#Holden can say whatever he wants

[meowzilla93]

Love Language with the Boys!!

I feel like its quite self explanatory in the games but I wanted to explore more into it so

Here is the primary and secondary Love Languages the Boys have!

Derek Suarez

Primary  - Acts of Service!

This boy loves and needs someone to just make his life even a fraction easier

You need someone on your side boo? We got you!

Lets start the day

Are you a night owl and sleep in? Well, you made sure to make some snacks and prepare his workout drinks in the fridge the night before – gotta make sure muscle man is eating right and getting his protein

Early bird like he is? Sweet! If you both go to the gym you pack his bag for him as he is getting dressed, or maybe you’ll go ahead and make a quick breakfast for the two of you to get some energy before a work out

Not going to the gym? No issues! You give him a kiss on the cheek and hand him his protein shake as he leaves, then whilst he is gone you can start prepping a good after workout breakfast for him to come back to

Has he got work or meetings he needs to go to afterwards? You could make sure his clothes are ready to go, or maybe the papers he was reading through the night before are packed away into his bag

You’ve got the day off work? Maybe we plan a nice dinner surprise with his favourite meal

Or you order in cause it’s a Friday and its game night (GO TEAM SUAREZ) and you both aren’t getting much sleep that night

Oh you noticed his favourite protein powder is running out? Better put an order in and top it up before he notices (of course he notices, he is absolutely touched!)

Poor boy has gotten sick? You just know he doesn’t want to let that slow him down

Guess what you are doing?

You are one step away from strapping him down to that bed (kinky, but not really HE IS SICK) but he finally relents, so you get to nurse him now

Mama Suarez has told you his favourite go to home remedies to get better, and you make it all! Tea, soups, hot chocolate, you name it

He is going to know what it means to be taken care of

You have Dereks Day! But its not once a year, its once a month

He needs to have one day every 30 days where its just about him and letting him let loose

The Boardwalk is always a winner, but sometimes its just a picnic, or go to the water park, or go to the movies. Whatever he wants to do, its getting done

Secondary – Words of Affirmation!

I swear this man, LIKE ALL THE OTHERS, doesn’t understand when we compliment him or anything

So guess what guys

Daily Affirmation Texts

He really needs these ones

Just a reminder of how amazing he is, that he is kicking goals (pun intended)

That we are so happy to be with him

Just remind him that he matters, because baby, you really do!

Cove Holden

Primary – Quality Time!

So we know how much Cove loves just spending time with us

Its his favourite hobby, pastime, memory, you name it

Oh our favourite resident merman has a new fish?

You are sitting down and letting that man gush about it, telling you all about its species and what the care is going to be for it

You don’t even have to say anything, just sitting there and listening to him is all that matters

Hard day at work?

He just needs to vent to you, same thing. You could even provide tips (im talking like, hit them in the kneecaps advice) to him just to get him to smile and laugh about it

Some think that Quality Time means you need to give each other attention all the time, but not for you two

All he wants is to be in your presence, and you don’t even have to be doing the same thing

You guys have aced Parallel Play

The most important thing is making sure you are within each others vision and you Gucci

He is reading, you could be watching something on your phone

He is cleaning the fish tank, you could be there just listening to music and maybe doing a hobby of your own

He just wants your presence

BE IN HIS PRESENCE

Any time away is torture to him, every Step in the game literally explains that

Secondary – Gift Giving!

Remember how excited he gets over the orange shell? The poppy? The fudges? The windchime?

This man is so ecstatic that you thought of him WHEN HE WASN’T EVEN THERE

And you are giving him something that he would like, and you did it unprompted

Prepare for waterworks

Listen, sometimes you just need to leave it on his pillow to come back to

You got up earlier than him (shocker that one) cause of work, so as you are quietly bustling around getting ready, you leave him a little letter or a present on the pillow next to him

When he finally wakes up and sees it, there are tears, and then there is an urgent call coming your way

Because of course he needs to thank you for it!

Just be prepared that you will get gifts too. That’s his way of showing his love and care too

Baxter Ward

Primary – Physical Touch!

Look, I swear this one is so obvious, but in case it isn’t I will go into HEAVY DETAIL OF WHAT HE LIKES

See he loves being in your presence all the time, but it simply isn’t enough

He needs some part of him touching you, even in a minute way, he just needs it

Driving? You are holding hands, this is a rule

Walking? Holding hands or he has your arm draped on his all gentlemanly like

Sitting together at a function? Somehow you have contact

You could be holding each others hand on the table

Or simply linking fingers, even just the pinky finger (YOU MJST BE TOUCHING)

Linked ankles underneath the table

Pressed up next to each other so your thighs or shoulders are touching whilst talking to others

Home alone and you are sitting on the couch together?

Position A: he is laying his head in your lap, you will brush your fingers through his hair that is the LAW

You could always give him a small head massage, he would love you even more for it

Position B: leaning against each other, watching a movie, he will have his arm wrapped around you and holding you in close, you could hold his hand as well

Position C: You are lying on him. Oh he will be brushing you hair, but say you don’t like that, he is content holding you hand instead

Oh this man is a sucker for hand holding (have you read anything above)

But you know what would make him weak?

Giving him a hand massage. Or just caressing his hand, feeling his fingers, brushing them across his palm. The lot of it

Can say the same about his neck and head; you could just be caressing him, admiring him and his skin and softness and he would 100% be lulled to sleep by it

Or, if you do it the right way, something else entirely would be on the menu (play prawn-hu- gets shot)

He is making dinner for you? Gently hug him from behind

Come home from work? A hug and a kiss is required for this tired man

Is there music playing? Oh a dance is required. Doesn’t have to be fancy, just a chance to hold onto you and sway is enough for him

Kisses – lord this man would accept a kiss any where

Hands, cheeks, chin, nose, shoulders, legs (alright we need to get back on track)

But forehead touches are supreme

Sharing a hug, foreheads pressed together, just being in each other space?

His heart couldn’t be more full

Bedtimes? You would consider yourself lucky if you can untangle yourself from him

You are 100% wrapped up in a Baxter Burrito and you aren’t escaping

But if that’s not your thing, don’t worry he is respectful of that

At this point as long as he can feel your body heat and movement in the bed, he will be content

After all he gets all the touches during the waking hours

Secondary – I Feel like this is almost two, cause He does need Words of Affirmation even though he doesn’t believe in it half the time, but also Quality Time is a big hitter for him...

With Baxter, because he is emotionally stunted, there is only so far you can provide him in words of affirmation before he just doesn’t listen anymore

So these ones need to happen sporadically, and during very important moments

Like when he is really beating himself up, rather than tell him he is wrong, you just need to flip the conversation to be positive

Sometimes you do just need to give him time to process what has happened and let him come back to you to talk, and that’s when you can gently re-affirm the positives with him

Quality Time just links in with Physical Touch

He loves being with you, and just plain talking with you

If you are long distance, he just wants to make every moment count, over the phone or in person

And if you do that back to him, well then you are just the more remarkable person ever

Don’t need to be doing anything fancy, voice calling is just fine

Going for a walk and chatting

Trying a new restaurant when you are both together again

DANCING COME ON

Thank you for reading my TED talk.

A small part of me is sad that Coves is so little, but honestly mans gets so much screen time, the other boys deserve a chance to shine!

cough I do not have a favourite cough

[babyaiker]

Mutuals come get y’all juice! I’m finally posting about the big man Xavier!

Anyway ya! Red dead insert oc. I’ve lived 10 years of my life convincing myself self-inserts and fandom ocs were cringe, I’m healing I’m thriving let me be

I plan to post more about him in the future so I at least gotta give a general overview (under the cut teehee)

(Bonus appearance from @meeks-just-wants-to-scroll ‘s oc Malt in the first image)

Info!

Full name is Xavier Holden

Son of the real background character Judge Meredith Holden

Has multiple pen names/nicknames such as “Gorrister” and “Lorenzo”

Born in Rhodes, Lemoyne 1867, Currently 32 (1899)

Around 6ft ish, mmmmmm big boy

Outlaw traveling with the Van Der Linde gang since 1895

Prefers to paint and hunt rather than kill and rob though

Primarily uses a Springfield Rifle, with only a Cattleman for protection

Better at fighting hand-to-hand in a self-defense situation

Owns a gelding horse named Saffron

Dark Bay Shire, Gentle giant, likes eating random herbs

Symbolic animals are an octopus (high honor) or squid (low honor)

Xavier’s weirdly calm and diplomatic for an outlaw. He’s pretty closed off, but is more than happy to listen to whatever you have to say. He’s much more skilled with providing stability and comfort for others rather than fighting. Others either regard him as a trusted confidant, or a nosy gossiper who has dirt on just about everyone (both are true).

Trivia!

Is absolutely sweet on Kieran, canon can eat my entire ass those two are getting a happy ending because I said so

You may not see me post too much about them as an item on here. It’s not because I’m embarrassed, but because it’s just personal to me, that’s all. I’ll still joke/reference it though and post some of the art I do!

Lip-scar is maybe canon? It’s more so a reference to my bestie’s possible rdr2 oc, tho it’s not official (she stabbed him in the face a lil but it’s okie)

Absolutely abides by rdr2’s rule of “overweight equals high health and low stamina”. Throw this guy off a cliff and he��d probably be fine.

The fact he’s an artist is very important for like his entire character/backstory don’t forget that bit

Half original character half self insert. I project a lot of my flaws, beliefs, and gender identity onto him, but our personalities are fairly different. Plus we share just enough physical characteristics that I could cosplay him with the help of a wig and fake beard.

[freyyzu]

PROMISE

All Cove wants is to see you happy, and all Baxter wants is to reassure him that he was going to do exactly that.

a/n; takes place some time during step 4 when your friends throw you another surprise party and you're off talking to someone else. i just think the two most important men in mc's life should interact a little more. implied step 3 ending on a bad note.

The twinkle of the fairy lights that hang from every wall of the first floor is mesmerizing. It's simple decoration, easy to put up, easy to get down, but beautiful all the same. The soft glow it emits puts Baxter at ease; even more so when accompanied by the sight of your smiling face.

His heart skips a beat when you glance over in his direction, your eyes meeting for the briefest moments. You discreetly wave at him, trying your best to not interrupt whatever story Terry is going on about, and he gives you a wave of his own back. He doesn't even try to fight the smile that tugs at his lips.

It was such a straightforward interaction, one that lasted all but three seconds, but just that was enough for him to feel the butterflies in his stomach lurch into a frenzy.

He's so enthralled by you, in fact, that he doesn't even notice the sound of someone making their way closer to him until they're already speaking.

"Uhm, how... how are you enjoying the party?" It's an expected question coming from an unexpected source.

Baxter turns to face the new presence by his side, more than a little surprised. Out of all the people here, Cove Holden would be the last person he expected to initiate a conversation, but the appearance isn't unwelcomed. Far from it.

"It's been fun," he says with full sincerity.

Despite the sparse decorations and only handful of people here, Baxter would say with his full heart that this is the best party he's ever been to. Surrounded by people who really care for him, those who took the time out of their day to surprise him even after all the stunts he's pulled. "Thank you for your part in this. I deeply appreciate it."

"Oh," Cove sputters, apparently flustered by the earnestness. "It's no problem. I'm... glad you're enjoying yourself."

Baxter smiles knowingly, "is there something on your mind?"

The taller male doesn't answer, but he fixes his gaze on a particular person across the room, still intently listening to Terry's story. Miranda and Xavier have joined them by this point.

'Ah.' his expression softens. "Are you worried about them?"

"Of course I am," he replies. Any hesitation in his voice from before lost within those four words. His hands clench and loosen by his sides a few times and he glances down at his feet, as if debating whether or not it was okay to say the next words.

You had forgiven Baxter a long time ago, that was a fact, but Cove couldn't forget your dejected expression or how many false smiles you wore to assure everyone you weren't hurt that summer.

Baxter waits quietly. He doesn't know exactly what your best friend intends to say, but from his fidgeting alone, he could garner a guess. Eventually though, he does break the silence. "I won't hurt them."

Cove looks over to your boyfriend, unable to keep the doubt from his expression. He trusts you, he wants you to be happy, that's all he ever wants for you; but that's even more of a reason for him to be wary. Baxter had broken your heart once, and he never wants to see that happen again.

"Can you promise that?"

There's a pause, and then a shake of a head from the black color haired man and Cove feels his heart nearly sink. "I'm not like you. I haven't known them my entire life. I'm just someone who showed up to the doorstep of your neighborhood one summer and then left."

There's a gleam in his brown eyes that make them seem to sparkle even more than the lights decorated around the room. "We'll have arguments, we'll get into fights," his voice lowers, "but I hope I can learn from those mistakes. That I'll make a better decision the next time." He turns to face Cove. "I can promise that."

Cove swallows the lump in his throat. He had come here to talk to Baxter, but in the end he ended up not being able to say anything at all. Though, maybe that was okay too. Whatever the lead up was, he heard what he needed to hear.

"Thank you," he says.

Baxter's face lights up at those words, eyes widening with boyish glee, before reverting back to his more well-known smirk. "No, thank you for coming over and chatting with me. I'm thankful we got to have this time together."

"Aha," Cove chuckles awkwardly now that the air has cleared. "But uh, Baxter?" He calls, wanting to get just one last word in.

"Yes?"

"You... should take care of yourself, too." And with that final statement, he steps forward to join your group.

Baxter blinks once.

He takes a moment to reign in his shock. Did Cove Holden of all people just give him some encouragement? He chuckles, straightening up as he spots you splitting from the circle to make your way over to his side.

This week has been full of surprises.

[thelaurenshippen]

re: that *chef kiss* PERFECT Franken-Drummer post and tumblr not being all over The Expanse, I know right?? it’s such an amazing show with so many delightful, complicated characters yet it’s so unfairly slept on! maybe because S1 takes awhile to get going and ppl give up? idk but it makes me sad that I have so few ppl to squeal about Drummer and Amos and Bobbie and Christjen and Ashford and Naomi (ad infinitum) with 😭🚀😭

WHY ARE PEOPLE NOT OBSESSED WITH THE EXPANSE HELLO!?!?! there's literally so much to love about it oh my god. you're right, it DOES take a second to get going but once it does!!!

for those of you who have not read or seen The Expanse series (I myself have yet to read the books), let me tell you why you'll love it:

political space drama with incredibly distinct cultures and phenomenal world building, if you're a details girlie (gn), you're gonna go nuts

the found family vibes!!??! are off!?!? the charts!?!? (minor spoilers for the first few episodes) four people are thrown into a situation in which they accidentally become the most important people/fugitives in the whole galaxy and most of them DO NOT trust each other, what could possible go wrong, and even better, what could possibly go RIGHT

Christjen Avasarala. you are not ready for her. most powerful mover-shaker on earth with the most incredible outfits you've ever seen, refined elegance with the filthiest mouth, plus she's got a classic "whatever those two have going on is so gay it veers into something else entirely" with her younger protective knight lady, Bobbie

Bobbie. the "not to be a lesbian but oh my god" post is made for her. we meet her in the show for the first time when she arm wrestles a robot and WINS. you will be begging for her to step on you with her mech suit

speaking of women I want to step on me Camina Drummer. angry revolutionary pirate queen of my heart. do you miss the unique agony of 2000/10s queerbaiting but want it to be not baiting somehow? this show does that, idk how else to explain it. the most agonizing sapphic pining you've ever seen but it's textual and also not painful because its gay. don't worry, Camina fucks, just not the girl she wants most (also spoilers, but this is not a bury your gays show don't worry)

Jim Holden is literally just Some Guy who becomes the special fantasy chosen one because he simply cannot stop Getting Involved. nosiest bitch in the universe, I love him.

imagine you're a girl who leaves your shitty ex and gets a normal industrial job on a spaceship, only to have a six foot, two hundred pound killer dressed as a mechanic imprint on you like a baby duck, and its unclear whether he wants to fuck you or call you a little sister but he definitely WILL kill for you and will do literally anything you say and then you both end up caught up in a weird galactic war by mistake and there's this other guy with a captain america level moral compass and he's cute and you're into him except your shitty ex is still out there with the biggest secret you have and meanwhile your best female friend is the coolest person you've ever met but you don't think you can be what she needs and you're holding your family together, you're holding the universe together and all you want is justice for your people but unfortunately you've gone and fallen in love with the accidental most important man in the galaxy. well, every day Naomi Nagata wakes up

Praxideke Meng. botanist of my heart. literally tames the rabid guard dog that no one else could. gentle and able to stay gentle because of said dog. which brings me to...

Amos Burton. I saved him for last because he is my guy. he is THAT guy. canonically aromantic pansexual king. are you into guard dog characters? do you find yourself drawn to the "sorry my love language is acts of service and all I'm good at is killing people" characters? amos burton is like seventeen tumblr posts come to life. previously mentioned enormous killer dressed as a mechanic, former heels wearing "I didn't always work in space" sex worker who is always rolling into brothels and being like "you guys unionized?", gives a shit about basically no one in the universe except his crew and every single child in the galaxy, accidental comedian because he cannot stop saying weird shit, not a nice or good person but a loyal one, and one who is always trying to relearn the empathy that was carved out of him as a young person. every time he goes homicidal to protect one of his chosen people (crew + any and every child), an angel gets its wings.

fin.

[the-final-sentence]

Top Final Sentences of 2024

1.There was this girl, and she told me she loved the smell of petrichor…" Maureen Johnson, from Death at Morning House

2. It occurs to me that, like everyone else, I have only one home. Deepa Rajagopalan, from “The Many Homes of Kanmani”

3. If they will never see anything but a monster when they look at me, then it’s a monster I’m going to give them. H.E. Edgmon, from Godly Heathens

4. I know it’s hard But it’s time you were comfortable in your own skin Everything is happening as it is supposed to With hidden blessings that you will soon understand And whatever happens, remember, I did, I do, and I will always Love you. Isabella Fillspipe, from “Dear Past Self” AND

See what happens if you try. Andrew Joseph White, from Compound Fracture

5. And finally, I wasn’t who I was at seventeen anymore. Marina Diamandis, from “Aspartame”

6. I have the privilege of another day. Patty Stonefish, from “It Could Have Been Me” 7. Go eat a fucking sandwich and throw your scale away Work out if you want to, lay on the couch if you want to No one else lives in your body You are enough, as you are, today. Mary Lambert, from “Margaritas”

8. He looked up at the empty clouds, and as he died he wondered, not for the first time but for the very last, why it should be that we are made for a bright world, but live in a dark one. Lev Grossman, from The Bright Sword

9. May you find —as one tortured poet knew— That Icarus also flew. Ilya Kaminsky, from “Of Flight”

10. I say, May you go shopping for cleaning supplies but come home with poems. Melissa Studdard, from “When You Rise from the Dead, I Drive You to the After Party"

AND

She pulls me to her and we push off, over the hill, and at long last, it feels like taking flight. Christina Li, from True Love and Other Impossible Odds

11. They all three came together where the land met the sea. Rose Sutherland, from A Sweet Sting of Salt

12. I mean it this time. Dustin Brookshire, from “Poem in Which I Realize That One Day I Won’t Miss You”

13. never let them know that the next person to reach their hands into your chest may look at you in awe, at how surprisingly breakable you are, how you have survived this long. Mary Lambert, from “Tips for Fat Girls”

14. Because there’s no future without a past. Abdi Nazemian, from Like a Love Story

15. Don’t waste one second of it living for anyone but yourself. Drew Afualo, from Loud

16. nothing is relentless but the sea. Ming Lauren Holden, from “can she breathe?”

AND

I imagined staring across from you at our dining room table thinking about how I could best love you. Mary Lambert, from “Written at Our Dining Room Table”

AND

I looked kind of happy for someone who was drowning. Mary Lambert, from “The Last Time It Was Good”

17. "And in the end, if you’re really smart and really brave, the only reward you get is the chance to finally start being alive." Naomi Kanakia, from Just Happy to Be Here

AND

Perhaps. Jennifer Lynn Barnes, from The Grandest Game

AND

I was smiling when he cradled my face in his hands and kissed me. Melissa Albert, from The Bad Ones

18. I am throwing up, I am throwing up my Hands, I do I do want to know how clouds are made, I like pink and I want a yard I tattoo flowers on my arm and I missed it all Jesus I missed everything. Mary Lambert, from “Grown”

AND

Mors vincit omnia. Andrew Joseph White, from The Spirit Bares Its Teeth

19. i coax my bones to rise, talk to them as children hushed; pleading. Andrea Simpson, from “Ophelia, Mania from the Willow Tree”

AND

This time, I’m keeping him. Casey McQuiston, from The Pairing

AND

We don’t choose their arrival

But we choose our response, so we might

as well greet them and treat them like friends. Marina Diamandis, from “E-motion”

20. But I opened my arms and I let Wreck in because every one of us gets to choose what kind of monster we become. Sam J. Miller, from “Boys Who Run with the Boars”

AND

And Nina smiles because she knows she did the best she could. Mark Oshiro, from “Wasps”

[6okuto]

Hello! Hope you are having a good day. This is my first time requesting on your blog and I was wanting to see if you still wrote for Cove Holden? If you don't just ignore this but I was wanting to see if you did write for him could you do Cove with a s/o that has happy stims, like when they get really happy they shake their hands or let out happy squeals/squeaks. Once again if you don't think you could write something like this just ignore this. Sorry if this is really long.

Have a good day!

COVE WITH A READER WHO HAS HAPPY STIMS

gn!reader | I'm here. COVE! love this idea actually. this is saur me. i hope u have a very lovely week friend!!! :)

step 1 cove might ask what you're doing the first time he notices but he never comments on it negatively ! it's just something you do

^ plus he has his own stims like tapping his fingers on his knees in the charity event so it's something that you can relate on

depending on the stim he might pick up on it or do it with you tbh. i can definitely see him picking up on ones involving your hands, whether it's shaking or flapping etc

if he hears you squealing/squeaking from the room next door you can expect his head to peek in. cove's always happy to see You happy and wants to know what's going on

^ same thing when you're in close proximity. for example he'll lean over your shoulder to see what you're looking at on your phone, or follow your voice in a gift shop to see what you found. you know that post about a girl who conditioned herself to feel happy with the clicker. it's Sort of like that where if he hears you cove brightens up a little

like in any situation where someone speaks negatively to you, if anyone tries to say something about your stimming cove gets upset/angry, even if you don't. what's the point of being mean toward someone who's evidently happy ??

^ he makes sure to bring up whatever made you happy later so you can fully appreciate it in a safe place !! he'll listen to you explain whatever it was for however long. and if it was something small, he'll still make sure you know he thinks it's fantastic !! :)

if your happy stims are a little more ,, physical...?? like hitting/squeezing something nearby or kicking your legs (so me) and he just happens to be the (accidental) recipient Bro does Not mind. you are so happy. he might say a little ow but then you apologize and it's like Don't even worry about it. what's happening. tell me about it. i love you.

idk like. cove's just. so naturally happy to see you happy. it's something he looks forward to whenever he gets you a gift, and the grin on his face is sooo big and bright and he hopes you know how much he adores you !!! he'll get you that sweater or bag or album or game you've been eyeing Forever and waiting for a sale to get,,, and in his head he imagines your reaction and gets Almost as excited as he knows You'll be

[a-rat-who-writes]

Cove's Alphabet SFW

The safe-for-work version of Cove Holden's Alphabet is finally here! Enjoy my lovelies. (Took so much longer to write because it has over double the word count than the NSFW one <3) ALSO! This version is for all genders, so if you find something that is tailored specifically to a woman or male, lmk and I'll correct it :)

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?) Cove loves to hold your hand and do the little thumb thing where he rubs it against the side of your hand. He often holds your hand whenever you two are around each other, no matter the circumstance. You two are walking to a beach? He’ll hold your hand. He’s kissing you? He reaches for your hand. It’s a little intimate act that doesn’t make him embarrassed, and it means a lot to be able to stay within arms reach of you at all times. He also has a thing for placing his lips somewhere where you did or eating a portion of food where you also ate part of it. For example, if you two are out on a little date night and you both get different desserts, he will ask to try whatever dessert you’re eating only because he likes the idea of indirectly kissing like this. If you offer him any food, he will almost always put his mouth not directly, but on half of the area you already bit out of rather than on the opposite side of the food, like a sandwich.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?) You two met when you both were very young, obviously, and you two bonded more over how Cove didn’t know how to deal with his trauma with his family's divorce and moving to a new place. If we are sticking with this idea, he grew fond of you very quickly because you were the first person he met in Sunset Bird, and you always tried your best to include him in different activities or to spend one-on-one time with him to learn about his interests; he naturally also began doing that with you too! If we are wanting to be a bit annoying and say you two really became friends in step 2 or 3, he already knew you since he often saw you when he went to the beach and because you lived right across the street. He made small gestures like offering you a drink (A Caprisun or something) and you would accept it. Or.. he would ask you something about school since you two went to the same one, like: "MC, um… do you happen to know how to solve for x?" or "I’m stuck on my fourth quote. Can you help me find something to use? I looked so many times, but nothing fits with my topic sentence." Of course, you would always help him because you either had no clue yourself or because you were better at the subject he asked about, which allowed you two to bond more often. When helping him with something, he always got sidetracked by pointing something out about your room or telling you something that went on in his day and wanting your opinion about it. Regardless of when you both became friends, he always had little inside jokes with you, and you both often wore them out too quickly, or he would always tell you random facts he learned about the sea, like: "Did you know jellyfish are just floating blobs and they don’t think?" or: "The male seahorse actually gives birth instead of the female one, so do you think that means they still have the same lower regions like humans or do you think it’s swapped?" Regardless, there is always something stewing in Cove’s mind that he is more than happy to ask you about.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?) Cove is an absolute sucker for cuddling—just not in his bed. You two have cuddled on multiple occasions when you were both friends, such as when the two of you watched a movie together, he often sat next to you, and somehow you both ended up falling asleep, his head resting on yours. If the two of you are dating, he often gets too flustered to sleep next to you in his bed because he can get very flustered when being absolutely alone with you and in such intimate proximity. He often lets you cuddle him when the two of you are just relaxing at his house on a couch, or if he is exhausted from his work shift, he will make a beeline for your house after work and rest his head on your lap while mindlessly telling you about the random shenanigans of his work day. (Bonus points if you put Cove’s front hair into a ponytail or if you just thread your fingers through his hair, which often makes him blush due to how good it feels.)

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?) At some point, he wouldn’t be against moving in regardless of you two being friends, dating, or engaged. He won’t ever tell you he is a bit of a messy person, and you will find out the exact day you move in that he is a little bit of a slob. He doesn’t leave random dishes around, but he has random shirts strewn across his room, and sometimes he’ll leave dishes unwashed for days, but he eventually gets to doing it. He also barely uses his closet. He often just picks out shirts and pants from the basket he threw them in after washing his clothes, rather than putting them away like a civil human being. (You’ll just have to deal with the sand problem because somehow, regardless of whether he was going swimming that day, he tracks sand into the main entryway.) He also cannot cook for shit, but he can prepare miscellaneous foods that his mom taught him to cook, like chicken or tacos. His cooking abilities are very limited, but if there is a food you really enjoy, he will take the time while you are out to figure out how to cook it and eventually master it and cook it for you one night to impress you.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?) Cove would always try to fix any problems between you two, but if things just became too much to bear, i.e: you constantly cheating on him or you doing something he’s told you make him uncomfortable too many times, he will find a way regardless of what you did to be nice until the end. He would sit you down wherever you live and have a genuine calm conversation with you, and when it gets to the point where he has to say the five words (We need to break up), he begins to tear up himself. During the whole conversation, he will hold your hand to try and comfort you, but really, it’s him coming to terms that it will be the last time he will be doing something like that with you or whoever he is breaking up with. After the conversation is done, which probably takes an hour and a half because he often beats around the bush, he will leave and beat himself up for the next couple of days before he gets over it.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?) Cove would definitely love to make you his wife/partner/husband at some point after you two are somewhat stable. Depending on when you propose to him or he proposes to you (If step 3), he prefers to stay engaged to you for a couple years before marrying you, then wait a little while longer before having kids. If you have issues or you just prefer not to be married, Cove totally understands, and he is willing to treat you like his forever partner, even if you both aren’t engaged. Ideally, Cove would like to marry you on the spot because you have such a chokehold on him, but, realistically, you two get married when you canonically would, so around 24. Regardless of when you get engaged, he will wait a couple years or whenever you are ready to settle down.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?) More often than not, Cove is a gentle person over a rough one. Especially when the two of you are getting intimate, he will always stay really gentle—more so the first couple of times—but he will treat you with respect. Physically, he always tries to gently hold your hand or caress your cheek gently before you two kiss to make things not only more sensual but also more comfortable. Emotionally, he will often not directly address an issue between you two but instead hint at it, trying his best to not hurt your feelings, even if he is the one annoyed by whatever.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?) Cove loves hugs. He isn’t an overhugger, but he won’t ever turn you down if you ask for one. Especially if he is sad about something, he will cling to you like a sloth to a tree, crying into your shoulder, because we all know he is a bit of a crybaby. (In the best way possible, of course.) He often goes under rather than over, so he can hold your waist and put his face down on your shoulder. If you are sad and need a hug, he will always tightly hold you (especially if you have sensory issues) and keep you pressed against him while gently rubbing circles with his palm into your back. If you two are being intimate, the first thing he will do after you two finish is hug you tightly, even if it was a quickie and you needed to leave ASAP.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?) He didn’t want to spring the three words on you too quickly in case you weren’t comfortable with admitting that to him yourself, so he waited, but also because he was a little nervous himself to admit he had such strong feelings for you. After 1 to 3 months, he will accidentally let it slip once. The very first time he said it to you was when you two were having a mini movie night at his house and the two of you were cuddled up on one of the main floor's couches, sharing a fleece blanket. At some point during the movie, you two end up kissing, and after he pulls away he rubs your cheek with his thumb gently and looks into your eyes before whispering under his breath: "God, I love you so much…". Your eyes almost popped out of your head when he said that, and when the words processed in his head, his hand that caressed your cheek instantly went to his mouth. You look a bit anxious yourself, reassuring him that it was adorable (Bonus points if this is when you also tell him you love him for the first time). You put your hands on either side of his head, sitting on your knees now, and you tell him how you are so glad he told you, and it means so much to you that he was finally able to say it. This makes you wonder, though: how many times before did he think about saying I love you in his head but never verbally?

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?) Cove is pretty good when it comes to jealousy, so he won’t ever get nervous when you have any guy or girl friends (Depending on your gender and your sexuality). He believes in loyalty and faith, so he puts his full trust in you, but when someone flirts with you and you play into it a little, whether you’re aware of it yourself or not, he will shift over to you and put a hand on your waist, or he will pull a: "How’re you feeling [insert pet name you enjoy], good, I hope?" and he gives you a kiss on the forehead. This is usually enough to shut whatever down, but if it isn't, he will begin glaring at whoever is flirting with you, and he will insert himself into whatever conversation, acting a bit passive-aggressive because whoever wasn’t taking the hint.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?) Usually, Cove gets nervous with PDA, so the kisses you share are often short and sweet, such as quick pecks on the lips or a few seconds, but he makes up for it by following up with a kiss on your cheek. When the two of you are alone, the kisses are usually more lengthy, and he likes giving you quiet praise after you two finish (exactly how he accidentally let ‘I love you’ slip because it was natural). He likes to be kissed anywhere, honestly. On his head, hand, arms, chest, stomach, and, if you’re feeling a bit risque, on his inner thighs. Every kiss you give him, he cherishes, regardless of the placement. He often likes to kiss your cheeks, forehead, and the back of your palm. If he is feeling a bit risque, then he likes to give you kisses on your ankles (Bonus points if you are wearing an anklet).

L = Little ones (How are they around children?) You’d think he would get flustered around kids, but he is surprisingly good with them because Derek would sometimes bring Nico and Jorge over to Cove’s place, or Cove would go over to help watch them. Derek showed Cove the different tactics Nico often pulled to get his way, and he made sure to tell Cove all the important details about children, such as how to entertain them and what things to keep away from them. Cove can often handle children, even when they do gross things such as pick their noses or poop in their diapers, which he often takes care of himself, and if you two choose to have a child, he will be the primary one to take care of that. If you two have children or adopt, he is definitely the type to cry when you point out how old they're getting, even if they are 2.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?) Cove will often wake up a bit late, such as 10–11 am if he isn’t needed to go out anywhere, and he likes cuddling with you even while you both are awake in bed. He could spend a whole day just not getting out of bed and shifting positions with you in bed because he enjoys your warmth. If you are more of an early bird, he will often tighten his arms around your waist and keep you close to him, nuzzling his nose into the crease of your neck until you shake him off. If you two don’t spend the night together, you often go over to his house and wake him up by tugging at his hair, to which he will grab your hand and pull you closer to him if the two of you are dating. He won’t realize what he did at first, but when he does, he will get flustered and turn over, apologizing. He is slow to get out of bed and to brush his teeth, so his hair often goes unbrushed until after breakfast, unless you decide to brush it for him (Bonus points if you give him head kisses while you brush his hair).

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?) If you two are dating, he won’t bring up sleeping next to each other but instead ‘cuddle before you go home’. You don’t tell him, but you love it when he is so nervous about this because if he had just asked you directly, it wasn’t as if you’d turn him down anyway. He tries to stay up as late as you do, so if you go to sleep early, he will often watch a show or something while playing with your hair and giving you the occasional head kiss. He also loves nuzzling your nose when you’re sleepy, don’t ask him why, he just does. If you often stay up late, then he will try his best to stay by your side, whether he falls asleep in your bed or is sitting down beside your desk on the floor and falls asleep with his head against the seat of your chair. You will wake him up when you’re done, and he groggily gets up, clinging to you until you get in bed. Even if you need to change into pajamas, he will often just lend you his shirt, regardless of whether he has a spare, so you can lay down quicker with him. Or, if you need to brush your teeth, he will have his hands across your stomach and his head on top of yours / on your shoulder until you're done, and then he gets a little giddy when you tell him you’re done, laying down with him.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?) You two were friends before you both began dating, so you already knew a lot about him. If you ask him anything, he doesn’t mind telling you (especially if you ask him when you’re making/getting him a gift, he’ll pretend he has no idea why you’re asking him the question just to see your happy face when you give it to him). He isn’t a closed-off person; instead, he is more of an open book, but he is a bit nervous to tell you about what he likes intimately (Canon), but he will tell you in a quiet voice. Don’t ask him to repeat what he likes in intimate scenarios after he tells you once or twice in the same conversation because he will get too flustered and shut down. It’s a bit of a turn-on for him when you know all the little things about him, so he often mentions if he likes something mid-conversation if you two are on the topic about it.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?) He is a pretty patient guy. Obviously, if you don’t understand something he doesn’t mind re-explaining it to you, and he actually finds it funny if you need something repeated more than twice. He is also patient when you get ready for dates if you’re the type to take over an hour to get ready. He enjoys sitting in the bathroom with you and watching you put on makeup (If you put it on) or style your hair / put it up. (If you do.) If you two are meeting up for a date, then he will wait all day for you, but how could you ever leave him waiting?

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?) For Cove, it’s a mix of it all. There are weirdly specific things he memorizes about you, like if you don’t like a specific condiment or if you put your hair behind your ear / tie it up when you are looking down at something, but he can’t remember your favorite color some days. If you bring up a music artist you often listen to, he will silently remind himself to keep it in mind, and he will write it down on his phone’s notes app so he doesn’t forget. He won’t tell you, but it got to the point where his notes app had too long of a list, so he switched over to Google Docs, and he has over 3 pages worth of information about what you like/dislike and why. Things he specifically memorizes are physical stuff about you, like your favorite jewelry or how you like to dress. When the two of you go out and spend a day together or go on a date, he, for some reason, counts the number of different pieces of jewelry you wear (if you do), as if you’ll ask him at the end of the night.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?) Every day with you is something special to Cove, so it would be hard for Cove to choose a specific moment, but back when you two were younger (Step 2) and you two went on that road trip, he’s really fond of the entire trip because he not only enjoyed the get-together and mix of your families, but he also likes that you specifically wear anklets for him now on because that was when you first found out he liked them. Despite him hitting his head on the top of the RV, he finds it funny now, and he can make fun of his little self for how flustered he was. (Bonus points if you tell him he isn’t any different currently.) (Bonus bonus points if you do something that makes him extremely flustered to prove your point.)

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?) Typically, Cove would prefer to handle things with words rather than physically needing to deal with someone, so if someone were to badger you or annoy you, he would put his arm in front of you and be straightforward with a stern voice. Cove believes you can handle yourself for the most part, but he will always step in if you give him a glance or if you seem overwhelmed by someone. Typically, when Cove talks about something important, he beats around the bush a bit, but he won’t ever stand for someone disrespecting you. He will make sure you feel safe, and after everything is dealt with, he'll give you many kisses.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?) Cove is definitely dedicated to any and all relationships he was/is in, so no matter what, he will remember your birthday, the time you two had your first date, and your anniversary, making sure to give you something or take you somewhere on that day. Just as it is important to you, it’s important to Cove to celebrate the days you both start a new beginning with each other, even if it’s a small step like when you two first kissed. (A little HC is that on your birthday he had a small gift he gave to you when the two of you were alone, and it was an anklet in your favorite color.) If there is something you typically need as an everyday thing, such as a hug, compliment, kiss, or even simple good morning/goodnight texts, Cove will make sure to pick up on those habits and do them as much as possible.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?) Canonically, Cove often wipes his hands on his shorts, so multiple of his shorts have tiny stains on them. Staying on the food topic, Cove definitely is also a bit of a messy eater, leaving crumbs around his lips and on his shorts/pants after a meal. (Bonus points if you wipe it off for him.) (Bonus, BONUS points if you wipe a condiment off the side of his mouth and then lick it off your finger.) Cove also gives off naive vibes, so if you lie about something such as, "Cove, did you know that if you sneeze with your eyes open, they’ll pop out of your head?" Cove at first didn’t believe you, but the more he thought about it, the more he freaked out about it, and he now makes sure to always close his eyes.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?) For the most part, Cove is pretty laid-back about his appearance, but he always makes sure he is wearing matching clothes. Somehow he never wears matching socks, but that’s beside the point. Something that he is a bit more strict about is his hair, though. He can spend roughly 10 minutes just trying to make his hair sweep around his cheeks properly because the night before he slept on it funny. He groans when it doesn’t look normal in the mirror after the first initial brushes, and then he increasingly feels the need to make it perfect before his dad or you usher him out of the bathroom.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?) Nope. Plain and simple, if he ever lost (as in died), he would never be able to forgive himself if he ever moved on from you, and he would spend the rest of his life indulging in the things you liked and weren’t able to do yet. On a less intense note, though, he doesn’t like to go more than a week without speaking to you, especially when he goes to visit his mom. As you are his childhood best friend, you are probably—no, definitely—the most important thing in his life, regardless of whether the two of you end up dating. He often spends a lot of his time just thinking about you, if not hanging out with or talking to you. He has a life outside of you with other friends and his parents, but a lot of his life is surrounded by you, and he wouldn’t have it any other way because you’ve made such an impact on him.

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.) Cove is the type to overload you with different memes and tiktoks. Even if the two of you are sitting next to each other, he will either text you a tiktok or send it to your account and watch your reaction. At the end of the day, if you don’t avidly keep up with his messages, you’ll end up with around 30 messages—if not more from Cove just consisting of tiktoks that are the ones that say ‘Us’ and then a picture, or a tiktok of a random fact if you are a girl, and ask "IS THIS TRUE???" and then send a tiktok of a girl peeling her skin off, explaining that she needs to shed her old skin on her period.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?) Canonically, Cove dislikes people who often push back plans or don’t follow through with them, such as pushing a date back multiple times because you wanted to hang out with your friends. He also dislikes people who won’t accept help and who are adamant about not accepting any sort of gift from him. He is the type to spoil his partner, and if you won’t accept any of his gifts, that will often put him down and make him uneasy. Something else that would irk Cove, since he is a bit of a messy person, is if his partner was someone super strict about cleaning or organization and pushed their rules onto him, he would be reluctant to date you, knowing his habits would make you frustrated and him too.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?) Cove love, love, loves to cuddle when he finally gets comfortable sleeping in the same bed/area with you. He ideally likes to cuddle where the two of you are facing each other or where one of you has your head in the other's chest while holding each other. If he is having a rough day, he definitely sleeps on his stomach and tends to shift positions a lot at night. He also has a habit of quietly snoring if you two do a lot in the day or after the two of you were intimate. Don’t ask me why, but Cove definitely is a blanket hog, but after you wake him up to have him give you some of the blankets, he will sleepily and excessively apologize.

[monicaeidolith]

my OLBA MC, Sunny Last ☀️

(his backstory + close ups below)

Step 1 -

Sunny is a very shy and nervous boy, who's easily afraid of strangers (when he first saw Cliff, he ran away) and easily worried. Sunny hates getting in the middle of a conflict and will avoid taking a side if he can. He loves spending time at the beach, collecting seashells, reading books and going to the library, things that will never die down growing up.

When he met Cove, Sunny was initially worried about him, as Cove was crying all alone. Sunny gets fond of Cove and befriends him quickly. As "selfish" as it may sound, Sunny did wish Cove would never go away from Sunset Bird and stay with him.

Sunny doesn't have any romantic feelings towards Cove during that Step though, he only starts developing a crush on him some time before Step 2.

Step 2 -

Sunny remains a nervous person, in fact, it seems he has social anxiety, though he developed a more teasing and snarky side growing up. Whenever he is openly snarky depends on how close you are with him... or how pissed he is at you (side looking at Jeremy), otherwise he keeps whatever he's thinking for himself, like he often does for what he's truly feeling actually (unless your name is Cove Holden (doesn't apply to the subject of romance)). Ironically, he struggles to understand when a stranger is being sarcastic or not. Despite all that, he's someone you can rely on if you need.

His love for literature grew and he kinda wishes to be a writer. In fact, he writes some things sometimes, such as poems or songs that his cousin Lee could sing. While he isn't particularly a sporty guy, he loves surfing, swimming and playing volleyball. At 13, he started getting interested in jewellery specifically, to Lee's greatest joy.

During Step 2, Sunny starts feeling insecure about his physical appearance and doesn't like showing his body that much (but summer is kind of the "worst" season for that specific part). He thinks he's too "scrawny". Also doesn't he look weird for blushing for anything?

He's also conflicted about his feelings towards Cove: during this gap of 5 years, Sunny's feelings for Cove grew into something different than friendship and he doesn't know what to do about it. He never felt this way before, not with anyone else either. He's too scared to say a word about it to Cove directly, he doesn't want to mess up their friendship (classic.).

When it comes to romance in general, concepts like "love at first sight" don't really make sense to him. How can you fall for someone you barely know? Sounds like a myth.

Step 3 -

At 18, Sunny manages a bit more with his social anxiety, though he's still a bit uneasy around people he doesn't know. His snarkiness hasn't tone downed growing up... and sadly for him, his insecurities about his body haven't that much either.

18 years old is probably the age where the contrast between his clothing style and his name is the most ironic and the object of many jokes (none of them are ill-intended of course). But wearing black clothes won't change the fact he's his moms' little sunshine!

His interest for jewellery turned into the hobby of making hand-made jewellery, mainly with seashells, sea glass or pearls.

During Step 3, Sunny is now afraid of the future. He does have some projects for the future: going to college, specifically for studying literature and hopefully working in the writing industry (not necessarily as a writer like he wanted to at 13, just as long as he can write). And he was happy to find a part time job in the library he always loved. However, all of that means leaving Sunset Bird one day, and he's scared of that. He always lived in the same place, with his moms, with Cove as his next door neighbor, ... And Elizabeth leaving for college was already something... How much will things change?

About his relationship with Cove: Sunny knows for certain he's in love with him. But God forbid he actually tells him how he actually feels.

He also figured out his sexuality: he's gay and demiromantic (oooh so that's why love at first sight felt like a complete myth...)!

Step 4 -

His personality hasn't changed that much since Step 3 but one thing that changed is that he managed to outgrow a little bit his habit to hide his negative feelings from others, at least to a less extreme level. His social anxiety is still present of course, but he learned to live with it. He also learned how to love himself and feel comfortable with his body! It was hard but he did it!

Living away from Sunset Bird was also hard, very hard at first, especially since Cove confessed his love for Sunny at the end of the summer and then they had to be separated for long times. But it seems nothing could break their bond.

Sunny got a 4 years English literature degree and works pretty much on freelance writing now. (I'm not sure myself yet tbh, that may change in the future.)

the close ups!

listen the fact Sunny is kind of similar to Athena (my OLNF MC) is completely involuntary lmao

this is what happen when you keep on projecting bits of yourself onto your OCs

[justcallmehappy]

I have to say, I love what you wrote for Qiu. It tugs on my heart so much.

I was wondering if you could wrote some hurt/comfort for Cove. Or maybe just angst, whatever you're in the mood for really.

-Ghost

thank you and of course, Ghost!! i hope you enjoy and i'm so sorry it took so long <3

"Time Apart"

(Step 3) Cove x gn!reader synopsis: On a particularly windy day, you can't help but feel that your longtime best friend and boyfriend, Cove Holden, is a bit off. Ever since graduation, things have been weird between you two. What's wrong with him?

warnings: established relationship, unedited

word count: 1.7k a/n: finals are finally over (see what i did there), so i can get back to writing! yay!!!

Your eyes sting as the wind relentlessly pelts your face. It takes your whole being just not to cry out in annoyance.

You're just trying to get to your car after a day of hanging out with Terri and Miranda. Cove couldn't hang out with the three of you because he had work all day, but that was okay.

It's been a week since your graduation, and your last day of high school was just two days ago.

Of course, you weren't expecting Cove to be a happy ball of sunshine, as he's always been extremely sentimental, but you can't help feeling like he's been distant the past few days.

As you finally make it to your car, you let out a soft sigh as you slip into the driver's seat and turn up the AC.

"Terri said I shouldn't worry so much, but..."

You mutter, fishing for the keys in your pocket.

You can't help the sigh that slips past your lips as you turn your car on and drive out of Terri's driveway.

Your drive home is as uneventful as always, speeding past the familiar scenery of the beach that you and of course, Cove, have always adored.

You can't help the small smile from growing on your face at how beautifully it worked out that a boy named after the sea fell in love with it.

Did Cliff and Kyra know it would happen?

You blink when your phone starts going off, and you can't help from glancing at it briefly to check the caller.

Your Mom's familiar contact shows up on your screen, sporting that picture you took of her when she dressed up to match your Halloween costume.

Propping it up on your dashboard, you accept the call and set it to speaker.

"Hey Mom, what's up?"

"Hey, not-so-kiddo. Me and your mom were talking about scheduling for touring your colleges this summer. Can you remind me when you want to be back?"

And so, for the rest of your drive home, you end up talking to your moms about college and your plans for touring various colleges and universities.

When you pull into your driveway and get out of your car, you all but stumble into the house. You love Terri and Miranda, but it's always taken a toll hanging out with them the whole day.

You remember your moms mentioning that Liz had gone out to eat dinner with some old friends of hers and Mom left to go pick up some things from the supermarket shortly after you finished the call, so it was just you and Ma.

Ma greets you with a hug when you make it inside before letting you stumble into your room.

Cove is planning to leave to visit Kyra tomorrow, so you're hoping he'd come by to visit before driving down to her. He has to leave early in the morning.

You collapse onto your bed, the familiar comforter hugging your body as you bury your face into your favorite pillow, letting out a satisfied sigh.

The constant hum of the fan on your desk only relaxes your body more, making you practically melt into the bed.

Eventually, the fan lulls you to sleep, and you slip into a dreamless slumber.

...ap tap!

A sleepy frown makes its way onto your face at the rather annoying sound. You groan and bury your face deeper into your pillow.

...

You let out a content hum.

...Tap tap tap!

You let out a harsh sigh and reluctantly open your eyes, sitting up. You groggily rub your eyes, looking towards the window.

There, perched on the windowsill, is a familiar head of green hair and a boy with an awkward smile.

Cove Holden.

You stare blankly at him for a few moments, your mind still waking up.

As soon as you notice Cove's hair constantly getting into his face from the harsh wind outside, you shuffle to the window and wordlessly let him into your bedroom.

As soon as he makes his way into your room, he almost urgently wraps you in his arms, and you can practically feel him shaking.

"Cove...?"

If there was anything that woke you up more than being dunked in ice cold water, it would be your boyfriend upset.

The man in question says nothing in response to you, and if anything his grip only tightens.

Slowly, you start to rub comforting circles in his back, gently holding him as well.

You two just stand there, the moonlight illuminating you two in your room at who knows when.

Eventually, you can hear a soft sigh and he unwraps his arms around you, instead resting his hands on your shoulders.

You stare up at him, concerned, but let him take the time he needs to gather his thoughts.

However, when Cove opens your mouth, you can't help but frown in confusion at his words.

"You... you didn't answer my calls."

You stare at him, gauging his reaction to see if he was being serious. Confusingly, he was.

Cove has never been the type to get all scared just because you missed a few calls of his, so there was definitely something making his blue irises to practically shake in anxiety.

You glance over to your phone which was carelessly thrown on your bedside table. Removing his hands from your shoulders, you go over to check if you really missed his calls.

Just like he said, there were about 6 missed calls under the name "Cove 💙."

"I... I guess I did. I'm sorry, Cove, I just fell asleep." You glance up at him apologetically. He nods briefly.

"Yeah, that's what I guessed."

You stare down at your phone again, only to see that your phone says it's 1:16am. You blink, surprised that you slept for so long because you fell asleep at probably around 5pm.

"Uh... Cove?"

You glance at him, only to see he's moving to sit down next to you on your bed.

"Yes?"

"Why did you come here at 1am if you called at, like, 7?"

Cue his cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

Cove looks away, fidgeting with his pants. You frown in concern, gently reaching over to rest your hand on his leg.

"Cove?"

After a few tense moments of silence, he lets out a soft sigh.

"I just... wanted to say bye before I go visit Mom."

You stare at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

However, when he says nothing else, your face morphs into another confused and concerned frown for what feels like the 100th time in just 10 minutes.

"Cove, I always get up to see you off."

He nods.

"...So you didn't need to come here in the middle of the night."

He nods again, causing your frown to deepen.

"...Cove, what's the real reason you came?"

Then, to your surprise, he lets out a frustrated groan and buries his head in his hands.

Your eyes widen and you gently rest your hand on his hunched over back.

He sighs and shakes his head.

"...It's not your fault, I just..."

He lets out another tired sigh, but you guess it isn't because of the time.

"...What if we don't see each other this summer?"

...Oh.

Oh.

You slump over as well, matching Cove almost perfectly.

However, you turn so you face Cove. Gently, you prod his hand hiding his face from you.

"...Cove, look at me." You murmur softly.

At first, you think he didn't hear you, but after a few moments his hands move and he shifts slightly so his bright blue eyes are looking into yours.

"What makes you think that?"

Even though you can't see his mouth, you can imagine his lips pursing at your question.

"I just... I'll be gone for a while."

"It's no longer than every other year."

Cove sighs again.

"But... but what if when I'm here, you're not? What if- what if you're touring colleges when I'm finally back?"

You immediately soften, eyes growing wide in surprise and sadness.

Slowly, you sit up and pull him into a gentle embrace. Though, it's more one sided, as he just lifelessly leans against you as you rub his arm.

"Cove, we're going to see each other this summer, okay?"

He sniffles.

"Oh, Cove," You coo softly, moving one hand up to his hair to run your fingers through it. He's always found comfort in your touch, but he especially likes it when you play with his hair. It's like magic, he instantly relaxes whenever you do it. So, of course, the same happens now. "Me and my moms are going off in two days. We'll be back a few days before you, don't worry."

You can feel him hide his face in the crook of your neck, feeling the small tears wet your shirt.

You let out a soft breath and gently smile, stroking his hair comfortingly. You stay quiet, letting Cove calm himself down.

Eventually, he pulls back. You can feel the wet spot on your shirt but you don't mind, gently smiling at your boyfriend who's still teary-eyed.

"Really?"

You nod, laughing softly. Gently taking his hand and squeezing it, you offer him a small smile. "I made sure to tour colleges out of state when you weren't here so we could spend as much time together as possible."

You've gotten the feeling for a while that Cove was worried you two wouldn't be able to spend as much time together this summer as the past ten years, but this was the first time he outright told you his worries.

Cove has always been extremely considerate, so you assume he didn't want to upset you by asking this.

When he lets out a sigh of relief, his whole body relaxing, you can tell just how tired he is.

"...Cove, do you want to spend the night here?"

His eyes find yours, and his cheeks warming.

"Would that be okay?"

You let out a soft laugh, squeezing his hand. "Cove, you've spent the night here so many times you shouldn't even ask that."

At your words, he lets out an embarrassed laugh. "...Okay. Yeah, I'd like that."

You nod, smiling adoringly at your green-haired boyfriend.

And so, because both of you were too bashful to share a bed, you end up laying in your bed with Cove laying on the floor.

"...Goodnight, Cove." You murmur softly, the hum of the fan still going strong.

"See you tomorrow, (Name)."

[lola-andheruniverse]

Anon who asked me about "sides" in the caryl fandom and which one I place myself on because you believe I "switched sides"/changed my opinions:

I'm not posting your ask because you named people and that's not something I do on my blog or generally agree with. The only instance you'll find me naming or tagging people is in fic recs posts, so that caryl authors who are on Tumblr can read them and be found by readers who'd like to reach out.

If you have a problem with the opinions, feelings and/or behaviors of a particular individual/blog, I ask you to 1) please reach out to them directly so you can express your disagreement or 2) use your block button, so you no longer see content you don't like. I believe that our fandom is big enough to hold every single caryler out there who wants to join in, regardless of their opinions, posts or feelings. People should feel free and safe to post whatever they want, either 'positive' or 'negative'. I have no problem with anyone in the fandom and I respect everyone's opinions, even when I disagree with some stuff I read.

Please, I ask you to not use my ask box to indirectly badmouth, bully or attack any caryler.

That said, the answer to your question is after the cut.

I'm not on either "side" and never have been. I'm just another enthusiastic fan that loves Carol and Daryl. Since joining the Tumblr fandom just before the pandemic (I was a lurker for many years), I've been using my own critical thinking skills and knowledge of AMC's shenanigans to form my own opinions.

I'm confident in TBOC because I believe there are concrete reasons that support how I'm feeling, from Melissa's return, to filming spoilers and rumors, to Tribeca and SDCC. You're free to agree or disagree with my interpretation of these facts, and to feel positive or negative about it.

I also continue to believe that AMC/Gimple hijacked the original caryl spinoff to highlight the richonne spinoff because it follows similar decisions made before to give Rick more screen time at the expense of all the other TWD characters. I believe Melissa had no choice but to opt out of the original spin-off and negotiate new terms to ensure that Carol's (and therefore Caryl's) story was respected and told with integrity. To me, that's why there were things to be sorted out, as she said, and why she lengthily discussed Carol with Zabel and co. even before scripts for the France spinoff were written. She was involved since the beginning, yes, but she only signed on when she got what she wanted. There is no greater supporter of Carol than Melissa and we have known this for years. I'm glad she's back in her own terms. I believe it was a pretty difficult time for her, as she expressed it by basically refusing to promote 11C or the series finale, and by not saying anything about the whole mess on SM, while other cast members/friends such as Laurie Holden and Khary Payton spoke out in her behalf.

I believe AMC tried to make money off just Daryl because he's their original character and it backfired in their faces. They also made a mistake using Norman to save face as he should have been protected from the SM backlash. Norman has never been a reliable narrator and I always take every thing he says with a grain of salt, but I don't think he's intentionally malicious. I appreciate how much he loves Daryl and is considerate of his fans, even when I don't approve of his behavior. I just wish he would keep his frustrating mouth shut. I believe Norman had lots of input in S1 and that he initially thought he could pull it off without Melissa. But there's no Daryl without Carol and no Carol without Daryl. It's crystal clear how much Norman's happy for having Melissa by his side, and how much they love each other and are excited for S2. I'm glad they are reunited, both for them and for us, but I believe everything worked out in the end because Melissa didn't give up on getting what she wanted. I believe she had lots of inputs in S2 and is satisfied and happy with the final result.

So, that's how I believe things have gone these last two years. Again, feel free to agree or disagree with my interpretation of facts. None of us will ever know exactly what happened, but each of us can decide what to believe based on our own judgment of the facts. That's what I do and will continue to do.

In the end, for me, the important thing is that Melissa and Norman are happy and that Carol and Daryl get their hard-earned happy ending. It's everything I ever wanted and I'm going to enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it too.

That's it. Caryl on!

[youcouldmakealife]

SOTM: Bryce/Jared, Holden, Canucks; the bad place

For the prompt: What Bryce said to Holden in the box

Jan can’t say he ever considers being in the penalty box a good thing, but some times are worse than others. Typically, being sent to the box as a proxy for someone else is the best case scenario: he didn’t do anything wrong so his coach isn't pissed at him, and he might just get a breakaway on his way out the door if he’s lucky. There’s a reason they put Jan in if they have to pick a dude: he’s fast. If he gets behind the play, there’s a good scoring chance for him at minimum, and it isn’t like he’d be playing regardless, because they don’t use him on the PK. So what if he has to sit in a plexiglass box rather than on the bench? A seat's a seat.

This should be the best case scenario. But Jan is not having a good time right now. Neither is the penalty box attendant, he imagines. Jan thinks anyone except maybe Math would prefer not to be anywhere near Bullet at the moment, literally shaking with anger beside him. Jan can feel the vibration through his knee, before Bullet’s twisting around, knee knocking Jan's, and yelling, “You’re a fucking dead man!”, temporarily deafening Jan in the bargain.

He accidentally meets the eye of the penalty box attendant, who gives him a commiserating look. Jan’s sure he’s heard worse, but he also suspects Bullet isn’t going to restrict himself to that, and unfortunately he is right.

He didn’t hear what Chase said to Bullet, and he doesn’t want to ask — he thinks it’d only make Bullet angrier, and frankly Jan doesn’t think he needs any help — but whatever it is, he crossed a line, and Bullet is letting him hear it. And hear it. And hear it.

“There are children right behind you!” Chase yells, when Bullet finally stops long enough to take a breath.

Jan didn’t peg Chase as a ‘think of the children’ type even before he goaded Bullet into the box by saying presumably shitty things about his husband, and judging by his smirk when Bullet quiets, he thinks his instinct is correct. Jan also doesn’t think any parent who bought tickets directly behind the penalty box has the right to be particularly offended by any violence or profanity their children may hear. He’s fairly sure, in fact, that many who pick a seat near the box do it hoping for this exact occurrence.

Jan would tell Bullet all this, but he thinks he and the attendant deserve the temporary break.

Jan doesn’t know if Bullet comes to the same conclusion as he did, or if he simply can’t restrain himself — it’s a toss up, considering he’s still shaking with fury, the air practically vibrating with it, his knee actually vibrating against Jan’s.

Jan looks up at the clock, sighing when he sees a full minute remaining. They always seem to go to commercial after a penalty. He knows it’s just because it’s a stoppage in play, but he thinks they should have some sympathy for the players serving the penalty. But considering it’s a punishment, he supposes they don’t.

Jan didn’t even do anything wrong.

*

“—and learn to play defence, you fucking pig fucker!”

“Pig fucker,” Jan says faintly.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Bryce admits, then yells, “Never mind that last part, but I stand by the rest! You suck at D! The hockey kind, not the — you fucking suck, Chase!”

“Pig fucker,” Jan repeats.

“I took it back!” Bryce says. “What do you want me to do, here?”

Jan just shakes his head. “You suck at D too,” he murmurs.

“I’m getting better at it!” Bryce says.

*

“I don’t have to tell you not to go after him again, right?” Gabe asks.

Bullet’s mulish face says that isn’t a correct prediction, and Gabe internally sighs. Besides holding the obvious position of not wanting one of their top scorers in the box for extended stretches, Gabe doesn’t like the idea of Bullet going back and forth with a dude so soon after getting off the IR, especially twice. And he really doesn’t like the idea of how cranky Jared will get if Bryce gets injured. When Jared’s in a bad mood, he emanates displeasure until everyone around him is too.

“Can you let the refs do their jobs?” Gabe asks, without much hope, and Bryce’s face gets…Gabe is pretty sure ‘mulish-er’ is not a word, but it’s still the best way he can describe it. Stubborn doesn’t do it justice — there’s too much simmering anger in it for that. Apparently beating the dude up and then calling him a pig fucker didn’t get the rage out of his system.

“Jan doesn’t have to tell everybody about that,” Bryce complains.

“Not condemning it,” Gabe says. “Just impressed with your creativity.”

“I ran out of stuff,” Bryce says. “And repeating myself seemed, you know.”

“Pedestrian?” Gabe asks, and Jared, beside him, snorts. He’s ‘not talking’ to Bryce right now, but he’s practically sitting in Gabe’s lap, he’s eavesdropping on their conversation so hard, so Gabe doesn’t even think Bryce is buying the act.

Bryce looks confused as well as mulish now, probably wondering what the hell walking has to do with anything. Dima raises his eyebrows and gives Gabe a thumbs up behind Bullet’s back. He wasn’t actually trying to distract him, but Bryce is quiet for the moment, and he doesn’t try to rip Chase’s head off, the next shift they’re on together — possibly because they only overlap briefly, but Gabe decides to be optimistic.

Nobody needs to take matters into their own hands: the refs seem as done with Chase’s shit as Gabe is. Canucks fans are too — a decidedly mocking cheer goes up when Chase goes to the box for the third time tonight. Gabe knows Stephen was planning on watching this one, and he bets he’s sitting on the couch laughing his ass off right now.

Gabe does not laugh, because he knows there’s a chance it’d twist into some ‘poor sportsmanship by Canucks as refs unfairly target Holden Chase’. Doubly so when homophobes are trying to find any chance to hate on Bryce and Jared without giving themselves away.

It’s difficult, though. Even more difficult after Gabe looks across the ice, where Chase appears to be arguing with the penalty box attendant, because of course he is, and he hides his face in Dima’s shoulder for a moment, so the cameras won’t catch his grin.

[alaskan-wallflower]

let’s chat about paul holden!

i saw a post by @sondheim-girly about socs not being just one dimensional characters and it really made me think

Sometimes it feels like this fandom makes Paul in specific out to either be an innocent little woobified guy who hasn’t done a thing wrong in his life, orrrr they make him out to be a heartless and cold asshole who wants to watch the world burn. And i’ll admit, i kinda fell victim to this too, HOWEVER

i think it’s also safe to say that neither of those characterizations are really entirely accurate? like in canon yes, he has literally two lines, and in the musical he’s a very small character (compared to others at least) but honestly i wish there was more balance in his character

paul is not a saint. he’s not an absolute angel who’s never done nothing wrong (sometimes it feels like this characterization also tends to make darry look heartless and like a jerk for cutting him off which i don’t like either because while we don’t have a con on reason for why they parted ways, i don’t think it’s fair to make darry the villain) but he’s also not a heartless asshole. to me, i feel like a lot of the socs are the way they are because of how they were brought up and raised. look at bob-bob was looking for someone to tell him no. his parents never told him no and so he spiraled out of control. randy in the book and cherry both said bob was caring and that “nobody had seen that side of him”and i believe it. bob wanted somebody to tell him no. he wanted to be paid attention to. he needed that attention he never got from his parents.

that’s something else that divides the greasers from the docs. the greasers are like a pack-they all stick up for each other and they all stick together. they may not have parents that are good, or parents that are even around (obviously, look at johnny and dally and steve and two bit) but they find their family. they find their family in each other. the socs are characterized to be more self conscious, and not in the insecure way, they’re just made up to be more mindful of themselves because they don’t have that family with each other. like cherry describes them-“cool and collected because there forced to be that way. To not let anything bother them.” so i think that’s why a lot of them are more wild and crazy in a way.

so back to paul. do i think he’s a heartless jerk who was never nice and only liked drinking and jumping kids? no. absolutely not. i believe that when him and darry were friends (or whatever more you guys want them to be) he genuinely cared about their friendship. however, do i think paul was a little angel who hasn’t done a wrong thing in his life? also no. he jumps pony in the musical and frankly i think his parents are just as bad as bob’s, likely. neglectful. i think that’s the case with a lot of the soc characters and that’s why they’re seen as ‘mean’.

there needs to be balance. you can’t make paul out to be something hes not, and to me, through the musical at least (we have so little in the book i frankly haven’t thought about paul until the fandom started collectively agreeing to) but he certainly isn’t a character that should be woobified or anything. paul has done some awful things, he canonically jumps pony and such, and i think a lot of that has to do with the fact most socs don’t have good families -either biological or found ones, to help them be nicer for a lack of better terms.

i dunno. i think both characterizations can be equally as incorrect. i don’t think paul is heartless. but i also don’t think he’s an amazing person who got along with all the greasers just cause he was friends with darry. that switch doesn’t flip overnight.

anyway that’s my ted talk. i know im gonna get shit but yk

[halfbakedspuds]

Thanks to @illarian-rambling for the tag!

OC assumption tag

Share one of your characters' name and a quote from them with zero context and let your followers (or other people who stumble upon your post) make assumptions about said character. You can post about more than one character but only one quote for each one for things to stay out of context.

I'll do this for the little unnamed WIP I've been writing scenes for that probably won't turn into anything.

Adam

"See this? This is a master directive disc. Simply put, I slot it into the master computer, flick the switch, et vóila: every Vellassian positronic matrix from here to Nordren gets updated instantly.

Now, you buggers have been a real big thorn in my side for longer than I realistically should've allowed, so I say we do something about that by pushing the following new directives: violence against thy neighbours; violence against thyself; violence against the very gods, art and nature!

Heark! The choir, and let. there. be. war!"

Wayn Vakasa

"Oh it's absolutely your fault, captain 'We cannot stop to hunt while on the run, Wayn'.

Oh look at me! I'm the big, scary man from Earth gods-know-what and I know better than the Kachatanu wild-woman who's survived off the land for seventeen years.

...Yeah, I've had my fun. You were saying?"

James Holden

"Hey. Hey! Look at me! This right here? This is full fucking tilt. If I push 'er any harder then our next stop will be five layers deep into hell, so why don't you take that little rifle of yours and make yourself useful while I focus on stopping the engine from turning into a pile of slag at whatever unholy speed we've achieved.

Come now, chop-chop,"

Mari Demouchet

"Right. Other worlds. Magic. I'm pretty goddamn sure I just saw a robot catcalling a toaster but I could be wrong.

Fuck man, I... I-I need to get some fresh air, 'cause this is either a drug induced psychosis and I'm actually lying in some dingey-ass storage container where some... thing is getting ready to root around in my noggin for whatever makes me different, or this is actually real and at this point I genuinely don't know which is scarier,"

Tagir Aslan

"Just breathe, moy drug, breathe. Crossing over is a massive system shock, I know, but you're not doing yourself or us any favours by working yourself up.

I am serious: adrenaline entering your bloodstream at this moment could actually make your heart explode.

Relax, it is a joke. No seriously, relax, I wasn't joking about stress still being incredibly dangerous to you at this moment."

Cerberus

"Get dressed. Do not step in front of me, and avoid mirrors so that you're not in my line of sight. Do not under any circumstances allow me to see you. You may speak, and ask questions. Do I make myself abundantly clear, child?"

Adair Holden

"Oh, and Eleven? If you see the boy, would you kindly kill him for me? Redundancy must serve a purpose, and he no longer does.

It's a shame though, his mind showed so much promise... but, Kazra deals all hands, and unfortunately he was dealt no spine for what is required of him,"

No pressure tag for @honeybewrites, @thatoneterrariaplayer, @oh-no-another-idea, @orion-lacroix and anyone else who wants in.

[physalian]

POVS and Past vs Present Tense (Or, the Pros and Cons of Limiting your Narrator)

This blog got over 300 notes in a single day, I'm almost at 1000! Thank you to everyone who likes, reblogs, and subscribes, you all keep me motivated in these dark times.

—

Today we’re looking at the pros and cons of the different points of view through which you can tell your story, but full disclosure, sometimes it all comes down to how you as the author feel most comfortable writing, regardless of the story you are telling.

So this is less *what you should do* and more *what you might want to think about but don’t have to do*.

Narrating POVs come in these flavors:

First Person (FPOV)

Second Person (SPOV)

Third Person Limited (TPL)

Third Person Omniscient (TPO)

What you decide for your story doesn’t really matter, only that whatever you pick, you *must* stick with (unless you’re James Patterson who doesn’t give a damn). The same applies with whether or not you decide to write in past or present tense, so I’ll be covering both topics in this post.

You can choose whatever you want, but the type of story you write can benefit from different POVS. An intimate romance with few characters? FPOV, possibly with alternating narrators. An epic fantasy with an ensemble cast that spans the globe? You’d miss out on so much of the story trapped with one narrator.

First-Person POV

I… hate writing first person POV. I don’t hate that it exists and I love reading it, I just can’t write any of my characters in FPOV, it’s too weird. To anyone struggling to give their characters strong and distinct personalities, stepping away from the “I/me” pronouns may help you.

With that said! FPOV is by no means any lesser than any other POV. FPOV is, obviously, when your narrator narrates with terms like “I, me, we, us.” You are reading in their head, their train of thought, their internal monologue.

Pros: This about as intimate a look inside the story as you can get, you are zero degrees removed from the action. The biggest benefit is how well the audience comes to understand the narrating character as all your time is spent with them exclusively, unless the story head-hops. Every scene is colored by the lenses of the narrator’s biases and the knowledge they have of the story.

Cons: Unless you head-hop, you risk losing out on much of the rest of the story. Other characters can only be viewed through the biases of the narrator and any story happening away from the narrator is unseen, because they’re not there to witness it.

FPOV gives you the most flexibility in coloring your text with personality, think Holden Caufield from Catcher in the Rye. Every page bleeds with Holden’s thoughts and musings on his world.

However, FPOV, versus TPL, traps you within the senses of the narrator. You can’t get away with lines like “he didn’t notice XYZ happening in the background” or “he might have missed this subtle tell” because there’s zero room for ambiguity unless your tone allows for some comedic freedom.

You *can* say things like “Later, I would reflect back on X” or “Had I been paying attention, I might’ve seen Y” but those lines are almost always followed up with “But I didn’t in the moment and now I’m screwed regardless.”

If you find yourself stuck with a scene of a bunch of characters of all the same gender and you have to balance your paragraphs with names versus pronouns, FPOV does, at least, remove one of them for you with “I”.

Beyond simply using “I/me” pronouns, you can go the route of Anthem. Ayn Rand’s Anthem is written in first person, but with plural pronouns and when I read it in middle school, I spent the entire novel thinking all the different “theys” and “we’s” were entire groups of people acting and not the a singular being because it was middle school and pronouns weren’t a topic of discussion.

There was a scene where “we” (gender neutral singular protagonist) sees “them” (gender neutral love interest) doing… yoga or something beyond a fence, and in my head I was picturing like, ten dudes watching ten ladies all do synchronized yoga. It was funky.

Second-Person

This one almost doesn’t count because it’s so rare. Second person is reserved, I think, for three situations: Romance/erotica, self-help books, and horror/thriller works.

SPOV uses terms like “you think, you see, you feel, you do X”. It’s self-indulgent and I’ve never actually read a fictional work written in it because it’s too weird. SPOV is as intimate as you can get, because *you* are the protagonist.

I scroll right past all the "character/reader" fanfics but they have their audience, and I've never picked up an actual published romance novel written in SPOV, but I'm sure they exist for their own wish-fulfilment purposes.

SPOV in horror deserves more content and attention. The most iconic example I can think of is the storyline through Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. In it, the narrator tells the tale of you, intrepid hero, who find yourself in the middle of the Thriller, and details your demise at the claws and teeth of disco zombies.

Second-person fiction relies on what your protagonist does more than who they are, as too-strong of a personality limits the reader’s ability to get in the headspace of their fictional VR-goggles. In the “Thriller” example, the story tells entirely of your physiological reactions (you’re paralyzed with fear, unable to scream, etc), not your desires and emotions, beyond terror.

Third-Person Limited

*cracks knuckles* My Favorite! TPL is very much like FPOV, except instead of using “I think” you’d use “He/she/they/it thinks”. TPL is still contained within the box of following a singular narrator at any given time, but the audience isn’t experiencing the novel through the eyes of the narrator, they’re watching it through the imaginary cameraman following them. Depending on how much personality you write your narration with, TPL can be nigh indistinguishable from FPOV.

If your narrator experiences pain, or gets knocked out in a car crash or a fistfight, the narration is still limited by their consciousness and awareness. The scene doesn’t continue on after the narrator passes out.

Also, as a writer, it’s a *lot* easier to write scenes your audience demands (like romance) if you’re aro/ace and/or too squicked out trying to write it in first person but still wanting to deliver. Same goes for violence/ horror/ combat, anything with a lot of emotion and drama that you can’t bring yourself to write as “I feel such and such so much right now” can be intimidating. Then it’s not happening to you, it’s happening to those poor schmucks unlucky enough to be characters in your book, and then it’s much more fun.

TPL and FPOV both favor the internal monologue, the only difference is the pronouns through which the narration is given. TPL also tends to distinguish direct thoughts by the narrator within the style of the text. This means putting the thought in italics most of the time, or adding in a “she thought” like a dialogue tag.

Third-Person Omniscient

If third-person limited was being the cameraman, third-person omniscient is being the bird watching from above, or God. TPO is a “third” narrator who tends to not be an active character within the story, just “the narrator” watching every other character go through life.

In some cases, you could make the omniscient narrator also in first person as a non-character, but they would have to be some higher power, or make your story a fourth-wall-breaking meta commentary, a story within a story told by an unrelated storyteller.

TPO suffers from lacking intimacy. You’re two degrees removed from the thoughts and feelings of the character and the story is colored with the personality of the narrator, not any one character you’re following (if there is at all a personality to the narrator).

Children’s books tend to be TPO because they’re not that deep. When I say children’s books I mean like Rainbow Fish, or the Very Hungry Caterpillar, not children’s chapter books.

But on the other hand, many classics are written in TPO. I believe the A Series of Unfortunate Events books are written in TPO with a *very* colorful omniscient narrator. The Chronicles of Narnia are also, I think, written in TPO with the absence of a distinct narrating personality, it’s simply the voice through which the story unfolds (it’s been a while since I’ve read either and can’t recall).

TPO tends to lend itself toward fantasy and fairytales because a colorful narrator just fits the tone and the unnatural reality of your world. The narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events would be very out of place in a book like The Great Gatsby because it would only distract from the story, instead of enhance it.

Head-Hopping and Multiple POV

Head hopping should only be used when you do it on purpose in an established FPOV or TPL work. If you change perspectives mid-narration without any indication that you’re doing it on purpose, that’s just sloppy writing and you’ll confuse the heck out of your readers.

The term “head hopping” tends to be used when writers do it poorly, versus simply “multiple narrators”. This works best with an ensemble cast, or when the author doesn’t want to limit the breadth of their story to only the protagonist’s perspective.

The narration can shift between any number of characters, but I wouldn’t go higher than five or six with rare exception because it’s too many characters to follow. You can follow the protagonist and a couple of their friends, the protagonist and the villain, the different members of team protagonist – the list goes on.

It’s entirely up to you how you want to physically structure your POV shifts. Some authors jump between multiple narrators within a chapter (myself included), some give entire chapters to one narrator at a time, or a chunk of chapters in a row. Sometimes the narrating POV is signaled with a giant banner for their name or the scene opens with the narrator’s name within the first few sentences to let you know who you’re following.

POV shifts without the big banner works best when your narrators have very distinct personalities coloring their narration, see this post about humanizing your characters and giving them voice.

How each character speaks, how they see their world, the idioms and metaphors they use in their internal monologue, the cadence in how they tell the story, the syntax -- all of these help justify your choice to shift POVs beyond the flexibility of telling more story. You know you’ve succeeded when you can write an entire page in the new POV without naming your narrator and your audience still knows who it is.

Head-hopping in bad form can be an easy mistake to make, and easiest to make in third-person limited, because you’re already one degree removed. Unless you are writing from a telepath’s perspective, any time you begin writing the thoughts and feelings of a non-narrating character in TPL, you are head-hopping.

If Jane is narrating an argument with Mark, and we cut aside to suddenly start detailing Mark’s feelings on the matter, we have broken the POV. Jane cannot know exactly what Mark is feeling, she’s not Mark. Instead, Jane can look at him and assume what he’s feeling based on his expressions and extrapolate on what he might be thinking.

In which case her thoughts on the matter would be tagged with “Mark seemed to think X,” or “Mark looked hurt”. Doing it incorrectly looks like “Mark thought X” or “Mark was hurt”.

You can get away with “Character was hurt” with any of the following tacked on:

“...they thought/presumed/assumed/suspected/guessed”

“... that much obvious”

“... they could tell”

So long as the tag reflects how the narrator interprets the scene.

Multiple narrators inevitably lend themselves to a longer story and thicker book and a perfect example is the Percy Jackon series and its follow-up, Heroes of Olympus.

Percy Jackson is a rather unique case of shifting POVS. The first five books of the series are entirely FPOV from his perspective. We follow Percy and only Percy the entire time.

The second series hops between TPL perspectives, with the benefit of exploring other characters…. and the massive disappointment of your protagonist for five whole books being completely omitted as a narrator from his final run (but that’s for another day).

The books of the second series are doorstoppers because there’s so much more plot with multiple arcs now being written for each one. HOO is a “banner style” head-hopper, giving chunks of chapters to a narrating character at any given time and following only three to four narrators for a given book.

There was a book our teacher read in elementary school, blandly titled School with a peace sign and a bus on the cover and I have no way to google it because of its stupidly generic title. In it, the entire short story has at least ten narrators and it worked because there weren’t ten different story arcs, it was all the same story just told through ten different perspectives. It was less an “ensemble cast of rich and fulfilling heroes” and more “ten children each argue why they remember the incident the best”.

Twilight hops in later books, with entire swaths of Breaking Dawn divvied up between the three main characters. The Red Queen series and Throne of Glass also hop and it seems, to me at least, that, regardless of genre, multiple narrators are much more common in recent publications.

Maximum Ride is a funky rule-breaker. For reasons unknown, the author decided to write in FPOV for the protagonist, then jump perspectives to TPL for the other characters. It’s incredibly distracting. Why not just write the entire story in shifting FPOV? Or entirely in TPL?

There is plenty of merit to *not* rotating narrators. I like doing it because I like not being limited to only following one character through the entire story. However, creativity thrives in a box and not knowing what's happening outside that box can be equally entertaining. Following one character also forces the plot to center on that character (though doesn't always give you a protagonist with agency). It leaves plenty of holes for the audience to fill in missing information as well when side characters are off doing whatever and the narrator isn't there to witness it.

Present vs Past Tense

Tense, like head-hopping, is easy to mess up if you’re not careful, and both have their pros and cons.

Books written in present tense have the benefit of being “present”. You follow the action as it unfolds, uncovering mysteries as the characters do with the added oomph of it simply being written as it happens.

Hunger Games is written in the present and the added “oomph” is that this is a hellish dystopian battle royale and it being “present” subconsciously clues the reader in on the possibility that Katniss might not survive to tell the story back to us, she can die at any moment.

Books written in past tense have the option to get cheeky, since the narrator survived the story long enough to go back and write it down for you. Some books might begin with a retrospective in the opening lines or the prologue by the narrator warning the reader about the story ahead or insisting they were an idiot for letting things play out the way they did.

Most stories written in past tense don’t think twice about it. Past tense is simply comfortable for the author to write in and it by no means spares their heroes from dying simply because of the narration having to exist.

If you tend to write in one or the other and you switch it up for a different story, you, my friend, have quite the uphill battle. You might find yourself having to comb back through entire chapters worth of content fixing your verbs because you just didn’t notice the accidental shift.

Future tense does exist, but it tends to go with stories written in second person and I’ve never read a fictitious work with it, only in bits and pieces in self help books and, again, that doesn’t really count.

—

TL;DR: How you narrate your work and in what tense it’s written is generally divorced from the genre and story you’re writing and has no impact on how the story reads. Any book with an ensemble cast benefits from multiple POVS and books in the fantasy/ supernatural/ fairtyale genre can benefit from an omniscient narrator, but it’s hardly required. First person POV gives the broadest opportunity to develop one singular character as intimately as possible, at the cost of everyone else. Third person POV removes the reader directly from the action, but is hardly inferior and can be nearly identical to FPOV save for the difference in pronouns used.

Regardless, inexperienced authors beware, head-hopping and tense-changing are easy mistakes to make. Stay vigilant and keep practicing and anything is fixable.

[sugar-omi]

Can't imagine how the boys would handle an angsty young teen. Not even if they're goth/emo, just really rude brats who says stuff like "whatever" or "you don't know me" stuff. I've met a lot of teens who were just rude for no reason or just flip out out of nowhere.

I see Baxter being a lil strict honestly, I mean I know some people hc as the "fun dad" and I agree but I kinda see him as strict dad too. Derek is def not taking the attitude well. I feel Iike Cove would have a hard time and try and be understanding.

cove: very awkward. doesn't know what to do at all. you two have to put your brains together and he runs to his dad like "wtf do I do." and then cliff reminds him cove WAS THAT TEENAGER.....

yeah eventually you work it out. you give them a lock on their door, headphones for those car drives so they can live out their angst, their favorite ice cream, and you leave the door open for whenever they come to you guys for a cry<333

baxter: throws the sass back at them sometimes. tries to be gentle though bc he doesn't wanna be dictator-strict, but sometimes slamming the door n yelling isn't acceptable.

constantly ends up taking his kid out for their favorite ice cream or restaurant bc he either sassed them back at the wrong time or said smth they didn't like even though it was meant to be helpful (times to stop speaking in riddles huh b-man)

derek: scared n confused LMAO tries to be helpful n nice but just gets iced out. isn't use to it since even nico was warmer at this age but he figures it out

you gotta remind him to give them space bc derek can be a bit overwhelming, but still do stuff w them bc then they'll get too deep in their teenage angst n think he doesn't love them which isn't true

oh he's freaking out too btw, runs to his parents bc hello?!??!

OR YOUR MOMS. omg derek/baxter/cove running to your moms bc Liz was pretty icy as a teenager so they run to them for advice n I just love imagining this big/put together man being comforted by 2 lil old ladies bc their teenager is being cold and angsty.

when they get rude though, is when all of em put their foot down. saying whatever and smacking your lips? slamming doors, ignoring them? sure you can get away w it to an extent but saying smth mean is when we need to sit down and talk, bc you can't say whatever you want to your family, it isn't happening.

which actually works bc those 3 are just big goofs. especially derek n cove, but naxter is funny bc he's still so dramatic yk. but seeing them so serious and angry straightens them up, especially cove. imagine COVE JAMES FUCKING HOLDEN yelling at you??? being STRICT??? yeah pretty scary stuff from your dad

baxter definitely drops the cool, calm, n collected act. all those big words? fancy words? fancy cryptic sentences? disappeared. he goes from fancy dad into civilian dad mode.

they're doing their best though. so please be nice to them bc they wanna make sure their kiddo/s never feel bad

ANYWAY THIS TURNED INTO SUCH A RAMBLE LMAO I DIDNT MEAN TO

[sirfrancisvarney]

Oh, last night's episode was so upsetting to watch. Even if a lot of everyone's misery was the result of their own choices, none of them deserved that, not even Hank. Fuck grifters. Bunch of scum-sucking lowlifes, all of them. I know Hank is an asshole, but so much of his bullshit stems from his insecurities and sense of inferiority. His wife left him because he wasn't good enough, Danvers looks down on him, and even his own son prefers Danvers to him. That will really screw a person up. And Pete's starting to show the same insecurities. His wife should not have called him stupid in the previous episode. (And Navarro should have put her foot down and waited until morning to go see Tagaq. That didn't have to happen on Christmas Eve. It's not like the trail would have gotten any colder.) I wish Leah could understand that Danvers really does actually care about her, but unfortunately Danvers has chosen death before emotional vulnerability. And then there's Navarro, who pretty much hit rock bottom last night. She tried so hard to look after her sister and it all came to nothing. That's enough of the touchy-feely stuff. I'm not any better at it than Danvers is. Back to the murders.

So according to Danvers (I don't know that I'd personally make that claim based on a single frame, but I'll roll with it), there's electricity in the ice caves, which suggests there were people, so that puts a mark in the "killer is a human" column. If the scientists were getting their core samples from the ice caves, that would explain their connection to Annie Kowtok. Either they stumbled upon the same thing she was investigating, or she found out what they were really studying, and whatever it (or "she") was, finally woke up. I'm going to go with the former theory for now.

I hope they'll be able to get more information out of Otis Heiss, or at least get him someplace warm and feed him a hot meal. He looked rather pitiful. His left eye is clouded over, same as the polar bear and the one woman in the background at the activist meeting. His injuries happened April 20 1998, and I'd guess they were caused by something in the caves. I don't know if it's meaningful or a coincidence, but Annie K. died on April 18, same time of year. I do wonder why she was just stabbed and beaten to death, instead of getting the weird injuries like the men. I wonder if the gender of the victims is significant.

Did Tagaq flee to save his own skin, or does he have delusions of heroism? Not saving himself from the cops, but whatever Lund might have unleashed. And I'm starting to feel a little suspicious of Rose, but maybe I'm just being paranoid. Wish she'd mentioned exactly what she studied. And since she's the only one who recognizes the spiral and appears willing to talk, I really wish Navarro would ask her about it. Maybe after Qavvik gives her the stone she left behind at his place. I hope he gives it back. Please don't make him turn out to be sinister, True Detective. I still haven't recovered from the last time a borderline-feral POC detective finally let her guard down and opened up to a seemingly kind and empathetic man, only for him to turn out to be the main villain. Don't make me go through that again.

On the supernatural (maybe) side, Navarro's family apparently has close ties to the underworld, or afterlife, or whatever you want to call the land of the dead. Unfortunately, not being knowledgeable about Inuit religion or mythology, I don't have any insights here. While I'm willing to entertain the idea that Navarro does have close ties to the other side, I'm not willing to say definitively that that's what's happening. Holden's polar bear in her visions isn't convincing enough proof to me. She and Danvers used to be so close that Danvers knew where she put cans in her kitchen. I'm sure Navarro has been to Danvers's house before and seen the bear, either without consciously remembering it or recognizing the significance of it. Either way, it doesn't really matter to me which it is. As long as the main mystery gets solved in a way that feels fair, I'll be satisfied with the series.  

I hope Navarro's all right. Bleeding from the ears can be caused by head injuries, and it's a very bad sign when it happens (although I don't know if it can suddenly occur hours after the event). Bleeding from the ears in general is pretty much a "go straight to hospital" kind of situation. Her sister's body is also due to come back that day. I wonder if she'll try to tie her death to the scientists. She did take all her clothes off and fold them up neatly just like them. If her body has any other similarities, that would put a few marks in the "killer is supernatural" column.