#Technically there is something else to be done which is just to split it into parts so I can print it out really big

[theoogtree]

Look at my D&D campaign map that is done and finished and I'm not adding anything else and I don't need to add anything else because it is completed and there's nothing else to add and I'm done with it (nails digging into my palms)

Here's also for free as a bonus the runaway princess and the annoying immortal catboy and the creepy scorpion girl that I drew. They are all in a weird sex thing together. Obviously

[prettygirl-gabi]

Title: Role Reversal

Pairing: Sarah Strong x Reader

Fandom: UConn Women’s Basketball

Summary: don’t hide being sick… it’s not a good look and the roles are reversed

🏷️: @paigeshirleytemple , @unknowgirlypop , @yailtsv , @nicebellee , @sitawita , @thatonesuschix , @vamptizm , @elalfywhore , @starfulani , @authentic-girl03 , @paige05bby , @paxaz535 , @azziswrld , @jadasogay , @paigeluvvr , @melpthatsme , @lessi-lover , @courtsidewithlani , @shikaizer

I’ve always been good at pushing through. That’s just part of the job, really—showing up, staying sharp, and putting everyone else first. My head could be splitting and I’d still tape ankles, ice knees, organize water bottles in perfect rows. That’s just how it goes when you’re a student trainer.

Especially when you’re dating one of the players.

But this time? Yeah. This time was different.

I’d felt it creeping in the night before—a weird ache in my shoulders, my throat dry no matter how much water I chugged. I chalked it up to stress. Finals were eating me alive, sleep was a luxury I hadn’t afforded myself in days, and I had way too many recovery sessions to schedule for the team.

So I told myself it wasn’t anything serious. I had stuff to do. Sarah would worry if I even mentioned feeling off, and the last thing I wanted was her fretting before practice.

Except… I dozed off during warmups. Like, literally on the bench with a roll of tape still in my hand. Only for a minute—but still.

Paige joked about it when she noticed. “You good, doc? Or you tryna sneak a nap mid-drill?”

I laughed it off. “Just finals week chaos. I’m running on fumes.”

Which was technically true. But also a lie.

By the time recovery started, I was dragging my feet, even while icing down Azzi’s knee and handing Jana her shoulder bands. My head was buzzing, my skin was cold even though I could feel heat pulsing beneath the surface. But I kept smiling, kept moving.

Until I didn’t.

I was kneeling by Paige, about to tape her left ankle like I had a hundred times before, and the next thing I knew—I blinked, and everything tilted sideways. My hand slipped. The room swam. I didn’t even notice I’d dozed off again until—

“Hey.” A familiar voice, soft but firm.

I blinked groggily, feeling a gentle touch on my cheek. That warmth. That hand. Sarah.

“Babe?” she said, crouched next to me, her brows furrowed with that mix of concern and frustration she saved just for me when I did something reckless.

“I—I wasn’t—” I jerked upright, flustered, eyes wide. “I’m fine. I just—lost track of time.”

She didn’t answer. Instead, her fingers lingered at my temple, then slowly shifted to my forehead.

“You’re burning up.”

“What? No. I’m cold, Sarah. What are you talking about?” I tried to smile, like maybe that’d make it believable. My arms crossed over my chest, trying to stop the way I was shivering now.

Paige was watching us, half-laced sneaker still in her hand. “Wait—are you okay? You were literally falling asleep mid-tape job.”

“I can finish,” I muttered, grabbing the roll of pre-wrap and finishing the wrap around her ankle with shaky fingers. “See? Done. No big deal.”

Sarah wasn’t convinced. At all.

“I’m getting the thermometer,” she muttered, already rising and heading to the supply cabinet.

“Sarah—”

“Nope,” she cut me off. “Don’t even argue.”

I looked at Paige, hoping for backup, but she just raised her hands.

“She’s got that look, bro. You’re done for.”

I sighed, slumping slightly as Sarah returned, sliding a fresh thermometer cover on with practiced ease. I hated this. Being the one on the wrong side of the trainer’s table. But I let her put it under my tongue, let it beep after a long twenty seconds, and watched her face tighten as she read the number.

“101.2,” she said, her voice low. Not quite scolding, but definitely not pleased.

I gave her a half-hearted shrug. “That’s not that high.”

She stared at me like I’d grown another head.

“Okay. Get on the table. Now.”

“I’m not—”

“Now.”

I didn’t argue this time.

She helped me up gently, her hands at my waist like she was afraid I’d collapse. I sat on the edge of the PT table, legs swinging, and she immediately grabbed one of the fluffy towels we usually used to prop up limbs and draped it over my shoulders.

“I’m not gonna break,” I muttered, trying to sound normal.

“You nearly passed out on Paige,” she said flatly. “You were literally burning up and shivering at the same time. You are not okay.”

I looked at her—really looked at her. The tightness in her jaw. The worry in her eyes. And suddenly, all the fight went out of me.

“I didn’t want to bother you,” I admitted softly. “You’ve got practice, film, lifts. I just—I thought it’d pass.”

Sarah stepped between my knees, resting her hands on my thighs, her voice gentler now. “Babe. I want to know when you’re not okay. That’s the deal, remember?”

“I didn’t wanna seem weak.”

She leaned in, pressing her forehead to mine despite the fever, her voice barely above a whisper.

“You’re the strongest person I know. But even the strong ones need to rest.”

I blinked quickly, throat tightening in a different way now. “It just got so bad so fast. I thought it was stress at first.”

“Okay. Well, now it’s me stressing,” she said, stepping back and grabbing her phone. “I’m texting Coach that I’m taking you home.”

“No, Sarah—practice—”

“You think I’m gonna run pick-and-rolls while my girlfriend is melting into the PT table with a fever? Not a chance.”

“Wait,” Paige called from across the room. “Do I get credit for letting her almost pass out on me? That’s worth at least half an assist, right?”

Sarah gave her a look that could’ve frozen water.

“Cool, cool, I’ll shut up.”

She helped me off the table slowly, arm around my waist. Everything hurt. My head, my back, my pride. But having her there—steady and warm and fierce—made me feel a little better already.

“I can walk, you know,” I said as we left the recovery room.

“Sure you can. Right after you sleep for fourteen hours, hydrate like crazy, and take some damn medicine.”

“You sound like me.”

She grinned. “Role reversal, huh?”

By the time we got to my dorm, I was shivering again. Sarah wrapped me in two of my blankets, tucked me in like I was some fragile glass, and propped my pillows up so I could breathe easier. She brought me water, Tylenol, and one of her oversized hoodies because “you get my germs anyway, might as well be warm doing it.”

I drifted off at some point, waking up a few hours later to find her sitting on my desk chair, one knee bouncing, watching me like a hawk.

“How long was I out?”

“Three hours.”

“Did you nap?”

“Nope.”

“Sarah—”

“I didn’t want you to wake up alone,” she said simply.

God. She’s so annoying when she’s sweet like this. Because then I get all emotional and soft and mushy and—

“I love you,” I blurted out.

She blinked, then smiled, slow and real. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Even if you’re bossy and dramatic and overprotective.”

“You forgot ‘incredibly hot and caring.’”

I smiled weakly. “That too.”

She got up and sat beside me on the bed, brushing my hair off my forehead.

“You gonna let me take care of you now?” she asked.

I nodded, finally letting myself sink into the pillows. “Yeah. I think I could use the break.”

She kissed my forehead—gently, but still warm even through the fever.

“Good,” she whispered. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”

I woke up to the feeling of fingers combing gently through my hair and the quiet hum of something playing on my laptop speakers. My head didn’t feel like it was full of wet cement anymore, which was already a win. The fever had broken sometime overnight, but my body still felt like it had been steamrolled by a semi.

“You awake?” Sarah’s voice was soft, like she didn’t want to pull me too far out of the comfort zone she’d carefully wrapped around me.

“Mhm.” I didn’t open my eyes yet. “Didn’t I say you could go back to your room?”

She snorted. “Yeah, and I pretended to agree. Classic misdirection.”

I cracked an eye open to find her sitting cross-legged beside me, wearing my hoodie now, her face bare and beautiful and impossibly close.

“You stayed.”

“Of course I stayed. You were all fever-sweaty and sad and sniffling in your sleep. I wasn’t just gonna leave you.”

My cheeks flushed. “I was sniffling?”

She grinned. “Like a baby koala.”

“That’s horrifying.”

“That’s adorable.”

I rolled onto my side with a groan and immediately felt her pull the blanket back over my shoulder. She’d kept me wrapped up like a burrito for the last twenty-four hours, only unpeeling me for meds, tea, and the occasional snack. I’d protested at first—told her she should focus on practice and sleep in her own bed—but the truth was? I hadn’t wanted her to leave either.

“You didn’t miss anything important?” I mumbled into the pillow.

She shrugged. “Coach gave me a ‘family care’ pass. Paige may or may not have exaggerated how bad you looked.”

I groaned again.

“Quote: ‘She was melting, Coach. Her bones looked tired.’”

I laughed weakly. “God, she’s never gonna let me live this down.”

“Nope,” Sarah agreed. “But I’ll make her run suicides in practice for it.”

“Please do.”

She reached over and grabbed the thermometer off my desk. “Wanna check one more time?”

I sighed dramatically. “You do realize you’ve taken my temperature like twenty times in the last day, right?”

“And I’ll take it twenty more if I have to.”

She held it up expectantly, and I opened my mouth with mock reluctance.

Beep.

Sarah pulled it out, read it, and her whole face softened with relief. “98.6.”

“Normal,” I confirmed, yawning.

“You’ve been fever-free for twenty-four hours.”

“Back to the land of the living.”

She grinned and collapsed beside me, resting her head against my shoulder. “No more pretending to be okay when you’re clearly not, though.”

“Noted.”

“I mean it.”

“I know.”

She went quiet for a second, fingers drawing little circles on the sleeve of my sweatshirt.

“You scared me,” she admitted.

I turned my head to look at her. “I’m sorry.”

“I know you’re used to being the one who helps everyone else. But you’re allowed to ask for help, too. You don’t have to be perfect all the time.”

“I just didn’t want to take up space.”

Sarah looked up at me then—really looked—and said, “You’re not taking up space. You are my space.”

My heart tripped over itself. I blinked hard. “You have to stop saying things like that when I’m all emotionally compromised from NyQuil.”

“Nope. Prime soft moment farming.”

“You’re evil.”

“Yep.”

She cuddled closer and buried her face against my neck, her warmth finally soothing instead of smothering.

We stayed like that for a while. Quiet. Still. No pressure. Just us.

The next morning, Sarah made me eat oatmeal, even though I begged for pancakes. She bribed me with half a strawberry Pop-Tart and a forehead kiss.

By day two of being fever-free, I was actually feeling human again. I wasn’t 100%, but I could walk without swaying and didn’t feel like I was vibrating from chills anymore. Sarah, however, was in full “clingy recovery nurse” mode.

“No heavy lifting.”

“I’m literally lifting a Gatorade bottle.”

“No running.”

“I’m walking across the court.”

“No climbing ladders!”

“Who climbs ladders at practice?”

“I don’t know! Just don’t!”

I wasn’t even mad about it. She kept showing up to check on me between drills and would sneak me granola bars when she thought the coaches weren’t looking. At one point, Paige caught her tucking my scarf tighter and raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, Florence Nightingale.”

Sarah stuck her tongue out. “You let her fall asleep while taping your foot.”

“…She did finish the wrap, though. Gotta give her that.”

The next day, I finally returned to full duties—trainer shirt tucked in, water bottles lined up, clipboard under my arm like nothing had happened.

But everyone noticed.

Azzi gave me a granola bar and said, “Try not to pass out on me.”

Nika gave me an extra long side-hug.

And Paige? She lifted her socked foot and said, “Do your worst, sleepy doc.”

I grinned. “You gonna start requesting fever naps with every wrap now?”

“Depends. You still dating Nurse Sarah?”

“She’s got me on a multi-vitamin schedule now.”

“Damn. True love.”

Sarah rolled her eyes and handed me the roll of pre-wrap. “You tell anyone I teared up watching you drink Pedialyte and I’m breaking up with you.”

I smiled and kissed her cheek. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

That night, we curled up in her dorm—her turn to be the big spoon, her hoodie soft against my back, the low hum of “New Girl” playing on the TV. I felt warm. Not fever-warm. Safe-warm.

She buried her face in my shoulder and whispered, “You scared me, you know.”

“You told me already.”

“Still true.”

I reached back to hold her hand. “Next time I’m even a little off, I’ll tell you.”

She squeezed. “Good.”

“And you’ll still stay with me and baby me and feed me Pop-Tarts, right?”

“Only if you promise not to flirt with Paige while taping her ankles.”

“She’s not my type. She’s too…blonde.”

Sarah pulled the blanket over us. “Okay, now I know you’re still delirious.”

I laughed, and she kissed the back of my neck, her voice warm and sleepy behind me.

“I’m glad you’re okay, babe.”

Me too.

After a few episodes of New Girl and some lazy makeout sessions in between, I stretched and groaned, shifting under the blanket.

“My back’s starting to feel like I’ve been flattened by a textbook,” I mumbled.

Sarah peeked over my shoulder. “We’ve been in bed for almost two days straight. You’re probably turning into a pillow.”

“You trying to say I’m soft?”

“I’m saying you’re overdue for a change of scenery.”

I rolled over, facing her with a teasing smile. “Are you breaking up with the bed?”

“Don’t make this harder than it already is,” she grinned. “But yes. Come on. Let’s migrate.”

I groaned dramatically, but she was already crawling over me to grab the blanket. I reluctantly followed, legs wobbly but steadier now. She made it halfway to the couch before turning around and marching back.

“You forgot the Pop-Tarts,” I said.

“I forgot you,” she replied, scooping me up around the waist and walking us both over like we were doing a three-legged race. “Can’t have my patient overexerting.”

“Your patient’s about to launch you off this couch.”

We flopped down onto the cushions, tangled limbs and all, the blanket re-wrapped around us like it never left. The afternoon sun filtered through the window, warm and soft, and the couch cushions were just firm enough to feel new and comforting.

Sarah pulled the throw pillow behind my head and nestled in beside me, resting her head on my chest this time.

“Better?” she asked.

“Perfect,” I said, carding my fingers through her hair. “Couch days should be a thing even when I’m not on death’s door.”

“I vote yes.”

We didn’t even bother turning the TV back on. Just laid there—quiet, content, wrapped up in each other and the silence that didn’t need to be filled.

She drew lazy circles on my arm, and I could feel the rhythm of her breathing start to sync with mine. My body still ached in places, but in that moment, I felt completely healed.

Not just because my fever broke.

But because she stayed.

And because even after the worst sick days, we always found our way back to the couch. Just because.

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                 -Thank You For Reading!🩵🩶

                             -prettygirl-gabi🎀✨️

[jaxon-exe]

Back at it again with the dp x dc prompt

(If u want to do something with it, feel free)

So this is set a looooooong time after the show. Sam and Tucker r now ghost (they do look like teenagers but wether that’s bc that’s how they want to look or if they died young is up to u) and while Danny is still a halfa he spends more time dead than alive these days since everyone he cares about is long dead.

Anyway, after several centuries they finally manage to get through the mountain of back logged paper work from pariah’s time as king (and yes, technically Danny, as the king, was the only one who had to do that but he guilt tripped the others into helping) and they decided they deserved a vacation!

More than that they deserve to have fun!

So they come up with a bet,

All three of them would each choose a villain to be the sidekick of. Which villain they choose is up to them but it has to be in the same city. The goal? Get ur boss arrested without blowing ur cover!!

The rules:

The villain can not suspect ur working against them

The Heroes can not suspect ur helping them

Avoid civilian casualties as much as possible (their morals r a bit skewed after being dead for centuries but they would like to avoid a pissed off ghost is they can)

Ur time start as soon as they split to find their new bosses and ends so soon as the villain is caught.

U r allowed to escape from jail/police custody/the heroes if ur boss isn’t caught yet

Once the villain is caught u have to hand urself in and wait for everyone else to be done

The first person to get their boss caught get bragging rights

The last person to get their boss caught has to explain any time line fuck ups they might have caused by doing this to clockwork

With the rules set they just have to find the right city and hey would u look at that, there’s a mass brake out in Arkham right now. Gotham is really the best place for the game bc not only does it have a lot of villains it also has a lot of heroes so it’s more even since they will all have at least one hero gunning for their boss at all times.

Starting the clock the three set off. Sam, immediately, chooses Poison Ivy, for obvious reasons. Tucker chooses Riddler, he knows tech to well it would be easy for him to sabotage any death traps without it looking like sabotage. Danny on the other hand is torn. He was originally thinking to go with Dr Freeze bc ice core but he kinda sympathises with the guy. He just trying to save his wife and as a protector spirit, he can respect that and would feel awful to sabotage him. He than thinks maybe two face because he is also a guy with two faces but comes across a similar problem of sympathising with the guy (again, morals have been skewed after being dead for so long)

But there is one villain he has no sympathy for. One villain that isn’t just no matter ur morals and to boot, his whole shtick is something Danny hates with a burning passion.

That’s right, Danny picks Joker.

With bosses picked and sidekick roles achieved. The game is on!!!

Later that night sees shenanigans a penalty, a couple jail brakes on Danny’s parts (Joker stops thinking it’s funny after seeing his incompetant new sidekick cheerily runs up to him after the third jail brake) and the bats slowly loading their fucking minds wondering who the hell these kids r, where they came from and how tf does the Joker kid keep escaping????

[little-miss-fandom-freak]

Honestly, could i have the reader talking with Eric (Creature Commandos) and like, basically telling him that maybe the reason why he's been chasing after bride for 200 years is because she was 'made' for him and he's too scared that if he let's her go he won't find love anywhere else and that he needs to apply himself elsewhere?

sorry if it would be OOC, but I have had this thought in my head for days now and I need to do something about it

also, thank you for all your content, I really appreciate it

I actually LOVE this idea. Look I am a certified Eric hater but I'm a suckered for a good redemption arc. Little note; for the sake of the plot, the reader has the ability to teleport themself and others.

Also that last little bit really tugged at my heart strings a little bit, I'm so glad you like them 🥹

It happened again.

Eric found Bride and is trying to "rekindle their love"; which for some reason, meant extreme violence and brute force. Luckily, you were there to help Bride in her battle against him.

"Why must you fight this, my bride?!" He yelled with anguish as the two if you tried to make a quick escape. Eric had launched himself twords Bride, and he would've gotten a hold of her if it weren't for you quick movements. Eric had grabbed you instead, and in a split second the two of you were gone.

When the two of you arrived at wherever ir was you sent yourself to, Eric threw you off of him.

"What? Where am I? Where is my-"

"ERIC!" You yelled. The silence afterward was deafening. You sighed as you back hit the wall. Sliding down and holding your head in your hands, you looked up at the man. "Do you ever get tired of all this?"

"Tried of what?!" He stopped his foot. 'He's no better than a toddler.' You thought.

"Of chasing after a woman who clearly has no intrest in you!" You snapped.

He scoffed and crossed his arms. "She is very much interested in me! This little game of cat and mouse is all just foreplay for her."

You cringed at his words. "I feel like if she's done nothing but run from you since the day she was created, maybe its a sign thar she doesn't like you."

"But-but she was made for me!" He groaned. "She made to be my bride!"

"Do you not see how terrible that sounds?!" You asked, raising your voice. "Her entire identity is tied to you. She hasn't had a moment of peace, because of you! You have to see how insane you look; chasing after a woman who - despite being made to be with you - DOESNT WANT TO BE WITH YOU!" You sighed. "Why do you keep chasing her?"

Eric just stared at you in disbelief. "Be-Because.... I...." He didn't really know. He slowly made his way twords you, sliding down to the spot next to you. "If the woman who was made to love me, doesn't even love me... then... then will anyone ever will? Am I that unloveable?"

You felt bad now. You couldn't image how he felt; chasing after the same woman for 200 years, one that he was promised would love him, just for her to hate his guts and fight him on sight. What he's been doing still isn't right, but he wasn't given a chance to grow.

Sighing, you placed your hand on his knee. "There's a common phrase for times like this. 'How can you learn to love another, if you can't love yourself'. Maybe that's what you need, a chance to focus on yourself before you find a partner."

"But I've dedicated my entire life to being with her... how am I supposed to just forget about her?"

"You don't have to forget about her, maybe just try redirecting your attention." You thought for a moment. "First, I think you need a friend."

"Ah yes, like Richard Flag!" He said cheerfully.

"Um, maybe not him." You said carefully.

Eric frowned, looking back at his boots in thought. "What about you?"

"Me?" You were taken back by his statement. "Why me?"

"Well, based on the movies and television shows I have seen over the years; a friend is someone who helps you with your woman troubles, and makes you feel better about yourself after a breakup. I have technically broken up with my Bride, and you were here helping me. Is that not what a friends is?"

You weren't quiet sure, in all honesty you only broight him here to give Brude a chancr to get away. But the more you thought about it, the less it seemed like a bad idea. "Okay, sure. I'll be your friend."

A wide smile grew on his face. "Oh how wonderful! We will be like Joey and Pheobe from the television show Friends! Have you see it?"

"I have." You said with a little chuckle. You watched as Eric began to describe his favorite moment between the two characters, but you couldn't help but internally hope that your words actually stuck with him. To you, Eric wasn't a horrible man. He was simply a child trapped in a man's body, a child who wasn't given a chance to learn or grow.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

I hope you enjoyed this and if you have anything you would like me to personally respond to, message me or put it in my ask box because as of right now, Tumblr won't let me respond to comments :)

[iwritethingssometimes]

I'm seeing some posting about a feeling of fishiness about the recently completed US Election.

In the attempt to do something more productive than my last post, I'm gonna do an adhoc examination of how feasible I think a "rigged election" actually is, looking at a few methods that could have been used. So, to start with, what is the actual evidence here?

Most of it is... honestly vibes based, which I get, but don't put a lot of stock in, There was a lot of energy around the Harris campaign, and she had some good polls, but Donald Trump has proved nothing else in the past fucking decade, its that the polls literally do not matter for him, and he can outperform them by a hundred miles.

But. There's also some numbers.

None of this has been verified yet, and I want to make that clear, but this year has largely reported record turnout in a ton of states, especially the swing states, and yet, so far.

The number of votes seems much lower this year.

Not republican votes, not democrat votes, all votes. Hell, third party voting collapsed this year--whatever else you take from this election, this was not a case of the left splitting the vote.

Now, it's true that the vote count hasn't been completed, and it's possible that the numbers will make more sense once that's done. It's also true that the states didn't have quite the same turn-out as last year... but it was only a percentage point or two lower.

Add that to the frequent postings about people having their ballots rejected for... questionable reasons, and.

Well. It starts going from a "the moon is fake!" conspiracy to "Epstein had sex slaves" conspiracy.

But, okay, is it even possible for Trump to have faked the vote like this? People talked about it, but it was mostly in terms of legal challenges trying to overturn a Harris victory, or pulling in the supreme court to decide narrow districts. This, by all accounts, seems to be a straight forward Trump sweep.

So if there is shenanigans afoot, how could he have done it?

There's three feasible(ish) pathways, in my opinion:

Voter suppression and manipulation pre-ballot: Yeah this happened. It's also irrelevant to any possibility that the vote counts were tampered with. Look, this election was flooded with misinformation, legal suits, court cases, and election officials doing everything in their power to fuck with people's right to vote. It was filled with ballot boxes being lit on fire. Elon Musk did a fucking paid vote scheme! Of course there was voter suppression! But there always is, and although it was worse this year than many others, it wouldn't cause any numerical mismatch between turn out and votes, and there's not much that can be done now for this election. Even if someone voted because Musk slipped them $100, no court will ever be able to prove they didn't just happen upon $100 bucks and then voted for Trump.

Voting machines were manipulated: A few hours ago I would have said this was practically impossible, but apparently a bunch of election officials and cyber-security experts were sounding the alarm about this a few months ago, so, uh. That being said, I've seen people claiming that Starlink or whatever hacked voting machines, and no. No, Starlink did not hack voting machines. No one "hacked" voting machines. They weren't connected to the internet, or any wireless communication systems, because anyone with any degree of cybersecurity knowledge will tell you that's how you create an insecure system. Now, it's not impossible, technically speaking, than Elon Musk or fucking Russia managed to hire engineers and somehow bribe enough officals to get access to the machines and install hardware that would allow external access, but in that case we live in a Bond movie and somehow have bigger problems. So, if the voting machines themselves were compromised in any technological way, it would have required direct, physical access, which should be basically impossible, unless...

Ballot officials fucked with the vote This is the one I think is plausible. Basically, in this case, what could have happened is that various election officials at different levels of the process more or less lied about the vote count. This could have happened in a lot of different ways--they could have found reasons to reject mail-in ballots, which several states attempted to make legal, they could have found reasons to reject in-person ballots, which several states attempted to make legal. They could have, if the corruption ran deep enough to make this feasible, just... not counted or reported votes that swung for Harris. They could have, if the election machines work similar to the ones up here in BC, seen the results from the machines, then called the central election office over the phone--because remember, the ballot boxes should not be connected to anything. I don't know. There's a lot of options, and it varies from state to state, because remember, each state runs their own elections, and has their own rules and procedures.

So yeah, three explanations, only one of which is really plausible.

Now, I want to be clear, I don't think this election was fraudulent. Not yet, at least, I need to see actual evidence, or this is nothing more than a theory, but I also want to be clear.

...3 makes sense.

3 would explain why urban areas seemed to be underrepresented in this election, while rural areas surged. 3 would explain a discrepancy between voter turn out and votes counted. 3 would fit the strategy Trump and MAGA loyalists have been describing for the last four years, of infiltrating the election machinery and manipulating it to their own ends.

So I'm not saying it's likely that Trump fucked with the vote, not without evidence. Not yet.

But I will say this looks a hell of a lot more plausible than any claims made in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

[zarkishere]

On the fifth day of Christmas, Zark gave to me...

art + chapter :3

chapter also below

_____ Some jobs go well, others not so much. TW// SLURS. _____ The next morning everyone woke up really early—the sun barely peaked down upon them from behind the mountains and clouds, the birds just starting to sing, the sky still very much a dark blue...yet Ruben was wide awake and heating up some cans by the time everyone had gotten up. He had trouble sleeping—always had, but with strangers that odd fear within him only got stronger. Technically, these people weren’t strangers, but they weren’t close enough for his fears to settle down either. He got up so early he felt like he hadn’t slept at all...but he needed something to do, so while the others slept he had gone out to get more sticks and dead leafs to start up the fire again. That wasn’t easy, given it had rained...most everything was dripping wet, which was unfortunate, but with patience and determination it ended up working. Arthur was the only one to give his thank yous—well, Javier tried, but was promptly ignored. They ate, cleaned their faces with a rag Javier had brought and gotten wet, and hit the road yet again. Thankfully, they had slept only a bit away from town, so by the time they got there the town was buzzing with people. Left and right, people worked and singed, calling others to come over and check out their goods, others argued and...it was just so nice, Ruben looked around with excitement and had to be stopped by the others from running to check stuff out more than once. Of course, daytime isn’t exactly a good time to rob, so Arthur ended up deciding that they should just make time by looking around. Maybe they’d find some other house to rob. Or just something exciting to look at… Mac and Davey left together, to no ones surprise, and Arthur left on his own...leaving Ruben and Javier (once again) set up to be alone in front of some shop where the others had split up.

To Ruben, it felt like some sort of bad joke by life itself, being stuck with this guy.

Javier cleared his throat. “ Entonces...quieres ir a ver algo? “ (So...you wanna check something out?) he asked, looking at Ruben expectantly. Ruben whined and groaned, having a bit of a temper tantrum…to which Javier chuckled at. “ It’s not funny “ Ruben huffed. “ It kind of is, though. “ Javier responded, a slight smile on his lips. “ How? I don’t want to be around you. “ Ruben responded, crossing his arms. Javier stopped smiling, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. “ Pero porqué? En serio no entiendo qué te he hecho. “ (But why? I really don’t understand what I’ve done to you.)

“ Déjalo, si? Solo déjalo. “ (Leave it alone, alright? Just leave it.) Ruben grumbled, kicking the dirt. “ Pero—ay, dios...actuas como un niño mimado, sabes? “ (But—oh lord...you act like a spoiled brat, you know?) “ Tú eres el problema aquí, yo no! “ (You’re the problem here, not me!) Ruben said, pointing at Javier.

He slapped his hand away, growing more and more frustrated. “ No te he hecho nada, Rubén! Me miras como si te hubiera escupido la cara! “ (I haven’t dont anything to you, Ruben! You look at me as if i had spat on your face!) “ Fue culpa de TÚ gente que—” (It was YOUR peoples fault that--) his voice got cut off as another man approached. “ Can you two greasers cut it out!? Get the hell away from my shop! “ He yelled, practically squaring up to fight them. Javier tightened his fist and quickly looked at him, his face spitting venom, making the man cower without even a few words spoken. “ Listen—your arguing is—uhm...scaring my costumers, alright? Just...go argue somewhere else! “ He said, stuttering and stumbling over his words. Ruben never understood why people got so scared...that face didn’t have that effect on him. Strange. Ruben felt guilty for starting that argument... The two did end up leaving, walking around town with no more words spoken between them. Houses so big and tall, shops, horses, everything seemed so fancy. So clean and pristine. He felt like they didn’t fit in—well, Javier was better dressed than him, so he could get a pass...somewhat….people were still so very rude to them. They went through multiple places; plenty shops, a bar and even a park that was at the center of town. It was gorgeous; plenty trees, places to sit at, a huge water-fountain… “ You wanna toss a coin? “ Javier asked, taking a coin out of his pocket and placing it on the palm of his hand. “ Hm..? oh, sure. Gracias. “ (thanks) He took the coin, their hands briefly touching. Ruben placed it between his hands, closed his eyes and blew air into it before tossing the coin into the water. Javier watched him the whole time, eyes gentle in that special way that made Ruben want to smack it off. “ What did you ask for? “ Javier asked, leaning in ever so slightly, like a secret between them. “ I can’t tell you! If I do, it won’t come true. “ Ruben huffed, leaning away and crossing his arms with a slight pout. Javier chuckled and shook his head, shrugging as he started to walk off again. Ruben watched him for a couple of seconds before going after him. After a while of looking around Javier bought a new necklace—it was very nice, Ruben couldn’t lie—a silver cross with some...rocks..? in it. Javier was the religious type, Ruben had come to learn. He’d watched the man pray before meals a few times, or heard him mumbling other words of devotion at the far corners of camp. It was cute—well, no, not cute. More so...entertaining? No, no, that sounds weird too. It’s...well, it didn’t….well—

Mac smacked him, taking him out of his little mind travel. “ Caralho mano! “ (god-damn, dude!) Ruben yelped, smacking the others hand away, which earned him another smack from Mac. A little harder this time. “ Don’t fockin raise yer hands at me, lad, i’ll snap yer neck like a twig. “ He said, voice low and threatening...did he mean it, though? No idea. Mac could never turn off his ‘scary’ factor. Davey and Arthur were there now, too. Must’ve spaced out...time felt like it flew by.

Ruben pouted, puffing out his cheeks. Mac snorted, rolling his eyes. “ Quit that, doll. “ He said, flicking Ruben’s nose. “ C’mon, let’s go. “ “ Is it time? “ Ruben asked, following behind Mac. He looked up at the sky as the group made their way to the outskirts of town; it was becoming dark, but the clouds had completely left by now. No more rain, it seems. Eventually they all made it out, small talk here and there, but no conversations of real matter...things only got more serious when they sneaked behind the house… It was a quite large home with a stone fence around it, seemingly divided into 2 to 3 levels, standing on a foundation of pink bricks and a blueish roof. There was balcony on the back, and from where Ruben stood he could see a bench or two. The walls of the home consisted of light pink wood with white corner boards. Many windows were strewn around the walls of the house and on top of the building rested a slim chimney, but as there was no smoke it could be guessed no one was inside at the moment… "Alright, here’s the plan," Arthur drawled, taking charge since he was Dutch’s son. "Me, Ruben, and Javier'll hop the wall—'cause we’re the quiet ones. Y’all two go on down and wait for us to unlock it. Once we do, just grab whatever you can. Got it?" “ Can’t Javier go with the other two? “ Ruben asked. “ Wha—what did I do?? “ Javier asked, looking at him confused. “ I thought we were getting along. “ “ Well, no, I still dislike you. “ The other answered with a shrug. “ Pero—” (But—) Javier’s voice was cut off by Arthur’s. “ Just shut up. This is how we’ll be doing things. “ They nodded, and the plan started. The three went up to the fence, scaling it and cautiously walking on it toward the balcony….but once there, they realized it was locked. Since Mac and Davey were waiting on their spot, they had no way to say what was up, so they just had to figure out another way in... “ Who locks balconies?? “ Asked Javier quietly. Arthur sighed, looking around. Eventually, his eyes landed on a window that happened to be open. He poked Ruben’s shoulder. “ Think you could get that? “ He asked. Ruben nodded and took a few steps back, before sprinting forward and jumping for it—BARELY catching the ledge. This job wasn’t going well so far, but Ruben trusted it could be fixed, so he pulled himself up and made his way into the abode; it was even fancier inside, big central stairs, a chandelier...which made him instinctively grimace. He made his way to the balconies door, unlocking it from the inside and flashing Arthur a smile as the other two walked in. “ I’ll go unlock the door for the other two, go gather stuff already. “ He said, and the two Mexicans nodded. The three parted ways as they did their thing. Ruben went to the bathroom first, finding a good bunch of jewels; pretty necklaces, pins and some rings. He placed a silver one around his index finger, admiring it for a few seconds...deciding he’d keep that one for himself. Then, he went to the bed-room, going through the drawers and closets, finding a few stacks of money...everything seemed to be going well—Until Arthur came sprinting into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Although, it was clear he made the effort to make little to no noise.

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #22

Best of Wish

I enjoy Irep's grit-teethed remark when he mentions Anti-Fairies can't have godkids. He's just like his dad, for real, for real.

If he's this annoyed at the thought of Anti-Fairies not being allowed godkids, that kinda implies he wants one, which is interesting. Godkids were always one of Anti-Cosmo's interests, but never something Foop pursued on purpose or ever expressed interest in.

Please enjoy this cut Anti-Cosmo dialogue from an early script for "Fairly Oddlympics" that I think about constantly:

btw, there are a lot of funny deleted scenes in the old scripts that I love talking about, especially from this one, so if you find anything that catches your eye and post about it, you should @ me because I would enjoy reading your reactions <3

Plot twist - Irep is doing healthy things to work through his "scary godparent for Vicky" trauma while Peri's reaction to Vicky trauma was to cover his ears, hide behind his mom, and sing "La la la, la la la" to pretend she wasn't there.

Peri said his memories of childhood are blurry. I wonder if Irep remembers his childhood better since he was fully able to talk and comprehend things back then.

"Once a fairy quits, any magical being can take their place!"

I mean... Technically yes, but you used to have to sing for it. lol.

The Pixies, who are literally last in line for godkids below all other magical beings (including pegasi, bigfeet, and lake monsters), watching Irep stroll in like: ???

- which imo was implied to be a punishment for their race after H.P. was godparent to some unconfirmed kid I've been headcanoning was Dale for 7 years-

Actually, I like the implication that Irep was so fast to snipe Dev because he's been stalking them since he found out Peri was assigned a godkid.

Irep: Once a fairy quits, any magical being can take their place! Wanda: Peri didn't quit! He was waiting for you to call! Cosmo: He thought you two were on a break! Me: ... ?????? Peri was waiting for Irep to call and take him back? Run that by me again??

... I legitimately cannot tell if they're addressing Dev or Irep. Irep was the last person to speak, but Dev speaks next. Rewinding and listening to the conversation again, I can use my context clues to see they're probably looking at Dev (who is offscreen), but ?? why would you frame it that ambiguously.

Did anyone else get confused here or was that just me?

Also this has done nothing to disprove my previous "Peri is clingy especially where break-ups are concerned" interpretation.

I like how the very first wish Dev makes in this scene isn't for his dad to love him, but for Bev to love him.

How many kids in this class have names that rhyme with Dev and why is he so determined to befriend them all?

?? Okay, so I was previously confused about Dev's friendships because I was pretty sure I remembered him saying in Episode 1 that he and Trev were friends, but we haven't seen them interact at all. I went back and checked, and here's what he says:

"That's Trev! He's my bud, so he probably won't give YOU the time of day."

I wish we got to see him hanging out with Trev. Did they split after Trev didn't come to his sleepover?

- I just checked; I don't see any evidence of Trev at Hazel's. - Hey, did Winn and Jasmine ever find out Hazel lied to them about living in a 5-star hotel? - In conclusion, we are being ROBBED of the Trev-Dev-Bev friend squad.

Looking back, it's very funny that Dev made an effort to introduce Hazel to people when she was the new kid despite that not being his job... including giving some glowing reviews of a few of their classmates, including "This guy's my bud, this person's cool, and I respect this other guy." He wants to talk...

Also, moon is full in New York.

I keep waiting for Irep's music to drop again, but it never does in this scene. It's stressing me out; why did it only drop in THAT scene?

The version I'm watching unfortunately doesn't include credits and I can't find it after a few quick searches, but if Guy Moon did the music for this episode and remembered how he used to do it for Foop and his alt personality when they would do their switch cues 14 years ago, and so when he saw that body language he did it again, I'm gonna lose it.

Surely not... But he had to do it for at least 3 seasons; maybe it just stuck??

I don't see him credited for A New Wish at all on his own IMBD or Wiki page either. idk who did this episode, but I liked it. Hi, I'm the target audience; it's me.

And Irep's still a leftie! Even after putting both hands on the mace handle to smash it down, it goes back to his left when he takes one hand off.

He even does the "sword fight" with his left hand. It's the boy!!!

?? Is Irep's hair both blue (like both his parents') AND black (the color his tuft was in the OG series)?

Are his roots black, but the color eases to dark blue the farther out it grows? That's fantastic!

I like how Peri's hair looks most like his mom's but with a faint slope implying his dad's influence is there, and Irep's hair best parallels his dad's, but he gets his curl from his mom.

Huh. Looks like we've retired the 5 magic colors and now we're just pink poofs and dark blue lightning. Which I'm okay with; I just wasn't paying attention until now. But I know lightning-shaped Anti-Fairy magic was canon in "School of Crock," maybe others.

This does deprive me of my usual 2nd-watch shtick of reading moods based on color. Alas.

I enjoy Hazel rescuing the news reporter, but letting her know that she's a big fan of her work.

Okay, Irep uses his right hand at the last second, but I consider this a win.

I went back and checked frame by frame because I'm a NERD, and funnily enough... It looks like he changes hands after Cosmo blasts him in the left arm. It's hard to tell with the poof cloud, but when you consider the direction he moved (buffeted backwards), that implies it was a left-side hit. It's probably just coincidence, but that's funny.

I like Dev's silly star shades during this scene:

Peri's back!! Old buddies, ol' counterpart pals... I love that teeny-tiny movement Peri makes with his fingers to symbolize air quotes around "quit."

"I never gave two weeks notice~!!"

Also, this definitely belongs in my collection of counterparts using the same body language for opposite moods. idk if we'll see more of that, but it excites me that my stash grows!

I like Peri patting Dev on the head.

"He's still my godkid! :)"

Ooh, snap. Local cousins (once removed) are here to lay down Da Rules, as von Strangles do.

Aw, I like how undoing Dev's cheating means Hazel ends up with the prize shirt. I guess that makes sense; it just wouldn't have been my first thought.

I'm glad adult Irep makes squeaky sounds when you squeeze him. I seem to remember OG Poof making squeaky sounds when he bounced off walls.

Aw, Peri having a happy hug with his parents again! Instead of him feeling like they're overbearing. That's great.

Peri once again proving he's a jealous, clingy ex. I don't think this kid was okay when he was pried away from Timmy and I don't think he took his parents' leaving him on his own for 10k years very well.

I really enjoy Peri's body language throughout this series. All his little twitches and arm rubs and flicking eyes... It says a million words. You could talk forever about him.

I enjoy Dev and Hazel a lot this series, but I think Peri's my favorite. With all his little anxieties and moments he avoids eye contact, you really get the sense that he's working through a lot of baggage.

I like how his instinct was to be honest with his parents and then he immediately regrets it and closes off his body language, avoiding eye contact. He retracts what he said and says something else that he thinks makes him look better. He's got a lot going on.

The fact that he makes this big, decisive head nod as he changes his story to claim he wasn't "jealously spying on Dev" after quitting as his godparent, but he was instead "very normally and confidently passing by" is fantastic. That's... not how people talk in normal conversation, Peri. But I'm glad you're telling me you struggle with confidence issues.

- I think everything I've seen of you supports that. You've been the biggest anxiety ball ever since you got here. - Peri is the guy who'd be on edge wondering if he did something to make everyone mad.

It took me forever to get the above screenshots so I had to keep rewinding, and I have to say... I'm obsessed with that itty-bitty head tilt he does to the left before he goes full right. Idk why it's there, but I like it. It's like a shrug, or like he's thinking through his lie? I enjoy.

Also that teeny-tiny head squirm when he's enjoying the hug with his parents. He's so cute.

Okay, that's pretty messed-up of Peri to laugh with his parents while Dev is in the background really upset. Like, Peri is literally talking about Dev behind his back

-> I wish they'd snuck hints of purple in the background to indicate Peri was there, like a milk carton or pencil or something.

-> I stand by everything I've previously said about Peri not being emotionally mature enough to godparent. His kid needs comfort after a tough experience! Dev just got snapped at and punished by authority and now he's sitting on the ground looking dejected, and Peri's over there giggling!

-> C'mon, man! Hazel clocked on and she's trying to do your job for you. She shouldn't have to do that! (Though it's nice of her to try comforting her friend).

Oop, Dev just yelled at Hazel (again) and Peri did not discourage or discipline him in any way, and tbh... I don't think he even noticed. Because he was laughing and talking about his godkid with his parents. Dude, get your crown in the game.

I love Hazel throwing her prize shirt in Dev's face and shouting that she "hopes it was worth it" <3

I still don't know how to spell O-pairs and at this point, I'm too afraid to ask.

omg, Dev wants to learn about Anti-Fairies. Are we going to get lore and culture? Drama...

PERI, your godkid's running away!! Oh no, he can't hear us... he's got anxiety...

[the-s1lly-corner]

yes that's It! can I ask for varIous creepypastas of your choosIng, wIth the reader usIng the orange peel theory on them? If you want to of course.

Slenderman, Splendorman, Hoodie, Laughing Jack w/ the orange peel test

speed writing this before the nosebleed starts- i can feel it and i am locking in- i can now say ive put my sweat tears AND blood into my writing notes: reader is gn, short post cws: none

SLENDERMAN

it takes him a moment to think about what youve asked for him.. you want him to peel the fruit for you? dont you have hands..?

he does do it after a second before you ask again, the question just took him off guard for a moment

surprisingly, he doesnt peel it as neatly as his brother does, but he still gets the job done without making too much of a mess

passes the fruit into your hand, and waits for you to ask for something else if hes still needed

passes, i think, even if he doesnt understand why you need help with it... im sure he'll get it some day!

SPLENDORMAN

more than happy to do it! peels it off with a claw with little effort, even gets it all off in one go- it looks like a cute ribbon! tosses it into the trash so you dont have to

takes it even further and splits it into individual slices and even picks out the weird thready white bits... unless you like those bits, then he leaves them for you!

asks you if you want him to peel another orange for you- or better yet, are you hungry? he can make something for you thats more filling!

passes with flying colors

HOODIE

give him a moment and he will get to you as soon as he can!

peels it off as neatly as he can and discards the peel himself, you dont have to bother yourself with it

that being said... hes still wearing his gloves when hes doing it... he seems to forget to take them off a lot of the time- these are the same gloves that hes running around with and getting messy in

so... eating the orange after hes peeled it for you might not be the best idea, and you fight back the grimace on your face when you realize that his hands are sticky now too, on top of being covered in god knows what

passes because he does it but good god you need to convince him to take his stuff off around the house

LAUGHING JACK

stretches his arm across the room- remember, clown stuff- and yoinks the orange from your hands... look you dont even need to take the time to walk over to him!

has... never peeled an orange before so hes going to be a little messy... not to mention his claws, which make the entire ordeal even harder

resorts to puncturing the fruit and tearing the peel off, leaving the fruit a mangled dripping mess in his palm as he passes it back to you with a smile on his face- not one of malice for tearing up the fruit, but out of genuine pride that he got it done

passes on the technicality that he did it without resistance and gave it his best shot

[mysteryanimator]

Hi there. I’ve seen your posts where you’ve analysed the scenes with Olrox and Mizrak shot by shot. As someone who is into media and is perusing a career in filmmaking, I absolutely loved them! I was wondering if you were planning to do any more of those? Either from season 1 or some from season 2? I think it would be very interesting to see what we can gleam from that.

Thank you so much, it means a lot that you (and everyone else) enjoy these breakdowns a lot!

Major disclaimer once again, I am a student still reapplying all of what I know to shows I enjoy since this is a field I do want to enter. If want to enter it I should probably know how and why it is done in said shows HAHA There are sooo many scenes I want to break down in season 02, the very obvious being Mizrak and Olrox's moments in episode 08, along with every scene they have in that season together! Funnily enough, I'm almost just really drawn to other scenes like Tera and Olrox's interactions (the colours paired with dialogue is the coolest thing ever), and the walk across town with Mizrak and Maria. Also Mizrak throughout the show and how they foreshadowed him being a vampire from the start of season 2 via deliberate shot choices. As you can tell I'm jumping all over the place unable to choose one direction to break down haha (omg especially a parallel between Richter/Annette and Olrox/Mizrak because they do mirror each other not only narratively but also shots too)

Actually, let's poll for that and I'll go from most popular to least popular :D

Also because I don't think I'll cover Mizrak and Emmanuel's conversation (it's chalked with some really nice shot choices) I'm just going to put here how pretty the colors are. Just in general a lot of the night scenes that are this type of blue is something I'm super drawn to in this show. It's so vibranttttt~

Also blue not only signifies night, but mourning/ melancholy/ depression/ despair

Like look how the canvas is split, separating Mizrak from Emmanuel! The trees act to barricade them because Emmanuel refuses to change, even up until death. Symbolized by him being hunched over the cross. A grave. Emmanuel has given up and visually, Mizrak is literally looking down at him. Emmanuel can't even face Mizrak because of his lack of confidence and cowardice to that is an alternate path he can choose, but he won't.

Also funnily enough, both these characters die. HOWEVER. Emmanuel dies out of cowardice and tries to fight death, and technically, Mizrak does too, but his admittance of being afraid is the bravest thing he has ever done (I'll go in-depth if/when I cover episode 08, it was one of the first things I picked up after my first watch, very interesting!)

Anyway sorry for the ramble, hope you enjoyed this tiny analysis of this one shot :D Lemme know if there are any other scenes/shots, in particular, you want me to cover quickly in the long format as well! Either or, I enjoy shot analysis a lot! Hopefully let's see if I can also apply any of the storyboard knowledge I get from these because I know how to apply them to my work, whether or not I can recognize it in the show, which will be a very fun challenge!

[kakerutori]

HEYYYY HANA! It's me olive/livy/ hey you/ that one person that always joins your lives I had a recent interaction with a more toxic mileven shipper but they said something that really did make me think so I want your thoughts in their words they said "mileven has been cannon for 8 years now why would they end it all at once" they had said this in the middle of a debate and it really got my thinking like would the duffers really end a relationship that has been built on for 8 years for byler? Plz lemme know what you think

OMG HI YOU 🤭 I’d be delighted to give my two cents, thanks for coming to me, Olive!!

Ah, yes. The age old argument of ‘why would the Duffers break up Mleven after building them up all this time?’ To which I say - what build up does one truly speak of? Yes, they’ve been canon romantic from season 1 since that kiss, technically, but their relationship only became truly canon since season 3. And yes, the show has been in production for about 8 years, but the show spans only about 3 years (1983-1986). Even then, to say that Mleven has been canon for that long just isn’t true. In total, they’ve only spent about 6 months together physically in canon (the fall, spring, and, summer of 1985 just before season 3 starts), and 6 months together long-distance (the summer, fall, and spring of 1986).

Point is, they’ve not been together as long as it seems. They’ve expressed interest from the start, but even then, on El’s side, it’s pretty debatable to me.

Take this scene where El literally asks Mike, “will you be like my brother?” I think I can just leave that there as it is.

Now, I do understand the notion that they’ve been in writing for 8 years. But guess who else have been? Mike and Will. Their relationship is just as if not more important to each other’s growths as characters, especially in season 4.

If you’re looking for canon relationships, look no further than Mike and Will’s friendship. If you need to see clear pictures of encouragement, understanding, and amendment, look no further than everything they’ve done for each other over the years.

All in all, I believe that just because you aren’t directly in a relationship with someone doesn’t mean that the current chemistry is void and only counts when you do get together.

Byler have chemistry, that’s why I think that they could easily get together. And by contrast, Mleven don’t. Throughout the seasons that Mike and El have been together, it’s been a struggle for them to connect. Whenever they do, it’s shallow. Take the reunion in season 4 - El is lying to Mike about being friends with Angela, and Mike is lying to El through his split focus on Will (when he complains about Will “rolling [his] eyes,” “moping,” “basically [sabotaging] the whole day”).

Mike is clearly affectionate to El, but he consistently dotes on her looks and never her character beyond her powers. El is clearly affectionate to Mike, too, but it’s clear to me that any time she reaches out to Mike, wrote to him, tried to talk to him in the void, anything, he just couldn’t seem to reach her in return.

Meanwhile, we have Byler promising to go “crazy together.” They sit and listen to each other. Meeting Will is “the best thing that [Mike has] ever done.” Mike thereafter in that scene talks about Will’s persistence. And we know that Will thinks of Mike as a leader, “guiding, inspiring.” Not only are they affectionate to each other, they’re comfortable expressing themselves around each other, highlighting each other’s positive traits, encouraging, supporting, connecting.

Need some people be reminded that filmwork is essential to TV, and so canonically Mike and Will also have many moments together. It’s not like their relationship isn’t known to us in canon (let alone blocked very specifically, too!).

So yeah, to that statement of “Mleven has been canon for 8 years now” so “why would they end it all at once” I say: it’s only been two years maximum in canon, and they’ve been founded on a deteriorating relationship with another much stronger one right in our faces, so no, yeah, Byler is very possible and wouldn’t be sudden in the slightest.

[shinalenecaffeinatedwriter]

I couln't finish it in time because of uni, so I had to split it but...

What would happen if Wukong’s “Mighty Commanders” in JTTW found out about Mk in the Shadowpeach Bio Parents AU. (My version of the characters of FFM’s warlords)

For the sake of simplicity, all of them know about MK being Wukong’s student at some extend.

“Mk is our kid”

General Beng

Beng: *Takes a sips of their drink*

Macaque: It was a… recent discovery

Beng: ...You two just added even more baggage to a kid, who has dealt with resentful beings that not only do they not know how to deal with their damage other than try to recreate it in someone else, but also not know the limits of their influence in psyche of a person like him.

Wukong: We know…

Beng: I really hope you help him trough it, reduce it as much as it’s possible, and be there for him, regardless of your relationship, do NOT dump him aside because you think it’s unbearable, he deserve that much. MK. Deserves. Support.

Macaque: We know, and we’re working on… us. We’ll be there for him help, I swear it!

Beng: Then, congratulations on the cub.

Wukong: Not much of a cub, but thank you.

Marshal Liu

Liu: *Shock face*

Wukong: Are you alrigh-

Liu: Ok, Ok! Le- let me recap for a second. You two dance around each other for decades, almost a century of pinning! Then Mac finally decides to courtnap you and BEGS US, the commanders of FFM and Wukong’s trusted advisors, to let him do it without, and I quote, “added complications” from us, which of course we do, because we had been asking you for a Queen, Regent, 2º King; whatever the heck you wanted to call them, since you became King! So, you become official lovers. Yay! You enter the honeymoon phase, reeeaallyyyy cheesy, but manageable. Yay! At some point of dealing with you, lovebirds, the infamous question of “when are you marrying and/or crowning Mac?” begins to rise, and you avoid it like it’s poison for months! Then the attack on Heaven happen, then the imprisonment under the mountain, then the journey, then the fight, and the a ton of other things of which I don’t have the time nor the energy to enumerate! And now you’re telling me this!?

Macaque: I’m aware is a lot to take in bu-

Liu: I’m not done yet, Mihou. So, now I’m asking you, Sun Wukong, Lord of Gold, have you, at least, thought of crowning your cub and his other parent? Or do they stay as a “technically” bastard and a “technically” royal affair in your already dead social image?

Wukong: ...Look I haven’t had the time to search crowns that would fit them

Macaque: You wh-

Liu: SHIHOU!!! WE CROWN YOU WITH A FLOWER CROW!!!

Wukong: My point still stands! They deserve something fancy!

(I'll make a part 2 when uni isn't kicking my ass.

Love you all)

[senka-mesecine]

First times with the platoon boys? <3

---

― First time? Yeah, it's admittedly probably Chris's first time too, and if not, it might be the second or third at best --- the result of some casual college adventure that's only to be expected at a formative age on campus. What I'm meaning to say, regardless of his skill level, Chris approaches sex like he's a cherry himself in the literal sense, mainly because he's probably not that experienced or well-versed in the matter, so if you're shy, he's shy. If you're learning, he's learning. If you're uncertain the first time around, so is he, irregardless of the fact he's actually slept with someone before and you haven't. Meaning that there's something really sweet about it the first time around. There's less technical mastery involved, for lack of a better descriptor, and more closeness and general intimacy. Being soft and somewhat fidgety and unsure and landing on cuddling and holding each other a lot longer afterwards, once the deed itself is actually done, more so focused on the aftercare than anything else. Man starts out vanilla, at first anyway, what he becomes later is a whole different can of worms entirely.

― Now, O'Neill strikes me as one of those people who's gonna talk the talk and spin a lot of narratives about all the things he's gonna do to you, and my god, you'll see the stars, your back will be blown out, you won't be able to walk straight for weeks after you're hit with that O'Neill dynamite, you'll be ruined for every other cocksucker in the vicinity and a whole new dimension will open up for you, but the first time you actually get down to it, chances are he's entirely different from what he described himself as; no, his dick doesn't, in fact, split the fabric of reality, but it's still good, just not as hilariously unreasonable as he made it sound like to impress you, which, funnily enough, in ways, might just make him more nervous then you --- the virgin. You'll be pleased, but you'll also probably wonder why he embellished himself so much with standards no human being can ever live up to. Just as likely that he'll be beneath you and that you'll take charge of the whole thing yourself and end up enjoying doing just that. None of this ends up being as he advertised. Not bad, just unexpected.

― You know what's to be fully expected, though? Bunny being a madman. He's gonna be a madman if you have fifty bodies under your belt or if you haven't got a single one; chances are, he'll be equally turned on. He'll be rough, he'll bite, he'll bruise you with hickeys, he'll wrestle, he'll say the nastiest things known to mankind, he'll peddle out all the kinks at once, he'll offer to tattoo you with his name mid-sex because after all, he's your first and that sort of thing should be commemorighted and shit. Or was it commemorated? In either case, your first time having sex is simultaneously your second, third, fourth and fifth because he probably doesn't relent or let up for a good while, just running on some sort of manic energy that's hard to explain or replicate. At one point, a camera gets whipped out and he downright starts taking shots...you know, for keeping. Might just take a couple of snaps of those bloodstained, cum-soaked sheets and thighs too, almost as some sort of weird, bizarre trophy. Undoubtedly makes you sign it to like he would a celebrity giving a specialized autograph. He seems overly pleased with himself once you do.

― Rhah Vermucci initially doesn't believe you're a virgin; which serves both as a complement and as something simultaneously derogatory. Because what you don't know is that he is convinced someone as drop dead gorgeous as you must've been through the ringer (and all things considered, men are hungry, vile dogs you probably had at your feet countless times and it's so transparent you'd pretend otherwise) but also because women default to having that Jezebel spirit inside of them, and if a sucker isn't their first, he's definitely only their second, pinkie promise. Not that Rhah's falling for that age-old story! Of course, admittedly, for all his hang ups, the sex is spectacular, maybe helped along precisely by the fact that he dirty talks you into a mixture of guilt and erotic accusations that altercate and shift between praise and degradation; in one breath you're his perfect innocent that he's going to ruin and lead down a dark path and in another breath you're a lying little double-crossing minx he's bringing to orgasm. You're not sure if it was hatesex, worship, being dommed or being serviced, but it was sure an experience.

― For all his shortcomings and haplessness as an army Lieutenant, Wolfe is probably...Jesus Chris, and I can't believe I'll say...but somehow the most normal and stable minded in the overall platoon when it comes to your commonplace sex, furthermore, to first times and it's this precisely his fish-out-of-water characteristic that has his floundering on the battlefield and his failure as an authority figure that makes him the safest bet to lose one's virginity with. Why? Because there's not too many surprises there. What you see is what you get. Ironically, you aren't walking into a wolf's den. In fact, you might find him trying spectacularly regardless, being overly eager to please and unsure if he should let on just how much thought went into this for him. Yeah, there might be roses on some bedside table and he has no clue how those got there. He probably re-traced his steps on how this will happen depending what he figured you liked or wont like. He might tactically have his college sweatshirt on so you can take it off. Maybe he'll slip his pinkie ring finger into your mouth because he's heard that counts as kinky nowadays. Could very well pretend this is a casual occurrence for him purely so he would come off as cool. It's...stupidly endearing.

― -"Shit, how's that even real? Wait, you for real right now!? Really!? Ain' pulling my leg and no nothin'!?"- King might ask, smiling and amazed, already seeing an opportunity and overly pleased about the fact that he is about to get first dibs, unable to comprehend how this could happen to someone who looks like you, talks like you, is sweet like you --- like, hoo boy, you telling him someone didn't scoop you up by now? What are folks on if they ain't scooping you up!? Well, it must be Christmas, because he is absolutely making his move --- and a first time with King? It genuinely might be the most fun, carefree, relaxed, stress-free and easygoing out of the whole bunch, because you'll spend it laughing, hitting the blunt, getting worked over, eaten out, fingered, prepared, fucked, indulging in foreplay, fucked some more, falling into another fit of giggles and getting high some more, yeah. Maybe going for round two or three while you're both at it. Genuinely, somewhere along the way it boils down to something akin to two fuck buddies who just had the most amazing time together and proceeded laying around for hours just reminiscing.

― You know, Elias is hit by that blissed out high when he finds out and his overwhelming instinct is to just entirely corrupt you and have you liking it, meaning that your first time is less of an experience and more of a spiritual epiphany. People say that losing one's virginity doesn't change them in any way that matters, but with Elias, it legitimately does, because you'll be there high as a kite, on your fifth orgasm, having been eaten out, pleased, pleasured, fucked, despoiled, led to new horizons where what your body can do is concerned, whatever sense of shame you either have or didn't have entirely peeling off and you genuinely don't feel like the same person, rather, like a third eye has opened. You probably didn't realize how dangerous Elias was when you first agreed to do this; or, rather when he came to you. Maybe you came to him? In either case, you feel ruined for all other people. Maybe even overwhelmed. Like too much has been given to you too soon and you can't stop smiling. Maybe it's just the weed pipe you've been hitting together, blowing smoke into each other's mouths between rounds. Yes, rounds. You were chaste this morning and now, you're already talking in term of rounds. What happened?

― Don't ask me how, but I think Barnes quietly deduces it and puts two and two together himself; that is, somehow he already goes around figuring you're a virgin and by the time it comes down to it, his intuition and overall reading of you as a person proving to be accurate and contrary to his what his appearance and overall aura might suggest, if he's your first, he comes prepared and is actually almost uncharacteristically and startlingly careful, to the degree he personally could talk you out of getting down with him and finding yourself someone else to do the job even though, genuinely, that's the last thing he wants --- finding he could never trust you with some cocksucker. Not without getting that cocksucker killed; the overly realistic cynic in him mingling with this almost archaic notion that if he's going to break into you he might as well have the responsibility of not being entirely an animal about it, which means for a first time? Yeah, I can imagine Barnes being intentionally focused, hungry and torturously slow, constant eye contact, missionary face to face, body against body involved --- there's something very classically standard, no nonsense and traditional about it, almost like he is zealously convinced this is how it's ought to be for the time being anyway. Everything else? It comes much later. For now, this ended up being hair-raisingly intense.

[lesbiansanemi]

God Sukuna ItaFushiKugi manifestation sounds like a fucking nightmare and thensome for all parties involved, I'm intrigued tell me more about these fucked up little guys

Hehehe, of course! This is actually technically my oldest JJK AU that I thought up when I was first getting into the series years ago, and I always meant to do something with it, and then I just... never did

I always thought it was a shame that nothing was ever really done with the fact that Sukuna's soul was... literally split apart. I mean, it's basically not even mentioned. But yeah, he was split into 20 cursed objects, a little piece of his soul in each of them. The series handled this like it was his power alone and his full conscious was just automatically incarnated in Yuuji, rather than potentially being in any of the other fingers. Which like, I guess I get. It would have vastly complicated things, but it would have been neat if anything was done with his literal soul being split up and how that might affect his consciousness

So basically, the premise of it, is that Nobara and Megumi come up with a desperate play in the hopes of preventing Yuuji from being executed. His execution is being held until he eats all twenty fingers. So if he never eats all twenty fingers, he won't be executed. But they can't exactly just hide the fingers. They make an educated guess (re: a desperate play) that because Sukuna is already incarnated in Yuuji, if they each consume a finger, there won't be many consequences, because the brunt of Sukuna's power is concentrated in Yuuji

Except... he then incarnates in both of them as well, and yeah, as you predicated, no one is happy with this development, and it causes infinitely more problems than it solves

First and foremost, obviously, Nobara and Megumi now have to cope with and contend with the fact that they have a piece of Sukuna in their heads. They also suddenly understand what Yuuji has been dealing with because Sukuna is... absolutely awful, as we all know. They cope with it in various ways, but yeah it sucks to suddenly have a piece of a mass murdering cannibalistic basically no morals curse's soul residing in you

Yuuji is also devastated, and is honestly kinda angry that they did this. It put their lives at risk. It gave Sukuna access to them. Now they have to suffer like he is, when no one else was ever supposed to go through that. That was the whole point, and now it's Megumi and Nobara going through this

And finally, Sukuna, and the mechanics of this. It's extremely disorienting for him. The division of not just his power, but his consciousness between three bodies is a lot. It's practically impossible (esp towards the beginning) for him to be conscious in more than one body at a time, but even then, he feels... incomplete, stifled, broken. It's infuriating for him. (And, luckily for Nobara and Megumi, is the reason he can't just fully overtake their body's). He also now has to deal with not one, but three teenagers all incredibly annoying in their own ways. He's in hell, basically

Upon realizing what they did, Gojo tries to cover it up with the help of a few others (like Shoko) from the higher ups because he has no doubt that Nobara and Megumi will just end up executed for this. They willingly ate cursed objects, attempted to stop Yuuji's execution, and well... killing them means killing the pieces of Sukuna that have incarnated in them

So not only are the Itafushikugi trio all dealing with suddenly being a piece of Sukuna, and Sukuna is dealing with suddenly essentially having "three bodies" in a way, but they're all playing a VERY dangerous game with jujutsu society as a whole to prevent from being found out

Obviously I've played with a lot of the mechanics here, and the focus is definitely more on character dynamics rather than the plot, but it's an AU I like thinking about, and I do hope to write it out some day!

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your wip folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Tag as many people as you have wips. People send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

ohhhh well this is going to be humiliating 😭

first of all. bold of this meme to think i have one single cohesive WIP folder rather than store random progress files in 7 different subfolders in various locations on my computer, and a handful just on my phone. HOWEVER. lets see how many i can track down tonight. second of all as i have stated before i am a CHRONIC writer-not-a-sharer so uhhhhh some of these are true WIPs i intend to finish Someday, some are truly abandoned, some were just character explorations i never even intended to share/post in the first place really. i truly do this for Me and everyone else is an afterthought for the most part, though once i start posting something I am pretty committed to Getting It Done Eventually now.

third of all i am leaving out any fic where i have the entirety shared somewhere. i don't move those to a new 'finished' folder or anything, they just live in the same place i originally saved them forever alongside the WIPs. I am ALSO leaving out the secondary documents any longer work has, which is usually "[original file name] Notes" because I like to use a split-screen approach with an outline/cut sections/random notes on the right and the working document on the left. Where the writing/notes are in just one same document, it's in the list as named.

Fanfiction:

Ascension

AndersJustice

BadThingsHappen

Coffee date

DeathOfClanLavellan

Fade regret prison

Fallout from the Fade

Fallout from the Fade (Doc2)

futility1

Gifts

Grannyquizition

Hawke hurt/comfort

hawke/lavellan convo

Headstones

lucanis

Lucanis character touchstones

Lucanis Lighthouse

Lucanis/Rook boat scenes

Lucanis/Rook lighthouse romance scene

marked up for the crows

MemoryViewing

MythalSolasBurial

NOTES Blackbirds poem

NOTES random/assorted

prompt starts

RyderXReyes

SAM&Ryder

solas poem series

SolasmancyPoem [note: this is not the same one i mention below/actually shared, its a diff concept i didn't use]

SPITE ROOK X LUCANIS INTERUPTION

sten

TrevXCullen

TruthSpellRewrite

[untitled phone note with a big mix of stuff in it]

Vivienne_preWEWH

aaaaaaand then there's the original writing. i am cutting off anything I did before 2017 because god i don't want to think about it

4

AVeryShortPoem

dragonpoem

Fynding

FEMS microbio flash fiction

i could be a wolf for you

love songs to the desert

methylation

NaNoWriMo2017

NaNoWriMo2018

outsiders

ORACLE

pandiculation

PoemsWorkbook

questionnaire

Two weeks to launch

VAULT

honestly i'm sure there's like 30 more original WIPs but it's 2:30am and i can't keep digging so i'm leaving it at the contents of the 3 folders i found first

and then i am putting this down here not as part of the game, but just because i opened the specific folder (and 2 other subfolders within it) and started laughing at the Mess. although it's "finished"/posted so not technically a WIP, this is all my version control documents for Like Teeth Against His Heart which was part of a collaborative zine. so instead of winging it I had my bff beta for me so kept re-saving new copies... I actually have NO IDEA which of these is the REAL final one anymore to be honest. in case any artists out there wondered if the final_FINAL_real.jpg thing also happens to writing: yes.

SolasPoem

SolasPoemdraft2

SolasPoemdraft2_aligned

SolasPoemdraft2_aligned_pages

SolasPoemdraft2_alignedEdits

SolasPoemdraft2_aligned notes complete

SolasPoemdraft2_alignedEdits2

SolasPoem_Final

Jade_Solasmancy_Final

Jade_Solasmancy_Final+Previews

Jade_Solasmancy_FinalNotes

PROPOSED_EDITS_Jade_Solasmancy_FinalNotes

Jade_Solasmancy_FinalNotes_condensed

PROPOSED_EDITS_Jade_Solasmancy_FinalNotes_condensed

jesus christ. anyway. can you tell i'm unmedicated for adhd. well! onward and tagging a random assortment of folks because i can NOT tag 50+ entire people:

@m-m-m-myysurana @anonymous-inquisitor @thebookworm0001 @pikapeppa @sageadvice @bdafic @fourthage

but consider this an open invitation to anyone to share this & tag me in you result, bc i wanna see what people are up to and need more writing friends <3

and thank you for the initial tag @baejax-the-great!!

[nugatorysheep]

Great question.... hmmmMMM I've got a few things i think.... maybe more than a few.

...

Okay this will be a long one, I hit the image limit. buckle in boys

So, generally the art I'm the most proud of can be split into a few types: Stuff I like because the technical skill or work put into it, stuff I like because I captured a specific mood or energy very well, and stuff I like because of how the characters are drawn aesthetically, like if I could manage it, I would draw them that way consistently

ANYWAY.

Category one, which is prolly what this asker wanted from this ask lmao:

So. First I have this sort of painterly done art of Zach, one of my Pokémon OCs I barely touch. I dont do this style often cause it's a pain in the ass to do and tbh i feel like peaked here and cant really manage it again

Then I have his OC that I haven't touched in a bajillion years and prolly never will touch again. This is ANCIENT but i still like it a lot, and ironically I dont think I could pull this off again 'cause my art style has shifted to be too cartoonish and I couldnt manage realism of this kind without a few months to practice first.

There's this art of Hopeless (AU by @gaudess-schmoddess) that is not at all canon but I dont care because they look great and the mood is immaculate and I will NEVER draw them this good again *dies*

I could draw these three better now, but I still like them as-is.

The one of Sven looking up into Multiverse Pompeii still holds up to me and it's so fucking huge it lagged the shit out of FireAlpaca (the program I was using at the time). And the one guy actually in focus is from the back so it covers up the shittyness of my old style up lol

The other two are very emotional pieces to me and call it a placebo, but I genuinely think i draw better when I'm in the Feelings Sauce. I think about Druid covered in flowers and surrounded by rot more often than I'd like to admit

I'm just proud of the shading on Ponyx here ngl. I complained the whole time but I did have fun doing it! :3

Leo's cover is objectively one of the best things I've done recently, I actually got what I wanted out of it and that's a rarity these days. It was a no-brainer pick for my 2024 Art Summary. The mood, the characters, the background, all of it I feel came out really good

Category two! V I B E S

Art I'm filing under "super simple looking but captures a particular feeling or atmosphere in a way where less is more"

I don't have much of Druid where I feel like I get what i really want out of him (even though i draw him the most)... but this one of him half corrupted, half in light and half in shadow... where the beast is in the light, unobstructed and his humanity is in the dark... This one managed to do it a little.

The second is a character from an AU that I think is dead now but it was... fractured or framed or something with an F idk. Very happy that I visualized a Vibe that I do not actually have words for lol

Then there's Karma and even though the art is based on this post instead of being entirely original i got what i needed out of it. something unholy inside you wants to get out but you can’t let it. Peak Karmacore

SPEAKING OF KARMAAAA

Yeah there's a Feeling here alright. couldnt tell you what but man this image sure is that feeling. Yeah. yeah...

I love the art of the Askbox cover, too bad I fucked up and forgot Leo's whisker markings and didn't know until today FUCK ME I GUESS

Anyway I can't take credit for this composition since it's from some Welcome Home fanart, though the mood in that was slightly different than what I'm going for here, I just knew I wanted a sort of general sleepy vibe. The focus is really supposed to be on Sven here, secretly tired, stressed and over worked while everyone else rests peacefully, oblivious to how much this poor boy is being eaten up from the inside out

Keeping up with Sven being the guy I can Project on the hardest and get the Vibes of the best; The other image has nudity, but that's not the point, the point is the unwilling vulnerability of it, the exposure. Hands all over you, around you, in you, hands that in some way are your own but under the control of something else, a part of you that you buried so deep that you didnt even know it was there until it got dragged out of you

This is a screenshot redraw so prolly not the best example but. This is such a sinister moment and with Sven's cooler-toned lighting it's even more soulless and deadpan. Which works great thematically given his whole logic schtick. This is Sven at his weakest and his worst

Section Threeeee!! AKA I think I drew that guy Well

First things first, gotta put respect on my battle cuts banner. Im glad other people liked this one because the Pokémon version doesn't get nearly as much love whenever I share it haha

Sven seems to be the Guy I'm the best at drawing (surely there isn't any reason for that....) as far as like, what his general Shape is and even though all these are just little colored doodle dumps they're pleasing enough to me that I still use parts of them as icons on various websites. Also the Gaybo hours have arrived lol. I still adore the idea of the shine in Sven's eyes forming a heart when he looks at Sonny and feels something achingly familiar he cant name...

Not much to say about this. I hate my 'real' art style a lot when it comes to trying to draw people but... I dont hate it here. and the butterfly soup I drew on this I havent been able to replicate, but that's what Sven's butterflies look like in my mind.

For some reason FOM keeps eluding me lol i make stuff (written and visual) and like it at the time then hate it a few months later, repeat forever until the heat death of the universe. For now I think this is the best art I've made of them, but that may change in a month. Who knows. Still, they love each other your honor <3

This collection of young Heartbreak doodles were made when i was getting back into SU after the Year of Hell. I tried going back to the drawing board with everything, start from scratch and branch out. i still miss this era in my art, but I havent been able to recapture this look so... fuck me

This comic [link to full thing] is here for a similar reason. I dont usually like how I draw HB (can't seem to get the fucker right no matter what...) but in this comic I like most of what I did. This was made around the same time as the images above so it's hugging the canon SU style very closely and hey, maybe that's what the bastard needs to look his best.

CW for these last two as it gets a bit ~Spicy~.

This is Matriarch AU stuff (owned by @novantinuum). Nothing explicit is shown but i'll at least be transparent with you all about the nature of the AU as a whole even if most of it now is just... Emotional situationship turmoil and pages long character studies pfft

Anyway CW for partial nudity

I dunno what it is but I like this Druid. This is a good looking Druid. Just an old fart cleaning up. Slightly younger, de-aged old fart cause of the AU Lore but still an old fart lol

This image is peak autistic cringe and way more embarrassing than anything else I've ever made. it's got Witherbloom and Astrid stuff and I'll always be a little insecure about it (more so the Dryad/Druid than anything else) LOL but in a way that's why I like it so much

This image is the culmination of several months of deprogramming my brain from online purity culture bullshit and that's why Im proud of it, I'm proud of growing as a person enough to draw things that make me happy. It's dumb and cringe and selfish but I dont care anymore. I make art for myself when it comes down to it. I dont owe anyone shit, especially control over what I make. That's what creation is really about, bringing joy to yourself.

[atefingersdagger]

clato + I wish I could tell you how I really feel

“I wish I could tell you how I really feel.”

Thank you for the ask prompt! (Consider it a late birthday gift <3)

---

“I wish I could tell you how I really feel.”

“Excuse me?”

Her dark hair flips as she turns around, no longer done with their conversation. She is squinting as she meets his face again, except the sun is setting and that can’t be an excuse for it. Their torch is too low in brightness, so her thinned eyelids are fully anger and suspicions.

Except, his face has the usual stone-cold seriousness it’s known for. His traditionally attractive features have been through some shit; blood, dirt, a healed cut from another tribute, and a sting from a muttation that left a swollen, purple welt. Cato, with his hand clutching the hilt of his sword until it’s translucent, is standing there before her, his nose flared.

“The fuck did you just say?” She asks.

“I think you heard me. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be reacting in the way you are.”

She lets out a high-pitched sound of frustration. Idiot, idiot, idiot! He’s such a fucking idiot for pissing her off, his sentence something said under the weight of his breath and that she surely wasn’t supposed to catch. Does he wish to be stabbed?

“What do you mean by that?”

“By what?”

“Don’t play dumb!” Clove yells. Although he technically doesn’t have to play, he just is.

“Ah, you want me to be a smartass now?”

Pulling a pretty, medium-sized knife, she stomps to him, reaching up to press it to his chest. Over his heart. If she puts any more pressure on than she already has, his shirt will rend.

“I’m going to fucking kill you.”

He licks the left corner of his mouth in the most obnoxious way. “You won’t.”

“Do you want me to prove it, Tough Guy? Cause I wouldn’t mind doing so.”

“But you’d never find out how I really feel, and aren’t you just the tiniest bit curious?”

“Not as much as I am murderous.”

“Good rhyming.”

A quick curse slips her lips, and she’s unsure if it’s at him or herself. Both, probably. At this rate, he’s going to kill her by giving her an aneurysm or heart attack.

“What is it?” Clove moves her knife to his throat, tracing his jugular with the flat of it. “Tell me, how do you really feel?”

Cato gives her a sickening smirk, one that he shouldn’t have while she’s this close to slitting his skin open to feel the gush of blood on her hand. And on her face; warm liquid spurting, like how something else of his, from his body, might burst onto her, a white-

“I’m feeling pretty good.”

She growls, giving his own sounds of anger a run for their money. “This is why nobody likes you.”

“You’re so right.”

“Fucking tell me or I will jam this right into her esophagus.”

He leans down, slow and careful to not disturb the blade, shoving his sword into the ground with a distinctive sound of metal splitting dirt. Their love of stainless steel ever present, such as during their heated conversations. She blushes at their closeness, veins widening and her hand growing sweaty on a thick, leather handle.

“Clove,” Cato’s lips barely graze the shell of her ear. “I like-like you.”

At that, she retracts her knife, but pushes him away with her free hand. He is laughing, which figures. The audacity he has to say shit like that and to look awfully good to her right now. She wants to bite his tongue off.

“Shut the fuck up.” Clove fumes.

“I wasn’t finished.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

Neither does she give a shit that she is cursing a bit too much for the nation. Have the censors been able to keep up with her? Will the Gamemakers set off a muttation to kill her in pursuit of keeping language chaste? Because exposed intestines from disemboweling, tributes being pulled apart, or crushed by rocks to the point of compartmental syndrome is completely fine to television. What isn’t, apparently, is a few dirty, adult words.

“That was only half of my answer.” Cato pouts, leaning on his sword. Clove hopes the floor swallows him whole for the offense.

“Cato, you are walking on some very, very thin ice.”

“You don’t want to know anymore?” He raises a bushy, dirty blonde brow. “You want to die without knowing how I really feel? Clove, I’m afraid I have thought wrong.”

“You always think wrong! Be fucking real and stop screwing with me for the cameras!”

“I’m being very real.” He twirls his thick finger around, and she gives it a death stare because she thinks about it inside her. Between her legs. “Those cameras are what makes it difficult to tell you.”

Pointed towards his head, her knife spins, landing into tree bark due to his dodging. Or that perhaps her hand is too shaky to properly aim, and certainly not because she is fascinated by his words, or the lilt of cockiness in his voice. Clove crosses her arms at the situation.

“I meant it.”

Her right eye and her upper lip twitch in agitation. “Huh?”

“I meant what I said.” Cato smiles, surprisingly genuine. A little gentle, even. “And all the things I haven’t.”