#Bundle specialises

[utterlyotterlyx]

Worthy

Azriel x Fem!Reader

Summary - After a hard day, all you need is your mate to tell you that everything is going to be okay.

Warnings - angst, self hatred, self doubt, blood, brief details of childbirth, death, fluff

For my lovely @thisiskaylin - hope this makes you feel better x

Blood.

There was blood everywhere. All over your hands, spatters on your face and neck, it clung to you like a disease.

It was meant to be worth it.

One more push, you would tell them. One more push and you get to see your beautiful baby. Just one more and it'll all be over and you can go home and raise your perfect little baby.

Just one more push.

The child wriggled in your arms, you had bundled the winged babe up in grey blanket, protecting him from the scene in front of him. A non-Illyrian woman lay before you unmoving, tears rolling down her face, fingers outstretched toward you with a vacant look in her eye. And there was blood everywhere.

Amalia had been one of your favourite patients in your career, full of life and wonder, kind and sweet and soft, she was made to be a mother. Every visit had been so positive, you had no reason to believe that she wouldn't make it. Amalia was strong and healthy, she should have made it. You had promised her it would all be alright.

But blood at pooled at her thighs, staining her cream coloured birthing gown, she had gone pale and sweaty and her lips had turned blue. The rapid rise and fall of her chest confirmed it, that she wasn't going to make it, and there was nothing your healing hands could do to stop it.

"Please. Let me see him," she had rasped to you and you sat beside her, lowering her babe to her face and letting her shaky fingers tug down at the neck of the bundle to see his face. "So beautiful."

Tears pricked your eyes, "You did so well, Amalia."

Amalia peered up at you, her icy blue eyes softening at your face, she had always called you an angel, "I did?"

Choking back tears, you ran your fingers through her lifeless blonde waves, a comforting gesture, to let her know she wasn't alone, "So well," you confirmed, "You have to name him."

"A name," her voice was fleeting, drifting away into the wind, carried by the coaxing breeze floating through the slightly ajar window, "Amias. Eternal love."

"Amias," you turned you gaze to the bubbling boy in your arms and smiled, brushing your fingers against his full cheeks, "It's perfect, Amalia. It's-" but you couldn't finish your sentence, not when you turned back to her and saw nothing, no rise and fall of her chest, just vacant tearful eyes and pale sweaty skin.

It was always a danger you had faced, losing a mother to the complications that came with bearing an Illyrian child, a thing you knew all too well from birthing Nyx. It was your specialised field of mastery, the birthing of Illyrian babes, you had saved many that would not have stood a chance without you. You were a miracle to them, even the males at Windhaven had come to treat you with kindness, it wasn't often that they were thought of, and you made them feel cared for.

The room was solemn. The team of midwives that accompanied you to all of the births you attended worked slowly and respectfully, draping the thin cloth of her bed sheet over her face after washing her skin softly with lavender soaped sponges all whilst you rocked and cooed the innocent motherless child into slumber. Handing the small thing over to one of your midwives, you sniffled, you went to wipe your face with your sleeve but froze when you saw the blood trailing up your arms and let out a small sob in response.

There was only one thing, one person, that would be able to fix you.

Windhaven was a place that Azriel hated you going to.

There was no doubt in his mind that you were the most extraordinary thing on the planet, but sometimes he wished that you had chosen a different specialty in your healing career. One that didn't make you feel so small, one that made you happy.

He knew something had gone wrong when he had sent a questioning love down the bond for it only to collide with a rock solid wall of iron clad fury. The bond only went silent when something was wrong. Every patient of yours was a friend, it was hard for people not to adore you, so it hurt you more when they left the world.

Footsteps scuffed up the pavement outside of your shared home and Azriel heard you sigh deeply before the handle turned and you stepped in.

The room was as it always was. Books, some medical and some historical, splayed across the coffee table, a fire dancing at the forefront of the room cascading the space in a golden glow, and two mugs of tea, one of which had long since had gone cold, on the side tables by your assigned spaces on the deep cobalt love seat.

Azriel scanned you for but a second before throwing his body over the edge of the seat and rushing to you. There was blood coating you, from your skirt up to your hair, your eyes were shocked and vacant, your lips were chapped and your cheeks were red and puffy. You had been crying.

Being no stranger to blood, Azriel took your hands in his and lifted them to his chest so that you could feel his heartbeat, so that you could centre yourself and bring your consciousness back to the land of the living. Then your gaze turned to him and your chest dropped, and Azriel knew what had happened, "Amalia?"

Shaking your head, you choked, "She didn't make it," tears pooled in your eyes and your face crumpled, "I promised her that she'd make it. There was no reason why she shouldn't have. I've been doing so well with the prenatal visits and the vitamins and the tonics, and she just," a sob broke through, "She just died."

Azriel ran his hands down the side of your face and continued to listen to your words, "What kind of healer am I if I can't save a woman, my friend, from the risks of childbirth? The risks I have dedicated my career to avoid? I've left a child without a mother, Az," you peered up at him, tears streaking down your face, collecting blood on their descent, "I'm a monster."

Unknowingly, you opened your side of the bond, and Azriel was flooded with your grief and anguish, your self loathing and doubt, and your all-consuming worthlessness, "Look at me, y/n. Look at me," he pulled your focus and smiled softly at you.

Azriel adored everything about you, but more than anything, he adored your kind soul and caring heart. You were the most magnificent thing he had ever come across.

The bond had snapped for him when he had been badly injured and Rhys had stormed into your little apartment above the pharmacy with Azriel strung over his shoulder. Despite your messy hair and askew nightgown, you worked endlessly to bring Azriel back from the brink, he truly believed he had entered heaven that day and that you were the one to guide him to the light.

He didn't realise that heaven could exist on earth until he met you.

It had taken months for you to release the bond between you, you were a busy thing, always researching and working on ways to save people from some of the most unavoidable events of life. One being childbirth. But during one certain sunset, when the sun was low and the sky was painted in pink and gold, did you feel that golden thread snap into place. Since then, you had been inseparable. He was your rock, the only one who could smash your soul into pieces and the only one who could put you back together, and you were his sunshine and rain, the only one who could cause him any real pain, but the only one who could clear his darkness and bring him into the light.

"None of the women you have saved would have stood a chance without you," blood covered your face like dirt, dusting but prominent, and your eyes were brimming with exhaustion, "I know it's hard, and that you feel worthless and like you're failing. But none of the women in this court could have survived without you, you are an angel, you have saved so many mothers and children that our study is bursting with gifts and flowers," you strained a smile, "I know that Amalia was your friend, I'm so sorry that you lost her, I know how much you wanted her to live."

"As much as we want to, we can't save everyone, y/n. All we can do is seek to save the next, to give another person a chance of a full beautiful life just like ours."

The obsession of non-Illyrian mothers had grown since you had accepted the bond with Azriel, you had never directly voiced why, but he knew you were trying to find a way for yourself to survive if the time ever came when you would carry his child. It was heart breaking to see it, to see you lose a patient and feel your own soul hang in the balance. It was heart breaking to know that you saw yourself as Amalia, broken and bloody and alone.

It had always been something you had wanted with him, a child of your own, with little black wings and shadows curling around him just like Az's. But you also wanted to live to see him grow. You weren't an Illyrian, which meant that you too were at risk of facing the same fate as Amalia's.

The fear in your eyes broke him.

"You are so worthy, so talented and determined that you put all of us to shame. You are the light of the Night Court, I'm just lucky that I get to bask in it daily. No wonder everyone is jealous that I get to call you my mate," a soft grin formed on his lips at your whispering giggle and he took your face in his hands, allowing his shadows to curl around your forearms and sooth the raging sadness within you, "I love you, y/n. I'm in awe of you every day. It's not easy to do what you do, to fall in love with the idea of saving people and breaking when the Mother decides to take one away. But it doesn't make you any less worthy or loved. You were put on this earth for a reason, to save people, and you will continue to do that because you are y/n, and you are my mate, and you wouldn't be you if you didn't. You save me everyday and you don't even know it."

The room had grown lighter, and the all-consuming anguish that had flowed down the bond had shifted, "Thank you," your eyes flickered across his face and your shoulders dropped.

Azriel tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear and sighed, taking you in his arms and holding you tightly against his chest, "Let's get you in a bath, hm?" he pulled away and looked down on you, tilting his head and drinking in your radiant beauty despite the sadness and stains on your skin, "Then I'm going to brush your hair and hold you and kiss you until you fall asleep, and then tomorrow, you save another life."

Nodding, you exhaled shakily, pulling him back to you as he went to lead you to the bathroom upstairs, no doubt to the already full tub that was big enough for both of you, he gazed at you in question, with a furrowed brow and fingers interlinked with your own, "I love you, you know that, don't you?"

The desperation in his voice made him want to scoop you up in his arms and show you exactly how much he adored you, but you were hurting, and you needed him in a wholly different way, "I know. I love you too. So much. Let's go and soak okay? I'll tell you who Nyx said was his favourite..."

Light beamed in your eyes and you wilfully allowed your body to be pulled by Azriel's grip, "If it's Cassian, I will riot."

The rest of the evening was spent in his arms, his fingers massaging your scalp and shoulders, wrapping around you and his lips pressing into the curve of your shoulder. Azriel brushed your hair, his touch so gentle and his shadows peppering their love for you across your face. And as you drifted into slumber, the symphony of your dreams were set by Azriel's voice, a low and sultry sound, reading to you, his fingers running through your hair and lips pressing into your hair line.

Not once did he take his hands off of you. Not once did he stop muttering how loved you were. And you knew that as long as he was by your side, you were invincible.

[frehyun]

In Sickness

hyunjin x gn!reader x changbin

warnings: none!

genre: sick fic, fluff

word count: 956

author's note: i'm sick as hell with the flu so this is pretty self-indulgent. i hope it's coherent because my brain is just as foggy, but i really wanted to write something while i can't work on other things that require a bit more brain power🥹 hope you enjoy, feel free to let me know what you think! 💗

masterlist

divider by @firefly-graphics

Being sick was the worst.

Your nose was clogged up, your throat felt weird, raw and scratchy, your voice came out weird every time you tried to talk and your head was pounding from all the sniffing, your brain a foggy mess, making it difficult to focus on the most mundane tasks.

Seeing as you couldn’t even finish one of the tasks you had set out to do for the day, you grew frustrated and groaned loudly, attracting one of your boyfriends who trudged through the apartment to your room to see what was wrong.

“What’s got you so worked up, baby?” – came Changbin’s voice from your doorframe as he leaned against it, a concerned frown gracing his face.

“I can’t even finish this thing that I wanted to finish writing. This sucks” – you pouted and made grabby hands at him.

Changbin sighed and took a few steps towards you before enveloping you into a tight hug, his big and strong arms feeling like a safe haven around you. Luckily, both of your boyfriends had already given in to physical contact with you, reasoning that if they were going to get sick, it was probably already too late anyways, so might as well not deprive you of cuddles in these trying times.

“How about you stop for today, I’ll make you a tea and tell Hyunjin to bring some snacks on his way home and we’ll just relax tonight and binge a series? Hm?”

You noticeably perked up at the suggestion, making Changbin slightly chuckle above you as he rubbed your back soothingly.

“Can I choose?”

“Hey, I’m in the minority anyways, you and Hyunjin always immediately agree when it comes to choosing what to watch” – he shrugged and scooped you out of your chair and up into his arms, easily carrying you to the living room where he placed you softly into the corner of your couch. He tucked you in before leaving to the kitchen, phone in hand to order Hyunjin around.

As he disappeared into the other room of your apartment, you sighed and sank further into the blankets and cushions surrounding you. You felt truly blessed to have not only one but two very attentive and sweet boyfriends. It quite honestly made you a little emotional, your already exhausted body wanting to tear up at the thought of two people you loved taking such sweet care of you.

You rubbed at your eyes before the tears threatening to spill over were able to escape down your cheeks and instead focused on browsing through the available shows for later.

Changbin came back in with two steaming mugs that he set on the coffee table in front of you, retreating quickly to get a third one that finds its home beside the other two. You giggled at his choice of mugs, each one being a specialised one that was specifically made with one of you in mind.

Changbin’s had a big Dwaekki on it doing deadlifts, surrounded by many, many hearts drawn by you and Hyunjin respectively.

Hyunjin’s had Jiniret drawing a beautiful bouquet of flowers, also surrounded by many hearts from you and Changbin

And yours had a cat on it, similar to Jiniret and Dwaekki, holding up a pen and paper and looking real smug about it. Of course, you also had your fair share of hearts drawn by both of your boyfriends surrounding the kitty.

The sight made you smile, seeing the mugs together like this. This time, however, you couldn’t catch your tears before they fell, alarming Changbin who was immediately at your sight.

“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

His hands hovered over your bundled up form, not wanting to accidentally cause any further pain. You felt kind of embarassed for bursting out into tears like this randomly, hastily shaking your head.

“No… Just overwhelmingly happy and touched, I guess?”

The visible confusion crossing over Changbin’s face wasn’t lost on you and you chuckled at the sight.

“I’m sick and you’re dropping everything to take care of me… Makes me feel so many things.”

At that, his gaze softened and he allowed himself to sit down next to you, caressing your thigh.

“Of course we would, you’ve done it countless times for us as well, angel.”

A short while later Hyunjin arrived at home with several bags hanging off his body.

“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I just got a bunch of stuff!”

“That’s way too much.”

“You know I snack, they won’t go bad under my watch” – he grinned and plopped down on your other side, so he had one entire half of you for himself.

Not too long into the first episode of the drama you chose, Hyunjin clung to you like a koala as you leaned against Changbin’s shoulder, pressing his plush lips into your shoulder every now and then to reaffirm his presence beside you.

For the third time that day, you were close to crying. The warmth that spread throughout your body from being squished between your two boyfriends, one offering his strong and steady shoulder for you to rest your head on while the other acted like your personal weighted and heated blanket, made you want to cry.

Truly, what did you do to deserve the two of them?

Sniffing, you nuzzled further into Changbin’s shoulder and moved your body around, so Hyunjin could lie directly on top of you. You put your arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer into your embrace, breathing his calming scent in as you grew tired.

If this is what being sick looked like with Changbin and Hyunjin by your side, you think you could survive the foggy brain for a few more days.

[wolf-among-mechs]

I think something has to be said about mech-techs because they come in different breeds just as mechwarriors and mechs themselves.

You got your rank and file army mech-techs. They typically work with stock models and pre-arranged configurations for omnis. Practising and drilling it in until they can do it in their sleep while under and on fire without missing a beat. The same goes for a repair. They know where everything goes in the hunk of junk and can service with precision. Most of the lower rungs are people who can barely remember to breathe but can lift and hold things. Typically, you get some senior techs that have brains and can give recommendations of field refits. The dread variant is the ones who know they are too competent to be fired and leverage that against mechwarriors and senior officers.

Mercenary mech-techs are space wizards in that they usually care for and manage highly specialised machines that only sometimes resemble the original mech. Cables and ammofeed systems have been rerouted, assembled, moved, and re-used for another system. A melange of disparate systems that have all the cooperative abilities of fussy babies past naptime. That somehow, against all odds in a way barely they comprehend, works. So, of course, they will be a bit upset if you lose the machine. Or blow it up or... you know. All the things a mercenary can mess up a mech with. Dumbest thing I heard was leaving it overnight in a bar and having the darn thing stolen by some space hicks. Also if something is stupid or does not work with a mech design you had in mind. They are going to hit you with clipboards.

Clan technicians are made to serve without question, and they are good at it. Good at repairing, realigning omnis, and working really hard, they seem able to work more than twenty-four hours a day. They will do whatever you tell them to without hesitation. Even if you mutter something from a fever pitched dream of a Wimber Tolf, a mad cat with the rocket pods in the arms and the lasers in the shoulders. They will do it. The only thing they will say something about is a tonnage mismatch. Terrific at maintaining equipment and weapons. But also, they will not do something unless you order them first. Often working on whatever the highest ranking warrior told them to do last.

Then you have the periphery mech-techs. People who own welders and plasma cutters and a bit of elbow grease and a resume so filled with lies it may just qualify as a politician's speech. They can bolt anything to a mech. Heck they will bolt anything to mech. Weld it there. The rust bucket mechs they get in the periphery are usually hardy enough that they can hold up to their creativity. Leading to maddening makeshift designs at times. The ones who figure out mechs at least a bit graduate and begin to staple them together. Creating franken mechs. Things that moves that should not. Piles of ferro-metal slabs of armour and myomer that shamble in open defiance of logic. Still you got to admire that somebody thought to string things together. And make it work.

Of course, you have a bundle of mechtechs that break out of these molds and find their own way. As people do. But they are less seen behind the moneymakers, the flash, and the glamour of the mechwarriors. But in the end, it does not really matter what kind of mechtech you are or if you are a mechwarrior. We are all happy deep down when we get back the mechbay alive. Ideally, with a mech, but sometimes you might not. In those moments, just remember it is a whole lot easier to rebuild a mech than it is to rebuild a life.

[romcomxdd]

i just saw twisters so now i’m continuing on from this post i made and turning it into a twisters au-

Long story short the previous post was an AU where Bradley never joined the Navy. Instead he became a Wilderness EMT. (in the post jake’s still a pilot but i’m changing that now).

One day Bradley and his team get called to Oklahoma, where a once in a lifetime tornado week was in full swing. High levels of casualties were expected and the government had been struggling to provide for the influx of people loosing everything. Oklahoma’s emergency services were already thinly spread over the state and they needed teams who were more specialised, Bradley’s team were the obvious choice.

Anyway, in the aftermath of the first tornado, Bradley’s right in the middle of the destroyed town, providing emergency medical aid to whoever he can.

As he finishes cleaning up one patient, a figure pushes a young girl toward him. The girl was clutching her wrist gingerly, and Bradley got to work quickly. A few moments later he realises that the figure was still standing over him and the EMT glances up. In front of him was no other than, self labeled tornado wrangler and youtube sensation, Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin. Of course Bradley didn’t recognise him, he wasn’t really one for youtube.

‘You okay there?’ Bradley asked with a raised eyebrow and the man seems to squirm under his hat.

‘Mhmmm,’ The cowboy nodded and glances at the girl. ‘Just wanted to make saw she was okay.’

Bradley shrugged, ‘well she’s in safe hands, we’ll make sure she gets back to her Mama, don’t worry.’

‘Good.’ Jake replied gruffly, wiping his hands on his thighs. ‘Uh-‘

‘Anything else mister?’ Bradley watched him closely, curious as to what was going on.

‘Oh, yeah, no, I’ll uh, see you round.’ He nodded quickly and turned on his heel, striding back toward his crew.

Bradley shrugged it off and continued his work, heading back to his motel late that night, exhausted.

Over the next few days, Bradley and his team were continually the first on site after each tornado hit. And surprise surprise, Jake seemed to be everywhere.

What was a mutual acknowledgment of each others presence became the beginnings of a friendship. Bradley had no clue what Jake was doing there, but he always seemed to be helping, so he didn’t think much of it. Plus he wasn’t bad to look at.

Eventually Bradley noticed the t-shirts, or Jake’s fan club, or the constant filming and that night he spends a good few hours going through his channel. Surprising even himself, Bradley actually enjoyed a few of the videos. Jake was smarter than he let on, he’d give him that. But now he understood why Jake was on scene before the first responders almost every time.

Then on Bradley’s night off he decided to go out for a change and headed to the rodeo. And because fate and the powers that be (aka me) are meddling little shits, Jake and Bradley ended up sitting next to each other.

They get to talking, Bradley explained how he’s from California, and is here for the week for work. Jake told him how he really appreciates Bradley’s work, how it’s important and all that. Of course Bradley’s heard a similar speech many times before, but something about hearing it from Jake feels different. More meaningful, like it carries more weight.

Then the sirens go off and all hell breaks loose.

Sure Bradley’s spent plenty of time around the aftermath of a tornado, but being in one is an entirely different matter. He’s got common sense, of course, and he’s taken plenty of survival courses, he knows the basics, but it’s very different in person to on paper.

Bradley finds himself blindly following Jake, ducking and running, until he spots a mother bundling her child into a car, and clarity hits him. Something that’s been drilled into him for years. Cars aren’t safe. Not in a tornado this strength. Within seconds he’s shouting at the mother, helping her pull her daughter back out and toward the motel, where Jake’s holding the door open.

After an argument with the receptionist that took way too long, they finally managed to hunker down in the empty pool, and waited out the rest of the storm.

By the end of it, Bradley wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to breathe properly again.

When Jake finally gives the all clear and stands up, Bradley can barely pry his fingers from the plumbing. When he does stand up, he’s stiff and sore and the adrenaline was already beginning to disappear.

Jake helps him out of the pool, and he numbly looks around. The sight before him manages to snap him out of his stupor.

The two got to work helping who they could, Jake looking for lost family members, Bradley helping with what first aid that he could before the ambos arrived.

Basically they get together after this at some point- i was gonna write more but it’s 1:40 am and the coffees worn off and i should probably sleep, so enjoy? sorry🥲 i might write more tmrw.

[4denthusiast]

Of the principles in Cultist Simulator, some seem easier than others to get a feeling for what the common thread is meant to be in their themes, and Heart seemed like one of the more confusing to me, but I feel like I have a better idea of it now after having thought about it in the context of literal hearts. I know in theory that the heart is made of a different kind of muscle from the skeletal muscle, and it's specialised to work continuously, but intuitively it feels weird that it never rests. It speeds up and slows down as needed, but it never stops. If you're lucky, your heart may beat continuously for a hundred years, never pausing once in all that time. If it's injured, it just heals while working. If it's not strong enough for the demands placed on it, it gets stronger while working. Normal muscles need a mixture of work and rest to get stronger, but not the heart, or at least not in the same way. If it pauses for just a minute, that's a life-threatening emergency. Occasionally (particularly if I have a blocked nose), I feel tired of breathing, and take a break for half a minute or so. I suppose there are even multiple sets of muscles that work the lungs, so if one can't be used, others can temporarily take over. With the heart that's not an option, it just has to keep going. If you think about all this, does your heart feel tired? Mine does. I assume it's just psychological. They're built for this after all. I can't remember if I've read anything about Heart Longs, but whatever it is they do, it must be exhausting, but perhaps they're built for it too. If Longs even have muscles, are all of a Heart Long's muscles cardiac muscle? I assume percussigants lack the ability to become tired. The heart must work continuously, because its work is the work of staying alive. It isn't the only part of the body with this property, but it is one of the most visible and obvious. This links in to another of the themes of Heart, vitality. Both Heart and Nectar relate to life, but I think a large part of the difference is that Heart is life like warm-blooded animals live it, needing to constantly keep going because if it stops it will never start again, while Nectar relates more to the much more chill lifestyle of plants. Vitality provides the ability to keep going through hardship, but the continuous act of living is also what creates vitality. Joy, too, inspires action over rest. Most of the game's curses can be overcome with Heart. I guess you just need to persevere and outlast them. The principles generally have something a bit creepy about them, something that's just too much. I think this is what that is for Heart, even though it's one of the more overtly positive Principles. Possibly I'm overgeneralising from a few examples. I'm not sure I can actually describe all the other principles this way. Perhaps it's silly to put too much thought into understanding the principle of Heart, given there is no deep truth to be discovered here in real life, it's just a bundle of associations that the authors put together. That doesn't mean it's not something that can be understood though. The games are well-written, with thought put into fitting things together in a way that makes sense.

[ikkosu]

idk if I should make this au a series but here you go <3 (au explanation in the tags bc I don't want to spoil)

mouse-verse IMPASSIVITY is at an all time high. Prowl struggles to ignore the nudge against his ribs. A locked jaw, optics for slits are the best he's got under pressure. Even, better — bared dentas to deter trouble.

But there's something about Bumblebee — that punk is trying his patience, unfazed by the enforcer's abrasive demeanor. He's pushing it. Pushing it hard. Without even a glance, he's sure as Primus's aft a chesire grin is leeching from that face.

"And, what's the status?" His audials picked up on Optimus's voice, a blur of red and blue not too far in the laboratory from where he stood. Prowl straightens. Ah, professional. Be professional. He can't be seen behaving inappropriately.

Then, he hears your voice and loosens visibly.

"Neutral, sir. For now, at least. It'll come round eventually. But I'll try to stabilize it."

Prowl shifts, almost imperceptibly, on his pedes. The scout is now focused on a bubbling flask. A digit out, prodding the capped casing. Phosphorus, Prowl recognizes. Vanilla crystals blossomed at the bottom and explosively so. But he bites back a chastise — if the yellow bug is broken out of his curious stance, Prowl might not be able to grasp this chance to, well, have a look.

So, he tilts his helm and lets his optics skim, much the same as he does when he's scheming — a search for your figure amidst all the beams and laboratory apparatus of the room is discreet.

It was organized, clean. You fixed your workspace often. Adored organizing your paperwork in neat little bundles. He discerned some stacks under your desk with those pastel straps you always hoard from the nearest stationary shops.

That is the decorum, the attitude of a proper soldier. It is what he'd like to see in everyone's workstation. Clean and logically organized.

Once his optics caught your eyes, he swivels away. His doorwings piked up, much to his chagrin. A side periphery of a smile curling your mouth didn't help the flare of warmth prickling the back of his neck , running all the way up to his forehead. His frown becomes all the more apparent.

And, of course bumblebee notices.

"Can it." He grits out before he could say anything else.

Bumblebee just shrugs but the slag-eating grin is still there. "Didn't say I warned ya, buddy."

"Don't call me buddy." He says coldly. " I am not your buddy. I am your commanding officer and you will refer to me properly as such."

"Eugh, leave it for Ironhide to decide. I'm not here on a debate for ranks."He elbows his rib plates with a wag of his brows. "What I'm here for, though...." He trails off, and shimmies a crab dance to block his view.

Prowl grimaces and retaliates by looking above the horns of his head. "Enough. You're making a fool out of yourself." He bares out.

"Oooh. Someone's quite the looker, huh."

"And, you're about to gain a look of a lifetime, through physical means."

"Prowl suggested I seek your advice."

Both bots stiffen at the sound of pedes approaching. The Prime has his servos folded behind his back, hunching, and tilting his helm so he could regard your face. You trotted beside him, a hand shoved into the pocket of your labcoat and the other swiveling a pen.

"Oh, did he?" You stop before the enforcer.

The fat of your cheeks pulled into a smile.

"I did." Prowl clips. "You specialise in force fields — an expertise greatly suitable for that area of predicament."

Bumblebee adds "A great suitor for the other— hrrk!"

Prowl shoves an elbow against his ribs. The yellow bugs keels over, wheezing. Optimus raises an eyebrow. What he thinks of it is left unsaid as he turns to you.

"This won't be too demanding of me?"

"No, not at all." You wave placatingly. "I'm busy but this isn't' something of a problem I can't handle. I'll have the blueprints by dawn."

The Prime pats your shoulder, optics gentle as he heads for the sliding doors. "Have a good evening, mouse."

"You too, sir."

"And, you t—"

Prowl shoves the yellow bug outside, locking the laboratory pad with a few quick punch of his digits for good measure. When he's sure the two silhouettes are gone, he vents through clenched teeth and tries to conceal his irritation. Though, proven futile with how his doorwings twitch.

He's had enough, for today.

"Bothersome?" You mused.

"A work in paradise."

He swivels around and despite the smooth mask he's locked in, almost jumps at your close proximity.You're standing there, chin tilted up — he's already faltering, surprise shown through a quick flick of his doorwings.

"And, you say I'm not so discreet." You make a show of teetering on your toes.

He rolls his optics but complies nonetheless, lowering his helm but not his shoulders. He won't make it easy. No, not too low or you'll get a pass — he wants you to beg for it.

"Terrible." He chuffs. "Of all the soldiers I've assessed, you mouse, are the worst at discretion. Impulsivity seems to be a close friend, for you."

"But what does that make you, then?" Your lips, soft and pliable, are inches away from his chin.

He resist lowering his helm any further. But much to his dismay, Prowl slants his helm, counteracting his locked coding of not caving in.

"Reckless." He breathes out. "Worse than when Smokescreen toddled away with illicit high-grade."

A loose giggle bubbles from your lips, a sweet sound he shamelessly saved in his processors. Though, iritation paints his features when he recognizes the signs. You're deliberately stalling. Deliberately ignoring his advances. He bares his teeth, exasperated at the fact he has to spell it out.

"Kiss me."

"Oh?" You tilt away, a coy playful grin. "Why would I do that, officer when discretion is at play here?"

"Because we're behind closed doors. Because if you dont, you're disobeying a direct command from your superior. And because —" Agitation pulls at his face and digits pinched your chin, pulling you close."— i've missed you."

It's not often he's affectionate. You're always the one pulling the trigger first — but when he does it, you find it oddly endearing of how desperately he wants it.

"Kiss me." He says again.

And, that was enough for you to close the distance. Hands on his shoulder plates as you lean up to catch his lips. Instantly, he melts into your touch, servos gripping your waist.

[behrjbehr]

Sbi au where Philza is a human who specialises in destroying/relocating the supernatural. He’s killed many monsters and demons and adopted two of his own. One late night he get a phone call. The women is screaming about her baby or something? Phil can’t quite make it out.

He lets his wife know that he has to go on call and to watch the boys. As he arrives at the house, there is a pale, shaking woman sitting on the porch steps. He ignores her and enters.

It’s eerily quiet. His footsteps causing the floor to creak as he makes his way though the rooms.

He pauses at the door to a child’s room.

He opens to door and gasps.

Blood red feathers cover the carpet. Scratch’s adorn every wall. And toys lay broken and discarded.

Phil picks up a feather and examines it. It’s a beautiful colour. Bright red and it’s well formed, but damaged. As if someone had ripped it out.

A small sound draws his attention to the cupboard in the corner of the room. A small, quiet squeak. Much like that of a tiny kitten.

He pulls it open and stares down at the thing bundled up in the shirts and jackets.

A crying ball of blood red feathers, the size of a toddler.

A child.

[doyou000me]

Welcometothelairofthebitchking here for the ask game! I'm very curious about the shop at the end 👀

@welcometothelairofthebitchking Hello hello~! Thank you for asking about The Shop and giving me reason to go back and think about this story again!

Both you and @cryingatships asked about The Shop At The End, so I'll give you a snippet here and then for more about the story, you can go over and read the other answer here!

As mentioned, this was supposed to be a fanfic until I decided to not write for that fandom anymore, which is why the main character needs a new name and is now simply called [MC].

The door opened and the bell pinged in the silence of the shop. The breeze swept in from the square outside, rustling the bundles of charms and drying herbs that hung from the beams and stirring a rich, earthy scent of spices and slumbering magic. [MC] looked up from the beginnings of an amulet on the counter - crow feet and raven feathers tied together with a string of human baby teeth - and put on his customer smile.  “Welcome to Aqru, how can I help you?”  [...] “I am looking for a potion ingredient. One that is… hard to come by,” the customer said with a dismissive glance to the carefully packaged ingredients on display.  “Then you have come to just the right place,” [MC] answered, falling into the lilt of sales talk with practised ease. “We specialise in rare ingredients and potions. If I may know what you’re looking for, we might even have it in stock.”  “You won’t.” [MC] widened his smile. “We also take orders, and can procure the most difficult to find ingredients. For a price, of course.”  “It needs to be freshly… harvested,” the man sneered. “We are very experienced in the handling of fresh ingredients, especially the tricky ones.” “It is an organ. Human.”  The man stared [MC] in the eye, clearly expecting a reaction. If he’d taken his request to any other apothecary, he would certainly have gotten it. Selling or brewing with any human ingredient without permission was highly illegal.  But this was not any other apothecary. This was Aqru, and so [MC] gave the man an encouraging nod, smile unfaltering, and said: “Yes?”  The man frowned, lips stretching into a thin line. “A human heart, willingly given,” he spat. “It has to be added to the potion when it beats its last.”  “That is an unusual request,” [MC] said and the man’s sneer twisted triumphantly. “Unusual, but it can be arranged.”  The sneer froze and his eyes bored into [MC]’s. “It… can be arranged?”  “Certainly. It will take time, of course; willingly given parts require careful planning. I would recommend that you come back when the owner has returned. She handles the more… delicate requests.” 

For anyone curious, my WIP list is right here.

[honourablejester]

Starfinder Character Concept: Vercite Ice Trucker

Because I saw an image of a research ship stuck in arctic ice, this island of yellow light amidst black water and white ice, and it reminded me that I love Verces, Starfinder’s tidally locked Pact World whose dark side is an icy industrial hellscape. And I still want my ice trucker, since Xalke turned out more of a stationary industrial worker out on one of the ice rigs. I want a tough little hover trucker making deliveries to the industrial platforms out on the endless midnight ice.

I did want to build this around trucking. Vehicles. The Piloting skill and the Ace Pilot theme. And that suggested a Dex build, so, you know. Let’s go Operative. For fun points, Operative actually has a Driver specialisation, so yeah. That fits nicely. And then I just had to decide her race, and …

Did you know Space Goblins get racial bonuses to Engineering, Survival and Stealth? Because they’re tough, scrappy little buggers who are used to roughing it out in the holes and garbage pits where other species are disinclined to venture. And, like. Who takes a shitty job that nobody wants, driving out alone onto vast icy hellscapes where no one wants to be? A goblin, is who.

I did, mind you, also consider a dwarf. Because dwarves just feel like science fantasy truckers. But I think goblin wins here.

Character Concept: Girta Highhands, Vercite Ice Trucker

Name: Girta Highhands

Age: 34

Starting Statistics:

Strength 10, Dexterity 16, Constitution 14, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 12, Charisma 9

Starting Skills:

Ranks in: Acrobatics, Athletics, Computers, Culture, Engineering, Medicine, Perception, Sleight of Hand, Stealth

Specialisation Skills (Skill Focus plus auto rank per level): Piloting, Survival

Skill Bonuses: +2 to Engineering, Stealth & Survival (Goblin Scrounger feat), +1 Piloting (Ace Pilot), +3 to Piloting & Survival (Skill Focus), +1 to everything (Operatives Edge)

Race: Space Goblin

Starfinder goblins are stowaways and scavengers and clever little buggers who eked out a whole civilisation for themselves in the maintenance ducts and mechanised bowels of other species’ homes. They’re tough, smart, tenacious little buggers, and they go where they’re not wanted, and they stubbornly survive regardless. Not even necessarily out of spite, but just because what? This is liveable. Y’all don’t like it down here? I love them. Them and ysoki fill a particular niche for me.

And I do like the Scrounger feat for an ice trucker. Bonuses to Engineering, Stealth and Survival. What better set of skills to get bonuses to when you’re piloting a lonely vehicle out over monster-infested ice sheets? If your truck breaks down out there, you’ve got the skills you need to stay hidden, stay alive, and get it moving again.

Granted, goblins aren’t naturally found on Verces. Absalom and the Diaspora are more their sort of haunt. For a start, they don’t have any form of cold resistance, and Verces’ Darkside is fucking cold. But. That’s what technology is for. And goblins hitched rides on ships (not always with the ship’s knowledge) and wound up pretty much everywhere, so this tough little goblin wound up on Verces, and there were shady companies offering money for shitty, dangerous work, and you know what? She can do that. Don’t even worry about it.

Description:

The heavy door of the truck popped open with a pneumatic hiss, and out of the reasonably large opening a surprisingly tiny bundle of armour and snow suit hopped down onto the ice, clicking its heels together to deploy the ice spikes in its boots. A surprisingly well-tended laser pistol jostled for position with a collection of tools on a grubby belt as the figure turned, a gleam of scowling red eyes the only visible feature under the weather gear. Even that was abruptly obscured, however, along with pretty much everything else, when the creature activated the light projector in the armour and blinded everyone in a fifty foot radius.

“Well?” a surprisingly high, growly voice asked, hands on hips while they all blinked the dazzle out of their eyes. “What are you all waiting for? Shit’s not going to unload itself!”

(Notes: among her equipment I’m giving her Frosthiker Soles, because ice sheets, and the Light Projector armour upgrade, because midnight ice sheets. She’s a one-woman floodlight. Also, obviously, Environmental Clothing (cold climates) and an Engineering Kit. I’m not fully sure how to go about functionally equipping a Starfinder Character, beyond armour, weapons and ammo, but I figured I’d throw in a few bits for flavour).

Theme: Ace Pilot

Trucker! Ice trucker! Also goblin, so she just likes vehicles. Mostly self-taught regarding how they work and how to drive them, there may or may not have been a large amount of dismantling wrecked (or not-so-wrecked, at least before she got her hands on them) vehicles in her youth, but she just likes mobile machinery. And the bigger the better, so a good solid slab of a truck is quite appreciated. Might make climbing in and out of cabs a little tricky at 3ft tall, but don’t worry about it. She’ll make it work.

Class: Operative (Driver Specialisation)

I love the description of Driver subclass. “Your lightning reflexes and cool-headed judgment are without equal when you’re behind the wheel.” It feels somewhat geared towards getaway driving, which you might not think makes too much sense for an industrial ice trucker, but do you know what’s out there on the Vercite ice sheets? Trust me. A good (read: living) ice trucker knows when to get shit in gear real quick. Heh. Operatives also have several exploits that double down on the vehicle thing, but that might be overkill. I just wanted her to feel like a trucker first and foremost. A professional driver.

That operatives are also skill monkeys and potential snipers is also not a problem. There are a lot of problems out on Verces’ ice sheets that are best solved with a nice sniper rifle from a comfortable distance away. Like from the nice warm cab of a hover truck, for example. Heh. Not that I think I’d be starting her with a sniper rifle or anything. Probably small arms. But she would vibe with the sniper ethos, for sure. Quick, quiet, and preferably a long way away, that’s how we roll.

Summary:

Verces is just really pretty? In a bleak, industrial, horrifying sort of way? It might be my second favourite Pact World after the Diaspora, although Liavara and the Sun are also in the running there. I just really vibe with the midnight icy and the floodlit industrial platform aesthetic of Darkside. And I know I already did Xalke, another Darksider, but she was stationary, an industrial station worker, and I wanted to go back to the ice trucker idea, the lone traveller out on the ice, doing a shitty job in a scary place. And you just. You gotta love goblins? They’re tough, they’re scrappy, they’re willing to wade through shit, they’re a lot smarter than you think. I deeply enjoy them.

Verces also just warps people, I think. Like Xalke, I want Girta’s first feat to be the Toughness feat. Darkside is about survival. Industry, horror, and survival. So a goblin really does fit. Engineering, Stealth and Survival. The perfect trifecta of Darksider skills. Heh.

So. Have a frozen bundle of goblin grit bombing cheerfully along in a hover truck across the midnight, monstrous ice sheets? Girta Highhand, a goblin Vercite ice trucker!

[daeva-agas]

Hello Daeva!

I’m curious to know what otome games (whether active or deactivated) have a special place in your heart?

Thanks for reading!

The Shall We Date games!! Hahah. Shall We date is like the first mobile otome game I played. Before that I've been trying out various English patched PC otome games or other original English visual novels.

Ninja Love is indirectly the reason I have a specialised interest in Sengoku history as well. Like, it's more in the "huh, I've heard of this story before, I'm gonna read about it in more detail now". And, you know, a bunch of dissatisfying Google Search later... had to resort to reading actual scholarly texts and those contained other random stuff that are really interesting, and it just snowballed.

I also miss the old "Westernised" version of Pirates in Love where they made the names more non-Japanese and redesigned 2 of the characters. Captain Ryuuga becomes Morgan, Shin becomes Eduardo, and etc. I never understood why Roy was renamed to Alan since Roy is already a non-Japanese name, but whatever.

I still love Eduardo's design more than the original Shin. The artist changed and they weren't really able to keep up with the quality with the subsequent sequels and side stories, but man. I don't know why they don't keep the tweaked version around and just reverted to the original Japanese character art when they bundled up all the apps into Love365. Did some kind of localisation license expire or something?

In case anyone never saw the "old" version, this is the difference:

[fayrobertsuk]

Notebooooks!

Part of fundraising for Poetry for ALL was for production costs for merchandise which has started to arrive. Last week badges, today notebooks from A Local Printer Ltd (specialising in really good quality products made entirely from recycled materials). You'll be able to order them online soon and you can buy them from the merch stand at our accessible event on Friday in York (which we're also livestreaming!)

(Now with surtitles!)

[Video description: A handheld mobile phone video of a white person opening a medium-sized, brown, cardboard box using a small pair of scissors. Once the box is wrenched open and the top layer of card removed, there are four bundles of small, A6 notebooks revealed with covers in muted colours - red with cream writing, dark purple with cream writing, orange with purple writing, and rainbow with cream writing. The covers have a slightly mottled texture reminiscent of passport covers, and brilliant white, very smooth, blank paper inside. The front covers have Poetry for All Blank Slate on the front in large lettering and then, smaller, A place for your important thoughts (or doodles). The brief glimpses of the back cover show a paragraph of writing, but not for long enough to pick many words out. End video description.]

[teahermitcomics]

Hello! I'm pinning this post for new visitors here as I'm technically attending not one, but TWO artist alleys this weekend: MCM London Comic Con AND Tumblr Artist Alley! 😁

I'm Jade Sarson; a nonbinary comic artist and illustrator specialising in fictional romance and educational storytelling, illustrated with watercolours, screentone and tea! Welcome to my shop https://ko-fi.com/jadedlyco/shop

My comics Cafe Suada, For the Love of God, Marie!, Feels like Noodles and more are available alongside mugs, pins, stickers, coasters and a frankly LORGE collection of art prints painted with tea. Fandoms I've illustrated for include: Our Flag means Death, Pirates of the Caribbean, One Piece, Fallout, Baldurs Gate 3, Megamind, Chainsaw Man, Disco Elysium, Yakuza, Evangelion, Kingdom Hearts and many others.

Check out the collection and enjoy 10% off prints (including bundles) when you use the code TUMBLRAAFRIENDS

https://ko-fi.com/jadedlyco/link/TUMBLRAAFRIENDS

Lastly, I also offer commissions and have a Patreon if you like early access to brand new comics and behind the scenes stuff!

[justforbooks]

The actor Lance Reddick, who has died suddenly aged 60, played figures of authority with such panache that no matter how many times he was handed such roles, he never seemed typecast. He is best known on film for his part as Charon, the all-seeing fixer in the John Wick movie franchise, but his image was forged playing two ambitious high-level cops on television, Cedric Daniels in The Wire (2002-08) and Irvin Irving in Bosch (2014-21).

In each case he was contrasted with a main character: his anguish at the plight of Baltimore as portrayed in The Wire was expressed with internal restraint, opposed to the knee-jerk reactions of Dominic West’s chronic screw-up, McNulty. In Bosch, he was the politician tormented by Titus Welliver’s relentlessly uncompromising Harry Bosch.

Bosch author Michael Connelly said Reddick “took a character who was paper-thin in the books and made Irvin Irving”. He used his tall, angular frame to express authority; moving his body precisely, deliberately stiff and controlled, his face echoing that pose, covering up the machinations inside his head. Audiences watched as he took in, contemplated, and finally reacted, in a voice pitched with the deep tone of authority. His work in Bosch’s second season, where the death of his undercover cop son opens huge cracks in his closely controlled persona and makes him the centre of the show, is a lesson in transcending ensemble play.

Reddick’s highlights in variations of authority-figure themes came in the TV series Fringe (2008-13), running a unit of Homeland Security; Corporate (2018-20), as a CEO; and Intelligence (2014), where he was head of the CIA. On film he was head of the secret service in Angel Has Fallen (2019), and he played Albert Wesker, boss of the Raccoon Police special tactics unit, in the Netflix TV adaptation of the zombie video game Resident Evil (2022).

He was so good that the star of Wick, Keanu Reeves, given a day off from shooting for his birthday, told his girlfriend he wanted to visit the set, just to watch Reddick in action. Reeves then handed him a note thanking him for “what he brought to the character of Charon”.

Bosch also afforded Reddick the chance to play the piano, thoughtfully improvising at home as if to sort out his thoughts; this might be seen to reflect his own hard path to acting success. Reddick was born in Baltimore to Solomon, a lawyer, and Dorothy (nee Gee), a teacher. His musical talent was apparent at Friends School of Baltimore, and he went on to study at the city’s Peabody Institute, a secondary school specialising in the performing arts. He took a degree in composition at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music and moved to Boston, intending, in his words, to become a rock star.

But his style of music, influenced by Miles Davis and Sting, never fitted a rock star template, and having married his college sweetheart, Suzanne Louis, in 1986, and had two children, he found himself working odd jobs, including as a singing waiter on a riverboat. Crucially, on a night shift at a newspaper delivery depot, he injured his back shifting bundles of papers. Forced to lie in bed, he contemplated how he could support his family, and decided to turn to acting, where he noticed there were more auditions available.

He wound up gaining a master of fine arts degree at Yale Drama School in 1994, and two years later landed his first television role, on New York Undercover; he debuted on-screen in 1998’s ill-judged modern-set Great Expectations.

In 2000 he was cast in David Simon’s The Corner, which led to his part on The Wire, while he also attracted attention with a memorable role as an undercover police officer gone bad in the prison drama Oz (2000-01). Recurring parts in CSI:Miami (2005-06) and Lost (2008-09) followed, and he played James Baldwin in the 2004 movie Brother to Brother. He was the voice of the Falcon in the animated Avengers (2012), and of the villain Ras Al Ghul in Beware the Batman (2013), as well as voicing Commander Zavala in the Destiny video game series, and Sylens in Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) and Horizon Forbidden West (2022).

Along the way he finally got to be a rock star, playing a cop in the music video of Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s ’03 Bonnie & Clyde. In 2007 he released an album of his own music, Contemplations and Remembrances.

John Wick 4 has just been released, and he also leaves behind a store of work that has yet to be seen. Reddick will appear in a remake of White Men Can’t Jump; as Charon in a Wick spin-off, Ballerina; in the Shirley Chisholm biopic, Shirley, and as Capt Blakely in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial. He also voiced the ultimate authority figure, Zeus, in Percy Jackson and the Olympians for Disney+.

Reddick is survived by his second wife, Stephanie (nee Day), whom he married in 2011, and the two children, Yvonne and Christopher, from his first marriage, which ended in divorce.

🔔 Lance Solomon Reddick, actor, born 7 June 1962; died 17 March 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[leidensygdom]

Well, that was a rather intense day. I've been again keeping up with the FoundryVTT server about the OGL. Creators still feel very uncertain (and unsafe, because this entire OGL situation is still not cleared up for them, for us), and some people are incredibly exhausted at this point.

If you follow content creators specialising in dnd content, third parties and so on, please make sure to support them, whether they are going to push for a proper OGL or move to a different system. Many have already joined the ORC (Open RPG creative license) effort, and there's rumours there will be a humble bundle themed around it. The most positive outcome from this is seeing other TTRPGs get some love. If you can afford it, buy something from them, leave tip or a good review! All of these help immensely.

On my end, I actually just got a really exciting opportunity that I can't quite disclose yet, but it's helping amidst the very exhausting days.

Going to sleep now though. I'll keep up with answera, dms and such once I wake up. Nini💖

[dungeonofthedragon]

The Frigid World of Illambria: Update

This book will be released into the wild in under three weeks now. It's been a long time coming and I can't wait to share it with you all.

Illambria is a Pleistocene-inspired setting incorporating many Ice Age tropes. Bundle up warm against the effects of extreme cold as you venture into the unknown as a human, mammutida, sabertooth or alligatoi. Become a bard specialised in storytelling, a wizard who weaves, or a druid channeling powerful megafauna.

You will uncover the secrets of ancient and powerful magical items, fight off ice mummies by the Sea of Lost Souls, and learn to harvest components from the world around you to create all manner of useful items.

The Frigid World of Illambria: coming to DriveThru RPG October 20.

[creativemakers]

Adorablush

Adorablush is a small business and online store that specialises in patches! They also sell some enamel pins, stationery, and other cute accessories. Adorablush has a Patch Club through Patreon as well as a patch vault on their website.

Click here to visit their website!

River Spirit Enamel Pins

Classic Patch Bundle

Gold Foil Washi Tape