#and he’s immediately so unhealthily obsessed with her. which she appreciates.

[anna-scribbles]

h-how do you ever finish any of your work? genuine question because you seem to be productive despite your agreste syndrome and I need to learn your ways. but also how do you ever finish any of your work

unclear. last night i stayed up and finished a report worth 25% of my grade at about 5am, arrived on time for my 9am lecture, and spent about half of it zoned out while thinking about seventeen year old emilie agreste. and i was one of the most active participants in the class discussion

[that-wildwolf]

Edge of Yesterday post I promised to make

Look. Look. When you write a fanfic that's almost 150K words, you get obsessed. And if you're me, you get unhealthily obsessed.

Playlist with all the songs quoted in the fic:

Playlists I used while writing:

Deleted scenes: (the links don't work in the app, you have to open them through the browser on mobile)

👉 Shepard with turian kids in Alba

👉 Alternative ending of chapter 29 — more focused on fixing the Charon Relay

👉 Shepard playing Russian roulette

Some general trivia I didn't know what else to do with:

👉 Shepard was originally going to remember much sooner; she got into an argument with Garrus that eventually culminated with something along the lines of "I can't make myself remember" "Neither can I make myself stop loving you". Realising she'd hurt him was enough to make her unlock, and she immediately apologised even though he didn't initially understand what had just happened. I changed it for a wide variety of reasons, but mostly because I did not see it as in-character for Garrus to tell her he loved her.

👉 Another discarded version included Shepard never fully getting her memories back. She would continue to have those flashbacks like in Act 2, but nothing beyond that, and she and Garrus would slowly build a new relationship on the foundations of what little she remembered. It would be implied at the end that she might regain all her memories one day, but that it's unlikely. I liked that version a lot but scrapped it because I really wanted to include the "I love you" scene, which could only exist in this version of the story.

👉 The following is an excerpt from chapter 34.

"You've done so much for them and it might feel like they don't appreciate that — and maybe they don't, maybe they never will."

This is a reference to Starry Starry Night by Don McLean.

👉 Shepard was humming Reignite in chapter 28.

👉 I'm not sure if everyone saw what I was doing with these, but at the beginning of some chapters in Act 1, there are small flashbacks to when Shepard was in a coma. This is a way to show that Garrus is still kind of living in the past, fixating on that he's still waiting for her. With time they get less and less common to show that he is slowly starting to connect to her in the present too instead of just living in the past. They're gone completely by the time Act 2 begins.

👉 In chapter 33, Victus says it's been almost three years since the war's ended despite the three year mark passing a few chapters earlier. This is because a year on Palaven is the same length as 14 months on Earth.

👉 There was originally supposed to be smut in this fic, but I deleted it because I didn't want to do something their relationship couldn't recover from. I also deleted a few scenes of what I believe is professionally called a "sad wank". I mean, it was three years. and he was bound to be sad and horny. Why didn't I write that in the end?

👉 In chapter 18, Shepard panics because she doesn't want Garrus to see her during one of her flashbacks. In truth, most of the flashbacks have been around him.

👉 Look I'm not usually that straightforward about symbolism in my writing but screw it. Tea is a metaphor for love, Coffee is a metaphor for friendship. The weather reflects the characters' emotions. This also goes for the changing of the seasons.

👉 Obviously Shepard's flashback in chapter 12 was because she remembered the ME3 Presidium date with Garrus, but actually every single one of her flashbacks is due to a situation that reminds her of something from the games. For example, the following is an excerpt from chapter 18:

She put a hand on his cheek. [...]Despite what she expected, Garrus didn't pull away from her touch — though neither did he move closer. He just stayed completely still, his eyes zeroed in on her as she slowly brushed her thumb along the rugged scars on his cheek.

Garrus flared his mandibles, his eyes shining.

"Shepard, I..."

The reason she's having a flashback here is because this reminded her of their goodbye at the end of ME3 :)

👉 The idea for Alba City was taken from one of my scrapped endings for this fic, where Shepard and Garrus are on the run from the law (don't even ask. 😅 It went in a wildly different direction.) and are hiding out inside a dead Reaper while Shepard recovers from blood loss after Garrus had to cut out a tracking device out of her body. I obviously got rid of most of that, but the idea of living inside a dead Reaper stuck with me.

👉 Some honourable mentions for songs I didn't manage to fit into the 36 chapters include... Well, a lot of things, but mostly My Immortal by Evanescence. Look at the lyrics. Fits too good.

👉 I replayed Mass Effect 3 twice as research for this fic. *shudder* the trauma

[thattimdrakeguy]

You know what's the most annoying thing? When people say Tim and Steph have 30 years of history together (a love story) and acting like they have been together since 90s... Tim also have great relationships with his team and other batfam members since 90s, and he also has the same history with Conner too so saying "But Kon wasn't there when he was dating with her so Its a no" is bullshit

Most of their early relationship was Steph flirting with Tim when she knew he had a girlfriend. I think the flirtiest thing I can recall Tim doing was kissing her (not the other way around like it typically is) once or twice, but from my recollection they were more like princess to the knight kisses, because he immediately reacts like “wait, Steph, no-- it wasn’t like that, okay? Stop it”, and constantly had to sigh and said “This isn’t a date. We’re about to die”.

Then after that when they started dating, Tim and her had a cute date or two, fought over trust issues, and honestly Tim treated her no different besides more kissing in general, till another writer different from the guy that created Steph and wrote the series for 100 issues, and the new guy just wrote a typical teenage romance which is were Tim making her soup comes from. But that writer also made Tim a pretentious jerk, and took away a good chunk of what made Steph entertaining and likable in her personality. So personally as a guy who just reads stuff I thought it was pretty forced what that guy did. It was a very sudden change in their relationship that doesn’t read very naturally given both of the character’s personalities changed.

Today I seen a post being like “STEPH LEARNED SO MUCH FROM TIM”, and reading it you would’ve thought it was the focus and this beautifully written drama romance, when nah. A few things just happened to happen, and they went way overboard with it and changed the attitude of the actual scenes that happened to sound more romantic just to overglorify it.

--

Tim and Conner had better character development and they only had three fights I can recall were Conner wasn’t mindcontrolled. Tim not understanding the exquisite subtext of Wendy the Werewolf Stalker, some weird out of character thing were a writer made Tim a government boot-licker and called a baby government property. Like I just don’t buy that, because Tim’s a freaking superhero and I can’t remember him ever caring about the government. With him nearly screwing them over one time to save Cass (who obviously didn’t need it). Then there was the “Batman did this so you did too thing” that gave them drama on I think that Apoko-- I can’t remember how they spelled it and I’m exhausted planet Doomsday’s from.

But there was actual character development. Conner talked to Supergirl about Tim like he was his ex boyfriend. They grew, got trust. Became the ones they relied on together, but in the interest of fairness and accuracy, they became best friends in Geoff Johns’s Teen Titans, and it did jump a bit ahead. At the very least it was set-up more and felt more natural. The way they grew actually made it seem reasonable they would grow trust during a bit of a timeskip inbetween the team books.

--

One thing I noticed between vocal TimKon stans and vocal TimSteph stans. TimSteph fans tend to overglorify and really exaggerate anything between them, normally in the name of making Steph look great.

While TimKon ones just look at actual panels and pages and just sort of appreciate it without any added “LOOK AT THIS. CLEARLY *insert exaggeration here*. They’re typically a lot chiller and just describe stuff plainly and appreciate it over seeming unhealthily obsessed. At most they’ll just call them boyfriends to exaggerate it, or recall moments as they actually had happened.

[shinaina]

Counting Steps

Summary | She was an angel in her element, her elegant movements while she danced enough to put anyone who watched in a trance; and he was far too eager to be hypnotized. 

Next Chapter | N/A

Couple | NaruHina 

Rating | T 

He was there often, not that she cared or even noticed, a lot of people came to see rehearsal or simply to observe the dancers lost in a trance. He got lost in the crowd as easily as a spec of dust did. No matter how focused his gaze was as it just always seemed to linger on her, begging her to take note of him, the girl never noticed. Too lost in her own trance during her performance to pay him any mind. It seemed the cliche idea that a man looked at a woman with utter and unadulterated awe and love in his eyes was always when she was looking away.

Hinata Hyuga was the lead of dancing for her profession, ballet; though that didn’t mean she wasn’t skilled in other forms. Her style of dance was simply much more graceful and feminine; a style in which allowed her to easily take the spotlight when it came to ballet. Yet the petite girl was considered a prodigy when it came to dancing, able to learn any performance within a day’s time; no matter the style seemingly. Whenever the time came that one specific group within the dancing unit needed a replacement or an extra they usually went to her. The young woman, having turned 19 only two weeks ago, was attending one of the most prestigious mixed media arts school within her country which coincidentally was only an hour drive from her hometown. She stayed in a loft in which her family provided for her upon her arrival though she often left during the weekends to visit if she was not busy. A kind and reserved girl, she held a calm strength to her that one may have missed due to her gentleness and soft-spoken nature. A small and slim body but seemed to be voluminous in the parts that mattered; namely her chest, hips, hair and lips. Not many knew much about the school-proclaimed goddess, nothing more than the fact that they wanted to know more about her. Perhaps it was the way she held herself with beauty and grace, her long silky dark hair that seemed to glow in a navy blue shade in the sunlight and her capturing almost transparent, pale lavender eyes or the porcelain skin that practically made her doll-like which everyone imagined was soft to the touch. Hinata was simply so beautiful, so compassionate and empathetic, it was hard not to want to get to know her. Yet she only seemed to appear for her classes, rehearsal and then vanish, like some mythical creature whose appearance was considered a blessing.

The only other student in the school who even seemed to know Hinata and actually have a close relationship with her was a student of the same nature only in a much more aloof manner. A student who was just as mysterious as her and a sight of immense beauty to anyone who was attracted to the male gender. Sasuke Uchiha. A 20 year old young man who was studying the arts of choir, piano and traditional guitar. A sure to be hit when he began his career as a singer, he was already a practical celebrity in their school. His music held a sort of melancholy tone to it and yet his voice angelic. Sasuke seemed to be the literal and walking embodiment of the phrase tall, dark, and handsome. A pale fellow, not unhealthily or upsettingly so though, with ink black hair along with ebony colored eyes, a muscular and toned body and a face of constant indifference.

It was no surprise the two students who came from the most prestigious families were constant companions in their daily life. Their families were tight business partners which resulted easily in the two having been playmates since the moment they were able to crawl. Seen walking together in a quiet conversation while Sasuke walked in front of Hinata almost protectively carrying her bags with a face that almost looked gentle. Hinata trailing after in a thoughtful expression as she recounted her day and seemed more open with the man than she ever could be. It was as if the two most beautiful people in the world had come together and jealousy was thick in the air from any gender as they watched their eye candy walk around with the other.  

“I heard their parents had their marriage arranged since they were toddlers.”

“Imagine how beautiful their children will be! They’re practically gods which means their children will be literal angels!”

“Hmph! I bet they don’t even know how to love because they simply knew all along they’d marry each other.”

“Of course people as arrogant and stuck up as that would end up together.”

“We don’t even know anything about them, only that they know each other…”

Hinata’s eyes slowly drifted from left to right as the whispers continued, some amusing her while others simply made her self-conscious. As they approached Sasuke’s pure jet black Corvette the ebony eyed man opened the door for her and closed it as she entered before putting their bags in the trunk. She fiddled with her fingers, a nervous habit she had had for as long as she could remember, as she waited for companion. Sasuke entered with a scowl on his face. “Don’t listen to them.” Stated the Uchiha calmly, a mantra he had taught her that she repeated to herself often. “All people like that know to do is assume.” He added in an indifferent tone as he put the key in the ignition and turned it. His playlist instantly came on along with the car, his own preference in music was a similar melancholy indie style to his own. Hinata learned quickly that Sasuke enjoyed music with low and slow instrumentals with drops here and there along with poetic lyrics; she didn’t mind at all.

As he drove they remained in a comfortable silence as Hinata thought about their lifelong companionship. No they were not betrothed and they honestly never planned their make a romantic relationship between them a reality. Their friendship was purely platonic, a friendship put together by their fathers in order to assure a comfortability between families and to promise another generation of union between them. While Sasuke’s brother had taken up the mantle of the Uchiha family, not that Sasuke minded, and Hinata’s younger sister was the heir to the mantle of her’s due to her lack of passion for business, their families were practically that; family. They were practically siblings and a silent promise of always being there for each other remained a constant reminder in the air they breathed around each other. “It’s funny isn’t it? That even to this day people can’t wrap their heads around the idea of a platonic relationship between a male and female who aren’t related. It’s almost offensive.” Hinata murmured quietly in which triggered a “Hn.” response from Sasuke. She knew he didn’t care about what was said of him, he was confident and sure of himself, the Hyuga wished she could be more like him.

As they came up to the building in which Hinata’s loft was located, Sasuke parked and got out to open the door for her; something bred out of constant scolding from his mother about being a “gentleman” and force of habit. She exited and waited for him as he got her bags and began to walk in front of her in a defensive manner as usual. Bringing a hand to her mouth she chuckled. “Sometimes I feel like you’re my servant.” Sasuke casted her a glance that only made her giggle more. “Would you rather carry them? Also if I wasn’t around I wouldn’t doubt it if you ran into a door multiple times due to being so used to me opening them for you.” Now that shut the younger one of the two up as she pouted at her friend, a smirk appeared on his face though he didn’t even have to look at her to know she was offended by the comment. As they entered the building Hinata couldn’t help but smile, it was modern with elegant furniture everywhere; an aesthetic she secretly enjoyed. Sasuke entered the elevator and waited for her until pressing the button to the highest floor.

The loft itself had white carpet with black leather couches and a glass coffee table in the living area, the flat screen TV was planted on the wall with a small and simple wall shelf a foot or so beneath it to hold a few books. The kitchen to the right was a modern one with a grey marbled island with a black and steel exterior design for the kitchen. Immediately the two took off their shoes, Sasuke moving to put her navy duffle bag and ivory backpack beside the couch, they stood out only slightly. The glass pull aside doors led out to a balcony with glass borders and an ivory bench. It was extravagant but simple and she enjoyed it, it didn’t tell too much about her if she ever had a visitor which she appreciated. Sasuke moved to the island in the kitchen to the white bowl filled with fruits sitting on it, he inspected it quietly before grabbing a few tomatoes. Hinata learned not to question that odd and practically obsession he had with tomatoes quickly as well. He offered her a nod before he left. “I’ll pick you up at nine like usual.” He said before approaching the door, he hesitated for a moment before saying. “There’s a new student arriving tomorrow too.” Tilting her head to the side she wondered why Sasuke felt the need to bring such a thing up, he wasn’t one for gossiping. “In the middle of the year?” Was the only question she asked. “Apparently he’s been attending our school since the beginning of the year, sending in progress of a project he’s working on in order to maintain grades. He’s arriving late due to the fact he barely finished a 4 month role in a festival short film.” Hinata immediately stiffened. No, it couldn’t be…

“How do you know this?”

“Because the dobe texted me last night.”

She was immediately trembling, Sasuke knew better than to turn around at his last statement, Hinata didn’t enjoy anyone around her while she was in a vulnerable state. “Thank you for telling me.” Murmured the pale eyed girl before Sasuke nodded with his back still turned to her and then left.

She couldn’t see him, no no no no, this couldn’t be happening. A vivid picture of the blond haired and sun kissed tan skin male was already making it’s way into her head. His bright blue eyes that held her definition of the sky within them along with his signature whisker marks which were with him since his first breath of life as birthmarks. Though having a birthmark on one’s face was an unappealing thought to most at times, he made them work somehow. The perfect beach body and perfect physique who was literally a god of beauty to her was going to come to her school tomorrow.

[violethues1993]

My truth

/// tw: mentions of abuse, suicidal thoughts, overly possessive behavior and nudity                                   * *

So this is something that I've held onto for far too long and just recently, I've been reminded of someone I wish I never got involved with in the first place.

This story isn't unique by any means, but I know I'm not the only one who went through an abusive relationship. I hope that by sharing this, I can finally come to terms with the mistakes that were made and hope no one else will go through what I went through.

So let's start off with Ex #1 two years ago. We meet on the Internet, he's in the UK and I'm in the States. Everything was going well for a few months and I made the mistake of sharing nudes with him. Honestly, I thought it was going to be long term and it wouldn't matter beyond making him happy. Instead, he used me for free porn and gaslit me any time I questioned the "relationship" and whether or not he actually had feelings for me. Needless to say, I got tired of his BS and cut him off in December 2017. This story isn't about him though, because Ex #1 at least got a clue and we've blocked each other since then.

Ex #2 however, continues to be a creep and blocking him won't help me in this regard. We started talking around late January/early February 2018. My first mistake was still being vulnerable after my messy break up and allowing this guy into my life. My second mistake was ignoring the early red flags that showed up just as the relationship was starting.

Red flag #1: he cut himself off from his friends, some of his family, and especially girl friends. I never asked him to do that at all.

Red flag #2: Not even two weeks into the relationship and already he wants to marry me and be a mother to his kids. First of all, I don't want to get married before I actually get to know someone completely. At least wait 3-5 years before that happens. Second, I don't want to be a mother. AT ALL. The thought of putting my body through near death and constant pain, the thought of passing on my mental illnesses and not being mentally stable myself and having to raise children terrifies me to no end. All he kept saying was, "I'll make you change your mind." And yes, that includes adoption and foster care. It's better if I avoid any form of motherhood at all and let someone who wants that life and is more capable than me to have that opportunity to do so.

Red flag #3: He was unhealthily obsessed with weapons. He was constantly paranoid of everyone and everything. More on that later.

I foolishly ignored these glaring signs because in the beginning, like the last relationship, he was showering me with gifts, compliments and provided me a shoulder to cry on. He always tried to support me financially when he could.

We made a Skype call in March to verify that we were indeed real people. I gave him my phone number so that we could talk outside of DMs. We made plans for him to see me last May and we both took off time from work to accomplish this.

Last May was also when my mental health took a turn for the worse. My mom and I had a strained relationship because she was dating a garbage of a human being then and he constantly put a rift between my mom and I. He also enabled her drinking habits up until his death a year later. But that's another story for another time.

Mother's Day 2018 was one of the worst days of my life. My mom's boyfriend kept harassing me to talk to her and threatened to sue me over $500 that he gave me to buy a used car. I was sobbing uncontrollably and felt suicidal. That's when Ex #2 got the bright idea to drive the wedge between me and my mom even further by yelling at her boyfriend. Nothing was accomplished. My dad had to rush to my house to make sure I wasn't going to go through with a suicide attempt and stayed until I was calm enough to be on my own. My dad and I don't often get along, but I'll never not appreciate him looking after me because nothing is more frightening than your child taking their own life.

A week later, Ex #2 flies into town and for that week, we were getting to know each other better and went out for several dates. Of course, he met my dad and his girlfriend and they seemed to like him enough.

However, the cracks were beginning to show. I'm not the type of person to engage in PDA and Ex #2 guilt tripped me into doing that constantly. "Don't you love me, sweetheart? Please hold my hand."

While we were in DC, we went to the Newseum because it's one of my favorite places to go in DC. He kept making inappropriate comments about "fake news" and I had to keep telling him to behave himself.

Later on when we had to take the Metro back to the mall, just as I was about to go towards the escalator, he noticed employees of the EPA standing outside. He proceeded to humiliate me and himself by cursing at them for "taking away jobs." I was so disgusted and tried to calm down so that I wasn't embarrassed any further.

When we got back to the mall, we passed by a jewelry store and one of the sales people came up to us immediately. Understandably, they pestered us to buy a ring, but just like with the EPA employees, he childishly told them that he would be back later. I kept my head down to avoid any more trouble.

We still get the ring and gives me a bracelet to go with it. Little did we know that we wasted money on jewelry with hardly any value (more on that later), but to him it was really special. I understood that and made sure that while he was away that I would keep them in a safe place and only wear them for special occasions.

What he failed to understand is that me not wearing the promise ring didn't mean I didn't love him, but instead me trying to protect it from any damage or get lost while I was working. He then guilt tripped me again, saying he had to skip meals to get me that ring and to fly out to see me. Any normal person would understand that you don't need a ring to prove your love to someone, but this jerk didn't get that.

Another mistake I made was signing up for a phone plan with him so that I could save my money. I accidentally broke the first phone and got a replacement immediately. But what bothered me was how he was talking to customer service. He was being disrespectful with the staff and immediately had to apologize for his behavior. He then guilts me again, saying "if you didn't break that phone, I could've gotten a new one for free." Yes, because I just break phones for fun.

And this was only the tip of the iceberg.

He started to flip flop on me when it came to money. He would get angry if I told him I needed money for gas and groceries, to which he said in the beginning of the relationship that he would be able to help me with anything, and blame me for "irresponsible spending." Then he would get angry when I didn't tell him that I needed help. Again, what kind of a person offers to help you then turns around and blames you for asking? A sociopath, that's who.

He was constantly paranoid of everything. He wanted me to be armed excessively with weapons at all times. He was afraid that the government would take away his weapons if they found out he was mentally ill. He threatened to kill any man that even so much as looked at me. He constantly badgered me about what I was doing, where I was going and who I was with. I couldn't even make jokes about the relationship anymore because he would get angry at me. Meanwhile, he made all the jokes he wanted and I was just supposed to take it.

Towards the end of the relationship, he would blow up my phone every day with texts and missed calls. I developed the bad habit of overeating fast food every day to cope and nearly weighed 200 pounds as a result. I grew resentful of the relationship with each passing minute.

The last week of the relationship was a blur. All I remember was that the remains of Hurricane Florence were passing by my region and produced a tornado. He was furious when I told him about it and that I should've told him sooner. I was at work and more worried about my family, seeing as how he was too far away to do anything anyway.

The last straw came when I told him that I would like to keep some things about my life to myself. Again, he got angry and said, "how are we supposed to have a relationship if you won't tell me EVERYTHING?" He tried to cut off contact with me, but broke down immediately when I stopped replying to his texts and calls. This went on for three days until I finally had enough and sent him a text saying I was done with his BS.

He kept begging me for answers and told me I was a coward for breaking up with him through text and that it was my fault that everyone he cut off hated him now. I told him that after we got out of the phone contract to never speak to me again.

I erased his phone number from my contacts and blocked it. I tried to pawn the bracelet and promise ring to try and scrape together any money I could get out of it. The ring and bracelet, according to the pawn shop, said it was basically worthless as it wasn't real jewels and instead made in a lab that the company can mark up later with ridiculous prices. Thank God for eBay.

I sold the jewelry and my phone. All in all, I made around $150. But now I'm saddled with a debt from the phone company that I can't pay and still continue to fight to this day.

For nearly a year, I avoided getting close to anyone, even my friends. I couldn't stand being touched and having people actually be concerned over me. I wanted to be left alone.

Couple that with my mom getting out of her own abusive relationship and staying with me temporarily, my grandmother dying, preparing for graduation and having my finances completely ruined, I haven't been doing much better since. I've had to be prescribed stronger medication and I'm still seeking out therapists that I can afford.

And now, even after a year, he comes back into my life by sending me a message saying that he "forgives me" for breaking up with him. And that "it took him a long time to write this" and "he didn't want to bother me."

If I could block him without the fear of him trying to find me, I would. I still refuse to read the whole message. I've already tried to take the steps I needed to move on and it scares me that he refused to move on the whole time. He still blames me for "messing him up," or at least that's what he's telling his friends to tell me. To be quite honest, he shouldn't be concerned with me at all. I'm not responsible for his happiness and I never will be.

But that's my story about my abusive relationship. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who went through hell like that and unfortunately, I won't be the last one. I just hope that more people can read my story and know when to walk away sooner. I was lucky in that it only took me nine months to get out of a really bad relationship. Some aren't so lucky. Regardless, I hope to one day heal completely and finally put myself out there again when I'm ready.

Thank you for reading this far.