#because i can and will disappear off the net for days at a time

[getdownsaturdaynight]

I am always, and I mean always, on the hunt for a good music server on Discord that has reasonable activity levels and that's not overrun with teenagers.

Like, I could always make my own, but that involves, like... effort... and being online for consistent periods of time... and not ghosting people... and putting a deep commitment into something that isn't directly paying the bills...

[russo-woso]

Goalscorer || Alessia Russo x reader x Ella Toone

Based on this request here.

Before you start reading, I just want to say that this fictional! Just because I’ve written this does not mean I ship them in real life.

Going to the World Cup was a dream come true.

The whole experience was going to be so special for you.

What made it even more exceptionally special was the fact you were doing it with your girlfriends, Ella and Alessia, by your side.

Ella and Alessia were your whole world.

You loved them with every ounce of your body and they loved you just as much.

The World Cup so far had been the best time of your life.

Playing alongside your girlfriends and some of your best friends made you realise just how lucky you are.

After winning all of the matches in the group stages and the round of 16, it was time to move onto the final stages.

The thought of playing Colombia scared you.

Not because they were a good team, but the pressure that came with the match was immense.

As a striker, you were one of the ones the team relied on to score.

Not only that, but due to being 23, you didn’t have a part in the starting eleven and unlike your girlfriends, you were used as a super sub.

Your job as a super sub was to come on when fresh legs were needed and try to change the scoreline.

The past few games, you’d come on for Alessia, adding a new energy to the match.

The night before the match, Alessia and Ella kept telling you that you were going to get your well deserved goal.

You’d been put down by the stress, and after a long day training, they’d set up a movie night so you could relax.

During the movies, although you had relaxed in someways, the thought of the match still played on your mind.

Without knowing, a tear escaped your eye and Alessia noticed straight away, pausing the movie to ask what was wrong.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Alessia asked, worry clearly evident in her voice.

“Y/N/N, you can tell us anything.” Ella added, seeing the hesitation in your face.

“I’m scared. I’m scared for the match tomorrow.” You admitted and they both pulled you in for a hug.

“Love, you don’t have to be scared. You’re an incredible player. I have a feeling that you’ll get your first World Cup goal tomorrow.” Ella said, ending the final part with a smile on her face.

“Ella’s right, baby. And I agree, you’re going to get a goal tomorrow. End of now, you’re a great player, please don’t think you’re not.” Alessia stated, and you nodded against her chest.

“Now, what an earth is going on? Why is the wife pretending not to be the wife? I don’t get it.” Ella questioned, clearly confused with the movie.

You lifted your head off Alessia’s chest to look at her, watching her roll her eyes before quietly laughing with you.

———————

After warming up for the whole of the first half, Sarina told you that you’d be coming on just after half time.

Nerves started to build up in your body, thoughts racing through your mind.

The thought of the score being 1-1 didn’t help your nerves either, but as soon as Ella pulled you onto her lap, they all disappeared.

Whilst sat on her lap during half time, Alessia came over and rested a hand on your back, rubbing it comfortingly.

“You ready to shine, love?” Ella asked, and you hummed in response.

“You’re gonna smash it, Y/N/N.” Alessia added, pressing a kiss to your head.

Alessia repeated them words just fifteen minutes later as she pulled you into a hug, before you ran onto the pitch.

You ran past a few of your teammates, giving them a high five as you ran into position.

The game continued and within five minutes, you were receiving a ball through.

Alex had sent the ball to Georgia who managed to slot it through to you, in the box.

Using your instincts, you were the first one on it, quickly slotting the ball into the back of the net perfectly.

Somehow, between shooting and receiving the ball, you had fallen over so your celebration was a bit delayed.

Jumping up, your teammates surrounded you, Ella being the first one to you.

She enveloped you in a hug before everyone took it in turns hugging and celebrating with you.

Running back to your starting position, you looked over to the bench to see a very proud looking Alessia.

Quickly blowing a kiss to her, you looked to your other side to see Ella smiling widely at you.

What felt like five minutes later, but was actually half an hour later, the final whistle blew and England was through to the semi finals.

Ella and Alessia went straight for you, both of them picking you up before placing a kiss on your lip.

After celebrating the win on the pitch, all three of you walked to the changing rooms together, quickly getting showered and changed before walking out to the team bus.

Since you were sat next to Alessia on the way to the stadium, you assumed you’d be sat next to Ella.

With your assumption, you took a seat next to Ella but was quickly pulled to sit next to Alessia by a certain blonde striker.

“She’s sitting next to me.” Ella told Alessia, guiding you to sit back in your original place.

“Yeah but I want her to sit next to me. I want to tell her how proud I am.” Alessia fought back, standing up to make you move seats.

“She sat next to you on the way here.” Ella added, her accent getting stronger the more they argued.

“She sat next to you on the way to the Nigeria match and on the way back.” Alessia pointed out, and Ella sighed, not really having any comebacks left to continue the argument.

You looked between the both of them, Ella having a saddened look, whereas Alessia had the complete opposite look, a big smile on her face.

“Come sit with me, baby.” Alessia patted the seat next to her, as you still debated on who you’d like to sit next to.

“No.” You stated, bluntly, causing a very confused look to form in Alessia’s face and a giggle to escape Ella’s mouth.

“See, she doesn’t want to sit next to you. She wants to sit next to me.” Ella continued to laugh at Alessia, also gesturing for you to sit in the seat to her.

“I don’t want to sit to either of you. Do you even think about me? And who I’d like to sit next to? And anyway, I’ve already agreed to sit next to Lauren so she can show me what Lego sets to buy. I’ll speak to you both later.” You told them and walked away, leaving a very speechless Alessia and Ella.

“That’s your fault.” You heard Ella say to Alessia.

“Toone, don’t you dare.” You snapped, turning around to see an angry looking Ella. As you turned back around, you heard Alessia laughing. “You too, Russo.”

With their ‘telling offs’, they were silent for the rest of the way back to the hotel.

When you entered the hotel, you decided to stay with Hempo so she could show you all the Lego sets she had built whilst being in Australia.

With your disappearance, Ella and Alessia searched the whole of the hotel, even making a search party, made of the whole team, to go looking for you.

After buying about seven Lego sets with the help of Lauren, you thanked her and left her room to walk to your shared room with your girlfriends.

What you didn’t expect to happen, was to almost get knocked out as soon as you left the room.

“Y/N, oh my god, baby you’re okay.” Alessia almost sobbed as she jumped on you, sending the two of you to the floor.

“Lessi, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?” You asked, panicked, thinking something had happened.

“You disappeared and we thought something bad had happened and I couldn’t stand the thought of you being angry at us.” Alessia explained, tears streaming down her face.

“Oh, baby.” You cooed, cradling her head against your chest. “I was with Lauren. She helped me buy some Lego sets because I didn’t know which ones to buy. And then she showed me her Lego sets. I’ve gone with ones that the three of us can build together.”

“Love, you’re okay.” A loud Manchester accent bounced off the walls of the hotel as a pair of arms wrapped around your body. “We were so worried. We’ve got the whole team looking for you.”

“What are you two like.” You playfully rolled your eyes at them.

“We’re so sorry, we shouldn’t have acted that immature. We should have let you decide and we know that now.” Ella apologised

“We really are sorry, baby. We were just so proud of you, but we took it too far and we’ve realised that. We promise we wont anymore.” Alessia added, and you pulled them both into a hug.

“And you two? Have you sorted it out between you both? You’re not angry at one another?” You questioned them and they nodded, before hugging each other, Alessia leaving a kiss on Ella’s cheek.

“Does that mean we can finally go to bed now?” Ella asked, yawning, as you and Alessia nodded in response.

———————

“Can you two please stop it!” You snapped for the one hundredth time whilst entering the room.

Everything had been going perfect, after not speaking for you for two hours and being clingy as ever, Alessia and Ella were desperate to talk to and cuddle you.

Once you’d gotten settled in bed, Alessia slung her arm around you and you laid your head on Ella’s chest.

You turned the tv on to watch a movie but you couldn’t help but notice Ella trying to move you closer to her.

You slapped her arm, silently telling her to stop, but once she tried to do again, and Alessia noticing too, hell broke loose.

Alessia and Ella kept arguing back and forth about who got to cuddle you.

You told them to stop several times but nothing was stopping them.

“I’m breaking up with you!” You shouted, and the room went silent, both of them wide eyed looking at you. “I’m kidding, but my god, that shut you up real quick. If you don’t want me to ever say them words, then I suggest you stop arguing over me. Alessia, you cuddle me tonight. Ella you get to cuddle me tomorrow night. That’s how it’s going to work from now on. Do you understand me?”

Taken aback, Alessia and Ella nodded, their eyes till wide.

“Good, now goodnight.”

The three of you settled, you cuddling into Alessia but still holding Ella’s hand so she didn’t feel lonely.

“We love you, our goalscorer.” Alessia whispered in your ear.

“I love the both of you too. Just not when you argue.”

“We promise we won’t anymore.” Ella said

“Hmm, that sounds familiar.”

Requests are open :)

[hedgehog-moss]

A day in the life of Pampérigouste & her long-suffering daughter

I went on a llama safari today, following the girls around to see how they keep busy on winter afternoons, and what I’ve learnt is that Pampe is the only one of my animals who tries to find food when the weather is like this.

I know I’m biased when it comes to interpreting my delinquent llama’s behaviour, but it really looked like Pampe was playing at being a wild llama, eating twigs and bark and such, while the others faffed around because they know they are domesticated animals who are fed at regular intervals. Pirlouit wouldn’t even follow us around the pasture, he just waited by himself near the moose in case the hay fairy came in our absence; Pampelune stayed with her family but didn’t bother foraging, she was like “My ten years of experience have taught me that humans always give us lots of hay on snowy days. This is a waste of time.”

Baby Poldine was like “My ten months of experience have taught me that it’s better to listen to my grandma than to my mum, but she looks really happy to teach me this stuff”

The Winter Survival lessons involved teaching Poldine how to eat the first hazel catkins—

—and which trees have bark that comes off easily. Pampelune just stood behind watching them like “... you don’t have to eat tree bark.” Pandolf & I also declined to partake and although Poldine gamely tried to gnaw at some tree bark, she quickly became self-conscious.

Pampérigouste then disappeared into a thicket (the same one where I once found secret elder trees!) and Pampelune was like “The good thing about my child being an adult is I no longer have to follow her” and waited outside like the dignified grandma she is, while Pampe dragged baby Poldine god knows where.

When I managed to find them again in this snowy tangle of branches and brambles, Pampoldine was trying to eat a twig, looking unconvinced, and she got a nose kiss for the effort.

We finally emerged from the thicket and Pampe stood pensively for a second, then went “Oh! idea” and bolted, to Pandolf’s immense delight. The rest of us followed more warily.

... Pampe wanted to demonstrate that in places where the old fence still stands, you can reach for forbidden grass by shoving your face through the netting. (Yes there is Allowed Grass 20cm to the right; no Pampe will not dignify this remark with a response.)

Poldine tried and immediately got her nose caught in the fence and started shaking her head & the fence desperately. She really wasn’t made for crime.

The last survival lesson was about rummaging in the snow looking for grass. Pampelune does it too when it’s a thin coating of snow, but when it’s deeper she doesn’t bother.

I hope you enjoyed this llama winter safari !

Conclusion:

[wordsbyrian]

Comeback Day - Alexia x Reader

Summary: This is the fic that I said I would write instead of the angst because Alexia made her return to the field.

A/N: Honestly, I'm just glad I finished this.

Today is the day.

10 months ago, 303 days to be exact, your girlfriend tore her ACL and was forced to stop playing football while she recovered. And today, she would be making her return to the pitch.

Even though she isn’t starting, everyone knows it will come eventually. And there’s no better day for it to come than today.

The day when your team could clinch the league title for the 4th straight year. At home in front of a sold-out Johan.

It will be perfect.

The only thing that would make it more perfect is if you were able to be on the field with her. And while you would technically be available off the bench, you and Jonatan had agreed that after being on the wrong end of a few hard tackles during the Chelsea game, it was better if you were only used in case of an emergency today.

So it’s the bench at El Johan for you, alongside your other teammates who would be sitting the majority of this one out.

Unfortunately for them, this means that they have to sit and deal with all the energy rolling off you in huge waves.

And Aitana in particular isn’t handling it very well.

“For the love of god,” she practically shouts, using her hand to stop your shaking leg, “Will you cut it out?”

“I can’t help it,” you whine, your right leg immediately picking up where the left one left off.

“How do you even have so much energy,” Irene asks, sending the midfielder a glare. “And even though Aitana was being mean, I really need you to stop with the leg.”

“I almost always have this much energy on the bench,” you tell them, “Besides I didn’t really warm up today because Coach told me not to bother.”

“It’s true,” Asisat says from in front of you all, “You guys just never notice because all 3 of you are rarely on the bench at the same time. Normally, I’d tell you that she’ll calm down eventually but she probably won’t.”

Asisat’s words catch the attention of your girlfriend who had been having her own conversation with Mapi.

“Estas bien cariño,” she asks, turning to face you, eyes softening slightly from the focus she always gets when near the pitch.

“Si, Ale, estoy bien.”

You can tell she doesn’t believe you but there isn’t time for her to question you on your half-truth because El Cant begins to play as the starting lineups make their way onto the pitch.

Luckily, your extra nerves all but disappear once the game gets underway. You’re left with your normal ones though, the ones you have from being a control freak in a way that has to be genetic.

That being said, you spend most of the game on the edge of your seat.

In the 10th minute, when Bruna collides with Huelva’s goalkeeper, Mersnik, clutching her head, you’re the first to your feet, wringing your hands when the ref doesn’t immediately stop play. You only start breathing again when your young teammate is back on her feet.

You laugh at the look on Jana’s face when she gets her yellow in the 33rd.

Then when Laia smashes one into the net in the 39th, you spring to your feet so fast you almost launch yourself into Mapi, who took a moment to realize that the ball had even crossed the line.

By the time halftime comes you’re mostly calmed down, although now all your energy is being put into ruffling Laia’s hair as you make your way back to the locker room.

“Lia,” you tell her, not releasing the headlock you have her in, “If you keep that up Jona is gonna make you play up front with me.”

“I don’t want that,” Laia says, trying to escape your grasp.

“I can see it now, me, you, and Caro, running up top. Of course, you’d be the CF in this scenario but I think it’d be an easy switch for you.”

“Noooooooo.”

“Siiiiiiiiii.”

The two of you continue in this manner as you make your way down the hallway, your teammates laughing as they pass by tapping Laia on the shoulder.

Inside the locker room, the first 5 minutes are spent discussing what you saw as a team and how those on the field could take advantage of Huelva's mistakes. You spend the next 5 with Salma and Bruna advising them on how they can better expose Huelva’s backline, especially Carolina and Romero.

At the 10-minute mark, Jonatan comes in and gives a tactics talk. It’s largely a repeat of what he said at the start of the game but you know it’s important for the younger players to be reminded of the game plan, lest they lose sight of the goal. 

So you hang back with Mapi, whispering jokes until both Jona and Alexia send you glares immediately shutting you up.

When the break is over, you hang back hoping to be able to speak with Alexia who has a habit of being the last one out.

It works.

“Alexia,” you say, grabbing her by the hand when she doesn’t immediately turn to face you. “I need you to do me a favor.”

“Right now,” she asks, confusion obvious on her face. “We have to go back out.”

“It won’t take long, I promise.”

“Okay.”

“Take a deep breath,” you tell her.

“Que?”

“A deep breath, mi amor, I need you to take one before you make your head explode.”

Your girlfriend continues to stare at you skeptically but eventually, she does what you ask, taking a shaky breath, holding it, and then letting it out.

Then she does it again, surprising you when she grips your hand tightly, releasing it in time with her breath.

“Better, right,” you say, not asking her. When you get a nod in response, you lean forward pressing a kiss to her hairline, and speak again. “T’estimo, you can do this. Now, let’s go, I’m pretty sure we’ve got a trophy to win, Capitana.”

You punctuate your words with another kiss on her forehead before taking a step away from her and beginning to make your way out of the locker room.

“Hey,” she calls after you, continuing when you stop, “I love you too.”

Once the two of you make it back out to the bench you get a glare from multiple members of the training staff, and some teasing from your teammates who immediately quiet down when you both send them glares of your own.

The second half of the game is very similar to the first in that your team continues to control the pace of the game.

Then in the 63rd minute, you watch as Ingrid sends in a square pass over to Jana who takes one touch before shooting on goal. And it’s a powerful shot too, one that rockets into the upper right corner and past the keeper.

Seeing this, you shoot to your feet so fast that you nearly fall directly into Mapi again. Only this time you’re stopped because Irene manages to grab you by the back of your shirt.

The most entertaining part of the half is easily the way the crowd cheers anytime Alexia moves to warm up.

They only get louder when she begins receiving tactical instruction from a member of the staff.

Then when the time finally comes, when the fourth official holds up her sign in the 74th minute indicating that #6 Pina will leave the field so that #11 Putellas can come on. Well, it gets so loud that for a moment you think you’re in Camp Nou instead of El Johan.

It’s amazing.

The final 16 minutes of the game are some of the best you’ve ever seen while sitting on the bench, though that might be the bias from being able to see the woman you love return to doing what she loves.

The goal by Asisat in the 89th is just the icing on the cake.

When the final whistle blows, the stadium explodes with noise again, and you and the rest of your teammates rush to join the 11 on the pitch.

The thing about winning your fourth straight league title is that it feels just as good as winning the first one. In fact, it probably feels better than winning the first one.

And just like with every post-game celebration, it all seems to be a blur.

You remember Alexia carrying the trophy onto the field.

You definitely remember her singing, never thought you'd see that outside of her apartment much less in front of a sold-out Johan.

Then there was Mapi walking off with someone’s son under her arm and Pina forcing you to carry her piggyback style up and down the field in front of the fans.

It isn’t until you’re at team dinner that the adrenaline begins to wear off, for you at least.

The rest of your teammates, especially the younger ones, however, are still pretty hyped up.

It makes you feel a little bad for the wait staff since they have to deal with a bunch of rowdy footballers.

Currently, you’re sitting next to Alexia, her hand on your thigh, while you listen to Bruna and Jana tell you some very complicated story about what they did on your most recent day off.

“Then the guy tries to claim that he can get us into the VIP section, so we follow him over there, wanting to see him embarrass himself,” Bruna says, pausing so Jana can continue the story.

“Yea, so we follow him over,” Jana repeats, gesturing wildly. “And guess who we see sitting there looking like the life of the party? None other than Pina and Patri.”

“And Patri’s girlfriend and her friends.”

“Yea! So we get to the ropes and Pina looks up and starts freaking out. Meanwhile, he’s trying and failing to convince the security dude to let him in.”

“Then Pin comes rushing over,” Bruna cuts back in, “Still freaking out and she ushers us in, leaving him standing there mouth gaping.”

You’re sure the look on your face is comical as you sit there stunned.

After a few seconds, you manage to get it together enough to ask, “Did he think you two were sisters?”

Now it’s their turn to pause for a moment but eventually, both nod making you burst out in laughter.

“Why are you laughing so hard,” Bruna asks, making you laugh impossibly harder, gaining the attention of a few of those around you. “It’s not that funny!”

By the time you stop laughing the whole team is staring at you.

Alexia has taken her hand off your thigh and placid it on your back, you having hunched yourself over in the process.

Trying to catch your breath, you can hear Mapi asking who broke you from one side of the table and Paños making a smart-ass comment on the other.

“Y/N asked if a guy at the club thought Bruna and I were sisters and when we said yes, she just started laughing,” Jana says.

A couple of your teammates laugh at the explanation, mostly the older ones. The younger ones are too busy being confused. 

“Ah, pobrecitas,” your girlfriend says, “he was trying to get both of you to sleep with him.”

Hearing Alexia say it plainly like that sets you off again.

Unfortunately, Jana and Bruna don’t find it as funny as you do and they both sit there with horrified expressions that make you place your forehead back onto the table.

Your bout of laughter is cut short when you hear Ale speaking again.

“Ignore this bufona,” she says, “It’s happened to me and Alba more than a couple of times.”

“What?”

You don’t get an answer.

Later that night, after dinner, and once you and Alexia have returned to your apartment and have gotten ready for bed, you feel completely relaxed for the first time in days.

So relaxed, that when Alexia crawls into bed beside you, you immediately roll into her side and bury your face in the crook of her neck.

Just as you begin to drift off, the process being sped up by the feeling of Ale’s fingers running up and down your spine, you hear her whisper your name.

“Y/N/N, amor, are you awake?”

“Que pasa,” you ask, speaking directly into her neck.

“Thank you. For earlier. I really needed it.”

Her voice is soft like she doesn’t want to admit that she was nervous earlier, so you sit up to look her in the eyes.

“Hey,” you say, “Me and you, this is forever. So, I’m always going to do whatever I can to have your back. Besides, I might have needed that moment a little more than you did.”

“Well, you’re always a bit anxious in general.”

“I think I controlled it pretty well today.”

“You didn’t,” Alexia says, pulling you back down. “Aitana almost killed you but everything turned out fine.”

“Well, I wanted everything to go perfectly for you, mi reina, so I couldn’t help but be nervous.”

Now that your face is back to being in its preferred nighttime hiding place, you can feel the way her neck immediately heats up.

“It was perfect, best day ever,” she says, kissing your head much like you did to her earlier.

You just hum in response and a moment later you feel her fingers resume their path trailing up and down your back, lulling you to sleep.

[mapofthemazeinthemirror]

BTS playing Animal Crossing with you

do not repost my work in any form

Warnings: none! enjoy :)

☆ gender neutral reader

Jin

Jin isn’t interested in playing when you first start. He says it’s not really his kind of game. But pretty soon, he has a copy of his own and is parked next to you on the couch, arguing aloud with Tom Nook, that tyrant. Jin is king of his island, chasing villagers he doesn’t like with nets - maybe they’ll take a hint and leave. Mainly enjoys collecting, trying to finish his museum, and flower breeding.

Yoongi

The places you play the most are in bed and on the couch in Yoongi’s studio. Many nights Yoongi comes home after a long day, crawls into bed alongside you and says he’s going to sleep, but ends up watching you play until his mind is quiet and he drifts off. You often hear him humming the game’s background music as he potters around the house, not even aware that he’s doing it.

Hoseok

Once you introduce Hobi to Animal Crossing, you can’t pull him away for days on end. “But my flowers need watering and I need to check my shops and I have to talk to my favourite neighbours so they don’t think I’m abandoning them!” What about abandoning me, you point out. “We can play together! Just don’t run through my flowers.” He’s dead serious.

Namjoon

Your boyfriend Namjoon comes in very handy when Redd comes around. Who needs to search up a guide on which paintings are real or fake when you have an art enthusiast in the house? He doesn’t mind either, he enjoys the challenge and is proud that you think he’s so smart. He thinks the game is cute and sometimes watches you play when he doesn’t feel like doing anything.

Jimin

Jimin would play only because you do. When he has a lot of downtime the two of you squish together on the bed and play, visiting each other’s islands and taking pictures of your characters doing silly things together, swimming and watching the shooting stars. When he hasn’t played for a while because he is busy, he complains and pouts about the amount of weeds covering his island.

Taehyung

Tae thinks all the ugly villagers are cute. You look up how to get rid of the ones you don’t want on your island, and he is offended. How could you plot the removal of his new best friend Barold? He hates shaking trees because he is constantly being stung by bees. Always asking you for emergency Bells to buy furniture that he wants before it disappears from the store.

Jungkook

Spends more time playing Happy Home than he spends on his own island. He gets so into designing elaborate interiors for his pixel friends - every detail from lighting to ambience, it all has to be just right. Honestly, he’s racked up more hours than you have, and when you’re not playing yourself you’re more than likely watching him and trying not to be jealous of his digital decorating talents.

written by mapofthemazeinthemirror - do not repost my work in any form

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The Framework is the most exciting laptop I've ever broken

From the moment I started using computers, I wanted to help other people use them. I was everyone’s tech support for years, which prepared me for the decade or so when I was a CIO-for-hire. In the early days of the internet, I spent endless hours helping my BBS friends find their way onto the net.

Helping other people use technology requires humility: you have to want to help them realize their goals, which may be totally unlike your own. You have to listen carefully and take care not to make assumptions about how they “should” use tech. You may be a tech expert, but they are experts on themselves.

This is a balancing act, because it’s possible to be too deferential to someone else’s needs. As much as other people know about how they want technology to work, if you’re their guide, you have to help them understand how technology will fail.

For example, using the same memorable, short password for all your services works well, but it fails horribly. When one of those passwords leak, identity thieves can take over all of your friend’s accounts. They may think, “Oh, no one would bother with my account, I’ve got nothing of value,” so you have to help them understand how opportunistic attacks work.

Yes, they might never be individually targeted, but they might be targeted collectively, say, to have their social media accounts hijacked to spread malware to their contacts.

Paying attention to how things work without thinking about how they fail is a recipe for disaster. It’s the reasoning that has people plow their savings into speculative assets that are going up and up, without any theory of when that bubble might pop and leave them ruined.

It’s hard to learn about failure without experiencing it, so those of us who have lived through failures have a duty to help the people we care about understand those calamities without living through them themselves.

That’s why, for two decades, I’ve always bought my hardware with an eye to how it fails every bit as much as how it works. Back when I was a Mac user — and supporting hundreds of other Mac users — I bought two Powerbooks at a time.

I knew from hard experience that Applecare service depots were completely unpredictable and that once you mailed off your computer for service, it might disappear into the organization’s bowels for weeks or even (in one memorable case), months.

I knew that I would eventually break my laptop, and so I kept a second one in sync with it through regular system-to-system transfers. When my primary system died, I’d wipe it (if I could!) and return it to Apple and switch to the backup and hope the main system came back to me before I broke the backup system.

This wasn’t just expensive — it was very technologically challenging. The proliferation of DRM and other “anti-piracy” measures on the Mac increasingly caused key processes to fail if you simply copied a dead system’s drive into a good one.

Then, in 2006, I switched operating systems to Ubuntu, a user-centric, easy-to-use flavor of GNU/Linux. Ubuntu was originally developed with the idea that its users would include Sub-Saharan African classrooms, where network access was spotty and where technical experts might be far from users.

To fulfill this design requirement, the Ubuntu team focused themselves on working well, but also failing gracefully, with the idea that users might have to troubleshoot their own technological problems.

One advantage of Ubuntu: it would run on lots of different hardware, including IBM’s Thinkpads. The Thinkpads were legendarily rugged, but even more importantly, Thinkpad owners could opt into a far more reliable service regime that Applecare.

For about $150/year, IBM offered a next-day, on-site, worldwide hardware replacement warranty. That meant that if your laptop broke, IBM would dispatch a technician with parts to wherever you were, anywhere in the world, and fix your computer, within a day or so.

This was a remnant of the IBM Global Services business, created to supply tech support to people who bought million-dollar mainframes, and laptop users could ride on its coattails. It worked beautifully — I’ll never forget the day an IBM technician showed up at my Mumbai hotel while I was there researching a novel and fixed my laptop on the hotel-room desk.

This service was made possible in part by the Thinkpad’s hardware design. Unlike the Powerbook, Thinkpads were easy to take apart. Early on in my Thinkpad years, I realized I could save a lot of money by buying my own hard-drives and RAM separately and installing them myself, which took one screwdriver and about five minutes.

The keyboards were also beautifully simple to replace, which was great because I’m a thumpy typist and I would inevitably wear out at least one keyboard. The first Thinkpad keyboard swap I did took less than a minute, and I performed it one-handed, while holding my infant daughter in my other hand, and didn’t even need to read the documentation!

But then IBM sold the business to Lenovo and it started to go downhill. Keyboard replacements got harder, the hardware itself became far less reliable, and they started to move proprietary blobs onto their motherboards that made installing Ubuntu into a major technical challenge.

Then, in 2021, I heard about a new kind of computer: the Framework, which was designed to be maintained by its users, even if they weren’t very technical.

https://frame.work/

The Framework was small and light — about the same size as a Macbook — and very powerful, but you could field-strip it in 15 minutes with a single screwdriver, which shipped with the laptop.

I pre-ordered a Framework as soon as I heard about it, and got mine as part of the first batch of systems. I ordered mine as a kit — disassembled, requiring that I install the drive, RAM and wifi card, as well as the amazing, snap-fit modular expansion ports. It was a breeze to set up, even if I did struggle a little with the wifi card antenna connectors (they subsequently posted a video that made this step a lot easier):

https://twitter.com/frameworkputer/status/1433320060429373440

The Framework works beautifully, but it fails even better. Not long after I got my Framework, I had a hip replacement; as if in sympathy, my Framework’s hinges also needed replacing (a hazard of buying the first batch of a new system is that you get to help the manufacturer spot problems in their parts).

My Framework “failed” — it needed a new hinge — but it failed so well. Framework shipped me a new part, and I swapped my computer’s hinges, one day after my hip replacement. I couldn’t sit up more than 40 degrees, I was high af on painkillers, and I managed the swap in under 15 minutes. That’s graceful failure.

https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Hinge+Replacement+Guide/104

After a few weeks’ use, I was convinced. I published my review, calling the Framework “the most exciting laptop I’ve ever used.”

https://pluralistic.net/2021/09/21/monica-byrne/#think-different

That was more than a year ago. In the intervening time, I’ve got to discover just how much punishment my Framework can take (I’ve been back out on the road with various book publicity events and speaking engagements) and also where its limits are. I’ve replaced the screen and the keyboard, and I’ve even upgraded the processor:

https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Mainboard+Replacement+Guide/79

I’m loving this computer so. damn. much. But as of this morning, I love it even more. On Thursday, I was in Edinburgh for the UK launch of “Chokepoint Capitalism,” my latest book, which I co-authored with Rebecca Giblin.

As I was getting out of a cab for a launch-day podcast appearance, I dropped my Framework from a height of five feet, right onto the pavement. I had been working on the laptop right until the moment the cab arrived because touring is nuts. I’ve got about 150% more commitments than I normally do, and I basically start working every day at 5AM and keep going until I drop at midnight, every single day.

As rugged as my Framework is, that drop did for it. It got an ugly dent in the input cover assembly and — far, far worse — I cracked my screen. The whole left third of my screen was black, and the rest of it was crazed with artefacts and lines.

This is a catastrophe. I don’t have any time for downtime. Just today, I’ve got two columns due, a conference appearance and a radio interview, which all require my laptop. I got in touch with Framework and explained my dire straits and they helpfully expedited shipping of a new $179 screen.

Yesterday, my laptop screen stopped working altogether. I was in Oxford all day, and finished my last book event at about 9PM. I got back to my hotel in London at 11:30, and my display was waiting for me at the front desk. I staggered bleary-eyed to my room, sat down at the desk, and, in about fifteen minutes flat, I swapped out the old screen and put in the new one.

https://guides.frame.work/Guide/Display+Replacement+Guide/86

That is a fucking astoundingly graceful failure mode.

Entropy is an unavoidable fact of life. “Just don’t drop your laptop” is great advice, but it’s easier said than done, especially when you’re racing from one commitment to the next without a spare moment in between.

Framework has designed a small, powerful, lightweight machine — it works well. But they’ve also designs a computer that, when you drop it, you can fix yourself. That attention to graceful failure saved my ass.

If you hear me today on CBC Sunday Magazine, or tune into my Aaron Swartz Day talk, or read my columns at Medium and Locus, that’s all down to this graceful failure mode. Framework’s computers aren’t just the most exciting laptops I’ve ever used — they’re the most exciting laptops I’ve ever broken.

[Image ID: A disassembled Framework laptop; a man's hand reaches into the shot with a replacement screen.]

[g4yforethan]

safety net

pairing: namor x male!reader

summary: reader goes for a swim and wakes up in namors throne

warnings: cursing, kissing

a/n: sorry for being inactive recently school sucks also might make this into multiple parts but idk yet !

it was a clear day. temperatures had risen up to 100 degrees and there was no a/c in your house. luckily for you, the beach was a 5 minute walk so you decided to go in for an afternoon swim. you told your family goodbye and headed down to the beach. you took your shirt and shoes off and ran straight into the ocean. after a few minutes of swimming, you started to swim further away from shore. by this point, you couldn't feel the sand anymore and started to feel the water at your neck. "fuck-fuck- HELP!" you screamed for help but there was no one around. you screamed and started to lose consciousness when you felt something grab your foot and drag you underneath.

you woke up in a room. it wasn't a hospital room. a lady enters and offers you food. she was blue. her entire body was blue. you thought you were dead when all of a sudden you hear a voice. "he's up already? thought he would be knocked out for a couple more hours at least." a man enters the room. he had wings on his ankles and had a toned and muscular build. he sits across from you and and starts to admire you. "who are you? am i dead?" he laughs at your response while you were confused. "no not at all. see i heard a scream coming from above and went to rescue whoever it was. my name is kukulkan but others call me namor." you still were confused on where you were or what powers he possessed.

"and so you're like a superhero? like an avenger?" he was confused by what you said and got up and sat next to you. "i'm not whatever you just called me. i'm a mutant. a being from millions of years ago. my people stay here because water is what they breathe but for me i can breathe both air and water." you had put the pieces together. growing up, you heard about a legend of a man who lives in the water waiting to attack one who crosses his path. now he was sitting next to you. "so what do you want? are you gonna kill me? kidnap me?" he put his hand on your shoulder. "my love i'm not gonna do anything to harm you."

you looked in his eyes and felt what he felt. he was in love. love at first sight if you will. he gets closer to you and pulls in for a kiss. your lips meet as he puts his hands on your hair as yours touch his broad shoulders. “wow. you’re a really good kisser for being an ancient being.” he laughed and kissed you again. “my love there’s more where that came from.” you blushed and kissed his lips. soon as things started to get racy, a guard enters the room. you look up and see her as namor was on top of you. she notes this and immediately exits the room.

his hands touch your waist and his lips leave marks on your neck. you moan in pleasure. he pauses to catch his breath. “amor i never asked you your name.” “oh um it’s y/n.” “y/n? that’s a beautiful name my love.” he kisses you again and again. the sun began to set as it started to turn dark. “um i think i should head home now. my parents are probably really worried.” he looked at you in disappointment. “will you come back my love?” “yes of course. i just- i need time to think about what the fuck is going on okay?” he laughed and agreed. he took you home and gave you a kiss goodbye. you watched as he entered the water and disappeared.

[bunnliix]

The Point of No Return - Hongjoong x reader

I am in an angsty mood so here we go. This was born out of the need for angst but also Ateezchella so this is what happened.

Pairing: Hongjoong x reader Summary: Hongjoong had invited you along with them to Coachella, not wanting you to miss out on this experience with them. However, things don't go to plan. wc: 3k AU: n/a Genre: Angst, Hurt/no comfort Nets: @newworldnet warnings: Death, blood, kidnapping, disappearances, crying, descriptions of a dead body, it's basically just really depressing and sad. it's hurt/no comfort for a reason

You had followed the boys to Coachella for their performances, partially because your boyfriend wanted you to experience this with him and the rest of the members. You had watched their soundcheck, cheering as loud as you could in support of them, which left a smile on Hongjoong’s face. You thoroughly enjoyed the set list they chose for the festival, jumping along to every single song and sometimes attempting the choreography, making the boys try their hardest not to laugh. You weren’t exactly a dancer, so sometimes the moves ended up looking a little funny, but you were having fun and that’s all that matters. 

Today was D-day, the boy’s first performance at Coachella, and the boys were a bundle of nerves, and so were you. There was nothing any of you could really do, except try and relax, and you were told by all the boys to go and enjoy the performances for the boys since they weren’t able to roam around before their set. You roamed around the festival grounds, enjoying the atmosphere and the vibes, and just soaking in the energy around you. You went to attend Sabrina Carpenter’s set, which was one of the few that day that you were excited to watch live. There had been a couple times you almost had the chance to see her live in concert, but then life or Ateez things had come up and blocked those plans.

Being that you were a part of the Ateez entourage, you normally wouldn’t have security, but Hongjoong was concerned about sasaengs and other dangers that could happen at the festival, and added you as a part of the security team’s list of people to protect. So you had two members of the team with you at all times, despite your insistence that you would be fine by yourself.

“Won’t the boys need you back with them soon?” You asked one of your bodyguards.

“We’re supposed to stay with you until you meet up with the staff before their set.” He informed you, the other nodding along in agreement. 

“Well, I don’t really need both of you here, I’m only going to Sabrina’s set, and then I’m going to head over to the Sahara stage to wait for their set. Maybe one of you can head back then?” You suggested to them.

“We’re really not supposed to leave you with only one of us, Mr. Kim told us that we’re both supposed to stay with you until you meet with KQ staff.” The other bodyguard spoke up.

“But if I’m only going from one stage to the other, what could go wrong?” You said.

“If you’re sure you’ll only need one of us, then I’ll head back.” The second bodyguard told you.

“I’m sure. The boys will need you more than I will.” You told him, a tone of finality in your voice.

Watching the guard walk away, you turned to the remaining man, telling him that it was time to head over to the stage for Sabrina’s performance. He walked closely behind you as you made your way through the crowds, weaving through the groups of people, quickly navigating the festival grounds and arriving just in time to Sabrina’s set. You didn’t mind being farther back, it allowed you to have more space to move about, and room to breathe.

Singing along to every song she sang, you were having the time of your life. You had more than a couple people look over at you during the entire set, not that you cared. Though, there were more than a couple times that a couple different sets of people bumped into you, which you quickly shook off, not thinking anything of it except that people wanted to get closer to the stage and were not aware of anyone around them. You didn’t let some rude people ruin the fun and excitement of finally seeing Sabrina live.

Eventually the performance came to an end, and it was your time to head over to the Sahara stage, to find both one of the staff members that you were meeting up with, plus to get a spot for the boys’ performance late that night. You once again started weaving your way through the festival grounds, stopping for some food and a drink along the way. You waited in line with your guard right next to you, and after getting what you paid for, you headed over to the Sahara stage, ready to start the long wait till your boys’ set. Once you got close to the stage, you waved off the remaining bodyguard, telling him you could make it the short distance to the staff member by yourself, and he reluctantly left, heading back to where the rest of the security team was situated. 

Time skip to the performance...

Hongjoong was having the time of his life on stage, soaking up the atmosphere around him, feeding on the energy coming from his members and the crowd, and knowing that his girlfriend was somewhere out there as well, cheering him and the others on just as she had the day prior. All too quickly did it end, and despite the mix up that was the failure of the boys to exit the stage the way they planned to, the rest of their performance couldn’t have gone better. 

Arriving back at the backstage area for performers, they quickly took photos, before finding somewhere to sit down and just relax after the adrenaline rush that was their performance. The minutes ticked by, Hongjoong growing worried and impatient that you had yet to show up backstage. Had staff not done their job? Had they not made sure you were allowed back here? Should he send their manager out to grab you? He checked his phone, but you hadn’t sent him anything. Maybe your phone died? These questions swirled inside of his head, until the staff member they had assigned to meet you came rushing into the area, and over to the group's manager. Hongjoong got up, making his way over to the two, when he heard his manager exclaim to the staff member.

“What do you mean she never showed up?! Why didn’t you say something hours ago?!” The manager half yelled at the staff member, who started making excuses. 

Hongjoong stopped in his tracks, the words constantly replaying over and over in his head. You had never shown up and made contact with the staff member? He knew your bodyguard came back, he saw the man return, but he had assumed that meant you had found the staff member who was supposed to be responsible for you during your time spent at their stage.

Seonghwa came up beside their captain, a worried look on his face. “What do you mean she never showed up? Where is she then?” He inquired, to which no one had answers for him.

Hongjoong stayed silent for a moment longer, before launching into action, moving to find the men responsible for your safety. He quickly found the two men, barking out at them, “What the fuck were you doing? No one can find my girlfriend, the woman you were supposed to be protecting?!” He yelled at them, throwing any pretense of being calm right out the window. 

The guard who he had seen return started talking first. “I escorted her to the stage, and once we were there, she convinced me that she could find the staff member on her own, and so I returned here.” He told Hongjoong.

“You should have stayed with her until she made contact with our staff. Now she’s missing and it might be your fucking fault!” He yelled, getting close to the security guard until San and Jongho pulled him away, the entire group having followed their captain on his warpath. 

“I didn’t think she could have gotten into danger in the couple hundred feet it would have taken her to get to the staff member.” The guard justified his actions, and indirectly, your choices to tell the guard to leave.

“Well you made a wrong decision. Now get out there and go look for her, you assholes!” He screamed at them, the two quickly leaving with the rest of the security team to scour the grounds for you, or any hints as to where you’ve gone. 

The members convinced Hongjoong to go back to where they had been, and wait for news. Hongjoong couldn't sit still, pacing back and forth until he heard that they had found you. He wouldn’t be able to handle anything less than you showing up in front of him. He couldn’t bear the thought of them not finding you, of never seeing you again.

A security team member came jogging in, trying to catch his breath once he stopped. He raised a hand, and Hongjoong immediately knew it was your phone. He’d recognize that case anywhere, he hand painted it for you after all. Sunflowers, the flower you reminded him of. The reality of the situation started kicking in at that moment, and he knew that you wouldn’t have just left your phone hanging around. There was no way you would have, you protected your phone like it held the codes for nuclear bombs.

He fell to his knees, knowing something had gone horribly wrong, and he felt responsible for it all, seeing as he was the one who pushed for you to go out and enjoy the festival. He should have kept you here with them, shouldn’t have let you out of their, out of his sight. If he had kept you here with them, it wouldn’t be like this right now, you would be safe here with them, not out there alone, or worse. 

Yunho moved to take the phone from the security team member, using the code they all knew to open it. Finding that once he did, the notes app was left open, and as he read the text on the screen, he felt his stomach drop.

‘She doesn’t deserve you. No one deserves you. You’re too good for her. It’s okay, you’ll be better off without her. Atiny will make sure she stays far away from you. You don’t need to worry about her. She’ll be an eternal attendee of Coachella.’

Mingi looked at the text from over his friend's shoulder, and could help but let out a sob. This alerted the others that something was wrong.

“Yunho. Mingi. What’s going on?” Seonghwa questioned, and Yunho could only shake his head before he turned the phone towards Seonghwa, who quickly read what was on the screen, tears falling from his eyes as his hand came to cover his mouth.

Hongjoong, coming back to the present, quickly stood up, losing his balance and Jongho rushed to steady him, before he shrugged off the maknae’s help.

“What’s going on?” He asked, looking between the three men.

“Hongjoong, I don’t think you should know.” Seonghwa tried to persuade his best friend.

“I need to know. Show me now!” Hongjoong said, before just snatching your phone from Yunho’s hand, looking down at the text on his lover’s phone. His face paled as he read further, the phone eventually dropping from his hand, dropping right down to the ground. Yeosang rushed to pick it up, finding that the screen had been shattered, the text on the screen still readable, though the fairy-like man couldn’t find it in himself to read it, not after seeing his friend’s reactions to what was contained on the phone.

Hongjoong himself collapsed, his body falling to the ground not long after your phone did. Where were you? He couldn’t believe that their fans, no they weren’t fans, not if they did something to you. They could never be fans if these were the actions they decided to take, that they felt he was too good for you. He was in a state of shock, he couldn’t process anything going on outside of the thoughts in his own head. 

Thankfully Seonghwa stepped in, ordering the security team and their staff to go searching the grounds, making sure they knew to cover every single piece of the festival, and they all set out. Yunho and the others were already huddling around Hongjoong, trying their best to comfort the man, their friend whose girlfriend is currently missing and more than likely, in danger. From those who claim to be their own fans. 

None of the boys have any sense of time, seconds feel like minutes and minutes feel like hours, until the sound of an incoming call comes from one of their phones. It’s Seonghwa’s phone that’s ringing and he answers it, hoping for good news. As the other boys watched him step away and listen to what the person on the other side was saying, they saw him freeze before he dropped to the ground as his hand holding the phone fell into his lap.

Yeosang and Wooyoung hurry over to their hyung’s side, Yeosang hugging the older man while Wooyoung took the phone, pulling it up to his ear to find out what happened, interrogating the person on the phone. Soon he fell into the same state as Seonghwa, sobs bursting out of his mouth as tears flowed down his cheeks, his head shaking as he repeatedly denied the knowledge he had just gained. This signaled to the others that whatever news their staff had, wasn’t good. 

“Seonghwa-hyung, talk to me. What did they say?” Yeosang tried to get his friend to talk, but his friend wouldn’t say a word.

“They found her.” Wooyoung whispered, everyone turning to him, the silence so loud you could hear a pin drop, despite the roaring of the crowds not too far away.

“And?” Mingi asked, daring to hope that they would get some good news tonight.

“She’s dead. They killed her. She’s gone.” Seonghwa managed to get out, before he doubled over, unable to say anymore. 

‘She’s dead. She’s dead. She’s dead.’ Those two words echoed in Hongjoong’s mind, and he wouldn’t, he couldn’t let himself believe that. You couldn’t be dead, he saw you only hours ago. There’s no way they would have killed you. Why would anyone want to hurt you? He stared down at his hands as they sat in his lap, feeling as if he just believed you were alive and this was all a big joke, it would become true.

“They want one of us to come confirm it’s her. They’re sending a member of the security team to come take one of us to her.” Yeosang spoke up, having just hung up the call with whoever had informed them of this news.

Silence reigned over them for a couple minutes, until Hongjoong spoke up. “I need to see her. She can’t be dead. She just can’t be.”

“I don’t know if that’s wise Hongjoong-hyung.” Yunho said to the older man, “I think it’s probably best if one of us goes to do that. You don’t want to have your last memory of her like this.” He told his friend.

“She’s not dead, she’s just fine. I’ll see her and we can get her some help and she’ll be okay.” Their captain continued, deep in denial.

The rest of the group looked at him with pity in their eyes, they knew he wouldn’t believe that you were gone until he saw it for himself, but they didn’t want to see him destroy himself once he realized the truth. They knew exactly how much their friend cared for you, and this would destroy him. He was planning to propose to you next weekend, after they finished their performance. And now he’d never get the chance to.

Finally the members of the team arrived to lead whoever wanted to take the burden of confirming that the body was in fact you. What they arrived at, was the boys on the ground and cries and sniffles coming from those who realized it was time to go see you. Seonghwa stood up, assuming the responsibility, though Jongho joined him, and soon it became the entirety of Ateez, surrounding Hongjoong at the center of them all. He had insisted on going, and none of them could tell him no.

They made the trek over to the spot where those people had left you, and sadly, it wasn’t far from where the backstage area was. It was a deserted area, where very few people would stumble upon, leaving the perfect place for those demented people to take you.

San was the first to see you, where you laid on the grass, with so many people surrounding you. His steps faltered, and that caught their attention until they saw where San was looking, and gasps and cries came from the group as they processed that it was really you. That you really were gone, that your lifeless body laid there on the grass, almost as if you were just taking a nap instead. Hongjoong scrambled over to you, everyone moving out of his way to allow the idol passage.

He fell to the ground next to you, a shaky hand reaching out and touching your face, flinching away at how cold you felt. This was when it all started to kick in for him, that you were really gone, that he’d never get to see you smile again, never get to kiss you, never get to hear your voice call his name.

“You can’t be gone, you can’t leave me like this. We were supposed to spend our lives together!! You have to come back! Please, just come back to me.” Hongjoong cried out, leaning over your body, the shirt you were wearing was his, he picked this outfit out for you this morning. God, that was the last time he saw you alive. He’d never get to wake up next to you in the mornings, never get to go on another date with you. Never get to see you walk down the aisle towards him wearing a wedding dress and saying yes to being with him for the rest of your lives. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. 

The rest of Ateez gathered around Hongjoong and you, both mourning your passing and trying to be there to support their captain, their friend. You were a special part in all of their lives, how were they supposed to move on from this?

If you wanna see a beautifully written continuation to this fic, check out this fic by @vent-stink, which I consider a very canonical ending to how Hongjoong would react after all of this.

Taglist: @bethelighthalazia

[zorosjuicymelonsx]

Finding You

A/N: Guys I'm here and I'm so sorry I'm a week late with this. I got a new job after losing mine a few months ago so things have been hectic lately with my schedule. All I can say is sometimes adulting SUCKS but I love money so 😭🤑

A lovely reader on AO3 had helped me realise there was an anomaly with the timeline of how Y/N and Zoro meet and all so I went through it and I thought I would go through this:

Y/N's flashback of Zoro sleeping in the forest in Chapter 3 was when they were 15 so its actually 7 years ago and not 4 years ago. I've edited this and amended the story you tell Zoro slightly in Chapter 5 to correct this so my apologies for not finding this sooner. I wanted to show that she had a crush on him before they officially met after he rescued her in the alley. They then turn 16, graduate school and then Zoro asks her out. They date till 18, get engaged and marry at 19. Zoro disappears a few days after this and you spend the 2, almost 2 and a half years looking for him so he's 21 and your 21.

Its sometime after Wano and Egghead doesn't exist in this "dimension" when you find him in Chapter 1 so they're just cruising right now. I wanted to match the actual One Piece ages he was before and after timeskip.

I hope this has helped clarify if anyone else was confused of the timeline but please do enjoy this chapter. Because of my new job, I'll do my very post to work and post in a timely manner. Thank you for everyones patience and support with me.

Chapter Eight Previous Next “Zoro? You okay?”

“i-I have to go, m’sorry.” 

That was the last thing he said to you a week ago in the Crows Nest. You had gone through every single possible reason for why he suddenly would switch up the way he did which left you nowhere near to a conclusive answer. You were sure you’d done absolutely nothing but at the same time doubted yourself and wondered if you had done something unconsciously. 

Since then, he'd practically been living in the Crows Nest. He never ate in the galley anymore, never came on the deck to hang around with anyone and you weren’t even sure if he was sticking with his once a week baths. Every time you tried to seek him out, you noticed the hint of stress in his face and would walk away in the opposite direction. Thankfully you weren’t the only one who noticed the swordsman's strange behaviour. 

“Marimo is really starting to piss me off, can you believe he’s making me bring his meals to him like I’m some waiter?!” Sanji spat with annoyance as he piled nourishment onto Zoro’s breakfast plate. You knew Zoro wouldn’t have asked Sanji for food, you just understood Sanjis code of ethics when it came to making sure that every member of the crew was properly fed and nourished. You appreciated him for it. 

You were one of the few who remained in the galley after breakfast, sitting with Jinbe and Usopp who were finishing off their own meals. You’d leaned forward to sit your chin on your forearms as you traced the rim of your coffee cup with your finger caught in a net of progressive overthinking of the enigma that was your husband. 

“Has he really not said anything?” Usopp asked Sanji, the cook turning to face them, the plate in his hand piled high in mostly eggs, sausages and toast. 

“Not a word. I swear the algae on his heads really taken over his brain.” Sanji cursed before leaving the galley, chewing on his unlit cigarette. 

“Isn’t this normal for Zoro? I mean he is pretty quiet.” Jinbe asked Usopp. Since Jinbe was the most recent crewmate to join Luffy and the crew before you, it was understandable he would ask. You would have agreed with Jinbe on the fact Zoro was quiet, however, you knew better than to mistake this for just his regular self. 

“When something is bothering him, he shuts down. He avoids everyone, he won’t talk, he’ll just isolate. I just can’t figure out what's bothering him.” You grumbled out before lifting your cup to take a gulp of your coffee. Setting the cup down, you realised you couldn’t hear either of them talking anymore and turned to see them both staring at you with wide eyes. 

“Has he really never done this in front of you guys?” You questioned the gaping pair with a raised brow slightly mocking their owlish stares back. Jinbe shook his head as expected whereas Usopp's gaze drifted off behind you in thought. You assumed he was revisiting his album of memories with the swordsman. 

“Well…there was the time on Thriller Bark when he shut himself away to train but it wasn’t anything like this.” Usopp answered cautiously, his mouth slightly turned down in slight distress.This caught your attention and your heart filled with anxiety. 

“What happened?” You asked, unconsciously frowning. Usopp's gaze refocused back to yours, adjusting himself uncomfortably in his seat as he seemed hesitant to retell the story. Nonetheless, he sighed before clearing his throat to speak. 

“We were on Thriller Bark where we met Brook. Brook was stuck on his old crew's ship and he couldn’t leave because his shadow being taken by the ex-warlord Gecko Moria.”

“Brook has a shadow?” You asked in surprise trying to suppress a laugh. You valued Brook as a crew member despite his panties fetish. Thankfully Nami always stepped in after he asked to put him in his place.

“I don’t even know anymore, ANYWAYS ....we managed to defeat him but another ex-warlord named Kuma came for us.We don’t know what exactly happened because Kuma knocked us out but we know Zoro got really hurt. He was unconscious for a few days after that. I think at the time we underestimated them but knowing him, he blamed himself for not being strong enough.” 

Usopp clarified, his tone laced with guilt. Your heart ached at the idea of Zoro being that severely injured to that extent. You knew he didn’t care as long as he met his goal in the end even if you did reprimand him on his mentality many times over the years you both dated. You had eventually accepted it and you didn’t want to stand in his way.

“Let's just give him space and see what happens.” You spoke assuringly to the two despite your chest hammering with the anxiety of unsurety. 

One Week Later

Two weeks had passed since you last heard Zoro's voice. The patient person you were two weeks ago was buried deep inside and now your patience was wearing thin along with your paranoia running rampant. You couldn’t take the silence anymore and neither could the rest of the crew. 

It was the afternoon and Nami had called everyone in for a crew meeting on deck, including Zoro who had unsuccessfully attempted to blend into the background. Your eyes has locked in on him from the moment you walked in and spotted green. You also saw the obvious attempt he made to avoid looking your way as he chose to focus his gaze on the wall behind Nami. 

‘Just what was so interesting about the wall you fucker?’ You thought to yourself as you leaned back in your chair in observation. 

“Right guys, I called this meeting in because I came across information that there's an island nearby rumoured to have a fuck ton of treasure. We gotta make a game plan.” Nami excitedly spoke, the berries practically beaming out of her eye sockets. Reluctantly, you took your eyes away from Zoro to focus on Nami. 

For about an hour, she went over and planned in detail how to navigate the island, showing you and the others the maps and other sources of information from a book she read detailing the treasure and its history. 

“I also decided that not all of us can go on the island so I’m picking Zoro and Y/N to stay behind on the ship.” Nami added. From the corner of your eye, you noticed Zoro stiffen before clearing his throat to speak up. 

“I’m coming with you guys, have Sanji stay on the ship with Y/N.” Zoro spoke in a low, reserved manner clearly disguising his obvious discomfort towards you. It was the first time you’d heard his voice in two weeks but hearing the words he chose only had you gritting your teeth. You took a deep breath in and decided that at that moment you couldn’t take anymore. 

He had drawn your last straw. 

“Oh Y/N-chan, I’d love to-” You cut off Sanji as you stood up from your seat, the feet of the chair roughly scraping against the floor boards as you paced your steps towards Zoro to now stand strong in front of him. You felt the intense gaze of the others on you but ignored it, the anger you felt overpowered your rationality. 

“Whats your fucking problem?” You spat out as you looked up at him. 

This caught him off surprise. You could see he was trying to shift away from you but you weren’t going to allow him to get out of this. You moved in tandem with him whenever he attempted to get away from you only to have him give up and stay glued to the wall behind him. 

“I ain’t got no problem-”

“Bullshit. You’ve been avoiding me for the past two weeks. In fact, you’ve been avoiding ALL of us.” 

“You’re being dramatic.”

“No I’m fucking not.” You somehow got even closer, your chest practically touching his as you felt his body heat against you. 

“She's really not Zoro, did something happen between you two?” Nami asked cautiously behind you.

“Did I do something?” 

He could see you were frustrated with him and he could see he was only hurting you more than he wanted to. 

‘I’m sorry….’ He thought as he looked at you, the guilt overwhelming him. 

Whilst he didn’t appreciate the questioning from you and the heavy gazes of everyone, he will admit he had isolated himself from you. It wasn’t because you did anything to him personally and it wasn’t because he started rejecting your presence on the ship; by far you'd been patient with him by letting him be. The persistent questioning he got from the others, especially the shitty cook despite being appreciative of him bringing his meals to him only to be met with silence from him only fueled his guilt. Since the discovery of his feelings for you, he felt overwhelmed. Being around you distracted him. He felt the want to be with you but at the same time, his mind shielded him from you as if he was protecting himself from you. He prided himself in being strong minded and he felt frustrated with himself over how he could possibly feel this way when he prided himself in being strong minded. He could only theorise that this mental block with you had to do with the guy who’d wiped his memory. 

‘Was his named Edward? Ethan? Whatever, it didn’t matter.’

He knew he was being a dick by staying away from you but he didn’t know what else to do. The moment he accepted his feelings for you, he’d also accepted what felt like an overwhelming burden in his stomach. He felt panic, a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time. He left you in the Crows Nest, remembering the feeling of not being able to breathe. This was why Zoro did not do feelings; they were complicated. 

“You didn’t do anyth-”

“Then why have you been avoiding me?” You persistently questioned, the frustration brimming in your eyes. 

“I’m done with this, I’m leaving.” He felt his heart climbing up into his throat with you being so close to him.

“Oh no you don’t, you’re not getting out of this one.” 

You made an impulse decision out of anger. With your free hand, you summoned a hole behind Zoro. You pictured the very island where you spent time training yourself with your devil fruit, knowing it was quiet and you wouldn’t be disturbed. The hole behind him had formed and Zoro had realised too late he was no longer leaning against solid and fell through the smoke of clouds that enveloped him. 

You turned to the others who were gaping at you in shock. Even Luffy stayed glued to his seat with no attempt to jump through the cloud of smoke. 

“I’ll bring him back tomorrow.” You huffed out before going through the hole yourself. 

As you landed in the sand of the island, you looked up to see the hole you summoned. You then looked around to see your surroundings. The island hadn’t changed one bit; the wave of nostalgia hit as you breathed in the smell of the sand and sea, the lingering scent of greenery coming from the forest coming into the mix as well. If you looked around again, you’d be able to find the rock you carved the last date you were here before leaving to continue your search for Zoro. 

You purposefully summoned the hole on the empty side of the island, choosing to leave the small population of habitants to the other side undisturbed. They were peaceful people and had even shared a few meals with you from time to time whenever a few of them found you exhausted from exertion after training. They knew you well and that you didn’t pose a threat, choosing to peacefully coexist with them. 

Once closed, the anger still ever present in your system you looked around to spot Zoro sitting in the sand as he looked around taking his surroundings. 

“Wh-where are-?” 

“You gonna talk or what?” You aggressively asked. 

Zoro was now angry. He didn’t want to fight with you, he just wanted to piece together his feelings and rebuild his courage to be around you. He wasn’t ready to face you and being here with you only made him feel worse.  

He stood up from the sand and stomped over to stand over you, pushing the bile from his thumping heart back down his throat.

“What…the FUCK…were you thinking? Why would you do that? Do you realise without me there, you’ve put the others in danger? Take us back NOW.” 

“First of all, step the fuck back and calm down. Second of all, they’ll be fine. Third of all, were not going anywhere until we sort whatever the fucks gone up your ass and died.” You said as you matched his energy. 

“Fuck this, I’m out.” Zoro refused to admit anything. He couldn’t. He turned away from you and began walking. 

“Roronoa Zoro, come back here now.” You ordered him as you followed behind. 

“No. Piss off.” He called back as he continued stomping. 

“Zoro, stop.” You shouted, your voice almost broke as your anger now turned into hurt. 

“Leave me alone Y/N.” 

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?” You now cried out. You couldn’t stop the tears and the lump in your throat as you stared at his back. 

Zoro stopped at the sound of your voice breaking. He frowned at the thought of you upset, his heart ached but he couldn’t turn around. 

“I’m not doing anything to you Y/N. I just need space.” He spoke regretfully before he continued walking again and turned left heading into the forest. You stood still as you watched him walk away.

“Fuck.” You whispered to yourself, taking your palm to rub against your forehead in frustration and then using the back of your hand to wipe your tears away. You hated crying, you’d always felt so weak. No matter how much you try to control it, the tears always win. You decided to sit, digging yourself further into the sand before leaning back to let it envelop you. 

You breathed in, allowing yourself to take in the sound of the waves crashing against the damp sand. You didn’t realise how much you missed being back on land. You loved being on the Sunny, you really did but sometimes allowing yourself to be grounded for a bit always helped. 

You let your hands moved with the sand, feeling the softness of it between your fingers. You clenched the sand into your palms finding the action soothing and allowing the anger you’d felt seep into each particle.

What were you going to do with Zoro? 

————————————- ⚔️✨ ————————————

A few hours had passed and you found yourself waking up from a nap you had unconsciously taken. You noticed the sun was beginning to lower, you predicted you had a few hours left before nightfall. You sighed before getting up from the sand, swiping off the residue of sand that was left on your clothes and turned to face the direction Zoro left you from. You were grateful the island was small and you knew it  wouldn’t take you long to track down the lost swordsman. 

As you were about to start walking, you felt a presence lurking near you. You stiffened before smiling and realising there was more than one and posed no danger. 

“How long have you guys been there for?” You called out. You turned to find a small group of what you assumed were hunters gathering food. The group consisted of three men and one woman. 

“Y/N, are you okay?” One of the male hunters asked. 

“I’m fine don’t worry…you didn’t happen to see a green haired guy with three swords roaming around?” You queried. You didn’t know them personally but you assumed the few that did check in on you when you were training spread the word to the others of your existence.

“He’s sitting by the waterfall.” The female hunter softly answered. You nodded as you brought the memorised path to the area up into your mind to plan out your short walk. 

“Thank you, don’t mind us. We’ll be gone tomorrow.” You promised before you began making your way to him. A short walk through the forest and your feet found you at the beginning of a small lake. As you continued, your eyes caught the waterfall and the blue hues of water falling over into the lake. You looked around and soon enough your eyes caught on a head of green hair. You frowned at his slouched demeanor, noticing his eye was lost in the water and in thought. You took a quick breath in before continuing your walk to now stand near the swordsman. You noticed his body stiffened as you felt your presence before slouching back, his eye not breaking out of his lost gaze. 

“Zoro…I.” 

“Don’t speak.” 

Your mouth closed into a straight line, the words ‘I’m sorry’ stuck at the tip of your tongue. You felt like you stood for eternity but just a few short minutes later and you decided to find a seat on the grass near him. Your eyes followed his and soon enough you were also lost in the water with him. Apart from the sounds of the water crashing into the lake and the gentle calls from the birds in the trees, the angst between the both of you laid thick. 

As you watched the water, you were reminded of how much you missed swimming and the ability to just float. You had thankfully never fallen into the ocean since obtaining your devil fruit but the thought of sinking struck fear in you. You missed the feeling of saltwater soaking into your skin, letting your fingertips wrinkle and allowing your mind to wonder and be free. Sure you were able to shower in non-sea water but it just wasn’t the same. 

Time had passed and the sky had turned into a deep hue of orange indicating the end of daylight. The forest had begun to fill out with fireflies, adding to the ambiance and giving light to where you both sat. You knew you’d have to start a fire and look for food soon but you couldn’t find the will to do so yet. 

You had decided to scoot closer to the edge of the lake, allowing yourself to indulge in the only closeness you can have to water. 

“You ain’t plannin to jump in right?” 

Hearing his voice shook you out of thought, you shook your head to answer his question. 

Zoro had every right to be pissed at you but seeing the sadness in your face made him feel guilty for letting himself behave like a teenager for hours. This was his fault after all but admitted he let his pride get the better of him. 

“Why’re you moping?”

“I’m not moping..I’m just remembering how much I enjoyed swimming and just being in the ocean.” You confessed, pouting and allowing yourself to lean on your hand. 

“I thought you didn’t regret-” 

“I don’t regret anything. I’m allowed to feel sad.” You snapped. 

He allowed silence to fill the space between the both of you for a moment before he made an anxiety-consuming decision that would definitely change everything. 

“You wanna go in?” Zoro softly asked. 

You turned to face him, surprise evident in your face. 

“That's impossible, I’ll just feel weak and sink.” You answered. 

“Not if I’m holding you.” Zoro said. 

“I thought you were avoiding me, now you wanna hold me?” You questioned back. 

“Answer my question; you want to go in yes or no?” Zoro bit back with slight annoyance at you being argumentative. 

You bit your lip to stop yourself from going into a tangent, turning to look back at the water before nodding. 

From seeing your physical consent, Zoro stood up and began to strip. You visibly blushed and let your gaze turn away from him refusing to turn it into ogling. He brought himself into your line of vision as he walked forward and stepped into the water, waiting with his back turned to you at the edge to allow you privacy. You were able to see he was just left in his boxers. You stared for a bit before finding your brevity and beginning to strip until you were just in your underwear and bra. You walked a few steps forward until you stood just behind him but you hadn’t stepped in the water yet.

“Am I okay to pick you up?” Zoro cautiously asked, his back still facing you.

“y-Yeah you can.” 

Zoro turned around, pushing back his raging heartbeat and ignoring the growing heat in his skin before scooping you into his arms bridal style and slowly walking back into the lake until he was halfway submerged. You relished in the warmth of his skin and you hadn’t realised just how much you missed his presence. 

“If it gets too much for you, tell me and I’ll take you back.” Zoro’s voice almost broke. He was currently fighting back the blush that had threatened to consume his wholebeing as he avoided looking down at your naked body. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen a naked woman before, heck Nami and Robin walked around the ship in practically nothing and it never once bothered him. Seeing you see this way; shy and almost vulnerable gave a completely different meaning to it. He couldn’t fathom anyone else seeing you like this and the mere idea of any man seeing you this way made his skin itch and his temper rise.  

He hadn’t even allowed himself to be consumed in the lust-filled thoughts he had of you since his recent awakening of feelings he had for you. He felt too much respect for you to subject you to his internal needs. He didn’t even know if you both even consummated the marriage before he disappeared but refused to go down the tangent of thoughts surrounding it. 

He slowly began to lower you into the water, allowing the flow of the water to cover your legs and your arms. You gasped at the sudden coolness of the water, immediately feeling the weakness of the ocean consume you. Rather than fighting the weakness, you allowed it to sit as you relished in the feeling of the cool water and Zoro’s body heat. 

“You okay?” 

“Thank you Zoro.” You quietly spoke, grateful to him. 

His concern alone was enough for you to choke on a sob. You were overwhelmed. 

“Why did you avoid me?” You weakly asked, allowing yourself to cry. 

“M’sorry.” Zoro mumbled back as he bit the inside of his cheek.

“I don’t want a sorry…I want an answer.” 

Zoro said nothing. He didn’t know how to confess his feelings to you. He couldn’t even begin to explain or know where to start with talking about what was wrong with him. Seeing you broken hurt him badly and he knew he couldn’t let this go on anymore. 

‘Show her.’ 

A small voice in his head spoke. He frowned at the intrusion of the voice. 

‘Show her how you feel.’ 

He looked down to see you looking back up at him. The yearning he felt to hold you closer, the want to be with you overtook him. 

He decided to listen to the foreign voice, putting his anxiety to one side as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to yours in a chaste kiss.

————————————- ⚔️✨ ————————————

A/N: HE DID IT!!! FINALLY HE KISSED YOU AHHHHHHH 🥳 😭💚

Taglist: @starlightanyaaa @eggrollforyou @rosellerinfrost @qalable

[circletrapped]

Shattered

Elliott/GN!Farmer

2.8k words

Hurt/Comfort because I love Elliott so obviously I must make him Suffer, but also Fluff because I can’t stand to see him suffer

Rating: Teen+ (CW: Mentions of blood but nothing major).

Description: The Farmer has been spending a lot of time in the mines for reasons they won’t disclose to Elliott. Elliott, distracted by his worry, has an accident that sends him spiraling.

///

The rooster started its daily crowing session before the first rays of sunlight even peaked above the horizon. Elliott groaned. He hadn’t been able to sleep all night and instead had spent the last hour shifting his stare between the clock and the sky outside the window as it went from an inky black to a majestic blue. He looked back at the clock, which now read a quarter to six. He sighed, exhausted yet unable to sleep, and turned to face his slumbering spouse.

The Farmer had stumbled in about four hours ago, breathless and covered in dirt. They dropped their bag and gear at the foot of the bed, crawled in without changing and gave Elliott a half-hearted kiss on the cheek, then started snoring three minutes later. They had been doing this more and more frequently lately - but every day they would still wake up at six, kiss him, have a cup of coffee, stuff their bag full of food, kiss him again, run across the farm to feed the animals and water their crops, then disappear until well after dusk. If he was lucky, his spouse would give him one more kiss before leaving the farm. If he was unlucky, he’d be awakened in the middle of the night by rapping on his door and a very annoyed Harvey steadying them on his shoulder.

It was obvious the Farmer was spending their days in the mines. They would usually come home smelling like earth and hay (a smell which he didn’t mind and in fact was becoming quite fond of), but the smell of metal and dust clung to their clothes just as much as the blood and slime. It made him worry.

The mines were dangerous, and Elliott was very vocal about his apprehension.

“There are all kinds of monsters in there! What if you get lost, or run out of food, or get killed by something down there?”

“Elliott, relax,” the Farmer would insist, rolling their eyes, “I know what I’m doing. Besides, I know I’m close! I can feel it.”

“Close to what?”

The Farmer would clam up as soon as Elliott asked what they were doing in the mines so often. They would change the subject or distract him with kisses until they could slip away back into that wretched labyrinth.

Elliott once again sighed at the sight of his spouse, whom he loved so dearly and wanted nothing more than to beg to stay with him, where it was safe. But he knew it wouldn’t make any difference. The Farmer was strong and independent, knew their way around a sword, and could protect themself better than Elliott ever could in the mines.

Elliott slipped the pendant given to him by his beloved over his head then stood and got dressed in a comfortable turtleneck and slacks. He decided he would try to take his mind off his spouse’s recklessness by working on his new novel for the day. It was a story about a mermaid falling in love with the fisherman who caught her in his net.

He made his way to the kitchen to prepare coffee for him and his spouse - they were both going to need it. As he paced through the kitchen, biting on his thumbnail in a vain attempt to alleviate his anxiety, sunlight began to pour through the windows and illuminate the Farmer.

The farmer’s eyes tightened as they let out a sleepy groan and sat up, blinking the exhaustion away.

“Good morning, dear,” Elliott called to them. The Farmer smiled and faced him, eyes still half-shut and not quite focused.

“Mornin’,” they mumbled, rubbing their eyes before swinging their legs over the bed. They unbuttoned their shirt and tossed it toward the basket that was piled with dirty clothes above its rim. It fell about a foot short, to which the Farmer gave an annoyed grunt.

“I’ll take care of it,” Elliott said. “I’ve been meaning to wash those clothes for ages anyway. I’ve just been distracted.”

The Farmer, now wearing a clean pair of pants but still no shirt, strolled over and draped themself over Elliott’s back, giving him a peck on the cheek then resting their chin on his shoulder.

“Distracted by what?”

Elliott shot them a side-eye. “I think you already know.”

The Farmer laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re still worried about me going to the mines. I’ve made it home on my own every night this week!”

Elliott took the other cup of coffee off the counter and held it over his shoulder. The farmer released their grasp and took it, immediately bringing it to their lips.

“I know you’re capable of protecting yourself, but it’s still terrifying to think you could be alone unconscious in there for hours before someone finds you. How could I not worry?”

The Farmer took another long sip. “Just trust me, sweetheart,” they insisted. “I’ve almost found what I’m looking for.”

“Which is?”

“Going to be amazing.” The Farmer accentuated the sentence by gently tugging on Elliott’s pendant to pull him in for a kiss. “I have to make my runs and then I’m off. The faster I get to the mines, the faster I find it.”

The Farmer tilted their head back as they finished the cup of coffee. It was amazing to Elliott how they somehow managed not to burn their tongue drinking it like that. One more kiss, then the Farmer threw on a clean shirt, grabbed their bag, and all but sprinted out of the house.

Elliott’s sigh echoed off the walls. It felt so empty without his spouse. He clutched the pendant around his neck then brought it to his lips to kiss it. That proposal gift meant the world to him, and the ritual of kissing it was comforting to him. Like he was telling his spouse he’d be with them even when they were far away.

He finished his coffee then made his way to the pile of clothes gathering in the bedroom. The shirt that the Farmer had worn the day before had more blood than the others. No, it’s not theirs. They seemed fine. They must have encountered a lot of monsters down there. This isn’t their blood. It can’t be.

Elliott placed the shirt on the top of the pile and grabbed the basket, balancing it on his hip as he made his way outside. He emptied the basket into the wash bin and set it on the porch. He walked to the pond to gather water, where he could see his spouse in the distance, right on the property line. The Farmer glanced over their shoulder and upon meeting eyes with Elliott, gave a huge grin a wide wave.

“I love you, Elliott!” They shouted, louder than was necessary. Elliott smiled. The Farmer always went out of their way to make sure everyone in town knew how much they adored him. Elliott waved back and mouthed the words I love you, too, not confident in being loud enough for the Farmer to hear. He rarely raised his voice at all, let alone loud enough so be heard across several acres. The Farmer then took off running toward the mines. Elliott’s smile dropped and he sighed as he filled a bucket with water.

He carefully brought the water back to the house, trying not to spill any on the ground. After only a few splashes, he managed to reach the porch and poured the water over the clothes. He grabbed the soap from a nearby crate and started letting it bubble up the water. He grabbed the shirt the Farmer had been wearing the day before and started scrubbing the blood out of it first.

There were some parts of this new lifestyle that Elliott wasn’t exactly fond of, and laundry was one of them. No modern laundry equipment. The Farmer couldn’t afford it when they first moved to the farm, and figured they’d embrace the full self-sufficient experience by washing clothes by hand. Elliott would usually take the clothes elsewhere to be washed, but today he decided to endure the chore. It kept his mind occupied and let him feel even closer to his spouse.

It was still a dreadful process, though.

By the time he was finished hanging up the clothes to dry, he had changed the water four times, each time watching the various shades of red and brown soak into the dirt beside the house. The clothes weren’t what he’d call pristine, but his hands were wrinkled and cramping. Given that the odor was gone, the stains were fading, and the Farmer didn’t seem to mind a little discoloration, Elliott decided it was good enough.

He grabbed the basket and went back into the house to replace it. As soon as he crossed into the bedroom, the basket slipped out of his wet hands and before he could catch it, he tripped over the basket and barely put his arms in front of him in time to avoid breaking his nose. The fall knocked the wind out of him, though, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He winced as he steadied himself on his hands then froze in horror as he saw the cause of his pain.

His pendant was in shattered pieces on the floor.

Elliott could feel the blood draining from his face and his heart sinking below his stomach.

“No, no, no,” he whispered aloud, staring at the shards in disbelief. “No, nonono, no!”

Tears began to flood his eyes as he threw the basket out from under him and started scraping the pieces together. They were sharp, but he didn’t care. He needed all the pieces. Maybe if he held them together the pendant wouldn’t be broken anymore. Maybe he’d wake up in a moment beside his spouse and his pendant would be safe and intact on the bedside table.

He clutched the pieces together and didn’t let go, despite the fact that he could now feel them piercing his hands. If he couldn’t see them, he wouldn’t have to accept that he broke the most meaningful object that he’d ever been given. The object that represented his deep love and devotion to the one person he loved more than he’d ever loved anyone in his life. The reason he woke up before the sun. The reason he took time away from writing to feed animals and water crops. The reason he did laundry by hand.

There was nothing Elliott could do but sit on his knees, clutching the shards of his pendant, and weep. All the feelings he’d been keeping at bay came crashing down on him - his exhaustion, his burnout, his worry about his spouse. His weeping became overwhelming sobbing and he brought his clasped hands to his forehead.

“I’m so sorry,” he choked, “I’m so, so sorry!”

He kept repeating the words. Sometimes softy, sometimes screaming them until his throat got sore, then feebly squeaking them out. It felt like he was alone on the floor apologizing for hours. Apologizing to the pendant, his spouse, his hands.

“I got it!”

The Farmer’s voice hit him like a strike of lightning.

The door swung open. Elliott couldn’t bring himself to look in the Farmer’s direction.

“Just a few days, and it’ll be ready, and just in time! You won’t believe how much I had to bribe Clint with just to get him to expedite it! Elliott, you’re gonna be so-“

The Farmer’s ecstatic rambling came to an abrupt halt and Elliott could feel their stare.

“Elliott?”

He couldn’t speak. The Farmer walked in front of him and knelt down. He didn’t dare look into their eyes.

“Elliott, what’s wrong?”

Elliott’s lip trembled as he slowly opened his hands, which were now shaking and stained red.

“I’m sorry.”

His voice was hoarse from all the crying.

“Darling, I’m so sor-“

“Elliott, your hands! Here, wait, don’t move.”

The Farmer leapt up and ran to the kitchen. After hearing the sound of them rifling through the cabinets, Elliott heard their footsteps return quickly.

“Here, put those in here,” they instructed, holding a bowl under Elliott’s hands. He gently laid the shards in it, afraid to break them even more. After setting the bowl on the nightstand, the Farmer doused a rag in rubbing alcohol and put their free hand on Elliott’s arm. “This’ll sting a bit, okay?”

I deserve it.

When the rag came in contact with his wounds, his hand twitched, but his spouse winced more than he did. After cleaning the blood, his spouse gently wrapped his hands in bandages and gently kissed them.

“What happened, sweetheart? Are you okay?”

“I-”

Elliott’s voice broke. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath to regain his composure.

“I tripped. I fell on my chest and my pendant was underneath me and it broke. I’m so sorry, my love.”

The Farmer brought a hand to Elliott’s face and made him meet their gaze. To his surprise, the Farmer didn’t look upset or disappointed. Their expression was of concern and a touch of disbelief.

“Is that why you’re so upset? Because your pendant broke?”

“It’s not just some necklace, it’s special. You proposed to me with it, it represents so much, and now it’s ruined!”

The Farmer stared for a moment then gave a small laugh.

“Just because it’s broken doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop loving you!”

“Of course not, but I-”

“Sweetheart, it’s just a seashell! I’m not in love with it, I’m in love with you! That seashell doesn’t write me poetry, or keep me warm at night, or fuss about me adventuring, or help me with my chores just to make life a little easier. You know who does?”

The Farmer leaned in and kissed Elliott.

“You do. And I’m worried about how you managed to get yourself shattered, not that thing.”

Fresh tears streamed down Elliott’s face. The Farmer wiped them away only for them to be replaced. Elliott threw himself into his spouse’s arms and cried into their shoulder. They rocked him back and forth and gently shushed him, stroking his hair as he let all of it out.

“There we go,” they soothed, “it’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re alright. Just breathe, sweetheart. I’ve got you.”

It took at least ten minutes of that to console Elliott before he looked up into his spouse’s eyes with a teary expression.

“You’re really not upset?”

“I wouldn’t be upset even if I didn’t have my little surprise in the works.”

“Alright, you have to tell me. What have you been in the mines looking for?”

The Farmer grinned.

“Will you be cheered up if I tell you?”

Elliott finally had it in him to summon a smile. “Yes, I will.”

“You know how in five days it’ll be the eighth of Fall?”

“Yes, our wedding anniversary. I’m so clumsy I couldn’t even keep my pendant together for a single year.”

“I was looking for gold and diamonds. So that I could have wedding bands made for us. And I wanted them both to have huge, sparkling diamonds that blind everyone in town! And I had to mine them myself so that everyone will know how much I’d do for you. I know I’m not usually the best gift-giver; you remember how my idea of flirting was giving you lobster after lobster.”

“Darling, I never get tired of lobster.”

“However,” they pressed, “that’s why I’ve been trekking through the mines all summer. So that I could give you something just as stunning and beautiful as you on our anniversary. Besides, now we’ll be matching!”

Five days later, the rings were finished and the Farmer took Elliott to the beach to exchange them as they recited the same vows they had a year earlier.

“There’s one more thing I want to give you,” the Farmer said, winded from how hard Elliott had just kissed them.

“What is it?”

The farmer took a cloth out of their pocket and pressed it into Elliott’s now healed hands.

“Open it.”

Elliott unwrapped the cloth and gasped. There his pendant was, the cracks having been sealed with gold.

“I found a lot more gold than diamonds in those mines, and I know how much it crushed you- I mean, how broken up you were- I mean, how torn you felt- I mean- Sorry.”

Elliott laughed. “How many of those did you come up with?”

“Oh, way too many.” Elliott swatted the Farmer’s shoulder and kissed them. “But I had Clint fix this up with the extra gold I got. He wasn’t pleased about the deadline, so I had to bribe him. Again. But it’s totally worth it.”

“Oh, darling, it’s beautiful. I don’t deserve you.”

The Farmer scoffed and took the pendant, moving Elliott’s hair out of the way and clasping it around his neck.

“You deserve the whole world, my love. And I’ll stop at nothing to give it to you.”

[whosthere54]

Prison duo playlist analysis day 3 - Absence by Rio Romeo

Mmmm this songgggg me whennnnnn

I have two takes on this- One being Centross and one being Icarus. I’m gonna focus on the Centross one because I think it’s more accurate.

Just… the idea that he knew he was going to die. He knew the whole time- he didn’t know all the details, sure, but he *knew* and he *felt it*

And- he knew Icarus would not be prepared for that. Would not accept that. He knew at that time they were already struggling and he was one of the only people they were letting in. He knew that- and he was trying to push them to go talk to Rae and Athena and others because he knew he wouldn’t hold that place for much longer.

“If I just vanished do you think you’d manage? Or would you disappear right beside me?”

Because oh Icarus would. Like I said in my last post Centross was the one keeping them “sane”, their anchor keeping them from completely spiraling and when he was gone they went off the rails- spiraling so hard when he wasn’t there to help keep them steady.

You could say they did disappear the day he died. The Icarus who we knew and loved and we know cared and was kind and loved the people around them was gone. All they were focused on was trying to fix it- trying to bring him back. The Icarus Rae and Athena and everyone else in the grove knew and cared about was gone leaving just a shell of who they are- or maybe they’re the most themself they have been in the past, but that’s an argument for another time.

“Pray my baby will not squander everything to gain by my leaving”

Ah. He died to give them a chance- “make sure you do the right thing. You’ll know what I mean soon enough.” “The rest is up to you friend. I hope you all live fulfilling lives, I know that I got to because of all of you.” (Don’t mind me going and crying-)

He is giving them the opportunity to help- hoping they won’t put it to waste.

Now- I put this specifically on my prison duo playlist vs my Wolftross or Ocie and Centross ones because I feel like he knows they can take care of themselves. He mentions again in when the pieces crumble the line of

“So that Kai can watch Oscar grow up, So that Wolf and Rae can stay together and be there for eachother. I do this for all of lodestar grove, so that each and every one of them has a chance to have a happy life.”

He knows they can take care of themselves- he knows they have that support system that safety net. But he also knows at this point Icarus does not- which like I mentioned before is one of the reasons he pushing them to talk to Rae and Athena again and stop isolating themself because he knows what Fable is doing and he knows that they need it- and he knows he won’t be there to be that person for much longer.

That’s all- really. I don’t want to get too repetitive :]

The image chosen from my prison duo Pinterest board today is-

wow- look at that sad bird man. They’re so upset. :[

Anyway- I hope you like these cause I think they’re silly and fun :]

You are so loved! Go take any meds if you have to and eat and drink some water if you haven’t yet! Have a good rest of your day/night <3

[tianasficrecs168]

Stony Fanfic Recs

So I've got a few ways I've marked up my fanfic list, just so I can sort through it easier (yes I do have a lot. yes I will be sharing).

Brackets (…) means it's still being updated/not done/WIP – and I'm paying close attention to it

Zeros with a strikethrough (000) Disappeared off the net (I still have a doc of it saved somewhere)

A black dot • means it's a one-shot

Ship with + means it's either time travel or dimension hopping – something along those lines

A heart ♡ means it's focused on Sexy times (it's pure filth PWP)

Anyway! Onto my MCU Stony fic recs...

Arysteia: “The Twice-Told Tale” (Steve/Tony+) • For someone he'd hero-worshipped for so long, Steve Rogers in the flesh is a pretty big disappointment. For one thing, he keeps looking at Tony as though he reminds him of someone else, and even if he never says anything, Tony's pretty sure it's his father. A lifetime of not measuring up to Howard's expectations is more than enough, thank you very much, and he's certainly not going to make an effort to live up to any of Steve's. Steve's pretty clearly failed to live up to his expectations, in any case, and that's not hypocritical at all.

Wordsplat: “Hashtag Finally” (Steve/Tony) (000) • Since the story's been deleted from....whichever site, can't remember - I have the doc saved. Also the summary for this one is just the beginning of the fic (I'm lazy): It started with Clint. Technically speaking, Tony never actually invited him. He would have, given any sort of contact information, but Clint disappeared right after the battle of New York and clearly didn't want to be found. Natasha probably knew where he was, but knowing didn't mean sharing, so Tony never got the chance. Invitation or no invitation, three years later Tony still found Clint Barton sitting on his couch, watching Dog Cops and eating Cheetos in his underwear. "Sup." "Shit!" Tony jumped, dropping his mug. "Aw, coffee." Clint peered over the top of the couch. "Sucks, man."

“Meet Your Heroes” (Steve/Tony) (000) • Another one that bit the dust -> google doc The summary is the first few parts of the fic: It’s been a while, sure, but it’s far from his first rodeo and he knows exactly what’s about to happen when the door of the black van in front of him rolls back to reveal four armed men in black ski masks. So yeah, not the best way to kick off the week. He’d had a great weekend. After months of toying with it, scrapping the idea only to circle back around, he’d finally committed and built the mechanized suit he’s envisioned since the “Avengers” first appeared on the scene a few months ago. Part of the reason he’d tried to scrap it so many times was how nervous he’d been to tell Steve. Steve didn’t like to talk much about the mysterious team of superheroes running around their city these days, so Tony had sort of assumed that expressing his desire to join them might make things tense to say the least, if not start an outright fight. To Tony’s pleasant surprise, Steve had instead been weirdly over the moon about it all. Told him to go for it. Went on and on about how the Avengers would be lucky as hell to have him. Practically rewarded him, jumped his bones no less than five minutes after he announced his intentions. So that had been great.

AshitaNewssnoopy: - “Worth It” (Steve/Tony) • When Steve said he wanted to court Tony, he assumed that he just meant that he wanted to take thing slow. And that was fine by Tony. No really, he could do this thing if that's what Steve needed (shut up, Pepper; he so could). Because Steve was worth the wait. But then the gifts started coming and the letters popped up and there were chaste kisses and romance and…and what is even with this? Just when did his life turn into a romance novel?

Anonymous: - “With you” (Steve/Tony) • Sometimes Steve gets overwhelmed by how much he loves Tony.

ItsallAvengers: - “Keep on Beating” (Steve/Tony) • There were an awful lot of things Steve loved about Tony. But one thing in particular Steve could never get enough of was his heartbeat.

Sara_holmes: - “Like Sunlight” (Steve/Tony) • Steve is used to the way it feels by now; a strange but gentle tugging connection under his sternum, warm tingles in his skin whenever they touch. That is, until Tony gets himself kidnapped. Then it kinda feels more like someone is trying to wrench his heart out through his ribcage.

Scifigirl47: - “Some Things Shouldn’t Be a Chore” (Steve/Tony) Steve takes things like personal responsibility and respect seriously. Tony's got people he pays to take care of that kind of thing, and anyway, he's pretty sure that he's going to die of some exotic disease in his workshop, because Dummy's still a little spotty about what is 'clean' enough to put on an open wound. The rest of the Avengers are in this for personal gain, except for Clint, he just enjoys being a dick. And some things shouldn't be a chore.

[dmysterioblog]

OH MY GOD , THAT ANONYMOUS ASKK !??? can u please pleaseeee make it into a request if that person still didn't request it !!‽ if u are free and have the time to do it ofc !! but oh my days dark!shuri w spy reader , that's INSANE

Pretty Little Thing

Paring: Dark!Shuri x spy!reader

Summary: You were sent on a mission to retrieve vibranium from Wakanda for S.H.I.E.L.D. In the process you get caught by the Black Panther.

Warnings; dark, sorta kidnapping, dub/non-con, strap- on use (r receiving)

Word Count: 1.8k

A/n: I know I literally disappeared for A little more than a month but I’m back now!

You were sitting in a meeting of S.H.I.E.L.D. They were running out of material for weapons and equipment and they needed more. They needed vibranium. They were trying to find a way to sneak into Wakanda and get what they needed without starting a war. You were zoned out, not paying much attention until Fury called your name.

“Agent L/n! Are you paying attention?”

“No, not really. What am I doing here anyway?”

“If you would've listened then you’ll know why you're here,” he said annoyed.

“Enlighten me.”

“You are going to be sent undercover to Wakanda to retrieve the vibranium we need.”

“What?! Are you out of your mind?”

“What? You think you can’t get the job done?”

“Of course I can. I just- how do you know they still have any vibranium?”

“A couple of days ago, a man by the name of Ulysses Klaue stole vibranium from a Wakandan ship. That gives us hope that they have more.”

“Fine. What's the plan?”

“Your job is to pretend like you’re one of theirs and when you get the opportunity, take the vibranium and get out. Is that clear?”

“Yes, director Fury.”

“Be ready by tomorrow morning. You’re dismissed.” Without another word you left to get your things ready.

✦ ✦ ✦

You were up and ready at 6:00 am. You got on the quinjet that was being flown by Natasha. After the 12 hour ride, you landed at the outskirts of Wakanda. You got your things ready but before you could leave the quinjet, Natasha grabbed your wrist.

“Be careful out there okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I'll be careful, I promise,” you said with a smile before hugging her and getting off the jet. You walked through the jungle, ensuring you stayed hidden as you got closer to Wakanda. After a few hours, you arrived at the barrier that hid the city from the rest of the world. You looked around you before opening up your bag and took out a net that would open a hole in the barrier long enough for you to go through.

Once inside, you ran to hide before anyone noticed. You made your way to where you thought the castle was found. You were in awe of the beauty of the city. You put on a cape to blend in along with a piece of fabric that covered the bottom part of your face. You slowly made your way around the city, trying not to bring attention to yourself.

Once you made it outside the palace doors, you had to come up with a plan on how to get around the Dora Milaje. You’ve heard about this group of ruthless female warriors. You don’t mess with them. You got an idea that could work or get you killed.

“Kukho abantu abasengozini! Kufuneka ubancede!” you said running up to them. You had learned a bit of Xhosa, you hope they understood what you said. Apparently they did because they looked at each other and ran towards the city. (There are civilians in danger! You have to help them!)

You took the opportunity and ran inside the palace. You made sure the coast was clear before making your way down the hallway. You pulled out a vibranium locator but as you did, you heard steps coming towards you and you hid behind a pillar. Once the guards were gone, you released a breath you were holding and kept going.

You eventually reached a section of the palace where the vibranium was located. It wasn’t guarded which was strange due to the fact that vibranium was their most valuable source. You carefully opened the door and looked inside to make sure no one was inside. You went in and closed the door behind you.

The room looked like a lab. You looked around and found what you needed. When you were about to take the vibranium, a voice made you stop.

“Looking for something?” You slowly turned around and came face to face with the black panther. She abruptly pushed you against a wall, pulling off your mask with her claw.

“You’re a pretty little thing aren’t you?” she said in a husky voice with her thick accent. At that point all of your fighting instincts were gone. You felt so small under her gaze.

“What? Cat got your tongue?” she asked with a smirk on her face. The smirk was quickly whipped off of her face when your instinct finally kicked in and you kneed her ribcage.

Taking this as an opportunity, you quickly grabbed onto the vibranium and started to run. You didn’t make it far as she jumped in front of you. She lifted you off of the floor by your throat, making you drop the vibranium.

“Oh she’s feisty, I like that,” she chuckled darkly.

“Please…I can’t breathe…” you gasped, gripping onto her wrist. She swiftly let you go and turned you around, placing a white cloth over your nose and mouth.

“I finally found a new toy,” was the last thing you heard before you fainted.

Shuri caught your body before it hit the floor. She took this time to admire your features. You were so beautiful, so perfect. She snapped out of it and started to look for anything on you that might be a tracker and destroy it. When she was done she carried your body to her private chambers and got rid of your bag.

✦ ✦ ✦

When you woke up you felt cold. You tried to move to cover yourself but something was preventing you from doing so. You opened your eyes and the first thing you noticed was your hands that were tied together to the frame of the bed you were laying on. The second thing you noticed was the fact that you were completely bare.

A chill ran through your spine. You began to struggle against the restraints, trying to release yourself from them but you were stopped by her voice again.

“It’s no use. I’ve made sure that your movement is limited. I can’t just let my new toy get away now can I?” She said with a dark chuckle.

“I’m not your toy! Now you better let me go before S.H.I.E.L.D. starts looking for me!” You sneered, once again struggling against the restraints.

“It’s bold of you to make demands to me when you’re the one who invaded my home and tried to steal from me.” She stated, slowly making her way to the bed. She started running her finger up your leg. You tensed up at the cold feeling of her claws.

“You are a truly beautiful woman,” she whispered in your ear, “Even more beautiful than Riri was.” That made you gasp. S.H.I.E.L.D. had been trying to find the girl for months in hopes she would help them make another vibranium detector but they never found her.

“It was you…you were the one who took that poor girl. What did you do to her?”

“Exactly what I’m about to do to you,” she smirked before she took a bead off of her bracelet and brought it to your face.

“Do you know what this does?” she asked. You shook your head. She fiddled with her bracelet and the bead started vibrating.

“Now you will.” Your eyes widened when you realized what she was about to do.

“No! No please-”

“Shhh,” she placed her finger against your lips, “you’re going to enjoy it.” She pressed the bead onto your sensitive clit which made you jerk away in surprise. You tried not to like it, you really did, but the vibrations against your clit felt amazing. You bit your lip trying to suppress your moans and she noticed.

“Aww baby you don’t have to hold back. You can make as much noise as you want.” You shook your trying to not let her win but failed. Your orgasm washed over you and you let out a loud moan.

“See usana, Now was that so hard?” Shuri took the bead away, letting you relax for a second before her black panther suit disappeared and the only thing left on her body was a strap. Your eyes widened once again at the sight of its size.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, I’ll make it fit.” She manhandled you onto your stomach and straddled your legs.

“You’re so wet and ready for me usana,” she said as she slipped her fingers between your wet folds, making you moan softly. Your moans quickly turned onto screams and whines when she slipped the vibranium strap in without a warning.

“Please! I- I can’t take it.” She gripped onto your hair and pulled your head back.

“Yes you can,” she growled in your ear before speeding up her thrusts. Soon your screams turned into moans once again and your second orgasm was making its approach.

“I’m- I’m close,” you whined into the pillow your head laid on.

“Go on nkosazana, make a mess all over my cock.” Her thrusts became sloppy, letting you know she was close as well.

You came for the second time of the night. The room was filled with both yours and Shuri’s pants. She pulled out, got off of the bed, and disappeared through a door on the other side of the room. She emerged again with a white cloth and her suit back on.

“Stay still,” she started as she whipped your thighs and pussy with the wet cloth. She threw the cloth somewhere in the room before making her way to your tied hands.

“I’m going to untie you and you’re going to promise you won’t do anything stupid because I don’t have a problem having you sleep tied up all night.” You nodded your head and she cut the restraints with her sharp claw. You sat up right and rubbed your wrists. She suddenly grabbed your face harshly and made you look her in the eye.

“I’m going to leave through that door and you better be sitting here looking pretty when I come back, understood?” You nodded your head ones again.

“Use your big girl words nkosazana.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Good,” she released your from her iron grip, “you should rest.” That was the last thing she before heading out the door and locking it behind her.

You brought the only blanket you saw close to your body and curled into a ball thinking of what just happened. Was S.H.I.E.L.D. looking for you? Would they find you? Were you ever getting out of this room? All of those questions rushed into your mind.

Your eyes began to get heavy and soon you fell asleep, still thinking of what was going to happen to you.

[angelasscribbles]

Friendship

Series: None, this is a one-shot and you can find those here.

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Constantine x Eleanor, Jackson x Bianca, but really it's about the beginning of Liam and Drake's friendship.

Rating: G

Warnings for this chapter: None

Word Count: 1,894

A/N: I had written the first couple of paragraphs over a year ago then put it away with no real idea where it was going. Then @kingliamappreciationweek happened and I decided to dust this off and finish it for childhood/family and friendships/relationships. I'm late, but here it is.

My other stuff: Master List.

Liam was a serious child. Even as a toddler, people would remark about his solemn expression. It wasn’t that he never smiled, he did. It wasn’t that he wasn’t happy, he was. There had just always been an aura of thoughtfulness surrounding him. The portrait his mother had commissioned of him for his second birthday showed a somber child. He sat in an elaborate Baroque throne chair with dark red crushed velvet upholstery and a gold leaf finish. He was dressed in a toddler suit with short pants, showing his legs, still chubby with baby fat, his ebony hair brushed back from his face as he gazed solemnly out at the photographer.

Despite that, he was a friendly child who learned by the age of four that being charming got him whatever he wanted from the nannies and the kitchen staff.

A heartfelt, “Please?” netted him cookies, cakes, candies, and plenty of baklava. No one could withstand the cuteness of the little prince. Especially his mother.

His first smiles, at three months old, were for Eleanor. As he grew into a toddler and preschooler, she remained his favorite person, that somber expression turning into a wide faced grin at the sound of her voice or the sight of her face.

She read to him, she played with him, she took him on walks in the garden. She was the antidote to his father’s seriousness.

By the age of six, Liam had learned that his father’s affections were less frequent and harder earned. The bulk of Constantine’s attention went to Liam’s older brother, because Leo was going to be king, and Liam was not. He was only the spare.

Liam never resented Leo for it. He loved him. Leo was his second favorite person in the world, after Eleanor. He started toddling along behind him as soon as he could walk. Leo was older, cooler, and knew all the best games.

Leo was also a frequent rule breaker, while Liam was not. On this particular day, Leo and Olivia had decided to sneak away from the nannies and play in the woods behind the palace.

Leo had read to him until he bored of it. Pushing the stack of books away he exclaimed, “I can’t stand being inside for another moment! Let’s go out to play!”

“Finally!” Olivia cast the copy of Little Women she’d been reading to the side as she jumped up from the oversized beanbag in the corner of the library.

“I want to come too!” Liam scrambled quickly to his feet. He had learned the hard way that if he didn’t keep up with the older kids, he’d be left behind.

 “Sure,” Leo shrugged, “but you have to be quiet until we get past the hedge maze.”

“Past the hedge maze?” Liam asked in alarm, “We aren’t supposed to go past the hedge maze! Father said-“

“Father doesn’t have to know, does he?”

“Maybe you should stay here, Liam,” Olivia said sagely, “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Liam thought for a moment, taking in Leo’s amusement and Olivia’s smug sureness that he would stay behind. He drew in a deep breath and squared his shoulders, “No. I’ll go!”

“Are you sure, Li?” Leo asked with a laugh, “Last time you got caught breaking the rules, you cried.”

Liam flushed with embarrassment. Father had been so angry. He didn’t like to make anyone angry, “I didn’t mean to break the vase.”

“Hey,” the amusement disappeared from Leo’s face, replaced with sympathy, “It’s okay! It wasn’t even your fault, I’m the one that talked you into playing football in the great room!”

“It’s okay, Liam,” Olivia placed a hand on his shoulder as she leaned down, “but I heard there’s fresh baklava in the kitchen. You should go get some!”

“Yeah…okay….” He agreed half-heartedly.

He picked up an illustrated copy of Where the Wild Things Are with a sigh as he watched Leo and Olivia sneak giggling down the hallway toward the garden doors.

Thirty minutes later he was perched on a stool at one of the marble counters in the place kitchen, shoving baklava into his mouth as he turned the pages of his book when he heard unfamiliar voices.

He turned away from his book in interest as the head of the King’s Guard entered the room with a man and a woman Liam had never seen before. Trailing behind the adults were two children.

Liam’s eyes widened as he took in the new arrivals. A little girl with dark curls and wide eyes took in everything around her in wonder. A boy that looked to be about the same age as himself kept his gaze trained on the floor indifferently, a shock of chestnut hair falling into his eyes; hands stuffed into his pockets.

Liam twisted back and forth on the stool in excitement, nearly tumbling out of it as he did.

“Careful there young master!” The pastry chef caught him before he could fall.

“Sorry!” Liam exclaimed as he twisted out of her grasp, his head spinning to keep track of the children, “Who are they? I want to go say hi! Can I?”

“Certainly!” She laughed as she released him and watched as he sprinted across the travertine tile.

The group had moved into the formal dining room when Liam caught up with them, skidding around a corner and colliding directly with the head of the King’s Guard. “Ooof! Sorry!”

“It’s alright,” Captain Sullivan helped him to his feet, “What’s the big hurry?”

“I wanted to meet the kids!” Liam ducked his head, suddenly a little shy, “Who are they? What are they doing here?”

“Okay, okay, slow down!” The captain laughed, “I’ll introduce you! Your Highness, this is the newest member of the guard, Jackson Walker, his wife Bianca and their children, Drake and Savannah. Everyone, this is Prince Liam.”

Liam sucked in a breath of surprise; he knew that some members of the guard lived at the palace. He felt like he was about to explode with excitement. Please let them live here, he prayed furiously. Out loud he said, “I’m very pleased to meet you.”

“And we’re very pleased to meet you,” Jackson shook his hand.

The girl shoved her way in front of her parents, a look of awe on her face, “Are you an honest to God, real life prince?”

“I am.” Liam grinned at her.

“It’s nice to meet you Liam,” Bianca told him before pushing the boy forward, “Isn’t it Drake? Can you say hi to the prince?”

Drake shuffled forward awkwardly, lifted his eyes to Liam’s face for a moment then dropped them as he mumbled, “Hi.”

“Can they come play with me?” Liam directed the question to the adults, lacing the fingers of both hands through each other as he pleaded, “Pleeeeease?”

“Oh, yes!” Savannah squealed, clapping her hands as she jumped up and down, adding her pleas to his, “Can we please?”

“I think that would be okay,” Jackson replied, “What you think, son? Would you like to go play with Liam?”

The sullen faced little boy lifted his copper and gold flecked eyes again and found Liam’s face. Drake’s determination to hate everything about this new place faltered a little as saw the genuine excitement bubbling over in the other child. “I guess that would be okay. What do you want to do?”

“Yes!” Liam jumped up into the air with joy, “We can play whatever you want! Hide and seek, or tag in the gardens, we have board games, video games, we could ride bicycles if we get the nannies to supervise us or we could play sword fighting-“

“You have swords?” Drake’s eyes widened with interest.

“Wooden ones but-“

“Can I dad?” Drake turned to Jackson hopefully.

“Yes, go on. We’ll come find you later.” Jackson squeezed Bianca’s hand as they watched their children scurry down the hall with the prince. Relief flooded his wife’s features, mirroring his own. Drake had been the child they had been most worried about adjusting to the move, but he seemed to be warming to the place already.

“What’s it like being a prince and living in a palace?” Savannah asked as she hurried to keep up with the older boys.

“Boring,” came the instant reply.

“Really?” Savannah sounded disappointed.

Drake laughed and Liam’s smile broadened at the sound as he elaborated, “The other kids in the palace are all older than me and no one ever wants to play.”

He was lonely.

“Drake comes up with all the best games,” Savannah told him.

“Is that right?”

“That’s right,” Drake agreed, “Where is this playroom you’re taking us to?”

“Fifth door on the left,” Liam pointed down a long hallway.

“Race you,” Drake grinned at him, “Winner gets to pick his sword first!”

“Okay-“ Liam started to agree but Drake was already sprinting down the hall. It only took a second for Liam to realize what was happening and tear off after him.

The three children tumbled through the playroom door panting and shrieking with laughter.

Drake collapsed onto the floor in purposeful exaggeration as he gasped, “I’m dying….but I won!”

“You cheated you mean!” Liam laughed as he dropped onto the ground next to him.

“It wasn’t cheating,” Drake corrected him, “It’s called gaining a tactical advantage!”

Liam was used to other children being awkward around him, letting him win games or actively trying to avoid playing with him, because of his status. The young prince was absolutely delighted by this new playmate’s utter lack of concern about his title.

Drake had been convinced that the princes would be stuffy, stuck up and boorish. He was thrilled to be proven wrong. He hadn’t wanted to move, yet again. He hadn’t wanted to give up his friends, yet again. His father had promised that this duty station was more permanent. He had been determined not to get attached to anything or anyone, but as they staged epic battles with the wooden swords, of which Liam had let him claim the best one, he found the heaviness that had sat in his chest since his parent’s had announced this move starting to loosen.

The boys quickly became inseparable.

In the weeks and months that followed, Liam became less somber, at least around Drake. He was still a serious, thoughtful child, but he had a quicker smile as Drake drew out his playful side. Drake became less guarded, at least around Liam. He was still a slow to warm up child, but he turned outward a little more as Liam gained his trust.

“Drake seems to be adjusting well,” Eleanor remarked as a maid set the tea service in front of her.

“He is!” Bianca agreed happily, “It’s been four months and he seems completely back to normal! I think it’s because of Liam, honestly.”

Eleanor nodded with a smile on her lips as she blew on her tea to cool it, “Liam is so happy to have a playmate of his own. He’s a different child now. I think this friendship is good for both of them.”

The two women turned to watch as the boys raced through the gardens, shouts and laughter filtering through the late morning air. It was a beautiful day, the children were happy and for the moment, all was well in Cordonia.

[friendlylocalwhumper]

Hey there whump-fellow! I was wondering if you might help me out a bit. I'm writing an original superhero story for Camp NaNo this year and I want the main character's superpower to come with whumpy side-effects, but I am having a hard time coming up with anything even slightly original in that regard. Do you have any suggestions or examples I might play off of? Also, I am going to ask around to a few whump blogs to cast a wider net! Any suggestions as to whom I should ask?

Telekinesis/mind reading with a side effect of migraines. Agony, sensitivity to light/noise. Days-long pain after just using their powers once, which causes the pavlovian response of an awful headache starting up just at the thought of using their powers.

Fire powers that leave burns, thick scars that hurt less and less the more the powers are used but the nerves die more and more, meaning that the whumpee loses feeling in their fingers, then hands, then arms. They will miss out on feeling gentle breezes, soft blankets, holding hands with a friend.

Ice powers that cause frostbite. They can put out a fire, stop an enemy instantly, catch someone who is falling before they die… but the pain afterward is intense, and they always have to weigh the benefits of saving lives versus potentially losing a part of their own body. Or their powers give frostbite to anyone that the ice touches!

Invincibility that lasts for as long as it’s being used, but after the battle is over, in safety, all the damage hits at once. Bruises bloom in purples and blues, cuts spring forth and leave the whumpee scrambling to apply pressure and soak up too much blood before they pass out.

Invisibility/phasing that is strategically useful because the whumpee can sneak or pass through obstacles, but it makes their body have too loose a grasp on reality and their loved ones lose memories of them. They may be able to sneak into a dangerous place and get out unharmed, but their mother or partner will now struggle to recall their name.

A superpower that was desperately wished for in an hour of need, but now every time that it’s used, something precious has to be sacrificed. For the power to be used, an hierloom has to be chosen to disappear from existence, or a limb has to be chosen to never work without pain again, or a comforting memory has to be forgotten. Eventually this would leave the whumpee tougher, less sensitive to loss, but they would also have so much less comfort to come home to. This power would work great as a “gift” from a deity, fae, supernatural creature, or a naively summoned ghost.

Villain-turned-hero who used to use their powers for evil, but now that they are fighting for good, their powers keep trying to turn on them. They used to melt guards’ weapons and locks off vaults, but now that they try to melt doors shut to keep out storms or villains, the molten metal sputters and hits their skin. Or they used to make their nemesis’ armor, tools, or on their most evil day, that nemesis’ most cherished friend disappear; but now after a long hard day of protecting people, when they come home, they find that their partner is missing. They find that their car keys are gone, their fridge, their shoes. Sometimes it is a small thing they won’t even miss, and sometimes it is something so devastating to lose that they fall to their knees and sob.

The superpower of being able to compel that the truth be given after they ask a question. Very useful for a detective, a hero in a corrupt society littered with propaganda, a spy trying to work their way up in an evil organization. But if they ask a question that someone doesn’t know the answer to, it can drive that person mad. If they ask a question someone would rather die than answer, they will give the truth but then be emotionally broken from admitting that aloud. If that person would rather kill than answer…

Any power which has no direct side effects immediately after use, but which is forbidden or horrifying for some reason. Maybe it is the power to bring the dead back to life for just long enough to answer questions, which is morally complicated. Maybe it’s the power to cause intense agony without leaving physical marks. Maybe it’s the ability to travel through time, which causes alternate universes to sprout up and can cause mass deaths, confusion, or chaos in the future. Whatever the power is, it has to be used for some reason, and hiding its use and its consequences leaves the hero afraid, unable to trust anyone, and devastatingly ashamed. This could lead to angsty confessions, betrayal, abandonment, a public execution, banishment, etc.

A very subtle, pleasant power that is embarassingly weak in a time when more power is needed. the ability to numb pain, which feels useless during war when people are bleeding out and losing friends. the ability to see the future in a time when everyone knows what the horrifying outcome will be and no one can stop it. the ability to stop time, but not to move or change what is happening, which just leaves the hero stuck to think, to rely on their own mind to try to solve a terrible problem while seeing everyone frozen in a moment of pain or fear.

I’m not sure about other whump blogs you could ask, but anyone who sees this post is totally welcome to add ideas! The side effects of the superpower don’t have to be direct or ironic, so any random idea could be perfect for the story! No idea is bad!

[todderwodders]

WIP WHENEVER

This isn't bg3 but a section from a longfic I have been working on since 2021 for Arkham Knight. TW for missing persons/children, parental grief, dead bodies, dead animals

Clark Kent wades through reed ridden water, and listens.

He hears it all. the buzz of a radio two miles away, in a creaking, crumbling farmhouse he had driven past on the way into Gotham. Driven, because as much as Batman needed distance, Bruce Wayne needed help, and the light of day, and surprise. He hears the screech of a flock of crows as they circle a dead dog in a ditch three miles south, against the wind.

He can smell the contents of its stomach, mostly garbage but with little shreds of wild meat no human could digest, and the rot of cyanide, probably from poison a farmer had put out for his canine pest. He can hear the swish of the current and feel the big body of a bull shark sway past him.

He can hear the thud of a father's heart as he fervently dismisses one more square mile of the no man's land that surrounds Gotham city.

They've been at this for three weeks now. Three weeks in which Clark squeezes in rush trips to Gotham, wading through sewers and helping Bruc dig up mountains of trash heaps or scan warehouses from days long, long past their intended use. Anywhere the joker may have stashed a body.

Bruce won't say it, but ten months have passed, and it's as it Jason Todd has vanished into thin air. The joker, malignant thing that he is, has sat pretty and quiet in Arkham for the majority of Jason's disappearance. his tracker stuck to the underside of a child's mechanical horse somewhere in miagani. A gun missing from Bruce's safe, a classroom full of children who all had closed casket funerals. Dead end, tool, and motive.

That leaves a small window for a young man to do exactly as his father told him not to do and get himself taken for it. The statistics don't change for heros or for villains: the first 48 hours of a disappearance is the only time in which survival is more likely than not. The rest is a percentage that ticks by with each minute, one which plummets to 10% when jack white is involved. 1% when captivity lasts for longer than a week.

So. Body. Which Bruce will not admit to being a body yet, because while he texts Clark at random intervals during the day and they wonder the city in a shitty pick up truck, undisturbed and out from under Barbara's watchful gaze, Bruce is ripping apart Gotham at night.

He had brought Clark along, in those early weeks.

He had brought Clark along, in those early weeks.

Back when he still had hope. Clark could hear it in his heartbeat, that frantic puttering that doesn't stop until sleep takes him and starts up immediately when consciousness comes calling.

Barbara had helped. Dick had helped. Bruce still allotted the lions share to himself, still grasped for

- anything. Clark has found bits and pieces. Hair in a warehouse, Jason's boot prints in Arkham's botanical gardens. They came to nothing. The calls had stopped until they didn't. Now bruce is looking for something cold and unmoving.

Clark nearly falls off the sand dune he's on as the thought that Bruce is giving up settles in. Only the gaping void of not knowing fills the air now, with only the taste of resignation to act as chaser. Bruce will never know for sure if Jason is dead. Bruce, and Clark, and maybe even Barbara, whose grown up hearing stories about dead little boys and girls all the way back to when she was a little girl herself, are giving in. The new Robin does not seem as convinced. Clark likes that earnestness, thinks it'll serve him well. It doesn't change the fact that Joker wins by omission.

"Have you found anything?" Comes Bruce's voice in his ear piece. It's dialed all the way down, but the static still makes his teeth ache and Clark nearly misses swatting away an all too curious mama Bull, her tail giving him a good whack for his efforts.

"There's a woman whose body is tangled up in a fishing net just below that broken set of docks off

140. Blue warehouse right next to it. Please text Barbara to-"

"No Jason?"

They've found twenty bodies like this, ranging from five to forty-five. Most of them have been identified. Which should feel good. But when all you're praying for is a body to scrape up from the bottom of Gotham bay just so a funeral could be arranged, so his father, your best friend, can at least pray over him and visit him every Sunday, it only makes you sour.

"I'm sorry," comes out of his mouth before he can stop it. It feels like it's all he says now. Can you watch over family symbolically if family isn't there?

How many days and nights does god need for boys in lead lined graves?

…I'll call it in myself," Bruce says, and Clark nearly throws that damned piece of plastic into the bay.

Another bull as tried to sink its teeth into his rubber overalls, and the pressure keeps him from screaming or crying or both. The desperation to fix the unfixable is killing him. Clark could fly back to metropolis and pretend this isn't his problem, but for a thousand reasons, ranging from friendship to knowing the boy to knowing his brother even better, he could never. He breaths in, petting the cool, rough flesh of the shark.

He wonders if the gaunt, hallowed out look that Bruce carries with him now is permanent, a distinct hanger on for a child who gives off no scent or sound or heat.