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denaliwrites · 7 months

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Dance on a Tightrope of Weird

Crowley x GN!Reader

Summary: Crowley was not expecting you to lose your shit when he asked what you were reading.

Soundtrack: Crazy = Genius by Panic! at the Disco

Requests: Open!

Warnings: The ravings of a madwoman. (It's me, I'm the madwoman.)

It wasn't unusual for Crowley to find you tucked away somewhere in the bookshop reading one of the countless old books Aziraphale kept around. You liked classic literature, and history, and philosophy, and who knew whatever other subjects you happened to find lying around the place.

What was unusual, however, was finding you sat in his usual armchair, reading what was decidedly not a two-hundred-year-old first-edition copy of the random novel you'd decided to bury yourself in that day.

He paused in front of you, carefully tilting the book you held up so that he could look at the cover.

"Dead Mountain?" he asked, an eyebrow cocked so high you could see it over the rim of his sunglasses.

"No, no," you said, a fire immediately lighting in your eyes. "No. Don't even get me started. This is fucking insane."

Crowley never was one to listen to your advice. "Oh?" he prompted casually, and suddenly a chair appeared behind him that he, without looking, flopped down into and sprawled across.

"No, because--"

He loved watching you read. The quiet intent, the way your face moved in tandem with whatever emotions the text wanted you to feel. He'd once walked in on you sobbing along with some tearjerking novel (as a side note, that was the first time Crowley had found himself wanting to kill a book?), and another time he'd walked in on you cheering over something... triumphant, he assumed, or at least something like that.

This was different. New.

He loved it too. The fevered look in your eyes, the frustrated set of your jaw. The way your hand, shaped like a predator's claws, gripped his knee tightly in excitement.

"This is--" you were saying, and Crowley startled back into the moment, eyes on you, attention now unwaveringly on your blazing gaze. "This is so fucking insane. I can't get over this."

"Over what, darling?" he asked, and your gaze sharpened on him, as if only just realizing he was there.

"Do you know about the Dyatlov Pass Incident?"

It sounded familiar. "Tell me all about it, darling."

"Oh, you're gonna regret that."

He wouldn't. Not ever.

"Okay, so -- Soviet Russia. 1959. Middle of winter. These nine hikers -- actually, it was originally ten. These ten experienced hikers go into the Ural Mountains to, like. Upgrade themselves? 'Cause I guess there are levels to being a hiker, and you have to go on increasingly more difficult hikes to level up. So all ten were level two or whatever, and they were going on a level three hike to upgrade to level three."

He nodded, even though all the information was secondary in his attention. He just liked listening to you.

"Okay. So they get to this little town, and while they're there, all the locals are telling them shit like, 'Don't go up that mountain,' or 'you'll die up there!' Like, horror movie type shit. The kind of stuff that makes you yell at the TV."

He was familiar with that. You did that a lot -- but so did he.

"Oh, and the mountain they were hiking on? In the local language it's called Kholat Syakhl. Do you know what that means?"

He... he did. He knew what everything in every language meant. But he let you have this, because you were clearly excited. Seeing the way you motioned with the book, he waved toward it and asked, "Dead mountain?"

"Fucking -- dead mountain!"

He chuckled, but otherwise stayed silent.

"So they're getting all these crazy warnings and the mountain is literally called Dead Mountain in the local language, but they decide to go anyway! So they go off, but before they get very far, one of them is like, 'I'm so sick, I can't go on!' and so he tells them he's gonna go back to the town, and they leave without him."

"I take it he's the only survivor?"

You nodded. "Yeah. The other nine kept going. Oh, and another crazy thing -- one of the girls on the trip was keeping a journal? That's how we know about, like... 90% of the things that happened after they left the town."

He nodded. "Makes sense."

"So, because of this girl's journal, right? We know that one of the hikers just, like, fully went off his fucking rocker about a day into the trip."

"What?" Crowley asked, leaning forward with interest.

"Yeah! He started getting really antsy, and he kept shouting stuff at seemingly nothing? He yelled, like, 'Stop following us!' and stuff like that. At nothing!"

Crowley, for effect, took his sunglasses off so that you could see his surprised look.

"Anyway. So they keep going, even though literally everything that could ever say 'turn back' is saying 'turn the fuck back!' They got off course --"

"As you do."

"As you fucking do. They got off course and decided to hunker down for the night and retrace their steps in the morning. They set up camp, went to bed, and then they all fucking died."

"Oh, I imagine there's more to it than that," Crowley said.

The grin on your face was bordering on manic. "Oh, of course. First of all, according to the girl's journal, two of the hikers went batshit, started laughing hysterically for no reason, and then took off into the night, never to be seen again -- well, not alive, anyway."

"Ominous," Crowley observed thoughtfully.

"Right? And the other weird thing about that -- well, pre them all dying. There was, according to the girl, a big, glowing orange ball of light in the sky that night. They have a picture of it," you said, turning the book so that he could see. "Of course, it's in black and white, but still. And -- the craziest part of that, is that there were hikers on the other side of the mountain on the same night who confirmed the big glowing orange ball of light!"

Crowley's mouth dropped open.

"I KNOW! And then -- their deaths are even more bizarre! First of all, they cut their way out of their tent? Like, they didn't just -- open it and leave. They cut. Their way out. And then they ran down the side of the mountain into the trees. No one's really sure how anything else happened, but what we know for sure is that three of them were found a little up the mountain, like they'd been trying to make their way back up."

"Mhm."

"And two were found naked -- right at the edge of the trees, under one of the bigger ones. Some branches in the tree were broken in a way that seems to indicate that they were trying to climb up and get a view of the camp. There were also remains of a fire beside the bodies. We don't know for sure why they were naked, but the theory is paradoxical stripping."

"And what's that?" Crowley asked, even though he knew.

"It's when you're so cold that you start to feel hot, and so you take off all your clothes."

Demonic work, he was sure.

"So that's five of them. They were found shortly after they died. The other four weren't found until a few months later, after the spring thawed a lot of the snow."

"Why weren't they found right away?"

"Because they were found in a ravine about a mile past the treeline! Three of them were found in a stream in this ravine. One of them had a piece of her skull missing? And all of them had major trauma to their chests -- like, high-speed impact by a delivery truck kind of major impact. To this day, no one's sure what the fuck caused that kind of damage."

Crowley clicked his tongue in thought.

"And the last one -- she was found sitting up against a big boulder? The official report describes her like that. Sitting up against a boulder. She had, like, chunks of her face missing? And her tongue was missing. Like, the whole thing."

"You specified the official report," Crowley observed. "Is that important?"

"Oh! Yes! Because the pictures of the area? They show her as laying face down in the stream with the others!"

"That's suspicious."

"Right? On top of all that, their bodies had traces of radiation! Not their clothes, though, or their belongings. Just the bodies."

Crowley hummed.

"Oh! And their tent -- when authorities found the tent, it looked like it had been put up by amateurs. Like, level zero hikers. But these were level two hikers doing their level three hike. There's no reason their tent would've been put up like that. Even if they were in a rush or scared or whatever, it would've been put up at least sort of better."

He nodded in understanding.

"It's just -- it's all so crazy!"

"I can tell," he mused aloud, lips quirking into a smirk at your perplexed and frustrated expression.

"The thing with the girl's face is really weird," you said after a moment of thought. "The theory is scavengers, but reports of the incident specify there were no animals in the area. Like, I feel like if there were scavengers, you'd write down 'no predators,' or even 'no wolves or bears.' But no, they wrote, very specifically, 'no animals.' Like, I dunno, it just feels like that's a weird distinction to make. But then, if there weren't any animals, how did her face end up with bits missing?"

"I couldn't tell you."

"And why lie about her, too? Why move her and put her in the stream when the report literally says she was up against the boulder?"

He shrugged, before shifting forward to grip your knee.

"I just -- it's all so crazy, and weird, and -- and --"

"Oh," Crowley interjected, looking thoughtful. "Now I know why that all sounds familiar."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, that was demonic work," he continued, blissfully unaware of your increasingly maddening expression. "I'm pretty sure that was my side."

"So you -- you know what happened?"

He finally caught your expression, the set of your jaw and slight twitch in your eye. "Oh -- yeah. Of course," he said, sounding rather unsure, actually. If anything, that just seemed to aggravate you more. "Space yetis."

"... SPACE YETIS!?"

#crowley x reader #crowley x you #good omens x reader #good omens fic #good omens fan fiction #david tennant #this fic is purely self indulgent nonsense #reader is me #literally #the dyatlov pass incident haunts me to this day #fun fact I did not use google wikipedia or any other source for this fic #i just have basically every detail memorized #like a crazy person

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incorrect-mtg · 3 months

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Flavor Text Highlights - Shadowmoor

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

Cool - Ashenmoor Cohort

“None will concede a place for us in this world. If it is not for us, neither shall it be for them. We rest not until they choke in its cold ashes.” —Illulia of Nighthearth

Worldbuilding - Everlasting Torment

When night fell, the plane itself was scarred.

Emotional - Rosheen Meanderer

Night after night, Rosheen babbled about a bygone sunlit world, her every word dismissed as a madwoman’s ravings.

Emotional - Toil to Renown

The last survivor of her patrol, the warrior returned expecting disappointment and scorn. Instead she found gratitude. “You are alive. That is reason to celebrate.”

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

#magic the gathering #flavor text highlights #shadowmoor

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princess-of-the-corner · 11 months

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Honestly, one thing to bring up about canon: Adrien only gave his "high road" advice ONCE, when all Lila was doing was "lying about having disabilities" and Marinette seemingly got her Akumatized by obsessing over something that honestly wasn't a big deal, and he NEVER brings it up again after Lila starts targeting Marinette.

Also, the only reason he HELPS Lila is to basically try and negotiate to get her to leave Marinette alone. He does not bend over backwards to encourage her behavior.

Yet Salt Fics act like he lectures Marinette to "take the high road" every time Lila goes after her and was in fact doing whatever Lila asked of him from the moment she first showed up.

Which is just...

The exact opposite of what happens in canon?

Like, his advice makes PERFECT sense with the information he has access to. Eventually, if Lila really IS lying about her disabilities, she'd slip up and her entire house of cards would collapse around her. He doesn't know that Lila threatened Marinette, and Marinette didn't mention that when they talked about her after the fact.

Frankly, Marinette is lucky that nobody cut ties with her for apparently bullying a disabled kid over seating arrangements, because frankly, as someone who has been accused of faking PTSD for clout because the person I was arguing with REALLY wanted to win that argument we were having, Marinette was just looking like an ableist Karen.

Yeah no like.

I've discussed this extensively, but while lying is still 'bad'(especially lying about disabilities), as far as Adrien observed nothing that 'bad' is happening. The 'worst' thing that happened was the class rearranging to accommodate Lila's disability(which he has no proof is fake even if he doesn't believe the cause). It kinda sucks for Mari, but that's more on her for being last one to class so she couldn't pick her own seat. But that's a different conversation.

Adrien's advice isn't just 'take the high road and things will work out'. He says that her current actions are doing very little harm, so unless she starts causing harm, stay back and don't...... act like a madwoman scrutinizing someone's disability claims to the point she gets Akumatized.

Saltfics often went into ways that Lila's lies /could/ cause harm. Purposeful manipulation to turn them against Mari. Promising the class to get them all sorts of things with her 'connections'. Giving awful advice like that 'she tells Alya to toss her babysitting duties at Marinette' trope that was popular. And then these fics throw it in Adrien's face of 'see she is causing harm!!'

Completely ignoring that 1.) She hadn't been doing any of that before in Canon, and 2.) Adrien literally said 'if it gets worse then we do something' and that qualifies as 'worse' so he'd do something!

Swinging back to Mari:

Honestly though like. We the audience know Lila is probably lying about everything. But the class has little reason to doubt any of Lila's claims, especially the disability ones. And I actually applaud them for taking a disability claim at face value and helping with accommodations!

And yeah that's why the class is so mad at her in this episode. It's not 'how dare you question Lila!' it's 'girl you are foaming at the mouth trying to prove that the new student is faking a disability what the fuck is wrong with you'?

Especially because, thanks to Marinette's actions, the class fully believes this is about Adrien, not about Lila's hypothetical lies. Not just 'she sometimes goes nuts over Adrien' but her actions this very episode.

Remember the seating issue? Lila's new spot was next to Adrien. And when Marinette is raving about how Lila is faking and how she doesn't want to sit in the back, Adrien speaks up to try and help saying 'Okay, you can take my seat and I'll go sit in the back', prompting her to scream that no he has to stay there and Lila has to move.

So yeah she really made it seem to be all about Adrien without Lila even having to do shit.

#salt on salt

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toskarinfr · 4 months

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please imagine my posts as coming from a wizened sage softly imbibing from her slutweed, and not the deluded ravings of a madwoman absolutely lost in the fumes of the numerous cold compresses she's wrapped head to toe in

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dharmasharks · 2 months

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Hiii, now I really wanna throw some of these ask game things back at you (especially because I just finally got around to starting Other stars and god, man, it's wonderful. The evocative descriptions and the fiercely gentle, thought out dynamics?? the characterization?? hello??? Feeling very tender and gooey over here.) Indulge me with whichever of these guys you'd like? 🧩🍬❄️

Eeee okay first of all, this ask made *me* feel very gooey over here! (I’m such a fan of your writing…and like, every single thing you make?) Thank you for giving other stars a shot <3<3

🧩 what makes me click away from a fanfiction immediately:

I answered this one here, but I thought of another one! I very much like it when the boys are tender and gentle with each other (as evidenced by the above series). But if that tenderness veers too far into mushiness, I may have to leave. Excessive "I love you's" probably fall into that category...which makes me sound like a jerk, because I know that makes a lot of people very happy to read.

❄️ my dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best

I have been longing for a fic in which Steve gets defrosted in 2003 and has to grapple with cynical reinterpretations of his legacy in the 21st century, namely that Bucky has been erased. It’s a rough year to be an American who questions American policy (or extreme patriotism) and the powers that be decidedly do not want him around…in possibly dangerous ways?? *dun dun dunnn*

This is very much inspired by all the very weird revisions Disney has been making over the last few years to Steve's story. So in this universe, the intelligence community has known about the winter soldier—and that he was Bucky—since the 80s (an actual thing that happened on What If?!?) which does not reflect super great on anyone. Including Captain America by association. So it’s easier to wipe him…from the history books. (I’m so sorry.)

This is mostly the ravings of a madwoman premise and no plot, and I have no idea who should write it, but I'd really, really, really like to read it.

Answered 🍬 here!

Thanks for stopping by! This was fun and hopefully only a little bit unhinged.

#ask games #i should not be allowed to plot fics after bed time

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caitylove · 3 months

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5. 📓 NOTEBOOK: Share 7 lines from a WIP of your choice!

8. 🧢 CLOTHING: What is your MC currently wearing in the most recent scene of your WIP?

12. 🎧 HEADPHONES: Share a song that inspired your WIP.

13. 🌸 PERFUME: Describe the setting of your WIP using the five senses.

please and thank you!

Oooohhh thanks for helping me avoid sleep!

📓, this one is curious.. do those 7 lines have to be consecutive? lol 😂 here we 2 that equal paragraphs in the same WIP, but in very different parts of the story.

Laura sometimes wondered if she was going insane-if her thoughts and dreams of late were a result of her slowly losing grip on reality. That would explain the increasingly vivid, surreal dreams. It would also explain the increasing creeping on edge feeling she felt each time she encountered Bill Adama.

Laura took a deep breath. It was now or never. Hopefully Tigh’s famous short fuse wouldn’t backfire on her today. Or hopefully she wouldn’t sound like a raving madwoman.

🧢: in Frak Me Red? Literally nothing. lol 😂

In Symposium? A suit I think?

🎧: for Symposium of the Stars (which I swear I'll publish eventually lol 😂) is partially inspired by Invisible String by Taylor Swift. This song actually one of the main ones I have on repeat for this one...

For Frak Me Red ther was no specific song that inspired it. But when I'm writing some of the scenes I put FMRN (Frak me right now, lol ) by Lilyisthatyou on repeat lately.

#asks #wip ask game #writer asks

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pikapeppa · 2 years

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“Looking to spar?” 😏

I am of the firm opinion that this was 100% a flirt and I cannot be convinced otherwise. A short essay below the cut for anyone who wants to hear the raving of a thirsty madwoman 😂

OKAY, so we know that the Tenakth place an enormously high value on strength and combat prowess, and that those who have injuries or illnesses that might impede their combat abilities are viewed as a burden to the tribe. Kotallo is the most obvious example of this attitude, but there is also Korreh from the Desert Clan, who is blinded by acid, and Garokkah from the Lowland Clan, whose dementia is progressing to the point that he’s not always recognizing his daughter anymore.

One of my headcanons is that physical strength and combat prowess are also considered highly attractive traits in a sexual or romantic partner - which, obviously, would make Aloy a very attractive partner. I also headcanon that Tenakth flirting often comes in the form of invitations to spar together, with the idea that the physical closeness of sparring can become more sexual in nature as the sparring goes on. Maybe this is such common knowledge among the tribe that an invitation to spar is a well-known euphemism for wanting to sleep with that person -- like a Tenakth version of “Netflix and chill” or inviting someone in for ramyeon.

Now, if we accept all of the above, then Kotallo inviting Aloy to spar is 100% A FLIRT. But more importantly, the fact that Kotallo is saying this in the first place is a hugely significant indicator of his state of mind. When we first re-met him at Stone Crest, he was very much of the opinion that he was a maimed and weak, lacking in strength and combat abilities. If we apply my headcanons here, it is no small stretch to think that Kotallo would also feel that the loss of his arm - and in his opinion, his strength - would mean he is no longer attractive to other members of the tribe.

Now let’s consider the clip above, where Kotallo invites Aloy to spar. This invitation happened (for me) after Kotallo has asked Aloy to help him find the parts for his metal arm, but before Aloy has actually gone with him to the Ninmah research base. By this time in the game, he’s been at the base for long enough that he’s getting used to the crew and is hanging with them more; he’s offered to teach Tenakth history to Varl, and he’s played strike with Erend (though perhaps has not yet gotten drunk together with him -- I think that comes later). He’s also started fighting the Sunwings on the western plateau, which indicates that he’s regaining confidence in his combat abilities as well. In other words, he’s getting more relaxed, coming out of his shell a bit, gaining confidence and starting to let people in. And I believe that it’s this gain in confidence that lets him say something to Aloy that is so overtly flirtatious, and which could even be construed in my trash horny brain at least as being an overt proposition. He no longer sees himself as being weak, and thus his confidence in his own attractiveness is starting, slowly, to come back.

Now, the other thing to consider: Aloy isn’t Tenakth (obviously lol). So it is entirely possible that she doesn’t catch Kotallo’s flirtatious meaning here. It is also entirely possible that Kotallo knows that Aloy doesn’t realize what he means -- and so this flirt is something like testing the water, WHICH I PERSONALLY THINK IS EVEN MORE ADORABLE. He’s sneaking a little flirt in there which she could treat as just an innocent offer, but also kind of just trying his hand again at getting his flirt on.

TLDR - HE LOVES HER AND I WILL HEAR NO ARGUMENTS AGAINST THIS. THE END.

Also, final self-promotional plug: if you are interested in fic that explores Tenakth sexuality and cultural norms, and Kotallo and Aloy fumbling their way through these cultural differences, you can check out Becoming Whole on AO3! It’s long (>200k words and counting) and slow-burn with smut. 🥰

#kotallo #kotallo hfw #kotaloy #Aloy/Kotallo #aloy x kotallo #hfw #horizon forbidden west

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collegetennisoriginstory · 1 year

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Just want Rayyan and Davy to date tbh—

Bouncyyy omg this thought has been stuck in my brain for the past 24 hours - along w your question about what would happen if Davy came onto Rayyan. Here's a short response to that (Ha, I thought it would be short, it was not).

They are both intensely ambitious and out to be the very best at what they do, so on one level they really understand each other on that front (but I suspect given their work schedules they really might not see much of each other). I wonder if Davy might start out flirting for the sake of it, confusing the shit out of Rayyan, who actually might be the first to actually develop feelings-- though I think they might... be fwb for a while.

Davy: you seem... tense today and I can do something about that

Rayyan: you mean a massage?

Davy: *smirks* Among other things, yes...

But I think Davy would probably be the first to voice their more-than-fwb feelings for Rayyan. I think the main angst/struggle for both of them would be being willing to invest enough of their time and energy/soul into making a beyond-fwb rship work, but heck, no matter what they pursue, we all know the sex would be🔥🔥

Though ya know, after a recent replay of Citadel, I've also been thinking: JEAN IS SO DAMN CUTE. Rayyan and JEAN??? I'd be on board with that. Unbridled sunshine energy meets... grumpy hothead? Ahhh. Chef's kiss. Davy and Tobin give me huge best friend vibes. And uh, I dont know why but G with Vic feels kinda hot to me, something about the push and pull of flirty fun "here for a good time not a long time" energy with "I don't have time for this/for you" vibes BUT with an edge of... I think G would be smart/interesting enough to push back and challenge Vic in some ways, and Vic's "hard to crack exterior" would be absolute krptonite for G who loves the... chase, shall we say.

Okay that was way too long and sat in my inbox for also way too long, hope you'll indulge me in my madwoman ravings and also I am so excited for part two of the lovers??

#ct:os #college tennis: origin story #if #interactive fiction #rayyan #G #citadelwip #victoria uytterhoeven #victor uytterhoeven #jean liu #davy jackson

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