too (as im currently having to study for my english exam on poetry). there’s a few techniques you can use in writing fanfiction such as

- metaphors (an implied comparison eg. “my mum has a heart of gold” - meaning my mum is a kind hearted woman. she is)

- similes (similar to a metaphor but it’s a direct comparison, typically used in the forms of “like a” or “as” eg. “she was as cold as ice” - meaning that her personality and demeanour is rather cold and stern.)

- personification (similar to a metaphor also but this connects human characteristics such as personalities or emotions to a non living thing eg. “the trees danced in the wind” - trees cant dance like a human can, but the way they bristle in the wind can make it seem like they’re dancing)

i know some of these people would’ve already heard about but i thought I’d add in the examples and explanations just to clarify it for people who are confused and want to learn about it

this isn’t a MUST you have to include in your writing or anything but these are just tips on ways you can elevate your writing and personification is specifically good for describing scenery so the reader can feel more engaged within the story :). these are only a few of the techniques i use so if you wish to hear about more please do feel free to shoot me an ask.

3. one last tip that comes from me in my experience of writing is actually educating yourself by reading some writings you’re interested in. one thing I’ve learned about writing is that you can gain experience by becoming influenced by other people’s writings on any part of the internet. not like plagiarism of course but i mean you can become inspired by the way they write and adapt your own writing style.

i’ve learned so much from my beautiful and amazing moots and they’re all just so talented, im forever grateful and proud for each and one of them :)

but i hope this helps ♦️ anon, and YOU are my first official emoji anon HEHEHE SO THANK YOU!! and i will be adding more to this tip list if i think of anything.

and please remember, anyone can be a writer. it doesn’t matter wherever you’re a natural or if you’re “inexperienced”. we all engage and write in different styles and ways and that’s what making writing such a beautiful thing to contribute in. so don’t give up and if you need anything at all don’t be afraid to message me, i hope you’ve given this a read and again, i hope it helps. <3

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bsd x reader #bsd headcanons #fluff #bsd x you #writing #riiwrites #writing tips #fanfic #fan fiction writing #tips

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star-girl69 · 1 year

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My Heart Never Knows

a/n: ok just to clarify- the confession last chapter was mostly just for jake and neytiri to say that they're both ok with this and that it is an option they're willing to explore. but please keep in mind they have not know reader long and basically they're trying to figure out what they want while flirting w reader at the same time. it's a mess but they're cute so!!

and this chapter kinda sucks… i’m still figuring out where i want this story to go but i hope you all enjoy!!

warnings: mentions of fighting, swearing, tell me if i missed anything!!

Chapter Five - Breathe

—-

"Why are you dressed up?"

Ronal looks at you oddly as you enter their mauri, the sun still rising behind you. You pause in the entrance, placing your hands on your hips, feeling like a fool.

"I am not."

“You are." she shoots back, before a smile finds its way onto her face. "Have you met someone?"

“No!" you blurt out, far too quickly, and she only smiles wider.

"You have," she insists, walking over to you and touching one of the green jewels on your woven top, reaching up your neck, falling just to your ribs.

You shake your head adamantly, explanations spilling from your lips, but she only shakes her head.

"No. You must tell me, Y/N," she pushes some of your hair over your shoulder, knuckles brushing your skin.

"I haven't.” You repeat, trying to sound unbendable, truthful. She cannot question you, and you cannot question yourself.

“Fine. Do not tell me. I understand new love... and it is nice for it to be just the two of you,” you have never known Ronal to give up easy, and she scoffs at your unimpressed look. "I speak the truth." she says, before smiling at you once more and turning her back to you.

While you eye her, suspicious that she will suddenly turn around with demands on her lips, you do think about her words.

Have you met someone?

—-

When you wind down the woven paths, no mothers pull their children away. A few passersby even smile at you, and you return the gesture, eager to distract yourself from your thoughts.

Have you met someone?

The words ring in your head like a prayer, but instead of making you feel connected to Eywa and fulfilled, you feel like you are being torn in two.

Your feet take you to their mauri of their own accord, you body betraying you and already used to your new routine.

When you came around the bend, you saw them, standing and talking. Your eyes flicked to the blue water next to you. You could jump in right now, swim out to the seawall and live in Three Brothers Rock forever.

Instead, you keep walking. If only because no matter your heart, you promised Tonowari, and it would break you to not keep your promise.

You had decided late last night that you would take them in the water today. They have swam before, but not with the breathing techniques you had taught them. Besides, if Jake was so insistent on riding a tsurak, he needs to get used to the water.

But while the path bounces and wanes and waxes beneath you, you cannot help but feel that this morning is different.

Maybe it is the change of plans. Maybe it is the fact that you are wearing your nicest top, for reasons unknown to you.

Instead, you ignore it, because you have a duty to fulfill.

When Neytiri sees you, she smiles brightly, and you resist the urge to pull away. Neytiri is kind and beautiful, but not the type to smile at you the way she is now.

Then, Jake turns, and you see him do a double take.

You resist the urge to look down, wondering if perhaps you top is crooked, or your bottoms have shifted over. But you feel the fabric, the twine against you, and it is in all the right places.

But as soon as it is there, it is gone.

"Good morning," you say, hoping your smile does not reveal the storm underneath that is you.

"Good morning. Y/N,” Neytiri says, stepping out in front of Jake. Her eyes trail up and down, and while it still makes that ache under your ribs flare, you have grown used to her encompassing, wandering looks.

"You look fancy," Jake blurts, almost as if he has to say it before it burns him up inside. But when you look back towards him, he is only confidence. Thoughts swirl- did he mean to say it? Did he want to? Does he know what it does to you? “I like the green things. Pretty."

Suddenly the floor seems very interesting. Anything to get away from his burning eyes, like he is looking into your soul, your heart, under your ribs. “Thank you,”

You wish Eywa would appear in front of you, press your face in her hands, command you to be well, a little less of the mess you seem to become around them.

You feel stupid and small. The urge to wrap your heart in layers and layers of cloth and flesh, protect it from this strange man and woman who you refuse to believe what you feel about them.

“Would you like to swim?”

A wide smile crosses Jake’s face.

Even if you do humor the possibility that you see a future with them, they would never like you. Never want to mate with you. Not you.

“Hell yeah,”

Have you met someone?

When you walk past them, dive into the sea, the ache under your ribs hurts the most it ever has.

—-

You hear splashes behind you, and you feel the disturbance in the still water, the currents pushing at you.

You try ignore it, instead diving deeper and deeper, trying to escape their current, until you get to the bottom and can hide yourself in the coral, bury yourself instead.

But you don’t do that. You have a duty. Instead, you turn towards them, watch Neytiri’s eyes fix on a small fish swimming past, and she reaches out to touch it as it swims away.

Her hand raised, she watches as the small creature carves a path for itself, and you watch her.

When you tear your eyes away from her, you go out farther and Jake follows, Neytiri slowly trailing behind.

When you move your hands, Jake squints for a second, and you almost smile. But he recognizes it, one of the first words you had taught the two of them in Metkayina sign language, in your hand-words, as Jake said.

Breathe, you say, and-

He starts to breathe.

—-

Two Weeks Later

It is much easier to live in the moment, you have decided.

The label “friends” is precarious when placed on the three of you- you, Jake, and Neytiri- but the more you think about it the more your ribs ache and your head starts to hurt.

You have decided to let yourself float, enjoy their attention, their company. They are still cautious around others, but you think they have let you in, if just ever so slightly. They like you and you like them, and it does not have to be anything more than that.

You had dinner with them once, where Lo’ak spent most of the time trying to subtly ask questions about Tsireya, and you found that you got along well with all of their children.

Later, when Neytiri was handing you a shawl to walk home- she had insisted, saying you could return it when you saw her again- you confided in her that you had been nervous.

She had just smiled and told you, “They loved you. We all do.”

And when you look at her now, your mind flicks back to that moment.

Not thinking about what it means, for you, for the clan, for them, but instead just basking in the feeling of being wanted.

Neytiri has taken your place, assisting Ronal in her day to day tasks as the Tsahìk, and there is really no use for you anymore. But Ronal doesn’t trust Neytiri, not like she trusts you, so she still wants you to come.

And she is your sister, so why would you refuse her?

Now, Neytiri sits next to you, helping you wrap a man’s leg, cut open in a hunting accident. Ronal makes a tea on the far side of the room- too far for her to hear you two.

The man you tend to is delirious from the pain, but you can’t bring yourself to speak.

It is too nice to just be here with her, to sit next to her, to feel your knees touch so slightly. Your skin burns where it touches hers, but you don’t move.

Would it matter if you burned, as long as you burned with her?

—-

“Jake! Jake!” when you call, you almost expect him to ignore you. But he turns, almost immediately, walking towards you.

He is a force, cutting through the people on the walkways, because he commands a room. His song is one of violence, and he is walking towards you, fists clenched, dark look in his eyes.

It is only a few steps, but it feels like a lifetime until he is in front of you. Scars line is chest like a spiderweb, and you want to reach out and trace each one with your fingers, your tongue-

“I- I didn’t think you would-” you say, flustered, surprised that he actually gave you the time of day.

His face drops. “I’m sorry, ‘M just-”

He curses under his breath, fists clenching, and is it so wrong for you to grab his hand? Because you do, pull his fingers out, unfurl them like a flower.

He stares down at your intwined hands for a second, the back of his palm resting in the bowl of yours, your other hand wrapped around his fingers. It is just basic biology- his hands are bigger than yours, but you find that you quite like it.

“I heard what happened,” you whisper, staring at him, but his eyes are still downcast. “I’m sorry that Ao’nung said that to Kiri, did that to your boys.”

“It’s alright,” he murmurs, shaking his head, and when he looks up it is your turn to look down.

“You are not your children, and I am not my nephew. But, I- we are okay, right?”

“What?”

And the disbelief in his voice makes you look up, makes you stare him right in the eyes and you are pinned under him and your ribs ache and it is not enough, you think, not enough not enough-

“We- we are okay?”

He smiles, and you are standing on a cliff and he is below and you are falling, falling, doing everything you said you were not.

“Why wouldn’t we be okay? We are. Okay, I mean. I can’t blame you for the actions of someone else.”

And you cannot bring yourself to answer, because you don’t know what you would do if the three of you were not okay. You let go of him and nod, swear his face drops, and say you will see him tomorrow.

You are sinking underneath their waves, and you know you should be dying, drowning and falling and sinking. But you still breathe.

You do not- cannot- think about why that is.

—-

taglist:

@sully-stick-together @corrupt-cadaver420 @jadynchronicle @imthefunniestpersonalive @fangil101 @mashiromochi @rey26 @soothinghummerz @myheartfollower @pwallettes @melodykisses @ghoulfiendz @fanboyluvr @itsyaspwr @khaleesihavilliard @capbrie @nothingfuninthislife @faceaeter @thetrashindrakensroom @makeup-stuff-and-such @my-dearest-agent @miyamuraaaa @ex0ticnobody @xoxovienna

#jake sully x neytiri #jake sully x reader #neytiri x reader

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maniculum · 2 months

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Bestiaryposting Results: Dikebael

This animal's name is, admittedly, a bit of a "Tirion upon Túna (upon Rye)" situation in that I did not process that there was anything unusual about the name until, shortly after the entry went up, it got a "heh. Dick-ball" reply. (And they weren't alone; at least one of the art posts that's gone up has acknowledged the unfortunate name.) It probably doesn't help that this entry references the animal's testicles.

I can't even go, "well, it's not pronounced like that," because by the orthographical rules of the conlang I used to generate these names, it would be pronounced /dɪ·kɛ·bæ·ɛl/, so the start still pretty much sounds like "dick". I'd say I'll be more careful about that in future, but I scheduled all of these ahead of time and I'm not sure it's worth digging through the queue, so we'll just have to see.

Anyway, for anyone who's not sure what this whole "bestiaryposting" thing is, you can find an explanation and previous posts here: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. The entry that people are working from this time is here:

(Also, I just want to remind anyone reading that you're free to join in -- this is not a closed thing, just check out the "maniculum bestiaryposting" tag and sort by latest to see what the current beast is. Felt I should say that since we've had the same group of people for a while and I don't want anyone seeing the same set of usernames each time and thinking this is an exclusive club.)

Anyway, art below the cut in roughly chronological order.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here), acknowledging the lack of physical description in the entry, has opted to just have fun with it and put together this strange chimerical creature. I think the flat little horns on top of its snout are really interesting -- the linked post describes them as functioning like a stone circle to make sure it has the right date for its annual announcements. I have no idea if that would work at all, but it seems like it fits the general logic of the bestiary, and I like it.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) has an interesting explanation in the linked post about how they decided to combine features of various desert-dwelling animals with the basic body plan of a peccary (which is apparently the same animal I know as a "javelina" -- I learn a lot looking stuff up while I write these posts). They then acknowledge that, without the context of all the things they're working in here, it kind of just looks like they've drawn a very large warthog. It's a very good hog, though. Something neat that you might miss if you're just looking at the drawing without the context of the post, for instance, is that it has the same fat-storing tail as a fat-tailed sheep. For more little bonuses like that, check out the linked post.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has given us a whole herd of critters here. They've also hooked onto the "desert" thing due to the lack of physical description, collected traits from real-world animals that make them successful in a desert biome, and combined them into a new creature. They make me think of jackals, which aren't mentioned in the linked post, and also make me think of donkeys, which (kind of) are. Let's all take a moment to note the baby hiding behind a pile of rocks to the right, watching a smaller animal of some sort. I think it's cute.

CheapSweets also wonders about the significance of March 25th, and I have to say so do I. It's not explained in the text. The symbolism bit does say they call the same number of times during the day and night to represent the devil wanting to make day and night the same, which... what?

@pomrania (link to post here) clarifies that this is a grayscale rendering and that the animal would actually be a sort of dusty tan in a color version. They also went the direction of "this animal lives in the desert, so let's focus on desert adaptations." So we've got the split hooves and nostrils that can close to keep out sand. I particularly like the overhanging lip; it adds a certain charm, I think.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has decided that this is an excellent excuse to draw an elephant, since we're short on specific description beyond them living in Africa and being able to make loud noises. As a bonus, this means that the young Dikebael can be conveniently hidden behind the mother's large ears. The other aspects of this illustration relate to Coolest-Capybara having a pretty solid theory as to "why March 25th" -- apparently that's the Feast of the Annunciation, which of course the medieval author would have known. So here we have the Archelephant Gabriel trumpeting at Mary. (Actually it seems like the baby is doing the trumpeting, and it looks adorable doing it.) The linked post describes the medieval artworks that are being referenced in the illustration, so I recommend checking that out.

Anyway, time to check the Aberdeen Bestiary...

... well, we can't, actually. The Aberdeen Bestiary is missing a few folios, and this is on one of those. I got the text from MS Bodley 764, since I have a print translation of that one and it's fairly similar. For the illumination, we're going to go to the digitized Ashmole Bestiary, which is even more similar but I don't have a translation of it.

So this is the onager or wild ass.

Interestingly, it looks pretty much identical to the image of the tame ass on the same page, but to be fair, I don't think I'd be able to distinguish between an onager and a donkey with any reliability. Makes one wonder why they have separate illustrations, though.

And yeah, I have no additional explanation for why... any of the stuff in the entry.

#maniculum bestiaryposting #dikebael

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sukunasdirtylaugh · 3 months

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part one, part two, part three, part four

one day, lord toji arrives late into the evening. the sun had not set yet and the birds were still out. today, ameera had been out busy with dinner and the others were not by the entrance when he arrived, almost not wanting to be seen.

he walked with a certain drag, a limp by his left ankle. and you noticed, cautiously walking to his aid.

"my lord," you jeld your breath in, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he rasps, trying to walk past you, "just... I need to sit down." without hesitating, you openly offer him your room. you have a bed and chair, anything. amd a part of you felt excited to assist him even if he looked injured. you wanted to return your gratitude. and to no protest, he accepts your offer, sitting on your white linen sheets.

"what... happened?"

"I happened to walk in to a disagreement with demeter," he clarifies, "she wasn't happy to hear hades wanted to spend another night with his wife."

"she... she only spends a selected amount of time with persephone, does she not?" toji nods.

"which is why I can understand she was upset, but it was no reason to lash out onto another poor bystander." you catch the way he laughs at his misfortune. "she's lucky achilles taught me how to fight before he passed." with a look of approval, you check to see his ankle. red, slightly scarred and swollen.

"I'll get you a cool rag," is all you say accompanied with a nod.

after your return, you kneel before the deity only to submerge the rag and squeeze out the remaining liquid inside. he watches how you silently swipe and press onto his wound, watching how you expertly manage to know how to tend to someone's wounds.

"when my uncle would come home, drunk," you state, "I'd often have to clean up his wounds." your explanation makes him nod, knowing why you're already skilled. he notices how you act unaffected at the sight of blood. and he dares to ask, "do you miss him?"

"not really," the sigh leaving your lips should surprise you, "but I often find myself wondering what became of them after I left."

"I can always tell you," he offers, gently. "and you wouldn't have to visit to know."

that gets your attention.

"I don't know," you sigh, "I've moved on... but I can't help but feel..."

"guilt?" you nod.

"there's no need to feel that." he reassures. "they're the ones who should be burdened by that. having you marry someone like that."

"so you've seen him?"

"I've heard of him," he answers through a clenched jaw, "but yes, I have seen him, once."

"do you think I made the right choice?" you feel yourself whispering, regretting how you could possibly tell that to him. you expect him to be annoyed at your ungratefulness, but he only remains silent.

"I think... that entirely depends on you." he says, "you avoided something that, at the expense of one thing. so... you're neither far off bad nor good." his eyes then look down to yours, "but is there something you need?" your heart flutters and your breath is stuck through your pipes.

"no," you answer softly, "I... I think I'm okay." you focus back on his wound, "is this... okay?"

you miss the gentle way the corner of his lip tugs upwards.

"yes."

#toji #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jujustu kaisen #toji fushiguro #toji x reader #jjk toji #toji x you #fushiguro #toji zenin #jujutsu toji #toji x y/n #fushiguro toji x reader

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eggtartz · 1 year

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Hello! I found your blog recently and appreciate your writing. I looked to see if requests are open but didn't find anything so if it's closed please ignore this. Can I ask for TR boys (Haitani brothers + Shuji) that they left without say anything and come back years later wanting s/o back but think s/o already have someone else and they see s/o with someone and think it's a boyfriend but it's like, the cousin? And they just get these thoughts of s/o already having someone else and when they ask s/o just clarify? A bit angst with happy ending, please (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

a/n : no worries anonnie my requests are always open! they're closed if i close the requests box and i never close them so request away! thankyou for requesting this and enjoy 🫶🏻

masterlist

ran wasn't someone who got attached, he usually forgets people's face but you were an exception. he gave his everything to you and you did the same however everything comes to an end. ran had to leave roppongi to pursue his position as a bonten executive and one of the conditions mikey has set is no relationships whatsoever. he allows hookups but no permanent relationship. ran was heartbroken but he couldn't bare the pain informing that news to you. how could him when you happily hug him every night when he has trouble sleeping, when you cook that delicious chicken soup everytime he gets into a fight, when you patch him although his injuries was severe and you had fear of blood. so ran did what he had to. he left you, without a trace, without any news. nothing. the next morning he was gone, his heart felt heavy however he knew this was the best for you.

some years later, ran has finally achieved some freedom in becoming an executive in bonten that allows him to have relationships. he immediately went back to find you again, he had little of hope because he thought you already have moved out but oh how wrong was he. extremely wrong.

he saw you, his loved one happily laughing with someone else. ran's eyes started to teared up but he blinked away those tears and shove all his thoughts. 'of course they already move on, ran you idiot. they can't be waiting for you anymore'

while you, who caught a glimpse of ran's figure snapped your neck at that direction only to find him gone. you chased him down the street, leaving your cousin in the cafe. 'it can't be him, it can't be'. ran has disappeared for so many years, you failing in finding the reason why. the day he left, you couldn't think straight because you kept blaming yourself for what he did. he left. and he the fact that he didn't said a word about it, made it more heart wrenching.

"ran haitani!" ran's body shivered at your voice, that voice he misses so much that he almost gave up his position in bonten just to be with you again. seeing you again like this in flesh made him weak, but he must have enough courage to face you again. you have found someone else anyways.

"oh y/n? oh i was just wandering around here you know to uh you know?" he stuttered a lot while averting his gaze. you huffed and puffed, trying to keep calm and your emotion at bay but it was getting harder when your boyfriend, ran was right fucking there.

"shut it haitani. what's wrong huh? what happened? you're expecting me to just be okay with you gone missing for years?! explain haitani or help me god i'll choke you right here, right now!" ran understood why you were mad, you had every reason to be upset but a small piece of his heart was selfish.

"what happened y/n? what, you couldn't wait for me?" ran hissed back at you making you stunned. your tongue froze at his venomous tone, you couldn't believe this was once your lovable boyfriend. guess time does change anyone.

"what? what do you mean?"

"that guy! you're dating someone else right? if you have moved on, then go! i don't owe you any explanation!" you shooked your head in disbelief. this dumbass, you thought.

"that isn't my date, that's my fucking cousin you dickhead!" you shouted at his face, his eyes widening. now if he remembers well, he does recount you have a cousin the same age as you.

"uh oh i don't. i don't know what to say" ran rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, he just made a fool of himself.

"oh i don't know ran, maybe a fucking apology i guess?" you glared at him and he smiled. the man smiled because he saw you, you from years ago. that same frown, that same nose scrunch. annoyed you walked away from him

"wait y/n let's go on a date again! like the old days!"

rindou was left with no choice but to leave where he was currently, the gang fightings was getting intense also there were more threats than before. he have discussed with ran and the siblings decided to leave the area, leaving everything, everyone behind. it pained rindou, but it was for the better. you were going to be safe, that'd all that matters to rindou.

rindou and ran has decided that they'll be back when the area is a bit peaceful and they did just that after several months. rindou has dyed his hair, in case anyone would recognize him and become a threat however sources had told him that the area was now 'clean'. so he did the thing he wanted to do first.

find you.

for you, you were coping with rindou's sudden actions that you didn't left to go anywhere but loath in your apartment, the same apartment you have shared with rindou long ago. the only person that kept visiting you to take care of your needs was your cousin. unfortunately, rindou has a different interpretation about this situation and thought he was your boyfriend. rindou's eyes saddened, the bouquet in his hands fell. he now realized that he was too late, too late to see you.

he saw what he thought is you hugging your cousin but it was actually you crying in his chest about how much you think of rindou, not acknowledging he was right there at the doorstep. rindou left with a thud that alerted your cousin so he left to check the sound when he saw rindou walking away.

"you? wait, stop!" hey come back!" your cousin yelled making you curious too but your nose was sniffling, body was tired that you couldn't move.

"what? what is that you want huh?" rindou asked in frustration, hand clenching around nothing as he remembered how tight you hugged this guy. again, he couldn't be mad because it was him who left you. not the other way around.

"you're rindou right? y/n boyfriend? hey why did you disappear huh? what's the matter with you?" your cousin confronted the very man who have hurt you although that wasn't his intention. "why would you care? go back to y/n. you guys go and live a happy life or whatever" rindou shrugged and walked away again.

that angered your cousin, especially with how he actually thought you and him were a thing so your cousin landed his fist in rindou's face. "are you always this dense?! im y/n's cousin idiot!"

"what?"

"yeah, that why people should communicate instead of running away! y/n's suffering here because of you rindou and you're being this selfish?"

rindou's steps were stiff but his damn legs were running and they were running towards one direction. the direction that lead to you.

"y/n!"

"ri-rindou?"

hanma has become a refugee for a some time so he always moved out to several places in a short amount of time but he never leaves you behind. never, as he think he would die without you being at his side. however the police has detected his tracks and when hanma was informed about that, he knew he couldn't drag you into this.

you two were still teenagers, especially you who has a much brighter future than he does. and you going to juvie due to helping a refugee would be a big flaw. therefore, hanma has left without a word, not wanting to involve you in any if dirty business anymore but he swore he'll come back once everything gets sorted out.

and he did came back. only for him to be heartbroken again. see, he has expected this but seeing it happening in real life just added salt to the wound. you were moving in at a new apartment it seems, a male figure helping you move your belongings in your apartment. boyfriend? fiancee? husband? hanma thought.

hanma couldn't look at you anymore so he left without a word, again.

"phew thanks i don't think i can move this boxes by myself!"

"don't mention y/n. if you didn't asked my mom would nag me for sure and make me help you anyway" he said. yeah, aunt was insisted that his son helped you moving in since they lived decently close. the day moved quickly when you have settled n your cozy apartment alone while hanma was crying while being soaked in the tobacco scent.

the next morning as how hanma thought it was pathetic, he dropped your favorite flower at your doorstep with no messages. he himself doesn't know why he did that, he just did. you just woke up hours later, going out to check your mails when you stepped on the poor flowers on your doorstep. from then, every morning your doorstep would have your favourite flower but you knew. he was the only one that knows your favorite flower. hanma shuji.

so after a week you decided to wake up a little bit early and catch hanma on action. surely he stepped at your door, inhaled the flower and left it there. when he was about to leave with his motorcycle you ran and pounced on his back.

"dumbass! idiot! zombie! you suck!" you said while repeatedly hitting his back while hanma struggled to stop your fury without hurting you. "whoa okay you're mad i get it! you're mad!"

"you don't get it hanma, you don't!" your punches were consistent and didn't show any signs to stop that was until you were panting, your fists of fury slowed. "you.. left me.. when you knew! you could have told me that the police were coming! i knew how to handle it!" you said with a shaky voice while sniffing his scent that you have missed so much.

"you.. know?"

"yes shuji. you were in the news"

"stop y/n. stop, your boyfriend is gonna see us"

"boy- you idiot! this! is why! you're! the biggest! idiot on earth!" you then continued your punches in his back, this time adding damage by pulling his hair painful enough. "ow, ow! why am i the idiot huh?"

"that's my cousin you dimwit!"

"you never had a cousin y/n"

"yeah, he just came back from overseas. not like a certain someone that decides to just i don't know leave flowers here. you thought i wouldn't notice it was you?"

hanma scratched his head, not itchy at all. he laughed a little "oh well, sorry doll. wanna come down and start everything over again?"

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bird-inacage · 9 months

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Only Friends: Ray's Feelings for Mew (Mistaking Gratitude for Love)

This is just the first of many things I want to address from this episode. Episode 4 really helped clarify to me what Ray's feelings are towards Mew and why it's extremely difficult for him to let go. The way this was narratively framed was so beautifully done.

Ray's wish to repay Mew

Ray's feelings for Mew are complex because they're partly fuelled by admiration and respect for his character, but overwhelmingly driven by gratitude. Ray attributes Mew to saving his life. For pulling him back from the brink. That's something he's never going to forget. It's also the reason he'll be eternally grateful. There's no means by which he can ever repay Mew, and therefore his form of appreciation is by offering love. Mew deserves his undying loyalty and support.

The thing is, Ray may be mistaking that immense outpouring of gratitude for love, because he's not able to differentiate the nuances. Having felt unloved for most of his life, it's unsurprising that Ray may interpret care and concern as a form of love. Mew has said things such as, "I'll never abandon you", "I'm always right by your side" but he didn't mean it as a partner, but as a friend.

Mew wants what's best for his friend. He wants Ray to find happiness in someone who is right for him. He doesn't want Ray to continue pining after him when he doesn't and can't return his feelings. He's very transparent about that. He gives Ray his full blessing to seek someone far more suitable.

But Ray has effectively trapped himself in a box because no one is ever going to compare against the person who saved your life. No one can meet that extraordinary standard. So Ray is completely unable to see anyone else as worthy in his eyes.

(!) I really appreciate that we get a deeper explanation for why Ray had to take Mew's call last episode. Because he made a promise that if Mew ever needed him, he would answer. No questions asked.

Sand teaches Ray an important lesson

The heart-to-heart in the guitar shop really highlights just why Sand is such an important influence on Ray. When Ray encourages a scolding, Sand doesn't take the bait. Because doing so is not going to teach Ray anything. Sand wants Ray to understand why his behaviour is hurtful..

Sand patiently explains that if you truly appreciate someone, you have to care about their feelings. You can't act on your own desires. Those around you do not exist to complement your every whim and will. Should you expect such a thing, you're taking them for granted and prioritising only yourself.

This lesson can be applied in direct response to how Ray treated Mew. He tried to kiss Mew without his consent. Mew is clearly not okay with this, and yet Ray still acted on what he wanted.

If you disregard someone else's feelings, (especially someone you supposedly care about), that's not true love. Love should be selfless. Love means wanting the best for someone else, regardless of your own motivations. If Ray truly cared about Mew, he wouldn't be trying to make a move on him, especially considering he now has a boyfriend.

This is also a really unfair position to put Mew in. If Ray continues to ignore Mew’s boundaries, he’ll be forced to distance himself and he doesn’t want their friendship to be the sacrifice. This is why it’s so incredibly essential that Ray listens because he risks losing Mew altogether this way.

Just because someone is willing to treat you with kindness and grace, does not mean you should exploit that. Ever. And this is one characteristic where Mew and Sand do share something in common. They are patient with Ray. They make concessions for him but when pushed, they will school him on right from wrong. A higher tolerance doesn’t mean there aren’t limits.

When one door closes, another opens

Ray begins to realise that the position he's always held for Mew in his heart is not necessarily the same that Mew has for him. And it's a difficult truth to swallow, but it's the first step to respecting the other person's wishes.

"But right now, I don't think I'm that important to him anymore." Sometimes we can be reluctant to let go of feelings for someone, because doing so means leaving behind a version of ourselves. It's a form of loss.

I think what's stopped Ray from fully accepting this sooner, is because he hasn't understood that saying goodbye to those feelings doesn't mean he's losing Mew entirely. Neither is it a betrayal of that gratitude. Regardless of what role Mew now plays in his life, that won't change that Mew did for him in the past. Mew is still willing to be his best friend if Ray is open to accepting that instead. He now seems ready to try.

Ray once again notices Sand's presence. The 'poor boy' t-shirt hanging in the bathroom, which alike Sand has somehow ended up along with him, and hasn't left since. The immediate next scene opens with Sand saying "just try". This represents the meaning Sand brings to Ray's world. 'Just try to take a chance. Just try to understand. Just try to be more open-minded. Just try to be more considerate. Just try, and people will see your sincerity'. Sand is opening up the world for Ray, to see things from a different perspective. A world of possibilities beyond just Mew.

Whilst being blindsided by his feelings for Mew, Ray hasn't allowed himself to see what's in front of him. Someone whose wandered into his life, who is worth his time and attention.

#only friends #only friends the series #ofts #only friends meta #ray x sand #sand x ray #raysan #sanray #khaofirst #firstkhao #khaotung thanawat #first kanaphan #there were so many beautiful things about this episode

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