#I'm sure there's plenty but I just don't see them anymore :'D

[wayward-travelers]

FFXIVwrite 2024 - #1

Word count: 1640 Rating: G Characters: Hanae, Raminas (random Dalmascan NPC invented for this) Archive Of Our Own version (easier to read on there imho)

Prompt: Steer

In the dead silence of Garlemald, the crunchy sound of your steps is the only one you can hear. A lone hyur with only far away mountains and a city in ruin for company, struggling not to get stuck in the snow. It's a mistake, you think, not quite for the first time, and the shivers down your spine agree with you. You're too young. Too inexperienced. What even took you to think you should help those who brought your nation to heel? Yet the Contingent doesn't have many hands to spare... and you volunteered. So you keep going, deaf to the warning of your soul—and as your destination appears before you, your pounding heart drowns out even the crunch of your steps.

You had hoped your first words would be firm. Clear. But every syllable bumps into the next and whatever comes out of your mouth is from a Spoken race in name only. In front of you, the Hrothgar looks utterly unimpressed.

"I would like to meet Ms Corvus," you finally manage after clearing your throat, your face a bright red now (you tell yourself it's from the cold, but you know. You know.) Then you state your name and your mission: you come with an offer from the Contingent. Peace and mutual aid, should the captain find their terms agreeable.

The Hrothgar somehow looks even less impressed now, but still moves his giant body from the doorstep and allows you to enter.

A welcomed warmth greets you and blinds you all at once. As you take off your glasses to clean the fog obscuring your sight, an Elezen—maybe?—joins you and offers to guide you to his leader. Well. Perhaps it was indeed a mistake if you think this is anything other than an order. But you follow anyway, and by the time your glasses are back on your nose, you're in a well-lit room decorated with taste, if soberly.

When you turn back to thank your guide, he's already gone.

You are alone.

Times passes with only the regular ticks of the clock for company. Occasionally, you hear bouts of laughter coming from somewhere else in the apartment (children, you think), but alone you are and alone you remain. You dare not sit down on a chair, comfortably as they seem to be, for fear of being deemed too familiar. But when, eventually, the smell of food reaches your nose (was it your stomach that rumbled so?), you start wondering if you've not simply been forgotten.

The warning of Maxima Priscus comes back to mind in time to stop you from venturing outside the room: the Sky Pirate is a woman of character, which is to say that she doesn't take lightly to challenges on her authority. With what was left of the Garlean nobility too busy pretending governing when they couldn't even provide for their citizens, they were the competition. The Contingent. With its offer of protection and food and the promise of more where it came from. And thus you are here, to try to convince her that competition is unnecessary when you could just become allies.

The unlikeliness of your success is a strange sort of reassurance, but it finally seems to bring you back to your senses. You look around, taking in the view with attention now that the nervousness has passed a bit. And while you're not any kind of expert of art nor finely crafted goods, you recognize the Corvosi style of some of it—not least of all the beautiful mirror hanging on a wall.

A mirror that screams at you for looking so unkempt. Unbecoming, your mind supplies before you mumble: "Oh, right. I'm an ambassador. Kinda. Shit."

After what feels like an eternity of staying still, you finally dare moving from your spot—and leave behind a puddle of water with a wince. It's not your fault, you tell yourself. The snow on your coat melted, but nobody offered to relieve you of it and they're the ones making you wait. You try to forget the beautiful wood underneath (surely it won't appreciate this much water tainting it) to focus on your reflection in the mirror and put some order back in your hair.

Just as you finish carefully folding your coat on your arm, a hidden door open in the library on your right. You almost jump out of your skin and quickly stumble to get back where you were—not unlike a child caught red-handed stealing candies. That the woman who entered the room shows all the tells of a disgusted mother doesn't help, so you straighten your back to whether the storm.

(It strikes you, however, that if not for the whiteness of her hair, she looks every bit like the Domans with which you've break bread. A bastard, you remember. The child of an adulterous Garlean noble and a maidservant.)

"I am Hanae Corvus, captain of the Argo and proud daughter of Garlemald. You came to talk to me, yes? Then talk. - It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ma'am. I'm Raminas and I come today as a representative for the Alliance Delegation. We've heard you work to provide food and shelter to survivors and hoped we might find an agreement to fashion a new era of prosperity and peace for Garlemald with your help."

The words might have sounded better out of a Morbol's mouth—or so you interpret the disdain in her eyes.

"Is that how you've convinced them at Tertium? - I'm not sure I'm following...? - The Senate is full of senile cowards who would sooner take pride in our downfall than being useful. If you haven't seen the station they now call home, let me tell you how it is: warm and full of food. They think themselves leaders and justify their greed while those they pretend to lead die to the weather and hunger. That is why the "Alliance" convinced my peers at Tertium to demean themselves by surrendering to your conditions. We have no need of you here. - We didn't come as invaders... - Then you are fools."

At a loss, are you? She seems to think so, too.

"We will not force you to adhere to our ways—this gets you a sneer, though she's letting you continue—but we can help you provide for more people. - We have enough. - How? comes your question before you have enough time to think before speaking. - We have enough. This is all the knowledge you need."

You knew it would be difficult, but the idea that just on this side of the ruins there might be enough for everyone sounds wrong. The reports mentioned that the Argo was used to carry resources to Garlemald, you remember, but surely her funds aren't bottomless?

"Raminas, was it? - Yes, Ma'am. - Well, Raminas, allow me to guide you through the situation we are currently in so you can better convey my response to your masters. You came here to bring the war to Garlemald after we lost a few of our provinces and found a desolated land for your efforts. This allows you to act as forgiving saviors. A strike of sheer luck that leaves you free of atrocities in the eyes of history, and us at your mercy.

You are young, so I do not belittle you for not seeing through the lies of experienced politicians. But you should know already that if they have nothing to gain from your presence here, they will have you withdraw—and your 'help' with you. Thus do I refuse to consider you allies.

We, Garleans, will steer our nation in whichever direction will allow use to thrive with dignity, for I will not bet our people's future on those who have everything to gain from keeping us low."

What is there to answer to that, except, perhaps, what you hope might provide weight to the integrity of the Contingent.

"The Scions will make sure no political leader would abuse you."

She laughs. It is not a joyful laughter.

"This is less comforting that you think, Raminas. - Is there truly no way to convince you of the purity of our intentions? - No. - But we don't have to be enemies. - And we are not. Not unless you start taking more than is willingly given. So go. Help those idiotic enough to believe the lies. I will remain here when you won't and I will take care of them when you won't."

The end of the conversation is a blur. You don't try to convince her again. It's useless, and both of you know that now. But you wonder as she leaves the room if in fifteen, twenty years, you too will be as jaded as she is. You hope you won't.

A man comes to collect you—it's the best way your mind phrases it. You put your coat back on as you follow him inside the corridor, recognizing him as the one you took for an Elezen earlier. Only at the door leading you outside does the Garlean talk, telling you that Captain Corvus' men will ensure you arrive safe at your destination.

As he closes the door behind you, your eyes catches the golden symbol of Faram the Father decorating the hallway. You may be no fine arts expert, but you recognize a stolen sacred symbol of your faith when you see one. Yet already the Hrothgar places himself between you and the door, and you are forced to leave with no chance to retrieve what has nothing to do in this place.

And thus do you walk back to deliver her message, the crunch of your steps drowned out by the pounding of your heart, with only far away mountains, a city almost entirely in ruins and the watchful eyes of thieves for company.

[mooncakebun]

Some Hualian art I'm working on these days (not sure I'll ever finish any of them but let's see, almost 2 years hiatus is no joke T^T)

Just recently I had the chance to buy the official Hungarian release of the books, and that alone reignited my love for the novel.

Not so coincidentally, I found plenty of unfinished scraps of fan art on my computer and realized I missed TGCF quite a lot, also missed making fan art... so not all of these are brand new haha... drawing style also changed so much even tho I haven't drawn a single line since ~2022.

(+ I don't use twitter anymore (though IG freaks me out with the interface and small picture format, I recovered my acc so I’m using it again), but I found the password for Tumblr saved on my laptop :D hahaha...)

[shopwitchvamp]

hey! I'm interested in getting one of the petticoats, but I historically have not enjoyed wearing them for various reasons. Can you tell me what the inner lining is like? My sister has some petticoats and the they always feel terrible since they're too tight around the legs, and the fabric generally sucks. Also, do the petticoats come in skater size? Thanks!

Yeah no problem! I have a helpful picture from the red knee-length petticoats (that we don't actually sell anymore) that shows the lining pretty well:

All parts of the petticoats are polyester, just very different versions. The lining is really smooth and it's not tight at all, it's got plenty of room for you to move around. It's got a satiny/silky feel, but it is stiffer (no stretch) & more on the plasticky side compared to our skirts. It's really great at keeping the tulle outer layers from scratching your legs though! And I honestly think they're the most comfortable petticoats I've ever encountered.

So then for ankle length ones you can kinda see the inner lining in this picture but I quickly and poorly outlined it in paint right now to make it a bit clearer:

Because of the longer thinner shape, it is tighter than the knee-length liner but I still wouldn't say it's "tight" exactly. Like it's not form fitting, just more narrow. And thenn for Skater sized ones, it depends on which size you wear. The knee-length petticoats are pretty long for an A or B Size Skater (works better with A or B Midis), maybe B is on the fence where if you don't mind a lot of petticoat showing it's fine. But they work well with C or D Size Skaters (as well as Midis). In the future we might do much shorter petticoats to try to have something that works for Minis and A/B Skaters, but idk for sure yet!

[not-poignant]

Hello!

Why do you only answer anon questions?

I recently saw an author note suggesting something like that. Is there any reason why?

Hi anon,

I don't only ever answer anon questions. It just looks that way because I answer most non-anon questions privately. I.e. - Where you can't see the responses.

I actually don't get to all of my asks, both anon and off-anon. So I mostly answer asks (anon or non-anon) when:

a) The social anxiety isn't too bad b) I have time (my priorities for writing go in this order: Writing -> Responding to recent chapter comments -> Editing (that should be before comments but whoops) -> Being active on the Fae Tales Discord -> Doing admin (schedule / Patreon posts / Ream posts / round up / scheduling excerpts / posting excerpts / Tumblr chapter updates) -> Asks (not all, mind, just some. I usually try to go in batches of 3, but sometimes I can't, like now, because it's literally midnight) -> Replies to comments on older works.)

Rest of this going under a Read More because the TL;DR is: I work hard, am pretty sick, and I cannot get to all of my asks, and I also reply to plenty of non-anon asks, just not in a place where you can see them, anon.

c) I'm well enough to even get to all of those things in the first place, which I'm often not, especially since we got a special needs dog who has - it seems - as many health issues as I do. (I'm literally going to bed in about five minutes because I need to be up early so he can go under general anaesthetic for X-rays)

With the addition:

d) I kind of want to have hobbies and stuff. And see loved ones. And look after my garden.

As a result of all of that, I am extremely time poor. When I'm not working, anon, I am usually horizontal, and trying to rest re: chronic illnesses.

It's not that I choose to only answer anon asks, I answer plenty of non-anon asks privately, but I cannot get to all of my asks (I currently have, er, 93, I haven't responded to - I'm so sorry everyone, I'll get to that when the guilt of not having any Palmarosa this month isn't as bad asdlkfjas).

Social anxiety also means I feel terribly guilty if I let an ask go longer than about 1-2 months without me answering, which doesn't help much! Sometimes being a single person trying to get to everyone while doing the main thing that people are here for (the writing) while like, going to the hospital, getting MRIs for myself, X-Rays for my dog and so on just means that... I cannot get to everything the same way I used to. Honestly even back then, my therapists were begging me to do less and work less hard sadlfkjsa (I cannot tell you how often I've found it amusing we've focused less on the CSA in my past and more on how much of a workaholic I am).

It might change when I'm not working on like 8 stories at the same time anymore, but then I'm sure I'll have folks on anon in my inbox, telling me I don't write enough anymore. (That's okay, they'll have old stories to reread asldfkja)

I am doing my absolute best, and very often, I am surpassing my limits whee.

But I definitely don't only answer anon questions, you just don't see them as much on my Tumblr, because I like the opportunity to give more personal responses to people rather than the 'oh you forced me to respond to this in front of an invisible crowd, so now I have to reply like I'm responding to many people, instead of just one.' Whether that means I have to be more educational, or explain more, or make it clearer to folks that it's not personal (because now I'm not just thinking of you, anon, but all the other people who have sent me asks that I haven't been able to reply to, and I'm now having to reply to all of them as well, in case they see this), etc. It's just a different vibe. Sometimes I really enjoy that. Sometimes it's incredibly stressful.

Folks using their account name invariably get private responses, unless they send me lots of asks, and then... I just... alas, have to be really careful with my time.

[foolofatook001]

Merry (slightly late) Christmas, and a happy New Year!!! Here is my gift for @long-lost-soul for the Lord Huron Secret Santa. I went with the 'Johnnie haunting the desert' prompt; I hope you enjoy :D also, let's give a big round of applause to @tinylongwing for organizing this event <3

I Get A Laugh Outta Starin' at Darkness

There're a lot of stories that come out of the desert, 'specially in this part of the country. You got your ghosts. You got your aliens. You got your goat-eaters and your wandering cowboys and your missing Civil War regiments and every kind of combination of all of the above. Most of 'em are tall tales, something you hear from your brother who heard it from your cousin who heard it from a friend of a friend, or something you mention to the interstate passers-through when they pull over for gas and food. Makes 'em stay longer and tip better— Diana down at the diner swears up and down it works like a charm. 

Most of 'em are tall tales.

Not all. 

Now, this town isn't much to look at anymore— it's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it, drive-through-in-two-minutes kind of place. Used to be bigger, back before the ol' Winthrop Corporation took a dive and the factory a few miles out of town closed down for good. Lost a lot of folks to the city then. Still wouldn't call this place a ghost town, mind you— there's still businesses, and people living here— it's just seen better days, is all. The one thing it's got going for it is it's just close enough to the big city that there's still plenty of traffic and folks coming and going. That also means we get a lot of strangers passing through, right, which is why when I first saw the kid, I didn't think much of it. 

I own a mechanic's shop at the edge of town, and run a tow service as well— not a week goes by I don't have to go fish up some poor driver from out-of-state that figured on taking the scenic route and didn't realize there ain't hardly any gas stations out in the middle of the desert. And was one day when I'm on my way out on one of those calls late one evening and I see a figure walking alongside the road. 

It's a young man, wearing blue jeans, a beat-up leather jacket, and a white t-shirt. He has his hair slicked back like he's some kind of greaser (which was a throwback for me, let me tell you) and he's heading toward town, the setting sun at his back and his hands shoved in his pockets.

So I slow down and ask if he needs a ride. 

Nah, man, he says. I'm just fine. When he talks, he sounds even younger than he looks, and really in good conscience I can't just drive on by, see, so I go ahead and I tell him town's on my way anyway, and I can at least pick him up on my way back if he's still walking. He says that sounds just fine, too, and I keep on going. 

I take a look back in my rear-view mirror once, just before the kid gets out of sight, and I sees he has a big ol' lightning bolt painted on the back of his jacket.

So, way back to town, I have the driver of the car up in the cab, right, and we pass by the kid again, still walking toward town. So I stop, and although the driver gets a little prickly about it, I let the kid hop in. 

He climbs over the passenger and sits down in the middle seat, and I notice the kid has a knife tucked into his belt, and a patch on the shoulder of his jacket that says World Enders on it. Now, I'm sure you've heard about the World Enders (can't nobody sit down on any old man's porch in this town without them coming up at least once) but they're years gone by now. So I wonder, right, if this is some hand-me-down that this kid ended up with, and he's wearing it to try and make himself look tough, or if he'd come by it some other way. I guess I maybe should've been worried that he'd— dunno, stab me or something, but besides the knife and the jacket he seemed like a good kid, see?

I ask him his name of course, and he says Johnnie, and don't say nothing else. Now, I'm a curious kind of fella, but I can respect when people's business is their own, so I don't ask any more questions about that. Instead we get to talking about the town— Johnnie wants to know if the diner's still open and I say probably not at this time of night (it's well past nine o' clock, full dark) and he laughs a little and says that's too bad— he could've gone for a milkshake. 

Mind if I have a smoke? he asks after a little while. 

Yes, says the guy whose car I'm towing.

No, I says, and Johnnie goes ahead and lights up. 

I always keep the radio going low in the background— I'm just fine at filling empty spaces in conversation, but most folks I pick up ain't in much of a mood to chat when I'm towing their car, and the music helps cut down on what can be a real awkward ride back. It's usually some oldies station, 'cause that's the one what gets the best signal out here, and soon enough some ol' rockabilly song comes on. 

Hey, I know this one, says Johnnie, and goes and turns the radio up. Yeah, Phantom Riders!

As I'm driving back, the kid keeps smoking. Regular ol' chimney. The other passenger ain't too happy about it, but I tell him we're only ten minutes out and I guess he figured he could suffer through, 'cause he quit complaining. 

Now, something mighty peculiar happened, those last ten minutes back to town. 

First thing, the cab starts feeling like it's filling up with cigarette smoke. I go to roll the window down, right, let in some air, only it's stuck. The smoke starts turning black, like storm clouds a-brewing, and I can't see the road, so I'm hanging on to the steering wheel for dear life.

Next thing, I happen to look over to Johnnie over there on my right, and the kid has a whole piece missing from his face— I swear to God I ain't making this up. You could see his teeth through a big ol' hole in his cheek, and when he took another pull on that damn cigarette of his, all the smoke went out that way— and it went right into my face. 

So I'm all over coughing, and the other guy is yelling about staying on the road, and Johnnie's just sitting there laughing like some kind of maniac. I stomp on the brakes and turn to Johnnie, because I wanna know what the big idea is, right— 

Only he's not there anymore, and all the smoke's gone. I'm just sitting there staring at this other guy in my cab. 

You saw the kid, right, I says, because you know I thought I was going crazy, just a little bit. 

I saw him, says the guy. 

And then we didn't say another word the rest of the way to the shop. 

I seen Johnnie—if that's even his real name— a time or two after that. He's never right on the road anymore, always far away up in the hills, but he always waves at me, like we're friends, and that's how I know it's him. 

I asked around town about him— turns out he's one of them stories to come out of the desert, too. Could be he really was a World Ender, back in the day— just one that came to a bad end, maybe, and now he roams forever, haunting the desert.  Some folks call him 'the Hitchhiker,' others 'the Wanderer,' but I'll stick to just plain Johnnie. 

Suits him best, I feel.

[ilovedthestars]

and also just. the way ambiguity in relationships is assumed to be romantic, too. see, i wrote that whole post a while back about how I loved ambiguous fictional relationships, with deep devotion but no clear label as to the type of relationship. i called it love as in significance--that's where my tag comes from. love as in being important to someone, in whatever form that takes.

and what I said then about how this applies to romance still applies--when I'm reading about a fictional romance, I'll be much more engaged with one that feels built on that foundation of significance than one that isn't. flirting, the trappings of modern courtship, those feel empty to me without the feeling that these characters already matter to each other. (this is why in real life I'm so perplexed by things like dating apps, or people who actively seek out romance with strangers--I just personally can't fathom the idea of wanting that kind of closeness with someone you don't already know and care for.)

but in regards to ambiguity....I feel like I've been burned a little. I loved ambiguity because it meant you could take many things away from it. other people could see romance, but I could see the kind of deeply devoted platonic relationship that, let's be honest, is incredibly rare in fiction. but I'm starting to feel frustrated by the way ambiguity is assumed to be romance, without an explicit statement that it's not. (I've joked about the obligatory "no hetero" moments that have to be inserted into the start of a piece of media that has a male and a female protagonist with any kind of relationship other than romance--the "not with those lips" moment in the D&D movie, for example. It's funny, and i appreciate it being made very clear, but it's kind of sad that it has to be.)

and...okay, there's an elephant in the room that i really should acknowledge. I was talking about it in that first post, but I made a point of never mentioning it, although i'm sure plenty of people guessed.

I haven't watched Good Omens season two. I'm not sure if I'm ever going to. When I first wrote about my love for ambiguous relationships back in February of 2023, Aziraphale and Crowley were at the top of my list. When I wrote about how ambiguity left room for anyone to see themselves represented, and how i wished that a little more space was left for aro voices, I was talking about them. I was frustrated by people who saw that ambiguity as "queerbaiting"--didn't they see that the story was already queer, that Aziraphale and Crowley cared so deeply for each other, and whether they kissed or not wouldn't change anything?

But they did kiss. And it did change something. I don't feel like there's a place left for me anymore. And there's social pressure to celebrate, to be happy for another canon queer love story on TV, and god I'd love to celebrate that, but I can't help but feel a little betrayed by a story that I thought would leave space for me.

(and yes, a kiss doesn't have to mean romance--but in this, in hollywood, it's assumed to. the creators and the audience both understand it as such, unless someone stops to say no, we're friends who kiss each other the mouth, we're subverting your expectations. because the expectations are inescapable.)

I've been trying to give myself the space to feel upset about this. To remember that aro stories are queer stories too. And I think I'm raising my standards. I'll take ambiguity--I'll take any carved-out space I can find. But I'm not sure I trust it anymore. I want explicitly platonic relationships with the level of love and devotion and care usually reserved for romance. I want to read and watch and listen to stories about people who are significant to each other without romance even being in the picture. I want love that isn't synonymous with romance. I'm going to stop feeling like I have to settle for anything less.

[skimmingmilk]

are there any types of questions or prompts you prefer more? any fandoms you'd like to write for but maybe haven't? keep it up skim!👍

Hi! Thanks so much! :D

I'm open to any questions, really! I don't think I have any that I prefer to get more than any other. I like answering asks about fics I've recently posted, but also older ones, too. It's nice to see when they still get some love <3 And I'm happy to give writing advice where I can!

I feel like I'm not that good at headcanon questions in general though. Mostly because I incorporate so many of them into fics, it's hard to separate them from a narrative context, if that makes sense? I think it's because I don't really see myself as a media analyst. I'm happy to do it if people are interested, I just know there are plenty of other fans out there that are way better at dissecting information like that than I am! I feel like I'm kinda boring without a story to write a headcanon into, lol.

As far as prompts go, less is always more for me! Giving me a brief scenario or a single line of dialogue is often the best way for me to come up with a story to build around it. When there's a lot of set-up or details in a prompt, it can feel very limiting and I'm less likely to feel inspired to write for it. That's not always the case, but it's what I've noticed happens more often than not.

And in terms of fandoms I want to write for, I tend to only write in one fandom at a time. I've only overlapped a couple of times, but it's never for very long. I get so engaged in the world of a specific fandom and I just kind of stay there. I'm not able to really juggle multiple universes at once, especially because I'm always trying to write my own original novels simultaneously. So, right now, all I'm really writing for fandom-wise is Sonic, even if I do still love OtGW and Good Omens and other fandoms I've written for in the past, I'm just not mentally there anymore.

As for fandoms I haven't written for before but would like to, I don't think I have any that I'm particularly interested in at this time, except maybe Wicked, but I've never really had any ideas for a Wicked fic, so it's not something I think too hard on. The thing is, I'm never looking for new fandoms to write fics for. In fact it's usually the opposite. They find me and I fight them kicking and screaming and biting until they've worn me down and there's no hope left and I have no choice but to write the fics just to get them out of my head so they'll leave me alone xD

No, but because I really want to be a published author and make writing my career, I try very hard not to get immersed in new fandoms so I don't have to deal with the split focus of figuring out a new fanfic world and the world of my own novels at the same time. But I know that a new fandom will find me eventually... they always do, lol. I don't think I'll ever stop writing fanfics, it's just a matter of what will find me at the right moment! But I'm pretty sure I'll be here in Sonic for a while longer. I've got no shortage of ideas yet and too much that I'm excited to get to!

[plasticross]

You find yourself on the hotel rooftop, a beautiful little hang out with a pool and plenty of places to sunbathe. You rarely come up here, there's no umbrellas, or really any shady area you could easily find, and thus it's become obsolete to you. You rarely go out at day anymore, the desert sun makes your skin hurt, and it's ever seeing eyes made you panic even more. But sometimes people crave the inner belly fear they'd get as a child, watching horror movies late halloween night, or looking at a particularly gruesome crucifixion in sunday school. The water laps at your legs, making them look smaller at the knee, where they're submerged. It's not like you could see it, and you resent watching the description crawl across your peripheral as if you're too stupid to know how water physics work.

With a sigh, you press your face against your hands, shoulders shuttering as you bite back tears. Why were you crying? You didn't deserve to.

"I'm sorry." Your voice breaks like a frog, and you can feel your cheeks light up even if there isn't anyone around to see it. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just want it to be over." And you aren't even sure what it is, adding to your embarrassment. Here you were on gods doorstep, in tears, begging for forgiveness. You think about your grandfathers boat trip, you think about the two of you floating in the middle of nowhere, him slamming his hands on the dock as he screams at the lake for a response that he never got. You think about him grabbing the lapels of your church clothes, and holding you against the railing. For a second, you thank the lord above for your lack of sight, keeping you from seeing what you saw in the reflection of the water like you did when your grandfather held you.

"I'm glad you came out. You have a vitamin deficiency. Specifically vitamin D, that's why you look so grey."

Your face twists up, a horrible, pathetic sound worming its way out of your throat, something between a whine and a choked sob. Maybe the silence that your grandfather ran from would be better, or maybe he didn't hear silence. Maybe he dealt with the sun-bites that it's advice left on his skin. Things that were true, but pointless, unrelated. Infuriating messages that mean fucking nothing as if you were a child, you couldn't handle the truth, so they talk around it. Your lip quivers, your hands filling with your own tears.

"Why me?" You're hyper aware of how little you sound, you imagine yourself asking your grandfather the same question, only tall enough to come up to his hip, you cry, arms extended out to him. He stopped carrying you everywhere when you turned ten or so, and that was one of the first times you acknowledged that things had changed. "Why did it have to be me? I, I just, I just want to be a person. I want to live." Those weren't your exact words, all the times you gave them to your grandpa. But they carried the same meaning.

"You can. I'm trying to let you. Everyone has rules they need to follow, you of all people should know that." The suns warmth makes your skin itch and burn, like there's another version of you inside your skin, too big, pressing against the hot dry organ, attempting to escape. You scratch your arms, which only subdues the feeling momentarily. "You're doing the right thing, and I think you know that. Don't take everything so personal, you beg for forgiveness and yet don't give people the same."

None of this felt right. You've lost faith, you were hoping that at least, maybe, you lost faith in the things you were raised to believe. But instead it seems like you've just lost faith in yourself.

"You're special, Cylo. We're special, it comes with being narratively relevant. I hope one day you can see that."

[aroaceleovaldez]

Not ask-blog related, then, but how would you get into role-playing?

honestly, just find an RP space/community (that's accepting new members) and hop right in. If you're nervous about your writing not being up to snuff, RP spaces are in my opinion the way to build up your writing. We all start somewhere and RP spaces are a great place to start and often full of beginners. You will pick it up and improve very quickly, have no fear. The general rules to be aware of in any RP space is basically just be nice and don't powerplay (which means don't do stuff like start controlling other people's characters, or deciding things for other people's characters without their permission, don't make everything in the RP about only your character, etc etc. Generally just treat everybody else and their characters with general courtesy). Also if everybody else in a space is doing only script or only paragraph format rp, try to match that. And try to make sure your writing is legible as a general courtesy cause otherwise people will have a hard time joining you in RP even if they want to - so avoid letter replacement/typing quirks (unless it's specific to the RP - see: Homestuck, though even with HS rp there is sometimes a site toggle to turn typing quirks off or similar) and do a quick scan to make sure your posts aren't super full of typos or etc.

more advice below the cut cause whoops this got long:

The finding the space is really the hardest part - RP-designated spaces are becoming more difficult to find since forum boards have started disappearing (though they have also started making a resurgence!). My old forum stomping grounds have since become an adoptables pet game site - though I do know a lot of online pet game sites have very active forum communities that usually had plenty of rp. I know for a fact Flight Rising has an active RP community. Rarely you can also find some other forms of RP-designated sites, like MSPARP used to be the big one for Homestuck and had some pan-fandom offshoots, but I don't know exactly what the status is for that stuff over there. I believe MSPARP doesn't exist anymore and I don't know anything about the rest of all that.

I used to also play some RP-dedicated multiplayer games and those can be a great option, depending on the game and your personal tastes. The main one I used to play a.) i would not recommend to people lol and b.) i'm pretty sure is very dead anyways so I don't have any exact recommendations there. I hear Roblox is a good place to find RP servers in a similar vein to that type of stuff but I never got into Roblox so I cannot confirm/deny that. You can sometimes find public Minecraft servers that have rp spaces but those are harder to find nowadays. There's a ton of discord RP communities you can join though. It's a bit more difficult to search around and get a feel for them just with how discord is but there's definitely plenty of 'em.

And I am not very in the tumblr RP community spheres (or other social media rp spheres - though i have dabbled) but to my understanding with those you either find an active group and ask if they're open to new members/if you can join, or you just jump right in to making your own blog/account/etc for it. Make some prompts/rp starters for people to potentially hop in and join you with or otherwise just kind of find you and rope you into their rp group or whatever. And of course you can always start a group with your friends.

The major things with RP is just kind of figuring what type of RP you want to be doing cause that informs everything else. Do you want to do script rp (usually formatted along the lines of [CHARACTER]: *runs around*) or paragraph/prose rp (the "[Character] ran around in circles before coming to a halt before the door." type format)? Do you want to do more of a video-game type rp where you have an avatar? Do you want to do something more like a TTRPG/D&D? Do you wanna do just straight up LARP (i can't really help you with that one much that one. you'd just have to search for local LARP groups - sometimes you can find them at your local conventions)? All those things are going to point you in different directions for what you want to do. In general, if you can find RP forums you can usually find both script and paragraph rp though paragraph rp is more common. Chatrooms and video games are more likely to lean script rp format due to chat limitations though this is not always the case. Social media rp is kind of it's whole own beast and everybody does it differently or different groups do it differently but if you want to do RP stuff primarily on your own and maybe pick up a group as you go then in-character social media can be a fun route for that. Or if you're not particularly looking for collaborative RP but want to do some interactive story stuff in a similar vein, then making an askblog might be more your style.

In general right now though, looking for RP discords is a relatively easy one or you can start your own and advertise it. Tbh if you find Warrior Cat RPers they may very likely have a designated area for non-WC rp (in the past Warriors RP sites/groups/etc ive been a part of, this has been the case in all of them). Also Warriors RP is like, everywhere. You will find it. It's like a constant of the universe or something. Actually doing a quick search i found some newer WCRPG forums and they look beautiful and yes, they do have non-Warriors rp sections. Idk much about RP communities in other fandoms but you can always count on Warriors. And as mentioned before, social media RP is an easy one.

Hopefully something in all of that helps a lil bit.

[reminiscentrainclouds]

2, 20 and 25 for the yttd asks? :D

Hiii Sal! :D Thanks for the ask!!

2 : who is your least favorite character in the game?

I love all the characters buuuuut I'm gonna have to say Miley. I don't even dislike her but out of all the other characters, I like her the least.

20 : would you sign the asunaro vow/consent form and what would be your wish?

I absolutely would simply because it is really easy to convince me to do things that seem harmless at the time. I don't know what my wish would be.. I'm trying to think of something that I'd actually mention to someone else and that would actually be plausible to make happen? If it was a year ago or more (not so much anymore because I'm comfortable with the number of friends I have now, but it might still be something along those lines), I probably would have wished for a friend, or to get better at talking to people, and then it would be like "Oh well you've had plenty of opportunities to make friends in the death game, haven't you?" or something like that.

25 : which miniepi is your favorite?

Kai's for sure. Sara's is a close second though. Oh my GOSH I love the mini episodes so much. The way they give you more context and backstory is really awesome, and not only are they emotionally heavy which I love, but they're also very silly at times to balance it out. I always think of Sara's mini episode, because my brother and I played it together, and now it's just like a running joke for us to go "HYEEEEK" like that one dialogue option, IT'S SO FUNNY. Sara I love you you're so silly. I love seeing more of Sara and Joe, their relationship is so sweet.

But actually back to Kai's mini episode... Makes me so sad every time. It made me like Kai more as a character, and I already liked him a lot so!! Also just seeing more about the ideology behind Asunaro through Gashu and the ""Mysterious Lady"" is interesting, and the fact that at one point, Gashu was still trying to create a sense of family for Kai and Sei despite the harsh expectations from Asunaro, only to have it all crumble down in the end.... It makes me so sad. Every single character in this game is imbued with some flavor of tragedy and it's absolutely devastating (in a good way).

I was really hoping someone would ask about the mini episodes because I love them so much. It's really nice to be able to get to know the characters through more wholesome or casual scenes as well, when they're not, you know, pushed to their limits in a death game.

[sadfruittheatre]

Loss and Lots of Retcons: The Current State of Affairs and Moving Forward

So, now that things have begun to calm down, I want to talk a little bit more about various retcons and what's going to change, both in terms of this blog and the timeline. This is also a to-do list for me, because I have hella ADHD and get very overwhelmed without some kind of game plan.

So, to get the big thing out of the way, several characters are no longer going to exist and will have never existed. You're going to see the things on this list and go "woah, wait a minute! aren't all these guys like, super important to a bunch of things!?" and the answer is yes, but sometimes things happen in real life that affect the plot and that is just a potential consequence of working in collaboration with other people.

So, the casualties are:

Mara

Flann

Veroa

Kuroza (Fish)

Anzu

Carma and Kone

It's a lot of characters unfortunately, but we still have plenty left.

Cayenne

Bragi

Aneas

Tomor

Eugene

Mirin

Coulie

Dulze

Deeji

Letch

Mille

Mento

The character pages will be updated accordingly.

There will also be some new characters introduced in conjunction to the plot things that have been happening in the background, but I will not be elaborating on all that yet until I iron out this other stuff. But know that I am definitely looking forward to introducing you to these guys and their lovely creators!

But Kateh, I hear you ask, how are you going to have concurrent plot things going on when you have to retcon like, everything??? Well, you see, I'm basically doing my best to keep the overall trajectories of my OCs as close to the same as possible in broad strokes, even if there are different characters involved or some things just didn't happen anymore. Some characters are honestly completely unaffected by this (like Aneas, who wins by staying in his lane and loving his wife). Other characters, namely Bragi, and to a lesser degree, Tomor, need a lot of work done to fix the damage.

As for the art and writing I've uploaded, much of it is probably going to be taken down, because I don't feel comfortable having art up of characters I no longer have the rights to use for a continuity that no longer exists. Some things can be edited in small ways, and if I can salvage it, I will; plenty of other things will stay up, though the context for them is largely going to have to be rewritten to fit the new continuity. I'm definitely bummed that so much of this entire project has to be gutted, but I'm hoping to be able to slowly rebuild things going forward. Honestly not sure if it would be easier to delete and start over, but I'll try to fix things as they are before I do all that.

I do actually have some establishing comics in the works to get us all adjusted to the new vibes, so we can at least look forward to that!

Now, let's talk plot and characters. We've talked a lot about what's lost, but here's what remains.

Now, while there are still a lot of minor details to work out, the broad strokes are as follows:

Bragi's still being sent to Conton City to atone for his stinky boy crimes. However, the big difference now is that for better immersion in the mortal culture, he's staying with a host family, the already overcrowded teacakes house with Dulze and Yamcha. Deeji is his new best friend. #DeejiSupremacy

He's still going to slowly get his shit together until he's forced to confront Aneas and they reconcile. Details are still hella fuzzy as to how that goes down but Aneas and Coulie (and Eugene) remain largely unchanged. Still happily married. #FlowerBudsSupremacy

A lot of the stuff with Mento probably still happened, though the context of Mirin's existence and what led up to Mento's death is gonna have to change wildly to accommodate it. Bragi's existential crisis will definitely have to be adjusted.

The Anzu shit? Didn't happen. Bragi likely remains unstabbed, unless we find another context to stab him in. With that in mind, he's probably going to revert back to his pre-vest design because like, the whole reason for that is because he got stabbed. At least his godtube channel remains alive and shitty. Coulie can still systematically dislike all of his videos.

At the most recent point in the timeline, Bragi's at least a little more willing to open up to people he trusts because Kuroza/Fish isn't there anymore to fuck it up for him by being weird about his trauma. He's still got some trust and vulnerability issues tho.

Tomor needs an overhaul at least in terms of his own trajectory. Part of this is due to the plot things I'm sitting on, part of it is because he lost his comedic foil in the form of Fish. He will definitely continue to cause problems on purpose tho, probably with New!Mento.

The Mento with Mirin goop in her brain is still very much a thing btw. She's so silly and I love her. #MentoSupremacy

Some of this stuff is still subject to change, and whatever does change likely won't be as detailed as it used to be, but we're doing what we can. It's a hot mess right now and it's gonna take a lot of time to fix it, so uh, thanks for bearing with me 👍

[gurokichi]

Hi bon!

Sorry for not answer you yesterday, I was feeling... Bad, so, I decided to wait until I feel better to answer you.

I know sleeping is important, but I hate sleeping!, it's just that sleep make me more weak and tired, and I don't like that!, it's so frustrating for me.

Leaving that aside, I also really like the second game, but I prefer the first danganronpa more, because it's the one I'm most fond of!

And bon, i'm sorry that I wasn't there when you feel bad, I know it's not my fault, and even I have reasons for not send an ask that day, but, I can't help but feel bad, sorry Bon.

The only "good" thing that happened to me yesterday was that there were no classes, because we are finally going to have air conditioning (i write it right?), and yesterday they were putting glass in the broken windows of my classroom (because like any public school in Latam, at least one thing in the classroom has to be broken or destroyed), So today we won't have to suffer the damn heat anymore.

And btw,this has nothing to do with what I was talking about before, but do you like anime? And if so, which one is your favorite? Or at least what is one of your favorites? My favorite anime is Kimetsu no yaiba/Demon slayer! :D.

I don't know what to say anymore so for now, that's all! Xd

- Unnamed anon

Hello!! Sorry for my response taking a lil bit... I typed out a bunch, and Tumblr decided to delete it. Don't apologize, it's totally okay. You should prioritize yourself when you're feeling bad! I don't mind waiting for you. Make sure to take care of yourself <3

Awh, I'm sorry to hear that. You'd be more tired later if you didn't sleep, though! It's important to get plenty of rest.

I love both of them so much, it's honestly hard to choose between them. I recently replayed the first, and I like it a lot more now... but the second one has been my favorite for years. I can see why you'd be the most fond of the first! I definitely like the cast of that one a lot. Well, at least the window got repaired, and you have air conditioning now, yippee!! I hate summer… always too hot. Air conditioning is one of the best creations, honestly.

I do like anime! My favorites would probably have to be My Hero Academia and Seraph of the End. I’ve watched a bit of Demon Slayer, but I don’t really remember it as it was years ago. I’ve been meaning to re-watch it and catch up on what I’ve missed, actually. I’ve heard a lot of good things about it recently! Who’re your favorite characters from it?

Ehehe, alrighty! Come back soon, okay? ^^

[isa-ghost]

honestly I think you are so awesome and deserve all good things in life and I appreciate your role in the community sm, like I think I'd stick around even if you posted about things I know nothing about because just seeing you on the dash makes me go "omg its isa!" (even when its discourse lmao)

What The Fuck this is so sweet!! ;^; 💚💚

Worry not, I'm not leaving QSMP yet. Even if it hurts. If Phil's done, I'll likely migrate to Fit for it. Provided he streams when Phil doesn't. 😅

And I'll be damned if this stops me from completing AMFMN. Apollo has hinted during a brief reading with him that he'll kick my ass. We NEED more Phil centric fics, it's half the reason I said fuck it we ball and started AMFMN to begin with. That goblin of a deity is INVESTED in the story. I think I'd get sunburn for eternity if I left it incomplete.

And I have a perhaps therapeutic idea to write Phil coming home to the Hardcore World via Rose after departing with the kids. I think I'm gonna go for it, even if it hurts to write and I cry during doing so. :p

I'm not sure what'll become of that QSMP AU I was cooking on but I don't think I'll discontinue that before it even begins either. Additionally, I've played with the idea of just. Continuing some kind of AU storyline post-AMFMN. Like writing stuff (headcanons or short story(s)) after the events of the fic. We'll see.

I've been miserable at worst and palpably sad at best the last 2 days, and we'll see what happens during and after Phil's stream today, but.. at least for now at this good hour of 10am, I'm feeling,, better-ish. Cautiously optimistic. I don't want to leave (and I especially don't want to lose the amazing mutuals and friends I've made 😭). I'm not going anywhere.

But if you're curious, here's some other interests you'll see here besides QSMP:

I'm a Phil main first and foremost. Even if he's done on QSMP, I watch every minute of EVERY stream. Hardcore my fucking beloved. I won't hesitate to start cooking up more hardcore Phil headcanons or a fic or AU.

After Phil, I watch Sneeg second most. I also watch Hermits/Lifers & friends, Ranboo (yes hello I love Genloss), Tubbo & a bunch of others. Like I said, Death Family's end on QSMP isn't my end in QSMP, nor MCYT. :)

I barely post abt it anymore bc it's more bitter than sweet for me, but DSMP will always hold a place in my heart. I'm always down to talk about it if asked.

D&D/Critical Role/Candela Obscura (I've been dual-wielding hyperfixations on Phil & CR this whole time, you'd be getting Phil & CR primarily if I fell out of QSMP for some reason)

Related, I plan on getting into Dimension 20 sometime and I also want to watch LA/NY By Night. TTRPG enjoyers that follow me will be getting FED.

I FUCKING LOVE DRAWFEE!!!

Anime!! Bungo Stray Dogs, JJK, Soul Eater, Apothecary Diaries, Frieren, and a bunch of others are my faves/current faves :)

I'm actually primarily an OC and roleplay person, it's my biggest special interest and I've been doing it for 12+ years. It's why I love mcrp so much. I'd probably post this stuff on @isas-oc-asylum and then reblog here if anyone was interested, idk. But I have an entire original world + country full of lore and characters I could talk about for eternity

I FUCKING LOVE HORROR PODCASTS. Magnus Archives & Protocol, Welcome to Night Vale, Old Gods of Appalachia!!

Veteran followers of me know I was originally a Jacksepticeye & Markiplier ego theorist blog before 2020! I have so many AUs of them and I love them still even though new content with them is slow. (I like Sanders Sides a decent amount too!)

I love talking about witchcraft!! I'm always down to infodump, answer questions, or gush about my goofy ass deity circle!! <3

Controversial (/s) but I love the Hazbin & Helluva series. I also love other indie series like Murder Drones, TADC and Lackadaisy!

I'm also slowly watching The Dragon Prince with friends!!

I've reblogged stuff plenty of times but I fucking love The Owl House & Gravity Falls

When will Arcane return from the war,,,, 😔 (soon)

I won't hesitate to plunge into the Monster Prom series deeper. Milo Belladonna and Damien LaVey my lomls I will get monsterfuckery on main I s2g

Basically... I'm a fuckin charcuterie board of interests!! Realistically, I'll still mainly be Phil/Sneeg/CR. But I'm always down to be abnormal about all that 👆🏻 and more.

If any of that interests anyone reading this, feel free to stick around. Or keep beating me with QSMP & Phil stuff in my asks. I'll still always be down to write headcanons and talk about fic stuff. I love qPhil too much to shut up forever.

And if it doesn't? Congrats, I'm also a massive shitposter. I have like 3 different tags for it. Feast your eyes upon how funny I am. It's like the one thing I'm confident in about myself, I'm fucking hilarious.

Honest Opinion Anon Asks

[shadowmaat]

dis-Unity

I've been watching the Unity disaster unfold in morbid fascination. It's been a troubling trend lately to see CEOs who are so entirely focused on the chance at short-term profits that they ignore the bigger picture, all the warnings from their staffers, and, frankly, reality itself.

Say what you will about the head-up-the-ass stupidity of tumblr's latest desperate attempts to generate money (I've had plenty to say, myself), but at least Muskenweg's decision-making isn't as catastrophically company-ending as Riccitiello's latest effort.

The rushed announcement- and predictable immediate backpedaling- is reminiscent of what we saw with Wizards of the Coast. There is no thinking in these decisions and it's incredibly frustrating to watch from afar.

Anyone with two brain cells to rub together could have pointed out the flaws in the plans for D&D, Unity, Twitter, and Tumblr, and anyone with knowledge of those companies/industries could provide detailed lists of "why this is a terrible choice that should never be implemented."

Unfortunately CEOs don't use brain cells, they use money; rubbing two coins together produces the sound of MORE MONEY and that's all they care about. They exist in a bubble outside of reality and make their decisions within it. And when that bubble gets pushed into the real world and immediately pops, well, who could possibly have predicted that would happen??

I've seen corporate-types suggest that despite the flaws with roll-out, Unity still stands to make a profit from this. I'm... skeptical but curious. Riccitiello has destroyed the company's credibility. Good will has been voided out. No one trusts them anymore. Some devs are locked into using the engine on their upcoming games because they're too far into the process to back out. Other devs are saying "fuck it" and planning to rebuild on other engines. I've seen a few imply that they'll flat-out remove their existing games before the deadline so they don't rack up fees.

From the angles I've been able to find, Unity has nuked itself. Whether or not they manage to scrape together some short-term profits, in the long run it could kill the company. Which is probably fine for the top brass since they'll cut massive checks for themselves, but anyone below the Elite Class is going to be royally fucked.

I've heard that employees are already abandoning ship, and TBH I think they're just saving Unity the trouble of firing them. I see mass layoffs in the near future as Unity tries to make a profit. After all, why have pesky humans around when you can whip up some algorithms to do everything for you? I'm pretty sure that's their grand plan for how they plan to choose who gets charged what, anyway. This'll just streamline things more and cut out the pesky naysayers warning of disaster.

Quite a few of the games I play run on Unity and I have full sympathy for the smaller devs who are going to be affected (and possibly destroyed) by this. Whatever the end result will be, it's a guarantee that everyone except the top brass is going to suffer.

[flbrokensoldier]

Hi, I don't know if it's possible, but how about a scenario with the Overwatch characters with an s/o, which has no face (not in the gore sense) but is literally just a black space where you can only You can see your eyes and that you usually wear a mask so as not to scare people, how would you act? (If you need more reference images let me know) the genre can be of the s/o can be at your choice.

Have a nice day/afternoon/night :D

Woah, this is definitely unique! I love the creativity but writing this kicked me in the ass so it took a while to post 😭

I love this idea though, it's very unique and out of the box!

Cole Cassidy

As a friend, he would not mind at all.

I'm fact, he'd think it's cool!

Anyone who picks on you, gets a nice introduction to Peacemaker.

He doesn't stand for anyone picking on you other than him.

Even then, if it bothers you, he doesn't continue it. He'll stop ASAP.

He loves drawing on masks you don't use anymore and accidentally makes some nice art, which you can either hang on your wall or wear it.

He loves poking the mask, as if it'll do something interesting.

He's all about physical touch, even if he is in this circumstance.

Beware of boops.

They will happen.

Can't avoid them anymore.

Mwahahaha!

NOW AS A BOYFRIEND.. He would probably be a bit upset, seeing as there's no face to kiss and this man is VERY VERY physically affectionate.

Again, he loves physical touch.

He still loves you for who you are though.

He will spoil you with kissed on the mask though, even if he gets none in return.

Be prepared for more snuggles than anyone else gets.

He loves you for who you are, remember that.

OH AND HE'S NOT AFRAID TO SHOW YOU OFF AS HIS S/O.

And he's not afraid of you, never was <3

Hanzo

Let's be honest, he'd probably be shocked and confused at first but wouldn't mind.

If anyone tried to bully you for it, they'd get an arrow at their feet.

"Next time I won't miss." Is usually what they hear after they see who shot the arrow.

He loves to decorate the masks though.

He may not say it but he's really good with art.

He paints most of your masks when they need a new paint job.

It makes him feel important so let him do that for you.

He also likes to watch over you, he realizes you are special and he feels the urge to protect.

Let him do that too, he'll feel great if you let him. <3

As an S/O he wouldn't mind at all, he'd kiss the mask regardless.

He'd do it in public too just to confuse people and get a rise out of them.

It amuses him and gives him a reason to beat them up.

Like Cassidy, he isn't scared and never was.

He treats you as if you were another person in a crowd of people.

Yet he loves you like no other.

Genji

As a friend, he was fascinated.

He could stare for hours, not to be rude though.

As being a cyborg himself, he thinks it's cool he finally has someone he can relate to. (In a sense)

He absolutely is protective of you.

He makes sure you're by his side during battles or that you're within his sight at the very least.

He would try to find an extra mask of his to give to you if you're in a tight situation and your other mask broke. (Can't tell me he don't carry spares with the amount of headshots people do)

He would have your back in that situation 100%

He would probably be the type to try and touch the nothingness, just to see if it has any feeling to it.

If you get annoyed he'll gladly stop.

Get use to cuddles. He will cuddle too, seeing as you guys can't kiss, he will cuddle.

Now as a friend he'd have your back.

Give you plenty of affirmations because he has them for himself and figures he'd share. (Which is so cute <3)

And he'd still be just as protective.

Mercy

Now Mercy, even if there is no cure, she'd help with whatever she can.

She'd probably try to see if there's a cure, not out of spite or being mean, just out of the fact that she's a doctor, she's curious and truth be told her approach about it all is super sweet.

She likes to kiss your hand as a sign of respect and love.

She will hug you a lot.

She loves watching over you in battle, your own guardian angel.

SHE WILL FLY OFF WITH YOU IF NEED BE.

If you're out in public and your mask falls for some reason or broke, she will cover for you.

Overall she's a deeply caring lady and she would literally die for you.

She also shows that she loves you by writing little letters for you before she leaves for work, or she leaves little craft things she made which are always cute and always say something super sweet.

Your room is filled with her craft pieces.

For dates, if you're comfortable you can go out in public, or stay at home watching movies or shows. Either way she's down for whatever.

She spoils you when she can, either with food, little gifts, or something you mentioned you wanted. she will remember that and she will give you whatever you wanted at that time. <3

Again, I hope you like it! I'm so sorry this took so long, also this is my first time writing for Genji, Hanzo, and Mercy! (Also Kiriko isn't in this because I couldn't think much after this.)

If this also came off offensive or aggressive apologies! 😭

Anyways ty for the request!

[dangerous-fellowz]

zombie infested romantic walk with lawrence

mainly fluff and comedy tbh, however tw for mentions of death in a joke.

it was a casual monday evening, and you wanted to stretch your legs for a bit. so you ask lawrence if he wants to go on a stroll, march, prowl, promenade, hot girl walk, whatever he wishes to call it, you just want out of the house.

"promenade? are you bored enough to start reading the dictionary?" he asks, turning to you in his spinny desk chair.

you correct him and say you've been reading the thesaurus. which he rolls his eyes at in an amused fashion.

"ok, ok, sure. i'm almost finished writing the meal plan for this week anyways."

he gets up and pushes the chair in, before putting on the jacket you hate so much with its horrible orange color. you just slide on your shoes and reach your hand out for him to take.

he grabs both it and the safety kit as you both head out the door. you both bask in the setting sun like vitamin d deprived dogs. it was comfortable out, a nice breeze ruffling your lovers hair.

it feels so nice to just be you and him, the zombies don't count as people. they are simply background noise to the day. this has become your normal. dare you even say you are no longer surviving, but instead, thriving. life has never been better for you both, even if you do still mourn the ones you've lost (which you are alone in.)

lawrence points to an old drug store, that looks free of zombies. "do you want to do some shopping?"

"oh but, i don't know if i can afford it right now. everything is so expensive anymore!" you say jokingly, which goes right over his head.

he tilts his head like a puppy, smiling gently with his eyebrows knit together. "but... its free. we liv-"

"i'm going to steal it all." you threaten.

well now he looks concerned. "i mean really its foraging because we don't really have anyone to pay, let alone an economy to-"

"lawrence i'm so excited to steal all the lipgloss. all. the. gloss." you continue, which makes him catch onto the joke.

"well, the only thing you stole so far was, my heart." lawrence said, with an goofy grin. he wasn't good at this, but it made you love him more.

you both walked inside, picking up items and pretending as if times were normal. trying on those cheap sun glasses, lawrence picking you out a really sweet card, picking out nail polish for each other, lawrence putting an annoying toy on the top shelf so you can't reach it. you know. zombie date things.

you two reach the lip product area, and you pick up an shade of bright pink lip gloss. you turn to lawrence and say, "you know. scharlette did look drop dead gorgeous in this color."

which makes lawrence laugh so hard he has to sit down. yandere humor is typically a big hit or miss with him. this time it was an home run though.

when he collects himself he picks up an pastel pink tinted lip stick. "when i was young, i'd play with my mothers make up. i don't know why, i guess i wanted to be pretty." he says with an shrug.

you are pocketing different shiny glosses and just say, "yeah no, i can see that for you." and simply nothing more, which gives him an mini crisis before he notices hello kitty bandaids near by.

he stocks them in the safety kit, which now held: a knife, rubbing alcohol, some snacks, a note lawrence left you about how to clean a wound that was oddly lovey dovey, a lighter, plenty of water, and now cute bandaids. "lets head home before it gets too dark." he suggests, packing it up carefully.

you poke his cheek and smirk, "oh, is it grandpa hours? time to sleep the second the sun sets?" you ask, before he kisses your cheek.

"is it so bad to want to cuddle up next to my partner?" lawrence asked with a playful huff.

you blankly look at him. "you're just tired of holding the bag, huh?"

he looks away. "...no." so yes. you grab it as you two walk home.

the zombies are just background music to you two wandering back home. life may not be normal, but you both found a love that doesn't require a normal life. it's perfect just the way it is.