#Rival Tess

[manthequin]

Tess thing I’ve been chipping away at over the week

[fallinghaile2857]

I felt like doodling Tess because I don't draw her enough 👍

[illiad-von-bun]

Misc doodles

[mamserkubee]

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Omh !!! Tess from Loomian Legacy sketch !!! I did this two months ago and I thought I outta share it here !

I haven’t logged onto the game for a longgg timeee ! My off brand stylus died when I had a resurgence of motivation to draw rip rip

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[downrightbooks]

JENNIFER PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU MY WALLET CAN’T HANDLE MUCH MORE 😭

OMG JLB just announced a clothbound deluxe edition of the Inheritance Games (In the UK) and I’m literally freaking out they are so freaking beautiful. (I’ll be ordering them off of BlackWell’s because I live in the US)

Also, JLB announced a while ago that her Fixer Series was getting new covers and a new titles (The Ruling Class & Lessons in Power). I haven’t read the series yet but I’ve heard a lot of really great reviews about it.

[slumpsnail]

I've been seeing artists draw Minthara in fashion clothes so I wanted to do it too but make it Filipino. Filipininas and Barongs are traditionally constructed from piña or piña fiber blends with beautifully intricate embroidery. Growing up, it oddly made me think of spiderwebs so I had to do it. Plus Minthara's glare rivals that of your Tita Tess judging you at the party for getting another tattoo >:)

[jam3sacaster]

“I have waited for the day.”

(Rivals) Rupert Campbell-Black x Reader

Suggestion by sweet @megangovier 🫶🏽 Distraught from your very recent breakup, you seek solace in the only person you can trust…

18+ FANFIC / A gorgeous mixture of soft & vague smut. Short Work. Reader character aged 21. Hope you enjoy! 🩷

Rapping violently against the door of Penscombe Court, mascara flowing down your cheeks like inky waterfalls, you sniffle and fiddle with the tips of your fingers anxiously. It was a beautiful Spring day, the mellow sunlight cast a golden glow across Penscombe Court and the magnificent weeping willow tree in the driveway swayed fantastically in the gentle breeze. However, it was hard to appreciate the springtime beauty through glassy eyes. Barking contentedly as he sprints towards you, Blue, Rupert’s lurcher, circled around your feet and wagged his tail. It had been ever such a long time since you have seen him, but you were overjoyed that he recognised you. “Hello, my darling. Oh, how I’ve missed you. Where on Earth is your Dad?” You sniffled, bending down to stroke his back softly.

The front door slowly creaked open to reveal the man you had so desperately missed, wearing only a pair of beige tweed trousers and a vile brown leather belt, reading a copy of Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. “Dear God, what on Earth’s the matter, angel?” Rupert questioned you upon seeing the distraught expression painted across your face. “Can I come in?” You ask, pushing your way past him and into the sitting room before he could respond.

“You’re in luck.” Rupert spoke as he rifled through his drinks cabinet, and promptly brandished a large bottle of Gordon’s. Pouring you a disgustingly strong gin & tonic, Rupert collapsed onto the space beside you, resting his book down gently on the coffee table and lighting you both a cigarette. You accept it graciously and take a long drag, dazzling emerald eyes piercing through the thick cloud of smoke. “Fucking prick. I don’t know how I put up with him for so long. After everything I dealt with, he finishes me?” You scoff and watch as Blue carefully pads into the room, curling over your feet. “I have waited for the day. If anything, I’m glad that rotter finished with you, you were much too marvellous for him. At least he will leave you alone.” Rupert tuts, biting his bottom lip exasperatedly.

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” You paused for a moment, “It’s working, carry on.” Your words were accompanied with a congested giggle. That sound is heavenly, Rupert thought to himself as his pique expression softened. “I really don’t think I can bare to be alone tonight. Do you mind if I crash here? Just for one night.” You muttered under your breath as you picked at a small hole in your tights, gaping it and creating a ladder that tore from your thigh to your kneecap. “Of course you can, if you allow me to rip your tights someplace else.” Rupert teased, slugging back his gin & tonic and promptly pouring you both another.

His suggestive comment made your knees tremble with a feeling unfamiliar to you — why was Rupert making you feel so weakened? “Do you mind if Blue stays with me in the guest room?” You question, leaning down to give the darling lurcher a pat. “You needn’t. If you’re feeling particularly lonely after your breakup, you should stay in my room. I’ll keep you company.” His eyes narrowly enticingly as he spoke. The awful, lustful burning in your loins made you feel terribly reprehensible. You had been single for, you pause to check your watch, two hours — and already had a overpowering desire to remove that brown leather belt of his.

Taking a swig of what was your third gin & tonic, you recognised that spectacular dizzying feeling, your mind thick with gin and terrible ideas. By now, the sunset was flourishing in majestic washes of rose pink, striking amethyst and breathtaking paprika-orange. “Care to take this outside?” Rupert asked, lifting the bottle of gin from the table and sliding open the glass doors. With a small nod of your head, you follow him and take a seat at the bench just outside the door.

As to be expected, Blue bounded into the garden after you both, rolling on his back across the dew-coated grass. A small, joyful giggle left your lips, which coaxed Rupert to flare up at you again, rubbing his tongue over his lips. “I might join you there, Blue.” You mumble, now laying on your back as the silver dog collapsed onto your chest. My God, she’s beautiful, Rupert thought to himself. “Your ladder is getting worse.” He chuckled, leaning down beside you and placing his finger through the ladder, pulling at it slightly. “Inside, Blue.” Rupert points towards the sitting room in a firm manner, and Blue immediately complied.

His tender caress of your leg made your lip wobble in desire, and he basked in every moment of it. “Rupert…” You whispered, gazing up at him with innocent, glittering eyes. “Angel. I need you.” Rupert mumbled softly in response, but your lips were crashing together lustfully before the final word could leave his mouth. “I must have you.” You fretted, and raised yourself onto your elbows, fiddling with his belt and throwing it to the ground. “Are you terribly sure?” The man spoke eloquently, but you hiked your dress to your belly and nodded your head. Gripping your tights on either side of your thighs, he tore them from you with a resounding rippp, exhorted by the sound of your maniacal giggles. “Angel. Whilst it’s turning me on awfully to tear these tights from you, I must tell you something.” He faltered, and lay back down beside you. “What? It’s not something bad, is it?” You whisper carefully into the air.

“No, no, not at all.” Rupert reaffirmed. “But it’s something you must know. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so strongly about someone before. You interrupt my every thought.” And just like that, everything was in slow motion. It was like every birthday and Christmas combined into one lovesick jumble. “I’m terrified to say that I think I love you.” You replied, and every trouble and doubt melted away.

[justagalwhowrites]

Shelter

IT'S FINALLY DONE!

A request from MONTHS ago from the lovely, the talented, the supreme Lavender fan @dundienominee who wanted some QZ era Joel angst that included a few specifics. I thought you'd sent an ask but I think it was just one of the millions of DMs lol

So here it is! A NON-CANON Lavender one shot, where Joel and Doc are stuck together when FEDRA puts the QZ on lockdown.

I hope this is what you're looking for, love!!

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader from Lavender (can be read independently with the understanding that Joel and Reader are exes and Reader also dated Tommy in the QZ.)

Warnings: SMUT!, Results of canon-typical violence, infidelity (not on each other). No use of Y/N. Minors DNI, 18+ only.

Length: 8.4k

August, 2017

Joel had been right. 

That wasn’t a fact he particularly appreciated in that moment. He’d rather have been right and not shot. He’d rather have been wrong, for that matter, even if you’d be bound and fucking determined to hold it over him for the next who knows how fucking long. 

But no, he had to be right and shot. 

Still, better than another alternative. 

You shot. You hurt. That was the worst possible outcome. 

Well, maybe not the worst. That would be you dead.

Joel couldn’t think about that. 

“Shit,” you swore, the sound of FEDRA around the next corner. 

“There,” Joel said through gritted teeth, nodding toward a pile of junk. 

“Right,” you said, pulling him along toward it, your shoulder tucked into his underarm. You pulled him down to the ground just as a dozen or so FEDRA guards ran past, armed to the teeth, guns drawn. Joel fought to keep quiet, breathe silently through the pain, until he couldn’t hear them anymore. You looked at him. There was blood on your cheek. “Should we wait? Or do you think we’re good to move?” 

“So now you want to listen to me?” He asked sarcastically. You glared at him. He ignored it. “Should be alright now, doubt more troops will be headin’ that way from here.” 

You helped him to his feet and he leaned against you again, trying to ignore the way his body seemed to be hyperaware of everywhere you touched him. You started walking. 

“I’m really sorry, Joel,” you said, sounding a little breathless, as you started getting close to his apartment. “I really thought it would be alright…” 

“Maybe fuckin’ listen to me next time,” he managed through the pain. “Might not be a damn doctor but I do know about shit like this…” 

“I know,” you said quietly. 

Joel let the subject drop. 

The two of you had gone to the absolute shittiest part of the QZ to run medication to a boy there who had been in the clinic just a few days earlier. You’d gone on a special trip outside the QZ for it. You had explained it all to Joel and Tess, of course, but he didn’t really get it. All he knew was there was a four-year-old boy who needed some drug urgently. 

You just hadn’t bothered to explain where that drug needed to be taken until you, Joel and Tess made it back to the QZ. 

“No,” Joel had shaken his head. “No fuckin’ way…” 

“He’s going to die,” you said. “He has the flu, he’s already showing signs of complications, if he doesn’t get help it will kill him, I need…” 

“No.” 

“Fine,” you snapped. “I’ll go on my own.” 

You turned to leave. 

“No the fuck you won’t,” Joel grabbed your wrist, yanking you harshly alongside him. “Gonna just get yourself fuckin’ killed…” 

“Fuck off, Joel.” 

You pulled yourself from his grip and stalked off, leaving him no choice but to follow you. For someone as damn smart as you were, you made stupid fucking decisions. 

Decisions that led to the two of you getting caught in the crossfire between two rival groups that left Joel with a bullet in his stomach near his hip. 

“Almost there,” you said, your fingers holding tight to his side. 

“Know where the fuck we are,” he muttered. He didn’t need to look at you to know that you rolled your eyes in response. 

He managed to make it up the stairs and into the apartment, Tess pacing the living room. She stopped when she saw him, her eyes going wide. 

“Jesus Christ,” she ran to him, taking his other side. 

“Let’s get him to the table,” you said. “Trying to avoid doing this on the floor again…” 

Joel had all but forgotten that you’d saved his life here, in this room, once before. He had almost no memory of it, what little he did remember was more like a dream. You, next to him, your hands soft, voice gentle, something warm in him that was tied to you. You didn’t seem real, you seemed like something he’d lost, something that was in a place that was too far and too good for him to reach. But you were there. And you were taking care of him. 

“Fucking told you, Doc,” Tess snapped, helping to haul Joel’s broken body to the table. She cleared the papers and trash from it, dropping shit into a chair. “Fucking told you not to go to that side of the goddamn QZ…” 

“Yeah, I get it,” you snapped back. “I’m a fucking idiot, alright? Just help me.” 

You and Tess got Joel up on the table and he groaned, his muscle tensing and pulling around the wound in his stomach. 

“Sorry, sorry,” you said, helping him lay back on the wood with a grunt. 

“Don’t know why I let you talk us into this shit,” Tess said, still pissed, as she unbuttoned his shirt. “I should really fucking know better by now, you’re the dumbest smart person I know…” 

“Tess,” Joel growled. 

“She’s going to get you fucking killed,” she snapped. “She’s going to get us both fucking killed…” 

“Tess,” his voice was sharper. 

He knew that Tess was far from a fan of yours. She’d been growing tenser and tenser around you for a while now. He was never sure why, if it really was what she said and it was because she felt like you took stupid risks, if it was because he’d never been able to care about her the same way he cared about you in spite of how much he loathed it, if it was because she was tired of trying to keep the peace when you were so clearly done with him. For a while, it had seemed like the two of you were friends. Almost friends. But not anymore. 

“Someone has to give a shit if you live or die, Joel, and we both know that it’s not going to be you and it’s not going to be her, either,” she unbuttoned his jeans next. “So that leaves me.” 

“You think I don’t give a shit?” You asked, dropping your pack on a chair and yanking it open. “You think I keep you and him alive for fun?” 

“No, I think you do it so you can keep trying to save a place that can’t be fucking saved,” she was yelling now. 

“Tess.” 

“Shut up, Joel,” she barely glanced at him before rounding on you again. “I’m tired of being some tool in her goddamn stupid crusade…” 

“Tess.” 

“I didn’t fucking make him come with me!” You yelled back at her. “I would have gone on my own, he’s the one…” 

“You really think he’s the one who makes the decisions when it comes to you?” Tess shoved you. “You really think he’d let you run off to get yourself fucking killed? You’re an idiot sometimes, Doc, but you’re not that fucking stupid.” 

“Tess!” Joel was trying to sit up but she wasn’t paying attention. You were. You looked at him, frowning. 

“No,” she yelled, shoving you again. “No, I’m done with this shit, I’m done pretending that we’re doing fucking anything besides risking our fucking lives for some pointless…” 

“Tess!” He managed to sit up, grabbing her arm before she could shove you again. Her head spun, hair whirling, eyes narrowed. “She’s right, don’t fuckin’ blame her…” 

“She’s…” Tess shook her head. “You are so fucking stuck on her, on her bullshit, on…” 

“Get out.” 

You pulled gauze out of your pack and pressed it to the wound at his hip. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She gaped at him, her brows raised. 

“You can figure out how to fuckin’ respect her or you can go,” Joel said through gritted teeth. “Not gonna just let you talk about her…” 

“Her is right here,” you cut him off. “Stop talking about me like I’m not fucking here. And Joel you need to lie down before you fuck something else up, Jesus…” 

Tess looked between him and you before she shook her head and stepped back from the table. 

“Good fucking luck,” Tess snapped before stalking out and slamming the door behind her. 

You looked where she had been for a moment before nudging Joel back down onto the table. 

“You done?” You asked, brows raised. “Because I don’t need you to defend me from your girlfriend, Joel. I’m still going to keep you alive even if you both hate me.” 

“I don’t…”

“Stay still.”

He gritted his teeth and stared daggers at the ceiling while you worked on him for a moment, pressing gauze into his skin for a bit before pulling it away. 

“Don’t think you’ve hit anything major,” you said, more to yourself than to him. He still grunted in response. “Stay put, I still need to get that bullet out and get you cleaned up.” 

He followed you with his eyes as you went about collecting tools, cleaning yourself up, putting on sterile gloves. He tried to focus on you without it raising his blood pressure which, he figured, wouldn’t be the best thing to do when there was an open wound on his torso. 

But it was hard. 

It had been years with you like this. More than a decade. Thinking about you too much made his chest tight, his stomach clench. Thinking about you too much made him worry he might be having a fucking heart attack, that you just might be the death of him.

But you were still who he thought about when he needed comfort. Still where his mind went when he was in pain and he needed to remember why he should try to live through it. Still what he pictured when alone at night and he thought the loss and the emptiness of his life would swallow him whole. Still where his thoughts found when he wanted to come because nothing had ever felt as good as you. 

“Think you can sit still while I get this sucker out of you?” You asked. “Because I don’t exactly have someone here to hold you still at the moment.” 

“Just do it,” Joel squared his jaw and stared at the ceiling again. 

You were quiet for a moment before you touched his bared skin with the lightest, gloved touch. 

“I really am sorry,” you said softly. “I know… We have our issues but… I really hate seeing you hurt. I really hate getting you hurt.” 

Joel looked at you, your face drawn into a frown, your eyes sad. Even now, he thought you might be the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“I know,” he said, looking back at the ceiling. 

You were quiet and he could feel your eyes on him before he felt you slip some kind of instrument into the wound. He hissed through the pain of it but kept still. 

“I know,” you said, voice gentle and soothing. “You’re OK, it’ll be OK.” 

He remembered you using that voice with Sarah. He came home from work once and his daughter was perched on the counter, sniffling, her face streaked with tears. You were talking to her in that voice, a wad of paper towel held against her knee. 

“You’re OK. It’ll be OK.” 

“You with me, Miller?” You asked after what felt like an eternity but knew it must have only been a few minutes. “Need a break?” 

“Just finish it,” he managed through gritted teeth. 

You found the bullet and planted your hand firmly on the softness of his stomach. 

“Hold still,” you said. “This is going to have to be kind of slow, there’s relatively little damage, nothing major hit and I’d like to keep it that way.” 

You pulled on it and he could feel you moving through him, through the gaping wound him, pulling the pain out into the open air. 

When you finished, you held the bullet up, glistening with blood. 

“The cause of all this trouble,” you said, turning it in the light. “Let me patch some of this up and make sure you don’t bleed out. I don’t think you’ll need a blood transfusion this time at least…” 

Joel frowned, lifting his head slightly as you set to work. 

“What do you mean ‘this time?’” 

You froze for half a second before you tried to brush it off. 

“Just, you know,” you said. “In general.” 

He watched you work for a moment. 

“Hey.” 

You glanced at him before looking back at his wound. 

“What?” 

“You had to give me a blood transfusion last time?” He asked, trying not to groan at the pain. 

“I didn’t want to freak you out,” you said eventually, tucking gauze into the wound. “But… yeah, you were down a lot of blood and… Look, I did what I had to do to keep you alive.” 

You cleaned up the skin around his injury. 

“Whose blood?” 

“What?” You asked, focused on the task. 

“Whose blood did you use?” He asked. “Don’t imagine you went down to the clinic so whose blood.” 

You were quiet and Joel was about to ask again when you spoke. 

“We didn’t know your blood type,” you said quietly. “So Tommy would have been the best option…” your voice trailed off but he knew that wasn’t the end. He kept watching you and you sighed before you kept going. “But I’m O- so…” 

He just blinked for a moment. 

“It was yours.” 

Your eyes darted to his for half a second. 

“Yeah. It was mine.” 

He was quiet as you pulled off your gloves with a sharp snap. 

You’d saved him. Bled for him, poured yourself into him so he would keep breathing. He’d walked around for who knows how long with you pulsing through his body and he hadn’t known. 

“You should have told me,” he said eventually. 

“Yeah, well.” 

You started packing up. 

“You should have…” 

“I couldn’t be sure that you wouldn’t fucking slit your wrists if you knew, alright?” You snapped. “You hated me. You still hate me but it was worse then, you’ve figured out how to tolerate me in the last decade which is great and all but Jesus, Joel, don’t act like telling you was the easy thing to do.” 

You threw your pack over your shoulder and he sat up, ignoring the pain at his hip. 

“I need to get home,” you said. “Try not to wreck all my work…” 

There was a pounding at the door that made you jump. Joel shoved himself off the table and quickly buttoned his shirt as he limped for the door. 

“Bag down,” he said quietly. “Stay back.” 

You nodded, obeying him for once in your damn life. 

He opened the door slowly, cautiously. A FEDRA officer stood at his door. 

“Can I help you?” Joel tried not to growl, tried not to do anything that would incite suspicion. Not that he could help that he had on a bloody shirt with a fucking bullet hole in it. 

“There’s been increase violence in a nearby quadrant of the QZ,” the man said, barely looking at Joel. “We’re requiring all residents to shelter in place until further notice. Is everyone here a member of your household or does someone need an escort home?” 

Joel saw you step toward the door, opening your mouth like you were about to speak, but he held his hand out behind him, silencing you. 

“Same household,” he said. “We’re all set here.” 

“We’ll let you know when it’s safe to leave,” the guard said. “Lock your door.” 

He left before Joel had a chance to respond and he shut the door quickly before slumping against it. 

“Joel!” You hissed, going to his side and looping an arm around his waist. He leaned against you and you helped him to the couch. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

“You really want to get a fuckin’ FEDRA escort home?” He grimaced. 

“No,” you snapped, setting him on the couch. “But do you remember how long they locked us down for last time?” 

“No.” 

“A week,” you said, sitting on the threadbare arm chair. “And I’d rather get a FEDRA escort than have you kill me out of frustration in three days because that’s how long we’ll last before you get that fed up with me.” 

“Jesus, you really think we can’t manage to not kill each other for a few fuckin’ days?” He settled into the couch. “You n’me have survived a lot worse than that.” 

You scoffed. 

“Have we?” You asked, brows raised. “Besides, aren’t you worried about Tess?” 

He shrugged. 

“She can handle herself better than you can,” he said and you rolled your eyes. “You that worried about gettin’ back to Derek?” 

“Worried about FEDRA showing up at my door to look for relief for the clinic and not finding me,” you snapped. “Should have just let them…” 

“Not gonna let you go out there with those fucking assholes if people are out there shooting at each other!” Joel cut you off. “Don’t trust ‘em with shit let alone with you! I can keep you safe here so you’re staying here, it ain’t up for discussion!” 

You just blinked at Joel for a moment, a shocked look on your face. 

“Think we can handle not strangling each other for a few damn days,” he muttered, looking away from you. He couldn’t really handle looking at you. You didn’t say anything. You just got up, grabbing your pack and stalking further into the apartment. He frowned. “Where do you think you’re goin’?” 

“Don’t want to be around you any more than you want to be around me,” you said. “So I’m going to Tommy’s room…” 

“Always liked his bed,” Joel muttered, grinding his teeth. 

You flipped him off, not bothering to even look at him before slamming Tommy’s door behind you. 

***

Day 1

Tommy needed better hobbies. 

It was clear Joel had barely used Tommy’s room since he’d left. There were some boxes for storage - things you weren’t about to go searching through since you were pretty sure it was full of black market things from smuggling runs - but otherwise it was exactly how you remembered it. Not that you’d ever spent much time here. You liked to avoid Joel and Tommy seemed to like to avoid him even more than you did when you were around. You’d slept here a few times, when Joel was outside the QZ but Tommy had stayed behind, but he was much more likely to be at your place than his. 

But this room was all but a shrine to him. Or maybe more of a mausoleum, something left in memory of someone who was gone and would never be back. You hadn’t really realized how much you’d missed your friend until you were back in his space, surrounded by his things. 

You also realized that, in reality, you didn’t have a ton in common. Tommy’s book collection was… lacking. He had a few tattered Tom Clancy novels and you settled on one that you were pretty sure he’d brought over to your place once or twice. 

It wasn’t really your thing, though, and you were desperately bored. You were going to have to emerge from the room eventually to do more than pee and refill your water bottle in the bathroom sink. You were almost out of the jerky you’d packed for your trip outside the QZ and you’d never been very good at sitting still with nothing to occupy your mind. 

But you’d need to check on Joel’s injury at some point, anyway. Because looking at the ex who seemed to mostly hate you but apparently flew off the handle at the thought of you getting shot. 

Which you didn’t fully understand. If anyone asked you, you’d have sworn up and down that Joel would shoot you in the street if it wouldn’t make his life harder. You were surprised he hadn’t all but tossed you to an infected in the years you’d been going outside the QZ but the fact that you did things like pull bullets out of him and stitch Tess’ knife wounds closed was apparently a good enough reason to keep you alive. 

You didn’t see how that was a good enough reason to keep you from leaving his apartment when the two of you were about to be locked down for who the fuck knows how long. What were you supposed to do with… well, any of it? 

Your head dangled over the edge of the bed when you spotted a ratty tennis ball in the corner. You tumbled off the bed and picked it up, oddly grateful to have something to function as a distraction and started bouncing it off the wall, catching it out of the air when it bounced back at you. 

“The fuck you doing?” Joel called at you from the other side of the wall. 

You rolled your eyes. 

“Keeping myself from being so bored that I jump out a window.” 

He was quiet for a minute. 

You threw the ball again. 

“It’s annoying.” 

You caught the ball and then threw it. 

“Should’ve sent me off with FEDRA then.” 

For a moment, you thought that might be the end of it. And then the door opened. 

He’d gotten changed, at least, his new shirt as clean and intact as you could really find in the QZ and he looked a little pale. You looked him in he eye and you threw the ball again. 

“You tryin’ to piss me off?” He asked, one arm propped against the door frame. 

You shrugged and caught the ball. 

“You just make it so fun…” 

You threw the ball again and he came and snatched it out of the air. You glared at him. 

“Are you trying to make me miserable?” You asked. “Because it’s getting really old…” 

“Is that what you think I’m doing?” He snapped. “Think I decided to come find you in my brother’s bed because it’s fun…” 

“Oh will you stop fucking harping on that?” You shoved off the bed and stalked over to him in the doorway. “It’s ancient history! Think it’s time to get over the fact that your brother decided to pick up your broken toy…” 

“You think that’s why I’m pissed?” He asked, brows raised. 

You ignored him, dropping to your knees and yanking his shirt up. He stopped breathing and you checked his wound before getting to your feet. 

“In a few hours I’ll change your dressing,” you said, looking up at him as you stood almost shockingly close to him. You could see the pulse in his throat. “Leave me alone until then.” 

He clenched his jaw, looking you up and down, before storming off, yanking the door shut behind him. 

Day 2 

You waited until you heard the bathroom door close before you emerged. You were officially out of jerky and sitting in a room full of Tommy’s things while being sharply aware that he was thousands of miles away from you was wearing on you fast. You needed something - anything - to distract you. 

So you darted to the kitchen, grabbed a bag of jerky, and paused on your way past Joel’s room, his door cracked open. If you were quick…

You opened the, the hinges creaking, and ducked inside. 

It was neat, orderly. Like you remembered it being years ago when you were together. There were little signs of him everywhere, enough that you’d have recognized the room as his even if you’d walked into it in a strange place a thousand miles away. Little carvings on the window sill, the watch you’d helped Sarah picked for his birthday gift on the nightstand, a cracked Springsteen CD case sitting next to a worn boom box. You resisted the urge to touch the booklet and see if it fell open to a specific page, if you could tell what he’d been looking for when picking that album. 

Instead, you went to the bookshelf that was collapsing, worn boards sagging between cinderblocks. You recognized Joel’s taste in books, a little more in line with your own. You found a Cormac McCarthy book you hadn’t read with a spine that looked comfortably warn and pulled it, almost reverently, off the shelf. 

“The hell you doin’?” 

You jumped, almost dropping the book and the bag of jerky. 

“Sorry…” 

“I say you could come in here?” 

He was standing in the doorway in pajamas, his pants slung low on his hips, t-shirt stretched over his broad shoulders. 

“I am bored out of my mind,” you said, squaring your jaw even though you knew you shouldn’t be in his room. “I got desperate.” 

“You think that’s a reason to just waltz in…” 

“No, but…” 

“Sure acting like it!” 

“Is hating me fun for you?” You snapped. “Because it sure seems like it is! I don’t know why you’d work this hard at it if it wasn’t.” 

He looked you up and down for a moment. 

“Just get the fuck out of here,” he stepped to the side and you ducked around him, all but running back to the room you’d claimed as your own. 

You settled in on the bed with your new book, resting it on your knees and trying to forget how mad Joel had been just because you dared set foot in his room, as though you didn’t live together once in another life. It had been so easy for him to forget. You’d been so easy for him to forget. 

You opened the book and tried to get absorbed in the story but were having a hard time focusing, shifting around on the bed and hoping that a more comfortable position might make it so you could let yourself fall into it. You were changing positions for the third time when something fell out of the book and flitted like a leaf down to the worn quilt. You frowned, picking it up and turning it over in your hands. 

It was a picture. A picture of you. 

“What?” You whispered to yourself, eyebrows knitting together. 

It was a photo you recognized. Derek had it in his bedroom and he’d taken it without you knowing. You were folded into an armchair in his living room, a book in your hands, hair wild with a ribbon in to keep it out of your face. When he’d developed the photo, you remembered the day he’d taken it. One of the few that you had off from both jobs in the QZ. It had been warm that day, you hadn’t bothered to put on a bra or even pants, sitting around Derek’s place in a pair of his boxers and a tank top. He’d fucked you that morning, before it got too hot, and the two of you spent the day not moving much otherwise, not wanting to spend hours sticky with sweat and miserable. 

The day stuck out to you, though, not because of the heat or because you got to spend it somewhere besides the clinic or the school. Instead, it was because it reminded you of summer days in Austin with Joel. Trying not to run the AC too much, you sat far apart on the couch wearing as little as possible with Sarah coming and going from the house with friends. He would bring you glasses of ice water or lemonade almost every time he got up, his lips finding your forehead when he pressed the cold glass into your palm, his large hand finding your ankle because he had to be touching you in some way without making both of you miserable in the heat. 

And now Joel had a picture from that day, the one where he’d been on your mind the whole time, so much that you’d given up on trying not to think of him. 

You weren’t sure how he’d gotten it. Derek may have given him a copy if he’d asked but you didn’t know how he knew it existed. And why would he want a copy in the first place? 

You looked a little closer at it, the corners curling, edges peeling. Like it had been held a lot. There was a discolored almost halo around the edges of you, like someone had been tracing over the outline of you over and over again. 

There was a sharp knock on your door and you stuffed the photo into the book again. 

“What?” You asked, tone softer than it had been when speaking to Joel in years. 

“Mind checkin’ this damn wound?” He asked through the door, his voice oddly gentle. “Since you’re here and all. Make yourself useful.” 

“Yeah,” you said. “Yeah, of course. No problem.” 

You made sure the photo was tucked away and set the book on the nightstand, keeping your fingers crossed that Joel didn’t realize which book you’d taken. 

***

Joel didn’t like that you’d taken to hiding in Tommy’s old room. 

He didn’t like that you were still here. Or so he tried to tell himself. Really, he didn’t like that you were still here without being here, like you were the ghost in his house in the same way it seemed you’d spent most of the last decade. You were just more corporeal now. 

He was used to you crossing his mind all the time. Used to the feeling that, any second now, you’d come around the corner as you finished braiding your hair or with a little bottle of nail polish in your hand or a book in fucking French tucked below your arm. He knew what to do with that. 

He didn’t know what to do with you actually here, in such close quarters. Especially not when you seemed to find such comfort in just the memory of his fucking brother - his brother who had damn near gotten you killed - and not Joel, who was actually here. 

Joel stared down the hall at Tommy’s - your - door. His wound ached. You’d checked it earlier, said there was no sign of infection and that things were coming along well. You refreshed his bandages and he’d try not to think about the way the soft skin of your arm felt when you brushed against his exposed flesh. 

That had been hours ago. He hadn’t heard a word from you since, not even the squeak of the mattress as you shifted and moved in ways he knew so well but couldn’t see. 

He shoved himself to his feet with a pained grunt and went to the door, the one that seemed to fucking haunt him now. He knocked once. 

“Yeah?” 

Your voice sounded thick. 

“Want a drink?” He asked. You were quiet. He pressed on. “Figured it was better than drinkin’ alone.” 

He gave you a minute and was about to give up on you responding when he heard small creaks on the other side of the door before it opened. 

“Whatcha got?” 

It took a few whiskeys before you stopped being quite so stiff at his kitchen table and Joel pulled out a deck of cards that had to have been old before the world fell apart but had somehow managed to stay complete. 

“Game’s Gin,” he said, dealing. “Remember how to play?” 

You rolled your eyes. 

“I’m not a total idiot, Miller.”

It was strange, drinking around you. Spending time with you in ways that weren’t required, being able to look at you in ways beyond brief, desperate glances driven by the subconscious need to never, ever forget just how you looked. The precise way your eyes were shaped or your brow arched or lips curved, the exact shade of your skin and your hair and your eyes. Because as much as he didn’t want to need these things, he did. He needed to know these parts of you the way a scholar needed to know his subject, with this obsessive, aching drive for more. 

It had never been enough before, the little pieces he was able to collect when you and Tess were distracted with other things and he could take in the new way your skin creased around your eyes, and it somehow wasn’t enough now, memorizing the way you pursed your lips as you organized your hand and the way your hair had fallen out of the braid that was tight against your skull. 

“Need somethin’ to change into?” Joel asked eventually. 

“Hm?” You looked at him over your cards. 

“Just…” he nodded to you. “Still wearin’ what you were when we came back from the run. Need somethin’ to change into?” 

“Oh,” you looked down at yourself and then shrugged. “I mean, I won’t argue with it but I don’t want to put you out. It’s not like anyone’s getting close enough to smell me. Oh God, please tell me you can’t smell me from across the table…” 

“No, Kid,” he laughed a little and took a sip of whiskey. “Can’t… can’t smell you.” 

He wondered if, below the grime of the world outside, you still smelled like lavender. 

“If you’ve got some stuff I can borrow then,” you shrugged before grabbing a card. Your face lit up a bit and you set a card down before fanning out your cards in front of you. “Gin.” 

“Well shit,” he said, looking over your cards. “You win.” 

Day 3 

He left you something to wear outside your door. 

Joel stared at the wall most of the night, telling himself it was because the fucking bullet hole was hurting more than it had been but that was bullshit. It had faded to a dull pain, one that was easily tolerable and certainly not enough to keep him up at night. 

No, instead he stared at the wall that he knew you were just beyond. His mind went over and over your face again and again, logging every single facet so he’d know the next time he was away from you for a while. But that wasn’t enough, either. He wanted to hear you breathing as you slept, wanted to salt away that information, too. He needed it, needed to add it to his collection of you. 

But you were out of reach. Asleep in his brother’s bed, the place where you’d chosen to be all those years ago and now left Joel wondering if you’d ever really left. If you’d ever have chosen Joel at all or if he’d just been a stop gap, a thing keeping you from Tommy all this time. 

It would have made sense, when he considered it. You were always softer and more open than Joel, always more like Tommy in that way. Maybe all he’d ever been was a placeholder. 

He was still awake when he heard you get up in the morning, heard you pause at the door before going to the bathroom and starting the shower. 

He hoped he’d find your hair in his shower later. 

Your hair was down and wet when you emerged, cautiously coming into the kitchen where Joel was making the shittiest excuse for coffee with instant packets that had expired so long ago it seemed like a miracle there was anything usable at all. You were in one of his flannels and sweatpants, the legs cuffed so you wouldn’t trip, your arms crossed tight over yourself. 

“Morning,” you said, glancing at him like he was a predator and you were prey. 

“Morning,” he said. “Feelin’ better?” 

“Yes, actually,” you said. He held a mug out to you and you took it with a slight frown. “Thank you.” 

He just nodded stiffly. 

“If you want to lie down,” you nodded toward the couch. “I can check your dressings again. The good news is, this might be the last time I really need to do it so…” 

Joel shrugged and obeyed, trying not to think about the sense of panic that flared in his chest at the thought of you not touching him anymore. 

It was something Joel had found almost impossible to hold within himself. There was this constant yearning, a pull towards you that was as persistent as gravity and twice as strong. He needed to be close enough to touch you, hold you, protect you. He needed to be close enough to love you. 

But standing in sharp contrast was the cold threat of you. The painful grip of it always there at the edges when he lived too long in the memory of loving you. It was a cruel and constant thing - one of the few constants Joel had found in his life in the QZ. He could let his mind wander to the memory of you asleep in his arms but, linger there too long, and the memory shifted to you pale and bleeding and nearly dead as he ran with your broken body to the clinic. The thought of you laughing all full and free with your hand on his chest would twist into you reaching for him and screaming as you were dragged away by raiders. Hell, spend too long trying to savor the memory of being deep inside you, the look on your face as you came undone under his touch, and his mind pulled him down into what McCarthy had described doing to you years ago. 

All it took was a second, a moment of Joel not protecting you when he should and you could wind up there again. He didn’t know how to live with that. He wasn’t sure he’d ever figured out how to live with loving you at a distance, either. Something that had become harsh and clear in the days the two of you had been locked down in his apartment. 

“This is looking good,” you said, nodding to yourself. Your hands were on his stomach.  “Think I can trust you not to fuck it up from here, don’t need me messing around with it anymore…” 

You got up and held your hand out, helping Joel sit up without pulling too much at his wound. 

“Thanks,” he said. “For making sure I don’t drop dead.” 

“Yeah, well,” you shrugged. “It’s what I do.” 

You gave him a tight smile and went back down the hall, Joel frowning after you for a moment before following. He knocked on the door and he heard you sigh before opening it a few seconds later. 

“Yes?” 

“Don’t…” Joel realized he didn’t really have a good reason to be standing at your door. “Don’t have to keep hidin’ in here. Sure you’re going stir crazy… Just come out here and…” 

“Do you really think that’s a good idea?” You asked, brows raised. “We’ve managed to not kill each other so far, I don’t know that we want to push it.” 

“You really think being in the same room is gonna be pushing it?” 

You laughed a little and crossed your arms protectively over yourself. 

“Honestly? Yeah, kind of. I mean, Joel, come on. This is the most time we’ve spent together just the two of us since my first trip outside the QZ and we both know how that ended…” 

“Yeah,” Joel scoffed, his blood getting hot as he saw you standing there, in his brother’s room, next to his brother’s bed. “Ended with you hating me and jumping into bed with my fuckin’ brother…” 

“Jesus Christ, you cannot be serious,” you pinched the bridge of your nose. “Joel…” 

“What?” He propped an arm against the door frame, holding himself back from stalking into Tommy’s old room like he wanted to. “That not what fuckin’ happened? You all but disappear for months and the next thing I know you’re with him. What was it, hm? Was I just who you settled for because you thought he wasn’t interested? That it?” 

“No!” 

“You just waitin’ for a chance to…” 

“I was only with him because you left!” 

You yelled it at him. You so rarely yelled, usually so measured and soft and kind in damn near everything you did. He went quiet, the silence hanging heavy between you. 

“Do you think I was interested in him before?” You asked, quieter this time. “It was always you, Joel. From the day I met you, it was always you and you’re the one who left me. You’re the one who made me live without you after you made me love you and you don’t get to judge me for what I did to survive you hating me. Yeah, I probably fucked up with Tommy, by having him be anything more than a friend but I was so alone because you made me be so alone! You left me, Joel! I’m sorry I didn’t sit there and wait for you to decide you gave a shit again, I’m sorry I tried to find some semblance of a life without you because losing you was going fucking kill me if I didn’t! So stop holding Tommy against me, stop blaming me for what I had to do to survive losing you, what I’m still doing to survive losing you, because out of all the shitty things that have happened in my life that might just be the worst one!” 

Your eyes were shiny with tears and you were standing closer to him than he’d really realized until that moment and his hands were on your skin before he fully understood what he was doing. All he knew was he needed to touch you, feel you, taste you. 

His lips were on yours and swallowed the small, surprised squeak that slipped from you as he kissed you, mouth hot and needy against you. 

He’d expected you to push him back, to be mad or hurt. Instead, you threw your arms around his neck, body curving and arching into his. Your fingers tangled and knotted in his hair and you pressed yourself so tightly against him that he could feel every line of you through his clothes. 

“Joel,” you pulled away from him ever so slightly, sounding needy and breathless. “We shouldn’t do this…” 

“Why.” 

“We don’t work,” you tugged him closer but kept your lips from him. “We just hurt each other. And you have Tess, I have Derek, it’s not…” 

“Tell me you don’t want this,” he cut you off, his eyes searching yours. “Tell me to stop and I’ll stop.” 

For half a moment, Joel thought you were going to. But you didn’t. Instead, you kissed him again, a sense of urgency on your lips, like you were trying to devour him and he longed for you to swallow him up until there was nothing left. 

He pulled you into the hall, pressing you back against the wall and ignoring the pain at his hip when he did. In that moment, he didn’t care if it killed him. He needed to be inside you, to feel you close and tight around him. Being without you now would be a more painful end than ripping himself open inside, what difference did a bullet hole make? 

Joel pushed his leg from his uninjured side between your knees, shoving them apart and pulling your hips down on his thigh. You ground down against him and moaned into his mouth as you worked your core on his leg. 

“Fuck,” you breathed, pulling ever so slightly away from him, your pupils blown and lips swollen. “Joel, you’re hurt, we shouldn’t…” 

“Don’t care,” he pressed his mouth to your throat, earning him a delicious moan that hung in his ears like syrup on the tongue. “Need you, Baby. Need you so fuckin’ bad…” 

You clutched yourself closer to him, rocking your hips on him as he pulled you back from the wall and maneuvered you to his room, his bed, the place he woke up every day and looked for you, some part of his subconscious knowing that he belonged next to you. 

Your fingers pulled at his shirt, tugging it up and over his head before casting it aside and he nudged you onto the bed, taking his shirt off your body, too. 

“Joel…” you were sitting back on your elbows, the soft fullness of your chest bared to him as he crawled between your legs. “I can’t… I can’t do this and go back to being nothing to you, Joel, I can’t…” 

He looked in your eyes, a pain in them that he found sadly familiar now but it was harsher than he was used to, like you couldn’t keep it contained now so it was laid bare. 

“Oh, Baby,” he breathed, his hands finding your waist. You closed your eyes at his touch, breath catching in your throat. “You’re everything to me, everything. Always have been.” 

His lips moved to your throat, kissing and biting at the tender skin there as he pulled your pants down and off, you lifting your hips to help before putting your hand down his front to take hold of his cock with a moan. Joel moaned, too. He couldn’t help it, your touch was burned into his memory, what he longed for more than anything else and you were touching him. Your thumb grazed the head of his cock and he shuddered at the contact, whole body on fire with aching and desperate want. 

“Need you,” he panted into your lips. “Fuck, need inside you…” 

“Good,” you pressed your body against his and he felt his head graze your soft mound. “Because I need you, too. Never stopped…” 

He kissed you and pushed you into the bed before pressing his cock into your wet heat. You moaned as you took him into yourself, your back arching. You were so warm and tight around him, Joel had to focus to not come from just the feel of your body clutching onto him. 

“Goddamn,” he looked down to where he was buried in you to the root, your fingers sinking into his bicep as you panted for breath. He could feel you breathing, feel your heartbeat from inside you. Why had he wasted so much of his life fighting this when he could have been with you instead? In that moment - when he was buried deep inside of you and he could feel you everywhere, in everything - the fear he’d been so desperately fighting against faded to nothing. There was just you and everything you held, the whole of all his wanting looking up at him in quiet desperation. “Forgot… forgot just how good you feel, holy fuck.” 

“Need you to move,” your nails dug into his arm. “Fuck, please Joel, need you to move, please…” 

He wasn’t about to say no, even as your already tight walls clenched around him. He dropped his head to your chest and pulled out of you almost entirely, until just his head was left within you, before thrusting back in hard and deep. He kissed you again as he did, swallowing your needy sounds. 

Joel tried to hold back, the echo of some pain in his body and his mind, but he was too overwhelmed by you for it to last long. You met his every thrust, working your hips back up against his own as he fucked into you. 

“Fuck, Joel,” you wrapped one arm around his shoulders, digging your fingertips into his skin as he felt you getting so tight around him it almost hurt. “Fuck, I’m gonna… Joel, I’m gonna come, I can’t…” 

“Do it,” he slid an arm below your waist and pulled you tight and flush to his body, needing to feel as much of your skin as he possibly could. “Come for me, come for me, Baby, need to feel you, have to feel you, fuck Baby…” 

You whimpered and keened as your tight channel pulsed around his thick cock, squeezing him so tight it was like your body was pulling his own orgasm out of him. 

“I’m comin’ Baby,” he pressed into you deep and hard and you clung to him as he came undone, emptying himself into you. “I’m comin’, fuck, I’m comin’ so fucking hard, Goddamn…” 

He collapsed on top of you, his cock still twitching inside you. He couldn’t remember the last time he came that hard, felt quite that drained when he was done. His head rested on your chest, your heartbeat heavy against his cheek as your fingers trailed through his hair and his cock softened inside you. 

“Fuck,” he was still panting for breath when he pressed a kiss to your breast bone and slid from your body, the pain at his hip suddenly back with a vengeance, as he collapsed beside you. 

“We shouldn’t have done that,” you said quietly, turning your head to look at him. 

“Baby…” 

“We shouldn’t,” you said, your voice thick. “You’re hurt…” 

“Good think you’re a doctor.” 

You glared at him. 

“We just blew up our entire lives, Joel,” you said quietly, eyes wet. “I’m with Derek and I just fucked you because, what, you loved me once and felt bad letting me get shot in the QZ? This was stupid, this was so…” 

“No,” he shook his head. 

“No?” You raised your eyebrows at him. “No what?” 

“No to all of it,” he said. “I didn’t blow up a damn thing. I just finally was able to admit to myself that there isn’t anything to blow up without you, don’t want any of it without you.” 

“Joel…” 

“Been too scared of it all to admit that,” he pressed on. “But I can’t keep living like that, Baby. I can’t. And I don’t think you can, either.

“We’ve already wasted too much damn time,” he continued. “But I’m not wasting another minute of it, not when I could be with you. Not sayin’ there’s not shit to figure out - pretty sure we got a decade’s worth of it - but don’t ask me to waste more time. Please. Not when it comes to you.” 

Your eyes held his as you reached a hand forward and carefully, delicately, cupped his cheek, your thumb tracing his cheekbone. He brushed his lips against the inside of your wrist, feeling the flutter of your pulse against his mouth. 

“Think we can figure it out?” You asked. You sounded so uncertain, so afraid. 

Joel’s large hand covered your own, holding you against his chin. 

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “With you, think we can figure anything out.” 

[monochromeruby]

REWRITING DCAS???

if I rewrote DCAS like this who would read it be honest: (Reblogs Appreciated)

Here are my thoughts. There’s a lot, so sit down and get a cup of coffee:

The BIGGEST thing I would overhaul is the:

Trevek/Emily disaster.

Emily would still help Yul, but because Yul’s manager wants to see him be better and treat Grett better, so she accepts the payment and tries to get him to genuinely change, but gets promptly fired for wrongful assistance.

Instead of Trevor witnessing Kristal and Derek kiss, he could instead see them do something and misinterpret it as a kiss. But instead of being jealous, he wants to be supportive to his best friend, despite his heartbreak. He would be supportive of Trevor and Kristal and leave them alone so they could have “alone time”. Meanwhile, Derek is just like “???” Misunderstanding trope done correct ^^

Emily would help Trevor get closure with his feelings, as Trevor would vent to her about feeling guilty about not being supportive of their (non-existent) relationship. Emily also wants to talk to Kristal about getting her job back (instead of revenge) so the two of them work together to find out plans about the finale so they both have times to talk to Kristal and Derek separately.

During the finale I would want Kristal and Emily to actually have a talk and the scorpions would probably be the result of a freak accident (I’ll get to it if i actually write this) Derek and Trevor will have their closure moment and it WONT be at the expense of Emily. I really hated how Emily turned out to be because I really liked her and her relationship with Trevor… They ragged on my sister!!!! They did my sister dirty!!!!!!!!

If I’m gonna have Tess and Ashley make it further than Jake, Aiden, and Ally, I need:

Tess and Ashley characterization

I would give Ashley and Tess storylines that don’t revolve around the characters they give therapy to. While they can still have those qualities, I think they could just be their own people too. Ashley had a lot of undertones revolving guilt, so I want to explore that more. I also want her and Fiore to resolve their beef because she was fighting with a literal 8 year old… They could have a sister dynamic but like rivals sisters.

Tess I have less ideas for but she deserved better so my ROUGH draft for her would be: I feel like she could instead work with remedying her situation with Gabby that she never really got the chance to it was kinda resolved in a day. She could also POSSIBLY be the catalyst in Alec and Riya’s recoveries but idk too much about that one.

Next is:

Alec and Riya Redemptions

Instead of having a drunken kiss, I want to actually write out the dinner scene, where they both realize their personal flaws. Alec would realize that his lack of will for confrontation is what is killing his relationships, (Connor’s elimination, his divorce, etc.). If Fiore got hurt because of his lack of a backbone, it would be a huge way for him to start caring about his relationships more.

Riya’s acting in front of the cameras was already an implied flaw, I wish they did more with it. I would want her to push Alec off the horse instead of Connor, and instead of regressing to her villainous personality, I think this is when she begins to show actual care and compassion towards other people, instead of worrying what is shown on the cameras. I also believe Alec would understand that they were both at risk of elimination and she did what she had to to win.

I also want Riya, Alec, and Fiore to be a power trio because who doesn’t love a villain mother, father, and daughter dynamic.

In the final 4, I would change it so it’s structured more like Survivor. (Person wins immunity, they pick someone to join them in the final 3, and the last two would compete in a fire making contest.) I think a good end to Riya’s arc would be her helping Alec win the fire making competition, basically quitting. While she still has a LONG way to go, it’s a good start. It would also parallel how Connor quit for Riya, Riya would quit for Alec.

I want to leave romantic implications as just implications. I think Riyalec is a fine ship, but the show has enough romances as it is, so I can leave it up to interpretation. But I LOVE them as a power duo, so that’s why I want them to be that. Connor just tarnished that for me idk.

Jake Consequences

I am a Jake hater, that much is known. I’m not biased, and I want to give him his redemption too, I still think he needs to be given consequences for his actions that isn’t someone else getting eliminated because of him.

If I got rid of his jealousy spiral, he wouldn’t really have much of a story. So, I want him to get eliminated as a result of his bad behavior. So here’s what I’m thinking.

Ashley would’ve found a totem early on. (Wasn’t it weird how the totem was added to the game so late?) She overhears the villains planning to vote her, so she has to beg Jake to vote a villain so they can idol one out. Jake is stubborn and wants to vote Aiden (possibly because he believes it was Aiden’s fault that Tom got eliminated)

Ashley tried to convince Tess and Ally to vote Aiden (because Jake refuses any other logic), but because they’re both closer to Aiden, they stick to voting for Jake without telling her.

Ashley uses her totem and Jake gets eliminated from a 5-3-2 vote (3 for Jake, 2 for Aiden, 5 for Ashley that are nullified)

Now instead of Ashley getting eliminated as a result of Jake’s pettiness, Jake is eliminated because of his own actions. My soul is healed in the process.

So if he’s not in the finale, what will we do with:

TomJake

I don’t really like TomJake as a ship, as they both need a lot of work before they get into a relationship. But I think that the motel episode could plant the seeds they need to start reconciling, and I don’t think they should necessarily get together. I believe they should both talk about their issues and be able to get closure with one another and be friends, and eventually see where things would go down the line. I know, right, why would I make the motel about yaoi? It’s the trade off to eventually have Jake fix his issues instead of it being shoved in our faces in the finale. Sacrifices must be made, I fear. I COULD leave them apart and Jake unredeemed (and listen to my biased parasites) but I think everyone should have their closure and redemption if All Stars is the last we’ll see of them competing.

Let’s also fix:

The Purge

Ally would be the victim of the purge, but I want to fix it so it’s a little fairer. I think Ally being eliminated like this is best, because for my visions to work, she would need to be out of the picture (unfortunately), but then voting Ally logically makes no sense. So the purge is (unfortunately) in order.

I would change it where the duo who lost the challenge would be the only ones up for elimination. Tess and Ally could be a pair or maybe Gabby and Ally. Either case, I feel like they’d vote Ally over either one of the two. The golden watch will also be replaced with an idol.

ALSO GOODBYE TIKTOK CHALLENGE. INNER PEACE. JESUS WHAT WASSS THAT. I’ll replace it with them taking pictures of the beautiful scenery instead. Or maybe selfies. Ally could have an inner conflict with looking ridiculous and didn’t want more online drama, so she opts to retake the photos. But, when she realizes that it’s slowing her down, and that her and Tess may get eliminated, she decides to grit and bear it. Realizing that, she gets an inner awakening that what she does not mattering actually felt really good. It would help her realize that fan opinion didn’t matter and help her resolve that inner conflict. Perhaps with the help of Tess and Riya’s words, it would be the snowball with this challenge being the climax of her revelation.

Grett winning

MY GIRL WAS ROBBED.

I want her to still be a villain, but in the sense that she made logical and strategical moved. I have lots of ideas, including her, Gabby, Tess, and Ashley being an alliance and having a turf war with Riya, Alec, and Fiore.

I also want her to be the result of Yul’s elimination too once she realizes that he’s an ass thanks to Gabby. Once she starts playing the game for herself, she starts making outstanding moves and winning immunities, setting her up to be a great winner that deserves it. I also want her to help Gabby overcome her ‘evil’ persona, so she isn’t just a comp beast, and actually has more things to do in the story.

In Yul’s elimination, I’ll also have everyone vote for him, including Alec and Riya. In the show, while satisfying, Yul’s elimination was a blunder on Grett’s part, as she was again at a number’s disadvantage with the villains. But with the villains being the majority, Yul’s elimination could be done without it being illogical. I know it wasn’t supposed to be logical, but I think Grett would’ve been smarter to do the math and realize that Yul being eliminated when he did would be bad for her. Now she can do it without it being bad for her game!!! Win for everyone.

I think she would not only be a deserving winner, but a satisfying one, as she made the game moves that are required. Above everything, all I want in a winner is someone who PLAYED THE GAME and that’s what she’ll do.

How Would I Do It?

The challenges will stay the same, (aside from the TikTok one), so how I’ll do it is:

In the earlier episodes, I think I’ll take the transcripts from YouTube and only change minor details (example: Emily’s initial motivations). I’ll also not include the very first episode, since that can stay as it is.

So the earlier portions will look exactly the same. The dialog will look like a script, while the actions I’ll write in.

But once I start changing more about the story, I’ll start actually writing it LIKE a story. So it’ll look less and less like a transcript as we continue and more like a book. Once I’ve overhauled everything, it’ll look completely like an actual story.

As to where I’d post it, I was thinking AO3 but to be honest, I’ll put this anywhere. In the end notes, I’ll also include all of my changes to the transcripts so readers know what tiny changes I made. Once I start changing more aspects of the story, the end notes won’t rlly be necessary.

I think these changes would help fix everything I hated about the season.

I have a lot of ideas, but unfortunately I’m very busy, and I also am writing my own things. But, if people think I should right the world’s wrongs, then maybe I’ll do it.

I really do want to know the public opinion, so reblogs are appreciated so I can get some sampling data.

If you think my ideas are fire and possibly want to help with this hypothetical mini-project, include your own thoughts on how to rework my ideas (I listen to criticism DONT worry) or want to share your own ideas, or if you think I’m the zodiac killer and only wish for my public execution via burning at the stake, then my messages are open. (I think). I would really like to hear critics/inclusions. This is our house. Let’s share it.

That’s all >_<

[nothwell]

A roundtable of queer and cozy authors discusses why we love the found family trope, what stories do it best, our favorite character dynamics within the trope, and why it rings so true for the queer community.

RK Ashwick (she/her) is the author of the cozy fantasy A Rival Most Vial and its sequel A Captured Cauldron, as well as the Lutesong trilogy beginning with The Stray Spirit. You can connect with her here @ashen-crest and at her website: rkashwick.com 

Tess Carletta (she/her) is the author of Kit & Basie, a queer cozy fantasy romance, its sequel collection Patchwork, and the forthcoming fantasy novel Goldheart. You can connect with her here @tesscarletta and at her website: tesscarletta.com

Noah Hawthorne (he/they), also writing as Aelina Isaacs, is the author of the queer cozy fantasy series Adventures in Levena, beginning with Phantom and Rook. You can connect with him here @noahhawthorneauthor and at their website: neshamapublishing.com

Sarah Wallace (they/she) is the author of the cozy Regency romantasy series Meddle & Mend beginning with Letters to Half Moon Street and coauthor with S.O. Callahan of the Fae & Human Relations series beginning with Breeze Spells and Bridegrooms. You can connect with them on instagram @sarah.wallace.writer

[manthequin]

pukes on the floor

[thefluffyrailway-official]

Hi, I know not all the pups are here yet, but I was wondering if any of the pups have rivalries similar to their parents? Like does Diesels pup have a small rivalry with Ducks?

Thank you. I adore your content

HII AND TYY<3<3<3<3

Also yep! Well Maddie Shore (Diesel's pup) and Dallas will be rivals in the future for sure.

But they're not the only ones.

Jessica and Dione (Daisy's pup) and Claire and Derry (Daisy's pup x2) are rivals too.

Also Sandy and Tess have a little sisterly rivality, which causes lots of discussions between them.

So saddly, Pups won't stay kind to every other pup all their life 😔

[post-it-wall]

Okay so Trigun is my Primary Obsession ATM but I've also eaten down (ugh, read) the first volumes of Noragami recently. And let me tell you I had THOUGHTS. Specifically of Wolfwood as a shinki to Vash???

Maybe he lived as a peaceful social worker before or anything (idk I like this idea lol), whatever it doesn't matter much, he died -> boom made Vash's shinki. There's:

- Wolfwood as a weapon

- Wolfwood as a weapon for Vash specifically

- More religious references / devotion as Vash is now literally a god Woowoo serves

- Perfect ground for some more argument about morals (oh yeah it's not Vashwood without some of those)

- Merilly can either be two of Vash's shinki he has had for a longer time or be different godesses but

- The plant/god analogy could be nice to continue at least in that we could have Knives be a rival god to Vash and pushing conflict similarly to canon; there might even be Tess (it could be cool!)

- Idk anything else just Trigun in Noragami universe

- Plenty of opportunity to create weird Nightow-like one-chapter antagonists or funny other deities

- The orphanage people (Melanie and the kids) can be humans involved in the plot at some point

So I went to AO3 to find Trigun x Noragami fics and... there was none TT Ya boi was devastated

I know the "if you can't find the perfect fic then write it" but like I've done that a lot already and I just wanna reaaad now! Do the easier part! So if anyone knows of this type of AU (maybe not AO3 then but on another fanfic platform) please let me know ;p or if you plan on writing it yourself lol that'd be amazing!

Anyways idk if you saw the Vision but it is There lol

[purplesimmer455]

Megan heads to the caboose bar to meet up with her friend Iseul, who texted her saying she wants to talk to Megan about something. Megan arrives just as it starts thundering and she runs inside the building.

The photos after this are random as heck. First, it’s lighting hitting the ground just as a pizza delivery sim runs away. Then it’s two photos of Tess’s cousin Noah (on the right with the black cardigan) with his boyfriend Aidan (in the red cardigan who, slightly awkwardly, was Tess’s college soccer rival and woohoo partner 😅). Then it’s Luna’s auntie Hailey and her partner Carson, they’re still going strong and are a good couple. The last two are extra random, with a photo of Megan’s hair from behind cause I thought it looked good, and then a photo of Megan’s relationship in-game with her wife Tess. Despite the story drama, they’re doing good in the game and are very loving. 😊

[tashas-cauldron-of-magic-soup]

Kazimir "Kaz" Littlemoon

surface drow of Waterdeep - the halflings' son - ranger extraordinaire - the dread ambusher - the stag who fell in love with the bear - freckles

Meet him below...

Brief Backstory Kazimir was the third born son of Matron Mother Phaeravine of House Vrammith and her favored consort, Nalaxle. He was born in the summer of 1371 DR, the midst of the Peace of Lolth. A period of uncharacteristic nonviolence for Lolth followers, as the goddess declared a halt to all drow sacrifices. As such, Kazimir could not be killed at birth, as is customary of all third sons and beyond.

Yet Phaeravine, already humiliated at having born twin sons directly before Kazimir, had other plans. She abandoned him to die of exposure in the Underdark. Hoping that Lolth might not notice her disobedience and be convinced the infant's death was accidental.

Fortunately, an adventuring party happened beside the cave where the infant Kazimir lay hungry and crying. Among them, the halfling ranger Quindelline Littlemoon. She brought him home to her wife, Rosina, on the surface and they raised him as their beloved only son.

Kazimir was raised in a majority halfling village, Farwallow-upon-Dessarin, just outside Waterdeep and grew up going to the city regularly. His mothers had him confirmed into the Church of Eilistraee as a child to help protect him, in case any of his biological family came looking for him. They raised him to be kind, considerate, polite, and headstrong. All things drow men ought never to be to Menzoberranzan standards.

He grew up to be an adventurer for hire and fell in with many adventuring parties over the years prior to his kidnapping. And even found love in the form of Mysendra Moonheart, or Mystie as she's better known. The moon elf bard that played at Dagger's Rest, the tavern where Kazimir rents an apartment on the top floor. Even though their decade long open relationship was cut short by her father calling her back to the Dalelands to fulfill her betrothal and take over her family's estate, they remain lifelong best friends through regular letters.

He also found tragedy in his relationship with Joss Merryck, a half elf rogue whom he adventured with from time to time. Joss was a Zhentarim, though barely. He wished to be rid of his duties to the guild, but no one ever truly leaves. Though he found some reprieve in his time with Kazimir. Joss became Kazimir's first male lover when they could finally no longer hide their mutual feelings. But the relationship would end suddenly after two years, when Joss broke it off. He was found dead near Skullport not long after, killed by rival Xanathar Guild as an example to spies. He never told Kazimir that he'd been caught, lest the ranger try and foolishly save him. Kazimir still carries the silver locket Joss gave him on his birthday.

Kazimir was kidnapped by mindflayers somewhere around Amphail as he was travelling to a beast extermination job contracted by a minor Waterdhavian noble. Giant rats eating up their crops at night. He was likely taken around the same time as a certain famous wizard prodigy.

His first order of business upon waking up on the beach is getting a letter up to Waterdeep. He needs to tell Tess, the owner of Dagger's Rest, that he's alive and to assure his mothers of that fact. They're too elderly to a fright like that.

The Ballad of Kazimir Littlemoon (Collected Lore WIP) Menzoberranzan (1/2) Menzoberranzan (2/2)

The Surface (1/2) The Surface (2/2)

Waterdeep (1/2) Waterdeep (2/2)

Ship Name: Honeygloom (Halsin x Kazimir)

Spotify Playlist

Template Used

Dividers Used

[rowenasamuel]

January Writing Wrapped

so i've decided that for 2025 i'm going to be a little more hands-on with tracking my writing/how much i'm writing/posting etc since the AO3 stats tab isn't super reliable. at the end of each month i'll do a little ~wrapped of what i posted for the entirety of the month, how many words i wrote, what ships i favored, etc. i thought it'd be fun to see how 2025 turns out for me, writing-wise!

SPN oneshots posted:

i like your body (i like what it does) [sam/rowena, 3.5k]

undo the death of me [sam/rowena, 2.3k]

lapful [sam/rowena, 593]

too tempting not to touch [sam/rowena, 1.3k]

through the keyholes i watched you dress [sam/rowena, 3.4k]

of all the gin joints [sam/rowena + dean/castiel, 802]

felled (from within) [sam/rowena, 1k]

you should see the things we do [sam/rowena, 1.1k]

thinking of you [castiel/rowena (implied sam/rowena + dean/castiel), 3.6k]

i'm sheltered by your heart (make-believing we're together) [sam/rowena, 17.2k]

in the woods somewhere [sam/rowena, 1.3k]

sleep aid [sam/rowena, 1k]

revelations [sam/rowena, 1.3k]

series continued and/or started:

ours [sam/rowena, 3.8k] - you came along and you changed everything

Happy Birthday Uncle Dean [sam/rowena, dean/castiel, 2.6k] - you came along and you changed everything

my hands, your hands (tied up like two ships) [sam/rowena, 2k] - snapshots (sam/rowena year of the otp 2025 collection)

multichapters completed:

it's the wonder that keeps the stars apart [sam/rowena + dean/castiel, 25k]

a helping hand [sam/rowena, dean/rowena, castiel/rowena, 4k]

multichapters started:

put your curse in reverse [sam/rowena, four chapters currently posted]

everything i love gets lost in the drawers [dean/castiel + sam/rowena + charlie/jo, three chapters currently posted]

nothing defines a man like love that makes him soft [multi dynamic drabble collection, 3 chapters currently posted]

let it bleed through through my fingers (a treasure in my hands) [sam/rowena + dean/castiel, two chapters currently posted]

Rivals (2023)

kissin' in the bluedark [taggie/rupert, 2.1k]

TLOU oneshots posted:

for love lives in this house [tess/joel, 734]

multichapters completed:

to the ends of the earth [tess/joel, 9.3k]

The Rookie multichapters updated:

The Deal [tim/lucy, six chapters currently posted]

Total words written for January: 100,936

List of ships written for January:

Sam/Rowena (31 days)

Dean/Castiel (6 days)

Tess/Joel (4 days)

Charlie/Jo (2 days)

Rowena/Castiel (2 days)

Rowena/Dean (1 day)

Claire&Castiel (1 day)

Jody&Sam&Dean (1 day)

Taggie/Rupert (1 day)

Tim/Lucy (1 day)

Haymitch/Effie (1 day)