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kalpeavaris · 2 months ago

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Other than the AU gang do you have any murder drones ocs?

Oh, I am SO glad you asked anon! I've been waiting to spam my profile with my OCs but with my AU project going off lately I was hesitant if people would even be interested in original characters or even other stories that don't primarily involve the canon characters. :D

So let me hit you with the giant wall of text that is all this stowed concept art & story I have lying around waiting to finally be released (especially written, lol) Below the cut is all the information to my AU/own story set after the Absolute Solvers defeat in 3071.

Lemme introduce you to my personal project:

"Murder Drones: Echo"

“It takes a demon to kill an angel.”

Let's start with the most important stuff, the characters! This line-up is relatively fresh but it still misses 1-2 characters (especially SD-K) which I haven't finished designing yet. A little bit of info is written below the characters, buuut to add more context Imma just speedrun through them lol

Alot of these characters can be found on TOYHOUSE! (requires you to be logged in, sorry :c)

Serial Designation Y - Trans-masc host (build intended to be female presenting, doesn't love that though. He identifies with the male type much more and it shows). He's the secondary host to ECHO, the main antagonist of the story and has 6 wings (not feathered, they're shaped from membrane and take the shape of feathered wings).

Serial Designation D - A character that is also set on appearing in my MD AUs (like Synemy) - and she has appeared in the Synemy fanfiction before as a flashback character that worked with Cyn! She's a former maid and was rebuilt as Disassembly Drone by the Solver itself. As Dina (her true name) had feelings for Cyn she followed the Solver thanks to it using Cyns body as host. She's neither a good nor bad person in the story but rather a neutral force that just wants to be left alone.

Serial Designation X - A Communication Disassembly Drone that worked in a squad with K & T. She's fairly quiet and rarely talks and if she does, it's mainly to bring up good points. Or to insult someone because they're annoying, lmao. She wears glasses as she misses the main eyes DDs have (the yellow lights on the headband) - she's incredibly short sighted and therefore rarely ever involves herself in aerial fights. She uses close-combat techniques as she used to be a ring fighter before being rebuild.

Serial Designation T - The navigator of the 3-people-squad with X & K. He LOVES 1980s music and salvages places online & IRL for music and CDs. He's not above rick-rolling people. B) He met Kira in 3050s where his programming to kill Solver Hosts was overwritten by the Solver, causing him to become neutral towards her. One thing led to another and they had a child. Whoops! (they're madly in love)

You can also find more stuff on him (and Kira!) on their shared Pinterest Profile B)

Evie (also spelled "Eve") - Ts & Kiras daughter. Her body was constructed to be a hybrid of both a Worker Drone & a Disassembly Drone. She's the perfect middle ground of her parents (not only regarding her height). Her drive to kill Workers is not really present, though she can be very "feral" if she's starving. Still needs Oil to survive and cannot go into the sun - doesn't have nanite acids, but instead a stinger. T made sure not to give her acid. He's worried she'll hurt herself with it.

Kira ("ZWEI") - Kira is one of the Drones that was held at the Cabin Fever Labs similar to Nori and Yeva. She was number 24 (yes ik there's a name for that number in the show but since those names are names from workers on the MD staff team they're more easter eggs and less canon ig) and as a communication drone, her Solver gave her differing powers. She escaped from the labs in the mid 3050s after a botched patch and found herself an Outpost to reside in until she met T. Kiras antennas were able to pick up communication between the Solver & the landing pots, making her aware of the upcoming threat. Her existence as com-drone makes it easy for Echo to manipulate her as well as she cannot tune out incoming signals easily.

Motte - Motte is Echos main host (similar to how Cyn was to the Absolute Solver), with the exception that Echo doesn't inhabit her body all the time; only if it needs to speak through her. Motte is completely blind, her visor crached & her left eye replaced by Echos symbol that glows when she's in active possession. Before the possession she was a worker drone in Outpost 4 and quite a friendly individual. Ever since being possessed Motte is extremely paranoid, doesn't speak (semi-voluntarily, since she fears hearing her voice thinking it might be Echo). She's close with Y due to them sharing the same fate as hosts and he's the only person she allows around her. She's not evil or even slightly motivated to follow Echos commands, she's simply being used against her will (dw, she'll get her comfort to the hurt).

ECHO - main villain of the whole thing. Echo itself is a mutated line of code that seperated itself from the Absolute Solver code back in the Cabin Fever Labs when the humans experiemented with it. It mainly affects communication drones and was first seen within Kira, although it was patched from her and moved onto Motte for it's main host. It's a true neutral entity in the beginning, not differencing good from bad or even having slightly grey area understanding. It does *does*. In the evolution of the story Echo gains a pretty dangerous god complex, seeking out power beyond understanding. Other than the Solver it doesn't wish to satisfy hunger or seek out matter to consume, instead, it wants to experience true ascencion - human emotions and more. It's highly motivated by it's drive to know things, being inspired by human religion (especially christianity) with it's true form being a humongus Ophanim inspired burning wheel that is formed from biological matter, eyes and light.

Echo assumes a more "drone-like" appearance when not needing it's massive true form. It tries to imitate the Workers and well... fails, since it doesn't really look like any normal Worker Drone. It really loves halo symbolism which also results in it's powers and main emblem/symbol being a halo-like structure that manifests in it's victims eye. For that it usually destroys the eye in place. Echo is very capable, though not immortal. Like the Solver there is a way to contain it, but for spoiler reasons I won't share this for now!

(Not shown on this chart but imma share them anyways!)

Serial Designation K - K is one of the squad members that came to Copper-9 with T & X. While T and X slowly started to warm up to Kira and not actively killing the Workers anymore she herself was entirely disconnected from that. K is, to be frank, just fucking through the roof. She enjoys the Solvers task of killing off the life around planets and gladly does so. Stopping just because a Worker "is nice" isn't on her to-do list so she's... well, more or less excluded from the Squad which made her angry. On one hand - understandable, on the other hand she's killing everything she sees, sooo...

She's a minor antagonist in the story and serves as obstacle to go through. Even with the Solver gone K isn't convinced to stop which comes with a price to pay if you actively try to hinder people from finding their loved ones. :X

Alex - Alex is a human soldier from another exoplanet that wasn't yet destroyed by the Solver - the Iron system. He works in the IDF (iron defense force) and when the military on Iron-3 get the message that Solver activity has been spotted again in the Copper System (as well as Echos activity) he and his team is sent to Copper-9 to weed out the reminaing Solver Hosts (and later on Echo Hosts). Alex isn't the biggest fan of Drones but works with Iris to keep their mission afloat.

Iris - Iris is a Drone built to assist in military-grade operations. She's a bit similar to Disassembly Drones (though with differening looks) that is working with Alex' squad in order to destroy Solver Hosts & remnants still alive on Copper-9 to avoid another spread (not being aware that the Solver itself is contained and still alive... oh well... sounds like drama. Hehe.) Her name is an acronym for Intelligent Response and Information System.

So, what's the story? Is there anywhere I can look for stuff?

Well, the story right now is still being written & in draft form. It'll be released on my AO3 when it's presentable!

Basically the story plays after the Solvers defeat in 3071 and spans over a few months. It starts of with a semingly smaller mission of Evie searching for her parents who've gone missing after the Solvers defeat - trying to make sense from the entire situation only to stumble onto something WAY bigger than she (and the people helping her) anticipated in finding.

Will there be canon characters?

Yes! Since the B Plot of the story also revolves around humans trying to kill off the remaining Solver Hosts (and the Solver itself) canon characters will be included too. Obviously the characters from Outpost 3 such as Uzi, N & V primarily.

There will also be canon & fanon character interaction! B)

Anything else I could seek out for this story?

Check out this cool playlist I made for the story! It has edgy songs (woah! who could've thought when it's about MD?!), sad songs! (i love making characters suffer for plot purposes!), cool fight songs (NICE robots smashing each other to bits on the battlefield! B)) and much more (which will be expanded upon in the future hehe)

#murder drones #ask #anonymous #murder drones: echo #original characters #own characters #fancharacters #murder drones fanfiction #murder drones fanart #murder drones oc #aint gonna list all the OCs names for tag purposes LMAO too many of them #synemy

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whoslaurapalmer · 7 months ago

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twin peaks but it happens in 2010. laura palmer have iphone etc etc

this ask has been haunting me since i saw it last night oh my god okay okay so

i wanted to lead with laura being an influencer but no one was quite influencing in 2010 yet. but the point here being that i think she posts a lot online and cultivates her online image very carefully (very soft, carefree, excited teenager) and has a LOT of followers on everything and always gets a ton of likes. bc it's laura, she's so beautiful and special and popular, of course everyone is following her, of course everyone is liking all her posts to get a piece of her

she has a twitter (laurapalmer93) where she posts a lot of pictures with little captions like.......'morning donuts at the diner!!' with a picture of the donuts and a milkshake or a Coffee To Be An Adult, 'can you believe this guy? <3' with a picture of bobby making a face (or even.........dare i say it...........doing the dougie), a picture of donna and james with '<33333333' (modern emojis were just getting really big then but i myself was not a big emoji user in 2010 yet, so neither is laura), 'don't tell ;)' with a picture of her holding a cigarette (of course everyone still smokes in the high school bathrooms).

one time she gets away with posting the lyrics to if i die young by the band perry (IF I DIE YOUNG! BURY ME IN SATIN! LAY ME DOWN ON A BED OF ROSES!) (FUNNY WHEN YOU'RE DEAD HOW PEOPLE START LISTENING!) bc it's a popular song. it raises a few eyebrows but it's a song and it's laura. how seriously do you take teen angst, even among your friends? that's just what laura does. what's there to really worry about, huh? (the song was released in may 2010 but let's say the lead up to her death is in 2010)

on facebook she posts a lot of volunteer stuff. school dance photos, which she helps organize. buy some cookies to support the french club!! she's very involved with student council, and she organizes the group halloween costume. her facebook is filled with photos of her with other people, but not really any of just her. she doesn't post a lot of statuses, but they're usually about homework or tests or 'feels like summer!' towards the end of the school year. she's friends with her parents. she definitely takes ap classes.

she has a private vent twitter (lostinthewoods) with zero followers that she uses as a diary bc she thinks it'll be safer than having it physically written down. her childhood lisa frank diary with the tiny lock and glitter gel pens that she kept in her bed post went missing, after all. her vent twitter is filled with sooooooo many tweets bc this was still the 160 character limit days and she would just post and post and post especially late at night. (she definitely has string lights in her room.) she is a MASTER of using her phone with no one seeing -- she has the layout absolutely memorized. she was only caught texting in class once and of course the teacher let it go.

bob/leland finds her passwords and breaks into the vent twitter and leaves her horrifying tweets she sees later, instead of the back and forth they have in the diary and leland ripping the pages out.

i think she has a third twitter, for sex, but i'm not sure if that tracks for the time period? (snapchat wasn't a thing until fall 2011.) or like a forum sort of thing? i think it's still super easy for laura to sneak out, even in an increased security camera world. there's still a lot of stress on the, yknow, ~secret unexposed underbelly of the world especially in a time of more eyes on everything~ in the 2010s.

meanwhile, james posts music a lot on facebook, and also acoustic covers of songs. like. yknow. HEY SOUL SISTER. donna loves the original pusheen stickers. they record the picnic video on her flip video camera. mike loves icanhascheezburger, and he jailbreaks his phone. audrey gets really into audrey hepburn quote posting, Aesthetic France, black and white photos, berets, has a photography phase and carries and actual camera bc it's Vintage. she's an early tumblr user. no one else in school has a tumblr yet, so she feels very cool but also very lonely about it.

harry has very little understanding of social media, however cooper is very into all social media, he finds it delightful. he enjoys a good cat video. he looks through all of laura's photos, her tweets, facebook videos, and i think there's, honestly even more of a feeling of tragedy bc of how much more physical evidence there is available of laura's life, lingering fingerprints, last tweets, last posts, passwords to put in and information to see, cold blue computer light, the even worse voyeurism in people expecting so much of your life to be online, in watching it play out online, in the image laura created for herself online to be the person people expected

donna rereads laura's twitter in the dead of night, just over and over again. goes back through their texts. so much of grief has become so much more public with social media and using it as a teenager, and there's this back and forth in donna of not posting anything and then posting the most miserable statuses about losing her best friend.

i know i should get deeper into the investigation but i keep thinking instead of how laura definitely gets a 20/20 special. it's probably definitely called 'the secret life of the american teenager.' (bc there was that show on at the time with the same name) elizabeth vargas visits twin peaks, is appropriately grim, there's a lot of b roll of the town and the woods but without the grace of twin peaks' cinematography. they play up the creation of a narrative big, as they always do on 20/20. the revelation of her 'double life' is at the halfway mark and simultaneously not discussed enough and overestimated. 'laura palmer was your average, everyday teenager -- she liked horses. cats. she got good grades, was homecoming queen, had a boyfriend on the football team. she volunteered on weekends. she had her whole life ahead of her. or was there more to the story than anyone knew? was there a dark side to the all-american girl?' oh, it's agonizing. the trailers play up a lot of potential spooky woods stuff that isn't followed through on in the actual episode.

now 20/20 prides itself on getting the story right, so i feel like it's.........i feel like they have to say it's leland at the end (and they definitely never get into anything about bob). but i also think, for some reason, it could easily have a 'we never found the killer' ending. especially re: s3........the thing is, i feel like laura's death particularly is the kind of thing that shows up on 20/20, but the rest of the circumstances would've ended up on like the unsolved mysteries website (the last revival ended in 2010, before the netflix reboot in 2019) (especially with WELL OUR FBI AGENT WENT MISSING). and there's so much online to put together in a website about it, there's so much for people online to dig into who have never even been to twin peaks, to think they know a town and the people in it and the girl who died even if it's just literally THE MOST DISGUSTING VOYEURISM IN THE WHOLE WORLD i just think there's such a. horror in that. people have the most, just, enraging takes when they get involved in a Murder That Happened Somewhere Else. people thinking they alone can figure out a mystery they've never seen, they can of course see something no one else has. and it's different than the people in the town ignoring it -- i think a lot of the secrets in twin peaks stay the same, no matter the time period, so of course it's still, a terrible dying town killing the people in it, maybe even quieter than it is in the original, some new infrastructure but old buildings, not all of them occupied anymore, ANYWAY -- like of course yes people in the town ignore the same amount they did in the original, all small towns bury things. but just bc the town itself isn't paying attention doesn't mean that some rando online is going to know more, no matter how much they think they will. there's like an entitlement to details of a murder, an I Must Be The Hero, The Savior, bc i'm on a fucking reddit thread about it

now i have zero (0) idea of how medical science and forensics work, but i have to assume there have been some advancements in the field between 1989/1990 and 2010/2011. the town still rushes the funeral, but would albert have been able to find anything else sooner? what is it he would have found to point to leland sooner? oh........dna testing, maybe? would he be able to find out about leland right away? there's more of a sense of urgency, maybe less of a slowness between events, even more of a shattering horror. maybe leland goes missing in an attempt to cover things up. hmmmmmm.

final note -- cooper gets called mulder as a nickname bc the x files happened as a show in this universe.

#lulu talks about twin peaks #THIS HAS CONSUMED ME. I HAVE TO PUT IT DOWN. THANK YOU SO MUCH KAM I HAVE LOVED THIS

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oneatlatime · 10 months ago

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Any predictions for season 3, or are you planning to dive straight in?

You're not the first person who's mentioned s3 predictions, so I'll give it a shot, but I'm really not sure if I have anything to use to make predictions. S2 ended in a very final, end of arc kind of way. Lots of things have been tied up. I don't even know where they're all flying off to. Back to the Southern Water Tribe, since the Earth Kingdom's a bit of a bust? The Fire Nation's out of the question, the Northern Water Tribe probably has mixed feelings about seeing them again, maybe the Eastern Air Temple? Although even that might not be safe, since Aang's travel plans to said temple to meet the Guru were known by various Earth Kingdom generals. And that stupid King.

I think the Fire Nation contingent are going back to the Fire Nation, and I am looking forward to a Zuko with eyes at least somewhat open interacting with FN citizens/nobles/military etc. who are still completely drinking the kool aid. I think it's going to suck for Zuko. Should make for good TV though. Lots of conversations where both people are saying entirely different things while thinking they're talking about the same thing.

I said it before, but I'm worried for Iroh. He's for sure arrested, but is he going to be executed? Obviously I don't want that, but unless Iroh still has enormous popular support, and the Firelord's grasp on power is incredibly shaky, I don't see how permanently eliminating a traitor (from a FN perspective) can be avoided. Then again. Kids' show.

As for the Gaang? In broad strokes, Aang still needs to learn firebending to fully Avatar himself, then he needs to defeat the Fire Lord (who is quite the homebody apparently - seriously, where is this guy?). So next season Aang will shake off his lightning hangover, find a firebending teacher, defeat the firelord. He'll probably have to commute to the Fire Nation to find the Fire Lord first. No idea what he'll do in between those things. Perhaps inadvisable shenanigans? That would be in character. His biggest story arc all series has been learning to accept his status as Avatar, but between his talks with the Guru and opening his last Chakra in the finale, I think he's done it. So all that's left is the main plot and goofiness.

Katara has the same problem she had going into S2 - she's mastered waterbending, so she needs a new conflict/arc. S2 answered this demand by... having her hang around? What did Katara do this season? Bend a bunch, set up camps, tear down camps, wreck Jet, support Aang, be nice to Toph that one time, yell at people. I hope she gets something meatier in S3. I still think she should meet some good FN citizens that challenge her morals.

Sokka was also kind of just there this season, although if I'm being mean I'll say that he was also kind of just there for S1 too, which is why it doesn't feel as odd as Katara's lack of purpose. I loved his stuff with Suki. Suki is officially the glow up of the season. I loved their interactions together, and I love the growth she poked him into doing. I'd like to see more of that. So less a prediction and more of a hope: S3 Sokka develops the ability to rely on/trust others (or maybe realises others can be relied upon/trusted is more accurate), hopefully with Suki somehow involved. And I loved his dad too. I want to see more of that guy, but since a cardinal rule of kids' stories is getting rid of the authority figures asap, it won't happen.

Toph. Honestly I'm stumped. She already broke the universe. Where can she go from there? Unless she's going to devolve into an antagonist, which I absolutely don't want, I don't see how she can top her S2 plot. And Aang's got earthbending down, so I guess she'll be like Katara was this season: tagging along. Not that I'm complaining; I love me some Toph in any form. We have seen that she wants to make peace with her parents, sort of, probably? Or at least give them another shot? But I kind of don't want her within 100 miles of her parents. So I don't know.

Appa & Momo will hopefully be tagalongs in S3 too. I learned my lesson this season about wanting the animals to have character arcs.

I guess the antagonist in S3 will be the Fire Lord, finally. Who else is left? Zhao tried, he died. Azula tried, she won. Unless S3 has an Azula rematch. But would she want that? She's already proven that she won. She can go home and enjoy the spoils of her victory (which may or may not include Zuko - I'm kind of unclear on exactly how much agency Zuko is going to have in the FN, especially since I'm not actually sure that he has permission to be there as a free man - didn't the arrest warrant Azula was executing in episode 1 list both Zuko and Iroh?)

There's nothing left for the Gaang in Ba Sing Se, so I doubt they'll go back there. Frankly it's the FN characters who have roots there. I wonder what will happen to Iroh's tea shop? I wonder if his investors will find out who he is? I wonder if money talks louder than national loyalty? (It's the Earth Kingdom - the answer is yes) Wouldn't it be funny if Iroh busted out of imprisonment and went right back to serving tea? And everyone sent to find him would be thinking "this is the famed tactician the Dragon of the West - he's probably travelling the FN plotting a coup as we speak. That devilish mind of his must have safe houses set up all over the nation." When actually he's right back where he got caught, doing exactly what he was doing when he got caught, to great and not-very-quiet acclaim?

I think S3 might have an overall darker tone too, within the bounds of a kids' show. I don't know what place Ba Sing Se occupied in the mind of the average person in the Avatar universe (although refugees seemed to revere it), but the city's fall to the FN represents a very big FN victory. The Gaang will probably be the most underdoglike in S3. S1 was mostly stalemate, then a big FN defeat. S2 was opened with the FN taking Omashu and closed with them taking Ba Sing Se. The FN have never been in a better position, and I bet the NWT is safe from further invasion only until the FN have built their fleet back up. So even the few free areas could have an expiry date on their freedom.

This is rapidly devolving into rambles, so I'll conclude by saying I have no clue what's going to happen next season, and that's exciting.

#ask

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onepiece-polls · 1 year ago

Text

One Piece Shipping War - Round 3 Side B

KidKiller art by @anj-does-stuff. Check out the original post here!

Propaganda under the cut.

Propaganda for Kid x Killer:

The loyalty, the way they praise each other, their past, the aesthetic, Kid's reaction to seeing Killer with a SMILE in Wano, the fact the Kid's hobby is listening to music while Killer's is playing the drums, they are made for one another.

That sweet sweet captain/first mate loyalty…can’t be beat

Killer and kids are cannonicly ride or die

Murder couple, captain x first mate will always have special place in my heart, childhood friends bonus, love that they're just unashamedly bastards together and separately

OMG they care so much for each other!!! Kid called Killer his partner! They are mates for life! 💕

Child. Hood. Best. Friends. You want more? *cracks knuckles* Growing up beside one another, calling one another partner, only ever seeing Kid crying and losing his hard head persona when it involves Killer, Killer calming down after being reunited with Kid for a bit, KILLER KNOWING WHERE - down to the centimetre- TO CUT HAWKINS’ ARM SO HE DOESN’T HARM KID!!! THE!!! CENTIMETRE!!! That’s some intimate level of knowledge right there!

Propaganda for Shachi x Penguin:

They may be underrated characters with very little screen time, but you can see that they clearly are affectionate with each other (ex: hugging in the manga) and also speaking at the same time, sharing thoughts, and beyond that, they grew up together. They've clearly known each other for a long time and typically work together very well. They are a package deal, you cannot separate them <3

Two idiots with one braincell/ two bros sitting on each other laps because they're gay / it's not gay if it's the homie

Law officiated their marriage fr

They're overcompensating for how gay they are for each other and everyone can tell

(Headcanons included) Everyone who likes a cute younger brother aura X a serious Tsundere older brother aura would love this ship! Shachi and Penguin know each other before they even met Law. I think their parents are on good term since they went to the beach together. I like to think that they knew each other since birth. They are both very close, and inseparable since forever. And it would be cute to think that the both of them only has each other. A cute and shy Penguin being best friend with a fun and exciting Shachi (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)♡ They both survived the tsunami together. And since Penguin was the oldest one. He would feel like he had the responsibility to protect Shachi. Big brother aura Penguin! He loves Shachi so much that he would do anything to protect him… They are very close for a long time because they knew each other's blood type and Shachi invited Penguin to stay at his uncle's house. ✨But of course, the uncle and aunt were abusive. Since Penguin thought that he had to protect Shachi at all cost. Penguin would always be the one to receive most of the physical abuse. Shachi would be a crybaby and cry everytime he sees Penguin in pain. But Penguin would always say that he was okay. (skipping to growing up) there's also that time where a bomb exploded. Instead of worrying about themselves, they cared about the other person more ✨I think it was Penguin would called out for Shachi?Then, there was the fighting scene on swallow island where ShachiPen fought the enemy together. I like to imagine the both of them already liking each other since their younger age. Especially Shachi. Shachi who had been protected during his childhood by Penguin decided to become stronger for him. Because of INK, my favorite artist, that drew a lot of ShachiPen, I have their version of ShachiPen stuck in my head. And it also became my headcanon. Shachi became a lot stronger than Penguin and it is now his turn to protect him. Hehehe. After Savaody I like to imagine that something bad happened to one of them. Then they finally confessed their love. ♡(ŐωŐ人)

#one piece #kidkiller #shapen #Kid Pirates #Heart Pirates #op shipping war #tournament poll #round 3 #side B #Sorry to my lovely mutual who ships ShaPen hard but heads will roll if KidKiller doesn't win this 😂#funny how the 'childhood friends' propaganda doesn't really holds up in this poll #this is the childhood friends to lovers poll

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spacerangersam · 7 months ago

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Could you tell me more about some of your ocs???? (Only if you’re up for it tho)

I’m always down to gush about my ocs! But I do have a lot of them, especially with the story I'm currently working on, and I don’t always know what to say, so sorry if this is a bit all over the place. This isn’t even everyone, I left out a few like the main antagonist, Irene and a few other side characters for the sake of this not being essay length but yeah. Here are some of the main guys:

(also, unless otherwise specified, they're all welsh)

Simon Huw Taylor, 32, tenant of flat no. 6, he/they, bi and ace (maybe on the aro spectrum, but idk. It’s none of my business).

He’s the main character of my story, Where the Lost Souls Meet. He’s a pretty quiet guy who likes to keep to himself, much to his own detriment. He’s been travelling around all his life, never really interacting with people his own age, leaving him with mediocre socialising skills. He can see ghosts, has been able to since childhood, and is a mortician while doing psychic ghost stuff on the side. His mum could also see ghosts and she also did the ghost business, which is why he and his parents were moving around all the time, basically living in their van/hotels). To honour her, Simon uses her maiden name for ghost work (meaning his name is then Simon Huw Hughes, which I just thought was cute). She died a few years back, his father even earlier, leaving Simon the last of his family line and all alone in the world.

His whole life revolves around death, which isn’t healthy but Simon would rather die than go to therapy and actually address his problems, so it stays that way for a while. He does try to quit smoking though, so that’s something. He is also a liar. Dear god does he love to lie about everything and anything, to everyone. Well, I say loves to lie, he doesn’t really love it. He does it both to keep himself safe and to keep others from worrying about him. Honestly, he’s fine, he’s functional, and he definitely has family who loves him. Just don’t ask to meet his ‘sister’. He also tries to protect people by keeping a certain distance from them, not wanting to hurt them like he’s been hurt because of [REDACTED], which is why he kept moving around even after his mother died. But he desperately wanted top surgery and so stopped in this town with a well-known trans-safe doctor to get it done, and unfortunately for him landed in a manor turned flat filled with people who very much would like to be his friends, please.

He has no hope for the future, no plans, having a fairly pessimistic look on life because of [REDACTED], and is basically just waiting for the day he finally dies. Again, will he do anything about this? Maybe, eventually, at some point.

He doesn’t like / struggles to watch TV and movies, his ideal night involves doing puzzles and maybe a spot of reading, he loves puns and he’s a vegetarian. I love him and his terrible coping mechanism. Go king, communicate absolutely nothing and never let people share your burdens.

Also, his neighbour dies in front of him during an argument one day, which isn't great, going on to haunt Simon in a distinctly violent fashion, which is the thing he's desperately trying to deal with in the story.

more losers under the cut

Charlie Tops, 35, tenant no. 5, he/him, trans bi+ace. He’s a very sweet guy, very open, with major himbo energy, just without the muscles. He makes the best tea and the worst coffee. He writes kid's books in the vein of Winnie the Pooh / Peter Rabbit, taking over the job after his grandfather passed, now writing them for his own daughter, Lottie. But Lottie’s getting older and losing interest in those types of books, and so he’s losing interest in writing them and having a mild panic over what he’ll do next. He’s kinda obsessed with taxidermies. His flat is quite literally filled with them and no one likes it, nobody wants to be in there, and the vibes are way off (except Will for, who thinks it’s very interesting, actually).

He’s deeply in love with Simon and they have a thing. An unexplained, deeply intimate thing that neither talk about, mostly because Simon can’t communicate for shit (which he feels deeply guilty about, and he keeps telling himself that he’ll break it off but can never quite work up to it), and Charlie’s worried if he asks, Simon will end it. He really struggles with Simon’s whole silent martyr ordeal even outside their thing because even if he doesn’t know the extent to which Simon is trying to hide his problems, he knows there is something being hidden, but again, is worried about pushing too hard and losing him completely. It’s messy, but they’ll work through it.

He can’t see ghosts but does know about them, unlike the other Woodward tenants, and feels a bit left out /awkward about the whole thing. He had an amicable divorce from his wife Irene after he realised he was ace, she realised she was aro, and that they were both trans, the two staying friends and her staying on as the illustrator for his books. And as I mentioned earlier, he does have a daughter, Lottie.

William Isaiah Beaton, 30, tenant no. 7, he/him, gay, English. An archivist for the local museum who moves into the manor in chapter one, and comes off as a tough, rude ex-vet. And that is true, to a certain extent. He is rude, and an ex-vet. But he wasn’t in the army for long, he got mowed down by a car on base like, two weeks after arriving, leaving him with a permanent injury to his leg. He feels he failed to live up to his father’s expectations, and in shame, never told the truth to his father about having to leave the forces. Will has… a lot of complicated feelings about that, and his relationship with his father, and his relationship with his religion. He works some of that last one out with help from Penny.

It’s a bit of a spoiler, but whatever- he can see ghosts. He doesn’t realise that’s what’s happening though and instead is fully convinced he’s just losing his mind, and that crash did irreparable damage to his head. Nah though, just ghosts. Has a guilty love of werewolf media and cake, and cares a lot about bugs and plants (he even ends up taking Simon’s plants off him, because Simon kills every plant he owns, without question). He has limited zero social skills and finds big groups overwhelming, but nevertheless, he will be dragged into this friendship group (if Penny has any say in it, at least). He came to Hangar for a reason, though he doesn’t say why.

He also definitely fancies Simon and has no idea how to handle that. It’s the first time he’s fancied a man (or at least, a man-adjecent person) who isn’t straight, and that coupled with the fatc Simon actually seems to like him is just a lot for him to process. The two of them bond over their shared loved of history / interest in the history of the manor.

I should make it clear: this isn’t a love triangle, this is poly thing.

The ghouls:

Florence Blossom (left), 40, and Gwenllian Baker (right), 42. Both were performers in a small acting trope who died in 1941 (though not at the same time or in the same way, funnily enough) in the manor Simon lives in. They love each other very much.

Florence is a bit judgy, loves a good moan, and is very anxious about everything and everyone, always. Her anxiety tends to make her come off as a bit snappy. She can control the lights.

Gwen is a bit vacant, with her head absolutely in the clouds at all times. She struggles a bit with empathy and reading the room, leading her to be mindlessly cruel sometimes. She never means it though and genuinely cares about Simon and Florence, and will look after them both in her own weird ways. she can lock, unlock, close and open doors

Now back to the living:

Agatha Jeorme, 55, tenant no. 1. She’s kinda like if an angsty teen was stuck in the body of a middle-aged woman, and we love her for that. She’s the daughter of the landlord and hates it. If she had any other skills / if her father had helped her get a better opportunity elsewhere like he did with her brothers, she would have jumped on it. But instead, he gave her the job of looking after Woodward. She hates him, deeply. She often shovels off small jobs onto Simon because she knows he won’t say no, and is having an affair with the next-door neighbour’s wife. I kind of made her sound like a bastard, and she is kinda, but a fun one I hope, and she does learn to be less of a bastard as the story goes on.

Gwynfor Geraint Jones, 34, tenant no. 2, he/she, bigender, aroace. Just a chill guy who loves rock music and slasher movies. She’s in a QPR with Adam, them being the first two to move into Woodward. this isn't entirely related to his character, but he's called gwynfor geraint after two twins i went to primary school with. their names always stuck in my head, in so i thought i'd put them to good use.

Adam Diana Keats, 36 tenant tenant, no.3, she/her, aroace trans woman, Scottish. She’s a librarian with a love of reading, especially poetry, and a bit pushy, a bit bossy, but ultimately well-meaning. She’ll drag Simon out of his room but with the intent to encourage him to mingle and hang out with the Woodward crew, you know. She hates Will on sight. There’s more I could say, but that would be spoilers. also, despite her dark academic vibes, she does love a good animal print

Penny Sion Seagrove, 29, no.4, she/her, lesbian. A tired, friendly gardener who would love it if everyone would get along and be friendly. She sometimes sticks her nose in places she shouldn’t to figure out people’s beef with each other (cough, Adam and Will, cough) to see if she can find a way to squash it for them, which doesn’t usually work. She tries anyway. She’s Catholic, shares Simon’s love of puns, and is dating Alice.

Alice Rhodri Blackwood, 30, she/her, trans lesbian. She lives in town with her best mate Mickey. She’s a loud, cheery, extroverted goth with an interest in witchcraft who can also see ghosts. She has slightly different opinions about ghosts and how they work from Simon, but she’s still his go-to when he’s having ghost issues.

Mickey Dolores Palmer, 29, she/her, English (Yorkshire). Idk what her deal is, and she just is, you know. A very nervous, clumsy, mousy person who works at the local museum. She tends to jump to conclusions and is not a fan of ghosts. Unfortunately, she can also see ghosts, so that’s not great for her. She's doing her best.

god i wrote way too much for this, sorry asdfghj. but uh, also, i did a voice claim video for some of these losers, if you're interested. also,t hank you so much for asking. i do love talking about these idiots

#behold: them #thank you for asking and once again. omg im sorry it's so long #i got a bit carried away

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softpine · 1 year ago

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→ oc questions tag ←

tagged by @subtlefires thank you!! i haven't seen this tag before, so this was really fun 💖

i decided to do casper to make up for all the times i've chosen coco

→ 5 words to physically describe your OC (do you have a drawing? even better!) (since we already know what he looks like, i chose general descriptions and stole your moodboard idea hehe)

energetic, reliable, persistent, lacks confidence, sweet

→ Who inspired your OC?

at first, nobody. casper was meant to be the... not comic relief exactly, but a break from the heavy ghost/death/trauma stuff in the main story. but as he got older, i started putting so much more of myself into his character. without going into detail, i've learned things about my own family that makes me relate to casper's situation more than i thought i would when i came up with it. i never planned to go more in-depth about his biological father & half sisters because i thought, well, he has 2 loving parents and siblings he grew up with, why would he lose sleep over these people he's never met and is only connected to by blood? it was one of those things where i thought i knew how i would feel in that situation, but i never really knew until i knew. i wish i could say this is the only part of my life i've imparted on casper, but it's not 😅 casper is also the first character we've seen in college since beth, and my college experience was SO much closer to casper's than beth's. so like. it's me, i inspired casper fjksdjs

→ Give me a song to define your OC

soda by nothing but thieves // lyrics:

i once had a thought, but don't know where it went 'cause i've been living off soda and cheap cigarettes maybe when i was a kid i was dropped on my head yeah, that would make some sense

i don't want to be myself it's making me so unwell

→ If I met your OC on the street how would they greet me?

he doesn't make it a habit to greet strangers aside from a polite nod, but if he already knows someone he would loudly call out to them even if they're far away and it's embarrassing for everyone involved – that is, if he remembers them. he's really bad with names!

→ Can your OC be your best friend? Why?

oh yeah for sure. not so much now, but i was friends with so many jock types in high school. i think it's because once those guys find out i'm a lesbian they just treat me like a bro 😌 but they would tell me things they didn't think they could talk about with anyone else. i love being the friend everyone comes to with their problems because i'm telling people what they already knew but didn't want to admit, and making them feel like they came up with a solution all on their own. that's exactly what casper wishes he had in a friendship right now. also i want him to be my personal trainer!

→ 1 adjective and 1 noun to describe your OC

neurotic // i know this word is outdated, but i still use it for myself and i can't think of a better word to describe the way that he manages to be anxious about anything and everything. so much of his personality / habits / lifestyle were formed in response to anxiety (like, he was afraid of staying the same so he changed everything about himself all at once. he did so many sports and he exercises all the time because it keeps him busy. etc.) and the important thing is that most of his fears are totally irrational and not the more common worries people have, even other people with anxiety. it's not like "are my friends secretly mad at me?" it's "i'm going to walk to class today because i'm afraid i'll run someone over with my car" and things of that nature; things he knows are irrational, but that doesn't make them feel less real. but we'll get more into that later

toaster // LMAO... it's a ubiquitous household object you take for granted will always be there. you don't really know how it works on the inside, you just count on the fact that it will. you don't even take notice of it unless something is really wrong with it. but it's a tried and true part of a daily routine and you'd be really bummed if you lost it! tell your toaster you love them today sdjksjd

→ tagging: feels weird tagging anyone after i got so personal here lmao so if you see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged!

#bold move picking one of the most beloved and attractive stars of the 00s as casper's face claim but i figured i'd throw him a bone #casper birkshaw

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lloydfrontera · 1 year ago

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DAMN THE EMPEROR PICKED THE WRONG TIME TO TRY TO BE AN OVERPROTECTIVE WORRIED DAD LMAO. THIS IS LIKE IF ARCOS WAS LIKE "hey lloyd u always get in trouble/danger bc u try to build stuff everywhere, why don't u stop that" 😂

it is also so shitty of him it's very funny to me jakshdka

like damn, your son who spent his entire life so sick he could barely get out of bed on a good day has seemingly found a purpose in life besides lying around waiting to die in opening a clinic to heal patients for free, has poured his entire soul into making it work, has literally risked his life in an effort to keep it running, is demonstrably healthier and more driven than he's ever been and is accomplishing pretty amazing feats that always seem to be related to that clinic of his.

y'know what would be a pretty good thing to do as a dad? closing it down and make him focus on his studies as heir. the ones he never could take because, again, everyone was just sort of waiting for him to die so his brother could be named heir to the throne.

like yeah. that would be such a responsible parent thing to do.

it gets sorta funny in a very sad way lmao he's such a bad dad even when he's actually trying to be better lol

and about arcos,,, that man would love if his son could stop running around risking his life actually. he's. so stressed. all the time ajksdhka

arcos is a completely different character from asterion. like two polar opposites in the "proud dad trying his best at parenting a danger prone child" spectrum. but ultimately they both just want their kid to be safe.

the problem with asterion is that he's,,, used to getting his way as emperor lol. he's so authoritative that he just expects people to do as he orders. rakiel gets his attention precisely because he refuses to bend to what he expects him to do, he's interested because his son finally is showing some spine and initiative. but rakiel can't outright defy him either because, again, he's the emperor. so he has to resort to convince him and change his mind whenever asterion wants him to do or not do something that doesn't align with his plans. it's a fine line that he has to walk.

lloyd and arcos don't have to do that lol. lloyd isn't afraid to go against arcos wishes and he mostly doesn't have to either. arcos is way more lenient with lloyd than asterion is with rakiel. once lloyd proves that he's being sincere and not trying to cause problems arcos just trusts him.

he wishes lloyd would run away from danger the moment he sees it, he even goes as far as to think he should scold him to stop getting involved in dangerous situations when he comes back from fighting a hell knight, but he ultimately doesn't.

there's even a scene back in the giant ants arc (that the webcomic skipped grrrr) before lloyd starts the construction where he tells lloyd that he thinks his plan is great but he has one condition, for lloyd to stay outside the mine while it's being constructed because it's dangerous. but lloyd tells him that he can't promise to do that because the best way to prevent accidents and gain his workers' trust is to be right there while the projects is done. but he gives him his word it will be safe and arcos gives in to lloyd's stubbornness.

(he ends up being buried alive in a mountain with hundreds of giant ants but like. it's the thought that counts lol)

so! at their core both asterion and arcos wish their children would stop putting themselves in danger! they're parents that's what they do! they worry and fret and sometimes scold when their kids get into risky situations! but they way they deal with that desire is vastly different.

arcos trusts lloyd judgement, he asks him to be safe and to stop getting into dangerous situations, but at no point does he try to impose his will on lloyd because he knows his son is capable and trustworthy and whatever he does he's surely doing it for a good reason.

asterion is proud of rakiel, but he doesn't really,,, respect him, in a way. he thinks everything he's doing for the clinic is just a hobby of his, something he's doing to pass the time before taking on his duties as crown prince. he likes what rakiel is accomplishing, but he thinks rakiel being a doctor isn't nearly as important as what asterion has planned for him as prince.

he also feels guilty for neglecting his kid in the past, he feels guilty because only when rakiel regained his health and future did he start showing that he cared for him. so he's trying to make up for it now by trying to keep him safe and giving him more responsibilities and the respect that comes with them but in doing so he's trampling over rakiel's actual wishes and will. which is pretty hypocritical of him tbh, something that sir roberto actually calls him out on, it's great perfect scene 10/10

so like. yeah. i have a lot of thoughts on the way arcos and asterion act as parents as you can tell ajshdka

#hey i got an ask #m1sosazai #tged #the greatest estate developer #arcos frontera #lloyd frontera #asterion magentano #rakiel magentano #crown prince sells medicine #cpsm

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xekutozoren · 9 months ago

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My version of Aqua x Sephiroth (explanation rant updated with mush)

Felt like explaining how I got into it. It's interesting how Tumblr seems to support it quite a bit but Pinterest is like ??? to it.

I guess I initially just wanted a character that wasn't really involved in the main KH story to appreciate Aqua for who she is and what she does. Aqua seems to give a lot to others to the point where she sacrifices her own ideals and herself. And the in-game characters don't do much for her imo.

I do still support Terraqua so it's Sephqua in a universe where Terra never ends up reciprocating her feelings. I can't deny how many times I got annoyed at Terra for not really showing he cares about Aqua like, at all.

And then KH3 happened and a lot of stuff in it made me annoyed too. Examples include no apologies happening between her and the Wayfinder trio, Ven not showing much appreciation for her, her getting tossed around after vamping her up and bringing her back, the game shifting the focus onto Riku when she was finally pouring out her feelings, Sora and Kairi not even remembering her etc. I get that a lot of these things could have happened offscreen/isn't really justified but it still made me feel the game just kind of abandoned her/treated her as a plot device.

After seeing some fanmade content about Sephqua I tried exploring it myself. I admit that I haven't actually played/watched FF7 so I really only know Sephiroth based off his wiki page and existing Sephqua content. My interpretation of him is also a bit loose and more working off his KH2 almost non-existent screen time as an excuse for doing what I want with his character. At this point he would be similar to his pre-Nibelheim self with a touch of snark. He sees visions sometimes of his canon-verse self but hasn't gone through all of that in this universe and is still capable of redemption. He's merely "the darkness of Cloud" as the KH verse called it, trying to find his purpose in my makeshift universe. His age would be more ambiguous to make the pairing work better (though Aqua being stuck down there for 12 years makes up for the difference anyway)

And one of the biggest things was ANGST COMFORT FOR AQUA'S PAIN.

I like the idea of him meeting her in the Realm of Darkness, intrigued why she refuses to give up despite no one seeming to really care about her, etc. At first, he'd just treat her as something to pass the time and not really care about her well-being but that changes eventually. >w> He is also drawn to her strength both physically and mentally.

I imagine she would be guarded towards him at first but eventually let her walls down a tinsy bit. But then she'd be furious with herself for going against Master Eraqus' ideologies and being worried what he might think of her being acquainted with someone who's full of darkness. But she eventually learns to go after what she wants, not what someone else expects of her. I like that dynamic of Sephiroth teaching her to be more selfish and her helping him find his light again.

In the AU, I'd like to see something play out that didn't in KH, which was Aqua being saved after the others. Though it wouldn't really make sense how they'd reach Ven first but it would be satisfying to see the other two do something for her for once. Sephiroth would be with her getting out of there and have to earn the trust of the keyblade gang/get over the fact that he's with warriors of light. His god complex eventually fades overtime as his feelings develop for her.

I like the idea of the two of them learning each other's vulnerabilities overtime as well as how to trust each other. It would be really interesting to see Aqua helping Sephiroth uncover the truth behind his biological parents too.

Sephiroth's need for comfort with the lack of a proper motherly figure and Aqua's need for someone to properly appreciate and acknowledge her. They love each other for who they are, not who they're expected to be.

Another big thing for me is how their interactions would go.

At the beginning, Sephiroth would be awkward and Aqua would be the more affectionate one - he's a broken man after all and scarred by lies and betrayals. Aqua will heal those wounds one by one. c:

I'm a simple woman and like banter in relationships. > w < After he's more comfortable and settled in, Sephiroth would tease her a lot and Aqua would get embarrassed easily.

That and I notice Aqua likes physical affection like hand holding and head patting in the games so it would be nice to have someone like Sephiroth who I imagine would be more hands on with her after he learns to trust again.

Not sure if anything I wrote here made sense. I typed this up pretty late. Gonna leave it there with one more doodle.

Refs are from Positively Yours, hana and a username that I don't really want to type publicly ^^;

Thanks for reading my spam! ; A ;

#aquaroth #sephqua #kingdom hearts #final fantasy 7 #kh aqua #sephiroth #rant #all ze angst and banter I liek #idk I just ended up typing up all this stuff that ppl probably won't read #final fantasy #ffvii #ff7 #crack ship #sephiroth x aqua

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bcolfanfic · 3 months ago

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“when all the stuff happens with jj (crosby’s oldest) and meadow gets pregnant curt handles all that (very) badly at first”

this feels in character with what you’ve said about curt and cros not getting along but 👀👀 i want more how does he react

badly. lmao.

but yeah i've kicked around a few versions of it w/ rachel and i think my favorite is him not even knowing they're involved till everything is hitting the fan. didn't tell her dads she was seeing him bc she knew they'd lose it (not just curt re: him being a crosby, him and croz aren't actually in a terrible place with each other atp. though it all more or less goes back to square one for a while during. she's around 22 and jj is 29, so there's the age gap too). and didn't really think it would end up being serious anyways. but they likeeee each other a lot, and by the time she gets knocked up it's starting to get more serious. (funny side bar- in a rare moment of kindness towards meadow before they really start to become friends, josie covers for them to sneak off during a big ol wyoming get together with everyone. *that's* when she gets pregnant, which josie never lets go lmfao.)

i think i've posted before about rebecca or jeanie coming to jj's apartment and seeing meadow so at bare minimum *they* knew there was something going on there. but they "oh, dear me" smile and nodded and kept their mouths shut bc they also knew it would be a Mess.

thennn she gets pregnant and whoops now everyone has to know /: she tells jj when they're parked somewhere in his car, he kinda has a panic attack and then drives them both back to his parent's house because they'll know what to do. already knows curt is gonna kill him and wants mommy lmfao. *jj*. you big baby. (he grows up eventually, don't worry).

but they go back there and meadow tells jeanie who sits down realllly hard upon the news drop. gets croz from doing yard work, he sees how panicked all of them look and is like ??? is something wrong ?? and poor meadow just bursts into tears. bless her heart. she is curt made over and has categorically been quite a bit of trouble throughout her life, but she's a good girl at heart.

after a lot of "well, um" handwringing jean eventually says she'll tell curt and ken they need to come down to the house because they all need to talk about something. bry of course bc that's her fuckin. twin sister knows what she's been seeing jj and looks sooo guility when curt and ken are halfway out the door and tell her the crosby's are being weird saying meadow's at their house and that they need to talk about something. very awkwardly says she's gonna go with them and curt is like ??? do you know something we don't ?? and she's like uh (: no (: just worried about meadow 's all (:. texts her when they're in the car and has to clamp her hand over his mouth when meadow texts her back and clarifies what's going on.**

curt, as you can expect, lossessss it. is very very quiet for a moment just looking between meadow and jj with ken's hand on his shoulder. then he ends up snapping at bry first bc he realizes she knew they were seeing each other- asks if she knew her sister was pregnant and she's like no ?!?!?!. meadow gets upset and tells him to leave bry alone, and that's when he really snaps at her.

gets upset telling her he trusted her more than anything, she's always been such a smart girl what the /fuck/ got into your head you still have a few months until you're done with college you had /plans/. he's yelling at this point, croz tells him he needs to calm down because the shouting isn't doing shit and then he turns that pissed off-ness on jj and croz. says a lot of really mean shit about how croz failed as a parent- he's just like you, just as fucking embarrassing. gets really cruel to jj too and him and croz almost get physical over it bc croz is obviously defensive of his son. (at least until curt leaves, he lays into jj hard after he's gone. is embarrassed alongside just being really disappointed in him, and it takes some time and tears for their relationship to come back from that)

curt regrets this *a lot* down the line when that baby is his entire world plus some, but to begin with he's very much of the opinion that it would be for the better for meadow if she got an abortion. knows rationally he can't make her do anything, but is out his mind angry at jj, doesn't want meadow with him, and thinks a baby would just derail her life in a way he really doesn't want for her. at his core all of his upset is coming from not wanting his kid to struggle in life, and his heart is in the right place- even the intent/impact of his thought process doesn't line up.

but that suggestion makes meadow upset because she doesn't want to do that and feels like her dad is never gonna forgive her if he doesn't </3. (which is what her and josie get closer over, bc josie gets wind of that and is deeply pissed off that curt is making her feel that way).

he eventually lays off that particular topic and things get less rocky with time. but it's hard and tense for a while. ken isn't exactly thrilled about it all either either, but him and curt also have somewhat of a rough patch in everything bc he's the main voice telling curt he's being way too hard on meadow. lots of little squabbles about it all, and lots of ken trying to get it in his head that if he keeps it up he's going to drive their daughter away for good.

this is getting 80000 words too long, but tldr fast forward meadow ends up having quite a lot of complications w/ her pregnancy and has her baby really early. the baby makes it, but to begin with its touch and go for both the baby and meadow. it's a hard road, and that's what really shakes curt out of the stupor he'd spent all that time in. and what makes him (very very slowly) come around to jj because he sees how much he cares for meadow and their baby when things are as difficult as they are.

**meadow little miss live texter. sends the big 2nd gen groupchat a crying selfie from the bathroom mid everyone yelling in the living room and that's how they all find out. little punks all immediately tell their parents too lmfao. ken does find a little funny when he figures out *that* is why him and curt both started getting a bunch of calls/texts from everyone. bc meadow is a little ridiculous and their kids are narcs <3

#young vets au #meadow biddick #jj crosby

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jaceeverett · 6 months ago

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MERROCK TASK #20 SOCIAL MEDIA

at what age did your character start using social media? Social media wasn't really a huge thing when Jason was young enough to care... he didn't really start using it until he was older -- late thirties, to be honest.

did their parents monitor their use, if they were young? If he would have used social media, he's more than sure that his parents would have kept an eye on everything.

has your character ever had fake identities or accounts online? No, nothing like that.

no shame: do they remember myspace? did they use it? He might not have used MySpace, but he definitely remembers it existing, and what an uproar it all caused.

who would be in their top eight today? Theo, Cordelia, Tessa, Scott, Cori, Kellan, Vince and Sam.

what social media platforms do they use today? Just Instagram. He has a Facebook account, and has for a long time, but he really doesn't use it all that much.

do they have public profiles, or go private? Public, now. He kept his socials private for a long time, until he moved back to Merrock.

how about their following? are they pretty lowkey, or do they have a decent following? Small time, and he likes it that way. He does get the occasional firefighter-chaser that follows him, or people who really like state park content, though.

do they tend to pick obvious usernames, ones with sentimental value, funny things? how do they decide? It's always pretty obvious stuff: jaceeverett, jayev, jacebrowning, the usuals.

profile pictures: the same across all platforms? Definitely the same one, yeah. He'll just pick something and then let the platforms themselves set it as default or... whatever it is that they do.

and just what profile pictures do they use? A selfie. Normally an embarrassing one. He learned his lesson after those firefighter-chasers started following him when he posted himself in uniform once or twice.

what kind of bio writer are they? silly, cute, sweet, or just basic? If there's a bio at all, it's super basic. Something like. "Jace, 40, ranger & firefighter."

how much time per day would you say that your character spends on social media? Not very often, an hour a day?

is there one platform that they visit more than others? Instagram.

if they have kids, do they use social media? how do they feel about that? if not, and they want kids, will they let them use it someday? Jason doesn't have kids, but he does have nieces and nephews, and of course he worries about the kind of content that they might run into while they're scroll. He doesn't plan on having kids, but if he did, he wouldn't want them to use social media until it was a decision they could make with no peer pressure at all and until they 'knew better' than to get involved in some of the trouble.

be honest: have they ever created an account for something else, like a hobby, or… to try to make their cat internet famous? Nope.

do they run any professional or business accounts? Jason does help run the social media account for the Merrock State Park.

have they ever left a social media platform (or more than one) for any specific reason? No, nothing like that.

do they plan on using social media into their older ages? ... Jason would argue that being in his forties, he probably is what people would consider an 'older aged' social media user.

have they ever made any long-lasting friendships through social media? Not really, but he's kept in contact with people that he met and then linked up with on social media.

or on the flip side, gotten into any big social media beef? No.

have they ever felt negatively impacted by social media as a user? He hasn't, really. Jason's been lucky enough to know how to throw himself into social media too much, so he's spared himself a lot of the drama and turmoil.

who is their favorite person / account to follow on social media? Smokey the Bear.

would they say that social media has had an overall more positive or negative impact on the world? That depends on the day that you ask him. There's a whole lot of negativity in the world of social media, but he knows that some of it can be used for good, too.

and finally: a/s/l? (and do they know what that means?) 40/m/ME. And God, yeah, he remembers that.

#merrocktask

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rainbowwing251 · 5 months ago

Note

Relating to young characters isn't abnormal, we were all kids once and some character experiences will speak to you regardless of (or even because of) their traits. Wanting for them to go through things you make up is normal I think.

Unfortunately, there are people out there who will interpret art badly due to preconceived notions that some things are sexual, even when they're not. It's annoying because anything can be a fetish, so people just can take anyone in bad faith. I personally believe people shouldn't be harassed for what they like or create, so long as no one is a target or something harmful is done.

It's ok to be stressed about all the stuff in your previous post. Cars breaking down, bad government stuff, people being revealed to have done bad stuff, it's a lot. People have told me it's ok to feel feelings so I think that should extend to you too.

I'm writing to you because one of your fics got me to like tickling, and I relate to your troubles. So just...do what you can, take it day by day or something. Because if people want me to exist, then I think you should exist too.

I always forget that all of us have been kids once, and our childhood experiences can influence who we end up liking and who we end up hating, regardless if the person in question is real or fictional.

I think it’s ironic that I often feel like I have to remind people that tickling is not inherently sexual (if it was, why would parents tickle their children?), and yet here I am thinking that the content I make involving minors has sexual undertones despite there being no evidence for it. I don’t feel this way towards characters who are 18+, so why do I feel this way for characters who are minors? Perhaps it is my fear of members of the tickling community and/or non-members calling me a creep when I’m not trying to be.

I still feel like cars breaking down should be the least of my worries, and if this year wasn’t already giving me more awful shit to deal with, it probably would be. It all just builds up. I’m glad to hear that what I’m feeling is normal at least, even though I still feel a little embarrassed by my reaction to the vehicles breaking down.

I hope things will get better for me… and I hope things will get better for you too because its sounds like you are struggling to some degree given what you’ve told me in this message and in the previous message.

#Non-tickling #the colorful words of the color gray #it feels strange to have serious conversations on a blog like this #But these conversations need to happen at some point and if they happen to be discussed on a tickle blog so be it #I am feeling a lot better since yesterday when these messages came in but there’s no guarantee that I won’t hit that low point again.#In the meantime this is pushing me towards finishing the headcanons for Ed and Eddy that I’m still working on #Now that I don’t feel as bad for doing so #I think Ed’s almost done and Eddy is proving to be a challenge for me to come up with headcanons for #Side note: I got anon to like tickling? Never thought I would be credited for something like that!

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magicalyaku · 10 months ago

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Hello and welcome to another reading year! Following the devastation Dark Heir cause in my heart at the end of 2023, I didn't really feel like reading much for about two weeks. I did catch up on a few manga series, most notably 8 volumes of Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi. While it's still very good, I think binge reading helped quite a bit to keep me invested. :'D After that, I read one book that will definitely go into my worst books of 2024. Refer to the later half of the post if you want to know more. Let's focus on the good ones first!

Cursebreakers (Madeleine Nakamura): This one was really good! I was positively surprised. The world is magical, not medieval but futuristic! The story around the conspiracy is interesting and intense and the main characters are difficult people that might be hard to like in real life but they complement each other so well and it's so nice to see their relationship grow (no love story here!). I also really liked the way it is told. The protagonist has bipolar disorder which is a huge factor in the story but he recounts the story from a later perspective, so rather than being right in the moment with every dramatic and sometimes questionable decision we get a little bit of distance and insight into his actions and thoughts which works really well.

Twelve Bones (Sixteen Souls 2) (Rosie Talbot): The first volume was a already a little dark but all the bad stuff involved a limited circle of people (most of them ghosts), this one takes a full dive into the swooping dark threatening the entire city, living and dead! The stakes, my dear. Ugh! Based on that I wouldn't call it fun ... would I? I liked reading it, though! The cast of characters is really endearing. The story is good. The struggle felt warranted. The ending is kinda mangaesque but I like manga, so I don't mind. xD I wonder if there'll be a third volume. If not, I'll look forward to the author's next work. :)

The Necromancer's Light (Radiance 1) (Tavia Lark): I picked up the set of the trilogy which has a much better cover than the indivual books. :'D This one is very simple and straightforward, it's cute. The characters are likable. The hurt/comfort in here is indeed comforting. I think I like the first part with the pining best. This story's animal is a horse! (I read half of the auther's Perilous Courts series and there's friendly animals in every volume there as well. Nice touch.)

And now for the first book of 2024 I did not like. Heir to Thorn and Flame (Court of Broken Bonds 1) (Ben Alderson): I read the author's self-published Darkmourn series last summer and quite liked it despite its issues with the writing. Now this one has a tradtional publisher so I wanted to know if that made any difference. On a whole, the writing feels a little bit smoother than Darkmourn. But it's still long, repetetive, and tries to hard to sound fancy by exaggerating a lot. The premise of the story isn't even that bad. Boy finds out he has magic, accidentely kills the prince, has to take his place and political stuff occurs with two countries on the cusp of war over him and his magic. The first thing that annoyed me: The story feels unnecessarily cruel. It literally starts out with attempted rape which is already the second time protagonist Maxiumus is assaulted in his life. People are killed right in front of him, he is forced to shoot someone he cares for. People violently dig through his memories and still don't believe his story afterwards. And the villains are just caricatures. They have the balding hair, yellowed teeth, bony fingers, stinky breath, and leering eyes. They're ugly and evil! It was so over the top that I couldn't care at all. The other characters have nothing going on for them either. I don't like Maximus at all. He's whiny and indecisive and only worries about his parents. He does have that superstrong magic he uses to rip people apart when he's angry, wow. He also has two love interests and I don't see the chemistry with either of them (I suppose it tries to be Slow Burn but not very good). But they're so good-looking, the strong arms and nice smell, so tall! (eyeroll) The second one of these guys is named Simion. He's the only one remotely nice to him in the beginning, so Maximus likes him. Then he hates him. Then he likes him, then Simion reveals stuff and Maximus hates him again (even though he's just the messenger). But then he's suddenly attracted to him again to the point they even kiss … but oh no, Maximus can't kiss anyone, because he is married to the other guy by magic (against his will)!! And everyone treats it as this big thing "oh old magic you are bound to each other now for life" etc, but nobody explains what the handfastening (as they call it) even does for 80% of the book! Until Maximus kisses Simion and the magic causes him pain because he's cheating!!

Here my mind went on a tangent. The magic seems to have a conscious in this story, alright, but I want to know it's moral values then. Does it only detect kisses and sex? Physical acts? Can it differentiate between consensual und non-consensual? Who is doing the touching? Does is only clock sexual attraction or romantic attraction as well? What if he has a crush and never acts on it? Would it still cause him permament pain? What's with platonical kisses? Now you ask, do we have to explain all of this in a book like this? No, we don't (there's also two sequels), but I sure hope the author thought about it when he introduced a complex thing like this. Oh, also Simion forces his way into Maximus's mind via telepathy several times. Such a nice way to get to know each other. And speaking of the morality of the magic, it counts how many people are killed with it. On the wand. As tally marks. How does it know? Why does it only count humans, not animals? Why does it care?

Two more things I found annoying (there's more, but this is long enough already): First, the parents. Everything happening in the story hinges on their whereabouts, it's back and forth and very tiring. The Red King has them so Maximus has to stay with him, then the Blue Prince has them, then they get kidnapped so Maximus follows, then it turns out they've never been kidnapped and the Blue Prince kept them all along! In between he freaks out over his father not being his father and when they're reunited, but before they can talk, the father dies. Yay. Tragic. Not. The same thing happened before already. The one lady Maximus was forced to kill? She survived! She was saved and he goes to meet her, they talk for 30 seconds and then she's eaten by a dragon. :D I was pissed for wasting my time.

Which is a sentiment I kind of share about the whole book, but also not. It made me angry but sometimes it's good to have an outlet for the rage. :'D

#yaku reads #january wrap up #books #queer books #queer lit #lgbtq books #bookblr #cursebreakers #twelve bones #heir to thorn and flame #the necromancer's light #tumblr kept telling me it couldn't save my post because I made my paragraphs too long ...?#you're weird sir

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rubykgrant · 1 year ago

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(I'm feeling nostalgic... so here is the first genuine lovey-dovey Grimmons thing I wrote. It fits into the larger plot of my story-line, with Simmons getting lots of Character Development by realizing his parents are awful, and also Church and Tex are back with the AI Fragments because I said so. For Grif and Simmons, I really wanted the moment when they finally connect to happen in a way that almost mirrors the first conversation with them we see. I also wanted to show that they're still annoying dorks who bicker, but now cuddling and kissing can happen. They're each affection-starved for different reasons, and co-dependent as heck, so now they can finally enjoy each other~)

Finally, he was done with the paperwork.

Under most circumstances, Simmons enjoyed paperwork; it was a methodical process that allowed him to both focus AND zone-out. He was also very good at organizing and filling-out forms. The best kind of work didn’t just keep you busy, it was also satisfying. Right now… he just wanted it to be over and done with. He actually SKIPPED a few things, just to make it go quicker. 10 years ago, this would have caused Simmons to have a flustered panic-attack. Heck, it would have bothered him to leave something mildly incomplete 5 years ago. Well, he wasn’t the same Simmons as 5, 10, or 15 years ago… past-Simmons was done, and today-Simmons had more important things to worry about.

He just wanted to go see Grif.

They had FINALLY gotten used to just being able to hang-out again, now that all the… (what words were there to describe what had happened with his family?)… DRAMA with his parents was over. Simmons still felt so embarrassed about it; he’d not only been stupid, but perfectly willing to be deceived and used… but could you blame a guy for being tricked, when the ones tricking him were his own mother and father, and the trick in question was making him think they finally loved him, after years of being neglected and rejected? Simmons certainly blamed himself, but his friends reminded him often that it hadn’t been all his fault. Finally, he could do more than just resent his parents. He could flatly hate them, and simply ignore them. They were both gone and out of his life now, and it was on HIS terms. He was done with them, and looking forward to being with his friends again, being with GRIF again… but then more stuff happened.

More stuff ALWAYS happened.

At least it hadn’t been too much stuff this time. Some evil jerks who wanted to scan the brains of soldiers, thus creating new AI fragments… oh, and the evil jerks were using really funky boot-leg equipment that killed whoever got scanned. Really bad, and certainly a major inconvenience (especially when Simmons and the rest of his group had gotten kid-napped to be forced into the scanning process), but it had been a fairly straight-forward thing to deal with. Which they did. None of them had died, mostly thanks to the fact that Church and Tex could still do their own AI trick, plus some help from the handful of other AIs that liked to hang out in Church’s head.

Sigma had helped Simmons… which was a little unnerving at first, but ultimately OK. Sigma hadn’t tried to take over his body or destroy his mind. It had actually been kinda cool, working with the AI… and the results had spoken for themselves; fighting for your life was indeed a great motivator, but Sigma had made Simmons dig deeper for the things he really wanted.

Being connected with Sigma had been the reason for the majority of the paperwork. People wanted to know what it had been like, how it had worked… and while that was a fascinating process (one Simmons would normally like to discuss at length), some of it had involved thoughts that were very… personal. It was nobody’s business but his. Sigma knew, because he had literally been in Simmons’ brain. Simmons wasn’t exactly trying to keep any of this a secret, but still; his thoughts, his feelings.

(It had been overwhelming, but also exhilarating, looking at the situation in simple terms, these people had taken him away from everything he wanted, they had taken him away from everything he DESERVED, and he wasn’t going to let them get away with it, he wasn’t going to be pushed around, he was going to PUSH BACK, he was going to survive this situation and nothing was going to stop him, because he was smart enough to solve this problem, but he was more than just smart, he was strong, he was determined, and he had nothing holding him back…)

First they had to deal with stupid problems caused by evil jerks, and THEN he had to deal with all that paperwork. Simmons blew through it (he was internally getting a kick out of how much this would have driven his previous self crazy), and only cared about ONE thing; finding Grif. They hadn’t been able to see each other or even talk for WEEKS. That was horrible all on its own, but now… it was different. He was different.

In his search for Grif, Simmons winds up running around the facility, asking everybody he meets if they’d seen “the Orange One” (they all knew who the Reds and Blues were, but not everybody had the names down). Simmons finally finds a Grif, but it is the OTHER Grif (the one who wouldn’t recognize ANYBODY by their colors).

“Kai!” he calls out to her and waves to get her attention.

She stops in the hallway, and seems to send out irritated vibes as Simmons jogs up to her.

“Hey, I’m looking for your brother… where is he? I thought he’d stick around when we were done answering all the questions about what happened, but he’s gone-”

“Yeah, he doesn’t want to talk to you right now,” she says in a defensive tone.

That throws Simmons way the heck off. He blinks inside his helmet and tries to process what he just heard.

“What? Wh-why?” he honestly has no clue.

“Uh, maybe because you’ve been making fun of him ever since you came back?” she’s crossed her arms now, looking beyond angry even without her expression showing.

“I… I haven’t been making fun of him! I mean, we joke with each other all the time, playful insults and stuff, but I haven’t even been doing THAT lately… seriously, what’s wrong? What did I do?”

“Oh please, ever since you figured out he actually meant it when he said…” she paused there, trailing off. Simmons knew what she meant. It was the ‘I love you’. Grif had finally told Simmons how he felt, and Simmons had… misunderstood. No, it had totally gone right over his head. Because, despite how smart he considered himself to be, Simmons also knew he could be a moron. “… you’ve been PICKING ON HIM! Now that you came back and figured out how he felt, you’ve been picking on him, and just- just being a total ass-hat about it! So guess what, he doesn’t want to talk to you!”

That didn’t just throw him for a loop… Simmons felt like somebody just tossed him off a building, and now he was free-falling, flipping through the air at terminal velocity.

“WHAT? NO!” he HAD to make her understand. “I wasn’t picking on him, or making fun of him! I- I was FLIRTING with him! I thought that… I just wanted him to know I felt the same way, but without it being a big deal? I thought if I did a big romantic confession or something, it would make him feel awkward… so I was just trying to, like… flirt? But in teasing way?”

“OH. MY. GOD.” Kai dropped her arms… and then raised them up again, shaking her hands in front of his visor. “You were trying to FLIRT? That was you FLIRTING?”

“Um, yes?”

“DUDE! HAVE YOU EVER EVEN FLIRTED BEFORE?”

“N-no… not really?” his voice has turned into a meek little squeak.

“SO WHY WOULD YOU TRY IT NOW?”

“I don’t know…” in retrospect, Simmons can now see how stupid this had been.

“This whole time, my brother just thought you were mocking him! And you were FLIRTING! He tells you he loves you, and you don’t get it, then he tries to get OVER you, and YOU decide to start flirting… I can’t believe it… I swear, you are BOTH so HOPELESS!” she groans, then takes a deep breath. “OK, listen up. He freaking CONFESSED to you, after being in love with you for like… at least 10 years. He’s not gonna take you seriously if keep trying to tease him. You need to be DIRECT. You need to be HONEST. You need to do a BIG ROMANTIC CONFESSION.”

She pointed down the hallway to her right, and gave Simmons a shove in that direction.

“He’s outside, on the look-out corner over there. Now go and tell my brother you’re in love with him BEFORE I KILL YOU! AND NOBODY WILL EVER FIND YOUR BODY!”

“Right! Got it! Going to fix this now!” he was fairly certain she COULD get away with murder if she wanted, but Simmons was more concerned with finding Grif to make the guy UNDERSTAND.

This whole time… Simmons had been calling him cute, and lover-boy… but Grif thought Simmons was mocking him. He must feel AWFUL. That hadn’t been his intention at all. Why were they so bad at this? Why couldn’t they ever be on the same damn page? The short answer was, they were BOTH morons.

Simmons sprinted down the hall, dodging random people on the way… if they knew why he was running, they’d probably think this was like a scene out of a rom-com, and he was trying to catch somebody at the airport. Well, that was almost right; he certainly felt like if he didn’t find Grif and talk to him IMMEDIATELY, this was going to be a lost cause. You can’t expect a person to keep waiting, hoping, for years and years and… it had already been long enough. Simmons might even be just barely too late right now. Oh NO, he had to find Grif, tell him truth, he had to FIX THIS!

He should have said something years ago… but in his defense, Simmons hadn’t realized what was happening. How could he? In the beginning, he hadn’t even LIKED Grif, and that was supposed to be first step when you actually fell in love with somebody, right? You like them. Grif and Simmons had a very rocky start. By the time Simmons DID start to like him, well… what was he supposed to think? This certainly wasn’t a conventional relationship. Not that Simmons had a lot of experience with ANY relationships at all; his home life with his family had been a nightmare. They didn’t love each other, not in a genuine and affectionate way, and they certainly didn’t love him. He never had any real friends. Most kids hated his guts, either because he was too much of a little smarty-pants or not smart ENOUGH. Whatever the reason, nobody liked him. He never dated anybody either… he knew what dating was supposed to look like, though. Simmons watched movies, he read books. He could occasionally see real people who were really in love (or at least seemed to be). He just never got to experience it himself. How was Simmons supposed to recognize that he was falling in love with somebody, when he had no personal frame of reference for it?

His relationship with Grif had always been weird, but it was THEIRS. It was just like that with them. Eventually, Simmons realized he liked Grif, and they were friends despite all the bickering (maybe even a little BECAUSE of the bickering)… and you DEFINITELY shouldn’t be having cutesy-thoughts about your friend. Simmons assumed there must have just been something wrong with him… and if he ever let Grif know, it would ruin the weird relationship they had. Grif wouldn’t want to hang out with him or talk to him anymore, which was the worst thing ever, because Simmons DID like having him as a friend, so what was wrong with him? Why did stupid thoughts keep popping into his head, and why… WHY… did he occasionally have DREAMS that went a LOT further than “cutesy”? You don’t dream about your friends like THAT. YOU JUST DON’T. Something was wrong with him, but it wasn’t his fault, he had no control over dumb stuff his brain did while he was unconscious, and if he just didn’t say anything, then it would be OK.

After the incident on Chorus, Simmons had thought the whole problem would just be solved; something had finally happened, something that was outside of his control, and so he didn’t have to worry about it. He didn’t need to come up with a reason or an excuse. Something had happened, and it had happened with Grif, and now… he could stop trying so hard to ignore it or explain it. The choice was out of his hands. No more pressure to make a decision. They could figure out what this meant TOGETHER, and things would be fine… except no, nothing EVER was that simple. They got caught (thankfully, not in the act. Enough time had passed for them to recover some composure... and their clothes), and Grif had been beyond embarrassed. That had been like a slap in the face to Simmons; Grif didn’t want to talk about it, or even think about it. It was just a crazy situation, caused by Tucker’s stupid sword, and it was pointless to dwell on it.

Simmons dwelled on it, because his brain couldn’t let things go… and yeah, it had hurt. He’d been rejected before. Many times. He basically expected it whenever he started talking to another person, regardless of who they were. Was he trying to make a friend? Was he trying to impress an authority figure? Was he trying to ask somebody out on a date? Nobody ever wanted him. Which wasn’t exactly fun, but he was used to it. Now Grif didn’t even want him. For a little while after Chorus, Simmons had been terrified that Grif wouldn’t want him at ALL, not even as a friend. The two of them had both been rejects TOGETHER, and somehow that made things OK. Grif was so chill, and Simmons was so up-tight... they cancelled each other out. Or maybe it was more like they complimented each other. They clashed too, oh YES, but no matter how often that clashing happened, they still stayed together. In the after-math of Chorus, that wasn't true anymore. This is what he’d been afraid of, doing something stupid that would ruin their relationship (and just what WAS their relationship, anyway?).

Then they had arrived on Iris, and things had gone back to normal… Simmons didn’t hesitate for one moment to fall back into their old routine of talking, bickering, and joking. That was good, that was safe. That was what he wanted. Except, part of him wanted something else. Part of him wanted to say more when they talked, part of him wanted to get closer, part of him wanted… he wasn’t even sure WHAT. He just wanted, and all that WANT was directed at Grif. Why? You don’t want stuff like that from your friend. Why did Simmons even want Grif at all? What was wrong with him? When Grif had "quit" the group, Simmons internally felt broken. He kept doing what he needed to do, because what other option did he have? Just curl up on the ground in a ball, and die? He felt like doing exactly that... and it wasn't FAIR, it wasn't fair that Grif could just push him away and not care, it wasn't fair that Grif didn't NEED him around the way Simmons needed Grif. Thankfully that hadn't lasted; Grif came back. Simmons should have done something right then, told him him something... just SOMETHING, to make Grif understand... but Simmons still didn't understand it himself. He didn't understand why he felt empty without Grif around...

Well, Simmons had finally figured it out; he had been falling in love with Grif as the years went by (it was so obvious and simple when you said it like that), and he was too much of a dink to see that for what it was. He’d never been in love before, or been able to see an up-close example of what love really was… just second-hand glimpses at other people from an emotional distance. He had never been able to relate to any of it. When Simmons found himself right there in middle of it happening, he had no clue… it was love. Love. When you like somebody, and want somebody, and NEED somebody, and have all kinds of cutesy-thoughts about somebody, and dreams that are on the more mature side of romantic about somebody… there is a fairly good chance that you love them. The evidence added up. Simmons already had one missed opportunity with Grif, he can’t lose him again.

He finds the doors that open up to the large look-out area… and there is Grif. Standing over by the railing, still in his armor. It feels good just SEEING him again. It feels good knowing Grif isn’t far away, out of reach… but Simmons can’t relax yet. He still has to talk to him, and he has to make it good. Because that’s his best friend over there, that’s his favorite person, that’s the man he’s in love with (oh damn, his stomach rolls at that thought, but not in a bad way, he’s just such a bundle of nerves). Simmons has to tell him all that, and make sure Grif knows it is TRUE.

“Grif, hey…” Simmons slows down, and catches his breath, walking up to the railing. “I’ve been… I’ve been looking for you. We need to talk…”

“Yeah, well… I don’t wanna talk to you…” he doesn’t just sound sulky or pouty. Grif sounds downright miserable.

“Grif… c’mon, please… we can always talk to each other,” Simmons is trying not to panic… he can’t stand the idea of NOT being able to talk to Grif, especially when Grif is RIGHT THERE.

“FINE, whatever… you talk. I don’t got nothing to say,”

Simmons was going to ignore the bad grammar for now. Priorities.

“Grif, I… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t understand what you meant when you said you loved me…” he sees Grif shuffle and tense up at the mention of this. “I’m sorry you had to put up with me being so oblivious for such a long time. I’m sorry that when I finally figured it out, I started teasing you… I SWEAR, I wasn’t trying to make fun of you! I was… look, I’ve never actually dated anybody in my whole life. You know that… so I’m just- I’m BAD at this, but I was TRYING to flirt with you. Really!”

Grif turns away from him, muttering.

“Yeah, right…”

“Grif, no! I mean it! I was flirting with you, I just suck at it!” oh, Grif doesn’t believe him. That’s not good… OK, time to get real. “So… I’m just going to tell you how I feel, honestly. Alright? I love you, Grif…”

“No you don’t…”

“Uh, yes I do?”

"You don't,"

"I really DO?"

“NO! No you don’t! Why WOULD you?”

“Why would I… Grif, how could I NOT love you? I like talking to you more than anybody else I’ve ever known in my entire LIFE! You drive me crazy with how annoying you are, but you also make me laugh so much I forget about everything else! When I make YOU laugh, it's like I really accomplished something, because nobody else is as good at it as me! When I’m with you, I feel so stupid, but you also make me feel like I actually matter! Sometimes, I literally can’t stop thinking about you! You take over my head! A big portion of my life practically revolves around you!” Simmons was trying to step closer to him… but he just kept moving away. “Grif, you’re my best friend. You know exactly how irritating and weird I am, and you still want to be around me. I know all your bad habits, and I can’t imagine NOT being with you. No matter how I try to picture what I want in my life, you’re always there. You make me happy, and I want to be the person who makes YOU happy. If I’m not in goddamn love with you, then I don’t know WHAT the hell is going on!”

Simmons took a step toward him, and tried to put a hand on his shoulder. Grif shook him off.

“Grif, I-”

“No! Just stop it! You don’t… you DON’T…”

Simmons refused to give up. Maybe if this was just about Grif not feeling the same way, he could let it go… but that wasn’t what was happening; this was Grif being so used to feeling unwanted, he couldn’t accept the fact that Simmons was truly in love with him. Grif could do whatever he needed to do for himself, he could go ahead and move on if that was what he really wanted… but first, he had to KNOW. He had to know Simmons really MEANT IT. Simmons needs to do something… something direct, something that can’t possible be misinterpreted.

He reaches up and takes off his helmet, setting it down by his feet.

That done, Simmons reaches over and begins to take off Grif’s. At first, Grif doesn’t notice what is happening, then he tries to jump away… but Simmons has his hand on the clasps, and Grif can’t escape. The orange helmet comes off with a few little clicks, and Simmons places it down with his maroon one.

Grif turns his head down, and leans away… like he’s trying to hide his face. Simmons can see that parts of his cheeks are shining in the sunlight; at some point during this conversation, Grif had cried behind his visor. Maybe out of frustration, or simple sadness… but either way, he had cried because of Simmons. This almost makes Simmons lose his nerve, it nearly causes him to choke and freeze-up, but he reminds himself that this is something he WANTS to do, something he NEEDS to do.

“Grif, look at me… look at me…” his voice comes out soft, but certain. Quiet and gentle, but still calm.

Grif hears this, and he can’t NOT listen… because he doesn’t get to hear Simmons sound like that very often. He hears Simmons whine, and squawk, and screech, and babble all the time. He also hears Simmons laugh, and complain, and grumble, and joke a lot. This was different. There was something PLEADING in that tone, and Grif can’t say no. There was also something very CONFIDENT in that tone as well, and Grif can’t ignore it.

He looks up at Simmons, and it feels like too much; Grif has been trying to forget how he feels but now here is this face… Grif sees his eyes, his hair, the way his smile pulls just a little to one side, and it reminds Grif of a million other things. Every conversation they ever had, every time they had a petty argument over nothing, every time they cracked each other up until it felt like they would die, every time they really DID almost die but somehow survived. Grif sees the metal that frames one of his eyes, and part of his jawline… and that reminds Grif of the fact that they match. Grif has patches of skin that came from Simmons, and right now Simmons can see that too. He can see Grif’s face, Grif can see his, and Grif sees so much MORE; Grif sees everything he knows about Simmons, everything he hates about Simmons, everything he LOVES about Simmons, and it feels like too MUCH.

“I love you,” Simmons tells him, that same tone… soft, certain, quiet, gentle, calm… pleading and confident.

It hits Grif right then; Simmons knows exactly what he’s saying… and he means it. Grif’s heart doesn’t just skip a beat; he practically feels it shudder in his chest (and really, this heart came from Simmons, he literally has Simmons’ heart, and it must still be in cahoots with Simmons, because right now this heart is TORTURING him).

Before Grif can think about what to do or say in response, Simmons is tilting his head down. Still holding on to Grif's shoulders, ever-so-slightly pulling him closer. Now Grif can’t see his face anymore… it is too close, just a soft blur… he's blocking out the sun...

Simmons is kissing him.

Simmons had leaned down, until there was no more room between them, and very softly pressed his mouth against Grif’s… except it was a little more than that… Simmons had parted his lips, just slightly, and when they touched, his lips closed around Grif’s. Now Grif was really starting to notice the way this felt, the smooth curve of Simmons' lower lip, the warmth, it was so light and gentle… just barely a kiss, but ABSOLUTELY a kiss. Since when did this nerd know how to kiss? Who told him he could do that? Grif’s breath stalls, and he doesn’t trust himself to let it go… it’ll come out as a choked sob of relief, and that might turn into something else, like a full-on crying fit, so instead he just holds it and shuts his eyes.

After a moment, that both seems like a long time and yet too short, Simmons leans away… now Grif lets himself exhale, and it DOES sound shaky and choked, as if he’s never been kissed before, as if he’s never kissed Simmons before (but Grif himself had insisted that what happened on Chorus didn’t count, it hadn’t been “real”, they should just forget about it… this was entirely different than Chorus; this wasn’t in a dark closet, this was out in broad daylight. They couldn’t blame this on a magical sci-fi alien temple that turned your brain off and turned the rest of you ON. This was deliberate, this was intentional, this was REAL).

Grif blinks, seeing Simmons again; he looks relieved, like he’s finally done something that he NEEDED to do. His eyes are still closed, and Grif can hear him sigh softly… no ragged, strangled gasp from him. Well, that’s not fair. Grif can feel something inside himself, what most people would probably call “butterflies in your stomach”, it was also like static electricity sparking in his gut, and now HE needs to do something, because that kiss had NOT been long enough, he’s been thinking about kissing Simmons in the back of his mind for more than 10 years, and if they can just do this now, if they can just kiss each other, then… then Grif is going to get the most he can out of it.

Grif’s hands come up to grip the edges of Simmons’ armor, roughly pulling him back, the metal on their chests making a clunking noise. He also brings their faces together again, their lips touching again, and REALLY kisses Simmons. Grif can hear him make a startled little hum, but it is a pleasantly surprised noise, and it turns into a sigh of gratitude. Actually... it was in the neighborhood of sounding like a moan. Now that he’s not in a state of shock, Grif can actually kiss Simmons like he means it… and he DOES mean it. He presses his mouth against Simmons', firmly but tenderly, and shows Simmons how kissing works; you nod your head into the movements of your lips, as smoothly as possible, until it feels like you're both floating in the ocean, letting the waves roll you. That's how you kiss somebody... like a wave. The way Simmons responded was warm, welcoming... slowly nodding along, matching what Grif was doing, and it really was like being in the ocean, rising and falling with the waves...

Those butterflies Grif felt before have escaped from his stomach; now he feels that fluttering all over his body, down his legs, through his arms to the tips of his fingers, filling up his head. More than just little sparks of static… Grif has a whole thunderstorm inside him, and he knows what it is; the feeling of wanting somebody, needing them, all kinds of other sappy words… yearning, longing… and finally being able to just HAVE something with them, finally being able to give part of yourself to them, and they want it too… you BOTH want this, you want each other. You HAVE each other.

This was just a little kiss, no big deal… except it was, because it was SIMMONS, and Grif has been talking to him for years, standing next to him for years, thinking about him for years, and he has been holding himself back from doing anything even remotely similar to this. No matter how close they were physically, Grif still made sure there was enough distance between them to be safe, you could still call it “platonic”, no touching except the occasional punch in the arm or a short bro-hug. No matter how close they were emotionally, Grif still made sure not to get too deep about his feelings, never reveal how much he thought about Simmons or how often those thoughts were tinted with something romantic. As close as it was possible to get to somebody… without being TOO close.

Whatever line had been drawn in the proverbial sand to separate them, it had been crossed… and erased. Grif was now so close to Simmons, they were touching. Not just touching, KISSING. Grif was kissing Simmons. Simmons was kissing Grif. After years and years and YEARS, this was actually happening.

When the thunder storm finally seems to be over, when the butterflies finally seem to calm down, Grif eases his mouth away… and hears Simmons make a sound sort of like a quiet, uneven laugh. Not exactly his nervous giggle, and not quite his I’m-so-tired-that-everything-seems-funny chuckle. This sounded a lot more satisfied and breathless… and just a little bit needy, like he wanted more. This was a laugh just for Grif, because Grif had kissed it out of him. He wants to hear that again and again, kiss Simmons again and again.

“I love you, Grif…” Simmons tells him, pressing forehead gently against Grif’s, eyes still shut, his expression one of simple contentment.

“… I love you too, Simmons,” Grif replies, and it occurs to him that he can do that now; reply, say it back, or say it first and then hear the reply. He hears his own voice crack, he can’t help it.

Just a few minutes ago, Grif had been resigned to giving up on Simmons… he couldn’t stand being around the guy anymore. It was too painful. Impossible to be friends with somebody who thinks how you feel is just a big joke, and now Grif couldn’t even ignore it and pretend nothing had changed. EVERYTHING had changed. He hated it, and he was just so DONE dealing with Simmons. No more having conversations that didn’t go anywhere, no more wasting his time pining away like a stupid middle school kid with a crush. He was too old to feel like this. It was time to just move on…

NOW everything had changed again. Simmons had told him he felt the same way. Simmons had kissed him. Simmons was still clinging to him, still nuzzling his face against Grif’s, still being so affectionate… it could just be like this, always. From now on, when they’re standing around, one of them can reach out, and then they can hold each other. When they’re talking, bickering, laughing, they can lean in and kiss each other. They can do all of that… suddenly having all these options is overwhelming Grif, all these possibilities that aren’t just silly little love-sick fantasies anymore, but REALITY.

“Well… that only took us, what? 10, 12 years to figure out?” Simmons softly murmurs.

A laugh escapes Grif, making him shake, and Simmons as well.

“We might be stupid…” Grif leans away just enough to properly look at Simmons.

“Oh, we’re major idiots, no question!” Simmons agrees, opening his eyes, smile spreading across his face. Grif grins back at him, and without knowing it, they both think ‘I love making him smile’.

“You’re supposed to be the SMART one,” Grif tells him.

“Yeah, but I remember what I said? You MAKE me stupid. My braincells are allergic to you,”

That does it, Grif explodes into laughter, and has to bury his face into Simmons’ neck (he suddenly feels like he desperately needs to be right there, right in the little spot where the kevlar under-suit ends and he can see the exposed skin. Grif is lucky he’s already so close, because for a sec, he was practically frantic to get his face to that little spot), where he both hears and feels the vibrations of Simmons laughing right along with him.

“You c-can’t ever do this to me again, man…” Grif tries to catch his breath, and also not move his face away, because he feels pretty good right where he is (he’s gonna have to try cuddling this close to Simmons again sometime, when they don’t have layers of armor in the way. He’s gonna have to cuddle Simmons a LOT). “You can’t make feel like I don’t have a chance, and then give me hope, and then…”

“No, don’t worry. No more miscommunications,” Simmons promises, turning his face just a little bit so it is nestled in Grif’s hair (thinking to himself how nice it is… they just fit together like this, each of them fills up the space for the other. He's going to enjoy holding Grif when they're both wearing something more comfortable, no armor to ruin it). “And I won’t… I won’t keep teasing you anymore-”

“Well, y’know… maybe that’s not so bad after all,” Grif mumbles in a weak attempt to sound nonchalant.

“What? Grif, you were so upset about it! That’s why you were avoiding me!”

“Pfff, dude, that was waaay back-”

“Way back 11 minutes ago?!” it is impossible to take that grumpy tone seriously, because Simmons still has his arms wrapped around Grif’s body, and he still has his face in Grif’s hair.

“Yeah, way back then. That was when I thought you were saying that stuff sarcastically… but now I know you MEANT it. Now I know all those things you told me weren’t insults, they were COMPLIMENTS. You can keep that up, that’s fine with me…”

“Grif- you are so- you’re such an ass-backwards, contrary, son of a-”

“Oh, are you gonna talk dirty to me, too? That’s cool, I can get into that…” Grif feels Simmons squeeze him tighter, and for a few seconds worries if maybe he stepped too far and really made Simmons mad (which would be horrible, they were FINALLY getting somewhere, somewhere GOOD), but then he hears Simmons sputter and feels those vibrations against his face again; Simmons was laughing.

Grif grins against his neck, and waits for the laughter to come to a slow stop.

“Grif, do you remember what I said when I realized how you felt?” Simmons asks him, still out of breath from left-over giggles. “I asked you what you loved about me, right? Like, if you loved my laugh or my eyes? You never answered me… that’s why I started trying to flirt with you. I thought if I said what I loved about YOU, it would make it easier for you to say what you loved about ME,”

“Oh… OK, I can kinda see why you might have thought that would work,” Grif isn’t sure who messed up worse… they both should have known better.

“So?” Simmons asks.

“So… what?”

“SO, I’ve given you PLENTY of compliments…” Simmons prompts him.

“Ah, OK, um… so…” Grif reminds himself that he’s already said the most important thing, this was just the icing on the cake. “Yeah… you asked if I loved your laugh… and I do, but not just that. I really… I love your voice, I love the way you sound, I love the way you talk when you get all excited about something you care about, I love when you get all ticked-off and rant about something you hate, I love how you sound when you’re explaining something even when I don’t understand it, I love your- what’s it called, the way a person pronounces things, the- the something, the speaking rhythm? No, that's not it...”

“My speech pattern?” Simmons offers helpfully.

“YES, your speech pattern, see I love that too, when you know the words for stuff I forget about, and I love when you mess-up words like a dork, it's cute, and yeah I love your speech pattern, that’s why I fall asleep when we talk all night, not because you’re boring, but listening to you calms me down, and… FUCK, I did the thing where I can’t shut up again!” Grif can feel a small pressure on top of his head; he’s pretty sure that’s Simmons kissing him up there, and that makes him realize Simmons might like HIS speech pattern, too.

“Grif, if you think YOU like to hear compliments, you need to remember who the hell I am!” this makes them both laugh again, and it feels so surreal; having a stupid little argument that was really more fun that anything, while also being snuggled tightly together, with Grif basically kissing Simmons’ neck because his mouth kept touching that little area of skin, and Simmons basically kissing Grif through his hair… this was something they’d done a million times, but never like THIS. It starts to sink in with Grif that he CAN just do stuff like compliment Simmons, and call him cute... the guy was VERY susceptible to flattery. In fact, he ate it up.

“… Grif? When we have the chance, do you want to go out on a date? Like, an actual, real date?” Simmons asks him.

“Oh, hell YES I do,” Grif doesn’t even hesitate.

“Good. We’ve got a lot of wasted time to make up for… jeez, we could have been boyfriends years ago, what’s wrong us?” Simmons is resting his cheek on top of Grif’s head, rolling his eyes at how ridiculous this whole journey has been.

“I think we already established the fact that we’re major idiots…” Grif reminds him… then realizes something. “… boyfriends?”

“Yep,” Grif feels Simmons nod his head gently.

“I’m your boyfriend?”

“Yep,”

“Your MY boyfriend?”

“Yep,”

Years of not liking each other, then becoming friends, then accidentally falling in love but not doing anything about it, then Grif trying to finally tell him only for Simmons to miss his point, then feeling like Simmons was going to drift away forever… and a few minutes ago, Grif wanted to get Simmons out of his life. Now they were boyfriends. Just like that, everything had changed. If there WAS some kind of divine creator out there with a plan, they REALLY liked screwing with Grif.

“That sounds pretty good,” Grif admits, finally allowing himself to separate from Simmons (because now he doesn’t feel like he’ll somehow lose Simmons if they aren’t clinging together).

“It really does,” Simmons presses his lips to Grif’s forehead briefly (both of them having internal moments of glee at the realization that they can do that now; share casual little kisses… because they were boyfriends), and then bends his knees to pick up their helmets.

***

While all this was going on, Kai had been inside the building losing her mind.

She was sick and tired of always having to wait on the side-lines while her brother had some emotional break-down… if he had listened to her before when she gave him advice about his love life, all these problems would have been solved. Heck, if Dex actually had the nerve, he would probably be MARRIED to Simmons by now… but nooooo, he had to be so pathetic and ignore his feelings (and ignore the fact that Simmons was OBVIOUSLY just waiting for him to make the first move. Not that Simmons knew that’s what he was waiting for, because he was pathetic too). She was surprised he hadn’t died of dehydration, her bro was so thirsty and refused to take a sip even when there was a tall drink of water RIGHT THERE.

She finally couldn’t take it anymore. She had to go out there and see what was happening. If they were fighting or not talking properly, she was gonna walk up and smack them both!

Kai heads down the hallway, and starts to step out through the doors… but then catches herself.

The two of them are standing out there. She can’t hear what they’re saying, but from the way they’re turning their heads slightly, she can tell they are talking. It seems like a comfortable conversation, whatever it is. The whole scene looks like something typical for the two of them, except… they’re holding hands.

They’re standing out there, together, talking, and holding hands.

Kai has no clue what finally did it, who said what, how it happened, but LOOK!

She quickly steps back inside, letting the doors quietly close. Kai barely takes a few steps away from the door before she has to stop, her knees almost give-out on her, so she just pauses there in the hall for a moment, half-bent over, holds her hands up in triumphant fists, and lets out a long sound of pure happiness-

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

-because her brother was out there holding hands with somebody! Not just anybody, but the specific somebody he’s been madly in love with! She wouldn’t have to kill Simmons after all! Kai leaves, practically skipping back down the hall, letting the two of them have their romantic little moment out there. They deserved it. They deserved each other. They had certainly waited long enough for it.

Ooh, she had to start thinking about fun date-night ideas for them… and ask Donut to help her pick out cute matching outfits for them to wear… and… and… NO, WAIT! She still had to be patient; those dorks out there only JUST got together, and everybody who knows them was bound to freak out about it (Kai hadn’t even been there for the beginning of this long and nonsensical romance, and she was freaking out a little herself). Dex needed some time to enjoy himself in peace. She would wait for them to tell the others (and once Tucker knew, he was probably going to start planning their wedding… if he hasn’t already). THEN she would start giving them dating suggestions~

#red vs blue #rvb #grimmons

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