#;; i have to say that your writing for her just. activates my neurons in the right places

[navxry]

HOLY SHIT???

The way it ENDED... OH MY GOD

Oh this is so. Okay I need to lie down. What the hell. Oh my GOD. /pos /exag

JUST...

Holy SHIT I can't stop reading it (I say as I reread it again to gather my thoughts. Did it work? No. No it did not)

Hi Harmony! I just noticed that your requests are open and I decided to drop by with a small request I thought about for weeks.

I was thinking about Arlecchino for a while, and it made me ponder of the concept of Arlecchino with a darling on a reincarnation AU. Maybe Arlecchino has met her darling at such an inconvenient time, and every time that it has happened, only she remembers their past lives.

It probably goes to the point that Arlecchino starts devising ways to be able to keep her darling safe, because each time they would meet, her darling gets into an accident... And it would seem that each time she tried, then it would simply fail. And it would push to a point where she resorts to one of the more not so morally good methods.

I don't know if this counts as a req. or a brainrot, but I offer you this idea because I think it could be interesting to think about sometimes. You're free to deny it btw if its typical, hard, or overall you can't write it <3 I completely understand if that's the case.

(p.s.: this is the one running @yxstxrdrxxm BAHAHAHAHAHA I'm sorry if I haven't replied to your message during OLC, I dont know how to talk to you w/o sounding really awkward </3 also!! hydration check! Anyways thats all, have fun with the idea + I hope you have a great day Harmony :D)

Pantomime Of The Night

yandere!arlecchino x reader

cw(s) : yandere, vampire!arlecchino, mentions of blood, murder, slight gore, non-consensual touching, unbalanced power dynamics

wc : 2.1k

a/n: omg hiii! would you believe me if I said I was just thinking about you before getting this ask? also please don't worry about my message! i had a hunch that you might be in a situation of sorts. thank you so so much for requesting arlecchino because i've been itching to write for her for a long time! i decided to go with vampire!arlecchino for this because i thought it'd suit the reincarnation theme well. i hope you enjoy it<3

At the deepest hours of the night, even the innocent crackles of hearthfire sound as clamorous as gun-shots.

You're dazed by the flame's continuous dance until the aroma of freshly brewed tea reaches your senses and the servants have left. A sharp clank from Arlecchino's glass and the weight of her gaze prompt you to meet her eyes. The light from the fireplace casts shadows on the other half of her fair face, she seemed to have foregone her usual taught posture in favor of a relaxed one. One of her hands supports her cheek while the other holds the wine glass, the beverage within sloshes as the claw-like accessories on her fingers curl around the object.

Your side of the table is far more decorated, desserts that you've never even seen in your impoverished mortal life and that tea you've grown fond of over the course of your stay in her mansion sit appetizingly. All beckon you to feast, all seek to fan the flames of voracity and you offer but a thoughtless stare in return.

The master of the house seems to have noticed your lack of appetite as she finally breaks the stretched out silence, “These are all confectioneries of the highest quality from the town and as I recall, all of your favorites. But you give them no more than a blank stare... you've also not taken a sip from the tea. May I inquire why?”

The raspy tone of her observation has your arms covered in gooseflesh, though, you note she does not sound as confused as her words suggest. You can feel her onyx eyes gloss over every part of your person, inspecting and dissecting each and every visible clue. You swallow dryly, “It’s just that it's way too late in the night,”

“Yet you look as ready as ever to head out. Tell me, have you been anticipating my return, dearest?”

Arlecchino stares pointedly at your attire, likely referring to the traveling clothes you have on instead of the silk nightwear that she had gifted. Your shoulders tense unconsciously, there's something about the way she speaks at this instance that has your heartbeat crescendoing. The silver haired woman gives you a few more beats of anxiety, her talons scrape against the dainty glass.

“I’ve been informed that you have not eaten anything since yesterday.”

The words escape her painted lips easily, but they don't fail to send a jolt through your system. Throughout your stay, she'd never spoken to you like this, like you were one of her children who did not know better and decided to cross a line. That realization renders you further puzzled, you did nothing wrong to begin with, but her tone made you feel as though you were on the verge of doing so. You clear your parched throat and gather yourself to meet her eyes. This time, you do not allow yourself to wilt at the force of her burning stare.

“Arlecchino, I have something to tell you.”

The addressed woman straightens up at your sudden serious tone, her hand abandons the wine glass on the table and you inhale involuntarily at the scratches that now decorate the object, “I’m all ears, dearest.”

Your brows crease, as usual, Arlecchino is courteous, too courteous for someone who makes it obvious she's informed of something that she wasn't supposed to know. She's been like this ever since you and your travel-partner stepped foot in her ambiguous estate. Initially, you were touched by the hospitality she and her adopted children had shown you. Your greed lulled any arising suspicions, you neither questioned why she'd been so generous to a commoner with nothing more than fifty mora to their name nor did you bother to think about how she was affording all those gifts. You naïvely wished to believe in her kindness and that nothing was wrong about this house. But of course, self-woven deceptions last so long.

“Before you mistake me for being ungrateful, I did plan to inform you before leaving. Me and my friend are extremely thankful for the care your house has shown us, but we cannot stay in one place forever.”

“Why not?” you halt at her abrupt question but she follows up before you could even part your lips, “Have we lacked in any area to provide you with the adequate comfort? Have any of my children said something? If it's the latter, I'll apologize in their stead, they can be quite playful at times, I'm sure you understand.”

You stare dumbfounded at the sudden turn this conversation has taken, she wasn't supposed to behave like this. Why is she searching for a reason to make you stay when she should've been happy that a burden was about to be lifted off of her shoulders? Are all nobles this pushy?

“I—” you cut yourself off as the silver-haired woman leans in without warning, her shadow envelopes the delicacies laid out on the small table.

“Or… have you seen something?” she drawled.

You cannot hold back a flinch this time. A curse echoes in your mind at your stupidity, this was no ‘conversation’ to begin with ; this was yet another trap and you'd willingly played right into the palm of Arlecchino's hand. If there's one thing you've learned about this mysterious noblewoman, it is that she enjoys the process of dragging answers out of everyone. From the very beginning, she was aware of your scheme but, she chose to wear that mask of courtesy one more time and lured you out in the open, unguarded. If only your friend arrived to fetch you from your room at the right time, you wouldn't be in this messy situation.

Your eyes dart from her unblinking expression to the sharp accessories that adorn her gloved fingers and something about them forces you to reply quickly.

“No! I mean, you know that I'm a traveler, do you not? It's already been six months since we came to your estate, me and my friend were starting to.. crave that adventurous thrill—yes! We were starting to miss being on the road and decided to depart in the early morning.”

Once upon a time, your late mother had told you that some people in this world are like spiders. They're always at the centerpiece of their lair, leaving intricate translucent webs for unassuming prey to get tangled upon. Although the croaked warnings of your bedridden mother did not make much sense to the younger you, you understood now exactly what she meant.

“Incorrect. You were planning to escape with that friend of yours, weren't you?”

The hearthfire burns bright, shrouding Arlecchino's expression in shadows. The chilling octave of her voice defeats the warmth of the fireplace and has every muscle in your body stiffened. Escape? Her word choice never ceased to baffle you throughout this faux tea-party. She speaks as though you were her prisoner instead of a guest. She tilts her head and has the audacity to look betrayed as though you were a possession she held dear, and not a random human she decided to take pity upon.

Arlecchino runs a hand through her silvery hair with a sigh that actually indicates ennui and you bite back a scowl, “Honestly, I do not understand why you even befriended that thing. He's an obnoxious blabbermouth with a nose bigger than his brain. And he's loud, too. You've always preferred to mingle with level headed people with a sufficient intellectual capacity in the past and here you are, glaring at me as though—”

“Don’t speak like you know me!”

You pant after the force of that outburst, your voice ricochets across the walls of her room and further beyond. You open your mouth to continue but stop when you notice a strange flicker in the silver-haired woman's eyes. It's gone in a blink and is replaced with irritation just as quickly however.

“Oh, but I do know you. I know you better than you know yourself, in fact. I know that there are exactly 11 moles throughout your body, I know all your preferences and fears. Don't believe me? Did you really never stop to question how I managed to give you things that catered to your tastes? How I knew what you desired even before you did? Or were you so mesmerized by the words of that friend of yours to pay minimum attention?”

If the tone of a person's voice could kill, you'd be rotting in a ditch by now. You would've never believed someone could sound this malicious while not even raising their voice. You want nothing more than to shrink away but the adrenaline accumulated through your anger pushes you to keep digging your grave.

“And so what if that's exactly how it is? You have no right to have a say in who I choose to be ‘mesmerized’ by!”

A ‘ha!’ laden with disbelief escapes Arlecchino's lips. Fine silvery strands bounce at the mocking tilt of her head, “So what will you do now? Walk out of the gates with that waste of space like nothing happened?”

“Oh, you bet I will!” you fume, rising from the chair and turning on your heels. You barely take one step away from the table until the full weight of Arlecchino's malice crashes down on you and you remember something important.

“Arlecchino, where is my friend?”

The silver haired woman leisurely raises her wine glass at your stilted words, “In my glass.”

You swivel towards her, blinking several times as if to confirm you didn't mishear.

“Well, here and… probably in the stomach of my pet vultures, excluding the carcass, that is. I'll admit, the taste is subpar compared to the trouble I went through. That thing kept on screaming until one of the vultures tore its heart out. Ugh, my ears are still ringing.”

Your wide eyes tremble towards the glass in her hand, the deep red liquid within sloshes to the direction of Arlecchino's hand ; paired with her words, your friend’s destiny becomes a no-brainer. All your wits abandon you in that instance and in a moment of sheer panic, you take a step back. Arlecchino promptly interferes with your plans, the door and windows close with no little sound and the table and your chair disappear without a trace—all in the snap of her fingers.

“What are you?”

You would've screamed if you didn't forget how to use your lungs. But then again, you doubt anyone would come to save you from her clutches even if you did. Your eyes connect to her onyx ones and in that moment, she appeared far less human than she'd been this whole encounter. Her pupils flash as two red xs and you feel an invisible pull tugging you to her side. The temptation dominates any coherent thoughts until you find yourself an arms length away from her seated self. Her claws dig into the flesh of your arm and yank you to her lap.

Free from the haze of that strange sensation, the first thing that permeates your senses is how cold Arlecchino's proximity is. Your palm meets her chest in a feeble attempt to push her away but all it does is stun you when you notice the absence of a heartbeat. You feel the sting of something sharp on your chin and waist, your eyes glance back and forth between the sources—dread pools in your stomach. Because of your closeness and the light from the fireplace, you're able to see that the sharp objects you'd mistaken for accessories are actually her nails and the gloves, her real skin.

Perhaps your trembling was so pitiful that Arlecchino could not help but soften her gaze, “Do you truly not recall?”

You look up at her, thoroughly perplexed. There's that previous glint in her eyes again but you've already accepted that understanding this woman was beyond you. One moment she accuses you as though you've been unfaithful, then she vividly describes how she murdered an innocent man and the next she looks almost… hurt?

“Recall what?”

The silver-haired woman’s red lips part and you gulp as unnaturally sharp fangs sneer at you. Albeit, she does not answer you and you wonder if you should get accustomed to playing mental gymnastics with her just to get a simple answer. Her talons let go of your waist and drag their up to your collarbone, creating a deliberate and irrepairable tear on your clothes. Her nails drum against your skin for three seconds before they latch onto your throat.

“Although, that'll no longer be an issue.”

She forces you to make eye-contact with a sharp tug on your chin, the color drains from your face as her cool breath washes against your skin. You open your mouth to say something, anything, but are quickly shushed as you feel her fangs sink into your lower lip.

“Because, we'll have ample time to get acquainted with each other starting from today.”

[moodymisty]

Hello I hope you are having a good week! I love your blog and anons so much <3 (The Horus feet post lives rent free in my head)

Your hc about Sanguinius having a secret possessive streak activated a neuron in my brain because its been stuck in my head for days and Im completely normal about him I promise :') my request:

His possessiveness rearing its head unexpectedly for the first time. To the point it even surprises him with how grumpy it makes him feel. His lover had only really been around him and his sons since theyd gotten together so he is caught off guard by this sudden anger.

She is meeting a few of his brothers for the first time at some kind of meeting and she laughing and smiling with Vulkan or maybe Fulgrim is being a little TOO friendly with her and Sanguinius just feels this red hot rage rip thru him without warning.

He goes to his lover and tensely bids his brother goodbye and herds her back to their shared quarters for some totally-normal-not-jealous-at-all sex (and a little bitey blood drinking) leaving her a total mess

If this is too specific, grumpy possessive vampire pigeon boyfriend is all I crave. Angry Sangy hits different...

Author's Note: Tried to write this normally and really struggled, so I decided to do a flashback style just to make it easier on me.

Relationships: Sanguinius/Fem!Reader

Warnings: NSFW, Rough sex, Biting, Blood play, Possessive behavior

When you first awoke the feeling of lightheadedness overtook you immediately, and you drifted off asleep again for a short while longer.

After you woke for the second time, you noticed your Angel’s absence and leaned up to look around.

The Red Tear has been Sanguinius’ home for quite awhile now, and this trip back to Terra was well deserved. Even if much was unexpected.

A lot had changed in this time away. You first and foremost. He had left Terra with just his legion, and was now returning with a beloved at his side. It was very clear upon his arrival that this was the most interesting news.

Horus had been the first to greet him, giving him a friendly one armed hug. You had tucked yourself behind Raldoron when Sanguinius had waved for you to come forward, and put his hand on your shoulder. Raldoron stood close watch- on edge with an instinctive protectiveness triggered by your nervousness.

“I would like you to meet someone,”

Sanguinius had first told Horus. Horus then went and told Fulgrim. Fulgrim told Ferrus, who then complained to Vulkan. Vulkan was more chaste and didn’t gossip, but did say he was going to meet Sanguinius and his beloved upon passing Jaghatai.

Suddenly then all the Primarchs currently on Terra were crowding around his beloved sniffing around, and Sanguinius was furious.

You had only ever been around him and his sons since he had first fallen in love with you; To see others crowding around looking at you, asking you questions that teeter on the edge of too personal, watching as you struggle to keep your own head and answer without wilting under an unfamiliar primarch aura?

He hated it.

Seeing Vulkan smile at you made him want to throw his spear into his chest.

Seeing Fulgrim put a hand on your shoulder made him want to tear the Phoenician's throat out with his teeth.

Horus’ smile and jokes about you grounding the angel made him watch to wrap his hands around the Warmaster’s neck.

Sanguinius had snatched you and dragged you away the moment he had an opening to, pushing you in the direction of his Terran bedchambers.

'You smell like them.'

His nose wrinkled in disgust.

You should smell like him; The oil on his feathers, the scent of his own sweat and skin. Sometimes you smell like his sons when you are within a close proximity of them for awhile, which is less offensive that what it is currently, but not preferred.

He threw you into the bed, the messy unmade blankets bunching around you as fluffy down flies up. Sanguinius’ quarters are surprisingly messy, and his constant feather losses make the places he spends most a fluffy explosion of down and a few flight feathers.

He never spoke as he caged you under his body, looking down at you with a fierce gaze before his lips trapped your own. You felt the warmth of them, the way his tongue brushed against your lips and demands entry. His fangs are sharp- they nick your lips almost every time he deepens a kiss, and you end up with little droplets of blood on the inside of your waterline.

You can still fell the broken skin this morning, licking your bottom lip.

Something about him snapped, what was normally a gentle and soft man who touched you like you were made of glass suddenly was throwing you around, growling and snorting like little more than an animal.

'S-Sang-'

You could barely even finish his name as his fingers drove deeper into your cunt, and you could tell he was in a rush. Your grit your teeth and moaned, teetering on the knife's edge of pain too intense for you to enjoy, as his hot breath fanned over your skin and his fingers curled and beckoned you from deep inside your cunt. His lips hovered over the large vein of your neck, feeling the pulse of your racing heart just beneath your skin.

When he pulled them out you whimpered at the ache, the way your thighs shook along with your whole body. Sanguinius grabbed your hips and you sucked in air at the intensity, flipping you on your stomach.

'Up.'

When you don't understand his request immediately he gently rapped his hand over your ass and listened to you squeal out after the sound of smacked flesh rang out; Soon after you shifted to push your hips higher in the air for him.

You can still feel the echo of that lingering slap. You lay sideways in bed, wrapped in a thick red blanket trying to ignore the aches. You can still feel in your cunt the soreness as well, more than usual.

The feeling of the fat head of his cock popping past your entrance made you grit your teeth and whine, hands gripping the blankets. Sanguinius kept pushing, listening to your soft noises of half protest until he seated himself fully inside of you and his balls pressed against your clit.

The bruises of his harsh thrusts, hips slapping against your ass and forming a chorus of skin on skin, wet sounds of your cunt tightening and leaking around his cock- are still blossoming, if not in color but in pain.

Normally Sanguinius is gentle enough that you only get a muscle ache at most, but in his lack of self control you now struggle to get out of the bed and get dressed.

‘Their eyes may wander but yours won’t; You are mine.’

You felt the way he thrusts deep into you, slipping through your walls as the tip of his cock knocks against places untouched by everyone but him. The thick base of his cock stretched your entrance far enough that it almost burned, but in an almost pain that had tears pricking at the corner of your eyes and hiccuping moans in your throat.

Sanguinius is rarely rough; But when he is you feel like you can barely survive it, despite your cunt crying for more leaking around him like you’ve never wanted him more.

After he filled you to the brim and had your cunt throbbing with your heart beat from overstimulation, he pulled out of you and listened to the defeated, quiet whine as you feel the stretch from the head of his cock popping out of your entrance.

‘Tilt your head.’

You weakly let him in, feeling his hot skin fan over your own. He bites and listened to the way you hiss, whimpering in pain. He laps at your neck for a few moments before pulling away, finding a spot closer to your shoulder.

He bit again and again, each time enjoying the way your skin broke and blood flooded his mouth. When your eyes watered in pain his hand slipped between your legs to distract you, brushing over your throbbing clit and feeling the way your hole leaks his own cum onto his hand as well as your growing arousal as he toys with you.

Your neck still aches, and your head feels a bit light. You almost stumble walking out of his bedchambers, walking down the hall and wrapped your arms around yourself.

“My lady?”

You hear a familiar voice of the chapter master, who you presume is attempting to find Sanguinius same as you.

He quickly notices your somewhat disheveled state of dress and look, glancing over you curiously. His face is still stoic with only a slight layer of concern and curiosity.

“Are you alright?”

Raldoron comes closer and watches you nearly stumble, before righting yourself. He reaches a hand outward to steady you, but you don’t need it.

“Oh yes I’ll be fine, just tired. It was a long return trip to Terra.

You shift slightly and feel the ache in your neck- wincing in pain. Raldoron’s eyes drift downward, before his expression changes.

He suddenly has trouble making eye contact with you, which is odd. Raldoron is one of the more talkative of the Astartes you know. You reach up to rub your sore neck and feel skin-

You forgot to wear something to cover the marks.

Raldoron can see the full abuse Sanguinus- his genefather - had done to you the evening before, and is awkwardly standing there like it’s eating him alive.

“…Perhaps you should rest some more, my lady.”

Raldoron is clearly trying to avoid the subject, as are you. The sound of much heavier footsteps is like a savior in the darkest of times.

“There you are, my love.”

Sanguinus approaches, looking bright and alert with a lovely smile. He looks like he slept wonderfully, his face fuller and brighter. He greets Raldoron as well, before furrowing his brow as he notices the look on Raldoron’s face and the way you are pulling at the collar of your clothes.

“Is something wrong?”

[boulderpunchinglover]

Hii I was thinking for either bakugo or izuku u can write an image of the trend where the gf pretends that there's not enough food

also I'm so glad I found you, I know you only have one post up but I absolutely love your writing style and the way your profile colors are coordinated is so cute. I love it. Also because my favorite author is retiring 😭

also here's the link to the tik tok I'm referring to if you don't know

byee - 🖤🫶🏾

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNdQHYcw/

Woohoo! My first request!! As soon as I got the notification, I started writing immediately. TY for the profile compliment! I couldn’t decide on whether to write about Bakugo or Izuku so I did both! I hope that you and everyone who reads this enjoys <3

"There's not enough food" Prank on Bakugo and Izuku

Katsuki Bakugo

One night, you were scrolling on TikTok in your bed as Bakugo slept peacefully on your chest. You’re never up this late and you knew that Bakugo would be upset that you aren’t getting your beauty sleep. Good thing he fell asleep before you. He couldn’t fuss at you about being up this late. As you scroll, you see a video that catches your eye. A girl pranks her boyfriend by pretending that there's not enough food for the both of them and takes the plate with less food just to see his reaction. The boyfriend’s reaction catches your eye the most. He immediately takes some of the food off his plate and gives it to his girlfriend. “How sweet…” You say to yourself as you look down at Bakugo. “I wonder if Katsuki would have the same reaction…” neuron activated. You know what you are going to be doing tomorrow.

There was this restaurant that you and Bakugo went to regularly that had food worth dying for. You guys ordered the same thing every time: katsu curry. You decided to set up a date there to conduct the prank. Convincing Bakugo to go on a last minute date with you wasn’t hard at all. He was always happy to spend time with you. As you enter the restaurant, you come up with a plan on exactly how to go about this. “Kats, find us some seats. I’ll order the food for us.” Bakugo shrugs and does as he’s told. When you go up to the counter, you order a medium sized katsu curry bowl for Bakugo, and a small one for yourself. Once you sit beside Bakugo, he sees that you’re holding back laughter and raises his eyebrow. “What’s so funny?” You try to get your laughter to a minimum in order to answer his question. “Nothing, just thought of something funny.” Bakugo shrugs. He’s still sort of suspicious, but he doesn’t think much about it as he holds your hand. “Ok, weirdo…” A few minutes later, the waitress comes out with both of your bowls. She places the smaller one in front of you, and the bigger one in front of Bakugo. As you begin eating like everything is normal, you glance over at Bakugo’s face. He looks quite baffled.

What the hell?” Bakugo says as he compares your portion size to his. “Did you order a smaller size?” You shake your head. “My portion was smaller because the restaurant was running out of ingredients.” Bakugo scowls and begins to dump some of his food into your bowl. “That’s bullshit.” You giggle and try to stop him. “You don’t have to do that, Katsuki! I’m not even that hungry, for real!” Bakugo doesn’t believe that. “You were looking forward to going to this restaurant all day, idiot! I’d be damned if you can’t at least enjoy your meal like you wanted!” When Bakugou is done, you both have equal portions. In fact, you might have a little more. “There you go. If you want more, you can have more off my plate.” How sweet. You kiss Bakugo on his cheek and lay your head on his shoulder. “My hero. Thank you, babe. I love you.” Bakugo slightly blushes at your actions and words. He lovingly rubs your shoulder. “Yeah, yeah. I love you too ♡”

Izuku Midoriya

Izuku insisted that he cook dinner when you were staying over at his house. After all, you were a guest. In his mind, you shouldn’t be the one cooking when you were the one staying over at his house! But after much convincing, he finally gives in and lets you cook. But little did he know, you offered to cook for a reason… to recreate a prank on TikTok that you saw where girls would give their boyfriends a plate with more food while they took the plate with less food just to see their reactions. Once you saw it, you knew that you just had to do it with Izuku. You decided to make Katsudon, which was his favorite food. His reaction was going to be interesting, as you knew that he loved Katsudon and he would most likely be reluctant to share with you. 

As you cook, you glance at Izuku as he studies at the kitchen table. He looks so peaceful, that you almost feel bad for your impending prank. (Keyword: almost). Once you get done cooking, you place each other's plates down on the table and take your seat. Izuku affectionately grins at you. “Thank you, love-” Izuku’s sentence is cut short when he notices that you barely have any food on your plate. “Y/N? What.. what is this about?” He says as he looks down at his plate in confusion. You smile and begin digging into your own, smaller portion plate. “There weren't enough ingredients for us to have the same amount. But that’s ok. I wasn’t that hungry anyway. 

Izuku shakes his head and swaps your plates. “In that case, you can have mine. It’s not fair for you to cook and eat the least amount.” You try to argue and swap the plates again. But he stops you. “Honey, I insist. Please don’t fight this…” You look into his eyes and see the genuine concern. You smile, knowing that you picked the right person to share your life with.

[kneelingshadowsalome]

Hello! I’ve been back and forth on writing you this bc I’m nervous but eh fuck it, I have no shame. So first off, I just want to say that you, Salome, are an absolutely stunning and brilliant writer. As someone who majored in classical studies in college, I was completely blown away by Fatum Nos Iungebit. The world you built was so deeply immersive and characterization of König, in that story as well as your other headcanons, is perfect. For the past week or so, I’m going to be honest, I’ve been going through your blog because I’ve been so hungry for more and the only reason I haven’t interacted more is that 1. I don’t wanna feel like a creep and 2. I was so scared of you blocking me for ‘’spam-liking” or whatever. I can assure you that I am a real person and I’ve been enjoying everything I’ve seen. I came across one concept however, that definitely got my neurons firing and that’s the idea of belly dancer reader x könig and I have some thoughts I wanted to share with you if that’s okay. :)

So I’ve been a belly dancer for almost a decade (I actually celebrate my ten year anniversary next year!). I was part of a belly dance performance troupe at my old university and I currently dance with a studio in my new city. It’s genuinely one of the great passions of my life. I’ve performed at all kinds of venues and for all different occasions from festivals to galas to charity events to hookah bars, so I definitely have some performing experience under my belt, well as what audiences are like. So when I saw the idea of König being mesmerized by a dancer at a wedding, I went !!!

I want to add the caveat that this is based on my experience as a dancer living in the US, and while I’ve performed for SWANA audiences (which is always an amazing experience 🥰) and non-SWANA audiences, I can’t speak for what it’s like in other countries. So, in my ✨personal✨ experience as a belly dancer going on a decade, it’s pretty rare that men will approach dancers during or after a performance—especially to actively hit on her. And believe it or not, it’s because many of them are actually intimidated! I have seen the most seemingly cockiest, proudest men just stare blankly and stand back while we do our thing. If anything, it’s usually women who approach us, gushing about our performances or asking where they can take classes and stuff. Women tend to be the first ones to get up and dance with us, shower us with tips, etc. (again, very much my personal experience as someone living in the US). When it comes to more family-friendly events like weddings and stuff, we also get a lot of kids approaching and that’s always so adorable and sweet—especially when the little babies think we’re princesses. 😭

So back to König, especially Y!König. 😈 he’s at the wedding. He’s mopey. He’s picking at his plate of chicken and rice. He’s happy for his friend and his bride, but a little bitter and jealous that he’ll never get to be that happy. Then, a mejance (essentially an entrance/overture piece of music) swells over the speakers and out comes the dancer, adorned in an Irina Sheyner number (she’s an absolutely STUNNING costume designer, plsplsplsPLS look her up 😭), veil flying behind her. She does her mejance, a drum solo, and at some point…she does a sword number. The level of control she has to be able to balance the sword on her head in impressive, but König can’t help but imagine what it would be like for to dance wielding his knives in hand. Finally, dancer opens up the floor and in typical faction brings out the bride and groom to dance with her, and then most of the other guests follow. Not König though. He hangs back and watches as this beautiful dancer holds the guests in the palm of her hand. Gone is the cocky, brutal soldier, and only the shy, anxious boy remains, the one who would always be left out of games at recess and who wasn’t invited to birthday parties. König has never been the dancing type, but he can’t even bring himself to offer her a few of the banknotes or dollars or whatever currency he’s using. He just stares, and she’s completely oblivious.

A while later, he’s getting ready to leave, when he spots Dancer. Her makeup and hair still done up, but she’s now fully cloaked and awkwardly lugging her suitcase and bags full of props and other equipment across the poorly paved parking lot. König zeroes in on her and before he knows it, he’s approaching her, asking her if she needs help carrying her stuff. Dancer, surprised but this gigantic man suddenly appearing before her, flashes a winning smile at him and says he can. König easily lugs the stuff to Dancer’s car. She thanks him profusely and just like that, she drives away.

It’s only a few hours later that the obsession starts to creep in. König, who’s ordinarily not a big social media user, is now checking the feeds and stories of his friends who attended the wedding. Finally, he comes across one friend who posted a video of themself with the dancer and tagged her Instagram. König can’t click on it fast enough and suddenly, he’s greeted by dozens of images and photos of Dancer. Some are adorably mundane. He finds out that Dancer teaches classes at a studio nearby, and some of the videos consist of dancer teaching basic moves to the camera. There are other videos of her at the local hookah bar, where she performs on a regular basis. König sees one particularly video of Dancer doing a piece of floor work, that same sword balanced proudly on her head as she’s propped back on her arms, her gorgeous hips undulating toward the sky. König feels a dark wave of heat wash over him. He jokingly thinks to himself that maybe he should take up hookah. But one thing is for certain, she’s going to be his one day. He’ll just have to be sneaky about it, subtle.

He clicks the follow button on Dancer’s instagram. She has a few thousand followers. Surely she can’t notice one faceless profile, right? 😈😈😈😈😈😈

Anyway, that’s all I have for now. I know you’re taking a break from fics but if you see this I want you to know you’re an amazing writer. Lots of love! 💖💖💖💖

Ughhh and another lovely soul 😭💗 I don't know what's going on in here this week but both you and anon have really made my heart swell!

And please please please, spam liking is never frowned upon here (I don't know why anyone would block someone who's clearly not a bot for loving your stuff?!) It's such a delight if I see that someone has liked a ton of things instead of just one. It's the highest compliment and praise! ❤️🥺

And your bellydancer prompt/drabble is so mouthwatering, god. If I'm being honest, I'd read whatever you wrote for this thing in a hot minute because you have the skill and you've done the research (an actual bellydancer in my inbox?! Ok Salome try not to be a creep) and the premise is just. GAH. So good, especially with yandere König! ❤️❤️❤️

I have to reveal I wrote like 8 chapters of a story relatively close to this in the fall: Stalker!König obsessing about reader, invading her DMs on Instagram and literally stalking her. She's not a bellydancer, but damn if I didn't think about changing her into one... :) The story is on hold for now, but here is a little snippet as a thank you gift!

CW: Yandere/Stalker!König, harassing, obsessive behavior

I’m sorry, Liebling. You were too beautiful yesterday. I got carried away.

You wake up just to see that your phone is full of messages. From him, of course. He’s created another account on Instagram.

I’m just a man.

You ignore it altogether, even if there’s messages and emails from other people too. You simply go to brush your teeth, hearing how the phone buzzes on your desk.

I know it was disrespectful. I could never call my wife that. Will you forgive me?

You sigh and finish with your morning routine, but the phone buzzes again.

I sent you flowers. Did you get them?

It’s like he knows when you’re awake, because you can see the messages from your screen without having to unlock it. Even if he refreshed your conversation every minute, every second, he can’t possibly see that you’ve seen them yet.

It bugs you to no end, this feeling that he somehow knows that you’re awake. It’s like he knows your every move. It’s the most unnerving thing, and makes you think about horrible scenarios where he has broken into your house while you’re at work, to install cameras or microphones or something. You feel like you’re about to go mad if this nightmare goes on.

You go to the front door, but hesitate a while before you turn the knob.

What if it’s a trap?

What if he wants to kill you because you yelled at him last night at the pub...? What if there’s a bomb or something that goes off when you open the door, what if he aims at you with a gun from across the street and kills you on your doorstep this morning?

Just what the actual fuck does this guy even want with you...

You sigh with a broken heart and some broken nerves, deciding it’s as good a way to go as any. You turn the knob and open the door, only to find the usual porch, and a large bouquet of dark red roses planted there.

More ice sinks into your stomach as you witness the evidence of him knowing where you live. But the fact that he chose to send red roses… Ugh, this guy is so old-fashioned and so unimpressive that it’s somewhat a dull surprise to actually see flowers on that porch.

Who buys red roses these days?

Couldn’t he have picked peonies or something, something to go with your other decor… Red roses are so eighties, so funeral-like, so boring.

You sigh and go and take the flowers to the trash. Then you walk back to your house, make sure the door is locked tight, and go back to your phone to type a message.

Did you see that?

The answer arrives immediately.

What? ❤️

I threw your flowers in the trash.

There’s bit of a pause after that. Your wannabe boyfriend clearly hasn’t got his eye on you at every given moment. That’s a bit of a surprise, almost a disappointment, actually. But only if you were any more crazy.

The reply comes after about 30 seconds, after a series of Typing… bumping up and down on the screen.

I’m sad.

You get some satisfaction from that, but the first reaction is a tiny, tiny dagger to the heart. You sigh – you do nothing but sigh these days – not only because of his message, but also because you can’t seriously be having a moment of compassion for your stalker, for god's sake.

You make me sad, Liebling 💔 Are you still angry with me?

You throw the phone away and go to make yourself some breakfast, only to stop and turn when you hear the phone buzz again.

I’ll send you more flowers.

Jesus…

You unlock the screen in a frenzy and type a reply in mere seconds.

Don’t bother. I’ll throw them in the bin too.

Typing…

You have to keep them at some point. Trash bins get full so soon.

STOP HARASSING ME.

You throw the phone away for good this time, and don’t come back to it for another hour. You eat your breakfast with squirming insides and a rattled heart, waiting for someone to come bring you flowers at any given moment.

But no one ever comes.

You check your phone before going to work, but there’s nothing from him there. You go and block his new profile, unsurprised to see that there are no pictures this time, not even a profile picture (well, there is one, but it’s only a black circle), just in case. You don’t know why you didn’t block him in the first place.

There’s a radio silence for a few days. You spend them at the edge of your seat, with lots of trouble sleeping, but soon start to ease into the fact that maybe he finally had enough. Maybe you were not as interesting or attractive as he thought when he met you in person…

Wait, what?

Gosh, you can’t be this desperate... You simply can’t. This has to end.

You don’t talk about him in therapy, mainly to convince yourself that you’re not thinking about him at all. You’re not missing him harassing and stalking you, and you’re not disappointed that he didn’t send you enough flowers to fill your entire bin.

You know you should address this: this crazy need to be something groundbreaking to someone. To want someone to be this obsessed with you, no matter how sick that someone was. You know you would have gone to the police if your stalker was the sleazy, weak-wristed man from the pub. You would’ve packed your bags and moved houses already, changed your name and closed your social media accounts, quit everything if your stalker was small and ugly and weak.

But now that you know he’s relatively good-looking, does something dangerous and has a lot of money, and looks like he could fuck and fight half the city by himself, you’re not in that much of a hurry to go to the authorities.

You’re even a bit sad that your stalker hasn’t given you any fevered attention these past few days... He hasn’t even asked you how you’ve been.

No one has asked you how you’ve been: no one ever does. You have to wade through this life all by yourself: depressed and anxious and crazy. Lonely… And horny.

Gods, you just want someone to hold you at night… Someone strong, and big, someone who would pay a few bills for you, take care of you and give you a round of good sex…

Your phone buzzes from time to time, but there’s no message from him. One night before going to sleep, relatively early, so early that it could be called the bedtime for old spinsters, you break down and cry a little. It’s not a wail: only a soft little sob, a few sniffles and a couple of tears until your nose gets clogged and the pillow is wet.

Your phone buzzes, and you reach for it, feeling so, so pathetic when you hope it would be him.

And the message is from him.

You’re the most beautiful woman on this earth. I know I fucked up. I’m just a horny dog and I don’t deserve you.

You sniffle and rise to sit, your whole system fully awake now. Oh god... You’re so fucked.

The message makes you feel incredibly good and sweet, almost giddy. It feels like he’s kneeled right there in front of you, like a knight who has misbehaved in the throes of his lust. You know it’s ridiculous, but you start to smile a little, and the tears dry on their own. The merry feeling is followed by righteous rage, a little fit, because he’s made you wait for days, he’s tortured you in every way possible, and he does absolutely nothing right.

You unlock the screen and start to type, not thinking it through at all before hitting send.

That’s right.

Fuck… Shit. That was a mistake. No, a huge error.

Why did you have to send that? Stooping to his level, sending stupid things like that…

You put the phone away quickly, then reach for it again to delete what you just send. But it’s too late.

I can be a good dog if you forgive me.

The message is waiting for you already, and when you don’t reply, the oppressive, ominous Typing… hits on the screen once more. God, how could you be so stupid…

I’ll kill anyone you need me to kill. I'll give you money, whatever you need. A new kitchen so you can cook me something nice? I’ll be a good dog, I promise.

What did you even expect?

Everything always blows up when you give him attention: any dumb person knows better than to give this hungry dog a bone. You’re just too fond of digging your own grave, it seems.

There’s no end to the messages: this guy starts typing a new one every time he has sent the last.

I’ll fuck you like a good dog too….

You lean your forehead to your palm, trying to figure out a way to stop this.

And then–

Fuck, now I’m hard

You take a quick breath of air and put the phone away.

Please don’t send a dick pic, please don’t send a dick pic…

The phone buzzes.

Look how hard you make me

There’s a picture attached, but you can’t see it when the screen is locked.

This is what I have to live with, day and night…

Message after message, your phone buzzes, and you check them quickly from your screen, swearing to yourself that you’re not going to give him the satisfaction of opening the conversation and checking the image he sent you. You know perfectly well what you will find if you do that.

But after only a minute or two, you unlock the phone, and open the conversation with your heart ramming in your chest.

Just one quick look...

[nottoxicfr]

Pfffff! I Didn't double check what I wrote. I meant to ask "What are your Rosegarden Headcannons?"

What are my Rosegarden head canons? Hmmmm…that’s a pretty good question. I’ve never made a list to be honest. My brain is more like a highway where my neurons activate when I think of the pairing. I'll try and cover what seems to be the foundational stuff first, then maybe get more specific?

Who falls in love first?

Oscar falls in love first, but he doesn't fall in love immediately. He get a crush on her fairly quickly but actual love only starts during the time when Oz is hiding in Oscar's mind. He has more time to think about stuff that isn't an impending death of identity, and he naturally thinks about why he likes Ruby. He has the realization of love in Salem's dungeon, which is a depressing time to realize you love someone. I like that timeframe of events because it makes Emerald interrupting the Rosegarden hug funnier and a little sadder, which I like. He just realized he loves a girl and he can’t even get a hug! Maybe he could confess to her later, but then she dies…(kind of). He's entirely devastated and barely recovers.

Ruby falls in love with Oscar second, but it’s falling. There’s not a slow descent from affection to crush to romantic love. That wouldn’t happen until after V9, though there is a certain lovely feeling to Ruby being in love with Oscar but prior to V9 just feeling like she can’t be in love the world is ending and I need to save it so I can’t be in love. I respect anyone who head canons that. For mine, I think the first big indication is writing a recurring thread of Ruby missing Oscar in the Ever After.

“Oscar would know what to do. Oscar would know what to say. Oscar would think this is weird.”

It’s incredibly important that the thoughts don’t indicate that she thinks Oscar is better than her (a perilous trap for RWBY writers of all pairings) but that she thinks he would be able to take the lead while she is free to fall apart. She wants someone else to be there and she trusts Oscar to be that person.

NSFW Questions? Y'know, like sex.

I don't really think about them having sex. Partly that's because that seems like a good policy to prevent mean behavior on my posts (I assume you've seen anti-RG rationale) but also my mind just doesn't really go that direction. It's not quite to the point of Aesexual! RoseGarden, although I enjoy that too. Most of the time that I write big consummation of romance scenes, it ends up being more about kissing or they essentially propose to each other and swap necklaces or something. Rings are a hassles! This is influenced by FFXIII...

I do think they’re the type of people to adopt and co-parent a kid while living together, but not be in a confirmed romantic relationship. They’d sleep in the same room with two beds next to each other. Eventually they’d confirm that relationship and switch to one bed, but the important thing is starting off with two beds in one room because they are not dating. I think it is 1) Funny and 2) Filled with the comfortable tension of co-habitation. It’s very Advent Children.

I’ve written them with a kid twice (unpublished), both times adopted and both times it was a Grimm that had evolved to the point of essentially being a human. Once was post-series and the other was a thing where a Grimm ate part of Ozcar’s magic and got turned into a kid between V6 and V8. I’m very fond of the second because it’s incredibly silly to me to do that at that specific time. I need to talk about that sometime.

Who is taller? That comes up a lot, right?

Oscar is taller than Ruby, but it’s close enough that it really depends on who laid down the most recently. A height difference of maybe three inches? Something that’s easy to catch up to for Ruby by wearing tall shoes and standing up straighter. I like negligible height differences.

What’s another thing people are always talking about? I don't get involved in discussion a lot...

Food?

Oscar likes coffee, but Ruby enjoys fruit smoothies. Oscar has a weakness for sour (not bitter) desserts like lemon tarts or lime sorbet, but not much of a sweet tooth. Their main point of agreement is orange cookies.

Is there any song I associate with RoseGarden?

Steven Universe's True Kinda Love, specifically the end part where Steven (Universe) is climbing up the big Injector-Thing to reach Spinel. Oscar is hardly Steven, and Ruby's no Spinel, but during V9's Peak Ruby Breakdown Time I liked to imagine Oscar climbing the Tree to reach Ruby.

Also Simple and Clean from Kingdom Hearts 0.2.

Also also Lightning's Theme from Final Fantasy XIII. It has a lot of sentimental meaning to me, but it plays under dialogue about growing up in the wake of grief. I strongly associate that with time-skipped Oscar.

Who supports the pairing the most?

Emerald and Blake/Yang are the biggest supporters of the pairing for Oscar and Ruby respectively.

I think we've discussed Emerald and Oscar as a duo before, but I'll say again that my long term hope is that Emerald and Oscar become close pals. I like to write angst and the EO duo, so I write Emerald as being aware of Oscar's plentiful sadness and also his determination to live.

On the other hand, I think Blake likes Rosegarden because she's a suppressed romantic and also because she thinks they're a good couple conceptually. She wants them to get their happy ending!

Yang supports the couple mostly because she wants Ruby to be with someone who has open arms, meaning Oscar doesn't hesitate to give Ruby his time or affection. He's also very good at detecting when she needs his attention/affection/time (mostly because he asks).

My ideal HC ending?

Oscar decides to go on a road trip at the end of the series and Ruby goes with him. His idea stems from the feeling that Oz was very familiar with Remnant’s past, but Oz has passed on now. Both Ozma and Oscar loved the world, but Ozma is gone now. There’s only one person of their duo to live in the world they love, and Oscar wants to see Remnant as it is now, and he wants to live to see the future. He wants to live!

Ruby goes with him for several reasons. She wants to see Remnant. She wants to be a hero. She doesn’t want to be the hero. She thinks she can probably do that on a smaller scale and still help the world. She thinks Oscar's likely to disappear from her world if she lets him slip away.

Together, they also share a formidable feeling that they’ve completed the major plot of their lives. They feel lost without a major goal in their world, and everyone else they know is settling into their lives in their new roles, so Ruby and Oscar bond together to take care of each other. In the short term, Ruby’s goal is to keep Oscar alive. Oscar’s goal is to teach Ruby how to drive.

In the long term, I like to imagine Ruby as a courier with a bike that she can use to zoom across continent and Oscar as…something? His day job would be like an innkeeper or a librarian, a job which stays in one place. He takes the calls for the Rose Courier Service. However, people also call for him a lot. They need help or advice or wisdom, so he isn't actually all that stationary. They both have adventure, but they also both have a place to return to.

I really like angst and AUs so I have a lot of head canons about that stuff. I tried to limit the above to what seemed most relevant. Below, I'll will do some more AU-esque head canons.

Favorite Time-Skip head canon?

I have a recurring image of Oscar walking in the desert walking past scenes of Oz's life and then being confronted by the "ghost" of Ruby standing in front of him. Sometimes he stops and sometimes he keeps moving, but it always does something.

Emerald is Oscar's most frequent friend during the time-skip, and she's the only one who knows the depth of Oscar's feelings for Ruby. After Ruby comes back, Emerald pushes Oscar into hugging her at some point.

Ruby is strongly caught off guard by Oscar running around trying to keep everyone coordinated, or by how well he's doing. For the entirety of the time-skip, they've been trying to prepare for Salem trying to destroy Vacuo. Ruby thinks Oscar takes to leadership strongly, but he is not doing very well.

One person Oscar never talks to about Ruby or his feelings is Qrow. Things go from peaceful to bitter and back again really quickly between them, and Oscar is certain being in love with one of his dead nieces wouldn't help. Qrow would just be sad about it though.

Oz is quiet more often now. There's a space between them, but Oscar is more dedicated to protecting the world than ever before so he thinks that's part of the reason. The actual reason is that Oz wants Oscar to live on his own while he can be Oscar. They're very fused together still.

If any of this interests you, please ask away! I have a lot more timeskip stuff to talk about.

Is there a head canon prompt I enjoy?

I really like writing the faux Dojo Scene 2. The Dojo Scene being Oscar asking Ruby how she deals with everything (you already know this). The Dojo Scene 2 is the much anticipated reversal, but I like writing it where Oscar dodges her questions. He's not sure how to feel around a resurrected Ruby Rose, much less answer her questions about how he is handling everything.

Favorite AUs (I just wanted to list this one)

My personal favorite is the FFXIII AU I have where Oscar is a l'Cie (meaning someone given a mission by a god to complete or turn into a monster, given access to magic and such) and Ruby (a third year at Signal) has to escort him across Remnant to awaken sleeping gods. I intend to publish this one on AO3 later on! Generally though, I really like Time Travel AUs, with Lost Parallax being a favorite of mine.

I'm very passionate about fanfiction, and that makes me a bit of an airhead when I talk about this. I'm also kind of bad at answering questions. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I hope you feel free to ask anything ever. I love answering!!

I also submitted an ask to Chaikachi about headcanon reactions to scars, but I was so nervous about it that I made it anonymous. If you see it, that's me!

[thetobiroppofan]

one piece rant #4 (i think): the tobiroppo and why i love tjem

one day im going to be famous and whether it be for murder or a simple delusion in my mind it WILL happen one day trust me on this those who read this post. anyways i talk like my business is everyone elses deal cause it IS i mean im posting this to STRANGERS!!! ON THE INTERNET!!! i dont CARE if im judged its the INTERNET. i am THE internet gremlin. ohmygod shoot me for that i change my mind.

anyways this isnt what this post is about (pro tip: if you think youre funny write a script and go animate something i estimate soon we'll be needing the next batch of funny animated youtubers soon like jaiden animations and does anyone remember that one guy with the demon horns?? i think his name was adam smth i used to watch his videos religiously)

I love the tobiroppo if you couldnt tell by my cool awesome username. the tobiroppo are AWESOME. BEST villain group in one piece i dont CARE what anyone says. NO!! I AM NOT INCLUDING KAIDO OR HIS ALL STARS IN THIS. JUST THE TOBIROPPO.

LOOK AT THEM!!! THEYRE AWESOME!!! I LOVE THE TOBIROPPO. I MEAN IT WHEN I SAY IF I HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE TOBIROPPO AND THE ONLY WAY TO DO IT WAS THROUGH DYING I WOULD DIE!!!!!!!! LITERALY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ID DEFINITELY BREAKDOWN UPON SEEING THEM SINCE THEYRE SCARY ASF AND ALSO THEYRE SO COOL!!!!!! BUT ITS SOO WORTH IT!!!!!! HEAVEN HELL BE DAMNED I LOVE THE TOBIROPPO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

one day im gonna travel to japan and find eiichiro oda and stalk him until he breaks down and i force him to tell me EVERYTHING about the tobiroppo from all their dynamics with the other members to their least favorite food!! (ALL JOKES!!! I AM NOT GOING TO STALK ODA!!!)

anyways if i had to rank my favorite members to least favorite itd go in an order like this: 1. ULTI MY GOAT!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. BLACK MARIA MY QUEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. PAGE ONE MY MOODY NERDY TEENAGE BOYMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. SASAKI!!!!!!!!!! THE HOT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5. The racist.

6. X-Drake. (i like him but not as a tobiroppo member he knows his place.)

who's who would be higher than 5 but i am a die hard jinbe fan (i say with the only piece of merch i have of him being a funko figure that holds my house keys) and that fishman racism was NOT!!!!!!!!!! cute.

sasaki shouldve gotten more screentime he was sooo fine i love you sasaki mwa

page one is LITERALLY!!!!!!!! me core (not really but let me be insane oh my GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) also i LOVE that one hc i saw one time where he has a special interest for dinosaurs like thats so real ily page one

black maria is THE cuntiest member of the tobiroppo. like have you SEEN her in the anime AUGH!!!!! THE THINGS ID DO FOR HER!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE IS THE GIRLBOSS!!! MOTHER IS MOTHERING!!!!!! CURNTY!!! SINJIN DROWNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ULTI IS MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE THOUGH!!!!!! SHE IS THE TOBIROPPO MEMBER.

THIS SCREENSHOT OF HER IS SO CUTE I LOVE HOW TOEI DREW HER HAIR. ULTIS DESIGN IS ULTIMATELY ONE OF MY FAVORITES FROM THE SERIES ENTIRELY. I LOVE HOW COLORFUL HER HAIR IS AND HOW SHE LOOKS SO CUTE IN HER OUTFIT!!!!!!!! I LOVE HER HAIR TEXTURE AND HOW SHE HAS A CUTE LITTLE AHOGE AnD I LOVE HER LITTLE FLOWER MASK.

ODA!!!!!!!!!

DROP MORE ULTI CONTENT AND MY LIFE IS YOURS.

phew!! sorry gangalang (i say as a 15 year old white boy) i got carried away there. anyways when ulti dies so will i its me and her for LIFE.

i know the tobiroppo members either died or got arrested but in my head theyre living the same reality as the baroque works agents did because im insane over the tobiroppo.

I actually dont even know when this obsession started??? it mightve been when i started one piece which was like a year ago during july '23 (which oh my god?? a year's passed already since last year?? what the FUCK????)

but when i saw the tobiroppo (More specifically, sasaki, he started my obsession) a neuron activated in my brain and ive been OBSESSED with the tobiroppo (and one piece 'by extension' i argue despite having two large one piece posters, like 4 figures, and a stupid ugly law plushie right where i lay my head to sleep. sigh. he terrifies me, the buttsnatcher.)

i think originally my favorite member was sasaki, since i found that greenhaired fishman IRRESTISITIBLE (idk how to spell that word im a bit stupid) and then like idk the rest i dont actually rank my favorites tbh which i really should do in retrospect but its stressful when i have mixed opinions

anyways

i love the height differences between the members its so stupid and funny teehees

Also i need to be honest to you people of the internet but i cant be the only one who thinks page one's mask and hair and hat is like 2020 core

it isnt BAD i think he pulls it off its just when i saw him for the first time i thought "girl 2020 called they want their get up back"

he looks cute though i think he works it yasssssssssssss queen erm give them that nonbinary 2020 dsmp core!!

(I support all lifestyles and I am trans myself, please do not cancel me.)

on another topic i think page one autism hcs are real since like one thing and one thing only: his sit

I love him dont get me wrong, but it is hard to believe that hes any form of neurotypical with this sit. ankles crossed n everything. like my guy has GOT to get that autism diagnosis oh my god.

on another note there is a fly at the foot of my bed and i am going to have a mini heart attack i hate flies so much oh my god tumblr pleease send guns and cannons

i think id die to know the dynamics between ANY of the tobiroppo members outside of page one and ulti because i wonder if any of them were close friends. like

i wonder if they were like some form of friends??? also does EVERY tobiroppo member have some form of tattoo on their torso??

also while writing that i thought "wait a minute"

wake up babe new hc dropped: page one got inspired by who's who to have a chest tattoo of his name when he first joined.

ok thats it honestly i dont have anything else to say this was just a divulgence in my own taste tonight through yapping about nothing specific and just the tobiroppo in general. i really love the tobiroppo genuinely and after this i might make a list of my top 10 favorite one piece characters in general since itd be fun. ok bye gangalang

this is THE tobiroppo fan getting off and remember: i am the tobiroppo's fan trust me on this i love the tobiroppo so much if you see someone claiming to be a bigger fan than me tell me ill follow them back to their house and violently mutilate them (joking! i love you my fellow tobiroppo fans!)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

youngsheldonfan9992

[sanguineterrain]

omg just a random ramble (and a bit of a request hehe) about your recent fic about "this is for your own good" Jason:

i don't know if you've seen this scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqK4UOMha2Q which is basically where Jason confronts the Joker in Death in the Family (2020) [i think this is the timeline where Bruce is the one who dies but we can take these scenes out of context JSHJS]

But I really, really found the idea of memory repression super interesting - and mix a little pit madness maybe 👀 Think about it, after everything's done, Red Hood's debut and with the finale between him and Batman, Jason comes to and realizes the fucked up things he did to Vigilante!R (the drugging, the chains) while Vigilante!R's left with being a compliant and dependent shell of themself; how do you think he'll approach this? Will he decide to keep her "safe"? Would he try to rehabilitate her himself? Would he let her go? I find it terribly heartbreaking for him to see one of the most important people in his life broken because of him

[also btw, i absolutely love how you characterized Jason here because he seems so detached despite being so obsessed and how there's this false sense of security ughhhh; i feel like the neuron activation monkey every time little details and the sentences you put connect with like with "This is a man who was trained by Batman." to Jason saying "'I know my mistake.'" which then leads to the drugging because that moment was so terribly Batman I could probably write a thesis about it if i had time 🥸 anyways, hope your week was great!]

Oooh just watched that scene! Wow, Joker's dialogue was amazing. I miss the days where superhero movies had meaningful dialogue 😭 absolutely diabolical of him to manipulate Jason like that. The way Jason became a child again when Joker got inside of his head (and he really is young to begin with!) ohhhh my boy 💔

Anyway, I think it's so interesting that most of the reactions to my fic have been requesting a fix it. It's like we love Jason so much, we can't bear to see him go dark 🫶

In my universe, Jason never "realizes his mistake" because I think he'd be in too deep at that point to face what he's done. And protecting someone he loves by any means necessary is very Batman-esque of him. Jason genuinely believes he's doing the right thing, even though it's causing R mental distress. I actually like the idea of the entire Batfamily going dark and helping Jason if the Reader ever seriously escaped. I also think it's interesting if the dynamic shifted over time and Reader used Jason's guard dog personality for their benefit. Jason is truly dedicated to them, that's no lie. They'd make each other worse 🥰

But let's say he did realize his mistake! Honestly, I think Jason wouldn't forgive himself and he'd let them go before doing something really self destructive. Reader would be the only one who could pull him back, and after everything, it's hard to say if they'd want to do that! Jason would've caused them a lot of grief at that point.

But yeah. Maybe I'll write a niceys Jason fic next because it seems like dark Jason makes all of us sad 😂 I admit that it felt weird to write him this way but I enjoyed it too. I think my favorite iteration of Jason is where he's insane and dedicated and wants you soooo bad but he tries so very hard to be normal. He would kill and die and eat people for you but he's super normal :) prommy!

[ninepentz]

Wendy Williams diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia and aphasia

So it's officially come to light, that Wendy Williams is diagnosed with the conditions I mentioned above, I can't say I'm surprised bc over the years she seemed to be getting worse in health. Such sad news to hear about anyone to be honest. I'll leave a link for more info on her diagnosis below for those interested.

What I want to do here is just check her chart + transits to see what they can tell me about this recent diagnosis.

I know that when Bruce Willis was diagnosed with the same condition, Saturn was transiting right over his mercury and sun I believe, which was crazy to me bc frontotemporal dementia and aphasia affect speech/language, understanding, personality, motor function, daily functioning, decision making, our memory, our neurons.. so basically all mercury related things. It was just insane to me that astrology explained what was happening. And I hope to do the same here with Wendy Williams charts, I've pulled up her natal chart and the airing date of her last episode. So let's dive in..

I'm using the last episode air date bc this is the only exact date I have that shows when she was beginning to have serious issues.

So the 1st aspect I was looking for and expecting to see was mercury aspecting saturn and yeap it's definitely there.

Last episode chart at the top and Wendy's birth chart at the bottom, cancer sun, aquarius rising.

Her natal mercury opposing transit saturn:

So this tells me that as Saturn transitioned over her mercury things were happening outside of her control, she was unable to understand things the way she used to, she was possibly going more mute than she would like, maybe she felt that something was holding her back from speaking/expression, things in general were just difficult and it was a lot pressure surrounding this all.

Her Mercury was transitting into the 12th house during this time so she could of been slowly becoming deluded, confused, in the dark, wanted to hide away, she basically didn't want anyone to know what was really going on at this time. She may have also been heavily medicated to deal with the truth of her situation, maybe she didn't want to face the truth in some way and was using substances to lessen the pain. She knew for a while what her condition was, long before we did, she just wasn't ready to share with the public.

And like I said above I was def expecting to see this aspect, so it's safe to say that mercury-saturn transits can def affect communication, travel, activities, decision making, sometimes in really harsh ways such as what happened with Wendy Williams and Bruce Willis. I'm currently going through this transit myself, mercury conjunct Saturn and it feels more so like I'm unable to start things as smoothly as I would like, delayed communication, thoughts, struggling to write esp bc I have mercury in the 3rd house. I used to be more free with my communication, my level of activity, creativity and ever since it's conjunct Saturn I feel like I'm stuck in place, more serious than I used to be. It's a hard, depressing, limiting transit to go through. Mercury is also much deeper than I can even explain it, but soon I'll try to make a blog post on everything that I know.

Natal saturn conjunct transit saturn:

I recently went through this and actually it's still going on right now as we speak, it feels very much depressing, there's always obstacle after obstacle when it comes to this type of transit. It also means that she was going through her 2nd Saturn return I believe. So that must of been harsh, it is a transition period that represents your growth over the years, it sets up the stage for the future years to come and who you will be moving forward.

Saturn transits are basically showing us the results of our actions, karma or in general just the sequences/cycles of our life, it's almost like sobering/awakening period. It can be a good reminder of all the things we need to work on.

Natal uranus square transit mercury:

Interesting so she was definitely aware of everything going on and was irritated that things just weren't going her way. It's like everything was unpredictable or going haywire.. in general maybe she was unable to function with tasks, communication. She was having a rough time during this transit. Being forgetful, inappropriate, moody, impulsive/erratic etc.

Natal MC opposite transit mercury:

Crazy.. for those of us who are fans of wendy williams and have been keeping up with her over the years, you would know they this show was something special. It was literally Wendy's calling to speak, and do her thing. She started out on radio stations before she eventually got her own TV show, so her calling in life was this. Basically expressing her thoughts/opinions/truth, she was a universal figure who could speak on things that mattered in the moment. She has a Sagittarius MC so imo, her purpose/career was truth telling, being educational, philosophical, being a big personality type you couldnt miss, she was an entertainer forsure.

And her MC transiting onto mercury is literally as clear as day telling us something was amiss here, out of her control, she was unable to do what she usually can do just fine. Oppositions can often show point of crisis moments, so things were unstable, contradicting, unbalanced. In other words, her career/public life was being affected by mercurial type things. Technical, communication, motor function, daily tasks, travel, thinking/logic/processing-difficulties.

Natal moon square transit saturn:

She felt very alone during this time, she knew and was aware of her reputation as someone who talks about people for living, so this was maybe a transit where she felt isolated, alienated, lonely, awkward. She def didn't want to tell anyone why her show was being cancelled bc she knew the reaction she would get and theres really nothing she could do about it bc people weren't wrong for feeling how they feel.

Mercury sextile MC:

Out of anything that came out from all this, this is a good aspect to see in regards to her career and legacy. I think Wendy Williams def was apart of making the decision to end her show. I hope she had a moment to gather everything in her own way, not being rushed, pressured, or told what to do next. Hopefully she had time to plan what she wants the rest of her life to look like. Atleast that's what I would of tried to do if I knew that I would be losing my memory, personality, ability to make decisions about my life in a few years. So maybe she made a plan for herself and hopefully it didn't/doesn't end up in the wrong hands.

✨Nine of Pentacles ✨

[misslilli]

Thank you guys, for your encouragement 😌 and thank you so much @today-in-fic for getting this wee fic out there :)

Felix Felicis

MSR. AU. PG-13. | tagging @today-in-fic | read on AO3

Chapter 19 - Enjoy The Good Times While They Last

[ DS ]

On the morning after the party, I’m awoken by the tickle of sunlight on my face and a chilly ocean breeze through the partly open doors. I keep my eyes closed and stretch languidly, the memories from last night putting a smile on my face. What a night! This morning, I feel lighter than air, high on endorphins and him. The one whose touch lights my skin on fire. The one whose presence makes me stumble over my words. The one whose smile has a blush creeping up my cheeks. The one whose voice sends a tingle up my spine right into my brain, the neurons misfiring. The one in whose arms I felt so safe, so protected. The one who makes cleaning up a dirty kitchen seem like the most enjoyable activity on the planet.

I’ll keep my eyes closed for only a minute longer, blocking out the reality I know will come rushing back in when I open them. The past. The hurt. The scary. But for now, for a few moments, none of it matters and I let myself fall for him, in the darkness behind my closed eyes and the cozy confines of my bedsheets.

----------

[ In the kitchen of the beach house ]

“Operation: Bullwinkle is going really well, don’t you think?” Sarah looks immensely pleased with herself, stretching out her arms over her head.

“Who would’ve guessed that it would be the little Moose who’s our very best wingman, getting her out on the dancefloor where she could be whisked away by his dad! And then gets her to stay way past the duration of the party. The look on Moose’s face when he saw them, I wish I could’ve snapped a picture!” Holly sighs at the memory.

“Okay next up, Halloween. What are we goi-“ Alex is interrupted by a sharp “Shh, Squirrel!” from Sarah and they turn their heads in unison towards their friend coming downstairs to join them for breakfast.

“Wow, look who’s walking on sunshine!”

They haven’t seen a smile so big on their friend’s face for far too long now and once she sits down, Sarah starts the questioning.

“So Smiley Miley, care to tell us what happened last night?” Dana only smirks around a bite of her bagel.

“No.”

“Oh come on, D, don’t make me beg! I’m dying to know what happened between you waking up alone with the handsome stranger and sneaking into the house in the middle of the night!”

“It was a good night, that’s all I’m going to say.”

Sarah gasps. “Did you sleep with him??”

“What? No!”

“Then why in the world are you being so secretive about it?”

Their friend rests her chin in her hand with a dreamy smile on her face. “I love you guys but I don’t want you to dissect it to what it all means and taint my memory. I just want to remember how it was. I want to remember how it all was!”

----------

[ FM ]

The morning after the party, Sam and I gather around the kitchen table for breakfast. Felix is still fast asleep so it gives my sister and I some alone time to recap the events of the previous evening. Sam never beats around the bush and gets right to the point.

“Bro, I really like that girl of yours.” I smile wistfully at that and touch my hand to my cheek;  I really do too. “The way you guys looked on the dance floor was breathtaking, let me tell you. It’s a pretty perfect match, don’t you think?”

“Sam, I feel like I’ve looked for someone like her for all my life. She makes me so nervous, I stumble over my words and say and do stupid shit, I called her Snoozy for crying out loud.” Sam laughs at my pained expression and pats my arm.

“You really don’t know your head from your ass when you’re in love, do you?. So, what happened afterwards? Did you talk to her again? Did you ask her out like I told you to?” She looks at me imploringly on her last statement.

“Yes and no. Yes we did talk, she fell asleep with Felix on the couch reading about butterflies and when she woke up, we cleaned up the kitchen together.” A reproachful look from my sister.

“You made her clean up the kitchen with you? Are you insane?”

“Hey, she insisted! And I didn’t want her to go just yet. We had such a good time, laughing and bantering back and forth, flirty stuff. And then, there was a moment…” Sam gasps.

“There was a moment?”

“Yeah… the perfect moment where we just stared at each other and I wanted to kiss her so bad, Sam, but…”

“Oh God there’s a but…”

“But then Felix came downstairs for a glass of water and the moment was gone.” She groans in frustration.

“I love that kid but damn he’s got bad timing!”

“I’ll say. So then I walked her to the door and I was so dazed from that almost-kiss, I couldn’t think of anything to say to make her stay. So no, I didn’t ask her out. She kissed my cheek before she left and that almost made me keel over…”

“I gotta say, bro, I’ve never seen you talk about anyone like that before and I’m really happy for you! Now, ask her out damn it!”

“If I can string two coherent words together the next time I see her, I’ll try!”

My sister nods and at that moment, Felix comes padding down the stairs in his dinosaur pajamas, rubbing his eyes. He crawls into Sam’s lap, stealing a piece of her waffle.

“Good morning, handsome! Did you have a good time yesterday?”

“Yeah auntie Sam, I did, it was awesome! Did you see how I danced?”

“I did, you did pretty well!” At that, he grins widely. “Too bad your dad cut in, huh? Did you watch them dance, too? It was pretty amazing, I think”

“Meh… it was okay, at least you didn’t step on her toes, dad! Did you see all the gifts people got us? Can we go open them now?”

“Breakfast first, gifts later, son!”

We clear the table before heading to the living room where we put the gifts yesterday, opening them one after another, Felix beside himself with glee.

One of the last gift bags is the one from the four teachers and I’ve been wondering all night what they got us. Felix pulls out both presents, handing the one with a neatly written “Fox” over to me. There’s a card for both of us as well and in a loopy handwriting, it reads:

Felix,

We know how much you enjoy reading, so we hope you’ll enjoy your gift and we’re looking forward to all the interesting thing’s you’ll be able to tell us at recess soon!

A big hug and a very happy birthday

Miss Scully, Miss Anderson, Miss Spencer and Miss Carter

“I know what’s in there!,” Felix exclaims and rips the paper off to reveal the very heavy “Oxford History of Ancient Egypt”. He gasps excitedly, gripping the book tight. “Oh my God, I love it! I’m gonna go read it right now so I know all the facts on Monday!”

I open my own card with shaky hands, very aware of Sam’s eyes on me. In the same loopy script, this one says:

Mr. Mulder,

As a fellow magician’s son, it is absolutely essential for Felix to hear the amazing stories of the greatest wizard of our times. It makes a wonderful good-night story and we hope you and your son will enjoy it as much as we did!

Happiest of birthdays

Dana, Sarah, Holly and Alexandra

My finger traces the twists and turns of the D in her signature thoughtfully and with a smile I imagine her sitting at her desk, writing our cards, a scowl of concentration on her face. Sam interrupts my daydreaming: “So?  What is it? Open it!”

I oblige and pull out an elaborately designed copy of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”. It’s the collector’s edition with beautiful pictures almost on every page.

It’s the perfect gift. Because it’s from her. For me.

[icasttourniquet]

Can Your Character Survive... Altered Mental Status

Character E is confused. She thinks she's talking to someone besides Character F and accidentally admits that she has a crush on F while F is treating her injury. Oops.

Or, F is trying to get E out of the enemy base and E keeps laughing when F shushes her, attracting the attention of the guards

Whether for comedy or tension, altered mental status can add a fun wrinkle to your plot. But, what causes altered mental status and how do you make sure E survives?

STOPEATS

The big kahuna of the altered mental status world is the acronym STOPEATS. If it makes your brain go a bit wonky, it's probably included in STOPEATS.

Sugar

If E is a diabetic and lost track of her sugar intake, she could suffer from altered mental status as a part of hyperglycemia. If F knows E has diabetes, he can hopefully guess at the cause of her confusion and help her take her medication, or get her to a hospital.

Temperature

When the body gets really cold or really hot, the brain can stop working right. In fact, altered mental status is a key sign of being hypothermic vs. just cold. Ditto with heat stroke. Hopefully, the environment makes if obvious to F what is causing E's weird behavior. He can treat her by bringing her out of the cold or heat.

Oxygen

Hypoxia occurs when the brain is starved of oxygen, such as at a high altitude. It is most common in mountain climbers and pilots, such as the one in this video who reports having "no control" of his aircraft but otherwise, is not concerned at all about the situation. Astronomers may also suffer from hypoxia on occasion.

XKCD 1463: Altitude

Hypoxic people behave as if drunk. They are often euphoric, may speak slowly, and will act confused. The key treatment for high-altitude hypoxia is reducing altitude ASAP. In the video, you can hear the air traffic controller trying to coax the pilot lower. He knows he doesn't need the pilot to land—as soon as he can breathe a little better, he'll remember how to fly be able to land himself.

Pressure

If a brain injury causes bleeding in the skull, that blood has nowhere to go and can build up pressure. This causes the brain to lose functioning and is called intracranial pressure (ICP). It's the worst type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) besides one that just kills E outright.

If E is suffering from ICP, she'll probably be confused and behaving erratically. She may have gaps in her memory as well. Most likely, she'll also report "the worst headache of my life"—literally. In training, we were told to look out for that exact phrase when diagnosing head taumas. In later stages of ICP, E may also vomit, a lot.

Treatment involves getting to surgery ASAP so a doctor can cut open her skull and relieve some of the pressure. For obvious reasons, that is not something we attempt in the field.

Electricity

I'll be honest: I think they just wanted the acronym to work when they made this one E. What they actually mean in most cases is seizures. The classic seizure is a grand mal seizure, which involves the muscles tensing, twitching, etc. But seizures come in all shapes and sizes. For some, a seizure might mean smelling something that isn't there, or hearing music, or a single twitching muscle. Because seizures are unauthorized electrical activity in the brain, they can cause disorientation and erratic behavior.

Often, coming out of a seizure can be quite disorienting too. If F is helping E through a seizure, he should first try to prevent her from harming herself. If she's banging her head against the wall, that means putting a hand or pillow there. If she's near a table, that means moving the table. (NO sitting on / restraining people with seizures and NO putting stuff in their mouth! No! Why? You want them to choke? No!). As she recovers, F can remain calm, help her understand what happened if she needs it, and get her further care if requested.

Altitude

As with temperature, both very high and very low altitudes can cause brain problems (if you are beginning to suspect the brain is just a picky organ, you'd be correct). Scuba divers who ascend too quickly can suffer from nitrogen narcosis, which can lead to euphoria, confusion, memory loss, difficulty concentration, etc. (all classic signs of altered mental status).

If E goes too high, say, on a mountain, she could suffer from High-Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE—controversial opinion but high-altitude stuff has all the good acronyms and names, HACE being but one example). It occurs when the brain swells at a high altitude and leads to confusion, lethargy, and a headache.

Luckily, as with most high-altitude problems, it can be solved quickly by going lower. When in doubt, on a mountain, taking the patient to a lower altitude is probably a good idea.

Toxins

Alcohol, LSD, marijuana, morphine—drugs cause altered mental status, as can bites or stings from venemous animals.

There are as many ways to treat toxins as there are toxins, maybe more, so I leave you with a fun fact the majority of snake bites in the US are people who tried to pick up the snakes.

In the words of Mod N's WFR instructor: "Red near black? Who cares. It's a snake. Why are you messing with snakes?"

Salt

Salt concentrations across cell membranes is one way nutrients travel into and out of cells. If E's blood suddenly has way less salt (electrolytes) than normal, this causes all the nutrients to flow out of her cells and into her blood, starving her organs. Brains run on salt and not having enough salt makes... neurons fire different? Stop firing? Something scientific and complicated. For our purposes: not enough salt = brain go weird.

This is called hyponatremia and is my favorite of all the STOPEATS ailments. Hyponatremic people behave as if drunk. The treatment is to 1) stop chugging water, 2) stop competing in your high-endurance sport (and therefore stop sweating), and 3) drink / eat something salty.

Conclusion

Give your characters altered mental statuses. It will be fun. I promise.

The most easily treatable problems that make brain go weird are: hypoxia and high-altitude cerebral edema.

Please write more characters with hyponatremia.

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Also saw you're doing requests so yay!!. Any chance of jercy bakery au? Love your work sm hope you have a great day ☺☺

My Darling Anon how dare you make me fall more in love with Jercy???????? I squealed when i saw this and then promptly started writing even though i should be studying for my (ironically) Greek Mythology test.

i hope you love it because if i fail at least i know it’ll be worth it :) Also this was honestly supposed to be a quick drabble and it somehow ended up as 1,5K+ words so??? #isanyonesurprisedthough

Masterlist

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jason Grace smiled as the birds beside his head chirped and then swiped his phone to cut off the amusing sound. His fiery friend, and co-worker thought it was hilarious to steal his phone and change his alarm tone every few weeks. Usually it was something inane and silly like a cartoon laugh track or just a repeating “It’s time to get up BakerBoi” that gets increasingly louder. He had arrived to work with a scowl on his face only to see the shit-eating grin of Leo Valdez waiting at the door.

Now Jason stumbles out of bed, letting his limbs loosen as he pads softly to the bathroom, feeling cool tile and a winter breeze on his exposed skin. He loves mornings like this, when the world isn’t quite awake, and the sky hasn’t decided what colour it wants to be for the day. He knows in is baker’s bones that it’ll be cold and rainy, but he has time for a morning jog before the world starts crying.

“Good morning boss,” A bright eyed, fidgeting Leo greets as he steps into the bakery.

Jason had been there at seven thirty, pulling down the café chairs and cleaning the counters. He already had a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies and about three different types of muffins in the oven. The bread was waiting for the busy hands of Leo and Hazel who somehow always seemed to make heavenly fluffed, soft rolls and the deliciously crusty baguettes. Hazel jokes that it’s the New Orleans blood that flows through her veins. They’re all half inclined to agree.

“Morning Valdez, I like the alarm this week.” He tosses a grin over his shoulder before going back to his icing ritual. Mix, taste, mix, ice.

“I figured you would old man. Even though i much prefer my ASMR food audio from last week. What’s the specialty today?”

“We need to get beignets out and the pain au chocolats before the breakfast crowd. Also the fruit stuffed pastry twists and the honey bread have to be prepped before we open so we can bring them out hot in time for the brunch crowd. Specialty today is a new thing I’ve been working on. Blue blondie doughnuts with Oreo cream filling and sugar glaze.”

“Gods boss, you tryna give people heart failure?”

“Just trying to insert some sweetness into the world,” He winked.

Before Leo could give an undoubted snarky reply a bubbly head of dark brown curls and glittering eyes popped around the door.

“Goooood morning everyone,”

Jason couldn’t help the smile that graced his face at her cheeriness, “Hello Miss Levesque, glad to see a prettier face around here,”

Leo made a strangled noise of indignation from the other side of the kitchen but didn’t get the chance to voice his offense before the last member of their little group walked in.

“Ah there you are Miss McLean, I do wonder how you arrive with Hazel and still manage to get in after her.”

She gave him an exasperated look, “I have to say goodbye to my girlfriend before I come in Boss. You’re the one who banned couple calls in the bakery.”

“Well maybe if we didn’t have to hear you and Annabeth explicitly planning your night’s activities I wouldn’t have had to do that.”

Piper just rolled her eyes and went to grab her apron and a cloth to wipe down the tables.

"Everyone ready?" He asked, from the door of the kitchen an hour later.

"Ready for the storm boss," They all yelled back, as they did each morning.

"Then let's roll like thunder," He grinned, flinging the doors to Ambrosia Bakery open.

"Oh thank the heavens, I could smell the goodness from here and it was a struggle to keep the drool in," One Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano breathed in deep.

"Good morning my favourite customer," Leo smirked from behind the counter.

"Jason tell your bread boy to stand down before I make him,"

"Is that an invitation?" Dark eyebrows wiggled in amusement.

"That is a threat," She growled.

"Well mark me down as scared and h—"

"Valdez I swear if you finish that sentence I'm putting you on wash-up duty for the next week."

A faint "you got it boss" followed Jason into the kitchen, where he allowed himself to smile. It was an ongoing amusement that Leo flirted with Reyna and in return she came up with increasingly terrifying threats.

"Jason, your sister is here to see you" Hazel said, gently shoving him out the way so she could take over rolling the pastry.

"Get the doughnuts ready for the fryer I'll be back soon, thank you!"

He maneuvered around a blushing Leo who had icing on his nose and a suspicious lipstick stain on his cheek, finally making his way to the confectioners stand.

"What's up loser?" He said by way of greeting.

"Hey you're only allowed to call me that if you come baring nice things." Thalia Grace frowned.

"I am nice things," He pouted.

"Not even on your best day." She snorted, "I want to know if you're coming to the gala this weekend. I need a date to steal extra bread-sticks for me."

"Why can't I just make you bread-sticks and we can sit in your lounge and watch bad reality TV?" He groaned

"Because I have to show face or the sponsors aren't going to sponsor. Besides you need a night out. You're gonna start smelling like bread if you don't take a break."

"It's insulting that you think I wouldn't want to smell like breadsticks."

She laughed at, that ruffling his hair, "Just be ready by seven. You better be wearing a suit."

And with that his sister had grabbed her daily croissant and cappuccino and vanished into the drizzling day.

Before he could make it back to his safe haven beside the ovens and marbled counter-tops a flash of black hair caught his eye.

Turning around he couldn't contain the grin that tugged at his lips; standing by the counter already staring intently at the newest creation was Jason's favourite customer.

"Hello Percy Jackson,"

"Jason," A dazzling smile revealed pearl white teeth and the tiniest dimple on a cheek the color of rich toffee.

"I see you've already found Neptune's Tridoughnut,"

A bright laugh escaped a wickedly beautiful mouth, "Oh I love that. How'd you come up with that one?"

Jason smiled softly, debating whether to tell the owner of the 5-Oceans Conservation Company that he was the muse behind all of his latest creations, hence the variations of green and blue.

Instead, as he did every time Percy asked, he lied, "My sister went to an opening ceremony for a new exhibit at the Education center all about Mythology so I thought I’d offer my services and well, they were a hit."

Piper who was walking past at that exact moment coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "Liar" but with a pointed glare she disappeared behind the counter.

"That sounds great. Guess I'll have to recruit you for all my functions," He winked, a small smirk playing at his lips.

Jason cursed his pale cheeks and hoped the blush he now sported wasn't too noticeable, "What can I get you besides a specialty doughnut?"

"Can I get one banana and walnut muffin, a dozen chic chips, and I'm gonna go see mom this afternoon so maybe a couple of caramel pastry twists and some blueberry muffins?"

"Sure. I guess Estelle is off her carrot cake faze?" He laughed, remembering how Percy had to stop at the bakery twice a week to grab carrot and pecan mini cakes just for his little sister.

"Ugh she's onto wanting fruit in absolutely everything now so my mom has been frantically buying boxes of peaches, strawberries and apples to cut up and send with her for lunch at school." Green eyes rolled in fake annoyance.

"Well if she likes fruit things maybe she should try the raspberry and orange pastry twists?" He pointed to a display stand piled with various pastries coloured by blackberry jam, apricot pieces, kiwi slices and mango syrup.

"I could kiss you right now!" Percy exclaimed rushing towards the display, unaware that the baker was frozen to the spot.

I could kiss you, could kiss you, kiss you, kiss...

Jason's brain had short-circuited, his neurons too busy having a dance party with his hormones to process the world.

I could kiss you.

A lazy, unconscious smile took over his face as he stood there in the middle of his bakery, arms slack, head lolled, and eyes crinkled.

"Jason?" A faraway voice called.

"Jason? Hello?"

And suddenly a hand was waving in front of his vision trying to get his attention.

He pulled himself out of his reverie, blinking back into existence, "Right yes the pastries"

"Didn’t get enough sleep last night?" Percy teased, slugging him softly in the shoulder.

He snorted at the implication, "Unfortunately I'm a bit of a grandfather. Sleep early, rise early."

"Oh guess you like morning activities then,"

He sputtered, head snapping up to stare into twinkling eyes, "N-no, I just meant—"

"I'm kidding Mr BakerMan," That brilliant, bright laugh again, "I know you're a homebody. Your sister likes to tell me how boring you are."

He huffed at that, "We'll see if she gets her pear tarts this weekend."

"Speaking of this weekend," A sly grin played at Percy's mouth, "Are you coming to the gala?"

"Yea," He sighed, "Thalia says she needs me to steal bread-sticks ."

Sea green eyes widened before Percy burst out laughing. In a matter of moments tears were streaming down his face.

If Jason wasn't so smitten with that gorgeous smile and those mischievous eyes he may have been inclined to laugh too. But Percy Jackson was a vision he half believed only his dreams could conjure.

When the laughter had mostly seized Percy wiped his eyes and managed to gasp, "That sounds exactly like something Thalia would ask. When we worked on the marine life project together she always stole the mints from every CEO’s office because she said they had enough money to buy a mint factory, they could afford to replace a single bowl."

"Yep, her life goal is to end capitalism. I swear if it wasn't for Annabeth, Thalia would be walking into office buildings with a sack like some reverse Santa Claus where she steals the office supplies and fruit bowls."

"Well I can't wait to see you stuffing your pockets with bread-sticks on Saturday so I guess I'll see you then," He gave another dazzling smile.

"Yea, and say hello to little Estelle for me. Tell me how she likes the pastries."

"Don't worry I'm sure I'll be back soon with a long list of request."

"Can't wait." He grinned.

Percy chuckled, "Me neither, see you Friday." And then he was gone.

Oh gods, Jason thought, how am I ever gonna survive Percy in a suit?

***

Spoiler alert past-Jason: you didn't.

[parisbian]

hey miri! how did you learn french? what sources did you use? what was your strategy of studying it?

Salut! 

(I’m on my laptop so can’t accent letters, I apologise!) Also, my textposts always wind up super personal and include stories and details from my life for some reason. I will never change, I will never improve. 

I guess technically I started French as a very young kid! I have vivid memories of  ‘comme ci, comme ca’ being a very satisfying phrase to say lol. But I have equally vivid memories of  being sixteen and my French teacher shrieking at us because we were all staring at her blank faced while she tried to make us recite etre. In our defense, ‘vous etes’ is very counterintuitive. 

So I really only tried or learned anything when I took French at A level, and that was mainly when I used this blog. I found it very helpful to explain to others how certain grammar structures worked, to assert them for myself. Also, a good challenge to pick a topic, memorise 20 words related to it, and force yourself to just write about it for as long as you can and not look anything up. The work may be a travesty, but your neurons will thank you. I also used to keep a big poster up that I made, about how to formulate every tense in French. Should I maybe make an online version and put it up? Peut-etre! 

So I started French at uni, because apparently I was glutton for punishment. I’m a double honours student and my french DOES get neglected. I always lie and say it doesn’t and actually have a great little speech about it for prospective students but being real.. it suffers. But that’s because i’m an avoidant person and I like to throw myself into what I’m good at (literature + translation) and not what I’m bad at (everything else.)

We study a lot of books and films in French, and are encouraged to just claw our way through them and not worry if we misunderstand bits. If you’re curious about what books/films/poems you study as part of a French degree then just lemme know, I have a good memory for stuff like that! My flatmate is French and he assures me they're violently stereotypical lol. 

We get taught these different forms of French academic writing (résumés, commentaires, something to do with stylistic analysis.. all sorts! I’m happy to elaborate on these too). And we discuss French politics, culture, history... lots of stuff! I think there’s a misconception that it’s silly to study a language at uni because you can just go to the country and learn it, but it does aim to teach you  how to actually function in that country and culture too. Like, we had to learn about applying for jobs in France. My knowledge on this is patchy though because hélas.. I found it very boring. 

Nowadays I don’t really study French (I should!), I just read and write in it and use bonpatron to catch the worst of my crimes. The reason this blog isn’t very active anymore is because at a certain point vocab lists and grammar lessons aren’t helpful you kind of just need to humiliate yourself until you’re good. I’m working on it!

Basically, the fact that I’m not fluent is totally inexcusable and a tribute to my laziness and hatred of embarrassing myself. 

Just expose yourself to as much french as you can, and work through the grammar lessons until you stop getting bamboozled. You’ll get there!

[gumnut-logic]

We’ll Be Home For Christmas 4.6

Title: We’ll be home for Christmas

Day Four – Five Billionaires and No Wives – Part 6 Prologue | 1.1 | 1.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6

Author: Gumnut

24 May 2020

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: The boys can’t fly home for Christmas, so they have to find another way.

Word count: 3495

Spoilers & warnings: language and so, so much fluff. Science!Gordon. Artist!Virgil, Minor various ships, mostly background. A little angst in this one along with a little minor sexual reference.

Timeline: Christmas Season 3, I have also kinda ignored the main storyline of Season 3. The boys needed a break, so I gave them one. Post season 3B, before Season 3C cos I started this fic before we saw it.

Author’s note: For @scattergraph​​​​. This is my 2019 TAG Secret Santa fic :D

Wow, written all in one day. I’ve been rereading the fic and running out of it and wanting more. Unfortunately, for there to be more I had to write more. I checked my archive and the last bit went up on May 11 right before everything at work went to hell, so I’m guessing that was the cause of the delay of this bit. I hope it was worth waiting for. This fic is nearly finished. A few threads to tie up in the next chapter, which, depending on what the characters do (cos they’ve thrown me two curve balls in this ::glares at both Grandma and Virgil:: so who knows what else they will do). i hope you enjoy it.

Many thanks to @i-am-chidorixblossom​​ @scribbles97​​​​ and @onereyofstarlight​​​​ for reading through various bits, fielding my many wibblies, and for all their wonderful support.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

Scott stared as his home crawled over the horizon. Lit from the west, the peaks of Tracy Island were sculpted in gold, the water surrounding her sparkling in the dying sun.

It was a beautiful sight.

Virgil shifted against him, snorting softly in sleep.

Scott had been out on the bow of the boat for hours. First talking to Virgil, working through some of the events of the day until his exhausted brother slowly tipped sideways, falling asleep despite the breeze and the soft toss of the boat.

Scott just wrapped an arm around him and held him while his brother slept.

His butt was numb from lack of circulation, but he didn’t care.

John had approached at one point and quietly handed him a tablet full of information about whales. It was full of data he didn’t understand and he desperately needed to talk to his genius brother about what it all meant.

But for the moment, he was content to listen to Virgil’s breathing, the wind and watch their home inch closer and closer.

He was aware of Gordon keeping an eye on both of them, the pilot adding more speed to the journey today than he had any other day. There had been relaxation, but all of that had disappeared with recent events.

Hell, it had disappeared the moment they had discovered the trapped calf.

Fire ignited in his belly at the thought. He needed to speak with Penelope and follow up on what had happened to those responsible.

His father’s desk lay waiting on the Island.

Relief and dread waited with it.

He closed his eyes and evened out his breathing. It had been such a relief to let go last night. Mel had met his energy with her own, her hands in his hair, a pardon on her lips. No ties, no obligation, just a moment to be himself, find comfort in her arms and let go.

He was ever so grateful. His brothers may laugh, but it was the only way he could truly release everything that built up day after day. Life was a challenge and he was willing to take it on, but everyone needed a moment.

Mel had given him that moment...and a little more.

Virgil shifted against him as Gordon turned the boat slightly and began to slow on approach.

Scott opened his eyes to watch Mateo shift to starboard. The bow dropped a little as their speed lessened, the background noise of the engine changing pitch.

Virgil muttered something and shifted again.

Scott held him that little bit tighter.

A Little Lightning arced around the smaller island that protected their caldera from the open ocean and the yacht entered the sheltered lagoon smoothly.

The petrel colony raised a ruckus and squawked like crazy as they motored past, Gordon cutting their speed to almost nothing as the yacht coasted over coral.

There were two docks on Tracy Island. One on either side of the villa. Gordon chose the one adjacent to Two’s runway for obvious reasons. It was harder to dock such a large vessel, but it would be easier to get Virgil onto land, and, via the hangars, up to the villa. The other dock, near the beach huts, required a hike up to the house that Virgil was in no shape to make. Scott had checked his brother’s incisions earlier in the day and they were well into healing, but...it had been a weird day and Virgil was still asleep.

Gordon nudged the yacht ever so slowly up to the little used dock. It had been designed for supply delivery early on in the venture, but once the runway had been built, it had been used for little other than the occasional Thunderbird Four testing regime and a little recreational boating.

Nothing as big as A Little Lightning.

Gordon had mentioned early on that they would likely use the inflatable when they reached home, but the aquanaut had obviously changed his mind.

Virgil was definitely the reason.

John darted past Scott and Virgil, docking pole in hand, turquoise eyes targeting both of them. He didn’t say anything, but the concerned frown shot at Scott said everything.

Ropes were launched at the wharf bollards and the engine dropped down to a bare rumble. Alan yelled an acknowledgement at the back of the boat and John held up a hand to signal to Gordon. A slight shift sideways and A Little Lightning nudged up against Tracy Island and was secured.

Gordon cut the engine and its absence was profound.

John turned and smiled at him.

They were home.

-o-o-o-

Soft fingers touched his cheek.

“Honey, it’s time to wake up.”

He screwed up his face. He was in that pleasant warm place just below consciousness and he didn’t want to leave it.

But his pillow rumbled just a little with quiet laughter. Cotton moved against his temple and an arm tightened gently around him.

“You’re going to have to be more direct than that, Grandma.”

Those words, said in his brother’s voice, and enough neurons came online to recognise that he was curled up on something hard, leaning against...the warm cotton shifted and a breath was drawn in. A heartbeat pulsed against his ear, slow and sure.

The whirr of a scanner made him frown.

Light flickered under his eyelids and he clenched his eyes shut.

“C’mon, Virgil, we’re home. You can’t sleep out here all night and my butt is going to drop off if it doesn’t get circulation soon.”

Another voice piped up. “And then you’ll have to face Mel for the loss of that perfect butt.”

“What do you know about Scott’s butt?” Higher pitched. Alan?

“Remember number twenty-nine? Or was it twenty-eight? The one that worked in that circus we saved from the flood? She wrote letters about it.”

His pillow shifted sharply. “What the hell, Gordon?”

“Hey, you’re the one who left your email open for all to see.”

“It is encrypted!”

“Only to those who don’t know the encryption code, Scotty.”

“Boys, keep it down. Give Virgil a chance to wake up properly.”

He found his mouth. “Too late.” A groan and he was pushing himself upright. Everything complained.

Everything. His gut, his back, the numb leg that had somehow been denied blood when he leant on it.

Several hands helped him sit up and he found himself blinking against the golden light of sunset.

Sunset?

What the hell?

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Long enough.” His eldest brother was standing up, stretching his limbs and obviously rubbing blood back into his extremities. “You’re heavy.” But the smile Scott sent him was fond and happy. “We’re home, Virg.”

John, Alan and Gordon were arrayed beyond Scott, but as he turned his head, two other presences made themselves known. Grandma was in front of him, scanner in hand, blue eyes frowning at him in concern.

And on the dock, beyond the railing, stood Kayo.

Her frown vanished the moment she realised he was looking at her and was replaced with a small smile. “Welcome home.”

It was addressed to all of them, but she was looking at him when she said it.

“Let’s get you off this boat, young man.”

Yes! He was home. His ‘bird’s runway stretched along the cliff above them and the whole purpose of the boat trip came home to rest in his heart. As he stood, Scott helping him to his feet, he turned to his brothers. “Thank you.” He could claim that his voice was rough from his half drowning a few hours ago. “Thank you for taking me home. You didn’t have to, but you did anyway.” Okay, now he was getting emotional. “Thank you.”

An arm slung about his shoulders. “Anytime, Virgil, anytime.” Scott’s eyes flashed almost green in the evening light.

Alan muttered something and darted past Gordon to wrap his arms around Virgil. “Don’t do that again.”

Virgil blinked. “Not planning on it.” He wasn’t sure whether Alan was referring to his appendix or the whale thing, but whatever. His arm came around his brother and held him tight.

John’s smile was soft, but full of enough to swell Virgil’s heart.

Gordon...

A moment and Virgil untangled himself from Scott and Alan, took those few steps to his fish brother and smothered him in a massive hug. As expected, Gordon squawked and struggled just enough to make his protest shown, but Virgil hung on.

“Thank you, Gordon. Best idea ever.”

Arms encircled his waist, but his brother didn’t answer.

The moment was broken by Grandma placing a gentle hand on his arm. “Virgil, I would like to do a full medscan. John reported that you’ve been rather active today.” Virgil shot a look at his younger brother. John just smiled a little more and shrugged.

It was to be expected. Virgil would have done the same thing under the circumstances.

He sighed and let Gordon go.

Russet brown stared up at him a moment before Gordon stepped aside and gestured Virgil towards the gangplank that connected A Little Lightning to the dock.

Scott materialised on one side and John on the other and he had to force himself not to roll his eyes in exasperation.

Between the two of them, they made sure he stepped securely onto solid ground, ghosted him up the hill to the runway and to one of the little runabouts they used to transport cargo about the Island. It was clear that he was the cargo.

Well, at least it wasn’t a hoverstretcher.

He let out a sigh as Scott drove him into Two’s hangar and his ‘bird loomed over him.

Home.

It was a matter of elevators and examinations after that. Grandma was very thorough. The word ‘pneumonia’ was bandied about as a possibility if he didn’t look after himself properly. Apparently, he had breathed in a little too much seawater.

Fortunately, his incisions were quite happy and well on the mend despite the two dunkings for the day. Grandma didn’t frown at him, but the firm line of her lips was enough to keep him quiet.

You did not mess around with Grandma regarding medical matters.

Hell, when cornering his brothers as a medic himself, often the only threat that kept them corralled was that he would bring in Grandma if they didn’t behave.

When Virgil was ill, there was no-one else. Grandma was always the one who looked after him. She always had.

And, in turn, he now looked after her.

“What happened out there, Virgil?” Her voice was soft. They were alone and his grandmother was putting away her instruments. She had run him through everything, even a brain scan. She was obviously concerned.

“I don’t know, Grandma.”

“John says you spoke to whales.”

He shook his head and let it drop. “I don’t know.”

A finger caught his chin and drew his head up to look into her eyes. “You keep yourself safe, Virgil. You hear me? You have family who need you. Family who love you.”

“I’m okay, Grandma.”

She stared at him a moment longer before letting out a breath and turning back to her instruments. “You’re off rescues for another week, but I suspect you knew that.”

He did, but part of him had hoped he could shorten it. One glance at Grandma and he knew he didn’t have a hope. “Yes, standard recovery period for an operation of this type.”

Blue eyes shot a suspicious glare at him, but he didn’t respond.

“Lots of bed rest. None of your heavy lifting. No gym until next week.”

Damn. “Yes, Grandma.”

She turned back and he was in her arms. “Welcome home, Virgil.”

He blinked and returned the hug. “I’m fine, Grandma.”

Those arms tightened just a fraction.

He frowned. “Grandma?”

She let him go and turned away. “You better go downstairs. Kayo has dinner ready for all of us. It’s Christmas Eve.” She straightened up and looked at him, her eyes saying something he couldn’t quite decipher. “We should celebrate as a family.”

“Okay.”

Her hand landed on his arm and squeezed gently before letting go. He took that as a dismissal, slid off the bed and grabbed his shirt. “Thank you, Grandma.”

She didn’t turn. “I’ll see you down there shortly.”

He frowned, but did as she asked and headed off to the comms room.

-o-o-o-

Scott stared at John and Gordon. “You think he is actually communicating with the whales.”

A pair of copper eyebrows rose. “We think so.”

“But Virgil told me himself that he doesn’t understand it.”

Eos’ voice was deceptively wise. “Commander, he may not understand consciously, but subconsciously.”

“Explain.” Scott glared at the simulacrum of spinning lights on the holoprojector.

“His brain is at least partly processing the information, enough to receive an impression of the content, but not enough to clarify it. He has processed enough to produce a vocalisation that connects with the whales despite the lack of range in his vocal cords. Humans cannot produce the sound required to emulate whale song without electronic enhancement. Virgil’s physical contact appears to have amplified his emissions enough for the whale to recognise his voice as a form of communication.” A graphic appeared on the ‘projector. A small portion was set aside and fit into the larger like a puzzle piece. “The whale was able to clarify his vocalisation into something that could be understood.”

“What did Virgil say?”

John answered him. “We don’t know.”

“We should ask him.” Gordon stood up. “And I think he should be part of this conversation.”

Scott bit back a retort. Every bone in his body wanted to protect Virgil from this.

But he knew he couldn’t.

Sagging, he sat down on the couch behind him and nodded.

Gordon stepped around the ‘projector and perched beside him. “Sam and I will find out more. I promise, Scott. This is a major breakthrough, you know that.”

Scott turned slowly to look at his little brother. “You saw what it did to him.”

“Do you trust me, Scott?” Russet brown bared his little brother’s soul.

He stared into those eyes. Little rapscallion Gordy, the prankster of the family. The ray of sunshine on moments so dark Scott feared his own survival. Did he trust Gordon? Trust him with Virgil’s life?

All the time.

“Yes, I do.”

Gordon swallowed. “Then trust me with this. I’ll keep him safe. I promise. We’ll work this out. Discover what it means. What exactly is going on.”

John cleared his throat. “Perhaps you should both speak to Virgil first?”

Scott turned to find his engineer brother standing by the kitchen stairs, staring at them.

-o-o-o-

“Virgil-“

“No!” His older brother threw his hands up and Gordon took a step back. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

So, of course, Scott took a step forward. “Vir-“

“No, Scott! Not now. Just leave it. I need to work this out for myself. I...I thank you for the information, John, Eos.” He nodded to the ‘projector. “Gordon, I understand the interest and I...empathise.” He sighed. “I just need time, guys, okay?”

“Okay.” It was parched and apparently his voice. The frown creasing Gordon’s forehead was deep enough to hurt. Why wasn’t Virgil letting him help?

His brother reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Just some time, Gords, please.”

“Okay.”

“Then I’ll come to you.” Eyes a deeper brown than his own were pleading for understanding. “I promise.”

“Okay.” Gordon swallowed and cleared his throat. “Well, in that case, I vote we go eat before Alan inhales everything.” It was a simple distraction, but it worked.

Virgil squeezed his shoulder, his expression flashing thanks before turning away. The tension in the man’s back was pulling his shirt tight.

Maybe he was right. Maybe they should wait.

A blink and another swallow and Gordon followed Virgil from the room, Scott and John behind him.

-o-o-o-

The evening was a quiet one. All five brothers were tired after the day’s events, even Virgil who, despite having slept a few hours in the morning and afternoon, still looked like he was going to fall on his face at any moment.

Even Grandma was more reserved than usual, her gaze landing on Virgil repeatedly, her eyes distant as if in thought.

It was unnerving.

Kayo served dinner. A buffet of Asian dishes accompanied by rice and noodles. Most were purchased, but she had also made her own stir fry, a family favourite with just the right amount of chilli and cilantro. An appropriate welcome back feast, but none of them had the energy to truly appreciate it as much as it deserved.

After dinner saw them stocking presents under the massive Christmas tree in the comms room. Alan made various comments, especially when Virgil lugged out what was likely a painting wrapped in several layers of wrapping paper.

The fact he lugged it by himself led to words from Scott and the present being confiscated. Virgil’s protest that it wasn’t heavy was followed up by John stepping between the two of them and declaring he was going to help Virgil with his load. The two of them disappeared upstairs and Gordon was left with a grumpy Scott.

The whole lack of spirit finally cracked the aquanaut and he grabbed some tinsel off the tree, wrapped it into a ball and threw it at Scott’s head.

The astonishment on his big brother’s face was worth it.

Scott carefully placed the painting-shaped present down beside the tree and turned to verbally retaliate only to have his face muffled by a lounge cushion thrown by Alan.

“Bullseye!”

Gordon idly noted Brains taking one look at the resultant expression on Scott’s face and, grabbing Max, making a beeline for the elevator.

“Alan!”

“Yes, Scott?”

Gordon threw another ball of tinsel, silvery strands fluttering in the air as it flew.

“Gordon!”

Another couch cushion whacked Scott in the face.”

“Ala-“

More tinsel to the head.

Hmm, this tree really did have a lot of tinsel on it, but just in case, Gordon darted in and grabbed two of the balls he had already thrown.

He was not surprised when the remaining tinsel ball retaliated and hit him between the eyes.

Alan was landed by a return cushion volley. Scott really was a good shot.

“Oh, you are going down, bro.” Alan was positively gleeful and before they knew it, cushions, tinsel, several Christmas baubles and a pile of tribbles were hurtling back and forth across the room.

Kayo stood to one side and just rolled her eyes. Grandma joined in and was the likely source of the tribbles.

When John and Virgil returned, it was to utter chaos and not a small amount of laughter. Both got tribbles stuffed down their shirts and tinsel bounced off their heads.

John protested loudly at the use of his tribble stash, but Grandma told him to lighten up...right before she bounced one off his nose.

What followed that was a free for all.

The night got better, much to Gordon’s relief. His brothers loosened up, a little alcohol was dragged out and moods mellowed.

Of course, Alan was the first to nod off, curled up beside Gordon. He was fast followed by Virgil who yet again fell asleep on Scott. The worry that appeared on Scott’s face only made Gordon’s heart sink.

Grandma called it then, sending them all off to bed.

Virgil was nudged awake enough for Scott and John to get him on his feet and guide him to his bed. Gordon shouldered Alan and dragged him to the elevator.

“Thans, Gords.”

“Not a problem, bro.” The elevator was taking forever to return.

Alan turned into Gordon’s shoulder and slumped against it, half snoring.

“C’mon, Allie.” The elevator arrived and he helped his little brother aboard. If there was one thing Alan had in common with Virgil it was his ability to sleep.

Some complaints about the boat still rocking and Gordon tumbled his little brother into his bed. Shoes off, covers on. Gordon sat down beside his sleeping brother.

It had been one hell of a trip and now it was over. It was less than a week since Virgil folded in his pilot’s seat, yet it seemed years ago. One boat, four days and five brothers.

Alan rolled over and snorted in his sleep.

Gordon reached out and placed his hand on his arm.

“I’m gonna getcha, John.” It was quiet and mumbled into Alan’s pillow, but it was enough to push Gordon to his feet.

Blimey.

A blink that lasted longer than it should have and Gordon realised he was exhausted. One more glance at his little brother who was now muttering something about space resources and was no doubt plotting his brother’s video game demise, and Gordon made his way to the door.

One boat, four days, five brothers...and tomorrow.

Gordon went to bed.

-o-o-o-

End Day Four.

[thespoot]

My grandpa has Alzheimer's and my mom's dementia was worsened recently by a bad car accident - hence not really being active in bookoween. But, I'm reading The 36-hour Day by Nancy Mace and Peter Rabin's and just the first few chapters have been really useful and eye opening.

A constant struggle for my grandma has been getting grandpa to take a shower. Everything quickly becomes awful - grandpa gets angry and combative and has what I now know is called a catastrophic reaction. I noticed in the hospital and now in rehab that mom is starting the do the same thing - no showers if she can help it and being incredibly resistant to any attempt to get her in a shower.

The thing with dementias of any source is that the damage is uneven and gradual. A person's response makes sense for what they understood - the message they received, not the message you gave. An important point the book has made is that "[I]f the brain interferes with a person's ability to perform any step in a task, the person will not be able to do the rest of the task."

I'll say that again.

If you can no longer do a step in the task, you can't complete the task anymore.

So consider everything that goes into taking a shower: find your clean clothes, find the bathroom, untie shoes, unbutton shirts, undo belts, unbutton pants, turn on the faucet, find the right temperature, pull the thingy that makes it come out the shower head, step in the tub, pull the shower curtains, find the soap, use the soap, find the shampoo, use the shampoo on the right part of your body, rinse off, turn off the faucet, open the shower curtain, find your towel, use your towel, repeat all those clothing steps in reverse to get dressed, and so on. It's like that terrible elementary school writing prompt of "describe how to make a peanut butter sandwich" and your teacher starts putting peanut butter on the bread packaging.

Now add in moderate-enough dementia that you understand someone has to help you take a shower and now you've got emotions like shame and embarrassment clouding everything.

So, if your neurons have misfired on any one of those steps - a misfire that you have no way to control - now you can't take the shower. And now that bathroom is just a nightmare hole of anxiety of all the things you know you once could do and that your caregiver is frustrated you can't do. And sure, there's thing we can do to make it easier to redo the steps, but before others realize this is happening and can help, you're just stuck.

So a reasonable reaction is, cool, I just won't shower. Please, stop making me shower. I said, stop making me shower. I fucking just said I won't take a god damn shower.

I wish my grandma had read this book. She's not a patient person, and neither am I really - but understanding why grandpa does what he does and why my mom is doing what she does is already giving me a greater peace of mind. Understanding that they're not intentionally being obstinate, they're reacting to what they perceive, can help me keep my patience. Dementia is an illness, or rather a symptom of an illness, not a personality trait.

I highly recommend this book to anyone having to cope with dementia in the family.

[cats-thoughts]

Okay see I WANT mac n cheese. But I am not at a great level of emotional strength rn so if I do I AM going to cry when I put the cheese in Cassie and I used to fight over who got to add the cheese, it was one of the few things we'd fight over

LMAO one time Froglord tried to add in the cheese and I literally snatched it from his hands it was SO rude, every neuron in my brain activated at once like MY CHEESE MY JOB I ADD THE CHEESE POWDER

oh my gosh that reminds me of the biscuit incident. I like to think im generally chill but I have personal Traditions and if u disrupt them I will be UPSET which is unfair to my friends but. Im working on it. Anyways we used to make biscuits sunday mornings (Cassie, me, and our grandma) and our grandma would split the extra dough between us. So I was making biscuits with froglord, and split the dough with them,,, and they put in in the oven with the rest of the biscuits. LIKE. NO. THATS NOT WHAT YOU DO. YOU PLAY WITH THE DOUGH AND EAT IT RAW LIKE A MAN SALMONELLA DOESNT EXIST WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG AND STUPID AND HAVING FUN. i didnt say anything (unfair for Froglord, I know, he cant know something bugs me unless I tell him, Im working on it- which i keep saying but its true I am working on it) but i remember it bugged me for the rest of the day.

Cassie and I used to play the silent game of wills where you try to keep your bit of dough for longer, until the other person gives up and eats it, at which point you win and get to smugly eat your dough and wordlessly rub it in their face that I HAVE DOUGH AND YOU DONT NERDD

OH MY GOSH one time she trapped me under a table after school and forced me to learn how to write my name in cursive, I think it was like first or second grade? The Mother had instituted a very strict "you can only eat a snack up to 30 minutes after getting home, otherwise you have to wait until dinner" and ya boi was HUNGRY so anyways I know how to write my deadname in cursive. Thanks cassie very helpful now svhgVhgvhgdav anyways its fine my deadname includes C a and t so I can cobble together my name from that but like. thats so funny.

WE USED TO CONSPIRE AGAINST HER TO GET EXTRA SWEET SNACKS! The Mother had like, a rule on the whiteboard in the kitchen that we could only have 2 sweet snacks in a week, and then we had to eat like, fruits and other healthy things. Fair enough. Cassie and I LOVED sugar though so we would like, take an extra popsicle as a snack and agree not to tell The Mother. It was our little secret. I'd always hear when she was coming down the stairs first so Cassie and I could finish the popsicles/hide the evidence before she got to us

this is now just a post of fond memories btw

We'd have sleepovers in Cassie's room, cause it was bigger, and we'd set up pillow forts with sheets for roofs and walls, and it'd be like, a tent, and we'd watch a movie together (usually monty python search for the holy grail, we loved that movie, i still do) and we'd make this whole plan to sneak to the kitchen at midnight and get snacks. Even planned to sleep in shifts and everything. Except we never did because Cassie wouldnt wake up for her shifts or the snacks and I was too afraid to go alone and besides what even is the point of getting snacks if you cant do it with a buddy?

oh but she was SO MUCH BETTER at waking up in the mornings!! My dad is great at waking people up in a less jarring way, but I still hated mornings. Cassie would get up at like 5 am to play minecraft or poptropica on the computer though, and I'd usually drag myself up a bit later to watch. Hated mornings, loved videogames.

oh god The Mother was terrible at waking me up, she would Blast Shitty Country Rap at 100 volume (not kidding she had it on the tv at 100% volume) and clap really louding shouting "WAKE UP WAKE UP GET UP" and would get very mad when you weren't on your feet in 10 seconds i HATED it, im rlly sensitive to loud noises. If Cassie was still around she'd probably get really mad at her for it. But she never woke me up until Cas was gone and she deemed it her weekend Job to wake me up at 8 am Every. Time. I was getting like 2 hours of sleep on weekends cause I'd stay up until Way Too Early playing minecraft- there was this one server I loved, MCC? MMC? MCM? It was something like that, and i made a bunch of cool friends there. Hope they're doing well! They were like, the highlight of my time in Oklahoma. Sometimes my mom would catch me awake past bedtime playing and she'd get PISSED and take the laptop and demand I apologize but I. Wouldn't? I'd just lay down and face the wall (and cry cause I was terrible in the face of getting in trouble but she didn't know that) and eventually she'd leave me alone and I'd get the computer back the next day.

Right, this is for fond memories, hm

Oh! Cassie and I would play Do Not Laugh on Minecraft while she was at the hospital! We shared a laptop, so we'd trade off looking away until the joke was set up and then watch over the other's shoulder. I became pretty obsessed with mcyt at the time as an escape (I was Very Much a Skydoesminecraft fan, back then, as well as Aphmau later on. Oh, and Stampy! Loved Stampy, and Dan! and prestonplayz, back when he did parkour and fighting and such. does anyone else feel like they're watching an ad when they watch him now? Idk, i hope hes having fun though. Gosh, there are so many im just remembering now. Cassie found her favorite song, Paradise by Coldplay, because I showed her Sky's song. New world? I dont remember, it was a parody of that song though.) Anyways she was better at building by a LONG SHOT (she built an epic rustic mansion with like, brick gradients and everything, which was pretty epic for lil 9 year old me to see) but I almost always won the Do Not Laughs. Half the time our jokes were singing songs and throwing out items that were similar. I did have a GENIUS joke though, where I set up a little room underground and put a laptop on the desk and a mini slime in a chair and in the most "6 year old with a cold" voice possible went "I AM THE EVIL DR SLIME, AND I AM GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!" -mom voice- "honey!! dinner time!!" "Wh- MOm! I'm Busy!" "Dont give me that tone, mister, get in here right now!" "Yes mom..." that one was such a hit Cassie called over our Dad and I reenacted it for him

WE USED TO RIDE OUR BIKES DOWN THE PARKING GARAGE I came up with the genius idea of taking the elevator up (it was always midnight, dw, no one was there except the one time people were and got on the elevator with us. that was funny) and we'd SPEED down it was so much fun

SHJGSHJ CASSIE GOT THE DOGS TO PULL HER AROUND IN A WHEELCHAIR IT WAS HILARIOUS Jax loved it, he was such a sweet dog and he loved showing off his strength. Roxy just wanted to beat Jax, I think LMAO

man I miss her. I'm gonna go make mac n cheese now

sorry this is so long I just needed somewhere to dump a buncha memories, you know? hope they were entertaining!

[askbensolo]

Journal #34: Mom Gives Me a Talking-To

“You are in huge trouble, mister,” Mom fumed, pacing furiously around her office. “Seriously? You’ve been spreading rumors about some girl you didn’t like? And not just rumors—blatant falsehoods, based on what—some dreams that you had? I raised you better than this!”

I grimaced, rubbing my sweaty palms against my pants. I wanted to explain that it hadn’t started that way; that it had all just spiraled out of control. Most of the newest rumors I hadn’t even heard of, and couldn’t possibly be held responsible for.

“It didn’t start with just the dreams, Mom,” I protested. “I would never have started telling people stuff just because I had a silly dream! I had the suspicions first, and then the dreams seemed to—“

“All right, then tell me how your suspicions began,” Mom interrupted, twirling around to face me and spreading her arms in an exaggerated gesture. I was stunned into silence.

Mom put her hands on her hips. “Go on: enlighten me. Tell me how you first became convinced Luke’s student was an evil Sith apprentice.”

“Well...I was, uh...I was talking to...”

It was then that I realized I was screwed.

“Talking to who, Ben?”

“Talking to...” My face flushed. “Talking to some people on the HoloNet...”

Mom looked at me like a handful of her neurons had just died on the spot—I swear I saw one of her eyelids twitch. I felt my cheeks grow hotter and I looked down at the floor.

“Unbelievable. Just...unbelievable. Anonymous strangers, Ben. On the HoloNet!”

“I...I’m sorry, Mom,” I said quietly, chewing at a hangnail on my left thumb. “The more we talk about it, the more I realize how stupid I was. It all seemed so real in my head... I was scared. And excited. And panicking. You know that’s a bad mix for me. And after that...well, I guess I just felt I was too far gone to back up anymore.”

“Hm,” Mom clucked, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you’re apologizing to me for, bud. I’m not the one whom everyone thinks is a Sith lord, or whatever those kids are saying about her. I understand you’re a bit jumpy, after what Snoke did to you. But that poor girl, Ben! Think of what you’ve done to her! And all because of strangers on the HoloNet.”

“Yeah...” I mumbled awkwardly.

“Well...this wouldn’t be the first time HoloNet strangers led you to make a poor life decision,” she sighed.

“It’s not their fault. It’s my fault. I just have terrible judgment,” I said anxiously.

“I won’t argue with that. You do seem to have a hard time knowing when to keep your mouth shut,” Mom agreed flatly. “And while we’re on the topic...I don’t suppose you’re to blame for the fact that every major news outlet in the galaxy suddenly knows the Organa-Solos have a foster child in their care? It’s plastered across all the headlines; featured in every holozine. We’ve had twenty requests for interviews in the past twenty-four hours. Heck, the girl hasn’t even been in our home for that long.”

“Okay, Mom, that one is not on me,” I protested. “I haven’t said a single word these last two months since we found her. You can comb my blog if you want—I’ve never mentioned the kid once. If I mentioned her right now, no one would know what I was talking about. Someone probably just saw you and Dad taking the certification classes, or saw you taking the kid home, or maybe pulled off a heist to steal the foster adoption records or something. But...”

I bit my lips with my mouth closed, and gave her a hopeful look. “...Since she’s not really a secret anymore...does that mean I can post about her now? There’s so much I’ve been wanting to say about my new tiny human buddy, and my thoughts on becoming a foster brother, and it’s super ironic, ‘cause right before we found her I was answering a bunch of questions about how much I didn’t want a sibling—”

“Well...yes and no, Ben,” Mom cautioned. “While it’s true that everyone already knows she exists and that she’s living with us, you’re still not allowed to disclose any of her personal information—not for now, at least. No holos of her, and no mentioning her name or her age or talking about where we found her.”

“Oh, c’mon, Mom! How am I supposed to talk about her without ever saying her name?”

“Make up a nickname.”

“Okay. Like...Kid? Or maybe Foster Sister? Or Fosister?”

She raised an eyebrow at me.

“Actually, scratch that last one,” I muttered.

“Generic, but functional,” she remarked. “Any of those are fine...except maybe that last one.”

Mom finally stopped pacing and sat down in the chair at her desk, taking a sip from the cold mug of caf that had been sitting there all day. “Since we’re hoping to reunite her with her family again, Ben, we don’t want her stay with us to follow her around for the rest of her life,” she explained. “We want to protect her.”

She paused and gave me a pointed look over her mug. “For example, to protect her from gossip like the kind you’ve been spreading.”

“Mom...” I pleaded.

“Besides,” Mom went on, “even if she’s only your sister for a little while, you ought to be a good example. And I don’t know about you, but gossipmongery is certainly not my idea of—”

“Is Ben in trouble, Ms. Leia?”

We both turned. There was Kid herself, standing in the doorway, her hair tangled across her shoulders. She was wrapped in a blanket, and she had tied it around her neck to form a cape. Her favorite doll was held tight against her chest.

“Well, speak of the emperor,” Mom said warmly, her expression softening. “Can’t sleep, sweetie?”

“I just wanted to make sure everything was okay,” Kid said, looking at us carefully. “I heard loud voices.”

“Sorry. We’re a loud family. You’ll get used to it,” I apologized. “Everything’s cool though. I promise.”

Kid nodded and started to leave, but then she hesitated, peeking her head back into the doorway. “After you get out of trouble...will you read me a bedtime story, Ben? Like you said you would?”

I smiled at her. “Of course, kid.”

The response was immediate—her face lit up like a sunbeam. She jumped up and down a couple of times and then skipped down the hallway. “I’ve never had a bedtime story in my entire life!” we heard her chirp, and we both chuckled. But it was kind of sad, too.

Mom turned to me and smiled.

“That was sweet of you, Ben.”

“I wanted to make her feel at home,” I replied modestly, wondering if maybe Mom would go easier on me now that I had reminded her I was at least a decent person.

“But back to your less-sweet behavior.”

I groaned.

“...Actually,” Mom mused, “I feel a little responsible for this incident as well. If you remember, I said I was going to be monitoring your HoloNet activity and your messages so that things like this don’t happen. But I’ve just gotten so busy, especially with the little girl on board.”

She combed through her loose hair thoughtfully. “If I had been keeping better track of your blogging, I would have talked to you sooner, and you wouldn’t have gotten yourself into such trouble. We’ll have to figure out a better system in the future—and I’ll have to keep my guard up, so I know you’re not publishing all of Kid’s personal information for the galaxy to see.”

“I’m almost eighteen, Mom,” I reminded her. “I’m not a child anymore. Don’t you think I’m, y’know...old enough to be independent?”

“Judging from recent events, not particularly,” Mom answered dryly. “And as long as you’re under my roof, using the HoloNet service that I’m paying for, on a device that I bought—we’ll play by my rules. Does that sound fair, son?”

I sighed.

“Yes. Mother.”

“Good,” she nodded with satisfaction. “Now...as for the situation at hand...I hope you realize that I fully expect you to apologize to Amalia.”

If I had been drinking a glass of water, I would’ve spit it all out. Instead, I choked on my own saliva and almost burst into a coughing fit. She wanted me to apologize? To Amalia? Amalia would tear me to shreds before I ever said a word!

“But Mom!” I cried.

“But nothing, mister,” she said coolly.

“She’s gonna kill me!”

“Then you’ll die doing the right thing,” she shrugged.

“You’re giving me a death sentence, Mom! You are sending me to the grave!”

“It’s what a mother does,” she quipped.

“I hear loud voices again!” Kid called down the hallway.

“Everything’s okay!” Mom and I called back simultaneously. We looked at each other.

Then she exhaled deeply and scooted her office chair closer. She took me by the hand (mine was so much bigger than hers now, I realized) and gently brushed my hair behind my ears. At once I felt like I really was a child again.

“I love you, Ben,” she said softly, leaning close enough for me to see my reflection in her eyes. “That’s why I care so much about you and your actions. You did something wrong, even if it was out of fear, and you need to set it right. No getting around it. We’ll talk more to Luke about this tomorrow, and he’ll help you figure out the best course of action for making amends. But tonight, I want you to reflect on what you’ve done, and try to put yourself in Amalia’s shoes. Do some deep self-searching. Really think about the consequences of all of this.”

I swallowed hard and nodded at the ground.

“But before that…” She squeezed my hand and smiled. “...why don’t you go read your new foster sister that bedtime story, okay?”

“Okay,” I muttered. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus. The idea of apologizing to Amalia for what I’d done seemed like the worst thing ever. Either she’d take my apology as an even bigger insult, or she’d just get so smug about it and make me grovel at her feet! I almost wished she really was evil, so we could just face off in a battle to the death instead of having to navigate reparations.

“Ah! The pictures pop out! And move!” Kid suddenly cried from her room (a repurposed storage closet), breaking the tension and eliciting another laugh from both of us.

“She’s never seen a holobook before?” I whispered incredulously.

“I guess not,” Mom murmured, then gave me a wink. “That means you, sir, get to read her her first one.”

I grinned.

“Also, you’re grounded,” she added sweetly. “Write a public apology for your blog, queue it up for tomorrow, and have your holopad turned in to me by the end of the night, please and thank you.”