#[ that one she's firm on lol ]

[mechaness]

First of many

So much had happened. Nasiens had found her biological family, she found out about herself, she almost died... but now her hero was with her again.

When the battle was decided, a few words were exchanged and someone gave Percival a cloak so he could cover up. He hadn't even realized he was naked. He apologized, though it was clear he didn't see the issue.

After a while, her new family (she had to present them to Ordo as soon as she could!) left her alone with him, sharing knowing smiles.

Nasiens couldn't stop looking at him.

Percival... She smiled.

"So you are a fairy now? That's so cool!" Percival's voice was so soothing to her. How had she missed his smile!

"Yes... I'm not used to flying, though..."

"But now we can fly together!" Percy said, laughing. He grabbed her hands and gently lifted them up. Nasiens was shocked but soon started smiling again. A little spin in the air, and she was laughing along with him.

"I just can't get used to the height..." she admitted looking down, feeling cold sweat in her forehead. It had been fine in the battle, but now... She looked up at Percival, thinking how silly she was being. Something gleamed in his eyes.

He threw her one of his winning smiles and she felt her heart stop.

"Well, that's easy! Just keep looking at me!" His face was too close to hers, but then again, he had never been good at respecting people's personal space.

And Nasiens couldn't think of anything better to look at than his eyes. He always managed to calm her down. She could do anything as long as he's with her.

"See? You can fly really high if you want!" Like a spell being broken, she looked down. She almost let out a scream. They were so high up she could barely see the ground!

Her arms moved on their own, hugging Percival. She hid her face in the crook of his neck, trembling.

Percival was shocked. Not because of the hug, he loved Nasiens' hugs, as different as this one felt. However, she felt like dead weight. Had she stopped flying?! Of course she wasn't in any real danger as long as he was there to hold her, but...!

"Nasiens?!" He could hear her mumbling nonono again and again, "I'm sorry! I thought...! Are you ok?" He was so worried about her and Nasiens was still trembling, but she managed to answer,

"Ye-yeah..." she looked up. She was again at a loss for words. She knew Percival was still Percival inside, but he was really big now, and tall, and... she could feel her face aflame. "Yeah, I'm... I'm good. I was shocked, I guess..." she couldn't look him in the eyes anymore.

Percy was silent for while before he spoke again.

"You really feel different now, uh..." Nasiens eyes widened at his comment.

"Wh-what do you mean? Is it bad?" Percival's silence made her a little nervous. He wasn't looking at her anymore. She forgot to ask again though, since they landed in the hollow part of a cave, up in a mountain, and the sight amazed her.

"It's beautiful..." she said. Percy agreed, but he wasn't looking outside. His eyes were fixed on the pretty girl he was holding by the waist.

Screw pretty, he thought. Nasiens had always been beautiful, but now... It was like a whole other level. The way she held herself felt different. Also,

"You got boobs now!" he shouted, almost giving her a heart attack. She almost tripped, blushing like crazy.

"Ye... yeah..." she put her hand on her chest. They weren't even that noticeably, but... "the whole thing feels weird..."

"Bad weird?" he sounded genuinely curious.

"N... no, I don't think so. I never felt bad being called a boy, but now... I like this. Being a girl, I mean. It feels right, but I'm... not used to it yet. Not completely, at least. Is that weird?"

"I don't think so! Anyway, Nasiens is Nasiens, no matter what! You are amazing!" when he looked at her, he could see that gentle smile of hers that he loved so much.

Nasiens was so grateful. Of course Percival wasn't fazed. He was just Percival. He hadn't even questioned her change, something which she she was grateful for. She couldn't even imagine how she could start explain the whole thing to him.

She was thinking how much she loved this side of his and was so deep in her thoughts, she didn't realize when Percival got behind her.

"You gotten slimmer too, right? Right?" his poking sent shivers down her spine. What was his obsession with her back?!

Nasiens felt her face aflame again.

"Please, don't do that!" she almost screamed, taking a step back.

"Why? Can't I touch you?" he sounded so innocent, she almost felt bad. But when she looked up again she saw how serious he was. She felt taken back. He had never looked at her like that before, not like this.

How could she tell him that the only thing she wanted was for him to touch her all over... it was just so embarrassing to admit!

She felt her true feelings coming forward before she could stop herself.

"Well, if you a-!" a flashback made her stop. A painful memory crossed her mind and she felt silent.

Anghalhad.

She felt her blood boil.

"...you know what. I think it's best that you don't." She turned, not before giving him the iciest look he had ever seen. That kind of look was never directed at him! Percy got worried.

"N-Nasiens?! Are you angry at me? I hate it when I make you angry!" he ran to her. He grabbed her hand so she couldn't get further away from him. She flinched and stopped, but she didn't look at him. "I'm sorry, did I say something bad?"

"You got Anghalhad to touch, don't you?" she said, immediately regretting her words. It wasn't Percival fault, or Anghalhad's for that matter. Plus, she knew Percival didn't understand these kind of things! She barely could, after all.

"Yeah, I guess..." Percival's voice made her angrier and she felt so ashamed. She took her hand back, snapping at Percy.

"See?! Go to her for all I care!" she looked down, hiding her eyes as best as she could. She couldn't face him like this...

"Wha...?! No! I don't want to! I want to stay here with you! Nasiens!" he grabbed her by the shoulder, shaking her a little. He had to make her understand...!

Were those tears?

"Nasiens...? What's wrong?" she lifted her arm, trying to wipe her tears with her sleeve.

"I... I'm a horrible friend! I don't hate Anghalhad, I actually like her... but thinking about you two...!" she put her hands on her face, trying to control herself. "Who am I to say anything? You are free to do whatever you want...! But I hate it! I hate the thought of you two-!"

Percy hugged her so tightly she almost couldn't breathe. She felt his hand grabbing her hair, same way he had done early that day.

"P... Percival?"

"I won't touch anyone else!" he exclaimed, shocking her. "I don't really get it, but I thought of some else touching you and that made me angry, so I guess it's the same for you? Is that it?"

"Ye... yeah."

"Is it because you love me?" Nasiens felt trapped. She was about to protest when...

"Cause I love you too!" he said, his smile so bright it blinded her. He caught her so out of guard she almost fainted.

"Well," he continued, "I love all my friends... but with you... love falls short. Does that make sense? I want to hold you forever..." Percy said, snuggling to her. Looking down he saw her eyes, so full of hope and love, he couldn't help but smile. Nasiens smiled back.

"Y-yes, it makes sense. I... I feel the same way." Nasiens couldn't believe it. She confessed! She managed to do it and now...

"Good!" he grabbed her waist again, lifting her from the ground, "then it's settled!"

Nasiens felt tears forming again, this time from happiness. Things could be so easy with him sometimes... but then she remembered their little argument. She blushed again.

"A-about before... I don't mind, you know... but, you have to ask."

Percy was confused for a moment. Then it hit him.

"Really?!" he had pulled her down a little. His face was so close to hers...!

"Ye-yeah."

"Can I, then?" he asked. His lips were so close to hers, she felt her heart about to explode.

"Yes..." she tried to close the distance and...

"NASSIE! Percy! Dinner time! Come on, where-! Oh, there you are!" Tioreh shouted, appearing out of nowhere.

"...what are you two doing?" she asked, innocently.

It was a rare sight, if you asked her. Nassie with her face all red, pushing Percy away. Her hand was on Percy's face and he looked miserable, ignoring Tioreh and trying to get close to Nassie.

"But you said I could...!" he whined.

"QUIET, PLEASE!"

Tioreh had never seen Nassie so embarrassed. It was fun!

Later that night...

Nasiens couldn't believe it. They had almost...!

But the moment had been ruined.

She put her hands on her face, sighing. Maybe some other time... She was fixated in the fire next to the log she was sitting on, deep in thought.

"Nasiens! I was looking for you! Look!" Percival's voice took her out of her trance. She looked up to see him better, confused in what was she supposed to be looking at.

He placed a white flower on her hair.

"I knew it! It suits you!" he said, making her blush yet again. She gently touched the white flower with her fingers. "You look beautiful, you know!" Nasiens felt her blush deepen. She was going to get a fever from blushing so much...

"Thank you, Percival..." she smiled at him and he smiled back, love in his eyes. He sat down next to her and she rested her head on his shoulder, sighing.

"Man, that sucked, uh?" he suddenly said, looking down at her. "I really wanted to kiss you."

Nasiens was definitely getting a fever.

"Re-really? Honestly, I did too..."

Without much thought, Percy turned and grabbed her by the waist, surprising her. He flew them away from the dinner and the rest.

In the air, with the moon shining brightly, he looked at Nasiens. He smiled, closing the distance between them.

"Can I?" he whispered.

Nasiens laughed. He really took it to heart to ask first.

"Of course...!"

Their laughter filled the night. At least for tonight, everything was going to all right.

[sea-buns]

I understand not wanting your party members to walk into a lake and drown themselves but also Laudna has the fuckin WORST bedside manner lol. Yes, your much-needed long rest was just interrupted in a creepy abandoned town where you know weird charm-shit happened and the LAST thing you need right now is for anyone to lose focus. But also "Can you not wait? You can wait 5 minutes." talking to someone who has waited months and doesn't know if their loved one is even ALIVE and has confessed to you how much he misses them and how much it hurts and they could be outside breathing alive right now—

And on the surface, it looks like Chet is enabling a bad decision when he says "You probably heard Dorian. He's probably outside." and yeahh, okay, maybe he is a little bit. But right after that he's about to protest with something about Orym and it's like yeah. ORYM said he heard something. When has there been a time when ORYM heard something, and it wasn't real? How many times has Orym heard something and it's saved our asses? Before Chet is being hit with his own need to check out the lake, he's giving Orym the benefit of the doubt. And while he is an enabler by nature, he's keeping his voice soft rather than his usual, over-the-top "let's fuck around and find out" energy that he brings to dangerous situations like this.

You can't have everyone in the group treating a dilemma with the same amount of sympathy and care. What makes the BH so fascinating to watch is the variation in responses and different ways they interact with each other. You need a balance of someone who will take the cold, unyielding stance against something that is so obviously a trap, and someone that is aware of the risks but willing to speak up for that person and humor them when they're so clearly struggling.

I have a lot of feelings about Laudna and Chetney's instinctual responses and I think both stances are fascinating and they've both shattered my heart to pieces

[afraidofchange]

The Cmdr Alice J. Shepard Lesbian boyfriend vibe of it all.

[timothyslucy]

there's just something so inherently romantic about a couple who tries to stop the bleeding from a serious injury one of them has together.

[numiolaes]

i wonder how many people would stop bitching about the writing for this show if they could've binged it all and had at least one scene per episode where someone stated everything explicitly like that one scene w/ satan in futurama

[loumauve]

I snapped today at work, and by snapped I mean I politely commented on a help desk ticket by summing up an mess of an (type of) issue that's come up for at least the fourth time in the 2+ months I've been managing user accounts, and asked the person responsible to fix it (himself for once) because last time I fixed his mess-up it took me two whole days to work out the details with at least four other colleagues from different departments and I really don't want to do it again. there's other shit that needs doing, I've been working 10+ hour days for most of this week already, so I need to cut down not add on more.

(good thing tho - at least we managed to fix the issue where the dataset of a newer employee got mixed up with another one of the same name and therefore wasn't able to apply for any of the access/accounts she needed. technically not entirely my area but it does impact us not being allowed to create an account for her so I figured I might as well track that issue down. took three days and at least three other people, but hey - it should all work out now. yay for that)

[synthville]

so what im getting is that it was absolutely unnecessary to isolate raffi on gotham city in order for her story to go on.

a story that’s so halfhearted that five episodes in—halfway to the end. btw—her motivation is yet to be explained (why go back to this sector of intelligence work when teaching seemed to be fulfilling? was she made to do this?? did she volunteer because her son now lives on this planet now apparently?? was losing elnor cris and possibly seven so painful that burying herself in work seemed like a better option??? who knows! not me!!) and it’s definitely a retreat character-wise but the fact that they still haven’t laid the groundwork to make this stick is kind of amazing lol. it’s the way they’re not even pretending to give a fuck about her or any of the other women characters for me—they said you’re a womb or a subordinate ladies pick one and shut the hell up LMAO?

the fact that the ‘real plot’ is happening on that other ship while everything raffi does is basically an afterthought with backstory slipped in between the cracks like aged caulk is so disheartening and pathetic. star trek picard make an effort maybe. she’s a polarizing character that’s been stuck in impossible situations, weighed down with retractions and stereotypes (they thread the line but HM) because the narrative continually refuses to meaningfully engage with her and a lot of fans of the show wont examine their own biases to see why they have such a viscerally negative reaction to a complicated black woman character that’s good at what she does, knows it and refuses to kneel at the foot of their hero’s :)

and if it wasn’t for ms hurd elevating this performance with sheer will, massive talent and the whip of that (sexy) ponytail? shit would be so much worse. but it’s still bad! because instead of giving her a nuanced, thoughtful send off she’s once again being made to suffer for the nth time. because why? oh right so wise man worf can guide her to the light lol give me a fuckin break.

and it’s no accident that if you cut raffi out (which they literally did in ep4 miss musiker you WILL be avenged) the story could more or less proceed as usual. that’s by design.

because legacy characters or not, im simply not buying that the main white cast members (plus two interlopers idgaf about those new guys and they’re doing nothing to make me care either. pick a random channel and their stories are being told right now live and in color like don’t piss me off) just so happen to be on the ship with the lead yet the sole woc is sent away on some underbaked adventure because ‘reasons?’ please. this season literally could not be more transparent about the audience they’re catering to and who/whose stories are of importance and consideration.

and i knew this would probably happen once the premise for s3 was revealed but i still can’t get over how obvious it is that there really was no plan for raffi and that she only happened to bypass the cull of the la sirena crew because she was romantically linked with seven at the time. which is baffling considering how things are (not) going between them (#theyareMARRIEDletthemTALKandKISSandREST)

and it’s not just them like everything about this season is quite literally happening just because. every slightly interesting or fresh development (and character it’s true) from the previous seasons has been dismissed or diminished and for what? secret sons and man pain? ew lmao. no suspense no lingering threads just excessive shots of ships, an aggressive insistence on biological families and rampant, shameless references to past glory. a mess.

[rraveboy]

bod practice w the goofballs cuz the subject of Their Fuzzy Level (hair texture & body hair and whatnot) came up in convo w a hazy river mutual last night. Garcello has lots of stretch marks cuz he lost a lot of weight to addiction & Annie has fuzzy <33 i love hazy duo so so so so so much they r so bestfriend

[theonlyadawong]

when this scene came up in the trailer i remember thinking "huh she looks kinda demure, or like she's hiding herself behind the case" (because I thought this was going to come up after the helicopter scene, so I thought it was the briefcase with the amber)... it's a fucking gun lmao

[anarchistcatsowner]

I have one good night out w girls in my sorority and suddenly I’m like damn i don’t wanna transfer!

[stonerzelda]

Not to come into your inbox trying to sound rude, but you're on the right track for your hamster, the glass tank you have is just WAY too small. For rodents, they need bigger wheels so their backs don't arch when they're running on the wheel (they can develop back and tail problems from too small wheels) so i actually think ur wheel and other cage items are good, u just definitely need more horizontal space (i try to shy away from too tall items the hammies mighy climb on and fall off of and hurt themselves bc theyre so very good at that)

Nono ur not being rude at all!!!! I appreciate it, and yeah ykw you're definitely right...i had a feeling too idk why i still took this one, she has very little space to even walk around + the ppl at the store were saying the same thing abt the wheel- i found one online for russian hamsters thats like the disc, they said its better for their back bc otherwise the constant arching will hurt them. I thought having more of a terrarium would be good for her bc that way she cant climb like she was doing in the last one (shes already fallen a lot and im gettin stressed abt her hurting herself) but now shes just cramped up in this tiny space and like. Sigh. There was a bigger one too i straight up dont know why i didnt just think about this more. Might have to put her back in her old one even though its still not great but at least she can move around in it.

Thank you for reaching out though I appreciate your thoughts a bunch, its actually really helpful!! Unfortunately this is new territory for me but im 100% open to learning to make sure i do this right. I'm still wondering if I should go back to a regular bowl for her food and figure out a way to put up the water bottle on the side if only to maximize space, i still want to try and put up a 2nd level she can explore/climb around but yeah i might need to invest in an expensive cage if it helps her live deliciously yk?

[gaysetokaibas]

when mokuba goes to college, kaiba is supportive. he is happy to support his little brother as he finds himself and what he loves, but he also dreadfully anguished to see him leave. i think that kaiba spends the first week without mokuba extra upset at work, but he doesn’t really know where its coming from. he’s never felt so alone, even if he is still genuinely happy. he probably drowns himself in work, and is unsually absent minded. he shows up to meetings late, and doesnt hear the phone ring 1/2 of the time. 

mokuba goes to a college in new york. he doesnt really know what to do with himself. he’s never known anything that wasn’t mortal peril, worry for his big brother, and working at kaiba corp. he doesnt want to work there anymore. he cant picture himself as vice president forever. as he gets older and seto delegates actual work to him, he yearns to pursue anything else, no matter how much he loves working with seto. problem is... he doesnt know what else he loves? he’s talking to yugi, joey, tea, and the rest when he confides that the topic of university pains him. quietly, tea tells him that she’s going to new york for dance, and she has loved it for the short time shes been going. maybe something different could help him. 

spring break is coming up, and seto finds himself breathing a little easier when mokuba texts him that unlike winter break, he is coming home for a little vacation. he has two weeks off, and he can’t wait to see kaiba corp again (and finally take a break off classes). kaiba also receives another text, this time from an unknown number that says “mokuba didnt give me your number, yugi did. he’s been telling me how much you miss your little brother!! here’s some pictures of us hanging out in new york. he’s flying back home on...” 

when mokuba gets home, seto picks him up from the airport, and offers tea a ride home too. he sees how excited and happy mokuba is (he’s tripping over his words in excitement trying to tell him every little thing about the usa and the people he’s met and the things he’s done) and he realises that the pain of his little bro leaving is nothing compared to the feeling of seeing him be happy. Not that he realises this CONSCIOUSLY, but when mokuba leaves again he isn’t struggling to pay attention to his work, and he doesn’t feel that same loneliness anymore. he gets a lot of texts from tea. as happy as mokuba is, mokuba also develops a horrible problem of never texting his brother for life updates as much as he should. i think kaiba and tea become friends, slowly, and very understatedly. tea tells stories of funny things kaiba texts her, and joey is ?! at the concept of them casually chatting away. but most importantly, i think that they both find a little more peace when mokuba leaves.

[spacebugarts]

I got the cutest plushie ever and I wanna add a bit more stuffing bc its a bit too soft for my liking but I can't find my seam ripper :[

[someotherdog]

for / @despetitsecrits participants / ingrid & your choice of muse! story / it's a few months after the outbreak, and ingrid has been mostly surviving on her own. your muse stumbles upon her one day and she tries to seem like a tough bitch, but her façade is rather weak and unconvincing. setting / an abandoned pharmacy in a small town in rural new york!

ingrid still couldn’t believe this was her life. gone were the days of running around the manhattan law firm she worked at for the last five years, trying to impress partners that never seemed to remember her name and always looked through her instead of at her. at the time, she supposed it was understandable—her coworkers were usually from blue blooded families that all attended the same ivy league university for generations, while she had much more humble beginnings—but now months on the other side of society’s collapse, it made her retroactively angry. it made her angry for the woman that she had been, so small in actuality when she felt so gigantic back then. she, little ingrid sergeant from wyoming, working in a big city law firm and rubbing elbows with the elite! her high school classmates must have felt so jealous, knowing ingrid left their one-horse town for the bright lights of new york and made real money now. sure, she was unmarried without kids and barely had time to brush her hair, but she had made it. yes, she swallowed the disrespect from the partners and the uninterested stares of her coworkers, but she had reached her goals. she was a lawyer. she had made it out of wyoming. she had won.

it was all bullshit in the end. rather, none of it mattered in the end. people all died in the same way now: in pain, bloodied, far too soon. the end blindsided everyone, arriving unceremoniously and without ingrid even knowing until it was too late. one morning, she was getting off the subway to go to work, and by that evening, the world had ended. ingrid had been lucky to make it out of new york city alive. now, she traversed western new york by herself, because anyone she came across post-outbreak either died or left her for dead. it was harder to survive by herself, but perhaps for the best. the worst part was that she was aimless. her whole adult life existed in the borough of manhattan, but she didn’t have many friends and she hadn’t been close to her family in years. the only place she could think to go was her mother’s home back in cheyenne, but that was almost two thousand miles away; a lot of dead, a lot of danger, laid in between. that plan all hinged on the assumption that her mother was even still alive, which as much as it pained her, ingrid didn’t think was likely. if she barely survived, how the fuck would cassandra sergeant fair? no, there was little hope of finding anything worthwhile in wyoming, so ingrid just… wandered. in search of a purpose. in search of a reason to continue on.

that search brought her to a small town that she didn’t recognize the name of, because the only part of the state of new york that had mattered to her had been manhattan. it had been scarce of people and undead since she arrived a few days prior, and she had made herself a temporary home out of a dentist’s office—it was secluded, had an appropriate amount of exits, and had some medical supplies that would benefit her in the long run. it didn’t have everything, though, and ingrid found herself in need of food and water. that led her to a nearby pharmacy that hadn’t been entirely picked clean. fifteen minutes into stuffing her backpack full of granola bars and poptarts, she suddenly became aware of another’s presence. she froze, hand hovering above the shelf in front of her. from the fact that they hadn’t immediately lunged for her, she had to hope they weren’t undead. she gulped dryly, eyes turning towards them slowly. her voice dropped several decibels in an effort to seem intimidating. to seem stronger than she was. “g… get back. this is my aisle.” her other hand moved down to her belt for the hunting knife she found at the start of the outbreak. it had become her security blanket, though she had yet to use it against another human. “i—i just want these, then i’ll leave. so, uh, stay the f-fuck back.”

[waytootiredstudent]

Very funny position to be working for the works council (is that the right English word?) now as someone who only had really exploitative jobs before (you know, as you do as a broke student) bc my boss is constantly telling me to chill.

Me: Sorry I'm late and I can stay longer to make up-

Boss: train was late, no you will not stay late, what are you talking about. That's out of your control.

Me: hey so I can't work on those days because -

Boss: yeah no worries put in the calendar. what no I don't need to know why. Hey what do you mean you don't have paid time off, let me talk to HR, do you know if other students have the same problem with their contract?

It's just a constant loop of this:

Boss: you know that you have rights, right?

Me:

[killa-trav]

i'm definitely failing these assignments n 100% not getting a 2:1 lmao