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ivymarquis · 1 year ago

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The Neighbor

Hello friends I fucked off for a month but I’m back and I bring Price smut as an apology for my absence. @sky-is-the-limit’s “Im here to do what your boyfriend cant” prompt has lived in my brain rent free ecer since I read it and while I didn’t follow it verbatim, I did keep in spirit with the theme :)

Also womp I was gone for the Price challenge by @glitterypirateduck but this actually checks off a couple of the prompt options (first time being intimate, a confession/secret is discovered/revealed) so I’m submitting it.

There are a lot of tags. Make sure you read them.

Pairing| John Price x Reader Rating| M Word Count| 4.8k Kinks/Content/Warnings| Accidental voyuerism by virtue of living in an apartment, the reader has a dogshit boyfriend at the beginning of the fic (there is no cheating), slut shaming (from the dogshit boyfriend), these two idiots are down bad for each other, sex toys, oral (F!receiving), unprotected PiV, gratuitous squirting because I’m me, not really heavy on BDSM elements but mentions of the following: bondage/restraints (John uses his hands, nothing crazy), something akin to subspace from how good the nut is, aftercare, John is a prick to the now-ex, very brief angst due to a quick misunderstanding, very vaguely implied somnophilia, rampant abuse of italics. Lemme know if I missed anything.

His neighbor is clearly used to Price being deployed.

She’s a sweet thing, really, and on the whole isn’t that disagreeable of a neighbor.

He just has one problem with her (not even her, really) that is a thorn in his fucking side- her boyfriend.

The boyfriend was not an issue when they first met- wasn’t in the picture at all.

And no John most assuredly hasn’t had it out for the guy since Day 1. The fact that John had gathered himself up to ask his pretty neighbor out when he came back from his latest mission, only to find out about the new boyfriend, does not color his impression of the other man. He’s grown and this is not the first time his advances have been turned away for whatever reason.

But there are, to his knowledge, no true redeeming qualities about the man and he is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.

He catches bits and pieces through the walls. The boyfriend is not attentive, caring, or sweet to her. She is treated as a guest in her own home, and twice he’s heard bellowing shouts that had Price at the door with his fist banging against it- both to shut him up and make it exceptionally well known that if the boyfriend thinks intimidating a woman is going to fly, that Price will not hesitate to kick the door in.

The most appalling part of it all is that John has a front row seat to just how atrocious he is in bed.

For the life of him John does not understand. It’s not even like the lad’s a good lay.

He’s heard many stories of women tolerating absolutely atrocious behavior from the muppets they were with because he knew how to make them see stars.

That is exceptionally not the case here. And John is rapidly finding his patience wearing thin at continually being subjugated to his pathetic performance.

So what the hell is it about the boyfriend that keeps his neighbor so enamored with him?

John stares at the ceiling, watching the blades of the fan turn as he tries to tune out the thumping of the headboard against the wall.

He thinks that if the man was just a bad lay and completely incapable of getting her anywhere, that would be one thing and John would continue to be frustrated but ultimately understand. But it’s the way he seems to actively ruin it anytime she has the audacity to enjoy having sex with him that truly grates on John’s nerves.

It’s not often, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. The thumping of the headboard is accompanied by her sweet voice moaning lowly in short staccato notes as the boyfriend appears to finally be doing something right.

The thumping comes to a halt, and John groans in frustration.

“Why’d you stop?” He can hear his pretty neighbor lament through the thin walls.

“Why the fuck are you being so loud? Trying to give the neighbor a show?”

John squints his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose in annoyance. The fucking muppet can’t do anything right.

If the neighbor was his, John wouldn’t give a fuck who heard. Let all the neighbors know that he could fuck the sense clear out of her pretty little head. John could show the muppet what loud is.

“No! I’m not trying to do anything- it just felt good,” she defends herself.

“Well, be quieter about it, no one needs to hear that. You sound like a whore,” the muppet snaps at her irritably, and John is nearly at his fucking limit when the god damn headboard starts to thump against the wall again.

“Get out.”

Oh.

John is impressed- pleasure and pride coursing through him as his sweet neighbor stands up for herself rather than letting that ungrateful swine continue to berate her.

Good fucking girl.

“What did you just say?” The thumping stops.

“You don’t get to call me names. Get off of me and get out.”

For all his sins, it seems even the muppet has a line he’s not willing to cross.

There’s a shifting as he presumably pulls out and gets off the bed- the words are muffled but the tone is clear. The muppet isn’t above laying into her verbally though consent is (smartly) a line he won’t toe.

And good thinking on his part- John would probably tear through the drywall and turn him into a chew toy had that conversation gone in any other direction.

The door slams loudly, announcing the boyfriend’s departure.

John can’t help but keep his attention on his neighbor to see what her reaction is going to be. It is taking every ounce of self control he has to not follow the boyfriend and wring his neck in the parking lot.

There’s no conventional guide for how to address this situation with your neighbor. ‘Hello, I’ve fancied you for quite some time and that ungrateful prick somehow swept you up before I got the nerve to ask you out. I've had to hear you have the most lackluster sex ever for the past several months, and equal parts want to check in on how you’re doing emotionally after his latest stunt, and also want to bend you over and pin you to the mattress until you’re squealing. May I come in?’

He can’t say he is too surprised to hear things slamming about in the apartment- his pretty neighbor sounding more pissed off than upset, catching snippets of “Who the fuck does he think he is, talking to me like that” and “Motherfucker couldn’t find my clit with a map and a headlamp but can find the audacity to call me names-”

Okay, John has to fight back the urge to laugh at that last one lest she hear him. She’s quite the viper when (finally) provoked, and it just endears her more to him.

She doesn’t appear particularly distraught, the slamming and huffing and muttering concluding with her tossing herself on the bed.

It’s a very common occurrence that after the neighbor’s rendezvous with her lazy boyfriend, John is treated to a show where she finishes herself off with her toys.

The boyfriend, like many inadequate men, is threatened by them and John has heard the snide remarks.

Hilarious, he finds it, that a man incapable of getting her off is so adamant that she gets rid of them.

She hasn’t listened, clearly, as the low sound of her vibrator can be heard through the wall.

John is soon graced with the sound of her panting moans. His cock stiffens in interest at her voice, which is a frequent occurrence. She makes such pretty noises, mewling and whimpering as she works herself up.

Tonight is a whirlwind of emotions for his pretty neighbor, and at the end of the day her no-good boyfriend left her high and dry.

John will gladly enjoy the consequences of the boyfriend’s actions, one hand wrapping around his cock and beginning to stroke in time with her whines.

What he wouldn’t give for a chance to make her see stars. He’d be so good to her.

The reality of his job makes dating a logistical nightmare, part of what stayed his hand for so long.

He’s not blind. His neighbor is kind and sweet with a killer smile and wandering eyes. He’s caught her more than once ogling him when he’s returned home in uniform, or more nondescript tactical clothing.

Feeling her gaze on him always makes him puff up with pride, enjoying holding her attention no matter how fleeting. If he takes his time after a run and makes a point to pull the hem of his shirt up to wipe at his brow where she can see it, that’s his business.

So John thinks he’s dreaming when he hears that lovely voice whimper his name from the other side of the wall.

He stiffens, quietly waiting to see if he hears it again.

“John- Oh, fuck- please,” is all he needs to hear before he’s well and truly lost any semblance of patience.

Only having the presence of mind to dress himself enough to not warrant any errant looks from the other neighbors, he is at her door in a second.

It’s only after he knocks that he realizes he may well have killed whatever momentum she’s built for herself- given her muttering as she approaches the door- but he fully intends to make up for the stolen release.

She opens the door without looking through the peephole, obviously expecting it to be the ex based on the vitriol poised to spill at John’s chest, approximately eye level with where the (hopefully ex) boyfriend would be.

Once again he has to stifle a laugh, finding her a comical vision when the anger on her face melts away as her eyes flick up to his face with the realization that it is him at the door and not the object of her ire.

“What are you doing here, John?” Christ, he’s always been a sucker for pretty doe eyes. If he held even an ounce less of restraint he’d be mounting her right here for everyone to see.

“I’m here to do what your sorry excuse of a boyfriend can’t.”

Even as he reaches out to pull her in for a kiss, he’s watching her body language- gauging if she stiffens or shifts away.

She doesn’t.

In fact, her arms loop behind him and pull him closer, tugging on his hair and his shirt.

John’s not wasting any more time than he already has, walking her backwards into the apartment and shutting the door with his foot before reaching back to lock it- he’s got no desire for any interruptions from wayward former boyfriends.

They separate for a moment as she paws at the hem of his shirt, clearly wanting it off of him. John is all too happy to oblige, preening under her attention. He’s always had the stockier build of a man who’s fitness came from utility in the field, opposed to the hard defined abs of someone who spends most of their time in the gym.

It’s cute, the way she has to pry her eyes up to his face- clearly liking what she sees and flustered by the fact that John can see her staring.

“I broke up with him,” she clarifies.

“Good,” is his simplistic response, although if John’s being honest with himself he doesn’t really care about the finer details. The little prick never deserved to have her and John finally has his chance to prove himself worthy.

“The bedroom’s this way,” she prompts between kisses.

Their clothes are peeled off in turns as they stumble towards the room. The layout is inverted to John’s own flat nextdoor, so despite having never stepped foot inside before he guides her to keep her from crashing into something behind her.

By the time they are collapsing against her bed, they’re stripped of everything except a scant thong on her and his own boxers.

She’s just so delightfully soft in his grip, John can’t keep his hands or his mouth off of her.

The feeling is reciprocated as she pushes up off the bed to grind against him. As much as he’s relishing in them dry humping and making out like teenagers, he’s wanted her for so long and now that she’s finally willing and pliant underneath him, he’s itching for a taste of her.

Kissing his way down her body- starting at her jaw, the column of her neck, across her collar bone, down her sternum; latching onto each nipple and teasing them to hardened peaks before continuing his path down.

He’s compelled by the urge to turn her into a chew toy as he reaches her belly, although he stifles that urge and keeps his teeth to himself.

He can’t quite resist giving a small nip as she squirms, clearly excited by the implication of where he’s heading.

There’s a damp spot on her underwear already as he kisses along the waistband while his hands tease with the elastic on either side of her hips.

The sound of her breath hitching in anticipation makes him smirk, attention drifting further south.

The fabric is in his way as he presses a kiss against her clothed cunt, gripping handfuls of her hips to keep her still as she bucks in his grasp.

“Easy, sweetheart- we’ve got all night,” he soothes before moving his attention up one thigh to the backside of her knee.

Those sweet thighs are splayed open for him, giving John unfettered access as he continues to tease.

“When’s this sweet cunt been eaten last, hm?”

He knows he’s heard her give that undeserving muppet head, but can’t recall any reciprocation occuring. There’s not much that can shock John at this point in his life, and he’s willing to roll the dice by dragging up her now-ex because he knows this poor thing hasn’t been eaten until she’s begging him off in ages.

“I couldn’t even begin to tell you,” she answers breathlessly, anticipating having her thighs twitching in his hold.

Out of the corner of his eye, John spies a torn condom wrapper that didn’t quite make it into the bin. Well that keeps him from having to ask two questions, then. Smart girl.

“What a shame,” he tsks lightly, peppering kisses back up and down her thigh.

Deciding that she’s waited long enough and he’s had his fun being a tease, John is quick to remove the scant lace and pull it off of her legs before tossing it to who-knows-where.

The sounds she makes as he makes a meal out of her is music to his ears. Each hitched moan and breathy whimper makes him stiffen in interest.

His attention shifts to focus on her clit, tongue circling the sensitive nub as his hands hold her hips in place.

As focused as he is on what’s right in front of him, it takes a moment for John to realize that she’s stifling her noises. One hand is fisting the sheets beneath her while the other is clamped across her lips.

Well. That simply won’t do.

The ex may have trained and shamed her into silence, but John didn’t make it as a military captain without learning how to break someone else’s bad habits.

He ignores her whimper of protest as he stops, one hand abandoning the softness of her hip in favor of grabbing her wrist and pulling her hand away from her mouth.

“None of that,” he admonishes gently, pressing a kiss to one thigh. “Let me hear you.”

“I-I’m too loud,” she protests and for a split second John sees red.

To his credit, he does not leave her wet and leaking on the bed to go bludgeon her ex to death with a blunt object.

“No such thing, sweetheart,” he soothes before having a thought to tease her. “Who are you worried is going to hear you?” He asks kindly, a shit eating grin as he speaks again, “the neighbor?”

Her wide eyed expression is thoroughly scandalized and John can’t fight the chuckle that escapes him.

He hasn’t released her wrist yet, deciding that it’s time to get back to his meal. If she abandons gripping the sheet with her free hand to cover her mouth again, he simply plans to hold both of her wrists.

It’s tentative at first, still not entirely trusting John at his word that he wants to hear her.

But John is all for positive reinforcement as a motivator, crooking his fingers to stroke that one spot that makes her see stars to encourage more from her.

She’s a quick study, although when she releases the sheet John is watching her like a hawk.

Rather than clasping over her mouth again, John is pleased when her fingers end up burying in his hair.

More than happy to let her guide him, John takes his cues from how she pulls at his hair. The feel of her thighs twitching as she breathes in staccato breaths is all the reward he needs.

“You’re getting close,” he says against her cunt, pointing out the obvious before getting back to work. She’s anxious, he thinks, the closer she gets to her climax. Poor girl doesn’t know what to do with herself with an orgasm she hasn’t had to put all the work into.

“D-don’t stop,” she stammers, rewarded immediately with John redoubling his efforts.

He’s not going to stop. Pretty thing like her deserves nothing less than laying on her back and enjoying getting her cunt eaten out.

“O-oh fuck,” is his only warning before she’s gushing on his face and John is like a kid on Christmas morning.

He doesn’t even know if she realizes she’s squirted, too caught up in the pleasure of her high.

He’s always thought it was hot- now that he knows his pretty neighbor is a squirter he is more than willing to get on his knees and pray to whoever is listening that this isn’t a one time event. He’ll do anything to get her to keep him.

Even as her high fades he doesn’t let up on her, continuing to work his middle and ring finger inside of her. All he wants is to see her cum- wants to see those eyes roll as she squeezes them shut in anticipation.

Despite pulling his face away from her wet pussy, he doesn’t leave her clit unattended for long before his thumb is gently circling in time with the thrusts of his fingers.

Kissing his way back up her body, John can’t help but be pleased as she pulls him in to make out with him. Snatched gasps and bucks of her hips grace his ears as he works her from orgasm to the next, the wet sound of his palm slapping against her.

“John Im gonna cum again,” she whimpers in warning.

He feels like a god with the way she stares up at him reverently, eyes wide and desperate for another climax.

“Come on,” he goads, “Show me- let me see your face when you cum.”

Christ if her leg twitches any harder it’s going to start vibrating, serving to only encourage him.

“O-oh,” she mewls, “God- don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t-“ she’s pleading with him like he wouldn’t sit at her feet if she asked him to.

The bewildered look on her face is darling, and John nearly finishes untouched; he's so wound up it’s not going to take much.

A few choice thoughts keep his own eminent climax at bay and buys him enough breathing room. She bucks and trembles in his hold, a high pitched squeal escaping her as he proves not only can he make her cum twice, but he can make her squirt like a faucet twice.

As soon as she’s starting to come down from her high she’s pulling at him, drawing up her knees to spread her legs in invitation.

“Greedy girl,” he teases as he kisses her- wet fingers abandoning her cunt in favor of manhandling her, wrapping her legs around his waist as he positions himself.

“Please, please, please-“ she begs so prettily for him, pleading for him to do exactly what he’s been fantasizing about for months.

He’s not a small man and mindful of that fact, but she’s well prepped and takes him easily. The desperate whimper that escapes her sears into John’s memory.

The buildup of everything finally gets to him as he wastes no time setting a steady pace.

“That’s it, sweetheart, just like that. Let me hear you,” he encourages as she cants her hips in time with his, whines of pleasure escaping her on each thrust.

“John, please,” she begs, eyebrows furrowing in pleasure as she watches where they’re joined.

“Eyes up here,” he instructs and Christ he almost loses it when her gaze flicks from between their bodies up to his face.

His hands find hers, fingers lacing together as he lowers his torso in order to kiss the ethereal creature underneath him.

She whimpers into his mouth, her sounds only encouraging John.

Everything about her is warm and inviting, from her soft skin to her warm cunt and the way she sings for him at every thrust.

Maneuvering them so he can grip both her wrists with one of his hands, the other immediately dives between their bodies to find her clit again.

His pretty neighbor has spent months not having an orgasm she didn’t give herself, and John is determined to prove to her that he can give her as many as she can handle.

“John I can’t cum again,” she pleads even as her thighs shake on either side of him.

“Yes you can,” he assures her. “One more time for me, yeah?”

Now, should she insist she’s done and satisfied then John would leave her clit alone and finish up their fun. As it is, though, she nods in acquiescence before the trembling in her thighs increases.

“Good girl,” he praises, fingers continuing their steady pace around her clit as she creeps closer to the edge.

She’s babbling in his ear as he presses a kiss to her temple and he knows she’s almost there.

“Good girl,” he praises again, a cocksure grin pulling at the corners of his lips at her immediate response.

“My good girl,” he ups the ante, testing her response to John staking a claim on her. And God did it ever work. That last little bit is all it takes to finally tip her over.

She clenches down on him like a vice and John immediately loses it, groaning low as the haze of his orgasm washes over him.

It’s everything he wants- she’s everything he wants as he recovers enough from his climax to finally notice that the bed is an utter mess beneath them.

It’s not his immediate concern however, more interested in soothing her through the come down of her high. She’s shivering underneath him, eyes glossy from the intensity of her last orgasm.

“Easy, sweetheart,” he murmurs reassuringly. “Just breathe for me.”

He gathers her up in his arms, listening as her heartbeat relaxes in time with his own.

Eventually when enough time passes she’s more alert and happily snuggling against his chest. After giving her a chance to rest he herds her along to the bathroom so she doesn’t give herself a UTI. She tries to brush him off but her legs are taking their sweet time cooperating again.

Of course, she’s not exactly a recruit taking a piss test so he gives her her privacy and she’s able to return on her own albeit on shaky legs.

John pets at her head idly, attention drifting in post coital bliss as his hand strokes down along her back.

“I can’t believe you’re actually in my bed,” she giggles deliriously after a stretch of quiet.

“Only reason I wasn’t here sooner was because of that muppet,” he assures her. He doesn’t want her thinking that this is a one time thing for him. He’s wanted her for so long he can’t possibly be expected to turn her loose at the end of the night.

“I only dated him because I didn’t think you liked me,” she scoffs at herself.

“Oh, it was nearly the first moment I laid eyes on you. But with my work I kept talking myself out of doing anything,” he tells her. “Kept telling myself you deserve better. And then you brought the muppet home and kept him around,” John grouses good naturedly at her. “Think they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

“I plead temporary insanity,” she jokes, snuggling closer against his chest. “But I got rid of him. And you finally made your move.”

He hums in agreement, sleep pulling at him now that he has her tucked up against his side.

John doesn’t remember falling asleep but he wakes with a jolt to the sound of pounding on her door.

He’s only been out for an hour or so when he checks the clock on the nightstand, his neighbor sprawled out next to him.

Well, now he knows she snores. The sound is light enough to have never heard it through the wall, but curled up next to him she’s like a cat purring loudly in his ear.

And he’s exceptionally pissed right off at the fact someone has woken him up. Especially considering he has one guess who it is.

He fully debates answering the door buck ass naked to teach the prick a lesson about banging on doors after midnight but settles on tossing his joggers on.

Much like when she opened the door for John, the ex is automatically trained at where her head would be rather than looking at John’s face.

“My eyes are here,” he quips sarcastically. “Why the fuck are you banging on the door this late.”

“Why th-“ the ex starts to parrot back before cutting himself off. “Why the fuck are you in her apartment? Why isn’t she answering?”

“She’s asleep,” John answers simply. There’s no obligation to explain the why and how he ended up in her apartment.

“What the fuck do you mean she’s asleep? How is she asleep after she just dumped me? And why the fuck are you here?”

The boyfriend (the ex boyfriend, he thinks with glee) is either oblivious or…

Well. The ex boyfriend is oblivious. Let’s just keep it at that.

“I’m here because you can’t do your job right. She’s asleep because I can. What part of that is confusing?”

“That stupid slag’s been fucking you behind my back-“

“No.” John is somewhat mindful of not giving a full on “screaming at recruits” bellow, but his voice booms into the corridor outside the apartment anyway. “You watch your fucking mouth. This” John gestures vaguely at his own presence in her flat, “just happened after she dumped you. You don’t get to hurl insults.”

“She hopped off of my cock and straight to yours- what the fuck else is it?”

“You couldn’t get her off,” John hisses in annoyance. “I’ve had front row seats to your shitty little performance more than once. Not 5 minutes after you leave and she’s having to handle it herself.”

“I can’t be expected to compete with a fucking vibrator!”

“Well I sure as shit didn’t need one to get the job done. Poor girl could barely get her legs to work to go to the loo and not give herself a UTI. Your skill issues are what started all of this.”

“You know what? Fucking have her. I don’t need this shit.”

Ah yes, because John needs the ex’s permission to date a newly single woman. Absolutely. That’s entirely how that works.

“Never needed your blessing. Now fuck off. I’m trying to sleep.”

The ex responds with a two finger salute as he spins on his heel and storms off.

John is almost tempted to grab him by the back of his neck and turn him into a chew toy. Given his military career, his patience for muppets giving him attitude is virtually nonexistent.

But the siren call of his pretty neighbor is a stronger pull than the muppet can ever hope to achieve. John’s succeeded in his mission to run the prick off, and he’s going to try to get a few more hours of sleep before seeing if she’s interested in another romp in the morning when she wakes up.

The bedroom is dark and poorly lit but John immediately picks up on the silence.

Rather than being sprawled out and snoring like when he left her, she’s quiet and curled into a ball.

She’s awake.

“Sweetheart?” He calls softly.

She jolts, fabric rustling from the sheets falling off her as she sits up.

“You’re still here,” the surprise in her tone cuts, although he knows she didn’t mean for it to.

She seems to realize how that comes across and clarifies further, “I- I heard the door shut.”

It falls into place for him then- she woke up to the sound of the door and John nowhere to be found. She thought he’d left.

“Oh, sweetheart,” he consoles, making his way back to the bed. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” he assures her while gathering her back into his arms.

Sleep comes back readily once the two of them are situated back in the bed.

Come morning, John’s got the patience and the presence of mind to throw a towel on the bed. He finds out for himself that his neighbor makes the prettiest noises with her arse propped up in the air and her face still buried in her pillow.

He can’t help but laugh later when she texts him that one of the neighbors made a noise complaint.

Age in bio/pinned or I will block you ♡

#ocaptainchallenge #john price x reader #captain john price #price x reader #cod x reader #x reader #implied plus size reader #take a shot every time john calls the reader pretty #but dont or youll get alcohol poisoning #also I used ‘turn into a chew toy’ 3 times and I dont care :)#my writing

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lieslab · 4 months ago

Text

Shadows and silhouettes

꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎ ꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

Pairing: og8 X gn reader

Summary: You admit when you stress out, your brain causes you to imagine things out of the ordinary.

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1.9k

A/N: This was a request from what feels like ages ago. The request was so vague, so I made this more on the light-hearted side of things. Although it's shorter, I hope you enjoy <3

_ _ _

Chan:

“Hey, Chan?”

“Huh?” Chan glanced up from his desk. His laptop sat open as he saved a file. “What’s up?”

“How big are the spiders in Australia?”

“Um…” He grimaced and sucked in a deep breath. “They’re pretty big, why? Did you see a big spider? I can happily reassure you that the spiders here are nowhere near the same size.”

You didn’t take your eyes off a certain spot on the wall. When Chan noticed, he pushed himself from his seat and stood up. “Is it over there? I can get my shoe and take care of it.” He stepped over behind you. The scent of his spicy cologne filled your nostrils.

You blinked and shook your head. “Nah, never mind. I must have imagined it. I’m really stressed and it went away when I blinked. Thanks anyway, it’s good to know that I can count on you.” You smiled and patted his shoulder. “Anyway, I’ll be back later, I’ve gotta go grocery shopping. I’ll see you soon!”

His mouth opened to say something, but words didn’t come out. You leaned over, pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, and left the room. Your words echoed in his head. He glanced around the area, still worried about a nearby spider.

Australian or not, it still didn’t mean he liked spiders.

_ _ _

Minho:

“What did you say?” Your head jerked over your shoulder at the sound of a whispered voice.

Minho stared at you with a raised eyebrow. “What? Nothing. I haven’t said anything.” The two of you were standing in line at a cafe. Soft murmurs filled the air, but you swore he said something behind you.

“Are you sure?” Your eyes narrowed. “If you have a problem with my drink of choice-”

“Woah,” his hands went up, “I didn’t say anything, yet. Since you want to start, I can say something now. Your drink of choice is pure shit. How much sugar and caffeine does a single person need? You’re going to cause your heart to explode.”

“Untwist your dick and get off your high horse! Want to complain about me and my order? At least, I don’t drink Americanos. No flavor. Nothing, but diluted bean juice. Disgusting.”

He reached up and pressed a finger to the center of your forehead. “Ding, dong, your opinion is wrong.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“You’re hearing the voice of God. He’s saying make better coffee choices. If you don’t, the devil is going to get you.”

“It’s actually probably psychosis or something.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” You spun back around, leaving him in disbelief. He blinked rapidly, looking around and wondering if anyone else heard your words. When you didn’t say anything else, he shook his head.

“I knew you were a nut case, but I didn’t think it was that bad.”

“Hey, I heard that. I’m going to poison your coffee.”

“Spare me empty threats and just put me out of my misery.”

_ _ _

Changbin:

“Do you ever see or hear things when you’re stressed?” The words came out of your mouth without a single stutter or call of alarm. You uttered the words with your head against the arm of the couch, as if they really didn’t matter much.

“What?”

“I asked if you see or hear things when you’re stressed. Like you know, shadows and faint whispers and whatnot.”

Changbin stared at you with wide eyes. “I-I um… no?” He frowned and shook his head. “I don’t believe that I ever have. Do you do that?”

“Yeah, sometimes.”

“I think we should get you seen by a doctor. That doesn’t seem normal or okay. Does your head hurt? Are you having vision issues? Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?”

He held up three fingers and it caused you to laugh. Your head shook and your hair flew in multiple different directions. “No, it’s not like that. My head is fine and I can see perfectly fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive,” you insisted.

“You worry me sometimes.”

You squirmed over to his side of the couch and laid your head on his thigh. “I’m okay, I swear. I think I just worry too much and my anxiety causes issues.”

“And you’re sure it’s manageable and under control?” His hand reached down to play with your hair.

“Absolutely.”

“Good.”

You smiled as he kissed the top of your head.

_ _ _

Hyunjin:

“Stay put! Stay there! Don’t move!” Hyunjin held a hand up to you. Worried dark eyes were wide. “Just don’t move and I’ll help you. I can go get Felix, he has that big ass bible. Channie, hyung can help us too.”

You stared at him with a raised eyebrow. “For what?”

“You just said you hear things that aren’t there! That’s like the first sign of demonic possession. Felix knows his bible! I’m sure we can get Changbin involved to hold you down. The devil can’t fight off all of us.”

“Hyunjin, I don’t need an exorcism!”

“Demonic possession!”

“I’m not possessed!”

“You are!” He screamed when you stood up from the kitchen table. His fingers went up in a small cross. “Stay back, demon! Stay back! In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit, I command you to-”

He cut off when your lips met his. You cupped his cheeks and gently patted them. “Would a demonically possessed person do that?”

“No, but a succubus and an incubus would. This doesn’t make me feel better. I need Felix to conjure up some holy water. My spirit is in danger.” His hand went to his chest and he shook his head frantically. “I can feel it.”

_ _ _

Han:

“And you’ve just dealt with this for how long?” Han’s head tipped to the side. “These um… things?”

You chuckled, trying not to fall victim to his cuteness. “A long time. It’s just become a part of my life. I don’t fear it and it only happens when I’m really stressed.”

“So if you see a shadow figure, I won’t see the shadow figure?”

“You shouldn’t. It’s just me and my brain that’s causing the issue, not yours.”

His water bottle crinkled in his hand and his entire body shook with a brief shiver. “I don’t know how you put up with that. Why don’t you freak out? If that was me, I’d need to be put out of my misery or put on medicine or something.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Bro, I think seeing Casper the friendly ghost floating above your head is pretty bad.” Han frowned and lowered his voice. “What if he tries to seduce you? You’re mine.”

“Babe, Casper is a ghost child and it’s not like that.”

“Oh! Thank God!” He slumped over in his chair relieved. “I’m safe for another day. I can’t lose you to a hot ghost.”

“You’re such a loser.”

“Put some respect on my brand, a hot loser.”

_ _ _

Felix:

The first time you told Felix about your experiences with stress, he frowned. His hand reached out and he pressed the back of his palm against the back of your head. Your eyebrows furrowed, “what are you doing?”

“I’m checking to see if you have a fever because that sounded like a delusion. You can’t possibly be serious, but I don’t think you’re burning up either. Sweetheart, are you having a mental health crisis? I have an advocate on speed dial and-”

You laughed and shook your head. “No, Felix, I’ve made my peace with this a long time ago. It’s just random stuff and it means nothing.”

“Can I still take you to the doctor? It’d make me feel a lot better about this. I just want to make sure you’re not overlooking something, I don’t mean to overstep, really.”

“You’re sure it’d make you feel better?”

He nodded.

“Then I suppose I’ll make an appointment for next week. Just try not to worry too much until then, okay?”

His arms wrapped around your waist tighter. “I’ll try, but you make these things so difficult sometimes. I love you an awful lot and want the best for you.”

“I love you, too.”

“I love you more.”

“And I love you most.”

_ _ _

Seungmin:

“Okay, what the fuck?”

“What?” You blinked innocently, wondering why he seemed so stunned. “It’s a harmless and simple thing.”

“Uh, yeah,” he scoffed. “Sure. Because normal people see bugs, blink, and they disappear. Abracadabra or whatever. Uh-huh. Sure.”

You groaned and threw yourself back into your chair. “Why do you have to be like that? It’s not that big of a deal. It’s only once in a while, anyway. You’re making something so serious out of nothing.”

“If you admit this to a doctor, they’re going to throw your ass in the mental ward.”

“Now you’re being silly.”

“Straight jacket and all.”

You rolled your eyes, trying to focus on the food on your plate. “You’re ruining my dinner.”

“ME?” His jaw dropped and he pointed the fork to his chest. “You just told me you see flies in this house when they don’t exist! You’re the one watching the spiders of smashings past, web up my fine china! I told you that this is why you take the bugs outside and stop killing them. Now you’ve got their ghosts haunting your dumbass.”

You grumbled and rolled your eyes.

“Keep up that attitude and next thing you know, they’re going to haunt your hole.”

“Up yours, Kim Seungmin.”

_ _ _

Jeongin:

Jeongin’s eyes widened after your announcement. He collapsed his hands together, pulled them apart, and threw them up in the air. You shrugged and pulled the barren blankets over your body. “I told you it was weird.”

“I’m truly speechless. I don’t know what you want me to say. I’m like…”

“Like what?” You rolled over to face him.

“Ten seconds away from losing it. How are you so calm about this?”

“The first time it happened I wasn’t. Do you know how haunting it was? I looked out the back door and there was a vampire.”

His nose scrunched up and his lips parted. His head tipped in a look of disgust. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“He waved at me and flashed his fangs.”

“And you didn’t think to call the cops or something?”

“For what? I blinked and he disappeared.”

“You would not survive a home invasion. I love you so much and you know that, but oh my god. If you see a person lingering and peering into your back door, you should call the cops for someone trespassing.”

“And tell them what? A vampire was at my back door? He gave me a drive by flashing?” You rolled your eyes, rolled further into the pillow, and shut your eyes. “They’d think I was high on crack.”

“Sometimes, I really think you are.”

“Harsh.”

“I really don’t know what to say.”

“Just go to sleep.”

He sighed and pulled the covers up to his chin. “Great. Now I’m going to be afraid that we have a vampire of interest lurking around outside.”

“We do. You live with Chan. I’m pretty sure he’s raiding the kitchen for garlic, so he can make spaghetti and garlic bread.”

“It’s three in the morning!”

“And vampire producers have to eat a fulfilling meal too.”

Taglist: @lia-linny @seungnishi @stellasays45 @emilyywhyy @rockstarkkami @flightlessackerman @danihwang882 @inlovewithstraykids @velvetmoonlght @chrizrizz

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currentfandomkick · 4 months ago

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Pt2 reincarnated Tim gets the Wail aka Phantom Shrike

Part one here

Virgil let Tim in, leaning against the wall as Tim looked about his room, clearly searching for where to start as his head looked everywhere, largely at the walls and floor, but not directly at Virgil.

“So," Tim began as he wrung with his hands awkwardly. "I’m going to guess you noticed the early reflexes thing and flinching when you use your powers or Nightwing lights up his escrima sticks?”

Vigil raised an eyebrow at him. “Don’t need to be a detective to see that a mile away.”

Tim took a seat at last, settling the urge to scream as the beanbag chair engulfed him. “So, Dick told you all about the uh, JJ incident, or do i get to explain that?”

Virgil moved back to his desk, moving his project to the side. “Just that it was bad.”

“It was.” Bad enough to revive a former lifetime and activate his meta gene. “Kind of shot him, but not me? He’s still in a coma from it.”

Tim waited for Virgil’s reaction. Virgil merely turned to face Tim again, sitting backwards in his swivel chair with an unusually neutral expression.

“I, uh, always had a thing with electricity before that.”

Tim fiddled with his hands again. Counting taps in twos and threes. Dad mentioned it after his last anger management session as a grounding technique. Tim found it… useful. For other things. Largely subduing shrieks, and kicking his trauma triggers in the nuts—when he was certain it was rude to break out tetris anyways.

“Mom called it ‘soul memory hugs’, and not to look into it when I was a kid.” Tim continued, tapping out one of his favorite songs in a modified version of morse code.

He remembers going to Janet in the middle of the night, asking where the nice red head girl went, and why she was crying when he got shocked in his sleep and everything went green. Janet just soothed his concerns and reminded him that the Talons don't go for society kids, but maybe the little girl lost someone and Tim reminded her of him. That he was not responsible for the girl and to let her come to him on her own terms, but to keep a few back ups prepared "just in case" and had him sleep with salt in hand and an iron bracelet.

“Didn’t stop the flashes of," he still couldn't adequately describe the flickers of his pre-Tim life. Of a realm made of ectoplasm the way theirs was made of carbon. The sentient food, watching people walk off injuries that should have crippled them, or the Fenton Driving Watch for the weather. Tucker's laugh and his varied PDAs, or Sam's smile promising someone pain. Dani's joy when she stabilized and befriended Val. Val's everything. "Of something,” he finished lamely.

It'd all been so difficult to pin down back then, as it was too vague without the rest of his memories giving context. A hand holding his. Someone protecting him, other times being punched in the arm or patted on his shoulder almost in condolence of some sort.

“Usually just a warm feeling that uh, stuck if it was static, no pun intended!”

Virgil shook his head with a smile, leaning into the cushion of the chair. “Sure thing Rob, keep going.”

“But when I started going out as Robin," it began a bit before, when he was gathering more evidence of Bruce as Batman to validate his threat of exposing Bruce's secret identity if that was the only way to the man to stop and get help. The sense of dejavu and the stray thought of 'Wes is rolling in his grave' that he never could explain away…

"As Robin," Tim repeated after a beat of silence. "and got hit anytime? It, it changed." his taps stopped being to any song at all. Mouth pulled to one flat, Tim continued. "Flickers of something," he leaned his head to one side, before moving it to the other as he spoke. "Became more and bits of something else.”

Virgil leaned back minutely, face starting to tinge with pinches of worry. “Do any of the Bats know about that?”

Tim shook his head. “B wasn’t, uh,” Tim fiddled with his hands more, not taps or morse code. More hand wringing and flexing phalanges. “In any state to even recognize I wasn’t Robin the Second when I started,” he confessed.

Virgil seemed frozen, like he was mentally recoiling as he moved from his chair to perch on his bed to see Tim and be closer to him for some reason. And now far more attentive than the earlier lull.

Tim shrugged off his concern, as it wasn't like anybody was unaware of how badly Bruce took losing Jason, or how badly Batman took flying solo. People are excellent at ignoring inconveniences to them. and a compromised bad was inconvenient to the GEL.

“No one noticed in the field as Robin was still who he called. My job was to deescalate him, not the other way around.”

Virgil pinched his brow. “So your mentor was violent, and you mentored him rather than mentoring you.”

“Yeah, for most of the three years I pieced him back together. He had me go through the ringer and work under a lot of mentors for combat. Some villains too.”

Tim briefly wondered if Lady Shiva’s offer would extend to helping him take out Joker… And if he could live with himself if he did. Joker killed Jason and was a contributing reason to his parents' hesitation to letting him take up a mantel again in Gotham.

Tim ran a hand through his hair, trying to push that thought aside and the relief of it out of his mind. “Didn’t really tell B things until it was mandatory or necessary. And I wasn’t Robin like Dick and Jay were. I wasn’t and won’t be his son. Just the kid pulling his ass out of his own head and enforcing his old code on his ass. With whatever weapon I need to keep others safe.”

“Hey, Rob?" Virgil interrupted. "You do realize what that sounds like out loud, right?” Virgil's form radiated tension.

Tim could only give a strained smile in return. “Dad and Step Mom lectured me on it and not sacrificing myself for someone that can’t even see me, not the people they wish I was.”

Virgil shook his head as he leaned back. “No wonder you’re off patrol in Gotham.”

Tim let out a long exhale through his nose. “Yeah. Dad sort of wasn’t around until after Mom died, and uh, fixed his priorities.”

“Deathlike do it,” Virgil muttered to himself bitterly.

Tim tactfully ignored that as he knew it was something for Virgil to reveal to his family (not being dead) not Tim’s brand of meddling.

“So uh, Dad always knew about the memory hugs, and more recently the uh, flickers? I've been calling the longer and more detailed memory hugs that. A lot of people get flickers of previous lives and shit, so no need to tell Bats when he frankly couldn’t tell ass, elbow and knees apart.”

Virgil whistled long and low. “Cool, cool… so what does that have to do with the Joker Incident and the extra sensory shit you’ve clearly got going on.”

Tim took a deep breath. “Joker uh, used electric shock repeatedly as a way to torture me. Tried to re-write my memories to be his kid, not B's."

Virgil froze.

“Which is ridiculous. If anything, B was my kid." Tim curled his toes as the memories tried to creep back in. He wished that etiquette allowed him to play tetris right now—to distract him from the phantom sensations.

"Same thing happened in the last life and it," he struggled how to articulate the change of impressions and images to the meshing of time and emotional intermingling. "It stopped being flickers."

He bite his inner cheek and could feel the barely noticeable mouth scars pinking as he bit down. All while Virgil's eyes watched his every move. "More, more like flashbacks, I guess. A lot of time being tied down with an asshole demanding I kill my dad and join him as his evil apprentice. Sometimes it was bleeding memories and superimposed images of people I knew then onto people I know now. And it uh, kicked my meta-gene into activating.”

Virgil finally moved, visibly tabling most of what he said. The tension in his own shoulders dropped when he realized he wouldn't have to go back to that horrid laughing place in his mind . “What kinds of activating, and how’d they emerge?”

“A few my step mom clocked—I could hear better and had a larger pitch range that my voice cracking couldn’t hide. Mostly on their own but the uh, scream one is uh, a work in progress on emerging still.”

“So you can hear people coming from further away?” Virgil surmised.

“Not exactly. Its uh, complicated<" Tim let his shoulders and hands do the talking again. "A local eco-terrorist and meta is helping me with where it overlaps on her turf. Apparently plants can hear a lot more than we thought and have opinions on my singing skills. Mainly, that they suck.”

Virgil took a deep breath and looked up. Tim waited for him to give the okay to keep going.

Virgil waved him on once he was done pleading to the ceiling for something to make this more bearable.

“So uh, Ivy is teaching me how to understand plant languages, in exchange for beach cleanups and something I already planned to and had in the works.”

“A rogue is teaching you about your powers, and the adult who you were monitoring in hindsight has no clue.” Virgil rubbed his face before looking up. “And Dick, he looped in?”

“Not yet, I uh, want to know more before becoming a pet project for the extended Bats, you know?”

Virgil conceded that much.

“And its only one aspect the rogue knows! She helps a lot of metas hide their abilities and teaches them how to cope and work with it on their terms. B knows about her doing that and doesn’t interfere with that part of her work. Everyone knows about her doing it.”

“But not regarding you?”

“Its," Tim scrambled to find the right word. "Its complicated.”

“A lot of things with Bats are.”

“Look," Tim held his hands up in surrender. "My dad will go down for attempted murder, if not murder one, if B is around me anymore. I don’t know what they said, but Dad found out about Robin a few weeks after I escaped the JJ incident…”

Virgil paused, face loosening as something clicked. Shoulders slack, he muttered, “you almost died, didn’t you?”

Tim bit his inner cheeks and scars, tapping a littler harder than before. “Legally dead a few times during it, and uh, got to relive the times I died in my last life.”

“How Bad?”

Tim could feel Maddie cutting into him, could see her comparing his insides to Ember’s.

“Mad scientist parents found out I stopped being fully human. It, it was, it was bad.”

“Shit.”

Tim swallowed dryly. “Yeah. Uh, I was hoping, no pressure or obligation, if you’d be okay helping with exposure therapy with electricity. Yours doesn’t sound the same as, as,” Tim felt that urge to scream grow in his throat. He clamped his hands over his mouth and used that trick from Fear Toxin.

“Tim?!”Virgil stood up.

5 things he could touch. His mouth, shoes, ground under his feet, the chair he was sitting on, his clothes.

4 things he can see. Virgil, door, poster, desk.

3 things he can hear. His breathing (too quick), Virgil’s static field, hum from the lights.

2 things he can smell. Stress and BO.

1 thing he can taste. His teeth.

Tim dropped his hands as his throat loosened to safe speaking levels as he repeated the steps. “Sorry, just uh, some stress requires screaming now and it, its not safe to be in the blast radius.” Tim ran a hand over his face. “Learning pitch control still and the screams tend to uh, level things. Missions are fine, the, the flashbacks…”

Virgil nodded slowly. “Not far off from Canary then. Talking about JJ triggers it?”

Tim nodded with a hard swallow. “Talking about the, the memories from the life where my parents uh, killed me and the dying by them after half dying from fixing an invention of theirs and having multi-dimensional portal kill and revive me simultaneously multiple times does it too.”

Static opened and shut his mouth. “Flashbacks frequent?”

“Yeah, kinda. Telling my body we’re not being strapped down and vivisected is uh, not something it likes to believe. And survival first, questions later. Fear gas is so much easier to handle,” he complained.

Virgil nodded slower this time. Tim knew it was a lot to take in.

“So, a Canary Cry?” Virgil began once the silence began to stretch to uncomfortable.

“Kind of?” Tim read her file enough before just in case, and he had clear add-ons she didn’t have. “Enhanced hearing too, but I can use infra sound and hear it if I tune into it. Also can hear the weather more than usual.”

“More than—you could hear the weather before?” Virgil stared at him.

“Assumed it was the autism,” Tim dismissed. “Could be both now.”

Virgil shook his head, possibly grumbling about 'white boys' under his breath. “Any other metas in the family?”

“Not that are still around. Dad’s cousin had a similar voice ability,” Tim talked around the issue of Black Canary Senior being his disowned cousin. “But never met her. Fled long before I was born on Dad’s side. Mom’s is a mystery in general unless you ask for someone specific about a specific event or topic.”

Virgil shook his head. “Okay, but are you sure nothing else has gone on, anything unusual?”

“Not that I can think of off the top of my head. Broke down Batman’s resistance to me being Robin using what Mom taught me about destroying my enemy’s mental fortitude, so… I don’t think so.”

“Think on it. And I can help with the exposure therapy thing if you want, but getting any help for all of this besides me?”

“Step mom, Dad, and Ivy. Robin’s supportive but doesn’t know any specifics… I think. She caught me during training on a surveillance mission, only knows some powers. Dad, step mom and me are the only ones that know about all of them.”

Virgil sighed. “Bats can’t know?”

“Not if we want my dad to stay out jail.”

Virgil looked up at his ceiling. “Planning to your tell your friends?”

“…When I have a better idea of how to control the screaming part. They were already convinced I’ve been meta since we met.”

“Might have been.”

Oh, Tim had not thought that part through.

“…maybe? I’ll have to work that out at home… and thanks. I mean it.”

“No problem man, just try not to mix me with anyone you knew last life, or not too bad.”

“You’re safe. More worried about mixing current friends with my dead ones.”

Virgil shooed Tim out.

Tim relaxed, just a touch, before going back to cases in the commons and catching Stephanie up on Titans BS with everyone chiming in.

It was good to be home.

—

Tim knows, logically, he can tell his team about being murdered by his parents in his last life. He also remembers meeting Greta and knowing she wasn’t truly Dead, which is something he can’t explain fully still…

Virgil might have had a point about being some sort of meta (or maybe magic?) long before the JJ incident. Most kids can’t evade Batman and Robin for years just to take pictures of them mid-flight.

Maybe a sound nullification ability or something to that effect… he can bribe Ivy to help experiment with it later.

The problem is he doubts Kon wouldn’t lead the charge with his dad to summon and beat up said former filicidal parents. And he knows that the whole team would be on board if they knew.

He would rather not see Maddie or Jack again. Especially while awake. Jazz showing up a bit different in his dreams and complaining about his broken sleep schedule making it harder to visit was something he remained on the fence about telling anyone.

Possibly harass Captain Marvel about it as that guy said nothing about people’s shit unless it becomes a game of which plane of existence you can stay on… but even then, tracking him down without bat-tech is a game of whackamole.

There’s also the complication of Tim being very aware he likes Kon, and not necessarily as a friend alone. Which. He doesn’t have time for the additional sexuality crisis on top of his varied identity crises at the moment and the media’s questions about the two Robins and if Robin was gender fluid, flux or only out as a girl in Gotham and a young man elsewhere. He cannot add ‘crushing on a teammate’ to his list when he and Stephanie only broke up a week before the JJ incident and are just now easing back into their old friendship. He doesn’t want the amputated feeling of losing a friend again because he keeps catching feelings for them, and is 10,000% certain he should not touch romance until he’s in a better mental state.

He has Problems on his plate, and it’s already overflowing. He’d rather not break.

And he loves his friends. But he has no doubt that Cassie would set up the pitchforks rather than stop any of the retribution his father was undoubtedly planning. He can’t gift-wrap his friends as minions in his dad’s crusade to fuck over the Fentons across dimensions, spacetime and afterlife status.

He did manage to make a small list of oddities for himself about his capacity to do things that were vaguely ghostly or similar to powers he’d pieced together.

So far potential intangibility or density shifting, invisibility, faster recovery rate than non-metas yet slow for a meta—speed seems dependent on how likely the injury is to kill him. His high tolerance for the cold was making sense the further in Winter he got and the more he’d see flickers of Frostbite training him in his last life.

Whatever an ‘ice core’ is, seems cool. He may have taken to playing with discarded freeze guns and be reworking them to be smaller and more compact. Possibly to add to his future vigilante ID, or to be a general weapon as a civilian given non-lethal status and his ability to add a melting rate adjustment knob of some sort, and call 911.

Bart saw him with it, grinned manically, and joined in helping him improve and adjust it. Slobo joined them both.

Cassie took one look at them and declared it ‘not her problem if they freeze themselves’ while Kon was out on another press tour thing.

Tim pretended not to note those had increased lately only on days Tim was staying with Just Us for non-mission things and Kon’s increase in excuses to avoid him in general.

If Kon wanted distance, then he’d get it. Even if it stung. Kon’s time and his life to spend as he pleases. And clearly, Tim displeases him. /worthless. Monster. Failure. Stand-in. No wonder you’ve always been a loser—/

“So, for Robin time or outside the mask?” Greta asked when she caught the three near the end of a schematics debate.

“Not sure yet,” Tim admitted. “Rogues are weirdly chill with me in civvies lately. But that could be Ivy being Ivy.”

Bart and Slobo’s debate died at that. “Ivy?”

“Uh, Poison Ivy’s plants outted civilian me for something i was dealing with. She’s decided she’s helping with fine-tuning my control on it and gave me one of her ‘protected by’ pins.”

Greta hummed, floating nearer while Bart was buzzing in his place.

“and its a good thing?”

“Other than her shipping me and my ex? Parents approve of the additional support and it’s made intel gathering easier. She was right about the hearing range increase being a bitch to deal with daily.”

Cassie came in with their takeout then, and everyone dispelled to their usual nonsense.

“So, Ivy ships you and your ex?” Greta began with innocently enough.

Tim debated banging his head against the table.

“My civvie self and Gotham’s Robin,” he clarified. “And only enough to throw cuddle pollen on her and lock us together in… varied situations. And laugh about it.”

Cassie blinked at him slowly. “You are being teased by a Rogue who ships civilian you, with a vigilante.”

“… to be fair I am getting plant speak lessons, but yeah.”

“Rob, what the fuck,” Cassie shook her head.

Tim shrugged. “Its Ivy. A safe distraction for the minors she fights is her preferred MO. if it’s just Bats she can and will use sex pollen. If kids or unclear on minor status are involved, cuddle pollen galore.”

“Uh huh.” Cassie and Greta share a look. “So you dated girl Robin, before she became Robin?”

“She was Spoiler first, and I gave her tips on managing Bruce’s ass when I uh,” Tim still didn’t know how to explain ‘forcibly removed from vigilante activities as his dad worried about him dying in a cape like the last Robin, so Tim was forced to pass the buck of Bruce’s mental instability onto his ex-girlfriend and close friend, Spoiler, and coaches her in Bruce Wrangling at a distance’.

“Forced semi-retirement?” Cissie suggested as she stole a slice of pizza, cringing at Tim’s. Which was all his as Bart didn’t care for it. Sucker’s bet on keeping their slices safe from speedster snatching. Amateurs; clearly they never went to boarding school.

“That,” Tim took a bite of his Canadian bacon and pineapple goodness. “And also she’s officially Oracle’s Robin," he swallowed. "Just B’s for combat scenarios. Dad has decided to threaten B’s living status for her too.”

“Rob,” Slobo interrupted. “The fuck.”

“…in my defense, she asked me out a week after almost killing me the first time.”

“Your dad, not other Robin!”

“First time?!”

“She prefers bricks as her projectiles.” Tim wiped his hands clean after his first slice, humming as he went over the blueprint… how should he compensate for his screams and Wail?

“Oh, and she aimed at my head. She’s into three section staffs lately which is a lot less deadly.”

“Rob. She asked you out after almost killing you?” Bart clarified.

“… not on purpose but yeah.”

“She asked you out by accident?”

“No, almost killing part. She’s gotten better aim since, and is following the no killing until you’re not a bat-affiliate rule.”

His team shared looks he didn't bother to check. The urge to analyze could spiral into another screaming attack if he didn't nip it in the bud.

“So not getting back together with her?” Greta clarified with a smile that screamed Gossip Detected.

He let her have either way, even with the looks Cissie, Bart, and Cassie shared.

———-

Let me know if i missed any tags ^^

#long post #my writing #dp x dc #dpxdc #danny phantom #danny reincarnated at tim #good parents jack and dana

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 1 year ago

Text

💕 twst 2024 valentine gifts! 🎁

***Please note:*** Sharing merch images + news is not intended to encourage and/or to pressure anyone into making purchases. It is up to the individual consumer to be informed and to choose how they spend their money.

For general information about how TWST Valentine Gifts work, check out this post.

For character signatures and the messages from previous years, check out this post.

The gifts for 2024 are 100 ml fragrance sprays. These are not perfumes, they are more like room sprays. According to Yana, they worked with professional perfumers and the fragrances were formulated with each character's "image" in mind! These each come with a unique bottle label, plus a ribbon and a little wooden charm with a matching character motif on it. You can soak the wooden charm with the fragrance and use it to diffuse the smell through a room.

Preorders are open until 10 March 2024.

(Warning: in the case that these contain alcohol, it will not be possible to send the fragrances overseas due to shipping regulations against flammable materials. The paper goods—the 2024 Valentine Gift messages—will still be able to be sent out.)

Each character has their own unique scent. The following are summaries of what each spray smells like overall (according to official posts), but each also has its own more detailed descriptions of the top, middle, and base notes on their individual website postings.

Heartslabyul

Riddle - refined rose (geranium, rose, honey)

Trey - powdery mint (spearmint of course the guy obsessed with dental hygiene smells like MINT, white flowers, powdery musk and balsam)

Cater - lemon herbal (lemon, herbs like juniper, amber and cedar)

Ace - naughty cherry (cherry, almond and rose, vanilla and woods)

Deuce - citrus rhubarb (citrus and rhubarb, rose, warm musk)

Savanaclaw

Leona - clear wild (rosemary, neroli, musk and sandalwood)

Ruggie - dried nuts (hazelnut, vanilla, creamy musk and dry woods)

Jack - calm pear (pear, osmanthus, amber)

Octavinelle

Azul - salty milk (salt and minerals, herbs like sage, milky musk)

Jade - bergamot amber (bergamot, herbs, patchouli and amber)

Floyd - aqua vetiver (Japanese pepper yes, a literal pepper, a fresh bouquet, vetiver and musk)

Scarabia

Kalim - mystical musk (citrus, white flowers, creamy musk and sandalwood)

Jamil - smoky herb (spicy herbs, white flowers, musk and smoky leather)

Pomefiore

Vil - elegant fruity (cassis, white flowers, vanilla and musk and sandalwood)

Rook - dry green (eucalyptus, geranium, tonka beans)

Epel - spicy apple (cinnamon, apple, vanilla and sandalwood)

Ignihyde (warning that these were vaguely worded compared to the rest of the fragrances)

Idia - clean musk (“something refreshing”, lily of the valley, sweet musk why does bro smell sweeter than most of the others www)

Ortho - bluish clean (rosemary and other “fresh” smells, clear plants/greens he’s touching the grass that Idia refuses to)

Diasomnia

Malleus - deep oak moss (forest, spices, sweet and earthy vetiver and oak moss)

Lilia - historical depths (citrus, roses and white flowers, thick musk and sandalwood)

Silver - musty green (black pepper, cedarwood, warm sandalwood and musk)

Sebek - honest aroma (rosemary, white flowers and spices, patchouli and oak moss he shares a base note with Malleus, this was 100% intentional)

Grim + NRC Staff Shoot, no Rollo, Fellow, or Gidel valentine gift :(

Grim - innocent soap (citrus, lily of the valley, peach and musk he just hopped out of the bath)

Crowley - mysterious calm (***fatty aldehyde***, white flowers, cedarwood and amber)

Crewel - sweet charm (amber, woods, sweet oak moss)

Trein - tense wood (spices, dry woods, “sweet tangy tone” sorry, the base was vague)

Vargas - manly musk (smoky spices, incense, vetiver and leather and musk)

Sam - exotic bouquet (cloves, bouquet including ylang-ylang, tropical woods)

***NOTE ABOUT CROWLEY’S:*** I looked this up! Apparently, fatty aldehydes smell like fresh citrus but I believe the literally translated term is “fatty aldehyde”; not sure why it was worded like this. There are many forms of aldehyde and each smells different. For example, one form smells closer to a rose. Another supposedly smells like rancid butter 💀

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chaoswritesthemultiverse · 7 days ago

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How to Write a One-Shot that Punches You in the Dick like Chuck Norris

This post is entirely motivated by spite

Hello. This is a piece of writing by an actual human and not ChatGPT doing an impression of a human (do not look beneath the trench coat). There's been a post circulating on how to write a one-shot that is basically just c&p from ChatGPT so in the spirit of being a petty motherfucker I got annoyed and started typing and this is what came out. My qualifications to give this advice are: 1. Not a robot (that I know of) 2. I've written a bunch of porn.

A one shot is a short story. However, short stories, as a form, are incredibly varied and malleable. Some of them, like flash fiction, are around 500 words, and I've seen one-shots that have managed to sustain themselves up to 20k words and didn't feel like they needed a chapter break! That's basically a novella. Impressive! Advice for flash fiction is highly unlikely - though not completely impossible - to translate over to a novella, so trying to give pat advice that suits both forms is going to be difficult and pretty futile. But I'll do it anyway because this is the internet and no one can stop me.

Maybe that's the first step?

Do a vibe check on your piece (aka form... ish) Feel out how long you want your one-shot to be. Mine usually land between 4-7k words which is about average for a short story and I'm a yapper. And if you're anything like me I don't mean plan the word count to the single digits, but have a vague idea somewhere in your mind if it's going to be a tiny little snapshot of an intense moment, in which case you probably want to go with flash fiction, or if it feels like you need more words to say what you want to say. Then once you start writing throw that idea out of the window because it's going to come out however it comes out and suddenly what you thought was only going to be 1000 words has ballooned into a 15k monstrosity and... you get the picture. Right?

Steal stuff* Not actual plagiarism!!! What the fuck is wrong with you??? I mean go back to your favourite one-shots by other authors (or maybe yourself, no shaming narcissism here I love my work) (that's a lie I am cripplingly insecure about my writing please validate me) and work out what you like about them. Is it the language? Characterisation? Structure? Theme? Really really hot smut that made your insides go 'ghdslsndjknsdfhhhh'? Chances are you're drawn to a specific technique or element of the craft and don't even know it. If you don't know force your fellow writer friends to read them and then grill them relentlessly about what they liked and then violently disagree with their obviously wrong tastes. Best way to work out what you like, imo. Then once you've done that you'll have an idea about what works for you, so you can do it your way. NOT COPYING.

Pick a theme or two Alright alright it's probably a decent idea to narrow down what you're writing about to a theme or set of central ideas of some kind. For me this is usually 'pegging' or 'face sitting' or 'spanking' or 'tentacles', but you go nuts with whatever inspires you. Then, for funsies, layer another theme on top. Like 'shame', or 'rebellion' or 'grief' or 'the auto-cannibalistic features of late-stage capitalism'. Even better if it's a theme that's a core feature of one or more of your characters. Example: first theme 'werewolf sex', second theme 'boredom'. Maybe one of the characters is really boring and beige and meeting and fucking a werewolf is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to them. Or maybe it's not and it happens all the time and they need to do something to break out of the rut? (heh, rut) (iykyk) Or MAYBE the werewolf is the boring one and the MC can only stand being around them because the sex is so good and it's the only time they stop talking about crypto?! See, three different short stories already waiting to be written for you right there. Have these prompts. They're for you. Enjoy them.

You don't need to explain everything, or actually anything at all The great thing about a one-shot is you don't have to explain shit to anybody. You're already in the Situation, and your readers are just going to have to deal.

"I can't believe you're horny right now!" Verbenia yelled, clawing at her leg. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you missed that trap on purpose!" Arblerboth sighed, sheepishly adjusting his unfortunate erection. With hindsight, the bear trap had been pretty obvious. He wasn't sure how either of them hadn't noticed the moment they stepped into the cave.

See what I did there? No explanation for why they're in a cave, why they're travelling together, what they're up to, or about Arblerboth's secret bear-trap fetish (it's about the trap not the blood it's a pretty unusual fetish but hey rule 34). But you were invested, right? All the world-building and intricate dynamics and stuff are for you and with a short story they stay as inside thoughts, to be expressed through character action and interaction with the setting - which you also don't have to explain because they're already there. This goes double for fanfiction because everyone reading it will already know the world and setting and characters and you don't need to rehash it.

Now here's where I told a big lie about that last piece of advice because I once spent 2k words explaining how my MC created a magical strap-on before I even got to her pegging anyone with it. But I guess I didn't explain the magic system she was using to make it? Idk.

Google 'how to write a short story' I'm actually serious with this one, there's a ton of excellent articles and resources out there by some brilliant published writers who have written some fantastic short stories. If you're too lazy to type out that sentence c&p it from this post. Take the advice you like and leave the rest.

and finally... WRITE IT.

Soz. You have to do writing to be good at the writing. Sucks, doesn't it?

So there it is, take it or leave it, I'm just someone on tumblr with a keyboard and way too much time on my hands. I'm sorry this post isn't full of easy to action but ultimately meaningless unhelpful clickbait points like "limit the timeline" (you can write an amazing one-shot that spans decades) or "choose one emotion" (we contain multitudes, apparently, have you heard of meta-emotions? Get ready to have your feelings blown out your ass baby), or "use a 3-part/act structure" (there are many different structures to drama - what about 5 parts? or 2? Go check out Aristophanes he's got some wild shit to show you, what a madlad), or "write like it's the last thing you'll ever write" (if this is the last thing I ever write then I hope whatever kills me is fucking awesome like teaching a shark to jet ski while wielding a longsword or something because no way this was worth it) (actually the salt water of the ocean would be really bad for a longsword that's a horrible idea).

Oh and use em-dashes. Every - where. All - over the place - if you like them - maybe you hate them - whatever use them anyway. I fucking love an em-dash. ✌️

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fucking-leave-me-alone-pornbots · 1 year ago

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Miles have no idea how to flirt and he is too ashamed to ask so he takes inspirations from cliche romance shows and steel samurai fanfictions. It goes as well as you expect.

He runs on Nick on purpose while he is turning the corner so Phoenix can drop his files, Miles can apologise and maybe invite him out for drinks right?? right???

Oh shit he was holding a coffee. Coffee landed on Phoenix's legs. Phoenix is screaming. He burned his legs. Oh no.

He invites him for lunch anyway. They chat nicely, right when he is about to make his move someone gets killed and Phoenix swears they find the killer within an hour thanks to Miles' murder glare.

Miles sends roses alongside updated autopsy repord for his case. He even writes something poetic on card. Except he writes it in a way that it's so vague Phoenix has no idea that poem might be about him. Not only that Phoenix is so used to one sided love and pinning he forgot the possibility of that beautiful man might be into him too. Instead he thinks Miles send him evidence (??) as an apology for coffee accident. They are not evidence. They have nothing to do with the case. Everyone laughs at him.

He invites Phoenix to somehwere fancy and oh no, it turns out they have to share a bed which is absolutelly not acording to plan. Miles tells him again and again he is fine with sharing bed but Phoenix believes he is just trying to be kind. So he drags whatever he could find on ground and spends the night on DIY bed which destroys his back.

Next time he tries to act all tsundere and stuff. "it's not like i care about you, stupid" he says (or some variation) he wasn't expecting Nick to burst into tears. Maya gives him stink eye. He is an asshole.

Miles is nuts. He is unstoppable. He cuts Gumshoe's salary dolar by dolar everytime he fails. Gumshoe is crying too.

bonus:

During 7 years gap, Miles invites Phoenix and Trucy to somehwere in Europe for holiday. Turns out the room (2 rooms, one with 2 bingle beds and one with king size) was double booked and they have to share single bed. Phoenix offers to sleep on couch so Trucy and Miles can share the bed but Miles declines, saying three of them can fit easly.

He is not wrong. They put Trucy inbetween them and they whisper-talk until midnight because Trucy is asleep.

Phoenix wakes up to see his daughter and Miles asleep and instead of goung back to sleep, he just watches them because he knows even if he tries to sleep with all his might there is no way he can close his eyes to them.

#i have no idea how hotels work forgive me #also they all share the bed assuming miles is more open and he is close to trucy #ace attorney #miles edgeworth #phoenix wright #narumitsu #wrightworth

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neallo · 6 months ago

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a non-exhaustive list of my personal favorite mello/near fics posted in the year of our lord 2024. complete fics only; maximum one rec per author. this means many of these writers have more gems to offer for mellonear and/or other ships; in more than one case, it was challenging for me to select only one. i highly encourage readers to poke around and read, kudos, and comment to their heart's content <3

click here to see the AO3 collection with my notes!

Archistrategos by veresova (@veresova) M/M | 4,328 words

Mello has several things protecting him: a name, a group of saints, animal instincts, and Near’s maniacal faith.

King and Two Spades by AngelEllipsis (@read-watch-sleep) M/M | 4,793 words

Near finds a discrepancy in the organ failure statistics this year. 0.7% of unaccounted for heart attacks. No one has noticed yet. No one will notice, if his heart give out, too.

the roof by lightningblade (@lightningblade) M/M | 3,692 words

“Not enjoying the party?” he asks, making Near jump in surprise. He clears his throat and tries to look back at his textbook. “Um, not really. I don’t go to those.” “Right,” the other boy chuckles. “Why would you when you have this depressing ass roof space to hang out on?” -or- Near and Mello fall in love with the help of a rooftop, a rusty lawn chair, and some sweet ass origami skills.

And The Starlight Blooms by tsukinousagi (@quicktimeeventfull) M/F | 1,919 words

In which Near attends the concert of her favourite Kpop idol, Misa-Misa of Love:NOTE. She likes the bed. It’s got everything she or anyone else could want. Her phone. Her laptop. Several stuffed animals. A Lego kit, half-finished at the foot of the bed. A sleeve of ginger nuts sealed with an elastic band. Several bottles of water, one of which still has liquid in it. It’s a great place to be. She doesn’t often leave.

In Harmless Indulgence by SaccharineCoffee (@saccharinecoffee) M/M | 1,569 words

Mello treats his scars while contemplating Near's own.

from the world's best-dressed half of the Third L by fullmoonism (@halfmoonism) M/M | 1,943 words

(Like he’s ever needed to. It’s Near on the back of his retinas when he aims his gun, Near on the roof of his mouth when he spits blood, Near on his charred skin when he peeled himself off the concrete in the ashes of the Kira case. So Mello lost. Mello lost, and it’s still Near in the sharp hollow of his head. He doesn’t need Mello to be an anchor when he already is one.) -- As Mello does, he deals with Near's offer to be the (better-dressed) half of the Third L about as well as anyone expects of him. Which is to say: he excels in everything except dealing with his emotions.

veni vidi vici by opaleyedprince (@opaleyedprince) M/M | 3,154 words

The final sixty-two days of the Kira Case are among the most trying of Near's life.

ab imo pectore by eightspringdays (@eightspringdays) F/F | 6,401 words

Because for Mello, hate is never truly just that. If she tries hard enough, she can pretend and think how simple is to pick just one color out of the palette of emotions that Near paints on her. Mello has tried her whole life to cling to it. To think that red is the only thing she sees when Near is in front of her. Rage. Not passion. It could never be that, even if anger also carries a certain shade of twisted love that she tries to ignore. She wants to pretend she’s colorblind. She wants to pretend she never saw anything at all. Ignorance is truly a blessing, but Mello has always been a little cursed.

near and far between by Le_VI M/M | 4,966 words

“That sounds almost considerate,” Mello says dryly. “Watch it, N, you’re starting to seem vaguely human.”

reunion by bolide (@alarici) M/M | 1,937 words

After the explosion, Near presents himself like a lamb. Instead of staying away, Near takes a risk and goes to meet Mello, first. What happens after is completely to plan.

give up, give in by orphan_account M/M | 796 words

They’ve always fought their battle in close proximity. Near has always given off the sickening impression of minding his own business. Mello has only recently decided to make it less obvious that he minds Near’s business, too.

Convictions by empressofthewind (@empressofthewind) M/M | 10,782 words

Near is adamant that Mello's confinement was never about control. Mello is not so easily convinced.

only you and i by aaxzlyte (@aaxzlyte) M/M | 3,132 words

It's, honestly, exactly what he'd wanted upon initiating this. Mello would take Near's virginity and no one else would get the chance to even look at him. Near wouldn't want anyone else to look at him, because Mello would finally be enough, in some aspect.

floating and falling all at once by squidish (@squidish) M/F | 7,581 words

"I don't suppose you'd like to.. Spend the night here, with me, would you?" Near's face is determined, but her voice is quavering. "I have food that we could eat, and.. You could sleep with me. ..In- in my bed, I mean." Mello is silent for a moment, a little awed. -- In which Near overcomes her first-time jitters, and Mello is head-over-heels in love with her.

Powder Keg by dornishviper (@vriskarlmarx) rated E | 2,014 words

Mello stops by Near's room for a late night visit after getting her photo back earlier that day. Near has a certain... fixation.

Leviticus by vorareromantic (@vorareromantic) rated E | 12,454 words

When Near was thirteen, or perhaps even younger, she had (for the most part) broken out of the programming that Wammy's had worked to instill in their pupils from a young age. The Bible was strict and contradictory, it meant little to her besides the constant pressure and fear mongering. Mello, on the other hand, was as devout as one could be. It was ironic, honestly. Near would be the model Christian if she was a believer. Mello, on the other hand, could practically be the poster child of sin.

#death note #mello death note #near death note #mihael keehl #nate river #mello #near #meronia #mellonear #happy new year!!!!!!!!!! :')

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twistedteatime · 3 months ago

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WIPs List

Things I'm working on that you may feel free to cow prod me to finish.

Note: Alpine is in all of my Bucky fics in some capacity.

Scorpio AU (Not regularly updated):

Bucky x Female Scorpio Reader.

2nd person POV (Might read oddly. Don't usually write this way)

Fluff, comedy, romance, maybe eventually some spiciness.

Lots of pop culture references.

Technically can be read as standalone fics. Y'know, just in case I don't finish the whole thing because who knows if I will.

Howling Witch AU (Current Long Fic):

40s Bucky x 40s OFC, Bucky x OFC, Winter Soldier x OFC

3rd person POV (I write more naturally in this POV)

Lots of dialogue (I'm working on toning down my dialogue blocks)

Romance, angst, horror, action, trauma, fluff, eventual spice.

Long. Currently in its unedited state including the Prologue parts it totals just over 129K words. It'll grow as I edit and post.

Posted twice weekly. Still debating Mondays & Thursdays or Tuesdays & Fridays.

Prolouge Part 1 & Part 2 are up! Chapter 1 coming soon.

Juniper's Jewels (Current Short Fic):

Bucky x WitchOFC (no not the same one from Howling Witch, different type of Witch entirely. I'm in a Witchy mood lately.)

3rd person POV (once again, I write more naturally in this POV)

Someone that works at the Avenger's Compound made a BIG mistake. Not only did they cheat on the Witch they'd been secretly dating for several months but they also stole something from her and gave it to the sidepiece. Well, technically they stole multiple things.

I am not planning on this being as long as Howling Witch. I just need to get it out of my head.

Anger, discussion of cheating, angstish, fluff, flirting, violence, terror, betrayal, potential curses, more.

Cats, magical cats, magical "life finds a way" cats. Yes, that's a Jurassic Park reference alluding to one or more cats able to do what the dinos did. It's a fantasy world and it's my fantasy cat creature.

Alternate AU where Tony lives and he and Bucky worked it out (possibly under the supervision/threat of Pepper).

Posted on Saturdays.

Chapter 2 is out!

One at a Time (Gardening AU):

Bucky x GenderNeutral!Reader (2nd person POV)

Series of shorts centered around gardening and discussion of other heavier topics and the peace some people find in plants.

Fluff, plants, comedy, romance, some angst, discussion of heavier topics and trauma, etc.

Will be similar to Scorpio AU in that it can be read as standalones.

Will not be solely Bucky centric. May have other MCU characters and platonic love between them and reader.

Movie Star AU (Placeholder Name):

Actor!Bucky x Reader

Maybe 1st Person POV (haven't done this in a while). Currently undecided.

Reader and Bucky were friends in high school, had similar dreams, but reader's took a detour. They run into each other again and reconnect.

Mostly just vague ideas up in the ether of my brain.

This one is on the far back burner

Drabbles (Care fics, Non-series one shots, etc):

Currently working on a 1st person POV revolving around not being listened to until Bucky comes along. Bucky may have some slight soft!dark tendencies.

White Rabbit:

mobBoss!Jefferson (OUAT Mad Hatter) x Female(s)

AU where Jefferson is a mob boss. Multiple Female characters. Maybe. This one's nuts.

Lots of craziness.

Twists. Turns. Confusion. Switching POV.

Unknown length. Just writing the idea down so I can focus.

Silence (Placeholder Name):

Bucky Barnes x 3rdPOV original female character that is partially mute (she is not physically incapable of speaking but she has selective mutism which is discussed in plot)

Started writing it a while ago. Has to undergo a lot of revision. Currently at 13k.

This one will be Warning Heavy. Violence, trafficking, brainwashing, conditioning, slavery, violence, abuse, Raynor not being a horrible therapist (I can be nice sometimes), Bucky being very protective.

Bucky saves a woman from being assaulted in an alley, finds out she's mute, and she sticks to him like glue. He lets her because something tells him something much bigger is going on.

Wasn't sure if I was going to share this one even exists. Unsure of length.

#bucky barnes x oc #bucky barnes x reader #james bucky buchanan barnes #bucky imagine #bucky fanfic #james bucky barnes #bucky barns x ofc #Feel free to prod me for things #seriously #I can get distracted easily from one fic to another #help keep me on task if you want things

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starguardianniom · 9 months ago

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Billy background

Ok so thanks to chapter 4 we got some background on Billy now and like I promised here are some of the many pictures I took about it, (it took me an hour just to get through it all because I legit took a picture of almost pratically all dialogue but I'll spare you all the details and just jump straight into it) and some more.

The Sons of Calydon just straight up trust Billy with their truck and their freaking bangboo for starters because he used to work for them, surprise surprise, we all thought so from the beginning and we were right. Still the fact that they are on good terms enough for that kind of job already warms my heart a lot you have no idea.

What fate are we talking about exactly? Why did you leave? You seemed pretty well liked, I don't get it. I need more information, you are being so vague about the details it drives me nuts, still love you though, but dang you will make me work to get your secrets won't you? Fine, that just makes you even more interesting in my eyes. ^^

Just like that Billy you just saved us a lot of trouble I feel. I bet Nicole was so relieved.

So you talked to Lucy then, must have been interesting.

Well, since you are the messenger it would be rude to decline their offer.

Wow, you really just follow orders to the tee and Nicole cares enough to actually be willing to let go of the case if we refuse, dang the honor code is strong with The Cunning Hares. ^^ Don't worry my dear I want Perlman in jail as much as you guys do so we'll go meet them~.

So you are doing a side job for a few days for them and Nicole is letting you, good for you my man. Wait does that means that Red Moccus actually is staying with you and the Cunning Hares for the next few days? Wild. I bet Amillion was thrilled.

Dang, I guess Nicole is mad that you let Perlman get away right under your nose, don't worry I'll make sure that we get him back so that you get paid. I do hope that Nicole would still actually pay you even if you did let him go considering the sole reason why she, Anby and Nekomata are still alive was because you were there to help Lycaon climb aboard to save everyone so I do hope she will go easy on you.

Sibling concern as usual, fortunatly~

No dice on what was my answer, right? ^^

My thoughts exactly, pretty nice to see that out of the Cunning Hares Billy seems to be the only one who could still go back to people and friends he knew if it came to that, even if he doesn't seem interested in going back for some reason.

Yeah, if you're friends with Billy that automatically makes you friends with the Sons of Calydon, hell yeah! They aren't even mad that they had to rescue us and that Billy left them all that time ago, this is how you leave groups people, on good terms, take notes y'all. Caesar is so wholesome.

On the other hand, why are these the only options available after this wholesome dialogue, hoyo do you want us to have a problem being friends with Billy despite me already having maxed his trust, or make us tsunderes? Stop making me insult my boy please!

That ain't convincing very much Belle but I feared the other possible answer too much so sorry about that Billy you are still my favorite character in the game and Hoyo will never make me dislike you, try all you want he's still gonna be in my heart forever.

That one question I've been waiting for is finally here!!!

This. I straight up swear, while the Cunning Hares are a found family, you don't see Nicole and Anby calling Billy "bro", the Sons on another hand do. I keep hearing Anby saying "I got you sis" refering to Nicole in battle, and telling Billy to get some repairs while she's switching with him.

I would like to highlight that Caesar is saying that even if Billy has left the gang for a while so I guess he still has the title even if he isn't with them anymore, guess that means that if he ever leaves the Cunning Hares he can just go back to the Sons and get back his title and nobody will protest.

So Billy had a pretty big job in the Sons, neat. With all the responsabilities and stress that comes with it. Interesting~

Lighter having Billy has a rival, he also calls Billy his predecessor, meaning Billy had the position first and then it went to Lighter I guess. Lighter saw Billy in action and found him worthy of being his rival. Also that last sentence makes me thinks that Lighter forgot that Billy was literally made for battle, he's an Intelligent Tactical Unit, a battle android, he was made to fight so of course his combat skills are something else. But I really am tempted to pull Lighter just to have a few more info on Billy, given he seems interested in a duel with him and admires him, it seems legit that he might talk about him in some of his trust events, I sure hope so at least, because I will be very disappointed with Hoyo otherwise.

Again Hoyo, stop dissing my boy when others are praising him, like I know we might be used to the goofy side of Billy but like we also go on commission with him and the Cunning Hares a lot so surely we would be used to seeing him in action by now shouldn't we and like we are proxies not fighters we legit have no room to talk Billy is the one going in the Hollows risking his life we just give him the directions and the exit but if Eous is damaged we'll be safe at home, while Billy won't, so can we just stop with dissing him already? Please and thank you.

Going by that comment I assume Billy used to behave a lot more differently in the Sons than how he is now, but it does beg the question of how much drastic the change was, I mean an entire freaking gang of thugs ran away from him when they recognized him, so he must have been pretty scary and intimidating back then, but now he seems to look back on that side of him with a bit of shame? Anyway seems like he's pretty happy with his life with the Cunning Hares according to Lighter, being his dream life, which again, good for him this is wholesome on so many levels. ^^

Finally done, this took a while. I got fed with Caesar and Lighter happily providing info on Billy, but I still need more!

Still it was all very interesting, I will stay on the lookout for more info on Billy, feel free to also come at me with what you find about him too, or just talk about him, or gush about him, or shoot me your headcanons too, I will talk about him forever. ^^

#zzz #zenless zone zero #billy kid #zzz billy #billy zzz #cunning hares #sons of calydon #zzz sons of calydon #zzz cunning hares #zzz belle #zzz wise #zzz caesar king #caesar king #lighter #zzz lighter #gimme more billy history please #my boy is more interesting the more i learn about him

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knaveumineko · 2 months ago

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Umineko Episode 7 Blog: Earth to Earth

Let's try to get to Episode 8 some time this century.

Even though I had absolutely no concept of what the story was actually about at this point, I've decided that this means I was Right The Whole Time back in Episode 1, which means I officially win at Umineko.

Almost as soon as the "true" sequence of events is revealed to us, Ryukishi throws it into doubt again by interrupting Bernkastel midway through her red truth that might have confirmed it. Still, the story as told feels more realistic than the episodes that preceded it. The adults aren't intimidated by a childish riddle and solve it easily. Beatrice's elaborate plan falls apart immediately. The killings are opportunistic and have a straightforward motive. Sayo's despondency makes her look for the first time since Episode 4 like a girl wearing a witch costume, rather than an actual witch. It's reinforced by Will's loss to Bernkastel, too. He keeps trying to bring up rules and clues and she doesn't even know what he's going on about. This is not a mystery. It's not even a story. It's just a series of events.

On the other hand, the anti-Umineko themes in the Tea Party's fragment draw attention to those areas that still employ significant artistic license. Rudolph and Kyrie are presented not just as bad people, but as Villains, to the point where the story itself points out how Rudolph is basically LARPing. Such things are not unheard of, I'm sure you can find plenty of examples of gun nut types who convince themselves that they're the main character in an action movie as a pretext for violence, but then you have Eva's miraculous survival and Kyrie's dramatic irony bordering on breaking the fourth wall.

Despite what Bern implies, there is still some suggestion that the events she's showing are a fiction, but a fiction of a fundamentally different sort. If it's not reality, then it's still mutable. Battler promises that this is not a sad story, and his complete disappearance after being called out to meet Rudolph offers enough wiggle room for another Devil's proof.

One of the ways Ryukishi lends the Tea Party fragment authenticity is by reintroducing narrative elements from previous Episodes. Rudolph's references to Westerns are a callback to Episode 3, as is Eva shooting the other adults. The phonecall to lure out the children is from Episode 4. The adults all going to the chapel while solving the Epitaph parallels the adults all meeting with the witch in the chapel in Episode 2. There's an implicit suggestion here that the events we're seeing in the Episode 7 Tea Party are the prototype for the episodes, that these stories literally contain "fragments" of the truth.

But this creates a paradox. The first two episodes were written by Sayo before the killings even happened. The rest were written by Tohya Hachijo. I'm willing to believe that someone smarter than me who works as an author and became fascinated by the mystery could solve Umineko's major plot twists just from the first two bottles. You could probably even guess Shannon/Kanon in Episode 1 if you metagamed it, the way I did with Kinzo's death, and realised that Battler never sees them in the same place at the same time. I am not willing to believe that Tohya is such a genius that she managed to randomly guess specific events like the phonecalls that were not alluded to anywhere in the original bottles, and, indeed, could not have been alluded to, because they weren't part of Sayo's plan and they hadn't happened yet. As much as I like the idea of Tohya as this mysterious stranger who happens to have just the right kind of mindset to understand what Sayo was getting at, she really does need to have a source for some of what she's writing. Admittedly, the story is deliberately vague on whether Ange's meeting with Tohya ever happened at all, but someone has to have written the forgeries in any case.

This ties into Battler's disappearance, and his promise to Ange that he wouldn't let the story have a sad ending. I think the twist is going to be that, even though Battler's death seems like the most plausible turn of events, it is still possible to construct a theory in which, by some miracle, he gets off the island. Maybe this will finally resolve that Chekhov's gun about Battler being afraid of falling in the water. How else do you escape the island if you don't know about the hidden passage? Maybe it will be a case where they never confirm if Battler is actually dead or not (otherwise you have to get into why he didn't contact his family), and Tohya guessing parts of what happened really could be a coincidence, but Ange gets something out of the construction of a story with a less bleak ending? That would be one way to pay off the magic angle.

One more Episode to go.

#liveblogging #umineko #umineko episode 7 #umineko liveblog #umineko no naku koro ni #umineko when they cry

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sabookey · 3 months ago

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⭐How to Title Your Written Works⭐

I know a lot of people really struggle with titles to the point of frustration. You've put in all the work just to write the story already, and now you have to come up with a title too? Agonizing!

If you've never done it before, you might not know where to start at all. Even for experienced writers, trying to land on a title that is eye-catching and original can feel like trying to find the only perfect cherry in an orchard to stick on top of your sundae. Meanwhile, it's busy melting. I know it's tempting to just grab whatever cherry is nearest, but I promise you, there are plenty of cherries.

There are so many different methods to figure out a title that works for your piece. Personally I really enjoy working out fun titles, so I figured I'd talk some about how I think about them, and a few of the methods I use for my own works. [Long post below the cut!]

⭐Advice the First: Don't worry about your title too much when you're first starting your story.

Every time I have ever picked out a title ahead of actually writing a story, that title ends up getting scrapped. Often they have little or nothing to do with the completed project. It's fine to have a placeholder title, of course, but in my experience, they rarely stick. This is because, as you write, your story will usually change and develop into something more than your initial idea encompassed. And in my case, often the title chosen ahead of time is vague or clichéd.

⭐Advice the Second: The reasons why finding a title is so hard in the first place can actually be useful as a guideline for what your title needs to do.

The title of your piece is, often, the first thing your potential readers will see. That's a lot of pressure. Your title ideally should: ~ catch readers' attention and hold it ~ sound good and be read easily ~ represent the whole essence of your story in just a few words

That last point in particular is a scary one on the surface! But I promise you, that point is actually the key to figuring out what your title needs to be. (We'll come back to representing the essence later!)

⭐Advice the Third: Don't overthink it!

I promise you the title is actually pretty low on the list of things that will matter to your readers. It's absolutely okay if your title doesn't do all — or any — of the things I listed above. The only reason that list is there is because we're talking about nuts and bolts here - your readers don't have a checklist for The Perfect Title. If you don't hit on those points, it won't stop them from reading your story. That list — like your title — is a TOOL, not the art we are creating with it.

As writers, we often obsess over our word choices so carefully. We know that words have meaning, and articulating our ideas clearly is tricky. But let me ask you — because I know you're a reader/watcher/listener as well as a writer — has a crappy or nonsense title ever actually stopped you from falling in love with a story?

⭐Advice the Fourth: Titles have conventions and trends just like genres and eras — these can be great tools! I'm sure a lot of us have noticed the long-running trend in Romantasy where every book is titled something like "A Castle of Ice and Shame" etc etc. While that style of title had been used before, Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses series triggered an explosion in popularity for that particular style of title. Publishers will push other authors with books in the same vein to use similar titles as a way of signposting - if you liked ACOTAR, you will probably like this book too!

Romantasy isn't the only one that relies on title trends as a marketing ploy. Thrillers and crime fiction will use vocabulary that evokes an ominous feeling to suggest paranoia, tension, and stress (made up examples: "Unknown Caller," "The Stranger," "The Liar's Game"). Horror book titles might also use eerie, foreboding language, or use warnings against actions that will, of course, invite the horrors (made up examples: "Don't Look Under the Bed," "The Creepers"). On the other hand, a lot of literary fiction uses the protagonists name, or an epithet for them or another prominent character or location, to tell you who this book is going to be about (made up examples: "Annemarie," "The Stepfathers," "The Little Rock Library").

In fanfiction, meanwhile, you'll often see song lyrics or quotes from the source material used as titles. Readers that are familiar with the song being borrowed or the scenes/dialogue referenced can get a general idea of things like canonpoint, characters & dynamics involved, and emotional tone of the fic. Other trends I've noticed still lean highly poetic — for example, using all lower case, having a portion of the title in parentheses, and emotional metaphors.

Title trends & conventions may seem boring or safe, but they can be a super useful tool. It's a marketing thing, mostly; if you follow the trend of other books or stories in your genre/niche, then readers can look at the title alone and say ah, I see, this story will be like that other story I loved.

⭐How to actually come up with the words⭐

Step one, just write your story. Trust me, just get your piece written first. Sometimes, just via the process of writing and turning the words of your story around in your head like a microwave, you might land on the perfect title.

Okay, you have your story. Now you need a title.

⭐Option 1 - Themes, and the Thesis Statement Method This is where we're getting into the aforementioned "essence" of your story. If you've ever written an essay for school, you've probably talked about the thesis statement. That is, a single sentence that sums up the argument you are trying to make in your paper. If you were going to tell someone about your piece, the thesis statement would tell them what it's about and where you stand on its topic in one sentence.

In a way, figuring out a title can be kind of like figuring out your thesis statement, except that you get to be more poetic with it. Consider the following (write the answers out if you want to): ~What kind of story is it? ~What are the major themes in your work? ~What is the Big Point of your story?

Maybe it's about a character learning to admit they were wrong. Maybe it's two characters finding love again after loss. Maybe it's a adventurous quest to steal the Declaration of Independence.

Once you have boiled those questions down to find the Core(TM) of your story, start playing with language related to that core.

Don't overthink it. It could be as simple as stating it: "Learning to Admit that You were Wrong" or "Finding Love Again".

Or maybe, you want to get a little more flowery. Just calling it "Stealing the Declaration of Independence" makes it sound like a news article.... but what about "National Treasure"? .

But maybe the thesis statement style isn't for you. And maybe you're not into the title trends or conventions mentioned earlier. So, what else can we do?

⭐Option 2 - Quote Yourself Of course, the biggest source of quotable material relevant to your story is... your story itself!

When I'm writing, sometimes I'll write a sentence or a turn of phrase that just feels more elevated and poignant. More in tune with the theme, or the style I'm pursuing. I love metaphors and flowery, colorful language. I like packing symbolism and double-meaning and subtext into descriptions and set dressing. And sometimes, I can get great titles out of this.

My favorite creative writing teacher spoke to us once about the concept of "the world in a small thing," in which you might be writing about a tiny detail or moment, but metaphorically be speaking about something much bigger. I use this a lot in my writing, and very often my favorites become candidates for the piece's title.

Metaphors make for wonderful titles. A good metaphor will have an elegance and an efficiency to it. It's about communicating a complex idea with simple, graceful language. That's what your title is trying to do as well. When someone is reading a book with a metaphor title, there should be a moment at some point where they stop and look at the title again and go "Ohhhhh I get it now!" That can be very satisfying for the reader. It certainly is to me when writing it.

I often find, especially for short stories and fanfiction, that I also love mining the dialogue in a piece for gems. Dialogue is one of my favorite components of a good story. Quite often you'll find really poignant statements on the characters' desires, beliefs, and hurts. Dialogue can offer economy of language with the intent to communicate important themes, as well as language choice that is personalized and specific to the speaking character. Those can also valuable qualities for your title.

⭐Option 3 - Quote Something Larger from the Pre-Existing Canon

I talked about this some in the more general advice already, but you could also borrow from pre-existing phrases — poems, proverbs, clichés, quotations from classics or famous people. (With the caveat that you need to be careful about copyrights with modern music & writings).

You can always borrow from anything in the public domain. With your theme in mind, maybe there's a cliche or proverb (ex: Leading a Horse to Water) that your work explores. Or maybe there's a line from an older story, poem, movie, or a song that evokes the emotional response you want — a literary parallel you want people to make, a connection you want to draw.

When it's a line that is part of the popular lexicon, often readers can generally be assumed to be familiar with it. Connecting a pre-existing idea to your story can tell readers about the story, but it can also mean that you are drawing new context or meaning into the original quotation in a way that makes people think.

⭐Option 4 - Follow Genre Title Conventions

Again, I already discussed this above in the general advice, but this is a perfectly acceptable way to title your piece. Look up examples from other books or stories in your genre to see what the current and past trends have been.

Then — and this is the important part — think about the things in your story that particularly stand out. What niche within the genre are you filling? What specific notes do you want to mention up front? What vibe are you trying to evoke? The tone, the aesthetics, the mood? Thinking about these things will help you with the specific vocabulary you want to use.

Compare, for example, these made-up romantasy titles: "A Castle of Ice and Shame" vs. "The Forest of Flowers and Secrets." Even within this very specific title trope, you can glean at least a little of the vibe.

⭐Option 5 - Deliberately Ignoring Genre Title Conventions

Maybe you're writing for one particular genre, but you hate the title conventions for that genre. I get it. I know, for example, that the romantasy title trend is starting to garner more criticism (which I'm not going to get into here). There is absolutely no rule that says you MUST follow those conventions. If you can't stand it, don't use it!

In fact, there's no reason that you can't use the convention from one genre for an entirely different genre — just be aware that when you borrow framing from one thing that it can be misleading. Maybe you write your thriller and decide call it "A Castle of Ice and Shame." Your romance could be "Unknown Caller." Only you will know what combination of words will perfectly suit your story!

But the entire rhetoric behind genre tropes and conventions is that these are familiar signposts, themes, plot beats, characters, and ideas that particular groups of stories utilize and discuss — that's what genre is. Part of that discussion can and does involve circumventing expectations. Just remember that if you flip the script around enough times, there will be a point where the story you try to frame as a romance... stops being a romance and becomes something else with a romantic subplot. But that's for another post.

⭐In Closing⭐

In this particular discussion, again, I will reiterate that the title is a factor with relatively low weight in the greater context of your story. Being aware of the expectations and inferences readers will attach to the choices you make is what's important, rather than blindly following them all to a T.

These are hardly the only methods you can use of course, but these are the ones I use the most consistently when I'm making up a title for a piece. I hope you'll find this guide useful, and that titling your next piece will be more fun than trouble!

#on writing #how do i title #titles #book titles #story titles #title conventions #writeblr #writing advice #writing guide #writing tips #fanfiction advice #original fiction advice #tay speaks

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