#and I for one am totally cool with the traveller losing

[kiwisandpearls]

man I never really believed the whole “genshin players can’t read” thing but yeah now I’m starting to see where people who say that are coming from.

I haven’t gotten to arlecchino’s quest yet but her sparing the traveller makes sense. The traveller beat up childe but he is literally the lowest ranked harbringer. They couldn’t beat ei without yae’s help and got absolutely BODIED by her in their first encounter. We only managed to beat Scara only after repeatedly fighting against him several times and having enough data at our arsenal to beat him (basically we needed help from Nahida who is a god). I could list more but you get the point; most of the fights we’ve won were against opponents not as powerful as arlecchino and/or we were given help by someone else.

Arlecchino is different because not only does she rank higher than both signora and childe she also has that weird curse that gives her undefined powers. And while the traveller did use elemental powers in childe’s fight that was only when they were backed into a wall and literally about to get stabbed. They didn’t even use their powers in signora’s fight, who was higher ranked than childe. So best explanation for why they didn’t use their powers against arlecchino is that they didn’t feel they needed to. And even when they themselves were backed into a corner they physically could not move so they couldn’t even try to use them.

[lidiasloca]

Ok this one of my ideas not sure if I have actually read it before or if it was a fever dream. Az has a girlfriend/ mate that the inner circle hasn’t met before.she works with marja as a high and has maybe other powers I don’t know. I have 2x options in which to take this idea. 1. Azzy gets very hurt on a mission and his brought to you to fix him. Very emotional IC and reader. They save him blah blah. 2. Some of the healers are working on so far out town. Az was cutie and like don’t go. She was like boo you go all the time I going to help people. Love you be back soon. But while they are there they are kidnapped by someone ( you pick). Word gets back to Marja who tells Rhys and Az happens to be there. Az freaks out when he hears our name on the list of miss. Blah blah.

totally cool if you don’t wanna use. It is just an idea.

azriel being worried about you going on a mission

azriel x reader

fulff

a/n: i ain't really not for angst these days, so i only took the beginning of your second idea, hope u dont mind :)

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄☆

“You will not go,” Azriel sates, and his voice is so commanding and serious you stop in your tracks. 

“Azriel, we’ve been through this. I’m a healer. This is my job.”

“No, your job is to heal people being safe,” he explains as if you were stupid. You know he means well, but you are growing more irritated by the moment. “Your job is not putting your life in danger.”

“Well, saving lives in the middle of a war comes obviously with my life being in danger.”

Giving him your back, you continue packing all you need for the journey. You hear his footsteps getting closer, then his hand is on your back, gently stroking. “Y/N. Please,” and it sounds enough of a plea for you to turn and face him. 

“Azriel, you constantly put yourself in danger. Almost everyday I have to see you leave to work, with no assurance you will come back.”

His eyes drop to his feet in defeat. “I know, and I know it’s not fair for me to ask you this. But - I simply don’t care.” He watches you again, a spark of confidence and hope settles in his eyes. “I cannot risk loosing you, and the risk of loosing you is higher than yours is to lose me on a mission.” When he catches your frown, he adds, “You must give me this; I know how to defend myself better than you in the battlefield.”

You let out a soft chuckle, the seriousness of before fading a bit as a timid smile blooms on his face.

But your mind is made up. “Azriel,” you sigh. “I must go still.”

His lips close to a thin line, worry back in his face. He takes your hands in his scarred ones. You are to hear his angry pleads again, but to your surprise, he simple answers, “Alright.”

You open your eyes wide in astonishment. “Alright?”

Your mate grins before adding, “Alright.” And that grin means two things. Trouble, or planed trouble. 

“What is your mind up to, Az?” you ask accusingly, as if he was no more than a kid planing mischief. 

His grin grows more teasing. “Nothing, nothing,” he says as he turns to your travel trunk, putting things. His things. “It’s just that I'm going with you.”

“What?”

“What?” he says, totally unfazed by the situation. “You need protection. I want to know you are safe. You are no good with a sword, yet excellent healing people. I’m quite good with a sword. I think it’s a perfect plan.”

“You miss that Rhys has assigned you a mission in the Spring Court. Tomorrow.”

He looks at you, looking at you as if what you’ve said it’s dumb. “I don’t remember that.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Love,” he says, and his voice is serious again. “Please. I beg you, don’t make me suffer like this. Let me accompany you. I will talk to Rhys and he will understand. He knows how terrible it is to know your mate is in danger, no mater how strong or brave she is. And you are, but I am not strong enough to spend every second of the following days not knowing if you are safe.”

You sigh, now you are defeated. “Alright.” He smiles triumphantly, so you are quickly to add sternly, “But no scaring anyone that comes near me, understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” and he has that teasing smirk on his face again. 

-Characters by Sarah J Maas

HEY! IF YOU LIKED THIS, YOU CAN CHECK OUT MY AZRIEL MASTERLIST HERE <3

and you can also request any fic idea you have through my inbox so i can write it down :)) i much appreciate requests for azriel and other acotar characters

[roseghoul26]

Hello! I would like to request Cooper Howard x gn!reader (post war, because...murderous cowboy...hnnngh), where they struggle with mental health issues like depression? I've been in a really tough spot, having no energy or motivation to do anything or really any desire to take care of myself. So I was thinking, maybe the reader's mental health is declining, they're slower and sloppier when it comes to keeping up with Cooper and he's more and more frustrated. Then one day he has enough (maybe the reader is taking too long packing up) and threatens to leave them and they're just...passive, because they really don't care anymore about what happens to them. So he realises they haven't been taking care of themselves properly for a while now and then some soft moments with him? I know this is pretty dark and you can change this however you'd like, but I'm dying for some hurt/comfort with this man 🥺 It's totally cool if it's too much for you, if you decide to not write this, please just let me know, so I don't wait for it. Thank you so much, I love your Cooper fics <3

Cooper Howard | The Ghoul x gn!Reader

Synopsis: You’ve been struggling lately, putting both you and your traveling companion in danger. He was bound to confront you about it eventually. Tags: Prompt Request, Not Beta Read, Gender Neutral Reader, Depression, Mental Health, Mentions of Suicide, Disagreements, Comfort, Lazy Day, Cuddling, Beginning Relationships Author's Note: Trigger warning for topics relating to mental health, such as depression and suicide. Please do not read if you’re not in a good mental space. Take care of yourselves. Also, everyone’s experience with depression and mental health issues differs, so I am writing this story the way I experience it. Also, this was a fun challenge to write. Like how the hell would he approach a topic like this? It’s been fun to explore his character like that, and I hope I did it justice. Thank you so much for the request! <333

You used to be able to keep up with the Ghoul. 

Wherever he went, you followed, tearing through the Wastleland without hindrance. You watched his back, and he yours, a security that was unheard of in this world. It was a trusting friendship, bordering on something else, something that neither of you had crossed yet. You couldn't compete with over a hundred years of experience with a gun, but you were able to hold your own quite well. You were a decent shot and someone who never let anyone get the drop on you, senses always sharp. 

So when you started missing easy targets and found yourself surprised by opponents one too many times, you knew it was a matter of time before the Ghoul started asking questions and not believing the first lie that you said. The first time it had happened, you blamed it on your lack of sleep, and he seemed to buy it. And maybe you convinced yourself it was just a lack of sleep, ignoring the darkness that had begun to emerge in your mind. You just needed to rest, was what you told yourself. 

It happened again a few days later, completely missing a target in front of you. Your reactions had begun to slow down, too, unable to avoid the swing of a blade, cutting across your cheek. It was like your body gave up on wanting to move, an unbearable weariness to your muscles that you were unable to shake. Later, as you bandaged the wound on your cheek, the Ghoul confronted you, demanding to know why you were acting so sloppy. You’d merely shrugged, offering up the idea that you were sick. This time he seemed less convinced, yet he had let the matter go. 

You knew why you were acting the way you were. You weren’t unfamiliar with depression, far from it. It was something you’d dealt with your entire life, coming and going like waves. You’d go days, weeks, months and you’d be fine, but then a flip would switch. You’d lose your energy, your motivation, wanting nothing more than to just lay on the ground and never get back up. You’d stop taking care of your body. You’d lose your appetite. Your thoughts would turn dark, ideations and ideas flashing in your mind, things that you’d never tell another soul. 

For the months you’d been traveling with the Ghoul, you’d been able to keep a reign on your depression. Sure, you had your off days, but nothing like this. It was like the universe was punishing you for having such an excellent past months. 

But how could you explain this to your traveling partner? How could you explain that you didn’t have the energy to continue existing, to continue fighting? He needed you to be alert, to not have your thoughts occupied with something, that in perspective to the Wasteland around you, was trivial. 

So you kept your mouth shut, forcing yourself to appear alert and unaffected. You forced those thoughts to the back of your mind. You forced your body to move, no matter how much it screamed at you to just be still.

But it seemed that all that bottling your thoughts up did was make it worse. As the days dragged on, you stopped talking, only muttering small words whenever the Ghoul asked you a question. You’d normally spend the time traveling conversing, and the Ghoul did try to initiate a conversation with you, but no amount of questions and joking and jabs could get you to break. Eventually, he fell quiet too.

Sleeping became a challenge. You’d think with how exhausted your body felt, you’d be able to sleep easily, but the opposite was true. Hours would tick by, and you’d lie awake, getting up the next morning more exhausted than before you went to bed. Your face, already a bit gaunt from living such a difficult life, had grown even more so, the circles around your eyes darkening and your lips growing more chapped. 

You stopped eating, turning away the food he offered you. After you went a few days without eating more than a bite, he practically forced spoonfuls of food into your mouth, snapping at you the entire time. It was humiliating, but you couldn’t bring yourself to change. You just wanted to be done. 

You could tell that your demeanor was starting to annoy the hell out of the Ghoul, whose words had turned shorter and snappier. If you took too long, he’d grab you by the shoulder and drag you along, like an upset parent with their child. Your cheeks would burn every time, tears pickling your eyes, and you’d hang your head. 

There was a tension growing between you and the Ghoul, your friendship growing thin. His guard was up constantly, unable to trust you any longer to watch his back, which hurt you more than any knife or gun. Soft glances disappeared, his gaze scrutinizing when he looked at you. Light touches from him reserved for when you were at rest were no more, as you chose to keep to yourself every night. Instead of walking side-by-side, you’d linger a few feet behind him. You pretended like it was easier this way, to make him push you away, but it was tearing you apart. 

But eventually, that tension snapped. Too many close calls, too many sluggish movements, too many half-hearted excuses finally made him break. You’d just gotten up for the day, another sleepless night behind you, and you were packing up your few belongings. You must’ve been taking too long, because you heard him sigh audibly, standing in the open doorway of the room you’d sheltered in for the night. “What’s your fuckin’ issue?” He growled, arms crossed tight over his chest.

You looked up, feigning confusion. “I dunno what-”

“Bullshit,” he cut you off. He began to walk towards you, his steps methodical, threatening. “You’ve been actin’ like this for weeks, and you’ve only offered me half-assed excuses.” He was seething, and understandably so. He crouched down in front of you, rendering you unable to escape. “So, you,” he stuck a finger in your chest, barely avoiding hitting you, “are gonna tell me why. And don’t even think ‘bout lyin’, sweetheart.”

You swallowed, heart hammering in your chest at the confrontation. Words flooded your mind, a full explanation on the tip of your tongue, yet you just couldn’t bring yourself to utter it. Your mouth opened and closed, struggling, until you eventually just gave up. Sighing, you just shook your head, which pissed him off even more. 

A disbelieving laugh left him, and he ran a gloved hand over his face. “No? You’re kiddin’ me, right?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Ya know, I’ve tried to be lenient. I bought into your fuckin’ lies that you were ‘just tired’, ‘just sick’. I tried to give ya space, to give ya time to get out of this. But you’re gonna get us both killed if ya don’t fix yourself. I can’t be distracted out there, constantly worried ‘bout you and keepin’ you alive, ‘cause it seems like that’s the last thing on your mind.”

He took a breath, steadying his rising voice. “So I’m gonna give ya one more chance to explain yourself, or else I’m leavin’ without ya.”

“Then leave.” Your response came almost immediately, your voice lacking any inflection. Even though in the back of your mind you were screaming at him not to leave, you kept an air of indifference about you, unable to make yourself care. It would be easier if he just left, wouldn’t it? You wouldn’t be putting anyone else in danger, and you wouldn’t have to deal with the guilt you felt of him worrying about you so much. And it would be so much easier to just disappear if there was no one looking for you.

He wasn’t expecting that as a response if the look on his face told you anything. His brow muscles were raised, leaning back from you in shock. But the way he was watching you, it was like he was observing you in a different light, dots beginning to connect in his mind. “You’ll die out there without me.” 

You merely shrugged your shoulders, glancing down to continue packing your belongings, no longer able to look him in the eye. He didn’t respond, simply standing up with a sigh. You didn’t look up, not even as you heard him walk away, backing towards the entrance of the room. You didn’t look up, even as you heard the surprisingly gentle click of the door as it shut. You didn’t look up, even as the tears that you’d been holding for the past weeks finally fell.

You were alone.

You thought it would make you feel better like there would be a weight lifted off your shoulders. But everything just felt heavier, the thoughts in your mind becoming a tempest, making you physically weak. Expletives tumbled from your lips as you sagged down onto your arms, head hung. Of course, he’d fucking leave, you idiot. No one wants to deal with your moping.

A part of you wanted to chase after him, to beg him to stay, but you already felt pathetic enough. You couldn’t blame him for leaving, not at all. You were weighing him down, putting his life in danger; he said so himself. He could only deal with you for so long. You should be grateful that he didn’t leave sooner.

The sound of rustling fabric made you jump, finally looking up. The Ghoul had taken off his jacket, laying it across the back of the couch he had slept on, never having left the room at all. Stunned, you watched him sit, taking his hat off in the process and setting it on the floor. He finally caught your eye then, a soft look on his face, a look you hadn’t seen in a long while. 

“I thought you left,” you whispered, sitting back upright. Embarrassment warmed your cheeks, and you tried to wipe the tears that had fallen on them. 

“I ain’t leavin’ ya, sweetheart.”

“Why not?”

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Do you want me to go?” You’d never shaken your head faster in your life. “Then I’m stayin’.”

“But why?”

He sighed. “‘Cause I care ‘bout you. I… Is that too hard to believe?”

It is. Unable to find words, you just shrugged again. 

Something akin to regret or remorse flashed across his face, and muttering something under his breath he reclined against the couch. He was upset, but even now you could tell it was not because of you, at least not fully. “C’mere,” he murmured, patting the couch beside him. “You look like you’re gonna fuckin’ bolt at any second.”

Taking a steadying breath, you complied, albeit with some difficulty, your legs barely wanting to function. His gaze didn’t leave you once, as much as you wished it would, making you want to collapse in on yourself. The walk to the couch felt like it was miles long, but you eventually made your way over to it and him. 

He rolled his eyes when you just stood there in front of him, unsure of what to do with yourself. “Sit down, I ain’t gonna fuckin’ bite.” In another situation, you knew he’d add some comment like unless ya want me to, but he bit his tongue. The couch groaned as you sat next to the Ghoul, keeping a foot between your bodies. “Talk to me,” he commanded, yet his voice was gentle. “What the hell’s goin’ on?”

You picked at the skin around your nails, no doubt drawing blood. “I’m… I’m not quite sure how to explain it,” you responded, and you expected your words to upset the man even more. But he nodded his head slowly, an almost understanding look on his face. “I’m just… done."

“Done with… what? Bein’ out on the road?” You shook your head. “Travellin’ with me?” You shook your head again, this time more vehemently. “Done with what?” You knew that he knew the answer to his question, but he wanted you to say it.

“I’m done with… with existing. I just can’t bring myself to care anymore. I’m just so tired of it all.” You sagged back against the couch like speaking took a toll on your body. “I’m so tired.”

He didn’t respond for a while, mulling over your words. “That… that explains a lot,” he chuckled humourlessly. “Your mind won’t just leave ya the hell alone, will it? It's like all your mind can focus on are these terrible fuckin’ things, no matter what ya do. And it just weighs on ya, like a million pounds, getting worse with every passin’ day until you just wanna… give up.”

He explained it perfectly, and you cocked your head to the side, a bit confused about how he was able to do so. “I ain’t a stranger to what you’re goin’ through. We’re well fuckin’ acquainted, to say the least. So I shoulda recognized it sooner with ya.” 

He paused, sighing. “Wanna know somethin’?” You nodded. “I was too busy thinkin’ ‘bout what I did to upset ya that I didn’t bother to think of any other possible reason as to why you’re actin’ the way you are. But once I realized it wasn’t my fault, not entirely, instead of bein’ there for ya, I was an ass. I thought, because I’m a damn idiot, that you were just mopin’ around for the hell of it, putting us both in danger simply ‘cause you were tired or some shit. Not once did I stop to think why. And I apologize.”

“You don’t gotta-” He cut you off with a pointed look. “I… I accept your apology, then.”

He nodded slowly, content. “I’d like to help ya, sweetheart. I know nothin’ I say or do is gonna make it go away like that… but I’d like to try. Whatever ya need from me, and you’ve got it.”

“I’m not sure what I need exactly,” you admitted quietly.

“When ya figure it out, will ya let me know?” You nodded.

“Just… be patient. As difficult as that is for you.” You hadn’t meant for the jab to come out, but you weren’t taking it back. Especially when a loud laugh left the Ghoul, making a smile of your own appear on your face. It was faint, yet it was there.

An almost starstruck expression appeared on his face, his laughter dying out. “I missed seein’ ya smile,” he murmured as if it was a subconscious thought.

You ducked your head, making him laugh again. “As for bein’ patient, well, I can be that, if that’s what ya need.”

“It’ll take some time,” you cautioned again, indirectly giving him a chance to back out of this. 

“Time ain’t an issue. I’ll wait as long as it fuckin’ takes.”

“You mean it?” Your voice was so soft, barely audible to either of you. 

You watched as one of his gloved hands inched towards you, palm upturned. Tentatively, you placed your in his, eyes growing wide when he brought your hand to his lips, kissing the back of it gently. “I swear,” he uttered, sealing the promise with another press of his lips.

As you returned your tingling hand to your lap, his eyes scanned over your face, a furrow appearing between his brow. “How long has it been since you’ve eaten somethin’? Somethin’ that I didn’t force ya to eat,” he added when you opened your mouth to respond. 

Your silence said enough, and he leaned down to his bag, which he had placed beside the couch when he sat. After a few moments of rustling through, he handed you a small bag of what appeared to be jerky, as well as a small canteen of water. “It ain’ human,” he added when you eyed the bag suspiciously before taking it.

The jerky was salty and tough when you took a bite, not quite wanting to, but unable to not eat under his gaze. You ate in silence until your stomach was full and your teeth hurt from the tough material. Taking a swig of water, you could feel your eyes growing heavy, eating seemingly draining your energy more than replenishing it. Stifling a yawn, you shoved the canteen back into his hand, and you noticed he had an almost pleased look on his face. 

You were confused, though, when he stood, making his way to the entrance of the room. For a moment, those thoughts flashed in your mind that told you that he was finally leaving, that he realized how pathetic you were. But instead of doing any of those things, you watched as he simply wedged a chair under the handle of the door, like he had done before you went to bed for the night. 

“What’re you doing?”

“We takin’ the day off. Doctor’s orders.”

“But aren’t we supposed to be in Filly in a few days?”

“We’ll be fine. You are gonna spend today catchin’ up on some much-needed rest.” He stood in front of you now, a moth-eaten blanket in his hands. 

“And what are you gonna do?” You asked, and he shrugged. 

“Don’t worry ‘bout me, sweetheart. Go ‘head, lie down.”

Your eyes quickly scanned the couch, and you took a deep breath before speaking again. “The couch is big enough for us both, no?”

For the second time that day, you’d stunned him with your responses. “Is… is that what ya want?”

Encouraged that he hadn’t just outrightly said no, you nodded your head, and a fond look crossed his features. He handed you the blanket before sitting once more, but instead of his back being against the cushions, he rested it against one of the armrests, not before tucking a pillow in front of it. 

Once he was situated, he opened up his arms to you, and you could’ve laughed at how uncertain he looked. Hands rested on your body when you laid down, head on his chest, laying on your stomach, and you made sure the blanket covered both your bodies as best you could. You weren’t too worried about covering all of you, though, with the sheer amount of warmth he was radiating. 

His eyes were already on you when you glanced up, a smile pulling at his lips. “Comfy?”

“Yes.” Your voice was barely audible, but he heard it. 

You felt his fidget with something in his hand behind your back, but you didn’t have to wait long to find out what he was doing. You felt fingers run along your scalp, making you shudder, before combing through any hair there. “Alright?”

You sighed contently, nodding your head before letting it fall back onto his chest. He continued to run his fingers there, his other hand tracing patterns across your shoulders. You hadn’t realized how tired you were until now, finding it hard to keep your eyes open. For the first time in a long time, you felt safe. Safe from the world outside this room. Safe from the thoughts that plagued your mind. Safe from everything. 

He didn’t have to see your face to know that you were struggling to stay awake. “Go to bed. I’ll be here when you wake.”

“Promise?”

“Ain’t fuckin’ like I’m gonna be able to get up,” he chuckled, before taking a more serious tone. “I promise.”

That was all you needed to hear before you finally let the final strings of consciousness leave your grasp. Before you lost control of all your senses, though, you felt him lean down, pressing a barely-there kiss to the top of your head. “You’ll get through this, sweetheart.”

You believed him.

[spaceacealex]

Trip report!!

For those that have been waiting, sorry! I got home and immediately had to go help with a family thing. But here it is!

First, was the obvious. We had to drop off the baby boy with my parents. He had a great time with the family and was very dirty, stinky, and sleepy when we got back.

So where were we? We went to see the eclipse! As many of you know, My wife proposed to me under totality in the 2017 solar eclipse. So she surprised me with time off to travel to this last one on 4/8!

We flew to Nashville, TN and rented a car so I could scratch my road trip itch. We visited her family in KY, then went up to Cairo, IL for the event.

THIS is the public library in Cairo. It's an absolutely darling building, built originally to be a library and still proudly serving that purpose. The gals who were manning the counter were sweet, knowledgeable, and so welcoming. They had goodie bags with moon pies and starbursts and collected the eclipse glasses when we were done with them so they could be sterilized and sent down to Mexico for the next eclipse. So lovely to talk with and they welcomed us to spend the eclipse on their lawn with some local families. So we did!

We had a little picnic, chatted with some of the families, and got to watch totality in a tiny little town with so much character I still smile just thinking about it.

Hopefully you don't expect us to have top tier eclipse photography lol, but these are great for us! I got to kiss my wife under totality and it was hella romantic.

Then I got to drive more....then Kara got to drive because there were a ton of accidents and the three hour drive back to Nashville took more than six hours. So uh, my motion-sick self was struggling with the stop and go traffic.

But when we got there, we had a great night and then day walking around Eastside Nashville and pointing out the arcades I was going to take Kara to that evening.

That didn't quite happen.

Because the first stop we made in the arcade crawl is where we stayed all night.

No Quarter, the pinball arcade I now have a hat for because it's so friggin cool. We got to do many cool things there. 1)They had excellent drinks and in true Oregonian fashion I got to try the local cider and judge it. (it was good!) 2) I kicked Kara's ass at pinball. Very important. 3) I got MY ass kicked at pinball by literally every other person in the building. Also very important. Because 4) I got to play in a pinball tournament hosted by Belles and Chimes, specifically for women and non binary folks!

How did I, notorious nerves-haver and not a multiplayer pinball player join this?

5) I got to meet Quinn Hills. You know, @quinnhills ? Yeah. I'm still so giggly about it.

Hi. This pic is me, many drinks in, just absolutely giddy getting to meet (and hug!!) one of my favorite artists.

She's so sweet, so kind, and asked if I wanted to join the tournament.

Remember: do what beautiful women ask of you.

I am still kicking myself because I dropped the cliche, "your music has helped me through some really hard stuff." I mean, its absolutely true!! But I had told myself I was gonna be more eloquent than that. Oh well. I would blame the cider, but I was super excited and nervous before that, so I think I'm just a little goofy.

Kara also was happy to meet the woman who's music I had been blaring for that whole six plus hour car ride back to Nashville, and she's agreed to play pinball with me at our home bar! Major win!

We stayed until one in the morning, Kara ordered pizza to the hotel, and we had safe flights back home the rest of the day.

It was such a fun trip and I'm still losing my mind at all the little bits of it.

When I stream next (soon) I'm sure you'll hear about all this again. Along with my breakdown of eclipse conspiracies I've spent far too much time analyzing. <3

[heliads]

LISA YOU DID NOT GIVE ME TIME TO PREPARE FOR THIS!!! However, I already had a few ideas in mind for the next time you opened requests, so:

May I pretty please request a Thorin Oakenshield + gender-neutral reader where the reader is a fairy who comes along on the journey to Erabor because Gandalf thought they needed another magic-user? Reader is a very sweet sunshine who gets along great with all the other party members, but because Thorin doesn’t trust fairies the same way he doesn’t trust elves (because they didn’t assist the dwarves after Erabor fell the first time) he refuses to let them get close to him. However, he does start to get closer to them and develop feelings for them as time goes on, but after the Battle of the Five Armies (where everyone lives, obviously) they can’t find the reader for a while and Thorin is terrified they might be dead. And when they finally find them relatively unharmed Thorin freaks out and confesses his love because he doesn’t want to lose them, and then there’s a very nice fluffy ending??

Of course, if you don’t want to write this, that’s totally cool!! Thanks and I hope you’re doing well!! <3 <3

YESSSS i am ascending to a higher plane thank you for this SUBLIME request

masterlist

The water is wide, the mountains high; no journey worth taking was ever meant to be easy, so you may assume from the first few treacherous days of your travels towards the Lonely Mountain that this quest of yours will be quite worthy indeed. It is not in your nature to spend much time musing on the unhappiness of a time, only to find its merits, but, well, there are far more sources of unhappiness than happiness on this particular journey. 

It would not be too much of a leap for even your optimism to be brought down a notch or two, to say the least. Already, your smiles are lacking a little at the seams; your jokes, not among your finest work.  Patience is stretched thin amongst the company, and the shadow of Erebor is no closer to the tips of your boots than the Shire far behind you.

The Shire was not your home, though, only the starting point. The last member of the company was Bilbo Baggins, your burglar, and he took quite a bit of convincing before he was willing to set a single foot beyond the familiar confines of his home. You’re not sure he was wrong to question the idea of the quest, though, nor if he regrets it already or not. Danger dogs your heels like a bloodhound, plus the rest of the company is nothing like any of the hobbits Bilbo has ever met.

Bilbo Baggins would not be the only one confused by his company, however. As a faerie, you’ve had the opportunity to travel far past the bounds of your city, to meet characters both kind and cruel. The Fae cluster in settlements like elves, but they disperse themselves to the winds, too. Most of you end up tossed to the whims of Fate soon enough, anyway. This was your chance to get to know the world you inhabit, and it appears you’ll get far more of a tasting of it than you ever expected.

It’s not terrible. That should go without saying. You are not unhappy that you are here, nor bitter that you signed the contract to join the company of Thorin Oakenshield when you could have stayed at home to rot. It is a good cause, this, and it will bring you both glory and treasure, should you want it.

The biggest problem, if you were going to be completely honest with yourself, would be that dwarf tasked with managing all of you, Thorin. You get along splendidly with all of the other dwarves, and Gandalf has been a friend of yours ever since you wowed him with a particularly ingenious magic trick when you were small, but for some reason you have never been able to win over Thorin himself.

That is not for lack of trying, not in the slightest. Gandalf was the one who requested that you join the company, certain that having another magic user on their side would not be the worst thing in the world as you passed through dangerous territory and had to take on a dragon later on. You showed up to meet the company with the best and purest of intentions, but Thorin seemed unable to accept the fact that you really wanted to help.

In truth, you don’t think he wanted to accept it. Thorin is displeased with the faeries the same way he’ll never forgive the elves, for the same reasons he’ll glare icily at humans. When Thorin’s kin fell along with Erebor, the faeries didn’t help. Thorin begged for aid, but the faeries did not respond. You’ll never fully know why, nor were you personally responsible for the betrayal, but that does not stop Thorin from treating as if you were the linchpin keeping support from his people.

It doesn’t matter, though. It doesn’t have to matter. Thorin’s personal feelings are not why you signed onto this quest. You joined because an old friend asked, and because the idea of helping to liberate the dwarves’ homeland from a dragon seemed like a good thing to do and a fascinating way to pass the time. Faeries don’t take things seriously. They never have.

So, you let your caution with Thorin fly away from you on an eagle’s strong wings, and you throw yourself into helping whenever you can. Gandalf is pulled away from the company soon enough for a myriad of causes, and even Thorin can admit that your magical skills come in handy soon enough. You save all of their lives dozens of times over, and you find real friendship in the company while you’re at it. Nothing a little optimism can’t handle.

Some of the nights get long, though, and the warmth of a covert campfire can only keep your tired frame from shivering for so many hours. They say the bones of the Fae are hewn from diamonds, your blood, the eternal nectar of the gods, but at this moment, you want only the mysticism and riches of a good meal and clothes that actually protect you against the chill. The mountains only get colder as you travel through them, and you don’t think you’ll be able to shake the prick of gooseflesh for decades if not centuries.

You’re on watch at the moment, scanning the dark horizon around you for monsters or orcs while the rest of the company rests. You’ll have another hour or two before you have to wake the next guardian– Bilbo, actually, who’s still snoring with the rest– so you should have plenty of time to yourself until then.

You should, at least. You don’t, because someone here is still awake. You had cast a spell on yourself to amplify sound and sight at the start of your watch so you could spot intruders that much more quickly, which is why you’re aware of one heartbeat other than your own that isn’t in the lull of sleep. When you tilt your head to the side just enough, you can make out someone staring in your peripheral vision.

Thorin. Who else? At first, you feel a rush of indignation bubble through your veins. There’s no reason for him to be awake on a night like this. Everyone is exhausted from weeks of hard travel, but he’s forced himself to forgo rest so he can make sure you are actually doing your job. After all this time, he still doesn’t trust you to do watch properly. It’s infuriating.

Sick of pretending like you don’t notice, you turn abruptly to stare him dead in the eyes. You expect Thorin to do something:  address you, maybe, or do something to acknowledge that he’s been caught, but instead he just holds your gaze coolly for a moment longer before turning on his other side. Half an hour later, he’s asleep.

Heroes. You’ll never understand them. The Fae are not the stuff of legends; your people prefer to linger in shadows and sunlight both, existing for themselves and for the glory of magic. Heroes, quest-leaders, warriors, they were never someone you grew up with. They have different motives, ones you don’t understand. They think they need to watch your back just because it’s the right thing to do. It confuses you, makes you believe things that might not be true. You don’t need someone like Thorin messing with your head right now, but he seems perfectly content to do it anyway.

The rest of the night passes without issue. You finish your watch shift without anything impactful, and rouse a deeply annoyed Bilbo to take over after you. Thorin doesn’t trouble you again, and indeed, the next day he seems perfectly content to act as if nothing had ever happened.

No self-respecting faerie would ever let themselves drop a grudge, though, so you manufacture a way of bringing it up before long. The company disperses in a long line, the slower ones trailing behind while Thorin keeps up the charge at the front. You make your way up to him, waiting until everyone else behind you is sufficiently far away so as to not hear a word of the inevitable quarrel, then cast Thorin one sidelong glance.

“Would you like to tell me why you’ve been watching me?”

Thorin actually stumbles while he’s walking, but manages to right himself just in time. “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

You weren’t expecting him to outright deny it. This past night hasn’t been the only time you’ve caught his eyes on you. It has happened from the very start of the quest, actually. At first, his gaze was pinned to you like a wanted poster, full of judgment and suspicion. Recently, the hostility has gone down, but that doesn’t make him any less willing to look away. His gaze chases your heels as you clamber over rocks, lingers on your fingers as you fight. All this, and he still wants to act as if nothing has happened.

You scoff. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Let’s discuss last night, then. You keep staying awake during my watch. Why? Do you really trust me that little?”

Thorin shakes his head, keeping his gaze firmly trained on the horizon. “I do trust you.”

This does actually come as a surprise. He hasn’t been able to admit it aloud, likely because that would contradict his whole idea that faeries are selfish creatures who left his people to die in the fall of Erebor, but apparently he’s made an exception for you.

“Then why not let me conduct my watch in peace?” You pry.

Thorin jerks a shoulder up and down once, a taut and tense version of a shrug. “I don’t want any lapse in judgment to injure the people I care about.”

You feel your relatively good mood drop. Thorin lashes out often, most frequently when he’s sure he’s only leading his company towards their imminent destruction, so you shouldn’t take it personally. Kind of hard not to, though.

“So you think I’m blind to attackers and I’ll get everyone killed, is that what you’re saying?”

“No, I’m just worried that there are things out there worse than one of your spells,” Thorin argues, but he doesn’t sound too convincing anymore.

You shove your hands into the pockets on your coat. “You know, I just don’t get it. If you’re this opposed to faeries, why did you ever let Gandalf convince you to let me join your company?”

“I didn’t want to at the start,” Thorin begrudgingly admits, “but that was at the start, like I said. Things are different now.” He pauses, voice heavy with secrets as of yet left unsaid, then adds, “We’re different.”

You think this might be the most honest thing he’s ever shared with you. It makes you feel– a lot, actually. It makes you feel things you have not considered until now. Thorin does trust you and he does have reasons he wants to keep you around. In fact, he might even be counting you among the people he cares about and wants to protect.

You don’t have much time to think about it, not on the road and not even after you reach Erebor and immediately have to contend with an infuriated dragon. Thorin shows you the place after you have a moment of relative peace, pointing out the details his ancestors built into a home that has not been his in quite some time. It is as if he wants you to remember all of it. It is as if he wants it to be yours as well.

Peace does not last forever, it never does. One day, you’re exploring every room and corridor of Thorin’s home beneath the Lonely Mountain, the next, you’re watching army after army pour over the surrounding hills. No one likes power when it isn’t theirs. The thought that Thorin might finally have claim to his ancestral land wasn’t well favored by anyone in the vicinity, apparently.

That only means that you’ll have to fight twice as hard to keep Erebor in the hands of your friends. Even when the elves ride up to your doorstep with the humans, even when the orcs arrive out of nowhere, you stay and fight. Always. That’s what you do for the people you care about.

Thorin had asked once if you were going to leave. He’d posed the question slowly, hesitantly, eyes on any other object in the room except you, but you’d still had the perfect view of the relief on his face when you told him you would stay until it was done. There was still an open question of what you would do when it was over, but surviving a battle of this magnitude was the first crisis to deal with. Anything else could happen later, once everyone made it through alive.

That alone seemed like an impossible task, and by all accounts, it should have been. Never before in your life have you cast so many spells of such strength, saving the lives of your friends and ending those of your enemies all in turn. When it is over, you are covered in blood and ash, utterly exhausted, and injured, but your heart beats, at least, and that is enough.

You were separated from the rest of Thorin’s company during the progress of the battle, drawn out to find the best vantage point from which you could cast your spells. At first, you were going for long distance attacks, lobbing fireballs and extensive charges from a crumbling rooftop, but orcs quickly descended upon you and you were forced to resort to closer quarter magic instead.

Perhaps that is why they thought you were dead. When they could no longer see your spells from across the battlefield, there was no way to tell for sure if you were still alive. You were far away from them, fighting off the last of the enemy, and you didn’t find them for a while.

More specifically, they didn’t find you for a while. Later, you hear that Thorin had been in a sort of frantic haze, going over every rock and stone in his path in an all consuming quest to find you. You weren’t with Fili and Kili, who were immediately folded into the search party, nor were you alongside the other dwarfs. Bard had not seen you. Neither had some of the elves. By all accounts, you were gone. Vanished from sight.

That was the one thing Thorin wanted to hear the least. A body is something you can handle, a final decision. If he could not see you, he assumed you were either dead or about to be, and only his actions could save you. He would run himself ragged trying to find you and stop your death before it happened. He would have forced all the orcs in the land back to the fiery hellhole they came from, fought every monster and defeated every enemy, if it would have stopped a sword from piercing your heart.

And so, when he finally stumbled over a rocky outcropping and saw you calmly casting a spell of healing on one of his cousin’s soldiers. You had turned upon hearing him approach, and the last of Thorin’s terrors left him in one fell swoop. You were alright. He was alright. Everything, although damaged and broken and wholly consumed with ash and blood, would somehow end up okay.

Not much was said. Both of you lacked the words. Too many friends had been lost, not enough saved. Erebor would be protected, though. You swore that oath at the start, back when you joined the company for the first time, and you promise it again now. The Fae will have to wait a little longer to welcome you back. You would like to stick around a for a while.

requested by @starlit-epiphany, i hope you enjoy!

tolkien taglist: @rogueanschel, @retvenkos, @gods-fools-heroes, @crazyhearttragedy

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

Hello sex witch!

I am an afab person who hasn't ""lost their virginity"" with another person yet - but i do masturbate enough to know what i like, and so i would like to start having sex with people. Preferably casually, because I'm not really interested in relationships rn.

Problem is, I have lived my whole life in a small-ish town where there are hardly any opportunities for me to meet other queer people or safely approach anyone with sex in mind. I'm still living at my parents' house. My uni is in another bigger city, but I have to catch the train home every night, so I can't really go explore the club life there.

I will be leaving for a student exchange programme soon, going to another country. I thought this could be an opportunity for me to start having sex, but I'm not sure how safe it would be to "lose" my virginity abroad? My insurance covers gynaecologist appointments, but there will be a language barrier. I will be thousands of kilometers away from my friends and family who could provide support should anything go wrong. And what if i'm just being weird about all this and should really just find a way to have sex here in my country instead of treating it like a fun travel experiment?

I know it's mostly up to me to consider the pros and cons, but do you have any thoughts on this? Advice?

hi anon,

the amount of worst case scenarios you've already come up with regarding this plan suggests to me that it's maybe not the best idea for you.

in any case, I generally don't recommend anyone goes into any situation dead set on making it a sexual opportunity. that's not ultimately something that you can totally control - partnered sex definitionally requires at least one other person to be involved, and that's not something you can guarantee will happen unless you want to pay someone for it (which is a perfectly fine option, but I'm not sure it's the kind of experience you're looking for.)

it takes a lot of random chance and luck for compatible sexual partners to find each other, and if that doesn't happen when you were really determined that it would it can be devastating. trust me, I've been there - and I wasn't even doing something as exciting as going abroad. it can really suck the wind out of your sails during what could otherwise be a very cool experience if you're holding the trip to a sexual standard that you can fall short of through absolutely no fault of your own - after all, no matter how eager you are you've ultimately got no say over whether other people want to have sex with you.

I'd say you can certainly go into the trip with a mind open to the possibility of sex and assess your options if you find yourself meeting someone who you feel a possible connection with, but don't approach the trip with sex as a set goal.

[oliversrarebooks]

The aliens seems so cool. I usually am no fan of aliens...but I totally would like to know everything about them...diving into character info dumps is my favorite thing. If you have anything to info dump about the aliens or writing aliens or anything 🤔 feel free to info dump

I'm so glad you enjoy them! I would love to info dump but as soon as someone asks me, I go blank about it...

The aliens have enormous colony ships that they've parked primarily on the ocean surface and on the shores. They're the size of small human cities and contain a wide range of amenities for the aliens and their new human pets and servants.

Zach's superior is the captain of one of these ships, and it takes great pride in having made a pet of one of the leaders of the human resistance who had been a thorn in its side. At first he took Zach mainly as a status / power flex, but he quickly became attached and began to dote on the human, buying Zach many toys and decorations and a luxurious sleep pod. Worker humans mainly wear jumpsuits that indicate their function, but pet humans are dressed and decorated however their owners wish. High-end establishments in the ship always have accommodations for pets.

This particular race of aliens takes great pleasure in its mind control abilities and travels through the galaxy subjugating weaker planets. They mostly leave behind their workers and pets of other species when colonizing a new planet, so the humans haven't seen many, but that will change once the invasion of Earth is declared officially over and the humans become integrated into their society.

Oh yeah, and the humans are losing. At the time of the story there are a few dozen pockets of human resistance left throughout the world. The aliens declare the invasion successful a few months after Zach's recapture, at which point there are only scattered groups of stray humans left free.

Bullets do little damage to the aliens. Explosives are more effective. They're very sensitive to flashbangs and bright lights, which becomes a key part of resistance strategy. Blades are also effective for cutting off their tentacles.

The initial invasion was very swift. The aliens used their colony ships to blanket the earth with a psychic compulsion to be docile and still and not resist. The vast majority of humans fell to this immediately, and were swiftly collected by the aliens for large scale processing. The aliens no longer use this blanket compulsion because it interferes with the commands given to already-processed humans (and besides, the remaining humans are largely the ones who were able to resist this initial assault). Many pockets of former human civilization look untouched because nearly everyone immediately surrendered, leaving behind everything.

Thanks for permission to ramble!

[seventh7crow]

crazy rant about something that's been rotting my brain, but if D&D really wanted to cut the show short, why didn't they let the Night King win?

i am definitely not one for nihilistic, sad and everything bad endings, but letting the Night King win would have been a much more majestic way to end up the show, or to at least cut it short until someone else wanted to take over. i'll explain, because probably nobody is agreeing with me, but that's what Tumblr is for.

first of all, i have to say that i fucking pray all the time for George R. R. Martin not to choose something like this as an ending for the books, because i do not think it truly goes with the full message of the story, but let's get going.

as far as i know, the whole deal with the show's ending it's that the writers wanted to do other stuff, and therefore stopped caring, doing stupid choices and blaming it on “subverting expectations”. however, if they truly wanted that… why didn't they let the evil win?

of course, it would have been the most unexpected choice, but also much easier for their lazy asses: most of the plots could have been let unfinished (because, well, you don't have much time to complete your character arc when there's a fucking ice zombie apocalypse) and the writers would only have to make sure that certain things remained making sense until the end. and by those things i mean people not respawning suddenly (ehem, the dothrakis) or teleporting from place to place.

only a bit more of information about the Night King would have been needed: put revenge as the motion of all of it, or better, make it seem like it is at first and show us the truth behind it. show how the Night King once was a victim of that famous “wheel” Daenerys once talked about: the children of the forest and the first men fought, and so they condemned the Night King forever, so now he wants to destroy the wheel. imagine he thinks of himself as a savior too: peace beyond the grave, every single soul united in one big will without no other intention to interfere.

imagine we learn how his plan has evolved: at first, he only wanted everyone to suffer the same cruel fate he once experimented. but then we discover how he came to learn to see a future after death. one that it's better, one that it is more fair. one without wars, or hunger, or pain, or even seasons to interfere: nothing more than a peaceful, long night.

we learn this through Bran, and we resonate with his motives thanks to Jon, through whom we discover that there's nothing after life if it's not for the Night King's plan.

some of our heroes' faith wavers, and maybe we even see some men and women willingly switch their sides, ergo, kill themselves. fighting to death for the aftermath to be totally empty? why not choose a peaceful, everlasting afterlife?

however, we see the strong will of most of the characters to remain alive: the freedom of one's soul and all the things that it brings us, such as love itself. they realize all the many reasons there are to, well, decide not to “live” as a meaningless zombie forever.

but at the end, no matter how much they fight, the white walkers take over the whole place, killing everyone and growing in number. some lose their will and let themselves die, some fight to the end, but the Long Night comes and nothing but snow is left behind.

in my version of these events, only the dragons survive (maybe someone might think about some characters making it out, and it could be cool, but in my version all of them die). with ice symbolizing death and fire life, they are the only remaining beings full of it to escape the doom. Rhaegal, Viserion and Drogon arrive Essos, where people are confused about the radio silence from Westeros. after many years, some of Essos' most curious minds decide to explore what happened, possibly even sending grayscale infected as test drives, confused about why the dragons do not want to travel back to Westeros.

like that, the Song of Ice and Fire is told to the following generations: a story about a war between life and death where unfortunately the latter stressed on its inevitability. “Valar Morghulis” or “all men must die” it's repeated more than ever, gaining a new meaning when people popularize newer doctrines where it is key to accept death as part of live. at the end of the day, if they remain uncertain of the consequences of not embracing it, they can always visit the ruins of the forgotten continent of Westeros to see the undeath roaming the land.

well this was just a silly little idea, to be honest, so don't mind me too much. however, even this stupidity would have made more sense that the actual Game of Thrones ending. i feel it would have been cool to see sacrifices such as people deciding to “stay behind” to burn the bodies and ensure their loved ones didn't turn into white walkers, risking themselves to become “others” as well. it would have also been great to see the last images of Westeros be the Essosi people arriving to a frozen landscape. maybe the only survivors could have been some remaining children of the forest.

at the end, it all would have been more cathartic. no less controversial than the actual ending, but i feel like it would have made more sense? i don't know, i just hope you all like the idea, or at least that you find it interesting!

[childlikegoblinqueen]

Chapter 88 Writing Notes.

I REALLY hope I didn't lose you all with the last chapter structure!

I like to play with formats to tell the story outside of Hunter's POV and feed the reader clues as to what has been building.

88 Chapters of emotional build up, political intrigue, peppered with lore has been A LOT to keep a handle on.

I also can't help but mess with the audience sometimes -- I just hope this wasn't TOO weird for you all... I like to torture myself too.

Thanks to @unniebeans who gave me a heads up as to how to use the weird text in Ao3.

A few more notes for spoilers below but I am working on an in universe One Shot from Vee's POV based on one of @yayay0827's ridiculously angsty comics.

And next chapter we will finally (mostly) see an appearance of someone who has been teased throughout the story.

So the In-Between Realm is REALLY intriguing!

I am a big mythology buff and am DYING to play with some of that lore, but maybe in another fic (or a follow up I might do?)

Either way, when Luz made her deal with Papa Titan she was MOSTLY DEAD, and she had traveled there before when visiting her mother.

But how do the rules work there, and are there other ways to open that gate?

This is the third time (I believe) that Hunter has had a brush with the In-Between Realm -- and the first where he seemed immersed in it.

There's a common link between the times it's happened which I am not going to spoil -- but it does tie into everything.

Any theories on who the voices were that Hunter heard as he lost his ability to exercise free will?

The importance of music is a running theme in SCOM and this felt like the right time to bring back the initial riff of "Sweet Child O' Mine."

As I think the TOH community universally agrees that Hunter is prone to dissociation, I wanted to bring Raine's use of music therapy into the story.

Hunter is no longer a child, but the kind of trauma he'd lived through casts a long shadow. Healthy coping skills are key here.

Raine teaches him to use music to pull himself out of a dissociative episode, so Hunter uses these tools here.

There's also several callbacks to in story events from previous chapters -- but one of the locations that Hunter visits in the vision is a TOH canon location.

Did anyone catch it?

Anyway, Hunter appears to be losing his grip on reality.

His bond with Willow and their child is intensifying as she enters the last trimester.

There's an "unauthorized biography" of his life on the horizon with a movie tie in.

He's being stalked by the False GG who has finally maimed one of his loved ones.

A major political candidate is calling for an opening of the market on resources such as galdorstones and palistrom wood.

He's going to have to face Kiki, Adrian, and Terra to avoid a new Inner Circle Trial -- who are claiming he's a liar.

And he's NOT. But he did massage the truth in order to keep Vee safe.

And he's also supposed to appear for a big interview and do something he's never managed to do in public -- seem SANE.

So, yeah, throwing him into a trippy interlude between realms was totally cool!

SorryNotSorry.

[leaderpinhead]

Idia - The Tavern Scene

Prompt: "Fantasy AU"

You find yourself in a lively tavern. Patrons of all walks of life, from towering half-orcs to nimble gnomes, cram themselves into the small room from wall to wall, and laughter fills the air along with the mouthwatering smells of cooked meat and stew. Tiny fairy lights drift above the crowd, creating a light and cheerful ambience. Though you have no memories of traveling here, you find yourself relaxing thanks to the warm and welcome atmosphere. You walk deeper into the crowd in search of an empty table. You eventually find one, but upon sitting down, you realize three others have done the same. 

How do you introduce yourself? 

[“Roll for initiative!” 

“Huh? Initiative for what? I just said to introduce yourself.” 

“I wanna go first!” 

“You don’t have to roll initiative for that. Just go first.” 

“Shit! I got a natural one.” 

“You’re going last now.” 

“lol sucks to suck.” 

“Be nice, big brother!” 

“What’s initiative again?” 

“Introduce yourselves already!”] 

“I sit down after carefully propping my samurai sword against the table. I bow my head to each of you as a show of respect. Konbanwa. I pray you do not mind I claim this seat. I have traveled a great distance this evening.” 

“I smile and lean across the table like I wanna shake his hand. The heavy backpack I always carry accidentally knocks over the chair, and a few pebbles kinda break off my body and fall on the floor. Whoops! Sorry about that! I’m not used to being in such small places. I take his hand whether he wants me to or not and give it a hearty shake. My name’s Orzo! I point at the little fairy next to me. And this is Lulu! We’ve been traveling together for a long time. Lulu is the one who woke me up.” 

“I kinda bend forward from the force of his shake because he’s so large, but I act all cool about it. A pleasure to meet you both. I am Kenji.” 

“I just keep shaking his hand and smile because I have no awareness of human social cues.”��

[“Roll for constitution, Idia.” 

“Why?” 

“Because he’s a giant ass stone golem with no social awareness. He’s gonna crush your hand if you don’t do something.” 

“I got a six. Plus five which makes that eleven.”] 

Although you sense no ill-intent from this strange creature of earth and stone, you begin to feel the slow crush of bone as he slowly squeezes your hand tighter and tighter. Not knowing how this new companion will react to rejection, you smile and bear the intensifying pain shooting up your forearm as you formulate a plan to politely extract yourself from his grasp. 

[“Could I step in to break them apart before Idia loses his hand? 

“Yeah, go ahead. You’ll roll a d20 for charisma to see if your interjection is enough to distract Orzo.” 

“Can she have advantage since Orzo and Lulu already know each other?” 

“Sure. I’ll allow it.” 

“Great! You can use my die, Yuu!” 

“Thanks. So I just roll this and give you my number?” 

“Yeah. Roll twice and take the higher number. Then add the modifier on your character sheet for a final total. That’s how you’ll roll for skill checks, ability checks, and other stuff like that.” 

“Twenty-five.” 

“Your interjection is so successful that Orzo will never forget the social cue again.” 

“By the way, Yuu? You’re supposed to use our character’s name while we’re roleplaying. So I’m Orzo, Idia’s Kenji, and Kalani’s Gacktu.” 

“Right. Sorry!”] 

“Um, I’ll fly up onto the table since I’m assuming I can’t see anything from my chair anyway and...skip over to where their hands are. I’ll kinda flutter in the air next to their hands and grab Ortho—I mean Orzo’s wrist. Slow down there big guy! You’re gonna break another hand.” 

[“What? Why are you laughing?” 

“You sound so...squeaky.” 

“I’m supposed to be a fairy! Fairies sound squeaky.” 

“It makes me wanna squish you between my hands!” 

“As Gacktu or Kalani?” 

“Both!” 

“You need to stop hanging out with Floyd…”] 

With your reminder, Orzo recognizes Kenji is wincing in pain and releases him. Since you interjected when you did, Kenji is freed from Orzo’s hold before he takes any damage. Continue. 

“As I was saying [—stop laughing!—] you've gotta remember your strength big guy. Humans aren’t as sturdy as stone golems are.” 

[“Did you just get inducted into the mafia?” 

“Srsly. What is that accent?” 

“Shut up and let me roleplay!”] 

“I get tired of waiting for my turn to introduce myself and throw a stink bomb into the center of the table.” 

[“Are you kidding me?” 

“Everyone roll a dexterity save. You included, Kalani.” 

“My dexterity is shit.” 

“You did this to yourself. I told you if you were going to ruin my game with your random crap like you did the last one, then I was going to kill you in the first hour.” 

“Seventeen!” 

“Ten.” 

“Nat twenty.” 

“Freaking six.”] 

A small ball made of dried leather and stitched rather roughly together lands in the center of the table. Before you can deflect it back at the little booger sitting with you, a noxious green gas explodes from the seams. Both Orzo and Kenji dodge the attack; Lulu and Gacktu do not. Lulu takes three acid damage, and Gacktu takes six.” 

“Screams in goblin!” 

“I do this sick kind of backflip and grab my sword like I’m ready to attack. I do not know how your kind normally greet each other, but I will only allow such treatment once.” 

“I go to throw another stink bomb directly at the funny looking human. It’s just a friendly how-do-you-do!” 

“I see the stink bomb heading straight at me, and I don’t even hesitate to unsheathe my blade. The edges of it glow with purple wisps of magic, and the elvish symbols etched into the steel glow a similar purple. [I activate my cantrip Ghost Blade which allows me to parry physical and arcane attacks until my concentration is broken.] I parry the bomb off the flat edge of the blade and send it flying across the room.” 

You successfully parry the stink bomb, and it goes flying across the room just like you said. Unfortunately, the tavern is so crowded, there’s no way the stink bomb can be fully avoided. It explodes into another cloud of noxious green gas just like the first one. You all watch as a party of innocent gnomes are immediately incapacitated by the fumes. All of you need to roll perception saving rolls. 

[“I got a seven.” 

“Three. Fairies aren’t very perceptive.” 

“Neither are stone golems. I got a natural one.” 

“Twenty-seven, patootie!”] 

None of you except Gacktu notice a number of patrons turning in the direction of your table. Gacktu, you realize they are aware the stink bomb came from your table, but they don’t look like they know exactly who threw the bomb. Their wariness has shifted the light-hearted atmosphere. 

[“I don’t bring anyone’s attention to the people staring at us.” 

“We’re gonna get KO’d before we’re even able to order a drink...”] 

“I had kinda dove under the table to avoid the original bomb, but since I’m so big, you still see most of my body. So I’m essentially just hunched over with my head under the table. I wave Lulu over to me after I realize she took damage from the first stink bomb. Oh, no! Lulu! Come here so I can heal you before that nasty acid melts your wings.” 

[“Lemme see. I’ll use one of my tier one spell slots to cast Cure on her. And...she’ll get the max heals of six.”] 

“I crawl to the edge of the table and dramatically fall into Orzo’s hand for him to heal me. Thanks Orzzy. Now watch this. 

[“Since I’m a rogue, can I do this sleight of hand action to steal all the stink bombs off Gacktu?” 

“I’ll allow it with advantage. Do a skill check the same way you did the charisma check.” 

“You guys are boring.”] 

“Once I’m healed, I flit over to Gacktu. He doesn’t see me crawl into the pouch on his hip where he had pulled out the first bomb. I use my natural fairy magic to trap all the stink bombs in little bubbles of light, and they float into the air to join the fairy lights lighting the tavern.” 

The patrons see this and lose a bit of their wariness and return to what they were previously doing. Before you leave Gacktu’s pouch, you notice more odd leather balls of varying color. 

[“Oh, come on! Now you’re just being a patookie, Ladnar!” 

“You’ve angered this world’s god, and he is fully prepared to smite you. Yuu, roll another sleight of hand with advantage and an arcane check.”] 

You notice more odd leather balls of varying color, and with your knowledge of magic, you recognize these leather balls are potent bombs of alchemy. Having already experienced Gacktu’s short attention span and lack of patience, you decide it would be best to steal those balls and make them into fairy lights as well. 

[“Don’t I get to make some kind of saving throw?” 

“No. You’re distracted by your own mayhem. Strike all the stink bombs, smoke bombs, lightning bombs, fire bombs, firecrackers, and ice cubes from your inventory.” 

“You want my bath bombs too?” 

“Since you’re being a little shit, yes.” 

"I’ll make you regret this.”] 

“I fly back over to Orzo when I’m done and dance around his head. Look Orzo! Aren’t they pretty? And then I’ll pull out the bath bombs I stole and proudly show Orzo. And I got this! It smells like mint bubblegum, so I kept it for myself.” 

“I’ve never seen anything like that before. What does it do?” 

“I don’t know, but he obviously doesn’t use it. He smells like old cheese and swamp. We can try adding it to water later to make a potion!” 

“I relax a little since I saw Lulu take most of the bombs from the crazy goblin’s pouch, but I keep my hand on my sword just to be ready. I don’t sit again, but I stand next to the table. I see that you, Lulu and Orzo, may be more trustworthy than this creature. Tell me, do either of you know this area well? I have found myself here, but I have no memory of my travels.” 

“What a coincidence! Neither do we. I’m not that great when it comes to directions, but Lulu’s really good with maps. She keeps really good track of where we travel, but there’s nothing on her map after we left the last town we were in. I dig into my backpack and pull out a small map that’s barely larger than the palm of my hand. See? Nothing there.” 

[“Can the map just be a bunch of scribbles with cartoons that look vaguely like mountains and forests?” 

“It’s your map. You get to decide how all of your personal things look and what they do, just like you decide what your character does. I’m giving you the overarching story and directing you through it.” 

“Cool. So the map basically looks like a kid drew it with crayons. There’s some green scribbles in one corner that looks like it might be a forest and some grey scribbles at the top that kind of look like mountains or clouds. In one section of the map is a cartoon of a cat that has a bunch of exclamation marks and a red stain next to it. There’s a bunch of black scribbles that kinda look like a large ball of yarn all over the paper with random red X’s scattered here and there. Above each X is the word HERE, and only one X has a HERE that hasn’t been scribbled out.] 

“I point at the one X and say, Last I checked, we were there, but now we’re here, but it’s not the same here as there, so it can’t be here, here, or here. I’m pointing at the other X’s as I say that. So the only here it could be is right here! And then I take a little red crayon out of the pocket of my little leaf overalls and make a giant X in the middle of the map.” 

“So we do know where we are! See? I told you. Lulu is great with maps! I go to give Lulu a high-five even though she’s barely the size of my palm.” 

“I give him a high-five by tackling his hand with my entire body.” 

[“Can I do a perception check to see if the people in the tavern are watching us again?” 

“Why are you trying to ruin this moment?” 

“I want to play the game, and this is getting boring!” 

“Fine. Do a perception check.” 

“Sixteen.”] 

You see the patrons who were suspicious of you earlier have returned to their drinks and company. They’re not looking in your direction at all. [“Are you happy now?” 

“Yes. What does the bar area of the tavern look like?” 

“It looks like any other tavern. I didn’t plan for you to linger here long enough to put any special detail into it.” 

“Hmm. So I’m assuming they have stereotypical tavern fare. Like barrels of ale.” 

“Yes. What are you fishing for?” 

“Nothing. Continue.”] 

"I'm nodding my head as Lulu explains her map to me. but I’ve decided Orzo and Lulu are not a reliable source to answer any of my questions. Perhaps we may travel together for a while to—.” 

“I cast Fire Bolt on the barrels of ale behind the bar and yell, Kowabunga!” 

[“Are you serious right now?” 

“Kalani!” 

“GG bois. We’re cooked. Literally.” 

“No. No. No! He is not doing this again. I will not have another space funeral like the Meteor Odyssey campaign. Everyone roll dexterity!” 

“One.” 

“Four” 

“Nine.” 

“Twenty! Ahahahaha!” 

“Crap. All of you except Kalani take fire damage. Lemme see...Idia you take three damage; Ortho you only take two; and Yuu...how much health do you have?” 

“I only have six since I’m a tiny fairy.” 

“...” 

“Am I already dead?” 

“You’re not by chance a fire fairy, are you?” 

“No.” 

“Then yeah, you’re dead.”] 

“Lulu! No! You can’t die on me!” 

“Orzo. My friend. I’m afraid...this is the end. Bleh.” 

[“You know, we might be roleplaying, but you don’t have to actually lay on the floor and die.” 

“Yes, I do, Idia.” 

“No, you—.” 

“Yes, I do, Idia.” 

“Fine. Whatever.” 

“All the people that were angry at us earlier have to be even angrier now. Angry enough to start a tavern brawl!” 

“Why are you trying to fabricate an unnecessary fight this early. I had it planned for you to fight an undying—.” 

“Too slow! Not enough violence. Gacktu crave violence!” 

“You know what? Fine!”] 

As the fire ravages through the room, engulfing Lulu’s small body— 

“Lulu! Who will guide me with their maps now?” 

“Bleh!” 

—the patrons who noticed your infighting earlier begin to converge on your table. The flames reflect off the surface of their eyes, and you can see the same angry heat personified in their movements. Many of them are unarmed, but others pull daggers from their belts. Because of your location in the far back corner, you have no choice but to engage with them. 

[“Roll initiative so we can get this bloodbath over with and call it a day. Everyone is at a disadvantage except Kalani because he’s the one that started all this.” 

“Fourteen. Not that it matters.” 

“Another twenty!” 

“I’m just going to sit next to where Lulu once was and let the fire take me.” 

“You don’t have to do that Ortho.” 

“I do! We were the best of companions, and I could never continue my journey without you! Bleh!” 

“I’m starting to think you two just want to lay on the floor.” 

“Kalani and Idia, you both rolled under what I just rolled for the tavern group, so they all go before you.” 

“How many are there?” 

“Twenty-six.” 

“Crap...” 

“The six unarmed patrons move to get into attack range, but their movement is impended by the fire, which leaves them five meters short of reaching you. Six of the patrons wielding daggers do the same. Five of those patrons with daggers throw their weapons at Gacktu. What’s your AC?” 

“Ten.” 

“They all hit for a total of twenty-five. Each.” 

“Gacktu will slowly fall to the ground, and his screams become all gurgly as blood gushes out of his throat and the wounds where the daggers penetrate him. Ahhhhhgghghghgh!” 

“Ew. You just spit all over my tablet.” 

“Welcome to death, Gacktu.” 

“Why does the Underworld smell like vinegar?” 

“The other patrons move forward.” 

“I’m rolling for immediate death. Nat twenty. GG. I’m out.”] 

“Are you happy now, Kalani?” Ladnar snapped. He closed his laptop with a heavy slam. The squinted glare he directed at the cackling boy sprawled on the ground made Idia hide behind his tablet. “You managed to ruin another campaign in less than half an hour. Congratulations.” 

“I had fun,” Yuu said. She shifted to look less “dead.” Ortho snickered where he sprawled across her stomach. “It sucks that I died before I could stab anyone with my twin knitting needles, but I’ll play as Lulu the thieving fairy again the next time you play.” 

“I’m not ever playing with Kalani again,” Ladnar insisted. He fidgeted with his glasses. Azul usually did the same when he lost a game in their Board Game Club meetings, so Idia figured it was just a habit all glasses-wearing people had. “Why do you have to blow up everything before the campaign even starts?” 

“‘Cause it gets so boring,” Kalani groaned. He wiggled around on the floor until he bumped up against Yuu. Yuu’s nose wrinkled when he flung his palm into her face. “Does my hand smell like vinegar?” 

“Ew. It does. Why do you smell like that?” 

“It’s the floor! Someone spilled vinegar on the floor!” 

“You were also eating salt and vinegar chips before we started,” Ortho argued. He rolled onto his stomach and propped his elbows on Yuu. He kicked his legs in the air behind him. “I’m gonna agree with Ladnar though. You can’t play with us anymore.” 

“Aw! You too kaikaina?” Kalani groaned. He rolled around on the floor. Idia couldn’t help imagining him being a little child throwing a tantrum with his flailing limbs. “I was just tryin’ to make things more exciting and get the story moving!” 

“I told you during session 0 that our first session would be a little slow!” Ladnar argued. Idia slowly slid down his chair until he could barely see Ladnar’s reddening face over the table. “We’re establishing the setting and story. I had a combat sequence planned to end the session that would have been a satisfying cliffhanger and helped ease Yuu into the game mechanics. But she didn't even get a chance to fight because you killed her!” 

Kalani stuck out his tongue so far that Idia thought he would stick it up his nose. “You were taking too long. We’ve been playing for two hours now!” 

“We’ve barely been here for twenty minutes!” 

Idia slithered out of his chair as the argument between Ladnar and Kalani escalated. He army crawled to join Ortho and Yuu. Ortho giggled, and Yuu grunted when Idia “accidentally” knocked his bony elbow against hers. “See why I don’t usually play TTRPG IRL? At least online you can kick a griefer from the campaign and block them.” 

"Technically, we didn’t have to just die,” Ortho said, “but it didn’t sound like Kalani was really feeling the setting. We can always try again next week!” 

“Yeah,” Yuu said. Idia hissed through his teeth when she dug her elbow into his. “Playing games online isn’t bad but getting to watch everyone act out their character is a lot more fun than I thought it would be.” 

“Oh!” Ortho popped up off the floor in one fluid motion. Ladnar and Kalani’s argument had dissolved into them throwing insults at each other, Kalani shouting nonsense while Ladnar blinked in and out of existence. “We should invite Vil to play with us! I could totally see him playing a high elf, noble, warlock!” 

Idia snorted and propped himself on his elbows to check the gacha games notifications on his tablet. “Yeah, right. Like Vil would agree to—.” 

“He says he’s down as long as it doesn’t conflict with his schedule,” Yuu interrupted. Idia’s head snapped towards her so suddenly that a muscle in his neck twinged in pain. Yuu had pulled out her phone and was obviously messaging someone. “I bet Lilia would enjoy a game like this too. Is there a limit to how many people can play?” 

“Five is a pretty common number for most campaigns,” Ortho answered. Idia shot Ortho a wide-eyed look at his encouragement, but he appeared as enthusiastic at the prospect of more players as Yuu did. “Six might get a little busy, but Ladnar’s hosted a campaign with ten other dorm mates before. I’ll go ask him how many players would work with a campaign reset!” 

Idia stared in silent horror when Ortho flew over to talk to Ladnar, interrupting Kalani’s attempts to reenact his character’s fire spell. Idia groaned and dropped his face into his hands. “This was just supposed to be a one-time thing…” 

“Azul says he’ll play if it counts as club time.” 

Idia groaned again and felt his Fate was sealed when he heard another happy exclamation from Ortho. It was one thing to play a TTRPG with his dorm mates—who were all as nerdy as him even if one of those dorm mates was Kalani—but people like Vil, and Lilia, and even Azul? He might as well melt into a nerdy puddle right now and save himself the embarrassment. All because he had jokingly said he would set up a game if Yuu filled out a huge character sheet, complete with three pages of a full backstory. 

He was never making an offhanded promise to the prefect ever again. 

[a-wolf-at-the-door]

Hi, I would like to preface this rant by saying that I am a huge fan of your work even though at the moment it is breaking me emotionally and spiritually. In a good way if that's possible. But this is more of a generalized question, about the Doctor Who series as a whole during Ten's era. For context, A friend of mine recently brought up an idea, that hasn't really occurred to me until now (Not sure how the fandom as a whole feels about it, if I'm just late to the party or if this is something that hasn't been brought up yet).

He mentioned that the series as a whole would be so much better if Martha and Donna were just switched as companions in their respective seasons. At first I thought he was crazy, but then as I really thought about it I could see where he's coming from.

He personally doesn't care much for shipping (and I am attempting to turn him to this side but no luck so far). So it was kind of annoying to him to see Martha pine after the doctor for an entire season, after arguably having a good platonic relationship with Donna. But he enjoyed the storylines enough that it didn't bother him too much, to have romance kinda "forced" into it as he claims.

As he argued: "You kind of lose some context and you might have to change a bit of back story, but imagine instead of 'sad romance' you get Modern and outspoken Donna in Human Nature and the joke you can play with that, or Martha coming to terms with The Doctors Dark side in The Fires of Pompeii so early in the series."

Now my brain immediately turned to the shipping side of this. And I can see some slight merit. Like what if after the gut punch of losing Rose he kind of just needs a platonic best friend. (Which I am so happy you're doing anyway, but not a lot of people do so I'm by passing that). And after spending years grieving and healing from losing Rose. Having adventures, Gaining friends, coming to terms with his loss of his best friend/ worst enemy. He finally gets a companion who's interested in him again, and he has to come to terms with if he can/will love again. And you can do some interesting love triangle stuff with that (Not my cup of tea but I see the appeal) imagine Martha falling in love with him and then seeing his past girlfriend. Or even his future one with River! (God, I so can't wait to see what you do with that bombshell) The wenches that can be thrown with that.

IDK, I thinks it's a cool little food for thought, about how switching around too awesome (and in Martha's case sadly controversial) companions. Let me know your thoughts, if I'm absolutely wrong about posting this or if it was a fun little thought experiment!

TL;DR: You're awesome and Could Season 3 and 4 of Doctor Who be benefited if Martha and Donna switched seasons?

First off thank you! Glad you are enjoying my work :)

Now, to your friend’s suggestion and your ideas: very fascinating thought experiment! I haven’t considered that either, but now that you’ve mentioned it I want to give it some serious consideration.

Switching Martha and Donna’s order like that is interesting, but ultimately I personally don’t think that it would work. Like you and your friend, I’m not a huge fan of the unrequited love plotline of S3. However, with OR without it, I don’t think the Doctor that Donna meets in “The Runaway Bride” is the same Doctor she meets in “Partners in Crime,” and a large part of that is because of Martha. He goes from being a suicidal mess to having at least a little bit of hope. He’s ready to make the hard decisions again. He’s not totally healed but he’s getting better about how he handles it. And I don’t think that happens without Martha first.

But let’s get into the thought experiment.

Say Donna decided to travel with the Doctor at the end of “The Runaway Bride.” Let’s say “Smith and Jones” doesn’t happen yet because it makes more sense to keep that as Martha’s intro episode. So we toss Donna into the deep end with Shakespeare and getting kidnapped on New Earth (lol) and facing down Daleks. Some of that could work. Harder to see how she gets into the gala for “The Lazarus Experiment,” but maybe Nerys invites her or something.

Donna in 1913 would have a hard time fitting in because unlike Martha, Donna doesn’t suffer silently. She complains, loudly, and I could see her very quickly getting fired. She’d have absolutely no patience for those boys and for Nurse Redfern. This is a story I’d enjoy in fic but I’m glad it isn’t canon tbh… Donna in 1969 could be interesting, she’d definitely complain about having to work to support the Doctor but I could also see her having fun with the fashion and making friends etc.

BUT. Can you imagine her in the Year That Never Was? We got a tiny taste of this vibe in “Turn Left,” I suppose, but I still have a much harder time seeing Donna staying hidden, walking the Earth, and telling the Doctor’s story to people everywhere. I love Donna dearly, but she is loud, and abrasive, and would have a much harder time getting through to people than Martha does, I suspect. But the real reason I can’t see her doing well in this time is because the way S3 Doctor treats his companion (Martha in canon, Donna here).

S3 Doctor is big about comparing his companion negatively to Rose. Imagine him doing that to Donna rather than Martha. The thing about Martha is that, despite the unrequited feelings, she seems to have decent self-esteem. She’s good, and she KNOWS she’s good. Donna, on the other hand, has suffered a lifetime of belittling, largely from Sylvia but also from other people too. She’s abrasive BECAUSE she’s insecure, deciding to push people away rather than let them see her vulnerable, because she’s afraid that it’s all true. She might initially fight back about the Doctor comparing her negatively to Rose, and that might push him. However, she is empathetic, and she knows he’s grieving, so I think she might actually just let it slide, and that’s heartbreaking. S4 Doctor tells Donna she’s brilliant, she’s important, she’s his best friend. But S3 Doctor wouldn’t have patience for her slip-ups, for her imperfections, for her not being Rose. And so maybe that would push her away in the end, and as much as Donna’s canon ending (at least until the 2023 specials, who knows what’s coming?!?) pains me, I think this would hurt worse. A Donna Noble who NEVER knows she’s brilliant, rather than a Donna who learns it then forgets it.

Now for Martha. In many ways I do think she would personally benefit from traveling with a later, somewhat-healed Doctor, but I don’t know that the story overall would. So now, post-YTNW, the Doctor finds Martha in a delayed “Smith and Jones” and then takes her to Pompeii and the Ood Sphere and she gets to see the real complicated choices and dark side out there. Assuming he’s done the same degree of healing in S3 (which I’m frankly not sure he would have), it’s still a lot to throw at this poor medical student who wants an escape from her dysfunctional family for a bit. I know Martha puts up with a lot of shit due to her crush, but doing a genocide and hearing the telepathic song of colonialism and slavery (especially considering she is a Black woman) might be a bit much to endure for a crush. But say she does. Now imagine they get called back to Earth in her time for the ATMOS situation and the Sontarans, but her role and Donna’s are reversed. She’d definitely be focused on her family like Donna was, and while I have no doubt she could handle being trapped on the Sontaran ship too, it’s still jarring to see her whole family at risk this soon in her travels (and would make Francine’s dislike for the Doctor feel more justified).

But the kicker, for me, is “The Doctor’s Daughter.” Imagine Martha and Donna swapping places for that episode: Donna is off trapped with the Hath and Martha is the one who names Jenny and gets to see this man she has a crush on totally destroyed by this unintentional fatherhood thrust upon him. After how her father left her family, I think Martha would be really disgusted by the Doctor’s initial rejection of Jenny and that it would change her view of him at least a little bit, but then as he comes around only to watch Jenny die, it’s a bit like losing a family in speed run.

Then the Library, where if we adhere relatively close to canon we get a glimpse of the Doctor’s future wife and give Martha even more competition, and then also potentially a non-Doctor love interest in the computer simulation. Would she come out of it still in love with him? Would she even still want to travel?

She’d do fine with Agatha Christie (and I’d assume have a lot of fun, provided the show did what it usually does and glossed over the contemporary racism especially among the upper classes… less fun if actual period-typical racism was included). She’d probably want to run tests on the Doctor after “Midnight” to make sure he was okay.

A Martha-centric “Turn Left” would indeed be fascinating. I’d love to see her and Rose interact in that context, especially as Rose would essentially be sending “competition” back to the Doctor in order to save his life (and the multiverse). I don’t think their interactions would be nearly as catty as when Rose met Sarah Jane since Rose matured a lot since then, but I also think Martha would be baffled by Rose. The Doctor always makes her sound so perfect, so impossible, and he never really canonically tells Martha very much about her at all. And Martha is middle class, much posher than Rose, and would likely have at least a little bit of initial judgment there (even if she gets over it quickly due to her compassionate nature). I think this would be what would cement Martha’s decision to leave, though, except it would be interrupted by the reappearance of Bad Wolf. I honestly have no idea how this would change the S4 finale except that I have a hard time imagining “The DoctorMartha” being a thing and the metacrisis happening than with Donna…

Ultimately I think Martha would get more plot if she were in S4, but I think she and Donna helped the Doctor grieve in different ways, and that the sequence of events was important. Say he’s lost Rose, travelled with Donna, but she’s left him because he completely eroded her self-esteem. He’s conscious not to do that to Martha BUT this leads her on, and personally I don’t think he’d be over Rose yet enough to try to move on romantically, so instead he’s just in even more hot water trying not to lead her on but also not to crush her spirit like he did his prior companion, and it would just be enormously awkward. I think he’d have more trouble talking about Rose to Martha in any iteration where she has feelings for him, and the man needs to talk through his issues or he won’t process them!

Anyway all this to say, it was really interesting to think about this but personally I don’t know that it would fix the show’s structural issues or the characters’ relationships really. But I invite other responses and opinions, would love to know what other people think about swapping Martha and Donna’s order and storylines like this!

[nicsnort]

Gravita Anima (part 8)

Nightcrawler/Fem!OC/Quicksilver Long-form romance and drama fic. All chapters posted on Ao3.

Intro (with link to full story) First Previous

The garden of the school was lovely, like a proper English manor garden she had seen pictures of. Tall hedges rose above them and the scent of roses, lilacs, and other delicate flowers filled the air. As they walked through the garden Elle decided to ask Kurt a bit more about himself. “So, how long have you been in the United States?”

The garden was calm and, with the sound of kids shouting and laughing in the distance, fairly quiet, a different sort of quiet. Kurt looked over the blooms of various flowers, the sweet scent reminding him that it was spring. He blinked and thought about it, reaching up to touch his chin in thought. “Er...I think seven years? Eight?” He gave a sheepish smile. “It is quite easy to lose track of time sometimes.” Like today. It was hard to think they had been in a fight just hours ago. “Were you born here, in New York?”

“We’re in New York,” she questioned before answering his question. “No, I was born in Bethesda, Maryland. Just outside of DC, might as well be DC with how close it is.”

"Oh, ha, sorry, I did not think anything of it as we travel frequently." At least she took the news well. He watched her and smiled, leaning over to a shrub and using his tail to tug at a flower to sniff.

She bent down and sniffed at a flower. It was lovely. “This looks like a place you could lose track of time in easily. It is very peaceful here. Strange for me not being surrounded by people or hearing cars in the distance. Eight years though, were you not a student then?”

 "I was, for a while. And ja, it is quiet here. Peaceful. It reminds me of the villages in Germany I lived in through my childhood." He could hear shrieking and name-calling not too far off. “Would you like to see the pool?"

Elle considered Kurt for a moment. He looked to be around the same age as her. This school must take in students of all ages then, not just Dani's age. She wondered if he had to come to school here because of his mutation. It would make sense, given his appearance. As he used his tail to lift a flower to his nose, she couldn’t help but follow its movements once more. Was it wrong that she found it adorable? Oh no, what had Dani put into her head?

“Of course, could we check on Lucy afterward? I just want to see how she is doing.”

“Oh, of course, absolutely.” He agreed. “I am certain she is well...Hank would have contacted us otherwise.” Well, the Professor would have, actually. When they got to the pool, he waved at a few of the people in it. There were two boys, a girl, and Kitty, who was sunbathing on her stomach. 

She lifted her head and lifted her sunglasses. “Hey, Kurt!” She called out, her smile wide. “Who’s that?!” She phased from the chair and stood before walking over. 

He seemed at ease with Kitty, comfortable even. “Kitty! This is Ellie...Ellie, this is Kitty. You can thank her for the many, many, many flavors of sparkling water in the kitchen.” Kitty lightly swiped at his arm as she made a face. 

“Hey, you can never have too many options! Nice to meet you, Ellie.” She smiled widely.

At the introduction, Elle grinned. “It is wonderful to meet you! I hope you don’t mind I had one. I was running around all morning.”

Kitty adjusted her sunglasses to on top of her head before waving her words away. “Nah, that’s, like, totally cool. That’s why they’re there, ya know? Hey Kurt, you should come swim with us sometime!”

“Yeah!” Called out someone in the pool, “We keep losing at water volleyball! Come on, man!”

Kurt laughed softly and shook his head. “Some other time.” He promised. “For now, I have to attend my tour guide duty. Ellie, shall we?”

“Of course.” Elle waved goodbye as they walked away. This school seemed very nice. It certainly had a wide array of students. Kurt said that he had been a student for a time before being a “guard,” and she wondered how many of these students would stay on as new X-men. Was it required?

“This is a very nice place,” she commented as they walked. “How are the students chosen?”

The tour was going rather nicely. Kurt was relieved. He kept an eye on their surroundings, ensuring that she was safe. “It is,” he agreed eagerly. “It’s a wonderful place. Everyone is helpful and kind. They are very understanding to everyone when they have a bad day, and they celebrate with their celebration.” He was very proud to be part of this school.

At the question, he thought. There was one way he would be better off not mentioning yet. “Either the students find us in a crisis, or we find them. The Professor has contacts all over the country and world that help him keep an eye out for anyone who needs help.” That was the safer way to explain it.

“Oh, that’s wonderful! Well, not wonderful that they were in crisis but that you were able to help! I never knew a place like this existed for mutants. I’m glad it does!”

There was both warmth and pride that filled Kurt. Yes, this place was amazing. He was forever grateful to the Professor. He shuddered to think of all the mutants who would have ended up in a poor state or worse if it weren’t for his kindness. Where would he, himself be? Probably...probably on the run...or in a circus...against his will. Kurt shuddered.

They had reached an elevator which Elle realized was hidden behind wooden paneling. There were a few shady things about this place, but nothing she had seen so far was too bad. She wondered who this Professor was and what he was like.

The elevator door was opening when there was a cry from down the hall. “Watch out!” Elle turned just in time to see a boy cannonballing down the hallway out of control. She froze in surprise, not ready at all to dodge. Elle braced for impact, but the impact never came. Instead, she found herself in the safe embrace of Kurt for the second time that day. His tail was wrapped around her waist, and his arms firmly gripped her shoulders and back. When he had grabbed her, she had been thrown slightly off-balanced, and they were now pressed chest to chest, with Kurt being the only thing really keeping Elle on her feet.

“My hero,” she said, just a bit breathless. Her hands were on his chest, and she could feel the lean muscle under them. 

Kurt’s body tensed when he grabbed Elle. In the back of his mind, he heard Scott’s voice repeat that she was his responsibility. It was only when they were safe when he blinked when he heard her voice that his body relaxed. He exhaled in relief, then felt his face warm. 

“...Heh. It’s...what I do.” He said lamely, his heart beating a bit faster. He was distinctly aware and trying not to be of her hands on his chest. 

Before he could further his ridiculous statement, there was a voice not too far away, probably in the elevator. “Ow...sorry about that…” Before Kurt could reply, the elevator doors shut with a ‘ding’. 

“He’ll be okay. Happens a lot.” He sheepishly smiled. “Uh...shall we?” His tail was the first to unwind from her before he helped her stand straight, gingerly pushing her.

As Kurt helped her to her feet, Elle felt her face go red. She had to gain better control of her emotions. She reprimanded herself. She couldn’t let herself unwilling influence others. “Well, I am glad he will be alright. I feel like you must have to make lots of repairs in this place...yes, let’s.” 

There was a light chuckle from Kurt at that. “Oh, many...but that is alright. The Professor has never had an issue with it. There is a rumor that he has an attic full of priceless antiques that get broken.” 

When they arrived at the Hospital Wing, they saw Hank, Jean, and a man in a wheelchair around Lucy, who lay on a bed, still and pale. They had not found any injury besides bruises and scrapes. There was no head injury either, leaving them in quite a confused state. 

Kurt cleared his throat. The man in the wheelchair looked up and gave a gentle smile. “Professor, this is Eleanor Hughs. Ellie, this is Professor Xavier.” He introduced them.

Xavier smiled at the newcomer. He had felt her presence in the manor, but as Kurt was with he had waited for an introduction. “Eleanor, it is a pleasure to meet you. I hope you enjoyed the tour of the manor.” Xavier held out his hand in greeting.

“You can call me Elle or Ellie; it's nice to meet you too. You have a lovely school,” Elle replied, shaking his hand with a large smile.

Hank smiled at Elle. “I am glad Kurt is taking care of you. I know you could not think of anything on the flight that could be wrong with your friend; there is nothing physically wrong with Miss Ansell that we can see, but perhaps you could give us permission to probe her mind?”

“Probe her mind,” Elle asked, rather confused.

“I am a telepath,” Xavier explained. “With your permission, I want to reach into her mind to see if something is keeping her from waking.”

“I don’t know if I could give that permission, but if you think it will help, then I suppose you should try. I’ve never seen her like this before.”

Xavier gave a nod. “Then we shall.” Positioning himself by the head of the bed he reached out and touched Lucy’s forehead to give him a stronger connection to her mind.

Elle watched what was happening carefully. Xavier had mind-affecting powers like her, but she couldn’t imagine ever doing something like this. Just how powerful of a mutant was he?

________

Next

Fanfic Masterlist

[diapered-fox]

I'm eagerly following your untraining--how far gone do you think you are at this point? Do you think you could regain control? And are there any hesitations you have about how life might be limited after? I've been considering following the same path for a while, but certain goals and travel dreams have always stood in the way...

I dont know how far gone I am. I know my bladder is shrunken compared to before I started. I know that bedwetting is something that may be irreversible.

I could probably gain full control back.. it would take some time.. like last night I didn't use an alarm but I woke up in the middle of the night to pee. So subconsciously I still know when I have to pee. Thats the hard part. As long as I'm awake I know im safe in my diaper. But as I sleep, im unaware.

I can't promise you anything, everyone's life is different. Wearing diapers is debilitating to the way others see you. But really there's not much you can't do with a diaper on. The only thing that will hold you back is you, and how you feel about sharing the fact you're diapered. Even if someone found out, aslong as you're not in full baby mode they would ask why you're wearing one. All you need to say is that you're going through some problems and don't really want to talk about it. Be open with the person you date, tell them what you're into. Sharing is caring. But Dont shit your pants on the first date. Name 5 things you can't do because you're wearing a diaper. 😏 it does change your life, you will leak in public, you will realize that couple behind you, was totally talking about your diaper poking out. You will lose some "friends" but you'll make more, and the good ones will stick around. Id compare it to a face tattoo. Not everyone will understand. Some will judge. Some will be cool with it.

[incorrect-codegeass]

HI so you’re a bit of an authority on code geass

As such, you would have read say some fics?

And if the above is true, would you, perhaps, be willing to rec said fics?

I’m honestly cool with any pairing, or no pairings at all, I’m just in dire need of cg stuff to read

And if you don’t do fic recs, that’s totally cool as well!!

Oh my goodness, it's taken me ages to get back to this, I'm so sorry. I do have fic recs, and I have read a lot of fics, but it's also been a good while since so mine would be older ones. I also still like some of my own, so. Most of these are also SuzaLulu as I am forever a slave to SuzaLulu and that's what I've got in my bookmarks and so on. Hope you (or anyone else) finds something new or interesting from these!

Until I Find You by spirithorse (125k) (SuzaLulu)

Based on the movie Anastasia, but is its own story. I love the author, it's just beautiful work, I've read it at least four times by now. 10/10.

Live by sunshine-heroes (2k) (SuzaLulu)

Slight angst, post Zero Requiem. Makes me sad every time I read it, still great.

Final Command by bard_linn (7k) (gen)

A canon divergence, really interesting take on what would happen if they did find Lelouch and if Charles (derogatory) died.

Turning Points (a series) by elarielf

Really tiny changes in canon, how different would things have ended? I always say that a single tiny change in canon would've changed the entire story, and this is what I mean.

In This Field of Flowers by carzla (11k) (SuzaLulu)

Post Zero Requiem, angst, one of the few fics to get me to tear up. Also one of the few fics I've gone out of my way to find again later on, it's just that good.

Sleeping Habits by aerynevenstar (17k) (SuzaLulu)

I'm genuinely pretty sure this was what inspired me to start writing more CG fanfics in the first place. It's just wonderful and everyone should read it.

Her Song of Love and Empathy by EthelPhantom (2k) (gen)

Euphie-centric, because Euphie deserves more love in this fandom, she was such a clever person and one of the only ones I'd consider to be genuinely 'good' people.

A Bouquet of Anemones, Purple Hyacinths, Pink Carnations and Yarrows by EthelPhantom (19k) (SuzaLulu)

What if Lelouch lived but things did not go right at all? Nunnally and Lelouch centric, angst. A literal tragedy. I will read this over and over. No, I don't care it's my own fic.

Tides Brought to You by EthelPhantom (36k) (SuzaLulu) (unfinished)

Merfolk AU, with a side of Gino&Anya&Suzaku friendship. Why are there not more mermaid fics in this fandom? I know of like, two or three.

coincidences are strange and happen without a warning by EthelPhantom (4k) (SuzaLulu & EuphieKallen)

Internet Friends AU, really cute and just fluff. Also sort of a texting fic.

Never Lose Your Hold of Me Again by EthelPhantom (10k) (SuzaLulu)

Afterlife AU, the closure we needed but never got in canon. Angst but like, with a happy ending. Lots of friendships, too.

Worth the Suffering (series) by EthelPhantom (79k) (SuzaLulu)

A what-if, canon divergence series, basically, main story Never Too Far From You. Other ones are add-ons to that. Good ending.

My Mirror, Sword and Shield by spirithorse (326k) (SuzaLulu)

Each chapter approximately 10k long, gotta love the world-building in this one. Time travel, no Geass AU. I just love this author's works, I'm really sad they don't have more CG than they do. Genuinely the fic I've read over and over the most, even if I nowadays tend to skip some parts because I wanna read my favourites quicker. I love it. 20/10.

Medium Drip, Lemon Ripple by orphan_account (4k) (SuzaLulu)

Coffeeshop AU, need I say more? It's beautiful.

Worrying for Suzaku by NeoDiji (2k) (SuzaLulu)

Cecile is a mom and worries about Suzaku because she's convinced he's being bullied at school. The fic is just really cute and fun.

A String Tightly Knotted by spirithorse (136k) (SuzaLulu / JuliusSuzaku)

Reincarnation AU, ghosts, Suzaku and Kaguya can see and thus deal with ghosts. It's really interesting and I really enjoyed it.

Select All That Apply by crescenttwins (1k) (SuzaLulu)

Nunnally centric. Probably one of the most clever fics in this entire fandom, I love it so so much. Kind of like a questionnaire for her that you can follow, honestly just read it. Please.

[aemiron-main]

Hey this is not meant as a criticism of your or others time travel theories, so don’t take it the wrong way, just speaking as a pleb, I do think the timeline thing tho, unless it’s explained in a way that’s super easy to understand, runs the risk of pissing off a lot of people and feeling unsatisfying simply because it’s a very confusing concept to a lot of people in general, and I know in the past a lot of “alternate reality” type “twists” (like it was just a dream, or time travel, or everything was made up in an autistic boys mind—yes that last one happened on an 80s show) have made audiences mad simply because they felt cheated and like a lot of stuff they thought mattered didnt, and for all the people online who are reading theories and scrutinizing things, there are millions more who aren’t and they should be able to follow along as well and feel satisfied (and while I am a tumblr girlie who has followed theories for years, even I didn’t clock time travel and timeline shit till you guys pointed it out here on tumblr so like, even for people in the fandom it’s easy to miss, so i imagine most GA hasn’t clocked it either ) and I’m concerned about how this theory might play out ….

I personally don’t hope it’s about timelines and such simply because of my own selfishness and no matter how i try, while the concept is interesting to me, i find it too confusing and convoluted to understand or enjoy. like i’m trying i wanna be one of the cool kids but it just… loses me completely.

i am PRAYING that if you all are right, and there are these timeline things, that the Duffers really have a succinct, and easily digestible way of revealing this to the audience that won’t take up a whole 30 min of plodding exposition that will leave the GA scratching their heads, but have it be ah OOOH WOW clever and easy to grasp twist that doesn’t leave fans feeling cheated.

I don’t care what the ending is tbh I just want them to stick it and for me to be able to understand it lol

Hey anon! This reply is gonna be shorter than I want it to be simply bc I am super sleepy rn but I just want to toss this post your way where I talked about this whole thing more in depth!

I totally see your concerns, but I actually have seen A LOT of GA folks point out the time travel/timeline stuff (just not as specific/in depth as we’ve done on tumblr), so as far as that part goes, I don’t think there’s too much to worry about. We also have to keep in mind that the duffers, while they ARE trying to write a coherent, cohesive story, are not trying to appease the GA. Many GA members also think that Byler would be “out of nowhere and too difficult to understand”. And also, I say this with Love In My Heart, but I don’t care about “well Everyone should be able to follow it and understand it”/“it would suck,” and i dont mean “i dont care” in a mean way towards you, i just mean it literally. I don’t care. Because my focus, when doing analysis, is “what is the show saying/doing?”, rather than “is the show doing it well/are they going to explain it well?”. Do i think they’re going to do it well? Yes! And I talked about that more in that post I linked. But I’m also not writing my theories around whether or not I think it would be good or bad or easy to understand- I’m writing my theories around the evidence we have & trying to figure out what they’re doing, whether they do it well or do it badly.

Like, I do disagree with “they should be able to follow along and feel satisfied” when it comes to ST & when it comes to that as an argument against timeline stuff. And the reason I disagree is because a.) they WILL be able to, just on a surface level, even if they dont fully comprehend it and b.) I don’t think a show as detailed as ST, is obligated to tone itself down. People can rewatch & figure things out like a puzzle. I don’t think all media needs to be completely, fully easily digestible for everyone. I think it’s fine to make viewers need to think about things!!! And I think that the duffers/the ST team is going to be able to find a happy medium between the more complex stuff & a simpler cohesive surface narrative, especially since the timeline stuff doesnt so much seem to be “going back and fixing things/none of mattered” as it is “the timeline stuff has been causing problems from the Very Beginning and we need to set it right/everything still happened.” I also think that a lot of it us the duffers fucking with the audience’s perception of things & that we’ve already been seeing multiple timelines the whole time, which allows them to tie things up more neatly because they dont have to blast through and show us all the timelines- we’vd already seen them.

I hope this is somewhat coherent bc like I said im half awake right now, so if any of this sounds snarky towards you, it’s not meant to be! <333 I really do think they’ll be able to pull things off in a way that’s complex enough to be interesting/leave more puzzles to solve/make people rewatch to spot things, but also still easy enough to understand that things are wrapped up effectively! And personally, if they ARE going to mess it up (which i really really doubt they will, because like i talked abt in that linked post, the timeline stuff is alllllll interconnected to the main unsolved questions/plot points in ST) there’s nothing i can do about that!!! I’m not in the writers’ room! So, I focus on what I can do- analyzing the information we have & trying to figure out what direction the show is going to take, regardless of whether that direction is good or bad. (and i think it’ll be fantastic!!)

[hjcoolartnerd]

TDC Episode 1: All Aboard Part 1

   The cameras glide over the blue skies, showing off how beautiful they looked, then showing the calm and serene ocean. Suddenly I record, scratching sound, ruins, the atmosphere, and the camera pans to McLean, who had his famous devious smile. “ total drama fans, we are back for another exciting season of total drama. Here’s how it’s gonna work. The production and I picked all the seasons of total drama and myself picked horrible players of total drama, who have barely made it to the merge or to the merge but by pure luck” he smiles and laughs “ which means favorites like Heather and Alejandro won’t be in  this season of total drama or will they?” Chris says as he walks across the dock “ the rules are simple. I’m bringing back 36 contestants from across total drama history to battle it out on a voyage around the world, but unlike season three they were not be any singing maybe, and we are traveling on a boat the big McLean. I want those 36 campers into four teams of nine. The victory team will get to enjoy their voyage on first class, sues in the upper levels of the deck the second and third place will get to enjoy economy class, which consist of barely comfortable accommodations” he laughs before turning to the last area “ losing team a.k.a. fourth place will get to enjoy the nuts, comfortable poop bag, where they rest in camp tents and will be forced to watch one of their own jump. The plank of shame into what is going to probably be shark infested waters. There’s going to be a McLean invincibility statue, hidden throughout the boat which could save camper from being eliminated. If you have it in your possession, and to mix things up, there’s going to be two more idol but they’re not going to be hidden inside the vote they’ll be hidden throughout the challenge in the destination. “ Chris then shows in the monitor the other two totems. “ The hatchet totem who has the chance to eliminate any potential player whether they’re on the shopping block or not sell players in the winter team have no guarantee safe the other totem is second chance totem. This totem will allow the person who has it to bring any desired player of his choice. These, both to only can be used before the merge so after we reach the merge, those students will be useless. The invincibility totem can only be used before the final three.” Chris smiles wickedly “ and that’s about every rule for now stay tune for the sea sickening season of Total Drama Cruiser!” The camera pans away showing off cruise ship before the camera went black and the intro started with the total drama I want to be famous intro.

After the intro is back on Chris as he smiles with the monitor behind him “ the cast knows the rules of the season and that they’ll be divided into team of four so I think it’s time to introduce our cast shall we. Here comes our cast from the original seasons of total drama. We have Eva, Sadie, Katie, Carlo, Tyler, Brian, Zeke, Justin Trent, Noah, Geoff Sierra and Blainley.” as Chris was naming each of them they were getting out of the bus then chicken bus. “ This is so unfair McLean why do I have to ride on that loser bus? I am famous I am Blainerific” Blainley said whining “ they only thing you are famous is from being a complete B I T C-” Eva was saying when Carlos stopped her “ woah Eva, this is a family friendly show. Besides, she isn’t worth your anger come on.” he grabbed her hand and with a lot of effort dragged Eva away from Blainley. “ Yeah, it’s not like you make many friends. When you hosted the aftermath, you were pure evil.” Katie said Sadie agreed with her. “ yeah kidnapping Bridget and sending her to Siberia not cool. It would be a miracle if you last more than one episode.” Sierra added to the conversation Blainley had a face because she knew that Sierra was right. “ But what I don’t get is why Chris allowed Zeke back and that he is not feral anymore” Trent said as Zeke smile “ you got that right Homie I am in it to win it. And I’m not feral, but I am still a bit mutant ha ha” Zeke he laughed awkwardly “ all right that’s enough move into the boat.” Chris told them angrily before he turned back to the camera.” carrying on. From our second cast of revenge of the island we have. Stacy, silent B, Dawn,  Daniel, brick, Anne Maria, Sam and Dakotazoid” when he mentioned the others they got out of the bus “ yeah Mike. Great, great great great great great great great grandfather invented buses before him. People would’ve just walked all around there legs would be tired.” Said. “ oh my God Chris shut her up. I can’t take her with her compulsive lying about her great great great something something” covering his ears in frustration “ because you crave the attention after being born last of your siblings, and your parents, don’t give you mind at all” Dawn said as she placed her hand on Danielle’s shoulder “ who told you that wasn’t Eric I’m gonna pound his face” he said angrily as Anne Marie stalked towards Dawn “ well Blondy stay away from my man if you don’t wanna but beat from the glamour girl, you better stay off” she spat as Chris laughed

“ well girls save the drama for when we are on the sea getting into the bus while I introduce the rest of the cast” he said as they went inside the boat with the others. “ One of the most weird we’ve ever had on total drama we have Beardo, Leonard, Amy, Rodney, Sammy, Ella and eugh Topher” Chris introduced the Pakethew Cast letting a sigh when he mentioned Topher “ It’s good to be back Chris aren’t you glad to see me.” Topher said excitedly “ no I’m not glad to see you Topher I’m never glad to see any of you” he said a rolling his eyes “ this is wonderful. I could finally put my game into this new season. Maybe I get this thing and get kicked out” Ella said smiling “ugh why did you have to bring Amy she was the worst!” Sammy said frowning “ but you see the sparemy” Amy barks back as the two girls glared at each other. “ I love it when siblings fight. go move it. I have to introduce the last cast member before we set this ship on the road.” he said as the Pakethew cast went into the boat “ last but not least, we have our new cast, we have Julia, Nichelle, Axel, ripper, Kyle, Jane, Damien and Millie” he said as the last mentioned got out of the bus. “ Finally fresh air. I don’t know what it was worse those stinky chickens or rippers farts” Julia said as he gagged. “ I think that’s gross.” Jane pointed to Axel and ripper making out. “ oh yeah, that is definitely gross.” Millie said “ but cute at the same time how someone like rapper can get a girlfriend” she added “ better than me.” Kyle said as he crossed his arms “ all right now that we have our 36 campers introduced follow me and I’ll give you the tour of the boat. “ Chris said as he went up the boat and everyone followed him the first area they went was the Poop deck which served as the common area, the sleeping quarters for the losers, and where the ceremony for elimination will take place “ this is the common area for second third and fourth place, this is where you’ll enjoy some sun time and get to swimming in our disgusting pool.” He said as everyone groaned with disgust “ if you follow me down the hall, we’ll find the lunch room where you’re going to enjoy that disgusting and not so easy to eat food made by chef hatchet.” Chris continued “ honestly Chris, couldn’t you hire someone who could make disgusting food taste better like I don’t know DJ” Bryan said crossing his arms and when he said that chef threw an axe his way luckily he managed to dodge it. “ wow man slaughter I was just kidding dude Jesus you are touchy” he said as chef glared “ where is the bathroom?” Daniel added “ down the hall to your left” he said and Daniel made his way into the bathroom to see there was a camera there. “ the bathroom that I sent Daniel to was the confession can” Chris laughed “ communal bathrooms are the same way, but to the right”. 

“ World tour, déjà vu. A camera in the potty. Chris has to be joking. And this is completely an Ottery disgusting. but a good thing for me is that we don’t have any Eric to ruin my plans this time I’m gonna show everyone what I made of and they’ll get to see what they didn’t get to see in my previous two seasons that I got eliminated early ” Daniel’s confessional. 

    Chris let them towards the hallway that was the sleeping quarters for second and third place “ this is where the second and third places of each team will enjoy economy class” he opens the door to one of the room to show messy, disgusting and uncomfortable beds “ yeah, those bed will not give you the comfort that you deserve just like sleeping in camp Wawanakwa.”

“ the beds in first class better be as comfortable and smooth as the bed in the spa hotel in season five or else this competition is going to be a lot more difficulty” Daniel’s confessional

“ yeah yeah can we just get on to see what first class looks like I am never setting foot in this economy room” Zeke said as everyone laughed “ what’s so funny yo?” “ I’m not trying to be a bad guy, but do you remember season one and season three? you got booted first in both seasons, and in season three you said the exact same thing” Trent said placing his arm on Zeke's shoulder” yeah well unlike those two times I have toxic saliva so beat that. Trent!” Chris rolled his eyes at Ezekiel. “ all right moving on for first class. This is going to be great.” he said, showing them towards first class while they walked was walking beside Brian and Julia “ hey Bryan, how is Eric doing? If I remember he was dating a dirt farmer?” Justin asked him as Bryan looked at him “ yes, Scott was his name. Even if little Danny was I guess those still getting together. They sure look happy and cute.” He said as Justin frowns “ there isn’t any drama going on between the two of them?” Justin frowned trying to get more from him “ well not that I know of Eric is in technically living with the family anymore. He is staying with Scott that’s why he didn’t choose to participate this season.” He added “ oh and that’s why Kyle participated this season to take Eric’s place” Julia asked crossing her arms “ not really, just wanted to participate this season I don’t even know why?” He asked as Julia, Justin and Bryan looked at Kyle who was walking besides Millie and Damien but they were staring at Ripper and Axel. “ Interesting” Julian smirked. Sierra reached Noah. “ Hey Noah, why are you back?” She asked the sarcastic know it all “ well I came back for my girlfriend, Emma and Owen. I want to help Emma as much as I can, I still want to split the money with my bud Owen.” He said shrugging “ that’s awesome. I saw your friendship develop throughout the Ridonculous-“ Sierra was stopped before she could finish her sentence “ those mention that rip-off! Ever again you’re out Sierra!” That outburst shocked everyone “oh yes our show host doesn’t like Don does he?” Blainley smirked mocking Chris. “ Yeah whatever”

“ yeah, I know about the rivalry between Chris and Don. Chris wanted to host the Ridonculous race but the network denied it saying that that she’ll need a fresher more nicer face than Chris. That’s why Chris hates any mention of that reality show. And yeah I’m not scared to mention it. He can’t disqualify me. It’s in my contract. I either have to be eliminated get evacuated due to emergency or be killed” Blainley's confessional.

 Kyle, walking with Millie and Damien “ Priya would’ve been fangirling if she was here seen every total drama player in history together” Millie said as Kyle wasn’t paying attention to her “ yeah, though I’m curious, why didn’t she come back?” Damien asked. “ oh, that’s easy Caleb and her were tired of total drama and when they realize that Julia was gonna come back, they decided not to return.” Millie explained “ that’s fair. She did try to ruin the relationship.” He replied “ why did you return Millie?” He asked her “ well I wanted to write about the original contestants of total drama. It’s a research on my parents told me to do don’t worry I won’t write about any of us. Also, I want to win the million dollars I got third place in our first season and then got eliminated third, I promise to make it better” Millie said, as the three of them walked together” what about you Damien what did you come back?” She asked “ well during our second season, I was put it off six because Julia stole my immunity idol so I was right this time around. I plan to be smarter faster and less afraid of course or try to what about you Kyle.” Damien said, and then turned to Kyle, who only then realize that Millie and Damien were talking to him. “ oh, sorry I wasn’t paying. Attention. I came back, Well last season, I didn’t like the way I was eliminated. Yes I did a few bad things said a few bad things about some of you and that’s why you voted me off and yeah I’ve been improving myself since being less competitive more of a team player just like I used to be my first hockey team.” Said his were still drifting towards axle and ripper.. “ that’s great Kyle, let’s make the lions the three of us and try to get to the finale the final three deal?” Millie said, asking the boys. “ sure we’re down.” Kyle and Damien said at the same time.

"in all honesty, I returned because yes I want to win $1 million but because I am permanently bench until further notice from the snow owls. Something about not being a team player during the first two seasons of total drama. It’s a punishment the coach gave me and since we were in hockey season Wayne and Raj, where unable to come and so was Bowie he wanted to support his boyfriend during the hockey season… and other than wanting to win the million I also came back to try to befriend Axel she sending me thread messages because ripper used to have a crush on me before he turned up to her so I want to make her not hate me and try to continue my friendship ish with Ripper.” Kyle’s confessional.

Eventually, they reached economy class, and it was beautiful for the cast “ wow this is better than I ever Imagined!  To be treated like princess” Amy said, smiling “ more like a wicked witch” Sammy said in a whisper “ perfect for me because I am a princess” Ella said smiling. “ Yeah yeah whatever I divide you into the teams now before we reach our first destination. Let’s go back to the common area.” Chris said as he led everyone towards the common area once they were all organized in the common area, Chris talked again. They were four colored circles on different ends of the deck, red green, gold and blue. “ first nine contestants that I are going to step in the green mat OK?” he said as he pulled out a list. “ these are the members. Of the first team Eva, Carlos Trent Blainley, Dawn, Anne Maria, Rodney, Julia, and Kyle will be known as the screaming eagles.” Chris said as the. Nine people he mentioned moved towards the green mat.. Kyle and Julia giving each other the stink eye. “ team to consist of Sadie, Katie Noah Stacy Daniel Beardo Sammy Nichelle and Jane you will be known as the killer hornets your Matt is the red one” as he listed every in the second team they each moved to the red mat, who were the people in that team Sadie and Katie were happily hugging each other, because they got to be in the same team. “Team 3 are Tyler, Bryan, Geoff, Dakotazoid, Sam, Leonard, Ella, Axel and Damien That team is called, the Ferocious Pidgeon's. The  gold Matt if you please!” The mentioned people walked to the gold Matt and automatically the last group went to the blue Matt “ lastly  Zeke, Justin, Sierra, B, Brick, Amy, Topher, Ripper and Millie. You are the Turkeys of Death!”

"Great... I got stuck with Jock wannabe, Party dude, Mutant girl and gamer dude, useless wizard, discount cinderella, Axel and damien.... The only good ones are the Mutant, Axel and me..... this team is the worst... This is the third time i get to be in a awful team, First the Grips, and then victory. Chris is trying to Test my patience this time." Daniel's Confessional.

"Okay so My team is a mix bag, Justin Topher and Amy are useless, Sierra is crazy and Zeke... is a wild card. Brick and B are the only worth while making an alliance with, and anyone is better than Ripper" Millie's confessional

"Eva and I are already in an alliance, it would have been cool to have Noah in our team... but well that sucks. right now the only people worth working with are Dawn, Julia, Rodney and Kyle. They are each strong players in their own way, But Julia is a Villain and i don't want people to think that I'm allying my self with my own cousin... this is going to be tough." Carlos' confessional.

"I'm in it to win it! Unlike my only season. Sadie and I have prepared our self if we get separated again... It's all thanks to Eric, He was a great friend to us during Island. So if I win, I plan to split the Million with Him and Sadie!" Katie's Confessional.

"This is just like when I got place of the Ferocious trouts, I had no ally, But I know from My cousin Eric that Trent and Dawn are good people to make an alliance with and Rodney too He is strong. I hope I do Make it Farther this time. I am In it to win it." Kyle's Confessional.

"Thank God! I am Not with Amy! I can finally be confident in my own Abilities. I got to show my team what I am Made off" Sammy's Confessional.

"Its A good think Ripper and I were placed on different teams. He and I would have been making out non stop. I love him but I need to focus on winning this!" Axel's Confessional.

"You my Homies, This is Zeke's Season. I'm going to show them all not to mess with the Zeke!" Zeke's Confessional.

Sam and Dakotazoid's Confessional is just them making out.

After Chris, Finished introducing the team the loud speaker began to make a loud screeching sound "I just want to say that we are almost close to our destination! Hawaii! get ready to get burnt under the sun and Enjoy the hot lava!" Chef's voice said. Chris smiled as he turned to the cast "You are going to love this first challenge i got for you all. It's and Homage to the final Challenge in Total drama World tour, mixed with the prison eating challenge from season one.... But" Chris turns to the camera. "That's all the time we have left. Stay tune for next episode, where i explain the challenge, give them the rules and tell them the punishment for last place. Right here on. Total! Drama! Cruiser!" The camara pans away showing the McLean cruise ship and at the distance Hawaii.

Next Episode:

All Aboard part 2

A/N: Hello! Hope you enjoy this Episode! I already know who I am eliminating first. Hope you enjoy this fan made story of a fan made season.