#still feels weird to do a non-rider though? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chaotickryptonitetree · 4 months

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grant me easiness and i'll give you everything (it's only fair) | jeremy swayman

what I feel about him is alarming and frighting and yap yap yap. hope you like!

Whoever claimed to enjoy airports had clearly never been an Uber driver.

Sure; the money was significantly better than a normal ride—but the traffic? And the poor temperament? And the confusing lanes? It made you question if it was even worth the money.

But there were bills to pay, so you added tonight to the list of nights you ended up at the rideshare terminal of the airport.

You knew by now that flights usually got in on the 10s (7:10, 8:10, etc), so people would have collected their luggage and made their way to ride shares by the 35s (give or take). Glancing at the dash cam, you read 9:32. As if on cue, your phone pinged with a few alerts.

Typically, you’d choose the one that offered the most money. But it had been a long night, with a lot of rides, and had made enough to finish a bit early. So you picked the one that would put you closest to home. And it happened to be Jeremy, who wanted to end up at a brownstone around 7 minutes from your building.

And you waited.

Just for a minute or two before a knock on the back window stirred you from completely zoning out. Instinctively, you unlocked the car and a body slid into the back seat.

“Jeremy?” You confirmed, not bothering to look back.

“How do you know that?” A cheery voice forced your hand, made you make eye contact with him in the mirror. Mistake.

“Are you Jeremy or not?” You were paid to drive, not indulge lazy jokes. Still, his kind eyes didn’t waver.

“Just messin,” he looked out the window and mockingly placed a light touch to the window. Despite yourself, you tracked the movement, watching his hands (his large, large hands). Mistake. “Driver, take me home.” He sighed a wistful sigh, and even though you didn’t want to, a small smile found its way to your face. Putting on the turn signal, you merged into the departure lane and turned up the stereo.

Checking your blindspot, you pulled onto the freeway—traffic was awful so it would be a long ride despite the short mileage.

“Temperature okay?” You asked politely, following your script.

“Just right!” You could hear the smile in his voice, even though you refused to look at him again.

“Music alright?”

“My favorite!” You raised an eyebrow at his response—top 40 radio was no one’s favorite. But that was your last question that usually made riders feel heard enough to give 5 stars. Slightly relieved (as always), you settled in for the drive.

Usually you spent the time working through a problem in your head, really getting into the whys and hows of something that was bothering you. One of your friends was being distant, so you started there. She had started this behavior about a month ago, so that could mean that—

“I flew in from Alaska,” that cheery voice interrupted your internal monologue completely.

“That’s nice,” your reply was non-committal. You didn’t usually talk to riders that much. Didn’t plan on making it a habit.

“Yup!” He popped the p sound. “I’m from there, and I was visiting my family. It was awesome—I really miss them when I’m here for a long time.”

“Nice.” You were out of practice making small talk with a new person (to put it lightly). He just nodded—the only indication being the sound of fabric moving around his neck as he did so.

“So, where are you from?” He leaned forward in his seat, as if genuinely interested—as if knowing where this stranger grew up was a seriously important part of his night.

“I don’t have to talk to riders just because,” you cringed at how mean you sounded. He didn’t even deflate a little, just leaned back and laughed a slightly weird laugh.

“Fair enough,” his tone made you wonder if he was always this happy, this unphased.

And then the music filled the space as much as your stale air freshener did—even if the air was tinged with a bit of guilt on your part.

“I can feel you looking at me,” your eyes darted to him again in the mirror. Brown eyes forgiving and kind and very, very cute.

“Not tryna hide it.” It could’ve been taken as flirting, but you had the impression that he was just like this with everyone. Still, it warmed your cheeks just a little bit. “I’ve just never had such a pretty Uber driver,” and then a moment later, “well, a pretty one that’s my age, I mean.”

You laughed, despite yourself. “Pining after older women are ya?” He smiled easily, and it definitely was for him—easy.

“Look at this face and tell me I’m not a cougar's dream,” he laughed loudly. You didn’t look back for safety reasons (and convinced yourself that was the only reason). He leaned forward again. “I like it though,” his words felt like an admission, even if he didn’t lower his voice. Everything about him just felt—genuine? In a way that made every breath feel like a secret. “Makes me feel like I have a hot girlfriend who likes me enough to pick me up at the airport.”

You scoffed. If he wanted a hot girlfriend, it definitely wouldn’t be hard—not with his easy charm and pretty face. “I’m only here because I’m being paid.” You hesitated. “And there’s no way you don’t have someone who likes you enough to brave the traffic.”

You could sense his delight through your headrest. “Oh yeah I do,” he looked out the window again, “I have the best friends in the entire world. They were just busy tonight.” He sighed as if the idea of his friends was as good as having them in the seat next to him. It was quiet for a moment. “But no girlfriend, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I wasn’t asking,” your tone was blunt, but you couldn’t help but smile. He laughed his weird, goofy laugh.

“Call me a romantic,” he addressed you by name—something you typically didn’t like from patrons in your backseat—but it felt different with him. “But I want that—someone who wants to be the first person to see you when you get back, who can’t even wait to kiss you even if it’s in front of a whole terminal.”

“Sounds like you’ve been watching too many rom coms,” but that suddenly felt unkind to such a gentle man, so then a moment later, “I hope you find that.”

“I will,” he seemed absolutely sure. “Oh shoot,” he raised his fists to the sky mockingly. “My phone died. Curses!”

“I have a charger,” you looked around for the cord while still keeping an eye on the road. He stayed quiet for a moment, considering.

“No, I have an android,” he quickly put his phone in his front pocket, eyes squinting with trouble. Trouble that made you think that he definitely didn’t have an android. “Oh wait! I have an idea!” He completely over-sold his facial expressions, making you question where he was going with this little scheme.

“And what would that be?” your tone was dry, eyes still on the road as you took the exit off the freeway, only a few minutes from his destination.

“So I can give you your rightfully earned tip!” He reasoned, “you can give me your phone number so I can send you money once I get my phone charged.” You could feel his hopeful gaze on you, like his plan was the most logical course of action ever spoken.

Logistically, it made no sense. You could tip an Uber days after your ride. “And what—you’ll just remember my number until then?” For some reason that was the first question you asked.

He nodded, serious as you’d seen him. “Of course,” he said incredulously, “I remember important stuff.”

And it didn’t make any sense. And you could’ve said no. And this was probably against some sort of employer code. And he was definitely this charming with everyone. But he looked so endearing and hopeful and there was something very good about him. Something right.

So you rattled off your number, and he mouthed each number after you said it. And you believed him that he would remember it.

And you believed him as he opened the door to leave, wishing you a good night. And you believed him as he waved from the top step. And as he opened the door and turned around for one more look, mouthing goodbye.

Despite yourself, you believed him.

…

Your bed was heaven after a long stint in the car. Practically asleep before your head hit the covers, a notification sounded from your phone.

A message from an unrecognized number was the last thing you saw before sleep.

From: unknown

Sent $50

And then a moment later, after you saved his contact.

From: Jeremy

Any interest in meeting me at Dunkin on Tuesday morning?

You went to sleep smiling. He remembered.

…

You agreed to meet him early—you typically liked to start driving before 11 and he had morning skate.

The sun had just risen as you walked to a Dunkin about halfway between you and him, bundled up in a puffer jacket and a toque. The bell jingled above the door as you entered, blowing warm air into your hands. It was freezing out.

You didn’t even have time to glance around and look for him before a tall, broad body in a black coat walked up to you and held out his arms for a hug. And then you weren’t freezing anymore. Not even a little bit.

He released you with a smile, linking your arms together and pulling you into line. “What do you usually get?” You asked, convincing yourself that you certainly were not leaning into his side. Definitely not.

He peered down at you, tucked into his side, nose red from the cold. “Whatever looks good,” he admitted, “usually the thing with the most cream and sugar.”

You laughed—even if you didn’t really know him, the idea that he didn’t have an order, that he just let himself enjoy whatever he wanted (even if it had a ton of sugar), that seemed very him.

“I’ll get that too,” you definitely snuggled into his side more, but maybe it was so you didn’t have to face his genuine smile so head on. Maybe?

And so he ordered for you both, but not before complimenting the teenage cashier’s pride pin and asking what his favorite donut was.

“Dunno,” the kid had braces and posture that seemed to shrink in on itself, and was clearly not used to anything beyond what can I get for you, “sprinkle looks pretty good today.”

“Then two of those too,” he put the spare change (and a five) in the glass tip jar. “Thanks brother,” he put out his knuckles for a fist bump. The kid tapped his fist lightly to Jeremy’s, completely won over.

Like a puppy, he quickly found something else to entertain himself with while you waited. “We almost have matching jackets!” He gestured to his black north face and your navy one. You pulled a face—how could he find such delight in everything?

“I guess?” You pinched your face together. He didn’t mind.

“Very couple-y of us,” he put his hands up at the look you shot him. “I had to say it,” He shook his head like it was obvious. And it was so cute you didn’t give him a hard time about it.

“Thanks for paying,” you directed the subject elsewhere, “you didn’t have to do that.” He shrugged, eyes fixed on your drinks as the barista (are they called baristas at Dunkin??) set down two identically light and sweet drinks.

“My pleasure,” he grabbed the bag with two sprinkle donuts inside.

“I’ll send you my share,” you made to grab your phone from your pocket. His hand over yours stilled the movement entirely, warmth emanating from his palm.

“You got it next time,” he shrugged—like obviously there would be a next time. And you believed him, hand now interlaced with his.

“I know it’s bad for me,” he groaned as he took a sip, “but it’s actually the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” A completely innocent line, but it felt dirty as he said it. Or maybe you were just losing it over how his thumb moved over yours.

“Oh,” you responded quietly, taking a sip of yours. Total sugar bomb. “Well you’ll work it off anyways in practice I’m sure,” you fumbled over your words just a little bit. He seemed amused. “Like, looking at you, I’d never guess you have a sweet tooth,” you said, even though there was absolutely no reason to keep talking. He titled his head in delight. “Because you look totally in shape—you look, great. Yeah.” A true example of vocal mastery was on display tonight.

He took a bite of donut, his white teeth a sight so intimate it made you blush. He hummed while chewing, nodding. “Oh yeah? I’m not sure why you mean…should we keep talking about how hot I look?” He joked before pulling a very embarrassed you into his side and out into the chilly air. It didn’t feel as cold with his hand around yours though.

You laughed an embarrassed laugh. “Easy, you big dope, I was trying to be nice.” He laughed into your toque, head on top of yours.

“I know, I know.” And then he went into talking about how he wasn’t a fan of Dunkin before moving to New England and now he was addicted. And you just listened, toasty from humiliation and content as he walked you home, hand covering yours.

…

You offered to pick him up from practice later in the week (he had asked you to come to a home game, but you weren’t quite ready for that yet). He was right on time, waving an animated wave as he walked out the door with a few teammates.

You waved back (a bit more timid in the presence of his friends), and turned to que up your next song. He knocked lightly on the window, and you rolled it down. He was bent over, face in the window as he glanced toward the backseat.

“Want to meet my friends?” He asked politely, clearly excited.

You hesitated, which made him continue. “No pressure at all. If you don’t want to, I can hop in the backseat and we can pretend you’re my Uber driver again,” he smiled a grin that was so genuinely happy it made you less nervous. You turned off the engine.

“No way,” you unbuckled your seatbelt. “I wanna meet ‘em.” You opened the door and shut it softly behind you, wrapping your arms around yourself instinctively. He pumped his fist.

“Let’s go!” He seemed overjoyed. It was quite possibly the sweetest reaction to such a nothing event. You rolled your eyes, but let him pull you in front of him, large hands rested on your shoulders, steering you to face his two teammates.

He introduced you to them both (they were sweet, but there was something on their face that made you unsure if they were making fun of you or jeremy–or both–or no one). But listening to them banter back and forth while you stood pressed to the front of him made you realize that they just joked around like that.

Jeremy was usually the punchline–but he didn’t mind. He was easy to laugh, easier to smile, and made a point of pulling you impossibly closer to him. If his friends noticed, they didn’t say anything.

But then the fact that they didn’t say anything made you wonder just how many people he had introduced to his friends. Maybe they were having a non-reaction because they were so used to it? You stiffened slightly under his hands.

And he must’ve felt it, because he placed a feather-light kiss to your hair–which did pull a reaction from his boys.

“If you’re around on new year’s, we’re throwing something and you are obviously invited,” one of them nodded towards you, eyes a little wide.

“Obviously?” You questioned, but felt far more comfortable than a moment ago. The taller one laughed, eyes flickering to Jeremy’s briefly.

“Obviously,” he confirmed. “You think this is our first time hearing about you?” He shook his head, clapping the shorter one on the back. “Sway here wouldn’t shut up about you. If you didn’t respond to his text he was going to make us call every Uber in Boston until one of us got you as a driver.”

You hit his chest as you turned around. “You goof,” you meant to say–but the words died on your tongue when your eyes met his–so full of genuine enjoyment and content that it warmed you from the inside out. You turned toward them again, waving goodbye.

“I’ll see you on new year’s then.”

“Nice to meet you,” they parroted, smirking at Jeremy. “We’ll see ya sway.” He waved and let you pull him into the passenger seat.

“I like your friends,” you rubbed your hands together and blew on them. He smiled a radiant smile.

“You’ll love the rest of the guys,” he pulled your free hand into his lap, both palms wrapped around it, warming you right up. You drove the rest of the way home with one hand so he could keep a grip on you. He gave you a play-by-play of practice (which drills he did best on, what made him laugh the most, what he wanted to focus on for the next game), only coming up for air once.

“I really like you,” he said earnestly, as matter-of-factly as when he spoke about drills. It made you shake your head.

“Obviously I like you too,” the words felt good to be out–like you didn’t realize how true they were until you said them aloud.

He brought your hand to his lips and pressed a chaste kiss to your knuckles. “Obviously?” You could feel his smile on the back of your hand.

“It's, like, impossible not to.” You pulled in front of his building, putting the car in park. Meaning to pull your hand back from him–a little embarrassed–but didn’t even make it over the console before he crushed you in a hug over the center console. The steering wheel dug into your side, nose crushed into his chest, hair static-y all over his puffer. But you couldn’t bring yourself to back out of it–arms rubbing circles against the back of his coat.

You had no idea how much time had passed when he pulled back, grabbed his bag from the trunk, and walked up to the front door. It was probably the longest he had gone without talking around you. But you didn’t mind. You liked him when he talked, when he didn’t, when he smiled, when he breathed.

You smiled all the way home.

…

You agreed to walk to the new year’s eve party together. It was just far enough away for you to prepare to meet more of the people from his world and hear about his last couple road games. Just hearing him talk made your nerves melt away.

He insisted on meeting on your doorstep, however, even though it added 10 minutes to his walk. He texted when he was on his way.

From: J

Be there in a few!

From: you

You need my address?

From: J

Course not.

And then.

I remember important stuff.

You went in for a hug as you opened the door–a new part of your routine.

“Hey,” your greeting was muffled into his puffer. His navy?? Puffer. One identical to your own. You thumbed the material and glanced up at him. “Nice coat?” You raised your eyebrows.

He laughed loudly, tipping his head back. “I wanted to match.” The way he said it made it feel obvious–tone like a noncommittal shrug. Like why wouldn’t he want to match?

The ease of the gesture was lovely. He was lovely. “Well then,” you linked your arm with his, setting off down the stairs and onto the sidewalk, “it is an honor to match with you tonight.”

He let a grin brighten his face. “You smell really good,” he breathed into your hair. “Like you always do. And I like the glitter you have–” He ghosted a thumb over your brow bone, “here.”

And the loveliness haunted you the entire walk over, conversation easy and light. He was so open, so kind, in a way that eased openness and kindness from you as well.

So the night was much better than you had expected. It felt natural to meet his friends, his teammates, their wives, their kids. It didn’t feel like being thrust into a brand new world. It just felt like natural–like getting another piece of Jeremy was a privilege.

And you didn’t feel out of place with how enamored you were with him–everyone here clearly was. He was the heartbeat of this group of people–and you felt lucky to watch him light up the room. And a little part of you felt proud that you were here with him.

The one who everyone wanted to be around–he wanted to be here with you.

“You’re too nice for him,” another new face laughed as he clapped Jeremy on the shoulder, looking down at you.

“Too nice?” You glanced at the palm resting over your stomach. Possibly the most gentle, kind touch you had experienced. How could anyone be too nice for that? “For him?” Your voice raised with confusion.

The young guy in front of you raised his eyebrows at the man behind you. “He didn’t tell you?” His smile was all trouble. “Our boy Sway likes to be a little roughed up,” he laughed at your blush, hidden by you turning around to gape at Jeremy. To wait for a rebuttal.

But it never came. He just laughed good-naturedly and hugged you into his chest. “Hey now, don’t scare her away!” He looked down at you, squeezed tight against his chest. “Lucky to have her here at all.” His smile was just for you.

And so you smiled and let yourself half forget about that comment. Met some more people. Drank some more wine. Smiled a lot.

But you couldn’t forget it entirely.

Some time later, he beckoned you over to where he sat on the couch. You finished up chatting with some of the women and made your way to him.

“Hey,” you stood in between his legs before he pulled you down to sit on one of his thighs with a thud. You felt him sigh into your hair as you leaned back so your head rested on his shoulder, hands reaching around the play with his fingers. He was solid and warm.

“Hey,” if you had to put money on it–you’d bet he was smiling. “Thanks for being a champ about this–they can be a lot.” You traced a nail over the outline of his hand. “But they’re important to me, so it makes me happy that they get to meet you.”

As intimate as a secret, spoken lowly in your ear. As secure as a fact, warming your chest.

“I like them,” you thought for a moment. “Even if they think I’m too nice.”

He rolled his eyes. “They’re just giving you a hard time. It’s a long story.”

You raised your eyebrows. “You can tell me if you want.” You could feel his chest rise and fall under your back.

“When I first signed, I showed up to practice all beat up once. Bruises, all that nonsense.” His eyes shone as he retold the story–like the emotions were just as fresh as they had been. “Told everyone I walked into a doorway–or something stupid like that. In the locker room later, everyone saw the marks this girl had left all over me.” He indicated scratch marks over where you lay on his chest. “All on my back and my neck and stuff. Never heard the end of it–how doors are really fighting back now and all that.” You just listened. “So yeah, they give me a hard time about it. But it’s no big deal–I didn’t want them to scare you or anything. If you’re not into that, don’t worry.”

He ducked his head into the crook of your shoulder, kissing behind your ear. You shivered, trying not to wiggle too much over his lap. Tilting your head towards him, you let your voice drop so only he could hear. “I’m into that.” His eyes went wide. “And I’m into you, so I can still be nice.”

He gulped audibly, making you smirk. “Like, I can be nice and tell you that you’re so good.” His face was as serious as you’d seen him. “Makes me wonder if you’d be so good for me.”

He nodded before he knew what he was nodding at, grip tight around you. “I would be.” His voice was clipped. “I’d be so good for you.”

You nodded back, chest on fire. You believed him.

You let your cheek rest against his sweater, eyes peering up at him–slightly flushed from the party and eyes a little tired. It had to be close to midnight.

As if on cue, the countdown began from the tv. Every voice in the room chanted along…10, 9, 8…but you almost didn’t hear them. Too busy looking at Jeremy. 7, 6, 5. You turned so your legs swung off the couch, sideways in his lap.

“I’ve never had a New Year’s kiss,” he whispered, holding you upright against him. “Like a real one. Not just a friend or something.” 4, 3. You pulled him so close you could see the shine of his lip from his drink, feel the sweat on the back of his neck from his sweater.

2. 1. “Glad to be your first or something,” you grinned into the kiss, teeth knocking against his. He laughed a breathy laugh into your mouth, free hand palming the back of your head. His chest rose and fell next to yours, making you pull back.

“I’m so happy it’s you,” he admitted–probably the most embarrassed you’d seen him. You ran your hands through his hair, settling against his chest so he could put his chin atop your head.

You believed him.

...

happy new year! Love ya

#nhl fic #nhl imagines #jeremy swayman #bruins #boston bruins #david pastrnak #brandon carlo #charlie mcavoy #matt poitras

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ckau-official · 1 month

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CK-Chapter 1-the end of freedom

Tw//death threats, kamabo co, cold personality, rider angst

DIFFERENT P.O.V -----

My feet carefully pad along the, surprisingly clean, tiled floor, tapping along the squares as I walk. I think about why they even called me here if I'm already employed. Some kind of post-employment interview or something?

I glance around the space, shocked that almost the entirety of the building is underground. After I finish walking through the huge-ah hallway, I turn the corner only to see ANOTHER coddamn hallway.

“The fuck,” I mumble, cursing under my breath, though this time there's an actual door at the end of the hall. The taps of my shoes bounce around the area as if it were an empty gymnasium. That in itself was suspicious, but I chose to go on anyway.

Soon, I reach the door and turn the handle to be met with an office of sorts, with someone seated at a desk in the middle.

“Sit.” They order. Wow, kinda rude for the first time meeting me, jeez. Even so, I sit down, but only on my own accord. The Inkling isn’t identifiable, wearing a mask to supposedly hide their face. Their voice, however, seems very familiar to me... But I can't put my finger on why.

“Before we start, I need you to sign something.” They state, before reaching behind themselves and handing me a piece of paper.

“What’s this?” I ask, taking it and preparing to read.

“Just a non-disclosure agreement.” They state with a calm voice, resting their arms on top of one another.

“For a mechanic's job?” Okay, this is getting weird. “Give me a second to read.”

“Take your time.” They adjust their sleeves.

I carefully read through the paper, my eyes widening at how genuinely messed up the requirements were.

“The... fuck?” I’m speechless, quickly realising how stupid I was to ignore that gut feeling out in the hallway. The person across from me seemed perfectly content with it all.

“This is a joke, right? There’s a different paper for me?” I ask, holding my breath.

“No, Rider. This is the paper you’re meant to sign.” They calmly say, passing me a pen.

“Go ahead.”

“There’s no way I’m fucking signing this.” I stand, enraged. I think of how many people must have signed some kind of messed up paper like this without reading the fine print. “You’re sick.” I snarl at them, and they... Sigh?

“You have to.” They say, standing from their chair and going to a bookshelf before grabbing something that looks like a phone while they’re turned away from me.

“I’m sorry, Rider. You need to sign the NDA.” They press something on the phone, and suddenly, without warning, several guns are pointed at me. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to kill you.”

They turn back around. “We are out of range of the closest respawn point. If you die here, you will not respawn. Not until you sign.” I’m taken aback as I try to find a retort.

“Wha-” They quickly cut me off. “Do or say ANYTHING but sign that paper, and you’re gone.”

They look away for a moment. “I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve given me no choice.”

My heart is racing and my thoughts are running through how messed up of a situation I’ve gotten myself into. Without even thinking, my hand picks up the pen and shakily signs on the dotted line. I don’t know why, I’ve never been afraid of death.

My eyes are all blurry as if I needed glasses, and the person must have done something since the weapons were now gone.

“Good.” They took the paper and placed it into a filing cabinet. “I’ll give you a moment. I’ll be back in 5 minutes to give you a tour.” They walk around me, open the door, and leave. Not a second later, however, they reopen it. “Oh, and don’t try leaving. That would end badly for you.”

Just like that, they were gone, cruelly leaving me with my thoughts. What in Cod’s name did I just agree to...? Unsilenceable thoughts run quickly through my head, focusing on any individual one being simply impossible.

Sure enough, they returned after 5 minutes, their bird-shaped mask still firmly plastered to their face.

“Stand. We must get going now.” I stand up and follow them out the door, still taken aback.

As it turns out, while they were out of the room, the surroundings of the entire room had changed, completely out of nowhere. I run through my mind for any explanation. They gigged, snapping me out of my trance. “Hahaha! your confusion amuses me. It’s an elevator. One we have to get away from in the next 10 seconds, since it’s going to explode.”

Without a second thought, I ran away from it. It didn’t explode. I look back at the employer, confused once again. “Did I say explode? I meant it would go back up. My mistake.” I watch as my only way out ascends without me. This fucking guy—

Interrupting my thoughts, they walk over to me. “You seem speechless. Most new hires are, but I didn't expect that from you, Rider. Now that you can’t leave, I might as well introduce myself.”

They continue walking, and I have nothing to do but follow as they continue their monologue. “My name is Cardinal. I am one of the four minds in charge of this place, and my job is getting the new hires trained and ready for work. You’ll meet the other three eventually, but that’s all I need you to know for now.”

I decided to build my courage back up. What am I doing, anyway? I’m not scared of this pipsqueak, they're so damn tiny.

“What is this place for?” I ask, determined to get answers. They were forcing me here against my will anyway, I deserve answers.

“Questions later, employee, we need to get you a badge number and radio.” They said, voice cold as they continued walking.

Wow. Okay, rude... I continue to follow, looking around as I do so. This part of the building seems to span twice the size of a normal Turf War stage. I’m unable to look around properly right now, but perhaps Cardinal will give me some time to later. Maybe I’ll even find a way out of this place.

“Okay, step in front of this machine and do what it says, then I’ll take you to your living quarters.” Living quarters? What is this, prison? I step up to the machine and read the instructions.

Insert arm... Into hole?

Oh fuck no.

“Is there any other way to do this?” I turn, asking a question that’ll likely be fruitless, but it’s worth a shot.

“I mean, one of my coworkers could, but she doesn’t have the time, or resources for someone unimportant such as yourself.” They end with a snarky remark. Of course.

I roll my eyes before reluctantly putting my whole arm into the machine. I yelp as I feel a sharp pain, quickly pulling my arm out. “And now you’re chipped! Hurray. Let’s see here...” They say, taking a look at the screen.

“Huh... Strange... Wonder what happened to the third one... Oh well!” Cardinal takes a wristband from the machine, wrapping it around my wrist. “Congratulations, Rider.” They look up at me as they speak again,

“You are employee 3.5 this quarter.”

[WORDS: 1227] next previous masterpost

#ckau #coroika #coroika au #corrupted kings #octo expansion #splatoon #splatoon 2 #splatoonmanga #writing

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otakween · 8 months

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Digimon Tamers - Episode 15

Okay, so it seems we have a new formula to follow. The kids will have to fight 12 "Devas" (which is apparently a God-like being in Hinduism and Buddhism, but seem like apostles here) who are all devoted to one "God" and are anti-human. I'm getting kind of annoyed at this point because it seems the implication is that they're going to drag the mystery of who this "God" is out for many, many more episodes. Does Tamers even have arcs or is it kinda just one, continuous thing? I guess you could say the first arc was the kids learning to fight as a team and now we're in the 2nd arc, but I feel like I won't be clear on the divisions until I get deeper in...

Also, is HYPNOS still in the picture at this point? Or are the considered "defeated" since their big plan was a bust...? (Rhetorical questions lol, no need to answer).

Notes:

The enemy digimon in this one was pretty creepy conceptually: a giant snake the size of a subway tunnel that attacks trains. As a frequent subway rider, I could see that making a good horror movie (I guess it was kinda already done in one of the Men in Black films).

I thought Takato being the annoyingly over-eager friend in the group was pretty funny. I'm glad that the 3 kids are cooperating now, but I'm not sure they really have great friendship chemistry yet lol. It's more Jian and Ruki are tolerating Takato. I feel like their personality types are somewhat reflected in their digimon partners too, with Guilmon ready to be friends with everyone whether they reciprocate or not.

Takato's classmates seeing Guilmon as an exciting new toy felt a little weird, but I felt reassured when they took Takato's demands that they don't follow him into battle seriously. (Or maybe that's just Japanese kids being good at following orders lol. I kinda expected to be like "hey no fair! Why can't we watch!?")

It was good seeing Ruki and Jian doing non digimon related things on their days off. Ruki goes to a Noh play with her grandma and Jian intends on going to his martial arts class (before he's interrupted by a battle). These little insights are important so we're not left thinking "don't these kids have lives?" Notably, the Adventure kids were stuck in the digital world (and essentially frozen in time), so that show didn't really have that problem to solve.

Everyone looked pretty off model this episode, but honestly once you get several off model episodes in a row you start to forget what they're supposed to look like lol

Long flashbacks and repeated "card slash" sequences padded out a lot of this episode. It was especially bad when we got two "card slash" sequences for Takato back-to-back.

Impmon and Terriermon have consistently been making me laugh with their blunt reactions to things. Impmon calling out Renamon's condescension towards him was especially funny.

Ruki looked super cool riding Kyubimon through the subway tunnels. I couldn't help but think about the scene needing a "don't do this at home, kids!" warning though, according to the "don't show repeatable actions" standards (the walking on train tracks part, not riding a giant monster lol).

So...Impmon shows possible signs of softening to the kids and their digimon? I thought he was going to get more evil, but perhaps he'll actually go from ineffectual bully to good guy.

Really nice seeing the champion-level digimon side-by-side at the end there. Good to know the size comparison and just to see them as a team.

I guess Ruki and Jian are just okay with suddenly showing off their digimon to a bunch of kids from Takato's class? Seems a little out of character to me, but maybe there was some off-screen conversation that went down...

#digimon tamers #digimon #anime

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blogofloathing · 3 months

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Part 1 of 1! Victoria And The Simone's Monster

"Ahh cmon Victoria just looooook" Simone urged the less than ecstatic girl, "okay okay I'm lookin"

She said exasperated, but her smile always gave it away. "This time it'll really really work just look"

Sidling over to the overzealous machine that sat as the grand centered piece of her workshop,

Victoria couldn't help but notice how good she looked in her work clothes as she walked away.

A belt of tools around her filled out waistline, over sized gloves and boots hatting her appendages.

All black and adjoined fittingly by a leather apron.

To call them work clothes was almost to lie, as she wore them most of the time, though of course, she was most often found working in her shop.

And she had to agree with her own lingering gaze, Simone sure looked good in black.

"Safety first!" Simone said cheesily, clicking on her goggles she'd designed to fit over glasses.

And pulling a lever dramatically, a blaze in her eyes not unlike one she had seen in them before.

Even Victoria could feel the fire licking at her face.

Various gears and raggling bolts spun with the release of whatever mechanism the lever held.

A machine pulled straight from an era long forgotten, a mechanical rodeo bull of all things

Large and limbless, it looked to weigh over a thousand pounds, and smelled quite ill too.

To top off the less than pleasing image, something that must be a replica cow skull was affixed to the neck, as if she was attempting to truly revive it.

It was in undoubtedly bad shape, but whatever technowizardry Simone had pulled off seemed to have worked, as the oversized beast came to life.

Shaking wildly back and forth, bucking off a non existent rider, or maybe displaying gracefully in hopes of attracting some cowpoke to test it.

As the voltage increased it stopped dancing the fleas off it, and began thrashing violently.

Shuddering and creaking against its own metal pieces, a whine like the moo of a hellcow.

And.. that's all it did, Victoria seemed to have been waiting for something else to happen.

Meanwhile Simone looked back at her expectantly, as if she would soon burst into praise.

"Well it's certainly very loud!" She said to Simone, having to shout over the clanging beast.

"So is that it?" Clearly not as impressed as she had hoped, the glossy haired gal hopped off the small platform she stood on, disengaging the lever.

The smoldering horror finally coming to a full stop, the metal still whining hauntingly as it slowed.

"Wasn't that absolutely incredible??" Spoken with a manic tinge to her voice, as if she'd been working on it all night, Victoria—as always with her weird contraptions—was completely dumbstruck.

Sure she had jumped and loudly exclaimed "holy fuck!! that is so cool.." upon first seeing the wildly skittering metal, even begging Simone for a chance to ride it, but, this was the 5th time in the week she had called her over frantically.

Seemingly incapable of waiting for a response Simone immediately began explaining in detail "I added six new macroplastic bolts and another round of hadromalectric fibro optics really it's a marvel what it's able to do but that's not even the end of if once I get this weird power source working it'll be even more marvelous," taking a deep breath before resuming her rant in earnest.

"I'm sitting ontop of brand new science here Victoria!" Her eyes crazed, wild with excitement

Simone continued at length for what might have been several hours at a conservative estimate,

Even grabbing Victoria's shoulders in excitement and shaking her wildly like a ragdoll at points.

"I can't believe you're not as excited as me really you should be this is, really.." she practically screamed in her face, faltering slightly at the growing quiet spot from where she stood.

And finally returning to earth long enough to see the look on her freckled friends dusty face, it was one of blank speechlessness. Not out of boredom,

Like she had just witnessed the most beautiful ghost she'd ever seen, pale and flushed all at once.

A bright maroon stretched between her cheeks, somewhat matching her tinged brown hair.

The air itself seemed to gain a new thickness to it, as if Victoria had suddenly shrunk to microscopic size, clinging to gusts of wind to stay afloat.

"I.. well, it's very cool to me, but I.. hope I haven't talked too muc-" to which Victoria immediately cut off with a loud refute "no! I love hearing you talk about your weird machines! Even if I don't always understand it! I just.. love hearing you talk.."

Unconsciously grabbing her already naturally outstretched hands, their faces a moment apart.

She opened her mouth to go on, but seemed somewhat star struck being so close to her.

Surprised by her forward actions as if it hadn't been her, Simone's hands didn't feel real.

They were warm, but held a strange coldness she couldn't place, comforting in equal parts.

The tension standing between them was harder than any barrier of brick, stone and plaster.

Something in the heat of freshly placed wall tiles radiating in the distance echoed their feelings, though neither had the strength to speak it.

"I- t-thank you.." Simone said, shyly, a tone unlike her, like seeing a charging buck wilt into a doe.

Suddenly sensing the shift in mood, she backed off, "oh, s-sorry I, er" an awkward energy pushing back on the two like a tangible force of the wind.

A moment of agonied silence rang out, the two fearing their voices would never return.

Like this moment of weakness would be the last of any moment they would share together,

before Victoria said aloud, in a careful, tentative waltz, letting the words room to breathe.

"You can tell me more.. about your machine, if you want to" fingers intertwining more intricately,

Forming a mess of circuitry, their twin nervous systems sparking violently middleman.

As if this simple connection would light the world on fire around them with its intensity.

"Well.." their bodies were so close they could almost feel the texture of each others clothes.

The gravitational pull of their adjoined hearts threatening to collapse into a blachole.

"I'll listen forever.. it helps you've got a cute voice, makes the science talk more bearable" she said, a nervous giggle in an attempt to deny sincerity.

Simone couldn't quite quell whatever high end engine Victoria had replaced her heart with.

It made her muscles tense up as if the torque on all her systems was up to 11, what was this feeling,

It was something she'd felt before certainly, a glide along her skin, a brush against her hands.

Something that prickled and shot out sparks like a firecracker, beating the surface of her skin red.

She realized, something in this girl, it made her come back for more everytime,

Left her starving whenever she couldn't, an urge inside her, hungry for its dinner.

Duel heartbeats ripe to tear free of their hosts and ravage on another like starving wolves.

"Well, by attaching the magnoflesium to the anglo flaskanite.. I could, make sure it stuck together.."

"It's a mineral that binds through contact.. but if you're not carefu, it can be quite brittle"

Their hands slowly parted as she began to regain her composure, like trees outstretched in a lovers embrace, slowly drifting aside with the shifting of earths plates, an unwilling but natural process.

Neither participant truly wanting to let go, but to save face, pulled apart their branches anyway.

A second of mourning taking place in between the moments of their hands being together, and being separate, something of loss felt silently by both.

She sputtered for a beat, like an engine halfway out to pasture, before softly launching back into her rant, the nerdy words treading lightly.

"It's very cutting edge, the way I manufactured the old parts with the new ones.. in ways that actually shouldn't be technographically possible, especially with the inclusion of a rodeo contraption which.. haven't even been a thing since the days of the old west! and at that the technology was rare then too! but for some reason.. I feel I already know how to work these materials as if I've always know-"

While the world clumsily righted itself, and breathing seemed possible again. Victoria was left reeling from the intimacy of the precious moment

Her heart pounded audibly in her ears, the beating against her skin, still left sparkling from the heat.

She couldn't believe what she was feeling for such a nerdy girl, one of them S.I.T smarty pants.

This contradiction of thought and emotion held a strength to knock her smack off of her feet.

Luckily having a miscellaneous workbench just behind her to lean on, her whole body felt oddly tingly, a swarming warmth that invaded her wholly

Left her skin sensitive even to her own touch, god couldn't she imagine what Simone's would feel like

"Are you paying attention Victoria!" Simone said, looking over her shoulder as she was busy detailing some diagram she had set up on the chalkboard.

As she popped back into existence she quickly spat out another smart aleck response for her.

Though her usual veneer of confidence was quite noticeably shakier and less defined right now.

"Oh please I was practically fallin asleep over here!" She bleated sarcastically, the trademark cheeky grin attempting to etch itself back into her continued flustered look, with very little success.

Simone glared back wordlessly, before Victoria followed up with a much more stable "I'm just pullin ya wrench Simmy, I'm watchin"

Hand on her chin as if she were watching the sun dip below the horizon, she sighed contentedly.

Simone's endless rant went on, jumping up and down off the metal dais her machine sat atop, even if she couldn't make sense of it, it was beautiful, simply for the fact of having been made, with so much care by her, it wasn't made for aesthetics.

She didn't know what it was even supposed to do, but seeing how passionate Simone was about it, made her feel that excitement all the same.

Like something of their shared tension was shot through the racketing metal and twitching coils.

Victoria smiled, that winning smirk that knocked em down and struck em out as she liked to say,

The whole workspace seemed to glow, and not just with the mismatched or home made light strings.

But shone bright and fluttering within her lil heart,

All for Simone, a one gal show, she hoped she'd be able to share her work one day, when it was ready.

Until then, it was her turn in the spotlight. Gazing past her as she explained who knows what, it was enough to hear her voice, stern, but so caring..

Part 1 of 1 END! What A Cute Little Moment With These Two, Wonder What She's Working On?

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kariachi · 9 months

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I woke up and went 'I should do a post listing some of the changes I use when doing general Pern fic (aka 'not me bitching about something in literary form') to make shit work for me'. This is nonexhaustive and just what pops into my mind because it's one of those days.

Consent! It exists! Rider- and Handlerpairs come to consensuses ahead of time regarding who they're down to chase, who they're down to have chase, whether they're going to have chasers at all or are just going to vanish into the middle of nowhere and fly themselves, etc.

The whole 'this shit is resonating between us' thing is still there, but expanded to other areas and goes both ways. It's just strong feelings and urges in general. The effect is stronger coming from the dragonkin, as a general rule, due to their being naturally psychic and the rider/handler piggybacking off of them, but can be stronger from the human's side if they also have telepathic or empathic powers in their own right, depending on how strong those powers are and the strength of them in their Bonded.

Firestone doesn't act as a sterilizing agent, but as birth control. Golds don't have access to it, but there's always the option of only having non-siring chasers if you don't want to deal with that, and worst comes to worst as with humans Betweening at the right time can solve many problems.

Dragonkin do not care for human worries about disabled or queer or 'improper' candidates. Humans may put restrictions in place, but as far as dragons go all they're looking for is a compatible and complimentary personality of their rank. Everything else doesn't even enter into it. Barring people from Standing just means you get more Stands Impressions. And the whers don't even care about the rank thing, they look at your personality and how wher-y of a mind you have. All about those visual and abstract thinkers.

Dragonkin are divided amongst themselves by rank (green/blue/brown/bronze/gold/the nebulous spot Ruth is in which we'll get to/it depends) and mating style preference (rise/chaser/no thanks/yes please). Left to their own devices they don't have gendered pronouns as we recognize them, but dragons have picked them up from being so closely tied to humans for so long. The above typically correlate to biology, but don't regularly

Humans: It's weird how dragonkin are queer so much more often than humans are | Dragonkin: *know themselves and each other from birth and prioritize mental or physical stuff socially due to being Very Psychic* | Humans: *have queerphobia as a concept and run with it distressingly often* | Humans: Just fascinating how that happens

"Cometh is a he. Yes, he's a green and he Rises, what does that matter?" | "Jerask is a blue, and sometimes a gold- yes, I know she's small and green-colored- also she prefers to chase but running is good too if there's browns available."

Riderpairs don't survive broken bonds longterm, even if one half doesn't die soon after they pretty much always die by their own choice eventually. It could be two minutes it could be forty years, but they always suffer mental and physical health problems and always choose to die before their time.

Handlerpairs can and do survive broken bonds, though it's far from unheard of for one to be deadly on both ends.

Firelizards and whers can live for absolute ages, far longer than humans. Dragons bond so fiercely that it affects their own aging and that of their riders, allowing the rider a longer life but causing the dragon to age more quickly. The other two don't bond to the same degree.

If a firelizard outlives their bonded then they typically don't rebond to a human, though it's not unheard of. Whers, on the other hand, relatively often rebond after the loss of their bonded, most commonly to relatives of their bonded. In this way a wher can become the center of a family of handlers, having been one of them for generations. Even if they don't rebond, it's not uncommon for whers to stay with their bonded's close family.

Dragons bond too fiercely to share their riders, but whers are fully capable of doing so thanks to their looser bonds. Some have even managed to share with dragons, though it's a very rare occurrence.

While the physical traits of whers weren't planned, their ability to survive without Impressing was. The assumption most who understand dragons and whers were exposed to enough mentasynth to make them people and know the history make is that Kitti was working under the assumption she wasn't getting them to the 'people' stage when she programmed the dragons and that either there was an error somewhere or that a then-unknown facet of firelizard genetics caused the effects to be felt more strongly. Wind Blossom, cottoning on that hatching people who need to bond to other people or die is Fucked Up decided to make the next batches not need to bond, hoping that trait would be dominant. We've seen how it ended up.

Queen Councils. Consist of the active clutchers of a Weyr as well as the Weyrleader pair. Weyrleader pair is in charge of matters pertaining to Thread and fighting it, that's it, all other matters are handled by the queens.

Whers matter. Whers are important and beloved. Your standard bonded pair is typically in a position of status locally- though that status isn't expanded to non-bonded whers, they're just locals- though they're considered outstatused by riderpairs of similar rank. The exception is goldpairs, who share status equal to Weyrleadership, Lords, Mastercrafters.

Weyrs are primarily there for defense against Thread, but also can be called upon for long-distance transport- in general during an Interval and with prior scheduling and an understanding that Fall takes precedence during a Pass- aid with things like clearing land, emergency aid (large fires, avalanches, floods, etc), hauling time-sensitive goods, and more. All considered paid for via the tithing system.

Technically abortion services are included in that, going Between being generally safer than the herbal route, but in that case- where you just need a quick hop, skip, and jump- it's generally easier to just get in touch with a local wher or handlerpair if you can. They're not likely to have the coordinates needed for getting you to, say, Fort, but taking you to the other next cothold over and back real quick? Not an issue. You may have to pay for the service though, depending.

Whites are not a thing. Like, yes there's the very rare dragon that hatches out this odd conglomorate of ranks, but they aren't white. Ruth was white, but that's because Ruth had his own shit going on that made him seriously fucking pale. Normally they're much more saturated in tone and the wide variety of colors is more apparent. There's no real name for the rank, there's only been three dragons and four whers of it since they came into being and never at the same time, it's generally called something describing whatever example exists at the time. These dragons come in a wide size range, generally between 'smaller than greens' and 'small-brown-sized', and also display colors from all the other ranks. So far all evidence points to them being infertile.

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goldendaydna · 1 year

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Lisa headcanons just because

There is very little content of Lisa out there in general which is shame cuz personally I find the character pretty interesting. Note here, these headacanons are my own, you can all think pretty differently about them. I will also make reference to headcanons I have for other characters through these heacanons involving Lisa.

Not many people expect it but Lisa is a pretty handy person and is pretty good when it comes to home repairs and can easily pick up useful stuff from the internet or Youtube videos.

Lisa is non-binary. I just get those vibes, and is ok with all pronouns; while Lisa is fine with people normally using she/her for them they lowkey hope people would use other ones. (Outside of my personal headcanon's though I stick to the canon's she/her for others who don't share the same one) Lisa: Hey Robbie how do I look with he/him pronouns in my bio? *Makes a peace sign and grins while he shows him their profile on his phone screen* A confused Robbie not understanding what Lisa's getting at: You still look like you, Lisa?..... Wait why are you crying? Lisa finding his confusion cute as shit cuz he knows Robbie is perfectly fine with how they identify and just lives under a rock: You're a 10 Robbie 😭 A still confused Robbie: Ok?

They live with their single dad and older sister who are pretty supportive but work many hours, leaving Lisa to take care of the home and to her own devices, hence the homeowner knowledge and unnatural curiosity.

Lisa makes an effort to try and learn Spanish, a big part of it is due to Robbie and Gabe which is a valid reason tbh and both the brothers find that to be really sweet.

Gabe is very good at video games while Lisa and Robbie aren't that good but that's ok, they can be mid at video games together.

Lisa at some point figures out Robbie's a Ghost Rider and about Eli. They take it as best as they can and while it is a little weird to adjust to, they stick around and it leads to experimentation about Robbie's abilities as well as some accommodations like. Robbie: *Feeling sick due to his powers* Lisa: Oh wow Robbie you don't look so good. Want me to get your special barf bucket? [It's just a bucket that can withstand high temperatures] Robbie: Why do we have to call it that? Lisa who finds it funny: I'm getting your special barf bucket.

Because Lisa's been on the internet and is pretty openminded. He's the one to talk to Robbie about asexuality and that how he could possibly fit under that umbrella. Robbie learned a lot of things about himself and the world that day.

Lisa doesn't like or trust Eli at all.

Lisa is better at baking than cooking while Robbie is the reverse. Due to this she has brought home food Robbie's made on more than one occasion; her father and sister like to tease her and ask when they're finally going to meet Robbie and Gabe and when they do, want thank Robbie for saving their stomachs.

Even though Lisa and Robbie share mutual feelings for each other. After that whole thing with Eli and Gabe they decide to stay "friends" at least for the time being. That's all I can remember for now.

#Lisa (ghost rider)#robbie reyes #thanks to a friend a ship name I am considering is heartdrifter or maybe sugarmufflar but I cannot decide lol #angr #robbie x lisa #lisa x robbie #my headcanons

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300iqprower · 2 years

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One thing I hate about fgo is how bland gods feel. Like idk if I'm saying this correctly but the only times gods are treated like gods is when they're enemies. Chaldean divine spirits get treated like ordinary people and it feels so weird compared to other series. Also, in other games like genshin when there's an area that a god's corpse is in you know it. The environment has been irrevocably altered by the sheer power coming off the body. Even in death the body demands respect. FGO lacks that.

The problem with gods in FGO is that there is usually no meaningful difference whatsoever between divine beings and someone they arbitrarily decide is an important historical figure. There's almost never any demonstrable difference between the scale of someone like Quetz and someone like Drake; they're both just "SSR Riders" both in terms of gameplay and presentation. Part of that is the visual novel style nature of things, since Demonic Front Babylonia Quetz really cut loose, but then again First Hassan can kill gods and is basically the Grim Reaper made flesh because....reasons?

Like, they can put as many labels on it as they want with Grand rules, and Divine servants have to get dumbed down to be summoned, yada yada yada yada yada. But at the end of the day the entirely mortal Grand servants arent just stronger than the top gods, they dwarf them. Even non grands like Gil do that, and even non-divine non-grand servants do that like. Hell, Wodime who isn't even a servant had more awe inspiring feats than most divine beings and even if there's very much justified lore reasons for that it doesn't get rid of how undermining that can be to some people.

And that's really what it all gets down to: Most of this is just informed attributes. Of what we get to see, the vast majority of gods feel no different than a typical servant. Beasts and Lostbelts are the only time we get to see anything appropriate like Tiamat destroying life just by existing, or LB!Artemis being so powerful and estranged from anything human that it comes across as a borderline lovecraftian horror. I'd say one of the only exceptions to those categories is Rhong, see also Spishtar. Even Beasts arent immune to this. Goetia definitely came across as powerful, in fact they crossed pretty clearly into the territory of Eldritch Abomination, but IMO they never once came across as the "borderline omnipotent" status that lore (or at the very least a LOT of fans claiming its lore) seems to say they are. For those who want to see gods come across as actually godly beings, though, typically your only options are the exceptions to the rule. Usually divinity boils down to tnothing more than a passive stat boost, and the series seems to put more effort into making demi-gods feel like divine beings than actual gods. Saber Alter, Gilgamesh, Karna, that sort of thing, and even then of those I'm counting more non-FGO material like Heaven's Feel and Apocrypha. Hell, Ivan comes across more like a god than 95% of all divine beings in the franchise and he's not even a demi-god.

To restate, it boils down to the fact that in FGO these things are so very often nothing more than an informed attribute with a bunch of "lore" red tape to explain why they don't do much that feels godly, all the while going to way more effort to convey how powerful non-gods are. You can argue that those exceptions justify the lore stuff because it shows they arent just blowing smoke when they say we get the dumbed down summonable versions, and in a lot situations I'd agree with that logic, but in this specific case it still rings more than a little hollow for me. Maybe it's because you cant go 5 minutes at this point without a god just being a high servant component, or an offscreen namedrop, or what the fuck Apollo's deal is.

Don't know jack crap about Genshin and I don't want to, but yeah that's a nice classic example of how to portray a god, as something that doesn't simply exist in the world, but something that directly influences everything around it through sheer authority. It kinda hammers it in that Atalantis's attitude was the opposite. "Oh yeah these islands are gods. Mainly so we can use that as a plot reason to go on a fetch quest, and there's no noteworthy difference between each of their corpses with no noticeable effect on the environment."

#before you object Salter in HF is possessed by a god so it counts #fgo #never thought i'd get an ask #writing analysis #fgo spoilers #maybe eh whatever lets be safe

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loptrcoptr · 2 years

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Guess who has two thumbs and got kicked out of her barn? 👍👍

So two weeks ago I ran into this woman at the barn as she was taking her horses out of the arena and I was taking one in to ride. I know her, her barn is right across from a) the barn with the horse I currently ride and b) the barn just next to it, where I worked for seven months. Seven. And I still occasionally work at the barn where I currently ride. Following me?

Well. She completely forgot who I was and that we had met quite a few times, actually, over the past two years. I said hello as I passed her and she gave me that very specific look middle-aged white women give you that’s somewhere between “are you a criminal” and “you don’t even go here”. She said “are you Lena? [daughter of the people whose horse I ride]” I said “uh, nope”, weirded out by the fact I’m so easily forgotten. She then says “we’ll, are you related to [this horse’s owners]?” I again said no, and “I just ride this guy.” Gave the horse a pat, tried to keep walking. At this point she went full school marm and said “are you on file with the stable committee office??” As in… have u signed all the hold harmless paperwork that everyone has to sign in order to do anything with horses at any barn anywhere. Again… I have worked and ridden at this damn barn for two years right across from this woman’s barn.

So I said “yup, I’m on file, I’m totally legal! I’ve done all the paperwork”. She immediately changed tone and laughed and said “oh you know, I just have to check!” And I fake laughed and said “yep! Ok!” And told her to have a nice day. And it sat in my craw for days and I couldn’t shake the feeling she was going to contact the horse’s owner and “report me” or something.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. I get a text from the guy whose horse I ride and he says that this bitch (not how he referred to her, of course) has been made head of the stable committee. And she has decided that no one is allowed to ride a horse they don’t own, regardless of waiver status, unless the owner is present to supervise. in summary I, a non-wealthy young person, am not allowed to ride at the stables unless the horse’s owner agrees to come out and babysit me like I’m a child.

Also, I am definitely not a worse rider than most of the horse owners at this place (not the ones I ride for) who know nothing about horses and never ride, (which is why they hire me and people like me to take care of their horses for them)! But that’s not the point, the point is this woman has cited “insurance liability” as the reason for banning non-owners from barn activity. She has taken over from the previous committee head, who is an actual lawyer, and decided that the paperwork the actual lawyer prepared isn’t good enough to ensure the barn’s interests are protected… even though it has been doing exactly that for at least five years without incident. This is the same woman who used barn funds to put up a slew of cross country jumps all over the bridle path even though there’s only one (!) other eventer in the entire stables, so no one uses them. It’s utter nonsense.

The worst part is that because I’m not an owner I’m not privy to the stable committee meetings, so I don’t actually know that this is a real new policy, or if she simply told this specific horse owner it was for his, and my, benefit. If my name was somehow brought up at this month’s meeting, my former “friend” who hates my guts now would absolutely have started throwing shade and making up crazy shit. By now most people at the barn know she’s crazy, but too few know me well enough to have a dispute. So I can’t even say for certain, because horse people Are Like That, that this is even a riel now and not just something they brought up for me specifically, without having a better reason to boot me out. Less drama this way, you see. Knowing this woman loves control (turning the entire bridle path into her own personal playground!), I’d like to believe it’s just a whole rule now, but I don’t know for certain.

Anyway… as soon as I read that text message I was like *stares in Tired Horse Bitch*. I was lucky that these folks allowed me to ride their horse, and I had other people offer too, when the family I worked for retired their horses and I was out of options. And it chaps my entire ass that after all the work I’ve done and all the connections I’ve made, the owners didn’t even get the right to tell me when to stop. They can’t even make that decision now. And it has lit a fire under me to just stop lurking on horse boards and checking out boarding barns and commit to horse shopping, because I cannot deal with being beholden to the whims of random old crones any longer. I need a horse of my own that no one can tell me what to do with. Do I currently have the budget I was hoping I’d have? Nope. Am I going to start looking at horses anyway? Yep.

#personal #it’s a great sport but it’s unfortunately filled with a lot of control freaks and fun-suckers #poor man who owns the horse was like when I go riding you can join next time? what a nice man. but idk if I will take him up on it #I’m so tired of feeling like I’m being watched all the time their anyway now it will be so much worse #horse girl #i don’t want to hang out someplace where I’m unwanted and after two years of Drama and More Drama I am ready to shell out however many #thousands of dlllars I have to to not have to deal with any of it anymore #what’s next on her agenda I wonder! Theo oblivion is no longer allowed to visit even though #their hoa funds are paying for the barn to exist?#will the lessees not be able to ride without supervision either? how do the other owners #who let their friends and family ride #feel about this? i may never know lol because I’m not going back there I don’t think #petty neurotic narcissists using ‘liability’ as a catch all for anything they don’t like in the horse world #has gotta stop. it’s too much effort to just exist in shared spaces IN MY OWN LANE #one time last year I rocked up to the barn and their was a riderless horse at the gate #he was fully tacked and freaked out and he had clearly dumped his rider some place #i pull my car in through the other gate and jog over to get him. he’s ln the other side #there are two women doing a lesson in the arena RIGHT NEXT TO HIM and they do nothing #I ask them for the code to the side gate there and they look at me like I’ve sprouted a second head #so I gesture at this riderless fucking horse and repeat my request for the code #as I punch it in another trainer drives up and says “oh good someone else noticed! and we lead the horse #back to his barn (I knew exactly whose horse it was) and in tack him and put him up #then we run off to saddle up and ride out and look for the owner #this committee bitch- the one who’s in charge now- was outside her barn gabbing with a friend #we rode by and said so and so’s horse came back without her we’re going to go find her #and she and her fiend just like. stared at us #we rode for like thirty minutes and didn’t find the rider #(she had fallen off closer to home and by that time had made it back to the barn #with no broken bones or anything) and when we were turning around the bitch and her friend came riding up finally #they had tacked up before us! they should’ve led the search!

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ladysolwind · 11 months

Text

So I’m like 8 chapters into Three Hopes (Azure Gleam) and I have some preliminary thoughts that may or may not change going forward. For non-spoilers, I mean, I liked Fire Emblem as a whole before I liked Three Houses, so I knew it was a risk picking this up. I do have the OG Fire Emblem Warriors but I never beat it. It’s harder for me to play this as much because of my janky joints, so progress has been slow because this game makes my wrists hurt. I don’t dislike the game, and I love seeing my blorbos again, but I definitely enjoy normal FE games more.

Spoilers below the cut

1) I feel like everyone is more... bland? Sylvain and Felix especially. They’ve really lost their bite. In some ways it’s good because Sylvain isn’t as big of a perv and it seems like Felix is coping with Glenn’s death better. I can’t tell if it’s intentional character development or bad writing yet.

2) When Rodrigue mentioned he had a wife I was so disappointed. LET ME MARRY THE DILF YOU COWARDS.

3) Speaking of DILFs, why... why do Wyvern Riders only use axes when we can only use the Spear of Assal with Seteth? It feels weird having Seteth as anything but a Wyvern Rider but I want to use his spear D:

4) Seteth is SO good though. Absolute beast of a unit. I wish the Church was more involved though. Like we rescued Rhea and she immediately peaced out. Flayn is barely part of things, and Seteth isn’t included much either.

5) Dedue is still perfect and I adore him. The scene where they rescue Dimitri in the castle was amazing and a little gay and I think I might ship now? I cannot help but stan Dedue.

6) Seeing Alois left the Knights to join Jeralt’s crew was WILD but I honestly love it.

7) idk if we’re supposed to see Sothis taking over Byleth’s body as a bad thing but like... I don’t. Shez has powers from the people who genocided her children and I, too, would be mad. Also I do not trust Arval.

I feel unsure if I want to play three routes of this game or not. Is there better story with the other routes? Anything I’d really want to see? I’m curious about Edelgard’s route, and I do love the Golden Deer kids. Also I want to meet Holst. Idk maybe I’ll lower the difficulty just so I can see the story and not worry too much about the missions.

#Fire Emblem Three Houses #fire emblem warriors three hopes #few3hopes

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feanorianethicsdepartment · 3 years

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So obviously the entire Feanorian Host as a whole is a bit intense about the cause, but I feel like there’s different levels of devotion between their individual followers.

So my question to you is, from least to most intense, which Feanorions followers are the most cult-like and why?

the cultishness absolutely varies by region! i'm being a little facetious when i call them an out-and-out cult, but fëanorian minion culture certainly has... tendencies. the isolationism, the way loyalty to the group supersedes absolutely everything, what they do to those who 'betray the cause,' not to mention how absolutely psyched they get at the opportunity to do murder. still, the precise way that manifests, as well as how intense they are about, does change a lot depending on where you are in east beleriand. surprisingly it doesn't track that much with how tolerant of outsiders each subdivision is, which is most evidenced by:

the gap: maglor and his cronies are easily the most xenophobic part of the host, which is both a cause and a consequence of them having probably the least regular contact with non-fëanorians out of all the armies of east beleriand. paradoxically, this gives them very little incentive to go full cultist; much of the deliberately off-putting stuff the rest of the host does is partially to distinguish them from the outgroup, which isn't something you need to do when everyone you deal with is either part of the gang or an obvious enemy. they still do the elaborate facial deformations, they still have a bit of a Thing about fire, but the thing that's holding them together is much less utter devotion to the cause and much more the organic friendships and kinship bonds between riders

there's a few other reasons why the folk of the gap are relatively less culty. the gap is sparsely populated to begin with, and most of its population is at least semi-nomadic; it's a lot harder to cultivate that kind of obsession when everyone's off doing their own thing most of the time. while the gap doesn't have the highest headcount of mithrim sindar - as stated above, its population is tiny even by east beleriand's low standards - it has more mithrim sindar as a proportion of the population than anywhere else in east beleriand, and the culture of the gap has this big mithrim sindarin focus on community and clan to counteract the noldorin tendency to sacrifice everything for grand ideals. the general lack of new recruits from outside the host only serves to intensify all of this; the riders of the gap fight together because of the spiderweb of social and personal obligations that link them all together, not necessarily because of the cause (though that is still a factor, i want to be clear.) this fairly isolated society held together by individual and familial bonds stands in stark contrast to:

himlad: the thing about celegorm and curufin's people is that they're up against the fuzzy border between east and west beleriand, between maedhros' definitely-not-a-kingdom and the finarfinians' section of fingolfin's defensive line. as such, they're more or less constantly in contact with the outside world, coordinating troop movements, sharing information and resources, recruiting from the same sindarin populations. there's still a clear delineation between the fëanorians and the fingolfinians, partially because there's a lot of mountains between their major centres and partially because this lot actually do have an other to define themselves against and thus a reason to emphasise their own identity, but there's a lot of chatter and petty squabbling and philosophical discussion and a steady regular connection to the outside world counteracting the worst of the cultishness. unlike pretty much any other part of the host, the himlad minions never really lose the sense that they belong to a greater community of elves

which explains what they do in nargothrond. i don't believe that literally every single one of their followers abandoned celegorm and curufin, but i'd buy it was a lot of them, maybe even most of them. it helps that it's specifically the finarfinians their lords are betraying, the people they've - perhaps not fought side by side with, but who definitely always had their backs. even without that, though, the very existence of that relationship means they're used to working with people from outside the host, getting to know them, empathising with them, which is a pretty hefty counterbalance to the specific the-whole-world's-out-to-get-us undercurrent of internal propaganda. by no means was it an instant switch, or an easy one; after finrod got ousted there was a ton of interhost politicking and debate and the occasional brawl as everyone tried to figure out what to do. but the fact that the question was even open says a lot, i think. that probably wouldn't have been the case even in:

thargelion: caranthir’s domain is the most heavily populated part of east beleriand, and the settlement at lake helevorn is the closest thing it has to a city. a significant portion of that population aren’t fëanorians by even the loosest definition; they’re dwarven traders or miscellaneous humans or sindar far enough from the front line of the siege they can just keep on with their lives the way they always have. the fëanorians (and here, more than anywhere else, that’s a fuzzy category; this is the easiest part of the host to join, and the easiest to leave) are mixed in with all these groups, negotiating supplies, managing tribal levies, patrolling the roads, state stuff. out of all the subdivisions of the host, the thargelion minions are the hardest to distinguish from outsiders.

to keep their ingroup coherent, then, they actively mark themselves out. the minions in thargelion are probably the loudest about their collective identity and the cause and the joy of bathing in your enemies’ blood and all that. they have weird midnight rituals and purpose-built meeting halls and elaborate coded language, and while being overly tyrannical about it would be bad for business there’s definitely a sense that they form a tightly knit core which looks after its own above all else. that image is somewhat complicated by the aforementioned blurry edges of the thargelion host - is the sindarin bureaucrat who’s never touched a weapon in her life but plays a vital role in the military administration a fëanorian? is the noldorin freeholder who pays very little attention to the day-to-day minutia of the war but keeps his sword sharp for the hour it is needed? - but the alliance of old soldiers at its heart is a clear and palpable thing, especially when you can feel its eyes. when their hackles aren’t up the minions are perfectly happy to mingle socially with the other peoples of thargelion, though, which sets them apart from:

himring: on the frontlines of the siege of angband, with all the nightmares of the north pressing directly on their spirits, maedhros’ followers stoke the flames of their devotion high. the warriors of the cold fortress are less showy about their fervor than their counterparts in thargelion or even himlad, but the ardour underlying it is markedly more intense; they don’t have much in the way of over-the-top rituals, but they have vast amounts of ironclad unspoken rules they follow unwaveringly. they’re polite to outsiders, sometimes even welcoming, but you never forget that you are, in fact, an outsider, and that himring and its satellite forts form an internal world others can never quite see. even to other fëanorians, they come across as aloof

their fervour also tends to manifest as a deep personal loyalty that borders on reverence towards maedhros himself. all the brothers command respect, of course, they’re all magnetic personalities who draw people in and bind them together, but maedhros’ minions are on a whole other level. they mythologise him, tell stories of his deeds like he personally holds the line against morgoth, treasure the slightest contact with him, hold being called to his direct service as the highest honour of all. most of the new recruits to the himring host are brought in by the vast pull of maedhros’ reputation, from all across beleriand and even from the north. but no matter where they came from, they all understand that they will fight and live and die together beneath the banner of their lord. which is a bit weird, even by fëanorian standards, but they’re nowhere near as bad as:

ossiriand: amrod and amras’ henchelves are considered by the rest of the host to be notably psychotic, which is saying a lot. the minions of ossiriand are utterly terrifying, absolutely fanatical about the cause, the most bloodthirsty murder cult in east beleriand. you’d think the green-elves they share their territory with would act as a calming influence, but in practice the two groups mostly avoid each other, because the green-elves naturally prefer to stay away from these nutbags. you’d think being away from the front lines would lessen the need to solidify their identity through cult nonsense, but in practice it gives them the free time to go full gonzo. most of the horrible rumours you hear about the fëanorians in the rest of beleriand are either specific quirks of the ossiriand minions, or most egregrious in the ossiriand minions. they have an orc pit

or so they’d have you believe. the fëanorians in ossiriand effectively serve as the host’s intelligence division, scouts and spies and saboteurs. a lot of their work is clandestine by its very nature, and they tend to be pretty secretive about what they actually do. half the things you hear about them are probably disinformation, lies they’re deliberately spreading to make themselves sound scarier. hopefully, at least. as anyone who’s chatted with an ossiriand minion knows, they are both eagerly awaiting the fulfilment of the oath, and already preparing for what will come after

(this paradigm does break down after the siege is broken and the union of maedhros fails and the dregs of the armies of east beleriand wind up stuck in the same ever-shrinking territory. still, i think the origins of the survivors are... interesting. the people of the gap were almost completely wiped out in the bragollach, the people of himlad mostly jumped ship with celebrimbor, even the people of thargelion took heavy losses in the nirnaeth. but the people of himring stood firm around their lord, and the people of ossiriand were never really frontline fighters in the first place. minions from the more cultish parts of the host tend to survive longer, and in greater numbers. i feel this could have... consequences)

#ask #whotookliterallyallthenames #feanorian minions #maedhros #beleriandic politics in a nutshell #my terrible headcanons #post nyanyannya askbox clearout #like by the time elrond and elros show up most people are too tired for cult bullshit #(except that one guy who quintupled down as a coping mechanism)#but the attitude of the cult still permeates the camp #cults aren't about silly rites after all #they're about relationship to the outside world. and control #this was a lot of fun to write! had more headcanons than i thought i did #feanorian-state-in-east-beleriand-worldbuilding is a weird special interest to have but holy hell do i have it #feel like i could pinpoint the stereotypes each part of the host has about the others now #but yeah i think all the 'positive' aspects of their culture fell away as the cause became unreachable #leaving only the really nasty stuff

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inevitably-johnlocked · 3 years

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((my account is @mymiddlenameslove tumblr is still being weird lol)) do you have any fics where john and sherlock hold hands for the first time? i just love the build up/panic that leads to some good fluff thank you (*´∇｀*)

Hi Lovely!!!

Bah, sorry about Tumblr being dumb!!!!

What a fun fic req!! I know for SURE I’ve missed a lot, so these are either fics I remember have hand-holding, are tagged with it, or I’ve just re-read and found it in there :D Hope you Enjoy!!

HAND HOLDING / for COMFORT

The Four Incidents by TheGirlWithRedHair22 (K+, 1,064 w., 1 Ch. || S1 Compliant, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, John Whump, Accident, John POV, Hand Holding, Worried Sherlock, Sherlock’s Self Esteem) – The first time John was present when someone insulted Sherlock, he brushed it off as a strange coincidence.

Peacock by ClassyGirlsWearPearls (T, 1,189 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Cranky Sherlock, Soft John, Hand Holding, Soft Sherlock) – A study in Sherlock and John.

Here to Stay by MockJayPhoenix12 (K, 1,574 w., 1 Ch. || Post Reunion, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Headache, Bed Sharing, Care Taker Sherlock, Hand Holding, Fluff) – On Sherlock's first day home, John wakes with a migraine.

Random Numbers by songlin (T, 1,671 w., 1 Ch. || Ace Sherlock / Straight John, Cuddling / Snuggling, Massage, Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Post-TRF, Slice of Life) – A collection of moments in the relationship of asexual!Sherlock and straight!John.

Giveaway Fic #9 - Angsty Sick Fic/Sherlock is Sick by ConsultingPurplePants (T, 1,734 w., 1 Ch. || Sick Fic, Hypothermia) – The next time he awakens is even more chaotic. Two doctors are shouting at each other in the corner, and John is holding his hand so tightly Sherlock is worried he’ll break it. Part 9 of 1000 Tumblr Followers Giveaway Fics

Once is Enough by Jominerva (T, 3,030 w., 1 Ch. || Love Confessions, Domestic Fluff, Whump) – Just as the earth rises to meet the sun at every mountain crest, John reaches out for Sherlock and takes his hand in his own."Tell me it won't end like this," he says, blue eyes holding grey while he laces their fingers together. Sherlock lets out a shaky laugh and shakes his head. "I wish I could."

holding steady by darcylindbergh (E, 12,724 w., 4 Ch. || Post S4, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Growing Old, Gone Fishing, Mood without Plot, Soft Sherlock, Caring Sherlock, POV John Third Person, Anxious Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Feeling Old, Sherlock Worship, Crying Sherlock, Cuddles, Comforting, Introspection, Retirement, Hand Holding, Forehead Kisses, Caring John, Bed Sharing, Emotional Love Making) – Sitting on a thick wool blanket at the end of a rickety dock side-by-side, legs dangling over the edge, a styrofoam container of wet, dark dirt between them, they’re fishing. John knows what this is about. This is about finally figuring it out.

A Gossamer Dream by CarmillaCarmine (E, 15,985 w., 4 Ch. || Writer/Teacher AU || First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Writer John / Teacher Sherlock, Fluff, London, Holding Hands, Online Friendship / Romance, Phone Sex, Anal Sex, Happy Ending, Alternating POV, Scottish John, Online Relationship, Internalized Homophobia, Hand Holding, Forehead Touching, First Kiss/Time, Texting/Sexting, Rimming, Toplock, Sherlock Speaks French) – Sherlock had never realised one could care so much about someone they'd never met in person. Now he is about to meet the friend with whom he's been chatting online for months and his anticipation is reaching a crescendo.

How To Unfold a Heart by elwinglyre (E, 25,477 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It, BAMF John, Mentioned Eurus, POV First Person Sherlock, Case Fic, Fluff, Slow Burn Topping from the Bottom, 3 Yr Old Rosie, Introspection, Sexual Fantasies, John Worship, Ogling, Hand Holding, Kidnapping, Domesticity, Sherlock Whump, First Kiss/Time, Doctor John, Caring John, Soft Sherlock, Sensuality, Touching, Crying, Love Confessions, Anxious Sherlock, Rimming, Toplock, Fingering, Bossy Bottom John) – To Sherlock’s dismay, John’s return to Baker Street with Rosie is only temporary. Sherlock’s daily visits to Regent Park with John and Rosie illuminate his lost childhood memories and missed opportunities. But with each trip to the park, Sherlock also feels a growing sense of hope. That is until the past horrors return unexpectedly in a cryptic note folded in the shape of a heart. To decipher the message, Sherlock must uncover the nature of the hearts around him, including his own.

Insanity in the Middle by DotyTakeThisDown (E, 28,010 w., 8 Ch. || Equestrian Sports AU || Alternate First Meeting, POV John, Pining John, Bottomlock, Clueless Sherlock, First Kiss/Time, Passionate Kisses, Hand Holding, Caught Making Out, Bed Sharing, Spooning, Blow Job) – John is a world-class eventing rider with a gold medal and several four-star wins to his credit, but he's never won at Rolex. Sherlock is an up-and-coming rider taking the sport by storm.

Lucifer's Gardens by ampersand_ch (E, 32,679 w., 12 Ch. || GERMAN VERSION || Romance, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Murder, Poison / Drugging, Mystery, John Undercover, Academic Club, Therapy, Rituals, Jungian Archetypes, Doctors & Physicians, Grief/Mourning, Esotericism, Hospitals, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, John Falls In Love With Another Man, Jealous Sherlock, Crying, Doctor John, Hand Holding, First Kiss/Time, Mysticism, Hugging, Touching) – John goes undercover for an investigation as a favour to Lestrade in a village in Suffolk. The events surrounding the case awaken deep-seated fears in Sherlock. While John begins to come to a realisation of what he needs in Lucifer's Gardens, Sherlock tries to find a way to reach John – in more ways than one.

A Promise Made to Be Broken by PlantsAreNeat (E, 37,018 w., 7 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Pining, Slow Burn, RST, Eventual Relationship, POV Sherlock) – A young John makes an ‘if we’re still single at 40, we’ll get together’ pledge to a woman who ends up all wrong for him. She keeps reminding him of the promise, and won’t let go of it. John asks Sherlock to pose as his boyfriend at a family wedding, so as to dash her hopes permanently. Sherlock, who has at last acknowledged his feelings for John, reluctantly agrees despite knowing how painful it will be to ‘have’ John, but not keep him.

A Love with No Name Series by aceofhearts61 (G to M, 49,955 w. across 20 stories || Asexual Sherlock / Straight John, Est. Rel, Queerplatonic Relationship, Romance, Cuddling, Fluff, Platonic Romance, Domestics, Rape/Non-Con) – In which Asexual!Sherlock and Straight!John are platonically in love life partners.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse by SilentAuror (E, 50,635 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4/S4 Divergence, Case Fic, For a Case / Reverse Fake-Relationship, Conferences, Marriage Equality, Travelling / New York, Pride, Homophobia, Bottomlock, Marriage Proposal, John POV, Sexuality, Love Confessions, Emotional Love Making, Public Hand Jobs, Blow Jobs, Passionate Kissing, Needy/Clingy Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Touching / Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Little Spoon Sherlock, Intense Orgasms) – John and Sherlock go to New York to attend a conference run by the National Defence of Traditional Marriage Coalition in order to investigate the potential bombing of the annual Manhattan Pride parade. As the conference unfolds, John finds himself repulsed by the toxic ideology being presented, which becomes relevent to his own unacknowledged issues and his friendship with Sherlock...

Repairing the Broken Things by BakerTumblings (M, 75,252 w., 15 Ch. || S4 Compliant, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Trauma, Hospitals, Big Brother Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Realizations, Severe Accident, John Whump, Pneumonia, Medical Procedures, Bed Sharing, First Time, Healing, Happy Ending) – "I'm calling today to notify you that there's been an accident."

Not Broken, Just Bent by Schmiezi (E, 87,585 w., 43 Ch. || Pining, Love Confessions, Rape/Sexual Assault, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst, Villain!Mary, Suicidal Ideations, Main Character Death, Sherlock First Person POV, Parentlock, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Love Making, Possessiveness, Depression, PTSD, Kidnapping, Virgin Sherlock, Eventual Happy Ending) – "For a second, I allow myself to remember teaching John how to waltz. There is a special room in my mind palace for it. A big one, with a proper parquet dance floor. For a second, I go there. I remember holding him, closer than the World Dance Council asks for, excusing it with the fact that we are training for a wedding, not for a competition. For a second, I feel his hand on mine again, smell his sweat, hear the song we used. For a second, I allow myself to love him deeply. For a second, only a second, that love reflects on my face." Fix-it for S3, starting at the end of TSoT. Evil Mary.

Northwest Passage by Kryptaria (E, 95,157 w., 27 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Canadian AU || BAMF!John, Canadian John, PTSD, Anal / Oral Sex, Rimming, Emotional Hurt / Comfort, Drug Rehab, Falling in Love, Pining Sherlock, Love Confessions, Sherlock’s Violin, Panic Attacks, Switching, Anxious / Protective Sherlock, Hugs for Comfort, Suicide Mentions, Healing Each Other) – Seven years ago, Captain John Watson of the Canadian Forces Medical Service withdrew from society, seeking a simple, isolated life in the distant northern wilderness of Canada. Though he survives from one day to the next, he doesn't truly live until someone from his dark past calls in a favor and turns his world upside-down with the introduction of Sherlock Holmes." Part 1 of Tales from the Northwest

The Lost Special: Family Matters (As Do Relationships) by ShirleyCarlton (M, 144,688 w., 40 Ch. || S4 Fix It Fic / Meta Fic, Unreliable Narrator, John’s Mind Bungalow, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Demisexual Sherlock, Holmes Family, John Whump, Gay Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Drug Addiction, Parenting, TFP is a Nightmare, Virgin Sherlock, Slow Burn, Minor Character Death, Switchlock, John’s Past, Sherlock’s Past, Eurus, Love Confessions) – Sherrinford is not really the name of some high security prison. That was just a figment of John’s frantic coma dream. And Eurus is not actually Sherlock’s sister. That’s just something random she said to John before shooting him. Sherlock and John were never actually estranged. That was just their act to cover up what really happened to Mary – or Rosamund Moran, as her real name has turned out to be. Sherlock does have a secret sibling, though, and his name is Sherrinford. After finally eliminating Moran – though in a rather dramatically different way than they had envisioned – and exposing the truth about Eurus, John encourages Sherlock to delve into his past and to find out whether the reasons to keep Sherrinford away from Sherlock were the right ones, and to discover what really happened in 1981. Along the way, Sherlock and John gradually, finally, stop keeping each other at a distance, and eventually become a proper family of their own.

Against the Rest of the World by SilentAuror (E, 151,714 w., 20 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-TRF, Hiatus Fic, POV First Person Sherlock, Present Tense, First Kiss/Time, Big Brother Mycroft, Escaping from Capture, Soft Sherlock, Toplock, Insecurity, Infidelity, Travelling, Introspection, Pining Sherlock, Depression, Fantasies, Yearning for the Past, PTSD Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation) – Sherlock has been away from London for nine hundred and twelve days and counting, and has no idea what sort of reception to expect when he finally returns.

Unkissed Series by 221b_hound (T to E, 184,100 w. across 45 works || Established Relationship, Ace Sherlock) – Sherlock returned from the dead a year ago. John returned to Baker Street six months ago. They've been in a couple since then. or at least, not NOT a couple. For two smart men, they sure can be dumb. Luckily, an art thief tries to drown Sherlock, Sherlock has a fever dream and things are about to change.

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #holding hands #fluff fics #my fic recs #Anonymous

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spanishskulduggery · 3 years

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Hi! I'm very curious about something regarding the Spanish language. I'm currently studying A2 Spanish but I had this question and my teacher did not seem too willing to discuss it. Here it goes:

I know that Spanish has, something my Spanish teacher says, linguistic gender. I was wondering how do the people who don't align themselves with the gender binary (masculine and feminine) speak/write in it? I have read this article about Spanish speaking people from US adding "x" Or "@" and people from Argentina using "e" to make the words gender neutral.

Thank you so much for responding, whenever you get to it. Also love your blog. ❤

Short answer, in general speaking terms people are tending towards the -e now because the other two are very hard to actually speak, and because Spanish-speakers feel the -e is more authentic

What you're most likely to see in Spanish is masculine plural as the default, or in written things you might see todos y todas or like un/una alumno/a "a student", or like se busca empleado/a "employees wanted" / "looking for an employee"

If it's something official or academic you typically include both [todas y todas] or you go masculine plural [todos] unless it's specifically feminine plural

Related, linguistic gender applies to all things, not just people. Why is la mesa "table" feminine, but el libro "book" masculine? Just linguistic gender. I can tell you that most loanwords (that aren't people) in Spanish are masculine, and that there are certain words that come from Greek are masculine, and that -ista words are unisex most of the time... And I can tell you there are some words like testigo or modelo that are unisex and don't change for gender. Aside from that, speaking about nouns and grammatical gender... those particular things are harder to parse for regular people, but if you go into the field of linguistics you can explore that more deeply. Some of it is source language (i.e. "it came from Latin this way") or things like that. And in general when talking about nouns it's unimportant and not considered sexist, that's just how it is.

There is such a thing where it gets a little too far the other way and people will say "history? what about herstory" which is a nice thought but the etymology has nothing to do with gender there

When it comes to people - and when it comes to gendered attitudes - that's where it gets more confusing and more complicated.

I believe there was an experiment where people had French and Spanish speakers [I believe it was Spanish] try to identify how a "fork" would sound. French people gave it a more feminine voice because "fork" is feminine in French, while Spanish speakers gave it a more masculine voice because it's masculine in Spanish.

Whether we like it or not, certain gendered things do influence our thoughts and feelings and reactions. A similar thing in English exists where the old joke was something like "There was a car accident; a boy is rushed to the ER and the surgeon but the father was killed. When they got to the ER the doctor said 'I can't operate on him, he's my son!'" and it's like "well who could the doctor be?" ...and the doctor is his mother. We associate "doctor" as masculine and "nurse" as feminine.

There's a gender bias in our language thought patterns, even though the language changes. And that does exist in Spanish too, to different extents.

There are certain cultural and gendered stereotypes or connotations attached to certain words, many tend to be more despective or pejorative when it's women.

For example - and I know this has changed in many places or it isn't as prevalent - el jinete "horseman/rider", while the female form is la amazona "horsewoman/rider". Because la jinete or la jineta was sometimes "promiscuous woman".

There were also debates about things like la presidente vs. la presidenta or what the female version of juez should be, whether it should be la juez or la jueza

Most languages with gendered language have varying degrees of this, and all languages I'm aware of have gendered stereotypes related to professions or cultural attitudes in some way, and not just for women, and not all in the same way with some of them being very culturally based

The longer answer involves a bit of history, and I'll be honest, some of it is contested or considered a little controversial in Spanish-speaking countries particularly in the conservative parts (which honestly should come as no surprise)

The first symbol that I know of that came about was the X

First piece of contested history: As far as I know, it was the trans/queer and drag communities in Latin America who started the trend of X. When there were signs or bulletins that had the gendered endings - specifically masculine plural as the default plural - people would write a big X through the O. This was a way of being inclusive and also a very smash the patriarchy move.

Some people attribute this to women's rights activists which may also be true, but a good portion of the things I read from people say it was the trans/queer/drag communities in Latin America doing this.

I've also read it originated in Brazil with Portuguese; still Latin America, but not a Spanish-speaking country.

Where it's most contested is that some people will say that this trend started in the Hispanic communities of the United States. And - not without reason - people are upset that this is perceived as a very gringo movement.

That's why Latinx is considered a very American-Hispanic experience

The arroba (@) is relatively new. I remember seeing it in the 2000s. I don't know if it existed earlier for gender inclusivity.

People used it because it looks like a combination of O and A, so it was meant to be cut down on saying things like todos y todas or niños y niñas in informal written speech

I remember quite a few (informal) emails starting like hola tod@s or muy buenas a tod@s or things like that

I think of it more as convenience especially in the information age where you never knew who you were talking to and it's easier than including both words, especially when masculine plural might be clumsy or insensitive

Still, it's practically impossible to use the @ in spoken Spanish, so it's better for writing casually. You also likely won't be allowed to use the @ in anything academic, but in chatrooms, blogs, or forums it's an option

I love the E ending. And the gender neutral form in singular is elle... so it's él "he", ella "she", and elle "they (singular)"

The -e ending is I think became more common within the past 10 years though it might have existed longer than that. These sorts of changes tend to come from the queer or trans communities and tend to be more insular before becoming more of an outside thing that then the general population finds out about

It came about because there are some adjectives in Spanish that end in -e that are unisex. It's not an A, it's not an O, but it's something grammatically neutral for Spanish

It's not as awkward as X, and E exists very firmly in Spanish so it's not perceived as some outside (typically gringo) influence

The good news is, it's pretty widespread on the internet. Not so much in person (yet), but especially in Spain and Argentina at least from what I've seen, particularly in the queer communities and online culture.

The only issues with it are that for non-native speakers, you have to get used to any spelling changes. Like amigo and amiga, but to use the E ending you have to add a U... so it's amigue.

That's because there are certain words where you have to do spelling changes to preserve the sound; gue has a hard G sound like -go does [like guerra]... but ge has the equivalent of an English H sound [gelatina for example]. Another one is cómico/a "funny" which would go to cómique. Again, because co has a hard C/K sound, while ce is a soft sound more like an S or in some contexts TH/Z sound; like centro is a soft sound, while cola is a hard sound

Unless you make it to the preterite forms where you come across like pagué, alcancé, practiqué with those types of endings... or subjunctive forms, pague, alcance, practique ... Basically you'd have to be exposed to those spelling rules or you'd be really confused if you were a total beginner.

It all makes sense when you speak it, but spelling might be harder before you learn those rules

The other drawback is that the E endings are sometimes not applicable. Like in damas y caballeros "ladies and gentlemen" there's not really a gender neutral variation on that, it's all binary there. And while la caballero "female knight" does exist, you'd never see a male variation on dama; the closest I've ever seen is calling a guy a damisela en apuros "damsel in distress" in some contexts where the man needs rescuing, and it's feminine una/la damisela, and it's very tongue-in-cheek

There are also some contexts like jefe vs jefa where I guess you would say jefe for "boss" if you were going the neutral route, but it's a bit weird because it's also the masculine option.

I can't speak for how people might feel about those if they're non-binary or agender because every so often you kind of get forced into the binary whether you like it or not

I totally support the E, I just recognize there are some limitations there and it's quirks of the Spanish language itself

Important Note: Just to reiterate, E endings are the ones most Spanish-speakers prefer because it's easiest to speak and doesn't have the American connotation that X does in some circles

Where it gets very "Facebook comment section" is that you'll see many Latin Americans traditionalists and conservatives claim that "this is just the gringos colonizing our language" and "grammatical gender doesn't matter in Spanish". They'll say that the "gender movement" is an American feminist movement and that it's a gringo thing and doesn't reflect actual Latin Americans or Spanish-speakers

Which on the one hand, yes, English does have a lot of undue influence on other languages because of colonization, and American influence and meddling in Latin American politics is a big important issue

But as far as I'm aware of the X (and especially the E) were created by Latin Americans

The other issue I personally have is that any time this conversation comes up, someone will say something like somos latinOs and claim that masculine plural is gender neutral

To that I say, first of all, "masculine plural" is inherently gendered. Additionally, there is a gender neutral in Spanish but it's lo or ello and it's only used with "it" so it sounds very unfriendly to use on an actual person... and in plural it looks like masculine plural and everything applies like masculine plural

Second, the reason masculine plural is default is because of machismo. It's more important that we don't possibly misgender a man, so it has to be masculine plural. It's changed in some places, but growing up when I was learning Spanish, if it was 99 women and 1 man you still had to put masculine plural

I'm not opposed to there being a default, and I understand why it's easier to use masculine plural, but some people get very upset at the idea of inclusive language

...

In general, my biggest issues with these comments come when people act like non-binary/queer/trans people don't exist in Spanish-speaking countries, like English invented them somehow. So it's nice to see linguistic self-determination and seeing native speakers using the E endings.

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diaco1968 · 3 years

Text

Altair x Reader

Warnings! Smut, lemon, unprotected, a bit of choking, bit of humiliation, sounds a little dub/non con in the end

Note: I just realized I've written nothing for my first and longest crush, none other than the arrogant grumpy assassin! Sorry for the slight ooc-ness, I get weird writing about him...

Also amazing art! It's thanks to this, I've been visually crushing over this man for the longest time! *^*

Artist

"Wanna blow off some steam, Assassin?"

He could still feel your hands all over him, the feeling of your touch;

Your fingers running up his abs, tracing his chest, running over his shoulders, nails lightly scraping the back of his neck before they carded through his hair finally coming to a rest in a tight demanding grip on the back of his head.

It was unlike whatever he was used to.

The girls in the garden. They just did what they were assigned to do. Though they were obedient and submissive, they didn't claw at him like they desired him.

It was unusual.

It was exhilarating.

It was wrong.

It had been one of the rare occasions where there was a brief pause in the conflict between the assassins and the templars. A moment of peace that kept you all from jumping at each other's throats while their mentors and your commanders talked out their differences for a mutually beneficial truce. And of course they both had the option of having their choice of bodyguards accompanying them.

That was how he first met you. In person and eye to eye. With a distance of less than a rooftop, even less than a swords lenght, apart.

He couldn't get it off his mind now.

You had heard of him, seen the havoc he had caused in your ranks without even being seen. And he had seen you before as you barked orders at your little pawns and cut through his less experienced brethren with no mercy.

Always from afar.

Maybe that was the reason you colided hard the moment those roles were gone and out of the way. Attracted by the differences like day and night.

So when you cornered him alone with that very suggestion you were met with little to no resistance as you grabbed his collar and crashed your lips onto his. You demanded and you took as you pleased, making him bend to your will and despite his arrogant self, he liked that. He liked being wanted. The way you had him on his back in moments, straddling him so full of confidence. You were quite a skilled rider too.

Had him wondering if he had finally met his match?

Now as he stalked in the shadows waiting for you to make a wrong move, he wanted to take back. He wanted you. He had spent weeks being distracted time and again by the memories of your little encounter, now that he was so close to you again he couldn't help but drown deeper and deeper in his inner conflict. Thess were slightly different times, what if you rejected him? It would be so embarrassing... and he couldn't just kill you off if you did, that would harm the truce...

He shook his head as he caught himself thinking nonsense again.

Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent...

You were a templar though... did you count?-

He didn't have time to measure your innocence as your pawns left to do something you ordered them to and finally you were all alone. All his. Easy prey.

A hand wrapped around your arm, twisting it behind you as he pulled you into the alleyway and slammed you front first into the wall.

"You've become too dull."

"Have I really?"

That was when he noticed you didn't use your other hand to brace yourself on the wall. The little sharp pain in his side from the blade threateningly pressing into him was proof enough.

"You'd still die anyway. So, yes, you have."

He let go of your arm and you turned around to face him in the very little space provided by his arms caging you to the wall, teasingly grinding your ass back onto him. He of course suppressed the little hiss in response, not wanting to give you the satisfaction.

"You think I dismissed my men because I'm dull and not because I saw a certain assassin lurking around in the shadows?"

He narrowed his glinting golden eyes at you.

"You are bluffing."

You chuckled as you wiped at your scraped cheek to ease the stinging.

"What ever helps your ego."

You could see his scowl even from under the hood casting shadows over his face that complimented his features, as he loomed over you, completely silent. His sunkissed skin, sharp bones, haunting eyes, defined scar over his lips.

"You are in templar territory, what do you want, bird?"

His grimace at the nickname had you smirking triumphantly. Why did you have to know their language... it was annoying.

"Don't call me that!"

"But that's your name."

You looked smug and he didn't like that but you didn't have all day for the yarn of his ego to untangle on it's own. You reached up, slipping your hand inside the hood and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him down to you so you could whisper in his ear.

"Or do you prefer, Eagle? Am I your poor little prey this time?"

He could feel the goosebumps rise over his arms as he growled in annoyance, your voice rolled over his skin smoothly.

"If you were, you wouldn't live long enough to mock me."

"Flattering."

Your smirk widened, nipping the side of his jaw and pushing him off a whole step before he could react.

"Come, boy."

"... tch..."

Clicking his tongue he wondered if this was all worth it any way as he watched your form striding down the alley, taking his time before he decided to follow you.

To an abandoned building, top floors almost burnt away, leading to a giant hole in the roof opening up to the skies. At the entrance you grabbed his hand cause he was hesitating to step in.

He would have preferred more hospitality... like your own quarters maybe...

He didn't have time to ponder as you pushed him back on one of the few surviving furniture, before straddling his lap.

... a long wooden bench... in a burnt building with cold stone wallls...

"We're in a church!-"

You were already half way through his robes, heavily dropping the weapon belt on the ground as you looked up at his anxious expression, scoffing.

"And? Are you a religious man, Assassin?"

He glared at you but you had a point. He just didn't expect such disrespect from you. Were you not fighting as part of Richard's army?...

"You're shameless."

"Shame is a weakness. You didn't seek me out beacuse I am a weakling now, did you?"

You plopped down on his now not dangerously armed crotch and his hands shot up to grab your hips and steady you.

"Who said I seeked you out? I was just in the area for a job."

"Ouch... you mean you killed off one of my men and came to add insult to the injury?"

He paused as you paused staring down at him. Well maybe he didn't choose his words right. He wasn't good at lying on the spot.

"That's hot."

At this point he had no idea if you meant the things you said or if you were being sarcastic. But he didnt care as you started grinding down over him.

Like last time.

Oh hell no.

He flipped you, so now you were lying on your back looking up at him surprised.

"Not this time. You are mine now."

"Oh? Fine then, show me what you've got."

You almost immediately regretted that as the pit in your stomach deepened not only from excitement but from fear as his fingers wrapped around your throat tightly, nudging your legs apart to settle between them. As you let him discard your clothes, it was probably the first time it downed on you. The danger you were in. He could actually kill you. And no one would know. Kill you and leave you there disgraced and dishonored with no one to know where to look for you.

You wheezed loudly, clutching the wrist of the hand he had wrapped around your neck, your train of thoughts derailed as he unceremoniously thrusted himself into you.

His fingers left your neck, to fist in your hair instead, arching your neck so he had more room as his lips met the delicate skin, his stubble scratching you pleasantly. You grabbed the back of his neck, pressing his face deeper into the crook of your neck and he didn't mind endulging you, sucking and nipping on the skin, combined with shallow slow thrusts had you arching and twisting under him, trying desperately to get more friction out of him. He gripped your hips tightly, pinning you down and restraining your movements.

"I said you'll be good and do as I tell you to."

"That is not what you said."

"Don't test me, (y/n)."

He growled in your ear, his voice rumbling from deep in his chest and you were not about to argue with that as you hummed in response and decided to oblige.

He briefly pulled out of you, only to pull you up and dropping you on your knees on the stoney ground. With a hand on the back of your neck he had you face down, arse up and he plunged himself back into you groaning at the way you twitched around him eagerly with a loud wanton moan.

His other hand grabbed your hip to keep you from jerking forward while he drilled into you, completely different from his earlier pace.

"This is what you want after all. To be fucked like a little bitch with an important audience."

Between your moans and scratching at the ground in pleasure mixed with pain you didnt have time to wonder who, until he grabbed a fist full of your hair and pulled you back against him so you were facing the old crushed cross behind the altar.

"...you fucking basta-geh!"

He shoved his fingers into your mouth, down your throat, deep enough to make you choke and gag around them.

"I'd watch my mouth, if I were you."

He resumed kissing your abused neck, fingers thrusting in your mouth, creating lewd wet noises and heavy moans.

You were close, he could tell. You were constricting around him so tight he almost released a few times if not for the way you bit his fingers angrily. But he wanted you to finish first. Wanted you to whimper and beg as you just couldn't anymore.

He sunk his teeth in your shoulder and that was it for you. A high pitched mewl and you were clamping down on him violently as your release shook you to your core, slumping over him as he slowed down ever so slightly.

Then he let you drop on your front and resumed his brutal pace, seeking his own release now, disregarding your half hearted protesting sobs.

It didn't take him long and he finished over your ass, panting heavily as he watched your shaky body, get used to the abuse way too quickly as you rolled over underneath him to shoot him a glare.

Awkward silence engulfed you both as he got on his feet and even helped you up with a hand and you both started fixing up your clothes and putting your weapons back in place.

This was not how it ended last time. The silenece made him wonder if he did something very wrong. If your little forbidden rendezvous had come to an end because of him. If it had, it was probably for the best but... he felt a pang of sadness thinking about it. Oh how he wished for you to open your smug mouth and say something. Anything.

"I think we can both agree, I am better off in charge."

"You wish, Templar."

"...well... yes, I do. That's the whole reason behind our ancient conflict, Assassin."

#altair x reader #altair x reader smut #altair x reader lemon #assassins creed #altair ibn la'ahad #assassins creed imagines

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quibblesandscribbles · 3 years

Text

Centaurworld Rewrite: A Serious Adventure AU - S1E1 Outline

I’m doing rewrite outlines, prepare for some AU. That being said, I still like several parts of Centaurworld a lot, namely Rider, Horse, Wammawink, and whatever the hell is going on with the Nowhere King, and hope there’s a second season to watch (which I will if Netflix doesn’t ruin our hopes and dreams).

Anyways, here’s like, a rewrite or whatever. I will probably post the outlines as I go, episode by episode. Will I get to them all? ADHD-willing, we’ll see. Also feel free to use these ideas/outlines? I don’t mind.

Also assume there are songs in this even if I don’t specifically mention all of them. Also I guess this rewrite kinda chains the 1st and 2nd episodes together as a two parter? Maybe, idk.

Also I’ll preface this with this too: I ship Wammahorse, yes I SHIPSHIP it. Moving on.

Some headcanons before we start:

Warworld (*the world Rider and Horse are from) is a Low Fantasy Setting, there IS magic, but it comes in two variations, either very subtle low-powered but relatively uncommon, or Terrifyingly Powerful and so extremely rare to the point that it’s not very well known and “just myths” (usually for Big Baddies)

Ideas for Horse’s Degree of Sapience Prior to Worldhopping:

A: Horse was just a regular, non-magical horse, and their exposure to the Artifact and Centaurworld has essentially made them a Fully Uplifted Animal. - This is interesting, but ultimately a difficult idea to convey because it would require a lot more setup and wouldn’t exactly fit Horse’s characterization without some rework. This is an amazing idea, but I won’t be using it because it would slow things down too much.

B: Horse is a low-fantasy magic steed raised as warhorse/war asset, who is much smarter than your average animal steed/companion similar to a DND Ranger’s pets, or Mabari from Dragon Age, or a Ranger Horse from John Flanagan’s ‘Ranger’s Apprentice.’ The combined exposure to the Artifact and Centaurworld could account for her gaining speech and her body expressing limited physical adaptation to Centaurworld’s different physics (her body’s new extended range of motion for example) but of course I’ll be limiting this because having stakes make it more fun imho. This is my favorite, I’m using this.

Horse would’ve been considered a very valuable war asset (trained warhorses are like, historical ferraris, expensive as hell, i can only imagine what low-magical smart warhorses would be valued at), though still ultimately expendable for the war effort like anything else

Let Horse have horse behaviors (*can you tell I haven’t really left my horse phase behind lol)! Nipping and grooming behaviors as affection or warnings, ear positions to indicate mood, grazing to eat, laying down only when truly relaxed, sleeping standing up. COME ON.

Centaurworld is a High Fantasy world with an Absurdist bent but with darker undertones, similar to how Adventure Time is, with an extremely high saturation of magic, maybe you could even theorize that due to the Splitting of the Two Worlds that all the magic is being Dammed up in Centaurworld like a river or reservoir, this could be a future plot thread that could be picked up in a later season.

Basic Changes:

Durpleton, Glendale, Ched and Zulius are supporting cast, not main

Durpleton is less stupid and more of a Kronk-expy: a little dim but ultimately kind/means well, has at least 1 life skill he’s good at buried in there though for the life of me I can’t think of one right now.

Glendale’s Narrative Framing: Glendale is amazing, but the kleptomania will be allotted ONE (or two) joke mentions but narratively isn’t treated like one after, somehow establish that her kleptomania is directly intertwined with her anxiety levels. Are there other denizens of the Valley that know the Herd? Are they mad at Glendale for stealing things? Does Wammawink have to constantly run interference to cover for Glendale? Probably.

Make Ched look like less of a pointless asshole: Have him show concern for his friends’ safety and his suspicion of outsiders, AKA Horse. If he’s going to be a jerk, at least let it serve a purpose.

Zulius can stay roughly the same - Zulius is great okay, just don’t tell me there’s backstory and then NOT TELL OR SHOW US ANY CLUES about what said backstory/history IS! (other than forcing us infer/project the headcanon[?] that him and Splendib might’ve been exes, from how they act around each other without any other context/visual/or confirming exposition we literally know nothing other than Splendib and him split/had a nasty falling out and Splendib took the glittercats and the career in the divorce.)

S1E1: Hello Rainbow Road

Opening scene in Warworld

If these episodes were allowed to be longer (shuddup it’s my AU), have the scene open with Horse sees Rider comes running out of some underground castle ruin catacombs and ominous roaring and clanging behind her as she deliberately sets off a dungeon booby trap (arrows or fire) she must’ve avoided while dungeon crawling earlier, and Horse runs towards her and circles at a canter and then Rider does a Running Mount (mounting a horse while the horse is in motion) and shoots an arrow at that flies offscreen

Smash cut to the DRAWBRIDGE door falling and Rider and Horse come galloping out while dodging some javelins and arrows and 1.5 seconds later 1-4 armored minotaurs (the lizardmen?) riding some coursers (swift horses or horselike creatures idk have fun) gallop behind in hot pursuit.

WARWORLD CHASE/FIGHT SCENE

Rider and Horse take out 2 of the pursuers on the run have Rider stay on horseback, dodge and make 1 pursuer shoot/javelin another 1 into a nasty-looking fall, and then Rider nails another 1 right through the helmet visor with an arrow. Have Rider throw a smoke bomb or something at the 2 remaining ones trying to catch up.

2 Enemies left but Horse is forced to skid to a stop as the suspension bridge approaches, then a tense moment forced to walk in order to escape safely across the suspension bridge which Rider cuts once they’re across. Maybe have 1 of the minotaur pursuers having been on the bridge somewhat behind them before Rider had to cut the line, sending the enemy hurtling down below. The remaining minotaur scout stares at them ominously from the other side before leaving.

Have Rider breath a sigh of relief

Smash cut to Horse and Rider traveling across a wartorn landscape, start Horse’s internal monologue narrative until they finally get to the hill and see the ruins of their village

Everything from this point to Horse getting transported to Centaurworld is the same as canon

Not Actually a DREAMVISION SEQUENCE:

Shot/Animated from Horse’s 1st Person POV: Darkness, the sound of whooshing Horse falls, shimmering flash colors [if this were an actual show pls put a Epilepsy warning at the beginning of the ep], then a loud Splash as Horse falls into Dark Water. POV looks down and we see Horse’s front legs and a bottomless abyss below and a then flash of green and off-white from deep below, then look up to see blue light, see the swimming motions of Horse’s front legs and getting closer to the Blue Light

Horse wakes up, blinking, alone (no Durpleton)

Horse gets up looks around, doesn’t see Rider anywhere and starts makes Whinnying sounds (specifically, Whinnying is a social horse call, like specifically going, “Rider where are you!?” in IRL horse)

“And what are you supposed to be?” the “camera” wheels around to see Ched who has landed on Horse just within reach of her tail so Horse lets out a startled squeal (the Horse noise, not the human one) and does that thing where horses use their tails to swat away insects which sends Ched FLYING as Horse’s squealing morphs into her Talking/Yelling “what the heck is going on?!”

Horse does what panicked horses do, she runs

Horse stumbles into meeting Durpleton, who freaks her out more

Meeting kinda the same as canon but with less constant emphasis on reminding the audience that the writer’s can’t write comedy

Wammawink and Horse meet, Ched flies in and goes “hey that asshole kicked my a-I mean attacked me, but I totally beat ‘em.”

Horse tries to leave, discovers the Barrier, tries to get through, fails multiple times, but only 3-4 attempts shown with time passage show by the time of day changing, have Horse’ talking to herself a bit about how utterly weird the talking words thing is, that this is a “human” thing why is this HAPPENING she needs to get back

Waste less time on the visual gags of the Barrier repelling Horse, also get rid of the Tree Catapult scene because it doesn’t jive with Horse being a horse, why do they know how to make a catapult? Also because I hate how it basically shows us that Horse has no physical danger or chance of injury from being FLUNG around like Pokemon’s Team Rocket.

Have the rest of the centaur Herd come up to and talk to Horse while Horse is trying to get through the Barrier, and Horse talks about the outside and her world and doing things, squeeze in some convo about how there’s no (current) war in Centaurworld and how Horse thinks that that “freedom must be nice.” Anyways these conversations are what has Glendale, Zulius and Durpleton at least considering the ups of leaving.

Durpleton: Durpleton approaches Horse alone and asks about where she’s from, what’s home like, expositiony bits for Warworld and how much Horse needs to get herself and the Artifact back to Rider; Horse should say something offhand, like how she dreamed about exploring the world with Rider after the War seeing new things together, to which we’d cut to a shot of Durpleton looking thoughtful, before asking a completely unrelated question before Horse asks to be left alone. He doesn’t go originally, but gets distracted by something (butterfly?) and trots off.

Wammawink, Ched & Glendale: Atop a hill, Wammawink looks up to see stormclouds gathering off in the distance and comments that they’re going to be in for some rough weather, then goes over to offer Horse food, but gets distracted by some other Valley Denizens who are mad suspicious that Glendale is responsible for something of theirs that’s missing. Leaving Wammawink to go off and have to run interference leaving Glendale to approach Horse alone. Horse will learn that there’s no (current) war in Centaurworld but there was one historically, and Glendale will offhandedly mention that they’ve stolen everything from everyone in the Valley at least 4 times and with the unspoken implication of boredom. Ched will butt in and heckle Horse like, “could you leave any quieter?” and Horse sniping back, ears pinned back and animated horse stress behaviors. And Horse’s last failed attempt at passing the Barrier has them drop the Artifact, and we get a shot of Glendale spotting and eyes widening at seeing the Artifact unattended on the ground, then we get a smash cut of Glendale getting herded away by Ched.

Zulius: Goes over to ask about Horse’s avante garde accessories (her bridle, saddle & armor[barding]), makes comments on her style/aesthetic and asks where he could find some. Horse loses her patience, and says that she Needs to concentrate on getting back to someone they care a lot about and could you please just go away?

Horse: (voiced as a rhetorical question) “Haven’t you ever wanted to go back to someone you loved before?”

Zulius gets a Look on his face, then he’d puff up, cover up the Armor Piercing Question’s effect on him with more bluster and then turn away as it gets later

Around sunset, Horse finally gives in to go ask Wammawink what’s up, and how can they leave.

Wammawink tries to feed them and convince them to stay, but Horse waves her off and moves away while muttering something about coming up with a plan

Speaking of plans, the Herd excluding Wammawink (& Ched) start talking about being bored, and mention Horse saying stuff about exploring the world (taken out of context, deliberately)

Wammawink, smelling the ugly head of discontent, sighs in defeat at not being able to recruit this new outcast in the Herd and approaches a grazing Horse and says she’ll help her through it with her magic(not admitting that the Barrier is her magic working in the first place because it’s not relevant right now okay) but then we get the “What’s magic?” bit from Horse and the rest of the Herd butts in with the Song. They wander off to go to bed afterwards, and Horse wants to go Now but Wammawink says that she’ll help Horse leave the Barrier but only in the morning because “you look tired”

Horse: “That doesn’t matter.” *awkward silence*

Wammawink, sadly: “Of course it does.” *Horse has already walked away*

The sun finishes setting as the wind blows the plants and through Wammawink’s fur (ominously) and she shivers, going back to the campfire

DREAM SEQUENCE: It’s dark, then we get a flashback dream of a younger Rider and Horse, idk a memory of something to showcase them either while in training or really show their Bond okay? End with them sitting around a campfire with other young soldiers and horses, someone is humming something (the first few bars of the Nowhere King’s Lullaby, no actual words yet). Then Dream!Rider turns to face Horse and asks, “how could you?”

Horse: “How could I what?”

Dream!Rider: “How could you leave me behind?” (The humming grows louder, there’s a lute being played, growing discordant)

Then Horse starts calling into the darkness/void, “I’m coming back for you, Rider! Just hang on, alright?!”

Rider: “Oh Horse, it’s already too late for me.”

“Rider!” Horse yells as they jolt awake, standing, because horses typically sleep standing up.

It’s dawn but the wind and stormy weather signs are picking up but not here yet, Wammawink walks Horse to the edge of the Valley barrier and tries to convince Horse to stay here where it’s safe, but Horse refuses to be deterred

Brief shot of Glendale hiding a bunch of things from her Tummy Hammerspace in order to simulate the feeling of stealing things again later, including the Artifact which falls on the ground

A shot of Durpleton seeing and picking up the Artifact and spotting Wammawink and Horse some distance away going toward the barrier’s edge

Wammawink hangs back on a hill, glowy hands and the magic wall flickers and disappears, and Horse immediately breaks into a gallop and disappears into the forest, Wammawink sighs and turns away

Indeterminate amount of time later, Wammawink recasts the Barrier, and Durpleton misses breakfast so Wammawink enlists Ched to help her look for him because Ched can fly

Cut to a shot of Horse dropping from a canter to a trot on the Rainbow Road, it’s grown darker and the stormclouds are in the sky. Distant thunder booms overhead, and a few scattered raindrops start to fall

“Heyyyy! You forgot your necklaceeee!” a shout from behind

Horse looks back and sees a running Durpleton holding the Artifact, and stops, he catches up to Horse and is gasping, “Wow, you run fast, hoooo, *deep breaths* you’re really *another gasp* athletic! Anyways you forgot your Necklace.”

Durpleton ties the broken string into a necklace around Horse’s neck and Horse thanks them and wishes them a safe journey back to the Valley, but as this happens the rain gradually falls harder. Then the sounds of the Rest of the Herd finally catching up happen, and Wammawink mother hens Durpleton and wants take everyone back home but then a loud BOOM of thunder and lightning overhead, and then it starts to Pour down rain, forcing Horse and co to find shelter until it lets up. Maybe have someone mention something about landslides being a possibility? Durpleton asks how they found them so fast, dim remember, then brief flashback.

FLASHBACK: Wammawink and co searching and calling out for Durpleton everywhere in the Valley, and realize that he must’ve followed Horse for some reason when Zulius FINALLY shows up and mentions that he remembers Durpleton saying he was gonna give Horse back her necklace. The recast Barrier is brought down and they leave the Valley to bring back their friend.

Back to the present where the group has taken shelter as the storm picks up more, and thunder booms overhead, Horse has some nervous horse body language going on, then we get to hear her mutter-singing or humming the “I never fear the drums of war” to calm herself down, but with more stanzas please, when asked she says it’s a battle hymn that Rider sang.

If Horse was humming, Wammawink could ask why she doesn’t sing, she’s sure that Horse has a lovely voice

Horse goes “I’m a horse, I don’t sing.”

Wammawink tries to be encouraging, Horse is resistant

Wammawink invites her to eat (AGAIN) but Horse still turns her (love and affection) down (AGAIN!) and says she’s fine with grazing and Glendale pipes in excitedly that they have decided that they want to travel with Horse (Ched pipes up that he didn’t agree to this) but pls help us convince Wammawink and Horse protests but someone points out to ask “do you even know where you’re going” and they have a point

Horse acknowledges this and relents, states some stuff about how she’s not going to slow down much however. Then Glendale, Zulius and Durpleton rejoice, Ched acts tsundere, but Wammawink looks nervous and wrings her hands together and relents that “they’ll go with Horse as far as the nearest Shaman” and Ched will go, “hey don’t you know he-” and Wammawink shushes him quickly with a gigglecake

Wammawink doubles down on the mother henning behavior

Horse doesn’t eat Wammawink’s gigglecakes but grazes by herself nearby, occasionally answering a question or two when engaged by the others (not Wammawink) and Wammawink mentions how the weather probably won’t let up for very long and they should take it slow and that Horse should bundle up

Horse disagrees but its bedtime and a bedtime song occurs in the backdrop as a restless Horse struggles to stay alert and awake but eventually falls asleep

VISION SEQUENCE: A shimmer of soft blue light, then shots of Rider ducking and weaving, her sword flashing as she tries to weave her way through a horde of enemy soldiers, blood spatters, then an enemy archer takes aim at a fleeing Rider, and Horse calls out a warning.

Rider turns her head with a surprised look on her face suddenly just enough that the arrow buries itself into her shoulder instead the middle of her back and then she stumbles, one of her arms going limp, but everything goes dark before we can see if she fell

Everything goes dark and the din of war fades away, we get a shot of Horse’s hooves splashing and making ripples into dark water but the camera doesn’t follow her, we hear Horse’s cries for Rider fade, growing further and further away

Still dark, but in the silence we hear distant sound, drip, drip, drip, drip.

Then the episode ends and the credits roll.

#centaurworld #centaurworld spoilers #centaurworld wammawink #centaurworld rider #centaurworld horse #centaurworld headcanons #centaurworld au #centaurworld rewrite #centaurworld a serious adventure au #wow I suck at naming things #centaurworld season 1 #fixed the ending scene order #your welcome

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