#I listened to 6 series so that's probably the closest

[bigtreefest]

Chapter 1: Fix Your Shoelaces

From: The Rainmaker Series

Pairing: Mob! Steve x Forensic Scientist! Reader

Summary: Two simple pleasures in life include sleep and chocolate milk. You just never thought they’d both be ruined in one weekend.

Word count: 3,862

Content/warnings: Swears, curdled milk, riding a horse, alcohol consumption, suspicion, dancing

Author’s Note: This takes place at the same time as chapters 5 and 6 of YCMBWH.

This is the first installment of The Rainmaker storyline in the Outta Nowhere AU. This is also a very different environment from where we will usually see this pairing, but that’s the fun in it.

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

Outta Nowhere AU | Series Masterlist | Next >

You were awoken from your deep sleep to someone pounding on your door. As you put on your robe and shuffled through the living room, you caught a glance at the clock on the stove. 10:43pm. Who in their right mind would be at your door this late? A better question: why were you on your way to answer it? You didn’t even answer calls from unknown numbers.

You opened the door and immediately squinted at the bright fluorescent light of the hallway as it hit you in the face. Standing there in a full suit was a man with tall, broad shoulders and kind blue eyes under a tuft of blonde hair you assumed had lost its styling from a long day. If you asked your best friend, her evaluation would be ‘totally your type.’ He was a gorgeous, pretty boy….yeah….pretty seemed like a fitting description. Good looks or not, though, he woke you up hardly two hours into your sleep schedule.

“What do you want?”

“Um, good evening. You’re…” he looked down at a sticky note in his hand. “…Decks, right? I’m here to talk to you about a matter concerning Honeybee-I mean-“

You cut him off, grabbing his arm to drag the handsome man into your apartment and out of the hallway so you wouldn’t get another noise complaint from the old lady next door. Although, it was probably already too late for that since he had been banging on your door for who knows how long. “Yeah, yeah, that’s me. I know what you’re talking about, come in.”

Steve gently closed the door behind him as you moved to turn on a lamp by the couch. You flopped down in an arm chair while he perched himself on the couch cushion closest to you. Even with your messy hair in the dim light, there was something intriguing about you to him.

You leaned back and squinted at him. “So what’s going on? Are you Bucket? I’ve been told about you.”

Steve straightened in his seat. Bucky was going to love that he was the topic of one of Bee’s conversations outside the farm.

He smiled and shook his head. “No, actually. I’m Steve. I work very closely with Bucky, though. I was sent here to take you over to the farm. There’s been an emergency and we need all the closest people there to help out.”

You looked at him skeptically. “Why didn’t anyone call first? Why were you sent here?”

“Well, from what I’ve heard, you probably wouldn’t have picked up if I called, and time is of the essence. I can explain more on the way there.” He shrugged.

You looked at him with confusion. “Listen, I love my friend and all, and I’m willing to be there for her, but I’ve got work tomorrow. What am I supposed to do about that?”

Steve waved his hand and closed his eyes in reassurance before speaking softly. “It’s already been taken care of. Just, if you could go ahead and pack a bag, grab only essentials because we need to get going.”

You groaned. At least you’d heard of Steve before, your bestie had described him as pretty decent, and you hated that she was right, in more ways than one. You grabbed a bag off the back of your door and tossed it at Steve. “Okay, fine. Pack some snacks, it’s a long way to go at this time of night.”

He simply nodded and walked to your pantry, packing up everything that could easily be eaten on the road, along with a few bottles of water.

You emerged from your room with a duffel on your shoulder to see him waiting for you on the couch, food bag in his lap.

When Steve saw you, he was captivated. You’d changed into an old college sweatshirt and sweatpants, hair in a messy bun, but your face looked like it was ready to take on the world, despite the premature rise from sleep.

He got up and followed you to the door, turning off the lamp on the way over. As you locked your apartment, you whispered over to him. “What did you bring here? Let me see your keys.”

Steve dug into his pocket, pulling out the keychain with a jingle. “Range Rover.”

You grabbed them out of his hands. “Perfect. I’m driving.”

It had been awhile since you’d been all the way out to the farm. You used to come and help out over the summers during college, mostly baling hay and feeding animals. It was fun, but it wasn’t your life. Your degree and passion had drawn you to the city and kept you there for all these years.

You explained that to Steve on the drive over, in between the times you made him feed you the snacks. You noted that you were proud you could still drive this route by heart, too. Steve told you a little bit about how he did business in the city and how he knew Bucky, along with a story about why Bucky was out here in the first place. You had already heard the story from your roommate, so it wasn’t a surprise, but you were confused as to why they hadn’t called some sort of law enforcement to help. Something didn’t quite add up, but if someone you trusted so much trusted these men, that was good enough for now.

As you were nearing the end of the drive, Steve continued in his attempts to make conversation. “So how did you get the nickname ‘Decks?’”

You laughed dryly. “It’s a-“ you cut yourself off. “Hold on, I need to make sure I make this turn. It’s kind of hard to see at this time of night.”

You heard the wheels hit gravel as you pulled into the driveway and in front of the house, the headlights briefly lighting up Curtis leading a couple horses and tying their reins to the posts of the front porch in the darkness of the moonlit night.

Your eyes adjusted as you moved to get out of the car and watched Curtis jog over to the passenger side of the vehicle where Steve had just stood up, sticking out his hand.

“Hey, I’m Curtis, you must be Steve. Buck hasn’t left her side yet, so I’m gonna take you on back.”

Steve shook his hand “Yeah, good to meet you.”

Curtis gave him a slight nod and patted his shoulder, then ran around the other side of the vehicle to greet you by the driver’s side door. He reached his arms around your shoulders to give you a big hug with a tight squeeze. “Good to see you, Decks.”

“Yeah, you too, Curtis. Steve told me what’s going on. We should probably get back there.”

You rubbed his back before Curtis freed you from the hug and nodded in response, then looked back at Steve.

“You know how to ride?”

Steve couldn’t help the scoff that came from his lips. “Not one bit.”

Curtis sighed and looked between the two of you. “Okay, no worries. You’re with Decks, then. I’ll help you up. We’ll talk over all the details on the way there.”

Curtis led you over to the porch and helped you up onto the bigger of the two horses, then helped to prop Steve up behind you before getting onto his own horse and leading you toward the mines.

As your hips swayed back and forth with the horse’s footsteps, you could feel Steve clinging onto you for dear life. “You can ease up your grip a little, ya know. We’re not even going that fast. And you’re like, five feet off the ground. I promise you won’t get hurt.”

You could feel Steve nod in acknowledgment, his head resting against your shoulder, but nothing changed. If anything, his hold tightened. You laughed through the vice of his arms that was squeezing your diaphragm and continued on to the caves in the distance.

“So Steve told me one of the caves collapsed, and I’m not surprised because I know how old these things are, but why were you guys even back there? How did it fall so suddenly?”

You looked over at Curtis and he met your eye. “I want so badly to say it’s Bucket’s fault, but I know it’s really not. Your dear bestie insisted we go for a walk to show him the mines, and when he kicked one of the supports, the whole thing came crashing down. Could’ve happened to anyone at any time, though.”

You nodded. “Well, I’m glad she’s okay at least, but being trapped in there must suck. Either way, we’re happy to help with whatever’s needed.” Steve hummed against your shoulder in agreement.

You stopped the horses at the mouth of the cave and yawned from the early hour, stretching as Curtis helped Steve, then you, down from the horse. A man with brown hair and broad shoulders sauntered over to the three of you, greeting Steve with a hug and you and Curtis with a handshake. He wore a hard look on his face, but you could see the lace of concern through his forehead and eyes. Ah, this was Bucket.

“I’d take you guys in, but it’s sort of unstable right now. I’ve got direct orders from Honeybee, though, as to what we’re all supposed to do.”

He went through the plan, but in your tiredness, you barely caught his words. “I’ll go back over it in the morning, but the general gist is that we need to keep everything running smoothly and draw as little suspicion as possible.”

You looked between the men. None of them had caught on to one important detail. “I’ve still got Steve’s keys, but Buck, you’ve gotta tell your guys to move their cars, then. I’ve never seen that many in the driveway. People will notice. Move them into the hay barn. It should be empty enough this time of year before the next round of bales gets made. Can probably fit most of them.”

You all looked at Curtis and he nodded in agreement. “Yep, just as she said.” Bucky snapped his fingers and a young kid in a suit came running over to him, ready to take the command. What an odd interaction. You shrugged it off, though. Your brain hardly had any power at this point. It was just enough to ride back to the house and move the Range Rover into the pool barn behind the garage before flopping down into one of the guest bedrooms.

You woke up with a jolt to one of the roosters crowing. You forgot how loud those little bastards were, but something about it was comforting. You got dressed and brushed your teeth before making sure your hair was out of your face. You could smell breakfast and followed Curtis down the stairs to see Bucky making plates already.

That was surprising. As far as you knew from your conversation last week, he was struggling to get out of bed, and now he was up early enough to gather eggs and cook for everyone? Weird.

The steps creaked behind you as Steve matched them with his own groan, flopping into a chair. He wore a set of farm clothes you believe he’d borrowed from Curtis and his hair was a floofy mess. It was kind of cute, and you’d be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy the casual wear in juxtaposition to his suit from the night before.

Bucky pulled out a sheet of paper and explained your tasks again. You were so excited to be put on animal feed duty. You loved petting the little goats and sheep, they were so adorable.

As Bucky explained Steve’s tasks to him, you watched an almost unreadable expression grow on his face. He looked almost scared, daunted, intimidated? Maybe it was just dread? Eh, he’d probably be fine.

You finished up your plate and set it in the dishwasher before getting on with your day.

At mid-morning, you rolled up to the farmers market to help run sales with Bucky. You caught the sight of Steve carrying in his last wagon load of produce crates. His biceps bulged as he placed them all in the right places, and you couldn’t help but drool a little. Not only did he look good while being put to work, but he didn’t complain while doing it. Sure, you knew Bucky was technically his boss, but something about his willingness to help out did you in. Made you feel warm.

You watched as Bucky gave him a final set of instructions, and Steve walked back into the field. Man, did his ass look good in those jeans.

Hours passed by running the market with Bucky. You could see that a few repeat customers were happy to see him, some even trying to go in for hugs and offer him free drinks. You could see the charm you’d been told about.

As things began to slow, you found yourself standing next to Bucky, the both of you watching an older customer leave with some produce and a small jar of honey.

“Mrs. Jensen is definitely a talker. I think she needs someone else around.” He leaned towards you to say it lowly.

You laughed in response. He demeanor now was the same as when he was dealing with her, but somehow she was still so happy with their interaction.

Bucky continued. “Maybe I’ll let Jake see his mom later if he’s good.”

That caught your attention. “Wait, Jake is here? Why? Like, the Jake that broke my best friend’s heart? I thought they haven’t talked since before college.”

You could see Bucky trying to avoid eye contact with you. He was hiding something. Why would Jake be here?

“He’s done a lot lately that has made business difficult for both me and Bee. Since we are business partners after all. My people reached out and he came to apologize. Also happens he’s able to run some pretty complex calculations on his computer. He was more than happy to help out down at the mine when he heard she was in danger.”

You looked at him skeptically. “Okay…”

After you and Bucky had finished cleaning up the farmers market, you headed back to the house to relax some. You slipped off your boots and laid down on the couch, pulling a blanket up to your chin.

You were shaken awake and opened your eyes to see a pair of blue ones before you. It was Steve. He smiled.

“Hey, Decks. It’s time for dinner. You want some?” You nodded, stretching to sit up, seeing Curtis and his cousin, your best friend, bringing food to the table. You scrambled to toss the blanket off of you and ran over. You’d never hugged her so tight.

“You’re not dead! I’m so happy to see you.” Was muffled into her hair.

She laughed and rubbed your back. “It’s good to see you, too, Decks. Now let’s get some food. I’m starving.”

You nodded your head, still not letting go, as she waddled you to your chair next to Steve. He looked at the two of you, noticing you felt for each other the same way he felt for Bucky. There was a deep trust and appreciation that could rarely be matched.

As you were eating, you hardly realized Bucky wasn’t at the table until it was brought up in conversation. After a long day, and frankly, a long week, you all went upstairs and straight to bed.

You woke up to the sunshine, somehow sleeping through the roosters, probably from sheer exhaustion, and changed into your college hoodie and sweats. You walked downstairs to search through the fridge and find something decent to eat. As you were making toast, Steve came down and pulled out the pitcher of milk along with chocolate syrup.

“Ooh! Can you make me one, too? It’s been forever since I’ve had chocolate milk.”

He leaned up into the cabinet above you, abs brushing your back to grab another glass. You shivered slightly at the touch. You weren’t around people much, let alone people who looked like that.

“Sure thing, Decks, as long as you promise to make me toast.”

Your eyes narrowed, looking at him for a second. “Deal.”

After eating, you sat on the couch with Steve, sipping your chocolate milk and making small talk. He stayed vague about his everyday business dealings, and you felt like you didn’t have much to add since a lot of your work was confidential, and you didn’t have much time to do things outside of it.

You watched Bucky run down the steps and peek his head in the office before closing the door behind him.

You were about to offer to play a card game to pass the time with Steve since Curtis was due to be done any minute and could join, but there was a knock on the door.

You opened it up to see a ridiculously large vase of hydrangeas and a delivery driver already retreating back up the driveway. Oh great, what sorry guy sent these? She’s gonna hate them.

You picked up the vase to bring it inside, not expecting the sour smell that came off of it. You held it at arm’s length, fast walking to the office before knocking on the door with your foot. You held the vase in one arm to quickly open the door, showing the flowerpot, your face blocked by the large bouquet.

“Ugh! Decks, get that out of here. Where the hell did those come from?”

You ran back towards the front door, where Steve was holding it open, to set them on the porch. “Just got delivered. Don’t worry, I’ve smelled worse. There’s a card here.”

It’s true, you had smelled worse at work before, but it still didn’t mean it was very tolerable after some time. Everyone else stood back, hands covering their airways as you plucked the small piece of paper from the petals and read it out loud.

“Peach, can’t wait to milk our deal together. -Cole”

Everyone exchanged glances, disgusted by the weirdly suggestive statement, as you pulled the hydrangeas out of the vase and tossed them into the yard. You peered into the vase and gave it a sniff. In the bottom was a white goop, which you assumed had once been a liquid before a chemical reaction took place.

“He put the flowers in milk…and,” you sniffed again, “lemon juice?”

You fought a gag while you carried the vase out into the yard and did your best to get all the chunks out of it, eventually opting to spray it out with the garden hose. It still was a nice vase.

In your attempts to clean it, though, you knew some of the spoiled milk had splattered back on you and you’d need to get it off as soon as possible. So much for enjoying chocolate milk with Steve, because you were going to remember that smell for months.

You turned off the hose and grabbed the vase, stomping back into the house and slipping off your shoes.

Now frustrated with the situation, even though the mess was partially your fault, you were done. Most of it was probably due to the fact you couldn’t finish sipping the delicious beverage Steve had made for you. You shoved the vase into Steve’s chest and he cradled it with an oof.

“Finish cleaning that. And dump out my glass. I won’t be able to drink milk again for months.” You grumbled, moving towards the steps.

“Where are you going?” You heard behind you.

“To take a shower.” Your head whipped back around.

You continued to stomp up the stairs before gesturing aggressively with your arms above your head. “WHY DO GUYS ALWAYS SEND YOU WEIRD SHIT LIKE THAT!?”

You could hear Steve as you reached the bathroom. “I think I’m gonna need a shower, too, after this.”

Steve and Curtis chatted while they waited for you. “So like, what’s the deal with the trucks?”

Curtis shrugged as he opened the back door for Steve to get in, seeing you coming from the house. “Good for hauling stuff. You’re not gonna see many people out here without trucks, so it’s a good thing your fancy SUV is hidden away.”

Steve nodded, thankful you were on your way to end his awkward conversation-making skills that were not working very well on Curtis. Well, either that, or Curtis wasn’t very talkative, however, he never saw that same issue when you were around.

After a nice long, hot shower to remove the scent, you were relaxed and ready to go. Steve could smell your perfume, causing him to smile to himself.

Curtis opened the passenger door for you to hop in, and the two of you talked in the front seat on the way over as Steve sat in the back, watching and listening.

After spending hours at the bar, you were standing near the edge of the dance floor, chatting with Bee.

“So what do you think of him?” She tilted her head to gesture toward the blonde, wearing a hat that looked entirely too good on him.

You thought for a second before answering. “He’s a charmer, alright, in a really weird, awkward way. Kinda reserved, but very helpful. I respect it.”

“Yeah, I thought so.” She nudged your shoulder with her own.

“Well hold your horses, there, Honeybee. Some of us need a little more time to see what’s going on under the surface. Not everyone seems to fold so fast like your tall, dark, and handsome Bucket. Steve’s got something to him I just can’t figure out.”

“You will. I’m sure of it. That’s why you’ve got your job and I’ve got mine. You’re meant to be a scientist. An investigator.”

You laughed and rolled your eyes. “Yeah, okay.”

The music began to blare up above your conversation. Well, that’s a familiar tune.

“Oh! You love this one! You remember the dance I showed you in college? I think you’ve got some new guests to teach!”

You looked over to the pool tables to be greeted by Steve’s gaze directed right back at you with a dopey grin. Must be the alcohol, you thought to yourself. Bee had already left your side to go get Bucky.

“Do you want to dance?” You mouthed to him across the bar. He shrugged and mouthed back “I don’t know how.”

You gestured your arm for him to come towards you “I’ll teach you. Come on.”

Steve set down his cue and made his way through the crowd, only able to see your hat through the sea of people. He crouched down to reach your ear so you could hear him in the loud bar. “Don’t make fun of me if it’s bad.”

You laughed and shook your head at him as you set him up to stand in front of you. “No promises,” you yelled back.

Next >

Bonus A/N: Thank you for reading! Comments, likes, reblogs, and asks are soooo appreciated.

What do you guys think of Decks? I love imagining her take the vase out to the yard, so fed up with the shenanigans that always happen around Bee.

Series Taglist:

@evie-119

[erial-c]

my top ten redacted boys (because i am but a bandwagoner of trends)

1. sam - took me a bit to like him ( haven't even finished his playlist yet) but god his character hurts me, he and darlin have gone through so much shit . the video talking about the future with your vampire mate basically sealed the deal on him being my favorite character, and after reading one of the bright eyes series transcripts, it makes me even more interested in his character . (and his southern accent may or may not have awakened something in me)

2. avior - is it obvious i like tragic characters yet . his series is one of the first ones i've listened to fully, and the chokehold that the plot twist had on me was insane . the realization that he had loved starlight so much that he deus ex machina'd them out of the hellscape, and then was silently YEARNING when they were pulled back . i was sobbing you don't understand officer. also love his early sarcastic personality (despite it being a facade) and his constant need to wax poetic, i wish we still saw a little bit of that in his newer audios though

3. guy - ohh the love of my life . the only comfort character ever . babygirl . he does exude millennial cringe sometimes but i can gloss over all that because i love him  🫶🫶🫶 also love his dynamic with honey they r so cute together . his flashback audio is so good AUGGHH the tension . personal favorite audio of him though is his first sick video , because i am THE guy angst enthusiast and it's the closest i'll ever get to it . he is sooo silly idc i always binge his playlist when i can't sleep (ironically i always listen to the one where he attempts to help honey sleep and it works 🫶)

4. lasko - babygirl #2 🤞🤞🤞 love him he is just an overall sweet character . i've also said this before but, him being labelled early on as submissive irked me because i usually found those character tropes annoying and they tended to be infantilized . but the thing is with lasko its not his entire characterization , he's still a very good professor at the academy and ughhhqhh i know how 2explain it i jst love him (also. his slip up in the hot boi summer audio. he is freaky .)

5. geordi - his and cutie's story is so interesting . i love their storyline so much even if it hurts to listen to the audios . they're both flawed characters in a relationship but they're still taking the necessary steps to be better. additionally, while i definitely don't stand for the shit cutie did, i can relate to them in the sense of needing to know what people are thinking to function properly, which is probably another reason why geordi and his storyline hits so close to my heart . (is that corny. maybe)

6. asher - one of the reasons im in the fandom tbh !! he's one of the first characters i got into, specifically his valenweek flashback audio i ate that shit up . . i don't listen to him that much now but still !!! i owe me being here to his character lol

7. hush - creature/babygirl . i was kinda intimidated to listen to his playlist (for god's sake his title is "mysterious stranger") but ohhhh i love him he is so strange. tying doc up in one video and then asking them to hold his hand a few videos later??? love that . him showing up in carpe deus and fucking wrecking vega kinda sealed it for me . love theorizing about him too, if that's not obvious 🫶

8. porter - when i heard the voice that this character had. i can't even explain to you what my reaction was . he's such a fucking diva i love it so much , this guy is like 80% snark, and he just fucks with vincent for no reason .(when he said he was gonna bring treasure to the summit but didn't 😭) he's also so interesting . while ya he was sent to go to the summit and assassinate a clan king (which he succeeded in) he told sweetheart about the bennets discussing their partnership with closeknit so they could get necessary info, he provided an alibi for vincent, he also stopped grilling sam when darlin told him to . (also his 2nd video with treasure . killed me tbh)

9. marcus - not proud to admit that marcus is the first character i came across on erik's channel . marcus is weirdo number 1 (derogatory) and i just find his storyline so interesting. yeah its sad why he did what he did, but overall he knew what he was doing , he fucked everyone else over, and compromised a project, of which the failure could mean life and death, just because he wanted to get freaky with the robot . his obsession and little impulse control being overrun by the asset's obsession with him. GOD . . the satisfaction i felt when he was taken away 🫶

10. caller - weirdo (compliment) . again as a horror enthusiast i love this guy . he's like ghostface but if ghostface could phase through walls/was already in your house (and also weird and obsessive) . his audio made me have the same reaction when watching horror content : "holy shit i love this but also i hate this" 10/10 . he's only last because he has one (1) video . 💔

honorable mention:

gavin - GAVIN LOVE OF MY LIFFEEEE . i really did wanna put him on my list but i haven't listened to the freelancer series properly yet!!!! this is not a matter of him being my least favorite but rather not knowing much about him in depth yet !!!!

[cnroth]

Fanfic Q&A

I was tagged a long time ago by @curator-on-ao3 and meant to do this later when I had time, but then I forgot. More recently, I was tagged by @strkamand, which has prompted me to actually do it this time haha. So thank you both!! 🩵 😘

1. Why do you write fanfic?

Short answer: Cuz it’s fun!

Long answer: I started writing fanfic in 2016 because I had spent the last year and a half clawing my way back to some semblance of sanity after a really shitty time in my life. We got Netflix for the first time and I found my favorite childhood show—Star Trek: Voyager. It was like a warm blanket in the cold.

I still remember playing Star Trek on the playground with school friends, inventing stories of ourselves as original characters on Voyager, and suddenly I had the thought—what if I actually did it? Made an OC that was actually complex and fleshed out and stirred her into the mix? Added more representation of mental health issues to the show? I also applied for grad school around this time with the goal of eventually working in the mental health field.

So I dusted off my old creative writing skills and began making fanfic as a way to share my ideas with other fans, explore ships and characters I thought were interesting and/or underdeveloped, or just enjoy playing with my favorite dolls while processing my own experiences, as well.

And here I am now, eight years later, still doing just that.

2. Which of your posted stories do you think about the most, even though the story is “finished”?

This is a complicated question, because the answer is and has always been the very first story I joined the fandom to share, and one that took me years to tell—the Far From Their Bones series. Technically, it is finished.

That being said, I may-or-may-not currently be working on something closely related to that… 👀

3. If you could give yourself fic advice from when you first started writing fic, what would that advice be?

I honestly can’t think of anything I’d say. I think that my fanfic journey, bumpy as it may have been, was what I needed to go through to become the writer I am today.

4. What’s your relationship to fic stats?

I rarely check them. Honestly, I post so rarely and a fair amount of my stuff is niche stories few people are interested in reading, my stats are probably shit anyway.

5. Is there a pairing or scenario or friendship you miss writing? If so, why? If not, why not?

The closest thing to an answer for this question is I suppose J/C. I used to be fairly prolific in that ship, but the community for that ship was eventually taken over by a few toxic people who manipulated other participants (especially newer ones) into a very narrow idea of what was acceptable as a J/C fan and shit-talked people who fell outside of that, and I ended up deeply burned. It took out my ability to read or write J/C for a long time. I’ve dipped my toe back in here and there since then, and I won’t say I’m done with that ship forever, but it definitely was a major pain having to grieve the loss of a ship that had brought me so much joy.

6. What motivates you to write?

Usually random story ideas that pop into my head when I’m trying to fall asleep at night.

Also, comments can sometimes prompt me to write more.

7. Why do you write for the fandom(s) that you write for?

I think that’s mostly explained above already. Someday, I might finally write the Hunger Games fic I’ve had in my head for many years, as that series of books/movies was also instrumental in my trauma recovery, but for now Star Trek: Voyager (and occasionally other Trek shows) is where I’m comfortable and inspired.

8. If you’re stuck writing a WIP, what do you do?

There are two strategies I use most often to deal with this:

One, making playlists of songs that fit the story in some way, whether through the lyrics or even just the vibe. Then I listen to that on repeat to help drive me into my other strategy, which is…

Two, I use imagery to develop compelling scenes in my head, mentally watching them and shaping them until I feel like I can write them down—even if they’re incomplete. In the end, I may end up dumping the scene, or changing it, or writing the most inspiring scenes first and filling in the gaps between them later, but ultimately the goal is just to get myself moving again.

9. What do you wish people knew about comments?

Comments prompt my brain to make more dopamine and serotonin. As a mentally ill person with a neurodivergent brain, that is HUGE.

I do my best remind myself that I’m writing fic I want to read, and that can often mean not many other people will want it like I do (or have the time to actually read it), but in the end getting comments lets me know I’m not alone and that my exhaustive efforts in creating fic are appreciated.

It’s also just like fucking Christmas morning when I see that email from AO3. Like, massive mood booster.

I also would like people to know that comments have, more than once, given me ideas and/or energy to write more.

10. Maybe there’s a question you wish had been on here. What’s that question (and answer)?

Not that I can think of 😊

I have no idea who has already done this, and most people I know who write have been tagged by the ladies who tagged me. If you have already done this, tag me in a comment on your post or something so I can read it!

And if you haven’t done this yet, consider yourself tagged!!

Let’s see ummmm @gijane-7702 @seema-unbound @cheile @caladeniablue @theredheadedcaptain @70thousandlightyearsfromhome anyone else who wants to join 🩵

[ln-stories]

Mammon's mc!

This is the second drawing and headcannons of my mini series with the obey charachers with their custom sheep mcs. Previously i done simeon's mc, after alot of consideration i decided to do Mammon next with his own custom sheep mc!. If you wanna check previous stuff check my page and thank you for reading and im accepting requests for the next obey me characher!

(Apologies for any grammar mistakes)

Second Mammon's MC

Warnings: spoiler alert for the series lessons

Headcanons:

This mc (she/they)

Personality: confident, skillful (plus knows karate), a dumbass sometimes like Mammon, small anger issues, chaotic good vibes. 

1) This mc is the exact opposite of simeon's mc since she is the largest one in this series. Height is around 5'3 on two legs

2) She is very fluffy and glittery giving magical girl vibes on her looks

3) When The mc arrived at the devildom, she was shocked but was feeling like she could take the demons in a fight if they didn't return her back. (spoiler alert: those karate classes she took back in the human world didn't work much on The demon prince Lucifer XDDDD)

4)Later on she was assigned to Mammon to guard her and guide her through the devildom. Let me tell you reader this didn't go as planned as you saw in the earliest chapters of the story. This mc is much more fiesty as well so this didn't help much the situation either.

5) Slowly mc is trying her best to adapt her new lifestyle while also go ham on Mammon everytime that he tried to steal something from her room to sell it off.

6)Mammon was forced to make the pact the mc after the "Goldie incident". He is now listening to her more. Thought they still don't trust eachother at all.

7)After the TLC showdown event, Mammon was never felt such frustration for not being there to save mc on time to the point he started regretting all the time he has been completly scammy and ditching them on random occasions. 

8) Both of them made peace with eachother and started to actually putting effort to their friendship. (Occasionally ofc Mammon would be a tsudere as per usual XD)

9)They started hang out more and more, slowly lowering the iQ of the Mc as Mammon was pulling them into pranks, and other dumb situations. MC didn't mind it one bit though. Sometimes it's ok to be a little silly.

10) Mc teaches Mammon karate whitch is probably hilarious cuz Mammon would show the brothers what he learn just to not mess with him and embarrassed himself everytime he either falls down the stairs or he trying to punch metal and instantly regret it.

11) obviously Mc is Mammon's "first" as mammon call it. They are absolutely jealous when other people try to get close to them, especially the purgatory squad that just want to get to know her better. It's a big no to him. (closest friendships: Mammon, Levi, maybe Beel too?)

12)At this point Mammon and mc are besties. Mammon is not the best when it comes to sharing or gifting but for the mc he will even use Goldie whitch is a really rare occasion.

13)Movie nights and hellsauce noodles are regular thing when they hang out. It's like a comfort for both of them. (both cheap and fun!)

14) At the lesson 16 Mammon felt like he lost some centuries of his life just by mc not moving in his arms. He didn't felt like he lost just a friend. He felt like he lost the first person who actually gets him in a deep level. (oop mc is alive and so is Mammon's sanity!)

15) After a while Mammon felt like he became mc's right hand man, doing pranks, hanging out everyday, sitting down together at lunch and prank lucifer from time to time for good measure. (bad idea)

16)Lucifer himself sometimes tried to seperate you two because they were lowering the IQ of the whole house of lamentation as the other brothers joined in the dumbassery for fun.

17) Mammon is getting better at karate? Ye! He even humiliated a lower demons for trying to harm mc. Mc found was crying with tears of joy because she teached him well.

18) The mc showed the human realm to Mammon and the brothers. Let's say Mammon loved all the new flavor cheap noodles packets that got from the human Realm.

19) The mc loves to wear earrings so the final gift that Mammon gave her before RAD ended was an earring with his symbol to always remember that he will always be next to her whenever he needed her. The mc treasured it for life.

20) After RAD ended Mammon and mc were visiting their realms back and forth whenever they could, mostly Mc visited devildom thought. Mc made had mostly befriended all the brothers but the purgatory hall squad aren't as close as she wanted to admit. 

Thank you for reading! request are open for next obey me characher and custom mc!

[womanwithahotdogstand]

Jordan’s (probably very dumb) Ideal Lineup For The Impending USA/Sweden Game. ✨

Formation: The 4-3-3 lineup only works when you have enough offensive sparks on your team to get the ball that far up the field in order (we are desperately missing Tobin, Cat, Mal and Christen in this moment.) So, what do you do when your team is clearly struggling to get more people up the field?! You make a formation change that will literally put more people up the field for you. I think a 3-4-2-1 is a perfect formation for this group.

The Forwards: Listen, I love Alex, but she has not been anywhere close to the level we need her to be at right now. She doesn’t deserve to start over these three. The only way we are going to beat Sweden is by coming out FAST, like goal in the first 15 fast. And these three (and Alyssa) are the only three I trust to truly make that happen.

The Midfield: I have previously mentioned how building the team around 1 person is harmful 99.9% of the time. It is abundantly clear that Vlatko has slowly been building this team around Lindsey for the last year and change and I think one of the best courses of action, and a very sneaky one, would be to bench her for at least the first half of the game. At that point everything Sweden has studied about the United States is rendered pretty useless, especially since when Lindsey hasn’t played this past year+ Rose is usually the one to slip into the 7 which cannot happen. Kristie is a great starter because of her connection to Lynn AND her raging intensity. We need that on the field as much as possible to start the game as strong as we can. Missing Rose could be the thing that does us in completely. We could crumble or we could start 2 of the best attacking midfielders in the entire NWSL. Crystal has been lights out for Portland this season and with Rose out I think it’s a perfect time to move her into the midfield and let her offensively EAT. And I know a lot of skeptical people will say “we don’t know if her midfield prowess will translate to the national team!” And to that I say — the last time we saw her in the midfield for the national team during their 2 game series against Russia in 2017 she scored 4 goals. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Savannah get her time to shine but in a potential elimination game i’m going Ashley Sanchez all the way. She is technically the closest player we have to Rose Lavelle and her incredible on field relationship with her Spirit teammate up top makes her my obvious pick for this match. Her creativity. Her speed. Her genuinely impressive soccer brain. We’re going to need all of that on the pitch as soon as that ref blows the whistle to start the game.

The Backline: A lot of people are not enthused about Alana and some of the opinions i’ve seen are valid but I also think that a big part of her problem is having a shaky 6. I think putting her in behind Julie Ertz is going to do WONDERS. Sweden is a very aerial team (literally every goal they scored against Italy were headers) and having a 5’9” center-back is something we need to use to our advantage. I think her, Kristie and JJ could be a phenomenal clean up crew for any set pieces Sweden will definitely be trying to score on.

Giving Kelley the armband: I don’t want to slight Lindsey or Alex, both of whom were probably exhausted after that Portugal game both mentally and physically, but the fact that Kelley O’Hara was the first one over to comfort an (apparently) crying Rose Lavelle and let her know how much this team loves and needs her speaks VOLUMES to me about Kelley. The fact that she was the first one to speak and bring the team together after that match, while only playing 3 or 4 minutes tops, speaks volumes to me about Kelley. I also simply just think seeing Kelley in that armband is an extra boost of morale that this team so desperately needs.

[fluffy-moth]

Has anyone heard of [End of Days] by [Arise]?

My twitch VOD of [RIBBIT] (a cool [Deltarune] mod) got bits of it muted. A total of 6 minutes, split in two portions of 3 minutes each.

Checking the reason why, it seems that whatever system that flags these things though I was playing a song by a swedish death metal / thrash metal band, [Arise], from their last (as of writing) album [The Reckoning].

Now, [RIBBIT] does employ a multitude of different songs and genres to replace the regular OST (a lot of [Aphex Twin]) while mostly using other games soundtracks, even including an option for an alternative playlist replacing some of the more flaggable songs. But none of them really come that close to thrash metal ([Doom (2016)]'s Theme coming the closest). So what could have caused twitch to misidentify something as a metal song?

[Otherside]. By [Akira Yamaoka]. From the 1999 soundtrack of [Silent Hill]. I'm not super familiar with the game series, but heavy metal doesn't seem like a part of its themes.

Had it been a mistake? How could the song [End of Days] be confused for [Otherside]? Begrudgingly logging on to spotify to check, I discovered that no, it wasn't, but twitch had only gotten it partly right...

The last track of [The Reckoning], [End of Days], is 8' 31'' long, with the actual song lasting for 4' 32'', followed by a pause of 2' 48'' before [Otherside] plays for the remaining 1'11'', with a recording of someone coughing their lungs out played over it, probably the vocalist after performing a death scream. It's essentially a hidden track.

But it is unmistakably [Otherside]! It's not sampled or modified in any way aside from the phone quality voice clip added in. And so far I haven't been able to find any information regarding this, [Arise] doesn't seem as a particularly well known band, and I haven't had much luck on forums or pages dedicated to [Silent Hill].

Is this allowed? Is there really nothing stopping people from ripping video game tracks? Or maybe [Arise]'s lack of popularity kept them under Konami's radar, dodging a legal hissy fit. I wonder if [Akira Yamaoka] was credited...

i dont know, im still mad the VOD got 6 minutes muted for such a bullshit reason. and i KNOW i cant appeal for getting it unmuted because: 1.) the song DOES appear in an [Arise] track, even if it doesnt belong to them (and the irony of it is STILL hitting me hard), and 2.) im not giving twitch my real home address. thats a bullshit requirement for something that can be easily checked to understand the amount of bullshit this whole thing is. just listen to the 2 tracks, cmon.

[cultivating-wildflowers]

2024 Reading - May

I definitely succeeded in making May a reread month, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. A few of these were not on my original list for the month, and I still haven't gotten to some of my bigger rereads, but oh well.

Total books: 8  |  New reads: 1   |   2024 TBR completed: 2 (1 DNF) / 16/36 total   |   2024 Reading Goal: 28/100

April | June

potential reading list from May 1st

#1 - Lion of Liberty: Patrick Henry and the Call to a New Nation by Harlow Giles Unger - 5/5 stars ('24 TBR, audio)

Now this is the sort of historical nonfiction I like! Splendidly arranged and told, never too dense, and weirdly fun?

More like this: Honestly, I would happily take recommendations for more in this line! For my part, Ben Macintyre's writing comes closest to this in style, though the one book I've read of his so far was about a figure in WWII.

#2 - The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope - 5/5 stars (reread, mixed print and audio)

Original review here. It definitely holds up on a reread.

#3 - Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card - 5/5 stars (reread, audio)

Original review, such as it is, here. Still a great one.

#4 - Xenocide by Orson Scott Card - 4/5 stars (reread, audio)

The first time I read this, it wasn't remarkable enough for me to write a single-sentence review. In fairness, I read Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide back-to-back and they kind of blur in my mind. I know I gushed about Speaker to Ruby (it's a favorite of mine), while I was so-so on Xenocide. It gets so dense at points, and while I can appreciate what Card does with Qin-jao, I cannot bring myself to sympathize with her.

I definitely liked it more this time around. It's still not as great to me as Speaker for the Dead, but it's classic Card and still fun to read.

(Admittedly, I also decided to revisit this series now because I stubbornly want to get another full alphabet of titles in 2024 and there simply aren't any "X" titles I haven't read that I'm interested in.... I'm enjoying my reread, but I have ulterior motives.)

#5 - Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card - 5/5 stars (reread, audio)

Unlike the first time I read Children of the Mind, this time I had access to this installment via audio! There's definitely details I'm missing by listening instead of reading, but it remains a solid story. And revisiting this book after reading part of the Ender's Shadow series gave me a fresh perspective on Peter Wiggin. Despite the fact that Speaker for the Dead is on my favorite books list, there's a chapter in Children of the Mind that has stuck in my memory ever since I first read it; it's probably the most memorable to me of the whole series.

As evidenced by my original review, I do take issue with certain aspects of Card's worldview, particularly his treatment of marriage. I'll probably always be grumpy about that. But I did give it half a star more than my original rating, after realizing how many of my favorite things about this series are in this final book.

#6 - DragonSpell by Donita K. Paul - 5/5 stars (reread)

Lee and several other lovely people from the tumblr-sphere invited me to join them in reading through this series, and I was so excited to take them up on the offer.

That was back in January.

I got distracted.

But it's ok! Even if I'm (way, way, way) behind, getting to revisit one of my teen-years favorites has been so fun. And intriguing. I knew this was one of those formative books that impacted my writing style, but it's intriguing to see exactly how big of an impact it had.

I will say this didn't quite hold up on a reread, but that makes sense considering it's been years since I read it and I fell in love with it as a teen, when my tastes were completely different. This won't affect my five-star rating, if only because it was so formative for me (and I have a rule personal rule to never lower a rating on a reread).

That said, I don't currently have plans to read the rest of the series. I'm worried doing so may mar my fond memories of the story as a whole.

#7 - The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley - 5/5 stars (reread)

Old review here. I’m slightly less than indifferent now toward the romance, but I still had to skim over the incredibly stilted and awkward declarations of love near the end. As for the rest of the story, I continue to adore everything about it. Top Five book for me.

#8 - Persuasion by Jane Austen - 5/5 stars (reread)

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

DNF

Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington ('24 TBR) - The first part was fascinating as a historical account, but narratively dry and emotionless. By around the 40% mark it turned into a slog, and reviews suggest this continues to the end.

Good Fortune by C.K. Chau - Fantastic premise, decent execution, but not for me.

Currently Reading:

Nothing! (for like 12 hours)

[citrus-cactus]

for the character ask game: any assortment of 7, 14, 15 for Eri and 13, 13 and 30 for Dokamon? (appmon)

ERI AND DOKA-CHAN! Oooh, interesting! For reference, the ask game is here.

Eri:

7. A quote of them that you remember

HMMM, not so much a quote, but imo the most memorable Eri moment of the series was her giving a righteous, impassioned speech to YJ-14 on Haru's behalf and then proceeding to fight him with explosive... kicks. AFTER AN ENTIRE SERIES, when the chips are down... it turns out she's a kicker, not a puncher. Amazing XD Say hello to my little friends: Common Sense and Reasonable Discourse!

14. Best storyline they had

I will always love that they stopped the show for two whole episodes to give us the Appliyama election and results, and I will never shut up about Eri being such a badass on Knight's yacht. It was all just really fun. Even though the show never addresses the unhealthy ways in which Eri pushes herself, I do like how this arc gave us probably the most it ever has of Eri's authentic, non-idol self: her code of honor, her grace after falling just short of her goal, her trust in her friends, her unwavering dedication and strength, both in body and spirit.

15. Worst storyline they had

It would be easy to pick her showdown with Beautymon, but I'm not going to do that. I think it had the makings of something interesting; if the focus hadn't been solely on physical appearance, but more about losing yourself to popularity, manipulating the masses, or the impossible standards of influencer/idol culture. No, instead I'm going to pick her intro episode, because it felt like such a baffling way to introduce us to her. She just... does not come off as sympathetic or likable in the slightest to me. Episode 6 is a much more enjoyable episode and gives us a bit more interesting character material to work with, but my first time through the series as I was still trying to decide if Appmon was worth watching, neither Eri or Astora made the best first impression. I really do love her though!

Dokamon:

13. Your favorite friendship they have

This is such an interesting question, because I'm struggling to recall if he even has meaningful relationships with most characters, besides Eri, Mariperi, and Gatchmon (and even then, those relationships are all pretty unbalanced). He'll do anything for Eri (or to get Eri to notice him). He certainly developed feelings for Mariperi, and Gatchmon is his "aniki"... but most of the time, Eri exists firmly in the center of her own universe, Mariperi appreciated the time he spent with her but basically rejects him, and I seem to recall instances where Gatchmon enjoys Dokamon looking up to him and agreeing with him, but is any of that what you could call a mutual friendship?

His relationships outside of those three, to my recollection, are almost non-existent. Regardless of whether Eri and Astora are in "bite each others head off" or "we're more similar than different" mode, does Dokamon ever have much to say to Musimon? I'm not sure he's even that close with Eri's other Appmon, even the ones he fuses with... iirc, they make a pretty dysfunctional team in the Appmon Games. The situations where he does interact with other characters, I think it's almost exclusively on behalf of Eri (i.e. doing whatever he thinks she wants), and it's often antagonistic in nature. "Don't get in Eri's way!", "Listen to Eri!", etc. I think Offmon looks up to him and he certainly worries about Offmon, but that feels more like a sibling relationship than a friendship.

Off the top of my head, I do think the only 'mons he would acknowledge as friends might be Gatchmon and Musimon. I do like the episode where they all run away together and end up helping that kid. I think that's the closest we see of Dokamon hanging out with those he considers his equals, and it did result in some great moments with the three "main" partner Appmon. But it's also possible I'm overlooking some more obvious friendship moments, and if so, I apologize Doka-chan! T^T

30. The funniest scene they had?

All that said (and it might sound like I'm negging on Dokamon through all of this, but I'm not!), my favorite Dokamon moments are when he's comedy relief... specifically, the instances where the joke is that he's too... well... stubborn and/or oblivious to care about whatever the MotW's silly shenanigans are. I'm thinking about Episode 14 (Puzzlemon), where his solution to being trapped in a room with giant heavy marbles is just to start punching them indiscriminately, physics-based repercussions be damned (Dokamon, NO!). And when Calcmon is depowering everyone using the power of math, Dokamon gets so angry that it just doesn't matter what numbers are coming up on Calcmon's screen; Dokamon's gonna punch that creepy nerd, and it's gonna hurt, full stop. Is it that he's not, strictly speaking, the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree? Is he so blindly optimistic in his own abilities? Or is he 100% loyal and willing to throw down for Eri to such a fault that it turns around and becomes an asset again? Maybe all of the above, and I kind of love him for that.

These were all interesting questions to think about, thank you!

[k-zuzulibrary]

수빈 c.SB

soobin 𖹭 female!reader

my idol. [chap1]

synopsis: a teenage crush carried over to adulthood. imagine a 15-year-old schoolgirl having a secret crush on her brother's 18-year-old best friend.

wc: 2.6k

content: brother's (yeonjun's) best friend, lighthearted fluff, attempted humor, slow burn, age gap (small/3yrs), brother!yeonjun, best friend!changbin, underage drinking (soobin), yeonjun and changbin are seniors in high school, y/n is a sophomore, communication, lowercase intended

zuzu's notes: main masterlist. this was originally supposed to be a long ass oneshot but I got a little carried away and now I'm sort of interested in it as a series. i'm liking the soft vibe it has — reminds me of “Hidden Love” which is also a really good romance if you're not into the whole "drama" thing. please tell me if you enjoy this andni might continue it! ♡

it wasn't a secret.

the moment that you realized you fell for choi soobin you immidiately told your best friend — and now all of your closest friends know and it's the talk of the group. all of them were always encouraging your relationship to the “next level” whenever the topic came up, whatever the “next level” even was.

you've always liked soobin.

you've liked him since you were nine but you didn't know your supposed “little crush” on him would stick around until now. all of your friend's who change their crushes every few weeks call you a prude.

your brother and soobin were the hot shit at school, everyone just knew they were trainees at BigHit Entertainment, where BTS, the biggest thing that has happened since God knows when, debuted 6 years ago. yeonjun was playing one of their songs in public and soobin recognized it so and they bonded over it. ever since then they were attached to the hip. they constantly hung out in your house, but you and soobin weren't close. if you didn't know any better, you would assume they were dating.

“hey, y/n, did soobin come over today?” changbin asks innocently, pencil placed on his ear as he watches you intently for your answer; he's your senior and also happens to be your assigned tutor for English — every student with a failing English grade got one. and you, ever-so hung up on soobin totally didn't focus in class as you wrote an imaginary love letter and made doodles of little rabbits on it instead of taking notes and listening like normal students do, resulting with an F on your report card.

you slowly shook your head in response, a slight pout to show your disappointment as you tell changbin that whenever soobin and yeonjun aren't at home or school, they're practicing at the BigHit entertainment building... no, you don't spend most of your days wondering about him and if he thinks about you as well, how busy he is and how he's rarely around anymore for you to admire... but you do.

in middle school you'd just sneak innocent little peaks and glances and make chibi doodles of him in your notebook. but now... it's different. you like him more and more with each passing moment and you're not getting over him. you can't even imagine getting over him. whenever you're alone with your brother, you keep asking him all sorts of questions about soobin and making excuses for him to come over, and when yeonjun gives in and calls soobin to come over, you keep hiding behind chairs and sneaking peaks (just like middle school) as he and your brother play video games or watch a show.

you keep offering them sliced fruits, sandwiches or juice until your brother ever so rudely asked you to scram and leave them alone because “soobin has trouble focusing” and that you should do your homework instead because, quote, “your grades are stinker than sewege waste with dead rats.” yeonjun is 100% oblivious to your crush on his best friend and even so, he is not being a wingman. even soobin himself could probably tell, that's how dumb yeonjun was about it... but you had no problem with it. you weren't deliberately trying to hide it anyway.

soobin sent you a quick smile saying it's alright and that you can stick around if you want, which makes you giggle and hop on the couch and nuzzle yourself in the space between them, yeonjun glares at you and rolls his eyes — he didn't want to hang out with you in the moment. but you wanted to be with soobin, even if you're browsing through your phone and he's playing games. you liked his presence, you didn't need his attention and you think that was what you liked most about your little crush.

“I finished Learning Task 5.” you mumble, adding in a period and you lift your paper, shaking it for the ink to dry. your curious eyes hover to changbin's phone and he seems to be scrolling through Instagram and liking photos of the random kpop girl groups he follows. “ya! are you here to teach me or just use my wi-fi?” you scold your senior and conk the back of his head, and he conks you back with a pillow, causing you two to giggle like little hyenas.

“seriously though, you should work on your English—”

“shut up, my English is good.” you say in English with a thick accent — and changbin shakes is head.

“No, not like that, like this; I'm hungry!” he yells out and you playfully use him as a platform to get up and you push him backwards and he just lays there, feigning death.

“I'll go get us some snacks, I'll be right back.” you say as you enter the hallway, only to bump into a broad chest and you let out a squeak of pain, eyes squinting, hand immidiately hovering to your forehead. you open your eyes to see that it's your brother and he puts a finger to his lips, gesturing behind himself and you can sense his urgency—

“Hey, I'm going to need you to be quiet to mom and dad about this...” he whispers and you squint your eyebrows in confusion, holding your forehead in pain; his chest is really hard, it's like bumping your head on a concrete wall, you think, and he probably didn't feel anything. Yeonjun flicks his fingers to gain your attention. “Soobin got wasted at a bar, I don't know why.” and you let out an audible, dramatic gasp, covering your mouth dramatically.

“Is it stress?” Yeonjun mutters, tilting his head as he sticks his thumbs on the belt holes of his jeans. “Anyway, I had to go pick him up and these thugs in the alleyway were staring me down so I had to— uh, yeah anyways I know his parents are home and I didn't want them to see him like this and I'm sure he doesn't want them to see him like this, so...” he leads on, seeing if you understand, and you just nod along, eyes squinting.

“Don't worry, I get it.” you tap your brothers shoulder and walk past him to get to the kitchen, you're a man with a mission — you have your priorities straight. make food for hungry changbin.

“I have to take a shower. Those thugs were greasy,” he sniffs himself and scrunches his nose. “take care of soobin for me!” yeonjun says in a normal tone and you just hum in response.

as you make your way to the kitchen, you immidiately open the fridge and grab a carton of milk — you have been craving for cereal since you were in class. as you peek deeper inside the refrigerator, you see some left over tonkatsu and decide to heat it up for your guest. as you close the fridge, you hear a groan coming from the living room.

you knew it was soobin so you turned to satisfy your curious eye. you hadn't seen him in such a state and you would be lying to say you weren't interested. you grab a bucket from the sink cabinet and fill a glass with water, making your way to the living room, putting the glass on the table next to you, bucket still in hand you stop to examine him.

his forehead is sweaty, mouth slightly ajar as his breathing is heavy, chest heaving up and down as if he's running a fever and his eyebrows are furrowed as if he's having a nightmare, slight mumbles leaving his mouth every now and then. you certainly didn't enjoy seeing him like this... your mouth forms into a slight pout as you lightly slam the bucket on soobin's lap. “ya... you're really irresponsible you know that.” you mumble, even though he's half-conscious right now. you tut and turn around to go back to the kitchen.

but before you do, you give soobin one last look and sigh as make your way back.

“yeonjun-ah...” you hear him mumble.

“what? what.” you turn around in anger... you know you shouldn't take it out on him but you can't help it, plus, he's not in his right mind now anyways. you wish he wouldn't do it again... you wish you could conk his head right then and there but it would probably worsen his condition.

“m' head hurts...” he mumbles as he shifts on the couch, the bucket falling off and making a loud clatter and you rub your own forehead in frustration, hand on your waist before going to the kitchen to prepare a cold towel for his headache, coffee and hangover soup your father had taught you and your brother to make a few months prior, even though at the moment the two of you were doubting everything and telling your father that it wouldn't be convenient since the both of you swore if you were ever going to drink, you would do it responsibly... well, boy did you think wrong that it wouldn't be convenient.

as the soup is in preparation, you slowly walk to the living room with a coffee mug and cold compress in your hands, soobin seems to be fast asleep and in less pain than earlier, but he's burning up as you place a hand on his neck and forehead. you sit next to him and gently wipe his sweat with the cold towel, you lean in closely closely take in all of his features as you wipe every curve and detail of his face. you've never been this close to him in your entire life, and you couldn't help it.

his cheeks are so... squishy... and... his lips are so soft, you wipe the towel repeatedly over his lips and it takes everything in your spirit not to squish his entire face with your bare hands, you swear he's a living squeaky toy... but you don't. you abruptly stand up, sigh and nudge soobin's leg to wake him up. “hey... i made you coffee.” you say quietly and he looks around, a little confused... he nods with a low hum. you can tell he's a little embarrassed... i mean, who wouldn't be in this situation? you hand him the cold towel. “put this on the back of your head. it'll help.” and soobin reluctantly takes it from you.

“y/n-ah!” you hear changbins loud voice down the hall and you immidiately go to the hallway in a gremlin pose, placing a finger to your lips, your other hand pointing toward the living room.

“shhhhhhhhhhhh!”

changbin just squints and nods as he also places a finger to his mouth, playing along before staring into the living room to see soobin drinking the coffee, and he walks into the kitchen staring at your messy work. “what's all this? and what happened to soobin?” he says in a more soft-spoken voice.

“It's a hangover soup.” you state matter-of-factly as you grab the ladle. “oh yeah, i reheated you tonkatsu if you want.” you say as you grab the bowl of cereal you had set aside, eyes flicking over to his. “ya, did you check my work? is it good?” you ask.

“Uh-huh,” he grabs the bowl of tonkatsu and stares at you. “You're an English pro.” he says with the most American accent and you just scowl and do a motion like your about to hit him with your ladle hand.

“y/n...” you hear soobin's soft voice call out as he enters his tall figure into the kitchen, both you and changbin fling your heads toward his direction so quickly you swear you got whiplash, and he just stares at the two of you, a little dumbfounded a red blush plastered on his sweet cheeks... an innocent look on his face as if he didn't just — “ah... changbin...” he mumbles, a little surprised to see his classmate. he knew he was tutoring you, he just didn't know he was tutoring you tonight. tonight of all nights.

he turns to look at you, wide innocent eyes “I just wanted to say thank you for the coffee, and... can you please tell yeonjun that I'm going to head home now...?” he mumbles shyly. and you just stare at him, dumbfounded— the audacity???

“what do you mean?” you ask, a little annoyed. “I'm making you hangover soup right now, can you at least wait?” you ask as kindly as you could and changbin just stands there, hands together, an awkward stance.

“ah, well... i don't want to be a bother... anymore...” he says as he rubs his eye and looks anywhere but you. it's as if he's talking to an abusive authority figure, and you just shake your head. what's the use of being ashamed now? you let out a disappointed sigh and turn back to the stove.

“it would be a bigger bother if you left now, I'd have to store it in the fridge and my parents will wonder why i made it... also, i already started so just... wait for it. please.” you explain and he just nods along. whatever made you happy would make him... well, less sad.

“oh... sure.” he nodded

“y/n-ah!” you hear yeonjun walking down the hall toward the kitchen. “is soobin doing alright— geez! you all scared me!” he looks around the room before walking inside with a strut, standing in front of soobin, a little amused at the collection of people. “is this a surprise intervention? what's going on?” wiping his hair with a small towel, making eyes at all of you.

“ah, well...” soobin looks around the group awkwardly before suddenly doing a 90 degree bow, eyes clenched. “I am very... I deeply apologize...! I promise it won't happen again!” he yells out with a stutter at the beginning of his apology, he's practiced it in his head prior but it didn't come out as he'd intended. wincing as his own loud voice had hurt his senses. eyes remaining closed in hopes that he could stop time then and there as to not await any unexpected reaction to his shameful behaviour of underage drinking.

“What is this?” yeonjun snickers as he walks past soobin toward the refrigerator behind him, slapping his butt with the towel he had around his neck. “don't be like that. we've had our up's and down's, yeah? this is nothing compared to what we'll go through as idols.” he said as he opened the fridge and grabbed an energy drink, looking at you and changbin and he lets out a hum.

“don't worry, y/n and changbin will keep quiet as long as you don't make enemies with them. isn't that right, my brethren?” he asked a little condescendingly as he took a sip, you and changbin reluctantly agree with his arrogant statement and soobin still lightly chuckles along as to not be a mood spoiler — or maybe yeonjun was just a mood maker.

ever so, soobin remains unable to make eye contact with anyone in the room as he scratches the back of his head, honestly, he assumed everyone in the room would take him for some sort of failure by now. “I'm still very ashamed, I... can't face any of you right now...” he admits and yeonjun just pats his back.

“don't think too much about it, yeah?” he wipes his hand up and down as he takes another sip. “it already happened. as long as you know what you did wrong and won't do it again, yeah? if it happens again, that's ain't a mistake, that's a choice.” soobin just nods because he didn't want to be scolded any longer... even though he knows it's what he deserves. “what do you say? wanna go for round two?” yeonjun shakes his energy drink bottle with a cheeky smile and soobin just stares at him, eyes wide and mouth pouting.

“p-pardon?”

“I'm kidding.” yeonjun states firmly, his cheeky smile fading. and soobin nods in acknowledgement. “too soon?” yeonjun asks you and changbin who blankly stare at him in pure, agonizing silence and he just nods with a flat mouth. “okay.” he whispers. “come on, let's go watch ginny and georgia to feel better about ourselves as teenagers.” he wraps an arm around soobin's shoulder who reluctantly nods along and they go to the living room, his shame continuing to devour him and yeonjun trying his mighty best to stop it.

you and changbin exchange bombastic side-eyes before smiling a bit — yeonjun was always good at making light of a situation, whenever your parents would scold you two he would always try to cheer you up with silly jokes and funny expressions, and whenever your parents would scold him you'd be the one crying for him, yet he'd laugh and tell you it's alright. he was always like that, there's no changing him.

“this is probably gonna eat soobin up for a few weeks.” changbin says. “it's normal for senior high schoolers to drink. but he blacked out,” he adds, really expressing his intrigue as he leans on the counter. “but I guess it's different for him... he wants to be an idol... i mean, sure, it's not going to spread as long as we stay silent about it, you and i, but it's all in conscience. he wants to be a good example, an idol not just for future fans, but for his current juniors...” he turns to make eye contact with you.

“and mostly you.”

[elizabethshaw]

20 questions for writers

i was tagged by @riversofmars (thank you!!)... feel like a little bit of a fraud doing this as i've had major writer's block for nearly two years now and have written virtually nothing during that time, but i'm gonna give it a go anyway 😅

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

14 :))

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

46,344

3. What fandoms do you write for?

doctor who! mostly leaning towards dweu/big finish stuff but i've written some new who fic as well in the past. (i've also been wanting to write something for the pleasant green universe audio series for a while now but as my major fixations on it have all coincided with the aforementioned writer's block that... hasn't happened lmao)

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Wy' ti'n dal i weld cysgodion yn y nos? (67 kudos)

in it together (23 kudos)

The Security Guard, The Scholar, And The Giant Stone Cube (22 kudos)

I Lie Awake And Watch It All (19 kudos)

og um vitt aldrin síggjast meir (18 kudos)

predictably, this includes all of the new who fics i've written, and (bar the third) almost none of the fics i'm actually most proud of lol 😅

(also feel a need to clarify here that the foreign-language titled fics are not actually in those languages, i just use song lyrics as titles a lot and for various reasons over half the music i listen to at any given moment is Not In English, hence the titles being as they are)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to! sometimes i'm a bit delayed with it (i know there's a couple i need to get around to answering rn but before today i hadn't been on my ao3 for... half a year at least?? so i'm a bit behind oops), but i like to get back to everyone who leaves a comment, just to say thanks :)

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

probably hver fer sinn veg - it's set during "the war doctor begins", it was never going to be a happy one lol

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

gei di weld y byd mewn lliw, i think :)

8. Do you get hate on fic?

thankfully no! i've been lucky enough that my experience with fic writing/sharing has been very positive so far <3

9. Do you write smut?

no, it's not really my thing. smut is very honestly just kinda there to me, i don't have strong feelings about it either way, and so it's not something i've ever felt compelled to write yknow??

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

nope! i mainly prefer playing around with canon/canon-adjacent stuff tbh, i've got a couple of unfinished aus hanging around that will probably never see the light of day, but no crossovers that i can think of

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not as far as i'm aware. though to be fair, i don't venture onto fic websites other than ao3 so i'll never know for certain. i doubt it though

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

again, not as far as i know! i'd probably be chill with it though if anyone wanted to translate a fic of mine, provided they asked beforehand and it was one i was comfortable with being translated :)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope! the closest i've got is participating in an event run by a discord server i used to be mildly active in and am technically still part of, which was a lot of fun :D

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

i don't know if i really have an "all-time" favourite as such, but i've written a fair bit for liv and helen from the 8das, and really love their dynamic. i'm also a big fan of leela/romana, but for whatever reason i've never been quite able to make writing them work :/

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but probably won’t?

there's a fair few 😅 the main one I can think of atm is the eldritch helen fic i vaguely remember being asked about on here a couple of years back, it's a concept that i still have a lot of interest in and love for, but i've never quite been able to get the fic itself to work and i fear it may be doomed to the wip pit for eternity :((

i've also got quite a few unfinished pieces of varying lengths with the war-veklin-albert tardis team from "the war doctor begins" hanging around my drive that i'd a) love to finish and b) probably won't; their dynamic and their whole deal as a team whose story takes place mostly off-screen and which we only see the ending of fascinates me. maybe one day i'll manage to do something with it

16. What are your writing strengths?

description :) this is the one thing i am ever consistently happy with in my writing (i am my own harshest critic <3), and i've got a couple of nice comments about it before. so!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

dialogue - even with characters i know well and whose voices i have clear in my head, i do find it difficult to make dialogue feel really authentic, and it's definitely something i tend to overly fixate on when i'm writing because i'm so conscious of wanting to get it right

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

i'm totally fine with it! as long as it has a reason for being in the story, and isn't like. getting in the way of readers understanding what's going on, i don't see the problem.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

doctor who :)

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

it's probably a tie between The Security Guard, The Scholar, And The Giant Stone Cube (a fic i wrote back in 2021 based on this post about rory and helen theoretically being able to meet each other at the national museum during the pandorica arc, which i loved writing and am still really happy with nearly 3 years later), and mae cuddio dagrau yn fy ngwaed (a bit of a weirder/darker dreamscape-type story; it took a lot of puzzling things out to piece all the different parts together to make something that was cohesive but still felt strange or off in the way dreams do, but i was really pleased with the end result!)

can't think of anyone to tag off the top of my head who hasn't been tagged already, so i'll leave this free for anyone to take part if they want to! :)

[natdrinkstea]

tagged by @chiropteracupola and @dxppercxdxver :3 time for you all to judge my taste in books!

rules: list ten books that have stayed with you in some way, don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard - they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you.

putting this under a cut because I hate making long posts. the rules up there say "don't take but a few minutes and don't think too hard" but I don't know how to do Either of those things. this post is Long. you've been warned.

1. is, of course, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making by Cat Valente. It's a wonderful, clever story that absolutely ruined the way I view fantasy, devotion, and girlhood at a young age. It's beautiful and magical and devastating AND I LOVE IT!!!!

2. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. I post about this series all the time but I never really express how much it means to me? It's about a friendship that's so strong it defies all odds, it's about finding magic in the mundane, it's about being a weird little guy with anxiety who's trying to be braver.

3. The House in the Cerulean Sea and Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune (they are tied). SORRY FOR THE BOOKTOK MOMENT LOL but these novels are about finding love at an older age in an unexpected place!!! about relishing little moments with people you care about in a world that's beautiful! and the way klune writes introspection really feels like how I Think. it's like a magnifying glass into my brain

4. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. another one I post a lot about that seems very out of left field considering the rest of the list! but it was recommended to me at a hard time by one of my closest friends, and the incredibly intelligent and thoughtful way it uses Words and Language to express both Horror and Humanity has had SO MUCH influence on how I want to write

5. Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White. This novel captures queer rage in a way that feels deeply personal and wildly cathartic, and the desperation and passion with which Benji views the world and the people he cares about feels the same. Also it helped me get over my fear of meat 👍hooray, meat!

6. Now this is getting hard. um. Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir <3 sorry to put a popular book again but listen. it's about humanity and how ugly and brutal and full of love we are. it's about being so painfully Normal and Alive in a world that's trying to keep what you love from you. It's about eating breakfast and petting a dog and swimming in the sea and it's UNAPOLOGETIC IN IT'S HONESTY. IT'S SO HEALING TO THE INNER CHILD TO SEE NONA LOVE SO FIERCELY

7. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. listen. it's not a great book. it's stereotype-y and gross and kind of boring but. when you're in fifth grade and very neurodivergent but trying very, very hard not to let yourself show it, reading about a girl who is proudly Weird and Impulsive and Kind and Creative is like finally getting to see what you could be if you were a little less afraid. she was a manic pixie dream girl but she was mine, y'know?

8. (at this point I'm getting up to look at my bookshelf)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Again, hugely different from the rest of this list, but probably the book I read in high school that I felt was most worth my time. Stunning, earnest writing and a deeply human story. I could go on for probably an hour about how clever Ellison's imagery is, and how powerful a choice as small as leaving your protagonist nameless can be. If anything on this terrible list is required reading, it's this

9. similarly, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I read this book for school, but by choice, and I kind of hated it! Not gonna lie! But something about how batshit insane it is left a huge impression on me. While it's wildly unrealistic and often frustrating, there are little bits of earnest grief and uncomfortably close-to-home interactions that make it feel like it Could happen. The way it describes parent-child relationships makes me want to escape my mortal flesh due to feeling Too Seen.

IF YOU READ ALL OF THAT WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!!!!!! anyway @haijinks @neonphoenix @human-sweater-vest @lasaraleen @samwisegamwise I'd love to see your ten books but there is No Pressure :3 love u !

10. FINALLY THE END! FUCK YOU! PERCY JACKSON!!! it's so funny and clever and diverse and ACCURATE! twelve year olds are little shits who want desperately to run away from their parents and make friends and have adventures! it made my sense of humor what it is, it introduced me to a blonde female protagonist who was INTELLIGENT AND BRAVE (things I always thought I was but was afraid to be)!!!!! and, most importantly, my first thought upon receiving my adhd diagnosis a week ago (it's been about five years since I last read pjo), was "wow. I'm one step closer to being a half-blood".

EDIT: there are bonus books in the replies that my dumb brain forgot ab until rn if u wanna see :]

[miss-sternennacht]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @cnnmonbimee!! Thanks so much!

1. How many works do you have on Ao3? Actually same as Hime, 28! I have more when you add on fanfic.net, but I'm working on getting those over.

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 122,557, which I feel like is a lot!

3. What fandoms do you write for? 20 total for TBHK, with the next place trophy going to Hetalia.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Four Questions (Hetalia: Axis Powers) (3,377 words) kudos: 405

Let's Take a Selfie! (地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Manga), 地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Anime)) (4,461 words) kudos: 304

Morning Reflections (地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Manga), 地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Anime)) (3,836 words) kudos: 283

Teach Me Astronomy, Amane-kun! (地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Manga), 地縛少年花子くん | Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun | Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Anime)) (17,645 words) kudos: 245

Miracles Take Time (Hetalia: Axis Powers) (19,821 words) kudos: 184

My number one kudos fic is something I wrote over 10 years ago alskdflsjkd But I am surprised at how many the selfie one has, it was just an idea I had. Didn't think it would be somewhat popular!

5. Do you respond to comments? I try to as much as possible!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably "Until Midnight" due to the ending, but probably also "Everything Has an End". I don't typically write angsty fics or fics with sad endings.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Most of them LOL! I'd probably say "Hey There Lovina"

8. Do you get hate on fics? I have before! Not on AO3, not that I can remember however. But if people hate a fic, that's ok! They're allowed to have that opinion and I'm not a trained writer or anything, I just write for fun.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I tend to have ideaaaaaas, but I'm not confident in that kind of writing so I probably won't ever post any of them. Making out or referencing something is the closest I usually get.

10. Do you write crossovers? I have! I don't like those that much tbh. I have one on AO3, I had two before on Fanfic.net.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? ... No?

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Also no!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not yet ;)

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? So talking in general, it's probably SyaoSaku from CCS! In terms of writing it's HanaNene from TBHK.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I actually have a Mario fic that I started writing when the movie came out because I heard a song and got a great idea, and there's a HanaNene skating fic that is mostly done... A few other oneshots too.

16. What are your writing strengths? I don't know if I'm qualified to talk about my strengths lol, but I think maybe connections?

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Again, I don't know if I'm qualified to judge myself properly, but the fact that I'm just not a great writer. My vocabulary needs to expanddddd.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Listen. I wrote fics for Hetalia. I used Google Translate, used books to translate, asked people for translations, and also relied on commenters for any troubles. I don't mind if others do it just because I'm used to it from long ago, even if the translation is not quite right.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Technically technically, I used to write little ficlets for Jimmy Neutron back when Nickelodeon had forums on their site! Did I save any of them, of course not, so they are lost to time.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? "Teach Me Astronomy, Amane-kun!" I started this fic during Covid-19 and at the time I really wanted to write for TBHK because none of my friends watched/read the series and I had so many intense feelings since it became my new obsession. And because I had read so many fics that had Amane obsess over space, another obsession/hobby of mine, I wanted to combine the two to create an (somewhat) educational fic. It was really fun to tell people about an event and to hear in the comments what people saw/did. I fully intend to continue the fic and already have some drafts made up, but this one out of all my fics I desperately want to continue.

Thank you for the tag, Hime! I don't normally tag, so if you see this and want to do it, just tag me 'cause I'd love to read yours!

[where-the-sabia-sings]

This is a series of one shots from my favorite couple, Brarg

Extremely inspired by Magical Realism, especially in the next chapters

Hope you like it ☺️

She was the most beautiful woman in the Americas, other men would have said. Crazy, he would say.

But not as crazy as him.

These guys would never compete in madness with Francisco, because unlike them, he sought her and was not stopped by the desire to be just a mere spectator of her apotheosis.

No. Francisco was not a coward. They could call him many things, but he definitely wasn't a coward.

They already knew each other from the time when he was just a forgotten offspring of his father, wandering around the Prata basin. He had no brothers. Perhaps he even had relatives among the larger settlements, but none of them claimed him as a brother. It was just him, and God would make him great for who knows what reason.

One day Guarani came to pick him up with her boy. After some time pestering her to see others, the old indigenous woman gave in. She picked up the little one by the arms and threw him among the supplies in the cart.

They walked for hours until they crossed the banks of the Paraná, and there was a group of 6 people.

The majority were Portuguese settlers, some clearly mixed race and others not. He didn't know exactly why Guarani was meeting those men, or why she was taking him and her son for a basic food exchange.

Until in the middle of the group was a girl.

She was taller than him, with curly black hair, large dark eyes and clothes more refined than any rag Paco had ever worn in his life. She looked at him with her jabuticaba eyes, she seemed a little curious as to who the lice her aunt had brought was.

"Ha'e ha'e, pe mitã Tupinambágua" Guarani said to Paco. She was one of them then.

The two didn't exchange words, they just looked at each other somewhat curiously. She thought he was a little strange, a little too random for her taste, too clumsy. She only bothered to gave that look of false contempt, and turned on her back and went back to her entourage.

That gesture was enough for all that curiosity, mixed with a certain wonder at that girl, who next to him was closer to a princess, for a feeling of nonconformity to be born in that boy.

The first time he saw a face other than his family he wasn't very present, and the only thing he caused was indifference? How dare she not feel that same joy at seeing him?

This nonconformity transmuted into irritation, into bubbling anger. There the greatest rivalry in those lands was engendered, which ultimately gave birth to their love centuries later.

Francisco would remember this meeting on the banks of the Paraná River, the look in Manuela's eyes and Guarani's restrained laughter listening to him complain the entire way back.

It would be the last thing on his mind as he agonized with a bayonet bullet in 1852.

⭐️

Context:

-

- the first time that Manu and Paco meet, I probably believe it would take place around the middle of the 16th century. Manuela was already an established colony, see why she was better dressed than Francisco, who at the time was very confused about his own status as a nation

- 1852: Battle of Montês Cerasos. One of the most important chapters of the War of the Prata, a conflict involving Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina in a dispute for the hegemony of Prata, and over influence in Paraguay. It was the rehearsal for the Paraguayan War that would occur years later.

- I always imagined Paco as a lonely boy in constant search for other people's attention, especially from other nations. He did not had a very well-defined family structure, like Paraguay does. The only thing he was sure of was that Antonio was his father, and that some provinces were the closest he would have to brothers (Ex: Tucamán at the beginning and BsAs later).

To make matters worse, the first nation introduced to him, apart from his acquaintances, simply shits on him. So it's not difficult to understand where his rivalry with Manuela comes from hahahah

- I plan to explain, much later, Manuela's point of view on this first meeting, but I say that it won't be very easy

[clementine-thedestroyer]

Aroura Borealis - König x reader - Part 1

Series master post- Read on Ao3

This is a multichapter fic so just to clarify, not all of these tags apply to this chapter (in fact, almost none of them do) but I do want to give people a heads up of what they're getting into, especially because this is a lot darker than my usual writing.

Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7

Warnings/Tags: Fem!reader, eldritch!König, kidnapping, manipulation, gaslighting, violence, minor character death, end of the world, apocalypse/post-apocalypse, potential dub/non con. Dead dove, do not eat. It may not seem like it now but you've been warned. Based on/inspired by the Lemon Demon song by the same name. Alt summery: your boyfriend turns out to be an immortal being beyond your possible comprehension, but all he really cares about is making sure you're safe through the end of the world. /j but not really.

“Let’s take a month-long impromptu vacation we can’t afford to the Canadian Northern Territories.” Your boyfriend said.

“It’ll be fun,” He said.

You're starting to regret listening.

You shouldn’t have agreed to this. You should’ve raised more questions at König’s sudden insistence to take a holiday.

But no, you’d let him bring you out here. You’d let him pack way too much for this trip. You’d let him convince you that he had the money for it. You’d let him take you somewhere so remote that you had to fly in to the closest “town” (town being a strong word for the small collection of buildings he’d shown you on google maps) on a bush plane, just to get some guy König knew from the military who knew the area to drive you up to the place you’d be staying. You let him do all of it. You’d pushed past your unease and just tried to enjoy yourself for once. And for a brief moment, everything had been fine. König had been right, you were just being weird about it.

The area was beautiful. The town was the only civilization for miles, and it was situated on the northern bank of a large, frozen river and surrounded from all other directions by boreal forest and rising mountains. 

The buildings were a charming hodgepodge of styles, sizes, and colors. The rural, unplanned community was so different from the cookie cutter suburbs and high density urban areas you were used to.

The ground was covered in dense layers of snow- packed down into makeshift trails where people would walk from building to building or towards the tree line. The wind whipped across the flat, icy plane of the river, gathering speed and picking up tiny bits of snow and ice so when it hit your skin, it felt like a thousand tiny pinpricks all at once. 

The people you met were lovely too. There was a small general goods type store towards the center of the town that König had directed you to go wait and warm up in while he talked to the guy he’d known from up here, and the elderly couple who ran it were sweet as could be. You’d bought a few basics for dinner and a cheesy little souvenir keychain from them. Not necessarily because you needed it, but because the couple who ran the store were as sweet as could be.

You chatted with the woman as she rang up your items, telling her about how König had decided to bring the two of you up here and listening when she tells you how during the summer, the cabins on the mountain side are rented out regularly for vacations, but that she’d never seen the owner rent one out during the offseason.

“Strange young man, that one.” She mutters, shaking her head and looking out the window at the man in a mask and sunglasses talking with König before turning back to the small register and punching in the code for a can of chili. “He’s lived up here for god knows how long and I hardly see him. Never heard him say more than a few words or seen his face.”

You frown, watching the König and the man talk outside for a moment. 

It wasn’t snowing at the moment- although the locals had assured you that you’d probably be sick of the snow by the time you left- and König and the other man stood stiffly facing each other. König had his hands stuffed deep in his pockets and wore a tense expression towards the other that didn’t quite fit the narrative of “old military friend” he’d given you. The other guy seemed much less on edge- as he was leaning against the side of the bed of what you assumed to be his truck with his arms crossed loosely over his chest. He was shorter than König and wore a fabric face mask, hat, and reflective sunglasses like the ones you’d see at outdoor stores like REI or Bass Pro Shop.

König was wearing a face covering of sorts too- as was typical for him. You knew that, on the field, he almost always wore a sniper hood (he liked to keep his work separate from you- he tried not to let you see him in full gear or anything of the sort, and as far as you were concerned, the “sniper hood” looked like an old T-shirt with eye holes). But in public, it was usually just a disposable face mask. The cold had given him an excuse to switch it up a bit though, and he’d taken to wearing a hat and scarf- with one of the scarve’s loops done loose enough that it could be lifted up and over his nose and ears to cover the bottom of his face.

The two painted a stark contrast, with König wearing carefully chosen sets of layers under his windbreaker and snow pants and looking like someone properly dressed for the weather, while the other man wore a dark leather bomber style jacket over what looked like no more than a sweater underneath.

It reminded you a bit of when you’d see how people from warmer places would dress for the cold as opposed to people from those areas- and you’d never admit it to König, but you did find it a bit funny.

König’s friends have always been a bit odd. The face covering isn't the most out of place thing you’ve seen amongst them. König, himself in fact, could probably be considered more than a bit odd. You’ve always just chalked it up to his military career.

Once the woman had rang up your things, you bid her farewell with a smile and promised to stop by again before you headed back home.

König had made quite a fuss about your purchases when you came back out, asking why you took so long and insisting that the cabin would already have everything you needed in it- that there was no need for “backup canned chili”, as he called it.

He had seemed nearly glued to your side that day, always keeping you close by with a protective hand somewhere on you or directing you exactly where to wait for him as he sorted out issues. Hence, you being told to wait inside the store.

After finishing with his lecture on the backup chili, König sighed and took your hand, telling you to come meet the friend he’d told you about.

He starts to lead you toward the man and his truck, and as you get closer, you can see a heavy duty set of snow chains in the vehicle’s tires. When you get close to the man, König stops, pulling you tight against his side by your waist, introducing the man to you as Horangi.

For a moment, the man was silent. Simply looking you up and down before turning his head back to König.

“This is her?” He asked, not giving you so much as a second look.

You can’t see it, but you hear the rustling of his clothes as König nods his head in response. The exchange filled you with a mix of embarrassment at being spoken about like you weren’t present and awkwardness at the palpable tension between König and Horiangi.

Another second of silence passes and Horiangi gives you another look before stuffing his hand in his pocket and pulling out his keys.

“Alright. Get in.” He says, apathy audible in his tone. He pushes himself upright from where he’d been leaning against the side of his truck and turns around, walking around toward the driver's side without another word or glance.

The whole exchange had struck you as odd, but König simply patted your back, directing you towards the passenger door.

“Sorry, Schatz. He doesn’t get out much.” He says, giving you an apologetic smile before opening the passenger door of the truck and folding down the passenger seat.

You hold back a groan at the sight of a jump seat, knowing that you’ll be stuck in the undoubtedly cramped back seat for however long the drive is. You weren’t quite sure where you were expecting to sit, as the truck only even had two doors- and König certainly wouldn’t be the one climbing into the back, but the sight of the tiny, low to the ground bench seat was enough to make your legs ache just thinking about it.

You step one foot up onto the floor of the truck, using it as a step so you can squeeze through the small space left by the folded down front seat to get into the back.

You try your best to do so gracefully and not fall face first into the back, but König resting his hand on your lower back to steady you (and not at all just so he could slide his hand down towards your ass) startles you and makes you lose your footing, leaving you to slide into the back and land on your knees with a soft “oof” sound.

You shot König a small glare, not missing the smirk he fails to keep hidden- even with the scarf covering half his face.

Once you’re situated in the backseat with your seat belt buckled and your backpack handed to you, König sits the front seat back up, and you find yourself crammed into a space that’s really only meant to hold children. Leg room as a concept is nonexistent. The seat is only half a foot or so off the truck floor and there’s barely enough room for you to sit with your feet flat.

The drive had been long and quiet, but not uncomfortably so. Horangi seemed comfortable to focus on driving, navigating the snow covered roads expertly even as they wound and doubled back on themselves, and you were happy to just enjoy the scenery, watching through the window as spruce, firs, and pine trees- all with their beaches sitting heavy from the weight of snow- pass by.

Your legs ached to be stretched after sitting in such an uncomfortable position and you’d found yourself beginning to doze off during the drive. Not quite falling asleep, but leaning your head against the window frame and letting your eyes glaze over. The flight had taken a toll on you - flights, actually. Plural. Because first there was one just to get to Yellowknife, then there was another on a bush plane to actually get to the area. And the jet lag was, frankly, a bitch. 

You were jerked out of your daze when the truck stopped and König reached back, using the shoulder of the driver's seat to brace himself, and you felt his hand envelop your shoulder as he gently shook you awake.

“Schatz, we’re here.” 

You let out a groan, sitting up and waiting for König to fold forward his seat so you could get out. 

Horangi had opened his door and gotten out the moment the car stopped, jerking the parking brake up and putting the car in park before yanking out his keys and tossing them in the cup holder, not bothering to take them with him. You stared at the keys for a moment, brow furrowing.

It was easily explainable enough. You were in the middle of nowhere, there was likely no one but you three for miles. But even then, Horangi leaving his keys in his truck made you do a double take. 

Most people would’ve slipped them in their pocket out of habit at least- but maybe your and König’s presence was simply disruptive. It was clear that Horangi either wasn’t in the mood for other people, or König calling them two “friends” had been a stretch… or maybe it was you. You wouldn’t blame him for not wanting to be a third wheel.

Regardless, you got the sense that Horangi wanted to get the two of you settled as fast as possible, even if for no reason other than to get you out of his hair.

When König folded the front passenger seat down, you first helped to hand forward the stuff that’d been put in the backseat with you for the drive before climbing out- nearly falling on your face in the process, courtesy the burning in your legs from the cramped space.

Outside of the truck, you caught your balance and looked around. Horangi was nowhere in sight and König was already moving away from the car, walking towards a narrow path that cut through the conifers. You took it as a sign to follow, reaching down to pick up two bags from where they sat in the snow.

The area where the road ended was densely wooded with spruces and firs, and the fluffy snow that blanketed the ground was undisturbed aside from your little trios’ footprints and the truck’s tire tracks.

It was cold, but König had apparently known what he was doing as far as getting winter gear for you, because the temperature felt manageable under all your layers despite the wind burning your face.

You’d hardly had the chance to take two steps before the bags you were carrying were plucked out of your hands, making you jump and yelp as you turn to see Horangi beside you.

You hadn’t heard him approaching- a feat considering how loudly the snow would crunch as anyone walked across it. You stood frozen for a moment, watching as he took the bags from you with no more than a grunt. 

“You startled me-“ you said, trying to keep a stutter from your voice. “I didn’t hear you coming.”

“People usually don’t.” Horangi says, not giving you another look or a chance to respond before he starts down the trail.

You’re left standing there, staring at the space Horangi had disappeared to. The odd response left you drawing a blank.

You were really starting to think he didn’t like you… either that, or maybe you still weren’t used to the weirdness that came with König’s friends.

[mood2you]

Blog 6 Writing, Reading, Listening and Learning

Felt alright this week, and it went by quick. Went to the pool, it was really nice, and I hope it stays open longer. Been working on Fallen Angel and Ozymanzous. The hard part about writing sometimes it getting everything to fit, plot and motivations wise. Also having a draft where you just put every snippet you think of in the order you think of it, while it's important to write stuff down when you have an idea, disorganization can be so distracting.

Playing video games less. One of my mods on Stardew broke. Listening to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon music now, frustrated there's so many games and OSTs it's hard to find the one I want.

Happy September.

I've been reading again, I'm reading "Listen to the Marriage" by John Jay Osborn and trying to take notes as if it wasn't a fictional novel. But, a novel could be just as well since it's for Fallen Angel, it can show pacing and stuff for an audience. A lot of books like this are about the person being counseled, and so will mine, but it makes the therapist look really simple, the way a middleschooler views their history teacher and can't imagine having multiple periods of classes. A lot of middleschool teachers are careful to have their classes synched exactly, I'm sure, but in small schools you will be teaching 6, 7, and 8 which means 3 completely different courses. This is what therapists do, right down to the glorified baby-sitter part, except probably 6 courses. Osborn's story only exists for an hour each week in her office, all she thinks about is the couple she's working with (whoa re unreliable narrators) and her grief for her mother. Which is probably enough to have on your plate. Locked-door stories are interesting. I also started watching this series about a seriously Freudian guy (what's the point of harping on mommy-issues, can I fix it now, can I change the past?) reacting, sorry, he's not some guy he's a therapist, reacting to Showtime's Couple Therapy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUItaloRvoQ Also a note to content creators, hyperlink your links, you will see more clicks. The problem with all my studying, of course, is, it's fake dating and fantasy, it doesn't really matter what the wizard asks, they're not going to get a straight answer, only poke holes in a silly lie. I wonder if real therapists ever get rich people just taking the piss. I think there was a fake dating couple counseling movie, but the closest to a book I've seen is The Rosie Effect, where he gets his friend to pretend to be his spouse for counseling-in-leui-of-jail because telling her about all of it would "stress her out too much" and it's a captivating train-wreck. I would tell them to renew their vows if I thought they'd just met at a bar. The problem is, if they're not taking the piss but rather lying to each other, or not listening, making up a double-life, covering up a double-life, or just are that un-intimate that they don't seem to know each other well, they will think you are an un-serious therapist who cannot help real people.

I'm having a problem with my plan to stop unhauling books that I haven't read: I'm about full-up on books, I still shop a little, and if I move soon I cannot move ALL of these things. Reblogging a post about "you don't have to be "productive" just read to enjoy your spare time" but but but. I read physical. I have a little room for this floating stack, but I don't know how to organize it. I started rereading my favorite book from last year, Woman no. 17, one of the few books I've read but kept.

I also started "Intro to Stoicastic Modeling 3rd edition" which boasts that this edition is more in-depth and less intro-y than the others, which is annoying to me because I don't know how to read textbooks and now you're telling me I should track down edition 1? Anyways, I was sort of thinking about sociology (you hear stochastic in the news when it's discussing motives for man-made violence) then I was afraid it would be that chemistry thing stoiciometry, but it's really the study of all random relationships that influence each other, it boasts it's about math, sociology, psychology, and business leadership. The first example is about cheating at flip-a-coin. If anyone has tips for reading a textbook as an adult, let me know. Probably "just pretend it's a 200 page science/technology book."

[ladydragonkiller]

I hope you enjoy Honey Girl! I enjoyed both of those songs quite a lot, by the way. You have excellent music taste.

I haven't read the Leviathan series. Flying whales and talking lizards sound like fun! Perhaps I'll check it out. By the sound of it, it reminds me of a book I read as a kid, most of which I can't remember aside from a plotline about stowing away on a train and steampunk vibes. I wish I could remember the name of it.

I would have to say that my favorite time of day is in the morning after the sun rises. I love the sunlight, and I love having an east-facing window so that my room is full of sunshine in the morning.

Do you collect anything (aside from owls)?

M.C.

I’ve read maybe half of the first chapter of honey girl so far, and I think I will enjoy it! Glad you liked the song, and I agree about my music tastes. It would be a sad thing if I didn’t like the songs I listened to after all.

I hope you have fun if you do ending up reading them! Also I’d love to hear what you think. The combination of train and steampunk is an excellent one, good luck remembering the title!

That sounds lovely! Usually when I get up early I have to be out of the house soon, so don’t get time to enjoy the sunrise. Then when I have a morning at home I tend to be in bed until the sun is fully up (sunrise is about 6 in the morning where I live at this time of year)

I do, however, have a west facing window, so during the afternoon the room is flooded with golden light that paints a perfect stripe down the center. Sometimes if I’m done with my work, I can switch around the pillow on my bed and lay down in that sunbeam. More often, Apollo finds that spot and stretches out while I’m still at my desk. Not sure if afternoon is my favorite time of day, but I do like it.

I have small groupings of a few other items (wire fox terrier likenesses, fun button down shirts, etc), but nothing so extensive that I’d call it a collection. The closest thing I can think of is yarn and fibers, of which there are many in my closet. However, I’m not sure if those count as a collection since I’m planning to use them all eventually.

Actually, the shawls I’ve made in past could probably count as a collection. There’s a fair few of them, and I don’t use them enough for them to just be part of my regular wardrobe. Shawls are my favorite thing to knit, but not super practical in day to day life.

What’s your favorite tree?