#* thread : booker / ic.

[brutalpath]

      "you don't gotta do anything like that, now." if he sounds wary, it's just because he is. not that he's subtle about it; apprehension lay just behind his neutral expression, vaguely curling the corners of his mouth. he's not even sure what's being offered— just that he doesn't trust a grin that toothsome.

      he pauses, shouldering the heavy bag. "and— i doubt they'd have anything my size."

@daemondaes // for The Baby.

[corsair-mc-official]

[Loading Segment from CORSAIR Complaint Board]

"For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE turn up the AC in the Lancer quarters. If I have to hear Macguyver shriek about how cold the floors are one more time, I'm removing his feet." {The Ruby Crown} [Identified as Lancer Booker]

"Not my fault some of you fuckers are fucking furnaces that can withstand this ice hell. You run so hot I could harvest your organs to power my mech." {Macguyver116} [Identified as Lancer Macguyver]

"Not my fault you're a lizard wearing a person suit, Mac. Get better blood circulation." {The Ruby Crown} [Identified as Lancer Booker]

[End Thread Share]

[Courtesy of BOSUN]

[magtitude]

@endurcandsurvive / for elizabeth | test muse: booker

Booker doesn’t see much harm in taking the girl to Paris first. He intends to take her back to New York eventually, but for now he can give this girl some small thing she wants. Besides, there were books aplenty in her bedroom, so what’s the likelihood of her knowing the difference in direction to Paris and New York? Quite likely.

“So, Paris. Didn’t have anywhere else in mind?”

[therhoadespack]

@prcttyfangs

“Another beautiful day, I wonder how long before someone fucks it up”

[hauntedfalcon]

living in midnight

for day four of Nile Freeman Week: "Nile & Struggle" plus a fantasy AU in which superheroes exist, Nile isn't one of them, and she doesn't let that stop her. 1700 words, rated M for swearing. content warning for wounds and needles because it's Nile's turn for sapphic patching up, as a treat

the title is from Lianne La Havas’s “Midnight”. many thanks to @flightsofwonder for beta reading <3

read on AO3 or below

Nile opens her eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling. There is an unfamiliar pillow under her head, and she is recumbent on an unfamiliar sofa. Above it is a window, where streetlights reflect in the sinuous trails of raindrops.

Rain. Knives. Three attackers. She fought like hell, might have broken someone’s arm, but they landed one good hit. They left her for dead in an alley. She watched her own blood run into a puddle.

She bolts upright--and hisses when a wave of agony breaks over her, starting in her abdomen and shooting everywhere.

“Please don’t move,” says a softly accented voice. “You’re safe here. I haven’t seen your face.”

Nile collapses back down to the pillow and touches her face, just to be sure. Her mask is still in place. She drops her hand and forces one eye open, blurry with pained tears, to get a look at whoever dragged her in from the alley.

A white woman. Dark shoulder-length hair. Youngish, maybe Nile’s age. Dressed all in black, much like her--not for stealth but for soft goth vibes. Cute, if she’s honest, but this isn’t the fucking singles bar, get it together Freeman.

“I staunched the bleeding,” her rescuer says, “but I was waiting until you were conscious to do the stitches.”

“Do we have to?” Nile groans before she can stop herself.

A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it smile. “I’m afraid so. Would you like some fortitude?” The amateur surgeon holds out a bottle of Everclear.

Ugh. Nile takes the cap off and drinks deep, leaving enough in the bottle to sterilize whatever needs to be sterilized. It tastes like ass and lingers at the back of her throat.

Before the alcohol can set in and obliterate her senses, she says, “Can I borrow your phone?”

The woman hesitates. Very wise of her.

“Listen,” Nile says. “We had two leads come in at the same time. Al-Tayyib took one and I took the other, and mine was a decoy, which means...” She can’t, won’t, say it aloud. She hates how feeble she sounds. “I just have to check in with him. Please.”

The woman hands her a smartphone, unlocked. Nile hits the keycode to make the call anonymous, then dials Joe’s shitty flip phone from memory. He keeps it on silent when he’s on the rounds, and he’ll only answer if he’s safe.

Pick up, she wills him, because if she has to hear his stupid cheerful voicemail greeting now of all times, she’s going to scream right in front of this poor woman who didn’t ask for any of this drama in her life. Pick up, pick up, pick--

“Pronto.”

Nile’s gut tightens (painfully, but that’s not what matters right now) at the sound of another unfamiliar voice. The assassin. Joe walked into a trap.

“Where is he?” she demands, trying to sound hard and not like she’s lying on a stranger’s couch with an open wound.

A gust in the speaker. Is he laughing at her? She strains to hear anything that would give away their location: traffic, a clock tower, machinery, anything. There’s nothing else. No hint of Joe yelling in the background, either.

“I will return him to you presently,” says the asshole. Very formal.

“What, after you shank him like your goons did to me?”

“They were instructed not to kill you,” he says in a voice that wouldn’t fog a window in January. “Did you die?”

White-hot rage flares out of her with no place to go. “Where is he, you son of a--” But he has already hung up on her.

Nile resists the urge to growl. If this was her phone she would throw it against the wall. Instead she quickly deletes the record of the outgoing call, and hands the phone back to the woman, who pockets it. “Thank you,” she says tightly.

“I’m sorry to say so,” says the woman as she holds the tip of a curved needle in a candle flame, “but you are in no condition to save anyone right now.”

She blows out a sigh in answer. When she pulls the hem of her shirt up and peels away the medical tape and bandage pad, she discovers that the woman is absolutely right. This isn’t the worst Nile has been hurt and still fought, but it is pretty bad.

And it’s one thing to trash a gang of traffickers while she’s actively bleeding. It’s something totally different to track down a guy who has been three steps ahead of them this whole time, and seems to have removed his sense of morals with an ice cream scoop.

There’s only one thing left to do: say a silent prayer. The way she learned to pray feels insufficiently casual for the circumstances; she wishes she knew more about the format of the rakat. All she remembers is, “God hears the one who praises him,” so she starts on the Lord’s Prayer because praise comes before petition.

In place of, “Give us this day our daily bread,” she substitutes, “Get Joe out of this with his head,” and then she has to hold back a giggle at the rhyme. She must have lost a lot of blood.

The woman wipes the needle down with Everclear. “You know, I met the old Guardian too.”

Nile eyes her carefully. She won’t say Andy’s name in this woman’s presence. She won’t say Joe’s name either, much less her own. She won’t slip no matter how much blood she’s lost or how strong the alcohol is or how fundamentally good and trustworthy this woman seems or how much this is going to hurt. “Not under the same conditions,” she presumes.

“Very similar,” the woman says with another fleeting smile. “I hope she’s well?”

“She’s good,” Nile hastens to reassure her. “She retired.” And she left Nile her nom de guerre and all the weight that went with it.

“I’m glad she made it that long.”

“Probably thanks to you,” Nile says, and she gets a longer smile for it.

Then the needle bites into her skin and Nile whimpers softly and throws an arm over her eyes. She’s hard. She’s tough. This is what she does.

The woman’s gloved hand pinches the wound closed as she stitches. She works quickly, professionally. “I’m really glad you found me,” Nile manages. “I can’t exactly go to a hospital.”

“I think you would be surprised,” the woman says. “You are well loved in this city. People would protect your identity.”

That’s not it. Nile can’t go to hospital because there’s a chance her mom would be on shift, and the only thing worse than keeping her alter ego secret from her mom is the idea that she would find out because Nile came in on a gurney. She can’t do that to her.

A tug, as she ties the thread off, and then a snip of the shears. Nile lifts her head and looks down at a slightly puckered, neatly stitched, no longer bleeding knife wound.

Her laugh sounds brittle, just this side of hysterical. The woman glances at her. “I have work tomorrow,” Nile says weakly.

The woman tapes a fresh bandage over the wound. “Me too.”

No rest for the righteous. “The struggle is real, huh? Sorry for keeping you up late.”

“I will call in if you do,” the woman offers.

But going into the office in the morning might be the soonest opportunity to make sure Joe is okay. Nile pulls her shirt down and zips her bomber jacket over it. “I should go.”

The woman sets one hand on Nile’s arm. “Please stay. You shouldn’t be out alone tonight.”

“They might have been watching when you brought me inside,” Nile warns.

“Then I will need your protection, won’t I?” the woman says without blinking, as if she’s not the one that just saved Nile’s whole life.

Nile cracks an incredulous smile but the woman just gazes at her solemnly.

“Okay,” she says at last. “Okay, I’ll stay. Thank you. And I’m sorry for bleeding on your couch.”

It’s not enough, but the woman just sets about cleaning up her supplies. Nile settles back against the pillow and wills her muscles to unclench.

“May I ask,” the woman asks as she washes her hands, “why you do this? You don’t have superpowers.”

No, and none of the people who do have taken this city under their protection. Flippant, lazy answers parade through Nile’s mind, because she’s not in a charitable mood. Anger issues. No one else is gonna do it. I’m a giant masochist, actually.

But when she opens her mouth, the first thing that comes out is Andy’s answer, from when Nile asked her years ago. “Because there are people worth fighting for.”

Then Joe’s answer: “People who won’t get justice any other way.”

And, finally, one that’s all hers. “I have a responsibility. This is my city”

She’s going to pass out any minute, but beneath her fatigue there’s still a live coal of the feelings that made her put this mask on in the first place. This is her damn city. She spends so much time in the guts of its shitty justice system, and the rest of the time punching assholes, that she sometimes forgets her city is full of ordinary, decent people. Good people. People who will bring someone in from the rain. People like…

“What’s your name?” Nile asks, and then catches herself. “I can’t--give you mine. Sorry. It might be safer if I don’t know yours.”

“Celeste,” says the woman.

Good people like Celeste. How comforting that is.

Her pain is down to an ache instead of a burn, and her eyes drift closed. In the morning, she’ll be out of Celeste’s hair. She’ll shower at her apartment, carefully, and she’ll go into Legal Aid, and Joe will be there, a little banged up but alive. He’ll hug her, quick and tight, and they’ll loiter by the coffee maker and speak in low voices and sort out their next play. And when the work day is over, they’ll go with Andy and Quỳnh down to Booker’s for drinks and darts, and Nile will order a bouquet of flowers sent to Celeste’s apartment in thanks. Everything, for given quantities of everything, will be fine.

Confident in her safety, secure in her purpose, Nile rests.

[randomingoftherandomness]

Fic: All we do is think about the feelings that we hide

Fandom: The Old Guard (2020)

Pairing: Booker x Joe x Nicky, Booker x Nicky, Booker & Nile, mention of Andy x Quynh

Tags: Secret Relationship, Established Relationship, Angst, Booker’s Self-Worth Issues, Mentions of Double Penetration, Otherwise no graphic sex in this fic

A/N: For the always darling @bewires who is a delight and a gem. I made this more Booker x Nicky focused coz... My brain needed some streamlining and so here it is? I hope you’ll like it nonetheless x

--

When they walk together, Joe and Nicky take the lead up front while Nile hooks an arm around Booker’s. He is careful to keep his eyes from following them when they move through the crowds of locals and tourists alike that pack the Christmas market and doubly more deliberate in his attempts to cajole Nile into trying a sausage or a cup of mulled wine, or what about that shop with those knick knacks?

If her indulgent smile is anything to be judged by, Booker thinks it’s not working.

Coming to the Christmas market had been Joe’s idea. A chance for them to spend some time together. The exact thing Booker had been wanting to avoid at all cost. Since his return, Joe, Nicky, and himself had taken a weekend off to have the screaming and sparring and sex sessions that resulted in a mutual agreement to take things slower this time. As if everything they’d done prior to his exile had been wrong footed and untrue. Desperate with want - which in fairness, he had had Nicky’s cock in his ass and Joe’s waiting to press up against it at the time - Booker had agreed to it.

“-buy as Christmas gifts?”

Nile’s question hangs in the winter air between them before Booker inelegantly mumbles a, “Hm?” to her incredulous amusement. “I was just asking what Joe and Nicky would buy as Christmas gifts?” She repeats, bumping their shoulders together. He had been infinitely grateful that when Joe posited the trip to the Christmas market, Nile had piped up and said it was a great idea. At least he wouldn’t have to walk alone while Joe and Nicky held hands and strolled through the crowd together.

“They usually try to make things for other people during Christmas. One year, Joe painted Nicky in that pose that Kate Winslet did in Titanic. I think it’s still hanging in their house in Malta,” Booker says with a fond smile as the memory comes to him. “You should visit them there when you have a chance to.”

“Have you ever been to Malta?”

“A few times,” Booker hedges carefully, guiding her towards a stall that is selling some Christmas candy. 

“How many times is a few times?” Nile asks, completely undettered. God, he should’ve known she would have latched on to that little tidbit. 

“I’ve known them almost the entirety of my immortal life, Nile,” He says with a careful smile while he picks up a bag of chocolate peppermint sticks and pays for it. “It would be only natural for me to know how their favourite safehouse looks like.”

Nile frowns but doesn’t continue that thread of thought because Joe is cutting through to them with a glint of unholy glee as he declares that they’ve found an ice-rink.

-

The thing is, when Joe, Nicky, and Booker agreed to take this relationship slowly, only Booker was paying attention to the rules of the game. The agreement to try was still fresh and Booker can still feels the phantom weight of their cocks in him as they came, filling him up in this covenant they’d made.

He’d been beyond relieved and grateful that they’d even wanted to try at all that he knew that he would have rather died a true death than allow himself to fuck it all up again. Booker had barely survived that first heartache of being sent away. He knows he won’t a second time.

So, he plays a game with himself; how many times can he stop himself from looking at them? How many times can he resist from reaching out them and asking for some reassurance or comfort? To fall easily against them on the sofa and tangle their limbs together? To have the simple pleasures that comes with being in a relationship with another party; to know their kisses, their hands in his own, the weight of their embraces, their laughters and gazes. Booker packs all his yearning and focuses on maintaining the facade that for anyone who cared to look, it was Joe and Nicky and no one else.

When he had gone through this the first time around, he knows or at least had the suspicion that Andy knew why he’d always slept close to Joe and Nicky, or why there had been a fair few times when they’d gone out together as a foursome and disappeared together as a three. She’d never spoken to him about it. Booker misses her for that.

With Nile, that bag of rules went out the window the moment he had a second to truly know his sister.

Now that Andy was off galivanting the world with Quynh on some long, protracted second honeymoon, they’re lucky to get her on the phone for more than 15 minutes sometimes. But she is happy, and they will see each other again. This left Nile in charge and she takes to it like a duck to water. Which is perhaps the reason why she clings to Booker and tugs him to the ice where a slew of laughing and screaming people are having their wintertime fun out on the town square.

“Nile, leave him be,” Nicky says with a gentle smile, prying her away from Booker. 

Joe suitably distracts her by pulling her to join the line for the skate rentals. “Thanks,” He says, tucking his hands into his coat pockets, carefully angling his body away from the ice. “You should go join them. Have a bit of fun. I’ll just get myself a hot drink and wait for you somewhere nearby, okay?”

Nicky shakes his head, still smiling. “Ah, I don’t feel up for it. I think I’ll stay with you.”

“But you like ice-skating,” Booker replies with a frown. “Andy and I had to convince you not to make a bid for the Winter Olympics, remember?”

“I remember, yes. You always had a good memory for things like that, Basti,” Nicky laughs fondly. Taking him by the elbow, he guides them both to the nearest hot chocolate stand. “Perhaps I want to spend some time with you instead, hm? Joe had been a bit upset that Nile wanted to join us. He’d been talking about how romantic it would be to visit the Christmas market with us both.”

Booker orders their drinks and does his damndest not to look at Nicky when he says, “That’s very nice of him to want that but wouldn’t coming here with you suit him better?”

Nicky doesn’t say a thing to that and they wait for their drinks, absconding to find a free bench to wait for Joe and Nile. “Sometimes just when I think we’re alright, you say things like that that make me think that we’re stil back at square one.” He shrugs when Booker turns to him. “I think we’re okay and then you... Avoid Joe and I. Turn away from our kisses, look away when we catch you looking, hide your hands when all I want to do is hold them and kiss them.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Do you even know what you’re sorry for?” Nicky asks, eyes clear and devoid of judgement. “Basti, we love you so much. We are ready to shout it from the rooftops and scream it to anyone who would care to listen, but everytime we think you are ready for that, you seem to shy away from us.”

“It’s just easier,” Booker breathes, exhalation coiling in the cold air between them to mingle with the steam rising from their hot chocolate.

“Easier for who?”

“For all of us. I-I... I want to be loved, I do. But for so long now I have found myself not being worthy of you and after London,” He pauses. “After London, I believed I had lost any hope of being with both of you. Then, we had that weekend away and we said we would try, that we would do this differently. So, I tried.”

“Oh, Booker,” Nicky sighs. 

He sets his drink down by his feet, swallowing tightly. Nicky does the same after a moment and takes Booker’s hand in between his own. Keeping his gaze fixed on their palms pressed together, he glavanises himself to speak.

“The first time we got together, you never asked me for any intimacy when we were in public, and I was alright with that. It had been just the both of you for so long, of course it would feel weird with a third. It was okay. Now, this time round, I taught myself not to want it because...”

“Because?” Nicky urges him on, shuffling closer. 

“Because I don’t think I can survive being sent away by you again,” The truth tumbles forth in a whisper. “Because I drank myself to death twice before Quynh showed up and I know if I have to leave you again, I won’t survive a third.”

Nicky leans in, wrapping him in an embrace that Booker accepts with his arms around Nicky’s waist. He buries his nose in his scarf, trying to stop the shaking of his limbs. 

“I love you both so much, but I’m scared. All the time. What if I kiss you and Joe, and I’m turned away? I know you love me, but will you love me if I make a mistake again? Because I will, you know I will. I don’t think I can do this if I fuck this up again.”

Careful fingers curl through the back of his head, keeping his face tucked to Nicky’s shoulder. After a beat, he speaks. “Do you trust me? Do you trust Joe?”

“With my life.”

“Then, trust me when I say that we’re never going to give you up,” Nicky says, turning his lips to the shell of Booker’s ear as he continues. “Never gonna run around and desert you, never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye-”

“Oh, fuck off,” Booker gasps, choking on a wet laugh as he pulls away only to be dragged back into a quick press of a kiss tinged with happiness. 

“Hey, I want a kiss, too!”

Booker startles and makes to jump apart at the sound of Joe’s voice but Nicky holds firm. “Well darling, take a number,” He says sweetly, turning Booker’s attention back to him and sliding their mouths into another kiss that leaves him melting into Nicky’s arms.

He can’t see it but he hears the absolute triumph in Nile’s voice when she says, “Oh my god, Andy owes me 500 euros.”

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with Marasmus

Marasmus only has a handful of fics left at Gossamer, but you can find more X-Files fics at AO3 (as finisterre). Some of my favorites of her stories I've recced here before, including one of the most clever fics you could read, Cellphone (here at AO3), and the lovely, London-set A Candle for Katherine (here at AO3, bonus commentary at LJ). Big thanks to Marasmus for doing this interview.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Mine, yes, older XF in general, no — some of that stuff is amazing. Though I wonder how well fandom operates now there is not a plethora of rec sites. I know of yours and one more Tumblr blog and that’s it.  I find it really difficult to find good stories in any fandom unless someone whose taste maps to mine recommends something.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

I look back on it fondly, but it was one of the first things that really hammered it home to me that every grouping throughout life follows the pattern of school.

A lot of people are really talented and funny and kind. Then there are absolute ego-rampaging nightmares who act like lady bountiful in public but do cruel things in private, or chuck their toys out of the pram at the least provocation.

And like school, fandom brings together a disparate group of people who you’re friendly with, but once you leave, the ones you stay in touch with are your friends.

Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Thank God.

I watched the show pre-widespread internet and mostly when I had almost no money. I didn’t have regular internet access until the third season, and that was only at my incredibly conservative workplace. I didn’t get home internet access until midway through season six. You couldn’t download episodes easily, you couldn’t stream, you just had to wait until it aired overseas. I decided I didn’t care if I was spoiled and that worked for me. In fact for some particularly annoying episodes, I was glad.

I was a newsgroup and mailing list sort of person. Never really did message boards unless a newsgroup counts, though I had a Haven account.

What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

Mostly, how talented people are. I know some are now professional writers, but so many people who didn’t do it as anything but a hobby were also amazing.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I always liked science fiction, oddness and urban legends, so it was kind of made for me. But it was the relationship between Mulder and Scully that kept me around, and after season six, it was the fandom that kept me around. I loved Scully in particular, cos let’s be honest, Mulder can be kind of a twerp at times.

What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

I hung out on alt.tv.xfiles.analysis (a newsgroup), which was one of the smartest boards I’ve ever been on. The threads were full of well-read, erudite people. That led to a site which collated reviews of XF episodes. They mentioned alt.tv.xfiles.creative, and I got there the summer after Gethsemane, which was pretty optimal timing.

I’d take floppy disks into conservative workplace and quietly download the most gloriously filthy fanfic onto them for reading at home on my ancient second-hand Mac.

After that I joined Scullyfic, a mailing list, which was a lovely place to hang out for a while, and got stories through a couple of other mailing lists.

What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?

Like my relationship to ice hockey: glad that activity exists and that some people enjoy it, but not watching and not involved myself.

Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Reading, yes, and writing the odd bit of feedback, but any other fandom involvement didn’t really take. I’ve never found a bunch of people I liked as well as I liked some of the people in XF.

Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?

I am usually more interested in female characters than male ones (the Doctor, Mulder and Jack O’Neill notwithstanding), which is why I only read a bit of m/m slash. I usually develop a perverse dislike for any woobie the fandom loves.  

Some favourites are: Samantha Carter and Jack O’Neill, Granny Weatherwax, Furiosa, everyone from The Good Place, Donna Noble, Sarah Jane Smith, Martha Jones and Yasmin Khan, Maia from The Goblin Emperor, Cordelia Naismith and Miles Vorkosigan, General Leia Organa, Rey and Finn, and lately all of The Old Guard, even Booker...

I like nerds, pining, best friends discovering feelings for each other, second chances, redemption narratives, people being sneaky for good ends and stoics who stay stoic through all kinds of misery, only to crack and start crying when they get a happy ending.

Basically, you know Eleanor at the end of the Emma Thompson Sense and Sensibility? That.

Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?

No. I had about four years there where I made up stories about Mulder and Scully on any commute where I’d forgotten a book, but that’s gone now. I watched two episodes of the revival, but it wasn’t for me.

Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?

I occasionally wander in and read a bit on AO3, but nothing that deals with anything past season seven. Not interested in William, not interested in domestic fiction, not even interested in post-col any more, which was 100% my crack during XF fandom days. I did read By the Dim and Flaring Lamps [Lilydale note: by @sunflowerseedsandscience] earlier this year. Love a bit of AU historical.

I read lots of different fandoms, though I am between intense enthusiasms at the moment, which always feels a bit odd.

Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?

Yes, but they’re all about 20 years old. Is there such a thing as fandom classics any more?  There used to be a litany of stories that ‘everyone should read’. I wonder how well they hold up now.

I think there are waves of writers who come into a fandom and then leave again: I think I was part of a second wave, with the first wave being Mustang Sally, RivkaT, Karen Rasch, Lydia Bower, Nascent etc.

Then there must’ve been a third wave for the revival (and mini-waves in between). I don’t know that group of writers, so I am probably leaving out people who are really good.

One of my favourite Scully voices is Five Years and One Night [Lilydale note: by Shalimar], because of the contrast between her inner monologue as written and how little she actually says.

I really like quieter, thoughtful authors like Michelle Kiefer, Cecily Sasserbaum, Scullysfan, Cofax, Anjou, Maria Nicole, Kipler.  Love everything Kel ever wrote.

At one point there were also about three authors called Rachel who were knockout. I like to think Rachel Howard is writing professionally because it’s a waste of talent if she’s not. Rachel Anton had a crazy gift for pacing and wrote a good Krycek.

I really liked Branwell’s strange AU novels, which riff off The Field Where I Died (a wretched episode but so much good writing came from it.) [Lilydale note: Condemned to Repeat It by Branwell is a really long story involving The Field Where I Died.]

Everyone who is reccing other people’s stuff here is also a good writer. (and their taste in recs is — mostly — excellent): http://www.thebasementoffice.com/museaxfnet/museans/TitlesAF.html

What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

I like The Flexible Concept of Tomorrow. I loved trying to work out the timelines. I like the one about airships and cross-dressing which only exists on my iPhone and in my imagination right now.

Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?

Only an AU, if ever. I am completely at sea with canon.

Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

In my head. Mostly AUs. Everyone has daemons! It’s an airship! They’re exploring space! It’s mediaeval Slovenia!

Most of my creativity is sucked away by work. Which is good I suppose, as writing fanfic never paid my Netflix subscription.

Where do you get ideas for stories?

Reading long-form journalism and non-fiction books.  

What's the story behind your pen name?

Well, I changed mine. The first one was picked out of a magazine article about Branwell Bronte, and I liked the shape of the word. Then I got to feel uncomfortable with it because it was a real illness that made people suffer. The current one comes from the shipping forecast when I was a kid.

Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?

No, and also absolutely not. Over my dead body. Over YOUR dead body.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

I took my stories off Gossamer but I don’t remember why. They’re on AO3 now and there are probably stray copies on some archives out there.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

I have made all of these mistakes. All of ‘em.

— On no account offer unsolicited concrit. In fact, do not provide concrit EVEN IF THE PERSON ASKS FOR IT, unless you know them reasonably well and it’s in private.

— Avoid the wank. If you have the perfect riposte to something awful, write it and file it to drafts for two days. If you still want to send it after that, godspeed.

— Write anything you want, and when you start keep going. You can edit later.

— Never put any story into the public sphere unless you’ve had a second pair of eyes on it, preferably the eyes of someone who is willing to say “are you SURE about that?”

Finally, just have fun. Being in the grip of love of story is a wonderful thing, and you never know how long it will last.

(Posted by Lilydale on September 29, 2020)

[victimhood]

The Beautiful Game: Chapter 2 - Kickoff! (TOG intl football AU)

Heeeeere’s chapter 2 of The Old Guard international football (soccer) AU! Again, this is a Book of Nile fic, with chapters of both Nile and Booker POVs. Kaysanova are the side ship in this fic.

Chapter 1 here, or follow the tag #tog: the beautiful game for the fic, or #tog fc if you want to see the process “sketches”. Feel free to send me any asks about this AU!

CHAPTER 2 - KICKOFF

Nile is invited back to the panel for the men’s final. She was meant to be a one-time guest on the semifinal analysis, but the higher ups really appreciated Nile’s encyclopedic knowledge and her effort to convey this knowledge to the American audience. It would be remiss not to give her a spot, and Nile does have a reputation for being the nation’s sweetheart in the women’s run to a consecutive final in the 2023 World Cup.

For the second time, Nile has to get used to—as the trashy tabloid rags like to put it—pouring herself into a figure-hugging dress, and she has to go through hair and make-up, sitting in the studio for hours—it’s all so fussy and constricting, such a different world from the technical, engineered fabrics of the football kit, designed for maximum sweat-wicking movement. She sends a selfie of her herself to her mom—OOTD on full display, and then decides to post it on her social media. If she has to go through all this trouble to look good, she better damn well milk it for all it’s worth.

In the pre-match analysis, to her surprise, someone on the panel asks her for insight into player nerves before such a big final. You pretty much can’t sleep the night before—unless you’re not really human, Nile jokes. It segues into some banter on the panel, and then the lineups are announced. The thrum of the stadium is audible from the live feed, and god, that jolt of energy through Nile‘s veins—it thrills her to feed off the energy of the crowd and yet it hurts her to know she’s not the one playing, not anymore.

The day before, the third place match is settled in Mexico City, where the Netherlands beat Brazil 3-2, Dutch forward Marouane Idrissi scores early on, ten minutes into the game, and the lead is doubled by van de Berg shortly before halftime. Brazil makes a comeback in the second half, Martinho with a screamer from a free kick, and then Vinícius coolly slots in another one with his left foot. Edwin de Haas redeems himself, and wins the game with a header at the 78th minute. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, and at the post match interview, Kaysani rues his error that led to Brazil’s second goal, but shrugs it off saying he had fun with the Brazilians and he can relax and watch the final like a spectator. The interviewer reminds him that his good friend Di Genova is playing, at which Kaysani gives a tiny smile and simply says, “Forza, Nicolò, forza.”

The 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup Final is off to a start. There are the stirrings of some attacking plays from both sides, but they fizzle out in the final third. Halftime happens, and Nile and the other pundits have to find something to talk about, so they pull out all the statistics they can to pad out the halftime analysis for such a meager half. Both teams are playing it very cautiously, and the pace of the game is considerably slower than the exhilarating semifinals, each team biding their time for the perfect opportunity. At the 67th minute something finally happens. Di Genova fouls French forward Kylian Mbappé near the penalty box, which results in the referee issuing a penalty kick to the French. There is an uproar from the Italians, not least of all Di Genova, who is given a warning by the referee, with a wag of a pointed finger. VAR is called to settle the dispute, which invalidates the referee’s initial decision, proving Di Genova right. The referee has to award a free kick instead, which is decisively cleared by Di Genova and launched into the opposing half, starting a furious counterattack that culminates in an Italian goal by winger Lorenzo Cuomo. The French try their best to get the game back into play as quickly as they can, and then there is a commotion when a foul is once again called on Di Genova, this time for supposedly tripping LeLivre. Di Genova furiously protests that LeLivre is diving. The referee warns Di Genova that he is on thin ice, and awards the French a free kick. Di Genova then moves to help the fallen LeLivre off the ground, but this is where things get gnarly. Reports say Di Genova scoffed at LeLivre when pulling him up, saying he should win an award for his acting, which prompted LeLivre to say something provocative to Di Genova, which resulted in Di Genova headbutting LeLivre to the ground. All Nile knows is—seeing the headbutt happen real-time on camera, and gasping aloud in the studio with her coworkers. If ever there is proof that history moves in cycles, surely this is it—a variation of the infamous 2006 altercation. Within the studio, one of the pundits begins to chastise Di Genova for this completely irresponsible behavior in a World Cup final—Di Genova is the captain, and the lynchpin in the defence—he will be sent off for something like this, leaving his team exposed and hanging by a thread on their single goal.

The crowd jeers Di Genova off the field, and the Italians have to play with 10 men. By this point there are 15 minutes left to the game, and the atmosphere is so charged with palpable tension even Nile has to squirm in her seat. To borrow a phrase from a legendary football manager, it’s squeaky bum time.

Ultimately, the Italians manage to hold off the French, despite very good attempts at goal and six minutes of added time. Di Genova has to suffer the distinction of not being able to collect the World Cup medal, and, being banned from the stadium, he has to watch, from a screen, his very team lift the World Cup trophy without him.

[ask-my-hero-maite]

CHARACTER PAGE

Here you will find the characters in my story, listing their name/alias, title, quirk, and status.

Status Guidelines:

A main cast character is always open to asks. They play a pivotal role in the story.

A side character is open to asks. They play a supporting role in the story.

A minor character is a recurring character but not one open to asks.

A featured character* is a character I have borrowed from friends. They play a supporting or major role in the story, but are not open to asks.

A character’s status is flexible and might change as the story progresses, save for featured characters*

This page will be updated periodically.

Maite Itzcoatl García || Red Heart

FHA Junior

Quirk: Hemokinesis

She can manipulate her blood to her own will, forming various shapes and attacks, all depending on her own creativity. She can even manipulate the blood of others with enough focus. It all takes just a prick of a finger, and no worries- she heals!

Status: Main character, open to asks

Daniela Xochitl Cuervos || Copycat

Cloak & Dagger Villain

Quirk: Purloin

With the smallest contact, she can steal the quirk of an individual and use it until she releases it back to the original user. She’s limited to one quirk at a time, and experiences drawbacks on a two-fold level.

Status: Main cast, open to asks

Isabela Ramirez-Muñoz || Bubblebeam

FHA Junior

Quirk: Bubblewand

She can create a variety of bubbles, ranging in durability and size. It all depends on her breath and her mind!

Status: Main cast, open to asks

Vicente Mora Sandoval || Espino

FHA Junior

Quirk: Flora

He’s basically half plant. He can manipulate the vines of his body, and can grow flowers and thorns, all depending on his mood. But since he functions much like a plant, he needs a stable environment to do much.

Status: Main cast, open to asks

Enrique Cayacoa-Machado || Flashpass

FHA Senior

Quirk: Accelerate

With simply the contact of his palms, he can accelerate the speed of objects. This can be cast back to himself. Warning: Overuse makes him crash from the adrenaline.

Status: Main cast, open to asks

Alfred Booker || Orion

FHA Senior

Quirk: Solar Flare

By absorbing sunlight, he becomes faster and stronger.

Status: Side character, open to asks

Ekaterina “Kat” Kravchenko || Lady Sterling

FHA Senior

Quirk: Forge

Her forearms and hands are solid metal, and she’s able to manipulate their shape to her will! Offense or defense, she’ll always pack a punch.

Status: Side character, open to asks

Liên Thi Kha || Phuc Sinh

FHA Senior

Quirk: Replay

She can go back in time by a minute, with all her knowledge of the future minute. It’s discreet and powerful, but she’s limited to 5 uses a day.

Status: Side character, open to asks

Ricky Cayacoa-Machado || Treblemaker

FHA Sophomore

Quirk: Decibel Break

He can project his voice up to astonishingly high volumes and pitches. Although a powerful quirk, it can easily take a lot out of him.

Status: Side character, open to asks

Lidia Zamora-Roca || Paruma

FHA Sophomore

Quirk: Magmatic

They can transform their body into an alternate magma form, manipulating it as needed. Very high power but super destructive if not careful.

Status: Side character, open to asks

Julio Zamora-Roca

FHA Freshman

Quirk: Disintegration

He can disintegrate himself or parts of his body into small particles while still remaining sentient. If he’s overworked, he might be reduced to a dust pile for a while, though.

Status: Side character, open to asks

Lazzaro Calvetti || Ematite

Pro Hero & FHA Seniors’ Heroics Teacher

Quirk: Defuse

With his gaze, he can disable any non-mutation quirk. The longer he holds his gaze, the longer it will last!

Status: Side character, open to asks

Mariel Arteaga

FHA Nurse

Quirk: X-Ray

She can see the detailed inner workings within an object, but has specialized in the medical field. She can even see when a quirk is active on a molecular level!

Status: Side character, open to asks

Agustín Fernando Romero Blanco || Nieblo Duat

Caylum Senior

Quirk: Pocketing

He can create warps to a small pocket universe he emits. He can store any item in there, but remember, it’s limited.

Status: Side character, open to asks

Point Zero

Independent Villain

Presumed Quirk: Pulverize

With the touch of their hand, they can pulverize any object. It does not appear to work on people.

Status: Minor character, locked

Cavaliere

Cloak & Dagger Villain

Presumed Quirk: Teleportation

They can create portals for teleportation.

Status: Minor character, locked

Tamara Cayacoa-Machado || Anomali

FHA Senior

Quirk: Decelerate

With simply the contact of her fingertips, she can decelerate the speed of objects. This can be cast back to herself. Warning: Overuse sends her into a shutdown.

Status: Featured character*

Guillermo Felipe “Billy” Montoya-Cabanillas || El Silbon

FHA Senior

Quirk: Tenebrosity

He can fuse with the shadows, manipulating their form and being able to travel through them. He’s most powerful when not exposed to light, though.

Status: Featured character*

Maribel Zamora-Roca || Carbon Kitty

FHA Junior

Quirk: Diamond

She can solidify parts or the entirety of her body into a diamond-like material. It packs a lot of power and perfect for defense, but can also be exhausting to maintain.

Status: Featured character*

Pilar Guzmán-Lagos || [TBD]

FHA Junior

Quirk: Invisithread

She can create invisible threads from her fingers and manipulate them to her will. However, they’re easy to lose and can be accidentally cut if not careful!

Status: Featured character*

Kai Tsai || Huo Long

FHA Junior

Quirk: Dancing Flame

He can produce flames from his body through movements. He also seems to sport some dragon-like characteristics!

Status: Featured character*

Silvia Xochitl Cuervos || Red

FHA Sophomore

Quirk: Fallen Angel

She can summon a wing of dark energy and manipulate it to her will. While powerful, be careful: Overuse could be disastrous!

Status: Featured character*

Sara Xochitl Cuervos || Blue

FHA Sophomore

Quirk: Fallen Angel

She can summon a wing of dark energy and manipulate it to her will. While powerful, be careful: Overuse could be disastrous!

Status: Featured character*

Jesús Xochitl Cuervos || [TBD]

FHA Sophomore

Quirk: Aura

He can create a field of dark energy that can completely zap anyone and anything’s energy with contact.

Status: Featured character*

Érica Xochitl Bonilla || [TBD]

FHA Sophomore

Quirk: Psy-Lift

She can telekinetically control objects. However, she is limited to the amount she could physically lift!

Status: Featured character*

Valeria Mora Sandoval

FHA Freshman

Quirk: Flora

She’s basically half plant. She can manipulate the vines of her body and even produce a variety of flowers. But since she functions much like a plant, she needs a stable environment to do much.

Status: Featured character*

Devin Cayacoa-Machado

FHA Freshman

Quirk: Circuit

He can absorb energy from practically any object. This energy can be stored, released, or even weaponized!

Status: Featured character*

Mei-Ling “Mei” Tsai

FHA Freshman

Quirk: Butterfly

She has the characteristics of a butterfly and is able to produce heavy winds with her wings. She’s also said to be a great good luck charm!

Status: Featured character*

Itzel Xochitl Bonilla || Awilix

Pro Hero & FHA Freshmen’s Heroics Teacher

Quirk: Fallen Angel

She can summon wings of dark energy and manipulate it to her will. It’s a powerful quirk to wield!

Status: Featured character*

Alessia Moretti || Cristalla

Pro Hero & FHA Sophomores’ Heroics Teacher

Quirk: Crystallize

She can form strong crystals on her body and on objects she touches. This allows her to create all sorts of weapons and armor, but they are very heavy and can slow her down if overused.

Status: Featured character*

Nianzhen Tsai || Queen of Flames: Fenghuang

Retired Pro Hero & Hero Costume Designer at FHA

Quirk: Combust

She can produce a flammable gas with her breath and by rubbing her hand together for heat, it can be set aflame!

Status: Featured character*

Elena Vecellio || Sunbeam

Caylum Senior

Quirk: Sun’s Rays

She’s able to refract light into powerful beams with the tip of her hair. These beams are even able to momentarily incapacitate someone! However, the power of her quirk depends fully on the condition of her hair, so better watch out for those split ends and dirt!

Status: Featured character*

Sükh Sarangerd || Tundra Khüree

Pro Hero

Quirk: Mechanical Ice

She can create machines of all types with her ice quirk. From screwdrivers and small toys, to powered weapons and slingers. She’s a force to be reckoned with!

Status: Featured character*

———

*Special thanks to!

@la-caja-de-pandoras-art who is my editor and the owner of the featured characters Silvia, Sara, Jesús, Érica, Maribel, Pilar, Billy, Tamara, Valeria, Devin, and Itzel.

@i-am-three-fish who is the owner of Kai, Mei, and Nianzhen.

@crickycrick1 who is the owner of Alessia.

@midnight-ice who is the owner of Sükh.

@frosty-talks who is the owner of Elena.

These friends of mine have been a huge help in the story and blog and support!

[dirthavarens]

cotton candy [bookerbeth]

Fandom: Bioshock Infinite Characters: Booker Dewitt, Elizabeth Comstock Relationship: Booker/Elizabeth Rating: Teen & Up (just because of the ship) Warnings: None Word Count: 921 Notes: i was walking my dog and had a really sweet thought. READ ON AO3

or read below;;

“mr. dewitt! you have to try this! it’s incredible. so sweet and it’s so light,” elizabeth chimes, her singsong voice a melody lilting into his ears. 

her blue eyes shine and sparkle against the backdrop of the synthetic ocean behind her while the pink cloud of threaded sugar gave depth to her already rosy cheeks. she looked like a painting of delicious flavors that warmed booker’s heart, melting the ice a little bit more with her innocent fascination with the mundane. she pulls a section from the cloud off and sticks it out for him to take it, eyeing him expectantly as if to urge him on.

booker takes a look at the sugary treat and feels his stomach gnawing at him. when was the last time he ate anything? he had a beer that he found in a bar earlier, before he met this mysterious wonder of a young woman. so much energy, so much life. he realizes that it makes sense for her to be like this. trapped in a metal tower with no company, no experience. 

he glances back to her and takes it from her, taking note of the thimble on her little finger. he wants to ask but it’s none of his business, just as anna and his wife were none of hers. 

“don’t eat too much of this, alright? cotton candy can give you a stomach ache,” he warns offhandedly, unsure of where the words came from or why he was saying them. what does he care?

“okay, dad,” she rolls her eyes and takes another puff of the sweet. he watches how her lips move as she sucks on her finger to remove any remaining sugar left behind and feels a small twinge in the pit of his belly.

admittedly, he finds her more attractive than he should, more than he needs to. but he can’t help it, or maybe doesn’t want to. there’s no denying her beauty. her porcelain skin, brunette hair so dark it might as well be black, and those doe eyes... 

he might be old enough but if there was one thing he didn’t need to hear from her lips, it’s her calling him ‘dad.’

daddy might be a reasonable substitute, but under different circumstances, preferably with her naked beneath him. her bo--

“it’s booker.” 

he shakes the thought away, not wanting to attach himself to her any more than is necessary.

“right, sorry. mr. dewitt,” she shrugs and heads toward the beach, a playful trill in her overly giddy voice. 

booker knows he’s a complicated man with complicated emotions, but everything seems simple when he watches her nearly prance to the shore. a simplicity that should not exist in such a strange world as the one he is in. elizabeth found a spot in him that no one has been able to reach in what feels like centuries. not booze, not gambling, not cocaine, not laudanum, not mercenary work...

a simple young girl with a captivating smile and ocean eyes he could drown in if he’d let himself. 

“booker! come down here! there are seashells,” she calls over her shoulder to him. her cotton candy has diminished slightly since he got lost in his thoughts. 

seashells on top of the world. of course columbia would have seashells. anything to create the authenticity of reality in such a brainwashed and backwards society. creature comforts for uncomfortable creatures.

he gives a sigh and trudges after her, his energy the polar opposite of hers. they have places to be, a mission forward, an escape to plan. he can get swept up by her at any time, but not when a simple glance at his hand will give way to certain chaos. 

“here. look,” she notes and lifts her other hand to him, cupping the small peach-toned shell as though it’s a precious jewel. 

“they thought of everything when they made this place, didn’t they?” he muses mostly to himself. 

before he can register what’s going on, elizabeth seizes his hand from his side and pries open his now tense fingers. he doesn’t stop her when she places the shell in his palm. 

“for good luck,” she nearly hums the words and booker tucks it away in his pocket. the sentiment is nice, but his luck isn’t the best and he doesn’t have the heart to break it to her.

“we’re gonna need any luck we can get. come on, we should get a move on. don’t want to keep paris waiting, do we?” he keeps a smirk from creeping onto his face. she doesn’t need to see the sway she holds over him.

"i suppose not.  but at least let me finish my cotton candy," she bargains with a pout that weakens his resolve just enough for him to be pliant.

"i don't want to hear it if you get sick," he replies with a raised brow. booker starts to head away from her. the soft crunching in the sand informs him that she's following close behind.

he finds a place further up the beach and sits in the sand. it's surprisingly warm beneath him, but not unpleasantly hot, perfect to spend a day lazing away on. the sun is blocked from his sights when she stands beside him and he looks up at her. she's scanning the beach, taking everything in with fresh eyes. every single footstep is a new experience for her. 

whatever comes next. whatever the end is...

he hopes she doesn't lose her sense of wonderment getting there.

[fieldhandblues]

For any WWE fans....

As I said on the thread last night, Kofi needs to win, CLEAN.

As shitty as his treatment was, this is different than Booker T. Book was the MAN in WCW, Had it not folded, he still would have been. Booker would have had a spot in the HOF even if he’d hung up his boots when WCW went under, WWE (and TNA) was just icing on the cake of his already stellar career.

Kofi is different, regardless of what he did before, Kofi is a WWE guy. A Black WWE guy. A dark-skinned, unambiguously and unabashedly Black WWE guy. Kofi is us; Kofi is bearing the burden of our collective pain and frustration with this thing we love that doesn’t seem to love us back. I would rather he continue his circus tricks at the Rumble for naught than to have gone on this emotional journey with him, only to see him, and us lose, yet again.

If Vince wants to prove his naysayers wrong, and show the world that he still has it, Kofi HAS to win; not two days later on SDL, not a regular PPV or some rando house show, it has to be at Mania on the “Grandest Stage of them All”.

[fyrapartnersearch]

SHAME SHAME SHAME

everybody's people watchin' everybody’s punch clockin’

hey how are ya my name is emmy and i’m here to search for a new rp partner. a bit about me, i’m 22, canadian, work two part time jobs and attend uni full time and i go by she/her pronouns. i reside in the mountain timezone and i am thrilled to hopefully start writing with you. 

why should you write with me? because i promise that if i pick up an rp with you i’m gonna put 100 and 10 percent of my effort into our story. i’m looking for a long term gig, someone who i can really weave a plot with, someone who digs the cut of my jib. i want us to be able to sob over our characters together late into the night. i want us to exchange songs, playlists, posts found on the internet, aesthetic boards, whatever reminds us of our characters/our plot.

i will probably spam you with pictures of my character’s playby and i want to see mad pics of yours, too. i want us to go through our character’s struggles together as well as be able to cheer together when our characters get a hold on their situation and come up on top. i want us to inspire one another with our writing. it’s gonna be great. you & me honey. 

right now I'm looking for 1-2 new rp partners who are interested in something long-term and fully fleshed out. think 'mains'. 

gee, that sounds nice! i’m inclined to agree! but a few things you should know before you go any further: i write anywhere between full lit to lit + to novella style, so expect posts of at least 4 - 6 paragraphs baseline. sometimes i crank out 10. or just 5. depends entirely on what’s going on. i write according to situation, with a great amount of detail spent on what my character is thinking/feeling in response to yours. the replies you get will be fully fleshed out & enthralling. i am a stickler for grammar and spelling, though nobody’s perfect, i do occasionally have my slipups. all lowercase text is strictly kept to ooc communication. i can be sporadic with capitalization ooc but still keep good spelling. i will never pressure you into posting or writing ridiculous amounts just to match my post. i want you to have fun too! if i’ve had a bit too much to drink or am about to hit the hay, i’ll wait to post until i can give my post my full attention. usually i’ll be able to post at least once every week, sometimes multiple times a week depending on work & schoolwork. i'm available for ooc chat almost all the time. i also totally understand life happens and sometimes we just need a breather. ♥ i have bipolar depression, and sometimes my depression kicks my ass, but i’ll let you know when that happens.

oh goodness, what else? i write predominantly m/m pairings but i am open to m/f and f/f as well. i do not write high fantasy settings, sorry doll. my interests mostly align with modern day, slice of life kinda stuff, aside from the fandoms i do have. i don’t have many limits besides excessive gore, scat, mpreg, and writing smut for sake of smut. i love my romance just like anyone else does, but it’s got to have plot. our characters have to have chemistry or else i get bored. i haven’t doubled before but i think i’d be down for it with the right plot. usually i prefer that we play one character each, or we play multiple characters within a plot, but not usually more than one plot at the same time. but!!! i am totally willing to try new things!! just be patient with me as i learn m'kay? i have had several threads going at once with one partner which can be super fun. also most of my characters are pretty kinky but like, i prefer that we talk about kinks and limits one on one as opposed to airing out my character’s laundry. also- i wanna be your friend ooc. let’s chat. i find it’s so much easier to have muse and post if i enjoy the virtual company of the people i’m writing with.

ok but what do you write? 

what *don’t* i write? kidding. here’s a bit of fandom for ya. if i’ve got plots listed, they’re the ideas i have, but i’m totally open to yours as well. stars denote how much i’m craving them. i’ll list the canon characters i write after i list the fandom: 

mafia 2: vito scaletta  ***plot for mafia 2 a: we explore the dynamics of a relationship between vito and your oc. your oc could be in a position of great risk- think outside of the mafia, possibly a police officer, prostitute. some position where power dynamics could be played with. if the pairing is m/m we also deal with the themes of internalized homophobia and coming to terms with one’s identity. 

*bioshock 1, 2 & infinite: brigid tenbenbaum, andrew ryan, frank frontaine & eleanor lamb, sofia lamb & booker dewitt 

**marvel cinematic universe: tony stark, steve rogers

***greater marvel universe: logan howlett, carol danvers  ****random plot: we do a crossover and we ship sharon carter/carol danvers. i just. uuugh i have a lot of feelings about them and i have hella muse for these babes. lemme know if you’re down to give this a shot i will love you forever no word of a lie. 

but honestly where my heart lies is within oc rp. here are a few plots i have of mine, stars denote how much i’m craving them:

****(m/m) power & politics: my oc is a prestigious state senator, who lives a double life. he is currently in the closet with no intent on leaving it anytime soon. however, a certain someone falls into his life, making him question what he thought he knew for certain. your oc breaks down the walls my oc has put up and changes him into a softer, better man. however, with an upcoming presidential campaign on the horizon for my oc, the limits of the secret relationship will be pushed and pulled beyond what both parties have ‘signed up for.‘

****(m/m) the guardian: your oc is a newcomer to the nhl but is quickly making waves- think connor mcdavid style. he’s young and impressive, but mostly, impressionable. he starts to get battered around by both his teammates and opposing teams. after a few hard hits and fowl play within the game that have cost your oc bench and recovery time, the team’s coach calls in reinforcements to boost the team’s morale and serve as a protector to your oc. my oc is a player who hasn’t got the talent part but has got a huge heart. not to mention… huge hands. good for makin’ fists. good for fightin’.  my oc protects your oc during the games, coming to your oc’s aid, picking fights for your oc and protecting him on the ice. as such, the two players grow attached to one another.. perhaps too attached for the captain to be comfortable with. possibilities for a love triangle and other complications, for sure

***(m/m) too good to be true: our ocs start out in the whl, both as promising wingers. their good chemistry is vital to bringing back their team’s success. however, one of our ocs starts to get too attached to the other, and when an nhl draft separates them, one of our ocs is all too eager to cut contact and try to forget. the two excel in their nhl careers without one another, and end up on nhl teams with a history of deep rivalry. occasionally, the gloves hit the ice, fueled by the tension of unresolved feelings and the pressure of the respective teams to keep up the rivalry. the two are reunited when they are both chosen to play nationally for the same team, and are forced to reconcile what they have both buried so deeply within them. 

***(m/m) big money: these two ocs play for rival teams in the nhl. while their teams have a history of tension, our two ocs take it to the next level. audiences are more excited to watch these two fight than they are to watch the game itself. there’s a market in the violence between these two, and a reputation to maintain on both ends. if the public found out that these two were secretly seeing one another, their careers would both be over. 

**** (m/m) sugar daddy: my oc is a law student studying in your oc's country in order to get their degree abroad. they're from eastern europe and uh. broke af. they settle into an arrangement with your oc where your oc agrees to ~pay him for his company after they meet while my oc does camming online to make ends meet. we could take it anywhere- your oc could whisk mine off his feet and 'save' him or. be toxic & trashy and make my oc's life hell.

okay and, here are just some general prompts that could be intertwined with the plots above, or could be something we use to springboard into our own rp:

my oc has serious commitment issues. they often go around ‘ghosting’ individuals after 4-5 dates, with little to no explanation of why. your oc falls for mine, and is the first to confront my oc about their shitty habits. 

your oc and my oc were best friends, but they lost touch over a stupid fight they had when they were preteens. they can’t believe that they’re seeing one another in a bar, halfway across the world from where they met. 

your oc and my oc were flames. my oc proposed to yours, but yours turned them down. they never spoke again… until they were sharing a crammed elevator, with my oc being completely intoxicated, and still confessing their feelings for your oc. 

your oc is a huge fan of my oc’s nhl career/political career. your oc wins a contest to meet and have dinner with my oc. while my oc expects a boring night out, my oc is completely surprised by how well they hit it off with your oc. 

my oc, your first oc and your second oc all grew up together. your first oc has always been pining for my oc’s attention, and is thrilled when my oc and your first oc finally get together. they develop a long term relationship, but my oc knows it would devastate your first oc if they told them that they have been seeing your second oc for most of the relationship. 

i recognize that a lot of these focus on the nhl/the lives of professional hockey players- please don’t be worried about hockey knowledge/nhl jargon/whatever else goes through your head! i’m more interested in sport as a realm for drama than i am for following the rulebook and being 100% accurate to life when it comes to hockey. there’s a lot i don’t know and am still needing to learn, myself! if you know a lot, great!! if you don’t, let’s figure things out together! as for general oc ideas, here’s a list:

professor x student

veteran x civillian

cop x criminal 

psychiatrist x patient

** OC superheroes (I have a lot of muse for this one!)

street racing, fast-and-furious-esque setting

rival gangs 

** nhl/hockey based (lol obviously)

small town canadiana or americana 

fun, fluffy romance based modern settings

darker themes such as addiction, abuse, etc - i find it cathartic sometimes to write about violent material buuuut this has to be really fleshed out between us

historical setting- preferably, the second world war/1940s-1960s 

light worldbuilding - new to this but wanting to learn

honestly whatever you can pitch to me that isn’t high fantasy :)

i can expand on and work with any of these ideas, these are just like, topics. whatever i do with you, i promise it’ll be fleshed out, with tons of opportunity for drama. 

hell yeah let’s do this pal 

if any, and i mean any, of this piqued your fancy, pleaaaase shoot me an email at 

↳ ehmmywrites@gmail.com ! 

i will respond! but please send me something thoughtful! i’d like to hear what part of my ad that you’re interested in/why you chose to contact me. i am most wanting to rp over email and talk over google hangouts but i can be open to skype, too.  i sure look forward to hearing from you!   ♥

emmy

[womenofcolor15]

RAPPERS & WRESTLING! Offset Channels Ric Flair In Pink Feathery Robe For WWE's Smackdown Live Appearance, Teases New Migos Album

When rap and wrestling unite! Offset channels his inner Ric Flair for a recent appearance on WWE Smackdown. Rate his introduction inside...

One thing is for sure, Offset is a huge wrestling fan and he LOVES Ric Flair.  The Migos have a whole sing named after him afterall.

During a recent episode of WWE’s SmackDown Live, the Migos rapper made an surprise appearance to introduce Charlotte Flair, the daughter of wrestling icon Ric Flair.

  Atlanta's own @OffsetYRN is HERE to introduce #TheQueen! #SDLive @MsCharlotteWWE pic.twitter.com/aNExcsdWNM

— WWE (@WWE) September 18, 2019

  Smackdown Live made its way to the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and Offset - an ATL native - made sure he was apart of it. Last year, Offset released a song and music video for his track, “Ric Flair Drip,” alongside 21 Savage and Metro Boomin (that went platinum 8 times). And an iced out Ric Flair even made a cameo in the visuals.

Watch Offset’s intro – and the commentators shade – in his “Nature Boy” threads below:

  YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT... @OffsetYRN just introduced The QUEEN, @MsCharlotteWWE on #SDLive! pic.twitter.com/sEQGVQUe6z

— WWE (@WWE) September 18, 2019

    Name a more iconic duo. We'll wait.#SDLive @OffsetYRN @MsCharlotteWWE pic.twitter.com/Ymps6Ugesy

— WWE (@WWE) September 18, 2019

  The legendary wresteler himself was also in the mix backstage:

  .@RicFlairNatrBoy is IN THE HOUSE!@MsCharlotteWWE takes on @SashaBanksWWE NEXT! #SDLive pic.twitter.com/MvsbOHK2K9

— WWE (@WWE) September 18, 2019

  Backstage, Offset talked about his friendship with Ric Flair and he even teased that a new Migos album is in the works:

Smackdown Live is set to make its premiere on October 4th on FOX. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, WWE is bringing back several wrestling legends, including The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Lita, Mick Foley, Booker T, Hulk Hogan, Trish Stratus, Goldberg, Jerry "The King" Lawler, Mark Henry, Ric Flair and Sting. Sweet!

In case you've been under a rock, here's the "Ric Flair Drip" video:

Photo: Screenshot

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2019/09/19/rappers-wrestling-offset-channels-ric-flair-in-pink-feathery-robe-for-wwe-smackdown-appea

[therhoadespack]

@prcttyfangs @crew-from-capulet @not-a-ghost-town Booker wasnt pleased, his first thought was that Nita had been drinking all night but his gut was telling him that there was something more to this. He was about to speak to Tikki but when he heard what he said Booker simply turned to go back to his office. He dialed Evan's number drumming his fingers on the desk. ~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile Constantine was pacing back and forth in his motel room. It had been hours since the arranged kidnapping had proceeded smoothly. Constantine had taken their assurances that he would not be needed to oversee the sessions. Some part of him couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something. He sighed dismissing his worries, Nita was finally getting the help she needed. He eas also mentally preparing himself for the many hours of questioning he would need to endure.

[plusorminuscongress]

New story in Politics from Time: An Unintended Consequence of Trump’s Repeated Threats of Raids: More Immigrants Know Their Rights

Over the last month, President Donald Trump’s publicizing of large-scale immigration enforcement operations seemed to have the intended result: wall-to-wall media coverage that indicated he was moving to fulfill his signature campaign promise to deport “millions of illegal aliens” from the United States.

But the threat of massive raids has also had a significant, unintended side effect. For the first time, many undocumented immigrants are finding out that when Immigration and Customs Enforcement come to their door, they have rights.

Immigration attorneys, advocates, and organizers in 10 cities across the country told TIME that the highly public threat of ICE raids, communicated directly from the White House, has gotten out the “Know Your Rights” information and prepared immigrant communities in a way that years of previous outreach had not.

“We are now seeing the ‘Know your Rights’ information really working to save people’s lives and teaching them that they have agency,” said Shannon Camacho, who coordinates a rapid response network for immigrants in Los Angeles.

When more than a dozen ICE agents knocked on the door of a family with two children in her community early in the morning last week, the father remained “calm and confident” because he knew what to do, she said. He refused to open the door unless agents presented a warrant signed by a judge and, speaking through the window, declined to give their names. He had video footage from the security camera, and knew to contact the rapid response network for legal help.

“Fifteen ICE agents, for one family,” said Camacho. “They were shaken up from the experience, but we told them ‘You did everything great, you understood your rights as a person here in the U.S. regardless of whether you’re undocumented or not.’’’

Like all legal and immigrants rights organizations who spoke to TIME, Camacho’s group has seen skyrocketing requests for information and “Know Your Rights” trainings. While these efforts existed long before Trump, his rhetoric and the unprecedented media attention to ICE operations has managed to help it break through in ways it hadn’t before.

Before Trump first threatened the raids in a June 17 tweet, the hotline for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights averaged roughly 40 calls a week. In the past week, that jumped to 250 calls a day, the group told TIME, with people requesting information on what to do if agents come to the door and reporting ICE activity in their communities. The group has also seen a “massive increase” in requests to have “Know Your Rights” trainings and workshops, as well as a flood of volunteers, said spokeswoman Cara Yi.

“There’s been such a spotlight put on this, and our elected officials have come out so strong, it’s going to be very difficult at least in the city of Chicago to reach any massive sweep,” said Lawrence Benito, the group’s executive director. “I mean, the Chicago mayor [Lori Lightfoot] was out in the community passing out our ‘Know Your Rights’ and hotline information.”

A few years ago, it would have been unusual to see government officials distributing information on how to evade immigration enforcement officials. Now it has not only become acceptable but expected for Democratic politicians and presidential candidates to share the “Know Your Rights” information on their platforms. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand all shared the American Civil Liberties Union’s “Know Your Rights” page in recent days. The organization’s thread on Twitter laying out the information in multiple languages reached almost 3 million people.

As ICE raids begin, know your rights. Follow these guidelines from the @ACLU and stay safe. https://t.co/cc4lp5RVw1

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 14, 2019

“There’s definitely an energy that’s different now. People are saying ‘We marched, we’re done marching, and now we need to stand up and do something,’” Benito said.

Organizers across the country told TIME that unlike other inflection points — Trump’s election, the travel ban and the family separation crisis last summer — they are seeing people go beyond protest marches to taking action in the face of imminent ICE sweeps, which are meant to target undocumented families who have been issued final removal orders.

Volunteers ran out of “Know Your Rights” pamphlets as they canvassed homes, supermarkets, restaurants, churches and laundromats handing out fliers and providing on-the-spot preparation. Trainings have been bursting at capacity, forcing some to find larger venues. Immigration attorneys said families that previously would have felt helpless in the face of ICE agents at their door now know that they don’t need to follow their orders if they don’t have a warrant signed by a judge. Many have pasted the bilingual fliers to their door, instructing their children on what to do, organizers said.

News stories about attempted ICE arrests increasingly reflected that — for example the New Jersey teenager who refused to open the door to agents when they knocked at 1 am after having seen a “Know Your Rights” post on Instagram.

“We’re seeing a lot of these (attempts) thwarted because no one was opening the door,” said Thomas Kennedy, the political director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. “It’s encouraging to see that people are taking these lessons and applying them to protect themselves.”

Unlike in the past, in many of the 10 counties in Florida his group canvassed they found people already seemed well prepared in how to handle ICE raids, he said. Kennedy attributes much of that to the shift in local media coverage of these raids, which are targeting families.

“There’s been a lot of sensationalizing of the issue, which spreads fear and anxiety — I mean four or five years ago the headline would have been straight-up ‘widespread immigration raids target illegal immigrants,’” he said. “But now most local news — in English, Spanish, and Creole — also includes ‘Know Your Rights’ information, not just the fear element.”

Americans who oppose Trump’s immigration actions have also been flooding workshops and training sessions on how to support their immigrant neighbors.

“When the initial tweet came out, we organized a training on 48 hours notice and had 200 people show up — more than double the usual turnout,” said Brandon Wu, an organizer with the D.C.-based group Sanctuary DMV. “People are not just outraged but they’re willing to step up and do what it takes in proactive solidarity.” For his group in the Washington, D.C. area, this includes everything from documenting ICE raids they may witness in their neighborhood to accompanying immigrants to court appointments for moral support.

While the Trump Administration’s public threats do “galvanize allies in a way we find really useful, on the other hand it’s hard to overstate the level of fear it puts in the immigrant community,” Wu said. “They’re saying ‘If I leave my house to go to the grocery store I might never see my kids again.’ But if this is what it takes to galvanize people then that’s what it takes, we’re here now.”

Activists say another side effect of the Trump Administration’s constant publicizing of immigration enforcement is that many Americans are, for the first time, taking a close look at the system.

“We are witnessing a surge of support because I think the virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric of this administration is opening many people’s eyes to the horrors of the US immigration system,” said Andrea Mercado, the executive director of New Florida Majority, a progressive grassroots group. “Many people who weren’t aware of the deportation crisis in our country under previous administrations are now motivated and committed to do something.”

The same “Know Your Rights” information has been around for decades, but the way it has broken to the surface over the last two years – and especially in the last month – is giving some advocates whiplash, they say.

“We were having ‘Know Your Rights” trainings 10 years ago,” Madhuri Grewal, federal immigration policy counsel with the ACLU, told TIME. “So it’s amazing that now, as a result of this new level of interest, the U.S. is in this moment where people are really starting to understand our immigration enforcement.”

While there is no consolidated data from across all of the ACLU’s local offices, the significant surge in interest has clearly helped disseminate information more effectively than ever before, and “undocumented communities are much more aware of their rights,” she said, pointing to social media as a main factor. “Teenagers with access to social media are seeing this and sharing it with their parents.”

By Vera Bergengruen on July 18, 2019 at 04:31PM

[burstbombbitch]

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT THE MUN.

Repost, not reblog! Tag 6 muns you would like to get to know better when done!

Name: Synnie. Nickname: Syn. And a bunch of bastardizations of Synkling. Age: 22. Faceclaim: Noodle from Gorillaz, and Booker DeWitt from Bioshock Infinite.

Pronouns: She/Her, They/Them, He/Him (less frequently). Height: 5′3″. Birthday: November 6th. Aesthetic: Fluffy OC things, Competitive Gaming, and CATS. LOTS OF CATS. Last song you listened to: lmfao Aaron... hit me up with some fucking music. I love BotanicSage tbh. (Old School Knuckles)

Favourite muse(s) you’ve written: Truthfully, I haven’t written very many. I’ve only done OCs---any time I’ve contemplated canon, I never really go through with it. I do want to write characters like Bayonetta and Catherine (ATLUS), but I know I only have the capacity for one---maybe two at a time. Anything else is just a pipe dream.

If I had to choose, Jin was really wonderful. She deserved so much better. And so did I, honestly. Alas, all I can do to immortalize her is to make her my FC. She was my first tumblr muse---and that means I really, really haven’t written many, for I’ve only had a grand total of five. And two were immediately abandoned.

What inspired you to take on your current muse (that you are posting this on): My friend @theseasirens and I just wanted to RP tbh. The community was pretty barren until we showed up and everyone just... popped out of the woodworks, which was pretty nice. We were banking on Spla2n reviving everyone, but an early resurgence is a good one.

Splatoon is my special interest. I have fun playing it, and I want to play with others, too---so a lot of my posts as of late have been me just gaming. Granted, most people get tired of playing with me after a while, but I can understand why.

What are your favorite aspects of your current muse: She’s... extremely multifaceted. I’ve worked a lot on her history. I am in love with her design, her symbolism, and her annoying mannerisms. Of all the characters I’ve created who started off with bad pasts, her own has constantly kept up with her, albeit I wish I had more opportunities to show it. I get ecstatic when I’m told she is very fleshed out and relatable. She’s the epitome of perfect child who burnt out, but she’s suffered the burnout long before she ever deserved to.

What’s your biggest inspiration when it comes to writing: No idea. It smacks me in the face. It will take forever for me to ever write anything. I’m a person who needs the perfect environment (just dont be fucking hot, really... I hate this place). Music and mood really helps, too. Sometimes Bon screams at me what to do. Other times, I end up with like, 25+ drafts going untouched for weeks until I slash them all in one fell swing. Kinda annoying. Looks at my drafts rn like... can’t wait for it again.

Favorite types of threads:  I love threads that challenge your muse! Whether it be a fight, morals, or what have you---I just want them to rethink their lives as much as I do. I also reeeeally love intense fluff, because I’m a slut for fluff. Just warm fuzzies. I could use lots, lots, lots more of that in my life. I just really like to write scenarios a lot, no matter what it may be.

Biggest struggle in regards to your current muse:  Goodness, um... Writing-wise? She’s used to having her way. So when she’s challenged---and cornered in a way that she cannot refute, she becomes unresponsive, or petty. The pettiness is reserved for close friends she doesn’t mind showing her whiny true self to, but the others? She has to fight tooth and nail to justify her already shattered perceptions. 

I also worry that I’ve... done perhaps too much work on her. A lot of it may never come to fruition. That honestly ends up being the case a lot. But... sometimes my fears are quelled, just because... maybe it’s better off that it isn’t. I was told I don’t call a lot of dramatic attention to it, which I don’t, because... I’d rather people find out on their own, IC. It’s cooler that way to me. She has a lot of little things about her that relates to her character as a whole, and for one character to find out all the little ins and outs of it? I think that would mean the world to the both of us.

Oh, and I have to write fucking super haughty because... it’s her. So. That’s always a fun pain in the ass. 

There’s probably more, but I can’t think of anything right this second.

Tagged by: @musesoiree is too lazy to tag people. Tagging: but uh, so am i.