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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 2 days

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All In 10

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as noncon/dubcon, age gap, power imbalance, low self esteem, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: you meet a mysterious man on a night out with your sister. (petite!reader)

based on the winning option for this poll

Characters: casino owner!Bucky Barnes

Note: who's a tired bitch?

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Please do not just put ‘more’. I will block you.

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

Bucky drives you home. Just him. No Merv. You have your books and the pajamas but it feels like so much more.

His fingers tap on the shifter. You’re overly aware of his every move. You try to shrink yourself in the seat, feeling crowded with only him in the car. His hand slips and he reaches over to rest it on your thigh. He rubs you through your pants.

“You alright?” He asks in a grit.

“Yeah,” you squeak, fixating on his touch. “Fine.”

“You don’t gotta be so nervous. You know I like you,” his fingers continue to move, sending ripples through you, “not much you can do to change that either.”

You press yourself into the seat and flick your eyes up to the windshield. You recognise that house. Your thoughts rush over you and you grab his hand, squeezing it.

“Stop,” you say.

He hits the brake and you flutter your lashes, looking at him, “just drop me here. I can walk.”

“What? Doll? What’s wrong?”

“I... well... what if someone sees you?” You ask, “my mom, my sister... they’d wanna know why you were driving me home if I’m just working at the hotel, wouldn’t they?”

He considers you and tilts his head, “hm, you’re clever too, doll. Suppose they would.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not--”

You keep your hand on his but don’t try to move him. Nor does he pull away. Instead, he squeezes your leg and lets out a purr.

“I’ll make you a deal, doll, you give me a kiss and I’ll do what you say. You can go, enjoy your books, try on your jammies,” his blues eyes blaze at you, “and I’ll be patient. I’ll wait for you. Until tomorrow.” He makes a pained expression, “you know a man can only take so much when it comes to pretty women.”

You giggle, overwhelmed by his words. No one ever calls you pretty, only your mom. In fact, Roxie always said it was good you have a brain because your looks won’t get you very far, and she wasn’t proven wrong. Not until him.

“Okay, uh,” you gulp and look down at his hand, slowly peeling yours off of him, “I just...”

You touch the seat belt and follow it down to the buckle. You click the button and let it repel behind the seat. You swallow again, trying to wet your dry mouth. If it gets you home without any extra questions, you can give him a kiss. It wasn’t so bad earlier, was it. It made you feel... a lot.

You shift and lean towards him. His hand crawls up your leg to your hip as he urges you close, himself angling over the space between your seats. Your gaze meet his sapphire irises and you squeeze your eyelids shut. He’s so handsome you could melt. And he want a kiss. From you!

You press your lips to his. He growls and his other hand comes up to the back of your head, holding you there before you can pull away. His tongue glides along your lips and delves past them. Like earlier, he invades your mouth eagerly, drawing you into him as he groans. You grasp the front of his shirt and squeak.

The smell of his rich cologne seeps into your nose and his warmth swirls around you. You’re trapped by more than his strength; you’re completely swept up in his need. You’ve never felt anything like that. No one has ever wanted you as much as he has. Even if you’re scared, it’s nice to feel that.

He leaves you breathless as he parts his lips from yours, hovering just before you as his pants shallowly. His tongue pokes out and traces his lips. He purrs and his eyes threaten to swallow you up. He’s even more handsome up close; ever line is like a paint stroke in a masterpiece, every hair is placed perfectly, and his features are sculpted just so.

You blink and feel your chest crush. He's so much better than you; more attractive, richer, older, smarter... Your eyes gloss over just a little with the reminder and his hand slips down to your neck, his grip on your slackening. A divot forms between his brows in disappointment.

“What’s the matter, doll?” He rasps.

You shake your head and force a smile, “nothing,” you eke between taut cheeks, “I just... I don’t want to let you down.”

“Doll, you can’t do that,” he chuckles, “you gotta trust yourself. Trust me. I mean every word I say.” He exhales and looks you up and down, “I want you so bad...” His fingers curl into your neck and you feel him shake, “you...” He closes his eyes, his lips slightly open, and he pulls his hand off of you. He recoils and sits back in his seat. “You should go before I just gotta show ya.”

Is it a threat? It sounds like one. Your blood runs cold as he balls his hand to a fist. He puffs through his nostrils, eyes still closed as if he’s fighting himself. You reach back to grab the bag from behind the seat and pull it into your lap.

“Thank you, Bucky, for the drive home,” you say, “and for everything else. It’s all so nice.”

“Doll,” he dips his head down, “anything...” His fist tightens, “have a good night.”

“You too,” you chirp and pull on the door handle.

It doesn't open. Panic pricks in your chest as you search for the lock. You hear a pop and glance over as Bucky presses a button. The door unlocks and you nearly fall out of the car.

You right yourself and close the door gently with a sheepish look in his direction. He watches you, reaching to grip the steering wheel. You give a tiny wave and slowly turn away. There’s a giddiness in you. Even if you’re entirely out of your element and can’t quite believe any of it, you feel special. You’ve never really felt that. Just forgotten.

You start down the street. You don’t look back until you get to the corner and look back. Bucky sits still in the car, just where he stopped. You can’t see through the tinted windows. His headlights flash, a signal but for what, you’re not sure.

You turn and continue onto your mother’s street. You stop just at the threshold and look down at the bag in your hand. You don’t like to lie but you need one. You walk up to the front door and onto the small porch. You enter quietly, hoping maybe you won’t be heard. You’ve never struggled very much before going unnoticed.

Your sister lays on the couch in the breadth of the oscillation fan. It’s hot. The news said there’s a heat wave. You’re feeling it now. You almost feel bad that you’d been too busy to notice before. That you’d been in nice places where every detail, including the temperature, is perfect.

“Finally home,” Roxie sneers without looking over the back of the couch, “long shifts at the casino, huh?”

“Uh, yeah,” you do your best to keep the bag from crinkling. “Busy.”

“That’s what a job is. Try a night at the club. That shit is chaos.”

“Sure, uh, I can’t imagine,” you shuffle into the kitchen.

You expect to find your mom waiting for you but it’s empty. You go to your room and hide the bag on the other side of your dresser. You close your door and come back out. She’s there, in her robe with a bonnet on her head.

“Mom,” you croak, “hi, uh--”

“How was it? First day!” She chimes.

“Uh, yeah it...” your voice trails off as your jaw locks and you fear the truth spilling out. The day flows through your mind; the kissing, the books, the food, and more kissing. “...was a lot.”

“Oh, yes, well, a casino,” she chuckles, “that can’t be anything but hectic. So what do they got you doing? Dealer? That’s exciting.”

“No, er, no, just... cleaning,” you stammer.

“Right, yes, I forgot. You said before. I’m sure people make a mess there too,” she scrunches her nose, “so, what do you feel like for dinner? We’ve been waiting on you. Tacos? Spaghetti?”

“Oh, I’m not very hungry,” you say, “sorry, but I’ll help you cook.”

“You should eat, honey,” she insists.

“I now, it’s just...” you look up at the ceiling and think. You scour your mind for your brief recollection of the casino, “they have a buffet at work. Employees eat free and... I got carried away.”

“Ah, lucky. Wish my work had a buffet,” she trills, “guess I should just be thankful for the health insurance.”

“Mm, yeah,” you try to smile, “so, I can help cook--”

“No, no, you just had your first day. You just relax. I’ll leave a bit extra for you, just in case,” she squeezes your shoulder then caresses your arm gently, “I hope you know how proud I am of you.”

“Oh yeah,” Roxie blusters as she appears behind you, “because scrubbing toilets is so amazing.”

She shoulders past and your mom moves out of her path. You frown and your mom gives her a sardonic look, “hey, I’m proud of you too. I’ve told you that.”

“Why? I hand out flyers to desperate men looking for one-night stands?”

“Don’t say it like that,” your mom rebukes.

“Well, it’s the truth,” she snickers, “half the night, I don’t even hand out the things. I just hang out by the hot dog seller. He gives me free food.” Roxie looks at your archly, “see, not the only one with perks.”

“Mm, I like hot dogs,” you say, “um, I’m gonna... lay down.”

“Sure thing, honey, let me know if you need anything. Oh, chamomile? I could put the kettle on.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” you assure her as you back up. “Promise I’m fine. I, er... tomorrow, I start in the afternoon so I’m gonna sleep in.”

“Oo, that will be nice. But be careful, if you’re working late, I’m sure there’ll be some unruly people hangin’ around,” her forehead lines with concern, “I’ll give you some extra money for a cab. I don’t want you on the bus that late.”

“Oh, alright,” you agree, just wanting to hide. You don’t like lying and with each word, it’s harder to hold yourself together. You don’t think you can do this. “Thanks.”

“Course, hon, whatever you need.”

You retreat to your room. You sit on the bed and stare at the wall. It’s not just today, but tomorrow, and the next day. How long until Bucky moves on to the next thing? You googled him, you’re not that naive. At least you don’t think you are.

It feels rotten. You don’t like not telling your mom the truth. You tell her everything. She’s the one person who listened to you. Well, until Bucky. You can feel his gaze just thinking of it. How intent he is on every word, how he focuses on your lips as they outline every syllable.

You’re an adult. It’s not a lie. It’s a secret. And you don’t have a lot of options. It’s about time you help out and Burger King isn’t calling you back to scrape grills.

No matter how many times you justify it, it still feels wrong. Even if the way Bucky looks at you makes you all wiggly inside, it’s still lying. Even if you really need the money, it doesn’t change what you’re doing. And you are doing it. You have to.

You don’t want to see another red notice in the mailbox, you don’t want to hear your mom crying through the wall. You want to be able to give her a day off, more than that. She’s taken care of you for so long, this is just what you need to do to take care of her.

That’s what you’ll keep telling yourself.

You get up and go to the dresser and take the bag from behind it. You slide out a book and lay down with it. That’s how you cope. You read, you go to a world that doesn’t exist, just until you’re forced back to reality.

You shiver at what awaits you at the end of the first chapter. You know what Bucky expects and you know he won’t forget. The thought of the pajamas, the little top and the tiny shorts...

Don’t think of it. Open the book. Things will be normal for just a little longer.

#bucky barnes #dark bucky barnes #dark!bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #fic #dark fic #dark!fic #series #au #all in #mcu #casino au #marvel #winter soldier #captain america #avengers

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dceasesd · 2 days

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why juni ba’s the boy wonder has my favorite jason characterization of any contemporary comic run: a needlessly in-depth analysis (pt.3)

go check out part 1 and part 2 if you'd like! this is a long one, sorry guys.

if you haven't already i'd recommend you check out pt. 1 & pt. 2 (linked above), but if you haven't checked them out i've been going over some of the main things people have been criticizing ba's characterization for: 1. the typical boiling down of jason's character to "the angry one" 2. his lack of strategy going into the fight with the demon is out-of-character 3. the neighbor's kid interaction

alright, so this last point is purely based off of one page of the entire comic: the one where the child of one of jason's neighbors is dragged inside his home when his mother see's jason coming.

first off, i love this page. it might be my favorite page in the entire issue. everything about it is great. just thought i needed to say that.

anyway, there's some people who are seeing this page and reading it as "jason protects kids! that's one of his big things! why are they scared of him?"

here's the thing, though: the kid isn't scared of jason, the mom is. the kid is literally playing dress up as the red hood-- he's not scared of jason, if anything he's trying to replicate him. little kids dress up as their heroes all the time; why is this kid any different? it doesn't really make sense for the kid to dress up of something he's scared of (not everyone is as weird bruce wayne), especially a real person that could be a real threat rather than a concept. i doubt you see many kids in gotham dressing up as the joker or something, because that's just asking for trouble.

the dress-up honestly seems like a ploy for attention to me. the kid clearly knows that red hood lives in his building (which is honestly so funny. take off the mask jason you're giving you're position away (actually this is a really good instance for analysis but i'm determined to not go on a tangent)). if the kid knows red hood lives in his building, what better way to get his attention that dressing up as him and playing pretend? if the kid was scared of him, he wouldn't want to draw that sort of attention to himself. if he had a sort of hero-worshippy thing going on like i suspect, then he would want to get jason's attention. to sum it up,

it's the mom who pulls him away when jason nears, because she either a) perceives him as a threat, b) doesn't want her kid to try and replicate him even more, or, the most likely option, both! the kid isn't scared of him, but the mother believes they should be.

once again, we come back to the whole perception vs. reality theme i talked about in part one! we've come full circle, everyone!

when looking at the neighborhood's perspective of the red hood, ba gives us a few contradictory examples. there's the kid and the mother, obviously, but there's also a slew of other citizens who interact with him at the beginning of the issue, both in fear and camaraderie.

the unhoused man and the people outside of his building clearly have a familiarity and are comfortable with him, while the shopkeeper is terrified and literally has a banned poster on his wall featuring jason (i am so curious what he did to deserve that, if he even did anything at all). from this, it appears that jason's reputation teeters between fearful and familiar-- a sentiment that also colors jason's relationship with his family.

furthermore, this concept underscores just how lonely jason is-- one of the only good relationships he had in his current life was his fucking landlord, for gods sake, and he's dead.

i think it's important to note that jason doesn't respond to the friendly greetings from the men-- he could attempt to build camaraderie, the roots are there, but he chooses not to. he could work to try and show the mother that her son is safe with him, but he chooses not to. why? jason is obviously lonely (as ba states in the panel below) and he caves pretty easily when damian asks him for help (both of them are so desperate for human interaction its tragic). so why does he distant himself from the community?

obviously it is in part due to the vigilante lifestyle, but it is also jason's perception of himself and how he believes others perceive him, especially in regards to his family (ba is literally hitting readers in the head with that theme baseball bat).

he doesn't see that the kid with the mask looks up to him, all he sees is the mother pulling him away. he sees the banned poster in the store. and, as ba narrates, "he was sure he'd been forgotten about" by his family. utrh is jason's twisted way of attempting to reach out and connect with bruce, and obviously that doesn't work-- so he chooses loneliness over rejection.

like in part one, though, damian refutes this idea by describing bruce's perspective, showing how what jason believes differs from actuality. bruce hasn't forgotten about him and doesn't hate him, as he suspected, but instead harbors guilt over the situation and desires to make it better, which jason must come to understand to be able to open the locked door and begin to move past his trauma.

so, that's what the little kid in the red hood outfit looks like to me. i actually have a lot more i'd like to say about the boy wonder, especially in regards to the whole "door to my past life" thing and what ba does with lighting and blocking in his artwork, so i may do a little post on that as well! i was gonna try and shove it into this one, but i've run out of room! i hope you guys liked my analysis, if you'd like to chat about the boy wonder or any other comics, my dms, asks, and reblogs are happily open! thanks for reading! :)) <3

pt. 1 / pt. 2

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deoidesign · 2 days

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How I save time on backgrounds as a full-time webcomic artist

Hi! I make webcomics for a living, and I have to be able to draw a panel extremely fast to keep up with my deadlines. I draw about 50 panels a week, which gives me about 45 minutes per panel if I want any semblance of a healthy work-life balance.

Most webtoon artists save time on backgrounds by using 3d models, which works for them and is great! but personally I hate working in 3d... I went to school for it for a year and hated it so much I completely changed career paths and vowed never to do it again! So, this is how I save time without using any 3d, for those of you out there who don't like it either!

This tactic has also saved me money (3d models are expensive) and it has helped me converting my comic from scroll format into page format for print, because I have much more art to work with than what's actually in the panels. (I'll touch on this later)

So, first, I make my backgrounds huge. my default starting size is 10,000 x 10,000 pixels. My panels are 2,500 pixels wide, so my backgrounds are 4x that, minimum. Because of this, I make them less detailed than I could or that you might expect so it doesn't look weird against my character art when I shrink portions of it down.

I personally find it much easier to add in detail than to make "removing" details look natural at smaller sizes, but you might have different preferences than I do.

I also make sure to keep all of my elements on separate layers so that I can easily remove or replace them, I can move them to simulate different camera angles more easily, and it's simple to adjust the lighting to imply different times of day.

Then I can go ahead and copy/paste them into my episodes. I move the background around until it feels like it's properly fitting how I want.

Once I've done that in every panel, I'll go back through the episode and clean up anything that looks weird, and add in solid blacks (for my art style) Here's a quick before and after of what that looks like!

This makes 90% of my backgrounds take me just a few hours. This is my tactic when I'm working in an environment that an entire scene, or multiple scenes, will take place.

But many panels will inevitably have a location that's used exactly once, and it would waste time and effort to draw a massive background for those. So in 10% of cases, I just draw the single panel background in the episode. I save all of these, just in case I can re-use it later (this happens more often with outdoor locations, but I save them all nonetheless!)

I generally have to draw about 2 big backgrounds per episode, and 3-5 single-panel backgrounds per episode! At the beginning of an arc/book the number is higher, but as the series is continuing and I'm building up an asset library of indoor and outdoor elements to re-use for the book, the number generally goes down and I save more time.

My series involves time travel and mysteries, so there's a lot of new locations in it and we're constantly moving around. If I were working on a series that was more consistent in this aspect, this process would save me even more time!

Like I said earlier, this also saves me a lot of pain and gives me a lot more options as I'm converting from scroll format to print format!

panels that look like this in scroll format...

can look like this in print!

because I drew the background like this, so I didn't need to go through the additional effort to add in the extra detail to expand it outwards at all.

Anyways, I hope this helps someone! As always if it doesn't help, just go ahead and disregard. This is what I do and what works for me, and I feel like I only ever see time-saving tips for comics that involve 3d models and workflows, which don't work for me at all! I know there's more people like me out there, so this is for you!

Enjoy!

Also obligatory "my webcomic" if you want to see this in action or check it out!

#webcomic tips #webcomic making #comic tips #comic tutorial #art tutorial #art tips #time and time again #my ocs #digital art #ttawebcomic #hmmmm....#longpost #yeah it's a long post #I'll claim this one #lots of images #I hope this helps #I'm always worried when I make some kind of guide or tutorial people are gonna get mad at me lmao #I'm not saying 3d models are bad to use!!!#I just dont like them!#my brain doesnt work like that and it feels SO so so so tedious to me #TO ME PERSONALLY!!!#plenty of people see 3d models as a total lifesaver #and that's perfectly fine!#but yeah I don't see tutorials about saving time in comics that like... dont... mention 3d models...#like what about me and the other extremely particular girlies who hate 3d #anyways #yeah #just hoping this helps #nothing against 3d at all #I mean. ok personally yes against it cause it sucks for me to use

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latenightdaydreams · 2 days

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Thinking about them stealing Königs shirt from the bases laundry room. Sneaking it back to their room and sleeping in it ♡

If he catches them would he be embarrassed? Mad? Horny as hell? Punish them?

I think ALL of the above🤭

Little Thief (fem)

MDNI🔞

Master List

>cw: fem/afab, theft, domination, p in v, unprotected

1.0k word count

👕

For the last two months, König has noticed that he’s been missing shirts from his laundry. He is a very meticulous man; he remembers exactly how many shirts he has. What the fuck? He whispers as he folds his laundry and realizes he has only eight shirts and not nine.

Little does he know, there is a little shirt thief. You. In your defense, you’ve only taken three shirts. Since you joined KorTac two months ago, you’ve become somewhat infatuated with König. His eyes are like a clear spring sky. Tall and strong, like an Olympian. As rough as he appears to be, he’s always kind. It’s hard to not fall for him.

It all happened one day when you were on your period and very horny. König had his dirty laundry in a basket, but was called away for a quick minute. You took the opportunity to steal a shirt. Taking a deep breath in, a powerful wave of König’s musk took over your senses.

Tonight was like any night. You did your beauty routine before bed and slipped into one of König’s shirts. Lights off in the room, you pull back your covers to get into bed. Exhausted after a long day, your eyes close quickly once your head hits the pillow.

Only a few moments later, you're woken up from your deep sleep by a banging on your door. You jump out of bed and rush to the door. Seeing Colonel König, you stand up straight.

“Yes, sir?”

“Y/n, have you seen—” his voice cuts off as he looks up from the tablet in his hands. You’re wearing his shirt.

He pushes you back, but not hard, and closes your door behind him. His eyes travel up and down your body, his shirt fitting you like a night down.

“That’s my shirt.” König points at you.

You can feel heat rise to your cheeks as you just gaze at him, totally speechless. “I…I.” It's hopeless. You’ve been caught.

“WHY ARE YOU TAKING MY STUFF?!” His Austrian accent makes his yelling seem harsher. He’s pissed. Why is this random recruit just stealing from him? Is she crazy?

“I’m sorry. I just like…you.” Your stomach drops, waiting for König to yell again and reject you.

“Give me back my shirts.” He says in a softer tone, feeling a blush form under his mask. Women like you don’t like men like him. He felt as if you were teasing him.

You quickly turn to go to your dresser and pull out two of his shirts. You hand them to him, trying to hide the embarrassment written all over your face.

“And that one.” He points to the one that you’re wearing currently.

Without a second thought, you obey. Grasping the hem of the shirt, you pull it off in one fluid motion. König’s jaw drops as he sees that you aren’t wearing a bra and only a tiny pink pair of panties. His eyes shamelessly trail up and down your body.

“You…” Now König is the one lost for words. He’s only ever seen you in your gear or in baggy clothing, he has no idea you were shaped so…perfectly. A beautiful face and the body of a goddess. His mind cycles through different options on how he can handle this situation.

A few seconds pass, but it feels like an eternity until König snaps out of it. He drops the shirts in his hands and moves forward to you. His gloved hands grasp the sides of your face and kisses you passionately, mask in the way. To your surprise he just pulls it off and tosses it to the side. His lips passionately coming back down to kiss you again.

His hands grab your thighs and lift your body effortlessly, rushing you both towards your bed. He lays your body near the edge of your bed before pulling away. You gaze up at him and take in his messy blonde hair, angular face, and a deep gash on his chin.

König pulls his gloves off and tosses them with his mask. He leans back in to continue to kiss you, hands caressing your delicate flesh. A low groan escapes his lips as his hands cup both of your breasts, his mouth leaves your lips and trails down your neck. His lips attach to your neck and suck, marking you with a hickey.

“You want to be mine?” He whispers as one of his hands trails down to the smooth fabric of your panties.

“Yes, I want to be yours.” You beg him.

“Fuck you’re so wet already.” His fingers feel the wet patch forming.

Leaning back, he fumbles with his belt buckle, trying his quickest to undress. His pants fall to his knees. Next, he turns to your panties, grabbing them near your hips and pulling down. His movements are frantic, as if he can’t control the lust that has taken over his body. He holds your panties to his face and takes a deep inhale.

“These are mine. You take my shirts; I take your underwear.” He teases before tossing them aside and grabbing your hips.

Once he sees your wet pussy he freezes, slapping his heavy cock on it. “Are you ready for me?”

“I have condoms—”

“Nein, you want to be mine?”

“Yes.” You look into his eyes as you speak.

“Then you’ll let me fill you with my cum.”

“Okay.” You don’t argue, you just want him.

He grabs one of your legs and holds it out to the side, his other lining his cock up with your pussy. “Beg.”

“Please give me your- oh fuck…” Your begging is interrupted by the feeling of his enormous cock stretching your tiny little cunny. A loud moan is followed as he looks down between your legs to see his fat cock being hugged by your lips.

“Fuck you’ve got a tight pussy.” He growls before rolling his hips and slamming into your roughly. “You think you can just take my things and get away with it?” His free hand reaches out and slaps your breast before grasping it tightly in his palm.

“I- I’m sorry.”

“You’re mine now, Schatzi.”

“Yes, yes, I’m yours.” Your eyes flutter as you drop your head back.

That’s all you’ve ever wanted, to be König’s. Now he’s here gapping your cunt with his monster cock and claiming you. This must be a dream.

#könig #konig cod #konig x reader #konig x y/n #könig smut #könig cod #konig smut #könig x reader #könig mw2 #konig #könig x y/n #könig x you #konig x you #cod smut #konig x reader smut #smut #cod konig #könig call of duty

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ironunderstands · 3 days

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Dr. Ratios predictions, theories and ideas I have for his lore BECAUSE SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED AND I AM INSANE ABOUT HIM AAAAAAA

‼️INCLUDES DISCUSSION OF LEAKS SO BE WARNED‼️

So, I’m sure if you like Dr. Ratio even a little bit or have kept up with what leakers are doing, you have heard of a little something.

That little something being our new planet in coming in 3.0 is Ancient Greece inspired

Oh boy.

And oh it gets better, thanks Sparkle for playing genderbend Ratio during Cosmoddesy because

Yup, this is his planet.

I’m well aware it will be like 7 months before we start getting proper leaks about this place, but for now, let’s do some speculation shall we, because if there’s anywhere we are gonna get his backstory/lore/a story centered around him, it will be here.

So let’s begin

Whatever the hell I think is gonna happen during 3.0

A) He will serve as a guide for the Astral Express in navigating this planet

I don’t think he will immediately go to them to help, or they will immediately seek out him, but rather coincidentally or through the connivence of circumstance he will end up helping lead us around, at least partially until we really get roped into a conflict.

Or, it’s the other way around, where we kinda are left to our own devices a bit and then something happens and either by his own decision or something that’s forced upon him, Dr. Ratio now has to supervise from now on.

Personally I find the second option way more interesting and I think it has way more potential for angst so I’m going with that one let Ratio be dragged around by a malicious entity or his own experiences I’m so here for it.

B) Something happens.

Wow, descriptive.

Ok, what I really mean is that something bad happens like a prophecy comes true or the express breaks something or a stellaron comes to eat people’s grandmas and Ratio is implicated in it.

And this is where the fun begins, as the nature of what this something is can completely shift the story in very interesting ways.

Perhaps he was prophesied to doom Amphoreous’s civilization with his presence or something, and was abandoned by his parents on another planet?

Perhaps he has connections to the leaders there who desired for him to be their puppet/tool, so he left to find his own path and now they are trying to force him back.

Perhaps he failed at a test of theirs when he was younger, some universal trait on the planet that he couldn’t live up to and was exiled because of it. Now that he’s back, they blame whatever bad thing happens on Ratio.

I actually really like these particular theories as Ratio has a lot of themes about creating your own destiny, so seeing him resist one forced upon him would be compelling. Moreover, I feel as though an arc demonstrating how exactly he wanted to become a Genius/where he got all his insecurities and motivations from is not only necessary for his character but would flesh out the way we see the path of Erudition in general, even if I already really like the way they have gone with it so far.

C) Resolution/Self acceptance

I doubt they will permanently kill him, it just doesn’t suit his character at all.

However, do I think is he gonna get messed up by whatever that “something” is? Yes.

If the story centers on this remains to be seen, honestly, I doubt it will considering we have the entire cast of the planet and its own lore to meet and learn about, but I do think Ratio will be a major player and I hope how he feels gets some of the plot’s focus as we have quite literally only have 1 full scene of him where we see who he truly is, and it’s all the way back in 1.6 (Ratio-Screwllum conversation my Roman Empire).

Like guys I needed this man bleeding out screaming dying crying throwing up clutching his wounds looking up at the screen like a kicked puppy losing all hope in himself and others YESTERDAY

I NEED SOMETHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO HIM FOR CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND BECAUSE RATIO IS SO HIGH STRUNG THAT ANY AMOUNT OF PRESSURE WILL CAUSE HIM TO SNAP SO PLEASE HOYO LET HIM BREAK!!!

He needs another scene where he’s being sincere, he needs a scene where he’s being vulnerable, Ratio’s marble facade needs to crumble to reveal the man underneath and I need that man to pick himself back up again knowing he can allow himself to be human as well AAAAAAAAAA

His connections to Acheron

If you have seen my other posts I have already talked about this at length, however the brainrot for this particular detail is all consuming so let me just demonstrate:

Dr. Ratio has the same philosophy as Acheron, an emanator of Nihility.

Look.

Essentially, they both believe that only in desperate situations will humans reach their full potential and begin to truly live for themselves. Moreover, they also both try and offer the tools to help people save themselves, Ratio with knowledge and Acheron with destroying the dreamscape, and that even if people can only become their true selves through struggle, it is the guidance and love of other people that will allow them to pick themselves up.

Interestingly, pre-2.2 I also believed Ratio was walking the path of Nihility, due to how he engages with knowledge. That very viewpoint spawned from the 1.6 conversation I just showed you, as Ratio demonstrates to the audience that he does not care about knowledge in of itself, but rather the value it can bring to people.

Now, this sets him apart from the Genius Society members, who believe knowledge is inherently valuable and that it is what brings the universe meaning to them. Every person Nous has acknowledged has expressed this belief, which is why they were acknowledged and Ratio isn’t.

Before you say it, no, it’s not that he isn’t smart enough, quite the opposite actually.

Screwllum himself acknowledges his genius and time and time again are Ratios myriad of accomplishments brought up. In universe plenty of people believe he should have been instated into the society by now as well:

These are just the ones that implicate the society directly, as so many of Ratio’s character stories also mention just how accomplished he is.

Moreover, in 2.3 we are getting a new Sim Uni update made by Ratio himself, centered on humanity because of course it is, therefore he’s even smart enough to do the same things the GS members do, even collaborating with Screwllum to work on their favorite pet project.

So, what does this have to do with his lack of acknowledgment, and the path of Nihility?

I have established Ratio is smart enough and that he doesn’t view knowledge in the same way the other member’s do. Therefore, this difference in mindset is why Nous has never acknowledged him, because as much as Ratio thinks he is walking the path of Erudition, his personal philosophy and behaviors have never aligned with that, even if he thinks they do.

I mean, the man says it himself, even if he doesn’t realize the implications of it:

“The Path of Erudition has neither reason nor logic. While geniuses wander among the stars, the ordinary can’t even trace their footsteps.”

That is the path the Genius Society members walk, the path Ratio is criticizing in this sentence, the path he refuses to travel along himself, because what defines Ratio is that he will never leave the ordinary behind to stumble alone.

That is the path of Erudition.

And Veritas Ratio does not follow it.

So what does he believe in?

Finding your own path. Forging your own future, in the face of a meaningless universe, that is the only thing we should do, the only thing we CAN do.

“even a life marked by failure is a life worth living”

That’s what Ratio believes.

It doesn’t matter if the masses cannot escape their mediocrity, if they will never be geniuses, if their efforts will go unacknowledged, because the universe doesn’t care, therefore they shouldn’t either. There is no grand test, no final destination, no perfect goal people must attain.

Destiny is uncertain, and people’s fates are theirs to choose.

Dr. Ratio believes people can still improve themselves, and that it doesn’t matter if people cannot reach the ceiling of knowledge, as they should still push themselves off the floor and stand up.

He doesn’t think anything confines people from bettering themselves, and that it’s pointless to deliberate over whether one can achieve perfection or not, they should strive to improve themselves regardless and live their best lives because why not? Sure there’s nothing saying they can, but there’s also nothing saying they can’t, and in the face of a meaningless universe, devoid of purpose, one must create their own, and he dedicates his life to aiding others in realizing this.

Ironically, Ratio does not take his own advice. He can recognize the merits of the masses, but he cannot appreciate his own. Ratio is forever walking forward, but he cannot see the path ahead of him, or appreciate the lengths he has gone, the distance he has traveled, and the lives he has improved.

Ratio spreads knowledge across the universe, believing that is what Nous desires, what the Erudition means, or rather should be, which is partly why he views himself as mundane, as a failure.

Not just because he is as ordinary as any other person, but because Ratio thinks he hasn’t succeeded in his goal without Nous’s acknowledgement. I think he believes that he hasn’t done enough, that he isn’t smart enough, that he will never be good enough, therefore no matter what has happened, Ratio is doomed do be as mundane as everyone else, and his accomplishments will never be worth the gaze of the entity who inspired him to help others in the first place, as that’s what Ratio believes they would want.

However, helping others is not something Nous cares about, it’s something Dr. Ratio cares about. Even if he doesn’t understand or acknowledge it, Ratio’s accomplishments are meaningful, and he has walked his path further than most ever have.

However, that path just isn’t the path of Erudition, it’s the path of Existence.

Initially I believed it to be the Nihility, and in a way I’m not wrong, considering one must cross underneath the shadow of the Nihility to find the Existence, so in a way he is still approaching them.

However, as always, Acheron clarifies everything.

The Nihility envelops all, therefore it is meaningless. And before our final ending, our predetermined destiny (death), we have so many choices to make, therefore we should make them, as it makes both our life and death develop a completely different meaning.

As I have stated, this is what Ratio believes in, even if he attributes it to the Erudition, rather than the Nihility.

Ratio’s entire goal in life is to help others bring meaning to their lives and guide them in the right direction so they can begin to choose for themselves, using knowledge as his means to do so.

Which is exactly what Acheron does, “on the still waters of oblivion, I guide the wandering souls,” isn’t just a line she says because it sounds cool, rather, that is her goal as well. An emanator of Nihility, whose goal is to help others find their meaning in the universe.

But Acheron doesn’t just want that. She is looking for the Existence, and to kill the Nihility (meaningless) forever.

Which is significant, because if Ratio believes the same exact thing she does, and is walking the same path as she is, then like Acheron, he is heading towards the Existence, not the Erudition.

And Nous will never acknowledge him, not because he isn’t smart enough, but because he never followed them to begin with.

In fact, we know what Ratio is, or rather, what he might end up becoming.

So far no Doctors of Chaos have succeeded in their goals, but perhaps Dr. Ratio, Dr VERITAS Ratio, will be the one to do so. After all, who else could it be but him?

How fitting that the man named after truth would be the one to find it.

That fuckass owl

Glaux I want to throw you into a blender

This is Professor Glaux, one of the figures from the Hanunue-Clockie Era of Penacony who did some things like bring the stellaron there, was a scholar of the Intellgenica Guild, became the first dreamweaver, inspired the paper birds, did some shit with the Nightingale Family and presumably died.

I know, horrible explanation, especially considering I haven’t even done the quest this guy is from, but hopefully that’s all the information you need for now so I can introduce you to this theory (which I did not create, sadly I don’t remember who did but it was someone on twitter somewhere so shoutout to them)

That being… Dr. Ratio is Glaux

I hate it I’m sorry. But I will attempt to explain where it’s coming from.

A) Glaux has very similar references to Ratio, aka they are both associated with Greek culture, wisdom and owls

Glaux is the Greek word for owl and they are heavily associated with Athena, the god of wisdom.

Now Ratio has extremely obvious owl, Greek and wisdom association if you have looked at him for any longer than 2 seconds so I’m not gonna bother to demonstrate it, they have similar references, moving on.

B) The Intelligencia Guild + their titles

They are from the same faction, and both are referred to as Professors (ratio gets called that more in the CN version I think), and at least Ratio dedicates his time to spreading knowledge, which I think is something Glaux shared.

C) This occurrence in Gold and Gears

You know, the one where a student kills themself because Ratio thinks they are an idiot.

Well, it’s complicated because apparently the story told in Gold in Gears takes place a long time ago??

How long I don’t know as my brain melted in my skull when trying to piece it together, so please do correct me if I’m wrong, I’ll try to make sense of it later.

Moreover, this is also complicated by the fact that this particular occurrence was used by Herta to teach the trailblazer some mechanics of the sim uni, which makes me thing it’s not a part of the lore/timeline in it in general, and just something funny she added in anyways. Continually, there are also occurrences from characters like Argenti and of the Genius Society members themselves, so I don’t think every event is set in the distant past.

However, I think this idea comes from the other person in that occurrence, Dr. No5, but he also kills himself in it, and I can’t find anymore information on it, so I doubt it. (also apparently in the Chinese version the Ratio they refer to isn’t in the way they refer to Dr. Ratio/the one we know so idk)

Either way, what this means is that if this occurrence did take place a while ago, then Ratio must be super fucking old and he must have been part of the Intellegencia Guild during that time, like a certain owl aka Glaux, who was part of it.

D) Ratio’s weird origins

By weird origins I mean we know jack shit about his past (although we finally know the planet he’s from!) and for all we know the man could have spawned in one day, with some other theories even coming to that conclusion, like the infamous worm theory.

Essentially, if you put this all together, Ratio was once an owl-humanoid named Glaux who was from the Amphoreous, and then became part of the Intelligencia Guild a while back, which is when that occurrence happened. He then went to Penacony, did some stuff, faked his death and like came back as Dr. Ratio on that planet again, which is why we don’t know anything about his origins.

Can you tell why I hate this theory as a concept.

I find it to be dumb, nonsensical, a waste of potential and just straight up random as hell. However it is also objectively valid and could have happened within the plot of the game which is why I hate it so much because please hoyoverse do not go in this direction I will skin you.

However, I do not think Ratio has nothing to do with Glaux.

Rather,

A) The stuff Glaux did on Penacony is meant to parallel how Ratio acted there, as both served as a guiding figure for people on their respective timelines

B) Ratio is the same species as Glaux/ they are from the same planet (Amphoreous).

Now this I fuck with heavily. Yes, Glaux is way more owl looking than Ratio is, however more human versions of his species could exist, and Ratio could just have the ability to like shift forms or something.

He also looks extremely similar to the owls on Ratios design, which I now deem it appropriate to show to you the metric fuck ton of owls in Ratios design.

(there’s a few more btw I just couldn’t fit them due to the image limit LMAOO)

Why do you have so many, and why is it the same fucking owl, same culture, same goddess referenced, same symbolism????

Like even if I hate the 1 : 1 Glaux-Ratio theory, they are clearly connected, and this is no accident on behalf of the developers.

Therefore, I would keep an eye out for Glaux mentions in the future, especially on the planet coming in 3.0, as I 100% believe that they are from the same planet. There’s no way they can’t be connected in some manner, and if I am right about this I will be annoying about it for the rest of time.

I can’t believe owl Ratio might actually be a reality.

So uh, let’s put this all together.

We go to Ratio’s planet in 3.0, problems happen and we learn both his past and his connections to that owl species Glaux is from which likely causes even more problems. Bbg probably gets his ass handed to him in 3.0 and 3.1 and gets to make up for it in 3.2, ending the arc off more fulfilled as a person, and perhaps making some realizations about himself including that he isn’t actually following the path of Erudition. Then we skip all the way to endgame when the trailblazers are fighting Nanook and him and Acheron come in with the steel chair hopped up on Existence juice to give the trailblazer enough of a will to live as to not succumb to the Nihility because oh my god how can you defeat the embodiment of Destruction. We somehow win and Dr. Ratio gets married to Aventurine and they ride off into the sunset roll credits we all cheered.

So, yeah.

If I’m even a little bit right about this I will be the most insufferable person on this planet. Anyways I hope you enjoyed reading this, and even if these theories don’t end up being true I do still think the speculation gives a lot of insight into his character.

#honkai star rail #hsr #dr ratio #veritas ratio #hsr dr ratio #dr ratio hsr #hsr theory #hsr leaks #i am insane about this #I will be insane about it #You don’t understand.#GIVE IT TO ME HOYOVERSE GIVE IT TO MEEEEEE EEE #God I can’t wait for 3.0 I need Ratio to get his ass kicked PLEASEEE #HE NEEDS TO SNAP! HE NEEDS TO SNAP!#Aventurine pls save your husband from my delusions thanks #Acheron #Acheron hsr #she always shows up #I swear

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lilacstarx · 13 hours

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☆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ᴏғ ᴜs

↳ Summary: And you will still see it until the end of time, the loss of your life.

↳Genre: Angst/trabble

↳ Gender-neutral Reader

↳Warning: Angst No Comfort, Misunderstanding, Messy/Clean Break Ups, Mixed Signals, Reader Is describe You, mentions of Alcohol, almost getting married, Reader Is left hoping for something, Robin is mentioned (2.2 Spoilers penacony on sunday part)

𝔍𝔦𝔫𝔤 ��𝔲𝔞𝔫

Finding yourself packing every last piece of your things and essentials that needed to be packed first, is this how it will end?

You burst into tears, just today when Jing Yuan told you that the planned wedding that you two had been working so hard to plan would be cancelled.

"I love you, I really do, but I wish to call off our wedding, my sparrow" You loathed how calm he was, arms crossed, calling you by that dearing name as if it will help the shattering of your broken heart.

"O-of course" palms sweaty, straining to maintain your breath, you wanted to yell or even question why, but you stayed still, stopping yourself from crying in front of the man you once dreamed of marrying. "I'll pack my things."

The memories felt like a broken record repeating itself. You longed to know the reason, but no amount of arguing and problem solving would help. Jing Yuan had already made a decision.

Just like that, you were gone by the morning, leaving nothing in your shared room but the ring that had meant everything laying on the bedside table.

𝔙𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔞𝔰 ℜ𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬

You can't remember how many drinks you had tonight. It's strange that you're not here to celebrate, but rather to drink till the sensation of melancholy fades.

Dreaming is such a foolish thing. You thought it was hilarious how you disliked alcohol, yet here you were alone at a bar a few years earlier; you were an assistant.

To the one and only veritas ratio, a genius, you wished it had stayed that way rather than falling in love with an idiot wearing an alabaster head.

In fact, it was ridiculous how he fell in love with you first and left you "our stage of relationship is going nowhere, im afraid that this is the end and i wish you the best"

Chuckling to yourself, remembering the words he uttered a few days ago, in actuality it was pathetic, and suddenly it was evident what his true goals were.

You're nothing but a victim of his scheming experiments. "Veritas, what have you done to me?" you whine to yourself as you prepare to walk back to your hotel room.

Maybe in your dreams he stayed with you, his arms wrapped around your waist, and read a book to lure you to sleep. Yes, it was less scary that way.

𝔖𝔲𝔫𝔡𝔞𝔶

It was no secret that you were the amazing spouse of Sunday, the most handsome man in Penacony, who spoiled you in every aspect.

“My beloved deserves to be spoiled only with the finest of things” Sunday said, tucking a few strands of hair from your ear and wanting to see the pair of earrings he gifted.

Marking you as off limits and only his as if the ring on your finger doesn't make up for it

In truth, you were happy. waltzing at the empty ballroom in a cozy afternoon, asking Sunday to take a break from the mountains of paperworks that kept him occupied due to the upcoming charmony festival

You wished you knew what he was actually feeling at the time.

Now, as you lay on the hospital bed, surrounded by the family nurses and doctors, together with Robin, they were checking on you two.

Looking around expecting to get a sight of Sunday only to be left with a teary-eyed robin by your side explaining that Sunday was out of reach and not even the family knows where he is.

Holding Robin for comfort, "we will find him" you whispered soothingly, thinking how Sunday believed leaving you safe and stranded was a better option.

©Do Not Repost Without Permission or Translate

#ᗯiᒪᒪoᗯ #honkai star rail x reader #hsr x reader #jing yuan x gender neutral reader #dr ratio x reader #veritas ratio x reader #sunday x reader #sunday oak #hsr angst #honkai star rail angst #part two with there povs??#jing yuan x reader

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snyder-side · 2 days

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I am not exactly sure if this classifies as an Au or headcanons since Trolls Band Together was kinda short and for the life of me I kinda hate when movies are rushed and we get the cut scenes afterward only as a storyboard(I also tend to like the concept art more than the official art)

But enough of me ranting and more into me getting into what I think/want to happen to Brozone when the band split up

(I choose to call it their solo career)

John Dory(19):

Seeing John Dory's entrance attitude and smugness truly made me think yeah this guy is definitely full of himself and in major denial about some things and what really confirmed my suspicion was when he said "I was the oldest I had no choice but to lead!"

So for his solo career, I thought maybe he did some odd job like bounty hunting, or perhaps he played hero with a small town with a small population of trolls or some other anthropomorphic species. Of course, anyone he would save or any group of bounty hunters he'd join didn't like him because he enjoyed taking control of the situation so much or bossing everyone around. He never liked being alone but he kept driving people away, so eventually he knew solitude was his best option, therefore living in Ronda alone in a forest. He did feel regret for driving his brothers away but only because he knew he was more familiar with bossing them around than some random strangers he'd just met. He kept the mindset of "Why should I feel bad when they're the ungrateful ones!" and "All I've ever done was look out for them, and I stepped up when Mom and Dad died!" after those thoughts he couldn't help but think "What are you doing John Dory?"

Spruce/Bruce(17):

I thought it would be funny if almost everyone at his little restaurant on Vacay Island or should I say Brandy's restaurant...well her dads knew who "Bruce' really was except Brandy. I like to think Bruce went to vacay island because either his therapist or himself thought he should relax more so he went on a "vacation". He chilled out, gained a little bit of weight making him lose his six-pack, and most importantly tried to win the heart of Brandy because she seemed to be the only one not falling for his charm. Brandy played a tsundere type of approach when it came to all his advances on her, but then it all came to a game of volleyball as Bruce's way of showing his dedication to her, of course some of the other players used his small stature against him and he was getting his butt handed to him. He was only able to score a single point (IDEK how volleyball works) and the way he leapt into the air had Brandy star struck, the that that was holding his hair back snapped and he used nothing but shear will power to spike the ball. I mean sure Bruce lost but did he really? He got the girl in the end so it's all that counts right?

Clay(16):

(So I don't really have much for clay because I used most of my ADHD superpowers on the other guys and there's not too much I can go on from the movie)

Now Clay just looked around for jobs, it was retail, then tried working at some corporate building but it all didn't exactly work out because none of his co-workers took him seriously. Feeling out of options Clay walked aimlessly eventually finding Viva and the Putt-putt trolls, at the time imagined them looking more post-apocalyptic and slightly barbaric and frankly chaotic, Viva needed drastic help because she was just a little kid like Clay. Clay offered to help her mainly because he has a tiny bit of OCD (Saying this because of how grumpy he looked when John Dory went off and did his own thing and him practicing and worrying before Brozone performance.) and Viva thought/thinks so highly of him and thought of him as serious which is all Clay ever wanted so he just felt at home...and may or may not have developed feelings for her in the long run. Still, hey I've already got into a Romance segment.

I'm going to leave this here and not do Floyd because I'll talk about his little solo career journey in an OC ramble. (I have no shame.)

Thanks for reading have a lovely day!

#trolls 3 #trolls #trolls band together #brozone #trolls clay #john dory #trolls bruce #trolls spruce #Bro-zone solo career

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cherriesformatt · 22 hours

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birds of a feather || matt sturniolo

matt x fem!reader

summary: reader is having a hard time but she knows she can come back to her safe place every time

warnings: none just fluff and bit of sadness

word count: 1,3k

a/n: hope you like it kinda put my heart in it

🍒

Have you ever just thought that you are done? Like you can't deal with shit anymore and there is nothing that will give you motivation? I felt like this for a long time until I met Matt. Matt started to just be there for me. First as a friend then as a partner. We met in high school when both of us started ditching class because we didn't feel comfortable in school. We would just give each other weird glances and walk different ways until our paths met in the park. We would spent hours hanging out by the Fresh Pond. We talked and had lunch together few times a week. I was waiting for this time because I wasn't able to talk to anyone like I could talk to Matt and I knew he understood me.

I didn't realize I loved him until he came to my house to say goodbye when he and his brothers were moving to LA. I wasn't mad at him, he was chasing his dreams with two most important people for him. They were already successful on YouTube by that time so I understood they wanted more. I was proud of him but I was also dying inside. I didn't want to tell him about my feelings also knowing he broke up with his girlfriend to only focus on their career.

As it turned out not only I realized the strong feeling for one another. But it took us months to confess to each other. I was scared to move away from home but I knew I could do everything for him. So I did. I took everything I had and moved to LA. Got shitty apartment, part-time job and started attending Uni.

Here we are now. Two years in. I had a shitty job, better apartment and best boyfriend and my best friend by my side.

"Ur do wrong about it" I rolled my eyes putting pieces of legos together.

"No, I am not" He said trying to figure out how to connect pieces.

"I do not understand what in your head tells you not to use instructions" I said looking down at him. He was laying down on the blanket while I was sitting cross-legged next to him.

We were in the park near his house on a little lego date. We just came back from Boston few days ago and since that I didn't see him. I was busy with going back to work life after vacation and he as well had stuff going on. And today was a day we finally were alone. Because all of Boston trip we were with friends, his family or my family or I was alone because he had a boys trip. It has been a long time since we could just spend day together and I missed just talking to him.

"Because I know I can do it by myself" He said and I just shook my head and put my finished piece on the blanket.

"Here I am done mr.I can do it by myself" I smiled showing off my lego Pokemon.

"Oh shut up will you?" He laughed and took the instructions. Because of course I was right.

I laid down so my head would rest on his legs. I watched the sky.

"I need to quit my job" I said first time out loud what was on my mind.

'Well...I told you that already, you're not happy there and I know you could to so much better than that or just noting and stay with me?" He looked at me and started to play with my hair putting legos away.

"Matt... you know I do not want you to be my sugar daddy we already talked about this. This is not an option for me. And yes I know you told me that but.. I do not know I feel like my boss is even worst after I took my time off." I said.

"Did something happened?" He asked me clearly concerned.

"Nothing major, you know how I only usually did computer job and prepared meetings for others and for him. Well... he made me be a leader of the meeting...I had a stomach ache for the rest of the day and throw up when I got home because I was so anxious but in the same time I did it and it went well" I said and took a deep breath.

"Why you didn't say anything?" He asked me softly squeezing my hand.

"You were streaming and I didn't want to interrupt" I said.

"I would pick up the phone anyway, you know that.. And about this... he is an asshole but honey... I am so proud of you for doing that I know how hard it must have been for you. Remember my first tour show? I thought I couldn't do it. But you knew I could. And I also know you can do more than this job y/n." He said looking at me and smiled.

"You think?" I asked.

"I know. You have a brilliant ideas and all the time someone else is taking credits for them because you are to kind and you give them away for others to present. Sweets I know you could do that yourself and take all the credits. Of course few first times will be hard but then it will get better and I know you can do it...You deserve so much better than what you are doing now..." He said and I smiled.

"Thank you..." I said and I leaned to peck his lips.

"You do not have to thank me...I will always believe in you" He hugged me.

We talked more until sun was setting down and we came back brining dinner home for everyone.

"Hello! did you miss me already?" I said walking into the leaving room where Chris and Nick were doing something on their laptops.

" Not really I had my Pepsi all to myself for 4 days" Chris smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Yes we did, the only sane person in this household, hi" Nick waved at me and I smiled at him as well.

I was an only child and I was beyond happy that with Matt came two of his brothers, well three but Justin wasn't leaving with him. I felt like I had brothers my own thanks to that and I knew that they cared about me as much as I did for them.

We spend some time with them and then we went to Matt's room.

"I know you had a lot on your mind today so..." he walked to the nightstand and took out our journals.

I smiled and sat on his bed. He gave me mine and took his as well. I rested my back on the headboard and open my journal. I took one of the pens he put between us and just stared to write. I loved that we could just do this together in silence. I rested my head on his shoulder after some time.

"Matt... would you still love me if I was a worm?" I asked.

I moved away a little and sat on my knees so I could look at him.

"Yes? But you would have to forgive me if I squeeze you. You know how wiggly I am in bed when I sleep" He said deadly serious.

"You are so stupid I swear to god...." I laughed looking past him.

"Dear diary... he said he would still love me if I was a worm ❤️" I wrote and closed my journal and throw it across the bed.

He smiled at me and put his journal away as well and he pulled me so I would straddle his lap.

"Til I rot away, dead and buried...." We both said in the same time and I just laughed and kissed him resting my forehead on his.

#matt sturniolo #nick sturniolo #sturniolo triplets #chris sturniolo x reader #matt sturniolo x reader #sturniolo fanfic #christopher sturniolo #sturniolo x reader #chris sturniolo #Spotify

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galedekarios · 13 hours

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#this took so much work#but i really wanted to make this#sorry it got so long

Personally I thank you for your hard work and that gif set is just as long as it needs to be. I for one can't recall hearing the dialogue in the second gif before so I'm glad to see it now.

thank you so much, i really do appreciate the support and kind words a lot! 🖤

the line is from early access! i touched on it in this post.

if you want to see and listen to it, tim's performance of it, i included a short clip from early access:

the quote itself is from gale's early access romance scene in act i after the tiefling party. that scene was cut and most of it is completely gone. some lines were re-used in the full release version of the game: in act 1, for the reveal scene where gale lets the protag into his mind, and others for the beginning of the act 2 romance scene/last night alive scene.

the conversation started like this:

Gale: I know we have to get moving again soon, but before we part, I’d like to tell you something. I’d like to tell you a story. It is a story full of answers long overdue. It is a story of a man who fell in love with a goddess. Player - Option 2: It’s clear as day you are talking about yourself, you know. Gale: I know, but a bit of narrative distance will make it all so much easier in the telling. Indulge me.

if you then chose to indulge gale, letting him tell the story with "a bit of narrative distance" to make it "easier in the telling" for him, this was the story he would tell the player in early access:

Gale: Once upon a time, not quite that long ago, there lived a wizard in a tower. The wizard was what one might call a prodigy, who from an early age could not only control the Weave, but compose it, like a musician or a poet. Such was his skill that it earned him the attention of the mother of magic herself. The Lady Of Mysteries, Mystra.

from there, the conversation branched again:

Player - Option 1: What did Mystra’s attention feel like? Gale: Love. Player - Option 2: He sounds like a very talented individual Gale: He was. Even though it was in Mystra’s affections that his true power lay. Player - Option 3: Teacher’s pet, was he? Gale: He fancied himself much more than that. He fancied himself favoured above all others. Perhaps it was not quite love, but you see, the wizard was but a very young man. It was most certainly love to him.

leading to the quote that i used for my gifset, highlighting gale's lines about the life of a chosen:

Gale: Mystra showed him the secrets behind the veils. The gossamer veils first, draped across the Weave. The delicate veils next, draped across her body. ‘Chosen One’ she whispered, as she slipped them off completely.

i'm thinking about dedicating a full post to the original ea romance scene in act 1 when i find the time to do so because it's an interesting scene.

anyhow, i hope that was helpful! 🖤

#gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #ch: gale dekarios #vg: baldur's gate 3 #series: baldur's gate #text: asks

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ladykailitha · 2 days

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Sweet Home Indiana Part 6

@anne-bennett-cosplayer I hope this is enough time to recover from that last line. It's technically been 3 business days.

That last line was mean, and I'm sorry. So for being so mean, here's Claudia Henderson with some very tough love for Eddie.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

****

Eddie had done some serious groveling that night. He didn’t know how he could make up for all the hell he’d put Steve through. How does one even begin to make up for a decade worth of shitty behavior?

Especially since it was clear that the one thing that would make it all worth it was if Eddie came back to Steve and he couldn’t do that. Not to Chrissy. Not when she needed him the most.

He did the only thing he could think of and talk to the people who still cared about Steve. He started with Claudia Henderson. Even though she wasn’t Steve’s birth mother, she was more his mom then that shrew ever was.

She gathered him into a hug when he showed up on her doorstep.

“I was wondering when your shadow would darken my doorway,” Claudia said, as she lead the way to the kitchen.

Eddie winced at the harsh words even if they gently given. He looked around the small house, Dustin’s mark stamped on every corner even though he had moved out long ago. But more surprisingly was Steve’s touch had found its way into the decor. And not just his photos on the wall either.

It was in the Pacers blanket on the loveseat, the baseball bat by the front door, the bright yellow pillows on the sofa. Steve was loved here and god did that make Eddie’s heart ache.

He sat down at his usual spot at the counter and watched as she bustled around the kitchen getting him cookies and glass of milk.

“Why are you even here, Eddie?” she asked in that tough but loving way she always had. “You broke his heart and then threw it away.”

Eddie took bite of the cookie to give him time to formulate an answer. “Because I know I fucked up, okay? But the only way I can see to fix it is to come back to him and I can’t do that. I can’t tell you why, just know she’s in trouble and this is the only option we have.”

Claudia let out a long sigh and leaned on the counter. “You always did know the right things to say.”

“Not when it comes to him,” he scoffed, staring down at his milk like it would give him the answers. “I keep making it worse.”

She hummed her agreement. “That’s certainly true. But I think that was more about you trying to protect your heart from getting hurt, only you ended up hurting his instead.”

Eddie just dunked his cookie without comment, because he knew she was right. It was never about Steve. It was about all the people who hated him, who strung him along until they had their fun, about his mom dying and his dad leaving, about the band deciding they just didn’t want to do it anymore.

He loved being a tattoo artist, but that wasn’t the dream.

“What would you do or tell Dusty if it was him you’d come to see after a decade apart?” Claudia asked, looking up at him.

Eddie sat back in the stool and sighed. “How much I missed him and then I would try to spend as much time with him as possible.”

“There you have it,” she said. She straightened up and knocked on the counter twice. “The bakery is closed Fridays and the carnival is in town. Why don’t you take him and get to know who he is now, all right?”

He rubbed his face and sighed again. “Yeah, if he’ll even go with me. He probably already has a hot date lined up, though.”

Claudia shook her head. “At least not that he’s told me, anyway. In fact he was lamenting that he was thinking about not going because Robin had a date, but he didn’t and he didn’t want to third wheel it.”

That was so like Steve. Instead of finding someone to go with him, like a friend or something, he would just not go. Tell them to have fun without him.

“I guess the worse that could happen is have him curse me out and hang up,” Eddie said with wry smile. “And considering I’ve already had the pleasure once, a second time isn’t going to change much.”

She lifted her chin. “Well go on, then. If you think he’s going to cuss you out, call him. I want to see this.”

Eddie stuck his tongue out at her like a petulant child. But did as he was told.

“Hey, Eds,” Steve greeted, picking up the phone almost immediately.

His heart stuttered in his chest at the old nickname. “Hey, Stevie. I hear the carnival was in town this week and wanted to see if you want to go.”

“With you? Or with a group or whatever?” Steve asked, his voice pitching a little higher than normal.

“Just me,” Eddie confirmed. “When would be good for you?” He looked up at Claudia who had the smuggest grin on her face. He stuck his tongue out at her again.

“Oh, I–um...” he stammered. “Well, I was thinking of opening the shop on Friday even though I don’t usually because I was closed on Sunday.”

Eddie winced. He had a pretty good idea why Steve’s shop was closed on Sunday. Steve had called to bitch him out on Saturday evening when the special courier delivered the annulment papers. Something the law firm had paid for so they wouldn’t lose their best legal assistant.

“But sure, I could use a proper day off for a change,” Steve was saying when Eddie’s brain finally came back on. “How about two o’clock?”

“That’d be great,” he said a small, fond smile on his face. “I can’t wait. I haven’t been to a proper carnival in years.”

“Perks of living in a small town, I guess,” Steve replied.

Eddie started playing with his hair. “One of the few. Can’t say I’m a fan of the homophobia.”

Steve laughed, bright and sweet. “Yeah, okay. You got me there. Look I’ve got to go, Robin’s giving me the stink eye and I really should get back to work.”

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “I talk to you later.” He hung up and refused to look Claudia in the eye. He knew what he was going to see anyway. Her arms crossed over her chest and a triumphant smile on her face.

“I don’t believe I heard any cursing on that call,” she said dryly. He looked up at her and he as right about everything about how she was looking at him, only with the addition of a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah well,” Eddie said, rolling his eyes. “He always was a stubborn bastard and having to prove me wrong.”

Claudia’s face crumpled a bit. Because yes, Eddie had done a lot of harm to their relationship, Steve wasn’t exactly blameless in the whole ordeal. Because Max’s situation aside, Eddie was right that ‘the kids’ had families and parents of their own. That they had people who would look out for them. And if Steve hadn’t stepped up in Max’s case, she sure as hell would have. The awkwardness between Max and Dustin be damned.

If Steve had loved Eddie as much as he claimed, he wouldn’t have tried to force the metalhead to chose between his friends and his husband.

“He is that,” she admitted gently. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out between you two. You were always a better person when you were together, than when you were apart. And yes, he’s struggled a lot since you left, but looking at you now, I can see that the years haven’t been kind to you either.”

Eddie huffed. “That’s what Uncle Wayne said. That I lost my sparkle or whatever.”

Claudia came around the corner and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back tight.

“Your uncle is right, sweetie,” she murmured into his hair. “We only want you to be happy and it doesn’t feel like you are. You say you’re getting married, but where’s the bounce in your step and the smile that won’t stop? Like when you and Steve had come back from a week vacation married if only in the state of Massachusetts.”

He let out a shuddering breath and then another. Soon he was just sobbing. Crying like he couldn’t stop.

Eddie had never wanted to hurt Steve and he was sure Steve felt the same about him.

She soothed him with whispered assurances and stroking his hair. Soon enough he had slowed to a hiccuping sniffle and Claudia stepped back so she could look him in the eyes.

“I have a pretty good idea what’s really going on,” she said firmly. “And you’re being really sweet, but before you do something you regret, spend time in town. Take a look at the things that have changed and all the ones that haven’t. Then decide if it’s still the right thing to do.”

He gulped. He had no doubt that she had figured it out. She was Claudia Fucking Henderson, of course she did.

“You won’t tell anyone,” Eddie asked, tears threatening to spill again, “will you?”

She shook her head. “No, your secret is safe with me. I won’t make things harder on you then they need to be.”

She hugged him again and Eddie felt like he was home for the first time in over five years.

****

“Just where are you taking me, old man?” Eddie teased. He had met his uncle for lunch after being emotionally rung out at the Henderson place.

“You need a pick me up,” Wayne said, “and I need my afternoon brownie. Come along.”

Eddie came to an abrupt stop. “Um...I’ll wait out here, then.”

Wayne looked up at the shop’s sign and then back at him. “Look, son, you’re going to have to face him eventually. Especially with you going to carnival together and all.”

Eddie dug his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket and followed Wayne dutifully into the bakery.

“Hey Mr. Munson!” Steve greeted cheerfully. “You here for your usual?”

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me ‘Wayne’?” he asked with a chuckle, walking up the to counter.

Steve blushed and hung his head. “I guess I’m just old fashioned.” He cleared his throat and straightened up. “So what can I get you and your shadow today?”

Wayne reared his head back and then looked over his shoulder to see Eddie hanging back, but sticking as close to him as possible.

“That’ll be two monsters, one of your apple fritters, and a half dozen of your snickerdoodles,” he said shaking his head. Then he turned to Eddie. “And what do you want?”

Eddie’s eyes nearly burst out of his head. Steve and Wayne laughed.

“I suppose I should have said ‘what else do you want?’” Wayne clarified.

Eddie blushed and peered around Wayne’s shoulder to look into the case. “A peanut butter madness, please.”

Steve’s face lit up with delight. “These are the ones Jeff’s mom was slandering with having them stale. They are so much better warm out of the oven. In fact, here!” He grabbed it out of the case and wandered to the back.

He came out a few moments later. Eddie nearly melted from the tantalizing scent of warm brownie filled the air.

“What did you do?” Eddie cried as he reached out with grabby hands.

Steve handed it to him. “Careful, it’s hot. I microwaved it for thirty seconds. Should be perfect now.”

Eddie cautious bite and moaned as soon as the peanut butter hit his mouth. He savored every bit of that first bite. “Fuck, Stevie. These should be a sin.”

Steve smiled and then got to work on the rest of Wayne’s order as Eddie devoured every inch of that brownie.

“How long are you in town for, Eds?” he asked as he handed over the boxes to Wayne.

Eddie grabbed a paper napkin from the dispenser by the register and wiped off his hands and mouth of the gooey remains.

“I’ve got to back by Monday,” he said, a tad mournfully. He never thought he’d miss this place after spending so long running from it. The town. Not the bakery. Though he had spent a lot of his time running from its owner, too.

Steve’s own smile faltered a bit too. “Not even a whole week, huh? I guess there really is no rest for the wicked.”

They chatted for a bit before more customers came in and Steve had to get back to work. Eddie and Wayne walked out of the shop laden with goodies. Steve had divided them up for Eddie and Wayne separately. Wayne handed Eddie his box.

“Now was that so terrible?” he asked with big grin.

“No.”

Because it really wasn’t. In fact it was kinda nice just chatting with Steve.

Leaving was looking more and more bleak with each passing moment.

****

1- @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @ravenfrog @zerokrox-blog

2- @gregre369 @a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @goodolefashionedloverboi

3- @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @vecnuthy @irregular-child

4- @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1

5- @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt

6- @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95

7- @blackpanzy @amazing-spiderkeys @oldpinghai @raisedbylibrarians @kultiras

8- @swimmingbirdrunningrock @steddie-as-they-go @captain--low @micheledawn1975 @thespaceantwhowrites

9- @mac-attack19 @blondie1006

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #rom com au

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ms-demeanor · 3 hours

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Hello! First, I wanted to say thank you for your post about updating software and such. I really appreciated your perspective as someone with ADHD. The way you described your experiences with software frustration was IDENTICAL to my experience, so your post made a lot of sense to me.

Second, (and I hope my question isn't bothering you lol) would you mind explaining why it's important to update/adopt the new software? Like, why isn't there an option that doesn't involve constantly adopting new things? I understand why they'd need to fix stuff like functional bugs/make it compatible with new tech, but is it really necessary to change the user side of things as well?

Sorry if those are stupid questions or they're A Lot for a tumblr rando to ask, I'd just really like to understand because I think it would make it easier to get myself to adopt new stuff if I understand why it's necessary, and the other folks I know that know about computers don't really seem to understand the experience.

Thank you so much again for sharing your wisdom!!

A huge part of it is changing technologies and changing norms; I brought up Windows 8 in that other post and Win8 is a *great* example of user experience changing to match hardware, just in a situation that was an enormous mismatch with the market.

Win8's much-beloathed tiles came about because Microsoft seemed to be anticipating a massive pivot to tablet PCs in nearly all applications. The welcome screen was designed to be friendly to people who were using handheld touchscreens who could tap through various options, and it was meant to require more scrolling and less use of a keyboard.

But most people who the operating system went out to *didn't* have touchscreen tablets or laptops, they had a desktop computer with a mouse and a keyboard.

When that was released, it was Microsoft attempting to keep up with (or anticipate) market trends - they wanted something that was like "the iPad for Microsoft" so Windows 8 was meant to go with Microsoft Surface tablets.

We spent the first month of Win8's launch making it look like Windows 7 for our customers.

You can see the same thing with the centered taskbar on Windows 11; that's very clearly supposed to mimic the dock on apple computers (only you can't pin it anywhere but the bottom of the screen, which sucks).

Some of the visual changes are just trends and various companies trying to keep up with one another.

With software like Adobe I think it's probably based on customer data. The tool layout and the menu dropdowns are likely based on what people are actually looking for, and change based on what other tools people are using. That's likely true for most programs you use - the menu bar at the top of the screen in Word is populated with the options that people use the most; if a function you used to click on all the time is now buried, there's a possibility that people use it less these days for any number of reasons. (I'm currently being driven mildly insane by Teams moving the "attach file" button under a "more" menu instead of as an icon next to the "send message" button, and what this tells me is either that more users are putting emojis in their messages than attachments, or microsoft WANTS people to put more emojis than messages in their attachments).

But focusing on the operating system, since that's the big one:

The thing about OSs is that you interact with them so frequently that any little change seems massive and you get REALLY frustrated when you have to deal with that, but version-to-version most OSs don't change all that much visually and they also don't get released all that frequently. I've been working with windows machines for twelve years and in that time the only OSs that Microsoft has released were 8, 10, and 11. That's only about one OS every four years, which just is not that many. There was a big visual change in the interface between 7 and 8 (and 8 and 8.1, which is more of a 'panicked backing away' than a full release), but otherwise, realistically, Windows 11 still looks a lot like XP.

The second one is a screenshot of my actual computer. The only change I've made to the display is to pin the taskbar to the left side instead of keeping it centered and to fuck around a bit with the colors in the display customization. I haven't added any plugins or tools to get it to look different.

This is actually a pretty good demonstration of things changing based on user behavior too - XP didn't come with a search field in the task bar or the start menu, but later versions of Windows OSs did, because users had gotten used to searching things more in their phones and browsers, so then they learned to search things on their computers.

There are definitely nefarious reasons that software manufacturers change their interfaces. Microsoft has included ads in home versions of their OS and pushed searches through the Microsoft store since Windows 10, as one example. That's shitty and I think it's worthwhile to find the time to shut that down (and to kill various assistants and background tools and stop a lot of stuff that runs at startup).

But if you didn't have any changes, you wouldn't have any changes. I think it's handy to have a search field in the taskbar. I find "settings" (which is newer than control panel) easier to navigate than "control panel." Some of the stuff that got added over time is *good* from a user perspective - you can see that there's a little stopwatch pinned at the bottom of my screen; that's a tool I use daily that wasn't included in previous versions of the OS. I'm glad it got added, even if I'm kind of bummed that my Windows OS doesn't come with Spider Solitaire anymore.

One thing that's helpful to think about when considering software is that nobody *wants* to make clunky, unusable software. People want their software to run well, with few problems, and they want users to like it so that they don't call corporate and kick up a fuss.

When you see these kinds of changes to the user experience, it often reflects something that *you* may not want, but that is desirable to a *LOT* of other people. The primary example I can think of here is trackpad scrolling direction; at some point it became common for trackpads to scroll in the opposite direction that they used to; now the default direction is the one that feels wrong to me, because I grew up scrolling with a mouse, not a screen. People who grew up scrolling on a screen seem to feel that the new direction is a lot more intuitive, so it's the default. Thankfully, that's a setting that's easy to change, so it's a change that I make every time I come across it, but the change was made for a sensible reason, even if that reason was opaque to me at the time I stumbled across it and continues to irritate me to this day.

I don't know. I don't want to defend Windows all that much here because I fucking hate Microsoft and definitely prefer using Linux when I'm not at work or using programs that I don't have on Linux. But the thing is that you'll see changes with Linux releases as well.

I wouldn't mind finding a tool that made my desktop look 100% like Windows 95, that would be fun. But we'd probably all be really frustrated if there hadn't been any interface improvements changes since MS-DOS (and people have DEFINITELY been complaining about UX changes at least since then).

Like, I talk about this in terms of backward compatibility sometimes. A lot of people are frustrated that their old computers can't run new software well, and that new computers use so many resources. But the flipside of that is that pretty much nobody wants mobile internet to work the way that it did in 2004 or computers to act the way they did in 1984.

Like. People don't think about it much these days but the "windows" of the Windows Operating system represented a massive change to how people interacted with their computers that plenty of people hated and found unintuitive.

(also take some time to think about the little changes that have happened that you've appreciated or maybe didn't even notice. I used to hate the squiggly line under misspelled words but now I see the utility. Predictive text seems like new technology to me but it's really handy for a lot of people. Right clicking is a UX innovation. Sometimes you have to take the centered task bar in exchange for the built-in timer deck; sometimes you have to lose color-coded files in exchange for a right click.)

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meazalykov · 2 days

Text

injury on two continents

lena oberdorf x reader (requested)

warnings: injury

If someone were to tell you a few years ago that you’d be happy with your own girlfriend, you’d think that they’re lying.

Throughout your career, you questioned if you’d ever have time for relationships. However, Lena came into your life unexpectedly when you joined Bayern Munich in 2021.

She was your opponent during a game between your club and Wolfsburg. The German woman kept hitting on you and eventually, you fell for her. You guys have been happy together ever since.

Now, it's June 2024, and as the international break begins, Lena is scheduled to play against Poland, while you prepare to face the Korea Republic. This break is particularly crucial for you, who is a key midfielder expected to be on the roster for the upcoming Olympic Games with the United States.

It's also the last game before you get a month-long break from soccer, so you’re eagerly looking forward to some downtime with your girlfriend on an upcoming Ibiza trip.

Due to the time difference between you two, you’re having breakfast with your closest teammates Sophia, Mallory, Trinity, and Tierna at a cozy coffee spot near your hotel– while Lena is playing a late-afternoon game against Poland.

The atmosphere in the cafe you’re in is light and filled with laughter, but you look over to see Tierna's expression as you’re sipping on your iced latte.

Your eyebrows knit together as you look at the Gotham player on her phone. Concerned, you ask what's wrong.

"Tierna, are you okay?" Y/N asks, raising an eyebrow.

Tierna looks up from the video on her phone, her eyes wide with worry as she notices that you asked her the question. "Y/N, you need to check your phone. Like, right now."

Puzzled, you pull out your phone and see numerous missed calls and messages. The other girls check their phones too out of curiosity. They didn’t see much which confuses them, but your heart races as you read a message from Lena’s mom:

Lena's hurt. It's her leg. Call me whenever you have time.

"Oh my god," you whisper, your voice trembling. Injuries happen but the range could go from a simple blow to a full ACL injury. Maybe you’d know what was going on if you watched the game, but you promised your national teammates that you would spend time catching up with them.

You tried calling Lena’s mom after seeing her message from 43 minutes ago, but it goes straight to voicemail.

All of the girls at the cafe look ahead at you with worry. Your fingers go to dial Lea's number next. She is the second closest person to Lena after you, so that was your best option.

After a couple of rings, Lea picks up.

"Lea, hey! What happened? Is Obi okay?" Y/N asks, her voice a mix of fear and urgency.

Lea's voice is calm but serious. "Hey, Y/N. She took a bad hit during the game. The doctors don’t think it's anything serious since she's walking on crutches now. But she told us to tell you not to worry, but I know that's impossible."

"Is she okay?" Y/N's voice cracks.

"She is honey. She really wants to talk to you, but her phone died."

Y/N takes a deep breath, steadying herself knowing that Lena’s injury wasn’t as serious as it could’ve been.

"Okay, thanks– wait is she around? Can you put her on FaceTime for a minute?"

Lea nods and you hear footsteps on the other end of the phone. The scenery changes as Lena's face appears on the screen, looking tired but smiling anyways. "Hey baby!" Lena says softly.

"Lena! Are you okay?" Y/N's eyes are filled with worry.

"I'll be fine, Y/N. It hurts when I run, but the doctors are looking over me. You focus on your game later, alright?" Lena tries to reassure her.

"I can't stop thinking about you," Y/N admits.

"We will see each other in a few days, Meine Liebe. Just promise me you'll play your best and stay safe," Lena says, her voice gentle but firm.

"I promise," Y/N says.

Later that day, during the intense match against South Korea, you dribbled the ball around a midfielder before passing to Alex Morgan. As the ball left your foot and you ran into open space, a Korean defender pushed you hard and you fell to the ground, spraining your ankle in the process.

To the observant people watching on TV, they can see your foot go in an awkward angle as your body hits the grass. The scene mirrors Lena's injury from hours before, except no player fell on top of your body afterwards.

You had to be helped off the field, causing great concern among your teammates and fans. Your team needed you for the olympics, Emma Hayes knew she needed you for the olympics.

Back in the hotel room in Poland, it's late at night. Lena and your fellow Bayern teammates, who are watching the game on TV, are worried and anxious when they see your body hit the ground as you clench onto your ankle afterwards.

"No, no, no," Lena mutters, her eyes glued to the screen. She stands up in concern as the other girls continue to sit on the couch with looks of worry. Some of her teammates, like Laura and Lea, try to comfort Lena as they watch the medics attend to you. Their TV was a few minutes behind so you were already off of the field by that point.

“She will be okay.” Lea rubbed Lena’s shoulders as Laura patted on her back, looking at the medics holding Y/n while she walked off of the pitch.

Laura, trying to lighten the mood, then says, "Looks like she got an injury on the same leg on the same day as you, Lena. Maybe you guys are soulmates?"

Despite everything, Lena chuckles. "Maybe we are," she says softly, her worried eyes still fixed on the TV.

Back in America, the medics cared for you and did some x-rays. You had a grade 2 sprain which isn’t the worst or best sprain– but you could make it on the olympic roster if your recovery process goes smoothly.

An hour after the game, you call Lena back to update her, after seeing that she tried to call you three times within the hour.

Despite the pain, you reassure Lena that it's likely a grade 2 sprain, meaning you should be able to recover in time for the Olympics.

"Lena, I might have a grade 2 sprain. The doctors said I should be good before July," Y/N says, her voice filled with both relief and exhaustion.

"Oh, thank god. I was so worried," Lena sighs, feeling a bit of the weight lift off her shoulders.

"Same here. We really need to stop getting hurt at the same time," Y/N jokes weakly. This was the first time where they’ve gotten injured at one time, but y/n felt the need to say that.

"Right," Lena replies, smiling through the screen. "I can't wait to see you and hug you once we’re back in Germany."

"Me too. We have to move your stuff into my apartment too so take care of yourself, okay? I love you," Y/N says, her voice softening. The couple were excited throughout the last few months, Lena is transferring to Bayern Munich and will live with y/n finally.

"I love you too, Y/N. Rest up," Lena responds.

#lena oberdorf #woso community #woso fanfics #uswnt x reader #laura freigang #gerwnt #uswnt #uswnt players #lea schüller #dfb frauen

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leonenjoyer69 · 2 days

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Colored this a lot earlier than I expected for an art trade reference, Since my personal hype man friend liked his mindscape outfit best! (Ily Midas)

so, come eat, Elias Simps! <33 we've got a color pickable option and just a normal colored piece :3 (I'll probably add this to his artfight later too)

Also, extra doodle I did earlier:

Also please keep going feral for him in the tags, it literally makes my day seeing what kinda crimes y'all would commit for him /gen

#oc: elias wright #my art #lanyon takes the potion au #jekyll and hyde #tgs #the glass scientists

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sesamie · 2 days

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"i don't know / i'm bald / any other miscellaneous infinitely nuanced answer"

masterpost for me to link people to, hi, i'm nauta, i made the original "i'm bald" poll. the anon asks have gotten very bad over the past week so i'm making this post that people can link to and explain the context so people might stop calling me horrible things!

on december 20th, i make this poll: "can you read sheet music?" in writing the options, i forgot alto clef, cause i don't know any viola players and it's really not a super common clef anyways. the anon asks and reblogs i get for this are RIDICULOUS and very rude, and i get annoyed at how strangers get so mad over poll options not including every single little thing.

for a couple polls after that, i wrote snarky "other" options, like "i have never been influenced by anything ever" and the like.

on january 3rd, i make this poll: "was your hair a different color when you were little?" and knew i would need an option for people who don't have hair currently/anymore, for any number of reasons. i certainly didn't want them to feel alienated by seeing that poll and not having an option to vote for! i also didn't want to alienate people that didn't know what their hair color was as a child, for any number of reasons. so i wrote my "other" option as "i don't know / i'm bald", then realized that wasn't broad and nuanced enough. remembering the poll about sheet music and the response to it, i wrote, annoyed, "any other miscellaneous infinitely nuanced answer", thinking, yeah that'll cover it.

radio silence for a while!! then someone points me to another post by someone whose url i can't remember, and who is a complete stranger to me. they screenshotted just the last option from that poll, and posted it independently, and that post basically blew up. after that, people start writing "i'm bald" in their "other" options, cause they found it funny. i really had nothing to do with it getting popular, and it wasn't originally intended to be making fun or body shaming!

thank you for reading and if you see people questioning the origin of this phrase please link them here!!!!

#duckspeak #i'm bald poll

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a-court-of-fics-and-errors · 3 days

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Keep Moving Forwards, Part 23

Azriel x Reader Fic

Summary: After finally deciding to leave your abusive and manipulative mate for good, you find unexpected companionship with Azriel, the Shadowsinger of the Night Court. As you navigate the aftermath of your traumatic relationship, you struggle to understand where the mating bond went wrong and contemplate your path forward, vowing never to return to the past.

Find other parts here: Master List

To follow this fic, follow tag "Keep Moving Forwards Fic" or comment to be tagged in future parts.

Content Warning: This story contains depictions of extreme emotional manipulation and abuse, detailed descriptions of direct physical abuse, and scenes of men hunting women with implied sexual assault. Please read at your own risk.

Word Count: 5K

Author's Note: This is a multi-part series. Unlike my previous works, this fanfiction delves deeper than just fluff, exploring complex emotional landscapes. As I navigate this new writing journey, I kindly ask for gentle feedback. The topics addressed are profoundly impactful, touching many lives with diverse experiences. Please be gentle with yourselves and others. Healing is a journey, and everyone processes it differently. Be kind to yourself. Take what resonates, and leave what doesn’t.

Please continue reading, being aware of the above content warnings, ensuring you are in a healthy headspace. Give yourself time to process and be gentle with yourself.

Wandering through the forest in the Night Court in the middle of winter was most certainly not the best idea. As the two of you continued deeper into the woods, you felt the chill of the winter air sinking into your wet clothes, making it feel as though the fabric was melding with your skin. Your teeth clacked together wildly as you trudged up the hill, your toes frozen in your boots, and your hair essentially freezing into place as you sniffled.

With your limbs stiff from the cold, every step felt like you were tripping over yourself. Branches snagged at your feet, you misstepped into holes, and your knees buckled beneath you. Though you caught yourself each time, the knees of your pants were now thoroughly muddy.

Caelum pushed forward ahead, only a few paces in front of you, occasionally looking back to ensure you hadn’t run off or tried to hide. He didn't say anything, and for that, you were grateful. He must have been cold too, and his footing was less sure, but he kept silent about it.

Before either of you spoke, the sun began to set, and Caelum started scrutinizing the surrounding areas more intently. The temperature continued to drop, and soon, even taking steps hurt more than you could bear. "Caelum," you called up to your mate, who was still trampling through the undergrowth. He didn’t turn back. "Caelum!" you shouted more firmly. He finally stopped and glanced over his shoulder at you. "We need to stop and get warm." Your voice was hoarse, as though the chill had permeated your vocal cords.

“I know,” he shot back and continued forward. You didn’t follow, standing there shivering. When he didn’t hear your footsteps, he turned and looked back at you. “Come on,” he ordered.

“No,” you said back.

Caelum growled, “You going to stand out here and freeze?”

You stared back at him, “I want to stop now.”

Caelum brought his fingers to the bridge of his nose. “We can’t stop out in the open. If we make a fire, anyone can see the smoke from the city.”

“I don’t care,” you shot back.

Caelum glared at you. “You want me to go to prison?”

“I don’t care what happens to you.”

You could see Caelum’s jaw locking and his blood beginning to boil as his stare hardened. Then he released it with a sigh. “There’s a cave somewhere near here. We can stop there. Make a fire.” He turned around and began walking again. You didn’t move. He turned back, staring down the hill at you, “So you’re just going to freeze to death down there?”

You weighed your options. Freezing to death didn’t sound that bad, given whom you would be spending the evening with, but Titania would have alerted someone by now, or at least you hoped. And Kai would be at a healer. If you had any chance of seeing him again, you would have to make concessions.

With a deep breath, you began trudging up the hill, following Caelum into the growing darkness of the forest. The thought of warmth, however fleeting, propelled you forward, step by agonizing step.

Caelum continued silently in front of you, the only sounds besides your footsteps were the occasional sniffling and the crunch of ice beneath your boots. The winter sky faded from pinks to purples as the shadows elongated into the coming night. Finally, after what felt like hours, you arrived at the mouth of a cave. Caelum picked up a large stone and hurled it into the darkness, listening intently as the sound echoed off the stone walls and floor. When no additional noises followed, Caelum turned to you. “Grab some firewood.”

The two of you turned back to the forest and began collecting dry branches and brush, carrying them back to the cave. Caelum picked up one of the longer branches and used his hunting knife to peel back some bark, pressing it into the sap leaking from a nearby pine. He wrapped torn cloth around the end and set it alight using two rocks. When he stood, the torch blazed, and he took a few steps into the cave.

The cave sloped downwards, with loose stones lining the floor, descending for what seemed like forever. Caelum looked back at you, motioning with his head and a grunt for you to carry the collected wood behind him. Scowling at him, you picked up the wood anyway. Caelum stepped further in, the torch illuminating only a bit of the wall and ceiling. Once you were a yard into the cave, Caelum ordered you to drop the wood. It fell with a loud clatter, and you stared at him, crossing your arms.

“Charming,” he said.

You planted yourself on the rocks, still shivering, as Caelum moved some stones to create a small pit and set to work lighting the fire. You curled your knees to your chest, trying to retain body heat, but your whole body shook with chills. Once the fire started, you felt the tantalizing licks of warmth. Caelum warmed his hands by the fire, then stood and began removing his wet clothing. He placed a large branch between two stones, hanging his shirt and pants to dry, then turned to you. You tried not to look at him, at his nakedness, as he stood with so much confidence.

“Well?” he asked. You didn’t respond. “You going to get dry?” He continued. You flicked your eyes up to his face, which had a sneer plastered on it. “You know if you keep those wet clothes on, you’re going to freeze.”

You looked to the fire, its warmth barely touching the parts of you still clothed. As much as you hated his existence, he knew how to survive in the wild and had taught you as much. “Turn around,” you instructed.

Caelum scoffed and rolled his eyes, still facing you. “Turn. Around,” you repeated.

“You really expect me to turn around? We’ve spent the last century together, at least a year of it naked around each other.”

“Turn. Around.”

“Oh, what? Suddenly you’re shy? Seems like you’re more than happy to open your legs for anyone these days. I don’t see why they get to have all the fun.” You swallowed down the angry remark boiling beneath you, staring back at him. “If you won’t take off your clothes yourself, I’ll come over and do it for you,” he threatened.

Knowing he would have no issue ripping your clothes off, you hesitated. He took a step forward, and you immediately reached for the hem of your shirt, pulling it off. “Good,” he said, turning back to the fire.

You felt disgusting. Every inch of exposed skin felt dirty as you pulled off the damp cloth from your body. You stripped down to nothing, standing with aching joints from the cold. As you moved closer to the fire to hang your clothes, warmth radiated up your legs and back, and you hungered for more. You sat next to the fire, drawing your legs to your chest, covering yourself from Caelum’s inspecting gaze.

“You have some new scars,” he noted. You didn’t respond. “Pretty nasty one on your side there. Was that from the fall?”

The fire crackled in front of you as you stared into it, the smoke leisurely floating out of the cave, hopefully signaling your presence.

“Look, I’m sorry,” he said. You still didn’t turn to him. “I’m sorry it all had to happen like this.” A crack of wood snapping in the fire. “If it had been up to me, we would have walked out of that front gate with my pack.” He paused, waiting for your response, then continued, “I even packed you some extra clothes and that blanket you love.”

The red and black quilt you had made during your first winter together, lined with the expensive fleece Caelum had given you as a solstice gift. Knowing it was left behind meant one less piece of comfort for you to return to.

“I had it all planned out,” Caelum continued, his voice smooth and calculated. “I was going to find you in the city, bring you flowers, or something.” The fire crackled, sending sparks into the air. “Then I’d ask you to take a walk with me, spend the day in the city, have a good time. And then you’d come home with me, and we’d travel back. Maybe even stop and see my family.”

You laughed lightly without realizing it.

“What?” Caelum asked, his eyes narrowing.

You raised your brows, still staring into the fire, shaking your head. “Nothing.”

“No, you laughed. Why did you laugh?” he demanded.

You rolled your eyes, pressing your chin into your knees.

“If you think this is so funny, care to enlighten me?” His voice turned stern.

You turned your gaze to him, bile rising in your throat at the sight of his face. “You’re a clueless bastard,” you spat.

He seemed taken aback, not used to your insults. His face hardened, then he took a breath. “Why is that?”

“You thought you could just show up, use that fake charm, and I’d come crawling back with you?” You shook your head. “Is that really what you thought would happen? Do you think I’m that easy?”

“Seems like it isn’t too hard to convince you of things these days,” he finally replied.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Raising his voice, Caelum spat back, “Do you know how hard it is to feel your mate lust after someone else? To smell another male on you and not want to rip them to shreds? Do you know how much self-control it took to not completely slaughter that kid?”

“You stabbed him! You would have killed him if you hadn’t gotten caught!” you screamed.

“Oh no, he’s definitely dead.” Caelum’s smile was sinister. “I stabbed him right in the heart, felt it pop when I crushed the artery.” He laughed. “I just wish I’d had the chance to rip his beating heart out.”

Your lip quivered, hot tears welling in your eyes as you pictured Kai bleeding out in the street, his eyes wide with fear.

“Oh,” Caelum said, tilting his head, “did that strike a chord?”

You gulped, your breath ragged.

“He deserved it. Fucking someone else’s mate,” Caelum said, nudging the fire with a stick, sending embers into the air.

“You are a cruel and foul male. I hope someday you choke on your own blood so you can taste the poison that runs in your veins,” you hissed. “I hope you feel every bit of pain you inflict on others. You’re a predator. You’re vile, evil, and incapable of love.”

Caelum looked at you. “You used to love looking at me,” he whispered. “I used to catch you staring when we were out in the field. You’d smile and look away when I looked back.”

“I was a child,” you shot back.

“No, you knew what you wanted. You’d follow me around all day in those woods. Watching me, hiding from me.” Caelum paused. “Do you remember when I taught you to swim?” Your jaw tightened. “When you found me by the lake, after I’d been out, and asked me to teach you?” Your jaw hardened. “You took off that dress my mother gave you and asked me to turn around, but when you caught me looking, you didn’t tell me to close my eyes. No, you put on a show. Then you got in the lake, walked over to me, and climbed onto my back while I took you out deeper. Do you remember that?”

You tried to push the memory from your mind—the feeling of Caelum’s warm skin, the smell of his hair as you pressed into his shoulder.

“I remember how you wouldn’t let go until I let you rest in front of me, with your arms around my neck while I taught you to float.” He continued, “And you just kept holding on, begging me to keep holding you.”

“Stop it,” you said.

But he didn’t. “You remember how we’d meet every day, even when we stopped swimming? And you still insisted we undress.”

“Stop,” you hissed again.

“See, you can pretend I trapped you or that you don’t love me. But I know deep inside, you’re still the Y/N who would’ve done anything to get me out of my clothes.”

“That isn’t love.”

Caelum's head tilted quizzically sideways. “And you would know what love is?” he asked, his voice laced with mockery. “Because it seems to me like you’ve never really known love before me. I mean, come on, your mother?”

“Don’t talk about her,” you threatened.

“She didn’t love you,” he continued, ignoring your warning. “She raised you in a whorehouse.”

You growled at him, but he pressed on. “You were conceived because someone paid her to fuck her and then she couldn’t even remember who it was because she fucked all the way up and down Velaris.”

“Shut up,” you hissed.

“And then she had you, and instead of raising you, she pawned you off on others while she fucked, and fucked, and fucked, and snorted shit off the street.”

“Stop!” you screamed over and over, but he wouldn’t stop.

“Even still, she didn’t give two shits about you. She left you in the fucking woods to die so she could go back to her old life.”

“Shut up!” you screamed, tears streaming down your cheeks.

“She didn’t fucking want you!” he screamed back, his chest heaving. You rocked back and forth, your ears covered under your palms as you cried. “She left you to die because she didn’t love you!” Caelum stared at you, his gaze intense. “You didn’t know love until you met me.”

You tried to block out his voice, but it seeped through. “You used to cry yourself to sleep every night, and I would come in and let you sleep on my chest until you fell asleep. Hours. I would spend hours doing that. Running my fingers over your back, holding you. And even after you fell asleep, I would stay until I knew you wouldn’t have nightmares.”

Caelum’s gaze was locked on you, unwavering. “Every time we’d go out hunting, I’d bring a bag to pick blackberries for you to bring back, even though every other male would give me shit for it. Because when I’d bring them home, you’d smile. I would do anything for that smile.” He ran his hand through his hair. “And when you wanted to live in a bigger cabin, a place for us, I didn’t ask any questions. I just started building. You know why?” He looked at you, though you didn’t respond. “Because I love you. I do all that shit because I love you so fucking much.” He shook his head, tears welling in his eyes as he pushed them away. “And the day that mating bond snapped, I just—I felt so lucky that someone as wonderful as you was made for me.”

You coughed back a sob, tears streaming down your cheeks and snot dripping over your lips.

“We were made for each other,” he said, scooting closer, the rocks under him tumbling deeper into the cave. “You make me better. Even now, this is all just a challenge to make me better.” As he moved closer, you thought about moving away, but every part of you felt trapped, encased in a war of emotions. He had taken you in with no questions. He had loved you, in however way he could. He tried to make your life better. And yet, you were disgusted by the way he touched you; your skin remembered the bruises he had caused, and the vile poison he spat at you.

But as he closed in on you, wrapping his arm around your shaking body, you felt defeated and did not push back. Caelum pulled you into him, your limbs heavy as he did. He grasped you under your bent legs and pulled you into his lap. The muscled strength of his legs and arms curled around you until he cradled you with his body, his chin resting on the crown of your head as he rocked back and forth with you. “We can make this better,” he whispered. “We’ll have a better life. And we’ll love one another the way we deserve.”

Had you any strength to push back, you would have, but your forehead ached, your shoulders felt as though you had been slammed into concrete, and your whole head swam with uncertainty, grief, anger, regret, yearning, fear, and denial. Nothing in you felt a glimmer of happiness or hope. Part of you wished that the cold would blow out that fire and kill you.

___________________________________________________

Caelum continued to hold you long into the night, staring into the fire while you, facing the mouth of the cave, silently prayed for rescue. But no one came. Neither of you slept. Caelum kept you pulled to him, your combined body heat maintaining a rather comfortable temperature. When the sky began to lighten with the early morning sun, Caelum finally placed you back onto the rocky ground and stood, stretching his muscular arms high above his head. You glanced up at him as he yawned, the sight of his unguarded moment almost surreal.

He checked the clothes nearby, seemingly satisfied with their level of dryness, and tossed yours to you across the fire. The clothes were less wet, but the slight damp made you shiver as you pulled them on. Caelum snuffed out the fire, covering the ashes with rocks to hide any trace you had been there. “Ready to go home?” he asked as you stood near the cave mouth, looking into the forest. You didn’t respond.

Caelum stepped out of the cave, looked up towards the sun to get his bearings, and then turned to walk through the woods. He had an innate sense of direction and, having been raised in a hunting group, he lacked no skills in wayfaring. The air was slightly warmer today, which would be helpful given the climb into the mountains. The morning passed with no conversation, not even Caelum filling the silence with his idle thoughts. You kept your gaze pointed to the ground, trying to get your bearings. As you hiked higher, the temperature began to drop steadily, and your legs ached more with each step up the mountainside.

Caelum didn’t falter in his pace, though you found yourself panting, cold biting wind slicing into your lungs. Finally, after hours of silence, Caelum called back, “There’s a village ahead a mile or so. We’ll stop there. Get some supplies.”

You knew that village; you had passed it on the way into Velaris with Kai and his father. You were only a half a day from your cottage in the woods and a full day from Caelum’s cabin. Knowing where you were, and how to get back to your own home, you felt a rising sense of bravery, quickly followed by dread. If you could get back to your own cabin, you would have the upper hand in knowing the lay of the land. If you could reach Kai’s village, you could find protection. But you would have to act quickly and in secret, and you would have to do it before you reached the next village.

Caelum hadn’t eaten in two days and hadn’t slept. He was bound to be slower, weaker. If he managed to refuel and get supplies, there would be no way you could escape with any chance of making it.

You continued trudging up the path, your mind racing with plans and contingencies. The forest around you was eerily quiet, the only sound the crunch of snow underfoot and the occasional snap of a twig. The cold air bit at your face, your breath visible in the crisp air. You glanced at Caelum, his back turned to you, his posture tense but determined. He was always so sure of himself, so confident in his abilities. But even he couldn’t ignore the exhaustion creeping into his bones. You had to use that to your advantage.

You stumbled slightly, your foot caught under a root, and you fell to the ground, landing heavily on your arms as you cried out in pain. Caelum whipped around. “Get up,” he ordered.

You pulled your foot up, wincing as you did so and pulled your pant leg up around your right ankle. “Something’s wrong,” you said, your voice laced with pain.

“We don’t have time for this, get up,” he insisted.

You tried to stand, shaking slightly, and yelping a bit as you put weight down on your leg, quickly faltering and landing back in the snow with a hiss. Caelum groaned and approached you as you slid onto your rear. He kneeled down in front of you, pulling the leg of your pant up slightly to investigate. You groaned, pushing him back slightly.

“I have to look at it,” he instructed. You looked at his face, tinged with concern, before you pushed your leg out to him. He pulled up your pant leg slightly. You harnessed any sense of strength you had left and pulled your knee up, slamming into his nose with a resounding crunch before kicking him back. He let out a yelp of pain before falling back.

You scrambled to your feet, kicking snow out behind you as you turned and took off into the woods. You could hear him groaning as he called out, “You bitch!” But the pounding in your ears almost drowned it out. You leapt through the woods, jumping over downed trees and skidding across frozen sections of leaves. Caelum wouldn’t be far behind, and the minutes you had to start ahead were invaluable. You hauled yourself over a series of boulders, your muscles straining as the rocks cut into your palms, scuttling your feet up as you crested them, and then jumped down the other side. You did your best to avoid snow patches—tracks were deadly.

You slid between a downed log, too tall to jump over, and pulled up on the other side, your entire left side caked in mud and refuse. You could hear Caelum calling out for you, trampling through the woods behind. He would follow your scent, and he had speed and footing you didn’t, but if he caught you, you didn’t want to consider what would happen next. The bare branches of the trees clawed at your face and clothes, leaving thin, stinging scratches on your exposed skin. Caelum moved with a terrifying combination of speed and power. Each of his strides covered twice the distance of yours, closing the gap with alarming swiftness.

Your mind raced as fast as your feet. You had to find a way to lose him, to outsmart him in these woods, which slowly grew more familiar. You veered sharply to the left, darting down a narrow path between heavily packed underbrush. The forest thickened, the trees growing closer together, their branches intertwining like skeletal fingers. You could hear Caelum’s breathing now, deep and steady, a stark contrast to your own ragged gasps.

You spotted a fallen log up ahead, half-buried in the snow. Desperation fueling you, you dove down behind it, pressing yourself parallel to it and flat against the icy ground. The cold seeped into your clothes, but you barely noticed, only focused on being silent and invisible.

The footsteps slowed, then stopped. You held your breath, every muscle tensed. The silence was deafening, broken only by the occasional creak of the trees in the wind. You could feel your mate’s presence, a looming shadow just beyond your sight.

Minutes passed like hours. Slowly, you dared to lift your head, peering over the edge of the log. The shadows, that seemed to move on their own, danced along the trees, but revealed nothing but the stark, empty forest. Had he gone? You stayed still a moment longer, straining your ears for any sign of movement.

Then, a whisper of a sound—a crunch of snow underfoot, far too close. Your heart seized in your chest. You bolted upright, abandoning any pretense of stealth. You ran, your legs pumping with a newfound energy born of sheer survival instinct.

You heard the crashing behind you, more frantic than before. Caelum was on your heels, his pace relentless. You could feel his presence like a weight bearing down on you and the trees became a blur as you tore through the forest, every ounce of your will focused solely on your escape.

In the distance, you saw the faint glimmer of a frozen stream. Hope flared within you. If you could reach it, follow it across, you’d be close to the cabin. You were unsure how you had made such good time, but perhaps by sheer will of survival you had crossed miles without realizing. You pushed harder, ignoring the raging burn in your muscles, the freezing air scraping your lungs.

When you reached the creek, your feet slid on the ice as you turned, sharply following its winding path. The cabin was just a few more bends, and you could see through the trees the rickety structure that seemed like a lifeline in the darkness. You sprinted towards it, though the footfalls behind you remained heavy.

As you rounded the bend, a large hand reached out and gripped you by the collar, slamming you into the ground, your head impacting with the ice as you screamed out. Caelum straddled you, as you struggled against him, the blood from his nose pouring down his face in a red stream. “You fucking bitch!” he screamed as he shook your shirt, your head slamming into the ice over and over again. You screamed out in pain, your hands beating against his chest as you tried to grip his face, but no matter how you tried, you couldn’t get a good grip. Caelum continued to bash you into the ice, and you were unable to tell if the cracking beneath was your skull or the ice. Your arm fell to one side as you inched your fingers towards a rock on the bank of the creek, digging your fingers under it and ripping it from its icy confines before bringing it up and smashing it against Caelum’s temple. He dropped your shirt as you slammed it into him again, pushing yourself from beneath him and sliding across the creek. But before you were out of arm's reach, he gripped your ankle and pulled you back. Your fingers tried to grip anything but the ice made it impossible to stop while he hauled you back, gripping you by the base of your hair at the root and hauling you up to face him. “You’re a fucking bitch!” he screamed in your face as he reared his hand up in a fist.

Suddenly, a shadow swooped down from the treetops, and before Caelum could react, a powerful force yanked him off of you, sending him sprawling onto the ice. Your mate scrambled to his feet, his eyes widening as he took in the sight before him.

Standing there was Azriel. Tall, muscular, in his full armor, with his broad bat-like wings stretching out behind him, shielding you. The wings almost seemed to shimmer as the light ran through them.

“That’s enough,” Azriel said, his voice calm but filled with undeniable authority.

Caelum sneered, wiping blood from his lip. “Who the hell are you?”

Azriel stepped forward slightly, his wings folding. “I’m the one who’s going to beat the shit out of you.”

With a roar, Caelum lunged at him, his fists swinging wildly. Azriel sidestepped him easily, his movements fluid and graceful. He countered with a swift punch to Caelum’s ribs, the impact sending a shockwave through your mate's body, and subsequently, a sharp pain down the bond.

Caelum staggered back, clutching his side. He was strong and brutal, but Azriel was faster, more precise—a warrior's calculation. Desperation fueled your mate's next attack. He charged again, throwing a punch aimed at Azriel’s head. This time, the warrior caught Caelum’s fist mid-swing, twisting his arm and forcing him to his knees.

Caelum growled in pain, and you winced as you felt your own arm light up in anguish. But before he could react further, Azriel lifted Caelum by his collar and threw him across the ice. Your mate slid, his back slamming into a tree at the edge of the creek. He lay there for a moment, stunned, the cold seeping into his clothes.

Azriel advanced, his eyes burning with fury. “Stay down,” he commanded.

Caelum, however, was not one to give up easily. He reached for a broken branch, his fingers closing around it. With a snarl, he swung it again at Azriel. The warrior blocked the attack with his forearm, the branch snapping in two, and retaliated with a powerful kick to Caelum’s chest, knocking the wind from him, and it seemed also from you.

Gasping for breath, Caelum’s eyes darted to the dense forest beyond the creek. In a last-ditch effort, he scrambled to his feet and bolted, slipping across the ice. He plunged into the forest, branches whipping against him as he fled.

Azriel watched Caelum flee, his wings unfurling slightly as if preparing to give chase. “Stop!” you wheezed out. Azriel turned to you, his concern immediately shifting. He quickly moved to you, falling to his armored knees as he knelt beside you, gently lifting your head.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice soft and filled with worry.

You winced and nodded slightly.

Azriel moved to put one arm under your shoulders. As you leaned forward, your midsection screamed in protest, and you yelped in pain. Azriel paused, examining you more closely. The back of your head was matted with blood, and your arms were covered in cuts from the trees. “I know it’s going to hurt,” Azriel said gently, “but I need you to hold onto me.”

You nodded, bracing yourself. Between a cry of pain and a scream, you pulled your arms around his neck, breathing in his scent—a mix of leather, metal, mist and cedar. Azriel held you securely, his grip strong yet careful.

In a moment, the world blurred and twisted around you, and Azriel winnowed you away.

To my readers, deep breaths, the mans has returned: @thatacotargirl @mcuamerica @lilah-asteria @florabelll @fightmedraco @marvelbros-oneshots @mariahoedt @quinzzelx @romantasyreader28 @minnieoo @mysteriouslydeafeningwerewolf @annabethgranger123 @krowiathemythologynerd @scatteredstardustt @romantacyreader28 @caroline-books @slytherintaco @sevikas-whore @sidthedollface2 @405rry @sleepylunarwolf @acourtofbatboydreams @quiettuba @julesofvolterra @skylarkalchemist @darling006 @rhysandorian

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