#I haven’t necessarily like over shared that stuff.

[freyito]

ʜᴀɴᴋᴇʀɪɴ' ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ

✭ pairing(s): boothill x gn reader

✩ in which: boothill's been quiet since he came back from penacony. way too quiet.

✧ a/n: little by little im chipping away at my depressive episode and building my motivation again

✦ taglist: @fffrost, @shinysora

🗒 cw: gn reader, 2.6 spoilers, mention of torture, hurt/comfort, not proofread

✎ wc: 2.4k

Ever since his most recent trip to Penacony, Boothill had been spacing out more when he got home. He insisted, very firmly, that you stay at home this time, leaving no room for any discussion. You were to stay home no matter what, and if he found you had tried to sneak out, even to the town, there would be words to be had. He was never this demanding, and he never barred you from going out. Yet when he told you, there was a certain look in his eyes. Fear. Something so rare within him that it made you obey without a word of protest. Now that he is back, he hasn’t been as energetic as you’re used to. In fact, he had practically stayed glued to the couch. 

You could poke and prod at him and he wouldn’t so much as smirk, and you hadn’t even gotten so much of a squeak out of him aside from why he had left in the first place. Despite his victory, he was just… quiet. You wake up to him staring at the ceiling, chewing on his lip. Even though he doesn’t necessarily need sleep, he’s always cuddling up to you when you go to sleep. So when you wake up next to him (quite a rare sight), it’s odd.

Not just that, but you notice he spends an oddly long time gazing out over the plains that surround your house, nearly unphased when you poke and squeeze at his cheeks. It’s not that he is entirely silent the whole time, but his words are few and far between. You can’t remember the last time he’d been so lost in thought.

After the third day, you’ve decided you’ve had enough. It was fine if he didn’t want to talk about it (though you are certain it would help), but you were starting to miss Boothill’s voice, or the silly things he would do. So, you catch him on the couch while he’s charging, deciding to lay on top of him. Cheek to cheek, you press into him with a smile.

“Hi,” You say simply. Boothill doesn’t react much, looking up at you with his eye and a small grin.

“Hey, darlin’,” He responds, his voice quiet.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

“Mh, nothin’,” Boothill sighs, shifting awkwardly just a little beneath you. You raise your eyebrow, and he sighs, admitting defeat so easily. “Okay. Thinkin’ about a lot.”

“Care to share?”

“I dunno sugar, it’s kinda heavy,”

“Heavy is the cost.”

A silence stretches between the two of you, as Boothill ruminates over whether or not to share what’s on his mind. You lean further into him, draping yourself over him like a blanket, even though he wasn’t necessarily the most comfortable person to lay on. You weren’t going to say it out loud, and you have spent hours on him before, so it wasn’t necessarily a problem. There were days where his body was the most wonderful thing to lay on, when he had been lounging in the sun and you had been unbearably cold for Aeons knows what reason. In moments like those, he was like your own space heater.

“Well, I mean, there was a lot goin’ on in Penacony, and all these mind games, and…” Boothill sighs, his body relaxing slightly as he pulls an arm out from under you and slings it over your waist. “Got to rememberin’ a lot of things. Stuff I ain’t exactly keen on thinkin’ about. Now I can’t stop.”

“Do you think telling me about it would help?” You purse your lips, blinking at him inquisitively. 

“Haven’t I yapped enough? I swear you ask me about all o’ this at least once a week,” He pokes at your side, causing you to squirm and yelp, before he takes hold of your waist and readjusts both of you, so he’s sitting up and cradling you in his lap. “Gonna make me talk til my jaw falls off, you know that?”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t apologize, darlin’,” Boothill smiles, something gentle despite his normally cocky grin. “I know you mean well. You’re the only one I like talkin’ to about this stuff, anyways.”

You tilt your head, silently asking him to continue. For a moment he doesn’t get the hint, raising his brow and chewing on his lip. He’s always been avoidant of such topics like the past, not that you could squeeze much out of him regardless. The most he let you know was of his family, specifically why he held a grudge against the IPC, and who he held a grudge against. Not to mention, he doesn’t enjoy talking things out much. He enjoys venting whatever’s gnawing at him in other ways, such as shooting. Still, he always seems to relent when you ask…

“Ah! Uhm, well…” He wraps both his arms around you, finally sitting up. He readjusts, making sure you’re seated comfortably in his lap. “They got me thinkin’ about when I was a kid… Well, more than that, really. Hard to explain.”

“I can listen all day. I like your voice.” You reply smugly.

“I– That’s not what I meant…” He chuckles sheepishly, shaking his head. “It was like a… hm. Felt like the kind of stuff the IPC had done to me when they caught me.”

Suddenly, you don’t know how to react. Your flirty demeanor drops, and so does your smile. Part of you didn’t think it’d be this kind of conversation. While he said it was heavy, you really didn’t think it’d be on the same level. Boothill sighs, patting your back lightly at your reaction.

“It ain’t that bad. I’m back home now, right? All in one piece.” He consoles, his voice just a tinge softer than before.

“Yeah, but–”

“It didn’t do much to me, really. Just got me thinkin’,” He shrugs so nonchalantly, like torture is something he’s used  to. “You asked, right? Lemme continue.”

With a huff, you concede. He strokes through your hair leisurely at your complacence, taking another moment to enjoy the quiet moment. As if what he was about to explain wasn’t something as terrifying as torture.

“It was somethin’ goin’ on with Dr. Primitive. Or at least, someone who aspired to be like him. Really odd thing, actually. With these monkeys and bananas, people wanted to become one. People were becoming one. Freaky, really. I mean, the things were cute n’ all… Not the point.” He takes a deep breath, “Some sort of induction… they… I don’t know how they did it, but they were able to bring back some sort of past version of me…? Took almost everything from me, voice, hearing, colors, sight, anger… they took it all. And suddenly, I felt like I was a kid again.”

The silence continues, while you ponder if anything you’ll say will be right, or okay. There’s not much you can think of to say, without sounding out of place. Dr. Primitive was one thing, and something horrifying at that, but the monkeys threw you off. Furthermore, what Boothill had described made your body feel… cold. It felt like it was one step away from wiping his memory completely. 

“What’s with that look?” He chuckles, shaking off the heavy air so easily. “You asked me to tell you, right?”

“Yeah…” You sigh. It’s still quite hard to wrap your mind around such things, but you do your best to ignore it.

“Now you sound all sad. C’mon, I’m alive, ain’t I? Plus, I think I do feel a little better now that I think about it…”

His voice tapers off at the end, before pursing his lips as if he was thinking. Again. Before you can ask him what else he’s got on his mind, his eyes light up. Without so much as a grunt, he picks you up and sets you down on the floor. 

“Here, actually, I think I’ve figured out somethin’,” He says, placing a hand on the small of your back as he leads you to the front door. He makes no further effort to explain what he meant, simply choosing to lead you off with a smile.

As he opens the door, light spills into the cabin. The land looks practically golden, you’ve forgotten just how beautiful the plains are at sunset. When you two step out on the porch, a light breeze greets you, wading through the grass. Boothill lets out another chuckle, before stepping off the porch. He stands still for a moment, appreciating the art of the world, the way the wind whispered across the grass, the birds in the distance and their song, and finally, he lets out a content sigh.

“Can’t say it’s as beautiful as Aeragan-Epharshel, but…” He begins, looking back at you for a moment, waving you closer. “It’s close enough…”

“What do you mean?” You finally take a step down off the porch. He wraps his arm around your waist and pulls you closer with an even bigger smile.

“All that work they did, well it gave me a hankerin’ for the past,” He takes a deep breath, his voice wavering ever so slightly. “Don’t like thinkin’ about it too much cause then I miss it even more.”

He cocks his head down at you, before his hand slides from your waist to your own, interlocking fingers. They’re not cold, for once, about body temperature. Perhaps that’s what you get for laying on top of him. He starts to lead you through the grass, his other hand gliding over the soft blades, sometimes grabbing at one just for the fun of it. However, there’s a certain sadness pulling at his face, his stride, even. He’s quiet for another minute, before he stops.

“It’s odd only feelin’ the wind in my hair.” He states, allowing nature to fill the silence once more.

“Boothill…” You mutter, reluctantly wiggling your hand out of his, reaching up to cup his cheek instead.

“It’s okay, sugar, I don’t need any pity,” Despite his words, he leans into your touch so easily, eyes fluttering closed. “Just… expressin’ myself.” After a beat, he opens his eyes and looks back out on the landscape, sighing softly. “I miss all the mischief I’d get into. After I’d finished my work on the ranch, I’d… run off somewhere, mostly off to the town. I’d get into all sorts of trouble just to keep myself from gettin’ bored. So I could get a chance to run through the fields again.”

He turns to you with a somber look in his eyes, as if he’d tear up. Not that he could, he’d lost that function long ago. His hands fall to your waist, gripping gently at the fabric of your shirt.

“There’s nothin’ quite like that feelin’. Runnin’ through the fields, the wind in your hair, stingin’ your cheeks and fingers, heart beatin’ fast as you find somewhere to hide…” He continues. Again, his voice wavers, and he swallows. He does his best to hold off on his own sadness, something he hadn’t allowed himself to properly feel for Aeons knows how long. “I guess I sorta get it still… bein’ wanted ‘n’ all… but it ain’t the same. It ain’t never been the same since…”

He ducks his head, the wind causing his hair to obscure his face. His hat dips, and you raise your hand to catch it. You don’t know what else to do. You haven’t seen Boothill this sad, ever. He’s always so rowdy and practically radiant, and yet now he’s dour, forcing himself to get his words through. He sniffles, then lets out a choked sound that goes straight to your heart. You wrap your arms around him, pulling him in close and squishing your face against his chest. The minute your arms meet his body, he mirrors the gesture. He practically crumbles in your arms, knees buckling as if he were flesh and bone, sliding down in your arms until his knees are planted firmly in the ground beneath you. In turn he presses his ear to your chest, listening to the gentle sound of your beating heart. At this, he grasps your shirt so tightly, pulling you impossibly closer, letting out another whine.

You pet through his hair, doing your best to still your own thoughts. Not only have you never seen Boothill sad before, you don’t think you’ve ever seen him so… weak. Especially on the topic of his past. He could always speak of Clementine, of Nick and Gray, even of his hatred for the IPC with such confidence. Never once did his voice break, did his scowl turn into a frown. His body is wracked with shudders, biting his lip to quiet his sobs.

You two stay like that for a couple of more minutes, Boothill clinging onto you for dear life while you did your best to comfort him, scratching at his scalp and shushing him gently, whispering all sorts of cliche things to calm him down. Eventually, he finally lets up, with a soft breath. His grip weakens on your clothes, and he stands up. When he does, you card your fingers through his hair, moving his bangs from his face. He can’t help but let out a weak chuckle, allowing you to enjoy the feeling.

“M’sorry honey,” He mutters, his shoulders sagging slightly. “Didn’t mean to get all gloomy like that.”

“It’s fine, really,” You smile, your fingers lingering in his hair, before pulling away. “I think you needed it.”

“I… probably,” He sighs, “Just got too caught up in… all of this.”

Still, he nudges you, hand finding yours once more. He squeezes it, before leading you back to the cabin. The wind started to bite, the sun just peaking over the horizon as the sky went from orange and pink, to pink and purple. The clouds waned, the stars just barely visible as you two walked back. The silence is comfortable now, a small smile tugging at Boothill’s lips. He opens the door for you, taking one last look at the plains, before stepping in and closing the door.

“I’ll make dinner, then,” He says triumphantly, clearly feeling lighter than before. “As an apology. For makin’ you see me like that.”

“You don’t have t–”

“I want to, sugar. Let me? Please?” He cocks his head to the side, his smile turning gentler.

You wouldn’t fight it, either way. Despite how much he’s enjoyed literal bullets and oil, you wouldn’t dare stop him from cooking. He was like an angel, really, almost terrifyingly good in the kitchen. While you wanted to say that he didn’t have to apologize, if his cooking was on the line, you’ve found no choice but to concede.

© freyito, 2024 | masterlist | queue | kofi | discord server | star header by roseschoices DO NOT REPOST AS YOUR OWN, REPOST ON ANY OTHER PLATFORM, OR USE FOR AI/AI CHATBOTS.

[astrolynnworld]

soft secrets

pairing: sub!chris x reader

summary: chris gets caught using the readers vibrator when they’re gone

warnings: smut, toy use, sneaky, caught, sex, sub chris, dom reader, language, “mommy” use, riding, reassurance, little bit of romance,

word count: 1,213

chris’s pov:

when y/n said she had to go to the store real quick i knew i had 30 minutes max before she came back

i knew it was wrong but i enjoyed when y/n wasn’t here because i get to do the stuff i would never have the confidence to tell her

such as.. use her hidden vibrators

don’t know how i came about this secret pleasure of mine but i know it started from my curiosity

that’s usually how i tend to spark interests yet this isn’t an interest i wish i necessarily sparked

as the door shuts indicating y/n’s exit, i rise up out of bed and find myself over at the box of toys that she keeps deep in our closet

i grab pink vibrator that peaks out the top of the box and i return back to the bed

i turn on the vibrator and trace it over the fully formed bulge in my boxers

slowly getting into the sensation i slide my dick out my boxers and trail the vibrator up and down my shaft

i throw my head back against the bed frame as i start to circle my tip that is now leaking precum

that is until i hear the door swing open

———————————————————————

y/n’s pov:

i put on my jacket, take my keys and grab my purse as i kiss chris goodbye

i tell him that i won’t be long because im just running to the store real quick to grab a few essentials

i shut the front door and make the trip to our shared car

i get in, buckle up and start the engine before i o realize that my phone didn’t automatically connect to the bluetooth

i get out the car to see if i dropped it anywhere as i make my way back inside the house

i open the door and see that chris is no longer in the kitchen so i quickly look around to see if i had left it in there

no luck.. so i make my wake to the bedroom

i open the door, “chris have you se-“ i stop abruptly at the scene in front of me

chris starts to tussle around with the blankets trying to hide himself

“what are you doing? i thought you left.” chris tries to distract

“yeah.. i think i left my phone in here so i came back.” i reply unamused by his distraction

a silence fills the room

“is this what you do when im not here? touch yourself with my toys?” i say as i step closer to the now shy boy

“i- .. i w-“ he tries to speak before i interrupt him but pulling the covers away

now revealing his throbbing hard dick leaking precum

“awee did my vibrator do that to you?”

he stares silently

i turn the vibrator back on and place it against his tip to which he shivers from the stimulation

“so tell me baby, do you always touch yourself with my things when i’m gone?”

he shyly nods his head

i turn off the vibrator, “i need you to use your words baby. or im going to stop every time”

“yes. i start to touch myself with your toys every time you walk out that front door” he fusses in response to the lack of attention on his hard cock

“and why haven’t you told me that you like to use my toys?” i say as i start the vibrator back up

“aah- be- because i thought you would judge or not like it” he whines out

“aw i would never judge you baby. you don’t need to be afraid to tell me about any of your guilty pleasures” i say softly as i place a kiss on his lips

as i pull back from the kiss he stares at my lips all foggy eyes, chasing in for another one

i continue to circling and drag the vibrator all on his cock as i kiss his needy lips

“fuck y/n- i need to be inside of you so bad” he throws his head back and whines

“beg for it.” i demand

“aah- please y/n. please slide your wet pussy on me. i need it so fucking bad, i’m aching for you-“

“i don’t know. i think im just-“ i interrupt

“please mommy.” he looks up into my eyes

mommy? he’s never called me mommy before. fuck did that turn me on

“i’ll be such a good boy for you mommy.. just please please please fuck me. i need your pussy so bad” he continues

i bend down and start kissing him on his lips, neck, and shoulders as i undress myself naked

i reposition myself to sit on his stomach while he lays flat on the bed

he starts groping at my boobs so i bend down to give him better access

he starts licking and sucking my nipples, knowing how sensitive they get with oral stimulation.

i start moaning at the feeling of his tongue tickling my nipple

“good boy baby. you’re so good for mommy” i say as i slowly start to adjust his cock with my hole from the back

i start to sit upright so i can get a better angle sliding myself on his cock.

as i sink down, he moans and throws his head further back into the bed

“aah- fuck.” he lets out a gasped whimper

“oh my god baby.” i join in with a whimper

i start gliding myself up and down his cock at a comfortable pace but i could tell chris was struggling to maintain his peace

he kept writhing and making cute little sounds under me

“you’re so fucking hot baby. keep feeling good for me” i speak out

“you’re so fucking tight mommy. it feels too good, i don’t know how long i can last.” he whines out with his eyes shut

“im close too baby” i say as i grab the vibrator that was now set to the side and place it on my clit

“ooh fuck” i tilt my head back as i continue the steady pace of my bounces

i bend back down to sloppily kiss chris

i start to go faster as i feel my orgasm starting to pool from my stomach

“fuck- mo- mommy you’re getting so tight. i’m gonna c- cum, can i cum please miss?” chris mutters out

“yes baby. cum with me” i say as my orgasm washes over me

i feel chris start to thrust up chasing his own orgasm.

our thrusts decreasing as we finish the chase for our highs, just heavy passionate breathing while we calm down.

“you’re so fucking amazing baby i really do love you” chris breaks the silence

i smile and bend down to kiss him, “i love you more chris” i say as i pull away and get off top of him

“see what could happen if you tell me about all your fantasies and guilty pleasures?“ i laugh

“im never gonna judge you. cause 9 times out of 10 i’ve probably already either thought it or want it too.”

he smiles and leans in for another kiss

“now actually where’s my phone? i still need to go to the store.” i conclude

———————————————————————

a/n- i love combining requests into one big juicy story! so i hope you guys enjoyed 🫠

[mouwrites]

I haven’t written for Creepypasta/MH for a while, so…. Here :] (i am so sorry for starving you my sweet creeps/creep enjoyers)

Creepypasta/MH - How You Met

Characters: Nina the Killer, Jeff the Killer, “Ticci” Toby

Nina the Killer

You guys met at the mall

I’ll give you one guess which store you were in

….did you guess Claire’s? Because it was Claire’s

(For those who don’t know, Claire’s is a super cutesy accessory store with earrings, headbands, unicorn headphones, stuff like that…. They also do piercings)

She was getting a new piercing, you were just browsing

You were closely examining two pairs of earrings, trying to decide which ones to get

A few feet away Nina was doing the same, tapping her masked cheek as she tried to pick out which studs to get for the new piercing

You kinda looked at each other from the corners of your eyes, noticing that you were in a similar predicament

Nina looked you up and down, and decided on a whim that she wanted your advice

“Hey, which studs do you think I should get? I’m getting a new piercing.”

You leaned over, checking out the selection alongside her

While you looked, she tucked her hair behind her ear to let you see the ones she already had

You hummed, looking between her ears and the studs on display

Then you pointed to the ones you thought would look best, and though you couldn’t see her mouth under her mask, you knew she was smiling hugely

“Thank you so much!! Now let me help you pick your earrings!”

You smiled, surprised that she took notice of your earlier plight

You guys seemed to connect over your sense of fashion/what looks nice (even if you didn’t necessarily have the same aesthetic)

She actually asked if you wanted to stick around for the actual piercing after, which you agreed to

It looked fantastic ofc, and she gave you full credit :)

After that you guys hung around the mall together, exchanging numbers before parting

She was enamored by your style, your demeanor, your attitude—she was determined to see you again

Jeff the Killer

You guys also met at a store

But it was a thrift store

You were hunting “the heat” that everyone always buzzes about

He was hunting some nice deals on clothes 💰

You didn’t notice the pale, masked man browsing the racks, but he certainly noticed you

He watched the way you moved; the way your face shifted when you found something you liked or disliked

He wasn’t particularly interested, but he was watching you anyway

Just a habit of a serial killer ig

You were slowly growing closer, the racks separating you two dwindling in number until you were on the same aisle, walking in opposite directions

You pulled out a shirt, and suddenly your face exploded into a huge grin and a snort escaped you

Jeff jumped, not having expected…. that

You were doing your best not to double over in laughter, repeatedly looking over the shirt in your hands

You decided that you just had to share this with someone, so you waved over the nearest person

Which was Jeff, of course

He warily approached, curious but cautious

His eyes were narrowed until you flipped around the shirt, letting him read it

“Shakin’ tits and takin’ shits….”

He blinked once, processing the outrageous atrocity of fashion

Then he started chuckling too

You shared a fit of laughter that never seemed to end as you both kept renewing your giggles by looking at the shirt or each other

It was just so stupid, and you both kept saying so between laughs

He extended his hand, steadying himself to say:

“Please let me buy that.”

“What, you think I’m gonna wear it? …Hmm, on second thought…”

Cue the teasing banter (oh man. He’s hooked now)

In the end you walked away with the shirt, but Jeff came away with something better

A new interesting acquaintance, and a motive to “get you back”

What does that mean? Lord knows… but don’t be surprised when he suddenly shows up again, ready for some more of that playful banter

“Ticci” Toby

You guys actually knew each other before Toby became what he is

So let’s rewind back to high school:

Toby was a weirdo, this we know

But so were you (even if you tried to hide it)

You were intrigued by the strange boy that seemed to be lurking in the back row of your every class

One day you decided to sit next to him; you realized that he actually seemed kinda… normal?

Like, you weren’t alarmed by him or anything

You weren’t sure what you had been expecting, but it wasn’t the quiet (if not fidgety) kid you found yourself next to

You were prone to draw when bored in class, and though you didn’t notice at first, he seemed to like watching you draw

It became more obvious as time passed, until one day he finally spoke to you

In a hushed whisper, careful not to be caught by the teacher, he said:

“Can you draw the teacher? But, like, super ugly.”

You smirked mischievously, giving a little nod as you doodled the crude character

You heard him snort, and for the first time you saw a genuine smile on those chapped, chewed-up lips

From then on you frequently amused him with your drawings, and he amused you with his requests

You started meeting up more often, and you sorta became friends

You weren’t particularly close or anything, but you’d give each other knowing grins when you passed each other in the hallways

He liked your mischievous side, as well as the fact that you didn’t pity him

You were just a chill person who he vibed really well with :)

When he went off the rails, you guys kind of lost contact

You were someone he could come to when he was in a goofy mood, but as that became more of a rarity, so too did your relationship wither

But he never forgot you; in his mind, you were like a flower frosted over, someone he could come back to someday and be accepted once more

Though he didn’t think of you too often, especially as the years passed

Like I said, you weren’t close

But still, you made a lasting impression on him, and he always knew he’d be glad to see you again someday

Not too many characters with this one; I noticed it was getting kinda long ^^” But thanks for reading!! Take care sweet things <33

(divider by saradika)

[thewritetofreespeech]

Could I request brothers of Obey Me with an s/o who's a medical expert?

Obey me Brothers + medical expert s/o

Lucifer

Finds it interesting.

He doesn’t know much about human anatomy or medicine, so it’s always interesting when someone knows more about a topic than he does.

Really has no interest in the physicality of humans or healing. Just interested in their knowledge and hobby.

Provides them with as many resources as possible if they wish to learn demon medicine as well. But only if they want to.

Mammon

Probably says a lot about him that he finds it so hot….

Hearing them talk about medicine, and take authority in an emergency, gets his blood going.

He has no idea what they are talking about, as he’s pretty think with anything biology or health related, but it sounds impressive.

Makes jokes about wanting to play doctor, but gets too flustered & embarrassed if they take him up on it to follow through.

Levi

Finds it interesting, but only for fact checking games or his otome fanfic needs.

He got really into medical information when Hataraku Saibō came out. However he quickly lost interest when he had to actually learn stuff and look at pictures of blood.

Levi has a slight Hemophobia complex.

Will go ask them things like “how quickly does the human body drain of blood?” “what’s the difference between a laceration and a hematoma?” “could someone live if they were stabbed in the stomach 13 times?” For literary purposes only.

Satan

Of course loves anything to do with knowledge, and the amount of reading required to become a medical expert is just a bonus.

Satan also has an interest in medicine and medical information due to his love of mystery drama, which are his favorite type.

Forensic knowledge has a great crossover. So he spends a lot of time speculating with s/o on the cause of death or suspects in a book before it reaches the end.

Finds a lot of obscure medical books & journals to share with them, should they cross his path.

Asmo

Says he’s interested, but only to play doctor.

A lot of it really goes over his head as Asmo is only interested in figures. Not literal anatomy.

He does like to listen to them though, as they always get so passionate when they talk about some medical marvel of obscure fact. He’s always found passion to be a person’s sexiest quality.

Dresses up like a nurse a lot to surprise them. Thinks it’s helpful.

Beel

A lot of it is too technical for Beel too, but he tries to pay more attention than Asmo.

He is actually really interested in anatomy. Particularly as it relates to kinesis and physicality.

He asks a lot of questions on how to move his body better to improve his results. Or avoid injury.

Injuries do happen though, as it’s inevitable with sports or the high intensity work outs, he’s doing. Goes to s/o to have them bandage him up and take care of him. They always have to ask if he’s running a fever as well with how much he blushes.

Belphie

Belphie is a bit of the medical expert too. He had a lot of time to read when he was locked up in that attic, and anatomy was actually always an interest of his before s/o.

He plays dumb though and acts like he doesn’t understand things, so they’ll reteach him. Mostly just to hear them talk.

He also plays sick a lot so they’ll take care of him. Not necessarily a Munchausen, just needy.

It usually works. However there are sometimes when the treatments get a little….intense, and more than he bargained for. At least they haven’t tried surgery on him yet.

[luffyvace]

what the Strawhats would watch on YT 🏴‍☠️

Cuz I think it’d be funny

(No gifs but they’re a decent length since it’s only one crew—may or may not do a WBP version 🤗..)

Luffy:

watches boxing

He just likes it idk why- ik it’s oddly specific but I feel like he’d be into the adrenaline rush of it yk?

OF COURSE has a crap ton of food on his feed 😭 (he follows Sanji’s cooking channel 💞)

some music but not really, mostly party music for when he throws parties yk? 🤪 (I feel like modern Luffy would throw random house parties for no reason- and invite his friends)

super impatient with ads (he doesn’t like it interrupting his stuuuuuff 😩)

occasionally watches soccer as well

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this but he also likes video games! Watches gameplays and skips over the storyline for the action

would watch random animated shows but not necessarily for little kids yk? Just funny animated skits (but they have to be fast paced and actually funny or he’s not interested 😁)

watches yt shorts a lot, feeds into his short attention span (likes it better than TikTok)

Zoro:

work out vids.

debates in the comments on what strengthens/creates more muscle

always wins the arguments (has a lot of knowledge abt working out)

prob watched one motorcycle vid and now they won’t stop showing up on his home page

he’s tired of the motorcycle vids 😭

wants his gym work out hardcore routine home page back 🫤

would run his own yt page about gaining muscle n’ such but doesn’t care enough + doesn’t have time for the trolls and know it all’s (bro you ARE ONE..? 🤨🤦‍♀️)

blocked Sanji’s cooking channel after disliking all his videos

Nami:

fashion tips n tricks

”this or that” outfit edition on yt shorts

heavily criticizes each outfit and scrunches her face at the ugly ones (they’re not ugly just not to her taste)

doesn’t ever actually comment, even if she likes it

rarely likes too- actually, 😀 mostly just watches it and moves on, and there’s like nothing other than a few fashion haul and “where to shop for cute clothes” vids in her “watch later”

only watches them once, then deletes them, it pretty much stays empty

usually the vids she watches are around 5 mins, she doesn’t have a short attention span but she feels like vids that are hours long are a waste of time if it isn’t a music playlist

speaking of which she has a lot of light/catchy music playlists saved (Tyler the creator, kali uchis, laufey sometimes)

Usopp:

lots of inventions and creations, etc

used to watch life hacks/diy vids til it came out everyone found them cringe 😆👊💥

now he watches how to make stuff out of random car parts/tables- wtv! yk?

also some gamers :)

likes Minecraft a lot. He watches the “pro builders” thinks: I can do that easy! Tries, miserably fails, then rages quits (to continue watching the pros again). In that order.

watches prank vids

him and Nami share playlists/recommends each other songs so he has a whole bunch of music playlists she created for him (she forces him to watch and give opinions on the playlist right when she sends them. And if he takes over an hour she’ll charge him for making her wait)

He’s the one who got Nami into Tyler the creator

loves supporting Sanji’s cooking channel and likes/comments on all his vids. Actually takes his advice and has tried cooking a few of his dishes as his dinner and it actually worked out?! 😲

Sanji:

Has a cooking channel with 34.5k subscribers and an average of 50k views named ‘Cooking with Crap Cook’

Tries to Makes himself look like a “seductive waiter” in yt shorts (for the ladies)

does really good replying to questions/comments, open to suggestions/requests of what to make a cooking tut on and has actually traveled a bit with the money yt gives him! Takes the opportunity to cook in different places :)

cooks in public sometimes, occasionally someone recognizes him! ‘Wait are you the crap cook?!’

spoils Nami and Robin with the money he makes

Responds to women a little more happily than he does men (but realistically what else are we expecting?-)

his vids usually have a lot of cuts (Luffy, Usopp and Chopper came over uninvited for food and are TOTALLY trying to keep quiet while playing as Sanji makes a video) and are typically around 7-10 minutes

swoons whenever he sees Nami or Robin liked his video (has a nosebleed when they comment 😅⁉️)

has Zoro blocked despite the fact that he doesn’t post

Chopper:

has thought about posting health/medicine tips but is a bit insecure about what other will think + he’s camera shy

Zoro and Sanji try to encourage him by saying things like “just hurry up and do it already so I can incorporate your tips in my work out routine” and “there’s no need to be scared, I’ll help you out if you need”

still hasn’t pulled the trigger yet

for now he just follows other doctors and some gamers too

Luffy and Usopp put him on gaming

likes “Octodad” (LOL 😂💖)

doesn’t actually watch yt all that much, mostly when Usopp and Luffy do- but on they’re iPads instead of his

they mostly go on his when theirs runs out of battery, but they don’t stay on long since it just has a lot of medial advice on there 😀😅

prefers playing with Usopp and Luffy over his ipad

Robin:

(Long) informational vids and documentaries (mostly abt history)

also likes animal documentaries

follows other archaeologists

corrects anyone who’s wrong in any video she watches and is always right + wins the argument (has the most unintentionally funny comebacks ever 😂)

Follows Sanji and is pretty supportive, likes his vids and occasionally comments (more than Nami anyway..) whenever she sees his videos on her homepage

also encourages Chopper to start his channel and made him promise she would be the first follower/to know if he decided to finally do it

doesn’t spend much time on yt unless she has a lot of free time, and even then she prefers to read or spend time with friends

Always snuggled up in a blanket, drinking tea, watching animal planet’s yt channel on the tv when she does watch

has contemplated starting a informational channel but has never told anyone. Ultimately decided not to since she’s not on yt much and she’s too busy anyway.

Franky:

random inventions n such, like Usopp

still watches life hacks without any shame—genuinely uses some

also watches random vids, usually funny stuff- sends it to Robin (who always responds with ‘👍’ ……..(🗿😂)

Already knows how to build a lot of things from Tom- still goes to yt anyway and learns to build random stuff for fun

not on here often either, mostly when he’s bored

has a few gamers on his homepage because Luffy, Usopp and Chopper got him to watch a few vids he found funny (+ they steal his iPad to watch his yt when all 3 of theirs run out of battery)

always forgets to charge his iPad because he’s hardly on there and the one time he needed it for a yt vid to remind him how build smth it was dead 🙂

Follows Sanji’s cooking channel- always forgets to like his vids when he sends them to the group chat (also follows Robin even tho she doesn’t post)

Brook:

women..

not exactly inappropriate stuff but he does follow a lot of girl content creators so it looks like he’s just into fashion but he’s actually just following for them 😭 (the disappointment)

At least he also follows Sanji! (🤦‍♀️) forgets to like his vids tho- there’s so many women on his homepage that Sanji’s vids don’t even come down his feed

Also follows Nami and Robin

hardly on yt, prefers to play his instruments 🤷‍♀️

speaking of which he also follows a lot of music artists, mostly older ones from his time (HAHAHAHA)

Usopp and Nami force him to listen to today’s artists and he likes a few- but grandpa sticks to what he’s knows for the most part 😊

(Nami has Brook blocked)

Jinbei:

Follows Sanji but is Vegetarian so he doesn’t like any of his meat/fish recipes- same w chopper I forgot to mention that (😀)

Follows everyone (idek why)

mostly watches vegetarian cooking shows/recipes

Requests for Sanji to do a lot of vegetarian recipes (sometimes Sanji does them if enough women are backing him- 🤦‍♀️🗿 other times he ignores him……🙂👊💥)

also follows karate channels/masters n stuff

doesn’t criticize per say but does cringe a bit when they give bad advice

has better things to do then waste his life away on yt so he’s another one that’s not on here much..

would make a (fishman) karate channel if he cared enough- but he doesn’t :P 🤷‍♀️ (Zoro would’ve followed him)

[once-upon-an-animation]

Some thoughts on Annabeth’s Character Arc

Before I begin, just want to say sorry about not being online much. I’m in a very busy period of my life and haven’t had the mental capacity to address all the responses I’ve gotten on posts and such. Will do that in the future.

That being said, I still enjoy writing, so today, I’m going to write a post sharing my thoughts on Annabeth’s character arc in the original PJO series.

For context, someone posted on Reddit that TTC was their favourite book in the original series because of Annabeth’s absence. The comment resulted in a discussion about why people didn’t like Annabeth’s character. I shared the extremely unpopular opinion that Annabeth’s character peaked in Sea of Monsters for me, and I didn’t really love what was done with her character from TTC onwards. Here’s why:

In general:

• ⁠I feel like her perspective towards Luke lacked a lot of nuance. I’m fine with her not thinking he’s completely evil, but it would have been nice to see her also consider all the harmful things Luke had done before the incident with Silena in TLO. It just felt like her POV was sweeping a lot of those things under the rug even though I know that wasn’t necessarily the intent.

• ⁠The Perachel thing would have been fine if there was an on-page apology. But the fact that there is none and it seemingly took Rachel becoming the Oracle and not being allowed to date Percy for Annabeth to finally stop hating her seems like a missed opportunity to have Annabeth address her pride and the way she acts towards others.

• ⁠On that same note, I have mixed feelings about Annabeth’s overall character arc in PJO. While I feel like her relationships with other characters in the story changed over time, I don’t always feel like she truly changed as a person. I mean, she ended up being right about Luke in the end, so it’s not like she had any major motivation to shift her perspective of the world, change her way of thinking, or work on her personality flaws. Given that her fatal flaw is hubris, I would have loved to see a character arc where her pride gets her in deep trouble and she has to confront it head-on by actively learning humility in different ways. She did that well in the first two books, which is why she peaked for me as a character in SoM, but it feels like TTC lost the rhythm and never picked it back up. I would have liked to see her acknowledge being wrong about the way she treated Rachel, and walking away from the war with a different perspective on Luke other than just “I was right all along”. It would have also been nice to see more people actually call Annabeth out on her BS. Someone other than Percy should have said something to her about her behavior. I feel like Chiron could have done it in a “loving dad who wants the best for you” kind of way. Thalia could have also done it.

Or maybe Annabeth gets a visit from Athena after BoTL, where they talk about the quest, the battle, and the stuff on Daedalus’ laptop, but Athena also expresses disappointment in Annabeth for acting petty and not recognizing Rachel as a useful addition to the quest. Maybe Athena reiterates that she doesn’t approve of Percabeth’s friendship, especially because it seems like Annabeth is letting her feelings cloud her judgement. Annabeth’s arc could have been about learning what true wisdom is. Wisdom and knowledge aren’t the same thing, and wisdom is so much more than just knowing facts and battle plans. Wisdom is about maturity, exercising well-informed judgement, and recognizing the truth about things, including yourself. Humility is a huge aspect of gaining wisdom and I think it could have been a great arc for Annabeth, given her fatal flaw. Her overall arc in HoO could have been a continuation of this, especially with what happens in BoO with Piper in that temple.

• ⁠I don’t really like the way her arc with her dad was resolved. The way the story is written in TTC, it seems to imply that Annabeth was to blame for assuming the worst of her dad/stepmom (which I know was probably not the intent, but it has that vibe). I think there was a better way to acknowledge that Annabeth’s parents do in fact care about her, but didn’t do the best job of showing it when she really needed it and made her feel like she needed to run away.

• ⁠There are tiny things that Rick adds into the way he writes Annabeth that make Annabeth seem kind of inconsiderate, like all the little moments of aggression , the fact that she keeps teasing Percy about Rachel even after everyone else has moved on, or in Crown of Ptolemy where Percy said that he “has a healthy fear of Annabeth because she’s kicked his butt plenty of times” and doesn’t feel like he’s allowed to disagree with her. I know it’s mostly supposed to be amusing, but it’s a little uncomfortable to read at times. It sucks because Annabeth is obviously supposed to be a kind person and in many ways, she is, but these moments don’t always make her look nice.

Whew. Sorry that this was long.

I chalk much of my complaints with Annabeth up to not having much of her POV in the original series. Then again, even if Rick decides to delve deeper into Annabeth’s story in the Disney series, I feel like he’s just generally not that great at writing female characters, so I don’t know how much he’ll be able to improve this. In addition, it feels like Rick has generally been losing sight of his characters and they feel less and less like themselves with every addition to his franchise. I’m genuinely nervous for Chalice of the Gods because I don’t know what he’s going to do with Annabeth’s character and I don’t know how much I trust him, lol.

[asher-agere]

I, once again, have no extra text to add before my request. There needs to be more interesting things happening in my life that aren’t very dreadful…

Request time!! Can you share some thoughts on caregiver Shirase with a little who tries to ignore their regression as much as possible because they hate not being useful. Of course, as usual with most of my requests, no specific character in mind ^_^

You say most of your requests have no second character in mind right after we did that little Stormbringer character series- But either way no worries! Don’t need a second character for simple headcanons hehe

Caregiver Shirase + Little Neglecting Regression

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

✮⋆˙ Shirase can be a selfish guy. He’s not necessarily rude or anything! But let’s be honest, he knows how to put himself first. He thinks that everyone works that way! So when he starts taking care of a little one that pushes off their own needs just to make his life a little bit easier? He’s confused to say the least. Obviously he wants his little one to take care of themselves! Neglecting your regression isn’t good ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡ )

✮⋆˙ For awhile Shirase lets it go. It’s perfectly reasonable that they just haven’t felt like regressing! He doesn’t want to make them feel bad about not regressing or push them into it! But overtime he’ll notice signs that they really need it. Spacing out, fidgeting with stuff a lot, maybe talking less. He’ll notice! It might take him some time… But he will notice eventually! Once he’s onto what’s going on he can be relentless!

✮⋆˙ Shirase tries talking about things calmly. He’ll just ask his little one “Sooooo why haven’t I seen my baby in a while? I miss them a lot y’know?” If they hesitate to answer he’ll shower them in praise, explaining how much he loves his baby and misses them, then once they’re nice and flustered he’ll ask again! Hopefully this works, they’ll admit the problem, and they can talk it through! Shirase will explain that he loves taking care of them of course! It’s a comfort for him too, remember? But sometimes a little one can be stubborn. Insisting that they’re fine and walking off. Shirase moves onto phase two!

✮⋆˙ A stubborn baby gets a bit more forceful treatment! He knows that they need to regress, even if they’re denying it. So he’ll help them get there! He’ll walk up behind them and tackle them with a blanket! He’ll pick them up so they can’t run away! Baby is quickly wrapped up in a swaddle and carried to the couch! Shirase will put on some cartoons for the little one and bounce them, cooing at them and placing a pacifier in their mouth!

✮⋆˙ If the little one is stubborn enough to insist they don’t need to regress then they’re probably stubborn enough to object to obvious babying treatment. However! Shirase can be even more stubborn. Anything the little one says to object Shirase just nods his head and hums as if they’re babbling. He doesn’t speak baby! He soothes any thrashing as if it’s a tantrum, gently shushing them and rocking them side to side “Calm down now bud… Want your paci? Look at the super cool cartoons! Oooo I love this episode, settle down so we can watch”

✮⋆˙ The little one can object all they want, he’s getting them to regress forcibly. Then whenever they’re out of headspace (Usually after a nice nap) He’ll actually talk about things! Ask them why they don’t wanna regress, why they’ve been avoiding it. He’ll explain that he loves taking care of them too! They think he’d do something he doesn’t like? They must not know him very well then. In fact the little one is very rude for not letting him do his favorite activity which is taking care of them! He’ll punish them with a tickle attack!

✮⋆˙ Obviously that self doubt isn’t the kind of thing that’ll disappear over night though. He gets that! So he’ll encourage them to regress constantly! He’s always keeping up with cartoons (He gets emotionally invested in the plot), he’ll buy any cute plushies he sees, and whenever he’s bored he’ll just go and baby his little one. An adorable little baby will surely cure his boredom! If they object he’ll beg them with puppy dog eyes, his childish behavior may not seem fitting for a caregiver, but he’s so playful! It encourages a happy drop session!

✮⋆˙ Constant reassurance! It’s like. Daily for him. He’ll give his little one a hug and say how much he loves them, send them silly stuff saying it reminded him of them and he’s looking forwards to next time he gets to watch the cute baby, he makes sure that if he’s complaining (Which he does a lot) he mentions how it would be so helpful to just take care of someone else. Tiny things, he tries not to be too pushy! But the constant reassurance can help a lot

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

Sorry I haven’t posted today ૮꒰◞ ˕ ◟ ྀི꒱ა We had no power and no WiFi and no water and I was trying to conserve my battery and not waste data? But like I also didn’t really… It was very frustrating and I’ve been on the verge of a tantrum all day (>﹏<) But I got at least one post in today! There’s also a Comic Con this weekend where I’m selling my first wig… Very busy times! I’m also going both days so I get to use both of my cosplays :0 But yeah a lot- Sorry for the yap hehe. Have a lovely day/night everyone!

[onthewaytosomewhere]

Therapy for literally anyone in 911

thanks ever so much for letting me use this to untangle (at least somewhat) these silly buddie boys

this can also be found on ao3 - and it will prolly make more sense after the first chapter

It’s been two months since Buck stopped fighting, two months since Eddie showed up at the location of the underground fighting ring and dragged him to the hospital. Of course, it’s been a long two months, the kind of months that feel like you lived multiple years within each one. It’s not all been bad. Eddie and Buck finally admitted their feelings for each other and are slowly starting dating—which really isn’t much different than how they were before, just with more times out just the two of them.

This has been one of the good things—Eddie is sitting in the waiting room while Buck is in their therapist's office. Their therapist—that’s still wild to think they share this and so much more now. The way this has been going is Buck gets 40 minutes if he needs it. They get 20-30 minutes for the two of them together, and Eddie gets some time afterward. He’s working through a few things he didn’t bother with when he briefly did this therapy thing after his own time in the fighting ring. Buck has put his foot down and said if he’s working through all of his stuff, then so will Eddie. They’re getting mentally healthier for each other—and Christopher.

Christopher has taken to Buck and Eddie actually being together remarkably well. Of course, he’s never shied away from his love for Buck. So, other than a few more times when they go out without him, it’s not like things have changed a lot for him yet. At some point in the future, it may, though. Eddie doesn’t think he’ll ever want anyone other than Buck. He knows they need to take things slow, not necessarily glacial, but slow to protect themselves and everyone else. Neither of them necessarily has the best track record when it comes to dating. So for now, they hang out and go on dates with the added bonus of kissing and …

Eddie’s thoughts are interrupted when the door to the office opens, and the therapist motions him in. He walks in and notices that Buck looks a bit nervous. He doesn’t know what that might mean, but he just has to hope it’s not bad. He sits down next to Buck in his usual spot for therapy and smiles at him. He gets a smile back, and it relieves a little of the anxiety that was ramping up. Buck’s smiles have always had an insane effect on him, even before he realized why that might be.

Their therapist sits across from them and starts. “Eddie, Buck has something he wants to tell you to start this week's joint session. I will go over to my desk to give you a moment, but I’m here if you need me.”

Eddie’s confused. Why would they not stay in the usual spot for their sessions? Isn’t that the point of all this? He turns to Buck, who still looks slightly nervous but less than when Eddie came in. Buck smiles at him, and he feels the anxiety that is starting to ratchet up again recede. How it took him so long to realize what he actually feels for Buck still amazes him.

“Eddie, I need to let you know that I remember a few things from when I was in and out of consciousness at the hospital after surgery.”

“Okay …”

“I remember you saying you love me.”

Oh. “Oh.” That’s a development Eddie doesn’t know what to do with.

“I want to tell you, and not because of that; I know we haven’t said that yet—at least not outside our heads and both conscious, but—I love you.”

“Oh, Buck …” Eddie’s brain has yet to catch up with his mouth, so he’s unsure what to say next. He wants to kiss him and let him know that way that he also loves him, but he probably actually needs to say the words. “Buck, I love you, I’ve loved you for so long, and honestly, I think I first realized it when I was stuck in that damn well. When I didn’t know if I was getting out of there, you and Christopher were the people who kept me fighting. I had wanted to tell you then, but I got nervous, and then stuff happened so fast, and before I knew it, so much time had already passed. I missed my opportunity, or so I thought, so I kept my feelings to myself, sat on them, and they continued growing.” He stops to take a breath, and Buck lets out a giggle that Eddie doesn’t get to hear often but treasures every time he does.

“Eddie, I ��� you know this wasn’t a contest. You didn’t hafta take my love confession and blow it out of the water. But since you did, I’m not going to bother with a grand love confession. I will repeat, however, that I love you. Have for so much longer than I knew.”

Eddie leans across the loveseat, and his lips find Buck’s; they kiss slowly, just lips, then tongue, then Eddie nipping at Buck’s lip with teeth. Eddie sighs into the kiss; he knows they can’t stay like this no matter how much he wants to, so he pulls back. Eddie pulls back and laughs when Buck’s lips chase his before leaning in and whispering, “Later. We’ll come back to this later.”

Buck leans toward him, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips, “I intend to hold you to that.” Eddie looks forward to it.

Their therapist is joining them again, saying, “That went well. Based on what I turned back around to, I'm assuming there isn’t anything you need to discuss, but if there is, we can do that now.”

Eddie looks at Buck and shakes his head. There is nothing more he needs to say about this at the moment, at least not with just their therapist. All he wants to do is repeatedly tell Buck that he loves him—he wants to shout it from the rooftops and tell the world. Buck smiles as if he’s heard all of Eddie’s internal dialogue and turns toward their therapist, replying, “No. We’re all good right now.”

“Perfect. So, shall we pick up where we left off last week?” The rest of the appointment goes by so fast. Their joint session ends and Buck leaves the room for a bit. Eddie feels so much lighter for one of the first times since he started therapy. He feels complete. He’s ready to tackle whatever comes, with Buck at his and Christopher’s sides.

[oriley42]

Get to know your (much beloved) fic writer!

# 4, 11, 16, 55?

(Obligatory your hilson breathes life into me every single day and I have reread them all a million times except for the ones I haven’t read yet bc I’m saving them so I don’t run out! 🥰🥰🥰 thank you for writing!!)

aww thank youuu and thank you extra for the ask!!

4. Where do you find inspiration for new ideas?

Re-watching canon always inspires show-specific stuff! And engaging with different media more broadly cross-pollinates in a cool way, like my yearly watch of Groundhog Day inspired TGIF, and seeing a random wedding-themed romance novel on the library shelves made me think "maybe this wedding planner plot bunny could be a whole story!"

11. Link your three favorite fics right now

(wording is ambiguous so I'm listing three of my own, because I barely read any fic when I'm in writing mode ahhh sorry 🙈)

TGIF - I am still so proud of this world. maybe I'm the one trapped in the time loop...

Adventures in Polyamory - I have 30k of the sequel written god Amber I am thinking about you all the timeeee

A Study in Lavender - I am also trying to finish the sequel to my Jooster fic feat. lesbian OCs before the summer's over wish me luck!!!

16. How many fic ideas are you nurturing right now? Share one of them?

Oh, so many! *Counts documents in House MD folder* oh kay oh jeez there are fully twelve story ideas that are developed enough that I'll probably write them at some point 😵‍💫 Let's see, which one have I maybe not teased before... aha! Femslash Hilson AU. I love this framework so much more than old school "genderswap" which has always, for me, come with icky binary straight transphobic connotations (though of course that is not necessarily the case and people have written cool trans stuff under this label!)

Here's a quick teaser from the sapphic New Orleans opening meet-up:

“As you will soon learn, if you aren’t bright enough to have picked up on it already…” House slung an arm around Wilson’s narrow shoulders, “I’m not like most people. Give me the gruesome deets. But no tears, please, I’m squeamish.”

“You’re a total bitch,” Wilson marveled.

“Now, you’re getting it.”

Wilson put her arm suddenly—bravely—around House’s waist. “Buy me a drink. I’ll tell you the whole tragic story, and only cry if you get on my nerves.”

55. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers' reactions to certain ones?

Super basic, but it's House! He wears his weirdness on his sleeve to hide the different, more painful weirdness inside. It's a like a delicious Ferrero Rocher of psychoses <3 The way he processes and interacts with the world continues to fascinate, and on a personal/political level, I just adore getting to write a character with chronic pain like me.

Wilson is also fascinating, but I think I like to write him from an outside perspective/House's perspective best. Seeing juuuust enough through his mask of normalcy to know he's Not Alright, but still maintaining a sense of inner mystery. I've had a lot of very kind feedback on how I write Wilson, which encourages me to keep writing him even weirder and more unwell, which is delightful 💖

[butterflydm]

wot reread: towers of midnight (chapter 8-13)

spoilers for towers of midnight

1. Hmm, we open this Mat chapter with him pondering over the (still-sealed) letter that Verin left him and admiring the beauty of the female tavernkeeper (quickly slapping a “but I’m married” bandaid over his admiration). Strike two.

2. I genuinely am very curious about what notes might have been left behind about Mat (and Mat’s marriage) because... from Sanderson’s other writing, this doesn’t feel like an idea he would have necessarily come up with on his own? He admits that he’s a bit of a prude and his main go-to ‘romance’ route in his own books is “wow this arranged marriage is working out surprisingly well!”. So I’m really curious if post-marriage horndog!Mat was noted somewhere in the stuff Jordan left behind. And I’m keeping track of the moments because I want to see how much of a pattern it ends up being over the course of the ~post-marriage~ books.

I am also going to keep track of whether or not Mat notes any specific qualities about ~absent wifey~ that he likes and, if he does, if those qualities are things that we’ve witnessed her actually showing at any point.

3. Also, just to note: while Mat is trying to remind himself that he’s married, his ~wife~ is engaging in hostile combat actions against his friends, and will be enslaving forty Aes Sedai and killing an additional unknown number of Aes Sedai, Warders, and people who live and work in Tar Valon. But, you know, it’s her empire that’s his enemy, not her.

(that line really is... the sad thing is that line is actually great out of context but, wow, it makes absolutely ZERO sense in terms of Mat’s actual relationship with ~Fortuona~. It’s such a bonkers delusional line for Mat to have said at any point during their relationship as it exists in the books. It really does feel like Jordan thought up that line first and then never got around to actually writing a relationship that could live up to its sentiment but jammed it in anyway because he couldn’t let it go even though it didn’t fit with the relationship as-written. But leaving it in really makes Mat come across as extremely reality-denying in terms of his relationship. And, hey, maybe that was what Jordan was going for, idk)

4. Verin is betting here that Mat’s curiosity is stronger than his desire to stay away from Aes Sedai plans, but she doesn’t know that the narrative has spent the last few books beating his curiosity and critical thinking out of him and turning his irrational dislike of Aes Sedai up to bizarrely high levels so that he’s willing to make out with a slaver. Verin should have just ALSO shared the info in the letter with Egwene when she was with her, but it was Verin’s turn to hold the Idiot Ball of Making The Plot Happen, so she did not (honestly, either Mat reading the letter or Verin telling Egwene the contents of the letter would also have saved us a bunch of time in the story).

5. More of weird fey creature Mat here, who acts like he is bound by his Oaths in a bizarre metaphysical way, instead of him just reluctantly keeping his word because he’s a good man. Like... you haven’t sworn on the Oath Rod, Mat. If whatever Verin is telling you to do actually goes against your morals just... break your word. You were willing to do it when it came to the Seanchan Oaths, because an oath under duress is not binding, and you seemed to be aware of that back during WH. The whole “you must follow your oaths to the letter even if they lead you into immoral acts” belief is NOT honorable. But this ties back into the way that Jordan had Mat acting with Tuon in CoT & KoD -- the logic of going “because she’s ~my wife~ (by Seanchan law), I am ~legally/morally obligated~ to support and protect her, no matter what evil deeds she may choose to commit and no matter how much she might be hurting other people”.

So now keeping his promises is about Mat operating by Fey Rules of Literally Obeying His Word, rather than keeping his promises because he’s a good person despite his protests. Because a good man wouldn’t support and protect a slaver, so Jordan had to throw away the part of Mat that was a good man in order for Mat x Tuon to ‘work’. But then (this ties back to horndog!Mat), it also leads to it feeling like Mat doesn’t cheat on Tuon right now only because it might break his Mystical Fey Creature Oaths rather than him actually feeling any personal inclination towards being a faithful husband.

6. At the start of this chapter, Mat thought to himself that he wouldn’t give Melli his ~best smile~ on account of him being a married man and... well, guess what he does only two pages later? Yep, gives her his best smile that he personally believes melts women’s hearts. Two pages! Also, he thinks that he’s Not Allowed to stare at her lips (because he’s married) even as he’s calculating the precise fullness of said lips that he’s Definitely Not staring at, lol.

7. Mat notices a pretty serving girl and tips her a coin for her smile. For, um. For Thom’s sake. lol. Strike three. Technically, Mat is already out, but I will continue to count strikes.

8. lol, the bouncer at the tavern, Berg, is as dubious about Mat’s future faithfulness to ~his slaver wife~ as I am. Berg gives Mat a suspicious look despite that fact that Mat. This is hilarious. Mat SAT HIM DOWN and talked to him about how he wouldn’t be wooing away the woman that Berg is in a relationship with because Mat is MARRIED NOW. lol, no wonder the man is so suspicious of him! That just sends so many alarm bells ringing. Portrait of a Man In Denial over how unhappy he is about being married.

9. Strike four, Mat notices the golden hair, nice eyes, and full bosom of one of the women he’s gambling with at the next tavern, and tries to convince himself that he doesn’t actually find full breasts incredibly attractive anymore (he noticed Melli’s “ample bosom” only a handful of pages ago so... um, yeah, that’s a boldfaced lie to himself. Sanderson might mention breasts less often than Jordan does but when he does mention them, it’s been in Mat PoV so far). We’re several pages into Mat’s PoV at this point and we’ve mostly focused on him doing his best to pretend he feels no regret over being married and Not Being Allowed to notice all the women that he’s noticing for, um, Talmanes and Thom. He also tries to give his fellow gambler one of his heart-fluttering smiles (that he said at the start of the chapter he wouldn’t give out anymore on account of being ~a married man~) and tries to pretend that he isn’t disappointed when she doesn’t react.

10. Anyway, the plot important thing that happens here is that Mat finds out that the gholam is in Caemlyn (people found with their throats ripped out). That finally draws him out of his depressed-over-being-married funk.

11. We learn that he’s sent a letter to Elayne and gotten no reply and he’s actually QUITE worked up over it, and over the fact that Elayne has never so much as kissed him on the cheek to thank him for saving her life. And it’s an interesting change that his internal objection here doesn’t end up being “but of course I wouldn’t want Elayne to kiss me because I’m a married man” but is instead “I don’t want royalty to kiss me” which sends him down a spiral of thinking about how he’s trapped into the Seanchan nobility now. Hmm. Interesting. Anyway, that’s strike five.

12. Mat does bring up three positive qualities of Tuon here (that aren’t related to whether or not he’s capable of being attracted to her: as we’ve just been witnessing, Mat is capable of being attracted to the majority of female characters in the books, so physical attraction is fairly irrelevant here):

a. good at stones: verified true

b. keen of wit: no textual evidence that this is true

c. ‘good for talking to’: negative textual evidence that this is true; most of Mat’s conversations with her in CoT & KoD seemed to end up in frustration or unpleasantness (he even mentions here that she’s frustrating ‘most of the time’), with him thinking on at least one occasion late in KoD about how he hates that she treats him like he’s her property

So... we’re at 33% Verified True on Mat’s accuracy scale of Tuon’s Good Qualities, 33% Just Lying To Himself, and 33% is a question mark.

(though I would argue Tuon’s lack of insight or critical thinking in her own PoV chapters argues against her being ~keen of wit~, unless Mat just means she’s good at puns or something, which is also not in evidence. I suspect this is more of an Informed Attribute, where the author(s) hope that just repeating over and over that Tuon has a keen wit will make people believe she does even if she never does anything to prove it).

13. Mat feels guilt over leaving Tylin tied up for the gholam to kill back in Ebou Dar. Tylin’s relationship to Mat really does feel like it’s married so tightly to Tuon’s relationship with Mat, a transfer of ~ownership~ in a horrible gross way. Tylin’s abuse of Mat is what kept him in the situation he was in when he met Tuon, and Tylin’s abuse of Mat really does feel like it foreshadows the way that Tuon treats Mat as well, which is definitely a Bad Omen for his future.

14. Awww, for all that Mat was negatively thinking about royalty earlier, he thinks here about how the right Queen is now on the throne of Andor (with the emphasis Mat’s!).

15. Strike six. Mat sees a stately older woman in the inn where Thom is performing and thinks about how he’ll keep her in mind for later. Hastily adding ~for his men~ onto his thoughts. He tells Thom about the gholam and they leave for Mat’s camp.

16. Mat thinks with frustration about how Bayle Doman and Leilwin née Egeanin no longer have any affection for him (it’s because you’re married to a slaver and they have rejected the empire; hope this helps). We also get a reminder about the holes in his memory (foggy patches from when he picked up the dagger in Shadar Logoth until when he was healed of it in TDR).

17. Mat comes across as pretty desperate for validation & affection here (specifically from people that he already knows and respects). That’s really standing out to me -- he thought about it a lot in the last book too, about how much he wanted Joline, Teslyn, & Edesina to be grateful to him for saving their lives. He thinks the same here about Elayne, and about Doman and Leilwin née Egeanin. And he doesn’t want to think about how his own actions (being abrasive towards Elayne & co; picking the slavers over the slaves) might have made people turn away from him or think less of him. Save someone once, and it shouldn’t matter how you behave in the future, right? (wrong) It’s also interesting how the clear loyalty of his soldiers doesn’t scratch that itch for him at all. Maybe because he attributes that to the memories in his head and his luck rather than himself as a person?

18. When Mat claims to Thom that he’s a good judge of character, he gets a very doubtful raised eyebrow back. Thom’s relationship with Mat in the last few books has been... honestly, somewhat weird. I almost wonder... we haven’t gotten any Thom PoV for quite a long time, I don’t think, so I wonder if Thom is just masking his actual feelings about Mat because he knows that he needs Mat in order to rescue Moiraine. Because, for the most part, Thom has just avoided Having Opinions about the mess that is Mat’s life and choices, despite the fact that Thom is (supposedly) fond enough of an Aes Sedai that he’s desperate to rescue her from captivity, and also deeply fond of Elayne and friends with Juilin. Is Thom playing Mat the way that Mat was playing the Tairen nobles at the start of TSR? Letting himself appear to be a non-critical buddy because there’s something that he wants out of Mat? I will have to keep an eye out to see if Thom shows any affection towards/inclination to hang out with Mat AFTER Moiraine gets rescued and he doesn’t need Mat anymore. Thom is, after all, one of the best players of Daes Dae’mar in the series, we are told.

19. Mat talks to Teslyn here, internally noting that she has lost most of the “nervous skittishness” that she’d picked up when she was enslaved as damane. He likes Teslyn, he thinks, but he does not trust her. Despite Teslyn never doing a single thing to breach his trust, unlike SOME people that I could name. Ah! There are rumors in Caemlyn about the Seanchan assult on the White Tower but (just like he dismissed Tuon’s threats back in CoT/KoD), Mat has dismissed those rumors as just “stories of raken drifting up from the south” (I wonder if I should be keeping track of all of the “Mat Forces Himself Into Willful Denial Over Tuon/the Seanchan’s Evil Choices” moments). Teslyn and the others are planning to leave now to go join the reunited White Tower (which is what most of the rumors talk about).

20. Hmm, Teslyn thanks Mat here for helping her escape the Seanchan but then she talks with him about the importance of maintaining “illusions with yourself”. I actually did wonder, when I was doing my reread of CoT & KoD, if Teslyn’s patience with Mat, even when he was being a complete asshole, was due to her seeing how much he was lying to himself to try to make himself accept his fate. I think I may have been right on that. And she gives him an escape route, if he looks for it in the future -- that if he ever decides to seek out the White Tower, he has a friend there willing to help him. Considering that she knows that he’s married to a slaver (one who actively tried to re-enslave her personally), that is a HUGE offer. A way out of his trap with the Seanchan -- protection at the White Tower. And Mat, who has been desperate for validation since the start of TGS is now “feeling as unsettled as if someone had kicked his legs out from under him”. Teslyn has also, in this one conversation, shown him more kindness than Tuon has shown in their entire relationship. So... Mat has at least one place to run to now, if he runs away from ~Fortuona~ post-canon. Teslyn has seen the worst of him and extends him this offer anyway, so he knows that she won’t turn him away if he comes to her for help. This conversation is SO good. Mat is thrown so off-balance by Teslyn’s kindness and genuine care for him.

21. *sigh* I really wish that Mat were caring more about Nalesean and the Redarms being murdered by the gholam than about Tylin’s murder. I do understand why -- because Mat feels responsible for her death in a way that he doesn’t for Nalesean’s -- but... ugh, kinda sucks that his guilt over Tylin’s death is now the biggest part of how he feels about Tylin, given how much misery and pain she caused Mat when she was alive. Not necessarily... incorrect, in terms of how people’s brains can work in this sort of situation, but it does suck. Anyway, Mat is now the prime object of the gholam’s attention, having been sent to personally murder him (likely by Moridin, I would assume?). Teslyn saves his life during this fight btw, using the Power to pull him back before the gholam can kill him (she can do this because he took his medallion off to fight it). Five people were successfully killed by the gholam in this attack before it runs away (it has been ordered to try to avoid too much attention).

23. Oddly, Tuon is one of the people that the gholam threatens to kill. Honestly, I feel like it would have been smarter for the Shadow to court the Seanchan/Tuon instead of going against them, since ~Fortuona~ is already so hostile to Aes Sedai. But the Shadow cannot always make smart moves, I guess. The gholam doesn’t threaten to kill Olver but does threaten Tuon, Thom, and Noal. Given that it apparently got its information from a Redarm that it killed a few days ago or from observing Mat’s camp, you’d think that Olver would be on the list either way (and it really makes no sense that Tuon would be on the list? She hasn’t been traveling with Mat for at least a month at this point).

I suspect that the general reader is supposed to care that Tuon is under risk of assassination? But it’s baffling to me as to WHY I should care when she literally JUST had her people assault the White Tower, kidnapping and enslaving forty women and most likely also killing more people than that in total. The narrative has never given me a good reason why I should care about whether or not Tuon gets assassinated besides “vague marriage prophecy bs”. The narrative has never shown that Tuon is actually a better candidate for empress for the Westlands Seanchan than some other random High Blood would be, as long as they aren’t a Darkfriend like Suroth; it just wants us to assume that she is. Her behavior has been just as horrible as any other High Blood’s. Why should I believe she’s a better choice as empress than the next High Blood down in rank? We have never been given a reason.

Now, if Tuon had had even a single ounce of positive character development during the circus storyline, then this would be an entirely different ballgame! But she not only didn’t, she has actively doubled-down on her fear and hatred of ‘marath’damane’.

So, yeah... why on earth should I be invested in Mat wanting to save her life? The narrative never gives me a reason to believe she’s capable of becoming a worthy leader of people. She’s petty, arrogant, and cruel. Basically, a younger version of Elaida with even more power and less self-awareness than Elaida ever had.

24. Note that I do not consider Mat acknowledging Joline as pretty to be a strike against his marriage because it’s not him noticing with any kind of intent that he then tries to pretend doesn’t exist -- he genuinely does not find her an appealing temptation at this point, due to their personal history (though said negative history is pretty much entirely Mat’s fault #JolineDeservedBetter).

25. Ah, Perrin and the others have arrived by the statue that Rand told Nynaeve about back in TGS, so I’m guessing that Tam will be leaving soon to go get nearly killed by his son. Anyway, Perrin and Galad meet here face to face and agree to have their armies fight each other. So... that’s going... well?

26. ELAYNE! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

27. Trying to figure out a way to get the Andoran nobles to actually unite before the Last Battle rather than squabbling for power, Elayne decides that it’s time to claim the Sun Throne. Hmm, I do feel like Sanderson’s more casual style of narration is more pronounced here with Elayne than it’s been with the other characters. All off a sudden, it just feels like the narration is in a hurry, almost more like an outline than prose.

28. Ah, we learn that the reason that Elayne never responded to Mat’s first letter is that she never received it. Her secretary, Master Norry, dismissed Mat as just another leader of a mercenary band, which is why he was granted a space outside the city but no audience with Elayne. He does give her Mat’s second letter, telling her that the captain of this mercenary band is being particularly persistent. Elayne is keeping all these mercenary bands around because they will likely be needed for the Last Battle because, unlike Perrin, SHE isn’t a FOOL.

29. Reading the letter (which does have a lot of misspellings, etc in it, but Mat also mentions that he was planning on rewriting it to be pretty if Thom would have stopped laughing at him) gives Elayne ALL the emotions as she realizes that Mat and Thom (and maybe Olver) are alive and have escaped from Ebou Dar. Mat mentions here that he thinks Elayne’s ass is pretty but also that he barely looked because he knows that she would have kicked his ass and also he’s married w/e, which I feel like should count as strike seven even though it’s Elayne again, because Mat has an emotional attachment to Elayne that he doesn’t have to the more random women that he’s Noticing all over the place, but I’ll only count it as an additional tenth of the point and say he’s at strike six-point-one. Birgitte, upon reading the letter, mentions that Mat also has a nice ass, so I guess she was Looking in Ebou Dar.

Confirmed nice butts:

Elayne & Mat (here in ToM)

Aviendha & Rand (in TFoH)

Probably Min too, I guess

Mat being so worked up over Elayne not responding to his first letter actually makes me wonder if he deliberately put in things into this second letter to try to make her react, if only to fuss at him or tell him off -- telling her she has a nice ass, telling her that he’s married. Because he assumes that she did read his first letter and actively chose not to meet with him.

30. Elayne tells Norry to arrange a meeting with Mat immediately and to tell him to make sure to bring Thom as well. She also begins to think about how Mat and the Band could potentially be useful for bringing Cairhien to her. We get some more insight into her reasoning here as well -- after Rand dies, Andor is one of the biggest potential targets for the Seanchan empire to the south, and they cannot afford for it to merely be part of ~the Dragon’s Empire~ that will potentially fall into chaos after his death. She needs to do strong nation-building NOW, before the Last Battle, to try to make sure it will survive after the Last Battle. “The woman in her cringed to think of planning for Rand’s death, but the Queen could not be so squeamish.” She notes that, as far away from Rand as she currently is, all she ever feels from him these days is a cold anger. Don’t worry, Elayne. Min was literally right there with him and that’s all she ever seemed to be able to sense too.

But this is actually very similar to how Rand wanted to make sure that Arad Doman chose its own king to avoid falling into chaos after his death in the Last Battle, so Elayne and Rand manage to be on the same wavelength even if they are still cruelly separated by the narrative. This is one of the things that @markantonys and I strongly agree on: that a big part of the reason Elayne and Rand are separated for so long is because Elayne is the one person who could have helped Rand with his rulership struggles as an trained leader who understands the issues and understands that you NEED to be ruthless sometimes (but also understands when not to be ruthless).

31. With Elayne, we were still pre-epiphany but when we jump to Min’s PoV, it is decidedly post, as she can feel warmth in the bond and not just Rand’s cold anger.

32. “Alanna didn’t often reveal her intimate connection to the Dragon Reborn.” lol, except for all the Wise Ones, in order to wiggle out of punishments. And all the Aes Sedai, to try to establish precedence. Except for that. Anyway, she’s disappeared from her rooms in the Stone of Tear.

33. When Cadsuane and Min point out that Cadsuane cares that Alanna is missing because she’s a ~tool~ to use on Rand, Nynaeve says that Alanna is “no more helpful” to Cadsuane than Min. So... she tells Cadsuane everything and obeys her frequently? Why is the narrative trying to pretend that Min isn’t constantly helping out Cadsuane? It literally just happened again at the end of TGS! She’s been obediently telling all her viewings to Cadsuane for her to dissect! Nynaeve was IN THE ROOM when this was happening! Or is this meant to reflect Nynaeve’s own distorted view of Min?

34. oh, lol, when Min reacts to Rand arriving in the bond, her Maiden ‘guards’ promptly abandon her and race off to find Rand. So, I guess the Min-Maiden relationship is still... not great, lol.

35. Rand shows up and I really dislike that all of this new!Rand is filtered through outside PoVs. It makes it hard for me to emotionally relate with zen!Rand because I can’t see his interior world. This is also a place where the timeline fuzziness kinda hits the worst, because we’re going right from cold!Rand in Elayne’s bond to warm!Rand in Min’s bond. Moving Rand’s epiphany further back in this set of books would help with that. Min actually panics for a moment, upon seeing Rand, because his eyes look older and he doesn’t seem familiar. “Had the Rand she loved been stolen away, replaced by some ancient force of a man she could never know or understand?” Hmm.

And then he smiles and she does recognize him -- responding to her panic in the bond, maybe?

36. I will, uh, note that Rand did not go directly to Min when he arrived in Tear. Just gonna quietly note that down. He waited for her to find him.

37. He talks to Rhuarc (and the assembled Aiel, including the Maidens) and tells them that he knows that he has toh to them and that he is prepared to meet it. And Rand finally seems to have his relationship with the Maidens back (with Min still baffled at the interactions between Rand and the Aiel).

38. It actually seems clear here (even filtered through Min) that Rand is still somewhat of a boiling pot, though the wound has been lanced. But now he really FEELS the pain over Lan heading towards Tarwin’s Gap, when before he was able to numb most of his emotions through the general ice-cold/molten-hot anger that he was constantly repressing with the flame & void. Now he’s feeling again and that can be... difficult. But he’s still rush-rush-rush and talking about potentially dying soon. So it’s clear that there’s complicated stuff going on in his head and we are TRAPPED in Min’s PoV and only get hints of it second-hand through the bond! But he does promise Nynaeve that he will send Lan help.

39. Rand gives Min the mission to find out why Callandor is key to the prophecies. lol, sure, whatever. I guess we have to give Min ~something important~ to do because she doesn’t actually have a plot purpose and hasn’t had one in quite a long while. Hey, if it means she’s actually doing something and not just surgically-attaching herself to Rand at all times, then I guess it’s worth it.

40. Anyway, Rand tells Cadsuane that she succeeded by failing, lol.

41. Min bashing on the nobles for not having a purpose when she only has a job because her boyfriend gave her one, lol.

42. Anyway, Rand lines up the nobles and susses out that Weiramon and Anaiyella are Darkfriends. If I recall correctly, I’d guessed on Weiramon back during my initial read of TPoD (way back when it was first published) so it was very vindicating for me when he was finally called out as a DF lol. I remember feeling vindicated, anyway, lol. Anaiyella was one I could have gone either way on, but it makes sense for Weiramon to have an accomplice. I... don’t mind Rand’s Darkfriend-vision because, yeah, let’s move the plot along, lol. I just, again, wish that it had been pushed towards the end of this book instead. But the talent itself kinda goes along with the other stuff Rand has been saying about how he’s a bright beacon for the Shadow now and cannot avoid TDO’s eyes.

Instead of killing Weiramon and Anaiyella, he sends them off to bring a message to the Shadow that they will no longer be able to hide among his allies.

43. There’s a great moment with Rand and his dad, though I kinda roll my eyes at Min needing a ~very special~ formal introduction to Tam (who she already knows at this point because he’s been hanging around Tear for three days).

Ah, well. If I do my best to ignore Min, lol, I really liked that scene.

I really do wish that we’d had even a tiny bit of Rand PoV, though. It’s very frustrating only seeing him through other people’s eyes.

I feel like this has gotten long enough (I spent... a lot of time talking about Mat, as I’d suspected that I might, lol) so I will end this post here.

[sherlollyandspoilers]

We're worth it, Chapter 26, March 6th

Chapters 1 through 25 of We’re worth it can be found here Here be Dragons is the original fic that this fic is a companion piece for - HBD timeline: Chapter 18,before the Epilogue

“Sherlock, you have been quieter than usual this morning,” June pointed out. He gave her a questioning look. “Would you like to share what’s going through your mind?”

He rolled his lips in as he sat up straight, hands till clasped together in his lap. “I had a stag night over the weekend.”

June looked between Molly and Sherlock, but Molly looked confused as to why he was bringing it up and Sherlock was clearly still working his thoughts out in his head. “How did it go?”

June could see that Molly was working something out for herself as well. “You got drunk?” Molly finally asked.

“I don’t know that I should have,” he said quietly, still not looking at her.   

Molly reached out and touched his arm. “I’m not mad at you for it.”

Sherlock looked at her hand and then up at her. “I know.” She squeezed his arm gently before dropping her hand. “Besides, it is always clear when you are mad at me.” A cheeky smile tugged at the corner of his mouth before he turned to look at June again. “I worry that without all of my faculties about me I could potentially make a disastrous decision.”

June nodded, doing her best to connect the dots. “You are worried that being drunk could cause you to relapse and let your family down again?”

He gave her a curt nod. “I haven’t had my individual session this week yet, but I plan to discuss it more in depth.”

“I think that is a good plan.” June turned from him to Molly, “For now, Molly, you say you aren’t mad about what happened?”

She shook her head, “No, not at all…in fact I remember thinking to myself that I was glad alcohol wasn’t his drug of choice.” She paused and turned to him. “I typically try to stay out of your recovery therapy stuff, but will you talk about trust tomorrow?” A look of concern flashed across his face, but he nodded yes instinctively. “Not regarding me trusting you, but you trusting you.” He nodded again, a look of understanding now on his face.

“It’s been over a year, now, yes?” June asked

“14 months.” He nodded. “It was a year on my birthday.”

“Ahh, someone got reengaged that day, overshadowing the important milestone.” She smirked at them both.

“I do feel a bit bad about that, actually,” Molly looked apologetic, but Sherlock lifted an eyebrow at her. “A year is quite an accomplishment, and we didn’t even acknowledge it, let alone celebrate it.”

Sherlock smirked, “We did celebrate that night.” June giggled as Molly’s face warmed. “Honestly,” he said after a moment, “I wouldn’t have necessarily wanted to celebrate it.”

“No?” June asked.

“Sobriety is something that I need in order to be the person my family needs me to be – I don’t want to be celebrated for doing something that I should just do.”

“That’s a very mature way of thi – ” June started but he interrupted her.

“I want to be celebrated for my extraordinary accomplishments, like being the one and only consulting detective in the world.”

“Lord.” Molly and June shook their heads at him. “Ever humble, honey,” Molly patted him on his knee.

[utilitycaster]

Also like, people ignore the fact that, given how Laudna was chased away for several years, it's to be expected that she would keep a few things close to her chest, such as romantic/platonic feelings toward another person, also it's kind of to be expected that Laudna would have feelings toward Imogen and not wanting to admit them or to compartmentalize them

Also i saw a couple "Marisha admitted to being in love with Imogen is 4SD" as if Marisha's perspective of Laudna's feelings won't be different from how Laudna expressed them? Insane behavior lmao

(Anon that talked about 4SD )

Last ask wasnt me saying Imodna is for sure happening, i have my own perspective on how their relationship is and would like to be, but it's more me ranting about how part of the fandom has this idea that they know how another persons character should act on without giving a second thought about the why they do?

Idk if im explaining myself lmao, it's been a couple of tiresome weeks and as a bit of an Imodna petty hater, instead of being like "Huh? That's interesting" like i would normally with other stuff i am a petty hater about (cough, cough-Molly-cough), i just roll my eyes and sigh already expecting the fandom reaction being as annoying as they have been

Like also, Laudna knows Bor'dor for less than a week, she is not going to say much about it, this isn't a romcom

-----

Hey anon,

So breaking this down:

I actually don’t think it’s automatic that Laudna wouldn’t admit to romantic feelings! It’s definitely on the table that she’s suppressing or denying romantic feelings, but I’m really hesitant to make any assumptions, and I happen to be very interested in the case where Laudna’s telling the simple truth.

I will say I haven’t seen that comment regarding 4SD nor do I know what they’re even referring to; the only thing I can think of that Marisha’s said on 4SD that would be out of place for a very close friendship is the recent lightning titties joke and I personally am chalking that up to Marisha thinking it’s cool, not necessarily Laudna, though it’s ambiguous.

I do agree that the crux of why I’ve actively disliked this ship rather than being neutral - since in a vacuum with no fandom contact, I think I'd just be apathetic - has been that there is such a narrow and monolithic fanon that doesn’t really match the characters as they actually have been acting in canon, created by a fandom which attacks anything that deviates. Again - it’s interesting to consider why Imogen, who has a complicated relationship with her father, is so willing to prioritize either the mother she’s known about for a month and a half, or her own comfort and power, over her party members, including Laudna. I don’t enjoy that people react with such hostility towards exploration of that topic simply because it upsets their personal desires. I’ve also been frustrated by yes, the reduction of a story that’s not inherently a romance into nothing more than that, and the reduction of guest actors to “outsider who exists to ask Imogen about Laudna or Laudna about Imogen” instead of “person with their own rich life.”

I guess what I’m saying here is I share a lot of your frustrations about people jumping to conclusions and building up a cherrypicked fanon that will throw anyone - including Imogen and Laudna, or Laura and Marisha - under the bus, and blowing one relationship out of more than twenty out of proportion, but that’s been a problem basically from the start of the campaign, so this is just more of the same. But it also feels like you’re saying “I think Laudna is hiding her feelings for one of a number of (very feasible) reasons” and I’m of the opinion that while that’s absolutely possible, it’s more fun to me to consider the situation in which she is being honest.

[tinybitsubby]

Hi I just found your tumblr because of your "we're almost done" post, it resonated with me so hard 😅

Wondering if you wound up talking to him about your problems with the bedroom closet? I've a rule that I have to share what I'm thinking. There's some leeway, obviously not every random thought that passes through my head, but the stuff that I find I keep coming back to, over and over. It won't necessarily lead to him getting involved - I can definitely and clearly state whether I want him to or not, and he pretty much always respects that. But knowing that at some point I have to talk to him about it, by itself usually clarifies my thinking 😆

Hi there!

No, I haven’t discussed it with him. I’ve held myself to a better standard lately and even put reminders on my phone (Honestly, it’s not bad at all, I promise, it’s simply not pristine at all times) and I’m mostly happy with it. I do feel I would benefit from rules around stuff like this, but he has no desire to micromanage and I completely respect that.

Thanks for the interaction, I enjoy it.

[yellowhollyhock]

Donnie and April

Computer science buddies let’s goooo

Donnie gets so attached to April so immediately. Throughout the series Donatello gets along well with humans (the Professor, Cody, even the way he is less than thrilled about fighting the mutants during Bishop’s outbreak), girls (Sydney, J’Hanna, Angel, Renet), and scientists (Leatherhead, Fugitoid). April is checking all of his boxes. She’s hired on the spot.

Seriously though, as soon as April gets over the initial shock, these two are like they’ve always known each other. Immediate friends. I mean, they’re kindred spirits. April shuts down the mousers but overloading them and causing an explosion. That had to be such a “look it me” moment for Donatello.

Also let’s talk about April’s confidence. When we meet her she is just thrilled to be working for the famous Dr. Stockman, and implies people close to her might not really believe she could land a job like that? And then her boss, probably her first boss, the first professional scientist since Uncle Auggie disappeared to see her and at least see potential, tries to kill her. Next thing, she meets a group of talking animals (she’s a scientist she’s supposed to know what’s biologically possible) and they’re all trained ninjas (she is not a trained ninja). Not to mention just being in her twenties. Like what could’ve been harder on her belief in herself?

I could do a whole separate post about how phenomenally April handles all this. But what I wanna talk about here is that she doesn’t handle it alone. All of her new friends, turtles and Casey, do what they can to help her. But it’s mostly Donnie who we see addressing her confidence. It’s little moments all the time. When she’s helping them break into TCRI he’s in her ear with a microphone saying “You can definitely do this, April.” Also, it was exactly what April needed to become friends with someone who didn’t have Stockman’s acclaim, or even a college education, who is still able to talk intelligently about and actually build, pretty much whatever they can come up with. This lays the groundwork for her to eventually say Yeah, I can start my own tech company, it doesn’t matter that my first job went badly and I haven’t been in that field (professionally) since. I can definitely do this.

As much as April needed a confidence boost, Donnie really needed someone to talk to. Not just about tech stuff but about family stuff. He’s very sensitive to conflict, especially between his brothers. And he has close bonds all around him, but do you think a fifteen year old is going to share his worries about his brothers emotional needs with his dad? Or his brothers? When him and Leo are older they probably have conversations like that, but both of them learned how from April first. (Ha, April 1st).

And speaking of Donnie needing someone to talk to, just thinking about to Return of Savanti part 1 when they go to a dinosaur museum to admire the robotics. Raph and Mikey are rolling their eyes so hard, and Leo’s being nice but it’s obvious he doesn’t get it. April is into robotics, too, in fact it seems like the museum was her idea. Possibly (headcanon) a plot to cheer her up after Stockman’s vengeful rampage the episode before. But she picked something Don is Way more excited about than her, because she is the best big sister.

I think sometimes, out of all of them, April forgets that Donnie is a teenager. Like not literally but she thinks he’ll be more mature than he necessarily is. She probably thinks the same of Leo, but Leo is always going to manage to be More Serious than she can possibly expect (showboat). Donnie can be very mature in some ways and then surprise her with like. Secretly ordering food and blaming it on Mikey. He’s the first one she admits her crush on Casey to, probably expecting he’d show the sensitivity he’s always shown when she shares her feelings… and he laughs at her and calls him a bonehead. He’s also the one she calls when she finds Uncle Auggie. (btw they just go to another dimension? Unclear if they left a note?) By then she knows him better to be aware that he might do something crazy. She reminds him to be careful, and he says, “I’m the sensible turtle, remember? :3” Which is important because where did he get the idea that he’s the sensible turtle? They all praise his tech abilities, but if someone has told him he seems calm and mature, it probably wasn’t the people who have lived with him since the first time he took apart their toaster or built a self-driving car in their living room. He’s reminding April that he’s the sensible turtle because she’s the one he got the idea from. And in this episode he lives up to it.

Summary, they show the most of any duo on the show that people will live up to your expectations. Donnie sees in April an experienced scientist, even a mentor, and he actively helps her step into that role until one day she literally becomes his boss. April sees in Donnie a gentle approachable guy who anyone would be lucky to have as a friend. And you know, being a mutant turtle that’s not something a lot of people have seen in him.

Again, I’ve given most of my favorite moments already so have some headcanons:

-Donnie absolutely goes to her for relationship advice

-not a headcanon but I have a lot of feelings about Donnie, Casey, and April starting a business together

-April learns chess specifically to play with Donnie. He has everyone else convinced she’s great at it (she isn’t)

[aspicykazoo]

fufufu… I did it :)

I guess I should write a little blerb about myself.. how do people do this-

Er, well, hi, hello, salutations, good morning, good evening or even goodnight!

I go by Kaz or Kazoo, whichever you prefer, or even something else entirely because I am not original lol.

Some simple technicalities to get over with, I use he/him, I am trans yay, I am bisexual, but romantic wise—we don’t talk about that, it’s complicated and I haven’t figured that out yet 🤪.

I’m not at all new here… but I am a humble user here to indulge in some light-hearted giggly content—sort of—I guess a little more seeing as this is side blog is meant for more exciting content heh and maybe force myself to be a little more interactive.

Ngl it’s probably not gonna be as spicy as I expect it to be lol. I save that for twitter. Actual nsfw and smut will be tagged in case certain people don’t want to see it. Spicy tickle stuff will be tagged as #spicy tickles too. Stuff that isn’t necessarily nsfw or spicy will be tagged as #kinda spicy?

Any little tidbits of scenarios and writing I do will be tagged as #words by kazoo.

Apologies if I’m weird, I ramble too much when I don’t know what to say. I also always have a lot on my mind that I like to share, oversharing without remorse 🤓.

I call myself an idiotic loser who does nothing with their time but read fanfiction, watch anime, simp over pretty characters, and play idealistic scenarios in my head 24/7. Maybe we can bond over that!

Or if you don’t like anything that I’ve said about myself then why don’t I entice you with hundreds upon thousands of pictures and videos of cats and dogs ;) (i swear it’s actual animals—i work with them and i own a cat 🙇‍♂️)

I hope that’s enough information to satisfy your hungry minds. If not 👀… come talk to me and I’ll lore drop my life story ~ (kidding… maybe)

Bye bye!

[writingmaidenwarrior]

Flash Fiction Friday: Can we Kiss?

I used this week's @flashfictionfridayofficial prompt for some backstory stuff for "Moon Daughter" and a silly little piece of how Connor and Danika became a couple, more or less. Both are in their early 20's in this piece, and it takes place about 6 years before the real story

Two months went by since Connor felt the mate connection come to live after Danika shifted for the first time. Two months he spent mostly afar from her because he wanted to give her time wrapping her head around the ins and outs of being a werewolf, but also to think about how to tackle the whole situation. “Still thinking about her?”, Neil teased over the campfire. A small embarrassed smile was the answer. Next to him, Ezra sighed. “I like to see you guys sorting this out before I leave for university, you know?” “I can’t help it. I don’t want to rush things or overwhelm her.” Thoughtful, Connor poked the fire with a stick. “Did you ask her?”, Ezra asked. “I needed to learn to control Silas around her first.”  Neil and Ezra shared an amused smile, but Connor didn’t care. Both haven’t shifted yet and don’t know how pushy the wolf inside you can be sometimes. “By now you should be able to and should get things in motion, or Danika may think you aren’t even interested in her. You know she is one strong-minded woman.” He clearly didn’t need Neil’s reminder, but on the other side, he was right. Danika was a strong-minded woman, and it wouldn’t surprise Connor if she was already close to strangle him, since she should have noticed by now the mate connection as well. Still lost in his thoughts, Connor looked over his shoulder to the settlement not far away. They made their little camp in this little nowhere land between houses and forest since no one was allowed into the forest after the last attack of the jackals. “I might be the nerd of us, but even I know you should walk up to her place and just ask her for a date, you big teddy.” Ezra’s chuckle brought Connor back. “Yeah, I guess you are right. I am afraid she might kill me if I wait any longer, even if I still have no idea how to tackle this.” “What’s your damn issue anyway?” Neil leaned back with his hands behind his head and an amused smile that appeared mischievous in the flickering fire.

“I don’t want to give her the feeling she has to accept me as mate just because of the connection. We all know it doesn’t necessarily mean a couple works out.” “Mostly because folks tend to think the connection does the hard work for them and don’t put any afford in their relationship”, Ezra mumbled more to himself than to the others. “You think?” “I mean… I guess so. It is kinda like with average humans and soulmates. Too many of them think the bond will justify everything and try to rationalize the shitty things away instead of putting their heels in the ground and saying, “This can’t go on like this, we have to change something”. Probably, it is easy to blame a mysterious force instead of yourself.” “Holy shit, where does this come from?” Neil burst out surprised as much as Connor, both staring at Ezra like he grew a second head. He shrugged with an aloof smile. “Guess I am the smartest of us nonetheless, right?” In response, Neil threw grass at him that Ezra failed to dodge. “I let you sort this out in peace”, Connor laughed and got up. From the corner of his eyes, he saw how Ezra tried to dodge another round of grass and fell off his camping chair, only for Neil to use the moment to jump on him to tickle him. Sometimes Neil really was like a little kid, but they all needed it once in a while, he the most. Connor’s steps lead him up to the houses and, without him realizing at first, down the road to Danika’s home. Shaking the head about himself, he walked up to her house. Unsure what to say, he rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you going to stand there all night?” Danika called from her room above with a smile on her face. “I am sorry. I am trying to find the right words.” “For asking me out?”, she inquired. “Yeah…” She vanished from the window, and for a moment Connor feared it ruined everything. He was about to turn around and go back to the others when the door opened and she stepped out. “I only have one question.” “For what?”, he spun back to the door. “If we go out, can we kiss?” A silly smile slowly crept on Connor’s face. With a leap, he was back in front of the door, only a step away from her. “I hope so.” “Good, because I was about to get my baseball bat and knock you out.” “She really was!”, her sister Candice called from behind. “That bad, huh?” “That bad”, Danika confirmed, “And I expect you to pay up for making me wait.” “Whatever the lady wishes.” Candice appeared behind Danika and rested her chin on Danika’s shoulder with a big grin that spoke of more things than a seventeen years old should know or think about. “At least you are a smart man who knows what is good for you.” “I’ll do what I can.”