#BUT it's way fun + i like good books so i do it anyway

[bapeach]

Valentine's Day

Anyone else suck at writing summaries for their stories? Anyways, happy belated Valentine's! I hadn't planned on writing a Valentine's related story, but here we are. Hope you all enjoy! Constructive criticism is always welcome :D Find my masterlist here :)

Pairing(s): Paige Bueckers x female!reader  Word count: 4.8k+ Warnings: a bit clinché, swearing, long-distance Summary: Valentine's Day isn't so bad when you get to call with your long-distance best friend, except things don't really go the way you planned. You're not mad about it, though. ------------

Valentine's Day. A day loved by many and hated by even more. 

You belonged in the latter category. Why did couples need an extra day to celebrate their relationship? Why would you require an extra day to be nice to your partner when you should do that any other day as well? The only thing this holiday does is make single people feel bad. You’re not bitter about it or anything, it’s just a fact, okay fine, you’re a little salty.

Today is another Valentine that you’re spending single, but this time at least you have plans! While most of your friends were going to be off on dates, you were going to be calling your long-distance best friend and making fun of the whole holiday. To say you were excited to talk to the girl was an understatement.

Being a student-athlete wasn’t easy, Paige had complained about her busy schedule enough for you to know. Not that she had to, you could tell how exhausted she was whenever she found a bit of time to call you between school, homework, and basketball. It saddened you to know the blonde was wearing herself out completely to be the perfect student while also making sure she’s the best basketball player she can be. She barely ever has time to relax, and you’re scared she’s going to give herself a burn-out.

You were glad Paige found time today to hang out with you. You’ve missed her more than you thought you could ever miss anyone, not having heard her voice in weeks and only having gotten short messages to let you know she’s still alive. 

“Everyone is gonna be out and about on friday after practice so I’ll have the dorm to myself, FaceTime at 10:30?” Her message had read last Sunday, and you’d immediately agreed. While you knew the Valentine’s Day hangout was just a friendly hangout between best friends, you liked pretending it would be a date. 

When you met Paige, you never thought you’d ever fall for her so deeply, let alone be such good friends with her. But here you were, 6 years later, with the biggest crush on her.

When your mom sent you to a random month-long summer camp when you were 16, you’d protested with your whole being. You’d much rather stay home, bundled up on the couch all summer, re-reading your favorite book series, not going to a random camp out in the wild. “You’ll learn so much stuff! And you’ll make friends for life!” She’d said, making you roll your eyes. You didn’t believe a word she’d said, knowing that even if you managed to make friends, you’d only talk to them for that summer and maybe a month after.

You didn’t meet Paige until a week into camp. Her cabin was nowhere near yours, and so you weren’t in the same activity groups as her. One of your roommates had met her one night when she couldn’t sleep and went on a walk. She said you two would get along well, but the more she talked about the blonde, the less likely it seemed to you.

While you were shy, loved staying in, let people walk all over you, and were a bit of a teacher’s pet, 16-year-old Paige was the complete opposite. She was outgoing and friendly, and she loved teasing people even when she didn’t know them. She preferred the outdoors, getting restless when she had to stay in and couldn’t play her sports. She loved breaking the rules and always seemed to get away with it too, her charisma being able to charm all the camp leaders.

When your cabinmate had called her over during dinner, you were incredibly intimidated by the taller girl. She towered over you with a big grin, her blue eyes wide and full of mischief. She was loud and immediately set her eyes on you when she noticed your quietness. When your friends had joked about how shy you were, she’d only grinned wider, saying she was going to get you to come out of your shell.

She managed to win you over a lot faster than you dared to admit. After that dinner, she was always able to spot you in the crowd, coming over to tease you or introduce you to more people. Within a week, you two were glued at the hip. She managed to do what she said she would, making you a little less afraid to speak your mind, while you were able to bring a calm to her that no one knew existed.

You swore saying goodbye to her at the end of camp was one of the hardest things you’d ever had to do. You were quite dramatic at times. Sadly, you’d been right about the not staying friends thing. You two sent each other two letters once camp was over and called five times before life got too busy with school, extracurriculars, and new friends. After that, you didn’t talk for two years.

The next time you saw her again, you thought you were dreaming. You were touring different universities and had just finished the UConn one. Paige had managed to get even taller, her muscles were more defined, and she’d finally found her style. You thought you were mistaken at first, but then her bright eyes found yours, and a wide smile made its way onto her face. She excused herself from the conversation she was in and jogged over to you, not letting you say more than a hi before pulling you into a hug. You let yourself fall into the comfortable, familiar feeling, sinking into her as you hug her back.

This time, when you two parted and said you’d stay in touch, you actually did. Sadly, you didn’t end up going to UConn, instead choosing a university over two hours away from the blonde. Keeping in contact was easier now that you were older and more mature. You called each other multiple times a month, texting almost daily, and even met up IRL whenever you could. You’d attended quite a few of her games, and she even surprised you on your birthday last year.

That birthday is your favorite one so far. Paige had surprised you with flowers and a book you’d been wanting for ages. She spoiled you like crazy that day, even staying the night at your dorm before having to go back to UConn. The day after was the day you realized you were head over heels for her. You became aware of the fact that the butterflies you felt in your stomach weren’t just from being excited at seeing your best friend, they were actually because you had a crush on her.

You never told her about your feelings, however. You figured she only saw you as a friend and knew that there were hundreds of girls throwing themselves at her feet, so why would she choose someone who didn’t even live in the same state as her? 

You shake yourself out of your thoughts as you readjust yourself on your bed. Seeing it’s already 10:28, you open your camera to make sure you look okay. Patting down the flyaway hairs, you smile at your reflection. Closing the app, you grab your water bottle to take a sip and calm your growing nerves.

Knowing you’ll be even more nervous if you keep staring at the seconds tick by, you open TikTok and scroll on your FYP to pass the time. You quickly realize that wasn’t the best idea, seeing as there are only edits of Paige on your screen. Your face becomes a bright red as you watch the videos and save them all. You close the app after seeing an edit that makes you feel certain things, fanning your face as you try to get rid of your blush. 

When you look at the time again, you shake your head in amusement. 10:35. In the years that you’ve known the blonde, there haven’t been many instances in which the girl has been on time. Usually, it bothers you to no end when someone is late. It makes you feel as though they don’t respect you enough to be on time. With the blonde, it’s different, however. 

It’s cute to see her all flustered, apologizing again and again for her tardiness. It makes you laugh when she pouts at you, complaining about how her laptop had to do another update, how her alarm didn’t go off, or how Geno always has it out for her during the practices before a call. You grin when she leaves out the part where she was once again being a menace at practice, teasing her about it after Nika texts you to let you know Paige will be late and why.

You send her a quick text, asking if she managed to piss off Geno again, before checking to see if the Croatian had texted you anything. After another 5 minutes pass, you frown a little, slightly worried about the blonde. When your phone buzzes, you sit up straighter, fluffing up your hair a bit as you prepare to start the call. Grabbing your phone, you expect a “Sorry I’m late! You ready?” message, but you deflate instead.

“Hey, sorry I can’t call 2day, feeling exhausted, rain check?” It reads.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Paige has had to cancel on you. You understood that her busy schedule left her incredibly exhausted, and you knew she hated herself every time she had to cancel. Usually she pushed through, calling you anyway and falling asleep within 10 minutes of the call. She’d apologize profusely, a big frown on her face as her eyes turn a murky blue in sadness. You always told her you didn’t mind, you actually found it cute how her tired eyes would slowly blink at you before finally closing. 

The fact that she actually canceled this time meant she didn’t feel good at all, so you let her know it was okay and that you’d talk soon. Once you wish her sweet dreams as she goes to take a nap, you close your laptop with more force than necessary. 

While you typically wouldn’t mind all that much, you did this time. You missed her like crazy, you hadn’t had the easiest week, all your friends were out having fun, and to top it all off, you were about to have your period, making you even crankier than usual. You sit in silence for a moment as you try to blink away your tears. You press your palms to your eyes as you shake your head. Slapping your cheeks softly, you try to snap out of it. “Don’t be such a little baby,” you think to yourself.

You get up and stretch before pausing in the middle of the room. You look around a little lost, unsure of what to do now that your plans fell through. You bite your lip as you think about the tub of ice cream you left in your freezer for when you had a bad day. You pout as you realize you’ll spend yet another Valentine’s Day watching a cheesy movie that’ll make you cry into your ice cream.

Right as you’re about to open the freezer, you hear a knock at the door. You throw your head back, holding in a groan as you debate pretending no one is home. You knew it was most likely your roommate, who knew you were going to be home, having forgotten her keys again, so you make your way over to the door. 

You take a quick peek into the mirror to check if your eyes look red from your mini breakdown, silently cursing when they do. Rolling your eyes at yourself, you open the door, ready to tell your roommate to not mention it.

You freeze as your jaw drops open. Paige is standing in the hallway, holding a bouquet of red roses and a big teddy bear, a wide smile carved on her face. “Surprise,” she says, her voice soft as she takes you in. You cover your mouth with your hand as tears well up in your eyes again. “Damn these hormones,” you think, blinking to make them go away.

Seeing your watery eyes, the blonde’s smile softens as she mutters a “C’mere.” You fall into her open arms, squeezing her tightly as you nuzzle your face into the crook of her neck. Paige leans her head against yours, pressing a gentle kiss against your temple. She slowly shuffles you backward into your dorm, using her foot to close the door behind her.

Once you realize the way you’re gripping onto her, you let her go, heat creeping up your face. You feel a bit embarrassed, but the feeling gets taken over by the happiness of finally being near the blonde again. “What’re you doing here?” You breathe out as you look at her in childlike wonder. “Wanted to spend Valentine’s with my favorite girl,” she replies, shoving the flowers and bear towards you. The butterflies in your stomach flutter around as you take the gifts with a wide smile, your cheeks bright red at the nickname.

You quickly put the flowers in a vase with some water before setting the teddy bear down on the couch. When you turn back towards Paige, you see her already staring at you with a soft look in her eyes. You skip back over to her, flinging yourself back into her arms, making her chuckle. “Thank you,” you mutter against her shirt, fondness seeping through in your voice.

You pull back slightly with a loving smile, looking up at her but not leaving her arms. She moves one hand away from your back, bringing it towards your face as she rubs your cheek. “Anything for you,” she mumbles as she takes in your face like she’s trying to memorize every bit of it. You can feel your face heat up, but you can’t look away. Your heart beats faster as you admire her, waiting to see what’s on her mind as you see different emotions swim around in her eyes. 

Softly clearing her throat, she steps back nervously as she takes an envelope out of her pocket. She shifts her weight from foot to foot as she looks down at the envelope, her throat bobbing as she swallows harshly. “I, uh,” she starts, biting her lip before looking up at you with an anxious yet hopeful look. “This is for you,” she says, handing you the envelope. You raise an eyebrow at her as you ask, “What’s this?”

“Jus open it,” she says, fidgeting with her sleeve. You open the envelope tentatively, a little nervous at how anxious the usually confident girl is. Folding open the pink letter, you scan the page, smelling her perfume as if she sprayed it on the paper. You smile in adoration as you see the usual scribbly handwriting, this time a little less messy. Taking a quick glance at the girl, you see her rub her neck, nodding at you to read it. Your heart skips a beat as you read the words. 

It’s… It’s a love confession. 

You grip the paper a little tighter as you read about how Paige has had a crush on you for the past two years and how much you mean to her. Your eyes stay glued to the page until you reach the end. “Will you be my valentine?” The last sentence reads.

You look up at her in shock, excitement bubbling in your chest. The athlete is still looking at you, her eyes wide and hopeful. “Really?” You whisper, not wanting to break the intimate atmosphere. She nods her head as she bites her lip shyly. A broad smile spreads across your face as you nod enthusiastically. “Yes!” You say, your voice a bit higher as you’re unable to contain your joy.

“Yeah?” Paige grins, her confident, cheerful self showing again. She grabs you again, lifting you up as she twirls you around. You can’t help the laugh that escapes your lips at the giddiness you’re feeling. “Okay, uhh, I’ve made dinner plans for tonight, but I was thinking we could just chill here for a bit and then go get lunch in that cute little café we went to last time I was here!” The blue-eyed girl beams.

You’re already nodding your head before she finishes her sentence, knowing you’d do anything with the girl. Seeing as you still have some time before you need to start getting ready, you drag the basketball player to your couch. You let her sit down first before settling down next to her and swinging your legs over her lap. You’d been in this position plenty of times before, but those times never felt as intimate as this time.

Your heart thrums in your chest as Paige immediately rests her hands on your legs, rubbing them softly as she relaxes into her seat. You hold your new teddy bear against your chest as you watch the blonde fondly. Catching you staring, she sends you a smirk, making you look down with a chuckle.

“So, how’d you manage to get coach to let you skip practice?” You ask, your head tilted in question. “Oh, that was easy, he loves me, so he said he’d let me skip for once,” she replies smoothly. You huff out a laugh as she says that, mischief clear in her eyes. “You’re such a liar,” you grin back. “Okay, okay, maybe that’s not exactly how it went,” she rolls her eyes playfully. You look at her triumphantly as she gives your leg a little squeeze, more amused than annoyed that you caught her. “He said I could skip, but that my next practice is gonna be extra hard.” 

You look at her in amusement but also slight worry. “You didn’t have to do this, you know? I would’ve been happy with just a phone call. I don’t want you to work yourself to the point of passing out,” you reply, your brows furrowed slightly in concern. She shakes her head, bringing one hand to your face to smooth out your frown. “I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. Besides, I think I would’ve gone insane if I didn’t see you soon,” she says, her voice more vulnerable than you’re used to.

Your lips curve back into a smile as she continues. “And stop worrying about me so much, I’m okay. If things get too much, I’ll let you know, I promise.” She sticks out her pinky finger, grinning at you as you interlace yours with hers.

You two keep talking until it’s time to get ready for lunch. Seeing as Paige is already dressed, you leave her on your couch as you walk up to your closet to pick a nice outfit before running to the bathroom to put yourself together. Once you’re satisfied, you return to the couch, blushing as you see the blonde check you out. You raise your eyebrow and send her a teasing grin, letting her know you caught her. She simply sends you a smirk back as she gets up.

There’s not a moment of silence on the way to the café as you two talk about the latest things in your lives. You talk about classes, basketball, family, friends, and the weird dreams you’ve had. The conversation continues to flow during lunch and into the afternoon as you walk around the city with Paige. A smile is permanently etched into your face as you stroll around with your hand in the blonde’s. While her hand is a bit rough from playing so much basketball, it’s still very soft. She rubs her thumb across your knuckles as she animatedly talks about the shenanigans she’s been up to with the team.

When you stop for ice cream, you order your favorite flavor before noticing Paige taking another flavor you love. It confuses you a little, knowing she doesn’t really like it, but you don’t really pay any mind to it as you continue rambling about what your professor did last class. When you sit down, you enjoy your ice cream as you listen to the girl in front of you. She takes small bites in between sentences, making her still have half of it left when you’re done with yours. As she talks, she starts feeding you some of her cup, making you smile at how cheesy you two are being. You don’t mind, though, this is exactly what you’d dreamed of.

When you notice the blonde isn’t eating her ice cream anymore, only feeding you, you go to protest. You don’t get the chance to, however, as the girl knew what you were up to. She quickly shoves another spoonful into your mouth when you open it to speak, rolling your eyes playfully. She grins as she shrugs a little.

Once you two are done, you walk back towards your dorm, silently thanking your roommate for having her own plans and not being home. Once inside, you guide the blonde to your bed, plopping down as you put on a random show for background sounds. You spend hours talking about everything and nothing, laughing harder than you have in months. 

“So, this dinner, where are we going?” You ask Paige as you crane your neck up from where you’re lying against her. She pretends to lock her mouth and throw away the key, making you roll your eyes. “You’re so unhelpful, y’know that?” She laughs, knowing it’s true. “Can you at least tell me what the vibe is? Do I need to dress fancy?” You question as you get up and walk over to your closet. You rifle through your options as the athlete speaks. “Semi-formal, I guess,” she shrugs, getting up herself. “Where are you going?” You ask as she starts walking towards the door. 

“Gonna grab my bag from my car, I’m not going to dinner in this outfit,” she replies, making you nod in understanding. Once she’s gone, you pause for a moment, pinching yourself to make sure you’re not dreaming. When you know for sure you’re not, you let out an excited squeal before calming yourself down and getting ready. Once you’re dressed, you sit down in front of your mirror to apply some light make-up.

You hear Paige walk back in, having borrowed your keys, as you’re applying mascara. Once you’re done, you look at her through the mirror and send her a bashful smile. She doesn’t smile back, too enthralled by your beauty. You shake your head as you giggle, grabbing your lip gloss. You lean in a bit closer to the mirror, applying a thin layer of gloss to make your lips shine. You glance over at Paige, seeing her eye the applicator as you glide it across your lips. She swallows harshly when you make eye contact, looking away sheepishly as she walks over to get ready in the bathroom. 

You scroll through Instagram as you wait for the blonde, liking the Valentine’s Day posts from your friends. When you hear the bathroom door open, you glance up, your throat going dry. Paige always looked gorgeous, but right now, you think she’s never looked better. She smiles softly at you as you take her in. She doesn’t tease you about the way you’re basically drooling over her, knowing she’s just as enamored.

“You look beautiful,” she says, grabbing your hand and giving it a soft squeeze. “Says you,” you grin with rosy cheeks. Her eyes twinkle with happiness as she leads you to the door. “Oh, one sec!” You mutter, running back towards your dresser to grab something. You quickly put the tiny box in your bag before walking back over to Paige. “Alright, I’m ready,” you say, rocking back and forth in excitement.

You walk towards the taller girl’s car in comfortable silence, your hand in hers, fingers interlinked. You let her open the passenger door for you, chuckling at her as she gives you a bow. “M’lady,” she tries to say seriously, but she can’t stop the smile growing on her face. “You’re such a dork,” you reply as you get in, hoping she doesn’t notice the bright color of your cheeks.

Once you two are on the road, Paige takes one hand off of the steering wheel, putting her arm on the center console. You look at it for a moment before grabbing her hand and interlacing your fingers once more. You take a peek at the blonde to see her reaction and feel your stomach flutter when you see her sporting a tiny, content smile.

Once you get to the restaurant, you look around in awe. It was beautiful. You still can’t believe that all of this is real. That Paige Bueckers, your best friend, is taking you out on a date and treating you like a queen. Your cheeks hurt from how much you’ve been smiling all day. 

You two share a bottle of wine as you enjoy your food, letting one another taste each other’s dishes, grinning when you find the other’s food better. You giggle as you switch your plates around, not paying any mind to the looks you’re receiving. After finishing your meal, you order dessert, sharing the sweet treat, feeling pretty full from dinner. 

Once you’re done, Paige pulls out a wrapped box with a tiny ribbon bow. For a moment you’re confused where it came from, but you quickly dismiss your confusion. “Paige, you didn’t have to get me anything! You’ve already paid for everything today,” you whine, feeling bad about how much the girl is spending on you. “Oh hush,” she says, “I love spoiling my girl.” “Your girl, huh?” You tease with a grin. She rolls her eyes lightheartedly. “Open itttt,” she says impatiently.

You giggle as you open it, letting out a gasp as you see the bracelet inside. “Paige…” you breathe out, “this is beautiful.” “Yeah? You like it?” She asks, hoping you’re speaking the truth. You nod eagerly, flashing her a toothy smile as you brush your thumb over the P charm. “I was scared it would be too possessive, giving you something with my initial on it for our first date,” she admits, scratching her temple. “I love it, P,” you say, letting her help you put it on.

You grab your bag, pulling out your own gift box. “You didn’t,” Paige grins as you hand it to her. “I did,” you grin back. “How? You didn’t even know I was coming today,” she asks, giving you a curious look. “I got this a while back and was just waiting for the perfect moment to give it to you,” you say, your heart drumming in your ears as you nervously wait for her reaction. Her face lights up at the sight of the new chain you’d gotten her. She lifts it out of the box, letting it shine in the dim restaurant lights.

She taps the tiny basketball pendant as it swings on the chain. The blonde sends you a radiant smile, her eyes shining with love. “Thank you,” she says, adoration clear in her voice. You raise one finger, making her pause. You rummage in your bag, grabbing a tiny plastic bag, before handing it to her with a smirk. She holds it close, laughing as she realizes what it is. Opening the bag, she grabs the tiny charm, twirling it between her fingers. “I see we had the same idea,” she smiles, her cheeks becoming a soft pink at the thought of wearing your initial on her neck. 

You help her put it on before waving over the waiter for the bill. You begrudgingly let Paige pay, knowing you’d never win that fight against her. You hold her hand as you walk towards her car, squeezing it softly. Your heart feels like it’s going to burst with joy and adoration. Once you reach the car, you look at the taller girl as she pauses. 

Her eyes flit over your face as she softly grabs your hips. She steps closer, gently pushing you against the car. She leans in closer, her eyes looking into yours with a questioning look. Your heart skips a beat as you nod lightly. The blue-eyed girl leans even closer, her lips hovering over yours for a moment to give you an extra second to change your mind. When you don’t, she presses her lips against yours in a slow but deep kiss. You grab her face, trying to pull her even closer as you close your eyes. After a minute, you pull away slightly to catch your breath. You move your hands towards her neck as you play with her baby hairs. The smile she sends you makes you weak in the knees, making you silently thank God that you’re leaning against the car. 

“Be mine?” Paige breathes, her question sounding almost like a statement. You don’t need to think twice as you nod, pulling her into another kiss.

You know it won’t be easy, being in a relationship while you’re miles apart, but you know that it’s all worth it when you get to call this amazing girl yours.

[alwaysobsessed777]

After that absolutely masterclass by the one and only Azzi Fudd, I think this means we should get an Azzi fic 👀

Keeping it simple and just her and her gf celebrating her domination in that game and her gf being so freaking proud of her

ALL MY GHOST - A.F.

yet again guys....if it's not good let me know

For our princess, Azzi, cause she cooked today

"UCONN UPSETS SOUTH CAROLINA IN A BLOWOUT GAME," I couldn't believe my ears. UConn really just played like their lives depended on it, and it gain them a win. The shouting, the upsetting groans, it was a thrilling experience I didn't think I was gonna experience...ever.

"Oh my God! We did it!" Azzi pulled me into a hug over the bench she had been sitting. Laughing aloud, I hugged the girl back. The energy radiating off the girl and the team.

"Baby, you need to go celebrate with the team...not me."

She shakes her head, nuzzling it further into my neck, "but I wanna celebrate with you."

I sigh, "Azzi...."

"Yes, my love?" Her eyes meeting mine, playing innocent.

"You know what."

"Fineee...but I wish we could go back to the hotel....cuddle...maybe throw in a movie while I read my book," I laugh as her eyes light up.

"And we'll do that...after you spend some time with Paige," I noticed the blonde making her way towards us, "speaking of the devil."

Paige scrunches her face up in disgust, wrapping an arm around Azzi. Pulling the girl away from me a bit. "First of all, I am an angel...not a devil. Second, why are you holdin' the people's princess back from her team, y/n/n? Like, girl, come on!"

Rolling my eyes, I snap back, "sorry your best friend would rather hang with me....guess I'm just better."

Paige's turn to roll her eyes, Azzi's never leaving mine, "whatever, bruh...can I steal your girlfriend for like two minutes?"

Azzi's eyes plead for me to say no, but that didn't matter to Paige. She would've taken the girl anyway.

"Sure...just don't keep her too long...I wanna have my fun with her too."

The blonde's eyes widened, "aye yo....chill out there."

Blushing, Azzi laughed, "P....get your mind out the gutter. We're just gonna have a movie night."

"Sure....almost 30 point game and watching movies is all you're gonna do....right," The curly haired girl shoved Paige playfully. Sending the blonde back, her raising her hands in surrender before walking back with the team.

"Yeah....I wouldn't wanna wear you out of course," she slapped my shoulder, "ow!"

"I need you to stop being a flirt," she took a quick look before leaning in to place a soft peck to my lips, "You might make Paige jealous."

"Good," a smirk played on my lips, "cause she's missing out."

She rolled her eyes, "wait for me by the exit, okay? Oh, we should totally grab something to eat on the way to the hotel too."

I snicker, "you got it, princess."

She leaned in for another quick kiss, running off into the locker room with the rest of the Huskies.

After about 20 minutes, I get a message, Azzi was on her way out. Waiting by the doors, I watched as the girl made her way through the hallway. Her smile was bright, her laughter was warm, she made me forget about everything else in the world. Everything bad or good. The only thing I knew was Azzi.

"Hey babe," kissing my cheek, I intertwined our hands.

"Hey baby," Paige let out a loud gag before sprinting off, "I don't even have to flirt to make her jealous."

"Whatever...I was thinking...."

"What were you thinking?"

"What if we stopped and got a pizza," I nod, "then, we run to Barnes and Noble."

"And why do we need to go there, Az?" I tilted my head, knowing what the answer was going to be.

"Since I had such an amazing game....maybe you could buy me a book?"

I laughed, "you got it, but that's totally a princess move."

"And I'm proud of it," she held her head up high, soft chuckles falling from both of us.

The car ride was nice. We listened to whatever she wanted to play, we stopped by Barnes and Noble to buy the book she was wanting,.we grabbed drinks from Dunkin, and finally stopped to get pizza before heading back to the hotel. I sat down the box before throwing myself on the bed. A small laugh fell from Azzi's lips.

"I'm so tired," I whined.

"You're tired? Baby, I'm the one who literally played a game," a teasing tone dripped from her voice.

"I get your tiredness... we're just connected or something," a laugh escaped her again.

"What happened to movie and cuddles though," I could hear the pout in her voice, my head snapped to look at her. Her lips out in a pout, her eyes wide.

I jump up, pulling Azzi into me, before falling back in the bed, "then come lay with me!"

"Y/n!"

Without fighting, she just let me hold her. Her arms tighten around me, her head resting on my chest. I knew I loved her, I always had, but something about this moment felt different. It was so easy yet so charged with emotions. I didn't know what to feel.

"I love you, princess," mumbling the words against her hair, placing a soft kiss afterwards.

"I love you too, y/n/n."

[sunnysidesevenup]

Happy Birthday, Iso <3

I, of course, had to do something for @theolivetree123's Isosceles' birthday. My confidence writing Iso was a bit low, but I'm pretty happy with how the fic turned out <3

Also, it turned out to be eight pages in my doc, which is a lot longer than I intended at first lmao. These two are just really fun to write together.

fic under the cut!

“Tills, what’re ya’ doing?” 

Tilly blinks, glancing up from the suspicious book in his hands. The words had been swimming weirdly again, doing an odd little dance around his head, not that he would’ve been able to understand it anyways. 

Isosceles is standing near the open door, a confused expression on his face although it fades quickly as he takes in the situation. Cute, Tilly thinks, followed by the urge to say it out loud–he was asked a question though, wasn’t he? 

“Summoning circle.” He says. It’s pretty obvious. 

Iso’s face twitches, as if he wants to smile–and although the smirk he settles on is probably not the first expression he was going to make, Tilly still decides to appreciate it anyways. “You can’t read.” He chastises, a bit mean. “What’d ya’ think was going to happen?” 

“Hmm…” Tilly hums, tapping a finger to his lips. “Getting killed, maybe? Hopefully by a successfully summoned demon.” The smile that forms on his lips is an innocent one, tone light and teasing. 

“With this circle? Yeah, definitely gettin’ killed.” 

He just answers Iso with a giggle, jumping up from his sitting position and nearly knocking over the lit candles and probably lighting things on fire. Isoceles watches with amusement as he seems to realize in real time that candles lit everywhere on the floor is probably not a good idea, and proceeds to blow them out. Once done, he bounds straight up to the taller man, feeling a burst of energy. 

He grins up at him. “Hi. You’re late.” 

“Wasn’t aware I could be late when we didn’t set a time.” 

Tilly’s grin turns mischievous. “You’re late because I missed you.” 

Iso raises his eyebrow, and Tilly is glad he got closer. “That so?” He asks. “Maybe you’re just borin’.” 

Ouch, that one hurt. He is not boring, thank you very much. 

He spins on his heels, hands on his hips and a pout on his face. “You just can’t handle my amazin’ presence.” He retorts, back to the other man. “And here I am, tryin’ to give you a birthday gift, and you say that…” 

Iso makes a noise behind him, slightly unamused. “I don’t celebrate my birthday.” 

Tilly spins back to him, poking his chest with a glove clad hand. “It’s an excuse for a celebration. Fun. Are you going to deny me a chance to have fun, Isosceles?” 

The man grins back at him, sharp teeth on display, and Tilly kind of wants to pinch his cheeks to see if he’ll get bitten. Ah, that might not be the best idea… “Since when do ya’ need an excuse?” He’s saying, and Tilly zones back into the conversation. 

He pouts at him. “It’s always good to have an excuse. Gets me out of a lot of trouble.” 

Iso laughs, “Ya’ anticipating getting in trouble with me?” 

Tilly nods back seriously. “All the time, yes.” 

“Ha! At least you’re aware.” His eyes scan the room again, poorly drawn summoning circle and all. Tilly would say he did an okay job, but he’s definitely not an artist, and drawing circles was deceptively hard. Isosceles is clearly judging his shaky chalk lines as well, from the way his expression does that slight twitch of amusement again. “Seriously, what were ya’ thinking?” 

The shorter man shrugs, a playful glint in his eye. “Thought you would like it. You like it, right? Tell me you do.” He moves a little closer, and yep, there’s the personal space limit, right on time. Tilly decides not to push it any further, pausing with a few inches between them. He doesn’t really want to get kicked out, at least not when he’s trying to do something for Iso’s birthday. 

Iso gives him another grin, his eyes not entirely meeting his own. “Would like it better if ya’ were any good at it.” He says. 

Tilly makes sure his expression is as sad as can be, “Aww…” He begins, and then his tone morphs into something more triumphant and smug. “But you would have liked it, right? So I do know you pretty well.” 

Isosceles shoves him away slightly, making his way further into the room. “That’s a pretty low bar of a gift.” He says dismissively. 

Oops, a bad choice of a tease, then. 

Tilly keeps his forlorn sighing to himself (not that that’s what he’s doing, of course not) and follows the other man into the room. “My bad~” He apologizes. “How could I ever hope to know the oh-so-mysterious Isosceles?” 

The man shoots him an annoyed glance, and Tilly raises his hands in surrender. The smirk doesn’t help, though. 

…For someone who doesn’t want to get kicked out, he’s definitely pushing it. 

Well, he’ll just run distraction, then. 

“So… How was your day?” Tilly asks, tone innocent. 

Iso gives him another glance, knowing what he’s doing. “Are we makin’ small talk now? Damn Tills, maybe you are getting boring.” He says, sitting down at the desk chair. Tilly decides to sit across from him on the bed, legs crossing as soon as he hops up onto it. 

“That’s very offensive to me.” He responds seriously. “I’m the least boring person you know.” 

“Dunno about that.” 

Tilly gives him a huffy pout, Iso just grinning meanly at him still. 

“Whoever you’re thinking of, I’m definitely hotter and more entertaining than them.” He tells him firmly. “By many points. It’s not even a competition, really. I have won by a lot.” 

The grin turns meaner. “You’re not that–”

“If you say I’m not that hot I’m going to do something questionable.” He threatens immediately. 

Iso laughs, a bit startled. “I was goin’ to say entertaining.” 

Tilly feigns a thinking face, “Hmmm….” He then shakes his head, “No, that’s not acceptable either.” 

His companion chuckles again, so that’s definitely a win. 

However. 

“Hey, Iso.” 

He raises his eyebrow again, no doubt suspicious of Tilly’s new tone of voice. 

“Come sit on the bed instead.” He says, patting the spot next to him. He makes sure not to be flirty about it, just a simple motion, but Isosceles still narrows his eyes and glances away dismissively. 

“Nah, I’m good.” He answers, and yeah, that’s not happening. 

Tilly stands up, running a hand through his hair, and sighs. Iso glances back at him, eyes narrowed at his answering, far too innocent expression, and watches as he then walks up to stand right in front of him. The shorter takes a second to consider the odds of getting kicked out, or beat up, or killed, and then dismisses all of that and leans down to be eye level with the higher being himself. 

He doesn’t really feel like a higher being, though, not when Tilly gently grabs his face in his hands and tilts it up. The wide eye and slowly creeping blush don’t really feel particularly eldritch or scary, either. 

“Hey, Iso.” He echoes, voice now softer and a bit coaxing. “Let’s sit on the bed instead.” 

“Umm.” Is his companions answer, eye attempting to settle on anything else, although Tilly’s made sure to block his view. He doesn’t follow the word up with anything, either, so the shorter just drops his hands from his face and slides them to his arms instead, pulling him up. He drags him over to the bed, and then they’re both sitting across from each other. 

He smiles smugly. That’s much better. 

“So! I got us a game to play.” 

Iso recovers quickly, much to his disappointment, although the blush still staining his skin has yet to fade. “Oh?” 

Tilly nods seriously, reaching under the pillow and pulling out a box. He sets it between them with a flourish, although Iso looks unimpressed. 

“You stole Monopoly?” 

“Is that what it says?” He eyes the box with newfound interest, but the title starts swimming again and he gives up. He shakes his head, getting back on track. “Ta-da!” He announces, opening the box, where an assortment of game pieces are strewn about. 

Iso blinks, and then grins. “That’s not Monopoly.” 

“I should hope not. I just poured a ton of other games into this box, it’s just so boring to stick to one… I even asked one of the workers for recommendations!” He picks up one of the game pieces, a little army man that the worker had explained was part of a game called Risk. He’d liked the sound of that, so he’d swept the little armies into his pockets when the underpaid worker had turned away. It’s not like the partimer would mind, but better if they weren't aware of it so they’d get in less trouble!

Chess pieces, cards, a variety of dice, various little game pieces cover the box, and the numerous game boards nestled inside. Honestly, it’s a bit of a miracle he managed to fit all of it into one box, but Tilly is very efficient, thank you very much. 

“So, what are the rules?” Iso asks, unceremoniously dumping all of the items onto the bed. Looks like he’s on board, then. 

Tilly laughs, settling into a more comfortable position on the bed. “We both already know the rules, don’t we?” He asks, laying out the very game boards in a seemingly completely random order. 

If he’s not mistaken, Iso’s eye seems to brighten, and he grins right back as he also sets the pieces up in an equally nonsensical order. “Right, we do.” 

-

Thirty minutes in and the game has fives boards (one of which is a piece of paper with badly drawn squiggles, one in a bright, near invisible yellow and another in a glittery purple), at least two decks of regular playing cards, two separate armies of little plastic soldiers, a strange, precarious tower of dice, and stacks of fake cash. There’s a little scoreboard off to the side, and somehow, despite the nonsensical game, the two are tied. 

With bated breath, Tilly reaches over to take another card from one of the piles, Iso smirking at him as he does so. There’s a moment where he believes he’s successfully managed to grab it, when suddenly the carefully stacked tower of dice collapses, falling straight across his lap. 

He blinks for a moment, and then turns accusing eyes onto Isosceles, who looks like he’s about to laugh. “That’s not fair.” He accuses. 

“Eh? You sucking at this?” 

The shorter’s mouth twists into a pout once again. “Cheater.” 

His companion blinks (or is it a wink when it’s only one eye? Hmm, Tilly should ask him some other time) innocently at him. “What did I do? I was nowhere near it.” 

Tilly just groans, swiping the dice off of him and back onto the bed. For good measure, he tosses one straight at Iso’s head, but the man just dodges with barely a twitch to the side. Stupid, annoying, godly reflexes. Just get hit with the dice for his wounded pride, okay? He’s sensitive! 

He forks over a stack of his fake money to Iso, the man neatly adding it to his growing bank with a smug look. Once he’s done paying his horrible, no good, offending taxes, he rolls one of the dice. Hitting a six, he then carefully moves his little piece (a coin, of course, he has a brand) around the board, and begins stacking six dice on top of each other. 

“Hmm, don’t forget I attacked you last turn.” 

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” He mutters, surveying the board. “Stop attacking me, I’m weak and fragile and I’ll cry.” 

“Weren’t your words five minutes ago, “Oh, Iso, I hope you cry when I destroy you in the next five moves?” The man taunts, putting on a high pitched and annoying voice. 

Tilly gapes at him in astonishment. “I don’t sound like that.” 

Iso remains silent, amusement speaking louder than his words ever could, and Tilly throws a pillow at him. “I don’t! I don’t! Take it back!” 

He dodges, of course, because Isosceles can never let Tilly do anything. Ugh. 

Now lacking a pillow, and significantly more annoyed, he raises his hands and does a grabbing motion. “Give me your pillow. As tribute.” 

“Deal with the consequences of your own actions, Tills~” Iso singsongs, taking his own turn on the game. He flips a card over, reads it, and then scowls. “How’d you sneak this card into my deck? You can’t even read.” 

“Gimme your pillow and I’ll tell you.” He grins at him, fluttering pleading eyes. 

Ever immune, he laughs, shaking his head. “Your secrets aren’t that important. I’ll figure it out anyways.” He then pats the pillow beside him, mean expression just rubbing it in. 

And yeah, logically, Tilly could just get off the bed and retrieve the one he threw. But that would mean probably losing, because then Iso could change the pieces around, and then he’d have to start over his own process of changing the pieces around. He doesn’t want Iso to win. It might be his birthday, but he’s not a loser. 

Looking at the board now though, it’s looking like that might be the outcome anyways. 

So, of course, he has a solution for both problems. 

“Iso…. you sure ya’ won’t hand over your pillow? Please? For me?” He asks again. 

He’s met with the same amused smile. “Nope.” He says, and then narrows his eyes suspiciously as he registers Tilly’s smug expression. “Hey, don’t–” 

Tilly interrupts him by launching himself across the game board, knocking everything out of the way and colliding straight with the other man. He knocks him back onto the bed, and immediately just lays straight down on top of him. 

Isosceles lays there for a moment, and then responds with an accusing and smug: “This is because I was going to win, wasn’t it.” 

He lays his head down against Iso’s chest, ear right next to his heart. “Hmm, who could say~?” He says, and then just pauses. 

Neither of them say anything for a while. 

It’s not like Tilly has never done this before, anyways, and even though the taller still gets flustered, it’s not as shocking as it once was. 

…He doesn’t say anything about Iso’s heart beating, though. He’d done that before, and he knows now it’ll just cause a protest. 

Instead, what he says is a simple “Happy birthday.” 

“...I don’t celebrate it. I told you.” 

Tilly sits up, grinning down at him. Iso’s face is a bit red, but he looks decently composed (and very cute, but he thinks saying that right now will get him shoved onto the floor). “Does this seem like a celebration? No, no, this is very un-celebration. A non birthday–unbirthday? No, that sounds stupid–Ugh, point is, no celebrations here!” His grin softens, turning into more of a smile.

“So, in a very not celebratory way, happy birthday, Isoceles.” 

[b4mpyre-k1zz3s]

headcannons of the jackass crew on valentines? i think johnny would be soooo romantic!

Valentine’s Day with the Jackass Guys! ♡

Johnny Knoxville X Fem!Reader, Bam Margera X Fem!Reader, Steve-O X Fem!Reader, Chris Pontus X Fem!Reader, Ryan Dunn X Fem!Reader

Warnings: Suggestive content, kissing, lingerie, PDA, cuddling, alcohol

An: Thank you for the request! I had a ton of fun coming up with these cute date ideas for the guys! Fun fact: Bam’s section is inspired by the trip to Paris he took his then girlfriend as mentioned in his book! Anyways, thank you for the request, and please keep sending them!

Johnny

Charged silence buzzed between you and Johnny as you waited at bar of that fancy restaurant everybody in LA had been fighting tooth and nail for a table at,

But from the stuffy, stuck up atmosphere and the snotty, well to do customers, one thing was becoming very apparent:

“I really don’t think this is our scene.”

Thank god you said that first. Paying for your drinks, he wrapped an arm around you with a grin,

“I’d reckon it ain’t.” Patting you on the back, Knoxville assured you as you weaved through tabled, “Ah, well don’t think I didn’t have a plan B prepared for this sorta thing!”

In actuality, he didn’t have anything resembling a backup, but it couldn’t be too hard to come up with…

Within the hour, you were back Johnny’s his place, not bothering to take off your fancy clothes as you cuddled up on the sofa.

Some romantic, French film you would’ve never guessed he’d know murmured quietly in the background as you picked through the Chinese takeout you picked up on the way home,

“I feel like I’m in a movie or somethin’…” Your flustered chuckle made that charming, Hollywood smile spread a mile across his ruggedly handsome face…

Knoxville pressed a kiss to your forehead, “Only the best ‘fr my girl…”

Bam

Now, most girls would be over the moon that their boyfriend took them to Paris for Valentine’s Day. However, keep in mind that your boyfriend was Bam Margera.

Take, for example, that morning you visited some fancy bakery. “Hey- hey, Y/N!” Turning away from some display, you just sighed as he gave you the eyebrows, giddily holding a baguette in front of his crotch.

Or when you nearly had a heart attack when your boyfriend got down on one knee and pulled out a little box in front of the Eiffel Tower. “Oh my god-“

“Wait- it’s a promise ring!” Seeing your face fall, Bam held up the silver, heartagram band and added, “See, I promise not to fuck any other chicks while we’re together.”

Way to ruin the moment…“What’re you, twelve?” You spat, to which he retorted, “Hey! I paid good, French money for this!”

But it’s not like Bam didn’t have a a single romantic bone in his body! I mean, he did take you to that fancy French lingerie store, but as you could guess, that was more fun for him than it was for you.

“Cmon, do a twirl!” He giggled as you tried on the thousandth lacy, black set he picked out in this demented Pretty Woman montage,

Thinking fast, you spun around and put on you best seductive coo, “When am I gonna actually get to buy these, babe? I’m real eager to, uh- test ‘em out…tonight.”

Of course, that’s what made him wrap it up, “Well, now youre speakin’ my language!”

Steve-O

Steve was broke. Dead broke, but he’s not the kinda guy to let that stop him from getting something for his girl!

“It’s a coupon book!” He excitedly showed you his handiwork, flipping through pages of shitty handwriting, “Y’can use ‘em whenever you want!” Oh, now you had to test that.

But you thanked your boyfriend and went about the day he had planned, making sure he was none the wiser

That is until you were halfway through your walk in the park and ripped out the ‘snuggle’ coupon. Okay, little weird, but there’s a lot worse you could ask Steve to do, so fuck it!

No blanket, no picnic basket, you were the weird cuddle couple in the park. But it wasn’t the end of the world for him

And if you thought the stares you got there were bad, you could only imagine the looks on the faces of the mall food court patrons when you tore off the slip of paper that read ‘back massage’.

“I’ll do it. No, really- I’ll do it!” Steve was testing your gall, but you didn’t back down.

You grinned, proudly wagging the paper in the air, “Coupon! No restrictions apply!”

Face down, on a table, you hid your smile as you could feel your boyfriend physically staving off the urge to say you owed him because no, you didn’t owe him jack!

He just went along with the program, an embarrassed smile creeping across his face as he worked out the sore muscles in your shoulders.

You sat up just enough to ask, “Ooh! What about couple’s portraits after this?”

Chris

This man is COMICALLY romantic like. Oh my god.

Rose petals scattered about, the room bathed in warm candlelight as the of scent of vanilla wafted through the air as cheesy, romantic RnB played softly;

Chris planned a whole ass romantic spa day for you! There he was, lying ‘paint me like one of your French girls’ style on the floor, waiting for you.

“Oh my god! I…this is so sweet!” But for a moment, you smile flickered as you looked your boyfriend up and down, “What’s with the robe?”

Grinning, Chris shot you a wink as he sat up and slinked it off one shoulder, “Well, you can’t have a couple’s spa day by yourself!”

What followed was the most confusingly sexy Magic Mike routine you could have ever conjured up! Giggles, giggles, more giggles…

But when you actually got to the spa stuff, it was a bit of a tight squeeze for the both of you to Tetris your legs together in the small tub, the mountains of bubbles not helping at all. But you made it work…

Raking his fingers through your wet hair as you laid back against his chest, Pontius explained all the fun he had on tap,

“We got mani-pedis, massages, face masks…” Chuckling low, he added, “Y’know, the homemade kind?”

You laughed, playfully shoving him away, “Ah! You are so nasty…”

Ryan

You would never expect that he’d be one for wine and paint night, but it tracked after you found out Bam billed it to him as, “that paint thing April goes to with booze”.

But, to your surprise, you started having a really fun time! I mean, after a few glasses, of course…

When you weren’t gushing over him being such a good boyfriend, you and Ryan were sneaking kisses when you didn’t think the instructor was looking. God, you felt young…

But then, in the midst of all this love, you caught something out the corner of your eye… Dropping your voice to a whisper, you asked your boyfriend, “Hey, what’re you paintin’?”

Shrugging, Dunn gestured to the abstract, pale blob (which was not what the instructor was painting) with a finger,

“Oh! That’s us. Having sex!”

He’s fucking with you. He had to be- but if you squinted and turned your head to the side…

“Ryan!” Your eyes flashed wide as you whispered yelled, hiding behind your canvas, “That is embarrassing!”

Grinning, Ryan sling an arm around your shoulders, “It shouldn’t be! You’re hot!” As sleazy as that sounded, it was a genuine compliment! At least, he intended it as one

Leaning back, he signaled with one hand, “Can this painter get another bottle’a wine?”

[icarianbeast]

I just finished the first chapter of Deltarune...

First thing's first, amazing game, obviously.

Second thing, though, I feel like the whole universe is kinda really sad? I know in Undertale everyone was trapped underground and that sucks but they all had each other, you know? When I was walking around town after the main story (Which by the way, I KNOW I missed so many hidden secrets- and I never got to go back for what I assume is Jevil (?) because I progressed too far on accident but that's a completely different rant) I talked to everyone that I could and like-

The first thing that got me is that Undyne has no idea who Alphys is. I mean, it makes sense- when would they ever have interacted, in this version of the universe? But still, it made me sad. Then I saw Gerson's grave in the cemetery and that actually made me tear up for some reason. I dunno I guess I thought he'd live forever.

It was fun to see Sans- and hear bones trousling in the house, even if I didn't get to talk to Papyrus- I did promise to visit tomorrow (chapter 2, assumedly?) so hopefully I can meet him then. They seem to be doing just fine- good for them.

But Bratty and Catty hate each other?? I mean, probably not actually hate, but they have a rivalry. Maybe it'll blossom into their friendship they had in Undertale later, but it was sad to me to see them disliking each other.

No sign of Napstablook. I thought the ghost house would be theirs, but it seems like it was Mettaton in there... in whatever form they might have taken in this world. One of the books in the library did seem to be Napstablook's journal though, maybe? And I recall some dialogue or flavor text at some point outside of that that was reminicent of them.

Obviously Asgore and Toriel are divorced- that seems to be consistent across universes. It does make me wonder what happened here though. Also, his initial dialogue being the same as his first dialogue in Undertale totally got me. Also the colored flowers? It seems like maybe they're the ones he & Toriel had at their wedding. Cool parallels though.

Anyway, this is just a ramble, mostly for me, to talk about things I noticed. I had a really good time playing through and reading everything! I did the whole chapter in one sitting... Which probably wasn't my wisest choice, but, hey, what're you gonna do, right? I feel like there's never really a good spot to leave these games (meaning, Undertale & Deltarune), even though there's save points. It never really feels like a good time to log off for the day.

[electronicclowncollector]

Chapter 23: Prom

(Authors note: Sorry for the delays, had procrastination issues lol)

Rogue couldn’t believe it, it was finally the day of the prom, it felt like it had been like 2 weeks since the meeting with Yukino asking for advice, he wasn’t sure why. He got up out of bed and began to prepare, he wore his dads old suit which surprisingly fitted him, probably because of dragon slayer magic, and he stood waiting at the door for the time to arrive as the clock hit 11am. The prom started at 9pm.

Rogue proceeded to wait there, shaking with excitement until it was time to go. He picked up Fresh by the paw and slung them over his back as he opened the door and left for the prom. He walked down the dark street in his dads navy suit, feeling awesome. The world was his catwalk and he sure as hell was gonna be the catboy of it.

“Hey Rogue! Lookin sharp” a voice behind him said. This was it, Rogue was going to finally see what Sting would look like in a suit, his handsome body and charming smile in formal wear. He turned around and… oh, it was gajeel. “Glad to see we can get people from all corners of the school to attend. I think you’ll really like what we have in store.” Rogue had completely forgotten that Gajeel was the host of the prom, though it never really occurred to Rogue to see who was involved since it didn’t matter all that much. Gajeel looked pretty good in his own gajeel way. He wore a black and white suit that had the sleeves ripped off. Gajeel seemed to notice his gaze upon his arms. “So whose your date for the dance Cheney? Come on, you can tell me” Gajeel said, placing a hand on his shoulder with a grip that was almost painful.

Rogue blushed, “O- oh, I don’t have a date for the dance, I’m going with Sting platonically though… I don’t think he has a date either though…”

“Really? Sting Eucliffe of all people not having a date? I remember seeing girls ask him out to be their prom partner several times but he turned them all down…” he playfully bumped Rogue with his shoulder, almost knocking him onto the road and ending the fanfiction right there. “Maybe you got a chance then.”

Rogue blushed and stuttered and stammered, HOW DID GAJEEL KNOW?!??! “I- I- You- I- nya- How- G- gajeel?”

“Come on, as if it wasn’t incredibly obvious that you like Sting. Well, I should get going, I gotta be there early for preparations. Good luck mate!” he said, before leaping onto a building roof and parkouring his way to the school, like the parkour dragon from Rogue’s book. That was all very embarrassing and Rogue was still tense after it, but he continued walking anyway, for Sting. Eventually he arrived at the academy, and there really wasn’t much to see, they only really decorated the inside so it was basically the same on the outside except for the light coming from the hall, so he went in. It surprised him how many people were there, and he was even more surprised that he recognised a lot of them. But for writing reasons, he couldn’t find sting anymore.

Rogue began to panic but eventually came to the conclusion that Sting would be, as usual, fashionably late. So he decided to try talking to the people he recognised. He started by approaching Lucy, who he saw talking to Minerva, who was drunk and crying. Lucy was taking it well, acting polite and showing no sympathy whatsoever for her tears, simply talking to her like she’s acting normal.

“H- hi Lucy, how are you finding the prom?”

Lucy jumped in surprise and turned to face her ex (?) with a blush on her cheeks, “H- hi Rogue! I’m having fun, Gajeel didn’t like the idea of making it snake themed though, so I’m a bit disappointed about that, but it turned out well… How about you, do you want a date- I- I mean, have you got a date for the dance?”

Rogue blushed and looked down, adjusting his glasses and playing with his hair, “No, not really… but I’m gonna be hanging out with Sting for most of it I think… Have you seen him anywhere?”

Lucy looked down in slight disappointment, “Oh, Sting… No, I don’t think so.” She perked up, “Oh yeah! Maybe he’s at the petminding area. To make life easier for the pet owners attending, Gray thought it would be a good idea to have someone volunteer to mind all the pets while the prom happens. You could go by and leave your cat… frog… thing over there, and maybe you’ll see Sting there.”

“Oh! G- good idea, thanks… Lucy…” he stammered out as she took his hand and brought him through the hall. The act of intimacy caught him off guard immensely, his cheeks were as red as the even redder dragon from the newer dragon book Rogue had back at home. He almost dropped Fresh out of surprise, but instead gripped them harder, causing them to let out a strangled ribbit. Soon enough, they got to the area and Rogue launched Fresh into the sandpit that was available for cats, right next to doug, who was high on catnip.

“Bye Fresh!” Rogue called out to the very dizzy cat. Beside him, Lucy was blushing a bit as Rogue left, wishing she had said something more before he left. Meanwhile Rogue was disappointed that Sting wasn’t there, and his worries began to pile up. He wandered through the hall of chatting students and decided to try to find someone to talk to, someone who would understand him, someone with similar interests… He couldn’t find anyone (despite Lucy’s efforts) and was about to leave when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Milord, such a pleasure to meet a beta male like you at such a prestigious event.”

Rogue turned around and was very surprised to see Mirajane Strauss standing before him, with a smitten Gary Fullbuster clinging to her arm. Mirajane was wearing quite a similar outfit to her usual wear but a bit more formal. She had an extra shiny fedora on and under her ankle length trench coat was a shirt and tie, admittedly it looked pretty good, not as good as sting, not even close, but it was nice. Gray was wearing a cheap 3 piece suit- nevermind, 2 piece now, the jacket had strangely disappeared. Rogue realised he was monologuing in his head too much and spoke up “T- thanks… you two look great together…” he faced Gray. Who was nuzzling his head into Mirajanes shoulder like an affectionate cat. “I thought you and Juvia were in a relationship…”

Gray let out a little growl and held Mirajanes arm tighter, “No… we’re just friends…” he sounded the word ‘friends’ like it was a slur that nobody should ever say. “Janey is the only one for me…”

Mirajane rolled her eyes with a smile and patted his head, “Calm down, be a good boy and let go of your alpha females arm, My Lord.”

Gray immediately let go of Mirajanes arm, looking down at the floor with cheeks as red as something really red, Rogues mind was too boggled to even think of a type of dragon that fit the description of being red so you’ll just have to imagine something really red. Oh, and now Gray’s suit only had one piece, the trousers. Rogue decided that was enough of that conversation and was about to leave as he heard the door to the hall slam open and Rogue turned around right away to see the dragon god in human form himself, Sting Eucliffe.

“WWOOOOOOH HELLO EVERYBODY! THE INCREDIBLY CONFIDENT STING EUCLIFFE IS IN THE HOUSE!” Sting called out. There was silence, then applause, then cheering. It was a standing ovation, probably because nobody was sitting because it was a dance.

Rogue nervously walked over to Sting, who strode over with an aura of pure awesomeness and put an arm around his shoulder, “Ready for the night of your life? These dating fools don’t measure up at all to the 2 legendary bachelors that are us!” Rogue blushed, sting blushed, Stings confident façade was falling apart at the first sign of Rogue’s cuteness. Rogue wondered why Doug was at the petminding area before sting had arrived, but then he chalked it up to Sting being fashionably late and awesome. Once the crowd had settled down, the pair began to chat for a bit, when Gajeel approached the two.

“Hey hey Sting, so glad you could show up dude!” exclaimed Gajeel as he patted Sting on the back. His confidence was matched by Sting, who patted him on the back even harder, “Ah, Gajeel, my man, Gajeel ‘wifehaver’ Redfox, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Rogue felt a sudden pull as he was squeezed up against Sting, it felt like heaven, the softness of the fabric on Sting’s suit and the warmth of his body being so close, his cheeks went so incredibly red, would he feel this every day if Sting and Rogue got married? If Sting’s body felt like this, what would his lips feel like? His mind whirred with thoughts and fantasies, while on the outside he was simply letting out little Meows, which was driving Sting crazy on the inside.

Sting knew he had to keep his composure around Rogue, so he pulled him along to a group of people, most of which were in the Saber Tooth club and a few friends outside the guild. Rogue was snapped out of his haze as he saw the people they were approaching, Bickslow, Laki, Sorano and Minerva. Minerva was more drunk then he had ever seen her, she could barely stand, she had an arm around Laki to keep her up, Laki was of course wearing stiletto heels and was inwardly struggling to keep hold of her.

“Hey Laki, glad to see you and Bickslow are doing well” Sting said to her with a friendly grin, that sparked some jealousy in Rogue.

“Oh yes, he’s a good boy and was the first in my harem, so he gets a bit of special treatment” Laki says, holding up the leash she had that was attached to a collar around Bickslows neck. Rogue… Rogue didn’t like this sight, it made him want to be sick, but one word stuck out to him and it seemed Sting felt the same way…

“Harem..?”

“Oh yes, Sorano was incredibly desperate for a partner that I let her join, she’s very low maintenance, I barely even need to interact with her and she’ll be content. Minerva followed not long after and she’s inseparable from me… though her opinion on me is very different if I have no alcohol on me…”

“Right…” Sting said, feeling very uncomfortable, he turned to Sorano, who was on her phone texting someone, “Hey Sora! Did Yukino not come with her boyfriend for the prom?”

“Nah…” she seemed very focussed on texting, about 80% focussed on her phone, 20% on the conversation, though it seemed that was enough for her to hear what Sting was saying, “Her boyfriend doesn’t go to the academy so he wasn’t allowed to attend, so naturally she didn’t come either, they’re having a little date night back home.”

With a shrug, he seemed to understand the logic. Following the simple gesture, he whispered in Rogue’s ear, “Wanna go to the dance floor for a little platonic dancing? It’ll be fuuun”

Rogue gasped and nodded, “Nyah!” he agreed.

The dance floor was packed as the music slowed down, Sting put his strong right arm and large hand around Rogue’s waist and Rogue looked up at him with a gaze of pure awe. Sting then gracefully placed his foot atop Rogue’s as they attempted to dance, causing pain to shoot up his leg, but Rogue didn’t care, this was so romantic, this was as close as they’d ever be, Rogue knew. Nothing could ruin this night, it was all so perfect.

“Rogue… how do you like my confidence? Or how well I am at being myself?”

“S- So much… Your so cool Sting…”

“Yeah… I know” Sting pulled his other hand out of Rogue’s and gave him a little finger gun while making a clicking sound with his mouth, and it was like he had been shot right through the heart by cupids very own finger guns. As the totally platonic bro dance continued, the two talked and talked and it was so intimate, so heartwarming. That is, until DJ Erza changed the song to Cha Cha slide.

Gajeel then announced to the hall, “Alright lovebirds, it’s time to announce the very first PROM KING AND QUEEN!”

Everyone gathered around, Rogue was so nervous, he knew he wouldn’t be picked for Prom King or Queen, but there was still that hope.

“This prom has been a huge success, and I think that they’ll only get better from here. Tonight will mark the start of a new Academy annual tradition!” Everyone cheered at Gajeels enthusiasm. “Now, for the part you’ve all been waiting for… we’ll start with the prom queen, as you all know the saying, Ladies first, so the very first prom queen for the dragon slaying academy is… Lucy Heartfilia!”

Lucy gasped as she stepped onto the stage in her snake themed dress, she gracefully moved to the middle of the stage and had the Prom Tiara placed on her head (??? I have no idea I haven’t been to a prom before). She had a wide grin on her face, despite not actually having a date for the dance.

“And the prom king is…” Gajeel paused for suspense, “ROGUE CHENEY! We really need to tweak the rules for prom king and queen, we were way too vague with who it could be…” Everyone applauded as Rogue went up and stood next to Lucy, grinning with tears in his eyes and a meow caught in his throat as he felt the heavy crown lowered onto his head, he glanced over at Lucy, both were blushing, Gajeel looked over to Erza and whispered, “What now?”

Erza shrugged “I don’t know, maybe make them walk down the middle of the crowd?”

Gajeel shrugged, “Sounds good to me. Alright! Everybody make way for the King and Queen of Prom!”

Everyone awkwardly made space for the two of them to walk down the middle  as some romantic piano music played. Rogue was very confused as to why it couldn’t have been Sting who was prom king with him, 2 kings walking hand in hand, sex with a man, etc. But he walked with Lucy, who linked arms with him, just like they had practised together. He actually kinda enjoyed her company, if it weren’t for Sting she might even be a good partner for him-

“GAJEEL LOOK OUT!”  Erza called out, Everyone turned to face the stage and Gajeel lay on the floor, face down with a knife in his back. Gajeel was dead. Things had changed.

To be continued (someday)

(Authors note 2: I still know barely anything about fairy Tail, but I'd like to think that Gajeel and erza are (or would be) total bros with eachother, just the vibe I get. A sort of drinking buddy dynamic but healthier if you get what i mean. If i'm wrong do tell me)

[lola-theshowgrl]

"Star-Crossed Blades" - Writing Update #3

Month: February Stage: First draft Word Count: 14,287 Currently Listening To: "Meet Me In The Woods" - Lord Huron Beverage: Spanish latte Mood: Sleepy

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for the outpouring of support and excitement for "Star-Crossed Blades" and for taking the time to read my little updates each week! It's such a boost to know there's any interest at all, and I really appreciated all the feedback, advice, and suggestions after last week's post. I'm checking out some options to be able to post serialised chapters of the first draft for those who are interested, so watch this space!

I've finished chapter three now, and given that I'm in the very unusual position of having a fairly detailed outline for this book, I suspect it's going to be getting on for about 150k words by the time I'm finished. You know me, I live for a slow burn! I know this is technically "too long" a book for the genre I write, but I know from past experience that paying too much attention to these sort of things can cut the heart out of a story. In the end, I'm here for the love of writing, and I've taken the executive decision to do whatever I want. I'm not one for arbitrary rules at the best of times (it's the *autism* lol) particularly not when it comes to writing, but I feel like that's a whole other post all by itself.

Speaking of other posts, I've been thinking about other things I could write about here. I enjoy the updates, and I mean to do them fairly frequently, but at some point I suspect it's going to get boring. (I'm also in something of a reading slump just now, so no book reviews coming up for a bit, unfortunately!)

I was very inspired by my good friend, @rachelillustrates artist and author of the amazing webcomic "Tock The Gnome" which you should absolutely go check out if you enjoy unique fantasy settings and beautiful artwork. Anyway, she does a weekly series of posts that I enjoy called "World Building Wednesday" which is exactly what it sounds like, and is a lovely way to dive into the lore of her world! (Seriously, go read it! The art is stunning, the story is magic, and she's a lovely person!)

I don't have her dedication and skills, of course, but I did think that if there was interest, maybe every so often I could make a post about the worldbuilding in Vadramia - what do you think? Would anyone be interested in that?

To be honest, I really want you guys to be involved in what I'm up to, and I'm so excited for this project, so any excuse to talk about it with you will be fun. I'm open to suggestions on what you'd like to see, but equally if you're happy with me just coming here each week to update on progress, I can keep doing that. Honestly, I'm just glad you're here!

[amemoryofwot]

In regards to WoT show Liandrin I think there's a certain point where a character in a show needs to portray concepts that are otherwise lore or exposition. Like, the writers didn't do so much with her because they think she's Super Neat in the books or something, but because as a relatively one noted early intro character she's in a convenient place to tackle some Stuff onto. Some examples I can think of are:

The Vileness - as this is like one of my personal fave WoT topics I YELLED at her intro in the very first episode. It's the Vileness!!! She's hunting down and Gentling men unsanctioned without a trial! She only has Reds with her there, and it's so completely different to the procedure for Logain where she has the Greens. She even put them into a position where they felt they had to Gentle Logain early, I maintain that she slipped that shield for a fraction of a second.

The ability of the Black Ajah to lie - The rewatchability of the show remains peak, it's super fun to see all the places she's definitely lying, bringing into play that hidden Black Ajah wild card of Being Able to Say Anything. Again, the first intro scene, where the critics were so pressed she misrepresented the taint. Ah yes, famously man hating Black Ajah Liandrin just might have something to say about that, yeah.

The unnaturally long lifespan of a channeler in relation to others - Watching your child age and die is a pretty horrific consequence of this, and one example is enough to explain why none of the other women have children either. This does get verbalized in the books but again showing examples is going to be more impactful in a visual medium than someone saying it out loud.

Black Ajah recruitment - I don't know whether she truly thought she would get Nynaeve as a Black, certainly at least she thought she could argue her into the Red (why Heal the aftereffects when you can go after the cause?) but it does show there is a recruitment process involved. Albeit in the books it seems to be limited to capturing a person and demanding they swear to the Dark or they will be killed, the show has at least tried to provide some hot nuance with Liandrin, Min, Dana, etc. You can argue RJ had some clear cut ideas of what made a Darkfriend (petty, selfish, etc) but these are human emotions in general, the world for the most part isn't divided into a subsection of Bad People that only have these emotions. Plus some of RJ's ideas of what a Good Person is (namely, self-sacrificing) isn't always, uh, good.

The general idea that Darkfriends may appear helpful or good, but have a secret agenda - when the eps first came out there was a lot of pushback that Liandrin got some of Siuan's scenes. I think this was all to entirely sell us on Liandrin is On Our Side Actually, because in the book it is actually hilarious how Min's like "hey gang I have a bad feeling" and then Liandrin shows up out of nowhere to whisk them away. Plus the scene with the sword and wrapping them up in Air and stuff is not really a great look. It was enough to seem like she's trying to help, but coming across in a really traumatic way that on hindsight of the betrayal makes it even more abusive. Now, we are constantly suspicious that other Aes Sedai may end up being secret Blacks

That the Forsaken have different agendas, and use Darkfriends to implement them - using one single character like Liandrin and shunting her from Ishamael to Lanfear (and ultimately to Moghedien) helps illustrate how the Forsaken work without giving away too many secret identities.

Anyways that's the one's I can think of now. Again truly the show is so efficient with its writing, practically every line has some lore or foreshadowing or twist to it, and expanding on these honestly somewhat flat characters is a really effective way to illustrate these concepts.

[syrupmap]

I have been thinking about this for months. And now this post is popping up in my reblogs again. So I thought I'd write down some of my thoughts on this.

For his sixth birthday, (this might have been just after his mother died) little Benton wanted to play in the mud with a toy bulldozer. But he got a book. Was he even able to read at six? Did he at least get a book with fun pictures?

For his seventh birthday, he asked for a go-kart. Instead, he might have gotten Huckleberry Finn. For his eighth, he asked for a Johnny Seven. Maybe he got On Civil Disobedience or The Little Prince. At nine, he just wanted a guppy. He could have been handed On The Rights of Men or To Kill a Mockingbird instead. When he turned eleven, he probably put another book in his toy box and realized it didn’t contain a single toy at all.

Just books. Seditious reading material he calls it. So, banned books? Revolutionary manifestos? Things too big for the mind of a boy who's not even a teenager but given to him anyway, because his grandmother decided he didn’t need to play. He needed to learn.

And it’s sort of funny until you picture it... A little boy sitting on the floor, turning The Social Contract over in his hands, wondering if he should rip up the papers and fold them into a model airplane.

A kid who never crashed a go-kart and got scrapes and bruises, never launched a plastic missile from a Johnny Seven while dramatically yelling and fake dying. Who would he even fake go to war against? He never named a guppy something ridiculous and cried when it died (but Benton, one single guppy? In a traveling library in the freezing cold? I must agree with his grandmother on this one).

Little kid Benton wanted to play and was told, no, you get this instead.

But the person who did this to him wasn’t cruel. She was trying to make him strong, heroic, like she was. When a fire surrounded her schoolhouse, she waded into a freezing river, held onto a burning tree, and kept the children alive. The heat melted her hair and burned her skin, but she didn’t let go.

She raised him to hold on, no matter how much it burned. And now, years later, here he is, in the middle of City Hall, filibustering into the night, gripping that podium like it's the last tree standing in a fire, refusing to sit down, refusing to shut up, because this is what she taught him to do.

And maybe she was right. Maybe the books were exactly what he needed. Maybe they made him the kind of man who could stand alone in a room full of power and not blink. They made him into a hero.

But that boy with no toys is still in there, somewhere. And he never learned how to let go.

“I never give up, it's not in my nature.”

This also made me think about his Christmases. And how he didn't really get to spend a lot of time with his dad. And how that also shaped him. And about how he's even a bit too intense for Bob Fraser. How his dad is proud of him, but also finally sees what this has done to his son (the branch that cannot bend must break).

Bob: So what are you hoping to get these wise men to do?

Fraser: Their duty.

Bob: Theirs or yours? You know, son, not everyone thinks the way you think, not everyone has your dedication, your commitment, your, your, well, frankly, your rigidity.

Fraser: I'm only doing what you taught me.

Bob: Well I've learned a few things since I died.

Fraser: Such as?

Bob: Well, I wish I'd spent more Christmases with you. And the branch that cannot bend must break.

---

Fraser: Ray, just think about it, two good men, one who should be accorded the respect due his age, one little more than a boy. They are frightened. They're frightened and ashamed. And they've good reason to be frightened. They don't think they can stand up to the Warfields of this world. Well I can. And I will.

---

Fraser: Do you think I'm being selfish and single-minded?

Bob: Oh, you're more than that son. You're obsessive, overbearing, possibly even arrogant.

Fraser: Well, thanks a lot dad, that makes me feel a whole lot better.

Bob: But you've been right.

Benton Fraser's birthday wish list

Age 6: toy bulldozer

Age 7: go cart

Age 8: Johnny 7

Age 9: guppy

Received: the most seditious reading material available through mail order

[neige-leblanche]

no bc using laundry machines is a level 3 task & needs a level 6 task to even my concentration out to a clean 9 but audiobooks are a level 4 task which only adds up to 7 so im gonna get distracted........

[xxplastic-cubexx]

cant stop thinkin bout charles and erik readin together on the couch but instead of reading with him charles is listening to eriks thoughts while he reads. Live mind commentary ……..

[deoidesign]

I met the me who made different choices

[vynnyal]

Making content for all 5 tcf fans out there

Bonus:

[kanerallels]

(rant incoming)

[icewindandboringhorror]

I've referenced before how I have a big google document to keep track of every media I've ever seen in my entire life (just for reference because I like to track everything possible lol… I am the Data Collector), but recently as I was updating it, I thought of actually evaluating them to find out random percentages (like for example, out of Total Shows Watched, what percentage did I finish vs. stop watching, what percentage did I like or dislike, etc.)...

Evaluating these things is made easier by the fact that I already place everything on each subsection of the list into 6 broad ranking categories, so I don't have to go back and guess to figure out how I feel about them or anything. The categories are: Ranking 5 - overall best* (despite some criticisms of course because I'm too much of an Analyzer to ever find anything Perfect lol) Ranking 4 - more positive than neutral, but not good enough to be 5 Ranking 3 - either the good + bad negate each other, OR it's just not memorable/interesting in any way enough to be ranked higher or lower (this is the Default category ALL things are placed in if no other rank applies) Ranking 2 - maybe a few redeemable elements but largely more negatives than positives Ranking 1 - So bad that it circles around to being fascinating to observe in some way (not necessarily Funny, or Good, but just interesting somehow) Ranking 0 - Bad in a genuinely frustrating or obnoxious manner

*("best" primarily defined here as most interesting, rather than most good in a technical sense, or some other measure. I tend to value more highly whether there's something novel or thoughtful about the worldbuilding, tone, writing, base premise, etc - than about whether it's actually executed perfectly.)

And here's the amount of shows that have so far been placed into each category -

TV shows ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 20 shows ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 28 shows ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 114 shows ~ Rank 2 (mid low) -33 shows ~ Rank 1 (low low but intriguingly so) - 14 shows ~ Rank 0 (iredeemably low) - 2 shows

This would make for a total of 211 TV shows overall. However, there are 57 shows within these list marked as "didn't finish" (typically meaning I quit on the very first or second episode - but log them still to keep a record that I at least had a brief view of them).

So my total of genuinely fully watched shows would be more 154. 211 Total, but a More Accurate Total of 154.

Counting them all and using the Total Number Of The List (211) -- that means roughly 9.5% of all total shows I have ever watched (or at least attempted to watch) have been Mostly Good, 13% have been Moderately Okay, 54% have been either entirely Forgettable or some mix of good + bad that lands them right in the Neutral Middle, 15.6% have been Mostly Bad, 6.6% have been Bad (but in an interesting way), and 0.9% have been Terribly Bad.

Additionally, I didn't even get past the first two episodes of about 27% of the total.

Sooo, discounting ones I didn't finish, my total TV shows ever watched in my life would be about 154 (maybe give or take a few, assuming I might have forgotten some from very long ago).

But instead of entire life, let's just say this is the total for 'About 20 Years' (so, not counting very early childhood when I likely wouldn't remember things I saw/have no detailed recollection of them (like for example, I'm sure at some point when I was like 4yrs old I must have seen an episode of Spongebob or something, but I have zero distinct memories of it, can't quote anything of it, and barely recall the premise - so I don't count it on the list, etc.)).

In that case, 154 divided by 20 would be roughly 7.7 shows a year.

Which is actually surprisingly low considering that I often have stuff on in the background for hours whilst I make sculptures and do costumes and stuff (maybe I should have also marked some distinction between 'things I fully paid attention to' and 'things I kind of half listened to whilst sculpting', but that would further split the categories too much probably lol), but I guess a lot of that is youtube videos or random documentaries, so .. eh.. maybe I get it being lower.

Now, doing the same thing for movies-

Movies ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 4 movies (3.4% of total) ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 12 movies (10.3% of total) ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 91 movies (78.4% of total) ~ Rank 2 (mid low) - 8 movies (6.8% of total) ~ Rank 1 (low but interesting) - 1 movie (0.8% of total) ~ Rank 0 (irredeemably low) - none in this category (0%)

That makes 116 for a Total (Actually Remembered) Movies Watched In Lifetime (Or At Least In 20 Years).

116 divided by 20 is roughly 5 or 6 movies a year (I feel this has probably been skewed though by adding everything since like elementary school onwards, as I remember a lot more movies from child/teen years.. Whereas, the past 3 years I feel like I've barely seen maybe even 5 movies?? lol). I also have "Didn't Finish" marked on 18 of them. Which means I quit halfway through about 15% of the total movies.

So, a for broader summary stuff..

I seem to be less forgiving to movies than tv shows, by far. Which makes sense to me, I guess, because I love elaboration and details, so "short form" things that only last an hour or two are often lost on me a bit. My biggest complaint with movies is indeed usually walking away just wishing there had been more exposition, more scenes where characters are doing nothing, more "mindless bantering" conversations, more Quiet Downtime and Lore Elaboration and so on lol, so... of course most 1-2hr films end up feeling a bit Not Enough To Draw My Interest/Nothingy to me.

If you count 5 and 4 as "like" and rankings 2 to 0 as "dislike", then for TV shows I at least somewhat liked 48 of them, and at least somewhat disliked 47 of them.. So it's almost exactly the same lol. I'm just about equally as likely to find something bad as I am to find something redeeming about it. But overall, the largest chance is that I just won't really care much for it at all and it will be tossed into the 'neutral' pile, forgotten forever. Movies have a bit better of a balance, "liking" 16 of them, and "disliking" only 9 of them. So I'm slightly more likely to enjoy a movie than to find it annoying - though still VASTLY more likely to just not find it anything in particular, possibly not even finishing it.

ANYWAY.. this is vague and literally pointless, but like I said, I just really find information fun. Like my document where I've rated every apple flavor I've ever tried (like 40 of them now?), or reviewed every oreo flavor (32?), or ranking data from my entire 10 years of Trying To Make Friends process (out of 100 people, roughly 8% chance of a moderate compatibility, 3% chance of high), or etc. etc.. I love to have random pointless things to analyze I suppose lol.

I doubt anyone tracks things in their life in this same exact way, but I'd be interested in hearing any at least somewhat similar data !!! (like, how many TV shows you watch a year on average, and what percentage of those you like vs. dislike (if you keep track of that sort of thing), etc.)). I guess it might be easier with movies, since I think some people use those websites where you curate a list of movies you've seen and you can rate them or something, so maybe the numbers are already available on those places. :0

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

NaNo 2024: Victory!!

Hello, world, here's my tidied desk in the aftermath of FINISHING ANOTHER BOOK!!! It took me EXACTLY four (4) pens this year (I was literally writing my wrap-up stats in the back of the notebook when the in on the last one started to go!), on 82 pages across two (2) notebooks, and preliminary* word count is 71,541!! (*subject to change once typed--I count by hand and tweak as I type haha.)

Also featuring: the NaNo Earrings, Volumes 2 and 3 of the Bitch Journal (where I whine about writerly things and also Reflect On My Process--I learned very much this year and got a lot of dopamine from it!!), the tiny watch that kept me company in my tertiary writing space, the earplugs that made working at home Tolerable (mostly), and some of the frantic scribbles on scrap paper (I got a LOT of mileage out of a dead receipt that Panera misprinted for me lol).

Now, onward to TYPING!! I would love for this not to take most of December, so I'll probably have more Unhinged Goals About That (I don't know why I am the way that I am), but! The hard part is done!!