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russellsppttemplates · 1 year ago

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How oblivious, Charles! (George Russell)

Usually, people think being a twin means having to share everything is a con, but really, it's having another you to help in everything

Note: english is not my first language. Here's some Leclerc!reader for you, it was quite fun!

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Tw: reader and George are in a secret relationship, mentions alcohol consumption

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog

"Is that a guys' wallet in the story you uploaded today? Who did you go and have lunch with today, Y/N?", Lorenzo asked, sitting next to you on the living room's sofa, exaggerating his fall and purposefully partially body blocking you.

"Why do you care so much?", you asked, hearing Charles' footsteps on the stairs, surely hearing the topic his older brother was on about and wanting to know more.

Because we are your older brothers and have a right to know if and who our little sister is dating!", Charles said, sitting next to you more gently than Lorenzo, expectant of your answer.

"I was with Arthur, if you must know", you said, looking at your younger (even if it was by only a few minutes) brother as he walked inside from the balcony, "me and Arthur had lunch today", you signalled with his eyes, hoping he would get the message.

While most people thought being a twin was a bad thing because you had to share everything since the womb, you would have to disagree. Having a twin brother had not only made your childhood incredible because you had a sibling always ready to play with you when your older brothers couldn't but also because you had someone to cover up any mishap the other did.

Your dating life wasn't a mishap, per se, but you and George had been careful. You knew how the media would react at the fact that the only Leclerc girl was dating a Formula One driver, and quite frankly, how your brothers would react. In reality, any person wanting to date you would have big trouble as it was, but being someone they knew so well?

Surprisingly, Arthur had been calm when he found out. He was quick to join the pieces when he went looking for you in the Mercedes hospitality, someone mindlessly pointing him there as it had been the last place they had seen you walk in. When he asked you about it, you couldn't lie to him. He understood your worries, and like so, he vowed to not tell anyone until you allowed him to. Unlike the odds of Charles making the same promise to you, Arthur been careful and, so far, there had been no issues.

"Yes, we went for lunch by the bay", Arthur replied shortly, "are you jealous?", he teased them. The ongoing joke that, one day, you two would join forces would take on the world was recurrent and hardly harmful, but it didn't mean you didn't love teasing them about it.

"Why don't you join forces and take on Ferrari's strategy delegation? Might as well start small before taking on the world", Lorenzo tapped Charles' back, making all of you laugh at the situation.

"That's where you think we would start small? At this point, taking over Monaco sounds easier", you offered.

"Did I just hear my mother talk about how 'lovely George must be' because you gave my brother advice on his love life and how it is to have a sister who's probably dating? Did I hear that correctly, George William Russell?", you said as you walked inside your boyfriend's apartment as soon as the door opened.

"Did your mother talk nicely about me? I think you should be thrilled about it", he said, puckering his lips so you could kiss them, melting when he finally had you close to him.

"I hate you, did you know that?", you slapped George's chest, kissing the spot straight away as you chuckled.

"It was funny, you have to admit it! Charles was genuinely listening to my advice and telling me all his worries about you, I think it's cute and caring, actually", George brought you to his kitchen, seeing you take a peek at want he was cooking, humming in delight as the scent stroked your nostrils, "my mother sure is delighted. Pascale Leclerc is a woman who takes a lot of convincing and persuasion, and she kept singing your praises!", you yelped when George's hand touched your tummy under your shirt, "I know how to make the Leclerc women fall in love with me, don't I?", he said cockily.

"You wouldn't prefer to be in a restaurant instead of having to eat in?", you asked as George as you helped him carry the food to the table, "I don't mind it, and this way we can have more privacy", he smiled.

"When do you want to tell them about us?", you continued, serving yourself and then your boyfriend, "whenever you want to, darling", George replied honestly, taking the cork off of the bottle and pouring the wine.

"Besides, I like this game where people try to figure out who you are and who I am", your boyfriend chuckled, kissing your forehead as you shook your head, watching him sit down in front of you, "Charles, especially, he's so easy to wind up about you. The other day, and I have to admit it I actually nearly gave it all away, it was me, Charles and some Ferrari guys, Pierre and Francisca, and she was commenting on how pretty you looked in your dress, and I made an humming sound in agreement as one of the crew members agreed and he shot daggers through his eyes directed at him", he explained.

"I think he genuinely doesn't know about it. Arthur knows about it, he's one of the reasons we've been able to do this for this long. Lorenzo knows that I'm seeing someone, and he's pretty much certain he is someone from the paddock, I think. Why he is keeping it quiet and never bringing it up, that I don't know. But I think he knows more than he says he does", you took a sip of wine.

Celebrations after the race were mandatory today. Both Charles and Arthur had been in the podium for each of their races, and since the whole family had travelled for the race, your family and some of the other drivers had agreed to have dinner together and celebrate at a club later.

"Behave, all of you", your mother threatened lightly, "I don't you doing anything that is dangerous, non consensual or illegal, okay?", she said as you and your brothers kissed her cheek good night before she went back to the hotel.

When arriving to the club, you were shown the area you'd be spending the night in, Lando and Carlos taking all of the orders from the rest of the group as your twin brother approached you, "is tonight the night?", he wondered.

You raised your eyebrows, not getting what he meant, "you're drinking, I've seen you look at George with eyes that could only mean you're undressing him your mind, so is tonight the night you slip and show everyone?", he smirked as you widened your eyes, "not if I can help it! Why are you conspiring against us?", you belted out.

"I'm only joking, if you need cover up, let me know okay? Besides, I think he's the one we will have to look out for tonight", Arthur chuckled, kissing the top of your head and looking at Carlos and Charles doing shots by the bar.

The music was nice and you had been dancing with Francisca and Lily until the Portuguese girl excused herself. Not long after, Alex walked up to his girlfriend, "Y/N Leclerc, just the one I was looking for", he smiled cheekily at you.

"Why do I sense this is going to be bad for me?", you squeezed your eyes nearly shut as the Williams driver pulled George with him, "if I have to dance with Lily, and I have to because this is the song we always dance together to, you can't be alone! George is a fine dancer, I'd say, so, lead the way, Russell!", he said as he made your boyfriend approach you.

Chuckling, you allowed George to hold your hand, "does he know?", you asked your boyfriend, "no, I didn't tell anyone, but he was just telling me that we'd be a good fit for eachother, and that if I could 'tame the army of brothers' you have, it would be smooth sailing", he offered, twirling you as the song became louder.

"Wonder where he got the idea, hm?", you smiled, George's arm and hand helping you twirl and spin, "Do you think they'll notice if I sneak a kiss?", George whispered.

Classic George, he was wearing a shirt, the top two buttons undone and his hair was wavy just how you liked it. Having started the race from the bottom places, the post race glow after he reached P4 was noticeable and it made him ever more charming and handsome as you pulled his neck down slightly, stealing a kiss when no one was looking.

"Arthur! Why do I have hair gel on my floor? Last time I checked, this wasn't a cleaning hack", you asked your brorher over the phone as he laughed histerically, "it's not funny Arthur! Me and George were wearing socks and it's all gooey now!".

"You can't deal with your boyfriend's feet, Y/N?", Arthur teased you, seeing your disgusted expression.

The prank was simple. Hair gel in your bedroom floor on the day everyone was our of the house and Arthur had assured you you'd have the place to yourself for the day.

"The minute you offered help, I should've- thank you, amour- I should've suspected!", you snapped, "my boyfriend has pretty feet, they're not like your nasty ones!", you said, chuckling as George wiped the floor with a wet cloth he carefully got from the kitchen after he cleaned his feet.

"Is this you having a go at my feet or at my hair?", George asked Arthur, smiling at his prank, "you looked like you needed help!", your brother offered his input.

"I love his fluffy hair, so I suggest you stay out of it before I go to your room and clean these wet cloths on your bed", you foreshadowed, you're lucky you're helping me have my boyfriend all to myself today, Arthur, or this could've ended differently".

"Why is George here?", Charles asked, noticing his friend walking to his mother's house garden with you by his side.

"Y/N didn't tell you he was joining us for lunch?", Pascale said simply, smirking at her son's obliviousness.

Your mother, as it turns out, had known all along not only that you were in a romantic relationship, but a romantic relationship wirh George Russell. Her unfazed expression when you announced to her you'd be bringing him to your family lunch told you that much, "Chérie, you have that look in your eye your father had for me when we met. It's kind, and a little scared, too, but it's full of passion, too. I noticed the moment you came home from Silverstone", she smiled, hugging you and kissing your forehead.

"Have you seriously not caught on, brother?", Lorenzo laughed at Charles' unawareness as Arthur watched his jaw drop when the Scuderia Ferrari driver noticed George was holding his sister's hand, "no way!", he yelled.

"Charles, this is my boyfriend, George. We've been dating for a few months now", you introduced them like they didn't race eachother twenty four weekends out do the year.

"How did I not know you were daring my sister?", Charles asked George, and maybe a little to himself too, "I spend a third of the year near you, and you live here on Monaco, where you've been seeing my little sister? How did I miss this?".

Chuckling at him, you walked up to Charles, letting go of George's hand and hugging your brother, "to be fair, Arthur covered for me a lot", you explained.

"But mama and Arthur knew, then?", he wondered, looking at the rest of the family.

"I thought only Arthur knew, but mama has known from the start, it seems. I only told Arthur", you clarified.

"I got suspicious when the race was here, you kept 'accidentally' going to the Mercedes hospitality, right Y/N? Didn't say anything as j figured it wasn't my place", Lorenzo excused himself.

"You knew and you didn't tell me? I asked you so many time if you knew if she was dating!", Charles pointed his finger at Arthur.

"We're twins, Charles, I wouldn't do her that dirty", Arthur added, "you certainly didn't have any issues when we swapped her shampoo when we were younger", he called, "That's different, messing with that is okay. With her feelings, it isn't", Arthur smiled.

"I hope you're also an apologist of not playing or messing with her feelings, George", Charles threatened lightly.

"The most. No messing with her feelings ever, even if she had messed my heart quite a bit until she finally let me win her over", George said as you approached him, hugging your waist ad kissing the side of your head.

#george russell x reader #george russell imagine #george russell fanfic #george russell fluff #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 fanfic

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karniss-bg3 · 1 year ago

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WAIT!! Kar’niss can purr?????!!!!!???

Yes!

...Well, sort of.

While the term “purr” does fit to describe his sounds, it’s not exactly like what we would expect from cats. I’d say it’s more akin to a reverberated croak or trill. I don’t believe Larian included the isolated background crowing he does in the game files but it is present anytime he speaks. It also seems to intensify in response to high emotional stimulus, such as rage and ecstasy. So I imagine when he isn’t speaking but he feels very content, calm, or deeply annoyed then he will idly purr in response.

Another neat addition to his speech is how breathy every word is. He pants a lot and it sounds like the very act of pushing words out is an exhausting endeavor for him. This would make sense considering his anatomy is fifteen flavors of fucked up. There is a debate on if the organs in his torso still function or if all of his inner workings are delegated to the spider body alone. Either way, his humanoid lungs wouldn’t be equipped to supply oxygen to a form that large which would make breathing and speaking a chore. Either that or the book lungs in his abdomen have to work overtime to deliver air to his mouth due the distance between the two and the same issue crops up as a result. I’m not sure if this was intentional on Larian’s part but if so I think it’s a clever addition to his character design. It tells the player a lot without explaining it. Show, don’t tell, as they say.

The voice clip included here is one of the few times we witness Kar’niss pretty pleased with himself. As usual, his tone is very labored and breathy. But we can also hear the background reverb that clings to his speech. I really enjoy the sound effect, more than I probably should. I’ve always wanted an eight legged cat.

Thanks for the ask!

#baldur's gate 3 #kar'niss #bg3 #karniss #drider #baldurs gate 3 #answered #bg3 kar'niss #sound byte #I refuse to clean his litter box though. He has two hands of his own.

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short-wooloo · 2 months ago

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I've seen talk of how Luke should appear in Skeleton Crew because Jod's actions would draw Luke's attention...

Yeah, I'm gonna push back on this, nothing has happened in the show which merits and more importantly justifies Luke's presence

Let's break it down

1. The creators have specifically said they made this show with the idea in mind that it can be people's (the kid target audience's) "First Star Wars", no homework, no prior knowledge of the SW universe required to understand, could they be lying? Yes, but that's a foolhardy thing to do, overreliance on cameos is a major complaint about SW of late, and the mandoverse' reception has not been the greatest, so to lie and say this is a stand alone, no need to watch anything else show only to have THE Star Wars character show up, that will not go over well

2. Luke is busy, he's trying to rebuild the Jedi Order, lead it, find students, find Jedi artifacts, train students, (wondering what the fuck happened to ahsoka) he's got too much on his plate to chase after Jod, which brings me to...

3. Nothing thus far has actually happened in Skeleton Crew that is worth Luke's attention, aside from the events of the show being very "lower deck" relative to the rest of the universe, what is there specifically that demands Luke's intervention? And before you say it, no Jod doesn't, that guy is low level, he's not a very successful or well known pirate, so there's no reason that Luke needs to stop him over anyone else, the quest for At-Attin doesn't justify Luke showing up either as there's nothing about At-Attin that would lead him to pause all the other stuff he's dealing with for a planet believed to be a myth, and Jod's force sensitivity doesn't demand Luke's presence as that's only known to the kids, and nothing about Jod says only Luke can stop him over anyone else, and that leads me to my final point

4. Luke is not the only Jedi out there, the Jedi are rare, but not gone, and given that Luke has been in contact with ahsoka it's safe to say he's tried to reach out to other surviving Jedi, so if he did take notice of what's going on in Skeleton Crew Luke would probably just delegate the task so he could focus on his, just call up another Jedi survivor and say "hey can you look into this for me?"

#wooloo-writes #wooloo writes #star wars #sw #skeleton crew #sw skeleton crew #star wars skeleton crew #skeleton crew spoilers #jod na nawood #luke skywalker #jedi

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tearsaura · 8 days ago

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In the woods, the monster awaits // Eris Vanserra x reader

Based on this comment by @astarionsdurge thank you so much for this prompt! I hope you like it.

picture is from pinterest: tanema3

Word count: 1.2k

The estate was much quieter nowadays. Visiting it served only two purposes: seeing my mother or following up on court business. It always felt cold, which is ironic since our power was quite the opposite.

My father’s office was the furthest away at the highest floor and even that didn’t seem far away enough from us. As I climbed up the stairs and entered his space a few moments later, the familiar smell of his cologne hit me and it made my skin crawl.

“We must check in with y/l/n. The magic on our borders is wearing of. There has been an increase on beasts in the woods and if they get any closer, they’ll feast on the village by noon and on us by the evening.” Beron said without looking up from his papers as I stepped closer to his desk.

Well hello to you too father!

Yes, I am doing alright thank you for asking!

Our army shrinks with every day that passes but you already knew that and you refuse to do anything about it! What will you do when there are none left, even for you?

How are you feeling? Any chance that you step down and free this court from its misery?

My father, the high lord of the autumn court, summoned me at dawn to complain, like he usually did. He did take me by surprise that he decided to do something about it instead of delegating it to someone else. Maybe the thoughts of being a meal for some beasts did worry him.

“Shall I meet up with him today?”

“No, I already scheduled to meet up and I want you to accompany me, I need to have a word with him first but after that it is going to be your problem.” He said, raising from his chair.

With other words, he wanted the people from the village to think that he does care about them. That’s what he usually does: Goes to the poorer villages occasionally, act as if he cares, promises them that he works something out to help them but never actually does it. He wordlessly walked out, his guards trailing after him. I sighed, counted to ten, and went after them.

The horse ride to the boarders went quietly thankfully. I tuned out my fathers talking and took in the lands. The autumn court was beautiful, especially the forest. We reached the said place at the border shortly, and nobody was there. I got off my horse and gave him something to eat before joining my father, who was already seething. It was astonishing, how short his patience ran.

“This is unacceptable. Where is the old man?” Beron complained as he dismounted his horse, walking further into the woods.

Please dear mother, let this man get lost in there and never come back.

“This is a forest, he probably needs some time to find us because it looks all, you know, the same.” I claimed, walking after him whilst keeping my distance.

“I am the high lord of the autumn court! I do not have the time or the nerve to wait on some old Witcher to find his way to the place I ordered him to get to on time. He’s a Witcher don’t they sense people?”

“We don’t. We only sense the magic, or well, the lack of it.” A feminine voice called and as I turned around, I was sure that reality had left me. The unknown woman came towards us, my father taking a few steps back as his guards stepped in front of him.

She nearly made me drop to my knees. There were no words on this world that would do right in describing how beautiful she was. No music could come close to the sound of her voice. Without thinking, I stepped closer to her.

The woman raised up her hands in surrender. “No need to draw weapons. I am not here to harm you, high lord. My father sends me: y/l/n, the old Witcher?” she said, a coy smile graced her red lips. Of course, I personally hadn’t seen her father but her signature light grey, almost white, eyes gave her away as a family member of the witches.

“Why didn’t he come himself? I specifically told him that he should come. One would think that the order of the High lord where to take-” “He went to another weak spot. Sadly, this area isn’t our only problem. It took me a while to find you because the magic is missing in multiple places.”

I swallowed. One leakage was bad, but manageable. Multiple where a bad sign. Something was wrong.

“So, what can we do about it?” I asked, her eyes now fixating on me. They looked just like the sky during autumns stormy afternoons. Very hard to look away from, pulling me deeper into this trance.

“You are?”

“Eris. Eris Vanserra.” She continued to look at me, her head tilting slightly. She had a mole right over her upper lip on the left side.

“My oldest son.” I hadn’t even realised that my father had stepped closer too. “He will take over this matter and you’ll correspond directly to him. Unfortunately, I must go. Court affairs.” He said, before he went to his horse, his guards trailing after him.

She waited for a few moments, watching my father and his guards leaving and as they became a small figure in the distance, her attention turned back to me.

“I feel sorry for lady autumn. It must be tiring to listen to this man for even a second, I fear.”

“You have no idea.” I replied and she gave me another smile. She had dimples.

“So, my father and I are working on resurrecting the old magic that was used. But it is many centuries old and all the tomes we have need to be translated first. We will work with lesser magic until we have it but that would only last days or weeks at most. For the time being I would stay here to make sure that everything is alright.” She said, stemming her hands on her hips as she observed.

She smelled divine. Oranges with a hint of vanilla. He wanted to wrap her scent around him for the rest of his life.

“The Forrest house isn’t far from here. You can stay there.” I blurted, her eyes widening in surprise. “Oh, that is quite all right I thought about bringing a tent-” “A tent? Absolutely not. You are saving your people with your work. The least I can do is make sure that you have an actual roof over your head.” I said, stepping closer to her. She bit her lip, as she looked up to me, the confidence from before replaced with sudden shyness.

“Thank you, Eris.”

Eris. That’s what did it. I suddenly felt the thin golden thread pulling me towards her and my breath hitched.

Mate.

Must protect her, must keep her safe.

I found my mate. I took everything in me not to blurt it right out.

“Of course.” I whispered, before I held out my arm to her hoping that she didn’t notice it trembling.

“I’ll bring you there.”

#acotar #eris vanserra #eris vanserra x reader #a court of thorns and roses #autumn court #acomaf #acowar #acofas #acosf

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emmg · 5 months ago

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Larian really did it, eh? They took one look at all the rich possibilities for complex, deeply layered antagonists and thought, "Nah, screw that. Let’s just make a devil who could probably cum just by looking at his own reflection." And somehow—somehow—it worked. Like, I know I’m showing up late to the party here, but holy hells, they cooked up Raphael, a mysterious, narcissistic, probably-can-suck-his-own-dick-until-he’s-cross-eyed kind of character, who has about as much emotional depth as a puddle of jizz. And the fandom? The fandom was like, “Oh yes, Daddy, I would like a side of that. And make it extra toxic.”

Let’s be real here, the man struts around like he’s the second coming of every goddamn god in the Realms, practically making love to his own shadow as it follows him around. And we're all like, “Yeah, that’s it. That’s my guy.” He’s the type who wakes up, glances at himself in the mirror, and you know the first words out of his mouth are, “How do you do it, you stunning, devastatingly perfect beast?”

And when he’s done looking at himself, he watches his own cum drip down the mirror like it’s some kind of divine art installation. He’s just standing there, all smug, probably biting his lip, admiring the drip as if it’s the Sistine Chapel and muttering, “Exquisite. Truly a masterpiece, Raphael. You outdo yourself again.”

And yet. And yet. Despite the fact that he lasts about as long in bed as it takes me to throw out any remaining shred of dignity I possess—spoiler alert, it’s not long at all—the fandom is still like, “Oh yes, give me that.” I mean, let’s call it what it is: Raphael is over here jerking off in front of a mirror, flexing his wings, probably biting his lip and winking at his reflection while moaning something like, “I’m the real devil here,” and somehow people are out there thirsting after him like he’s offering a five-course meal instead of trauma with a side of existential dread.

You know this guy practices his sexy monologues in the mirror every morning, right? There’s no way he doesn’t. He’s probably standing there, buck-ass naked, wings unfurled, saying something ridiculous like, “Oh, Tav, you poor fool. You never stood a chance,” while blowing a kiss to his own reflection. And you know the moment Tav walks in, he’s like, “Oh, didn’t see you there,” as if he wasn’t just mid-flex, trying to decide if his pecs or his horns were his best feature today.

Honestly, Raphael probably thinks missionary is an act of charity. He’s not trying to make anyone else feel good—he’s just giving you the honor of basking in his sheer, unfiltered glory. Meanwhile, you’re over here just happy to be involved while he’s thinking about how good his ass must look reflected in the chandelier above. He’s like, “Oh yes, you love this. Everyone loves this. I love this,” as if the entire experience is just him doing you a favor by letting you witness the seventh wonder of the world: him.

AO3 is out here churning out fanfiction like, “Raphael’s sweat dripped down his perfectly sculpted abs, glistening in the flickering candlelight of Avernus as Tav moaned, ‘Oh, Raphael, you’re just so… perfect.’ He smirked, flicking his tongue as if seduction were some high art only he had mastered,” and somehow we’re all reading this like, “Yes. Yes, please.” It’s ridiculous, but are we complaining? Absolutely not. But also what abs? The motherfucker is sipping wine all day and delegating every possible task to everyone but himself. He should have a beer gut.

AO3 has officially become the home for the weirdest, most insane, borderline illegal fantasies you didn’t know you had until Raphael walked in with that velvet voice and that “I’m better than everyone” attitude. And suddenly, you’re reading about how he’s chained Tav to a bed made of solid gold in a mansion on the second layer of Hell, calling her ‘mouse’ like it’s a goddamn pet name while he drafts another contract with one hand and—you know—‘negotiates’ with the other. Tav’s out here thinking, “I could stop this if I wanted,” but really, could she? Could anyone?

Oh, and let’s not forget the taglines on these fics: “Extreme narcissism,” “dubious consent,” “he’s an actual devil, what did you expect?”, “wingplay,” “weird infernal kinks you didn’t know existed,” and my personal favorite, “Raphael’s dick is bigger than his ego (which is saying something).” And somehow, people are eating it up like it’s the best goddamn wine from Avernus, despite the fact that Raphael is probably the kind of guy who’d finish in record time, look over at you, and say something like, “Well, aren’t you lucky to have had me?” before leaving to stare at himself in the mirror again.

At the end of the day, Raphael is the equivalent of someone giving you their business card after mediocre sex and telling you they’re free for a follow-up next Thursday. He’s probably sitting back after three minutes of glorified foreplay, sipping on some infernal wine, dribbling down his chest, cock half-hard and still leaking, saying, “That was a gift, darling. You’re welcome.” Meanwhile, you’re left there thinking, “Is it rude to ask for a refund?” You know he’s terrible for you, but like, what’s the alternative? Not letting him wreck your life? Ridiculous. Absolutely not.

This is the kind of fandom insanity we’ve built, folks. Raphael’s out here jerking off to his own reflection and smirking like he’s some kind of gift to the multiverse, while the rest of us are like, “Yes, Daddy, please tell me more about how you’ve single-handedly ruined my life and maybe take your shirt off while you’re at it.”

And what’s truly wild is that somehow, somehow, we’ve collectively managed to elevate this walking, talking narcissistic wet dream—this smarmy, self-obsessed devil with more self-love than a Greek god on steroids—into the sex icon of the year. Like, how? Raphael’s out here selling delusions of grandeur with a side of, “Oh, by the way, I will absolutely fuck you over, and you’ll thank me for it,” and the fandom’s response? We all just dropped our panties like it’s some kind of compulsory event. Logic? Gone. Self-respect? Out the window. It’s like we’re all standing in line with a collective, “Sir, yes, sir! Please ruin my life.”

#this is my manifesto #thank god veilguard is coming out so i can obsess about less toxic characters #but maybe not #raphael bg3 #bg3 #raphael x tav #bg3 shitpost #raphael baldur's gate 3 #i'm really spiraling over here with the quiet season and nothing to grade

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formulatrash · 27 days ago

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are all the 2025 rookies like jack? :/

I'll be honest I suspect not even Jack's really like that in that I'm sure, yes, he does think women should vote and does not think people with butterfly tattoos are possessed. I think he probably, like most of them, barely actually looks at his "own" tiktok. his marketing is done by the Owlpine Group (HILARIOUS name I must say) and they will have followed a bunch of big accounts.

a good social media manager will have vetted those accounts to make sure they're not batshit flat earthers claiming aliens built pyramids in Serbia or redpill misogynists or whatever. but a lot of them aren't good and don't realise people look at this stuff or that it matters.

Owlpine are a few people who were presumably assembled specifically to do Jack's marketing. they're from his hometown and they're probably family friends. they may have no background in this sort of thing, let alone when it's personal accounts under this sort of scrutiny.

my mate Rosie, who runs 115dgrs and previously was a founder of wearegrip, has to go through the follows every time she takes on a new account and does it personally, doesn't delegate it to her staff because it is so important and she knows that. but a lot of people don't and think it's important to just follow some big accounts to make it look like it's a real, used account not just something set up and used exclusively by a marketing agency.

drivers using their mates for their social media is as prolific as esports teams using their girlfriends as their PR/managers and about as successful. while there have been a couple of wags who've turned out to know how to run a business in a very cut-throat, complex world and a few mates who've discovered a talent for tiktoks, it's a huge risk not to go to professionals who spend all their time thinking about and reading up on all this sort of thing.

but yeah, no idea honestly. they all seem like nice, earnest lads - generally, drivers I've spoken too have been on the good end of people. some of them are dicks but they tend to announce that fairly loudly (Ferrucci) and some of them can be dicks even if they aren't fundamentally horrible (Verstappen) but as a rule they're fairly earnest about wanting to do the right thing.

#f1 asks

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omegaversecurse · 3 months ago

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Chapter 3 of Teyvat Tales of a Creator God!

I know things suck so bad rn- so I'm uploading a surprise chapter early for y'all!

I awoke to the feeling of my hair being played with. My eyes fluttered open, and I saw Kaeya’s face looking at me fondly. I smiled softly, before our cute moment was interrupted by the sound of a knock.

“Yes?” I asked, slightly annoyed, and Barbara and Rosaria opened the door.

“Oh!” Barbara said, her face almost glowing red, while Rosaria snickered. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, before my face went as red as Barbara as I realized how it looked to have Kaeya in my bed.

“No- no- we didn’t- we didn’t… I’m going to shut up now…” I said embarrassed. Rosaria smirked and said,

”I didn’t expect our divine creator to be so vulnerable to Kaeya’s seduction techniques,”

My face burned from the blush,

”What can I say, I’m simply irresistible,” Kaeya said with a wink. Barbara looked like she was about to faint, and I probably didn’t look much better. Kaeya looked over to me and softened,

“Hey, you good?” He questioned,

“Yeah… just embarrassed,” I said. Barbara, seemingly recovered from the shock of seeing her divine creator in bed with someone, said

”Well now that you’re awake, We have your outfit for the day, Liyue’s delegates will come at around lunch, the honorary knight should be with them,”

I smiled at her as Kaeya took the outfit from Barbara, with a quick bow, she exited seemingly in a hurry. Rosaria sighed and followed after her.

Kaeya, gave me the outfit, and said,

“If you need any help let me know,” he said, and led me to the bathroom to change.

As I took off the covering, I gasped in shock at the beauty of the gown. It was an anemo green, and glittered as it caught the light. I stripped down and put it on, as I realized I would need help tying up the corset. The bottom of the gown was golden, and covered in golden mini wind wheel asters. I couldn’t resist giving the gown a little twirl, and I laughed as I felt like a princess.

After the brief moment of celebration, I exited the bathroom, and asked Kaeya for help tying the corset. He smiled, and helped lace me up. Despite the horror stories of too tight corsets, it wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

“Do you need help with your hair?” He asked, I nodded, and he grabbed a brush and began getting out the knots that arise from sleeping outside for several days. He started braiding my hair, in a loose four stranded braid,

“The four strands are meant to represent the four winds,” he commented, before putting a wind wheel aster clip that matched the bottom of the dress to keep it secure.

After he finished I turned to him, and he asked

”Are you ready?”

I sighed and nodded, ready for a long day. He held my hand as he led me out of the cathedral, where everyone was waiting for me to arrive. And I mean everyone, all the vision holders in Mondstat were here, from Albedo to Venti. Kaeya once again pulled out my chair, and pushed me in when I sat down. He then sat at my right side. As I scanned the crowd, they all stared at me with varying levels of curiosity.

I grabbed some fruit to eat, as well as some fried eggs and pancakes. The pancakes reminded me of Noelles specialty dish, and I noticed her beam when I grabbed them. As I ate, I tried to be on my best manners, knowing several people were watching me eat. I also made sure to eat slower in order to ensure everyone got a chance to eat. I didn’t want to make the same mistake as yesterday.

Once I finished, making sure that everyone else was done eating, the nuns started to take our plates.

Klee stood up eagerly and said, “Can we give gifts now!” Almost yelling from excitement.

Albedo put a hand on her shoulder and told her to use inside voices. Klee nodded seriously before saying in a whisper yell, “can we give gifts now,” I looked to Kaeya in confusion, mouthing “gifts?” To him. He nodded and said, “The people of Mondstat have prepared gifts for your return,”

I smiled at Klee and said, “I’d love to open gifts Klee,” who was practically vibrating from excitement.

I was led over to the front of the church, and sat down on the chair (throne?) provided, Kaeya standing on my right side.

”Me first! Me first!” Klee said, dragging her and Albedo to the front.

“Your grace, me and Klee have prepared a gift for your enjoyment, we hope you appreciate it,”

“It’s your very own Dodoco! He’s friends with my Dodoco and they go on adventures together!”

I gasped at the cuteness, “Thank you so much Klee and Albedo, I love it!” I gave my new plush a big hug and a kiss on the forehead. I sat my Dodoco next to me for safekeeping, as the next person came forward to give me my gift.

“Your Grace, I, famed astrologer Mona Megistus, give you this gift of a light box, simply put a candle in the box, and it will project a image of the night sky that appeared the night of your arrival,”

I smiled again, and gave Mona my thanks. The line continued and I received gift after gift from the assembled crowd. Some of the highlights included a TCG deck from Diona, a wind glider from Amber, and a set of beautiful ornate knives from Rosaria.

Finally it was Venti’s turn, and he looked quite nervous when approaching me. “Your Grace, a lyre attuned to the four winds, if you ever need help, merely play it and one of us will come to your aid,” I smiled at Venti, even if it was tight, and said thanks. He looked rather relieved that I accepted his gift, and moved to join the others at the pews.

The nuns and Kaeya moved to help pack up all the gifts, but when I moved to help them, Kaeya put his hand on my shoulder and told me “we got this,” I pursed my lips and sat back down, feeling awkward I wasn’t doing anything to help.

They finished packing up, and a knight entered the Cathedral. “Grandmaster Jean, the Liyue delegation has arrived,” my eyebrows raised in shock, clearly the gift giving took more time than I thought.

Everyone assembled to the sides of the cathedral in a practiced motion, although Bennett did stumble while getting there. Kaeya returned to standing on my right side. A knock was heard on the doors of the Cathedral, and two nuns worked to open the heavy doors.

Xiao, Keqing and the Traveler walked in, with Paimon floating in excitedly. They all kneel before me, except Paimon who gave a curtsey. “Your grace,” Jean said, “May I present the Liyue delegation, your escorts to taking you to the Celestial Palace,” I nodded a little confused at the ‘Celestial Palace’ business, but figured this wasn’t the place to question it. “Standing before you is Adeptus Xiao, the last Yaksha of Liyue Harbor, Lady Keqing of the Liyue Qixing, and the Honorary Knight of Mondstat,”

“Mh-hm” Paimon said a little annoyed at being left out,

”And Paimon, the Traveler’s guide to Teyvat,” Jean finished, Paimon nodded, satisfied.

“Uh- Hi- Nice to meet you guys,” I said, a little unsure of how to continue.

“It’s nice to meet you too! Paimon’s very excited to go adventuring with you!” I nod, and Kaeya steps forward,

“I am Kaeya, the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius, and the first Mondstat Retainer of the Divine One,”

Kaeya then offered his hand out to me, and helped me up from the chair, I unfortunately stumbled a little bit while getting up. Kaeya luckily caught me, but I felt pretty embarrassed that I just stumbled over my two left feet in front of everybody. Kaeya guided me out of the Cathedral, with everyone giving me well wishes as I exited.

Walking through Mondstat was a fever dream, as crowds were gathered around us to be able to see me leave. However they were being held back to the sides by ribbons blocking off the center of the walkway. It felt like we were a part of the Disneyland Parade, and I felt uncomfortable with everyone staring at me. Xiao didn’t look much better.

As we finally crossed the bridge to exit Mondstat, with the Pigeons once again flying around me like they would a Disney Princess, Kaeya turned back and asked me “Are you alright?”

I nodded and said, “Just, a lot of people staring, I wasn’t expecting such a reception,”

Paimon paused, and told me “Why not? You’re the super duper most important person in all of Teyvat! Of course everyone would want to see you!”

I cringed, and told her “I don’t know about that, I’m no one special,” the entire group stopped to look at me, surprised at my response,

”Your Grace,” Keqing said, “You are the Divine Creator of Teyvat, the One Who Guides the World, there is no one more important than you,”

I looked away, blushing, feeling very awkward and unsure on how to explain how I’m a normal person. This all still felt like a dream to be honest. Xiao started looking at me contemplatively, as if seeing me in a new light.

The group continued past Springvale, and further away from the city. Once we reached Stone Gate, the sun was going down and my feet were killing me.

“We should make camp,” Xiao said, and I almost passed out in relief. Traveler brought out her teapot, and we all touched it to enter.

Entering the teapot, I didn’t know what to expect. It looked exactly like how I decorated, and that was a bad thing. Mismatched furniture and bits and bobs left over from primogem farming furniture sets.

“I uh- added some beds so we could sleep, I hope you’re not offended,” Lumine said,

”Of course not,” I said, “Believe me anything you do in this space is an improvement,”

She nodded, and showed me to a room with a nice fancy bed, and the picture of Paimon from the event with Albedo.

“I’ll keep watch first,” Xiao said, and Keqing nodded and offered to go second, and Lumine chimed in saying she’ll go third.

“When is my turn?” I asked,

”Oh your grace, you won’t need to keep watch, you need to rest,” Keqing told me,

”Still I feel bad, if you’re all keeping watch and I just sleep,”

”You need to regain your strength, there is a long way to go to get to the harbor,” Xiao said gruffly. I blinked and realizing I wasn’t going to change their mind, I nodded and yawned.

“There should be clothes in the dresser,” Lumine said, “we’ll leave you to change,” as everyone left I grabbed Kaeya’s wrist and asked

”could you help me with the corset?” He nodded, and shut the door so we could have some privacy.

“So uh- what’s the Celestial Palace?” I asked, as he was undoing the knot of my corset. He paused his motions for a second before answering,

”It’s a palace for you to reside, during the Archon War Liyue won the right to have it within its borders,”

“Ah okay…”

“If you don’t mind me asking, do you remember the archon war?”

“The archon war? No- I don’t remember it, wasn’t aware I was supposed to,”

“Hmmm…”

”What’s wrong,” I asked.

“Nothing- the last time you were seen was before the Archon War, before the… incident, so it makes sense you won’t remember it, it must’ve taken a while to regain your strength enough to descend,”

I paused, incident? I didn’t know what he was talking about, and frankly I was too afraid to ask. I didn’t want to reveal much about my lack of knowledge, mainly because I was still afraid of being labeled an imposter.

Kaeya finished unlacing my corset, and then asked me, “Do you want me to stay again tonight?”

I nodded and said, “If it’s not too much trouble,” he smiled at me, pulled out some pajamas from the dresser, and then told me “I’ll wait outside, tell me when you're done changing,”

I finished changing and poked my head out of the room, seeing Kaeya talking with Lumine.

“I’m staying with her tonight, it helps her sleep better,” I blushed at this, kind of embarrassed that I needed a cuddle buddy to sleep.

Lumine noticed me first, and smiled and waved at me, Kaeya turned to see me, and said,

“You ready?” I nodded, and he followed me into the bedroom, and untucked the covers for me to climb in, before climbing in after me. I fell asleep pretty quickly, my head on Kaeya’s chest and his arm around me.

It was about midnight when we heard a commotion. A crash and an inhuman screech. Kaeya was already out of the bed when I lifted my head, sword in hand,

”Stay here, I’ll guard the door,” and with that he left, shutting the door behind him. My hands shook scared not only for me, but for the people with me.

“It’s you-” an inhuman voice said. I turned and saw an Abyss Lector.

I backed up, and tripped over a blanket. My butt hitting the floor with a thud, I continued backing up pushing myself up against the wall as the lector approached, hyperventilating as he reached towards me. I squeezed my eyes shut, turning my head away as the hand got closer and closer, as a long sharp nail traced itself against my face.

A crash was heard, and I opened my eyes to see Xiao lunging at the the abyss herald, the door next to me slammed open and Lumine and Kaeya came running in. They cornered the abyss mage, ready to use their elemental powers to attack him.

“I’ll be back” the abyss herald said, staring straight at me, before leaving through a portal behind him.

Kaeya immediately came to my side, and asked me “are you alright”

I nodded, still shaken up by the attack.

”No thanks to you,” Xiao said bitterly,

“Do you have something to say?” Kaeya said, turning to face Xiao.

“You left her alone when the Abyss Order was attacking, she could’ve been taken or killed, you’re clearly not worthy of being a retainer,”

“I was outside the door to prevent anyone from coming in, it’s not like I straight up abandoned her,”

“You might as well, you reek of abyssal taint, I stayed silent because I trusted her Grace’s choice, but considering your actions tonight, I fully believe you did this on purpose,” Xiao spat out.

Kaeya was red with anger, but before he could respond Keqing and Paimon entered.

“All clear, the Abyss Order has left the premises,” Keqing said

”Uh… Did we interrupt a moment?” Paimon said, sensing the tension between Kaeya and Xiao.

“No- just a minor disagreement,” Kaeya responded, clearly shaken up by the aggression and accusations from Xiao.

“I should dispose of you right here-”

“Woah woah woah- No one’s disposing of anyone, Xiao, I trust Kaeya, he’s put his life on the line for me before, there was no way to know that the Abyss Lector could get in here,”

“Your Grace, he is not to be trusted, he clearly is associated with the abyss,”

“Enough- you don’t need to trust Kaeya nor like Kaeya, but I trust Kaeya enough to make him my retainer,” I said, standing up, “You’re attempts to undermine me aren’t appreciated”

Xiao scowled and disappeared, clearly frustrated by my decision.

“Wow- that was intense!” Paimon said, and Lumine and I facepalmed at that. Lumine and Keqing started leaving, and Kaeya followed them.

I grabbed his wrist and asked, “You’re leaving?”

“I think that’s for the best…” Kaeya said without looking me in the eyes. He then exited and shut the door behind him.

I spent a good minute or so staring at the door, feeling dejected at Kaeya’s rejection. I eventually turned to the bed and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t as I tossed and turned, both shaken up by the fight, Xiao’s reaction, and Kaeya’s disappointment.

#genshin impact #genshin sagau #sagau

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wordy-little-witch · 9 months ago

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Buggy should get to do Crocodiles nails and it should be a very comforting experience for both of them. For Crocodile because not only does he feel handsome in his body after transitioning to a point that made him comfortable, but he also now feels like this finally gives him the ability to enjoy something again that he had mixed feelings about when he hadn’t transitioned yet, beautiful, dark and harsh colors coating nails on a hand that felt too feminine in a way he couldn’t describe yet.

Buggy just likes to sit crosslegged between crocodiles legs on the couch, back touching his chest, as he instructs the man to lay his remaining hand to rest his hand in his lap and Buggy gets to debate with himself wether today a sharp crimson color or a more subtle, velvety plum kind of tone would be more applicable.

This originally was just about little!Buggy but honestly Buggy is such a fashionista that when he has finally widdled Crocodile down and proven that, yes, it actually DOES look really good, he probably could even convince him to do this once or twice a week

… That being said Buggy, age eleven doing Shanks nails with some polish they looted from the last marines and Roger walking into the room like “…. what’s going on here?” “C-Captain!?” “We… I … Buggy and I…. We were doing our nails- I ASKED HIM TO HONESTLY AND-“

“Me next.”

Cue Roger walking around with an incredibly amateurish and not specifically color matched manicure for the next few days or so.

Okay but honestly? I'm in love with this. Little! Buggy probably would have fun spa days with his crew, where they all do each other's nails and hair, and he's THRIVING there it's fun and he can stim and wriggle and laugh and it's amazing. Maybe the first time Crocodile caves is after a few times where he's joined them, maybe something about the gathering in question is Off or Buggy's struggling to drop. The Logia user makes a semi-rash decision.

"Here," he rumbles, reaching a hand out to tap Buggy's shoulder. "Don't make me regret this, brat."

It's the start of a frequent occurrence. Buggy, big or little, enjoys working with his hands and the focus can help him calm down and relax when he's a little too tightly wound. Sometimes Mihawk will give him a chance to do his nails, too - and Buggy hates that he thinks it, but he really prefers Croc's hands when he's regressed. The size difference and semi-gruff/semi-gentle way he offers it just takes Buggy to those precious few years when he truly felt safe and loved and it's only reinforced when they care about him so much. Mihawk is refreshingly new, but Crocodile is comfortingly familiar.

Speaking of familiar and the past, however, that bit with Shanks and Buggy? They really would. I have the weirdest suspicion they both swiped some bottles from the same place, and convened later on like "look what u got for yo-OHHHH!!!!"

They're up late, doing each other's nails by lantern light, trying to stay quiet but struggling between the giggling and excitement. And they both freeze when the door swings open.

"What are you boys doing up so late- oh. What's going on here?"

And Buggy chokes a little, so Shanks dives headfirst into babbling explanations, trying to take the prospective heat off of Buggy, both a little scared and-

Roger grins. "Can I be next?"

They blink, dumbfounded. But they nod. He settles down with an exaggerated groan onto the floor, complaining about his "old man bones", getting giggles from his boys. They look over the bottles, and Roger decides one can have a hand each - make it fair, he claims. Shanks does some solid color on each nail of his delegated hand, tongue out as he adds random embellishments. Buggy takes a few moments longer before he does a neutral coat, then carefully does his best at a mix between french tips and a wave pattern with white and blue. On the ring finger, he giggles nefariously to himself as he takes a toothpick and adds a red flower.

It's messy, not professional in the slightest but Roger wears it proudly, even if he choked on air when he saw Buggy's handiwork, threatening to noogie the kid when his nails dried.

((Bonus points, someone on the crew tried to make a snarky teasing remark to Buggy for his bright nails One (1) Time the next day. Shanks lunged into the exchange to gush about his own nails. Roger then got involved too, showing off his nails. Then he decided to "make it a crew bonding experience!!" The next island they docked at, he demanded they get "nail paints. All the nail paint!!"

"It's nail polish, captain."

"All the nail polish!!!!"

It's weird at first, but it becomes fun when everyone finally relaxes. Buggy turns out to be one of the best with the brushes, and the others let him practice on them frequently. It's a rare spot of harmless fun))

((Bonus points, the sentiment spreads to the Whitebeards too after one battle where Roger cries because the fight chipped his manicure and he begged Buggy to fix it. Sitting around the fire, Buggy just plops into his captain's lap, holds the man's hand in his own lap, and works on fixing it. Whitebeard chuckles warmly about it, and the captains make conversation about it. Newgate then drops a casual question of "do you accept new clients, little blue?"

So Buggy winds up getting passed over lap to lap, starting with whitebeard and including many others. Izou and he get into a spirited conversation about color theory and beauty tips.

He's very happy that Teach hard passed on it, and to this day he doesn't know if it was genuine disinterest or if the other declined due to the absolutely murderous waves of Haki coming from Shanks every time he got within several feet of Buggy. Regardless, he is grateful)).

Just. Buggy being a little fashionista and tiny Diva, Big or Little and the cuteness that ensues and just AAAAAAA

(Also whatever you do, don't imagine Buggy, regressed, laying on his tummy, kicking his feet and concentrating so hard while he carefully paints Ritchie's claws. Don't think about Buggy going Puppy's claws so they match and getting guavawani kisses during the whole thing which results in giggle fits and a messy but happy clown. Don't do it, buddy. You might die-))

#witchy answers!!#agere buggy #cross guild agere content #caregiver crocodile #roger pirates #pirate manicures are metal af #shanks and buggy #buggy is a lil diva regardless of age or headspace #agere one piece #regressor buggy #baby clown!!!!!#help he's so cute #btw #Puppy the guavawani is my favorite random made up character #me: writing #my brain: give buggy a cute frien with a weird name #me: my gods that's genius

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sewing-elven-maid · 1 month ago

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Mun Speaks: More about Molinde

And because I still have some time, I am going to talk a bit more about my girl Molinde.

She can be a bit material. She will be kind, do stuff for free from time to time, she will find a really good compromise and fold herself over if needed, but let's face it: a girl's gotta eat. Even if it is just a coin or two, she will take payment for her work. She has learned the hard way that if she doesn't want to starve to near death, as it happened when she first set foot on ME, she needs to have some money. Also, material costs, especially if it is during a war and especially if Lord [INSERT NAME] has requested banners today for yesterday.

I know I have said in her bio that she has petitioned several times for the hand of a SoF in marriage in exchange for free war banners and tapestries. This is not actually something she is THAT serious about, she is self-aware enough that to even think of attracting the eye of a prince/king she should actually do something worthy and that seing/embroidering war banners is just her job. The "petition" is mostly something she says to the Elf in charge of designing the banners when they request her something inane and ungodly.

Due to the above she has indeed collected a few pricey things. Like a metal/silver armor that she dons over her dress when needed (because she can fight, but she is not a soldier)

By the time she is in Eregion she has a tiny army of apprentices and she can delegate a bit of the smaller work to them. She personally taught them all.

Of course she knows that "Annatar" is Sauron. She has seen him in the First Age, he has spotted her. They have a general idea of who is who, but it's the second age, Sauron is undercover and she maybe is thinking that she is seeing things, until something really clicks. And then it's like the "I know that you know that I know that you know". They probably are spending time together mainly for different reasons: she is hovering over Annatar and Celebrimbor to keep an eye on definitely-not-sauron and he is trying to get her off his scent. She definitely feels guilty, but also she is seeing Celebrimbor full of energy, Eregion thriving and she knows she'd just be taken for a mad elf if she said anything at all. She might suggest, or give a nudge, vagueing about the whole thing, but she definitely will carry her guilt. And then ofc everything happens and she then sews the "FUCK YOU, I TOLD YOU THAT "ANNATAR" WAS SUS AS HELL" banner.

By Third Age she is noticeably quieter. She is now established in Imladris under Lord Elrond's realm, and she has mostly left war banners in favour of napkins, handkerchiefs, tablecloths and pretty dresses. I have headcanoned her as the one who taught young Arwen how to embroider/sew. I think it gives her a nice closure.

Whilst brainstorming a little bit, I quite liked the idea of her finally tying the knot with Maglor (who in my head is in Imladris as well under code name Lindir), who has been found by Elrond and dragged in Imladris. Yes, I know Maglor is technically married already, but would he still be in the Fourth Age? With his faceless wife apparently ditching him the moment he followed Father and Brothers? I think it would be nice for Maglor and Molinde to bond over shared losses and proceed from there <3

Thoughts? Comments?

#molinde #molinde hcs #tolkien oc #tolkien elves

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imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese · 10 days ago

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Apprisal

Wherein the Drifter and Eris Morn advise Ikora Rey of their vacation plans.

Link to the story on Ao3 if you prefer to read it there

“Camping.”

Ikora repeated what Eris had said, her hands flat on her desk, confirming that it was, in fact, what had been spoken.

“Yes.” Eris confirmed, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Ikora looked from Eris, leaning forward attentively in one chair, to the Drifter sprawled in the other, leaning back, looking bored, a coin tumbling on his knuckles.

“Your idea, I’m assuming.”

“We ain’t asking yer permission, Rayray. We’re doing ya the courtesy of keepin’ ya informed.”

Both women stared at him. The coin tumbled from one side of his knuckles to the other and back again. The Drifter looked from one person to the other, gradually getting more and more nervous. He swallowed and sat up in his chair. The coin disappeared into his hand.

“I should stop talking.”

Eris tilted her head slightly, her hand cradling the ball of soulfire in her lap. “Yes,” she said firmly.

He lifted up hands and leaned back in a gesture of surrender.

Ikora kept her face impassive, inwardly laughing.

Eris turned back to Ikora to continue their conversation.

“There is no way Zavala will approve this.” Ikora said it more as a formality than anything.

Eris accepted her soft volley and returned it. “As has been so… bluntly pointed out, we are not requesting his authorization. And, it would be preferable if any… surveillance… was minimal.”

“Xivu Arath could strike at any moment, with full force.” Ikora continued the performative exchange, her eyes searching Eris’ face for confirmation.

“She would need to find us first.” Eris’ mouth twitched in a small smile.

Ikora quirked an eyebrow in acknowledgement. “It seems like an unnecessary risk.” Another gentle pitch.

“The Vanguard has no issues with me being stationed on the moon, in a known location, surrounded by hive. How is this less safe?”

Ikora nodded. “And you are not exactly known for playing it safe.” She looked briefly at the Drifter.

“No.” Eris replied. “I am not. And… of all people, have the two of us,” she gestured to the Drifter beside her, “not proven ourselves… beyond competent at… survival?”

The Drifter watched the two women talking, gradually realizing they were playing some form of 3D chess, but not clear on what was actually going on. Whatever it was, Eris was clearly winning, and that was good enough for him. Maybe it was Hidden shit. It was probably Hidden shit. Absolutely was Hidden shit.

“What about Immaru?” Ikora asked.

Eris sighed. “Would you be willing to delegate the odious task of overseeing that osseous little toad to someone else for a few days?”

“You could always have him stay with Spider,” the Drifter interjected, “He’s got a way with ghosts.”

“No.” Both Ikora and Eris spoke firmly in unison.

The Drifter threw up his hands again.

“As cathartic as that would be,” Eris continued, “...we need him intact, not… sold for parts.”

“That little shit could use a few less parts… maybe the ones that let him speak… just sayin’.”

Eris’ three eyes flashed. “The same might be said for you.”

“Hey!”

“I will find someone.” Ikora said firmly. “Drifter, would you be willing to bring Tom camping with you?”

Eris turned to look at him quizzically.

“That depends,” the Drifter shifted in the chair and met Ikora’s gaze, “Does Tom have ears I don’t know about?”

“No. Geographic location only. Responds to a ping, not broadcasting.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

“Fine,” The Drifter twisted his neck until it made an audible crack. “He can come.”

Eris tilted her head.

“Tell ya later.”

“Hmmm…”

“I trust you will at least bring some sort of comms device with you,” Ikora continued, looking back at Eris, “so you are able to request assistance if you need it? Not that you will.”

Eris turned back to face the Vanguard spymaster. “Of course.”

“Well, then.” Ikora folded her hands on her desk. “Have fun.”

“Thank you,” Eris stood and brushed her fingertips against the Drifter’s hand, trailing them up along his arm as she turned and made her way to the door.

Ikora’s eyebrows raised at the ease with which Eris touched him. Eris did not touch other people very often… at all. The Drifter’s reaction to it was almost more interesting. He looked up at Eris with a delighted half-smile on his face as she went by and then, cat-like, flowed out of his chair to follow her.

Crow was right. His entire body language changed.

Have you seen the way he looks at her?

Neither one made a sound as they moved. Two shadows, visible for now, but able to disappear at a moment’s notice without a trace.

Ikora’s eyebrows raised even higher as she watched the Drifter slide his fingertips into Eris’ hand as they walked. There was no awkwardness there from either of them. Eris seemed completely at ease with this physicality. It was a very small gesture but the weight of it, the resonance, to Ikora was… profound.

On the one hand, Drifter was clearly showing off. Ikora half expected him to stick his tongue out at her. But on the other hand, what he was showing off was not just that Eris was letting him touch her, affectionately, in front of Ikora, but also how happy it made her.

Eris stopped and turned back to face Ikora in the doorway. The Drifter, now ahead of her, paused mid step and pivoted, leaning his back on the wall outside of Ikora’s office, out of sight, still holding Eris’ hand.

“I will provide you with the report I owe you upon our return,” Eris said.

Ikora could not help but smile as she watched them. “I… look forward to it. Enjoy your vacation.”

Eris smiled back playfully over the soulfire of her Ahamkara bone.

“I shall,” she said quietly before turning and pulling the Drifter along with her down the hall.

Ikora found herself once more staring at an empty doorway. But, this time, instead of frustration and analysis, picking apart an interaction for clues to what had actually happened in the subtext of a conversation, she found herself replaying over and over in her mind the genuinely loving way the two of them had touched each other in front of her, and, especially, Eris’ playful smile.

When was the last time she had seen that sort of smile on Eris’ face? Ikora couldn’t remember. It was so rare Eris smiled at all, at least, it had been. She was smiling a lot more since her triumph over the hive, but what Ikora had just witnessed was not mere contentment, this was mischievous, and filled with… delight.

Ikora closed her eyes, relief, happiness and gratitude washing over her. Whatever dislike and distrust she had toward the Drifter… as long as he was making Eris smile like that, then he was right, they should, and… would… be friends.

This story is part of a series I wrote on Ao3 called Embers and Stars. While there are some individual stories rated Mature and/or Explicit for containing happy fun sexy times, those are set up with skip links so that if you prefer not to read that type of content you can still enjoy the story.

#destiny 2 #drifteris #eris morn #the drifter #ikorarey #the drifter/eris morn #drifter/eris #ao3 #fanfiction #writing #apprisal #embers and stars series #imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese #cs member writing

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youcouldmakealife · 1 year ago

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LBTE: Jared (158-160)

In which there are meetings.

If you'd like to follow along, the series page is here.

158. Under Advisement

Sit down, it’s actually a good thing I have a chance to talk to you guys without PR breathing down my neck.”

“Um,” Jared says. Private meetings with GMs are not historically his favourite thing, even if Foster’s always been cool before. “Should we — maybe we should wait for everyone?”

“No, no,” Foster says. “Sit.”

Brian Foster: PR��s worst nightmare.

“Ownership’s explicitly told me you’re not currently tradeable assets — I didn’t need to be told that, by the way, I just want you to know that the first thing they said to me. Well, actually not the first thing, the first thing was — never mind, I’m rambling, I do that. It’s an annoying habit.”

“It’s not annoying,” Jared says, which gets him a grateful look from Bryce as well as Foster. “I think PR would have been pretty cool with that speech, honestly.”

“Are you kidding?” Foster says. “It’d be all ‘you can’t identify who asked for advice, Brian!’ ‘you can’t tell them about a private conversation with the owner, Brian!’ Though probably that’s more HR. Who are also going to be at the meeting, by the way. It’s an all hands kind of meeting. We probably should have booked a conference room. Not that we need to book, it’s — never mind.”

PR’s worst nightmare. Also there are three people in this room and maybe one functioning brain to mouth filter between them.

“Of course they do,” Foster says, then frowns at him. “I told you to as well. Anyway don’t tell them I told you that stuff. I shouldn’t have. That’s — I know the rambling is annoying. I’m trying to get better about it.”

I am very fond of this man.

“I couldn’t figure out how to book the conference rooms,” Foster says. “The system kept locking me out.”

“You’re the GM, Brian,” Dwyer says. “You delegate that. Stay here, I’ll find us a conference room.”

Everyone suddenly arrives, then they scatter, off on the hunt for a room big enough to hold everyone, then on the hunt for someone who has keys to the room, then calling Summers and Greg to let them know things will be delayed. Foster was right — everyone calls him Brian, and there are a lot of exasperated ‘Brian’s being said, while Bryce and Jared sit in Foster’s office, forgotten for the moment.

Very, very fond of this disaster GM.

“Babe—“ Jared says, then Foster’s coming in, saying, “Sorry to barge in!”, like they aren’t sitting in his office, then, “They found a conference room. I’m not allowed to organise meetings anymore. Did you guys want coffee? Shelley’s assistant is going on a coffee run.”

Every bit I write of Brian makes me smile. A little treat for me.

“Okay,” Foster says, then, retreats, mumbling something to himself that Jared can hear — he’s reciting Bryce’s drink order under his breath, presumably so he doesn’t forget it.

“Oh,” Foster says, bursting right back in. “You guys should probably come to the conference room, eh?”

He, like Greg, is doing his best.

So — small mercies, he guesses. They have supportive friends and teammates. His parents are giving him some distance because he asked for it, but they’re standing by. Bryce’s mom came with food and hugs. Their GM is behind them, as is their room, and they couldn’t have depended on that in Calgary or Edmonton. This could have happened earlier in their relationship, when Bryce was less comfortable with his sexuality and Jared had less faith in them as a unit. It really could have been so much worse.

Listing all sorts of possibilities that could have, but did not, occur in this narrative.

Do we need Dmitry as an annoying chaperone going forward Jared texts Stephen after Elaine heads out. He wonders after if that’s a confusing question, but then decides that Stephen pretends to be omniscient often enough that he can figure it out or be confused.

Gabe is much less annoying if you require a chaperone Stephen replies, which is comforting, and also true.

Yes but Jared doesn’t scowl the moment Gabe enters a room, so that will do nothing to mitigate Jared’s soppy face.

Also: confirmed, Stephen is omniscient. Or just very on Jared’s wavelength.

“What’s twitter saying about us now?”

“How should I know?” Bryce asks, but his guilty face gives him away and he knows it.

Someone must stop him.

“It’s not as bad as I figured it’d be,” Bryce says. “Like. I don’t know if I made it bigger in my own head all along, or if it’s like — it was that bad, the first few times players came out, and then time passed and it kept happening and people got used to it. I don’t know. There’s shit but it like — honestly people said worse shit about me when I got traded to the Canucks. By like, a lot.”

That’s weirdly unsurprising, and both depressing and encouraging at the same time. Like, sure, you can marry a dude, but playing for a divisional rival? That’s a bridge too far.

The conversation has significantly changed since Marc and Dan were outed (2010). There’s some extremely alarming backsliding happening, but all told, it would be a very different reaction than what Bryce witnessed as a teen.

Also seriously imagine if Leon Draisaitl joined the Flames or something. CHAOS. OUTRAGE!!

“And everyone’s talking about how hot you are,” Bryce says. “Which, like, obviously I agree.”

Jared rolls his eyes. “They are not,” he says.

They are. Incessantly.

And it’s kind of comforting to know that while Jared would get caught obsessing over all the worst tweets, Bryce is focusing on the ones that call Jared hot. Not the ones complimenting him — and if there are tweets about Jared being hot, there are probably twice as many about Bryce — but Jared.

There are not twice as many about Bryce.

“What’s that for?” Bryce asks when Jared kisses his temple, the crest of his cheekbone, his mouth as it curves up. He was clearly expecting that argument about cognitive bias, and he looks confused but pleased that he’s getting kissed instead.

“Nothing,” Jared says, and takes that golden opportunity, Bryce smiling, guard down, to confiscate his phone, because clearly Bryce needs to be saved from himself.

Bryce so touched he forgot about machinations.

159. Rehearsal

Bryce makes a noncommittal sound, and Jared breaks his own ‘don’t touch the driver’ rule, reaching out and squeezing Bryce’s thigh in a way he hopes is comforting and not like, grope-y. Not the time for grope-y. Kind of because of the general situation, but mostly because of the whole driving thing.

No groping in motor vehicles. This is not a lesson Jared needs to learn twice, unlike the shower lesson.

Jared wonders if they opted for a younger employee to make them feel less defensive, more related to. If there’s one department he can assume is always trying to spin something, it’s PR.

Yes.

Grace also does a lot of the social media stuff though, and they knew this wasn’t something they could handle exclusively via traditional media. So ‘relates to the youth’ but also ‘is the youth’. She’s in her late 20s, which they consider close enough. There are youth-ier employees, but nobody’s putting an intern in charge of this, even with supervision.

“Before we start discussing how the press conference is going to go, I want to hear from you guys, in your words, the answers to some of the questions you’re probably going to get,” Grace says. “And we can build on everything from there, okay?”

In other words: how much do I have to edit the words that will be coming out of your mouths?

Jared tries not to wince. He thinks he fails. Bryce glances over at Jared, and then gives a very tame, very redacted version of camp. Jared only sounds moderately dickish in it, which is impressive, really, because now that he’s no longer seventeen, he accepts that he was extremely dickish the entire time, and also extremely lucky that Bryce likes that about him for some reason.

I think this is the first time Jared admits, without caveats, that he was an asshole to Bryce at the camp. No ‘but he was a douche’ quickly following or the like, no defensive ‘he started it’, just ‘I was extremely dickish to Bryce’. Good work, Jared. (He’s still never telling Bryce he was right about that stretch, even though they both know he was)

“That’s how we met!” Bryce says.

“It sounds sketchy,” Jared says.

“It sounds so sketchy,” Grace confirms.

It was supposed to BE sketchy. Fucking Bryce, man.

“Great,” Grace says. It does not sound like she thinks it’s great, honestly.

“Jared was really mature for—“ Bryce starts, then quiets when Jared kicks his ankle before he makes things sound even sketchier.

NO, BRYCE.

“I’m not going to ask you to lie about how you met,” Grace says. “But I am going to ask you to not tell the truth, unless you want people to start talking about power differentials and the age of consent.”

“Not in Canada,” Jared says. “Age of consent is sixteen.”

Of note! Because of course Jared looked it up (there are also ‘Romeo and Juliet’ near in age exceptions that would encompass their relationship, because nobody wants that law getting used to harass a sixteen year old dating a fifteen year old.)

“It wasn’t sketchy,” Bryce tells her very earnestly. “I know it sounds sketchy, but it was like—“

Jared silently wills Bryce not to say ‘true love’.

“—true love,” Bryce says.

BRYCE. NO.

“Like, we’re married,” Bryce says. “We’re spending the rest of our lives together. It was like—“

Jared hopes ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ isn’t leaving Bryce’s mouth next.

“—meant to be, y’know?” Bryce says. “Stop looking at me like that, J.”

“I’m not even looking at you,” Jared says. He is looking at the table, because he can’t bear to accidentally meet Grace’s eye while Bryce is saying these things.

Bryce is starting to warm up to this media business as he realises he can say things like ‘true love’ and ‘meant to be’ and nobody starts booing and face washing him.

“This is exactly the kind of dynamic we want. People tend to push back against the gross in love stuff when it seems manufactured, but it’s pretty clear it’s genuine. We can definitely run with this.”

This is a very kind way of calling Bryce gross.

“That’s not really Jared’s thing,” Bryce says.

“We could try?” Jared says weakly.

“No,” Bryce says. “That’s — that’s not J. We’re not like — we’re not coming out just to pretend to be people we’re not.”

Oh Bryce.

“Just because you’re stupidly romantic like, naturally, does not mean I can’t be just as gross as you if I want to be,” Jared says.

He doesn’t believe it even as he’s saying it, and neither does Bryce, judging by his face. Which is — fair. It’s fair. Nobody could compete with Bryce’s level of mushy, but Jared isn’t even in the running. Dmitry is mushier with Bryce in public than Jared is. And frankly Jared’s fine with that, but he can be mushy if he has to. He guesses.

“Doing this in public is also totally acceptable,” Grace says.

“Doing what?” Jared asks.

As Jared is feebly arguing he can be romantic, Bryce continues to have visible hearts in his eyes for his lying husband. It’s a great dynamic. Grace is excited about it. (she hasn’t seen them in front of cameras yet.)

They exchange contact information, making sure to CC Summers. Also Greg, though that’s more so he doesn’t feel left out. This is Summers’ show, and Jared thinks Greg knows it, and honestly doesn’t think he minds. Jared certainly doesn’t.

I cannot begin to express how relieved Greg is that this is Dave’s show.

“Absolutely no internet,” Grace tells them. “None. I mean, other than the email I’m going to send you, obviously.”

“Not even funny dog videos?” Bryce asks.

Bryce has to make sure after Dave’s ‘nobody but me and Greg’ somehow allowed him to take calls from his mom.

“Okay, fine, you can have funny animal videos,” Grace says. “But stay off all social media. Also anything to do with hockey.”

“Can I check the box scores, though?” Bryce asks. “It’s important to keep up with the rest of the league.”

Grace sighs. “Okay. You can have box scores and animal videos. And that’s it.”

“But—“ Bryce says.

Jared doesn’t see Bryce much in the context of ‘authority figures’ (loosely, in Grace’s case, but she is calling the shots), so beyond Bryce and Dave having a combative relationship, Jared misses part of the issue with Bryce in these situations is that he sometimes (often) pushes back just to push back. He’s gotten a lot better about it as he’s matured, but sometimes he can’t help himself.

“Everyone likes you best,” Bryce mutters as they’re walking to their car, but only after someone from security made sure no one was lurking in the underground parking lot hoping to ambush them for a picture or a scoop. Which is obviously such a fun thing Jared hopes will continue indefinitely.

“You’ve never checked the weather in your entire life,” Jared says.

“I could,” Bryce says. “Maybe I’m getting old and boring.”

“Knowing what it’s like out is not boring,” Jared says. “It’s preparation. Are you mimicking me right now?”

“No,” Bryce mutters, abruptly ceasing.

Jared elbows Bryce in the side, and Bryce hip checks him right into a pillar. Gently, but still: rude.

They don’t bicker much — it’s more Jared snarking at Bryce, but it’s fun when Bryce bites back. For me and for Jared.

160. Whirlwind

So Jared guesses they got engaged like, practically as soon as they got together. Like, boom, date three or something: engaged. Bryce moves fast in the storyline. Also in real life, but not that fast. Jared thinks Bryce in this storyline moves a little too fast, frankly. And it isn’t realistic that Jared in this storyline said yes that early in their relationship.

Nitpicking Grace’s storyline for OOC behaviour is peak Jared.

“Please,” Grace says, pinching her nose. “It was a whirlwind romance. Based on a friendship that grew out of shared interests and mutual respect and nobody being anybody else’s coach at the time.”

Jared would like to again point out that Bryce was a terrible couch who didn’t do anything but sulk, so it basically doesn’t count.

“You come here, wringing your hands about best business practices,” Foster says. “When a decade ago both Riley and Lapointe went to the Habs as a package deal. Did you forget about that or are you just coming here with a bullshit line of reasoning so you can pretend you’re not being homophobic as you’re asking homophobic questions? You don’t get to have it both ways. You don’t get to say their sexuality has nothing to do with this and then turn right around and ask me if I knew about their sexuality when I signed them. That’s not how this works.”

Brian Foster’s entire press conference was some of the most fun I’ve ever had writing a scene. Pure Id.

Grace finds a tweet with a longer clip, in which Foster manages to insult three media organisations, mock homophobic fans, swear at least half a dozen times, and reiterate the organisation’s support for Bryce and Jared. He also takes a question about the power play.

Love me a man who can multitask.

“I think you should probably give in and start calling him Brian?” Bryce says, looking over at Jared. Bryce caved to his demands the third time Foster explicitly told him to, but Jared wasn’t planning on it: it felt too weird. But he may have to revise that decision.

“He does keep asking me to,” Jared says.

Jared figures angry monologue defending him and Bryce earns first name basis.

He’s sure there’s already going to be ‘wow, Marcus is slumming with a middle sixer’ shit.

“Literally nobody is going to be saying that,” Bryce tells him. “Like. At all.”

Babe you’re the arm candy.

“Bryce!” Jared says.

Bryce very busily looks at literally everything but Jared.

“Stop going online!” Jared says.

He can’t help it!

“I mean, not by Joe from Kamloops who’s decided he can’t support the Canucks anymore, no,” Jared says. “And definitely not Jim from Red Deer who doesn’t give a shit about the Canucks, but has come to say he’s pretty positive your shoulder injury is proof that being gay is morally wrong, actually.”

No offence to Joes and Jims. Full offence to Kamloops and Red Deer.

And Dmitry will probably beat them up, judging by the text he sent Jared assuring him that he will beat them up, along with approximately seventeen emojis Jared didn’t bother trying to parse.

Look: emojis transcend language. A fist is a fist is a fist.

“Okay, then quit reading the opinions of people who are so miserable that the idea of two people in love with each other makes them furious,” Jared says. “It’s pathetic. They’re pathetic.”

Jared was at a very tender, vulnerable age when he saw some of the blowback of the OG coming out controversy. It didn’t make things easier for him as he started to come to terms with his sexuality, and it did not make Jared like people any more than he was originally inclined to.

“They’re planning on like, rainbow flags,” Bryce says. “Canucks fans. They’re coordinating it online. They’re planning on bringing rainbow flags. And supportive signs and stuff. Some have taken pictures. They’re — they’re really nice.”

It isn't all bad though.

“There aren’t any bad ones,” Gabe says, nudging Jared’s shoulder. “If that’s why you’re keeping your head down.”

“I wasn’t doing it on purpose,” Jared says.

This warm up scene is dialogue and action heavy because Jared’s trying really hard not to feel anything right now, starting with keeping his eyes on the ice so he can't see the crowd.

“There’s one behind the net that says LJBTQ,” Gabe says. “The JB is in a heart. I thought it was kind of clever, but you just know someone on the internet is going to say it’s bi erasure. Which, as a bi dude, I completely agree there’s bi erasure in the community, but — oh, that one says PB&J and peanut butter and jelly are holding hands. It’s adorable. I have no idea what the P could be, though. Maybe Pacific? That’d work, I guess, but—

The P stands for ‘we can’t make a PB&J pun without the P’, for the record. Sometimes it’s not that deep.

“Gabe,” Jared says.

“Okay, okay,” Gabe says, putting his hands up, and skates over to where Dmitry’s doing the ridiculous motions he calls stretches.

Jared looks up, but the lights are bright and his eyes are blurry and all he can see is a wash of colour, so he blinks and blinks and goes to find another puck to try to get in the back of the net.

God Gabe can’t you see Jared is trying not to feel emotions?

“If anyone says shit to you,“ Dmitry says. “Tell me. I will fight them.”

“I know,” Jared says.

“Even if they say ‘hello’ or ‘good evening’,” Dmitry says. “I will fight them.”

“Kind of sounds like you just want an excuse to fight someone,” Jared says.

Well. Yes. But also — got your back.

But something breaks through during a TV timeout, has him looking up at the Jumbotron, because the applause and cheers are louder than a kiss cam or dance cam or celebrity lookalike. The camera’s on Bryce in the press box, looking a little stunned. After a moment Leo elbows him, grinning, and Bryce raises a hand to wave at the crowd in acknowledgement, the sound intensifying in response. The Canucks all bang their sticks against the boards, and Jared is late to join them, eyes caught on Bryce’s face.

And Jared knows this is a home game. He knows it isn’t going to be anything like this in other arenas, knows other teams’ fans won’t be this supportive, that opponents are going to use this against them, that there are always going to be people that think less of Bryce, of both of them, simply because they love each other. He knows that.

But Jared also knows Bryce is looking bashful but smiling, a mixture of happiness and bone deep relief on his face, and in this moment, that’s the only thing in the entire world that matters.

The moment that Bryce gets everything he never even dreamed of hoping for. That he gets everything he never thought he could have.

This is the original ending, before one last arc decided to jump onto the back. I also consider it the end of the climax — it’s all denouement from here.

#liveblogging the end

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jone-slugger · 1 month ago

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Day 4 of @voyagerweek ! This time the prompt was favorite season or arc, and in this case I decided to write about s 4 episode Hunters, which begins the arc of the Hirogen, is part of my favorite season, and also begins in a way the arc of contacting Starfleet.

Lost in the Quadrant

You can also read it on AO3!

When they enter the party arm in arm, silence invades the room. Kathryn can’t help but feel like an intruder; as if they have interrupted all the fun. Instantly, she makes a mental note to leave early: the crew deserves not to have to concern themselves with the captain. They deserve to have fun, and drink, and sing, and dance, without the constant reminder of rank.

But then Neelix comes with an anxious expression, clapping his hands, and with a nervous smile on his face.

“Captain! Commander! We were waiting for you!” he says, and he gets closer to them, so that his following words, uttered in a whisper, are only heard by the newcomers. “We could do with some help to get the party rolling. The mood here has been… gloomy at best”.

Kathryn suddenly understands: they haven’t interrupted anything. There was no fun to begin with. It’s no wonder, considering that half of the crew has not been able to receive news from their loved ones and they will not for a while, now that the relay network is gone. It’s not like those who have received news from the Alpha Quadrant were better off. Just before coming to the party, Chakotay told her about his friends, the Maquis, all wiped out, caught up in the middle of some new war waged against a new powerful enemy. An ally to the Cardassians from the Gamma Quadrant.

She’s not so sure anymore if she’d rather be home right about now.

And yet, that’s the only thing she wishes in the world. The frustration of not being able to do anything to help the Federation is all-encompassing. She knows Chakotay feels just the same about the Maquis. And she guesses her Maquis crew does as well.

She wonders for a second how to break the news about the war to the rest of the crewmembers.

And then she realizes she doesn’t need to. They have been in contact with their home. It’s bound to have come up in at least one of their conversations. Their Maquis friends have already been informed by B’Elanna and Chakotay. The ship is small. People talk.

Everybody knows.

She turns towards Neelix and tells him: “You’re the morale officer, Mr. Neelix. I trust you’ll come up with something to cheer everybody up?”

She’s delegating. In truth, she’s not feeling too cheery herself. She doubts she could lift the spirit of anyone at the moment.

“I… I… yes, of course, I’ll… I’ll think of something”, the Talaxian stutters, and moves away, probably thinking of his new mission at hand.

“This is bound to be the worst party in Voyager’s history”, she tells Chakotay, whispering into his ear.

When he looks at her, she sees ill-concealed pain in his eyes. “I don’t really know if there’s anything we can do about that”, he replies in the same low voice.

He’s right. There are no words to be said, no actions to be taken, that could make the loss lighter. Even the non-Maquis part of her crew might be feeling it, in relation to a new void created by the broken possibility of communication with their families.

Loss is hard to manage.

She should know: she has lost something, too. A promised life with a man she loved. She once loved. If she’s honest to herself, that loss does not sting as much. It’s just as she told Chakotay: she wasn’t expecting Mark to wait for her. Her loss looks very much like a new possibility. It isn’t making her grieve. In fact, she almost feels… liberated.

She wishes she were home, but not for him.

“This doesn’t have to be a happy event”, Chakotay interrupts her thoughts with yet another piece of wisdom. “We’re all a bit sad. Even those who managed to get a happy message from home. Somehow, the relay network has made us a bit less alone, and, at the same time, with it gone, it has emphasized just how far we are. That we’re on our own and that life in the Alpha Quadrant goes on without us. We don’t need to celebrate, we can simply… acknowledge it”.

“You’re absolutely right”, she tells him, and he squeezes her arm, that, for the first time, she realizes he hasn’t stopped holding since they got there. She smiles at him, and in his eyes where there was pain now there is care. Comfort. As always. He’s the reason why she’s not grieving the Dear John letter she received.

She hopes she can be the reason why grieving for his dead friends gets easier for him.

Before Neelix gets the chance to start a karaoke that’s bound to fail spectacularly, she takes the center stage and begins an improvised speech.

“Thank you for coming, everyone. I’m sure many of you might not exactly feel like celebrating today. And that’s okay. I know some of you have received some personal bad news. Some of you might be sad that you can no longer communicate with your loved ones. Others might be concerned about news of the war that’s happening right now in the Alpha Quadrant. All your emotions are valid. So, this party doesn’t have to be a celebration. We can just have some drinks, and take a moment to remember those who are not here; those we lost, those we left behind, those who left us. I want you all to know that I’m available if you need someone to talk to. We might be alone in the Delta Quadrant, but nobody in this crew is completely alone.”

Some people applaud. Some people raise their glasses. Some people simply stare at her in silence.

Not too bad.

Her words seem to unlock the momentary pause, and people start talking, reminiscing of things and people gone by. Suddenly, there’s laughter and there’s tears, and they all feel more connected than before.

“The party was a success”, Chakotay tells her as they walk to their quarters arm in arm, just as before.

“Couldn’t have done it without you”.

“I just made a suggestion, you gave the speech”.

“A suggestion without which I wouldn’t have given that speech”.

They smile at each other.

They have reached the door to her quarters, and suddenly it feels hard to part. The comfort they have been exchanging during the night is not one neither wants to lose. They’ve lost so much already.

“Why don’t you come in?” she asks tentatively.

“Are you sure?” he replies.

“Never been surer”.

#voyager week #star trek voyager #st voyager #voyager #ao3 fanfic #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #voyagerweek #kathryn janeway #j/c #honestly s4 is the best season #s4 my beloved

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kindheart525 · 3 months ago

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Pim & Mr. Boss die and Don't come back Au:

I sorta imagine Allan, Glep, and Charlie wondering who's in charge while the Boss is missing. Maybe Glep or Allan, or maybe they all Co-Operate it. Maybe they see a LiveLeak video or smthing of the execution and freaking out, Maybe a sprinkle of Charpim angst if you want.

I love these angst Aus :3

I’m so glad you’re invested! It was a little angst prompt I thought of on a whim and didn’t expect to go anywhere, but I’m happy to expand upon it if folks ask as I love angst AUs too!

Considering how much Allan and Charlie were fighting in that episode, I don’t imagine the process of delegating responsibilities goes very smoothly. While Charlie might not initially want to be the de-facto boss, he does still need this job to pay his bills and he does not like the idea of Allan being his superior, especially as more time goes by where Pim and Mr. Boss remain missing. He and Allan would definitely get into a power struggle of sorts

“Dude who put you in charge? You don’t even interact with clients like you just sit around and count paperclips all day, I at least actively try to help people smile so maybe I should be the boss.”

“I’m the one who’s keeping things organized around here, asshole!”

And they keep going back to arguing about who killed Jason despite the critter’s father not having come back to learn this fact. They’d just keep running in circles with their petty fights until Glep puts himself in charge or something. They both agree on Glep’s ability to lead even though he just continues sitting on his iPad all day lol but at least they aren’t arguing as much anymore

When I first came up with this idea I didn’t think of how they would find out Pim and Mr. Boss are dead, but LiveLeaks seems like the most likely option. Charlie’s the edgy type who probably watches LiveLeaks for fun, but maybe this time it’s part of the remaining Smiling Friends’ broader search for news from Spamtopia (a country that seems very cut off from the world) to find out what happened to their friend and boss. Yes they are all absolutely shocked and Charlie is completely devastated realizing that Pim isn’t coming back

Then they have to figure out what to do from there. Figure out a long-term future for the Smiling Friends business; can they keep it going or should they let it crumble? Part of Charlie wants to go to Spamtopia himself and avenge Pim, but he could very well end up dead himself so that might not be such a good idea. All in all they’re very lost and confused, not only not knowing where their next paychecks will come from but especially grappling with their new reality without two people they cared for very much

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oscartullyofriverrun · 3 months ago

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Words of Darkness; Words of Light: with @davos-allyrion

Oscar had gotten himself in many strange situations over the years due to impulsivity and because of his sister’s pamphlet Of Court and Kingdom. Oscar had traveled to odd places and spoken with various strange people to gather information to pass back to Abby, so when the Dornish delegation had swept into the Red Keep with whispers of brutality and murder all centered around a single person, it had seemed only logical to reach out and learn the truth for himself. There was a delicacy in doing so. Few were willing to admit their secrets to a stranger and besides, it felt wrong to develop a sense of trust with someone only to abuse it later. Usually, Oscar used these writing relationships to learn a person’s personality, ask about the rumors that naturally stirred up and judge based on their reaction how likely they were to be true. At times it could be difficult, but Oscar liked to think he’d become quite good at it.

Except for when it came to Davos. Each new letter brought a tale wilder than the last. Whenever Oscar asked about a new rumor, Davos was quick to confirm it and spin the tale into something even more exaggerated. Normally, Oscar would have assumed the other man was messing with him and simply playing up the rumors that surrounded him for his own amusement, except there was often a twist of cruelty that crept into Davos’s words that made Oscar feel like some of the things Davos told him were true. It was clear the other man hadn’t done everything people whispered about, but even if he’d done a quarter of it, that was enough to make Oscar a little scared.

Any logical person would have cut off the relationship by now, gradually dragging out the space between letters so as to not cause offense. Yet, Oscar always found himself ripping open Davos’ letters with a dark sense of curiosity and writing back in a timely fashion. Davos had a way of learning strangely accurate information about people from all across the Seven Kingdoms, sometimes things Oscar himself hadn’t even heard a whisper about. It made him feel a little sick to think that Davos had probably heard all the rumors about him as well, but Oscar did his best to ignore that. He often told himself he kept writing to Davos for Abby’s sake in order to gain these random bits of information, but if he was honest with himself, Oscar was too interested in whatever strange things were happening at Godsgrace to quit writing quite yet.

Dear Lord Davos,

Your last letter was, as always, very interesting. I would have you know the rumor you heard about me almost killing another boy in the training yard for insulting my brother is mostly exaggerated. I only broke the boy’s nose and frankly, I believe he deserved it. I suppose I should not even bother asking if the stories you’ve told me about your own training days are true or not, though I can’t help but want to ask again anyway. Perhaps if I ever journey down to Dorne we could spar together, though maybe that is a dangerous proposition if I want to keep all of my organs where they belong.

I imagine you have already heard, in the way you always do, that a marriage might be in my future. It is a perfect match in its own way, and my father is so relieved he has started speaking to me again. You’re lucky your murderous infant gaze was vile enough to strike your father dead on the spot because many fathers don’t like it very much when you turn out differently than they’d hoped. Yes, I’ve heard that rumor about you and no, I do not think it’s true though please feel free to try and convince me it is if you so desire.

I hope you are well. I hear much about your murderous rages and evil blood spells, but less on your happiness. I have spoken with a man whose mother is from Dorne and apparently she always says the most beautiful stars hang in the skies of Dorne. I don’t know if that’s true, but sometimes here in the Riverlands I enjoy sleeping on the balcony of my room underneath the stars. Before you say anything, yes I know that’s a wonderful way to get murdered by assassins or thieves, but as a lord, surely you’ve felt the weight of your position and wanted to escape it all just for a moment.

I do not know what it’s like in Dorne, but even for me as a second son the weight of expectation can be crushing. I apologize if I’ve admitted or assumed too much but it has been quite a tumultuous time lately.

Your (potential?) friend,

Oscar Tully

P.S. If you haven’t spent much time lately watching the stars, you should. At the very least, you’ll be able to appreciate the darkness more after seeing them shine.

#a song of golden fire and black blood #a song of golden fire and black blood starter #arc ii: women's wicked ways #oscar tully #oscar's threads #davos allyrion #words of darkness; words of light

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