#GO BACK TO THEM DUDE!!!! AT LEAST WRITE YOUR DAUGHTER BACK

[a-libra-writes]

hi hi, sorry for not answering, I had a busy day😅

to answer what you said in the tags, I feel like the more people to read the more I can improve by the constructive criticism yk, so I wouldn't really mind if you posted my rambles lol

YEEEHAW LETS GO. I put a cut for those who are also interested! :3 Im gonna copy and paste bc tumblr acts up and hates me personally LOL

Angst ahead !!!

would it be morally wrong to be romantically attracted to Viktor even though he has a wife and daughter that he probably misses very much?

like, I could even picture reader finding out about this and then understanding why he doesn't reciprocate your feelings as much as you'd like (even though the two of you have great chemistry and he clearly has feeling for you as well) and so, the reader proceeds to distance themselves little by little, mainly out of guilt bcs like "damn, I am trying to get with a man who's married and has a daughter" and out of insecurity that you would never be like his wife in any way, shape or form for him to love you back (even though he already does but they don't know that).

I feel like Viktor would notice their sudden change of behavior but I don't think he would do much about it because he'd think they found someone better for them than him, or they fell out of love with him after he opened up a little to them (these are the insecurities that he has and now he thinks it's actually coming true).

and so, the two of them would be silently yearning/longing for each other but now with an invisible barrier between them and if he ever confessed to reader they'd be like:

(this has been my roman empire ever since I found out about his estranged family 😭 even though I am a pessimist by nature I still want a happy ending to this)

it would take Ivy and Mitzi to help them guys out because out of everyone they were the ones rooting a lot for them to end up together and for their ship to sink lol (in this scenario Viktor hasn't confessed and reader didn't reject him)

Mitzi (pretending that she doesn't know that you and Viktor are getting distant with each other) "casually" talks to you about how much happier Viktor has been ever since they've entered his life and how much he needed for a good thing to happen in his life, how she never saw him smile as much as he did with them, and so on.

Ivy, on the other hand would be berating the shit out of Viktor like "what the hell is going on?? you guys were so cute together and now I barely see you two even talk!" he'd reluctantly and begrudgingly say what he thinks is going on, that you found someone better, that you are better off without him but Ivy would say that that's nonsense, she knows you'd never do that without even saying something about it and that's what brings her to ask "did you even talk to them?" and he'd stay silent. after talking with the two of you, lvy and Mitzi would have to get the two of you alone to talk and sort things out. Mitzi would place a letter on your nightstand telling you to meet her at the garage (where Viktor would be) when you get there and your eyes lock the air is filled with an awkward silence, you quickly find out that Mitzi and lvy set the two of you up for this after Viktor asks where's Ivy bcs she told him to meet him there.

after you explain to him that they planned this you say that it's unnecessary and you don't

even know why they'd do this (obvious lie) you start walking out but Viktor stops you by gently holding your wrist, and then you see it in his face, his furrowed brows (they were almost always furrowed but never like this), the longing in his gaze (you don't remember seeing him look at you with so much emotion before), the bags under his eyes (he hasn't been sleeping properly), the silent plea for you to stay (who are you to deny him when he looks at you so lovingly like this?)

you two spend hours talking and explaining how you feel in the verge of tears, leading to a confession of both parties. the two of you end up holding each other in a long and warm embrace, whispering sweet nothings in each other's ear.

(that's it for now, lmk what you think)"

[barleyo]

BARELYYYYY write another daddy Leon fic, AND MY LIFE WILL BE YOURSSS

867-5309.

Real Dad! Leon Kennedy X F! Reader (smut)

A/N: this fic is shitty and short, sorry ^_^ i literally have no drive or desire to write anymore, idk what's going on with me. probably some type of brain worm! but i thought i should at least try to get something written :3 (ily whoever knows what song the title is referencing)

Tags: incest (daddy-daughter), phone sex, age gap (21 and 50-ish), mutual masturbation, no actual sex, idk dude i'm not sure what i was going for with this

Wordcount: 719

!!! DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT/DARK CONTENT !!!

"Little note wasn't lying," Leon said into his phone, sitting in his car near the back of the bar's mostly empty parking lot. "What's this about a good time, doll?"

It was too late for him to be out like this. Too late for him to be this far from sober. Too late for him to be calling some random number that was stuck to the urinal partition. And, of course, it was much too late for him to be this horny.

"Depends," a voice, your voice, spoke on the line. "What kinda night is it, mister?"

Thank god he was drunk, or else he would've heard right through your overly sensual, fake tone. Thank god you were stupid, or else you would've known it was him right from the sleazy nicknames he used.

"Tonight?" 

Dirty fucking man. His hands were practically already in his pants. Roughly palming at himself over his tented jeans to the sound of some mystery broad's voice. 

"It's a real good night, babydoll. I think you could make it better though." He pulled his zipper down, cock pulsating desperately. 

You giggled on the other line, absolutely drowning in the sudden flush of attention. That's why you slipped the damn sticky note with your burner's number into the men's room all those nights ago, hoping some horned up man old enough to be your dad would ring your line and validate you. Little did you know, that man would truly be your dad. 

"Sounds like you could use it. I don't mind 'chatting' for a bit," you said, hand finding its way all over your body. "Tell me, y'touching yourself already?"

"To a voice like yours? Of course I am."

Leon freed himself from the confines of his pants, eyes shifting anxiously as he looked around the sparse parking lot. He was a grown man, he'd jerked off to hotlines and voices on the phone all the time. In public, though? New territory completely. 

He squeezed his shaft, feeling it pulse in his hand. Thing had a heartbeat of its own at that point as it practically begging to catch some friction and relief. 

"Glad you called," you said, sliding your panties off while you spoke. You tossed them in the corner of your room mindlessly. "I've been waiting for someone to find that little note."

Leon opened his mouth to respond when he heard a soft moan escape your mouth. That was enough for him to start. He wanted to take it slow, to enjoy himself, but who was he kidding? He was a needy fucker and he wanted to cum ASAP. 

"What'cha doing right now?" he was finally able to ask, swallowing thickly as he pumped his length. "Using those cute fingers, doll?"

You hummed through an over exaggerated moan, dramatizing and putting on a show for your 'mystery man.' 

"Sure am," you said, finger curled, reaching your g-spot the best you could with the limited length it had. "But it's not as good as the real thing."

He could practically hear the pout in your voice, and it drove him crazy. You sounded like a bratty little baby, just his type. 

"Awh, aren't you a poor thing? Bet some older cock would do you good, huh?" 

He heard the squelch of your cunt through the phone speaker. It picked up the sound of your palm hitting your clit, and the little gasps of air you let out each time you slammed your fingers in.

"Guess so." You bit your bottom lip, holding back an excited squeal at his words. "You offering?" 

Leon chuckled dryly, watching the tip of his cock weep with pre as he stroked himself. "Oh, someone's eager. Sure," he said, amused smirk on his face as he started to near his climax, hand still working furiously over his cock. "I'm offering. I could use a cute thing like you, anyway. It'll be much better than just hearing ya through the phone."

"We'll see about that," you teased, phone clicking off of the line just as he started to cum. 

(XXX)-867-5309: *sent location* 

(XXX)-867-5309: pull up ;)

Wait, that address? That was his house...

"Fuck."

Leon's head fell back on the car seat headrest, brain going a mile a minute. Hand still covered in stray spurts of cum.

"Fuck!"

[zeevawyte]

Ok so, this is so far outside my usual stuff it’s insane, but this literally won't leave my brain and I don't know if I have time to write it so-

RadioApple fic idea under the cut:

TW: blood, mentions of cannibalism (it's Alastor, duh), semi-unsafe dom/sub (no actual sex), sub drops

Starts out your normal "stop interfering with my relationship with my daughter & you can have a snack whenever you want" kinda deal, with Alastor taking full advantage of the fact that he's got the most powerful being in hell at his mercy. Dude has a serious power trip the first time, & between that and the taste is hooked immediately.

And of course Luci isn't exactly complaining. Other than the occasional jumpscare via shadow, it hasn't been too bad. Kind of enjoyable actually, not that he'd ever admit that to the demon's face. And it's not like he hasn't been tied up or held down before either.

But then during one of their ‘meetings’ he ends up going into sub space on accident… and it keeps happening.

This wouldn't be a problem except Alastor (for obvious reasons) has literally zero information/knowledge about that sort of thing. And, being the dramatic asshole that he is, enjoys getting the last word and leaving without a backwards glance. Which means he's not there when Luci drops.

Hard.

But it's fine! He's fine! He's the King of Hell, he doesn't need some sinner to help him deal with the consequences of an arrangement he proposed in the first place. He's totally fine on his own.

Except he's not.

He is very much not fine, and it starts to show. It gets so bad that one day Charlie actually asks him if he’s ok mid-conversation.

Enter Angel Dust.

Now, by this point Angel’s like 98% sure the two powerhouses are going at it. Alastor has been in a good mood for months now (coinciding suspiciously with the two of them not being at each other’s throats all the time - at least in public) & he’s seen Luci coming out of a room straightening his coat and hat on one of the upper floors. Not to mention the down-right flirty undertones to any barbs they shoot back and forth.

Husk agrees that something is going on but heavily doubts it’s what Angel thinks.

Determined to prove that he’s right, Angel starts wandering the upper floors or heading up just as Alastor heads down (subtly, he’s not an idiot). Anyway, he’s up there one day being nosy when he hears a crash from one of the rooms. He goes in only to find Lucifer on the floor, having tripped over a side table and knocked over a lamp, disheveled and absolutely shaking.

He recognizes what’s happening almost immediately (fuck you very much Val) and gathers the little king up onto the couch, helping him calm down until he doesn’t look like he’s going to either spontaneously start sobbing or throw up on the rug.

Luci is understandably embarrassed and tries to offer him a favor for his help, but Angel waves him off saying he’s been there & that Luci doesn’t owe him anything.

The next day when Lucifer is off doing something else, Angel grabs Alastor and all but drags him into a side room.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you and short king, and frankly it’s none’a my business-”

“No, it isn’t. And if that really is all you wanted to speak with me about-”

“Shut up! I’m not jokin’ alright? I’m bein’ 100% serious. You’re fucking up big time, and I’m pretty sure you don’t even know it. So if you don’t want this whole thing to end in a big fuckin’ mess you need to listen to me.”

Cue a hilariously awkward conversation where an unusually serious Angel explains dom/sub dynamics and the effects/consequences therein to an incredibly-uncomfortable-but-desperately-not-showing-it Alastor.

It ends with something along the lines of

"And look, I don't know if you actually care about the guy or if it’s just about gettin’ your kicks, but honestly? It doesn't matter. You've got your whole gentleman thing right? Openin' doors for the ladies and shit?" *pokes him in the chest* "Well as a gentleman, you've dropped the fuckin' ball. Only self-centered dicks leave their sub to drop alone."

Now if there’s one thing Alastor will not abide, it’s a loss of manners. Being told he’s been unknowingly committing a social faux pas gets under his skin immediately. It itches at him. To the point that his smile almost slips. More than once.

He needs to fix it. As soon as possible.

He’s visibly twitchy the rest of the day.

Husk corners Angel to ask what the hell he said to Al, but only gets a vague, noncommittal answer about letting him know about some information he was missing.

And the next time he and Lucifer have a ‘meeting,’ Alastor stays.

[rachetmath]

Family

Ruby: F*** you!

Raven: F*** you!

Yang: F*** you!!

Raven: F*** you!!

Qrow: F*** you!!!

Jaune: Why are they screaming at each other?

Nora: I don’t know. Probably, because Raven abandoned them and is the worst mother ever.

Jaune: Isn’t that your mom then?

Nora: F*** you.

Jaune: Yep. Anyways… Yo!

RYBB: WHAT?!!!

Jaune: Can’t you all talk about this? You know like a family.

RYBB: f-

Jaune: Try me. Try me and see what happens. Understand, you all can be or are on my shit list. I already have my issues with my family. I already talked to Winter about hers. I will humble all of you. 

Raven: Look kid this has-

Jaune: It’s crazy how you know about family but abandoned your kin for a bunch of strangers.

Raven: … 

Jaune: It’s crazy how you’re your daughter's biggest stalker but just like one you can barely have a conversation with her.  And attempt to take her life the moment your views differ from one another.

Raven: … 

Jaune: It’s crazy how you risked your tribe, only to give the relic to your daughter, probably the only present you’ll ever give her out the years of her life. And what’s insane is you did all that because you didn’t want to deal with Salem even though she held your tribe hostage. Speaking of your tribe where are they now?

Raven: *silent*

Jaune: Sit you no leadership, die-hard shogun ass down.

Raven: *sit down*

Qrow: Well damn kid-

Jaune: Bitch I’m older than you now but even before that I was more man than you.

Qrow: Now hold-

Jaune: I will admit you showed up when Tyrian came. However, you want to know why I was pissed and made those assumptions?

Qrow: I mean I saved Ruby and your lives.

Jaune: Yeah. You were watching us from a distance. Good. But you were late. Which means when you were late we encountered Grimm. Now what could cause that?

Qrow: Um…

Jaune: You were drunk.

Qrow: Well-

Jaune: Back to the journey to Mistral and after you could have been more useful in almost every event.

Qrow: Woah kid I was-

Jaune: Dude when you couldn’t find any hunters, you didn’t even bother trying to help any of us improve. When we were trapped in a room with Salem's allies and your sister, your first thought was to stand around, do nothing, and find out.

Qrow: Okay b-

Jaune: Raven kicked your ass. Hazel punched your back out. And the only one you were protecting was Oscar. What happened to Ruby and Yang being your nieces? Speaking of Oscar didn’t you punch him in the face and never apologize for it?

Qrow: That was for Ozpin.

Jaune: In Oscar’s body, don't try to defend this. Suppose a huntsman saw that, would you not be arrested?

Qrow: Okay now that I think about it-

Jaune: Oh, and when Oscar went missing what the f*** were you doing? Getting drunk, again.

Qrow: I was having a hard time.

Jaune: Screw you.

Qrow: Well at least I didn’t endanger my friends.

Jaune: At least I didn’t get one of my friends killed. Like with Clover. Which I will say, great job in letting Tyrian escape. It’s crazy how even sober you are still an idiot. Also, you’re a fraud. Qrow: Well I-

Jaune: Like now there is no comparing us, I’ve been through more shit than you will ever imagine. And I wasn’t given a choice. You were. And that’s misfortunate. Your nieces almost died a couple of times and you weren’t there to help them. I was. God I’m starting to realize why your team is a mess and why, Tai, hates you. You are both a downer and a deadbeat. Pick a struggle.

Qrow: *silent and sits with Raven*

Jaune: *stares at Ruby and Yang*

Yang and Ruby: *sat down immediately*

Jaune: So what are you all going to do?

RYBB: Talk like a family.

Jaune: Good. Now you excuse me I need to write a letter to my mother who I am not on the best of terms, right now. Bye.

Nora: Jaune? Jaune, is there something you want to talk about? I’m openly available.

Jaune: F*** you too, Nora.

Qrow: How long was he on that island?

Ruby: Uncle Qrow, we had our first argument on that island.

Qrow: Oh… s***.

[writeandsurvive]

Author's note: just a little Gibbs idea I've had in mind. Maybe I'll get back to writing for him more... :) maybe it's because I'm binging NCIS from the beginning again. I tried to keep it as gender neutral as possible, hope I did well. Also, it's not proofread and I'm not a native English speaker.

Summary: you're babysitting your brother's twins by yourself and ends up calling for help.

Warnings: age gap, I guess?, talk of near death experience, taking care of babies, reader not wanting kids, siblings banter

Babysitting ~ Leroy Jethro Gibbs

"Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Seriously? It's the fourth time you're asking. We're gonna be just fine!" You reassured your brother, as you're sitting on the play mat your ten months old nephew and niece. If you were completely honest, you were a bit anxious about babysitting the twins all by yourself as it was the first time. But you couldn't let your brother know that, as he was already struggling to leave.

"All you have to do is feed them, change their diapers at some point and put them to bed." He got down to pick up his daughter, finally saying goodbye.

"I promise they will be alive and in one piece when you come back. Hopefully, tomorrow morning." You grinned at him before grabbing your nephew and gentle holding him on his feet. "Now go daddy, have fun." You said with a baby voice, like it was your little dude saying it. After one more kiss to his girl, he put her down and did the same with his son.

"It's just a work thing." He told you for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah, but the beautiful single mom from your office will be there."

"She left just a month ago. I'm so not ready to jump into anything." He couldn't bring himself to say the name of his wife and mother of his children. One day, she just decided that being a mom and a wife wasn't for her and she took off. Which is why you were babysitting that night.

"Don't jump into anything, just jump on her."

"On those elegant words, I'm out. Bye babies, I love you!" He sent them kisses as he was walking towards the door. "What are you doing?" He asked when he noticed you were following.

"Going to a party of course!"

"Don't leave them out of your sight! Even for one second!" He scolded.

"They are on their mat, playing!"

"And your niece is starting to crawl!"

"Just leave and bang someone."

"And you wonder why you're still single..."

He finally left but not without holding his shoulder after you punched him.

"Okay babies! We can do this, right?"

Turned out, you couldn't. Or at least, it wasn't going as smoothly as you thought it would. Shortly after your brother left, your niece started to cry her heart out, wondering why daddy wasn't there, for sure. Then, your nephew decided that he wasn't going to eat. The food didn't seem yucky to you but it was to him, and he thought throwing around and at you was funny. So did your niece. By this time, your brother had already texted you twice and you obviously lied. The little boy being covered in soft food, you decided to give them both a bath, hoping it'd tired them a bit. But they both were very much against the baby shower gel, and your niece pooped in the tub. Which made everyone almost throw up.

After a (very) long struggle, they were finally in their PJs, clean and ready for bed. You thought a break was coming, but your niece had a meltdown. Which caused your nephew to have one too. You didn't know what was wrong, you tried everything you could to calm them both but nothing was working. You contemplated calling your brother several times, but it was his first night out since she left and you didn't want to ruin it for him. After over an hour of struggle, you did call someone.

"Gibbs," he answered.

"How much do you love me?" You immediately asked over the crying. You barely heard him chuckle.

"I'm on my way."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I owe you one!"

You didn't know how long it took your team leader to show up at your brother's house. But somehow, as you were trying to soothe the twins on your brother's bed, you felt a presence behind you. "How did you get in? You know what, I don't care. Help me, please, I don't know what to do."

Whether or not the twins noticed that there was someone else in the room, they weren't stopping. Gibbs got closer to you, look down at the twins. "First, you're gonna take a deep breath."

"They are crying bloody murder!" You exclaimed.

"The more frustrated and anxious you get, the more they'll cry." You felt his hand on your shoulder and his gentle squeeze. You closed your eyes, tried to block the noises and took a deep breath.

"Now, are they fed? Changed?"

You wanted to give him a snarky comment as you always do, but didn't have the patience for it. So you just said yes.

He grabbed your niece into his arms, "Grab this little guy and do what I'm doing." You followed his instructions. Holding and bouncing your little man a certain way. After the eventful evening, you almost missed how incredible Gibbs looked with a baby in his arms, how gentle and soft he was. Such a natural. You nearly stopped everything when you heard him starting to sing a lullaby. It was quiet and you could barely hear him above the crying. That's when you realized that only your nephew was still crying. "You stopped." He warned you. "Don't get frustrated, hon. Sing to him."

You took another deep breath and did as told. Slowly, your nephew was calming down. It was magic.

"Lead the way to their bedroom." He whispered.

He put down in the little girl in her crib, and helped you putting down the baby boy, as he noticed you were too scared of waking him up. You stayed there for a moment, silently looking down at them, Gibbs right next to you.

"It's official, I do not want kids."

Gibbs chuckled and slid his hand in the back of your neck, bringing you to him so he could kiss your hair. You took the opportunity to go for a hug and he gently returned it. It suddenly became much easier to breathe.

"Is the baby monitor on?"

You checked, and grabbed the part you were supposed to keep with you.

"I need to change." You said after leaving the bedroom.

"You can take a shower."

"Do I look that bad?"

"You look like you need to relax."

"True. Will you be there when I get out?"

"Yes, give me the monitor." You did and felt shivers all over your body as his long fingers brushed against yours.

"Grab anything you want from the fridge. I'll be quick."

"No rush."

It was one of the most amazing shower you've ever had.

You knew you didn't want to have children most of your adult life, but it just got confirmed. You didn't want this to be your daily life. You loved kids, and you loved the twins more than anything in the world, but you didn't need one of your own.

When you reached the kitchen, it was sparkling clean. The big mess from dinner was gone. The toys were put away. Gibbs had his back turned to you as he was doing the dishes. "I don't know if I want to scold you or kiss you." You regretted the last words as soon as they got out.

Gibbs looked at you over his shoulder with a smile. "You're welcome."

"Seriously, you didn't have to!"

"No problem! You accepted to babysit twins after the crappy days we've had at work."

"Yeah," you sighed, remembering the awful case the team dealt with and only closed a few hours ago.

"How you feeling?" He asked, turning off the water and drying off his hands.

"How you feeling?" You retorted, earning a shy smirk from Gibbs.

"I'm fine." He reassured you, or at least, tried.

You got closer to him, grabbing the hand towel for him to put it away, and locked eyes with this man you've been in love with for a very long time. "You almost got killed, Gibbs." You said barely above a whisper.

"It comes with the job." He just said.

"Doesn't make it okay when it's such a close call." You could see the scene again. The bullet rushing so close to his head. A few centimeters to the left and Gibbs wouldn't be anymore. That thought hurt. It scared you more than anything else. And you couldn't control the tears forming in your eyes.

"I'm okay." He said one more time, knowing that you needed to hear it. So did he.

You felt his arms slowly wrapping around you, and before you knew it, your face was buried in his neck, as you inhaled his unique scent deeply. You held onto him tightly. "I can't lose you. Not you. Ever."

But you would, one day. Him being older than you, you knew that and Gibbs definitely knew it too. Which is why he never acted on his attraction and feelings for you. He knew you were feeling the same, he knew you were in love with him - even though he couldn't understand why or how. He could easily have given in, and enjoy whatever moments with you. But he refused. He couldn't do that to you, nor to himself. Everyday in this job, he could lose you too. That bullet could've been for you and not miss. Losing Shannon - and Kelly - was the hardest thing he's ever had to go through, and he couldn't bare the idea of losing another partner, especially you.

Which was why he tried to get you to leave NCIS several in the past few years. At first, it was pointing out how this job sucks - he loves it but he's a bit of masochist -, how you'd be better off doing something safe. Then it was introducing you to someone who had move on from this job and never felt better. And lately, it was asking Vance to find you a desk job you would actually enjoy. But nothing worked. You were still there, by his side, in harm's way.

Would it hurt to give in just this once? He wondered as he felt you clutching onto him. You fitted so perfectly in his arms, you smelled so good. You were showing your vulnerability, which you rarely do, with anyone and Gibbs found it very appealing.

He was looking down at you, you were looking up. He could lean in a few inches and his lips would reach yours. He started to, very slowly. But before it happened, your phone went off. You rushed to it, not to answer but mostly to shut it down, after it would wake up the twins, despite them being upstairs.

"Seriously!" You said after picking up.

"Just wanted to check in. Are they safely in bed?" You rolled your eyes.

"Of course not, I told you we were having a party. Can't you hear the music? Do they prefer scotch or bourbon?" You saw Gibbs smiling.

"You suck."

"So do you. Go back, and enjoy your night out, idiot."

"Hey, wait. Are you--sure it's not too soon for me?"

"She left, bro. Screw her. Whether it's a one time thing or more, as long as you're happy with it, just go for it. You deserve some fun."

"Says you, who can't move on from her boss, even though nothing ever happened. I mean, I tried to introduce you to some nice pe--" you hung up before he could finish. You knew Gibbs hear the entire thing.

"I'm, uh, gonna check on the twins."

But he held you back. "They are fine." He whispered.

"You already knew, didn't you?" You could look into his magnificent blue eyes. "That's why you've been trying to get rid of me?"

He sighed and brought you closer. His nose in your hair, his lips against your forehead. "I can't lose you either." He whispered, returning the vulnerability you showed earlier.

Hearing those words, you didn't think twice. You lifted your head up and crashed your lips on his. Gibbs didn't have the strength nor will to fight it. He intensified the kiss quickly, backing you up against the wall, where it happened for the very first time.

First of many.

[chordsykat]

How I write action/fight scenes

From a prompt posted by a friend on Discord last night. :3 Just thought I would ramble a bit before getting to work, this morning. If you're a writer and want to know what goes through my head as I come up with combat scenes in my stories, then read on. In this way, I hope we both learn a lot. Because I honestly don't think I've ever laid out my "formula" before...

First, know who you're dealing with.

This tutorial is going to stick mostly to the actual writing aspects, but if you're going to do an action series, you should factor in the combat abilities of your characters as you develop them. This doesn't have to be anything fancy. Keep it to the natural human responses at least. In other words, during a conflict, how will your character react:

Fight: Push back

Flight: Run away

Freeze: Do nothing

Knowing just that will give you enough to start thinking these dances through. And indeed, that's what they are - a dance. If you know more, like, specifically what kind of fighting they do, what their strengths in combat are, etc -- all the better, but know that what I list below goes in order from most to least important, and that stuff won't be on the list until the end.

Second, (and always) make the audience care about the action.

This sounds dumb and counterintuitive but people won't find an action scene compelling just because it's an action scene. Not to knock it, because it was brilliant for a different reason and a lot of the writing staff's hands were tied... BUT... During my time as a fan of, all the way into my employment with, Archie-Sonic, I can't tell you how many action scenes happened just because some executive at Sega was like "I think X and Y need to fight." So they would, and for reasons that were muddy at best. I think at one point, we had Sonic and Knuckles literally exchanging this dialogue:

Sonic: Yo dude, be cool. Last time we met, we left on good terms! Knuckles: Maybe, but you're still an intruder and just because you did me that favor on the day my daughter was to be married does not mean I owe you anything in the way of kindness.

IDK, my memory may be foggy, but that was the gist of it. Point is, don't do that - and first make sure your audience understands the motives behind the action, the potential stakes, and why it's all taking place to begin with. Else, you can make it as cool as you want and people are going to walk away with a sense of "that was cool" instead of "holy shit I was freaking out through that whole scene." If there's any question as to what you should be striving for as a writer, it's the latter.

Third, plot it out like it's a mini-story.

To the point - figure out the end first, and work backwards, just like so many writing tutorials have said before. Again, keep it simple: Who wins? Does the conflict result in a casualty of some kind? Does a character learn something?

Before you show how it goes down, you need to establish what goes down as the action happens, and what happens afterwards. Keeping the ending in mind as yo write a scene is always a good way of making it feel tighter. And throwing littlte twists for interest (maybe a character has the upper-hand for all but the end of the fight - maybe a character is losing until a specific turning point, etc) is made much easier, too.

Fourth, mind the rhythm.

A little weird to explain this, but the back-and-forth nature of the scene needs to flow well. Generally, conflict follows a pattern of:

Character acts

Opposition reacts

Opposition acts

Character reacts

If this pattern looks familiar to you, it should. This is the basic pattern of human dialogue as seen in stories and, YES, real life. Consider your scene like a dialogue all its own (even if the characters are talking throughout). The twists and turns I spoke about in the last point should be "off beat" because there's an unexpected nature to them. When a twist happens, consider breaking the above pattern.

Fifth, showcase character traits and skills (again, always).

Some characters have a high sense of honor and would put down their weapons if their opponent was unarmed. Some of them would fight dirty and hit someone with a chair when their back was turned. Some characters are scrappy and will jump into a conflict even when they're sorely outmatched. Some are straight up cowards who might run away even when there's a good chance they could win. Some are smart enough to bow out and will not engage -- hiding at the first sign of trouble. Some will throw snowballs at the oppressor and be surprised when they pull aggro and the dude comes after them.

You get the idea -- fights, conflicts and action scenes are great ways to show your characters' strengths, weaknesses, traits, and personality. Times of struggle are going to lay emotional responses raw, and it's a great way of showing "who someone really is" as it were.

Sixth, showcase unique defensive behavior.

Some characters have specific training: military, martial arts, street-fighting, etc... which, if you're aware of those, should come out during combat or conflict. Some characters have access to weapons. Some characters' bodies are the weapon. Etc, etc etc...

Whatever you do, about the only time you're going to show off the fact that your character knows Muay Thai is during an action scene. If you yourself do not practice this martial art, then research what you need to incorporate to make it believable when you write. Watch videos and write down the ways you would describe the movement. If you're doing a comic, then sketch the movement. Use that in your story.

Last, create more interest by tying in and highlighting story themes or disparities between protagonist characters, antagonist characters, and/or the conflict as a whole.

A little trickier, but if your story has a central theme or moral, try showing pieces of it shining through the action. Just as one wild example, if you have a theme of "love conquers all" this might mean your fight will end with the two people falling in love, instead of fighting. Think like a dungeon master. If you rolled a natural 20 on "try to woo the orc" in a combat situation (remember that comic?) what do you think would happen?

Too, if your combatants have something in common, or especially something that they are diametrically opposed on, feel free to show that off in these scenes. It'll leave the audience knowing them better (and set them up for further head-butting... or romance(?) down the line. And that's always fun).

Anywho, that's just a few of my thoughts on action sequences in fiction. If this helped you, or you want me to talk about this even more -- send me a message or a note or something. Always up for discussing this kind of thing.

And your reward for reading this far is an invite to join my discord if you wanna hear me ramble on about this sort of thing, in perpetuity. :)

[therabbitthatpostthings]

Okay let’s talk about Murder Drones Finale 😭😭😭

SPOILERS FOR EP 8! ALL OF IT. MURDER DRONES SPOILERS HERE

First off that opening was so cool. Brayden's still on fucking fire, the teacher is so over it. I love it.

Nuzi being Cringe!

THEY ARE SO FUCKING CRINGE YOUR HONOR I LOVE THEM! Uzi asked are they dating and he says "That was the plan!" I LOVE THEMMMMM OMGGGG! I can't get a good screenshot of it but they do wrap they tails together during the fall.

The Animation

I just- it's so fucking good. The red lights as the planet is destroyed. The way that the purple light of Uzi's Null reflects on Cyn's robotic and flesh parts. This is an episode you gotta watch frame by frame. I'm just gonna lump cinematography and shot choices in here too. Like the only way for everyone to truly understand what I'm talking about I NEED YOU TO WATCH THE EPISODE! Like it's well known that every episode is a reference to a horror movie, the Prom is Carrie, Cabin Fever is Friday the 13th, etc. I feel like we don't appreciate how scary this show actually is. The way shots are laid out and scenes are paced give off such unease. It's great I love it. I'm sorry but Uzi trying to put her own heart back in her chest AND save N who is being disemboweled is INSANE WORK. AND THE HANDS! THE HANDS!

AND THE EXPRESSIONS! YALL- FUCK- getting across so much emotion with robot characters is always my favorite thing to see.

And of course! Uzi, N, and V vs Cyn and J. I- it's just- y'all go watch this fight pls. This shot is so fucking beautiful...

J vs V

So J knew the whole time. Big Yikes. ALSO MY PRINCESS BABY GIRL IS ALIVE! God on J for living past the end credits but WOW- for Cyn to trick her... I wonder how much of that she really thought was Tessa.

Khan, Lizzy and Thad

I love this shot of Khan so much.

I still believe that the "secret friend" was Khan and/or Nori just because there is no reason for Lizzy to not tell Thad (also V texted her AFTER the planet exploded to let her know she's alive which she wouldn't need to do if she still thought Tessa was Tessa). It would be funny if it was all three. Nori was gonna get the cross to the surface and give it Lizzy to get to Khan. Khan asked Lizzy to find the hideout since she was hanging out with V in between Ep2 and 3 and then V texted her after the planet exploded to stall J. Honestly love that for Lizzy did the most and cared the least. Side note, the way Lizzy is so unbothered in the fight confirms to me that she is the homeroom teacher's daughter.

But yeah! I'm glad these three made it to the end and they didn't do the thing where Lizzy and Uzi become besties. I like Lizzy as V's friend more. Love love LOVE- Khan looking at Nori's core and saying "Kinda hot..?" Nice to know that the Doorman women have a type. And Thad. Sweet little prince Thad. Just a good dude.

Cyn (this whole part is rambly)

I've been very specific about referring to Absolute Solver as Cyn. I usually write "Absolute Solver/Cyn" when reffering to them. Cyn is dead though. Uzi burned up her core and ate the [null]. So for brevity, I'm just gonna call it/them Cyn.

Speaking of Cyn. I love Cyn. I don't think I talk about how much I love Cyn. I can't talk about Cyn without talking about her relationship to N, V, and J. N, V, Nori and Uzi all refer to Cyn as her. J refers to Cyn as it. Cause that's all it really is. Cyn was the host- someone who is long gone. Even when Uzi was taken over V was angry at Cyn: "Same horrors, huh Cyn?"

J on the other hands says: "It tricked me too." She's knows what the Solver is and sees it for what it is, a virus. We've seen from the memories that N and V (especially N) were a lot closer to Cyn than J who sided with Tessa and the Elliots. This distinction of calling Cyn shows that N and V can't or won't distinguish the two. This is someone they grew up and lived with. N is hesitant and scared cause that's who little sister vs V who is angry cause this is the creature that replaced Cyn. Remember V says "We do our job, and that thing leaves us alone." As far as V is concerned Cyn was always like this and she just wants to save her team, especially N. (As far as Uzi and Nori go, they've never known the Solver by any other name except Cyn so no need to change it. Absolute Solver is a mouthful compared to Cyn). My point it, it hurts seeing the person you love become a monster and even more to know that Cyn 1001 was never there. The only time we saw her was as that little scared Robot in the pile. They never really knew her and maybe there's hope that Cyn, their Cyn, is in there but she isn't. She never was, it's always been the Solver.

And because I have to mention it. In N's flashbacks after Cyn caves his chest open we see flashes of this happening at the mansion and V's body on the floor. Which was expected, we know Cyn made them but what I'm thinking is, Cyn DEFINITELY used N to kill Tessa.

ANYWAY- now I get to talk about how much I love this fucking little freak. She is so CREEPY! I love everything about Cyn. I love how she moves- how her movements are so creepy and fluid. Like all the animation is fluid but she moves extra-fluid. It's creepy she's creepy I love her! I love how much personality she has, they totally could have went the soulless machine route but no, just like the Worker Drones she HAS personality! She sadistic, malicious, and manipulative. Genuinely there is so much wrong with her. Like there is so much about her to talk about that I can't even explain in words. Better to assimilate than explain tbh. Like she shows genuine interest in the Murder Drones. She kept their personalities in tact because of N, even knowing that V and J would be liabilities. She even told Tessa as long as she didn't get in her way, Tessa would be unharmed. She could've easily killed the banquet without all the flair but she was angry at the Elliot family for threatening her, N and the rest of the Drones. The singularity is the point where technology reaches when we, humans, can no longer control it. It is indistinguishable from our concept of humanity. I'm not gonna get all philosophical and ponder the legitimacy of the Drones AI, I think the show does that well enough. They have thoughts and feelings, they are alive, plain and simple. This story is not new btw, robots living in the remains of human society and having their own personalities and living as an extent of humanity has been done before. The examples I can think of are Wall-E, Stray and I Have No Mouth... works too (kinda). Basically, Cyn as the antagonist have her own personality that goes beyond the mindless machine route is so fucking cool and I love it. I love has antagonistic she is to everyone, even people she likes. It's not like she doesn't understand empathy, she just doesn't care. "Your copies will forgive me." And again! The is not new, this is not a new character type, I'm sure but it's done well here. She is amazing and I love everything about her. Cyn you are freaking crazy baby girl and I love you.

The Ending

She a damaged OC now, what else is there to say?

[ladykailitha]

All My Roads Lead Back to You Part 6

Am I going to tease you with more reconnect before WIP Wednesday? Why, yes, yes I am.

This chapter was a blast to write. We get some of the petals of the past to unfold, just a little.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4  Part 5  

***

Robin began her grovelling by making french toast with homemade whipped cream and strawberry jam.

Both Steve and Edie were drawn out of their rooms as the sweet smell of vanilla and spices filled their home. They made their way to the kitchen and sat down at the counter.

“Looks fantastic, Aunt Robbie,” Edie said.

Robin smiled timidly. “Can’t let my favorite people go hungry, now can I?”

Steve and Edie shared a glance and grinned.

“We definitely won’t say no to french toast,” Steve agreed.

She piled them them up on two plates and handed each one to Steve and Edie. “This is me saying I’m sorry about earlier. Eddie Munson, for all his problems, is not an emergency.”

“How did Viv react when you told her you were going to storm the castle?” Edie asked around a large mouthful of food.

Vivian Knightley was Robin’s most recent girlfriend. Tall, gorgeous. An actual fucking model. They had met in New York last year when Nancy had done an expose on the dangers of the fashion industry and Robin had tagged along to ogle the pretty ladies. No one was surprised when she took the prettiest one home with her.

“Uh...” Robin said, blinking slowly. “She was supportive but annoyed?”

Steve clicked his tongued. “Annoyed that the plan was for her to come out to Indy with you and suddenly you’re leaving her in New York for the next couple of days?”

Robin blushed. “I’ll pardon me, while you eat the fruits of my grovelling for you two, I’m going to go grovel to my girlfriend.”

“Send her flowers,” Steve called as she exited the room. “Spare no expense. I mean it.”

“Yeah, yeah, Romeo,” Robin said. “I’ve got this.”

Edie just shook her head. “I don’t know why people think Romeo is the height of romance. Dude couldn’t keep either of the girls he was crushing on.”

Steve laughed. “Rosaline sure dodged that bullet.”

A few minutes later Robin came back with blush high on her cheeks. “Yeah, I’m going to have to get flowers at the very least.”

Steve raised an eyebrow and then shook his head. “We’ll go out for dinner tomorrow and you can lay out your plan for making sure you don’t get dumped this weekend.”

Robin sighed dramatically. “I really screwed the pooch this, didn’t I? I got everyone made at me.”

Edie and Steve shared a glance and Steve sighed, too.

“I know you meant well,” he said tersely, “but I don’t know why you think it was Eddie’s fault. It never was. I have told the same story over and over. He confessed, I turned him down, my parents came back and said they would do better. I was at a low enough point in my life that I believed them.”

Robin sighed. “He really didn’t hurt you?”

Steve pursed his lips and shook his head. “Really. I know Addison is a bitch extraordinaire but I’m the idiot that fell for her charms, okay? Plus, I think I got the best part of that deal. I got a beautiful daughter, I’m the CEO of a tech company worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and I’m happy. You want to know what she got?”

“Nothing?” Robin asked with a grimace.

“She’s got my parents,” Steve replied, “and is living miserably in Chicago where she can’t find a man that will take her with bad dye job and sagging breasts.”

“They say the best revenge is living well,” Robin said with a smile.

Steve smiled back. “Exactly.”

Robin threw her arms in the air in defeat. “You win.”

“It’s nice to win once in a while,” Steve said with a happy sigh. “You should visit more often.”

Edie scoffed. “Like you don’t win when she’s not around.”

“Are you kidding?” Steve asked. “Between you and Dustin, I always lose.”

Edie cocked her head to the side and then nodded. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

Steve and Robin laughed.

*

Edie went to school the next day, grateful it was Friday. She wished middle schools and high schools had early out days like the elementary schools. It would make her life far more pleasant. But as it was she still looked forward to the weekend.

Mandy came up to her at their lockers. She chewed on her lip nervously. “So I talked to my dad…”

“I hope you got farther along then I did,” Edie grumped. “My Aunt Robin came to visit early and threw a bomb into getting information out of either of them.”

Mandy sighed. “Not really,” she said, slamming her locker shut and leaning against it. “All Dad would say is that was just a series of missed connections and that neither one is at fault.”

Edie slammed her own locker so hard it bounced back in her face. She slammed it again and this time the lock engaged. “That’s not what it feels like. They didn’t talk for nearly twenty years. This just doesn’t make sense.”

They walked to class together in stony silence.

*

At lunch Harri was able to shine some light on the situation.

“Dad said that Harrington had three strikes against him,” he said.

Edie raised her eyebrows. “He really called my dad by our last name?”

Harri nodded. “He only told me the first one, but I can guess the other two.”

Kenny raised an eyebrow. “What’s the first one?”

Harri picked at his food again. “My Dad confessed that he was in ‘love’ with ‘Harrington’ and that he had brushed it off. That said that all they were was friends and maybe not even that. They had both had near death experiences and hadn’t really had time to get to know each other.”

“Harsh,” Mandy said softly.

“Wait, I have a theory it might not be harsh as we think,” Edie said, chewing at her bottom lip. “Harri do you know when the witch hunt for your dad was?”

He shrugged. “Spring of ‘86 approximately.”

“And what was your dad’s band name?” Edie asked, pulling out her phone.

“Oh!” Mandy said. “I know that one. It was Corroded Coffin.”

Kenny nodded appreciatively. “Bitching band name.”

Edie and typed into the search when Corroded Coffin got their start. “Well shit. It was completely dick move on my dad’s part, but an understandable one.”

She turned the phone around to where it showed they got their record deal in July of that same year.

“Dad said him and Harri’s dad became friends after the witch hunt,” Edie explained. “Which means...”

“Holy shit,” Kenny said, “that’s a really narrow window.”

Harri was silent for a moment. “I–I think my dad was in love with yours before the witch hunt.”

The whole table fell silent.

“That would explain why Mr Munson took it so hard,” Mandy said, her shoulder hunched up around her ears. “To love somebody and then have them narrow your relationship down to trauma bonding? I’m not sure I would recover either.”

“But that doesn’t sound like my dad...” Edie whined. “He wouldn’t do that.”

Harri chewed on his thumb. “I don’t think it was like that. I think Dad’s angry. Because I’ve seen pictures of him before and after they got famous and there is this ring that Dad used to have on his right hand. He said he lost it and I believed him until band practice.”

Edie nodded. “Dad doesn’t like talking about the ring, though Aunt Robin used to argue for him getting rid of it or pawning it, but he always refused. I think we just figured out why.”

Mandy nodded. “Like my dad said, I think that they just kept missing each other. But it’s obvious that Harri’s dad has some real bad hang ups. And I don’t think we should get involved.”

Edie frowned. “I know, but what about the other two incidences that made Mr Munson so upset. Because Harri said he mentioned three.”

Harri sighed heavily. “I think he’s referring to the funerals. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think Mr Harrington made it to either one.”

“Funerals? Plural?” Mandy asked. “I know about the one for their bandmate Brian Martin. Dad said that something came up and Mr Harrington couldn’t make it.”

Edie’s frown grew deeper. She wasn’t sure but she had an idea when that was and if she was right...she would blow Mr Munson’s fucking mind.

“Hey, Harri?” she asked. “Do you think I could come over to your place after school?”

Harri shrugged. “I don’t see how it would be problem. What’s up?”

Edie looked down at her hands. “My mother is, as my Aunt Nancy said, a grade A bitch. And I think I have a piece to the puzzle your dad didn’t have before.”

Harri looked at her for a moment. “And you want to tell him? Why not let your dad tell him?”

Edie shrank even further on herself. “Because he doesn’t know.”

Everyone shared a shocked glance.

“Then how would you know?” Kenny asked.

Edie licked her lips and pursed them. “Dad doesn’t know that sometimes she’ll call me up out of the blue and try to turn me against him. She’ll throw insults and bring up horrible shit he did. Her favorite thing to do is tell me how easy he was to manipulate.”

“Fuck.” Harri was so glad that his papa hadn’t been like that. “Yeah. We can go over to my place after school.”

“Thanks.”

***

Part 7 Part 8 Part 9  Part 10 Part 11  Part 12  Part 13 Part 14  Part 15  Part 16  Part 17  Part 18  Epilogue

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk​ @trashpocket @goodolefashionedloverboi @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @plyerice27 @mightbeasleep @thedragonsaunt @chaoticlovingdreamer @trashpocket @sapphirecobalt-1 @a-little-unsteddie @i-must-potato @danili666  @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @itsall-taken @steddie-as-they-go @lillemilly @callas-shitshow @bisexualdisastersworld @renaissan-vvitch @immortal-iratze @bookbinderbitch @thylatrek @lilacrobin @nightmareglitter

[m3nt4llyr4v3d]

As much as I have opinions on how Miraculous goes about its writing, damn are the ideas it brings up so juicy

Like I feel like there’s something to be sad about how everyone deals with their problems or their trauma. Like, so many of the characters have issues, and it’s so fascinating to think about the way they respond to them

Marinette has the entire safety of Paris on her shoulders and basically in a constant state of trying to fix things even when it shouldn’t be her problem in the first place

Adrien was raised to be as obedient as possible and doesn’t know jack about how to be a kid, literally has no ambitions at the moment, he’s constantly apologizing for things that feasibly wouldn’t be his fault and trying to fit whatever mold he thinks someone wants of him

Chloe’s mom left her and is verbally abusive and calling her daughter a failure for the entirety of Paris to see, so she lashes out at everyone around her and constantly uses her dad’s power. Also the fact that two fully grown adults manipulate her before she’s sent away, just awful

Nino’s best friend has the worst dad imaginable and he felt powerless about the situation wanting to help Adrien (seriously I hope they bring up Guilttrip sometime in the future it reveals a lot of really concerning things about the characters), so he tries to be the best bro to him and give him every experience he can

No idea what happened to Lila as her backstory is uhhhhhh, but that lying, the disguises (she literally came to school in one), and the fake identities had to have come from somewhere. I remember, before the whole 3-moms-thing, theories about her lying for attention because her mom is never home and she’s genuinely lonely, using a scene where she’s talking with Nino and looks actually upset as evidence, so that’s something to consider

Luka’s dad left, and he basically became everyone’s therapist, which he really really really shouldn’t be. We’re told he’s this chill, go with the flow dude, but when your response when hearing your current girlfriend (or at least the in between friend and gf) still likes someone else and saying “I already know that”, that’s just concerning. Dude’s everyone’s therapist, but is anyone checking on him?

Juleka has anxiety and still has unresolved issues with her dad leaving and coming back and (my memory is fuzzy here) not really interacting with her? She’s quiet and keeps a lot of emotions just bottled up cause she doesn’t express them verbally

This is stuff off the top of my head, but damn. As much flack I like to give to this show, thinking about stuff like this is what keeps that little part of me who loved the show years ago alive. Like, I genuinely don’t care what some of the characters have done, I think all of them need a hug and as much therapy as possible

[technovillain]

Give me the rundown on your dudes in as much or as little detail as you like

I put up the OC asks thing the other day and then just went ham on updating my references and toyhouse instead whoops!!

Basic rundown of all my psynauts ocs for u <3

FIRST IS THESE THREE:

they're my characters that aren't directly related to any of the canon characters . jameela's an intern a few years after the events of pn2, gusty is a whispering rock camper and also temporarily lives at the motherlobe, veranda is an agent who works with them both in their collective story.

jameela is the highly intelligent daughter of tech guru dallas delmarro. she has incredible inventing skills that are aided by her psychic abilities, namely her precognition. her precognition is both a blessing and a curse, especially when she keeps seeing horrible apocalyptic doom scenarios.

gusty is a rowdy ragamuffin who accidentally gave his entire town brain damage when he found out he could abuse the psychic power of confusion to do whatever he wanted. he was mostly unaware of the repercussions of his actions. after making his own living situation unsafe, he was taken in to the psychonauts, becoming one of the "motherlobe kids" while his town was put under observation and check-ins.

veranda is a 30-something new zealand immigrant who loves cowboys and the wild west. they feel like they've been running from their problems for years now. they had a fear of growing up when they were little and accidentally time-bubbled some of their child relatives as a teenager. ever since they've been afraid of making the wrong decisions AND of being around children.

NEXT is my Oleander family members

midge is oleander's mother. she's got a potent sad energy and mostly keeps to herself.

eagle is an all-american boy scout who makes his mother proud.

rock is the oldest brother who eventually works in the butcher shop with his father. both rock and eagle bully morry when he's little (well, a little kid....)

NEXT is the Zanotto family members

laurel is bob's older sister and truman's mother. she was an artsy jack of all trades, she was a beatnik and avid music-festival-goer in her younger years

jonny is truman's father, laurel's short-term psychic boyfriend who disappeared under mysterious circumstances (he was doomed)

delphine is truman's ex-wife and lili's mother. she has a big fancy corporate banking job. despite being a total workaholic she calls lili on the phone every single night <3

AND THE OTHER ONES!

ophelia was a distant relative of houston thorney who lived at thorney towers when loboto was a patient. she is the mother of his mentioned child (who is bobby zilch in my hc) and she also died because of a longstanding "family curse"

lester was a character i made for an oleander fic that's in progress. he was originally just going to be in the beginning chapter as a kid but i also decided on a way to bring him back as an adult. maybeeee someday i will write that part of the story too ^__^

nostradamus is my least developed oc, he's more of just a brain concept and a character design.... one of these days i will find a way to tie him properly into the universe.

thank u 4 ur time <3

[vodkawriter]

AND FINALLY... not too happy with the result but I need to get this idea out of my head.

The one thing that Sam wanted, was to have one normal day. She loved the ghosts, but she needed a day off.

“Still hiding from the kids?” Jay asked with a smile while chopping some carrots.

“It’s not hiding if they know where I am” she answered returning the smile “now shut it, let me finish this before one of them barges in with a special request.”

“Hey Sam” Alberta crossed the wall to the kitchen, where Sam was typing on her laptop, attempting to finish an article about the latest scandal involving the Farnsby’s unpermitted pickleball court “there’s something wrong with Hetty and Trevor. Usually, Trevor is all about watching one of his movies at least once a day.”

“Okay? And that’s weird because?”

“Because he has been laying on the couch at the library and Hetty is also there, looking out of the window.” She replied giving Sam a pointed look.

“What is it? Update?” Jay asked leaning close to her.

“Apparently Alberta is worried because Trevor didn’t want to watch one of his rom-coms and he is at the library with Hetty just doing nothing.”

“That’s weird, ‘no pants’ is always up for a good 90’s rom-com.”

Sam did think that was weird, she got up and went to find them with Alberta following right behind. Jay shouting to ask her to inform him of the drama, later.

The blonde stopped short when she spotted a young girl at the front desk.

“Oh, hello there!” she greeted her potential guest “Welcome to the Woodstone B&B.”

The girl, who mustn’t have been more than sixteen, turned to look at her. Her auburn wavy hair was adorned with a headband that prevented it from going to her face, her blue eyes focused on her and a gentle smile graced her lips.

“Hello, I’d like a room, please”

“Um, you have to be at least eighteen for that” the blonde said.

“I just need a night, I promise I won’t cause any trouble” the girl insisted, looking at her pleadingly.

“I am so sorry, but I can’t. I could get into a lot of trouble if someone finds out.”

“No one will, I promise” oh those blue eyes were trouble “I just need to stay here for a night, it’s hard to explain but long story short, my parents lived here.”

“What? The only person who lived here was an old lady”

Flower, Sass, Isaac and Pete were watching everything from the stairs.

“According to a letter they left for me” she said while pulling out a letter from her backpack “she was gone for a whole year while they were here.”

Thor, Hetty and Trevor appeared right behind Alberta and just stared at the girl.

“You can read the letter” the red head said, giving her the letter.

Sam started reading and her eyes opened up in shock, she glanced at Trevor and Hetty and back to the letter. All the other ghosts were looking at them while whispering among themselves.

Dearest daughter, my sweet little princess:

It is with a heavy heart that we write you this letter, we know that you might have a thousand questions and no answers as to why we had to part from you. Unfortunately, we are not in the position to answer them, we cannot without sounding like two crazy people. There are a lot of uncertain things surrounding our goodbyes, but know this, the only certain thing we can and will always assure you is… that we love you very much.

One day, when you are older, we hope that you find the answers you may want at the only place we can think of: Woodstone Manor. We have been blessed with a year with the house to ourselves, the lady of the house having gone to another city.

Please, dear Haven, never forget that the hardest choice of our lives, was to give you up.

P.S: Please, I’m begging you to never date a guy, or at least to wait until you are like thirty or something. Dudes can be schmucks (I’d know because I am a dude).

P.S 2: Do not mind your father, he is a little protective right now. But as your mother I must warn you, no Irish men.

Love, your mother and father (H&T).

“This can’t be possible, right?” she asked around, eyes landing on the couple that were looking more and more captivated by the girl.

“What is it?” Jay said walking out of the kitchen, Sam gave him the letter and he looked as shocked as her after reading it. Looking at the girl then to Trevor and Hetty “HOW?”

“Samantha, I think it would be best if the girl is not here for this conversation” Hetty started, walking closer to the girl and looking at her as if she wanted to memorize every single detail “I know this must be shocking but we, all of us, haven’t told you about the last months of 2006.”

“Haven is my daughter” said Trevor stepping up next to the girl.

“And mine too” added Hetty with a small smile.

[kimmiessimmies]

As a "sim parent" (sim maker) we shouldn't have favorites - but we do. Post your favorite sim baby (the golden child) and least fav. Pass it on!

Thank you, dear Lana @eljeebee and Pru @treason-and-plot, for both sending me this ask.

Well, my dears, I can try to be original, but I think everyone knows who my golden child is.

My love for James is endless. I love the complexity of his character. I love that he has secrets, but can be very open when he feels safe. I love that he conveys the message that romantic attraction and sexual attraction don't always go together and that's okay. I love that he's confident and insecure at the same time. I love his musicality and that he'll pursue his musical dreams no matter what. I love his passion and his drive. I love his big heart. I love that when he commits to something or someone, he sticks with it/them. I love that he's smart. I love that he's slightly cross-eyed by nature, even though I have no sliders or custom eye things in my game that cause this; it's naturally him, which gives him a realness I adore. I could truly go on for ages. ❤️

As for my least favourite... Well... I have over 100 Sims in or around my Honeycomb Valley and since storytelling became my main objective, more than most of them have become side characters or even just "extras". At least for now. Since the story is essentially still about Honeycomb Valley, you never know who will step up at any point and become more central. However, at the moment most of them exist somewhere in the background and I could easily point at one of them randomly and say "it's you, because you bore me." 🫣 (Sorry!)

Ignoring those characters though and bringing it closer, my least favourite is probably Anna.

The daughter of the mayor and a moody, spoilt bitch, to be frank. She popped out a son as a result of a teen pregnancy, handed him to the nanny and never looked back. In fact, she even turned her back on him because after high school, she packed her bags to spend a gap year in France. She's currently at university, hating on everything.

Now, a character like Anna could make for interesting storylines, but atm she annoys me too much to fully write her in. So I understand why you may not have heard of her before. If I need to point out a more central character who I'm not liking very much atm, I'm sorry to say it's...

Seth... Sorry, dude, but something is bothering you, which is bringing out your resentful side, and that's not a good colour on you... There's still some love for Seth deep down, though, because we go way back, and he's the best boyfriend in the world to dear Sarah. I have loads of plans for their future story, so I'm sure Seth and I can patch things up. But at the moment, we're not really seeing eye-to-eye. 😔

Thanks for this fun ask!

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

if you click the unrebloggable red catboy haterade readmore it's your own damn fault

i am so tired of people trying to defend g'raha's writing in ew

"they're capable of subtlety" switching between being a manipulative asshole and the writer's most perfect prince who can never do wrong and is the wol's bestest friend 5ever (don't look at shb) and never allowing the player/other characters to say "dude wtf" at the former is not "subtle writing", it's complete lack of awareness that the character is being an asshole

like it was bad enough that the writers forced you to be buddy-buddy with him in shb with only a token option of expressing mild distaste , doing that and also making it very clear that he's still a manipulative shithead (because if he was meant to trying to put on a brave face they would have had a "dude wtf" line where he would have apologized in the post-credits, not acted like the promise made under duress was still valid) is just bad fucking writing given that on the other side of the corridor is zenos, who they constantly deny even acknowledgement of his humanity

you can try to compare it to urianger's writing but uri's writing never flinches away from the fact that he's being a fucker when he's being a fucker even when played for comedy, and they still have this gaping gap of not touching the fact that urianger functionally killed thancred's foster daughter/little sister onscreen (while they probably would have realistically hashed it out over like 3 years, you really don't get to see any of that at all so it's very strained; even having thancred still kind of mad before he gets snatched and having the more cordial relationship we normally see during shb would have communicated that better).

idk. so much of ew is just written really damn poorly (even parts that, in isolation, i find acceptable to actively enjoyable (ie the 6.0 zenos cutscenes) end up falling flat in context) because of external factors forcing the sardine treatment for plot points and i'm tired of seeing people pretend that it's not. i can't exactly compare the gameplay side well given i started in 6.0, but i can break down the writing just fine and ew's fucking dire even if you consider how heavily i weigh 4.2-4.3 against stb.

i really hope they sideline the scions besides krile (or tataru, but i think she's probably going to live in side content for a while and krile has been badly neglected for so long). i don't want to interact with g'raha again anytime soon but especially not if his writing remains this bad. either acknowledge that he can be an asshole and let me be colder to him or stop bringing him up, i'm fine hating major recurring characters if they're actually well written (asahi, varis, thordan) and the catboy isn't at this point, and even when he was better-written there was still the major problem of "let me call him a dick or at least untrustworthy you pricks".

"what about estinien don't you like him" if they just have him being a weird hungry vagrant that only shows up sometimes to be deeply strange and get mobbed by baby mamool ja that is ideal, actually, i love when he's a bit of a freak. or they could have him get adopted by another fancy prince, having him repeatedly reel in powerful fancy prince types with the power of

dragon autism

would be the funniest shit on the planet.

but like. i want a break from even the scions i like, barring maybe the twins, and the twins are best when i don't have to refer to them as a unit, yknow? i want new people to take center stage. i'm not going to get that given the trailer, but god. please. make this the erenville-and-wuk lamat show with cameos by the scions and not the other way around. they can come back in 8.0.

(plus, doing that might mean we don't have the fifth expansion straight of y'shtola death fakeouts (i counted: arr/hw (given timing it's hard for me to define where catgirl blunt best belongs), stb (vs Zenos), shb (sailor moon catgirl), ew (ultima thule)). i am so fucking tired of her fakeouts. do literally anything else with her as a character i BEG OF YOU. we all know you aren't killing Miss Final Fantasy 14. her fans would flay you. the merch sales would plummet.)

[queeenpersephone]

Feeling very ironwidow starved, feel free to ignore but would you write a drabble on maybe Tony and Nat waking up to each other in the morning? Domestic, Fluff, I will take anything 😩🤞🏻

dude i feel you i've been in my feels about them today too! okay, super short, but have a small extended/alternate scene from endgame the morning of the day natasha figures out there were 3 stones in nyc in 2012.

-

Tony wakes with the irritating feeling of a textbook digging into his spleen.

His eyes blink open slowly, not a little surprised that he even fell asleep. He's always been a light sleeper, even in a king bed with six-hundred thread count sheets, but his brain has been overactive the past few days as they've attempted to make a plan to time travel. Or maybe he's just gone soft, used to hanging with Morgan in the cabin on alternating weeks with frequent visits from his fiance.

Speaking of his fiance...

With a groan, he shifts from his side to his back, tilting his head until he sees Natasha's stomach, gently rising with each inhale and exhale. They're laying head to foot, necessitated by the stacks of books and hardware and assorted snacks. Beyond her, he sees Bruce on the floor, snoring loudly. Wow. Really surprising he was able to sleep.

He props himself up on his elbow, always soothed by the familiar sight of Natasha's sleeping face. But when he gets high enough to look at her closed eyes, he realizes that they're open.

"Honey?" He tries. She merely blinks; he knows that she knows that he's awake. "Nat, our relationship's at least thirty years from your hearing going," he teases, trying to hide his underlying worry.

She sighs, turning her bright green eyes on him. They curve awkwardly toward each other, almost in a lopsided huddle. "Are we doing the right thing?" She murmurs, her voice laden with doubt that she will never show the others. "What if the consequences are worse than the world we're living in? What if we lose Morgan?"

Despite Tony's own corresponding fears, his heart warms at her personal acknowledgement of Morgan. His little girl loves her so much; the divorce could have been catastrophic, but Pepper and he are in a good place, and now Morgan has three parents. He never planned for his daughter to be able to escape handcuffs, trunks, and pilot a helicopter, but he can't deny that it eases his mind every time Natasha teaches Morgan another life skill when Pepper's and his first instinct had been to shield her from the world. Pepper even frequently takes part in lessons after Natasha had stressed the world's instability.

He snaps back to attention when Natasha tucks her messy hair behind her ear. He studies her watery eyes and deep, dark circles and well-bitten lips. She looks exhausted. He bets he looks the same.

"I remember when Barton came to stay with us," he says instead of answering. Natasha doesn't seem to mind. She just watches him, hanging on his every word like they'll damn or absolve her. He truly believes that if he told her they had to leave now, she would go. It's terrifying, the power they have over each other. "He said that when you talked after Loki escaped, all those years ago, he didn't think you sounded like you."

Natasha mouth twitches into a smile, reminiscing. "He told me I wasn't a soldier," she remembers. "That we weren't the kind of people to wade into a war."

"But then, with hindsight, he changed his mind," Tony replies. "And you were right to wade into that war. It was hard, harder than anything, and though you know I'd be the first to fight with our teammates about goals and ethics, you were still right to fight." He takes a deep breath. "You were right then, and you are right now."

Natasha isn't crying or carrying on, but he can tell from the struck look in her eyes that what he's said has touched something deep inside her. "I love you," she says, the emotion and history between them clear in every word.

"You mean everything to me," he says, low and earnest. Shockingly, he feels no desire to reach around the space between them, to hold her kiss her. Instead, they just look at each other across their curled bodies, keeping the bubble of air between them just for them. The sun rises in the window behind Tony's back. He feels the heat on his skin, but he's truly kept warm by the light in Natasha's eyes.

They lay there until Bruce wakes up with a hiccuped snore. They lay there until they're ready to take on any threat that comes their way, even if that threat is time itself.

[vegaseatsass]

Blank S2 ep 1 spoilers

I took so so SO many notes during Blank 2x01 and now I'm too tired to write most of them but 1. I do think Kimchay enjoyers should consider like, jumping in just from this episode and enjoying the parallels if Kimchay GL sounds like a thing they've ever wanted in their lives 2. Giving an A+++ to all the kissing and sex scenes this episode. I really feel like they've leveled up. All the nose-first kisses and the lipstick smear on the chin yeahhhhhhh 3. I really loved Anueng's acting in the scenes where she was drunk, she was so much more natural than I'm used to, which made the morning after performance feel really extra blatantly like a performance. So I do feel like we now have confirmation that the shtick she does in daylight IS a weird infantilizing mask, and that is kind of intriguing to me. 4. I would love to have gotten more time with Anueng/Yui tbh, and I am so down for a Yui threesome, now and forever. It feels unfair that Yui, the most adorable and confused pawn in the weirdest jealousy battle ever, has to deal with her not-even-girlfriend's homophobic dad's shit without getting to at LEAST eat some Phi pussy 5. Honestly such a wild and enjoyable episode from start to finish. I MISSED THIS CRAZY-ASS SHOW SOOOOOOOO BAD Like ok. So Chet, a man who discovered ~six months ago that he has an adult daughter, has been regularly consulting his ex-fiancee - who is his daughter's lover but he doesn't know that, he only knows she's his daughter's guardian, moreso than his daughter's biomom, who btw was also in love with Daughter's Lover - for parenting advice, and just generally running all his parenting decisions by her first. He discovers that his daughter is "dating" a woman (to make her lover jealous) so he calls Daughter's Lover up and asks her to come join him at an intervention. When Daughter's Lover acts supportive of his daughter and her cute fake girlfriend (...to make daughter jealous back...), he's like wtf, I needed you to tell her being gay is bad, how could you not get that??? You're supposed to help me parent! Go tell her gay is bad!!!! fully believing that she will, fully confounded when she does not. Like my dude, there are some LGBT things happening around you, and your daughter, and your daughter's mother, and your daughter's de facto caretaker... but honestly the cute butch you were forcing the wrong identity labels onto is the least of your concerns. Such a weird show. My life feels fuller now that it's back <3

[just-antithings]

Not really an anti thing per se, but something I feel the need to vent about:

One of the reasons I feel so conflicted on the Harry Potter thing is not only my concerns about continuing to give Rowling a platform, but also just, unpopular opinion, I… kinda think the fandom can be almost as performative as the haters?

I KNOW HOW THAT SOUNDS BUT HEAR ME OUT!

First off: they’re always going on about how "oh, we’re making ALL the hp characters trans to piss off the TERF!" and then you look at the fics and art and stuff and it’s like, at least 80-90% is just the same cookie cutter "Draco and Harry are gay trans men who make out 24/7 and there's some trans gay WolfStar in the background too, I guess, and also maybe black trans Hermione can have a cameo at some point as a treat, but who cares because it’s Drarryin' Time! *proceeds to Drarry all over AO3*" fics.

Like… why is it that after Rowling announced her status as a card-carrying fascist, "all the hp characters" suddenly became just Harry, Draco, Remus, Sirius and maybe Hermione if you're lucky? ESPECIALLY considering the fact that I know from experience that the fandom used to have way more diversity headcanons than this?

What about Ron "angsty because his mom wanted a daughter" Weasley? Or Neville and Hannah, who never had children (clearly, one of them is trans! Or maybe both are trans AND ace! Two groups Rowling hates for the price of one!)? Where are the Trans Dean/Seamus and Trans Lavender/Parvati fics? Trans Luna??? One of Bill and Fleur's kids being the first known male Veela hybrid in the series (literally a fuckin' goldmine of gender possibilities)???? What about fuckin' Nymphadora "gender nonconforming shapeshifter who hates her traditionally feminine name" Tonks (if ANY character would’ve been made trans or enby to spite Rowling, I’d have thought Tonks and her son Teddy would be the FIRST choices)???? EBONY DEMENTIA DARKNESS RAVEN WAY (objectively the BEST Harry Potter character)??!!!????

Part of me suspects that this is at least partly because these characters aren’t "popular" and therefore won't get the same attention as the Drarry "rivals to lovers" vibe and the All The Young Dudes spin-offs, but I can’t be fully sure of that.

And like… a lot of times it looks like their activism just, begins and ends with fandom activity? A lot of the same questions levied at HP haters ("are you supporting and/or donating to pro-trans causes?" "Are you making an effort to understand WHY TERF ideology is bad?" etc., all 100% valid questions) can also be levied against fans who make their headcanons and shipping the main source of their activism.

I’m not saying that NO hp fans are doing actual activism, I’ve seen a few examples, but it feels to me at least like the majority are not. It just seems they think shipping Harry and Draco whilst transing them to pretend it makes the TERF seethe (when really she probably doesn’t even know your fanfic exists) is a substitute for activism, just as HP haters think hating the series and patting themselves on the back for not reading it when they were twelve is a substitute for activism.

I guess the bright side is that at least the Drarry shippers aren’t harassing people? There are testimonies from trans people about hp fans harassing them, but the majority of those fans obviously wouldn’t also be writing trans Drarry fics so ehh?

Idk, like I said I’m conflicted and I need to vent. I’ve been holding this vent in for a while now.

I guess my thesis statement here is: HP fandom, if y'all really want to "diversify Harry Potter to spite the TERF", then please for the love of Glaux ADD MORE CHARACTERS AND IDENTITIES TO YOUR HEADCANON ROSTER.

.