#I need to explore Insomnia real bad

[andywinter16]

All of you better look at concept art of Insomnia. That stuff is fucking AWESOME!  I have to agree with the opinion that GTA Insomnia would be guilty pleasure.

(have a little treat in the form of images from Kingsglaive) 

(Kingsglaive HQ, kinda loving it cuz part looks like a Colliseum)

(is that a briefing room? The floors are banger tho)

(hope, this is Titus office, cuz the view is on the training grounds)

(training grounds, love that it goes to the underground)

( is that the room where glaives received the news of treaty? those knights are cool!)

[cevansbrat0007]

Sweet Renegade Series Masterlist

About the Sweet Renegade Series: A new arrival in town leads to an unexpected complication in the form of a sexy as sin Bounty Hunter named Ari Levinson.

This series features a collection of one-shots centered around a small town romance between Bounty Hunter Ari Levinson and a reluctant, curvy Reader.

It will also contain mature themes such as Sex, Interracial Relationships, Soft D/s Themes, Discussions of Body Image, Disordered Eating, Discussions of Race, Occasional Depictions of Violence, Cursing, and more. Minors, please do not engage or interact.

Special thanks to @curls-and-eyeliner for helping me brainstorm ideas. Thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing more soon! (**) indicates smut

Series Intro

New In Town: Introducing my Sweet Renegades Series. Sparks fly when you accidentally find yourself sitting next to Bounty Hunter, Ari Levinson.

Hello, Duchess: Your first encounter with Bounty Hunter, Ari Levinson, goes worse than you ever could've imagined.

The Do-Over: Everyone deserves a second chance, including jerks like Bounty Hunter, Ari Levinson.

A Friend in the Dark Part I: Ari receives an unexpected call from you in the middle of the night. **

New! A Friend in the Dark Part II: After receiving an unexpected call from you in the middle of the night, Ari's not going to let anything stop him from getting to you. But will he make it in time?

Untitled Story: Coming Soon

Sweet Morning Light: Watching you sleep has Ari hungry for more. Which means it's time for breakfast. And it looks like you're on the menu... **

Thirst Trap: Ari loves looking at your ass in those shorts, as long as he's the one who gets to walk behind you. **

Back to Sleep: Ari has the perfect cure for your insomnia. **

On the Clock: Ari stops by for a snack while he's out chasing a lead. **

Creep: You sneak out of the house to go on a midnight supply run, which inadvertently sends Ari into panic mode. ** [Request]

Moments Shared: You and Ari share a moment during a lazy afternoon... **

Quickie: You get caught up in the moment while dropping off dinner to your favorite bounty hunter.

Sweet Tooth: Ari gets inventive when he finds himself in the doghouse with you. ** [Request]

Sweet Tooth Deluxe: Ari teaches you a much needed lesson about ignoring him. ** [Request]

Sugar Fix: Your poor attempt at a joke lands you in hot water with your man. Takes place directly after the events in Sweet Tooth and Sweet Tooth Deluxe. ** [Request]

Disturbing the Peace: You're keeping a secret from Ari - one that you'll have to tell him about eventually. Right?

Forget-Me-Not: Ari forgets to do something important before leaving out the door...

The Scent of you: Ari loves the sweet scent of you, which is why he's content to live between your thighs. **

Case of the Ex: Part I: Just as you decide to explore your feelings for Ari, an unexpected blast from your past sends you reeling...

Southern Comfort: A day after your ex-boyfriend's unexpected return, you show up on Ari's doorstep intending to ask for a little time. Too bad your grumpy bounty hunter isn't feeling particularly charitable. **

An Afternoon with Minerva: Ari finds himself finally ready to admit the truth about his feelings for you...

Off the Market: Ari learns that you're not the sharing type. Which is fine by him, because neither is he.

A Man Starved: Ari lives for the taste of you on his tongue... ** [Request]

The Slam: Ari has had a enough of your TikTok foolishness...

Risky Business: Ari doesn't like it when you take unnecessary risks. So tonight he's going to teach you a lesson you won't soon forget. **

Worthy of You: After being forced to confront his own demons, Ari begins to question whether or not he is worthy of you.

Miscellaneous Asks, Drabbles, & One-shots:

New! Witches' Brouhaha: Ari saves you from a real-life fright on Halloween night...

New! Guessing Games: Ari doesn't like being kicked out of your bedroom.

What's Eating You, Mr. Levinson?: You decide to test your man's patience with a prank you saw on TikTok. CLICK HERE to read Andrew Barber's reaction to the same prompt. [Request]

Cross-Country Christmas: When Ari is left stranded at the airport on Christmas Eve, you find yourself in need of a little holiday miracle... **

The Anatomy of An Orgasm: You make the mistake of faking an orgasm while in bed with Ari... ** [Request]

Convincing Ari to Dance with You: [Request]

Regrets Only: Ari reaches his limit with your latest TikTok prank... ** [Request]

Bad Days: Ari helps you get through a particularly bad day... **

Michèle: Ari doesn't approve of your latest trip to the spa. ** [Request]

Jiggly: You find yourself feeling a little self-conscious after it becomes clear you've gained a little weight. **

Easy, Baby: Ari just wants to do his part to help you relax. **

Promises, Promises: Ari exacts a promise from you as a reward for his patience. **

[istadris]

Luigi has become good friends with Prince Dreambert and they often talk about dreams whenever one of them travels to visit the other (mostly Luigi since he has more time to do so). Luigi has insomnia and Dreambert is determined to help him through it as the prince of dreams and often cuddles with him while napping or when the nightmares get really bad at night and Luigi needs comfort. A secretly resurrected Antasma in his bat form finds out one night while spying through the window when Luigi visits again and goes feral. You may continue it as you like.

Just so you know, you are more than welcome to send me as many prompts/ideas/plotbunnies like this one as you want 8D

(Also as an aside : in French, Dreambert's name is Tédibert, which I find incredible because Teddy Bear pun + old-fashioned suffix that sounds like a medieval name ?? French translation wins this one, sorry folks)

*

Dreambert becoming friends with Luigi would be so cute! Unlike many other people, Dreambert has seen first-hand what Luigi is capable of, and how brave, loyal and powerful Luigi can be. So of course he would want to help him, not just as the prince of dreams, but as a close friend !

Pi'illo Island has so many remedies and places to help with sleep and nightmares issues, which Luigi can finally take the time to explore at his leisure with Dreambert. The prince doesn't mind having Luigi sleep on his pillow form either, on the contrary, and travels with Luigi across the Dream World to help him relax away from nightmares.Still, it takes a lot of time and Luigi starts to worry he's bothering his friends...

*

Now as for Antasma...once again, I could see different roads for what could happen with your idea.

The silly shippy part of me is having fun with Antasma being jealous of Dreambert...and having a small part of him that he can't identify wishing someone would cuddle him like Luigi does with Dreambert. Maybe he tries to steal Luigi away from the dream prince to obtain this wish XD

Smart Villain Antasma though...ooooh, he would go feral indeed, but also would relish in the opportunity of getting rid of Dreambert AND getting the power of Luigi for himself. Realizing he has an in when he hears Luigi complain about his insomnia yet finding comfort thanks to the Pi'illo's help. Maybe find a way to trick Luigi ; managing to talk with him alone (in the real or the dream world), maybe under a false appearance, claiming he can eat Luigi's bad dreams to help him and speed up the process a lot. And Luigi, who fears constantly he's abusing his friend's hospitality (which isn't the case, Dreambert is delighted to have him, but Luigi's brain won't let him accept that), Luigi thinks it sounds like a good idea indeed...after all, he has tried many Pi'illo tricks and remedies, what's wrong with one more...? But once he starts giving an access to his dreams, that's all Antasma needs to sow the first seeds of his influence, anchor himself in Luigi's dreams and start manipulating them...

[pink-strawberry-kissess]

HCs for Aeon's first time together? Like when & where did it happen? What did Leon/Ada discover about each other intimately...

i think canonically it's off screen during re5 during that night

but for headcanons (this is not fleshed out at all, and i'm just thinking)

i like the idea of another interaction during some sort of mission

maybe Leon needing to save someone else but is surprised when ada is there again, he's expecting her to grab something from him but since she's still guilty about re4 she refrains from doing so in front of him.

ada saves him (of course) from something, and gives him some sort of information that he needed to get the mission over it

"that greeting you would've wanted" would be mentioned here again

leon needs to be somewhat dying and ada saves him, and he's still unsure and afraid. but is placed in another position where he has to trust her (which he does ofc)

because ada did what she needed to do behind closed doors, he's also placed in a position to speculate about what she did

she doesn't tell him, they leave on somewhat okay terms

at this point they have their contacts (somehow)

and since they "continue living with their lives off screen during re5"

i can imagine one or the other stumbling into each other, off mission and one thing leading to another

they would have their romantic dinner, night at a hotel

leon would expect her to stay, and is heartbroken + but angry when she leaves without a word

they've explored each other intimately but only in a physical way

this would lead to damnation and how they're characterized there

between damnation - re6, something would've switched and more feelings were explored

leon wanting more, ada being afraid

leon wanting to give more, and ada not wanting to receive it

she would actively try to push him away but wouldn't be able to stop herself from pursuing him physically.

this could follow the route to re6

they're in some sort of mutual trust, but their jobs keep them apart

UMMGHHHHHHHHHHHH okay

in terms of"What did Leon/Ada discover about each other intimately..."

i think leon has nightmares, ada feels bad and doesn't like seeing how empathic that he can be. that he still suffers so much

this would be something ada would learn after falling asleep with him, and finding him tossing and turning in the night

that being said, she doesn't want to fix him, but she wants him to to want to fix himself

ada is very controlling of her own emotions, and therefore the sex would feel very emotionless in a sense, that she refuses to be vulnerable with him for large moments of time.

he would see glimpses of her, the real her, and he keeps chasing this from her

honestly i kinda think that whenever they [redacted] there's moments of clarity where they're completely free and vulnerable with each other. like SO MANY KISSES. and SO GRABBY. just eating each other up and wanting that moment to continue on for as long as possible

they take their time mapping out their each other's bodies, remembering everything they like

leon's scars, what he likes, that he's extremely touch starved and melts at ada's touch

that ada is extremely afraid of physical affection and i also kinda headcanon that she was maybe abused as a child (not sexually though) and is sometimes skittish or at least very aware of what's going on

i think leon picks up on it and is VERY gentle with her for a while, especially once they explore each other more sexually and have expressed their boundaries.

(headcanon) ada picks up on the fact that leon becomes hard of hearing on his right ear, and she always tries to stay near that side so that she can watch out for him but also so that he can hear her better.

i like to think that ada surprises leon with matching sets of lingerie (which always get torn off at some point, but he's very careful not to rip anything lol, except for like post damnation where they have rougher sex)

i forgot to mention but they also both suffer from insomnia. leon much more as ada has trained herself to at least get some hours of sleep- but also that leads stop my other headcanon that ada instead of suffering from nightmares, that her stresses resort to night terrors instead, which are MUCH WORSE.

there's a night where she's suffering from one and leon's never seen it before and just does not know what to do. he wants to comfort her immediately but is pushed away from her when she wakes. (if you don't know the differences between a nightmare and night terrors just look it up)

she also wants to run away as they don't happen that often and can be triggered by stress or a change of lifestyle or location, so she's also thrown off by it and doesn't want to impose her problems onto leon

he wants her to stay so badly and has to gently coax her back into the bedroom and back into bed.

okay back to sexy stuff

i think that ada's a bit ticklish, and leon tries to engage with that during sex sometimes, he just likes hearing her laugh. and that slight bit of embarrassment she has when she's switching between laughing and moaning because he's railing her

again i don't like talking about birth control methods in fics (they feel like they halt the story) use it irl

but i like the idea of them maaaaaaybe using condoms in the beginning but then i also headcanon that leon maybe had a reversible vasectomy at some point after re4 (coincidentally after seeing ada was alive lol sdkfjbsjfks)

but i love the idea of them together when they [redacted] and leon knowing that he [redacted] inside of her, especially since that's the most intimate thing she's doing with anyone.

this leads into the whole like "love me like that night," "make love to me like i'm your wife" "want me to make you into a real daddy?" AHSAJGHGHJAJJJGHGHHHHHHHH

leon blows his load way too fast these nights but he can go a second time

ada's more into the messy sex, especially later on, and loves being on top so she can watch him watching her. his hand grabbing onto her so she can fall onto his cock faster

help

(this will be updated occasionally)

[scottxlogan]

StarkBucks Bingo 2022 Master List

Hey everyone! This year I participated in the @starkbucksbingo​ and this is my master list of every prompt I filled on this bingo. It is super exciting to post this because I finished the entire card and it was a lot of fun. Thanks to those in charge running the bingo! It was a great time! To take a look at my master list of prompts read under the cut below:

1.Title: Reconciliation Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40270578 Square Filled: B2 “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Teen and Up Major Tags & Triggers: Adult Content, Mild Language, Post-Break Up, Misunderstandings, Idiots in Love, Reunions, Love Confessions, Restraints, Happy Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bomb Word Count: 7127 Summary: Six months ago Tony Stark asked Bucky Barnes to take their relationship to the next level and move in with him. The next morning Bucky disappeared leaving Tony wondering where he'd gone wrong. Now reunited and facing a threat to their future, the two are forced to face the truth that it took six months to return to in Bucky's absence. Will they find a way to reunite or end up in a situation beyond their control after the bad guys managed to gain the upper hand?

2.Title: Up In the Air Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40435989 Square Filled: G2 On the Run Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Mature Major Tags & Triggers: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Mile High Club, Sexual Content, Confessions, Foot Massage, Bucky Barnes has PTSD, Tony Stark Needs a Hugh, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Bonding, Secret Crush, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, Protective Bucky Barnes, Hurt Tony Stark, Mild Hurt/Comfort Word Count: 12342 Summary: When a threat is made against Tony's life, he is forced to leave New York and retreat to a private island with Bucky at his side serving as his bodyguard. Although the two have come a long way with one another during the time Bucky has been protecting Tony, it seems that the flight to their destination brings them closer in ways that neither had anticipated moving forward. A quiet conversation leads to awakenings between them as Tony finds himself tempted to explore new heights with Bucky. Could this be the real thing happening between them?

3.Title: Innocent Until Proven Guilty Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40339539 Square Filled: Square G5 Fluff Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Teen and Up Major Tags & Triggers:   Fluff, Mischief, Cuddling & Snuggling, Making Out, Established Relationship, Kissing, Romance Word Count: 4848 Summary: Tony has big plans, but when he loses something important in his lab his search ends up leading him nowhere. After a frustrating search, Tony ends up cuddling in Bucky's arms and spending time with Alpine. Will Tony discover what happened to his missing item or has it disappeared forever leaving him to face new plans for his future?

4.Title: Sleep and Other Things Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41023590 Square Filled: Square O5 Insomnia Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Mature Major Tags & Triggers: Awkward Flirting, Idiots in Love, Naked Cuddling, Declarations of Love, Implied Sexual Content, Adult Content, Misunderstandings, Swearing, Angst with a Happy Ending   Word Count: 7222 Summary: Bucky and Tony's shared insomnia leave them facing a potential solution to their mutual problem. When Tony suggests they sleep together, Bucky is both intrigued and anxious wondering what it means moving forward with life at the tower. Will it bring them closer to rest in each other's arms or spark a fire too enticing to ignore?

 5.Title: Now You’ve Done It Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41156601 Square Filled: U2: Changed into an Animal Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating: Teen and Up Major Tags & Triggers:  Animal Transformation, Magic, Minor Loki/Steve Rogers, Angry Loki, Cat Tony Stark Word Count: 6694 Summary: Bucky returns home from a morning mission only to discover that Tony has been transformed into a tiny kitten after he pushed Loki too far in a debate the previous evening. Unable to find a means of fixing the problem, Bucky's plans for a romantic night are no more as he struggles to bring Tony back to his true form. Will Bucky be successful in his mission, or will Loki's anger forever leave Tony as a tiny fluffball?

6.Title: Breaking Point Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42254982 Square Filled: B5-Cold Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Teen and Up Major Tags & Triggers:   Misunderstandings, Enemies to Lovers, Implied Sexual Content, Sharing a Bed, Winter, Stranded, Miscommunication, Cuddling, Swearing, Adult Content Word Count: 5562 Summary: When a last minute mission ends badly, Tony and Bucky wind up trapped in a cabin in the middle of a storm with only each other to depend on. Seeking out warmth in one another, the two share a tense exchange that turns passionate as Tony discovers that maybe he doesn't hate Bucky as much as he leads on.

7.Title: I Love You Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41246319 Square Filled: I4, Handle with Care Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Mature Major Tags & Triggers:   Love Confessions, Light Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Insecurity, Scars, Idiots in Love, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Insecure Tony, Declarations Of Love, Sexual Content, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Jealousy Word Count: 2874 Summary:  In the aftermath of a disagreement, Tony rethinks his decision to tell Bucky to walk away when Tony realizes that what they've found in one another means more than hiding his heart from the hurt that opening it to love could potentially bring to his life.

8.Title: The Assignment Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41866719/chapters/105057972 Square Filled: G3: “Let me Help You!”, N3: Free Square, G4: "I'm just as average as the rest of you.", N4: On Opposing Sides, N5: Paper Airplane, I5: Plot Twist, O1: Redemption, I1: Friends to Lovers, O2: Evil Exes Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Explicit Major Tags & Triggers:   Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, No Powers, Bodyguard, Sexual Content, Age Difference, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Alcoholic Tony Stark, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Forbidden Love, Bodyguard Bucky Barnes, Bratty Tony Stark, Lust at First Sight, Dirty Talk, Bad Boy Tony Stark, Sex Toys, War Veteran Bucky Barnes Word Count: Summary: Bucky Barnes is working for his best friend's security company in the hopes of turning his life around and so far it's been working out for him. That all starts to change when Steve assigns Bucky to the role of bodyguard for Howard Stark's blatant, life of the party, ready to unapologetically take what he wants son Tony. As Bucky spends more time with Tony, he finds the job increasingly harder than he'd anticipated. As much as Bucky wants to keep things professional, Tony's flirtations prove to be far more than Bucky can take as it seems that they both want something more from their new association. Bucky has promised to do the job to the best of his ability and not let Steve down, but as Tony continues to pursue something more Bucky finds that it's hard to resist the trouble that comes with his new assignment.

9. Title: Now You’ve Done It Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41156601 Square Filled: N2-Magic Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Teen Major Tags & Triggers:   Animal Transformation, Magic, Minor Loki/Steve Rogers, Angry Loki (Marvel), Silly, never argue with Loki, Happy Ending, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, just a light story with a little silly stuff happening, Cat Tony Stark Word Count: 6694 Summary: Bucky returns home from a morning mission only to discover that Tony has been transformed into a tiny kitten after he pushed Loki too far in a debate the previous evening. Unable to find a means of fixing the problem, Bucky's plans for a romantic night are no more as he struggles to bring Tony back to his true form. Will Bucky be successful in his mission or will Loki's anger forever leave Tony as a tiny fluffball?

10.Title: Resolution Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41511879 Square Filled: O3: Sounds like a Gigantic problem. Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Mature Major Tags & Triggers:   Light Angst, Angst and Feels, Implied Sexual Content, Cuddling & Snuggling, Love Confessions, Miscommunication, Implied/Referenced Sex, Drunken Shenanigans Word Count: 4361 Summary: Bucky's journey leads him to Tony's doorstep where he's forced to face his feelings for Tony once and for all.

11.Title: Movie Night Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42326265 Square Filled: O4: “Shh…I’m sleeping Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Teen Major Tags & Triggers:   Domestic Fluff, Family Feels, Family Bonding, Kissing, Hair Braiding Word Count: 4320 Summary: Bucky and Tony begin date night with plans for a night filled with horror movies and time together, but Alpine and Morgan have other plans that bring them all together as a family.

12.Title: Down Time Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42394161   Square Filled: B1: "Take my hand." Ship/Main Pairing(s): Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes Rating: Explicit Major Tags & Triggers: Explicit Sexual Content, Established Relationship, Fluff and Smut, Miscommunication, Stripping, Needy Tony Stark, Married Sex, Rough Sex, Aftercare, Parent Tony Stark, Dirty Talk   Word Count: 9896 Summary: Tony's been having a great time showing Morgan the family vacation of her dreams. The problem is after all the bells and whistles, he's really missing out on the kind of attention he can only get from his husband when they are alone together. After two weeks without alone time, Tony reaches out to Bucky to let him know what he wants hoping that Bucky has the same ideas in mind.

13.Title: The Gift that Keeps on Giving   Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42940212 Square Filled: I3: Alien Planet Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes & James Rhodes (non-romantic), Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark, James Rhodes/Pepper Potts   Rating:  Teen and Up Major Tags & Triggers: Gift Giving, Reluctant Friendship, Mishaps, Adult Content, Monsters, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Friends,  sexual innuendo, Supernatural Elements, Bucky and Rhodey's reluctant friendship in the making   Word Count: 9952 Summary: When Tony goes away with a team on a mission, Tony decides to encourage his fiancé Bucky and his best friend Rhodey to get closer to each other with a series of gifts scattered around the tower encouraging them to spend time together. In doing so one of Tony's gifts has surprising consequences as Bucky and Rhodey are forced to work together to face down one of Tony's exotic presents in a grueling battle. When Tony returns will his plan bring Bucky and Rhodey closer together in forming a friendship or will disaster follow?  

14.Title: Fireworks Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43471695 Square Filled: B4: Missing Scene Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Teen and Up Major Tags & Triggers:   Missing Scene, Flirting, Fireworks, First Kiss Word Count: 2932 Summary: Remember when Bucky asked Tony to go see some fireworks with him? Well, here's a brief glimpse of what happens when Tony says yes and they end up going together to see the fireworks.

15.Title: The War is Over Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/42593226 Square Filled: B3: Soulmates Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Teen and Up Major Tags & Triggers:   Alternate Universe-Soulmates, Reluctant Soulmates, Canon Divergence-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Flirting, Enemies to Lovers, Awkward Flirting, Making Out, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bucky Barnes & Steve Rogers Friendship, Swearing, Healing, Adult Content, Hurt Tony Stark, Parent Tony, Post-Canon Fix-It Word Count: 9614 Summary: In Tony's final moments in the battle against Thanos, he's prepared to die except at that exact moment his soulmate bond emerges and he discovers that the last person he ever thought he'd be linked to was the one he was meant to share forever with. In the awkward aftermath of the revelation, Bucky and Tony are forced to figure out exactly what it means for them moving forward.

16.Title: Strut Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43764519 Square Filled: N1: Murder Strut   Ship/Main Pairing(s): Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes Rating: Mature Major Tags & Triggers: Implied Sexual Content, Established Relationship, Fantasizing, Lust, Love, Adult Content, Swearing   Word Count: 3115 Summary: Alone in his lab Tony contemplates Bucky's Winter Soldier strut and how it makes Bucky completely irresistible as far as Tony is concerned.

17.Title: The Holiday Celebration Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43895119/ Square Filled: G1: Team Bonding Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  General Major Tags & Triggers: awkward flirting, holiday fluff, idiots in love, mutual pining, holidays Word Count: 5758 Summary: Bucky is surprised to receive an invitation to Tony's yearly weeklong holiday celebration up north with the rest of the Avengers. Upon arrival, Bucky soon learns that the trip is full of fun festivities and activities where the team shows off their skills and enjoys the season. Still feeling like an outsider Bucky tries his best to fit in, but worries that he's making a bad impression on their host until Bucky suddenly discovers that maybe his perception of Tony has been slightly off in what Tony thinks about him :)

18.Title: Three Things (Chapter 4) Collaborator Name: scottxlogan Card Number: 311 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43743691/chapters/110312799 Square Filled: I2: AU Android/Cyborg Ship/Main Pairing(s): Bucky Barnes & Peter Parker Friendship, Bucky Barnes/Tony Stark Rating:  Teen and Up Major Tags & Triggers: Post-Spider-Man: No Way Home (Movie), Winter Season, Second Chances, Developing Friendships, Adult Content, Swearing, Holidays, Bucky Barnes & Peter Parker Friendship, Post-Endgame, Sexual Tension, Flirting, Canon-Typical Violence Word Count: 5251 Summary:   Bucky's skepticism is followed up with a violent confrontation that leads him to realize that things aren't always as they seem. When Bucky discovers the truth about Tony's return, what does it mean moving forward?

[hazelcephalopod]

Alright it’s insomnia posting time. I am now half way through Preacher aka the end of season 2 -so however far along you consider that to be. Here’s my thoughts as much as I can coherently relay as of now (I will be using video game metaphors)-

Season one truly does feel like what was meant to be a short tutorial level but developers quickly realized once it hit play testers they had included too much and no one wanted to leave. Therefore they had to force you to leave by blowing up the entire town and 99% of the characters you had grown to care about.

I too would have fallen in love with Tulip bc a) Ruth Negga; b) she’s just the coolest most badass messy women ever.

Jesse is not a good preacher and it is so fucking funny. He’s not terrible, he tries, but he’s just not.

Im gonna stay mad at the insane messy throuple vibes forever. (Do they have the communication skills? Would it be good? Probably not and also maybe that’s one of the reasons it’s so interesting.)

those Angels were fucking right Genesis is not good for a person to have in them. Like it’s clear from the beginning and only gets clearer as time goes on.

All I have to say about Eugene is this poor boy deserves none of this.

this show loves side quests.. Killer of Saints did go somewhere. But. Where it the hell side plot going? (More under the cut)

I think that firmly brings us to season two. Aka. The story kicks off. aka “Jesse having just learned god is missing decides he will find him because that is what the power is for.” (Despite being told it is in fact just the offspring of a demon and Angel that, got out of its prison? Nursery? Sanctuary?)

The second season is basically the main quest needs to be explored but mainly in fetch quests. Meanwhile the player needs most of the parts involving Tulip and Cass so they get the “bad (midpoint) ending”. It’s also apparently an “I’m going to join the evil group despite all evidence that I should not” play through. (I’m ok with this actually it’s just I find putting it that way funny)

Aka. All of these people are very traumatized and secretive. Problems ensue.

On the one hand I get that Cass is probably written as having like attachment issues and stuff. On the other I am reading it fully as he just fell in love with these weirdos and assumes that’s probably not on the table at all but will take whatever he can get.

Tulip deserves far better imho. Just in every aspect of life and storyline.

Jesse clearly suffering from trauma with some symptoms of mania triggered by the immense and inhuman power thrust upon him. Also the severe guilt being reignited by just about the most severe crises of faith. (I’m gonna be real honest I have some half formed thoughts on his trauma, depression, and quite possibly mania)

We all knew Dennis was not going to go well I think and it somehow did go worse. That was not just tragedy but utterly brutal as well in a way that surprised me. Truly believe Cass is probably holding back most of the time -in fact I’m pretty sure it’s firmly implied in the text. So hopefully that goes somewhere.

Jesse the grandson of the swamp witch who does black magic and maybe… voodoo? (I’m sorry that woman looks way to white for that but I admit I’m not well versed in that particular tradition so I will not say more; the show seems to be more focusing in her just being a witch?) (great cutscenes tho)

After they get to new Orlesns the show really becomes “Jesse finds a new cult led by a fascist asshole and uh. Everyone else has fucked up misadventures which Jesse doesn’t appear to even notice most of unless it directly applies to him.” (Aka we are off the group main quest here’s a bunch of individual side quests, decisions matter despite appearing completely unrelated. Will you talk to each other? Btw they do not)

I would be surprised if Jesse remembered who Dennis was by the end tbh. He was not paying attention to anything after they got rid of the Saint of Killers imho with his partners. At the very least I believe it was the last thing he was thinking about.

I am saying partners -yes I am shipper scum get over it- Bc they basically are presented as such by the end of this season. The vibes very much are “bordering on divorce” by the end of the season. Tulip and Cass break up with Jesse, in a diner for joining a weird cult and not paying enough attention to them and being extremely selfish. They are correct imho.

Again Tulip deserves better than this. (Spoiler- I know she gets better. Still. Also I’d have loved to see whoever Jesse actually explained -or perhaps didn’t- his plan to Cass)

they are getting so so divorced broken up and tbh. fair.

“I hate you” delivered in the most… truly trying to just hate him and not being able to way imho.

time for under the cut stuff

So the big points here are- does Preacher deal with fascists and specifically Nazis well? Tbh, I’m not sure it does but I’ve seen much worse.

First we have Herr Starr who is at minimum an authoritarian and I would go as far to say fascist. I’d go as far to say the Grail is heavily fascist leaning. Most of the Grail is just embarrassingly incompetent. Whereas Herr Starr despite the “funny problems” -tbh I was not really amused personally by “lol one of the idiot agents though he wanted a gay gang bang”. Its 2017 why? Who was like “yea let’s do that”. (I have several guesses) Anyway to put it very simply I think he’s just a bit… too cool? Now I admit his main character traits seem to be a deeply selfish desire for power for himself perhaps? I still think he’s a fascist but maybe other have a different read and I’m willing to hear it I guess?

Hitler. Why is he here? Is this necessary? On the other hand it’s a bold move and I could see them doing some subversive and cathartic stuff with him but I admit my own bias of having a strong disgust factor over… just the character. However he sucks, and everyone else except the nicest naivest person in hell agrees, which makes it tolerable.

[nl-46]

[ch.1]

( CW: depiction of violence, profanity ) ( reader insert )

Hundreds of life was taken away. Fright and distress can be seen through their eyes. Sounds of gunshots echoed through the facility; bullets punched it's way through the agent's head, leaving blood gushed out and pooled the cold concrete floor. An attempt to take down this cold blooded killer failed miserably. Hank let a scoff, his combat skill is unmatched, he's aware he's too dangerous to be left alive. Hearing more footsteps, he snap out of his thought. Despite the pressure he's in, he finds the thrill fun. Armed with weapons, Hank proceed to the next room.

After even more slaughter, he find himself infront of the last sliding door that stood out from the others. There's signs, warnings, written instructions. This part of the facility seemed important, but Hank didn't care less about it and casually enters. Not even warnings can stop him. Distracted by the odd-looking room, he suddenly got stabbed with a pocket knife on his left arm. On reflex he slammed the poor scientist head to the wall, damaging the wall itself. Fortunately the stab didn't leave a huge impact on Hank. So I guess you can say he's fine.

While exploring the place, Hank finds something real interesting. A portal.

Carefully hovering over the machine, he made an attempt to know what are these crazy scientist are up to. Too bad, Hank doesn't understand coding and programming so it's useless for him. Then his eyes catch something, a big red button with warning symbol on it. Oh boy, what could go wrong? With no hesitation, he pressed the button.

The portal release a loud booming noise, making the place rumble. Hank only watches in awe, he never see something like this before. Is it a bad idea to turn on an unstable strange-looking portal? Definitely not. Okay, maybe, a little bit. Curiosity killed the cat. So he make his way to the portal, emitting a strange source of blinding light. Just before he walk in, he thought, there's no turning back now.

What kind of danger awaits him?

--

Hank don't know how long it had passed. 5 minutes? 20 minutes? An hour? It doesn't matter, he-

Oh.

Where is he now?

He weakly lays there on the cold pavement. Quickly standing up, he studies his surroundings. There are tall trees, streetlights that shine above the empty street, massive buildings, pitch black sky decorated with stars- Everything looks colorful, he finally see something that isn't red or grey lol. Wait, that's not a building, it's a house! It feel like a whole lot different place. He knows this isn't Nevada.

Hank realize how small he is, he feel uneasy from the sudden change of physical appereance. He notice he has 2 pairs of paws aswell. He lay back limply, blood spill from his arm. Oh great, this new physique made him lot more weaker too.

Not long after, he sense something coming nearby. Hank can't fight in this condition, he hated the fact he had no choice but to stay low. So he sneak away.

--

You toss and turn in your sleep. You hardly get any sleep for the past few days, either from work or insomnia. You didn't bother to check the time, but you're sure it's someone in the middle of the night, judging from how quiet the streets are. You're too tired to do anything right now, but your brain refused to sleep. There are noticable dark circles under your eyes.

Maybe you should treat yourself with a smalll reward for submitting your reports on time. Rubbing your eyes and did a small stretch, you get off the comfy bed and go. Not forgetting to take your money, keys, and wear jacket. Go to convinience store, buy snacks, go home; as simple as that.

A late night walk wouldn't hurt.

Ah, so peaceful. No children incoherent screaming, busy streets, vehicle noises, everything is calm for now. Just as what you need, quite enjoying the serenity. Whilst humming your favorite song, you make out a movement, and it's coming from the bushes. Stopping at your track, you focus on it. Maybe it's a wild raccoon. You being half awake and couldn't think properly, choose to approach it.

Before you could retract your hand, you feel a sharp pain shot through your wrist. You let an audible shriek of pain, "What the hell-". Your remark is cut off by a growl. A cat growl. You stay there for a sec, scanning the cat in front of you. You can't see much, but you could see bandages and... blood? You frowned, feeling empathy towards this poor kitty. Does it think you're going to harm him? You understand it was an act of self-defense but holy shit the fresh wound starts to ache now.

Shooking you head, you turn back your focus to it. Seems ready to strike again if you make any wrong move. With a bit of hope, you glance around, hoping anyone nearby to help you take this cat to a vet or its owner. Nope, guess you're alone. Not sure what to do, you try to communicate. "Hi uhm, are you... lost or hurt?" It doesn't reply you, of course, it's a cat you can't expect it to talk back. "You don't look okay... can you please get out there?" It doesn't move. Wow great job, what now. Don't tell me you're gonna leave the injured thing there.

"I'm not gonna hurt you, I just wanna make sure you're alright." The feline step out a bit, it wear red googles and black clothing. Your eyes widen at the clear sight of its limping arm. "Oh gosh- your arms!" You can tell it already lose many blood. "Listen, I need to get you patched up or else you'll-" it fell on spot. You take one more glance, heck it you're going to take it home.

Picking up the weak poor thing in the gentlest way possible while it tries to scratch your face. "Quit it, don't act so stubborn now," you snarked. There gotta be blood stain on your favorite jacket now. Almost leaving your grocery bag behind, you hurried home.

"I said stop it!" So many effort to patch this hostile cat. You're treating the wounds with rubbing alcohol and cotton bud now. "I know it stings but just let me do my job." It hissed, so you hissed back. "I promise I'll get you back to your owner, they must be worried sick," it still doesn't want you to touch it. This gonna take you hours.

Forget the snacks, your energy is drained. Flopping on the couch, you quickly drift off to sleep, not knowing what's the cat is up to. Probably causing mess or breaking fragile things.

[thaisibir]

Hello! I love all of your headcanons for the Digimon Survive cast, especially when they are adults.

So, I have possibly a difficult ask, but I’m rather intrigued by it, especially when remembering works like Higurashi:

What if, as adults, the group begins to have dreams of the other routes, the “failed timelines”? How would they react and how do you think it would affect them, especially for the Harmony and Wrathful routes?

I’m so glad you enjoyed my “15 years after Survive” headcanons, and this is a great topic to explore and something I’ve thought about as well, so thanks a lot for getting the ball rolling! Below the cut are my long-ish musings (in order) for Ryo, Shuuji, Aoi, Kaito, Miu, and Saki.

(Spoiler alerts for Wrathful and Harmony routes. Content warning for mentions of depression, anxiety, and PTSD.)

Ryo His mother faces him with arms outstretched, inviting him to a warm embrace, but as her arms close around him, many more sprout from her body, and the shadowy hands grab him before he can flee. The last thing he hears and feels is the crunch of his bones and flesh, and the last thing he hears is his own scream. This is the stuff of his recurrent nightmares. They get especially bad around the anniversary of his mother’s death. He’s on medications for insomnia and sleeps with barely any blankets on, even on cold winter nights, because the weight and pressure of more would only remind him of the crushing hands. The dreams feel so real that sometimes he can't remember if they had almost happened or really happened. His fight-or-flight response kicks into overdrive if someone grabs or claps him from behind. One time Minoru did just that, only as a harmless, friendly clap on the back in greeting, and Ryo swung around so fiercely that he knocked back Minoru to the ground with a badly bruised jaw. (Minoru and Ryo had apologized to each other shortly after that.) His ultimate reassurance is his partner Kunemon, who always sleeps curled up next to him. Kunemon is a comforting presence and a valuable reminder that Ryo isn’t alone anymore, that he has friends who care deeply for him.

Shuuji When Shuuji sleeps, Ryo doesn't follow him in his dreams. He isn't there to smack sense into Shuuji as he's pummeling Lopmon with kicks. No one stops him from himself and the monster he makes out of Lopmon. The monster Lopmon becomes grabs Shuuji by the feet, no matter how fast he tries to run, and eats him alive. His head is spared, so Shuuji can hear his bones crunch between teeth and see his blood spew out under the pressure. It's not a quick and merciful death. Shuuji dives further into the monster's gut, becoming one with its torment as he's slowly being liquified and suffocated. He wakes up from these nightmares gasping for air and hit with a wave of nausea. For this reason he always keeps a bag of ginger candy at his nightstand. Having seen glimpses of what Lopmon could've become, and what would've happened to him, Shuuji would spiral into a roller coaster of relief and terror: relief that those dreams never came to be, and terror that Lopmon may become just that if he isn't careful. Shuuji goes the extra mile to treat Lopmon with nothing less than kindness, on top of often telling Lopmon that if he's being unfair, unreasonable, or mean in any way, he needs to speak up instead of just taking the mistreatment. Fostering an open, honest dialogue with Lopmon helps keep the nightmares at bay. He also often opens up to Takuma and the Professor, sharing his fears and worries and seeking their advice on maintaining a healthy relationship with Lopmon. He sees a regular therapist to try sorting out his issues with an abusive childhood and coping with being disowned by his family. To combat the weight gain from taking anti-depressants, Shuuji picks up rigorous weightlifting. He finds it also gives him a much-needed boost of self-esteem and sense of self-worth he sorely lacked through his early life. Shuuji realizes that the root of his problems lies in his self-loathing. He learns how to turn his life around by being kinder to himself, which is what really solidifies a good relationship with Lopmon.

Aoi Months turn into years, and the more time Aoi spends with Labramon, the more that strange nightmares haunt her. No matter how far she runs in the dreamscape, a monstrous, horned shadow with gnashing teeth always follows her. Even after years in law enforcement chasing down suspects, no matter how hard she runs, the shadow always catches up to her. What scares Aoi the most is when the shadow pulls her into itself, eats her alive, and says that it IS her. The nightmares only grow worse when Aoi gets married and has children. Sometimes the shadow doesn’t chase her down because she’s already the shadow, and when her friends show up in her dreams, she cuts them down without effort and mercy. She’s so terrified of that kind of dream that she doesn’t dare mention it to her friends, fearing that it would come true if she speaks of it. She doesn't get much respite during the day. She's wary of her own shadow and has a hard time looking at her reflection in the mirror, afraid of what may be staring back. Aoi finds out one late night at work, by accident, that she doesn't have the nightmares at all if she falls asleep exhausted. Since learning that, she would take more late shifts, read a book in bed until she can't keep her eyes open and nods off, or make love with her husband well into the night until she's too tired to go on any more. (Some of her kids were results of those nights.) As much as he enjoys the frequent sex, her husband can tell that something's been bothering Aoi and she won't tell him what it is. She hasn't even told Labramon, but she doesn't need to. Labramon suffers from the same nightmares and also keeps her silence. Aoi is determined to never tell another living soul and vows to take the secret to her grave. They're especially perturbed when any ghost and undead Kemonogami they run into show deference to them, as if Aoi or Labramon is (or will be) some kind of queen to them.

Kaito The world may be his oyster as he surfs the wave of his successful music career, but in his dreams, the world is in shambles. His worst fear of his little sister dying before him comes true in his dreams, and the world feels so much worse for it, so he goes on a rampage to tear it all down. Dracmon tries to be a voice of reason, but Kaito forces him to help tear down the world with him. This turns his faithful partner into something beyond recognition, a harbinger of destruction that destroys the world alongside him. His friends try to stop him next, but they're always no match for his wrath. And when that's done, the monster by his side turns on him. Kaito wakes up from these nightmares relieved beyond words that Miu is okay and the world is still turning. Sometimes he uses these nightmares as inspiration for his music, and it feels cathartic to some extent. But fear still takes root in his heart, and he's afraid of losing himself in a rage that'd hurt people he cares about. He's especially concerned about Dracmon, who in his dreams has shown to be loyal to a fault. He swears to himself that he would never make Dracmon do something he won't agree to, and tells Dracmon that if he ever does, his partner is free to slap some sense into him.

Miu Behind her cheeky smiles and quirky pluck, she's occasionally haunted by dreams of her own death. She's not so much afraid of that, because at least it's mercifully quick, but what she really fears is what happens after the fact: her brother losing his mind in his grief and doing terrible things to everyone and everything around him for her sake. What she hates most is how she could see it all play out in her dreams, but in her "death" can't do anything to change things or reach out to Kaito. That's why in the world that's real, she uses almost every waking moment to make her thoughts and wishes crystal clear: that she would absolutely hate to see him wreck everything and most of all himself. Miu makes him swear that if there's anything he'd do for her sake, it's to keep living and finding peace and happiness along the way. She believes that his music career helps him down that path, helps him carve out a life without her revolving around it all the time, and it's a big reason why she fully supports his creative endeavors.

Saki From an early age, with her chronic illness, Saki is well acquainted with the idea of death. She is very aware how closely she skirts the line and tangoes with it. She likes to joke that death is pretty much her dance partner. Despite her attempts to take it lightly, however, her dreams give her a sobering glimpse of how it could have been if death had claimed her in the other world. Knowing that death is always around the corner for her, and having dreams of it meeting her in other ways, it doesn't come as a huge surprise to her. What makes the dream a nightmare is how her death devastates everyone and especially, utterly breaks Aoi. All Saki can do is watch helplessly as Aoi spirals into crippling survivor's guilt, when all she wants is to tell her best friend not to hate and blame herself for being alive. In the dreams Saki always has a choice: to drag everyone in to her death or let go to save them. She always chooses the latter, even if that means seeing Aoi suffer in emotional torment. Sometimes Saki isn't sure if those dreams show how Aoi would have really reacted, or if they're just manifestations of her own feelings for Aoi. Would Aoi really miss her that much and break that badly if she died? Saki's afraid to open up and ask. What she knows for sure is to check up on Aoi whenever she can. The different time zones and their busy lives make it difficult, but they manage to make it work and stay in touch.

[lykegenia]

Legend of Korra rewrite

So what happens when you cross caffeine-induced insomnia with a brain willing to fixate on the most random shit imaginable? Apparently a remainder that I’m still salty about all the ways Nickelodeon fucked over Legend of Korra by not letting it have a multiple season arc greenlit from the beginning. What’s there is already good considering the parameters Bryke had to work with, but only getting one season ordered at a time with studio execs prodding at various plot elements means a lot of potential was squandered.

My 3am brain decided to fix it.

This isn’t a comprehensive beat-beat-by-beat rewrite, I don’t have time for that. It also might not be entirely coherent because, again, 3am brain. I’ll only be focusing on the main characters since they’re the ones doing the most to drive the plot forward.

Before we begin, let’s talk themes. If we’re going to have an overarching, coherent narrative, we’re going to need to give it themes, for flavour. I really like the way LOK used each season to explore the flaws of different political frameworks (e.g. populism, anarchism) but there’s nothing to tie it all together, and the story becomes less about Korra and more about the world she inhabits. In this rewrite, Korra’s journey will come back into focus, and will (like TLA) explore a theme of balance. Specific to yin-yang, there are a bunch of oppositions that relate to each other – chaos/order, tradition/change, altruism/selfishness, freedom/boundaries – none of which are inherently bad, and neither side better than the other. There is no good and evil, only balance and the lack of it. For Korra as well, there will be the theme of legacy, of forging your own path instead of being defined by people’s expectations, of letting go of self-image, and of finding strength in community.

Here we go.

SEASON 1

·        For the most part, unchanged. It’s pretty solid. Could maybe do without the weird double love triangle that was going on for most of it so we could dedicate more time to Korra finding community, and establishing what role the avatar might play in a world that’s seemingly in balance.

·        HOWEVER. I would add at least one extra episode to the ending, and change it just a bit. We’re also going to set up season 2.

·        By the end of the season, Korra does not get back the elements Amon took from her. At least not yet. Instead of being useless, Katara, whose character is not completely betrayed in this version, does manage to undo the damage Amon did, because she mastered bloodbending at 14 and is the world’s best healer according to everyone in the room. So what’s the problem? Korra won’t wake up. She’s trapped in the spirit world, either because of her guilt at being such a failure (in her mind) or because something is keeping her there, but there’s no way to tell which it is.

·        Korra, in the spirit world, is lost. She hears someone behind her, turns with a fire kick ready to defend herself, and… it’s Aang. He points out that bending doesn’t work in the spirit world, he found that out the hard way when he had to walk through an entire forest instead of using his glider. He tells her to follow him.

·        In the real world, it’s early morning, the fire’s low, everyone’s asleep. Someone (Mako? Asami?) wakes up and starts shouting because Korra’s gone. There’s a search party. Naga’s still in her pen, but there are footprints leading to a cliff and then… nothing. We’ve circumvented the execs worry about depicting suicidal ideation by making it clear first that Korra is off doing spirity things, and Katara, who is wise, tells everyone that they need to trust in the avatar.

·        Repercussions: Unalaq turns up with troops from the North ostensibly to rescue Korra. When it’s pointed out that she’s in the spirit world, he asks how they can know for sure. After all, someone tried to kidnap her once before (“And you couldn’t protect her then, either – could you brother? Someone else had to do it”). Name drop the Red Lotus, but they won’t be important until later.

·        This is just a ruse to start the occupation. Aside from Unalaq having shady evil plans, the South has lost its way, they lost the avatar, and they owe the North for all the rebuilding they did after the 100 Years War (sarcastic huzzah for colonialism!) The last shot of the season is a mass of Northern ships advancing on the South in a direct parallel to the shot in the opening of TLA. (This also removes the contrivance of Korra being naïve enough to believe a word of anything her obviously evil uncle says.)

SEASON 2

·        Korra washes up on a Fire Nation beach and is found by the priestess lady who in this version is definitely Azula btw. She’s chill after 70 years. The opening of this season is the two-parter where we learn the origins of the avatar because a) it interrupts the story less to put it here and b) it’s a far more organic way for her to relearn how to connect with all her elements that ties into her character growth instead of being another Lion Turtle-ex-machina. She also learns that harmonic convergence is coming, but not quite yet (it won’t be the S2 finale but more on that later) and that she needs to find out where Vaatu’s prison is so that she can keep him there.

·        Meanwhile, in the South: Civil war. Katara is among the first to stand up to the occupation and fights back (the South knows how to fight, it spent 100 years fighting while the North cowered behind its high walls and did nothing) because her character is not completely betrayed in this version of events. She will not let her people be subjugated again. The others want to stay and help, but the Southern benders are holding their own for now what they really need is outside help to get the North to back down (and we haven’t seen this much politics in kids media since the Star Wars prequels). Tenzin and family head to the Fire Nation to get help from Zuko/Izumi. Lin, who has her bending back thanks to Katara, goes back to Republic City to garner support from the United Forces. Asami and Mako go with her – Asami to sort out Future Industries, Mako because it sucks being a firebender at the south pole in winter, and because he wants to help Lin. He has to let go of his need overprotectiveness because Bolin stays and joins the rebellion. There is not a weird abusive romantic subplot between him and Eska.

·        Korra finally gets back from the spirit world. Hears about trouble in the South from Azula, and her first instinct is to rush off to the south pole, but harmonic convergence is a bigger threat to everyone. Like Aang, she has to choose between her duties to the world and her attachment to her people. She’s persuaded to find Tenzin/Jinora instead, and gets given a sky bison.

·        Tonraq gets captured, but not before learning why his brother REALLY wants to get to the portal in the spirit trees. Nobody else finds out. For dramatic irony. And so the audience can get a bit of exposition without it seeming clunky. He’s been weakening the boundary between the spirit world and the waking world in preparation for letting Vaatu out, and that’s why there are spirits running amok everywhere. Fighting is getting worse.

·        All the events in Republic City still happen, maybe with tweaks but not enough to change the direction of the plot.

·        Korra finds Jinora, and together they set off for the spirit world. Yes Korra still gets lost. Last time she had Aang as a guide but a) without him she doesn’t know how to navigate b) she’s still new to this whole spirituality thing c) since she was last in the spirit world Unalaq’s destabilisation of the boundary means things are a lot more chaotic anyway. Yes we still see Iroh, and he helps her, and we get a showdown in front of Vaatu’s tree. He mocks Raava for being too late to stop him. But at least now they know how to get to him from the real world. Jinora still gets kidnapped.

·        The S2 finale is mostly the same, except Unalaq does not join with Vaatu. Vaatu promised that’s what would happen but Vaatu is a spirit of chaos and discord, he is inherently selfish, so instead feeds on Unalaq to free himself. There is no giant battle between spirit Korra and spirit Unalaq, we are not in Pacific Rim. Also, the battle between Raava and Vaatu is not good/evil, but they are in opposition.

·        Most importantly, the good guys lose the finale. The big final battle happens to stop Unalaq getting to the Tree of Time, and they’re too late. Vaatu is freed and his prison, the Tree of Time, is destroyed in the process. Chaos ensues. (This is what brings the airbenders back but we don’t know this yet.) Harmonic convergence is looming, Team Avatar’s job now is to find a way to beat him now that the tree of time has been destroyed.

SEASON 3

·        Spirits of chaos have unleashed airbenders. Oops, that includes Zaheer. They’re here to fuck shit up.

·        Season 3 is generally pretty good and well-paced, and the finale is banger, so most things will be kept the same except the chaos the Red Lotus creates in the Earth Kingdom is directly feeding Vaatu, making him stronger. Korra’s trip to the spirit world to learn the origins of the Red Lotus is slightly different. Instead of Zaheer, she connects with her previous lives. She and Kyoshi get on like a house on fire. Kyoshi explains the Red Lotu’s origin, but Zaheer has been waiting for her, attuned to Raava’s energy. They have a fight, shows Korra is improving in her spirituality by how she can manipulate the world (better resolution for that arc, consistency between seasons is nice), but she’s no match for Zaheer. Tries to warn him about Vaatu but he argues that by fusing with Raava the avatar disrupted the balance of the universe and that he’s helping put it back. The people who are going to die because of this will simply be redressing the balance. This fight is what keeps Korra distracted while the rest of the Red Lotus attacks.

·        Finale is banger, keep it as it is.

SEASON 4

·        Kuvira’s motivation now isn’t just trying to restore order in the Earth Kingdom power vacuum, she also knows harmonic convergence is coming and wants to impose order to stop Vaatu winning since the avatar is AWOL/not recovered. During the early part of S3 world leaders were warned about harmonic convergence but since it’s traditionally the avatar’s job to deal with spirits, nothing was really done.

·        She’s actually making the problem worse.

·        Team Avatar and the airbenders etc all fall on different sides of the ‘how to stop 10,000 years of darkness’ discussion, and without the avatar as a unifying voice, it’s making the problem worse.

·        Most of the plot beats stay the same, but there is no giant robot shooting spirit plant lasers at things, because. Well. We’re not in Pacific Rim. Kuvira can still be forcing Varrick to build her superweapons, though, as a treat.

·        The big finale finale is harmonic convergence. Vaatu manifests, stronger than last time because he’s been feeding on the chaos of the human world, and now there’s no Tree of Time to imprison him. What will Korra do next?

·        The avatar cycle is broken. Kora wins, but at the cost of her connection with Raava, because Raava is the only one who can really control him in the end. Their struggle is eternal. Think Ed vs Truth at the end of FMA:B. All the experience of the past avatars feeds into Raava’s power and it counterbalances Vaatu, Korra lets go, and the two “destroy” each other locked together. The explosion of spirit energy brings about a new spiritual age. Maybe Korra keeps her waterbending, maybe she loses her bending entirely (which would be a nice bit of symmetry with the concerns of S1) but she still steps into the spirit portal with Asami at the end.

[aggressive-positivity-network]

Do you have any autistic Scout headcanons? :P

Hell yeah!

I’ve actually thought about this a lot. A lot of people might think that Scout has ADHD, but I think he either has both ADHD and autism or just autism.

This is both because labeling Scout as having just ADHD is kind of a low-hanging fruit, and I also want to explore his symptoms a little more. So, in a word, I do, and thank you for asking about them!

*****************

Scout’s Spectrum:

So, where exactly does Scout fall on the autism spectrum?

First of all, he probably has both ADHD and autism, but wasn’t diagnosed with the latter until much later. This means that some of his symptoms were taken into account, but not all.

The ones that were paid attention to ramped up out of control, and the ones he didn’t hear about were stuffed away.

His ADHD symptoms include impulsiveness, need for stimulation, hyperfixations, forgetfulness, and insomnia; his autism symptoms include trouble with social skills, stimming, near inability to remember names and faces, lack of eye contact, hyperfixations again, and sensory processing issues, especially with noise and touch.

He used to have a lot of meltdowns when he was younger, usually about wearing new clothes and the amount of noise his eight brothers generated.

However, he was teased and pushed into masking nearly all the time, and made his whole personality about his ADHD, since that was what everyone accepted.

As he got older, he usually wrote off any autistic tendencies as either his ADHD or just “little habits” of his.

During his middle school years, he used energy drinks to bounce back from being exhausted every day after school. This would work, except those energy drinks would upset his ADHD, and would make it much harder to focus on even basic conversation.

After a while, he got such bad grades and had such a hard time making friends that Scout just stopped going to school altogether.

Baseball helped his focus, and the quick movement and thinking made a lot of sense to him. He never had to wait very long for the next development, and the instant gratification and community it provided supplemented what he never got at school.

With sports on his side, he rarely ever drank any energy drinks (the coach would never let them on the field), and he drank bucketfuls of water during every meet and game. Those teenage years were probably the healthiest he ever was.

However, with the amount of rumbles he got into with his brothers, and the turf wars that constantly raged in those neighborhoods, it was only a matter of time before his crime caught up with him.

After his first incarceration, he was booted from the team, which led to a downward spiral of unhealthy coping mechanisms - which included fighting someone tooth and nail whenever he could.

Even if he lost the fight, it not only catered to his impulsive nature and impatience, but also gave him roughly the same sense of friendship and camaraderie that baseball had.

One thing led to another, and by the time Mann Co. found him, Scout was a monster in hand to hand (and bat to bat) and had racked up quite the criminal record.

A perfect mercenary, ripe for the picking.

On The Team:

Scout very quickly adopted the “stupid, scrappy Boston boy” persona.

It was the only thing that made sense, and it kept him from having to try too hard in both the battlefield and socially.

Besides, that meant that he could be as silly, forgetful, and fidgety as he wanted, and no one would bat an eye.

And if he ever needed to take a break from the team, he figured everyone would appreciate the quiet.

The only thing that ever gave him away was him occasionally dissociating right when battle began, especially if the day had been stressful.

It was usually how he calmed down after a fight when he was young, but now he sometimes slid into that state when he was overwhelmed.

However, a yell from one of his teammates would usually snap him out of it.

Medic noticed this pretty early on, and wanted to look more into it, but Scout would keep making excuses not to get a mental examination.

He would blame it on zoning out, being tired, drinking too many Bonks - whatever it took for people to stop asking.

And, eventually, they did.

Even Medic stopped asking after a while - he couldn’t get a thing out of Scout.

This “try so little that when you do try it’s above average” charade worked for a long time. In fact, it went on for so long that Scout forgot how much he was actually capable of.

He began to internalize the stupidity, the exacerbation, the many comments on how dumb he was, everything.

The only time he ever gave his all was on the battlefield - moving fast, memorizing strategies, doing complicated footwork, knowing exactly how much force it took to crush someone’s skull with his bat.

That was one of the only things that he felt good doing, the only thing he could really work on without him being “found out.”

That and drawing, though he never showed the actual pieces to anyone. It was all stick figures and crooked lines with everyone else.

Sometimes, though, Scout wouldn’t be paying attention and he’d let something slip.

One time, Engineer was looking for his screwdriver, and couldn’t seem to find it anywhere.

Scout, not looking up from his comic, said, “Under the couch cushion, hard hat.”

Engineer bent down and reached into the couch, and his hand came back with his red and yellow striped screwdriver.

“Well I’ll be damned…”

At first Engineer thought Scout had just hid it, but Scout explained, still not paying attention:

“Last time we went out on th’ field, you had it on your belt, like always. But I was walkin’ by your workshop, you were usin’ a quarter to tighten a screw or somethin’. Your screwdriver had to be somewhere between the battlefield and your workshop. Engie, you’re like freakin’ clockwork. Every day, after a fight, you go to the kitchen, get a water, go to that couch, between the second and third cushion from the left, and sit there. Then ya go back to the fridge to get lunch and a beer, and ya go to your workshop until somebody needs you for somethin’. Your back loop in your tool belt is looser than all the others, ‘cause the screwdriver pulls against it when you sit down. The shank was probably in between the two cushions, and when you got up, it fell in. Demo, Pyro, and Heavy all sit on the second or third cushion at some point, so it got shimmied down. And since that’s the only time you sat down, ‘cause you woulda heard it if it dropped on the floor, and I…uh…”

“I’ll be damned,” Engie repeated, and felt the back tool belt loop. It was indeed loose.

Scout finally looked up, and realized what had happened.

“Uh, uh - l-lucky guess, huh Engie?”

Engineer squinted behind his goggles. “Yeah…real lucky…”

What ensued was Engie trying to get Scout to turn into a B.L.U Spy by chasing him around with his wrench. After a few good hits, though, Engineer saw that it was the teammate he knew and loved.

“But…how didja…?”

Scout threw his hand up, the other rubbing the back of his head where he’d been hit.

“I toldja Engie! Lucky guess! Jesus!”

Ever since then, Scout chose his words more carefully.

The Breakdown:

But, unfortunately, Scout could not pretend forever.

There was one week where Scout’s assignment count was so high that, if he wasn’t in a fight, he was on a mission.

Usually, Pauling wouldn’t trust him with so much, but no one else was available - or willing - to do the jobs.

Even when she was getting concerned about the amount of hours Scout was putting in, he blew it off.

“It’s no sweat, Miss Pauling! Their practically givin’ me the pay day. Those yahoos don’t know who they’re messin’ with.”

Over time, though, Scout had a harder and harder time staying focused and alert.

He’d sleep through alarms, stare off into space, zone out completely during briefing (not that he didn’t already do that), have a hard time hearing people in battle - even through his headset - ignore Spy’s taunts, and even forget to bring his bat onto the field.

Nothing seemed to help - Bonk!, warming up, stretching, cold showers, setting reminders, nothing.

And the team was starting to notice.

At first it was with the regular frustration - maybe Scout was just being lazy.

But as time went on, and his condition grew worse, their scorn turned into worry. They implored Medic to do something, but he had no way of getting through to Scout.

The doctor wasn’t above simply sedating him and dragging him into his lab for a check-up. However, he had a feeling that this was more than a physical issue.

The worst came when Scout was doing a routine battle with the B.L.U team on the field.

Everything had started out okay - he even remembered to bring his bad this time - but suddenly, everything was ear-splittingly loud.

He couldn’t focus on more than one sound at once, much less communicate the best course of action to his teammates.

He ended up hiding in a dilapidated shed, in a dusty, dark corner, somewhere between zoning out and panicking.

Scout’s head was in his knees, he was shaking, close to crying, when a sudden splitting of wood roused him.

A B.L.U Soldier had kicked his way into the shed, either having heard Scout or to hide from the other team.

Scout was stunned at first, but something of a blind terror filled him. He picked up his bat, screamed, and started pummeling the surprised Soldier.

At some point, he threw aside his bat and began to swing punch after punch, just like he did in his gang days when he had felt overwhelmed. Still screaming. Still crying.

By the time Scout had dissolved into a rocking, sobbing mess, the Soldier was long dead, with a gigantic pool of blood staining Scout’s shoes.

No one even knew where Scout was until a few hours later, when Spy heard a faint note of “Sexbomb” coming from Scout’s Walkman.

Scout had crawled into the shed’s framework, between the outer and inner wall, and was playing a specific verse over and over and over again, looking like he was on another plane of existence.

Spy immediately called for Medic, who had to lift Scout out by the underarms through a jagged hole in the side of the building. By then, the fight was over, so they could take him directly to the lab.

Medic’s Evaluation:

“I’m guessing zhis is your first mental breakdown?”

“Mental…doc, I ain’t crazy. Wait, you’re not goin’ to put me in a straight jacket, are ya?”

“If you’re not doing anyzhing later.”

Medic started to laugh, but quickly realized this might not be the time.

“No, Scout, everyvun has a mental breakdown at least vunce in their lives. It’s a…how do you say…a vake-up call of sorts. Vhen your body has no other options left.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“For zhe past few months, you health, both physical and mental, has been deteriorating. You eat less. You talk less. Your attacks are lackluster. You have bags under your eyes. You flinch vhen somevun yells for you. You stare off into space. Your routine, vhich usually has at least some changes, has become stringent, as if you can’t possibly expend any more energy into extra activities. You have avoided Demoman on zhe battlefield, even though you usually use him for cover.”

Medic flipped through his notes.

“I have pages and pages of your decline. However, as a scientist, I believe it is caused by zhe same source. And, though I usually respect my patient’s right to privacy vhen it comes to these sorts of matters, I believe you’ve been keeping something from me. Something that I should know as your general practitioner…your doctor.”

Scout shrugged, already shutting out the conversation.

Medic sighed.

“Maybe I tried to talk to you about zhis too soon. After all, you’ve just had a very sudden and exhausting episode. But…perhaps…”

Medic took a sheet of printer paper from his clipboard and a spare pen from his pocket.

“…zhere is an alternative.”

Scout was still unresponsive, but Medic continued.

“Zhere is a patient in my vaiting room vis a metal pole through the chest. It vill take me at least an hour to properly remove it, and a few minutes more to heal zhe area. Vhile I do zhat, vhy don’t you draw how you feel?”

Medic smiled.

“I know how much it grounds you.”

It wasn’t until Medic left that Scout actually picked up the pen, but he began drawing immediately.

For the first time in a while, he wasn’t trying to hide his strokes or scratch up the cleaner lines. No more stick figures. No more pretending.

Five minutes later, he was fully engrossed.

Medic started to walk in at one point, but, seeing how relaxed Scout was, decided to give him a few more minutes.

He deserved it.

[spoocys-funhouse]

A fun little secret

In light of waking up to my blog getting a small raid thanks to my little joke post. 

( @raygirlramblings that was the best thing i ever woke up to after sleeping off my chronic insomnia bout episodes. you precious bean you) 

i want to share something

so sometimes i like to share in little ideas or just...have fun with one of my friends. These little back and forths i do are NOT canon to my projects. most of these are just au’ stuff thats just having fun. and i dont tend to discuss those. its just having fun and has nothing to do with my actual writing projects minus how the guys tend to act. as i tend to man alot of the main cast here when we do

however i do want to share one. it has to do about the whole DONT EVER GIVE RAYMAN OR GLOBOX ACTUAL GUNS

I too, believe giving real weapons to them is a bad idea...ESPECIALLY GLOBOX. 

In rayman’s case. only real “weapon” i ever trust that man with is an axe that he will proceed to use for chopping wood. thats really it. 

I want to keep my friend’s privacy so i will not be using their name or their character, nor what that character did in this. Here’s the story.

So i like to brainstorm and have fun with au ideas. my friend here and i decided to one day try a hand at a rayman red dead redemption 2 esque one.

So the general gist was rayman managed to get a group of his friends together just to go exploring. Rayman is actually the guy that is very anti-hunt. he prefers seeking the creature out. marvelling over them, maybe take a few snapshots for bragging rights. he adores fishing but is very much catch release. if he does want to get a fish for eating purposes its not going to be a legendary here. 

So during this little adventure. Uglette decided to grow a little garden. Specifically she tried to grow a lil corn patch... Rayman was getting a horse saddled (the horses in this were the lil limbless ones you saw in the rayman educational games here) and next thing he knew he caught eye of globox, standing over that corn patch and the friggen frog dad HAD GOTTEN AHOLD OF A HUNTING RIFLE

rayman paniced like “WHO GAVE GLOBOX A GUN” no one in the party knew who brought that damn thing (Blame kinda went on raymesis. only reason HE was there was because of my friend’s character.) Globox was trying to keep any crows or glutes from raiding his wife’s corn

(If you do some research. glutes are not the globox species. they are actually pest birds that globox hates with a passion. i like thinking glutes are the “Crows” of the rayman universe that will raid your garden and eat the seeds you planted)

(this is a glute. and him stick his leggy out far)

Rayman begged globox to “not shoot someone’s eye out” globox, completely stone faced would respond “Jokes on you rayman this is NOT red rider brand” poor rayman had to leave. he decided to go fishing.

So. There were a few oc’s here in this party. One of these was an oc that is still fairly new to the projects. in the main stream she’s a knaaren elderly woman and actually is gumsi’s adoptive grandmother. or as he calls her “mee-maw” i shall refer to her as mee-maw here. Mee-maw is also a rare kinda knaaren that in the main projects DOES often wander out of the ruins but has to be fully robed and hood up. Gumsi does actually travel with her from time to time despite the dislike of being in sunlight

As rayman’s trying to fish his worries off. Mee-maw comes with gumsi on her shoulders and she just smiles and asks if she and gumsi can stick around for a while. Rayman asked if everything was alright and gumsi just responded with “THAT STUPID TOAD IS FIRING AT ANYTHING THAT MOVES NEAR THE CORN PATCH” Rayman starts to panic about the safety of the camp. but this woman, all smiles while gumsi’s snickering away on her shoulders, performs an about face and you see the rifle globox had was strapped to this woman’s back. 

After a while rayman returns to the camp. and globox approaches this woman going “There you are ma’am. give me back my rifle if you please” Mee-maw smiles, unstraps the rifle from her back, holds it up and points to it going “You mean this rifle here?” Globox crosses his arms and goes “Yes. Please give it back to me at once” Mee-maw. once again without missing a beat. responded “GLADLY” and proceeded to club that frogman over his friggen head with the gun. she then fiercely lectured globox on how he needs to practice gun safety and expressed how SHE HAD A CHILD WITH THE PARTY

Gumsi proceeded to lose his shit laughing and fell off his mee-maw’s shoulders.

Moral of the story. Yes. Do not give globox real guns. EVERYONE WITHIN RADIUS FEARS THIS. AND FOR THE LOVE OF JANO’S JAWS ESPECIALLY DONT GIVE HIM FIREARMS WHEN THE GUY IS DRUNK. IF GLOBOX HAS ONE WHILE DRUNK YOU GET A FAST FORWARD OVER TO THE FAIRY COUNCIL WHERE THE HEART OF THE WORLD IS AND GRAND MINIMUS JUST STIRS AND GOES “GENTLEMEN NOW IS THE TIME TO PANIC”

[theyearoftheking]

Book Seventy-Nine: If It Bleeds

“There’s an underlying truth in it which I believe you will grasp even at your current age Films are ephemeral, while books- the good ones- are eternal, or close to it. You have read me many good ones, but others are waiting to be written.” 

This is it... the second to last book in the challenge. I’m really dragging my feet reading Later (although it is a spectacular book). But this challenge is over, and I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have a ton of books on my shelves and Kindle to read, and writing that needs to be done (characters are all but screaming for me to come back to them); but this project really gave me purpose in a rudderless time. 

I had started this project as a fun conversation piece, but quickly turned into something bigger. During quarantine, this challenge gave me a purpose. I’d challenge myself to read one hundred pages a day, and remind myself to drink water between chapters. Sometimes writing these posts dragged me out of bed. In winter months I’m extremely agoraphobic, and it’s tough for me to leave the house some days. And other days it’s all I can do to wash and brush my hair. Mental health is a bitch, sometimes. But I didn’t mean to make this about me... although I’m sure some of my readers can relate, a lot of us took a hit to the mental health during 2020. While I will look back on quarantine fondly (it gave me excuses not to leave the house, or change out of my pajamas), my mental health will not. But just as it’s time to leave the house, I suppose it’s also time to start focusing on new projects once this one is complete. I have no idea what that will look like. Maybe I’ll start with Steve’s movies. Maybe I’ll re-read Joe Hill. Who knows. But I do know I’m going to indulge in some trashy fiction reading. 

Ok! 

If It Bleeds is a collection of three novellas, and a Holly Gibney story. I shouldn’t discount the other three stories: they’re extremely well written, and thought provoking. But the real star of the book is the Holly story. 

The first story, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone turns grief on it’s ear. A lot of people call their loved one’s cellphones after they pass... they want that experience of hearing their voice just one more time. But what happens when the phone is buried with your loved one and continues to ring? And what if you get a text from them after their death? It’s a sweet story, with your typical Steve twist. 

The second story, The Life of Chuck is told backwards, and “contains multitudes”. It also has a post-apocalyptic vibes, with California falling into the ocean, and the Midwest burning. It also has college kids storming the White House looking for answers, which is just another example of Steve predicting the future. 

Steve was inspired by a random billboard that read, “Thanks Chuck!” along with a guys picture and “39 Great Years”. Again, something mundane with a great Steve twist. He’s proven this is his sweet spot. 

The third story is If It Bleeds, which picks up almost immediately where The Outsider left off. There’s a tragic bombing that takes place inside an elementary school, and Holly can’t stop watching the television news reports. There’s something tickling at her brain, and she can’t figure out what it is. 

Eventually we find out there are more monsters like the one Holly killed in The Outsider. Jerome makes the best comparison, and says evil is like a bird that randomly flies from person to person, infecting them as it goes. There’s one section of the book when a character refers to the monster as, “It”. So it makes you wonder if this is one big tie-in, where we find out Holly is killing pieces of the monster that plagued Derry for so long. 

The mystery itself is secondary to Holly’s larger-than-life character. She is dealing with family issues; her Trump-supporting mom needs Holly’s help putting her uncle in a care facility, and Holly is struggling to cut herself out of the co-dependent relationship she has with her mother. But Holly has grown. She knows her worth, and she doesn’t let people talk down to her anymore. Her evolution is best described as, “Holly would do well to remember...who she is. Not the child who nibbled Mr. Rabbit Trick’s ears. Not the adolescent who threw up her breakfast most days before school. She  is the woman who, along with Bill and Jerome, saved those children at the Midwest Culture and Arts Complex. She is the woman who survived Brady Hartsfield. The one who faced another monster in a Texas cave. The girl who hid in this room and never wanted to come out is gone.” 

The final story is Rat. And I’m just going to tell you... an actual rat quoting Jonathan Franzen is perfect. He’s problematic enough to be an actual rodent. Yeah, I’m going to say it. The Corrections was absolute garbage, and I don’t know why it was lauded the way it was. He’s a condescending misogynist and he’s not nearly as good a writer as he thinks he is... says the girl writing a blog on her Stephen King musings. But whatever! I own what I’m doing, and the significance of it.

I will gladly re-read all of Steve’s books again before picking up another Jonathan Franzen book. If you want to dive into all the reasons he’s disgusting, this Bustle article will explain it to you. Like, legit explain it. Not mansplain it. 

Anyway, Rat explores why it’s not a great idea to make deals with rodents during major weather events. And when you’re at your isolated cabin and a major snowstorm is on the way- heed your wife’s advice and come back to civilization. 

This collection included plenty of Constant Reader mentions:

Derry

Shawshank Prison

Castle Rock

Gunslinger

It was an excellent collection, and I can’t get enough Holly. Steve talked about how she started out as a small, minor character and her presence just grew and grew. I don’t know about the rest of the Constant Readers, but I’d totally read another Holly book. Hell, I’ll take a whole series at this point. 

So, my final book is Later. I’ve got about 100 pages left to read and then that’s it... until April. 

Total Wisconsin Mentions: 48

Total Dark Tower References: 76

Book Grade: A+

Rebecca’s Definitive Ranking of Stephen King Books

Doctor Sleep: A+

The Talisman: A+

Wizard and Glass: A+

11/22/63: A+

Mr. Mercedes: A+

End of Watch: A+

Under the Dome: A+

Needful Things: A+

On Writing: A+

The Green Mile: A+

Hearts in Atlantis: A+

Full Dark, No Stars: A+

The Outsider: A+

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: A+

If It Bleeds: A+

Just After Sunset: A+

Rose Madder: A+

Misery: A+

Different Seasons: A+

It: A+

Four Past Midnight: A+

Stephen King Goes to the Movies: A+

The Shining: A-

The Stand: A-

Finders Keepers: A-

Bag of Bones: A-

Duma Key: A-

Black House: A-

The Institute: A-

The Wastelands: A-

The Drawing of the Three: A-

The Dark Tower: A-

Dolores Claiborne: A-

Blaze: B+

Hard Listening: B+

Revival: B+

Nightmares in the Sky: B+

The Dark Half: B+

Joyland: B+

Skeleton Crew: B+

The Dead Zone: B+

Nightmares & Dreamscapes: B+

Wolves of the Calla: B+

‘Salem’s Lot: B+

Song of Susannah: B+

Carrie: B+

Creepshow: B+

From a Buick 8: B

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon: B

Sleeping Beauties: B-

The Colorado Kid: B-

Storm of the Century: B-

Everything’s Eventual: B-

Cycle of the Werewolf: B-

The Wind Through the Keyhole: B-

Danse Macabre: B-

The Running Man: C+

Cell: C+

Thinner: C+

Dark Visions: C+

The Eyes of the Dragon: C+

The Long Walk: C+

The Gunslinger: C+

Pet Sematary: C+

Firestarter: C+

Rage: C

Desperation: C-

Insomnia: C-

Cujo: C-

Nightshift: C-

Faithful: D

Gerald’s Game: D

Roadwork: D

Lisey’s Story: D

Christine: D

Dreamcatcher: D

The Regulators: D

The Tommyknockers D

Until next time, Long Days & Pleasant Nights, Rebecca

[scripttorture]

Hey! My character is made into an experiment by the government due to him having a supernatural ability. The one who handed him over was his partner, who has been a part of that organization all along. He is usually a very confident person, powerful and extroverted. I'm not sure how his mental state is supposed to change? I don't feel like the whole loosing their will to live and becoming incredibly depressed thing would fit him as a person. How could I still show that the torture effects him?

There isn’t a sure fire answer to how any one person will change when they’re tortured. We know the possible symptoms, but most people won’t experience every possible symptom and we don’t have a way to predict who gets what.

 There’s a post that talks about the possible symptoms over here.

 Here’s the thing though: there is a lot of variety in survivors, in the symptoms they get and the way they personally express those symptoms. Some people do become suicidal. Some people do become depressed. And some people do lose their faith in humanity.

 But there is not one universal survivor experience.

 This means that there’s a big range in realistic responses. It also means that as a writer you actually have a lot of options. You should be picking 3-5 symptoms from the list of possible options, but the list has 14 things on it and some of those things can manifest in multiple ways.

 I think that, since we can’t predict symptoms, the best thing you can do as a writer is pick symptoms based on what you feel fits your character and story best.

 Depression and suicidal thoughts don’t do that, so let’s have a look at some of the others.

 Memory problems are incredibly common in real survivors and are almost never portrayed accurately in fiction. You can read about the four basic types here.

 I’d really encourage you to use one of these if you feel it fits your story. They create a lot of interesting narrative challenges for the character and they can make for really good emotional/introspective moments. If for instance you want to explore self-doubt giving the character memories he later finds out are inaccurate could feed into that, leading to him questioning whether he ‘really’ was betrayed.

 General forgetfulness (ie low level difficulty forming memories) can give the character a lasting disadvantage in everyday life, creating a much more traditional injury-recovery arc as he tries to find adaptions to this new normal.

 Intrusive memories, when handled well, can help create a deeper connection between the reader and the character. Because it lets you create situations where the character’s mood flips in an instant, the other characters don’t understand why but the readers do.

 Memory loss can be trickier, mostly because it’s rarely handled well in fiction. It doesn’t effect older memories, such as childhood memories, the person’s name etc. It almost never effects memories of torture itself. But it does effect other aspects of the time they’re held, the period prior to capture and sometimes a few weeks after release. It’s a distressing and disorientating experience and it’s a good pick if there’s any sort of investigation or prosecution.

 Because memory problems (especially memory loss and inaccurate memories) are a big part of why torture trials are really hard to conduct. Having the character find that he doesn’t actually remember the crucial details and watching the process of people trying and failing to help him, that can be a really powerful addition. It’s also a good way to form a rift between him and his friends without depression or having him lose faith in others. It gives a reason for any distance between them, even if it’s an emotional rather then logical reason.

 Read through the masterpost and really think about whether any of these memory problems could fit your story.

 Narratively speaking memory problems don’t link the character’s personality but they do have a strong impact on plots and sub-plots. Memory loss, inaccurate memories and intrusive memories will all effect the character’s emotional arc and sense of self. They can also throw up barriers for the character.

 He might be missing a couple of crucial details about his life before he was snatched. He might have some key details about how and where he was snatched wrong. Think about how those sorts of problems could feed into your plot, because they can add interesting conflicts and challenges.

 Chronic pain is also incredibly common in torture survivors and it often doesn’t have a single cause. Back, muscular and joint pain are particularly common.

 It can lead to a character seeming angry, unapproachable, anti-social or like they have a hair-trigger temper. It can also make it seem as though they have really bad mood swings or a short temper.

 This can lead to interesting character moments as non-survivors struggle to empathise with an ‘asshole’ while the survivor is struggling to express the fact they’re in physical pain. It can also lead in to discussions of disability and the way we treat invisible disabilities in society.

 It can also often be improved by, again, life style adjustments and sometime medication.

 If you wanted to use addiction as a symptom then chronic pain is a common reason behind addiction in survivors. Essentially they start taking more and more powerful pain medications in order to try and feel ‘normal’.

 Chronic pain doesn’t always lead to addiction though. Making good, consistent life style adjustments (using a mobility aid, being able to sit instead of having to stand for long periods and so on) can help keep pain at manageable levels allowing a healthy relationship with pain medication.

 Insomnia is another really common symptom in survivors. This basically means the character is always at least slightly sleep deprived. Which has knock on effects on absolutely every part of a person’s life.

 You can read about the effects of sleep deprivation here.

 I’d suggest thinking carefully about what you need the character to do before using this one. It might sound counter intuitive but a character with disabling chronic pain is probably more capable of the occasional bout of superheroics then a chronically sleep deprived character is.

 Insomnia caused by mental illness is also notoriously difficult to treat. Medication for the mental health problems survivors tend to have makes it harder to sleep and reduces the quality of sleep. Medication to ‘make’ people sleep often decreases the quality of sleep, when it works. It does not work for everyone.

 Essentially don’t treat insomnia as an ‘easy’ option with less impact on the character. It impacts every part of a person’s life, making them more likely to get sick, slower to react, more emotionally volatile and less able to learn/remember everything.

 There are so many things that insomnia effects that- well I find it easiest to think of it as a permanent lowering of ability across all categories. This does not mean that a character automatically becomes incapable of things; it means they are worse at them then they were before.

 If they were already really good at something then other people might not notice the difference. But the character himself will. Which can have a knock on effect on self esteem.

 Any of the things I’ve mentioned can result in social isolation. Because survivors can come across as aggressive, volatile and inconsiderate which can lead to people… avoiding them. Especially when other characters don’t have a good understanding of mental illness or experience dealing with trauma survivors. (Having said that, remember that a pretty significant proportion of the population experiences mental health problems at some point in their life. Think about how likely experience vs ignorance is, rather then assuming one or the other.)

 Isolation exacerbates pre-existing mental health problems.

 And any combination of the above symptoms make up the frame work of any long term personality change. For instance you describe this character as confident and capable: if he gets multiple forms of memory problems does that impact his confidence in certain areas? And if it does how does he cope with that? It could be by expressing his self-doubt but it could also be by taking a more passive role within a group, letting others take the lead instead of stepping in.

 I have an old ask over here that goes through how I pick symptoms for a character and how I vary them depending on the sort of plot I have in mind.

 Wrapping up, I think that we make these symptoms individual when we consider how the symptoms interact and what that means for the character.

 Depression does not have to mean someone looks overtly miserable. It can look like nausea, like struggling to eat and sleep, like being quieter in social situations. It can feel like going through life disconnected from the world, not so much the presence of misery as the absence of joy.

 You’ve listed these characteristics; confidence, power, extroverted and survivors can hold on to all those things. As always the central point is nuance. Because that confidence probably won’t be completely unshaken anymore, that extroversion might not be effortless anymore, his relationship with that power could change.

 The character might have developed a lot of self doubt and, though it’s a struggle, continue to make firm ‘confident’ decisions because he feels that’s important either to himself or to everyone else. It could be a way of him showing that he’s still ‘strong’, that he survived, that he can still support the other characters.

 The character could still be extroverted and depending on the symptoms you pick socialising might be harder, it could take up more energy. He might be hiding the cost from his friends. Or, another common way it plays out, is that he could just come across as… a lot more inappropriate: making dark ‘jokes’ that non-survivors don’t find funny, having obvious mood swings that make others uncomfortable. You get the idea.

 Torture does change people. But those changes are unpredictable and they often don’t look like we expect.

 Our fiction often tries to use depression and suicidal ideation as an excuse to turn survivors into passive objects. They are not.

 One of the things that stood out to me the more I looked at prominent survivors was anger. Because yes, despair is possible, common even. But so is spite and vitriol and rage. So is determination.

 There is more then one way to be powerful. Confidence does not need to be unshakable to be real.

 In essence: you are aiming for an understandable change in what is already there, not an excision of the characteristics you’ve already established.

 As a final note you might want to take a look at the masterposts I have on medical experiments (which you can find here and also here.) It’s worth deciding whether you want to show unethical but genuine experiments, or torture. You can have a look through the tags on unethical experimentation and pseudo-scientific torture for more information.

 I hope that helps. :)

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Disclaimer

[barry-j-blupjeans]

TAZ Balance Fic Recs

I’m making this 90% because I love these fics and the world needs to know and 10% because I need help finding them once I’ve read them. Let’s begin!! (I will not be tagging authors because I only know a few writers on this list, but if anyone else wants to tag them, feel free :>)

Refractory - Written by Nesswrites on Ao3 - Rated T 

Refractory adj. (rih-frack-tuh-ree) 1. Stubborn or unmanageable. 2. Resistant to a process or stimulus.

Kravitz, a young orthopedic surgeon, is thrust into what feels like a different reality when he meets psychiatric patient, Taako. In a strange flurry of events, he finds himself being drawn toward this man, spending more and more time in a department that he used to hate and becoming invested in a patient who isn't one of his own.

Taako, an in-denial anorexia patient, is forced into a long-term hospital stay by friends and family who worry about his waning health. When he meets an attractive doctor from another wing, he begins to wonder if maybe this was the star-crossed love that he was always destined for. At least, that's what hundreds of episodes of Grey's Anatomy taught him.

In other words, the hospital drama nobody wanted but everyone got

I just really love this fic, guys, there’s not a lot I can say. It’s well written

Bury the Lead - Written by marywhale on Ao3 - Rated T

Taako’s senior year at Neverwinter High could be going better. Faced with a choice between joining the school’s floundering newspaper or being expelled, he opts for a career in journalism.

Lucretia, the paper’s editor, kind of wishes he'd gone the other way.

As the first TAZ fic I ever read in my life, this was really good. Even if it wasn’t the first fic I ever read, I still would love it. It captivated me in a way I didn’t think fics could.

Seven Raptors - Written by DragonWrites on Ao3 - Rated M

In a distant plane, Fate brings together seven scientists and explorers, who set out to explore the unknown and find themselves on a mission to save all of existence.

In another, far harsher plane, Fate brings those same seven together again. But these Seven Birds have been shaped by a crueler, much less forgiving world. These Seven Raptors are the villains in their story.

And when the two flocks meet, each of the Seven Birds must come face to face with who they might have been--who they might still become--if they let the darkness consume them.

I’ve had an idea in my head for a while of the birds meeting themselves but on a different plane? And this fic makes that idea so much more than I ever thought it could be. The first chapter really drew me in and I read it all in one night (with help from insomnia).

More below the cut!!

Serendipity and it’s inconspicuous faults - Written by TasteofDeath of Ao3 - Rated G

The morning after Angus comes home with a sore tummy and a stomach bug, things are starting to get better.

Or, Angus’ fathers have a fun time loving their little boy and a not so fun time worrying about his health

This is absolutely the cutest fic I’ve ever read. It made me tear up but in the good way. Also everything by TasteofDeath is amazing, check them out.

From the blackest room - Written by FordRiverBlues - Rated M

The authorities on a new plane mistake Barry for an enemy spy. They want information he doesn't have. Barry just wants to survive.

What can I say, I like angst. I’ve spent long hours thinking about this fic. Barry is a comfort character of mine and apparently I love seeming my comfort characters going through hard stuff. It’s just a good fic, my dudes.

The Sweetest, Dorkiest Love - Written by ceilingfan5 - Rated G

Anxious about giving Taako the perfect Valentine's present, Kravitz trades Lup two weeks of night shifts so she'll teach him how to make chocolates. It doesn't go as planned, but love wins out anyway.

Okay listen. I just said I liked angst buuUUUT - Heck, this fic is so soft and I really love and it made me cry because they’re just so soft.

All the Things You Prayed For - Written by anonymousAlchemist and marywhale - Rated T

Taako's been dead for two years. Taako's been dead for seven decades. Depends how you count it.

Her brother is dead and Lup’s a whole lifetime into the future. It’s a brave new world out there and she’s trying not to think about it too hard. She gets the feeling that if she starts thinking, she won’t ever stop, and she can’t afford to be out of commission. She's the only Captain America the new century’s got.

Lup is Cap, Taako fell from a train, and eventually all ghosts come in from the cold. You guessed it—it's a TAZ/Marvel shakeup baby. We're bringing the party to you.

If you’ve been anywhere on tumblr, you’ve heard some mention of this fic and for good reason!! I’m not into any superhero stuff so it took a while to read it because I didn’t think I’d understand it. But honestly? You don’t need to know anything about any superhero to read this. It’s written excellently and I really like it.

It's Difficult To Learn About Yourself When You Didn't Know You Could - Written by Casual_Scribbles - No rating

He licks his lips, running his knuckle along the spiral binding of his notebook. “I was reading my Caleb Cleaveland books – some of the newer ones, where he's a teenager – and one of the characters that were introduced was, um, they’re nonbinary. And I- I've heard of that before, but I didn't know a lot about it, so I looked it up.” He looks up and Miss Lup is listening to him attentively, her ears perked up. She nods at him.

“And I found out- I thought it was just one thing, ma'am,” he feels bolder, having seen the encouragement on her face. “But it's not. It’s a lot- it's so many things, Miss Lup! And I was looking through them and I just- some of them felt really familiar. Like- like I knew exactly what the writer was trying to say and I-”

(They'd been more than familiar. They'd been-)

No. They weren’t his.

Angus struggles to come to terms with something new he learns about himself, but thankfully his family is there to support him.

Non-binary Angus!!! Non-binary Angus!!!!!!! That’s all I have to say!!! Read it!!!!

Back to Wonderland - Written by OhWowAltMal - Rated G

When lich twins Edward and Lydia pull a trick far too convincing for Taakos liking, he may have found himself panicking and making some rash decisions. Just a little, though.

He definitely doesn't break the umbrastaff in half, looking for his (real?) sister.

An alternative look at the live show in Orleans, and how it could have gone.

This idea was something I didn’t even think of but I love it so much?? Half of me wishes this is what really happened, but they write the characters so well that it feels like it did.

I Know I've Kissed You Before - Written by Desiree_Harding - Rated T

"He thinks, one day, that maybe what he’s been feeling is the urge to show Kravitz, really show him, how much Taako cares about him. To make it… official. That he’s not going anywhere. Because Kravitz doesn’t live off of implications like Taako does, and maybe Taako’s a little tired of making him translate.

Maybe Taako wants to do a little bit of the work for him, just once."

AKA The story of how Taako and Kravitz got married alone in their kitchen on Candlenights (on purpose they swear)

This??? Is incredible?? It’s a (long winded but worth it) process of Taakitz proposing. I have no words, truly.

Six Years - Written by WritingIsMyCoffee and zumbah_plumbah - Rated T

Six years ago, Taako was kicked out of culinary school for an altercation between him and his roommate, forever crushing his lifelong dream of becoming a chef.

Six years ago, Merle was fiddling with the ring on his finger that he no longer needed to wear.

Six years ago, Magnus was sitting beside a hospital bed and holding his wife's hand.

Now, Taako is burdened with the struggles of raising a ten year old. Merle is wondering whether or not he wants that ring to become an obligation. Magnus is struggling to overcome the grieving process. For the past six years, the three of them have been running away from their problems and the reasons that brought them to where they currently are. Now they will be forced to face the music and deal with what happened in the past in order to move on.

FUCK!!! Fuck this made me cry?? I really like it. I really really like it. It’s so raw and emotional. All the characters fit perfectly.

synecdoche - Written by androids_fighting93 - Rated M

Echoes of the seven of them stretch into infinity, and now there’s Kravitz, a parallel line that they keep crossing despite all physical laws. Taako can see how they are bound together, he and Lup and the rest of the crew, white shimmering cords that stretch between them, between himself and Kravitz, and every aspect of Kravitz and every aspect of the Raven Queen in every world, all existing simultaneously. The Light falling to countless worlds at once, the Hunger descending over it all, the same patterns into infinity and nothing to stop it except for a silver ship, a bright beacon, unique among it all. He can see all of it.

They’re hunted by two immensely powerful creatures now, the Hunger and the Raven Queen’s servant. It's too bad Taako can't seem to stay out of harm's way.

I read this again recently and it broke my heart all over again. The idea is wonderful, the writing is even better. Please go read this fic!!!

[cryinginthebackseat]

i was your insomnia, i was your grief

Fandom: Bloodbound

Pairing: Gaius Augustine x MC

Words: 3,864

Summary: "Kill me, then,“ Gaius hissed through gritted teeth, without an ounce of kindness to it and it was kinda like a sucker punch to the face. “If that should satisfy you. You and I both know my soul is yours to take.” “Mine, huh? Not even God could take that luxury from me?” Amy bit off, wanting to test his reaction. Liking the way his brows furrowed further. “Aren’t you afraid of God, Gaius?” “No,” he said. A beat, then: “But I’m afraid of you.”

Warnings: SMUT, angst, swearing, all that jazz, SMUT

Author’s note: what’s up my fellow gaius stanners! so, after a careful reconsideration, mental debate and scouring through tumblr for the motivation, I finally decided to write this fic. I would like to give a massive shoutout to @theclownandtheflame​ because of their brilliant, brilliant fic Victim, Victim, Monster it inspired me to write a Gaius x MC fic too, cause fuck the haters, alright? We should all be able to ship whoever the heck we want. And that’s the tea, as our great queen Sophie Turner would say. 

Anyway, enjoy. If you like it let me know, if you don’t let me know, and if you’re a Gaius hater, what in the sweet hell are you even doing here? 

“Our emotions Are only “incidents” In the effort to keep day and night together.” ― T.S. Eliot

She’d like to think it was the exhaustion that moved it; that choreographed her limbs, that whispered the words in her head, that betrayed her instincts, that rose the river in her head, when she, as if on strings, leaned in and kissed Gaius on the cheek.

Gaius, the bane of her existence, the sole perpetrator that nearly brought the world to its knees, the man who raised a sword and killed her, thus the repercussions that altered the course of her life forever and Amy fucking kissed his cheek. Calloused against her soft lips and oh so wrong.

Yes, she would blame it on her exhaustion from all the shit blitz she’d endured a few days back, but underneath, Amy knew it was all her.

When she pulled back, she was breathless, her lips lingered there for a fleeting moment. Her cheeks a few shades darker than she expected. Gaius barely moved a muscle, sitting like a gargoyle, his jaw hung open. He looked at her lips first, then her eyes as if she was the world’s greatest enigma, as if she had stabbed him in the heart. 

“Why?”

Amy wished Gaius hadn’t asked that because she knew that he knew she had no answer to it. Or perhaps she did, but there was no point in letting him know, was it? So she looked the other way, embarrassed, indignant, frowning like a crescent moon in reverse. 

She inhaled deeply, his scent involuntarily worked its way through her nostrils. “Because I wanted to.”

“But why?” He asked again, more insistent this time. Confusion was apparent in his voice. She wished he would stop using that word.

Amy craned her head back to meet his, under the moonlight his eyes reminded her of the Arctic ocean, pale and cold, depthless. One wrong step and she would drown. 

“I don’t know, Gaius,” she murmured, honest, her fingers still clasping around his like knots. Amy thought if she held onto him a little longer, she’d wake up from whatever realm she was in and found herself tucked neatly in her bed. “I don’t know.”

What was right, what was real, those lines blurred the moment she became a vampire. And it was all his fault. Everything was his fault and she hated him for it, with every fiber of her being. God, Jax was right, they didn’t need him anymore, especially now that they had the weapon that could secure their triumph. She might as well kill him tonight and be done with it, get the revenge she’d deserved, bring her mind the peace it’s yearned.

But then she felt Gaius gently tipped her chin up, an indescribable look on his face that slightly unnerved her. His eyes once again, as if by mistake or design, found her mouth first then her eyes and she mentally berated herself for being such a fool.

“You need to be more careful where you tread, dearest one,” he said, his voice low, his thumb smoothed down the curve of her throat and her pulse immediately leapt. “Be careful, or there will be repercussions.”

“Is that a warning or a threat?”

“Once upon a time, it would have been the latter, but now…”

“But how? You don’t even know yourself anymore.”

Something dark passed Gaius’ eyes, akin to anger, hurt, betrayal, yet she held her ground. 

Eventually, he withdrew his hand from her. Amy, as fast as the lightning scrambled up to her feet. It was a mistake comforting him. Being near him was bad enough to mess up her brain and she couldn’t have that, especially during times like these. 

Yet Amy only stood there, watching as Gaius followed suit, but instead heading toward the railings and nested his elbows there, a hand running through his dark locks, an attempt to calm the storm within him. 

“Sorry,” she said quietly, not sure if he’d heard her, not sure why she apologized. Not sure if she should go and leave him to himself. “Sorry. I-” but she didn’t know what else to say.

Gaius shot her a look over his shoulder, once upon a time– he was right, once upon a time Amy would have stood stock-still at the way he gazed at her right now. But the Gaius before her was not the same man that killed her, that burned and destroyed New York with just a touch of his power. This was a different man, but with the same visage of the man who once hurt her. A different side of the coin.

“What is it that you want from me, Amy?” Gaius hissed, caustic as he unbent himself from the railings. Facing her once more. “Would it satisfy you if you were to kill me tonight, the way I did to you?” He stepped towards her. “Would it give you great joy if you could dissect my brains out like a lab rat and study what lies beneath the violence and decisions?” Another step. “Or will you, Bloodkeeper, exploit me the way she did? Mold me into something I’m not and use me for your own means?”

“No.” I’m not her, what she meant to say. But her answer somehow didn’t satisfy Gaius the slightest bit.

“Then what do you want from me? You comforted me and kissed my cheek, yet you smote me with your words. Was all the niceties just an act then? Not that I deserve any of it, but was it?” The anger had subsided, replaced by something broken, his voice cracking. He sounded so desperate and it gave Amy’s heart an unexpected twist. 

“No. No, it’s not.”

“Then why?”

“Because you confuse me!” She blurted out, her facade finally cracked and in front of him of all people, no less. “I know you, Gaius Augustine, or at least knew. You are the man who murdered me cold-blooded, who scarred me and my friends for life, who did terrible, terrible things in the past, but then…” Amy wrapped her arms around her midsection as if it was mid-December in New York. 

“Then when I got into your head, everything I knew about you somehow meant nothing. Those violence, those-those stories I’ve heard about you. Nothing. I know you, yet at the same time I don’t and I hate it. I hate it that I’m not in control-” she snapped her mouth close.

“Control of what?” Gaius asked tightly, genuinely confused. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

She shook her head. “I- I mean-” Amy grit out, closed her mouth, groaned. “It’s-” she paused, gesticulated, seeking the right word. “Nothing. Just forget it.”

Amy didn’t dare to meet his eyes as she turned her back from Gaius, cheeks ever tinged crimson. Wanting to put as many distances as she could from him. 

But he stopped her, naturally, before she could go too far. His cold hand around her arm and spun her back to face him. He was close. Closer than they’d ever been together that Amy could almost make out her own reflection in her eyes. Hip lips dangerously close to her face, their noses almost touching and the tension immediately shifted, still dangerous but not in the cut-throat, stab-you-to-death kind that she knew so well. 

“Tell me,” Gaius whispered, on the verge of pleading. He was watching her carefully now, knowing that he was crossing the line, but so help him there were already plenty of lines they’d crossed tonight. 

This time, it was her mistake to stare at his lips. “I hate you,” Amy spat, but that was just one of the lies she told.

“I am aware.”

“I wish you weren’t here.” This too.

“Kill me, then,” Gaius hissed through gritted teeth, without an ounce of kindness to it and it was kinda like a sucker punch to the face. “If that should satisfy you. You and I both know my soul is yours to take.”

“Mine, huh? Not even God could take that luxury from me?” Amy bit off, wanting to test his reaction. Liking the way his brows furrowed further. “Aren’t you afraid of God, Gaius?”

“No,” he said. A beat, then: “But I’m afraid of you.”

His answer was unexpected and her scowl did soften, if only for a moment.

Though maybe once she had settled the score with Rheya, she would do it. If that was what he wanted, what everyone wanted.

But now, Amy’s mind was racing at a hundred miles per hour because she was losing all semblance of control, and she only trusted him to witness this side of her rather than anyone else; her eyes finding his lips again.

But the less he knew the better, and she thought let him be very afraid then.

“Good.“

Then Amy leaned in and kissed him. On the mouth.

She felt Gaius’ hesitation in the kiss, but it didn’t last long. Suddenly, Amy felt his mouth moving against her, his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her closer; hers, wrapped around his neck.

There was no exploration, no teasing, no tenderness in their kiss. He kissed her hot-blooded and raw, like millennia of pain and lust pouring out of his mouth and she gladly swallowed them all. Amy opened her mouth first, shoved her tongue against his first and heard him groan, felt him reciprocate. Making her head dizzy that she had to remind herself to breathe. He was never the one to back down from a challenge.  

Amy let out a startled gasp when he picked her up, her legs automatically wrapped around his waist as Gaius carried her toward her chamber like she weighed nothing. Not once they broke the kiss, even as they toppled down the mattress, as he wrapped his arm under her body and moved them further up the bed.

Gaius’ mouth unlatched from hers, his fangs were on full display, an unmistakable gleam of lust flashed over his features and began his journey down her jaw, her neck. The sharpest tips grazing her tender flesh, lingering over the pulse point of her carotid before putting pressure, enough to make her whimper but not to leave his mark on her. A shudder rippled up Amy’s spine. Her fingers digging into his dark locks, wanting to hurt him, to push him away, to bring him closer, to hear him groan. 

God, her head was a fucking mess. She was a fucking mess. To stoop this low and let Gaius, the man who’d murdered her once upon a dreary night, have his way with her. 

Perhaps she had gone bat-shit crazy from everything that had been happening, perhaps there was something in the water Kano gave her, perhaps it really was exhaustion clouding her mind, but whatever was this, this felt so unapologetically good in her head.

A strained moan involuntarily left her lips when she felt his hand snuck under her top, finding her nipple and gave it an experimental pinch. 

It was then when Amy channeled her vampiric strength and flipped their position. Wrenching a surprised look from his face, his eyes popped. Looking as if he’d never been outmuscled by the opposite sex before. She swung her leg over his torso, straddled him, liking the feeling of his hard curve better between her legs like this.

Amy ground down onto him, her mouth stretched into a dangerous smile as Gaius flopped his head back to the bed, groaning gutturally and bucked up against her in response. His hands gripping her hips, hot and tight. Even through the excessive layers of clothes, she could feel him, growing hard against her. Brushing onto her clothed sex just right, she bit her lip, muffling the moan that threatened to escape. Her back arched seductively while Gaius raced a hand from her throat down over her chest.

She batted it away and pinned both his hands above his head.

“No. Tonight is about me.” Her voice was deep and authoritative, breathing a little too loud than her liking. “Everything is on my terms tonight, you get me?”

“Very well, Your Highness,” he replied, but there was no trace of malice or snide like he usually did. His pupils were blown to hell, the light color of his eyes disappeared into a sliver.

Amy eyed him down, considering her next move. 

“Strip,” she commanded, watching as his eyes glint. He was going to enjoy this. Amy almost regret agreeing to do this in the first place.

Almost.

Once Amy let go of his hands, Gaius sat up, bringing her with him as she readjusted herself on his lap. He unfastened his ridiculous cape first, hurling it across the room without the slight care in the world before moving onto his ruff and suit. The whole time, his eyes never left hers and vice versa. 

By the time he was naked to the waist, Amy couldn’t help but stare. And the bastard caught it, eagle-eyed as ever, the right corner of his mouth curling up to a smirk. Fucker. But she opted to ignore him, brought her hand over his body instead, feeling his chest hitched. 

His chiseled muscles were almost statuesque, she had to admit. The battle scars were like stories waiting to be told, explored. It was sort of oddly intimate actually, seeing him like this, touching him as a lover would. Perhaps in another life, if he wasn’t what he was, if they weren’t what they were, she would have asked Gaius to recount one of them.

But not in this life.

Amy dropped her hand from him, pretending she hadn’t just admired his body like a thirsty ass vampire she was and cleared her throat.

“Pants,” she said. And Gaius obeyed once again. Sliding from the bed to stand as he worked on his trousers. A blush had risen to her face, but she forced herself not to look away. She wouldn’t be beaten on her own game.

Gaius dropped his shorts, kicked off his boots and he was naked before her. Standing tall and proud like a soldier he was. His mouth twitched but the rest of his face remained impassive, as if saying ‘do your worst’. This time, Amy allowed herself to openly stare at him. Assessing, and again, considering her next move. 

“Touch yourself.”

Gaius did a double take. “What?”

“Get on your knees and touch yourself.”

He did. Kneeling down before her like a man asking for penance before his God, his eyes glued on hers still as he ran his hand over his cock. 

Amy sat by the bed, cross-legged, licking her lower lip as she watched the show. A low grumble erupted from his throat, his gaze kept shifting between her body and her face, her thighs and her breasts. She exhaled shakily. Suddenly, the room felt thick, it was like trying to breathe in a room full of fire. 

The wet smack of his hand around his cock was enough to send her desire climbing through the roof. Her nipples grew hard under her tank top. Her hand travelled down between her legs, wondering what his reaction would be.

“Amy,” Gaius shamelessly groaned her name this time. His hand moving faster. His face contorted, visibly fighting for control.

He was close.

“Stop.” He did, panting and sweating as he did so. “Stand up.” He stood up, his arms on his side. “Now take off mine.”

He was all but pounced to the bed like an animal. Tearing her top off, pulling her pants and underwear down her smooth legs with a violent tug, Amy nearly yelped in surprise.

She was as naked as he was now. Gaius stared at Amy for a moment, drinking her in, his gaze darting up and down the curves of her soft figure. His eyes were heavily-lidded, and Amy felt a hot rush from the lewd expression on his face. He positioned himself on top of her once again, the veil of his sun-kissed brown strands falling around his face.

“What’s next, Your Highness?” Gaius asked lowly, his mouth nibbling her ear. “I await your command.”

“I-” Amy shut her eyes, shivered violently when his hardness nudged on her wet heat. “Fuck.” And slightly ground her hips against his. Her thoughts a chaotic jumble.

Amy felt him smiling against her collarbone, before closing his mouth over her nipple, sucking hard enough to sting, letting his fangs graze over the delicate skin. “Yes?”

“Shit,” she cursed again, head drooping backwards with a drawn out moan. She pushed his body off of her. “On your back.“ 

At the command, Gaius quickly rolled to the side, obedient as ever. Amy scrambled up, pushing him further until he was lying flat on the bed and settled her weight against him. Gasping whenever his tip brushed her clit.

One hand on his pecs, the other reached down and grabbed his cock. Wasting no time, no more teasing this time around as she positioned the head beneath her opening. Feeling him assisting before finally, she lowered herself in a strangled breath and fought the urge to moan his name.

So, this is how it felt, fucking the man that once brought so much destruction to the world and her own. Others might think this was her falling for the temptation, the manipulation Gaius pulled on her, losing the battle, but this was her winning the war. This was her turning the tables around them, showing them who was in control now. That she, of all people, could have the former King of Vampires knelt down before her and jerked himself off and deprived him of that pleasure just for the thrill of it.

And she was the Bloodkeeper for fuck’s sake. Probably the world’s only hope in achieving the impossible, for what’s it worth, she could fuck whoever she wanted. Let her have her moment, this one final hurrah before the shit show awaited her.

A sly arch of her back, lips dropping into a perfect circle, hips circling on his, Amy rode Gaius senselessly, bouncing and clawing at him until they left marks on his skin. Her sighs and moans intermingled with his every time she slammed her hips into his just right. He thrust upwards in time with her movements, his hands on her thighs, her hips, her breasts, her neck. All over her body. There was no inhibition now, only pleasure that drove them.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” At the increasing pitch of her voice, Gaius pulled her head down for a hungry kiss, instantly muffling her sound.

Soon, Amy began to feel her knees weakened, her movements became less rhythmic that she had to lean helplessly on his chest. Gaius noticed this, but instead thrust even faster. 

“F-flip me ove-” Amy hadn’t finished the sentence when Gaius spun her over onto her back. His left hand gripping her messy hair, his right one holding up her hips roughly, he re-entered her in a one hard, deep thrust that filled her. So powerful that she was shaken, knocking the wind out of her.

Setting a ruthless pace, he rammed himself into her. He was out of restraints, it seemed, and Amy was out of her fucking mind. Drowned in the euphoria that she didn’t realize she pulled him for another searing kiss. Grunting into her mouth, his fingers headed down over her lower abdomen and his thumb contacted her clit. Her body clenched around his cock. Her fingers dug deep into his shoulders, though the pain seemed to fire him up even more.

Then Gaius shifted the angle of his hips.

“Oh, G-god fuck!” she cried, uncertain of whether it was an unconscious attempt at calling his name or straight up blasphemy. She felt her release bubbling inside her the depth of her stomach. Her back arched.

When Amy came, Gaius dutifully put his hand over her mouth, muffling the scream that rose up from her throat. Her release also triggered Gaius’, as he suddenly went rigid above her, his thrusts became more irregular before pulling out and spilled his seeds on her thigh.

Amy was still trying to even her breath when she noticed Gaius left the bed. Disappearing into the dark corner of the room before the next thing she knew, he came back bringing a towel with him. Which was pretty considerate of him and since Gaius didn’t strike her as the type.

Her dumbfoundedness must have been apparent because the right corner of his mouth curled up into a smirk.

“If there’s one thing I learned from this ordeal, it’s that I have to start taking care of the messes I made,” he said as he handed the towel to her, an unexpected softness in his eyes.

Amy shakily propped herself up, looking down. There were bruises on her hips and his semen was dripping from her leg, creating a damp patch on the bed. 

“Thanks,” she said, then began to clean up the mess he left on her while feeling his eyes constantly roving around her figure. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but decided otherwise. 

Gaius left the bed once more and this time, she knew he was never coming back.

“You’re leaving?” Amy asked as he redressed himself, nearly smacked herself in the head at the tinge of disappointment in her voice.

“Yes,” he answered as he buttoned up his suit. “I have my own preparations to make for the battle.” Gaius knelt down to pick up his cape, dusted off unnecessarily and wore it back around his broad shoulders.

Amy could only watch him as he turned his back on her, heading toward the door. The afterglow had worn off when it was barely there. Feeling surprisingly… hollow.

She was the one who initiated this, but the gravity of the situation, of what they had done, was starting to weigh in. Not that she regretted a single second of it, but it was because she knew from this moment, she would never look at him the same way again. Not when she knew everything about him now- physically and mentally, and probably the only living person in this world who did. 

If he died, Gaius would be nothing but a story to be passed down to another generation of vampires after them, stories of his atrocities, of his mistreatment of the human race, of his manipulations. He would be condemned, shunned. Even after his death. Eventually, the name Gaius Augustine would slowly disappear with the wind and Amy couldn’t help but wonder what could have happened if Rheya hadn’t changed him. Would he have been hailed as a hero instead? Knowing his true nature, or would he even be here in the first place?

Gaius’ footsteps ceased, his hand hovering on the doorknob. 

“If we’d met in another life…” he uttered, uncertain whether he should continue or not. Still, his back on her. “I think things could have been different.”

Still, he could not be remedied or pitied. What he’d done was beyond forgiving, he still needed to be held accountable, but beneath his sins, he was just one man. A messed up, wicked and annoyingly powerful man who lost himself along the way. Who lost everything.

“Yeah. In another life.” And immortality never tasted this bitter.

[icharchivist]

Okay so done with Ardyn and Ignis’s dlcs, meaning i am done with the game for good! what a ride! what a blast! i had so much fun with everything, i don’t have anything i’m disappointed about so DLKJFDF a good ride for me.

Starting with Ignis, i really liked his DLC. 

The first part, which mostly just talks about how he got his eyes injury, was very fun to play through. Compared to how much i struggled with Gladio and Prompto that was a blast to play through ahah. I liked the gameplay and i liked being back in Altissia.

It was nice also to see Ravus’s actual turn around in game, since his whole part in the main game was... all over the place. So it was nice to see his actual motivations being laid out, and his teaming up with Ignis was pretty neat, they worked out well with one another, both as Guardians, and working as parallel to one another, with Ignis wanting (originally) for Noctis to see his goal through while Ravus wanted his sister to be freed, and in the end after Luna’s death, Ignis joining Ravus in not wanting to lose Noctis just to “his duty and fate”

The way Ignis got blind had me yelling. Putting on the ring of Lucii to try to protect Noctis, a ring that famously burn off anyone who tries to use it and isn’t of royal blood. Lowkey wondering if it works in a “truth from FMA” way where the people who ended up burnt by the ring all lost part of themselves that were important to them. Nyx wanted to live as a hero and he had to die as one. Ravus was the arm of revenge for his family and he lost his arm to it. Ignis was the analyser, the one who looked after Noctis and looked for his future, and his eyes were burnt. Like a way to prevent them all from even fighting destiny again. 

Anyway the whole canon complient part was so fucking sad and the goodbyes with Ignis and Noctis had me cry so hard i couldn’t look at the screen anymore. It was so sad and intense to me my heart is still broken.

So jumping on the fixit future just afterward, well, to me was kind of healing lmao. The whole thing, how Ignis even manage to win protecting Noctis, doesn’t really make any sense but it doesn’t have to, it’s just a happy ending that was sorely needed after all this mess, for me at least. 

It also made me cry to see Noctis’s resolve being that he would not let himself be separated from his friends. Makes me wonder if it has to do with the fact the alternative timeline pretty much therefore prevents the train incident from happening, meaning Noctis didn’t hurt Prompto, and didn’t have to play Ardyn’s mindgames about Prompto back then. Regis and Luna’s death were symbols of stuff Noctis couldn’t have protected. But hurting Prompto was Noctis ealizing that he would be harming his friends if he tried to end Ardyn. With the way Ignis’s ep goes, Ignis is another “stuff Noctis couldn’t have protected” so instead of fearing hurting his friends he’s more dedicated than ever to not let them go this time. Kinda liking this.

The alternative ending wasn’t as detailled as i expected (i swEAR i thought i’ve seen something about Luna surviving which?? i didn’t see at all so??) so i’m kinda happy with it? The gist of it is just “even if Noctis spent ten years into the Crystals his friends stayed together (which they didn’t in the ten years in canon) and once they were reunited they never let go of one another again”. I’m fine with that!! v good with that!! and i’m just happy Ignis can feel like he protected Noctis to the end, like he was meant to do. He’s so happy at the end i am tearing up just thinking about it.

so i really liked episode Ignis personally.  The alternative ending is just that, an alternative ending if we want to indulge in it and i’m happy with it, meanwhile the rest of the episode was pretty good to me. 

my only problem with the DLCs (and that is all of them) is also kinda just, the reason they had to exist, is that well. Honestly i’m not against dlcs and all but those were really scenes that would have benefited from being clearer in game. Not knowing how Ignis’s injuried himself really didn’t sit right with me, not knowing where Gladio was gone to was bothering me. Prompto’s ep itself wasn’t something i expected, wasn’t a gap i thought needed to be filled, but they filled it with more clarification about the magiteks in a way that i think is sooo much more impactful than just the game. 

I guess what i mean is that, they are filling holes that were in the games that bothered me, and on one hand i’m thrilled to have complete stories that specifically addresses them, on the other, i just kinda wish i didn’t have to wait until the end of the game to have those answers. 

Ardyn’s dlc has a huge lore dump at first which, imo, should have been clearer in the game too, but as it is i like how it’s done in the Ardyn’s dlc. In the end it just really gives the feelings the dlcs are course correcting DLKFJDLKJFD

ANYWAY Ardyn’s DLC. It was a blast to play through, the whole game itself was pretty fun. I really wanted to explore Insomnia (i also really want to explore the royal palace  but well that won’t be...), so even if it was by fucking around and finding out, it was hella fun.

Plotwise i am glad it makes Ardyn’s motivations very clear and in the end well, Ardyn is a really tragic figure and i’m really sad for him even if i remain angry at everything he has done. It’s just, what other choices did he have when he was doomed from the start?

It was sad to see how nice of a guy he was, how he just wanted to heal and help people, only for the gods and his brother to betray him. Somnus is such an ass bc of that lol. Originally i wondered if the recalling at the begining was Ardyn being an unreliable narrator but the final fight with Somnus confirm that Somnus did betray Ardyn because he was jealous of him, and even if he grew as a leader to see the horror of the daemons, he still fucked his brother’s life up for all of this man.

As for the Gods... wow major, major fuck you. The starscrouges is a Gods’s thing and they had a family line try to “fix it” and they made Ardyn the hero to fix it..... and then the moment he did, they made him the bad guy, refused him salvation, just so in the future the Lucii line will be able to end properly once the Chosen King will clean Ardyn. The Gods really set both Ardyn and the Lucii to fail to start with. The Gods wanted more for the “Chosen King” to have a painful sacrifice than they wanted to clean Ardyn’s up and Ardyn was just a tool in all of that, not allowed to fight his fate. No wonder he ended up embracing it and did the worst he could with what he was given.

That does bring home how much technically Ardyn won,  he got all he wanted. He destroyed the world that forsaken him, he spited the Gods ‘till the end, he ended the Lucis family line, and he finally was allowed to die. The Gods also got what they wanted since they WANTED Ardyn to spread darkness onto the world to set up their champion. That fucking blows.  The Gods are the real bad guys there. Noctis deserved better so i welcome Ignis’s dlc even more.

so yeah i’m leaving Ardyn’s dlc extremely bitter against the Gods and how they didn’t leave neither Ardyn nor Noctis a choice in all of this. They had their plan from the start and just expected them to play their parts. 

fucking tragic.

but with all of that i’m done with FF15 and i loved it. I had a blast. It was fun to play through, the gameplay was so fun and fantastic, i love the four guys with so much love that just thinking about them makes me want to cry. I like the original ending, in a “i love to suffer” way, and i love the alternative ending in a “now some healing” way. I liked what all the dlcs brought to the story, and i’m glad i played through all of this. 

I think it’ll take me some time to think about replaying the game and if i do i’ll probably try to ignore chap 8 and onward lmao. But i’m really glad i gave it a chance in the end. 

eff u Peten for making it happen though it’s all your fault. 

so yeah, i had tons of fun that’s for sure!