#I HAVEN'T CRIED THIS MUCH WHEN READING A BOOK IN SUCH A LONG TIME AND WE'RE NOT EVEN AT THE TRAGIC PARTS

[alkalinefrog]

I finished The Sword in the Stone book in The Once and Future King and---

"Will you stay with me for a long time?" asked the Wart, not understanding much of this.

"Yes, Wart," said Merlyn. "Or rather, as I should say (or is it have said?), Yes, King Arthur."

[blackbirdi]

One-Sided pt. II

If you haven't read the first part already, the link to part 1 is here

I'm so sorry this took so long, guys, I was struggling with ideas. Anyways, enjoy :)

Brief Description: Sirius begins to notice how suddenly you're around him a lot less than usual. What could he have done to make you want to avoid him at all costs? And why does your avoidance hurt him this much?

Point of View: 3rd Person

Word Count: 2181

Character: Sirius Black x Reader

House: Gryffindor

Year: Sixth Year

Two weeks. It had been two weeks since Sirius has talked to Y/n last, and it's driving him up the wall. The only other time where he doesn't talk to her for that long is during the summer, but at least they owl back and forth non-stop, and now suddenly he hasn't heard her sweet voice in two damn weeks.

And it's not as though he hasn't tried to talk to her. Hell, he's been going out of his way to run into her just to ask what was up with her, but every time she sees him, she runs away. And now she's changed the time of her daily activities (going to the library to read/study, walk in the courtyard, visit Hagrid, etc.) – not that he knew the times she was going by heart before she changed them – so now he can't even run into her then.

Two weeks. Two damn weeks. And he's not going any longer without her.

It was Saturday and the Marauders were all hanging out in their dormitory, and Sirius was itching to find Y/n and beg ask her to forgive him for whatever he must have done to have her ignore him like this.

"Remus," Sirius calls, breaking the silence.

"Hm?" Remus hums, not even bothering to look up from the book he was reading, which only caused Sirius to grow more frustrated.

He closes his eyes before he snaps at Remus, taking a deep breath to calm himself. The only thing that does is cause his eyes to well up with tears. 

Godric, what was up with him? Was Y/n really causing him to get this upset?

When he speaks next, his voice breaks, which causes all the other Marauders to lift their heads and look at Sirius with concern.

"Why won't Y/n talk to me?"

The other three Marauders share a few glances at one another before looking back at Sirius. The pity in their eyes as they look at him causes Sirius to grow frustrated once again.

His eyes, which were previously filled with tears, harden as he wipes them away. His lips pull back into a thin line as he glares down at his own hands.

"She keeps avoiding me! I haven't said anything to her in weeks!" he cries angrily. "And even when I do say something to her, she just ignores me and runs off! Did I do something to make her mad at me?"

"I'm sure you didn't do anything, Padfoot," James tries to comfort him. "Maybe Y/n just needs space for a while."

"Space from what?" Sirius snaps. "What did I do that would've wanted her to space herself from me? And only me! I haven't seen her ignoring you three, or anyone else for that matter! What did I do!?"

“Pads –” Remus starts, but is quickly interrupted.

“Why do you care so much anyway?” James asks. “It’s just Y/n.”

Sirius, Remus, and Peter all shoot James a glare, all three of them knowing that was not the right thing to ask.

“Yeah, Y/n, my friend,” Sirius sneers. “I care because Y/n is one of my closest friends and now suddenly she’s ignoring me! Do you have any idea how much that hurts? Because it does, a lot.”

“We know, Padfoot,” Peter replies, trying to make his voice sound comforting, although to Sirius it sounded more like pity. “I think James was trying to ask why you’re so … no quiet over dramatic about it … but more upset than you normally would be about something like this.”

“Yeah,” James agrees. “That’s exactly what I was trying to ask, thank you, Pete.”

Sirius glares at the both of them, his teeth gritting together as he tries to hold back from snapping at the two of them.

Why was he upset? Really? One of his best friends just straight up ditched him! Of course he was fucking upset!

“How do you twats not understand that I am upset my friend has fucking abandoned me!” Sirius snarls, his voice wavering as he tries to control his anger.

The others share another, worried glance, which drives Sirius even more insane.

Of course, Remus, James, and Peter quickly caught on that Y/n was avoiding Sirius, and were even quicker to catch on why. It wasn’t that hard to see that Y/n had finally had enough of her silly little crush on Sirius and was trying to stomp it out by avoiding him. And of course, Moony, Prongs, and Wormtail knew that avoiding Sirius at all costs wasn’t going to get rid of Y/n’s feelings for Sirius. And of course, Lupin, Potter, and Pettigrew knew that Sirius’s own feelings towards Y/n were developing beyond friendship.

“I can talk to her if you want me to,” Remus offers.

The usual stormy grey of Sirius’s eyes had darkened considerably in anger, his eyes narrowing at Remus in a glare.

“You’ve done quite a lot of talking to her,” he hisses. “A lot more than I have in Merlin knows how long. Do you know how frustrating that is, Remus? To see that Y/n, who suddenly hates me, is still all buddy-buddy with the three of you? Do you know how shitty it makes me feel when I see her talking to you and then she immediately runs away whenever she sees me? Do you?”

“No,” Remus replies, his voice squeaky at the anger in Sirius’s tone.

"That's what I thought," Sirius snarls, standing up from his bed abruptly.

With quick strides Sirius finds himself at the dormitory door, the door opened an inch before Peter asks curiously, "Where are you going?"

"To fucking find her!" Sirius snaps, turning around and facing his friends. "I can't keep going like this, without her. I - I need her, okay? I need her because ... because I love her. I love her. Holy shit, I love Y/n. I'll be back guys, but I need to find Y/n, even if that means searching every nook and cranny of this godforsaken castle."

He's out the door in another split second, the door slamming closed behind him.

Silence settles over the other three as they share glances, confused evident on each of their faces.

"Well," Remus finally mutters, breaking the silence. "He handled that a lot better than Y/n did when she realized she was in love with Sirius."

–––––––––––

To Sirius's surprise it didn't take him that long to find her. She was sitting in the courtyard, leaning against the truck of a tree with a book on her lap.

Sirius was careful to approach her quietly, not wanting her to spot him and jump up and run away (like she had been doing for two weeks straight).

When Y/n finally looked up from her book, the first thing she saw was Sirius looming in front of her. Her eyes widened as they made eye contact, scrambling to pick up her book and getting to her feet.

"Y/n, wait," Sirius snaps, grabbing onto her wrist with a vice-like grip before she could run away. "Please, don't run again, please."

Y/n sighs, trying to tug her wrist out of Sirius’s grip before she turns and faces him for the first time since the Quidditch game. Her struggling ceases as she sees the pain behind Sirius’s eyes, the pain that she would’ve caused every single time she ignored him or ran away.

“Please, Y/n/n,” he begs in a whisper, pulling her closer to him. “Please, don’t leave me again. I miss you so much. And I am so, so sorry if I did something to hurt you, or did something that made you want to avoid me. I never meant to, I don’t think I have done anything, but if I did just say the word and I will hold myself responsible for it and I will do anything I can to get back in your good graces because I miss you. So, so much. I hate that I haven’t seen you in two weeks, I hate that I haven’t talked to you in two weeks, I hate that I haven’t heard your voice in two weeks, and I hate that you’ve been avoiding me. I’m not blaming you because obviously it must have been something I did, but please Y/n, please, please, please stop avoiding me. I miss you.”

A wave of guilt washes over Y/n as she listens to Sirius, watching tears well in his eyes as it gets increasingly harder for him to talk without choking on his words. However, she can't help the little flutter her heart gives at his words.

Sirius takes a breath, trying to collect himself as he finally says everything he was feeling.

"And-and I hate how much it hurts that you've been doing this. I shouldn't care, I really shouldn't, but I do. I care so goddamn much, Y/n. It's been two weeks, two fucking weeks! I shouldn't be this effected, but I am. I've missed you more in two weeks more than I've missed anything else in my life, more than I miss the Marauders during the holidays, more than I miss Hogwarts during the summer, more than I miss the heat of the summer during the winter, more than I miss the sun in a rainstorm. I missed you, Y/n, and it's only been two weeks. So please, please, please, please, tell me what I did wrong so I can right it and we can go back to how we were before whatever I did."

A pause, a heartbeat before Sirius adds in a trembling voice, "Please."

Y/n takes a shaky breath, trying to stop the heat from rising in her cheeks and giving her away.

"Sirius," she says slowly.

"Please," he interrupts her, his voice breaking. "Please, Y/n. I don't know what I did, but whatever it must have been, I am so sorry. Please, please, please forgive me."

"Sirius," Y/n repeats, "you didn't do anything. I just... I realized something and I shut myself away from you. If anything, I should be saying sorry to you. I never meant to hurt you like this."

Sirius stares at her, confusion bubbling up within him as he listens to her explain.

"I-I don't understand," he admits in a quiet voice. Her stares up at her helplessly. "Why would you avoid me like you have if I didn't do anything? You haven't avoided the others, just me."

Y/n sighs, her heart thudding in her chest as she looks away from Sirius and finally admits in a small voice, "I'm in love with you."

The world stops, for the both of them.

Y/n can't breathe, why would she admit that!? Everything, everything, has been ruined. She ruined their friendship! Why would she do that!?

Sirius can't breathe, did she mean it!? Everything, everything, is going to change, for the better. She felt the same! But why did she avoid him if she loved him?

After what felt like hours of silence, Sirius responds, "I love you, too."

Sirius's heart pounds against his ribcage. Even though she said it first, it's still so hard to admit it.

Y/n's heart pounds against her ribcage. There is no way in hell that he actually feels the same.

"I – w-what?” she stutters, mouth dry.

“I love you too,” Sirius repeats, dropping her wrist. His hands come up to cup her jaw, holding her face in his hands as he smiles down at her. “I-I was thinking about how much I missed you, everything about you – not just your presence – and I guess that led me to realize that I would never feel this way about someone I thought of as my friend. Y/n/n, I realized that I’m in love with you.”

Y/n mirrors Sirius’s smile, relief flooding through her body as her cheeks flush with pink.

“I-I’m glad,” she whispers. “I was scared that you didn’t feel the same; that’s why I started avoiding you. I thought that if I was around you less my feelings would go away, which obviously didn’t work. But I was scared to say something in case I made things awkward between us.”

Sirius chuckles, pressing his forehead against hers, asking in a soft voice, “How could I not be in love with you? You, Y/n L/n, are the most kind, thoughtful, caring, smart, funny, beautiful woman in the whole world; I don’t know how I didn’t realize my feelings for you sooner. I love you.”

“I love you too, Sirius,” Y/n murmurs back. She closes her eyes, relishing in the feeling of Sirius being this close to her.

A comfortable silence fell over the two as they soak in each other’s presence, two hearts beating as one.

Two minutes. It has been two minutes since Sirius has admitted his feelings for Y/n, and it’s making him feel like he’s on top of the world.

Taglist: @littleshadow17 (who asked for a part 2 a month ago. I hope it was up to your standards lol). And @rosieandthethorns (who didn't asked to be tagged but I figured I should let you know so you can stop foaming at the mouth and writhing on the floor lmao)

[slayingqueenchal]

busy days | marc spector x f!reader

Warnings : mentions of steven and Jake, but marc is fronting, ANGST, before harrow, ammit, and they already know about eachother

Summary : feels like the boys doesn't care for you anymore, read to find out!

"Sorry sweetheart, Khonshu needs me"

"Oh, y/n, I'm so sorry but I can't go"

"Sorry, maybe we'll do it on Wednesday? I'm busy"

And so many other. You feel empty. Back before all of this, you used to cuddle every night, be all lovely, and even when this happened he still tried as hard as he could to get an extra minute to spend with you. But now, it's as if he doesn't even bother.

Even now, everything is some how your fault. When you gave him a book, a simple book at his birthday he was angry. After he told you about his mom, you understood, and that was your fault.

You couldn't do this anymore. He's always busy with work and, the only person that truly makes an effort is steven.

Still that wasn't enough. One time, he told you he asked you if you wanted to go on a date, and you obviously said yes, but, no one was by your side when you left the restaurant.

One time you held a birthday party, and you invited some friends from work and him. But no one came. If it was your co workers it would make sense, but your own boyfriend?

And, finally when he was home, you finally picked up the courage to tell him.

"Marc? " You said. He has not been Marc for a long time, he's often 'baby' or 'love'. You'd expect for him to notice, but he doesn't, getting a cold reply "what? Can't you see I'm tired".

"Marc. I think I need to take a break" You said, sitting on the couch. "Sleep" The guy said. "Marc! How-how much of an idiot can you be! You spread all of your love and care and when you come home there's none left for me! So I'm ending this! It's for the better anyways" You said. Strong, strong, you are strong, y/n you repeated to yourself.

"What? For the better? You're breaking up with me? " Marc says In shock, as his eyes move to you. "Yes, Marc, I'm breaking up with all of you".

"No, no, no, i-ill fix this, i-what do you want I can give it to you" He begs. "For you to stay here for at least one week at a row" You said,simple, just one week.

"Love, you know khonshu is not negotiable" Marc says, walking closer to you. "Then, neither is our relationship" You cried. And you felt so defeated when you let him hug you.

"This is our first hug in a few months, funny how it's when we're about to break up" You scolded. "No were not, we're not going to break up, I'm going to talk to khonshu, we're gonna be just fine"

"No, Marc, I need to take a break, and, I need a little getaway too, we're not breaking up I just, need space" You said, ending the long hug.

"Okay, I understand, but please come back, yeah?" The accent changed, and suddenly it was steven. "Of course ill comeback".

You didn't. You haven't came back since that awful night. And that was six months ago.

And finally Marc gets a taste of his own medicine. He has never felt more lonlier. Sure he had steven and Jake, but, he felt empty.

These days, Jake has been fronting the most. It's because he's the strongest mentally and physically amongst the three. So, Jake has been cruel. Now he works more for khonshu, and kills people without a single drop of mercy.

Steven has been miserable, he never really talks anymore, when he fronts he gets drunk, he's just a messed up guy now.

But there you were, talking to khonshu in a small, dark, alley.

"Y/n" The tall god says. "What? Now you stalk your avatar exes?" You said. "Sorry, he didn't say anything about breaking up. But it is important to me that Marc does well and lately he hasn't. You promised to come back"

"And so does he, he promised to go home and ne an actual caring boyfriend for me, and its not even his fault. It's because of you! He can't even stay home for three days before you ask him to do your work, but that doesn't mean I stopped loving him! And as selfish as this sounds I hope he's feeling miserable because I've never felt so alone and so terrible! " You said wanting to leave. B

Suddenly, someone grabbed your wrist. "Oh funny! You're here! Did you set this up? " You looked at Marc, then khonshu. "I'll go now" The God says, disappearing into thin air.

"Are you guys besties now? Partner in crime? " You scoffed. "Y/n I'm sorry, please just listen"." Fine, I bet I won't even hear a thing anyways" You looked away.

"If you come back with me I'll stop working for him" Marc says, half begging, half demanding. "M-marc that's not fair, Steven loves this whole thing with Egyptian gods, Jake practically worships him, you can't just quit it"

"I can actually, if that means I can have you back just please" He begged. "Marc.. You swear you love me right? ", " Right", "that's all I need to know. Go back to khonshu, cause, you gotta love your self too and you, Steven, and Jake kinda love this job" You said.

"We-we kinda love this job but we love you! Please y/n" Marc cries, which was a rare thing. "I love you too, but I just can't, alright? We should just stay what we used to be before this chaotic thing and I know that wouldn't happens so no, we can't go back with each other.

You left, expecting miracle to happen,but, the world just got darker.

[gingerlee-holds]

I feel bad for popping a request in ☠ anyway

If you're feeling up to it, perhaps ler Todoroki x lee Reader (bc me and reader insert are inseparable /j) from MHA? Length, perhaps 900+ words if possible? But I'll be grateful for anything haha, I also don't want to force you to write more if you're not feeling inspired i'm gonna be honest here I haven't watched MHA in a long time ☠ and I have no idea what scenarios would be realistic because he's,, Todoroki,,

Personally i'm a sucker for evil/more intense tickles because I wish I was ticklish but if that makes you uncomfy do feel free to ignore :)

oh hush, you!!! i love requests, so thank you so so much!! i just hope this is somewhat what you wanted heehee- enjoy!!! i have a huge crush on this dork so that creeps in- also the reader's quirk is whatever you want it to be, cuz its not mentioned- also also!! im really really sorry if i fuck the names up cuz from what i know of the show, Todoroki is the family name, so Shoto is the given name but i could be totally wrong

i just wanna say that i really really like writing the rambly bits from Shoto about the book-

the reader is sorta a brat lol

Like Poetry

Words: 2,334 Pairing: Ler!Shoto, Lee!Reader Warnings: lotta fluff!!! not proofread!!!

You groaned as you entered the common room. Mr. Aizawa’s personal training was brutal today, and you were not looking forward to feeling how sore your muscles would be tomorrow morning. Sighing, you grabbed one of Sato’s cupcakes from the counter and flopped onto the sofa, confident it would be unoccupied. It was about seven in the evening on a Friday, which meant everyone was either in their rooms or somewhere around town. 

You huffed into the mattress before gasping at the sound of a page being turned. Looking up, you saw you were about a foot away from, in your mind, the strongest student in your class. He was sitting with perfect posture, reading a book with yellowed pages. On the coffee table sat a mug filled with tea.

Shoto Todoroki didn’t look up from his book at you. If he knew you were there, he didn’t show it. He silently read, seemingly fully absorbed. You sat upright, shaking off the embarrassment of almost landing on him, of all people. 

You cleared your throat and gobbled up your cupcake in one bite, setting the wrapper down next to his tea. Still, he didn’t move. Raising an eyebrow, you poked him in the side to get his attention, and the surprised gasp he gave made you giggle. Shoto looked at you, brow furrowed in annoyance, but his face soon softened when you smiled and waved.

“Hi!” you said chipperly. 

He nodded politely in return. “Hello, Y/N. I’m sorry I didn’t hear you.”

With a chuckle, you shoved his shoulder. “No worries! Whatcha reading, bookworm?”

Shoto tilted his head. “I’m not a worm.”

You sighed and repeated your question without the tease. You loved that your classmate was so adorably literal. 

“I’m reading this book of old poetry. I don’t remember where I got it - it feels like my family’s always had it lying around. I decided to read it today since everyone’s out.” His voice was calm as he spoke.

You were somewhat interested in the subject but mostly just wanted to hear him talk some more. It was so rare that he spoke. “Anything good in there?”

“I found this one that I liked,” Shoto said before flipping back a few pages. “Rain on lemongrass. / Ash trees weep o’er their lost sun: / Their light and love, gone.”

The poem made you hum in thought. “What’s it about?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” he asked. Taken on its face, it was an insulting question, but you knew Shoto was genuinely unsure whether to explain it. You shook your head in reply. “The poem is about heartbreak. A woman falls in love with someone, and suddenly, that person has to leave. The woman feels like she has nothing left as she cries into a world that has bigger concerns than her. Soon, perhaps, her love shall return, the sun re-emerging from the clouds, but there’s also the possibility that she doesn’t last until then, and the wind blows her over. Ash trees symbolize grief, so perhaps they may never meet again. The lemongrass, evoking a cheerful memory, is smothered under the rains that hide her beloved.” Suddenly, he looked up from the page. “Sorry, I didn’t realize I was rambling.”

You scratched your head. “How did you get all that from just three lines?” You didn’t mind, of course. He was cute when he rambled. To your great surprise, he let out a soft and sheepish smile. 

“Well, I suppose I have too much time on my hands,” he said, looking away. You smirked and poked his side again, giggling at his surprised reaction. Shoto let out a muffled yelp and jumped, glaring at you suspiciously and rubbing his side. “Quit that.” 

“Sorry, Icy-hot! Can’t be helped!” You held up both your hands in mock surrender.

“Hm,” Shoto mumbled, looking back to the book. “This book was written entirely by hand. See? This character is slightly different here, here, and here,” he continued, pointing at different parts of the page. “And from what I can tell, its publication predates quirks, hence why they are not mentioned. If they had quirks, you would think there’d be a suggestion of their existence, no? Yet there’s nothing. For all intents and purposes, it seems like this book is a remnant of a simpler world.” His expression looked distant as if his mind were a hundred miles and years away. 

You leaned back, folding your arms behind your head. “Sounds dorky. Maybe you should tell Deku! I’m sure he’d be all too interested,” you chuckled, then looked over. If he heard your comment, he gave no sign. He must still be lost in thought. Looking down at his side, you saw it was perfectly exposed. You were pushing your luck. Then again, what is a hero if not someone who tries their luck? You pursed your lips together and quickly extended your hand to poke Shoto’s side again. 

But he was faster. As if expecting your reckless act, he set his book down and grabbed your hand before it made contact in one fluid movement. “You don’t listen, do you?”

“I do my utmost to avoid doing that, yes,” you said, giggling nervously. His grip was firm, giving you no delusions of escape. His hand was chilly, as if Shoto was threatening to encase your whole arm in ice at any moment. You tugged slightly.

He didn’t let go. “No, you need to learn this lesson.” Somehow, that was among the scariest things you’ve ever heard, right alongside the speech of the hero killer and Mr. Aizawa announcing an extra homework assignment before the summer break. Shoto pushed your legs toward the end of the couch, pinning you to his chest with both hands held behind you. You shuddered as Shoto said, “Now, learn well.”

Since both your hands were stuck behind you against his torso, you couldn’t defend yourself whatsoever when he descended both hands onto your stomach. You erupted into bright, bubbly laughter and kicked your feet like that would do anything to help. All that went through your head was repeated, ‘Oh, fuck, that tickles!’ 

You heard Shoto’s hum of approval from behind you as he clawed his fingers over the thin fabric of your shirt. “Interesting,” he mumbled to himself. 

“ShIhihihihIt! ShohOhOHohotoHoHoho!” You shook your head and thrashed all you could, but it didn’t matter. Shoto was stronger, and he would make sure you knew it. 

“Yes, Y/N?” he asked casually.

“STohohoHOAhaap!!” It didn’t have a chance of working, but it didn’t hurt to try.

“No.” Shoto’s clawed hands squeezed around your stomach in circles, taking a moment to dwell on your extra-ticklish lower stomach, which he took delight in exploiting. If you didn’t know any better, you would even say he enjoyed it as much as you were. 

“NohOHoHOhoHT TheheHEherre!” you pleaded helplessly, throwing your head back to give your torturer the best puppy eyes you could… although they were far less effective than you had hoped since they were quickly squeezed shut in uproarious laughter. 

“Here? Right here, yes?” Shoto released a flurry of pokes on your lower stomach as if he wanted confirmation.

You nodded and hiccupped, doing all you could to contain the blush that bloomed on your face at the sound of his cooing hum. Mercifully, he gave you a break, and you panted for breath against him. “Shihihitt…” you giggled, squirming in his grasp to get the ghost tickles off your tummy. 

“Here,” Shoto said, and you turned to see he was holding up his mug for you. Gratefully, you took a big sip of the refreshing tea, smiling a little at the warmth of it. It was strangely sweet; you had expected Shoto to only like the bitter teas, but surprisingly, the flavor was somewhat sugary. As if reading your mind, Shoto said, “It’s chamomile. It helps me relax.” He took the mug from your mouth and set it back on the table. 

Shoto cleared his throat. “Now,” he began, “Have you learned your lesson?”

“Is my release dependent on how I answer that?”

“Yes.”

“Then… Never!” You madly giggled as you attempted to escape his grasp before quickly regretting it. He had you suitably pinned, and to further reinforce his lesson, you realized with terror that he was rolling up your shirt to your ribs. “Wait, Shoto-!”

Your tormentor didn’t give you time to finish. Without fanfare, his hands descended onto your exposed tummy. Instead of clawing around, as he had done before, he was using quick scribbles, which, coupled with his cold fingers on your bare skin, was maddening. 

“SHohOhoHOTO!” You had no idea you were so ticklish! By the looks of things, it seemed like he had been in tickle fights before, and from how badly he was wrecking you, he was used to winning them. 

He hummed in thought as your thrashing weakened. “Your belly button is incredibly ticklish,” he observed. It was, to your dismay, very accurate. It didn’t help that his cold finger was heightening the feeling!

“PLehEHehEHHEase! MeheHEheheercyy!” you squealed out, kicking and bucking like a horse.

“Goodness, you’re dramatic. It’s only tickling, Y/N. If anything, this should build your endurance. What if the League captured you? I doubt you’d last a minute before you spill everything you know if they knew this weakness of yours.”

Why did he have to be so monotone with his teasing? He sounded so casual as if he were still explaining the history of that old book - only he was speaking over your hysterical cackling. He was a fast learner, too: he was pretty adept at locating the spots that got an especially wild reaction out of you and cruel in punishing them.

Shoto’s fingers increased in pace while always keeping one wiggling about in your navel. “I know,” he said, “I get it; you’re very, very ticklish. Now calm down.” You could hear the smile in his voice. He was having fun! “I wonder… you’ve inspired me to write my own poetry! Let’s see…” He paused to think, unfortunately not slowing down the tickles, making you yelp and shriek. “Ticklish cutie / Squealing on the couch with glee / With a cute tummy,” he slowly said as if writing it down. With a gasp, you felt him do just that, writing down the poem on your belly with the tip of his fingernail. 

You turned beet-red as you threw your head back, your laughter turning silent. You had long since begun crying with delight, and tears rolled down your cheeks in rivers, but he didn’t stop until you started coughing. With a chuckle, he released you, and you panted for breath. You didn’t move from his lap, and Shoto didn’t seem to mind. He gently placed a hand on your forehead, tilting it toward him. 

“Are you alright?” he asked gently. You nodded with a smile, which he returned. His smile was inviting, like a sunbeam on a winter’s day. He slowly helped you sit back up and handed you his mug again. You eagerly gulped it down. The tea was warm and sweet, and when you finished it and set it back on the table, you realized that Shoto wasn’t too different. 

“Thank you, Shoto,” you said softly.

“For the tea?”

“Yes,” you replied, “and… for the tickles. It… helped me unwind.” You looked away and rubbed your neck shyly. 

“You’re welcome, Y/N. It was fun for me, too. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh like that.” He smiled again, a small treat like candy. “It’s nice to see you so carefree. You’re usually a ball of nerves,” Shoto admitted bluntly, making you sigh and nod in agreement. 

You basked in the silence for a bit before both of you suddenly looked up. That was the unmistakable sound of… And right on cue, the word ‘mumble’ began to figuratively float across your field of view. At its origin, you and Shoto saw Izuku madly scribbling in his notebook and mumbling about something. You swore you caught the words “ticklish,” “stomach,” and “squeals.” 

Behind Izuku, standing in the hallway, were Ochaco, Denki, Tsuyu, Mina, Eijiro, and Kyoka. The first two desperately attempted to quiet Izuku, to no avail. You sat bolt upright, glaring at the unwelcome audience. 

Eijiro broke the silence with a playful swat to the back of Izuku’s head. “You got us caught with your nerd shit, Deku,” he joked, making the green-haired hero look away backfully. 

“That was adorable!” Mina grinned, pointing at you. “You made a bunch of noise, so we wanted to check it out!” 

“You’d better erase what you wrote, Deku.” You spoke calmly but in a way that gave no misapprehensions about your seriousness. 

Ochaco looked over Izuku’s shoulder. “Doesn’t look like he’s gonna do that.”

“Midoriya,” Shoto spoke up. “Be sure to write that they couldn’t use their quirk while being tickled.”

You gasped at the betrayal. “Don’t you fucking dare write that, Deku!”

With a glance, Denki, Kyoka, and Tsuyu replied simultaneously, “Oh, he’s already writing it.”

With a growl, you shot from the couch. “You’re fucking dead, Deku!” Your classmates yelped with shock and ran down the hall from you, stifling their giggles. 

Eijiro, egging you on, tossed back over his shoulder a snide, “Now you’re sounding like Katsuki!”

“Oh, I’ll make Katsuki look like a fucking bag of pop rocks when I’m done with you idiots!” Your threat carried no heat since it was filled with giggles. You couldn’t help but laugh at the ludicrousness of the situation, smiling fondly at how much you loved your friends.

And behind you, on the couch, Shoto grinned with pride as he picked up his book to continue reading. He was glad he had been allowed to be so affectionate with someone for a chance. Absent-mindedly, he picked up his mug of tea for a sip but sighed disappointingly at the lack of tea inside. Maybe he needed bigger mugs. 

[ghoulangerlee]

gonna post this real quick before I go make dinner but; after seeing the movie Saturday, I went to bed, woke up and felt the urge to write this little thing.

RITE HERE RITE NOW SPOILERS - please do not read this if you haven't seen the movie and don't want to be spoiled

takes place shortly after the movie ends, a quiet moment with Copia and his ghouls.

---

“Frater,” Aether’s voice cuts through Copia’s haze of thoughts—he's staring down at the ornate desk in front of him, large and grand and all imposing; it had been Sister’s, her paperwork still neatly stacked on top of it—the dust barely settling before the cogs of the church shuffle him into her place.  

Copia blinks a few times, clearing his thoughts and turning to face the doorway; Aether’s there, just beyond the frame of it, and Dew behind him, both in uniform but sans masks, “Ah, you know there’s no need for the title—” he says, and the words sound harsh to him, “I’m just Copia.”  

Aether smiles, something soft and brittle as he comes further into the office, the one he’d been in numerous times before, previously, when Sister had been here still. “And there’s no doubt about that,” he says gently, stopping barely a foot away from Copia, “But, you also deserve the respect of the title.”  

He scoffs, tries to deflect, but Aether grabs his hands and pulls him closer until they’re standing toe to toe, “Don’t sell yourself short, Copia,” Aether says, firmer this time, a frown gathered in the corners of his lips.  

With a heavy sigh, Copia deflates just a little, turning his hands in Aether’s grasp so he can tangle their fingers together instead, “You’re right,” he says, it sounds wooden to his own ears, but his emotions have been all over the place since that night, since watching Sister collapse, since her... 

He doesn’t want to think about it, squeezes at Aether’s hands before finally letting them go and stepping back, putting space between them even though he wants nothing more than to fall into Aether’s arms and allow himself a moment to mourn.  

“I need to...clean things up in here,” Copia says softly, hesitantly, looking around at the packed shelves of books, the knickknacks spread around, small little hints at Sister’s own personality among the stuffiness of the church. “They’ll expect me to move offices, give mine to the new guy...” he trails off, feels a helplessness sort of settle in his stomach. 

He holds absolutely no interest in his current office, there’s nothing special about it beyond it being a room with four walls and a window that looks out over the courtyard. In his later years, he spent most of his time doing paperwork in his own room or in the ghoul den with his ghouls, or occasionally among the pews during services.  

It just feels wrong in a way, to move from one room to another with very little time to mourn the person who used to sit at the desk he’ll be placed at soon. Sure, there had been a service, a funeral, a proper burial, Sister Imperator laid to rest with the higher-ranking members of the clergy—with Nihil and his sons, just as she had wanted.  

It still settles sourly in his stomach.  

“Let us help,” Dew says, stepping up to the desk, running a delicate fingertip along the edge of it, “She was...different, from the others, you know. I dare say she actually respected us at the end,” he then picks up a pile of paperwork, shuffles through it, pausing a long moment before he admits, even quieter, “I miss her too.”  

Copia feels his heart clench tightly, an ache settling deep within him as he recalls the way all of the ghouls had gathered around her at the end, growling and hissing at anyone that had tried to get near her body, even as medical personnel loaded her onto a stretcher, the way Dew had pressed a kiss to his hand in the moments after, once he’d cried over her for several long minutes, murmuring how he and Rain would go with them to see that her body be properly taken care of.  

In that moment, Copia didn’t think much of it, the ghouls were his, they all shared a bond and knew what he needed intrinsically as if the very fiber of their beings were melded with his own—he didn’t think they were mourning her in the same way, just protecting her body because they knew what she’d meant to Copia.  

“Dewdrop,” Copia murmurs, and it’s all he can say as he slides an arm around his shoulders and pulls him into a side hug; he bows his head and rests it against Dew’s, eyes closed.  

Dew hums a bit, shifts in his hold until he can wrap both of his arms around Copia’s middle, still holding tightly to a handful of paperwork, typed neatly with Sister’s looping scrawl at the bottom.  

“I’m not sure when the shift happened, when I stopped resenting her for things and when I started caring about her instead,” Dew mumbles into the still somewhat stiff fabric of Copia’s new jacket.  

Copia laughs, somewhat wetly as he holds Dew tighter, pressing his face into his hair, “Probably around the same time I forgave her for leaving me to grow up alone,” he whispers, “She did her best, with what she had, I think. Raising me from afar. She didn’t want to be seen as weak. With her leading the church. I think. After becoming Papa and seeing how things were, that’s when I sort of got it. Understood why she did the things the way she did them.” He admits quietly, “She was a terrible mother, but an amazing leader.”  

Dew hums quietly in agreement, squeezes Copia just as tight, “She knew the church would be safe with you.” he whispers, sniffling softly, rubbing his cheek against Copia’s jacket, “Just like she knew the Papacy would be safe with you. Like she knew we would be safe with you.”  

He swears softly, closes his eyes tightly and tries not to think about the implications, all those years ago, of assigning three almost broken ghouls to his care while simultaneously making him the defacto leader of the Ghost project—she couldn’t have known then that he’d end up where he is now, back then, when she was still speaking to him in a clipped and firm tone.  

He doesn’t quite have it in him to dwell on that now, and he’s sure that later on, he’ll start looking back, overthink all of it until he’s worked himself up—old habits die hard, even with the new title and new responsibilities.  

“This has turned into a reminiscing session instead of a cleaning session,” Copia eventually mumbles, rubbing his own cheek against Dew’s hair before he pulls away, allows a moment to straighten himself out. “I think we should go through the paperwork first, it’ll be the easiest,” he tries to switch over to professional again, even though he still feels raw and painful inside. “We’ll worry about the rest of it later.”  

The silence settles over them for a moment as Copia’s direction sinks in, and Aether moves to collect some paperwork off of the desk, artfully bypassing Sister’s chair and taking a seat in one on the other side of the desk instead.  

A knock, a gentle rap of knuckles against the door frame and Copia looks up— 

The rest of the pack stand there, gathered just outside the door, as if waiting.  

“My ghouls, what is it?” He asks, briefly feeling concerned that something would bring them all to him. “Is something happening?”  

Swiss and Cirrus share a look but Cumulus is the one who steps forward, lets herself into the room, “We came to help,” she says, there’s a quiver in her voice as she speaks, one of pain and loss, “What can we do?”  

Copia’s eyes track from one ghoul to the other—Mountain, Cirrus, Cumulus, Rain, Sunshine, Swiss, Aurora and Aeon all standing there, waiting for their orders.  

He seems to snap out of it, shaking his head and motioning for them to come in, “Come to the desk, we’re working on sorting this for now,” he says—mountains of paperwork stacked everywhere on the wooden top.  

(Sometimes he wonders if this was the reason she seemed so stressed. He wonders what it means for him.)  

Quiet chatter fills the room as the others file in, standing close to talk while they sort through it all, piling all the things that can be filed away in one of the empty corners of the desk while the rest of it gets thrown into a trashcan to be shredded later.  

As they work, Copia glances up from the frankly concerning amount of tax forms he’d been tasked to sift through, doing a double take when he catches sight of her.  

In the furthest corner of the room, near the ornate fireplace stands Sister Imperator, her arms crossed over her chest as she watches the bustle of the room, the corners of her lips curved upwards in a small smile.  

Copia blinks several times, almost tempted to reach up and rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things—but then Sister, she looks over at him, her smile softening into something fond.  

I love you, she mouths, and then, flickers out of existence.  

[lxvebun]

whisper of the heart pt II

bun's notes: I'm really glad you guys enjoyed the first one so much :3 hopefully you will like this one as well.

synopsis: Genshin boys voicelines about you!

content:Alhaitham/Kazuha/Thoma/Cyno x gender neutral reader (so they/them prns used) in this series, their vision is in tune with their emotions, part one explains it the best. Cyno was incredibly difficult i'm sorry if it sucks shsjsjs. Eng is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes!

Part one

Alhaitham

About y/n:

"y/n and I go a long way back. They are a very intelligent, kind, and creative person. We studied under the same masters. Academic rivals? I wouldn't go as far as to say we were rivals per se, but the occasional competition between who got the highest score on an essay wasn’t out of the ordinary. Who won? Well, our scores wouldn't differ much at all actually. Even to the decimal, we usually got the same. When they asked our masters how such different essays could receive the same score. According to our masters, it seemed I lacked creativity in my writing, as they overdid the creative aspect. The masters words, not mine. Although I’ve read hundreds of books and essays in my life already, none could compare to the way y/n wrote theirs"

About vision:

"Unlike other people, I’d say I have decent control over my emotional elemental power, it at least doesn’t manifest in an obnoxious physical sense. That said, as much as I try to control it, the light of my vision starts to flicker and flutter to the rhythm of my heartbeat. So you can imagine the light show that starts once y/n enters my view *sigh* They think it’s, and I quote, "Adorable"...I suppose that makes it alright"

About relationship:

"Hah, You’re surprised I'm in a relationship? While It’s true that I don’t appear as the most approachable person out there, not that I mind, even I am not immune to love… While there’s no scientific proof out there that soulmates exist, against all logical sense, I’d like to believe y/n and I are."

Thoma

About y/n:

You haven't met y/n? Oh, they’re such a sweetheart! such a kind and inspirational soul. I’m sure you’ve seen them run around Inazuma City or Ritou before. They have the prettiest eyes and the most lovely smile. they run a lot of errands and help with general activities and festivals. In their free time, they usually help me out with housekeeping or acompany me to the market. You’re surprised I'm talking so lovingly of them? Well, of course, I would, they are my partner after all"

About vision:

"sigh I’ve had to switch to steel handle brooms instead of the normal wooden ones. It happened one too many times that I would be sweeping the floors and y/n would come up to me, resulting in small waves of fire to flutter around... Let’s just say, I’m glad my Lord has a hydro vision.

About meet cute!:

y/n and I both share a love for animals, I actually met them while they were nursing a bird back to its strength, the poor thing was still young and completely soaked because of the heavy thunderstorms. Word went around they were caring for it and I decided to take a look and see if they needed help, little did I know that I would be meeting the love of my life. We routinely feed the stray dogs and cats together when we’re both free:)"

Kazuha

About y/n:

" I was able to sense their presence in the wind long before I met them. A fragment of my soulmate in the form of a warm summer breeze, bearing the scent of roses and those familiar mapel leaves. As much as I wanted to follow it, I was still a wanted man after all. I couldn’t just return to Inazuma, no matter how much my heart cried for it.

At that time I started to keep a journal on what I was doing, what I was thinking of, and where in Teyvat I was whenever the wind carried them to me, So I could show it to them when we did finally meet. I never had the chance to finish that journal because our paths crossed sooner than I expected. Apparently, just as the wind carried them to me, it did the same for them. Fate has an interesting way of bringing people together. From the moment I stood face to face with them, I knew who they were and by the sparkle in their eye and the way they immediately rushed into my arms, I can guess it was the same for them. We’ve been wandering together ever since"

About vision:

"I’m well aware of how visions respond to your emotions. I don’t actively try to fight it, In a way, i think it’s quite romantic how my vision responds to seeing y/n by sending a breeze through their hair or twirling flower petals around them. They don’t seem to mind either"

About love language:

"From the moment y/n and I met, we decided to travel together. With every step we took, we got to know each other better, and with every rest under the starry night sky, our relationship grew stronger. They love nature as much as I do, and while I show my adoration for it in poems and music, they show their appreciation in colorful paintings and sketches. If we ever run out of paper on the road, I’m not against them using my arms as a canvas, the same way they allow me to ink love poems onto their skin. That way it doesn’t matter how far apart we are, we wear our love for each other on our skin

Cyno

About y/n:

"y/n? The fact that they are my partner is not something I tell many people, but since we are so close, yes, they are. They joined the forest rangers a while ago, I met them when I dropped of some books from the Akademiya Tighnari needed. And while I gave them to Tighnari, I decided it was a good time to tell my new joke…..Tighnari did not find it amusing, but y/n did. To this day, their laughs are still the sweetest melody I've heard, and I'm fortunate to hear them every day through my excellent jokes.

About vision:

"Please, don’t bring that up, I still feel bad about it. I didn’t know my vision would respond so strongly……fine, the first time y/n and I held hands, I got so...flustered I accidentally send a small shock wave where our hands intertwined. They weren’t hurt, but I still feel bad about it. It hasn’t stopped them from holding me though, I’m glad about that

About TCG:

"y/n and I are both quite the genius invokation tcg players, and the more rounds we play the more....energetic we get. Let's just say that Puspa cafe does have a noise limit....

For my birthday they got me a beautiful commissioned card with artwork of us on it. Having it around has become a good luck charm for me. I always keep it on the very top of my deck.

Thank you for reading angels!

[sweetenerobert]

EACH OTHER'S TEMPTATIONS

dom!joel miller x dad!male reader

genre: neighbor joel, no outbreak au, explicit, minors dni

summary: an affair between a married man and a single father that hadn’t been together since his wife came back and each passing moment, they eventually ended back in each others arms

warnings: strong language, infidelity, joel is 40, reader is 38, unprotected P in A, dirty talk, oral, pet names, riding, creampies, kissing, dom! joel into sub!joel ;), low-key inspired by porn; taking a page out of @/psychedelic-ink’s book!

word count: 963 words (i went overboard . . . again ;p)

a/n: soooo. i was reading @/gracieispunk HBF story and i thought of this little draft so i had to give you guys something considering i haven’t been writing anything for so long and losing motivation for anything. (but somehow had motivation for this) I just wanted to give you guys this! This is supposed to be a drabble, so it doesn't exist in the drunken series !

“Hey, Sarah? Have you seen your father?” Adaline asks.

Sarah shakes her head in disagreement, holding a thin line on her lips. “No, I haven't seen him.

Panting, moans, and smacks were radiating from your bedroom. Holding your headboard, Joel’s cock was jackhammering your ass — while Joel had laid still. Hearing your cries leaving your lips was Joel’s ecstasy. Joel’s hands on your hips were melted on your skin.

Your ass slapping against his thighs, Joel’s face had lust and determination spilling from his mouth with his grunts and low-sounding moans. He couldn't keep himself away from you. He yearned for you ever since Adaline came back home.

Attempts to keep your distance from each other failed when Joel found himself knocking on your door.

With Joel’s cock buried inside you and you moaning his name.

“Joel! JOEL!” You moan.

“Sl-slow down a bit, city boy,” Joel breathed. “I won't last long if you go so fast from the start.”

“I-I can't help it, Joel. I just missed having your monster-sized dick inside me so fucking much!” You panted. “I’m going crazy!”

“I know, just calm down for a second, city boy!”

You stopped, and Joel brought your face closer to his, and your lips melted together in an electrifying kiss.

“Are you going to punish me if I don't, Mr. Miller?” You question.

Joel has this look of rage for a split second but he gets rid of it before you can even notice.

“You asked for it, city boy!” Joel grunted. Bring your body closer to his; Joel’s hips have a mind of their own as his cock is deeper inside you. You can't help but grab the pillows he was lying on and almost rip the fabric.

“Oh Yes, Joel! Punish me, teach me a lesson!” You moaned.

“Fuck! Please fuck me harder!”

Joel had rolled you to lay you on your back and slid his cock slowly inside you. You were looking into each other eyes. Joel’s hands were branding your inner thighs as he stared at you. “You have no idea how much I missed you, city boy,” Joel confessed.

“I missed you too.” Joel leaned down and kissed you. You could feel Joel’s smile in between kisses, and it caused you to smile. You could feel the scruff of his beard under your finger tips.

Joel rested his forehead on top of yours. His eyes darken as his hips rock into you. Your moans bounce off Joel’s smirk on his face. Your hands reach his back; his back muscles clench under your touch. His face turns into a look of frustration and concentration. Joel clenches his teeth and starts rocking his hips faster into you. Your moans bounce off the walls in your room.

Joel’s grunts are music to your ears. You missed how he sounded, how his dick was the only one that could make you moan this much. Getting away from Joel was one of the hardest things you’ve had to do in a long time.

“Your pussy, misses my cock so much, city boy. It remembers the shape so well,” Joel smirked.

“You feel so good! I can't even think straight anymore!” You grit.

“Baby, I need to cum inside you again. I miss that so pussy, so bad,” Joel whined. You kiss Joel, and his hips speed up — your moans bounce in his mouth. His lips travel down your jaw onto your neck. Your moans become blissful with every kiss planted on your neck.

Joel’s cock slips out of you, and you both chuckle lightly. Joel kisses you softly, and you can't help but smile.

“Fuck it,” You mutter.

You flip Joel to be on his back and hover your ass. You slide your ass down to the base of his cock. You hiss in pain, but quickly, pain turns into pleasure.

“Ba-baby, I what are you doing?” Joel asks, dumbfounded.

“I can't take it anymore, I need your cum, Joel. I need it,” You grit, bouncing up and down his cock.

Joel’s hands and yours were intertwined, and you firmly placed them next to his head. You were going fast, and you knew it. You could feel Joel’s cock pulsate deep inside you — you knew he would cum soon.

“Fuck — baby.” Joel whimper. “You're gonna make me cum soon!”

“Please, Joel,” You state, bouncing your ass faster. “I want your it so bad.”

“Gimmie access to my hands, and I’ll give you what you want,” Joel smirked.

You shook your head. “I can't. I can feel your cock twitch inside me — I think I’m going to cum.”

“Cum on me, baby. Do what you have to do,” Joel commanded.

Your pace goes faster as you see strings of cum string along Joel’s chest. Your grip on his hands loosens, and he doesn't waste time grabbing your hands and drilling his cock inside you.

“You want my cum, city boy? I’m going to give it to you!” Joel exclaimed.

Your hands find his broad shoulders. Your moans reach Joel’s ear while his grunts get yours.

“Oh god, baby. I’m gonna cum deep inside your pussy!” Joel exclaimed.

With one final thrust, Joel’s cock twitched inside you, and groans escaped his lips. You collapse on Joel’s hardened — cum covered chest. You and Joel are both covered in sweat, cum, and lust and are both panting heavily. You missed the adrenaline rush that you used to get after Joel fucked you. You look at Joel with a smile, and Joel smiles at you.

“I need to shower, city boy. Wanna join me?”

“Yeah,” You nodded. “I could shower.”

The smile on Joel’s face became a shit-eating grin you hadn't seen in a long time. “Okay, let’s get going.”

[starberry-cupcake]

Hello, I haven't had time to read as much as I would want but I'm here with an update regardless, because if I don't keep these constant, I'm gonna forget things and this, so far, seems like a book in which I don't wanna forget things.

previously, in harrowbean the ninth:

this happened

currently, after "parodos" and ch. 1:

so I'm making up a timeline in my head with the information at hand

which is never straightforward

that'd be too easy, here in tlt we like to be kept on our toes

we like to be punched in the gut when we least expect it

so get ready for bad math

this would probably make our good friend palmolive atreides weep

I'm sorry palomilve's force ghost, I'm doing my best

SO

the first entry was the night of the emperor being terminated

the "parodos" bit (we'll get to that) is 14 months before the emperor is snuffed out

ch. 1 is nine months before the emperor kicks the bucket

I believe act 1 is going to be happening around that time, since ch. 2 seems to be following without another indication

because of what happens in "parodos" aka flashback, aka prologue 2: elecric bogaloo, we can attempt to estimate when the events of gideon happened

harrowbean tells ortus in the flashback that he's gonna train with aiglamene for 12 weeks

let's assume that's kind of the amount of time gideon trained, plus the time it took harrow to plot how to girlsplain, gatekeep and gaslight gideon into it

the only one girlbossing here is camilla, I don't make the rules

so, if gideon and harrow were ready to leave the ninth somewhere around 2-3 months after the flashback, it'd be circa 11 months before the events in the prologue

and ch. 1 starts 9 months before the events in the prologue

so gideon might have happened somewhere around 11-10 months before the prologue

I can't tell how long they were in canaan house (it felt like 12 years and 5 minutes at the same time) but I think about a month is mostly right, given that once bodies start dropping, things are all happening together

all of this is relative, since time in space is ????

but I need to do this for my own peace of mind

if you give me time measurements I'm gonna measure, ok?

I need to organize things

I know I will end up making a graphic at some point I just know it

this is what I get for calling palmolive a turbonerd

ANYWAY, MOVING ON

or, moving back, since we're in prologue 2: electric bogaloo aka flashback time

here we have ortus (the one we knew, not the one we will get to know, according to the characters list) telling harrow he doesn't wanna go to the field trip

this is ortus

if you're wondering why I don't nickname ortus, I'll repeat myself but "orto" means "ass" where I'm from, so that's enough to remember him by

harrow is like "I know you're underqualified but we're understaffed, so it is what it is"

the important part is that harrowbean says she sees the barbie in the freezer walking about

like a ghost or whatnot

she refers to her as "the body" and I assume that's barbie in the ice cube because someone reblogged my recap where I mentioned her and tagged

ever since then I've been wondering why she was referred to as The Body and now I'm gonna assume this is it

so harrow tells ortus he needs to hide the fact that she's mentally unstable

[non funny side note: masking is unbearable and it's awful we live in a social and cultural environment where we feel pressured to do it, especially when you're an adult having to fulfill expectations of supposedly "age-specific" activities and responsibilities, it's exhausting and I cried about that in therapy a mere week ago so, hitting hard, this bit

don't let people make you feel "less than" because the way in which you navigate the world and your experiences is different from what's expected in some theoretical socially constructed category

and fuck everyone who, in order to put people down in arguments online, ever make fun of those who aren't mentally, economically or socially as independent as what the category of an adult is supposed to be to them

argue with concepts, argue with opinions and facts, don't tear people down in the name of "moral upper hand" by telling people they're losers for needing help

side note done]

so, harrow entered the whole canaan thing not only carrying the weight of her house, her family and her entire people

she also came into it believing she's not mentally sound and seeing The Body walking around unnoticed by other people

whether or not her visions are mentally unsettled or something that actually happens because she opened the tomb, just the whole situation of her birth is enough to make anyone collapse, so we got you, harrowbean

we're here for you

and all that without mentioning what it'd be like seeing your girlfriend cavalier impale herself in front of you

I'm taking liberties with the 'girlfriend' bit but idk

so, next we know, 5 months have passed from that and harrowcita is struggling in her new environment of the clown emperor's ship

she is made to carry gideon's sword and she can't

she can't seem to know what to do or to communicate with said knowledge and she's throwing up a lot

WHICH IS GREAT!!!!!

I mean, it's not great that she's suffering

but it's GREAT because if she can't communicate with gideon's slurped soul, maybe it means gideon's soul has not been slurped AT ALL

more fuel for my wishful thinking of gideon's soul returning to her and getting regenerated and saved and being alive

I also like very much this situation in which harrow sees the sword as personified and they hate each other without gideon

it's like prim's cat in the hunger games with katniss

but with an inanimate object

I'm really liking that dynamic

is like they both miss her and can't relate to each other

ALSO barbie body ice cube is still there

just chillin' and being silently supportive, I think

not sure what her deal is but what if she's not the bad one here? because this emperor kind of sucks tbh

not in a 'he's evil' way but in a 'idk if he know what he's doing' way

I don't know about this guy tbh

so we're leaving off with harrow being mentally and physically struggling, ghost barbie roamin' the rooms, voices of people organizing stock and gideon in my head like this, walking in limbo to get back to us

also, another day without camilla

I thought I wasn't gonna have much to say and this is so long, I'm so sorry...

[xoxoskai]

Things that got overshadowed in RKverse.

Alternatively, things Rina Kent characters still haven't gotten over completely.

I was thinking about Rina glossing over the very traumatic experience that Cole went through at the end of Ruthless Empire, and it got me thinking. So, I wrote a little something to show that yes, love conquers all, but sometimes you still struggle with battles where you've been defeated too many times.

I won't exactly say these were things that were overshadowed as much as these things being experiences one doesn't simply get over in a couple of months. Experiences as traumatic as the ones some of these characters have faced might take years- if not, decades, to get over and I just wanted to bring them to light a little bit.

Silver can't look at dolls.

Ronan probably used to hide in his closet, trembling and shivering, and hated physical contact for a long, long time.

Cole sells his family's mansion and buys the rights to his mother's books so he can unpublish them.

The marks on Kim's wrists still give her phantom pains sometimes.

Jonathan and Aurora always make sure Alicia's grave has her favorite flowers.

Somedays, Teal feels so dirty that she spends hours in the bath trying to scrub herself clean of the demons of her past.

It takes Cole a long time to be able to enter a pool again and whenever he has a nightmare of his mother trying to kill Silver, he drains the pool out and leaves it dry for months.

At some point, Asher and Reina take their sons bungee jumping but after Asher nearly loses his mind when Gareth and Killian are getting geared up, the family decides to go home and indulge in other fun activities.

Sebastian develops claustrophobia after he loses Naomi for seven years.

Gwyneth makes it a point to hug both her parents as much as she can. She needs reassurance that it won't be the last time she gets the chance to hug them.

Kyle obsessively keeps track of his children after Mia's kidnapping. He has cameras installed everywhere near the twins' apartment and Nikolai's penthouse after they move to Brighton. He knows it's unhealthy, but he does it for his peace of mind.

Knox has days when he's away from Anatasia that he functions on autopilot to repress his demons.

Daniel still can't eat food on selective occasions. He prefers munching on peach flavored lollipops instead.

The first time Lia is teaching Annika different ballet stances, she has a breakdown and curls up on the floor and cries. Yan has to take Annika away and Adrian holds Lia and rocks her back and forth for a while.

It takes Sasha a while to not flinch at loud sounds/noises that are like a prelude to bombs blasting.

Anton has a hard time looking in the mirror because he stole someone's identity and hasn't made peace with it.

Jayden wakes up in cold sweat, scared that his father will finally catch up to him at some point. Once he's of an acceptable age, Daniel sits him down and tells him why his father will never show his face around them again.

It takes Astrid some time to get her driver's license. She mostly prefers to have someone else drive her around.

Xander has recurring dreams about waking up in a puddle of Kim's blood for years on end.

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○

Thank you for reading! It hurt my heart to write this, but it was still exhilarating in a way to shine some light on the not-so glamourous parts of some of our beloved characters.

[littleracha]

hii! It’s a little late at night for me but I have an idea! can you do a How would CG OT8 Skz would put their little to sleep? Or wake them up in the morning? (it’s all up to you!)

-☁️

I put these two asks together as I felt like they fit!

CG! SKZ Putting Their Little to Sleep

Chan

Chan wishes he could have spent more time tucking you in tonight. With the new album just on the horizon, he needed to make sure everything was finalized. With a quick kiss to your head and a gentle goodnight,

Chan clicked on your nightlight and left the door ajar.

He wasn't surprised when he heard the pitter-patter of bare feet on the wooden floor of his office. You were used to a much more detailed tuck-in. Chan couldn't help the twist of pain in his heart as he heard your sleepy little voice.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, my little cub? It is past your bedtime, sweetheart. Why are you out of bed?" Chan made sure his expression was soft on the blank computer monitor before turning to you.

"Can't sleep. Daddy didn't do it right"

"Daddy didn't tuck you in the right way, baby?"

You simply nodded

"Well that won't do now will it little cubbie"

With that Chan whisked you off to bed. He snuggled up next to you and read your favorite picture book. As you began to fall deeper asleep, his voice became softer. Soon enough you were passed out on his lap. Maybe the album can wait one more night.

Lee Know

Pajamas? Check. Potty run? Check. Scared off evil monsters? Check. Sippy cup? Check. Baby monitor? Check.

Everything seemed to be crossed off Minho's mental bedtime checklist, the last task was to get you to lie down. Most nights it was a rather tough battle but after a long day out on the town, you were ready for sleep.

"Come here little kitty, Noona has the bed all set up" Minho called for you to come out from the bathroom where you were changing.

"Noonie tuck me in" You crawled under the covers Minho was holding up for you.

"Of course little one! Noona always tucks you in" Minho began to make sure you were as snug as a bug.

It wasn't long after he left the room that something felt off. He missed something, he knew it.

"NOONIE!!!!!" He came rushing in at your alarming cries

"What is it, baby? What made you so upset kitty?"

"Too dark Noonie"

THE NIGHTLIGHT! He forgot to turn on your night light. Minho quickly set up your dinosaur color-changing light on your bedside table. He watched you bop it for a bit until you fell back asleep. Add a nightlight to the mental checklist.

Changbin

Bedtime with Binnie was a challenge, but he was always up for good competition. Currently, you were standing at the side of the bed that lead to the window. Binnie was standing at the side next to the door. All you had to do was distract him and make a run for it. Once you were out the bedroom door, the world was yours!

"Give up little bunny, it's bedtime!" Changbin tried to reason with you. He was so silly for thinking that would work.

Slowly you picked up your stuffy pig named Oinks and chucked it at the wall by Binnie's head. Once he looked stunned you made your getaway. But why were you in the air and not out the door?

"Dada's got you, silly little bunny" Changbin held you up like he just won you at the county fair.

"Dada let me go!" You tried to wiggle out of his hold but it was no use.

"Fair is fair baby, bedtime for you."

You tried to argue with him as he tucked you in. Even went as far as whining as he put on some soft background music. The next thing both of you knew, you were out cold. Wresting a Dwaekki is hard work!

Hyunjin

Most nights you were asleep in Hyunjin's arms before he could get you ready for bed. However, some days your caregiver could tell bedtime was going to be a bit more of a challenge.

These nights usually came when you have been having a hard week or haven't had time to be regressed for a while. He knew how much you wanted to stay up and play but at the same time, little ones like you needed sleep. Especially after such a hard week. So what was his solution? To make bedtime fun!

Hyunjin loved setting up themed bedtimes for you, it was another way he could express his artistic side. Your caregiver was known to go all out when setting up these special nights, spending way more money than he probably should. It was always worth it in his eyes.

When he carried you into the bedroom after your little crying fit, he watched all the tears be replaced with joy. Stars were illuminated on the wall from a projector Hyunjin cleverly hide behind some books. Your comforter was switched with a spaceship blanket and planet pillows were all around the room.

"Mama! Space" you pointed out the theme for the night while wiggling from his hold.

"Yes, little one! We are in space! Mama got a very important call from Space Captian Jinniret, he is lost on one of the planets and we need to rescue him" Hyunjin put on his best narrator voice.

You saluted to Mama as he put you in your new space suit pajamas. When he tried to kiss you on your head you pushed him away, you were on a mission! After hours of searching (15 minutes), you found the captain stuck on Neptune in a broken space suit. You retrieved him and brought him back to the spaceship for safety.

Hyunjin tucked you both in stating that the captain must be cold after being lost for so long. You informed Mama you would stay on the ship to keep an eye on him. Hyunjin watched you drift off to sleep, dreaming of your space adventures.

Han

"Little quokka, you can only pick one movie," Han said followed by a chuckle.

It was predictable at this point. Han would bring you to your bedroom and ask you to pick out a movie to watch while getting ready. He would hope that you would be so immersed in the film that he could finish everything in the background and by the time he was done you would be out like a light. While it worked for the most part, Han never accounted for how hard it was to get you to pick a movie.

"But Oppa! If we watch Finding Nemo then we have to watch finding dory!" He had to admit, you were getting better at reasoning. Han pulled out your pajamas and started to help you change.

"And why is that, Ponyo?"

"Because if we have to find Nemo then it's only fair we find Dory too! Can't not find her" He had to laugh at your adorable conclusion.

"That's very true baby, it would be mean of us to not find Dory." Han tucked you under the blanket and grabbed both movies. "Let's find Nemo first and then we will see if we have the energy to find Dory, deal?"

"Deal!" You gave your caregiver a big nod to seal the agreement.

Han laid your head down on his lap after he got cozy next to you in bed. Before Nemo ever went missing, you were fast asleep.

Felix

Felix has created the perfect plan for bedtime. That plan; do not let you know he is getting you ready for bedtime.

Every night Felix knew he would have to battle you to go to sleep and he never won. Then you would wake up the next morning being cranky over the fact you didn't get enough sleep. You just had so much to do and say, that your little brain doesn't even consider sleep.

"Mommy, then Spiderman met the other spider people!" You toddled behind your caregiver as he put away some dishes.

"Yeah, honey? What else little chick?" Felix lifted you on his hip and carried you to the bathroom.

"Well, then the bad guy gets stronger! And I didn't get scared, ow! Mommy you pulled my hair" You winced as the hairbrush got stuck.

"Mommy is sorry pumpkin" he made sure to be more careful on the next pass-through. "You are so brave for not being scared"

"Mhm then um then…then Spiderman uses his powers to defeat him" Your speech started to get slurred and a big yawn threatened to escape your lips.

"He must be pretty powerful" Felix chuckled as your story started to not make sense.

"Then he um he….miles…spiderman…yeah" Your eyes grew heavy as Felix tucked you into your bed.

"Goodnight my little superhero" Felix kissed your sleepy head as you began to snore.

Seungmin

"Minnie in the building!" You jumped off the couch and ran over to your caregiver as he entered the front door. When he left for work this morning, he could see the glint of regression in your eyes. Seungmin hated that he had to leave you but this had happened before.

Throughout the day he was constantly calling and texting you. He would ask you to send pictures of lunch and dinner to make sure his little one was eating something other than candy. He called you on his lunch break to tuck you in for a nap. Voice notes often contained other reminders and simple little questions to keep you regressed. It was hard but it was the best either of you could do.

The last voice note he sent was reminding you bedtime was in half an hour. That one was recorded 2 hours ago. When you didn't respond he assumed you had already fallen asleep. Much to his surprise, you were very awake.

"Little one is not in the bed!" He said with the same energy as his iconic line. Seungmin whisked you up and cradled you in close. The giggle you let out was electrifying. He wanted so badly to sit down and play but it was already nearing 1 am.

"Minnie, couldn't sleep" Your little sleeve-covered fist rubbed your eye and showed just how tired you were. Seungmin could tell it wasn't that you couldn't sleep, rather you weren't letting yourself.

"Little pup, Minnie is here now. Shhhh my sleepy little thing" he pulled you in close and rocked you back and forth. "Let's get you to bed, firefly."

Seungmin laid you down in bed and tucked your two favorite stuffies in with you. As he stroked your hair and whispered sweet little things to you, he could tell something was wrong.

"What's up, sweetie? What is keeping my little one up?"

"Too loud" you pointed to your head.

"Awh honey, is your brain being too loud right now?" All he got was a weak nod in response. "Maybe we need to fill it with something else instead. Maybe a lullaby?" He melted as your features lit up.

Seungmin got himself situated in bed with you and laid your head on his lap. He sang soft melodic tunes to you until he felt your body become a weight. He stayed until the song was finished.

I.N.

Bedtime was one of Jeongin's favorite times with you. He got to snuggle up with his little one and read together. Every night your caregiver made sure to grab a selection of books to choose from. Some were simple picture books while others were shorter chaptered stories.

If you were his tiny baby, Jeongin would read the words out to you while you babbled away.

"Little Kit, look at you! Reading better than Innie can!"

If you were more of a toddler then your caregiver would read you the stories and ask you to point things out.

"'Then the fox snuck into the rabbit's home looking for a bite to eat'. Can you show Innie where the fox went? Through that big window? I think we have a little detective right here!"

And if you were more in a kid headspace, Jeongin would popcorn read the paragraphs with you.

"Okay kiddo, this next paragraph is a big one so why don't we break it in half? You read the first part and Innie will read the rest."

After he finished a book, or two, something three; it was off to bedtime for you. Once the sentences started to become mushy and your attention faded elsewhere, Jeongin knew sleep was fast approaching.

He always read one final story, one he memorized by heart. It was a story about a smart little one who dreamt about all the big adventures they'll have one day.

[fuzziemutt]

On Miguel and Motivations Behind his Behaviors Towards Miles

An analysis point I haven't seen much around (<- says the man who never looks in the tag) is the idea that Miguel was trying to be the very thing Miles could blame when (in Mig's eyes) he's unable to save his father.

Miguel's main motivation for his actions across the board are in his most iconic line:

"I don’t always like what I have to do, but I know I'm going to have to be the one to do it."

This line is very defining for him because it's reflected on how Miguel shoulders the responsibilities of the Spiderverse and any unsavory actions it might have to take for whatever reason. He alone makes the decision, the action so "no one else will have to" feel that guilt*.

*which I should note. Comic book Miguel is very much noted to have severe guilt with being S-man ("No, with great responsibility, comes great guilt!") but constantly states "he has to do it because who will?". Being S-man isn't a freeing thing for him... It's an obligation, a way for him to "atone for his sins" (from the man with severe Catholic trauma).

However, his need to be the one to "make the hardline decisions" out of guilt isn't the only influencer in his actions towards Miles.

Because another important note about comic Miguel is his biggest trait in all his relationships: he is the scapegoat.

From his mother, to his father(s), to his ex-girlfriend, ex-fiance, and even his brother himself. Miguel is always a means for people to escape blame. He is always a means to place responsibility to "fix it" because only /Miguel/ can fix it* for them (wow his oldest sibling disorder is showing).

*Gabriel, his brother, is seen multiple times demanding Miguel to "fix" the situations he finds himself in such as getting his girlfriend out of jail as Miguel "owes it to him" for working with Alchemax.

--

Furthermore, Miguel is seen having /quiet/ anger responses towards how others treat him; i.e. when Dana, his then-fiance, comes to him after talking to Tyler Stone, (later known: his bio father) who is untrustworthy and whom also Dana is cheating on Mig with (this fact is unknown to Mig at the time too), Mig is notably upset yet never raises his voice, he keeps his anger to himself and quiet.

This allows others to easily project onto him- Dana then projects her own view of what Miguel must be feeling in the next panel (which- she is often severely incorrect in her assessments as stated by Miguel himself in several instances of self-reflection)

And thus, Miguel has every intention to allow himself to be the scapegoat for others as long as he lives. Especially one Miles Morales.

Because Miguel is not happy preventing Miles from saving his father, he almost cries about it, he /wants/ to comfort Miles the whole time. He doesn't like what he has to do.

But Miguel has come this far (ensuring everyone's safety) and he can't let Miles make the same mistakes he made. Because to Miguel, he tried to alter his story and tried to fight what he didn't even know what would become the canon theory.

Yes, there are circumstances, there could be exceptions*, there's a possibility everything will be alright but Miguel /does not/ know this. He didn't know about canon theory or what would happen to Gabby then. All he knows now is that he flew too close to the sun and killed billions of people, and now, he doesn't want to allow Miles to "play god" and find himself with no home. It's "better" to be safe than sorry as he'd say <- through gritted teeth and tears.

*Whether the canon theory is true or not is not really important in this reading. The theory is just meant as a metaphor for whole vs one, risk vs caution, and the suffocation of fear-

-

So Miguel does what he doesn't want the others to do. He plays the scapegoat, the guy you can put all your anger towards, the thing you can blame when it just doesn't work how you want it to, and focus all your hatred on instead of yourself.

He doesn't order any of the others to throw the containment field at Miles (they didn't even know he was going to), he doesn't order the others to talk about the canon theory (also because he's reminding himself about why he's asking a kid to let his father die and to remind everyone of Mig's own faults- takes the blame as the sole destroyer of worlds despite us knowing Gabby's dimension isn't the only one that's collapsed thus far and strictly by Miguel's hands), he even leads majority of the apprehension of Miles himself.

Hell, he even lets himself be the scapegoat for why Gwen and Peter B don't visit Miles. We don't know enough about that conversation to say how much Miguel said "no, don't see him" but he sure isn't trying to fight* any possible allegations of how that conversation went either via clarifying /what/ it was he said.

Lastly, Miguel's control issues really appear in these interactions even, in this choice. Because, Miguel is taking on the choice for others because he thinks he can control others' grief if he just "does it 'right' for them", and that's just not /possible/.

You can't choose the how and when for others, you can't "fix this" for them, you can't make sure no one ever gets hurt because you'd rather someone scream at you for stopping them or taking the choice from them, than for them to experience something that's an inherent part of life and mature and grow from it.

To receive that "just punishment" that you're always seemingly striving for because you care so deeply about everyone and everything yet can't comprehend that others might care for you as well.

You can't keep suffocating others in your own fear, Miguel.

"And all this time, /I've/ been the only one holding it all together."

Yeah, Miguel has severe issues, he's projecting onto this kid, he majorly fucked up this interaction, but I feel Miguel's insistence on placing any and /all/ blame onto himself is a very vital piece of his character that we shouldn't ignore especially in analysis.

+ Another note of Comic Miguel's character: Miguel is very prone to allowing anyone to say literally anything to him. He's called horrendous things and he /never/ denies these things. He never tries to make anyone believe otherwise because Miguel agrees with them-

-Yes, he's Gabriel's slimeball brother who's arrogant and egotistical and a jackass and impossible to work with and a terrible, no-good son. Because no one has ever said one nice thing to Miguel O'Hara. They've only praised Spider-man.

[squarebracket-trickster]

9 People you want to know better

Huge thank you to uhhh *checks drafts* @words-after-midnight - their post here, @bluberimufim - her post here, @touloserlautrec - his/their post here

Currently reading: City of Bones by Cassie Clare. I never read it during it's peak when I was literally the right age demographic and I feel like I missed out. It's not the strongest writing in the world but I am enjoying it so far. It's been interesting to go back and reread a bunch of "older" YA - like pre-2016-ish. There is so much more filler, banter, character moments than in the post-2016 stuff, especially post-2019. Like it was right around that time that publishing shifted to the "everything has to advance the plot and be super fast paced" mentality. And tbh... I like the old stuff better. It spawned larger fandoms with more staying power - I mean, how many post-2019 booktok popular books have more than 100 fanfics on AO3? I think I'm not the only one who misses the slower, more character focused YA.

Last song I listened to: Avril Lavine's Keep Holding On was on the radio while I was driving home from work. 10 year-old me knew all the words. 20-something me still does.

Currently watching: I haven't watched any TV or movies is so long oh my gosh. But! I did go see murder mystery play with my friend last Friday night!

Current fic I'm reading: [do I confess to having a secret whump blog here? My anxiety is pretty bad rn. Which means I have been devouring and regurgitating whump like no tomorrow. I have read and written so much holy]

Current hyperfixation (changed from obsession because I don't use that language. I do, however, have ADHD): yeah... uhhh... whump.

Favourite colour: Green, specifically the shade of the underside of a maple leaf caught in the sun. But I am also very partial to any rich blue or pink.

Spicy, sweet, savory, or salty? A little bit of everything. I like it when dishes are made with really high-quality ingredients that speak for themselves and don't need to be disguised with sugar, spices, or salt.

Relationship status: *cries in single* where meet men in my city????

Last thing I Googled: hypothermia whump... yeah... (also apparently I googled the word lapel to make sure it meant exactly what I thought it meant)

Song stuck in my head: OH I am the QUEEN of getting shit stuck in my head! I once had "In Flanders Fields" the POEM - not even a song - stuck in my head in both English AND FRENCH. It wasn't even November... Currently, it's the "I had a little turtle, his name was tiny tim" song... it's been days help

Favourite food: Kiisseli (a Finnish stewed berry dessert.) I am also partial to a very juicy steak.

Dream trip: I wanna go to Ireland so bad. But I need to know some Irish person willing to teach me harp techniques first.

Gently tagging (you don't have to answer all of these. I just chose to combine three tags in one): @nacricissa *ahem*, @malapertmarquess, @ditzydisko, @dyrewrites, @toribookworm22, @steh-lar-uh-nuhs @blackrosesandwhump, @beloveddawn-blog, @unhingednovelist

[archerandthefoxx]

So I was up from 12am to 5am reading ACFTL and I honestly can't believe that it's over now. Like my brain can genuinely not wrap my head around it. The book I have been waiting for months. The series I've been reading since it was only ouabh. I honestly can't believe it's done now.

So these are just my thoughts on acftl: (SPOILERS BTW)

So I want to start with things I didn't like because I like to end things on a more positive note:

● There was a lot of potential for other things that Stephanie has hinted to in the past (just basically a lot of unanswered questions) that I can't simply believe isn't anything bigger:

> "too familiar nickname" when Jacks called her Little Fox for the first time. This had the potential to be something really big, but the fact that Eva has no connection to the fox is just leaving me confused (as in being the first fox or a reincarnation). Like how. Especially when it was heavily hinted to in the past.

> "heavier than an apple should've been" when Jacks threw an apple at Eva in ouabh. I don't understand what this was supposed to mean if it just ended up being nothing. Like why did it have to be mentioned

> An Evajacks wedding was heavily hinted to in ouabh (even the reverse dust jacket for bn acftl). I just would have liked to see that.

● For me, some of the plot points just felt very disconnected and not linked, to the point where it felt like just random things being stringed together. Like it felt like things were just happening, as if I was reading different books at the same time.

● Acftl kinda feels like after tbona, Stephanie went online and saw everyone's theories and aimed to do the exact opposite. Sometimes I felt so confused because it felt like random facts and points were just thrown at me. Or this felt like this was the original version that Stephanie wrote.

●Why was time personified constantly?

●Where was my boy, Luc? I love him and I missed him so much. I was waiting for him to pop up on the page or make a creepy/funny appearance ("Hello, Eva" - I always laughed when he pulled stuff like this).

●Even though she's not relevant, where was Marisol? You can't tell me she just disappeared. I would have just liked to know what happened to her.

●Aurora's role felt so random.

●The whole thing about Jacks's curse felt to simple and barely touched on.

●I would have liked a better answer on Jacks’s obsession with apples. Like I understand it was left like that on purpose but it would have been nice.

*

●I would have liked the return of Scarlet and Tella. They were the ones who sent Evangeline to the Magnificent North. It would have been nice to see them after all of that and Jacks and Tella could have gotten some sort of closure.

●I love how everyone was hell-bent on the fact that apollo is lysander. The fact that everyone believed Apollo was Lysander started to make me doubt it. When Lysander appeared on the page, I was surprised tbh.

● Tbona established their clear feelings for each other and acftl was them just accepting it.

●Anyways I need domestic evajacks. Like 20 chapters. The bonus epilogues healed me.

My theories that were actually right: ●Tiberius slashing Apollo’s back

●Aurora having some type of magic and being the true villain. I was so sure that she was obsessed with Jacks and placed the Archer's curse.

~"My turn" if you know, you know. Something I never knew I needed. And I need more. There is never such thing as too much Evajacks.

Me having mixed feelings about acftl hurts so much because I've been waiting for this book for so long (I've been reading this series since it was only ouabh). I haven't been able to wrap my head around the fact that this is the official book. Ouabh and Tbona were soo amazing. They were so magical and fairytale like and I cried after I finished acftl, not just because the series was over (because I did) but because it didn't live up to the expectations I had and the high standards that ouabh and tbona set.

This series will always and forever be the series I go back to when I'm sad. Regardless of how it ended, I loved it because Stephanie created a new definition of magic and fairytale for me.

[dorarakei]

looking at how peaceful and content nanami is in the newest chapter made me feel... as if some weight is being lifted off my shoulder. you know, when he died i was so hurt by it i can feel the pang on my chest as i read "that" panel. i remembered crying my eyes out, and then i woke up with one of the most puffiest face i've ever woke up to. i remembered questioning his death because i thought it's just silly to kill him off in such early phase of the manga. i remembered how empty my chest feels like for the whole week... i can't even describe how much i grieve for him, how much i love him even though he's just a fictional character. i even stopped reading and watching jjk for some months....

but then, chapter 236 came out and we're presented with nanami again. this time is just the same as before: i cried so hard i woke up with puffy face. i had to wake up and go to classes with it. i remembered i went to a coffee shop and the barista were just staring at my face due to how puffy it is. i thought it's a bit cruel for gege to bring him back in a scene, especially in a farewell scene after giving him such a brutal death..

for some days i grieve over the fact that the cost of nanami's smile and peace is his own death. poor man only wants to have something or somewhere or someone static to rely on or to be safe with- he might look all tough and stoic outside, but did you know? deep inside his heart, he's always on the edge, he's always secretly scared to lose, he knows life is so... fleeting, one moment he might be talking to you but the next? who knows? are you going to die? is it his turn to go to the afterlife?

but then again, this is life. nanami can't choose to stop living it. how could he? his mind might be wishing to stop, but his body says the otherwise. when he wakes up alive, intact and breathing, for him it's just a way the universe begging him to continue his life... he could only wish that one day his body, too, could stop on its own. and so he did try to live until the very end of his life.. he didn't regret doing so.

looking at him, so peaceful and content and even his smile looks so.. heartfelt, makes me feel the same. i'm so glad and i feel content looking at him finally getting the calm that he deserved. you know what my reaction is when i see him smiling on jjk 236? i let out a sigh. my shoulders is no longer tense. i realized that i've been holding my breath since i opened the chapter.

this serves as an ending to my long-lasting grief towards him, too. he might have died, yes, but then, at least, he finally got what he deserved there. he could buy those filled breads from the convenience store that he loves so much but got discontinued. he could read the books he bought but haven't had the time to read it yet. maybe he can take better care of his hair, too, so that he would no longer wake up to strands of his blonde hair on his pillow.

[nevertheless-moving]

been catching snatches of your stormlight posting. never enough to actually understand anything. should i read it

I really liked it! However it was on my reading list for many years before I finally was in the right headspace to dive in. It's a lot.

The Stormlight Archive consists of four fairly long high fantasy novels and two tie in novellas. It takes place on an alternate fantasy world called Roshar, which is part of a larger fantasy universe called the Cosmere. If you like high fantasy epics, or if you're interested in giving them a shot, then yes, definitely try out the Cosmere!

High fantasy, as I define it — sorry if you know this already anon also sorry if my definition differs from other's reading this — is...bigger than life. High fantasy is two main things. First, the setting— magic creatures and fantastical architecture and folks with super cool magic powers. Second, High Fantasy is the way people behave, which verges into Mythology and Fairy Tale. I'll explain.

Don't get me wrong, when well written, and Cosmere is very well written, the people still feel real. I mean the glowing guys wearing vaguely renaissance faire clothing who are fighting the giant rock monsters still have complex relationships with their fathers. But it's also an idealization — people saying the right words at the right time, people being their noblest version of themselves. Read and/or Watch the Lord of The Rings and take notes on Aragorn's speech at the Black Gate. It's the fantasy of people at their best, noble in all the ways we want the word to mean.

Low fantasy, by contrast, is a bit more grounded, both in the setting and the people. The places in low fantasy look more like your day to day on earth — dive bars with bouncers and crude jokes on bathroom doors. The dive bar bouncer in low fantasy is just a massive rock troll and the graffiti has penises of many different fantasy races. The people are a bit more like some guy you know. It can still be a good some guy you know. Just if they have to fight a nightmare monster they're probably ugly crying and maybe peeing themselves a little. People can still be good and bad, they just maybe have a bit less polish.

There's obviously lots of grey area — Game of Thrones has a lot of high fantasy setting elements, being a vaugely mideval europe pastiche with dragons, but the way it focuses on brothels and people trudging through mud is a bit more low, the reality of a world without indoor plumbing, as opposed to the dream of a world without cellphones. It has epic speeches and larger than life figures, but they get bogged down by stuff like taxes and dehydration, which high fantasy doesn't generally linger on. I'd argue some of the worst behavior fits right in with high fantasy — the red wedding is just a much graphic version than we're used to of the ol' scheming advisor trope, but still fits into the archetypes. Anyway.

Discworld by Terry Pratchett is an excellent low fantasy series, and if you're looking for a fantasy book recommendation and haven't read/watched/ didn't really enjoy lord of the rings, or if you did and want to read my favorite series, then read these 100%. If you've read them already — nice.

(I think having some more familiar touchstones makes fantasy novels more enjoyable for folks who aren't into their recreational reading being Very Unlike real life . Discworld is incredibly funny, while also being full of heart. The turns of phrase are adult without being crazy dense. I'm not a personally big grimdark person; I prefer my stories with a core belief that people who are good deep down, which is at the heart of Pratchett's writing. I laughed, I cried. I recommend Guards, Guards as a first book but you can start lots of places.)

To get back a little closer to your initial question — I started reading the Cosmere with Mistborn, which consists of three novels, a several hundred year time gap, and then four more, slightly shorter but still pretty long novels. It takes place on a completely different world from Stormlight. The planets are only tentatively connected, but there the very solid promise that they will interact a lot more soon.

By soon I mean in the next decade as far as book publishing goes, because the author, Brandon Sanderson, is a madman. And by madman I mean he fucking writes like a machine. I checked his website and he posts things like "23% percent through my next book." "45% through" "82% through" who writes like that??? He's also a massive prude, which is hilarious. I love him in a non parasocial way. He's got the next 20 years of book releases mapped out. Whom the fuck??

Anyway if you like high fantasy epics, or want to try one, then yes, definitely try out the Cosmere! It's funny, I've always had a hard time listening to audiobooks, but either things clicked in my head or the narrators, Michael Kremer and Kate Reading, are just that good.

I...actually liked Mistborn more than Stormlight. The first Stormlight book I found a little hard to get through at the start, because the main characters seriously go through it, but I had trust in the author at that point and things DID get better. Mistborn hooked me start to finish and every plot twist felt perfectly executed in a way that Stormlight didn't completely nail for me. I mean, Stormlight Archive is still a great series, with compelling characters and well structured romances and interesting world building and super, super rad fight scenes.

I'm posting obsessively about Stormlight partially because I'm scrambling for more cosmere content (I didn't actually expect to reach the end) and partially because there are things in the books that weren't 100% satisfying, and those spaces are where fandom lives. Again, it's still really, really good. Just long, and sometimes fairly heavy in how much the main characters struggle with mental illness while fighting crab monsters.

In the stormlight archive, your personal fight with depression and PTSD and drug addiction is actually inextricably linked to your super rad glowing magic power fight with rock monsters and crab people. The crab people who also have a lot of trauma and mental illness.

Honestly, I'm not sure how Sanderson is going to resolve that.

But fuck it, TLDR, Stormlight is good but long, and the next book is supposed to resolve a bunch of stuff and it comes out this December, and the way he wrapped up things in his other books was really satisfying! So this is a pretty good time to get into the series!

[bridgertonandchocolate]

Now that Bridgerton has been released for over a week and I've had it on repeat since then it's time to process through some thoughts.

Overall this is my favorite season of Bridgerton. It's not surprising because Polin has always been my favorite pairing since season 1 and friends to lovers is one of my all time favorite romance tropes.

While I am loving the season there are still a few beefs I had while watching it that still irk me, but don't bother me as much as they did in the beginning which will be discussed at the end of the post.

Prepare for a long post and if you read it all thank you! Also SPOILERS ABOUND! Let's start with everything I have loved so far:

Mirrors. There are mirrors freaking everywhere in the season and we all know why. A lot of the side characters have mirrors in their scenes. We see Kate has a bunch of mirrors in her study, the Mondriches have mirrors. Mirrors everywhere to be found. Not only is a mirror going to play a major part in the second part, but it's so symbolic of Colin and Pen's journey of really finding themselves and subsequently each other. But Bridgerton is not subtle this season. There's mirrors everywhere you look.

Colin Bridgerton is a cinnamon roll and must be protected at all costs. My previous post already addressed a lot of the Colin hate floating around out there and I won't hear it. Our man is out there fully falling harder for Pen and not realizing how much he's affected by her. Until he does and then he's properly torturing himself.

The main characters this season are so relatable. Being a mid/plus size late bloomer female who has never received any romantic attention I relate to Penelope so much. I nearly cried in the second episode because I've had the same feelings she was having in that moment of believing you'll never have that in your life. At least she had Colin. But besides my personal connection to Pen compared to the previous two couples I think Colin and Pen are the most realistic and relatable characters.

The book references. I was a little nervous about changing the storyline to Colin having lessons with Penelope and helping her find a husband and Pen having another suitor, but I enjoyed it. It allowed them to bring a lot of humor to the show where we haven't really seen that in this show before. But they also incorporated very key aspects of the Polin relationship. The first kiss was nearly verbatim from the book and the very end of the carriage scene was also straight from the book just some dialogue switched characters. More on the carriage later.

Colin realizes he loves Pen much earlier than in the book. So glad for this change since we already knew Colin was the biggest dummy for not realizing what was right in front of his face. I'm glad we saw sparks of it from him before the first kiss. The garden confession? Please. It was practically a love confession as he was talking about all of the things he likes about her. The boy just couldn't put two and two together. And I'm really glad Pen tried to move on from her feelings it really put Colin into a place where he had to imagine his life without her and the man couldn't handle it.

Here are some beefs I have with the season but again they're pretty minimal and honestly I'm somewhat okay with it now except for one of them:

Lady Danbury not being involved with Polin whatsoever. They name their first born Agatha for heaven's sake. I really anticipated Lady D to be involved with Pen being a wallflower and practically just like her, but .... whatever. They gave Lady D other things to do this season instead.

Pen never asked Colin to help her find a husband. Okay this one still actually bothers me still. In episode 4 Penelope mentions to Colin when they're finished dancing that it was a mistake asking for his help and then in the carriage she says again that when she asked him for his help in finding a husband she didn't know he'd also deny her one (I told you guys I have watched this literally nonstop for a week). But she literally NEVER asked him to help her. In episode 1 he says, "if a husband is what you seek let me help you." At no point was she like "Please Colin will you help me?" I couldn't stand this. The only thing Pen asked of Colin was if he'd kiss her and I stand by this. That's sloppy continuity in the writing.

The brothels. Both scenes were completely unnecessary to me. The first one I've come around on slightly, but I will never get over the second brothel scene. I get what they were trying to do, but with the awkward flirting with all the ladies in the ton that was already accomplished for me that Colin was trying to act like someone he definitely wasn't. I didn't need to see Slut Colin for that. And I get it for the first brothel scene they made sure to hit that home, but the second one? The second one comes after he realizes he's fallen in love with Penelope and I don't fully understand his motivation for going there. I also am just sick of the rake storyline and since we know that's not how Colin is I was upset they tried to turn him into that. But characters must grow. To me it could've been done differently or even better yet not at all.

No flashback to baby Polin. I really was hoping for a flashback. There was a flashback episode for season 1 and 2 but none for 3. I really thought they would have done a flashback of some kind. At least Colin remembers and talks about how they met. "Do you remember when we first met?" Bro please. You don't need to ask Penelope if she remembers it's the moment she fell in love with you, bro. I'm hoping for a callback to this in the second part when she hopefully tells Colin she's loved him for years.

Last beef. That the carriage scene and love realization happened with no LW reveal. I get it. They're pushing this off to the second part. Makes sense for the drama of it all, but it fundamentally goes against season 1 Pen when she was trying to convince Marina to tell Colin that she was pregnant. Like hello. Now she's just doing what Marina did by keeping this from him. And I'm sure that's what part 2 will be about, but I don't like it. In the book he proposed to her fully knowing who she was and now in the show there's this huge chunk of who she is now missing and I DON'T LIKE IT!

This is way too long. Stay tuned for thoughts on the carriage scene, other favorite Polin moments and all my hopes and dreams for part 2.