#also got some advice which is probably correct but terrifies me

[nikothebookdragon]

well that was a Development that I did not have on my 2024 bingo card

[aihaitahm]

Hiii! What’s your take on headcannons about uh the reader who’s an significant other to the characters: Geoard, Blade and Jing Yun and maybe they like lose control of their powers and maybe how they try and assist you in containing them in the moment or calming you down?

hsr characters react to gn! reader who has uncontrollable powers

im sorry abt this one anon 😿 i wasnt sure abt how to write reader’s abilities.

also blade’s lore still confuses me and his characterization tbh.

characters: gepard, blade, jing yuan

gepard

would be on the look out when you mentioned about your hidden power. heavily protective of you and would prefer you both fought together always. would keep this a secret between you to avoid gossip from silvermane guards.

when it triggers, he would try his best in calming you down by making you look in his gentle eyes or making him listen to his words. he would never want to resort to fighting you. if you somehow just cant snap out of it, he would just hug and hold you tight. that way you know hes right there.

would ask natasha and other doctors about your condition and how to contain it. even better how to make it in a condition where it is controllable and not harmful to yourself.

would reassure you that you are not a monster and that you’re you, the one he loves and cherishes everyday.

blade

he sense your strong energy and aura the first time you both met. tbh thats what intrigued him about you anyway is how come he feels a sense of very powerful aura around you and yet you never mention a thing about it.

when you revealed it to him, he isnt surprised. he himself abandoned his body to become a blade, to possess terrifying power of self-healing which in the process, was probably the most painful thing to get through. to the point he probably got used to it. he eventually knew how to control it and lived with it. (a/n: correct me if im wrong abt this part but blade’s lore still confuses me ++ some of these are plain speculation if he did feel any pain when he abandoned his body!)

during random hours of the day or week, he would give you unwanted advice on how to live with your given powers. he would also make you join him and the stellaron hunters because he believes in your abilities if you havent already.

when you do get out of control, i feel like he’d let you release everything (except when its drastically making you insane/lose health, etc.) until you calm down a bit. he will pat you on the back and would give you treatments that he used to drink or take whenever he felt out of control before.

jing yuan

he knew from the look from your eyes that you have something powerful and absurd hidden. he just couldnt shake it off. kinda like blade except he wouldnt bring it up or question you.

when you revealed your struggle for control over your own powers, he will not be the one to judge. instead, he comforts you and maybe would help you control it by regular training with him. would search for more optimal ways that can help you.

when you get out of control, i feel like he would spar with you (obviously not hurting you) until you get tired. that is when he gently carries your body and take cares of you.

he is very detail-oriented/observant and he knows the symptoms if youre about to lose it. he asks his servants to grab him medicine for you to drink to help it subside and eventually not be as bad. mimi is also there to calm you down. would rub up your legs or arms or lay by your feet.

[lgbtmi]

Ask Me About My Sire Issues is such a good playlist title mmghfhsjdhdhdv. can i ask what songs you have on it?

Why of course you may!!

For further context, the playlist specifically was created after a game in late november, in which Willow did some of the dumbest and most reckless things -- and ultimately ended up in prison with one of her two touch stones. After that game I wrote in character letters to the coterie and two npcs (Willow's grand-sire and the new harpy). Specifically the one to her grand-sire was a lot. The playlist is about that primarily.

Included songs are:

Áine Deane - Hopeless Måneskin - SUPERMODEL Måneskin - THE LONELIEST Paramore - 26 Paramore - Fake Happy Paramore - Forgiveness Paramore - Pool Paramore - Tell Me How Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero (Acoustic Version) Taylor Swift - Willow

In case you want further justification of where the songs come from or why they’re on the list, it’ll be under the cut <3 There’s no order to the list, so I listed them above alphabetically. I just generally always have it on shuffle. 

Áine Deane - Hopeless Very wistful vibes. Originally a love song, but there’s something about the first few lines that fit the correct Vibe and thus it is on here. Heh. Also “I’ll be broken over words you’ve never said” is a bit on the nose, because in the letter to her grand-sire Willow literally rehashed things from a game nine months prior, and like two months prior in game. Babe holds a grudge. Oops.

Måneskin - SUPERMODEL Sometimes a Toreador just gotta Toreador. In addition, Willow grew up in a religious household and briefly was addicted to speed and cocaine upon getting to the Netherlands, so it’s very fitting :3 Also just a fuckin’ banger.

Måneskin - THE LONELIEST Literally the ultimate suicide note song. Tonight really was the loneliest when she got chucked into her silly little prison cell. Until her best friend got dumped there with her in case she got hungry but heY OTHER THAN THAT.

Paramore - 26 Reality will break your heart. Survival will not be the hardest part. It’s keeping all your hopes alive when all the rest of you has died. Enough said I suppose. Like Willow was undertaking a suicide mission, so this checks out.

Paramore - Fake Happy Willow has some ✨issues ✨. She’s been in a steady mental decline since our game on December 28th 2021. We played in person for the first time, the ST organised an Elysium meeting, Willow’s grand-sire (Prince until that point) got booted out of the city and her sire got slain. But Willow is also American. She’s not asking for help, she’s keeping up appearances and pretending everything is fine until there’s no other option. This song has been the Willow-vibe for over a year. Sorry not sorry.

Paramore - Forgiveness Maybe the most ultimate song in which Willow’s bond to her grand-sire gets explored on this list. Basically ater the events of Willow’s sire getting murdered and her grand-sire leaving, she and the ex-sheriff would occasionally contact the coterie. Grand-sire wrote a letter to the coterie Tremere, because of plots hatching and the such. In that letter, the Tremere was told to tell Willow her grand-sire was sorry about what happened to her sire. Which is all fine and good, but it really irked Willow that the apology had to come to her through the Tremere. Like the least the grand-sire could have done was send her a personal message. Her grand-sire probably wants forgiveness, but Willow just can’t do it yet. 

Paramore - Pool Same vibes, really. There’s a lot of emotions there and 100% if vampires breathed, Willow might as well have drowned herself at multiple points. Me? Character issues? Can’t relate /joke.

Paramore - Tell Me How One of the two songs that were mostly on repeat as I was writing the suicide notes to the coterie. When Willow decided she might want to go on her suicide mission, she first called her grand-sire to ask for advice, even if it was absolutely terrifying. Willow is still unsure how to go about the vibes between them, and she’s probably chronically having an absolutely terrible time with it. Like when she was on the phone, the tell me how to feel about you now / let me know / do i suffocate or let go just kinda got too real???

Taylor Swift - Anti-Hero (Acoustic Version) Literally just the first verse. That’s all there is to it. Willow should not be left to her own devices, but since she doesn’t ask for help, that’s where she tends to end up all of the time. Also I really think the line ‘when my depression works the graveyard shift / all of the people / i’ve ghosted stand there in the room’ conveys a lot of correct energy about Willow. At least in her current state. 

Taylor Swift - Willow I’m going to be honest, this song is only on here because I named Willow after it as a joke. Willow was originally a concept for a one-shot and consisted out of “haha prostitute, so I guess toreador is the best clan.” When then tasked to give her a name, I thought Willow was funny because of the line ‘life was a willow and it bent right to your wind.’ 

Sometimes I consider adding more music to it, but the playlist has a vibe that’s just impeccable, so I always end up not doing that... 

I JUST REALLY LOVE THIS SILLY OC SORRY IF THIS IS A LOT OF INFO 

[punchdrunkdoc]

Hi honey how are you? I read your Battinson story and I am completely in love with the way you write. the details, the dialogues, the way you show each character's personality is incredible. I wanted to ask if you have any tips for new writers? English is not my native language and I find it very difficult to write references, information that makes sense (like everyday things that make sense to happen in a city in the United States, medical terms, slang and such) even if I read a little of the comics and the movies deliver some information, when we are going to write our own history it is so difficult to build a universe

Thank you for your lovely comments about Just Breathe, and I'm so glad you liked it!

My imposter syndrome always goes into overdrive whenever I get asked about writing, because I don't really consider myself a proper writer - I just do this for fun and I'm fumbling through the process as best I can.

But here's what I did to get to the point of writing Just Breathe - I hope it helps you in some way:

I started out small.

When I first started writing my own stories (after literally decades of reading other people's fanfic) I started really small. There was no way I could have tackled a 90000 word novel with plot and characters and backstory and all the references you mentioned straight off the bat. So I wrote an 800-word fic which was basically one character's inner thoughts.

No dialogue. No action. No setting the scene. Just thoughts.

In my next fic, I tried some dialogue. And a single setting - nothing complicated that needed research, just a beach.

Then I wrote a story with a couple of scenes, each in a different setting. Nothing complicated, but I got some practice creating locations with words.

And on it went. You can go on AO3 and see the progression - building up to writing Just Breathe was gradual. I challenged myself with each new fic to try something new - plot, fight choreography, creating original characters, etc.

My first attempt at a big sprawling original story with an original character and some world building wasn't all that successful (in terms of reader engagement, but also in how much I was happy with the product). So I tried again with Just Breathe - and I'm really proud of how it turned out.

But I cheated a bit. I'm a pathologist, so I made Beth a pathologist. It was easy to write someone who has a similar job to me. If she was an aerospace engineer, I would have really struggled! But I did what all writers are advised, and which I'll advise you as well - write what you know. Create a character that has your job. Set your story in your home town. Practice with the familiar, before moving on to the unfamiliar.

Which I've done for my latest fic Tabula Rasa. The OFC has a life and job that is VERY different from mine, so its taking a lot more research. A LOT!. I google everything! Probably more than I need to. Things like, what does a beach house in Maine look like; what do you call the metal thing you use in abseiling, what bus routes go through Danbury, Connecticut. I watched you tube videos of MMA fights and Aikido tutorials and tried to describe the movement of their limbs. I looked up chemical names so things sound scientific and correct even when I'm talking pseudoscientific nonsense. I took virtual walkthroughs on google maps to look at buildings in Hell's Kitchen so I could describe them in the fic.

My search history is varied and weird and LONG!

And once this fic is finished, I have my next challenge already lined up (in fact I've already written the first few chapters): It'll be an epic story set partly on a completely fictional planet, where all the world building will be up to me and my imagination.

I'm terrified, but excited!

So in summary (if you're still reading this long ramble!), my 3 pieces of advice are:

Start small, and gradually challenge yourself to go bigger

Write what you know, before moving on to what you don't

Google everything!

[waitingandwishing]

(Cross posted on Wattpad and AO3) ~We were listening to Lovers Rock~

Prev - Next Chapter

Miguel and Trixie walked to the dojo to wait for Johnny, only to notice they weren't the only ones waiting. They exchanged glances as 20 or so kids were standing around, watching the fight between Trixie, Miguel, and Kyler on their phones, talking excitedly about it.

“Well, looks like we’re actual badasses now, huh?” Trixie nudged Miguel and he nodded.

“We’ve gone viral.” He grinned. “Sensei’s gonna love this.”

Speaking of Johnny, his car had just pulled up to the dojo and parked. He got out and stopped when he noticed all the kids standing outside the building. He approached Trixie and Miguel with a grin of his own. 

"Looks like we're in business," Johnny stated. Johnny unlocked the door and let the kids in with him.

Miguel, Trixie, and Aisha going to the bathrooms to change into their gis. Once the three teens were done, they went back to the group of kids and waited for Johnny.

"Ok, today we begin.." His voice was drowned out by the chatter. "Quiet!" Everybody stopped what they were doing and looked at him. "Face front." He instructed.

Trixie, Aisha, and Miguel stuck next to each other while everyone turned to face Johnny, some kids looking terrified.

 Johnny stalked forwards, his eyes darting around each kid, examining them. "Nice shirt." He said to Demetri as he walked by. 

"Thanks," Demetri replied, taken aback. 

"I'm joking. It sucks." 

Trixie resisted rolling her eyes at him as Johnny kept examining people. He stopped in front of one kid with long hair and glasses who was smiling at him. "Word of advice. If you have shit for teeth, don't smile." He mocked, making the kids smile drop. He walked up to a short pale kid and scoffed. "God, makes me feel like a virgin just looking at you." 

"When I look around this dojo, I don't see Cobra Kai material. I see losers, I see nerds. I see a fat kid with a funny hat with his tits popping out. But in my short time as a sensei, I've also seen some miracles." Johnny said as he glanced over at Trixie, Miguel, and Aisha who all smiled warmly at him. "So," He continued, "Maybe there's some hope for you yet. But first, I need to see where you're at. So everybody, fall in." 

The kids looked around confused. "That means line up," Johnny stated, his tone clipped. It was evident he was starting to get annoyed. The kids all shrugged and started walking over to stand behind Trixie, Aisha and Miguel. "No, not...not line up in a line. Lines! Get in lines!" He yelled, exasperated. 

"You mean like rows?" Demetri asked. Johnny dropped his head into his hands in annoyance. Once everyone was finally sorted into their rows, it was now time to practice.

 "Fighting positions. Jab punch! Nope, wait till I say go." Johnny instructed. "Hiya!" The kids punched. He kept yelling, walking up and down the rows, criticizing the students. Trixie knew he was trying to help but these kids probably thought he was just being an ass. Which he was.

 "Hey, Lip," Johnny called, staring at Eli. Eli stared blankly at him. "Yeah, you. the one with the freaky lip. Who do you think I'm talking to?" He mocked. 

Eli looked down in embarrassment, making Trixie feel bad. "Excuse me, uh, Mr. Lawrence." Demetri piped up.

 "Sensei Lawrence!" Aisha corrected. 

Demetri chuckled. "Ok. You really shouldn't make fun of someone's physical appearance." 

Johnny looked at him, amused. "Oh is that so? So I'm not supposed to mention his lip at all?" Johnny mocked.

 "Well, yeah," Demetri replied like it was obvious.

 "Maybe that's what they teach you in school, but in the real world, you can't expect people to do what they're supposed to do. You hear that, Lip? If you can't handle someone making fun of you, how are you gonna handle an elbow to the teeth."

 "By calling the police," Demetri said somewhat condescendingly. Trixie thought about it before slightly nodding, he was sort of right.

"What? He does realize the Nazis lost the war, right? Why should I be scared of him? Because he's got a snake on his wall? It's not like he's a teacher who can give us a bad grade. We're paying him. He works for us. It's not like he can actually hurt us." Demetri rambled, a smug look on his face.

Johnny slowly moved forward, his eyes never leaving Demetri. "Oh shit," Miguel muttered, closing his eyes. The kids around Demetri moved away as Johnny stopped in front of him. "Are you done?" Johnny asked, annoyed. 

"What?" Demetri replied nervously. 

"Hit me. Go ahead, hit me. Strike me right here." Johnny instructed, pointing to his nose. Demetri rolled his eyes and got into his fighting stance. He slowly threw a punch, making Johnny hit it away.  "Harder," Johnny demanded. Demetri huffed and threw another punch, making Johnny slap his arm harder. "Is that all you got, princess?" Johnny ridiculed. 

Demetri sighed angrily before throwing another punch. Johnny grabbed his arm and flipped him over, making him land on his back. The students gasped as Johnny threw a punch, stopping only centimeters away from Demetri's face. "Let that be a lesson to all of you. " Johnny threatened, looking around the room. The kids all nodded frantically, signaling they understood. 

The lesson ended shortly after that, with most of the kids scrambling as fast as they could out of the building. Johnny really did teach them a lesson. Trixie and Miguel were the last ones in the dojo as they waited for Johnny. "How did I do?" Johnny asked, walking out of his office after changing out of his gi.

 "You might've been a little harsh," Miguel said sarcastically. "Hey, those kids need to know what it's really like out there."  Johnny scoffed. 

"Reminds me of my parents." Trixie joked. Miguel snuck a confused glance at her before turning his attention back to Johnny. “Either way, it might be funny, but feeding on the weak is a pussy move, sensei.” She smirked, crossing her arms smugly. 

Miguel snorted while Johnny rolled his eyes. "You're not as funny as you think you are." 

"I’m hilarious.” Trixie smiled.

_____________________________________________________

Demetri quit Cobra Kai the next day, mentioning something about prostitution. “Why should I learn when I have you two?" Demetri asked as the three of them walked to science class. They came across Kyler who looked at them scared before scurrying away. Trixie chuckled at his scared expression.

The three walked into the class and took their seats, waiting for the class to start. Sam walked in and people immediately started laughing and pointing at her. Sam looked around confused until Trixie pointed to her shoulder. Sam looked down to see a lollipop stuck to it. "Thanks for the Blow Pop, guys, Really never gets old." She said sarcastically, ripping it off.

 "It's because she gives blow jobs," Demetri said, nudging Miguel. Trixie and Miguel looked at Demetri unamused.

 "It's just a rumor." Trixie defended. “She doesn’t deserve anything like this. Spreading rumors about someone doing something like that is horrible.” She crossed her arms. Sam was her close friend and Trixie will be damned if people think it's ok to mess with her. 

Demetri, noticing the glare on her face, shrunk into his seat. "Hey, everybody. Who let the pigs out? I did because I ordered the fetal pigs." The teacher joked, chuckling at his own statement. No one laughed and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Get in your groups." 

"Mr. Palmer, my partner isn't here." Sam stated, walking up to the teacher. 

"Who wants to take Samantha in? This little piggy needs a group." He joked. No one answered. "Don't all volunteer at once."

 "We can take her," Trixie said, raising her hand. Sam smiled over and quickly grabbed her bag. She walked over to them, accidentally bumping into Demetri, and put her bag down next to Trixie, who was sitting next to Miguel. 

"Thanks, Trixie. I'm gonna go get a chair." She stated with a smile. "Yeah," Miguel replied, staring at her dreamily. After everyone had got the supplies they needed and got their gloves on, the four of them started cutting open the pig. 

They mostly worked in silence, none of them really knowing what to say. "What were you thinking for sex?" Sam asked, staring at Miguel.

 "Uh... Uh... I've... Uh." Miguel stammered. 

"Because in the male, this tract opens up near the umbilical cord. So I think ours is a female." Sam explained, pointing to the diagram they were using. 

"Yeah um. Yeah, I concur." Miguel replied awkwardly. 

"Pretty and smart? Is there anything you can't do?" Trixie teased, nudging Sam. Sam giggled, making Miguel stare at her in a daze. The group fell into silence again before Sam spoke up. 

"Thanks for, um… Helping me out, by the way." 

“I mean I'm sure you would've found another group," Miguel said. 

"I meant with the fight." Sam clarified. She was talking to both Trixie and Miguel, but her eyes were only on Miguel. 

"Oh. Yeah, someone had to take care of those assholes." Miguel said, a hint of cockiness in his voice. 

"But no one else did." The two stared at each other, making Trixie feel awkward since she was in the middle of them. She cleared her throat, making the two turn away. 

Sam reached over into her backpack and pulled out a bunch of bananas. "Do you guys want a banana? People keep sneaking them in my bag. It's because of that stupid rumor that I'm sure you have heard about me." Sam said, placing the bananas down.

 "Yes." "No." Miguel and Demitri said at the same time. "Stupid rumors. Hurtful lies. People are monsters." Demetri played off. 

“If I were you, I would’ve said he had a small di-”

"You shouldn't listen to them, they're assholes. I mean they call me 'Rhea..." Miguel interrupted the girl and she felt a pang of…

"Not anymore." Sam pointed out, cutting him off. 

"Yeah, you're right. Not anymore." Miguel realized. The two stared at each other again, both of them having a dreamy look in their eyes.

Trixie crossed her legs and arms, playing with the ends of her hair with a clenched jaw as she faded away from the two’s conversation. The sudden stillness caused Demetri to notice and frown.

He shot the girl a look that said ‘You look like you’re about to murder someone’ and she faked a smile, indicating she was alright, before going back to zoning out onto the tiled ground of the school floor.

_____________________________________________________

“Hey, can we hang out tonight?” Miguel asked and Trixie shook her head with a tight smile.

“Sorry we can’t. I’ve gotta go to Larusso Auto and pick up my brother’s car.” She said vaguely before getting on her bike, “See you at karate.” She said before riding away.

God, she felt like an idiot. What was she doing? Pushing Miguel away just because she liked him and he liked someone else? She was being a drama queen and just because he didn’t like her didn’t mean she should stop being friends with him!

‘You’re a horrible person. He’s just your friend and there’s nothing else more. Your feelings don’t need to affect your friendship.’ Trixie thought. ‘Your feelings don’t matter. You’d be betraying Sam and knowing that she likes him is even worse. You told Sam you didn’t like him so she’s probably shooting her shot after Kyler.’

She almost bashed her head on the street before getting to Larusso Auto and exiting with a sigh. Trixie ran a hand through her hair before entering the building.

“Hello, welcome to Larusso. How may I help you?” A kind woman at the receptionist desk asked.

“I’m here to pick up a car.” She said, handing the woman a folded piece of paper with a smile. The woman overlooked the sheet of paper before nodding.

“Well, it’s already ready for you, it’ll just be a moment.” The woman said and Trixie nodded as she went to the back. 

Trixie wandered around, looking at the array of cars in the shop before bumping into someone. “Oh! Sorry.” She smiled and looked to see a pair of green eyes staring back at her.

The boy had medium-length brown hair that fell slightly past his ears. He wore a light blue hoodie. “No, no. It’s my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” He said before holding out his hand with a smile, “I’m Robby Keene.”

“Nice to meet you Robby.” Trixie shook his hand, “I’m Beatrix, you can call me Bea or Trixie. Whichever is easiest.” She smiled.

“Nice to meet you too… Bea.” Robby hesitated trying out her nickname and Trixie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before letting go of his hand.

“You seem familiar, do I know you?” Trixie asked and Robby shrugged.

“Sometimes I’m told I look like Willy Wonka.” Robby shrugged and Trixie chuckled, squinting her eyes to get a better look at him.

“Yeah, y’know I kinda see it.” Trixie smirked and Robby rolled his eyes. “But you’re more of an Oompa Loompa than anything.”

“Ouch, that’s a first.” Robby said, “Is it because you’re taller than me?”

“How tall are you exactly?” She asked and Robby shrugged once again with a smile.

“Probably around 5’6.” 

“Yeah, I’m definitely taller than you.” Trixie said before getting tapped on the shoulder.

“Your car is ready for you, miss.” The secretary woman said and Trixie nodded before turning back to Robby.

“Hey, could I get your number? You seem pretty cool.” Trixie smiled and Robby nodded. 

“Well, how could I decline from a girl as pretty as you?” Robby smirked and Trixie rolled her eyes with a smile. After they exchanged numbers, Trixie put her bike in the back of her brother’s car before driving off.

She had a good feeling about that Robby kid. He seemed pretty chill and could be a good friend. At least, she hoped he’d be a good friend. 

_____________________________________________________

"OK everybody fall in," Johnny instructed, walking into the room. His eyes scanned the group, noticing the lower number of students. "Where is everyone? Crater face? Nose ring? Slingshot?" He asked, looking around the room. 

"They quit, Sensei," Miguel answered, shuffling his feet. Of course, Trixie liked Johnny, but she had to admit that she was being unnecessarily rude to the kids. 

"Are you serious?" Johnny asked, somewhat upset. "I mean, good. That was a test. I wanted to see who the quitters are. Not you guys. You're in it to win it, right? You could be at home playing your iComputers, playing your video games, eating candy. Instead, you're here, doing pushups, learning how to fight." Johnny looked over at Eli and pointed at him. "Lip. Look. Even Lip's tougher than those guys. He's no quitter." 

"Could you please not call me that?" Eli asked, embarrassed.

 "Excuse me, what?" Johnny questioned. No one ever talked back to him.

"I said, could you please not call me that," Eli repeated. 

 "Sorry, speak up, Lip. Or is your tongue messed up too? Are you one of those challenged kids?" 

"Um, the doctor said I could be on the spectrum." 

"I don't know what that is, but get off of it pronto, all right? If you don't want me to call you Lip, don't have a weird lip. Can't you get surgery for that?" 

"I was born with a cleft lip. This is the scar from the surgery."

 "You mean it was worse before that? Or did the doctor just screw up? Because if this is the after photo, that sucks, man. You should sue." 

"Can we just please change the topic?"

 "You don't think I want to? It's tough when it's right in front of me. If you wanna be something other than a nerd with a scar on his lip, you gotta flip the script. OK? Get a face tattoo or gouge your eye out. We'll call you Patch, all right? No, don't do that one. You'll still look like a freak."

 Eli looked around in embarrassment, his eyes glassy. He stormed off the mat and out the back. "Oh great, really? Another quitter?" Johnny scoffed. 

Once class was over and all the kids left, Trixie and Miguel knocked on Johnny's door to his office. "Go away. No more lessons today." He said, opening up a beer. Trixie and Miguel ignored him and walked further into the room. 

"I don’t think you should be so hard on them…" Trixie said quietly, crossing her arms with a frown.

 "Oh come on you two. They're a bunch of losers." Johnny replied, rolling his eyes. 

"Yeah well, some of those losers are our friends," Miguel stated. 

"Yeah that tracks."

 "And they're your students. Didn’t you want a full dojo?" Trixie asked with a frown.

"Not full like that," Johnny said, leaning back and taking a sip of beer. 

"Yeah, we get it, all right? They're losers. Maybe I am a loser too." Miguel said, his shoulders slumping. 

"Are you kidding me? Are you guys gonna cry now too?" Johnny mocked.

 "No, it… Never mind. It's just... You don't' know what it's like to be us. I'll see you tomorrow." Miguel rambled before storming out of the room.

 "He just needs to cool off," Trixie stated, noticing the distressed look on Johnny's face before her phone went off, “That’s probably my brother, I’ve gotta go too.”

She exited the dojo, out of her gi into her regular clothes as she whipped out her phone to see… Robby?

Willy Wonka🍫: Hey this is bea right

Hey Willy Wonka

Willy Wonka🍫: Im regretting telling you that now My feelings are hurt 😕

Aw poor baby Anyways, thanks for texting me back I might’ve forgotten to text you back if you didn’t

Willy Wonka🍫: Yeah it’s cool Could you send me a picture so i could put it as your profile?

Yeah here 1 image attached

Willy Wonka🍫: Thanks Here 1 image attached Youre prettier in person btw

Thanks 😅

Trixie’s head almost busted at the comment as she entered her brother’s car. She got another text from Patrick before setting her phone down and driving back to her place. Yeah, Robby seemed… Cool.

[1kook]

do u accept fantasy requests? I want a werewolf one like jungkook realizing oc (who is human) is his mate or something like that

it turned out to be more a soulmate au w/o heavy emphasize on the werewolf sorry 😭 anyway the au where: your soulmate smells like your favorite food and jungkook is too dumb to make the connection

At twenty-five, Jungkook becomes part of that embarrassingly small percentage of werewolves who are yet to meet their soulmates. Within that small percentage, there is a huge possibility of him being born without one, a thought that both terrifies him as much as it angers him. After all, what had Jungkook done to deserve this? He likes to think he’s a rather model werewolf citizen— he works a job, attends all his pack meetings, pays his taxes, takes his heat suppressants. He never went through that weird biting phase as a kid, which not many werewolves can say the same, making him about ten times more civilized than them. All in all, Jungkook had done nothing wrong.

You say it’ll probably happen soon. “Maybe this year!” you suggest excitedly, handing him a slice of chocolate fudge brownie. It’s your staple comfort dessert, one you make every time either one of you is feeling down, and maybe that’s why the scent clings to your presence no matter where you go. One time, during a camping trip deep in the mountains, Jungkook swears the scent had drifted out of your tent and into his. It’s a rather pleasant scent, one that he finds himself longing for in times of distress.

Were chocolate fudge brownies his favorite because they smelled like you, or where you his favorite because you smelled like chocolate fudge brownies? Either way, it’s Jungkook’s favorite dessert, and you are also his favorite person.

That being said, favorite or not, Jungkook is certain you’re wrong. After all, you’re a human. You could never understand the crushing humiliation that came with being soulmate-less at twenty-five. All you had to do was look someone in the eye and fall in love, your choices practically endless. You wouldn’t get it. You could have anyone you wanted. Meanwhile, Jungkook was stuck with whoever he got, even if that person wasn’t who he wanted.

(Who exactly did he want? He’s unsure of it himself. For now, he’s content with the sugary sweet scent that assaults his nose.)

Anyway, you leave after delivering your regularly schedule comfort speech, engulfing him in your arms and the smell of chocolate fudge brownies once more at the door. Jungkook sulks, gobbles up the rest of the tray of brownies, and promptly heads to sleep.

The next day he decides to swing by Taehyung’s house. A mutual friend of yours and a fellow wolf only slightly older than Jungkook, he’s hoping maybe he’ll offer some worthwhile advice. The door swings open and before Jungkook can even greet the man, he’s attacked by the overwhelming yet heavenly scent of chocolate fudge brownies once more. “You making brownies?” he asks, letting himself in.

Taehyung’s brows furrow together. “What?” he asks, following behind him as Jungkook makes a beeline for the kitchen.

The counters are spotless, free of any baking equipment, and Jungkook can’t ever recall Taehyung being so neat. Still, he chances a peek at the oven. “Where are the brownies?” he frowns.

“What brownies?” Taehyung retorts, cracking the fridge open for two beers, handing one off to Jungkook. “You know I don’t bake.”

The frown on Jungkook’s features deepens. “Really? It smells like brownies in here,” he says. And then, as if he’s being punked, carefully attempts another glance at the oven.

“No brownies,” Taehyung sighs. “I didn’t even know you liked brownies.”

“They’re my favorite,” he offers, not that Taehyung will particularly file that information away. With a sigh, Jungkook eventually gives it up, joining his friend at the kitchen island. “I swear it smelled like brownies,” he mumbles, chalking it up to his faulty sense of smell. Was this part of his curse? First no soulmate, now a bad nose? Oh, man. “Like the ones __ always makes.”

At that, Taehyung shrugs. “Well, __ did drop by earlier. Didn’t bring any brownies, though.”

“Well, she always does smell like brownies,” he mutters.

Taehyung pauses, gives him this weird look that makes Jungkook squirm in his seat. “What?” he asks, setting his beer on the countertop. “No, she doesn’t.”

It’s Jungkook’s turn to level him with an unimpressed stare. “__ always smells like brownies,” he argues, slightly concerned how Taehyung, a fellow wolf with heightened senses, could ever miss such a fact.

At his claim, Taehyung drags a hand over his face. “Okay, let me get this straight,” he begins slowly. “Your favorite food is chocolate fudge brownies, correct?” Jungkook nods. “And __ always smells like them?” Another nod. Taehyung sighs, levels Jungkook with a look that is just begging him to put two and two together.

It takes a second.

“Oh,” Jungkook says.

And then, “oh.”

[viltrumitesuperboy]

Treat Them Right (Peter Parker x Male Reader)

Last second decision cause it’s Valentine’s Day. Also it’s short but that’s not my problem lmao

Requested by: @iliumheightnights​ Can you please write a peter parker x male reader where peter keeps getting distracted thinking of a date and the avengers think it's a girl so they give him all of these tips on how to "treat a lady right" but then his boyfriend shows up. 

Word count: 1195

CW: mentions of reader as female

Any day Peter went to the tower, he was prepared for everything that could possibly go wrong. His table would explode, a supervillain would crash through the window, everything he worked on was deleted from his computer.

The worst one was when anyone he knew came to embarrass him in front of other people.

It was rarely a problem because he had little contact with other people when he was working. If he was going into another lab, he didn't worry so much that anything would go wrong because talking to other people kept him distracted from that worry. But someone embarrassing him in front of an Avenger? He might as well just die on the spot.

A week ago, his boyfriend had mentioned that it was going to be their one year anniversary since their first date. He was zoning out for parts of the day, both stressing over how he ever found someone so amazing and what he'd have to do to avoid disaster.

"Peter! Come here. I want you to meet someone."

He turned away from the scientists currently working on a project to see his mentor.

"Mr. Stark! Uh, I'm just finishing up here," he said.

"No worries. Come in, Bruce. No one's bite is worse than yours, I promise."

There was a quiet muttered complaint, and Peter turned back to the table to work on the hologram.

"Radiation is still dangerous, even as a source of energy. It might give the Hulk his powers, and probably Spider-Man — not that I would know, I've never met him. I mean, I could! Anyway, it doesn't mean it's not still dangerous. So keep that in mind when you're working with this stuff."

He made a vague hand gesture waving at the hologram that he definitely did not learn from Tony. Just as he started to head for the door, he was stopped by a voice.

"Hey, these are my papers! That's great. There's a section over here you might want to take a look at."

Peter then saw Bruce Banner swiping through a pdf that was on one of the holograms. He smiled up at Peter.

"Peter! I can't believe we haven't met yet. You're doing great work here," Dr. Bruce Banner, world-renowned scientist and former refugee, said to Peter Parker, skinny nerd still in school.

"Uh. Thank... you..." Peter responded, a little starstruck.

Even after meeting Avengers personally, it was still a surprise to see them. The world made them seem untouchable, but Peter knew they weren't. Seeing any of them in person was like a fever dream.

"Kid, this is Bruce. Bruce, Pete. We have somewhere to go," Tony said suddenly.

"Oh, okay. Bye!" Peter managed to say before he was swept out of the room.

When they got in the elevator, Tony finally spoke.

"So, Peter! I heard something very important came up and you are gonna need to have a talking to."

"I'm gonna what?!" Peter squeaked.

Then he was in the sitting room. It was usually the most comfortable place on the tower's "Avengers" floors. Now it was the most terrifying situation he'd ever been in.

Every single Avenger (minus Tony) and friends were sitting in a semicircle around Peter. They all stared at him in silence. His eyes were wide open as he stared right back.

"Am I being inducted into a cult?" he whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You have an anniversary coming up," Natasha said from her standing position as she crossed her arms. "A year is very important, Peter."

"You need to plan this properly," Rhodes said.

"And if she's not happy with what you plan, expect us to be ten times as unhappy," Clint added.

Peter opened his mouth to correct him, but Steve cut him off.

"You know, I might have been born a while ago, but most important things you need to know are going to be from us. If you don't treat her right, she'd be the least of your worries," he said.

He glanced at Bucky, who was cracking his neck. His face said "murder." Peter shrunk in on himself.

"Where's Mr. Stark?" he asked.

"He's in a meeting," Natasha said.

"Okay," he meekly responded.

Thor shuffled in his comfortable seat on the sofa.

"My people treat their romantic partners as their equals. If one is too slow in courting a partner, their relatives will find it suspicious and will seek blood. But I'm sure that's not the case," the god said with a reassuring smile.

It was not reassuring.

"I don't want to inconvenience you or anything, but I don't know why I'm here. I thought I was just supposed to work on something with Tony," Bruce said.

"Banner," Natasha snapped. "Give him some advice and then you can leave."

"Uh, I don't know, flowers? Girls like that, right? Look, I'm busy. It was nice to meet you, Peter. I hope we get to work on something together."

He walked away. Dr. Bruce Banner, world-renowned scientist, just told Peter that he wanted to work with him. For science stuff.

This was the best and worst day of his life.

"Okay, if you're going to a restaurant or anywhere that requires sitting at a table, you pull the chair out for her. And you make sure you check in, make sure she's comfortable," Sam said from his spot.

"You gotta make her feel like she's the only girl for you. And there's nothing better than personally bringing her somewhere that would mean a lot to the both of you," Bucky said.

"If your partner slaps you in the face, you think hard about what you did wrong," Thor absentmindedly mumbled, playing with some gadget he found on the coffee table.

"From what I've seen with Pepper and Tony, just don't be stupid. Be on time and make sure you do nice things for her," Rhodes said.

"I'd like to inform you that someone is coming up," FRIDAY chirped from the ceiling.

"Who?" Natasha snapped.

They all turned to see the private elevator open to reveal a boy. They readied their weapons, though Thor didn't seem too bothered. He swung the hammer around lazily.

"Uh... am I interrupting something?" you asked.

"Who are you? How did you get up here?" Rhodes demanded.

"I'm... here for Peter. Hey, you aren't, like, inducting him into a cult or anything, right?" you said.

"That's what I said!" Peter exclaimed.

He rushed away from the group into your arms, nearly toppling the both of you over. You held out a single flower, which he huffed and blushed at.

"Avengers, this is my boyfriend," Peter announced.

"That's unexpected," Steve said.

"I was saying 'partner' the whole time," Thor said. "None of you caught on."

"Are you ready, Peter? We've got somewhere to be," you said.

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Peter automatically responded.

"Dude, if you do Spongebob in front of me one more time, I will take the flower."

"No!"

The elevator doors closed behind the both of you, leaving the Avengers to discuss the events themselves.

"I'm here," Tony said, entering the room with Pepper and Bruce. "Did I miss anything?"

[renaerys]

Okay I've got one: Prompt 15 with Reds. 🤣🤣🤣

15. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying, I just keep thinking about how good that mouth feels.”

Somehow they can make even breathing a competition.

Send me a prompt and some characters! Reminder that the challenge is to make everything SFW, so we're getting creative here.

List of prompts

xxx

“So, we’ve called the paramedics and they’re on their way, but until they arrive it’s up to us. Remember the acronym, kids: C-A-B. What’s the first thing you do?”

Aiyeesha Simpson, a gunner in the making destined for academic greatness and social ruin, raised her eager hand. “Find a flat surface to lay him down!”

“Correct.” Blossom took Brick by the shoulders and shoved him down to the floor. A gaggle of Girl Scouts gathered around him as he wheezed for air.

“Ow,” he said.

Blossom patted his chest. “Please choke more quietly.”

I will end you, he thought so loudly he hoped she could hear him through the murder in his eyes. There was community service, and then there was cruel and unusual punishment. When his required hours were up and his record expunged, he was going to write a very negative Yelp review of the local Townsville Girls Scouts of America chapter and tank this year’s cookie sales. Supremely annoying, outrageously petty, and totally legal. That would teach Blossom for sure.

“Place your hands here between the nipples.”

Some of the Cadette Girl Scouts giggled. To be fair, Blossom of all people saying the word nipples in reference to her former mortal enemy as she trained a room full of twelve-year-old girls in CPR using him as the dummy was a perfect storm of absurd and kinky that he did not see coming. And now he was giggling himself, because he was a teenaged boy who thought the word nipples was funny regardless of the very clear contextual cues, and that pubescent shame was on him, one hundred percent.

Blossom, an ancient and inconveniently attractive evil resurrected in a lab for the sole purpose of making his life miserable, did not appreciate his amusement. “Push hard at a rate of 100 to 120 compressions per minute. Remember to put your bodyweight behind it, like this.”

Brick flexed, and Blossom pushed against his heart like she was trying to crush it in her hands. Once, twice, three times she administered compressions, and Brick’s eyes glowed red with impotent rage.

“Assist Blossom with her CPR lessons to her satisfaction, and we can forget this ever happened,” Mayor Bellum had promised Brick when he lost his temper and blew up an (empty) ambulance. Butch didn’t need his Super stomach pumped no matter how much he drank, so the ambulance and the four-figure bill that came with it were completely unnecessary. This defense did not convince the mayor, however.

The promise of the bill forgiven and his record cleared—and the deterrence of Aiyeesha Simpson filming the whole thing to upload to YouTube later—gave Brick the strength not to eye beam Blossom in front of the children.

“Okay, who wants to try chest compressions on the dummy?” Blossom offered to the girls.

You evil bitch, thought the aforementioned dummy.

After the third little girl properly placed her sticky, little girl hands between his nipples, Brick had had enough. “Hey, I’m still dying over here. Can we move on already? Jesus Christ.”

“Of course.” Blossom smiled, and she had never looked more terrifying.

Brick hoped Butch was suffering. He hoped he was hung over so bad he couldn’t piss standing up. He hoped Butch tried going online only to find that Brick had disconnected the Internet and cut him off from all his online games and porn because fuck Butch and his weak-ass stomach.

“Who knows what the next step is? Maybe someone other than Aiyeesha this time?”

None of the other girls seemed willing to stick their hands up. The carpet under Brick had scorched where his power leaked out in his building resentment for this entire situation. The smell of burned polyester just made him feel even more powerless to stop this.

“No? Okay, well, remember the acronym. A is for airway. You want to be careful about a possible neck injury, so gently lift the chin…”

Blossom’s hands were not sticky like the Girl Scouts’ hands, but they were cold where they touched his skin and forced his head back.

“Are the paramedics here yet?”

Brick got a tight fist in his short hair for that one, and he considered it a small victory. “No. Something about a shortage of ambulances, apparently.”

Biiiiiiiitch.

God, he was going to destroy her so bad.

“Once you’ve cleared the airway and confirmed there are no obstructions—”

“Then you kiss!”

Some girls picked up the giggling again. Blossom, ever the professional, cleared her throat. “Mouth to mouth is a life-saving procedure and not something I’d recommend doing to someone you plan to kiss.”

Wow, great advice.

Some girls still giggled and whispered to each other. Brick had a sinking feeling that this was only going to end with his embarrassment: everyone knew that the cold judgment of pre-pubescent girls was the absolute worst type of judgment a person could suffer.

“Are you gonna show us?”

“Well, I don’t think I need to show you all how to breathe—”

“It’s in the manual! You have to demonstrate every step.” Aiyeesha waved the CPR manual, and Brick realized his misjudgment. She was no vapid goody two-shoes in the making, but a future Honors Student with a secret, a Work Hard Party Harder, an Ivy League Early Decision candidate with all of senior spring semester to slack off because no one was ever going to touch her 4.3 GPA.

Aiyeesha beamed a winning smile at Brick, and it was as chilling as Blossom’s.

Jesus Christ, there are two of them.

True to form, Blossom had never been able to defy a good instructions manual. “I suppose if it says so in the manual…”

Locking lips with Blossom was not a big deal. He’d done it before when they were kids, and he could appreciate the irony of a gesture meant to save his life this time rather than end it. She didn’t even try to mess with him by using her ice breath, just went through the motions as described in the instructions. The girls were disappointed with the lack of hormonal fanfare of it all, which was probably for the best. Leave it to Blossom to make mouth to mouth the sexless, medical act it was literally intended to be. He was almost upset, because it felt like she’d won something here, which could only mean he’d lost.

Disappointed but more educated than they’d been when they’d arrived two hours ago, the Girl Scouts dispersed after the lesson, leaving Blossom and Brick to put away the equipment they’d used.

She held a dummy torso, and she was looking at him with that pinched, constipated look she got when she was about to say something especially snobby. Instead, she surprised him. “Brick, thanks for being mature about it. I can honestly say you surprised me.”

He stared at her.

“I’ll talk to Mayor Bellum. I’m sure you’ve done enough to meet your hours quota.”

He had not fulfilled even half of his required community service hours and they both knew it.

“So yeah, thanks. I can finish up here if you want to leave.”

Was she trying to get rid of him? Why?

“Brick? Why are you looking at me like that?”

When Blossom was winning, he was losing. That was simply the way of the world. So, if she was losing, it could only mean he was winning.

“Are you listening to me?”

Brick smiled in what he hoped was a cool, sexy way if he imagined looking at anyone but Blossom. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I just keep thinking about how good that mouth feels.”

Blossom stared. “I’m sorry?”

He would make her sorry.

“Yeah, you’re a great teacher. I could really feel your passion for demonstrating the lesson correctly. With your mouth.”

Her staring intensified. “Did you.”

“Oh, yeah.” He leaned his hip against the table like he’d seen in the movies. It worked for Daniel Craig in Casino Royale, and that guy had convinced Eva Green. Iconic. “I could really feel you trying to save me.”

Where was Aiyeesha with her phone to film this? There was so little he could do to rattle Blossom as they got older, and while the challenge delighted him, it was also exhausting being constantly a step behind her. Was this truly her demise? Had he won the Teenage Experience? Was this poetic justice for how she’d once killed him with a mere kiss, only to suffer the same fate in turn? He could have cackled. This was better than trolling the Girl Scouts of America reviews, although he might still do that because it was a genius idea and he had always indulged his own genius ideas when they came to him.

So infatuated was he with his own self-fellating digression that he was slow to react to Blossom sidling up to him. Her hand was still cold on his chin, and it sent a shiver down his spine. “Shall I save you again?”

Brick’s dignity drained with his blood, which was an unfortunate side-effect of being a teenaged boy that he would just have to suffer. But winning was about recognizing one’s weaknesses and working around them. He leaned into her personal space. “Please.”

He wasn’t sure who kissed who first, but it was happening and all he could think was I am better at this than you and I hate you and also Do that again. He tried holding her waist, and she fought back with her fingers in his hair. Not one to be deterred, Brick tried some tongue but pulled back when he tasted thirty degrees below zero. He immediately went back in because he could feel her superiority, her Got you, you horny idiot, but the joke was on her because he liked her cold, always had when it was hot as balls out and he’d make up any excuse to pick a fight with her just for the chance to cool off.

The Girl Scout troop leader walked in on them competitively making out in the classroom like it was an Olympic sport and put an end to things, leaving them at a frustrating draw for now. They said barely a word to each other when Brick glared at the troop leader so bad she flustered and didn’t even question them before running out of there with some excuse about getting the wrong room.

Later that evening, Brick caved and changed the Internet password back just so Butch would quit whining at him. He Googled kissing techniques and spent the next hour and a half watching YouTube videos and reading GQ articles about How to Please Her Like a Champion, because he was a champion and a winner and he was not going to lose to Blossom in this. Not a chance.

This had to be what they meant when they said kill with kindness.

“I’m going to end you,” he muttered to himself as he read about the top ten highest voted movie kissing scenes, which he would then stream and commit to memory in order to be fully armed and armored for the next time he encountered Blossom alone in a classroom. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe during their shared free period.

Truly, he had the most genius ideas.

xxx

If you enjoy my writing, check out more of my fics on AO3, link in my profile. I’m currently updating Trinity House and The Alchemy of Us. Thanks for reading!

[ftm-radio]

Hey Jack, I’ve got an issue. I love my mom, and she tries to be progressive. She’s accepted me as bi but when I came out as trans she told me that I don’t need to label anything yet (I was 14 when I came out). We haven’t brought that up in a real conversation since. She’s also fallen down the JKR thought process and spouts some very common HRT and Trans misconceptions (like how HRT won’t change your muscle mass). I want to correct her and educate her but I’ve got intense anxiety about confronting people. I was thinking of texting her some links to HRT studies but I still live under her roof and we see each other often. Do you have any advice? (ps. I love your blog)

hey anon! sorry to hear about your issue. I can and will try to offer some advice, but please be aware that I don't know everything so my advice probably is far from perfect 😅

hoo boy okay I'm only partway thru & it's already long, so I'm putting it all under a cut. you're welcome, scrollers. ✌🏻

ok I've been thinking about & writing bits of this off and on through the day, so apologies if this is a little jumpy in places!

first off, regarding your anxiety — oh my god, do I understand where you're coming from. confrontation is so scary! and the idea of confronting someone you love is even scarier because it's more personal and it feels like there's way more at stake. but I think if you want to keep a close relationship with your mom it's important to face those fears eventually. otherwise, you'll just have this uncomfortable thing lurking overhead all the time, and it could sour the whole relationship.

now, if you want to try and explain everything and correct the misinformation, you don't necessarily have to do that face to face. especially if that would make you nervous and stutter and misspeak (like I do sometimes, rip). when I came out to my dad, I was terrified because he's an old cranky dude who's lowkey said some kinda bigoted things in the past, and I was terrified of how he might react when i tried telling him. so I wrote him a letter instead! I'm much better with writing than speaking, and I was able to get out all my thoughts and explain everything, including my fears of losing him and losing our relationship. and it worked. my dad and I are still as close as we've always been, maybe even a little closer now.

so I mean, the point of that ramble is that taking the conversation (or at least part of it) to a different platform (letter, email, text... hell even a powerpoint presentation could help if you're into that) is a perfectly valid and viable option.

another important thing is to definitely communicate what you're feeling. let your mom know how much you care about her, how the things she's saying about trans people hurt and upset you, even (maybe especially) how you're scared to have this conversation but that it's necessary and important for both of you that you do have it.

I dont think you should just text your mom some links and call it good (not that that is your plan, but idk I'm just sayin). to me, at least, that seems a bit cold and snide, like saying "you're dumb and wrong and here's the real facts" which could easily have the opposite results you want bc humans can be sensitive and defensive, especially since it's a parent being corrected by their child. I know I don't like being wrong and having to be corrected (though i appreciate it), bc it's embarrassing. I imagine being corrected by your child, the young person you're supposed to raise and teach, can be even more embarrassing & make you more prone to activate the no shut up I'm older and thus I must know better reaction.

obviously that doesn't mean "don't correct your mom ever." I just think that it would probably go better if you were gentle with it. especially because you've said that she tries to be open and progressive. that should be encouraged. and a lot of the misinformation and wrong ideas she has about hrt and trans folks probably isn't her fault—misinformation spreads so easy, especially when nasty people want it to—and they might be exaggerated by her own anxieties and fears for you, her kid. and I can't fault her for that.

and don't rush it! probably don't dump a bunch of articles and studies on her, because that sounds super overwhelming (unless she asks, I guess? idk ur mom) and don't start this conversation with her until you're ready and you know what you want to say, or at least most of it. and this doesn't have to be one giant convo to get it over and done with if you dont want to do it that way. you can start with just one part of it, and let it settle, and start the next part after you've both had time to sit and think about it.

if you aren't sure where to start this conversation, one place you could start is with the simple fact that there are people who purposefully and maliciously spread false information about trans folks to cause harm and create fear and confusion, and that they can be pretty good at it. especially when they are telling these things to people who don't know anything about the topic because they haven't had to know about it up to this point! i dont think its your mom's fault she's been given these ideas, and she shouldnt be made to feel too badly about it. cis and trans folks alike have been fooled by cleverly shared lies. and after you explain that, you can ask her if she'd be open to reading some of those studies and getting more reliable and accurate information, and hopefully the conversation can progress from there.

that's just an idea/suggestion though, obvs you do this however you wanna do it in whatever way feels best to you 👍🏻

I would very much like to think that if you can talk with her (or write to her, whatever) and really communicate, she'd be willing to listen and try to understand and learn.

on the flip side, though... if you try talking and she is totally unwilling to consider the fact that her info/what she's been told is incorrect, and she refuses to listen to you, I don't think there's much to be done.

as you said, you live under her roof and have to see her a lot, so I think for your sake it might be better to try and ignore it and just let it go for now. maybe you could try and broach the topic again in the future, but if she feels really strongly about it and there's absolutely no convincing her, avoiding the topic altogether might be better for you than arguing about it constantly.

and I really, truly hope it doesn't come to that but I had to acknowledge it for my own peace of mind. :/

[stalksbyakuyatogami]

Oh my god, successfully summoning an ancestor with the V3 boys was amazing! Thank you so much! Could you do the same thing with the V3 Girls (exept Kaede because she is in your Blacklist)?

Summoning An Ancestor With V3 Girls!

aaaaaaaaaaa!! thank you anon!! im glad you liked it :))

warning: might be a long read

Himiko Yumeno

•You thought you'd excite her? The opposite. Sure, she always bragged about her magic, but she's actually all bark no bite. Just when you thought her magic would finally be put into use. She even refused doing it when she heard the ancestor part. There's no way in hell that she'd want to witness a phantom in this school. Especially at the third floor. But by some miracle and bribery, you managed to drag her in.

•She was slightly quivering just by the ambience of the room. It was a bit dark, just lit up by a few candles that barely even did their job. Although, she was curious of all the things that you had laid out. She would take a few glances on it every second, not sure if to feel fear or curiousity.

•When the spirit appeared, all she could do was tearfully and fearfully watch the ascending spirit. She was frozen in place. She might be fearing it, but she also thought that it was awesome. If she was a mage, she could do this all the time.

•She just stood there the whole time you talked to your ancestor. She ahd questions of her own, but she's just trying to bottle them all up, hoping that you'd miraculously ask them. As if channeling her thoughts you.

•After you were done, she was speechless. She was trying to process everything that just happened. She asked you if she can ask some questions too next time. Let her ask please xD.

Kirumi Tojo

•She's intrigued. It's the first time that she's having this request... but it's more like a favor. Same thing right? She'd like to see a spirit too. She might use this information someday, who knows. She agreed.

•She looked at all the things you had on the floor. Very dangerous. So she would guide you on how to use it properly. You might mess something up, but she's there to help.

•She was on alert when you started chanting unfamiliar words, but she remained calm and rational. Her hand will be ready to grab yours in case you had to flee. Your ancestor appeared earlier than you expected. She took just a step back when the spirit emerged. Intimidated by the spirit, she suggested that you two get out. But when the spirit spoke that you two can stay, she calmed down, but of course she's still on guard.

•While you conversed with your ancestor, she was observing it. Trying to identify which century they came from. She was trying to figure out if she would know how to serve them if they were still alive. Disregarding that, she's behaved and formal towards the spirit. She kept quiet the whole time and had her hands on top of the other, listening to the whole conversation.

•When you ended the session, she exhaled a breath of relief and congratulated you for doing a great job handling the spirit. There was something bugging her mind and you couldn't figure out what that was. But she reassured you that it was nothing. She agreed to come again the next time you perform another summoning.

Angie Yonaga

•This actually piqued her interest. She might  be an artist, but she also takes interest in occult. So obviously, she's agree with you right away. She's excited, to be honest. But first, you'd hold a prayer to Atua. Pray for it to be successful. You couldn't escape her, so you just joined her, or you waited until she finished.

•She was humming while you two were heading for the room. When she saw your materials, her interest shot up. She even asked you if you needed a pint of blood because she'll get it right away. You tell her that a pint is not needed. In fact, you didn't need anything that was out of this room. Everything necessary is already here.

•She was a bit disappointed when no spirit appeared 8 seconds after you called it. And she presumed that maybe Atua didn't like this time and day fir the summoning. She would take her words back when it finally appeared. Amazement was glossing her eyes. How amazing Atua is.

•She was the one to ask questions first. What can you do? She's hella curious! The phantom was overwhelmed with the questions and eventually stopped answering them. She promised to keep quiet while you asked for advice but only if you'll let her ask more questions when you finish. She hummed while you communicated so it was kinda distracting. She's just excited give her a break xD.

•When you two were finished, she gave you her insight and told you that it was an amazing experience! She would love to do it with you again. She might just summon Atua next time!

Maki Harukawa

•Maki gave you a questioning look. What? A summoning? You seriously believe in that? That's nothing but a wishful thinking. But seeing that you insist so bad, she had no choice but to come with you. She just wants your mouth to shut up, so she agreed.

•The materials you had were pretty unfamiliar to her considering she's an assassin. She thinks this is all just bullshitry, nothing more. She has to put up with it though. She actually helped you do the methods, correcting whenever you get something wrong.

•Maki got tired of waiting after 10 seconds. "I already told you. This is not working." Which she'd immediately take back. The phantom loomed over you two. She creased her eyebrows. She still can't believe. But she had no choice but to suck it up. She nervously swallowed and grabbed something that wasn't there; a weapon.

•She stood there, despising the phantom a bit, but still listened to what it said. She didn't have her personal questions; regarding the killing game that is. She had all the questions on her mind. Who? What? Why? How? HOW?! She was making a weird face that slightly disturbed the spirit.

•When you finished the session, she told you how weird that experience was. But she's relieved that you got some advice from them. Might not go with you the next time. Not because she's terrified of the ghost. She thinks it's hella weird and it sends a shiver up her spine.

Tenko Chabashira

•"S-s-summoning?! Thats kinda... new..." She's a bit creeped out. Just the thought of seeing a ghost is enough to make her cringe. She asks you if you're sure. Just in case you change your mind, she'd still be supporting you.

•You led her up to the third floor of the school. She was a bit fidgety and she always asks you if you'd change your mind right now. She was shocked of all thr items in the room. She was alarmed and posed defensively. She had no idea how all of these work, so she read the instructions on the book and helped you even just a little bit.

•She was actually relieved that your ancestor didn't appear... yet. The relief immediately went away when the translucent spirit came to... life. How ironic. She was actually terrified of the spirit now. She hidea behind your back, promising to defend you if anything happens.

•She was behind you the whole time you talked. She wouldn't dare utter a word. But maybe she'll sneak her catchphrase in when your ancestor is male. She watched the spirit with anxious and confused eyes.

•She was extremely relieved when you were done. It was like getting rid of the thorn on her side. She felt easy again. I doubt that she'd go with you the next time... That was terrifying. Who knew spirits were real?

Miu Iruma

•She's quite disgusted of the thought. You still believe in those things at your age? Pathetic. Believe in technology instead! Now come here and let me test this new invention of mine! Its functions are—! She agreed to join you. But just for research purposes and future references. Decided to make an impromptu camera to tape the summoned spirit. That might just be a breakthrough.

•She was full of complaints during your trip. She held her camera to where all the necessary objects for the ritual was placed. Istg she might be doing a documentary. Bad commentator I would say. She dissed all the objects that you had laid out. What the hell, man? She didn't help you. She just picked these up and observed it through the camera. She filmed your process.

•She was impatiently waiting for the ghost to appear. She was about to turn her camera off when she heard the phantom's booming voice. She cowered in fear, almost dropping her camera. She hid behind your back, whimpering.

•She watched your ancestor fearfully while you asked questions. She would mutter unholy things under her breath and you would be distracted by that. Like, do souls have pps or something of the sort.

•She only filmed half of the thing. Let's just hope that that ghost and the audio show up in the recordings. She wouldn't accompany you ever again. That shit was terrifying.

Tsumugi Shirogane

•She was excited. But of vourse, she evaluated everything before she agreed with you. Summoning was both heart-throbbing and curious for her. So obviously, she wouldn't back out.

•She was quiet during the trip to the third floor. But she certainly had a smile on her face and stars for eyes. She was intrigued with all thr object you had laid out. She even grabbed one and tried to run it across her skin. But for safety purposes, yo told her to stop as it would ruin the ritual. She gladly obliged. She still observed the objects very closely though.

•She was starting to sigh as 8 seconds rolled by and nothing came out of your ritual. Just as she was about to leave, she squeaked at the spirit's frightening voice. She went back to her place and quietly apologized while she had her head down.

•She was just there... with her sparkling eyes boring into the summoned soul. She had all sorts of questions, and her face was turning pink. Probably from excitement. She had to bottle up all those questions too.

•After the session, she was too awestruck to utter a single word. She had sparkles in her eyes and her hands were merged together. She grabbed yours and enthusiastically said, "Let's do it again next time, S/O!"

I'll fix the errors later. Thank you for requesting, anon.

-Mod Toko [Maki Shift]♡

[thatoneao3writer]

(3/4)

I intended to write part three right after I sent in part two... but I sorta got distracted by another dsmp au me and a friend of mine are working on. I just put up the first post!

Let’s start part three from Bad’s POV. Shortly before they get “pulled over,” Bad had gone into the restroom because, y’know, motion sickness. Suddenly, the ship comes to a halt, which Bad is certainly grateful for, even if he’s a little confused as to why exactly they’ve stopped. He stays in the restroom for a minute, trying to regain his sense of balance.

As he started to head towards the cockpit, he heard Tommy cussing someone out VERY loudly. So, of course, he immediately shouts “LANGUAGE!” and speeds up a bit to try to see what’s going on.

When he goes enters the cockpit, he sees the two Green Lanterns and freezes, panicking. The Crimson and the Green Lanterns fight quite a lot, and one of the main things a lot of cults and authoritarian regimes do is try to make their enemies seem as terrible as possible, so Bad grew up hearing a lot of talk about how Green Lanterns would use their powers to slaughter anyone working with the Crimson on sight. (Usually followed by the advice to kill them before they killed you). They were portrayed as cruel and ruthless, and while logically Bad knows that that’s probably not correct, he doesn’t exactly have much first-hand experience with them, and... well... he knows they don’t go around killing people on sight; he doesn’t have any reason to believe that they wouldn’t make an exception for him. In fact, he probably thinks he would deserve it, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t absolutely terrified by the idea.

The two Lanterns recognize him immediately; it isn’t very hard, as he hasn’t exactly put much effort into changing his appearance. They both, understandably, are a bit freaked out by the way this entire routine traffic stop has gone. Neither of them were expecting any of this, to say the least. So, while Bad is frozen (fight-flight-freeze response), contemplating his own impending demise, the two Lanterns try to figure out what to do, and eventually come to the conclusion that they should probably try to arrest him.

So one of them starts to walk towards him, telling him he’s under arrest, (and calling him Saint, which definitely doesn’t help). (Also, Skeppy would know that Bas was Saint by this point, but Tommy wouldn’t. I’d like to think Skeppy would be the first person who found out after Foolish and Eret, but I can’t think of a scenario for it). At this point, Skeppy has probably noticed Bad’s reaction and is trying to get them to back down, but he isn’t exactly explaining why very well, so they don’t listen.

Here’s the thing about the protective diamond crystals that show up on Bad when he’s attacked because of the whole accidentally-married-to-Skeppy thing; they’re very in tune with his emotions. When he’s fighting the hive, or doing friendly sparring, they don’t show up at all, because he knows he’s safe. In an ordinary combat situation, they show up a fraction of a second before the hit lands. Now, when he’s panicking and absolutely terrified that he’s about to die... they spring up the second one of the Lanterns reaches out to try to touch his arm so that they can handcuff him, at which point he basically curls up in a ball and has a panic attack.

The Green Lanterns, because they’re, y’know, decent people, see this and immediately back off, and while Skeppy’s trying to help Bad calm down, one of them, who, for the sake of plot convenience, has served alongside gemfolk rulers in the past, and thus can recognize the effects of a bond, basically just says to the other “hey, we can’t arrest this dude because he has diplomatic immunity and also we don’t actually have any proof that he’s Saint.”

-🤺

PS, I’m partway through writing part 4, but imma bout to pass out, so it’ll have to wait 4 tomorrow morning.

I love it Fencer! And yes, get some well deserved rest >< (Also, I would love to hear about you and your friend's au if you wouldn't mind sharing! :D)

[canvas-the-florist]

Learning to Listen

Ships: Past Romantic Prinxiety, Romantic Intruality,

Warnings: Messy breakup, swearing, unintentional bigotry, mentions of sex, brief (VERY brief) making out

Summary: Virgil, Roman, Patton, and Remus move into a house together as housing during college. It works out great until Virgil and Roman breakup and Remus discovers some things that could complicate his own romantic relationship with Patton (none of the characters are unsympathetic they’re just stupid.)

Word Count: 1.8K

-

   “I’m just an over glorified fuck buddy to you, aren’t I?!” Virgil yelled through the thin walls and Remus flinched at the noise. Roman and Virgil decided to have an apparently much needed fight. He was glad that Patton wasn’t home to witness what he assumed was a breakup. Remus didn’t know whether or not he was going to have to comfort Virgil or Roman.

   “No! I just- Virgil you aren’t listening to me! Like you ever do!” Remus turned up the music in his headphones, despite it already at max volume. His eardrums were probably going to explode, with blood and whatever cartilage did when it couldn’t handle the stress of hearing.

   “Are you breaking up with me?!”

   “Yeah, VIRGIL, I think I am!” Remus was impressed that they had gotten to that part after two hours. But hey, they got there in the end, right? He heard the door of the room open and slam shut. He paused his music and looked up to see Roman looking deflated. Roman walked over and sat next to Remus silently. Remus didn’t say anything, not wanting to fuck up his brother’s day anymore, even though that sounded like fun. Roman screamed into a pillow and fell the back of his head onto Remus’s lap, slapping his phone to the ground. “Did you manage not to hear any of that?”

   “Oh I’m pretty sure your voice could’ve broken the windows if you tried harder.” Remus supplied. “I don’t know exactly what the fight was about though, you guys were talking like normal people at the point.”

   “What would you know about normal people?” Roman responded snarkily, before shaking his head softly and corrected himself. “Sorry. That fight was a lot, I’m not sure the adrenaline of it has burned out yet… Remus, is it weird that I thought we were doing really well? I didn’t even notice Virgil wasn’t happy with it. I really fucked up.”

   Remus thought briefly to his own dating life. He realized he related more than he wanted to. “Yeah, you really boinged that one, dude. But, I’m sure it’ll be okay. If it doesn’t work out I can decapitate Virge for you. He’s my best friend but you’re my brother.”

   Roman laughed lightly, and tears rolled down his face unto Remus’s legs. His laughter quickly turned to sobbing into Remus’s shirt until Patton came home from work 30 minutes later. He opened the door humming to himself until he saw the twins on the couch, Roman’s makeup running and generally looking like a mess.

   “Is… everything okay?” Remus shook his head and Patton nodded to himself. “Where’s Virgil?” That simple question got Roman to crumble down horizontally on the couch again. Patton thought to himself with furrowed brows about that response. Remus pointed to Virgil’s room and Patton followed, knocking on the door. He went in after a few seconds to see Virgil curled up in a ball, shaking and clearly not alright.

   He couldn’t even choke a word out. Patton closed the door and sat on the ground in front of him. Without questioning anything he opened up his arms in case Virgil wanted a hug. He did. “Okay kiddo, breathe in for four seconds for me. Now hold it for seven-”

   This went on until his breathing was stable. Virgil’s fist was closed around a piece of Patton’s shirt. “I shouldn’t have yelled at him.”

   “Do you want to talk about it?” Patton asked, tightening his grip. He had begun to suspect what might’ve happened and almost wanted to cry about it himself, but it wasn’t about him right now. “Not that you have to but if you need to, I’m here.”

   “No, my therapist has told me to communicate better. Which, ironically, what I was trying to do with Roman…” Virgil trailed off, loosening his grip of Patton’s shirt and looking up to his ceiling. He doesn’t really seem to want me other than to have sex and after mentioning that it eventually turned into a screaming match. And then he… then he broke up with me. I should’ve listened to him before but I didn’t. Patton I don’t know what to do.”

   Patton bit his lip for a second. Only sex, huh? He thought back to himself and Remus. They sort of had the opposite issue… This wasn’t about that though. Virgil still wanted a response. “I wasn’t there, Virgil, and this isn’t my relationship we’re talking about. I- do you want suggestions or do you just want me to listen without giving any opinions?”

   “Suggestions would be cool.”

   “Alright,” with that permission Patton tried to think of his best friendly advice. ‘Communication’ was usually always the answer but it was some sort of subsection of that Patton wasn’t sure how to explain. Listen to Roman? Be clear about your wants in a romantic relationship? It was hard for Patton to follow those in his OWN dating life. He realized more and more issues to bring up to Remus after this resolved somehow. “Well, it would probably be helpful to listen to what Roman wants in the relationship and have him listen to what you would want. And then… based on that, work on how to do that together or if that’s not compatible… Break off the romantic relationship because it would probably be healthier that way.”

   Virgil whistled lowly. “Dang, Pat. I was sort of expecting a follow your heart thing. But, thank you. I guess that would mean confronting the issues, which is quite honestly terrifying. I should probably do that now or something…” He stood up, holding his head from doing it too fast and made his way to the door. Patton remained on the floor a moment longer before following.

Remus was back to listening to music while Roman was scrolling on his phone as Remus played with his hair idly. Virgil grabbed the fabric of his jacket before walking to the loveseat. He heard Patton close his door and almost jumped out of his skin. He took a deep breath. “Roman? Maybe we should try again with that discussion… I don’t want this to be screaming. I like you, a lot. What do you say?”

   He made brief eye contact with Roman, seeing the dried tears and puffy eyes, but he nodded and sat up. Remus gave Virgil a raised eyebrow but said nothing. “Okay.” Roman croaked. Patton walked to the kitchen almost immediately to give both of them glasses of water to fight back against what the yelling and tears did to their throats. “You can start.”

   “Should we leave?” Remus asked, as Patton handed the glass to Virgil and then Roman. Patton sat down at the one chair in the room, but didn’t get comfortable just in case. “I mean it’s your conversation.”

   “You can stay. I don’t want to yell again. A mediator would be good.” Like it helped before, Remus thought to himself, but stayed put. Virgil cleared his throat with a small cough and took a sip of water. “I’m starting? Okay. I feel like I'm not getting a lot of romantic affection lately in our relationship that I would really appreciate. We don’t really kiss or anything and I would like to know if that’s because of me or not. You can go now.”

   Roman blinked and used a tissue from the side table to clean up his face as he spoke. “Thank you for telling me that, Virgil… I didn’t realize that you wanted affectionate stuff that badly. I feel like I don’t need that in my relationships and I’ve been questioning my sexuality and romantic orientations for a while. And I probably should’ve brought this up earlier but… I think I’m…” He looked down at the ground. “I think I’m aromantic.” He sounded like he was about to cry again. Remus looked at Patton with wide eyes.

   Patton returned the look as Virgil talked next. “Oh. Roman, I’m so sorry about the fuckbuddy comment, shit. I didn’t realize… but I’m proud of you for finding that out about yourself. Maybe it would be healthier if we broke up, huh?”

   Roman laughed, new tears falling down his face. The two embraced each other, laughing while crying. “Yeah, I guess we are breaking up then!”

   It would hurt for a while, and the change was definitely huge but it was better. But after witnessing that Patton and Remus knew that they had to talk. The only question was who would be the first to bring it up?

-

   Remus and Patton were on Patton’s bed, making out. Which was fine, neither of their roommates were home and it was fun. The issues came up when Patton’s hand went under Remus’s shirt. “Is this okay?” He asked. It all came crashing down when Remus shook his head no. They stopped immediately and fell onto the bed looking up at the ceiling next to each other. “We should talk about this. Not that you didn’t want to, just that we need to define better boundaries for our relationship.”

   “You’re right. We should talk about this.” Remus gulped. Apparently it was already happening. After two weeks but it still didn’t feel like enough time. “Patt, I love you… But I don’t know about fucking.”

   “Crass, but I get it. Are you… asexual?” He looked over at his boyfriend, who shrugged. “Well, that’s fine too. So no sexual stuff. Got it. Anything else that would cross the line that we should talk about?”

   Remus was tempted just to shrug again but didn’t. “I don’t know yet. After Roman finding out he’s aromantic I’ve been thinking. I still want to be with you, but can I give you everything you want in a relationship? I don’t think I… I don’t think I NEED or WANT sex at all, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m so fucking confused.”

  “I may want it, Remus but I don’t think it’s a need in our relationship.” Patton reassured. And he wasn’t lying either. He believed what he was saying, glad that his conversations with Janus had also gotten him to check his own wants and needs in general. “I think I’m alright like this, but it’s important for me to know for sure.”

   He reached out for Remus’s hand, and he took it. They looked up at the ceiling, with a feeling of clarity that helped them relax. It wasn’t really a change at all, but it gave reason to actions and made sure they wouldn’t make the other uncomfortable. And that was worth it.

Taglist: @vpow @loveroffandoms @yourfellowsmolgay @moth-bugs @vsem-5

[lesbiansforboromir]

Impossible LotR Quiz Answer sheet with explanations!

As an addendum, since people have been doing the quiz I’ve seen a few mistypes and awkwardnesses that are my own fault so I’ve corrected them. This means some people got a higher score than was shown, know that when I looked over your answers I saw your actually right answers and fully appreciated them! It’s good to not that the ‘fill in the blanks’ questions will not take two words in one space, so I’ve had to get creative with how I apply two named folk like Mardil Voronwe, or people who have numbers like Hurin I.

I would also like to say, to everyone talking about how they’ve never read the Silmarillion, this quiz is very purposefully almost entirely based outside of the Silmarillion. This is Appendices stuff! Indeed there is only 1 question even tangentally related to elves in here, this is by design. 

@magaramach, @brynnmclean and @apojiiislands asked to be tagged in this! Answers under the cut. 

Q2. Who was Dora Baggins in relation to Bilbo Baggins? - Second cousin on his father's side Dora Baggins is a very elderly woman who was the daughter of Bilbo’s father’s brother. She likes writing people a lot of unsolicited advice! THIS WAS WRONG AND SAID FIRST COUSIN FOR SO LONG AND I AM DEEPLY SORRY FOR IT.

Q3. How many pairs of biological twins are mentioned in the whole of Arda's timeline and what races do they belong too? - 2 for men, 1 for elves and 3 for half-elves Fastred and Folcred, Haleth and Haldar (men) Amrod and Amras (elves) Elured and Elurin, Elrond and Elros, Elladan and Elrohir (half-elves) Now, admittedly Elladan and Elrohir are never actually described as twins. However they appear completely identical and have the same birth date, so it is assumed.

Q4. Baldor is who the skeleton scratching at the door used to be. When Aragorn and co pass through the paths of the dead they find a skeleton clawing at a door to the mountain. It is finely dressed and described as mighty and was later essentially confirmed to be Baldor, the eldest son of King Brego of Rohan, also called Baldor the hapless, who foolishly wandered into the paths of the dead on, apparently, a dare. (the answer to this was originally Brego because of a foolish typo from me, many apologies!)

Q5. When was the Ondonóre Nómesseron Minaþurie written? - During Meneldil's reign. “Enquiry into the Place-names of Gondor” was a text written by settled numenoreans about their new kingdom during Meneldil’s reign, who was the first sole King of Gondor after both Anarion (his father) and Isildur had perished.   

Q6. Farmer Maggot's particular friend was Tom Bombadil  It is stated that Farmer Maggot sometimes peacefully passes through the Old Forest to go and meet Tom Bombadil, who very much enjoys his company. However! Those who answered Merry or Pippin still deserve excellent recognition, Farmer Maggot was indeed fond of Pippin and respected Merry greatly.

Q7. What was the office of the Steward originally created to do? - Keep the Tradition of Isildur When Romendacil I went to war in the east, he realised that if he died then the secret of the Tradition of Isildur would die with him. Hence he wrote it down in a sealed scoll and gave it to a trusted confidante, to be given to his heir if he should perish. This tradition was maintained by further kings and those trusted confidantes became the Stewards of Gondor. This, admittedly, is a more suggested progression than explicit, but it’s a Impossible evil quiz so :) Q8. What was the 'Tradition of Isildur'? - Remember where Elendil was buried. Elendil had been secretly entombed in Calenardhon, supposedly the midpoint between Gondor and Arnor. This was a hallowed space for only Kings at first, but in later years when the Stewards came to rule Gondor they also were permitted the secret. Cirion had the remains moved when Calenardhon was gifted to the Eotheod to eventually become a part of the Kingdom of Rohan. 

Q9. At the time of Pelargir's founding, is the world flat or round? - Flat. Pelargir was founded as a ‘Faithful Numenorean’ haven on the river Anduin. Therefore it was built before Numenor’s destruction in the Akallabeth, the reason for which being that Eru turned the world from flat to round. 

Q10. Which of these monarchs were indolent and had no interest in ruling? - King Atanatar I - King Narmacil I - Tar-Vanimelde King Atanatar I ruled during Gondor’s richest generation and seemed to believe that meant he didn’t need to put any work in. Narmacil I, his son, didn’t want to put any work in, but he at least assigned his nephew, Minalcar, as ‘Karma-Kundo’ or regent during his reign. So he at least did something to keep the country going. Tar-Vanimelde had no interest in ruling and allowed her husband to do most of the governence. This backfired when she died and he organised a coup against his son to hold power.

Q11. When looking back on the Ship-Kings of Gondor, King Tarannon Falastur began the invasion of Harad and expanded Gondor's borders, King Earnil-I finally took Umbar but died at sea shortly afterwards, King Ciryandil spent most of his reign trying to defend Umbar and died in it's seige and King Hyarmendacil defended Umbar against seiges for 35 years before making war upon all Harad and claiming Harondor as a province of Gondor, ending the line of the Ship Kings.

Q12. What happened during the reign of King Romendacil II? - I don't know! Nothing? Yes I know this is particularly evil of me but Romendacil II was originally called Minalcar, yes the same Minalcar who became REGENT of Gondor due to Narmacil’s indolent nature. Minalcar indeed did everything else listed as answers to this question, but none of them happened during his reign as king. Indeed, his reign was said to be peaceful and we have no real information on it, so technically saying we don’t know, and suggesting nothing happened, is actually the most correct answer :)

Q13. Who succeeded Tar-Telperien of Numenor? - Her nephew, Minastir Tar-Telperien was a lesbian Queen of Numenor who never married and never wanted too and did an excellent job and I love her. Her nephew built a tower to mope in about how much he wanted to be an elf. They are not the same. Absolutely terrified about what Amazon could do to her. 

Q14. Whilst his brethren, the nazgul, were attacking the Prancing Pony, The Witch-King was waiting in the Barrow Downs and probably had a really nice time. Not much to this! Witch King was chilling with the Barrow Wights. 

Q15. Which of these characters are described as 'beautiful' at least once in the Lord of the Rings? - Galadriel, Denethor, Eowyn, Frodo, Elanor, Celeborn, Boromir Yes, Arwen is never described as beautiful, but Denethor is :)

Q16. We all love Boromir II, select the similarities he and Boromir I did NOT share. - Renowned relationship with the Rohirrim. - Destroyed the Bridge of Osgiliath - Feared by the Witch King - Retook Ithilien. - Had a brother. In case you’re wondering, yes, I love both Boromirs. But this question is a fun highlight of how many similarities Boromir II has with his namesake. These are the only things they didn’t both do. Although! Boromir I’s son was Cirion who allied with the Eotheod and created Rohan in the first place, the Uruk-Hai destroyed the Bridge of Osgiliath in Boromir I’s lifetime, Boromir II was PROBABLY feared by the witch-king we just don’t know, Boromir II held Ithilien and Boromir I had two elder sisters like Denethor II did.

Q17. Hey, did you know that, from Boromir I's war with the Uruk-Hai of the Morgul Vale, Gondor didn't know peace until Sauron's death on the 25th of March, 3019? Hah hah! How gut wrenching is that? About how long do you think it has been since Gondor knew peace then? Hey wait does that mean Boromir I's valiant victory that came at a personal sacrifice was the beginning of Gondor's wars and then Boromir II's valiant sacrifice was the end- oh god... oh fuck - 550 years To everyone who answered the crossed out answer,,, you’re correct in my heart. You get bonus points. Also hey! What the fuck :) 

Q18. Who was Borondir? - The rider sent to find Eorl who made it to him after starving himself for two days but who then rode to the Celebrant with Eorl anyway and died in that battle. Literally couldn’t love this fellow more. Big Hirgon energy. A hero of Gondor for time immemorial. 

Q19. The Ruling Stewards, from first to last (with their numbers typed as so Turin-I Hurin-II etc), were as follows; Mardil ; Eradan ; Herion ; Belegorn ; Hurin-I ; Turin-I ; Hador ; Barahir ; Dior ; Denethor-I ; Boromir-I ; Cirion ; Hallas ; Hurin-II ; Belecthor-I ; Orodreth ; Ecthelion-I ; Egalmoth ; Beren ; Beregond ; Belecthor-II ; Thorondir ; Turin-II ; Turgon ; Ecthelion-II ; Denethor-II ; and for like two seconds ; Faramir ; Alrighty, we had a bit of a fight in my discord about this but eventually I did relent in agreement that Faramir IS... very briefly... legally considered a RULING Steward. Ruling Stewards being Stewards that ruled a Kingless Gondor. But! With Aragorn RIGHT THERE is just seemed very redundant. Still! I’ll allow the pedant to win out, ten minutes is still a Ruling Steward. ALSO! I decided that having an extra box for the ‘voronwe’ part of mardil voronwe was just mean as it set everyone’s answers off kilter, so I removed that. ALSO for all of those calling me a bastard for adding this question, @illegalstargender was the one who requested it! I wasn’t going too! 

Q20. The Stewards, despite ruling through very tumultuous and violent periods, were often known for boring things (because they simply ruled better than the Kings did, I said what I said) But what boring thing was Steward Turin I remembered for? - Being the only monarch of Gondor that married twice This skeezy bastard really did marry a second time during his OLD age just to father a son. I can only imagine what a dreadful cultural and social effect this had on this prude country. It’s so unnecessary! He had daughters, many of them! One of them certainly had a son before he did. He was just being a controlling arse, down with Turin I!!!!

[sparrow-flies-south]

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Pairings: Dukexiety (Remus/Virgil) Summary: Virgil has a bad day. Remus makes things better, in his own way. Warnings: One line mention of transphobic relatives,  Notes: Written as a gift for @rem-sl33p as part of @sanderssidesgiftxchange! 

Thanks to @droidofmay for beta reading

Masterpost Read on AO3

It was one of those days that started off bad and got worse from there.

First, Virgil had slept through his alarm, and only woke up when Remus realised it was five minutes until he had to leave and he still wasn’t up yet. He managed to make it to work on time, but only barely. The same couldn’t be said for one of his coworkers, who didn’t bother showing up at all, so Virgil had to do the work for both of them.

And then there had been the rush of people trying to buy presents in time for Christmas, and his manager, who was exceptionally grumpy today, had kept snapping at Virgil for not doing things fast enough, even though he was doing the work of two people.

Then he’d been late leaving, so he’d missed his bus and had to wait in the cold for the next one – it started snowing, what the fuck – and then Remus had stopped answering his texts.

It took him a few stops to notice, and sure, Remus could get distracted sometimes, but what if he wasn’t. Look, Virgil knew what he was like, okay, he knew he could be an asshole at the best of times, and today certainly wasn’t one of those times. He scrolled back through the messages to try to see if he’d done anything wrong – was Remus annoyed he’d be late back, should he not have replied with that whole novel when Remus asked what was wrong, what if he’d gotten offended when Virgil replied K to one of Remus’ texts?

Yeah, he ended up with three more stops of panicking about that, before finally making it home. Theatrics really wasn’t his thing, but when he saw his door come into sight, he was about ready to burst into tears from relief.

Not that being home would solve the potential Remus problem, but still, he might be able to disappear under the covers and never came out after.

He was just about to open the door when it opened for him, and Janus stepped out.

Janus’ eyes widened –apparently he hadn’t known Virgil was out there. “Ah, Virgil. Hello.”

Normally Virgil would be happy to see Janus – they’d met in the same local trans group, and Janus had been the one to introduce Virgil to Remus, all those years ago – but right now, he just wanted this day to be over.

“What are you doing here?” Virgil asked.

A moment of hesitation, and then, “Remus and I are having an affair.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Congratulations. Can I get into my apartment now?”

Janus stepped aside. “I heard you had a long day.”

“Getting longer by the minute,” Virgil muttered, and crap, now he was doing the asshole thing again.

Janus just smiled, though. Probably because Janus was also an asshole, so it balanced out. “If you need help with that, let me know.”

Virgil rolled his eyes again. “Janus, when I complained about my cousins being transphobic, you told me to push them down the stairs.”

“I object to that, your honour,” Janus said. “The technical wording was ‘nudge’. And it’s advice that can be applied in many aspects of life.”

“Good bye Janus,” Virgil said, reaching for the door. He hesitated. “Hey, Janus? Did Remus seem, uh, annoyed? At me, I mean.”

Janus’ face softened. “Oh, Virgil,” he said. “Answering yes would be a lie too big for even me.”

Janus left, and Virgil was stuck staring at the door. This was fine. Janus had said Remus wasn’t mad, in his roundabout way of doing so. Unless Janus had lied, which he was prone to do, but not in situations like this. Or unless Remus had been hiding it from Janus, because Virgil and Janus were friends-

Okay, even Virgil could tell he was being ridiculous at that moment. All he had to do to figure out if Remus was mad or not was open the door. Then either everything would be fine, and Virgil could try to forget about his shit day, or Remus would tell him that he was upset.

Which would also be fine. Probably. Hopefully.

“Fuck it,” he muttered at last. He swung the door open, because that way he had to go inside, otherwise Remus might see and know that he was lurking in the corridor like a weirdo.

He managed to take one step over the threshold before freezing.

The room was dark – the lights were turned off, and the curtains were drawn – but Remus had strung up fairy lights, which let out a gentle red glow. As for the rest of the room-

“Are those the Halloween decorations?”

“Fuck,” Remus said, from where he was knelt in front of the TV. “I was meant to hear you coming.”

Fake cobwebs had been hung on the walls, and a cluster of fake pumpkins surrounded the TV. Sat on the sofa was the skeleton Remus had stolen when he’d worked at a haunted house. Fake animal skeletons were dotted around the place – an anatomically incorrect spider on the TV stand; a rat with ear bones on the coffee table; a snake on the arm of the sofa.

Remus quickly got up and hurried to Virgil. “Okay, so, you were meant to be blindfolded at this point.”

“Hard pass,” Virgil muttered,

“And I would be holding your hand, like this-“ Remus reached out and took it. Just the press of contact made Virgil feel better, like some of the day was sliding away from him. He shifted closer to Remus – probably more than needed, but the smell of Remus’ cologne let him know that nothing could touch him here.

“And then I’d take the blindfold off, and you’d say-“

“Is that the Halloween decorations?” Virgil repeated.

Remus grinned, andVirgil’s heart squeezed at the sight. “Okay, so, I want you to have the best day ever, and I figured, what day could possibly be better than Halloween?”

Virgil laughed, because that was so incredibly Remus.

“I even got candy!” Remus added. “Or, well, Janus did. He says hi, by the way.”

“I know, I saw him. How did you even have time to do all this?”

“Eh, I’m fast when I want to be,” Remus said with a wave of his hand.  “But, hey, you haven’t even seen the best part!”

Remus dragged Virgil into the room and to the sofa. Virgil followed, because there was no good trying to stop Remus when he was like this – if you tried, you’d just drive yourself crazy. Virgil had long since learned to just grab hold of Remus’ momentum, and wait to see whether he’d end up in a nerf gun war or trying to make the Best Birthday Cake Ever ™.

(Fortunately, Patton hadn’t minded the mess that one had resulted in.)

“Let me guess,” Virgil joked. “You’ve killed every annoying customer from today.”

“Oh, shit,” Remus said. “I didn’t even think of that. We could release them all into a forest and hunt them for sport.”

“Let’s table that idea for later,” Virgil suggested.

Remus pouted. “Fine.” He brightened again, “But look what I planned for tonight!”

Virgil looked to the TV, which already had films queued up to watch.

“Velocipastor,” Virgil read aloud. “Cat People; Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. These are all terrible.”

“I know, right? We can make fun of them together.”

“You mean I can make fun of them,” Virgil corrected. “You will spend the whole time trying to figure out how to recreate the practical effects.”

“Hey, that’s my biggest hobby. Just like how insulting things is yours.”

“We make such a good couple,” Virgil deadpanned, before freeing his hand from Remus’ grip so he could stick them both in his pockets. What he was about to say next was sappy, and Virgil didn’t do sappy. “Seriously, though, thanks. For all of this. You didn’t have to.”

Remus looked confused. “What do you mean?” he asked, as if Virgil had just told him he didn’t have to breathe. Like the thought of not going out of his way to cheer Virgil up hadn’t occurred to him, never mind that Virgil was always having bad days that put him on edge and made him unpleasant to be around.

“I mean, it was just a crappy day,” Virgil said. “Not the end of the world.”

Even if, sure, there had been times when it had felt like the end of the world.

“But I don’t want you to have crappy days,” Remus said petulantly.

“Pretty sure it doesn’t work like that. That’s just- kinda the way I am.”

“I know,” Remus said. “And I love the way you are, except for how you sometimes think you’re not a good person, because I kind of want to fight the parts of you that say. But I also want to give them a hug and tell them that everything will be okay, which is kind of terrifying, actually, because wow, I am not an ‘everything will be okay’ kind of person. More of a let’s brainstorm how to make things worse kind of person.” Remus blinked, apparently realising his train of thought had gotten so far off the rails it had destroyed a small town, and shrugged. “Anyway, I want to make your bad days better, but I’m not as good at this kind of thing as you are, so-“

“Wait,” Virgil interrupted. “What do you mean not as good at this as me? I’m rubbish at – pretty much everything involving emotions, basically.”

Along with everything else, some part of him whispered, but he ignored it. The part was quieter than it had been all day, anyway.

“But you’re not!” Remus protested. “I know you’re not, because when everything goes wrong and my thoughts are too loud, you’re always there. And you make things better, just by being there. So that’s why I’m doing this. To make things better, because you deserve better.”

“Oh,” Virgil said, unsure what to say. It was terrifying, at times, the depth of Remus’ love. Like standing at the edge of the Grand Turk drop-off and watching the ocean fall away beneath you.

“Yeah,” Remus finished, smiling sheepishly. “So, uh, I panicked and decided to recreate Halloween in the middle of December. Surprise.”

And then Virgil couldn’t stop himself from laughing, because only Remus would even think to do something like that. And only Remus would manage to pull it off so well.

“So, uh, are we done with the emotional thing now?” Remus asked. “Because we’d better get started if we want to finish these movies by tomorrow.”

“Fuck yeah, emotional time is over,” Virgil said, wiping at his eyes. “But, uh,” he hesitated, something squeezing his chest and whispered he won’t want to. He’ll think you’re pathetic. Virgil pushed it down. “Can we cuddle, first? Just for a little while?”

“Of course,” Remus said. He held out his arms, and Virgil melted into them.

Remus was warm, because he was always warm, and he smelled like the too-strong cologne he always wore, the only that Remus had once joked was Pickled Poo-Logs flavour. One of his hands reached up to run his fingers through Virgil’s hair.

“I got ya, Fright Night,” he murmured. “I love you.”

Virgil’s heat skipped at that, the way it always did, because some part was always convinced that this was it, this was the point where Remus would decide to just stop loving him. And every time, Remus proved that part wrong, without even realising what he was doing.

“I love you too,” Virgil mumbled, and then the waterworks opened, and he couldn’t stop crying.

“Ah, shit,” Remus said. “Did I do something? Fuck, I’m sorry, please don’t cry.”

“You gave me Halloween,” Virgil said, smacking him lightly. “Don’t you dare act like you could have done something wrong. That’s – fuck, that’s probably the best thing anyone’s ever done for me.”

“Okay, we’re going to have to have a conversation about the height of that bar later,” Remus said, and Virgil snorted and buried his face into Remus’ chest. “For now, uh, let it all out, I guess? Better out than in, I always say, though I normally say that about something else.”

“Thanks,” Virgil muttered, but the tears were already starting to ease off. He stayed where he was, nestled against Remus, able to feel the rhythmic rise and fall of Remus’ breathing.

[whumpinggrounds]

Gotcha Day

my first non-Febuwhump piece of writing! here goes :) this is set before the last day of Febuwhump (You Have To Let Me Go) and i mean i really don’t need to explain much i don’t think bc it’s fairly self-explanatory but i am nervous so. yes

tagging @shapeshiftersandfire and @killtheprotagonist ! lmk if you want to be added/removed from being tagged it is a lot a lot of content so sorry about that

CW: lady whump, pet whump, dehumanization, memory loss, discussion of scars, past burns, implied non con,

Director Hammond’s office is much like the Director herself – alternately welcoming and terrifying, depending on what mood has struck her. Today, the curtains are open, the room is filled with light, and the Director has a bouquet of flowers on her desk in a vase. That’s good, right? All of that is good.

Mara still feels the nerves in her stomach buzzing like a hive.

“I don’t want to drag this out,” the Director begins, and Mara’s heart sinks. It’s some polite dismissal, something like that. There’s a self-satisfied little smile playing around the woman’s lips, and Mara tries to brace herself, folding her hands neatly in her lap and staring down her doom with icy eyes. “We have decided to let you train her. 067493.”

Stunned, Mara stares at the Director. There are no words in her mouth, no words in her head. She wants to speak, knows she should speak, but she can’t. An incredulous smile starts to curl up her face.

“Now, before you get too excited, there are some conditions.” Despite her lecturing tone, there’s a smile on the Director’s face – probably because of Mara’s huge ferocious grin. “She’s not your pet, technically speaking, not until the trial period is over. Obviously, she’s coming with what we call a factory defect, so you got very lucky there, otherwise we’d never let her go. She’s not fully trained, but honestly, Ms. Langford, we’re not going to spend the money and time to finish out the training on a model that we’re essentially giving away.”

“Yes.” Mara’s head is nodding on her neck like a bobblehead. “Yes, okay, that’s fine. That’s okay. That’s so okay.”

Amused by her eagerness, the Director nods. “Good. Now, primarily, Ms. Langford, we want to explore two things with 067493, and we feel that gifting her to an employee, while highly unusual, will give us an opportunity to answer some outstanding questions.”

“Okay.” Mara’s heart is racing. God, she feels like she’s going to pass out any second. “Okay, so, so, um, what are those questions, then? The things…what it is you want to, um, explore?”

The Director smiles at her, fondly, warmly. “First of all…” she pauses for effect, “some of the higher-ups loved this therapeutic aid idea. If it’s workable, there could be a strong market there. Of course, we’ve been trying to work a caregiver angle for a while, but the medical stuff is often just too complex for pets. This emotional approach could give us a very similar sector, but with none of the concern about pets operating medical machinery incorrectly.”

“Y-yes.” Mara’s breathless, dazed, struggling just to keep up. “Yes, definitely-”

“Now, not everyone is convinced, but enough of us think that it’s worth a try. Which brings us to our second objective.”

Here, the Director pauses long enough that Mara can stop focusing on her breathing and look up inquisitively. Finally, tentatively, she prompts her superior. “Ma’am?”

The Director shakes her head as if to clear it. “Yes, well. What we are interested in is…is…” she purses her lips, clearly wondering how to explain. “Pets who may end up living with someone they know or recognize from their former life. As you know, pets are prone to false memories.” Mara nods dutifully, despite knowing full well there’s no such thing. “We want to see if our Boxies can be taught and trained in such a way that they can be…reintroduced to their old life, or one like it, while maintaining good behavior and accurate memory blocks.”

“That sounds…” Mara swallows. “That sounds…difficult.”

“Indeed.” For the first time, the Director looks grim. “Of course, that’s exactly what you’re attempting with 493, and if you could pull it off…we’ve had some interest. People who want to…serve their loved ones in a more straightforward and simplified fashion.” For just a moment, Mara tunes out, thinking with a sort of horrified fascination on the kind of environment that would lead to someone wanting to erase themselves while staying where they were.

Or, even worse, Mara pictures someone coming in asking for a loved one to be erased, returned sweet and pliable and empty. She barely represses a shudder. Ignorant of Mara’s internal monologue, the Director forges on.

“We are proposing that you take 067493 home as your Domestic. You will be responsible for making her into a…a prototype, essentially, for this therapeutic aid program. You will also be expected to report any aberrant behaviors that could conceivably result from…ah, memory confusion.”

“I can do that.” That all sounds absurd, and difficult, and unfair, but Mara doesn’t care right now. All she cares about is getting Jude and taking her home and, and having her. Having her back.

“We’re going to allow you an adjustment period, and then we’re going to ask that you bring 067493 in for regular checkups, where we’ll be looking for signs of this memory confusion, as well as updates on your progress.”

“That…yes, that sounds very doable.”

Once again, the Director smiles fondly across the desk at her, and Mara has a funny, frightening feeling that she’s become Barbara Hammond’s newest little pet project. “I believe that it is, Ms. Langford. Despite the cosmetic defaults, she seems like a sweet thing. I can’t wait to see what you do with her.”

___

When Handler Collins leads Jude out, Mara’s heart about stops in her chest. There she is. There’s Jude. There’s…Jude, and not Jude.

A pair of black shorts, a WRU white t-shirt over skin that’s much paler than last time Mara saw it. Her stocky frame diminished, all her old rugby muscle losing or lost. She looks like...Mara hates the cliche, but she looks like a ghost of her former self, literally. Skinnier, paler, a whole lot more haunted. Her hair, her hands, the freckles and the way she walks just a little pigeon-toed – that’s Jude, that’s Jude all the way. The flat, false calm in her face and the fear in her eyes…that’s someone else. Swallowing, Mara clasps her hands together in front of her, trying to quell the urge to reach for her girl.

“Here she is!” Handler Collins throws his hands out grandly from his place beside the boxgirl. “All yours.”

“Wow,” Mara manages. “Uh…wow.”

Collins shakes his head. “Wow is right. But, hey, wait – you want to check the damage?” He’s still grinning, like it’s no big deal, like it’s all a joke. Mara sucks in a deep breath. The-the Box Babe in front of her is wearing a t-shirt, but Mara can see her cracked reddened palms and wonders what the thin cotton over her chest is hiding.

“I…I guess, yeah. I mean, I’m taking her either way,” she mutters, trying for a joke. Collins is more than happy to laugh at her.

“Shirt off, 493.”

Hesitantly, the trainee obeys, darting a wide-eyed glance at Mara as she does. The cotton goes over her head and oh.

Oh. There, on the right side of the girl’s chest, is the burn, red and angry and raised, covered in blisters. The scarring is worst on her collarbone, but the pink, stretched, destroyed skin crosses her neck below the line of her collar in one direction, creeps toward her armpit in the other. Mara’s horror must show on her face, because the girl flushes, looks down.

“That’s um. That’s pretty bad.”

Handler Collins shakes his head. “You don’t have to tell me. Fucking Underwood. Fuck.” He spits on the ground near the trainee’s bare feet. “She’s finished the antibiotics she’s supposed to be taking. The vet thinks she should be set. Just uh, she’s got this stuff she’s supposed to spread on it.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Mara can’t stop staring at the burn, at the way it glares out, crimson and furious, from Jude’s pale, freckled skin. With effort, she tears her eyes away, to the downturned head of the waiting boxgirl. “Put…uh, put your shirt back on.”

The girl obliges quickly, and, Mara imagines, gratefully. She’s too well-trained to even wince when her movements stretch and ripple her healing skin. Mara’s eyes move hungrily over her face, her skinny body, searching for the parts of Jude she recognizes. The girl keeps her eyes on the ground but her cheeks go pink under the scrutiny.

“Doc, I gotta say.” Collins is shaking his head, and reluctantly, Mara turns her attention to him. “I don’t know how you got this one past the Director. I mean – a Box Babe for free? After what, ten months of working here?”

“Fourteen,” Mara corrects, a little too quietly. She clears her throat and tries again. “Over a year, Handler Collins.”

Rolling his eyes, Collins dismisses her with a flap of his hand. “A couple months, a year, whatever. A matter of months and you’ve got yourself a bonus worth tens of thousands? You must’ve shrunk the Director’s head to get her to agree to this one.”

Mara manages a tight smile for him. “I’m definitely…I definitely feel lucky.”

Leaning in, eyes gleaming conspiratorially, Collins puts his mouth near Mara’s ear. “You have good reason to feel lucky, Doc. Me and the guys – well, you’ve given some good advice, these past few months. It’s helped. And business is up. Company’s talking about padding the paychecks a little, and you’re a part of that, you know?” He gives her a hearty slap on the back and Mara forces a smile. “You’re part of the team! And the pet’s a gift from the company, but we thought, hey, why not a little something from us handlers, for our good doc?”

A shiver runs down Mara’s spine. “What…” she wets her lips, tries to sound amused, curious. “What did you do?”

“We only had a week or so to do it. Director Hammond decided so late, and all. But, but look, we crammed in some Romantic training, just for you.” Collins’ leer is too much. “None of the positions, of course, that shit’s extra, but a few of the lines, a few, ah…habits you might like.”

Mara thinks about him touching Jude and wants to tear the grin right off his face, wants to snarl and scratch and chew him out right there. Instead, she finds the girl’s eyes, searches there for some help, some hope, some recognition. Anything.

Her new Box Babe looks back at her with eyes that are flat and dull and empty.

[elisaphoenix13]

Delusional (Ch.1)

Okay, so this is something that won't be for everyone. It's a trope that me and my friends got into while RPing so this was born. I think this will be one of those fics that I'll only continue if there's enough interest. Let me know what you think!

Tony had been pissed when his parents told him that his mother was pregnant. He had no idea what possessed them to think having another kid was a good idea when they could barely pay attention to the one they already had, and he even said that. It ended up turning into an argument between him and Howard and Tony gave them both the cold shoulder for the entirety of Maria's pregnancy. Whether it was because of her age or possibly because of Tony's ongoing silent treatment stressing her out, his mother went into labor a month early. Tony couldn't even bring himself to visit his parents or the new baby at the hospital, but they eventually came home with his new baby brother that he almost considered ignoring completely.

But then he realized that would make him exactly like Howard.

So when his parents went gallivanting off to some party one day, leaving their preemie baby in the hands of the maid, Tony finally decided to properly meet his brother. A seventeen year age difference wasn't unheard of, but it still felt weird to walk into the nursery with the knowledge that the baby inside was a sibling. He decided he would make sure the baby was still alive and then go back to his bedroom to study for his physics final, but when he approached the crib the baby was sleeping in...he softened.

His baby brother slept peacefully on his back with his arms stretched out on both sides of his head and every so often snuffled in his sleep. He wasn't covered with a blanket and he vaguely recalled hearing that he shouldn't be at his age, but he was at least dressed warmly in tiny blue footie pajamas. He had wisps of dark hair that looked like they would be soft to the touch and Tony was tempted to reach out and see but he refrained. He didn't want to disturb the baby.

Tony had been so focused on ignoring Howard that he had to wrack his brain for his brother's name, which he knew his mother had told him. He was pretty sure he had been studying at the time and was only half listening, but it eventually came to him.

Scott.

Scott Harris Stark.

It was barely seconds later that the baby started to fuss and Tony looked around a little lost before finally giving in and leaning down to scoop him up. Tony was a goner after that. Scott's hair was just as soft as it looked and Tony was worried he could break his brother if he so much as sneezed. It didn't stop him from taking over most of the responsibilities of caring for Scott from that moment on though. Tony did his research, watched his mother, and even asked the maid for advice, but soon he was changing diapers. He fed Scott, stayed up for hours on end when he was colicky or sick, dressed him, played with him…

Tony was determined to make sure Scott had the love and attention he was deprived of. At least Maria tried with both of them.

But when Scott was just under a year old, tragedy struck. Both their parents died in a car accident on the way to a party, leaving Tony alone with his infant brother. Fortunately he was freshly eighteen so he could have legal guardianship over Scott and Tony had Rhodey and Obadiah for support and help with the company he now had control over. Scott always came first though. Tony made sure he had a decent childhood despite the fact that he easily got sick, and the adorable smiles he got in return were well worth it as Scott grew up.

So was the boy's first word. Dad. Tony never corrected him since he did raise Scott, and his brother never knew their parents. So as far as Scott knew, Tony was his father and Tony made sure to hide away the truth. As far as he was concerned, the lie wasn't hurting Scott and it was partly true in a sense.

He didn't expect it to be easy and it wasn't. Because Scott was born premature, he had special needs in the form of allergies (both food and environmental), asthma, and he even got sick constantly. Most days found Scott in Tony's room because the boy whined whenever Tony tried to put him in his own room, and he was terrified Scott would stop breathing in the middle of the night. Scott slept in Tony's bed until well into his grade school years when he finally started to grow out of his need to be near his father. Tony was still nervous and checked on Scott before he went to bed and at least once in the middle of the night when he woke up.

When Tony first found out Scott was allergic to peanuts, he was a wreck. He threatened the doctors to help his kid when he heard Scott wheezing for breath, and when the boy was finally recovering, he demanded they do whatever they had to do to check for any allergies he might have had. Tony didn't think he could handle seeing Scott as sick as he was again. The wheezing, the hives, the overall misery his little boy had been in…

It turned out Scott was severely allergic to all types of nuts. Peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts...if it was a nut, Scott couldn't have it. That was easy enough to plan meals around but then there was also shellfish, sesame, parsley, and pineapple. Whenever they went out to eat, Tony scrutinized every ingredient on the menu if it was available, and if it wasn't, he demanded to talk to the chefs. Fortunately once he learned what food Scott could have, it became second nature.

Tony always made sure to carry an inhaler and epipen with him, had extras held for Scott at school, and more in the boy's backpack. He taught Scott as early as possible what he couldn't eat because it would make him very sick and for the most part, things went well enough. There was only one incident at school when Scott unknowingly ate something he wasn't supposed to, but he was quickly treated with one of his pens and sent to the hospital. Scott was quick to bounce back from that since the school staff had been prepared, so the only constant issue was his asthma.

Scott never let it slow him down and Tony swore he was going to either go gray at 25 or suffer heart failure. The little boy was constantly climbing everything, and Tony once had to pull him off the bookcase that he managed to climb up to the fifth shelf. The fifth shelf. Rhodey had his fair share of retrieving Scott from high places whenever he visited too.

Before Tony knew it, Scott had grown into a young man with a talent for hacking and engineering and had a penchant for tacos, oranges, and lollipops. He helped Tony with a lot of his projects but absolutely refused to help with anything related to weapons. Scott never liked violence and always hated that Stark Industries was solely based on weapons making. Tony never faulted him for it.

"Scott, have you seen my--?" Tony stops mid sentence when he looks over at the young man and finds him at his computers with his feet kicked up on a small part of the desk, dozing with a lollipop in his mouth. "Oh, that's safe."

He walks over and takes the lollipop out of Scott's mouth and he jolts awake. "Hey! I was eating that!" Scott complains.

"Yeah, you were very proactive about it. I didn't raise you for 21 years so you could choke and die because you fell asleep with candy in your mouth." Tony rolls his eyes and sticks the candy back in Scott's mouth before he could protest. "Now have you seen that little screwdriver you like to steal?"

"You had it last, and I've been busy updating Jarvis's code." Scott answers.

"I saw that. I guess you're so good you can do it in your sleep."

"It was uploading!" Scott drops his feet to the ground with an annoyed huff. "And I told you I wouldn't help you with your stupid weapons. That includes finding misplaced tools."

"Fine, fine."

Tony tries fixing the cow lick in Scott's hair and rolls his eyes when it only floofs back into place. He learned very early on that his kid's hair was untameable but that didn't stop Tony from trying. Hair gel, pomade, hair spray...none of it could contain and style Scott's hair. The cow lick worked for him though so Tony wasn't too obsessed with trying to find something to keep it in place.

"Well while you wait for your new code to upload, why don't you make me a sandwich?" Tony says. "I gotta get the Jericho prototype finished tonight."

Scott frowns. "Why do they want you to fly all the way out to Afghanistan? What's wrong with how you usually sell this stuff?"

"It's just for a couple of days volpino. Now where's my tuna sandwich?" Tony asks.

"Probably in the fridge. It's deconstructed." Scott says as he leaves the lab.

"Oh, haha. Funny. I like mine constructed so get on it. Chop chop."

Tony smirks when he hears Scott mumble something under his breath along the lines "slave driver", but with no heat. Things had gotten easier as Scott got older but he never really grew out of his physical problems. He still had his food and environmental allergies, his asthma, and even his tendency to get sick, but that had mostly been remedied when Tony moved them to Malibu. The warm weather helped with that and Scott didn't get sick nearly as often as he did in New York, and that had been a huge relief for the both of them. Tony only wished he had thought of it sooner.

When Scott comes back with the sandwich and sets it nearby for Tony, the man looks up at him and rolls his eyes when he finds the younger man drinking out of a juice box. "You know you can have beer now right?"

"Juice is better." Scott says. "When are you leaving tomorrow?"

"You'll probably still be asleep. Even if I leave late." Tony grabs the sandwich and takes a bite. "So try not to blow up the lab while I'm gone." He adds around his mouthful.

"That's no fun." Scott says sarcastically. "Pepper called by the way. She said she has some paperwork for you to look at before you leave."

Tony groans. "Tell her I'm not home."

"It'll be true in a few hours anyway."

"Don't underestimate Pepper. She'll be waiting on the tarmac for me to look at those papers if she has to." Tony grumbles and then looks up at Scott with a suspicious smile that makes his son narrow his eyes at him. "You're 21. Maybe it's time to start giving you some responsibility with the company."

"I do. It's called making sure my dad doesn't blow himself up because he writes codes when he's half asleep. How are we still alive?"

"Rhodey and Happy." Tony replies dryly before whapping Scott upside the head. "Don't sass me."

Scott rubs the back of his head as he walks back over to his personal workstation to check on the progress of the code. When he had shown an interest in engineering and computers, Tony had immediately set up Scott's own work area with age appropriate equipment that he either replaced or updated as Scott got older. He was good at it too. Tony couldn't count the number of times he got calls from the FBI asking him to get Scott to stop leaving them viruses with laughing cat videos or something. They were always harmless and easily fixed, so Tony's response was to tell them to update their security so Scott couldn't get in.

Apparently they had yet to find a way to keep Scott out and Tony wasn't about to take away one of his son's very few joys in life. As long as it all stayed harmless, Tony would look the other way. He knew Scott was very capable of hacking into pretty much anything, and he was glad his kid was a pacifist. Because Scott was definitely very capable of getting his hands on nuke codes.

Tony actually wouldn't be surprised if Scott had already gone in and changed them.

Some whirring pulls Tony out of his thoughts and he looks over at the kitchenette to find DUM-E making smoothies again. A quick glance told him that there was at least peanut butter and almond milk in it so it wasn't safe for baby boy consumption.

"Hey! Are you trying to kill your little brother with that?" Tony asks and DUM-E beeps sadly when the blender goes off. "You know he can't have nuts!"

"There goes my social life." Scott says and Tony makes a face.

"I don't want to hear about that."

"Says the man whose one night stands I had to chase away."

Tony laughs. "To be fair, it was funny to see them get creeped out when you just stood in the kitchen and stared at them while drinking your juice box."

"...yeah. That was pretty fun." Scott admits.

"Sir, Miss Potts is on her way down." JARVIS says and Tony groans.

"Ugh the dreaded secretary with her paperwork."

There's a few beeps before the lab door hisses open and then the sound of heels clicking across the linoleum.

"Tony-"

"I know," he sighs. "Paperwork. Give it to Scott."

Pepper places the small stack next to his arm. "He's too busy making sure you don't blow yourself up."

"You know I had to teach him how to do that right?"

"And now he's better than you." Pepper says and Scott cackles.

"Ouch. My pride." Tony clutches at his chest in mock hurt.

"Please just look at this and sign. It won't even take you ten minutes." Pepper sighs.

"I trust you."

"Nice try."