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666writingcafe · 8 months ago

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The Adventure Begins

Levi's overacting. Again. The only reason it wasn't obvious during the school play was because Simeon kept him reined in. Levi gets excited quite easily, and it causes him to get lost in whatever role he's playing.

I'll have to ask Simeon, but I don't think he intended the Lord of Shadow to act so...dramatically? badly? I don't know how to describe it, really. It just isn't very good.

Unlike MC. I'm not sure why I like their acting better, especially since they're currently matching Levi's energy. Maybe it's because they're intentionally hamming it up. They did mumble an apology to me before they started talking to him, after all, so they must know that Levi's acting isn't the best.

Satan's isn't much better, either. He's not as over-the-top as Levi, but I don't find him convincing as the "villain" of this story. If anything, he'd make a good anti-hero, but Solomon probably didn't want to make things too complicated.

Solomon's not a very good author.

However, I'm choosing to keep all this to myself, because the point of all this is to help MC get their first star. Lucifer, on the other hand, is having a hard time suspending his disbelief. So, I understand why MC told him to shut up. I just hope they're prepared to get their ass handed to them once Lucifer's back to normal size, because while he has a soft spot for MC, he doesn't like being silenced. Messes with his pride.

Speaking of which...the stars.

They represent the seven virtues, which are direct opposites of our sins. For me, that virtue is temperance. Solomon probably knows this, but he may not realize the full extent of my relationship with temperance.

Once upon a time, I was able to control myself and my urges. Until I wasn't. For my brothers, their sin was triggered by specific events; that wasn't the case for me. It just...happened. And I didn't realize it until it was too late.

Now, it's what most people know me for. They think I'm a meathead that only thinks about food. Even my brothers.

Which isn't fair.

Why are they allowed to have complex personalities, but not me? Why can they participate in mentally stimulating activities, while I'm cast off to the side and dismissed as too dumb to understand any of it? It's never made sense to me.

I think that's part of why I like MC so much. They're the first person in a really, really long time that sees me beyond my sin. They actually listen to what I have to say and seem to value my opinion, even if it's not related to food or sports.

Yet somehow, deep inside, I don't fully trust them. I think it's coming from my subconscious. Somewhere in there lives a hurt angel that feels like everyone he cares about will die and leave him behind. And in a way, it's true.

Lilith may have been the only person in our little family that actually lost their life, but my brothers barely resemble what they were in the Celestial Realm. It's weird. They wear the same faces, but they're completely different people. Sometimes, I feel like they're complete strangers, or perhaps taken over by aliens.

Oddly, the one person I can rely on to stay the same is Satan. Then again, he didn't have his own form until we arrived in the Devildom, so this version of him is all I've ever known.

"Beel?"

Shit.

I missed a lot, didn't I?

"Are you okay? You seem out of it."

"I could say the same to you." Why is that the first thing that comes out of my mouth? I sound like a jerk.

MC merely sighs as they sit next to me on the...bed? I take a proper look at my surroundings and realize that we're in a hotel room of some kind. Lucifer appears to be sleeping on the nightstand, using tissues as both pillow and blanket.

"Wanna go first, or shall I?" Interesting question. They don't seem upset at me.

"Your call." MC rests their head on my shoulder.

"Simeon needs my help making an important decision." Their tone indicates something serious.

"With what?" MC sighs again.

"His future." Huh? Why would an angel need a human's help with that? I know that the two of them are fairly close, but still.

"But that's neither here nor there," they quickly add, sighing. "It's not like I can do anything about it now." They glance up at me. "What's on your mind?"

"My past."

"As an angel?" I nod.

"Back then, the only thing that mattered to people was that I was strong. I wanted to be useful, so I decided to become a soldier and fight for the Celestial Realm. Problem was, I had trouble controlling my powers."

"Like I did before receiving the Ring?"

"You know, I hadn't really thought about it until you said it, but yeah. I suppose we have that in common. In your case, everyone had your back, which is good, because I wouldn't have wanted you to go through that experience the way I did." MC sits up and properly looks at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Every time I would destroy something--even though most of the time it was a complete accident--Raphael would make some sort of sarcastic remark about it. I think he started calling me the Hulk at one point, but it was meant as an insult." I pause.

"At least he had the decency to do it to my face. Lots of angels would talk shit about me behind my back. They thought I was too stupid to pick up on it, but I knew. They acted overly sweet towards me whenever I would walk in the room. Condescending, even. It was like I was a dumb kid to them." MC places a hand on my thigh and pats it.

"Sounds depressing," they remark.

"It was. Oddly enough, the one person in authority that didn't treat me that way was Lucifer. I initially thought he was too busy with his duties to really care about much else, but then one day he approached me and started talking to me. We had a legitimate conversation."

"About?"

"He told me to keep in mind that being a Celestial Realm soldier wasn't about attacking--"

"--but protecting." We must have woken Lucifer up. "You had the power to protect everyone--to keep them safe--and that you shouldn't feel bad because you were special. If you learned to control your powers, I'd recommend you to the cherubim and have you serve as a Celestial Realm gatekeeper. You did, and so I kept my promise." Lucifer beckons MC to pick him up and bring him closer to me.

"MC and I may be connected by the Ring of Light, but the two of you have a strong connection as well," he continues. "You're both motivated by the need to protect the ones you love, even if it means sacrificing yourself in the process. Drawing on that similarity is going to be the key to pass Solomon's test."

"Are you saying Solomon knew we had that in common?" MC asks incredulously.

"No. I did. I simply passed the knowledge along to him."

"How long--"

"The rooftop."

"Of Dogi Magi?" I'm glad MC understands what he's referring to, because I'm completely lost. Must have been something I wasn't involved with.

"You knew that Belphie would hurt you if you went against his order to reject me, but you did it anyway."

"I didn't want to lie to you."

"Because that would have meant hurting his feelings." Asmo may have used his powers to pick up on Lucifer's crush on MC early on, but I knew pretty much from the moment they set eyes on each other. Granted, he was more attracted to their soul initially, but who could blame him? It was bright and shiny, even back then. If we weren't under orders to not eat them, then they wouldn't have made it out of the assembly hall alive. Even Diavolo was struggling to contain himself.

Anyway, the point is MC cared enough about Lucifer in that moment to feel the need to protect him.

Just like I felt the need to protect Lucifer after I became a cherub.

MC's going to get their star.

#obey me shall we date #obey me mc #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me lucifer #basically what i'm doing with beel is depicting him as someone constantly in his head #and not in the 'i wonder what i'll eat next' kind of way #but instead having him silently observe what's happening around him and mentally commentate on it #sometimes it involves going on little rambles as certain things remind him of other things #but i'm trying to showcase someone who's able to pick up on people's personalities and feeling #simply by watching them interact with the world around them #i think he's emotionally intelligent #that doesn't always transfer to academia #but it is an important type of intelligence #because it helps guide interactions with real people in real situations #also #headcanon that lucifer was the last one to realize/accept that he had a crush on mc #asmo and beel may have picked up on it first #but eventually the others caught on #even the other exchange students #and diavolo #cue relentless teasing from diavolo to lucifer #diavolo: you have feelings for mc #lucifer: no i don't #diavolo: yes you do #and they'd go back and forth about it #diavolo just wanted his friend/occasional lover to be happy #and he thought mc was good for lucifer #so he rooted for them to get together #and was happy when they did

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killerandhealerqueen · 2 years ago

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Had the busiest month of my life...Whew....but I'm back!

Hi Sass! Hope you're doing well.

Question: I know you write fic as a hobby and have been writing since forever, so I wanted to know, was there ever a time where you were demotivated to write a fic? Not like stopping a WIP and eventually going back to it but something like the story wasn't clicking so badly you dropped it?

Also, what would you tell someone who wants to start writing fic? Some advice?

Hi!! I hope you're doing well too!

Have I ever been demotivated to write a fic...yeah, a few times. Sometimes I get this really cool idea and I'm like "oh this'll be great!" but then the more I work on it I'm like...no, this isn't reading how I want it to read and then I'll try and fix it and somehow it makes it worse and I'm just like...fuck this. I do have like an entire folder on my laptop of just prompts that I never got around to answering and some fics that will probably never see the light of day, just because of how complicated they'll be to either rework/rewrite or just because I don't like them. And normally I like my work, so the idea/writing has to be just so bad that I don't even want to touch it anymore.

As for someone who wants to start writing fic...first pick a fandom that you want to write for. That's always a good start and then pick your favorite pairing. Could be your otp, could be a crack ship, could be whatever. If you have an idea in mind that you think this pairing/characters would look good in, try outlining first. Like, bulletpoint your fic (which is what I do). Just write your entire fic in bulletpoints, scenes and dialogue and all of that, and then you can go back and actually flesh out the fic. It makes things easier than just flying by the seat of your pants (unless you're just so moved by the idea that you're working on that your fingers just start moving by themselves, which has happened to me a few times).

Remember, this fic is for you first. Think of yourself as the reader and be like "what kind of fic would I like to read?" and then write that. Fill it up with everything that you like (if it works for the story you're trying to tell) and just go fucking ham. Because at the end of the day, you gotta like your writing first. Other people may not like it (or they might) but we're not caring about what other people think (though validation and comments are nice). What matters is that we enjoy what we're working on and that we're happy with it.

Does that kind of answer your question? I hope it does!

#sass answers #qm edition

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kangaracha · 7 months ago

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head above water | chapter 1

also written by @keepswingin

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pairing chan x reader, jeongin x reader

genre love triangle, coming of age, angst, sickfic, friends with benefits, college au

summary Homework, a small business, overbearing parents, a boyfriend that isn't a boyfriend. And then there's whatever is going on with her best friend, who seems to want something...more than a friendship, if he ever gets around to asking her about it- life is complicated, and far too busy for Y/N to be bothered with being stressed, or sick, or whatever it is that's making it hard to eat and sleep and focus on her work-

status ongoing

taglist OPEN

masterlist | next

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You're slumped across Chan's lap when Minho finally comes through the door, one arm full of groceries, the other holding his duffel bag from dance practice. He's not at all surprised to see you as he kicks the door shut with a foot, though he does roll his eyes and make a big show of tossing off his shoes before sauntering over to the kitchen and slinging his bags on the closest empty counter.

"Of course all of you heathens are here," he grouses as he starts pulling things out of one of the shopping bags and stacking the various items beside it. "Do any of you ever leave the house?"

"Depends on the weather," Changbin chimes from beside you, flipping lazily through television channels.

"The weather's fine," Minho mutters, making a face as he shoves things over to make more room for what he's currently unloading. You watch in amusement as the current victim seems to be Chan's laptop and discarded charger. "My wallet isn't, on the other hand." He catches your eye as he turns, tugging the fridge open. "What are you doing here?" he asks, as if you're not welcome, even though you've slept over more often than you should and the key to his apartment sits on your keychain like an unattainable trophy.

A trophy you deserved, anyway - you're more than sure your key is Changbin's replacement key. He had lost it sometime ago, and Minho hadn't bothered to make him a new one. You watch as Minho tosses something from the open fridge with Changbin's writing on the top of it.

"Sorry," you say, the word clumsily as it tumbles from your mouth. You're not usually like this, but you feel embarrassed for some reason, being so close to Chan, leaning on him like he's nothing more than a pillow. Minho wouldn't judge, not ever, but there is something in his gaze that makes you doubt, your stomach twisting. "I wasn't feeling good after class, and my apartment is farther than yours."

Minho hums at your answer, seemingly satisfied. The tightness in your chest doesn't loosen.

You wish it would, after a day like today.

Instead, you exhale, and move to sit up, stretching your arms above your head. You tilt your head to either side to crack your neck, and feel Chan shift in return, cold fingers attempting to slip around your wrist. You pull away before he can keep you there, and avoid the glance of concern he gives you as you stand up.

His care is too much, sometimes. He keeps you grounded in ways you've never been able to understand and yet sometimes you worry that he'll look at you too closely and unravel every secret you've never told. It's easy to nearly fall asleep pressed against him. It's always been hard to escape his gaze.

You make your way over to the kitchen just as Minho throws something else away. You barely catch the hastily scribbled label on that one, but you're pretty sure it was Chan's handwriting.

"Do you need help?"

Minho doesn't give a direct answer, moving something over inside the fridge to make room, but he doesn't have to. He was easy to read once you knew him.

You start handing him things one at a time - a package of fresh chicken, sliced cheese and shredded ham for Han's sandwiches. You can't help but glance over your shoulder at the thought of the third body in the room; Han's slumped in the armchair on the other side of the television, eyes closed and forehead hidden behind the hood of his sweatshirt, though you can't tell if he's asleep or not. He might've been snoring earlier, but you had nearly fallen asleep yourself, lost in thought about far too many things and conformable against Chan -

"Are you hungry?"

Minho sounds tired. You shrug, not wanting him to go out of his way. Your stomach's been feeling weird all day anyway, so you aren't sure if you want to test your luck just yet. "I don't know, I've been feeling off all day."

"Are you sick?" he asks, finally closing the fridge with a loud thump.

"Unnecessary!" Chan calls loudly as he tries to reach over and grab the remote from Changbin. "Go back!"

Thankfully, you're saved from answering by Chan's stunned tone as Minho and you turn towards the living room to see what's going on.

"Get your own TV," Changin grumbles in return, opting to skip the overly dramatic movie he lands on next. "I told you I'm not watching that dumb show."

"It's not even your TV," Minho interjects sourly. "Stop fighting over my stuff."

"I helped pay for half of it!" Changbin argues easily, turning his head to shoot Minho a scathing look. "It was my idea to upgrade anyway, not yours!"

You grimace at the increase in noise, your head beginning to throb. Another headache, you realize with a soft sigh. God, what was with you today?

"Someone wake up Hannie," Minho interrupts, reaching for a pot. "I need help with dinner."

And that, for some reason, is what stops Chan and Changbin's bickering. "It's only four," Changbin immediately complains, slumping against the back of the couch and finally allowing Chan access to the remote. "I had a late lunch, what, are you trying to make sure I starve later?"

"I don't care," Minho throws back as he flicks on a burner. "I'm hungry now."

You decide to walk back into the living room, gently giving Han a squeeze to his knee as you pass, startling him awake. He blinks owlishly in your direction as you collapse back on the cushion in between Chan and Changbin, your head falling on Chan's shoulder.

Minho calls Han to the kitchen once he sees that he's awake, and with a gentle tone he would never use with anyone else. You smile when you notice, tucking closer to Chan.

Han is sluggish in getting to his feet and making his way over, but then you watch as he trudges to Minho's side and reaches for a knife, only for the older to slap his hand away and push him over to the boiling pot instead.

Changbin resorts to his phone on your left, scrolling endlessly on what you hope isn't Twitter, shooting bitter glances at the television every now and again while you sit pressed against someone who you trust more than life as he chuckles softly at a cheesy joke on the television.

It's so easy to want to fall back into the fun parts of a relationship, but it's the hard parts that keep you from giving in. Things with Chan were always somewhere in the middle, and it's that thought that keeps you from being the one to start things back up again, especially with college, and juggling what remains of your business on top of dealing with your mother's incessance that you're taking too long with the degree you never should have gotten in the first place -

"Hey," Chan whispers, leaning close to your ear. "You okay?"

His arm is slung around your shoulders, fingers brushing the exposed skin of your arm. You didn't even notice him move, but you're grateful for his presence all the same. It's only easy for you to break his mannerisms down the way that you do because you've known him since high school, and the two of you have been on and off since his first year of college.

Chan wasn't much older than you, but the truth was that you never intended to go to college, until your parents insisted, even though you've been making a good amount of money through art commissions in a supportive community. But, of course, to them that didn't mean much, so here you were, battling through your last year of college for an art degree just to spite them some more.

"I'm okay," you whisper back, reaching over and tugging playfully at his arm. "Thanks for being the world's greatest pillow." His chest rumbles with a soft chuckle. Your stomach flips in that way that makes it hard to tell what exactly you feel.

"I'm just glad you're feeling better," he replies easily, tugging you closer. "I'm sorry that you felt bad at all, I know all it does is make the day feel even longer than it usually does."

"It wasn't all bad," you supply, idly watching the characters onscreen poke and prod at each other until one can't take anymore. "Jeongin helped me out during class, and Felix walked me over."

Chan hums and the both of you lapse into a comfortable silence. Not that you could even really call it silence with the force known as Minho and Han in the kitchen, but it's close enough. He's the one to break it a few minutes later, fingers drumming softly against your skin.

"Jeongin is..." he pauses, thinking. "The one in your math class, right?"

"No, that's Seungmin, the one Minho threatened to boil alive."

That makes him laugh, and Changbin grumble from the noise, shifting away. "Oh right, I remember that." He stifles another bout of laughter, and you can't help but turn and look at him, your own lips tugging into a smile at the sight. He glances at you and can't contain himself, and then you both collapse into laughter that rings through the living room.

"Jeongin is the one she spends the most time with," Changbin interrupts from behind his phone, eyeing Chan carefully. "He's in nearly all her classes."

"Oh right, right," Chan says as soon as the two of you are able to contain your laughter, nodding his head as you settle back against him again. "He was sweet."

"Felix was the sweetheart," Changbin corrects, finally putting his phone down. "Hyunjin was artsy," he continues, unbidden as he sits up, "and Jeongin was...something else."

"Something else?" you question, turning to Changbin. "What does that mean?"

Changbin looks back at you like he knows something you don't, which doesn't make any sense, considering he was usually the last to know about a lot of things. Your key to Minho's apartment, for example. How could it be something he lost when you knew for a fact that it was Chan who had stolen it and snuck it on your keychain. But the way he looks at you now isn't something you're used to, and as the seconds tick by, you're not quite sure if you want to know what exactly he's talking about or not.

"I thought the day went well," you pivot, turning back to Chan. "None of you ended up hating each other, and that's all I needed to know."

"Jeongin was nice," Chan tacks on, though his eyes flit between you and the television like he's unsure where exactly he should look. You ignore him in favor of glaring at Changbin, just because you can. Changbin withers under your gaze and takes it as his cue to stand up and barrel into the kitchen, inserting himself between Han and the knife he's somehow gotten ahold of in the meantime.

"Weirdo," you mumble after he's out of earshot.

Chan hums softly in agreement.

Your headache starts to fade after a while, but the out of place feeling in your chest lingers, and though whatever Minho's cooking smells amazing, your stomach just cannot seem to handle the smell. You exhale and sit up, deciding to leave before you become anymore of a burden, not that Minho ever has time to say such a thing when moving out of college landed him with three party crashers at all times to distract him from your presence.

Chan, Changbin and Han had graduated together, eager to get their start in music producing or sound engineering, but the future never worked out how you thought it would, and now Changbin was working nights as bouncer at a club, Chan was pinballing between odd jobs, and Han was torn between going back to college for a 'better degree' or moving back in with his parents.

You had talked him out of the latter, thankfully, but you knew it was hard for him, with the anxiety that curled so easily around his insides the same as your own did.

It was luck that Minho had just so happened to graduate with a degree that allowed him to get paid enough to live on, and that he also just so happened to be Han's roommate during college. Chan and Changbin had followed Minho around like ducklings as soon as Han introduced them, and the rest was history. Or couch surfing. Or a friendship that would last a lifetime.

"I should get going," you tell Chan as you stand, casting a glance towards the kitchen. You left your things by the door so you really have no reason to go that way, but you figure that the least you could do was thank Minho for not kicking you out or threatening to boil you alongside the chicken.

"Will you be okay getting home?" Chan asks, muting the television. "I can walk you."

"I'll be fine," you drone with a poorly hidden smile, heading over to the kitchen. "I'm gonna go, Minho," you say, Changbin scooting himself to the other side of the kitchen island to avoid your path. "Thank you for having me."

Minho scoffs, shaking his head but not bothering to turn towards you as he swats Han away again. "You're always welcome here," he replies, tone dry. "Stop acting like I won't let you in."

"Maybe one of these times you won't," you chime, making your way over to the door and slipping on your shoes. "For all I know, I could be using up all my free visits."

"Aish," he tsks, and you catch his gaze over the curve in the wall, the playful tug of the corner of his lips. "Get out then," he tells you, and you can't help but laugh as you sling your bag over your shoulder and open the door.

taglist

@kokinu09 @rainfallingfromthesky @rylea08 @jenniferlr @enzos-shit @sxnset-angel @amyyscorner @puppysmileseungmin @thatonedemigodfromseoul

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agumonger · 1 year ago

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1, 7, 14, 18, 26, 37, 55 and 76 (this one specifically about rh) for that fanfic ask post

1 Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

Multi-chaptered. It's very rare for me to do one-shots, but I wanna look more into them because they're a lot simpler to make. I just really like the progression in multi-chaptered fics. 1000noches is kind of both, as its has "chapters" but it's an extremely short and simple story.

7 How do you choose which POV to write from?

It depends on the scene, which character needs to be developed more, and which character does most of the action or undergoes the biggest development.

For example, picture a scene where Alice tells Bob a secret she's been hiding. If you want to focus the scene on Alice opening up, you write from her POV. If you want to focus on Bob's reaction and how he feels about the secret, you write from his POV. I also recommend Alice's POV if the reader already knows about that secret, in which case we'll probably find Alice more relatable since we know the same information as she does. If we don't know the secret either, we're more likely to feel like Bob.

As another example, if a character has to "learn a lesson" in a scene, and we are meant to experience that lesson too, we should be on the POV of the character who goes through that lesson.

Or at least that's how I feel. I also personally avoid writing from the villain's POV for *too long* unless they're meant to be sympathetic - I often handle their scenes from their henchmen's POV. If they're "irredeemably evil", too much immersion into their POV might make them feel like they need positive development - or is this just a me thing? Oh, unless the villain is comedic and cartoony like Bowser. Then go ham.

14 how do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?how do you write emotional scenes?

Oh, ho ho. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah I do. I kind of try to imagine how I would feel, then code it through the character's own personality and background. And sometimes I've noticed my eyes getting wet. But I've recently become the kind of person who cries at movies sometimes. I think at times I almost cried during the fucking Mario movie. When Mario and Luigi reunite. Them feels...

And... yeah. I get sort of inspired by my own experience but I morph everything so it doesn't become the story of my own life. I try to not to indirectly reference real people or real events I've gone through. A good example is Bruno's silent panic attack in chapter 4 due to his bad grades. It was inspired by one time I realized I had to repeat a whole year and cried my heart out at the high school bathroom. Writing that scene felt incredibly cathartic, and it weirdly helped me find some closure after some complicated years.

Something I've noticed about emotional scenes is that they usually need buildup. In order for us to care about a character, we need to through a journey with them, get to know them. Emotional resolutions become more poignant when there's some story building up to it. In book 1 it's gradually hinted at that Briana is not yet okay, and though I feel I should tweak some of the buildup, when it all breaks down in chapter 9, it breaks hard because it's been bubbling up for six or seven chapters. Maintaining a certain degree of relatability, without hammering the point home over and over again, is key, or else we won't connect with the emotion and the scene will either feel hollow or cheesy.

18 Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

Honestly... before. I'm such an avid pre-planner with my stories, that I usually have a draft of the whole plot, a title, a theme and a bunch of characters before I even start actually writing.

I don't really know how I come up with them. I usually try to think "is there a theme running through the story?", "what kind of feel do I want it to have?", "can I sum it up in two or three words?"

I usually try to make my titles: memorable, concise, descriptive, distinct, searchable (!) and honest.

Oddly enough, my only regret with Someday as a title is... how common it is as a word. When I search "yume nikki someday", sometimes I get lots of "oh I'd love to play Yume Nikki someday but i don't have the time right now" and stuff. Since thing happened infamously with Digimon Adventure's 2020 adaptation, called... Digimon Adventure:. Yes, with a colon. And you don't pronounce it. You're supposed to just say "Digimon Adventure" out loud. The colon also doesn't show up in some places, such as a hashtags, so when you search the adaptation online, you find the original from 1999. Terrible choice.

By "honest" I mean, make sure the title actually has something to do with the story or theme. SO many books have the word "devil" in the title to make them more intriguing and marketable but they're just random thrillers or something. For me, two to three words is the key, even better if they can be hashtag'd. Make it relevant to the story or themes, make it pronounceable!!! A lot of people keep calling Digimon Extend "Digimon Extended" for some reason. Really, keep it simple, people don't have good memory. (?)

26 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

1000noches (La noche de las mil noches), for real. I wrote it in a month, one chapter per day (each chapter was about a page long), then I illustrated it, one drawing per day, I posted once a day, I ATE Shinanne's Digimon 02 meta at a breakneck pace and literally changed my entire perception of Daisuke while I wrote it. It was made in a frenzy and it's my most successful fanfic yet. But then again, it's short, simple, and it features popular characters.

37 How do you choose where to end a chapter?

Well, I usually try to center each chapter around a theme. My biggest two examples are Extend and Regulus Harbor. In most of their chapters, the theme is either a confrontation or a lore revelation, or an introduction, or characters coming to terms with something. I like it when you can call a chapter "the one where X happens" in just one sentence.

But I don't think I'm that great at deciding what should go in each chapter... I often just add scenes in order until I reach 15-20 pages because it's the chapter length I like, but this is very arbitrary. Sometimes I have to move scenes to the next chapter because of this... often these haphazard chapters are the ones without a main confrontation going on.

In Digimon, setting up a chapter flow is easy. You introduce some concepts, have a bad guy of the week show up, fight, advance the plot in some way, then point towards the next step.

In Regulus Harbor, I've noticed I usually do it roughly by going through one day chronologically. Which means that chapters often begin with Itsuki or Danny (more or less diurnal charas), and end with Lydia, Fermi, Gakkoros or Jokesta (nocturnal charas). I also like to have an introductory scene and an outro/cliffhanger scene that shows where the plot is headed next.

55 Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

I absolutely adored writing Goupemon and Blightmon, the villains, back in Digimon Extend. And also Sketchmon, the comic relief. In Regulus Harbor, I love writing Gakkoros and Jokesta, the main uh... antagonistic force? And also comic relief kind of. But I also love writing Danny because he means a lot to me, he's one of my oldest OCs. And of course, my boy Itsuki. I think Jokesta is my fave to write. That has been amplified by my readers' reactions to my comedy scenes... apparently I'm good at writing random comedic characters!? Says a lot, huh. I wonder how I learned that. (Please watch Nichijou.) Usually my favorite characters to write are my audience's favorite characters. Can you guys tell I'm having a great time or...?

76 Did you have any ideas that didn’t make the final cut of [Fanfic Name]?

I know this one's for RH but I'll do it for Extend too. I had this mini-arc at the beginning of season 3 where Monmon and her three uh... former family members...? would be sent to different universes along with the protagonists. I don't remember why I wanted to do it. I also cancelled a lot of stuff season 2 was supposed to have - more Armor evolutions, more time for Iván to shine in his "evil self" (?) but halfway through I realized it was getting stale so I cut all filler and went straight to the endgame before Goupemon's return. Oh and also Goupemon was going to be semi-redeemed - Pandemmon was going to be the final boss. There was also going to be a meeting with the 02 cast full of mistranslation moments.

As for Regulus Harbor, it was originally going to have 14 Reached, and Lydia didn't exist until very late in "production". Before I came up with Fermi, she was supposed to have an unrequited crush on Danny, which is why she acts so weird around him in chapter 1, and why Fermi isn't there yet. I retconned this as Lydia just being really giddy about finding a new Reached with potential and not having to rely only on the children.

Regulus Harbor actually has... tons of scrapped ideas behind, mostly leftovers from when it was a... Spyro fanfic idea? Mixed with an AU with a small Digimon cameo? The original idea was a fangame-type story based on Spyro: A Hero's Tail with 14 player characters with different elemental powers. The 14+2 element symbols are here. You may recognize these symbols as they were used for a map in my game, 311. This was [REDACTED] believe I came up with it so long ago. The scrapped elemental powers are Rock (merged into Earth), Space, Qi (merged into Life), and Crystal (will appear not as an element but something else :3).

The AU thing had a cameo from Devimon... who absorbed the power of all Dark Gems in the world (this is a Spyro concept, there were 40 in the game + 150 in my story +10 more in the AU) AND this was the original idea for Gakkoros!!! YEAH. He would eventually become something like "the incarnation of darkness itself", called Darkuro back then. Again, YEAH. It was 2007... Also, a character based on Ophanimon, called Lishiro (later Ilendora) would try to purify him, and I kept changing Darkuro's redeemability. Deciding on a final veredict took me years, and so far I'm really happy with the result.

Ishmael was going to be a human, powerless incarnation of Gakkoros, trying to get his power back. RH was going to take place in New York in real life, only with humans, all of them coming from different places in the world. The cursed mirror idea is actually very old, from ~2010 probably.

Itsuki's inclusion in the story was extremely late, not decided until 2018-2019. An old OC named Nano, the oldest character of ALL of them, created around 2005, was going to be there instead. Nano's personality was divided into Panuk and Itsuki. Interestingly, you can see a door representing him in Someday's Meta-Nexus. All of the Meta-Nexus doors represent OCs from different stories in different universes, most of which I didn't write at all. Panuk's door is actually repurposed from Víctor's, from Digimon Extend. I've actually been thinking of replacing one of the doors with a new one for Víctor or Joaquín, since it was for a Homestuck OC... and I'm so over that phase :')

There are more unused ideas but I still have them around my head just in case I do use them.

Also, if you've read a11 of this, uh, yeah! Thanks! And you're welcome. ???

#long post #ask agu

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greensaplinggrace · 3 years ago

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honestly THANK YOU for saying all that abt baghra bc i thought i was going crazy from not liking her??? bc i haven't read the books and only summaries of them on wiki and like. i dunno why ppl like her actually even in the show bc this guy, her son, is like "i wanna make the world better for us grisha" and she's just like "no." even tho he sees that she's MAKING HERSELF SICK from suppressing her powers! she's literally like in bed coughing in the flashback yet seem much healthier at the little palace. also like after everything, after her disapproval, after the fold, after centuries of waiting for the sun summoner.. he never abandons her. he makes sure she's cares for. he doesn't harm her. and i have to wonder if baghra has ever thanks him for that, for just not leaving her alone. like i dunno how im suppose ro believe aleks is a heartless villain when he still cares for his abusive mom like this. like has baghra even told her she loved him (honestly she reminds me of a classic emotionally unavailable asian parent but maybe that's just me). also im wondering if baghra ever told aleks that he had an aunt.. bc like.. now that u bring up her isolating him it's like hmmmm...

not at me being like alina... why do u trust the bitter old woman who literally beats u with a stick and verbally abuses u every chance she gets.. just bc she showed a bad painting... like.. pls use two braincells to see that who u figured out as his mother... is also using his protection..

like baghra could've upped and left with alina. but no. she stayed bc she knew she was safe under aleks's protection.

alsoim just impressed that after his first friend tried to drown him and harvest his bones... he didn't go into hiding???? he still wanted to make a safe heaven for grisha!!! HE STILL WANTED TO PROTECT GRISHA EVEN AFTER HIS GRISHA FRIEND TRIED TO KILL HIM FOR HIS FUCKEN BONES. like... this is the guy im suppose to believe is the villain???

honestly i feel like part of the reason why LB's plotlines seem so bad and disconnected (and sometimes outright racist but that's another rant) and why darkles is disproportionately more violent and villainous in the later books is bc she didn't expect the darkling to be so popular and wanted to stick with her guns of making him the villain. but also wanted the money from aleks's popularity. but like you can't have ur cake and eat it too.

Well thank you for sending this ask! It's very sweet and very passionate. I'm glad you liked my post! I didn't put as much thought into it as some of my others lol. I kind of just talked. But it was nice to be able to finally talk about some of the problems I have with both her character and the fandom/author's perception of her.

HERE is the post this is referring to, in case anyone's wondering.

👀👀 You've hit the nail on the head for so many things, here!

Baghra is extremely emotionally unavailable, basically to the point of neglect. She's also verbally and physically abusive, traits which I doubt were only reserved for her students and not her son. Baghra claims she would do anything to protect him, but I've known a lot of parents who have that mindset and yet still harm their children because they think it's "good for them".

Aleksander stays at Baghra's side for years, and even when they're opposing each other she's never too far away from him. Idk if you've read the books but he does eventually hurt her. And as much as I don't like Baghra, I think his actions were horrid. But I'm also honestly kind of surprised it took him so long lmao.

Yeah I mean, in terms of isolation, let's not forget that she never wanted to introduce him to his father, either. Baghra's sense of eternity clouds a lot of her judgments on relationships, which means she views most people as dust and therefore teaches her son to as well. The problem with that is that he's a growing child, and he needs those social and emotional attachments for healthy development.

I would bet quite a bit of money that Baghra has either never told him she loves him or she has told him so few times it's practically forgettable.

And everything becomes more complicated because so many of Baghra's actions are understandable because of her life and her history, but the impacts they have on the people around her, especially Aleksander, are permanently damaging. And the fact that that's never gone over in critical depth in the books or how it's glossed over in fandom is just very disconcerting. Like, acknowledging Baghra's failings doesn't mean we're excusing Aleksander's actions, it just means we're holding Baghra liable for her own. Which the fandom should be doing, considering she's the epitome of an abusive parental figure.

And Alina trusting Baghra over Aleksander is even more confusing! Especially in the show!! This is the woman who beat her and abused her and tortured her friends when they tiny little children (and who probably still does so now that they're adults). This is the woman who mocks you and harasses you and insults you on a regular basis. Why does Baghra revealing she's Aleksander's mother make Alina change her mind?! Like fuck, I'd just feel bad for Aleksander. No wonder he kept it a secret, I would too! And that painting is enough evidence?! Really?! A random painting shown to you by this abusive mentor that's been making your life hell. That's what you're going to betray your new lover over?

The friends trying to harvest his bones thing is a good point, too. I think Aleksander, especially show Aleksander, is incredibly idealistic. I think he cares too much for others - those he's deemed worth his care (a sentiment given to him by Baghra). Despite everything she's tried to teach him about hiding and abandoning others and never caring and never doing anything to help or reach out or connect with people, Aleksander still continues to do so. It's likely because he never got it from Baghra growing up, and so is desperate for those emotional needs to be fulfilled elsewhere.

His turning point, when Baghra tells him it was understandable that those kids tried to kill him because the world is such a hard place for them - that's crucial. And the reason it's possible as a motivating factor is because of that idealism and that desire to help and that desire to be everything his mother isn't. Baghra tells him this trauma he just experienced was because of the oppression of his people, and instead of following her lead and accepting that, going into hiding and abandoning everybody to their misery, he goes I can do something about that. I can make it so this never happens again. Which is usually how trauma like that combines with one's core personality traits at a young age, especially when there's none of the essential support systems in place to aid in recovery (ie, the role Baghra should have been filling but wasn't, because she decided to exacerbate the problem instead).

And yeah, one of my biggest problems with the ham-fisted "beating you over the head with a sledgehammer of evil deeds" look-how-bad-this-character-is! portrayal of the Darkling in the later books comes from the impression I get that Bardugo doesn't trust her readers. She's so desperate to have us hate this character and think him an irredeemable villain, not trusting any of her readers to engage critically with a morally gray character, that it feels quite a bit like condescending fucking bullshit. Which ew, I know how to engage with literature, thanks.

She really does seem to look down on a large part of her fandom, and imo, the infantilization of the female characters in her books seems to carry over to her impression of most of her female readers as well. Which is why the Darkling's character arc gets fucking destroyed. But he's still a good cash grab, of course, so she'll shake his dead corpse in front of the fandom for money every time she wants something from it.

Also! Another reason I think her plotlines feel disconnected (I'm sorry Bardugo I respect you as a person, but shit-) is because the writing in SaB is just bad. I mean, nevermind the absolutely nauseating implications of the way she portrays the Grisha as a persecuted group who's situation is never actually fully addressed as it should be, considering Grisha rights is what her main villain is fighting for (imo for a series called the Grishaverse, LB seems to be pretty anti Grisha), but her characters and story alone are just wrong for each other. They don't fit together.

And the ending is one of the main pieces of evidence in that regard! You can’t say the ending where Alina isn’t Grisha anymore is her “going back to where she started” when she’s always been Grisha. She just didn’t know she was Grisha because she denied that part of herself that she was born with.

Alina is reluctant to move forward or change, she struggles with adapting, and she’s very set on the things she’s grown attached to throughout her life. She also has some latent prejudices against the Grisha, and so denies the possibility of being Grisha for those reasons as well.

Alina’s lack of powers in the beginning of her life because she willfully doesn’t learn about them to avoid change versus her lack of powers at the end of the book when she’s accepted them and then they’re stripped away from her by outer forces are two entirely separate circumstances. You can’t make a parallel about lost powers and lack of Grisha status bringing her back to the start when she was always Grisha and she always had powers and she simply refused to come to terms with it because of personal reasons.

The first situation is an internal conflict that indicates a story about growth and a journey of self acceptance. Denying herself the opportunity to learn about her heritage and to find acceptance with a group of people like her because she’s tied to the past and because of the way she was raised is the setup for a narrative that tackles unlearning prejudice and learning how to connect with a part of her identity that was denied her and learning how to grow independent and self assured. It’s the setup for a different story entirely. The second situation is an external conflict that centers around the ‘corrupting influence of power’... for some reason.

In a world where Grisha do not have social, political, or economic power and they are hunted, centering your heroine’s journey of self acceptance and growth around an external conflict about... the corrupting influence of power (in a group of people that don’t actually have any power?!) just doesn’t work. It is literally impossible to connect the two stories Bardugo is trying to push in Shadow and Bone without seriously damaging the main character’s developmental arc.

The only way a narrative like this would work, claiming that she has gone back to where she started, is either a) if the Grisha weren’t actually a persecuted group and instead were apart of the upper class, or b) if the one bad connection between the two instances is acknowledged - that Alina denied a part of herself crucial to self acceptance and growing up, and that losing her powers at the end has also denied her. It is a tragedy, not a happy ending.

Alina suffered because she didn’t use her powers. She grew sick. It was bad for her. This was not a resistance to 'the corruption of power and the burden of greed', it was her suffering because she couldn��t fully accept herself.

Framing the ending as a return to the beginning can’t be done if you don’t address how bad the beginning was for your main character. You brought her back to a bad point in her life. You regressed her. This should be a low point in her arc. It should be a problem that’s solved so she can finish developing organically or it should be something that is acknowledged as a tragedy in it’s own right, for the future the world (the writing) denied her.

This is a ramble and it makes no sense and I’m really sorry, but my point is that Bardugo put the wrong characters in the wrong story. The character arc required for organic development doesn’t match the story and intended message at all. The narrative doesn’t fit the cast. She's got two clashing stories attempting to work in tandem and she ends up with both conflicting messages that fans still can’t comprehend in her writing and an ending that doesn’t suit her main character to such an impossible degree that it’s almost laughable.

So yeah, there's a few reasons why I think the story and the plot feels so bad and disconnected. I hope you don't mind me making this answer so long! 😅 I was not expecting to write this much.

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nighttimepixels · 3 years ago

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TALK TO US ABOUT MASS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN AN INSANE MASS EFFECT/SHAKARIAN TRASH PERSON SINCE 20-FUCKING-11 AND LEMME TELL YOU THOSE FEELINGS HAVENOT TARNISHED A SINGLE FRACTION IN THOSE TEN YEARS OH MY GOOOOOOODDDSSSS!!!!!!!

I DEMAND A PLAY-BY-PLAY UP TO THE MINUTE OF YOUR REACTIONS TO EVERYTHING!!!!

you are so valid and I totally see why everyone I've ever mentioned it to loves the hell out of it

aksdjlsdfj I meannnn if you want to hear my rambling about it then hell yeah

Okay, gonna put this below the cut to save everyone else XD also- since I'm not leaving this Mass Effect obsession anytime soon, if you're not interested in seeing occasional posts about it, please feel free to block the tag "night plays ME"~

(mild spoilers ahead??)

((also for real I mean it when I say this is rambling as hell lol, apologies and no stress if absolute no one reads all this))

OKAY SO Mass Effect 1-

Stars help me, I was honestly hooked right from the start?? Like even in Legendary Edition (the combined trilogy just re-released in one "can play it on one system + minor improvements", for anyone who doesn't know) where it's smoothed out, of course it's obvious that ME1 is a decade old... but the foundation for these relationships are all there and gods I love them already.

Like - Kaiden right off the top is a delightful good fightin lad, what the hell. I've heard that he's viewed as 'bland' by a good portion of the fan community but I dunno, he's a delight and even more complex by the time 2 rolls around and you encounter him on Horizon, it was honestly Ashley I was way more meh about - mostly because before you can learn about her family history/etc, she comes off as hella xenophobic and I was immediately offended for my growing space family that she didn't like/trust all the aliens around, pfff.

(she gets redeemed a bit through further actions/evolving thoughts, but I thought in retrospect it was a bummer that they didn't flip the order there, give her a chance to be liked before the complicating factor of being so rude about aliens >:c that then she could grow from... ah well. Apparently she has a good arc but uh, let's just say I chose Kaiden at the "key junction" in the latter part of the game so I won't be seeing anymore of Ashley uh... anytime soon, haha.)

Garrus??? Is??????? The ABSOLUTE best???????????

I liked him from the start, I'm always a bit of a sucker for a rogue-detective "the system won't bring this bastard to justice, so I've got to" type and all their moral shadiness XD But he just gets better, honestly, and where I'm at in ME2 (right before the Reaper IFF mission, as of typing this, with everyone's loyalty!) I am only digging myself deeper into this hole-

-*wheezing* okay anyways -

Wrex is AMAZING I love fightin' middle-aged krogan bastard, gods. Liara is great too, I'm a sucker for a wlw relationship (playing fem!Shepard, so) - buuuut I'll admit she's a bit more one-note in ME1. Last week while I was still on ME1 I remember hearing (while trying to dodge spoilers) that her arc is really good, though. I think they leaned a little hard on the 'innocent but sexy' sterteotype on her (so despite the yikes aspect of a few of the things I've learned in ME2, lol, I actually really like the complexity that's been added to her character.)

Saved Liara first, so by the time I got to Noveria and had the standoff with Benezia there was the chance to have emotions over Liara having to face her TwT and of course, I made the questionable but quality decision to free Queen Rachni heheh. no ragrets

More than a blow-by-blow of my choices though I totally wanna take the chance to say that even in the mild jankiness of ME1 (goddammit, the Mako.... please..... please just go up this impossible cliff I just want to resource hunt-) the way that the lore, both obvious/key to main plot and the lesser/filler/background/world-building kinds... I just love it. It incorporates it well, you can go ham in the codex learning more, or just dive into the basics - it's clearly a complex galaxy (and they do an even better job in 2 of fleshing it out further), and it never really felt overwhelming. It was pretty natural figuring it all out-!

Plus the interesting implications of resource hunting amongst the sapient races, and the little side missions you better bet I did every one of- there's so much rich depth in the story if you do 'em!! (And that lead with that Keeper side mission...? Looking back, damn, clever foreshadowing-!!!)

And oh my gods, Ilios??? hell yeah. I loved that mission so much, especially having Garrus & Kaiden with me when talking to the hologram/computer, and more than anything, that last sprint in the Mako trying to get to the jump before it closed-???

yeet the boi-

Also mannn I love a good setpiece, and having to go up the side of the elevator, space-side?? such a cool setup!!

Plus it felt good having been Paragon enough (as simple as the good v bad vibe system is, I don't hate it, lol) to avoid one of the Saren fights, ngl. And the er, "second fight" with Sovereign-Saren.... hell yeah

... I'll admit I had to double check my choice re whether to save the Council. I did in the end, but I swear, sometimes the way they phrase things I'm like ".... okay but Garrus is right, defeating Sovereign is more important than these few leaders??????" woops. Listen, priorities, is all I'm saying..... (￣ヮ￣|||)ゞ

'Course later they emphasize (in ME2) that there were 10,000 people on that same ship and I was like well I wouldn't have second guessed if I'd known that, I mean c'mon-

Also I did indeed romance Liara in this one, so I got that scene ;Dc But,,,, I also knew by the end that I was totally gonna romance Garrus in 2 since he's an option then finally,,,,, lemme tell you the guilt as I waffled over whether to romance Liara bc of it. hahaha.

Aaaaand Mass Effect 2-

So I'm only up to right before the Reaper IFF Mission, so I don't know the ending, etc etc lol. That said, I've just finished every side mission I've found with the exception of the Shadowbroker Quest and the Arrival Quest (I've heard the latter basically leads into ME3, and the former is best either right before the Omega 4 jump or in postgame).

So from the start - fuck yeah fuck yeah what a high adrenaline start Shepard noooooo but also yes save Joker aH-

The motion comic too hot damn nice job

I loved this setup, seriously - especially forcing Shep into this situation, having to work with/for Cerberus, and the compelling reasoning given behind "why" they do what they do (I especially found it a good point that the Salarians have the Task Force, the Asaris the Commandos, the Turians the- etc... like, true, when you put it like that, having a similar group advancing human interests/solving human interstellar problems is pretty reasonable...). That said, I love too that it really isn't shied away from how Cerberus is nonetheless fucked up - or its at least done fucked up stuff.

Listen, I still think some messed up stuff is gonna be revealed in 2's endgame......... after that Horizon mission and the Collector's ship???? TIM I SEE YOU YOU SHADY MF-

aaanyways lol...

I'm so so glad on a gameplay level they nixed the Mako style exploration. A few Hammerhead missions are fine and a lot more focused than the slippery ass navigation in that glorified ATV, pfff. The probes are a neat way of getting after similar resources - and more importantly, having good levels and some good hubs (the Zakera Wards, Omega, Ilium, etc) is way way more fun than having a more 'sprawling' space that is.... a lot of empty nonsense, lol.

Then there's the fact that we get Joker right off the bat and you can interact with him so much - and him and EDI??? Get out gods I love them. Kasumi is so right when she says they sound like a bickering old married couple lol. I have a terrible feeling that some shit is gonna happen with EDI..... but I don't think she's evil as-is, at least.

Side-eying the hell out of those "access forbidden" parts of her that she doesn't even know.... and the fact that her AI core has a locked door access................... something's gonna happen gdi LEAVE OUR ADOPTED AI ALONE.

(Also Joker pls stop fracturing your thumb on the mute button)

Also please save me there are so many hot aliens in this game,,,,, the xeno/monsterfuckers really comin' through strong in the sequels............... doin' the lord's work........................................

In general, I love how many levels ME stepped up in two with complexity and interwoven narratives!! Like, to the point it'd be almost a drag to replay ME1, even though it was fun going through it (if occasionally a bit tedious with the cookie cutter rando planet science/mine facilities, lol). Like, just from how fun and interesting ME2 is, mostly! more of all the pre-introduced races, plus new ones, plus more filling in of intragalactic politics, and more interesting implications of all these space-faring races mixing....

Also gods WREX and his planet holy shit,,,,, fuckin' hell yeah my man get their shit together and also adopt Grunt yes good-

And Mordin??? My singing semi-evil scientist best friend forced to confront his choices more than he thought he ever would have???? With some of the best ongoing general report chatter of all the companions??

(when I tell you I choked on my coffee when I talked to him after confirming romance choice w/ Garrus and that 'pamphlet' and 'anaphalactic shot if ingesting-' kajsldkfjsldfjk)

Like, fuck, the fact that they actually dive into the mixed morality and horrors of the genophage, and you can confront Mordin on it, for good reason, yet he still stands his ground, until finally some bits of his loyalty mission seem to... affect him, and I'm guessing might set up things for 3 with him? Unsure, but either way, damn, the fact that they start to dig into it...

And Taliiiii my beloved forbidden alien wife TwT her loyalty mission was SO GOOD. I love how varied they all are?? Getting to defend her and discover what she'd unwittingly been a part of-!!

Zaeed is a bastard but tbh I love that he is and that he's unapologetic in him - and Kasumi omg, best thief. A heist?? Gods, yes- I love our couch lounge chats XD

Samara is..... illegally.......... she's an illegally powerful and beautiful and eloquent MILF...........................

(.... listen I'm sapphic as hell and I'm kicking my own ass for picking her up last aksjdlfksjdfl - but her loyalty mission, damn. And seeing how there's this interesting cultural subset, and the struggle with the Asari in that they unquestioningly accept/respect justicars, but also know that the impact outside their culture is a diplomacy nightmare waiting to happen-)

,.,,,,,T,,, Thane,,,,,

I am weak for morally implicated murder dads okay?? And that voice??? His mannerisms?????? How you first see him, and that prayer after assassinating her...???????? And his history/his people's history with the hanar, gods I love how messy it is, it feels so much more real!

Also Jack is a mess and I love her (and want to get her some therapy, omg), and her and Miranda nearly duking it out after you've done both their loyalty missions??? so good and makes a lot of sense-! Honestly I would love more interactions between teammates on the ship, but there's already so much the devs had to balance I can't blame 'em for minimizing, heh. But suffice to say I also love Miranda and Jacob, even if I'm softest for my alien crew XD Hell yeah Jacob, we'll get loud and spill drinks on the citadel indeed TwT

.... I could write a whole essay on how much I love Garrus oTL Perhaps because he and Tali are the throughlines from 1 on your 2 crew, I have some of the strongest feelings about them... but genuinely, he was one of my favorite companions in the first game, and how you find him as Archangel in two? Getting to help him fight his way out after he's gone nearly 48 hours straight fighting off three gangs alone, jfc. His vengeance quest and what can happen there.... That line? fuck me, that line -

It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Grey? I don't know what to do with gray...

How DARE you come for my heart like this, devs holy shit

(also, some other choice faves so far from the series from him include We can disobey suicidal orders?? and This wasn't in my training manual... [in 1, if you have him with you @ th Thorian fight] and his whole.... pop the heat sink - in his romance ;Dc)

asdasdfksadjfkl like I said I can write an essay on him PFFF suffice to say I'm very looking forward to his romance scene and where things go in 3

But yeah gods I'm just gonna keep rambling if I'm not careful lol. Gods I don't even know what to talk about it's all so good and while I can understand people roasting the obviousness of Paragon V Renegade (v neutral) choices/alignments, I think they do a pretty damn good job in 2 of pushing it further - to the point that there were some times that I accidentally got renegade points and I wasn't that mad, haha. There's so much fun in the interactions that I just have a good time anyways~

I have so many thoughts about TIM (The Illusive Man) and Cerberus.... theories evolving galore............... and like, what the hell!! Omega 4 going to the center of the galaxy is such a cool twist, goddamn - though my heart still breaks at losing Kaiden (his line if you haven't romanced him?? about feeling like he lost a limb when he lost you??? holy shit.... but I also can't blame him for not trusting Cerberus to the point of it affecting his ability to trust Shepard... like fuck Shep go after himmmm) I'm really excited to see where that goes since he comes back in 3, and what the fuck happens with Cerberus bc while I love the fact that obviously there are a lot of people in it for the right reasons, doing good work, there are those that are doing the opposite, and I have a very bad feeling about where TIM will end up landing....

All that said though I need to do the Reaper IFF mission (where I'm lightly spoiled as to getting That Boy, but not how/what happens to make it so - just that it's apparently wise to have all your side missions done before getting him...) and the actual Omega 4 jump. So we'll see what happens and what I think about it from there heheh!

.... major kudos and genuine props if you made it here to the end, I am so sorry for not editing on condensing all this, and appreciate you so much ;w;

#night answers #night plays ME #(yes that's a purposeful pun lol)#((i sure have played myself by starting this series its so good aksdjflskjfd))

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beileil · 3 years ago

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Can I ask about the fic entitled "DiscipleSquad," and then also ask you to tell me about a second title (but it's up to you/author's choice as to which one). Hope you're having a great day!

Thank you! You absolutely may! 💜

So, #DiscipleSquad (title will definitely be changed, it's just that it was like 3am when the idea popped in my head and I haven't been able to think of anything clever) is part of a collection of standalone crackfics that I'm currently calling "One Punch Ham". So for my author's choice, I'll pick a second one from that collection.

#DiscipleSquad (name change pending)

It's a short story under the (crack) premise 'hey, what would happen if Saitama and Atomic Samurai had to switch disciples for a week?' Worth noting that Charanko and Bang were originally going to be involved in the switch-a-roo, but I scrapped it because nobody likes Charanko it made the master/disciple combinations too complicated.

So, due to [insert instigating event here, probably Genos and Iaian getting in an argument], Saitama winds up being sensei-for-a-week for Iaian, Okamaitachi, and Bushidrill. He's pretty overwhelmed by it, because let's be real, just Genos is too much for him sometimes, how is he supposed to handle three disciples? He can't even remember their names. Initially they're all skeptical of one another. The disciples are wondering what's so special about this B-class hero (fic takes place pre-MA arc) that Demon Cyborg worships him. And Saitama is at a loss of what to teach them, because every time he's interacted with a sword in his life all he's done is break it. So for the first half of the week he's giving them general life advice and teaching them how to be frugal/coupon/get the best sales. And they finally just start (mis)interpreting his "lessons" like "Oh, of course! Saitama-sensei is trying to teach us that in order to have discipline on the battlefield, one must also show discipline in their personal life!" and he's like, "Uh, sure, let's go with that." Anyway, Saitama ends up taking them to spar in the canyon that he and Genos did. And they're like, ok, a team-up of 3 high-ranking A-class heroes against a single B-class doesn't seem fair. Initially they hold back, but quickly realize that Saitama is much more agile than he looks and start taking him seriously. They never manage to land a hit on him (Kama manages to get him with her air blade...but he doesn't even budge from a direct hit). But Saitama admits their sword fighting looks pretty cool. Afterward, they go out for udon, but only Bushidrill will take him up on the spicy udon challenge. (And thus is the only one of the three who gets to brag that he defeated Saitama-sensei in something.)

Meanwhile! Genos has moved into the dojo with Atomic Samurai, which AS finds extremely weird but he's willing to put up with it because Genos offers to make his meals and what the hell, his own ungrateful disciples never cook for him? Their training is a little more traditional, and Genos finds himself missing Saitama's more...off-beat lessons. Oh well. At least Atomic Samurai is just as dumb as Saitama and gives the same caliber of advice.

Here's a snippet!

“Just go faster.” Atomic Samurai stated it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Genos stared at him for a few seconds, then his eyes widened in understanding. He pulled out a notebook and furiously scribbled down the wisdom. “Of course!” he replied, astonished he hadn’t thought of it himself. The samurai raised his eyebrows in surprise. Huh. Usually his disciples just gave him dubious looks when he gave generic advice like that. He couldn’t believe this kid was actually taking it to heart. (Either that or Demon Cyborg's sarcasm was truly next level, but Atomic Samurai decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.)

The Bald Truth

For my second pick, I'm going with another one in the One Punch Ham collection. It's the only one that I'm even close to finishing. I don't want to spoil too much, so all I'm going to say is that it's an AU where everything is the same except Saitama has long, flowing hair. There's the teensiest bit of Saigenos, but only if you want there to be. Here's a chunk of the story toward the beginning:

“Alright, hair.” He grabbed the razor and gave the mirror a maniacal grin. “Prepare to meet your maker.” It was back by the time he finished breakfast. It only got worse the more he tried to tame it. Soon, his hair reached his shoulders. He chopped it off in frustration. The next day, it had grown back to his waist. He took to trimming his hair short each morning before his daily training. He tried to at least get his run in before it grew back, but by the end of the ten kilometers, it would inevitably be whipping him in the face. As he did his push-ups, sit-ups, and squats in the park, children would point at his head, shouting to their mothers that they could actually see his hair growing. The mothers would shush their little ones, telling them it was rude to stare, but not before stealing a glimpse for themselves, astonished when they realized it was true. By the time Saitama returned to his apartment, his hair would be pooled around his feet. He eventually gave up cutting it, opting to braid and tie it instead. It didn’t stop passers-by from gawking, but at least he didn’t trip over it anymore. After a year of training, his power reached its peak. Enemies no longer presented even an inkling of a challenge. A single punch ended every fight. Over time, Saitama became bored. Dull to most emotions, really. The one silver lining was that his hair's growth had finally seemed to taper off. It still regenerated if he tried to cut it, but it stopped once its length reached approximately twice his height. He could deal with that, he supposed. Even when his bratty disciple stared at his head. “Sensei?” Genos’ inquiry broke him out of his reverie. Speak of the devil. Or should I say Demon? Saitama mused, recalling the much cooler hero name that had just been bestowed upon Genos. The younger man peered over his shoulder at the letter and glowered when his eyes scanned his sensei’s title. Caped Long Hair, the letter stated in bold font. “What a juvenile decision. I shall file a formal complaint with the Hero Association at once,” Genos stated, with a fire figuratively in his eyes and literally in his palm. “Dude, no. It’s fine.” Saitama sighed. He folded up the letter and handed it to his disciple, who was all too eager to incinerate the offending document.

Thank you for the ask!!

#fanfic ask game #wip ask game #fanfiction #one punch man

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sadsilktrader · 4 years ago

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Secret Admirer

I apologize for my extreme tardiness for posting to the Geraskier Holiday Exchange. This was written for @gotfanfiction

A modern Geraskier AU in which Jaskier is receiving gifts from an admirer.

...

"I'm telling you Yen, the man doesn't even know I exist. It can't be him," Jaskier paced the living room of his small apartment, small watering can in hand, completely forgotten. His plants looked on forlornly.

"Hm," she replied, he could hear the scritch-scratch of the emery board while she only half-listened to his prattling. "All I'm saying is that he was there at the pub the night you played and he lives in your building and he can hear you when you practice and those have all been the nights you've got gifts from your secret admirer."

"Half the building goes to that pub, it could be anyone! Plus, he doesn't even know I exist. " He flopped dramatically onto the couch, spilling water on himself. "Anyway, I'll let you go do whatever important business you have to do. You'll be here before my show on Saturday with Triss, right?"

"We'll be there. We just have to drop Ciri off at her dad's first. Now promise me you'll at least talk to him next time you see him."

"Maybe." He grumbled.

"What was that?"

"Fine, fine! I promise!"

"You better. I'm tired of listening to you wistfully sigh every time we speak."

"You're the worst."

"I love you too Jaskier, bye."

The phone clicked.

He'd met Yen online, a friend of a friend of a friend. They played DnD together, starting off as catty enemies and somehow developing into the deep friendship they had now. She was a good person, just a little rough around the edges. Well, very rough around the edges.

She'd settled down a lot over the last few years when motherhood had fallen into her lap though. He wasn’t certain about all the details, they were close but she was a private person. She shared custody of her adopted daughter, Ciri, with her ex. He'd never had the pleasure of meeting the man but he'd heard enough about him to form his own opinions. Heart in the right place but not exactly open about his feelings.

Sounded a lot like his own mysterious love. He sighed again, there was no way it was his gorgeous and stoic upstairs neighbor. The man was gorgeous and kind and lovely. He was tall and pale with silky white hair. Not to mention outrageously muscular. Jaskier had seen him in their apartment's gym working out on more than one occasion. It had taken every ounce of his self-control to keep himself from openly ogling him. He'd seen him feeding the feral cat that lived in the parking lot. Helping their elderly neighbors with their groceries. Playing with his daughter on the weekends. The man was too good to be true. Which was why he was absolutely positive he couldn't be the one leaving the gifts at his door.

The mystery man was perfect but he, Julian Alfred Pancratz, college drop out, jobless, barely squeezing by with the money he made by doing odd jobs in the apartment complex and occasionally performing at the neighborhood pub, was an absolute mess. There was no way someone like the man would give him more than a passing glance.

He sat up quickly leaving the forgotten, spilled watering can to the side to search for his notebook and pen. At least all the angst and longing seemed to also be a fantastic inspiration.

...

He chewed his lip, the leather-bound notebook balanced on his knee. He strummed a few chords on his guitar before setting it back carefully down to scribble something down.

The sun was fully set now and his balcony light had flicked on giving the small area an ethereal glow. He loved the process of writing and creating outside where he could feel the world around him. There was something about feeling the gentle breeze against him, the sun and moon shining down on him, and the fluttering hummingbirds that visited his feeder that just felt right.

He stretched and yawned and was contemplating packing up for the night when he heard it. A barely-there, soft knock at his door. Eyes gone wide he all but threw his things down and ran to the door to open it. No one. As always. There was however a small box tied in a ribbon and a note attached.

A voice so sweet deserves something sweet in return. -love, your admirer

He undid the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was an assortment of homemade chocolates. He popped one in his mouth and let it slowly melt over his tongue. Dark chocolate, caramel, sea salt. He couldn't help the sappy smile that plastered itself on his face and would stay there the rest of the night.

It had been a little over a month since the gifts started arriving. Most of the time they were baked goods or sweets of some kind but occasionally it was something different. A clutch of flowers, a silver bracelet with music notes engraved, once there was even a picture of a particularly beautiful sunrise left for him. He treasured them all.

He was a hopeless romantic down to the core of his being. He had never met his admirer but he was sure it would be love at first sight.

…

He was bone tired. He'd spent the day hauling furniture away to the thrift store and painting the walls of one of his elderly neighbors who was soon moving to a rest home. For all the work he was paid thirty dollars and a batch of very good snickerdoodle cookies. He knew it was all the woman could afford to give him and he was grateful for that. Not exactly enough to pay the rent but enough to buy a few groceries at least.

He stood in the deli section, weighing out the pros and cons of value pack meats when he saw him. The man, his white hair hanging loose around his shoulders, dark jeans, and a leather jacket. His breath hitched and his mouth went dry.

Gods how can anyone look that attractive just going to the grocery store.

The man looked up, catching him staring. His eyes the color of amber and honey. He felt like a deer in the headlights caught in his gaze. A few faint scars visible on his face and neck. He couldn't help but wonder if there were more on the rest of the man's body and felt a blush rise to his cheeks.

"It's leaking." The man said.

"What?"

"The honey ham your holding, it's leaking."

He stared at the gorgeous being before him for a moment longer before it clicked.

"Oh fuck," he dropped the squishy package on the ground, ham juices splashing on the both of them.

"Oh, gods I'm so sorry," he wasn't sure his face could get any redder.

"It's okay, really. I've had much worse things spilled on me before. You looked pretty lost in thought."

An employee glared at him with a mop and trash can. He smiled awkwardly, wishing he could just disappear.

"You're the musician, right? I live in the apartment above yours. I can hear you playing from my living room." The way the man said it had him wondering if that was a good thing or not.

"I'm Julian, well Jaskier to my friends and fans." He mustered up the courage he usually reserved for the stage and gave the man his best smile.

"Geralt. I'd shake your hand but," He nodded to his arms full of groceries. "You know when you go into the store thinking you only need one thing?"

"Well, you're in luck," he gestured to his cart, "I just so happen to have the best cart in the store. Not a squeaky wheel in sight."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely! The life of a musician leads to a very sparse diet. More than enough room for both of us. Plus we're headed to the same place."

Geralt had an amused smirk on his face that made Jaskier's heart skip a beat. Conversation between them came easy. Geralt was the quieter of the two but his dry wit and cheesy jokes had him laughing harder than he had in ages. Handsome and funny.

They made their way back to the apartment complex walking slower than was necessary, he noticed.

"So you have a daughter? I'm not stalking you or anything, I just noticed her around the complex sometimes."

"Ciri," he replied. "My ex and I share custody, its-" he sighed, running his hand through his hair, "it's a bit of a complicated situation actually. But they’re moving closer soon and that should help.”

The elevator stopped at his floor and he stepped off.

“So, I’ll be seeing you.” he mentally berated himself for not being able to come up with something more clever. The door was closing between them and he suddenly shot his hound out, stopping the door.

“Actually, and please forgive me if this is too forward, maybe I could give you my number and we could grab a coffee sometime? Or do our grocery shopping together again?”

Geralt chuckled before reaching into his pocket, tapping at the screen a few times, and passed it over. He added his number with the name Jaskier followed by a heart and music note emoji. The moment the elevator door closed he was dancing, groceries in hand, for his forwardness paying off for once.

…

It was colder tonight but he still played outside until his fingers were near numbing. His cheeks were flushed red from the cold. After his run-in with the man, he felt like he was walking on clouds. The world was at peace and he was the luckiest man in the world. He’d almost forgotten about his secret admirer completely until the same soft knock came from outside the door. Today was different though. Today he was brave and he had left a note for his admirer to find.

I beg of you to reveal yourself to me. I will be performing at the Royal Oak this Saturday. Please, wear this token so I may recognize you amongst the other patrons. Love, Jaskier

He strained his ears and purposely walked slowly to the door, giving his admirer time to leave the gift and find his note. He swore he heard mumbling of words. He closed his eyes and counted to ten before opening the door.

His note was gone and in place of it a container he opened to reveal a miniature-sized three-layered cake elaborately decorated with chocolate-covered strawberries. It was, as always, delicious to the point of sin.

He felt a twinge of guilt. He didn’t want to string along his admirer, especially if things with Geralt turned out well. But he was getting ahead of himself. They had spoken once and here he was already planning their life together.

…

The next few days passed quickly. His wish of getting more work around the complex had come true but he was, unfortunately, unable to do any more practice for his upcoming performance. Every day he came back to his apartment with every intention of playing only to wake up from an unintentional five-hour nap on his couch.

To make matters worse, he hadn’t received a single text from Geralt, and since his sleep schedule was completely messed up he hadn’t caught a single glimpse of him since their last accidental meeting. He thought of swinging by his place to invite him to his show but decided against it. Maybe he needed some space? Maybe he had come off as too clingy? The doubts and second-guesses were mounting.

He arrived at the pub early to set up and get some practicing in before going on stage. Geralt wouldn’t be there but at least, he hoped, his soon-not-to-be secret admirer would be. Inside the note, he’d left a silver brooch of a songbird in flight. It was small but something he would instantly recognize. The glimmer of it from the stage lights would catch his attention. At least that’s what he was hoping. He felt more nervous about this performance than he had in a long while.

“You okay there Jaskier?” The voice came from behind him and he turned to see Triss, her curls down, beautifully framing her face.

“Oh thank the Gods,” he hugged her tight.

“Where’s your better half?” he asked looking around the growing pub’s crowd.

“Outside on the phone. It’s her ex, they don’t argue often but when they do,” she made a face. “Something about him needing her to watch their daughter.”

“Doesn’t he only see her on weekends? What an asshole.”

“Right?”

He felt more at ease with a friendly face by his side and felt even better when Yennifer joined them. He was smarter than to ask her about the phone call and instead chatted about everything and anything to get his mind off his nerves. Time went by more quickly now and soon it was time for him to play.

The second he stepped on stage his demeanor changed. Gone was any trace of nerves and doubt. The stage was his solace, the place he could bare his soul to the masses, or in this case to the forty-odd people crammed into the pub.

It was halfway through his third song when he remembered to keep an eye out for his admirer. He scanned the crowd hoping for the familiar glint to catch his eye but there was nothing. He chewed his lip.

The third song blended into his fourth and fifth. Still nothing. He took a break to grab a drink. He made small talk with Yennifer who raised a delicate brow at him.

"Alright, spill it. What's got you so distracted?"

He finished his drink and let his smile fall into a grimace.

"I left a note. For my admirer. I asked them to come tonight. I left them something to wear so I would recognize them and-"

"And they did show?" She finished for him.

"Nope. Wait how did you know?"

"First off you're terrible at hiding your emotions, and second I was fucking right and you owe me.”

“What?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “I guess I’m partially to blame, I should have realized it earlier.”

“I- what?” he asked again.

“Jaskier. Darling. Sweetheart. I was right.” she said the words slowly as one would do to a small dog.

“Right about what?”

“Your admirer. It’s your neighbor. You never told me but let me guess. Pale, white hair, roguishly handsome, looks like he could snap you in half like a twig?”

“How do you?” He was feeling a little faint now like he was at the edge of realizing something terrible.

“Your neighbor, your admirer, and my ex are all the same person.”

His eyes went wide. It all made sense. All the clues were there but he had just been too dense to put them all together. He’d seen pictures of Yenifer’s daughter but he’d never spent more than a passing glance at Geralt's visiting daughter.

“Oh fuck.” he sat down, suddenly unsure of his legs beneath him.

“He called me right before I came in going on about needing to go out for a few hours and if it was alright with me if he left Ciri alone.” she chuckled. “I told him to not be an asshole and spend time with his daughter.”

Jaskier’s head perked up. Geralt had wanted to come. He hadn’t blown him off.

“I have to go. Fuck, I can’t leave in the middle of a set though.”

Yennifer waved him off, “I’ll sort things off here, you go to him.”

He kissed the top of her head and gave her a quick, tight hug. “You would tell me if this bothered you right? I mean, he’s your ex and all.”

“I think you two would do a very good job at evening each other out, now go!” She smacked him on the shoulder and off he went.

…

He ran home, or at least halfway home before running out of breath and proceeded to briskly walk the rest of the way. He was still trying to decide what to say when he found himself outside the door, sweating profusely and looking an absolute mess. He knocked on the door before he talked himself out of it.

“One minute!” A voice from beyond the door answered followed by the sound of an oven door closing and the chain sliding from the door’s lock.

The door opened. He looked beautiful, even like this, wearing an apron covered in flour cocoa powder. Especially like this maybe.

“I’m friends with Yennifer and she said it was you but I didn’t believe her and I didn’t realize that your daughter Ciri was also her daughter Cirilla which in retrospect should have clued me in but-” he took a deep breath in. Geralt looked nervous and his rambling wasn’t happening. He started over.

“You’re my secret admirer?”

The man blushed. “I am. Is that okay?”

“Very, very okay.” He smiled.

“Would you like to come in? I was just baking. For you.” his blush deepened and Jaskier heart felt like it would burst with affection.

“I’d like that very much.”

#geraskier holiday exchange #geraskier #geraskier fic #geraskier fanfic #geraskier fanfiction #this is so laaaate #modern au geraskier #secret admirer fic #sometimes I write

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wulfies-kpop-fanfics · 4 years ago

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One Photo → Mark Lee [6]

↳ Pairing: Mark Lee/Reader

↳ AU: Soulmate!AU - The first touch of two soulmates permanently scars their bodies.

↳ Warning: Suggestive

↳ Word count: 4,349

↳ Chapters: Prelude | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | You Are Here! | 7 | 8 | 9

⁙ Summary: For an end of the year photography project, you’re tasked with taking a photograph for your favourite group, NCT127, and coincidentally, discover your soulmate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FRIDAY - 6 - Part 2

As the two of you travel down the hallway making quiet conversation, Mark stops in his tracks. You're completely focused on him, not sure what he's looking at. The hallway goes silent, save for heavy breathing and the sound of kissing.

Peeking out from behind Mark's back, you peer around the bend of the hallway to join your soulmate's gaze, landing on none other than Rhiannon and Donghyuck, the latter pushing her up against the wall.

"You hypocrite!" Mark quickly covers your mouth with his hand, but it's already too late- both of them are startled enough to quickly separate and begin smoothing out their clothes.

Once Rhiannon realizes that it's you and Mark that caught her, she grabs Donghyuck's hand. She looks completely serious, her face flushed red. "Where, need it now. Our turn."

With your mouth still covered, you look up at Mark. He's still nearly stunned, exchanging looks with Donghyuck, who is equally frozen in place and watching all of this unfold. "Uh," Mark starts sheepishly, glancing between the couple standing before you. "End of the hall, second last room,"

Donghyuck nods and says something in Korean, and from context you assume he's done the same as Mark - prepared a room. He tugs on her hand gently, quickly leading her past the two of you - the slightly awkward moment passing as soon as Rhiannon and Donghyuck are out of sight.

Mark removes his hand from your mouth, and you glance back for a moment. "Well," you say, swallowing thickly. "I guess I know how she feels now."

Mark smiles, barely keeping back a laugh. "Seems like it. Let’s go back to the stage before we find out if those rooms are soundproof or not."

It was relieving to know that once you two arrived back in the arena, none of the guys even so much as made a whisper about what you and Mark so obviously left to do. Everyone was now sitting on the stage around what looked like a picnic blanket that had a spread of snacks over top of it. They all waved to greet you and Johnny helped you up on the stage when you approached. “Help yourself,” Jaehyun said, popping a piece of melon in his mouth. “We just gotta wait for Donghyuck and Rhiannon to come back and then we can do a small dance practice.”

You and Mark happily approach the others and take your seats among them. You sigh in contentment as you chew on a piece of pineapple, finally chipping away at your post-sex appetite.

"So," Johnny begins as you're about to eat your second piece of pineapple, "we couldn't get much out of Mark, but we were all wondering why you and Rhiannon were living by yourselves off-campus in the city."

You freeze for a moment, chewing and swallowing cautiously. Mark grabs your hand and looks at you sympathetically.

"It's a little complicated," you answer, "but we chose to move out when we were accepted to college. I lived with her family for a while after my parents were arrested, but I feel like I made their home life a lot worse. I would have left earlier, but my inheritances and my government grants didn't arrive immediately."

Jaehyun looked at you, eyebrows furrowed. "What happened to your parents?"

You licked your lips and sighed. "Your general gang slash drug dealer gig. They both got hefty prison time for child neglect, drug possession and trafficking on top of harbouring fugitives."

Everyone was silent, save for the muted sounds of eating. "That all sounds horrible," Johnny said. "I never would have guessed you came from that life."

"Sometimes I can't believe I went through any of that either," you agree, "after I left home my life got a lot better. I have Rhiannon to thank for it all. Because of her, I'm here now." You smile as best you can, picking up a mini ham and cheese sandwich triangle you spotted on the platter.

"What are we all talking about?" Rhiannon called as she and Donghyuck entered through one of the side archways into the arena. You and Mark helped them up onto the stage where they took their places and also began picking at the food.

"Collecting my life story," you say, watching the others nod. "I was saying that I lived with you and your family for a while until we moved out."

"Mm, yeah. Rough few years," she commented, picking up her own sandwich triangle. "I'm so glad we moved out."

"Why?" Jungwoo asked, causing you to turn your attention to him.

Rhiannon licked her lips. "It was pretty easy going for the five of us while my mom was still around. (Y/N) and I were working to help my dad out and my mom ran a daycare. When the two of us were graduating from high school, my mom passed away from breast cancer."

You looked down at the floor of the stage, acutely aware of the sullen silence as she paused. "Then life got bad. Mine and my sister's mental health plummeted and everyone was always arguing, especially my dad and my sister. Once (Y/N) and I were both accepted to study in the city, we moved out with her inheritance as fast as we could."

"I'm sorry," Taeyong added. "It's better now, right?"

"As good as it can be," you smile somberly, peeking up a little bit as Mark held your hand. "I miss our mom more and more every day, but we know she's watching over us, cheering us on. If we give up on what we've been working so hard for, she'd definitely beat our asses. Once we graduate, we will be able to build the best lives for ourselves as we can."

"Now that we have all of you, it feels like we fell out of a nightmare and ended up in a dream," Rhiannon said, chewing on another piece of food. "Now all I need to do is get (Y/N) to stop eating stuff with ketchup and I will reach nirvana."

You rolled your eyes and smiled at her. "Ketchup isn't that bad," you protest, nearly breaking out into full out laughter as Mark also makes a disgusted face toward you.

"You like ketchup?" He asked, jokingly frowning.

"Not as much as her sister," you point at Rhiannon, "Lindsay will eat ketchup with mac and cheese!"

"Oh God, that's disgusting!" Mark stuck his tongue out and nearly gagged.

"We know!" Both you and Rhiannon exclaimed in unison.

Things quieted down again as everyone finished the snacks that were laid out, and you all helped clean up once the tray of snacks was polished off. Yuta ended up being the one voted to go backstage with the dishes, but Johnny, Taeyong and Doyoung eventually offered to go and help. Jungwoo, Jaehyun and Taeil also left, you assumed to maybe go to the bathroom, leaving you, Rhiannon, Mark and Donghyuck to occupy the stage.

Once the crowd had diminished, Rhiannon turned her attention to Mark, mischief written all over her face. You already know what's about to come out of her mouth, so you stand up and make your way onto the other side of the stage to hide behind a curtain.

"(Y/N)? Why are you hiding?" Mark seems curious, standing up to walk over to you, but stops in his tracks when Rhiannon begins to speak.

"So, Mark, you guys were up there for a while."

"Y-yeah…" his response was drawn out, not exactly sure where the conversation was going. You inwardly groaned.

"Did you like (Y/N)'s boobs? Pretty big, right? Also super pretty,"

"Noona!" Donghyuck chimed in, also standing up and reaching for her arm. "That's bad!"

Mark goes beet red, looking your way sheepishly. He starts stuttering as if he's shutting down. You take a deep breath, you probably should do something.

"Y-yeah, they were pretty great, um-" he starts, then it looks like something clicks in his head. "H-how would you know what they look like?"

Rhiannon grinned at him, her eyes shifting to the backstage entrance as Yuta and the others were all clamouring back in, "I've seen her naked tons of times. Best breasts on the market if you ask me."

"This needs context! This really needs context!" Johnny shouted as soon as everyone else stopped in their tracks.

At this point, Mark is so red that you think he might actually turn into a tomato. He's completely frozen and speechless, mouth hanging open in shock. Taking in a deep breath you emerge from the curtain you take Mark's hand and squeeze it gently.

"How about we address how quickly you came back from the VIP rooms?" You question, sticking your other hand on your hip.

"Well, y'know," she starts, looking over at the small crowd of boys staring in disbelief.

"Noona-" Donghyuck tries to stop her, but she whispers something in his ear which in turn seems to stop his protest.

"I'm all for taking dick up my cooch but I figured a nice thigh fuck would be better to start out with. Keep them wanting more, right? Oh, he's not small, either." She winked.

"Noonaaaaaa," Donghyuck whines, following that up with something else in Korean you couldn't understand. Everyone in the room was completely silent, frozen in disbelief of what had just entered their ears.

"Well, I think you got your context, John," Jaehyun was the first to utter any words.

It definitely took a while for you to process what just happened. You knew what Rhiannon was like and you expected a small comment from her, but you were completely floored. You opened your mouth to say something, but no words came.

"Well, let's not just stand here, we have an hour before the stylists want us," Taeyong clapped his hands politely, and that seemed to get everyone else in gear. The awkwardness still took a while to fade, so you and Rhiannon decided to sit off to the side while the boys clamoured into their positions to practice dancing.

Once the melody of Cherry Bomb entered your ears, your heart began to thud in your chest. It was one of your favourite songs by them, and the dance was also easily one of your favourites, just behind BOSS. You sat just by the edge of the curtain, clapping along and waving whenever Mark glanced in your direction, tapping your feet against the floor. Rhiannon was outright jamming next to you, making you laugh and grin at her as you shook your head.

When Simon Says started, you stood and (pathetically) tried to imitate the dance as you stood in your spot. Mark looked over at you for a split second as he faced you to change positions in the dance and he flashed a quick thumbs up with a smile.

The next thing you notice though is Rhiannon, who also decided to stand up to start dancing. "Hey (Y/N), watch this," she bends her arms to a ninety-degree angle and then begins to swivel her hips like she's playing with a hula hoop.

You can barely contain your laughter as you watch her dance and don't even notice that the music stopped, everyone turned toward her to catch her in the act.

Yuta is holding his phone, presumably the one controlling the Bluetooth speakers that are hidden somewhere on the stage, trying not to laugh. "Neither of you know how to dance, do you?"

"Hell no," you're wiping away a tear, watching Rhiannon' silly grin.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I hope Red Velvet has an opening cause I'm about to take the world by storm," she is hardly able to finish her joke before she also bursts out laughing, doubling over and holding her stomach.

"C'mere," Mark held out a hand to you, "let's all have some fun before we have to go."

With a smile you approach your soulmate, pressing your scarred palms to his. A newer song you don't think you've heard yet starts playing over the speakers, Yuta smiling warmly in your direction. Rhiannon joins Donhgyuck and the boys slowly begin to teach you an easy dance, laughing and having fun.

Time flew by and eventually they had to go backstage to get changed and have makeup done by the stylists. You and Rhiannon stuck around backstage for a bit, but eventually, you decided to go find your seats. You left your backpack in the stylist room with Mark, hoping you would remember it after the show.

"Wait!" Mark caused you to stop in your tracks on the way out, turning towards him and meeting his eyes. "I have something for you." He stands up from the makeup chair he was perched in and dug around in a cardboard box in the corner of the room. He eventually comes up with an NCT127 light stick box.

"You really didn't have to, I could have gone out to the merchandise line," you said sheepishly as Mark handed it to you with a grin.

"It's a gift," he retorted with a smile. "I wouldn't want you to be in that line long enough for you to miss any of the performances."

"Thank you, Mark, I'll wave it higher than everyone else." You looked over at the stylist. "Can I kiss him, please?"

She nodded. "We haven't done lips yet. Go ahead."

Excitedly you lean forward to peck Mark on the lips. "I love you, see you soon,"

"I love you too, (Y/N)," Mark held your hand for a few seconds before he had to let you leave the room and return to his chair.

Once you had taken your seat and prepared your light stick, the lights began to fade. Other fans were being let into the venue, and soon enough the concert would start. Rhiannon looked over at you with a grin, holding up a pair of earplugs.

"Check your light stick box," she said. "If we learned anything from seeing BTS last year is that we need these, Donghyuck packed some for me. Maybe Mark did for yours."

Peering into your box, you noticed at the bottom that there was a pair of earplugs sitting there and a note in Mark's writing.

In case you forgot. Love, Mark

You smiled at the note fondly, placing it back in the box, closing it tightly. You slipped it underneath your chair, sitting down and watching the lights dim. You just finished putting the lightstick strap around your wrists, putting the earplugs in your pocket.

Your phone buzzed as fans began to take their seats, and smiled when you read a text from Mark.

Mark: I hope you're ready for the show tonight

You: I've been preparing myself since I bought the tickets

Mark: I wanted to ask you something before my phone gets confiscated

You: What do you need?

Rhiannon perched her chin on your shoulder and read the texts. "Ooh," she sang. "Does he sext you?"

"No!" You quickly dispute. "I'm not sure what he's gonna ask."

Mark: I spoke to my manager and the guys, since I leave for Vancouver tomorrow, I wanted to know if I could spend the night at your place

You: you would really be allowed to do that?

Mark: they made a special exception, I just wanted to know if you would be comfortable with it

You: of course I would be, you are more than welcome to stay with me

"Ooooh! I hope they made that exception for Hyuckie!" Rhiannon exclaims, taking her head off your shoulder and reaching into her pocket for her phone.

Mark: that makes me really happy, meet me in the VIP room after the show, I will bring your backpack

You: okay, I love you, don't overdo it

Mark: I can handle anything life throws at me, dont worry :) love you too

It felt like as soon as you put your phone down, the concert started. Any concert you've ever been to has always managed to be the fastest few hours of your life. This one was no exception - you could feel your heart pound and your chest vibrate with the beat, eyes glued to the stage before you.

You always had problems remembering everything that took place during any show. You knew every song and you sang until your throat went raw, danced with your lightstick until your arm was sore and rolled your eyes with a smile whenever Rhiannon screamed too loudly, too close to your ear. During the concert, you forgot about life outside. You forget about your problems, your exams, graduation, everything.

Something you would never forget, though, was every time Mark looked at you. No matter how deep in concentration he was, every time he was on stage and close to you, he would smile. His face would be glistening with sweat, his chest would heave in deep breaths during a transition, but no matter what, he always managed to grin in your direction.

Being so close to the stage and just being at any concert always gave you a special type of high, that filled your heart with music and happiness that you sometimes felt you couldn't experience. At the end, when the boys left the stage and the lights came back on, you sat down to finish soaking it all in.

"Agh, I'm all sweaty," was the first thing Rhiannon said since everything was all over, and you couldn't help but laugh a little.

"I wonder why," you muse sarcastically, looking up at her from your seat with a smile.

She looked down at you and stuck her tongue out. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" She asked.

Your eyes widened. "Yeah. Is Donghyuck going to meet you backstage?"

She nodded. "Mhm, I'll meet up with you two later. See you in a bit."

You gave Rhiannon a quick hug before grabbing your lightstick box and attempting to move with the crowd exiting the arena. Some of the fans that catch a glimpse of you stare as you pass by- most likely noticed that you had a backstage pass lanyard around your neck. You try to avoid eye contact with them as best you can, slipping into the staircase that leads up to the VIP rooms.

You reached the end of the hallway, gripping the doorknob and pushing it open. The curtain was still covering the window that looked over the arena, and the small coffee table was still pushed up against it, next to the bar stools. You slipped off your shoes and sat on the couch, making yourself comfortable. It would probably be a little while before Marked joined you, so you set down your lightstick box and curled up in the corner of the cushions.

The ringing in your ears slowly faded away as your mind wandered, drifting off into a light snooze. You feel comfortable and warm, the scent of Mark still was barely noticeable in the air around you. You smiled to yourself when you thought of what Mark reminded you of- a strong campfire with fresh s'mores and the sweet summer air that lingered just outside the radius of the fire's warmth.

There was a soft clicking sound that followed the doorknob being turned. You barely perk up when Mark enters the room, clad in his Superhuman t-shirt and black jeans. It seems all of the sweat from his performances has been wiped away, but his face is still flushed. He slips your backpack off his back and gently sets it by the door.

"Hey, sleepy," he whispers, approaching you and kneeling before you. He gently takes your hands, kissing the knuckles. "Did you have fun?"

You smile sleepily at him. "Yeah, I had a lot of fun. You don't look tired,"

Mark continued to smile at you. "Looks can be deceiving," he says. "I just have to put some things away and then we can go."

You perk up a bit as he stands, grabbing the blanket to put inside his own backpack. "Shouldn't we wait until everyone is gone?"

Mark shrugs. "We have to go back down to see the others, that should give us some extra time so that we don't get in a streetcar where we will be swarmed."

You nod, yawning. "Okay, I trust you."

Mark sat down beside you once he zipped up his backpack, giving you a tired smile. He looked down at his arms, idly running a finger against the scar of his arm. "I guess we will be seeing a lot of news about this soon."

You join his gaze and frown a little. "Do you think it will be bad?" You ask, chewing on your lip.

"No, I don't think so. At least I hope. I like to think our fandom is mature enough," Mark takes your hand for a moment and squeezes it. "Shall we go?"

You nod and unfurl yourself to stand up. You both put on your backpacks, you put on your shoes and then head out the door together. You return backstage to meet with everyone, feeling a little surreal that you can personally compliment them on their performances. When you hug each member one last time, you barely catch yourself indulging in their scents, all unique and sweet in their own way. Rhiannon is watching you with a knowing smirk as you do, and as you hug Jungwoo you manage to stick your tongue out at her.

It felt strange but good to go home that night with Mark. It was warm and a little lonely outside compared to how it was inside the venue during the event, but it was a nice change after being inside with a few thousand screaming people. The streetcar ride and the walk back were pleasant, making idle conversation about the concert as Rhiannon and Donghyuck walked along with you.

Once you arrive home, everyone stumbles tiredly inside. You bring Mark's backpack into your room, and all of you play rock-paper-scissors to determine who gets to use the bathroom in order. Rhiannon, Donghyuck and Mark all destroyed you in the game, so you hang back in the kitchen to make some sleepy time tea while you waited.

You nearly fell asleep standing in the kitchen and waiting for your kettle to finish heating up the water. Just as you're finishing preparing everyone's tea, Mark emerges from the bathroom clad in soft pyjamas and sporting freshly dried hair.

"Is that for me?" He asked, pressing a kiss to your cheek.

You nod at him. "If you could bring the other mugs to Rhiannon and Donghyuck too, Rhi's is the purple mug and the blue one is Donghyuck's. I'm going to go freshen up."

Mark nods at you with a smile. Briefly holding your hand as you make your way into the bathroom. You shower quickly, not bothering to pamper yourself. Once you get out, you dry your hair thoroughly with a towel, sighing at the feeling of massaging your scalp.

Once you exit the bathroom, clad in your own pyjamas, you see that Mark is still in the kitchen, clutching his mug of tea.

"Feel better?" He asks, taking a quick sip.

"Mm," you answer, "I'm just about ready to pass out,"

"I made you a mug of tea if you want it. Half-full." Mark smiles when you gently return his earlier cheek kiss.

You reach forward and grab the warm Dragon Ball Z mug to take a few quick mouthfuls of perfect tea. "Thank you," you say, "I had a really great day today."

"Me too," Mark grins sleepily, "but I'm ready to sleep."

"You and me both." You place your mug in the sink. Mark follows suit, gently taking your hand as you lead him to your room. When you pass the living room you notice it's empty, so you assume Rhiannon and Donghyuck have already both gone to sleep.

Once you open the door to your room, you feel so much more relaxed and comfortable. You beckon Mark in, sheepishly smiling as you begin to relocate your mountain of stuffed animals. There's not much light since you hadn't turned any on, but a streak of moonlight is seeping in through your curtains, enough that some things in your room are clear to see.

"Your room is very cosy," he compliments, taking a seat on the edge of your bed and running his hand along the fabric.

"I spend a lot of time here, so I like to make it as comfortable as possible,"

Mark nods with a small smile. "Oh, I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?" You watch him curiously as he stands and moves to his backpack, unzipping it and rummaging for a few seconds before pulling out the fuzzy polar bear plush.

"This belongs to you," he says, tucking it under the covers before taking his seat again. "We should keep him comfy."

You grin at him, "thank you for not thinking I'm weird for asking about it,"

He shakes his head, "anything to help while I'm gone," he comments, trailing off as he continues to observe the contents of your room, and you blush once you realize Mark has spotted some photo cards stuck onto the edge of the shelf above your computer desk.

"I see you have everyone here," he comments with a smile. "Including…"

"Day6," you answer sheepishly, inviting yourself under the covers. "Come cuddle?"

Mark chuckles lightly and complies. He pulls back his side of the covers and slides in, immediately moving to drape an arm over your side. He blinks slowly, smiling warmly as his eyes search your face.

You bring a hand up to lightly run your hand through his hair, massaging his scalp gently. He closes his eyes and hums with contentment.

"I love you," he whispers, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"I love you, too." You manage to drift off easily that night, content to sleep in Mark's arms.

#mark lee #mark lee x reader #mark x reader #nct #nct127 #nctu #nct scenarios #nct imagines #reader insert #fanfiction #kpop fanfictions #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines

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itsoneofthemuses · 4 years ago

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Okay I’m not on the discord about Chenford and the intimacy but can you share some of your head cannons about some/any of those qs??

Yes, for sure! Okay, let's see what I remember... FYI, it’s a very long post and it gets M rated, 18+, R, whatever system you use. It’s for adult reading. P.S. If you want an invite to the chenford discord, just ask.

1) Lucy - bra advocate or freedom fighter?

I think everyone mostly agreed that Lucy generally prefers to go without a bra. In public, she wears them when she has to, no question but it's certainly not her preference.

2) What’s the context for their first time? Seriously. Does Lucy wait three dates? Are they angry? Is it super romantic? Do they wait on the kinky stuff until later?

So there was actually a ton of disagreement about this! I honestly can't tell you exactly what their first time would be like because it changes in my head but I don't think either of them has hard and fast rules (or didn't used to, anyway) about third dates, etc. I can totally see them just going HAM that first time. And yes, kink comes (to some degree) as they get more comfortable with each other.

3) Who is most likely to accidentally walk in on them? Tamara? Jackson? Angela? Wesley?

Okay, for reference, we developed an entire joke about Wesley/Angela and Lucy/Tim having a sex competition... So, basically, the answer is that everyone is likely to walk in on them. Not because they do it at the station or anything, but because there's a lack of boundaries sometimes (Jackson and Lucy), Angela has a key to his house and he's been MIA for 36 hours, Tamara's habit is to knock and then enter without waiting for a response, and when they slip away for a little afternoon delight at the Evers family home, it's Wesley who gets sent to find them. Nolan does it so often, by accident and sheer bad luck, that he starts volunteering to be the one to go looking for them if they disappear because why must everyone suffer?

4) Period sex? Yay or nay?

People were torn on this. I lean yes. Not like, as a rule, but I don't think they'd shy away from it if they were both in the mood. It just involves some time (have to factor in the post-sex shower for both of them) and effort (laying a towel down ahead of time, just in case).

5) If they’re “taking care” of themselves (they were both single, although Tim only technically, for a while) what do they use? And yes, I’m asking about their porn/personal toy preferences.

Tim's an old fashioned guy in this regard. His hand and lube, some mental pictures, that video Lucy sent him when she was dogsitting Kojo at his house that one time... Lucy, on the other hand, has tried a wide variety of toys and materials. She believes in ethical consumption of pornography so she pays for it, thanks.

6) Their favourite times - morning sex? Afternoon delight? Under the cover of night? In that one hour they get together when she’s on nights and he’s on days?

All of it. No, but really, all of it. Tim's more of a morning person than Lucy is so he's happy to do most of the work while Lucy is sleepy and loose-limbed underneath him, or when they're both itching for something to do but it's rainy out and that weird time before dinner but after lunch and they have no plans and they can take their time, or late in the evening when Tim is flagging but Lucy is forging ahead full steam ahead and she's delighted to make Tim the focus of her singular attention and passion. Also, they perfect quickies and getting right down to business or just taking the edge off when they're working opposite shifts.

7) By the way, their personal feelings on sleep sex? Obvs assuming they’ve discussed it beforehand?

This is complicated because whether the show remembers on a consistent basis or not, Lucy went through a pretty intense trauma where she was drugged and abducted and, in general, it's a sad and scary fact that her NOT being sexually assaulted was the biggest surprise so... All this to say, it might come over time, but really, Lucy has become something of a light sleeper so it doesn't really pan out. And Tim, well, he's been on two tours and a police officer for 12 years, so he's not exactly the guy who knocks out with no awareness either. I don’t think they’d be opposed, but it just doesn’t really happen.

8) Who’s the initiator? Do they have basically similar sex drives?

They initiate equally. Or, relatively so. It's not like they keep track. They have high stress, adrenalin-fueled jobs, and they're both like, really, really, really good looking. And please note, Lucy is basically in her prime right now so she is down.

9) Who is the one more likely to talk about sex in general? With each other? With friends? With their kids?

Lucy isn't shy. It's not like she tells her friends intimate details but it's fun to share that you have a healthy and satisfying sex life over mimosas at brunch, okay? So she has no problem talking about sex but she doesn't provide details, especially knowing how private Tim is. Tim will talk about sex when he needs to ("I'm clean, asphyxiation is a hard no") but he tends to stay quiet if it comes up. He let's the shit-eating smug grin on his face do the talking for him. P.S. Lucy talks to all of the kids about sex but she makes him show them how to use a condom.

10) What’s one sure sign or thing they do to let the other know they’re down? Like, I imagine Lucy showers, shaves, and leaves her intended underwear out on the bed

Tim knows if he sees Lucy’s pjs out on the bed, or lack thereof, that she is interested and he is typically happy to reciprocate that interest right back. Lucy, on the other hand, knows that when Tim shave after work, not before, that she is in for it.

11) Preferred PJ’s. Don’t cop out (ha!) and saying they go to bed nude.

I think this depends, and changes, for both of them. Lucy is usually in a tanktop and short or pj bottoms, during heatwaves and because she sleeps beside a furnace, it eventually becomes just a tanktop or one of Tim’s old t-shirts. Tim typically sticks to boxers or basketball shorts or sweats, depending. Once the kids start climbing into bed with them, and he discovered the hard way that someone had to keep track of when the kids need their nails cut, he occasionally starts pulling on t-shirts.

12) What’s the frequency? I guess this goes back to sex drive. But they’re busy, high stress professionals. Do they have down periods?

Of course, yes, absolutely. High stress careers, family, regular real life normal stress... That all hits for them too. If we’re talking fanfic Tim and Lucy, then no, they are always golden and down to bone, but real life Tim and Lucy? Yeah, sometimes when two of the kids are both throwing up, and they’re both still working 12 hour shifts on opposite timetables, they aren’t interested in having sex. That’s normal and it’s okay and when they do reconnect, it’s... Great. Really great.

13) How many of their kids are accidents because Tim has super sperm according to fanon? (or just how many kids?)

This caused so much debate! For some reason, I headcanon three kids and two of them are accidents. Tim gets snipped after pregnancy number three because he’s not having kids after 50 and Lucy flat out told him if he put another baby in her, she was going to give him a vasectomy herself. Tim’s been hurt worse by the kids when they were throwing a tantrum. In case you were wondering... Numbers 1 and 3 were accidents-ish. Lucy had the appointment for her IUD to be replaced booked and anyway... That ended up cancelled. And number three was antibiotics and the flu that transitioned into morning sickness, so. Vasectomy. We did discuss in chat whether they ended up with twins on the third pregnancy and the vote was basically 50/50.

14) Who do they (individually or together) walk in on? Also, who cockblocks who in this group?

The resounding answer was Angela and Wesley. That’s their main couple friend. And when they need a babysitter, they’re not discreet about why. They walked in on Jackson a few time when he and Lucy were still living together. Tim silently vows to make extra noise and to do his best to make Lucy extra shouty on those occasions. They are all cockblocks in their own way. Nolan is usually accidental, but on occasion, he delights in it simply because he’s been subjected to their canoodling so often through no fault of his own.

15) How do they feel about PDA? At the station, it’s obviously a no-no but otherwise?

They vary on this. Lucy is just generally an affectionate person - a hand on the arm, leaning on someone’s shoulder, hugs for comfort. In a relationship, that doesn’t really change. She’s happy to hold hands or exchange an occasional kiss but the desire to show everyone how cool she is by making out with her hot boyfriend was left behind in undergrad. Tim, surprisingly, is a touchy guy. He likes holding hands, he puts an arm around her chair, he plays with her hair, has a hand on her leg... And yeah, the occasional kiss. But he’s a cop and being distracted or unaware in public, which is what happens when he’s kissing Lucy, is not something he enjoys. Hilariously, surrounded by their friends is where they both feel safest being the most PDA-ish and it’s also where they can least enjoy it thanks to the truly insane level of heckling they face. Harper once rated their technique.

16) What’s the turn on for each of them? Like, if Lucy wears green? Tim wears Hugo Boss cologne?

There was no real consensus on this. Except that everything the other does in a turn on.

17) What makes them feel sexy? Is Tim really feeling himself right after a workout? Does Lucy have a ‘felt cute might delete later’ after she gets waxed?

Tim isn’t... Super vain, but yeah, you know what, sometimes he’s feeling pretty good after he’s hit the gym and gotten in a run. It’s the just endorphins probably, but he feels good about himself, about what his body can do, and then he starts thinking about what his body can do to Lucy’s body... He assumes that Lucy thinks similarly because she always looks like she wants to lick him from head to toe when he gets home, but actually, a sweaty, confident Tim Bradford just does it for her. Lucy, on the other hand, is always feeling pretty good after she gets her hair done. It always feels vaguely like a whole new Lucy and new Lucy likes to try new things which... Tim is not unhappy about.

18) Going back to consent… Drunk sex? Is weed legal in California?

Someone mentioned that police officers aren’t allowed to use weed in the LAPD, anyway. So that’s moot. And maybe, initially, they’re both more hesitant about initiating (or more likely, finishing what the other starts) if there’s alcohol involved but they have those conversations when sober and Lucy is a handsy, horny drunk and Tim is happy to oblige as best he can, drunk or sober.

19) What could they watch the other do all day? Now or in future? (do we leave Dadford out of it because it’s too obvious?)

Okay, but Dadford. When they have kids, Lucy could watch him be a dad all day everyday. She had to break down walls and sneak into his heart and, even now, years later, she sometimes has to cajole the words out of TIm. She doesn’t begrudge him that - she’s an adult, they know each other, and she never doubts his love for her. But he’s just so easy, and open, and unfailingly loving with their kids (it’s how they got numbers 2 and 3) that she’s glad he voluntarily got a vasectomy or they’d one of those couples with 1000 offspring. Before they have kids, though, she could watch him play hockey or watch him watch sports. His passion, his joy, just emanated from him and there is nothing that’s more of a turn on than a happy Tim. For Tim, he could watch Lucy meditate which sounds weird, but she’s always such a bundle of energy and movement and watching her be peaceful and still is... It’s like watching an ember glow. He could also watch her do yoga all day but um, that’s for an entirely different reason.

20) Love languages… How do they like to receive/give love typically?

Ooh.. Lucy gives love through touch and likes words of affirmation. Tim gives love through acts of service and likes to receive it through quality time. Which seems like a mismatch at first glance but really just means that they care enough to learn these things about each other and go out of their way to meet each other’s needs. Besides, it’s not like they weren’t doing everything they could to communicate their love to each other regardless.

21) What’s a shared activity that gets them mutually going? Is cooking super sensual for them? I don’t know.

They like going paintballing together or to the gun range. Adrenalin and being kick ass? Yeah, that’s hot. Dancing together is also intimate in a way that just seems to lead to making out which leads to bed or the closest surface, anyway.

22) How much does this group know about each other’s sex lives? Whether they talk about it or whether they just glean info from knowing each other.

Look. Look. You hang out together, you live together, you work together, you save each other, you build friendships and family together..? You’re going to learn some shit. So, yeah, Harper knows Lucy is a screamer and she is never going to let her live that down just like she will never mention this knowledge to Tim because she will not inflate that ego anymore. Tim is aware that Lopez occasionally enjoys some light spanking and god knows he wishes he didn’t, but that’s what happens when your best friend texts you an SOS and forgets about it. It’s just shit that happens.

23) Do they have any fantasies they’d never act on? (like gangbang or something because they don’t share)

I mean... I guess? But not really. Like most straight dudes, Tim has occasionally thought about threesomes but he’s man enough to admit that he thinks it’s hotter in his head than it would be in real life. Lucy used to think it might be sort of hot to have a handsome stranger take her back to his place and have his way with her. Then Caleb happened and if Emmett had thought it was weird that they never had the lights off, he never said anything.

24) What’s an intimate, but not necessarily sexual, activity they do or enjoy together?

They start sparring and the trust that requires is immense; Tim has about 100lbs, 9 inches, and a much longer reach, 12 years on the force, and military training under his belt. Beyond that, she drags him to a spa with a hot spring and steam room and other amenities and while it’s not Tim’s typical speed, there is something about slowing down and just being with Lucy that is so intimate that he is the one who books it for their anniversary the following year.

25) Who is on their celebrity hook up list? Their free pass. You know Tim argues she already used hers on Nolan.

Lucy had posed the question casually and Tim had insisted it was stupid and refused to engage. But that just piques Lucy’s interest even more because, obviously, there’s no such thing as a real and true free pass. Lucy assures him she and Jackson have a pact to help each other commit murder in very specific and extreme situations and that’s one of them. Tim blinks at her and wonders if she knows what she’s admitting to A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. Lucy just rolls her eyes. Tim finally relents and mumbles something about Lucy Liu, Eva Longoria, and Lisa Turtle. He insists he doesn’t want to know hers because they live in LA and if it’s even a remote possibility... She assures him that at least three of them are well out of her reach and he’s got them beat anyway... He’s even hotter being a dad than Chris Hemsworth, his eyes are bluer than Chris Pine, and he is her hero in a way that Captain America couldn’t even compare to. He loses on all fronts to Idris, but then so does every man and Tim can live with that.

26) Speaking of comfort, what’s like… A comfort sex thing? Or not even sex. Just a physical comfort thing they do for/to each other?

Lucy is a surprisingly good masseuse and Tim appreciates that like you wouldn’t believe. Lucy just likes to be held sometimes. Yeah, she processes things by talking them out and Tim is her favourite person to do that with but sometimes... Sometimes she just needs him to ground her and be physically there and Tim is so willing to do that whenever he is able. As for comfort sex... Sometimes they’re not in it to win it, it’s just really nice to be naked and touching. Or even just making out.

27) Let’s get the basics out of the way - boxers or briefs? Underwire or sports bra? Sleeping touching but apart or all over each other?

Tim wears briefs to work because it’s a physical job and you know what, that fucking uniform shows everything, or maybe the store the LAPD uses just tailors things funny but he could swear his shirt sleeves have gotten tighter over the years. Anyway. But he owns and appreciates boxers, especially for bed. Lucy steals them half the time though so. Lucy owns both underwire and sports bras and bralettes and... She’s tried them all and they all have their place, if she has to wear a bra at all. As for sleeping, yeah, it’s a mix. Lucy always gravitates toward whatever is radiating warmth unless it’s in the middle of a heatwave because Tim keeps the house cold. But it’s usually just an arm or a hand touching here and there. When they have kids, they’re lucky if most of their body makes it fully on the bed at opposite ends.

28) Tell me about their sex noises. No, but for real. Is it just panting? Talking? Lucy seems like a talker. Do they laugh when it’s not super rough? Are there a lot of body noises? Is one of them super sweaty? Let’s get real detailed here.

Just an FYI, so much disagreement here! Personally, I think it depends on where, and where, and how, and why. They are both talkers. Lucy has a filthy mouth sometimes and Tim is into it. Sometimes he can’t help but encourage her, spur her on with vague hints of T.O. but the sounds that gets in response are worth it. They aren’t adult performers but yeah, sometimes it gets noisy. One of the first times Lucy stays over, she goes to let Kojo out into the yard the next morning and Tim’s neighbour that she’s never met or seen before, greets her by name. She and Tim (who is rather private) are still new so she doubts he mentioned it. She smiles and nods back and when she tells Tim he furrows his brow, wondering, when they both hear Kojo’s barks loud and clear through the open bedroom window and now neither of them can ever make eye contact with the neighbours ever again.

#chenford #lucy x tim #tim x lucy #tim bradford #lucy chen #the rookie #the rookie headcanons #answered!

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icharchivist · 3 years ago

Note

I hope you don't mind but can i ask what you suggest the order of doing things is??

Like... what order should I do the Primarch weapons, Eternal recruitment and Evoker recruitment in?

heyo!

I don't mind at all but i just hope i'll be clear enough ^^"

i huh, got a little long

EDIT: OK editted what i needed to edit about character class’s weapons off you go!

The Seraphic are your first priority outside of building a grid. Easy. Those will give you a major boost in your grids and you will always keep them in your grids, so get them as soon as you can and focus on them. You will get level-gated eventually since to go further into grinding you'll need to have access to raid only unlockable after lvl 101, so take it one step at a time, but they are your main priority. (note that the story for the Light and Dark Seraphic will spoil wmtsb pt2 and 3 a bit)

Eternal recruitment is tedious but i would recommend, especially as a beginner, to maybe think about doing Threo and/or Tien (Three Tigger Axe and Ten Wolf Gun respectively) as early as you can. They're godsends for beginners, Thero with her plain damage which will basically kill any enemies in front of her making her easier for farming (especially Slim blasting), and Tien with her formidable Bounty that will allow you for more loots per fight. Both are really good early investment. It's okay to take your time with them (i personally only have 3 - Threo, Tien and Seox), especially since it gets more complicated if you take the uncapping into account.

(also note that you should keep as many of the dupes for the Revenant weapons as you can aside from the one you will need to uncap to get the Eternal. uncapping to 5* isn’t a concern to have right now but know that this process involves using 40 Revenant Weapons on top of the one you forged. It’s good to have a stash dedicated to keeping them and leave them aside until you’re ready)

Evokers.... *looks at the state of my Evokers grinding* ahah what is that ahahahahaha....

Okay so Evokers are especially tedious so it's a complicated one. I think the early steps from unlocking their respective summons should be easy and their summons bring a major boost, so it may be good to try to work onto it a little. That said the Evokers take a lot of mats and later on mats from Impossible raids, so it will take a lot of time to unlock them. BUT you should also account for the Arcarum tickets. Since you cannot keep more than 90 tickets, it means that you may be more limited in your ability to farm Arcarum-only mats. And boy will you want to farm those well because they're really hard to get and takes a lot of diligence to get. The thing i've been told is to focus on them one at the time, or do them by pair: for exemple when grinding for The Sun you will be also doing some Hanged Man's raids and get Hanged Man's loot, so you can do both The Sun and The Hanged Man at once.

Not to mention that Arcarum can drop weapons you'd else get in the Omega raids, such as lumi swords and such, which is a good investment. However you would need to have a grid that can stand on its own because you don't have access to friends' summons in there, not to mention the restriction you may find in there (ex: quests that you can only do with R characters)

Out of those three grinds, the Evokers are the most tedious ones to get and it's okay to take your time. It's good to not neglect the Arcarum (i say as i ignore my own advice), but it shouldn't be your utmost priority.

If i may, what is accessible early and that you should focus on is getting the Atma sword and the Bahamut dagger from the What makes the sky blue sidestories.

wmtsb, being anniversary events, gave out a lot of BIG rewards that are game changing. Mostly, the possibility to pick a Bahamut Weapons from wmtsb1 and an Atma weapon from wmtsb3.

Bahamut weapons give a boost on attack or health but only to characters from specific races. Dagger gives a boost in attack to human and Erune, which are the majority of characters in the game, so the best investment you can make. Note that to push the dagger to its full power you will have to forge it further in the shop. Then it will be a must have in your grids (it's also often recommanded to +99 mark on it if you can)

Atma weapons give a major boost on attack depending on the character's weapon specificity. So for exemple the Atma sword will give a boost in attack for any characters who are shown to wield a sword on their profile. Sword is the most common weapon in the game, thus it is recommanded to take an Atma Sword as a beginner and slap it in any grids in which you mostly use sword characters for (and this is where it will start to be interesting to make sure to build teams by weapon's proefficiency, ie, in this case, making sure to mostly have sword characters as your offence) As for Bahamut the Atma will ask for more forging in the shop, i don't remember if there's any nor the specific for when it's an Atma, but there is an option to turn the Atma into an Ultima but only with HL raids, so don't worry too much about that.

Also i'm checking but it should be from Zooey's normal raid, if you can access to The Grand Order raid (normal) you should try to peak into it until you can unlock at least the Cosmo Sword from the shop. Cosmo weapons that you will find in Zooey's raid will basically multiply weapons of the same proefficiency 's HP and Attack that are in your grid. Basically: if your grid is mostly swords, slapping a Cosmo Sword in your grid will tremendously multiply your power. Cosmo Sword are a must have for light especially, since the ideal Light Grid includes 1) The Lumi swords, 2) the Xeno Sunblade, 3) later on HL, the Sword Opus.

I have heard that it is not wise to invest in other Cosmo weapons because of the fact grids rarely benefit for it, but Light (and Fire once you unlock the Impo raids) benefit a lot from the Cosmo Sword. You won't be able to 4* it until you can unlock HL tho.

BUT only focus on Cosmic sword if you have the grid to back it up (again: a full Lumi sword set up for exemple in light)

Another thing since i mentioned it: Keep an eye out for the Xeno events.

The other must-have in a grid is the Xeno weapons, which are only available when Xeno events are up. Xeno tends to run every few months before Unit and Fight and they are limited events with limited drops that are essential to forge a Xeno weapon. Xeno influence your grid tremendously and can be accessed at early levels. Wind Xeno should get a rerun soonish since the next Unit and Fight is around the corner, so keep an eye out for it.

(Opus is HL concern so it's not something to worry about just now but that will be another must have once you unlock Lucilius's HL raid)

EDIT: Another thing you should focus on as you get close to level 101 is to forge one of the weapon linked to a character class from Special: Rank II.

You will need to have forged any of the weapons from Rank II to later being able to unlock any class from Rank IV. Rank IV is unlockable after lvl 101, and after doing one mission per class, but it is necessary to first unlock them to forge that weapon

or so i was told at least DLKFJD With recommandation to focus either on Glorybringer, Doctor, Kengo or Rising Force, due to their specific kitset that are super useful.

So my advice is:

1) focus on your grid by getting multiple weapons of the omega series (Respectively: Colo Cane, Levi Dagger, Yggy Sword, Tiamat Gun, Lumi Swords, Celeste Claw. Note that your Lumi Swords will still be in your grid on HL so this is the thing you must invest the most on. It's often not recommanded to uncap the starting weapons's 5* since you'll replace them the moment you get into HL bosses, but Lumi swords are where you can go ham)

2) at the same time as your grids, work on your Seraphic. Go as far as you can to unlock your Seraphic

3) Do wmtsb as soon as possible: it takes reaching chapter 44 of the main story, but it will give you 2 super important must have weapons: The Atma Sword and the Bahamut Dagger. And it's easy to get them, no tedious grinding, except for forging the Bahamut weapon further but it is something you can do on low level

4) Focus on Xeno anytime a Xeno event is up

5) For the Eternals, take them one by one, do not rush, and if you want to work on them, focus either on Threo or Tien first

6) you can think about the Cosmic Sword if you feel like it though it's not a priority

7) The Evokers take a lot, lot, lot of time and grind that is in HL only, so don't rush through it, but it is wise to not let your tickets reach its cap so you can grind efficiently.

I hope it's not too confusing, if there's anything that needs clarification don't hesitate to ask. I know gbf can be a little complicated and sometimes i can get so focused on HL content that i miss out some better ways to explain LL content

Hope it helps out!

Take care!

#ichareply #ichafantalks gbf #anonymous #ichablogging gbfgp

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soukokuwu · 4 years ago

Text

DAZAI OSAMU

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈 𝐌𝐄𝐓 𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍

》 angst, unfortunately (dazai x reader)

》 trigger warnings! suicide themes, death

》 word count: 2.3k

》 notes: you saw him for the exact opposite of what he was. he did you a favour, but everything has a price. and now he has come to collect.

》 a story where Dazai is an angel

The ring of the shopkeeper’s bell. The smooth wood of the door. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee. The taste of baked ham. The sun illuminating the alley right outside the cafe.

There he appeared again. After ten years.

He looked just as you remembered. He didn’t age. Bandage over his right eye. Black hair a mess, covering one half of his face. Deep brown eyes as alluring as ever, piercing into your very soul. Black tailored suit, black tie, white dress shirt, same as the last time.

Although, there was one thing different about him.

Black feathered wings that used to be almost miniscule compared to his person— no, could you even call him that? Body. The wings that used to be diminutive compared to his body were now thicker and wider, standing even taller than his frame.

You were painfully aware that only you could see his beauty. Everyone else walked past him without regard. You strolled over to the figure, aware that he saw himself far from what you made him out to be in your head. That wouldn’t deter you from believing that of him though.

Your guardian angel.

»»-------------¤-------------««

Scribbling.

Sound of pen against paper had been all you could hear.

The pen had been discarded and you felt a pat on your head. You had looked up into his eyes. Empty. Vacant. Hopeless.

He had grabbed your hand and led the way. Something had been weird about the route he took that day. That had not been the usual way the two of you took to your school.

A left instead of a right. A bookshop instead of a cafe. The hustle and bustle of people instead of the usual seclusion. Yet you never questioned him. He had been the adult after all. Maybe there was a special event today that you had forgotten about. Yes, that could be why he hadn’t taken you straight to school.

The two of you had finally reached the train station. It had only been on rare occasions that you would step foot there, given that your family hardly ever went out. Even at twelve years old you could tell that your parents were struggling financially. In spite of that, though, you were all happy together. As long as you had each other, your mom would always say.

It had been a windy day. The sky turned a darker shade of grey. It had not been too crowded for a weekday morning in the subway station, so you could see the sky clearly even though you had been a short little child back then.

An announcement played, saying the train would be delayed and it would take a while longer. You looked around, trying to find the display screen that estimated the next train’s arrival.

However, something moved past you and caught your eye. A single black feather fell in front of your face and you eyed it until it touched the ground. You gripped your father’s hand tighter out of fear, but it barely registered in your father’s head. He was much too preoccupied with his own thoughts. Scared as you had been, curiosity got the better of you and you looked around for the source. It could not have been a crow, so where could the feather have come from?

Just as you were looking, you spotted him there, near the front of the platform, facing your direction. A general disinterested look, blank chocolate eyes looking straight ahead at absolutely nothing, dark brown hair and small black wings floating in the breeze. Even all those years ago, he looked breathtaking to you. Something that was supposed to instill fear intrigued you instead. He spoke of something in a soft murmur, in a voice low enough you couldn’t make out what it was.

A pair of watchful eyes followed him as he walked toward you, looking around at everyone on the platform. As the creature passed by you, he stopped in his tracks. His body stiffened and he slowly turned to look at you, who had been blinking up at him skeptically.

“This human is creeping me out,” he had murmured to himself, gulping and then bending his knees to get leveled with you. His eyes had then seemed alive for that split second, filled with intrigue. “It’s as if she can see me.”

“But I can,” you said, almost causing him to stumble over.

The creature blinked in succession as he tried to register what you had just said.

“You can... see me?”

You nodded, attention completely focused on the peculiar being in front of you. He had ominous black wings, but you didn’t feel scared of him at all. You then proceeded to question him about why it was that nobody else could see him. But everything he had shared with you about the different dimensions and how it worked were too complicated for you to remember. Being the inquisitive child you were, you kept interacting with the being. Banter and jokes were all you remembered sharing with him that day.

“You’re funny,” you had told him, laughing at the stupid joke he shared.

The creature had laughed too, before his expression shifted slowly into that of hesitance. You had asked what was wrong, but he shook his head, claiming it had been nothing. He was seemingly looking at something past you, but he hogged your attention by asking if you wanted to see a magic trick. Excited, you had given him all your focus, and by the time you clapped for him and noticed the absence of your father’s hand, you realised you were someplace else.

It was a peaceful place. The both of you were situated in a meadow, surrounded by a sea of colourful flowers. The skies there were a dark grey too. The only sound you could hear was that of the wind blowing. You were alone there with him, your father nowhere in sight. Despite having been teleported to a foreign dimension with someone you barely knew, all you had been thinking of was how much you wanted to explore this place.

“I can’t see the station anymore,” you had casually remarked.

“Sometimes it’s better to see what isn’t there instead of what is,” the creature had replied, an ache in his tone you didn’t miss.

Before you could ask him what he meant, warm droplets of rain started falling onto your face. The creature used his wings to shelter you from the rain, letting himself get drenched. His wings were too small to cover the both of you at the time. Feeling bad, you had asked if he could take you to his home so that you both would get shelter. The flash of melancholy that took over his face you could not have missed.

“Not now, you have to get back home,” he murmured gently, patting you on the head. You nodded in resigned compliance, catching a glimpse of the words imprinted on his wings.

Osamu Dazai.

The world around you began to shimmer and flow together, the colours of the flowers mixing together in circles. It was all making you sick, and so you chose to close your eyes. Everything was spinning. But as you felt a few raindrops fall onto your face, it stopped.

When you opened your eyes next, you found your mother sat next to you on your bed, crying over your body, hugging you when she realised you had come to.

The creature was nowhere in sight.

And neither was your father.

»»-------------¤-------------««

No one told you what really happened that day until a few years ago, when your mother was on her deathbed. Initially, she had just claimed that your father had to move to another city and wouldn’t come back. You were twelve but you weren’t that stupid. You didn’t believe her, but you thought better than to press her about it.

However as she was dying, she told you the real story of how your father disappeared. She recounted to you his suicide note, word for word. He had had enough of his life. Apparently the happiness you saw in your family as a kid was all a facade. Your father was far from a joyful man. He was beyond depressed, with a shit job and a shittier financial situation. His wife had lost interest in him as a man and his only solace had been you. Which was why he wanted to bring you with him. To die with him.

His plan that day was to jump in front of a moving train with you. But that creature had saved you at the last minute. According to witness accounts, they saw you let go of your father’s hand just as he was about to jump off the platform before you fainted on the spot. There was a small boy who swore he saw a man with brown hair and black wings who pried you away from your father, but of course the authorities didn’t take him seriously.

»»-------------¤-------------««

The city looked so much better from way up high. It had been a while since you were here. The wind blowing reminded you of that day when you were teleported to another dimension. You shifted your gaze from the scenery to the figure beside you. He had followed you here all the way from the cafe. He looked even more mesmerising now with a soft smile plastered on his face.

“Dazai?” You called out hesitantly.

The being nodded in acknowledgement. However, you found you couldn’t quite find the right words to say now that he was here, in the flesh.

“Ask me.”

His statement stunned you. It was a gentle kind of prodding, indicating he understood the situation. You were almost a hundred percent sure by now of his answer, and as much as you would like to confirm it, you decided against it.

“You’re my guardian angel, Dazai.”

It was not what he really was, but it was true all the same. He had saved you as a child even though he had absolutely no reason to. Osamu Dazai saved you even though he had been, and was still, the embodiment of death.

“I’m the angel of death,” he uttered, completely monotone. Dazai looked puzzled now, his lips pressed into a firm line. He shifted his gaze and looked out at the view of the city from his spot on the skyscraper. The streets surrounding this building were somewhat secluded, save for two or three pedestrians walking below. You caught a look of understanding that seemed to wash over him, as though a sudden realisation of your intentions, and why he even appeared before you in the first place.

You thought back to all those years ago, when you tried to convince people you weren’t crazy. In hindsight, telling people about a heavenly creature that saved you from death’s grip wasn’t the brightest idea. It had resulted in years of bullying, several counts of physical abuse and a consequent depression that you wished would go away.

Where you would normally be shut in at home, today you were out and about. You had taken work leave. All your colleagues were stunned into silence yesterday when you offered everyone cupcakes. They should; you usually didn’t even respond much even when spoken to. But the day before, everyone found you pleasant to be around, and you could see the looks of relief on all of their faces. They all spoke of not being able to wait to see you the next day.

Everyone who thought they knew you took it as a sign of you getting better. But no. To you it was a sign of clarity. You felt more upbeat today than any other day. It was because you knew exactly what waited for you at the end of the day: oblivion.

Before you knew it, you were standing at the edge of the building. Your legs trembled slightly when you realised just how high up you were. The fear was taken over by confusion when you felt warmth envelop your right hand.

Dazai’s fingers were intertwined with yours and he offered you the most comforting smile you’d seen in a long while. You were completely perplexed by the words he uttered next.

“I’ve always wanted to commit a double suicide with a beautiful lady when I was human.”

You had expected that he was the angel of death, but you never thought he had been human before. How it worked you would never find out, but there was something you wanted to know.

“Aren’t angels like you immortal?”

“My death was set in stone the moment I saved you from myself.”

Dazai did not need to explicitly tell you, but you deciphered it anyway. It was a simple message: your death would spell his. That’s all there was to it. A curse of some sort, because he had failed his duties all those years back. He forcefully saved a soul bound to death by his own hands. This was his punishment. But he did not look the least bit unhappy.

If anything, he radiated pure bliss. It was a bittersweet moment. The person you had dreamt of countless times in your life, the one you had fantasised finding again and again— he finally appeared but it was on an ominous condition. It only meant one thing: you would not change your mind today.

Your legs stopped trembling. Your heart started pounding faster in your chest. The warmth of the noon sun was getting uncomfortable. Yet you found the warmth of his hand relaxing.

Without warning, you felt your hand being yanked toward him, your body covered in his warm embrace. This time, his wings were big enough to shield both you and him from the outside world. You could see nothing but his face. You were pressed against his chest, foreheads touching and eyes glued to each other’s. You felt any fear you had dissipate into the void.

“Will you meet me in another life?”

You couldn’t help but ask. It was something you were wishing for, no matter how impossible it may seem: to get to know Osamu Dazai as a person. You hoped to find him in that other life, if it was possible at all. You wanted to get to know him, to understand his soul, preferably as equals.

Dazai’s unbandaged eye was clouded with a certain bewilderment before it reverted back to a gentle kindness, one you had seen many years before.

“I promise.”

Deep down you knew it was bullshit. You could sense his uncertainty. But as you both plunged to your death, the words were the only comfort you found, aside from the tenderness of his hug.

You opened your eyes to look into his once more, and then everything went black.

A scream.

And then nothing.

tags: @yokelish

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd dazai #bsd scenarios #bsd oneshot #bsd x reader #bungo stray dogs #bsd osamu dazai #bsd dazai x reader #bsd osamu dazai x reader #dazai x reader #osamu dazai x reader #bsd angst #rachwrote #bsd imagine #bsd imagines

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darks-ink · 4 years ago

Text

Reanimation - Ectoberweek 2020

A family can be a bunch of ghost hunters and 1 (half) ghost child.

[first part]

Rating: Teen Warnings: Implied character death, implied child abuse Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort Words: 2,439 Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - canon divergence, Sequel, Families of choice/Found family

[AO3] [FFN]

---

Agent O looked up from the report he was working on, trying to surreptitiously glance at the ghost in the van. One of the other agents had put a blanket on her—why did they have blankets in their ghost hunting van?—and she looked… cozy, for lack of a better word. Curled up even smaller than she already was, with the cape wrapped tight around her body, holding it tightly with her small fists, like she was afraid they might take it away from her otherwise.

Knowing what they had seen, where she had come from… O wouldn’t be surprised if it was a fear formed from experience.

She seemed stable enough for now, as long as she wasn’t using any of her powers. Which was good, because O wasn’t sure how they were supposed to stabilize her. When he’d promised to help her, he’d assumed that the scientists back at the base would know.

Hell, he hoped they knew. He’d promised, and knowing what she’d gone through, he would feel terrible going back on that promise now.

Looking down at the report again, he frowned. Turned back to the ghost. Cleared his throat to draw her attention. “Do you… have a name?” Was there any way to find out who these ghosts had been in life? To find out whether Masters had taken children and killed them, turned them into ghosts?

Were there parents, somewhere out there, whose child was gone and left behind the shade sitting opposite of O?

“Danielle,” she muttered, so quiet that O almost missed it. She repeated, a little more determinedly, “Danielle Phantom.”

And there it was again. Not only did she looked like Phantom, she used his name as a last name as well. How odd.

“Any relation to Phantom from Amity Park?” he asked. Had Masters somehow modeled her after Phantom? And if he had, would he have told her?

“Yeah, um.” She glanced away, eyes on her fidgeting hands. “He’s my… cousin.”

“Did Masters tell you that?” Agent L asked before O could work out an answer. “Or did you know that yourself?”

“I…” Danielle paused, clearly working through her answer. “I knew we were related,” she finally settled on. “But Daddy told me to call him my cousin.”

“And your brother?” O prodded, glaring at L over his glasses to get him to back off. “Did you know he was your brother for sure, or did Masters tell you that, too?”

Because it was undeniable that Danielle resembled Phantom more than just a little. Far more than what O would consider normal for humans. For ghosts, who could look like just about anything? It seemed suspect.

Was Phantom the first attempt? An escapee who wouldn’t listen to Masters? If he wanted another ghost just like Phantom, of course he would’ve prioritized her brother over her.

God, if only they had seen the other ghost before he’d destabilized. If he really had looked just like Phantom…

Well, it certainly had implications, didn’t it?

“No, I…” She frowned, then shook her head. “It’s different. We were all siblings, me and my brothers. Bones, Mo, Pixie… So of course he was, too, even if he never got to leave the incubator.”

“I see…” Bones, Mo, Pixie… those must’ve been the other ghosts near the mansion. Bones likely the skeletal ghost and Mo the muscular ghost, which meant that Pixie might’ve been the small one. “Your name seems a little strange, compared to theirs. How come?”

She shrugged, tugging the blankets further up, trying to curl away into it. “I… I was the only one who Daddy named. Bones, Mo, Pixie, we all picked their names. But Daddy called me Danielle…”

Her face crumpled, suddenly, somewhere between sad and outraged. “He didn’t even care about any of them! He only pretended to care about me! I— I—” The glow around her body brightened, the light visible through the blanket. Green coalesced around her clenched fists.

“Shh, shh, calm down,” O hushed, hands out and paused before putting them on her. “Danielle, you’re going to destabilize if you keep this up. Just calm down.”

“No!” she shouted back, her bright eyes snapping up to meet O’s eyes. “They’re all gone already! Nobody is going to care if I go to! Maybe—” The fire in her cut out as sudden as it had come. She sniffled, tears in her eyes. “Maybe we’ll get to reunite someplace else, someplace better.”

“Hey, shh, don’t talk like that.” O finally finished the motion he’d started, placing one hand on her shoulder. Damn this entire squad for being emotionally constipated. “Don’t look at it like that. Just think of it this way. You still remember your brothers, right, even though they’re gone? So as long as you still live, still remember them, they won’t be entirely gone.”

“Besides,” K cut in, finally. “This way, you can help us ensure that Masters gets punished properly, so he won’t ever be able to do what he did to you and your brothers. Don’t you want to help us with that?”

Her glow settled down, finally, as her expression grew determined. “Yeah,” she said. “Yeah, I would like to do that.”

O drew back, then threw a glance at the report he’d abandoned to the floor. Shook his head as he picked it up, then put it away properly, instead taking out a voice recorder. “Alright, how about we start with this then. You tell us everything you know. We can record it, and you won’t have to talk about any of it again if it hurts too much, okay?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” She nodded, shifting her shoulders underneath the blanket like she was bracing herself. “Tell me where to start, please?”

---

“Danielle,” O said, disapprovingly, frowning at her. “You know the rules.”

“K said it was fine!” she immediately retorted, gesturing at her plate. Which was, of course, loaded with all kinds of sweets. Sometimes she maybe it rather easy to remember that her apparent age and her mental age didn’t quite line up right.

“Did he now?” O asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “So if I go over there right now and ask him…”

“No, don’t!” She grabbed onto the plate, holding it away from him. “L said I should, not K! But—”

Why was it always L? O made a mental note to speak to the man later, and then to talk to L’s partner M as well, just to be safe.

“Danielle,” he said, more patiently now. “I know you like the sweet things, but you need to eat properly, okay? You need to stay healthy.”

“But the ectoplasmic stuff is yucky.” She made a face, then jerked away when he stepped closer. “You can’t stop me from eating this!”

“Danielle,” O said, again, feeling his patience rapidly deplete. “You can have it after you’ve eaten all your regular food, okay?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, clearly considering it. Finally she heaved a deep sigh and put the plate back down onto the table. “Fine.”

“I’ll go and grab some from the kitchen, then.” He stepped past her, ruffling her hair on the way. “Behave yourself, or I’ll have P and Q watch over you next time.”

“Noooo,” she whined, sprawling over the table. “I’ll behave, I promise!”

O hummed thoughtfully. “You’d better, little lady.” And with a last wink to her, he left the room.

Time would tell whether she would actually listen or not. O wasn’t sure if it was proper parenting behavior but, to be fair, none of them were proper parents anyway.

Besides, what kind of parenting advice would apply to a young ghost, anyway? Danielle appeared to be about twelve, but her behavior often seemed to fit a child much younger, and she couldn’t remember a life before being a ghost, either.

At least they had managed to stabilize her. It took quite a bit of work to convince the scientists to help stabilize her, rather than experiment on her, but they had managed it. After all, Danielle had been one of their few captures, and her behavior was so complicated that it clearly required further research. Not to mention her similarities to Phantom. Subjecting her to regular research would’ve a waste, no?

O scoffed to himself. A waste, definitely, but not for any of those reasons.

Now all they needed to keep her stable was a steady diet of ectoplasmic contaminated food. And also some regular food, because Danielle burned through quite a bit of energy just by existing.

And boy, was she intent on doing more than just existing. They needed all Agents on base just to keep her safe and occupied sometimes. Over time it had just… somehow become standard fare for all of them. They were all living on base anyway, so why not help take care of the little ghost?

O shook his head to try and dislodge the thoughts and focus on what he was doing. With a resigned sigh he opened the designated Danielle fridge, peering over its contents to find something lunch-worthy. Ah! Sliced ham. Perfect.

Quickly, he set about making some sandwiches, letting his thoughts stray once more. Yes, somehow Danielle had become the base’s shared child. No one present among the Guys in White would dare to harm her anymore. The few scientists that had let their curiosity stray a little too far had been corrected and, when they refused to learn, got fired entirely.

Or, well. They weren’t around anymore, at least. O might be in charge of his team, but he wasn’t that high up. He assumed they must’ve gotten fired, but who knew with government organizations like theirs.

Either way, Danielle was safe among them. She was cared for, protected, and okay. They hadn’t gotten Masters locked away yet, building a perfect foolproof plan first, but he was under constant supervision. No other children would suffer, no other ghosts would be made by his hand.

And, soon enough, he would pay for what he had done.

O finished the sandwiches, cleaning up the supplies and carefully picking up the plate. Now, time to see if Danielle had behaved herself.

He stepped through the doorway, back into the room where he’d left Danielle. Quietly, he inched closer to the table, then put down the plate with sandwiches right between her hand and the plate with sweets.

“Busted,” she murmured, withdrawing her hand.

“Busted,” O echoed with a grin, drawing away the other plate. “Lunch first, Danielle.”

“I know, I know.” She sighed wearily, like it was a huge task, and pulled the sandwiches closer to herself. “But sweets after?”

“Eat all your lunch first, then we’ll see if you have space left.” He sat down opposite of her, the plate with sweets in front of him. “Who’s watching you after?”

“Agent K is,” she said around a bite of food. “Why?”

“Well, we wouldn’t want you to get sick while she’s watching you, would we?” O smiled down at her. If it had been L, he might’ve considered it. It would’ve been a good lesson for both Danielle and L, who had encouraged her. But K? She was a good Agent, and she took good care of Danielle.

O watched Danielle tuck a strand of black hair behind her ear, feeling… satisfied. Yes, they were taking pretty good care of her, all things considered. She’d stabilized, and her core had grown mature enough for her to develop her own unique powers. She was a fully grown ghost now, even if her mind remained young.

Still, he was curious to see if she would grow in body, too. One of the first unique powers she had developed was a minor shapeshifting ability, after all, allowing her to look perfectly human. Which made sense, according to the Agents on base, since Danielle was so human, and spent so much time around humans as well. Of course she would develop powers related to that.

It was perfectly possible that she would continue to develop her shapeshifting ability to allow her to look older as time passed. O would be curious to see it. To see what she would look like, fully grown.

And, yes. Sometimes he wondered if this was what Danielle had looked like before she’d died. If somewhere out there, there were parents who could look at her and know this was their child. But they didn’t know how long Masters had her, or any of the other ghosts. Didn’t know what happened to their parents.

For all they knew, Masters had taken only orphans, or had killed the parents and made them orphans. It was better not to worry about it, when there was nothing to be done about it anymore.

Danielle finished her sandwiches, then turned big, watery, blue eyes onto O. “Please?”

He sighed, then slid the plate with sweets back over to her. “If you get sick, it’ll be your own fault. And L’s.”

“Yes!” she cheered, taking the plate from him. “I’ll be careful, promise!”

“Uh huh,” he said, dry and unconvinced.

She started munching away on the sweets, scattering crumbs all over the table as well as her clothes. Mentally, O made a note to have someone clean the room later.

“Hey,” Danielle said, suddenly, lowering the piece of chocolate she’d been about to bite into. “O? Is there… any chance you guys might take me to Amity Park someday?”

Amity Park? Why?

Apparently he’d taken a moment too long to respond, because she quickly added, “Y’know, to meet my cousin?”

“I… I’ll talk to the others about it, see if we can manage something.” Right. Her cousin. Who they were hunting down for haunting Amity Park. Who might be another one of Masters’ victims, and who might be just as human as Danielle.

That Phantom.

Danielle grinned at him, bright and cheerful. “Thank you!”

O sighed, reaching over to ruffle her hair. “Don’t thank me just yet. I can’t promise anything, just that I’ll try.”

“So? I can thank you for trying, can’t I?” She patted his hand, then suddenly jumped out of her chair. “Oh! I’d better get going before K gets worried.”

“Go, then,” O said, waving her away. “And Danielle? Stay out of trouble.”

“Like K will let me get in trouble,” she answered, blowing a raspberry at him. “Bye, O!” she called back before rushing out of the room, running down one of the hallways.

He listened to her rapidly decreasing footsteps, then heaved a sigh.

Right. Time to look into Phantom and Amity Park once more.

#danny phantom #ectoberweek2020 #ectoberweek 2020 #dp fanfic #phanfic #danielle phantom #guys in white #dark writes #i can't believe i'm going to need to write a third part to this series just to fit in the meeting with Danny

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twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 4 years ago

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Star Trek: Facets of Film

In an unsurprising turn of events, as it happens, there is a rather large difference between the production design of a full-length feature film, and a television show.

There are plenty of reasons for this. Costumes are different, and cheaper. Special effects are different, and cheaper. Sets are different, and cheaper.

You get the point.

The fact is, the chief differences between the trimmings of film and television lie in the budget. Movies just have more money to spend than television does, and television has to churn out a series of episodes every season. A movie has the ability to produce sets, costumes, props, special effects because they have more time and more money to do it with. It’s only natural that most films tend to be more creative and interesting looking than most television shows: there just isn’t the freedom, time and money to do so.

As a result, television has to rely on the trimmings that come to them most easily: writing, performances, and characters.

For the most part.

As it turns out, Star Trek is a little bit of an exception.

Thanks to its unique settings and alien designs, Star Trek’s production was a little more involved than most television shows on, even today.

See, there’s more to a good television series than just a good setup and great characters. As a matter of fact, there’s actually quite a lot that goes into making a television show, especially one like Star Trek.

In a show set on other planets, full of aliens, space battles and otherworldly clothing, the production design had to be a little more involved than the traditional contemporary television program. It required more unique costumes, sets, props and special effects, on top of the camerawork, music, and performances that are all used to convey information to an audience. A lot of different elements have to come together in order to tell these stories in a visual medium in an entertaining way.

Any work in a visual medium that’s worth its salt has to know how to use these elements to work together in order to enhance the existing story and characters. A good use of these factors combined with a great script and good characters can propel any movie or show from good, to great.

So yeah, they’re kind of important.

But not too important. It’s a balance.

These elements, these ‘facets of filmmaking’, exist to enhance, not overshadow. They are to be good enough to be believable, but not so overblown that they are the focus. It’s a difficult balance, but it can be done.

Today, we’re going to be trying to figure out if Star Trek hit that balance.

Let’s take a look, starting with the cinematography.

The camerawork in any visual form can sometimes make or break the viewing experience. Typically, when it’s done adequately, it’s barely noticeable, just simply there. When it’s done badly, it’s extremely noticeable, and when it’s done well, it’s often done well enough that even a casual viewer will notice the visual look of a film or television show. At first, it seems almost impossible to shoot a scene ‘badly’, but as it turns out, there’s a bit more to camerawork than just pointing it at the action. There’s a lot to consider. After all, the cinematography is supposed to help generate audience reactions almost as much as the script and characters are.

So, how does Star Trek’s cinematography hold up?

Well, it’s a bit complicated.

The camerawork is decent, at the very least. It follows the action, cuts to extreme dramatic close-ups when the music indicates, and pulls back for more comedic ones. The overall look of the show was big, bold colors that showed up well on camera, everything from the uniforms to the planets, and it was incredibly striking. Thanks to this, the intense backlighting, bright lighting, and sharp focusing effects, Star Trek had an incredibly distinct visual style and language. No show looks quite like it, even at the time.

While it’s easy to make fun of the goofy close-ups with dramatic lighting, the fact is, it helped Star Trek create a very distinctive visual language that defined the show. For a television show, Star Trek was shot in a very expressive way, that holds up as incredibly individualistic even today.

But a camera means nothing without the visuals to shoot in the first place.

Like I said, Star Trek is nothing if not colorful. Between the bright uniforms of the Enterprise crew to the dazzlingly loud outfits of the natives of the planets they visit, and even the planets themselves, the worlds of Star Trek show up rather brilliantly on screen. But there’s more to the visual look of a show than its costume design.

The space visuals (and stock footage) of the show can come across as rather dated to modern eyes, even after the remastering, but in the 1960s, they were the best available on a television budget. The model of the Enterprise and the occasional other enemy ship or life form would appear on screen to establish the scope, or maybe the other ship would appear on the ship’s view screen, only for a moment before the scene would change, focusing on the bridge of the Enterprise or the surface of the planet. But still, though these moments were short, they left an impact.

The model of the Enterprise is legendary, a striking visual even to this day, to the point where it was displayed in the Smithsonian. The look of these ships, while not yet polished to the point that they would be in the films and later series, was iconic, solidified forever in the public consciousness.

As were some of the sets.

Very few sets are as instantly recognizable and iconic as the bridge of the Enterprise. Everything from the blinking lights to the famous captain’s chair is ingrained in the cultural memory. Even the helm and communication’s panel are distinctly Star Trek. Of all the ‘home base’ sets in the history of television, it’s unlikely that you’d find one that looks as iconic as the bridge of the Enterprise. As such, it was shot as both a comforting location, and a genuinely heroic place of adventure, bringing together both familiarity and the feeling of excitement.

The rest of the sets on the Enterprise are, while not quite as iconic, also memorable. The transporter room, the sickbay, the conference room, the mess hall, and a few of the crew quarters are regular re-occurrences on the show. Each location manages to be its own unique, distinctive room, while keeping with the overall aesthetic and feel of the ship at large. With a striking memorable visual ‘home base’, Star Trek was already well on its way to being extremely visibly unforgettable. But the work on the visuals didn’t stop there.

Of course, one of the most striking images in all of Star Trek are the looks of the aliens themselves.

Blue skinned Andorians, the lizard-like Gorn, the rock-like (lasagna-like) Horta, the tough, warlike Klingons, and, most famously, the pointy-eared, pointy-eyebrowed Vulcans and their distant cousins, the Romulans.

The impact of the Vulcans is most keenly felt in the main character of Mr. Spock. The pointy ears and eyebrows are forever imprinted into geek culture. The reasoning for this is more speculative than anything else, but the treatment of each alien culture as being just that, a culture, rather than a force to be reckoned with, may have had something to do with it. Spock’s presentation as a character first, and an alien second (or third, even) may have had a distinct impact on how the aliens on Star Trek were represented: not just as having interesting designs, but by being interesting characters in and of themselves, leaving a far more distinct impression.

Speaking of impressions, let’s talk about the music, shall we?

The music in Star Trek, most notably the opening music, has been often parodied, copied, or referenced in the years since it’s release, to the point where it can come across as incredibly corny. However, I am rather loath to use the word ‘corny’ in a negative context.

The theme for Star Trek is overwhelmingly hopeful, uplifting, adventurous. Like much of the rest of the show, it’s memorable and instantly iconic, reminiscent of exploration and the ongoing vastness of space. Accompanied by the opening narration and the sound of the Enterprise whooshing past the camera, the sound of the Star Trek theme is big and bold, instantly getting across the feel of the show. And that’s not restricted to just the opening theme.

The incidental music of Star Trek, (The ‘comedy’ bits, the dramatic music, ‘Spock’s Theme’ that originated in Amok Time, among others) is almost as interesting and memorable as the opening theme is. It’s not particularly ‘epic’, at least, not all the time, but it does capture the spirit of the show, which is more important. These elements, these ‘facets of film’, are best when they are consistent with the tone of the project, rather than trying to go above and beyond it. As such, the music fits the show and characters perfectly, filling in the background with intense or lighthearted instrumental in order to help the mood along. It’s noticeable, very much so, and really adds to the emotional impact of any given scene. It really works, and even though it comes across as a bit campy now, (again, not necessarily a bad thing) it truly does bring home the ‘feeling’ of Star Trek.

But it’s all in vain if the performances can’t pull it off.

Thankfully, the actors are more than up to the task.

Hold on, you might say. Isn’t this the show that made World Class Large Ham William Shatner famous? And here you say about good performances?

Yes. Absolutely. And Shatner isn’t excluded in that statement.

Star Trek includes interesting sets, special effects as simple, yet memorable as the transporter and the phaser, fascinating alien designs, and good stories, but it’s all worthless without the people. In the end, Star Trek is not about these designs, or externals. It is a drama, concerned about people and their relationships to one another, and it is utterly vital that the actors be able to make the audience believe in them, and in their connection to the other characters.

And every last one of them succeed. Even Shatner.

Sure, the acting style of the ‘60s looks a bit different now, and times have changed. Although some scenes can come across as a wonderful blend of Ham and Cheese, the actors bring it together in truly emotional performances. You believe that these people know and care about each other. From Leonard Nimoy’s subtle layers as Spock to DeForest Kelley’s dry exasperation as McCoy, even to William Shatner’s charismatic intelligence and courage as Kirk. Every character, even the supporting cast, holds their own, with genuine, distinctive performances, and again, it all fits perfectly. Nobody is too peppy or too dramatic. Everyone fits together perfectly, and, even better, they all fit the show. Each character is clear and distinct, and the audience establishes connections with all of them.

Again, maybe they’re not realistic, exactly, but they are real.

There isn’t a single aspect of Star Trek that feels unbalanced, or misplaced. While the look and feel of the show can seem campy and goofy to modern audiences, upon closer inspection, it turns out that every facet of this show fits exactly where it should, with nothing overshadowing the story and characters. It’s alternatively big and bold, or small and contemplative, but almost always, it’s just right. Everything blends together to become a television masterpiece, that has been long remembered with great affection for a reason.

And it didn’t happen by accident.

Join us next time while we take a look at the facets of filmmaking: the behind the scenes of Star Trek. Thanks so much for reading, and I hope to see you there!

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