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m4ggieblue · 3 months ago

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~One More Round~

(Joel miller x male! reader fanfic)

Warnings: !MDNI! Smut, Oral(reader receiving) PinA (reader receiving), praise kink if you squint:“good boy”, multiple orgasms, Joel is obsessed with you

Length: not very long, i dont feel like doing a word count😭

just one more round…

You wake up in the late morning to Joel whispering pleas into your ear, he’s pressed up

Against your bare back, just as he was when he spooned you to sleep. your still too groggy to process it, especially after the wild time you and he had just last night.

“C’mon baby,” you’re able make out between Joel’s kisses to your neck, and nibbling your ear.

You wake up a bit more when you feel his arms snake around you, “just one more round” Joel mutters in a sultry, sleepy tone. He slides his hand underneath your shirt, gliding his thumb back and forth across your left nipple,

You were wide awake by the time you felt his other hand grab your hip and begin to grind your ass into his hardening cock.

“Joel?” You mutter out as you begin to sit up in bed, he chases you, leaving wanton kisses all across your neck and collar bone, “baby- i cant get enough of you…” he says before moving up to your face, locking you in a kiss too intense for 11am.

“We did it like 3 times just last night,” you pant out between hot kisses. “Mmh,” Joel groans, climbing on top of you, slotting himself between your legs. “You’re just too sweet darlin’” he chuckles.

You peer up at him through narrowed eyes, the light of morning gleaning in through the cracked blinds. He’s sliding off his shirt, his chest hair trailing down his torso and beneath the hem of his pants. You may have been tired and sore from his previous pounding but his display was really getting you going.

“You like what you see baby?” Joel says, leaning down to kiss you, you feel a jolt of arousal, his low voice teasing your ears.

“Dammit Joel,” you huff, your breath ragged from making out “just fuck me already.”

“Mmmh, thats what i like to hear.”

Your rest your hands on his broad shoulders

As he undoes your pants and pull them down, admiring your hardening and throbbing cock, he loves to see how he makes you feel.

“But Let me treat you first,” Joel smirks, he figured you deserved it for putting up with him. He begins stripping you of your underwear and pants and flinging them somewhere across the room with the other half of your clothes. He reaches into the nightstand for the lube, half empty from its last usage, spreading some onto his hand before he starts to lazily stroke your dick, not enough friction for you to get the pleasure you long for. You try to buck your hips into his loosely clasped fist but find yourself restrained by his other hand on your pelvis.

“No need to rush sweetheart“ he says gently, “enjoy this moment, its all for you.” You swore you could have cum just from his voice, deep and rich with that slight southern drawl, multiplying his sexiness exponentially. And to have him fawning over you, tenderly stroking your cock, devoting himself to your pleasure. You couldn’t ask for a better partner.

You were moaning and whimpering at his teasing strokes. He chuckled a bit, looking down at your face, all contorted in pleasure. “Keep making those pretty sounds darlin’” Joel tightens his grip and begins to stroke a bit faster. “Hearing your pleasure is all the encouragement i need.”

He then applies a bit of lube to his other hand, tracing circles around your exposed hole, you flinch at the shocking cold of the lube. “Don’t worry baby, nothing we haven’t done before.” He reassures. After he felt he warmed you up enough he slid in his middle finger, immediately finding the familiar spot inside you that made you scream. You squirm and your moans begin to grow more desperate, Joel pins his body to yours and by extension yours to the mattress as he kisses you. You moan into his mouth and he savors your taste as he pleases you.

Your throbbing and red cock is leaking pre-cum like a broken faucet, he uses his fingers to swirl around the tip before giving a few strokes, stopping when he notices you get close, all while poking and prodding your sensitive G-spot, and continues this pattern at various speeds until all you can can do is whimper his name and pleas.

The moment Joel encouraged you to savor was more tantalizing than even he could have imagined. Your body began to tense and tremble as you reach the edge, the edges of your vision going blurry as your eyes fill with tears, threatening to overflow. “Come on baby, cum for me, you deserve it” he encourages.

You cry out a broken moan, almost sob, as you come pouring out over the edge, painting Joel’s hand and both of your bodies with cum. He continues to stroke you until your cock stops spurting, definitely the most you’ve ever came at one time in your life. All while he just watches you with amazement as if he was witnessing an angel descend from Heaven “oh yeahhh, good boy,” Joel moans breathily in amazement

You pant and wipe the sweat off your brow. As soon as you regain your vision and feeling in your lower body after that out-of-body experience of an orgasm you notice Joel just staring at you, palming himself through his jeans, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and all the way down his neck. A near pained expression on his face, he seemed close to cumming himself, just from watching you. “You’re so beautiful darlin’, so perfect,” he pants, planting open mouthed kisses on your neck, dutifully lapping up any of your cum he came in contact with.

“God… that was amazing,” you stammer, still a little hazy, “mmmh, thats great darling. theres more where that came from too.” He grabs your hand and guides it to his throbbing hard erection, “feel that? Thats how you make me feel, only you make me this fuckin’ hard.” He muses, you give him a fee strokes over the thick denim before he shifts you into another position, lifting your legs onto his shoulders. “need to be inside you, okay?”

“Joel,” you moan, as he lines himself up with your needy hole.

“What is it sweetheart?” he asks, leaning in to hear your response

“You’re even better at this sober”

He chuckles, “give me the Performance review after im done fucking you, alright baby?”

“I guess i can do thAHH-“ your response is cut short by Joel pressing his thick cock into your ass. You moaned like it was your first time. And to be fair, every time felt like the first with Joel’s girth. “Fuck, a little warning would be nice” you groan, your ass still recovering from the last time he fucked you until you couldn’t think straight.

“Mmh,” he moans, kissing your neck. “Sorry baby,You know i get so carried away with you.” He continues thrusting slowly into you,. Breathing in your scent like its more precious to him than oxygen, as his pleasure builds so does his speed and force. He moans into the crook of your neck and grasps at your body as if you’re all there is, and right now, to him, you are.

Joel continues his assault on your hole, burying his face in your neck and hooking his arms behind your back, grabbing your shoulders. He rams himself into you so hard you’d get thrown across the bed if he wasn’t holding you down, even the lamp on the night stand was shaking and the bed creaking wildly.

Your pleasure comes out as a scream, and your dick standing at attention, once again beggining to trickle a stream of pre-cum. You claw at Joel’s back, trying to find something to hold onto, something to help you keep your bearings, but it’s useless. Every time you think you’ve come back to reality another battering ram of a thrust batters your hole, leaving the skin of your ass tender and your prostate aching.

Joel barely notices the way you claw across his back, too enthralled in your scent, your feel, your taste, all of you filled his lungs with every breath he stole against your skin and he loved it. “Oh baby,” he whines, his grip on you becoming bruising and his thrusts becoming shallow and rushed, then he starts to pull all the way out with every stroke, tugging the angry red tip of his cock, begging for release. “F-fuck im close.” You whimper as Joel helps himself to you.

“Oh yeah sugar? Me too, squeezin me so tight i cant help it.” he says before sheathing himself inside you once more, he plants a desperate kiss on your mouth, it felt urgent as if he thought he’d never see, never *feel* you again, and it felt like he decided not to take the chance when he gently wrapped his large hand around your throat, applying just enough pressure for you to feel grounded.

“Cum with me,” He moans against your lips. “Be a good boy for me and come all over yourself, all over me.” His lips crash into yours, his tongue easily staking claim of your mouth over your own, even your moans can’t escape as he drinks in all of the pretty sounds he loves to hear you make so much.

As Joel feels the both of you approach your climax he grabs your cock and begins to sloppily stroke, it was wet and messy from the lube from earlier and the cum you splattered all over yourself and he was using it to make the glide up and down your shaft all the smoother.

Your body tingles with a euphoric glow as the man above you works your sex with his hands.

An experienced lover is something you never knew you needed so bad before you had it, frat boys back in college never made you feel this good.

Joel breaks the kiss to hiss an animalistic moan into your ear as he Reaches his peak. Your breath gets caught in your throat as you feel yourself get there too. Joel pounds your ass with a few more brutal thrusts, getting as deep as he can, and on the last one pumping his load into you, you can feel your insides being coated in his hot sticky release, so much of it that it oozes out of of your hole, leaking out around the base of his cock.

No later did you also come tumbling down that peak, covering yourself in your second release, pathetic whines and whimpers escaping your throat. Joel continued softly fucking and stroking your cock through both of your orgasms, trying to prolong that euphoric, warm buzzing feeling for as long as possible.

After a few minutes, the two of you having come back to reality, Joel appears to be dozing off on your chest, his cock softened, but still heavy in your hole, plugging all his cum inside. He was a shower more than a grower after all. “Joel, we should get up and shower theres cum all over us” you say, trying and failing to lift him off of you, Joel responds by wrapping his arms around you and putting even more of his body weight on top of you, making the prospect of your escape seem impossible. “Shhhh, you feel so good sweet heart. So warm and silky.” He mutters blearily “just relax, lets stay like this for a while.”

You don’t have much choice but to comply as he has you pinned. Though the rest would be good for your aching core, Joel really abused it this time around, and you figured some cuddling with your man could never hurt.

#Joel miller x male reader #male reader #joel miller #tlou #pedro pascal #gay

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bltngames · 2 months ago

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I Have Complicated Thoughts About Mother 3

Note: Patreon donors can listen to this article as a podcast narrated by me. Click to learn more.

Confined to a tiny room, I pulled out my off-brand retro portable and loaded up the fan translation of Mother 3. It had been on my list of "important games to play" for literal years at this point, if not more than a decade, and playing Mother 3 was bottle necking a lot of other stuff -- for example, I also wanted to play Undertale, but swore I'd need to finish Mother 3 first, despite being very graciously gifted Undertale only a few months after it came out on PC.

Being something I wanted to play, that obviously meant avoiding spoilers. When the ability was added to places like Twitter or Tumblr to block specific keywords, often the first one I'd block was "Mother 3" alongside the names of a handful of characters I knew like Lucas, Claus, and Kumatora.

I'd played a couple hours of Mother 3 once before, right when the translation patch first came out, so I knew what happened in the opening scenes of the game. I knew what a gut punch it was. It definitely worried me, because as I started the game back up, now in 2021, I silently thought about what it would be like playing a game that starts with your player character's mother dying, as I looked up at my own bed ridden mother.

It was May of 2021 that she developed debilitating back pain. There was an easy enough explanation for that; we had just gone through a hellish (and potentially legally dubious) renovation forced upon us by the corporation that owned our gigantic apartment complex. Due to a scheduling error, we had less than a week to pack up our whole apartment so they could move us out, renovate the unit, and then move us back in. We attributed her back pain to that moving process -- lifting cardboard boxes and such.

But the back pain kept getting worse. They prescribed her stronger and stronger medication for what they claimed was sciatica, but it never seemed to help. After multiple trips to the emergency room, she was finally admitted to the hospital proper, where her femur randomly shattered during a routine procedure. The femur is the longest, strongest bone in your body, and typically only breaks during extremely violent impacts, like car crashes and stuff. For my mother, it broke as nurses were shifting her around to clean her bedding. Tests for bone cancer seemed to come back negative, so the doctors shrugged at us and considered it a freak accident and just the toll of old age.

There was no way she was making it back up the stairs to our apartment any time soon (if ever), so it was decided she'd have to heal from that broken leg at my brother's place, and since my brother and his wife both work day jobs, I volunteered to take care of my Mom while she got better. Hence why I was stuck in this tiny room, booting up Mother 3 in July or August of 2021.

My Mom never got better. It would be eight months before they told us they had somehow missed detecting her cancer, and by then, it had spread so viciously they weren't even sure where it originally started from. By the time they told us this, she had only days left.

Every step of the way in those 8 months, as she insisted over and over she was healing and told me about all the things she wanted to get back to doing, I believed her. But my Mom also taught me to always expect and brace for the worst. So as I watched Mother 3's Claus and Lucas bury their own deceased mom, there was an undeniable heaviness swelling in my heart. A feeling I could not shake. Though I didn't know yet, I knew something wasn't right, even if the doctors continued to shrug as more symptoms mounted. I could see myself in the same shoes as Claus and Lucas, and I didn't like it.

Once upon a time, I loved RPGs. I cut my teeth on Final Fantasy 2 for the SNES. Though to be honest, I don't remember my time with it very fondly. I didn't really understand the genre; I thought "hit points" referred to points on the body you could be struck at. Like, your elbow is a hit point. Your ear is a hit point. So on and so forth. When the game told me a monster like Scarmiliogne had "3,000 Hit Points", I figured that meant he was a giant, and thus had more surface area to strike at. I was not a very bright kid, but in my defense, nobody ever bothered to correct me, either.

The first RPG to really stick out in my head was Earthbound (known in Japan as Mother 2). On the surface, Earthbound felt like a kitschy look at hometown Americana, as filtered through the lens of a Japanese writer. Though Earthbound sort of focused on contemporary America when it came out, to me, it's always carried this vibe of Norman Rockwell by way of The Peanuts gang. Though you chat it up with mohawk wearing punks, visit video arcades, and order pizza over the phone, something about its story feels deliberately retro and nostalgic, even in the mid-90's when it first came out.

Earthbound is about leaving home for the first time, feeling sad about it, and calling your Mom at a payphone to cheer up. It's about taking on huge responsibilities while you're still just a kid swinging a baseball bat. It's about going from your house on a dirt road and traveling all the way up to the big city and beyond. It's about making best friends and bullies, and some of those story elements hit close to home for me. It's about finding an inner strength you didn't know was there, and to keep going, no matter what. It's about music and the secret song that plays in your soul.

Earthbound is a warm, deeply heart-felt game that also happens to feature zombies, bubblegum chewing monkeys, time travel, secret civilizations full of unknown creatures, and a sequence where you beat up an entire police force one cop at a time.

That is not the kind of game Mother 3 is.

I suppose I wasn't really sure what I expected Mother 3 was going to be. All I'd really known was Earthbound, plus the 5 or so hours I'd played of the original NES game, retroactively renamed from "Mother" to "Earthbound Beginnings" in 2015. The retro Americana vibes I felt in Earthbound are even stronger in Beginnings. Though the story of Earthbound Beginnings claims it takes place in the 1980's, the visual identity rings much closer to the 50's or 60's. One of round vintage Cadillacs, greasers with big pompadours, and roaming hippies preaching peace and love.

Mother 3 deliberately obscures when and where it's set, for reasons that will eventually become clear. You better get used to it too, because holding information back is kind of a running theme.

Because if I'm being totally honest, I didn't like Mother 3. And at first, I was struggling to figure out why. Earlier when I said "I loved RPGs", that's because my life changed to a point where I felt like I didn't have room for them anymore. Games with lots of dialog meant they demanded my full, undivided attention. When I was sitting at a TV or a computer, I was often multitasking between multiple forms of output -- I'd be doing work while watching a Youtube video or listening to a podcast, and that slowly began to push out story-driven games like RPGs in favor of lighter, more replayable experiences I could engage with while I also did something else.

The one place that was not true was in the portable space. I didn't have a smartphone for the longest time, so I'd often find myself in a commute or on a lunch break at work with nothing to do but pull out something like my Nintendo DS and crank away at an RPG. I devoured games like Final Fantasy IV, Phantasy Star Zero and Bowser's Inside Story. Even games I did not particularly like, such as Kingdom Hearts re:Coded and Pokemon Pearl ended up getting a lot of play.

At some point that changed, and it changed so gradually I didn't even realize it for the longest time. Over the last ten years I have tried and failed to enjoy portable versions of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, and found neither game to my taste. FF5 felt far too boilerplate in terms of structure and I simply got bored of it halfway in. With FF6, hype had led me to believe it was some kind of life-changing RPG super-classic, and I came away extremely unimpressed with both its story and its pacing.

Both FF5 and FF6 came at a time after I'd finally gotten a few Android devices of my own -- in fact, most of Final Fantasy V was played on a Samsung tablet while I was at work. By now, I was starting to question whether or not having breezy mobile games like Pac-Man 256 was hurting my ability to commit to longer RPGs, even in the last space where it felt like I could sit down and focus on them.

This is sort of what spurred me to start Mother 3 at all: since I was at my brother's place, my desktop computer and most of my video games were on the other side of town. All I had with me was a 12 year old laptop that was only good as a word processor, and a handheld emulation device called an "Anbernic". As the weeks stretched into months, I needed something to do or I was going to go insane. It seemed like no better time to knock something off my bucket list, but now it was starting to feel like strike three with portable RPGs.

My malaise only added fuel to the fire: am I now simply too distractible everywhere? Would I rather be playing simple, quick-hit arcade style games, forever?

It seemed like the perfect scapegoat, too. Maybe the problem wasn't that Final Fantasy VI hasn't aged very well, and more just the fact that my tastes had changed. After all, Final Fantasy VI is deeply beloved and considered one of the best games in the series. Perhaps I was the problem.

But that's not entirely true. The problem with FF6 is that its story simultaneously felt too complex and dead simple at the same time. By now, I was engaging with RPGs where I'd only play them for 20-30 minutes once a week, and I could never remember what was going on because the plot felt like it was over my head. But when a major event would happen, it was always conveyed in this rushed, shallow way. The reason I could never remember what was going on is because nothing ever felt important enough to leave a lasting impact on me.

That was never true with Mother 3. Even though it took me close to three full years to finish it, it wasn't that hard to recall where I'd left off, even if "where I'd left off" was over four months ago.

No, the further I got into Mother 3, the clearer it became that I was not vibing with the story.

Whereas the first two Earthbound games seemed to be deeply mired in warm feelings of childhood nostalgia, Mother 3 is a bitter, angry game about how much growing up sucks. All three games are of children coming of age and taking their first shaky steps into adulthood, but whereas Earthbound wields rose-tinted sweetness, Mother 3 grabs you by the neck and lays out a cold, harsh reality.

You play as Lucas, who has a twin brother named Claus, and a father, a cowboy named Flint. The death of their mother shatters their entire family; both Flint and Claus have emotional breakdowns, the latter of which ends in Claus running away from home and Flint leaving to go find him. Both of them vanish. That leaves you, as Lucas, in the care of your grandfather, Alec.

Unfortunately for Lucas, the accident that killed his mother was only the start of a dangerous chain of events, and he soon finds himself swept up in adventure in the way RPG protagonists generally do. Earthbound set itself apart from typical RPG tropes by getting away from fantastical elements and basing itself in real life (albeit a strange, exaggerated version of it). Places with bicycles, fast food, and ATMs.

Mother 3 generally avoids this. You're introduced to Tazmily Village, an isolated farming community of log cabins and dirt roads, buried deep within the heart of the Sunshine Forest.

It's not really known when or where Mother 3 is set. Compared to Earthbound's attachment to contemporary America, Sunshine Forest and the areas surrounding it feature strange creatures like dragons, and even old, dilapidated castles. And yet Mother 3 also seems to have more in common with the wild-west-era American frontier than it does anything else, but even that isn't quite right.

Tazmily is presented as the ultimate in idyllic life. It's a place where everybody helps everybody, intrinsically, out of the goodness of their own hearts. Poke around at the start of the game and you'll find that though they do have a jail, it's never been used, because nobody has ever committed a crime.

Until one day, a mysterious man named Fassad appears. He's quick to charm the residents of Tazmily, and introduces the village to the concept of money. He also introduces the concept of deception, as in the night, Fassad steals some of that same money, sowing the first seeds of greed and distrust in these simple people. This rapidly transforms Tazmily from a sleepy, easy-going community to a bustling town of paved roads, automobiles, and even, thanks to further gifts from Fassad, technological entertainment delivered by his "Happy Boxes" -- cubes with embedded, glowing screens that emit a hypnotic signal intended to make people feel good (and more willing to spend their newly acquired finances).

As Lucas, you oppose all of this. Fassad is clearly an evil, scheming man, both establishing and sabotaging a structure of financial power for his own gain, and its changing Tazmily for the worse. Since Fassad has arrived, Tazmily has seen an increase in monster attacks, and eventually even freak lightning storms that destroy whole entire buildings -- which coincidentally always belong to people that oppose Fassad.

Funny how that works.

After Lucas and his grandpa Alec accuse Fassad, he uses his foothold with the people of Tazmily to brand you as a traitor. The very people that once treated you like family now curse your name for daring to threaten their modernized way of life. Soon, the first mayor of Tazmily officially disowns you, your grandfather is locked up in the newly built elderly care center, and your house somehow ends up being the next thing obliterated by the mysterious lightning storm.

It's a hell of a first impression. The dominating message Mother 3 sends in its opening chapters is that things used to be better. Back when it was just people helping people, before the days of television, and cars, and roads, and even money. When the only thing that mattered was the sweat on your brow, the food in your stomach, and where the sun was in the sky.

It felt cynical to me. Jaded. Things were different in 2006 when Mother 3 first came out, but it's hard not to read that today as some extension of the tired complaints around having too many devices and too much convenience. Like that meme that simply blames all of society's problems on having a phone. And it's a well Mother 3 goes back to over and over and over again: that Fassad brings the corruption of money, the corruption of technology, and the corruption of modern civilization, turning the residents of Tazmily into rude, vapid, ignorant zombies who have grown complacent with the increasingly bad things happening around them.

And that's not the only thing in the game that can be read as cynical, either. More than once Mother 3 presents us with scenarios where Lucas faces down adult responsibilities and uses this as a way to express something depressing or frustrating as just being the way the world works. Such as early on when Lucas has to enter a factory as a new employee, and we're told about the joys of child labor -- including the hard hours you're expected to work for minimal pay.

Or how about when you receive a fast travel vehicle halfway through the game. Not only will it become permanently unusable if you accidentally allow it to run out of fuel (pretty easy, considering there's no visible fuel gauge), but refueling it incorrectly will cause it to explode, also rendering the vehicle useless. After all, you're just a dumb kid, and complex machines like these are meant to be cared for properly.

Some of this is definitely meant to be more funny than serious or soul crushing, but the whole game has this rough edge to it that wasn't there in the original Earthbound, where Lucas brushes up against some fact of adulthood and it serves as an uncomfortable lesson. I couldn't help but read it as the game imparting something about how much growing up sucks, and how much that's just a part of life. Your parents will die, your neighbors are ignorant, work sucks and you'll probably mess it up anyway. Get over it.

I even got this impression coming from the game's own upgrade systems. Both Lucas and another party member Kumatora can learn PSI abilities, which are basically the game's magic spells. When Lucas or Kumatora gets strong enough to learn a new PSI ability, they break out in an uncontrollable fever, a status effect that limits your ability to do certain things like sprinting. Until that fever breaks, you have to slowly walk everywhere.

It doesn't really add anything to the experience. It doesn't make the game more fun, or more exciting. It's just one of those annoying things you have to put up with, because again, that's life, kid. Sometimes you get sick and you just can't move very fast.

The overall vibe of cynicism gets even worse as you start encountering Mother 3's handful of references to Earthbound. Mother 3 may go out of its way to forge a narrative separate from Earthbound, but there are definitely more than a few scenes referencing special moments from that game, and at least to me, all of them felt extremely pandering. It was as if Mother 3 was beating me over the head, jumping up and down shouting, "It's that thing you remember! Do you remember? Remember Earthbound? Look, we can do that thing too!"

The further you progress in the game, the more these references change from feeling pandering to almost being mocking. It's eventually revealed that the game's true antagonist, and the man giving orders to Fassad, is Porky, the mean little rich kid from Earthbound. Porky has now become a man who seemingly lives in the past, having constructed multiple shrines of mementos from his adventures battling Ness and friends in the previous game. The ultimate version of this is his monument to nostalgia, New Pork City, the final area of Mother 3.

It's effectively one gigantic theme park patterned after the major locales of Earthbound, all focused around celebrating how great Porky was back then, and how great he apparently still is.

And again, it felt unnecessarily angry. Just like how Fassad conquered and spoiled the idyllic village of Tazmily, Porky had taken ownership over Earthbound nostalgia and made it feel dirty. It felt like Mother 3, a game that went out of its way to be so different from Earthbound, sometimes almost shockingly so, was now spitting directly in my face. Porky, the ultimate obnoxious loser who just won't go away, refuses to let go of Earthbound. And you don't want to be like Porky, do you?

It started to feel insulting. Several times over the course of playing Mother 3, I was considering quitting the game and never looking back because it seemed to be going out of its way to twist the knife. Was Mother 3 somehow bitter about Earthbound's legacy?

Again, I had done my absolute best to avoid spoilers. Blocking Mother-related tags on social media was just the first step. In general, when Mother 3 came up in casual conversations I was privy to, I would quietly excuse myself and find somewhere else to be until I was sure they had changed subjects.

There has been a degree of "spoiler culture" discourse in recent years. Some claim it's a marketing tactic. Marvel movies only make you care so much about spoilers because that's how they get butts in seats on opening weekend. I don't know about that -- I've cared about spoilers my entire life, and I know I'm not alone. The pilot episode of the seminal sitcom Seinfeld ends with Jerry trying to avoid spoilers for a Mets baseball game that he recorded. And that was 1989. It's been a valid concern for much longer than any notion of a summer blockbuster movie.

Simply put, surprises are better when they are surprising. That doesn't mean you necessarily have to like surprises, but I think you'd have to be a pretty sad sack to go out of your way to ruin a surprise for someone else. For people who aren't curmudgeons about it, there are few things better in life than a nice surprise. Something unexpected like that could make a person's whole day, if not their whole week.

If modern movie culture has done anything, it's made people unable to keep spoilers to themselves. Blocking social media terms will only get you so far. When an artist posts a piece of fan art or friends share memes and they don't include any text, then there's nothing for the blocking algorithm to detect. And when a conversation starts with spoilers, there's simply no time to avoid the landmine -- which, to be fair, was the final punchline Jerry suffered in the Seinfeld pilot, as his neighbor Kramer blurted out the results of the game before Jerry had a chance to protest.

Many of Mother 3's biggest mysteries were spoiled well in advance of me ever actually playing the game. The biggest one being the reveal of the mastermind behind the game's Pigmask Army, the aforementioned Porky Minch. Mother 3 goes to great lengths to tease this mystery out across its entire 30 hour run time, dropping major hints as you pass the halfway point.

And then Porky, in his Mother 3 form, cameos as an early boss battle in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, one of the ten best selling games on the Nintendo Wii. Thanks to director Masahiro Sakurai, more people know who the final boss of Mother 3 is than have actually played Mother 3 (or, let's be honest, will ever play Mother 3).

This is why I freely mentioned Porky earlier, because if anyone knows anything about Mother 3 at this point, it's that Porky is the primary villain. The same goes for New Pork City, which was a prominent arena in Smash Bros.

In a roundabout way, Smash Bros. was also responsible for the other major Mother 3 spoiler I bore witness to; Mother 3 pixel artwork ended up being used in other Smash Bros. games over the years, including artwork of other characters with secret identities. That hasn't stopped a number of Smash Bros. fans from casually name-dropping the true, unmasked identity of this character online. I may have avoided conversations about Mother 3, but the tendrils of these spoilers extended far beyond its humble borders. Sometimes, you just can't escape it.

This is not me drumming up any sort of "woe is me" sympathy, mind you. But ultimately, it did have an effect on me. In most of Mother 3's cutscenes, I was waiting for the big reveals I knew were coming. Expectation is everything, and when you're watching every cutscene through a microscope, it changes how you see things. There's the old adage about being so focused on one tree that you miss seeing the rest of the forest, but imagine you're so zoomed in you can't even see the one tree, and you're just kind of... stuck there.

I often wondered if my general frustration with Mother 3's aggressive tone was related to the fact I knew some of its biggest late game emotional beats 30 hours in advance.

Would its numerous Earthbound references still feel so patronizing if I didn't know what was coming? Or would all of its cute little surprises and shocking revelations make for a more enjoyable game over the long term?

Maybe the whole thing started off on the wrong foot in general. It's definitely a choice to play a game about characters processing the death of their mother while you yourself are processing the death of your mother. Characters in the game itself get bitter about this, so doesn't it make sense that I would be, too? Again, expectation is everything, and sometimes you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. It could have just been a bad time in my life to experience this story.

And to some degree that's true, because the thing about Mother 3 is that I just didn't get it for the longest time.

Despite a big rant about spoiler culture just now, I can't talk about this without spoiling Mother 3's last big secret, because it turns out to be central to the game's entire theme. However, in my defense, I am giving you a big warning: If you've somehow read this far and still care about preserving the game's final mystery (and parts of the ending to Earthbound, too), this is your signal to turn back now.

Okay. Ready?

So while the people of Tazmily are comfortable and protective of their newly developed suburban lifestyle, past the game's halfway point they all start talking about a far off land: the big city. It's a place where dreams are made, or so they're told. And as Mother 3 starts down its home stretch, Lucas and friends return to find Tazmily deserted. Everyone who's anyone has left for New Pork City.

The reality of New Pork City is a lot more depressing than the dream, but then it always would be. The residents of Tazmily find it more trashy than cool. A lot of the theme park rides are broken, and those that still function are kind of dangerous. There's even open sewer vents leaking noxious gasses. And at the center of it all stands the massive Empire Porky Building.

Lucas and his friends are only allowed into the building when the time is right. Until then, you have to wander around New Pork City and explore.

Those open vents turn out to be an invitation to enter the sewer when Lucas's dog, Boney, becomes lost. Reuniting with Boney leads you to discover a secret entrance to the less glamorous parts of New Pork City, and you find yourself in an old, run down apartment complex. Though the hall is strewn with trash and grime, at the very end you find an apartment belonging to a strange man named Leder.

You initially meet Leder very early in the game. He's an older resident of Tazmily known for being unnaturally tall -- well over four times taller than most characters in the game. And to most people living in Tazmily, Leder is known to never speak. His only job is acting as a human watch tower, armed with a bell to be rung when there is danger.

Leder's apartment in New Pork City is reasonably sized for a single person, with two floors, but for a man of his stature, Leder makes the space look tiny. However, by climbing up to the second floor, Lucas can now finally talk to Leder face to face for the first time. As it turns out, Leder can talk, but by being so tall, most people couldn't hear him. Not that it mattered much, given Leder had taken a vow of silence in order to protect the true origin of Tazmily Village. Given the circumstances, and considering Lucas is old enough now, Leder believes it is finally time to learn the truth.

The truth being that despite Mother 3's outward appearance of taking place in a fantasy land full of dragons and chimera, it is in fact a distant future earth. Or, well... what's left of it.

According to Leder's retelling, after bracing itself for the apocalypse, humanity finally found itself at the end of the world as we know it. Facing mutually assured extinction, a select group of individuals boarded something known as "The White Ship" and traveled to the furthest, most secretive location on earth in order to escape destruction. Once they arrived at this mysterious island, those people used a device to erase the memories of their past lives.

The idea was to start over from scratch, free from the bonds that lead to the destruction of the old world. And so, the simple farming village of Tazmily was born. It is very likely that Lucas is one of the first generation of people born and raised in Tazmily.

For years, Leder not only kept watch over Tazmily Village, but over its people, as well. Entrusted as one of the only people who knew the truth.

Tazmily Village was a success. Its people lived in peace and prosperity, free from greed and power. However, one day, a man named Porky appeared. Porky was not from this world -- not from the old world, and not a part of this new one, either. Using the Phase Distortion machine from the end of Earthbound, Porky had been carving a swath of chaos through all of time and space. Having been defeated and ejected from pretty much every other reality, Porky eventually found himself here: the last, most defenseless place on the timeline.

With nobody around to tell him no, Porky set about treating the island like his own personal playground. He used the Phase Distortion Machine to pull in creatures from alternate dimensions, he used forbidden science to establish an army and build factories. And, once Porky became aware of Tazmily and the truth of "The White Ship", he made it one of his goals to restore their memories and further exploit their desires.

Leder's story recontextualizes all of Mother 3. It's not a game about people being corrupted by modern society; instead, it's a game about people being unable to escape it. That, despite their best efforts to run away from it, forget about it, and start over, who they are still catches up to them. When the residents of Tazmily brand Lucas as a traitor, they aren't doing it drunk on their shiny new toys, it's more that their old habits are re-asserting themselves. Not a people being corrupted, but a people who simply had their existing nature freed. Human beings acting like human beings.

This recontextualizes Porky's role in the story, too. More than being the harbinger of nostalgia, Porky takes advantage of Tazmily's amnesia to rewrite history to his benefit. His shrines to Earthbound memorabilia are less about making us remember what happened in the previous game and more about establishing his version of events, where he can refer to Ness, Paula, Jeff and Poo as his "precious friends" instead of what they actually were: the band of kids that stopped him from bringing about the eradication of the known universe.

Instead of shunning the past, Mother 3 is telling us that not only is running away from our history impossible, but in trying to do so, we open ourselves up to an even worse and easily exploitable weakness where guys like Porky get to catalyze their twisted version of history. Only by moving forward, unafraid, with courage and the full knowledge of where we came from, can we create a truly better world. We cannot bury who we used to be; we must accept and grow beyond it.

There is no stronger denouement to this ideal than the game's very, very end.

All throughout the game, Lucas has dealt with two of Porky's highest ranking officers. The first one being Fassad, who brings commerce and greed to the people of Tazmily. The other one, someone I haven't really mentioned until now, is only known as "The Masked Man." Mother 3 pits The Masked Man against Lucas as sort of a rival -- he's one of the small handful of humans you meet able to use PSI abilities, and most of them are identical to what Lucas can do.

In the lead up to actually meeting Porky in the flesh for the first time, Lucas finally catches up with his dad, Flint. Lucas hasn't seen his father in years, not since the incident after their mother's funeral that broke up their family. And yet Mother 3 treats his reappearance as strangely casual. There's no big, emotional reunion. Flint and Lucas barely even acknowledge it. Flint is just here now, another NPC milling about with the residents of Tazmily.

On the way to the final showdown, Flint will suddenly ask you to stay behind. He plans to face Porky alone.

And this is probably supposed to raise all kinds of strange questions. Could Flint be the Masked Man? After all, if Lucas has PSI abilities, maybe that's a trait that runs in the family. Maybe he inherited it from Flint, and that's why The Masked Man has all the same abilities.

But just one or two rooms later, you find Flint completely laid out. He faced Porky and The Masked Man and came away defeated. It now falls on Lucas and his friends to stop them. Before Lucas leaves, Flint offers one more piece of information for us: The Masked Man, the rival Lucas has faced almost the entire game, is actually his twin brother, Claus.

Once Porky is successfully dealt with, the final battle of Mother 3 comes down to brother versus brother. Claus, the boy who ran from his tragedy, and Lucas, the hero, the boy who became a stronger person by overcoming that tragedy.

That's it. That's everything Mother 3 is trying to say. It doesn't get much clearer than that.

Watching the credits roll, I couldn't help but think back to earlier in the game. There I was, having just arrived in New Pork City, and I was talking to my friends about how it had taken me close to three years to finish Mother 3. I'd only play the game in fits and starts because I didn't really like it, but I was forcing myself through it anyway.

One friend told me, "If you haven't enjoyed the first 25 hours, then it's not like the last five or ten is going to change your mind."

It really cannot be understated how talking to Leder completely rewrote my entire perspective on this game. But then you also have to wonder: how many more people were in the same boat I was and didn't keep going? People who got fed up with feeling like the game was bitter and patronizing and just gave up?

I knew there must have been something special in this game. You have to figure that, given the circumstances (sequel to a 10+ year old RPG, only released in Japan), total lifetime sales figures for Mother 3 are probably under five million copies. Probably under two million, if I'm being honest. That's still in the realm of success, especially for 2006, but Nintendo is also a company that deals in games with 20 million, 40 million, even 60 and 80 million plus sales. Mother 3 is some very small potatoes for them.

Despite such a comparatively modest success, Mother 3's influence feels hard to ignore. From fueling skits on Robot Chicken to Adventure Time and Undertale's whole... everything, Mother 3 (and the wider franchise as a whole) is extremely beloved by many, even if it doesn't do record breaking sales numbers.

And that's before you figure in the whole fan translation angle, too. Everything about Mother 3 screams something that should be niche, and yet it's downright prolific.

It demanded more respect than giving up before seeing the credits roll. If I had quit upon reaching New Pork City, I would have missed this game's whole redemption arc.

I suppose, then, that just makes this the chronicle of a long, difficult, emotional journey. One I originally felt like I needed to do more than I actually wanted to. That in itself is just another one of those many things adults just have to deal with, right? That's in keeping with the themes of the game.

And, ultimately, there is light at the end of this tunnel. I guess it's not really about charging forward with courage, it's more that as long as you hold on to yourself, everything will be okay. Everyone has their tragedies. But closing yourself off from tragedy or running away from it isn't going to fix you. Your love is what will save you.

The love you share with family. The love you share with friends. The love you share with the world.

Love meant Flint never gave up trying to save Claus, even as that same boy tried to kill him.

Love led Kumatora, Duster and Boney to stay with Lucas no matter how strange or frightening things became. Together, they faced deadly mutants, the darkest hallucinations, and even had to contend with the possibility that all human life on their planet might cease to exist.

Love was Lucas never abandoning the people of Tazmily, even as they shunned him.

Love will provide you with a strength beyond anything else in this universe. No matter how much adult life beats you down, love will always be the single greatest and most simple thing we all have. Rich or poor, old or young, love is the power that binds us all. It deserves to be cultivated, protected, and celebrated. Love heals all. Without it, we cease to be human. And believing in love is what takes the most courage.

But only through love can we find the way forward.

#writing #nintendo #HAL Laboratory #gameboy advance #mother 3 #shigisato itoi #shogo sakai #essay

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pedrosdameron · 1 year ago

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Treat You Right || Joel Miller x f!reader

Description: When you and Joel get into an argument, your first instinct is to shut down and cry. Joel shows you how to come back to life in a very sinful way.

Warnings: 18+ Minors DNI! Porn with very little plot, Angst, reader has a bipolar disorder (unspecified), mental health issues talks, mention of medication, reader flinches when he moves once, arguing, hurt/comfort, slight dissociation, established (kind of toxic) relationship, unspecified age gap, unprotected piv (come on, you know the drill), oral m and f receiving, ruined orgasm, multiple orgasms, cumshots, aftercare, comforting!Joel, daddy kink, use of pet names, no use of y/n, reader uses she/her and is afab but has no physical descriptors

Word count: 2.6k

Recommended song(s): Daddy Issues - The Neighbourhood

Crush - Danny Fischer

I Hope You Understand - Del Water Gap

Still Don’t Know My Name - Labrinth

Note(s): Hi everyone!! I'm so nervous to post this. This is my FIRST Joel x reader fic and one of my first rare attempts at second person, first tense so I'm sorry if there are mistakes. I also rarely write smut! I wrote this as a vent piece and I hope you like it or it can help you. Enjoy and follow my main blog: @delliestattoo

The sound of the rain splattering against your living room window is nothing compared to the harshness of his tone. Joel’s yelling at you, finger raised and pointed with that same, sly smirk on his face; he knows what he’s doing, he’s making you weak.

And not in the good way.

You can feel tears threatening to spill over your waterline, fresh and hot and not at all helpful to the situation. You want to speak, you want to scream, you want to yell right back at him; but you find yourself completely mute, barely even able to process the words he’s throwing at you. He doesn’t get like this often - the first time was when you brought up Sarah the first time, and the only other time was when you threatened to leave him; but those times were both understandable now, sole misunderstandings that you had caused.

This time, however, was honestly just stupid. You two had been arguing about where to go for dinner, and he called you indecisive, which your brain translated to immature and here you were.

“J-Joel,” you whisper, though you know he can’t hear you. He’s still shouting, and you know you have to do something. You have to say something. You have to get out of this.

“Joel,” you say again, louder this time, “P-Please -” you stop yourself from continuing, bowing your head with a muffled sigh. You didn’t want to argue anymore, you didn’t want to fight.

You just wanted him to stop yelling at you.

Silently, the tears begin to fall, and it quickly turns to broken sobbing, a hand covering your mouth to try and stay quiet. Quiet - which is what Joel is now, silent and staring at you while you try to compose yourself. You know he’s hating himself for the screaming, but you know you deserve it, and you think deep down he does, too.

“I’m s-sorry,” you manage to stutter, and you glance up at him, and that’s when you notice Joel has gone not only silent, but also still, his face completely changed from the moment before. You’re puzzled for a moment, unsure of how to proceed, when he walks towards you.

On instinct, you flinch.

“Joel-?” It’s more of a question than a statement, because now you’re just confused, though your tense body relaxes underneath his touch, his calloused and rough hands reaching for your shoulders, fingers dragging down your arm, and despite being relaxed, you freeze. You don’t know what he’s doing, and all you can do is look up at him with unsure, teary eyes, as a few tears still fall.

“Oh, baby, -” Joel says then, and you blink, mouth suddenly dry with a sense of something else entirely. Suddenly, you’re not crying anymore.

Everything’s fine. He’s talking to you. He’s looking at you and touching you and he has that sweet, thick southern accent - everything seems okay now; and you know it may only be for a moment, and you know you missed your medication this morning, but it’s okay now.

“Darlin’,” Joel begins, and you know this is about to be good, “Why’s my pretty girl cryin’ like that? Come on now, chin up for me,” he says, and you obey, raising your chin and wiping your tears. You have the sudden urge to call him daddy - the way he’s looking at you, the way he was yelling at you. It fits. It fits so well and so would he.

“That’s my girl,” Joel praises, and you feel your mood shift, already having gone from upset to nonchalant; but now it’s something different, now it’s a yearning you know only the man in front of you can fulfill.

“Joel-” you huff, biting your lip. You don’t know what to say to him to make him understand what you need now.

What if he wasn’t interested? What if he didn’t want you? What if he was just trying to fix what he had started?

“What is it, pretty girl?” he whispers then, and you feel your core burn hot. You want to sit down, but there’s nowhere to go, nowhere but his arms. You feel mute again, silenced, but then Joel rubs your arms again and you’re fully there.

“Need you, daddy,” you mutter, and your pussy throbs with want, with need. You need him to kiss you, to put his mouth on your neck; and you want him to shove you against a wall, throw you around, praise and degrade you at once. He’s staring deep into your eyes, like he’s trying to decide whether he wants to give in, and you open your mouth to say something but…

You’re cut off by movement, his hands falling from your arms down to your hips, and fuck, fuck, you couldn’t take it anymore.

“Goddamnit, Joel,” you curse, though you’re sure he knows you don’t mean anything by it. You grunt, moving backwards, and pull your blouse over the top of your head with ease. The remainder of your clothing consists of your black biker shorts and a black, lace bra that you know damn well Joel wouldn’t be able to take his eyes - or hands - off of.

“Goddamn, you,” Joel grunts back, and just like you thought, his hands are immediately on you, fingers laced underneath the hem of your bra like he wants it off already. You smirk. The tears on your face have dried, and you no longer have bloodshot eyes, no, now they’re full of lust and longing that belongs to Joel and Joel only. “Need me already?” you ask teasingly, and you expect him to laugh, play it off like he usually does, but you’re met with a sudden force, throwing you up against the wall just like you had wanted. “Fuck, Joel,” you can’t help but moan, the force making your panties wet, heart skipping beats and core throbbing with a desperate need. “Joel,” you mutter, as you move to wrap your arms around his neck, “Please.”

He seems to understand what you want by the look on your face and the pleading sound to your begs, hands reaching around to undo your bra strap. You don’t have time for that - you move away from his hands, instead your body presses close against his and you can feel his cock hard in his jeans. “I wanna get you off,” you whisper, leaning close to his ear. Your hand moves down to cup his balls underneath the fabric and you give them a gentle squeeze, a gesture that was almost like asking for permission for you. Joel’s breath had already been heavy but now it had picked up, and his fingers were thumbing over your nipples, and you knew that was an okay.

You drop to your knees, not wasting any time with Joel’s belt. He helps you, and before he seems to know it your mouth is on his cock, lips wrapped tastefully around the tip as you bob your head back. His arm is hovering over your head, his hand pressed against the wall as he resists the urge to thrust his cock into your mouth; you know that’s what he’s thinking, because you’ve talked about it.

And you want him to.

“Come on, daddy, fuck my mouth,” you say, as you pull away for a moment to spit. You take his cock whole, and Joel cries out, hips moving to fuck your mouth. Your eyes roll back in your head, mouth dripping with saliva and pre-cum as he fucks into you. Your panties have to be fucking soaked by now, you’re so needy, you’re grinding down into nothing. There’s no sound in the room except for the wet slapping sounds of Joel’s balls against your cheeks and you don’t mind it one bit, muffled and strangled heavy breaths coming from your end and rough, heavy grunts from Joel’s.

He’s getting close, you can tell by the way he’s breathing now; you’d been together for so long you had gotten accustomed to every sound. “That’s enough,” you say, voice hoarse now, as you pull away from his cock, which still thrusts towards you even after the loss. He’s not saying anything, and you know he’s pissed, but you know that would just make him fuck you better.

“Come on, daddy,” you murmur, your legs moving to stand, “Come fuck me.”

The two of you manage to make it to the bed, but you don’t manage to make it much farther. Joel’s got his hands on you again, and you can see the remorse from earlier reflected in his eyes, but you see way more lust. He throws you down onto the mattress and you let out a soft sigh, body going pliant. This is what you wanted, what you seemed to have needed. You just needed a man to throw you around and fuck you right. Treat you right.

You don’t bother helping him with your pants. He makes quick work of ripping them off of you, revealing your matching black, lace panties, and the sound he makes upon sight of them is comparable to a wolf’s snarl.

“Like what you see?” you ask, smirking as you position yourself for missionary - it was your favorite position, your go-to, and if you were being honest, you needed the honest connection right now. You needed to really feel him make love to you.

“‘Course I do, pretty girl,” Joel confirms, pulling his own shirt over his head. He’s completely naked now, and you feel overdressed. You shimmy your hips. “Take ‘em off me, daddy,” you purr, and Joel can’t resist you, diving for your cunt. You scream and fall back, a laugh falling from your lips as he drags your panties down to your ankles and then off fully. You can’t even take a breath before he’s got his mouth on you - and he’s eating you real good, tongue flicking up and down and swirling around your clit in perfect motions. It’s not often he does this, either; Joel never really seems to enjoy it, but right now he’s all in. You’re left wondering if he’s even breathing while his tongue attacks your pussy. Your back arches and you feel an orgasm approaching, and it’s coming up fast, your breathing now labored and your hips bucking up into his mouth for more, more friction, more anything.

You need his cock. You need it deep, nestled inside of you, holding you together.

“J-Joel,” you pant, a hand reaching down for his hair. You try to pull him off of you, but Joel only presses his face deeper into your cunt, leaving you breathless and out of energy. Your core is burning hot, ready to cum, and you need to. You need to release. You need it so bad.

“Fuck, fuck - gonna cum,” you manage to mutter, pulling at his hair again. Joel’s lips wrap around your clit and he sucks, and you scream, your orgasm rippling through you at the speed of lightning. Joel doesn’t pull away, either; he helps you through it, licking your folds gently as you try and breathe, cunt twitching underneath his tongue. You still want his cock, more than anything now, and you feel tears welling up in your eyes again as he continues to stimulate you.

“Joel… p-please,” you whisper pleadingly, with another tug, “Please.” He pulls away then, looking up at you, and you swear you could see the devil in his eyes, he looked that sinful. His hair was messy, his chin dripping with your juices and lips red and puffy. You almost wanted to grab your phone and snap a photo, but you know he’d kill you.

The both of you take a minute to just breathe. Joel reaches to wipe his mouth before kissing you but you stop him and pull him forward anyways, wanting to taste yourself. “Need you to fuck me,” you whisper against his lips, the sickly sweet taste covering your tongue, “Need it, baby. Need you.”

Joel pulls away, only to look you in the eyes. “Need me that bad, darlin’?”

You nod in desperation. Your eyes are filled with tears. All Joel does is let out a chuckle, and then he pushes you back down into the mattress. “Alright,” he mutters, “be a good girl for me and stay there, alright? Gonna fuck you nice and right,” he says, and you go pliant once again, body completely relaxed on the mattress. Your juices are flowing out of you and soaking the sheets but neither of you seem to care. They can always be washed.

Once you’re fully relaxed and ready, Joel climbs on top of you, and you instantly wrap your arms around him to bring him closer, his cock rubbing against the folds of your cunt. “Fuck,” the both of you say in unison, and then you both laugh a little, too. You’re always glad you can laugh with Joel in moments like these, serious or not.

“That’s my girl,” Joel praises, his breath coming to a halt as he presses his cock into you slowly. The both of you adjust for a moment, and then you’re grabbing at any part of him you can reach. “Fuck me,” you beg, “Please, Joel. Fuck me.”

He obliges quickly, shifting his weight to his hands to begin thrusting his cock into you. It’s a quick pace, balls slapping against your thighs every other second, and you feel so fucking full.

“Feels good,” you moan, “Feels - feels f-full, Joel.”

“Yeah? Fuck, darlin’, takin’ my cock so good,” Joel praises in return, and you feel your core start to heat up again and your heart swell. You’re going to cum again, and you’re probably going to do it quickly.

“Harder,” you huff, fingers digging deep into Joel’s shoulders. He grunts at the pain but says nothing, allowing you to take hold of him. If anything, it spurs him on to fuck you harder. “Harder,” you repeat, throwing your head back, “I’m gonna fuck - I’m gonna fucking cum,” you warn him, moving your hand to reach down and rub at your clit quickly. You swirl your finger around the little sphere and cry out in pleasure, bucking your hips up to meet Joel’s pace. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” you cry, breathing strangled, and Joel didn’t even have his hands on your throat.

“Yeah? Come on, darlin’,” Joel pants, his own orgasm approaching, though his focus remained on you, “Come for me. Come for me, pretty girl. Come on this fucking cock.”

He doesn’t have to say it twice - only once and you’re crying out again, overwhelming pleasure taking over your whole body. You’re trembling underneath him as you cum, fingers digging deep into his shoulder, so hard it could possibly draw blood; and despite the pain, Joel enjoys it, and it floods his own orgasm through him, streams of his seed spurting into your pussy. You can feel him filling you up and it feels better than anything you could ever imagine, and you’re way too dreary now to care there was no condom.

“Did so good,” Joel praises, as he pulls his cock out of you, and you whine at the sudden loss. You find yourself reaching for him, but he’s already shifting to move off of the bed. “Where - where are you going?” you whisper, sadness taking hold of your voice; was he leaving?

“Nowhere, my sweet girl,” Joel whispers then, leaning down to press a kiss to your forehead, “Gonna get a towel, clean you up, ‘n we can lay together. Okay, baby?”

You can feel your eyes closing from exhaustion; between the fight and sex, you were beat. “Okay,” you whisper quietly, “Baby.”

DT: @swiftispunk @gracieispunk @ilyltm @darkroastjoel

#joel miller #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you #joel miller smut #smut #joel miller angst #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x female reader #the last of us #tlou #pedro pascal #troy baker #pedrohub #joel miller x y/n #joel miller fanfiction #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal character fanfiction

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seeingteacupsindragons · 3 months ago

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So I’ve been thinking a lot about mental health and mental illness lately (thanks, new psychiatrist) as I process a new diagnosis and what it means and reframing my image of myself, so I want to talk about some stuff.

So if you know all this already, just. Bear with me, okay, I’m processing a lot right now.

A lot of people on here get annoyed at advice to, like, go for a walk or do yoga or see sunlight or clean things up or meditate or whatever. And I get it, because I also get annoyed at people thinking that will solve my problems. I have had a boss try to get me to do a damn meditation app as if that would solve the work impact my mental illness was having, and it infuriated me.

But, that’s not because it doesn’t solve a problem. It just doesn’t solve the problem I have.

Meditation apps and all that other stuff are basically the mental health equivalent of eating a salad and jogging once a week. Someone who doesn’t do those things, even if they’re not otherwise sick, are not going to be very healthy and are going to feel kind of gross. It’s baseline health care.

But eating a salad isn’t going to cut it if you have a broken leg. You actually need medical care.

(Please go to a doctor if you have a broken leg. Thank you)

Now, if you get the mental health equivalent of a cold—something stressful is going on at work or with your friends, or a lot of small emergencies are popping up at once—you can probably still get by without a doctor. Increase the vegetables, get some soup, rest and sleep a lot. Do some extra mindfulness exercises, take a new yoga class, get a little TLC, clean your room. It will help you feel a lot better, and then the “illness/blip” will pass and you’ll be back to baseline in relatively short order, without needing to see a doctor.

But what if you have mental health bronchitis, or a broken leg? I would compare these to maybe some post-partum mental health issues, or grieving a death of someone, or a divorce, or something like that. You may actually need to see a doctor, get some care, see a therapist and get counseling, maybe briefly stop by on some antidepressants or anti-anxiety meds to help you recover. And then you’ll probably be mostly okay, with maybe some lingering issues and a good strong memory of that time you were Not Okay.

But you weren’t going to get okay without something a lot more than vegetables and cardio.

And then there’s the Chronic Mental Health issues, like many mood disorders or personality disorders, or PTSD/CPTSD, panic disorders, phobias…the lingering things that need serious help and you are very likely in fact to never full recover from, or even partially in some cases. These are where you get type one diabetes or Celiac’s or an amputation, or multiple sclerosis, or any of that. Stuff where you desperately need regular, often daily, medical care and management to stay healthy and functional.

And these ones are going to change your life even with medical care. A diabetic might need a medical device attached to them at all times, they are likely to need to check their blood sugar regularly, they’ll need to think about what they eat and how it will effect them, they’ll need to carry glucose tabs. They might have a medical ID bracelet! And sometimes mistakes might still happen and things go very badly. An amputee might have a prosthetic or might not, but either way it won’t do everything a biological appendage will, and they’ll have to adjust their lives to how to move and pick things up or whatever in a very different way to someone who has that body part. And someone with Celiac’s is just not going to be able to eat gluten. Not matter what medicine they take. It’s not going to happen.

And that’s the thing: even when you’re getting regular medical care and treatment, and you have a plan worked out and you’re used to it, if you have a mood disorder or PTSD or schizophrenia or something…you may very well never quite have a life that looks like someone who only needs yoga and meditation classes. You may always need other accommodations and lifestyle adjustments to function and manage.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. It means things are going to be so different for you that the people who manage with salad and a treadmill are just not going to be able to offer any useful advice to you. Your needs are way too different.

And then there’s getting into a car crash or catching meningitis. Sometimes, shit is just going to happen to people, and they are going to need to be hospitalized and watched very carefully for a while. I would probably categorize a lot of mental breakdowns, like the kinds that are at the onset of many mood or panic disorders, some levels of psychosis, sometimes the death of someone very dear to you—in fact, many of the things that might be broken legs to some might turn out here. Maybe someone else broken their leg with a nice clean fracture, but yours was a complicated shatter of a joint that started healing wrong and also got infected.

And the hospitalization isn’t going to be the end of your care, either. You’ll stay in the hospital until they can get you stable, until you don’t need medical professionals a button press away, until you can be assumed to recover the rest of the way on your own.

But, for people who know people who have come home from the hospital after a surgery or serious illness…it’s far from the end of the road, or even return to a new baseline. You’re going to need a lot of help and rest and recovery even after hospital discharge. Someone will probably have to watch you, might need to help you take your meds, might need to bring you food and drinks, or cook, or do chores.

And people who care should, maybe, understand, and send, “Get well soon,” and “Thinking of you” and flowers, and organize meal trains and otherwise show up for someone who is seriously ill.

Of course, a lot of that would be weird in the Chronic Illness space. But there, I think the understand would be, “Yeah, you know your friend can’t have gluten,” and “Why would you suggest they go for a hike with you when they’re in a wheelchair, you dick?” and “I made you low-sugar treats! I worked super hard on the recipe!” so people around you know that you have different needs and you care enough to accommodate them and make sure they are still cared for…differently.

I don’t think I’m going to edit this before posting.

But I’m thinking about it a lot, and I think I’m going from a place where I though I had a broken leg to realizing the leg was never actually going to heal without a limp, to realizing, in fact, that the leg didn’t break the way I thought it did and I need some physical therapy and a new doctor to get it working and see what happens then.

Maybe this was helpful to someone besides me. But it felt good to get it all into words!

#mental health #mental illness

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https-harlow · 1 year ago

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Fight The Feeling Prologue - Part 12 Breakup Aftermath

Summary- How Jack dealt with your breakup after he cheated on you.

It had been a couple weeks since your breakup with Jack, and even though he’s the one who caused the breakup, he hadn’t been handling it well. With the privacy of your relationship, also came with the keeping your breakup from everyone. Truthfully, you hadn’t been handling it the best either, but Jack also had the guilt of being the reason you broke up. If he hadn’t cheated, you two would still be in a happy relationship.

You still had a couple weeks off, since you were still supposed to be with Jack in L.A, to help you process everything that had happened, between the cheating and the breakup. One of the first things you did when you landed back in Kentucky, was buy several different kinds of ice cream and snacks, and then you didn’t leave your apartment until Madison forced you too, claiming it would be good for you, and ultimately it was, but you weren’t happy about it.

Jack had been snapping at people constantly in the last few weeks, everyone could tell something was wrong, but no one wanted to be the one to ask. Even Urban, who knew why Jack was upset, didn’t want to point it out. Everyone had been walking on eggshells around Jack.

As soon as Jack got done with his interviews and performance on the Today Show, he walked directly to his green room, Urban and Neelam following after him. Jack didn’t acknowledge either of them until he sat down on the couch.

“Can I just have a minute?” Jack asked, his voice cracking as he spoke. Neelam sighed softly, glancing at Urban before she nodded and walked out. Urban stayed and sat down.

“Are you ever going to talk about it?” Urban asked Jack who shook his head.

“No. I’m fine.” Jack said.

“Have you tried to talk to Y/N?” Urban asked.

“I’ve tried. I’ve called and texted her, but she hasn’t answered any of my messages.” Jack said, leaning back on the couch and staring at the celling.

“Just give her some time, it’s not easy for either of you.” Urban said. “Did you break it off with Alexa like you said you were going to?” Urban asked and Jack hesitated. “Really? You haven’t broken it off with her?”

“I mean, I’m single now. If I want to go out and sleep with a bunch of girls, I can. Fuck, if I want to have multiple girlfriends at the same time I can.” Jack said.

“Not if you want to get Y/N back you can’t.” Urban told Jack and Jack sighed.

“I asked for a couple minutes alone.” Jack repeated from earlier.

“Look, I’m just being honest and trying to help you.” Urban told Jack.

“It’s easy for you to say what I should be doing because you’re not the one in this situation and to be honest, I’m fucking tired of hearing your opinion all the time.” Jack snapped at Urban. Jack didn’t mean it, he knew Urban was trying to help him, but Jack didn’t want help. He wanted to figure out this situation on his own. Jack didn’t want to go out and have sex with multiple girls, and he had already broken it off with Alexa right after he was done filming, he just didn’t want anyone to know how much your breakup impacted him, so he was deflecting his emotions.

“Fine. If you don’t want my help, don’t take it, but don’t come to me when she doesn’t take you back.” Urban said before storming out of the room. Urban knew that Jack didn’t mean it, but that didn’t mean that it hurt any less.

Once Jack was alone, he realized he didn’t actually want to be alone. Jack had kept himself busy since your breakup, between filming, tour, and promotional stuff. He was using it as a distraction so that he didn’t have to think about the breakup or you.

Jack tilted his head back, covering his face with his hands as he started to cry. Jack missed you. As stupid as it may have sounded, being in New York without you was hard for him. New York was where you met, where you said you loved each other for the first time, and you had both snuck around the city to see each other countless times.

“Fuck.” Jack muttered underneath his breath, his hands rubbing his eyes. Jack took about 20 minutes to collect himself before he heard a knock on the door.

“Come in.” Jack said, wiping underneath his eyes one more time.

“They said you can leave whenever you’re ready, they don’t need you for anything else.” Neelam told Jack and he nodded.

“Let’s go then, I’m ready to go to the airport.” Jack said, standing up and grabbing his stuff.

“Jack, sit down.” Neelam said, sighing softly.

“I don’t need you to fucking scold me too, let’s just go.” Jack said, starting to walk to the door.

“I’m not going to scold you.” Neelam told Jack before he sighed and sat back down.

“What’s wrong? I can tell you’ve been crying, and you’ve been acting differently recently.” Neelam asked.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Jack said and Neelam gave him a look.

“If you don’t tell me, I’m going to ask Urban because I know he knows.” Neelam said.

“Fine. I have had a girlfriend for the past year and a half, and we broke up. That’s why I’ve been off.” Jack explained.

“Wait, so that’s why you had a sudden interest in trips to the Bahamas.” Neelam said smiling to herself and Jack rolled his eyes again.

“Yes, it was, but we broke up, and no, I don’t want to talk about it.” Jack said and Neelam nodded.

“Well, if you change your mind, I’m willing to listen.” Neelam reassured Jack.

“Yeah, I can promise you I won’t change my mind.” Jack said before they finally walked out of the room.

Jack just got off stage at his first tour stop, and it was the best he felt since your breakup. Unfortunately, that feeling went away as soon as he got to his dressing room, and you weren’t there like you were supposed to be. Before you and Jack broke up, you talked about making your relationship public, or at least not hiding as much, so that you could go on tour with Jack, or visit him are tour stops. Of course, Jack knew you weren’t going to be backstage anymore, but he couldn’t help but wish you were.

Jack sat on the couch in his dressing room, staring at his phone for a few minutes. He sighed before picking it up and finding your contact. He hadn’t let himself change your contact’s name from “My girl” yet. His finger hovered over your number, he knew you weren’t going to answer, but he had to try. Jack pressed the call button before putting the phone on speaker.

Jack listened to the phone ring, and ring, and ring until it went to voicemail. Jack sighed, waiting a few minutes before trying one more time. This time the call went straight to voicemail. Jack grabbed the phone, trying to send you a text but it didn’t go through, you had blocked Jack’s number. Jack had been calling you periodically ever since you left to fly home, but you had never answered, and at this point, you were over Jack’s calls. You didn’t want his apology.

Upon his realization that he was blocked, Jack tossed his phone away from him, not caring if it broke in the process. Urban walked into the room shortly after, Jack didn’t greet Urban like he normally did.

“Everything good?” Urban asked, closing the door behind him.

“She blocked me.” Jack said.

“Y/N?” Urban asked and Jack nodded.

“Yeah. I try to call or text her sometimes, but she never answers and it just rings until it goes to voice mail, I tried to call her twice and the second time it just went straight to voicemail, so I tried to text her, and it didn’t go through, so she blocked me.” Jack said.

“You just need to give her time.” Urban told him.

“I just want to apologize. I know I was stupid for not seeing what Alexa was trying to do. She was trying to break us up, and it worked. I just didn’t think I would want Y/N’s forgiveness, so I continued to hurt her more, but I also didn’t realize how much I don’t feel like myself without her. I don’t expect her to ever forgive me, but I just need her to know that my feelings for her were never fake. I never want her to question if I loved her, just because I was stupid and cheated on her.” Jack explained.

“She knows you loved her; I promise.” Urban reassured Jack. “You will be able to apologize, like I said, you just have to give her time. If she’s not ready to listen to your apology, then she’s not going to believe you.”

“I know, it just feels so weird without her around, I know I did it to myself, but she was one of the only people I could feel like myself around, and it hurts knowing that she’s gone and I’m probably never going to get her back again.” Jack sighed, rubbing his hands over his face.

“If it’s meant to be, you two will find you’re way back to each other.” Urban said and Jack nodded slightly. “Ready to go back to the bus?” Urban asked and Jack nodded again.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Jack sighed, standing up and picking his phone off the ground before grabbing the rest of his things. Him and the rest of his team making their way to the bus.

Jack didn’t feel like himself without you and little did he know, he wouldn’t truly feel like himself again, until January, when you kissed him for the first time since before you broke up.

Tag list @jackharloww @harlowcomehome @nattinatalia @hoodharlow @itsyagirljaz @heavyhitterheaux @harlowsbby @awhore4moree @harlowslefttoe @twerkforambrose @jackmans-poison @ilovenudy @taniapri @killatravtramp @easternparkway @macey234 @toocriticalharlow @lightsoutstyles @rachxc13 @iknowdatsrightbih @idktbh101 @blossomluvv

#jack harlow #jack harlow imagine #jack harlow x reader

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thelastspeecher · 11 months ago

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Stanuary '24 - Week One: Lost & Home

I'm too tired from recovering from COVID to provide any sort of introduction, but to be honest, I don't think this needs one. Except, uh, aliens.

Alien stuff is involved here.

Enjoy.

———————————————————————————————————–

Alien words breached the haze of pain surrounding Stan. A few, he could recognize.

“…poison…human…poach…” Shame uncurled in the fiery pit that was Stan’s stomach. He hated being identified as a pathetic poaching victim.

“I’m sure you have a good reason for paging me when I’m not on call,” a voice snapped in English. His eyelids felt like they were made of lead, but Stan forced himself to open them. It didn’t help. Both the figure speaking an alien language and the one speaking English were too blurry to make out. His eyes slid shut again.

“…human…death…”

“What caused him to reach this state?”

“…poison…”

“Do we know what kind of poison?” A stethoscope, ice-cold against Stan’s burning skin, rested on his chest, accompanied by a similarly cold hand. A similarly cold six-fingered hand. Stan couldn’t understand the response to the English speaker’s question, but whatever it was clearly wasn’t good. “Shit.” The blessedly cold hand and stethoscope left. “We need to act fast if we want to save his liver and kidneys.” The cold hand was back, this time resting on Stan’s shoulder. Stan cracked open his eyes weakly.

The English speaker’s face was mere inches from his. And familiar.

“Stanley,” the familiar face said, “I need you to fight.”

Blackness filled Stan’s vision. The voice faded away.

-----

“For now, we will keep the saline ratio the same. I may switch him to a high-nutrient high-caloric solution once he tells me more information about his diet.”

“…weak…food…”

“I have no doubts I’ll need to contact the dietician for a consult, given his state. Please send her a message for me.” Footsteps sounded. There was the soft swish of one of the spaceship doors that Stan had become used to. “I know you’re awake, Stanley.” Stan opened his eyes. He was laying on a massive hospital bed in a softly lit, mostly white hospital room. Multiple monitors were hooked up to him, keeping track of his vitals. There was even what looked like an IV bag filled with a light pink fluid. Stan turned on his side to see the English speaker from before. He had been right. Somehow, it was his twin.

Ford stood at a tall desk by the closed door of the hospital room, wearing a lavender doctor’s coat. He had his back to Stan, typing something on a keyboard paired to a hologram screen. His curly brown hair stretched past his shoulders, tied in a business-like ponytail.

“How’d you know I woke up?” Stan croaked. He immediately regretted speaking. Not only was his throat raw, but his voice was broken and faint.

“You stopped snoring,” Ford replied. He cleared his throat. “I realize that you likely have many questions for me.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Stan spat.

“They will have to wait. You’re going to be drifting in and out of consciousness while your body processes the poison you ingested and the antidote we gave you. I need to utilize your brief waking moments to find out how you wound up in this state.”

“Why are your questions more important than mine?” Stan snapped. The words slurred together.

“In case you haven’t realized,” Ford said in a barely controlled tone, “I’m your doctor right now. I need to be able to treat you.”

“I bet Mom’s real proud you’re an alien doctor.” Stan’s slurring was getting worse. Ford took a deep breath.

“How long have you been on this planet?” he asked.

“Uh. Dunno. Coupla weeks, maybe?”

“Then your poacher didn’t dump you after accidentally giving you something poisonous.” Stan felt his chest tighten. “I thought it was unlikely. Humans are too valuable to risk poisoning, particularly given that most poachers know our bodies are more sensitive than average.”

“You know I was- I was-”

“Yes,” Ford said softly. “My staff had to remove your poaching cuff.” Stan looked at his left wrist. Just like the rest of him, it was thin and pale, but where the cuff had been, there was a distinct ring of hairless, scarred skin.

Holy shit. I’m- I’m free. I’m actually free.

“How did you get poisoned?” Ford asked.

“I swiped some blue hot dog looking thing from a street cart,” Stan muttered. Ford glanced over at him, eyes wide behind glasses that looked identical to the ones he’d had in high school. “I got sick of living off nutrient pills, sue me!” Stan looked away. “Just my luck that the first real food I try in months poisons me.”

“…Months?” At Ford’s concerned tone, Stan looked at him again. Ford quickly went back to typing before Stan could see his expression.

“I’m guessing. It’s difficult to tell how much time goes by when you’re in the smuggler’s bay of a poaching ship.”

“What date was your last day on Earth?” Ford asked.

“Uh. May something.”

“You’ve been off-planet for roughly eight months, then,” Ford said in a tight voice. “During that time, you’ve only consumed human-rated nutrient pills?”

“Yeah,” Stan mumbled. Ford paused his typing. “What?”

“Those aren’t meant to be one’s sole diet for more than a few weeks.” Ford resumed typing, more quickly than before. “We’ll need to ease you back into regular food. Am I correct that you were unable to keep down most of the street food you consumed?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I chucked just about all of it back up pretty quick.”

“That would explain why you aren’t dead. I know of the dish that you ate. It’s high in arsenic and ricin. The fact you were no longer used to eating food saved your life.” Ford shook his head. “I’ll definitely be changing the IV solution for you…”

“No need.” Stan sat up and swung his legs over the side of the exceedingly large hospital bed. The movement made his head swim, but he ignored it. “I’m outta here. You don’t have to take care of me. I can take care of myself.” Ford sighed. He pressed a button on his keyboard. The hologram screen went away.

“No. You can’t. You’ll need to be hospitalized for at least a week.”

“Bullshit,” Stan scoffed. Ford walked over, revealing that under his doctor’s coat, he was wearing one of the plain futuristic jumpsuits that were the fashion on the planet. Seemingly without any effort at all, he pushed Stan back onto the hospital bed. “How did you-”

“You just survived a severe poisoning after living on nutrient pills for eight months,” Ford scolded. Stan scowled at him. “You’re weaker than you’ve ever been in your entire life right now.” Stan felt his eyelids growing heavy. “Get your rest. When you next wake up, I’ll have more questions for you to answer.” Stan’s eyes slid shut.

“Great,” he managed, just before darkness took over again.

-----

A small hand slid into Stan’s. Stan cracked open an eye. His right arm was dangling over the edge of the hospital bed, which a very short alien had apparently decided was an invitation to hold his hand. The alien had periwinkle blue skin, long carnation pink hair tied in a braid, and eyes that were way too human.

I’ve been on this planet for a while now. Stan stared at the wide, light blue eyes inches from his. The people that live here don’t have eyes like that. The small alien let out a soft whimper.

“Unca For?” the alien said hesitantly. A smile broke across Stan’s face.

It’s just some cute kid. Unable to help himself, Stan ruffled the alien child’s hair.

“Nah. I’m not your Unca For. He’s over there.” Stan nodded at Ford, who was standing by the door, talking to two adult aliens, one male and one female. Judging by the aliens’ appearances, the child holding Stan’s hand was theirs.

“Lee, no, you can’t bother my patients,” Ford said, finally noticing what was going on. The child, Lee, looked over at him.

“Unca For?”

“Yes, Lee, that is me.” Ford crouched down. Lee let go of Stan’s hand and ran into Ford’s arms. Ford picked the child up and stood. “I apologize that he woke you up, Stanley. He hasn’t spent time around many humans, so he must have mistaken you for me.”

“To be fair, Max thought you were the one in the bed at first,” remarked the female alien. She had the same skin tone and long narrow nose as Lee, but her hair was a bright magenta.

“They look the same,” muttered the male alien, apparently named Max. He had pink skin to match his light pink hair, the latter of which Lee appeared to have inherited from him. Stan squinted.

“Why do two of you three have regular human names?”

“I provided them with human nicknames because human vocal cords cannot pronounce their proper names,” Ford replied.

“All three of them have human names?”

“Nicknames,” Ford corrected. “But yes.” He nodded at the female alien. “This is my sister-in-law, Angie, and her husband, Max. Lee is their son.”

“You’ve got in-laws on this planet?” Stan asked. Ford was silent. “Fine. Clam up. Like I give a shit.” Ford sighed. He turned to Max and Angie.

“Please let Fiddleford know I’ll be along shortly. I need to talk to Stan before he falls unconscious again.”

“Of course,” Angie said politely. Max took Lee from Ford. The aliens left the room.

“You’ve got more questions for me?” Stan grumbled.

“No, not really. But I need to let you know your treatment plan.”

“So you’re not gonna tell me how you wound up being a fucking alien doctor?”

“Not right now, no. Fulfilling my responsibilities as a physician is more important,” Ford said firmly. Stan rolled his eyes. Ford pulled up the hologram screen from before. Stan squinted at the writing on it. While he’d been able to pick up some words here and there in various alien languages over the last eight months, he had no idea how to read any of them.

Ford better not be planning on giving me a piece of paper with instructions in Alienese or whatever.

“I’ll be providing you with a printed copy in English,” Ford said, as though reading Stan’s mind. “For now, I’ll just read it off to you.” Ford cleared his throat. “You’re going to undergo a course of antidotes to properly flush the poisons from your system. Simultaneously, you’ll be given an intravenous source of nutrients and calories, as you’ve clearly lost a significant amount of both weight and muscle.” Stan felt himself flush in embarrassment. He hated what the nutrient pill diet had done to his strong arms and cushioned belly. “Tomorrow, we will begin the process of easing you back into eating actual food. We’ll do it slowly and gradually so that you can eat normally by the time you are discharged.”

“Great,” Stan muttered. “And the second I leave, I’m just gonna eat a new poisonous thing and wind up right back here.”

“No, you won’t.” Ford closed his eyes. “Once you’re discharged, you’ll be staying with me.”

“Like hell I will!” Stan snapped. He sat up straight. The motion made his stomach churn. Ford opened his eyes.

“I’m not happy about it either,” Ford said, sounding frustrated. “But you are my patient. As your doctor, I need to make sure you become healthy again. You will not be properly healthy until quite some time after you are discharged from your hospital stay.”

“I’m not gonna-”

“Look,” Ford interrupted. He took a steadying breath. “Neither of us want this. However, I must follow my duties as a physician. And you are too physically weak to resist.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“A temporary truce,” Ford said. “Once you are back to normal, we can part ways. But until then, you unfortunately remain with me, under my care.”

“The second your big doctor brain thinks I’m good to go, I’m leaving,” Stan snarled. Ford held up his hands.

“I’m perfectly fine with that.”

“Good!” Stan laid back in bed, rubbing his eyes. A sudden wave of exhaustion had just washed over him. The circular door slid down with a gentle swishing sound. Stan and Ford looked over. A tall pink alien with blood orange hair and the same nose as Angie and Lee stuck his head into the room.

“Oh, good!” the alien said cheerfully. “He’s still awake!”

“Not for long,” Stan mumbled. He frowned at the alien. “Who are you?”

“Just a feller what wanted to meet his brother-in-law,” the alien drawled. Stan’s eyes widened. He stared at Ford. Ford turned red.

“Yes, Stanley, this- this is-” Ford stammered. He swallowed. “This is my husband, Fiddleford.”

“Huh.” The jolt of adrenaline had faded, and Stan was weary again. He yawned. “I shoulda known…you would marry an alien or Bigfoot or…or whatever…” Stan’s eyes drifted shut. The last thing he heard before he fell asleep was from his newfound brother-in-law.

“I s’ppose I’ll have to bring the children to meet him later then.”

-----

“I can walk,” Stan snapped at the alien nurse trying to help him into a hover chair. After over a week in the hospital, he was finally free to go. And not a moment too soon for his cabin fever. Ford, who was watching nearby, crossed his arms with a scowl.

“Don’t take that tone with my staff. You need to be discharged in a hover chair. You won’t be able to make it to the car on your own.”

“The physical therapist gave me a cane-”

“For short distances,” Ford interjected. “This hospital is the largest on the planet.”

“…Fine,” Stan muttered. He reluctantly sat in the hover chair.

“Don’t worry about escorting him out,” Ford said to the nurse. He glared at Stan. “He’s being rather difficult right now. I think it’s best if I handle it from here.” Stan flipped the bird at him. “How delightfully immature of you.” Ford took hold of the handles on the hover chair. “You need to be on your best behavior while at my home. Fiddleford is still recovering from the birth of Tate and Tesla.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m not gonna be difficult when there are newborns around,” Stan muttered. “I know better than that.”

“Tate and Tesla are not our only children.”

“They aren’t?”

“No. We also have an adopted son, Proteus.” Ford pushed the hover chair up to the door of the hospital room, but paused. “I should probably warn you about his species.”

“I’m not a racist.”

“He belongs to the same species as the person who poached you,” Ford said quietly. Stan’s heart began to race. “The authorities were able to identify your poacher based upon the poaching cuff. Apparently, he is a rather notorious poacher who uses his shapeshifting abilities to lure prey.”

“Yeah. I remember,” Stan said darkly.

“Given his reputation, I am not only relieved you escaped, but impressed.”

“It wasn’t that tough. I just slipped off when he wasn’t looking and stowed away on the first ship I found.”

“Not many have gotten away from him and lived to tell the tale.” The hospital room door opened. Ford began to push Stan through the halls of the hospital. They made the trip to the patient pickup/dropoff area in silence, Stan steadfastly avoiding making eye contact with any reflective surfaces. It was a moot point, however. Once they were outside, Stan couldn’t refuse to look at himself anymore. The hospital, like all buildings on the planet, was constructed of a mirror-like material on the outside. Stan cringed at the sight of his reflection.

Not a lot of people have lived after getting away from the guy that poached me. Now that Stan had been faced with his reflection, he couldn’t help but stare. His cheeks were gaunt, his body scrawny and bony, his skin pale from lack of sunlight. His hair, which had grown long enough to stretch halfway down his back, hung limp and lifeless. Stan clenched the cane the physical therapist had given him. But is this living?

“Ah,” Ford said, breaking Stan free from spiraling. Stan looked up. A hover car had come to a stop in front of them. “This is our ride, Stanley.” The back door of the hover car opened. Ford reached for Stan to help him up, but Stan slapped his hand away.

“I can handle it,” he grumbled. Ford stood back. Stan got to his feet and hobbled over to the hover car. When he got inside, there was a soft chime. A seatbelt quickly buckled itself around him. The door closed with another soft chime. The driver of the car, Fiddleford, looked over his shoulder.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Fiddleford said cheerfully. “It’s still on the child settings fer Proteus.” Stan wasn’t sure why Ford’s husband spoke English with a southern accent, when every other alien he’d met spoke English like Ford.

Not that I’m complaining. It’s nice to hear someone that doesn’t sound just like my damn twin.

“Where is Proteus?” Ford asked, getting into the passenger seat.

“I dropped the kids off with Angie and Max. I thought it best if Stanley came home to some quiet. At least fer him to settle in.”

“Home,” Stan scoffed quietly. Fiddleford looked back at him. “I haven’t had a home in ages.”

“We’re fam’ly, so our home is yours,” Fiddleford said firmly. He looked at Ford. “Right, darlin’?” A series of complicated emotions crossed Ford’s face too quickly for Stan to interpret. Ford eventually settled on something decidedly neutral.

“…Yes. Our home is your home, Stanley.” Ford and Fiddleford turned to face the front. The hover car took off. Stan looked out the window at the alien buildings passing by.

I don’t know what this is, but it isn’t home. He glanced at Ford, who seemed more comfortable than ever in his skin. At least, it isn’t mine.

#Stanuary #Gravity Falls #Stanley Pines #Stanford Pines #Purposeful Abduction AU #Accidental Abduction AU #ficlet #my writing #my stuff #speecher speaks

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justinspoliticalcorner · 2 months ago

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Erum Salam at The Guardian:

Hundreds of US students returning to college this fall will be focused on navigating academic suspensions and criminal charges instead of choosing their classes and decorating dorm rooms, following last semester’s Gaza solidarity encampment protests that swept campuses. More than 3,000 students were arrested when tent protests and occupations from coast to coast, at public and private universities, were broken up by police. Many still face consequences from both their universities and the legal system. Craig Birckhead-Morton, a recent Yale graduate and incoming Columbia graduate student, has been traveling between his new home in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut, to face criminal proceedings in superior court. “I was able to get through the whole disciplinary process all right, so there are no disciplinary charges left or anything in terms of academic [punishments]. It’s just the legal charges, which we’re still having an issue with,” Birckhead-Morton, 21, said of fellow students and himself.

Months of US protests, since the 7 October Hamas-led attack on southern Israel and Israel’s devastating and ongoing retaliation in Gaza, evolved into spring encampments when Columbia University students pitched tents on the Ivy League school’s main lawn in New York City and then occupied a building. This action and many others were met with police crackdowns, some violent, against scenes of campus dissent not seen since the Vietnam war. Meanwhile, some university administrations have taken additional steps to handle the volume of disciplinary cases, such as hiring outside consultants and implementing new policies in an attempt to prevent protests of the same scale.

Despite this, activists are planning a fresh wave of pro-Palestinian protests at US colleges this fall. Action is expected to be boosted by “summer school” online lessons over the break, created by student protest leaders to offer education and training on how to organize, with the aim of creating a more unified and better-prepared mass demonstration movement. Birckhead-Morton said he remained determined to keep advocating for divestment. “Obviously we want the charges to go away, but our movement, our organizing, our action around this issue isn’t going to go away, and we’re going to keep pushing against these institutions,” he said. Columbia students who declined to share their names publicly, for fear of doxxing and retaliation, said that while their charges had been dropped by Manhattan prosecutors, they were still dealing with university administration disciplinary proceedings.

One student said she was being investigated by Grand River Solutions, a third-party higher education consultancy group based in Saratoga, California, brought in to conduct investigatory interviews via Zoom with protesters. “We’re in limbo for the most part. The university has chosen to waste time and money this summer doubling down on their efforts to be a world-renowned ‘cop university’,” she said, referring to multiple instances of New York police being called on to campus and arresting students en masse. Grand River Solutions did not respond to a request for comment. A list of punitive actions Columbia’s leadership took under Minouche Shafik, the recently departed president, against student protesters, shared by the university with the congressional education and workforce committee in the Republican-controlled House, has been made public. It reveals that most student protesters are currently listed as being in good standing with their institutions, meaning they can continue their educations, even though they may have received disciplinary probations or suspensions. Many investigations are ongoing.

College students across the US that were arrested in protests against the Gaza Genocide last school year are facing academic and legal woes. Pro-Palestine college protests are expected to resume in the fall with students returning.

#Campus Protests #Gaza Genocide #Israel/Hamas War #Israel/Palestine Conflict #Israel #Palestine #College

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slayingfiction · 2 years ago

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Types Of Professional Editing

There are many ways to edit your work. The editing process itself is most often broken down into 5 major categories, give or take. The 5 steps are like building a house! This is a brief description of each, and I will then make separate posts to further develop on each topic, so stay tuned and follow along!

Step 1: Developmental Editing (AKA conceptual editing)

This stage of editing is early in the writing process. The editor helps you plan and plot your story and gives you ideas to help organize your story so that it flows well. They tell you what’s working and what’s not. They do not write or rewrite anything, but are simply there to help you strategize and plan to avoid plot holes, work on pacing and help you create a story that everyone will love. This is the house building part of designing the house layout, pouring foundation and putting up the whole house! It’s a big job. (I wrote that in Mario’s voice)

Step 2: Structural Editing (AKA content or substantive editing)

Much like developmental editing, this stage of the process is all about big picture in a more specific way. Here the editor will work through chapters, paragraphs and go through your whole story in a detailed way to find errors in continuity, plot holes, incomplete sections and smooth out the story, working on tone, voice and your target audience. They may move lines or paragraphs around to help with flow. This is the house moving part where you are looking at every room, finding which room you want dedicated to what, and you start moving your larger items into the house like beds, TVs, tables, etc.

Step 3: Stylistic Editing (AKA line or comprehensive editing)

This step is much more in depth. The focus is on the flow and impact of every word in every sentence. The editor moves line by line, eliminating jargon and cliches, unclear sentence structures and using clear and precise words when it helps the story. You’re now getting reading to move into the house. You’re picking the perfect wall colour to match your sheets and the decor you have packed up in bins and picking the perfect spot for the rest of the your furniture.

Steps 4: Copy Editing

This step is very straight forward and should only be done once the book is completely finished. This is all about grammatical errors, punctuation and spelling. I promise you, you can’t get all of these on your own. Even professional editors may only be able to catch up to 90% of mistakes. Spelling and grammar mistakes can be hard to spot, but even just having a few in your book can make people put your story down and never pick it up again. You’re putting all your stuff away. Clothes go in the correct drawers, spices get lined up in the pantry, your cutlery is getting separated into their own groups and you’re organizing your books on the shelf.

Step 5: Proofreading

The final step! This is all finishing touches, going over everything for any lasting mistakes. This step is usually done after formatting and typesetting to make sure everything flows properly and nothing is missing before being send to print or publish. Finally settling into the house :) You’re putting up a couple paintings, fixing the scratches and scrapes that happened while moving in, and setting fresh flowers into a vase in the kitchen. You can finally relax and maybe even invite people over to see it.

Some people don’t get an editor, while others may have multiple. It’s best practice to have multiple to look over it, and that’s typically what happens at traditional publishing houses. LOL it’s so expensive though, so do what you can. Are there any of these that you feel you’ve got handled by yourself? Are there any of these that make you dread editing your future book?

Did you know I currently offer services for steps 1 and 5? Send me a message if you have any questions :)

Keep an eye out for a more in depth description and explanation of each one separately!

Happy Writing and Happy World Book Day!

#creative writing #book edit #editing #proofreading #development #everyone needs help #fiction #writing #writers #writing process #novel writing #story plot #writing community #writers of tumblr

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superfanficnatural · 7 months ago

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The Son: Chapter 2

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Male!Reader (The Son)

Summary: You’ve finally broken free of the forces controlling you at a great cost, though the cost of doing so was even greater than you thought. Now, you fight for the antithesis of what you had been representing, and have to grapple with finding your own place in the galaxy while grappling with the person trying to find their way into your heart. Will The Son choose the light? Or the dark? Whatever the answer may be, may the force be with us.

A/N: As you guys might have put together by now, this series is gonna be a long haul! Well kinda but not really, slow burn for sure, sorry about it but I promise you’ll love it. As always, I hope you enjoy!

Warnings: None

Word Count: 2,953

Italics are your thoughts

Masterpost

“It’s time to get up, my son.”

You woke to the sounds of birds chirping, your hand coming up to shield your eyes from the sun peeking into the grand room where you sat. Looking around, you noticed that the room had become somewhat vegetated with multiple birds having nests on the pillars.

“I wonder how long I have been gone for,” you mumbled to yourself as you got up.

Your entire body was slightly sore even through the force protection so you assumed you had been gone for quite a while. Spending a few minutes stretching, you felt much more limber and decided to walk outside, coming into view of the cargo containers Anakin had brought you.

“Right, a ship,” you reminded yourself.

Reaching out, you opened each container and raised the parts out of them and into the air. You had made a scan of Anakin’s ship when you had brought him back to it with the force and by doing so, understood each of its parts and how each of them connected, what their purpose was, everything. You hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but thinking about it now, you realized just how powerful your control was over the force, how natural it felt. Once again, my father amazes me. You commanded the force, build me a perfect ship. Your connection with the force was so deep it was nearly as if you were commanding your own subconscious, telling it, or rather the force, to use your knowledge to the fullest, know your desire to the capacity, and carry it out to the fullest extent.

The rather large pieces began to float towards each other, thousands of smaller pieces coming to support their melodic sway. As they began to assemble, you understood what was happening, the process, the connections, the purpose, as if they were pieces of your own body. Piece by piece, the ship began to truly assemble, a perfect craft in your mental image, utilizing every single part. Soon, you had a completely assembled ship floating above your head, though, there were still a few dozen pieces left that you were unfamiliar with. Choosing to put those aside for now, you floated them through the ship into a closet room you already understood you had designed. Looking back down, you sifted the containers aside and planted the ship.

You gave it a once over with a solid nod, appreciating its beauty and capacity. It was a mid-size ship, with a bridge at the front with a gunner position right below, gunner position on the rear with another up top. The gunner position in the front was equipped with blaster and ion cannons, the rear supporting with blaster and concussive mines, the top gunner position being a turbolaser. You could also tell from the underbelly that there was a tractor beam as well, docking stations on both sides, with a small magnet area for cargo. You hadn’t seen many ships other than Anakin’s, but this one seemed to be quite capable. You wondered where he had gotten such weaponry but chose not to focus on the past.

As you walked up to the ramp, it opened immediately as you got closer, as if it could sense that you were approaching. Reaching the ramp, you entered the ship to be met with a clear silver and gray finish on the walls and floors, all of the parts so perfect as if they were brand new giving the ship a shiny look. As you entered, you found the navigation of the ship to be quite efficient and simple, hallways with markers identifying where which room is on the walls, a few bedrooms, a cantina area, living space, multiple closets for all kinds of storage, a bridge with plenty of space for a pilot and co-pilot with 3-4 others. As you sat down in the cockpit area, the controls in front of you felt strange. You had never piloted a ship before this so you chose to let the force control your body instead. Calling upon those who came before you in the force, you closed your eyes and allowed their skills to envelop you, your hands moving to flick knobs and push buttons, grabbing at the controls as if it were natural. The ship took off and you opened your eyes to see yourself controlling the vehicle now. You were still a bit apprehensive since it was your first experience but as you looked at the same controls you were baffled at moments ago, you now understood them, or at least were beginning to.

“Now, I need to repress my force before I leave the pyramid and assess the galaxy,” you spoke aloud, as if the ship could hear you.

You had no idea what the outside galaxy looked like and what the balance of the force currently was so you reflexively suppressed your force to just a bit under what Anakin had, hoping it would make you blend in.

Reaching out with your mind, you willed the pyramid to open and you left with your ship, going out into the dark and mysterious galaxy of the unknown.

“Now, what do you have to show me? What event has brought me here?” you whispered as you closed your eyes and focused.

Hundreds of events flashed through your mind in seconds and you winced as they overtook you. Death, pain, suffering, domination, it was the only thing you could feel. Your heart hurt in your chest and your throat burned, tears welling in your eyes at the horrid sights that took your breath away. You could feel the deaths of millions, dying at the hands of the dark side. The Jedi, betrayed by their own army, all of their lights being snuffed out in the dark shadow casted by the Emperor. But then you felt joy, freedom, and love, the Rebel Alliance rising from the ashes of the Jedi to defeat the empire and bring the light back to the galaxy. You sighed in relief as you believed this was the time you were brought back to. If only you were that lucky... you were instantly pulled into a new memory of a dark shadow rising from the Empire, undead almost as if it waved its hand and created a new... order. The First Order. The darkness came back, millions of innocent people dead, worlds sent into chaos under the pretense of “order.” You were violently thrown from the vision as you came back to your ship. Your chest heaved with your breaths and your eyes were widened, your body in a complete state of shock. It took you a few moments to collect yourself but you repositioned yourself in your chair and calmed down.

Why wasn’t I shown the nexus event? Why am I suddenly awake now? How did this happen to the galaxy?

Your mind was flooded with your thoughts and more questions arose than answers. You sat and studied the vision and the information that it gave you. You knew that no one that you had met and known before were no longer alive, and what was worse, that it was Anakin that brought upon the fall of the Jedi in the first place. Though, you knew that this was no time to mourn the past, but to figure out what to do.

If I was brought back at this point, that means that the nexus event is either happening or will happen soon... if it is the latter, then I must assume that I’m necessary for this nexus event which is why I was woken up. I must find the current representation of the light and help them.

Once more, you reached out with the force, trying to find any sliver of light amongst the muck of the dark. It took a while but you managed to find a decently strong light source, on a planet very far away. You instinctively input codes into the hyperdrive and set off immediately on your course, not even knowing what the name of the planet was. As your ship entered hyperspace, the galloping blue and white streams appeared on the other side of the glass, as if you were flying through a tunnel. As you looked closer, you found yourself getting tired, your eyes closing as you couldn’t help but pass out in your chair.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“My son.”

You opened your eyes to find your father standing in front of you, nothing around you but bright white.

“F-father?” your voice broke as you called out for him, not believing that you were truly seeing him.

His kind smile appeared on his face, “It is me, my son.”

You surged forward and planted yourself into his chest, wrapping your arms around him as tightly as you could.

He laughed and embraced you the same, bringing you the sense of comfort you never thought you could feel again, “It is good to see you, you look... well.”

He tousled your extremely grown out hair and picked at your wild beard which you laughed at, “Our hair never changed, we didn’t exactly have scissors.”

“It seems you have finally awakened, which means there is something you must do,” he pulled away a bit to address you.

You nodded, “I know, I’m already on my way to Leia Sky-”

He softly stopped you, “No, there is something else. You are correct, however you must first acquire your protection.”

You looked at him, confused, “My protection? Father, I do not understand.”

He gave you his fatherly look as he always did, “What was the one thing that Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka had in common other than their connection with the force?”

You thought to yourself for a moment, “Their... lightsabers.”

He smiled, “Correct. They are the weapon of force wielders, and something that you need to protect yourself and those that cannot protect themselves.”

You shook your head, “But father, I am not a Jedi. Though, I am no Sith either. I am... something in between.”

“You are once again correct. You do not belong to either side of the force. However, you control both sides of them. You are a Jedi, you are a Sith... yet you are neither. You can feel it, deep inside, my child, you know what you must claim.”

You hummed in response as you felt a pang in your chest... kyber... kyber crystal.

“Kyber,” you whispered, “my crystals.”

Your father smiled and spoke, “Indeed, my son! Go claim what is yours and carve your path forward!”

The room boomed with his voice as the light blinded you-

You thrashed awake from your chair in the cockpit as you looked out to see the ship still in hyperspace. Though, moments later, the ship exited hyperspace and you were right outside of a green and brown planet. Looking down at the console, you saw that the planet was called Utapau. You were about to input a new direction to go get your kyber crystals first when you felt it.

Your crystals.

Somehow, while you were knocked out, the ship changed directions and went for your crystals instead. Smiling to yourself, you grabbed the controls and began piloting yourself to the surface. You felt a heavy presence of the dark side on the planet and decided to avoid the populated areas to make sure that no one would know you were there. As you came into view of the surface, you saw hundreds of sinkholes litter the deserted ground and felt that your crystals were deep underground. Most of the sinkholes were too small for your ship but you found a ridiculously huge one and began to pilot your ship down to the core of the planet. You were flying visually blind as you were simply descending but your scanners let you know after a few minutes that there was land a few hundred feet below you. After initiating landing gear and maneuvers, you landed the ship and opened the cargo ramp... to be met with a pitch black area you could barely see only from the lights of the ship.

“Oh, I forgot to bring a light source... this is a problem,” you spoke into the darkness.

Sighing, you turned around and went back to the ship, going to the cargo bay and opening one of the drawers. Thankfully, Anakin had brought you more than enough material for the ship, you almost thought that he just dumped a bunch of junk on you but the drawers in these cabinets were filled with all different kinds of tools. They were so small compared to everything else, you hadn’t even realized that literal tools and equipment were also fitted to your ship. Grabbing a flashlight, you turned to open the larger container in the bay area to come across a shipment of blasters. Or at least that’s what you thought they were.

Your father didn’t let you or your sister go to the outside world, ever. All you had ever known was the pyramid and random events you were able to see through the dark side. Most of what you knew of the world was surface level knowledge, and you were beginning to realize that you were basically a child in a new world.

You grabbed a blaster and looked at its craft and ingenuity, seeing the power cell and the barrel and beginning to understand how the gun worked. It was very similar to the lasers you had on the ship which made it easier to understand its functions.

Setting out, you pushed into one of the tunnels and closed the ship’s ramp behind you, shining your flashlight in the direction you felt the force pulling you in. As you walked along, there were other smaller cavities carved into the walls that seemed to go on endlessly. While you appreciated the light to see, it wasn’t what you were relying on, the force was guiding you. Through every turn, you felt the connection grow stronger as you drew closer to the crystals. After what felt like an hour, you had finally reached a large room with thousands of bright lights adorning the walls, floors, and ceiling. The entire room was filled with force energy and you found it difficult to understand which one was yours.

You dropped your flashlight and blaster, “How can I possibly choose from all of these?”

“It is not you who chooses the crystal, it is the crystal that chooses you,” a grainy older voice resounded through the room.

You instinctively ducked your head, “Who are you?”

You heard the same voice chuckle slightly, “Who I am, mmm not your concern, your crystals, yes?”

You raised an eyebrow in apprehension, “I suppose you have a point. Though you wish to help me find my crystals? And why is that?”

“Oh no, no no no. A Jedi you are, yes? Or no?”

“Yes, but-”

“But nothing!” the being giggled. “If Jedi you are, nothing in return you request, for helping others.”

You sighed in defeat, “I understand. What must I do?”

“Mmmm, let the crystal decide, we shall, hm? Sit, sit. Reach out with your feelings.”

You complied, sitting in a meditative stance and reaching out, letting every crystal in the room feel your presence.

“Goooood,” the voice affirmed.

You concentrated further, pouring your inner thoughts and feelings out to see which crystal would be interested. After a few moments, you heard a sharp ring, just for a moment.

Then suddenly you heard it again.

You felt movement, swirling, gathering, then... belonging.

You opened your eyes to see two crystals floating above your head. Pushing off of the ground, you were about to reach out for them before you felt a presence in front of you.

“Impossible,” you whispered breathlessly.

Force energy swirled in front of you and morphed into the shape of your sister, her kind and beautiful face gracing your eyes.

“Sister?” you asked, completely stunned.

“Brother, how good it is to see you once more,” your sister's voice graced your ears. “Though, I am afraid I am here only to do one thing,” she moved one of the crystals towards her open palm and gestured for you to reach your palm out for the other.

As the crystal floated above your hand, it suddenly began to shake and change color, a black hue enveloped the crystal and turned it into a deep black.

“As the dark was your nature, one half of your crystals, one half of you, will represent the dark,” she looked towards her palm which encouraged you to do the same. “Though my gift to you brother,” the crystal began to glow a radiant white, “is your rule over my light.”

The crystal had become a bright white, radiating a warmth that reminded you of her.

You looked back up at her as she placed the crystal into your palm beside the other to see her looking at you with a solemn smile, “I do not blame you for my death, my brother. I simply hope you may live the life I had lost in my place.”

She finished her words as her body dematerialized, her hand wiping the tear that fell being the last part of her you felt before she ultimately disappeared.

“Thank you, sister,” you whispered into the empty room before turning around and leaving.

You reached your ship soon and sat back down in the pilot’s chair, taking another look at your crystals before placing them on the center table and piloting yourself out of the sinkhole. As you exited the atmosphere, you input the code to the system that Leia Skywalker was on and set off to hyperspace.

Next Chapter

Forevers Tag List: @magssteenkamp @shadowsinger11 @donnaintx @flamencodiva @impalawrites-blog @talesmaniac89 @malfoysqueen54 @writercole @hintsofhoney @lassie-bird @never--doubt

Male Reader Tag List: @myybebe @denim-devil @spnfanboy777

The Son Tag List: @brymalibu

#series #male reader #male reader insert #poe dameron x male reader #poe dameron #star wars #star wars fanfiction

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wyntersecret-a · 1 year ago

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m: Ophelia Keal. 26. actress. p: Ophelia has finally found a big break in a new horror film but there are issues with production following several accidents on set. These ‘accidents’ however are far from coincidence. Think cursed film sets. Can be a literal curse, supernatural force or a saboteur behind the scenes. c: friend. costar. agent. production member. anyone involved in or knowledgeable about film making.

“I just don’t understand. Everything was going so swimmingly.” Ophelia’s reaction may be a tad understated. She’s not dealt with something so odd in her life and she’s in Hollywood! Weirdest apparently of weird or so they say. Her life is far removed from growing up a dull socialite with an overbearing mother. On her own with her agent finally reeling her in on a proper project, Ophelia is ecstatic. Before the set accidents started she had a dream come true. All of it seems to be fading as quickly as she snapped it up.

She used to be afraid of the audition process. Fear of this unseen negative force clenching around her tops rejection for a role. Unease is her only companion. Several crew members went to emergency rooms. Set disaster, falling apart; food poisoning for makeup and costume departments. Even one of the supporting casts is suffering a broken bone. “How can multiple people have such bad luck? Do you know someone says the entire production is cursed? What if it’s true?”

#secrets that you keep! opens

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kissorkill16 · 8 months ago

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Fear Is My Best Friend: A Hello Neighbor Fanfic

By JJ

Summary: The Shadow Man's first interaction with Nicky.

Young Nicky Roth was only 11 years old when he snuck into the Peterson house and ended up getting kidnapped in the process, now he was just a scared child, curled up in the corner of the room Mr. Peterson had locked him in, crying his eyes out.

It had been 3 weeks since that happened, and now he was just another one of Mr. Peterson's secrets, along with Aaron and Mya going missing. Sure, he made sure Nicky was fed, he let him take baths, and brought him toys to play with, and only sometimes comforted him after a nightmare. Despite the situation, it was a somewhat comfortable atmosphere.

That didn't make it any less psychotic.

He was still locked in the basement, and the worst part was that he wasn't even allowed to see Aaron. The 2 boys were being kept in separate rooms, and they could only ever contact each other by sliding paper under the door, and it was the worst.

The whole point of why Nicky had even come here in the first place was because he wanted to find Aaron and Mya and prove Mr. Peterson was a lying, scheming, murdering piece of shit. But look where that got him, in a psychopaths basement.

Nicky hated this. He missed his parents, his friends, he missed the outside world so very much. He wondered if anyone was even looking for him, he wondered if anyone even cared that he was gone.

Probably not.

He wasn't going to lie, before any of this, he was kind of a jerk to everyone. His parents and his friends. He had been trying so hard to prove that he was right about Mr. Peterson, that he ended up being a total jerk to everyone in his life. He lied to his parents multiple times, he called Enzo a coward, and he even tried dragging Trinity and Maritza along with him. Thank goodness they both denied, otherwise they would've ended up in the same position he was in.

And that wasn't even the worst part. What was the worst part was that every time he tried to escape, Mr. Peterson always caught him and put him back in the basement. One time, he tried climbing over the fence he built, and his kidnapper ended up grabbing his arm a little too hard and ended up breaking it. Thankfully, Mr. Peterson was sane enough to wrap it up and heal it. But it didn't make Nicky any more calm about the whole situation.

Nicky was hugging himself so hard that he thought he was going to suffocate, and on top of all of that, he still had a broken hand, but he didn't care. He just wanted something or someone to hold.

Just then, as Nicky opened up his bloodshot red eyes, he saw something in the corner of his eyes. It was all black, and it looked kind of like smoke. But there wasn't anything down here that was on fire, so it was a little confusing to him, but when that smokey figure erupted into a figure of a man, he ended up screaming so loud, he could've woken up the dead.

"Please, Nicky. Do not fret. It's only me.", said the figure. That didn't seem to calm Nicky down.

"I don't even know who you are! Get away from me!", Nicky screamed. He stood up on his shaky legs, trying to back away from the figure, but the thing only stepped closer.

"I am the embodiment of a shadow. I am the one and only immortal being who can take the form of any human beings greatest fears. But you can call me the Shadow Man.", said the Shadow Man.

Nicky tensed up when he said that. This thing knew his greatest fears, and how does he know that he won't use that to his advantage. "What do you want from me, Shadow Man?", he asked, his voice nearly shaking with fear.

"I don't wish to hurt you, Nicky. I only wish to comfort you. You long for someone to hold, to give you hope.", said the Shadow Man. "I wish to be the one comforting you."

"But how? Like you said, you can take the form of anyone's greatest fears. So when you hold me, won't you...?"

"That's not exactly how it works, young Nicky. Sure, I won't lie to you, you may see your worst nightmares when I touch you, but I don't think you should care too much about that. You just want comfort, you just want to hold someone in a warm embrace. Let me hold you, and I will do my best to provide comfort in my arms."

The Shadow Man was right, he did long for comfort. Sure, this thing was a fear demon, but Nicky wanted someone to hold him, and unfortunately, this Shadow Man was the only one around.

So without another thought, he hugged his knees, and said "Can you please hold me?", he half whimpered. And the thing wrapped his arms around him in a comfortable hug.

The first thing Nicky saw was the darkness of the grocery store, his worst nightmare. The next thing he saw was Mr. Peterson's angry face, before he grabbed him and knocked him out.

He was warned this would happen, but he just wanted comfort.

And from this moment on, fear was his new best friend.

#hello neighbor #shadow man #nicky roth #my fics #hello neighbor fanfic

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deathmetalunicorn1 · 2 years ago

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The Strength of Love: Chapter 4: Visits and a New Face

-It had been almost a week since their first visit to Usagi’s house, and since that day, she’s had multiple visitors, if she was home.

-When she’s out training, Usagi will put one of two signs on her front door, one that says ‘dojo’ and one that says ‘mountain’, which tells anyone who comes to her house where she is.

-Usagi wasn’t sure what to make of these ten gods who were constantly seeking her out, meeting her at the dojo, at her home, and even catching her while she was walking from one place to the next; the only place they haven’t sought her out at was her mountain training grounds.

-Their insistence to come around made Usagi uneasy, she was unsure as to why, not understanding why, it wasn’t for Raiden, it was for her, because they always asked for her at the dojo, ‘What’s so special about me that keeps making them come back?’

-It was also the way they were approaching her that was confusing her, she had no issue sparring, as Shiva, Indra, and Rudra had all asked her for a match, wanting a challenge.

-It was when they approached her just to hang out, to ask her questions, that threw her for a loop.

-When Kali, Durga, and Parvati showed up to her home with a bag of self-care items, Kali smiling brightly, “Let’s do facial treatment and our nails, Usagi~”

-Usagi sat patiently, letting Parvati put the cream on her face while Durga was looking at her hands, “Wow! Your nails are really healthy looking!”

-Usagi gave them a small grin, flexing her hand a bit, “I try hard to take care of them, since they’re my weapons. It’s like taking care of a sword, if you don’t polish it and tend to it, it will break!” they were quick to understand the reasoning behind this.

-Kali was painting her nails while Parvati did Durga’s nails, “Your fingers are a bit thick; did you break them?” Kali didn’t mean it in a cruel way, but Usagi’s cheek did turn pink, looking away, “Yeah- if you break your bones when you’re young, they heal stronger.”

-The three women were instantly in Usagi’s face, all yelling at her in concern, “You willingly broke your fingers?!” “Are you okay? Any lasting damage?!” “What were you thinking, doing something so reckless?!”

-Usagi never had someone treat her like this, to most martial artist it was common knowledge, and most karate masters did the same thing. She had broken all of her fingers multiple times when she first started in karate, strengthening her bones.

-She felt a bit uneasy by their concern, looking away a bit embarrassed, “I… thank you for your concern. I’ve never had anyone… nobody’s ever reacted like this before.”

-They all froze, processing her words before they leaned back, looking a bit solemn now which made Usagi a bit frantic, worrying as she hadn’t meant to upset them, showing her kind heart.

-When Usagi washed off the facial cream, she was in awe, holding her cheeks, “It’s so smooth!” the other three woman giggled at her reaction, finding it amusing as they had all gone to her large bathroom to wash their faces.

-Parvati looked around, a bit confused, “Do you not have a bathtub?” Usagi, patting her face with a towel, nodded towards the other door in the room, “That leads to the onsen.” She opened the door, and their eyes went wide, seeing a mini private onsen, their eyes turning into sparkles as they turned back to Usagi.

-The taller woman giggled, “Most bathtubs don’t fit people my height, easily at least, so I invested in this quite a few years ago. It’s the best when it’s snowing, and I’ve got a jug of hot sake!”

-The three women shivered, having been victims to one too many of Raiden’s drinking parties, which made Usagi laugh warmly, and they couldn’t help but stare, seeing her joy.

-Agni was the next to visit her, catching Usagi on her way home from the mountain, her hair down and wet, calling out to her.

-She greeted him warmly, giving a polite smile as he caught up with her, “May I walk you home?” she was surprised by his question, but agreed.

-On the way Agni asked her simple questions, like her favorite food or favorite fruit, which surprised her, a bit curious as to why he wanted to know these things about her.

-She did answer each question, in turn asking them in return, to be polite, which made him smile warmly. He wasn’t really scary looking, to her anyway, as she had overheard some of the other rikishi saying he did look a bit alarming because he didn’t look human like many of the others.

-When they arrived at her home, Usagi invited him in for tea, as thanks for walking her home and he agreed, beaming brightly, before he forgot to duck, and his head smacked her doorframe.

-Agni did feel a bit embarrassed as he sat cross-legged, letting Usagi smooth a bandage over his forehead, as he had busted himself open, but did enjoy being doted on.

-Usagi did like seeing someone who was taller than her, besides her grandpa, as not many, at least in the Shinto pantheon, were as tall as her, as most Japanese men were usually on the shorter side, the same with women.

-Later that same day, Usagi was outside in her backyard, tending to her vegetable garden, when she heard someone call out her name and she turned, finding Brahma coming over.

-He was stoic looking, having a permanent resting bitch face, but Usagi wasn’t really bothered as he approached, seeing the basket of vegetables in her arms as she stood, greeting him with a polite bow.

-He looked at her garden behind her, “You’ve worked hard on this.” she smiled at his compliment, thanking him and he felt happy to see her smile as he came a bit closer, “I don’t recognize some of these vegetables, will you teach me.”

-Usagi knew Brahma as the creator god in Hindu religion, so his curiosity about something new was understandable, as he wanted to learn more.

-Usagi taught him about the vegetables and herbs she had growing in her garden, pointing out each one, kneeling down next to him while he was squatting.

-He surprised her by taking the basket when she stood, “I’ll carry this for you inside.” Her eyes were wide before she thanked him, offering to make him some tea as thanks which he agreed to. He was quiet compared to the other members of the Hindu pantheon, except for Vishnu and maybe Indra, but she didn’t mind, despite being quiet, he was good company.

-Rudra met Usagi the next morning at the dojo, greeting her warmly, “Would you like to spar with me?” and she agreed with a grin.

-They went to the outside sparring area, it was a little cool but pleasant, both were comfortable to be outside for the match.

-The two fighters started off a bit light, asking each other questions while exchanging blows and kicks, not taking each other too seriously, warming up.

-Rudra threw a harder punch, which Usagi caught easily, “Answer me this Usagi, did you find Shiva difficult to fight?”

-She surprised him by moving rapidly, leg sweeping him, but he backflipped, catching himself and springing back onto his feet, “I don’t know if difficult is the word I would use. He was fun to fight since I didn’t have to hold back.”

-Rudra caught one of her arms, grabbing it with two of his arms and tried to flip her but he cried out in shock as she easily picked him up, hauling him off the ground by the arm he was holding before throwing him in a judo throw, slamming him into the ground.

-He stared up at her in awe as she put her hands on her hips, grinning down at him before she offered him a hand, easily hauling him back up to his feet.

-He rubbed his upper left shoulder lightly, “Was that you holding back?” she grinned over at him, stunning him with her smile, “It was. If I wasn’t you’d probably be unconscious.” He laughed warmly, thinking she was joking, before realizing she was not.

-Loud laughter filled the air and the two turned, seeing Shiva walking over, punching his lower fists together, “Usagi~ can I have a turn now?” he was beaming up at her, little flowers appearing around him in glee.

-His enthusiasm to fight did throw Usagi off a bit, while Rudra was rolling his eyes, seeing Shiva not even trying to hide his affections for her.

-Just like before, Shiva didn’t start off too seriously, hopping around easily, dancing around Usagi, who was shocked when her strikes missed, hitting an after image.

-Shiva managed to get Usagi down to her knees, but she was quick to grab him by his neck, pinning him below her, but his legs wrapped around one of her arms and three of his arms grabbed her other arm, trying to flip her.

-Usagi breathed in deeply before standing up, holding Shiva up with ease, shocking both him and Rudra, their jaws both dropping as his arms let her one arm go, waving around to keep his balance before two of his hands grabbed her gi, holding himself up.

-She smiled up at him as he gawked down at her, shocked that she easily picked him up, “Do I even weigh anything to you?” she laughed warmly, stunning him before she grinned, “Like a sack a rice!” he pouted lightly, even more so when Rudra referred to him as Rice for the rest of the day.

-The following day was Usagi’s day off and she slept pretty late, well past nine and as she sat down to enjoy some hot tea to get going, “Usagi~ you home?”

-She wasn’t irritated with Varuna, who beamed up at her as she opened her front door for him, inviting him in, but she was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed, if she had to use a word, with all the random visits.

-Varuna handed her a basket of persimmons, “Here this is for you! Raiden said they were in season and told me to share some with you.”

-Her eyes softened at the gift, “I think I have some dried ones too; I’ll make some tea and we can share these.” She missed the way his eyes sparkled, thinking he was just excited to have a snack.

-He ate a fresh one first then a dried one, his eyes turning into stars, “It’s the same fruit but it tastes totally different! It’s so much sweeter!!”

-Usagi smiled lightly at his reaction, thinking it was rather cute, “I made those ones last year, I prefer the ones that have been preserved more than the fresh ones. The hard work that goes into preparing them makes them much tastier!”

-Varuna gazed at her smile, entranced before he spoke, completely serious, “You look good when you smile, Usagi.” She started a bit, shocked at his words before her cheeks turned just a bit pink, looking away a bit bashfully, but saying nothing.

-Indra found Usagi the following day, holding a bag of groceries, some wrapped fish and vegetables she didn’t have growing in her garden.

-She was still wearing her gi, as she had finished training for the day and decided to shop on her way home, but Indra waved her down, calling out her name.

-She greeted him warmly, with a soft smile and he gave a small grin back, nodding towards the dojo, “You up for a match?” she glanced down to her groceries before she smiled, “If it’s a quick one, sure.”

-They went to the outdoor arena and Indra put out his cigarette and almost immediately charged at Usagi, who easily caught him, stunning him as she slammed him into the ground, “Fighting dirty I see~” he heard her tone, teasing him as they went back and forth for a while.

-A cawing bird then caught their attention after about ten minutes and Usagi’s eyes went wide, “My groceries!!” as a large crow flew off with her bag.

-Instantly she fell to her hands and knees, gloom surrounding her in anguish.

-Indra felt bad, scratching his cheek as he inadvertently caused this mess to happen, “C’mon Usagi, I’ll buy you new ones.” She was going to protest, but he heard nothing of it, having her take him to the places where she bought her groceries.

-She thanked him, once they were done shopping, giving him a warm, sincere smile, which made him stare from behind his bangs, before he gave her a soft nod and walked her home.

-Vishnu arrived home right as Usagi was finishing her dinner that same night, having prepared grilled salmon, rice, and tomato miso soup, something she had been craving.

-He was holding a bottle of nice plum wine, handing it to her, “This is for you, Raiden recommended it to me.” she thanked him before inviting him in, “I apologize but I don’t have enough fish for the both of us, but I have extra rice and soup, if you would like to join me.”

-He put his hand over his heart, bowing his head lightly, “Thank you for your hospitality.” Usagi wanted to ask him why they had all been visiting her so often, honestly feeling a bit drained as she set the food down before him as well as a mug of tea which he thanked her for.

-He watched her thank for the food and he spoke, “Why do you say thanks before each meal?” she smiled, swallowing her rice, “It’s to thank the hard work of everyone, the earth for growing the ingredients, the rivers and ocean for the fish, the farmers, fishermen, and butchers. We thank everyone and everything that goes into preparing our meals.”

-His eyes were wide at her explanation, not realizing how deep the meaning behind it actually was, before his eyes softened and he nodded, thanking her for the explanation.

-His hands moved to the back of his head and removed his mask, setting it on the table and Usagi’s eyes went a bit wide as his handsome face was revealed.

-She kept composed, as he wasn’t the first handsome man she had seen, her recent guests were all handsome in their own way, and beautiful in the case of Shiva’s wives.

-Usagi’s gaze fell just a bit, her eyes focusing on her rice, ‘They’re all so attractive… so why are they bothering with someone like me? Why are they all coming around so much?’

-After seeing Vishnu off, wishing him well after sharing some of the wine with him, she sighed softly, shoulders sagging before she lifted one of her hands to her opposite shoulder, rubbing gently as she dealt with the dishes before going to soak in her onsen.

-The following day, Usagi was surprised but also relieved when none of her guests sought her out, letting her have an alone day for once.

-She was enjoying her time at her mountain training grounds, where new boulders appear almost daily, due to magic, so she can punch them to rubble as she wishes, training her body.

-Usagi was lifting a large boulder above her head, throwing it into a pile to clear out her area when a voice spoke up, “Whoa- are you Usagi?!” she turned and was surprised to see a child with the head of an elephant.

-Despite having not met this child before, Usagi knew who this was, Ganesha, Parvati and Shiva’s son, as Parvati had shown the martial artist pictures of him during their self-care day.

-She turned with a smile as the child approached, “I am, and you’re Ganesha, right?”

-He beamed up at her, his hands on his hips, “That’s me! Papa was right- you are strong!!” she scratched her cheek, feeling a bit embarrassed by his words, but at the same time, his praise made her feel a little fluffy.

-The praise of children always made her feel happier compared to her peers, as she knows kids are brutally honest, but Usagi appreciates that honesty, “Did you come all the way up here on your own?” He beamed, proud of himself, “Mr. Raiden told me how to get here after I asked where you were.”

-Ganesha stayed to the side while Usagi trained, rattling off tons of questions, asking her about her fighting style, what it was like fighting his papa and his uncles, Rudra and Indra, and about the food she had prepared.

-Usagi took it all in stride, answering each of them, making Ganesha laugh when she easily picked him up to move him to another rock, picking him up easily, which made her grin.

-Once she was done she rinsed off under the waterfall and Ganesha laughed, splashing in the river, “It’s so cold!!” which made her giggle lightly.

-She offered him a hand, “Wanna head back to the dojo now?” he beamed, taking her hand, “Let’s go! Mama and papa should be wondering where I am.” She froze, turning white before she spoke, having to ask, “Did you come here without telling anyone?”

-He looked surprised by her question, like he didn’t understand it, “No I told Mr. Raiden when I told him I was going to come and find you!”

-Usagi paled, knowing her grandpa had the attention span of a fly if it had to do something other than fighting, eating, drinking, or Thrud, sighing softly, “Well let’s get back soon so they don’t worry.”

-As she expected, the dojo was in an uproar, everyone tearing the place apart looking for Ganesha, panicking.

-Usagi looked down at Ganesha with a smile, “I’m gonna yell, so cover your ears for a second, okay?” he beamed, nodding and did as she asked before she pulled her arms in tightly at her side, almost like she was going to punch something, tensing her abs before, “KNOCK IT OFF!!!!”

-Her voice carried through the dojo, stunning it into silence as the door to the main dojo slid open, revealing Usagi and Ganesha, safe and sound to everyone in attendance.

-While Parvati and Shiva checked over their son, Usagi was pouting up to her grandpa, “Ganesha said he told you where he was going! Why did you let the dojo get so worked up?!”

-Shiva turned, “WHAT?! YOU KNEW?! RAIDEN YOU BASTARD!!” before he charged at your grandfather, the two of them locked up in a fight while Usagi rolled her eyes at them.

-Parvati instantly relaxed, “If you were with Usagi, then I know you were safe.” Ganesha beamed as the three of them went to the wrap around patio as the other gods and the rikishi came out to watch the fight, “Usagi’s super strong mama! She picked me up so easily and broke boulders with her bare hands! Then we played under the waterfall! It was really cold!!”

-She giggled as Kali sat on the other side of Ganesha, with Parvati on his other side, Usagi next to her and Durga next to Usagi as his mother giggled, “I wondered why you were damp when I hugged you.”

-Ganesha then looked over at Usagi, “Hey-hey Usagi, so when are you gonna marry papa and the others?” the four women froze, turning to Ganesha, the three co-wives instantly flushing as they had been discussing it, the ten gods, about all of them marrying Usagi and he wanted to know too.

-Usagi was stunned, her eyes wide before she grinned, “I don’t know about marriage Ganesha. Marriage has never been a big thing in my life to fuss over.” The four looked at her, worried as her tone was a bit softer, sadder, before Durga spoke, “What do you mean Usagi?”

-The taller woman rubbed the back of her head, scratching lightly, “I’ve never been approached by a man before, unless if it was to fight. So, when it came to romance and relationships, I was the one that was always alone. Nobody I’ve ever met wants a woman twice their size who can break boulders with her bare hands and break log with her thighs.”

-Their eyes were sparkly, Kali beaming up, “You can do that with your thighs?!” Usagi blushed a bit, her cheeks turning a bit pink before she grinned, leaning her forearms on her knees, hunching over, “Yeah, was able to do it back on earth. But it’s stuff like that, that turns men away from pursuing me romantically. I’ve only had it happen once here in Valhalla, but it turned out to be a cruel prank.”

-Their eyes widened, Parvati’s eyes narrowing, “What did you just say?” Usagi looked a bit worried, as she hadn’t meant to upset her friends, but explained, looking out at the fight, “There was a man who approached me, asking me out on a date, even giving me flowers, saying he was attracted to me. I showed up to the date, dressed up with Thrud’s and Hlokk’s help, and he was there with his friends… they laughed so much at me so much that-that I… he said nobody would want a woman like me, nobody but a beast or a bear would- would want me...”

-They could only stare in horror at what they heard, listening without judging, hearing her voice crack a few times, breaking their hearts, hearing the torment she went through.

-Usagi was quick to hide her pain behind a bright smile, “It all ended well however, I was crying too much to be able to walk home without hurting myself or others, so I came to grandpa, and he said he would take care of it. I found out the next day he beat all of them up and broke the bastard’s spine who tricked me, putting him in the hospital and threatening to do worse if he ever treated me or any other woman like that again.”

-They gawked, a bit in shock before Kali smiled, “Raiden’s a good grandfather.” Usagi nodded, giving her a grin in agreement.

-Once the fight was over, everyone said their goodbyes and headed home; along the way to their home, Kali, Parvati, and Durga told the other seven gods, what happened to Usagi, which immediately infuriated most of them, hearing of the cruel treatment.

-Shiva punched his right hands into his left hands, “Sounds like an ass beating to me!” but his wives were able to keep him by their sides.

-Varuna then spoke, “That’s probably why she reacted in such a way when I flirted with her the other day, almost like she was uneasy with it.” Vishnu nodded in agreement, “Agreed, seems like all her past trauma and the incident with that lowlife did a number on her, she hasn’t really reacted to any of us in a romantic way, right?”

-Agreements went around, the Hindu gods quickly realizing that Usagi didn’t realize they had been flirting with her, courting her, she just thought they were being friendly since they were Raiden’s friends.

-With each moment spent with her, either as a group or on their own, they were quickly falling with this warrior woman, all of them wanting to know more and more about her, wanting to get closer to her.

#record of ragnorak #ror x oc #ror shiva #ror rudra #ror indra #ror agni #ror vishnu #ror varuna #ror brahma #ror kali #ror durga #ror parvati #ror raiden

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use-your-telescope · 2 years ago

Text

SNIPPET TIME!

The winner in my very non-scientific poll of what snippet to post next from When Everything's Made to be Broken was “Theo shows the hell up for Loki when he needs her,” so that’s what this is.

Context: Thor nearly kicked the bucket on a mission. Loki freaked out when Thor returned in a bloody heap. Theo is now navigating the aftermath.

Chapter is connected to: June - Florence & The Machine

(This isn’t even the full scene; there’s more that follows.)

Tags: @iamlokisgloriouspurpose @thedistractedagglomeration @lokisgoodgirl @simplyholl @mochie85 @coldnique @lokixryss @gigglingtigger @cheekyscamp @loopsisloops @mischief2sarawr

The Sky Turned Black

The Emergency Department may as well have been ransacked.

It was the first time Theo experienced a code black in The SHIELD facility - when there were more patients than resources. Wrappers for supplies covered the floor, as did blood. Towels to soak up the aforementioned blood were haphazardly scattered about, as were discarded gloves and protective gear - they had such a high volume of patients that they didn’t even have time to properly dispose of their protective gear in a bin, instead tossing it on the floor so they could focus on putting on the new gear to ensure they could keep treating patients.

She would have to bake the janitorial staff a cake as a thank-you for cleaning up after such a busy day.

Glancing at the clock, Theo let out a heavy sigh.

11:37 PM.

It had been 25 hours since the jet bringing the most critical patients returned. Multiple jets followed, each with more patients who needed a level of care that couldn’t be found in other hospitals.

Somehow, they made it through with no patients dying. Dr. Cho and Dr. Harper described it as a miracle - really, it was only possible because Theo spent the entire time darting between beds, magically treating the worst of the wounds and reviving patients as needed. She had to revive three separate agents, which left her with a bloody nose and feeling like she’d been hit by a bus - a throbbing headache, sore muscles, and more nauseous than she cared to admit - but everyone lived, and that was what mattered.

Of the many patients Theo treated, the first patient - Thor - was the one she kept thinking back to. Physically speaking, the process of re-starting Thor’s heart was taxing, but not as bad as a full revival; mentally, it was one of the less pleasant moments. However, the memory that lingered was less about reviving Thor and more about Loki’s remark as she was trying to work on Thor that twisted her stomach into knots: “You act like he’s a simple Midgardian! You know nothing of how to heal the Aesir— he will die at your hand!”

It was said in the heat of the moment, but she would be lying if she said the comment didn’t sting. If it was a field agent that she didn’t know who was freaking out about their partner, that was one thing - she could shake that off, and she had plenty of times before.

But Loki?

Loki knew about her fears; he saw firsthand how much losing a patient impacted her, even if she didn’t know the patient before. And to have him question — no, not question, outright doubt — her capabilities?

Well, his words cut far deeper and were much harder to shake.

When the final patient was stabilized and transferred out of the emergency department, Theo was the only doctor who didn’t immediately change out of her scrubs and go home to sleep. Not that she wasn’t looking forward to buying herself under a mountain of blankets and sleeping for the next two days, because she was. But she couldn’t do that without taking care of something else first.

Instead of going back to her suite, Theo slipped through the halls of the hospital, making her way to Thor’s room. Unlike the emergency department, which was constantly bustling with people coming and going, the halls of the ward were almost eerily quiet. After the bustle and chaos of the last 24 hours, the quiet and relative peace was refreshing. Besides, it was probably a good thing that she didn’t see anyone as she made her way through the building - she probably looked like a mess.

Maybe she was after the reassurance that Thor was, in fact, recovering. Maybe she just needed to end the night by coming full-circle, checking on the first patient she took care of. Why she needed to check on him wasn't important, but Theo knew herself well enough to understand she wouldn’t be able to rest until she had the proof that he was alright.

The door to Thor’s room was open. Theo stopped in the entrance and leaned against the doorframe, taking in the sight before her.

Thor was asleep. He already looked much better than when he first came in - probably something to do with the enhanced healing of the Aesir, but it might have also been because he was cleaned up and probably full of pain medicine. Given he was one of the first patients anyone cared for, he did have a bit of a head start on the whole recovery thing.

Someone sat in a chair beside the bed with their back to the door - between the perfectly erect posture and inky curls, it didn’t take a genius to realize Loki was the one at Thor’s side.

It was almost enough for Theo to turn on her heel and high-tail it out of there. She just stopped in to check on Thor; facing Loki was something she wasn’t sure she could handle at the moment. She was tired, and she didn’t trust herself not to say something that would make things worse.

“You need not lurk in the entrance,” Loki spoke up, not even turning around to look at Theo as he addressed her. “If you wish to enter, do so.”

Whether he knew it was Theo or not was a mystery, but he must have at least sensed someone’s presence.

Pushing away from the doorframe, Theo sighed.

“I didn’t mean to intrude.” She hesitantly stepped into the room, but stayed close to the door. If the conversation went south, she’d at least have a quick out. “I just finished working, so I thought I’d see how Thor was doing…You know, make sure he was still alive and all… Still Aesir, not a midgardian zombie or something.”

Damn her lack of filter.

A breathless puff of laughter escaped Loki, sounding almost surprised. Before Theo could turn and run, Loki twisted in his seat to face her, his eyes trailing up and down her body. His expression gave away no clues as to whether he was laughing because he found her comment amusing or because he was shocked she had the gall to speak to him like that, or anything to tell her where his mind was at.

“He remains alive and Aesir,” he finally replied, offering a tired smirk as he spoke. “Though you, darling, look a bit too close to a zombie for comfort.”

Theo rolled her eyes, but cracked a smile. She should have known something like that was coming. Beyond having bags under her bloodshot eyes and the inevitable loss of color in her skin from the revivals, Theo was almost positive her hair was a rat’s nest… But that was typical after a normal shift in the emergency department. After 24 hours straight, she could only imagine what she must have looked like.

“We just finished triaging and stabilizing everyone…” Theo shrugged, keeping her smile from Loki’s observation. “It's not for the faint of heart.”

“No, but you are nowhere near faint of heart,” Loki replied, offering a small smile. “For that, I am grateful.”

Theo nodded, uncertain of how to take his remark. She shoved her hands in her pockets, glancing around the rest of the room. Assorted bouquets of flowers and cards stood on display, covering the majority of the room’s surfaces. The whirring and beeping of monitors and machines filled the silence between them.

“Thank you for caring for my brother.” Loki’s attention returned to Thor, who still slept. “I apologize for my remarks earlier - I let my emotions overtake me. It was inappropriate for me to speak to you in such a harsh manner.”

The simple fact that she didn’t have to prompt him for the apology made it seem genuine, but it was hard to shake the underlying distrust that came from it. After all, wasn’t there something about how the things people say in the heat of the moment are what they feel deep down?

“It’s no problem,” Theo bit the inside of her cheek, glancing at Thor before returning her attention to Loki. “Sorry for my less than professional response… I uh, get a bit intense in the heat of the moment.”

“You need not apologize - your reaction was justified.” Loki nodded, still focused on his brother’s face. “I trust you with my life, and I do not doubt in the slightest that you would fight tirelessly to save any life you could. If I am entirely honest, I am not certain as to why I stated you would not be able to care for Thor, as I know better.”

The knot in Theo’s chest unraveled a bit more.

“I get it,” Theo reassured him, resting one hand on his shoulder. “Thor’s your brother. If I were in your position, I’d do the same.”

Loki covered her hand with his own, finally meeting Theo’s gaze. Red rimmed his eyes, making his seaglass green irises stand out even more than usual; between that and the disheveled hair, his distress was obvious.

“He’ll be alright,” Theo murmured, squeezing Loki’s shoulder, “And he’s lucky to have a brother who cares as much about him as you do.”

Theo caught the slightest quiver in Loki’s lip and the way his eyes briefly appeared to glisten, but she didn’t say anything. Frankly, she didn’t know what she would even say. Blood never scared her, but the second someone she knew started crying her heart would hammer in her chest and her palms would start to sweat; forget trying to carry a train of thought, much less a conversation.

“Thank you,” Loki whispered, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He tightened his grip on Theo’s hand, keeping it on his shoulder.

With a quiet sigh, Theo shifted her weight between her aching feet once more. Now that she wasn’t running all over and fueled by adrenaline, the physical effects of going at full speed for so long started to make their presence known. Still, she didn’t try to remove her hand from Loki’s shoulder; it was obvious that Loki could use the support, and he didn’t seem like he was about to ask for it.

And if her silent gesture stopped any potential tears, she could handle the aching feet that came with standing.

“You mentioned that you recently finished stabilizing the other agents. It has been over twenty four hours since they returned…” Loki’s brows drew together as he returned his attention to Theo. “Have you taken any breaks to rest, or to eat something?”

“I worked straight through.” Theo shook her head. “We had lives to save. That’s the nature of what we do; it doesn’t wait for anyone’s lunch break to finish.”

Loki frowned, but let out a hum. He removed his hand from Theo’s, the cold air in the room a crisp contrast to the warmth of his skin. He flicked his wrist, using seidr to bring one of the chairs up next to his. “You ought to take a seat - you’ve certainly earned the opportunity to rest.”

With a timid, grateful smile, Theo sat down. Immediately, she could feel her muscles relax, though the motion reminded her of how much her body ached after reviving people.

“How are the other agents?”

“Barring any complications, they’ll be alright,” Theo slouched back in the chair, arms resting on the sides as she settled in. “Recovery times will vary, but the fact we were able to save everyone is a miracle in and of itself.”

If there were complications, well… Theo lived in the building. They knew where to find her.

“That is excellent news,” Loki remarked, resting his hand atop Theo’s as it sat on the arm of the chair between them. Though Theo did her best not to acknowledge the gesture, it certainly caught her attention. “You seem truly exhausted.”

“When you’re running on adrenaline, it’s easy to go for a long time and feel totally fine,” she shrugged, “but now all the adrenaline is wearing off and I’m definitely feeling the consequences.”

“The consequences?”

“Fatigue, sore muscles, all that good stuff.” Theo softened the remark with a hint of a smile. Loki already had Thor to focus on; he didn’t need to hear Theo complain. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m used to working long stretches - normally my shifts are twelve hours at a time, but with this group we extended it out until everyone was cared for and even brought in extra staff from New York Presbyterian - that’s the top non-SHIELD trauma center in New York, where I used to work.”

“Seems it was quite the undertaking,” Loki murmured.

“Yeah - it was my first code black here.” She glanced at Loki, who arched an eyebrow at her as if asking to elaborate. “Code black is when you have more patients than staff and resources to treat everyone. By the time we were done it looked like a tornado came through and destroyed everything.”

With an absentminded hum, Loki nodded. He brought his attention back to Thor, who slept soundly. “Will you have time to rest and recuperate before your next shift?”

“I’m supposed to have the next two days off,” Theo answered with a shrug, “but if I’m needed I’ll be in to help.”

Loki frowned, narrowing his eyes at Theo.

“What?”

“You spend all your time caring for others,” Loki observed, “Yet caring for yourself seems to be an afterthought.”

“I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be fine.” Theo rolled her eyes, but smiled. “I just need a nap and I’ll be good to go.”

It wasn’t entirely true - she’d probably have a headache for a few days, not to mention feel a bit queasy, but for the time being the explanation would suffice. At least on earth, Excedrin was a thing.

Though he responded with a skeptical glance, Loki didn’t push the subject. His hand still sat on hers, but he slipped his fingers between hers and squeezed.

#e writes #writing snippets #Loki x ofc #loki x ofc fanfiction #Loki #mcu Loki #loki odinson #loki odinson fanfiction #loki laufeyson #hurt/comfort #loki hurt/comfort #When Everything's Made to be Broken #WEMtbB

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ticklystuff · 2 years ago

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Ignore this if you're not still doing ficlet requests! But if you are, may I request ler Tighnari with any lee of your choice, and ribs for the spot?

Thank you in advance and plz keep on writing! You're so talented and your work never fails to put me in a lee mood sjdhdbdbd

send no more, thx!

asdlkfjds i read the second part of your ask like five times tyty you are so kind <3 i decided to go with lee!aether if that's alright hehe

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'KEEP OUT'

Hands on his hips, Aether couldn't help but snort amusedly at the tiny sign attached to the flimsy rope crossing the entrance of Tighnari's "secret" lab, which wasn't exactly so discreet due to Ghandarva Ville's lack of doors for their buildings. The blond had only known Tighnari for a few days, but surely an Akademiya graduate would be able to come up with something better than this. With a hop to his step, Aether easily crossed over the low-hanging rope, disobeying the sign that was practically made to be broken.

The room itself was filled with all sorts of flora, not that he was surprised as Tighnari was a walking encyclopedia for all sorts of plants. The various colors of petals and leaves drew Aether's attention in multiple directions and the blond found it difficult to focus on just one specimen. Instead, Aether took note of the little tags located next to most of the plants. Each tag was filled with scribbled notes, some more cramped than others, most of them illegible, yet some Aether was able to decipher.

"Benign, fresh yet bold flavor, would make a nice garnish," Aether read the notes out loud, taking a glance at the plant in question. He picked up the little pot that contained the plant, taking in the subtle citrus scent that accompanied the thin leaves. Based off of the little note, the plant seemed inviting enough and Aether picked off a piece, before setting said leaf at the tip of his tongue, only to wretch a second later and cough up due to the overwhelming taste of soap flooding his mouth. He was suddenly hit by flashbacks of Paimon purchasing an enticing looking soap bar from Marjorie's gift shop back in Monstadt that she slyly passed off as food. Aether did his best to spit out any remains of the disgusting leaf to rid himself of not only the soapy taste, but the awful memory as well, before placing the plant back in disdain. Clearly, he and Tighnari differed in taste when it came to food.

The blond continued to peruse the various plants, making sure not to taste them out of curiosity's sake. There was one plant that he would've missed had it not been for the reflected light from the skylight. The plant was the only one enclosed in a glass container and it's placement behind many fronds and vines only piqued his interest. What was so special about this plant that Tighnari needed to keep it so well contained? Granted it was a pretty plant; it had yet to bloom, so the petals were still enclosed in a bulbous-like shape. The petals themselves were a nice mix of pink and red and their translucent body almost made them look like hardened candy. If Aether had to guess what the plant smelled like, he would maybe say bubblegum. Reaching out, Aether was just barely able to lift the container enclosing the plant, before grabbing the pot itself and bringing the plant closer for examination, taking in the cute little petals waiting to blossom.

"Aether!"

The sudden call of his name made the blond jump, nearly dropping the plant in the process. Having jostled the plant itself, a few spores did escape the blossoms, making its way to Aether's nose and the blond sneezed in response, sniffling as he turned to the entrance to see a very angry Tighnari with many baskets of plants in hand. "Aha, sorry, I was just curious," he apologized with a chuckle, now that he had been caught, watching as Tighnari dropped the baskets in hand and marched over to him.

"You shouldn't be snooping here!" Tighnari scolded him, taking the plant in hand, only to avoid another sneeze from Aether. "Oh, gross."

"Ugh, I think I might have breathed in some pollen," Aether sighed with a stuffy nose.

This seemed to catch Tighnari's attention and he turned back to look at Aether with widened eyes after setting the plant back under the glass container. "From this plant?"

Aether nodded. "Yeah, why?"

Tighnari walked back over to him and placed a hand on his forehead, glancing over Aether with concern. "Do you feel anything strange right now?"

"W-Wait, what do you mean?" Aether wasn't sure how to react. "Tighnari, you're starting to scare me."

"Well, consuming the plant or inhaling its spores will often yield many side effects."

He finally connected the dots as to why that plant was isolated. "Such as?" Aether asked hesitantly, unsure if he actually wanted to learn more.

Tighnari put a hand to his chin as he spoke. "Well, from previous observations, we've seen an increase in neural activity."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"Heightened sensitivity of the skin," Tighnari spoke as if it was common knowledge. "Tell me, is anything different?"

Now that Tighnari mentioned it, something did feel off. "The room feels a bit warmer, I think."

"Alright," Tighnari nodded to the other, seemingly calm with the current situation. "There is a much more direct way to test this. Please, lift your arms up and keep them there."

Aether did as he was told and glanced at Tighnari nervously. "How long do you think this will last? This might hold me baHAHAHACK!" Aether suddenly yelped when Tighnari started tickling his ribs and he quickly backed away, folding his arms over his ribs to protect them. "W-What was that for?!"

"It's a simple way to make a diagnosis that doesn't bring harm," Tighnari explained. He took a step forward to the reluctant blond and placed his hands on Aether's arms, giving them a slight tug. "Now, come on. Arms up again."

Aether hesitated for a moment, before doing as he was told. He screwed his eyes shut, wincing when at the feeling of Tighnari's fingers by his ribs again. "A-Ahahaha! Ehehehahaha!" he danced in place as Tighnari poked rapidly at his ribs, filling the tiny room with giggles.

"I have no frame of reference, so do you feel more ticklish than you normally do?"

"Yehehehes! Ah-HAH!!" he jumped as Tighnari began kneading his fingers into the underparts of his ribs. "Tighnaharihihihi!"

"I'm sorry, but this part is required," Tighnari told him, but there wasn't a hint of sincerity to his apology, or Aether was sure by the way the forest ranger began maliciously squeezing at his ribs now, producing the most laughter yet.

"OKAY! OKAHAHAY! STAHAHAHAP!"

Tighnari removed his hands from Aether's rib cage, returning his hand to his chin as if he were contemplating if Aether needed further "testing". "You sure you're not usually this sensitive."

"I-I'm sure," Aether panted with a nod, hunched over as he caught his breath.

"Alright, I believe you," Tighnari told him, much to Aether's relief. "Let's go over other symptoms, one of which is dilated pupils. Lift your head up for me."

Aether looked up at Tighnari with wide eyes, watching as he nodded in response.

"Alright, check," he spoke again. "Do you feel any sort of fatigue?"

"Well, you just tickled me."

Tighnari chuckled amusedly. "I suppose so. Alright, the last one we often see is an increase in gullibility."

"How am I supposed to check for-" Aether stopped himself, giving Tighnari a dumbfounded stare. "Are you serious?"

Tighnari laughed again, this time out of mockery, giving himself a few accomplished claps. "Man, you totally fell for it! You were freaking out so much!"

Aether felt an embarrassed blush begin to spread across his face, feeling the shame at full force. "That was really mean."

"Well, that will teach you next time you decide to snoop through other people's stuff."

"Well, how was I supposed to know?" Aether huffed in annoyance, placing his hands on his hips. "Is that plant even dangerous?"

"Absolutely not," Tighnari snickered with the usual sass in his voice. "That plant is a gift for someone important. It was difficult for me to obtain it, so I hid it here and placed it in a glass jar to protect it till he arrives. He's actually on his way right now."

Aether sighed, tired with the way he was toyed with. "Well, I guess it's better that it's all fake."

"Oh, well, you're still incredibly ticklish," Tighnari joked, giving Aether a few playful pokes to his ribs. "Now, come on, leave before I do feed you something bad."

Aether snickered as he avoided the pokes, hopping back over the flimsy rope, catching one last glance of the 'KEEP OUT' sign he should've obeyed in the first place.

#aether #tighnari #genshin impact #tickling

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