#But ye VI good VII good I also like III and VI a lot

[shiroselia]

FEH Books I like: VI, VII, IV, III (So far I like VIII)

FEH Books I don't care about at all: II, V (The only one I really Dislike is V but that's just because I find it boring as Shite, book II is good but it has a Huge problem with character balancing and Gunnthrá's my fave so you can See where that makes me a lil :/ about it)

[scary-grace]

(secret) santa, baby - a shigaraki x f!reader fic

Shigaraki doesn't want to participate in the office's Secret Santa exchange, but when Toga promises to make it easy on him, he gives in. But making it easy for him makes it a lot harder for you -- you're the one who got his list. Office AU, no quirks. For the first day of 12 Days of Christmas event in the X Reader Lovers community, prompt: Wish List! Divider by @ wcnderlnds

part i part ii part iii part iv part v part vi part vii part viii part ix

part i (wish list)

Tomura stares down at the blank piece of paper. It’s not totally blank. It’s – sparkly, just like the green and red pen with a pompom on it that Toga stuck in his hand. There’s a pattern around the edges, also green and red, of leaves and berries, and right at the top of the page, in curly letters, it says WISH LIST. Tomura doesn’t have a clue. He doesn’t even want to do this. He’s only doing it because Toga’s making him.

She’s staring at him right now. “Go away,” Tomura says. “I’m not writing it with an audience.”

“See, but if I leave you alone, you won’t write it at all,” Toga says, smiling. “It’s a Secret Santa, Tomura-kun. It won’t be any fun if you don’t write a good list.”

“It’s not going to be fun anyway, because I don’t want to do it.” Tomura shoves the piece of stationary back towards Toga. “Find somebody else.”

“Nope! Remember last year? You didn’t do it, and then you were mad all twelve days because everybody got gifts but you,” Toga says. She pushes the paper back towards Tomura. “Come on. It’s easy. Just put things on your list – not too expensive – and somebody who gets your list will leave them for you! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“No,” Tomura says. Toga scowls at him. “I have to go shopping for somebody, too.”

Coming up with a gift list is bad enough. Waiting around to see if he’ll get presents – or even one present – from whoever got stuck with him is worse. But Tomura watched all of last year, saw all the effort everybody else put into their presents. Special hiding places, special wrapping paper. Last year Dabi got into an arms race with his younger brother and started leaving actual riddles for the person he was giving gifts to. Tomura’s not going to do any of that shit. Whoever he gets is going to be disappointed.

“I’m not doing extra shopping,” he says to Toga. “I’m out.”

“I’m organizing this year,” Toga says. So? “What if I get you somebody with a really easy list? Somebody normal who’s not going to ask for anything weird and who’s not going to get mad if you don’t set up a scavenger hunt.”

Tomura thinks about his friends, then his coworkers. “There’s absolutely nobody like that who works here.”

“Yes there are. You just don’t know about them, because they don’t do anything to annoy you,” Toga says. Her smile starts looking a little sharp around the edges. “Write the list.”

The sooner Tomura writes it, the sooner this will stop happening. He picks up the pen, sets it against the piece of paper, and hits an instant snag. “I don’t want anything.”

“Yes, you do,” Toga says. Tomura thinks about it, then writes something. Toga grabs the pen out of his hand and crosses it out. “No. It has to be a gift. Something you wouldn’t buy for yourself. Something nice.”

“For under ¥4000?” If Tomura wants something, he usually just buys it. “This is stupid.”

 “If you don’t have specific things you want, just write down things you like,” Spinner suggests on his way past with a stack of copies. “Like say – video games, dogs, candy, energy drinks –”

“I’m not letting him put energy drinks on his Secret Santa wish list,” Toga says. Spinner shrugs and keeps walking. “That’s not a bad idea, Tomura-kun. Write the kind of things you like, and then your Secret Santa can find things like that for the right price.”

Fine. Tomura gets the pen back from Toga and writes: video games, dogs, candy – “More specific,” Toga instructs. Tomura scowls and adds parentheticals. “See, that’s perfect! Was that so hard?”

“Yes.” Tomura lets Toga have the list, then takes it back again a second later. “I need to add something.”

It’s only a sentence, and Toga reads it out loud, looking all kinds of skeptical. “I hate the cold, so I don’t want any let-it-snow shit. Wow, Tomura.”

“You said to be specific,” Tomura says. “Are we done?”

“Yes!” Toga folds Tomura’s list into a quick origami heart, then tucks it into her pocket. “This will be fun! You’ll see. You won’t regret it.”

She leaves without the stupid Christmas pen. Tomura tosses it after her and flops forward on his desk, regretting it already.

part 2 ->

[sapphicflower-ao3]

what are ur personal favorite fics? i can be a bit picky and have a hard time finding fics but i love ur writing and i feel like we might have similar tastes based on that :3

i'm sorry it took me like a week to get to this!! i wanted to compile my faves and write notes for each of them... and i went overboard LOL. but thanks so much omg, i'm flattered that you would trust my taste based on my writing!

these are all bkdk obviously :)

i. 'In Case of Fire' - passengerside

post-canon // complete // 11K // E

an absolute MASTERPIECE!!! this author has become a recent favourite of mine, i love the way they incorporate little details into their work and make the mundane so beautiful.

highly recommend all of their other works, especially 'Pacemaker'! so freaking beautiful and fun and the lead up to the confession was a genuine holding-my-breath moment

ii. 'Sun Hands' - yesthisisnarumi

snowboarding AU // complete // 5K // T

i've re-read this one so many times it's SOOOOO good! so fun and so classically bkdk it's insane. everybody say thank you OP for giving us the rival olympic champions to lovers story we needed

iii. 'all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing' - maxisnotokay

UA compliant // complete // 11K // T

i dont usually read a lot of whump but this was brilliant, im a sucker for this specific trope and for LOVE CONFESSIONS YEASS!!! obvi it has a happy ending bc i wouldnt have it any other way. a good length too :)

iv. 'Spinnin' On Our Feet' - sage_and_cinnamon

High School AU // ongoing // 47K // M

UNDERRATED AS FUCK and my favourite ongoing fic right now. i usually dont read jock x nerd AUs but this fic is so brilliantly funny and charming and heartwarming and it blew all my expectations out of the water and then some. i've been following it for ages and it's been on hiatus for a good while, but it updated recently and when i tell you it was the best day of my freaking life...

v. 'In Perfect Rhythm' - chalk

Band AU // complete // 50K // E

yes how surprising, a band AU fic in my faves list. anyway shut up, chalk is literally godlike in their writing and this fic was SO FUN and scratched all the itches. nothing gets me going more than awkwardly endearing izuku n rockstar katsuki

vi. 'Last Days of War' - antisora

Pacific Rim AU // complete // 44K // M

GENUINELY ONE OF HUMANITY'S BEST PIECES OF LITERATURE???? fuck. i never have the proper words for this fic, but it is SO gripping and the worldbuilding is so tight and their relationship development is so good and the CLIMAX OF THIS HAS BEEN MORE EPIC THAN HALF THE BLOCKBUSTERS I'VE SEEN. i beg you to read this even if you have never watched Pacific Rim. or maybe go watch the movie and get EDUCATED and then read this! i'm begging you, dear reader!!

vii. 'Ingenium' - crandberrycrush

Astronauts AU // complete // 85K // E

guys i love sci-fi sorry lol. this one is another brilliant fic. OP put so much blood, sweat and tears into research and it shows, it is just very intelligent and the plot itself is HEART RACING and GUTTING and THRILLING. there's a lot of POVs and it really fleshes it out, tho ofc bkdk is the main thing. happy ending obvi! it is the space/astronaut drama that i love and adore, just BKDKified now!

viii. 'The Magic in a Mirror' - totallyrottentomatoes

Magic/Circus AU // complete // 80K // E

oh how surprising, a totallyrottentomaoes fic in my faves list. anyone who knows me knows that i rec this fic all the time. it's one of my all time favourites, if not my favourite of all time lol, and it's really because of the writing and the imagery and the characterisation and the relationships b/w all the characters. it's all just so well done and MAGICAL. no joke, if i could print and bind a fic into a book, it would be this one. no notes. perfection. caters to my tastes so specifically. i could go on about this fic forever but i'll shut up for now

also highly recommend 'The Distance Between Suns' by this author - it's a high fantasy epic with TIGHT AS FUCK worldbuilding, brilliantly written, the romance is BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN, the payoffs are amazing, etc... this deserves to be published and revered

ix. 'Battle of the Bands' - roadtripwithlucifer

Band AU // complete // 168K // E

look i know i always rec this fic, i just can't help that it's like my favourite thing ever. roadtripwithlucifer and totallyrottentomatoes my BELOVEDS. the humour in this fic is so fucking yummy and brilliant, the writing is gorgeous in typical roadtrip fashion, the stakes are gripping, the climax is thrilling, the romance n yearning is INTENSE, the sex is hot as hell, the ending is so satisfying, just..... the whole package.

and while you're here, read other roadtripwithlucifer works like 'Nothing Else Fills' if you feel like destroying your heart :) an angsty and beautifully written time-travel-to-save-my-kacchan-gone-wrong war AU fic. i love OP's works but her more recent fics (eg. after battle of the bands) have had some of her best writing. i adore it when you can feel how an author has poured their soul into their work, you can always feel it in a roadtripwithlucifer work and it's just the cherry on top

x. 'Scar Tissue' - Loriqod

canon-compliant // complete // 18K // E

loriqod is another author with a characterisation that i fuck with so hard... this one was so full of that Yearning and Tension that i so vibe with. bonus points to the plots focus on bkdk's scars like yes pls more of that <3

anyway i might make a part 2 some other time, these are just the ones i grabbed from my public bookmarks. i have a lot of private ones and some of them i forgot to make public oops

hope u find smth u enjoy!

[rozeliyawashereyall]

FINALLY POSTING THIS.

Some Zef and Sera +a secret third thing, again.

The fish boys belong to @obsidian-lantern !

@greaysharkboi requested, and I shall provide.

Do you dare to click?

Headcanons, again.

Also for you @jaetists

The listener will be referred to as 'clemmy'

I. Slaps a pride flag on both of them

The tap water turned the frogs gay and in turn the frogs turned the fish gay.

Them going to a pride parade would be very fun.

II. I think both of them would find surface flowers very interesting, especially since there's not a lot underwater. Zef once tried to keep a rose alive underwater and was very sad when it pretty much got ripped apart.

III. Sera secretly likes his hair being braided or played with, especially in human form—and vice versa! He likes showing affection through actions rather than words, and hair playing is one of it.

Speaking of hair, both of their hair are most likely very messy and tangled. Sera a little less than Zef.

IV. Zef and Clemmy occasionally ramble and rant about the differences between land and sea. Sera prefers to listen rather than join in.

V. They both have no idea what a TV is—Sera has a bit more of a clue but still very confused. He likes watching crime documentaries, Zef tried to watch it with him but got PTSD flashbacks/hj

Zef likes watching the romcoms instead

While they'd both be mildly terrified of analog horrors, they find a slight comfort in liminal space images.

VI. The three of them have gone ice skating, both fish guys almost broke their legs.

Kind of on the same topic, but Sera would be a good slow dancer, probably has danced with Zef before

VII. Clemmy brought Zef and Sera to a planetarium, and they were in awe. Zef refused to leave and Sera was too speechless to process that they even have to leave. Clemmy had to call Eric for help to drag them out.

Star/planet gazing has since become their favourite hang out date

VIII. Zef is the kind of guy who would try to impress his crush, fail miserably, and still get them

He fr got that loser rizz

IX. they did not know what glitter was before Eric accidentally glitter bombed them. All three of them learned the hard way that glitter does not come off easily, especially when it gets in your hair.

X. These two would definitely use Clemmy as a heater. Look, the ocean is freezing, and they're probably just as cold to the touch. A Clemmy with a lot of warmth will be the fish boys heater

XI. They both don't like merfolk themed movies, documentaries, etc. Yes this includes the little mermaid

XII. doubling on what Aspen said here. Both Zef and Sera glow as a form of blushing. Sera would probably play it off as intentional, Zef too embarrassed to come up with a proper excuse

XIII. they'd both be very, very confused by AI.

XIV. God those two would not last with gen z or gen alpha— they are also very confused by memes.

"look at all those chickens!..

"Clemmy, those are seagulls..."

XV. Chat...hear me out...Sera and Zef get drunk for the first time...

Zef would either be a sad or happy drunk, with Sera being a silent drunk. Clemmy would have to drag them out and most likely get crushed in the process.

XVI. Them going to a carnival would be hilarious, especially on the rollercoasters—Zef would try to act tough but in the end throws up. And oof, they would be mindfucked by the hall of mirrors.

XVII. Zef would definitely love indie video games. He has watched the entire 8 hour lore video and all of matpat's vids <- Sera thinks this matpat guy is going insane but let's Zef watch him anyway.

XVIII. Sera is the type of person to not want a cat at first, but does let's the cat does anything it wants after they get it.

XIX. Zef would definitely like scrapbooking.

Yay for help from @willowve01 @lightdragon789 @aspenm00n and @tiefling-chaos for the headcanons!

[bjornswoman]

Destruction XII

Author's note: Hello, happy New Year to you all! Sorry for being too late to post the last part of these series. However, here it is I hope you will enjoy it!

Pairing: Modern!Ivar x Reader.

Genre: Modern!au, series, fluff, drama, angst.

Warnings: Strong language, mentions of pregnancy.

Destruction | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI

A couple of months later.

You had forgotten the sound of your own giggle the past year. However, those two last months were enough to prove you wrong and remind you that you still contained the ability to feel happy and laugh — finally.

“You can’t be serious!” You exclaimed laughing at your friend Torvi. There had been a long time since you last met each other. Actually, the last time you saw her was before your wedding.

A wedding that never really happened because Ivar decided to take you away. He had confessed that he loved you that same day as well. You could recollect the memory as it was yesterday.

Flashback – Two months ago.

“It’s not what you believe, (Y/N). It wasn’t just revenge for me. You mean a lot to me. You know I am just not good at saying those things and you, also, know that I can be dickhead sometimes. Don’t cry for me. I - I care for you.”

Ivar had said and kissed you like his life was depending on this kiss – like both of your life were depending on this kiss.

“Don’t get married, you don’t deserve being treated like that. Dump that asshole.”

You needed to hear these words back then – you needed a motive to stop that madness. After all, you didn’t love Mason, but Ivar.

You didn’t treat Mason right, so leaving him before this mistake would be the only thing you would do to save him from being miserable next to you – because of you.

“I won’t, Ivar.”

“You are mine.”

“I am yours.”

End of flashback.

“Oh, I’m and that’s not even the end of it.” Torvi continued speaking and got you out of your thoughts about that particular day. “Your mother was about to kill Hvitserk when he announced that Ivar had stolen you – those were the exact words he used.” She laughed. "Besides you know the love your mother contains for Hvitserk." You both laughed at her remark.

It was well-known that your mother loathed the sons of Ragnar – especially Hvitserk. She would call him peccant or sinful. Generally, she would criticize his way of living. Not that Ivar was her favourite brother though, but Hvitserk worked as a red flag for her.

You could picture your mother's face after hearing Hvitserk announcing that the wedding was over because you run away with his brother. You were sure long before Torvi told you about the events of that evening that she was furious – that was the main reason you hadn't even tried to contact her since then.

"What about Mason?" You hesitated to say his name after the way you treated him, though he wasn't honest to you either – as he lied to you about the events of the past and blamed Ivar about his doing.

Anyways, you felt guilt of your own lies, because you acted the very same way you accused Ivar of when you walked away on him.

"Oh well, I heard that he is fine though he and the boys are distant after what happened. He blames them for helping Ivar. Anyways, Ubbe told me that Ivar mentioned that he is after Freydis again."

You could understand the way Mason felt, but you couldn't focus on this after some names were mentioned successively.

"Ivar?" You muttered before you could stop yourself.

"Yes, Freydis told him."

You felt jealous once again about the same thing – you were back to the beginning of this messed up story. You felt weird after everything that happened the last two months in contrast with what Torvi just told you. Maybe you were just overreact, but still you couldn't bear lose again.

Maybe your love wasn't the healthiest one , but it was strong enough to swallow you if he hurt you like he did previously.

"Don't tell me you are jealous." Torvi said smiling after receiving no response from you.

"I'm not jealous of her." You fought back and she chuckled. It was too obvious that you were lying.

"You didn't really tell me what happened with Ivar after you left." She mentioned and you smiled at the memory.

Flashback – Two months ago.

Your heart was full after a very long time it felt half without him. You felt happy again being close to the person who you loved the most. Probably this wasn't the best way to come back together – not even close to be honest – but what was worth it for you was the fact that you were sitting on the passenger's seat of his car and he was on the driver's seat taking you away somewhere that only he knew.

Nobody spoke a word though – an awkward silence was surrounding the car. You didn't know what to say – you didn't know whether you had to say something or not. You knew Ivar by heart and yet you couldn't predict what was inside his head. You knew when he was mad, happy or sad, but you couldn't say what was bothering him.

"Ivar." You breathed and turned your eyes at his figure. "Do-do you love me?" Your voice was barely coming out as a whisper. It was a silly question to ask – even after he crashed your wedding and told you that he cared for you – you wanted to hear him saying this particular word. You hadn't heard him saying it – at least not to you.

"What kind of question is that? Didn't I told that I care for you less than an hour ago?" You could say by hearing the tone of his raised voice that he was getting annoyed by your question. You were aware of the fact that he wasn't good with words – especially this kind of words, but you wanted to hear him saying just for once.

"Why is it so difficult for you to say it again? Tell me, do you love me, Ivar?" You raised your voice out of frustration. You couldn't understand the reason why it had to be that hard for him to tell you about his feelings.

The possibility that he didn't feel that way came in your mind. Maybe he was just possessive when it came to you or it could be obsession the feeling he contained for you. Those could be the actual reasons why he couldn't express his love fore and that would be because it was non-existent.

"Yes!" Ivar yelled with obvious anger at you and hit his hands on the wheel.

"Yes, what?" You pressured him more as you were angry and disappointed at the time because of his inability to express himself to you – the person he was supposed to love.

Ivar hit the brake pedal so forcefully that if you weren't wearing the seatbelt you would be out of the car when it stopped. You turned your face at him and he had already focused his furious blue eyes on you.

"No, Ivar, you don't." With those last words you stormed out of his car and started walking at the opposite way from the one he was driving on. Though, you didn't get to make it far away because his hand grabbed yours tightly and forced you to turn back and face his wrath.

"What do you think you are doing? And what the Hel are you saying?" He growled on your face as you were trying to break-free from his grip to no avail.

You breathed heavily and looked his angry face.

"All you feel about me is some kind of authority and possessiveness as I'm one of your belongings." You spoke and motioned on your hand he was holding firmly. "The worst part of it is that it isn't even new to me to get this treatment from you. You don't love me, because you don't know how to and that's due to the fact that you feel that you don't deserve the love the others are trying to give you. The only thing you know how to do is hurting these people with your childish behaviour." You continued telling him with tears falling from your eyes – tears that you wiped away with your free hand.

Ivar was looking you without speaking, he was just looking at you quite shocked. Behind his anger you could spot guilt and redeem. He knew himself that you were right and that was the most painful part for both of you.

"The next one who will come in your life and try to give you the love you deserve let her." After these words, more tears threatened to fall from your eyes. You grabbed your gown on the palms of both of your hands and took a couple of tiny steps believing that Ivar would let you walk away from him – from his life.

However, such a thing didn't happen because he used the hand of yours he was gripping and pulled back – this time he held you closer to him your bodies were touching. You tried to fight back again, but he was too strong for you in such way that when he pulled you the lacework of your dress was ripped.

This time he even stopped holding your hand and he went for your throat. His grip was as tight or strong as it was on your hand, but it was firm enough to pull your face closer to his.

"Too late for that." Ivar said in raspy voice. "There is someone who has already made my heart beat for her – who have made me feel all of the things you've said before. I didn't know how it felt to be truly loved by somebody because of the problem I faced. I thought everyone pitied me – the poor cripple – until you came. You saw me what love really means – what it is – and I sent you away. When our paths crossed again, I thought that all I felt for you was just lust or possessiveness for a woman who used to be my partner. However, I got hold of my feelings – of my true feelings – after our first kiss in the bowling alley, when I called you to come to that bar to tell you about my conflict with Mason and after we got drunk and went to my house and slept together, remember? In fact, all this was just an excuse because I wanted to see you."

When he finished, Ivar let go off you throat and one of his hands touched your arm as the other when on one of his pockets. His touch was really genuine on your hand.

"I remember." You mumbled and smiled as you remembered that particular night you spent together.

"You want me to tell you that I love you, but you know that I'm difficult with words. Though, for you, I'll say it, but before I have to do something else." Ivar stopped and afterwards his hand got out of his pocket holding a red-whine velvet box.

You looked first at the box shocked and then at Ivar.

"Ivar, you don't have to do that just to prove your words to me." You tried to say, but he stopped you by taking your hand in his, after he opened the small box. As you expected, it contained a ring, but it was not just a random ring he picked. It was the ring you had told him years ago that you wanted to be the one you would be proposed with. It was a unique design which you couldn't find easily, but he did for you.

"I love you." Ivar finally confessed and you could even spot a tear on his cheek. His forehead touched your own as he eyes found yours. "Will you marry me, (Y/N) (Y/L/N)?" He asked and you smiled widely.

At the sound of his words, you felt your heart hitting your chest with just force that it was going to rip out of your body.

"Yes! Yes, I will marry you, Ivar Lothbrok!" You exclaimed and kissed him passionately. This kiss wasn't like anything you had experienced. It was different from any other you had shared. One that both of you were expressing within it your deepest feelings about the other person.

When you stopped, Ivar pulled you closer to him again and placed the ring on your finger.

End of flashback.

After that moment that you would never forget about, you spent two months away from everyone you knew. It was just the two of you in the middle of nowhere. However, you had to return back in Kattegat to face the real life and what came after the decisions you made.

Ivar's family welcomed you back and they were glad to hear about your engagement – though they could see it coming. They knew better that you two about the feelings you shared.

So, there you were, talking with Torvi about the days that came after your almost-wedding with Mason.

Torvi looked at you with narrowed eyes and a huge smile on her face.

"And after this you are still jealous? You are crazy girl!" Torvi exclaimed and both of you laughed again. "No, I am being serious now." She said and you both burst into laughter again. "No, seriously now you are getting married with the love of your life!" You smiled and looked back at your feet.

"And that's not even the end of it."

"What do you mean?" Your friend asked confused and your smile became even more wider than it was already. "(Y/N)?" She asked you again anxiously this time.

As an answer, your hand moved on your stomach and you caressed it meaningful. In Torvi's face formed a smile identical to yours.

"Don't tell me that you...." She exclaimed and you tried to prevent her from let everyone know about your little secret.

"Shhhh, I am, but Ivar doesn't know yet. I am going to tell him tonight and then we are sharing it with the others. Keep it for me, okay?" You spoke on a soft tone of voice and Torvi agreed happily before she congratulated you about your pregnancy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night.

The night sky was very beautiful – enchanting you could even say. But that wasn't the best part of the night, that part would be the fact that you were sitting next to your fiancé, trying to find the best way of telling him that you were expecting his child as he was engrossed in with laptop with work matters. You were away for so long and matters had piled up.

"Ivar, when do you think that we should get married?" You asked him out of the blue as you stood up and walked through the balcony. Ivar glanced at you for a quick second and then turned his attention back on his laptop.

"I don't know, but we should not rush. In three to four months, what do you think?" He proposed without looking at you and you smiled, because this conversation was taking the way you wanted.

"That won't be convenient. I think that it should happen in one or two months." You continued.

"Why so?"

"I'll have gained weight. I won't feet in any dress."

Your words caught him off guard. He abandoned the computer on the coffee-table and fixed his eyes on you confused.

"What do you mean?" Ivar asked as the edges of his mouth lifted and left the sofa to come closer to you. He stopped on when his body was behind yours.

"What do you want me to mean?"

"Don't riddle me, (Y/N)." His voice was stern and you couldn't help your little smirk. "Are you pregnant?" He asked as his body collided with yours and his muscular hands hugged your torso and stayed on your stomach. Your back was touching on his chest, so you couldn't see his facial expressions. "Tell me." He demanded impatiently and you smiled.

You knew how much he wanted a child – a daughter or a son. You were also aware of the fact that he was delighted when Freydis had told him that she was pregnant in the past and thought it was his child when it wasn't.

"Yes, Ivar." You whispered and tilted your head at the side to catch a glimpse of his reaction to your news. What you saw was a tear slipping from his eye and you smiled again. "Are you happy?"

"No." Your blood froze in your veins and your smile died on your lips. You turned so you could face him. "No, I am not just happy. I'm thrilled!" He exclaimed and you felt your heart beating normally in your chest again.

His hands closed you inside them and one of them caressed your hair softly.

"I love you, wife."

You giggled when you heard him calling you wife.

"I love you, husband."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The End ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list: @not-another-viking-fanfic-blog, @anotherfan07, @heavenly1927, @zvacu-te-pile-moje

[cupcakeslushie]

LITA MAY LITA MAY LITA MAY

Ok ok so I have like a bunch of questions feel free to ignore BUT

I) she has a tail. Is that a Kraang feature or do all the turtles in your universe have tails and hers is just extended?

II) Uh pink? Pink like Kraang? Did she choose her life colors, or???

III) Is. Is she. Is she autistic too

IV) Draxum-Hamato sooooo what does she call them? Did they argue about nicknames? Also was it Donnie’s choice to include Draxum’s name as well

V) Lita in the comics???

VI) Is there a reason her shell isn’t smooth like Donnie’s?

VII) What does she call Renet?

VIII) Ninpo question mark?

IX) Pupils! I love the way you draw her pupils. Is there a reason or is it just fun

X) Does she have a certain resistance to Kraang mind digging? Like that thing they did to interrogate Raph in the movie? To read his memories?

XI) So the cloak/scarf thing is Leo, the purple accents and stripes are Donnie, and the kneepads are Mikey. Any Raph references in her clothes?

Apologies if you’ve answered these before and I just didn’t see them! Have a good day and give Lita one too for goodness sakes girl’s had it rough already

1. It’s more of a Krang feature. I do love when the turtles are drawn with tails, but I didn’t do it from the beginning, and so for consistency sake in the EW universe I’ve held off. Maybe one day I’ll just say “fuck it” and give into the urge to give them all cute little tails. But even if I did, Lita’s would be much longer than any of the family’s (except Raph’s hypothetical tail lol).

2. Lita being albino and pink in the IDW comics pretty much made that Krang connection for me lol. I didn’t have to reach too hard with her design. She leans into it.

3. I have her personality very close to Leo’s canon personality, so she’s more on the ADHD side. She does have some sensory issues with sound, which a lot of ppl with adhd have (👋🏻). But being raised around the quiet and solemn Time Masters Sanctum it’s like really noticeable. When she visits the family, it can be very overwhelming, but rather than shutting down, she gets insanely riled up and can’t contain herself. It works though—everyone is more than happy to let her ramble on.

4. She never met either of them but Splinter of course would’ve been Jiji and Draxum would’ve been just Grandfather. Nothing too out of this world lol. And yes, Donnie chooses to embrace Draxum’s name.

5. Sorry idk what exactly this is asking. Like yes? Lita May is based off IDW Lita, from the comics 😅 sorry if I’m missing the question.

6. She is a spiny soft shell like Donnie, but yes, her spines are significantly more pronounced, thanks to, you guessed it!

7. Master Renet, or Aunty Ren in a more causal setting.

8. 🤫 we’ll see (I’m still trying to think of something cool and not too OP lol)

9. Her eyes are just for design fun, and to link her to Donnie some more!

10. That’s gonna be another big 🤫, but less because I haven’t decided and more just for the big spoilers! 😜

11. She’s kinda got two outfits atm and I think I might end up merging the two. Her simpler outfit of just her wraps and mask are very Raph coded, so I wanna figure out some sort of middle ground with the two.

[magpiefngrl]

writing patterns: last lines

I love the first lines meme, but what about last lines? I find them as vital as first lines, if not more. A first line should do a lot of things (indicate POV, tone, voice) while also catching the attention of the reader and inviting them to read on. But it can be invisible, just a way into the story, and that's perfectly fine because the story is what will amaze/impress/entertain the reader.

The last line, however, is the last impression: it can be a powerful punch, or it can be underwhelming. It's the vibe, the feeling, the aftertaste that the reader will carry with her when she closes the tab/book. It doesn't do as much work as the opening, but a really strong (or really weak) last line might colour what has come before.

For this game, instead of recent fics, I decided to check my longer fics; the last line of a longer piece of work sort of carries more weight, in my mind, idk.

Rules: write the last line of your 10 longest fics. What patterns can you see, if any? Which ones are your favourites?

Something I noticed: in my longer fics, I often have a short epilogue at the end of the story. Like a post-credits scene. I'm including both last lines for pattern-seeking. Also, a while ago, I'd done a before-during-after ask thing and posted some sequels at the end of a few fics. I debated using only the original ending here, but the sequel's last line is what will stay with readers, so I added both. Finally, The Boy Who Died has a coda but it's so long I'm treating it as a chapter.

I. 9 ½ Days (drarry, E, ~70k)

(story) Harry burrowed closer to him, eyes fluttering open. ‘You’re real.’ ‘I am.’ Draco tangled their legs together. It was snug under the covers. ‘Touch me and see.’

(epilogue) Harry took his hand and together they stepped forward into the green, living wood.

II. dirtynumbangelboy (drarry, E, 39.4k)

(story) ��Home,’ Harry says, nuzzling Draco’s hair. ‘Take us home.’

(epilogue) He wants them to look smashing at the betrothal.

III. The Miseducation of Draco Malfoy (drarry, E, ~38k)

(story) Draco decided he would be happy to spend his life making Harry laugh, and thrust in.

(epilogue) “Let’s give them something good to talk about then,” Draco suggested, and Harry smiled, bent him backwards, and gave him a proper kiss, tongue and all.

IV. The Boy Who Died (drarry, E, ~27k)

Overthrowing the regime will take a miracle, Kingsley had said in the dark Edwardian manor. Draco had smiled at that and gazed at Harry. Indeed. Which is why we’ll win.

V. The Gift (drarry, E, ~26k)

Before [Draco] casts Nox, he takes a last look at his packed trunk, and then, in the whispering night, he allows himself to dream.

VI. Hush, darling (drarry, E, 23.6k)

But Draco holds Harry tighter — and doesn’t let go.

VII. The Unquiet Grave (drarry, E, 21.5k)

Draco glanced at Harry and smiled. ‘I’ll be fine. I have a bodyguard.’

VIII. Through the Looking Glass and What Draco Found There (drarry, E, 17.5k)

(original) This world was fucked up. It had pain and grief and sick people and dead people and stupid decisions and bad hair days and fear and regret—although it didn’t have Smith in leather gear, which was something. It also had Harry Potter, who buried his face in the crook of Draco’s neck, and who liked this Draco, the Death Eater Draco, and that made everything worth it.

(sequel) ‘Pull them down yourself,’ Draco said and kissed him.

IX. The Full Monty (drarry, E, 10k)

First, he goes to the kitchen to make sure Arthur is indeed alive — he is, nibbling at some seeds on the counter — but after that, yes, he goes straight to where Potter is waiting, hopefully all soapy and wet.

X. How to Court your Husband (drarry, E, 5,5k)

(original) Their escorts maintained a discreet distance when they arrived and saw what the princes were up to, and twenty minutes later in the palace courtyard, the Fountain spurted a jet of water the likes of which had never been seen before.

(sequel) Harry smiled and stroked Draco’s face. ‘We’re in no hurry, husband.’

Patterns

JFC. I like my epilogues and codas and sequels, don't I? Lord. I don't think I'd noticed it before as clearly as I do now. This isn't even everything: I actually started a coda for The Gift a while back, and I have a half-finished sequel scene for dirtynumb in my folders. I can just never leave off. But it's true: I do love epilogues.

I end with dialogue A LOT more than I start with it. First lines, I estimated a third of them are dialogue, but a good half of the endings are.

A large majority of my endings involve kissing or cuddling or touching in some way. Love language touch anyone?

There's a fair bit of Draco glancing at Harry and smiling.

In the two fics that have a sequel scene, the original ending is, imo, vastly superior to the sequel's. Hm.

Faves

I like the epilogue ending of 9 1/2 Days; the ending of Unquiet Grave, which works better I think in context; the rather poetic ending of The Gift; the original ending of Through the Looking Glass, which, imo, perfectly captures the theme; and the original ending of How To Court Your Husband, which is hilarious in context. Several readers commented on that one.

Tagging

I'll no-pressure tag @lettersbyelise @lqtraintracks @the-starryknight @skeptiquex @etalice @coriesocks @gracerene @citrusses @lower-east-side @hogwartsfirebolt @queenofthyme @writcraft @shealwaysreads @phdmama @stripedroseandsketchpads @sixappleseeds to get the ball rolling-- and of course YOU, reading this! Feel free to tag me so I can read your last lines, I'm ever so curious x

[a-d-nox]

yuletide gift game [ status: closed ]

the receipt

the review log

hello, my friends/followers! we are nearly done with the year - why not celebrate one of the most magical times of the year, so here i am hosting another ask game. i truly appreciate each and everyone of you - i hope all are having a lovely holiday season! i also appreciate everyone who has purchased a reading from me this year and thus paying for my green glyphs collection (so let's use them some more this game) AND all my presents for others this season!

please follow the rules (listed below) to participate →

i. you must be following me.

ii. reblog or like this post.

iii. only one ask per account! secondary asks regarding the game will be deleted.

iv. send the emoji that corresponds with the deck you want and your initials.

v. ask your question - look at reading types for limitations. THE LIMITS THAT APPLY ACROSS ALL READING TYPES: no legal, no pregnancy, and no illness.

vi. let me know what you look forward to seeing or hope to see on my blog next year, what you yourself are excited for next year, what you are hoping to receive as a gift this holiday season, OR what you are excited to give someone else this holiday season!

vii. asks that are missing the above requirements will receive a response of "game request denied".

viii. please be patient! i'm working full time, so i don't have a lot of time to sit down and do back to back readings (you can dm me and ask if yours ask sent or where you are in my queue - but please don't spam me as it won't make the process go faster, it will actually slow me down because i am answering you instead of answering asks). i will leave the game open until the end of yule (january 1, 2024) or until i reach 50 asks!

ix. feedback is greatly appreciated, but not required - it's always good to know if my intuition and interpretation of the cards was accurate (especially since i these are still relatively new decks and i am not sure if they vibe with me yet).

game options →

🌲TREE🌲

wryd web. ask me about any of your orbs or a section you don't understand (either on a personal web or compatibility web) BUT not the full web (limit 3 orbs - so you can do the karmic tail, your romance chain, your money chain, a chakra (the physics, the energy, and the emotions), etc.). BIRTHDATE IS REQUIRED IN ASK OR TO BE PROVIDED IN A DM.

⛸️ICE SKATES⛸️

runes. good for warning words or words of inspiration, past/present/future, advice, or general vibe checks.

🎁PRESENT🎁

lenormand. functions similarly to tarot - can be questioned like tarot EXCEPT NO "yes or no" questions. open interpretations given the line of cards - i will give you the meanings (so you can also see some answers or phases i may not think of because it is open to interpretation - you are the expert of your situation) and what i believe is the answer.

🕊️TURTLE DOVE🕊️

animal spirit. could be used to tell you what your present animal spirit is, the animal in your way and what animal energy you need to encompass to overcome them, and/or the animal you were / animal you are / animal you could become. NO "yes or no" questions.

🕯️CANDLE🕯️

oracle. great for advice! NO "yes or no" questions.

❄️SNOWFLAKE❄️

tarot. no explanation needed - everyone knows how tarot works. for yes or no questions, i generally pull three cards and do majority rule with explanation (i.e., "yes because...", "no, but...", etc.").

[lucidfairies]

hi 🫡

. yes that is me embarrassing the shit outta myself (I actually sent that to a handful of girls)

i. for those of you who may not know, i'm maya. i'm 18, i'm typically a masculine presenting lesbian and I happen to be a she/her. I also am unfortunately asexual

• everyone meat riding rn about why I read and write so much smut as an asexual, I would love for you to know that I'm fighting a losing battle with hypersexuality! that is all I will be sharing on that matter thank you. •

ii. I'm proficient at finding people's instas whether they wanna be found or not!! if this relates to you, you may want to hmu.

iii. um I'm single if that wasn't clear from the kicker.

iv. I have severe Audhd and I have OCD but I don't really count that because you can't really tell it's there. I'm a POTS and scoliosis survivor

(can u tell idk what the hell I'm doing)

v. I will drop my socials if you so want them but I would prefer u DM me cuz I don't need my public insta in tumblr comments tbh (I have insta, tiktok, discord, snap, so on so forth)

vi. I'm still in high school LMAOOO pls I'm not less than eighteen guys don't worry but I aspire to be in the military but I'm taking a gap year

vii. I've been writing since like third grade but over quarantine my parents kinda banished me to our basement and I was doing a lot of things I shouldn't have been doing but now I'm sorta good at writing !!

viii. fics are kinda a side gig, I do write real shit here and there but there's genuinely no point so idk why I do it

ix. I'm what people like to call a whore except I don't fuck around I just talk to like nine people at once (hop off my dick rn)

x. I'm hilariously funny if you ever wanna strike up a conversation

xi. I'm down for ANY conversations. you wanna talk about what kinks some random bitch has based on their appearance? let's talk about it. wanna tell me about the sex you had last night? I'll go get a snack. I don't get triggered by really anything so if u need an outlet, I'm right here bb

xii. I actually have a massive gyatt

xiii. I can curl a lot of lbs and um I can bench some too and I guess do leg stuff (gym girlies rise)

xiv. I'm Jewish but not like Jewish my fam just is, I am probably one of the furthest things from religion and I don't hugely support organized religion (my fav way to describe it is being Jew-ish)

xv. I am a leftist through and through (pro choice, pro science, pro gays, Black lives matter, stop Asian hate, in case you needed clarification on that one) and I avoid knowingly being friends with Republicans at all costs

xvi. I am pro Palestine, nothing anyone will say or do could change my stance on that one.

xvii. I have a cat + dog

xviii. I don't get cold like ever cuz I ski in like 10° weather all winter

xix. I have Duolingo and if u wanna beef it out w a quest then I am definitely down for that because I will beat you (I'm learning Hawaiian and Hebrew)

xx. I'm fluent in German and speak it at home w the fam and I know some Spanish + French

xxi. juice boxes > anything

xxii. some more pics of me will follow whenever I stfu

xxiii. I stand at a whopping six feet tall but I swear I have short person energy

xxv. in my personal opinion I have huge dick energy but you're welcome to put me in my place (I'm a switch and I'll cook for you)

xxiv. if your snap score is more that 300k we can't be friends I'm sorry (mine is 100k suck my c o c k)

xxvi. best position is doggy but I can be persuaded into something different

xxvii. CUNT

xxviii. uhhhh I'm from the East Coast of America so l operate in EST time

anyway it was nice getting to talk about myself for a long time 🫡 feel free to make numerous comments about my life in the comments

anyway y'all here are some for faceless pics that are guaranteed to make u cream (see, hilarious)

sayonara sistas

[blankwashed]

Sleepless Shadows (Part 5)

Chapter: I II III IV V VI VII

Satoru smiles when you say his name. He shifts his weight up so that he stares at the ceiling.

"I wonder how I'm going to sleep tonight, on this broken bed and smelly sheets. At least I have you with me," Satoru says, not looking at you.

"Si- Satoru, I have to apologise. Previously when you were paying for this room, I felt so bad. I-I wish I could repay you in any other way," You were truly feeling bad.

"It's no big deal, dear. I have a lot of money, remember? I know this place is utterly trash but its okay. At least I have good company here," He turned and you realised, where the fuck did his shirt go?

Blushing and turning your head to the other side, you spoke softly again, "S-Satoru..can you sleep? C-cause I don't think my body is-"

He cuts you off.

"No I can't either, darling."

Your face immediately flushes and you could even hear your own hearbeat. It was beating at a fast pace having palpitations, you figured.

Satoru is shirtless? What the fuck? I mean the room technically did not have any air-conditioning but it was a cool night, wasn't it?

You definitely bit your lip. If you were at home, alone, you would start touching yourself, imagining it was him. Carressing your shoulders up to your thighs, marking each and every spot as his— Not now!

Fuck having a hot teacher, really. You cursed in your mind.

"Darling, face me. Why are you so shy? Have you never seen a man shirtless?"

You held your breath with your face turned the other side, "I—I have…I have three brothers, Satoru," T-This was the most awkward you have ever been around Sator—you meant your sensei!

"Then why are you so shy around me?" You could SWEAR to the heavens that you knew he was smirking. Fuck.

"B—because I think it's not right for me as your student, even though we're out of school grounds to look at your bare chest," You just tried to come up with excuses at this point but deep down you know you wanted more.

Satoru cracks his neck, clearly he was stressed at the moment.

"Who said that it was wrong? I don't see anyone else here. It's just me and you, sugar plum. I know how you feel about me. The way you chew your pen when you look at me while I'm giving a lecture in class, with your legs on top of each other. Don’t even get me started on me spotting you trying to look at my cock, huh? Seeing whether I haven’t gotten rid of my morning wood. You’d like to help me on that?"

You just wanted to dissapear at that moment.

"Also, whatever student's say will somehow come to the lecturer's ears you know? Were you aware of that, my sly minx?"

Your mind just went blank at that moment, trying to recall what you told your friends about your crush on Satoru. Obviously with heat rising up to your ears, you weren't able to.

"I—I have no idea what you're talking about, sir…"

He scoffs.

"We're back to formalities, cupcake?" he sighed.

"N—No nothing like that, Satoru. I just feel that it's strange for me to call someone that I respect so much by their real name" You were justifying yourself and again he cuts you off.

Satoru slithers a hand underneath you to bring you closer to him.

"Angel, you said you wanted to repay me for this room right?"

You gulped, is he going to say what you think he's saying?

"Y—yes Satoru…"

He licked and bit his lip.

"I'm stressed now, dear. About my car and how stressful work has been these few days. So if you could help me with a certain problem, a predicament if you will," he spoke in a low, sensual voice that made your soul almost jump out of your chest. Is he saying what you think he's saying?

Your risque teacher comes closer to your ear and wraps his arms around your body.

"Are you up for it, my angel?"

You wished you could just crawl into a small ball and disappear. Woosh.

"S—Satoru?" You finally turned to face him and obviously with your jaw dropped, slightly. He started to move his head side-to-side, cracking his neck again with a lick of his lips which made your fingers fidget under the blanket you tucked yourself into. Was that just his habit or did he mean something else?

Remembering what the woman at the front desk said, chocolates and champagne, of course! You got up and dashed for the chocolates and champagne bottles, wanting to buy some time before you could think about what to you wanted to reply Satoru with. In your gut, you were wishing that the chocolates and champagne were are least decent enough to take Satoru's mind off whatever he wanted to do with you. His tastebuds have already tasted premium luxurious chocolate, so he might not bother about these cheap ones but you hoped it would buy you some time.

There was no doubt that you wanted to please him in that way but you were new to all of this and have never done such things with anyone before. Your mind was fogged up thinking about whether you wanted to give all your firsts to Satoru, your lecturer, someone you practically only meet during class hours. The more you think about it, you shouldn't even have agreed to go out to have supper with him in the first place, you were the reason why all of this happened.

You looked back at Satoru, offering him the chocolate that came in boxed form while munching on them yourself. “Here! S-Satoru! These aren’t that half bad. M-Maybe if you have a few you might calm down,” You said loudly, due to how nervous you have become.

Satoru stood up, approached you and knocked the chocolate off your hands. Aww they were actually not that bad.

“Don’t you want this, my dear? This is the perfect opportunity and you’re just going to run away from it? I thought there was a connection, with you agreeing to go out with me and how I can clearly see how wet you have become just being in the same radius as me. It’s not that hard to see, sugar plum.”

Is Satoru Gojo really begging for you to touch him now?

This time you dropped to your knees right in front of him. Did you have a choice? Did you know what to do? I mean you’ve seen some videos and heard people talk about it, is it going to be the exact same?

“Don’t worry baby, I’d guide you. J-Just like in class..” His breath hitched while taking your head towards his cock. You were feeling full, like you were sucking on a big lollipop. He thrusts into your mouth, showing you how to do it till you were swirling your tongue and trying to tease him just as he has been teasing you all this while. Like the innocent lamb you were, you were making sure your tongue gets right in between his folds, making him grunt. Lunging forward and grabbing your hair but not pushing himself onto you made you moan onto him and he showed that he clearly got pleasure from that. You made a note in your mind that he’s sensitive when you do that, making sure that you only do it when you want him to be putty in your hands. “Oh this is fun,” you thought to yourself.

Satoru’s full length was hard for you to take in and he didn’t want to force it on you. With little knowledge about how this was done, your hands wrapped around his cock, trying to stroke it with the same rhythm as how you were sucking. He threw his head back and groaned loudly while jerking into your mouth as you remained pleasuring him at the same speed. You were choking, at one point and that increased his pleasure.

“T-that’s right..my best student also knows how to please her teacher, doesn’t she? F-Fuck it’s always the innocent lambs that do it the best,” Satoru groans in pleasure. That was an ego boost for you, trying to keep the pace up even though you were crying. He was too big for you. Satoru noticed your tears and he pulled himself out which left your mouth empty and that made you whine.

He stroked your cheek and you made a groan at first, still wanting more of him.

“My sweet darling, am I too big for you? Want more of me?” You felt a little smirk after saying that. Wiping the involuntary tears off your face, you shook your head, trying to seem brave and a little more experienced than you actually were. It was embarrassing to be seen as a virgin at your age.

“Really dear? Then you wouldn’t mind if I did this?” Satoru grabbed your waist and brought it closer to his. You wanted to scream or shout but that would turn him off. “Losing my first time with my lecturer isn’t that bad, isn’t it? It would be an achievement actually,” you thought to yourself.

Moans came out of your mouth when he bit his lip and started to take off your panties, his cold hands touching your heated skin. You were sure they turned him on even more, so you guessed that there was no more looking back. As he was holding it in his hand, he sniffed it and softly groaned, “Baby you smell fucking delicious,” and then he proceeds to stuff it in your mouth. “We know the walls in this place are thin as fuck, I don’t want people to hear my girl’s loud screams, do I?”

He aligned himself again once more and slowly inched himself into you. The pain was excruciating at that point but thankfully your shouts were muffled down.

“S-shatho..” You tried to call out his name. He looked like an ethereal god at that point, enjoying how painfully tight you were with his head thrown back and his hands reaching to grab your breasts. He also realised that you were a virgin and how he just penetrated and broke your hymen, but he was enjoying himself a little too much to bother about that. As painful as it was, Satoru was going slow and that helped a slight bit for you to adjust to his size. He also noticed that you were bleeding from the penetration but he didn’t bother as this motel probably has to deal with situations like these, he didn’t care.

The panties in your mouth was starting to get so wet from your saliva so you decided to just spit it out. There he saw your face, full of pain and pleasure, trying to keep up with his momentum. Satoru dipped down to take a nipple into his mouth, swirling it and nibbling on it slightly. You were contented with the sense of pleasure you were getting for your first time. Just before he released it he bit on it, earning a loud moan from you while grabbing a hold on his white hair and jerking your hips forward made Satoru smile sinisterly. Oh what has he made his top student become?

At that point the pain became pleasure and you’re already reaching your release as so as him. His movements start to become rapid with mumbles of “Oh I love yous”, “Should’ve fucked you sooner” and “How have I been resisting all this time”.

“Where’d you want it baby girl? Ah- fuck it,” Satoru forced you to kneel on the floor and opened up your mouth before stuffing his cock back into it. He was close to his release, you figured. With your tongue you drew figure eights onto his cock head repeatedly, hoping it might help him. Just as your tongue went into his slit, that’s where he released his load.

Your eyes were closed at that point with a mouth full of cum. Were you supposed to spit it out or swallow? You weren’t sure so you swallowed all of it down. Tangy, bitter still slightly sweet, hmm.

“That was a bold move, dear,” Satoru said as he came out from the toilet, you were assuming he went to wash his cock off with water. You were embarrassed now, thinking that all forms of relationship have been broken with your lecturer.

“If you had told me that you were a virgin, I wouldn’t have taken it so far you know?” he said as he came closer to you in a soft voice.

“I-I didn’t want to seem inexperienced, I-I hope I came up to your standards, sir…” Satoru looked at you with disapproval as you called him sir. Again.

I'm so stressed from uni...writing is my only escape really. I also have kind of nervous to write the sex scene but I'm reading and trying to, I hope I reach up to my reader's expectations! i also think this fic might end at possibly before it reaches part 10, after sex idk what they're going to do

Update: I got it, here comes drama~

More update: there’s more sexy scenes here LOL

[blackboar]

Bit of a weird question, but who exactly won the WOTR?

The popular idea seems to be that Edward IV usurped Henry VI, then Henry came back but Edward defeated Lancaster and then it all seemed like it was over, before Richard usurped his nephew, where Lancaster regrouped and their last heir Henry VII won and finally brought peace because luckily the Yorkist heir was a girl so he could unite the factions and make children that were heirs of both sides.

I believed that but I came on Tumblr and a lot of people say Bosworth was just York dividing into Ricardians and anti Ricardians and Henry was kind of the leader of the second group more than a real "heir of Lancaster".

The strange thing is it kind of seems which side you're a fan of on here changes who you say won, but not in a "my side's the best" way, but more "my side lost so we're the victims and the winners were so mean about us" attitude.

So I see Richard III fans say he was innocent but "history's written by the victors" and so all negative rumours about him are state propaganda by evil Tudors because they're Lancaster heirs, but then I see Margaret of Anjou/Henry VI/Henry VII fans also say "history's written by the victors" and they've been slandered because York won and set the agenda. I literally do no know who to believe here.

I don't know if I'm on a side. I just try to portray things as accurately as possible. Honestly, I don't get why some folks get so heated on arguments about a conflict +500 years ago who frankly didn't have that much at stake.

It's still a conflict in the upper nobility in which the outcome didn't affect much of the population. The stakes are smaller and smaller as the conflict goes on. Bosworth is in many aspect a footnote in English history. No king look more like Richard III than Henry VII (except maybe John). Except foreign policy, they didn't have much disagreements on how to rule the country. Even for the nobility, it wasn't a gamebreaker considering how most of its member didn't suffer on its outcome.

I think "history is written by the victors" have its truth but in many cases is just plain bullshit made to victimize one side. So personaly I believe that there is two (or maybe three) separate wars between the 1455-1471 period and the 1483-1487 period. The issues aren't the same and the participants too. And yes, Henry Tudor is mainly a Yorkist candidate considering there wasn't Lancastrian anymore in 1485 except a bunch of powerless nobles like Oxford. However, it made good propaganda for him.

Ultimately there isn't good or bad people, just shades of grey. Richard was perhaps a bit worse but what fans of both sides (but frankly mostly Ricardians) fail to see is that their side have its fair share of crimes too.

[gabriellerudessa]

Compass (Norm Maclean x OC) - Part XXX

“Hey.” She stopped beside him, hand on his back and shoulder, and kissed his temple. “Oh, Andrea is walking you through their map of the Mojave. Good.”

“Yes. She also showed me a local map and I noted down the best path from here to the ranch.”

He would ask later if everything was fine. If they had time. His Pip-Boy’s clock indicated it was already nine p.m. God the time had flown and there was so much he hadn’t told her and he needed to before they went separate paths.

For some hours he thought he had more time.

AO3 | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV | Part XV | Part XVI | Part XVII | Part XVIII | Part XIX | Part XX | Part XXI (Smut) | Part XXII | Part XXIII | Part XXIV | Part XXV | Part XXVI (Smut) | Part XXVII | Part XXVIII | Part XXIX | Part XXXI | Part XXXII | Part XXXIII | Part XXXIV (Smut) | Part XXXV | Part XXXVI (END)

PLAYLIST ON YOUTUBE

Word Count: 6.007

Warnings: Feelings. Lots of feelings

XXX

Ed unhooked his own oil lamp from his belt as they got out, lightening it up as they moved towards the garden. Berta let out another pitiful sound of hunger as Ed put the lamp on the ground, close to the fence.

“Hey, Berta.” Marigold smiled at the Brahmin and approached, offering the palm of her hand for both heads to smell, scratching behind one ear.

Focusing on the animal and its antics searching for food and pets, instead of on the just gained knowledge that Lucy was going to the Mojave and all of its implications, otherwise she would crumble.

Ed opened one bag by the fence, taking out cut pieces of maize and offering one to each head at intervals, both in silence as they took care of Berta.

“You’re in love.” Ed suddenly said and Marigold winced.

“That obvious?”

“You’re my sister. You’re using the lipstick I gave you. You were never in love before. And I’m pretty sure he can be categorized as hobbit-sized and you and Mika were always talking about hobbits since you read The Lord of the Rings. So yeah. Very obvious.”

Marigold remained in silence, slowly moving around the Brahmin, mindlessly taking out the bugs and parasites trying to hitch a ride on Berta, squashing them, ignoring the burning of unshed tears.

“Mari-Mari-”

“What do you want me to say, Ed?” she cut him, quietly.

“You haven’t told him, have you?”

The sound of Berta chewing loud in the night, she stopped and looked at Ed. It was hard to say what face Ed was making, with the oil lamp behind him, and she guessed it was clear to him how her eyes looked.

Fuck. She was tired of having to keep herself from crying.

“Why would I? He’s going after his sister.”

“Have you tried to convince him to go to the ranch?”

“No and it would be hypocritical if I did.”

“Marigold-”

“Don’t you ‘Marigold’ me. Would you try and keep Willow from going back to her tribe if they were in trouble? Would you try and talk Andrea down to helping her flock if they needed? Would they talk you down from coming home if there was trouble?”

Ed remained in silence for long minutes, just the sound of Berta chewing. She still couldn’t see his face.

“So there’s more than just finding his sister. Do you know what?”

“Yeah and I’m not telling you. Those are his secrets to tell, not mine.” Marigold couldn’t see what expression he did, but Ed nodded.

“Thought about going with him?”

Marigold laughed, and it tasted of despair.

“I have to return to the ranch, Ed. I have responsibilities.” The word tasted like ash on her tongue, like it never had before.

A beat of silence and she went back to cleaning Berta, a loud sigh echoing in the night.

“So you kept him from one of your traps. What then?”

Marigold sighed. Why was Ed insisting on it?

“Took him home, Regina told Ma about the shot out and that a Vaultie girl was in it. We had things to sell to Ma June, so we both went. He asked about the Vaultie, Ma June told she sent her towards the Observatory and about the attack on it, and that’s it. We both started towards here.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake… You’re an idiot, Mari-Mari.”

She looked again at him, a self-deprecating smile in her face. Not her usual expression, but fitting.

“Tell me something new, Ed.”

“He met Ma. And I’ll pay you fifty caps if you tell me that she didn’t scheme in some way for you two to travel together, at least.”

“Well-” She couldn’t even finish trying to defend herself that yes, he was absolutely right, Ma had schemed, but still-

“I fucking knew it. How much you bet that Ma is already telling everyone she has a new son-in-law? Fuck, the twins are probably calling him uncle too.”

“That’s a little too much-”

“How Ma talks about Giselle?”

Giselle, caravan guard that Mika was making moon-eyes at and Ma was determined to have the two married by next year and yes absolutely called daughter-in-law when she wasn’t close.

“Motherfucker.” She blinked at the night air. “I hate when you’re right.”

“I’m your brother, I’ll always be right when you’re being an idiot.” She could feel her unimpressed face as she heard him chuckle, and if Berta wasn’t in the middle she would’ve tried to kick him. It always shut up his chuckles fast.

“All righty, all righty. Ma schemed. So what? It doesn’t void the rest.”

“Mari-Mari, sweet bane of my existence…” Sweet bane of my existence. That was how she knew they were good and it was all just worry from his side. “You appear without him, being in love, Ma will kick you out and say you can only come back if he’s with you.”

“She wouldn’t.”

“How do you think I finally talked with Andrea and Willow after chickening out four fucking times?”

Marigold blinked, snickered, and started laughing, leaning her back on Berta.

“Four times?!”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want, that’s your future if you don’t grow your… I don’t know, your ovaries.” He said, but she could hear him chuckling.

She laughed harder.

“Oh my God, Ed, that was awful.”

“I know.” There was the sound of steps and his hand touched her shoulder and she made herself stop laughing so she could look at him. The light hit him just enough that she could see his small, fond smile. “You really should talk with him. And go together, if he won’t come with you now, the Mojave is dangerous.”

“My responsibilities-”

He knocked on her forehead with a knuckle, lightly, grinning.

“Earth to Mari-Mari. Think, dumbass. Catarina and Sarah are at the ranch by now, if everything is fine. Ma won’t let me or Willow or Andrea even think of travelling farther than the Observatory until the kid is at least three years old, you remember how she was with the twins and Lily and Moth.” She blinked, mouth opening, but he kept talking. “Between the five of us, I think we can share your responsibilities easily while you’re away for God knows how long.”

Marigold blinked again, and the burn of tears started to spill out without her consent. She pressed closed fists against her eyes, tight enough to make weird stars and lines burst behind her eyelids.

Fuck.

Fuck.

How… She was so. Fucking. Stupid. Right in front of her. Right in front of her.

The sound of steps again, and Ed was pulling her into a hug, not trying to make her lower her hands, leaning his head against her cheek, hands stroking her upper back.

“You’re right, I’m an idiot.” She managed to mumble, the wet feeling against her skin uncomfortable.

Fuck, Norm had really turned her into a crier. Not even on her period she was like that.

“Nah… You weren’t expecting us earlier. And you’re really bad at thinking about yourself first.”

“What?”

“It’s the fucking truth, Mari-Mari. You always put the family and the ranch first, a lot of times instead of you.” He sighed, hands stopping but hug tighter. “Try and think about yourself a bit? Please?”

“… I’ll try…” Marigold managed, voice small, feeling a teenage again and crying on Catarina’s lap over some stupid thing she couldn’t remember the following day.

“That’s the Mari-Mari sweet bane of my existence I know and love.”

She chuckled, tears slowing, swallowing away the tightness in her throat.

“… What if he doesn’t return my feelings?”

“You can cry on my shoulder, as long as we don’t tell Willow. We don’t want some Root-Curse on poor Norm.”

Marigold chuckled again, slowly lowering her hands, the faint light of the oil lamp hurting her eyes, and tapped his shoulder. Ed let go a moment later, and she tried to clean the trail of tears away.

“And… Really, Mari-Mari. I saw how he looks at you, how he relaxed with you close. The man is an idiot if he’s not at least considering it.”

“… And you still acted like that?” She raised an eyebrow and managed a weak grin, and Ed just shrugged.

“He’s clearly determined to go after his sister…” She noticed him biting his lip. “I didn’t intend to mention any Vaultie.” Marigold frowned.

“But Willow didn’t catch this and talked about it.” He nodded and she crossed her arms. “You were really willing to keep this a secret? You don’t even know why exactly he’s searching his sister.”

“But if he didn’t know, he could go to the ranch. And then you wouldn’t be brokenhearted.”

Fucking fuckty fuck it all. Ed sometimes was too protective.

“I’m glad Willow mentioned it then, because he really needs to talk with his sister.” She sighed and rubbed her face.

“Is it really so important that you were willing to just let him go?”

“I can’t dictate his priorities, the same way he didn’t try to dictate mine.”

“What do you mean?”

“We talked about this, about going separate ways and my duties in the ranch, Ed. He knew nothing of the Wasteland when we did, and not even once Norm tried to beg me to stay and go with him no matter where his sister may be. Fuck, there were moments where we were investigating clues about her and he clearly said that it wasn’t my responsibility to go with him, no matter the danger.”

Ed opened and closed his mouth, and something in him looked chastened. Good.

“… Does he know what Black Widow means?”

“Are you trying to find a reason to be annoyed with him?” She raised an eyebrow and Ed shrugged.

“You know each other for less than a month and he’s already taking you away for God knows how long, I want to be sure he won’t be a dipshit to you.”

For fuck’s sake.

“I can deal with dipshits myself. But yeah, he knows, had to talk about it after the Nip-Nip’s disaster. And before you ask, he was a fucking sweetheart about it all, Ed my dearly detested.” She pulled her annoying nickname for him just to make sure he knew she wasn’t pissed at him – not too much, at least – and uncrossed her arms.

In retrospect, she should’ve noticed her heart was in trouble that night. Not that she would’ve done anything different, but oh well…

“You promise he wasn’t weird or whatever, Mari-Mari?”

“He hugged me. He was angered on behalf of me and how some assumed I enjoy it. He was sorry it was something I needed to do to see my family again. How do you categorize it?”

Ed pressed his lips in a line for one moment then sighed, small smile in place, shaking his head and turning to the bag with Berta’s food.

“All right, I’ll take your word. But punch him if he gets weird.” She rolled her eyes and resisted the temptation to kick him. “C’mon, after this I better make sure I give your birthday present before you leave.” He closed the bag and raised his oil lamp, grinning.

“There’s still five months, Ed.”

“But I don’t know when you’ll come back and I really think you’ll like this.” He started walking, and Marigold just scratched Berta one last time before following.

---------

The maps were old, the edges fraying, but still full of notes and marks, latitudes and longitudes remarked along the years. The first, he immediately noticed, was of the region they were in, previously Los Angeles, nowadays “the Boneyard”, accordingly to Andrea. She started pointing the road Long 15, how to reach it from their location, and the safe settlements and inns along it; the road was dotted with them, which was a relief, considering how empty the Boneyard was.

Swallowing, he made himself ask the best path towards the Bear ranch; no way would he take too long to reach it once back.

As he added the important landmarks’ coordinates in his Pip-Boy’s map and watched Andrea’s explanation, three things became clear: first, the Agency was more to the west than Marigold though and they hadn’t needed to circle so much; second, Marigold and he had done one of the worst paths possible and they were lucky to have arrived at all; and third, he was pretty sure he found the coordinates from the Bounty paper, to the east of the Agency. He bet it was close to those God-forsaken bear traps.

Andrea thankfully was gracious in not mentioning how bad the path was as he mentioned the places they had passed through, just context and information to some of them, and dutifully marking the coordinates for Vault 4 in her map.

“This is one of the biggest places you’ll cross. Not a settlement, a city. I don’t know how many inhabitants now, but it’s in the thousands. The Hub. There’s a lot there and it’s easy to get lost. I don’t recommend spending too much time in it, unless you have evidence that your sister is in it. Keep to the Long 15 and, if you need to sleep in it, go for the Salty Men, it’s in the road and we know the owners, Gustav and Nicholas. They’re trustful, drop our name and you won’t have trouble with them.”

Not a relief anymore about the settlements. Thousands of people? And not blown up like Shady Sands? He was so fucked.

Before she started on the other map, she pointed where they had met Lucy and The Ghoul, a narrow and short pass in some close mountains around the Boneyard.

“It’s around one week and a half since we met them, but we travelled slow, with a Brahmin full of cargo and a pregnant woman. We needed to go slower and then circle the mountain to reach here, using a longer but more stable path.” Andrea traced the path they had done first, then the one he and Marigold had used. “With this one here, you’ll reach the place in three, four days. The last inn we stayed in the Long 15 had a radio and there was talk of radstorm in some parts of it, so there’s also the possibility of it delaying them. They may also have stopped in The Hub for supplies, it would be dumb of them to not do it with such an old ghoul. It won’t be easy, but alone you’re able to travel light and keep a faster pace than a caravan. If you’re lucky, you must be able to reach your sister at the Mountain Pass into the Mojave, maybe before… Supposing they kept to the Long 15. I recommend you ask at any settlement you pass, just to be sure.”

Her reassurance about how they, Ed, Willow and Andrea, were slower, made him sigh in relief. Not impossible, Norm. Not impossible.

The second map, the Mojave Wasteland, was messier in a way, and Andrea had a lot to tell about it. She started with safe settlements and places with NCR; she warned he best tread carefully in them, since they would probably have heard about the Observatory when he reached them.

Then Andrea talked about places he better stay away. The ones that stuck to him were everything east of the Hoover Dam, where one could find fragmented groups of legionnaires, not as unified as when under Caesar, but still dangerous. Norm needed some seconds to remember what Marigold had taught about the Legion, and he immediately got Andrea’s warning. West of New Vegas, where one still could find pockets of Fiends, which Andrea explained was a dangerous gang that had started to branch off towards the Boneyard but still remained mostly in the Mojave. And finally a place southeast called “Searchlight”, bathed in radiation because of the Legion some decades earlier.

“If you end up on the Mojave and need to cross or pass close by to any of these places, try to find a native of the Mojave to guide you.” Norm nodded, eyebrows frowning and finishing inputting another coordinate.

“What are these… I don’t know, sun with planets?” there was one of those markings at the Boneyard, and four in the Mojave, one close to Searchlight.

“That’s an Atom. And those are places where I was able to start the Church of Atom. Most of the members have a marking like this or similar interpretations.” She pointed the tattoo around her eye. “If you need to talk with one, drop a ‘Confessor Andrea Bear told me about the Church’ and they should treat you fairly.”

He blinked, looked at the map’s marking and again at her and the tattoo.

“So… You really worship the atom, as in one of the smaller parts of matter?”

Andrea smiled and shrugged.

“That’s a way to put it. It’s more related to the concept of Atom’s Division, and Atom as the force and divinity behind the creation of multiple universes through it. Radiation is the manifestation of his Light upon the world. If you really want to know, I can preach in details all about it.” Andrea raised an eyebrow and grinned.

What.

“I… Think I’m okay with that definition.” He squinted at the map. “You said you started it…”

“In the Mojave and the Boneyard, yes. I brought it from the east coast with my parents a little more than a decade ago.”

He opened his mouth to ask – “east coast? Is it even possible to still do this travel?” –, but the metal door opened and Ed and Marigold came inside, and while both seemed relaxed and smiling and she pushed his shoulder in a move he recognized as “sibling annoyance”, Norm still noticed that she had cried, eyes just red and bloated enough to warn him about it.

“Hey.” She stopped beside him, hand on his back and shoulder, and kissed his temple. “Oh, Andrea is walking you through their map of the Mojave. Good.”

“Yes. She also showed me a local map and I noted down the best path from here to the ranch.”

He would ask later if everything was fine. If they had time. His Pip-Boy’s clock indicated it was already nine p.m. God the time had flown and there was so much he hadn’t told her and he needed to before they went separate paths.

For some hours he thought he had more time.

“You’re going to the ranch, Norm? When?” He heard Ed’s voice, a brief look showing the man was messing with his own bags.

“After I find my sister and solve everything. I promised to Marigold… Unless that’s a problem?”

“No, no… Mari-Mari, come here.” Ed called, something in his voice sounding like amusement, already walking towards the other room.

Marigold squeezed Norm’s shoulder with a smile and went, and he looked back at the map. Andrea tapped a place in the north of it with a finger, the old name “Las Vegas” crossed out, “New Vegas” written under it.

“Finally, New Vegas. I don’t think you’ll reach it, but if you do, your best bet is to make friends with the Kings and the Followers of the Apocalypse in Freeside, they can easily get you up to speed on local events and help you out. The Kings may ask something in exchange, but the Followers won’t, it’s their whole thing.”

“And the Strip was dark when we were returning, remember, pumpkin?”

Willow came up the stairs, carrying Marigold’s books, and Thaddeus came behind, pouting, in jeans and flannel checked shirt, and carrying a giant pile of clothes.

“Yeah, but it must’ve been just some problem on the power distribution.” Andrea shrugged, folding the maps and nodding for Thaddeus to put the clothes above it. He did so with a huff and Norm raised an eyebrow towards him, pointing at the fabric. Thaddeus just shrugged.

“I hope so, there’s a lot of people there. Mari-Mari, you found all of these books?!” Willow let them on the counter and turned back to the clothes.

---------

“Yeah, in a place we had to take shelter from a radstorm last week!” Marigold called at hearing Willow’s voice, immobile with arms extended as Ed made last adjustments to his birthday gift to her.

Some kind of formal shirt, the type of thing she only ever heard about, deep crimson with delicate silver buttons, the fabric soft, hugging her body in a way that no clothes of her did, the collar high but leaving her neck exposed.

“Oh, they’re earlier in the season, Atom must be pleased! And you’re very advanced in the third book!”

Willow called back as Marigold looked at the long sleeves, their fabric sheer, red and billowing along her limbs, and Ed made sure the buttons in the wrists were firm. It was effectively one of the prettiest things she now owned and she didn’t understood how Ed always found these types of things or where he expected her to use… But she also hadn’t known much about where to use the lipstick and there she was, using it every day, leaving marks on Norm and clearly getting his attention.

Better not to admit that aloud, Ed would become insufferable.

But she was curious to see how it would go with the red skirt she had found.

 “I’ve been reading aloud for her.” She heard Norm’s voice, and Ed stopped, looking at her with a grin and raised eyebrows.

“You’re worried about nothing, sweet bane of my existence.” He whispered and she aimed a kick at his shin.

Ed sidestepped and kept on making sure the shirt fit her, that annoying grin still in place.

“Sweetheart…” Andrea’s voice, loud enough to reach her.

“What, pumpkin?” Willow sing-sang and there was a sighing sound. Marigold could just imagine what face Willow had made at Norm’s admission about reading.

“Don’t.”

“Spoilsport.” There was no heat behind Willow’s voice.

---------

In the end Willow had sorted the clothes for Thaddeus – which she had already metaphorically wrestled into “you’re coming with us” logic, which explained his pouting –, for Norm, arguing that the Mojave sun was merciless and he needed both spares and lighter layers to protect his skin, and for Marigold, because “I can’t believe you have been using the same things the last weeks, that’s not healthy, Mari-Mari”.

A brief discussion about sleeping arrangements resulted in Willow and Ed sharing the double bed in the cave, Andrea in the lower bunk bed, a disgruntled Thaddeus in the upper one, and he and Marigold in the sofas.

Thaddeus was faking sleep and Willow had already retired, saying “her feet were grumbling about the day”, while Ed talked in low tones with Andrea in the kitchen. Marigold threw her blanket in one of the sofas – one with clear view to the arched door, he noticed – and turned to him.

“Hey, Norm-boy. Can… Can we talk?” She whispered, head nodding towards the metal door, hunting rifle slung over one shoulder, oil lamp in one hand, already lit.

Damn it. Damn it. That was it, and he wasn’t ready.

He dry-swallowed and nodded, trying to not let the slight burning of tears in his eyes bother him. He followed her and unlocked the door, feeling Ed and Andrea’s eyes on them.

They let the door slightly open and sat in the sand under the porch, sides pressing against each other, oil lamp in front of them, and Norm let himself watch the night sky and its multitude of stars, dry-swallowing again, not knowing how exactly to start, wondering if the stars would watch his heart break.

---------

She breathed deeply, watching his face upturned towards the night sky, noticing how his eye glimmered, a rock in her stomach at noticing it was because of unshed tears. Marigold swallowed and forced her hand to move despite her fears, holding his. She felt herself relax a bit with how he intertwined their fingers immediately, tightly.

“Are you okay, Marigold?” He asked before she could finish gathering her courage. “Earlier, it seemed as if you had cried…”

Oh. She squeezed his hand, and he looked at her, eyebrows frowning.

“I am, Norm-boy, thanks. Was just… Talking with Ed and things got intense.” Norm kept looking at her, nodding briefly. “This is… About what we talked, actually.”

It was his time to squeeze her hand, and if anything she risked saying he seemed more troubled than before.

“What… What did you talk about?”

That was it, Marigold. Just say it and try and grab your happiness.

“I… I can come with you towards the Mojave, if you’ll welcome me. Help you find Lucy and everything else.” Keep him alive, keep him close.

Norm’s frown melted and he blinked, and she easily recognized his shock and surprise.

“But… The ranch, your family…”

“That’s what I was talking with Ed. They will definitely need to stay home for the kid’s first years, Ma wouldn’t let them leave. And with Catarina and Sarah… There’s enough people to cover my duties.” She stroked his hand with her thumb, throat tight.

“If… If you’re sure… Then yes. I would like that.” A small smile pulled up the corners of his lips, and her heart stuttered at the way his eyes glimmered, something in them making her think of pure, unfiltered joy.

“I am. And…”

She swallowed, the other words she wanted and needed to say seeming stuck, her heart so fast it seemed it was going to get out through her mouth. Fuck Marigold, you’re plenty talkative with sex, grow your fucking balls. Or ovaries. Whatever the fuck you need to fucking talk, for fuck’s sake.

Norm leaned his head to the side, still watching her, still that smile, the warm light of the oil lamp giving his eyes a soft look as he waited her to keep going; they didn’t look watery anymore.

Marigold opened her mouth… And the fucking words wouldn’t come out, fear clogging her throat.

Fuck it.

She leaned down and kissed him, hard, something in it feeling like despair, and her free hand reached out to cup his face, thumb stroking his cheek. Norm leaned up, answering in a slower, soothing kiss, and she felt the moment he pulled slightly at her braid.

“… And I love you, Norm.” She mumbled the words against his lips, eyes tightly closed, ignoring and cursing how once the fuck again they burned with tears, even as she felt him freeze.

---------

“And I love you, Norm”.

It was so much better hearing it in person instead of in a dream, his heart beating not only fast, but hard, his ribcage seeming to shake under its strength.

Norm swallowed his shock, letting out a trembling breath. He wasn’t all alone in his feelings. He didn’t need to wait until he was back and in the ranch to discover if they had a chance. Thank God. Thank God.

“…I love you too, Marigold.”

He said, pulling tighter her braid, leaning harder into the kiss and licking her lower lip. She opened her mouth against his, their tongues meeting, the kiss slow and gentle and tender, in a way that hadn’t been before. A slight salty taste got mixed and he retreated.

Norm frowned and let go of her hair to instead cup her face, thumb cleaning the tears. The warm light threw her face in harsh shadows and lights, but still her eyes glimmered.

“Marigold?”

“… I’m not dreaming, am I?”

She whispered, voice fragile, and he swallowed, stroking her cheek, the look in her eyes a familiar one, just like when he had treated her normally after her explanation about the Black Widow thing, how she had said “Better stay casual” with a shrug. It was painful to see it again after how she had just declared herself.

All that, love, a relationship, even if they weren’t detailing it all yet, things she had crossed off from her life, never believing she would find someone with the needed courage and respect for her.

A bunch of idiots, letting her escape between their fingers – oh, now he was getting her indignation at how no woman from the Vault had tried to change his single status.

“This is real, Marigold.” He pecked her lips. “I love you.”

He kissed her again, and again, and again, whispering the words in between each kiss, the pecks becoming harder, longer, nipping on her lips. He wanted to imprint his feelings on her, reach out inside her chest and wrap it around her heart, so she wouldn’t ever have that doubt again.

She started returning the kisses, lips moving in a slightly desperate way, and he coaxed tranquility and calm from her, her grip on his hand painful. More wetness reached his hand, salt mixed in. He kept his eyes closed.

“I’m not going anywhere, Beautiful.” He mumbled against her lips, changing his angle a bit, and she laughed, short, but laughed, the sound beautiful as it echoed in the night air, her lips smiling against his, and he felt her arm against his relax.

“You have been waiting to use that, haven’t you?”

“A bit.” He grinned into her next kiss, her hand moving and playing with the hair in his nape. “… When did you know?” He asked, nose sliding softly against hers, her thumb stroking his hairline.

“When you read for me, that first night. Enjoying The Lord of the Rings was never… So effortless.” Marigold kissed him, slow and sweet, and his heart fluttered.

 “Damn.” It escaped and he chuckled, warmth rising through his neck. “You know the funny thing, Marigold?”

“What?”

“I was never much for reading…” And oh, how he could see Lucy giving him crap about it the moment she discovered… “But I wanted to help you. And then I just wanted you to keep looking at me like you did that night.”

“How I was looking, Norm-boy?”

“With the most focus anyone has ever looked at me, actually seeing me, Norm, not the Overseer’s son or whatever.” He swallowed. “As if I had hung the stars and moon in the sky.”

Norm sighed into her, licking her lip, pulling her into another open mouthed kiss, languid and slow. His hand moved to her nape, feeling her heartbeat in her neck against his hand, as fast as his own.

---------

Marigold retreated and managed to scrounge a grin, pulling slightly on his hair.

“How could I not look at you? Handsome, smart, cute, respectful…”

“Small and not too talkative and easy to disregard…” He chuckled against her, thumb stroking her skin, the teasing clear, and she chuckled too.

“That seems like a bonus. I won’t have to fight too much to keep people from trying to steal you.” She retorted the teasing right back and he actually laughed.

“Believe me, I only have eyes for you, Beautiful.” He was grinning against her. Her heartbeat stuttered at the words, and Marigold retreated enough to open her eyes and look at him.

Norm had the gall to try and look innocent.

“Do you intend to use all of my lines back on me?”

“Well, I was told you’re one of the best at teasing and flirting…” He grinned, pulling her back down, pecking her lips as she resisted the will to chuckle.

“Well, you got that righty.” She pecked his lips back, sighing, the softness of his hair on her fingers grounding. “… And you, Norm-boy? When did you know?”

A moment of silence, Norm just breathing, lips sliding against hers.

“The morning after we first kissed… Just…” A sweet kiss. “We were cuddling and even while asleep… You pulled me closer. Trusting, despite… Everything.”

Marigold opened her eyes again, watching him, his eyes soft and moving across her face, a small smile in his lips, the thumb stroking her skin, and she squeezed his hand. Norm returned it immediately. Not a single moment his eyes dropped down.

 “… You look at me as if I’m just human and still precious.”

She spoke after what seemed an eternity, and his eyes were watery as he pressed a sweet kiss to her lips.

“… I know how human you are and I’m terrified for your life.” She noticed his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “I… I was half relieved when your brother arrived, because it meant you would travel back with company and through a safer path.”

Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

She kissed him hard and fast.

“Well, we’re even on that because I’m also terrified for your life.” Another kiss, his grip on her hand painful. “I’m fucking relieved I’m going together with you.”

“Oh.” He managed before she was kissing him again. It was almost as if he was shocked she was also worried about him.

---------

He loved her too.

He loved her too.

Her brain couldn’t stop repeating the words, the moment, how he had looked at her after the shock – soft, gentle – and soothed her fears and everything else after.

Fuck, she had really reverted into a lovesick teenager.

Not that there was any other possible reaction after all that.

After that, there was no way they were sleeping separated, and sure, it wasn’t the most comfortable, her blanket folded under her neck as a pillow and his covering them, a good portion of her legs dangling above the armrest… But Norm was sleeping soundly with most of his body above her, arm and leg slung over her while she hugged him with one arm, his deep breaths against her neck a comfort she hoped to never lose.

Her other arm reached up out so her fingers could slide against his hair, her eyes to the dark ceiling. Sleep seemed far away from her, even with the sounds around: Norm’s steady breath, the ex-Brotherhood deep and loud snores…

Andrea’s too deliberate breathing.

“I know you’re awake, Dea.” The fake sleep breathing turned into a chuckle as Marigold whispered. “You and Ed were snooping behind the door, weren’t you?”

“He was worried.” Of course he was. “And I was curious.”

Marigold shook her head slightly.

“Curiosity sated?”

A low hum.

“Yes. He surprised me.”

“I didn’t know it was possible to surprise you.” It was her turn to chuckle.

“When you needed reassurance… He gave it, in a way that show he understands you. And his admission at not enjoying reading, but still doing it for you…” there was a brief pause and another low chuckle. “I’m happy for you, Mari-Mari. The two of you see each other and fit together. Now try to sleep.”

“On it, Dea.” Marigold turned her head and it was enough to feel his hair tickling her nose.

She breathed him in, and focused on the sandy smell.

He loved her too.

---------

Something awoke him and he blearily opened his eyes. Thaddeus, desperately lightening an oil lamp and walking towards the kitchen with a gait that he easily recognized as “someone desperately needing to relief themselves”, the sound of the door opening echoing one moment later.

Marigold still breathed deeply under him, her arm tight around him, and he smiled, burrowing deeper into it with a happy sigh, finding her shoulder and kissing it lightly.

They loved each other.

Norm hadn’t dreamt of this being a possibility in the Vault, finding someone he actually loved and that loved him back, hadn’t even tried. When he reached the surface, if seemed even less possible, even less of a worry. But it had happened, and he didn’t regret it.

What it would mean for them in the long run – dating, how he would fit with her family, how Lucy would fit and react, everything –, he still didn’t know, but he could tell he was enthusiastic to discover it all, as long as it was beside Marigold.

Hu.

Take that, Vault Council, he managed to think before slipping back into sleep.

[tavolgisvist]

Mister X came to Apple once, from Canada. He was not a nice man. He wanted $30,000 to launch a new concept in retailing furniture. He had short black flat lacquered hair and glasses and from the back his head looked like Rudolf Hess. He wore bell-bottomed purple or green trousers, and carried a briefcase and several grudges. One grudge was that he had been in England five days and no one from Apple would see him. This was conveyed to me by someone in the next phone booth to X’s somewhere in Chelsea who was eavesdropping on X and learned that he was planning to do Apple ‘some harm’. Dark threat, darkly offered and wilily eavesdropped. I, not anxious for Apple to be harmed, found X and called him up to the throne-room where he created so many instant and bad vibrations that I knocked over a cup of tea. Mister X said he was from Canada and he had come all the way from Canada and he was not going to be fucked about. No sir. If we were as good as we said we were, and as honest and forward-looking as we said we were, and if we were as groovy and hip as we claimed to be, then, oh boy, we had no alternative but to bankroll Clive X to the tune of thirty grand, yes sir! Do, he said. Well, well, well, we said. We said it was clearly a trap and faced with the choice of coming off like good honest forward-looking groovy hip guys (and handing over the bread which said we were all of those things), and with coming off like shits, I took the latter route and Mr X was quick to tell us we were shits.

I said I would have taken the other route, had I had the 30 gs, but I had only eight shillings and an ounce of hash. Mr X said he was not going to get bogged down by a lot of dumb people who couldn’t see what a fine deal he was offering. I said I could sympathise with that. ‘You have no intelligence,’ he told me and I nodded. ‘And you have no honesty,’ he said. This was true, I agreed, inviting Mr X to leave. ‘Your vibes are very bad,’ I said trendily, ‘and you are a cunt.’ Mr X said he would prefer to finish his drink and then find someone with some decency and common sense who could dig his furniture scheme and get the Beatles to hand over the bread. Maybe, too, he would like a ceremony with his own photographer there to capture on film the smiles and handshakes as ‘John, Paul, George and Ringo, yes, folks, the Beatles, hand over a cheque for $30,000 to Canada’s brilliant Mr X.’ Or something of the sort, I thought, reaching for the intercom button. Mr X sat bolt upright drinking his drink in nervous sips, looking fiercely around the room at a forest of badly vibed heads. He was clearly feeling very good. The negative buzz was flowing like molten honey through his system. The voice of Silly Jimmy came on the intercom. ‘Yes?’ ‘Mr X, who is in my room, wishes to be assisted to leave,’ I said. Mr X couldn’t have felt better and he smiled broadly and said, ‘This is what I suspected,’ and I said it was great that he’d found what he’d come for. So many people left Apple disappointed, it was good that he had found what he expected, suspected. He was assisted out, and he looked very like Rudolph Hess as he left the room with Silly Jimmy helping him on his way back to Canada. He gave an interview later, to the Toronto Globe and together he and the writer concluded that the Apple was rotten at the core. A few weeks later, Mr X’s negative buzz alighted on the negative antenna of a man named Mr Z, also from Canada. Mr Z arrived at Apple, but couldn’t get in on account of I had told the receptionist to keep him out because Mr Z generated problems like a fly spreads disease.

(As Time Goes by Derek Taylor)

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI)

[be-side-my-self]

Watching Season 4 of Only Murders In The Building. (E7)

Rewatch of ONLY Murders In The Building to prepare for season 4:

<Part I> // <Part II> // <Part III> // <Part IIII> // <Part V> // <Part VI> // <Part VII> // <Part VIII>

<S4 E1> // <S4 E2> // <S4 E3> // S4 E4 // <S4 E5> // <S4 E6>

This is no rewatch but my new posts can also easily be blocked because I'll continue to use #OMITBRewatch as a tag. I'll also tag #OMITBS4. While quoting, I use M, O, C for the main characters.

Beware spoilers!

S4 E7

I want to say it here... there is no proof that Dudenoff is dead... it's likely but he could have changed the shoulder and left it in the ashes... it's very far fetched but who the fuck knows xD

(The writers know)

narrator: ... so who is it?

Howards reaction is so worrysome... and good idea to send a break-up text and then turning off the phone...

Also this is the first time we hear about Charle's sister, right?

I am sorry... but whenever I hear an american city name I will always first think about the european equivalent.

Suffolk? Yeah that is in England.

Also I guess the narrator is Charle's brother in law. Who is a cop?

lmao what a burn from Doreen.

OH FUCKING YIKES! 'Valley of the Dolls' indeed.

O: "So, I guess you replaced your children with dolls, huh?" Doreen: "Wow. I have never made that connection. You are intuitive. That is much more important in a man than height."

Another burn.

.... uhm.... cool down Doreen... Oliver just broke up with his serious girlfriend.

Big Mike... he live on the boat in the driveway because... he likes big butts and he cannot lie...

Oh ouch... losing your splee is no joke.

M: "You mean talk to the butt-lover in the driveway boat?"

I bet Charles gets better along with his brother-in-law than his sister.

The brother-in-law is suffering.

wtf Bev.

I understand that Oliver just wants to drink. But I really would have been surprised if there was no alcohol in the house

HOLY FUCK DOREEN... sneaking in on Oliver...

Oliver needs an adult... MABEL?!

Doreen: "... I can't help but notice you seem like something's maybe bothering you. Is it Charles?" O: "W-Well, no. Uh-- Well, usually yes, but, uh, uh, this time, it's a breakup. A relationship done in by my... one tragic flaw." Doreen: "Too handsome?" O: "Well, th-there's that, but it's also... I-I'm simply too... emotionally available." ... yeah.

Howard is just telling everyone where the trio is.

Phones in the bowl... what kind of party is that?

.... inside the port-a-potty.

HOLY SHIT LORETTA

oh shit, they are so weirdly cute...

... Doreen is a lot younger than Charles, huh?

It's my party and I cry if I want to!

omg Loretta...

Bev got it on with Big Mike..?

What the fuck Bev.......

OMG Howard. He is so good at this job. And the animal-job podcast is such a good idea!

Again, Oliver needs an adult.

Oh no... poor Loretta...

Oliver you idot.

Okay but yes, Loretta you have to understand Oliver is deeply insecure.

HOLY SHIT

OH?! 17 year difference between Charles and Doreen.

Aww....

What the hell, Bev.

... oh wow... Loretta is proposing.

holy shit???

Zach: "Actors one, real life dipshits zero."

And Oliver is smiling because he is in love and engaged.

Big Mike is small.

CHUCKIE

OH MY GOD

They know.

So they wanted them to stop because they were afraid, that they would figure out that Dudenoff's is dead. “No one wants a murder podcast about real estate!” MY ASS!

[wyvolf]

Assorted Doctor Iceberg Headcanons and Trivia Part 1.

Hi, this is my mega-list of headcanons, theories and general trivia for Iceberg part one! These are based on a mix pseudo-memories (IRL/DA shit dw abt it), dreams and general headcanons.

Below the cut are the long winded list for easy view. Idm inspiration but please don't steal them since as said most of it is based on memories that are very real to me thank you! /gen.

i. Iceberg's full name is Joshua-Ellis Tyler Gills, his name "deadname" being Ellis, but he still enjoyed being called it so he decided to add it apart of his newer name of Joshua, thus it becoming hyphenated. His middle name was something he gave too himself as he is a massive fan of Tyler. The Creator.

ii. He grew up in a small town in Florida, USA. But was born somewhere else during a trip his mother and father was on. He was born in a hospital in Chicago.

iii. Iceberg always had poor eyesight, this was made worse when his anomaly kept freezing his tears which would often stab him in the eyes- this rendered Iceberg to having poorer vision and only really being able to cry in showers, and learn how to bottle everything up. Do Not Cry. Thankfully the prescription he has no allows him to see, but due to factors his vision is considerably a lot worse than for example: Doctor Glass and/or Kondraki, etc.

iv. During his time in the military he was sent on the field a good few times, and Iceberg was great and experienced with both a gun and knowledge in explosives to the point where his behavior grew concerning, enjoying blowing shit up a little too much and very much excited when the enemy stepped on an explosive device he modified. This grew to a level where he was forced to stay the military base instead, which his efforts were put to use. He helped researched on a cryogenics stasis chamber, designing it and overall helped on the engineering of it. But one thing led to another, an argument broke out and Ice was pushed inside the untested chamber. And there he was frozen in time. Who knows how many days if not weeks passed by before the stasis chamber started to malfunction, waking Ice up and exploding. Of course, Iceberg survived, but wasn't left without being injured with burn scars and frostbite and of course earning his anomaly.

v. Iceberg's anomaly itself wasn't an instantaneous affair; rather it slowly became more and more apparent after the incident. It was first just that Iceberg feeling cold and stiff, those who touched his body felt coldness of someone whose been outside on a winters day with little to no protection. Over time this anomaly advanced further his once nominal body temperature of 37 would drop significantly to -7, where it remains today.

vi. To expand on his anomaly Iceberg cannot control it meaning yeah nah he doesn't have "Elsa powers" or anything like that - the most that can happy is when he's really sad and low it can seem like he's getting colder. While he can drink water he has to have it lukewarm, if not he sticks to coffee, varied flavors of soda and sadly has to have lukewarm showers to prevent burning and freezing. Ice does not enjoy it he wants to eat and drink normally like he used to but alas his anomaly is a massive hindrance.

vii. Speaking of Sodas: Iceberg's favorite soda is Pepsi Cola, Coke-Cola and Monster Energy drinks. He used to be a fan of sprite but now it just tastes too bubbly.

viii. Would it surprise anyone when I say Iceberg is a bit of a gamer? No? Okay! He is mostly a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series enjoying San Andreas, IV and V the most though. He has played a few of the Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, and RDR games. And you know what? He also enjoys the Sims and Animal Crossing but its a guilty pleasure since he is a manly man and can't be caught playing such!

ix. Now is there any mental soup stuff with Iceberg? Yes! Due to his childhood (explained more in part 2) which he honestly cannot remember Ice dissociates, has C-PTSD, schizophrenia (Hebephrenic type)*. As well as being hypersexual due to trauma.

x. Finally for part 1 of this so it isn't too long. Um. A list of theme songs, or songs that I think generally vibe with Iceberg but I don't consider themes. Some he probably listens to himself. (listen to it here! hyperlink to spotify) please be aware some songs describe sex, drugs/alcohol, suicide, some may contain swears and the like).

[natequarter]

#the french did WHAT

for some context: a french king (shockingly not called louis) died in the 1300s, leaving behind no sons. then his brother did it, then their brother did it again. this left only their sister alive and with living sons. women, of course, could not rule france in their own right - but a man could! the senior heir to france, via the maternal line, was... edward iii, o edwardest of edwards, king of england and a right pain in the arse. however, there was a dispute over whether the french crown could be inherited through women or only through the male line. according to the latter, the heir to the throne was a distant cousin not called louis of the last prick not called louis. france decided on the male line (salic law). england decided on the female line. thus began the hundred years' war, a conflict between the kings of england and the kings of france.

fastforward a lot of years and england's own succession debacles, and henry v is busy trying to take over france. he won le epic victory at agincourt, but unfortunately he also caught le less epic dysentery and dies, leaving behind a nine-months-old son (henry vi) as king of england. this is what we in the business call a bad idea. henry vi's uncles ruled in his stead during his childhood, and england managed to a) crown henry vi as king of france and b) promptly get beaten up by a teenaged girl and then burn her at the stake. this effectively ended the hundred years' war, with a prick not called louis becoming King For Sure and the kings of england retreating to be bitter about it.

england had another succession debacle after this, known as the wars of the roses, so named because edward iv wanted to plant carnations in the royal gardens, but they clashed with henry vi's vision. (also because of complications over whether the crown should be inherited in the male line only or whoever came first... again! yes, there is some hypocrisy in this. don't worry about that.)

now, i'm not sure when it was written, but at some point the french (or a french guy) decided to write a poem lambasting henry v's disastrous death and the whole baby king thing. this is fine, except that it was written at the end of the fifteenth century. henry v died in 1422. (and henry vi died in 1471!) as such, there were at least fifty years between henry v's terrible no good very bad day and the french getting round to making fun of him. going purely by timings, i would guess it was written during the reign of henry vii - i.e. the end of the fifteenth century. this is the kind of thing you write as soon as the english king's kicked the bucket - not two henrys later! it was written so late, in fact, that they got several facts - like the place he died - wrong.

henry v was and remains a source of national pride, unless you're a really dedicated yorkist, i guess, for smashing the french at agincourt. (we don't tend to talk about the dysentery as much...) if the french really wanted to capitalise on henry's bad day, they really should've got on with it sooner.

it kills me every time i remember that the french wrote a hole song making fun of henry v for shitting himself to death... upwards of fifty years after he died. it's not an epic burn when it takes you half a century to deliver it!