#I've often tweaked my back

[ndcgalitzine]

my lower back is killing me AND I I must confess... THIS IS THE WORST PAIN I'VE EVER FELT EVEN WORSE THAN CHILDBIRTH WTF SOMEBODY SEDATE ME

[antisocialxconstruct]

outfit I bought myself for my birthday :v

[almadelsur]

💋 The Secrets One Keeps

summary: You're in love with jj but he's with kie, so in moments of pure desperation you often find yourself turning to the person he hates the most...rafe

warnings: some good old angsty pining, very very slight smut if you squint, fem!reader, one or two uses of y/n, plz let me know if I missed anything

a/n: SHE'S BACKKKK, so I've decided to completely reformat and re-post this fic with a few tweaks and editing considering i first wrote this like 3 years ago, and yes for those of you who have been asking, I fully intend to finallly continue this fic....more info on that later ;)

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・

JJ’s eyes change the moment Kiara steps into any room. Immediately his presence is ripped away from your immediate atmosphere, popping the little bubble you'd spent all afternoon crafting as he sprung up to greet the olive-skinned enigma that captured his affections.

“Kie!” The joy in his tone was incomparable to anything he’d directed at anybody else. Nothing could draw out such happiness from the blonde. You hated that about her.

In an attempt at self-defense, your brain shut itself off. Shielding you from processing the scene in front of you, your emotions ran cold like cement pouring down and across your neurons. It was the only way you could survive such a beating to your heart.

You figured that by distancing yourself mentally, you wouldn’t have to raise suspicion and distance yourself physically. In reality, you knew the real reasoning was your inability to stay away from JJ but the facade helped you cope.

“Hey J” she embraced him and his body relaxed around her as if she was the only source of his happiness. The only way he’d find alleviation from what he perceived as a shitty life being through her. “Sorry I’m late my parents had me running like crazy at the wreck today.”

Scattered greetings filled the air from the rest of the pogues, yet you could only focus on the way his eyes fixated on her like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“Here come sit baby” he offered her the seat he had just previously been place holding. What you thought had been quality time with your best friend, presented itself to you now as momentary attention to pass the time until his actual desire arrived.

Settling herself down and offering you a wide smile, her shoulder bumped against yours gently as a sign of acknowledgment.

“Hey dude” she directed at you, but you didn’t reply. You just couldn’t bring yourself to pretend. Not today anyway. Instead, you offered her a small smile, it was minimal but it was the best you could do under the circumstances.

“Yo" A crumpled tissue paper flew at your head, jj attempting to refocus your attention on him, "didn’t you say you were gonna get some water or something?” He spoke up, the scheme evident in his tone.

“um yeah I guess” You lifted yourself up and took a few steps before jj used the opportunity to slump himself down where you had been sat and sprawled his arms across his girlfriend’s shoulders.

“snooze ya loose sucker” he joked as he turned to Kiara to start up some mindless conversation. Leaving you behind in the dust.

Your teeth gritted as you focused on making your way to the kitchen hoping the distance from the scene unfolding would lift the iron grip on your heart.

You made the fatal mistake of glancing back and you were met with the image of jj nuzzling up to kiara in a picturesque display of love. The lump building at the base of your throat indicated that it was your time to get the hell out of there before you broke down in front of everyone. 

“Shit guys, y’know what I just realized I gotta go” You spoke quickly, your tone matching your pace as you rushed to the exit of the chateau. 

“You’re still coming to the party later though right?” John B asked, not tearing his eyes away from the screen in front of him. 

“Mhm yeah sure” you opened the door ready to depart. 

“Shit I forgot about that! Me and jj are gonna be late, we got dinner at the wreck tonight.” kiara added as you stepped out, unable to control the escape of a rogue tear.

“Date night babyyyy” You heard JJ cheer before you slammed the door behind you. 

“Is Y/N okay? She seemed a bit off.” Kie nudged JJ as she questioned. 

JJ furrowed his eyebrows momentarily. Glancing out the window, he saw you jog away from the house, and a brief flash of worry flashed through his mind. As quick as it came, it dissipated. He shook his head figuring that if there had been something wrong, he’d have been the first to know. 

“Nah she’s okay don't worry.” he offered to kie.

Boy was he mistaken. 

——————————————————————

“Fuuuck me” you moaned out, sinking into him one last time. You were hot, sweaty, and heaving as you pulled him out of you.

“I thought I just did” Rafe taunted leaning back to lie down, arms crossed behind his head causing his taut abdomen to flex.

You scrambled off the bed, picking up your garments and shoving them back on your body forcefully.

“What, no pillow talk?” He tried again.

“Rafe..” you trailed off. Whenever you’d finish fucking, you’d struggle to even look at him. The self-hatred flooded your body as soon as the orgasm poured out.

“Hey you called me” he eyed you intently but you knew he didn’t actually care. To rafe cameron everything was just a game. At this point it was pretty much common knowledge. “In fact” he moved closer to you so that he could speak directly into your ear “It’s always you that calls me.”

“Don’t be a dick” you stood up and eyed your heels contemplating whether you could face the walk back in them. “You know it makes me feel like shit.” It might have sounded brutal but that’s how things were with rafe.

“Yeah, it’s like you punctuate your orgasms with self-hate.”

“I'm a pogue, rafe.” You argued back as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“So? Kooks and pogues can fuck you know.” You couldn’t comprehend why you were even having this conversation. Why now, why tonight.

“Yeah maybe, not you though.” You didn’t want to tell him the reason explicitly.

“I fuck pogues.”

“You fuck anyone.” The words came out almost instantly and without thinking, yet rafe took no offense.

“Exactly so what’s the issue?”

“The issue is, rafe.” You paused trying to find the words without actually having to say the words. “The issue is that if my friends found out they’d hate me, probably more than I already hate myself.”

He just chuckled, the look in his eyes changing as he figured you out.

“What's funny?” You challenged.

“You don’t have to bullshit me princess.” He looked up at you with a devilish glint in his eye. “You just don’t want jj knowing about your little escapades huh?” Bingo.

“He’s with Kiara.” You shrugged him off.

“Uh huh, you like him but you can’t have him.” Every word he spoke striking a nerve deep within you. “So you’re fucking me to fuck him over.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” You grabbed your heels and shoved them on, wincing as you buckled them up.

“Don’t I?” He threw his joggers on lazily as he stood, the level dynamics changing significantly. The older boy towered over you. “Where are they tonight?”

“Back at John B’s, we had a little get-together.” You crossed your arms. More often than not you usually called rafe after a few drinks left you feeling lonely. “Sorry, your invite must have gotten lost in the mail.” You attempted to jab at him with sarcasm yet he clearly held the upper hand with his line of questioning. 

“So all of them are there now?” He stepped towards you.

“Mhm,” You lied.

“Even jj?” Moving closer until your neck was craned upwards to meet his eyes.

Taking your silence as an answer, he reached up and ran his palms across your upper arms, prompting you to uncross them.

“He was uh- him and kie should be getting there soon” You mumbled.

“So would i be wrong in guessing, that might have prompted your call then?” You let yourself be guided by his movements leaning your neck further back as his hand trailed up to your jawbone.

“rafe…” you called out insignificantly.

He leaned in and pressed his lips against your neck, right over where he could feel your pulse, and pressed down.

You couldn’t help the gasp that left your mouth. Because as much as your heart belonged to jj, rafe was just so fucking good at raising your temperature.

“Round two?” He mumbled against your neck.

“Yeah..” you attempted yet it came out as a whisper. He grabbed you swiftly and lifted you, moving you across the room and throwing you down onto his bed, crawling on top of you in a predatory manner as he did so. As your back hit the bed, the ringing of your phone brought you back from the haze he had you under. 

“Wait rafe stop stop” you pushed him off and grabbed the screeching mobile, pressing it up to your ear. “Hello?”

“Dude, where are you?” The sound of jj’s voice came through over the pumping sound of music and party chatter. “Me and Kie just got back and John B says no one’s seen you for like over an hour.”

“Oh I’m uh, I had to go do something for my mom” The lie pouring out of your mouth caused rafe to chuckle which was of course met by a slap from you signaling for him to be quiet.

“Oh well, when are you getting back? I have to tell you about this date. You’re gonna be so proud of me I actually think I’m ready to tell Kie I love her” you screwed your eyes shut as he spoke.

“Yeah I- you know what I can’t make it back my mom needs me to stay and help out but uh I’ll see you tomorrow or something.” You hung up before he could even reply, throwing your phone down uncaring of its state.

“What’s wrong? They getting hitched?” Rafe spoke up from behind you.

You turned to Rafe, the fire in your veins pushing your arms to grab him, roughly pulling him back onto you.

“Just shut up and fuck me rafe.”

And fuck you he did.

——————————————————————

The next morning you woke up to the sight of rafe’s bare back. Not much of a cuddler, you figured.

Quietly you pushed the covers off and began to dress yourself back up. As you got to your shoes you sighed and shook your head, as if there was any way in hell you were going to walk home in heels. You scooped up your shoes and your now-cracked phone shaking your head, slightly ashamed at your outburst.

Without even a second glance at the sleeping body you were leaving behind, you made your way over to the door. As you turned the knob and stepped out to leave, a husky voice spoke up.

“I’ll keep my ringer on for you babe.”

You rolled your eyes looking back at him, “Fuck you rafe.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m counting on.” He didn’t even open his eyes as he answered, instead just rustling around in the bed and turning to the other side, once again facing his back to you.

You scoffed as you exited. Your internal rant clouded your vision, body on autopilot with an excellent self-navigation of the Cameron house from the countless times you’d made this exit.

“Y/N?” The gentle voice wiped your thoughts clean as the shock stilled you dead in your tracks, slowly turning to come face to face with none other than Sarah.

“Sarah” you drawled out. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s my house?” Her head was cocked to the side, equally shocked to see you.

“No I just mean- I thought you were spending the night at John B’s.” You forced the small talk, avoiding the topic of why you were here, sneaking out at 8 in the morning.

“He had to work today, did you spend the night here?” She glanced up at the door of rafe’s bedroom.

“Umm-“ There had only been two other instances where you had been at a complete loss for words. The day jj told you he and Kiara were dating, the morning after your first sexual encounter with rafe, and now this.

“Are you sleeping with my brother?!” She whisper-shouted, eyes wide as the realization hit her. Busted.

“No?”

“Oh my god!” She grabbed you by the wrist and dragged you to her room, slamming the door as soon as you were both inside. “How long has this been going on?!” Her tone was loud and her hands wild as she interrogated you.

“Just a little under a year.” You sat on her bed and looked at your lap as you spoke. Reminiscent of a child being scolded.

“A year?! Oh my god!” She repeated. “Who knows about this?!”

With that, you looked up at her desperately. “No one. No one knows so please don’t tell them.” You didn’t have to name names for her to know who you were referring to.

“Are you two like” she paused “together?” She scrunched her nose up, disgusted at the thought of her bully of an older brother dating anyone.

“No god no. It’s just sex” you were just as uncomfortable as Sarah was, having to tell her about boning her older brother.

“Disgusting.” She turned away from you with her arms crossed, looking out the window.

“Look I’m not proud of it okay? Just-“ You sighed “Just please don’t tell anyone” pleading again.

Sarah let out a long sigh and uncrossed her arms. She walked over to you and joined you on the bed, her eyes showing concern mixed with something you couldn’t quite place your finger on.

“I thought you were into jj” she spoke softly, there it was. Pity.

“Yeah well, jj is with kie and instead of sitting around wallowing in self-pity, I decided to do something about it.” As the words left your mouth, you realized how weak the explanation was.

“So you just use rafe to bang the jj out of you.”

“It’s not like Rafe cares, if anything he’s also using me.” You tried to reason.

“I don’t doubt that. But I mean, that’s- It’s not healthy, you’ll never move on if you don’t actually process your emotio-“

“Look Sarah, I don’t need to do any of that shit okay? What I have here works, when I fu- when I’m with rafe, I don’t think about jj.” Tears began to swell in your eyes “Sleeping with rafe helps me forget about everything, even if it’s only for a little while he uh- he makes me feel good.” To an extent, there was truth behind your words, while you and rafe fucked the rest of the world went away. It was only after, that the crippling self-hatred hit you along with the return of your immense feelings for jj. 

Sarah shuffled over and threw her arm around you. “That’s not good for you, it’s just momentary. It’s easy and it's a cycle, you’re never going to get better going down this path. Especially not with rafe.”

“Rafe he’s- he’s not that bad.”

“Yes he is. But i bet it gives you satisfaction fucking him knowing jj hates him. Feels like revenge right?” She’d always been so perceptive your Sarah, you hated how she could see right through you.

Tears ran down your cheek silently. “You’re not gonna tell anyone right?” You sniffled.

She gave you one of those classic salt-of-the-earth Sarah Cameron smiles, the kinda smile that would light up any room she walked into. “Takin' it to the grave babe.”

A loud beeping caused both your heads to whip towards the window. “Shit, I completely forgot I was supposed to go on the HMS with pope and jj, we were gonna chill there until John B and Kie finished work.” She rose to her feet and extended an arm towards you. “Wanna come? Or we could drop you home if you’re not up for it.”

With a sigh you took her hand and pulled yourself up, walking beside her as you mentally prepped yourself to face the blonde you desperately pined for.

“Well rise and shine campers.” jj yelled out of the window of the drivers seat.

“Y/N! Where you been dude? you totally bailed last night.” Pope was next to speak as you and Sarah filed into the Twinkie. As JJ began to drive you avoided any form of eye contact in his general direction.

“I had to go help my mom out, blackout at mine again.” You didn’t even look at pope either, instead focusing your attention on the blur of trees and houses pacing by the window as JJ sped down the winding roads.

“Isn’t that what you were wearing last night?” pope, observant as always, pointed out.

“Uh yeah, I didn’t really get any time to change cause…”

“I called her last night when I got home, I was so drunk I don’t think I was ready to stop the party.” Sarah covered for you.

“Yeah I wrapped up helping my mom out and then this one calls me talkin bout a sleepover or something so I didn’t exactly have much time to change.” 

Thankfully pope had lost interest as soon as he had asked the question, otherwise, your overcompensating ass would have been caught out straight away. You always had to add to the lie until you felt like you had sold it completely.

Keeping your eyes trained on the outside meant that jj’s frown directed at you through the windscreen mirror went completely undetected. He always knew whenever there was something up with you and right there and then he knew something definitely was.

“Hey, you okay?” He didn’t need to address you explicitly for you to know he was talking to you.

“Yeah just tired.” You shrugged him off in an attempt to distance yourself from him yet again.

He knew you were lying but he didn’t understand why, you never lied to each other. Apart from John B, the pair of you were closer to each other than with anybody else in the group. You’d been best friends since kindergarten, and since then you’d sworn 3 things to each other.

1- You’d always share your snacks.

2-You’d always be best friends even if you argued.

 3- You would never ever lie or keep secrets from each other.

Of course, as the both of you grew older the rules became more and more lax. The snack sharing was limited only to when you felt nice enough and sometimes you’d go for days without making up if you had argued particularly badly. Having kept two friendship-breaking secrets from him, the childhood rules seemed pretty insignificant by now.

“Mhm,” he responded, flickering his eyes between you and the road. “Are we taking you home to change first?”

“Yeah, I don’t know if I’ll join you guys afterward though.” You chewed down on your nail anxiously as the tension from being in the same space as jj paired with the guilt from having fucked rafe prior, suffocated you.

JJ made a face as he focused on the road, something was wrong with you and he’d be dammed if he wasn’t going to put his everything into finding out what that was.

[gguk-n]

Jokes In The Cloud (Carlos Sainz x Comedian!Reader)

No Face Claim. All the pictures are from Pinterest.

CONGRATULATIONS TO CARLOS ON WINNING HIS SECOND GP THIS SEASON!!

punchlineprincess

Liked by y/bff/user and 2,389 others

punchlineprincess Vacationing with the people who get on my nerve the most

y/bff/user you forgot to take me😔😔 punchlineprincess y/bff/user sorry bbg, next trip with you alone😘😘 y/cousin/user you annoy us more🙂 y/mum/user not a nice thing to say Y/N punchlineprincess y/mum/user I was joking😅😅 user1 if someone saw her IG they would think she's a model😍😍 user2 God I've seen what you've done for others, when is it my turn🥲🥲 user3 pretty and funny. I want her!!❤️❤️

{Reader's POV}

The gears in my head my turning, I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I still had to refine my script; I was sure I could do it if I have a few hours. "Sweetheart, dinner's ready" my dad called out from the bedroom door. "Dad, I have to leave" I stated. "To where?" my dad asked, walking in. "You know that Netflix special I was gonna film" I began, he nodded along, "well, they want to film it on Monday" I finished. "That's in a day" he stated. "2, since it's in New York" I explained. "Cassidy will send me my tickets, but I think I'll be leaving now" I spoke. "Sorry about ditching the family trip. I know how important it was for you" I mumbled. "It's okay, darling. This is bigger. This will catapult you to fame like you always wanted, I mean I'm already so proud of you but this is still bigger" he explained trying to calm me. "Me and your mum will help you pack, come on" he said and called my mum.

The two of them helped me pack my bags. He explained how my Netflix special would be filmed soon and I would be leaving soon to everyone. All my younger cousins and nieces and nephews were so excited. Cassidy sent me the tickets. I made sure to pack everything while my mum fed me, it was chaos in the best way possible. "I'll be leaving now" I hugged my parents good bye. "Can't wait to watch it" my aunt spoke patting my back. "Mention us" one of my younger cousin's spoke. "I'll try" I laughed. My niece kissed my cheek wishing me good bye. My nephew wasn't ready to let me go yet, my brother had to pull him off me.

I waved good bye as the taxi left the resort, my family waving back as I disappeared. The ride to the airport was short, I was too busy going through my material to notice when I reached the airport. I paid the taxi driver and hauled my luggage to the check-in desk. The person behind it, checked me in and I was headed to immigration. This was the first time I noticed that I was sitting first class. When did my manager have this kind of money to book first class. I'd have to bring it up with her once I had the time.

I got done with all the formality and headed to the waiting area, where I spent my time going through my script and tweaking it ever so often. I downed a RedBull to try to align myself to New York time, so that I can combat the jet lag.

As the speaker's announced the boarding for my flight, I grabbed all my stuff with the plan to finish it up on the plane. The air-host lead me to my seat. I noticed a man sat on the seat next to mine, he looked an awful lot familiar, until it hit me that it was Carlos Sainz; my heart started pounding. I walked up to my seat, put my luggage away and sat down. My hands were shaking by the time I sat down, pulling my laptop out. I started typing away with shaky hands. "Is that a script?" a voice came from beside me. I turned around to find Carlos with his head turned, trying to figure out what's written. "Yeah, I'm a comedian, this is a script for my show" I tried to speak as confidently and calmly as possible. "That's cool. I'm Carlos, Carlos Sainz" he introduced himself. "I'm Y/N, Y/N Y/L/N" I shook his hand. "I'm a Formula One driver, maybe you'e heard about me" he further elaborated. I know, I've been obsessed with you for years, my poor brother has to listen to me talk about you for hours after every race, analysing the whole race. I have a fan account called carloslover, were the thoughts running through my head. "Yeah, I must've heard about Formula One some where" I said tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "Well it's nice to meet you" Carlos said. "It's nice to meet you too" I said with a smile. "I'll let you get back to your work" Carlos said pointing at my laptop.

I spent a couple more minutes working on it before I was disturbed by Carlos, not like I was complaining; "I'm sorry but I'm kind of curious about what the script your working on is about" Carlos spoke slowly. "I'm filming a Netflix special in New York. So, I'm fine tuning my script" I chuckled. "Oh, sorry for disturbing you" Carlos replied sheepishly. Damn, he looked so cute, I caught myself fawning at him. "Ah, it's nothing." I quickly looked away, "I love when people are interested in what I do" I smiled. "Then, I will continue to annoy you a bit" he laughed. "Be my guest" I smiled back.

A few more tweaks and a good hour later, I was able to close the laptop, happy with the script I had at hand. "I'm guessing you're done" Carlos chimed in. "I am" I said stretching a little. "Maybe you could practice a bit with me" Carlos suggested. "I do want to practice my crowd work" I thought out loud.

"So, Carlos are you really a full time driver or a model? I can't really tell" I said. Carlos's face turned red, "Is this how you do crowd work?" he trailed. "I, no, can't let the opportunity to flirt with a man as handsome as you go" I smirked. Carlos's blush only deepened, "So, I'm special" he laughed. "Obviously" I shrugged. "If it's anything, I thought you were a model and not a comedian" he retorted. "I get that a lot. But doesn't work in my profession when people don't think pretty people tell good jokes" I retorted back. "I've never heard any of your jokes, but I'm sure you're funny since Netflix wants you" Carlos said. "Hope so" I said holding up my hands with crossed fingers.

I felt like the time flew by, as Carlos kept me company. Just as the flight was about to land; "Will I see you again?' Carlos asked hopefully. "You could, if I had your number" I remarked. Carlos pulled his phone out and handed it to me. I put my number in and called myself. "I'll see you soon." I winked as I saved Carlos's number. "Can't wait" Carlos replied, smiling at me as we grabbed our luggage to leave.

Cassidy was waiting for me as I exited the airport. "I'm so sorry, I should've checked my emails" she apologised grabbing my bag. "It's fine, let's go. I'm exhausted" I replied grabbing my bag back. We caught an uber back to the hotel. I rehearsed my script with Cassidy for the next few hours, trying not to memorise it so it would sound genuine.

punchlineprincess

Liked by y/bff/user and 2,378 others

punchlineprincess Done filming my first special, can't wait for it to air🥹🥹

y/bff/user I'M SO EXCITED🤭🤭 user4 I'll watch it just to see that outfit😍 user5 so pretty😍😍 y/mum/user so proud of my baby💖 y/dad/user my baby's all grown up😭❤️

punchlineprincess

Liked by y/bff/user, carlossainz55 and 3,289 others

punchlineprincess Joked my way into his life🫣🫣

y/bff/user ooohhhh who is this??👀👀 y/dad/user what is this behaviour y/n??? user6 OMG!!! I love this❤️❤️ user7 the best couple ever and idek the guy😅😅 user9 y/n being sporty wasn't in my bingo card🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ user10 the golf date!!!❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 user11 I want to go to an art museum with my lover and imitate art like that😏😏 user12 this is so Carlos coded plus he's in the likes😣😣

punchlineprincess

Liked by y/bff/user and 5,378 others

punchlineprincess I may have gone overboard for the premier at home🥲😅

y/bff/user I'M SCREAMING WHILE WATCHING IT🥹🥹 y/mum/user my baby❤️ carlossainz55 so proud of you ❤️Liked by Author user13 what does Carlos mean by that, like he knows her🙂👀 user14 the funniest shit i've watched in a while🤣🤣 user15 loved this so much!!!❤️🤣 user16 finally the real comedian that's getting the recognition she deserves😂😂

punchlineprincess

Liked by carlossainz55, y/bff/user and 1278,340 others Tagged carlossainz55

punchlineprincess Sorry I'm not normal about my boyfriend winning his second race this season😭😭

carlossainz55 I think having you there was my lucky charm🍀❤️ punchlineprincess carlossainz55 aww!! but it was your big brain and hard work❤️❤️🥹 y/bff/user aww!! watching both my babies win respectively 😭😭Liked by carlossainz55 and punchlineprincess y/dad/user good job Carlos👍 Liked by carlossainz55 user12 I should've known after those dates🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ user20 seeing her hug his mom when he won was so cute😭😭 user21 the most unlikely couple🥹🥹 user22 I get it Carlos, I get it😍😍 user23 Vamos Carlos!!👍👍 user24 I want a full timeline how everything went down😩 user25 I'm so happy I got to witness this race😭😭 user26 she was so sweet to all the fans and even took pictures with us!!😭🥹

After the race win celebrations on the podium and the team, after the interviews when I finally got him all to myself; "I'm so proud of you baby" I whispered as I pressed a kiss on his lips. "I'm so happy you got to see me win" Carlos mumbled not letting go. "I can't believe instead of watching you on TV I got to watch you in real life" I said pulling away. "I don't know why you lied to me when we met" Carlos laughed. "Well I couldn't tell you I'm @ carloslover on Instagram and Twitter and I've been in love with you since you debuted" I laughed. "I think I wouldn't have paid much attention since you're so pretty" Carlos smiled running his hands down my sides to rest on my waist. "Well I'm a Carlos lover and I am Carlos's lover. It's a win win" I smiled, "You and I both, princessa, you and I both" Carlos captured my lips in another, yet steamy kiss pulling me closer so my body was touching his, "You are all sticky and smell of champagne", I mumbled against his lips trying to pull away but Carlos pulled me closer, "No" he muttered and continued kissing me. He walked back to sit on the couch pulling me down with him, straddling his lap. He pulled me closer, our bodies touching, his hands roaming mine before they found home on my ass. We pulled away slightly breathless but Carlos than started his assault on my neck, sucking on my sweet spot near my collar bone while pushing me down on his lap. I could feel him grow under me. I pushed him away, "Nope" I said firmly. "No?" he asked cocking his head to the right with his big brown puppy eyes, "We're not doing it here. Let's get back to the hotel, maybe after you smell a little less like alcohol, I'll think about it" I said getting up. "Y/N" he whined holding my hands as I stood in front of him. "Not even for today's race winner" he pouted. "No. Baby, this is your work place. I will do anything and everything you want but out of the paddock" I said. "The car?" Carlos perked up. "Carlos, darling, we'll be on the headline tomorrow reading Carlos Sainz Jr knows how to celebrate his win in Mexico with girlfriend in his black Ferrari" I said. "Fine, Let's go back soon. I can't wait" he humphed before going to change out of his race suit. "I love you" I called out. "También te amo" he called back.

[joaniscruzing]

reuniting with jinx <3

everyone... that was quite the rollercoaster. but, i choose to believe that jinx is alive. i'm not ready to let go of arcane for a good while, and I'll do my best to upload fics more often, especially with the holiday breaks coming up too, so reel in whatever arcane requests you have! i write for vi, caitlyn, and jinx. i do take smut requests for these characters too if you guys would like to request some...

obviously though, jinx wouldn't leave without finding her amazing gf though... right??

summary: jinx surprises you while you're grieving, and you both escape and go elsewhere.

warnings: angst at the beginning, season 2 act 3 spoilers, kissing, emotional, lots and lots of fluff, I PROMISED A HAPPY ENDING AND DELIVERED

you couldn't believe it. your whole body crumbled to the ground as vi told you the devastating news.

"I'll tell you one thing," vi tried to quip, a small smile on her face, "she went out with a bang."

vi explained that she heard an explosion sound when jinx fell down the vent, and how she guessed she had set off one more bomb. you take vi close to you, hugging her tightly.

"she really did love you, you know." vi admitted, "i think she's just had a lot come her way. and i can't say I'm the most innocent in that realm myself."

you left vi to continue staring at the fireplace, about to leave and go to jinx's workshop, hoping to take a few things to remember her by. you see caitlyn looking at the vent diagram, studying it closely. how could she possibly studying the place where your beloved girlfriend died? you knew that caitlyn had grown to not hate jinx anymore, so you decided to just leave it at that.

after leaving the kiramann mansion, you traversed back to zaun, thoughts racing through your head. had you not done enough? loved her enough? given her a reason to live? you wanted to scream as loudly as you could, and let whatever you were feeling out.

you finally made it to where jinx had her things, and you took a deep breath before entering. this was it.

the once lit-up place was darker and worn-out in her eyes. the once neon, bright-colored place seemed to be dark and empty now. like you without jinx. a tear rolled down your face as you picked up small tools and things, even parts of a flower she was making for you out of scraps. you sat on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, trying to make sense in your head of what you should do next.

"did you really think i was gone, hun?" jinx questions, right behind you. your entire body leaps at the sound of her voice. it can't be.

"jinx?" you ask, shooting your head up and turning around.

"did you really think i was gonna die that easily? now stop moping. we have to get on the hot air balloon."

shocked, you hug jinx quickly before shoving one thing you collected in your pocket. you both start running. hand in hand, you make a beeline in order to get on the next hot air balloon.

"you know what i realized? things aren't so great here, so why don't i just go somewhere else to do my thing? but, i knew i couldn't leave without you." jinx explains while running.

"how did you even get out?" is the only thing you manage to say.

"my shimmer, silly! i got the hell out and escaped through the air vents."

"and how did you get back to zaun?"

"simple hacking and tweaking of the hexgates. nothing special."

you both finally make it onto the airship, jinx holding your hand as you get on so you don't fall. she closes the door behind you.

"so. this is it. any last wishes before we leave forever?"

"my biggest one has been granted," you answer before pulling in jinx for a sweet kiss. you had missed her, as you hadn't seen her for a week or two with everything going on. jinx pulls away, explaining that you two had to go.

"you know, i've always wanted to drive one of these," jinx admits, steering the ship, "i have since i was very young." you notice a new sense of peace in her eyes as she drives the ship. she doesn't seem so... tortured anymore. in fact, she seems free of any past issues.

her newly cut hair blows in the wind, as you go up behind her and hug her waist, your head resting on her shoulder. no matter what the future held, you knew you were going to be happy. as long as jinx was there, you would be at peace.

"i love you," jinx says softly, taking one hand off the wheel to rest on top of yours.

"i love you too."

[evie-sturns]

𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 - 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨

summary: you and chris have a major argument, which results in you storming out of you and chris's house. he regrets everything, but it results in him saying 'i love you' for the first time.

warnings: angst, swearing, argument, crying, fluff, happy ending!

-----------------*＊✿❀○❀✿＊*--------------------

me and chris have been dating for two months, we've never fought, i mean we've bickered, but never a real argument. we've done alot together, we have a house together, 2 cats, we've hooked up tens of times, but never said those 3 words.

'i love you'.

i think both of us are just terrified of scaring the other person away.

-

"chris! i'm home!" i say, walking through the front door as i put my purse down.

no response.

chris is sitting on the couch, my phone on his lap.

"why do you have my phone baby?" I say, jumping down next to him.

"i think we both know." his voice is filled with emotion, he clenched the pepsi can in his right hand tighter.

i reach out a hand, placing it gently on his thigh, he grabs my wrist and throws my hand towards me, my shoulder is tweaked slightly.

"don't fucking touch me!" he says, looking at me in disgust, raising his voice as he stands up.

my eyebrows furrow from pure confusion as i follow him, standing up and facing him.

"tell me whats happening christopher." i say sternly, my shoulder pulses from the sudden jolt.

chris knows when i use his full name i mean it, i don't just throw it around because of how formal it is.

chris glares down at me before slamming the pepsi can to the floor.

"all these fucking months, all these hookups, all these deep talks, everything meant nothing to you?!" he yells, my heart sinks, ive never liked people yelling at me.

i've always had an attitude, chris knows how to deal with it.

"look, if you dont open your fucking mouth instead of flaming me for something i don't even know, i'm out of here yeah?" i snap back, folding my arms.

"you're so pathetic." he mutters, pushing my shoulder back.

"stop touching me chris!" i scream. squeezing my eyes shut and clenching my fists like a toddler.

he scoffs.

a silence grows before i flop down on the couch, clutching my shoulder. i pat the spot next to me, signalling for him to sit down, hoping we can talk it out.

he takes a step back before yelling, "go call mark, cause he clearly loves you so much!" his voice cracking.

my eyes widen.

"so fuck you!" he yells, i stand up.

his cheeks are flushed his eyes are glossy, chris's bottom lip is quivering.

my gaze softens, but instantly flicks back to a harsh one as chris starts again.

"im done with you're shit y/n, go home! for once in your life just leave. me. alone." he says, his tone cold.

i've never cried in front of chris, i don't cry often and if i do, im always alone. but the way he was looking at me broke something in me.

several tears fall down my cheek as i look up at chris. the tears increase as i just stare at him, his mouth gapes slightly. his eyebrows tilt up above his nose.

i push past him, grabbing my purse and running out the door, chris is speed-walking after me, before i slam the door shut, i yell out.

"by the way chris. mark is my fucking dad." my voice shakes as the tears don't slow.

an audible gasp escapes from chris's lips right before the door shuts.

-

two days ago i stormed through the door to my best friends house, sobbing as she comforted me.

i haven’t texted chris in those two days, but he’s been spamming my phone nonstop.

I sigh, sitting my head up off my best friend, amelia’s chest. “you okay?” she asks, pausing the movie which is playing on her macbook.

“did you not hear?” i ask, adjusting my sweater

“hear what..?” she asks, her eyebrowints furrowing in confusion

“you’re doorbell just rang, i’ll go get it okay?” i say, giving amelia a warm smile as i run downstairs.

i open the door, my heart sinks.

“chris?” i say, taking a nervous step back

his hand is clutched onto a stuffed animal, and a hand picked flower, which is dropping to the side slightly now. chris’s eyes are swollen, his nose red.

“i- uh.. um.” he stammers looking around

i stay silent, waiting for him to start,

he holds a hand out “can we go sit in my car i uh..” he says, his voice cracking

chris has always said his car is his comfort place, the area he feels safest, so i don’t shut him down yet.

i take his hand “amelia! i’ll be back in a few minutes” i yell as i close the front door behind me.

the walk down the driveway is silent, i can feel chris’s hand growing more sweaty by the second. he opens the door for me, the passenger seat has a blanket on it, with a packet of painkillers resting in the middle.

“what’s the pills for?” i ask, looking over my shoulder at chris.

“your shoulder..” he says, a guilty expression plastered across his face.

i nod understandably, sitting down in the car seat.

chris walks over to the driver side, climbing inside.

he lets out an audible swallow before opening his mouth to speak, nothing comes out.

“shit.. sorry ‘m really nervous..” chris says, holding onto a pepsi can.

“i’m so sorry, for even assuming the worst. i feel like an absolute goof for thinking your dad was another person..” he pauses for a second, quickly rubbing his under eyes

“and i was just hurt, i don’t even know why i thought mark was someone else, i should’ve never touched you i feel like shit about that too, and i’ve never seen you cry, so seeing what i had done to effect you just shattered my heart, i just don’t want to loose you and i.. i” he takes in a deep breath

“i love you.”

the rest of his words don’t get through to me, my heart is fluttering, i look over at him, chris’s cheeks are flushed red as his mouth moves quicker than his brain, i lean over the centre console, shutting him up with a kiss.

after a few seconds i pull away, “i love you too christopher.”

-

i run back inside, thanking amelia and telling her everything chris said, amelia is practically crying tears of joy as she hugs me, “go go! go back to his house i love you y/n!” she says, a smile spread ear to ear on her face.

i run back outside to chris, climbing inside his car.

the rest of the conversations go like this.

“are you sure your shoulders okay?”

“chris you barely touched me.”

“no but i made you cry y/n.”

“yeah, not because of the shoulder sweetheart.”

“well i told matt and nick what happened and then ordered a private doctor to come assess you..”

“chris.”

——————————————————————————

ayeee hope y’all like!!

[xamag-draws]

BBR thoughts 2024

Since I mentioned that I finally dusted off an old project of mine and was ruminating on how I'd remake it, I thought I'd elaborate a little, now that I've solidified some concepts. For funsies

This is gonna be a bit of a long and unfocused one, but I don't share my personal thoughts here often, especially the stuff about my projects I always marinate in. And for once it's something that people have existing context for, so hey why not

So for anyone who hasn't been following me for a gajillion years, The Black Brick Road of OZ was a webcomic that I posted around 2013-2015, back when I was in highschool going on college (which is kinda crazy to think about). It was sort of a darker twist on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, although I definitely leaned a lot more into dark humor more than anything in those first few chapters

I don't think it's available to read anywhere anymore, and I know people have been asking me about it. So here's the full proper archive of BBR, as full as it can be with deceased Flash

I totally used it as an excuse to shamelessly and self-indulgently experiment. It had interactive pages and GIFs and was wayyy too overproduced for what I could handle or what was necessary, but I did have great fun making it while it lasted

Unfortunately, that excess and the fact that I've changed too much as a person by the time I was in college is what ultimately killed it. The direction I wanted to go in was practically unrecognizable from the original idea started back in 2011, so there were many old hold-ups that I felt ruined it

At the time I kinda wished I could start/rewrite it all over, but considering that I pretty much had the entire script done at that point, it felt like a pointless sisyphean task. So I just put it on a shelf and didn't look back for about 8 years, because I didn't know what else to do

Now to be fair, the nature of my art has always been iterative and cyclical; when I feel like my creative juices have run dry I prefer to leave a project to marinate and move on to something else; cycle through other old things and bring in new skills and perspectives into the mix when I'm ready again. Not very productive, but it is what makes me happy to work on my OCs; I'm doomed to hit a wall with them eventually and I need some time to be able to find a new direction

So that said, I'm glad that BBR was left to marinate for that long. I don't think I was prepared, emotionally or intellectually, to tackle it again until now. The Wizard of Oz book (and the entire series of them, really) has always been near and dear to my heart, but there's a lot of context around it that I'm only unpacking now that I'm older

I think I always inherently feel negatively about the stuff I've made in the past, like its faults always jump out to me more than the positives, especially the more time passes. I've never liked that, and I do really appreciate the kind things people have to say about BBR to this day. The fact that it still can be recognized and remembered is very sweet

When I left it, I already found it "kinda cringe", and that feeling only deepened with years. When I took my first look back at it, asking the question "how would I rewrite it now?", at first I took a very cynical approach, as in "everything would have to be torn down"

But the more I sat on it, the more I found that I still see some merit and charm in the ideas I was putting out; I just didn't know how to execute them at the time (not to pretend that I know what I'm doing now, but I certainly know more at least). Turns out a lot of my old concepts could be changed substantially with just a few small tweaks. So I'd say that's a nicer way to think about my previous work

If you haven't seen yet, I posted a first draft of my new designs for some of the characters (the main group, the Goods and the Wickeds). Definitely subject to change, but more or less how I see them now

I'm just playing with these concepts; by no means would I attempt to remake BBR right this moment. Call it a pipe dream among my other ones. But just for fun, this is the direction I'd like to take:

Nowadays I'd probably make it a visual novel, with more emphasis on the visual part than the novel because I'm no English prose writer by any means. It'd still let me play a little with the interactivity while helping cut some corners on the drawing part (only some, I imagine I'd go hog wild anyway)

I've always intended for some events inspired by the sequel books to take place in BBR's past. Stuff like Jinjur's revolt or Ozma's rule preceeds the main events here. So I think it would be fun to follow the past of a few key characters alongside the main story. One chapter focusing on the present quest to see the Wizard, then one focusing on the past events (that are maybe reflective thematically); rinse and repeat

I'm also sticking a little closer to the original text in some regards. Not everything that I enjoy from the books would be translated here, it's still just a very loose fantasy on the material; but I'd like to be closer in spirit at least

I like mature, wise and powerful Glinda, I like kind and vulnerable Tin Man, I like the Wizard being a pathetic yet loveable liar, so I'm sprinkling in more of that for example

I'd like to keep some whimsy, but make it more grounded and a bit more serious to be coherent in tone. I think the original TWWOOZ book was a more realistic fantasy in some ways, even for the standards of the time; I like its simple but vivid tactile descriptions and details like bringing attention that Dorothy needed to eat and sleep

I find it funny that Baum specifically was averse to making his books scary or unpleasant, finding that unnecessary for telling a compelling kids story, but they still can get pretty dark and disturbing, at least for our modern sensibilities. Let's just say that I intend to use the Evoldo and Chopfyt storylines for my purposes. In that way, I feel like a "darker" Wizard of Oz retelling can still mostly be tonally in line with the original and balance it with enough heart and occasional humor

I slowly grew to appreciate the quaint old-timey quality of the original series, as well. The first book is both timeless and very much a product of the 1900s. Originally I tried to give it a little modern or at least anachronistic spin, but it was moreso because it's what I knew best, so these days I'd rather intentionally lean into the time period. Still not fully historically accurate by any means, but at least directly acknowledging the influence

The events of the story span across 40 years of these characters' lives, so I'm drawing inspiration from the entire so-called La Belle Epoque: the time period around 1880s-1920s. Basically I'm cooking, and my soup is old Victorian fashion morphing into Edwardian fashion and slowly inching towards flappers

Some new Dolly outfits

Lots of crazy things, political changes and innovations were happening at the turn of the century, which I think is noted and reflected by Baum in the books as well; the character of Tik-Tok might not blow any minds now, but he was one of the first robot characters in literature at that point; and don't even get me started on Jinjur, etc. Plenty of really interesting stuff one could lightly ponder in an Oz adaptation these days

Aesthetically, art nouveau has always been a big artistic influence for me, and it'd definitely be its time to shine here. John R. Neill's illustrations of the Oz books often keep me company as well. Nouveau architecture in particular fits that fairytale whimsy extremely well imo

I'd allow myself a little bit of art deco here and there, but ultimately its intimidating geometrical splendor is an antithetical to the flowery nature of nouveau and I associate it with a completely different era. Definitely fitting some characters like my Wicked Witch of the West, but shouldn't be overused

One of my main problems with the original BBR was that eventually I lost track of what it was even about; and the original ending felt too mean and unfulfilling to be worth it. Now I'd like to stick to the theme of home and family as my main theme, but in a different, more bittersweet way than in the book

An interesting connection I made is that a lot of my aforementioned older key characters (the Witches, Jinjur, the Nome King, etc) all came from the same reformatory as kids, that's how they know each other. In my recent research I learned that in those reformatories it was usually frowned upon to release the children back to the families, which were seen as the original corrupting influence regardless of the circumstance. The reformatory did everything in its power to cut that connection and make itself the only family those wayward kids were supposed to know and love. That's an unexpected tie into the theme of home that I'd like to explore as well

So yeah that's the current state of it. I have a bunch of outfit concepts I'm slowly cooking, although I'm now sure whether I'd post them... But I do miss these funny guys, and I'm glad some people still do as well :)

[nhlclover]

𝖥𝖠𝖪𝖨𝖭𝖦 𝖨𝖳 𝖲𝖤𝖳𝖧 𝖩𝖠𝖱𝖵𝖨𝖲

summary seth always visits the training room in hopes of getting your attention until one day it backfires. warnings flirting + teasing, simply fluff! word count 1.26k notes first seth piece!! i literally love this man so much so i hope y'all enjoy. i've also had this plot for ages and i finally decided to write it.

Seth entered the team’s training room for what felt like the hundredth time since the start of the season, and his eyes immediately searched for you. He carried the same easygoing grin that he always did, the one that made it seem like nothing could bother him. It was one that was starting to become all too familiar to the other Hurricanes players and staff — a grin that usually meant Seth was up to something.

He spotted you by the cabinets, organizing boxes of splints and unrolling new lengths of tape with a focused intensity that made him pause. He couldn't help but admire how dedicated you were, how you seemed to move effortlessly despite the chaos that usually surrounded you. The first time he saw you, he thought it was just a fleeting attraction—something he’d forget about by the next practice. But as the days passed, he kept noticing more about you: the way you bit your lip when you were deep in concentration, the soft hum of a tune you’d sing under your breath when you thought no one was listening, and the bright way you laughed, like you weren’t weighed down by anything.

The training room started to feel a little brighter when you were there, and he found himself coming up with excuses to swing by more often. A slight tweak of his ankle, a vague soreness in his leg—any reason to have you check him out, even if he didn’t need it.

Over time, his visits became less about any actual injuries and more about getting to see you and getting to talk to you. He tried to be subtle, but his teammates noticed, throwing teasing comments his way when you weren’t looking. They’d tease him, elbowing him in the ribs, telling him to “stop pretending to be hurt just because he liked the company.” Seth would laugh it off, but he knew they were right. Every time he walked through those doors, it was just another chance to see you.

“Hey, y/n,” Seth greeted, a playful tone dancing in his voice. “Got a minute? I think something's up with my shoulder today.”

You turned, eyes meeting his with an amused glimmer that always seemed to make his pulse quicken. “Your shoulder this time, huh?” you asked, crossing your arms over your chest. “You know, Seth, you might just set a record for the most visits to the training room,” you said.

“What can I say?” he shrugged, still grinning. “I’m a delicate guy.”

“Uh-huh, sure,” you replied, but the corner of your mouth twitched like you were fighting back a smile. You pointed to the table. “Sit. Let’s take a look at this ‘injury’ of yours.”

Seth hopped up on the table, swinging his legs like a kid. “I don’t know,” he said, voice dripping with dramatic flair. “It’s feeling pretty tight today. Might be serious.”

You rolled your eyes, stepping over to him. “Shirt off.”

He didn’t hesitate, stripping off his shirt in one smooth motion, revealing the lean, athletic muscles that came from years of hard work on the ice. You tried to keep your expression neutral, tried not to react to the way his skin gleamed under the fluorescent lights. But Seth saw the flicker of your eyes, the quick dart to his chest before you composed yourself. It sent a thrill through him—he liked that he could get a reaction out of you, even if you tried to hide it.

You stepped closer, fingers already tingling with the familiar sensation of checking injuries, but this time, you felt something different. Maybe it was the way he was watching you, eyes locked on your face like you were the most interesting thing in the room. Or maybe it was the way his skin felt warm beneath your touch, the slow rise and fall of his breathing under your fingertips.

“Any pain here?” you asked, pressing lightly on his shoulder.

“Maybe a little,” he said, though the slight smile tugging at his lips betrayed him. “I think you should keep checking, just to be sure.”

You sighed, a little exasperated, but you kept your focus. There was clearly nothing wrong with his shoulder, the lack of wincing or tension in his movements betraying his lie.

“Well,” you said, pulling your hands away from his shoulder, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. “I think you’ll live. But just to be sure, maybe I should recommend you take a game off. Can’t be too careful, right?”

Seth’s eyes widened, panic flashing across his face. “Whoa, whoa, hold on—no need to get drastic here!”

“Why not? You keep showing up here all the time. It seems like you need the rest.”

He swallowed, trying to keep his cool, but you were so close now, and it was making his heart race in a way that had nothing to do with nerves. “Because,” he said, a bit too quickly, “I’m not actually hurt.”

You blinked, tilting your head. “You’re not?”

He let out a long, exasperated sigh, pulling his compression shirt back over his head. “No. I just… I just wanted an excuse to see you, okay? The shoulder’s fine. I’ve always been fine.” He rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks burning with embarrassment. “I know it’s stupid, but I didn’t know how else to get your attention.”

You bit back a smile, trying to keep your composure. “You mean to tell me, all these times you’ve come to see me claiming your knee hurt, or you twinged your back… all those times you were faking it just to talk to me?”

Seth groaned, dropping his head into his hands. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s pathetic. But you make it really hard to think straight, okay? And I’m not great with this stuff. I figured if I came in here enough, maybe you’d notice me.”

“I did notice you,” you said, and there was something softer in your tone now. “I noticed you every time you limped in here, pretending to be all tough. And believe me, I knew you were faking it.”

Seth’s head shot up, his eyes wide with disbelief. “You did?”

You nodded, biting back a smile. “Yep. Since, like, the second time you came in saying your elbow felt ‘off.’ You’re not exactly subtle, you know.”

“Well, that’s… that’s just great,” Seth muttered, feeling heat flood his face. “So I’ve been making a complete idiot of myself this whole time?”

“A little bit, yeah,” you admitted, stepping closer, “but it was kind of cute.” You reached out, gently tapping his shoulder. “You know, you could’ve just asked me out, Seth. It would’ve saved you a lot of time and fake injuries.”

“So… does that mean you might be interested?”

You rolled your eyes playfully. “Yes, Seth. It means I’m interested. Now, are you finally going to ask me out, or do you need to pretend to break a leg first?”

Seth’s grin spread across his face, genuine and full of relief. “Alright, alright. Would you… maybe want to go out with me sometime? For real, this time?”

You smiled back, nodding. “I’d like that.”

His heart soared, and he couldn't help the goofy grin that spread across his face. “Really?”

“Really,” you confirmed, stepping back and giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Now, go stretch that ‘injured’ shoulder of yours before I change my mind.”

He laughed, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’ve got it.” And as he left the training room, Seth couldn’t help but feel like he was walking on air.

[aakaneeee]

ROUND 7 THEORY.

Till is going to lose: and Hyuna won't be there to save him.

this is insanely long, hug yourselves

I. Hyuna won't be part of the rescue mission.

I'm going to start with the obvious: today's alien stage friday content that opened my third eye.

obviously, hyuna is.. suffering is an understatement right now, she appears in a lot of pain, having to lean on mizi to walk. not only this, but mizi is distressed too. she is looking back, and the warning:intruder sign is reflecting in her eyes. interesting detail I've seen: the screen behind hyuna I'd light, and I personally think it's Luka's promotional photoshoot we've seen in All-In. maybe a slight reach, and not a good point to base a whole theory I genuinely believe in on, but trust me, it all ties togheter: Hyuna is looking directly forward, towards a 'light', while Mizi is looking back, at a warning sign. So, Hyuna will go to their base, and Mizi will do the rescuing mission alone. This might sound stupid, but the AMOUNT of content I found that holds this theory is insane.

Speaking about All-In..

This is a promotional video for All-In. (Might be the teaser but I'm tweaking) Mizi is only shown in the car scene, where she's togheter with Hyuna. In the other parts, Hyuna is completely alone. This might not mean a lot, except that we have this official art:

Unlike the frame in the video, Hyuna is alone here, leaving dust on the on the other cars. Does this mean that she'll go alone? Perhaps leave alone? And there's even more I consider as 'evidence'.

In the cover of hyuna ver. of ROMH, she seems to be laying down, something that I don't think she would be able to do while still being in the ALNST building, and the splash on her face seems to be similar to the character's that have died.

As happy as this looks, again, Mizi isn't here. The rest of the rebellion is, and she's wearing the outfit she had on in All-In when making that video with the others. She's making a gun sign, something usual for her, she's done it multiple times all over. Is this foreshadowing of her being shot?

But this.. even though the backround is Hyuna, it's obvious that the hands are not hers because of the light skin. So is this Mizi that's trying to learn from Hyuna? Maybe because she has to do a mission without her? Back to the All-In teaser, we don't see who's holding the gun that flashes between the frames of Hyuna's hand making a gun sign. I personally think it's Mizi instead, since now she's learned how to fire. Afterall, in All-In, even Hyuna is surprised at her sudden fierceness.

Here, it seems like Hyuna is being announced something, while sitting down. But what could be so important that she is told with such secrecy? The only thing I can imagine is a rescue mission, but she isn't there herself.

In this art, Mizi is looking down, while Hyuna is looking up, with a stern face, almost monitoring. But where could Mizi be, so high up she has to look down, and so bright she has to shadow her eyes? This takes me to the next part of my theory:

II. Till is going to lose.

The light from above the stage in the Round 7 teaser is dark blue, but a specific shade that has been often associated with Mizi. Is she there, so that's why she's looking down? Also from the teaser, we have this (which I think was pointed out before):

The little gun aim light is pointed towards the stage from an alien that seems to have a guard helmet, and then a light covers Till. I think it's enough proof that something will happen to him, but I have more. So much more.. And yet, I think the other ones fit more into another category. III. Even though he'll lose, Till won't die. But he won't live well, either. I am not delusional, I genuinely think Mizi's rescue mission will go well.

Here, Till is holding a strand of Mizi's long hair, the hair we know is long gone. In relationship with the first category, Hyuna is the only one missing from this art.

I initially thought it was Till protecting Mizi from something, but no. I think it's Till protecting the image of Mizi he remembers from something he finds terrifying: and I think that scary thing is the real Mizi, the Mizi that exists now. It's a common theme that Till is only inlove with the image of Mizi, so what if that dissapears? I imagine he'd be terrified of that.

Here, the wire of Till's collar (that we've seen him wearing in round 7, too) seems to be blending with Mizi's hair, as if he is bound to the image of past her. (Since we know her hair is short now.)

In this, the tape is similar to the one that covered his mouth in Top 3, but here, his mouth is wide opened, the tape instead covering his name, as if his freedom, his own voice was given back to him, rather covering his branding whom is proof of ownership.

Here, the characters that are behind have died, and the ones that are holding flowers are the ones who love Mizi. But again, it's the long haired old Mizi.

III. Hallucinations

Alien Stage is about romance, and hallucinating your loved one isn't new in it. Mizi hallucinated Sua in Round 5, and Till hallucinated Mizi (again, her old version) after... we all know what I mean. Hallucinating has led to losing, but is this going to be the case in Round 7?

Well, yes and no. Yes for Till, no for Luka, and I think this aspect is the one that makes the most difference between them.

Let's talk about Till first. I feel like Luka won't genuinely see Till as a threat, especially after Round 6. I do not think that he will do the ROMH technique. And yet, I think Till will hallucinate Ivan in him anyways. Looking at Luka's stage smile and Ivan's default expression, they look very similar (atleast to me), and the white outfits might do it, too.

This particular image makes me feel like that. His fingers aren't purple, which, I don't know what to make out of it, but it's about the neck holding. Ivan always seemed to have something with Till's neck, and there's a lot of art to prove it. This is undoubtedly something that Ivan would do, and I can imagine Till hallucinating Ivan, or atleast, a warped version of him, in situations like this. Till is already in a bad place mentally, so I feel like such a thing would destroy him, even though he won't go down without a fight.

Onto Luka. I think hallucinating Hyuna in Till is inevitable: their energy is just incredibly similar. But unlike Till, Hyuna is Luka's motivation to sing.

In this comic, we find out that Luka doesn't truly like singing: his only reason for singing is (or atleast, was) the fact that Hyuna likes it. And again, unlike Till, Luka is obsessed with the stage. It's canon that he has low self-esteem, and that winning is his way of raising it up. I don't see him having a mentality like Till, but rather, one that sounds more like "Only I get to kill you.", so a competition against Hyuna would only make him more motivated. And so, I think that hallucinating Hyuna gets him even closer to a win.

IV. Till will escape: but at what cost?

Till knows that the last time he turned down escaping, it didn't go well. So, even now, with the new image of Mizi, even now, with Ivan dead, even now, when he's still holding onto an image long gone of someone he loves, he will accept, but without getting implicated into whatever the resistance does too much. Why? Because he thinks he has nothing left except his hallucinations.

V. Conclusion

I'm sorry for how long this is!! I've been thinking for sooo long... I really like how I've made this though, in the end. extra: In this official art, the characters that are slightly smiling are now dead (sua, ivan).. it doesn't really mean anything to what I said (I think), but I found it interesting :)

[yanderes-galore]

Heyy, can I could request a romantic yandere Hazbin Hotel Alastor x darling who is a demon who wants to redeem herself but has a deal with alastor so, she has her soul but being in the hotel cannot do her any harm or yeah? 👀

Sure! Made some tweaks to fit this into canon, Alastor's intention are still unknown towards you. Defaulted to concept as I wasn't sure how you wanted this. Originally didn't read that darling HAD her soul, so this got a bit difficult but I think I've got it.

Yandere! Alastor with Sinner! Darling

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic (Dubious)

Possible Trigger Warnings: Female Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Ownership, Possessive behavior, Violence, Mentions of being a pet, Forced/Toxic partnership.

The only demons who can redeem themselves are known as Sinners.

Power is an important thing in Hell, that's primarily what deals are about here.

Power is what makes the hierarchy and makes other demons, like Overlords, powerful.

Alastor is one of these many Overlords.

He's actually... one of the most feared Overlords.

Based on what we can see in the show, demons would do anything to not go near him.

Alastor has made many deals with demons before.

Which is probably why he's so powerful.

You just so happen to be yet another Sinner he has under his belt.

Be it through gambling or some other desperate reason... you managed to come face to face with Alastor.

"Poor girl... all alone with no one to help you, hm~?"

The Overlord is pleased when he sees you, a desperate soul who needs his help.

Before he helps to pick you up, he offers you a deal.

A deal he's made countless times before.

He'll help you as long as you are indebted in some way to him.

Perhaps he doesn't have your soul, like you said.

Making any sort of deal with an Overlord is bad news.

In this case, instead of your soul, Alastor can settle for something else.

Perhaps he'll find a way to swindle it from you later....

At the time, well, you took it.

When he offered you that deal, you had no other option.

Such a deal made you a pet for the radio demon, one he can call whenever he wishes.

That's the deal... you'll be tied to him one way or another even if he doesn't have your soul.

Unless you want him to cast you out to the Hellhounds and Sharks again, hm~?

Y'know what's worse?

You happen to be his favorite.

"Hey there, darling dear~ We'll be great partners, you'll see!"

That was a long time ago, now.

You aren't sure why Alastor helped you... or why he allowed you to keep your soul for now.

At the time it took some begging.

You had to grovel to get Alastor to let you keep your soul.

Instead he ordered a... partnership instead of your soul.

You were often asked to help him out for tasks, you have for years.

You consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

Lucky because Alastor liked you enough to not leash your soul.

Something about you intrigued him.

One of the tasks you were summoned to help with was Charlie's hotel.

The girl needs STAFF and Alastor is willing to provide.

It unnerved you when Alastor came back to you after being gone for years.

"Darling~! Did you miss me~? We still have a deal, y'know... hope you didn't forget all about me~?"

Alastor's presence always left you uneasy.

Like most other demons, whenever he was in sight you felt your heart nearly stop.

However, Alastor was the closest demon you had to a friend.

So the feeling was usually easy to smother.

"Why are you here?"

"Once again I have a little job for you, sweetheart. Surely you know to listen, right?"

You knew you had to.

This partnership was the only thing keeping Alastor from taking your soul.

You had to help him... if you didn't, he could take your soul as collateral.

"State your order."

"A dear old friend of mine needs help running a certain hotel. She has no STAFF...! So I need you to come and help, my dear girl..."

His voice is a condescending purr, red eyes holding mischief.

He knows you can't refuse.

So with a heavy sigh, you listen to your dear partner....

This is what brings you to the hotel.

Honestly... you don't regret coming here.

Through Alastor you meet Charlie and the others, pitying Husk's position and trying your best to get along.

In your eyes, you originally were unsure on how to feel on demon rehabilitation.

Could... Sinners really be redeemed?

... Could you be redeemed?

You were unsure until Charlie seemed so adamant.

She looks so happy about it... enough to give you hope.

Although hope is a hard thing to keep when Alastor watches your every move.

The Overlord has to keep an extra eye on you for two reasons.

First of all, you're his favorite to toy with.

Second of all... he doesn't have your soul to pull when you 'misbehave'.

Alastor is clever, he knows what you think.

If he's known you for years, he picks up on your little thoughts.

Alastor can probably tell you get along with Charlie.

A little too well, actually.

At first he allows it, it's just some talk between girls....

However, when he realizes you want to be redeemed...

Alastor feels himself twitch a bit.

He curses himself for not taking your soul earlier.

A partnership won't allow him to pull you.

He has to own you completely.

You can notice the deer demon looking on edge.

His eyes keep glaring into you as you work, the grip on his staff unrelenting.

You sense you're walking on thin ice.

You want to be redeemed, theoretically you can.

But a voice nags you from the back of your mind.

Wouldn't that break your deal?

The thought makes you shudder.

You don't doubt Alastor knows about this.

You can tell once he stops looking as stressed as he was... no... in fact he's smug.

You have a feeling you aren't leaving so easily.

Despite this, you're determined, carefully listening to Charlie and participating in every activity.

Unfortunately... Alastor will step in before you can get anywhere.

"Darling~"

Alastor's voice is in its usual purr, entering your hotel room with a grin.

You fear what's coming.

"What is it you want?"

"Oh you know damn well...."

His voice distorts into static, making you freeze.

You've struck a nerve it seems.

Alastor steps closer, leaning on his staff with a glare.

"You think you're a clever girl, don't you?"

"I'm keeping to our deal, Alastor."

You try to lie, but you can't lie to him.

"You know you aren't, darling. I understand if you want to play along with Charlie's little game..."

He grabs your chin, his hold a painful vice.

"But you'll never be redeemed, girl. Not while I'm here. In fact..."

Alastor's other hand taps your chest, grin turning to a scowl for a moment.

"Call me petty... but I own your soul now."

Your jaw drops.

"What!? No, you can't-"

"I can..."

Alastor hums, manifesting a green chain around your neck.

"And I will..."

The moment your partnership breaks off, Alastor is able to claim your soul.

He feels you broke the deal...

Which means you're his now.

"You had a good run, dear... unfortunately you need to learn your place."

You feel yourself collapse on the floor, Alastor yanking the chain with a newfound grin.

"I've been waiting for this, girl..."

He kneels down, his voice an eager whisper.

"I should've taken your soul long ago, then I wouldn't have to deal with all this stress...!"

He pulls you onto your knees, watching you grovel like you did all those years ago.

"Perfect~" He hums, "This is exactly where you belong..."

You go to retort, but Alastor uses your newfound chain to choke you.

"It's best you be a good girl and listen to me now..."

Alastor hisses, pulling you so you look him in the eyes.

"I happen to hate misbehaving pets."

It was inevitable that he'd claim you... now you're rightfully his and will be for years to come... won't you?

[ribbonprincess]

confiscating rafe's drugs, but it's a little bit more comedic

i think he'd start tweaking idk man

(may you write it though, i dont know how to make good prompts so im really trying here)

warnings: drugs (ofc),slight choking,just Rafe being a lil scary.

🍭࿐ ࿔*:･ﾟ

Rafe is pacing in his room when you enter,you can see his shirt clinging to his back due to his sweat as he looks frantic "rafey? what's wrong?" your boyfriend turns around immediately, looking at you with a hard glare that makes you freeze in your spot "I can't find my coke- have you taken it? I know you did,where is it?" he asks,pointing a finger at you as he comes closer with long strides.

"what- I don't know what you are talking about... why would I have your drugs anyway?" "cause you've been complaining about how I've been doing them too often,so I know you have them. Give them to me, right now." You furrow your eyebrows before shaking your head at him "no,I won't. I don't like when you take it, you've been doing it too much and you become all angry and...weird-"

Your words are cut off due to a pair of rough hands clasping your throat "you will go and take what's mine and give it back,Is that clear?" you let a small whimper escape,gripping on his wrists as tears start to gather on your lashline "don't want to... I've,I've thrown them down the toilet" you lie,knowing them well they're hiding in your room in one of your drawers under a bunch of clothes.

A small scoff escapes Rafe's mouth making you even more scared as his grip tightens on you before releasing you completely to walk over the window,showcasing a view of the whole tannyhill. "Are they at your house,in your room? hm,tell me- baby please...I need them,you know I do,they make me calm" his hands all over the place,before he harshly dug the heel of his palm in his eyes "hey- no,no...okay I'll give them back,I'm sorry." You're quick to be at his side,pulling his hands away from his face as you wipe at his eyes. "I'll give them to you,I didn't flush them down the toilet- I lied. But you gotta promise me to take a little less at least,for me?"

He looks at you through a blurry gaze before nodding "okay...yeah,okay I'll cut down some dosage. Didn't mean to lose control,I'm sorry" he says,rubbing his thumb over the red spots on your neck sure they'll bruise overnight. It's rare for Rafe to apologize especially multiple times so you just nod and bring him into a hug "it's okay,let's lay down and then we'll go to my house later,okay?" He nods at your words,pressing his forehead against your collarbone "okay...I love you doll"

[fallout-lou-begas]

Not sure if you’ve been asked this before, but what are your favorite/essential mods for new vegas? I’ve only ever played it unmodded so I’m curious

Good question! I definitely have answered this before, but that was so many years ago. It's only now that I've taken the opportunity to overhaul and modernize my own mod set-up that I've been figuring out the answer to this question myself. But I can definitely talk you through the most important parts of my new load order.

First, however, every single person modding this game in this day and age absolutely needs to start with the Viva New Vegas modding guide, and follow every step to the letter. The recommendations are air-tight and the instructions are written and presented as if you, the reader, have never even seen so much as a computer before. It's amazing. The "Base" of VNV contains nothing but bugfixes, lightweight unofficial patches, performance optimizations, and other under-the-hood stuff designed to remedy FNV's infamous stability issues while maintaining a completely "vanilla" feel. This makes it absolutely necessary, in my opinion, even for people who don't actually want to play with any (other) mods. Especially crucial to this guide is its mandate to use Mod Organizer 2; if you're using Nexus Mod Manager, Vortex, or Fallout Mod Manager any time since Biden got elected, you are shooting yourself in the foot plain and simple. The best endorsement that I can give of Mod Organizer 2 is that it mods you game completely virtually, meaning that if you fuck your mods up beyond repair, you can just go to your actual FNV launcher in your root folder and boot up the vanilla game like nothing ever happened.

And the "Extended" section of Viva New Vegas consists of more modding tools, quality of life tweaks, content restorations, and a curated list of strongly recommended gameplay modifications that nevertheless all come down to your personal preference (though deviating from their provided list may make you use your brain a little bit when choosing the right compatibility patches, and so on).

This isn't going to cover every single thing that I play with, but here's everything that I would think to suggest to anybody who asked. With that said, here's Fallout "Lou" Begas's Mod Recommendations, 2024 Edition:

Viva New Vegas Extended: Lou's Preferences

VNV Extended recommends several gameplay modifications that come down to personal preference. I installed just about all of them, with a few exceptions (I don't care at all for B42 Optics, for example). Here's some specific details:

Just Assorted Mods has a hell of a lot of features but I actually enable are breath-holding, the vanilla sprint, and the loot menu (though I flip-flop often on using JAM's Bullet Time in place of V.A.T.S.). If you install VNV and boot up the game and wonder "what is all this fucking shit on my HUD," it's probably some of Just Assorted Mods's components. Just disable the ones you don't want in the in-game Mod Configuration Menu, which you will also have available if you followed the instructions for VNV Base.

Vigor is a modernized fork of JSawyer, the mod that was originally created by FNV's own director after the game's release that tweaked a lot of under-the-hood game settings and statistical balance to his personal preferences. JSawyer Ultimate Edition a more faithful modernization of the original JSawyer whereas Vigor is "a more lightweight alternative" that dials back some of the more drastic features of JSUE. Your choice of these, or none of them, is purely personal preference, and my preference is for Vigor. Any form of JSawyer is strongly recommended if you play in Hardcore Mode.

Simple Vigor Config is used in conjuncton with Vigor and is an intuitive and easy way to overwrite Vigor's gamesetting changes with your own preference. I use the config to adjust carry weight to a much more punishing (25 + 5*STR) formula that incentivizes the use of backpacks, mindful inventory management, and companion inventory space; and to increase the starvation, thirst, and sleep Hardcore Mode rates to 10, 5, and 14 respectively.

Desert Natural Weathers is the weather mod to end all weather mods, in my view, and it includes configuration for customizing the darkness and visibility of nighttime. This effectively obsoletes former dinosaurs like Darker Nights Ultimate Edition. Refer to the post that I made on DNUE's Nexus page here for a copy of my settings to darken those dang nights with DNW.

In AIStewie's Tweaks's nvse_stewie_tweaks.ini file, I set bCustomSpecialPoints = 1 and iNumPointsToAllocate = 35. This slightly reduced starting stat spread forces you to make tradeoffs in your character creation, because it starts with a perfect middle 5 in every stat. Every addition above average will require a subtraction below average. The "Essentials" INI included with VNV Base is all that most players will ever need, so this is my one specific personal tweak that'll keep you from scrolling through every single option in the whole damn thing (though I also recommend enabling the tweaks that hide all of your skill check tags in dialogue for more immersive and less gamified roleplaying in conversation: set bNoSkillTags, bRemoveFailedSuccessText, bRemoveRedOutline, and iRemoveTags to all = 1. )

Lou's Personally Valuable or Sentimental Tweaks and Fixes

Better Pause Menu Screen (Simple Blur). I play with an ultrawide resolution and the vanilla pause menu filter doesn't actually extend past 1920x1080. So this is really vital, lol.

Vanilla Animations Weapon Scale Fix. This mod will fix a common issue with custom weapons and animation mods where your weapon will become invisible because its scale has gotten stuck at 0.

Companion Carry Weight Fix. All companions in the game have an invisible attribute called "companion suite" that, among other things, halves their carrying capacity based on their actual stats. If you play with a super low carry weight formula like I do, you can see how this is a problem. Here's the solution.

Miscellaneous Tweaks Collection includes a few files that I get great use out of: No DLC Recipes Early (great unless you integrate DLC crafting ingredients into your base game somehow) and Vendors Have Throwables (why the fuck are throwing weapons so hard to find in vanilla!). There are others that I use as well but I recommend these two the most generally.

Lucky 38 Suite Upgrade Terminal Tweak is a very cute little mod that removes the ugly wall-mounted terminal and makes you purchase your suite upgrades from the actual computer on the desk in the master bedroom instead.

I Fought the Law - Simple NCR Start finally gives you a good reason to check out NCRCF if you're not siding with the Powder Gangers.

Hire Cass Early was my "dream mod" for the longest time, and thanks to some help, it's finally a reality. Simply pick up the letter that this mod adds to the Mojave Express office in Primm and you can recruit Cass right away (through the usual persuasive requirements) without ever stepping off the road from Goodsprings to the Mojave Outpost. Part of my ongoing "make @ikroah real" project.

Harder Strip Access. Getting into Vegas to finally confront Benny should feel like a tremendous accomplishment. This mod makes it so. Better pony up the caps or call in one hell of a favor, kid! With any kind of tougher economy mods, especially, this mod makes it wonderfully Herculean to just buy your way onto the Strip.

Balance Tweaks

Pseudo-Realistic Carry Weight - No Weightless Item Overhaul and Realistic Bottle Cap Weight. The former is actually an optional file; the main file just implements the the carry weight formula that I was coincidentally already using. The latter just forces you to think strategically about how much money you're walking around with. Can you tell that I love inventory management? Note that if you give bottlecaps weight, you should definitely let yourself drop them when necessary by editing Stewie's Tweaks (bShowCurrencyInContainers = 1).

Carry Weight Affects Speed, Med-Tek Trauma Kit (Lou's Version), and More Conditions to Fast Travel. The first appearance of my own mods on this list! These three mods in conjunction tie your encumbrance and your overall health to your mobility far more strictly. I love the balancing act of packing enough supplies for an excursion while leaving enough room for loot that I can still fast travel with, and the choice to get greedy with more loot than I can comfortably carry and just hope to not run into danger on my slow walk back toward a merchant. My tweaks to the classic Med-Tek Trauma Kit mod apply this level of emergent gameplay and resource management to your limb health, though it makes the game much more difficult unless your character specializes in Medicine. I haven't tried it myself, but Simple Healing System is fully configurable, modern mod that I've had my eyes on and that might be better for most general playstyles, and it might even be compatible in conjunction with my Med-Tek mod for extra intensity!

Better Charisma (Charisma Affects Dialogue Skill Checks) and/or Charisma Affects Reputation. I've always been very frustrated with how much of a meaningless dump stat Charisma is, and the phenomenon of the 1 CHA 100 Speech player character in general. These two mods, which you can use just one of or both together, give Charisma much more meaningful and palpable functionality.

Terrifying Presence (Lou's Version), speaking of Charisma, changes the requirement for this perk from Level 6 and 70 Speech to Level 2 and 6 CHA, making it much more accessible to more types of intimidating characters. This same mod includes alternate options to take it as a trait instead, with the drawback(s) of either tanking your Speech and Barter and/or increasing your addiction chance. See also: Less Snarky Terrifying Presence.

New Vegas Karma Rebalance is a great under-the-hood mod that makes FNV's nearly vestigial karma system less nonsensical without removing it or its effects on the player entirely. Thanks to this and Mass Ownership Tweaks, which is already included in VNV Extended's recommendation of Essential Vanilla Enhancements Merged, Cass won't hate your guts just for stealing a few things from Caesar's Legion at Cottonwood Cove, especially not after you've already killed them all.

Damage Multiplier solves the sluggish damage sponge problem that plagues Bethesda engine combat by simply multiplying all damage dealt globally, both by and to the player, by a factor of your choosing. I use 2.5x, which is usually enough to kill any level-appropriate human being with a single shot to the head. 2x should be the minimum. Combine with Combat Enhancer NVSE and NPCs Use Ammo for overall faster but much more ferocious and intense combat engagements.

Visuals and Animations

Third Person Camera Overhaul. Though I'm still getting used to its extremely specific configuration settings, this is vital for a third-person enjoyer like myself. It obsoletes any and all "dynamic camera" or "shoulder swap" mods of the past. Once you figure out how it works and what you like, you're set for life.

Realistic Movement and Dramatic Inertia. Although a little goofy, it has never felt better for me to physically move around in the game than it has before. I like the weight and get-up-and-go that this mod has for me as a player, but it's especially significant in firefights and other combat situations where, now, your targets can't dodge bullets by shifting direction instantly or stopping and turning on perfect dimes. For a single, less heavyweight alternative, try 360 Movement and Diagonal Movement together instead. Each pair of these mods is incompatible with the other pair, however.

B42 Loot, B42 Interact, and B42 Inject. I recommend a lot of the B42 family of animation overhauls in general (except B42 Optics, lol) because I just love seeing my character actually do the things they're doing. For B42 Loot, I use the included config file to disable the "force pull" effect, and for B42 Interact, there exists compatibility patches between it and its more third-person oriented counterpart Animated Ingestibles, but I'd only look into that if you know what you're doing (though, I do).

Character Kit Remake is a mod that I was turned onto recently. For a long time I have scoffed at character appearance overhauls out of nostalgia for those classic gamebryo engine potato-faces and what I thought was, to be blunt, the tasteless ineptitude of the actual overhauling. But I do really like this one, even if the showcase of screenshots do a really bad job of selling it. It looks a lot better in motion and in game, I promise. i think that these people are just not good digital photographers.

Height Randomizer. It's funny how much you can get attached to a minor character when they are, for whatever reason, especially tall or short. This lightweight mod just adds some height variance to all NPCs in the game that don't already have a non-normal 1.00 height setting in vanilla.

The Strip Groove. Dance on command. Endorsed.

Items, Economy, Crafting, Survival, Repair, Etc.

Gloves Galore (Lou's Version), Power Armor Gloves, Combat Armor Gloves, and White Glove Society Wear Gloves. Anyone who has followed me long enough on here should know that I have strong, totally normal feelings about gloves.

Armed to the Teeth Redux and literally any backpack mod. I've used this duffel bag forever, for example. I love these ones because I personally love when you can physically, literally see the things that a character is supposed to be carrying.

Flashlight NVSE. Another piece of Agnes Sands's arsenal, this is the one "old" mod that I can't quit. Even if it is a little janky, I've yet to find a better directional flashlight mod. Only install this is you think you can handle wrestling with it a little, and make sure your "Exterior" flashlight settings are all on the lowest quality regardless of computer specs (or else it causes flickering). It's a must-have for darker nights, too.

Famine is the last "loot scarcity" mod you'll ever need. Combine it with Harder, Barter, Faster, Stronger from the VNV Extended recommendations list for a really tough time affording even basic necessities without tailoring your build for mercantile success... which is just how I like it.

Cheaper Repair Costs. The vanilla formula for determining the cost of weapon and armor repairs at merchants is, in a word, fucked, where it literally costs twice the weapon's base value to repair it from broken. This mod lets you adjust that proportion so that you won't be better off literally selling and buying another gun in every single case. I play with a rate of 67% (which means that paying a merchant to repair a completely broken weapon from 0% health to 100% health will cost 67% of the weapon's base value).

Alternative Repairing does too much cool, practical shit to the base repairing system to even get into here. To keep it short, it intuitively incentivizes actually scrounging for all kinds of formerly useless junk that you can now scrap for spare parts. Check it out.

Water Overhaul. Ever play with a Universal Water Bottling mod and find things suddenly far too easy? Water Overhaul combines all the convenience and sense-making of bottling water anywhere with the much-needed tradeoff of truly purified water being much rarer. All that convenient H2O is now just radioactive enough to keep Goodsprings Source from singlehandedly breaking the survival economy of the game (not to mention the literal economy).

Cowboy Coffee and Coffee Grounds, my own mod that adds brewable coffee to the wasteland. While mostly just created because it's cute, it's really nice to have a reliable and palpable source of sleep deprivation relief when playing in Hardcore Mode.

Gun Oil From Animal Fat, another mod of mine that provides a cheaper, craftable, and less demanding but less effective repair option to complement Weapon Repair Kits. I patched this one recently to fix some old issues, and it's great for incentivizing emergent gameplay (since you need to hunt for meat, and cook the meat for fat, and combine the fat with loot to make the gun oil).

Sound

Less Constant Music and Passive Combat Music Tweaked do exactly what they say on the tin and are perfect for people who like to get immersed in the natural sound of their environment, especially if you're a chronically stealthy player like me and you've trained yourself to constantly listen for enemy footsteps. I do recommend keeping Less Constant Music disabled when you first start a game, though, because until I can figure out how to add an exception to it myself, it will remove the background music from character creation at Doc Mitchell's house more often than not, and I really like that music.

SPEAKING of Doc Mitchell's music, Try Not To Get Killed Anymore is one of the first mods I ever made and it has never left my load order. It simply replaces the musical sting that plays when you die with an emphatic, tolling bell and the refrain from Doc Mitchell's theme, plus an optional version that includes his ghostly voice telling you to try not to get killed anymore. Two of my other personal sound replacers are the Mysterious Stranger Level-up Theme, Simple Snap Sound Effects for Quest Updates, and Mechanical Camera VATS.

[applestruda]

Ok so i've gotten a couple of people asking me how i color,, so i thought i might like, drop a mini tutorial for how i draw in general. I will explain to the best of my ability, but im not super good at this kind of thing (also this is gonna be a long post)

I will say that usually I go into a drawing with a general idea of what I want to draw, the vibe I want to give, and the colors I want to work with. Of course these can change throughout the process though.

(and side tip is to flip the canvas often, that way it's easy to catch mistakes and tweak them)

So I always start with a sketch, it's not clean or pretty, just meant to give me a good base. And from there I color in the flats

Next I take some darker colors and just throw it on top of the flats, erasing where I want there to be highlights

I then specifically take the brush called stickman (on procreate), and do a wash over the art. I find that it creates a variety of interesting colors and adds some texture.

From there, I take my usual brush (chalk) and I grab the colors created by the previous step, rendering out the form with them

Next is just the highlights, where i pretty much make a good base to start adding details and messing with layer types.

Details! I use a variety of brushes, layer types, and colors, just messing around and seeing what I like. I often stumble across something I like through this method, completely unplanned.

(also to create the wispy effect like what's around the stars, I just grab a color, use whatever layer type I think looks cool, and then go in with my eraser to add more shape to it)

The final couple of steps is still me just messing around with layer types and colors, but usual to the whole drawing instead of specific spots, possibly unifying colors and or trying to push contrasts a little further (it depends on what I'm going for). And then i finish it off with another stickman layer to add more texture back!

And erm,, Yeah! That's kinda it.. In total this took 1 h 11 min.. and honestly most of it is just me messing with things until I like it..

Hope this helps,

[alexanderwales]

My juniper bonsai died. I had gotten it at a bonsai class, where I pruned and repotted and trained it, and had it for about a year. I was so happy that it lived through the winter, and I kept it watered, looking at the new growth and seeing where I would eventually make it take shape into something a little more interesting. But it's dead now. I had noticed the tips getting brown, and that meant it wasn't getting enough water, so I watered it more often, making sure the soil was moist. The tips got more brown, and then over the course of two days, some critical process inside the miniature tree failed, and the whole thing went brown and dead. I'm not entirely sure what went wrong, which is frustrating, because it means that if I make a second bonsai from a cheap little Home Depot juniper, there's a good chance that it, too, will die.

As time goes on, the thing I enjoy more and more about video games is how legible everything is. You press a button and something predictable happens. You screw up and you understand why, and how to fix it. Even a hard game, like Dark Souls, lets you understand why you died to the boss and what you can do better next time. You can say to yourself "okay, shield for the first two attacks, dodge for the heavy attack at the end, then punish with a heavy attack and back off".

I've been editing the first book of my webnovel, Thresholder, and I am just mired in an inability to understand whether the changes I'm making are actually improving it. Everything is done by feel and rules of thumb. I'm trying to be bold, but I'm charging off into the fog, unable to see where I'm going. I've always hated editing, not necessarily the line edit stuff to remove clunky phrasing (which is fine) but the larger scale stuff, trying to hammer a good story into a great one, removing unnecessary characters and winnowing down a scene until it's just the exposed heart.

If I could have a minor superpower, it would be to see, in real time, the audience average score for a piece of writing before it was released. I could tweak a line and get some feedback on whether it was better or worse. I could change a character's name and see whether people liked it better. I could do A/B testing.

But writing in real life has very long feedback cycles, even if you're posting things online, and it's difficult to know whether you've made something good until after it's out in the world.

[whinesandwhimpers]

it's always the quiet ones

Rodolfo Parra x f!reader

cw; noncon, creampie, forced orgasm, bit of somnophilia

You wake up to what you quickly figure out is someone's cock inching its way inside you. You're laying on your back with someone between your thighs. It's too dark to see who it is. Your top is still on. You tense, quickly becoming wide awake, and a hand covers your mouth before you can scream.

"Relax, Amor, Let me in," They whisper, leaning over beside your ear, and you easily recognise the voice, making your heart crack. Rudy. He groans, still pushing his cock in. It's thick. The stretch stinging. "I got you ready and you're still so tight."

You let out a muffled pained gasp as he forces the rest of his length inside, wincing from the burn and stretch of his thickness. Grasping his wrist, you try to remove his hand from your mouth, failing when he doesn't budge. You start sobbing after he places a kiss on your forehead. The gesture would've been sweet if he hadn't taken advantage of you.

He swiftly pushes your thighs up to either side of your chest and rests his weight on top of you, returning his hand to cover your mouth while he places his other palm beside your head to hold himself up. He slowly moves his hips back, pulling out until just his tip is inside before driving his cock back in again and again.

You dig your nails into the front of his shoulders, trying to push him off. You give up when all it does is make him groan in enjoyment from the pain.

"I'm sorry, Mi Amor, I had to. Don't— Don't cry." He shakily says, shuddering at the feeling of your walls around him, and moves his hand from your mouth to cradle your cheek and wipe some of your tears away.

"Please stop, Rudy." You try pleading, doing your best to ignore the way the discomfort is turning into something else entirely.

"No, I can't. I—" He thrusts particularly hard making you yelp. "I had to have you after today. Having you pinned under me in training— Mierda," He drops his head under your chin, harsh breaths hitting your clavicle, and roughly grips your hair between his fingers as he rams his cock into you harder. "You broke my last thread of control."

A few more rapid thrusts and he buries himself to the hilt as he finishes, filling your poor pussy up with his cum and panting hard against you. He kisses your jaw and slips out of you, then guides your legs down and massages your thighs with the heels of his palms.

When he moves away from between your legs, you slam your thighs closed. You've stopped crying now and you wipe the tears from under your cheeks. Now that your eyes have adjusted to the darkness, you watch him. You expect him to leave. He doesn't.

He walks over to your dresser and opens the top drawer, riffles around in it. He makes a noise of success and pulls out... your fucking vibrator.

"I've noticed you use this often, Amor." He walks over to the bed.

"You.. noticed?"

"I was too selfish before but I'll make you feel good now. I wanna hear more of those pretty noises you make when you think no one is around."

You scramble to move away but he lunges at you and wraps his arm around your waist, laying on his side and pulling you against his chest. He turns the vibrator on a middle setting and, through your struggling, presses it against your clit, making you shriek as a ripple of pleasure shoots through you, the previous fucking have built up something within you.

You flinch away from the vibrator and your ass presses against his dick making you jerk forward.. right back against the vibrator.

Rudy chuckles and runs the vibrator up and down your slit before returning to your clit, pressing harder, making you whine and squirm against it. His arm around your waist slips under your shirt to massage your breast and play with your nipple, tweaking and pulling it.

He turns the vibrator up to the highest setting and you fall apart with a cry, arching your back, hands mindlessly gripping the bed in front of you, your face scrunching up as Rudy continues working the vibrator on you through your orgasm.

"Good girl." He murmurs.

"Stop." You whine, legs twitching and trying to catch your breath.

He pulls the vibrator away and switches it off and tosses it on the floor.

You go rigid when you realise he's not leaving.

He gets comfortable behind you, spooning you. He pulls you impossibly close, arms wrapping around you. Your back is against his chest, his dick is right up against your ass, and he hooks his leg over your legs.

You're trapped.

"You won't tell anyone about this, will you, Cariño?" He rhetorically asks, nuzzling his face into your hair. "Because I'm the Sergeant Major and no one will believe you."

[sozila]

chiaroscuro. (nanami x reader)

synopsis: as a princess, you had a duty to the country. to knight kento nanami, you simply were his everything.

pairing: personal knight!kento nanami x princess!fem reader.

warnings: 18+, mdni. eventual sexual descriptions.

masterlist | previous | next

you are on: contemplation. part two of three

a/n:

apologies for the late upload! life is very tumultuous and i am no exception :,) i've been writing this for a while but it was mostly done a hot minute ago, but got beta read recently by my lovely ivy (@beeh-ive) and i've made tweaks enough to proudly say this is a good part two :) ! word count is 6.8k, very large jump but promise it's going to lead up to a good ending part three!

ao3 link here.

contemplation. (part two)

kento looked at you incredulously. he stuttered for the first time in your presence, unable to find words. 

“wha— well, i..! you cannot possibly —“ 

you look at him firmly, an unwavering resolve in your eyes. “i want to run away, and i need you to help me.” 

kento was barely processing words, let alone the logistics of this act. the ramifications, oh god, what if someone heard you utter these words? this was absolutely insane. he paced the room for a moment. it was true that your situation is bleak.after all, you’ve recently found out about a secret marriage alliance concealed so well even kento was aware of the arrangement. he was already ruminating that you were to marry any man, much less a cold prince. he knew certain rumors about satoru gojo. his womanizing escapades, lack of responsibility, unruly behavior. he was truly furious when he saw the same man standing in front of him and was declared to be betrothed to you. you, who got shy at even the mention of being intimate with a man, who had the aura of grace itself and was definitely the most respected princess kento knew. to say prince gojo did not deserve you was a scathing understatement. his princess deserved a man of finest nature, who would give you the world in your hands if need be. deep down, a tiny voice whispers that he only wishes it be him. 

kento snaps back to reality when he hears you call him for the fourth time. “kento nanami! heavens, is it surely so impossible? i know it shall require finesse and sacrifice, but i simply..” you trail in self-doubt, biting your thumb absentmindedly. with a small sigh, nanami kneels in front of your lap and grabs your hand, gently pulling it away. 

“forgive me, princess. i reacted unbecoming of myself. i simply.. i simply think about the meaning of it all. if you leave this castle, you will always be in hiding. you will never see your sisters and brothers again. you will lose more than just your lifestyle, my crown. this… will be irreversible.” 

his tone was soft and comforting, but his words stung, making your chest ache. he was right. a life lost to gain another. it is an ultimate sacrifice that you need to be absolutely sure of. 

“i understand, kento. i will grieve, this is fact. but i cannot live the rest of my life knowing i could have escaped this all when i had the chance, albeit small.” 

kento looks down at your hands that were still being held in his caresses them softly with his thumb. your heart jumps at the gesture. 

a beat passes. 

“give me the night, princess. i will form a plan that will do you the least harm. this is my promise to you.” 

his eyes flashed with intensity, the devotion in his tone not missed. his head leans down to kiss your hands, eyes not breaking contact. his lips stay on the skin longer than expected, causing you to feel hot from the contact. 

you couldn’t lie and say you didn’t miss the obvious; kento was a very gorgeous man. you’ve watched him (far more often than a lady should) train on his off days from your window, his skin glistened with sweat and his body moved swiftly in sparring. his body was built compared to most of the royal guard, surprisingly lean due to his tall figure. 

you’ve caught yourself accidentally drawing his features in your sketches, and now held a secret stash of them in your closet. once when cleaning, one of the maids found them and you begged her not to tell on you. she simply giggled and complied. “you misunderstand me! they are very beautiful, my lady. you should show him one day,” she told you. you thought about the scenario in which you could do so. the both of you in your colorful garden, him walking in step of yours as he usually does.. and you courageous enough to tell him your true feelings. 

would he be happy? horrified? uncomfortable? 

…interested? 

you knew the possibility was nothing short of impossible. but when he looks into your eyes like that, pledging his loyalty so sincerely to you, you can’t help but let your mind wander to the idea. 

the soft squeeze on your hand pulls you away from your thoughts and back to the man in front of you. your head dips in a bow of thanks, silent but sincere. 

kento wordlessly understands. his hand slips out of yours—the emptiness making your heart sink for just a moment—but your composure evens back to calm, as you have perfected over the years. he pushes off of his knees and reflects your bow, a bid goodnight. you barely raise your fingers in a motion to say, yes, you may go, despite the looping thought that he rather stay with you for the night instead. it was a childish impulsive thought, but one present in your head nonetheless.

he exits the room with your heart in his hands, as it has done so for the last five years.

the next morning you do not find kento at your door when you wake up. nor do you after your chamber maids come in to bathe and dress you. and even so when you are drinking your morning tea in the gardens. still, you sat in your frilly prison, passing the time in the ivy gazebo until you had some sign of your knight.

while kento had in fact left his post as your personal protection, he did not leave you without replacements. in his place were two young guards you had been acquainted with in passing. you had forgotten their names unfortunately, but they were extremely recognizable. one had blue-black hair in the shape of a sea urchin, a creature you had read about in novels only. despite your lack of familiarity with the sea animal, you definitely saw the resemblance with the boy. he was stoic and a well-mannered one, unlike his counterpart. radiant pink hair and with an energy you hadn’t seen anyone over the age of three exercise, the second guard was a bright and kind boy that struck conversation with you often. you had learned by the afternoon his name was yuuji, and the silent one was megumi. 

“your highness, i must say your taste in flowers is just impeccable. a lady’s maid told me you curated this entire garden at fourteen, is that true? the colors just light up this dreary castle, thank the gods. i hope you don’t mind if i practice some dueling with megumi here? got to keep our senses sharp, right megs?” “yuuji, we are not sparring in front of the crown princess. my deepest apologies for my imbecile partner, your grace.”

you snap your fan open and cover your mouth to let out a giggle at their shenanigans. what joy to see youth being youthful, you conclude. 

the chamomile in your cup eventually goes cold and the sun turns into a bright orange hanging in the sky. you gather your skirts and your fan and walk back to your room, pulling at your bodice. the lace had been digging into your skin since morning, and upon further inspection it was evident by the red marks that it was not just a figment of your imagination. you think for a split second if you should call your chamber maids but decide against it- you’re not a child, you can change a damn dress by yourself. your suffocated waist is instantly relieved as you practically rip off the pink cloths and strings. you’re finally allowed the luxury of breathing once you toss the pesky things away from you. corsets were surely made with the man perceiving it in mind, not the woman who had to wear it. you’re in simply a chemise under-slip when you hear the unmistakable voice of your dear knight trip on himself in shock.

you miss the way his eyes widen before he chokes out a cough.  “—ahem! p-princess, my deepest apologies, i would not have barged in if i knew.. i knew you were indecent,” 

as you flip in reaction to him your cheeks flame instantly, hands flying to your breasts to cover any unwanted bits. you knew the linen on your chemise was rather thin, a tad see-through. “k-kento!” you squeak with equal embarrassment. 

he lowers his gaze out of respect, and if his hand wasn’t covering his face you would know it was pure scarlet. this was insanely out of his clearance; fuck scandalous. he wasn’t in his usual uniform, but instead a formal pair of slacks and a white blouse with the sleeves rolled up. gods.

you let your hair fall around your face to hide your wandering eyes. nothing more sinful than strong forearms on display for you while you’re barely covering yourself, gods help the both of you. your eyes dart to the throw linens on your bed and all but lunge for them, wrapping yourself to cover your dignity. 

“i assume you have updates, yes?” you barely manage, trying to maintain the true situation at hand. 

you notice kento physically straightens as he enters his professional demeanor, remembering why he came into your room in such a hurry in the first place. you also notice he is holding parchment in his other hand.

“of course, my crown. i must preface with another apology, however.. i do realize it took much longer than i expected to settle discreetly,” you give him a quick nod and hand wave of dismissal. he takes this as a sign to continue. 

“right, thank you. in six days’ time, your father has deemed you to travel with prince satoru back to his country via his ship. the crown prince maintains his own crew, so he will be on deck before dawn to see through business. this allows us to have you ride in your own personal carriage to the docks, only accompanied by a driver and myself. i will take over the carriage and detour us to this—“ he points to a dot on his parchment, a map. “—village. we will stop for food and supplies, rest. i will be arranging some documents for our identities as well. after that, we will travel another day’s time to the village where i will buy a cottage for you to reside. it is a lovely but quiet town, princess, it sits by the shores untouched by our ships and trade. it is… serene, i've been told. for the life you deserve to live.” 

your eyes meet his, and the intensity, the familiar intensity of his devotion and loyalty, is unmissed. it’s paired with something soft you cannot recognize, but makes your heart skip rapidly regardless. it’s him, any look he gives you sends you in a flutter of joy. you clear your throat to break the trance. 

“what about his father, king masako? where will he be?” 

“he has planned to stay here for diplomatic discussion to further the marriage treaty between the nations. when you are declared missing, it is best the king and prince are separated to increase the chance that you will not be found.” 

this was true, you knew that messages between prince satoru and the king would take long, and devising a search between both sides even longer. it buys you time that you will desperately need. kento had really thought this through, and found the information in one day to boot.. you were beyond impressed, but also knew that he wouldn’t fail you with such an important task. he tells you some more details about his plan, making sure you wouldn’t be blindsided by any events that could occur. 

you give the maps a once-over and understand you’ll be traveling eastward, the warmer forest regions of your country. no wonder kento said the village he has chosen for you is going to be beautiful; you knew the potential environment from your books on your country. whatever the state of your future residence, you knew that freedom was what you dreamed about. 

you give him a final nod with strong determination, a fire blooming in your chest. “so it shall be, we make our escape in six days’ time.”

waking up on the fateful day, you try to take in as much of your room and the castle as you prepare for the journey.

out of nerves or maybe excitement, you had woken up well before the sun had risen, the sky still lit by moonshine. you try to capture the details of the room you’ve been housed in from the day you were born, the murals painted on your ceiling and the pink furniture you held memories with. 

picking up a necklace, you can’t help but feel a sense of melancholy for the bouts and bouts of jewelry you owned. twirling the metal in your hand, the light bounces off the rocks adorned in them. they never held much significance to you, just things you expected to receive every birthday, new year’s, or another excuse of an occasion. 

you didn’t feel the parting of sorrow, and the absence of the emotion is what made you truly sad. what a bittersweet inception. 

when you idle in the halls before the staff wake, you stand before the only painting you ever cared for. 

tears well up, blurring your vision of your mother smiling back at you with your chubby figure held in her dainty frame. 

this was the only painting of you and your mother in the same picture that still hung in the castle halls. your mother had died a few days before your second birthday. it was true that your birth has intensively affected your mother’s health— your father thanked the gods when she came out of the delivery alive. 

but no one realized that she suffered heavily for the months to follow. kerchiefs with bloodstains, dizzy spells and finding the queen passed out in the bath were well-kept secrets from the king, by her request. she knew she had limited time in this world with her beautiful baby girl and did not intend to be bed-ridden with treatments. 

what she did not know was that her death would loom over the kingdom for years and years, blackening the heart of her devoted husband. somewhere deep down, he blamed you for her death. then came your nannies, the governess that tortured you for years into the prim lady you were today. you longed for the chance to switch the stars and have a life where your loving mother stayed for you. 

despite the brutality of your upbringing, you held true to your kind heart and had compassion for life itself, reading about the beauty of the world and the adventures people had beyond your wildest dreams. at least now you have things to look forward to instead of cursing the universe. the raw nature at your fingertips, you exploring the forests and beaches! 

and maybe, just maybe… you get to give a mother’s love to a child of your own, something that you never had the opportunity of experiencing, long outside these cold stone walls. you hope someday you would find a man that would help build the future you dreamed of... and maybe he isn’t too far away. 

voices start to echo among footsteps in the castle and that was your sign to retreat back to your room. you get prepared as usual and your chambermaids have already packed your items for the supposed trip to the gojos’ kingdom. 

when you’re finally standing outside in the front courtyards, you fiddle with your lace gloves, fan hung on your wrist. your father and king masako were standing to see you off, with the entirety of the guard and staff. kento was still not here yet, and the carriage was being loaded with your suitcases. 

you look at the trees to calm yourself, watching birds flutter around singing their soft melodies.

“ah, sir nanami. we were beginning to think you were absent,” king masako chuckles slimily, throwing a hand on the back of your knight. 

your breath hitches at the sight of him. he was fully decorated in his royal guard uniform today, with all the medallions, ribbons, and your family’s house insignia, his sword now ensheathed in an etched-swirling gold cover. he was one of the highest ranked knights in the guard, save for the captain and the king’s personal guards. 

“apologies, i had misplaced my medallion.” he walks up to the carriage and opens the door, finally looking at you. 

“after you, princess.” you turn to your father and king masako and give a small goodbye curtsy out of respect, and lifting your skirt you walk towards the carriage. kento stretches a hand out to you, to offer you help on. you don’t know why this time feels different, but you feel a hot surge through your glove when your hands meet. 

you step on with poise and sit delicately on the seat. kento gives you a strong look and curt nod before closing the door behind you, leaving only the carriage windows with sheer curtains as your view back outside, on all four sides of the vehicle.

you hear mild conversations and feel kento sit in front with the driver, the horses snorting and nickering. at last, the carriage pulls with a whip, and the feelings and turmoil that had been plaguing you have ultimately dissipated. 

earlier, he had told you it would be around an hour deep into the forest when he would seize control over the carriage, knocking out the driver with force and then injecting a serum that would keep him asleep for a few hours to minimize risk. knock, knock, knock.  

kento told you he would give you a signal so that you would not be caught off-guard when he takes over the horses, given that it would be a little rocky. you shut the book you were reading and stay on high alert, hands gripping the cushioned armrests. your heart was beating fast. 

you had confirmed with kento that he would not try to hurt the man, simply hitting a nerve in his body that would put him to sleep. 

“argh!” a soft grunt of struggle, but the silence that followed finalized to you that the driver was subdued. 

the carriage shakes violently for a moment from the horses veering off track. you manage to get to the front window that separated you and the driver’s seat, pulling the curtains away. 

“kento! are you alright?” your eyes dart and see him lay the limp man on the seat in a manner so that he would not fall off before taking the reins of the horses and yanking them back, enlisting whinnies from them. “agh.. it’s under control, just a moment!” the horses slide into a racing stop, a small dust cloud surrounding the carriage from the action. 

a long breath you didn’t realize you were holding finally leaves you, your hand flying to clutch your chest. 

you thank the gods that this went smoothly as you step out of the carriage, looking for kento and the unconscious driver. your eyes catch him dragging the driver to a shaded part of the trees, away from the road. you follow, the crunch of leaves underfoot echoing in the stillness. 

"we'll need to move quickly," kento expresses, glancing over his shoulder. you nod, anxiety tightening your chest as you watch him tie the driver's hands and feet. the urgency in kento's eyes matches your own, knowing the journey is far from over. "let's hope this works," you murmur, exchanging a determined look with kento before heading back to the carriage.

as you climb back into the carriage, you quickly change into the plain clothes kento had advised for blending in. the simple blue dress felt unfamiliar, but necessary. definitely freeing, you think as you glare at your deathly tight corset laying on the carriage floor. 

kento stands outside, on watch for any other vehicles passing by. his sharp gaze never wavers as he scans the road, his posture tense. 

"ready?" he calls through the muffled door, his voice urgent. 

you nod, adjusting the dress with a quick tug to make sure it's secure. “ready.” you call back, opening the door once more. 

you step out to give a small spin, eyes watching his reaction. the sun is hitting your hair in such a way you look positively angelic.

“too plain?” you joke with a lopsided grin. 

he shakes his head, a small languid smile on his lips. “nothing is ever plain on you, princess.”

gods, you would never get over how intensely he pronounces all of his words. 

you blush and cover your reaction with a small distinguished cough, and turn to the horses. 

“would you like me to sit beside you, or inside the carriage?” he clears his throat, going back to removing all of his decorations to display a more plain guard uniform. “personally, i would prefer you inside. to attract less attention,” he explains. you nod firmly, not arguing with any of his logic. “so be it, then. nothing i am not accustomed to,” you hum, settling into the carriage. 

as kento mounts on, this time into the driver’s seat, you notice him adjusting the reins and glancing at the road ahead. “there will be more passers-by, so please lay low.” 

you brace yourself, giving a noise of agreement. the vehicle lurches forward again and you close the curtains of your windows, your heart a soft pound with the rhythmic clatter of the wheels.

a nearby ship’s horn blares in a deep rumble, like clock-work with the crash of ocean waves. satoru is tapping his foot rapidly, glancing at his pocket watch before shutting it with an irritated huff. he walks down the propped plank to the docks, approaching his group of officers. 

“it is currently five hours past sunrise. the princess should have been here two hours ago. is someone going to tell me any information on her whereabouts, or are you just useless scoundrels i pay to idle about?” he seethes, his glare withering the men into shivers. 

the second mate pipes up with a small voice, wincing. “your grace, i..” a couple of hushed whispers between the men ensue before he gets shoved to continue on by one. “we.. no one knows where she is. they said she left the castle a little over the agreed time, but that was the last correspondence, pleaseforgiveusyourgrace !” he squeaks out the last few words in a rush and holds his hands up in anticipation of a physical blow. 

satoru’s jaw ticks, his eyes narrowing at the men. how stupid. this entire kingdom included; they’re all so stupid . don’t think he missed the exchanges of heated glances between you and your knight, the dark and calculating man that kept staring daggers at satoru in that first meeting. he heard him inside your room passing by, even. soft words he was all too familiar with. what blasphemy that no one had a clue of the scandal happening right beneath everyone’s noses.

he pushes past the men, disgruntled, and finds the nearest saddled horse to jump onto. the men exclaim in shock, pleading him to find reason. “no, it is absolutely impossible for me to leave this with idiots. i am finding the princess myself and will be back in damn good time!” he yells behind him, starting his horse in a fast fashion towards the forested road. 

you didn’t realize you had dozed off until kento was softly shaking you awake. you open your eyes, mildly disoriented with where you were but quickly remembered the reason you were here. 

“i need to water the horses, princess. i’ll be at the river offside the road,” his deep voice rumbles in your ear as he leaned down to tell you this. you nodded sleepily, watching him through half-lidded eyes as he moved away. 

you hear the horses clomp away with him. the warmth of the midday sun and the earthy sounds of the forest surrounded you, lulling you back into a peaceful state. you had never been able to simply enjoy the forest whenever you were on trips to events or other towns, it was so new to you to just exist and be able to do as you pleased without thinking about repercussions. you also felt a sense of security knowing kento was nearby. with a soft sigh, you slowly began to sit up and move, ready to join him by the river to stretch your legs a tad.

you weren’t ready to see the scene before your eyes— the horses were cast aside along with a new one and your knight engaged in a sword fight with the crown prince you were supposed to be with. 

kento had checked on you when you were quiet in the carriage, sneaking a peek to find you dozing off on the seat with your book ajar in your hand. you were adorable, even with drool on your chin. he chuckles softly at the sight, you just had certain quirks about you that kento loved. 

he notices the horses are panting more haggardly than before and pulls to the side of the road, since it was following along the river. they clearly needed water, and it seems you were due for a stretch given your oddly-bent sleeping posture enlisting knitted brows from you, something he caught as well. 

kento drops down to come around into the carriage, close over your sleeping form. unmatched beauty, you had. he wakes you gently and leaves you to recollect your senses while he detaches the horses, leading to the calm flow of water. they dip their muzzles into the river, slurping eagerly. 

suddenly, the next moments go by in a blur when kento’s focus immediately shifts to the rapid galloping he hears coming from deep in the forest. 

he has his sword drawn in time and in a strong stance when prince satoru leaps off of the moving horse, his own sword firmly gripped in his hand, pointing at kento’s chest.

“care to enlighten me why the princess is not on my ship but rather traveling with you?” satoru demands, sizing him as they circle each other.

both were remarkable swordsmen of their own caliber, this would not be an easy fight for either man. 

“the princess always travels with me in her stead,” kento replies cooly, poker face unreadable.

satoru’s glare shines with fury. he takes a lunge and maneuvers with kento’s deflection, swift and focused. 

“do not change the subject at hand, you knave!” he seethes. 

the clash of metal reverberates through the air as kento parries the blow, the force of the impact vibrating up his arm. 

“stay back, your highness," he warns without looking at you, his attention fully on the prince. 

satoru’s head whips for a second to find you wide-eyed, in commoner’s clothing, watching the two of them altercate. kento took this as an opportunity to disarm him, but satoru was too quick on his feet for something so mediocre. 

“you realize i can have your public execution done for this filthy affair? have you no respect for royalty, knight?” he sneers, scoffing at the indifference he saw on kento’s face. 

kento’s brows knit together in confusion. “an.. affair? you’re mistaken, prince gojo. i have no illicit affairs.” he admits.

satoru chuckles bitterly before throwing another three consecutive blows with his sword, unwavering. 

“by the gods , you must think me loggerheaded! i’m not blind, you bastard! i know you’re bedding the crown princess!” 

you gasp, causing both men to put their attention onto you again since you hadn’t made a single word since the fight began. “that is untrue, prince satoru! i swear on my crown!”

you shout, touching your head out of habit but soon remember you were not in royal attire and your crown was actually sitting in the carriage. your face rouges in embarrassment. “well, my crown in the metaphorical sense.” you mutter with a shrug.

 satoru's eyes flick back to kento, disbelief and rage warring in his gaze. "you expect me to believe that? i've seen the way you look at her!” he snarls, lunging once more.

kento side steps, his sword moving in a swift arc to deflect the prince's attack. he doesn’t refute the claim presented to him, however.

"enough!" you cry out, stepping forward despite kento's warning. "this fighting is pointless! you need to know the truth, satoru."

the two men pause, their heavy breathing the only sound breaking the silence. satoru's expression softens slightly as he looks at you, though his grip on his sword remains tight. "explain yourself, then, princess." he demands, with a hint of desperation in his tone. "why are you here, and not on my ship?"

“because i can’t marry someone i don’t love !” you scream while throwing your hands down, the anguish you’d been holding in burst at the dams of your composure. they both seemed a shred taken aback with your reaction, something they’ve never seen from you.

“do you know how painful my life was? how nothing was ever good enough for my father or governess? how i’m expected to sit quietly and smile kindly while others speak for me? how, as a woman, i have virtually no power in the kingdom unless it be through my future husband? no! you do not .” 

you heave as the word-vomit had come to a close, your expression a little less than crazy. you take a deep breath, eyes closed, before you look back up at the man with a bitter smile. “so yes, prince satoru. i have devised a plan to leave my life on the throne because i cannot live this wretched life anymore. gods forbid i have a choice ,” you spit the last word, voice cracking on a sob. 

satoru had softened after hearing your entire speech. your eyes discerned a sense of heartache behind his gaze on you, and you could definitely say it wasn’t about you. he knew what pains you spoke of, to be choiceless in a system designed to use royal birth right as chess pieces in a game of world politics. the breeze whistles past your ears and a light shiver comes over you.

“i understand.”

you give him a look of hesitance. 

he doubles down firmly. “i understand completely, princess. i misstepped in assuming you had left in a selfish act.” he admits, lowering his sword back into his cover. “but in truth, this is quite courageous.”

you breath a sigh of relief, thankful no one lost an arm or leg in the heat of the fight. kento looks at you with a proud expression, which sets your stomach in a flurry. 

“…but, if you wish to leave without me stopping you, you must comply with my one request.” you flick back to him with shock. he had a request ?

“i’ll hear it first,” you say with a slow frown. 

he rolls his eyes in exasperation and pops a hip in stance. gods, what a sassy man. “oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist. i’m asking that you allow me to help you.” 

now it really was your moment to be shocked, jaw slackening. “wha— why, whatever for?” you exclaim in confusion. 

he takes a small huff of a sigh before stepping towards you to pat a hand on your shoulder. “because i know a thing or two about not wanting to marry someone you do not love.” there was something distant in his eyes, something you didn’t quite grasp, but you believed his words were earnest. 

and so it was settled; kento and satoru decided their alibi stories, kento letting him know about your stops and where you would end up if he needed to reach you in the event of an emergency. they were still rather agitated with one another, but more so kento as satoru kept cracking jokes that didn’t make kento laugh in the slightest. it was a little uncanny how quickly satoru’s demeanor switched into a childlike one. i suppose the “womanizer” claims aren’t for nothing, you thought. again: you were just glad no one was injured, no chopped limbs or whatever else. you were not exactly keen on bloody sights. what? a lady has her limits.

kento steps away from satoru for a moment to speak with you while the prince waters his own horse. you had learned he had grabbed a random royal horse and had it race here, the poor creature. kento looks down at you, close enough for your nose to fill with the scent of him. you try to focus away from the intoxication you were feeling to pay attention to his words. his low timbre voice rumbles by your ear. “i’m very proud of you, princess.” your cheeks warm in gratitude. you don’t think anyone has ever told you they’re proud of you, for anything. “thank you,’ you whisper shyly. it’s not in your nature to be so bashful, not even with kento. you were usually the one bothering and teasing, like satoru had been doing. what’s been happening lately, was your infatuation so far gone?

finally when everything is settled. you’re seeing off the prince. he beckons you to come to him with a small cheeky grin. you roll your eyes playfully and do it anyway. he leans down from his horse to whisper in your ear. “i hope you know i was being serious when i said your knight looks at you in a way a knight should not.” he quips with a smirk. your eyes flick to kento and catch his disgruntled frown at the sight of you so near the prince, despite the debacle that just occurred before you all. you scoff and shove the childish man in his face. oaf.

“please get back to your country, satoru.” 

“aww, you called me by my name!”

eventually, the night falls and kento once more ushers the horses into the forest. he pulls the curtains separating the two of you to speak behind him. 

“it’s getting too dark, and these backroads are unsafe at night. we’ll stop here so you can sleep peacefully, princess.”

you look at kento with a frown.

“are you not sleeping?”

he gives you a look as if you were not understanding. “i need to keep watch. my duty as a knight hasn’t changed because of our plan, your grace.” 

kento definitely didn’t show any signs or tiredness or weakness, but they trained that out of them at the military academy. and most of all, this was your kento. you knew his mannerisms. you get out to dig into the suitcases at the back of the carriage, much to his protests. producing two blankets and a makeshift pillow, you shove it into kento’s arms. 

“we’re alternating. i sleep four hours, you sleep four hours. and you can’t say no! you won’t be alert in the daytime if something does happen,” you jabber.

as per usual, he looked mildly displeased with your fall behavior, enlisting a cheeky smile from you. 

“gods know how much you’ve aged me in stress itself, princess,” he grumbles, stalking off to lay the blankets down on the cold grass. 

“all the more reason you need beauty sleep, dear kento,” you hum in a sing-song tone. you retreat to the sleeping arrangement inside the carriage.

 you’re plaiting your hair in two neat braids when you realize you’ve left your hair bands outside when you were pulling blankets out for kento. you exit the vehicle and turn to the back of the carriage when you catch a full glimpse of a shirtless kento in the middle of changing. 

you squeak. the moonlight was rather bright, definitely enough to see his muscles and taut back. he was a very, very rugged man. scars from sparring lightly littering the sight, it was nothing short of rough. the emphasis lied on him being such a man .

he had immediately flipped around upon hearing your footsteps, and it was officially his turn to be beet red, caught in the middle of indecency. 

“the odds are even now then,” you wobble with an embarrassed laugh, trying to make light of the situation like before. he looks at you incredulously as he haphazardly throws on the new clothes. “princess, you cannot joke about blasphemy like this!” you giggle harder at his reaction. “i should have been the one acting like this when you came into my room that evening,’ you quip with a light shove to his chest. he squawks and if it was even possible, blushing harder. “i-i did not intend to do that! you’re always reading a history book at your table by late sunset, or drawing in your sketchbook. you tend to use the sunset lighting more, i.. i just assumed!–” he rambles on and on, apologies shoved in between his overthinking. you’re not listening anymore, though.

he remembers things about you.

you did read often, all palace staff knew. it wasn’t special. kento knew you loved history and the world. kento knew you loved arts and culture, and drew frequently to pass time. he watched your fingers move so quickly as your sketches took shape. in awe. he was so enamored by your talent, oh if you knew. you didn’t gather that you spent more time in the later hours to draw, but it was true you loved sunset lighting. you never thought about it until now, but you did. a detail even you did not know about yourself, and he knew .

gods, get real. obviously he remembers. he's ordered to stay with you every moment. what delusions are you feeding your emotions? that he kept that information for romantic reasons?

you rest a hand on his shoulder, prompting him to shut his mouth. you’re looking at him with a small sincere smile, riddled with the feelings churning in your heart. “i’m simply teasing, kento. mistakes happen.” 

he looks at your fingers on his shoulder, then you. he nods curtly, silent for a moment. his timbre voice rumbled gently, so soft to you. for you. “i only want.. no, need you to know.. i would never encroach on your vulnerability. i hold my respect for you to the highest standard.” 

there was that unwavering loyalty again. that borderline sinful look of trust wading in his deep brown eyes that you wanted to absorb until the end of time. his frame curled towards yours, you see the dutiful submission from the powerhouse he was. how such a large and fearful man who was dueling the most gifted swordsman hours ago, was now back to being your loyal subject, a humble guard. fully attentive to you, as always. every sense was trained onto your body, your soul, your being. perhaps it was because of the dark night, the lust in your heart lurking in the shadows.. you knew at that moment, you wanted nothing more than to embrace him in the rawest capacity. to ravage and ruin your demure act just for him. 

a breeze breaks the trance between you and him. you’re both already shuffling away from each other, you clearing your throat, him coughing to cover up the air of what was exchanged nonverbally. 

“i shall wake you when four hours have passed, princess. please sleep,” kento mumbles, turning to his blankets. 

you realized to some effect, he was thinking deeply in that moment, just as you had. you wished to know what he thought, and if they were filled with the same unforgivable fantasies you had of him. in truth, you knew this chance was slim if not nonexistent. but you had your dreams, and sleep awaited you anyways. if you couldn’t have kento in flesh you were allowed your mind-palaces where you can trace those scars on his back again and again, kissing every bump and valley of his body. those unwavering loyal eyes watching every move you make on him, skin to skin. his hands on you being rough but gentle, like his tone. they slot over your hips like they belonged there, you sat atop him. you felt beautiful under his gaze, his touch. he says things that make you melt into him sweetly. you’re unable to decipher where your body ends and his begins. your kisses get interrupted by his own capture of you, flipping you to the bottom. he’s towering over you so deliciously, wide chest, powerhouse . his fingers pulling away your hair from your eyes so you can witness him dipping his head down to–

you jolt awake. you didn’t follow when you drifted to sleep in your thoughts, but you knew you were drenched in sweat and unchecked filthy need. this was highly unbecoming of a princess, gods help your soul. dirty dreams of your knight, hah!

yes, you were far, far gone.

omg ur mind... is literally so tv-ma... LOL anyways please leave comments i luv them chomp chomp and i luv you, as usual :)

peace luv bathtub taglist! @kawliflo @deepcloudspyhairdo

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