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urgonnaneedabiggership · 11 months

Note

Could you make a fic where Miguel gets the female reader pregnant and they're happy but he's worried about her safety? Maybe have a villain find out? Cause some angst?

Risk Something (You're Losing Me)

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara (Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse) x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Language. Spoilers (Miguel's backstory is mentioned). Angst! Alert!, Unplanned pregnancy!Alert.

Word count: 4.3K

A/N: Since I had already established some background and emotional intimacy, I thought I could write this as a sort-of-sequel to my previous one-shot Host of a Ghost. I was so excited to write this, especially because I don't usually write angst but I like to push my boundaries and leave my confort zone. Hope that it pays off and, of course dear anon, that you like it <3

Part III

You’d never really believed in long-distance relationships. After being witness to so many unsuccessful ones, you’d cataloged the entire concept into a box labeled “certain failure” and tucked it away in the back of your head. And yet, with an inconsistency worthy of your friend Hobie, you’d gone and gotten yourself involved in no less than an interdimensional relationship.

How? Well, that was a good question.

All it took was five simple steps:

Step one: Live a regular life. Go to school, graduate, and try to go for a Ph.D. that gets you working near genetically modified insects for just the right amount of time for you to become careless enough to let one crawl onto your backpack, take it to your apartment, and let it sting you. Throw in some negligence, forfeit going to the hospital, and go on about your afternoon. Warning, some side effects like loss of consciousness or intense headaches can be expected.

Step two: Congratulations! You’ve now become a super-powered person with abilities that range from climbing walls and performing gravity-challenging parkour to creating a sticky web-like element that helped you swing from one building to another. Toy around with your new talents, and grow comfortable with them before realizing that you can actually use them to be the much-needed help your city needs.

Step three: Turns out you’re not the only one with this kind of ability out there. There’s a whole Spider-Society full of similarly enhanced people who try and do their best to keep their own dimensions safe, and you’ve not only caught their eye but have actually been invited to join them. Let your new guide Jess Drews show you around, and explain all the benefits that come from joining a team such as theirs. If you decline, you can go back home and that’ll be all.

If you’re interested, it’ll be necessary to convince the leader but they could use some extra help so it shouldn’t be particularly hard. It sounds like an amazing chance. Information you wouldn’t have access to otherwise, mind-blowing facilities where you can polish your newly acquired abilities, possible new friends that actually know what you’re going through…Say you’ll think about it. Right as you’re about to leave, the most fucking gorgeous man you’ve ever seen in your entire life walks past without paying either of you any mind, busy while speaking to another Spider-Person. You ask who that is, turns out he’s the aforementioned leader, “will I ever have to work with him?”, you ask. “Probably, eventually” Replies Jess. Ask when you can start.

Step four: Do your best to earn your place in this elite group. Successfully improve your fighting skills, read everything available on interdimensional traveling and the multiverse. Understand it almost instantly because that’s how smart you are, kudos to you. Realize that for some reason, despite never actually interacting with you, Spider-Society leader Miguel O’Hara tends to stare. A lot. Is it because you’re progressing as fast as Jessica says or because she’s a complete liar and you’re actually doing it all wrong? No idea. All you know is that even during mundane scenarios like laughing in the hall with all the newest additions to the team or in line at the cafeteria, you feel a certain tingle in the back of your head that makes you turn around. Of course, the moment your eyes meet, he turns around and leaves. An odd one, yes. But you’ve also heard things. Rumors, here and there about his life before creating the Society. Whispers about a lost family and some video archives being the only evidence that they even existed in the first place. And, of course, the fault he had in the destruction of their dimension. You sympathize with him, despite his apathetic attitude towards you. You’ve seen him interact with those he’s closer to, and you know there’s more to him than he lets on. You’d be elated if he ever let you take just one look at the smidge of his old self that sometimes peeked out from behind the iron curtain. Well, not really. One look wouldn’t be enough. If anything, it would only cement your feelings for the man.

Step five: Curiosity killed the cat. We all know that. You know that. And yet, you decided to go snooping around Miguel O’Hara’s computer and personal files until you accidentally switch his computer on for long enough to let the videos he’s always watching start playing. He…his daughter…an entire lost life gone before his eyes. Then, before you could do the right thing and turn the computer off, an eerily familiar voice called at him from behind the camera. So, of course, you had to keep watching. Long story short? All those oddly constant stares, that coldness towards you, unwillingness to look you in the eye, was because of two reasons: first, you were a nearly identical interdimensional variant of the wife he’d lost in the dimension he unwittingly erased from existence. Two, as he’d confessed after realizing you’d found out about the truth, Miguel had come to terms with the fact that he was in love with you, not as a replacement for somebody from his past but as a new presence in his life that he’d been struggling to watch from afar, unwilling to let all his repressed feelings spill out like water from a broken dam. Until that night, of course.

Now, eight months later, you’d come to realize there was actually a sixth step you’d never actually considered until now that you were in this…situationship.

Step six: Uncomfortably avoid every and all circumstances in which interdimensional disparities and canon consistency regarding your relationship could come up. Don’t say anything like “Well, it’s been nice but I’ve got to go back to my own dimension” because that would remind him that his dimension was not yours too. That you were after all still a stranger in a strange land. Which of course also meant never inviting him to stay in your dimension.

Deep inside, you knew that all those details would eventually cause problems, especially regarding the inner conflict Miguel was always dealing with knowing what he was doing…what you were both doing, went against his strongest principle. But by God he was happy. Happier than he’d thought he could ever feel again. More than he deserved. So he just ignored those intrusive thoughts and focused on whatever task was at hand. And you were too. Even after just eight months, life without him already seemed unimaginable. He was your first thought in the morning and your last before you went to sleep, and more than once his presence beside you had been not just a figment of your imagination, but a part of your reality as you felt his strong arms wrap around your waist and pull you closer whenever you strayed too far from him in bed as he groggily whispered, “¿Y a dónde crees que vas, preciosa?”, Or when he buried his nose in the crook of your neck, lining it up with soft kisses that sometimes ended up in both of you being late for your assigned tasks. With so much on the line, you were more than happy to avoid those spiky subjects. It seemed like such a small price to pay with all you were getting in return.

You weren’t sure of where all this was going, but none of that mattered. Right now, you were together. Inside the Spider-Society you were a great team and each one was a valuable asset. Outside, every second spent in your arms was enough to make him forget Spider-Man. To you, he was Miguel and nothing more. And that was all you needed.

Life was good. You were happy with the way things were. Until, as it usually happens, a necessary disruption came quite literally crashing into your life in the shape of a fifteen-year-old that carelessly swung around a corner and crashed into you after you’d been chasing him like the rest of the Spider-People after receiving Miguel’s message.

“Miles?” You asked, recalling his name, which you’d actually been hearing for quite some time since the circumstances of his existence started being a problem for your boyfriend. The boy didn’t answer. He just looked at you, his eyes filled with confusion and fear until you hesitantly took a step aside to leave the escape route open for him. If anything he looked even more baffled, but when the noise of his pursuers reached your ears he rushed down the hall and you lost him after he took a sharp turn.

Before you could be spotted, you ran in the opposite direction and hid around a corner as you tried to call Miguel on your watch. Of course, it was in vain. Well, Plan B. Fortunately, this time you did get a reply.

“(Y/N)?”

“Peter! Yes, it’s me! Where are you?”

“Where do you think? I’m going after him like everybody else. I need to get to him before…sweetie, please just get back in there, Daddy’s on the phone right now…I need to get to him before- “

“He’s already left the headquarters,” You informed him.

“Wait, you saw him?”

“About a minute ago. He was on his way to the North exit.”

“(Y/N), are you sure you should be a part of this chase right now?”

“Why not? Jessica is there, isn’t she?” You replied, smiling to yourself. Good old Peter B., looking out for you like some sort of self-appointed brother figure.

“Well yeah, but she’s not running, kid. Although I don’t think she should be on one of those death machines either, I don’t what she’s…”

While he kept on rambling for a bit, you looked around and wondered if you’d ever seen the building this empty.

Empty.

Your eyes slowly ran along the pearly white walls until they landed on the hallway that led to the room where the Go Home Machine was kept. Practically unchecked, if Spider-Byte had joined the pursuit.

“P.B., I’ll talk to you later,” You absent-mindedly replied, hanging up on him without waiting for an answer as you dashed down the hallway.

You kept thinking about that poor kid’s eyes. After having all that information unloaded onto him, instead being given enough time to somewhat process everything he now had to escape from the very people he was supposed to feel safe amongst. When he sat on the floor right in front of you right after the crash, he was sure you would immediately hand him over. Maybe a few months ago you would’ve done it without hesitation but now…things had changed.

There it was. The Go-Home Machine. You thought you saw a purple blast inside that let you know Byte was still there. However, if your theory was correct, Miles would have to go through that hall and therefore, you. A few minutes later, a sudden voice booming from your watch startled you.

“(Y/N)!”

“Miguel? Where are you? I’ve been trying to…”

“(Y/N), listen to me! Miles lured everybody out on purpose, he’s trying to get to the machine. I can see your location back at the headquarters and he should be coming your way in less than a minute!”

“Alright. I’ll handle it.” You replied, ending the call before he could ask you to elaborate on that.

Sure enough, light footsteps came in your direction shortly after. Right as Miles entered your field of view, an alert issued by your watch made your stomach drop and a dreadful feeling fill your chest. However, you’d made up your mind. There was no going back now.

Mile spotted you at the end of the hall and stopped in his tracks. His eyes were determined, not as afraid as a few moments earlier. If he was there that meant he’d somehow gotten past Miguel. You fought back a smile when you wondered how pissed he’d be about it. Having his ass kicked by a teenager was something that, maybe under different circumstances, you could tease him about.

“He’s a delight, isn’t he?” You finally spoke, trying to somewhat lighten the mood while taking a step toward the kid. However, he got in a defensive stance, furrowing his eyebrows in distrust.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to talk.” You assured, showing him both your hands, “Miles, listen very carefully. This is exactly what Miguel was talking about a while ago. At this very moment. Right now, I’m supposed to stop you from getting to that machine and handing you over,”

Of course, he took another step back.

“Miles I’m not going to do that,” You assured him.

“Why not?” He immediately asked, constantly looking behind him, wondering if this was just you trying to stall him like, unbeknownst to you, he thought Peter had tried to do a while ago.

“Because I’m sure there’s a better way to go about all this. I love him so much, I do, but he’s so afraid that I don’t think he’s willing to see other possibilities and by the time he does, it might be too late for you. Now go before anybody else gets here.”

You didn’t have to tell him twice. Miles darted past you as soon as you finished talking, taking a second to look back before reaching the dimly lit room where his ticket home was. His eyes scanned your face and darted down for one second before he looked up at you, a new worry in his eyes that had you wondering whether his spider-sense was strong enough to perceive something you’d just found out yourself.

“Are you going to be okay?” Miles asked, his eyes looking down for a moment once again. Did he know? Did he mean “you” as in just you or as in…?

“Yes, don’t worry. Now get out of here.” You insisted. With one last hasty “thanks”, he ran into the room as your left in the opposite direction. You weren’t worried about Spider-Byte. She was a good kid, and she’d do the right thing.

The right thing. What did that even mean anymore?

You’d deal with the moral implications later. For now, as you found yourself on the other side of the headquarters, your mind was set on finding Miguel. Maybe you could try and talk some sense into him, make him reconsider whether this was…

“What the hell was that?”

By now you’d gotten used to Miguel’s habit of sneaking up on you. Usually, hearing his voice coming out of nowhere brought a smile to your face. This time, you closed your eyes and winced as you felt his presence behind you.

“Don’t even try lying. I know that voice you used in the call. The one for when you’re about to ignore whatever order I’m about to give you, so I checked the cameras.”

“Miguel, I…” You began to explain yourself just to be harshly cut off.

“(Y/N), what were you thinking? Do you realize what you just did? Do you have the slightest idea of the consequences…?”

“I do realize that you just asked a fifteen-year-old child to stand by and let his father get killed right before calling his existence a mistake, Miguel. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking of our safety, and that includes Miles’. You’re right, he’s a kid and that means he’s selfish and immature enough to endanger everything we’ve all been risking our lives to protect for years.”

“Miguel, listen to me,” You insisted, “You’re scared. I know. I am, too, but have you ever considered that maybe there’s another solution? Do we even know for sure that allowing the kid to go and try to save his father is going to cause any real damage?”

“What if it does? Are you just going to tell me “Sorry, Miguel, you were right” and that’s all? (Y/N), Dios mío, piensa. Gwen said the same thing but we couldn’t trust her with being objective because he’s her friend,”

“Wait, what do you mean couldn’t?” You asked. Miguel clenched his jaw and turned away, unable or unwilling to look at you.

“Miguel, please tell me you didn’t send her back. Not with how she left things back there,”

His absolute silence told you everything. Shaken, you took a step back.

“What is wrong with you?” You hissed the disappointed look in your eyes hurting like a sharp dagger to his chest.

“(Y/N), mi amor, I’m just trying to…”

“You’re such a hypocrite,” You angrily spat out, “You go around preaching about how important sticking to your stupid canon is and the delicate balance of the multiverse when you know damn well that what we’re doing goes against every single one of those things,”

“No, no, that’s very different,” Miguel disputed,

“How is it different?” You argued back, boldly moving closer to him wishing you were taller so you could face him, “I’m from another dimension, there is no way that we were supposed to meet from the beginning. You had your world, this world, and when you tried to live another life in a different one, an entire dimension was destroyed. I had my world, and for all I know maybe there was somebody there that I was supposed to meet but thankfully I ended up here first so I could meet you. But you know what? My universe is fine, yours is too and I swear I had never been happier in my entire life.”

“You’re right.” He muttered in deep thought.

“Yes, I am. And maybe…” You started to say, a relieved smile tugging at the edges of your mouth until he looked up and the expression in his eyes made your throat dry up.

“We’ve been messing with fire all this time. There is probably somebody you can be with without endangering your entire dimension. And this…this is the hand I was dealt and I should just accept it and live with it. You’re right. Maybe this was all a mistake from the beginning.”

“No. No, come on, you don’t mean that.” You shook your head in denial, lifting both your hands to cup his face in your hands, to bring him close like he had done the night you finally could let all the love you felt for him escape its confinement in your chest.

Miguel grabbed your hands before you could touch him and moved away from you before releasing them as he finally built up the courage to look you in the eye.

“Are you serious?” You asked, your voice quivering with anger as you felt tears begin to dwell in your eyes, “So that’s it? You’d rather sacrifice us than find a different way to solve this?”

“Well, what did you think was going to happen, (Y/N)? That this would go on forever and we’d keep pretending everything is fine and that you don’t have to wear a fucking machine on your wrist every time you come to see me because even the cells in your body know you were never supposed to be here?”

“Oh, right, so you expect me to believe that you always knew this was going to be temporary? Then what was this? Something to take the edge off after a rough day until you decided it was time to stop fooling around and just be done with it?”

Deep inside, you knew what his response was going to be, but every inch of your heart silently pleaded for you to be wrong. To pull you into his arms and apologize for trying to send you away and promise that you’d get through this because you loved each other and that was all that mattered.

“I don’t know why you thought it was anything else,”

For a minute, you wondered if this was all actually happening. Maybe this was all a nightmare fueled by all the training simulations you’d gone over lately, and you’d wake up crying just to find Miguel asleep next to you, his wide back slowly rising and sinking with every calm breath he took. Your crying would wake him up and he’d furrow his eyebrows and ask what had happened.

“I had a nightmare, that’s all,” You’d say, wiping your tears off and trying to downplay it. But he knew better. He always knew better. He would pull you close and bury your head in his chest, placing a kiss on top of your head while warning you that he was the only one allowed to have nightmares because otherwise he’d have to start comforting you too and neither would get a full night of rest. And you would laugh softly as you drifted off, lulled by the warmth of his chest and his smell of sage lotion and cheap fabric softener.

But no. You were very much awake, and instead of comforting you with promises and reassurances, he was walking away from you after delivering the final blow to your heart.

Since he had his back turned to you, you felt free to let the repressed tears freely fall down your face as you helplessly watch him go until he disappeared around a corner. All of a sudden, you felt as if the walls of the headquarters had begun to close around you to asphyxiate you, and the sound of the returning Spider-People made you realize you didn’t want to be there for one more second.

Thanks to your watch, you were back “home” in a few seconds.

“Home”. Your empty apartment where you’d lived alone for years. Where he’d never set foot, and at least in that way it was free of his memory. Or so you thought until you looked over your shoulder at the ajar bathroom door. Inside, atop the porcelain sink, still rested the positive pregnancy test you’d left there before having to rush over to the headquarters to help with the latest anomaly.

That memory felt so distant now. As if it had happened years ago, in a different life. You suppose in a way, it did belong to another life. A life that was over now.

Numbly, you made your way toward the ragged sofa, collapsing on top of it as soon as you were close enough. It was only then that the full weight of the last day and a half sank in and, as you gently wrapped your arms around your stomach, you let the tears fall until your throat burned, the dusty cushions muffling your broken sobs.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard correctly, you did what?”

The seriousness of the situation was enough for Peter to fasten a small strap in Mayday’s baby carrier to make sure she won’t go anywhere for a few minutes as he waited for his friend’s platform to reach ground level. He couldn’t be chasing his toddler around and ripping Miguel a new one at the same time.

“I did what I had to do. It’s for her own good,”

“Right, because you’re such an arrogant…” He paused to carefully place his hands over Mayday’s tiny ears, “…such an arrogant dick that you think you know what’s best for everyone, including a fully grown, intelligent, woman like (Y/N)”

“Shit, Parker, do you think it was easy for me?” Miguel uttered, pinching the bridge of his nose before resting his face against the palm of his hand, “What I said about this being the hand I was dealt…I don’t know how I’m supposed to deal with that. Hell, I don’t even know how I’m going to keep myself from showing up at her dimension to try and get her back here the first chance I get.”

“And why would you have to keep yourself from doing that?” Peter asked patiently. It sounded like a better alternative to “Miguel, I love you man but I swear you’ve got the emotional availability of a tree stump. Beats me how (Y/N) was able to get you to admit your feelings without prying your chest open with a jigsaw to see your pounding heart for herself.”

“She was right. We were never supposed to meet in the first place. Not like this. It’s not…”

“Miguel, I swear if I hear the word ‘canon’ even once in this conversation I’m going to drive my head through a wall,”

“Just because you don’t take anything seriously doesn’t mean everybody’s the same,” Miguel hissed back.

“That’s where you’re wrong. Last time I didn’t take something seriously, I ended up just like you will unless you get your priorities sorted out. Alone, and regretting not focusing on what was important,”

“This is important,” Miguel stubbornly argued.

“More important than what you had? Look at yourself. Just forty-eight hours ago you were as happy with (Y/N) as you’d been for the past eight months. And as happy as I’ve been with Mayday and my wife who, by the way, wouldn’t even be with me if it wasn’t for that kid you just called a mistake. And do you see my dimension going up in flames? Or yours? Or hers?”

Unable to find an argument against that, Miguel remained silent, his eyes fixed on an empty spot on the wall in front of him.

“Listen, I know you’re afraid. You don’t want her to get hurt, but if you love her as much as you claim to, then you’re taking the choice of a coward right now. And you can’t afford to be one, especially now.”

“Especially now?” Miguel inquired, turning to look at his friend who, much to his surprise, pressed his lips together as if he’d made a mistake and instead focused on getting Mayday’s hair out of her face.

“My point is; I know you well enough to know you worship that woman. And she thinks you’re pretty decent too. And I can tell you from experience that you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life if you let this come between you.”

Not knowing what else to add, Peter gently patted Miguel’s shoulder before leaving the room, hoping he’d given him enough to think about. Hopefully, enough to make him change his mind.

Meanwhile, Miguel hadn’t moved since Peter left the room, mulling his words over.

Two, particularly, had stuck with him for some reason.

Especially now.

#miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x y/n #miguel o'hara fic #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara x female reader #spiderman across the spiderverse #marvel imagine #marvel fanfiction #spiderman 2099 #spiderman atsv #across the spiderverse #atsv #angst #female reader #reader insert

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ch3rryfunk · 1 year

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Do you perchance have any headcanons for Luis? No one writes for him, and as much as I love Leon, I love my sassy ladies man Luis even more 😭❤️

i LOVE you for requesting this. Hell yes, I love my sassy man so so much.

Crushing on Luis Sera headcannons

☆*:.｡.

★ First things first, let’s elaborate on the type of man he is. He’s a romantic one, that’s for sure. He loves flirty one-liners and sappy quotes.

★ Being flirty and a self-proclaimed “ladies’ man” doesn’t mean he won’t be loyal, he is MORE than loyal if that’s possible. He’s the definition of a true gentleman.

★ Luis is well-experienced, he’s been in a few relationships, but most of them ended badly. Mainly because of his involvement with Umbrella and lack of quality time. His job consumed his life.

★ That being said:

★ You met when you got assigned to his team, both of you were researching the same parasite, so you had to transfer to his laboratory.

★ Anyway, as soon as he saw you, he internally fell to his knees.

★ He wasn’t going to tell you that, though. #proudman

★ Luis had never met someone who matched his energy so well, who ACTUALLY flirted back and cracked jokes at inappropriate times. He was so fond of you.

★ “So, you come here often?” He asked with a dumb smirk.

★ “Oh yeah, all the time. I just LOVE operating on disgusting parasites. Y’know what? I think I was born to do this. Right here, at your laboratory. It’s heaven.”

★ “Can’t help it, cariño. I’m one good lookin’ angel. So are you though, so are you.”

★ He loved your dry humor and your ability to sound so deadpan while cracking the most hilarious jokes.

★ You loved spending time with him, especially when you weren’t researching plagues and stuff you thought was gross. He was actually fascinating.

★ You were intrigued at first, but then you were full-on crushing on him.

★ You weren’t going to tell him that, though.

★ But yes, the more you got to know him, the closer you wanted to be. You started taking note of his likes and dislikes.

★ He liked smoking. Loved, even. And being the clingiest man you had ever met.

★ He disliked getting told to shut up and getting called “doctor”. He wasn’t a doctor, but a biologist. Yet, you liked annoying him with that title.

★ The moment he realized he was in love was when both of you went on a coffee break, and you pulled out a cigarette. It surprised him, he swore you didn’t smoke.

★ “Ay, you smoke too?”

★ “Nah, bought them just for you, Dr. Sera.”

★ The fact that you carried cigarettes for him (because he always managed to forget or lose his) almost sent him into oblivion. He felt like he was going to cry his heart out and fall to his knees once again.

★ Since you gave him cigarettes (all the time) he wanted to do something for you too, and you just happened to love books. So, he was committed to finding out what your favorite book was.

★ It was Don Quixote.

★ Oh god, was it life-changing for him. He had read the book before, being one of his favorites since it reminded him of his childhood. He decided to re-read it just for you. He wanted to be able to talk about all sorts of stuff, especially stuff you liked.

★ But maybe it got a little out of hand because he would NOT stop referencing the book every chance he got. You found it rather funny. And they say romance is dead.

★ Luis did numerous things to get your attention, he was a master at multitasking. He had you on his mind even when he was busy working with plagas. Which wasn’t very pleasant actually.

★ The closer you both became, the flirtier you both got. You started calling him handsome, and he called you “Mi amor”

★ It was a mutual inside joke at this point, but both of you wanted it to be very much real and not just some jest.

★ One time, you called him handsome too many times in a day. He couldn’t stop smiling.

★ “Keep calling me handsome, and I’ll start believing you got a little crush on me.” He said.

★ “Yeah, well, keep calling me mi amor and I might just kiss you.” You replied.

★ That caught him off guard but it shut him up, yet he couldn’t stop thinking about it, maybe if he thought about it long enough you’d read his mind and kiss him. After all, Luis was head over heels for you, as you were for him.

★ As your research came to an end, Luis knew he was losing time. He needed to ask you out or at least tell you how he felt, but he was never really the best at confessing his feelings, even in past relationships. He’d never felt this way about someone, you were so different, it had to be different with you. He desperately needed to be with you.

★ “Guess this is where we part ways, handsome.” You told him when you finished packing your stuff, you were being transferred back to your laboratory soon.

★ “Don’t go, corazón. Let’s uh, let’s elope.” He joked, earning a sweet laugh from you. He would sure miss your laugh. “We make a good team.”

★ Everything he said made your heart skip a beat. You wished you could’ve stayed longer, but your boss was too demanding. Not only that, but Luis didn’t want you to go. He felt so happy when you were around, and he wished he had met you earlier.

★ But in the end, he swallowed his pride and asked you out right there. Now or never was his motto, he needed to be true to himself for once. “Know what cariño? I’ve been thinking and maybe we should-”

★ “Yes cariño, I’ll go on a date with you. But first I need to turn this in. See you later, guapo.” He was flabbergasted, took him a few minutes to process what had just happened. It was safe to say he left his laboratory with the biggest smile ever and more swooned than he already was.

☆*:.｡.

sorry i took so long omg anyway hope u like it!! I love him sooo much im gonna start writing more luis content 😭 i also hope more people start writing for him!! Pls!!

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unadulteratedsoulsweets · 9 months

Text

A DC X DP #18

You want a taste of my brain? Okay, it's yours anyway.

Imagine dis…

This time I get inspiration from an A03 fic, and some of its parts just stuck with me and now I’m writing about it, if some of you want to read it go for it. If you are asking for the name don’t ask, I am not going to sell my soul to the devil to find it in my ever-growing history. If you do manage to find it, kudos to them.

TELL ME I AM GETTING DESPERATE OVER HERE

Credits to them as well. Also, as you’ve noticed I decided to post less, now it is due to a good old lack of inspiration. So, don’t go getting your hopes up on this one.

…

Ever since Danny Phantom had become the Ghost King he repeatedly entered the reincarnation cycle willingly to retain his morals when he was human. He still retained his ability to stay in the middle of life and death. But when he as the High King of the Infinite Realms gained immortality he found himself losing his ideals and values, he began forgetting. With Clockwork’s insistence, every few hundred years he would become human to experience a lifetime. Sometimes he would go another round in the same dimension, but only when he needed to finish an unfinished business.

Sometimes he is lucky sometimes he is not.

Sometimes he would be born into a loving family with either as the only child or him having siblings. He has experienced the life of royalty as the heir prince. He experienced the life of a knight who was known for his skills with the sword. He was born into a normal family which made him second guesses his every choice due to his lack of normality in his life. He was also born into some wild dimensions that of which could look like it came from a book. From wizards and sci-fi worlds, he never had the time to sit and be an extra.

But there were also times he was born far too unlucky.

He was born in a salve ridden society, a parent who were core members of a rebellion so when his current parents died, he was expected to be like his parents. Born in a society where the rich trample the poor and he was forced into early child labor as expected in society to work at a very young age. Born where he and the people around him had never seen peace in a war-consumed country, a war that separated his family from each other not knowing whether one is alive or not, leaving only him and his siblings to stay alive. Being abandoned by a pair of druggies for his parents left alone inside a dumpster and died in the middle of the night, looking through the dimension he saw that some homeless people found his body and reported it to the authorities leaving his parents in jail while some prisoners seem to leave them at the near bottom of the hierarchy in prison.

…

It seems this time he was born in an assassin cult this time he wasn’t alone. A twin, an older sibling that was with him in the womb and both came into the world together. The moment he laid his eyes on his grandfather he can already tell that he is a major fruit loop from the way he both look at both of them.

His name is too formal for his liking, Dylan Al Ghul, he already convinced Damian to call him Danny when it was just the two of them. Danny tries to downplay his abilities both ghost and human seeing that his grandfather is too power-hungry to the point of misusing ectoplasm that is corrupted but still ectoplasm to achieve some sort of immortality, he tried to give Damian a childhood in the form of showing him the stars whenever he could sneak him outside. He saw the absolute worship and awe Damian would give to their mother and their grandfather whenever they visit or supervised their training, Danny didn’t care for their approval nor their presence but seeing his brother seem to at awe and do anything to please the two made his heart shatter, his older brother never needed to prove anyone something.

Danny has repeatedly shown his disdain for the two most powerful people in the organization yet it is a miracle he still lives. It is because he is a spare, a spare yes not the heir but a useful spare one, twins one who specialized in stealth and espionage a twin who is a perfect copy of Damian aside from his eyes mirroring their supposed father. Both Talia and Ra seem to make it their life mission to drill his only purpose in his head, it may have never worked due to his adult mind but he pretended it would be as to not raise any suspicion.

…

The day Deathstroke attacked not only he dared to kill the demon head but also choose to kill the chosen heir, by removing an eye and some of his organs as a form of slow torture but also killing him as he made the organs unable to go back to their owner’s body.

Danny couldn’t look away from his bloodied brother, Talia slowly approached him from behind and put her hands on his shoulder, and whispered some honeyed words on how his role as the spare will be fulfilled at a much earlier date and promptly injected with a sleeping drug.

…

Danny was already awake when he noticed the cold metal bed behind him the lack of clothes as well the number of doctors seemingly in a rush to prepare for a last-minute surgery. He saw the unconscious form of Damian on the other side and suddenly heard the loud ticking noise of a grandfather’s clock.

It seems that it was meant to be, Danny thought as an image of Clockwork flashed in his mind.

He fell back asleep knowing that Damian lost an eye, kidney, a lung, some ribs as well an ungodly amount of blood, possibly more. Danny knew that this vessel of his wouldn’t survive at the sheer need and he already felt that he would not leave the room alive. So, he took one last peek at the sleeping Damian and promptly closed his eyes, the moment he opened his eyes once again he was back in his chambers in the Infinite Realms clutching his left eye in his face whilst looking at the mirror as he felt his eye be the first one to be removed.

It seems this time he died months before he and his brother celebrated their 10th birthday.

…

Damian woke up with a pounding headache being the assassin he is he immediately looked around seeing that his last memory is being tortured by Deathstroke.

He immediately took notice of his loose clothing and tried to walk towards the door but his knees immediately gave out. As he tries to gain his bearings, he noticed a scar right in the middle of his chest, it couldn’t be from the time when he was captured by Deathstroke as he noticed that this scar is too clean, too sterilized as if someone had just come out of a surgery type of scar. As he tries to loosen his shirt to take a better look at his scar when he noticed a mirror facing his way and noticed his eyes, instead of his usual pair of emerald eyes he was greeted with an emerald eye of his own and his brother’s icy blue eye in his left eye.

Damian remembered that Deathstroke took out his eye, as according to him it reminded him of the Demon head, and decided to promptly pull it out with his bare hands.

Dread began to fill his very being and tried to go and look for his brother but deep down he already knew what happened to him after all, he is the heir while his brother his beloved younger brother is just a spare.

…

When Damian had met his father’s wards most of them commented on his heterochromia eyes and promptly greeted back with his sword in their faces.

The rest grumbled that Damian couldn’t take a tease or two, but immediately chased the demon brat as he chases each and one of them with the intent to kill.

Damian couldn’t tell them; another son was hidden from Bruce. Another son he had failed, another son who died before they could even meet him.

From the first few interactions he had with his father when he first met him, he knew where his brother’s bleeding heart came from.

Sometimes he could still see him, Dyl- no Danny, every time he looks in the mirror. The constant reminder that his brother was seen by the league as nothing but a spare. Whatever love he had for his mother disappeared the moment he laid his sight at his brother’s eye embedded in his supposed empty eye socket.

The constant reminder that shows every time he looks at the mirror and the scar in the middle of his chest, Danny’s organs that were used on him to ensure his survival while Danny was left behind.

…

He was 14 years old when he went wide-eyed at the stranger across him and his brothers in a heavily populated area.

A teen looks exactly like him with a medical eyepatch on his left eye as he sits in a wheelchair chatting idly with an older man.

Damian heavily thought of a clone, did Talia, not mother never mother, make another clone after him after weeks of silence?

Damian still remembered the first time he encountered a clone with blue eyes, his running theory is that due to his new organs have bonded with him thus creating a batch of clones with blue eyes. Timothy had spoken up that since babies have a 50/50 chance of inheriting the colored eyes of either parent made a new branch of clones.

Damian was already planning on disposing of the supposed clone when the said clone suddenly laughed exposing his neck that have a feign white line across indicating a scar. But that scar made Damian double guess, all clones he encountered are scarred free thus leaving him to have no trouble disposing of each and one of them but the existence of the scar he barely caught is something both brothers swore secrecy to it.

The laugh oh god, his laugh, only his brother laughs like that, Damian thought mournfully.

As he tries to look the other way, he suddenly faced the same doctor who was the assistant doctor that foresees his surgery years ago. He may have distanced himself from the League after he had fulfilled his debt but it was no mistaking that it was the same doctor that operated him that time.

A chemist they said, an insufficient man who is more cowardly than any other man yet his talent in poisons made him quite a gem in the League.

A clone who had broke out of their collective mind control? Possible, but why this clone? What made this look alike so special that this man dared to leave the League?

…

Robin began to follow the two, the other bats thought that he had a new case on his lap that requires recon. They didn’t question Robin’s new behavior as they have seen him do the same actions when he landed himself a case or when he was following a lead. Yet they couldn’t shake the feeling that something is not right, whether it is the fact that Robin refused any assistance or just the fact they have no idea what kind of case Robin is working on.

They should have listened to their guts then maybe they wouldn’t be surprised at the bat screen, showing a maternal and paternal match to a picture of a blue-eyed black-haired kid with a medical eyepatch on his left eye looking like Damian in a good day.

…

Danny was doing some paperwork when a flying thought passed by him about his last reincarnation. All memories from his adventures when he got reincarnated are usually put behind the back of his hand yet worries about the well-being of his brother made him distracted, and kept close a special one-way mirror to monitor his baby brother.

Danny felt nostalgic at the family drama and chaos that he can’t help but cackle at each interaction Damian has with their father’s adopted children and wards. He found himself majorly of his time watching for hours and hours, he can’t help but wish he was there. As if he was summoned Clockwork appeared in front of him and told him to go back, which confuses Danny since it was Clockwork who implemented that he cannot go back to the same dimension/ world if his body is too far gone to be revived by him, yet Clockwork told him to give someone named Alfred his regards and vanished. Looking bewildered at his mentor/ grandfather he tried to sense his vessel with little to no hope seeing that the League has his body, but surprises himself when he felt his own body submerged in a portion of the Lazarus pit.

…

Going back, he was greeted by an assistant doctor that used to be in the League due to his ancestor’s debt. He explained that he cannot in good conscience do what he was instructed to after the operation, stole his body, and submerged it in an undiscovered pit due to its small size, enough to dump a child not enough for a grown adult.

After an initial check-up, both he and the doctor discovered that the mini Lazarus pit regenerated all of his organs except his eye seeing that it was his entire body submerged excluding his head. The assistant doc theorized that those organs of his may be weaker since they were generated from nothing, Danny in all his eldritch glory as well as being the most powerful being across the Infinite Realms played his part perfectly of a now disabled child.

After all who would accuse this disabled child putting the daughter of the Demon Head in an endless nightmare by his command to Fright Knight? Who would accuse that innocent blue eye of his that he had killed any assassin in their tail ever since he and his now temporary guardian began exploring the world? Who would accuse an adorable child that he was the one who had put the Joker in a definite MIA? Who would accuse this child who smiles like the sun despite his setbacks be the one who tortured Deathstroke to the brink of insanity? Danny is pretty sure his temporary guardian knew of his secret endeavors but remained quiet due to his habit when he was in the League or just to prevent any grayer hairs from growing in.

…

Now if only his brother stopped moping around the building across their apartment complex and just come inside, he made his infamous fudge to share with his brother. His brother didn’t have to drag the rest of the bat brigade in watching him across the building, he even made extra fudge, if only they could just go through the front door instead of rescuing him first in every rogue attack and pretend, they don’t him. Well, if they are playing a game then count him in to win. But for some reason all of them made a face of being constipated whenever they talk to him, Danny is so sure he used clean ingredients to make his fudge…

God dammit just enter the front door like a normal person, better yet tell Batman to stop looking at him as if he died! Those windows are not paying to fix themselves each time one of them decided to stop dropping and roll every other night!

…

PS: If someone out there wanted to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so, don’t forget to tag me though.

#dc #dc x dp #dc x dp prompt #danny phantom #dp #ghost king danny #batfam #danny fenton #op danny #damian wayne

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willowrites · 26 days

Text

REQUEST. can you do one for either sam or colby with a reader who’s a medium?

COLLABORATION

PAIRINGS. sam x medium fem!reader

SUMMARY. sam and colby have watched a few of your videos and have been following you on instagram for quite some time. sam in particular has grown an interest in you and wanted to shoot his shot but didn’t know how. given your ability to have one foot in the afterlife and another on earth they’ve invited you to tag along for an investigation …

WARNINGS. nothing! friends to lovers, cute fluffy stuff, a little bit of kissing…

AUTHORS NOTE. i loved doing this because i’ve always dreamt of having the capabilities that mediums do !! hope u enjoyyy

WORD COUNT. 2.7k

you hadn’t always known you had the ability to see and talk to people who have passed on.

you thought it was normal.

you had many imaginary friends who weren’t always imaginary. you had conversations with people who your parents couldn’t see.

there were many occurrences in which you’d see apparitions for one second and then in another, they’re gone.

it was at the age of 11 when you realized that what and who you’d see and talk to were people and things that others couldn’t see or talk to.

you started researching and asking the internet.

are ghosts real?

can i see and talk to ghosts?

what are people who can see and talk to ghosts called?

confirmation of you possibly being a medium struck your brain. you continued doing research since then and now at the age of 24, you’re categorized as a medium who can talk to people who have passed and communicate with them as well as see them.

you set up an instagram and made sure that information was somewhere on there.

@/visuallyy/n

bio: spirits are my best friends

after you create an instagram and put that information in there. you tried to do some investigations of your own.

your first at your own house. you caught some good activity but none people would believe. so after that, you started collaborating with other people whether it was other mediums, psychics, ghost hunters, paranormal investigators, etc.

you enjoyed working with other people and getting to know more about the afterlife and spiritual world so when you got a message from sam golbach you were more than ecstatic.

@/samgolbach

hey y/n, it’s sam from the sam and colby youtube channel. i just wanted to reach out to ask if you were ever up for a collaboration of some sort. we could go check out a haunted location and i think we’d have a lot of fun. i’ve seen some of your videos with other channels and you’re really special we’d love to have you on the channel

let me know!

holy shit.

the sam golbach. from sam and colby.

sam was someone you had admired for a long time. you first noticed him on vine and he was super funny. you’d watch both his and colby’s vines daily. when they started doing paranormal and exploration videos, you became a loyal watcher.

to @/samgolbach

hi sam! omg, i cannot believe i am reading this message right now! i would love to tag along with you guys on one of your investigations. i’ve watched all of your videos and you guys are truly something.

like i said it would be an honor just let me know where and when! 💗 much love

as you sent the message you were jumping up and down and kicking your feet back and forth.

a few days had passed and you were beginning to think they changed their minds. you started losing hope but didn’t let that bring your mood down.

as you were making yourself an afternoon snack you heard your phone ding.

Notification: Instagram

@/samgolbach

sorry for the late response we have been brainstorming a few ideas for our next videos…

you were so quick to click on the notification.

@/samgolbach:

sorry for the late response we have been brainstorming a few ideas for our next videos but that is great news. is it possible for us to video chat later on so we can discuss some ideas? we just want to make sure everything is okay with you.

video chat? you thought that was insane.

you’d be video chatting with sam and colby.

oh, my fucking go-

@/samgolbach:

it would also be great to see your face as we discuss plans 😆

as soon as you saw that second message you felt like collapsing.

he wanted to see your face? okay, maybe you were overreacting…

you were trying to think of what to respond with. when would you look your best? you thought.

your thinking sparked you to get ready just for the video call and you sent a message back.

to @/samgolbach:

i’ll be free by 4! definitely looking forward to it :)

he liked your message and then agreed that 4:30 would be a perfect time.

you didn’t do much to your hair or face. all you did was tame your hair like how you usually would and put on your usual makeup.

you were waiting for the time to hit 4:30. you were nervous but so very excited.

as the clock was 4:25 you got an email

from @/[email protected]

www.zoomlink

no harm in seeing you early! he sent along with the link.

your heart felt like it was going to beat out of its chest.

you opened the link which directed you straight to the meeting.

you then turned your camera on and the mic off. sam and colby were already there on camera just talking to each other without the mic.

then once it made a sound that you had entered they paused and you earned an exciting smile from sam.

“y/n!” sam’s voice played through your computer speaker. “so glad to see you made it!”

“hi y/n! i’m colby!” colby sent a smile your way and waved to the camera.

“hi, nice to meet you guys!” you blushed extremely hard.

“how is your day going so far?” sam asked running a hand through his hair.

“it’s uh…well honestly it’s going great. i was a little bit nervous to meet with you guys if i’m being honest,” you replied moving your hair to the back of your neck so that it wasn't in your face.

"what? that's insane, colby and i were nervous you wouldn't be up for a collaboration!" he continued to make conversation.

"what no! im thrilled, i always watched you guys since vine and then i watched even more when you guys started doing urbanex and haunted places! you guys started doing that as i was starting to become more familiar with my capabilities." you explained. "and then when you reached out to me, my heart was beating out of my chest. it was kind of like a dream turned into reality.

"wow, that's actually super cool that you've been watching us since that long ago." colby mentioned. "we've had an eye on you since you collaborated with seth and josh!"

"yeah ever since then we've always wanted to reach out to you." sam then added giving you a soft smile. gosh, his smile was so cute.

"thats so good to hear!" you giggled.

you giggled.

"well, why don't we start chatting about where we could explore..." colby proposed. you and sam nodded, both having the rosiest cheeks.

you and sam have exchanged several messages since your zoom call. some professional and about the collaboration, and some about your personal lives.

from @/samgolbach

can i get your number? you know for professional ghosthunting biz...

to @/samgolbach

yeah sure! for professional ghosthunting biz... :)

(xxx) xxx-xxxx sent you a message

hi its sam

to (xxx) xxx-xxxx

hi sam its y/n

from sam

hmm, glad you didn't give me a fake number

to sam

why would i give you a fake number

from sam

because maybe ur too scared to collab with us? hmm, are you?

to sam

no no, i find this kind of stuff exciting. i love learning more about the afterlife and spirits and all that other stuff.

from sam

same! honestly, its super exciting. although if I get too excited I do dumb shit...

to sam

like what? get demons stuck in your ass?

from sam

ha. ha. ha. not funny...

to sam

sorry! although i think sallie found it funny.

from sam

yeah i think she definitely enjoyed it

you couldn't help the grin that made its way onto your face.

these harmless conversations kept going on ever since you had exchanged numbers. you guys talked every day even after your collaboration was done.

he made you so much happier than you were before. you became very close friends with colby as well. them two stepping into your life brought you many other close friends that you could call family.

yours and sams conversation would go from your personal life, to favorite shows, to where you've traveled, and now to past relationships.

sam told you about his and surprisingly went into depth with it which you honestly felt happy about because that meant he trusted you.

after he was done you felt it was only right for you to share that you had only one serious relationship before and it ended pretty rough, even though you had closure, the relationship taught you a lot and not in a good way.

he responded like a gentleman saying he was surprised that no one swept a beautiful girl like you off their feet.

that comment made you blush. you blushed so much you might as well have been kicking your feet back and forth.

your response was a simple thank you because you didn't know how to flirt or move forward and frankly, you were scared.

after that, you started to form a different kind of liking toward sam. you were always looking forward to his text messages and when he didn't text back you were constantly checking your phone to see if by any chance he had.

then one day he invited you over to watch a movie; specifically the exorcist. you were super excited but a little bit nervous. you were in charge of bringing drinks while the others had another responsibility.

as you were done getting dressed you got a text from sam. you looked at it and did a double-take.

from sam 💕

hurry and get your pretty self over here!

your heart took a leap. he was constantly taking every opportunity to compliment you which is something you’re not used to.

to sam 💕

i’m going im going! i’m so excited :)

from sam 💕

i’m excited to see you

again, your body had a reaction to the text.

you hurried and packed up all the drinks in your car before starting it and heading over towards his house; well his and colby’s house.

as you were parking you noticed more cars than you thought would be parked. you started to become nervous.

how big was this watch party? who will be there? will you be the outsider?

from sam 💕

i’ll open the gate for you so you can park in the driveway

you felt relief as you turned around to pass the house once more so that you could drive inside. you saw the gate starting to open and made your way inside parking in the driveway next to another car that was there.

you shut the car off climbing out to see sam on the porch.

“so glad you’re here!” he smiles. “it’s gonna be so fun. here let me help you.” he walked towards the door to the backseat opened it and took the cooler that you had brought and set it on the ground.

“thank you for the invite.” you smiled shyly.

you two made your way up to the front of the house and as you were about to open the door he was quick to leap in front of you taking the handle in his hand and opening it for you.

“what a gentleman!” you replied walking through.

“always for you,” he said causing your face to grow hot.

“yo y/n! glad you could make it!” colby shouted walking over to you and bringing you in for a hug.

“glad i could as well.” you nodded.

“come on over this way, sam can take the drinks in the kitchen.” he waved over for you to follow him.

you followed taking in your surroundings. this isn’t your first time at their house but you’re still starting to become familiar with the environment.

colby leads you into the den area where there are a few more people. you saw familiar faces mostly from youtube. like the sturniolo triplets, jake webber, tara yummy, johnnie guilbert, larry, and a girl you’ve seen on sam and colby’s videos once before.

“guys this is y/n! she was in one of our videos a while ago and we’ve become super close friends!” he introduced you earning a wave. “y/n, this is jake, tara, johnny, larry, chris, matt, nick, and amanda. amanda is also a fellow medium!”

your heart leaped. you’d been looking for more medium or psychic friends so you could get advice or any information.

“oh my gosh! you’re a medium! so nice to meet you i’m amanda the medium haha! it’s so good to meet you.” amanda brought you in for a hug.

“it’s a pleasure! i admire you, you’ve helped me come to terms with a lot of stuff and helped me explore more about my capabilities, so thank you so much!” you gushed.

“wow that’s so good to hear i’m flattered, thank you. we have so much to talk about.” you both sat down and started chatting.

when the movie started you were sitting next to amanda and sam. sam came to sit next to you as the movie was starting which had you extremely excited.

throughout the whole movie, you felt gentle brushes against your knee as sam would move closer which had you moving a little closer inch by inch.

when the movie came to an end the group went outside to have a quick little bonfire where you guys chatted once more.

then afterwards everyone left agreeing it was well past their bedtime fortunately leaving you and sam alone outside.

“y/n?” sam spoke up cutting the comfortable silence you two had while looking at the fire.

“yeah?” you answered.

“im really glad we’ve gotten close this past year.” he confessed.

you smiled, “i feel the same way…i definitely needed a friendship like this in my life. i don't have many close close friends like how you and i have become so close recently.”

his face held a sad smile. “im sorry about how your past relationship ended.”

“no reason to be sorry. id be sorry if i had still stayed but i know what i deserve and that's not it.” you smiled and tried to lift up the mood. “all this sad talk is gonna kill the mood!”

you jumped up and held out ur arm. “come on!”

he took your hand and smiled. you were about to let go when he held onto your hand and pulled you close to him connecting your lips in a passionate kiss.

the kiss took you by surprise so it took you a few seconds before you reciprocated the kiss.

he pushed forward getting impossibly closer to you holding on to your hips to steady you so you didn't fall from the force he out on you.

you had no choice but to hold onto the back of his neck to steady yourself as well.

a few more seconds of smooches before you both pulled away to get some air.

breathless, you had no idea what to say. you were speechless.

“ive been wanting to do that for the longest time.” sam said hands still on your hips.

“glad you finally did.” you said without thinking.

sam laughed and sighed in relief.

“sorry, i just meant..i just..i like …” you stuttered. your cheeks turning red. “fuck you know what never mind.” you hid your face in his shoulder.

“i like you y/n. i really like you.” he told you. his words bringing butterflies to your stomach.

you lifted your head up to meet his eyes. “that's what i was trying to say…” you said quietly.

“well i found your stuttering very cute.” he moved some of your hair from your shoulder.

“im glad you don't find it dumb and embarrassing.” you sheepishly say.

“i could never find you dumb or embarrassing.” he scrunches his nose up cutely. “maybe a little silly sometimes.”

“gee thanks.” you roll your eyes playfully.

“mmm and sassy. but it's okay i can handle your attitude.” he pulls you by your waist closer. “can i kiss you one more time?”

“now that you find me sassy no no.” you playfully decline.

“mhmm…okay.” he pulls you in for a kiss and you let him.

#✮⋆˙ 𝑾𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑶𝑾 #sam and colby #sam and colby imagine #sam and colby smut #sam golbach #sam x reader #sam goldbach smut #sam goldbach imagine #sam golbach x reader #sam goldbach

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thebibliosphere · 2 years

Text

I receive many wonderful and kind comments about Phangs in my inbox daily, but the ones that stick with me the most are always from fellow neurodivergent people, usually elated or crying because Phangs is the first book they've been able to read since their teens, sometimes even decades.

"I thought I'd lost the ability to read; I thought there was something wrong with me; I thought I was broken," over and over and over again.

I've talked about it before, but just in case you need to hear it: it's not just you; it's the publishing industry.

If you follow my Twitter, you may have seen the thread where I talked about what that was like, and how I was often handed the "problem" writers who struggled to conform to the industry standards. (The original thread is gone, but for context, it was about the lack of accessibility in publishing for people with ADHD) I didn't know it then because I wasn't yet diagnosed, but I understood the problems these writers were having because our brains functioned on the same wavelength.

I understood why they felt specific changes harmed the text, but I also understood that it was the cost of being published, and it was my job to help them with it. I went above and beyond to make it as painless for them as possible. All the while listening to my colleagues around the wine water cooler deride these writers as "pretentious" and "too thin-skinned for publishing."

I hated them. I still hate them, and I hate that the industry is the way it is because it's really not that difficult to accommodate.

Suppose an ADHD author tells you the changes you've made have made a sentence incomprehensible to them (and I cannot stress enough how distressing it is to have something you wrote be turned into something you cannot read). In that case, it's likely because you've removed certain critical elements for the sake of brevity. It might not look like vital elements to you, but for ND brains, longer sentences with additional qualifiers and descriptors can really help us latch onto the "rhythm" of a text, which can help us feel more immersed and hold our attention better*.

Filler words can help with this; it gives our brain time to process but also figure out which parts are essential and to hold onto. It's sort of like, uh, how people say "like" and "uh" a lot (😋). These act as both social cues that indicate that while we might be pausing in our speech, we are not done talking yet, but also help keep our brains jogging along via the act of vocal stimulation. (If I can find the study I read on this, I'll come back and post the link.)

Regarding "superfluous" adjectives and "weak" adverbs, they often function to provide emphasis and context we might otherwise miss. Sure, you can go overboard with them, and they can lose all meaning if you do, but the general writing advice that "adverbs NEVER be used" is not only lousy in general but also means those of us who struggle with social cues and emotional context can be left feeling out of the loop.

I can't tell you the number of times I've had to go back and verify that a character is experiencing an Emotion because it wasn't emphasized, or the author tried to make it into a gut punch by using "sharp, punchy" language (but all they use is "sharp, punchy" language!), and my brain glossed over it because, well, if it's not part of the greater sentence structure, it's irrelevant.

And this shit is my job! I'm being paid to notice these things! It's just not how my brain works naturally, and forcing it to do so long-term is not only exhausting but distressing. Why would I keep trying to read something that causes me exhaustion and makes me feel stupid because I'm struggling to understand it?

Now, obviously, there will be times when a text needs sprucing up. Everyone has their "comfort" style of writing, and while repetition can be soothing to read, it can also make the text hard to engage with. Same with run-on sentences. Sometimes you need those one-word gut punches. Or everyone's favorite, the italicized "oh."

The trick is finding a happy medium between the two that retains your personal voice and writing style. A good editor will work with you to make this possible. A bad one will hack everything to pieces and tell you, "that's just how it's meant to be."

I was lucky with my editors. Sometimes, I had to tell them that the proposed changes wouldn't work and were causing me distress because I couldn't read them. And I knew. I knew if I couldn't follow the sentence structure, a good chunk of my prospective readers wouldn't be able to either. They weren't doing anything wrong. They were doing their jobs and ensuring my book had as much mainstream readability appeal as possible. However, the problem is that "mainstream readability," as we've already established, isn't accessible to a large chunk of the population. So we found ways to work around it. We made it work.

As is evident in the messages I get in my inbox daily.

Every single day, someone else tells me their friend recommended Phangs to them, and they were skeptical because they haven't been able to read a published book in years. And every single day, someone new tells me they loved Phangs, but the biggest thing they loved about it, was that they were even able to read it at all.

So thank you for the greatest compliment you can give me. A lot of work went into ensuring Phangs would be accessible to as many people as possible.

Also, sorry the industry is like *gestures* this.

----

*This is a generality and not true for everyone. People are not monoliths. I am merely speaking from my personal experiences from the things I have observed in the industry as an editor, a writer, and a lifelong reader who also now struggles to read the current style favored by the mainstream industry.

#writing #publishing #adhd #long post #sorry to just keep ranting about adhd stuff atm #but it's all on my mind

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artbyblastweave · 22 days

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Got a Worm meta question for you. I'm starting on the early parts of Taylor's warlord era - I'm about to leap into Arc 13 - and the general concept of a ravaged American city being divided up by various supervillain groups is reminding me a lot of that Batman story arc No Man's Land from the late 1990s. Unfortunately my comics knowledge is rudimentary at best, and I haven't been able to any discussion comparing the two stories, so I was wondering if I could pick your brain on the subject. Was it just convergent evolution, or was Wildbow engaging with the Batman story in some way?

I myself have only read about half of No Man's Land- and several years ago to boot- so I've got limited ability to do a direct compare and contrast. No Man's Land is absolutely the sort of status-quo-shattering, history-book-making upset that, within Marvel and DC, nonetheless always inexplicably heals and loses salience until you can barely tell that it's still in continuity. Worm is heavily informed by Wildbow's irritation with that sort of thing, so I think it's totally reasonable to view the warlord era through the lens of "What if No Mans Land had no editorial escape hatch." Alternatively, I think it kind of makes sense to view it through the lens that it's working backwards from the premise of No Man's Land- In what kind of setting would it be plausible for the Federal Government to write off a sufficiently-damaged American City? In what context would the legal infrastructure have been established for that, in what context would that even fall within the Overton Window? What muddies my opinion on this is that the general concept of a ravaged, atmospherically-apocalyptic American city torn up by superpowered gang warfare is something that's kind of just been in the water in superhero comics since the mid-eighties at least, and it was a relatively common thing to see during the Dark Age- they were choice prey for all those overpouched musclemen with their poorly rendered firearms. I'd be surprised if Wildbow wasn't at least aware of No Man's Land, but it's definitely not the only cape book from the late 90s or early oughts where you could pick up that idea from. Ultimately this leaves me unsure if No Man's Land is the specific referent or if it's just part-and-parcel with trying to do an involved, thoughtful take on what cape comics were like at the time.

#I think there are ways in which this whole thing plays into urban hellscape narratives about cities in the 90s #which I don't feel totally equipped to pull apart atm #one indie cape setting which played this angle that stuck in my head was that aborted pilot project for a shared cape setting Dark Horse di #But I recall a distinctly apocalyptic vibe to a lot of the stuff I used to read from back then #thoughts #wildbow #parahumans #ask #asks #wormblr #worm is more and more a period piece for cape comics in the early oughts specifically with each passing year #sorry for the delay in responding

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honeypawsart · 6 months

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"BUTTERFINGERS" AU, EARTH-0164

"Hi, my name is Dr. Johnny B. Ohnn. No, not the Ohnn you're thinking of. I'm from an alternate dimension (EARTH-0164). If Johnathon Ohnn didn’t become The Spot because of the supercollider explosion, but rather just accidentally dropped the dark matter capsule. Causing a slow spread of dark matter to corrupt his body over time. That's me."

Dr. Johnny B. Ohnn is an ex-Alchemax lead scientist who designed and began the creation of the Supercollider. On the day of the funding ceremony for his project, he accidentally dropped a canister of dark matter he extracted from a mini-collider test model, which he was to use as a demonstration for the presentation. The dark matter painfully spread to several portions of his body. However, instead of support after his accident, he was ridiculed by his respected friends and coworkers for being so clumsy and unprofessional. "Butterfingers" was a common yet silly thrown at him afterward. Johnny quit his job out of frustration, turning on the Alchemax company to make them pay for his deformities... using them to his advantage.

Johnny is generally very grumpy. This is due to his dark matter deformities being very uncomfortable. It feels like burning, itching, and chronically painful to deal with daily. The black spots feel void of sensation however, it's the white areas that hurt him the most. He uses cold water showers and drinks to help soothe the pain. The dark matter corruption on his body feels like jello, memory foam, or oobleck to the touch; it's solid at first but things can sink into the nothingness void.

The corruption is relatively slow, and by the time he's 41 years old, he's 80% corrupted. At this point in time, although he's still clumsy as ever, he's more confident in his ability to use his powers to his advantage. He adopts the nickname "Milky Way" then (based on another popular chocolate bar candy).

Johnny also has a pet shrimp named Shrimptin Beck. Later on in his isolation, he builds a functional Mysterio robot suit for Shrimptin to move around and help with his crimes. They sort of have a "Megamind & Minion" relationship haha

Johnny B. Ohnn is not a huge fan of his dimension's rendition of Spiderman. Her name is Lucky Charm, and is the exact polar opposite of Butterfingers. But you know what they say about "opposites attract" ;)

Earth-0164 Spider-Man, aka Lucky Charm! Works at the Trophy Bugle casino part-time! The rest of her time is spent saving their city using their very luck-driven superpowers! On their off days, Gwen Amber (lol yes that is my actual first and middle name, cringe is free) works as a regular employee at the Trophy Bugle Casino, owned and run by J. Jameson who HATES Lucky Charm for potentially ruining his business. Butterfingers ended up hitting up a casino after his accident- he always loses and gets frustrated with the hosts and that’s how he and Lucky Charm meet the first time, but she INSISTS on trying to make him better outside of work so they sort of get close as they teach him ya know?? Meanwhile, he doesn’t even realize that out of all the hosts at the casino, the one he happens to bump into is the hero he should hate for being against his motivations.

✮ ✮ ✮ That's all I have for now in the Earth-0164 canon!! I hope you guys enjoy this sort of long, info-dumpy post! He also has an official Spotify Playlist! Fan art is 100% welcome of Butterfingers. I also don't mind if you draw yourself/oc with him. Just please realize some boundaries with him. I will not tolerate any sort of "proship" art of him with any underage characters, since he is an old man (36-41 years old). He's very special to me, so please be respectful about that!

He's also my OC, so please tag me in any posts of him as well! He has a tag on all socials as #butterfingersohnn as well! All fan art is uploaded to his toyhou.se page.

That's the end!! Thanks for reading :D

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nathandrakeisabottom · 5 months

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Headcannons about them with an anxious SO? Love your stuff x

Thank you, friend! Now, in full canonical honesty, I don’t believe that either Nathan or Sam would be particularly good at dealing with their deeper anxiety, let alone someone else’s, let alone someone else’s who they loved dearly and would only be afraid to make it worse (that many crumbling bridges and a guy’s gotta if consider his only superpower is the ability to destroy everything he touches) for most of their young lives.

However, I do believe that post-UC4 (perhaps a little earlier for Nathan), and a good dose of necessary therapy (paid for in pirate coins, of course)--- they’d be more than willing to finally take on the challenge.

For themselves, and for the person they love more than anything.

Drakes with an Anxious S/O Headcanons

Nathan:

In his younger days, the prince of the awkward smile and half-hearted clap on the back. A pulley doll whose only catchphrases were “Man, that’s hard”, “Yeah. Yeesh.”, and “Soooo, I guess this would be a bad time for a joke, huh?”. Scurries to the bathroom as soon as they’re not in tears anymore, and stays there for as long as it takes to stop hearing the residual sobs.

However, his late 30s and 40s bring him a much healthier perspective (and therapy— Jesus, finally) and being the smarty pants he is, he passes on no opportunity to put his new skills and knowledge to use.

That playfulness and desire to find the lightness in even the hardest situations never leaves him at any age, though.

A panic attack? “‘Is something… wrong with you’? You realize you’re talking to the guy who accidentally destroys ancient temples for a living, as an archaeologist? And I still consider myself a not so bad guy. So in my eyes, you’re basically a lesser known Mesopotamian god.”

Got a bad grade? “A D in Psychometrics? I don’t know, sounds like they don’t know anything about math if they’re using a letter to grade you. Maybe they should go get their teaching certificates checked. Hey, how ‘bout I just draw you a PhD myself? You know I have an eye for art.”

Dealing with shitty parents? Landlord? Roommates? Exes who won’t leave you the fuck alone? “What? That buffoon? Guy who can’t even spell their own name right? That bastard isn’t worth a thought of a thought of a thought in your head. Pretty sure they haven’t had a thought in their own head since 1996.”

As soon as his first wide-toothed smile is won, he’s leaning into his partner with a secretive smirk: “Ya wanna get the fuck out of here?”

Because distractions always helped him before.

Will act especially gentlemanly, and theatrically play it up, while taking their partner for a frozen yogurt, antique shop, Target trip, public park, laser tag (yes, really) decompress. Bows when he opens the car door for them. Pays for everything. Calls them ‘your majesty’ for the entirety of the excursion.

All he wants is to get them to smile. And he’s not stopping until he sees it.

When the night creeps in and his S/O starts to lose steam, Nathan’s own worry grows more obvious, though he tries his best to keep it to himself.

Watches them with wide eyes. Gives them space, but still asks every few minutes if they need a cup of water. No? Tea? Arnold Palmer? Popsicle? Massage? Hot Pocket? Sexy pillow fight? However many it takes to make his partner laugh again. But he fully means every offer he gives.

Says nothing as he helps them undress and into their PJs. Touches are tender and intimate, gently rubs their shoulders and neck. Never too hard, never too direct. Plays the friendly ghost and lets their partner take the lead, but never, ever just sits around to watch.

Makes them a beverage of some sort, even if they say no. Hot lemonade with honey is his personal homecure. Says yellow is a happy color, so it must be good for you.

And right before they turn the lights out, Nate timidly offers— with a shy, trying chuckle— if they want him to read them a bedtime story.

Somehow shocked every time they say yes. Mumbles something self-derogatory about himself (“Ya know, not the best actor, but—” “Personally I think I have the voice of a dying goose, but—”) before sitting on the nearest surface and cracking open a book.

If he’s still feeling a little awkward, will uneasily ask if they wanna hear what he’s been reading lately, and will do so if asked— but really wants to read the pirate storybooks his mother read to him and Sam when they were kids.

It always made him feel better when the world felt too big, too scary, too cruel.

So he wants to share it with the person he loves.

He wants to share everything with the person he loves.

And without even asking, goes to the medicine cabinet and brings them a tablet of whatever they need when the anxiety gets especially bad, and says “I know, it’s scary. But we’ve been through scary before, right?” with a kiss on the cheek as they swallow it down with a sip of lemonade.

Lingers, eyes down, and vaguely nods to nobody as he stands and walks to the door.

“Want me… uh, want me to keep reading to you?” But he offers before he can even get past the door frame.

“Do you want me to want you to keep reading to me?”

And the last thing he wants to see is his love, alone. The idea of them crying beneath the covers because they were too afraid to burden him with it, too afraid to be seen. Everything he felt he had to do when he was 6 and his mother “passed”, age 9, 10, 11, 12 after a black eye, the words that his brain told him wrong: spoken aloud by the playground bullies he feared he’d never be stronger than.

But he knew they were wrong. The bullies were wrong. The ones in his brain. The ones in theirs.

“Yes.” He replies without missing a beat.

And he makes sure to hold their hand in his free one until the second they fall asleep… and a few hours after, just to be safe.

The next morning they fucking better expect breakfast in bed— and he maybe, just maybe, might even be willing to spring for McDonald’s, if that’s what they want. As long as they promise to eat actual fruit after. And hell, maybe even a vegetable or two when he makes dinner that night. Did you know that eating right and exercise are actually primary solutions to poor mental health—? That’s what Dr. Dorian said— No, potatoes don’t count as a vegetable— no, especially not if it’s fried— NO, FRENCH FRIES DON’T COUNT, BABY—

Sam:

Sam takes a bit longer to warm up to discussing anxiety than Nathan does, mostly due to struggling so deeply with it on his own. It’s not like prisoners (or Shoreline guards) made the most comforting companions.

The better he could keep secrets, the less he could reveal, the safer he’d be.

So it makes sense that it’s both his greatest strength and weakness when it comes to emotionally turbulent times.

In his younger, more avoidant years, he’d be the first to leave the room, leave the building, hell, sometimes even leave the city after a particularly heavy cry or confrontation with his then-partner. Only to come back the next morning and act like nothing ever happened.

But now, he doesn’t run. After prison, after Rafe, after Madagascar, all he wants is to be allowed to stay. To be wanted to stay by someone who loves him.

Is happiest to just sit with you in the silence. His biggest skill is his ability to weather the storm. And whether you need to scream bloody murder, or need to sit and decompress and just fucking feel, but can’t do it alone, Sam’s there. Listening.

Once you’re done talking, he takes one last, long drag of his cigarette, stubs it out onto the pavement, and asks simply: “So do you want solutions… or something else, sweet’art?”

You can see in his eyes— darting less than solid, certain against your own— that he really means it, in every way that he was too afraid to when he was younger.

The wonderful and terrifying thing about having anxiety while Sam is there is that it’s a vulnerable experience for the both of you. He’s learning, discovering, trying right along with you. And he may not be able to lift you up so easily, but he’ll be able to sink into the dark places with you, and not be afraid to see what’s down there.

And maybe seeing someone he loves so deeply, sees as so beautiful, so smart, so kind, so wonderful, so absolutely perfect to him feel the same ways he does about himself… maybe it makes him think that he’s not as terrible as his brain tells him, either.

Helps you take action by letting himself (finally) not be the smart one: “When ya… get like this, what do you usually do first, sweet’art? Paint me a pit’chure.” Gives you complete control, and smiles softly when you wipe your tears and the logical, the archaeological mind awakens. Mimics unraveling an ancient map when you begin to explain, and you inadvertently hiccup out a laugh.

At times, it’ll feel like he’s trying to run again, but when he stands up and walks across the room— he always returns. This time with your favorite of his jackets, the denim one that smells like him even though he just cleaned it, and drapes it protectively over your shoulders. Clasps his palm at the back of your neck and rubs out the knot he always finds there. Smiles toothy and wide when your words are broken up by sighs of relief. Only to be filled once again with silence, gazes meeting sweet and safe.

“Remember Indonesia?” He offers with a smirk, despite your furrowed brow.

“I guess? What about—?”

“I read the runes’ instructions and ran us in circles all around Bali, only to reread the transcript and realized I got three letters completely wrong. J—V—A. Java. It was goddamn Java the entire time.”

“Your point being?”

He smiles and shrugs. Trying. Maybe he’s wrong, a foreigner in some ancient, uncertain land, but he tries.

“Sometimes our brains are just wrong.” He tries for you. “That’s all.”

You sniffle, and he leans in to press a prickly kiss to your cheek. His jacket is still warm from the dryer, wafting with the residual sting of cigarette, Old Spice Captain, cheap mouthwash, even cheaper aftershave, and something else completely unnameable.

And maybe some others would think the scent appalling, but it’s the strangeness, the specificity, and yes, the stank— everything that makes Sam him— that makes you love it. Love him. The depth. The difference.

The pain, and what he chose to do with it.

Another kiss, this time down your neck. This time, the sigh of relief is his own.

What he chose to change it into.

“So… any chance sex therapy might be a thing?” He asks grinningly.

“Why don’t we find out, ‘sweet’art’?”

#uncharted #uncharted 4: a thief's end #nathan drake #sam drake #nathan drake x reader #sam drake x reader #happy christmas yall!!!#and for those are yall who struggle today. you arent alone #feel free to jump into my inbox and geek out with me #sometimes family is just someone you share blood with #and that's allowed to be it #shea out

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britany1997 · 1 month

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Nightmares and Day-dreams

Peter Ballard x GN Reader

Note: I hope y’all enjoy this! This’ll be my last fic till May. I thought it would be fun to dip into some horror and angst for this one. (The next one will be fluffy I promise haha)

Comment to be added to my Peter/Henry Taglist

Warnings: Horror, dark themes, blood and gore, dead bodies, manipulating (reader’s innocent and a little lonely and this gets taken advantage of), psychic abilities, a tiny bit of mind control, unhappy ending

A soft knock on the door of your clinic woke you from your light slumber. You jolted, combing your fingers through your hair and wiping the drool from the corner of your mouth.

You smiled as you walked to the door. Only one person ever knocked, the same person who’d occupied your dreams a today and every night for weeks.

Since you’d started working at Hawkins lab, you hadn’t been able to get him out of your head. Sure he was attractive and all, his blue eyes alone would have anyone falling all over him. But there was something about him, something more than just his good looks.

Peter was so…sweet. He was patient with the kids, he was attentive and considerate of you and all his coworkers, God you’d rarely ever seen him without a smile on his face.

He was a genuinely good guy, sort of a rarity for you these days.

So when your day time fantasies had followed you to bed, you hadn’t been all that surprised. Peter was…the perfect man.

When he knocked again, you snapped back to reality. You realized you’d been thinking about his soft smile for much too long, once again.

You yanked the door open, only to be met with the sight of the sheepish, blond man, holding his hand against his chest and staining his all white clothes a deep red.

“Peter!” You gasped, your hands flying to cover your mouth as blood dripped down his wrist. Without Peter’s accident prone nature, you were certain you’d be out of a job.

“Hi,” he grimaced, wincing just a bit in pain.

“Oh my God Peter please get in here,” you grabbed his uninjured arm and pulled him inside.

He stumbled in behind you, more boy than man, blushing profusely.

You pulled out a chair, “sit,” you ordered before rushing to grab bandages and antiseptics.

Once you’d gathered supplies you knelt in between his legs. “Show me,” you ordered.

Reluctantly, he pulled his arm away from his chest to reveal the massive gash. It was worse than you could have imagined.

“How’d you even do this!?” You half asked and half scolded.

He cringed, “oh you know…” he trailed off but you hadn’t really been listening, too invested in stitching him up.

You sighed as you finished. “You can’t keep doing this,” you told him.

He gazed into your eyes, that sweet smile you loved so much brightening his whole face. “But then I wouldn’t get to enjoy the pleasure of your company.”

You blushed, trying to hide it as you stood to put away all of your first aid supplies.

“Don’t you have work to get back to?” you asked, flustered out of your mind.

He chuckled, “yeah I’d better get going.”

As he slipped out the door, you wondered how you managed to get anything done with him around.

You propped your head up on one hand, fighting sleep and losing as you glanced at the clock to read 10:42am. You sighed.

You couldn’t figure out what had you so tired these days. You’d been getting a full eight hours! And damn, you figured with your dreams filled with the face of your favorite blond man you would have slept a lot better.

You rubbed circles into your temples. You felt a wave of the same ‘head in a trash compactor’ feeling you did when you got no sleep at all. What was wrong with you?

Suddenly, you were roused from your thoughts by a familiar knock on your door.

Your pained face morphed into a bright smile. Peter.

When you opened the door he was standing before you, all white uniform, mug in hand.

“Good morning,” he smiled.

You returned his grin, even though your morning had been anything but good, it was much better now.

“No more injuries I hope?” You teased.

He laughed. “Not yet, but it’s still early I suppose.” He opened two creamers and poured them into the mug, stirring absentmindedly.

“Arm heeled up pretty nicely,” you noticed, coming around to touch the small mark where the giant gash had once been.

“Oh yeah,” he flexed a bit, “just needed a couple weeks and some TLC from my favorite nurse”

You giggled at his flirting, wondering what his curls would feel like if you ran your fingers through his hair.

He handed you the mug, “brought this for you.”

You gasped just a bit before taking a sip of the steaming liquid.

“Thank you so much,” you were touched.

“Don’t mention it,” he winked as he slipped out the door.

You smiled to yourself, he was so thoughtful, so considerate. You figured he must have been paying attention to you to notice you’d been so lethargic.

But…then again you hadn’t seen him this morning, not until now.

You shrugged, maybe he brought everyone coffee.

You pushed the thought out of your head, if that was the case, you didn’t want to know. You’d rather believe he thought you were special.

You took another long sip.

You startled awake at the feeling of someone nudging your arm softly. As you scrambled to collect your thoughts, still half asleep, you were met with Peter’s concerned face.

“Are you alright,” he asked.

“Yeah! Yes, I’m fine,” you babbled, blushing profusely.

“I knocked four times, I thought it would be ok to come in…” he trailed off, then frowned. “You’re really ok?”

You sighed, rubbing your temples. “Yeah um, I haven’t been sleeping well.” You told him.

But you had been sleeping well. For the past few days you’d been sleeping for ten hours instead of eight. Yet it seemed to be doing absolutely nothing, you were still exhausted. Past the point of struggling to stay awake, you were fully napping at work now.

“Oh that’s awful,” you could feel Peter’s concern, his gaze trained on your drooping eyes. “That’s how they torture people you know…lack of sleep.”

“Really?” you yawned, not processing a single word he said.

“You should get some rest,” he told you.

“What? No! I can’t sleep here,” you protested, “didn’t you need something? You must have come here for something.”

“Just a band aid,” he tugged your hand until you were standing, leading you towards the cot in your tiny clinic. “I can get it on the way out, why don’t you lie down?”

The more you mulled it over, the more that measly cot began to look like a king bed at the Ritz Carlton.

“Well…maybe I could for a little…”

He nodded, “you’re of no use to anyone if you’re tired,” he rationalized, “besides, you deserve it.”

“I deserve it,” you repeated as you climbed onto the cot.

“That’s right,” he smiled as he crept towards the door, flicking off the light switch on his way out.

You barely even noticed him leave as you drifted off.

You awoke abruptly to the sound of an alarm blaring. You stumbled off the cot. Of course something happened during the few seconds, you checked your watch, hours you’d been asleep.

You grabbed your first aid kit and rushed into the hallway, but the sight you were met with chilled you to your core.

Your hands covered your mouth as you slumped against the wall in shock. Corridors you’d walked down every day were now stained with blood. Children you’d tended to when they were sick, held when they were crying, now littered the linoleum floor.

Fear coursed through you. You slid down the wall until you were crouched in a ball, defeated, all but waiting for whatever monster had pillaged the lab to take you too. You couldn’t help but think of Peter, wondering if your perfect boy had escaped, if he was ok.

As tears began to prick your eyes, Peter crept around the corner, covered in blood yet, more serene than you’d ever seen him.

Your heart leapt in your chest. Peter had evaded the murderer, maybe there was hope for the two of you after all.

But as he stalked closer, any semblance of hope left within you shattered.

Peter wasn’t just calm, he was…pleased.

As he stepped over the corpses of discarded children, he smiled down at their youthful faces. He nudged them to the side with his feet.

You could feel your heart pounding out of your chest as you realized the blood splattered on his face wasn’t his own.

He knelt down in front of you, smiling softly and brushing your hair behind your ear. “Hello sweetheart,” he cooed.

You recoiled, his soft touch might as well have been a stab. Any fondness you’d had for him melted away.

“Ah ah,” he chided, gripping your chin and pulling you close. “Don’t shy away from me.”

If you moved to escape his touch, he gripped you harder. His head followed your movements like a snake, waiting to strike.

“Please,” your voice broke, “don’t kill me.” You begged, trading your pride for a chance at survival.

“Kill you?” Peter looked hurt, “no darling I would never kill you,” he moved to cup your face.

You squeaked.

He smiled, “I’d rather keep you.”

Peter was a deadly spider and he’d entangled you in his web. As much as you squirmed and struggled to escape, it was already much too late.

“K-keep me?” You felt a slimey feeling overtake you, “like…you want me to be your…partner?” The dream you’d had for so long had dissolved to a nightmare.

He chuckled as he stroked the back of his hand down your cheek.

The gesture made your skin crawl.

“Silly human, you’re adorable.” He pinched your cheek cruelly, “how do I say this you’re… beneath me.”

You hated that his words could hurt you.

“You’re more like a…hmm how should I say this,” his brow furrowed, “ah, you’re more like a pet to me, a bunny or a kitten or something.”

You felt like you’d been punched.

“Your mind, it’s so fun to play with,” his smile was sinister, “I could never let you go.”

Your face twisted in disgust, you couldn’t imagine a worse fate for yourself.

Peter sensed your discomfort. “You’ll come around,” he decided, “but for now, you’ve had a rough day and you need your rest.”

He threw you a mocking pout as he placed a hand on your forehead.

Your eyes began to flutter closed, as much as you tried you couldn’t fight whatever Peter was doing.

“Sweet dreams,” he whispered as your world faded to black.

Taglist🖤:

@6lostgirl6 @misslavenderlady @sad-ghost-of-garbage @bloodywickedvamp @lostboys1987girl @crustyboypix @gothamslostboy @arbesa-mind @dwaynesluscioushair @anna1306

#stranger things #peter ballard #henry creel #Peter Ballard x reader #henry creel x reader #Peter ballard fic #stranger things fic #001 stranger things #001 #Henry creel fic #gn reader #gn reader fic #angst #horror #unhappy ending #hawkins lab #dark fic #stranger things 4 #stranger things fandom

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talenlee · 2 months

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The Fundamentalist As Liar

Earlier this year I wrote about Michael Winger, a truly awful stain of a man with a more successful Youtube channel than mine so who’s so big and smart now huh and I wrote about that man’s particular tendency to claim sight unseen the illegitimacy of positions against him. What this usually means is that he argues that Atheists aren’t really Atheists, because,

then he presents a list of unconvincing reasons and eventually cooks down to ‘they just want to sin.’ Like, one of the favourites of this position is the idea that look, all the things you want to say about the arguments that have convinced you, those things aren’t that important because they’re just a smokescreen, a rhetorical assertion that stands in place because there’s a real, simple, emotional demand: I believe this because I want to believe this.

And I think, based on experience and reading a lot of these ding dongs’ writing reaching back two centuries, that uh, that’s because that’s how their worldview works, so they assume it’s how everyone’s does.

The Fundamentalist Christian is a liar who believes everyone believes lies.

I haven’t done any kind of comprehensive study. I haven’t met every Christian Fundamentalist. What I have to offer on this is the story of my experience and also my experience of all the people I’ve met since who slotted neatly into the mental software I was already running. Software is the best comparison I can make, where the fundamentalist viewpoint is a platform that runs some pretty reliable programs on top of it. Those programs are great, and you know it’s an operating system since it can run conflicting programs alongside one another without necessarily having any kind of fault in memory handling. My point is that I can open up any apologist channel in the year of our lord 2024 and hear one of the same small pool of bullshit narratives presented with the same bullshit assumptions built into them.

When you see the arguments used over and over again, when you correct flaws in the argument, over and over again, you quickly lose the ability to imagine that these people are aware of what they’re arguing and whether or not the argument is just a cloak of words they throw over how they feel about things. There are some really egregious cases of it, such as Ken Ham and Kent Hovind, who have been making the same arguments my entire life and contend with correction by ignoring it and repeating the same script when you’re not in the room.

But there’s also the apologetics of those who want to be seen as serious or big thinkers, the kinds of nobodies who think that they have the presence and awareness to attack actual scholarship, and they dress themselves up with a sense of seriousness, a sort of vast pomp that gets really pissy when you remind them that the book they’re trying to argue is infallible has a zombie apocalypse and multiple talking animals in it. ‘Well you would bring those up,’ they sneer as if reminding them of things that are true is somehow a low blow, an unfairness in the conversation. Oh, you, you’ve shown how unsophisticated you are by pointing out a book full of obvious fictions has obvious fictions in it, and if that was all this is that would work! It is pretty dumb to treat a book of folklore as if it’s a history textbook and demand it hold to that standard!

But they usually get around to admitting they think the talking animals are real.

There’s this one that’s really famous because there’s a serious-sounding condescending prick named William Lane Craig promoting it, the ‘Kalam Cosmological Argument.’ The argument runs as follows:

Everything that exists has a cause

The universe exists

Therefore the universe has a cause

And people keep looking at this and going: Well hang on, hang on, what says the universe has a cause? what about uncaused events? What about philosophical infinities? what about- when the much simpler response is ‘that’s fucking stupid.’ Because they don’t mean ‘the universe has a cause, period,’ they mean ‘the universe has a cause,’ deep breath, then subtle mumbling, ‘and that cause is the Christian god who I personally believe in as the best explanation for everything.’

And so you have this seriousness being used to adorn and address something which is really just being used to smuggle not into the idea of an actual philosophical point but rather recentre on this person’s fanfiction interpretetation of a few divine figures in a book of folklore in which, again, there are talking animals, unicorns, a global flood and a bunch of lies about prophecy.

Oh yeah, the lies about prophecy. Man, Christians love talking about how much prophecy Jesus fulfilled. They’ll tout lists, which they then are confident you won’t look at because if you do you find they’re very unsatisfying and tend to include things that haven’t happened yet. But more damning than that is if you look at the prophecies and go back to where they say they’re from, and then ask, say, a Rabbi who speaks the language of the book, you’ll find that uh, actually, that’s not what the Bible is about.

And then they introduce the idea of dual prophecies where there’s a prophecy about this thing that happened and the Rabbi’s version of events is true and supported, and then the other version with the rewritten words is actually also about Jesus, and please ignore the way that again, they change the wording. And this is serious. This is serious adults who get mad at you for not respecting their obvious fucking scam bullshit, because they believe it.

And they probably do!

That’s one of the funniest things about liars, they tend to wind up believing their lies. Oh sure they’ll know they made things up but the lie doesn’t sit in the brain over time and eventually they rewrite it, over and over, until eventually they’re not really lying, they’re basically telling the truth, they were telling the truth, and I don’t know what you mean about rewritten words. And then they’ll remember you as being rude or hostile or sad or angry and oh look at that they don’t have to worry about whatever it was you said. This is very consistent behaviour.

You may have heard this phrase, the idea that one’s faith is being tested. This is the idea that having to confront that reality sucks is a direct contest with the faith that people embrace. ‘You just gotta believe’ and ‘fake it till you make it.’ And what do they do about it? They lie. And any time you talk to someone about this kind of testing, they’ll usually say something like ‘well everyone is tested like that,’ which nobody seems to think is a problem. Like, hey, is it that universal that everyone winds up seeing mistakes and then everyone tells themselves it’s no big deal? It has the same energy as a person asserting ‘well look I’m straight and as a straight person I’m sure we all want to kiss that person of the same gender as me, that’s obvious’ and you have to be like okay, you know what that means right?

The assertation that people know what’s wrong rather than that they’ve proven wrong is very satisfying if your entire moral framework is based around your personal disgust. This means you wind up with a social framework that doesn’t just say ‘you’re right,’ but asserts even further, you are default. Christians Fundamentalists are so used to this default status it smooths over their fucking brains. The arguments don’t need consideration they just assert themselves, and then lie to themselves afterwards about the questions.

This is why they think so many things that people can’t readily choose are choices, and then that choices that people make are illegitimate because they veer away from the default.

Every Christian chooses what parts of the Bible to ignore. Even Fundamentalists. The Christians who aren’t Fundamentalists ignore that the Fundamentalists they claim to despise are using the same book and know it better than they do. And I mean this, they all choose what to ignore. For example, one of the most bananas things I’ve ever heard from a fundamentalist is that no, slavery isn’t bad, and it’s not bad because God told them how to do it, so clearly he’s okay with it which means it doesn’t follow at all, even in the American South that slavery was bad. Which is pretty amazing to consider because that’s a guy who doesn’t choose to lie to himself about that part of the book.

(Don’t worry, he’s got other bits he’s making shit up about.)

It was a breathtaking claim. After he said it I asked him how mum was doing, and he told me she’s doing fine and he looks forward to seeing me again soon.

Been a few weeks stewing on that one.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#Fundie Stuff

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steadymongerbatscissors · 11 months

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Leo Valdez And His Mistreatment

Recently I have taken some time to go back to some books and reread them for the hell of it. One of these books being the Heroes of Olympus series. Now the Heroes of Olympus series has been my favorites series overall yeah I know people think its worse than the others but I just honestly prefer the multiple point of views. Of course some characters could do with some fleshing out like Jason,Piper,Frank,and Hazel. My personal favorite of all the characters was Leo Valdez mostly because I though his fire powers were cool and he was a surprisingly deep character compared to fellow new characters.

But while reading I noticed multiple facets of his character that I felt did not need to be added or needed to be expanded on and this post I will tell you them all.

His Powers

I’m starting with his powers because that was the main thing that drew me in and in my believe sort of made Leo the person he was in the books. I mean without his fire powers he wouldn’t have accidentally killed his mother therefore never being an orphan and meeting Jason and Piper. This all say nothing about his frayed mental state.

So there pretty important but while also being important they are pretty inconsistent.

What I mean is that when Leo first uses his powers he had been purposefully not using them since he was 8 years old. This gives off the impression that has major control over his fire powers to supremes them for so long. Yet when they are on the bridge to the Wind God’s palace in the sky he suddenly loses control even though he realistically should have not done that since he had already shown he has major control over his power and wouldn’t suddenly lose control just cause he got excited.

Another problem his powers have is that they are supposedly super dangerous yet the only thing he does is throw a couple fireballs towards monsters and that’s it. Well except for when he somehow learns to nuke Gaea with his fire powers.

Wait what?

He learns to nuke somebody!

You see how his powers are super inconsistent. Like how do we go from fireballs to fire nuking a primordial goddess.

This problem seems to only exist for Leo since we get see Hazel get over her tragedy and control her powers to a far more powerful degree,Piper gets to hone her charm-speak so when she makes Gaea go to sleep it makes sense,and finally Frank multiple times throughout the series get to show off his shape shifting and how strong it is. So why does Leo never get this treatment cause we never see him actually hone his power and develop new ability’s from it.

Like your telling me the guy whose dad is the god of fire never once threw Greek fire out of his hands even though he is supposed to be the special fire guy.

His Appearance

Allow me to read you this passage describing how Leo looks.

“Leo looked like a Latino Santa’s elf, with curly black hair, pointy ears, a cheerful, babyish face, and a mischievous smile that told you right away this guy should not be trusted around matches or sharp objects. His long, nimble fingers wouldn’t stop moving—drumming on the seat, sweeping his hair behind his ears, fiddling with the buttons of his army fatigue jacket. Either the kid was naturally hyper or he was hopped up on enough sugar and caffeine to give a heart attack to a water buffalo”

To put the description simply he is described as ugly and extremely hyperactive.

I don’t understand why Rick wrote him that way because why does the outsider of the seven have to be the ugly and can’t sit still.

It’s not like any of the other characters are described as ugly unless their Frank before Mars blessing. Rick has Hazel literally think that Percy is a Greek God. Piper is the daughter of the goddess of love. Annabeth is described as a princess implying prettiness. Hell it’s not even kept to just the seven, Will Solace (the character with no personality trait aside from being a doctor and loving Nico) is described as being hot by Nico.

So like why does it seem that Leo Valdez is the only character described as ugly and hyperactive. Hell it doesn’t even make sense that Leo doesn’t have a little muscle considering he’s a mechanic and mechanics have to lift heavy shit all the time like realistically Leo would have a decent amount of muscle.

Note:Expanding on his hyper-activeness, we know that demigods ADHD helps them react to monster attack better and Annabeth describes Leo as extremely ADHD so wouldn’t that just mean that Leo would have like spider-sense and dodge extremely well.

His Character Connections

Why does everybody seem to hate Leo or at the very least try to avoid speaking with him. Like for real half way through the series Jason,and Piper completely stop hanging out with him. The only interaction they have after the Lost Hero is them going to Asclepius to make the Physician’s Cure.

Rick tried to have Hazel and Leo be friends because she knew his Grandfather or something but that is so flimsy. Frank hates Leo from the jump even though he started the beef by asking Leo if he was Sammy and getting mad every time Leo looked at Hazel. Yet there the ones he confides his whole plan to beat Gaea.

Percy is yet another person who doesn’t like Leo even though they are the basically the same person in different fonts. Annabeth seems to dislike having Leo aboard the Argo with the rest of the seven because she has no problem making fun of Leo in her mind by mocking him cause of his ADHD but then again that’s a bigger problem with Annabeth’s character than their relationship.

The only thing that seems to like having Leo around is Festus the dragon who Leo rebuilt after accidentally destroying him in their first quest.

I don’t care what you say just because Calypso insults Leo a little. It doesn’t mean that she hates him because she actually care like she really fucking cares.

So to recap Leo only has two people that genuinely like being around him and seven friends who put up with him and don’t really want him around.

Compares this to the main character of the last prophecy I.E Percy. Everybody likes Percy even people who realistically shouldn’t like him like him. Like your Reyna the girl who lost a home and was put on a pirate ship thanks to Percy had a crush on him just because he was a decent fighter. Yes right I call bullcrap.

Small Problem

Leo Valdez is a character who throughout the series has a lot of problems in his character. One problem is his treatment towards or more accurately why does Rick write Leo to be incredibly disrespectful even though he himself acknowledges how it was for his mom to get a good job just cause she is a women. One scene that I think emphasizes this problem is when the trio of the Lost Hero book meets the Hunters of Artemis. Now your expecting that since Leo himself saw how hard it was for mother just cause she was women would be extremely respectful towards the Hunters especially Jason’s sister Thalia. But nope he goes right up to Thalia and just says she’s hot to her face like come on Rick your contradicting yourself. Then in Trials of Apollo Rick has Reyna teach Leo about respecting women no like come on Leo since childhood should have know to respect women. I know you might be saying that’s just the persona he uses around people but like that doesn’t change the fact he should have already knew not to do that thanks to his mother.

Conclusion

In conclusion Leo Valdez is a character who could have been treated far better by the story,author,and the people inside the story. He is a wonderful character who in universe only has two people that genuinely want him around and deserved to have his powers explored more than just fireball. But sadly he is riddled with holes that shouldn’t be there if you actually look at his character.

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faislittlewhiteraven · 3 months

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Undertale/ISAT crossover thoughts

Don't really want to write one myself (already got enough fics I'm failing to write XD) but ever since I finished In Stars and Time I've been thinking how I'd write a crossover between these two amazing games and I figured I'd share my notes in case anyone needs a bit of help/motivation in writing their own~ =D

Warning: These will mostly be in 'order of thought' as it's all barebones stuff. Also contains FULL spoilers for both Undertale and In Stars and Time so er, if you're still looking to play those/still getting through them don't read this and please play this incredible games.

Mt Ebott is located on The Island and the shattering of the Barrier brings the ability to see color back to all those on the (ISAT) surface.

Humans losing the ability to see color in ISAT was due to them/the 'wish wizards' of The Island sacrificing it (along side their seven strongest 'colour casters') in a Wish Craft ritual, naturally leading to humanity losing most of their 'colour magic' knowledge.

Undertale's 'sepia flashbacks' were all Chara's memories of how the world looked to them, BUT once in the Underground they were able to see (and remember things on the Surface) in color (hence the whole 'golden flowers' bit; it was still mostly just a cover story but Chara genuinely wished that they could see their favorite flower field as the 'gold' they realized it was rather than the 'mid tones' they saw it as on the Surface).

...The 'erasure' of the Island I'm thinking might've been accidentally poor Chara and Asriel's fault: with Chara's 'ritual' killing of themselves via buttercup taking three days to happen, Chara being from the Island insisting Asriel always give them flowers in groups of three, seven and thirteen, and an entire Underground filled with tons and tons of 'trapped' wishes from monster kind for their freedom combining with Chara's self loathing/desire to hurt those who hurt them trapping them in a loop that Just. Wouldn't. End. until Chara eventually snapped and pulled a 'May these people, this Island, EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE WHO'D EVER HURT THE MONSTERS I LOVE including me BE ERASED UNTIL THE MONSTERS ARE FREE!' and um. Welp. There went an entire nation... (also Flowey eventually remembered some of this but only after going back to being Flowey post Asriel and probably it took a while for him to sort through all that).

Which er, means in this fic, that the people of The Island and the Island itself are still 100% there but they've all spent roughly 8 years or so all blitzed out of their minds: Need to think of Chara's exact wish wording so its not just 'corpses everywhere' but very good odds the people on the Island were either running on full automatic for years or able to remember some stuff but only if they very very carefully did not think of themselves as their own countrymen/used the languages of elsewhere/were careful not to think of where they were as any actual location within their country...

...Which naturally would effect the kids by far the most as their very language is basically a brown note (bilingual types could at least swap over to a different language but likely most of The Island was rendered silent) and well, pretty hard to remember Mt Ebbot is the mountain that must not be climbed when you can't think of the locations around you by name and the adults may or may not remember the kids exist half the time so... Yeah. Cue a lot of kids climbing up the mountain due to both lack of warnings and increased chances of feeling ignored/isolated/hurt.

Aka why in Undertale we can never hear/read anything Frisk says, why the monsters outside of Flowey/Asriel never refer to Chara by name and why no one remembers Frisk's name until after the Barrier shatters: Chara's 'Wish' couldn't be broken until then.

Not sure where all the anime and high tech that's washing into the Underground is coming from but either The Island used to be a massive tech hub prior to memory erasure, a LOT of tech was lost along with the loss of color or The Island's memory erasure in the ISAT world color magitech? maybe the wizards tried to seal away more than just monsters?, or IDK maybe the Underground barrier techincally had them displaced outside of Space and Time a bit and the garbage that was washing in was from literally everywhere thanks to the Universe wanting to help them or something (side note: realizing the memory erasure from Chara may have accidentally snipped Universe worship from the monsters as well since they clearly venerate the stars also but well. That longing for the stars DID cause them pain so..).

Imagining that Siffrin and party are in Bambouche meeting Bonnie's sister (or idk, having a vacation or reunion there if you wanna give Siff a bit more recovery/'explaining his issues to his family' time) when the Barrier is broken and all the colors come rushing back. Best first sunset ever (right before the entire Surface world kinda flips out over color, and to a lesser extent those familiar with The Island start remembering more and more details as the 'curse' weakens a little with every monster leaving Mt Ebbot) followed up by Siffren and the others absolutely losing their minds over how beautiful the stars are with just a tiny bit of color to them (the stars no longer being passively pushed out of people's awareness helps).

Anyway next day the party realize they have to investigate: Partly because Siff is well, kind of losing their mind over being able to see and remember home a little, but also because W.T.F and the Island is clearly the epicenter of everything going on. ...Also Siff may remember childhood stories about colors being locked away to serve as warning for if the Monsters returned so um. That's could be a thing.

Meanwhile the Monsters are getting a MUCH warmer reception from the local humans than they ever could've imagined (accidentally saving a nation from enforced amnesia kinda does that) and are also very confused as to why no one knows who they should get in contact with for formal alliance stuff (not sure if The Island has much of a government left at this point honestly...)

Would Flowey and the ghosty Chara acompanying Frisk count as Sadnesses???

... And er, that's all I got plot/setup wise. Most of my brain energy had been spent on imagining what soul colors all the ISAT cast have and also 'What Pokemon would they all be if they ended up in a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game?' so have a list with my reasoning on that front! =D

Siffrin: Blue/Integrity - Might seem like an odd choice given his constant lying/acting but like. Given all of the memory erasure and the torture of the loops Siffrin's absolute refusal to compromise his family's happiness/safety or use the loops for literally anything not 'helping family/ending the loops' based (even when he's basically losing his mind and could really use just... Taking a loop or three to goof off or something) just screams how devoted he is to what he believes in and well, the amount he lies syncs up well with how insane he's going so yeah. Siffren is an Integrity soul who's having a really really hard time being true to himself due to all the wobbie breaking he's gone through all his life. Specifically I like to picture his soul as a very dark, deep black/blue with little pinpricks of other colored light (mostly green, red and yellow), like a tiny heart shaped starry night's sky <3 (And er, bet that soul went very 'red/bleeding sky' as he was losing it in Act 5; Determination isn't his color by nature but they were not well at that point at all).

Isabeau: Cyan/Patience - Isa is super kind and all sorts of things but what really sets him apart is just how patient he is about everything (in ways both good and bad). I like to imagine his soul looking like a blue daytime sky, maybe with the odd white cloud and yellow 'sun' dot: partly because it fits him but also partly to cutely contrast Siffrin's. *cue me humming Like Morning Follows Night from the RWBY OST because I mean. It kinda fits honestly

Mirabelle: Orange/Bravery and/or Yellow/Justice - Again another 'you might not think so' but like. Mirabelle is hella gutsy despite her anxiety and I admire her so so much (also JUSTICE BARRIER REFLECT AGAINST THE KING YAAAAGH! XD) Not super attached to it as Isa and Siff's but the orange/yellow glow of a sunset (maybe with some pink/purple along the edges to show her Perseverance <3).

Odiel: Green/Kindness - She's hella awkward about how much she cares and not the greatest at reading situations/reacting gently but like. Her sheer affection towards the others, her always watching and coming out with the bandages and how she point blank tells Siff 'nope, not angry at you nearly blowing up the world. Also you trying to do that because you love us is cute' means I can't really see her any other way~ Not sure if her soul would be dark green (for more Integrity) or more light green (for more Justice) but all in all, very very green, like light/dark speckled leaves <3

Bonnie: Purple/Perseverance - This kid endures so much so well I swear (they're also really brave so a little orange would work well too but despite everything I don't think bravery is their main characteristic). I like to think of their soul as very 'purple evening clouds with bits of brave orange gold/setting sun on the edges'.

And Loop has a White boss monster soul for reasons; thinking that in this crossover that Monsters believe that they were born from the Universe's compassion (with The Islander's myths claiming they're the result of failed/'cursed' wishes like the 'brother who can understand my suffering Wish Craft' fairytale Siff finds in the Orary room) and both Monsters and the Islanders believing Sadnesses are born from forcing a wish of cruelty/sorrow that goes against the will of the Universe (cue Chara and Flowey who probably were Sadnesses in this until the breaking of the Barrier grumbling that yeah that sounds about right and The King from ISAT proving to even more aaagh than he already was).

And yeah. I'm out of babble thoughts now so hope that this was interesting for you all and please feel free to yoink any ideas that snag your interest <3

#fais fanfic rambles #Undertale #In Stars and Time #fanfic #fanfiction #crossover #crossover fanart #ut #ISAT #undertale spoilers #isat spoilers #in stars and time spoilers #I love Chara (narraChara FTW) but like ISAT's setup is perfect for innocent child's wish to get turned into country ending nightmare fuel #just imagining how the people of ISAT react to the world suddenly being ALL THE COLORS is far too fun to imagine honestly #budding fashion designer Isabeau is both more excited and stressed than he's ever been in his life (well discounting Siff stuff anyway XD)#Siffrin is... Probably having a time of it remembering so much #On the bright side possible little sibling figure/'looper's understanding' with Frisk?#Most of this is just world building rather than any kind of plot or character interactions honestly #Where DID the anime come from???#First night post color return was probably a world wide Event though for both humans and monsters #Siff probably in tears stargazing and REMEMBERING that night #fanfiction ramble #fanfic notes #undertale fanfiction #ISAT fanfic #In Stars and Time fanfiction #there its out of my head #may other find it useful for their own fanfic ideas

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drawnfamiliarfaces · 2 months

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Me: innocently reading the tags on your latest Chase/First art. You: #my brain was like heehoo what about some love spell/pollen trope?? Me: instantly loses my entire goddamn mind.

Seriously though, I recall you saying that you don't think post-soup Chase is capable of genuine selfless love. And tbh I agree, though it's worth pointing out that there are many ways to love, and having one of them removed doesn't mean Chase can't learn to love in others. But. BUT. Consider Chase somehow getting hit with a love spell/potion that gives him back the ability to love? Even if it's just one person (First) and he can't control those feelings? It might be overwhelming. It might be irresistible. It might be... nice.

Catch First trying desperately to undo this nonsense and Chase refusing because being able to love someone like this is pretty great, actually. And if First protests by arguing that these feelings aren't genuine, well, Chase is pretty sure he'd have fallen in love already if he were capable of it.

Jesus anon, this. this ask was making me lose my entire goddamned mind all these months!!!!😫😫

I totally agree with you about there being so many different ways to love someone, so the whole 'selfless love' is kinda a bit overrated in media. The reason why I said that I think Chase is incapable of "genuine selfless love" type is mostly because I think since he became immortal/changed, he sorta lost that softer human part of himself that truly felt positive and kinder emotions. Everything became tainted and just a little bit twisted by evil/darkness, even his affection.

So, like, the idea of a love potion/spell that perhaps returned or unlocked that part of his brain and maybe even amplified it, and him going 'Oh, I have forgotten what it felt like' and enjoying it despite it being sort of??? Artificial is just RAAAAGGAGAGAGAHHAHAGHHHHH

And First trying to undo it, not only because it makes Chase even more of a nuisance, but also because no-one deserves to be not in control of themselves is just very 🙏

But BUT I also can't help but imagine a scenario where Chase gets hit by a love spell and nothing seems to change. He still fights and flirts with First, he still smiles his secret charming smiles and needles and teases the Ninja. Outwardly his behaviour is the same but now Chase's emotions and feelings behind those actions are (questionably?) more genuine.

I don't remember if I extrapolated on this before, but I picture Chase's behaviour as more of a front. His seemingly carefree flirting and teasing is mostly to needle and annoy First, because he enjoys how it gets under First's skin better than anything else could. It also stems from actual attraction Chase feels towards First (though in his mind he will never admit to it being anything more than just physical attraction). Emotionally however, Chase always was more cold and calculating, a bit cruelly teasing.

So, I can't help but imagine that he gets hit by a love spell/potion and now all that front? Actually becomes geniuine. And like you said, Chase would be like: Oh. It seems that, if I was able of falling in love in any capacity - I have already done so.

#que?#ninja showdown #my immortal soul #ANON I LOVE YOU and i just want you to know that this ask in particular was fueling my insanity when I drafted a love spell/potion fic #its more of the og idea i had about First getting potioned. but i also hope to draft out a turnatables variation with Chase someday #when i get an idea of how to do it xD lol #but for now im trying to refine it so hopefully i might finish it next month-ish uwu

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poorlittleyaoyao · 4 months

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is jgy different in the books than in the untamed? sorry if u haven’t read them im kind of just assuming u have even tho i haven’t lol but i was wondering if his characterization has any major differences like how wwx in novel vs untamed they sort of sanitize him and take away any culpability and honestly some of his edge. just curious if there’s any major differences in his characterization between the two

I'm not the best person to answer because I've only read the first two volumes of MDZS. Short answer: Yes, he is different, and in fact gets the reverse of WWX's treatment: Drama JGY is more overtly villainous than Novel JGY. However, IMO it's a little more complicated than that!

(Novel enjoyers, please chime in if I'm forgetting or misrepresenting anything.)

A lot of JGY fans greatly prefer the novel and feel that The Untamed did him dirty, because a lot of the show's plot changes that make WWX look better make JGY look worse. Jin Zixuan's death is the most glaring one: in the novel, WWX really does lose control of WN because he overestimates his abilities, and it's a tragic accident. JGY and SMS's implied involvement in the Massacre at Nightless City also doesn't happen in the novel; that, too, was a devastated WWX wreaking havoc and/or losing control. The novel also establishes that JGY is subject to abuse within Jinlintai, so there's an element of duress that one can read into his actions under JGS. Novel NMJ behaves more aggressively towards JGY than he does in the show, so his murder doesn't have the same tinge of malice. (The novel timeline also has JGY and LXC meeting before JGY and NMJ, all during Sunshot, so there's that.) Additionally, the novel tells us that JGY is genuinely a very good leader once he's Chief Cultivator and has implemented policies that have improved the lives of regular people and contributed to political stability. We're also told more about his childhood and his love for his mother, and we learn that his relationship with QS is a tragic love story (he doesn't know they're related until after she's pregnant) rather than something he went through with anyway. So in the novel, he's got a lot of positive things going for him that censorship didn't allow to carry over into the show for fear of having too much moral ambiguity.

HOWEVER!!!

The thing about the novel (and why I don't vibe with it as much) is that it's very much WWX's story, whereas The Untamed spends wayyyyy more time with its supporting cast. You might've noticed that I said the word "told" a lot in the above paragraph, because... well, that's what happens. We're told things about JGY, but we don't see him as much, especially since the novel is focused on the post-timeskip era with the stuff in the past coming through non-linear flashbacks. You don't get to see Meng Yao being Just A Little Guy very much before he becomes the Kitten Thinks About Nothing But Murder All Day meme. Now, you also don't hear dramatic music telegraphing HEY!!! HEY!! VILLAINY IS AFOOT!! HEY!!! every time JGY does literally anything, but you do have everything filtered through WWX's unreliable narrator monologue, and he is out there saying some truly wild shit. (You also get less Xiyao. Like, it's there if you want it to be, but The Untamed really went all-in on that.)

For me, the show works better, because I am a sucker for corruption arcs where you see glimpses of the character before they start the atrocities. Seeing him be Just A Little Guy making the saddest meow meow faces when people were mean to him kept me from totally losing sympathy for/interest in him once things start getting squicky, because I had evidence that he wasn't always like that. Meanwhile, JGY's first big scene in the novel is the confrontation with QS (which already makes my skin crawl and is somehow WORSE in novel form), and I was just like "wow, this guy sucks" even though I knew the story and all the extenuating circumstances already. For others, the novel works better, because "first impressions and society's opinion are unreliable" is a major theme, so the reverse reveal combined with the fact that he demonstrably tries to improve people's lives as a leader is less expected and more satisfying.

So yeah! JGY is different, but the ways in which he is different are due to storytelling methods as well as to plot changes!

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mindfang-srevenge · 2 months

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Homestuck Kids and Which TMA Entity They're Associated With: A Second List By Static, with ADDITIONAL NOTATION That None Of This Is An Insult to Anyone

Read the first of these, featuring the OG troll gang: here

John: Desolation, and hear me out. Much like the argument I made for Sollux, everything gets ripped away from John over and over again. He loses his world, then his house, then his LIFE, then his DAD, then his FRIENDS, then his LIFE (again). John is continually losing everything he cares about, and it forms a weirdly core part of his character, especially considering the fact that he keeps repressing that loss and presenting a chipper face over it.

Rose: Eye. Rose is all about finding secrets (how she fell in with Doc Scratch) and breaking the game in the most interesting way possible. She stumbles across the game because she's looking for information about how to bring Jaspers back. She's constantly looking to shed light on secrets and discover answers, which is definitely eye-aligned. She's even willing to make a pact with the Horrorterrors to find out information about the Green Sun and the end of the game, which makes her an avatar in my book.

Dave: This might just be the overarching entity for all Time players, actually, but Dave-- much like Aradia-- is End aligned due to his reoccurring fascination with dead things. The man outright admits it several times-- he's just as fascinated by death as she is, with perhaps even a more morbid tilt than traditional archaeology. He's also a time traveler, which makes him continually privy to information about how the others will die unless he does something (with Davesprite as a noteable example). If he took on a more passive role (Knights are an active class) I think this might present itself a little more heavily, much like Aradia's connection is more prominent. Basically maybe aradia and dave should just hang outsometime they might be friends ahave we considered this yet hang on wait where are you going---

Jade: Vast, but heavily influenced by the Lonely. We can't talk about Jade without discussing the heavy influences that her isolation has had over her life, but her powers align so heavily with the Vast that that isolation takes on an entirely different context. She's separated from everyone but Bec by vast expanses of ocean. She has the ability to make things Vast or not-Vast by virtue of being a Space player. She is, once again, separated from everyone during the Yard by vast expanses of paradox space. She is continually alone, but in that alone-ness she's physically isolated, which overall pushes her from Lonely to a proper Vast categorization.

Jane: Extinction. In the alpha timeline, Jane is the herald of the end, but she's more than that. She's the heiress to CrockerCorp, the establishment that will eventually fucking TERRAFORM the entire earth-- which, if that doesn't classify as an extinction-level event, I don't know what does. Jane's also our introductory character for a dead session, wherein all of the consorts are literally extinct. Really the CrockerCorp stuff is more important, though-- Jane oftentimes remains loyal to the company, even going as far as to restart it on Earth C, despite what CrockerCorp has previously been responsible. She's constantly a herald of change, and death.

Roxy: Dark. It's low-hanging fruit, sure, but she's heavily textually involved with the obscuring of information. I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER, although I cannot find the text sources for it, that when she's drunk, Calliope can't see her, which is VERY Dark-aligned. Roxy's methods are also obscured, since she's a void player, and she's a Derse dreamer, which means her mental state is . . . also pretty dark, if just metaphorically. Due to her position in the retcon, as well, Roxy's past is obscured, lost to another universe entirely.

Dirk: This motherfucker is hard to sort, but in a pinch I think I'd say Stranger over Web. He does have definite ties to the Web-- if it were a thing in TMA, I'd say he serves both simultaneously, but that's a purely fanon construct so we're gonna play it safe. Dirk is constantly hiding his true self behind layers of masks, mirrors, and splinters. Nobody can every talk to the real Dirk Strider-- instead, they end up talking to Hal or DreamGhostDirk or some other similar entity. The puppet stuff draws into this, as well-- the original Lil Cal is Dirk's, before LE takes over the body, and Lil Cal is a horrorshow of Stranger imagery. (He's also just a horrorshow) Dirk is obsessed with building almost-human constructions (see Squarewave and Sawtooth), as well as hiding behind these constructs to conceal himself or his motives. Overall, Stranger, with heavy ties to the Web.

Jake: Lonely. Even when he's around people, Jake has trouble connecting. Whereas Jade is separated physically, Jake is also separated socially. He can't seem to make the relationship with Dirk ever work out (even if a chunk of that is Dirk's fault). He can't talk to Jane about anything, ever, especially that he's not interested in her.

#john egbert #rose lalonde #dave strider #jade harley #jane crocker #roxy lalonde #dirk strider #jake english #homestuck #mindfang-srevenge #tma

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