#and i DID it . i was actually Successful in that

[faeriekit]

War of Succession: dp x dc

"It's simple, really," the Ghost King smirked, the purple bands around his eyes widening as he narrowed his gaze. "You release me from this circle. I give you a promise to never return, and you get an influential hostage from my side. Easy breezy. Can't get any simpler than that."

Diana, Clark, and Bruce shared a look.

On the one hand, a hostage would be a good way to ensure that the threat to stay away from their dimension would actually stick. This particular Ghost King had been known for sweeping through the whole length and breadth of at least one dimension, and leaving only charred wreckage behind. A fight against him would waste precious time and resources that they should be using to solve the problems of the dimension they were already in—

—And based on Constantine's projections, a fight with this monarch would be a fight they might not even win.

Wonder Woman grimaced. Batman and Superman carefully did not do the same.

Wonder Woman was the only combatant who willingly and purposefully executed the occasional opponent; she was the only one the Ghost King seemed to respect in some manner, even if he occasionally pointed wary red eyes at the Bat behind her. Still, Diana faced him head on, eye to eye.

"No harm will come to your hostage, assuming that they do not challenge us. Leaving our custody would become a declaration of hostilities between us. Do you agree to this contract?"

The Ghost King's fanged smile was bloodthirsty. His smugness was palpable.

"Deal. I swear it on my crown."

There was absolutely something up his sleeve. It was too bad that there was no time for Bruce to decipher his motives.

Diana held her bare hand out, expression grim, back straight. The Ghost King leaned down— his green-tinged face was blank as stone, his black-gloved hand broad and wide.

Wonder Woman was unafraid. She took the hand.

One of the presiding JL Dark members hissed; Diana was fairly sure it was Captain Marvel, given his age—

Green swept through Diana like high tide, like a riptide, like waves buffeting her left and right until water was forced into her lungs and tried to sweep her off her feet.

She held fast. Diana was the child of gods and a Leader of her people. Of course she held fast.

...The waters slowly ebbed. Diana blinked green out of her eyes and saw the Ghost King did the same, wincing and cracking his shoulders the way Batman might after a hard battle.

Zatanna, Captain Marvel, and Constantine eased back on the circle beneath the monarch.

—And then the Ghost King was gone.

No light. No smoke. No sound. Just gone.

"...Uh," said Clark. Bruce swiftly shushed him.

A lime green tear ripped its way open where the circle had been drawn only seconds ago. Diana thought she heard some sort of voice shouting, and then a deeper, thicker voice growl back—

—And a teenager was punted straight into the arms of a baffled Captain Marvel. Billy quickly swerved to catch him safely, just as shocked as the teen in his arms was.

The teenager had the same white hair as the Ghost King, a similar Black jumpsuit that bore the same emblem, the same sharp fangs in his gritted teeth...and a smaller, but identically designed, floating black-iron crown. Was he smaller in frame? Absolutely. Was he also clearly terrified at the realization that he was surrounded by foreign combatants?

His eyes were so wide. So green. So scared.

His form flickered as he tried to disappear from sight. Zatanna's preventative spellwork stopped the invisibility from taking hold— and his panic clearly increased as he tried to scrabble up and over Billy's shoulders.

The Ghost King had thrown them his heir. Diana swallowed. Worse, she feared, there was reason to suspect that doing so was more to his benefit than their own.

A battle for succession was rarely bloodless.

Diana did not look forward to this...aftermath.

[meticulac]

Naive Rules to Argumentative Fantastical Play

Roles: director, encounter-controller, adventurer-patrons

--------

Preparation: Together, write a realm sheet. Record: Realm-name Creation-date player-bylines starting social-groups, one per-player, with: group name general aesthetic three common member traits several common names frequent hazard

Encounter-controller: Define enemy characters in relation to common realm traits and frequent hazards. Director: Mock up introduction, outline, formatted for convenient encounter production.

Adventurer-patrons each have: reserve-deck of character-cards spirit deck for dead and retired characters Character-cards are 3x5 note cards made starting with: character-name player-alias creation date three traits, but each from a different social-group

--------

Adventuring: Director: Present introduction, passing control to encounter-controller.

Encounter-start: adventurer-patrons without a living party member draw from reserve-deck.

Encounter-controller: Present situations, asking each adventurer-patron in turn for character responses. Players argue over applicability of character traits using Septem-Circumstantiae questions. After all responses, roll any dice to determine party luck, then describe outcomes, including any character deaths. Decide if encounter ends. Once per-encounter per-player: Optionally draw from spirit deck for a trophy-assist style summon.

Director: Observe, produce further encounters for encounter-controller as needed, steer adventure to resolve in one or two sessions.

--------

Session-end: Record each party member's most memorable success and failure (or death) as timestamped traits. Retire character-cards when almost full.

Feel free to archive this game off-site! I also posted this to Pollowfort, and if reasonably practical, I would like for the Pillowfort post to also be linked directly from the archive, but if that seems like it could be a hassle don't worry about it.

The game was completed fairly early on and is being submitted last-minute mainly because I was holding out for anyone to show interest in doing even one playtest of it, I'll maybe consider just skipping that part next year. I did get some feedback from someone proofreading it though, so that was nice.

Anyway, a quick rundown of the ideas here is that having adventuring players help in filing out information about the realm, and having a specifically designated player serve the role of building out encounters while the other game master actually runs them are both meant to reduce pressure to constantly come up with and keep track of everything in the game.

The argument system sort of goes against that a bit, but ideally it should also just take the desire to rules-lawyer and direct that itself toward storytelling by asking adventurers to philosophically justify why what they're doing should work. It's also a nice excuse to name-drop the ancient Greek version of the Five Ws.

It should also be helped by having every character card act as a log of the most notable story events they were involved in. The card system, where characters are initially made via simple templates and dead characters kept in a spirit deck, are both there to make it so running a game where death comes fast and easy is can run as smoothly and painlessly as possible.

If I could easily fit more stuff in this, I would want to expressly make it so new characters can also take inspiration from one random dead character as one of their traits. I also kind of like the idea of having players each design a deity character who they use to add divine intervention moves to the spirit deck, mainly because having that be a player's main character could further help players feel comfortable playing fast and loose with their mortal underlings.

Incidentally, the process of building the realm together out of whatever aesthetics the players think of first kind of resembles how in the Disney Animated version of Peter Pan (1953), the island of Neverland mainly consists of features that the principal characters used as happy thoughts to fly there. I didn't realize I was working that in at first, but it's incidentally something I've been thinking would be cool to design into a game.

200 Word RPGs 2024

Each November, some people try to write a novel. Others would prefer to do as little writing as possible. For those who wish to challenge their ability to not write, we offer this alternative: producing a complete, playable roleplaying game in two hundred words or fewer.

This is the submission thread for the 2024 event, running from November 1st, 2024 through November 30th, 2024. Submission guidelines can be found in this blog's pinned post, here.

[gpcwsl]

Hi! for a caitlin foord request, do you think you could write caitlin foord x williamson!reader? reader isn’t an arsenal player but hangs out with the team a lot. maybe a party at leah’s and the team plays spin the bottle or something. thank you 💕

**Warnings** : Swearing, kissing, making-out, just an little suggestive and not probably read through. I am also not shipping any of theses people, it’s a fan-fiction work.

Caitlin Foord x Williamson/Reader:

An unexpected (spinning) twist.

Teaming bonding night was often. Very often for Y/N’s sake but she adores it either way. She loves her sister’s teammates, could never get sick of them.

Y/n wasn’t an footballer unlike her sister, who was one year younger than she was. She wasn’t as successful as Leah either, but she didn’t care one bit. Y/n actually haven’t got a job currently. She quit her job back in Leicestershire a few months ago when things got, well not great. Leah complained to her so many times to move away from there and come join her in London. So a few months in and things have really started to become so much better for her. And maybe more brilliant to come.

Again, Leah insisted on a team bonding small party at her (now hers and Y/n’) house. Of course, majority coming. Some being busy, having plans with their families or just wanting a chill evening which makes sense since they played a thrilling match. Alessia, Beth, Frida, Kyra, Katie, Caitlin, Emily and Lia. The ones were stocked to come.

Fast forward to around an hour later. Where everyone was talking, laughing around. Then the child, the pest of them all came up with an, terrible but not so terrible for the future, game.

Kyra insists that they should play spin the bottle. Everyone, and I mean everyone immediately deny her wishes. But, after a-lot of pestering. Here they are sat in a circle, on the floor.

“Okay, okay! Who will spin first.” Kyra asks, a big massive smile on her face.

“This is why we don’t invite you to stuffs, Kyra. Seriously? Spin the bottle is for kids, teenagers! Not grown adults!” Lia whines, hating the idea she might have to kiss someone.

“Come on! It won’t mean anything, just a little kiss. But, can’t be a peck. The kiss has to last at least five seconds long.” Kyra says, pointing out the rules which makes some groans and some curse Kyra under their breaths.

“Okay, okay. Lia since yours being mean, you spin first.” Kyra says, smiling smugly at the Swiss midfielder. Who rolls her eyes in return. “Let’s get this over with.”

Spinning the bottle it landing on Leah, who was opposite to her. Everyone ‘ooo’ as the two grow rose-red. Chanting ‘kiss, kiss, kiss.’ like a bunch on three year olds.

Leah makes the first move, leaning forward grabbing Lia’s chin; pulling her in, till there lips touch. Holding her lips on Lia’s for five seconds before slowly pulling away and retreating to her spot on the floor with beat red rosey cheeks, mirroring Lia’s.

Kyra then springs into action, wanting to spin next. Landing on Alessia. She immediately smiles up at her. Alessia rolls her eyes but there is a hint of enjoyment in Kyra’s actions. “Just get it over with.”

“By all means.” Kyra mumbles, smiling as she mirrors Leah’s actions. Gently grabbing Alessia’s chin; leaning forward kissing her softly, for more than five seconds as their lips move together. But then, Alessia breaks the kiss by shoving Kyra back in a playful manner, who then giggles in return. “Enjoyed that, Lessi?”

“Fuck off-“

“Right! Who’s next?” Kyra says, looking among the circle. “Caitlin?”

“Dammit-“ Caitlin whispers, as she shifts forward reaching for the bottle; mumbling curses words as she watching the bottle spin. As the bottle spins, it feels like it’s going in slow motion for Caitlin. Her eyes darting to a pacific figure across from her, who’s watching the bottle intensely. Huffing to herself before moving her eyes back to the bottle when it fully stops. Her eyes widen. Did fate do this? He eyes then going back to the figure, who now was already looking at her.

“No! No, no, no! I forbid for you to kiss anyone. I shouldn’t have even let you play this game.” Leah says, her sister manner coming in quick.

“Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!” Everyone but, Leah, Caitlin and Y/n chant. Y/n smiles at her before leaning in. But whispering. “You sure you wanna do this?”

Caitlin nods her head, her eyes fixated on Y/n lips before being the one to close to gap. Hesitantly connecting their lips. Just like Kyra’s and Alessia’s. The kiss lasted longer than five seconds. But, it lasted longer than ten seconds. As their found a rhythm of the kiss. Caitlin’s hands going on Y/N’s waist does it for Leah. Who immediately pulls them away. “Okay, that’s it. Stop kissing.”

“Cock-blocker.” Y/n says, smirking at Caitlin. Leah rolls her eyes, smacking her sister’s knee. “Don’t care if you guys just expressed some feelings that were just discovered right then and now. Just expressed them alone. I don’t want to see my sister making out with one of my friends.”

Y/n and Caitlin blushes before Y/n steps in. “Could say the same thing for you and Miss Swiss over there.” Leah goes bright red, flipping off her sister. “I’m done, I’m tired; I’m just done.”

“Oh come on- some of you haven’t kissed anyone yet-“

“Kyra, it’s time for you to leave.” Leah says, shaking her head as she pushes Kyra towards the door.

Caitlin grabs Y/N’s hand, holding her back. “Hey, can we talk?” Caitlin smiles softly at her. Y/n instantly smiles back, nodding her head. Looking over her shoddier seeing the others are preoccupied. She moves the two of them to an oboe place, the hallway of the downstairs bathroom and garage. “What’s up?”

“I-I just wanna talk about the kiss we had and I wanna know if it meant something.” Caitlin says, her eyes fixated on the floor.

“Of course it did. I wouldn’t have kissed you longer than ten seconds if I didn’t.” I whisper, having an déjà vu moment as I leans forward cupping her chin. “May I?”

Caitlin nods, her eyes now on Y/N’s lips. Y/n places her lips on Caitlin. Not having any hesitation like last time. Her hands now fully cupping her cheeks as Caitlin’s slide around her waist. Kissing softly with a passion rhythm that gets slighlty out of control. Caitlin pushing her back makes Y/‘s back slam against the wall, groaning in response but doesn’t give any indication to stop the kissing.

Being to invested in the kiss, the two didn’t see or hear someone coming to them. “Caitlin? Are you leaving or- oh my god!”

The two breaks the kiss, breathing heavily, lips swollen as they look at the blonde defender. “Okay, I’m guessing you are staying the night. Just don’t make much of a sound, please.” Leah then walks away, her body shivering at the sight she just encountered. Y/n groans at her sister’s words, flipping her off.

“Am I staying the night?” Caitlin asks, smiling at Y/n. Her hands still in her waist. Y/n smiles back, nodding her head. “Yeah, I would love that.” “Me too.”

[boombox-fuckboy]

As we've got a month left of the year (as we measure it where I am, anyway), I want to recommend that instead of making that grand New Year's Resolution, you make a list of Year Goals. There are five rules to year goals:

Put as many on your list as you want. (If you achieve something cool or think of something else, you're allowed to add it retroactively, too)

They should be dead easy to achieve. For example, instead of "get into cheesemaking", you'd put "try making cheese (any kind!)". Instead of "get fit at the gym" it would be "visit the gym at least once".

They should be things you actually want to do or achieve. Year goals should be nice things.

Try to do them when you get the chance, or the urge. This can be at any time during the year. That "visit the gym at least once" you want to do for some reason? You only have to do that once and it could be in March or August or December. And if you like it, you can go back on your own accord any time.

You don't have to do them all.

So, for example, some year goals I crossed off this year included:

Draw more landscapes

Try making cheese

Try embroidery

Try whittling

Learn what the different sorts of clouds are called

Start recording all the different species of organisms in the garden (started and made it past 100 animals, (plants and fungi tbd))

Make a zine (one!)

Try new kinds of fruit (an ongoing year goal. I've tried feijoa, papaya, kiwi berries and custard apple)

GM a tabletop game for the first time

Engage with a greater variety of media formats

Publish a paper (I already knew this was upcoming, so it counts easy, but I still did it so I get to feel success)

Can recommend.

[goodluckclove]

Support activism is absolutely as crucial as any other form of activism! It took me YEARS to realize this and now I will die on this goddamned hill.

Going into battle all tanks or barbarians or whatever might get you a win, but if it does you'll likely be so hurt and exhausted that's success won't really mean anything anymore. We need healers. We need medics. We need people who fight though validation and interpersonal love, who hold ground for the others to come back to and rest for a moment.

I spent so long thinking the work I did didn't matter. I knew activists who were enacting change on a political level, organizing rallies and protests. Compared to them I honestly thought I was doing nothing, even though at the time I spent my days tending to scars both emotional and literal. I put everything I had into creating a safe space. I almost hesitate to call it that considering how the term is so easily used as a punchline, but I have had people tell me directly that they had nowhere else where they felt unafraid.

The attitude OP is describing is the exact reason why I felt so useless, even though I was talking kids down from suicide on a pretty regular basis.

Learn to support. Learn how to actually connect and emphasize and talk to people in a way that makes them feel seen and held. Have actual conversations, establish the ability to listen empathetically, and know when it's time to pull out resources to more qualified people that can handle the situation. I'm learning more and more that this is actually a skill not a lot of people have - maybe that's why it's shrugged off so easily.

I’m sorry but if there is one thing the Tumblr left needs crucially, it’s the ability to celebrate.

I remember when marriage equality was called and there were waves of rainbows and love wins posts. When we successfully defeated Donald Trump, there was lukewarm relief, a reminder that you were only allowed one or maybe two days to celebrate and then it was back to work. That is if you were even a good person for voting Biden. We never did settle if he was better than Trump. (We did.). We didn’t celebrate student loan debt relief or any of the accomplishments of the Biden administration, or any of the times Trump was blocked, or other countries succeeding in keeping fascists out of office. Who cares if we had successes? It’s not good enough. Back to work!

And this anti-celebratory attitude stretches back to the past. On the 100th anniversary of female suffrage in America, we were reminded that not all women had the vote and so we weren’t allowed to celebrate. The only post I saw about Juneteenth was reminding us that there were enslaved people who were killed instead of freed and therefore celebrating the end of chattel slavery was wrong, and besides, we have prison labor so nothing really changed or got better and there’s nothing to celebrate anyway. Trans Day of Visibility comes with Trans Day of Remembrance so that people don’t fill the tags with hate crimes and death. So on and so forth. Nothing gets better. Nothing changes. Back to work!

So of course when we have a major setback, we fall apart and have to start frantic damage control. Frantic discourse ensues over how much people are allowed to unplug before it becomes bad and selfish. Yes, maybe you can have this one day off Mr. Cratchit but you better be here and miserable early the next morning. Like abusive bosses always insisting you squeeze out more, more, more, and any achievement is just proof you were lazy the other times and impetus for more work.

If we are never allowed to acknowledge any of our victories, how are we supposed to survive our defeats?

[hyunebunx]

˖˙ ᰋ ── you, blanket forts and heated kisses

﹙ʚɞ˚﹚. genre: fluff!! (and some heated kisses lmao)

﹙ʚɞ˚﹚. a/n: hiii! this is a continuation of this fic right here! you don't need to read that one to understand this, but they're taking place in the same universe. enjoyy and let me know what you think!! <33

“Let’s build a blanket fort.”

Said Hyunjin randomly on a stormy day, right after kissing you stupid and taking away your ability to think.

Unfortunately for him, you later engaged in an activity far different from the one he suggested, so different that he forgot all about his initial idea for the remainder of the week.

Until now, when you’re found in the same predicament – your beloved has come over with the biggest smile, elated to see you after spending the past month apart. Everything was fine and dandy until the sky suddenly darkened and it started pouring, trapping you both inside the apartment and cancelling all plans you might’ve made outside.

At least this time, the harsh weather took pity on your unfortunate soul and allowed the power to stay on.

“Alright, so it says here we can use chairs, a table, or even the couch for our fort.”

“Did you seriously pull up a wikihow article?”

You turn to him, a little embarrassed at being caught, his genuine laughter making heat rush to your face at an alarming pace. No words escape you and he coos, dropping the big pillows he got from your bedroom before stepping over them to hug you from behind, holding you close while his lips pepper sweet kisses from your cheek down to your neck.

“That’s adorable, baby.” Hyunjin nuzzles your neck, placing one last kiss on your cheek before resting his chin on your shoulder. “What else is your little article recommending?”

“Don’t make fun of me.” You whine, attempting to turn around in his arms with no success, quickly settling on hiding your face and embarrassment in your hands, just so he won't see them.

He’s laughing again, tenderly spinning you around by your hips so you’re face to face. “I’m not, baby. I’m just curious why you thought I don’t already possess all the knowledge we need.” He points to his temple, after prying your hands away from the beautiful face that has started to appear in his dreams almost daily.

“Alright, Bob the builder, knock yourself out.” You nod towards the mess he’s made on the floor, to all the pillows, blankets, and sheets he’s stolen from your room. His wish to build a fort made a lot of sense if you take into consideration his ferret nature he always denies. The tiny animal thrived on alone time, hid away in a secluded place away from everyone.

He gasps, bringing his hands to his chest as if he could really fool anyone into believing he’s actually offended. “I’ll have you know I’m an artist! An architect if you will! That guy has nothing on me.”

Giggling, you can’t help but get closer to kiss his pout away, bringing his smile back instantly. “Of course, you are love. The best of them all.”

“Are you making fun of me?” And just as it disappeared, his natural pouty lips can’t help but jut out.

You shake your head, amused at how the tables have turned. “Never.” Then, with the softest touch, you intertwine your fingers and begin dragging him along to the materials he abandoned in the middle of the room. “I’ve never built a fort before.”

“Never?” The look on his face is incredulous, pulling you by the hand to his chest to tenderly kiss your temple, feeling clingier than usual. “Let’s get down to business then.”

Turns out, building a blanket fort is as easy as reading a wikihow article, especially when your Loverboy does most of the work and knows exactly what to use to make it all happen. With the tripod he left at your place, you balance the sheets, keeping them up and creating the perfect opening to your little den of comfort and secrets. Your U-shaped couch was sturdy, assisting your building activities with the many ornamental pillows that became trusty pillars.

You don’t know how much time passed, absorbed into your current task, laughing away with your beloved and teasing each other in good fun. At some point, you get distracted and as he’s ranting away about something that happened at practice, one of your soft pillows collides with the side of his head. Hyunjin stops dead in his tracks, words dying on his tongue as he slowly stands from his crouched position while you try everything in your power to not burst out laughing in his face.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” You feign innocence, gingerly hiding the pillow behind your back like nothing has happened.

Hyunjin stares you down, the intensity in his gaze almost making you confess. Almost. The obvious glint of mischief in his eyes tells you he has an unused card under his sleeve, one you should not ignore.

Without another word, he stretches his arm and beckons you closer with two fingers, obviously expecting surrender. And the pillow that has now become his number one enemy.

When you shake your head and smile brightly, he pauses for a total of five seconds before stepping closer to take matters into his own hands. That’s your cue to flee, so you run in the opposite direction, laughing loudly when he follows and you begin chasing each other around the apartment like little kids.

He’s letting you get away, pretending to be slower and clumsily stumbling over his feet just so your laugh can continue warming his heart, providing the flowers in his chest with the sunshine needed to bloom to maturity.

Then, out of nowhere, he manages to sneak behind you, arms circling your middle and pulling you to his chest with ease, lifting your feet off the ground as both of your laughter blend beautifully. Hyunjin begins attacking you with kisses all over your face and you stop pretending you want to get away, melting into his embrace and fully accepting your fate.

“Caught you.” He says in a sing song voice, over the moon at having you in his arms once again.

Your hands move over his, pillow falling to the ground with a soft thud as you lean back, head on his shoulder to reach his plump lips and press numerous kisses over them. When you move to pull away, one of his hands instantly comes up to cup your cheek to keep you there, tongue sneaking past your lips cheekily. The air shifts instantly as he hugs you closer, kissing you as he needs it to keep living, strong arms serving as an anchor while your body’s buzzing like you’re intoxicated, tingling all over.

Summoning all of your willpower, you manage to pull away from him for the briefest moment. “Just because I let you.”

Hyunjin smiles but you have a feeling it’s an automatic response, his brain not actually processing any of your words as he dives back in, impatient to feel your lips on his once again.

Kissing Hyunjin was always an experience, full of love and passion that had you weak in the knees – but kissing him after not seeing each other for a while felt like the air in your lungs was running out and him, out of the kindness of his heart, kept you alive by sharing his breath with you.

You turn in his arms, just like earlier, but oh so different, one hand gripping his tank top while the other sneaks its way into dark hair, pulling lightly to deepen the kiss which makes him groan lowly. Hyunjin’s grip on your hips burnt, your whole body on fire as he explored it to his heart’s desire, handling you in the exact way one would a priceless sculpture, a work of art he couldn’t look away from no matter how hard he tried.

He tasted divine, and his cologne made you dizzy, just like everything about him did. Without warning, he begins moving, pushing back and guiding your body expertly, biting down on your bottom lip right before breaking the kiss, to your great disappointment.

“Baby.” His voice is hoarse, breath shaky, a nervous laugh escaping him at the look on your face. “Our fort.”

With a groan, you ignore him in favour of placing sweet, open-mouthed kisses up his neck. “You have been driving me crazy with that fort of yours, Hyun.”

His grip on your hips is a warning, sending you mixed signals as he can’t resist but connect your lower halves, needing you as close as possible while he tilts his head back with a heavy breath. “And here I thought that was my irresistible personality.”

You grin, looking up at him while holding onto his biceps for support. “Nope, only your blabbering mouth.”

The tension dissipates as he laughs, eyes wandering and pupils blown even as you tear yourself from him and exhale, trying your best to calm down before going back to the fort you’ve both worked so hard on.

In the end, after weeks and weeks of waiting, you and Hyunjin are finally in your very own blanket fort, giggling like two children who have somehow forgotten what has just transpired a few moments ago.

“This is nice.” You hum, resting your head on his shoulder, glancing at the fairy lights he somehow managed to hang up. You’re both sitting cross-legged on some pillows, surrounded by snacks and blankets.

“I told you I got this. I didn’t need any help or tutorial.” He puffs out his chest, obviously proud he impressed you.

You nod, eyes almost fluttering shut, his bare shoulder surprisingly comfy. “Good job, Bob.”

The words barely have time to escape before you get a pillow to the face, the soft feathers getting into your mouth and startling you awake. You’re frozen in place, not realizing what happened until Hyunjin starts laughing next to you, delighted at the stunt he just pulled.

You push his shoulder, biting back a smile and he laughs harder, toppling over while hugging the pillow to his chest. A part of the sheet gets caught under him and before you know it, the whole thing collapses on top of you, trapping you under along with all the decorations and food neither got to enjoy.

It’s silent for a second before your laughter joins his as you reach to help him sit up, only for him to lose his balance and fall over you, feeling a little claustrophobic under the restrictive sheet. Holding himself up above you with his bulging arms, eyes two crescent moons and engulfing the whole room in a light that could only be produced by him, you move to squish his cheeks together. Lovingly, of course.

“I love you so much, my little liar. But I’m revoking your architecture license.”

Fortunately, Hyunjin didn’t look disappointed in the slightest.

[obsessedhoneycomb]

Crush

Frederik Vesti x fem!reader, George Russell x fem!reader

Summary: it’s just a stupid crush from her earlier days of fangirling. But when she gets to meet him, it’s not that stupid anymore…

Warnings: cheating; infidelity; curse words; implied smut; no use of Y/N; fluff and love; heartbreak

A/N: I really struggled with this one, I wrote this a while ago, when my English wasn’t my cup of tea so I spent a lot of time with editing, rewriting, but after all I think it’s good. Also it’s another fic about cheating (and I’m writing another already, heh), I think that I might need a serious help in this matter, but whatever, I like to write it, however I wouldn’t do that to anybody I love. Enjoy it!

Please don’t use my writings without my permission! Pictures found on Pinterest.

———

“Are you really ready for this?” Fred said to her hair while she stood in front of the mirror, putting on her jewellery.

“I’m more than ready, Fred. I want to be there for you.” Her nerves were getting the best out of her, but she tried to smile and not worry him much.

They were together for more than a year. Frederick Vesti was driver for Prema team in F2 and he was considered being reserve driver for Mercedes F1 team. Today was a big day for him, he was supposed to get through a practice day at the track for F1. Rookies did that through the season, getting this opportunity from the teams on the grid.

As they arrived to the paddock hand in hand, fans were everywhere trying to get the best snapshots of them. She smiled and held her head high but inside, she was nervous as hell and Fred could tell from the grip of her hand. He just switched his hand from hers over her shoulders in protective way. They got through the crowds to the Mercedes garage, where was the usual chaos.

“Fred! Good you’re here already. And who might this be?” Toto, the Mercedes team principal, was at them with questioning look.

“Hey, Toto. This is my girlfriend.” Fred introduced her with smile.

“Nice to meet you.” Toto offered his hand to her as she accepted it with smile.

“Nice to meet you too, I’m glad to be here.”

“You need to find George. It’s his car you're gonna be driving today.” Toto said and was gone in an instant.

She felt her cheeks being hot. George was her crush from earlier days she’s been watching racing. When she met Fred, she didn’t know that he’s driver. But she wouldn’t change a thing. She’s way past her crush. Right?

“Are you alright? Is everything okay?” Fred gave her arm a reassuring squeeze.

“Yeah, I’m okay, don’t worry. I’m actually enjoying myself.” she chuckled a little.

After some more greetings, they met with George.

“Fred! All lookin’ good! Oh, hey, nice to meet you too, finally. Fred was always talking about you.” George was sparkling with joy as he talked and greeted with her. She smiled widely at him, her dream came true.

“She’s talking about you too, actually.” Fred nudged her shoulder with chuckle.

“Oh no- that’s not-“ she felt her cheeks hot, trying to deny it. She wasn’t talking that much, but she maybe pinpointed it a few times.

George genuinely laughed about it, flashing her his significant smile.

“That’s okay. More fans, more success I guess.”

As they went through the preparations, she focused on Fred, always knew how he was stressed to do the best job and how he was nervous around Toto. When it was the time for him to hop into the car, she went quickly towards him and kissed him for good luck.

“Take care outside. I’m watching.” She smiled, caressing his cheek with loving gaze, which made Fred relax a bit.

“You’re gonna be proud of me.”

“I already am.”

They didn’t notice how George was watching them. Frederik having that good looking girl was almost a crime. And the way she was blushing around him. Oh no, that’s not appropriate, George, Carmen is somewhere around here waiting for you.

She walked to stood beside George, letting out the breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“Feeling scared?” He asked with a soft smile of empathy.

“Always. I’m actually scared shitless every time he gets in that car.” She chuckled nervously.

“Would you like to get some coffee? It’s gonna be an hour or so before he gets back and I’m not allowed to be anywhere close.” He suggested.

“That’s good idea. But I need to be close to the track, I need to watch him.” She smiled.

As they made it to the top roof of the VIP lounge with their cups of coffee, she eagerly watched the track for a sign of Frederik. When she spotted him, she waved a little with excited smile.

George was watching her, how she was excited for her boyfriend, how she seemed to love the racing. And how she waved at that car. His car. And how he would like that she would be waving at him. No, no, George, these thoughts are not for you.

She sipped a little from her cup of coffee as she turned her look at George.

“So, where’s Carmen?” She asked feeling her insides clenching at her name.

“Mmm I think she’s with other girls from the grid. She’s not spending much time outside of the Mercedes hospitality as she wants her own peace. At least she’s here and it gives me some comfort also.” He answered looking into the blank space.

She quirked her brow at those words. “Hm… everyone have it’s own way of spending their time here. Even if this is my first time, I feel like I belong here more than anywhere else. I know how it feels like being on the other side, sitting on the grid tribune and hoping some driver would take notice of me. Not that I would be so desperate, but I saw you one time I was at Hungaroring, and I naively thought that you just waved at me. Silly me.” She laughed softly as she spoke and she wasn’t really sure why she told him this but it made sense to her at the time.

His eye softened at her confession. He would wave at her if he knew. Fuck, again, George?

“How you and Fred met? You’re not together for long, are you?”

“Actually, it was kind of funny. I was in Denmark last spring and I was just walking around the park with my AirPods on and somehow I crossed his path, when he was riding a bike. He fell in the nearby pond, trying to avoid the crash. And I felt so guilty that I apologised nearly thousand times. We shared laughs, stories and it clicked instantly. It was a year and half already and I couldn’t imagine to have someone better by my side. We decided to take it slow and not to worry about public eye. But now we’re here, taking another step in our relationship.” As she talked she was somehow in her dreamy haze when she smiled at the memories. Fred was truly an amazing partner, supportive, loving, everything she wanted in a man.

“That sounds like a scene from the cheesy rom com. No offense.” George tried to chuckle in funny way, brushing off another of his thoughts.

“Yeah, it may, but it’s true. I didn’t consider myself lucky until that day I met him.” She chuckled, taking another sip of her coffee.

Today, I’m the luckiest. Holy shit, George, get a grip man.

As she caught a glimpse of Fred in the car getting through another lap, Carmen appeared out of nowhere finding George.

“Hi, gorgeous, I was looking for you.” Carmen smiled, sneaking her hands around his waist while eyeing her. She turned her look from track at Carmen and she smiled politely.

“You must be Carmen. Nice to meet you.” She offered her hand to her with kind smile. George noticed the confusion of his girlfriend.

“She’s here with Frederik, who is on the track instead of me, like I told you. She wanted to have the best view over the track.” George knew how to navigate Carmen’s feelings to get her comfort. Carmen on the other hand relaxed.

“Ah, I see, nice to meet you too. Your first time here?”

“First time at the paddock, but overall not quite first time. I know the drill.”

“So, you’re a fan. Who is your favourite driver?”

“It’s Fred of course..”

“No, I mean, beside your boyfriend.”

“You mean before I met Fred? I was fan girl for Max Verstappen.” She chuckled as she lied smoothly. George snorted a little, but Carmen was satisfied with the answer.

“But that days are long gone, I don’t have time for fan girling over someone else beside my man.” She smiled looking over track again.

George felt strange jealousy. Carmen wasn’t like that for a long time. Yes, she was supporting him from aback, but she was more into her own stuff that came with being his girlfriend.

Fred got the fastest lap during the practice. When he came back to the garage, everybody congratulated him, bringing the joy and excitement to his performance. But the first person he wanted to see was his girlfriend. She nearly jumped into his arms with giggles.

“You were amazing.”

“Thanks, I was shaking throughout the whole session.”

She kissed his cheek, when she caught George staring at them from afar. He noticed that and he cleared his throat, going to look over performance sheets.

Fred spent another hour with him going through his performance on the track. She spent her time aside, going through her own business.

From that day on, Fred was spending much more time over the Mercedes garage during the races. She wasn’t always able to attend, but she tried as much as she could. She became a very good friend with George and others in the team. Carmen tried to talk with her also, but she held that strange distance between them.

On the other hand, George tried to suppress his thoughts and feelings towards her.

———

There was a party after the qualifying day in Montreal, she arrived in the last minute feeling badly jet lagged. As she was getting her third drink of the night, she felt a little tipsy, the tiredness wearing her off. Fred was enjoying himself maybe too much, he was drunk as hell and dancing with the guys, completely forgetting about his girlfriend, who was standing beside a bar downing her drink, deciding to get some sleep. George saw her and he was on his way to her.

“Not enjoying the party?” George was beside her startling her a little.

“Holy shit, George… no, I’m- I’m tired and Fred is having fun himself.” she sighed as she went to the elevator and George went after her.

“I saw how he’s having fun, totally ditching you.” George crossed his arms.

“He’s just stressed he needs to release some tension.”

“And what about you? You don’t need to release tension?”

She looked up at him with a little confused expression.

“What- No. I don’t need that.” Her cheeks were getting hot from the way he talked and from the way he was close. The elevator dinged her level of hotel room and she walked out quickly. George went after her in silence.

“Why are you not at party? Why are you here with me?” She turned on her heels, when she reached the door of her hotel room. George leaned against the wall as he looked at her.

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“Look, George. I noticed. I noticed how you’re looking at me when you think that nobody’s looking.”

George scoffed looking to the side. “That’s not true.”

“Whatever. Good night.” She unlocked the door to her room but he grabbed her by her arm, she wasn’t even able to open the door and he was dragging her to the direction of his room.

“George- what-“

In a moment they were in his room, she was standing in the middle looking furious at him while he closed the door and looked at her with dark look. The room was soaked in his scent and it made her mind going crazy.

“You’re crazy.” She said to break the silence.

“I am. Into you.” With that words he closed the gap between them, kissing her. She gasped in shock, trying to push him away first, but then she melted into his touch deepening the kiss. It was a sign for him to pull her closer to him as his right hand went to her hair and his left hand rested on her back.

She pushed him away after a while and he just looked at her with desire in his eyes.

“This- we can’t- it’s wrong.” She stuttered while her hand trailed from his neck to his chest.

“I need you. And I’m not gonna stop until the moment I’ll have you.” He said his hand caressing her cheek while his thumbs brushed off her lower lip.

“Shit, George…” she whispered and continued to kiss him.

Next morning she woke up beside Frederik. Remembering what happened last night, she felt a pang in her chest. Taking a cold shower it felt slightly better, but when she looked over to the mirror her eyes went wide with horror. The way her body was bruised, it looked like someone attacked her. Luckily her neck was untouched, so she could put on her shirt and jeans and it looked good. When she walked out the bathroom, Fred was awake, totally hungover.

“Hey, babe. I’m so sorry for last night.” Fred started to speak while the confusion was overtaking him. She got to him as she hugged him tightly. He just relaxed into her arms with smile.

“It’s okay. But please don’t get this drunk again. You were a real mess when you arrived here.” she chuckled a little. It was sort of true. At night she was in the room for a ten minutes after her heated session with George, when Fred was drunkenly trying to get into their room. She only managed to get him to the bed because he was already sleeping.

“I don’t remember anything. I’m so sorry.” Fred just rested his head in the crook of her neck.

“Don’t worry about it, Freddie. But we need to get you in shape because today is a race day.” She laughed at his groan.

She knew that meeting George was inevitable. At least Carmen wasn’t there, so she wouldn’t be looking at her all day.

As they arrived at the paddock, Lando spotted them and joined them.

“So, Fred, you enjoyed yourself last night?”

“Ehm, yeah. Pretty much.”

Lando turned at her with curious look. “What about you? I saw you walking away rather early.”

“I was just so tired from that jet lag. I needed some sleep.” With that words they happened to meet George at the entrance of the garage.

“Hey, mate! We really ruined Fred last night, didn’t we?” Lando grinned at George while she looked at him with amused smile, thinking that he was also so wasted that he didn’t notice George being gone for the most of the evening.

“Yeah, we really did. You need to work on your stamina, Fred.” George chuckled as his eyes flicked at Grace for the brief moment.

“This man needs to get prepared for his business today, see you later.” she pushed Fred forward as she wasn’t in a mood to talk more. Fred just chuckled, getting his arm over her shoulder to move her closer to him.

George saw that little gesture and he felt extremely jealous, his mind was filled with the things he did with her last night.

Watching Fred from the VIP lounge, she enjoyed her alone time. Being in Montreal wasn’t the best idea and she now knew why. Looking over her watch, she really pushed time forward, longing to get back to London and get away from all the thoughts that filled her mind.

“I knew you’d be here.” It was George, now standing beside her, his race suit on along with his sunglasses, looking like he’s not giving single fuck about anything.

“Where else would I be?” She sighed with obvious smile.

“We need to talk about last night.”

“No we don’t. It was a mistake.”

“A mistake?”

“Wasn’t it? I have Fred and you have Carmen.”

“I just-“

“I don’t want to hurt him.”

George just nodded and walked away. Throughout the day, they avoided each other. Fred talked her into spending some more time in the Mercedes garage, to get to know who won the GP. George ended up second. She and Fred stood under the podium, everything was overwhelming so when George received the trophy, she felt her cheeks being wet. He locked his eyes with hers in soft gaze as he smiled like he always did at her. So nice, pretty and loving. It was moment only for them. Something that never was and never will be.

“Love, you’re crying.” Fred said with soft voice, trying to brush her tears off.

“It’s just a joy from all of this.” She grinned suppressing her heartbroken smile.

“You’re really into this with your whole heart.” Fred smiled as he pulled her into his arms. She looked up at George again, he was watching them his eyes filled with tears too, but everybody thought it was tears of happiness. She turned her head to the other side of the podium and it was the last look she took at George for a very long time.

———

Months passed and the racing season was nearing its end. From the Canada she didn’t attend any races or events saying that she’s under pressure of being a good girlfriend and she didn’t want to be at spotlight. Frederik respected it, but at first he found it hard to understand it. But they got used to it and she tried to make him believe that it eventually gets better over time.

It was November, everyone was getting prepared for Christmas. Frederik got on his plane to get to Brazil as she went shopping some presents. She really loved Christmas at London.

“I’m already on the plane, I’m excited guys. My first Brazil!” - Fred

“Is your beloved coming with you to see that too?” - Lewis

“No, she’s not well with the crowds still and she decided to decorate our flat for Christmas.” - Fred

George sat in the headquarters at Brackley eating his snack, while he read the group conversation with his teammates. As he turned his phone down he looked a little zoned out.

“Hey, George. It looks our flight is delayed because of the weather. We’re coming tomorrow night or maybe the day after.” His manager said to him with frown.

George looked up at him with a soft smile. “Actually it’s okay, I need to get something done.”

———

She felt pretty content with the atmosphere around her. With her bags on her shoulder, she walked to the café at the corner in front of the apartment complex she was living with Fred. Sitting next to the huge glass window she had a beautiful view to the Christmas tree on the square. Feeling the warmth of the mug with coffee in her hands, she was looking outside. Suddenly a figure walked around the window and she caught the glimpse of the man. He looked away but abruptly he looked back to her direction. It was George. She couldn’t stop staring, surprised to see him after that long time. He looked surprised too, but didn’t hesitate a second and he stepped inside the café, slowly approaching the table she was sitting at.

She stood from the chair still holding his gaze. He took a few quick steps towards her and he hugged her. His embrace was tight and warm, it felt like being home. She hugged him back getting him even closer to her, his scent filling her senses. For quite some time they just stood there, hugging each other. Then she pulled back from him looking into his eyes.

“Coffee?”

George only nodded as he sat across from her at the table. She got him a coffee and sat back to her chair.

“You’re supposed to be on your way to Brazil.”

“My flight was delayed. I’m coming tomorrow or day after. I don’t know still for sure.”

“How come you’re in London?”

“I was at Brackley, getting some preparations done.”

“That’s not London.”

“I saw in our group chat, that you’re not coming and that you’re staying here at home. Maybe I’m crazy, but I wanted to find you and talk to you. I can’t bear it anymore.”

He looked at her with desperation over his face. Her eyes softened at his confession.

“I’m sorry about you and Carmen. You were truly a power couple.”

“How can you look into Fred’s eyes? When I’m the one you love.”

“What… How can you tell who I love or not?”

“You’re avoiding me by not going to races. You shut down your socials and you’re not answering my texts. You’re clearly running away from something.”

“That’s not your business, George. Even if… even if there would be any possibility of us being together, how would I appear in the public eye, in the eyes of your teammates, supporting you instead of him? I don’t want to be a bitch.”

“And yet you’re still thinking about others and not about you. What do you want? What you truly and really want?”

She ran her hand through her hair, looking around, trying to avoid the answer to that question.

“I don’t want to talk about it. I’m not in mood for this. I want my peace. It’s gonna be Christmas for the god's sake!”

“What is that one thing you want? You don’t want peace, you don’t want perfect Christmas, you want passion, you want to be that girl at the tribune waving and screaming at her favourite drivers.”

“It’s not that-“

“Just say it!”

“You! I want you! Holy shit, George! I wanted you from the first time I laid my eyes on you a long time ago!”

She really said that loudly. Her hand went on her mouth as she was shocked by the strange flutter in her chest from that words.

George exhaled in relief, his frustrations fading away. Hearing her saying it shook his entire core. He wouldn’t even think that this woman would change his life to the point he’d be so desperate for her.

“What do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

She invited him over to the flat she shared with Fred. She made dinner for them, they ate together and ended up watching some reality show at the TV. All of that filled with loving gazes, soft laughs and sweet touches. She was curled on the sofa her head in the George’s lap while she was watching TV and enjoying his hand caressing her hair. It felt so natural that they nearly forgot about the real world around them. Suddenly she rolled over on her back looking up at him. George looked down at her with questioning look.

“What?”

“Nothing. I could just look at you for my whole life and that wouldn’t be enough.”

He took her hand into his, bringing it to his lips and placing it on his cheek leaning into her palm. Feeling the warmth of her skin, he felt like he would do anything to not break this moment. He was falling deeper and deeper into the pool of love.

She prepared for him the towel and some oversized clothes she had herself in the bathroom as she was done with showering. George, like a gentleman he was, wanted to sleep on the couch at first but she denied that idea. She prepared the guest room for them, because she didn’t want for him to sleep in the bedroom she shared with Fred.

Waiting for George to come to bed, she was half asleep when he slipped under the covers.

“Just sleep, love. Enjoy our little universe, where it’s only us for tonight.” He whispered into her hair pulling her closer to him.

“Mhm… good night, George….” She said softly as she drifted off to sleep.

In the morning they were woken up by ringing of his phone. George groaned as he answered the call.

“…yeah?”

“Where are you? I got us an early plane, we need to get to the Heathrow in three hours.”

“That’s okay, I’ll be there on time.”

She stirred in her sleep, waking up to George smiling at her. It was sight for sore eyes and she smiled sleepily.

“Good morning. Sorry for waking you up, but my manager clearly have some trust issues with me.”

George kissed her forehead as she chuckled and hugged him tight humming into his chest.

“You need to get to Brazil, I know. I don’t want this moment to end.”

“One day, I’ll give you thousands of these moments…” he placed a kiss on the top of her head holding her close.

After quick breakfast, George was ready to go and it was time to say goodbye. They stood in the hallway of the flat, her hand brushing over his jacket with a sad smile.

“Be careful out there. And don’t forget that I’m watching you on the track. I’m with you even if I’m not.”

“I love you. I need to say it.”

“I love you too, George. I always had.”

Race weekend at Brazil went by and Fred was home by Sunday midnight. She spent whole weekend chatting with George over texts. She really didn’t know, how to handle the situation with Fred.

Sitting in the living room, Fred walked into the room, his face holding a strange expression.

“Hey, Freddie. How was your flight?” she smiled softly, slowly getting from the sofa to walk to him.

“Hey.. It was… it was good.” He answered quickly with a nervous smile.

She looked at him with confusion while he slightly backed away from her.

“What’s wrong with you, Fred?”

He ran a hand through his hair in slight frustration. He couldn’t even look into her eyes. She felt scared that he might know something, but she tried to stay calm.

“Talk to me, please.”

“I did something… I can’t even look at you right now.”

“Fred, what-“

She tried to grab his hand but he flinched away.

“I… we were at the party with the boys at Saturday and… there was this girl I… she’s test driver for Ferrari and I always had a crush on her and we talked and…”

“You slept with her.”

She said it so casually that it surprised her. Fred shot her a look with guilt.

“It’s not that I don’t love you, but… you’re so distant and I needed to feel… wanted.”

She nodded, deep down feeling the strange relief that she doesn’t need to get her own secret out to spotlight.

“Look, Fred… I thought about us a lot… I love you, but it’s not the same as it was. You’re great person, caring, loving and kind. But I feel stuck. I’m not myself. And I don’t want to hurt you by my distant behaviour, you deserve so much more.”

Fred looked at her with nod.

“You’re so kind. You also deserve so much more.” He hugged her. She relaxed into his arms feeling relieved inside.

“You’re gonna always be my friend. No matter what. Just go for that girl. If she’s your dream come true, make it reality. Because she’d make you happy.”

———

Within weeks they sold their apartment and started to live on their own. Fred was all over his feelings into that Ferrari girl, he was sharing it with his ex-girlfriend, because why not, she was happy for him.

Time flew by and another season of racing started.

Being at Bahrain was a first time for her. Same as being a girlfriend to the famous F1 driver.

Fred was supposed to be there with Elle, the Ferrari girl, and it was also her first appearance as a George’s girlfriend.

George parked the car near the entrance of the paddock. She exhaled shakily, trying to be calm.

“Are you alright, love?” He grabbed one of her hands, while she nodded with smile.

“I’m good, George.”

They entered the paddock and crowds went wild. Everybody wanted a photo with them, but George politely refused trying to make it to the garage quickly. She gave her smiles all around them, trying to be nice.

Lando met them near the garages and he froze in his tracks in shock.

“Holy fucking hell!”

Both of them looked at him with surprise. Lando walked closer to them crossing his arms on chest.

“How did you do it?”

She looked at him confused. “What?”

“Hide this!” Lando grabbed their intertwined hands.

“Eh-“

“No way! What a surp-“ Fred came out of the Mercedes garage with wide smile in a surprise to see her there, but when he saw how George was holding her hand, his face changed into shock.

“Surprise indeed. Hey, Fred.” she smiled kindly, giving him a side hug. Fred got out of his trance, looking at her and then back at George.

“You two- you are-“

Elle, the Ferrari girl, joined them as she heard Fred talking to someone. “Hi! We didn’t expect you here! What a nice surprise!”

George was confused about situation maybe more than Lando, whose jaw was dropped on the ground.

“Hey, Elle, yes, it’s a surprise. And yes, me and George are together, as a couple.” she chuckled at the absurdity of the moment.

“Hm… I understand now.” Fred said with smirk, which was something that took her aback.

“What are you talking about?”

“I noticed how you two were looking at each other. Now it makes sense.” Fred smiled genuinely.

She lifted her gaze at George with her loving gaze while George was already looking at her, absolutely mesmerised.

“I might get a diabetes from how sweet all of you are.” Lando said with laugh.

[littleones-thoughts]

🖍️ My partner! I think I mentioned it in passing but it wasn't a serious enough conversation so I dunno if he remembers ;-;

❤️ I haven't thought about it but maybe Hayden from Fields of Mistria would be a really nice caregiver.

🩹 My head gets like...light. I get giggly and tend to talk "small". Sometimes words are hard but not always.

🧡 It isn't often, but it's pretty consistent to whenever I see my partner IRL and he uses a specific tone of voice or calls me nicknames like little one.

🍬 I didn't know it was a thing! Ooo I'd love recs!

💛 I don't really have a specific age (that I can tell??) maybe around kindergarten or first grade? I'm unsure.

🧸 I'm an only child and I regress.

💚 I heard over and over that I was an 'old soul'.

🧩 I would love a sippy cup! I'm unsure of if that's weird. But I sipped a drink a little out of s straw and have been obsessed with getting a sippy cup ever since.

💙 Not sure. I haven't had a chance to explore a lot. Maybe babycore? I'd have to do research!

🍭 I joined Tuesday! So like two days 🫣

💜 I'm not able to regress enough to have one but I think it would be Minecraft or just my "big" obsessions like MHA.

🍼 I think I'd like to make new memories. I haven't had the chance to purposefully do it yet but I think I would just want to make new memories.

🖤 Unsure? Had some friends a while back but I am unsure if I can count them because I don't know the label they used.

🪀 I tend to around my partner. Especially when I'm sleepy.

🪁 I think more traditional? Because the last time it happened I was watching Minecraft let's plays like I did when I was little and got immediately floaty lol

🎨 Paci! I like to chew on things and suck on things so I think I could benefit from one.

🍬 I am unsure of what that is.

🦋 Sometimes I am, but sometimes I think too hard about it and feel shame. And worry if I can be a successful adult with a career if I want to explore this part of me. Silly, I'm sure.

🧚🏼‍♀️ A way to relax. Life sucks, and I grew up too fast. I've recognized it's possible that may be the reason why I regress. I was always so mature. Even at the ripe age of six I was judging and annoyed at my classmates for just being kids. I feel like I didn't get to be one- at least not fully.

🧦 I'm too new to have any opinions! So far everyone seems really nice though!

🦇 You can do that!?

🌸 I don't have any particular headcanons.

🐈‍⬛ I'm probably the majority actually. (Unsure though)

🧃 Puppy!!

🐇 I only have one person I want and trust to- but I'm too nervous to ask them. I'm worried they'll find it weird.

🎀 I don't think I regress to a specific age. Or if I do I don't know what that age is.

🎮 I don't know. I daydream near 24/7 so it would probably be easy!

🌈 Werewolf! But the kind that just turns to human or wolf at will!

👾 When my partner calls me something like little one or coos at me because I did something cute according to him.

💭 Sitting on the floor and coloring while he sits on the couch. Having a sippy cup on standby of course.

🌙 Agere Ask Game!!! ⭐

🖍 Who is the first person you told/would tell about your headspace?

❤ If you had a fictional caregiver/little who would it be?

🩹 What do you experience when you regress? (i.e fuzzy feelings, motor skill or speech struggle, etc.)

🧡 How often do you regress or try to regress?

🍬 Do you read agere fanfiction and if so, about who?

💛 What school grade (if any) would you be in according to your headspace?

🧸 Are you an older sibling who regresses/caregives or a younger sibling who regresses/caregives?

💚 Were you considered an "old soul" growing up or were you more "childish"?

🧩 What was your first piece of agere gear or what would you want as your first?

💙 What's your regression/caregiving aesthetic? (kidcore, babycore, altcore, etc)

🍭 How long have you been apart of agere tumblr?

💜 What are you obsessed with right now in your headspace? (sanrio, sharks, bluey, etc)

🍼 Do you include your personal nostalgia in your regression/caregiving or are you creating new memories?

🖤 Have you met any other regressors/caregivers in real life?

🪀 Have you ever regressed in front of someone or has someone ever regressed around you?

🪁 Is your headspace affected more through traditional or alternative regression? (bottles & cartoons or horror & thrill)

🎨 What's a piece of agere gear that you really want to have/try?

🍬 Have you ever experienced vent regression?

🦋 Are you comfortable with your regression/headspace?

🧚‍♀️ What is age regression/caregiving to you?

🧦 What's something you like & don't like about the agere community?

🦇 Have you ever regressed in a dream?

🌸 Who do you headcanon as a regressor or caregiver? (fictional or real)

🐈‍⬛ Do you think you're represented enough in the agere community? (poc, boys, under 20/over 30 yrs)

🧃Which animal best represents your headspace?

🐇 Has it been or was it hard for you to find a little/caregiver?

🎀 Does your headspace match the gear you use/want? (i.e. regresses to 10 years but loves pacifiers)

🎮 Do you struggle to play pretend or are you super imaginative?

🌈 What mythical creature would you rather be? (Hybrid, Fairy, Dragon, etc)

👾 What's the quickest way to get you in your headspace?

💭 What's one thing you often daydream about doing with your little/caregiver?

[saintsenara]

I’m curious how you envision Voldemort tasking Draco with killing Dumbledore. What would the conversation sound like? Angry threats, quiet manipulation, dramatics? Did he outsource it? Stick a post-it to the top of Nagini’s head and send her into Draco’s room? HBP provides some insights into Voldemort’s reasons and expectations and Draco’s motivations for attempting the task. And if I recall, it’s meant to be a secret even among the Death Eaters (Bellatrix is surprised that Snape knows already, right?), otherwise I’d be inclined to imagine some public humiliation during one of the biweekly Death Eater meetings. I don’t think I’ve ever read a fan take on the scene itself and would love to hear your thoughts!

the only logical conclusion is that voldemort is lovely to him, which - in context - means voldemort honing in on his desire to avenge his father's incarceration [for which he can be plausibly made to blame dumbledore, as well as harry], his belief that this makes him the man of the house with a responsibility to protect his mother and honour his family name, and his belief that voldemort's aims are the establishment of pureblood oligarchy, in which families like his will be at the top of the pile.

draco is bullish about his task at the start of half-blood prince because - as narcissa tells snape - he genuinely believes it will all be fine. this is clearly an impression voldemort himself has given him - if voldemort's saying "if you fail, i will make you watch greyback tear your mother's throat out" from the off, his attitude would be very different.

and voldemort not telling many people about the mission is another strand of this grooming process. if draco's mission were public knowledge, there's a reasonable chance that several death eaters might at least hint to draco that he's fucked - or might alternatively offer him help in successfully killing dumbledore [which voldemort doesn't want him to actually do; he wants dumbldore dead, but he wants snape to do it, with draco then tortured/killed as a punishment for his failure]. keeping it a secret indulges draco's desire to be seen as special and to have a uniquely important relationship with voldemort, while making him all the more vulnerable to voldemort's control.

the threats clearly come later. by christmas, draco is looking "ill", but is still defiant and still claims he'll be successful. by easter, he's started crying to myrtle and has started to openly acknowledge that voldemort's going to kill him. on the basis of this, i imagine that the botched necklace scheme got him something along the lines of "ah... draco... lord voldemort understands that mistakes happen... but he does not tolerate them happening more than once", and the botched poison scheme got him "you have until 30th june. if dumbledore's still alive by then i will kill your father, your mother, and you. in that order."

[hyperions-light]

Good riddance to that mess: Thank the Dread Wolf we’re done with the Mage-Templar conflict

(because magic in Thedas is more interesting this way)

Okay the people who love conflict have won and I am going to talk about this now lol

I've decided to stick within the framework of the world/story for this particular post, because I think you could talk about the issues with the mages/templars in connection with how they relate to real-life groups for an entire essay AT LEAST, and I want to focus on magic here, so I don't think it's that germane to the discussion. If you all want to talk about that later, I can put it on the pile.

It turns out that Jenny Nicholson was 100% right about the efficacy of numbered lists on the internet, so this essay will be hybridized into a list. Here are the reasons I'm glad the mage-templar conflict is gone and hope it never returns:

It limits storytelling avenues I understand how they arrived at this dichotomy as the logical extrapolation of a minority of people in Thedas being born with magic BUT it's very boring and it doesn't facilitate interesting stories. If you have this strict system and hierarchy that means that every mage has to live in the tower or they're a) a criminal or b) Dalish, that seriously limits the kind of characters you can make who are mages, which is dull as both a player and a writer.

Trying to make it nuanced is difficult Attempting to show that everyone has a point in a situation is difficult when one group has absolute power over the other and can kill them whenever they feel like it. Also, with the abuses the Templars regularly perpetuate against the mages established in DAO and DA2 any attempted justification reads as the story sanctioning an oppressive force. If they try to demonstrate the danger of magic, they end up with the 10,000 blood mage problem from DA2. It's a hard thing to do within the framework they set up, but they also haven't been particularly successful with it, imo, so abandoning it is a better choice.

It's the most reductive version of the conflict Reducing the entire discussion to whether magic is good or evil, whether mages should be free or confined is really boring. It's a false dichotomy that promotes extremism in characters on either side of the conflict who never interact with one another. "Is magic bad?" is a useless and uninteresting question. Who cares? What does it do?; Where did it come from?; What different ways can you use it? are all better questions.

Makes it difficult for the audience to learn more about magic If the only characters the audience ever meets are people who come from the Circle, Dalish mages, and apostates, the amount they're going to learn about different perspectives on magic and its various uses is limited. Part of the reason Jaws of Hakkon was such an interesting DLC for DAI is because the Avvar have a completely different philosophy about magic and spirits. It was refreshing after several games of having the same ideas about magic shoved down our throats to hear someone give a different perspective and ACTUALLY NEW information. Everything I needed to know about the mage-templar conflict, I already knew by the end of DAO, but I had to sit through two more entire games while people discussed it at length.

Magic in the North is fascinating Now that we're finally rid of that conflict, look how many different kinds of magic we get to see in DATV! We get to meet a Rivaini Seer, a Mortalitasi (who can use magic to TALK TO REAL DEAD PEOPLE!!!), a non-Altus mage from the Tevinter Imperium; we get to see magic as it was utilized by the ancient elves and how it interfaces with technology. We got DWARF MAGIC!! Finally, an answer to what Sandal was doing! We found out you can use it to turn yourself into a LICH!!! All of that stuff is so cool, and we had never encountered it before this game! It brings up so many new questions about the nature of the Fade, the source of magic itself, the strength of magic in Thedas relative to other places in the world. And NONE of it could be discussed in the South because they are too busy arguing about fucking towers!!!

tl;dr: The mage-templar conflict was a boring and reductive lens through which to view magic in the DA universe, I'm glad it's gone, I hope they continue what they started in DATV and explore different ways magic can be used in the future.

[specialagentartemis]

This is a common way people have been taking my post—“you need to meticulously Research Every Single Thing”—and that’s not what I meant and not what I said. Which is why it doesn’t focus on research or even “write what you know,” it focuses on being curious.

Curiosity doesn’t mean you have to know exactly what year doorknobs were invented or are required to work out the orbital dynamics of the planet your fantasy kingdom is on. If you find that fun (I often do!) more power to you. If you don’t, I’m not gonna get on your ass about unrealistic placement of tectonic plates. But my point was that you should wonder how it would affect the world and the story you’re telling.

I make fun of tropes like “this fantasy empire has lasted 10,000 years” not because ~ oh that’s impossible~, but because the dynamics of it as presented usually make it clear the author has not actually sat back and thought about how long 10,000 years is or how much will inevitably change in that amount of time. This is the FIRST time a succession crisis has ever come up? Really? This not only strains credulity, it makes the fantasy world seem flimsy—for 10,000 years nothing happened, now everything is happening at once. That’s the kind of worldbuilding I’m criticizing. If you wrote an empire that lasted 10,000 years, you don’t have to write down every single king and what they did and the whole history of every ethnic group in the empire and build a proto-language for a set of conlangs that have shifted into non-mutually-intelligible languages in different parts of the empire—but it should occur to you that there must have been some of that happening, and that would affect the empire as it exists now and the lives of the people in it.

I’m not saying you need to write a comprehensive history textbook of your fascist space empire—I’m saying you should be curious about how fascist empires actually maintain control of disparate places and how that would affect how it operates and how people live in those places now, if you’re going to be setting a book there. Otherwise, you end up repeating stale tropes about what you vaguely think fascism is and empires do.

Generally, I think worldbuilding energy is best spent 20% on how it happened, and 80% on how it affects the characters. If you have your Exotic Fantasy-Middle-Eastern Market Bazaar, you can justify why that evolved, culturally, in your world, but much more important is actually learning about the social context of what people actually do there and how it shapes daily life (and in the process you will likely make it less stereotypical and insulting). If you want to write a fascist space empire, you can write a history of how it expanded and what planets it controls, but more important is wondering about why it’s an expansionist empire, what resources this planet-setting has that it wants and why it wants them, and what life under imperial rule is like in the core vs. the periphery and how that will affect the life and experiences and opportunities and worldview of your characters.

There’s a reason half of the examples I gave in the post were about characterization choices, not worldbuilding research! Curiosity means thinking beyond a surface level about what you’re writing, asking yourself why you’re writing what you’re writing and if it grows out of what you actually wrote or if you’re just unthinkingly repeating tropes or making assumptions that makes your story weaker because you’re defaulting to surface level clichés rather than thinking about if these characters in this setting with these experiences would do or think or say that. It’s about characters who are gung-ho anti-imperialists when it’s unclear what in their background would lead them to think this way other than that they’re the Good Guys so Of Course They Do. It’s about a scene where a fisherman lets a fish suffocate in the air without the author ever wondering if that’s actually how you kill a fish you caught. It’s about characters who stop the story dead in its tracks to have a conversation about asexuality when their characterization so far has led me to think that the ghost that stole their memories and the government hunting them down for a murder they don’t know if they committed would be a much, much more pressing concern for them right now. It’s about this post about Kendra from Buffy. It’s less about research—although frequently the conclusion will in fact be “I need to do more research about this”—it’s about critical thinking and asking yourself questions about what you’re actually writing.

“Be curious about what you’re writing about” is not stock Common Writing Advice but it really, really should be. There are a lot of written works that fail due to the authors just being obviously incurious about what they are writing about.

[astrolotte]

Thinking about it... Irep and Peri actually have a very similar godparenting style, in that they will both lean heavily on granting wishes to make their godkid happy rather than emotionally guiding them.

Obviously we all know Peri does this, but Irep too. Granting wishes is ALL he does in Best of Luck, and in Battle of Big Wand... he'll grant him a billion wishes but he doesn't exactly offer Dev any solutions to his problems other than just making certain things happen.

Especially apparent as Dale STEPPED ON DEV at some point and Irep did not bother to check if he was okay, as he was too busy discussing with Dale about their evil plans.

(at least Peri noticed Dev was sad in Operation: Birthday Takeback and tried to comfort him, even if it was with the flawed 'just grant wishes' method, cmon Irep /silly)

But yeah, it's interesting... just another way they're more alike than they're probably supposed to be; they even go about godparenting in a similar way.

They both need to get over themselves and just ask Cosmo and Wanda (or ANY OTHER SUCCESSFUL GODPARENT) to ask for advice already :)

(and to clarify, I do think they both care about Dev. Peri does canonically, but likely Irep as well. They're just... both not good at this yet, and haven't realized that it's not just about granting wishes, actually. Please. For my sanity. Go ask for help.)

[mixterglacia]

CONTENT WARING: Vivziepop/Stolitz Critical below the cut.

TL;DR- This episode was inconsistent to put it politely. I will not continue such niceties below the cut. You've been warned.

I'm going to start with the good. The jokes with Satan and his...therapist?? are delightful, and considering how awful this episode was, I will take it.

The bit where the rest of the imps are tormenting Stolas felt so good, but I'm aware we're meant to sympathize with poor wittle owl boi can do no wrong uwu. So that missed by a mile.

While it wasn't consistent, this episode had some stunning animation. Kudos to the team, especially those working on the shot where Stolas is lifting his cape in the song. That and the slow turns were beautiful.

Alright let's rip into this.

If the second half of this episode existed in a vacuum, it might have hit its mark. But it doesn't. This is TOTAL tonal whiplash. Completely unearned and obnoxious. Once again, we have the biggest helluverse problem:

I don't want to put in the effort to earn my drama. I am relying on the fandom to fill in the blanks so they cry.

The song is horrendously demeaning and bad. He's belittling him because he's in a place where Blitz can't fight back. You can't convince me that I should go from the tone at the start of the song to the end.

GOD i hate these two. there is nothing appealing left. They are a hollow, pathetic shell of what we were promised. this is "messy" in the way a dumpster is. This isn't some artsy spill of candy. This is trash with glitter poured all over it.

Suddenly we're getting Blitz's "truwe" feelings all dumped on us in the span of a single musical number. This is TERRIBLE. You have been so stingy with any level of development on his end that this feels like a car getting t-boned at an intersection. I guess "self indulgent" is code for "I didn't want to put in effort, i just wanted my OTP." Which is fine in a fandom sense, but this is a SHOW. You have to actually make us believe they feel like that. You have FAILED, and you're still trying to give yourself the prize? Man, you are deluded.

This was total dogshit. This was a rushed attempt to get Stolas in Blitz's house/bed. This was nothing short of MORE woobification of this dumbass owl. HE DID THIS TO HIMSELF. IF ANYTHING, THIS IS A SLAP ON THE WRIST.

He's a privileged piece of shit that is so babied by the writers that even his PUNISHMENT is nothing. So he's banished, but only for a hundred years, which is nothing to an immortal. If you're trying to bring him down to be on par with the imps, you've failed.

He's still going to get his job back in the future. He's still going to have money in the future. He's still going to have power in the future. If anything, you should have had the punishment make him be an imp for those years.

But no. You're so obsessed with him that you've centered the whole plot around HIM. Not I.M.P, not Blitz.

HIM.

This show has become so derailed at this point. Each episode is (somewhat) fine on their own, but you can't sit there and tell me they have any level of consistency. I keep thinking they're going to hit their stride, and they keep failing to do so. This is pathetic.

I'm very close to giving up on this series. Even analyzing it has become a chore. You aren't fun to watch, or make fun of. You're just mediocre.

I so desperately want these shows to have better writing. I want them to have quality and be successful at the same time. But currently we only have the latter and I fear that will wane in time if Vivienne doesn't get her head out of her ass and put in the effort I know her to be capable of. You can't keep coasting off of your pilot fans forever. I implore you to have someone work on the tone and consistency of the helluverse in the future.

Somehow Helluva makes Hotel look like high art, and that's a shame. When it was only the pilots, I truly adored Helluva. It had wonderful characters and great humor.

But here we are.

[smileposting]

previous anon, thank u for not brushing it off as bait since it was a genuine question. the "cartoony" aspect of it is what threw me off, since i couldn't tell if the message was supposed to be "be cautious of what leads to fascism/misinformation is a dangerous tool" and raking fascism seriously vs "friendship and communication are incredibly important" since imo those are two very different themes to tackle with the same character. i very much appreciate u taking the time to answer the question, ur explanation makes a lot of sense and i hope my question hadnt been too jarring

(context)

it's no trouble at all! thank you for giving me an excuse to prove that i actually did pay attention to this game outside of thesclack yaoi and BBWs lol

as for your primary concern - i'd argue that it could very easily be both, but of course it's a VERY delicate balancing act lol. i don't fault anyone who was thrown off by it. part of the reason it works for me is that inspekta feels very much like - not the Originator of all fascist/fascist-adjacent rhetoric within the world of great god grove (earth itself included) but the latest and biggest sucker to fall for it. he came from what's implied to be pretty fucking rough conditions and he never really unpacked any of the effects that might have had on him or whether his eventual success really Justified those initial conditions. and that's before he ascended to godhood in a culture that seems to treat godhood and humanity as mutually exclusive despite tons of evidence to the contrary*. so when his work pays off and he becomes one of said culture's Primary Mythological Figures, his reaction to the grove being a generally pleasant and compassionate place free of many (but not all) of the world's societal ills - one that came to be that way over centuries of hard work, as implied by bauhauzzo - is not "wow, a better world is possible! i should help see this through to the very end" but "oh wow, these guys are soft, huh? good thing i came into the picture when i did! i know what it's like to actually work to achieve something :)"

...that's how it reads to me, anyway. i apologies if this response is a little too speculation-heavy to really explain things.

*the contrary being that while a god is no longer Physically human, they are still very much Mentally human. i imagine this aspect of Grove Culture changes to accommodate this reality postcanon along with Many Other Things, but i digress.

[pinkishhue22]

What kind of NHP is GG?

And how did GG and the clone meet?

(your art is gorgeous by the way)

AAAAAA TYSM 🩷🩷🩷 It makes me so happy that people are enjoying my lancer artwork !!!

To answer your first question, GG used to be a full-blown Everest Co-Pilot !!! I imagine her previous human pilot (from when she was still inhabiting her mech body) had maxxed out the technophile trait, creating her !!

There's been some significant changes since then. She's now an individual lancer rather than an in-mech assistant, and her casket is placed permanently inside her android body, but her title as a student class NHP remains !!!

This doodle was from GG and Hill 3's first meeting !!! They're not actually from the same squad, unfortunately... And I quite love their ""meet cute"" so, I will put the full story underneath the cut !!!

Hill 3's squad, Lima-2, alongside the Rended Light squad, had been assigned to attack and destroy a prototype mech built by the Zamanthians (the insurrectionists inhabiting the planet Union is attacking in the campaign. )

THIS ATTACK WENT. Less than ideally (💀💀💀) and all but 3 Lancers and mechs were destroyed or unable to fight. Hill 3 was amongst these in-mech survivors, still fighting the prototype to buy some time.

In order to complete the mission and hopefully recover any surviving pilots, GG's squad was sent in as backup !!!

During the battle, the already near-death Hill 3 swooped in to pry the prototype off of a grappled GG. Its last structure was immediately destroyed, and Hill 3's Everest got crunched, partially collapsing the cockpit with it still inside. UNBEKNOWNST TO THE OTHERS, HILL 3 SURVIVED !!! BUT. IT'S LEFT ARM NOT SO MUCH 😭😭😭

GG, the only one really reacting to Hill 3's potential demise, did the most logical thing. Exiting her mech, MID BATTLE, to recover the clone on foot.

In the 2 minutes between Hill 3 crashing and GG tearing open the cockpit, Hill 3 had managed to chew its arm off like a trapped coyote (pull it out from the rubble) and grab a gun. It immediately shot at her, thinking she was an enemy soldier. 😭😭😭

Everything after that is what you'd expect, GG carrying a one-armed clone into the open battlefield and entering her mech oncemore, now with it in her arms... Then, proceeding to dump it on her human co-pilot so she could self-destruct the prototype herself. 💀💀💀

After defeating the prototype and returning to their home ship, GG started pursuing the clone to befriend it. The mutual alienation and thinly veiled bigotry experienced from their respective squads helped push the two together, leading to a VERY successful friendship !!!

THIS IS. SUCH A HUGE RESPONSE AND I GLOSSED OVER AS MUCH AS I COULD LMAO- Hope it makes sense and that you enjoyed this response !!! TYSM FOR THE ASK 🩷🩷🩷

[baku-usagi]

I'm at a place in my life where I don't particularly ever hate characters if they're well written. An awful character who is complicated is great.

But I did find myself a little irritated by caitlyn in season 2 of arcane and tbh I don't even think it's her fault so much as the writers just..made some weird decisions.

Firstly, I could be wrong, and someone please correct me if I am, I heard that one of the writers said they just "didn't find vi very interesting" and I feel like that caused this really weird shift.

Last season, vi was really central to the story, but also she was a powerhouse. As a young girl she was taking on a pack of grown men. She trained to fight, in prison? She fought. Like she's good at it, she's got years of it under he belt.

But I feel like this season she was so back seated it's insane, and I feel like the writers were really choking on caitlyn dick.

Caitlyn got to have more successful fight scenes with hand to hand combat then vi! Letting caitlyn be the one to go hand to hand with ambessa and actually land some hits when she hadn't had much training, instead of letting vi have her role as the fucking hand to hand combat person was kind of insane to me? And I feel like it was done in an attempt to redeem caitlyn and it just...fell flat for me?

Every fight we saw vi in this season she scarcely got two hits in before getting the shit kicked out of her, or getting pinned down, or incapacitated somehow.

Are we really gonna pretend that someone who trained hand to hand for as many years as vi, who lived in the undercity and then prison for as long as vi is gonna get jumped by caitlyn, and put down on the ground?

And no one try and say "oh it's because it's caitlyn" she didn't know that until she was already laid out. and even if she did she shouldn't have assumed anything Good considering how her and caitlyn had ended at that point!

The first season had such gorgeous writing with so few flaws and this season just.. Idk man it fell a little flat for me because of shit like that. The complete misuse of their hand to hand character, the glazing of caitlyn without ever trying to hold her accountable or redeem her for the shit she did? Blah